I’d just like to linger on this image for a moment.
Because that is the last time I’m going to say, “Oh, Pete,” in a gently mocking but still affectionate way.
Pete’s dead to me now.
Last Week:
Betty bought a couch that looks like upholstered lady-parts and blocked her hearth with it. Don had to sign a lucrative [...]
The first rule of challah wars is: don’t start a challah war if you’re not prepared to learn some awful truths about the bread you hold most dear.
We have been going to Arizmendi Bakery, a wonderful and magic place, a cooperative where happy people who love to bake produce happy breads that are delicious and [...]
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Q: What do Betty Draper and Marcella White Campbell have in common?
A: They both own this cookbook:
I will prove it! I will scan my cookbook’s cover!
That’s right. Separated by decades and the mists of real and not-real, Betty Draper and I both cook from Betty Crocker’s Hostess Cookbook. I’m sure that both of us do [...]
Monday, September 21, 2009
New maxim: never bring a fully-loaded John Deere tractor into the office unless you intend to use it.
Last Week:
In Episode 5, “The Fog,” Don and little Sally shared a late-night meal of corned beef hash while Betty was in the hospital with little Gene. So last night’s main course was pretty self-explanatory.
If I do [...]
Friday, September 18, 2009
Did you know there were Challah Wars going on? Do you even know what challah is? Say no, that I may educate you.
Wikipedia will, of course, tell you what challah is and list challah references in popular culture and so forth, but the most satisfyingly exhaustive source on Jewish food, in my opinion, is Claudia [...]
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The recipe below calls for condensed milk.
Condensed milk hails from the days when the quality of milk could not be guaranteed and refrigeration was iffy anyway. It’s exactly what it sounds like, milk boiled down until a lot of the water is gone. It’s sweet and rich. People used to thin it out with water [...]
Monday, September 14, 2009
I like to talk about food. I also like to talk about Mad Men. So, barring life getting in the way, every remaining week that Mad Men is on the air, I’ll try to prepare a 60s snack menu based on what the ladies and gentlemen of Sterling Cooper ate last week — because they [...]
Sunday, September 13, 2009
I am a reformed picky eater.
I grew up at my grandparents’ house on a hybrid of southern from-scratch cooking and 80s junk food. To my eternal chagrin, I turned my nose up at a lot of the good stuff: black-eyed peas or turnip greens, cooked down with ham hocks; my grandmother’s homemade head cheese; fried [...]