fifi

I have noticed that some of the "store brand" products have finally caught on to the importance of labeling, which Consorizio does so well. Forever, store brands have had cheesy looking labels. Most still do. A few years ago, when Albertson's was still here, they really "got it." Their labels on their canned goods were beautifully done. And I bought them. Target is "getting it," with a lot of their products. And I have a bottle of "Method" dishwashing liquid that looks really cool. The spices (I forget the brand, somebody farms?) are labeled in an understated way. One would think they belong in the local elves-in-the-hollow-tree frou-frou gourmet shop. Tomato paste in a tube rocks!

I'm not andie but my recipe is almost exactly like hers. I do notice a bit of difference in "pourability" depending upon the cornmeal I happen to be using at the time. But, I can say that it almost always looks about like andie's. I just follow the recipe and pour it in the skillet. It comes out good every time. Yes . . . I take mine out of the skillet if I am not serving it right away. Well, I do let it cool a bit so it is easier to handle.

That is precisely why I like PBS. I do have to wonder about the emphasis on the young male demographics. After all, don't us aging boomers have all the money? PBS is appealing to me. Those are the only cooking shows I watch anymore, just because of the learning experience with great teachers. You will fit right in. But, I am wondering what demographic PBS aims for?

Starting back in November, I really started noticing food packaging. And, not necessarily in a good way. I think it started with one of the icons of my youth. I am talking about the Armour Dried Beef. My mother bought it since I was a kid and used it for various things. Starting with my sister, we always have that cream cheese hot dip thing at Thanksgiving and Christmas. That stuff morphed into a somewhat diluted form of the dip to what my kids named "Muck." Don't ask . . . It must be served over those canned "Chinese" noodles. We all have collections of the little glasses with the molded in stars just under the rim. We use them for juice glasses. Then a couple of years ago, they changed the glasses. The nicely tapered little glasses that stack conveniently in the cupboard were replaced with the lumpish looking straight sided glass that you see in the picture. Then, if that wasn't bad enough, I get a call from my sister while she is at the grocery. There aren't any glasses at all! Just those horrid pouches. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not progress. Oddly enough, I actually like the tuna fish in the pouches. There is just enough for one person. (Oil packed, please.) And I like the proliferation of nuts and dried fruits in the resealable pouches. The round canister of raisins with the plastic lid are a good thing. I also like the zipper bags that my favorite super market deli uses, the ones with the zipper thingy. Then there are the condiments and salad dressings that you get with your "meal" on airplanes. The little cups of salad dressing puff up with the reduced pressure and spray out all over your silk blouse when you pull the tab. (Hint, always aim the opening toward the back of the seat or the annoying seat-mate.) Then there are the little pouches of mustard and mayo that say "tear here." Yeah . . . right. They can't be torn with bolt cutters. And they don't let us carry on bolt cutters, or even that handy little Swiss Army knife that I used to carry on my key ring. Then, in the solution-in-search-of-a-problem category . . . that new wide mouth rectangular jar thing of Kraft mayonnaise. Is getting mayo out of a jar really one of the big problems in your life? Then, unlike the venerable glass jar, the empty thing is useless for . . . well . . . just about anything. I am really hooked on the little tin boxes that you get pastilles and other candies in. These packages seem to be more common in Europe. I like these things so much that I actually almost collect them. I bought some rose, orange flower and violet pastilles in France just because the tins are a work of art. Why don't we see more of those in the US? Perhaps we just don't have the manufacturing facilities for the tins here. Remember Pez dispensers? I think there is actually a museum of them somewhere. That is disturbing on many levels. What food packages have you opened lately, either with a grimace or a grin.

I have to say that I am baffled as to your problem. Again, I have this one from Williams-Sonoma. I use the measuring cup that comes with it, the lines for water on the bowl, all kinds of rice, and it comes out perfect (to me) every time. I cook long grain white rice most often (Mahatma) and short grain brown rice next most often. I have never done the rinsing routine. The only thing I had a problem with was some short grain brown rice I got at the Asian market that I now think was a sticky rice and probably old. When it beeps at me that it is done, I do fluff the rice with the paddle and close the lid for it to sit on "warm." What I call "perfect" is separate grains but they will stick together if you try. My avatar is some seafood gumbo with the rice in the center that I have molded in a small ramekin. It will stick together enough to hold its shape but falls apart easily when you nudge it with your spoon. It is not "wet looking" at all. This is what is known as "perfect rice" in south Louisiana where I learned to cook it. You can see a bigger picture of the rice here.

We now make this eggplant gratin almost exclusively for pressed sandwiches. Slice a good crusty bread loaf in half, take out some of the crumb, brush with olive oil, fill the bread and press. Slice into portions.

I have a bunch of points with Amex and have just been looking into other ways to use them. They seem to have a lot of options. Oh dear . . . Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, Le Creuset. I think I can use my Continental miles for stuff in the booklet that they put in the seatback but I have never tried it.

One time while I was in an official position with a professional organization, we hosted an annual meeting at a big hotel. There was a dinner for about 250. We had invited some visitors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. You can imagine my horror when the entre was served . . . pork tenderloin! Luckily, the visitors were seated at our table and the other good luck was, that as the only lady at the table, I was served first and the banquet manager was along side seeing how things were going. I got up immediately and quietly said to him, "You do have chicken entrees for these gentlemen . . . Don't you?" With the large number in the dining room, the slight delay for the "special" entrees was awkward but excusable. The hotel kitchen did a fine job of coming through. (They are probably used to that sort of thing.) The staff for the organization that was so clueless had to buy me a steak dinner the next night for saving their butts.

Oh, yes! I don't know what I would do without a couple of containers of gumbo in my freezer. That is why freezers were invented.

Bumping this back up just because "toast dope" has become a staple around here. We use a sugar from a good friend that has a sugar plantation in Louisiana. The funny part of it is that my nephew, the attorney, includes this in his gift baskets to clients and friends. However, he refuses to use the term "toast dope." For obvious reasons, I guess. He calls it "seasoned sugar." I do find that you have to keep it in the fridge or it might get some mold.

I guess that there are a few members here that know what we are talking about and why we get so excited. Thank you so much for the information on the product. I will go looking. I suspect that if it is to be found anywhere, Fiesta Mart here (Houston area) may have it. Now if I could just find some of those tortillas like we had in Tampico. :heavy sigh:

Yeah . . . I want to know if I should look for the giggle behind the hand. Seriously we want to know if you can actually eat this stuff.

Ummm . . . SSB here. I can't explain this reported freezing phenomenon. What I do know is that any recipe with peppers in it can become more hot with freezing/fridging in that the capsaisins get an opportunity to diffuse into the dish. As far as getting the capsaisins to go away with freezing, I haven't a clue. In my experience, it has been the other way around. Freezing/fridging makes things hotter. And this is from direct experience.

Oh dear. You have touched on a topic that is close to my heart. I am one of those heretics that hate the US idea of corn. Sweet, insipid cobs of nothingness. Oh, how I miss that toothsome corn cob on a stick from a street vendor in Chapultapec Park in Mexico City. And, the corn that our resident project engineers used to get at the house they rented in Tampico, complete with housekeeper and cook. That woman was amazing and had access to some probably indigenous varieties. The corn tortillas that she purchased were from a family that grew their own corn, made their own masa and hand made the tortillas. They were nothing like the corn tortillas you get here in Houston at most markets. Many many years ago, my dad and I were on an errand from the country place to Luling, TX. There was a guy selling corn out of the back of his pick-up and we stopped and bought some. My mother teased us about getting hoodwinked into buying "field corn" but we stubbornly boiled it anyway. It was wonderful. I am going to check at some of our Latino markets to see if they have the variety that you cite. I get a craving fairly often for "real" corn. Please translate for a dummy. What is choclo?

Oh yes . . . I have drunk Luzianne Iced Tea by the gallons. However, Luzianne isn't really considered and "upscale" brand in New Orleans. That is why the price really surprised me. They do make quite a few good products.

Good Grief!!! $4.25 for 12.5 ounces! Is there anything in there worth that much money?

We haven't had any winter weather to speak of, either. It is now 70 F. The day after New Year's we went fishing in bright sunshine and 75. But, I like soup anyway. Yesterday, by way of an experiment, I cooked a half pound of black beans in my La Chamba bean pot. I had sauteed a bit of shallots (I was out of onions and the shallots needed using) with some "pureed" garlic and about an inch of "pureed" ginger root. I don't know why. It needed using too, I guess. Also, I am now in love all over again with my Microplane. You wouldn't believe how well it works on garlic and ginger. Today, I decided I didn't want to eat beans but I did want to eat bean soup. I checked out RecipeGullet and found =Mark's Black Bean Soup. I tasted the beans and the allspice seemed to fit so I added some. I also liked the idea of the tomato sauce. I heated it all up and whizzed with my Bamix. (I got to play with two of my favorite toys!) This stuff is really good. It is sort of a Caribbean bean soup.

Dammit Katie! I told you that I have a thing for ancient flora! NOW you come up with that fern pattern crystal. With my "thing" for ferns and anything clear glass you are killing me!!! That flatware pattern is calling to me also. This is a very dangerous topic. I am starting to envision a collection of unique champagne flutes. Er . . . Now, if someone comes up with that fern pattern china that I saw in the collection at Windsor Castle I will go screaming into the night. I do have a good Portmerion story. My daughter is in love with forget-me-nots. On our trip to England she went nuts to find them growing along side of the lane when we went walking. She really likes Portmerion. I went into our Foley's department store one day and they had this charming Portmerion pot, like for a plant. And it had forget-me-nots on it. Oops. They didn't have the UPC in the computer and couldn't figure out how much it was. They finally figured out that it was probably some demo piece that had gotten on the shelf by mistake. After telling them that I was absolutely going to leave with that pot even if I got arrested they decided to charge me $20 for it and would figure out the book keeping later. Good thing. A screaming hissy fit in the middle of the fine china department is never a good thing.

Well, Mottmott did say boneless. That is what I was referring to at $3. I actually saw an ad for them today for $1.98, boneless. I consider the whole price thing the gnome and fairy factor. And, I agree. I prefer the ones with bones. Especially for a braise. If the boneless ones are on sale, I tend to chunk them for stew or for the rare sishkebab.

Add two. I had to order a couple of "business" books and added Ruhlman's and Wolfert's latest from my wish list to get free shipping. Oh . . . And I got Sara Moulton's Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals so make that 3. (She does some nifty dishes in the oven. My kinda gal.)

$4 a pound a good deal and a mistake? Good grief! Going rate here for that cut is about $3, top price, not on sale. Oh . . . I forgot . . . you said Whole Foods. Perhaps the pig was raised on acorns hand gathered by gnomes in the oak forests of Mythistan and watered from the Magic Spring toted to them in crystal jugs by the fairies. All of your ideas sound really good. I tend to go either Latin or Asian when I run into that cut. For Latin, my quick go-to is a braise with Goya Mojo Criollo and lots of garlic and black pepper. Asian is usually something like mizducky said. The Braising with Molly topic has some great ideas. I can personally vouch for using that cut as a substitute for the beef in the Beef Rendang. I also need to break in my new tagine and I can't think of a better way than one of Wolfert's ideas.

Gee, russ. I see the topic of an article in there. (That is if you haven't already written it.) I have talked to a few (3) of my colleagues that retired when I did last year and that are toying with the idea of raising stuff for the "specialty" market. We are talking heirloom fruits and vegetables, exotic birds, herbs and such. They have looked at the requirements for getting "organic" certification and are really pretty dubious that such a thing really has much to do with being better, healthier or more environmentally friendly. These are knowledgeable folks with science backgrounds and years of experience growing and raising foodstuffs as a hobby. They are pretty much of the opinion that the only reason they would go for the certification is for a marketing reason. All of them have always practised responsible gardening and such. I suppose I would consider them "artisanal" according to russ's definition.

Now that is an inspired idea! I just added sweet potatoes to my shopping list.

YES!!! Get thee behind me, Satan.

mizducky expressed my sentiments better than I could have. She said so eloquently just what I was thinking. Yes, I do buy stuff to serve, quite often in fact. But that is usually in the dessert department. I am a really good cook but a lousy baker. I wouldn't inflict my pie crust on anyone, friend or foe. (Well . . . maybe some foes.) In that case, like mizducky, I boast about my shopping skills. I also appreciate that kind of honesty in restaurants. One of my favorite hangouts is a casual seafood place on the bay. They serve some very ambitious food along with the old favorites like fried shrimp. There has been a lot of "buzz" in the past year about their desserts. Obviously, this type of operation doesn't have a pastry chef. If you ask about their Key Lime Pie (that everyone raves about) they don't tell you they made it but will tell you about the extensive tasting process they went through before selecting a supplier. Or they will tell you about the "little old lady" that makes their Blueberry Bread Pudding. To me, that says more about how much they care about what they serve than some stupid lie.