maggiethecat

Dave: This would make a great After School Special. The whys and hows of sensitivity to asparagus pee.

Grrrr. I just knew someone would bring up mortadella! It's better than baloney.

I rest my case.

I tried a bite of one when I was five. Baloney has never touched my lips since. Ever.

I love you, Ruth. That is exactly what cilantro smells like! But, I like it anyway.

Hate to raise your hopes! Well, now, if I can't come up with the spare change for a bottle of Blue Nun... A muscadet maybe. Or hard dry cider. Or champagne. BTW, Bux, we gotta talk. Coca Cola? Never, mon connaisseur! Anways, always Pepsi.

The Basques serve black cherry preserve with cheese, for what it's worth (if you're seeking validation). That sounds absolutely delicious, Bux. Sure, I'll take some validation!

The same applies to cats, or, come to think of it, any right-thinking carnivore. Mustelids have been pets for a long, long time:

OK, if I post one more thing I Don't Get no one will deign to speak to me. But, sadly, except for toddies and some Middle Eastern pastries, I don't like honey much either. But I have some, and the next time I have dark rye in the house, I promise to try this with an open mind.

Actually, I've been told it's good on rye toast. Anyone out there tried it? (Now, raspberry jam on grilled cheese sandwiches...that's good!)

And while we're at it...what's the deal with PBJ? I've always found it nauseating, in fact inedible. Peanut butter tastes too sweet on white bread, and grape jelly is a non-starter however you look at it. Not grapey, not flavourful, sweet, thin....yucky jelly consistency. I don't get it.

Good God, Katherine, you actually admit to keeping a bottle of pickle relish in your household! Try some diced cornichons in your Russion Dressing .

Hey, thanks Bux! Actually, when making tuna salad I do prefer the one can white one can light mixture. Bit water packed, nanny nanny boo boo. One more incomprehensible: Putting anything more assertive than a squirt of lemon on oysters on the half shell.

It's gonna be a long, long dry spell!

Exactly, my brother. I lift the no hotdog rule on my once-a-decade trip to Wrigley Field. They serve food I like better, but it seems Just Wrong not to have a hotdog.

What's a Montengro? I think I want one. Negronis. Yum.

that's what the butter is for. Butter's good for everthing, I grant you. But I want that juicy milky spurt when the incisors hit the kernals. Grilling corn is goofy.

I don't grilling corn on the cob until caramelized and brown. It's supposed to be juicy, dammit!

You're right, pecorino would be better; I just happen to have parm on hand on a more regular basis.

Good God, Dean, what a fabulous idea! Is it Southern, or a product of your ever-nimble brain?

Pasta Putannesca, heavy on the anchovies and capers. And shoot me, but I like grated parm atop.

Now we're talkin'. My heart sinks when I see a bowl of pasta salad on a buffet, and living in the suburban midwest, I see it a lot. Re: Artisanal weiners: PM guajolote! He has a high end source for everything! On the subject of Not Getting it: Why lettuce and tomatoes on burgers? Yuck. Pickles, triple yuck. The flavours get lost, and they distract from the protein-fat bit of heaven that is a cheeseburger with bacon and some thinly sliced red onion. And I don't care if the lettuce is grown organically by descendants of Luther Burbank. It's in the way.

I am glad to be in such august company here. I dislike most pickle products, especially pickle relish, but the addition of a small amount of finely diced cornichon is something I really like in tuna salad. If the jar of cornichons I buy approximately once every year and a half is empty, in go the capers. (Solid white tuna, water packed.) I have never, ever seen the point of hotdogs, and I don't care if they are Hebrew National, Nathans, or hand-cased by virgins.

This is my favorite line from the best restaurant review I've read since...well maybe when our own Lady T. reported from New York last month? I have never heard of Naha, but I am now on a quest to eat there. Oh, Gawd. Happy Birthday, Ronnie. This was your birthday present to me. More from you!

Colette loved bacon too, as I remember. The Pure and the Peameal Claudine en Manage avec Bacon. The Retreat from Bacon And, tragically The Last of Bacon