bushey

One of the best small museums I've ever visited is within walking distance of where you'll be staying -- Sir John Soane's Museum. It's housed in what was his home and is literally chock-a-block with interesting pieces. Walking through the museum is a little bit like following Alice through the rabbit hole. And the docents, in their green smocks, can show you all sorts of wonders. Soane's Museum Another wonderful museum is the Courtauld Gallery in the Somerset House. It has a great collection of Impressionist art and the building itself is quite lovely. The courtyard area near the gallery has an outdoor fountain sculpture and it would be a nice place for a picnic lunch if you don't mind the absence of a lawn. Courtauld Gallery

Boundless is an apt descriptor here. Positively mind and palate expanding. I love tuna, capers, hard-cooked eggs, all types of vinegar and never thought of putting them together. Duh! I've always been much more creative with my egg salad, which is one of my favorite sandwiches of all times. Capers, smoked salmon, chives, curry powder, sunflower seeds all go so well, though not necessarily at the same time. Plain egg salad is our family favorite for the beach. Must be something about the sea salt in the air and the fine grained sand for that added little crunch.

tommy -- chacun a son gout, to each his own, that's why Howard Johnson's has 28 flavors, etc. etc. Although I use your method for making tuna salad, I hate eating it cold. I love to eat it right when it's made from a can that's been sitting in the pantry. If there are any leftovers I put them in an airtight container in the fridge, but usually end up tossing it. Well, sometimes I warm the leftovers slightly in the fridge and it's fit for making a tuna melt on toasted English muffins.

Reminds me of a modified version of bruschetta a friend once made for us that's now a staple summer appetizer for our bbqs. Take Pepperidge Farm Toasting White bread and toast lightly in the toaster or on a baking sheet in the oven. Top with thick slices of ripe tomato, mozzarella cheese (either fresh buffalo mozzarella if available or I like the Sorrento chunk), fresh basil, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Broil lightly until the cheese just starts to melt. We usually cut into "fingers" to serve. There's something about the texture and flavor of the Toasting White that makes it really different from the french or italian bread versions.

Now you guys are making remember all my other favorites . I've just been thinking about picking up a bottle of Limoncello to keep in the freezer this summer. And chilled Tavel was new to us this spring when we were on vacation in a sunny clime. The friendly guy at the wine store recommended a Jaboulet Tavel and it was perfect with cold roasted chicken. At the beach we sometimes mix beer and lemonade to make a shandy. My vice is strong iced coffee with artifical sweetener and lots of half-and-half. It's funny -- never take sugar in my hot coffee, but come summertime the fake stuff is the only thing that makes my cold coffee taste right. And that make me think of coffee or lemon granita, which is really refreshing on a hot day................

What kind of cold sesame noodles are NY style? There are so many variations. There are so many restaurants in the Mass Ave - Huntington area that I bet they'll find a version they like. tommy is correct about it being easy to make at home. My preferred style uses Chinese sesame paste rather than tahini or peanut butter. Best part is the chopped cucumber on top.

A local deli here in western Mass serves a few variations on the Reuben and here's my favorite. They call it "Gloria's Reuben": turkey breast, muenster, cole slaw and russian dressing on grilled seeded light rye. It's really delicious.

Ice cold champagne, cerdon de bugey, zinfandel with bbq, ice cold Czechvar or Pilsner Urquell, vodka with pink lemonade, campari and tonic with a twist of lime.

Does that mean the whole concept of basic food groups is out the window? Aversive: as in having an aversion to?

Occasionally I flip through cookbooks to see what kind of interesting potato salad I can whip up (the book American as Apple Pie has many variations), but when all is said and done, I really prefer my potato salad simple. When I first read Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking I was delighted to find someone who likes it exactly the way I do: a little Hellman's mayo mixed with a touch of lemon juice, salt and pepper. When you mix it up, some of the potato chunks get all creamy and some stay in form. When I serve it this way I make lots of it because much of it does not even make it to the table :wow:. The current favorites of my kids is French style potato sald, where you just toss slices of steamed potatoes -- red bliss are especially nice -- with a mustardy vinaigrette, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh snipped chives.

I prefer the sour patch kids. I've tried most of the sour varieties at one of those candy by the pound stores and find that sour patch kids have the best sour flavor kick. Never understood the concept of Hot Tuna outside the musical arena. But, I can make a mean tuna noodle casserole if my husband really begs for it. My way, with egg noodles, cream of mushroom goop, milk, worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, cayenne , some frozen peas and fresh carrots thrown in and a cornflake crumb topping. His mother used to make it with tomato soup -- blech.

If there isn't, there should be. In my first Anthropology class in college, the professor started out by talking about food and cultural norms, using sour cream (well, it is cultured ) as an example. About half the class groaned and said "gross" and the rest of us completely related to sour cream as a refrigerator staple of childhood. I think you can learn a lot about someone by looking through a recipe box or flipping through their cookbooks to see which pages are dog eared or splattered. And the recipes that are copied or downloaded and tossed aside or passed over could probably tell just as much. Maybe this could be my second career: food anthropology.

mr. tommy that looks fabulous! Except, of course, for the pale, under-done potato chips. My one slight criticism might be that there doesn't seem to be enough bright yellow mustard showing. Could just be the pics, though. Mmmm, that macaroni salad looks good too. Hellman's, I hope, not that Miracle Whip salad dressing stuff. Makes me kind of sorry I'm not having your dinner instead of ours: chicken fajitas, black beans and rice. The beans and rice serve as a vehicle for my pipsqueak to convey sour cream to her mouth.

.....secured with a toothpick that has a pimento-stuffed olive on it? Since we're talking about rolled food, peanut butter and jelly on a slice of american cheese. Had it every Saturday night at overnight camp. yuck!

But I thought it was the nitrates that made it taste so good. Ix-nay on potato chips in the sandwich. They would definitely interfere with tongue sticking. But have them on the side, if you must. What kind of chips? My uncle, the salami lover, always had Charles chips around but I never tried them. I'm a dyed-in-the wool Wise chips fan because they have the most really burned ones. mr. bushey prefers State Line, but now that they're out of business finds Utz to be a decent stand in. Also, mr. bushey would never stand for frozen coke. He won't even put ice cubes in the glass first because it interferes with the fizz. I almost posted on the childhood food memories thread about the mustard and pickles on rye bread sandwiches that were my staple after school snack for many years.

tommy -- I could never wait until the ice cream melted. I had to squeeze the sandwich until it oozed out of the sides so I could lick it all around. The best were the ice cream sandwiches that you got in the freezer vending machines they used to have at the movies when I was little. We were just talking about this at home the other night and my family looked at me like I was nuts. Geez, don't they know how to eat? nah, not Wonder Bread, Sunbeam. It's batter whipped. Irresistable with salami and lots of French's yellow mustard. I can feel it sticking to the roof of my mouth right now.

Wilfrid -- Bubbly adds a new dimension to everything, I think. Suzanne -- I also love the bitter/sweet balance, although I sometimes like to drink Campari with tonic to swing the balance in favor of bitter. And a twist of lime to add just the right dimension of tartness. This is making me thirsty............

Ooooh.....a Campari support group! One of the most delightful aperitifs I ever had was Campari, blood orange juice and champagne. I tried duplicating it at home with more humble ingredients, adding a ruby red grapefruit/orange juice mix and sparkling wine (Freixenet, which you can buy in small 6-packs) to the Campari and it was quite nice indeed. It's a great drink to serve with brunch or as an aperitif in summer.