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2743. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 4:15:21 PM Saturday Night Lite
Let me tell you a story to illustrate that we are living in a pusillanimous age. I was in New Orleans last Saturday night, dining with a wonderful group of people at a culinary landmark called Antoine's. Our host had arranged for a remorseless avalanche of delicious food, served in prodigious 19th-century style. There were about six appetizers, including oysters, foie gras and various lobster confabulations. There were main courses aplenty - fish, then crab, then steak.
Then dessert floated onto the table: a meringue pie roughly the size of a football helmet. And with it came coffee, but not just any coffee. It was called "devil's brew." A copper bowl was put in the middle of the table with some roiling mixture of brandy-ish spirits inside. Coffee was poured in and the concoction set aflame.
The waiter thrust a ladleinto the inferno and lifted up long, dripping streams of blue fire, hoisting the burning liquid into hypnotizing, showy cascades. He poured out a circle of flame onto the tablecloth in front of us. It was a lavish pyre of molten, inebriating java and then, when he swung around to where I was sitting, I turned and asked the climactic question:
More…
“I blame the people at the top for setting the tone”
“I blame parents”
“I blame the titans of corporatism”
“I blame the arbiters of virtue.”
“But at least we have New Orleans.”
Brooks says all these things—is he correct to blame these entities?
2744. wonkers2 - 3/12/2005 4:32:24 PM That was one of Brooks's better columns. At least he is willing to poke fun of himself. I remember a family dinner at Antoine's when I was a teen. I didn't really appreciate it then. Two years ago at a high school reunion I tried to relive my earlier dinner at Antoine's but couldn't get in. So we settled for Galatoire's which was quite good. I guess it's the second oldest New Orleans restaurant. I'll link below a related book review column also from today's NYT. 2745. wonkers2 - 3/12/2005 4:37:37 PM Professor Sees Mania in U.S. for Posessions and Status (I especially like the last paragraph) Here. 2746. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 6:27:48 PM Other countries are prey to the same forces, Dr. Whybrow says, but the problem is worse here because we are a nation of immigrants, genetically self-selected to favor individualism and novelty. Americans are competitive, restless and driven to succeed.
I definitely count myself as one of these immigrants "genetically self-selected to favor individualism and novelty", praise the Lord, Jen's Lord, I mean. 2747. wonkers2 - 3/13/2005 4:51:27 AM Aren't we all. Pelle may not agree, but it's well known that all the Swedes worth their salt came to America long ago! 2748. PelleNilsson - 3/17/2005 10:21:39 PM Tonight I made filet de chevaux (sic) flambé stuffed with anchovy butter. With that a finely chopped salad of small premium tomatoes, parsley and garlic served with a tart sauce vinaigrette. No special occasion, I just felt a need to engage in a bit of hands-on creativity. 2749. robertjayb - 3/17/2005 10:56:26 PM Barbarian! 2750. PelleNilsson - 3/17/2005 11:34:39 PM Yes. But medium-to-rare horse is a fine eat. 2751. alistairconnor - 3/18/2005 10:09:44 AM I've got a couple of ponies going cheap.
Got to catch them first of course. 2752. Macnas - 3/18/2005 10:16:28 AM Whatever about the horse, which is alright as meat goes, anchovy butter is vile. 2753. PelleNilsson - 3/18/2005 12:48:54 PM Swedes in general don't eat horse but there are quite a few Chileans living around here which is why it is now and then available in the local supermarket. A little bit of mashed anchovy enhances the taste of almost everything. 2754. Magoseph - 3/18/2005 12:55:40 PM I remember eating “le steak tartare” at home—we had this pile of horsemeat on each one’s plate and we mixed it with shallots, one egg, mustard, some sort of seasoning my mother mixed herself and we used to think it was a real treat. I wonder now if faced with such a plate whether I could eat it.—probably not, I guess, since I was unable to eat “Tripes à la Mode de Caen” when my sister-in-law, a terrific cook, served that dish. 2755. The Summer Woman - 3/18/2005 5:14:14 PM I love anchovies. I especially love anchovy butter on small triangles of bread with a slice of egg or an olive.
Has anyone here ever actually eaten tripe? The texture looks as if it would give one the willies. Something about the "cellular" nature of it. 2756. PelleNilsson - 3/18/2005 7:42:51 PM I have eaten tripe on the insistence of a French colleague. I didn't find it revolting. One the other hand it is not a dish I would order given a choice, unless perhaps the choice were blood sausage.
Welcome, Summer Woman to IALS, the Internet Anchovy Lovers Association which includes you, me, Snowowl, somebody I don't remember and yet another one or perhaps two who will be offended thatI don't remember. Snowowl and I are the most prominent members because we share the half-secret vice of sometimes eating filets of anchovy straight out of the tin. 2757. wonkers2 - 3/18/2005 7:50:25 PM Count w2 in as well. I like them on soda crackers. 2758. PelleNilsson - 3/18/2005 8:06:50 PM So what do you all think about the merits and demerits of the two kinds of anchovy, the flat filets versus the ones wrapped around capers? I prefer the flat ones but there are certain ttraditional uses for the round ones like when you make an Escalope de Veau Viennoise (Wienerschnitzel for us Germanophiles, Summer Woman). You then place a slice of lemon on top and an anchovy on top of that. 2759. Ronski - 3/19/2005 7:20:07 PM I love steak tartare when I'm in a real meat-eating mood, which has been a lot lately, since I'm trying to reduce carbs, but I've gotta say it has to be beef. Good beef.
Had some very good beef, though cooked (rare) in Lake Louise, Alberta last week. The Canadians call their best "AAA." Can't get it in the U.S. due to mad cow fears. We said the hell with that and ate it anyway. (If I start acting strangely, let me know, if you can distinguish it from normal behavior.)
Alberta's Rocky Mountains are very beautiful. Good skiing, too, though not perfect, owing to warm weather followed by a freeze, and a bit of a local snow drought.
Here's a local mountain (not a skiable one):
 2760. Snowowl - 3/19/2005 10:22:27 PM I prefer flat anchovies, and having read the last few posts in this thread I'm now experiencing cravings.
Ronski, that's glorious.
Our kids are giving my husband a train trip through the Rockies as a birthday surprise next year.
It's been one of his ambitions to do the trip, but at this stage of his life he'd given up the dream, so he'll be quite overcome when he's presented with the tickets. 2761. Snowowl - 3/19/2005 10:24:31 PM Has anyone here ever actually eaten tripe? The texture looks as if it would give one the willies. Something about the "cellular" nature of it.
SW, tripe was my mother's favourite dish, although the rest of the family loathed it. My younger sister's boyfriend (later fiancee) loved tripe and Mum would cook a great pot of it every week, and the two of them would tuck in with great relish. The engagement didn't last, but for many years afterwards Ray would still visit once a week for his tripe. 2762. Ronski - 3/20/2005 1:13:20 AM Snowowl,
That train trip is a wonderful gift. We want to do that someday, too.
As for tripe, the most I can take of it is in little, practically unnoticeable bits in "pepper pot" soup.
But I'm not big on organ meats generally, except for their disguised presence in chopped chicken liver, liver dumpling soup (a Czech-German staple), and pates.
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