Morning Christy,

First two Julia Child memories.
One, she dropped the chicken on the floor picked it up and reminded us all that “you’re alone in the kitchen… “

And Dan Aykroyd’s SNL portrayal of Julia nicking herself with a knife.

Mornin’, Christy.

I was running out of peanut butter, it was late on a Sunday afternoon. I usually make my own at the natural foods store but they were closed. Looking at the label of the house brand for SweetBay I looked at the ingredients: peanuts, sugar, high fructose corn syrup. Why would anybody add sweeteners to peanut butter. To make kids want more, of course.

We seldom eat prepared foods because my wife likes to cook and is pretty good at it (including hounding me into grilling out quite often in the summer). Even when she was working (we’re both retired) she had a revolving list of meals it took her only 20 minutes to make, even when we were raising our kids. But every once in a while we like to try something new. And besides, I’m a sucker at the grocery store, always picking up something different. A few weeks ago I grabbed one of those Hamburger Helper-like packaged casseroles and we made it a few days later because we’d gotten home late and wanted something quick. We couldn’t get over the amount of salt in the stuff; it was virtually inedible. It not only tastes bad; it’ll kill you. So cook on, everybody…

Terry Gross of Fresh Air replayed a 1989 interview with Julia.

Good Morning……
baking with Julia has been on all night on PBS (no I didn’t stay up, only since 4 am)…… since I am disabled and not working when I feel like it, I am dragging out the machines I used for making pasta, bread etc……. Yesterday I made a wonderful beef stew in the slow cooker with 1/2 bottle of red wine and a ton of fresh herbs from my yard……

Elmore and I nearly finished the 1/2 crock pot it was so good ……..

Also finished reading a book called “The sharper the knife, the less you will cry” which applies to having a very sharp knife so when cutting onions there is less crying. Great read, London exec was sacked and she went for her dream, attend le Cordon Bleu……

Cooking things came easy to me, it was really much better for hyperactive kids to have as few processed foods as possible, according to my Cuban doctor. Now I hear that that finding has been debunked, and am sure that the processed food mftrs are funding any studies that proved such a fable. My kids could handle their hyperactivity without drugs, something else the corporations really hate. Eating fast foods leaves me with a dry mouth and headache, what do they put in that stuff?

Morning Christy and pups. Great topic. I’ve always been amazed at my aunt’s kitchen. She lives just outside of Paris and whenever I’ve visited she and her daughters always prepared the best meals with fresh ingredients. What I found amazing was the kitchen was tiny with none of the bells and whistles that are demanded in American kitchens. No granite countertops with huge refrigerator or large range professional range. Her stove is not more than a gas heating plate and yet the food that comes out of that tiny kitchen is worthy of a first class restaurant. Same holds true for the kitchens of the Italian side of the family. In much of Europe, if not all, food and it’s preparation is a way of life.

(((katymine)))

I remember making beef stew, with wine, in the slow cooker back in the days when I ate meat and you’re right, it doesn’t last long. I could damn near go thru a French loaf sopping up the jus. Hmmm, makes my mouth water. Bad. Bad boy.

I liked Julia Child so much growing up (along with the Galloping Gourmet), that for my 40th birthday, I sold my company and moved to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. I voted for Al Gore and got on the plane the same day. After graduating with honors and working at several prominent restaurants in Michigan, I am now experiencing GWB policies in action as the high end food service business is practically out of business in Michigan. In the last 4 years I have had 3 jobs as a pastry chef. In all three cases, the position was completely eliminated, opting for pre made frozen or mass produced crap. All of this hasn’t dampened my excitement for cooking and luckily I have a family to cook for that actually enjoys eating! Somewhat of a rare thing these days. Dinner tonight will be ……a Chinese dish called Cold Plate, which is jellyfish with poached chicken and pork hocks.

I could prolly do some unspeakable things for the copper pots hanging on the wall in one of the promo stills from the film. Copper pots and a gas stove. Look out.

When I was a senior in high school I took what was to be a year long class – Solid Geometry and Trigonometry. Our class roared through both in a semester. Our teacher got permission to teach us Matrix Algebra, a college course. We roared through it in half a semester. Then, without permission, we did French cooking. Our homework was to watch Julia Child. We ended the year with a French picnic. I wish teachers could be that innovative today!

Made some short ribs slowly braised in wine served over polenta for 6 guests last weekend. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Wine is the secret and it works well if you just are eating vegetables.

Yep. Vegge stew w/wine in the slow cooker works just fine. With a whole wheat French loaf now. I like to use a nice fruity Zinfindel or Cabernet.

An interesting book for anyone interested in the subject is the autobiography of Jacques Pepin. Think it’s called “My Life as a Chef.” Started his career as an apprentice at age 14. Insightful on the rigorous training of a French chef.

I absolutely love to cook and better yet, to see people enjoy my cooking. However, since I am here by myself, (unless you count Neko the cat), I just almost never do it. I make myself cook a full meal once a week either Saturday or Sunday to keep my skills sharp but I wind up throwing a lot of food out because food isn’t packaged properly to only prepare one portion in most cases and after the second day of leftovers, I just can’t bring myself to eat anymore of it. That being said, this thread has put me in the mood for some home made enchilades and spanish rice this week. Very messy but very tasty.

this was 3/4 veggies and 1/4 beef cubes, maybe less. Since I have been anemic I have been eating more beef, beef broth and even slow cooked oxtails….(whole foods) , OMG I had forgotten how wonderful the marrow was…

Saw the J&J movie last night. Entire kitchen full of fabulous stuff. Hanging on walls, from ceiling. And copper, copper, copper. They’re breaking into foreclosed houses and houses under construction now to steal (and then sell) copper.

Movie fluffy but thoroughly enjoyable.

I loved Julia Child and she has a fascinating history. I loved her all the more after Dan Aakroyd’s wonderful SNL impression of her.

It’s featured in the film. I’d forgotten how funny it was.

In French cullinary schools, some anyway, not only do they train future chefs but the waiters as well. Being a waiter in France is a respected vocation and career not necessarily somethine one does waiting for something better to come along.

As empires crumble the barbarians move in for the looting.

I have to confess that I simply cannot make blackeye peas without a piece of salt pork or a ham bone. My grandma prolly rolled over in her grave when I didn’t. I have canned beans of all types for hurricane season but use dry beans. At the end of hurricane season I give all the canned goods to the food pantries. The difference between canned and dried is amazing.

Microwave food takes no time to cook at all and its all processed. Transfat and Corn syrup need to go.

Crispy Herb-Roasted Chicken
fast easy and sooooo good

* 1/2 (3 1/2-pound) chicken, (halved with the breast bone, back and first 2 digits of the wings removed)
* 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
* 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* Brabant Potatoes, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Season the chicken on both sides with the salt and white pepper. Set a cast iron pan over high heat and add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil to the pan. Swirl the pan to evenly coat and lay the seasoned chicken half, skin-side down in the pan. Sear until golden, about 3 minutes and place the pan in the oven. (I do both sides) Bake until the chicken is fully cooked through, about 17 minutes.

While the chicken roasts, combine the butter, garlic and thyme in a small bowl and use a fork to combine. When the chicken is removed from the oven, place on the wooden trivet, and turn over with a spatula. Spread the thyme-garlic butter over the skin of the chicken, drizzle with lemon juice and serve immediately.

FYI

http://gayrights.change.org/bl…..homophobic

In fact, the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force

This fails to say that there is a direct correlation between women working and the amt. of time they spend cooking. There are 2 things that happen when a mother works (imho). First they rely more on packaged food and take-out. Second, the children may be forced to stay in the house (whether they’at the babysitters or if they’re latch-key kids) rather than being outside running around.
I didn’t work till my youngest was 10. When I did return to work, that was how it played out in my life. I’m not criticizing working mothers, so please don’t misinterpret what I’m saying. But if we’re facing facts then it should be acknowledged that that plays a part.

Like to prepare “Hoppin John” on New Year’s Day. Supposed to bring good luck for the year. Can’t do it justice without salt port or a ham shank.

Wednesday’s WAPO had an article about David Lebovitz, cooking and blogging in Paris.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..02654.html

There’s a restaurant in LA at 9th and Figaroa (sp), near Dodger Stadium, called The Pantry. Opened in the 1920s, 24 hours a day, the doors have never been closed. There’s a line to get in no matter what time of day or night. Some of the waiters, all men last time I was there, have never had another job. Some were close to retiring. Food was to die for. Had lunch next to Jimmy Stewart at the counter one day.

salt pork or a ham hock.

My brother used to make fun of me when I watched Julia. Especially when a recipe called for some arcane, unheard of cooking utensil, whereupon she would insist that you could borrow one from a local hotel. That caused him no end of hilarity and he would spend hours teasing me about how unlikely it was that any hotel would loan equipment to me. Of course he was correct. Julia might have been able to borrow things because she was Julia but I certainly could not. To this day I can’t watch or read anything to do with Julia Child without remembering the pleasure teasing me gave my big brother and it always makes me smile. :)

Yep, there’s something about blackeyes and pork. Really, really different.

Used to be a German restaurant in Chicago called the Berghoff were the wait staff were all men who approached their jobs as a real career, skilled, attentive, knowledgeable and helpful. Despite being there before the days of Al Capone the restaurant sadly closed it’s doors several years ago.

I worked at Hotel de Crillon in the pastry department and the head of the wait staff actually made as much money as the executive chef….the difference between a one star Michelin restaurant and a three star Michelin restaurant has little to do with the food. Service is king at that level. Not that the food isn’t fantastic but the service pushes it over the top.

Do not ever grow your own and cook fresh, then, because you will never go back to dried or canned.

Don’t forget Julias ever present bottle of wine.

My mother was a big fan of Julia Childs I still remember some of the delicious meals she used to make !

Trotted out my old, food-droplet adorned “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” this morning. I never mastered it. Never came close. Bet sales of this book will skyrocket on the heels of the movie.

Here are a couple of snippets from the foreword to the book. First and last paragraphs:

This is a book for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children’s meals, the parent-chauffeur-den mother syndrome, or anything else which might intefere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat….

Train yourself to use your hands and fingers; they are wonderful instruments. Train yourself also to handle hot foods; this will save time. Keep your knives sharp. Above all, have a good time.

I also enjoyed Justin Wilson very much. He could have been an uncle. I have relatives who sound just like him. Still, I’m grateful that I was born into the more sophisticated clan of my extended family. Those guys eat well but I have no doubt that some of them are the sign waving jerks going around trying to undermine our president.

Rush Limbaugh says he’s lost almost 90 pounds since March and seven pounds since Saturday. That’s some quick weight loss — the quickest ever for the 58-year-old radio host and conservative political commentator — but don’t ask him exactly how he’s done it, because as he shares on The Rush Limbaugh Show website, his program is just too intricate and detailed.

http://www.thatsfit.com/2009/0…..confusing/

Article written Jul 31st 2009 11:30AM so if he lost 90 pounds since March and the article is written end of July lets say August thats 5 months to lose 90 pounds so is it possible to lose that much weight eating healthy?
And will there be side effects? I assume drugs and/or liposuction was used but Rush is trying to claim its natural.
Is Meth Natural?

i’m sick – all my tomato plans have been infected by a fungus. I must have planted 15 plants planning to can for the winter, and they are all gone.

interesting the young woman was writing her blog on Salon ……small world

She was a treasure who still inspires today.

I remember Julia getting quite tipsy sometimes during a wine heavy recipe’. She was a woman who knew the value of sampling.

I have a friend from Texas who introduced me to what he called Hoppin’ John (blackeye peas and rice) and (please don’t gag and throw things at me) we opened a can of salmon and dumped it on top and it was yummy. As a midwesterner I had never eaten blackeye peas. Sometimes we used one of those white/wild rice combos with the peas, but the canned salmon always.

Guess I need to make it the right way, eh?

must be all the rain we’ve had here in Massachusetts

There was a guy on the radio the other day talking about this, it may have been Pollan. He said he asks people if they cook, if they say no, they don’t have the time he then asks if they watch cooking shows. Many, if not most, say yes. He says if you’ve got time to watch cooking shows, most of which are an hour, you’ve got time to cook. Yep.

He also uses French fries as an example of our eating habits and why we’re obese. Before Mickey D’s if you wanted ff you had to make them yourself, which is indeed a task. They were a once in a while treat, not a daily thing. (I personally don’t like deep frying anything.) But when they became a staple of the fast food industry we can have ff as many times a day as we want.

Are you sure it is a fungus? I once planted tomato plants too close to a black walnut, which produces juglone an kills tomatoes. They grew until mid July and then just wilted and died. There are a number of trees that produce chemicals to protect their space.

Oh, I’ve had fresh and am very seriously thinking about growing my own. If I can find fresh at the local farmer’s market I snap them up. Any type of legume.

I think her goofy behavior, while sampling the wine was what appealed to my mother the most Ms Childs came off as a real person because of it

Good morning.

With all the fresh tomatoes in season around here, I started making grits with the fresh tomatoes as the liquid. It works well and serves as a base for adding beans and tofu for meatless meals, and some chopped up sausage, ham or chili for those days when meat is the protein of choice.

It’s a nice flavor and texture and can work with various herbs depending on your culinary destination.

Next I want to cook some risotto with the fresh tomatoes as the base. My local farm stand has the soft and spotted tomatoes as special and I can get up to 5 lbs for $2.

Tomatoes not doing well here either. Unusually cool summer. People will be eathing a lot of green tomatoes this year.

We have Christy!!

That could be it – there is a river that runs by the neighborhood, and the garden two doors down was submerged a few inches when the river rose, and that will rot out tomato plants. I read up on the fungus and it’s highly contagious. damnation.

Blackeyed peas grow easily here, in N.TX. Good luck to you.

Speaking as so0meone with a lot of Cajuns in my family, I have to say go for it! Whatever makes the recipe work for you. I might have to try it myself.

As an aftereffect of the South Beach diet I am much more careful about what I eat. Whole grains (including all pasta), lots of veggies and fruits, almost no alcohol or sweets, and I’ve discovered how good fresh raw shrimp and scallops are. I had never cooked scallops until I found simple instructions online. Cooking healthfully becomes a habit after awhile and you never (hopefully) go back to the packaged crap.

Bluetoe, where do you live?

My grandma is givin’ you “The Look.” *g*

Everyone here in CNY is saying their tomatoes are no good because of blight. (That might not be phrased properly). Cherry tomatoes are okay but too much rain (I heard) has ruined the tomatoe crop.

Microwave food takes no time to cook at all…

yes.

…its all processed. Transfat and Corn syrup need to go.

what – you want me to starve? *g*

Living on the rez everything was fried even the bread. Diabetes is rampant.

Next year look for tomato plants that have VFN as part of the name. They are disease resistant.

Heirloom tomatoes however are not disease resistant, and that’s a trade off people like myself make when choosing them.

While taking the train in France this summer was pleased to see so many “community” gardens in cities, towns and even villages. My cousins hospital has garden allotments for any employee that wants one. Many people grow most of what they need for the year in their garden plots, everything from potatoes, legumes, berries, shallots, onions even fruit and nut trees.

The outside world beckons ,I must now depart.
Farewell my blogger friends !

Can bad nutrition explain the crazy in Rush? Or the fall of empires in general? Every ruling Elite gets richer and well eats more meat, sugar/honey, fat and booze if available.
They eat less fruit and veggies so they do get fatter and even the thin ones may face trouble from a lack of certain vitamins and minerals they are not getting because they don’t have to eat anything they don’t want to.

I knew the world was on its head when it was mentioned that the French were going to London to learn cooking; the times they are a changin’.
Nigella Lawson’s “HOW TO EAT, The Principles of Good Food” is directed at why it is important to eat well. Bon appetite. ISBN 0-7011-6911-7

I didn’t know any better….but I’ve been booed out of the room for even mentioning canned salmon in any context. We used to eat canned salmon when I was a child. My mother combined (I think, memory is a bit hazy) potatoes and hardboiled eggs and some kind of white sauce and canned salmon.

Quite a bit of what I ate growing up I think was because we didn’t have a lot of money. We weren’t exactly poor, there was never a question of not enough food, but some of the meats and other dishes I suspect were the cheapest things that many people wouldn’t eat. Some are considered delicacies today.

At ground zero of the Republican created depression, Michigan

I think, as Christy noted, there may be an uptick in kitchen god/goddess interest. Boeuf Bourgignon garnished with crumbled empire. (See, I was paying attention!)

About the same time I was perusing MtheAofFC, Peg Bracken wrote the “I Hate to Cook Book.” Polar opposites. Noteworthy that I still have MAFC but not IHCB. Cookbook triage.

Been there:)

Thanks for the wonderful chat this morning ladies. DEFINITELY enchilades this weekend, a dish that I never saw Julia prepare maybe but one she would have no doubt really enjoyed preparing, despite the absence of wine, (that goes into a tulip glass) Have a great day everybody!

Grits. I got some fresh stone ground yellow grits couple weeks ago. Oh, man are they good. One hour cooking time but there’s no comparison between them and the cream-of-wheat lookin’ stuff from the store.

Can’t grow maters here in the summer. Way too hot. Planting time here is in a couple months.

No problems with me…My mom was Cajun, my dad from the midwest, (Indiana). I have no problem combining the cuisines though I know those boos. ;)

My grandma is givin’ you “The Look.” *g*

Probably every Southerner on this thread is giving me “The Look.” Hey, I didn’t know any better and he’s from Texas, so…

It’s only been a month or so for me on South Beach, but you’re right about how it changes one’s total approach to food (and labels). I hope it’s a lifetime lesson learned. Still chugging away. Must. Exercise. Have exhausted excuses for not doing that.

Julia would have had plenty to say about South Beach, I’m guessing! *g*

Grits are the American gift to Italian cuisine. Of course they couldn’t translate grits so it became “polenta.”

Putting the issue of cooking and food aside for second…the person who gets short-shrift in this movie and in the critics’ reviews is Julie Powell.

Julie and I both began to blog in August of 2002 at Salon’s earliest blog environment; our first posts were put up within the same week. I’d only just lost my last corporate job weeks earlier and was trying to redefine who I was; blogging was just an experiment, and at that point in time very much an experiment because the platforms for blogging were much more raw and not at all user-friendly.

I debated about pulling the plug after my 30-day free trial, when this engaging new blogger PLUNGED headlong into a project in order to save her own mind and soul. It was fascinating to read along with Julie as she tackled getting to know French cuisine and in the process, getting to know Julia Child.

For me it was riveting because I was watching someone vicariously redefine themselves, trying to wipe away the stench of a soul-sucking office drone’s job while writing about the process of change, with ruthless introspection and at times, real challenge to personal values. (The killing of a lobster caused such agony of debate, even among her readers.)

Julie did what far too many of us avoid doing, and she did it for reasons that the critics have misinterpreted or ignored. She questioned everything while taking action to make change happen. While she may never be as roundly intriguing and fun as Julia Child herself, she’s to be applauded for bravely going where most of us will never go.

In some ways, it’s because of Julie that I took the plunge and did something, became an activist in politics. It’s because of her (and the cohort I blogged with at Salon Blogs) that I stuck with blogging and redefined myself.

You can catch Julie’s blog here, beginning with the very first post.

I know it does more time to cook them but well worth it. The thing is though, I’d rather know what the process is that cooked my food, then not know what my food went through to get to the instant state.

One of the first things I did in February of this year was to ban soft drinks from my diet. My doctor told me the corn syrup was NOT good for me and neither was the carbonation. I also took pains to read labels and stopped buying a lot of pre-packaged stuff with additives I couldn’t pronounce. I also increased my daily exercise and cut my portions by about a third. In two months I had dropped 30 pounds. I slacked off a little, and the weight started creeping back up, so now I’ve buckled down again. And really, it’s no sacrifice. I ate too much and spent too much time at the computer.

My workplace has exercise teams, where you commit to a certain number of minutes a day and keep a record of what you do. You can either exercise by yourself or with team members and you report what you’ve done on your own record keeping page. It’s helpful.

Great chat this a.m. Off to pick up my mother to do some shopping at the local farmer’s market. Thanks for the insights, wisdom, recipes and humor. Peace out.

My favourite translation is from either Coke or Pepsi, I forget which. The slogan was something about being young but translated into Chinese it comes out, “Coke. It brings your ancestors back to life.”

sweet corn can be done in the microwave. Just shuck, clear the silk, put a paper towel around it, wet it down, then cook on high for 4 minutes.

good as boiling….. (which should also be done for only 4 minutes – wanna keep it crisp.

How much exercise a day? Rush is claiming he is losing all his weight no exercise or booze? I wonder if he has diabetes?

When I was in the army, I was the only guy willing to do any real cooking for the house, so I did most of it and didn’t have to wash dishes, which I really hate. My first real recipe was my mother’s biscuit recipe, which was a good southern version, and she sent me several others. My buttered steak was another hit, but we were young and working hard so the extra calories didn’t count.

My wife and I have always divided the cooking. At first it was a week each, but when we started working, she cooked during the week and I cook on weekends. My job is to turn out dishes with tasty leftovers so for a couple of days, she only has to assemble meals, maybe adding a vegetable. The non-cooker cleans the kitchen, though both of us do a bit of it while cooking.

Lately, we are moving away from red meats, and onions and garlic, because they make one of us feel bad, and more towards soups and even salads. We cook from scratch, with a few exceptions. We tend to organics, and are looking at how to go local, given our unwillingness to do much driving.

So you’re past Phase 1 now and it gets much easier. I am not losing noticeably now, but the 11# or so that came off aren’t returning either. I’m riding my bike about 75 miles a week, and feel much more fit. Trying to figure out if rigging my laptop on my exercise bike will entice me to use it this winter. A teevee with TiVo didn’t do the trick last winter and it sits in the basement gathering cobwebs. There’s just no comparison with outside bicycling, unfortunately.

Ok its the packaged food that is bad.

I started watching portions and trying to eat fewer packaged foods. I walk four miles a day and workout three times a day. Since February, I’ve lost about 80 pounds. I have ten to go. My blood pressure is way down and I’m going to ask if I can go off the Lisinopril. It has been a chore, especially changing habits but I was going to die young like my parents if I didn’t lose the weight. But I didn’t do any of those patented diets. Humans evolved to be omnivores so rather than depriving myself protein, carbs, etc., I just watched portions and contents. Hopefully I can maintain my weight now but I’m not afraid. I never want to feel that sick again.

onions and garlic can make you feel bad? Describe bad if you would.

Barbara, do you have a decent place to ride a bike? I think you’d enjoy that. Seems much less like “work” than aerobics or jogging. I can’t do any impact exercises (knee replacement, the orthopaedic surgeon said impact exercise wears it out sooner). So I got a bicycle for the first time in nearly 40 years and it’s great!

At his weight I’d be surprised if he didn’t. Oh, and Rush, Oxycodone is not a diet pill.

I really love to cook, but I get frustrated that my kids have such narrow horizons for food. I lose much of the joy of putting together a good meal when I see them push it around on the plate without eating any and then go for the snacks later in the evening. I realize I shouldn’t let them get away with it, but it really has affected how much energy I put into cooking lately. As a result, our diets have way too much processed snack food and fast food. Despite that, nobody in the family is obese or has problems from this. I guess we are at least keeping the portions small enough and staying active.

For one ear of corn in the micro, 2 minutes is plenty!

Oxycodone causes you to lose weight? If so he is using heavy.

80 pounds? Wow! Just….wow! I am so impressed. Makes my 11 pounds seem puny, but then I didn’t have a huge amount to loose. I go for my annual physical in a couple of weeks and hope my “numbers” are much improved. I’ll bet you’ll be off Lisinopril soon (I take it, too).

Here is a gazpacho for your summer, lots of links here: http://www.spain-recipes.com/gazpacho-recipes.html no cooking required.

I have to get my bike out from behind the garbage bags full of cat food cans that I need to take to the recycler. *groan*

I grow a lot of my own veggies (our tomatoes got a slow start with all the rain we had in CT, but we’re getting a lot now), and we do summer and winter gardens. I make everything from scratch – every meal, every day. People used to call me a food snob and roll their eyes when I’d rail against processed food or explain just why the 100 mile diet makes good sense.

For us money was the reason we started gardening and eating wholesome, whole foods – the processed crap is expensive, but it also tastes terrible.. I’ve never understood how people can eat the stuff – life is too short to eat terrible food.

Any studies on diet and personality I’m wondering if all wingnuts abuse certain foods.

then go for the snacks later in the evening

Sugar and salt.

My workplace has exercise teams, where you commit to a certain number of minutes a day and keep a record of what you do. You can either exercise by yourself or with team members and you report what you’ve done on your own record keeping page. It’s helpful.

This is way cool. My workplace consists of one woman who spends much of her time plopped in an office chair at home, sometimes doing paid work or blogging, sometimes researching, sometimes soaking up FDLers wisdom and unparalleled ability to snark, sometimes recently mucking about on Facebook. Sedentary, all of it.

Under the light of the monitor,
The spreading writer sits.
The writer, a softening elder babe,
Examines web site hits.

With ordinary looking hands
And fingers flying furiously
Across the keyboard while she searches
Web locations quickly and curiously.

Her hair is soft, greying and short,
Her face sees not much sun.
Her efforts to express herself
Are her idea of fun.

etc., etc., etc.

Something my mother made that I’ve never seen or heard of anywhere else (this is the middle Atlantic south) included canned salmon and beaten eggs scrambled together. Eaten with grits all mixed in with the salmon and eggs. It probably sounds quite thoroughly foul to everyone else but is one of the dishes I associate with childhood and something of a comfort food. Trust me….some of the other food combinations I hear about elicit much that same reaction. *g*

Not many places close by for biking. And though I did it a lot as a kid, have largely ignored it as an adult. Must be PTSD for all the times I got my pants leg tangled up in the bike chain. Or sawed what ended up being a permanent scar in my calf from having to closely bypass my father’s car to put my bike away in the garage. Repeatedly sliced leg on car bumper, long before they were plastic and required consumer warnings that car parts can be dangerous to one’s health. *g* Am I a sad case or what? Rhetorical and/or be kind!!

I remember scrambled eggs and roe but not the salmon being added. Never liked it.

If anybody can screw up a fried egg it’s me. I can bust a yoke like nobody’s business. Nevertheless I eat what I cook. Eggs, grits, vegge saugage, whole wheat toast with local honey. An’ a big glass of milk. Coffee comes after.

Mornin’ Dragon,

you would love Julia’s favorite store in Paris

imagine a basement of floor to ceiling cooper pots and pans

I’m not a foodie and I certainly wasn’t back then, but love of all things Julia placed it on my list of shrines to visit

Age of the children? How very sad for them when they’ve a Da who’s willing to cook them *good* food. Still and all the same, when I think of the many different foods I now love that, for a variety of reasons, was not exposed to or rejected when growing up, there’s hope for them still.

barbara’s list of unliked foods:

black licorice
anise
dry, packaged, shredded coconut
cilantro

That’s it. Now you see my problem re food! *g*

I’m committed to 30 minutes a day…but the activity can be walking, weeding…anything, as long as I’m up and moving. If you’re talking Rush Limbaugh…I would suspect pills :) Otherwise, I’d say see a doctor.

Mornin’, cbl

I’m not a foodie either but over the long run I learned that it’s cheaper to cook my own food. I have to shop a little more often for fresh stuff but I’m not putting a pound of crap in my system every time a make a meal.

I grew up in the deep South and once when I was small Mama had to go visit her mother for a week. Papa had to take over the cooking. He had two recipes. One, grits and canned salmon (pink with the bones), and something he called S.O.S. which was creamed chipped beef on toast. That’s all we ate for a week.

Later when we were older we learned what S.O.S. meant. S**t on a Shingle. Papa was a Green Beret.

wow. I had made a note just this week to track down her work – thank you very much !

SD….I’ve had a late start today, how nice. And I had missed you earlier.

I was so sorry to hear the news about Gigi….that all hurts so much. As you say, be good to yourself. We know she had such good care and much love. Hugs, my dear. ;) B

We’ll be thinking of you and the other kids.

LOL….I resemble those remarks. Or I used to. I had to draw the line. Every talent I have involves a computer some way or another, so it would be easy to sit here all the time. But there’s so much ELSE that needs doing, and there was such an imbalance in my life that I had to make the change. I admit, it’s easier when I know most of my co-workers are working on the same things. Motivating.

Damn, I forgot about the copper pots. 2nd image is same as the first. I’m afraid I have to settle for an old set of Revere pots and pans, made before they starting thinning the copper bottoms. Come to think of it most everything in my kitchen is old. Tried and true. Still looking for a hand mixer, though. Got a skillet I swear was rescued from a burning Atlanta.

I used to ride a bike everywhere, no car. A long time ago. My bike was stolen, and I never replaced it. Biking is dangerous.

About 2 months ago my neighbor was killed riding her bicycle. It was a devastating tragedy to her family (four adopted children) and to all of us who adored her. I borrowed a bike a to ride with neighbors and the biking groups who “finish the ride” for bikers who are killed, which happens all too often here. I loved it. I wanted to get a bicycle again.

But (oh age), I got a terrible UTI from the ride. LOL, but I finally had to get meds to get rid of it. I still am thinking of getting a bicycle. I guess I will just have to build up my hm hmm.

I’m an old hippie, always have cooked from scratch. I occasionally buy cans of beans, but really, SD is right. Start with dry. It makes all the diff.

Molly’s list of disliked foods:
Cilantro (it’s genetic, I understand, lack of an enzyme or something)
White meat chicken
Coconut of any kind
Maraschino cherries
Crabmeat (love it, but it makes me fwow up)

Which leaves all sorts of bad stuff to enjoy now and pay for later!

That reminds me…a good trick for cleaning your copper. Vinegar and salt. Takes the tarnish right off.

Oh, (((SD))). I didn’t hear about GiGi.

They’re 18 and 12, both girls. Older one goes off to college next week. The younger one is the pickier one of the two. I’ll keep working on the problem, but it’s a tough one.

Thank you. Still looking at the clock at feeding times and lookin’ for her when I get up and when I come home. I always count heads and check for something they’ve done to each other when I’m asleep or gone, although when I’m sacked out I hear the instant disasters in other rooms.

I was thinking the other day, and I think I said this to selise, that I feel like a long living elf whose children have normal life spans. Rejoice at their arrival, grieve at their departure.

Oh, yes! definitely including the bones….but best to squish them up with your fingers *before* cooking it all together. Never did like chomping down on a fishy spine. *g*

And chip beef on toast is another of my comfort foods but with the toast thoroughly dried out vs. being soft on the inside.

Thanks. Cancer. Thursday. 15 and the last of my matrons.

30 minutes a day maybe I’ll try it walking to the grocery store or library almost every other day now:)
Rush and pills yes but given his weight drinking, drugs, smoking a quick funny weight loss at his age could kill him.
But his friends are saying nothing.

You dear Elf….it is complicated and poignant to be the survivor. Grief is certainly part of the journey….there are all those words about how to deal with it, yet no one knows. Just IS. Thanks for your thoughts.

BTW, if you didn’t see Moyers last night, look online. It was wonderful; interview with woman author from Harvard.

Yep. An’ real biscuits an’ gravy. Ho, man.

SD, I lost one of my older cats a couple of months ago. She just fell down one day, and I rushed her to the vet, a tumor that I did not know about. She did not suffer, I don’t think.

Oh, thanks. I’ll watch that a little later. I was gonna try to listen to the Rays at the Mariners but during the pre-game it dawned on me how exhausted I was.

Was talking with the vet while still holding Gigi after she was on her way that it never got any easier. He said, “It gets harder,” which surprised me. He’s just adopted a kitten someone brought in.

Do you make your biscuits? Reminds me…around the corner is a bakery, Mexican owners, with homemade biscuits on Saturday only!! To die for….creamy with hint of sugar. Wish you were here.

Did you start them on the scratch food meals early in life or try to introduce it after they’d been exposed to the fast food garbage after starting school and establishing a circle of friends? Have never had any kids so speaking as a total ignorant wrt child rearin’, I can come up with all sorts of *things I would have done* that would probably have been totally ineffective. *GGG*

Just thinking on several people I’ve known throughout life who have an extremely limited palate that I know to have happened because the parents always catered to those limitations. Case in point: a very dear friend down the street whose son (now in his fifties) gets fed exactly the same menu everytime he puts his feet under her table….which is virtually every weekend. Ah well, her kid; her decision.

Getting a late start this morning…First of all I saw the movie yesterday morning at the first showing and I can highly recommend it especially for Julia fans. If you have read the book “My Life in France” about her experiences there it will even be a better movie.

I grew up with Julia and coupled with standing by my grandmother’s side in her country kitchen in West Va. I learned to cook at an early age and have loved it always. I am never too tired to cook and the more you do and learn the better you become.

Lastly, it was a potato pancake (galette) that she tried to flip that flopped…but only part of it missed the pan and she put in back in and patched it together while uttering the immortal “Alone in the kitchen” remark. Meryl Streep recreates the scene in the movie to perfection. You forget that you are not watching Julia herself.

Wow, I think I agree….Maybe the repetition. But I think he’s right. I think among the aged it’s because the numbers narrow down so much…After my last cat had died, I was surely not going to have anymore. So Angela is a latelife surprise….

Maybe you can ask your vet why that’s the case…..I’d be very interested in the answer. Take it easy over there. Moyers is something for you to enjoy.

I’m sorry for your loss. When they just drop I don’t think there’s any suffering involved. I think it was RevDeb who came home to find one down. I’ve had at least 2 over a 40 year period and I learn something about them all the time. One of the main research areas with cats is pain.

Dog bless the vets who help send our beloved furry children *over The Bridge*! I can not imagine how they manage to do it on a daily basis (especially when they know the owner and animal well for years) but suppose they manage by knowing they are helping the pet to a place of no pain……if not their owners.

Maybe you can ask your vet why that’s the case…..I’d be very interested in the answer.

Do you mean why one would suddenly decide that they did need another taskmaster?

I’ve often wondered about that as well and it may well be that it’s the end of suffering.

bgrothus, I’m sorry to hear about your cat. I’ve lost several over the years, and it doesn’t get easier. They’re part of the family.

I’m without animals at the moment but with the four I’ve had over the years, we’ve been blessed with absolutely wonderful vets whose level of caring one could only wish for human beings.

Since someone here told me about baking powder going stale I’ve made ‘em a couple times. Was thinkin’ about it today, matter o’ fact. World of difference. Prolly not as good as grandma’s but I haven’t been makin’ ‘em as long as she was.

I may not be clear on your question…just why he thinks it gets harder. There’s so much pap about what we get used to/been there before. The “getting harder” for a dr is very poignant…curious what else he would say. Just a thought.

(((RevBev)))

Hey, Sis. I saw you are going to travel….where are you going?

I agree. I absolutely lucked out with this vet. Definitely a keeper. Younger than me too.

I got Tiye II in 77. She died in the summer of 90. I would get up in the morning and there was no tiger there. I couldn’t bear it. Three days, I think, I lasted. Went to the SPCA and was selected by Min. Isis soon followed, only to be murdered by my next door neighbor. Found Yang at Animal Control looking for Isis. I had my friend Joe with me and he had never had animals. This cute little grey female kitten selected him. GG (Grey Ghost) is still with him.

Gotcha.

SD, Another question (& I so need to get out of here)…Angela is seriously scratching a carpet here. Is there anything to retard that activity? Spray, etc? Looking bad.

I know that he was talking about himself as a pet owner. He’s got both dogs and cats. Loves ‘em both to death. Gentlest vet I’ve ever seen. You can see the change in demeanor when he shifts his attention from the owner to the animal and vice versa. Definitely in tune with the critters. He said the hardest was a young dog, not a puppy, that he had adopted and knew that the dog wouldn’t have a very long life, I forget what the problem was. When it came time he said it was the hardest he’d experienced.

Heading north for a week. Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais, MN. Driving along north shore of Lake Superior much of the way to Grand Marais. Do I know the way to Grand Marais? You betcha. That part of the state/country is truly my soul home. Friend has a lovely cabin in the woods, on a lake. I am way hungry for true north! Thanks for asking.

I’d suggest one of those cardboard or carpet scratch pads and spraying the area. They seem to like the scratching stuff that lays flat better than posts.

I’ve got terrazzo floors with a carpet remnant in the living room. I just let ‘em have at it all. Although Ptah has managed to ruin both my big stereo speakers by getting his claws into the bottom edge of the biggest cone. Tama-chan is on a mission to shred the corner of the dining table. The couches are beginning to look like they’ve exploded. What? The cushions are still good.

Some cats like to scratch harder surfaces and some like softer. You might try getting a carpet doormat for her; cats sometimes like those wrapped around a vertical post. (Ours preferred it backing side out.)

Yeah, it’s really pretty much trial and error.

It’s been so fun to come back and read all the comments, I lovelovelove Pull Up a Chair, even if Christy couldn’t be here this morning.

SD, you really should write a Caturday Journal and post it at the Seminal, would give us cat lovers a place to congregate and tell kitteh stories :)

Or pseudo kitteh stories, for a couple nights I had a possum coming in the kitchen to eat up leftovers. Could tell it wasn’t a racooon because she wasn’t bright enough to get into the cat food bag.

Hmmm, I’ll have to give that some serious consideration. Have to be later in the day, though. Don’t wanna compete with PUAC. *g*

My MIL fed possum and skunk on her back patio. Lived on the edge of a canyon. She had sliding glass doors so we could sit inside and watch them without turning on the outside light. They’d bring their babies as well. The critters were originally led to the patio by her huge, fluffy tiger named Nine O’Clock. I’ve a story about her finding a skunk trapped behind the water heater in the garage.

Thanks for the thoughts. The owner had given me some of that scratch container stuff, but it is in another room. I’ll work on some re-arranging…spray, I guess = suggestions from the pet supply place..Many thanks.

PS: SD, the cat death that did me in was also “murder by neighbor”…..what a tale. How amazing you had a similar experience. Talk about a good vet……when I called to tell her, they sent me a condolence card and $$ donation to charityin memory of Emily. I’ll never forget. You all have a great day.

Barbara, Have a wonderful trip….sounds great. We have been having record setting 100 temp…..Enjoy.

My husband is a professional chef. He’s always said the grandeur of a kitchen in inversely proportionate to the amount of cooking that takes place there :)

Saw the movie yesterday with my mom and it brought back lots of great memories of dinner parties in the early 70s when my mom would put on her maxi dress and cook with a glass of wine in hand. Hey, maxis are back in vogue!

Great piece full of interesting facts. I need to spend more time cooking and less time eating.

My father in law has quite a palate. He claims there is only one food he will not eat (and I believe him):
cardoons.

I absolutely love to cook and better yet, to see people enjoy my cooking. However, since I am here by myself, (unless you count Neko the cat), I just almost never do it.

Is there any way to share your skills with kids? Maybe there’s an after school program that would love to have a “cooking demonstration,” or you could teach a class?

Seems like this would be a “win-win” situation: you get to cook, and the younger generation gets exposed to great cooking.

I’m living in foodie paradise in Portland, Oregon, married to a dietitian who loves food and cooking. She often quotes Julia – fresh foods simply prepared. She learned in her work that the important thing was not to restrict people’s food choices but to promote cooking and eating the good stuff. We walk 2 blocks to a wonderful supermarket, part of a local chain, that sells mostly organic and supports local and regional growers, or a few blocks in the other direction to the great People’s Food Co-op. It wasn’t always this way. It all started with a few scruffy hippies who were early adopters. Once a movement begins, more people get involved, the good stuff becomes more available and cheaper, growers flourish, etc. It builds upon itself. Communities begin to build and center around the good food stores, community gardens, and farmer’s markets. The forces working against healthy eating are work environments that rob people of time and energy to cook, or even to eat, and the fast food joints. A local market manager told me that when he started selling organic, he was impressed to discover that his customers not only demanded to know how the food was grown but where it was grown, and he responded happily. Healthy for people and for the planet. I’m sous chef and wash dishes too. There’s hope. And yumm….

Oh, I look forward to the movie! Films have tremendous influence too.

* Brabant Potatoes, recipe follows

Hey, where’s that potato recipe???

The chicken sounds fabulous.

barbara’s list of unliked foods:

black licorice
anise
dry, packaged, shredded coconut
cilantro

That’s it. Now you see my problem re food! *g*

Barbara, we must be twins!!!

I would add mayonnaise and turnips. The joke in my family is that my kids are going to order a licorice, mayonnaise & turnip pizza for me. With cilantro, of course.

I lived in Corvallis in the late 70s and we had one natural foods store, a co-op just outside of town and The Beanery, a true hippie coffee shop. It was wonderful. I worked for Youth Outreach, Inc, better known as Sunflower House.

Not just breaking into houses. I’ve seen at least two reports of people being electrocuted while trying to steal electrical cables – one was stealing it from a transformer substation. There was also a hospital that had cables stolen, and had to shut down their CT and MRI scanners until they were replaced.

((SD)) I’m so sorry.

Re: American obesity

My youngest child, a male, is 24 years old. Fortunately, he has his father’s genes, which are skinny genes — not the type where eating an ice cream cone will instantly put on 20 pounds — like me! :-)

Anyway, he was forced to eat rather well, growing up, but lately, he has eaten a lot of fast food, because of his high-stress, many hours a day, job. I was shocked to hear him say he had gained 20 pounds in the past 2 months. He now calls himself “fat” which I find amusing (he is 6′1″ and weighs 200 lbs.) — he doesn’t know what FAT is — but if he keeps up these eating habits, he WILL be fat.

Hey, SD, I too missed the news about Gigi. So sad for you.
{{{{SD}}}}

Re food – I’ve been following a new variant of South Beach (which I’ve followed less-than-religiously for several years- it stopped my gaining, and last year I lost about ten lbs.) called the Flat Belly Diet, after I gained four lb. rapidly, all in my abdomen.

It’s really just a very well-balanced diet, with a 4-day jump start that’s more restricted, but still well-balanced and filling, 4 meals a day, including a milk or yogurt and fruit smoothie. Focuses on monounsaturated fatty acid foods.
Lost the 4 new lbs plus almost 2 lb more, and the food was good,
good-tasting.

Also focuses on fresh, seasonal, no trans-fats, and no artificial sweeteners. (one of my reservations about many low-carb diets. It’s good, and because (almost) everything is made from scratch, it’s getting me back in the habit of cooking.
Also helps that it’s summer, with stores and farmers markets teeming with fresh-grown tomatoes, squash, melons, pears, peaches, green beans, onions, peppers, etc., etc.
I have bulgur for tabouli soaking/chilling right now. My favorite only-in-summer easy salad. Eat well, everyone. I’m off to the pool, shortly.

My pain management doc suggested I get Dr. Dean Ornish’s book SPECTRUM (and EAT MORE, WEIGH LESS), do the meditations, do the non-fat recipes, do the exercise life style changes etc. Had already been continuing exercises- yoga and pool work- and had certainly been changing the foods I prepare for my 90 year old Dad and myself, but I’m really enjoying the Ornish books’ recipes.

Tonight’s entree will be a yeast dough tart with a marmalade of onions, fennel and asian pears with balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, etc. Will probably add some mozarella cheese to make it a veggie pizza Can hardly wait.

I’ve always loved the TV series, the old ones and the newer ones with Pepin; thoroughly enjoyed the Charlie Rose interview with Streep and Ephron last night and I long to see the movie.

Had just listened to My Life in France by Julia Child – I’m an audio book person because of bad eyes and weak hands – and enjoyed her early years story. Fascinated that she’d really been hassled by the Cordon Bleu ???? school in getting in, getting certified, etc. Why should she been admitted into the real classes with the men or be certified like them. And the story of the book’s development, rejections, final acceptance, the promotion tours and the beginning of The French Chef were all fascinating vis a vis the American cultural realities as they changed over time. And wonderful must have been their small home in Provence next to her old friend/colleague but later pain in the neck as Julia tried to cope with American corporate realities.

Hooray for Julia and Alice and all the other real chefs featured on PBS (never mind the food channels which I don’t get) and all the healthy eating heroes in the production, preparation and consumption of all the staffs of life.

This morning my Dad and I attended a small town gardening workshop to let us know of what and how to plant for winter produce in our house gardens across our community. Folks are working to develop a quite large community garden in one of our parks. Staggering plan. The little workshop was fun, and it was fun to meet other gardeners and share our failures and victories and learn from one another. Looking forward to the next gathering, sorry I missed the ones in the late spring. We wouldn’t have made so many stupid choices in our first in years garden.

I’d read Kingsolver’s book about her Virginia gardening year with such joy and delight and that pushed me to try to do a garden, tho Dad said I shouldn’t try to really help as my balance is so iffy.

Just notice the above reference to The Flat Belly Diet and had to laugh. Had some time to kill at our small local library and noticed that book in the stack of donated books that were available for 25 cents each; so I bought it and enjoyed looking at the recipes and the plan. Thought it could be an easy fit with Ornish recipes and plans; except Flat Belly allows some fats, including olive oil, (consistent with my nutrition classes in the gerontology program I did a few years ago), whereas Ornish uses vegetable stock as the norm and would never drizzle olive oil on dishes as some chefs do all the time. Find myself being content to use the veg stock over the olive oil.

Thanks for the invitation to reaffirm and solidify changes in my life.

Blessings,

Christy lets talk childhood obesity. When I was a kid on a day with no school frequently my buddies and I would arrange to meet on the school grounds for a game of softball or football. If you tried to do that now you would probably be arrested. The schools resemble forts and you have to have the janitor, his overtime, and his key to even gain entrance.