maggiethecat

Heyjude: Thanks for the icewater bath tip.

BlueHeron...you wretch! I had actually forgotten the tomato aspic...blocked out the pain. How Muumy adored it served with cottage cheese and salami. Horror of horrors.

Cottage cheese. My mother served it for lunch three days out of seven when I was in my early teens. Big clob of cottage cheese served with any of these: canned peaches canned pineapple lime jello salad containg sliced radishes and cabbage salami sliced tomates green onions I have never bought cottage cheese in my adult life. Ugh.

I am thinking of and rejoicing with Snowangel about her daughter's expertise. Thought about starting a new thread on the lines of "Can your children cook? What?" But then I realized that Diana's dinner could be considered one of Snowangel's proudest culinary moments. She has shaped a child who cares about food, knows about it, and is comfortable in the kitchen. Congratulations. In a similar vein, my daughter Honor grew up in a house where both parents care about food, talk about it, and cook like madmen. In college, she worked part time for a woman who runs a high-end video-editing boutique, working mostly with television commercials. When the black Prada-clad "Creatives"came in from NYC or LA, there was always a big flap about what to do for lunch. No expense was spared on these jaded folks. When one group said they were bored by Trotters, Spago, etc., my daughter's boss got fed up and decided to feed them in the office. My daughter volunteered to cater the meal (on three hours notice) ran out to shop for the food and cooked without a book. The advertising people said it was the best lunch they had eaten for two weeks. Proud parents! Maybe that was our finest culinary moment.

Potato salad is bliss. Red new potatoes, Yukon gold, fingerlings, mayo, dijon, O&V, my friend Clive's garnish of devilled eggs and paprika. Warm, sweet and sour. bacony. Summer savoury. Lashings of parsley and watercress. Divine anchovies and capers. In fact, this thread has so inspired me that I will head downstairs and make some for tomorrow. My mother is a serious, travelled and seasoned gourmet. Her dressing? Half homemade mayo. Half Miracle Whip! We shudder and rag her about the MWhip, but Man! That potato salad is GOOD.

My mother was so overjoyed when she read the article nightscotsman quoted that she immediately..then and there!..tossed her plastic boards and was at the housewares store within half an hour to buy two wood boards. We prefer wood just because they seem to be much kinder to knives. We have a smaller plastic board we keep around because it's smaller and a good size for cutting bread, slicing a little fruit, etc. Our big wood board is twenty years old. Hot soapy water, rinse, air dry. The mineral oil idea is good too, though we usually forget to do it.

Helena: Thanks for some good what-to-read-next ideas. Food related: "The Last Days of Haute Cuisine" Patric Kuh "South Wind Through the Kitchen" Elizabeth David A "best of" Other: "Poker Nation" by Andy Bellin...effectively used up a day of my life "Chicago Days/Hoboken Nights" Daniel Pinkwater "Maigret: A Fifth Omnibus" Georges Simenon

Hey Reverend Ed: Happy Birthday... may this be the best year of your life..so far. Check the hangover remedy thread! Best, MTC

Meatloaf....heavenly. And yes, Priscilla, leftovers for sandwiches are reason enough to make a meatloaf. Two thirds ground beef, one third ground pork Good handful of moist bread crumbs egg S&p, thyme, Worcestershire And...the magic ingredient: Mrs. Grass's onion soup powder. Half an envelope. Free form, no glaze. Sauce on the side. Thanks Tommy! Menu planning for tomorrow is complete!

Herb: thyme Spice: Nutmeg I find thyme so versatile. Eggs, fish, braises, chix....

O.K., Tommy. I getcha. But maybe there is the desire factor: You like to cook, the missus doesn't? I am a very good cook, but I have to wrestle for stove time with Mr. Maggie because he lives to cook. And yes, you're right. His Mom liked grey meat and peeled, boiled till soft margerined zuchinni. Perhaps a reaction to the Irish cuisine of his youth? But having a parent secure in the kitchen can't help but embolden the offspring come dinnertime. Isn't that a good thing?

*Tommy* Here's the deal. My mother was and is a spectacular, sophisticated cook. Her mother was the proverbial "good plain cook." Real meals, fresh, every night, except for the weird '60's French Canadian take-out Chinese on occasion. Having an example of someone who cooks regularly and isn't fazed by substitutions, doubling amounts, cooking from the remnants in the freezer will teach the child and cook of the future that it ain't rocket science.

Tsquare: Too right! Also sorrel, thyme, tarragon and swiss chard. I don't live in NYC so I don't have a basis for comparison. But around Chicago there are some amazing stores..Valli's, Caputo's and Sun Harvest where the prices quoted would make the average customer doubt the merchant's sanity. To your point, Suzanne. Apparently these people's parent's never cooked. That's the only reason I can see for them being so insecure about substitutions, etc.

Torakris: There is a great Pepin recipe for Pommes de Terre Savonette that sound much like yours. He thick (half inch) slices potaroes and trims them into little oval soap-shaped "savonettes." Into the pan with some butter and a little water. Cook as with yours. Fried potatoes? Definatey boil first and chill. And that is BOIL. His Handsomeness likes to nuke them but the texture is wrong.

And Suzanne is, as always, completely correct.

Potatoes. Though Snowangel's choice of eggs is darned smart.

Burger King's Rodeo Cheeseburger. Barbeque sauce and battered onion rings on the patty. Not even a pickle or a shred of lettuce to imply healthy eating. Man, they're good. That crisp texture. Luckily, they are also small.

You guys can affrd to eat out more than we can! However, not having cooked from his books, and watching only a couple of his shows, Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill is the real thing. The duck breast with mole almost made me cry. And the Margaritas-hand shaken in front of the diner--were absolutely the best I've ever had. And I know these things!

Salt: After cooking, not during. I believe the episode was called "The Hellfire Club" I've got it somewhere on tape. And to this day it's quite the ensemble!

Bux: Emma Peel was my absolute role model during my teens. I couldn't think of any woman funnier, more glamorous, tougher. I tried to dress like her(minus the leather) and when chosing clothes on my very limited allowance I would ask myself: "What would Emma do?" Still do, come to think of it! Does remembering The Avengers make us old? Merde! Stock: His Handsomeness read in one of Pepin's books that Jacques keeps a washed-out milk carton in his freezer. When he does prep all the chicken bones, mush stems etc go in the carton and into the freezer. When it's full he makes stock. His Handsomesness bought himself a small tin canister and does the same. We make casual stock in the microwave (Barbara Kafka's "Microwave Gourmet") It's fast and fresh tasting, though one sure could'nt read the date on dime through it from a height of two feet, say. But it does clarify well using the usual dodges and we always have the heavenly luxury of a freezer full of serviceable stock.

Stefanyb: Yes yes yes... I could go on Molly Bloom-style. Who cares? Cook and eat what you want, Who cares what other people say. Be happy. Be fat. Be weird. Just don't be a veggie or a raw food person. As I said....

He hates anything bechamelly or eggy. So, scratch white cheddar mac and cheese, cold poached salmon with a side of mayonnaise, entre souffle (he'll eat the dessert ones.) When I'm out of town he can eat all the hotdogs his heart desires. I've hated them all my life.

Marlene, babe...no Tylenol! Bad for the liver, seriously. If you want to court liver damage, there are more fun ways.

Steve...I too could eat that food every day of my life and miss very little. A beautiful post. I haven't been in Paris for soooo long. Jews don't drink? You never went to Uncle Louis Glassman's wedding in Montreal circa 1972. I was the Shamelss Shiksa date of one of Uncle Louis' nephews. In the synagogue, there was a bar at the entrance before we even sat down for the ceremony. Altho I was not then legal to drink, I had a couple of...was it Sidecars? At the reception I have never seen such rivers of available booze until I attended a Polish Catholic wedding recently. I have the WASP alcohol gene, but Uncle Louis' wedding featured more hard drinking, projectile vomiting, misbehaving bridesmaids then I have encountered before or since. I was the only non-Jew of 300 people. And I had a blast.

Eff em indeed. But if I were to limit my dining companions to those who even approach my exquisite tase, it would be the same old face over the table every night. Even if that face does look like a cross between Daniel Day-Lewis and Marcello Mastroiani.