Carolyn Tillie

Sorry - a bit late on this one... Already discussed here.

My god, that's revolting! Sounds like the description of a two week old murder crime scene... Or a Quentin Tarentino movie... Or a David Lynch movie - if the mincemeat *breathes* a little. (Actually, I like mincemeat - but image was too funny not to share...)

I would have a bottle of red ready to pour as well - while Chablis or Vouvray is an excellent suggestion, there are the occasional red-wine-only folks who might consider a white wine too "girlie". I'd consider a Pinot (there's that addage that Pinot Noir goes with everything). I often serve a Pinot with fish and think it would complement the cheese as well.

My weekday winery job got a card from Thomas Keller and staff at FL... (the owners eat there frequently).

This is new to me -- I'm assuming it is nothing more than a tender, young lamb's liver (I can't imagine they are actually force-feeding a lamb-i-kins!).

Those hideously ugly, Pillsbury Slice-and-Bake cookies. You know, the ones that come out at Christmas with a Snowman in the middle - but then you see them again at Easter with a chick and at Halloween with a Bat or Pumpkin. The mere thought of that cookie dough going through a mechanized extruder to gain those images scares me.

Ahh yes, I understand this completely, but I have to be missing something ehre, if you can't hold the stem, and are trying to polish the bowl, you have to hold the bowl right? So how can you hold it and polish it without leaving finger smudges where you are holding it? Sounds like a formidable Catch-22 to me. Please point out what I am missing, I would love to know... You polish with a good cloth - and the cloth is that which is touching the glass, not your fingers.

I'm a Veal and Cream woman. Give it to me with young meat, rich and creamy.

I've just recently discovered sherry and adore the lighter, apperitif styles which would work well with soup. If you are married to the wine idea, I think Florida Jim is right on the mark - my initial thought was a California Sparkling (to complement the California-style of the soup) - perhaps a J or a Schramsberg Querencia for a little more fruit.

It's funny... I didn't realize how big the old Magic Pan was. And wondering what happened to them, I did a google search which turned up a few things like: Strawberry Crepe Recipe Potage St. Germain Recipe Chicken Divan Crepe A review of a different creperie in Dallas but this author seemed to believe that The Magic Pan WAS started in California and spread from there. The Orange Spinach Salad Recipe In interesting review of a the Boston creperie Le Gamin but it states that The Magic Pan was Michael Dukakis' favorite restaurant. There were a ton more links of people recalling their memories of the restuarant and a slew of bios of restaurant gurus, chefs, managers, and waiters who all worked at the now-mythical restaurant. Would be an interesting investigation, wouldn't it - to see what happened to it the chain?

From the Wine Spectator: U.K. Wine Buyer gets Tongue Insured

Tell us about the taste -- I was going to by a Piedmont truffle from The Pasta Shop in Berkeley last week, but they wanted $1,400 a pound for White and $800 a pound for Black...

For years I collected books illustrated by Edward Gorey (watch the opening title sequence to PBS Mystery if you are unfamiliar with his work). One of his best Christmas card illustartions were Gorey-esque Victorian characters (a man, a young girl, a lady, a dog, and a young boy with sled), all bringing their Fruitcrakes to a hole sawed into a frozen body of water. The man was already dropping his into the dark, inviting hole and the intent of the others was obvious... Brilliant way to divest one's self of Fruitcake, in my opionion.

I had to say, it was the one part of the article that I didn't quite relish. Wanting to enjoy fine writing about a favored food and having to wade through a large section about the needs of a bodily function was a tad extensive for me. I applaud that the need forced a realization that crepes are indeed wonderful, but I wish it had been written a bit more concisely as it took until the third paragraph before I realized the author was only trying to pee and not something else. The entire first sentence, "THEY REALLY won't let you use the bathroom at the crepe place on 16th" forces the reader to imagine a number of variety of uses for a bathroom (many entirely unpleasant for a food story) as opposed to the real topic of the piece: a delicate, delightful crepe. Just my humble opinion, but with an extensively revealing discovery of crepes as cuisine, I feel the author could have led us to his introspection much more quickly

Yes! Yes! I forgot that -- it was at The Magic Pan that I learned I LIKED Spinach! (Well, I was six or seven and hated everything until then...)

I maybe a bit un pc here but the thought of inexpensive sushi scares the bejeezuz out of me. Well that and the sushi boat thingy. Here's where I get jaded. Yo in Fairfield (yep, here I go again), makes Maki & Temaki in the $3.50 to $7.95 range. But two rolls are huge and incredibly filling. Shawn and I go in and rarely spend more than $10.00 or $12.00 a person, with a great variety. But it is hardly traditional and they offer no Omakase. They just started offering Udon which is pretty great for me when it is cold and rainy, but it IS in a fast-food establishment.

Oh my god. I am sold. When can we go? (I'm out here in Napa, but would love to get together with others!)

Years and years ago (I'm talking twenty to thirty years, here), there was a chain in Southern California called The Magic Pan. It was a beautiful, upscale creperie. When you walked into the restaurant, right up front there was this amazing display of a giant revolving heating system. It is hard to describe but the crepe maker stood in the middle, picked up the crepe pan and dipped it into a large vat of batter, UPSIDEDOWN (there were special crepe pans, made deliberately with a lip around the outside of the pan). The maker would then put the pan down above a single flame. As the multiple pans rotated around him/her, by the time it returned to the maker, than that crepe was completed. I would hazard to guess the rotating cooker had a dozen or so burners on it. When the finished crepe completed its rotation, the *chef* would flip the cooked crepe onto a large pile. From there, they were taken to the kitchen. What I remember most about the restaurant (my mother loved it and we ate at the one in South Coast Plaza often), were a number of things. Crepes aside, they had Potage St. Germain, or Split Pea Soup, but it was served with a tiny carafe of sherry for garnish. I also liked their Steak Diane (made tableside). Crepe-wise, my favorites were always a combination order of Boeuf Bourguignon (crepe filled with tender cuts of savory beef and mushrooms, topped with a thick, red-wine sauce) and a Country Ham Crepe (this one was filled with their version of Jambon Persille, but fried to light crisp). They also had a number of typical 70s variations of Chicken with Cream Sauce, vegetarian crepes with savory mushrooms, etc. Then there were the dessert crepes. Magnificent creations! My favorite (my gosh, all these memories are flooding back!), was a Chocolate Mint Crepe. The restaurant would pre-freeze ice cream in blocks approximately 1" wide by 6" long. The ice cream (in this case, MINT), would be wrapped in a fresh crepe which was topped with slightly-alcoholic, heated chocolate sauce, tons of whip cream, and chocolate-mint sprinkles. There were also Strawberry, Raspberry, and Apricot versions of the crepes. And to think, there are tons more on the menu that I can't recall! But, to answer your questions about savory crepes, the possibilities are endless!

Fall 2002, Volume 2, Number 4 Cover ”Tomato Eater” by Gail Skoff. I guess they liked Ms. Skoff’s presentation in the Spring, 2002 issue. Here are my notes from that presentation: Ms. Skoff is known for her food photography for Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Cooking and Paul Bertolli’s Cooking by Hand cookbooks. This photograph is a close-up of mustached man, eating a tomato with gusto. There was apparently some controversy over the picture as the man’s fingers are very dirty. From the Editor Cook’s Block by Darra Goldstein “…now the world is our oyster, and there’s no red tide stemming it.” Comments on how, as an editor, she has too much to choose from in designing these journals. Contributors – Mini-biographies. Borborygmus - Rumblings from the World of Food Letters to the Editor Mangled Menus by François de Mélogue, an uneducated chef in Damascus, Virginia – Generally ecstatic about the magazine with numerous compliments plus a stab at Arthur Schwartz’s article from Spring, 2001. Schwartz provides a response. The Bloomsday Diet by Robert Palmer, Dana Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, Trinity College – A response to Elizabeth Petrosian’s Winter 2002 piece where Petrosian is corrected on a number of James Joyce’s Ulysses food references. Yak Cheese by Janet Fouts An account of how Jonathan and Nina Stein White, New Jersey cheesemakers, went to Tibet to assist in the development of a Tibetan product suitable for Western consumption and sale. With a one-third, black-and-white photograph of a Yak grazing in eastern Tibet. Scratch ‘n Sniff by Jim Stark Odd account a DJ duo named “German Cassis” and “Serena ‘Swiss Miss’ Jost.” Based in Brooklyn, NY, the duo mixes beats while baking sweets. From their website, www.djscratchandsniff.com: “Original sounds and homemade samples are cut with grooves featuring music created by the duo and their own pool of musicians and composers. The dj's simultaneously bake chocolate chip cookies, seducing the senses with sweet smells and ambient sound--the perfect mix on an audible and edible level.” Whatever. Gastronomic Encounters An announcement of some awards given via the Spring, 2002 contest. Conference An announcement of a The Nineteenth-Century Studies Association 23rd annual conference, the theme of which was “Feasts and Famine.” Query: Tomatoes Author Lawrence Davis-Hollander requests historical and recent recipes from readers for a Tomato cookbook in the works. Orts and Scantlings No Cakes for High Muckamucks by Mark Morton An account of a Native American named Tisquantum, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, and how many native American words became integrated into American vernacular. With a half-page, full-color photograph of a fish’s head, eyes glazed over. Feast For The Eye Mikhail Larionov’s “Still Life with Crayfish by Sonya Bekkerman Larionov is a Russian Cubist painter, circa 1900 to 1930. This article is an interesting account of the artist’s life as well as the art itself in its historical context. With half-page, full-color reproduction of said painting, 1907. Poem Recipe for S&M Marmalade by Judith Pacht “Blood orange should be eaten naked, blushing, cupped in the palm.” …and another twenty- or thirty-some lines… Memoir Remembering Daddy by Miriam Sauls Mildly sappy account of a childhood through the Father’s sharing and love of food. With a full-page, black-and-white photograph of Cousin Sam and brother Chuck after a successful hunt for our game dinner ~picture depicts a dinner, hung by its hind quarters, from a tree, with two gun-wielding men on either side of said venison. Also, a quarter-page, black-and-white photograph of Daddy in his “Kiss the Chef” Christmas toque. Origins Cheesecakes, Junkets, and Syllabubs by Carol Wilson Very fascinating, well-annotated history of three dairy-based desserts, with some Bronze Age and Roman references. Includes five recipes: Tart de Bry, Tart de Bry (modern recipe), Junket, Syllabub, ca. 1800, and Syllabub (modern recipe). With a quarter-page reproduction of a spouted glass vessel for syllabub, made by George Ravenscroft around 1677. From Peter Brears, “Food and Cooking in 17th Century Britain: History and Recipes” (London: English Heritage, 1985). Archive Specialized Cookbooks from “Mad Magazine” by Dick De Bartolo and George Woodbridge A two-page spread of six different cookbook covers: The Little Kids’ Cookbook, Cooking for One, The Dieter’s Cookbook, Cooking for the Filthy Rich, The Teen-Age Cookbook, and The Serviceman’s Cookbook. Very humorous. Visionaries ”The Only Place to Eat in Berkeley”: Hank Rubin and the Pot Luck by Barry Glassner The Pot Luck was a restaurant in Berkeley that was open from the 1960s into the 1970s. This is an account of the owner, the complications involved with opening the restaurant, its traditions, menu, and influence on the world of wine. (Rubin became wine editor for Bon Appetit magazine in 1969. A rather inspiration story. With a full page, black-and-white photograph of Hank Rubin and a quarter-page, black-and-white painting of the Pot Luck restaurant by Lou Macouillard from Ford Times, May, 1971. Investigations From Cave to Café: Artists Gatherings by Robert Chirico Interesting story of where artists throughout history tend to gather – and why and how food became an integral part of their gatherings. Very well researched and cohesive. With a full-page, black-and-white photograph of A Back Table at the Five Spot, New York City. Interesting that Gastronomica doesn’t reference the date of this picture. A surf of the web produced this link about the picture (which was shot in 1957): http://jacketmagazine.com/06/hoover.html Also, a half-page, black-and-white reproduction of Johan Tobias Sergel’s Youths Playing “Klyfva Wigg”, 1791; a quarter-page, black-and-white reproduction of Jan Steen’s Meeting of the Rhectoricians (again, not dated, but researched to reveal Steen as a Dutch Baroque painter, c. 1625 to 1679); and finally, a full-page, full-color reprint of Philip de Konnick’s Bacchanalia, 1654. Stunning. Just Like Home: “Home Cooking” and the Domestication of the American Restaurant by Samantha Barbas How, starting around World War I, the role of cooking in middle-class homes changed with an account how, in 1924, the National Restaurant Association presented an exhibition on the art of “commercializing home cooking.” Heavily annotated research. With a full-page, full-color reproduction of the February, 1927 cover of The American Restaurant: The Magazine for Eating Places; a half-page, black-and-white reproduction of an advertisement for ”None Such Mince Pies” from The American Restaurant, November, 1925, p. 63; and a one-third page, black-and-white reproduction of ”Grey Manor, Dayton, Ohio” from The American Restaurant, March, 1926, p. 45. Past Pleasures ”Deviled Ham Untouched by Human Hands”: Food-Related Vintage Stereoviews by Jeanne Schinto “A stereoview consists of two small square photographs (usually three by three inches), mounted side by side…[they] are meant to be viewed through a stereoscope, which causes the brain to fuse the two flat photographs into a three-dimensional one.” This is pretty fascinating article by virtue of the fact that I never knew there was a such a history about them AND that there were so many diverse images related to food. Four different stereoviews were reproduced: 1; black-and-white, one-third of one page, of Flora Muybridge, pregnant, with a bough of pears n.d., 2; sepia-toned, two-thirds over two pages, depicting a man, hefting a large knife over a large egg, out of which is emerging a live chicken’s head (not a chick!), with the caption, ”Great Scott! I don’t remember ordering chicken for breakfast!” Keystone View Company, 1907, 3; black-and-white, one-third of one page, State Dinner for Prince Henry, East Room of the White House. Stereoview from The Imperial Series, H.C. White Company, 1902, and 4; black-and-white, one-third of one page, Liberty Bell of Apples at the World’s Fair, 1893. Working on the Food Chain Big Cheese, Small Business by Beth Dooley In depth article about artisinal cheese makers, Mary and Dave Falk of LoveTree Farmstead Cheese in the Trade Lake area of northern Wisconsin. At The Movies Bent Hamer’s “Psalms from the Kitchen by Jim Stark From IMDB.com: ”Salmer fra kjøkkenet” is a very enjoyable feel good-film. It is based on true events that took place in the 50's, when Swedish scientists measured the movements of housewives to make more rational kitchens (It's true!). Although director Bent Hamer twitches (of course) the truth a bit, the film takes a basis in these experiments. Encouraged by their marvelous discoveries, the Swedish scientists decide to expand their experiments to include elderly single Norwegian men. Because the film was in post-production during the release of the journal, The Gastronomica article is an English translation of an excerpt of the shooting script. With a full-page, full-color photograph of Isak (Joachim Clameyer) at his kitchen table – the gentleman is looking away from the camera but is holding a knife above a table-full of partially butchered meats. Also, a half-page diagram of a housewife’s travels between various places in the kitchen during a four-week period. Poem Aunty’s Eggplant by Cynthia Imperatore Note from author: I asked my ninety-year-old aunt for the eggplant recipe she had taught my father, her younger brother, now long dead. As she recounted the process, fixed in her mind through years of repetition, I remembered my father’s own elaborate preparation and recorded her words, which appear in italics. As follows, the first few lines: Eggplant was an all-day affair in my house growing up Medium sized, firm. Deep purple. an affair of the heart and of the palate, a ritual. Feel for the lighter ones – less seeds. Another two-dozen or so lines continue… With a full-page, black-and-white photograph of several eggplants lovingly displayed in a decorative, porcelain bowl. Photographs Mentawai Album by Charles Lindsay Charles Lindsay is a photographer but his account of consuming monkey head soup is nothing compared to the full-color photographs. A full-page depiction of Monkey head soup, a page-and-a-half photograph of Tumbu holding a fruit bat (ultimately consumed as well), a full-page of Bai Lau Lau and Tingi, a mother and child and a half-page shot of a pot full of grubs taken from a sagu trunk, to be cooked in bamboo. All pictures taken in 1989. Libations Liquid History by Noah Rothbaum Amazing account of Salvatore Calabrese, who is trying to track down historical bottles of cognac, such as those that were bottled when Thomas Jefferson was President. With a one-third page, full-color photograph of Salvatore Calabrese at The Library Bar, The Lanesborough Hotel, London. WWFood France: Dining with the Doom Generation by Lucie Perineau A somewhat depressing account of vegetarians in France. With a full-page, full-color photograph of three people dining with the caption, Eating on the Edge of the Night, Nimes, France, 2002 Chef’s Page Beyond the Berlin Wall by Marcel Biró, with Shannon Kring Biró Heartfelt account of apprentice chefs working in East Germany. “I have lived in two different worlds, one of deprivation and oppression, the other of abundance and choice. In moving from the former to the latter, I have come to fully comprehend the value of freedom.” Notes on Vintage Volumes The Mince Pie That Launched the Declaration of Independence and Other Recipes in Rhyme by Jan Longone Charming, whimsical accounting and reprinting of five rhymed recipes, from 1864 to 1927: Oyster Cocktail, Stewed Duck and Peas, Corn Bread and Boston Brown Bread, Old Virginia Mince Pie, and Cheese Radish. The first four lines of the Oyster Cocktail, for example are: If the right amount you take, This will just seven cocktails make. In each glass three raw oysters toss, And stand aside till you make your sauce. With a half-page, black-and-white reproduction of Recipe for Cheese Relish from “A Book of Practical Recipes.” Compiled and Published by the Ladies of the South Side Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, PA., March, 1907. plus Cover of “A Poetical Cook-Book.” Philadelphia: Caxton Press of C. Sherman, Son & Co., 1864.. Review Essays Salt by Dana Polan A compare and contrast of two books: Salt: a World History by Mark Kurlansky and Salt: Grain of Life by Pierre Laszlo, translated by Mary Beth Mader. With two facing, two-thirds page, black-and-white engravings from Georgius Agricola, “De re metalica,” Book XII. Basil: in Officina Frobeniana, 1561, pp. 450-451. Chocolate: From Bean to Bar by Ellen M. Schnepel A compare and contrast of three books: The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes by Maricel E. Presilla, Chocolate: The Nature of Indulgence by Ruth Lopez, and Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate by Susan J. Terrio. With a half-page, full-color photograph of Venezuelan cacao workers. From Maricel E. Presilla, “The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes” (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2001), p. 33) The Bookshelf Books in Review include: Hangering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration by Hasia Diner Eat My Words: Reading Women’s Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote by Janet Theophano Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle In the Shadows of State and Capital: The United Fruit Company, Popular Struggle, and Agrarian Restructuring in Ecuador, 1900-1995 by Steve Striffler Eating Right in the Renaissance by Ken Albala French Food: On the Table, On the Page, and In French Culture edited by Lawrence R. Schehr and Allen S. Weiss Remembrance of Repasts: An Anthropology of Food and Memory by David E. Sutton The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference by Elizabeth Schneider Cakewalk: Adventures in Sugar with Margaret Braun by Margaret Braun Bookends A few more shorter reviews: The English Table: Trifle by Helen Saberi and Alan Davidson Teapots Transformed: Exploration of an Object by Leslie Ferrin A Veritable Scoff: Sources on Foodways and Nutrition in Newfoundland and Labradour by Maura Hanrahan and Marg Ewtushik Lagniappe Nero Blanc’s Recipe for the Perfect Yule Log by Nero Blanc Another crossword puzzle.

I have an open house and make Cassoulet - friends drop by throughout the day (or Christmas Eve) for a glass of wine, a bowl of cassoulet, a gift, and a hug.

From today's Napa Register, the synopsis is that the tasters involved didn't think 2000 Napa Cabs will age especially well, but are currently pairing nicely with food: Plays Well With Food. I agree with previous posters on looking for a Port - best bet for great lay-down wine!

I don't keep my butter in that type of thing, just out on a plate, next to my toaster. I use a stick a week and have no problems.

Topfenpalatschinken. Americanized version:Austrian Sweet Cheese-filled Crepes with Custard

Amen, brother. I have often wondered why they don't purchase the rights to show Julia's original shows. It is funny - the years I didn't have TFN, I desperately wanted it, sufficing my cooking-show-watching to PBS, Discovery H&L, and HGTV. Then I realized that the other networks' shows were superior. Has anyone seen Wine Television? Pure informational from all over the world. Fascinating, well-done, and enticing. TFN has kitchy programs about America's Beer Consumption (or things like that). I'm kinda surprised TFN hasn't collaborated with Saveur to survey more world foods.

I take it all back You mean about the Snarky comments? Thanks.