maggiethecat

Well, I'm jealous of your Mom's 2.99 leggo lamb, even if my mother kinda sniffed at lamb from the Antipodes and looked for Canadian lamb. (New Zealand does good lamb.)But your Mom's supermercado has Australian lamb, I infer, not American. Whuffo? I'm still puzzled. The Heartland is crammed with the descendants of lamb lovers. Sheep -are they harder to raise than, say, calves or ostriches? Why don't I see American lamb, except maybe at Whole Foods or on a restaurant menu, (which names the farm, the farmer and which microgreens the lamb ate.) You're right, Steven, where I live, lamb is crammed into a sorry little space in the meat counter between pig's feet and tripe. Edited to add: Lamb is the only imported meat in my supermarket. I can get American pork, beef, veal, chicken, turkey, quail, emu, goat. Why not lamb?

Lamb seems severely underrepresented and overpriced in any grocery meat case. I have a ham for Easter, but I'd have preferred lamb if there'd been a good leg or rack at a decent price at my local independent supermarket or carcineria. At the best of times, I can find, maybe, a couple of tiny lamb chops that might tide me over for an afternoon snack, priced at eight bucks. C'mon. Oddly, at my parents' Loeb supermarket in the Glebe in Ottawa, there's always lots of lamb. It's expensive, but it's there. The customer base in that neighborhood skews WASP, but it's not as if White Anglo Saxon Protestants are the only folk who love lamb. French, Greeks, Italians, etc. My husband's Italian grandfather, AKA Nonno, bought a live lamb and nurtured it in the basement of 1208 W. Lexington until Easter Saturday, when it would go down to Taylor Street to be slaughtered and packed up at the Nea Agora butcher shop. My husband dimly remembers petting the lamb among the copper washtubs and clotheslines, and it was adorable, but even as a kiddie he knew that its number was almost up. Enough of memoir. I'm wondering if lamb is harder to raise than, say, veal. More expensive to feed and process? Is lamb a forgotten meat on the average American table? What keeps the price so high and the supply so low at a chain supermarket meat case? My parents weren't rich when I was a little girl, but we'd have delectable lamb at least once a week, with Mummy's mint sauce. Why is lamb now a niche, expensive, God help me, "Foodie" meat?

If you can find a copy in a second hand bookstore, or on line, The "Preserving" volume from the old Time-Life "The Good Cook" series is my canning/preserving Bible. Hey, Richard Olney was the editor. Great information, and like all the Time-Like cookbooks, beautiful photography thirty years on. Rilettes, jams, jellies, pickles, vegetables, brine, smoke -- it's all there. I've seen it around for six bucks.

I don't take decongestants when I have a cold 1) because I hate the dried out nasal passages/dry mouth they give me 2)because they seem, I swear, to dry out my brain and 3)they make me feel speedy/sleepy. And yes, they make my sense of taste even wonkier than stuffed sinuses do. I prefer Sudafed because it keeps things, well, running and I find the chemistry seems to allow me to taste and smell better than does a regular parch-those-passages decongestant. I agree that texture plays a big part in enjoying food when you're stuffed up/and or medicated. I crave a wedge of iceberg with a blue cheese dressing when I have a cold -- crunch, water, and, well, blue cheese. Coleslaw with a sweet/sour dressing. Celeriac remoulade. In fact, I prefer these tangy crisp water- intensive dishes more when I'm sick than when I'm well. When healthy,I'm solidly in the protein, fat, salt carbs column. When I have a cold, sweet is lost. Hot is tempered. Bitter recedes. But, I'm taking different drugs. And I detest the fast food flavor range when I'm sick, even my beloved Cheetos. Be better this spring, Chris.

Surfas is the best kitchen supply store I've ever visited, and I've visited many. A must-see in Culver City.

I'm not going to tackle the macro issues here. But: Sam and Dave for thirty minutes and some dance moves unsuitable for a middle aged lady. Works for me.

Nice work, Katie. I just finished " Service Included" wherein out heroine meets her lover at a diner and feels she has to carry her own maple syrup for the diner pancakes. I'm naive and sheltered and all, but that rocked me back on my heels. All I could think was: "Er, if you have to tote your Canadian Amber Grade B, you should be eating breakfast somewhere else." Same applies to tea. If you can't get a good cuppa, just order the coffee. If you can, give that tea- loving restaurant your business.

Fat Guy's right on here, and I agree that it's better to err on the side of generosity. I talked with the owner of a PR firm that sends me the occasional press meal freebie a couple of months ago, as we beheld the ugly hordes of free food press stream from the restaurant after dessert with not only no tip, but no "Thanks, Chef," no "Thanks, PR Lady," but lots of filet and charcuterie in carry out boxes. I talked to the PR Lady about tipping, because we'd pulled out thirty bucks to leave for the (excellent) servers. She told us that a few years ago, when extending invitations, she suggested politely that the invitees leave at least a small tip. "I got hate mail! People told me that they were shocked, shocked and offended at being asked to leave a tip, and that they'd not attend my events if they had to." (The food media are not, I've discovered , a pretty bunch.) She never mentioned it again. We left our tip. At another event we did as Fat Guy suggests and asked the server what the arrangement was. She said that the rest of the floor staff had offered to share their tips with the press waiters that night. As it was a quiet Tuesday night, all that was going to happen was shared sacrifice, which was unfair to everyone. So again, we left our thirty dollars. And, again, we were the only guests to do so. Shameful.

I swear by ammonia and water -- cheap and effective. Wear rubber gloves and crack your window open.

We do pancakes on Saturday -- that's a great idea.

Janet: lamb curry! I'd forgotten how much I love it. Lamb search this weekend.

Kerry: What great ideas for baking! Do you sub it weight for weight for sour cream?

I bought a yogurt maker via Amazon the other day -- a cheap Salton jobbie that's really nothing but a warm womb to keep the mixture at temperature. (Many years ago, I wrapped the mixture in a bath towel and placed it on a steam radiator, but I'm lazier now than I was as a novice cook.) I spent the twenty bucks on the machine because I was cross at the price of yog, and the process has always seemed like magic to me. So: I can make a quart of yogurt a day, no sweat. But what to do with it, beyond the crunchy breakfasts, the tandoories, the cheese (love that!) the Jacques Pepin cake? The dips, the salad dressings, etc. It's good, it's easy, it's versatile, it's cheap. Care to share how you cook with yog?

I can't think of a reason that simply doubling the proportions would present a problem. Remember la technique, and remember too that souffles ain't no sissies.

This is a job where it's excellent to have a helper. One squeezes, the other snips. (I like your scissors idea.)

Gordon is the guru of all things gastronomic in Rochester, as I learned a few years ago when I was in Rochacha on business and met up with him and his lovely wife for dinner. Every medium-sized market should have someone as knowing. (We went to Max's for dinner, and it was just outstanding.)

It works like a charm.

I make a toddy, which, as it happens, contains ginger. Grate a tablespoon of ginger, place in mug with the juice of a lemon, a shot of Bourbon and big tablespoon of black currant jam. Fill mug with boiling water and inhale. When it's cool enough to drink, adjust sweetness with some honey. Feel better. I like nursery food too when I have a cold: rice pudding with lots of raisins, soft boiled eggs with toast "soldiers", meatloaf sandwich...

Well I know you know how lucky you are to have experienced such cooking, MtheC. Aside from the Lenten seafood, yet further evidence for my strong belief that if vegetarians would familiarize themselves with the Italian tradition, self-styled vegetarian cuisine would not have such a spotty reputation. I lovelovelove pasta e fagioli... do you have Nonna's recipe? ← I've entered a approximation of Nonna's recipe into Recipe Gullet, here. She sometimes added canned tuna -- I'm thinking how amazing it would have been with some chopped jalapenos! I didn't learn enough from Nonna -- I was making my bones as a cook upstairs in third floor rear. What resonates to this day is that she, on her kitchen table (counter space was non-existent) cooked three real meals a day, from fresh ingredients, until she was 100 years old.

With two for me, that's 156,922.

Pasta e Fagioli Serves 6 as Hors d'oeuvre. My husband's grandmother, Annunziata Rovai to the world and Nonna to us was born near Naples, moved to Chicago as a baby, and married Luigi Rovai, master ladies' tailor (he supplied Mrs. Potter Palmer's wardrobe)and stern gourmand Toscani from Lucca. Nonna had great genes and an attitude --she got the phone call from President Reagan on her 100th birthday, and lived for three more years. She rather scorned Pasta e fagioli (Always given the full Tuscan pronunciation -- no pasta fazool) because it was an easy poor man's dish. But during Lent, it made an annual appearance, sometimes including canned tuna. Epicurious.com has a similar recipe, and I've cribbed, but adjusted. 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced A pound can of diced Italian plum tomatoes,chopped 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained -- or red kidney beans or garbanzos -- Whatever was handy.(She always used canned) Salt and pepper Half a pound of cooked elbow mac Grated Parmesan Preparation Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a frying pan.. Add garlic and stir until brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook 5 minutes. Add parsley, basil and oregano and simmer until tomatoes soften, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes. Add beans and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Place pasta in bowl. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Pour sauce over and toss thoroughly. Serve, passing Parmesan separately. Keywords: Main Dish, Side, Vegetarian, Easy, Beans, Pasta ( RG2106 )

It just depends. Are your guests well-heeled urban/suburban types? If so, Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table should be good choices. Are your guests starving artists? Go Target. For upscale porcelain and stemware, Fortunoff or Macy's. And if you're near a Macy's check out Martha Stewart's new line. It rocks like a rowboat in a hurricane.

It's a Friday night in Lent, and I thought about this piece as I planned dinner. My family didn't keep Lent, though the occasional fish stick dinner was welcomed by me and my siblings -- we just liked them, back then. Well, sumgun, we're having capellini with white clam sauce. Friday night we go for easy and there's not much easier -- we have a simple pasta dish two Fridays a month. My husband's Irish/Italian family certainly kept Lent. I'm not sure what the Irish side ate, but we lived in the third floor walkup of a building in Chicago's Little Italy for a few years. My husband's grandmother, or, properly, Nonna, owned 1206-1208 W. Lexington, classic Chicago six flats. The family story is that her father, from Porta San Pietro, outside Naples, won them in a poker game in 1908. She married up: a Toscani from Lucca, a man of great gourmandise and so violent and vociferous about his food that he'd throw any dish that displeased him against the kitchen wall. Nonna became a great cook, renowned, even, in the Taylor Street Hood. It's said she cooked for Giovanni Martinelli. When I met Annunziata Rovai she was in her 90s, living alone and cooking as if her terrifying husband were still alive. When she heard us walk up the stairs, she'd stick out her head and press a dinner into our hands. They were nothing like Alfonso's austere and elegant Lenten plate. Shrimp in marinara over polenta. Stuffed whitefish. Meatless lasagna, spilling spinach and ricotta and cheese. Her amazing pizza -- proof to me that you don't need a wood-fired oven that hits 750 degrees. For Nonna, it wasn't about sacrifice (although she stepped up her Rosary schedule during Lent,) it was about confecting the best food she could, without meat. O, Madonna, her pasta e fagioli! (Never pronounced pasta fazool. That was for southerners, not Tuscans.)

Chef/Owner Nadia Tilkian is making honest-to Dieu bistro food in the Western burbs, at Maijean near the tracks in Clarendon Hills. We ate there Tuesday night (a press freebie) and I can’t remember the last time I tasted “Country French” (as her press kit calls it) this inventive and plain tasty. It’s a pretty room, decorated faux Art Nouveau (beautiful scrolling woodwork above the bar,) fireplace, twenty tables give or take. More Mucha fantasy than bar zinc, I’m sure they’re booked solid with Valentine’s Day diners. Amuses were a shooter of Granny Smith soup, with partly melted globs of Pont L’Eveque therein. Apples and cheese are one of my favorite food combos, and I loved it. Catherine and Mr. Mike passed canapés –a nicely presented chicken liver pate and a mouthful of Chef Tilkian’s velvety house cured salmon. The first course was the one I’d been dreading because, well, I don’t like scallops. Billed as citrus crusted salmon with baby fennel salad and citrus fennel broth, we received three fat crispy scallops in a pale green fragrant sea. The scallops were nicely crispy, and I ate two without my usual scallop gag-reflex. Then I grabbed my soup spoon and lapped up the broth. I damn near picked up the bowl and licked it. The salad was a bistro classic Lyonnaise: frisee. Belgian endive, croutons, lardons, fingerlings, poached egg and warm sherry vinaigrette. Never discount the pleasure of breaking the yolk of a poached egg over a dish of greens, potatoes and pork. The vinaigrette sang, and I remember thinking: “I can do this. Why don’t I? It’s a perfect lunch.” My husband announced that he couldn’t eat another bite, and offered his main to the wait staff. They said “No, no. no, you have to try this” and wrapped up his “Bunny to Go.” Roast rabbit is a gutsy choice for a media dinner, and I applauded the decision to serve it rather than, say her steak frites. I’ve only ever eaten rabbit braised, and I found the roasted version tasty but, well, chewy. It was served over a puddle of the best polenta ever to pass my lips – it included bacon, brilliant green favas, artichokes and (real) baby carrots. The white wine/rabbit jus was as good as the scallop broth. Dessert was an individual apple tart, garnished with a disk of dried apple and a dab of Danish blue ice cream. The actual pastry was ho hum, but the ice cream and apple combo was so good I beat the edge of my plate with my fork. I did mention I love apples and cheese, right? The garnishes are pretty, the stemware and china would be right at home in a three star joint, and I can’t remember any annoying music, which is always a blessing. Starters range in price from 8 to 12 bucks, mains from 18 to 32. Maijean deserves to be right up there in “The Best of the Burbs.” Maijean 30 N. Prospect Clarendon Hills, IL 630 794.8900

Holy jumpin' catfish! This isn't a gathering, it's a convention. But it's Chicago, Convention Central, and Sweet Home.