Swisskaese

I LOVE em! I was scandalized a year or so ago when i was doing a cooking appearance at a famous place (starts with a C and is in napa) and my designated assistant (whose credentials were that she had assisted a big shot cooking teacher in france, initials a w) anyhow we're going over the organization and prep on the phone. one of the dishes was a braised artichoke dish, you pare the artichokes of their thorny leaves, cook the chokes in olive oil, lemon, white white, garlic, parsley. anyhow i was scandalized because when i said to put the trimmed stems into the pile of artichokes to use, she refused! and haughtily informed me that she had never eaten an artichoke stem, had no intention of doing so and we would not be doing so at C. she said that in her training at a w they didn't use the stems, she had never heard of anything like it! (what a great assistant, eh!). so i had to sadly not use the stems, i would have packed them all off in a doggie bag for myself if they had kept them when they were doing prep but they chucked em in the bin before i arrived in the morning! funnily, i was speaking to a friend who does cooking tours/classes in paris and she said: of course we do not eat the stems! so maybe its not such a scandalous thing, more a geographical thing. but i mean, you're assisting someone and they want the artichoke stems! please. give her the damned stems! i'm thinking that she felt it would reflect badly on her. but they're as good as the heart, the dear little things. Tell me, do you ever make artichoke soup? cook it with stock, thicken it with potato, and melt a pat of butter on it when you serve. and be sure you add garlic to the pot! ← I would have used my favorite line from "Fried Green Tomatoes" and told her, "I am older and I have more insurance than you, so if you don't put the stems in the pile like I ask, @#@@#$#!". In everyone's honor, I am going to have an artichoke for dinner tonight. I also like the stem. My David does not like the stem for some reason; it just means more stems for me.

Sweet potato soup Carrot soup Black bean soup gazpacho Fresh/frozen fruit shakes (strawberry, banana, mango, peach, etc.)

I serve the artichokes with a mayonnaise dip. I whisk together mayo (sometimes homemade), lemon juice, fresh thyme, minced garlic, real dijon mustard, splash of balsamico and a little olive oil.

Mochihead you are most welcome. Come any time. I also adore artichokes. Last year was the first time I went to the artichoke festival and I all I wanted to do was get naked and roll around in the field, except it would have really hurt and I probably would have scared the masses. We could also eat them three times a day. They are so cheap here. At the height of the season I pay .80USD for a kilo. I went home to visit my parents and artichokes were selling for 1.98USD each! The only thing I don't like that is made from artichokes is the Italian digestivo called Cynar. It is really disgusting.

The OED lists one definition of "gift" as "to bestow as a gift; make a present of." First usage 1619. Not that I think McDonald's copywriters consult the OED. ← Gift can be used as a verb, even in 2006. Check your dictionaries.

If you come in the Spring, we can take you to the Artichoke Festival.

and perhaps not so 'wee' as last night, and maybe i should just start right now! x m ps: My Alan (inspired by you, so tender, my husband has requested that i refer to him as My Alan from now on )--he just sat down and read your blog start to finish and really enjoyed it, and esp the olive oil wheel press thingie (his words). he really enjoyed reading it. how is life after your blog, i'm going to miss doing this so much. how do you cope with a blog-less life and without all these wonderful (and hungry) egulleteer by your side? do you still have the urge to tell everyone what you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner? i know i will! ← I do, but starting tomorrow I have my own deadline at work and I won't have much time to write for a couple of weeks. Tell your Alan that we will be happy to take both of you to see the olive oil press in person. I am glad he enjoyed it. We had a lot of fun doing it.

Mazel Tov on meeting your deadline!! You should have another dram tonight.

What is the difference between "Gift it." and "I emailed you yesterday." or "I just SMSed you."?

Was it one of those light, cheap non-stick pans? I use good, heavy ones-All Clad or Le Creuset-and mine come out great. I can see how the lightweight pans, which can't brown anything, would be bad. ← I use a T-Fal pan and they come out fine. I wouldn't call T-Fal an expensive frying pan.

Looks interesting Jack. I have never tried bread made with spelt flour. How different is the taste from whole wheat? Is it a heavy bread?

Your dinner and the mochi look very good. I thought the oak leaf was fake. What else do you make with the oak leaves? Is it used in a similar way as we use grape vine leaves here?

well, sorta, but the ones i bought on the street were bigger, about as big as a bracelet, and very fresh and chewy, rather artisanal rather than from a bag. it was a whole invigorating chewing experience, in addition to the lovely salty-sesame taste. x m ← I know which ones you are talking about. The crackers above are actually called Kaak. I think you are referring to Simit

I thought these were bagelach: Bagelach

This is way off topic but technically a Polish grandmother is a babci. Maybe a Yiddish grandmother is a bubbe. My mom would look at you real funny if you called her a bubbe. To put this at least semi-on-topic with food, Babci is a fairly decent brand of frozen pierogis, but I like Millie's better. ← That is what Jewish Polish grandmothers are called.

I was a fan of the Galloping Gourmet when I was in first grade. He put his food on fire! ← I was also a fan of the Galloping Gourmet!! And, Julia Child. I starting reading Gourmet and Bon Appetit at age 7. Okay, I looked at the pictures.

We only have an impressive breakfast once a week. I have always been impressed in the breakfasts here, but have been a bit shy to display ours. So, I thought you might be interested in an Israeli Breakfast from my blog last week. Scroll down a little more and you will see an explanation of everything on the table.

It is definitely worth it and we will make it again.

I am always curious about how people make their matza balls because my family makes them different from other families. This is my paternal grandmother's recipe. How do you make yours?

I gave the Straw Potato Cake Stuffed With Braised Leeks a second try and I had success. It is delicious. Here is a picture:

Mazel Tov Pam! That is a lot of pancakes. Where is the article? I couldn't find it.

Holy crap! How big was this pack of herbs? That is 3USD/1.72GBP. We pay .75USD/.42GBP for approximately 40g.

I dream about it, but I can't afford it. I also dream about dates stuffed with minced lamb.

Actually, the butter they make is cow butter. We asked them why they do not sell buffalo butter and Irit explained that you can make buffalo butter, but it is white and they didn't think anyone would want to buy it. The reason it is white is because the buffalo metabolises the beta carotene which enables cow butter to be yellow. It reminds me of when margarine used to be white and it didn't sell very well, so the margarine manufacturers came up with an ingenius idea of coloring it yellow and it sold like hotcakes. BTW - She said the buffalo butter was very good. Maybe I can convince her to give me some or I will buy the 40% cream that I wanted to dip David in and lick it off him, but I figured I needed to lose some weight instead and therefore, I didn't buy any.

I went to the supermarket on Thursday for my weekly shop and I bought 3kg of Kosher chicken wings for 19.99NIS or 2.44GBP/4.30USD. A whole Kosher chicken was 16.99NIS/kg or 2.07GBP/3.67USD. Minced Kosher beef is 36NIS/kg or 4.40GBP/7.79USD.