bloviatrix

Every so often my brother and I go out for dinner at the sushi place around the corner from his apartment. The place is almost like an extension of his living room. We walk in and sit down, and within seconds sake is placed on the table along with the warmed, moist towels. Shortly thereafter, the tempura shows up. If the sake gets low, Richard, who is always our waiter, brings over more (which happens quite frequently). Inevitably I protest that "this time I really can't drink" as a brief memory of the prior dinner raises it's ugly head. But it's only a threat. Over sushi we bitch about our parents, catch each other up on our lives, talk sports, etc. And then I come home sloshed and wake up the next morning with a wicked hangover.

Tonight I'm repenting for the left-overs we ate last night by making something Brand-New with an ingredient I never used before!!! Wilted Broccoli Rabe (the new ingredient) with garlic and sweet veal sausage The Broccoli Rabe is wilting as I type. I have no idea how it will taste, but it smells damn good.

David Rosengarten has a new book called It's All American Food, The Food we Really Eat, the Dishes we will Always Love. It's broken out into 3 categories - Ethnic American, Regional and Classic American. I skimmed it quickly in the bookstore and might be what you're looking for. Another one is Sheila Lukens USA Cookbook.

2 more for me. I went to Strand today. Came home with David Leibovitz's Ripe for Dessert and a food history book called Eat My Words, Reading Women's Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote by Janet Theopano -- looks interesting.

Like everyone else here, I make huge pots of chili and divide it among quart containers. Also, pots of soup. At any given time there will be butternut squash or mushroom barley soup. Finally, brisket. I find that braised brisket freezes very well, so when I entertain I'll make a very large one and freeze the leftovers in 2 serving packages. Unfortunately, my freezer is too small to keep much more in it, although last night I was re-evaluating my space so see where I can hide a small stand-alone freezer (my husband thinks I'm nuts)

Swissmiss asked about your status as and outsider when doing your research. Which leads me to wonder -- how do you find the women who are so generous in opening their kitchens to you?

Just remember - only 30 more weeks to go.

Tonight was left-overs.... Tomato Soup Turkey Breast w/apricot-ginger sauce bulgur pilaf ratatouille There's homemade sorbet in the freezer. Maybe we'll have some of that later.

Obviously you didn't read it closely enough:

Some years ago I undertook a tasting of fries as every stadium and arena I went to. Although this was a national tasting, I found that Madison Square Garden has the best fries locally. This may have changed, as I don't know if the Garden still uses the same food-service vendor. Overall, the best fries are to be found at Pac-Bell in SF. I ended my quest for the perfect "sports" fry about 3 years ago so this could have changed.

So has the government taken away the "right to the persuit of happiness" of drinkers who want to imbibe enormous amounts of alcohol and then get into a car and drive? In both the drinking and smoking cases the government is saying that you can still engage in the activity, just not when there is the risk of harming others who cross your path.

Don't smokers, who are in the disctinct minority, expect everyone to put up with their smoke? That was tyranny of the minority. So now the majority has struck back. In most cases I say the government should stay out of the way and let people decide what's right for them because their behaivor only impacts themselves. But with smoking where I am impacted by the actions of others, I don't have a problem with legislation. I will say that the state legislation can be construed as onerous. Maybe the state law should allow for owners to create "smoking rooms" with the appropriate exhaust systems as the city law did.

For Rosh Hashanah I made a sweet potato and carrot tzimmes that was out of this world. The vegetables were diced, to which I added raisins, dried apricots, two vanilla beans - with the caviar scraped out and added, the peel of half an orange, clove and an orange juice water mixture. The whole thing was simmered for close to hour. Then I removed the orange peel and vanilla pods. Once the mixture cooled, I strained out the liquid and mashed the mixture. You add some of the liquid back to make it wetter if so desired. (The unused liquid was tasty to drink straight up.) Salt and pepper to taste and some honey if it isn't already sweet enough (optional). I think this would go great with turkey.

About 4 years ago there was a recipe in Gourmet for Moroccan-spiced Roasted Vegetables. It calls for shallots, red peppers, butternut squash and sweet potatoes and tossed with a combination of cumin, corriander, and cinnamon. The vegetables carmelize, and the warm spices give it a very nice flavor. Plus, this is large recipe - it serves 12 which is great if your son is cooking for friends.

This is misleading as the tax rate on alcohol on beer in NYS increased. Which leads me to wonder what other misleading facts are in that release.

This is an absolutely brilliant idea. I have to try it next time. The chicken carcasses I used completely broke down and were a mess to remove. Fortunately, I had one sous chef helping aka my husband. He comes in handy for chores such as lifting a heavy stock pot and chopping onions.

Ranch-flavored tortilla chips. I can eat bags of them. I eat a lot of ice cream as well.

One of my favorite, quick dinners is a bean salad and baked salmon. If I don't have beans pre-made, I take a can of black beans and a can chick peas. Dice up some peppers, red onion, garlic and a bit of parsley. Toss with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Brush some salmon with mustard and sprinkle with bread crumbs and place in oven. Serve beans over mesclun with fish on the side. You've got your protein, your greens and your good fiber. A nice, quick balanced meal.

Will you post the apple's travel blog? A picture of the apple in Piazza San Marco will do.

Sunday night/ pre-Yom Kippur fast Chicken Soup w/Matzoh balls Turkey Breast w/Apricot-ginger sauce Bulgur Pilaf Baked Potatoes and Baked Sweet Potatoes Monday night/break-fast Assorted Bagels Cream Cheese Whitefish Salad Farmer Cheese Plain Omlettes Chocolate Babka Blueberry Cake Baked Farmer Cheese w/Apples and Cinnamon Tea and Coffee

Wow. I'm impressed.

Oreo packages chocolate cookie crumbs. I've only seen them once, but they made the best cheesecake crust ever, and it was so much easier measuring the crumbs in a cup than taking lots of cookies and crushing them.

I actually had Cherries Jubilee (in NYC) last year and they flamed it tableside. Granted, it was at a kosher restaurant, and they tend not to be on the cutting edge of desserts, but it was the most popular thing on the dessert menu, and the other diners kept looking up at the preparation everytime the cart was rolled out.

Thanks for telling me I need to re-think my quantity of stock. That's part of what I was looking for. But do I need to add any more vegatables or chicken? Or is the flavor ok as it is? I actually don't think I need to add any salt since I used kosher chickens and the necks, especially tend to have a lot of salt in them. BTW, I'm serving with Matzo balls.

There was a teaser for this article on the front page of the Travel section, so I was hoping for more of Ellen's beautiful writing. Alas, it was not to be. And the article wasn't nearly as good.