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

eggless, crunchy rusk with mummified partridge thigh, presented with a sharp, damascus blade to slice the duck fat in which the rusk is fried......and in which the dry thigh is rehydrated.......o.k., Andrew Zimmern? A perfect accompaniment for a hundred year old egg, or...if a century egg is not available......a cave swiftlet's egg will suffice.....

  Fonds d'Artichauts Farcis, Bearnaise craving has drawn this old insomniac into a dark kitchen.......then, on 'second thought'.......I opened a jar of artichoke bottoms in olive oil, terragon and lemon juice.......toasted a couple of slices of sourdough and emptied a glass jar of 'pre-made' Bearnaise Sauce over some leftover poached eggs, from yesterday's b'fast and some sauteed mushroom slices with leftover wine 'dregs'.........Not 'Perfection', perhaps...but, then, it IS 4:30 am! I know there must be some parsley in the fridge, from yesterday's 11PM 'run' to Kroger, for some smoked paprika.....

  when in doubt, just use your fingers.......in 1900, Edith Wharton would have had the 'proper silver implement' to transport this roasted cicada over a almond butter and honey-topped Golgappa puri, filled with lemon custard, to one's 'perhaps, not that eager' palate.....

they've been a 'regular' at my dinner table since I was 6 years old....and liked them with ketchup.....then, at 12, with tartar sauce.....later, after watching Julia Childs and other TV chefs prepare them...many ways..... the salmon patty gates were open to my Imagination....

ROASTED FIGS AND CHEESE EN CROUETTE........ THE 'COMPROMISE'  GREEK CHEESE SPIRAL ....FROM THE FROZEN PRODUCTS DEPT. AT TRADER JOE'S......

 

  With the current abundance of nectarines.......i've made nectarine iced-cream, tarts, curried nectarine chutney and....of course......crepes with whipped cream and sweet nectarine centers...the pink part....nectarine coolers, and pink grapefruit/nectarine vodka drinks......where are all the great peaches.....this is Georgia, after all?

 

         Best, eaten....pizza-style, with a huge napkin in one's lap.......For 'elegant dining', however....I suggest having the interior components eaten from a bowl (l) or with a knife & fork, if spread on the pan-cooked paratha (2)....;  otherwise, face the daunting challenge of holding the rolled up concoction in one's hand, risking a big mess in one's lap/table/floor..........

  Ingredient List: mixed ground animal muscle, black beans, rasam powder, sweet chili sauce, scallions, diced Vidalia onion, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped fresh tomatoes, tamarind paste, coriander paste, hot chili paste, ground peppercorns (yellow,  black and red), crushed and grated garlic, roasted red & yellow peppers, dried golden raisins, Thai okra fried in ricebran oil, lemon grass, kaffir lime peel, chopped dried coriander leaves, cayenne peppers, rice vinegar, oyster juice, Sand Mountain sorghum.......and spatuled-out stuff from some bottles of almost-empty condiment jars at the back of the fridge...... for 'salt-lovers'....not me!.....a side of grated Asiago Cheese......to sprinkle on top.......and, for 'sweet-toothers'....yes, I confess......some dribbles of 'spring roll sauce' or sweet chili sauce......

gazing into these fat globules, I likened them, imaginarily, to clusters of Universes as 'seen' by the next generation of Space Telescopes.....a relatively long-distance view through a hair-thin 'straw' of a trillion trillionth of the 'Big Picture'  at celestial manifestations of Matter that have ceased to exist...billions of years before we 'see' them....... .....made with the heavy cream 'plug' at the top of non-homogenized high-fat milk......to oil some creaking joints ....or.......to 'up' waist size? The portable Sharper Image 'Step-master' should insure the first.....sitting in a chair on a foam 'ass pillow' would insure the second......after 'jolting' up on the java, I spent ten minutes on the cardio-stepmaster device.....listening to some strict-time Nickyi Minaj pop-junk...that I wanted to 'hurry up and get THAT over with'........and burn off enough fat calories to, guilt-free, wolf down the choco...

fresh from the oven.....a French-Style roasted Pork Tenderloin that was mismarked @ Kroger, for $2.97.... cooked in cognac, a couple of dozen herbs and spices and the last of the Worchester Sauce, A-1 Sauce and Peppery Indonesian Sambal Badjak, Satay sauce, garlic and onion powders and Babi Kecap.....final culinary destinations....yet under consideration....W hile this 'rested'......I poured some cognac into the 'drippings', added some dried sliced portabella mushrooms, some pomegranate liquor and 'squeezed' vidalia onion juice, a little corn starch and ground green peppercorns to make a sauce...to be combined , later, in the blender.......and used the last half cup of 'drippings' to pan fry some small purple potatoes.....now, to 'break up' all that 'brownness'.....something, as yet undecided....Green to surround the completed project......chopped scallion greens and ?? ....the mushrooms were a bit saltier than I like....even after burnin...