Who Wants Seconds?

Meme-a-licious!

I've been tagged three times in the last week or so, and considering my amazing ability to slack on these type of things, I knew I had to do a post pretty damn quick. I'm a meme killer, so I won't be tagging anyone for these...breathe a sigh of relief, or pretend I tagged you and have at one of them!

From Tschoerchda, 'Four Things':

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

1. tour guide
2. barrista
3. radio dj
4. theater house manager

Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
2. Amelie
3. The Big Lebowski
4. Ronin

Four places you’ve lived:

1. Massachusetts, U.S.A.
2. Hawaii, U.S. A.
3. Colorado, U.S.A.
4. Cambridgeshire, U.K.

Four websites you visit daily:

1. Boing Boing
2. Gawker
3. Letters to Marc Jacobs
4. Parent Hacks

Four tv shows you love to watch:

1. Extras
2. Kath & Kim
3. Foyle’s War
4. Life on Mars

Four of your favorite foods:

1. Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
2. Deviled Eggs
3. Goulash
4. Roast Chicken

Four albums you can’t live without:

1. Four Calendar Cafe - Cocteau Twins
2. Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails
3. Facing Future - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
4. The Essential Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash

Four places you’d rather be: (can you tell it's almost dinner time?)

1. Waimea Bay
2. Andy's
3. Famous Dave's
4. Tony Packo's

From Ilva, 'Cookbooks':

How many cookbooks do you own?

Fifty-nine.

Which cookbook is the one you bought most recently?

The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater.

Which cookbook is the one you read most recently?

Cooking Like Mummyji by Vicky Bhogal.

Name five cookbooks which mean a lot to you:

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Beard on Bread
3. The French Chef
4. The Best Recipe
5. Falling Cloudberries

From Jeanne, 'Too Much Information' (10 little-known or random facts about me):

1. I'm double jointed.
2. I can't wear most wool. I actually get itchy just being close to it. Funny enough, cashmere's o.k.
3. I'm a good mimic.
4. I worked as a figure model for art classes at my college.
5. I flunked out of college.
6. I was a 'Happy Birthday Girl' (the "i") onstage for Jon Bon Jovi's 28th birthday.
7. I wanted to change my name to Naomi in the 7th grade.
8. I've never eaten beets. I don't know why.
9. I wish I could sing really well.
10. I hate it when a character in a movie says, "Hey, you." and another responds, "Hey, yourself."

Between my bio and these memes, I'm guessing that everyone now knows more about me than is strictly necessary. I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing!

Cheers all,

Meme-a-Palooza, Pt. 2: The Cook Next Door

I was tagged for this meme by the sassy, witty Lyn of Lex Culinaria simply ages ago, and have finally gotten off my okole and gotten my answers together. 

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
While I always helped my mum in the kitchen, my first memory of baking on my own (other than the Easy-Bake adventures that so many of us had) was when I made a dessert of hers- chocolate layer cake with fudge frosting- for a lunch she was having with my aunt. I think I was 12, because I remember trying to work up the courage to ask her to sign a permission slip for a 'birds and the bees' film that they wanted to show us at school. What do you want from me? We were Catholic.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
My mother. I am the last of ten children, and my mother always put on an incredible spread, seven days a week. She is an amazing baker, and makes Anadama bread and Parker House rolls to die for.

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
Unfortunately, I do not. I have one of me dancing on the dining room table when I was a baby...does that count?

Mageiricophobia- do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
I've always wanted to give Beef Wellington a try sometime, but all the steps involved (plus getting everything else done) make me want to throw up.

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets?
Kitchenaid. Silicone pastry brush. Microplane graters.

Biggest let down?
I'm not the most 'gadgety' cook on the block, so I don't really have any major disappointments to report, I'm afraid.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like- and probably no one else!
I love, and have loved forever, bread toasted on top of the gas flame, then smothered with butter. My husband calls this "cancer toast".

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don't want to live without?
Bread, butter, eggs.

Your favourite ice-cream:
Coffee.

You will probably never eat:
Pickled pig's feet.

Your own signature dish:
Hee, hee- deviled eggs! Do they count?

A common ingredient you just can't bring yourself to stomach:
1. I'm with Lyn- I absolutely cannot stand the flavour of anise.

2. Equally, I'm also with Sam- raisins. I might be able to tolerate dry raisins if I was on a desert island and they were the only thing left to eat. Soft, it's like I have a bug body in my mouth. Too disgusting for words, really.

My addition to the list:
What is your biggest kitchen pet peeve?
I get just a little flipped out if I find a hair in anything, and it doesn't matter if it's mine. That might be considered a phobia, though!

Three cooks you'd like to pass this onto?
Again, I don't imagine that there is anyone left to tag for this one either. I will look into and update later.

Meme-a-Palooza, Pt. 1: Five Favourite Books

Fannie Farmer (left) with Martha Hayes Ludden, one of her students at the Boston Cooking School.

I was lucky enough to be tagged for this meme by lovely Reid from 'onokinegrindz, but still took my sweet time getting some answers together. Without further ado:

Total number of cookbooks owned?
An apparently measly forty-five. I did donate 40 books to our local library last year, though.

Last cookbook(s) bought?
'Indian Cookery'  by E.P. Veerasawmy, 'The Tassajara Bread Book' by Edward Espe Brown, and 'Mrs. Beaton's All About Cookery' (how could I live in the U.K. and not have this one?)- all for 30p each at a boot sale. God, I love boot sales.

Last cookbook read?
'The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook', by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but there are quite a few that sound good.

Five books that mean a lot to me?
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The French Chef, Beard on Bread, Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family, Falling Cloudberries.

My mother cooks and bakes predominantly from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, as the book that was full of her own mother's handwritten recipes was lost during a hurricane which demolished our summer house. My very earliest food-related memories- Anadama bread, pot roast, chicken pie- came from this still stellar cookbook. I'm not particularly fond of the later editions; my favourite is the one my mother still uses, which I think is from the 1940s. Yes, some of the recipes are dated, but the majority still hold up as tried-and-true, classic favourites, and you can't beat the instruction that it offers beginners and accomplished cooks alike.

Which five to pass this to?
Is there actually anyone left? I'll have to research it and update this post at a later date.