BarbaraY

I think the only job I've ever had that I hated was one where the business was sold and I stayed on. I had been head cook for 6 years and for some reason the new owner/chef treated my like I was a lazy, incompetant idiot. He and his brother dumbed down everything. I couldm't even get an interview for a year even though I sent out resumes and applications all over the place. I still get POd about it. Noone has treated me that way before or since. My favorite jobs have been in small, historic hotels where I was given pretty much free rein to make good food. One of those sold to people who didn't have a clue but I managed to get out after several weeks. Needless to say they went bankrupt.

Since I'm way out here on the left coast, I don't expect to see them here for a while. This seems like it would be the perfect answer for us. Any time we go out to dine, we are served way too much food and always have to bring half of our meal home. It's usually nicer to eat it while it's hot. Small desserts would suit me because those are often served in enormous portions. It's ridiculous. Is this backlash against the huge portion trend?

I tried it once many, many years ago. I usually like bitterish flavors but this was more than I could handle. The recipe I used at the time didn't call for salting it as seems to be common. Perhaps I should try it again next time I go to an Oriental market.

Beautiful pictures. The octopi are especially beautiful.

I like the idea of a book that is for the foods that people eat every day as opposed to anything fancy. I don't cook restaurant food at home (very often), I cook home style cooking. I'm sure that the average person in Japan doesn't serve the elaborate meals so often pictured, as in The Foods of the World book. It does have some excellent recipes but many are outside anything I would feel like making.

Still waiting for chestnuts here. I'm sure they're ready for market but they aren't sold here until Christmas time. The ones I got last year weren't very good because they were old. I had to throw away many of them

If you use warm water and stir it longer, you might find it more pungent. Then let it rest for the flavor to develope.

Lazy Daisy Cake, just like Grandma taught me. Love that caramelly, coconut, and pecan topping.

This is all interesting to me since I've never actually been to Chicago. Passed by one afternoon on our way to South Bend and that's it. Will keep reading.

(Groan! I have been lurking for some time but have had nothing to add. After seeing the squash and chicken, I think I need the Della Croce book. I have her Ultimate Pasta and really enjoy using some of the recipes.

I gave up on wooden salad bowls long ago. Too hard to keep clean. I don't see any difference in my salads. Could be wrong, though.

Alway keep a bag of frozen potstickers on hand. When in doubt eat potstickers. I like the Claim jumper beef pies but they are just pure, tasty calories. California Pizza Kitchen thin crust White Pizsza is a handy thing to have around for a quick lunch. Always Ice Cream.

I made my chicken meatballs last evening. Sorry, no photos because I didn't think about them until after dinner. I didn't add any onion and think that would have been good in them. My daughter said, "I love those weird little balls." Served with steamed rice, simmered kabocha, and green beans with sesame dressing.

Laughing at all the names for the egg/toast. We call them Bulls Eye Eggs. This looks like one of those projects that I would have enjoyed working on. I have some antique recipes in my collection but nothing like yours.

I'm glad I got here before this blog was locked. I have something akin to nostalgia for somewhere I've never been. It is just too beautiful to believe. As to the mushrooms, the first is called Earth Star here, I don't have the Latin name handy. The Coprinus Comatus is called Shaggy Mane here. I've been told that they are edible but the ones that pop up in my herb bed turn slimy in no time and I've never had an urge to try them. In many ways Umbria seems to be very similar to this area, perhaps that's why so many Italians settled here in earlier times. I used to love to go to our neighbor's for lunch in the summer. We ate in the wine cellar where it was cooler (pre-A/C). Terrific pasta and really sourish wine, at least to my child's taste. Thank you for a wonderful blog. It has truly made me, once again, want to go to Italy.

No olive oil for me in Chinese dishes. I have some recipes that call for finishing with a bit of chicken fat or lard. I often use sesame oil as a finishing touch. Love that flavor as long as it's not overdone. I use plain vegetable oil if I can't get good peanut oil.

One other incident that this thread brought to mind. One of the specials one evening was something or other sauteed in white wine. A woman requested that we give her husband the wine because she didn't drink.

I have seen this more times than I can count. Why does anyone want there food cremated? I've often had people who are probably inexperienced ask for medium rare and send it back again and again because they really wanted it well done but not dry. Puzzlement!

I recently rearranged mine and rather sorted them by ethnicity but not completely.Then there is a shelf of restaurant books and on the bottom shelves are the ones that are too big to fit on the other shelves except the "Beautiful" books that are even taller and they sit on top of another bookcase. It would probably confuse others but I know where everything is. When one of my sisters visited a while back she would take out a book and put it back in the "wrong" place and I would find it after she was gone. Mexican cooking all stays together for Heaven's sake! I thought it was obvious but maybe not. A while back my second grandson and his family were visiting and he asked, "Grams, where is your Hungarian Cookbook?" He laughed when I pointed them out. He knew that I would know right where it was or had better be.

Not disgusting but I still think it was kind of odd. A couple of guys came in for lunch and one ordered a BBQ beef sandwich and requested that I cut it up on his plate??????? I would have understood had he been disabled but he wasn't. I told the boss I wasn't going to do it. After all he had a knife and fork on his plate and I had about 20 orders working.

I woke pondering this topic this morning. Gives people a good idea of how involved I am with this subject when it's the first thought of the morning even before I think of my first cup of tea. I have a long way to go in understanding Japanese food. I have yet to taste natto or pickled squid guts so I have no idea how I would react to something so alien to my environment. I think one of the more difficult things for Westerners to accept is the Japanese breakfast that is so very different than a Western breakfast. I go most days to Yasuko-sans site to see what they have eaten that day. It is interesting to me since she usually does traditional food with a few foreign dishes only occasionally. I'll know I'm making progress when I can make a Japanese dish without going to a recipe book

So looking forward to this blog. I have long wanted to see Italy but I think that it won't happen so You will have to be my resource. Love the house, the fridge would drive me up the wall.

[quote name=Hiroyuki' date='Oct 2 2006, 02:26 AM I should have added this question when I started this thread: Do you think that Japanese cuisine is worth learning? I do believe so. I believe that Japanese cuisine has so much to offer to the rest of the world. For instance, the hierarchical structure of a Japanese meal with rice at the top and the wide variety of ingredients especially fish and other seafood. I do think Japanese cooking is definitely worth learning. What brought me to eGullet in the first place was researching Japanese food. Like Suzy, I study anything I can find on Japanese cooking, then sort it out in my own mind as to authenticity.

My question is, does your daughter like the stuff he made? If not just toss it. It isn't worth the hassle and it looks to me like he's jerking your strings. Don't let it happen, as stated above life is to short.

Your blog is leaving me speechless. You and your friends did a beautiful job. Lovely food, wines, and cocktails. And then finish with Sushi! What more could one ask for.