Text 10287, 146 rader
Skriven 2014-02-25 10:50:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: culinary adventure 250
==============================
 NB> In fact, I do sympathize... with you, that is... ;)  I was being just
 NB> as flipper as you, I think.. ;0  I can sympathize in the concrete...
 NB> understanding people who won't try new things remains an abstract...
 NB> from being around those who won't... I sorta see where they are coming
 NB> from, but it certainly isn't my way of doing things... :)

Should hope not!

 ML> 2000 in Lufthansa's peculiar nonbusiness class, where the middle
 ML> seat folds down into a table, and they don't sell it unless it
 ML> looks like the plane will fill. In this case, they gave me the
 ML> uncomfortable middle next to Lilli's aisle, hoping that they can
 ML> get money for the window seat. 
 NB> We can hope that the window seat doesn't sell and that you get to move
 NB> over...?  Sounds like with the middle used as a table it shouldn't be
 NB> too uncomfortable... but that might be prime season for filling the
 NB> plane...? 

If they sell enough "business" seats at more than 1.5x the price
of a coach seat, they make out okay, although they do have
additional catering costs - a couple beers, a Euro's worth of
mystery meat (chicken, sausage, or fish) bound with mayo to
assorted minced pickles, onions, potatoes, and/or succotashy
stuff. A sort of perverted salade a la russe, I guess.

 ML> as airline alliances - it looks as though in the future we'll
 ML> fly internationally once a year together and do the rest of our
 ML> travel separately, meeting at our destination. 
 NB> That will save the inconveniences of companion upgrades not making it
 NB> through the system, I suppose...  and preserving each ones status on
 NB> the airline of choice... 

Exactly.

 ML> Now she's pushing for Longyearbyen again, meeting in Oslo or
 ML> someplace. Having lived through Yellowknife in the minus twenties
 ML> and Montreal in a minus ten with a wind, she's getting adventurous
 NB> Cold doesn't seem so bad in the abstract after surviving it in
 NB> reality, eh...?   :)  Especially when it comes with added benefits...

One thinks that having survived it - then with the next
Arctic blast, one rethinks everything. But if we planned
ahead, we could maybe do August, where the average low
temperature is a manageable 2C (35F), partially as a
result of the 24 hour sun from April to September.

 ML> - and counting the times she's going to be able to travel before
 ML> she gets old and decrepit. I've not had a bucket list, but she is
 ML> sort of giving me one.
 NB> Or, one could say that you don't have to make a bucket list, since
 NB> she's supplying the impetus to go all sorts of places that might
 NB> otherwise have been put on such a list...  :)

I enjoy all these places but would equally enjoy other
places; still no list.

 ML> I'll have to go on gastronomic trips by myself or with someone else.
 NB> A different bucket list, so to speak... ;)   If I had the wherewithal
 NB> to travel like that, I could be interested... :)

I've been blessed by not having had children and surfing
on a succession of small inheritances. Other people have
other kinds of blessings; mine have been at one extreme
of the spectrum.
 
 ML> Well, I probably could do with a steak a day for many days.
 NB> Dunno as I could... :)   But it would cetainly be one of the better
 NB> choices for a monodiet, as far as I'm concerned... :)

We recently left off eating a pound of brisket a day for
several days, punctuated by very small quantities of pork and
not much else. I've been two days out from that, in the
interim eating short ribs, hamburger, and half a dozen
oysters, and I miss the brisket already.

==

 NB>> Ah, the seductive power of words...  ;)  At least it was edible.  :)
 ML> Edible and good, actually. Just hard rather than crispy.
 NB> Not quite as advertised, but worth getting anyway... :)

It must be a translation thing, and I was asleep at
the switch. I'd rather have had non-crispy meat in the
curry, but I got what I got and enjoyed it.

 ML> dusty towns. Chiang Mai's Le Meridien, though rather lovely
 ML> inside, looks like a Soviet apartment complex (although
 ML> greenish rather than grayish); on the other hand it's set in
 ML> a vibrant commercial center where you can get anything you want.
 NB> Ah.  The benefits are of different sorts...

I cleverly scheduled us to have equal time in both
places. If it were myself alone, Chiang Rai would get
more of my attention.

 NB>> I imagine they each have their own goodnesses...  :)
 ML> Yep. Chiang Rai has rural goodnesses; Chiang Mai has
 ML> urban and less innocent ones. You can get hurt in Chiang
 ML> Mai if all you are out for is booze and broads. Since I
 ML> am more interested in beer and beef, I feel pretty safe.
 NB> Sounds like I'd be pretty safe either place, too, then... Most urban
 NB> traps hold no interest for me...  :)

Depends. As with Paris and Rome, they can be spectacular.

 NB>> But of course.  ;)  A little good-natured rivalry never hurt anyone...
 NB>> as long as it stays good-natured...  ;)  
 ML> It's pretty good natured. We both realize that we both kind of
 ML> need each other.
 NB> True.  :)
 
It's a familiar sort of give and take to some of you.
Our Latvian friend Eva calls Lilli my "travel wife," which
somewhat rings true.

Salade russe
cat: main, salad, French, Russian
servings: 4

300 g peas
150 g beef
3 carrots
2 potatoes
2 hard-cooked eggs
3 cornichons
1 onion
minced parsley
s, p
4 Tb creme fraiche OR mayonnaise

Typical winter dish served on New Year's Eve buffets.

Separately cook the beef, carrots, and potatoes.

Put the peas in a salad bowl.

Mince the onion. Cut all the other ingredients into
small dice; add everything to the bowl.

Correct seasoning and toss with the parsley and the
creme fraiche or mayonnaise. Serve cold.

cuisineAZ.com
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