cakewalk

I didn't see that recipe. (Don't eat shrimp.) Was it good at least? I do think old recipes are worth preserving, warts and all. But making a recipe "seem" old, well, that's a horse of a different color, no?

Yes!! I'm not a fan of icing in general, but particularly on cinnamon rolls. Overpowers both the texture and flavor of the bread. People usually think I'm nuts when I mention it. (But I don't have a bread machine.)

Interesting, I think of a 250F oven as a warming oven! (Unless it's for meringues.) I'm with your mother on slow oven temp. But of course, that's exactly the point. I'm torn between wanting precision but also wanting the recipe to "talk to me." Am I too greedy in expecting both? One of my favorite books is "Classic Home Desserts" by Richard Sax. I think he did a brilliant job in bridging that gap. What he did is very different than what I see in many cookbooks today, where authors will tell an amusing anecdote before giving the recipe. The stories are not about the recipes at all, and I often find myself getting annoyed by them. (Yes, I'm definitely talking about Ottolenghi!!) I guess part of the difference is that cookbooks were once regional things, so people did have similar vocabulary and reference points.

Yes, I know what you mean. I also appreciate a detailed recipe, especially for a baking recipe. But sometimes I follow a recipe even when instinct tells me that something is wrong. I've baked enough by now to have developed that instinct, yet more often then not I'll ignore it if the recipe tells me otherwise. And often, the recipe is wrong. (Dang, I knew that was too much sugar!)

I thought this was a lovely article. I've been reading through some old recipes, and what strikes me most is the expectation of a certain amount of knowledge from the cook. The recipes aren't necessarily for the "advanced" cook, but certain things are givens. So take a few eggs and add to it some flour until the consistency is good ... http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/magazine/what-we-learn-from-old-recipes.html?ref=dining

Dates are very good halved and stuffed with tehina. A drizzle of honey is nice, too.

I have the Time Life Foods of the World book (the spiral bound recipe book) for The Cooking of Vienna's Empire. It has a recipe for Linzertorte. The crust goes something like this: 1 1/2 cups AP flour, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 cup finely ground unblanched almonds, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp grated lemon rind, 2 hard-boiled egg yolks, mashed, 1 cup softened unsalted butter, 2 raw egg yolks, lightly beaten, 1 tsp vanilla. The filling is 1 1/2 cups thick raspberry jam. Top lattice crust is brushed with 1 egg beaten with 2 Tbs light cream. Sift flour & spices, add nuts, sugar, rind, and mashed yolks. With wooden spoon, beat in butter, raw yolks, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Form a ball, wrap in plastic, chill at least an hour. Remove 3/4 of dough. Butter round 9x1 or 1 1/2" false-bottomed cake pan. Add the dough, press into pan with fingers so it covers bottom and sides, dough should be about 1/4" thick. Spoon in the jam and spread evenly. On floured surface roll out remaining dough to a 6x9" rectangle, also 1/4" thick. Cut into 1/2" strips, 2 should be 9" long, the others 8" long. The 9" strips should be placed like an "X" across center, remaining strips latticed under and over. (Their explanation is much better but too long, you get the idea.) Create a border with "excess" dough around the sides. Beat whole egg with the cream, and brush exposed pastry. Refrigerate 1/2 hour. Preheat to 350F. Bake in middle 45-50 minutes, or until lightly browned. Slip off outside rim, let cool 5 minutes on bottom of pan, then sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Cool to room temp before serving. And the recipe does not say, but I will add: mit schlag.

Apparently they do go back a while. I don't remember TV lunchboxes at all. But they're still great to look at. Worth a small fortune, some of them. https://www.google.com/search?q=metal+lunch+boxes+vintage&biw=1366&bih=622&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CF0Q7AlqFQoTCLDVxfnKu8cCFQObHgod2MYB4A&dpr=1

Ah, what a difference a few years can make! I was in elementary school in the early sixties. Lunchboxes hadn't evolved yet.

What amazes me about those TJ photos above is that there is not a shopper in sight!! That is not a possibility at any of the TJs here in Manhattan (there are 3 that I know of), not at any time of the day.

In elementary school (grades K-6 back in those days) I used to go through stages of going home for lunch or taking lunch to school with me. I remember those lunchboxes. Mine had a metal hook that used to hold the thermos in place so it wouldn't move around. When I brough my lunch it was almost always a tuna fish sandwich, I think my mother was able to stretch one can of tuna to make a sandwich for each of the three of us. (On Wonder Bread. Was there anything else back then?) Milk in the thermos. Once my mother put soda in my thermos, and of course it fizzed up all over the place. The best was when my mother gave us potato chips for dessert (a handful wrapped in a paper napkin), since of course nothing beats a tuna fish and potato chip sandwich. In junior high school (grades 7-9) we were no longer permitted to go home for lunch. I don't remember a cafeteria, but there must have been one. I had the same lunches, but at this point we were all much too cool for the lunchboxes, so we broght lunch in brown paper bags. High school had a cafeteria where we could buy food. I know I did, but I have no memory whatsoever of what I bought. (Except for the glazed donuts.) A few years ago the NY Public Library had an exhibit called "Lunch Hour NYC." It went through the history of lunch in NY, from the pushcarts to the restaurants and the Automat, school lunches, etc. It was a wonderful exhibit. At the school lunch section, one wall was devoted to lunch boxes! An entire wall of all the different designs and patterns on those square metal lunchboxes we grew up with. It was very nostalgic to find "my" lunchbox up there -- red and black plaid. (It was before they started putting super heroes and TV stars on lunchboxes. Yes, I'm that old.)

It's a silly article. Not necessarily bad writing per se (nyuk, nyuk), just a silly article. I think the subject is a serious one these days, and there are valid arguments on both sides. (I don't take a side, but I enjoy the reading.) But if you're going to approach the argument at all, why use a silly article to make a point either for or against?

Interesting thread. But besides the argument of whether or not tomato leaves/vines are toxic, I've always found the very distinctive smell of tomato plants to be off-putting. I love tomatoes, but the smell of the plant is not something I'd want to add to any tomato-based dish I might cook.

That's an interesting statement. I'd also love to see the greenhouse. In fact, I want you to do a blog for all seasons! What do you do with the garden when the harvest is finished? And during the winter? And when you're ready to plant again? I can't imagine the amount of work involved. It truly is awesome.

Hmmm. Escargot, anyone? I don't suppose there's much to do about tongue. Or is there?

Just to get an idea, about how long did it take you to pick today's gardenage? (Yes, it should be a word. And now it is. Anthropologists and linguists, take note!)

I noticed Balmagowry on Serious Eats a while back, when they did a few sessions on sourdoughbread. Must be the same person. (The formatting in this comment is acting strangely. Time to say good night.)

My mother did not enjoy cooking, but she had a family to feed, so she did it. She made good soups - her repertoire was chicken soup and vegetable soup, which had meat in it - but the rest of the stuff was basic. My father was a butcher, so we almost always had meat or hamburgers. Steak, broiled half to death. I think it's why I loved ketchup so much. All we ever wanted as kids were TV Dinners, but my parents never bought them. "OH, steak again?!!" we would cry, in full despair. Imagine. We wanted Gloria Swanson, Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese. When I was an adult living on my own I bought my first Kraft Man 'n' Cheese, I was so excited to be making it and then eating this sophisticated little meal. But in truth I thought it was vile. That yellow-orange powder in the packet, even the noodles, I couldn't eat it. These days I cook, and often I like it a lot. There's so much to learn, and eGullet has the best teachers.. But baking is what I really like to do. I can go on and on about that, but I won't. Baking makes the day.

I just love those spider webs. Reminds me of when I was much younger and used to do macramé. Those are the patterns we would follow. The photo of the shelves with all your canning jars on it is great. I never realized the quantity of canning you do, that frame holds a lot of jars! Will those shelves all be filled by the end of the summer?

June 6, 2002. A lot of learning since then. (Not just about food.)

Oh good. I made a jar of your "quickles" yesterday, first time I ever pickled anything, can't wait to dig into them. Of course I had to buy the cukes at the greenmarket, but what the hell. I notice you planted a lot of okra. What do you do with it? The only thing I've ever done with okra is pass it by. That's due to city-girl ignorance. (And also because I prefer to bake, and I've never seen any cake recipes that call for okra. At least not yet.)

Where was she vacationing? Was the cookie particular to the country she was visiting?

This is really picking up steam. (Although gbakes seems to be more enthusiastic about it than rose.) http://www.gbakes.com http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2015/07/vegan_meringue.html#.VcEKMnhjeGk

Very nice looking cheesecake, and thanks for the link. It looks a bit lighter and higher than a "regular" NY cheesecake, and I see the recipe separates the eggs and beats the whites separately, which would account for that lightness. But that's a beautiful slice all the same.

It might just be the photo, but that does not look like stainless steel to me. It looks like it's got some aluminum in it. A lot of the older stainless steel bowls are not as "pure" (for lack of a better word) as the newer ones. IOW, I wouldn't make lemon curd in that bowl, no matter what the label says.