From wetleather@micapeak.com Thu Feb 5 16:14:42 1998
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (alutia.micapeak.com [199.79.239.92]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id QAA07303; Thu, 5 Feb 1998 16:13:37 -0800 (PST)
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by alutia.micapeak.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id QAA01191;
Thu, 5 Feb 1998 16:26:26 -0800
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 16:26:26 -0800
Message-Id:
Errors-To: wetleather-owner@micapeak.com
Reply-To: wetleather@micapeak.com
Originator: wetleather@micapeak.com
Sender: wetleather@micapeak.com
Precedence: bulk
From: jamesf@bayarea.net (Jim Franklin)
To: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Subject: Re: More Culinary Ruminations
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Status: ROr
>Amazingly, we were sated but not stuffed. We gave the young man a tip
>most people would think over-generous, but we thought it entirely
>proper compensation for his own care and generosity toward us.
>We looked around the table at each other over the last sips of our
>Saigon lagers, contentment in every face and gesture, and I felt the
>spirit of Mrs. Fisher hovering over us like a good angel, with one last
>benevolent smile for us before it dispersed and we took our last swallows
>and our coats and to home.
Boy, I've been in bed for two days with some flu-like thing, and the though
of any food at all sent me running (slowly) for the porcelain room. But
this...this has made me a changed man. I can now at least, eat chicken
soup.
jim
From wetleather@micapeak.com Wed Feb 4 13:54:27 1998
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (alutia.micapeak.com [199.79.239.92]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id NAA10116; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 13:53:52 -0800 (PST)
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by alutia.micapeak.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id OAA09584;
Wed, 4 Feb 1998 14:00:54 -0800
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 14:00:54 -0800
Message-Id: <199802042136.NAA04839@shell9.ba.best.com>
Errors-To: wetleather-owner@micapeak.com
Reply-To: wetleather@micapeak.com
Originator: wetleather@micapeak.com
Sender: wetleather@micapeak.com
Precedence: bulk
From: Leigh Ann Hussey
To: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Subject: More Culinary Ruminations
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
MIME-Version: 1.0
Status: RO
In which your Evil Californian, under the influence of five solid days'
steeping in MFK Fisher, waxes near-poetic about company, food, and the
mutual delights thereof, with no moto content whatever (but with a promise
for a little moto content tomorrow).
Elton called Saturday morning: "Caitlin and I are going to the redwoods.
Want to come along?" What a question. After spending two days in bed
with the Congestion of the Baskervilles, any outing would've been nice,
and one to the redwoods even moreso. So off we went to Sebastopol,
where the apple trees weren't in bloom yet, but where I felt it would
be criminal to drive through without buying *some* apples, so we stopped
at a roadside stand and I bought five locally-grown fujis.
Not long after that, we were walking through the Armstrong redwood
preserve, and not too many people besides us -- only the ones who
braved the wet. We didn't get rained on. Instead, we strolled along
on the gently springy duff and saw more wild mushrooms than I'd ever
seen before. Incredible sulphur-yellow ones; waxy caps that were a
rich, deep crimson of stem, gills and cap; a cast redwood "leaf"
(what *are* they called, anyway? Not needles... they're more like
leaves with leaflets...) festooned with tiny pale mushrooms no bigger
than this: O ; and an artist's conk -- Caitlin and I had the hardest
time convincing Elton that the woody stuff behind the white surface
(it looked like a tree-doctor's patch, and when I scratched it with
a nail it turned brown, which was how Caitlin recognized it) was all
part of the fungus, and not actual wood...
On the drive home, I read out loud from AN ALPHABET FOR GOURMETS.
We talked desultorily about dinner, wanting some but not wanting
what. As we passed through Vallejo, Elton stopped me in mid-
paragraph to say, "I know what I want. Thinly-sliced beef,
cooked I don't care how, lots of steamed rice, and sauce." I said,
"You want Vietnamese food."
At home, we opened the yellow pages and picked two near and
likely-looking restaurants. After an abortive cruise by the
Korean BBQ (where we could also have gotten thinly-sliced meat
and lots of rice, with vegetables and sauce and all kinds of
stuff, with the extra added attraction of cooking it ourselves
on the little brazier-and-simmering-pot in the middle of our
table, but it was shut tight and dark, with a gas truck in the
road out front. Hopefully it was just a gas problem, and it
hasn't been shut down by the City of Berkeley for being too much
fun and too carnivorous to be politically correct...), we drove
to downtown Oakland. The first one of the two turned over its
"closed" sign just as we pulled up. So we pressed on, and came
to Quang Da, in Oakland's Chinatown.
Premature Lunar New Year fireworks popped occasionally outside
as we sat down and were presented with menus and an album of
pictures of the food. The young man waiting on us said, "Do
you want the authentic Central Vietnamese food? This --" he
pointed to a picture -- "this is the Very Authentic noodle dish
from Da Nang." (You could hear the capitals in his voice.)
He went on, pointing out further dishes. And Elton, uncharacteristic
for him, and maybe we were all seized by a fit of Fisherness that
evening, closed his menu with a glint in his eye. "By your leave?"
he asked us. We nodded. He turned to the young man: "Feed us."
"Are you sure?" the waiter asked. "Definite," said we. He warmed
to us as we answered his queries about food allergies (no) and
liking for spice (yes).
He brought out, one at a time and waiting for each one to be
gone before bringing the next, these six dishes in order:
1) An appetizer of thick rice pasta sheets wrapped
around fillings of ground meat and herbs, with a
peanut dipping sauce. Sortof an un-fried spring roll.
2) Jackfruit salad. Lettuce, spearmint, a hint of
nuoc mam, and thin slices of jackfruit.
3) A final appetizer of rice pasta envelopes containing
a filling I can't remember now, but each topped with a
slice of taro and a pinch of what I think might've been
dried squid-shreds or maybe shrimp-shreds. Cool and
smooth, with brief exclamations of salt. The waiter
handed us a little bowl of sauce, instructing us to pour
it over the little dumplings and wait a bit before diving
in to them.
4) The Very Authentic noodle dish. Egg fettuccini, meat,
vegetables, sauce. It came with the noodles in a bowl,
the meat (grilled marinated pork) and vegetables resting
on top, and the sauce in a separate bowl. "Pour the
sauce over, and toss it well," he told us. We did that.
5) A cold dish of rice vermicelli with vegetables and
herbs. This would be the one to have on a hot day when
you didn't want to eat anything else. By this time we
were certain he was done, as we were by no means certain
we could eat even one more bite. But we were wrong.
On both counts.
6) A dish of steamed rice with baby clams and slivered fruits.
This one came with an empty bowl covered by a plate
containing a mound of rice, the baby clams (well herbed),
and slivers of things some recognizable and some not.
Two sauces. "Pour it all in and toss it up." We picked
through the plate, trying to figure out what everything
was. He twinkled at us, I swear, as he said, "I'll tell
you what's in it after you've eaten it." It was delicious.
We recognized green apple, and pineapple, but there was one
thing I couldn't place, with a stick-to-your-teeth sort of
starchiness that I knew I recognized but couldn't remember
from where. He revealed all at the end, and the secret
ingredient was: banana buds.
I think we were all in a cloud of Fisher; we tasted each bite with
an intensity and avidity that she would have recognized instantly
and acknowledged. Because all the main dishes were mixed at table,
all their flavors stood out from each other, and we could pick each
one out the way you can an individual section in an orchestra if
you have an educated ear -- but like a good orchestra, each section
blended harmoniously with the rest.
Amazingly, we were sated but not stuffed. We gave the young man a tip
most people would think over-generous, but we thought it entirely
proper compensation for his own care and generosity toward us.
We looked around the table at each other over the last sips of our
Saigon lagers, contentment in every face and gesture, and I felt the
spirit of Mrs. Fisher hovering over us like a good angel, with one last
benevolent smile for us before it dispersed and we took our last swallows
and our coats and to home.
- EC
From jdenton@mail2.quiknet.com Wed Feb 4 15:33:14 1998
Received: from proxy1.ba.best.com (root@proxy1.ba.best.com [206.184.139.12]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id PAA10023 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:32:29 -0800 (PST)
Received: from sanjuan.edu (sanjuan.edu [136.235.14.3]) by proxy1.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id PAA29065 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:32:18 -0800 (PST)
Received: from bashful2.sanjuan.edu (bashful2.sanjuan.edu [136.235.14.4]) by sanjuan.edu with SMTP (8.7.5/8.7.3) id PAA18127 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:29:53 -0800 (PST)
Received: from u002173.sanjuan.edu by bashful2.sanjuan.edu
via smtpd (for sanjuan.edu [136.235.14.3]) with SMTP; 4 Feb 1998 23:34:12 UT
X-Sender: jdenton@mail2.quiknet.com
Message-Id:
In-Reply-To: <199802042136.NAA04839@shell9.ba.best.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:32:29 -0800
To: leighann@best.com
From: Joe Denton
Subject: Re: More Culinary Ruminations
Status: RO
Very good reading, I may have to try and stop there some time.
Joe
>In which your Evil Californian, under the influence of five solid days'
>steeping in MFK Fisher, waxes near-poetic about company, food, and the
>mutual delights thereof, with no moto content whatever (but with a promise
>for a little moto content tomorrow).
>
Joe Denton BMWS R75/7 (Frau Guttentite) R65 R69S
Putting The Gold Country
NSD BMWMOA VI BOOF MMA AMA IBMWR LDRider JAJ KD6HON
Admin for Village Idiots and LDRiders
They killed Kenny! The Bastards!!
From beth@bayarea.net Wed Feb 4 15:35:15 1998
Received: from proxy2.ba.best.com (root@proxy2.ba.best.com [206.184.139.13]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id PAA10891 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:35:11 -0800 (PST)
Received: from baygate.bayarea.net (root@baygate.bayarea.net [204.71.212.2]) by proxy2.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id PAA10847 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:33:44 -0800 (PST)
Received: (from beth@localhost)
by baygate.bayarea.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA18379
for leighann@best.com; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:38:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Beth Dixon
Message-Id: <199802042338.PAA18379@baygate.bayarea.net>
Subject: culinary ruminations
To: leighann@best.com
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:38:09 -0800 (PST)
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: ROr
Hey, wow. Martin can keep his silly LA oysters. :)
Beth
From smcrae@u.washington.edu Wed Feb 4 17:22:12 1998
Received: from proxy2.ba.best.com (root@proxy2.ba.best.com [206.184.139.13]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id RAA10025 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 17:21:25 -0800 (PST)
Received: from jason01.u.washington.edu (root@jason01.u.washington.edu [140.142.70.24]) by proxy2.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id RAA19087 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 17:20:48 -0800 (PST)
Received: from dante18.u.washington.edu (root@dante18.u.washington.edu [140.142.15.68])
by jason01.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP
id RAA15284 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 17:20:47 -0800
Received: from u.washington.edu (cs238-12.student.washington.edu [140.142.173.150])
by dante18.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.04) with ESMTP
id RAA93260 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 1998 17:20:46 -0800
Message-ID: <34D91480.629E55D0@u.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 1998 17:23:12 -0800
From: Shannon McRae
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Leigh Ann Hussey
Subject: Re: More Culinary Ruminations
References: <199802042136.NAA04839@shell9.ba.best.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: ROr
Oooooh,
That was _wonderful_ writing. I was mesmerized and starving by the time
I was finished, and I didn't want to stop reading--or vicariously
eating.
-S
From francesw@wln.com Thu Feb 5 10:01:25 1998
Received: from proxy2.ba.best.com (root@proxy2.ba.best.com [206.184.139.13]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id KAA27737 for ; Thu, 5 Feb 1998 10:01:16 -0800 (PST)
Received: from rs6a.wln.com (rs6a.wln.com [192.156.252.2]) by proxy2.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id KAA23447 for ; Thu, 5 Feb 1998 10:00:17 -0800 (PST)
Received: from francesw@localhost (HELO localhost)
by rs6a.wln.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) via SMTP
id for ;
Thu, 5 Feb 1998 10:00:16 -0800
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 10:00:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Frances Wainwright
To: leighann@best.com
Subject: Culinary Ruminations
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: RO
Thanks for taking me out to dinner. A very nice piece of prose and a
wonderful experience.
'cesca
From wetleather@micapeak.com Fri Feb 6 11:36:10 1998
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (alutia.micapeak.com [199.79.239.92]) by shell9.ba.best.com (8.8.8/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id LAA00397; Fri, 6 Feb 1998 11:35:31 -0800 (PST)
Received: from alutia.micapeak.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by alutia.micapeak.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA16878;
Fri, 6 Feb 1998 11:47:46 -0800
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 11:47:46 -0800
Message-Id: <199802061917.LAA25286@shell9.ba.best.com>
Errors-To: wetleather-owner@micapeak.com
Reply-To: wetleather@micapeak.com
Originator: wetleather@micapeak.com
Sender: wetleather@micapeak.com
Precedence: bulk
From: Leigh Ann Hussey
To: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Subject: Re: More Culinary Ruminations
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: Northwest Bikers Social Mailing List
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
MIME-Version: 1.0
In-Reply-To: from Jim Franklin at "Feb 5, 98 04:26:26 pm"
Status: RO
> >Amazingly, we were sated but not stuffed. We gave the young man a tip
> >most people would think over-generous, but we thought it entirely
> >proper compensation for his own care and generosity toward us.
> >We looked around the table at each other over the last sips of our
> >Saigon lagers, contentment in every face and gesture, and I felt the
> >spirit of Mrs. Fisher hovering over us like a good angel, with one last
> >benevolent smile for us before it dispersed and we took our last swallows
> >and our coats and to home.
>
> Boy, I've been in bed for two days with some flu-like thing, and the though
> of any food at all sent me running (slowly) for the porcelain room. But
> this...this has made me a changed man. I can now at least, eat chicken
> soup.
>
> jim
"A Testimonial, Dear Friends!" (name that source!)
Thanks. *blush*
- EC