cakewalk

Best smells: coffee (I'm a big coffee fan, but I've always thought it smelled better than it tasted) and vanilla. Mmmmm, vanilla. Worst, worst, worst: guava. When I lived in Jerusalem I simply couldn't go to the market around September, when guavas were in season (and it was an open-air market!). Nauseating.

Every time I pass by the new Cold Stone Creamery place that recently opened near Times Square the line is so long I can't bear the thought of waiting, even for ice cream. I suppose I should try it though, in the name of important scientific research.

Sez who?

It was such a strange show in many ways. I enjoyed it, but I kept wondering what they were really trying to do in the long run. Was there a goal here? Besides entertainment, that is (yes, it was entertaining). The Pink Panther theme whenever the landlord showed up was the cleverest part, I don't think anything else matched that. His mother annoyed me (sorry, Rocco). Imagine introducing yourself to a bunch of people your never saw before with first words being, "I love all of you." Oh, puke. And in keeping with this sort of thing, I loved the scene where the waiter said he wasn't a people person and Rocco said, great, you're hired. Much too much "love" floating around that place. I don't watch much reality TV (to say the least), but is it always geared for people who have attention spans of 20 seconds max? It made me hyper, and if I ever went to the restaurant I'd wonder if the waiter would give me the menu, grab it away from me in three seconds expecting my order, then throw my food down before me, expect me to finish it in ten seconds flat and then hustle me out the door? There was no flow to anything, just abrupt jumps from one thing to the next. I can understand that building and opening a restaurant might necessitate such abruptness, but I got the feeling that the meal would also be that way. I can't imagine that any restaurant owner would want to push that feeling about his restaurant. Anyway, the show was enjoyable as a show. But it didn't make me want to go to the restaurant.

Now yer talkin' It was such a relief to go from Stone's thread to this one.

Oh boy. I just keep thinking, have you come to bury recipes, or to praise them? There seems to be such a mixed message here. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I keep thinking about the "original" thread on recipes here, where I had the pleasure of listening to all these professional chefs talk about how "unnecessary" recipes are. (Really. ) And now I read this article that tells me, if I follow a recipe and it doesn't come out good, how dare I blame the recipe! The recipe is wonderful, the problem is me! (Okay, sit back down, I'm exaggerating. It was a good article, with much food for thought, or thought for food, or whatever.) But you get what I'm saying. The first time I ever baked bread (we're going back about 30 years here), I used a very simple recipe from a book called The Sunset Cookbook of Breads (I still have it). Six simple steps, with pictures and everything, and -- voila! -- a loaf of bread that was damned good, if I remember correctly. And then I tried the challah, and the cinnamon raisin bread (which had to be rolled out, oh my), and pita, etc. All I had was that book, no one taught me. If that first recipe had been more complex, I would never have done it. I suspect a lot of people can identify with that. Now I may be wrong, but why do I get the feeling that many of you would scoff at this kind of thing? At that time, I would not have been interested in reading about different types of flour to use, or oil, or yeast, and what the different properties of these things would bring to the whole enterprise. Too complicated. Paralyzing, in fact. Just give me the basic steps and let me learn what it feels like to produce a loaf of bread. (It felt great, BTW.) These days I would like to know more about those details, but back then? No way. That recipe from the Schneider book on vegetables sounds wonderful, and I can certainly see why it attracts you as "what a recipe should be," but can't you realistically see what it would do to most beginning cooks? I love the concept of cooking to learn. Making mistakes is invaluable to the learning process (not just for cooking, of course). But so is success. And often that can mean being unadventurous, at least in the beginning. And many people never pass the beginning stages. I cannot view that as something to deride. The thing is this: you can cook well with just a basic recipe and not much understanding of the ingredients you're using. Yes, you certainly can. But the details, such as what FG is talking about (and I do hope you find a publisher; it's not that "nobody wants to read that," but I don't think the beginning cook is your market), will teach you to cook better. And I think those details will teach you to understand WHY the stuff you're cooking is suddenly better. And that's a very big deal indeed, because that's what enables you to experiment. But I just don't agree that the novice has to have all that under his belt before trying out a simple recipe. And viva la simple recipe! There often seems to be a lot of ambivalence on this site -- people are appalled at the approach to food and cooking and eating that is prevalent in American society today, yet they seem to scorn those "baby steps and training wheels" that people need to move beyond that prevalent approach. And the truth is that a lot of people may always need those training wheels. So what? Not everyone is going to become a gourmet cook. That shouldn't have to detract from the enjoyment they might get from cooking simple things, even if they have to follow a recipe word-for-word to do it. I didn't mean for this to be so long. I guess I want to understand the general "complaint" here so I can try to understand the solution. But I understand neither.

I also never heard of this chain before, but noticed today on my way home from work that one will be opening in Times Square. So Suzanne, if you're still doing your research by the time this one opens I'll gladly help you out. Probably repeatedly.

"Phoenetically, there is little to no accent in those brought up in the city. It's the boroughs. Trust me. The city is too international and too cosmopolitan to pick up that type of accent." Oh tosh. I really don't think it's a matter of trust. How can you argue that people who come from ANYPLACE have no discernable accent? This makes no sense. Brooklyn accents are sometimes (not always) noticeably unique, but aside from that it's pretty hard to distinguish between the boroughs (and I include Manhattan as ONE OF the boroughs, a part of New York), unless of course you're 'enry 'iggins. But New Yorkers are certainly noticeable by their accents. I've had many, many people say to me, "you're from New York, right?" No one has ever said, "you're from the Bronx, right?" And lest you think I'm proving your point, I know plenty of people who grew up in Manhattan. And you know what? They SOUND like they may as well have grown up in the Bronx (IOW, we all drink "watah"). Maybe it's a class thing, like in England. Or maybe it depends on whether you went to public school or private school. But I don't agree that it's a "Manhattan vs. the boroughs" thing.

Me neither. New Yorkers are just as great as we've always been. (Modest, too.)

Oh my. This is one of my favorite tirades, I am so pleased to hear it coming from someone else!! I insist (insist!!) that the rudest people on the streets of New York are the out-of-towners who moved here as young adults. I think they feel they have to "live up" to this "New York personality" they read about in their home-town newspapers (probably written by someone who was never in NY in his life). Those out-of-towners are nasty. They smile as they say fuck you. (A New Yorker would never -- two-faced we're not.) They are grabby. (New Yorkers have a sense of community I have never seen elsewhere.) Whenever I hear people complain about New Yorkers, I am sure they're referrring to the people who came here from Iowa who now call themselves New Yorkers, but ARE NOT! So there.

Sesmark Savory Thins (they're sesame rice crackers), which are very good, and Sesmark Sesame Thins (which are sesame wheat crackers) that are really the best. I noticed them a while ago in the supermarket and decided to try them, and now I can't stop eating them. The sesame thins are my favorites. And triscuits, always.

I'd agree that it's my responsibility to ask what's in the cookies if I place any sort of restrictions on what I eat. Of course, there are a lot of people who fall into the "don't ask, don't tell" category. And like it that way. I remember when Oreos were made with animal fat. I never understood why they were so much better than Sunshine Hydrox. Then someone explained it to me.

Oy vey.

Cold lasagne. From the fridge. Stoned, drunk, or straight. It just tastes better.

Growing up we always drank whole milk, I didn't know another kind existed. Now I rarely drink milk except in coffee or when I eat cereal, and I usually buy 1% milk. Skim milk, besides tasting awful in coffee, turns the coffee to the most unappetizing gray color I have ever seen, it's really revolting. (My "coffee description" -- it has to be the color of a good camel's hair coat, and skim milk will never take it there.) At work there's whole, skim, and half and half in the fridge, and I usually use the whole milk for coffee. Sometimes I splurge with the half & half, and it's like heaven, so creamy and smooth. When I first got back to the States after many years overseas I remember buying a coffee at a shop (probably a Starbucks) and I went to the counter to put milk in it and was confronted with all these thermoses -- whole milk, 2%, 1%, skim, soy, etc., etc. -- I remember laughing out loud at what I thought was the silliness of it. (And the thermoses always remind me of Artoo Detoo).

Which Glass? Seymour would definitely be first choice. I idolize him as much as his siblings do. (And I want to ask him about those bananafish.) Next would be Boo Boo Tanenbaum's son. I'd love to see how that kid grew up (hint to Salinger for another tale).

Quite a while ago there was a thread on banana breads, and this recipe was in it (given by Lesley C). I tried it a while ago -- I was taken with the idea of a banana bread without cinnamon and nutmeg and all the usual suspects, and the use of olive oil made it that much more intriguing. It came out great, everyone liked it, and for some reason whenever I think of the taste the only thing that comes to mind is that it is more "adult" than regular banana bread. (Whatever that means.) Here's a copy of Lesley C's post. oops, sorry. Link to the recipe appears below.

Try mixing tehina with honey. Spread on crackers. Or just dig in with a spoon. Yummm. (This should probably go in that "cravings" thread.)

With all the traveling for Pesach (train to and from DC) I needed page turners, so I'm reading pure drivel these days and enjoying every minute of it. A Nevada Barr mystery and another mystery called The Analyst. Not only do these books require no thought whatsoever, but I can turn several pages at a time without reading them, and miss absolutely nothing. It's amazing. I loved The Corrections. Those are some nasty characters there, and I don't think we're meant to like them, but it didn't stop me from empathizing. They all had their hard times and rough spots. And I loved the foodie stuff. I've bought Haikus for Jews several times, and always end up sending it to someone. They're very funny, and right on the mark.

Halvah belongs to everybody. It is one of my most favorite sweets in the world. When I was a kid I loved to buy the Joyva chocolate covered halva more than anything (even Chunkies). Actually I still do, but as Sandra mentioned it is possibly the most fattening food in existence. I loved buying blocks of it in the shuk in Jerusalem, on any pretext. I would also love to see your recipe Helena (but what is halva cream?). Oh joy. va.

Salinger is just about the least fun person I've ever met. An egocentric, cold-hearted SOB would be an apt description. Never mind Salinger. But I'd love to have dinner with any of the Glass children. An amusing bunch. Salinger gets credit for creating them, but he's not invited to dinner.

In all seriousness -- has anyone ever used juniper berries (in anything other than gin, that is)? Where can they be bought? Have you cooked with them? Do you have recipes? (Do they taste like gin without the kick?) I never thought of them in relation to anything but gin -- but they must have other uses. Mustn't they?

After sampling 17 gins their assessments probably wouldn't be all too trustworthy anyway.

Dark chocolate and coffee, mmmm. Dark chocolate and anything. Dark chocolate all by itself. And some strawberries alongside couldn't hurt.

I had my first martini the other night. Really. I love gin, and usually drink gin and tonics. I like the taste of the gin, and can become thoroughly annoyed if someone gives me a gin and tonic that tastes like tonic. So this thread just caught my eye because ... I was with some friends the other night and the host asked if I wanted a martini, and I said yes with gin please. And he handed me a drink and I took a sip and I said --now THAT has just the right amount of gin. And he started to laugh. And I said why are you laughing? And he said --cakewalk sweetie, that drink is ENTIRELY gin. I just splash some vermouth around the sides of the glass and spill out any that remains. Oh. So now I really need to get my gin priorities right.