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A Good Appetite

  • A Good Appetite

    Excerpted from JUST ENOUGH LIEBLING by A. J. LIEBLING

    The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for field work, and they are not to be wasted minimizing the intake of cholesterol. They are indispensable, like a prizefighter's hours on the road. (I have read that the late French professional gourmand Maurice Curnonsky ate but one meal a day-dinner. But that was late in his life, and I have always suspected his attainments anyway; so many mediocre witticisms are attributed to him that he could not have had much time for eating.) A good appetite gives an eater room to turn around in. For example, a nonprofessional eater I know went to the Restaurant Pierre, in the Place Gaillon, a couple of years ago, his mind set on a sensibly light meal: a dozen, or possibly eighteen, oysters, and a thick chunk of steak topped with beef marrow, which M. Pierre calls a Délice de la Villette-the equivalent of a "Stockyards" Delight." But as he arrived, he heard M. Pierre say to his headwaiter, "Here comes Monsieur L. Those two portions of cassoulet that are left-put them aside for him." A cassoulet is a substantial dish, of a complexity precluding its discussion here. (Mr. Root devotes three pages to the great controversy over what it should contain.) M. Pierre is the most amiable of restaurateurs, who prides himself on knowing in advance what his friends will like. A client of limited appetite would be obliged either to forgo his steak or to hurt M. Pierre's feelings. Monsieur L., however, was in no difficulty. He ate the two cassoulets, as was his normal practice; if he had consumed only one, his host would have feared that it wasn't up to standard. He then enjoyed his steak. The oysters offered no problem, since they present no bulk.

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September 26, 2007

Virtual Tasting - Invitation

Pmt_0907_055 This is an invitation and request. We would like your input to our "Virtual Tastings" - online  tastings in which we suggest a category, some guidelines and perhaps a little background information.  Our first tasting is Happiness for $10/Bottle - 10 wines purchased locally for $10 or less. We invite you to follow our recommendations or suggest some of your own. The Happiness for $10/Bottle page lists the wines we have tasted to date. 

Share your comments, kudos and/or criticisms regarding the wines in the Happiness for $10/Bottle list, or of any wine priced $10 or less - white or red - that you have tasted and we will include your results.

Forthcoming Virtual Tastings may include cheese tastings ( Cheddar and Blue ) as well as results from the third annual 'Steak Off' ( featuring steaks from local merchants and farms - including Sweet Briar Farms, Strawberry Mtn Farms, New Seasons, Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco, Trader Joes)

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Virtual Visitor

I would like to request some additional "Virtual Tasting" topics - such as Cheese ( maybe even specific cheese taskings - A Cheddar Tasting or A Blue Cheese Tasting.

Posted by: Virtual Visitor | September 29, 2007 at 11:44 AM

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