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Cooking Secrets of the Conventioneer Sisterhood


Ellen Shapiro

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I could kill you where you stand with this paper clip.

Just so you know.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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More proof of why "Adventures in Eating" is my favorite eGullet forum. Where else could you get information this unusual AND useful in the same place? :wink:

And Jinmyo... its quite easy to kill with a paper-clip. I first thought about this when I was interviewed years ago by a fellow who asked me about 10 things I could think of doing with a paper-clip besides holding paper together. Homicide was way back around #6 for me, but I've thought about it a lot since then when particularly pissed at someone in an office situation.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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Okay, while this isn't strictly on topic, its close.

Many years back, I went to college in dorm rooms that weren't much better than concrete holding cells. Occasionally I catch a movie or TV show showing people in college, where they've got these big comfortable rooms, made of materials considerably less fire-safe than concrete, with dedicated bathrooms, kitchens and room for each person to actually walk between their bed and their door, running water, cooking equipment, etc.

Aside from a natural curiousity about where (and when in time) these miraculous schools might actually be located, it also makes me think nostalgically about our considerable efforts during my time in school to break the rules and actually have a way to prepare food in our rooms.

The best solution, as I recall, was what we referred to as "The Quickie Pie Maker". I can't remember exactly why we called it this, but I think it had something to do with a period when my little brother visited me in school (he's 9 years younger--so I was 18 and he was 9) and started calling it that. Pretty soon everyone in the place was using the phrase, despite how little sense it made. I'm thinking it must have been because while grilling the sandwiches, this little baby also seals the edges up and makes it into a little hand-held "pies". Well, that explanation sounds as good as any, and it came out of someone who at time was a cute little kid... so I'm sticking to it.

sm-4.gif

The SM-4 "Sandwich Maker" by Salton

It wasn't actually even in my room, but owned by someone down the hall. He used to buy enough ingredients to fill his little mini-fridge (the one appliance we were actually ALLOWED to have in the rooms). We swore to a code of silence (he could have been thrown out of the dorm or expelled for having something which applied more heat than a hair-dryer in his room), but eventually he started to catch on to the profit potential and started charging a dollar a sandwich.

I've always wondered if the "Quickie Pie" maker would travel well in a suitcase. I've never had to do business travel for longer than three or four days in a month though, so I've never had the chance to find out.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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jhlurie, you've just described a favourite of students everywhere. :biggrin:

One of my friends became adept at serving what she called "Special Banana Snacks" - basically a couple thin slices of bread, spread with Nutella, and topped with sliced bananas before sealing in a Sandwich maker. She swore they improved her exam results. :rolleyes:

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Don't have anything to add but that hint about using the coffee maker hot-plate to melt things has been wonderful - clarified some butter on there yesterday and kept a butter/lemon sauce for seafood warm on it. Brilliant idea - thanks - bet I'll come up with even more uses since I have a tiny saucepan that just fits on that plate!

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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A collary of this whole discussion would have to be how to deal with hotel smoke alarms.

I've also been wondering about the efficiency of visiting nearby convenience stores and picking up containers of sterno (I woudn't dare advise taking it on an airplane these days...)

Actually, if we truly are dealing with convention visits instead of mere business trips, there are always the heating properties of projectors to deal with. Those suckers get pretty hot, and all you would have to do is sneak it back to the hotel room before/after the show.

Edited by jhlurie (log)

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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...there are always the heating properties of projectors to deal with.  Those suckers get pretty hot, and all you would have to do is sneak it back to the hotel room before/after the show.

{angry supervisor} "HOW did the projector get broken?"

{adventurous foodie} "Well..... I was frying bacon over the motor....I think some greese spattered...." - insert uncomfortable pause here - :laugh:

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sm-4.gif

I remember co-running a rather profitable anarchist toasted sandwich stall with such a piece of equipment at a left-wing conference in the mid-eighties.

Such delights as the

Kropotkin Crunchie (Peanut butter & something)

The Bakunin Beanie (Organic baked beans & some other stuff)

The Emma Goldmann (banana & something)

were sold at hideous mark-ups to delegates from the worthier fringes of UK socialism.

Wilma squawks no more

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