@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: My favorite part is "onion seeds vinaigrette." My grandma had onion beds in her garden, so I do know what "onion seeds" are. Onions bloom in the springtime and unless you snip their tops for salad purposes, they subsequently bear seeds in a tumescent-looking pod. The idea of using onion seeds as opposed to the proper onion bulbs or green tops is crazy.
Oh I'm bad at this joke business. honey's dead above figured it out... it's an episode of curb your enthusiasm where Larry's friend lies about his grandfather inventing the Cobb salad.
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: I think I'm the one that's bad at this joke thing. I'm a cultural ignoramus. And the other funny thing is that I think it was the Caeser Salad that was invented in Mexico, not the Cobb.
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Yeah. I'm pretty lame when it comes to sewing confusion, too. I'm sorry. I just had to say that 'cause I read "Seabiscuit" and it's mentioned in there. TJ in the '30s and '40s. What an era!
@honey's dead: True story: I sort of know Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, who's THE prominent, celebrity Kundalini yoga guru in L.A. Also a self-proclaimed Sikh, perchance the most visible one in LA. She eats only one meal a day--an enormous vegan salad, during lunch-time. Her multiple young kids only eat salads once a day, too. Gurmukh also teaches yoga for pregnant ladies, and I'm a bit scared at the thought that she advises her students to go vegan.
@snugbug: Oh dear. As I said, I studied all of that in my book learnin', but none of it seems to apply in real life. Like most religions. For a good reason, perhaps. Just got back from Thailand and was appalled to learn that some of their monks marry. And eat meat. What is this world coming too??? Next thing you know, Christians will start preaching hate.
@Mike Jahn: A small and anal point: that's Indy 500. The Indie 500 would be a very long film festival at the IFC. Since I know this, I wonder if I am still one of the elites.
@JPisme: Entertainment would also include a nail-driving contest. A row of large nails are driven slightly into a 2/4. You are given a big hammer and he who drives a nail in using the fewest strokes wins.
@Mike Jahn: Tsk Tsk...someone forgot the Slim Jims and the pork rinds. In my neck of the woods they also serve something called "riot juice," which is primarily served when one redneck college plays football with the other redneck college, but I'm pretty sure it's not just for sports. If I get the recipe I'll share for the holidays.
@ParahSalin: OMG I am SO losing it. How could I forget Slim Jims and pork rinds. And in the neck of the woods in which I grew up, clams on the halfshell are an absolute necessity (albeit for slightly upscale [moderate Republican] events).
I'm sorry, is whipped cream and caramel sauce a separate dessert?
I can't imagine it not on ice cream, poundcake, or something with "a la mode." But I'd be more than willing to sample it and make a final determination. This would be served in some sort of dish, correct, and not standing in front of the refrigerator, canned whipped cream in one hand, squeeze bottle of caramel in the other, preparing for the two-handed "double-shot" diabetic coma?
@DahlELama: But Marcus Samuelsson cooked it - so I'm sure it was pretty tasty. It's certainly better than the Natalie Portman Top Chef episode - there were no "leek scallops"!
@Heneage: What? Marcus Samuelsson is no executive White House chef. That honor belongs to Ms. Cristeta Comerford.
I'm a fan of Samuelsson, but it cracks me up that he's currently "an adjunct professor in Meal Sciences at Umeå University." I have visited Umeå, Sweden, and please trust--the food offered in public establishments over there is tragic.
@Heneage: No, Ikea stole those recipes from MY PEOPLE! Anyway: Umeå fun fact: It's only 400 km south of the Arctic Circle. Winter in Umeå = Brrrrrrrr!
Two potato-based dishes in one meal? In the whole vast repertoire of Indian cuisine, they couldn't come up with something that wasn't potatoes? And really, why serve Indian food to Indian guests? Juicy burger and steak jokes aside, surely we can come up with a suitable American menu. Maybe if we tried hard, we could even use the correct terms and get the spelling right on the menu. This is really an embarrassment, sorry.
@clickable: Yeah, but doesn't that presume the P.M. likes American food? Maybe he's an Indian that would rather eat Indian food. Surely someone in the President's office consulted with someone in the Indian P.M.'s office to come up with a suitable menu. And really, sometimes people just prefer their native food or just a particular type of food in general, even if it's not exotic to them. Of course, I say this as someone who would want my State Dinner to consist of salted tater tots, pasta and a nice vegetable salad.
@Atilla the Bun: Hmmmm. OK, maybe. I think they probably do consult with the guests' staff, at least to be sure they don't serve something the guests woul detest, and certainly in terms of any religious or health requirements, but I also imagine most guests are diplomatically tactful as well and gracious enough not to demand only a very narrow selection.
I was also thinking "where's Alice Waters when you need her?" I just think the fall season, especially, lends itself to showcasing so many complex, interesting vegetable-based dishes. This season, with squash and pumpkins and eggplants and okra and beets and parsnips and corn and so many other terrific raw materials, you could put together a grand banquet of color and flavor. Just seems this menu shows a paucity of imagination. But maybe you are right, and they were working within the constraint of the guests' requirements.
@tailpipebananna: Basmati is a flavorful, long-grained, aromatic rice that has traditionally been cultivated in the Himalayan foothills. "Coconut-aged," I presume, means that the grains were stored for a while with dried coconut flakes mixed in, to enhance their flavor.
@tailpipebananna: if you can find somewhere that makes it in the city, highly recommended. Tabla used to serve it but I am not sure if it's still on the menu.
"A salsify, or goatsbeard, is a flowering plant in the genus Tragopogon. Tragopogon is in the family Asteraceae and has about 45 species, including the vegetable known as salsify, as well as a number of common wild flowers, some of which are usually regarded as weeds."
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Now I want to be invited to the White House just to say, "Sorry, I can't eat your food, but don't worry--I brought my own PB&J."
@Claire Buoyant: Grace Slick was inadvertently invited to a Nixon White House event in the 1960s, and was planning on putting acid in the punch. I think I would literally have given my right arm to see that happen. Unfortunately the Secret Service got wise to her shenanigans. Spiro Agnew would have been a riot to watch trippin' balls.
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That's how things like the Cobb Salad are created. I should know... my grandfather invented the cobb salad at the Rosarito Beach hotel in 1943.
#tips
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We've learned a lot tonight. So I guess "chocolate-dipped fruit" isn't banana vindaloo??
#tips
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Goofy mood :<
We were experimenting with whisky sours and things went a little wry.
#tips
11/25/09
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Oh I'm bad at this joke business. honey's dead above figured it out... it's an episode of curb your enthusiasm where Larry's friend lies about his grandfather inventing the Cobb salad.
#tips
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You are interfering with my campaign to sew confusion in the food history wars!
#tips
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Al Capone used to hang out down there with his cronies. Hollywood types running all over the place... now it's just a big mess.
#tips
11/25/09
If you "sew confusion," then I "Je seam à tout vent."
(Best publisher's motto ever.)
11/25/09
I am truely biased about this sewing confusion thing.
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/fixed.
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Froot Loops and Expired Skim Milk
Top-of-Refrigerator Rye Bread
With Peanut Butter
Rind of Cheddar Cheese
2009 Froot Loop Milk, Bottom of Bowl, Tiny Kitchen
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1. Budweiser
2. Doritos
3. Jack Daniels
4. Cheetos
5. Budweiser
6. Mashed potatos with butter
7. Pork chops or beef barbeque
8. Corn on the cob
9. Budweiser
10. Vanilla ice cream or Jello
Entertainment
Indie 500 hightlights reel.
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11. Elk jerky
12. Moose tidbits
13. Polar bear milk
14. Whale blubber
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1. Moose
2. Chocolate Mousse
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#tips
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#tips
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#tips
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#tips
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#tips
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#tips
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I can't imagine it not on ice cream, poundcake, or something with "a la mode." But I'd be more than willing to sample it and make a final determination. This would be served in some sort of dish, correct, and not standing in front of the refrigerator, canned whipped cream in one hand, squeeze bottle of caramel in the other, preparing for the two-handed "double-shot" diabetic coma?
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I'm a fan of Samuelsson, but it cracks me up that he's currently "an adjunct professor in Meal Sciences at Umeå University." I have visited Umeå, Sweden, and please trust--the food offered in public establishments over there is tragic.
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But I hate salsify, so I might be biased.
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#tips
11/25/09
I was also thinking "where's Alice Waters when you need her?" I just think the fall season, especially, lends itself to showcasing so many complex, interesting vegetable-based dishes. This season, with squash and pumpkins and eggplants and okra and beets and parsnips and corn and so many other terrific raw materials, you could put together a grand banquet of color and flavor. Just seems this menu shows a paucity of imagination. But maybe you are right, and they were working within the constraint of the guests' requirements.
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#tips
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"A salsify, or goatsbeard, is a flowering plant in the genus Tragopogon. Tragopogon is in the family Asteraceae and has about 45 species, including the vegetable known as salsify, as well as a number of common wild flowers, some of which are usually regarded as weeds."
Director of protocol!
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#tips
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How does one create an international incident if you can't attack the menu?
#tips
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Yes. They could have served something traditionally American, like burritos with a nice pico de gallo (what all the rubes call salsa).
Now, let's talk practical... does the white house have a kosher kitchen for special occasions?
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