ChefCarey

Hmmm...I seem to have executed yet another Paul Simon and elicited the sounds of silence - you much appreciated responders notwithstanding!

Why, thank you kindly, Ma'am. Did you see the pieces leading up to this one? Here they are, chronologically: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=94110 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=96274 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=98382 And Maggie and Dave have one more piece that I've submitted for publication here, but I have no idea when it will make an appearance. ← And #4: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1398531 All I can say is WOW. I rarely get to check into this site as much as I would like, and have not read the Daily Gullet due to time constraints. So, when I logged in this morning and saw the title, I was intrigued enough to read. And I'm hooked. Your writing is like a drug, yet it wasn't easy to locate the previous parts of the series. For the benefit of anyone else who may find themselves in the same predicament as I, I've quoted from the 4th installment where you've supplied links to the other three. My FIL was 25th Inf Div, (from Hawaii) and I believe he was in 'Nam '67-'68 (in addition to early 60's, I believe, as an "adviser") I don't know the exact Unit but I believe he was involved with retrieving the wounded and dead soldiers, and I know he was involved somehow with the Tunnels and recon. (Maybe the 66th?) But your writing makes me realize how much more I wish he would speak about his time there. For many years, he would not speak at all about it. And as he gets on in years, I see how important it is that we not wait to ask the questions. Thank you for this; I have thoroughly enjoyed spending most of my day going back and reading all your installments. When is the next, and when does your book come out? (PS tell your agent the back story is addicting and if omitted, would be like the missing secret ingredient in a treasured recipe.) "Please, sir, I want some more." Charles Dickens ← Thanks for the very kind kudos. And it was nice of you to take the time to look for and post the links to the other pieces. I am currently about 3/4 of the way through the writing of a culinary mystery novel. Should be wrapping it up in the next couple of weeks, I think I have some more pieces from the memoir that would be appropriate for this venue I think. I'll work on them and try to get them to Maggie and Dave here. No timetable on the publishing of the memoir yet as I'm not yet finished and have been sidetracked working on the novel. Oh, yeah, I, too, was in the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1967-68. Thanks again.

Amen brother. If only they would learn...and not forget so soon ← Well, you can fool some of the people all of the time.

You got the pleasure of doing your own burning? Hmmm, I assumed everyone contracted that out to the guys that were going to try to kill them that night. Maybe it was just because we were right across from division headquarters.

That is seriously one funny sentence... Thanks for making me laugh so hard. ← It wasn't funny at the time!

I hope to hell that light colonel wasn't out there doing a demo.

Yeah, we didn't get one of those stimulators. We were responsible for our own stimulation.

I'm envious. I haven't had any *really* good corn since I grew Silver Queen in my garden back in the 70s.

I'm not really toying with you intentionally. Did you see the three previous pieces I alluded to (and linked to) in my above response to Melianne? They are rife with Ordinary stuff. And the only other piece I have in the can here is about my year in Vietnam.

If you *really* need a fix you can check out my poultry prose. Cluck! ← I just LOVE that story! ← Well, I understand those girls. Maybe it's because I have a bird brain.

You're quite welcome. I hope you enjoy them!

Why, thank you kindly, Ma'am. Did you see the pieces leading up to this one? Here they are, chronologically: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=94110 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=96274 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=98382 And Maggie and Dave have one more piece that I've submitted for publication here, but I have no idea when it will make an appearance.

Thanks, Zoe. I was definitely one of those who rejected everything packaged and corporate. And then I did all those years in the city in Memphis. And now I've come full circle. I'm living in rural Oregon - right in the middle of wine country. Go to wineries every weekend. Organic garden, all locally raised lamb, beef and pigs. I love it! This weekend I am judging a Texas Longhorn (raised here locally) chili contest.

Thanks for the addiction! I'll keep at it! Here's a temporary fix for you - this is the first piece I ever wrote on eGullet. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=93380 ← OMG! How could I have missed this? It's hilarious! I can just imagine "the girls" kicking that poor little rooster's butt! I know birds can be nasty little buggers having witnesses some duck on duck violence myself. Horrible! Just horrible! Soooo, will you autograph my copy of your upcoming book? I can't wait to check out your other books too. I just love a good sense of humor... ← I'll tell you this the very first place I'll sign the book will be New Jersey! I seem to have struck a chord with some of you there. I lived in new York a while and have limited experience with Jersey. Most of my experience taking there the form of basic training for Vietnam at Ft. Dix. In fact, much of the next piece I have slated for eGullet takes place there.

Thanks for the addiction! I'll keep at it! Here's a temporary fix for you - this is the first piece I ever wrote on eGullet. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=93380

Thanks, Doc!

Well, I loved just about all the music we had at The Ordinary. As the various bands in the Bay Area (some quite well known) would break up and reincarnate they would often play for me. The lead singer with the Joy of Cooking, the first rock group fronted by women, Terry Garthwaite, sang with a traditional New Orleans jazz group that was my house band on Saturday nights for a couple of years. (They were also, incidentally, the "house band" for the Oakland A's.) We didn't do disco. And our garb was, for the most part, quasi-hippie, I suppose - jeans and "muscle shirts" or T-shirts. Oh, I got my smoker just in time for memorial Day and smoked ribs - with a dry rub - and made barbecue sauce and potato salad and baked beans. Was forced to drink some Oregon pinot noirs and syrahs with it. Her are the sauce and dry rub for those of you who want to give it a shot: Barbecue Sauce There are food writers out there who would have us believe the word "barbecue" comes to us from the French "barbe a queue," which translates as "beard to tail." Far fetched, I think. Several 18th and 19th century New World travelers and writers mentioned "barbacoa" or "borbecus" — raised wooden frameworks used as beds or for smoking meats. This linguistic ancestry seems much more likely, given the "racks" or grids on which we "barbecue.” Time Investment Your Time: Five minutes mincing the onions garlic and ginger. Five minutes assembling the mise en place. Two minutes sautéing and adding ingredients. Dish Time: Fifteen minutes simmering. Ingredient Quantity Onions, yellow, minced 2 Cups Garlic, finely minced 12 Cloves Fresh ginger, finely minced 2 Tablespoons Peanut oil ½ Cup Cayenne 1 TBSP Chile powder 4 Tablespoons Catsup 6 cups Dry mustard 3 Tablespoons Dry red wine 2 Cups Apple cider vinegar 1 Cup Apple juice 1 Cup Brown sugar 1 Cup Paprika 5 Tablespoons Soy sauce 1 Cup Tabasco To taste Pepper, black 1 Teaspoon Method: 1) "Sweat" onions, garlic and ginger in the peanut oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until just soft. . 2) Raise heat, add chile powder and sauté about 60 seconds. 3) Dissolve dry mustard in one cup of the red wine. 4) Add all remaining ingredients to pan and thoroughly incorporate. 5) Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer about 15 minutes. Note: For a marinade or a "basting" sauce, dilute one cup of Barbecue Sauce with three cups of water. Note: For chicken or fish, add ½ cup of lemon juice to Barbecue Sauce. Dry Rub Ingredient Quantity Cayenne pepper ¼ Cup Chili powder ¼ Cup Paprika ½ Cup Black pepper, finely ground ½ Cup Garlic powder ¼ Cup Cumin 2 TBSP Dry mustard 1 TBSP Celery salt 3 TBSP

Thanks, Jason. Kind words. I really hate like hell to be so damn needy about comments here. I'm gonna level with you. My agent is convinced that folks are not interested in what was going on in the 60's and 70's - at least what was going on in my life during that era. He wants me to table all that stuff for now and stick to my 20 years teaching culinary arts. True, there's plenty of ammo in those 20 years (and the second half of my idea of what the book should be has all that.) I remain convinced that folks *are* interested in that era and specifically how I got in this business and to the point where I am today. Nearly all my interactions with the musicians, poets, sculptors, antiwar activists and writers are left out of the pieces here because we are doing food. (Well, a little of it will be in the Intermezzo piece.) So, even though my pieces here always have several thousand readers, I whorishly solicit comments. I want readers to tell me if I am on track. You ain't a writer if you ain't got readers. I'm glad to see you're on my team.

Ah, seven grueling weekends cooking joints of meat, staring down wenches bodices, pinching their asses and quaffing ale. (Well, that's how I would have done it anyway.) Yeah, Hugo took a shine to me for some reason. Thanks for your kind words - they do keep me going... and writing.

Thanks, R&R, yeah I thought meeting the Wolf Lady was going to ultimately involve my epitaph. ← What a taciturn, if persistent, readership we have here.

Thanks, R&R, yeah I thought meeting the Wolf Lady was going to ultimately involve my epitaph.

Thanks! Actually, I spent some time in one of those New jersey swamps just before the 70's. I had my basic training at Ft. Dix.

No, it's great. It's just that I've been trying to score some acid for the past week, like you said I should, so I could finish the story. That stuff's not easy to find in Wichita, man. ← I can relate. Can I be arrested if I give you my Wichita connection? Of course he's probably been dead for decades.

Damn, this is the fewest replies I've had to any of my pieces here to date. Am I boring you folks?

Unfortunately, I too, had my own experience. This was included in the piece I originally submitted for publication here, but the piece was *way* too long and large chunks were edited out. Dave, as usual, did an impressive job on the editing. This piece *does* relate to consumption and involves Campbell who helped me build The Ordinary. Wolfing it Down I’ve only taken acid a couple of times in my life. Once in 1971 and then in 1972 through 1974. The first time was an accident. Campbell took me to a party in Marin County. We were still building The Ordinary. A bunch – at least a hundred I would say - of arty types in an affluent area. We went in and there were a couple of punch bowls on the table in the dining room. I immediately helped myself while Campbell looked for the hostess in the mob. Had a couple of cups. Not bad. Since I liked the punch in this bowl I decided I would stick with it. Campbell still hadn’t returned and I had a couple of more cups – the cups were very nice, might have been crystal - and made very small talk with a couple by the bowl. I had just filled my cup a fifth time when he finally returned, hostess in tow, and introduced me to her. The first thing she said was, “Oh, if you want to get high the bowl on the left has LSD in it, the one on the right is pristine.” I shook her hand, said it was very nice to meet her and casually asked, “Let’s just suppose hypothetically I wanted to get high, how much punch do you think I would need?” She kinda looked me up and down (6’ – around 190 pounds) and said. “Oh, a guy of your size, maybe a half cup at most.” Huh. I thanked her. If you can’t guess which bowl I’d been drinking out of, to paraphrase Bugs Bunny, you don’t know me vewy well, do you? I was fine for a short while. Campbell introduced me to a few artists and pretenders and I just happened to comment to him as we stood chatting, “You know I think it’s neat the way she has used those pulsating green, neon lights to outline the retro 50’s blond sideboard she has here in the dining room. She’s very artistic” “What lights?” he queried. At least there was a sideboard. Good and bad ensued. There were tears, lots of laughs. It didn’t just go on all night, either. Lasted a couple of days. . There was only one moment of true horror. Oh, the horror. I had to go outside for a while. I was hot. I met an attractive hippie young lady out there. Before I relate this incident, please bear in mind that I had never had a psychedelic in my life, was pretty sure I never would have one and had had at least eight times the amount recommended for an experienced druggie. If you have no imagination, or have never ingested a psychedelic, go do that before you read the following. I’ll wait. She said let’s sit in my van and smoke a joint. How could I refuse? I said sure. We sat in the back seat with the sliding side door open a few inches for ventilation. We had chatted a little when I felt hot breath and a wet something in my right ear. Turned out to be a nose. No, this ain’t a sex episode. I turned to look and there was a genuine, dyed-in-the-fur wolf staring me right in the face. Mouth open, salivating and drooling on me. For the first time I noticed the strong musky smell in the van. Before I could react to this, I felt hot breath in my left ear. I turned that way. Another wolf. I never dreamed I would go this way. Either I was about to be torn to shreds or…bitten and turned into…me, a werewolf? Who would have ever thunk it? There was a full moon. Larry Talbot (always loved Lon Chaney Jr.) I’m coming! Wait for me! We’ll make a great team! Tear out throats together! Strike fear into the hearts of women and children! Hard as this may be to believe, I was speechless, gasping - and lucky I didn’t shit my pants. She said, “Oh, those are my pets, Luna and Wolfram. You’ll be fine, just don’t make any sudden moves or try to touch me.” I figured it would probably be hopeless to try to explain to them I would never dream of touching their mistress. That really had been in my plans, of course. I was praying that mind reading didn’t number among the traits present in the impressive and considerable survival skill set displayed by canis lupus. So I asked her if she thought it would be all right with them if I just slipped out – slowly, very slowly, of course. She said sure. I did. Slowly. Very slowly. Back inside I was sputtering, trying to explain what had just happened to me to a couple of stoned pretenders. They laughed. “Oh, you met the Wolf Lady. Stay away from her.” No shit.