eG Foodblog: therese - So, you want to remodel your kitchen?

[Jensen]

She had (has, actually) lots and lots of cookbooks, and I particularly remember a series published by Time Life, with each book in the series featuring a different part of the world. More a travel series than just a cook book, sort of "A Cook's Tour" without all the swearing. The one about French country cooking included a piece on the Boulat family---very weird to come across that name years later in the person of the now grown daughter who's a photographer/journalist.

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I know I should stop being amazed by these coincidences but my mum had this series too! In fact, at some point in my life, I nicked the Italian book (the coil-bound recipe book, not the hardcover picture book) and it sits on my bookshelf this very day.

And now that I have that out of the way...can you tell us more about your "tea masala"? Do you make/blend it yourself? Do you buy it?

[slbunge]

A better example might be "Wow, you sure do eat a lot. Are you sure you don't have a tapeworm?"

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Your kids seem to be adventurous eaters. For kids, that at least. Was that something you worked at or did it just come sort of naturally?

Do you pack a lunch every day? I've noticed in recent years that few of my colleagues do that anymore. I still do it because I eat better and it's cheap.

Do you have trouble going without shoes throughout the winter in Atlanta?

[SobaAddict70]

You know, I've never had cornbread that had no sugar in it....so now I'm wondering what real cornbread tastes like.

Soba

[therese]

And now that I have that out of the way...can you tell us more about your "tea masala"? Do you make/blend it yourself? Do you buy it?

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I buy it. Lazy lazy lazy, I know.

But I do at least transfer it to this sweet little shaker. When my mother visits I have to caution her to not use any of the unmarked shakers. Between the basil seeds and the tea masala we could have a really interesting batch of cole slaw.

Another book I recall reading as a child was Reay Tanahill's "History of Food". Oh, and "Gone with the Wind" has great food references in it. Margaret Mitchell used a book called "Life in Old Dixie" by a woman named Mary Gay as background material for the book.

And I was married in the Mary Gay House.

[Susan in FL]

#1 I am going to hell. OK! ...I'll call it cake from now on.

#2 I have those cookbooks.

[therese]

Your kids seem to be adventurous eaters.  For kids, that at least.  Was that something you worked at or did it just come sort of naturally?

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Both. I definitely think that the parents' attitudes toward food makes a difference. Were it left to my husband the kids would likely have survived on a steady diet of chicken fingers and fries. He's not evil, he's just not as concerned with food as I am. He definitely appreciates good food, he just won't go to great lengths to get something better or different or whatever.

But kids have inborn taste as well, I think. My son doesn't like fruit. He also doesn't like fruit juice, carbonated beverages (even water), fruit-flavored candies, or wine. And he's limited when it comes to vegetables (though he's getting better about that). Oh, and he'll eat bananas. But strong cheese of any sort, sashimi (dinner conversations include statements like "Hey, leave some uni for the rest of us, okay?"), foie gras, bean-based Asian desserts? He's all over it.

Girl's presently going through a bit of a meat aversion stage. She occasionally describes herself as a vegetarian (except for country ham and my mother's fried chicken), but I point out that vegetarians eat vegetables. She's more of a breadarian. But even she's cool with stuff that most Americans find sort of weird: lentils, mussels, an egg on her pizza.

Do you pack a lunch every day? I've noticed in recent years that few of my colleagues do that anymore. I still do it because I eat better and it's cheap.

Yeah, you got that right.

So, yes, I pack my lunch almost every day. Way way way better food. The cheap part is just an added bonus.

Do you have trouble going without shoes throughout the winter in Atlanta?

No. It builds character.

And I think it important to point out at that I was drinking a beer when I read that last question, and now my nose hurts.

[Jensen]

#1  I am going to hell.  OK!  ...I'll call it cake from now on.

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Isn't it called "johnnycake" when it's made with sugar and "cornbread" when it's not?

I could have that backwards. A friend whose family settled Oklahoma told me all about cornbread way back. I've forgotten almost all of it though...

[therese]

You know, I've never had cornbread that had no sugar in it....so now I'm wondering what real cornbread tastes like. 

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Tsk tsk tsk. You can still remedy the situation. Find a recipe that calls for no sugar, and ideally includes buttermilk.

I don't make cornbread myself, because I learned to make it from my grandmother, and the recipe was entirely by "feel". And since I no longer have access to the correct bowl and her buttermilk (the real stuff, what's left after you make butter from clabbered cream) and whatever else was called for it just doesn't seem worth the effort.

[therese]

#1  I am going to hell.  OK!  ...I'll call it cake from now on.

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Vide supra.

And those books were just amazing.

[therese]

Isn't it called "johnnycake" when it's made with sugar and "cornbread" when it's not?

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It may well be in some parts. We never used the term johnnycake (so I don't know how it's used). Hoecakes are made by using cornbread batter that's been thinned to pancake batter consistencey and cooking spoonfuls of it on a griddle like small pancakes.

There used to be a place here in Atlanta called Deacon Burton's. It smelled exactly like my grandmother's kitchen. You went through a sort of cafeteria line to get your food (including hoecakes, which is what reminded me of the Deacon's) and then at the end of the line you stopped at a cash register and paid. Women paid less than men, and young pretty women paid very little indeed. You could get a pretty good idea of where you stood on the babe-o-meter by visiting the Deacon's.

[therese]

I have a friend who lives in Atlanta, I'm assuming suburbia.  Their community is gated, they have their own community centre, pool, daycare etc. and in discussions with them seem to find it normal to keep to their own little neighbourhood.  It does come across as rather snobby when they tell it....They have mentioned that this is usual in Atlanta (they're Canadian).  Is this an isolated group or is it common in your area of the south.  The food angle, well, she used to eat Kraft Mac & Cheese every day for lunch growing up.

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I don't think of your friend's life as being so much very typical of Atlanta, but of being very typical of any large U.S. city that's grown enormously over the last three decades without any geographical features to limit sprawl. Families moving to Atlanta will likely have some impression of downtown Atlanta as a scary place populated entirely by crack whores, HIV-infected orphans, and professional athletes. Real estate agents will do nothing to change their minds, instead showing them brand new houses in a bucolic swim tennis community a mere 30 minutes from downtown (yeah, 30 minutes in a helicopter, maybe).

A colleague of mine who'd specifically asked to see houses within a two mile radius of work had to very nearly leap from a real estate agent's moving car to make the point that he absolutely would not be living any farther than two miles from work.

Anyway, your friend is correct, it's not uncommon for people to live this way in Atlanta. But it's also not uncommon for people to live in much higher density settings, walking distance to shops and restaurants (whew, got that food angle in there). These people are much more likely (in my experience) to actually be from Atlanta, or to at least have friends who are from Atlanta and can tell them how great it is living close in.

[ludja]

#1  I am going to hell.  OK!  ...I'll call it cake from now on.

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Isn't it called "johnnycake" when it's made with sugar and "cornbread" when it's not?

...

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Johnnycakes are non-sweet pancakes cooked on a griddle from a cornmeal batter. They originated in Rhode Island and do not traditionally have sugar in the batter--but they can be served with butter and syrup for breakfast or as part of a savory dish. They're said to date back to the orignal settlers who may have received a recipe like this from the Indians.

edited to add: they're very similar to hoecakes as therese just described above.

Edited February 15, 2005 by ludja (log)

[therese]

Remember back in Chufi's blog when Soba described our household as busy professionals with children? Well, the following dinner is what happens when you've got 45 minutes to prepare and eat dinner and still get your daughter to swim practice.

Gerhard's Chicken Sausage with Herbs:

Gnocchi (Ferrara brand; "Are you ready for your close up?"):

Sweet and sour red cabbage (from a jar). I'm sparing you the picture because it is, frankly, disturbing.

Pretty tasty all in all, and certainly better than fast food hell. When I'm planning ahead a bit better I do meals ahead of time in the slow cooker. I can slam those onto the table in less time than it takes the kids to set it.

[therese]

Johnnycakes are non-sweet pancakes cooked on a griddle from a cornmeal batter.  They originated in Rhode Island and do not traditionally have sugar in the batter--but they can be served with butter and syrup for breakfast or as part of a savory dish.  They're said to date back to the orignal settlers who may have received a recipe like this from the Indians.

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Cool. New info.

[therese]

Okay, back to the kitchen. Before we leave the mud room I need to point out another part of it that you can see in this photo:

As you look directly into the kitchen proper the coats are on your left, and two doors are on your right. The one closest to the kitchen is a powder room, with the same bricks on the floor. Not particularly kitchen-y, except that we installed an exhaust fan with a timer that you can leave running after use.

The other door (you can just barely see the corner) leads downstairs through the basement (which is small) and into the garage. Again, not really the kitchen, except that all the crap that's normally dragged into a kitchen (backpacks, etc.) instead gets dumped in the mudroom.

[therese]

Okay, this is it. I'm finally showing you the sink. I love this sink:

What I love about this sink:

1. It's pretty. I've wanted an apron front (aka farmer sink, aka Belfast sink) for pretty much forever. The kitchen of my dreams, at least in this house, was going to include this type of sink, period.

2. It's big. I can get anything in this sink: cookie sheets, serving platters, stock pots, gigantic vases, an entire day's worth of unwashed dishes. There's a dispos-all to the right of the faucet that you can't see.

3. It's right where I want it: the surrounding cabinetry has everything thing I need. Underneath is cleaning supplies and trash bags. To the right is a covered garbage can that swings out from under its lid when I open the door. To the left is a bank of drawers, with the top drawer containing cutlery, the middle containing plates and saucers, and the bottom containing bowls and mugs. The bottom two drawers aren't really so much drawers as they are shelves:

The dishwasher is located behind the false cabinet front to the left of the bank of drawers. Here's view from the other side:

We had the false front made to look a bit like another bank of drawers. There's a narrow panel below it that attaches with magnets to cover the very bottom of the dishwasher, and then a drawer below that (where I store appliance warranties and directions and so forth). It's not entirely successful, as the bottom drawer is not flush with the the rest of the "bank"---one of those things I could have insisted on having changed, but figured the hell with it. I'm pretty sure people don't stand around whispering about it.

Mostly they just stand around and try to figure out where the dishwasher is. It's not just hidden, it's very quiet, so I can run it while I've got people sitting at the adjacent table. Note also that it's higher than usual, an entire 12" off the floor (such that the maple butcher block-topped upper counter is 6" taller than usual bar height), easier to load and unload. I don't think of it until I have to load one that's installed at the usual level and then I miss it a lot.

Everyday glasses and cups are stored on open shelves as shown.

Here's another shot of the open storage for glasses and cups:

The arched openings that you can see over the butcher block are the door back to the mud room on the left, the door to the family room on the right. I can see the TV when I'm cooking, but we didn't want one that could be seen from the breakfast room table.

And when I say "we" I mean "I": everybody else would be perfectly happy to eat meals in front of the TV. Oh, and we have a "no kids with food outside the kitchen" rule.

[therese]

Another detail: the drawer to the right of the sink, over the trash can, contains dish towels and pot holders.

[Jake]

I am now officially in LOVE with your kitchen!! Especially the sink....oh what I wouldn't give to have a sink like that. We did a complete kitchen remodel when we moved in (almost 3 yrs ago) but the kitchen is tiny to begin with and the remodel funds did not include actually adding any extra space. The dishwasher height is also inspired, more envy here as we just finished cleaning up from our Valentines dinner. (Well, the guy is still cleaning and I'm taking an eG break )

I hope we get to see more of the house.

Thanks for the reply with regard to living in suburbia.....I'm sure it's fine for my friends, but I couldn't do it. In some ways I think she feels she made a bit of a mistake too as she often mentions she never meets new people...go figure.

So in the interest of a southern blog, will you be making your grandmothers fried chicken?? Or, better yet, posting a recipe? (I admit to an unnatural fondness for real southern fried chicken, as does the guy! )

[therese]

Next topic, the faucet.

My ideal faucet would be wall-mounted (so that no wet goop can gather around and behind it), operated by foot pedal (common in hospitals and public bathrooms in some parts of Europe), and with a pull out spray nozzle.

Two out of three isn't bad:

Just finding a wall mount faucet is no mean feat. This one was supposed to have arrived with lever handles, but apparently the manufacturers discontinued that option without telling us. Even more irritating, it's threaded in such a way that it should have lever handles, so that one of the present screw handles has to be turned the wrong way. I called the manufacturers to complain about it and they told me that I was insane (they practice telling people this until they sound like they believe it). They told me that my plumber could just switch around a couple of doohickeys and it would be fine. So the plumber did what they said to do ("switch the valves") and it was still screwed up, just on the other side.

The foot pedal operated option earned me all sorts of freaked out looks everywhere I went: husband, contractor, plumber, fixture salesperson. So never mind.

The pull out spray nozzle doesn't work in a wall mount, and a separate deck mount spray nozzle was just going to be someplace for nasty crap to accumulate. Turns out I don't miss the spray nozzle after all, as the spigot swivels pretty much wherever I need it.

All in all I'm happy with the faucet. It does indeed keep the deck much cleaner, and the space underneath the faucet is more useful than you might think.

Oh, and the little soap dish is great: no hand soap dispenser cluttering up the deck. I replaced the old worn out bar of Neutrogena with a nice fresh in honor of my eGullet guests.

[Liz Johnson]

I particularly remember a series published by Time Life, with each book in the series featuring a different part of the world. More a travel series than just a cook book, sort of "A Cook's Tour" without all the swearing.

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Please be honest: do you use or at least read them often? I am kicking myself for getting rid of my Dad's collection the last time I moved.

If so, maybe I need to start picking them up at tag sales?

[therese]

I particularly remember a series published by Time Life, with each book in the series featuring a different part of the world. More a travel series than just a cook book, sort of "A Cook's Tour" without all the swearing.

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Please be honest: do you use or at least read them often? I am kicking myself for getting rid of my Dad's collection the last time I moved.

If so, maybe I need to start picking them up at tag sales?

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My mom still has them, and I think she's got pretty much the entire set (seems like there were a couple she might have decided against keeping---they came month by month as a preview basis). I usually look at one or two when we visit.

I still remember particular pictures that struck my fancy: the lumberjack's enormous breakfast in the Pacific Northwest, platters of cold meats dressed in aspic jewels in French Haute Cuisine, candies made of squash in Latin America, curries dressed with silver foil in Inda, the little blond boy eating bread and butter with radishes in France.

I need to make sure I get these in the will.

[therese]

So in the interest of a southern blog, will you be making your grandmothers fried chicken??  Or, better yet, posting a recipe?  (I admit to an unnatural fondness for real southern fried chicken, as does the guy! )

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Well, probably not my grandmother's fried chicken, as that involves going out to the hen house and grabbing a chicken and cutting off its head with an axe. And our yard's not fenced in, so chances are good that the chicken (which will indeed continue running around like a, well, you know) would either end up in traffic or on the golf course. Where we'd probably lose it to one of the foxes (yeah, we live right smack dab in the middle of town, but it sure doesn't feel that way).

I could make my mother's fried chicken, but that's sort of stepping on hallowed ground: when she comes to visit she makes fried chicken as a special treat for the kids. If I make fried chicken it's not going to go over too well, frankly.

I will, however, share some secrets:

Brine the chicken for at least 24 hours ahead of time using buttermilk.

Make sure your flour is really really well-seasoned. Too salty, too peppery, too whatever-y. My mom has started using a product called Kentucky Colonel Flour that's pre-seasoned and works well. She lives in Kentucky, where she buys it, but I also found it recently at our local Publix.

Be patient. Fried chicken takes a long time to cook properly. The pieces cannot touch each other, so never mind crowding that skillet.

[therese]

Okay, let's have some more questions.

Like "Wow, that's one scarily clean counter and sink you've got there. Is your kitchen always that tidy? Do you have OCD? Seriously---you put out fresh soap? Was the old soap dirty?"

[snowangel]

I am enjoying your blog very much. Diana (age 14) is also a "selective vegetarian" as The Girl seems to be.

Glad, too, that you learned things during your summers with your grandmother that some people will never know. It was under her knee that I learned how to kill a chicken, what real buttermilk was, and how things grow, and are preserved.

[therese]

I am enjoying your blog very much.  Diana (age 14) is also a "selective vegetarian" as The Girl seems to be.

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Thanks. I think there may be something about being in that peripubertal stage---I remember developing an aversion to meat somewhere along this age. It passed.