http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?_r=1&hp

Eight pages but insightful.

Bill

--

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Charlie wrote in message

Early in the week younger son and I
trapped half a hundred large crawdads, yabbies to you, and purged them
for two days in a ninety gallon tank of rainwater, which had a
recirculating pump and an dual air pump with two bubblers. Grands
enjoyed watching and *not* touching the mudbugs! (The purging water,
with its nutrients, is then pumped to the garden)

Locally raised sweet corn (hours off the stalk) wild caught shrimp,
organic red potatoes, the crayfish, Andouille and smoked sausage all
boiled up outside and served with fresh from the garden cukes with
rice wine and salt dressing and fresh from the garden green beans
dressed with from the garden garlic sauteed in butter and fresh from
the garden ripe tomatoes (finally).....

Hmph! Why wasn't I invited? I'd have done such a meal real justice and
homage (just try getting my snout away from a trough with such treats in
it...........)

In article , Charlie wrote:

Meals like this, eaten with fingers, are becoming more common with us

Huh! I always eat the fingers separately ;O)
--
Racial injustice, war, urban blight, and environmental rape have a common denominator in our exploitative economic system.
~Channing E. Phillips

http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn

Charlie wrote in message
On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 17:12:00 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote:

Charlie wrote in message

Early in the week younger son and I
trapped half a hundred large crawdads, yabbies to you, and purged them
for two days in a ninety gallon tank of rainwater, which had a
recirculating pump and an dual air pump with two bubblers. Grands
enjoyed watching and *not* touching the mudbugs! (The purging water,
with its nutrients, is then pumped to the garden)

Locally raised sweet corn (hours off the stalk) wild caught shrimp,
organic red potatoes, the crayfish, Andouille and smoked sausage all
boiled up outside and served with fresh from the garden cukes with
rice wine and salt dressing and fresh from the garden green beans
dressed with from the garden garlic sauteed in butter and fresh from
the garden ripe tomatoes (finally).....

Hmph! Why wasn't I invited? I'd have done such a meal real justice and
homage (just try getting my snout away from a trough with such treats in
it...........)


LOL!! Totally apt description!!!

:-)) I was slavering just reading what you wrote!

There are few that I would rather have at trough, uh, er, *table*,
than you, Fran. I daresay that you would fit well with us and the
raucous camaraderie we often enjoy at table.

I used to do raucous cameraderie very well - probably I did it best in the
late '70s/'80s when 'dinner parties' were all the rage.

You'd remember the sort of thing - 3 days spent in preparation when one did
such silly things as hand making chocolates to round off the meal.

These days I seen to have enough trouble feeding ourselves let alone a host
of people, but I do enjoy cooking with my 3 year old grandson.

Meals like this, eaten with fingers, are becoming more common with us,
as we prepare and experience more food from other cultures. I believe
it heightens the food experience and is much more inclusive and
comfortable for the toddlers, as we enjoy food with them in the way
that is still most natural for them.

Describes it to a 'T'! So far the 3 yr old and I have only done pretty
simple things such as pikelets and baba ganoush (since he loves to operate
the Tupperware mixer that beats and chops), but he's a whiz with a knife and
I know he won't cut himself even if his chopping isn't very even yet. He'll
get there though with more practice. Great little bowl licker and finger
dabber-innerer.


The next time we enjoy yabbies, we shall set a place in your honor and
I shall toast you with the head.

Well that sounds great but can't you email me a virtual one?

After this exchange, I'm so hungry I could eat the arse out of a
low-flying duck.

Or the crutch out of a rag doll? :-))

Charlie wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
Charlie wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
(snip)
These days I seen to have enough trouble feeding ourselves let alone a
host
of people, but I do enjoy cooking with my 3 year old grandson.

Yep. In the past I didn't understand how my elders could lose
interest in cooking and all that stuff. Why would they go out to eat
so often? I now understand.

I don't think I've lost an interest in cooking and we certainly eat out far,
far less than we once used to do. In our case we seem to be spending more
time cooking but doing more basic and more inventive stuff.

I now cook a lot more bread and preserves than we did in the 80s - being
retired, I have more kitchen time. We also now spend more time inventing
recipes or ways to cook more produce from our garden. This is a real
challenge at this time of the year when we're approaching the traditional
time of the 'hungry gap' of Spring.

Our winter garden is now quite sad and not a great deal in it - broccoli,
silver beet (chard), potatoes (still in the ground) and a few other sad
looking things, so what to do with that lot?

Last night's main course was a vegetarian lasagna made with home made pasta
and steamed veg that included broccoli leaves, silver beet and a few other
greens gleaned from the garden.

And the bloody chooks have gone on strike and aren't laying! Not as many
eggs as there should be - lazy sods!

Meals like this, eaten with fingers, are becoming more common with us,
as we prepare and experience more food from other cultures. I believe
it heightens the food experience and is much more inclusive and
comfortable for the toddlers, as we enjoy food with them in the way
that is still most natural for them.

Describes it to a 'T'! So far the 3 yr old and I have only done pretty
simple things such as pikelets and baba ganoush (since he loves to operate
the Tupperware mixer that beats and chops), but he's a whiz with a knife
and
I know he won't cut himself even if his chopping isn't very even yet.
He'll
get there though with more practice. Great little bowl licker and finger
dabber-innerer.

Yeppers. Elder grandson has been using the knife here since three
also, though he started not with one of the sharp ones, but had his
own that was not likely to cut to the bone or worse. He now uses the
same as we do. He has seen, on me, what a proper edge will do to
flesh and has learned not to hurry with a knife.

Heh heh, the kitchen whizz is one of the first they start with and has
a particular fascination for them...noise, action, results....gets no
better! We've not been able to run the whizz, nor the mixer, without
a youngster attached to hip for a long while. :-)

We haven't used the real whizz yet, but we'll get there.

We do a lot of camping and since I like to eat well whilst doing that, I
bought this gizmo and this is the devise he really loves using - sort of a
manual whizz:
http://www.tupperware.com.au/wps/wcm...ies/SliceDice/


Pikelets? New to me. These?
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yummy-Pikelets/Detail.aspx

Yeah. Traditional afternoon/morning tea fare served with strawberry jam and
cream (an easy alternative to scones) - sort of a thick pancake batter
recipe and smallish - 4 inch max across and the ideal thing to make in an
electric frypan. More recipes he
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/sear...s&publication=

If so, this is a great recipe for the younguns and soon to be
prepared. Thanks.

More than welcome.