[Sca-cooks] A little diversion

[johnna holloway]

I have been very busy, so I am just now getting
to this. JH

 > AM I a food geek?
> > Take the following test and determine your personal level of culinary
> > geekdom.> >
> > Do you, or Have you ever:> >
> > 1. Lectured complete strangers on the uses of unfamiliar foodstuffs?
> > I have told people what things are or where to find them. I most often
tell them which books to buy in the bookstore when they are standing in
front of the cookery section with that blank look on their faces.
> > 2. Know what "rocket" is? YES
> >
> > 3. Sneered at the lazy yuppie scum who buy premade polenta at the
> > supermarket?
Hey, who am I to sneer... my son and husband love Kraft Mac and Cheese
in the blue boxes. I can make the real stuff but it's a father//son
thing.
They make and eat it themselves. It's called giving "mom" a break.
> >
> > 4. Grown your own herbs? yes
> >
> > 5. Grown your own vegetables? yes
>
> > 6. Grown your own wheat? yes but I wasn't in the SCA... Farmgirls have
some advantages.. helped harvest it too
>> > 7. Foregone buying ice cream because the soup bones have taken over your
> > freezer?
 It's not only the frozen ham bones for soup beans, its the bread being
saved
for bread pudding and stuffing.
>
> > 8. Made your own demi-glace? yes but not often

> > 9. Own five mortars and pestles, but can't find your pepper mill?
>Actually I own an assortment of grinders for spices, nuts, peppers, and just
the one mortar and pestle... and I know where it is.
> > 10. Consider your mother a heretic for buying premade pie crusts?
I didn't when she was alive to make pies.

 > 11. Subscribe to seven cooking magazines but mooch newspapers from
your
> > coworkers?
>
I also buy my own papers, but then I don't have co-workers to mooch
from.

> >
> > 12. Stayed up late reading Escoffier, Brillat-Savarin, or Julia Child?

 I read  mysteries in bed or book catalogues. My husband thought that I
was
the original for Barbara Bookish in the Foodie Handbook.

> > 13. Say to yourself, "I can cook better than this" at a trendy restaurant?
> Yes, but we seldom go to trendy restaurants. The 11 year old has a strong veto
voice re-echoed by the husband.
> > 14. Know the difference between a china cap and a chinoise?> Yes
>
> > 15. Fantasize about meeting Charles Ranhofer, James Beard, or Martino da
> > Como?
 No my tastes run to Hannah, or Sir Hugh or possibly Robert May.

> > 16. Brag about your 10-inch Dick?
>Women seldom brag about this subject--- mine are a different brand.
> > 17. Know what the last question was about, you vulgar little creature, you?
>yes...
>
> > 18. Have a special carrying case for your knives, sharpening steel,
> > whetstone, and knife oil?
Mine stay home where they belong.

> > 19. Spend hours in the "Used Equipment" section of the restaurant supply
> > store? the bargain area yes... I tend to look for the stuff that the
storeclerks can't identify and mismark down... like odd molds and
cast-offs.
>
> > 20. Kept a sourdough starter alive for more than two months? 5 plus years
>
> > Give yourself a point for every positive answer.
> >
> > Scores:
> >
> > 1-5 points.  You can barely cook, and probably don't care too much.  You
> > probably live on restaurant food and Cheerios.
> >
> > 6-10 points.  You can cook, and have some clue about technique.  Of course,
> > you also have a social life.
> >
> > 11-15 points.  You can definitely cook, and are quite knowledgeable about
> > technique and history.  Your friends vie for dinner invitations.
> >
> > 16-20 points.  You are utterly lost.  Hie thee hence to the Culinary
> > Institute of America before your head explodes.
>
I don't see a need for a score here. The answers stand for themselves.

AS for the question on SPAM, I would suggest SPAM A BIOGRAPHY by
Carolyn Wyman which records its history.

Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway