Arey

I really don't understand a word he's been saying. It's like e catechism class when they were explaining transubstantiation or like the physics class in my senior year of high school when it was all downhill after the 2nd law of thermodynamics. I'm going to log out now, and go listen to some Bach or Haydn or Mozart. As the divine Mozart said in one of his letters about people like me "they'll like it, but they won't know why"

As a single diner, I can't see any excuse at all for a television set on a restaurant table. How's a person to do their croswword puzzle while eating with a TV blaring away?

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm sure the next time I try to make Tandoori chicken It'll be more flavorful. I'll definitely slash the chicken thighs and let them marinate overnight. I'll also buy some of the seasonings mentioned in your posts, and try them.

I recently made a recipe from Everyday Food Magazine called Tandoori chicken. Having actually had Tandoori chicken once I knew there's more to it than yogurt, tumeric, garlic, ginger and two bone-in skinless chicken breast halves. Then recently I was watching Mark Bittman on TV and he was using tandoori paste. I didn't know there was premade Tandoori paste, so I went to a nearby market that I pass often named Chatterjee Grocery which I suspected was an Indian market. With the help of a very polite elderly gentleman I bought a bottle of Nirav tandoori paste. It was a very funky place but as I reminded myself, while gingerly examining things, it wasn't quite as High Funk as my favorite oriental grocery. The bottle gives a recipe for Tandoori Chicken, which starts off "mix the beaten yogurt wit the tandoori paste" so I went to the Nirav website which seems to assume you wouldn't even be there if you didn't know the basics. I then googled Tandoori and found two recipes, one for Cornish Hens (which is what I wanted to cook) but requires making your own Tandoori Masala. The other was for tandoori turkey bits and said to mix 1 tablespoon tandoori paste to 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons yogurt. Since I was doing a Cornish Hen I doubled the ingredients, and the resuslts were disaqppointing. Also there wasn't much to the tandoori paste, yogurt mixture, and on the show with Bittman, the food was dripping tandoori paste. I also broiled the hens, since I only have an electric range. So, assuming I would like to cook tandoori chicken legs, using two whole legs, what proportion of tandoori paste to yogurt should I use, what else should I add to the mixture, and how long should I marinate it? Should I bake or broil, and if baking, at what temperature? I know it won't be the real thing, but I would like to achieve a result that is a bit less unlike the real thing.

We always ate as a family, promptly at six. If Dad wasn't home by six, we ate without him. His shop closed at 5:30 and it was about two miles from the house. For my parents, the dinner table was the place for issuing instructions, warnings, and criticism. Imagin having to eat your lunch while your boss gave you a poor performance evaluation We all always ate together for Sunday dinner (served around 2:00 PM). Dad was a very slow eater, and my brother and I had to sit there until he was done eating. Several times when I was an adult my mother mentioned how sorry she felt for my brother and me having to sit there while Dad finished eating. When my brother had his own family, his children were allowed to come and go at will, eat or not eat, make critical comments about the food, and engage in all sorts of behavior. They also were not required to allow the people not done eating to finish their meal in peace. Now I eat alone about 350 days of the year, while doing a crossword puzzle. I like it that way. No more "If your mouth was wider you could shovel more in, except for what you've already dropped on the floor" or "You may not like hearing what I'm about to say, but etc". In view of what some parents regard as appropriate dinner table conversation, some children are better off if they don't have to eat together as a "family". Edited for a typo.

Did you try googling "Pennsylvania Dutch Country"?. I know that a pretzel factory and a potato chip factory in that area have tours. I don't know about the food. What I've had, has tended to be very heavy, as in dumplings that can cripple you if you drop one on your foot, Shoo Fly pie which the flies are welcome to as far as I'm concerned, and cottage cheese topped with apple butter. The scrapple and sausages are outstanding, and the baked goods are good. I really like the peach bread. If you get a chance, go to Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata if you like historic sites.

Yesterday's dinner. Lobster, arugula and avocado salad. The lobster was 2 lbs, and came to $25.00, the arugula was Jersey Fresh, and the potato chips were Lays. The wine was a chardonnay from one of the eye level bins. I usually buy chardonnay from the ankle level bins.The name began GRO, but I can't remember the rest. The bottle is already out in the recycling bin, as is the bottle of Pinot Noir left over from Sunday. I had what little was left in that with dessert - Point Reyes blue cheese. Since I still have some arugula left, tonights dinner is a salad of ham, arugula, and aged Gouda . I may throw in some walnuts.

The various food columnists and TV food show personalities have been advising the consumer to buy "dry pack" scallops. Wet--packed scallops are ones that have not been treated with "sodium triopolyphospate" to ensure moisure retention after schucking. Dry-packed scallops are left untreated and packed on ice. I live a few blocks from the ocean, and go to a fish store a couple of miles from the ocean, but all the fish at the store come from Philadelphia. The days when when you could go to the docks along the inlet in Atlantic City and buy fish that had just been unloaded from the boats out back of the store are long gone. Its been years since I was able to buy fresh bay scallops. When I asked the guy at the fish store about them he said "They cost too much". When I moved here they were cheaper than regular scallops since they don't travel well, and frozen ones are impossible to cook, unless you also like sauteed pencil erasers. edited for a typo

Beautiful pictures, they might even be able to make my brother and his wife stop saying "we don't like fish" everytime I tell them of a new fish recipe I've found.

Early this Spring, the California Asparagus I bought had a recipe attached, for "Spring Primavera". You really have to overcook the asparagus to coil it properly and even then it tends to spring open and send the fusilli bouncing all over the place.

I like it with just walnuts, shavings of aged Gouda and a basic vinaigrette, J.C.'s basic vinaigrette that is , only 3 to 1 for the oil and vinegar.

Great blog. I'm sorry it's over already, and am looking forward to your next one.

It lasts much longer using a dialup modem, and IE6, especially when you have to hit refresh a couple of times to get IE to keep on loading pictures. I'm not complaining mind you, I think of it as "slow blogging" where I savour every paragraph and picture. The cheese pictures I find especially arousing. Wouldn't Bleudauvergnes blogs make a great coffee table book to browse through with Canteloube on the CD player, and a glass of red wine and a wedge of Tomme de Savoi close at hand. Unfortunately being only two weeks away from my biannual weight in and cholesterol check, there's no cheese on my plate, just drool on the keyboard. edited because my fingers were on the keyboard but my mind was on the blog.

Back in the 60s when working in New Haven Connecticut my best friend was a co-worker with a serious drinking problem. He'd even drink vanilla extract if nothing else was available. A lot of times I'd cook dinner for the two of us before he took off for his nightly bar crawl. One day at work, he announced to me that after all the meals I'd cooked for him, he wanted to make dinner for me, and it would be a really great recipe he'd recently come across. So that night , around 7:00 he comes by with a sack full of stuff, and asks me to get out my blender while he unpacks the ingredients for our dinner. He also asked me to get out my bottles of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce and put them on the counter along with the ice cube tray from the fridge. He then unpacked the bag, the contents of which were a can of beef broth and a bottle of vodka. He put the ice cubes into the blender, the can of beef broth, most of the bottle of vodka, and a dash or two of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. He then processed them on high, poured them into glasses and said "Isn't this great! You can get a complete meal and a buzz at the same time". Sometimes, I wonder what ever became of him. Sometimes I miss the burgers at Louis' Lunch. Most of the time I try not to think about Connecticut.

Dijon Mustard Soy Sauce Hellman's Lite Mayo

1. Regular white rice. I don't really care for brown rice. 2.Rice on a plate meat on top on the left side of the plate., vegetables on the right side of the plate. It's compulsive. When eating, meat on the left side of the plate, green vegetable, bottom right, non green vegetable top right. 3. I've tried using chopsticks, and if only ate with them and didn't using a knife and fork, I would probably weight my ideal weight or less. 4. Everything. 5. This must be a North Jersey thing. I'm down at the other end of the state. 6 - 8 Yesterday I ordered stuffed bitter melon, but instead got a combo of white rice, sweet and sour chicken and tofu with mustard greens. and Won Ton soup.For munching on the way home, I bought a package of fried dried squid. I've never tried the dried squib, but it was very good., Had it been cheese flavored and left orange stains on my fingers it would have been better. I don't know the name of my favorite takeout place, but it's in North Jersey. About 40 miles west on the Black Horse pike from where I am, is a small oriental grocery run by a Fillipino lady. On tuesdays she goes to New York to visit her sister. She returns to So Jersey on Thursday bringing back stock for the store and all sorts of take out stuff. Won Ton soup, stuffed fried bean curd skin, stuffed bittermelon, stuffed eggplant, fresh vegetables, and various combo take out dinners. Also a large amount of various tiny fried dried fish which I find intriguing to look at, but couldn't be paid to eat. But, no bitter melon yesterday, so instead I bought the sweet and sour chicken. The squid was from Casa Victoria in Newark, as are most of the fried dried seafood snacks. The proprietor of the shop also brings back many Fillipino specialities such as goat stew, empanadas, lumpia and various pastries and buns. I've been going to the place for years, since I used to pass it whenever I visited my mother. It's funky but nice and has the ambience of those little Mom and Pop stores that have mostly disappeared. I'm trying again for stuffed bittermelon next week, and with a little luck will even get a scallion pancake. 9. Ordered chicken with peanuts from the local takeout after the new owner booted the buffet and put in a sushi bar in its place and upgraded the menu. In addition to the chicken and peanuts, I nuked some leftover stirfried vegetables I'd cooked and frozen, and nuked a stuffed tofu skin roll from the oriental grocery store that I'd frozen. After dinner, I was siting in the living room having a cup of tea, When with no warning at all, I felt I was about to be ill. So I dumped the cat from my lap, went into the bathroom, dumped my dinner and went back and finished my tea. No pre-barfing warning to speak of and no post-barfing discomfort. I chose to blame it on the takeout from the local restaurant.

He scatters his kibble all over the kitchen floor. When offered a treat (Gerbers beef and lamb are the only treats he'll sometimes eat) he tries to hide what he didn't eat by scooping kibble out of his dinner bowl onto the treat. He barfs his kibble in the most inconvenient places. edited for apostrophe mis-use.

I'd have to say that the Italians make the best Italian cheese, and the French make the best French cheeses, and the Danes make the best imitations of other country's cheeses. But then I have this thing about "the best" and lists of the "top ten" or "ten best". If people said the ten cheeses I like best or my favorite five breads, or the ten restaurants I like best, I could respect their lists, and maybe even try some of the food items they liked. But I dislike these arbitrary list of the 'Best" things. Supposing they surveyed the entire population of the planet , to determin the absolute favorite vegetable dish, and it was determined that absolutely positively everybody LOVED succcotash, I'd be sitting there reading the report and muttering "They sure as hell didn't ask me, because I hate lima beans". I think it would be more productive and sensible to compare the differences between French Cheese, and Italian Cheese and say what it is you like about one or the other as opposed to deciding which one is better than the other. I'll end my rant, by saying that the Arey parents had two boys, and I was the second. We went to the same grammar school, high school, and college and by the time I graduated from college, I felt like (to continue the food analogy, a ratatouille that was always being asked why it wasn't succotash.

The recipes are from EveryDay Food magazine, which sometimes are simplified recipes from MSL magazine. I'm assuming that in time the cooks will calm down and relaxa bit. The intial show seemed to be more of an introduction and demonstration of what they're trying to do. The farfalle with salmon, mint and peas is good. I've made it a couple of times. My sister-in-law gives me her MSL magazines. I'm going to do the chicken breast in parchment paper with ginger and scallions, but my parchment paper folding technique needs a lot of work first. . With Everyday Food they have symbols for low carb and healthy meals, but they don't include cholesterol in their nutrient analysis, so sometimes the meals are only healthy for people without a cholesterol problem.

It's also permitted in NJ but has to be in the trunk or someplace where it's inaccessible to the occupants of the vehicle. Originally it was'n permitted at all in the vehicle.

Veronas,Bordeaux, Chessman, Hazelnut, Sugar, not necessarily in that order. However, last year I read an article which said how much weight a person would leave, if they just cut down to the point of not eating cookies. So I haven't had a cookie with my after dinner tea since last year. One year I bought tin of "Belgian Style" cookies for Christrmas, and when I opened the tin I discovered Pepperidge Farm cookies. I looked all over the tin to find the Pepperidge Farm name, and couldn't. I didn't mind that they were Pepperidge Farm Cookies, but I couldn't help wondering if the Pepperidge Farm people knew. There were a lot of the fancier cookies involving jam, nuts, and chocolate in the tin so I suppose that's where the Belgian bit came in.

What is the final alcohol content of the cooked preparation, maybe 1%? (Alcohol burns off or evaporates during cooking...) ←

Mussels with garlic, white wine, and some garlic oil left over from making croutons that I wanted to use. I use the New Zealand green shell mussels since I can't stand gritty mussels. I tried buying live mussels and cleaning them and then cooking them once, but it was not worth the effort. The worse mussels I ever had were at a crab place in Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. they weren't even debearded. Talk about grit! One of the mussels had a little crab in its beard, which I was told is a real delicacy, but I passed it up. With all the gravel I'd swallowed while eating the mussels, I didn't have any room for the crab. The parsley is from my herb garden. I have what amounts to a parsley hedge around my goldfish pond. It was a great year for parsley, which of course meant, a lousy year for tomatoes. I had a green bean salad along with it and a home made Italian roll. washed down with.

On one of the Two Fat Ladies shows, one of the ladies , not Clarissa, the other one, was making a sandwich which used Gentleman's relish as a spread. It was a long well stuffed sandwich which she then let sit a while, with a weight on it to flatten it.

Ummmm Moosh? Doesn't the "side" of the hotdog depend on which way you're looking at it? And KETCHUP??? *sigh* I had such high hopes. ← Does anyone else remember the great Bob & Ray "Mary Backstage, noble wife" episodes where the Backstagers while "resting between engagments" tried to get some income by buying a "House of Toast" franchise. The only things served were toast and Prune shakes but the customers were always asked whether they wanted their toast buttered on the "near side" or the "far side" , I'm not sure it was ever resolved whether the near side or far side was dependant on the customer's or toaster's viewpoint when the toast popped up,