PROGRESS REPORT and WE NEED A HERO, Part 5

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I’m up to recipe number 78 with 12 more close to completion for the new book; that’s more than half way home for the food and menu part. (Yeah!) I can’t share any of it until after the book comes out, except with my recipe testers, who agreed to keep everything confidential. (All very cloak-and-dagger-ish, isn’t it?) My fantastic team of volunteer testers are doing a great job, by the way. I wouldn’t be progressing this quickly without their feedback. I was afraid that I…

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IRISH MUSINGS

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We think of corned beef and cabbage as a traditional Irish dish, but it is actually Irish/American. According to Bridgett Haggerty of the Irish Cultures and Customs website, cows were generally used for milk in Ireland and were too valuable to eat. Pork was cheaper, so a side of bacon was cooked with cabbage for Easter. The Irish in New York substituted corned beef for bacon, borrowing from their Jewish neighbors, and it has come to be associated with St. Patrick’s Day. She says that…

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VANILLA BEANS I CAN ACTUALLY USE!

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I was testing a vanilla pots de creme recipe a few days ago and went to my cupboard for a vanilla bean from my hoard. I say “hoard” because that’s what I do with vanilla beans. The ones I’ve bought in the past came in packages of two beans that cost me dearly. So much, that I could never bring myself to actually use one. So, here I was, finally, with a recipe that looked like it might be worthy of the sacrifice, and what…

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EATING ROSES

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One of the most beautiful and memorable desserts I ever had was a tiny scoop of rose flavored ice cream nestled in the heart of a perfect, pale pink rose. It was presented simply, with no cookie or cake to steal the limelight. There were hundreds of guests at the event, and yet every petal was perfect and the ice cream was seemingly suspended in that fleeting, meltingly-spoonable-but-still-firm stage. To pull off such an ambitious feat was a staggering achievment for the restaurant staff. I…

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LOW CARB CRUISE TO MEXICO

Here I am in beautiful Cozumel, Mexico! (I picked the right shirt to wear, didn’t I?) Low-carb cookbook author, Dana Carpender and “that nice boy she married,” enjoying dinner in the Windstar restaurant on board the Carnival Ecstasy. Shopping in Cozumel with Jackie and Conrad Eberstein. Dr. Carlson sings “Fire and Rain.” How can a guy from New York sound exactly like James Taylor? Dr. Westman singing his original composition, ” I wish they all could be carbohydrate free.” Jimmy Moore posted the lyrics at:…

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SUPER-SIZED WINGS FOR THE SUPER BOWL

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Here’s a very funny story by Chris Erskine that appeared in the LA Times on January 28. He has a terrific idea; he makes man-sized hot wings from turkey rather than chicken wings. And one of his three marinades (the Spicy marinade) is totally low carb! http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-wings28-2009jan28,0,4830120.story On the same page with the turkey wing recipe is a link to an article titled: “Melted cheese: Alone or in a dish, it’s delish.” With a title like that, you just know there has to be something…

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