• 681 overflowxn, oddities cotd

    From MICHAEL LOO@1:123/140 to RUTH HAFFLY on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 06:33:18
    But they are sour so, for example, a book that is a lemon, has you soured on reading it.
    We are aware what it means now, but when that transition
    of connotation happened, that would be kind of interesting
    to know and the question I was asking.
    I've no idea, and since we can't time travel, we just have to hope
    somebody from the past has documented the origins.

    And without prejudice or bias.

    So ... what's your latest pet cookbook?
    A couple, actually, from my "reference" collection. The Betty Crocker
    Picture Cookbook (I have a first edition, c 1950, inherited from my grandmother.) and The James Beard Cook book, c 1961. We made both cherry
    and blueberry pies in the past couple of weeks, using the books for
    reference on the pastry and filling. Beard has my favorite blueberry
    muffin recipe; I made a double batch last week. That book also came from
    my grandmother's estate.

    Mine are the same as for a long time - for consultation,
    Raymond Oliver's La Cuisine and Escoffier's Ma Cuisine;
    for fun, George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary and MFK Fisher's
    Art of Eating. Very occasionally I'll look at something
    else, like FIDO's Cookbook, also mostly for fun.

    topics. As I remember, most of them had a yellow cover meant to look sort of like a legal pad.
    I've seen the series prominently at times displayed in
    bookstores, which struck me amusing as the customers
    of bookstores generally aren't dummies and don't
    perceive themselves as dummies.
    No, but they make great gifts for others who may be dummies in certain fields. (G)

    As early as 1970 I thought of writing a series of little
    books about particular foibles such as pride, anger,
    sloth, lust, covetousness, gluttony, and avarice, such
    that people could give them to their friends and enemies
    who they thought exhibited these traits.

    I usually steam them and add a bit of butter. Alternatly, I'll do
    them > with the bacon, onion and vinegar--the way my grandmother did from time > to time.
    A lot of butter, and I'd agree.
    Depends on if you want them swimming in the butter or not; I'd rather
    they not.

    I'd like a side of melted butter flavored with
    vegetables, please.

    It served the purpose well. I'm now using vitamin E oil on the scar; it's faded some but not as much as where I used the honey.
    I wonder if vitamin E works better than, say, something
    like wheat germ oil that has vitamin E.
    i'm not sure but at this point, I'm going to stick with the straigh E
    oil. It's pure enough I don't have to be concerned about rancidity as I
    might with wheat germ oil.

    Someone gave me a bunch of E pills that they didn't
    have use for, and after one of the ones I took, I
    burped up the characteristic odor of oxidation and
    rancidness. Either E is more prone to decomposition
    than people claim or that batch was contaminated.

    I've made cherry desserts and have always removed the
    stones, but not doing so makes perfect sense in any
    society that wants to maximize flavor and doesn't worry
    so much about liability issues.
    So it boils down to a matter of personal (cook's) preference?

    Based on the factors as above (and others, of course).

    stone; they are more frugal with ingredients, so
    the pits add depth of flavor in a way that we can't
    get so often compensate for by a splash of almond
    extract; and they seem more attuned to texture, so
    cherry pits and fish bones, though a universal
    Quite a range of differences from the average American.
    The wealth of this land has its downside.
    We've noted that before.

    There's something somebody said sometime about taking
    the bitter with the sweet; our job is to minimize the
    bitter - for ourselves and others.

    I can tolerate a certain level of pain but I don't want to crunch
    down > on a cherry pit and break a tooth. Spending time at the dentist is not > one of my favorite things.
    Someone who properly savors a clafoutis isn't
    likely to bite down on a cherry pit.
    We got a blueberry-blackberry one at the farmer's market the other day.
    It was good, and yes, the blackberries still had the seeds.

    I've encountered seedless blackberries, and they are
    disconcerting texturally (and not so seedless as
    claimed) and not as tasty as they ought to be.

    +

    It recently tumbled to where I am. I cleared the caches,
    and it still does. When I arrived here, it had me a few
    dozen miles east.
    Sounds like the one GPS routing we had--had us on the old Route 15 thru
    PA but we were actually on the "new" 15.

    It can be excused for squawking if you are driving on
    a hillside where it thinks there is no road.

    Ricotta Gnocchi with Roasted Wild Mushrooms
    categories: celebrities, main, pasta, dairy
    Serves: 6 to 8

    MUSHROOMS
    1 1/2 lb wild mushrooms
    - such as cepes, morels, or chanterelles
    Salt & freshly ground black pepper
    2 Tb olive oil
    1/2 c white wine
    2 sprigs fresh thyme (or herbs of your choice)
    2 Tb juice from roasted chicken or game bird (opt, to 4 Tb)
    GNOCCHI
    1/2 lb ricotta cheese, drained
    2 lag eggs
    1 sm pn freshly ground nutmeg
    1 oz grated Parmesan cheese or tt
    Salt & freshly ground black pepper
    1 Tb melted unsalted butter
    1 Tb all-purpose flour or as needed

    Preheat oven to 375F.

    If mushrooms are dry and not gritty, brush or wipe them
    clean. If they are very wet, hard to brush, or gritty,
    fill a deep bowl with water, plunge the mushrooms into
    the water and agitate them with your hands. Lift the
    mushrooms out of the water and drain. Repeat the process
    with clean water until the mushrooms are clean. (You
    should never have to do this with cepes.)

    Cut mushrooms into 1/2" wedges or chunks. Place in a
    baking pan, season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle
    with olive oil, wine, thyme sprigs or other herbs, and bird
    juices, if using. Cover and roast 30 to 40 min.

    When a good deal of juice has rendered, pour the juice into
    a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced by
    one-third. Set aside.

    Increase the heat to 425F. Uncover and brown the mushrooms
    slightly. Pour a little of the reduced and well-seasoned
    mushroom juice over the cooked mushrooms and set aside.

    To make gnocchi - in a medium bowl, stir ricotta with a
    wooden spoon, until the cheese reaches a uniform
    consistency. Add eggs, nutmeg, Parmesan, and salt and
    pepper to taste, and stir vigorously. Add butter, then
    flour in two batches. Stir in gently - gnocchi will toughen
    if stirred too much. (The dough will keep, refrigerated,
    for 3 days.)

    On a floured work surface, roll dough into a cylinder shape.
    Cut into 32 pieces and roll each piece into an oval dumpling
    shape with thumb. To form and store the formed gnocchi for up
    to a couple of hours before serving, you can lay them out on
    sheet pans covered with floured parchment paper. Group a
    serving amount together. When ready to poach, cut off a
    section of the paper that has the number of gnocchi you want
    to serve, hold it over the pot of simmering water and scoot
    them into the water.

    To serve = in a large pot of just-boiling salted water,
    simmer gnocchi gently until set in the center, not runny,
    3 to 4 min depending on the size. Remove the gnocchi from
    the water with a slotted spoon and gently place in shallow
    soup plates. Spoon roasted mushrooms into soup plates and
    drizzle with the reduced mushroom juices.

    after Kelsie Kerr, Zuni Cafe, via Catherine Brandel, Chez Panisse,
    via Julie Stillman, Great Women Chefs, via Corby Kummer, The Atlantic
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)
  • From Ruth Haffly@1:396/45.28 to MICHAEL LOO on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 22:24:38
    Hi MIchael,

    But they are sour so, for example, a book that is a lemon,
    has you > ML> > soured on reading it.
    We are aware what it means now, but when that transition
    of connotation happened, that would be kind of interesting
    to know and the question I was asking.
    I've no idea, and since we can't time travel, we just have to hope somebody from the past has documented the origins.

    And without prejudice or bias.

    That, in itself can be quite difficult to achieve.

    So ... what's your latest pet cookbook?
    A couple, actually, from my "reference" collection. The Betty
    Crocker > Picture Cookbook (I have a first edition, c 1950, inherited
    from my
    grandmother.) and The James Beard Cook book, c 1961. We made both
    cherry > and blueberry pies in the past couple of weeks, using the
    books for
    reference on the pastry and filling. Beard has my favorite blueberry muffin recipe; I made a double batch last week. That book also came
    from > my grandmother's estate.

    Mine are the same as for a long time - for consultation,
    Raymond Oliver's La Cuisine and Escoffier's Ma Cuisine;
    for fun, George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary and MFK Fisher's
    Art of Eating. Very occasionally I'll look at something
    else, like FIDO's Cookbook, also mostly for fun.

    I like to browse thru a cook book when I'm eating breakfast. The one I
    pulled out the other day (still going thru it) is the Fido's Kitchen.
    Saw some things I might try, others, no in a million years. But, then,
    just about all of my cook books are like that. (G)

    I've seen the series prominently at times displayed in
    bookstores, which struck me amusing as the customers
    of bookstores generally aren't dummies and don't
    perceive themselves as dummies.
    No, but they make great gifts for others who may be dummies in
    certain > fields. (G)

    As early as 1970 I thought of writing a series of little
    books about particular foibles such as pride, anger,
    sloth, lust, covetousness, gluttony, and avarice, such
    that people could give them to their friends and enemies
    who they thought exhibited these traits.

    Don't know how well those would go over but worth a try if you still
    want to give it a try.


    I usually steam them and add a bit of butter. Alternatly,
    I'll do > ML> them > with the bacon, onion and vinegar--the way my grandmother did > ML> from time > to time.
    A lot of butter, and I'd agree.
    Depends on if you want them swimming in the butter or not; I'd
    rather > they not.

    I'd like a side of melted butter flavored with
    vegetables, please.

    I'll go the opposite way. Last night I reheated some pulled pork Steve
    had done a while ago, had it with some raw baby carrots, zuchinni coins
    and slightly pickled cucumber and onion. Dessert was the last of the
    blueberry cobbler. It was a refreshingly cool meal on a HOT(!) day.

    I wonder if vitamin E works better than, say, something
    like wheat germ oil that has vitamin E.
    I'm not sure but at this point, I'm going to stick with the
    straight ML> E > oil. It's pure enough I don't have to be concerned
    about rancidity ML> as I > might with wheat germ oil.

    Someone gave me a bunch of E pills that they didn't
    have use for, and after one of the ones I took, I
    burped up the characteristic odor of oxidation and
    rancidness. Either E is more prone to decomposition
    than people claim or that batch was contaminated.

    Sounds like it was past its prime and should have been tossed out.


    I've made cherry desserts and have always removed the
    stones, but not doing so makes perfect sense in any
    society that wants to maximize flavor and doesn't worry
    so much about liability issues.
    So it boils down to a matter of personal (cook's) preference?

    Based on the factors as above (and others, of course).

    stone; they are more frugal with ingredients, so
    the pits add depth of flavor in a way that we can't
    get so often compensate for by a splash of almond
    extract; and they seem more attuned to texture, so
    cherry pits and fish bones, though a universal
    Quite a range of differences from the average American.
    The wealth of this land has its downside.
    We've noted that before.

    There's something somebody said sometime about taking
    the bitter with the sweet; our job is to minimize the
    bitter - for ourselves and others.

    Tho it's not always possible.

    crunch > ML> down > on a cherry pit and break a tooth. Spending time
    at the dentist > ML> is not > one of my favorite things.
    Someone who properly savors a clafoutis isn't
    likely to bite down on a cherry pit.
    We got a blueberry-blackberry one at the farmer's market the other
    day. > It was good, and yes, the blackberries still had the seeds.

    I've encountered seedless blackberries, and they are
    disconcerting texturally (and not so seedless as
    claimed) and not as tasty as they ought to be.

    So they're best with seeds. Our neighbor's property used to have lots of blackberry bushes--we'd pick the berries and Mom would make pies. That
    was good, but would have been even better with a scoop of vanilla ice
    cream on top.

    +

    It recently tumbled to where I am. I cleared the caches,
    and it still does. When I arrived here, it had me a few
    dozen miles east.
    Sounds like the one GPS routing we had--had us on the old Route 15
    thru > PA but we were actually on the "new" 15.

    It can be excused for squawking if you are driving on
    a hillside where it thinks there is no road.

    IIRC, it did recognise the new road but had us on the old one. Not the
    first time its little pea brain was addled.

    ---
    Catch you later,
    Ruth
    rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


    ... If you focus only on the thorns you will miss the beauty of the rose.

    --- PPoint 3.01
    * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)