Pat

His original question related to great-great grandparents, getting beyond this issue even for most young people.

Authors want their books to sell, but, nonetheless, publishers make those the decisions rather than authors. Making money for a mom and pop store is nice, but you're not going to turn away sales from Barnes and Noble or Costco.If Pollan wanted to be extremely ascetic, he would self-publish and sell only through outlets he approved of, not publish with Penguin (the publisher on the copy I have). ETA: I wouldn't expect him to do that.

I took him to mean that as well. He's talking about foods in as close to their original form as possible, as I read the article (and however far I am through the book). He may not have mentioned cooking because he assumed that people would be doing that. I don't think he's necessarily a raw food advocate, and people will be using fats and spices to cook.There was that one particular comment about how he and his mother don't eat that stuff anymore, and I thought it referred to margarine, crisco, and transfats--if not exclusively, primarily.

It (the beet and goat cheese martini, et al.) is not something that appeals to me personally. I'm slightly intrigued by breaking food and beverage into components and rearranging them in unexpected ways, enough so that I enjoy reading about molecular gastronomy but have not yet had a compelling urge to go to Minibar.

I'm not sure, but he sold a copy sooner than he would have if I hadn't seen it there .

While I think it's generally a good guideline, I'm not sure I'd really want to eat only foods my great-great grandmother would recognize as food. The elder of my two grandmothers was born in 1876 (the other, I believe, was born in 1898). I don't know when my great-great grandmothers were born, but their food choices were far more limited than those of my relatives who lived in the twentieth century. While I was interested in Pollan's concept of nutritionism when I read the Unhappy Meals article, I wonder how much it is a 20th-21st century version of the 19th century ideology/ies espoused by Graham, Kellogg, and their health-promoting contemporaries. I can't really say too much more without reading the book.

So much for reading the other books first. I saw the new Pollan book at Costco ($13.49) and have started reading it. I haven't gotten far enough into it to make any comment, though.

Interesting. I've brined turkey, but I wouldn't think of brining individual poultry parts. Dinner tonight was an adaptation of a Julia Child recipe for French Onion Soup gratineed with cheese. I used leeks, shallots, and garlic to round out the specified yellow onions, since I had them to use. I managed to grate some ancient gruyere (mentioned elsewhere) very finely, but it was hard to get any bigger pieces. That meant that the cheese over the bread didn't give thorough coverage when it went under the broiler. No edge-to-edge cheese barrier on the soup bowl. Tasted great, though. The rest of the meal was mostly leftovers turned into a stirfry (pork, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, garlic, wild rice).

You seem to be doing better at it than I do, if that's any consolation. Cream of carrot soup sounds good. Thyme would be good in that, if you have it. (That's something I always have dried because I buy it at Penzey's in big bags that last forever. Different project ).I'm making a 4-onion soup tonight to use up garlic, shallots, and yellow onions (why do I buy them at Costco?) and a stray leek. If it's still grate-able, I'll be using the rock-hard gruyere in the cheese drawer, making this a French 4-way onion soup. I've got a baguette in the freezer I can pull out to use for the bread.

Is it 1/2 cup? You could try whipping it, but that's a pretty small amount to start with. You could always mix it with milk or half and half to stretch it for cooking. You can use it in coffee. Put a couple of tablespoons into a soup. Do you have potatoes? It would be nice in mashed or twice baked potatoes or a gratin.

That sounds wonderful. I'm working more on the bland end of the spectrum, but I was planning to put a little miso in at the end, and simmering a couple of star anise in the broth sounds like a good idea. Thanks!

Right now I'm simmering an improvised chicken soup. My husband's not feeling so great, so other plans have turned into chicken soup.

salad of red butter lettuce, radicchio, radishes, carrots, and crumbled cheddar; balsamic vinaigrette baked chicken breasts steamed green beans with toasted almonds rice pilaf Marvelous Market olive bread with kalamata olive oil for dipping

That sounds good. Thank you.

. I used to follow a recipe for it and pretty much now throw things together without noting what I'm doing. This was the original marinade, from the Post's Dinner Tonight feature in 1996. I usually use a little orange juice or honey instead of sugar. Sometimes I use hot sauce instead of all or some of the soy and mustard instead of or in addition to the ginger. If it marinates too long, the bourbon flavor can be too strong in the final product, especially since I don't measure the bourbon all that carefully . I don't usually marinate overnight--maybe 6 hours.

I read the article that is the precursor to it but haven't seen the book yet. I recall the part about not eating anything your great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. I've got a bit of a backlog of books to get to, so I won't be reading this until I've cleared some of that out.

Are they the directions given here?I must say, it does sound intriguing.

The Washington Business Journal article, which is probably mentioned upthread, said that it was being torn down and would be a high rise office building. When it was first news, it sounded as though the restaurant was relocating while the hotel was still open.ETA: The discussion of the WBJ article, etc., is on the previous page of this thread.

Is the response I gleaned from that chat the answer?

What else went into the dressing?

That's where I've gotten them.

I drew my conclusion from his response in this chat.

leftover black-eyed pea salad pork tenderloin sandwiches (w/provolone and bbq sauce on Marvelous Market baguette)

marinated black-eyed pea salad steamed broccoli bourbon-marinated pork tenderloin

lunch of leftovers: beer and cheese soup tex-mex macaroni and cheese They made a good combination. I'm rather full now. Good thing I didn't have breakfast .