When people tell me they want to learn to cook, I give them two books: Michael Ruhlman's “Ratio” which teaches you the magic proportions to make stock, bread, sauces, sausages - as his subtitle puts it “everyday food.” The other is Alexandra Leaf's “The Impressionists' Table” a glorious and sadly, out of print, Rizzoli cookbook of Impressionist paintings of dining life and recipes from those French painters. It's well worth it to buy a used copy off Amazon. The Impressionists knew how to make picnics masterpieces of life at its fleeting best. It's a humbling lesson that the great Impressionists took the time not just to create paintings that would outlast them, but to cook and put together picnics and other meals that would last only a few hours. Life is brief, carpe diem - seize the day. Have a picnic.
And check on eBay for books, too. Life in the scheme of things occurs in a blink of an eye, eat anything you want. I recall the mother of a deceased friend, her son killed by a drunk driver, seriously commenting, "Eat all the ice cream you want." Enjoy life!
Calla, I enjoyed reading your picnic stories. I have one vintage picnic picture of my mother's side of the family tree, namely the Gramstorff family ... and it's one of my most favorite pictures. The picture depicts generations of Gramstorff family members, probably located in a park of a remote town in the Boston area. My granddad in the picture looks like he was about 8 years old. Thanks for triggering my memory of this picnic picture. Russell family picnics are also memorable. Egg salad sandwiches were my favorite and remain so. And nothing better than a hot drink from a Scottish plaid Thermos. Anything coming out of any other Thermos design doesn't taste as good <g>.
What is that quote, all happy families are happy in the same ways…..our family picnics were very different in detail, location and style but there were very happy in the same ways too.
Thanks for all the memory jogs. Celery stuffed with shredded cheese and mayonnaise, German potato salad with bacon, dill pickles, cold fried chicken, homemade cookies, and the very best ones included hand cranked ice cream.
Thanks also for making the psychic connection, though generations and miles apart, to my own inspirational wonder woman Gertrude Bell.
Thanks for bringing back memories of Cape Cod, P’Town, lobster rolls and clam bakes. I worked there for a year and recall the distinction between “real” cape coders and washashores; if you weren’t born there, you were considered just visiting. I recall an obituary that went something like, “We are sad to announce the passing of Mrs. X last week. She had been a visitor who stayed over sixty years.”
When people tell me they want to learn to cook, I give them two books: Michael Ruhlman's “Ratio” which teaches you the magic proportions to make stock, bread, sauces, sausages - as his subtitle puts it “everyday food.” The other is Alexandra Leaf's “The Impressionists' Table” a glorious and sadly, out of print, Rizzoli cookbook of Impressionist paintings of dining life and recipes from those French painters. It's well worth it to buy a used copy off Amazon. The Impressionists knew how to make picnics masterpieces of life at its fleeting best. It's a humbling lesson that the great Impressionists took the time not just to create paintings that would outlast them, but to cook and put together picnics and other meals that would last only a few hours. Life is brief, carpe diem - seize the day. Have a picnic.
And check on eBay for books, too. Life in the scheme of things occurs in a blink of an eye, eat anything you want. I recall the mother of a deceased friend, her son killed by a drunk driver, seriously commenting, "Eat all the ice cream you want." Enjoy life!
Nice.
A tale of one culture separated by language. (now where is the lift?)
You mean that thing that takes you from the ground floor to the first floor, which is really the second story.
Calla, I enjoyed reading your picnic stories. I have one vintage picnic picture of my mother's side of the family tree, namely the Gramstorff family ... and it's one of my most favorite pictures. The picture depicts generations of Gramstorff family members, probably located in a park of a remote town in the Boston area. My granddad in the picture looks like he was about 8 years old. Thanks for triggering my memory of this picnic picture. Russell family picnics are also memorable. Egg salad sandwiches were my favorite and remain so. And nothing better than a hot drink from a Scottish plaid Thermos. Anything coming out of any other Thermos design doesn't taste as good <g>.
What is that quote, all happy families are happy in the same ways…..our family picnics were very different in detail, location and style but there were very happy in the same ways too.
Thanks for all the memory jogs. Celery stuffed with shredded cheese and mayonnaise, German potato salad with bacon, dill pickles, cold fried chicken, homemade cookies, and the very best ones included hand cranked ice cream.
Thanks also for making the psychic connection, though generations and miles apart, to my own inspirational wonder woman Gertrude Bell.
Geez did you have to bring up that issue of the floors...??? Sigh.
"S"
You can never be too careful pushing elevator buttons in Europe. Traps for the unwary.
A very enjoyable change of pace and a nice nostalgic read. Thank you, Calla.
Lovely.
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way"
Tolstoy -- Anna Karenina
Thanks for bringing back memories of Cape Cod, P’Town, lobster rolls and clam bakes. I worked there for a year and recall the distinction between “real” cape coders and washashores; if you weren’t born there, you were considered just visiting. I recall an obituary that went something like, “We are sad to announce the passing of Mrs. X last week. She had been a visitor who stayed over sixty years.”
Winston Churchill is not a "hero." Lost me in sentence one.