Country Cook

I buy mostly cheap wines and I generally don't taste the subtilties anyway so what I prize are the combinations. A strong red like chianti or shiraz with parmaggiano reggiano or stilton are my favorites, no article will disuade me from that notion.

My first tastes of Procuitto de Parma and buffala mozzaralla, of the top of my head and of course GBP at HSG.

My worst scar is my first scar. I was 8 or 9 years old trying to cut a piece of watermelon. I managed to cut the watermelon and the flesh between my thumb and fore finger. It required at trip to emergency and 3 stitches. Still visible today over 30 years later.

So am I!, versatile, plentiful and cheap!

I got my niece to eat frogs legs by mixing them in with my Dad's honey garlic chicken wings! She didn't notice the bones looked a bit funny until after she'd had a few (legs).

I love lamb when I can get it local and fresh (and I usually freeze a bit then). The NZ is okay for a fix of season though.

I was travelling in Finland with my parents in 1977 and I had been subjected to a number of "worsts" (a creamed chipped beef hot sandwich comes to mind). Finland is not known for it's cuisine. We had rented a little cabin to spend a day or so between visiting my Mom's relatives and I was looking forward to a home cooked meal of hamburgers. What I didn't know was the butchers put liver in the ground beef to improve the color , I hadn't developed a taste for liver then so the whole meal was a bust for me. I did have one good burger at MacDonald's in Helsinki though. I'm glad I'm a less picky eater now though.

I didn't do any cooking this thanksgiving. I went down to visit friends in the Bella Coola valley in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. The drive itself is awe inspiring (driving one lane down a mountain with around seven switchbacks). On saturday we went on a 20 min heli ride up acouple of the drainages looking for goats and flying over very dangerous looking glaciers. Supper was fork tender ribeyes and my own roasted beets and potatoes. On Sunday after talking the dogs for a walk on an old growth interpretive trail up by Bella Coola Seafood we had a traditional turkey dinner at one of their new friends places, quite delicious, especially the pumpkin pie tart. On monday I was thankful I made it back up the hill.

I use it in small amount to deglaze, flavour sauces, steam mussels, it's always handy in the fridge.

Perhaps an insult is not the greatest harm that can be done via a book. Perhaps someday you'll have the experience of needing to staff a kitchen on a budget as does Peter who has only to turn to the CIA to see prospective employees reading that he has nothing to teach them. That's the way a hit man works. A few words of praise and a couple of kisses on the cheek before you put the knife in someone's back. The naiveté on this board about how the restaurant world works, just stuns me, especially when it comes from so called professional chefs. I wonder about the ivory tower in which they work and in what parallel universe that must exist. The twins know how to hit low and no one here gets it. It's like using a rubber hose. It leaves no visible mark. I truly believe neither the supporters nor detractors of the book have a really good sense of what's going on and just how calculating this whole book was. ← Ahh... So it was deliberately engineered. Thank you.

Apple pie and Cheese Whiz here . Hey that's what I grew up with!

I've never had a tuna melt at a restaurant just made by me or my Mom. Being Scananavian it was open faced ideally a crusty white toasted bun buttered with tuna salad (onions, celery, canned tuna, salt pepper, paprika, celery salt, miracle whip), a slice of cheddar and a dollup of miracle whip toasted under the broiler till the cheese melts and the whip browns.

Oh yeah? Then how about animal Gods and Godesses? Those have existed since ancient times, if not prehistory. ← Us neolithics only believe in the mother Goddess but yes anthropomophism was around long before our modern era based in religion and culture all over the world. I guess I should have said it is more prevalent in our modern world. And Carrot Top, good comment about 4H, quite popular where I am.

As a new age neolithic I have always felt proud about being ablbe to hunt, catch or gather my own food. Nothing better than chowing down to what nature has to offer or on what you have raised yourself. Anthropomorphism (sp?) is a modern affectation.

I would be suprised if any bar in Vancouver could actually produce a good martini . first of all the vermouth (which can only be Noilly Prat) is usually store to long at room temperature, the glasses aren't chilled, if you don't say anything it will be shaken not stirred and I would doubt you could find orange bitters or a decent olive. I will make mine at home thank you,

I've never considered "summer beers". It's more of a mood thing for me. When I've finished a sweaty job or I need a "Sauna" beer I prefer a lager of some sort otherwise I prefer golden to dark ales. My choice of late has been Faxe 8.5% Lager.

I've always like strong beers from my younger days drinking O'Keefes Extra Old Stock (High Test) in the 80's. Today a strong Belgian like Duval if I can get it or Faxe (8.5%). The Unibrou ones are good too! The 10% Faxe I tried in Ontario was a little strong but two of those and I knew I was drinking .

My mother still has some of those, used as rugs on the floor. I have the modern version made of plastic sheets not recyled from bags. They wear great and clean easily. The old ones made by my Grandmother's generation out of wonderbread bags and others in countless patterns always intrigued me. Why has nobody mentioned Spam?

My favorite too (either my Mom's, mine or from a polish chuch where I grew up, but I never thought of them as a dumpling, more like a filled pasta. Dumplings are the fluffy dough balls you put in stews or the asian version like gyoza.

smoked pork ribs covered in Canadian Club BBQ sauce, it went suprisingly well with soba noodles and sauce.

Ditto!

Last three?, that would be Elvis Rocks the Canyon, HSG, and the Banana Leaf (on Denman). Elvis Rocks the Canyon (near Hell's Gate) was my breakfast stop on the way home from the Lower Mainland. I went for the atmosphere not the food, although my ham, eggs and hashbrowns were quite good. The owner has been collecting Elvis memorabilia since 1965 (when she was 12); she has every album save three displayed in the dining room along with a museum load of other stuff. Only Elvis music plays on the stereo and her husband's ducktail complete the ensemble, quite unique! Service may be a bit slow. I finally had the hanger steak at HSG prepared by the man himself no less. It was a good steak and I really like the idea of eating something different. I learned on this trip how reduced veal stock is like the life blood of the restaurant business, that's why those sauces taste so good! Singapore Laska at the Banana Leaf for $7 was most filling and delicious, a rich spicy coconut broth with noodles, shrimp, squid, potatoes, chicken, eggs, etc.

I'm eating my favorite variety righ now , Lapins, only grown in the Okanagan as far as I know. Rich, sweet red, delicious!

Being in the Central Interior of BC that would be hard to do. I would need to build a really good greenhouse, plan a bigger garden, make my own hooch and give up coffee . No thanks!

I haven't had one since the mid-80s when I lived in the Slurpee Capitol (Winnepeg), maybe I will try one again.