You might think he's doing something else. But in reality, he's learning how to sit/stay, and not doing a very good job of it (he eventually learned how to do so beautifully ... sort of ).

giovedì 8 luglio 2010

Leftovers

Leftovers. What a discomfiting notion.

They often happen after a party, or Thanksgiving, or when your eyes are much bigger than your stomach. In this case, we have leftovers from the 4th of July. Fortunately, we have the Three Stooges.

Steve Wilson has a fun site (http://www.la-story.com/) and provides a “What to do with 4th of July leftovers” piece. Unfortunately for us, nothing appears for potato salad.

Not that it wasn’t good. It was. But there was far too much of it, and other more exciting things crammed the table; it got shafted.

“Leftovers are the uneaten edible remains of a meal after the dinner is over, and everyone has finished eating … The ultimate fate of leftovers depends on where the meal was eaten.” Source: Wikipedia, of course. Which continues: “Leftovers from a restaurant meal may either be left behind to be discarded by the restaurant, or taken away by the diner for later consumption. In order to take the food away, the diner may request for it to be packaged [hell, why not take the plate?]. The container used for such leftovers is commonly called a doggy bag or doggie bag; the name comes from the euphemistic pretense that the food will be given to the diner’s pet …” If you click on wiki’s link to “doggy bag” you come up with “foam plastic container.” Nothing dog-like about it, and nothing bag-like about it, either.

Well, I resent that “euphemistic pretense,” since we actually have dogs, and we actually feed them leftover restaurant food. Oh, and our food, too. Canine nutritionists the world over probably curse us (in the highly unlikely event that they are reading this). It’s nice to have marvelous beings among us who provide a penultimate link to throwing food out (a very bad thing to do).

The most marvelous epicurious.com lists 81 recipes for “leftovers,” and most of the recipes are … well … bizarre … like “Wichcraft’s Roasted Turkey, Avocado, Bacon, Onion Relish, and Aioli on Ciabatta” (sounds a wee bit busy, but good), “Turkey and Sweet Potato Sandwich” (thanks but no thanks),(sounds much too much like the horrifying English chip butty (buttie?): French fries wedged between two slices of bread, perfect for sobering up after a night down the pub and not much else). Of the 81 recipes, 10 are devoted to turkey, so you know we’re thinking Day after Thanksgiving. And how does “Coriander Crusted Scallops with Chive Potato Hash and Sweet Corn Sauce”[1] constitute a leftover? My goodness, what did the dinner guests eat the night before?

The penultimate Joy of Cooking lists three recipes, and all make perfect sense: risotto pancake, sandwiches from, and turkey.

What to do with leftover pesto cheesecake? [2](Feed it to the Stooges.) Potato salad? (Make hash, top with poached egg, and too much hot sauce.)

The potato salad’s all gone now, and the Stooges now know what blue cheese tastes like … if they hadn’t already.

[1] A difficult dish for those of us in Italy. Unless you have access to a great market (Vivi in Florence, and the Mercato Centrale, for sure) or your own garden, coriander’s tough to find. Scallops are virtually impossible, but can be had. Corn? Well, here they feed it to the pigs; those of you who aren’t in Italy, please think of all of us the next time you bite intoa Silver Queen cob.
[2] From the Joy of Cooking. Recipe went over like the proverbial lead balloon. Perhaps it’s best to stick to sweet cheesecakes. No one seemed to know what to do with its savory cousin. Bless the Stooges.

Nessun commento:

Posta un commento