John Whiting

balmagowry raises an interesting question: is one choosing guests that would furnish drama, or who would communicate with each other? I chose four that I knew to be able to listen as well as talk. I left out Larry Adler because, although a very entertaining monologist, he took over any social gathering of which he was a part. Larry's first autobiography -- the one he wrote himself -- is a great read. The title, It ain't necessarily so, is as good as the other he had considered, Namedrops keep falling on my head.

It's a jewel, you'll much enjoy it. It was compiled by Robert J. Courtine, a good friend of Simenon's, so the recipes are more reliable and authentic than such collections often are. Maigret fans visiting Paris will want to visit what Simonon reported to be M's favorite restaurant, Ma Bourgogne in the place des Vosges. Overrun with tourists, but at last visit they still didn't take credit cards (a sign of old-fashioned resistance) and the gazpacho, steak tartare and Cantal were still excellent. Perfect for dining on the terrace in warm weather.

If you eat before or after normal lunch time and go around the church at around one o'clock, you've a fair chance of enjoying both meal and stroll in relative privacy.

The Poulard recipe is here.

Your modesty is becoming. Do a Google search on your own name and up comes this. An essay on the Pope's appetites is in order, with an appropriate nudging ambiguity. The Borgia's meats do coldly serve the Papal feast.

That wasn't Saul Bellow, that was Augie March on the make.

The sandwiches at Onion, corner of Southampton Row and Sicilian Avenue, have been enormous and first-rate for at least a quarter-century, to my knowledge. Go around behind the hotel, up Cosmo Place, to 24 Old Gloucester Street. Tuesday through Friday the October Gallery serves up good home-cooked lunches, starting at 12:30. Very limited menu, but always a veg- and a meat-based main course. A lovely courtyard garden to eat in when the weather's fine. (I speak from long experience; my sound studio was in their basement for twenty years.) Fish and chips used to be excellent at Fryer's Delight, Theobald Road.

Café de la Nouvelle Mairie 19 r Fossés St Jacques 75005 PARIS 01 44 07 04 41 Thanks, I'll look that up.

A fascinating journey -- and another knot well and truly severed! I put out a query on the Guild of Food Writers Sparklist and no one came up with any further light on the subject. Oh - I loved a quote of yours that appeared in the search:

I can't really take credit for the results of a Google search (though many do!). I became curious about the word, which sounded like a Scotch whisky, and Google led me to your book (and nowhere else). Your comments on sailing, obscure British recipes and illustrious grandfather all jibed. Did O'Brien in fact make up Balmagowry? Sounds like what you'd pour over the haggis and neaps.

Most of those reviewed on my site are indeed more expensive, but the ones I've specifically mentioned will still be as cheap as you can find without descending into rubbish. Add also Au Bon Coin, still a great bargain at lunchtime. It's in none of the guide books, and so it is packed out only with locals. A waiter at l'Ecurie put me onto it.

L'Estrapade 15 RUE DE L'ESTRAPADE 75005 PARIS 01 43 25 72 58 And an incredible cavern of a place, with waiters as ancient as the decor and the menus: Chartier, 7, rue du Faubourg Montmartre , 9th. Metro: Grand Boulevards. Open: Daily 11:30am - 3pm. 6pm - 10pm. And one of my great favorites -- help yourself to as much as you like: La Cave de l'Os à Moëlle

what is the title of your own book? I'm going to make a guess that it's Lobscouse and Spotted Dog EDIT: Thoreau once observed:

Andy, I'm more concerned with food ethics than most, but in the privacy of my own mind I do not hold fine food followers responsible for the greed of the food industry and the indolence of the general public. The only ground for cautious optimism is Ezra Pound's observation that "two or three about the temples were enough to keep alive the old religions".

I used to eat cottage cheese when I was on a low-cal diet. Problem was, I liked it so much that I would eat the whole carton at once, thus making it a hi-cal diet.

This has the effect of getting much of the food away from the warmed plate and exposing it to air circulation, so that your food will have started to get cold even before it arrives at the table. In fact, if a melting effect threatens to destablize the architecture, the plate may not be warmed at all. Scientific chefs are working on an antigravitational device which will allow soup to be served vertically.

dillybravo, you have the makings here of an excellent article. I plan to deal with this briefly in the next issue of Fine Food Digest. Have you seen any similar treatments in print? EDIT: There's an excellent article, though four years old, from the LA Times by Emily Green, a very good food writer who wrote for the [London] Independent and who emmigrated to America: Gone for good?

With veal at an astronomical price and of dubious provenance, we've adapted it to Pollo Tonnato: thin slices of poached chicken breast with the usual sauce. Both veal and chicken are of such mild flavor that guests to whom we've served it haven't spotted the difference.

These are two separate questions, having to do with eating in and eating out. Culinary trends in general will continue to go as the world goes. A member of the food industry said it a decade ago: This is answered over and over in these columns in the affirmative. This will be answered very quickly when our credit-based boom collapses. We know that immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, for instance, have evolved their cuisine, making use of British ingredients and adapting their food to British taste, and then exported the result back to their native countries. Patak condiments are a case in point. I’m sure it’s true of other culinary cultures as well.

But not too modest to quote from and link to them continuously!

Paris is my favorite place to eat on the cheap. A bohemian spot with centuries of history behind it, just next to the Pantheon, is l'Ecurie. Another with history, much better known and with more indoor sit-down space is Polydor. (But check the total on your bill before you pay it.)

I'd love to host a dinner party consisting of Norman Mailer, Jessica Mitford, Studs Turkel and Charles Laughton. Face-to-face, they are/were four of the most delightful and considerate people I've ever known. Oh, and Jesus Christ.

Jonathan Day: From: One Nation Under Wal-Mart How retailing's superpower--and our biggest Most Admired company--is changing the rules for corporate America. FORTUNE Tuesday, February 18, 2003 By Jerry Useem With power like that, you don't have to plan to close down the competition any more than a steamroller has to plan to squash a bug.

French chambre d'hote that serve dinners are likely to cook to a standard commensurate with the quality of the rooms they offer, which can be very good indeed. Many are on farms and make use of their own produce. Those that are not tend to make use of the produce of farms in the vicinity. Mary and I had the best quiche of our lives staying at a French farm. The flour was locally milled, the eggs were from their own chickens, the milk and cream were unpasteurized and from their own cows. Quiche from Plato's Heaven.

One should bear in mind that Waitrose is part of the John Lewis Partnership. It is not a corporation, it does not have shareholders who demand that profits be maximized. Those I know who have worked for supermarkets in various capacities tell me that there is an enormous difference between Waitrose and the rest, in the way they treat their suppliers, their relationship with freelancers, the promptness with which they pay their bills.