Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Dinner party dilettantes

Wow...you think you're a nervous cook? How'd you like to be in NYC where dinner parties...and the food that is served at them...are the new arbiters of cultural standing. Serving the wrong cheese is apparently cause for social seppuku. Check out this quote: "There is a specific cachet that only a fiddlehead fern can convey. Saying, ‘I got this olive oil from this specific region in Greece,’ is like talking about what kind of car you have. And people don’t want to be associated with the wrong kind of olive oil." Holy shit, can you say perspective??
Here in Portland it's so much easier, where the only thing that agitates my friends is if the wine bottle on te table is half empty and I haven't made a move to open a new one. Read this story in this morning's NYT, and be glad you're not one of them...egad!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! Thats my Mom! Are Fiddleheads making a comeback? I used to cook them at a resort in Maine waaaay back in 1982. Never really impressed me too much. They have a weird asparagus/okra thingy goin' on. So what?

bb said...

And she was a very attractive woman! I think fiddleheads were kind of so two years ago (or 25 years ago). I never really liked them that much. Better in the forest than on my plate.

Kathleen Bauer said...

Hey, now, back off! I happen to like fiddleheads. And asparagus and okra, as a matter of fact.

I first had them visiting my in-laws in Maine about 30 years ago. They were quite a discovery back then, one of the first of the fresh spring greens available in those northerly climes. But you're right on with thanking the gods that culinary one-upmanship is a rare thing here. Relax and enjoy is more the spirit, at least with our crew.

bb said...

Hey, I like that stuff to, but not always at dinner! And geez, was cracker right? Was everyone in Maine doing fiddlehaeds back arouund 1980?!

Anonymous said...

Oh I like asparagus and I like okra just not at the same time...Seriously, fiddleheads are okay but they were THE "thing" for about a year in the early eighties..Apart from eggplant... I find it difficult to get too excited about a vegetable.