[marlena spieler]

Hi guys,

I guess I'm going to be taking over this food blog but I'm thinking: how on earth can I do justice to this metier without a camera........

also, after our last week's foodblog girl, pim's amazing week of eating, i'm feeling a cross between a slut and a nun, foodwise. first of all, have been dieting and am now miserable with the whole thing, eating weird things like salad salad and also cabbage soup, and wishing instead that it was a thin cake of foie gras and leek encrusted in potatoes, that sort of thing.

today for lunch: a tiny piece of pain poilane topped with some st marcellin so ripe i could swoon, warmed slightly with a little truffle oil. i suppose the misery part of this is that it is a very very small portion. lots and lots and lots of salad to go with my meager but magnificent cheese croute.

dinner: was sent a piece of beautiful pig and i shall cook it. very beautiful pig: raised in the fresh outdoors of the northern england countryside, from a family that includes both hampshire pig and gloustershire white. its siblings are to be sold at sainsbury's. i ate another member of its family at brian turner's restaurant a few weeks ago and loved it so much that the pig farmer sent this to my home. brian turners pork was very good and i have high hopes, even higher hopes for this one because i'm going to blanket the little roast with garlic and thyme.

talk with you all after dinner........

[Toliver]

"...and this little piggy went to marlena's."
I am looking forward to hearing how dinner turned out!
I vote, for the good of the blog, that you completely toss the diet out the window and take us on a culinary joyride.

[Lady T]

Me, I vote for the joyride every time. Dump that diet...or at least have a bigger croute avec fromage! That St.-Marcellin sounds sumptuous!

[marlena spieler]

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

the pork was good.

that pork was so good, so succulent, so moist, you could taste its added wisdom from growing to a more mature age, and its character from being aged on the bone, and its succulence from the extra fat it was allowed to put on to its sturdy body (a bit like me, now flying free from the restraints of the evil diet!).

so, here is what i did with my beautiful pig: the roast was a shoulder with crackling, lean but plump. i cut incisions in the bottom and inserted slivers of garlic, then dusted the whole roast with thyme, salt and pepper. put it in a pan and surrounded it with peeled shallots and whole unpeeled garlic cloves. Then i roasted it, fiddling around with the heat up and down until it reached about , oh, say, 135 or so on the meat thermometer which i don't have but aproximated by my emotional feelings. it felt right. halfway through the roasting, i parboiled some sliced parsnips, drained them then tossed them with extra virgin. into the pan they went along with the shallots and garlic and it all roasted together, cozily.

when the pork was right--which was when i felt it was--and the vegetables were golden browned in places, i took it all out of the pan and let it rest. then made a pan sauce by deglazing the pan with red wine and chicken stock. until it was rich and dark. and essential.

sliced the pork, so juicy it was, have i mentioned this? and just dabbed it a bit with the essence of juices and reduction of wine.

by the way, the pork will soon be sold at sainsburys as a follow up to their jamie oliver 21 day extra mature beef. i don't think jamie had anything to do with my pig though.

we started the meal with tzadziki: greek yogurt with tons of garlic, coarsely grated cucumber (european, with its skins), fresh dill and mint, and lemon juice.

and for dessert: really ripe mango with lime zest and juice.

can't wait for breakfast! full report as i eat it.........

pleasant dreams y'all!

[bloviatrix]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 03:34 PM, said:

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

Marlena, you should stand tall and proud when you admit you're a plate licker. Those last bits are always the best. Screw good manners.

[marlena spieler]

bloviatrix, on Feb 19 2004, 01:58 PM, said:

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 03:34 PM, said:

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic  surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are  licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

Marlena, you should stand tall and proud when you admit you're a plate licker. Those last bits are always the best. Screw good manners.

maybe we should start a thread elsewhere of confession time for those quirky little food things we do.

OR.......

start a club for us PLATE LICKERS. There I've said it again and I'm proud! Thanks for helping set myself free.......I lick plates and I don't care who knows it.

The question is:

Do you lick yours?

[marlena spieler]

bloviatrix, on Feb 19 2004, 01:58 PM, said:

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 03:34 PM, said:

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic  surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are  licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

Marlena, you should stand tall and proud when you admit you're a plate licker. Those last bits are always the best. Screw good manners.

maybe we should start a thread elsewhere of confession time for those quirky little food things we do.

OR.......

start a club for us PLATE LICKERS. There I've said it again and I'm proud! Thanks for helping set myself free.......I lick plates and I don't care who knows it.

The question is:

Do you lick yours?

[Jake]

Nope. All those lessons the parents taught must be well ingrained -- but I envy you your freedom! Enjoy!

[JPW]

Yes, I do.
But mainly right now I'm blotting the drool off my tie from the description of your roast.

[Lady T]

Well, yes. Actually, I go a short ways further: at home alone, I lick virtually anything that has something tasty on it: spoons, plates, forks, the last aromatic drop in the wine glass, you name it -- with the exception of knives, which can be dangerous (and never more so than after the second glass or so of wine!).

My towels are cleaner, and so is my conscience, since everything ends up in a fine hot dishwasher.

After that description, I think I need to roast some pork this weekend.

[Toliver]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 12:34 PM, said:

sliced the pork, so juicy it was, have i mentioned this?

Your first day at blogging and already you've brought a tear to my eye. I just may need a vicarious nap after that vicarious meal!
This is some wonderfully descriptive writing. How about a little background (how you became a "foodie")?

[marlena spieler]

uh oh.

and oy vey.

a nice jewish girl like me talking like this about pork? gevalt!

don't tell my rabbi, and don't mention the jewish heritage cookbook that i wrote.

plate licking, pork, what am i going to confess to next?

[Mabelline]

As far as my plate licking, I was brought up right. Scrub it up with your finger, then lick your finger. Actually, my mom would've had a stroke from that--you had to have a piece of bread. But I have been known to use the doggie dishwasher method when SO is on duty, and I'm home alone. SO YES.

[bloviatrix]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 04:06 PM, said:

bloviatrix, on Feb 19 2004, 01:58 PM, said:

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 03:34 PM, said:

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic  surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are  licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

Marlena, you should stand tall and proud when you admit you're a plate licker. Those last bits are always the best. Screw good manners.

maybe we should start a thread elsewhere of confession time for those quirky little food things we do.

OR.......

start a club for us PLATE LICKERS. There I've said it again and I'm proud! Thanks for helping set myself free.......I lick plates and I don't care who knows it.

The question is:

Do you lick yours?

Mais oui. B'vadai kain. Of course.

I think using three languages gets my point across.

One of my favorite picture books as a kid was about mommy bear baking a birthday cake for her cub. The cub proceeds to lick the bowl, spatula, etc and in the process gets coated in left-over batter. The text read something along the lines of "everything tastes better when you wear it." I still hold by that rule.

[marlena spieler]

its 10:45 p.m. (greenwich meantime, i live in the UK) and ordinarily i might be thinking about reading in bed right now.....

but

i have responsibilities. i realize now that i'm not eating for myself right now, i've got the blog to think about and the 10,000 egulleteers.

how can i just have that cup of tea......i'm eating for egullet.com now! maybe i'll have a little rampage through the fridge.......

[pim]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 09:40 AM, said:

also, after our last week's foodblog girl, pim's amazing week of eating, i'm feeling a cross between a slut and a nun, foodwise.

Hey, I don't know about you, but I sort of find that interesting.

The pork sounds delicious, by the way. I want some!

[hathor]

We should take a poll and see how many of us are going to make pork for dinner tonight...it sounded so fabulous. I could smell it.
Thanks for making the effort!
sweet dreams!

[Toliver]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 02:49 PM, said:

i have responsibilities. i realize now that i'm not eating for myself right now, i've got the blog to think about and the 10,000 egulleteers.

It sounds like a punchline for a joke:
"I'm not eating for one, I'm eating for 10,000!"
You set an admirable example of the eGullet axiom "Taking one for the Team".

[prasantrin]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 02:34 PM, said:

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean. (confession: we lick our plates clean here in our house, don't tell anyone, and we never do it with guests, but when its just us, we like the way the last bit of sauce tastes when you lick it up from the cold smooth ceramic surface of the plate). thank heaven the web cam is not plugged in yet. also, we are licking our lips at the moment, now that our plates are clean.

I wipe the plate up with my finger and suck the sauce off from it .

Even without pictures, I'm already enjoying your blog just as much as I enjoyed Pim's.

[hillvalley]

marlena spieler, on Feb 19 2004, 05:49 PM, said:

its 10:45 p.m. (greenwich meantime, i live in the UK) and ordinarily i might be thinking about reading in bed right now.....

but

i have responsibilities. i realize now that i'm not eating for myself right now, i've got the blog to think about and the 10,000 egulleteers.

how can i just have that cup of tea......i'm eating for egullet.com now! maybe i'll have a little rampage through the fridge.......

went through the same thing during my blog Maybe we should have a "The week after my blog" thread to 'fess up to what we really eat.

Quote

and oy vey.

a nice jewish girl like me talking like this about pork? gevalt!

From one nice jewish girl to another, pass the bacon.

Quote

mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, we are now licking our fingers and our plates clean

Where in the UK are you? Who are the "we"?

I'm a wipe the plate with my finger and lick it clean girl myself

[Marlene]

Sounds quite wonderful Marlena. And how nice to find someone with a name that's at least close tro mine. Ever try finding a fridge magnet or a mug with your name on it I must confess to having pork tonight as well, although I've had pork in one form or another all week.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your blog!

[Pan]

I've been known to lick my plate in my apartment (I live by myself) and on occasion at my parents' (who are very informal).

Marlena, how is it that you live in London and write from the San Francisco Chronicle?

[John Whiting]

Mabelline, on Feb 19 2004, 09:44 PM, said:

As far as my plate licking, I was brought up right. Scrub it up with your finger, then lick your finger.

I also subscribe to that method. Licking directly, all the best bits get in my beard.

[marlena spieler]

Good Morning! Drinking my coffee, first cup--lavazza and okay as it is caffeine, but i expect a delivery of some truly excellent coffee to arrive shortly. then it will be coffee number two. coffee number two will be fantastic, because it will be from union roasters, a uk coffee company of two sweet guys who are obsessed with good coffee, trained at peets in berkeley, and are devoted to fair trade. they are sending us coffee from ruanda, from a co-operative of survivors of the genocide.

so not only do i feel good drinking the coffee but i feel good ABOUT drinking the coffee. i am now sitting at the window with my binoculars looking out for the delivery van. i love caffeine. at this moment, perhaps i should mention that a study several years ago at one of the universities came up with the fact that coffee drinkers have a lower suicide rate than non caffeine drinkers so it never hurts to be safe rather than sorry. but if the van doesn't arrive soon i might kill myself.

however, coffee alone does not a breakfast make.

and my breakfasts vary wildly as you'll see throughout the week.

today, In preparation for our--marlena, husband, and cat, madeleine-- morning meal, i've despatched husband who shall be acting as my slave this blog-week, to the store for provisions of the jam and preserves type. he came back with: a box of nearly everything bonne maman makes. we have: four types of conserve/preserve, 3 compotes, and one jelly. he also bough two boxes of cookies just because--petits biscuits au noisettes and galettes au beurre.

I've now got all of the jams and preserves lined up on my desk. what i want to do is open each and every one up and take a bit from each. but then the rest will languish and eventually rot. we don't eat jams fast enough and i hate to waste. okay, breakfast is taking shape. i've got pain poilane in the freezer (i always do), cream cheese and a few strawberries......

here it is: pain poilane, cream cheese, a thick thick layer of strawberry preserves (the old favourites are the best), and a topping of sliced fresh strawberries. and i'll try not to spill it all on the keyboard.

[marlena spieler]

Marlene: how nice for me too to meet a Marlene! Marlena was the name that stuck itself to me when I lived here and there and places where people pronounce it that way. spieler, by the way, was name of husband number one, and it seemed so apt that i decided to keep it: spieler by name, spieler by nature.

its always hard to know EXACTLY where i live as i've been nearly bi-continental for a long long time, depending on where i'm earning my keep. but if the definition of home is where your cat lives, then i live in hampshire, england, about seventy miles south of london. before this i was an east ender warehouse dweller for over a decade.

i've written for the chronicle for a zillion years, but it was food features which doesn't have the high profile nor the scope for personality-expression that writing a column does. i came to britain for a year, met husband, got involved in a parallel life, and kept on writing for the chronicle via the wonders of telecommunications: first faxing articles in, then emailing them. michael bauer has always been hugely very and encouraging, and one day when i proposed a column he and the other editors said: lets try it out!

Pips on Radio 4 tell me its eleven o'clock. time for elevenses (british)--midmorning snacktime in american.

leftover roast pork sounds good. just a sliver.

[marlena spieler]

hallelujah, the red royal mail van with its little yellow crown on the side, her majesty's postal service, a big ER on the side (nothing to do with the television series)........has just pulled up....and we have pounced onto the delivery guy.......his cardboard box is just the right size for the expected bag of coffee.......

open it up........we're sniffing right now. the smell of such fresh dark coffee. i'm in a state of sort of happy whining if there is such a thing. i just want to sniff and sniff and sniff.......but i'm going to force myself into action now: grind the beans and brew the coffee.

before union roasters i always brought coffee back from peets and one morning, having returned with wonderful "major dick" (my affectionate term for peets finest major dickensens) my coffee grinder gave up the ghost. i was desperate and tried grinding the beans in my mortar and pestle (no one sold electric grinders in my neighbourhood at the time, i didn't have a manual grinder, nor did i have the patience to spend a day going out west to buy a grinder. i needed coffee at that minute). it didn't work and beans were flying all over the kitchen. Then i put the beans in a plastic bag and bashed at it with a hammer but the bag broke. finally i put both the beans and the hammer in a double-layer plastic bag and started smacking the floor (concrete floor, we lived in a warehouse). and that was almost okay.

now i always keep two electric grinders in my kitchen at all times, though this past year i've had problems with power outages (nyc and naples, italy). i may need my own generator.

2 cups of dark roast revolution blend with hot steamy milk, coming up.

[John Whiting]

marlena spieler, on Feb 20 2004, 10:36 AM, said:

2 cups of dark roast revolution blend with hot steamy milk, coming up.

My morning fix is their Foundation blend, which Jeremy says is the nearest they do to the Major's. It's pretty close in flavor and a lot closer in food miles.

[SobaAddict70]

So, does your slave...er, I mean your husband read eGullet? Or lurk?

heheh

Soba

[marlena spieler]

Friday 20th Feb 2004

LUNCHTIME!

spring being what it is, today is the wintery sort of spring day. cold. grey. so after the pork blowout i thought: warming spicy soup.

started off in the lahlebi direction: i was thinking of a bowl of tender chickpeas in broth with spices etc. that i used to eat in jaffa, israel, but never can quite manage to replicate it........and anyhow, i only had one can of chicpeas (confession: i was using canned chickpeas and anything with chickpeas is really is so much better when cooked from dried).

okay, the chickpeas were simmering in water in the saucepan, then i added cooked brown lentils stashed in my freezer, half a can of kidney beans leftover from a salad a few days ago, tomatoes (canned!) and lots of: sliced garlic, chopped celery inc the leaves, chopped onion, ginger, tumeric, cumin, celery seeds, a little smoked pimenton (spanish paprika) and cardomom. lamb stock from freezer. It was a little anemically thin---lots and lots of lamb stock--so i made a paste of chickpea flour and water and stirred it in. not a lot to make it thick, just to hold it all together,

just before serving, i stirred into each bowlful: a spoonful of homemade green curry paste that I keep in my freezer: cilantro, green chillies, lemon grass, ginger or was it galangal, i do both depending on whats available......

and a big squirt of lime juice.

we're eating our second bowlful now.

[marlena spieler]

SobaAddict70, on Feb 20 2004, 05:54 AM, said:

So, does your slave...er, I mean your husband read eGullet? Or lurk?

heheh

Soba

hi soba,

my husband is a lurker. with a slightly addictive personality, he's been lurking big time.

right now however he is harmlessly engaged in wandering the aisles of waitrose in search of whatever he can come home with of interest to egulleteers out there who might be eating along.

should be fun to see what we're all eating tonight........