weinoo

That's a great piece, Alex. I promise I didn't read this before I wrote the above...

For about the last 10 years, I've been on blood pressure medication. My blood pressure has never been exorbitant, more pre-hypertensive than hypertensive, but those standards are always changing anyway. And of course, big pharm wants to sell meds, so. And no, don't go off on a rant about big pharm, please. In any event, my bp problems probably are genetic, as both parents were hypertensive, though they lived good, long lives (and both had non-fatal heart attacks, as a matter of fact). The drug I started with is atenolol (tenormin), a fairly benign beta blocker which has been around for a long time (almost 40 years). Five or so years after starting atenolol, my bp crept up a bit, and my doctor recommended adding another med, this time Benicar (olmesartan), an angiotensin 2 receptor antagonist. All well and good - the 2 drugs together have worked to keep my bp below the threshold of hypertension for the last 5 years. Much of the literature I've read also says that often multiple drugs are needed to keep bp in check. OK - fast forward to recently, and bp creeping up once again. And guess what - a new drug, a diuretic prescribed as an every-other day med, with my doc stating that if it works well, then sometimes all it takes is to take it 1 day a week. Also, as a well-known self-prescriber, I actually don't take the Benicar on the day that I take the diuretic. And my bp is as low as it's been in 20 years. Cool, right? But now I'm thinking that all these medications annoy me and maybe I should really try to work on my diet and perhaps wean myself off of a drug or two. I'm not overweight (hey, who couldn't stand to lose 10 pounds, right?) and I (try to) exercise fairly regularly - living in NYC, of course, means a lot more walking than your average person does in the U.S. But - I love salumi, I love pizza, I love Asian food, I love everything salty, I love chips, I love candy, I love ice cream, yada yada yada. So - my question to any and all that might have high bp - have you tried dietary mods? If so, have they worked? I mean, literally, what was your bp before and after dietary mods? And I'm not talking about insane dietary mods, like in the documentary Forks Over Knives, because even though I think that would help immensely, I'm not about to start eating alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast every freakin' day. I need my mortadella once in a while!

Very true for a man. I learned to cook because I didn't have the money to buy a fancy Italian sports car, then I realized it is more effective to win a lady's heart to be able to dazzle her with a multi-course candle light dinner that you whipped up from your kitchen. It's all about sex, for a man. dcarch My second date with my now wife was cooking her a traditional roast chicken dinner. That was about all it took...but hey, she's ez.

I'd buy him a series of cooking classes like those mentioned above. In addition to learning how to cook, there's always the possibility he might find another partner!

Yes, Shelby, I always wonder why the "locals" don't love the tourists - it's the tourist money that keeps those place in biz!

Summertime on Cape Cod means, I'm told, tons and tons of tourists. Always getting in the way of the locals (if you happen to live on the Cape, please chime in as to whether I'm correct or not). And they can't wait for everyone to exit - which generally means they mark Labor Day on their calendars as the day when the Cape once again belongs to those who live there year round. Well, last weekend Significant Eater and I, at the behest of family members, made our way to Chatham, which is where our relative's relative's relative lives - in a beautiful house, I might add. Immediately upon arriving, our niece and her husband (both much younger than us and both major food geeks, by the way) , took us down to the Chatham fish pier, located right down the block from said house. It's an active fishing port and trucks were loading up with their catch to bring to the Boston and NYC markets. Here's a boatload of dogfish shark ready to be unloaded... The pier is also home to the strangely named Chatham Pier Fish Market, where the catch of the day and then some is offered for sale. We decided upon New England clam chowder and lobster rolls (like you'd order anything else!)... The chowder was fine, loaded with meaty clams and not too rich. Just right, as a matter of fact. The lobster roll... had perfectly cooked lobster in a sadly incorrect roll lined with lettuce and a bit too much celery, in my opinion. But at $19 for a good 6 oz. of lobster, fries and slaw, who can complain? The real reason for the trip was fishing for striped bass, and Captain Jack and I ended up with a nice trio of keepers, along with a bluefish. Perfectly handled, blues are delicious on the grill. On the day we were leaving, breakfast was at Chatham stalwart the Lazy Lobster. They're only open for breakfast and lunch, and only for about 7 months a year, but man do they serve a delicious breakfast. I had house-made corned beef hash with a couple of poached eggs (even the corned beef is made in-house!)... If you're ever on the Cape, don't hesitate to swing by Chatham - the eating's good and so's the fishing. Full blog post here...Labor Day's Ovah. Edited: To finish post.

Esca, perhaps. Bistro Benoit.

And of course now there's Sushi Nakazawa, recently opened in NYC by an apprentice of Jiro's.

Pastas (I usually have 5 or 6 varieties), beans, canned fish (tuna, sardines, herrings, anchovies, etc.), tomatoes, chicken stock, artichokes, olives, olive oils, vinegars are always in the pantry. And a hunk of parmesan is always around. Easy enough to whip up a nice pasta dish.

What about salting it before using it in a salad? I don't know about anyone else, but if I see kale salad of some sort on one more menu...

The Elm is Paul Liebrandt's latest endeavor. Located in the King & Grove Hotel in Williamsburg, it's where PL decamped after parting ways with Drew Nieporent at Corton. Liebrandt is a highly regarded chef, earning stars at Corton and before that at Gilt. It should be on your must-try list, while PL is working the pass and overseeing every plate that comes out of the kitchen. I've enjoyed two meals so far, and look forward to my next. I've even blogged about it.

Pre-made Negronis and Manhattans - all the rage these days at cocktail places in NYC. Then it's just a matter of proper dilution and chilling.

Mark Bittman is trying to get everyone to eat healthier and smarter; anyone that reads him knows that's ones of his main raisons d'être. Last week, in his Flexitarian column, he was all over it: He goes on to extoll the virtues of brown-bagging (or lunch-boxing) it, along with suggestions of what to bring, how to prep for it, etc., as well as offering 3 basic recipes to get you started. All well and good. So my question (s) is (are): Do you bring your lunch to work? And...what do you usually bring?

LOL. Very well put, and indeed the point I was hoping to get across. I am certainly not demeaning or dismissing other back-breaking professions. But this topic and the OP was about chefs and that's what I was focusing on. Glad you got out and I have no idea what I was thinking going to cooking school at 40!

Come on - how hard do you have to smack a clove of garlic to crush it?

No.

Not a fan of the ebook cookbook. I like my sauce-splattered things and prefer that the sauce doesn't splatter my iPad.

I was just gifted a jar of Morello cherries. They are a brand called Landsberg, and are from Germany. The ingredients are sour cherries, water and sugar. I read through a thread or two about making cocktail cherries and it doesn't seem as if these are a good candidate for that. So - has anyone used these? What are some good uses for them?

Yeah, just scrub it good with a steel wool pad and some cleanser (Bon Ami, Comet, etc.) and start all over by seasoning it properly. And don't run it through any more dishwashers - ever.

Yes...a former wife of mine was British and was always telling me that I wasn't canning a product, I was jarring it. Doesn't sound much better, does it?

A few days ago, the Times ran an interesting piece about chefs and the toll that a lifetime of cooking takes on one's body. And while that lifetime might indeed be longer than that of, say, a pro football player, you definitely don't see 60-year olds working the line in many places. The article focuses on Mark Peel, a well-known L.A. chef/restaurateur, who worked in many a great restaurant over his 41 years in the business. The downside: And: So - I'm wondering if the chefs here agree or disagree. And how far along into your cooking careers are you if you're a chef? Has the thought of being unable to get out of bed in your golden years entered your mind?

Italy too, I'm pretty sure. Friends of ours in Umbria are in the midst of tomato overload, and they are canning like crazy. They didn't bring those jars from the US, either.

So where can an ordinary person get this "family heirloom" popcorn? Do you think popping corn in a basket over a fireplace might also add to the flavor? I would think it would add a certain smokiness.

Interesting that you use cast iron. I would think that by the time the cast iron heats up enough to start popping, you could already be eating your popped corn if you used another type of pan. Do the seasonings really work as well when they're mixed into the fat vs. sprinkled over the top of the popped corn?

The furikake sounds interesting.