Jaymes

I have some recommendations for Gold Beach, where the Rogue empties into the Pacific.....restaurants, accommodations, Jerry's Jet Boats. But it doesn't sound like you're going there. Are you?

I think the food, relatives, assorted mourners, etc., don't vary that much. But it does seem like the place does. We're southerners, Catholic. And while I obviously can't speak for the families of every single Catholic that ever died, I can share my personal experiences. As soon as the loved one passes (and I mean that day), the food starts arriving at the home of the bereaved. People stop by to share memories, and to eat. Then off to the funeral home or church. But I cannot recall food ever being served there. People seem to want to have the service, say a few words, sing a few songs, bury the dear departed, and get out of there. Back at the home of the closest relative, after the service, it's food, food and more food. It isn't a formal thing, like the Jewish tradition, but the immediate family is usually too sad, tired, grieving, worn out, exhausted to do much. The rest of the family, friends, neighbors, relatives busy around and take care of everything. Including leaving everything spic and span before departing. When I've gone to funerals of friends, and after the service we go into the 'fellowship hall,' or down into the church basement, or wherever, I am uncomfortable. It feels impersonal. Cold. Commercial. All clean lines and sharp corners. Linoleum floors and fake ficuses. Folding chairs that scrape and clang. Shaky, ugly collapsible banquet tables and paper tablecloths and styrofoam cups and plastic forks. It still smells like the last group that was there. Was it a wedding? Somebody else's funeral? The latest fundraiser, white elephant or bake sale? Industrial strength cleansers? Bug spray? I don't want to be there. I want to go back to someone's warm, comfy and cozy home. I want to sink down into the soft, reassuring welcome of their sofa. I want to kick off my shoes and feel their carpeting against my bare feet. I want to see the familiar portraits of their lives on the walls and touch their coats in the closets. I want to inhale the aura and essence and aroma of the family that lives there, now sadly minus one. I guess it's all in how you're raised. And that's what comforts. Truly.

I lived in Alaska for several years and up there they have something called "Salmon Bakes." It's a sort of misnomer, though, because the salmon isn't really baked....it's BBQ'd over an alderwood fire. I got this recipe from the Fairbanks Salmon Bake BBQ'd Salmon 1 stick butter, melted 1/4 C brown sugar 1/4 C soy sauce 1/2 t dill weed 1/8 t cayenne juice of 1/2 lemon Combine all ingredients. Brush over salmon (enough for about 1 1/2-2 pounds). Marinate about an hour. Grill salmon over wood fire or hot coals, basting frequently with marinade.

I am curious about this. I don't believe Mexican-style tortillas are common in El Salvador, so I'm wondering, was it like a Spanish tortilla -- an egg dish? Or a type of stuffed pie thing? Or were there quite a few Mexicans there and they just wanted tortillas, even if the theme was El Salvador?

Boy, I've got to say that looks wonderful. What a great menu! Even cochinita pibil. And queso fundido. Almost makes me want to go to Toronto just to try it!

One of the best inventions is 'squeeze cajeta.' It comes in a plastic bottle, so you can just turn it upside down and squeeze it and the stuff oozes out. Right onto your ice cream, toast, fruit, pound cake, mouth.

Mexicans dig pits and bury things, too. Most typically, cow's heads for barbacoa. Mexican would work well for you because there's lots of good music, dancing, decorations, food, and general silliness. If I were going to do it, I'd also make a sturdy 'pinata'- style burro that people could sit on. I'd get a couple of sombreros embroidered with "Mexico" and a few serapes and a polaroid camera for everyone to take photos. And don't forget to make those cutout paper squares that flutter from strings over all true Mexican celebratory events. Here are photos from someone else that threw a grand Fiesta. Mexican party with barbacoa pit.

But... But... I always heard that what gives the mojito its special flavor is that you crush/muddle the lime peels, thereby releasing the oils that are in the peels. That's why, I heard anyway, all the recipes say that you are supposed to add the whole lime halves early on in the process. Not true?

Ah, well..... Such is life, eh?

You made CAJETA. Did you use Bayless's recipe or any other particular recipe, or did you just wing it? Recipe for cajeta adapted from Rick Bayless

See you've already bought some stuff, but if you're in the market for more, definitely go to a restaurant supply house, just as Suzi says. I've got at least 4 doz dinner plates, salad plates, glasses, silverware....all purchased for a song at restaurant supply houses.

So, rhiannonstone.... Please let us all know. Where did you wind up going? How was it? Would you recommend it to others?

Whether or not Popcorn gives this menu a try, I think I'M definitely going to.

This is turning into a mighty interesting thread. Not only for the food ideas, but also for cultural insights. I sure hope you keep us apprised, Popcorn, as you work your way through this project.

Having entertained LOTS of foreign visitors, the first thing I'd do is to ask your guest if he really does prefer Chinese food when being entertained in foreign homes. It's possible that he's only eating in Chinese restaurants because that's all he knows and he's unsure what else to try. I wouldn't assume he only is interested in the food he grew up on. I assumed that only once. Had a bunch of Iranian fighter pilots over. Made Iranian food. They were obviously disappointed. They'd been hoping for a "really good typical American home meal." Instead they got mediocre food from their own country. Can't tell where you're from by your post, but for the sake of argument, let's say you're American, and if you were visiting China, wouldn't you hope for some good homestyle Chinese food, typical of what they'd normally serve, and knew how to fix? Or would you rather have poorly-prepared fried chicken, with lumpy mashed potatoes, bland baked beans, and watery cole slaw that they'd made in an attempt to recreate the stuff from your country? The guy might really want you to make a stab at Chinese. Or he might really want you to get more restaurant Chinese food like he already has access to. Or he might want you to go all out and treat him to something he probably rarely gets -- a glimpse of typical homestyle cuisine of the country he's visiting. I'm just saying....I'd ask. PS - We invited the Iranian fighter pilots back over. That time, we'd learned our lesson. We had a backyard BBQ. They loved it. Took lots of pictures, including taking turns wearing the "Kiss the Cook" apron, holding the BBQ tongs, standing over the grill and grinning like mischievous little boys.

Ask him what kind of cookies he prefers. Most recipes travel well. One of the secrets is to wrap each cookie individually in plastic or aluminum wrap. Not only does that help to seal the air out, but it also cushions the cookies one from the other, and makes it less likely that they will arrive in one giant cookie can of crumbles. And consider bars as well. Lemon bars, date bars, etc. Tasty. And if he's from the Southwest, throw in a couple of cans of Herdez salsa casera.

I, too, just researched and bought a food processor. After some deliberation, I got a Kitchen Aid KFP750. I bought it at Penny's, and it was $200. I love it. Needed it right away because I was having a dinner party, and didn't have time to have it shipped from some cheaper online source. Thus far, it's been exactly as good as I hoped. And like my friend, Snowangel, particularly appreciate the little bowl insert.

Having lived in Alaska, as I said, I can assure you that the 'locals,' like locals everywhere, get sick of eating one thing. Every single party we went to, on either the appetizer or buffet table would be at least one whole fish, and usually two. There'd be one whole salmon and one halibut. They would have been either steamed or smoked, and served with forks to pick off bits of the flaky flesh, and crackers and two or three kinds of sauce, perhaps tartar, cocktail, tarragon, etc., and lemon wedges. Also, everybody in Alaska has freezers full of fish that they are trying to pawn off on their friends, relatives and neighbors: "Jim and the boys just got back from dip-netting the Chitna and they got so much salmon I don't have room for it. Won't you take some? And maybe some moose meat, too?" I remember saying to my husband that one good thing about moving back to the Lower 48 would be a break from fish, fish, fish. As I said to him, "Sometimes I feel like somebody's enormous, pampered housecat." So of course the locals eat meat when they go out. You do get a craving for a big, juicy steak. And those beef ribs I mentioned at the salmon bakes are popular with the locals. But the beef and pork and chicken, etc., in Alaska restaurants are pretty average (it was my opinion anyway) when compared to good restaurants elsewhere on the planet. There are problems with supplies and shipping and other things. So while the locals may be eating meat, I'd suggest you stick with the fish. If you are taking the "big blue canoes" up to Haines, they've got a quite nice salmon bake there, and a terrific exhibition of native dancing in a clan house: The Chilkat Dancers Storytelling Theater . There's also a good museum and lots of other things to do. Old Fort Seward (the picturesque row of white buildings you see in all the brochures) features a wonderful hotel, Hotel Halsingland, in what was once the single officers' quarters, and there is a bed and breakfast in the former commander's quarters, Fort Seward B&B. You sit on the front lawn, overlooking the deep, glacier-fed water, with the spectacular mountains looming high beyond. Go to Haines. Skip Skagway, but go to Haines. If you've been to Cordova, maybe you've been to Haines. Have you? I love Haines. Maybe I'll move there. Haines, Alaska

You've got balls, sir! I actually order a taco lengua almost every time I go to my local Mexican restaurant, and I really like it. It's really more of a texture thing than a flavor thing -- If you enjoy that "tonguey" texture, which I do. Actually I grew up with a tongue almost always in the fridge. And I mean other than my own. My father, the gourmet in the family, really liked tongue sandwiches, so he boiled calves tongues in the Dutch oven. He put various spices in the boiling water, but usually a few cloves, bay leaves, sprigs of rosemary, peppercorns. I remember opening the fridge and having to avoid looking at the huge, curled thing. It was very high on a young girl's 'eeeeeuuuuw' scale.

Was digging through some old recipes the other day and came across this. Don't know if you're still searching and whether or not this is of interest, but thought I'd add it just in case. Also, haven't made it in a while and can't remember much about it, other than at the time we thought it was quite good. But I was young in those days, and thought LOTS of things were 'quite good.' You said no icing and no nuts and this recipe calls for icing with nuts, but I recall that sometimes I made it as a sheet cake, and served it with a rum sauce made from Captain Morgan's spiced rum instead of the brown sugar icing. SPICE CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR ICING 1 stick unsalted butter, softened 2 C sugar 3 large eggs, separated 1 t vanilla 1 T cinnamon 1 T ground cloves 2 T cocoa powder 1 t baking soda 2 C all-purpose flour 1 C buttermilk Grease 2 round cakepans. Line with waxed paper, and butter and flour paper. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in yolks 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Sift together the dry ingredients. Alternating between the two, slowly add dry ingredients and buttermilk to butter mixture, beating after each addition to incorporate. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir in 1/4 of egg whites, then slowly fold in remainder. Pour into pans and bake at 350 30-35 minutes. Cool & invert. Icing: 2 C packed dark brown sugar 1 C buttermilk 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter 1 t baking soda 1 t vanilla 1 C chopped, toasted nuts Boil all ingredients except vanilla and nuts to 236 on candy therm. Off heat, beat with wooden spoon until it loses its sheen. Add vanilla and nuts and QUICKLY frost top of one layer. Then add other layer and frost all.

Oh, and don't know how you're going, but if you're on a cruise ship, one of those stops might offer a 'Salmon Bake' as a shore excursion. Go. The sides are pretty grim, but the salmon and halibut will be wonderful. It's a misnomer, because the salmon isn't 'baked' in our sense of the term. It's actually BBQ'd over alderwood, or some other sort of wood fire. And the halibut is deep-fried....little white puffy pillows of delectability. You sit outside and drink your beer and eat fish to your heart's content. Yes, the salmon bakes are touristy, but I lived in Alaska for three years and I loved them and so did our whole family. The fish is excellent. Some of those bakes also offer beef ribs. I never thought they were any good at all, and skipped them entirely, although others seemed to enjoy them. Dessert was usually some sort of white cake....completely forgettable...but instead of icing, it was was drenched in a wild blueberry sauce. Which was incredible, and which I've tried to replicate with only limited success.

Oddly enough, when I was in London, I saw several places advertising 'NY Style Fried Chicken'. Seemed really out of place to me.That DOES seem odd. Any clue what constitutes "NY Style Fried Chicken"?

That is absolutely the truth. If I were standing in my kitchen at 10pm, after a day at the office, shopping on my way home, fixing dinner and then cleaning up the kitchen, helping with homework, giving three kids a round of baths and getting them into bed, and I still had to make cupcakes to take to my daughter's 1st grade class, or my son's cub scout troop, which I often had to do, boxed cake mixes were a godsend. My "goal," as Rhea says, was to mix up something the kids would eat, and then get off of my tired feet and get into bed. As I've often said here on eG, in my opinion, different circumstances call for different solutions. I'm not one to turn up my nose and declare...."Well, I would NEVER..."

Smart, though, to play up those southern roots. That's synonymous with good cooking. I mean, when was the last time you heard anybody bragging about "Northern Fried" anything?

I'll jump in here to agree with everyone. I ate there during an extended stay in the region last fall. The food was indeed very, very good....in addition to being interesting. I loved that clam chowder and spent some hours online trying to find a similar recipe, with no luck. I also had a wild rice and cranberry salad and some sort of berry crumble thing for dessert (it's been six months, so the memory fades). It was all quite tasty. And a great concept, rather than the usual museum junk foodfest.