Archive for the ‘*Petra’ Category

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WND – The Day After St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

March 19, 2009

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Oscar Wilde said, “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”  As with many things Oscar Wilde, this is both witty and true.  In my next life I aspire to being a professional aphorist.

Nothing will teach you to do, or not do, something quite as effectively as doing it and realizing half way through exactly how bad an idea it was.  That being said, there are a lot of stupid things I’ve done in the kitchen that I’d have been willing to take on faith as bad ideas rather than having to experience them for myself.  Out of idle curiosity I polled Dinner to find out what things they wish someone had told them not to do before they found out the hard way.  For a group of people with (collectively) an alarming amount of education, we did all seem to be a little short on common sense.  Mind you, this does add further proof to my theory that there is an inverse relationship between the quantity of higher education you have achieved and the amount of common sense you demonstrate.

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WND – Is It Spring Yet?

March 12, 2009

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At least half the time I find the wives of the presidential candidates more interesting than the actual candidates. I thought that Theresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Dole were much more dynamic personalities than John Kerry or Bob Dole, which possibly has something to do with why neither of them won an election. While I don’t think that Michelle Obama is more interesting than her husband, I do think she’s at least as interesting as the President. Given the amount of media attention on her, I don’t think I’m the only person who feels this way. And just to say, if I had biceps that looked like hers I would wear sleeveless dresses too, even in March.

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WND – If I was stranded on a desert island . . .

March 5, 2009

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In a shocking turn of events I found myself watching the Food Network this weekend and ended up watching one of the new shows, “Ask Aida” while I ate my breakfast*.  The premise of the show is that Aida, who is the Food Editor for Chow.com, prepares a relatively simple meal while answering questions emailed in from viewers.  This is not a new concept, Sara Moulton did it way back when the Food Network first started, only she did it with the added terror of live calls from viewers and the possibility that they would ask a question she had no idea how to answer.  Most of the time I find that people email in with questions they could have found the answer to if they’d spent five minutes with google, but this time someone emailed in to ask what ten staples she recommended everyone keep in their pantry. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Oscars 2009

February 25, 2009

This all started a couple of years ago when I was watching the first season of “Feasting on Asphalt”.  In the course of their voyage across the United States Alton Brown and his crew ate a wide and weird variety of things, including koolicles at one stop somewhere in the deep deep South.  Koolicles are dill pickles that have been removed from their brine and then marinated in Kool-Aid for several weeks to give them a nice unnatural fluorescent glow and a sweet sour flavor.

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WND – Making it up as I go along

February 19, 2009

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An infinite number of lists exist detailing what the absolutely essential pieces of cooking equipment are.  When it comes right down to it I think the only things you absolutely have to have are a frying pan, a pot, a cutting board and a knife.  However, for those of us who aren’t living like minimalists there are a number of other things that feel essential.

I feel the need for at least two large pots, one smaller pot, two frying pans, a pie plate, an uncounted number of small sharp knives made by Victorinox, a large chef’s knife, a zester and at least 5 bowls in a range of sizes.  Pretty much everything else in my kitchen is a nice bonus, but I could live without it*. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Let’s Party Like It’s 1517

February 12, 2009

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Apparently the world wants to party like it’s the Middle Ages. If it isn’t news that the Catholic Church is bringing back indulgences (did they learn nothing from the Reformation?), it’s articles in the New York Times about people turning off their refrigerators. To be fair, the New York Times sounds as skeptical about the whole endeavor as I feel.

There’s being green, and being a locavore, and being conscious of your carbon footprint, and then there’s turning the clock back 60 years. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Tale of a Weekend

February 5, 2009

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Step 1: Stop by the grocery store on Saturday to pick up some rock salt (to try and get rid of that ½ inch of ice that’s on your driveway – the collective sympathy in Boston for London’s 4-6 inches of snow is somewhat limited), and some milk.

Step 2: Wonder why the grocery store is packed to the gills at 2pm on a Saturday.

Step 3: Realize half way home that you remember reading something about the Vice President throwing a Super Bowl party. Realize they must have been talking about this weekend (my boss refuses to believe that I’m this oblivious, but he’s wrong). Spend the rest of the drive home trying to remember who’s playing.

Step 4: Forget that the Super Bowl is this weekend. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – The Molten Cheesescapades

January 29, 2009

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It has to be said that of all the places we lived while I was growing up, Switzerland did not my make Top 10, which is too bad because we lived there longer than we lived anywhere else.  Switzerland is an odd country, and by Switzerland I mostly mean Geneva because we tended to leave Switzerland as quickly as possible when we went on vacation and would escape over the border into France or Italy or Austria, kind of like the von Trapp family but in reverse and with less singing. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – No Dinner

January 22, 2009

One little piggy fled the city with her husband and child and went to visit her parents in a warmer locale.

Two little piggies had family in town who heard, “No, we can’t have dinner with you on Wednesday,” as “Yes, we’d love to have dinner with you on Wednesday”.

One little piggy went bowling.

And this little piggy cancelled Dinner and went out for Indian food and a ginger basil gimlet.

Stay tuned next week to find out what the two redeeming features of living in Geneva were.

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WND – Birthday Month Part 4 (belated)

January 15, 2009

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When I plan meals sometimes I start with a side dish that I really want to have and then work outwards.  Sometimes I start with a protein that I’m craving and then figure out what else goes with it.  Sometimes I figure out what I have the energy to make and discard all recipes that involve a lot of work.  Sometimes, I get lucky like this week and someone makes a specific request (birthday Dinner).  Somewhere along the line though it all comes down to what it will look like on the plate.

A plate should always have at least three things on it – not more than five and never less than three.  More than five separate dishes and your plate is chaotic and too full.  Less than three things and the food looks lonely.  This breaks down usefully to protein + starch + vegetable.  Salad for these purposes does not count as a vegetable.  Currently this is because I almost always serve salad in a side bowl, and growing up it was because salad was eaten after the rest of the meal.  Either way it doesn’t contribute to the balance of the plate. Read the rest of this entry ?

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