"Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message >...
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message
>
> > Yes, I suppose that's true. Foodies do differ though. My sister
> would
> > pass most descriptions as a foodie, but, unlike most I know, she
> > insists on sticking to reciepts and is deeply scornful of anybody
> who
> > doesn't - she consequently is frequently amazed when something
> > produced without one tastes superbe. Odd behaviour in my opinion,
> but
> > then that is something to be expected of siblings.
>
> I was at someone's home and some sweet young things were making
> biscuits. I watched them for a brief moment while I made tea and
> then advised that they were putting too many biscuits on the tray.
> The biscuits needed much more room to spread. They asked me if I'd
> ever made these biscuits before. I replied that I hadn't. They
> duly ignored me. They landed up with a more or less solid piece of
> confectionary as it spread all over the tray. :-) There was much
> amazement that I could predict such a thing. I responded that any
> biscuit recipe made with a small amount of flour and a large amount
> of butter and sugar was going to spread to make a flat crisp
> biscuit.
>
> I explained that there were certain principles in cooking and baking
> and that when one mastered them one could determine just from
> looking at a recipe what the results are going to be like. Later
> that evening they proceeded to microwave a (raw) pie despite the
> fact that I explained that one has wet and dry cooking and microwave
> ovens fall into the wet cooking category. I fortunately didn't have
> to eat the resulting mess when they didn't listen to me.
>
> Cooking is interesting because it is both a left brain and a right
> brain (and a sensuous) activity.
>
Yes, it is sensuous - and both an art and a science, as you so rightly
point out.

What amazes me is how anybody could have had the patience and
brilliance to invent mayonnaise.

I'd never thought of uncooked pies as raw before, but I see that they
are, though their contents could be partially cooked.

Actually that is another thing. Apart from the unmentionable horror in
bottles that is mis-labelled mayonnaise, I have found two quite
separate schools of thought on the matter of mayonnaise. I am very
keen on good aioli, as found in bouillabaise. This has a rich dark
yellow colour because of the saffron, of course, and a magnificent
taste because of the raw garlic. I find mayonnaise made from clear
vegetable oils pleasant but a little insipid for my taste, so I
usually make it from extra virgin olive oil, which makes it look half
way to an aioli even before you add the saffron and garlic. Many
people find this delighful, my brother and me in particular, my sister
and mother, however, find it unpleasantly overpowering.

I find this peculiar, but it fits also with their distaste for
Portugese Olive Oil, which has a far stronger flavour than the Fench
or Italian variety.

I wonder if their is a non profit world wide association of foodie
dinner clubs. If there were then there might be the possibility of
recipricity where, on visiting any city in the world, a welcome to the
local dinner club could be arranged through an introductory letter.

"Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

> Yes, it is sensuous - and both an art and a science, as you so
rightly
> point out.

> What amazes me is how anybody could have had the patience and
> brilliance to invent mayonnaise.

I don't like mayonnaise much, not even the homemade variety,
although in small quantities it does have a role to play in some
dishes. By and large I don't make or eat many things using
mayonnaise.

> Actually that is another thing. Apart from the unmentionable
horror in
> bottles that is mis-labelled mayonnaise, I have found two quite
> separate schools of thought on the matter of mayonnaise. I am very
> keen on good aioli, as found in bouillabaise. This has a rich dark
> yellow colour because of the saffron, of course, and a magnificent
> taste because of the raw garlic. I find mayonnaise made from clear
> vegetable oils pleasant but a little insipid for my taste, so I
> usually make it from extra virgin olive oil, which makes it look
half
> way to an aioli even before you add the saffron and garlic. Many
> people find this delighful, my brother and me in particular, my
sister
> and mother, however, find it unpleasantly overpowering.

Would one use correspondingly less mayonnaise? I am very fond of
Waldorf salad which uses celery, walnuts (I use pecan nuts as I
don't like the bitter taste of walnuts) and apple with a touch of
mayonnaise. I thin the mayonnaise with Bulgarian yoghurt and find
it improves the salad no end.

> I find this peculiar, but it fits also with their distaste for
> Portugese Olive Oil, which has a far stronger flavour than the
Fench
> or Italian variety.

I prefer stronger flavoured oils - one uses less of them.

> I wonder if their is a non profit world wide association of foodie
> dinner clubs. If there were then there might be the possibility of
> recipricity where, on visiting any city in the world, a welcome to
the
> local dinner club could be arranged through an introductory
letter.

Again, I would point you to the cooking newsgroup. I'm sure that
you'd do well on that newsgroup - warning it has a zillion posts
every day, though - the reason I only lurk there sometimes - I'm
sure that would work well. A pleasant poster such as yourself would
usually be worth a dinner invitation. While flame wars abound there
are some delightful posters.

Moira, the Faerie Godmother

"Peter H.M. Brooks" a écrit :

> I am very
> keen on good aioli, as found in bouillabaise. This has a rich dark
> yellow colour because of the saffron, of course, and a magnificent
> taste because of the raw garlic.

What you are speaking about is not aioli (which has no saffron in it), but rouille (basically, an aioli
flavored with saffron and Cayenne pepper). Aioli is not served with bouillabaisse, it's served with "morue"
(salt cod) or leg of lamb, with a big side dish of cooked vegetables.

Nathalie in Switzerland, aioli lover

"Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message >...
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

>
> > Actually that is another thing. Apart from the unmentionable
> horror in
> > bottles that is mis-labelled mayonnaise, I have found two quite
> > separate schools of thought on the matter of mayonnaise. I am very
> > keen on good aioli, as found in bouillabaise. This has a rich dark
> > yellow colour because of the saffron, of course, and a magnificent
> > taste because of the raw garlic. I find mayonnaise made from clear
> > vegetable oils pleasant but a little insipid for my taste, so I
> > usually make it from extra virgin olive oil, which makes it look
> half
> > way to an aioli even before you add the saffron and garlic. Many
> > people find this delighful, my brother and me in particular, my
> sister
> > and mother, however, find it unpleasantly overpowering.
>
> Would one use correspondingly less mayonnaise? I am very fond of
> Waldorf salad which uses celery, walnuts (I use pecan nuts as I
> don't like the bitter taste of walnuts) and apple with a touch of
> mayonnaise. I thin the mayonnaise with Bulgarian yoghurt and find
> it improves the salad no end.
>
Yes, that would be good, I can see that. Mayonnaise is a little thick
for a salad like that - it is better with tongue [though hot tongue is
a better vehicle for mustard or mustard sauce], or other cold meats.
>
> > I find this peculiar, but it fits also with their distaste for
> > Portugese Olive Oil, which has a far stronger flavour than the
> Fench
> > or Italian variety.
>
> I prefer stronger flavoured oils - one uses less of them.
>
Absolutely!
>
> > I wonder if their is a non profit world wide association of foodie
> > dinner clubs. If there were then there might be the possibility of
> > recipricity where, on visiting any city in the world, a welcome to
> the
> > local dinner club could be arranged through an introductory
> letter.
>
> Again, I would point you to the cooking newsgroup. I'm sure that
> you'd do well on that newsgroup - warning it has a zillion posts
> every day, though - the reason I only lurk there sometimes - I'm
> sure that would work well. A pleasant poster such as yourself would
> usually be worth a dinner invitation. While flame wars abound there
> are some delightful posters.
>
How kind of you to say so!

I did cross-post this to rec.food.cooking a couple of posts back when
it seemed to fit well. There hasn't been that much response, so I'll
try the uk cooking group that is a quieter backwater.

Actually last night Verity reminded me that we did join a dinner club
in Bristol some years ago. We paid our subs and checked the times to
see if each week would make it, but we never actually went - not even
once. It was very silly of us, in retrospect, I suspect that we were
too shy. Maybe, now we are older and accept faux pas as a standard
part of life we'll be more sensible...

Moira de Swardt wrote:

>
> Again, I would point you to the cooking newsgroup. I'm sure that
> you'd do well on that newsgroup - warning it has a zillion posts
> every day, though - the reason I only lurk there sometimes - I'm
> sure that would work well. A pleasant poster such as yourself would
> usually be worth a dinner invitation. While flame wars abound there
> are some delightful posters.
>
> Moira, the Faerie Godmother
Don't you mean flambe' wars?
--

Slow Eddy

"Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message
om...
> "Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message
>...
> > "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

*snip*

> > I was at someone's home and some sweet young things were making
> > biscuits. .....They duly ignored me. They landed up with a more or
less solid piece of
> > confectionary as it spread all over the tray. :-) There was much
> > amazement that I could predict such a thing. I responded that any
> > biscuit recipe made with a small amount of flour and a large amount
> > of butter and sugar was going to spread to make a flat crisp biscuit.


Oh, what bliss to have been a fly on the wall & see them eat humble pie.

Raelene
xxx


---
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Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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"Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

> Actually last night Verity reminded me that we did join a dinner
club
> in Bristol some years ago. We paid our subs and checked the times
to
> see if each week would make it, but we never actually went - not
even
> once. It was very silly of us, in retrospect, I suspect that we
were
> too shy. Maybe, now we are older and accept faux pas as a standard
> part of life we'll be more sensible...

Actually, a well timed faux pas can put everyone at their ease. A
well known South African personality, usually suave and genteel,
made a seemingly unforgiveable comment (managing to potentially
offend about half the people in the room) at the last dinner party
he attended at my home. We loved him for it. :-) So human!

Moira, the Faerie Godmother

"Nathalie Chiva" > wrote in message
...
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" a écrit :
>
> > I am very
> > keen on good aioli, as found in bouillabaise. This has a rich dark
> > yellow colour because of the saffron, of course, and a magnificent
> > taste because of the raw garlic.
>
> What you are speaking about is not aioli (which has no saffron in it), but
rouille (basically, an aioli
> flavored with saffron and Cayenne pepper). Aioli is not served with
bouillabaisse, it's served with "morue"
> (salt cod) or leg of lamb, with a big side dish of cooked vegetables.
>
> Nathalie in Switzerland, aioli lover
>
Thank you, Nathalie, for restoring my faith in humanity! Yes, of course you
are right!

Aioli is wonderful with lamb, I agree - and I like it with tongue.

"Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message
>
> > Actually last night Verity reminded me that we did join a dinner
> club
> > in Bristol some years ago. We paid our subs and checked the times
> to
> > see if each week would make it, but we never actually went - not
> even
> > once. It was very silly of us, in retrospect, I suspect that we
> were
> > too shy. Maybe, now we are older and accept faux pas as a standard
> > part of life we'll be more sensible...
>
> Actually, a well timed faux pas can put everyone at their ease. A
> well known South African personality, usually suave and genteel,
> made a seemingly unforgiveable comment (managing to potentially
> offend about half the people in the room) at the last dinner party
> he attended at my home. We loved him for it. :-) So human!
>
Not a faux pas then...

I do rather wonder what somebody really is when they are known as a
'personality' - I'd hate to be so known!

"Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

> I do rather wonder what somebody really is when they are known as
a
> 'personality' - I'd hate to be so known!

It means the name is probably sufficiently well known in "ordinary"
circles to merit an unlisted number and zealously guarded privacy.
However, he is not so well known that name dropping would be
forgiveable. :-)

Moira, the Faerie Godmother

"Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message
>
> > I do rather wonder what somebody really is when they are known as
> a
> > 'personality' - I'd hate to be so known!
>
> It means the name is probably sufficiently well known in "ordinary"
> circles to merit an unlisted number and zealously guarded privacy.
>
I found a much better way of getting an unlisted number - just misspell it.
>
> However, he is not so well known that name dropping would be
> forgiveable. :-)
>
I'd hope never to know anybody who'd give me the temptation to drop their
names.

"Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message

> I'd hope never to know anybody who'd give me the temptation to
drop their
> names.

Even famous people are entitled to friends.

Moira, the Faerie Godmother

"Moira de Swardt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote in message
>
> > I'd hope never to know anybody who'd give me the temptation to
> drop their
> > names.
>
> Even famous people are entitled to friends.
>
Well, yes, I wouldn't add friendlessness to their general list of worries
gratuitiously, but the phenomenon of name-dropping attests to the fact that
the rich or famous have a more than usual need to be aware that many of
their 'friends' are likely to be fair-weather at least and scroungers quite
possibly.

This is one reason why people who suffer from great wealth or fame often
consort only with those with similar afflictions (as birds of similar
feather are well known to do) in the hope that they will find genuine
friends.


--
'Happiness lies in conquering one's enemies, driving them in front of
oneself, in taking their property, in savouring their despair, in outraging
their wives and daughters.' - Genghis Khan