Andrew Fenton

Sorry. Let's see if this works better... Yeah, the banana flavor infuses the pudding. But the thing is- and this is what confused me about your question- you can't really eat around the bananas. (I suppose you could pick them out, but I think they'd kind of fall apart.) It all sort of becomes one.

Let me put it this way: if you don't like bananas, you aren't gonna want to go near it. The banananess will sneak up on you and getcha, no matter which way you turn. Occasionally I think about making a chocolate version, with chocolate pudding and chocolate wafers. (And maybe substituting some other sort of fruit; not sure what would be best.) But then I think, that'd just be too much, y'know?

It's that, but it's more than that. As it sits in the fridge, the pudding undergoes an alchemical transformation, as the pudding and bananas and wafers start coming together, joining their textures and flavors. Much more than the sum of its parts...

I think the secret of banana pudding is that there's no real secret. I've seen, and tried, a few different recipes: none has varied all that much, and all of them have been at least pretty good. The key is that it's a dish that rewards time and care: if you skimp on ingredients or preparation at any point, Lady Banana Pudding will turn her face from you in dismay. Make sure you use lots of egg yolks. Commit the time to standing at the stove, stirring the custard as it gently thickens. Neglect not the meringue. (I recognize that some people make it with whipped cream, and I won't argue with that, but for the love of Jeebus don't profane the pudding with Cool Whip!) Resist the urge to serve immediately; instead, let it slowly mellow, introducing the wafers to the pudding, starting a conversation with the banana until they become something close to a Unified Banana Pudding Entity. This need for care is probably why banana pudding seems to work best when made in small batches. In general, the worst pudding I've had has been in restaurants (Allen and Son is a notable exception, and there are others, of course.) Lots of times they'll skimp on the meringue, or the pudding will have the telltale chemical taste of packaged pudding mix. Begone, foul puddings! On the other hand, the best banana puddings I've had have always been homemade. (I'll be so bold as to include my own in this group). It's gotta be made with patience, care and love. I think I know what's for dessert tonight...

Word to the Thai food. But aren't there some eastern European places in town already? I know of a few Polish places in the great Northeast- Syrenka's, for one- though I haven't tried them. I'll bet that there are others up there. Oh, there's also the Warsaw Cafe in Center City... For myself, I'd gladly sacrifice a half-dozen Italian restaurants for just one really good Carolina-style barbecue place...

Oh man, I just went to Chickie's for the first time on Wednesday. Had the Chickie Special with prosciutto, sopressata, capicolla, provolone and peppers. Now that is a good hoagie: packed with the best ingredients, on the best bread. The size of a wrestler's forearm, for like six bucks. The real comparison is between Chickie's and Sarcone's, I guess. Off hand I'd say that Sarcone's has more interesting hoagie combinations, but Chickie's has better value for the money. But they're both fine, fine sandwiches.

them is some big eggplants, no doubt about it...

Hey, that's great to hear re: trouty goodness. Only problem is that I have plans this Saturday... so all of YOU have to go get some. Then there'll be such a demand that I'll be able to get some NEXT week...

Thanks for the explanation! This city boy was actually convinced for a very long time that only bulls, not cows, have horns (on the analogy with deer, I guess.) Good to have the lowdown on that pressing subject... I gotta make that roadtrip one of these days.

Katie, I seem to recall that in the last year or so, a liquor license for a restaurant at the King of Prussia mall went for like $700K. I think that that was for a chain restaurant as well: do you remember the details?

Yup, that's them. All I've tried from them so far is the lamb, but yesterday I picked up a chicken- we'll see how it turns out. I hope that it'll be transcendent, of course, but even if it's not, it's a way to put my money where my mouth is on the whole eating locally thing...

Sounds like a great day: beautiful animals, gorgeous cheese! I'm gonna just come right out and show my ignorance here, but I need to ask: in the first cow picture, two cows have horns and the others don't. Is that because they're different breeds? Or do some cows just have horns?

Was the meat vendor Meadow Run Farms? They're at the Tuesday market, and I think they told me that they're at the Powleton mkt too. I haven't tried their beef: evidently they've been having inventory problems. But the leg of lamb I got last week was pretty good. Word to the Big Sky love. Very good sourdough bread. The only tip I have is to keep your eyes out for the Asian pear lady: she should be around by late summer or fall, if not already. Those Asian pears rule.

Dagnabit! I'll miss that fresh trout. Oh well...

No, that would be the great White Whale...

Every Tuesday during the appropriate months, I go to my neighborhood farmer's market at South & Passyunk. Last year, one of my favorite stalls was the trout guy. I ate a lot of trout during the summer and fall of 2002. But this year, the trout guy isn't there! To make matters worse, I can't remember the name of the company: it was something like "Pocono Valley Trout". But I want some nice fresh trout... I want to coat it with cornmeal or panko and fry it up; I want to stuff it and broil it; I want to... oh, you get the idea. Anybody know where the trout is? Maybe at one of the other markets? Anybody? anybody? ...help?

I've only gotten food poisoning once. (On my honeymoon. Yeah, that sucked.) All I could eat for a day or so was miso soup; then for the next couple of days I craved fruit, especially grapes. I think I was just massively dehydrated...

Here's a link to an NPR report on grits. You'll need RealAudio to hear the whole thing. Who knew that Linda Wertheimer was "a major consumer of grits"? Good for her...

No, but it was named after that Django. The alternate name for the restaurant was "The Snailery"; probably "Django" was a better choice...

I think they're making the analogy with hot cereals. It's a reasonable enough assumption if you don't know any better. (Though maybe I'm covering my ass here: the first time I ever saw grits was in college, and I assumed you'd eat them sweet. Fortunately, my Southern friends taught me better...) Too many acronyms... confused...

Grits just have a bad name, that's all. I'll often bring shrimp and grits (cliche? maybe. delicious? you bet) to a potluck. It's fun to tell people what I've brought and watch that little shadow of doubt and disgust pass across their face for a second. Once they've tried it, they go apeshit, loving it of course... If I just called the dish "Lowcountry Polenta" or something like that, there'd be more initial acceptance. But as you point out, that wouldn't be true to their essential grititude. At home, I like adding roasted red pepper puree to grits. Pink grits!

Really? Wow. I can just imagine Olympic athletes coming up with elaborate ways to smuggle in live tuna so they can get a little "jolt" before a race...

That should be fine: you can have a little surf n' turf action before going to work. At 4:30 AM...

Fruit gazpacho, with a tomato base and some pineapple (with juice), blueberries and mango. Can't beat it.

How are house label products manufactured? I was under the impression that most were made by major manufacturers, and that the house label was then added: so a supermarket's cornflakes could well be manufactured by Kellogg. So if you could figure out which supermarkets get their cereal from Kellogg, and which get their cereal from Bob's Paint Chip Supply and Cereal Manufacturing, Inc., you'd be a step ahead in this process...