Megan Blocker

Hee hee! I totally forgot about your penne, Wendy! So true, so true. We ARE great! That's quite the feast, Rochelle - and congrats!

Steve, this one's for you: a picture of a coffee cart on my way to the subway (though not of MY usual coffee cart - I was running late this morning, and didn't end up hitting it).

A madeleine from Starbucks - surprisingly light and flavorful!

This is what the chef (Sue Torres) used when I saw the demo of atole being made at the Chocolate Show! I'm not a big fan of Mexican chocolate - I don't love cinnamon with chocolate - but it was good for what it was!

That seals the deal. I'm heading out for a (relatively decent) Starbucks hot chocolate this afternoon. Yay for nippy weather!

Does it have Jello salad on the side? Seriously, what's in it? ETA: Seek and ye shall find. The Bush Special is at the bottom of the page. Sliced beef, links, ribs, potato salad and beans.

Mmmm, hooch!

Great story, foodgeek! The company is Conde Nast.

And don't you love how the cold air almost tastes like milk when you breathe it in after sipping hot chocolate? Yum! I like to just make my own using the recipe on the Hershey's cocoa container...

I miss Stewie Baby's (as my mom called it), too! Used to go there all the time growing up in CT. Now I am a true Manhattanite (sans auto) and just don't get there more than once or twice a year. They have the best bakery.

It -Literally- is The Hunt for Red October. The next boat Bubbleheadchef is going to is the Los Angeles-class USS Dallas, SSN 700, which was the "good guy" sub prominently featured in the movie. The Dallas, which recently underwent a technology upgrade along with its 15-year nuclear refuelling, is one of the oldest boats serving in the sub fleet. http://www.csg2.navy.mil/Dallas/dallas.htm ← Oh, wow! That's right - Dallas was the boat that jumped out of the water near the end...I do love that movie. Sigh.

Oh, my, Maggie! That is an adorable little village!

Thanks, Megan. I (or usually Mr. Duck) uses fresh avocados and adds the jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, etc. This time, I used Trader Joe's frozen guacamole (trying to clean out my freezer), added fresh salsa from Whole Foods, some tabasco, and some jalapenos. TJ's guac is pretty good, and a great price esp. when you can't get a good deal on fresh avocados. ← We need a TJ's in Manhattan! Sounds very yummy...

Yes, the officers have their own mess called the wardroom but they eat the same food the enlisted guys do. However, the crew eats cafeteria style and officers eat a more russian style service. We plate the salad for them (either a tossed or composed salad, depending on what we have). When they are finished with soup and salad, we place the food in serving dishes and serve the Captain, the Executive Officer (XO), and then the XO passes the dish around the table. ← Oh, this is all so Hunt for Red October - and fascinating!!! Do you ever change your menu along ethnic cuisine lines depending on which ports you're putting into? For example, gather certain spices or ingredients in one place that you can't get in another? Or is it all pretty much the same things each time?

You can? When did this happen? I feel so out of the loop!

Looks good, Karen! What goes into "semi-homemade" guacamole? Extra tomatoes or jalapeno?

All right, that's it, I'm going out to find dessert. No way am I baking in my very clean kitchen (spotless, in fact - I have a friend coming, and need them to think I am CLEAN), but man, I need cookies. You people are evil.

It's not the gelatin that offends. Jellied eels, tripe terrine, soft boiled eggs set in an aspic made from clarified consomme are all wonderful. I love savory aspics--aslong as they're not made with sugared and artificially flavored gelatin. I supsect the reverse may be true for many others. I wonder if there's a case to be made that those who love Jello molds, have the strongest dislikes for aspics. I suppose it's a culture thing. I had a wonderful salad at Blue Hill the other night. Among the variety of textures offered by cooked, raw and pickled vegetables, there were nuts and seeds and bits of intense mushroom jelly (aspic). ← Here, here! Aspic and Jello are two completely different animals. While I can enjoy the artificial flavor of Jello on some days, I don't want it tainting perfectly good fruit!

I will point out that most people who live in Texas for any length of time, from thereon generally refer to themselves as a Texan - deservedly so. ← Ah, see, in New York, we have standards for this sort of thing... ← Most New Yawkas are from someplace else! but then--everybody gotta be from someplace! ← But, then, a native New Yorker may never concede that anyone else is a true New Yorker...sort of like what TPO says about Maine!

SUPER quick dinner for me tonight - I had to clean the apartment from top to bottom and wait for a wine delivery. Penne carbonara (didn't realize I was out of spaghetti till I got home) and a tomato, onion and basil salad with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Still mulling over dessert... Eaten in front of "America's Next Top Model," because I'm just that self-loathing. Hey, a girl has to watch something before "Lost!"

Eeeeww...I think we should be thankful that we don't know. My guess, though, is that there are lumps (dollops, if you will). What fun is a Jello salad if stuff isn't suspended in it, right? Pontormo, that's a good point about the chefs having worked for the families...I guess I'm not enough of a cynic to see this as a purely political thing, and suppose that these recipes were (at least at some point) part of the Bush repertoire. Perhaps pre-Laura?

I will point out that most people who live in Texas for any length of time, from thereon generally refer to themselves as a Texan - deservedly so. ← Ah, see, in New York, we have standards for this sort of thing...

Just take it from Madonna!

Duh. But, anyone who recalls Bush's pork-rind eatin', Lee Greenwood playin' and cowboy boot wearin' 1988 presidential campaign knows that he certainly branded himself as a Texan and not as a New Englander. ← Ah, yes. But branding does not a Texan make. That's all I was trying to say. ETA: I thought this was a really good point, one that had been rattling around in my head for a while where this thread was concerned:

George H.W. Bush grew up in Connecticut and attended Greenwich Country Day, Andover and Yale. He moved to Texas and lived there for a good part of his adult life, but he's certainly not native stock.