Food city area: Simple food

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Wordless Wednesday: Recent Reading

Wordless Wednesday: Recent Reading

04.30

Kugel

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GdnYluNMJrjwMuRGWsctNxSSWuNbPUva_fb4GibpzQ360HoFxyXWMVOykT-hpfo1SQnzage59a9MwEpz3-7p14nvcmrdG3id6QeOOPRnAN-WSJCHLDvY57C3GxHBXuZATvD0A3tBnEMm/s1600/challa-spinach-kugel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GdnYluNMJrjwMuRGWsctNxSSWuNbPUva_fb4GibpzQ360HoFxyXWMVOykT-hpfo1SQnzage59a9MwEpz3-7p14nvcmrdG3id6QeOOPRnAN-WSJCHLDvY57C3GxHBXuZATvD0A3tBnEMm/s1600/challa-spinach-kugel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Challah Kugel at kugel-making lesson, January 29,<br />Jewish Women's Circle</td></tr></tbody></table><span id="goog_2020017278"></span><span id="goog_2020017279"></span>Potato kugel. Lokshen kugel or noodle kugel. Challah kugel. Apple kugel. Yerushalmi kugel. Vegetable kugel. Rice kugel. What do they all have in common? As with almost any Jewish question, every suggested answer to this question has a sort of counter-answer. Yes, but… <br /><br />Kugel has always been a dish for the Jewish Sabbath, or Shabbat – at least it was so for Eastern Europen Jews and their descendants in many lands. Traditional Friday night Shabbat dinners often included kugel, as did the foods for Saturday midday meals. On Friday night and Saturday, observant Jews don’t light a fire and don’t prepare or reheat foods, so Shabbat dishes have to be made by Friday afternoon and kept warm on a low, unchanging flame. In other words, a traditional kugel had to be cooked for hours or even overnight without losing its flavor, often in a slow oven. <br /><br />Yes, but kugel now is also popular with many Jews who don’t observe these restrictions. They make kugel any time, for holidays or potlucks – their kugels most frequently are baked in a hot oven, and have to be taken out while still puffy. Lots of contemporary Jewish cooks would tell you that a kugel is a dish that’s baked, sort of like a casserole.  <br /><br />Yes, but in the past, women made kugel in a frying pan or in a pot on top of the stove. For example, a woman described in a <i>New York Times</i> article a few years ago, “makes her potato kugel without matzo meal and in a pot rather than the usual Pyrex dish so it can finish cooking on the automatic flame.”  <br /><br />In the still-more-distant past, kugels were steamed inside the pot that held the slow-cooked Sabbath stews, often called cholent (though the name varied depending on the time and place). Only slowly did kugel become a stand-alone dish. It seems, in fact, that way back in time there were essentially two types of slow-cooked dishes: cholent, or stew, and kugel, a more solid dish, basically made from a starch bound with eggs. <br /><br />Kugel could be a very simple dish. Shabbat potato kugel added an egg or two to the daily fare of potatoes and onions that a Jewish family in the shtetl could afford -- like other very poor rural and village people in Poland and Russia in the 19th century. Indeed, almost all kugel recipes include eggs. When people were really poor, putting scarce eggs into a starchy dish was a way to share a few eggs with a large family. So some people say that a kugel has to have eggs. Yes, but somehow the use of eggs doesn’t seem to define the dish, just to contribute to the flavor and texture.  <br /><br />Yes, kugel is a dish for helping a poor family to share a few eggs. But rich people in those shtetls made rich kugels full of eggs. In America, everyone could eat like the rich people in the old world. Like so many foods in America, kugel got richer and richer, so now many American Jews eat kugels with many many eggs, cheese, lots of sugar, and a variety of fruit. While observant Jews distinguish between kugels that could be eaten with meat meals and those ok for dairy meals, that’s no longer important for many Jewish people today.  <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMM_zdm4EZy_resv3fG2VmOOzRCcUEmonALsN7nu6VoJ86eRFYr4kvdTwvw1-b6hL8ZKUkiy0piVwaYMB1Pe85AqMxjQNwC2mhaxDmzL6MoPIxWc8PiUrrms6we56G5M8MGGSLqvOkIKp/s1600/apple-kugel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMM_zdm4EZy_resv3fG2VmOOzRCcUEmonALsN7nu6VoJ86eRFYr4kvdTwvw1-b6hL8ZKUkiy0piVwaYMB1Pe85AqMxjQNwC2mhaxDmzL6MoPIxWc8PiUrrms6we56G5M8MGGSLqvOkIKp/s1600/apple-kugel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple Kugel at kugel-making lesson</td></tr></tbody></table>Yes, but now people are health-conscious, and they make new recipes to be healthy by modern standards – with vegetables. Broccoli. Spinach. Apple kugels made with a batter rather than noodles or potatoes are another variation – healthy or not? I don’t know. There are even gluten-free versions. <br /><br />Raisins were another frequent addition to Eastern European kugels. One bit of evidence for that is the history of Yerushalmi kugel – Yerushalmi means “from Jerusalem.” One story says that Jews who originally came from Lithuania began making it in Safed (Tzfat) in the early 19th century. Yerushalmi kugel is made from caramelized sugar and fine egg noodles, flavored with a strong dose of black pepper. No raisins, but that’s supposedly because they “couldn't afford raisins … so they browned sugar to make their kugels look dark.” Later these Jews were driven out of Safed and settled in Jerusalem where they kept making the kugel. As the name suggests, it’s still very popular in Jerusalem, especially in the Orthodox neighborhoods, where it’s eaten with a slice of pickle.  <br /><br />Yes, but there’s another story: some attribute the Yerushalmi kugel recipe to Rivka Vinegarten, “the curator of Or Chaime Museum in old Jerusalem. Her father, Rabbi Avraham Mordechy Vinegarten, was the last rabbi of the old Jewish quarter at the outbreak of the 1948 war.” <br /><br />Some rabbis in the 19th century said it wouldn’t be Shabbat without kugel. They felt that kugel was a holy dish, perhaps because of its simple origins among poor people whose lives were seen as holy. Quite a few of these rabbis preferred potato kugel to any other kind. Noodle kugel, called lokshen kugel in Yiddish, was their other primary choice. There are those who limit their definition to just these two kinds of kugel. In any case, kugel was a strictly Jewish dish. <br /><br />Yes, but I have found so much else about kugel. And I’m going to stop now. <br /><br /><b>Sources: </b><br /><ul><li><i>Eat and Be Satisfied</i> by John Cooper (1993)</li><li>“Holy Kugel: the Sanctification of Ashkenazic Ethnic Foods in Hasidism” by Alan Nadler, in <i>Food & Judaism</i>, ed. Greenspoon, Simkins, and Shapiro (2005)</li><li>“<a href="http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Kugel%20yerushalmi%20(jerusalem%20lokshen%20kugel)">Kugel Yerushalmi (Jerusalem lokshen kugel)</a>”</li><li>“<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/04/dining/at-home-in-a-stranger-s-kitchen.html">At Home, in a Stranger's Kitchen</a>” by Alex Witchel, New York Times (April 4, 2001)</li><li>“<a href="http://www.jewishexponent.com/strike-while-the-kugel-is-hot">Strike While the Kugel is Hot</a>” by Rivka Tal (August 31, 2006)</li><li>“<a href="http://www.joyofkosher.com/2011/09/the-history-of-kugel/">The History of Kugel</a>” by Gil Marks (September 1, 2011)</li></ul>

Kugel

Challah Kugel at kugel-making lesson, January 29, Jewish Women's Circle Potato kugel. Lokshen kugel or noodle kugel. Challah kugel. Appl...

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08.47

Good Eats

Last night my book club met at my house to discuss <span style="font-style:italic;">Just Kids</span> by Patti Smith. We found the book very appealing and fascinating, and discussed it non-stop, except for eating the refreshments that I made. One funny memory that she relates in her memoir was of meeting Allen Ginsberg. He appeared just as she realized that she didn't have enough money for her sandwich at the automat -- he bought her the sandwich and a cup of coffee and sat down with her. After a while he asked "Wait, are you a girl?" She's a girl. <div><br /></div><div>"I thought you were a pretty boy," he explained. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Do I have to pay you for the sandwich?" she asked.</div><div><br /></div><div>"No, my mistake."<br /><div><br /></div><div>However, food wasn't really a theme of the book. Much of the time in her early life as a New York art scene wannabe, Patti Smith didn't have much to eat. She does often mention eating at the automat -- things like mac and cheese, or a sandwich on a poppy-seed roll. Not much inspiration for refreshments.  </div><div><br /></div><div>Smith mentions that when she and her lover Robert Mapplethorpe had a bit of money they would buy a bag of Mallomars. I decided that would be my one literary menu choice. When I went to the market, though, I found out that Mallomars are seasonal! The chocolate is too melty in summer. So I bought Canadian Whippets, which are similar. </div><div><br /></div><div>In order to make this a scholarly post, I read the Wikipedia entry on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-coated_marshmallow_treats">Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats</a>. And learned more than any sane person should know about Mallomars, Whippets, and similar confections from Israel, Denmark, England, and even the Phillipines as well as other places. Turns out Mallomars are really a New York thing: 70% are sold there. If you want to know more, you can read the article and the many places that it diligently links to.</div><div><br />A couple of people suggested that the might like recipes for the non-themed but seasonal food I made for the meeting. First, the healthy parts:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6145693126/" title="eats7685 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="eats7685" height="479" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6066/6145693126_a7cf02ccd1_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Not-quite caprese salad. Do you get tired of the classic combo: fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and vinaigrette? I've had it quite often this tomato season. I love it, but wanted some variety for my tomatoes, so I used a goat-cheese log and chopped dill and parsley, and a few black olives too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6145141965/" title="eats7687 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="eats7687" height="480" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6163/6145141965_d474705f29_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Carrot salad, but not cloyingly sweet, rather savory. It's similar to a Moroccan-Jewish (and also Israeli) recipe. Simple: grated carrots and vinaigrette made from oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar, cumin, Spanish smoked paprika, ground coriander, a crushed garlic clove, and a parsley garnish. Around half a teaspoon of each ground spice for around 1/2 cup oil and around 1/4 cup combined lemon juice and vinegar.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6145142143/" title="eats7688 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="eats7688" height="480" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6063/6145142143_48d1c35604_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Again I made peach-plum cake from the Polish cookbook. For the recipe see <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2011/06/picnic-game-from-louise.html">this post from last June</a>. Nearby you can see a watermelon and pineapple fruit bowl and the Whippets.</div><div><br /></div><div>And one more picture of current cooking ...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6145142383/" title="eats7691 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="eats7691" height="479" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6073/6145142383_0822e7dbf1_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>Tonight: steak on the grill with great grill marks. Thanks, Lenny.</div></div>

Good Eats

Last night my book club met at my house to discuss Just Kids by Patti Smith. We found the book very appealing and fascinating, and discusse...

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16.54

Wrap up: Simple Cooking

During our 3 weeks in Aspen (we leave Sunday), I've been paying a lot of attention to the contrast between elaborate restaurant meals and simple, more healthful home cooking -- as I've mentioned. When we arrived, I set myself a challenge: to cook without many condiments, spices, and extra ingredients; that is, I've been trying to buy only plain, unprocessed foods that are intended to be eaten at one or two meals. I'm avoiding a lot of food that normally remains on the shelf or in the refrigerator and would go to waste when I leave. Even peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches or hot dogs with crisp rolls and mustard qualify for my simple fare. <br /> <br />Here are a few things I've done. One night, I flavored pan-fried lamb sirloin with strips of red pepper, and served it with mustard, a few tomato wedges and sprigs of cilantro, and a side of steamed broccoli.<div> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FHnv_eivz11mvz-i9yz-w6QDqEh8yix02U2JhnjqiRoxU07lrTi3IWoO4pMopAhGmDq_ZZn43FpTTy3roRfYfps4xJhV4nqgmIKQRFa8MQ0M4oEvp7dMz4BhPhvMkg8uaU2a97Z17SZl/s1600/simple7134.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624116918366239682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FHnv_eivz11mvz-i9yz-w6QDqEh8yix02U2JhnjqiRoxU07lrTi3IWoO4pMopAhGmDq_ZZn43FpTTy3roRfYfps4xJhV4nqgmIKQRFa8MQ0M4oEvp7dMz4BhPhvMkg8uaU2a97Z17SZl/s400/simple7134.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>For dessert we ate fruit: cut-up cantaloupe, and strawberries. The cantaloupe was unadorned, but I glazed the berries with a mixture of 1/3 cup apricot jam (initially destined for PB&J) and 2 tablespoons of my wonderful wine vinegar made from Italian Pinot Grigio. I heated the glaze in a pyrex cup in the microwave so that it would melt together and be able to coat the strawberries. Sugar would be easier -- but bulk items like sugar or flour weren't on my very short list of pantry staples.</div><div> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue-qjfqp8CYGgkItwifIlqU-h_vQ1Bf_BjDIzhlJe2R4xnn4dTZNxl1A9wgkl7xii85sySYKFaHOlWzynZbVa_n1YrHpDksWcY7uPWVvJWjW0w2S-Ui6P3sRleaRWLG8M8DPNlAYm6n0F/s1600/simple7136.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624116923101834834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue-qjfqp8CYGgkItwifIlqU-h_vQ1Bf_BjDIzhlJe2R4xnn4dTZNxl1A9wgkl7xii85sySYKFaHOlWzynZbVa_n1YrHpDksWcY7uPWVvJWjW0w2S-Ui6P3sRleaRWLG8M8DPNlAYm6n0F/s400/simple7136.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>Another day, I made meatballs with sweet-sour sauce from some moderately low-fat ground beef. <div> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYM4vm_su7QMin22M82hl1JDYQB9nI2oFjlP1YX5uULtARd7A_shcqkv6E1EQp6mQvnqWvZ_Nm_w3maD4uy-rYszu5ssMdEDL8D-CNwr0tFeXTTLT7gLaeGcxQyki2YFnVa9RvC5KeqCAD/s1600/simple7218.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624120086113315490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYM4vm_su7QMin22M82hl1JDYQB9nI2oFjlP1YX5uULtARd7A_shcqkv6E1EQp6mQvnqWvZ_Nm_w3maD4uy-rYszu5ssMdEDL8D-CNwr0tFeXTTLT7gLaeGcxQyki2YFnVa9RvC5KeqCAD/s400/simple7218.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><meta charset="utf-8">To make the meatball mixture, I had no flour or prepared bread crumbs, but I crushed a few AkMak sesame crackers to serve that purpose. Besides fixing the texture, this gave the meat balls a bit of sesame flavor. Other ingredients: an egg, some chopped onion, and of course my Spanish smoked paprika and Trader Joe's salt, the two trusty spices I brought with me. The meatball mixture also had a tablespoon or two of the sweet-sour sauce I made. In this: a can of prepared organic tomato sauce, a drizzle of my wonderful vinegar, a shake of salt and paprika, and 2 purloined packets of brown sugar from a cafe (yes, that's cheating, I know, but I did buy a cup of coffee). I sauteed the meatballs in a bit of olive oil and added the sauce, which I'd heated in the microwave. Garnish again: tomato and fresh cilantro. On the side: fresh pineapple chunks also from the supermarket.</div><div> <br />Not all restaurant cooking is that much different, though it frequently has considerably more added fat and salt. Here is an admittedly delicious restaurant salad at Mezzaluna restaurant that wasn't that much more complex than my concoctions:<div> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCGo02w0A5Z9uNMc0mjFDv75y560cKjMEmKyBRGWn-ICiWU3H4HG75aZ9Abd2tsbJiliIkRcknbHvqhkVSDBOkH1ZYfaF7I6SpiYzD5jkkCEbRBeisw31gqjO0ScZBjOmJMSC399imfFs/s1600/simple7202.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624116919414838130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCGo02w0A5Z9uNMc0mjFDv75y560cKjMEmKyBRGWn-ICiWU3H4HG75aZ9Abd2tsbJiliIkRcknbHvqhkVSDBOkH1ZYfaF7I6SpiYzD5jkkCEbRBeisw31gqjO0ScZBjOmJMSC399imfFs/s400/simple7202.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" /></a></div></div><div> <br /></div><div><meta charset="utf-8">The restaurant salad did contain quite a few more ingredients than most of my productions. The price was also a lot higher than cooking at home -- the overwhelming cost of restaurant meals is another motivating factor here in Aspen more than most places. </div></div>

Wrap up: Simple Cooking

During our 3 weeks in Aspen (we leave Sunday), I've been paying a lot of attention to the contrast between elaborate restaurant meals an...

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13.36

Even Simpler

Even Simpler

Continuing to report on how I cook in condo with good cooking equipent, but starting with a completely empty pantry and frige -- last night,...

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05.59

Cooking with basic ingredients

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptIbxvlD2TBDM977aabG63p2ovGhnb8NINQ9RBCcH2BeXD5wIKP8FmGvq-27MFQxkjUwcuS7zX9XD0nbFnvN4XxMCNUFikZckHkr6PgA-XqiRF7XF5kxpkY2o1Y1F1d0RlQcffOaZxGqd/s1600/basicfood6976.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618966945618833746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptIbxvlD2TBDM977aabG63p2ovGhnb8NINQ9RBCcH2BeXD5wIKP8FmGvq-27MFQxkjUwcuS7zX9XD0nbFnvN4XxMCNUFikZckHkr6PgA-XqiRF7XF5kxpkY2o1Y1F1d0RlQcffOaZxGqd/s400/basicfood6976.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" /></a><br />Last night I cooked two dishes: baked chicken with Spanish smoked paprika (I brought it with me from Santa Barbara) and Gratin Dauphinoise, my favorite potato dish. I learned this Alpine dish when I was in Grenoble, France, so it's appropriate to make it here in the Rocky Mountains, I think. Also, it requires no special condiments or spices. It's made of sliced potatoes, a chopped shallot (could be onion or garlic), milk (I discovered long ago that it's good with skim milk though the authentic version uses cream), real gruere cheese, and butter. I heat the milk with a bit of salt and pour it over the vegetables, cheese, and butter, which are layered in the baking dish. After baking it for an hour at 300, I turned it up to 425 and put the chicken in the oven. That's it: very basic.<br /><br />So far, here are the only condiments I have:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-wQ2aAZyouVtE_pUGD1mcAnB05NXYFAWqTTVolkey878vivoamTIxM8CAAYkD25EgPG7AeqDEEHWZupwRdUFFWkPfBvida6o2kl37m2Vt0vZBVyDigsNEJCNv8_5tS8SVEGZxvKu40Cc/s1600/basicfood6961.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618966951257868498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-wQ2aAZyouVtE_pUGD1mcAnB05NXYFAWqTTVolkey878vivoamTIxM8CAAYkD25EgPG7AeqDEEHWZupwRdUFFWkPfBvida6o2kl37m2Vt0vZBVyDigsNEJCNv8_5tS8SVEGZxvKu40Cc/s400/basicfood6961.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" /></a>Mayonnaise, olive oil, white wine viengar, Dijon mustard. And you can see my temporary kitchen.

Cooking with basic ingredients

Last night I cooked two dishes: baked chicken with Spanish smoked paprika (I brought it with me from Santa Barbara) and Gratin Dauphinoise, ...

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16.40

Back to Basics

Well, here we are in a condo in Aspen for 3 weeks. As is normal for such rentals, the kitchen is pretty well-equipped but NO food at all is left between occupants. I've done this in temporary condos before -- stocking a pantry and frige without spending a fortune on stuff that will be thrown away when I leave.<br /><br />This is a real challenge. How can one make simple meals with only a few ingredients. Home cooked food can use better materials, as I discussed in the <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2011/06/excellent-point.html">previous post</a>. But how to give them full-scale flavor? I thought I would keep track of what I did to try to make food that we'll like better than restaurant food.<br /><br />The nearest market (half a block from here) is called City Market, but it's really a Krogers. Last night when we first arrived, I bought some flavored rolls, sliced beef (of my preferred brand, Applegate), gruere cheese, a tub of whipped butter, and prepared potato salad. For dessert: strawberries and cookies. I also bought a box of cereal, coffee, milk, and orange juice. Somehow I brought my Trader Joe's Himalayan salt grinder with me.<br /><br />Tonight I needed to start cooking. Happily, City Market had a special on wild-caught Alaska salmon that they said came in today. I bought a pound of the salmon, various vegetables, a sour-dough bread, and three basics: olive oil, vinegar, and mustard. In the apartment's handy no-stick pan, I seared the salmon in a bit of olive oil, salted it a little, and covered it til done. Then I swirled in a spoonful of my butter and a splash of wine from my glass. (We had one bottle of Santa Barbara white wine that we babied in the hot car for the whole week on the way here!) Salad: avocado, lettuce, fresh cilantro leaves, tomato, and classic vinaigrette I made from the oil, vinegar, and mustard. The bread was good with a sop of the butter sauce -- after all, we're at home.<br /><br />Yes! The flavor of the simply-prepared never-frozen Alaska salmon beats every piece of fish I've recently tasted in any restaurant. The salad is fresher. And the total dinner is lighter and more enjoyable -- at least I think so. I'll be using the oil, vinegar, mustard, and cilantro in lots of ways.

Back to Basics

Well, here we are in a condo in Aspen for 3 weeks. As is normal for such rentals, the kitchen is pretty well-equipped but NO food at all is ...

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19.40

An Excellent Point!

I've been traveling and eating all my meals in restaurants (or just crackers and peanut butter or something like that). So I appreciated this point from the <span style="font-style:italic;">Atlantic</span> food section:<br /><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" >"I'm perturbed that people have gotten so turned around that they think restaurant food is the best food, and that today's modern, self -aware 'foodie' thinks that the highest level of cooking is to cook restaurant-style food in the home. Even in the finest restaurants, restaurant food, while delicious and deserving of its place as entertainment and theater, is really not the best food at all. It's over-sauced and over-salted and over-rich, because the only thing restaurant chefs have to worry about is that the food tastes exquisite on the table. They don't have to worry about whether you should eat less salt and fat or eat more vegetables or if you are consuming trans fats or saturated fat or petroleum. Even very good restaurants buy industrial commodity chicken and veal bones for their stock, and bulk up the plate with cheap commodity vegetables. What you pay for in most restaurants is for the transformation from ordinary into good or exquisite. And one of the ways that food is transformed is through copious amounts of butter, salt, and stocks." -- from <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/06/why-home-style-cooking-will-always-beat-restaurant-style/240195/">Why Home-Style Cooking Will Always Beat Restaurant-Style</a></span></blockquote>

An Excellent Point!

I've been traveling and eating all my meals in restaurants (or just crackers and peanut butter or something like that). So I appreciated...

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06.38

What is good at Trader Joe's?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4753219046/" title="TraderJoe3209 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="TraderJoe3209" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4753219046_84a21ff147.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Sometimes I think Trader Joe's is an emporium of pseudo-healthy junk food. Organic high calorie snacks. Appetizer pastries that you see at parties and pot-lucks all the time. And they are effusively friendly as illustrated by this welcoming sign and all the employees in Hawaiian shirts. Our TJs is pretty small compared to the ones where I shopped in LaJolla and Santa Barbara, too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4753218638/" title="TraderJoe3214 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="TraderJoe3214" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4753218638_eb5201d14a_m.jpg" width="240" /></a> Irresistible candy and other sweets are the most appealing thing at TJs. Bargain prices for Belgian chocolate. Cocoa almonds, candy-coated dried fruit, great lemon curd in a jar...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4753218752/" title="TraderJoe3211 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="TraderJoe3211" height="122" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4753218752_d2c10cd59d_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>  Sometimes I find bargains. These veggie burgers are cheaper than the same brand at Whole Foods. But mostly, Trader Joe's has its house brands.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4753218942/" title="TraderJoe3210 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="TraderJoe3210" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4753218942_97dbe5592f.jpg" width="375" /></a><br />And sometimes I think Trader Joe's is a wonderful place to get a meal when I don't really feel like cooking. Gyozas (a.k.a. potstickers). Ready-to-microwave meatballs with a jar of ready-to-serve sauce. Chicken breasts and sausages to put on skewers and cook outdoors on the grill. Pita bread, hummus, torillas, little bite-sized cheeses, tasty crackers. Not expensive.<br /><br />Even at the huge TJs in California, one couldn't make it the sole source of groceries. There just isn't enough variety or basic materials. Olive oil, ok. Spices, almost none at all. If you want to make Asian food, just buy the ready-made version. This is not ok all day every day. And the produce is very disappointing -- cheap, but not local and not always as fresh as I would like. I also prefer the wine selection elsewhere.<br /><br />The store is around 6 blocks from my house, so I'll probably keep picking up one or two things and a bunch of candy there from time to time. Yup.

What is good at Trader Joe's?

Sometimes I think Trader Joe's is an emporium of pseudo-healthy junk food. Organic high calorie snacks. Appetizer pastries that you see ...

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21.01

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An Excellent Point!

What is good at Trader Joe's?

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