Comfort foods

[JackFavell]

Stalk Brussels sprouts are sometimes a really good deal, if they are not skimpy. They can be as low as 4.99, which figuring you get at least 3 times as many sprouts as in those little pint containers that sell for 3.99, is a tremendous deal. I like to halve the sprouts, and roast them with oil and salt in the oven = always my go to plan for cooking anything.

[RedRiver]

I liked those old TV dinners! Great flavor! I imagine the microwave forced the change in packaging. You can't put aluminum in them!

[MissGoddess]

i don't believe i have ever seen Brussels sprouts on stalks.

.99????! I usually prefer golden potatoes but for that price I'd take russets.

[JackFavell]

Sometimes here in CT they have them in the grocery store, laying in between the rows of other produce. The only problem is, you have to cut them off the stalk which is a pain, and then you have to dispose of the stalk.

[MissGoddess]

i was going to ask if the stalks were edible! i guess only if you're a rabbit.

[CineMaven]

I was walking down Fifth Avenue today towards the Museum of Modern Art ( to get my James Bond tkts )



And I heard voices coming out of a store calling for you, Miss G.

...the good news is we are getting a Fairway market in my neighborhood, and they have (at least until recently) been the least expensive for high quality food and produce. they're opening around the end of november, i'm more excited about it than if Bergdorf's was opening by me.

Apparently Bergdorf's reads the SSO, too.

Okay okay...I'll leave you guys to talk about food.

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't think I could ever eat a brussell sprout nowadays, too traumatic from my childhood, I wouldn't eat any veg but it's sprouts that I remember having the real trauma over. My Mum boiled the life out of everything, nothing had colour when it came to the table.

Chris was telling Libby the other day about learning new things, she's good at the academic, not as good on the practical. He was telling her how when we set up house I could only heat soup, I couldn't cook a thing and whenever I picked up a knife (I'm left handed) how he thought we'd have to go to the emergency room, she was amazed and missed the point that everyone has to start somewhere, even someone who couldn't cook at the age of 25. Now I make everything in the house and bake often for charity, it never occured to her that I didn't learn that in school, I'm self taught but she will be taught by me.

[JackFavell]

Don't you think we're more sophisticated about out food now? Everyone boiled their veggies back when I was kid, rather than steaming, and no one roasted anything.

[MissGoddess]

i think when it comes to cooking, it's going back around. people knew much more about sensible and tasty eating 100-200 years ago, and then in the 20th century with mass production taking over they lost the way, and now are going back to things that they think are "new" when in fact our great, great grandmothers did it all the time with no big deal. after all, "organic" is what everyone in the world ate for thousands of years.

if any of you have read how green was my valley, go back over the paragraphs of Hew's mother's cooking. i get famished just thinking about it!

[MissGoddess]

I was walking down Fifth Avenue today towards the Museum of Modern Art ( to get my James Bond tkts )

hahahaaaaaa!! fortunately, that is NOT my neighborhood...or should I say UNfortunately? I hate to admit that BG is actually the only store credit card I have kept. I cut up all the others a long time ago, but this one I kept. sadly, all i can afford to shop on it are my favorite skin care products.

[RedRiver]

Don't you think we're more sophisticated about out food now?

I had a downright ELEGANT Rally Burger yesterday! (If you're not familiar, don't ask!)

[charliechaplinfan]

I think we must be, it's in fashion too, to be able to cook or appreciate food. There weren't the number of TV programmes devoted to cooking when I was a child, Fanny Craddock and the Galloping Gourmet and then good old Delia got going, then was the turn of the chefs. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather watch Delia or The Hairy Bikers, which is another Brit show but they concentrate on cooking, the kind of stuff we do in the home, rather than presentation and expense which can be the downfall of chefs. I do like some of Jamie Oliver's stuff though. There is an art to cooking now, whereas to my Mum it was always another job to be done, my Dad once he retired took over he bought all manor of recipes books and made things she'd never have dreamed of doing, she had a very predictable menu but perhaps this was to keep cost and waste down. Nowadays she just tuts at my Dad like he's a beginner but I have to say, I'll eat his veggies. If I have any failings it's having too many recipes in my head at one time and failing to make everything, then my storecupboard gets full and I have to start whittling it down again, I never throw anything away though.

[JackFavell]

I don't know Delia or The Hairy Bikers, but one of my favorite Brit cooking shows was Two Fat Ladies. I'm also a fan of Jamie Oliver, he's a great person, and I've signed petitions and checked out the school food programs here because of him.

My mom was the one with the simple good food, Alison, she made the best roasts, spaghetti, and ribs, but very traditional, and she was a phenomenal baker, she could make anything, bread pie crust cakes, cheesecake. My dad was the one who was adventurous, sometimes far too much, adding hot peppers to spaghetti, so that when you would eat it, expecting a regular taste, your mouth would burn for half an hour - he thought it was funny to make a salad with habaneras and take it to a party. Some of his dishes were great, but some were real flops, and frankly, day after day, my mouth wants traditional good plain cooking, not the fancy experiments. That doesn't mean I don't absolutely love to make something brand new, my favorites are Indian food and I once made a Beef Wellington for Christmas that was killer, but of course that is sort of traditional, isn't it?

[MissGoddess]

i love super spicy. i must eat a peck of cayenne a year! i put it in everything.

[JackFavell]

I love spicy too, I did inherit that from my dad. I just like it best when I know that's what I'm going to be eating. Indian, Mexican, anything hot is good, but I do draw the line at still being able to taste the flavors through the hot. I also like sushi, but probably most because I love pickled ginger and wasabi.