Fictional food

 A few of Dinah Fried's "Fictitious Dishes"

Fried painstakingly creates meals from text, with a flair for styling

using interesting cutlery, tableware and props.

...the old man held a large piece of cheese on a long iron fork over the fire, turning it round and round till it was toasted a nice golden yellow in color on each side.

Heidi, Johanna Spyri

It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit

and salted pork cut up into little flakes: the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

After I had left the skating rink I went to a drugstore and had a Swiss cheese sandwich and a malted milk.

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

Feed right

A bicycle built for too-too

Green-minded, yes. Sumptuous design, no doubt. After tooling around and dining al fresco,

I'd proudly display this bike indoors as a fine sculpture.

The Moynat Bicycle and Trunk ($32,000!)

Fine china

Gorgeous ceramics from Canvas!

 Morandi vases

 Sintra bowl

Abbesses ceramics

Chocolate covered wafer confection

In Asia, chocolate Kit Kat is so last century.

 Assorted flavors

 Sweet potato

 Cola and lemon soda

Roast tea

Blood orange

A welcoming, friendly approach

Yesterday marked Julia Child's 100th birthday.

 Julia Child, with a little help from unseen hands

Spitballing titles to Knopf
(Text below)

Dear Mrs. Jones:

TITLES: I don't think the title should scare people, or that the sub-title should sound too puffy. I think a welcoming, friendly approach (with professional overtones) would be right. And I can see that something like "French Cooking" is not good as people might come into a bookstore and ask for "that book on French cooking", and that would not necessarily mean us. However, it might be said in French:

             LA BONNE CUISINE FRANCAISE

As a matter of fact, I quite like that.

Subtitle:    "The fundamental book on French cooking for everyone whose hobby is cooking, and who wants to master the authentic French techniques.
      American ingredients. American measurements.
                 American technology "

Other title Suggestions:

IN LOVE WITH FRENCH COOKING        COOKING IS MY HOBBY

LOVE AND FRENCH COOKING              THE HOBBY OF FRENCH COOKING

THE LOVE OF FRENCH COOKING         FRENCH COOKING AS A HOBBY

COOKING FOR LOVE                             SCHOOL FOR FRENCH COOKS

THE FRENCH COOKING MASTER          SCHOOL FOR FRENCH COOKERY

COOKING MASTERY                              A COURSE ON FRENCH COOKING

MASTERY OF FRENCH COOKING          THE PASSIONATE COOK

THE FRENCH KITCHEN                           THE PASSIONATE FRENCH COOK

FOOD FROM FRANCE                              FRENCH COOKING FOR FUN
 
FRANCE'S FOOD                                      FRENCH COOKING FOR LOVE

THE NOBLE ART OF FRENCH COOKING  FRENCH COOKING FOR EVERYONE

THE MASTER FRENCH COOKBOOK       COOK FOR YOURSELF A LA FRANCAISE

GREAT FRENCH COOKING

THE COMPULSIVE COOK

Looks good enough to eat

Dear L. and L., 

 Remember how much you enjoyed watching Miyazaki's Spirited Away while eating Japanese onigiri? You were transported into the film via those sticky rice balls. Designer Anna the Red replicated several meals from the Ghibli films, a feast of creativity!

 Princess Mononoke

 Castle in the Sky

 Kiki's Delivery Service

My Neighbor Totoro

Fishy

I saw a Caesar salad kit at the grocery store. The bag contained some browning

Romaine lettuce and 3 sealed bags containing Parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing. 

Maybe it tastes good, but by making my own dressing I can add anchovies! 

Caesar salad dressing (enough for 10 servings) 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 

4 anchovy filets 

4 to 6 small cloves garlic peeled 

1 Tablespoon mayonnaise 

Salt- to taste 

Pepper-few twists of a pepper mill 

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, blend for one minute. Keep in a lidded glass jar until ready to use. Shake before using on greens. Keep in refrigerator (use within 3-days).

Homemade croutons are easy to make too, and superior to store bought!

Why and how

Yes, I find recipes online. I read the tried and true reviews that mention 'too much salt' or 'bland' or 'dry' or 'my kids/boyfriend/spouse loved it!' But I still love cookbooks.

Use me

If you spend time cooking and baking, you're usually reaching for a towel every few minutes. Studiopatro delivers beauty with function.

Switch it up

If you're not a purist or loyal to your Grandmother's family recipe for potato pancakes,

you might consider Daikon-Potato Latkes. I made them last night, served with Wasabi-yogurt topping and they were tasty!


Ingredients:

8 ounces russet potato (shred on large holes of box grater)
8 ounces daikon radish (shred on large holes of box grater)
3 scallions finely chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon chili sauce
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 large egg, beat loosely
salt and pepper to taste

*

vegetable oil for  frying

*

Combine all ingredients in a bowl
Press a handful into a flat cake in your hands (squeezing out excess
liquid from the vegetables)
Place cakes into hot oil, frying each side until golden (about 4 min. a side)
Drain on paper towels briefly and keep warm in oven until ready to serve.
)my oven was set to 250 degrees)

Wasabi Yogurt sauce

2 Tablespoons Wasabi mayonnaise,

2 Tablespoons plain yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Stir ingredients together and serve alongside pancakes

Somen

What to eat when the weekly forecast is in the brutal zone of 97 degrees.

Queen for a day

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. 

The optimist sees the donut; the pessimist the hole! 

 — Oscar Wilde

Reduction

It takes a lot of tomatoes to make a little sauce. Homemade is a bit more tangy

compared to store-bought, and well worth the effort!

Slow cooked

K. and I pawed through acres of collectibles at the Round Top Flea Market. In the September heat of Texas. Without a shopping cart. Without a clue. When we stopped for a well-deserved lunch break, it was at the crowded Legal Tender Saloon in Warrenton. Ordering at the counter was a lot like the long ago Saturday Night Live Weekend Update for the hearing impaired:

One pulled pork sandwich, please.


W-HUNNN PULLED PORK SANDWICHHHHH!


Oh, um...a cucumber salad, and I guess, one lemon bar.


W-HUNNN CUCUMBER SALADDDDD! W-HUNNN LEMON BARRRR!


Really tasty. Almost worth the hours of staggering around in the relentless heat! After returning to Chicago, I made pulled pork using tenderloin, cooked slowly (3 hours) with apple cider vinegar and red pepper flakes.

Some pig

P. came to Chicago on business. I met him at The Publican. I didn't wake up and think, "I'm gonna be bad today!" but these things happen.

The pig painting is enormous.  Several of these porcine cuties decorate the restaurant.

Ham as an appetizer

Perfect frites; crispy with a faint scent of bacon fat...

A waffle for dessert, because breakfast shouldn't be limited to the AM

Burger

Wimpy: (singing) There's nothing in the world that can compare/ With a hamburger, juicy and rare./ A hamburger lives for the pleasure it gives;/ It's a thrill on the bill of fare./ Such heavenly food deserves the best:/ A home and contentment beneath my vest. / There's nothing in the world that's so divine / as a hamburger, tender and fine. / I adore you, hamburger mine!

--from the cartoon, What--No Spinach? (1936)

I met with friends for lunch at Umami Burger.  Purists may scoff at the Parmesan crisp 

and the oven roasted tomato but the burgers were tasty!

For the burger aficionado, there's Burgermat--a one day exhibit of burger art in London on June 27th. 

by Nishant Choksi

Cookery

I want to order this book:

Big relationships change you. G. and his family introduced the value of sharing a thoughtfully prepared meal, enlivened with conversation and the occasional rich dessert. This was a galaxy far, far away from my childhood home of Swanson dinners and Chef Boyardee on the shelf. Exploring the culture, quality and character of food has forever expanded and enriched my experience.

Recently, L. baked a tasty cake for her little sister. Responding to the guest who was surprised to hear she had made it 'from scratch' she said, "Oh, cake mixes aren't allowed in this family." It's not a law of course. It just happens to be the case.