Category Archives: Uncategorized

An Allen Sherman, of Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh fame, classic here, Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other

You gotta listen for quite a while before he gets to corned beef, liverwurst and rye. Gives you a chance to work up an appetite.

Discography, silly songbook and great snaps here.

Betty Crocker’s New Boys and Girls Cookbook, 1957

These images look fresh to me in this anti-garnish, seriously-simple, painfully tasteful food era. The paperware is so mod and fun. Dare to squirt mustard in curlicue squiggles! Make your burger happy and sassy! Round up your franks! Serve on warm, buttered buns, as suggested.

Photo by Renee Comet
Foodstyling by Lisa Cherkasky

My favorite lunch when I was about 8 was a peanut butter and banana sandwich, slogged down, glug, glug, glug, with egg nog. Used to walk home from school for lunch – this was Wisconsin, mind you, and kind of a long time ago. The lunch break was from 11:50 to 1:00. Why I remember that I do not know. The egg nog recipe was/is in the Betty Crocker Blender cookbook, spiral bound and cheery. Made you want to just tear into it and blend up a storm.

The sandwich was a proper sandwich, neither open-faced nor on an English muffin. English muffin indeed! Nevah. At least not for lunch.

The nog recipe is 1 cup milk (must be full fat, yeah!), 1 egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, dash nutmeg. That’s it. An everyday, unfancy nog. That I will never forget. Course now I’m terrified to give it to anyone. Hate to have to haul the body out after salmonella-induced expiration. Guess that’s not funny. Clearly I have never had salmonella or I wouldn’t be making fun. Hand slap.

Good popover recipe in that book too, particularly if you view popovers as primarily a hot-butter-ferrying system.

That lunch sounds really thick to me now. Wonder if I could choke it down. Bet I could. Especially in front of an 11-inch black and white in my mother’s Appleton “breakfast nook”.

The Breakfast Nook

Afternote: Dang it all. Got the book wrong, but hate to think of that cause it loosens the mortar of my childhood memories. The popover/blender book is/was The Blender Cookbook, by Ann Seranne and Eileen Gaden. No happy young adults on the cover, no egg nog recipe between the covers. My brain has combined this book, much used and loved, with the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook, and a phantom source for the nog recipe.

This may require some deep digging for recovered memory. Guess what though, don’t wanna go down that dark alley, who knows what my be lurking? A memory mugger, eager to knock me down and snatch my precious childhood. Naw, I’ll stay on the sofa and lounge in blissful delusion.

Cafe Parisien Express Croque Monsieur

I picked up a slippery-on-the-outside, crunchy-on-the-inside sandwich at the Cafe Parisien Express and took it to the park for lunch. Un pique-nique sur l’herbe, so to speak. Although the l’herbe was crunchier than the croque, seeing as it has rained a mere 4 times since May.

When I got up all the grass under me was snapped in half. A pile of wispy toothpicks.

The magazine was too slick to recycle, kinda like a greasy pizza box.

Not a drip or crumb left. The croque was superbe.

Visiting celebrity Dan Epstein, originator and sole proprietor of La Vie en Robe has a few choice words about meatloaf sandwiches, which he eats, I presume, in his bathrobe. Lucky guy, he has a custom made Levi’s terry-denim (60/40) robe.

As fer meatloaf, my all-time favorite ‘loaf is the bacon-wrapped, ketchup-and-brown-sugar-glazed recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, as lovingly prepared every few years by my wife. My preferred mode of consumption is to eat said ‘loaf on top of a pile of homemade mac and cheese (the latter preferably slightly burned); but when it comes to meatloaf sandwiches, give me cold (or room temp at most) meatloaf on hearty rye with a chunk of iceberg lettuce and a dab of russian dressing — nothing else. The tang of the rye and the sweetness of the ‘loaf and dressing are a heavenly match, and the cold lettuce cleanses the palate for the next delicious bite. Any additional ingredient would just get in the way…

Goddamn, my salivary glands are starting to kick into gear just thinking about it…

(What I want to know is, what’s a nice boy named Dan Epstein doing with ketchup on his loaf. This bucks my numbers.)

~Su-Per Iceberg~
And I say,
Iceberg? Yes! Wet and crunchy. You can feel the cells bursting when you bite. Is that Russian dressing a staple in your household?

And he says,
And yes, Russian dressing is indeed a standard fridge item ’round here. Iceberg lettuce, not so much; my wife handles the groceries, but that’s one of those things that — like Colt .45 malt liquor — I have to go out and buy myself if I feel a hankerin’ comin’ on…

Dan and I were introduced by a mutual fab friend who is not above eating meatloaf. She may have a chic mid-century modern in Palm Springs, but she can polka with the best of ’em. Jenn eats her meatloaf with “mustard – not ketchup thankyouverymuch.” And she prefers, “‘elevating’ it with a crunchier, fancier bread or roll instead of the run-of-the-mill Wonderbread.” Look out!

BIG ED
While I have meatloaf on my mind…

The best meatloaf sandwich in the world (and my favorite all time sandwich) can be had at Big Ed’s in Reno, NV. There is a large slab of delicious meatloaf, chutney, cheddar and pepperjack cheese on sourdough bread. It is then grilled so the cheese is all gooey. My brother actually ordered this sandwich with bacon once—I figured why tamper with perfection.

Both my brothers live in Reno and when I visit, the first thing we do when they pick me up at the airport is to head to Big Ed’s for lunch. One time, they had run out of meatloaf by the time I got there so we had to go the next day.
Paula J

And more from Paula’s brother:
Big Ed’s has been around for about 20 years (the building housed the Depression Deli before that). It is nestled between the Alturas biker bar, DbarM saddlery, and the strip joint across the street. It attracts a mixed clientele from state senators, lawyers, to the average working Joe. Professional cowboys are known to frequent it when the rodeo is in town.

Casual atmosphere—booths and tables, wood floor, wood bar, wood paneling.TV with sports on above the bar. Photos and beer stuff on the walls. Seasonally appropriate decorations (e.g. I bet there are some Halloween things up now.)

Photography Renee Comet
Foodstyling Lisa Cherkasky

What we did for fun yesterday.

Resuming the liverwurst musing.

Must be signs of seasonal change. The days get shorter, my fingers itch to knit, and the braunsweiger looks so tasty in the refrigerated case. So nicely stacked in its wrapper too, like a perfect row of stockinette stitch.

Can you be a domestic goddess and still love the wurst?

Would you like that on toast, miss? I’ll just pop it into my knitoaster.

Toaster knitted by Mara Cherkasky

Knitting food? Look here and here. Knitted marzipan. V charming. Patience level? 11.

Writes Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times yesterday:
IS there any pain quite as sweet as the one caused by a steaming drip
of cheese oozing from between slices of just-grilled bread and onto
your lower lip?

Much sweeter than the agony of that cheese dripping onto your silk-covered right breast. There is no drycleaner up to that stain.

Ms Steinhauer’s story covers the Los Angeles Grilled Cheese Invitational.

Read more here.

What I did this morning.

Photo by Renee Comet
and I did the styling.

Tomorrow I’m gonna use the leftover figs in a sandwich with proscuitto, sage, gorgonzola and I don’t know what all else yet. Gotta dig through the bin.