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Post by cristina on Dec 18, 2009 18:38:07 GMT
EC and T63, I have enjoyed your posts in this thread - very different but equally interesting. It also makes me want to think a bit about my own culinary roots a bit as mine are sometimes all over the place.
And T63, I'm heading to Tucson shortly for a birthday dinner with college girl this evening. I wish I was going to your house for wine! ;D
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 18, 2009 19:22:57 GMT
I was thinking a little more about this and Bixa I went back and looked at some of the responses, yours about foodies and not knowing good food only "the food of the moment or the type of the moment what is the gendra of the moment. So I thought about it for a while and here is my take.
I think the reason that the "today" generation and even a generation ago have the attitude about food that they do is because, for the most part, they aren't really hungry, they are just eating because that is what they do. They have no idea what nutrition is and all they do with food is use it for a crutch. Now, I know that are many hungry people all over the world, even the U. S. but for the most part people have something to eat, not enough, and yes some people go do bed hungry, which is a crime with the amount of food this courntry throws away on a daily basis. Remember, I am a child of parents of the depression and that has a major influence on my cooking and how I view food. Most people eat to live and so they do, without much imagination, because they are just sustaining themselves, or dieting. My focus is living to eat, that is why I take pains to have something that is more than edible. When my parents generation were young , they primarily came from a rural environment. There is virtually no rural environment now and hasn't been for a great long time. I know that if there is a time in the future that food became scarce, we could survive because we both know how to grow something. Most of today's generation, have not a clue on how to sustain themselves. In a way you can't blame them because their parents actually have tried to basically improve their lives, but in the end, they would be much better off if they understood how to really take care of themselves.
Existentialcrisis's post about frozen and canned reminded me that there was a time, early on after getting married, while Mr. T63 was finishing his degree, there also was a lot of mushroom soup, for our Tuna Surprise( whatever I could put in it) and other dishes like that. I was laying in bed this morning thinking about this and I remembered a dish that I did when I was single, in an apartment and trying to make ends meet. I called it My San Francisco Treat. It was Rice-A-Roni, Spanish Rice style. I would take the mix of rice and brown it in butter, chop onion, garlic(there is nothing in my opinion that cannot be improved using garlic), green bell pepper and add it to the rice. Then I would add chicken broth when I could afford it, water otherwise. I would let it simmer, while I fried up some chicken parts. Then I put the lid on after putting the chicken in, added more spices. and simmered for the required time. It would be my dinner for a couple of nights. It was good, cheap and sustained me. It is really something that most people have a story like this in their backgrounds too.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2009 19:30:35 GMT
I think that many of us in our student years made some very unusual and sometimes quite edible dishes by combining frozen, canned and other items in a wonderful creativity spawned by hunger and a need for adventure.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2009 21:00:17 GMT
Even though I have observed what is going on “in the kitchen” my entire life, it was certainly the year that I spent with my grandparents in Lorraine which allowed me to absorb a lot of the most significant elements of my limited cooking skills.
As in many old style village houses in France, the kitchen served as the living room. The television was on a shelf above the refrigerator, the radio was on top of the buffet (I still have the big old style radio full of glowing tubes in my apartment.), and besides containing the dishes, the buffet also contained the decks of cards and the card mat, the letter pads of thin airmail paper and all of the other elements necessary for a normal day.
There was rarely any time of the day that my grandmother was not doing some sort of food preparation over the sink or at one end of the kitchen table, and there was always something either simmering or cooling down in one of the cast iron pots on the stove. The french fryer full of congealed fat had a permanent home on one of the back burners, since it was used several times a week. Besides the electric stove, there was still a coal and wood burning stove in the kitchen as well, which was used for both heating the room and keeping food warm during the winter months, and that’s where they big coffee pot would sit all day as well. At least half a dozen people would drop by during the day for some reason or another (to deliver eggs from a farm, to get my grandfather to approve some documents – he was mayor of the village, to come and gossip with my grandmother, to deliver the mail and get a slice of brioche as the same time, etc.) and just about all of them would have a cup of coffee.
There was just one tiny grocery store in the village, and it was a fate worse than death for my grandmother to need something from there. For some reason, she was absolutely mortified by the thought of buying just one item there. If she unexpectedly ran out of butter, she would decide that maybe she should get another jar of mustard, too, and maybe a liter of milk.
Otherwise, most of the shopping was done at the food vans that would arrive once or twice a week in the street at fixed hours. When you would hear the horn toot, it was time to run out to the butcher or grocery truck with your meal plans for the next 3 or 4 days. As for the bakery truck, it would come every day with fabulous fresh bread. Most people had standing orders, so if they happened not to be at home, there was a place to stash the baguettes, and they would be paid for at a future visit. If any special pastry was needed for Sunday, it was generally ordered in advance, but otherwise there were a few items always available for unexpected guests.
My grandfather had a dozen or so rabbit cages, and I loved the funky smell in the shed, which was probably a combination of rabbit piss and rotting straw. The rabbits always seemed to be happy to see us and would eat things from my hand with gusto. About once every 10 days, my grandfather would tell me, “I’m going to kill a rabbit. Do you want to come with me?” You bet I did! We would go to the shed, and he would pull rabbit out of one of the cages, which would suddenly be upset at being dragged out by its ears. He would take it out to the garden path and hold it by its feet; trapping its head between his knees. A quick movement of the knife would cut its throat, and blood would spray on the ground. Then he would hold it up in triumph as all of the blood emptied out and it stopped kicking little by little.
The best part was yet to come, because then it was time to skin it and gut it. He would attach its feet together with some twine and hang it from a nail on the back of the door. Then he would make some cuts around the feet and along the legs and start pulling. The skin would come off inside out like peeling pajamas off a baby, and the bloody flesh would glisten. The skins were kept and dried, because some man would come every couple of months to buy rabbit skins. My grandfather would next pull out the intestines and various other organs and dispose of them. Wow! When you are 10 years old, this is great stuff!
Then it was time to take the luscious piece of meat (it was no longer an animal that had been alive 10 minutes earlier) back to the kitchen for my grandmother to work her magic. Chickens and ducks were bought dead but whole back then as well, so I learned to pluck them and really enjoyed it. For some reason, though, I suspect that there would be more vegetarians if everybody had to do this. Pigeons were bought live in an angry burlap fluttering bag. My grandfather would kill them by pinching their kidneys, and then we would pluck them as well.
And of course, then there was the magnificent vegetable garden. My grandparents almost never bought any vegetables, because they grew everything they needed – potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, peas, beans, asparagus, turnips, endive, lettuce, carrots, radishes, onions, shallots, cabbage, strawberries… Oh, it was a wonderful year watching how all of that was planted, watered, harvested. There were fruit trees also – pears, mirabelle plums, quetsch plums, and also red currants. Besides that we would go to the woods for wild strawberries, hazelnuts, blueberries, mushrooms.. and snails. It was a wonderful year of learning about nature for me, and it has never been repeated, unfortunately. We would also go out to the fields to dig up dandelions for salad, or plantain leaves for dressing cuts.
Anyway, back to the kitchen where I watched my grandmother making meals out of all of this. She would peel and chop and grind and simmer, and she would say “go get me a few branches of parsley and a bit of tarragon” or “go down to the cellar and bring up a half dozen potatoes.” Finding the parsley under the snow, or going down the damp cellar steps were wonderful adventures as well. The cellar was lit by a dim clear bulb hanging from the stone ceiling. Along one wall were the racks of wine bottles covered with dust, and along other walls were the jars of canned vegetables and also jars of jam that my grandmother had made in big vats in front of the house. There were also piles of potatoes, turnips and apples in wooden corrals, and the little cheese cage. Even though my grandparents were among the rare people to already have a refrigerator, the stinky cheeses were kept hanging in the cheese cage at the bottom of the steps – Munster and Port Salut and camembert or whatever my grandfather fancied at the moment. Other expeditions required going up to the attic where there were crates of onions and garlic waiting in their own realm.
Clearly there is no way that I am going to get around to what my grandmother did with all of these things in this post, so I’ll just say that getting the ingredients together was an adventure in itself, and even if I had never touched a pot or a pan, I will treasure these moments of my life forever.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 18, 2009 21:11:52 GMT
OK. My inherited influences are in no particular order: Sunset/California, Rombauer, old fashioned Escoffiesque French, A&W and staid middle American meat and potatoes fare. I've since embraced the Tuscan philosophy- get some good stuff at the market and get it from the kitchen to the table with minimal fuss and without f***ing it up.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2009 21:23:20 GMT
Hmmm... we need to know more about these "A&W" influences.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 18, 2009 21:24:47 GMT
It's a drive in our family went to when I was small, specializing in root beer and hamburgers. Quite good actually.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2009 21:26:05 GMT
Yes, I was afraid that that was what you meant by A&W. If it's any consolation, there are plenty of them in Singapore, which is a place with excellent food.
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 18, 2009 22:37:33 GMT
There was nothing better on a hot summer afternoon in Southern California than pulling into an A & W Root Beer Stand and having a Root Beer Float in the frosty mug that was so cold that you couldn't touch it. OMG, thanks fumobici for reminding me about this.!!!!!! PS you are right about the hamburgers too. They were honest to God great and were never pre prepared, you always got them straight off the grill with everythin on them including those yummy dill pickles, not the anemic type on current burgers!!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 19, 2009 2:50:16 GMT
T63, that is a really important insight you have about eating for something to do. Food is pretty much a way to show affection, caring, hospitality, concern and a myriad of other things. I imagine that is true in all cultures, but only becomes problematic when there is so much abundance that people can "self-medicate" with food. And we know that is common, as the phrase "comfort eating" is widely understood.
Your San Francisco Treat is a good illustration of how some people are born cooks, with instinct and flair that serve them well, even before they acquire much know-how.
Kerouac, even though your lovely reminiscence was about France -- a place I've never visited -- it made me terribly homesick. The buffet was the clincher, as it gave me a sharp memory of the one in my grandmother's house, crammed with tablecloths, mints, toothpicks, hot pads and more. There was also the similarity of the continuous food preparation, the zipping out to the yard for an herb, and the rushing to have coffee for anyone who came by -- made in a French-drip pot, naturally.
The garden at your grandparents' house sounds like an adjunct to Eden. I don't remember any one family having such a complete garden, but there was much sharing of produce, thus great variety.
No bunnies were kept, but my uncle and grandfather used to trade shells (for guns) for game. I wonder if I could still skin a squirrel.
The other glorious, very French touches made a beautiful little mind-movie. Didn't you go back to that area recently? I hope some of those old ways persist there.
Nothing to sneer at in A&W! The burgers were real meat and the root beer is elixir of the gods, with just the right bite and that wonderful creamy head. Before there was Julia, Sunset and Rombauer were beacons for people who sincerely wished to be good cooks.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 19, 2009 17:06:01 GMT
K2! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post! This is the type of life I have fantasies of living, but in reality I am too lazy and Americanized. I have a theory that gardening might be something one naturally picks up at a certain age ... and I hope someday I find an interest in such a nourishing hobby. I like your comment about how many vegetarians there would be if we all had to slaughter and gut our own animal food sources. I think, from a moral standpoint, that one can only justify eating an animal if they have had some part in bringing that animal from a living creature to their plate. Or at least, having acute knowledge of where that animal came from. I obviously do not practice this. The closest thing I have is the bow hunter who lives across the street and occasionally gives us elk sausages and venison meat.
Oh, and I LOVE the idea of the butcher and baker trucks coming down your street!! That's what I need here in Calgary... everything is so far away. For me to get fresh produce or visit a butcher or bakery it requires so much driving! This city has been created to destroy the environment, I know it...
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Post by imec on Dec 19, 2009 17:14:05 GMT
Nothing to sneer at in A&W! In kerouac's defense, and at the risk of destroying everyone's romantic recollections of the real A&W which was truly a great drive-in, A&W has now "gone corporate" and is just another version of Rotten Ronnie's.
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Post by imec on Dec 19, 2009 18:12:24 GMT
Well, as a child that ate very little and indeed sometimes refused to eat at all (when "forced" to eat, I would claim I couldn't because it would make me choke - and actually did make myself choke to prove the point) so I guess my culinary roots don't go back as far as they perhaps should. Although, having said that, food in the early 60's in urban, working class Britain was not particularly exciting or healthy so, maybe not such a bad thing. One fond memory I do have from my time as a young boy is sharing lunch with my Granddad. He would come home for lunch and my Mum would make him soup and a sandwich. I used to sit with him and dunk pieces of my bread in his soup while he did the same with hi sandwich. I'm a dunker and a lover of bread and sandwiches to this day. I was 9 when we immigrated to Canada in 1967 and although food was much more varied and plentiful, it wasn't until I reached the age of about 12 or 13 that I really started to eat in any significant quantity and even then, I was very choosy about what and what not to eat - not a snobby thing (far from it in fact) but just based on a bizarre set of notions about what was good or bad tasting. I do recall eating extraordinary amounts of food during the day and then sitting down at 10 o'clock each evening to 2 sandwiches, a cup of soup, large glass of koolaid and what ever goodies had been baked recently. It was about this time also that I learned to make fried egg sandwiches which were a favorite midnight snack on weekends. I did start to venture out of my comfort zone in my teens and in particular recall acquiring a taste for curry, which my Dad, would make occasionally (although it was a very Anglicized version which would not even vaguely resemble the authentic curries I would enjoy and even learn to approximate later in life). It was also in my teens that I took up an interest in camping which naturally facilitated if not forced an opportunity to cook for myself and others. Of course, I didn't have the faintest idea of what I was doing and I'm quite sure I'd find many of those early "creations" largely inedible at this stage in life. However, adolescent boys out in the fresh air will eat massive quantities of just about anything - particularly under the influence of some illegally acquired liquor and/or in the company of "mary-jane". In order to put gas in the car, buy beer and finance these camping excursions, I took a job for a year as a spaghetti cook at "The Old Spaghetti Factory" - a place that did high volume, low quality red sauce dishes. I used to cook about 800 portions of spaghetti on a Friday or Saturday night plus another 200 of lasagne. Not the sauce mind you - just the pasta itself - a tedious job to say the least. I took a 2 year hiatus from school between high school and college and it was during this time that I purchased my first Gourmet magazine (which I may still have somewhere) and that I started experimenting with Chinese cuisine of all things. I distinctly recall meticulously deboning and stuffing chicken wings on one occasion - which were later deep fried and tossed in a wok with sauce. It was also during this time that, as I had a part time job working downtown, I began to discover interesting foods served in various types of restaurants. Once I had finished college and got a REAL job downtown, I really started to get interested in food and cooking. This was also the time I got my first apartment and even began to entertain occasionally (some very good friends recall the time I made lasagne at this place and nearly threw it on the plates in disgust as it didn't quite turn out according to standard). While in my first job in the early 80's, I became friends with a guy about 10 years older than me who also loved food - particularly spicy Asian food such as Szechwan, Indian, Vietnamese and so on - he and I in fact took an Indian cooking course together at a local restaurant on Saturday mornings. It was also during this period that I got married and as my wife didn't have an interest or a background in cooking, that job became mine in our new household. The next phase of my life however would provide the biggest foundational education of my culinary life. In 1984 I accepted a position with a company in Saudi Arabia,sold everything we owned and moved to Riyadh. It was during this time, immersed in an environment of Arabic, Indian, Pakistani and other Asian cultures that I truly learned what food was all about. There were also many Europeans to learn from. And as this was a time during which we travelled extensively in both Europe and Asia, I was able to see first hand the wonderful cuisines the world had to offer and do my best at duplicating them in my own kitchen. We ate at the most amazing places - food that I had either never seen or had only seen inferior versions of. Authentic Shawarma, freshly roasted and shaved on bread baked only hours before; flat breads of various forms - Yemeni, Iraqui, Lebanese, Bahraini, Pakistani... ; Murtabagh; Falafel; Ful Medames; Hummous; Pakistani food that I still dream about (please see this post - reply #24). And in our travels - Weisswurst and Weizenbier in Munich; impossibly fresh fish on the Costa Brava; Bernese Rosti in Murren; Sausage Massala in Goa; Laksa in Singapore; learning about Malt Whisky in Scotland. We also had access to some top notch ingredients and products for preparing and serving at home - pastries from a branch of Le Notre; bread and croissants from The French Corner; wonderful seafood from the gulf; outstanding veal from Forsan, the local French butcher... This period had a profound effect my cullinary repertoire and style. Upon returning to Canada in 1987 and buying our first house, we began a period of no kids and lots of entertaining. We had so much to show our friends of the new foods and cooking styles we had discovered. We belonged to several dinner groups where communal dinner were produced similar to the ones T63 described. My advanced interest in wine led me to start a wine tasting group made up of 5 couples (the Swillers) which met 5 times a year for a wine tasting which I would lead, followed by a feast prepared by the host. Having our first child in 1995 slowed down our entertaining somewhat, but it was also a time when I started to do some amateur catering - a cocktail reception and buffet for 70, cocktail reception with hot and cold appetizers for 200, wedding buffet for 90 and a birthday buffet for 35 being some of the highlights. And now that the kids are old enough that they're much easier to manage, I've begun some more serious endeavours such as 9 course tasting menus for small groups of friends. So I don't know how much of this is "roots" as I rarely stick to one form of cooking or have any particular ethnic influence. It does describe though, how I got to where I am with my love of food and beverages and the preparation and serving of them. I know I'll continue to experiment, evolve and learn - there is no end to this journey.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 19, 2009 18:47:32 GMT
Know what? We have the makings of a book with this thread! Whoo ~~ there is so much good writing, and so many varied, interesting backgrounds. Imec, your story is fascinating on so many levels. The progression really intrigues me ~~ how your initial interest in food and real cooking segued into your being the cooking partner in your marriage, that followed by the introduction to a whole array of different cuisines and the opportunity to sample some of them in situ, then further development back home with entertaining and catering. I find the catering particularly interesting, as you seem to have done everything on the cooking front short of giving up your regular career in order to become a chef. The other thing that caught my attention is how you didn't even want to eat until you were 12 or 13 -- as though you didn't get hungry until you hit puberty. I love how you interpreted "roots" as well. Certainly your story is needed to show the roots, trunk, and branches of your very solid credentials as an exceptional cook. Just wonderful -- thank you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have a theory that gardening might be something one naturally picks up at a certain age ... *snork!* Existentia, I love fine, hand-woven rebozos, but trust me when I tell you there is no loom in my home. If you never decide to garden, you are still doing your part by appreciating and buying the produce of others.
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 19, 2009 19:01:42 GMT
Oh, K2, I loved your post. What a way to really find out what is important in life. Your grandmother sounds like mine in that there was always something going on in the kitchen all day. The garden, oh my, that is what I call sustaining yourself.
While we were waiting for something to cook, my Mamaw Babe, mother, my aunt(her twin sister or as they would say swin tister) and my cousin Pam and I would get into a nasty game of canasta or hearts, or pinochle. We would drink hot chocolate(not instant, but honest to God home made with Hershey's unsweetened chocolate, a little sugar, whole milk and marshmallows), hot tea(for my mom) and coffee(with chickory)oh, a lot of coffee sometimes not so straight for my Mamaw Babe & Aunt Darline. Aunt Darline!, who is 86 and is the only one still with us. We would laugh and give each other heck and try to outsmart or out talk each other. God, what great memories!
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 19, 2009 19:14:36 GMT
Wow! Imec what a background! AND yes what you have described is absolutely roots!!! Fried egg sandwich!!!!!OMG, we just had one in the last week or so. I can remember pulling up a chair to the stove, when I was 5 or 6 and cooking one for my mom and me. She had a congenital heart defect and was always tired and mostly in bed until 1951 when she had open heart surgery to repair a valve that wouldn't operate properly. So, I must have been just 5. Anyway, fried egg sandwiches is one thing that Mr. T63 and I had in common when we met. The Spaghetti Factory!!!!! When Mr. T63 and I moved to Boise in 1970 something, that was a cheap meal for us when money was short. How funny!! Isn't it amazing that two people who have never met can find common ground! Wow , do I love this life!!!!
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Post by imec on Dec 19, 2009 19:32:42 GMT
Ha! T63 - that's great! It certainly was a cheap dinner. I remember there was a guy that used to come in every Sunday just after opening. In those days, bars here were not open on Sunday so the only way you get a drink was with a meal. This guy used to order the cheapest meal - spaghetti and tomato sauce, $1.85 - and two double Rye and Gingers.
Bixa - you're right about my intense focus on food and beverages - missed my calling I guess. I even wrote a detailed proposal once which was successful in acquiring one of a very small number licenses for a friend to open a private wine store in our provincially controlled liquor distribution system.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2009 19:58:31 GMT
That is a true roller coaster of culinary culture, imec. I think you were very lucky to move around a lot and sort of be forced into new discoveries (even if you were completely willing to be 'forced'). So many people will never even discover what they really adore as food, because they will never even get a chance to taste the possibilities.
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 19, 2009 20:40:20 GMT
Imec, it is never to late, why Mr. T63 is now in his mid sixties and we are still thinking about doing something with wine/wine store, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2009 13:20:30 GMT
My culinary roots are very similar to K2's. Born and raised on a potato farm,always something on the stove,and a bustle in the kitchen where everyone convened. There was a constant influx of people in and out,adults and children. There was always some chore that had to be done,no one was ever allowed to be idle. There were chickens,(no rabbits)and my favorite chore was going to gather eggs or feeding the chickens. Everything was fresh.,every conceivable vegetable and fruit you could imagine(for that climate). And nothing went to waste.Jars and jars of preserves,vegetables and the like lined the pantry shelves in the cellar,aside the root vegetables that were stored overwinter. My grandparents and my parents also bartered with neighbors and friends for goods one or the other did not have.So,if we had persimmons or plums,would trade with someone who did not and vice versa. Whole sides of beef and pork were purchased right after slaughter and the preparation for the many foods derived from took place immediately. There was always something being dried or smoked,sliced and an ever present meat grinder in the back kitchen for making sausages and the like. Hunting season which was in the autumn,brought in various ducks,pheasants and geese.All the men in the family participated in this and my brothers were allowed off from school to go out hunting.Deer season was a very big deal as well and we were always with venison. Aside from all this bounty,there was all the seafood that came from the ocean and bays and streams nearby.Everything from crabs,lobsters,scallops,clams,oysters, mussels,eels,and dozens of different fresh fish in season were procured.These were either froze,dried or smoked or again bartered for some other desirable food stuff. Elaborate lunches were prepared for the men working the farm and every Sunday was a huge sit down dinner of many courses. Salads,stews breads,a main dish of some meat or seafood.Holidays were also elaborate affairs,dozens and dozens of people and huge feasts,many prepared in the Old World Polish tradition After leaving home to go to college I remember taking all this for granted. I had never eaten frozen or canned fruits and vegetables.During young adulthood food was not much of focus in my life.However, a stint living in New York City in the mid 1970's ,brought about a whole new awakening with regard to ethnic food.This carried over to my experience in some other major U.S cities. After moving to New Orleans with it's rich culinary culture I began to appreciate fine cuisine. My husband's family had a small neighborhood restaurant and food was a major part of daily life.Foods I had never before tasted were introduced into my life.My husband,very much the chef,and my limited repertoire,we ,much like the Imecs,entertained often and had large dinner parties as well as big outdoor parties all year round. The availability of fresh seafood here and year round produce remains an important part of of dining experiences. As for outside ethnic influences,my husband and I do experiment with different dishes. Limited travel experiences on both our parts however,have not produced the broad range that others have spoke of. The single most common thread in my culinary roots has been the pervasive presence of fresh food. My garden, which I hope to be able to maintain the rest of my days is a source of great pride. To be able to share this with others is one of the great joys in my life.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 20, 2009 20:25:35 GMT
I remember we touched on this right back at the start of APIAS! anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=discussion&thread=25&page=1#2221There I wrote about the beginning of my adventures with food: When I was a teenager I went throught the typical vegetarian stage and had to cook for myself half the time, which seemed fair as other people at home wanted to eat meat. So for those two years I cooked myself an awful lots of pasta, mashed potato with cheese and an awful bean casserole I invented. I soon recovered and got back to my meat eating ways. As a student I ate an awful lot of beans on toast, toasted cheese sandwiches and my very favorite was a rice similiar to T63's San Francisco Treat, which I still cook when I am cooking for myself as a comforting treat. I still cook a lot of Indian food at home, but biggest influence on my cooking now has come from meeting Mr Star. He is from the Basque region in Northern Spain; its a region that is famous for its obsession with food. All people talk about is what they have eaten, what they are eating next and what they fancy eating next week. I have visited there 3-4 times a year over the last 13 years and the obsession has rubbed off and I love the food from that region too. Its very hearty food, lots of bean and pork stews and also lots of tuna and cod. Food is classed as an artform which is shown in the local tapas, called "pintxos" whihc are elaborate little versions of tapas. They are set out on the counters in bars, they are very experimental soetimes and the ar owners take great pride in them and get very competitive about them. There is also a very communal aspect to of food, everyone cooks together and then there is a long meals with the family gathered around the table all afternoon. I think this is the place that got me really cooking and reading about food again after my student years and took me back to enjoying food the way I had been brought up to enjoy it. Growing up meal times were always sacred times for sharing food and talking about our day as a family, weekends there would often be friends around for dinner and we would be allowed to stay up late and after dinner stay sitting around the table for hours chatting. That is probably the main thing that has stayed with me about food. It is really important to me that we eat as a family as often as we can, unfortunately its not every night of the week. I love cooking but cook less elaborate food since having a baby, but as long as the food is fresh and good I rather take short-cuts in the kitchen than spend time cooking that could be spent sitting together and sharing the meal itself. I guess then the main influences out of all these are a Mum who loved trying different cuisines and a wish to cook good food but save time cooking to spend more time eating. When I think about it this is reflected strongly as in day to day cooking I cook food from all over the world (with a heavy lean towards Indian and Spanish) and love trying new and diffeent things but whatever country it is from on a day-to-day basis I often cook one-pot food, especially in the winter. Its perfect for the way food fits into my life - its usually quick preparation and then left to cook itself, but tastes great, little washing up (another time waster!) and I love the idea of having a big pot of food on the stove bubbling away that if people drop by there is something that can be quickly warmed up for them or extended to cater for more people if needs be, there is also something very comforting and hearty about that kind of food which embodies how meals should be for me.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2009 20:42:51 GMT
You have a fantastic memory about that earlier thread, Tilly. I know we have already repeated quite a few threads, but what is interesting is that different things are usually said each time. And I suppose that's as it should be, since things evolve over time (and so do memories!).
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Post by tillystar on Dec 20, 2009 20:45:50 GMT
Yes, it's amazing what being too lazy to retype does for ya memory ;D
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Post by imec on Dec 21, 2009 1:44:04 GMT
Fantastic tilly - thanks! BTW, I could eat tapas non-stop - forever.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 21, 2009 4:51:40 GMT
Wow, Casimira ~~ I never knew that there was so much traditional, old-fashioned farm culture in your young life. Totally fascinating, especially with the use of seafoods in ways that would be totally alien to many of us. Was the acquisition of a deer the occasion of frenzied preparation in order to preserve much of it? Also, do you think you could reproduce any of those sausages, for instance a breakfast sausage? That's a lovely reminiscence.
This may not be my place to say so, but Casimira does not mention how many, many years ago, before it was chic and well-publicized in magazines, she was growing every herb she could for culinary use.
Tilly ~~ I am absolutely thrilled to see that thread again! I went looking for it, but I think I must have been looking in After Dinnner, and had started thinking I'd imagined it. Woweee -- thank you!
What a great account of your culinary influences -- totally unexpected at every turn! I am greatly intrigued with how you have managed to incorporate the loving, nurturing aspect of food into your busy daily life, and carried it over into fun dining out experiences. What also really strikes me is how you've transcended the chore part of food preparation by learning how to make it easier on you and by focusing on it as an act of love. Just beautiful.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 21, 2009 20:56:43 GMT
Wow, I am SO enjoying this thread! And so envious of the experiences and skill sets you all have. I won't sully this thread with my sorry tale of culinary woes.
It's enough to say I reside in the "eat to live" camp, looking longingly over the fence at you all in the "live to eat" world...
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Post by Kimby on Dec 21, 2009 21:21:09 GMT
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 21, 2009 22:21:22 GMT
Casimira and Tilly;
Oh thank you both for your great posts. It is great to see how all of you progessed in your cooking adventures, and you all have been doing a lot of things for a long time that some are just finding and you knew and did things that are timeless.
As Bixa would say Kimby post what you know and have experienced, this is not a judgment forum this is an experience forum thread and everyone is interested and no post is without merit. So, jump in!!!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 21, 2009 23:13:22 GMT
I meant to ask you this before, Tilly ~~ have you learned any of Mr.Star's favorites from your mother-in-law? Also, do you all combine your two backgrounds in the way you celebrate holidays?
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 22, 2009 10:37:32 GMT
I'm still thinking over my culinary roots.
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