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Dec. 24th, 2002 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aintbrokeDear lord above. I can not subside on dorm food after being reminded that there is food like this in the world. I hadn’t realized how seriously my family takes food until I came back from the horror of dorm food.
Since plans to head either south or northward have been postponed till after Christmas, we bake. I’ve spent the last few days in the kitchen, furiously stirring, chopping, whipping, mixing, blending and the like. We also made the traditional Christmas tamales and by jove, they are nothing short of amazing.
And the cookies! The piles and piles of them assaulting you at every turn. Russian teacakes, gingerbread by the pound after lonely pound, fruitcake cookies, macaroons, brandy balls, rum cakies, shortbread, something bearing a vague resemblance to lemon poppy seed marzipan, Alaska logs, thumbprint cookies, and just about every other possible form of sugar, butter and eggs.
But the worst- Last night, working at my mother’s Christmas party, I helped prepare a four-course extravaganza that will haunt my memory while I sit in LaPo trying to choke down iceberg lettuce and dry tortillas. I am kidnapping my local gourmand German chef, and taking him back to school with me. (I’m going to start calling him Otto, because The Briguarde de Cuisine is the most mouth-watering story of food ever, and although he is German and not French, he reminds me greatly of Otto. Also, it annoys him and I’m all for that.)
Course One- a winter salad made of lightly braised carrots and crisp green beans. Although it was technically a cooked warm salad, it was fresh and crisp and oh so good. It was seasoned with tarragon, dill and garlic. (Note: must pack tarragon to take back to school.)
Course Two- although he is a recent expatriate (by way of Austin) Otto has adopted New Mexican food. The second course was a polenta which in the most basic terms is a corn meal mush. This was not the most basic of terms. It was baked with cheese, but then it was fried with lemon juice and chili powder, chopped into cubes and served with halved brussel sprouts.
Course Three- parsnips are one of the most underappreciated vegetables. I mean really. When was the last time you had mashed parsnips? Do you have any idea what you’re missing? The main course featured eggplant first roasted then fried in olive oil, seasoned with capers and some sort of cilantro/parsley/greens hybrid, served with mashed parsnips. Capers are sort of sour, and parsnips are sort of sweet, and the combination was really something else.
Course Four- desert. I’m not even going to get into this, except to note that it featured pomegranates and walnuts in a cream base.
It was extravagant, decadent and highly continental. I live in a town of approximately ten thousand, the main economic provider is a copper mine, (which is in the process of closing) and it is rather inconceivable that Otto ended up here. From the grand hotels of Germany, to the part time chef in a bed and breakfast. Not that I’m complaining mind you. Certainly not.
I haven’t finished unpacking, or wrapping presents yet. I ought.
Since plans to head either south or northward have been postponed till after Christmas, we bake. I’ve spent the last few days in the kitchen, furiously stirring, chopping, whipping, mixing, blending and the like. We also made the traditional Christmas tamales and by jove, they are nothing short of amazing.
And the cookies! The piles and piles of them assaulting you at every turn. Russian teacakes, gingerbread by the pound after lonely pound, fruitcake cookies, macaroons, brandy balls, rum cakies, shortbread, something bearing a vague resemblance to lemon poppy seed marzipan, Alaska logs, thumbprint cookies, and just about every other possible form of sugar, butter and eggs.
But the worst- Last night, working at my mother’s Christmas party, I helped prepare a four-course extravaganza that will haunt my memory while I sit in LaPo trying to choke down iceberg lettuce and dry tortillas. I am kidnapping my local gourmand German chef, and taking him back to school with me. (I’m going to start calling him Otto, because The Briguarde de Cuisine is the most mouth-watering story of food ever, and although he is German and not French, he reminds me greatly of Otto. Also, it annoys him and I’m all for that.)
Course One- a winter salad made of lightly braised carrots and crisp green beans. Although it was technically a cooked warm salad, it was fresh and crisp and oh so good. It was seasoned with tarragon, dill and garlic. (Note: must pack tarragon to take back to school.)
Course Two- although he is a recent expatriate (by way of Austin) Otto has adopted New Mexican food. The second course was a polenta which in the most basic terms is a corn meal mush. This was not the most basic of terms. It was baked with cheese, but then it was fried with lemon juice and chili powder, chopped into cubes and served with halved brussel sprouts.
Course Three- parsnips are one of the most underappreciated vegetables. I mean really. When was the last time you had mashed parsnips? Do you have any idea what you’re missing? The main course featured eggplant first roasted then fried in olive oil, seasoned with capers and some sort of cilantro/parsley/greens hybrid, served with mashed parsnips. Capers are sort of sour, and parsnips are sort of sweet, and the combination was really something else.
Course Four- desert. I’m not even going to get into this, except to note that it featured pomegranates and walnuts in a cream base.
It was extravagant, decadent and highly continental. I live in a town of approximately ten thousand, the main economic provider is a copper mine, (which is in the process of closing) and it is rather inconceivable that Otto ended up here. From the grand hotels of Germany, to the part time chef in a bed and breakfast. Not that I’m complaining mind you. Certainly not.
I haven’t finished unpacking, or wrapping presents yet. I ought.
