This is my blogchalk:
United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

Subscribe to this blog in Radio:

Saturday, February 15, 2003

Look for this at any neighborhood store that sells kimchi. panko, and at least five varieties of noodles. It will be there. Kikkoman also makes a tonkatsu sauce. Either one is good. Thousand Island Dressing has been so out of it for so long that it is due for a comeback, maybe on iceberg lettuce wedges. Tonkatsu sauce would make a nice substitute for the ketchup in the recipe, I'd be willing to bet. Put in habaneros for the peppers, oh my. (If you wonder why I'm going off on tonkatsu again, check out Panko Crusted Buttermilk Chicken and Fork Mashed Garlic Potatoes, then read the comments. The idea of tonkatsu, as it developed in Japan in the 1930s, was an "east meets west" dish. A decade later, of course, east did indeed meet west with less than palatable results, but that's history now. What I like about Panko and Buttermilk Chicken is that it is "east meets south". Living within a a few blocks of Mama Dip's place, who rightfully should own the copyright on buttermilk chicken as long as Disney Corp. owns Mickey's ears, it gets me going too. Panko is a natural for any breaded fried food.) 8:36:19 PM    comment []

Campaign slogans revisited: "A Uniter, Not A Divider" Middle East anger Demonstrations have also been held in cities across the Middle East, including Israel, and in East Asia. In a rare sign of unity, 3,000 Jews and Arabs marched together in Tel Aviv. 7:08:24 PM    comment []

Now cut that out, Frances! Reading the back page of Bon Appetit, Liz and I were both impressed with the simplicity of her answer to the question, "...but what would be your idea of a fantasy meal?": Having a really great tomato at our house in upstate New York, just sliced with a little bit of salt, or maybe on white bread with mayonnaise. But neither of us understood what she meant by this answer to "Who's your favorite dinner companion?": Definitely Joel (Coen, her director husband). One time we went to a little restaurant in Venice. The waiter brought out a plate of fritto misto and lettuce with salt and olive oil. What is fritto misto? I looked it up. Here are the basic ingredients: 6 oz. veal sweetbreads 6 oz. veal brains 6 oz. veal marrow from spine 3 oz. cocks combs 3 oz. chicken dumplings 6 pair frog's legs 1 sliced eggplant, salted and drained for one hour 2 sliced zucchini 6 zucchini blossoms 6 oz. sweet semolina 6 mushroom caps flour 10 oz. breadcrumbs milk 6 eggs, beaten butter olive oil salt Okay, she has a braver stomach than I. That tomato still sounds good. 4:17:47 PM    comment []

These guys just jumped out of the new oven. It is now broken in - no strange fumes at all! 2:14:18 PM    comment []

The guanciale meets the kale chiffonade for the first time. Liz says this collander "gets her hot," I hope the hog jowl likes it too - because soon it will be thrown together into sultry waters with the kale. I'll put a lid on that. On the far right, you can see the kitchen clock. When the level of the liquid reaches that of the counter, it's time to buy more wine. 2:11:38 PM    comment []

Or not so southern, call it guanciale, for Bucatini alla amatriciana. I'm not making that today, but this photo shows the fine foam that signals "done". 1:43:22 PM    comment []

Hog Jowl A southern favorite. Here it is beginning to cook down in cast iron, real slow. It's done when the fat gets foamy, about 30 minutes. This will be used to flavor up a nice batch of winter kale. 1:15:20 PM    comment []

Dolly Hangs It Up Take it, Satan... Hello, Dolly, Well, hello, Dolly It's so nice to have you back where you belong You're lookin' swell, Dolly I can tell, Dolly You're still glowin', you're still crowin' You're still goin' strong 4:52:29 AM    comment []

Bring Back Walter He was America's uncle. We even called him Uncle Walter. Befitting his ancestry, he could even be a Dutch uncle from time to time - most famously upon returning from Vietnam after the Tet offensive and broadcasting his opinion that it was time to negotiate an end to a war he felt America could not win. "If I've lost Cronkite," replied President Lyndon Johnson, "I've lost middle America." About that same time (1968), the editor of the paper in the small town ("Pop.: 1623") where I had grown up (or did my best approximation of it) began airing his views that Vietnam was a mistake. Fear had been a weapon to suppress peaceful voices then as well, since the scent of Tailgunner Joe still lingered in the air. To oppose the war was to be "Anti-American", "Unpatriotic", and a "Communist Sympathizer". Dissent was routinely shot down by the "aid and comfort to the enemy" threat, much as it is now. There was good reason to fear our own government: J Edgar Hoover was still in charge of the FBI and everyone knew he could bring down anyone who became too verbal. In the midst of all that fear, the editor of our weekly newspaper came out with a series of editorials against the war. He was my Walter Cronkite. Our town had lost 5 young men. Three of them were graduates of the same high school as I. The fear and madness were everywhere. Nobody dared to voice doubt. Then someone did. Then another. 3:29:37 AM    comment []