Cooking And Eating....“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es”

  I'm 'on' to the next 'thing'.......how abo ut some Fish Sperm Sacs.....Sapporo style? I'm having some smoked eel sushi and Vidalia onion tempura for 'sunrise' b'fast.......having 'done' the traditional North Alabama New Year's foods a couple of days  early.......Japanese buckwheat noodles with sesame oil and wasabi paste are washing out all the largesse of traditional American X'mas Fare's caloric overload.......New Year's Day will see sheep's pancreas, cooked in herbed butter, French style, with thin, crunchy asparagus sticks......that I've not had in a few years.......much tastier than bags of fish sperm or thin-sliced fowl gizzards in peanut sauce, Zimmern-style.......eaten, sentimentally, with Lilburn Carre' and Troy Ellis' old abalone shell-inlaid lacquered chopsticks, from Phyllis Rix's old Canton bowls........for End of 2024 'nostalgia'.......

THIS YEAR, EVERY TRUFFLE IS DIFFERENT..........AN ENJOYABLE TASK THAT TOOK 5 HOURS TO ACCOMPLISH.......ALL OF THEM ARE, OF COURSE, 'CHOCOLATE'......

  some fiery South Indian Madras fare to rattle my aching bones.......fried tofu in Madras curry sauce, brown rice with hard-candied pineapple and ginger, crushed fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds..cooked in coconut oil......leftover hot, spicy spinach, cooked with eggs and Burmese condiments.......and lots of Assam tea with ginger....to drive Winter aches away!

  ' shredded spinach, pickled garlic, beaten eggs, grated lime peel, chili powder, diced coriander, shredded moldy gorgonzola cheese, sliced sun-dried tomatoes cured in olive oil, and powdered tumeric....scrambled in clarified butter and served atop toasted multi-grain toast with chia and flax seeds...... accompanied by hot ginseng/chai tea...

I've always believed that 'You ARE what you eat'........This morning, I viewed a program on BBC's The Travel Show, which featured the remarkable story of Jetro Rafael's creation of a restaurant for 'outsiders' and sensitive, vulnerable souls with 'mental "problems"'.........My 'City', Atlanta....fortunately....has many outlets for the 'artistically inclined' who would not 'fit' into the "Normal' contingency.......I recall the old VIRGINIA'S restaurant/bar/gallery/performance arena, that was just a few blocks from my front door a dozen or so years ago...and PARIS ON PONCE, as it was in more Artsy/LessCommercial days.....This morning, my 'brain' instructed me to serve it avocados, walnuts, sunflower kernels, oat bran, golden raisins and roquefort cheese on Ritz crackers......I feel much better, now.......the maintenance of 'Atmosphere' via lighting, sound, smells and aesthetics is th...

  a few days late.....a 'cookie'...sorta....for National Cookie Day......a 'spiral jetty' of bittersweet black sorghum from Sand Mountain Alabama...drizzled over a nut flour and dried fruit pan cookie.....the consistency of a chocolate brownie......without the chocolate.......my grandmother added peanut butter to the 'mix'....but I added slivered almonds, crushed pecans and walnuts......