Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Quote of the week
"Edward was starting to enjoy watching her talk. It was all so different from what he was used to: This was somebody who spent all her time just reading and thinking about what she read. In a way it seemed like a ridiculous waste of time; and in another way it seemed so much more urgently important than what he did all day."
Monday, March 30, 2009
Book of the week
A brief excerpt:
“Come, Darcy,” said Mr. Bingley, “I hate to see you standing by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.”
“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it.”
“I would not be as fastidious as you are for a kingdom! I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and several of them are uncommonly pretty.”
Before Mr. Darcy could respond, a chorus of screams filled the assembly hall, immediately joined by the shattering of window panes. Unmentionables scrambled in, their movements clumsy yet swift; their burial clothing in a range of untidiness.
Guests who had the misfortune of standing near the windows were seized and feasted on at once. Elizabeth watched Mrs. Long struggle to free herself as two female dreadfuls bit into her head, cracking her skull like a walnut, and sending a shower of dark blood spouting as high as the chandeliers.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Table for one
"Everyone eats alone at one time or another." That's common knowledge. What's not so common is just what people eat when they don't have to worry about anyone but themselves. For the past week I've been reading and enjoying What We Eat When We Eat Alone by Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlin, a forthcoming book from Gibbs Smith that dares to ask individuals about their private personal menus. One woman reveals a love of the all Tater Tot meal and is quietly resentful that her husband has developed a fondness for it, too. Quite a few admit to bowls of cold cereal (one guy specifies Life Cereal with Coffee-mate creamer). Many folks prefer "one unit" meals: a potato with particular toppings, a tin of sardines, an entire bunch of roasted asparagus dusted with parmesan. And an awful lot of people break out the baking dishes, fire up the grill, start peeling and chopping, and create genuine homecooked meals for themselves. The book includes 100 recipes for people's private foods, some of which sound weird (Tofu Sandwich with Fixings) and others that sound delicious (Flank Steak Stuffed with Mushrooms and More, the "more" being bacon, cheese and spinach -- I may have to try that one).
Reading this book got me to thinking about my own solo dining habits, and I pondered my friends' as well. Preparing a meal for yourself is different when you only do it every once in a while as opposed to most of the time, and I couldn't help wondering if my idiosyncratic habits were very different from others'. The best way to find out, of course, was to ask, and I thank everyone who responded to my inquiry:
ALANNA (manager): As a single woman working 2 jobs, I find that I cannot devote as much time to good food as I would like. Generally speaking, my standard breakfast is cereal and coffee, which I pretty much only deviate from if I'm running late (which means an Egg McMuffin on the run) or I'm having breakfast out with friends (my favorite thing). While I often pack a lunch for work, lunch is one of the only meals that I really enjoy eating out alone. I almost relish the time that I can spend at a sandwich shop or, more often than not, outside on a bench, reading and enjoying a quiet lunch with myself. I work at a restaurant, so there is an occasional pre- or post-work dinner alone, but, for the most part, if I'm not eating out with friends, I'm eating dinner at home. Unfortunately, by the time I get home from work, I'm rarely in the mood to stand over the stove for an hour. When I do cook, which tends to only be a couple of times a week, I generally make something quick and easy, like pasta. Sometimes I will get creative and do tacos or make a homemade pizza, but that's pretty rare. I almost always try to cook something that will produce leftovers for the next day's lunch. As a novice cook, I don't want to get into anything too complicated unless I have loads of free time on my hands. If it's too late or I'm too tired to throw something together, then dinner can be anything from a sandwich to cereal to chips and salsa. In the meantime, I indulge in my near obsession with cooking shows and dream of a day when I have the time and energy to really learn about food and treat myself regularly to great, home-cooked meals.
CHRIS (mortgage broker): If I'm alone at breakfast, I'll graze. At lunch, I love to go out and eat by myself. I get to choose what I want, where I want, and I take reading material. It's very relaxing. For dinner... and sometimes for lunch... I will whip up something that is a homecooked meal. I do that because I can often eat something that no one else in my family will eat. So as you can see, my "eating alone" is definitely ALL ABOUT ME!!!
CURTIS (filmmaker): I have of late, and wherefore I know not, returned to the habit of making myself a box of macaroni and cheese to eat when I'm alone. I think a box is meant for four people.
ISABEL (manager): For breakfast alone: I'm very boring. I usually eat Honey Nut O's with blueberries and some tea or Trader Joe's Mango Juice. If I'm feeling really crazy I like to have toast. Lunch alone: Usually a tuna fish sandwich or soup. Easy stuff! Sometimes I'll venture out to The Corner Bakery! Dinner: I have created a scrambled egg dish that sounds terrible I'm sure. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I add mushrooms. I also like stir fry or a casserole which works well as there will be leftovers for the next day! Once in a while I'll take myself out to dinner, usually Daphne's Greek Cafe or The Only Place in Town here in Sierra Madre. I forgot to mention that when Mason's [her boyfriend] gone I often cook myself a chicken breast or hamburger (he's a Veggie, you know). I say go crazy, meat every day while he's gone.
JANINE (writer): I tend to eat the same thing when I'm alone for a week at a time, call it a routine. For lunch all last week I made a plain lettuce salad with leftover homemade balsamic vinaigrette and microwaved a small pasta dish. On the rare occasion I eat out, I almost always go to Euro Pane in Pasadena for a goat cheese and red pepper sandwich on olive bread and a latte. They make their own bread which makes their sandwiches some of the best I've ever had in Pasadena. Your question is timely because just yesterday I was reading the Nutrisystem diet support BB and quite a few women (no men) wrote about how hard it is for them to eat out alone, something that I have never had trouble with. They wrote about what a triumph it was to go out and be brave enough to sit alone and order a meal. I found that interesting since I had no idea this was an issue for some people. My favorite meal out, alone or not, is breakfast in the afternoon or evening. In fact, I think breakfast tastes better at night.
JEN (promotions director): Breakfast: Cereal. Lunch: Whatever strikes my fancy that can be bought within walking distance from work or delivered to work. Dinner: It will probably sound weird but I find cooking to actually be relaxing so it's usually homecooked meals for me in the evenings. I like the process. I've gotten better at portions so I rarely have leftovers. If I do I bring them for lunch.
JENNIFER (elementary school teacher): When deciding to dine, I make sure I stop at Trader Joe's for a little weekly shopping. They have fabulous prepared foods that are easy to pop in the microwave oven. I also like to be creative and cook on my own. Not really a receipt follower. Just a little of that and a little of this. I then have it at work for lunch. Usually after working all day I'm not really interested in cooking anything. I do like to cook on the weekends and use the food throughout the week that I may freeze. Finally, I must confess that it is a pleasure after working with the tots all day to go out and have adult conversation so I admit to going out 2 to 3 times a week for a meal.
KAREN (claims adjuster): I like to cook once or twice a week, so I make two dishes and freeze them in single containers, and then I eat leftovers during the week. I eat cereal for breakfast, and sometimes I go through a drive-thru for lunch and take it home to eat alone. I don't eat out alone, only with friends, but I make sure we go out to eat a lot, too!
LINDA (writer) : I almost always eat breakfast alone, thank God. The rest of my day is noisy and chaotic and I hardly sit down to eat any other meal before someone is asking me to refill their milk or telling me they don't like noodles with all that stuff on them. My breakfasts are usually simple: oatmeal with brown sugar. Toasted slices of homemade bread. Fruit & cheese. Always tea. My favorite tea: PG Tips. I write early in the morning and my first cup of PG Tips is usually in a travel mug at my desk, but when I have my quiet breakfast, I brew the tea in my grandmother's teapot and drink it out of a real teacup. I sit by my woodstove or in front of the window. I eat in the quiet. Breakfast is the best meal of my day.
LUCY (manager): It really depends on if it's a work night or not. If it's a work night I lean towards whatever is quick and easy. Leftovers are a favorite. Last night, for instance, I ate the pork chop I opted not to eat the night before (I had a big lunch and just wasn't hungry. Mom had kindly made an extra pork chop for me but I just wasn't hungry enough). I scrounged around for a side dish. It was a tossup between a Trader Joe's packet of pre-cooked brown rice or a WW pasta sample I got a while back. I was feeling adventurous so I tried the WW pasta. It wasn't bad. I added some fresh strawberries and that was dinner. If I'm starving and have little time I'll do "breakfast for dinner." Sometimes this means scrambled eggs and toast other times it's shredded wheat with fruit if the right kind is around. I'm also not above the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich if I'm really desperate. A more recent favorite is smearing light cream cheese over slices of deli ham. I roll them up and eat them with a few crackers. If I'm really lucky there might be some leftover asparagus in the frig so I roll a spear up in the combo and it's great! And then there is always the freezer. The freezer is always full of Lean Cuisines and frozen things I've made in the past. Mostly soups. If it's a weekend, I might make a meatloaf or a soup or a tamale pie. I tend to make things that freeze well for later in the week.
MARY (kindergarten teacher): Well, you know how I eat when I am alone. I tend to eat badly (very badly), such as Tops' chili cheese fries or zucchini sticks with ranch dressing. Oh my God... so bad! Not every day I'm alone, of course, but I'm sure it's more than I ever should. I also still love to have a bowl of cereal for dinner. No fuss, and always on hand. If I ever think, "Okay, it's time for lunch," I will look for whatever is in the fridge/pantry and just eat them as is. For example, turkey, cheese, olives -- I will just eat them one by one and not bother with "making" anything with them. I also don't think much about eating 3 meals a day. One of those horrible meals from Tops will easily keep me full for 2 meals. Of course when Cameron [her daughter] is with me I always keep the 3 meals in mind. I just don't make taking care of myself a priority when she's gone. Sad, huh?!
PATRICK (webmaster): There are certain things that my wife doesn't really like to eat, like pizza and, formerly, shrimp (she's come around on the shrimp issue a bit). I usually try to eat one of those things when I'm on my own. Getting a bottle of decent yet cheap red wine and a pizza from one of the local places is pretty much the perfect meal-in-isolation to me. For awhile, my wife was working in Ohio while I was living in LA. During that time, I found myself gravitating towards simple, rustic cuisine. A piece of grilled meat, some mixed greens with a simple vinaigrette dressing, and some crusty French bread on the side. I suppose whipping up some elaborate French sauce seems pretentious when I'm eating alone, like getting dressed up in a suit to watch TV.
SEAN (college professor): I prefer not to eat alone. When I do eat alone, it's usually a situation where I don't have the time to do otherwise, and I end up eating fast food. If I'm alone at home, it's usually leftovers or something quick to prepare. To me, though I enjoy cooking, the most satisfying part of preparing food is sharing it. If I'm not going to share it, I streamline the preparation.
SHARON (sales rep): I do eat pretty well by myself and decided a long time ago that living alone was no reason not to pamper myself when it came to dining. While I use to cook more involved recipes, now I usually just eat what is easiest. I'm pretty good about going to farmer's market on Thursdays and will buy fresh lettuce and arugula, some veggies and fruit, and fresh fish. I often will just get the Ahi tuna since I can eat that raw (can't get any faster than that) and combine it with the yummy fresh greens. Sometimes I'll buy the scallops which take about 2 minutes to cook (with lots of garlic, too). Other times, I'll just take home whatever fresh fish is suggested for the week. I do buy the gourmet olive oils and marinades also found at farmer's market. So, for about 3 days I'll eat really healthy and then on Sunday, as everything is running out from the market, I have to make some more choices. Do I cave for fattening comfort food or stay on the relatively healthy route? This varies from week to week. Every now and then, I have a hankering for some Southern fried chicken with the very fattening milk gravy like my grandfather use to make. I at least will use olive oil rather than lard -- the gravy still comes out just as good, but the chicken definitely is not as crisp. I'll usually cook brown or wild rice rather than potatoes, as we use to have. If I'm really too tired to cook, I'll go to Zankou Chicken for take-out or sometimes the Oinkster (which I always have a craving for). Sometimes I'll go for a bbq run (Zeke's in Montrose) for the pulled pork. I also like to make soups and in particular a Greek Lemon Chicken with Orzo recipe. This is hearty enough, but still relatively healthy. I have tried to stay away from cooking red meats on my own, but do like a good juicy red steak every now and then. (For a while I was in the habit of throwing a filet mignon on the grill almost every week but started to notice a difference in how I felt.) I have become more of a foodie over the years and find myself at Bristol Farms or Whole Foods a lot. Bristol also has this dreamy homemade mushroom cream sauce for pasta which I may have to make a run for... Whenever I eat out, I love having the leftovers the next day, too.
STEVE (buyer & storyteller): I eat all of my breakfasts and about half of my dinners alone. On work days, I put together lunches around the same time I'm eating breakfast; on days off, I mostly eat the same stuff, spread out over a longer period. Breakfast is almost the same thing, every day: A slice of some kind of multi grain bread folded over a fairly thin slice of cheese (cut from a block o' cheddar; not those waxy American singles), some kind of oaty-grainy cereal (no sugar or sweetener), a big-ass cup of water mixed with an inch or two of aloe vera juice, a fistful of vitamins, and either an apple or an orange (I never compare the two). Lunch is also pretty much routine: Some kind of microwave entree (I can only eat Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice; no more Hungry Man for me, thanks to my middle-age metabolism). I have to keep anything with soy to a minimum, so that eliminates 90% of the snacks from the breakroom's vending machine, or even the treats I brought from home; now I bring baggies of dried fruit and peeled baby carrots. On my days off, I'll open up a can of soup, or microwave some jasmine rice and dump a can of chili or some Indian goop on top of it; basically because I'm too lazy to carry the extra containers to and from work. If I have to go on walking errands, I'll stop in Subway, or our local Chinese place, or whatever's on the route. My parents and I live in separate houses on the same property. If my mom's cooking dinner, she'll offer a serving (and she'll charge me a fair restaurant rate for it). I'm often offered the opportunity to raid their fridge for leftovers. If they get fast food, I'm usually invited in on the deal. Whether I eat with my parents or alone is determined by what they're planning to watch on TV. I live behind a GREAT little Mexican restaurant (and I'm surrounded by fast food burger joints that are within walking distance), so I can go crazy for dinner, thus completely negating all the healthy crap I eat during the day.
SUSAN (hairdresser): Breakfast at my house when it's just me always, and I mean always, starts with a good cup of coffee. For me, that means fresh ground beans and my personal favorite, Coffee Bean mocha powder. To go with the coffee, I usually have something like toast or an English muffin. Lunch is usually on the go when it's just me. Sometimes when I am at home I will make 'the dip' [a family favorite made with canned chili and cream cheese, served with Fritos] and pig out. Other times I am actually 'good,' and eat things like a sliced apple or a banana. Dinner on my own is the worst of all. Usually it is cereal, and a sugary one at that. Occasionally, I will feel like 'cooking' for myself and make another personal favorite: egg noodles with gravy. I'm big on nutrition, as you see.
VERONIKA (actress and nanny): I HATE thinking about food. I will waste time doing mindless things just to put off having to make decisions about food. I feel guilt with every piece of food I put in my mouth. So I usually eat whatever takes the least amount of time to prepare and ingest so that I don't have to spend a lot of time agonizing over it and feeling guilty. Plus, I have to lose 20 pounds in order to be considered in the same way as the other actresses and I don't know how I am going to do that unless I really set up an eating regimen and an exercise program, and I am way too lazy to do all that. But I really just miss the days when I used to feel ok about how I looked. I have NEVER had a good relationship with food, but it used to be easier to deal with. I have always hated thinking about food, but I used to like myself more. So, that said I think I'll walk down to Taco Bell and get some nachos. Probably the WORST thing in the world for me to eat, but I love Mexican food and I can't eat it with Curtis [her boyfriend] cause he hates it, and it'll be fast and easy and I can eat some of it and forget it.
As for me: I eat breakfast alone almost every day. While I enjoy both breakfast foods and having that time to myself, breakfast is rarely a pleasure because I'm usually in a hurry. I always seem to have laundry to fold, plants to water, and/or lunch to pack before I leave the house. So breakfast is usually a cup of black coffee (the coffee is nonnegotiable), some vitamins, and a Clif Bar, which is like chewing on a sticky grain brick but is fast and will hold me for a few hours. If I do have some extra time, I like to make myself some old-fashioned oats with nuts, dried fruit, brown sugar and a splash of soymilk, or a whole grain toaster waffle with yogurt and sliced fruit or a dollop of jam.
I usually eat lunch alone in the break room at work. I will almost always eschew the communal table in the middle of the room and opt for the counter that runs around the perimeter so I can sit with my back to everyone. This may sound unfriendly, but it makes it so much easier to read my book without distraction. Lunch is usually either leftovers or something frozen -- a Lean Cuisine or an Amy's burrito. Sometimes I'll heat up a can of soup. If I'm eating lunch alone at home on my day off, it's almost always in front of the TV or with a book, and it's usually something weird like mismatched leftovers, or sardines with crackers, or chips & salsa with ice cream for dessert. Just whatever is around. At lunchtime I tend to elevate side dishes and snack items to entree status and eat far more of them than I would if they were serving in their usual capacity. On the rare occasions that I go out for lunch alone, I bring a book to read and never feel as if I'm dining by myself.
Dinner is the one meal I'll put a little effort into making for just me, but even then I don't go whole hog. I tend to heat things, I've noticed, rather than cook them. I'm also more likely to prepare something that requires a spoon rather than a fork to eat it, and almost the only time I use a knife when dining alone is when I'm spreading something on a piece of toast. I tend to use up aging refrigerator items at dinner time, melting some gorgonzola on a piece of pita bread under the broiler, or throwing that quarter of a bag of leftover edamame into the Trader Joe's fried rice I'm stir frying. Dinner, although it's almost always my biggest meal of the day, is also the one meal I don't mind skipping every now and then. Sometimes, when I'm not very hungry, it all seems like too much work.
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No one who knows me should be surprised to learn that one of my favorite preoccupations is food. I not only love to eat, but I also love to cook, dine out, talk about food, read cookbooks and food-related memoirs, watch food being prepared on TV, and even grow a little of my own food. It has been especially gratifying the past few days dragging friends and family into the conversation, and I must again thank everyone who contributed.
Just this morning, after a whole week of thinking and talking about dining alone, I discovered a new cookbook, The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life, on a cart at work. Here I've gone on about about wanting solo meals to be simple and not caring if they're composed of weird, disparate elements, and along comes a cookbook that makes me think I'm shortchanging myself: Suzanne Pirret's approach is that you should be "cooking for yourself, decadently." Her writing is amusing, she doesn't require any fancy kitchen equipment, and her recipes (all scaled to serve just one discerning palate) sound divine: Braised Lamb Shank, Butterscotch Panna Cotta with Roasted Macadamia Nut Praline, Zucchini Fritters with Dill, Homemade Naan Bread. For the first time in my life, thanks to this book, I'm considering trying to make duck confit. Now I've just got to figure out where to get my hands on this Maldon salt she keeps mentioning.
Reading this book got me to thinking about my own solo dining habits, and I pondered my friends' as well. Preparing a meal for yourself is different when you only do it every once in a while as opposed to most of the time, and I couldn't help wondering if my idiosyncratic habits were very different from others'. The best way to find out, of course, was to ask, and I thank everyone who responded to my inquiry:
ALANNA (manager): As a single woman working 2 jobs, I find that I cannot devote as much time to good food as I would like. Generally speaking, my standard breakfast is cereal and coffee, which I pretty much only deviate from if I'm running late (which means an Egg McMuffin on the run) or I'm having breakfast out with friends (my favorite thing). While I often pack a lunch for work, lunch is one of the only meals that I really enjoy eating out alone. I almost relish the time that I can spend at a sandwich shop or, more often than not, outside on a bench, reading and enjoying a quiet lunch with myself. I work at a restaurant, so there is an occasional pre- or post-work dinner alone, but, for the most part, if I'm not eating out with friends, I'm eating dinner at home. Unfortunately, by the time I get home from work, I'm rarely in the mood to stand over the stove for an hour. When I do cook, which tends to only be a couple of times a week, I generally make something quick and easy, like pasta. Sometimes I will get creative and do tacos or make a homemade pizza, but that's pretty rare. I almost always try to cook something that will produce leftovers for the next day's lunch. As a novice cook, I don't want to get into anything too complicated unless I have loads of free time on my hands. If it's too late or I'm too tired to throw something together, then dinner can be anything from a sandwich to cereal to chips and salsa. In the meantime, I indulge in my near obsession with cooking shows and dream of a day when I have the time and energy to really learn about food and treat myself regularly to great, home-cooked meals.
CHRIS (mortgage broker): If I'm alone at breakfast, I'll graze. At lunch, I love to go out and eat by myself. I get to choose what I want, where I want, and I take reading material. It's very relaxing. For dinner... and sometimes for lunch... I will whip up something that is a homecooked meal. I do that because I can often eat something that no one else in my family will eat. So as you can see, my "eating alone" is definitely ALL ABOUT ME!!!
CURTIS (filmmaker): I have of late, and wherefore I know not, returned to the habit of making myself a box of macaroni and cheese to eat when I'm alone. I think a box is meant for four people.
ISABEL (manager): For breakfast alone: I'm very boring. I usually eat Honey Nut O's with blueberries and some tea or Trader Joe's Mango Juice. If I'm feeling really crazy I like to have toast. Lunch alone: Usually a tuna fish sandwich or soup. Easy stuff! Sometimes I'll venture out to The Corner Bakery! Dinner: I have created a scrambled egg dish that sounds terrible I'm sure. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I add mushrooms. I also like stir fry or a casserole which works well as there will be leftovers for the next day! Once in a while I'll take myself out to dinner, usually Daphne's Greek Cafe or The Only Place in Town here in Sierra Madre. I forgot to mention that when Mason's [her boyfriend] gone I often cook myself a chicken breast or hamburger (he's a Veggie, you know). I say go crazy, meat every day while he's gone.
JANINE (writer): I tend to eat the same thing when I'm alone for a week at a time, call it a routine. For lunch all last week I made a plain lettuce salad with leftover homemade balsamic vinaigrette and microwaved a small pasta dish. On the rare occasion I eat out, I almost always go to Euro Pane in Pasadena for a goat cheese and red pepper sandwich on olive bread and a latte. They make their own bread which makes their sandwiches some of the best I've ever had in Pasadena. Your question is timely because just yesterday I was reading the Nutrisystem diet support BB and quite a few women (no men) wrote about how hard it is for them to eat out alone, something that I have never had trouble with. They wrote about what a triumph it was to go out and be brave enough to sit alone and order a meal. I found that interesting since I had no idea this was an issue for some people. My favorite meal out, alone or not, is breakfast in the afternoon or evening. In fact, I think breakfast tastes better at night.
JEN (promotions director): Breakfast: Cereal. Lunch: Whatever strikes my fancy that can be bought within walking distance from work or delivered to work. Dinner: It will probably sound weird but I find cooking to actually be relaxing so it's usually homecooked meals for me in the evenings. I like the process. I've gotten better at portions so I rarely have leftovers. If I do I bring them for lunch.
JENNIFER (elementary school teacher): When deciding to dine, I make sure I stop at Trader Joe's for a little weekly shopping. They have fabulous prepared foods that are easy to pop in the microwave oven. I also like to be creative and cook on my own. Not really a receipt follower. Just a little of that and a little of this. I then have it at work for lunch. Usually after working all day I'm not really interested in cooking anything. I do like to cook on the weekends and use the food throughout the week that I may freeze. Finally, I must confess that it is a pleasure after working with the tots all day to go out and have adult conversation so I admit to going out 2 to 3 times a week for a meal.
KAREN (claims adjuster): I like to cook once or twice a week, so I make two dishes and freeze them in single containers, and then I eat leftovers during the week. I eat cereal for breakfast, and sometimes I go through a drive-thru for lunch and take it home to eat alone. I don't eat out alone, only with friends, but I make sure we go out to eat a lot, too!
LINDA (writer) : I almost always eat breakfast alone, thank God. The rest of my day is noisy and chaotic and I hardly sit down to eat any other meal before someone is asking me to refill their milk or telling me they don't like noodles with all that stuff on them. My breakfasts are usually simple: oatmeal with brown sugar. Toasted slices of homemade bread. Fruit & cheese. Always tea. My favorite tea: PG Tips. I write early in the morning and my first cup of PG Tips is usually in a travel mug at my desk, but when I have my quiet breakfast, I brew the tea in my grandmother's teapot and drink it out of a real teacup. I sit by my woodstove or in front of the window. I eat in the quiet. Breakfast is the best meal of my day.
LUCY (manager): It really depends on if it's a work night or not. If it's a work night I lean towards whatever is quick and easy. Leftovers are a favorite. Last night, for instance, I ate the pork chop I opted not to eat the night before (I had a big lunch and just wasn't hungry. Mom had kindly made an extra pork chop for me but I just wasn't hungry enough). I scrounged around for a side dish. It was a tossup between a Trader Joe's packet of pre-cooked brown rice or a WW pasta sample I got a while back. I was feeling adventurous so I tried the WW pasta. It wasn't bad. I added some fresh strawberries and that was dinner. If I'm starving and have little time I'll do "breakfast for dinner." Sometimes this means scrambled eggs and toast other times it's shredded wheat with fruit if the right kind is around. I'm also not above the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich if I'm really desperate. A more recent favorite is smearing light cream cheese over slices of deli ham. I roll them up and eat them with a few crackers. If I'm really lucky there might be some leftover asparagus in the frig so I roll a spear up in the combo and it's great! And then there is always the freezer. The freezer is always full of Lean Cuisines and frozen things I've made in the past. Mostly soups. If it's a weekend, I might make a meatloaf or a soup or a tamale pie. I tend to make things that freeze well for later in the week.
MARY (kindergarten teacher): Well, you know how I eat when I am alone. I tend to eat badly (very badly), such as Tops' chili cheese fries or zucchini sticks with ranch dressing. Oh my God... so bad! Not every day I'm alone, of course, but I'm sure it's more than I ever should. I also still love to have a bowl of cereal for dinner. No fuss, and always on hand. If I ever think, "Okay, it's time for lunch," I will look for whatever is in the fridge/pantry and just eat them as is. For example, turkey, cheese, olives -- I will just eat them one by one and not bother with "making" anything with them. I also don't think much about eating 3 meals a day. One of those horrible meals from Tops will easily keep me full for 2 meals. Of course when Cameron [her daughter] is with me I always keep the 3 meals in mind. I just don't make taking care of myself a priority when she's gone. Sad, huh?!
PATRICK (webmaster): There are certain things that my wife doesn't really like to eat, like pizza and, formerly, shrimp (she's come around on the shrimp issue a bit). I usually try to eat one of those things when I'm on my own. Getting a bottle of decent yet cheap red wine and a pizza from one of the local places is pretty much the perfect meal-in-isolation to me. For awhile, my wife was working in Ohio while I was living in LA. During that time, I found myself gravitating towards simple, rustic cuisine. A piece of grilled meat, some mixed greens with a simple vinaigrette dressing, and some crusty French bread on the side. I suppose whipping up some elaborate French sauce seems pretentious when I'm eating alone, like getting dressed up in a suit to watch TV.
SEAN (college professor): I prefer not to eat alone. When I do eat alone, it's usually a situation where I don't have the time to do otherwise, and I end up eating fast food. If I'm alone at home, it's usually leftovers or something quick to prepare. To me, though I enjoy cooking, the most satisfying part of preparing food is sharing it. If I'm not going to share it, I streamline the preparation.
SHARON (sales rep): I do eat pretty well by myself and decided a long time ago that living alone was no reason not to pamper myself when it came to dining. While I use to cook more involved recipes, now I usually just eat what is easiest. I'm pretty good about going to farmer's market on Thursdays and will buy fresh lettuce and arugula, some veggies and fruit, and fresh fish. I often will just get the Ahi tuna since I can eat that raw (can't get any faster than that) and combine it with the yummy fresh greens. Sometimes I'll buy the scallops which take about 2 minutes to cook (with lots of garlic, too). Other times, I'll just take home whatever fresh fish is suggested for the week. I do buy the gourmet olive oils and marinades also found at farmer's market. So, for about 3 days I'll eat really healthy and then on Sunday, as everything is running out from the market, I have to make some more choices. Do I cave for fattening comfort food or stay on the relatively healthy route? This varies from week to week. Every now and then, I have a hankering for some Southern fried chicken with the very fattening milk gravy like my grandfather use to make. I at least will use olive oil rather than lard -- the gravy still comes out just as good, but the chicken definitely is not as crisp. I'll usually cook brown or wild rice rather than potatoes, as we use to have. If I'm really too tired to cook, I'll go to Zankou Chicken for take-out or sometimes the Oinkster (which I always have a craving for). Sometimes I'll go for a bbq run (Zeke's in Montrose) for the pulled pork. I also like to make soups and in particular a Greek Lemon Chicken with Orzo recipe. This is hearty enough, but still relatively healthy. I have tried to stay away from cooking red meats on my own, but do like a good juicy red steak every now and then. (For a while I was in the habit of throwing a filet mignon on the grill almost every week but started to notice a difference in how I felt.) I have become more of a foodie over the years and find myself at Bristol Farms or Whole Foods a lot. Bristol also has this dreamy homemade mushroom cream sauce for pasta which I may have to make a run for... Whenever I eat out, I love having the leftovers the next day, too.
STEVE (buyer & storyteller): I eat all of my breakfasts and about half of my dinners alone. On work days, I put together lunches around the same time I'm eating breakfast; on days off, I mostly eat the same stuff, spread out over a longer period. Breakfast is almost the same thing, every day: A slice of some kind of multi grain bread folded over a fairly thin slice of cheese (cut from a block o' cheddar; not those waxy American singles), some kind of oaty-grainy cereal (no sugar or sweetener), a big-ass cup of water mixed with an inch or two of aloe vera juice, a fistful of vitamins, and either an apple or an orange (I never compare the two). Lunch is also pretty much routine: Some kind of microwave entree (I can only eat Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice; no more Hungry Man for me, thanks to my middle-age metabolism). I have to keep anything with soy to a minimum, so that eliminates 90% of the snacks from the breakroom's vending machine, or even the treats I brought from home; now I bring baggies of dried fruit and peeled baby carrots. On my days off, I'll open up a can of soup, or microwave some jasmine rice and dump a can of chili or some Indian goop on top of it; basically because I'm too lazy to carry the extra containers to and from work. If I have to go on walking errands, I'll stop in Subway, or our local Chinese place, or whatever's on the route. My parents and I live in separate houses on the same property. If my mom's cooking dinner, she'll offer a serving (and she'll charge me a fair restaurant rate for it). I'm often offered the opportunity to raid their fridge for leftovers. If they get fast food, I'm usually invited in on the deal. Whether I eat with my parents or alone is determined by what they're planning to watch on TV. I live behind a GREAT little Mexican restaurant (and I'm surrounded by fast food burger joints that are within walking distance), so I can go crazy for dinner, thus completely negating all the healthy crap I eat during the day.
SUSAN (hairdresser): Breakfast at my house when it's just me always, and I mean always, starts with a good cup of coffee. For me, that means fresh ground beans and my personal favorite, Coffee Bean mocha powder. To go with the coffee, I usually have something like toast or an English muffin. Lunch is usually on the go when it's just me. Sometimes when I am at home I will make 'the dip' [a family favorite made with canned chili and cream cheese, served with Fritos] and pig out. Other times I am actually 'good,' and eat things like a sliced apple or a banana. Dinner on my own is the worst of all. Usually it is cereal, and a sugary one at that. Occasionally, I will feel like 'cooking' for myself and make another personal favorite: egg noodles with gravy. I'm big on nutrition, as you see.
VERONIKA (actress and nanny): I HATE thinking about food. I will waste time doing mindless things just to put off having to make decisions about food. I feel guilt with every piece of food I put in my mouth. So I usually eat whatever takes the least amount of time to prepare and ingest so that I don't have to spend a lot of time agonizing over it and feeling guilty. Plus, I have to lose 20 pounds in order to be considered in the same way as the other actresses and I don't know how I am going to do that unless I really set up an eating regimen and an exercise program, and I am way too lazy to do all that. But I really just miss the days when I used to feel ok about how I looked. I have NEVER had a good relationship with food, but it used to be easier to deal with. I have always hated thinking about food, but I used to like myself more. So, that said I think I'll walk down to Taco Bell and get some nachos. Probably the WORST thing in the world for me to eat, but I love Mexican food and I can't eat it with Curtis [her boyfriend] cause he hates it, and it'll be fast and easy and I can eat some of it and forget it.
As for me: I eat breakfast alone almost every day. While I enjoy both breakfast foods and having that time to myself, breakfast is rarely a pleasure because I'm usually in a hurry. I always seem to have laundry to fold, plants to water, and/or lunch to pack before I leave the house. So breakfast is usually a cup of black coffee (the coffee is nonnegotiable), some vitamins, and a Clif Bar, which is like chewing on a sticky grain brick but is fast and will hold me for a few hours. If I do have some extra time, I like to make myself some old-fashioned oats with nuts, dried fruit, brown sugar and a splash of soymilk, or a whole grain toaster waffle with yogurt and sliced fruit or a dollop of jam.
I usually eat lunch alone in the break room at work. I will almost always eschew the communal table in the middle of the room and opt for the counter that runs around the perimeter so I can sit with my back to everyone. This may sound unfriendly, but it makes it so much easier to read my book without distraction. Lunch is usually either leftovers or something frozen -- a Lean Cuisine or an Amy's burrito. Sometimes I'll heat up a can of soup. If I'm eating lunch alone at home on my day off, it's almost always in front of the TV or with a book, and it's usually something weird like mismatched leftovers, or sardines with crackers, or chips & salsa with ice cream for dessert. Just whatever is around. At lunchtime I tend to elevate side dishes and snack items to entree status and eat far more of them than I would if they were serving in their usual capacity. On the rare occasions that I go out for lunch alone, I bring a book to read and never feel as if I'm dining by myself.
Dinner is the one meal I'll put a little effort into making for just me, but even then I don't go whole hog. I tend to heat things, I've noticed, rather than cook them. I'm also more likely to prepare something that requires a spoon rather than a fork to eat it, and almost the only time I use a knife when dining alone is when I'm spreading something on a piece of toast. I tend to use up aging refrigerator items at dinner time, melting some gorgonzola on a piece of pita bread under the broiler, or throwing that quarter of a bag of leftover edamame into the Trader Joe's fried rice I'm stir frying. Dinner, although it's almost always my biggest meal of the day, is also the one meal I don't mind skipping every now and then. Sometimes, when I'm not very hungry, it all seems like too much work.
**********
No one who knows me should be surprised to learn that one of my favorite preoccupations is food. I not only love to eat, but I also love to cook, dine out, talk about food, read cookbooks and food-related memoirs, watch food being prepared on TV, and even grow a little of my own food. It has been especially gratifying the past few days dragging friends and family into the conversation, and I must again thank everyone who contributed.
Just this morning, after a whole week of thinking and talking about dining alone, I discovered a new cookbook, The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life, on a cart at work. Here I've gone on about about wanting solo meals to be simple and not caring if they're composed of weird, disparate elements, and along comes a cookbook that makes me think I'm shortchanging myself: Suzanne Pirret's approach is that you should be "cooking for yourself, decadently." Her writing is amusing, she doesn't require any fancy kitchen equipment, and her recipes (all scaled to serve just one discerning palate) sound divine: Braised Lamb Shank, Butterscotch Panna Cotta with Roasted Macadamia Nut Praline, Zucchini Fritters with Dill, Homemade Naan Bread. For the first time in my life, thanks to this book, I'm considering trying to make duck confit. Now I've just got to figure out where to get my hands on this Maldon salt she keeps mentioning.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Three and counting
You'll Eat It and Like It (nee How's Annie?) is three years old today. The much anticipated "What do you eat when you eat alone?" post will appear sometime this weekend, so check back soon.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Subversively good
Today I destroyed the collector's value of my limited edition canister of Nite Owl Dark Roast Coffee by popping the top and brewing a pot of it. Not bad for a Watchmen tie-in, not bad at all. A little better, in fact, than the movie itself.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
An uneasy mix
The clock on our DVD recorder has been wrong for quite some time, and after Sunday's time change the difference between real time and DVD time -- an hour and 20 minutes -- became unbearable. I'm not the most technically proficient person in the world but I do know how to set the clocks on all of our appliances, so yesterday I thought I'd correct the time and also set the timer to record something on Turner Classic Movies.
I could not get the thing to work. More specifically, I could not get the menu to appear on the TV screen. I pressed the DVD button on the remote to make sure I was controlling the DVD and not the VCR (yeah, we still have one of those). Nothing. I pressed the menu button, the system menu button, the top menu button. Nada. I put some fresh batteries in the remote in hopes that low juice was my problem, but no luck. My patience was running low, but I waited patiently until just before 5 p.m., when the movie was scheduled to start; at that point I inserted a blank DVD into the recorder and pressed the record button, figuring I'd bypass that pesky timer altogether and go straight for the kill.
Naturally, nothing happened.
I talked to Sean about it later that evening, and it turned out I had forgotten one teensy little step in the set-up process -- I'd forgotten to tune the TV to the auxiliary channel. Well, smack me on the forehead! Duh. I'd figured it was some dumb little thing I messed up on, and it had been such a long time since I'd recorded anything that it was no wonder I forgot. Since there was another movie I wanted to record today, I figured I could whip through the whole process -- adjusting the time, setting the timer -- in no time flat this morning since I knew exactly what I needed to do.
Surprise. No such luck.
As of now, I don't know whether I'm screwing up another step or there's something amiss with our remote control.
I'd like to stay zen about the whole thing, but the movies I wanted to record were Lured with George Sanders and Lucille Ball (what an amazing pairing!) and the cheap-o classic Detour. If there were ever two things that don't jibe, it's zen calm and down-and-dirty films noir. I wish I felt reflective and at ease about my minor mishap, but I'm feeling like someone is going to have to pay -- and pay big.
It may be time to consider . . . . . . DVR.
I could not get the thing to work. More specifically, I could not get the menu to appear on the TV screen. I pressed the DVD button on the remote to make sure I was controlling the DVD and not the VCR (yeah, we still have one of those). Nothing. I pressed the menu button, the system menu button, the top menu button. Nada. I put some fresh batteries in the remote in hopes that low juice was my problem, but no luck. My patience was running low, but I waited patiently until just before 5 p.m., when the movie was scheduled to start; at that point I inserted a blank DVD into the recorder and pressed the record button, figuring I'd bypass that pesky timer altogether and go straight for the kill.
Naturally, nothing happened.
I talked to Sean about it later that evening, and it turned out I had forgotten one teensy little step in the set-up process -- I'd forgotten to tune the TV to the auxiliary channel. Well, smack me on the forehead! Duh. I'd figured it was some dumb little thing I messed up on, and it had been such a long time since I'd recorded anything that it was no wonder I forgot. Since there was another movie I wanted to record today, I figured I could whip through the whole process -- adjusting the time, setting the timer -- in no time flat this morning since I knew exactly what I needed to do.
Surprise. No such luck.
As of now, I don't know whether I'm screwing up another step or there's something amiss with our remote control.
I'd like to stay zen about the whole thing, but the movies I wanted to record were Lured with George Sanders and Lucille Ball (what an amazing pairing!) and the cheap-o classic Detour. If there were ever two things that don't jibe, it's zen calm and down-and-dirty films noir. I wish I felt reflective and at ease about my minor mishap, but I'm feeling like someone is going to have to pay -- and pay big.
It may be time to consider . . .
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Quote of the week
"Shower upon him every blessing,
drown him in a sea of happiness,
give him economic prosperity,
such that he should have nothing else to do
but sleep, eat cakes, and busy himself with the
continuation of his species, and even then,
out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite,
man would play you some nasty trick."
~ Fydor Dostoevsky
drown him in a sea of happiness,
give him economic prosperity,
such that he should have nothing else to do
but sleep, eat cakes, and busy himself with the
continuation of his species, and even then,
out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite,
man would play you some nasty trick."
~ Fydor Dostoevsky
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
Dammit, Jim, I'm a bookseller, not a magician!
Today a customer approached the information desk and asked Rasha and me to help her find a book.
"The author's name is O'Brien. He was born in England but he lives in the U.S. now, and he just won an award for his new book." That was it, except that she was pretty sure it was a novel with a one-word title. She'd heard about it on the radio but she couldn't remember what she'd been listening to.
Rasha and I fired up our computers and started hunting; we also peppered the customer with questions. Between the two of us, we learned that the author could have been born in Ireland, not England; that perhaps the book was nonfiction, but it definitely wasn't poetry; maybe the guy won the award last year; the title could be more than one word, but it was very short; and maybe it was O'Brian and not O'Brien, but it was definitely one of those.
Zilch. We had no luck, and the customer grew more and more condescending as we flailed about and her own answers became more vague. Finally Rasha and I had to admit defeat, and the customer gave us a withering little smile as she snapped, "I guess I won't be buying any books today." I gave her a tight, nasty little smile right back and said, "Well, maybe we can track it down if you can find us some more information." She stopped smiling and walked away.
As I was driving home today, I figured out what she probably wanted: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman, a Brit who now resides in Wisconsin, won the Newbery Medal for his latest book back in January. I mean, Gaiman is practically exactly the same as O'Brien! The one question Rasha and I failed to ask our customer was whether or not she was looking for a children's book . . . but something tells me her answer wouldn't have helped.
"The author's name is O'Brien. He was born in England but he lives in the U.S. now, and he just won an award for his new book." That was it, except that she was pretty sure it was a novel with a one-word title. She'd heard about it on the radio but she couldn't remember what she'd been listening to.
Rasha and I fired up our computers and started hunting; we also peppered the customer with questions. Between the two of us, we learned that the author could have been born in Ireland, not England; that perhaps the book was nonfiction, but it definitely wasn't poetry; maybe the guy won the award last year; the title could be more than one word, but it was very short; and maybe it was O'Brian and not O'Brien, but it was definitely one of those.
Zilch. We had no luck, and the customer grew more and more condescending as we flailed about and her own answers became more vague. Finally Rasha and I had to admit defeat, and the customer gave us a withering little smile as she snapped, "I guess I won't be buying any books today." I gave her a tight, nasty little smile right back and said, "Well, maybe we can track it down if you can find us some more information." She stopped smiling and walked away.
As I was driving home today, I figured out what she probably wanted: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman, a Brit who now resides in Wisconsin, won the Newbery Medal for his latest book back in January. I mean, Gaiman is practically exactly the same as O'Brien! The one question Rasha and I failed to ask our customer was whether or not she was looking for a children's book . . . but something tells me her answer wouldn't have helped.
Denial
Uh-oh. Today is the first day of No Cussing Week, and I've already blown it. Several times. I have been hoping to have more luck with my no-chocolate-for-Lent pledge, but maybe I should rethink that.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Cookbook challenge
A few weeks ago, Craig, the Director of Marketing at Algonquin Books, issued a Bookseller Challenge: he wanted to get booksellers at 10 different stores around the country to make a meal with recipes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita, an Italian-Southern fusion cookbook published by Artisan, one of Algonquin's affiliated publishers. I responded to his email immediately, saying I felt up to the challenge. Little did I know that Sherri, our store's buyer and my good friend, sitting in another office twenty feet away from me, emailed Craig at almost the exact same moment with the same response. Craig answered us both, saying he was trying to get 10 different bookstores, not just 10 different booksellers, involved, and how were we going to settle this smackdown? Sherri and I consulted one another briefly, then informed Craig that we could happily work together. So our dinner was on: we decided to get together last night, the 28th of February, and we invited Jen, our store's promotional director, and Patrick, the webmaster, and his wife Edan to join us. Sherri's and my sweethearts, Rich and Sean, rounded out the guest list.I was a bit nervous from the get-go. I love to cook and I think I'm pretty good at it, but I've heard Patrick discuss cooking and dining enough to know that he and Edan are real foodies. Sherri and Rich are adventurous diners, always trying new restaurants and growing a good deal of their own produce and harvesting eggs from their chickens. Jen was an unknown quantity: I know she loves a good meal and enjoys cooking, and she is always out and about with her friends, traveling and checking out new clubs. She's also a devoted Top Chef aficionado. I was worried that my down-home approach to food might seem a bit hick for the other guests.
We each decided to pick a recipe from the cookbook. Sherri and Rich chose the Lamb Spiedini with Sicilian Couscous and Yogurt Sauce, Jen the Apple Crostata, and Patrick and Edan the Roasted Beet Crostini; they also made a simple green salad with a light vinaigrette. I, of course, went the obvious route and decided to make Potato and Fontina Gratin. See? Nothing sophisticated about my choice, but . . . potatoes and cheese, baby! It might not be the evening's star, but at least there was going to be something on the menu guaranteed to please my tastebuds.
Potato and Fontina Gratin was really easy to make. You slice the potatoes and soak them in heavy cream for a little while, then layer them in a seasoned casserole with freshly grated Parmesan, kosher salt, and white pepper; you "drizzle" some of the cream over the potatoes, cover the dish and bake the potatoes for two hours, then sprinkle grated Fontina on top and bake for another hour. I just love dishes you can forget about for hours at a time.
I knew everybody would either be buying their ingredients at the farmer's market or harvesting them from their yards. I, however, had to work Saturday morning and neither was an option for me. Instead, I went to Whole Foods and bought everything I needed; I opted for organic, so at least my dish had that going for it.
I borrowed Sherri's mandoline so I could slice the potatoes uniformly. The recipe called for eighth-inch-thick slices, but I couldn't figure out how to adjust the blade so my potatoes ended up a quarter of an inch thick. No worries -- I figured I'd just turn up the oven temp a bit and cook the dish a little longer. Both Sherri and Patrick had warned me of the dangers inherent in using a mandoline, so I was careful to use the guard so I didn't slice off the tips of any of my fingers the way Patrick once did. My hands reeked of garlic after I rubbed a crushed clove over the inside of my casserole dish and no matter how many times I washed my hands, I couldn't quite get the aroma to go away. I also was irritated by one of the directions in the recipe: it said to top each layer of the potatoes with "a drizzle of cream." I wasn't plating a dessert here, dammit, I was baking! How much is a drizzle, especially when you're going to bake something for three hours and you don't want it to dry out? I ended up using about half of the two cups of cream called for in the recipe in my drizzling, and I could only pray the dish wouldn't end up all soggy.
We met at Sherri's house at 6 and began drinking and tasting immediately. I'm not a huge fan of beets, but Patrick and Edan's Roasted Beet Crostini were superb; the baguette slices were topped with olive oil, ricotta, lemon zest, fresh ground pepper, the aforementioned beets, toasted walnuts, and sea salt. Each one was tiny but full of complex flavors. Sherri's husband Rich, a talented photographer, took pictures of everything before it was devoured, and the photos will no doubt show up on the store's blog early next week when Patrick recounts his version of our dinner. All I will say is, the evening got off to a fine start with those crostini.
We moved from the kitchen into the living room and enjoyed some Mexican olives and wine, and here's when I began to get nervous: Patrick, Edan, Sherri and Rich all began talking food. Seriously talking. It started with observations of Sherri's extensive cookbook collection -- both Patrick and Edan seemed familiar with just about every title displayed on her shelves, and the three of them began discussing particular recipes, most of which sounded delicious but too high-falutin' for my own home dining. Then they moved on to restaurants. They talked in great detail about a number of places that sounded interesting, inventive, and terribly upscale, places I've never heard of and will probably never visit. I did notice that Jen was rather quiet during this discussion, too, which made me feel a little better; she had also confided to me earlier that she did not have complete faith in her Apple Crostata. I felt as if we were unspoken allies. Sean, of course, has traveled a great deal more than I have and was able to talk about some wonderful restaurants he'd visited in Spain and Australia, among other places.
While all this was going on, dinner preparation was continuing. My potatoes had been sprinkled with the grated Fontina and popped in the oven for the final melting/browning. Rich threaded chunks of lamb on rosemary skewers so that they could be grilled. And Sherri sauteed some highly seasoned vegetables and chickpeas to mix into her Sicilian couscous -- only the couscous wasn't having any of it. It just would not soften up, remaining, as Sherri put it, "chalky." The sauteed vegetables smelled so good that we all said, hey, serve them as a side and forget about the couscous. Which she did, with smashing results.
All my worrying ended up being for naught. My gratin was well-received, which should have been no surprise: it was, after all, a huge pot of potatoes and cheese. All of the other food was delicious. And despite all their foodie knowledge, Patrick, Edan, Sherri and Rich are not food snobs and clearly wanted everyone included in the conversation. Patrick may understand wine structure, and Edan can discuss the trajectory of a good cheese, but ultimately they just love food and enjoy talking about it. And while Sherri and Rich can describe their dining experiences at some of L.A.'s most luxurious-sounding restaurants, they talked just as enthusiastically about their favorite taco stand in Ensenada. Ultimately, all of us were pulled into the wide-ranging conversation, discussing food and books and social networking and suburban farming. When it came time for dessert, Jen's Apple Crostata was a hit, neither too sweet nor too heavy after our big meal. It was perfect with a cup of coffee.
Despite just about everyone having more than one serving of potatoes, Sean and I actually had some leftovers to bring home:
This morning Sean fried them up with a couple of eggs and ate them for breakfast.POTATO & FONTINA GRATIN
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and ends trimmed
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt and white pepper
1/2 cup grated Fontina
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
Rub the bottom and sides of a 2-quart gratin dish or 3-inch-deep casserole with the crushed garlic clove. Let the dish stand for several minutes so that the oil from the garlic becomes tacky to the touch, then rub the bottom and sides of the dish with the softened butter. Set aside.
Using a mandoline or vegetable slicer, or a very sharp chef's knife, slice the potatoes lengthwise into slices about 1/8 inch thick. [NOTE: Don't be afraid if your slices are a little thick -- 1/4 inch slices worked out just fine.] Place the slices in a bowl with the cream. Layer one-third of the slices in the baking dish in a slightly overlapping fashion. Top with 1/3 cup of the grated Parmagiano, a drizzle of cream from the bowl [NOTE: a drizzle = about 1/3 cup], and a pinch each of salt and white pepper. Continue layering so that you have three layers total, finishing with Parmagiano and salt and pepper.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Uncover the potatoes, top with the grated Fontina, and bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour more, until the potatoes are very tender and the top is brown and bubbly.
Serves 4 to 6 [according to the recipe, but really, it's more like 6 to 8]
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