Dinner! 2007

[markk]

This is part of a seeming trend to call things which have perfectly serviceable English names by foreign ones. Other examples: arugula (rocket), cilantro (coriander).

And we refer to French Cuisine, when of course we mean the French Kitchen (cuisine fr. = kitchen eng.), though we do say the American Kitchen when we refer to the collective American cooking, and French people are saying exactly the same. (I know, O.T.)

[GTO]

Is it common across all of the States to say "urbs" instead of "herbs" also? I only ask since I've heard it pronounced as such on several occasions now and although I don't object to it, I just really hate the way it sounds.

[Pan]

Is it common across all of the States to say "urbs" instead of "herbs" also? I only ask since I've heard it pronounced as such on several occasions now and although I don't object to it, I just really hate the way it sounds.

←

Yeah, the "h" usually is not pronounced, as in "honest," "honorable," etc.

And in the U.S., "rocket" is something that blasts off. Arugula IS American English.

[GTO]

Ah, I never thought of it as a silent "h" before. I just thought it was me not liking the pronunciation. That makes a bit more sense now, thanks, Pan.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever heard anyone refer to "Arugula pesto", since 'Rocket Pesto' is quite common.

[Marlene]

For Valentine's, rack of lamb, green beans in lemon garlic butter and all crust gratin.

Chocolate mousse for dessert

tomorrow, I think I'd try something easy. Like order pizza.

[The Hersch]

Yeah, the "h" usually is not pronounced, as in "honest," "honorable," etc.

And in the U.S., "rocket" is something that blasts off. Arugula IS American English.

This may astonish some, but a single word often has more than one meaning. "Arugula" has unfortunately become American English, but "rocket" is still a perfectly usable word for the salad green. Our English cousins manage to use the word in both the blast-off and the salad sense, without becoming hopelessly confused. "Arugula" isn't even proper Italian; why should we accept it as good English?

The h-less pronunciation of "herb" is also unfortunate, sort of like pronouncing "humble" without the h. How that pronunciation of "herb" caught on is a mystery to me.

"Coriander" in current American speech generally means only the seed of the plant; this was not always so. "Coriander leaf" would be unambiguous.

Lamb's lettuce, or mache, has become widely available in the US only in the last few years, but mostly only at fancy-schmancy places like Whole Foods, or in restaurants.

[C. sapidus]

Tonight we made pan-seared tuna steaks with a ginger-lime dipping sauce; stir-fried trumpet mushrooms; coconut rice; and cucumbers. More information in the Vietnamese Food thread (click).

[lucylou95816]

Forest, welcome to picture posting...it does become an addiction, since I am still trying to find the perfect lighting, set up etc. I actually found quite a bit of hints on this site, under the digital camera thread....like using a piece of paper towel or toilet paper (not used, ) over the flash to filter the light out a bit...makes a world of difference.

I would love some hints say, from the top of my head, Klary or Little Ms. Foodie on how they stage their meals, since they are always awesome looking pictures and cool looking angles.

Glenn, that tempura looked awesome....I hope to have pics soon of our dinner tonight, that is if my BF ever wakes up from a nap to start helping me make it. We're having dungeness crabs with clarified butter and hasselback potatoes.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

[prasantrin]

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Mmmmmm....that looks good! Now I feel the need to eat something battered and deep-fried. I wouldn't call it tempura, though, at least not in the Japanese sense of the word.

[lucylou95816]

Hi Everyone, Happy Valentines Day. As my dinner is cooking for tonight (we eat late) here are some pictures that I haven't had a chance to put up yet.

Last night, I made a friend's recipe of Pesto lasagna with roasted red peppers, sausage and a bechemel sauce. Pretty tasty:

This past Sunday, my BF made Chicken and Dumplings:

As a tribute to Purple Wiz, I tried out her chili crusted pork roast. I didn't have exactly the chili's that she used, but it turned out good and I used a tenderloin. Along side of it, I made a pan fried polenta, which wasn't that bad.

This is my BF's creation, he calls it Jenne Penne, named after a friend of his. It's basically a sausage and red bell pepper saute with a bunch of other good stuff.

Lastly, a couple of weeks ago, while reading the Soup Foodblog of those freezing cold ladies up north, I made a potato cheese soup with pancetta. Very good and satisfying. I took someone's advice and put in some beer, but not quite enough, I was thirsty.

Thanks to everyone for their inspiration and for sharing their recipes. It's fun to try stuff out.

Edited February 15, 2007 by lucylou95816 (log)

[Nishla]

This thread moves so ridiculously fast!

Marlene, I love the idea of an all-crust gratin, and the chocolate mousse looks amazing.

Bruce, your dinner sounds and looks delicious, as usual!

First, a few pics to catch up:

From the Jose Andres Tapas cookbook which we got for christmas, Keith made fried potatoes with chorizo, topped with a fried egg:

Pizza (garlic, red pepper flake and rosemary crust) topped with a cheese blend and confit mushrooms with bacon and shallots:

Chicken stewed with carrots, parsnips, red wine, thyme and tomato:

We rendered the skin until it was crisp and ate it separately

Today, we had our friends over for dinner:

Started with a baby arugula salad, dressed with grapefruit/blood orange vinaigrette, tomatoes and a seared scallop:

Next was homemade ravioli, filled with garlic sausage and ricotta. The sauce was roasted buttercup squash, onion, guanciale and sage:

Lamb shoulder chops, topped with gremolata. Twice baked potatoes on the side (stuffed with bacon, scallion, yogurt and goat butter):

To drink, we started out with some Moet & Chandon White Star champagne, and finished with a Seghesio Zinfandel.

Now that we've mostly cleaned up, I'm sipping some Ron Zacapa 23 Anos rum

[markk]

Oooh! Really nice Pesto lasagna, and confit mushrooms pizza, and can I have a copy of the chicken skin photo for my wall?

For Valentine's dinner, I made Moulard duck breast, white beans with garlic sausage, fresh thyme, and tomato, and duck confit.

[prasantrin]

We rendered the skin until it was crisp and ate it separately

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Now it's just mean....just plain mean posting a picture like that!!

I wish I had some fried chicken skins, sprinkled with coarse salt and dipped in a wee bit of ketchup....one of my favourite snacks (or sometimes even dinner, eaten with a bit of freshly cooked rice).

Edited February 15, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[Pan]

Yeah, the "h" usually is not pronounced, as in "honest," "honorable," etc.

And in the U.S., "rocket" is something that blasts off. Arugula IS American English.

This may astonish some, but a single word often has more than one meaning. "Arugula" has unfortunately become American English, but "rocket" is still a perfectly usable word for the salad green. Our English cousins manage to use the word in both the blast-off and the salad sense, without becoming hopelessly confused. "Arugula" isn't even proper Italian; why should we accept it as good English?[...]

←

Because, regardless of origin, it is standard American English. And for whatever it's worth, I didn't know that it was called "rocket" in British English until I started reading food websites, so that should bring you some pleasure in regard to the usefulness of sites like this in bridging the divide in our common language. But if anyone wants to continue with this tangent, they should probably take it to the alt.usage.english newsgroup on USENET.

[little ms foodie]

Forest, welcome to picture posting...it does become an addiction, since I am still trying to find the perfect lighting, set up etc.  I actually found quite a bit of hints on this site, under the digital camera thread....like using a piece of paper towel or toilet paper (not used,  ) over the flash to filter the light out a bit...makes a world of difference.

I would love some hints say,  from the top of my head,  Klary or Little Ms. Foodie on how they stage their meals, since they are always awesome looking pictures and cool looking angles.

Glenn, that tempura looked awesome....I hope to have pics soon of our dinner tonight, that is if my BF ever wakes up from a nap to start helping me make it.  We're having dungeness crabs with clarified butter and hasselback potatoes.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

←

ok, I am totally flattered but we don't stage! we stick the plate on the counter, turn the overhead light up all the way and turn off the flash. thank you for your kind words.

This thread moves so ridiculously fast!

First, a few pics to catch up:

From the Jose Andres Tapas cookbook which we got for christmas, Keith made fried potatoes with chorizo, topped with a fried egg:

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oMG! I want that!!!

forest- we call it mache and find it under that name in our store.

for valentines dinner tonight we started with blood orange French 75s and presents!

next up foie gras on toasted french baguette

then oysters with bloody mary granita

dinner started with a FAB bottle of owen row cab sauv (see the hand bottle numbering? I love them!)

celery salad with pecorino (I love celery!!)

and new york strip steak with porcini cream sauce

[Pontormo]

And in the U.S., "rocket" is something that blasts off. Arugula IS American English.

This may astonish some, but a single word often has more than one meaning. "Arugula" has unfortunately become American English, but "rocket" is still a perfectly usable word for the salad green. Our English cousins manage to use the word in both the blast-off and the salad sense, without becoming hopelessly confused. "Arugula" isn't even proper Italian; why should we accept it as good English?[...]

←

Because, regardless of origin, it is standard American English. And for whatever it's worth, I didn't know that it was called "rocket" in British English until I started reading food websites, so that should bring you some pleasure in regard to the usefulness of sites like this in bridging the divide in our common language. But if anyone wants to continue with this tangent, they should probably take it to the alt.usage.english newsgroup on USENET.

←

Pan, man, The Hersch does not stand alone. It's a matter of usage, perhaps, since times have indeed changed.

The first time I found bunches of arugula in a fancy supermarket was in Wild Oats in St. Louis ca. 1996, I believe, so not so long ago, but certainly before ordinary grocery chains began selling bags of salad.

Many trace the ubiquity of the peppery green to Alice Waters, who, as you know, persuaded farmers to grow all those interesting little leaves for her salads. The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook contains a tomato and rocket salad, not as an affectation, but because "rocket" was the only word in English available at that time. Date of the book? 1982.

* * *

And I will raise a glass to that winningly conceived pile of chicken skins.

Since I am not allowing myself such treats these days, let me thank Bruce the Blue Crab for inspiration for many of my recent dinners, including a kind of Thai pho this evening. Lemongrass is my new favorite ingredient. I've just started to read the Cook-Off on Asian Noodle Soups and I think I'll be moving on to Marco Polo's wonders among others during the weeks ahead.

* * *

Oh, Wendy, love that salad! I used to HATE celery, especially since I've had too many salads prepared by chopping up huge, thick, hard chunks of every vegetable in the fridge along with spongy raw button mushrooms and the celery was always the worse. Then, one terribly muggy summer, I stepped into an air-conditioned little place and ordered a huge gorgonzola salad with the customary toasted walnuts and Romaine. It was studded with thin, tight c's of celery and was it good. The purity of yours is brilliant. Tomorrow.

Have you and TDoW checked out Foodman's recent meal in the Venetian cooking thread? Look for the cocktail.

Edited February 15, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[Pan]

Maybe "arugula" is more a New York or East Coast thing?

Little Ms. Foodie, boy do you and TallDrinkofWater eat well!!!

[Pontormo]

Pan, usage is a matter of temporal change: history and dates vs. region in this case. "Rocket" remains part of American English vocabulary even though it is not as current as "arugula"' is. It used to be the only available word. How "arugula" developed as a word is a mystery to Elizabeth Schneider, the vegetable guru, not just me. You'll find a series of posts about the word throughout this site, and I suspect, much more, including perhaps a solution in the new book on the United States of Arugula. I am guessing marketing is behind the invention of the word that sounds Italian. "Rocket" sounds like the real word, "rucola" to some degree--certainly as much if not more than "Florence" sounds like "Firenze".

Edited February 15, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[lucylou95816]

Little Ms. Foodie, you are welcome, and of course you come through with some more really really gorgeous pictures! What a lovely dinner. I took photos of our crab, but I'll have to see how they look on the computer, they were seeming a little off in composition.

[Forest]

Wow - it looks like everyone made some amazing valentines dinners.

C. sapidus: I've really enjoyed your pictures from your last few posts - they've got a nice intensity of color that makes the veggies pop off the screen (and make me want to eat them!)

lucylou: thanks for the info!

And, wendy, i want one of those blood orange French 75's right now!! But, it's 9:45 in the morning. And, I'm at work. I guess I better stick with my Earl Grey!

Edited February 15, 2007 by Forest (log)

[Chufi]

So much wonderful food!

Bruce's glistening tuna, Wendy's gorgeous Valentine's dinner, and Nishla's chorizo/potato/egg dish.. one of my favorite flavor combinations.

I would love some hints say,  from the top of my head,  Klary or Little Ms. Foodie on how they stage their meals, since they are always awesome looking pictures and cool looking angles.

←

stage:

put food on 2 plates

put one plate in front of my husband and tell him to start eating

rush to the bedroom with the other plate and camera, because that's where the best (adjustable) light is

point light at plate of food

take picture (no flash, low angle if possible)

rush back to kitchen or dining room with plate

find my husband there, patiently waiting for me.

sometimes I just can't be bothered with all that and I take a pic in the kitchen, but I'm always diappointed because the light isn't good.

btw lucy I think your pics look great!

[lucylou95816]

Klary, Thanks for the compliment. They are getting better, but always room for improvement.

Edited February 15, 2007 by lucylou95816 (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

More adobo for my meat-loving men. This time, it's Pork Adobo.

Pork Adobo simmering in the pan...

My dinner plate...

(Going clockwise) That's adobo on top, fried garlic rice, tomato and cucumber slices and fake crab & ham salad.

Dessert was strawberries and bananana...

[Sararwelch]

Here are a few pictures from a dinner party I had last weekend:

Microgreens with beets, blue cheese and tangerine vinaigrette

Chicken and sweet potato shepherd's pie, baby green beans with bacon

Chocolate molten cakes with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream

[MiFi]

Valentines Supper

Beef Stroganoff w/Dill Spatzle

Maple-Rasberrie Creme Brulee (prior to oven)