Midweek Mealtime ~ Italian Restaurants - Red Flags.

Music Monday and Arty Farty Friday have been around this blog for years; along those lines: a Midweek Mealtime, a Tuesday Taste Test, or a Wednesday Whatever? The first title covers more than 24 hours - I shall go with that one!


What are some red flags you're at a bad Italian restaurant?

A question asked at Quora. I've picked out, below, a few points from several answers, illustration added by yours truly.

This topic interested me, having frequently complained to my husband about local "Italian" restaurants, as well as some we've had the misfortune to try, on our travels. I do realise, however, that the owners of Italian restaurants in some areas of the USA (such as Oklahoma) even if Italian by birth or by descent themselves, are limited in how authentic they can be due to difficulties, and expense, of obtaining authentic ingredients.

My own experience of authentic Italian food was during my time in Rome and in my ex-husband's family's home in the North of Italy. That was long, long ago and far away, but I have not forgotten the often mesmerising scents and tastes of properly prepared Italian food. It's never going to be possible to re-create the experience totally, even in the best of the best Italian eateries in the USA - or in the UK - though access to authentic ingredients will have been easier in the UK. Post Brexit - who knows!

I do try to appreciate what is available food-wise, labelled "Italian", as long as it is reasonably tasty and fresh; if it isn't I'll grumble and make a mental note not to darken that restaurant's doors again.

Some of the points made by Quorans, below, are a tad "elitist", but that's not to say they are untrue.
So...the "red flags":

A bad Italian restaurant looks like you imagine it: chequered red and white tablecloths and a flask of Chianti in the window display. A bad Italian restaurant has a menu with all the well known Italian specialities: Carbonara, Bolognese, Amatriciana, Pesto. The worst have also Alfredo and Chicken Parmesan and they give you a good serving of garlic bread and olive oil to put on bread (something completely unheard of in Italy). The bad ones will have an abundance of chicken in the menu: Italians believe that chicken is a very cheap meat and chefs usually avoid to put it in their menu. If there's poultry it should be roasted cockerel (usually whole or half, never just the breast), duck, capon, pheasant or guinea fowl.

The ones that are a dantesque hell will serve pasta and meat on the same plate, or, God forbid!, pasta, meat and seafood on the very same dish.
(From Emilio Trussardi's full answer -there are some argumentative comments beneath it too.)


If you find chicken parmesan or linguini alfredo, there’re no Italians in the kitchen.
But of course it’s all a matter of ingredients. Just a little example: mozzarella.
This iconic cheese from cow or buffalo milk is definitely badly imitated around the world.
(Alberto Formenti)

Examples of bad imitations are provided along with some photos of the real mozzarella




If the Parmesan cheese is on the table in a cheese shaker, there’s a good chance it’s a cheap, store bought brand. Trust the places that grate the cheese in front of you.
I know people from Italy howl when meatballs are served together with pasta, but it’s popular pretty much everywhere except in Italy.
Eggplant Parmigiana should be made with very thinly sliced pieces of eggplant, which is a lot of work. Many places slice them too thick.
Pasta is not traditionally a main course but again, outside of Italy it’s pretty standard to serve it that way.
If any spaghetti-shaped pasta is served cut, run, don’t walk, to the exit. And, of course, do the same if the pasta is cooked anything other than al dente.
(Joseph Panzarella)


Sunday had dinner at a popular Los Angeles area Italian restaurant that would be considered “bad” by purists: bread with butter; thousand island dressing as a salad option; walls covered with pictures of Frank Sinatra and old country Italians. But here’s the thing. The restaurant wasn’t trying to be an authentic Italian restaurant; it was an authentic New York/Chicago style Italian restaurant. ..................those pictures of old country Italians? His family photos, so you may come across a bad Italian restaurant, but that doesn’t mean it will have bad food….(Thomas Barnidge)


Should I find myself looking at the menu and find the Carbonara being made with milk or cream or peas, then it stops becoming a matter of authenticity. The food may still end up tasting good, but I’m not going to walk away saying that I had a great Italian meal. (I give a pass to using pancetta instead of guanciale by the way. The latter is very difficult to find outside of Italy for whatever reason.)
When dining outside of Italy, I won’t be too harsh on a restaurant if it’s a hodgepodge of dishes taken from Italy’s many regions—what I’m getting is basically “the best of.” I don’t mind Arancini being served with Puttanesca, Risotto alla Milanese with Saltimbocca alla Romana as long as they do it right and they stick to traditional recipes. (Myron Mariano)



Any place that offers greasy cardboard pizza by the slice.
Any place that tries too hard to be hip with the Italian vibe.
Chicken Alfredo leads the menu and the sales. They don't know what penne is.
The chef is skinny. (William Smith)


If you are outside Italy, that is a red flag from the get go. Yes, I know there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. And yes, I know there are some dreadful restaurants in Italy, but they are few and far between. Another red flag is the following: walk into the restaurant, take a deep breath and smell. If you truly know Italian cooking, you will know immediately if the food is authentic. (Anne Brooks McAdoo)

"Food, Glorious (or not) Food....."

Since diagnosis of early stage breast cancer back in early March, and subsequent surgery, I've been paying more attention to my diet, with special attention to any foods which can encourage the production of estrogen in the body - which I would do well to avoid. The first article I read warned strongly against soy - any kind of soy, in any quantity. Soy was the definite top of the list 'no-no'...said the author. I knew nothing at all about soy, except that I do not like the flavour of soy sauce. I began busily reading every ingredients list in the supermarket, and being dismayed at the amount of soy to be found hiding just about everywhere. Later, upon searching further, I found a different story: soy isn't dangerous for breast cancer survivors who had estrogen positive markers in their pathology. What to believe?

The 'no danger' pieces were by medical people who had carried out statistical studies - I'd have thought these to be most reliable. Anyway, from now on I shall avoid soy when I can, but remain unperturbed if there's a smidgen of it in something I enjoy. Might as well play it down the middle, rather than become unduly obsessive. Same applies to dairy products - use 1% or 2% milk (I do anyway), low fat or no fat yogurt, and preferably cheeses from Europe where stricter regulations are in force. English, Irish, Italian, Canadian or Australian cheeses are my choice in any case - I have disliked all American cheeses from my first weeks here.

I've taken to eating some blueberries daily now - a fruit I'd ignored until reading how many good things are encased in that wee dark berry (low in calories, loaded with antioxidants, fiber, vitamin K, manganese and vitamin C, along with many other important micronutrients); and more carrots, and carrot juice. Wholemeal bread, too- not just bread that is called "wheat", as against "white". I'm trying for more cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, garden cress, (I so wish I could find some water cress - used to love it in England), broccoli, Brussels sprouts and similar green leaf vegetables. I'm not impressed by the standard of freshness of some of these in our local supermarkets though. The Brussels sprouts we ate last evening tasted nothing like the sprouts I used to eat back in England.

I eat little meat, will probably eat even less now. A little rotisserie chicken from time to time and the occasional pot roast perhaps.

On the topic of food, in general, a question on Quora sparked my interest the other day.
What are some mind-blowing facts about food?


Lots of answers appear there, some of them cause one to say "Ew, ew, ew - never eating THAT again!", others are simply interesting. Below is a neatly enumerated answer from Yuvraj Singh, who quotes his source as Google: a list of 60 facts. Any notes/additions in italics come from your friendly neighbourhood Blogger.)

1. The oldest evidence for soup is from 6,000 B.C. and calls for hippopotamus and sparrow meat.

2. Pringles once had a lawsuit trying to prove that they weren't really potato chips.

3. Pound cake got its name from its original recipe, which called for a pound each of butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.

4. Ripe cranberries will bounce like rubber balls.

5. An average ear of corn has an even number of rows, usually 16.

6. Consuming dairy may cause acne.

7. Most wasabi consumed is not real wasabi, but colored horseradish.

8. Central Appalachia's tooth decay problem is referred to as Mountain Dew mouth, due to the beverage's popularity in the region.

9. Apples belong to the rose family, as do pears and plums.

10. Oklahoma's state vegetable is the watermelon. (Note from me: It's delish too!)

11. One of the most popular pizza toppings in Brazil is green peas.

12. About 70% of olive oil being sold is not actually pure olive oil.

13. Real aged balsamic vinegar actually costs anywhere from $75 to $400 or more.

14. Store bought 100% "real" orange juice is 100% artificially flavoured. (Note: Surely not my favourite and only choice - Florida's Natural brand? Cartons say 100% pure Florida orange juice, not from concentrate.)

15. The most expensive pizza in the world costs $12,000 and takes 72 hours to make.

16. The winner of the 2013 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest consumed 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

17. The Dunkin' donuts in South Korea offer doughnut flavors such as Kimchi Croquette and Glazed Garlic.

18. Chocolate was once used as currency

19. There is an amusement park in Tokyo that offers RAW horse flesh flavored ice cream. (EW!!!)

20. The tea bag was created by accident, as tea bags were originally sent as samples. (Pretty bad accident too!)

21. A Cinnabon classic has less sugar than a 20-oz. Bottle of Pepsi.

22. Castoreum, which is used as vanilla flavoring in candies, baked goods, etc., is actually a secretion from the anal glands of beavers. (EW!!)

23. Humans are born craving sugar.

24. Radishes are members of the same family as cabbages.

25. The red food-coloring carmine — used in skittles and other candies — is made from boiled cochineal bugs, a type of beetle.

26. Casu Marzu is a cheese found in Sardinia that is purposely infested with maggots.

27. The softening agent L-cysteine — used in some bread — is made from human hair and duck feathers.

28. The potentially fatal brain mushroom is considered a delicacy in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the upper Great Lakes region of North America.

29. If improperly prepared, fugu, or puffer fish, can kill you since it contains a toxin 1200 times deadlier than cyanide.

30. It is almost impossible to find out what all the ingredients are that Papa John's uses in its pizzas.

31. Coconut water can be used as blood plasma.

32. Milt, which is a delicacy around the world, is fish sperm.

33. McDonald's sells 75 hamburgers every second of every day.

34. Ranch dressing contains titanium dioxide, which is used to make it appear whiter. The same ingredient is used in sunscreen and paint for the same effect. (That accounts for the universally nasty taste of Ranch dressing! Only Heinz Salad Cream for me, even when I have to ship it in from the net.)

35. Three plates of food at a Chinese buffet will net you about 3,000 calories.

36. To make jelly beans shiny, shellac is used, which is made from Kerria lacca insect excretions. (EW!!)

37. One fast food hamburger may contain meat from 100 different cows.

38. Ketchup was used as a medicine in the 1800s to treat diarrhea, among other things.

39. Fruit-flavored snacks are made with the same wax used on cars.

40. Peanuts aren't nuts, they're legumes.

41. No matter what color Fruit Loop you eat, they all taste the same

42. The most expensive fruit in the world is the Japanese Yubari cantaloupe, and two melons once sold at auction for $23,500.

43. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

44. When taken in large doses nutmeg works as a hallucinogen.

45. Eating bananas can help fight depression.

46. Canola oil was originally called rapeseed oil, but rechristened by the Canadian oil industry in 1978 to avoid negative connotations. "Canola" is short for "Canadian oil."

47. Honey is made from nectar and bee vomit.

48. Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing.

49. Chuck E. Cheese pizza restaurants were created by the inventor of the Atari video game system, Nolan Bushnell.

50. The twists in pretzels are meant to look like arms crossed in prayer.

51. "SPAM" is short for spiced ham .

52. To add nutrition, a lot of milk, juice and yogurts enrich the food with EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, your OJ contains fish oil.

53. There's an enzyme in pineapple called bromelain that helps to break down proteins and can also ruin your tastebuds.

54. Apples float in water, because 25% of their volume is made of air.

55. The popsicle was invented by an 11 year old in 1905.

56. Crackers, like Saltines, have small holes in them to prevent air bubbles from ruining the baking process.

57. The reason why peppers taste hot is because of a chemical compound called capsaicin, which bonds to your sensory nerves and tricks them into thinking your mouth is actually being burned.

58. One of the most hydrating foods to eat is the cucumber, which is 96% water.

59. There are 7,500 varieties of apples grown throughout the world, and if you tried a new variety each day, it would take you 20 years to try them all.

60. The most popular carrots used to be purple.

Friday, Saturday & Sundae ~ There's an Art to Being a Chef

Once upon a time I decided it might be interesting to investigate the astrology of famous chefs. Here's one, a chef who is world-famous, king of all the chefs:
Georges-Auguste Escoffier.

Before starting to write, I asked myself what I'd expect to find prominent in the charts of those whose life's work is to prepare and present food. My first thought was of the element Earth, and the zodiac sign Taurus in particular. My second thought was that preparing food is a nurturing activity - nurturing others - the zodiac sign of Cancer relates to this. Beyond those factors, any successful individual, in whatever sphere they choose to operate, will need drive and energy. Any occupation involving the mass preparation and serving of food is demanding, make no mistake about that! Presentation of food is very important, so an artistic eye would be helpful. When you get right down to it, preparation of food is artistry in itself. Individual chart factors will be determined by any sidelines a chef might engage in: writing, for instance, would entail some strong Mercurial input.

Born 28 October 1846 at 10am in Villeneuve-Loubet, France (Astrodatabank). My software doesn't have that city as an option, but Nice is at almost exactly the same latitude/longitude, so I've used it.




Well - was I wrong, or was I wrong? No Taurus, no Cancer planets. We do have an artistic streak via Venus/Mars in Libra (ruled by Venus, planet of the arts), and this at 10th house, the area of career. What we have here is a very Airy chart, in spite of the fact that natal Sun and Mercury lie in Watery, intense and passionate Scorpio.

There's a nice Grand Trine in Air linking the Libra planets to Jupiter in Gemini and the three planets in Aquarius. This reflects a high degree of natural intelligence, an intellectual nature.

Sagittarius was rising as Escoffier came into the world, and right opposite, on the descendant is Jupiter (Sagittarius' ruler) in Gemini. Sagittarius and Jupiter relate to excess, exaggeration, publication, and travel and are generally a benign influence. There's a link to the enjoyment of good food here, and a definite link to writing about food, which Escoffier did in several well-known volumes.




What about Aquarius though - how does that relate to the work of a chef? This particular chef was known for inventing new dishes (Peach Melba, we all know) and re-organising the way restaurant kitchens were run. There is the Aquarius influence! His philanthropic endeavours as mentioned in the quote below reflect another side of Aquarius, and of course, his benign Sagittarius ascendant.

Three of Escoffier's most noted career achievements are revolutionizing and modernizing the menu, the art of cooking and the organization of the professional kitchen. Escoffier simplified the menu as it had been, writing the dishes down in the order in which they would be served (Service à la Russe). He also developed the first à la Carte menu.

He simplified the art of cooking by getting rid of ostentatious food displays and elaborate garnishes and by reducing the number of courses served. He also emphasized the use of seasonal foods and lighter sauces. Escoffier also simplified professional kitchen organization, as he integrated it into a single unit from its previously individualized sections that operated autonomously and often created great wasted and duplication of labor.

Throughout his career, Escoffier wrote a number of books, many of which continue to be considered important today. Some of his best-known works include Le Guide Culinaire (1903), Le Livre des Menus (1912) and Ma Cuisine (1934).

As well as making changes in the culinary world, Escoffier undertook several philanthropic endeavors including the organization of programs to feed the hungry and programs to financially assist retired chefs. (See here)

The dynamic tension, the engine room of Escoffier's nature, comes mainly from the oppositions Aries to Libra, Uranus opposes Mars, Pluto opposes Venus. Both Uranus and Pluto represent the urge for change and transformation - which is exactly what Escoffier achieved in his kitchens.



Something I've learned from this experiment already: Earth isn't a necessary ingredient in the natal chart of a chef - Escoffier's contains no planets in Earth signs.

Weird Food Quirks

26 British Food Quirks That Brits Don’t Realise Are Weird

There's weird and then there's WEIRD!

Were I feeling enterprising (I'm not), I'd try to make a video titled:
26 American Foods Quirks That USAians Don't Realise are Weird. That'd be a huge task though, because each of the 50 states is likely to have its own set of quirks to add to those that are common. However, living as I do in south-west Oklahoma I can name a few I've found to be weird in this particular region:
Sausage gravy - that largely tasteless white sauce that looks and tastes something akin to wallpaper paste.

Fried Okra

Fried pies(!!).

Chicken Salad - No, it's not a few slices of chicken with garden salad but a concoction similar to potato salad, where the chicken is cut into pieces and dowsed with mayo....or something.

The way beef is cut for pot roast - it's cut "with the grain" instead of "against the grain", resulting in multiple stringy, often overly chewy stands in an otherwise potentially delicious dish.

Bacon flavoured ice cream (yikes!)

And, speaking of bacon - there's only streaky bacon here which, when it's fried, is a definite danger to the one's front teeth or dental crowns! I wonder what happens to the back bacon, so beloved in the UK? I've seen something like it sold as "Canadian", but not in any great quantity.

Friday, Saturday & Sundry "Grub"

I've heard that people on Facebook like to photograph their food using smartphone/cellphone. I recall that my husband, occasionally, has taken pics of food he's preparing or has prepared, or something interesting set before us in a restaurant, if his camera happened to be handy at the time. I trawled through as many of his Flickr pages as I could before going cross-eyed and came up with these. Clicking on the pics should take you to the pages of their origin.




In preparation



In waiting




Ravioli Anyjazz



Squash Anyjazz (a dish, not a command!)




In the supermarket



Hearty



Snacky



Fancy (in a restaurant in Austin, Texas - I think).





Experimenting with warm Greek-ish salad.



Colourful and healthy in a small cafe in Norman, Oklahoma.



'Murican favourite: peanut butter and jelly on toast.




Back in the UK, 2003/4 during a break from shopping in Debenham's department store snack bar.


The two following come from an era pre-Twilight - I know nothing!

THERE WILL NOW BE AN

.........Learning Curve on the Ecliptic will be on hold for a while, but...
I'll be back.

Monday's Mouthwatering Memories

I often get to thinking about some of the dishes my grandmother used to prepare, especially the desserts - or as we called 'em "puddings". Her mother, my great grandmother, had taught her to cook. Great grandmother had been a cook for the owners and workers at a large Yorkshire farm, her talent, among the family anyway, was legendary. She would have had easy access to the best of everything, all fresh and grown, reared or preserved "on the spot". Not that good ingredients are all that's needed - a little "magic" helps too.

My grandmother must have been a good student. She also had access to good quality ingredients, living as she did in a tiny rural village, farms all around, with her own and neighbours' large gardens providing vegetables and fruits; berries were abundant in the hedgerows at certain times of the year, wild blackberries/brambles, wild raspberries. Strawberry fields were just down the road, where villagers could "pick their own" . Some village people kept chickens, some kept, or shared the upkeep of a couple of pigs.

 Something like this

For most of her life, Grandma had no fridge, no gas or electric stove. She cooked using the small oven at one side of the huge black fireplace, heated by the coal fire in the hearth. At the other side was a container for water, also heated by the fire. The big fireplace had to be "black-leaded" regularly to keep it shining. During the few weeks, or days, of the year when it was too hot for a fire, a minimum of cooking was done, using an oil stove, sometimes two, in the "wash-house" in the yard. She knew her coal-fired oven so intimately that she could gauge the required heat just by "feel", even for such delicacies as Yorkshire Pudding which can stand or fall (literally) by cooking in the wrong heat.

I've digressed. I'd meant to write about some favourite remembered desserts.

Grandma often made what she called "Egg Pudding". I've never seen it on any menu or in any cookbook. It has, I suppose, to be a near relation of Yorkshire Pudding. It was an egg, milk and flour thick batter wrapped in a cloth, to form a big round ball, then boiled (I think - or steamed?) in the cloth, in a pan of water. When ready it was unwrapped, cut open and a huge piece of fresh farm butter and lots of sugar inserted before sharing among mouthwatering diners.

Her classic Yorkshire puddings were superb. On Sunday the big "Yorkshire", baked in a special rectangular tin, was served first, before the main course, with lovely gravy made from juices of the joint of beef. Sometimes there'd be thinly sliced cucumber in vinegar as an accompaniment. Grandma would certainly never entertain those, now popular, silly little individual Yorkshire puds! If there was ever any pud left over it would be eaten eagerly with butter and sugar later.

Apple suet dumpling was another favourite dessert when visiting Grandma: sliced apples from local trees sweetened and wrapped in a cloak of suet pastry (something I've not tasted for many decades) then, not baked, but again, boiled in a cloth. Scrumptious with copious amounts of custard. I've always loved a good vanilla custard!

At blackberry time, her "bramble cake" was always a family favourite. We'd go picking the berries, bring them back to her and within an hour or so the "cake" would be ready. It was a kind of pie, but instead of being baked in a tin, a circle of pastry was simply wrapped around the brambles and sealed with egg and milk, placed on a flat tray on the oven shelf. When ready, a piece was cut from the top of the "cake" and a lump of fresh butter inserted.

Around this time of year Grandma always made some special ginger bread, known in some circles as Yorkshire Parkin; hers was lovely and moist, rich, and baked in a big square tin, then cut into small squares. It went down a treat while watching the bonfires and fireworks of Guy Fawkes night: November 5th.

Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings were always made weeks, maybe months before the event. Very rich, moist fruit cake, lovingly wrapped in cloths, stored in the front room sideboard, fed regularly with rum, brandy or whisky, whichever was to hand, injecting same with a sterilised knitting needle.
Almond paste covering and sugar icing came much later.

A favourite for all seasons, for me, was her chocolate cake...yummm...what can I say? Hers was of a texture colour and flavour I haven't found anywhere else since, and I've always been searching!

These thoughts are likely to put an inch on my waistline! Does any passing reader have good memories to share of deliciousnesses from their youth or childhood?

When restaurants were restaurants, and chefs were chefs: Adolphe Dugléré

Continuing yesterday's theme of food and restaurants, let's take a look at a chef, from a time before chain restaurants, and when chefs were chefs and not TV stars: Adolphe Dugléré . He was born on 3 June 1805 in Bordeaux, France, died in 1884.

Dugléré was a pupil of Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême, head chef of the Rothschild family. In 1866 Dugléré became head chef of a famous 19th century Paris restaurant, the Cafe Anglais. He is generally credited with creating the potato dish, Pommes Anna, said to have been named after actress Dame Judic (real name: Anna Damiens/Anna DesLions. He also created Germiny Soup, a cream of sorrel soup, dedicated to the head of the Banque de France, the Comte de Germiny.

It was at the Cafe Anglais that Duglere served the famous banquet, 'Dinner of the Three Emperors,' on 7 June 1867, for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and King William I of Prussia. Opened in 1802, the restaurant was named in honor of the Treaty of Amiens, a peace accord signed between Britain and France. In the beginning, its clientele were coachmen and domestic servants but later became frequented by actors and patrons of the nearby Opera House. It was after the arrival of chef Adolphe Dugléré that the Café Anglais achieved its highest gastronomic reputation. It was then frequented by the wealthy and the aristocracy of Paris.

The Dinner of the Three Emperors was, acording to King William I of Prussia who frequented the cafe during the Exposition Universelle, to be a meal to be remembered and at which no expense was to be spared for himself and his guests, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, plus his son the tsarevitch (who later became Tsar Alexander III), and Prince Otto von Bismarck.

The banquet consisted of 16 courses with eight wines served over eight hours. Full details at Wikipedia HERE. The cost of the meal was, back then, 400 francs per person. When a chef of today tried to replicate the menu as far as possible in the 21st century, the cost turned out to be in the region of $7,500 per head , (another source calculated it at 9,000 Euros per head).

At 1 o'clock in the morning, Tsar Alexander is reported to have complained that the meal had not contained foie gras. Burdel explained that it was not the custom in French cuisine to eat foie gras in June. The Tsar was satisfied with the answer. Each emperor was sent a terrine of foie gras as a gift the following October.

TSK!!!!! (I shall limit myself to just that).

Adolphe Dugléré was described as a taciturn and serious person who demanded ingredients of the highest quality and abhorred drunkenness and smoking. He forbade his employees to smoke even outside of the workplace. Neither were customers allowed to smoke until dinner was over, at which time the maître d’hôtel went from table to table lighting cigars. Little more is known about him because he left no publications but he did leave some notebooks which are on permanent loan to the National Library in Paris.

This chef's natal chart, set for 12 noon as no time of birth is available:

Sun conjunct Venus in Gemini; if I didn't know this was the chart of a chef I'd have guessed at someone in the arts - writing, painting. Chefs are artists too - with food. I like to see some Taurus emphasis in a chef's chart, Taurus surely has to be the "foodiest" sign in the zodiac, and Mercury is there in Dugléré's chart.

Chef's Moon would have been in either early Virgo or late Leo. I'd bet on Virgo, bearing in mind the descriptions above: "taciturn", "serious", demanding of the best, fastidious in requirements of staff and customers. Moon was quite likely conjunct Mars in Leo too. Mars here could add touch of aggression to his demanding nature. I found, during my times working in hotel offices in my youth, that chefs on the whole were quite an aggressive species. I've seen more than one chef, brandishing a knife, pursuing a waiter around his kitchen. I guess working in constant heat and pressure could do that to a person.

Uranus conjunct Saturn in Libra; Neptune conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio. Uranus and Saturn, usually opposites, here perhaps reflect the chef's inventiveness (Uranus) in his work (Saturn) environment - new dishes and methods. Neptune and Jupiter conjoined in the Scorpio and Sagittarius cusp area: Jupiter in its own sign has to mean excess, with Neptune so close, perhaps even an addiction to excess. Maybe I'm being adversely influenced by that obscenely excessive menu described in the post though!

PS:There are some archived posts featuring chefs, accessible by - would ya believe - clicking on "chefs" in the label cloud in the sidebar.

Monday "in the middle of a chain reaction..."

The weekend brought news that Olive Garden cooks don't put salt in the water when cooking pasta. Trivial and inconsequential as that is, it offered a break from other available news diets: ISIS, Ukraine, miscellaneous sporting "celebs" who delight in giving their wives a good slapping around - or worse.

We don't eat out a lot, other than when away from home on one of our trippy explorations. Eating out then becomes part of the adventure. To those who've lived their lives in the USA, chain restaurants may seem, from what I read online, to be an anathema. To me, relatively new to the USA's version of "cuisine", American chain restaurants were, and still are, an interesting concept waiting to be explored.

I'm no foodie. I cannot be doing with effete and elitist crap on any front, including would-be food critics' ideas on "cuisine". I suspect that a good percentage of the derision aimed at US chain restaurants boils down to pure snobbery.

It all depends on whether one eats to live or lives to eat, I guess.

My main complaint about chain restaurants in the USA is the way they treat their staff. Ridiculously low pay rates, poor if any health insurance, leaving servers to rely on customers' tips. Yet, if we were to boycott chains, more people would lose their jobs. Catch 22 .... or something like it.

I grew up, as did most of my contemporaries in England, eating good plain home-cooked food. Typically English food is also a target of derision by effete and elite foodies. But that's another story.

Of the USA's major chain restaurants so far explored, my personal favourite is Cracker Barrel - spoiled only by a recent comment indicating that the chain is frequented mainly by Republican-loving folk. Much the same applies to country music - which used to be my favourite musical genre until sullied by a similar connection to Republicanism. Still though, Cracker Barrel's Haddock Dinner with home-style fries and some sides is the best fish dish, beautifully cooked, even if from frozen as it must be, that I've tasted since living in the USA.

Applebee's. Their menu these days isn't as good as it used to be a few years ago. A favourite Bruschetta Salad has disappeared, and their fish and chips leave much to be desired. Chili's is like Applepbee's younger sister. It's nice to be able to have a glass of beer or wine with a meal in these venues.

Olive Garden has never been a favorite of ours. In fact, I have never had a really good Italian meal since I arrived in the USA. I put this down to the fact that we've lived and travelled mainly in the mid-section of this vast land, and mostly outside of huge metropolises. Proper ingredients for Italian cuisine just are not available in these parts of the country, or if they were to be ordered in from Italy, would put meal prices through the roof. So what we get, at chains like Olive Garden, or privately-owned Italian-style restaurants, is "pretend" Italian food, of varying quality.

Mexican restaurants, whether chain or privately owned are likely to have similar, though less severe, problems to Italian restaurants. I've never been to Mexico so have nothing to compare Mexican food in mid-America, with food in Mexico. From what I can gather from others, there's a vast difference. I find most Tex-Mex a bit bland, but very occasionally have struck unexpectedly lucky in small, privately owned cafes.

Of the steakhouse or barbecue chains I've had little experience. We frequent these only when no alternative exists (quite often in small Texas towns). I'm not a meat eater by choice but not strict vegetarian; husband's not a steak enthusiast either, so if alternatives exist, then we go for them.

IHOP - I like IHOP, but this year their menu has gone through subtle changes. A favourite item - crepes filled with scrummy soft custardy stuff, then covered in fruit, has disappeared, with a much less delish alternative in its place. I think IHOP merged, or were taken over not long ago. This doesn't bode well! They're not as good as they were, but still quite acceptable.

Buffet type chains such as Golden Corral can be good or poor depending on the franchise holder. I find their salads sections most inviting. I think this style of restaurant will soon be a thing of the past, the branch in our town closed a couple of years ago, and another buffet-style restaurant closed in Lawton a year or so before that. I can imagine the reasons. To be profitable there'd have to be a constant stream of customers, otherwise waste involved would be huge. With so many other choices in most towns these days, customer volume would be bound to decline.

In our general area, within 50 or so miles, we're limited to Applebee's, Chili's, IHOP, Olive Garden, Red Lobster (been there only once - didn't enjoy), and Golden Corral. I know there are other chains out there, such as Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Fridays, Spaghetti Barn, and others, where we might, over the years, have sampled a single meal, but no lasting impression remains.

All in all, though most big chain restaurants don't inspire enthusiastic "ooohs" and "aahhs" when dishes are tasted, the establishments and their restrooms are always reliably clean, service is usually decent, and food good to acceptable - for the price - and that is no small consideration. So...what's to deride about chain restaurants, unless one hopes to appear as one of those insufferably sniffy food critics?


PS: The song in the post heading? Here it is: Chain Reaction, sung by Diana Ross backed by the Bee Gees, who wrote it.

Potatoes, Courtesy of Monsieur Parmentier

I've been thinking of resuming a brief series from past years, taking a look at some well-known chefs and their natal charts. However, skimming through several Wikipedia pages and lists of famous chefs, that dreadful new denomination of "celebrity chef" kept coming up. That put me right off the idea! These people can obviously cook, but they'd rather make their living from appearing in TV series, writing books, guesting on chat shows, opening ever lengthening chains of restaurants. They are not in love with food in the way that I see a proper chef being in love with food and the the preparation of it. Anyway, for passing readers interested, there are seven posts from the past featuring chefs of one kind or another, to access these click on "chefs" in the Label Cloud in the sidebar.

The guy taking centre-blog stage today wasn't a chef, but he did the food industry a big favour.

 Hat-tip here

We have to thank Antoine Augustin Parmentier, a pharmacist and chemist in 18th century France for popularising the potato as a food fit for kings as well as for we lesser mortals.

The potato originated in South America, but in 18th century Europe it was considered fit only for animal feed. The tuber had somehow, through groundless gossip, gathered a reputation of causing leprosy. That idea might have arisen due to the potato's kinship with the Nightshade family.

Parmentier was taken prisoner by the Prussians in the Seven Years War. During imprisonment he existed on a diet of potatoes. When freed, in 1763, and returned to Paris he began spreading a good word about the despised potato. He hosted dinner parties featuring potato dishes, inviting such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin. He even offered potato flowers to Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI. Perhaps this was when the delicious Potage Parmentier and Pommes Parmentier were born.

His efforts didn't really bear fruit - or potatoes - for some years, even after the Paris Faculty of Medicine had declared them fit for human consumption in 1772. The people seemed unwilling to forget associated worries of the past. Later, during the 1770's, famine swept through Europe, killing a large proportion of the population. A poor wheat harvest in 1769 caused panic in France. The French Provincial Academie de Besancon offered a prize for discovering a "food substances capable of reducing the calamities of famine." The winner, of course, Antoine Parmentier, championing the cause of the potato. The rest is delicious culinary history.

A favourite author, Douglas Adams, was not often mistaken in his quirky observations, but when he wrote “It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes”, he was wrong.

Antoine Augustin Parmentier was born on 12 August 1737 in Montdidier, France.

This is a 12 noon chart as no birth time is known. I don't find a lot to say about Monsieur Parmentier's natal chart. His signature would probably be Uranus opposing Saturn: new ideas opposing old ideas (about the potato and nutrition in general). Mars conjunct his North Node of the Moon in Virgo reflects his "fighting" (Mars) stance on matters of health (Virgo).


I adore potatoes, cooked any way at all. I think I could happily live on a diet of potatoes, good bread, good butter, good cheese, yoghurt, and good fruit and assorted veggies. "Good" being the key word there, though!

“What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”
~A.A. Milne (Wonder if that applies to a woman too?)

 Pommes Parmentier

Spontaneously Speaking - on the Long View......

We enjoyed our long weekend in Texas; stayed in Longview in the East of the Lone Star state, a city of some 80,000+ souls, lots of traffic, lots (and I do mean lots) of churches, and lots of eating out. Restaurants in Longview were always jam-packed whatever the time of day. We asked the receptionist at our motel why this is. He said that it surprised him when he moved to Longview, it seems that everybody eats out all the time, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very odd! We picked around any antique stores there then drove out to Gladewater, 15 minutes away, known as "The Antique Capital of East Texas". Maybe so - but as the previous town was "The Pancake Capital of East Texas", one does wonder if there isn't a wee bit of hyperbole goin' on.

We were lucky enough to get a table one evening at The Genghis Grill Mongolian Stir Fry restaurant close to our motel. That was a first for us - the style of meal, I mean. Customers are given a stainless steel bowl in a little stand with a small bowl attached for sauce, then pointed in the direction of the raw buffet where all manner of raw meats, fish, and vegetables are displayed, along with a goodly array of spices and sauces. This being new to us we floundered around a bit deciding what to fill our bowls with. When filled the bowl is taken to a counter where several chefs are hard at work on a huge hotplate with special tools stir frying the customers' food before adding the choice of starches (3 kinds of rice, noodles or something I can't recall) customers can choose two from the list. It was a good meal - we'd have done a return visit but the place was packed next evening when we looked in, with a queue waiting.

This is how the concept is described in the "blurb"

It's actually not a cuisine, but an INTERACTIVE style of exhibition cooking modeled after a centuries-old legend.According to this legend, 12th century Mongol warriors, led by the mighty warrior,GENGHIS KHAN heated their shields over open fires to grill food in the fields of battle!

It was a good weekend, and Birthday Boy was happy with my planning.

My husband sometimes laughs at my predilection for planning. He believes in spontaneity. Well, Sun in Aries - he would, wouldn't he? I reckon it's a moot point in life as to whether spontaneity is preferable to planning. Does a spontaneous risk taker have a better time than a planner? Spontaneity sounds good, sounds cool and exciting: The

Why don't we do it in the road?
No one will be watching us
Why don't we do it in the road?
(Beatles)

kind of approach.

That'd be a wee bit too spontaneous for most, but over-planning, over-thinking and strictly structured living is definitely not a good thing.

Being spontaneous eliminates planning, unless one is planning to be spontaneous that is, for as Oscar Wilde said "Spontaneity is a meticulously prepared art".

Some people really do enjoy planning. I do. It's not always a matter of wanting to feel in control, it's simply a way of expanding the pleasure of... whatever, by adding anticipation to the mix. Speaking of mixes, the very best recipe is to have a mixture of planned and unplanned stuff in one's agenda, unless an agenda is to be outlawed as too control-freakish?

I find it exciting to plan, then to do something different, either from the start or during - at mid-plan stage. That way you get to enjoy both worlds! I never mind if a plan of mine goes wrong, because then the adventure begins.

In relationships of any kind control freak and spontaneous random risk-taker can be a viable combination - workable provided there is love and/or respect in the mix. One party will fill in blind spots for the other. The risk-taker will look askance at the planner from time to time, and the planner will have to get used to frequently rolling their eyes to heaven - but that's all in the game!