Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Debunix:  That kind of thing has happened to me so many times!
When I was involved with the Slow Food Ark of Taste I met a cattle
rancher who raised these awesome little corriente cattle. I'm not an
avid beef eater, but when I tasted his beef I was profoundly struck by
how nourishing it felt. I did a story on him for Gourmet and to do so,
had to drive about 800 miles over to Texas. When I got to the ranch,
his wife had prepared vegetarian lasagne! It was very sweet of her,
very touching that she did so. But it was an awkward moment because I
was there to write about their beef and tasting was important. I think
they were relieved and soon we were tasting Corriente. And the lasagne
was delicious.
  

    
SOrt of off the subject but tangental:

The used car I am driving now came with a bumpersticker "Go
Vegetarian!" 

I am not a vegetarian and I said something (joking) to the people from
whom I bought the car, something like, I hope you don't mind if I put
something over that like "GO MEAT." The woman seemed a bit
uncomfortable with that. Anyway, the bumper sticker stayed for two
years and a number of people in the new town I live in thought i was
vegetarian for a while. I eventually covered it with an Obama sticker.
  

    
So now they're SURE.
  

    
That's a funny story!
  

    
You want a crazy tortilla recipe?  

Here's something I created when I was living in southern Mexico for a
while.  A banana with a stripe of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of salt and
pepper wrapped in a tortilla.  Banana and tortilla go together quite
nicely, though the banana has a tendency to want to squirt out the
other end when you eat it.  

This is definitely an item to eat when you're alone because people
will think you're nuts.
  

    
I believe you're right - they will. Say, have your done this
with some roasted pistachio nuts rolled in red chile??
  

    
Ooooh!  Even nuttier!
  

    

(I know a guy who runs farmers' markets in Flagstaff these days, but the
season is VERY short: May 30 through October 10.
<http://www.flagstaffmarket.com/>
  

    
I really want to try Poison Eggs. Must know, though -- what is a 
poach-fried egg?
  

    
I was wondering that, too, 'cause it sounds good!
  

    
I will pass on the eggs
  

    
For those who won't pass on the eggs, here's the deal with the
poach-fried egg, as Dan calls them.  Your start out frying your eggs as
usual, but after a minute or two, you put a little water in the pan,
put the lid on, and the don't really poach, but they do steam. Sort of
crispy on the bottom, delicate on moist on top. Personally I don't like
my eggs to have any movement, but if you like a runny yolk and a firm
bottom, give it a try.

Flagstaff (back to that) is the same elevation as Santa Fe but a much
harder place to grow vegetables. The summer nights are colder longer
and actual freezing temperatures have, over time, been noted for every
day of the year.  When I planted beets they got to be out about six
inches tall the stayed that way for over a month until the monsoons
started.  Very discouraging!
  

    
My father always made basted eggs, which are eggs fried in butter with the 
butter spooned over the top to slightly cook the yolk. I just googled it 
because I haven't thought about that technique in years, and wiki answers 
says "Basted's just a really awesome texture for the eggs, like having a 
poached-fried egg." I have never heard of poached-fried before. Yay, new 
thing!
  

    
One of my eat-alone items is 3 chopped hot boiled eggs -- 2 boiled
hard, and one added a few minutes late, to make a soft-boiled sauce. 
Add some kind of seasoning that I am working on learning.  (Right now
it's home-made vinegars and various salt/herb/spices) Eat hot.
  

    
Carry on!  I'm a little squeamish about eggs unless they have stuff in
them, like cheese and green chiles or herbs, but they are a favorite
eat-alone food. Fast and nourishing.
  

    
finally finished the book!  Especially loved the chapter on what boys
and girls should learn to cook - excellent basic recipes (roast
chicken, mashed potatoes, basic tomato sauce  and then:  big changeup! 
- just to make sure we're paying attention - "spinach and caramelized
onion frittata with goat cheese and a vinegar glaze" - hahahahahaha! 

I asked my (now) 16 year old nephew what he thought of that recipe. 
He sputtered a bit about the goat cheese (ewww, that stuff smells
funny) and then finally asked 'what's a frittata?'   This from a kid
we've given cooking lessons to since he was quite small and who joins
me in my guilty pleasure of watching Ina Garten cook.

There's an aspect of teaching young ones to cook that wasn't mentioned
in the book that's become one of our best family stories:  it's about
the day when, for reasons no one can now remember, all the cooks
(female) of the household were attending to Nanny at the hospital she
was at;     Grampy had just come home from another hospital and wasn't
real steady on his feet; and the only one home to cook was my (then)
seven year old nephew!  

He made his Grampy scrambled eggs and toast for a late breakfast. 
Took him 45 minutes to put it together, but that was what he knew how
to cook.  And then, five or six hours later, when Grampy was hungry
again and whatever nightmare had us all out of the house continued on? 
He made him scrambled eggs and toast again!  

A one-trick pony, perhaps, but perhaps survival of the elders is one
of the best reasons why we teach young ones to cook!
  

    
I too am squeamish about plain eggs.  By the time I was old enough to
be babysitting by myself, I could make a mean apple pie, cake, or any
kind of cookies, but when the little boy I was babysitting asked for
scrambled eggs for lunch, I had to call my mother up and ask her how to
make them.  It was quite embarrassing, but the boy did get his eggs.

Our cooking education was quite uneven; we learned to make the things
we wanted to eat, and eggs were just not on the agenda for me.  But I
did learn the basics--how to follow a recipe, use of knives and pans,
and steaming and sauteeing and pureeing and stir-frying, so when I left
for college, it was not too hard to build a repertoire of savory
dishes to go with the sweets.  Still, it would have been nice to have a
better thought out set of beginner cook's survival recipes like you
suggest.
  

    
I left home fully capable of cooking up salami and eggs and making a 
salami sandwich. The was quite enough for a rather scary amount of time.
  

    
During the summer that I was 14 my mom offered to pay me to get
dinners on the table. She told me it was very hard to ruin a chicken,
so I served chicker pretty often. I think it is easier to ruin a
chicken than mom realized, but it did get me cooking.

I started baking bread at 10 so baking never scared me. I started with
boxed mixes for date nut bread and the like, and remember
experimenting with Bisquik.  I soon got bored and started making bread
from scratch. 
  

    
My father was an amazing cook. My mother only knew how to make "white 
sauce." One of her specialties was hard boiled eggs in white sauce. I am 
not recommending this. 
  

    

Next time you're in Oakland, check out Bocanova (in Jack London Square, at
the foot of Webster Street).

Dungeness Crab Deviled Eggss w/ chipotle aioli!
  

    
I think I could eat eggs every day, cooked in every possible way. 

The poison eggs sound wild -- that wouldn't be Dan Welch, would it
Deborah? They're sorta braised, which I've never tried before.
  

    
Another egg fan, here.  Poached is probably my favorite, but I can't
think of a way I won't eat them.  I do prefer them un-runny so none is
left on the plate.  

  
  

    
Wow! What great posts from everyone - good stories, good ideas, and
yes, that is Dan Welch of the poison eggs. Sorry to have been locked in
a meeting all morning.

I love the idea of poached eggs, but when it comes down I lose my
nerve. So one of my favorite egg recipes in the book was Judy's Eggs
with Bread Crumbs, which is great for anyone who needs something
crunchy dispersed amongst the soft parts of an egg dish.  It's eggs
(fried, scrambled, however) but instead of having them with buttered
toast, this person stew bread crumbs fried in butter over her eggs.
It's the same amount of bread and butter, but so different, and "kind
of elegant", as the author said.

I think a lot of people start cooking by making what they like to eat.
Cake, fudge, frosting, crepes, bread. The kids who really excelled,
though, mostly had a parent who encouraged them or who simply told
them, "You make dinner!" then let them make their mistakes. One young
man said he was thrilled to make dinner because he could modify his
parent's stir-fries and take out what we didn't like or add things he
did - a great side-benefit for a 14 year old! I love hearing about what
gets young people cooking. It looks like school gardens are helping.
Anyone?
  

    
Hi Deborah!  I am a long time fan of your cookbooks. I also teach young
children in one of SFUSD's Children's Centers. Nearly 20 years ago we tore
up the asphalt and created a natural environment for the kids; it includes a
heavily used garden where we grow beans, corn, kale, broccoli, peas, herbs,
spinach, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, etc. We have been fortunate to have a
garden teacher (private finding - we have no idea whether she'll be with us
year to year, dammit) who does a lot of cooking with the kids. I can tell
you that what you said about letting kids make their own mistakes is a key
to developing a sense of ability and enthusiasm for food and cooking.

I have seen many schools with gardens make the huge mistake of only allowing
children in the garden with very adult directed activities and the kids
never develop the connection and enthusiasm our kids do for growing, eating,
tasting. Our kids spend many hours during outdoor fee play time pretending
to cook and serve meals with mud and water and snips and cuttings of all
sorts of things. Iagine a world where children beg to eat raw broccoli. I am
here tyo attest it does happen; in fact, we have to limit how much they can
pick so we have enough left to cook with!