suzilightning

one more for me. someone put Kitchen Detective by Christopher Kimball (the bow tie wearing dude from Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen) into my cubby at work. i really like the way this guy writes and the recipes i've tried so far work pretty well. next up: blue cheese dressing to go over my retro iceberg wedge and jersey tomatoes for my birthday dinner.

ohhhhh... johnnyd mrsadam and i have been talking about growing up on the east end of long island and foraging for beachplums - especially to make jams or jellies. i remember steaming our crabs and lobsters with rockweed( we called them poppers or sputnik grass). do you gather irish moss like we did then use it to make dishes like blanc mange? i am loving the pictures - in fact i can almost smell the low tide and know i'm home many thanks

after reading maggie's piece on her parents' 50th anniversary(a truly wonderful piece of writing) i made myself one fried egg with turkey bacon and whole wheat toast. since we only have turkey bacon in the house(the 115 lb. guy whose choleserol count FINALLY exceeded his weight by 17 points won't eat anything but AND insists that the door to the bedroom be closed whenever cooking is going on - his clothes might be impregnated by the smells don't you know and wear out quicker) i had to substitute the bacon fat with some olive oil and it was very good. i'm not a runny yolk kind of girl so i basted the eggs until the yolk was set and the white was crispy. the extra oil was drizzled over the piece of toast that held the bacon. this took me back to when i was a small child and it was wonderful. will i eat this again? of course. next month. and i will savor it for it's unctiousness. in the meantime johnnybird will eat his fried egg sandwich on white bread with mayo and ketchup.

a photo worthy meal but HIMSELF won't teach me to use his playtoy so.... blue ribbon meatloaf - beef, pork and veal mixed with dijon mustard, salt and pepper, bread crumbs, egg, thyme and onions that had been softened then boiled down with a bottle of newcastle brown ale. shallots and yukon gold potatoes - tossed with olive oil, sea salt and white pepper stuffed tomatoes - hollowed out tomatoes stuffed with onions, tomato concasse, grated asiago and parmesan, eggs, fresh parsleyand tarragon and zucchini maybe i can get HIM to photgraph the leftovers johnnybird's starter was some whole wheat bread spread with soy margarine, cut into quarters then two were topped with prosciutto de san danielle and artichoke hearts and two were topped with prosciutto de san danielle and olive halves. also served some green olives stuffed with provolone

i have used a garbage bowl since i was trained by "father phil" in the kitchen at the chequit inn on shelter island. it was sop. we had other bowls for the finished mise. it saves time and agita!!! tonight i did meatloaf, stuffed tomatoes and oven roasted potatoes. two of the products required onions. just peeled and popped the peelings into the garbage bowl, finely chopped the onion and put what i would need for the tomatoes into another bowl since i didn't need to cook them at the moment. shallot skins? into the garbage bowl. garlic skins? into the garbage bowl. tomato seeds? into the garbage bowl. cooked off fat from the meatloaf? not into the garbage bowl. into a saved instant coffee can then into the garbage

amen, sister. amen. though now, after reading maggie's piece on bacon and eggs and this - how about a bacon cheesburger with fried egg?!!

oh, my! oh, my! i am just melting in all the sensuality of your prose. mo dowd doesn't have anything on you, maggie!! now i am craving bacon and eggs and i'm at work . guess i'll just have to fry some up when i get home. wonderful, beautiful words and imagry. thank you

don't know about Southern potato salad but we do it two ways in our house: if german style(potatoes, bacon, dill, salt and pepper, salad oil, vinegar, a pinch of sugar and grated red onion) no eggs if homestyle(potatoes, salt and pepper, miracle whip, chopped spanish onion, peas) then yes eggs i have been known to make small bowls of each - german for johnnybird, homestyle for me

thinking about all of you as the storm approaches - even if it isn't up to hurricane speed yet. oops... just turned cnn on at work and it was upgraded to a cat 1. take care and bring out those cans of beans and camp stoves.

yesterday's lunch: macaroni salad coleslaw coffee milk turkey hill ice cream sandwich i really wanted that coleslaw

last night: cooked 1/2 lb of penne. while it was cooking away took two tomatoes and made concasse of them, thoroughly washed 2 bunches of arugula then cut into 1/2" chiffondade, a handful of capers, a handful of black olives, extravirgin olive oil, salt and white pepper. tossed everything together and topped with strips of parmesan. after dinner made chicken chasseur. took the meat off the bones and put it back in the sauce. when i get home will reheat it and put it over some noodles. think i'll pull a packet of green and wax beans out of the freezer to go with it.

since my mom died 15 years ago i haven't had to deal with this problem . my sister's birthday was always celebrated on thanksgiving day (she was born on that day). because of our family birthday tradition ( see the birthday dining thread in special occasions) this meant out to a restaurant or lasagna. now adays i make 2 loaves of portugese sweet bread, onion jam, soup of some sort, a green bean casserole and ship it up to my mil with johnnybird. i then head out to the hawkwatch and come home to eat whatever i want, usually french onion soup. john gets to see his mom and siblings then goes over to his uncle's house to see his dad, aunts, uncles and cousins. the next day, if it's nice, they go golfing. winning situation all around.

peppyre- how was the party? what did you finally decide on serving? how many times were the police called - oops, sorry. you aren't in poughkeepsie any pictures?

and linda ellerbee (who also shared birthday with Julia and you, trish) wrote about finishing her birthday hike from the head of the Thames to London two days early(13 August) only to call her office and be told that Julia had died. her reaction: "Nonsense. We share the same birthday. We always exchange cards. Julia is going to be ninety-two on Sunday. How can she be dead?" this is from her new book Take Big Bites. one of the best books on her relationship to food and people and travel and life.

WOO-HOO!! a starred review from the August Library Journal and the review starts with the phrase: In his penetrating first book the review also mentions the raw-milk cheese issue, zagat and michelin (pages 115-116 for librarians playing along at work ) and on page 116 Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France gets a star, too

blt on toasted wheat bread with miracle whip the tomatoes are finally coming in up here and this is the best way i know to eat them

prepping for the hawkwatch season (and future renovation of the kitchen) so i have a few more books to send off to good homes. if you are interested please pm me with your snail mail address. i answer in the order received. Dining and the Opera in Manhattan (one copy left) The Dione Lucas Book of French Cooking by Dione Lucas edited to remove claimed book(s)

lucy- hope you don't need to have an xray taken and are suspected of cannibalism like this poor guy was here in new jersey http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-...n-fingers_x.htm

Funny you should mention that book, Alex. I just saw it yesterday at the book store. . .it was absolutely adorable (and somewhat shocking, too! ). What photos! off topic - we have Bad Cat. have passed it around work, friends, neighbors and all agree it is a hoot. each person choses their favorite cat and put's their name on it(i'm page 8, neighbor carol page 116). on topic- i'll smell the melons but not slobber over them - EWWWWW

and one has just opened in the new section of the Rockaway Mall - just past the Olive Garden haven't been there yet and not sure now if i'm going to try it

i must be the odd duck at this party. i have one small bookcase in my kitchen and that's it. i go through my magazines, copy out the recipes i want then pass them on to someone else(egulleteer or friends). actually just put an order in for the first cookbook i've bought in years: Soup:A Kosher Collection by pam reiss. i borrowed it on ILL but there were so many good recipes i bought the book rather than copy them all. so add one for me maggie!

Hanami prawn crackers from AA Groceries. 60% of my daily sat fat if i eat them all. crispy, salty... uh, i think this belongs somewhere else...

I used to make "farmer's breakfast" for my kids--slice and fry potatoes; when they're almost done add chopped onion, then eggs and cheese. The kids called it "slop." Looked awful, tasted good. ←

well, johnnybird's breakfast last saturday was leftover oddles of noodles ... and a guiness. this was drunk to dull the pain of the sprained knee and broken ankle he got from falling down an 8 foot cliff in the dark since he had to walk 3 miles out of the woods to his car course we didn't know the ankle was broken until today when he had it xrayed since he wouldn't let me take him to the ER

so very, very nice, snowangel. the picture was well worth the wait.