Can you say cassoulet?

(Not my photo!)

Sure, that was easy, but have you ever made one?

The first time I tried this hearty winter dish was many years ago at La Coupole in Paris. Filled with pork, lamb, confit d'oie (preserved goose) sausage, beans, beans, beans, topped with a hot browned bread crumb crust, I was felled with one spoonful.

So I thought I would share the recipe with you all: Julia Child's, strategically trimmed, is better than anything I've had at restaurants out here; but then I paused. Am I crazy? No one I know is going to make the French version of pork and beans. Not a single person. Really.

If you are that anomaly, run out and buy or borrow the Art of French Cooking, and I'll give you a coupla tips. In the mean time, I've got to find some lamb bones to crack and braise in the oven. Because I have a craving for this dish and wonderful red wine, the perfect combination to warm you up on (what here in southern California passes for) a cold, cold winter night.

Help!

A decade back Fox's opened its Backside, serving terrific coffees and cappuccinos that were redolent with the scent of Italy.

Now, even a restless chef gets tired of doing the breakfast dishes. I stopped here recently. I don't mind (too much) the need for re upholstery, the faint sound of tv coming from the kitchen. And it's clear that the Backside is no longer the must stop coffee place it was when the daughter-in-law was running it. But this time when I ordered my double cap, it was mostly milk. Hmmm. (Consistency, people, is the reason people return to Starbucks!) After ten minutes of trying to sip it I asked the waittress for a shot of espresso. "Yeah," she said, "I kinda thought I didn't put enough coffee in the machine." I guess she kinda thought I wouldn't notice? That maybe I deep down really wanted a latte? Minus one dollar off the tip, lady. (I tip large, like most former recovering waitresses. But there were other infractions, trust me!)

To the point, to the point, to the point.

Local people, where in the heck do you go out to breakfast? And get a decent coffee? I mean, when you want something besides a sweet roll or croissant? Help! I mean it, really!

Little bites

This caught my eye, just as the writer says, for those days when you're having lunch at your desk.

Prescription for a Rainy Afternoon

The post here and the ensuing comments got me thinking of the pleasure of classic movies. My daughter has watched over and over again "A Streetcar Name Desire", "The Third Man", and "Night of the Hunter". Soon, very soon, I hope to introduce her to La Dolce Vita, with its marvelous echo of "Marcello, Marcello, Marcello," and its bouyant, bubbling music as it heads towards a somber climax.

Menu recommendations:

For Marlon and Tennessee, the movie set in New Orleans, you must must must whip up Edna Lewis's gumbo.

Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten grapple with moral terpitude and a gorgeous woman. Wait, set in Vienna? Wienerschnitzel. I promise to post a recipe soon.

Game, of course for the only film Charles Laughton directed. Robert Mitchum stalks, and those kids run like a couple of startled rabbits. Lapin a la chausseur.

Ah, La Dolce Vita. Start on your veranda with a small aperitivo. Follow with anything Italian.
Anything at all.

Let me know how your rainy afternoon goes--

Fast Food Fridays

What kind of wine snob are you? Must your white wine always be refrigerator cold, and your red wines dry?

Well, I've been around the block, once or twice. And even though my first sip of fermented grape juice was something pink from a jug by Gallo, I believe there's room for lots of different things. Like chilled, slightly bubbly, slightly sweet red wine, called Lambrusco. You can find this particular bottle at Trader Joe's for under $5. It's fruity, deep purple, low alcohol, and just fun. Grape juice for grown ups. Stock up and stash one in the fridge. Then, on that night when you've got nothing ready, swing by your favorite Italian deli for prosciutto, olives, assorted Italian cold cuts, chunks of Pecorino. Display it all fetchingly on a platter and you've got dinner. Fast. And delicious.

Food Rules

Michael Pollan's come out with a new book. Apparently he's got 64 rules for us mortals to follow. Sheesh, God herself limited it to 10. All I can say, Michael, is that's about 61 more than I can follow.

You can read more here.

Eating Crow

Yup. I can pick 'em. TED (Technology Entertainment Design) just awarded Jamie Oliver $100,000 to help him in his pursuit of educating (scolding, although benevolently) Americans in healthy eating. Want to see his 20 minute talk? Well, instead of shelling out $6,000 and heading down to Long Beach, you can watch it right here.

Or, you can click here, then scroll down to find Jamie in a much less dignified role-I think he impersonates all the Village People, in this video promoting his UK series--

How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth...

Posts here here and here got me thinking about children's capacity for inspiring within us tender emotions. My own sweet thing is headed off to college in the fall, and it dawned on me that she would be living on her own.

Our conversation:
"Guess you'll have to learn to cook."
"Yeah! Quick things, healthy things, and not too expensive, either."
"Well, I've got lots of recipes on my blog, and I can post things for you."
"I'm not going to read your blog!" intoned with the scorn only a teenager can produce.