maggiethecat

Check out Seattle's foie gras burger on a donut hole in Henry's foodblog.

God help anyone who wore shoes and sweaters stored in my oven! The article makes some interesting points about how following recipes teaches skills like literacy and math -- like the short mental workout I get whenever I'm faced with a stick of butter and a recipe that calls for thirds of cups. I'm glad the editors of the new "Joy" have decided to hold fast to standard culinary terms and provide a glossary.

I'm stunned, delighted, and I want to run out and buy the cheapest package of weiners I can. Not just sushi, but birds and flowers and elephants and reindeer...

Henry: all that gorgeous caul fat is as good as food porn gets! I checked the link to your Color Dinner and was appropriately wowed -- what the heck was in the Blue Soup? You have a busy week coming up, and I, for one, will be checking in here often.

My sister gave my husband the caper and olive spoons for Christmas. So cute, so useful. Thanks for your blog!

I haven't begun to think about Easter dinner yet, although I'm definitely going to try those scalloped tomatoes. What I do think is that someone should start a thread about how our Moms feel about our fondness for food and love of cooking. Sheesh, Kim, that's quite a story.

Mexican supermarkets are the only place we shop, except for Bobacks's (Polish) and Caputos's (International, but originally Italian.) The supermercado's prices and quality are amazing, and the language problem negligible. We're also lucky, in my area of the Chicago burbs, to have a variety of supermercados in a five mile radius. Talk about luxury!

Pan, I am so with you, and I feel as if I grew up on a different planet. I grew up in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec in the late fifties and sixties. There was no "Public school" system for the majority French speaking/Catholic kids: they attended, free, the school at their parish church, or if their parents had bucks, private school at the Seminaire St. Joseph (Jesuit) or various girl private convent schools. I don't know what the good sisters and brothers gave them for lunch, but I bet it was good. We Anglo protestants had: an hour and a half for lunch. The same buses that took us to school were waiting to trundle us home for lunch, and to return us to school from our regular stops after lunch. Usually, my father would pick us up, drive us home, and we'd all have a family home-cooked meal. There was enough time left over for Daddy to have a "head sandwich" --- a nap on the sofa cradled by two cushions, and for us kids to run around in the park next door, or read a chapter of Thomas Mann, Louisa May Alcott, or Hornblower.l It wasn't a huge town, geographically, which helped. And we didn't get out of school until 3:45. But talk about a perfect system. I feel very foreign and very old. Edited to add: If you couldn't go home for lunch, there was a lunchroom where you could take a brown bag lunch. The school nurse poured glasses of milk, gratis.

Bruce: Happy to stand corrected, you're establishing SSB cred like mad. I want rhubard pie.

Funny. When I recall all my friends and lovers... and father... well, I guess they're not all that manly! The only common thread I can find is lamb chops. Eggs in a hat. Salitmbocca Pizza Yes, Quiche Bacon and eggs Tandoori Chicken Smoked meat sandwiches Tempura anything BBQ shrimp Asparagus Steak and Kidney Pie Raw oysters Club Sandwich And: Boston Cream pie!

It's sweet and poetic: I heard on "Morning Edition" on the way to work that today is National Pi Day --- er, 3.14 and all. Apparently, middle schools throughout the land are honoring it by serving: pie. And that infinite number beginning with 3.14 is, of course, very handy in figuring the area of a pie. I'll now go work out the area of the tortillas I'll be using for my fish tacos.

You guys are killing me! There are tongue marks all over my monitor. I'm definitely calling in sick on some upcoming Wednesday.

Rochelle, you really don't need this right now! My sympathies. But look on the bright side -- consider it training! You'll be doing a lot of one-handed cooking when your baby arrives, because you'll have him tucked on one hip. I suggest eggs. Beat them in a bowl then do scrambled, omelettes, frittata...

Let's not get too carried away with the villainy of corporate America trying to make us fat by debuting doubtful hamburgers! Fine restaurants do it too. Same city, (Sweet Home Chicago) two burgers. Check out the Kobe Beef foie gras truffle mayo on a brioche burger rhapsodized about here at the lauded Sweets and Savories restaurant. Let's skip the heart attack on a plate metaphor and move immediately to orgasm on cunning restaurant dinnerware. On Wednesday, this hunk 'o burnin' love is ten bucks. (Not including your choice of starchy side, the duck fat frites or the lobster mashed potatoes.) It's in a whole different world gastronomically from the KK burger, but it's probably even worse for your health. Should we be picketing the restaurant for foisting this cardiac cannonball upon us?

And I'm so glad you did! Ivy's a terrific writer. I highly recommend that everyone read this piece -- it's a blast. I'm surpised there's been no mention of screech, unless you're considering Newfoundland a kind of off-shore Appalachia.

Well, the prep wasn't pretty, or authentic, but I'm thrilled to announce that you can turn a cheap five pound tip cut into an item very very close to a Montreal Smoked Meat brisket. Almost as important , it didn't taste at all like supermarket corned beef. The sandwiches were, oh choose your adjective: fab, bangin', crunk, off the hook. Purists among you may sneer, but I am married to a man who finds smoking (meat) tiresome and that the brisket was never gonna hit the kettle. It was a five pound hunk, about four and a half pounds after we removed a huge glob of external fat. We cooked it at a slow boil for about 3 hours, which removed the flavour of papayin and corning spices. Next, a rub with a mustard paste, topped thickly with cracked black peppercorns and coriander berries, followed by a very light sprinkle of (Hang head) Liquid Smoke! We encased it in a big double foil packet into which we poured a cup of boiling water. It cooked in a 275 oven for another three hours, then uncovered for half an hour. Tender, very lightly smoky with some dark brown ends and nibbly bits -- piled on rye witth a side of coleslaw I could almost conjure The Main.

The more I think about , the more I go --- hmmmmmm. Can't be worse tasting, though less "healthy" than a pbj, an item that literally makes me gag. I'm guessing that the sweet in the doughnut would be overpowered by those righteous beef, bacon and cheese flavors. Oh, come on! It's a sin, and doubtful on every front. Let's don our shades, slink down in our seats and give it a shot. In the words of Byron, we can do sermons and soda water the day after. Edited to add: If we're being Calvinistic here, is the pricey Ducasse foie gras burger good for our heart or our hips, no matter how seductive the taste? No one blames that burger for our national obesity!

Just a couple of weeks left in the current Smackdown. Thanks to Andie for her submission, and a gentle reminder to all you other Fantasy Foodbloggers -- post 'em here.

True. But this would be a one off -- And raw fish ain't necessarily that healthy.

(e) Why the heck not? I've tried other things in the line of gastronomic duty that didn't sound too attractive -- my first meal consisting of raw fish, say.

UnConun -- thanks for the link. Schwartz's lets the brisket sit in the rub for ten days before smoking. As I'll be using the cheapo corned beef brisket tip I think three days will be plenty. Opinions? By the way is the other Montreal temple to Smoked Meat, Ben's, still around? The product was never in Schwartz's class, but it had decor and charm of its own.

Golly, crosparantoux, you're judging Trader Joe's by its canned green beans? Sorry about the pasta, but I like the maple syrup, which I buy only when the sirop I buy from the Ottawa farmer's market runs out. And the olive oil is good value. Have you bought anything recently -- I believe TJs changes vendors frequently. In California I haven't found that "so-called foodies" rave about it - we're not talking D and D or an organic Farmers Market here. In LA people like my daughter treat it like the old-fashioned corner grocery store, if that dusty venue had received a makeover from the Fun Fairy. Good cheese, fabulous snacks savoury and sweet, an interesting wine selection, pretty flowers at a good price, great frozen fish (yes, I said that) and delicious frozen gateaux -- from France-- at the price of a fast food lunch. The frozen green beans are slim and tender, and imported from France, at less than you'll pay for Birdseye. That's a huge part of the kick of TJs: people, it's, well, cheap for all this food and fun. A satisfying trip there will hardly make a dent in the food budget.

Our local grocery store is flooded with the pre-St.Patrick's Day glut of point cut cryovaced "corned beef" at 1.49 a pound. At that low price I'm willing to experiment. This homesick Montreal girl wonders if it's possible to transmogrify this cut into something similar to Smoked Meat, (which I'm not even sure is smoked.) I know it's not going to resemble Schwartz's product, but is there a possibilty of coming close? I'm not even sure about the seasonings -- coriander, maybe? -- let alone the method. Any ideas?

Hmmm. Maybe I'm not allergic to penicillin after all! I'm supposed to be, but I inhale as much blue cheese as I can with no ill effect. No tricks, no lies. I won't sneak if you won't tell me you're allergic to organ meat when you simply don't like it. Hey, I hate peanut butter, but I'm not allergic to it and I don't pretend to be.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm not allergic to penicillin after all! I'm supposed to be, but inhale as much blue cheese as I can with no ill effect. No tricks, no lies. I won't sneak if you won't tell me you're allergic to organ meat when you simply don't like it. Hey, I hate peanut butter, but I'm not allergic to it. And, perhaps coincidentally, my best friends eat everything.