A Moment of Bliss

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Alchemy of the Kitchen

You will never get out of pot or pan anything fundamentally better than what went into it. Cooking is not alchemy; there is no magic in the pot - Martha McCulloch-Williams* †

With respect to Ms. McCulloch-Williams (Who I am fairly certain would bristle at the honorific “Ms”. Good.) cooking is most certainly alchemy. 

The bringing together of base materials which, through the manipulation of four basic elements (air, fire, water and earth), are transmuted into something sublime. If all you care about is nourishment, try Soylent. If you want to create a spagyric or an elixir of life, you need the magic that is cookery.

Everything Old is New Again

The mission of the ideal woman is to make the whole world more homelike. - Frances Willard

How typical! Over the years I created multiple blogs to reflect different aspects of my interest in cookery. I create and launch the new CITP website to gather these varying strains together in one place. Organizing them in an easy to understand display.

And the first blog post that comes to mind bends the rules.

It's about a cookbook, so it should be in Coquus Libris, shouldn't it? After all, I made the arbitrary decision. But, it came up for a search while launching this page. So I hereby decree an exception.

Twenty Years

Only a man who’s been burned knows what hell is truly like - Sandor Clegane

Twenty years ago today, I almost died.

I came home from presiding over a successful meeting of my Masonic Lodge, did some work and went to
bed. I woke the next morning in the Intensive Care Burn Unit of the Erie County Medical Center. I wasn’t expected to survive the first twenty-four hours. Ten days later I was released.


It is that simple, and that complex. It was the worst nightmare that you can imagine. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It almost killed me, but it saved my life.

To understand how I can look back on a traumatic event as a blessing, you have to know my life as of April 21, 1994. I was wretched.

Reboot

My Dinner With Andrew, Redux.

I’m in favor of liberalizing immigration because of the effect it would have on restaurants. I’d let just about everybody in except the English. - Calvin Trillin

Yes I was there. The meal that Andrew reviews in today’s Gusto section included Trish and me. Since I have already written of Andrew as reviewer I will not revisit it here, except to say that once again I concur in large measure with the content of his review.
Instead, I’d like to focus on those issues facing any new restaurant. How the choice of location, and even the selection of the name, can impact the chances of success. Specifically, how it may affect this restaurant: Teton Kitchen.
I will share one moment from the dinner with Andrew and Kat. It was a gut busting, tears streaming down the face, rolling on the floor laughing bit of foodie humor.

A Cut Above

There was never a good Knife made of bad Steel - Poor Richard's Almanac

I have fallen in love with a knife.


I never planned it this way - I never knew I wanted it this badly. It's not like the gleaming Shun chef knife on display at my store.  I have lusted for that for years.  Now that I know I will be bringing it home, I visit that knife every day.  Just to talk to it.  Get it used to the sound of my voice. I have even introduced it to a couple of knives I already own, so it won't feel like a stranger when it arrives.

Here is a selfie I took with it.