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For whom would you most like to prepare a meal?


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No one famous or infamous, just my dad who died when I was 11. I wish I could have gotten to know him. He was an adventurous eater, and before he died he took us to Europe and at 10 I got to taste escargots in France, mutton and eel in Norway and good chocolate on a train to Germany. He also opened my eyes to the fact that you could eat meat other than bacon and cheese for breakfast with no eggs in sight, as we did in Denmark! :smile:

I'd love to cook for him and talk to him. And to see if he'd like to drink wine as back then, they always drank cocktails...

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I'm with Varmint.

Mrs. 'Dome (Leslie to those who know her, "who's that wacko?" to those who don't) is still my favourite reason to cook. She's patient with infinitely-extended mealtimes, ill-thought-out experiments, and my transient enthusiasms. And she really, really loves good food. REALLY loves good food. Think Thumper from "Bambi." When I hear her foot going thup-thup-thup under the table I know I've hit on a "keeper."

I can't think of anything more appealing than the notion of a whole day, just us, to go out and pick the ingredients and prep a meal to enjoy together. No phone, no kids (dearly though we love 'em), no neighbours, just us.

<sigh> Been a lot of 60-80hr work weeks, these last few years. Alone time is hard to come by.

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Chef Achatz and Curtis Duffy, formerly of Trio: for their deep-seated ability to genuinely think about cuisine; and the fact that I know I would get honest feedback.

The avant-garde poets Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery for their genius; and the fact that I know that they would stir up quite a conversation.

Alton Brown: for obvious reasons.

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Like a couple have already commented -- me and the missus.

I can't include family members beyond that. Been there. I've done a big Thanksgiving extravaganza more than once only to get a few "now that's interesting" comments. Philistines!

I'll also echo one other reply -- my departed father. My parents divorced when I was young, and he moved away. After I was seven, I probably saw him a cumulative total of less than six months (and I'm being generous) before he died in 1982. Going through his things, I came across a large set of cookbooks with recipes written on paper stuffed inside many of them. I never saw him cook (but never was at his home), so nurture didn't contribute to my affinity for cookingl it had to be nature.

We cannot employ the mind to advantage when we are filled with excessive food and drink - Cicero

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If any of you are able to get Mr. Jefferson,  ------- may I come too?

He phoned his regrets this morning. He said he had a long-standing date with one of his servants Saturday night, but asked me to say hello to Dick Nixon for him. He hasn't seen Dick in a long time - they've been traveling in different circles.

Edited by rich (log)

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

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Going through his things, I came across a large set of cookbooks with recipes written on paper stuffed inside many of them. I never saw him cook (but never was at his home), so nurture didn't contribute to my affinity for cookingl it had to be nature.

Thank you for once again confirming my innermost feelings on the genetic predisposition toward being a culinary fanatic! In my own case, the genes skipped an entire generation .. a fluke really! My grandmother cooked, my mother avoided any possible contact with a kitchen, I love cooking and my daughter does as well!

Good genes will out! :laugh:

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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  • 2 years later...

Reviving an old but thoroughly interesting discussion ...

For whom would you most enjoy preparing a meal? ... seeing as how we are deeply into 2006 now ...

perhaps the current pope? a dictator? a president? a film star? would you like to feed and put some pounds on Nicole Ritchie ...

love to hear your responses ... :laugh:

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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I saw "Infamous" last weekend, and ever since have been thinking about how much fun it would be to have Truman Capote at a dinner party. The man loved food and his gossip was unparalelled!

-Sounds awfully rich!

-It is! That's why I serve it with ice cream to cut the sweetness!

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The only two chefs that I can think of at the moment would be Julia Child and Mario Batali. Julia because she appeared to be such a warm good person, who you would love to get to know and Mario because he also seems to be a very good hearted guy and would be a lot of fun to have in your kitchen.

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But I heard he takes a long time to limber up and join the conversation.  And you might have to feed him.

You forget I used to be executive chef to top investment bankers. They require all sorts of feeding sometimes, so I am used to it. :smile:

I did wonder if he would be able to sit down, but became quite entangled in the how-to's of it all. I might have to sit on his lap.

That's okay.

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M.F.K. Fisher, Marion Cunningham, Ludwig Bemelmens, James "Diamond Jim" Brady, and Rosa Lewis, the woman who was the inspiration for the Duchess of Duke Street series. (A book about her is here.)

Of course, in this fantasy, I'm a marvelous cook and not intimidated or nervous in the least. Heh.

"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

--Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

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Without a second thought. My mother.

No doubt...and can we please include her mother too? Without them I wouldn't be near the cook I am today.

Dave Valentin

Retired Explosive Detection K9 Handler

"So, what if we've got it all backwards?" asks my son.

"Got what backwards?" I ask.

"What if chicken tastes like rattlesnake?" My son, the Einstein of the family.

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I'd like to do a saddle of venison--honest, Wisconsin, cornfield-robbin' venison that I shot myself, and butchered myself, and cooked myself--to a table of PETA-style vegtarians.

I'd like to do the same for the great oudoor writers: Jack O'Connor, Pete Capstick et al.

I'd like to cook Osama bin Ladin's last meal, whatever it might be. I'd drop everything to do that tomorrow.

This whole love/hate thing would be a lot easier if it was just hate.

Bring me your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!

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I'd like to cook for:

Terry Pratchett

Isaac Asimov

Edgar Allen Poe

I'd cook a full-course steak meal with apple pie with ice cream for dessert.

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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I'd like to do a saddle of venison--honest, Wisconsin, cornfield-robbin' venison that I shot myself, and butchered myself, and cooked myself--to a table of PETA-style vegtarians.

I'd like to do the same for the great oudoor writers:  Jack O'Connor, Pete Capstick et al.

I'd like to cook Osama bin Ladin's last meal, whatever it might be.  I'd drop everything to do that tomorrow.

Amen to THAT, Reefpimp! And if I was cooking for Osama, it WOULD be his last meal. I'd have him choking on so much pork product laced with succinochloride they'd have to call in the EPA just to fork him into the body bag! But seriously? I'd like to give it a shot with Hunter S. Thompson, Dorothy Parker - and include a few living, like Bourdain and Batali. FUN carnivores.
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