Harvesting Winter Lettuce examiner.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Today's health tip: 'Lettuce' be clear about iceberg theithacajournal.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Charging for Anchovies on a Caeser salad San Francisco Chronicle Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Amid the quaint canals and charming old buildings, there are 47 chocolate shops, all within walking distance of each other. Many offer free samples, virtually guaranteeing an addiction.
February 23, 2009
By now practically every foodie has heard the story.
A fellow by the name of Caesar Cardini was living in San Diego and ran a restaurant in Tijuana, where his pals could escape Prohibition and have a few.
When a July 4th 1924 rush depleted some of his salad ingredients, Cardini made due with what he had.
And a legend was born.
Although it must be said that some historians claim his brother, Alex Cardini actually first made it for a group of military pilots from Rockwell Field at San Diego, calling it an Aviator Salad.
Julia Child settled things for me.
In her book “From Julia Child's Kitchen,” she describes how she ate a Caesar salad at Caesar Cardini's restaurant with her parents when she was a child in the 1920s. Some 50 years later she called Cardini's daughter, Rosa, in order to discover the original recipe.
In this recipe, lettuce leaves are served whole on the plate, because they are meant to be lifted by the stem and eaten with the fingers. It also calls for coddled eggs, Italian olive oil and Worcestershire Sauce. (No anchovies.)
One thing I do miss, which seems to be a culinary endangered species, is the flourish of preparing the salad tableside.
A silver cart would suddenly emerge packed with bottles, bowls, ramekins and your waiter would begin crushing, mincing, whipping olive oil into an egg yolk, layering the chilled Romaine, (only the hearts) weaving a spell, topping the pale green leaves with a few paper thin shavings of Parmiggiano.
Some marketing genius, or chef, whom or when is not known, decided to add chicken or shrimp or steak.
As if the original, impeccably and properly prepared, (balance is the key) wasn't enough.
Speaking of snobs, my friends from Italy, loveable though they are, report with horror, the Caeser salad popping up on menus in Rome.
And it’s not “just for the turisti,” they mutter.
There still may be a controversy regarding the origin of one American culinary institution, but we do know that Bob Cobb, at The Brown Derby in 1938, invented the salad that bears his name.
So…favorite salad?
And...Chef Peterman is standing by, tableside, to toss your Caesar. Or perhaps you'd care to toss me a few recipes of your own.
Salad Dressing Recipes cooksrecipes.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The History of the Cobb Salad kitchenproject.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
How to make a Classic Caesar Salad cookingamerica.net Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Julia Child has to be my favorite chef! Any woman who could advocate the use of hammers, blow tor...
Feb. 23, 2009 10:04 AM
Who gets your Oscar?
7% 37% 17% 10% 10% 20%
I will take the original Ceaser. I have had that salad in many forms in a lot of places, and it is perfect on its own without chicken, sausage, spinach, or any other extra ingedients.
Hail Ceaser.
Nevermore, said the Seer
A little Greek Salad, at the END, of the Meal, to cleanse the palate before Dessert ....... Or, a Shot of Anisette, with a caper on the bottom of the glass ....... Or a small Glass of Retsina, with a Black Olive on the bottom of the glass .......
The classic "chop house" Iceberg wedge with a very good Roquefort dressing, a few extra Roquefort chunks, a slice of red onion and a thick slab of Beefsteak tomato...this is a classic I see on few menus now days. My friends and I debate on the bacon crumbles...I don't care for them.
Geez... All these years I had visions of guys with grape leaves in their hair, reclining, drinking wine and eating Caesar salad (before they feasted on pig's eyeballs, sheep livers, goat's testicles and and ice cream made out of honey and snow brought down by slaves from adjacent mountain tops....). Next thing someone will tell me that Neapolitan ice cream was developed by the Mormons in Salt Lake City..... :-/
Though I cannot bear to eat a hard boiled egg, never have and proved it to my dad once and for all by bringing one back up even as he was declaring his forced ingestion experiment a success; one of my favorite iceberg wedge salads has a bit of grated egg over the top.
Any crisp green served chilled is okay by me but lame, limp and bitter bits are not well received no matter how brilliantly dressed.
Freshly ground black pepper is a nice touch as well but it is difficult to understand why it is pretentiously administered from the leg of a concert grand.
A dressing of sour cream with feta or bleu cheese cannot be beaten.
The salad I make for myself most often is one I learned from my dear departed friend Andre Simon, restaurateur here in Little Rock throughout the 80s and 90s, shot dead in his own restaurant during dinner on a busy night by a cheap crook robbing the till. Andre was a lovely man, a fiery artist, and a good friend. He favoured the spinach salad with a creamy dressing of his own making, which I did not learn, alas.
However, I do it like this: Upon a pile of organic baby spinach leaves on a dinner plate, slice some olives, crumble some feta, top with pepitas and sunflower seeds, then make your dressing. Take a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, another of lemon juice, and another of olive oil. Whisk them together, add a dash of the wine you're drinking, and drizzle. Voila-enjoy!
Many's the morning I would get off work from the trauma center, frazzled and exhausted, and stop by Andre's restaurant on the way home to decompress. I'd bang the door at 7-ish, and he'd let me in, big Andre, in a white t-shirt, black pants, and a long apron, all floury and cheerful and red-faced, with black curly hair and a short beard, bits of dough about him. He'd be baking his ballons, the most perfect rolls I've ever eaten, for the lunch crowd. (I miss them too, I would always leave with a big bag of the day-olds.) He'd bring me a croissant, jam, and strong coffee if I was going to school, decaf if not. We'd sit and chat about Switzerland, his home and my dream trip. He insisted that I stay with his family if I ever went, and years later, I did. We sat in the garden, under the big apple tree, drank fabulous Swiss white wine, ate raclette with olives, cornichons, grilled chicken, pearl onions, and the salad. And Ivan is just right-the salad comes LAST, before dessert. Anyroad, we drank to Andre's memory, and cried, as I am doing this minute...
Did I mention spinach salad?
Miles off the salad track:
If you are Houseguest, right now, or any of just under twenty one hundred other persons around him, then, you are struggling under the burden of existing without the aid of a keyboard or touch screen. Almost six thousand devices; phones, smart and otherwise, ipods, laptops and desktops
There are, I am sure, particulars to the story but they seem to be beyond the range of a mouse or trackpad at the moment. A social experiment?
It was, for awhile, enjoyable to send questions that were impossible for him to answer and he resorted to hurling copy and pasted, slightly disrespectful, French castle taunts my way: "I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper."
It was when I realized that he was doing it from the computer at which I sit via desktop sharing, that I asked: "Perhaps you'd be happier if I were to just reach back and self-administer a painful wedgie?"
As an answer, he borrowed the title of a tiny article that I had written years ago for a friend's children's magazine:
YES, PLEASE!
If he, a guy who communicates tersely and sparingly, is getting testy, just imagine what it must be like for the twittering, blogging, face booking set.
When I lived in Vegas, as a 10-year-old showgirl at the Desert Inn, which is a story for another time, the DI's restaurant made a Caesar salad at the table, with much ado and flourish. At the time I thought it was by far the most elegant food one could possibly eat.
"Ten year old showgirl?" Maybe it's just me but that sounds a lot more interesting than salad.
Back later On Topic; meeting now. But I can't even get in the tub, shampoo hair, let alone dress before saying to Stoney (as I do to John, Olivia) please share your words with an editor; you delight me today, letting slip that you've at least once done so. Either you're reading my mind, too, or...anything's possible in this world. You succinctly, cogently SAY IT, whatever IT is. Later, all....
Julia Child has to be my favorite chef! Any woman who could advocate the use of hammers, blow torches and power tools, in the kitchen, is a great cook in my book. I love her quote: "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a 'What the hell?' attitude." She believed you should never worry if your dish didn't quite turn out exactly the way you had planned, simply pretend that it did and no one would ever be the wiser.
Salads! I can't eat, or pick, just one. There are so many kinds...potato, pasta, fruit, leafy green, chicken, seafood...talk about variations on a theme! I totally agree, with Jalopkin and Olivia, that the green salad at the end of the meal is right - cleanses the palate and aids in digestion.
I think it's refreshing to put one's own spin on things, taking advantage of the local produce available to create unique seasonal salads...
In the Spring, I enjoy a lovely spinach and strawberry salad, with a homemade honey, white wine vinegar, pepper, nutmeg and oil dressing, topped with toasted sesame seeds.
For the height of Summer, there's Italian Bread salad; sun-ripened plum tomatoes, a little cucumber, sweet onion, fresh basil, and diced bread, with a dressing of oil, red wine and balsamic vinegars, garlic, pepper and fennel.
Apple-picking, in the Fall, always had my children clamoring for Waldorf salad (which they called Walrus salad); just picked apples, celery, walnuts, raisins and simply plain or lemon yogurt for the dressing.
Maybe a roasted salad, in Winter, of Butternut squash, apples, pecans, pumpkin pie spice and a dressing of red wine vinegar and the sweetness of maple syrup. But, of course, there's German Wilted salad, too; with bacon, chopped hard-boiled eggs and cider vinegar...
I will force myself to stop now...
more on the honor rollDan Aykroyd as Julia Child...I know this is sacrilege, but I can't help but think of that skit every time I think of Julia Child....I watched her for years, as a child on the public TV channel.
Bon appetit! http://www.hulu.com/watch/3523/saturday-night-live-the-french-chef
I really do enjoy having a Ceasar Salad in the summer time. But my all time favorite "salad" really is baby spinach with hot bacon dressing. That's it no chicken, shrimp or shredded beef added.
Since today's topic is about food please go over & read Miss Ive's Blog & to see how she's trying to get out of hannding over the Red M&M's to me & another antedote about Stoney's infamous House Guest.
http://www.sandinmyswimsuit.blogspot.com/
Kindlee...thanks for that....couldn't find it anywhere.That skit is right up there with the Bassmaster one!
"It's so beautifully arranged on the
plate -- you know someone's
fingers have been all over it." Julia Child
There’s a popular salad in Michigan called, shockingly, the Michigan Salad. It’s walnuts, dried cherries, Gorgonzola, red onions, field greens and some variety of vinaigrette. I imagine they have it elsewhere, too.
The best one is at City Park Grill, the Hemingway haunt in Petoskey, Michigan I was glued to all weekend. I ate that salad all summer when I worked up there, in 2000.
I remember my first one. I’d just gotten to town and unpacked. It was one of the first nice days in May, so I ordered it to go and sat on one the benches in the historic, downtown Gas Light District to eat it.
I was remembering this incident over the weekend. An older gentleman was sitting on the bench next to me. Honestly, I probably chose that bench because he looked so interesting. He was wearing a linen suit, had a very ornate cane and a full, white beard.
Me: Hi.
Him: Hello, there.
Me: I like your pocket watch.
Him: (grabbing it and rubbing it with his thumb) Well, thank you. It was my father’s.
Me: Then I like it even more.
Him: He used to bring me up here when I was a kid to shop. We took the train from Chicago.
Me: (putting down my fork) Really?
Him: Now I live in Arizona. You know John McCain?
Me: (grinning) I’ve heard of him.
Him: He’s a close friend of mine. And mark my words, he’s going to run again. And he’s going to win. He’s a wonderful human being.
Me: (grinning and nodding) You don’t say.
Him: You don’t believe me?
Me: Not really. But that’s okay. I was more impressed by your train story. Hemingway rode that train. I always wondered what it would’ve been like to see the old depot when the train still came through. What was the ride like?
Him: Oh. I was kid. It was bumpy and it took forever. We were always looking out the window for Indians. (laughing to himself)
His wife stepped out of Cuttler’s, the high-end kitchen shop behind us and he introduced us. She was beautiful and easily twenty years his junior. I giggled.
Me: Okay, now I believe you know McCain.
Him: Why?!
Me: You’re obviously well-connected to have landed a wife like her.
Him: (to his wife) Can we take her home?
Wife: (grinning at me) No. You brought ME here to shop. You’re resting. Remember?
Funny man. Wish I’d gotten his name. I could Google!
Stoney, I can't eat a hard-boiled egg, either. I can eat the white, just not the yolk.
MissExpatria, I agree with Stoney, more about the 10-year-old showgirl, please!
Rings,
Just for that lip, I'm hand delivering your bucket. Ya stinker.
(I love the baby spinach with bacon grease, too. Yum.)
"My salad days, When I was green in judgment..." ~Shakepeare ("Antony and Cleopatra")
(oops - Shakespeare - sorry)
DocNolan: Neopolitan Ice Cream was invented by an Ex-Railroad Worker named, Lo Fat ... in the back room of his brothers' Laundry in Pocatello , Idaho, where they moved to because there were no R's in the name ... Nei ohl pori tun loosely translated into English means, Don't Feed the Bamboo Shoots to the Dog, it makes him Fart ...
GEORGIA: It ought to be about time for the Chicken Pie Fest on Wauka Mountain ... Thats not too far from Augusta, is it???
Olivia: Thanks for the mention ...
"It takes four men to dress a salad: a wise man for the salt, a madman for the pepper, a miser for the vinegar, and a spendthrift for the oil."
anonymous
Always wanted to know from whence it came and I love it in all its forms.
Saland favs:
Chopped cabbage, crushed ramen noodles, slivered almonds, sunflower seeds...covered in tangy soy vinagarette.
Baby Spinach, sliced strawberries, candied pecans, crispy fried wantons, mandarin oranges...with a side of Brianna's poppy seed dressing.
Field greens, red onion slices, tomato slices, cucumber sliced, sliced toffee almonds, grilled chicken...with garlic olive oil and vinegar dressing and a side of garlic bread.
Chicken salad with plenty of red grapes in it, served on a fresh croissant.
The shredded sweet pork salad with black beans, cilantro/lime rice, and the gauc/ranch dressing from Costa Vida.
Of course the fruit and nut salad that all of us are a part of here on the Eye ain't half bad either!
nachista....
don't forget the ham....
Jalopkin: Have you ever told a fib? (Just checking before I tell everyone about Neapolitan ice cream and its roots...)
I have a sort of experimental flair when I make my salads.... and some folks are less enthusiastic than I am about my salads... (that was a warning!) In addition to the usual 'leaves', olive oil, and vinegar, I go crazy with spices. After the pepper, why not seasoning salt, and the turmeric adds some color and taste, then there are caraway seeds, not to mention the boring rosemary leaves (fish out the twigs), and poppy seeds. An interesting twist is what's mysteriously called 'Italian seasoning' and the even more mysterious bottle marked 'Pizza seasoning'. Oh, throwing in some sardines or anchovies makes it healthier, right? And then there are 'the red things'... After all the aforementioned, you don't really taste them, but they make it all pretty (tomatoes, radishes, or red bell peppers). I almost always end up eating my own concoctions, so they can't be too bad... But I draw the line at putting nutmeg, cloves and ginger into my salads....
Oh what splendid postings have already been posted by all of you here at the "EyE" on such a seemingly-on-the-surface-simple-and-uncomplicated-subject as salads. Like all things related to food, you have yet again leapt down the rabbit hole to Memory Lane and shared your stories, your favorite recipes and as is always the case, Stoney has set us off wandering around in wonder in one of his oh so very rich and entertaining detours.
Olivia's story touched my heart; Kindlees homage to salads made me wish that I could listen to her describe them all day long while the rest of the stories here made me hungry for more.
When it comes to salads, I'm a late bloomer. When you are raised in the South-Side of Chicago and your father works in the Stockyards... well lets just say salads trembled in fear of ever being placed on the menu.
In my family...... salads where definitely for the upper crust, hoity-toity folks on the North Side. Why would you eat a salad and have so much less room for meat, taters and fresh veggies from the can? The only times that salads came into play (except for egg, ham, tuna, chicken and potato salads which is where leftovers went to be reborn in a lake of mayo and relishes) were on the rare occasions that we would pack up the car on a Sunday afternoon, go for a drive and then eat at restaurant where they always seems to set the tables with an extra short fork.
Then, just as we were getting comfortable some speed-talking wait person would blurt out the "soup or salad" question to which we would all quickly recover and answer in chorus......salad, Thousand Islands dressing please.
Now, more and more frequently salads are my entrée. All sorts of salads.
My very favorite salads is on the menu of California Pizza Kitchen...... the awesome Roasted Vegetable Salad which is:
"Grilled asparagus, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, green onions and roasted corn, served warm over a bed of chilled Romaine lettuce, fresh avocado and sun-dried tomatoes in a Dijon balsamic vinaigrette. Tossed upon request. Also available with grilled rosemary chicken breast, sautéed salmon or grilled shrimp. I like to add pinion pine nuts to mine."
Well that's my salad story for today.
THE END
"Of course the fruit and nut salad that all of us are a part of here on the Eye ain't half bad either!"
"nachista....
don't forget the ham...."
Nachista and Janet,
Awesome.
Olivia,
So sorry about your friend. Truly.
so sorry about using the word "posting" twice in my first sentence......... where the hell's my editor dogone it!!!
I never know what to say when bad stuff happens.... the bottom of my stomach just drops out... and Olivia's story is (unfortunately) the story of a lot of decent folks whose lives ended badly.... I'll just post the obvious and inadequate 'I'm sorry, too' comment -- but that isn't really what I mean...
At my uncle's pizza place, Rocky's, we had a salad that was a huge local favorite. Crisp iceberg salad mixed with cabbage and carrots topped with a thick layer of shredded mozzarella followed by a thick layer of crushed honey cured ham which was in turn covered by chopped cheddar and swiss cheese, topped with pickled beets, dill pickle chips, chopped bacon and diced tomatoes. It was one of the unhealthiest salads I'd ever seen, especially since most patrons drowned it in a lake of buttermilk ranch dressing.
So I guess the PE gang could be a Rocky's Ham and Cheese salad too.
Yea Food! I love a good Caesar Salad. My favorite right now is the traditional french Salad Nicoise. Granted you must have your mise on place set up for either dish but I definately prefer fresh grilled tuna (medium not rare) instead of the traditional canned on the Nicoise and I can't take whole achovies on either. I prefer paste. Some restaurants get carried away with the dressing, but I like a simple, light vinagrette (olive oil, lemon juice,dijon, a little thyme, oregano, and basil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper). This an entire meal in a bowl. I get really excited over some things. We used to have a very upscale private club here in town called The Lafayette Club. The server would bring a cart to your table and make the Caesar salad/dressing to your liking right in front of you. It was quite a show! Too bad it's closed now. Perhaps Mr. P could give us a demo sometime. Have had Cardini out of the bottle, and it's ok. Not really...just being polite. Ok... I admit it. I am a salad snob. But I am just as happy eating a fresh picked tomato right out of the garden with a tad of sea salt sprinkled on it! I am hungry now. I am headed to a the store. Can you guess what I am having for dinner tonight?
I'm with Mackdaddy on the salad nicoise....i do have my own twist....Grilled tuna(not too too rare) roasted sweet red peppers( do these yourself...canned ones are mushy), several types of olives....Greek, colossal green, Nicoise etc.(you usually have to pit them so this takes a little time)fresh cruched garlic,XVOO, lemon juice, cracked pepper, lots of fresh herbs(chives,oregano, flat parsley etc). I usually add hearts of palm( make sure you rinse the canned or jar ones) and some canned(rinsed and drained) cannellini .
This needs to sit a little in the refrigerator so that everything milds. it's a good idea to marinate the tuna in the lemon/xvoo/herb dressing for a little before grilling. Can garnish with fresh summer tomatoes.
no one has mentioned Russian Salad....somewhat similar to the Nicoise...except with some different meats,peas,beets, asparagus potatoes etc....i prefer the olive oil and lemon dressing to the more traditional mayo based dressing...makes a lovely platter for entertaining....i like to keep the ingredients seperate on the platter and offer xtra dressing on the side...
Olivia,
I found out about the murder of a friend when the police called having got my name and number from a check left there earlier that day.
I spent a couple of days working in the late woman's kennel with her
daughter/killer which made my wife a little nervous. She died young in prison.
Nothing ever feels quite the same-dammit!
Stoney
For me, nothing will ever top the Fresh Spinach salad.
I was shocked to learn that Iceberg lettuce is, for all intents and purposes, pretty much worthless. It is mostly water, has little in the way of nutrients, and is mostly just a vehicle for serving bottled ranch dressing.
When my cousin was the cook at the cafe I go to, she did all sorts of interesting things with salads. Dandilion greens, edible flowers, pomegranite, mixing her own special dressings . . . and even though she has been gone from there for nearly 2 years, customers still come in asking for her salads. Enough, in fact, that they are going back to making salads instead of sandwiches and wraps. Lucky for all of us that the cook learned from my cousin. I hope they bring back the couscous salad, too . . .
DocNolan:
Only with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek ....... and I HAVE been known to kid a little bit ... As far as fibbing goes, I probably would, except that I am entirely too lazy, and fibbing requires so much keeping track and continuous reaffirmation ....... Thats just too much work, and like Maynard G. Krebs, work is my only Allergy .......
coyotemike
nothing wrong with an occasional salad made with some iceberg as an ingredient....didn't yopu read the article hilighted in the upper left of this page......cool crunchy iceberg does have its place( usually under roquefort, a slice of red onion and a slab of beefsteak tomato...)
Salads: Please check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzaVpgeHJg
capt neptune....chek out my profile pics!
Yep, another world indeed...
In my recent Cook's magazine best of 2008, they featured this recipe. I haven't tried it but I will. Sounds easy...and user friendly.
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 c Parmesean cheese
1 tbsp of milk or half and half
Mix all ingredients together and shake or whisk until well blended.
I offer you the Stoney Salad:
In a chilled silver bowl place
ten Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints
Add scoops of ice cream
Top with drizzles of raspberry sauce and chocolate syrup
Return to freezer
Scold any other occupants of house who poach.
Eat with a salad fork
Make that: "Scald," and it's perfect.
And I heard scalding occupants was illegal in some states.
Partial to spinach salad with bacon drizzlings, but there are many many more. One summer I grew a pretty funky salad blend and pretty much ate my salad in the field, no one else liked the mustard greens.
Willie, my GS cookie dealer (yes it is like crack) delivered my stash last friday, will be trying your salad recipe sometime in the very near future. Viva La Girl Scout Cookies!
JanetS: now ya got me! I tried roasting your peppers in the oven just now and they turned to goo once I peeled the charred skin. How do you do yours? I used to have an indoor jennaire grill on my stove top, but don't have that luxury anymore and it's too danged cold to stand outside just to burn a pepper. Had a can of hearts of palm in the pantry along with some capers, red fingerling potatoes, hard cooked eggs, green beans, grilled tuna from Fresh Market (medium not rare), cherry tomatoes, red onion slices, and some HUGE tasty olives and made my vinagrette. Our local Fresh Market has a fantastic olive bar! How bad is when a woman gets soooo excited over an olive? I worry about myself sometimes. I think I need a hobby or something to distract me from food. Since you recently joined PE, I will share with you the fact that I have lost about 130 pounds (as I take a bow and grin modestly). The other great folks already know this tidbit about me. I have always been obsessed with food in one way or another. It's funny though. Now I get excited about salads instead of cake. I still and always will enjoy good food. I have to constantly remind myself how far I have come and where I don't want to go back to. I have learned that a little of something really, really good is better than a lot of mediocre. Well, I guess I will have to consume this delicious salad without the roasted red peppers BUT I tried.
PL: Your roasted vegetable salad sounds great! If I can ever get the hang of roasting a veggie! I am a southern cook...which means I bake food real good and of course FRY!!!!!Did I just say fry...hopefully no food police are on this site tonight.
Night folks!
Damn its snowing yet again here, started in November and hasnt stopped. I am missing my Farmers Market and my garden, some day soon I keep reminding myself. At the farmers market we have the Maple Guy and sometimes Mrs. Maple Guy. He has a salad dressing made with olive oil, vineger, lime juice and maple sugar which is the best. Perfect on another favorite salad: a cucumber sliced, a slice of onion and a mess of cherry tomatoes. I have a hard time selling sadads around here, though I love them, but this one usually goes quick.
machdaddy1
wash the red peppers......put directly on gas stove top burners...I sometimes do 4 at a time....make sure the exhaust hood is on...keep turning peppers with tongs until charred all around turn off burners...put the peppers in a brown paper bag...let sit til cool...take out and just scrape the char off...don't rinse...they will suck up water...wipe with a paper towel to remove little bits of char...cut open and remove seeds....these will keep tightly covered in the frige for a few days.
another diet(i hate thet word) tip....use the hearts o palm instead of pasta for things like greek grilled chicken pasta salad etc.....
forgot to mention I once heard it referred to as "metropolitan" ice cream...
I prefer real Spumoni when you can get it....hard to find these days...has always been my favorite since childhood...
Willie,
Glad by the way to see that you survived President's Day. I was half expecting to read:
"Southern gentleman found dead in home as a result of airway crammed with crumpled five dollar bills; pennies and a note: 'How do you like me now?- Mary'."
Hey, Stoney, I didn't even mention the still un-disproved rumor that Abe was John C Calhoun's illegitimate son. I guess they took away her butcher knife in the after life.
Willie,
You're livin' on the edge. Good luck.
Gelati is the best ice cream IN THE WORLD, and I will brook no debate. Best to have it in Italy, of course, but you can get some good gelati here, too.
Thank you all for your condolences about Andre, but I didn't want to sadden anyone. I really just wanted to share him with you. He was so robust, so full of life, and he truly LIVED more in his few years than many do in a lifetime of rut-wearing. I loved him, but he burned so brightly I feared for his future, and rightly so. He was an intense, passionate soul, and I miss him terribly. You all probably have someone like that you've lost. I have a few. They live in my heart, and I take those memories out from time to time, and burnish them, and make them play for me, and live in them again for a season.
Thanks for reminding me, all of you, and JP too...
Paczki etiquette for tomorrow:
Everyone in my home has the flu, except me. Do I still go get the things and bring back a box? Or just return with powdered sugar all over my face, empty-handed?
Hmmmm.
And then there's the bean salad. That with a nice olive oil, a little lemon, some chopped red onions, and parsley, could be a small work of art. Beautiful sentiments, Olivia.
WT:
Does it come in a tiny Car ???
Whether we are fruit, nuts, cheese, or ham...everyone here is a refreshing part of the salad here. Onwards and upwards to Seredipty...
Olivia, dear, thank you for your lovely, talented friend. I send sorrow, praise for your telling (we really should get ourselves on Peterman Press list); and wish I could bring both right to you. Today's the anniversary of the death of someone who marked my life in many ways, whom I dearly loved, so I've done much crying -- and still mourning John Updike...human nature is the most fascinating thing in the world: I've realized I am angry he died: I counted on him, and he left. Now what sense does that make? None, but no matter, I feel it, and mourn and cry again. Respecting, appreciating his work for nigh-fifty years, I took that death selfishly-personally, when I met him but once and received a mere handful of notes from him. What right have I to mourn? Crazy. But I'm not alone, as articles several of you (and many more I read) reveal. Amazing things we humans are.
OLIVIA, you enliven my days, even when your story is sad. JOHN, if you'll have me I'd he honored to be your editor; there's no substitute for a good editorial eye and a sharp scalpel in one's own work, for we're not objective, read right through our mistakes because in our heads we read what we 'think' there, not what we wrote.) STONEY, as always you lace eminent good sense with stories too good to waste; stories I take in through my pores as I do Olivia's, John's MissIve's, hoarding them. Please write them in your journal, on scrap paper, on toilet tissue (I've more than once made notes of overheard-from-next-stall-in-a-public-restroom conversation too good NOT to use), something. Like John and Olivia (and me, for I work at it, too) and MissIve, you've much good stuff. So has Houseguest, and among my hopes is to meet him and you. Add my other Lake-Man, John, and I soar to your cold clime.
MISSIVE, I don't want to invade, but am keenly interested in your 'next chapter,' and hope it includes serious attention to writing. If you want to, I'd be pleased if you emailed me. You, too, can tell a story... KINDLEE, thanks for a quotation I like especially, and use; it says in perfect metaphor recisely what it means to say, succintly as WILLIE or STONEY.
**MACKDADDYI, this next salad reminds me of you; you probably already fix it.... Pure-tee-green-only-salad-lovers close your ears while this gets a mention. Different from green salad as pomegrante from quince, it's so versatile it can mask as dessert if you're in dessert-think-mode. (Glad to learn Stoney's Girl Scout Cookie one; it's GS Cookie-time.) I believe ** MACKDADDYI will like this, which behaves at any hour from brunch through dinner depending on the heaviness of the meal and on whether you that day need a salad, or dessert. Mix a (drained) can of pitted pale Royal Anne cherries (2 if you choose, and I usually do; it's very flexible), a (drained) can of dark sweet pitted cherries (or 2), however many fresh peaches you have patience to peel and slice (I eat peaches like apples: skin on, but to many that's indelcate. 'Scuse ME; I want nothing between me and passion) or lots of canned sliced peaches if fresh aren't in season. Save all juices. Dissolve in part of juices 1 or 2 packets (likely 2, if you're fixing a big bowlfull) of plain unflavored gelatin (some use Jello but again, I want little as possible between a passion and me; besides, Jello alters the real flavors, and poorly), meanwhile bringing to boil the balance of juice, into which push (thick by now, so use spatula or wooden scraper) the now-dissolved-in-plain-gelatin fruit juices. Mix, being sure gelatin lost all graininess while in its dissolve-in-cold-then-hot procedure. Set aside to cool (if hot weather, stick it in fridge). Whip however much cream you need: All hinges on amount of fruit (real cream only; no Cool Whip). Whip cream stiff: Firm enough to sustain the gelatin-juice mix and fruits you're about to fold in, which now do, folding gently 'til mixed. Spatula it into a bowl and chill. Variations I've seen (occasionally used but return to this tried-and-true original) include mini-marshmallows within it and/or dolloping cream atop when you serve, gilding the lily in my mind, and freezing it, serving sliced. Again, it's flexible. Have on hand more cream if in case when you observe the mix, it asks for more, whipped and folded as before. I've seen people dollop cream on top, but to my mind that's gilding the lily, and I don't recommend.
Of green salads, oh yes! I agree with several on the palate-cleansing-and refreshingness of it as last course, before dessert. My favorite dressings are (1) good cold first-pressed oilve oil and sherry vinegar, salt to taste, much coarse pepper and (2) from the old version of The joy of Cooking, their simple-as-Julia's, delicious (real) French dressing, based on oil-and-vinegar but with herbs. Not to be confused with what salad-dressing makers put on store shelves as 'French Dressing.' I like it on almost any salad, sometimes with a shot of champage if you're opening some anyway.
A favorite restaurant here, The Bistro, has the best 'signature' salad I've encountered, its dressing champage, oil, and vinegar. When first they opened years ago, Todd Shafer, owner/chef, experimented with that dressing for months, checking with diners about each new manifestation; for a long time it was too tart, but for years now he's had it perfect, the salad itself a simple mix of what, fresh in the ground, was that morning best to him. Calvert's, here also, offers a similar one (Todd and five other local chefs here began their careers under Craig Calvert, then going away to study before eturning to open restaurants, so Craig may be termed 'responsible,' but not really, because no two are exactly alike, and dressings in particular differ (Todd's the only one wise enough to have a local farmer grow all his vegetables).
I, too, love SNL's Julia Child and Bassmaster sketches; laugh even thinking them. JMR, Cook's pleases me, too, and I'm eager to try your recipe. Jalopkin, I never heard of the chicken-pot-pie fest, nor of the mountain you mention; sounds good. Thanks. JOHN, your story piques memories of childhood's and school lunchrooms' salads. And I'm glad not to be alone regarding a wedge of plain ol' iceberg lettuce with dressing poured over. The restaurant I mentioned offers, besides that 'signature' salad, "The Wedge," which is simply that, and what we all ate as children. It's refreshing and, nowadays, dfferent.
What y'all wrote while I was tied up, impatient about it, makes my mouth water; makes me want to eat where you said, order what you said, fix what you fix. Has anybody else noticed that in the South we 'fix' supper, and in the North y'all 'make' supper?
Well, JOHN, look at that: I offer editorial help, then immediately include in my remarks that adding more to the salad is gilding the lily...twice in one paragraph. Supporting my conclusion, you could say if you feel kind. Well, I didn't edit: I'm late getting here, falling asleep, and couldn't go to bed without checking in with everyone.