maggiethecat

Dammit, I've been in four cities in two weeks with (extremely!) limited internet access. The Dark Lady has been derelict in her duties. OTOH, through the generosity of various eGulls, New Orleans and Grand Rapids have been a blast. Rochester, NY...don't ask. Alex (my kind host at breakfast this morning--asparagus and smoked salmon fritatta with the always brilliant repartee of fresco on the side) gets the Limited Edition Hello Kitty apron. Let me unpack, have a shower, crumple some bills and judge contests tomorrow. People: It ain't just the glory--I have some amazing cookbooks to ship to the First Prize Winners. Write.

I donated my body to science last weekend in New Orleans. I ate grits four times in two days, the better to enlarge my knowledge of grits. Breakfast at The Coffee Pot, a combo of cholesterol, lipids, carbs and deep fried. My toes curl in delight restropectively: Some kind of Eggs Benedict with a garnish of fried oysters, biscuit filched from my companion. Of course I ordered the grits, and they were exactly what I originally disliked about grits: thin pale gruel in a white bowl. I spooned them into the spicy Hollandaise and soldiered on. They weren't too bad, what with the sauce, Tabasco and four little packages of butter. That night at Herbsaint I ate a shrimp app served over crispy grits pillows. Absolutely wonderful, but the grits weren't the star. At brunch at Mr. B's Bistro the next day they got second billing to the Grillades, but they almost stole the show. A soft, steamy slightly gritty golden sea lapping at the shore of the saucy grillades. I seem to remember beating my fork against the rim of the plate and bouncing in my seat. Sunday night we had the Thomas Jefferson Louisiana Purchase dinner at Upperline. I have to go way back in my brain to remember the last restaurant meal I've enjoyed so much -- maybe to dinner at Le Baccara at Le Casino de Hull a few years ago. This meal deserves an entire post to itself, so I'll cut to the nitty-gritty. (Forgive me.) The third course was Cane River Country Shrimp , sauteed with mushroom, bacon and garlic over crispy grits. I almost wept, it was so good and the grits really were crispy! I cooked Grillades and Grits last night, a triumph if I do say so myself, but I couldn't get the lunchtime leftovers sizzled to that level of crispiness. (Oops! On reading upthread I see that I consistently misprounounced s'rimps. Well, no one was about to mistake me for a native anyway -- I looked pale, northern and, to put it politely, glowing. God, and I thought Chicago got humid. Do not even ask about my hair.)

With legs? Or maybe I mean feet. When I clean my oven I toss in my crustiest cast iron and and my burner pans too.

I inhaled my very first Chick-fil-A over the weekend -- tender, crunchy, wonderful. I removed the pickles.

64,346.

Some Smackdowns sleep like snapper at the back of the walk-in. It's time to gussy them up with some watercress and tell the waitstaff to push 'em hard. My name is Maggie, and I'm your server tonight. I recommend that you enter Competition 21, in which you poison, bludgeon or asphyxiate someone with a handy comestible. Here. Or perhaps you prefer Belles-Lettres to True Crime? I'd love award prizes to Competition #3, whose expiration date is fast approaching. Visit the restaurant closest to your front door and write a review as if you're William Grimes or A.A. Gill. Here I'll announce winners for both competitions next week. Whee! Prizes, prizes, prizes. And there's a lagniappe: Hard to cloose? The first eGull to enter both will receive a bib apron crafted by the Dark Lady herself-- the rare, Limited Edition Hello Kitty model. Deadline: Midnight, Saturday June 5th, in a time zone of your choice. Do you need change back?

I had a damn tasty burger at The Twisted Spoke a few weeks back. Charred, juicy, enormous. In the Western Burbs Alfie's in Glen Ellyn (has been around forever) makes a good retro burger -- the kind you might have bought at a roadhouse in the early sixties. And yes, In-and-Out can't expand fast enough for me.

(My first post) I agree! And you should be aware that there is "fore milk" and "hind milk", the hind milk is thicker and fattier than the fore milk so it's a little sweeter. What an interesting article. p.s. the hubbie loves B-milk Welcome to eGullet, PoetsGirl. In fact, I am still looking for an opportunity to try breast molk, but short of carrying a breast pump on my person and soliciting strangers, my sources have, er, dried up. But I have a (different) neice who's giving birth around Thanksgiving...

Add one for me. I finally got the Nero Wolfe cookbook. What a trip! I'll bring you back some finger cymbals next time I'm out there! (Is there a Duck Mondor in your future?) 63,888.

On topic: In NYC, as, say -- Chicago!-- basic black in some permutation for the lady. Slacks (whatever kind) that are clean and maybe even pressed, shirt, blazer for Monsieur. These wardrobe selections will take you anywhere; the jacket can be dispensed with more often than not. Pearls go with everything.

I love downtown LA, and it annoys me that people think it's nowheresville. My daughter took me there on my last visit, and I ate wonderful things and went to a bellydancing equipment store. Spent too much money. Back on topic: 63,719. 12.06 miles.

63,719. andiesenjie:Forgot who said it but "Books do furnish a room."

Dr. Balic: what a beautiful, resonant title! And marie-louise: Having free space on the bookshelves is one of life's unsung luxuries. Lucky you. 62,995.

If you've plotted the motive and the opportunity, and are still wresting with the means, this thread might pump the creative juices. Ten very nasty ways to die.

Yes, he is being serious; Waffle House is a Great Unknown to folks north of the Mason-Dixon. I had breakfast at WH during my visit to Raleigh last fall, during the Varmint Pig Pickin' festivities. This Chicago girl was enchanted: The waitress called me "Hon," the menus were laminated, and the menu featured what has to be a classic of mushy monotone horror: Brains with Grits. I had an egg over easy, bacon, hash browns, a waffle, toast, juice and: drum roll: my first grits! For like, $2.49. (I ate much better grits that night chez Varmint.) If WH ever moves into the Windy City I'll become a regular.

I have always made my meatloaf freeform, and it has always kept its shape beautifully. A couple of weeks ago I decided to make four mini-loaves to stash away for lunches and such, and patted the mixture into, er, mini loaf pans. They tasted swell (I gound a scraggy end of delightfully fatty pork butt and added it to the mix) but: it crumbled, just as you've described. I think free-form's the way to go. ( Marcella taught me that many moons ago.)

This recipe still rocks! A windfall of asparagus would help.

Sooooooooooooo.......did you buy it Maggie?? Cuz if you didn't ....I know exactly where that is and will buzz right over there to pick it up!! Thanks, Jan! No, I've owned it for years, and paid a whole lot more for it. (Welcome, West Burber.)

62, 975. Julia Reed's piece in today's Times mag discusses meals chez Monet. He served lunch at 11:30 sharp, so he wouldn't waste the afternoon light.

I third (or fourth,) this. Oddly enough, I saw a copy yesterday at the Bookzeller in Naperville for five bucks. I also highly recommend the kinda related "Preserving" volume in the same series.

Yup. Italian Beef Sausage is the shibboleth here, and man will I miss them if I ever move from Chicago. A Montreal transplant, I mourn the obvious, like smoked meat and bagels.

65,972. 12.49 miles. (Reading of your finds, I am so jealous I could spit.)

America’s Second Harvest is the biggest hunger-relief organization in the United States, a food-rescue SWAT team that collects the food we waste, from huge corporate donors like General Foods to the neighborhood pizza joint that tosses the leftover pies Second Harvest’s way. Thanks to Second Harvest, poor kids in after-school programs can eat something fresh, hot and tasty. The other day, they knocked on eGullet’s door. To mark National Hunger Day, June 3rd, Second Harvest is inviting Americans to a nationwide potluck called “One Big Table, ” a fundraiser that encourages us to host a meal, collect the recipes for the dishes we take, and pass the hat around. The unique attitudes and interests of the eGullet membership put us in a special position to promote and particpate in this event; a coincidence that is not lost on Second Harvest. Between now and the weekend of the Fourth, eGulls will be hosting Memorial Day cookouts, Father’s Day fish fries, graduation galas, bachelorette bashes, Canada Day celebrations. Please consider making these festivities part of Second Harvests’ One Big Table. If your social calendar looks skimpy, Second Harvest also sponsors a Virtual Potluck: send them a recipe and a donation. One buck from you will get a meal to fifteen hungry people. Invitations and recipe cards can be downloaded from their website, www.secondharvest.org The Second Harvest folks are very serious about collecting recipes, and they're expecting great things from eGullet, so let's not let them down. The incentive: Molly O’Neill will be testing the best for inclusion in an upcoming “One Big Table” cookbook – wouldn’t that be a nice notch on your knife? At eGullet, we are serious about recipes too, so we’re kicking incentive up another notch with the eGRA/Second Harvest Recipe Smackdown. The Rules and Regs: 1)Host your potluck on your patio, or in eGullet Potluck cyberspace. Feel free to make arrangements right on this thread. 2)Teams must have a minimum of four people, maximum of ten. 3)One person acts as Host. 4)All your recipes must be posted into RecipeGullet to be eligible. 5)Only one existing recipe from eGRA may be used, the rest must be new to RecipeGullet. 6)After cleaning the kitchen and rubbing the wine stains from the carpet, the Host will forward the recipe links to the judges, and send the donations to Second Harvest. eGullet will forward the recipes to Second Harvest. 7)The Host will post here about the potluck. Lots of pix of the dishes and of Egulls at their most, um, festive would be well received. 8)One recipe and one Host will be selected for special recognition. Panel of Judges: Marlene, Jonathan Day, Dave the Cook and me. Timeframe: Now through the Fifth of July. Prizes: For the eGull with the winning recipe, a gift certificate to the eGullet store. To the Host, a swell cookbook.

Gagging with a geoduck? Eat the evidence.

At eGullet, we pen paeans to the life-affirming qualities of food, family and flan. We are serious about self-improvement through smoking, the art of tourne, love via larb. We reach for all things bright and beautiful; we braise all creatures great and small. That we frequently use the f word doesn't detract from the fact that we're passionate idealists, a foodloving band of brothers and saucy sisters. Maybe it's time to work a stage on the dark side. Write a short-short or a snippet of a screenplay where food is the murder weapon. You pick your genre. Eggs in a hard-boiled, crumpets in a cosy, poutine in a police procedural... Forty lashes with a wet noodle is a slow, agonizing way to go. He had it coming. Your slot on the docket: Slay us here.