marie-louise
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Posts posted by marie-louise
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At the risk of sounding like Dr. Phil here... I think it's better if you say "I statements" instead of "you statements." For example, it lends itself to a more productive conversation to say "I felt angry/ hurt when you said..." instead of "You made me angry..."
In this case, it seems like we could have a more productive discussion if we stuck to "I" statements, such as , "I felt angry/ hurt when I posted... and then you said..." or "I feel like I don't fit in here, and I want to..." Citing examples of what "you said" by identifying a particular thread or giving examples of why "all New Yorkers are...", or saying that "everyone says you are..." by telling us that other boards make derisive statements towards eGullet, doesn't seem like it is going to get us to the heart of what this thread really seems to be about: some people don't feel comfortable participating on eGullet. Is there something we can and want to do about that? To paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, no one can make you feel inferior without your permission, but perhaps by talking it through without blame we can reach a better understanding of what you are feeling and why you are feeling it.
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There is so much cool hardware around these days for pullouts, lazy susans, slides, etc. that you can do some pretty amzing stuff with lower cabinets that used to have lots of dead space in them and generally look like big giant disasters. Especially stuff in the corners, those twistl out corner shelves coupled with double doors in the corners (I hope you know what I am talking about or that makes no sense
)Hafele is a good source for this type of hardware.
Has anyone else taken a look at this site? Amazing!
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I remember these tiles. They were all the rage in the late seventies; they also came in blue. I remember kitchens that looked JUST like this. All you need is a Marimekko wall hanging and a couple of joints being passed around...
Kitchens get really dated; this is a perfect example of a kitchen that would have recieved oohs and aahs thirty years ago (well, except for the layout, but even then some of his architect buddies probably thought it was clever.) I predict all the kitchens with granite counters, light wood cabinets, and lots of SS appliances will feel this dated 20 years from now. For me, I guess the takeaway message is not to assume you are doing a kitchen that will last a lifetime; spend only as much money as you feel comfortable investing in something you are going to want to gut in 20 years.
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... I see a class war brewing, and I think certain things need to be kept in mind...
I don't see it at all.
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I have "old school" linoleum (although it is new and expensive and imported from Europe - Forbo Marmoleum). It is very pretty - very easy on the feet after hours in front of the stove - and an absolute pain in terms of maintenance. Before I installed it - I didn't know how soft linoleum was - and how easily it scuffs. So what you have to do is seal it with a couple of coats of wax - and then strip it to get the scuffs out - and then reapply the wax. I only strip it about twice a year - but my husband and I don't have kids or pets - and I normally walk around the house in socks or bare feet. I can't imagine how much waxing the floor would need if you walked on it regularly in heels - or had kids of pets.
Note that in terms of spills and the like - there's no problem at all. It damp mops beautifully. It's the major maintenance that's time-consuming.
By the way - I have a housekeeper - but I'm the one who winds up doing this floor because it takes a very long time to strip it and have the coats of wax dry. There's no way to get anything else in the house done when kitchen floor maintenance is "in progress".
I liked my previous floor covering better. Vinyl tiles with circles made to look like commercial rubber flooring. The vinyl required a lot less maintenance than the rubber - which requires industrial buffing. Unfortunately the product line I liked was discontinued before I did this kitchen. Robyn
Has anyone else had this experience w/ Marmoleum? I have my heart set on replacing my beautiful but high-maintenence tile floors with black and white tiles. I have a friend who has it (as a single sheet, not as tiles) and I'm quite certain she doesn't do anything more than mop it.
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I'd gut it. I'd be happier with the stove of my dreams & that wonderful refrigerator. I hear great things about IKEA's kitchens-I'd install something from this line along a wall.
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It might be easier to tear out the whole kitchen and start fresh.
That's something to consider. Get a master plan drawn up (perhaps an architect, not a kitchen designer, is what your need), spend some $ tearing everything out, buy the stove of your dreams, and get a couple of cheap worktables to use as countertops until you can afford cabinets. Store everything in your pantry or on a couple of cheap bookshelves.
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Speaking of hoods, are there some that are easier to clean than others? I haven't really researched the hood angle at all yet.
Look at Vent a Hood. (For some reason, the company's wesite doesn't work.) The main piece that collects the gunk (they call it "the Magic Lung") can go in the dishwasher, assuming you buy one that fits big things. They are all hard to clean, though. Grease is grease, and God did not intend for our necks to bend like that.
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Can I live with a non-self cleaning oven? I don't think so
I think you would regret not having a self cleaning oven - unless you LOVE cleaning
I wouldn't even consider it an option.We currently have a non-self cleaning oven. It's a living hell. It takes the better part of a day to clean. And Blovie has burned himself using the chemicals. Oh, and the chemicals stained some tiles by the stove.
I can't emphasize this enough....Get thee a self-cleaning oven!
YES! I forgot to mention that. I never thought I got my oven very dirty until I no longer had a self-cleaning oven.
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This will be a fairly simple renovation when you get right down to it.
My friend, more famous last words have never been spoken
Yep.
My advice:
The cheapest bid isn't always the best idea. You know the expression, you get what you pay for... I'm guessing you are planning to live in this home for a long time, right?
I have never had two ovens and have never missed it. I've never had more than four burners, either, and it is rare that I even use all four. So it all depends on WHAT you cook, not how much. I don't do a lot of multi-pan meals.
My favorite quote-get a counter than shows the dirt and a floor that hides it.
I love having a huge chopping block worktable-mine's 3 ft x 5 ft. Handy for all sorts of food prep, including plating food.
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oh i meant the opposite - the free-range-organic people have the tight yolks that don't break so easily. the grocery store ones are the weak drippy kind.
I know what you mean. My husband bought some "regular" eggs from the grocery store a few weeks ago. As is my usual custom, I was separating the yolks from the whites by moving them back & forth between my hands (not the shell, but using my fingers as the sieve.) I do this all the time w/ the vegetarian eggs, but these eggs were so slippery that the yolk AND white kept slipping through my fingers and down the sink. I finally had to break them over a plate-and even so the egg yolks broke apart when I separated them. I went thorugh about eight eggs to get two egg yolks to make mayonnaise!
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Love the avatar, Moopheus. You appear to have a naughtier cat than me-or is that a racoon on your counter! (I actually have 4 cats, and only one of them plays dumb about the no-cats-on-the-counter rule. Sigh...)
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Rock Island's website. Seems they sell at the SF Ferry Plaza in additon to stores. The website is pretty funny. An example:
Moses says (with a wry chuckle) that one of the most important differences between caged vs. cage-free hens is that some cage-free hens are treated to a rooster (one rooster per 10 hens that have been selected to enjoy a rooster). Those hens produce fertile eggs.I want my chickens to have had a good life.
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I've been buying eggs similar to this for over a decade. They sell them at the supermarkets here. They are labeled "Brown Fertile...raised without Cages...100% vegetable diet...free from hormones or antibiotics" They are local for me-from Petaluma (Rock Island brand.) They don't taste as good as the ones from my friend's farm, but they taste noticably better than other brands, but even if they didn't, I'd really rather not have hormones and antibiotics in my food. The yolks are more orange than yellow.
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By the way, I forgot to mention this previously: I promise to find this thread & bring it to the top every few months so you can post your progress. Consider me the Dr. Phil of eGullet.
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I completely agree about feeling spoiled for everything in San Francisco, but marie-louise have you had coffee from Graffeo roastery in North Beach? I don't think you'll go back to Peet's. "Simply the World's Finest Coffee"!
Yes, it is great. There are another one or two that are also great, but I'm brain dead and can't remember their names. One is in Marin, I think. How blessed we are that we can be having a conversation about coffee BETTER than that ordinary ol' Peet's!
I forgot to mention all our local cheeses. And Clover organic milk. And Strauss butter...
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My work life is looking pretty brutal through at least President's Day. I'll join in when I can, but I have a feeling I'm not going to be feeling much like cooking the next few weeks. So sorry, I think this is a terrific idea.
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First of all, what is it about California cats and fresh produce? Here's my dim boy being naughty as I was unloading my CSA box. (Contrary to what he says, he is not allowed up on any kitchen surface. You can tell from my avatar who is in control!)
Second of all, I FINALLY made it to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market this past weekend. All eGulletBay Area visitors and residents, please take note: This is a must-see destination; it is not optional.
Besides some Japanese take-out (fried everything-scallops, crab, shrimp ball and potato croquette) and Hog Island Oysters at their sit-down restaurant with a drop-dead gorgeous view of the Bay, we bought:
Phipp's dried flageolet beans
dried cranberry and big white Italian beans (labeled "these are not lima beans")
lettuce (small heads of assorted leaf lettuce)
sheep's milk Feta
CowGirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese
carrots
several kinds of new potatoes-fingerling, red, Yukon Gold
Brussels sprouts
butternut squash
some sort of not broccoli, not broccoli rabe thing
chard
There was lots, lots more we didn't buy, bread, chocolate, pastries, caviar, incredibly fresh fish and great olive oil among them. I like to go to the Sunday Oakland Jack Londen Square Market-the produce is comparable, I even saw many of the same vendors. But the stuff inside, oh my God, what a place...
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is the photo only in the print edition?
No photo in the SF print edition (sorry, Elsye.)
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I'm pretty much spoiled rotten about just about everything. In no particular order, I am grateful for the Bay Area's many riches, including:
Seasonal fruits and vegetables from the CSA and/or the many Farmer's Markets in the area and/or every grocery store in a 100-mile radius. Even Safeway brags about their produce being less than 24 hours from farm to display.
Acme, Semi Freddi's, Grace, etc. bread-also in every grocery store in a 100-mile radius. I cannot imagine living in a city without all this great bread everywhere.
Hog Island oysters that aren't more than a few hours out of the Bay. (I had them just yesterday, they are incredible.)
Peet's coffee. Everywhere, even at the office.
Fresh fish, Nimon Ranch and Harris Ranch meat, organic free-range chickens (now in packaged parts for quick shopping.) Dungeness crab.
Scharffenberger chocolate bar displays at every cash register.
All of our wonderful and diverse ethnic foods-dim sum, burritos, sushi, Thai, Vietnamese, et. al. You name it, we got it, I love it.
The sheer number of choices we have to get all these foods. It's not just in one specialty store-it's everywhere.
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I have only pounded crosswise pieces of pork tenderloin. It works well. Stuffing a long piece intrigues me, I've done that w/ flank steak (Brue Aidell's Matambre recipe in the Complete Meat Cookbook. Lots of garlic in the stiuffing; the meat is seared on the gas Weber, then finished in the oven.)
I have never tasted Stove Top stuffing, so I have no idea whether or not it sucks. However, being out here in the land of sourdough, I always have odds and ends of bread in my freezer (even we can't eat a whole loaf for dinner, and God forbid we should eat stale bread the next night.) Stuffing is one of my favorite ways to use it up. Saute a little onion & celery in butter, add stale bread (dried out in the oven for a bit if it's not hard enough), about 1/2 cup of stock, herbs, salt & pepper and you've got fabulous stuffing without much work.(Bake covered for about 1/2 hour, then uncovered.) Add an apple, some sausage, and/or some sauteed mushrooms and as far as I'm concerned, it's a main course!
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My husband and I were in a WS today & hefted the 3-qt. SS saute pan. We both thought it felt different than the 10-year old version we have at home, which we've each cooked with hundreds of times. Neither one of us could quite place what it was- I'm not sure that it was lighter-but something felt very different. It felt cheaper and MUCH less pleasant to hold, as if it is weighted differently somehow, or maybe they've changed the angle of the handle. Whatever they did, it is not at ALL the same pan as the All-Clad I own. What a shame...
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Thanks, JAZ. It got mixed reviews in the press. I've picked it up a few times, but never bought it. Something about it doesn't quite appeal, I can't remember what.
You really should publish a book on the subject. I looked through a bunch of my cookbooks this morning; there is little to nothing on menu planning in most of them. At best there are suggestions for a few menus, or a "serve with...," but it's amazing how few cookbooks even make recommendations for that anymore.
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Anything you want to commit to here?
I want to pay more attention to how I plan my menus as I cook this year. I just re-read JAZ's excellent eGCI class on Menu Planning. There's a lot to think about!
The dangers of the high horse
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
I agree with you. My first post on this thread was something to the effect that I just don't see it. EGullet has many smart, articulate, and yes, opinionated participants. I lurked for months feeling slightly intimidated and not sure if I had anything to add. This place is amazing-for example, you want to talk about cooking beans, none other than Paula Wolfert will answer you (and I could go on and on, but I have to leave for work now.) But now that I have particilate by posting, I have to say I have felt nothing but welcomed here. No one board is for everyone. You are absoluteley correct in saying that if you post something here, expect to defend it. Not because you're new, not because you don't have credibility, not because you are not from New York. Because debate is the culture of this board. Debate does not equal class warfare, and if someone has a different opinion than you, there may be a better way of expressing your feelings than telling them they are on a high horse.