maggiethecat

Mnemonics are devices to help us remember, and God knows I need them. Blame it on age, aged single malt or a youth spent in blasting brain cells, but I find it difficult to remember where I left my ankle bracelet, let alone the order of taxonomy in biology. Luckily, I do remember that: Kids prefer cheese over fried green spinach. To wit: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. There are many useful aides-memoires that feature food. Does spelling of the word “necessary” still necessitate a run through Spell Check? Not if you remember that ”Not every chef eats sardines. (Some are really yummy.)” Or perhaps you can’t remember the notes represented by the lines on the treble clef stave (bottom to top): (E, G, B, D, F)Every Good Boy Deserves Flageolets. And the notes represented by the spaces between the lines: (F, A, C, E)Furry Animals Cook Excellently. Let’s say you need to calculate the area of your Pecan Pie, and find that you‘ve forgotten pi to twenty-one numbers. This is an elegant classic, and I love it because it’s all about the food: “Now I wish I could recollect pi. “Eureka,” cried the great inventor. Christmas Pudding, Christmas Pie Is the problem’s very center.” Count the letters in every word, and assign it a digit. That’s 3.14159265358979323846, mon patissier! So here’s the challenge: Write a mnemonic for a memory bete-noir, using food and cooking language. Let’s remember the planets in order from the sun outward: "Maggie’s violet eggplants make Jacques stay up nights –perhaps." Or, write a mnemonic to help you remember some food or wine lapse that embarrasses you every time, like forgetting the names of those vineyards in Burgundy. Meurseault, Monrachet, Chambertin, Pommard, Beaune, Pouilly-Fuisse, Corton…. Actually, I could use a mnemonic to remember how to spell mnemonic. Hmmm. Maggie never eats meat on nights in Calabria? Help a sister out, and remember to post them here.

Trio!

My dear Snowy, thank you for giving me a happy go-to-bed thought. I'm intensely jealous, but I'll try to close my eyes and see those stars. Blessings on your weekend.

65,084. You folks have been doing some serious loving damage since last I checked in! 12.32 miles. Hey, add two for me, due to the generosity of the SoCal Style Goddess. 65, 082.

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.