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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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November 03, 2007

Yes On 49

Sustainability, Land Use:
What We Value

Yeson49

Vote Yes on 49

Food, Wine and Life's Pleasures can be accused of a certain bemused posturing in tone and perhaps in spirit. While we believe optimism and humor are critical ingredients in any recipe for the good life, we are dismayed to learn ( via email from Mark Stern ) that Measure 49 is struggling because of low voter turn out - particularly in the Portland metro area.

There can be no question that "Yes on 49" is essential to our understanding of what the good life in Oregon means.  We always vote but have been somewhat lackadaisical this election, because the support for measure 49 seemed to be so broad. So perhaps, many of us are guilty of taking its success for granted.  Please vote. Vote "Yes on 49" and as they say in Chicago, vote early and often.

For information about Measure 49 - particularly on the breadth of support for the measure, we refer you to the Yes on 49 website.

Collaborators Wanted!

A book comes and says, “Write me.”

My job is to try to serve it to the best of myability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate.
                                -     Madeleine L’Engle

Help!! This job may be impossible without you. ( It will certainly be better done with you. To say nothing of more fun.)

A second, password protected site called

F. W. & LP. Interactive  has been created to facilitate collaboration.  If you would like the password to the site send email to Rich Chapin.

Why?

I am not thrilled with the choices available to those of you who might choose to post a comment.  The comment fields is small, removed from the main body and lacks formatting, etc. Besides - the work will be better done together.

As a result I am proposing/hoping that some of you may want to collaborate with more tools at your disposal. 

F. W. & LP. Interactive is one way around this problem.  The site is password protected so anything that happens here stays here until released.  Any one with a password can post comments, of course, but there are other possibilities:

  • New topics, pages can be suggested
  • Comments can be incorporated into pages and posts
  • New authors can take over sections of the blog
  • Collaborators can work together
    • Drafts can be published for feedback

      Once you arrive we will figure out how to get there.

      We early arrive at the great discovery that there is one mind common to all ... that what is individual is less than what is universal... 
                            - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

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