Text 8375, 110 rader
Skriven 2013-12-30 17:15:16 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 8291 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: cats yuck etc 657
=========================
Hi Michael,

 ML> I went to an Italian-American restaurant last night that
 ML> served meatballs with its spaghetti dishes but only on
 ML> request and at a $3 upcharge per. You could get the
 ML> eminently Italian anchovy-garlic-hot-pepper-oil pasta
 ML> with an eminently American meatball if you so choose.

 RH> Sounds like they might be trying to establish proper Italian cooking
 RH> and or eating in the States?

 ML> I doubt they care that much; there are outfits that have
 ML> tried to do this, most notably the lamented old Dom's in
 ML> Boston and some Neapolitan pizza certification group; they
 ML> have not succeeded to any degree. One faces the fact that
 ML> American Italian food is what people like to eat.

OK, alternate thought is that they're trying to get folks to spend more
money to get a protein component to their food.

 ML>  We're at my in-laws; my MIL has a big pot
 RH> of sauce and meatballs/sausage she will serve with pasta, ham and other
 RH> goodies. She's Italian (heritage) but cook/serves the food American
 RH> style. (G) As always, there will be lots of it. I'll concentrate on
 RH> proteins, veggies and such like, going easy on carbs, especially the
 RH> sugar ones.

 ML> At the fancy restaurant yesterday I had tagliatelle bolognese,
 ML> the noodles pretty authentic, the sauce extremely rich in a
 ML> way that would appall (but with a little dose of delight) a
 ML> true Bolognese. The cream and a huge dose of pregrated but
 ML> pretty good Parm caused me to panickedly go for my emergency
 ML> stash of pills. This was supposed to come with tenderloin
 ML> tips, but what came was a 6-oz filet sliced up. Maybe the
 ML> waitress recognized me from my stint as guest chef there and
 ML> told the kitchen to juice it up for me.

IOW, you are now recognised as a special person (at least this once) and
being treated like one. Enjoy it while you can. (G)

 ML> little blobs (polpettine) in various contexts mostly on
 ML> the kids' menu.
 RH> They seem to be always paired with spaghetti but I've seen some menus
 RH> where you can order them as a side dish as well. My MIL always orders
 RH> spaghetti & meat balls at any Italian place she goes to.

 ML> If she goes back to the same place, does she still put in
 ML> the same order, or has her curiosity been satisfied so she
 ML> can branch out?

She orders the same thing, all the time. I think she just likes staying
with what's comfort food for her. The meat balls whe had in the sauce
last week were boughten; her recipe (the one I used at Janis's 5 years
ago) for meat balls is much better! But, I understand why she is buying
them now instead of making her own.

 ML>   We took her
 RH> and Dad to Carrabba's once in Savannah; talked her into ordering
 RH> something different. Then Dad ordered the spaghetti & meat balls--no
 RH> adventure to their eating. (G)

 ML> To be fair, Carrabbas only pays lip service to authenticity.
 ML> The food, on the few occasions I've been there, is pretty
 ML> decent but in general nothing I couldn't make better and cheaper.

Their 4 cheese ravioli we found to taste the colsest to what my MIL used
to make. It's not the fanciest Italian cooking but it is decent and
filling. We were with some friends some years ago at a Carrabba's in
Mobile, AL--turned out it was prom night for at least one of the local
high schools. There were a number of dressed up youngsters eating there
and taking chances that no sauce or anything of that sort would spill
onto their nice dresses/tuxes.

 ML> You should quail when you say that.
 RH> As long as I'm not robin Peter to pay Paul.
 ML> Don't crow about it.
 RH> I won't, wren the time comes.

 ML> Sparrow me.

OK, as long as you myna your own business.


 ML> each cat gets two cans of Fancy Feast or the equivalent in the
 ML> extra-special flavors - "salmon florentine," give me a break.
 ML> More if they beg loudly enough. I misapprove.
 RH> Spoiled kitties.

 ML> Pain in the buttocks kitties. The one girl howls as soon as her
 ML> dish is empty ... usually thirty seconds after it has been filled
 ML> up for her. And often Annie will give her another dose, which
 ML> means that she's becoming overweight and demanding both. She has
 ML> learned not to try to mug me for food, though. If I have a can in
 ML> my hand, she's all lovey-dovey, rubbing against me until I deliver
 ML> the goods. If not, she runs away as fast as possible, a good
 ML> choice considering how little I like her.

You sound like my younger brother--he's always threatening to make my
dad's cat into lo mein or similar.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


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