Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=-

Guess they just aren't into pork as much as their northern neighbors.
I've seen it on the menu but not nearly as much as beef or chicken.

In daily life there are lots of Latino recipes that use pig meat.
Just not so much at their restaurants in the USA it seems.

Maybe they think we only like it as ham, bacon or pork chops.

Or sausage, or ribs, or pulled pork, etc, etc, Maybe they're Jewish or
Muslim instead of being in thrall to the Pope and his minions.

8<----- SNIP ----->8

I've introduced him to various noodle dishes like pad thai and Bun
Thit Nuong (Vietnamese Grilled Pork & Rice Noodles) or Shrimp
Noodle Bowls.

Those would have never crossed his lips. We're visiting Steve's family right now, last night Mom treated everyone to dinner at an Italian
place. It was a last minute sub because the place we'd had reservations for, called an hour before and said they were not going to be open.

At least they letcha know rather than having you show up hungery and
find that they had "gone walkabout" (as the Australians say).

Yes, but it would have been nice to have gotten notice earlier in the
day.

Did they indicate why they would be closed? It might have been a vital
part of the place had been compromised - like, no air conditioning, or
no gas service (for whatever reason) to light the stoves. If they could
predict what happened it would not be an emergency.

Anyway, different ones tried to get hold of Steve's older sister
and husband to let them know of the change--finally did, just as
we again, on future trips to the area.

I have only one "Italian" place locally where I've seen gnocci
offered. Papa Frank's is owned by the same family who run the
eminomious "Saputo's" in down town Springfield. The problem there is
that one never knows with the downtown venue - one time everything
will be magnifico. Then the next go will be cattivo. Papa Franks is consistently meraviglioso.

Our favorite Italian place here in town sold out to one of the
employees a while back. Owner was from the same region of Italy as
Steve's mom's family so it was "home cooking" for us. We went there a
good number of times pre covid, once during covid trued their take out pizza & were less than impressed. Have only been back once since the
new ownership, need to go back and see if the chicken cacciatori (our favorite) is still as good. Original owner had opened up another restaurant in a nearby town; that one was taking all his time so he
sold out & supposedly sold his recipies to the new owner.

First time I ever met cacciatore it was served to my by an old Italain
gent who was a retired coal miner. He lived in an one room "efficiency" apartment in my friend's mother's transient hotel. When Dennis introduced
us and I heard the guys surname I asked if he was related to two brothers
known to "mobbed up". Sammy replied, "Yeah, they're my brothers but they
are crooks. I don't have nothing to do with them."

He served us pigeon cacciatore - which was appropriate as the dish is translated as "hunter's stew" and the flying rats were all that could
be hunted downtown - unless you wanted real rats. Bv)=3

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Dave's Chicken Cacciatore
Categories: Poultry, Vegetables, Herbs, Pasta
Yield: 6 Servings

1/4 c Olive oil
3 cl Garlic; pressed
+=OR=+
1 tb Garlic granules
1 lg Onion; diced on the large
- plate of a "Viadalia Onion
- Chopper"
1/4 ts Dried rosemary
3/4 ts Dried oregano
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Hot red pepper flakes; (opt)
3 lb Chicken breasts, cut up in
- pieces
1/4 c Red-wine vinegar
28 oz Can whole tomatoes w/puree;
- crushed by hand
1/4 c Rough chopped basil leaves
+=OR=+
1 1/2 tb Dried basil; to taste
2 lg Bell peppers; cored, seeded;
- diced on the large plate
- of a "Viadalia Onion
- Chopper"
1 c Sliced mushrooms
+=OR=+
8 oz Can mushroom stems & pieces;
- drained
1 1/2 lb Pasta; cooked

Heat oil, garlic, onion, mushrooms, rosemary, parsley, 1/2
teaspoon oregano, and hot pepper flakes in a large shallow
saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally
until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add to
the crock-pot and turn it on high. Add vinegar.

Meanwhile, crush tomatoes with your hands Add them and the
1/4 t. salt and 1/4 t. oregano. Cook until the tomatoes
have reduced and thickened slightly, stirring once in a
while, about 20 minutes. Throw in a pinch of sugar and
stir to blend. Add to the crock-pot.

Add basil, and peppers. Cook 2 1/2 - 3 hours on high or
turn the crock-pot to low and go to work. The meal will
be ready to eat when you get home.

Adjust seasonings. Serve immediately over pasta.

Serves 6

NOTE: This is as close to a recipe as I could get from
my "by guess and by eyeball" preparation. You could add
some wine and/or Gaeta (salt cured) black olives if you
like. If you add the little salt bombs (olives) watch the
salt very closely. - UDD

Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen

MMMMM

... "A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in." -- Fredrick the Great
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

Hi Dave,

Just not so much at their restaurants in the USA it seems.

Maybe they think we only like it as ham, bacon or pork chops.

Or sausage, or ribs, or pulled pork, etc, etc, Maybe they're Jewish or Muslim instead of being in thrall to the Pope and his minions.

At this point, it's anybody's guess.

Yes, but it would have been nice to have gotten notice earlier in the
day.

Did they indicate why they would be closed? It might have been a vital part of the place had been compromised - like, no air conditioning, or
no gas service (for whatever reason) to light the stoves. If they
could predict what happened it would not be an emergency.

At the time they said "no staff available", changed later to "family emergency".

Our favorite Italian place here in town sold out to one of the
employees a while back. Owner was from the same region of Italy as
Steve's mom's family so it was "home cooking" for us. We went there a
good number of times pre covid, once during covid trued their take out pizza & were less than impressed. Have only been back once since the
new ownership, need to go back and see if the chicken cacciatori (our favorite) is still as good. Original owner had opened up another restaurant in a nearby town; that one was taking all his time so he
sold out & supposedly sold his recipies to the new owner.

First time I ever met cacciatore it was served to my by an old Italain gent who was a retired coal miner. He lived in an one room
"efficiency" apartment in my friend's mother's transient hotel. When Dennis introduced us and I heard the guys surname I asked if he was related to two brothers known to "mobbed up". Sammy replied, "Yeah, they're my brothers but they are crooks. I don't have nothing to do
with them."

Good for him, and it sounds like he was a good cook.

He served us pigeon cacciatore - which was appropriate as the dish

is DD> translated as "hunter's stew" and the flying rats were all that
could DD> be hunted downtown - unless you wanted real rats. Bv)=3

No thanks to having a real rat but pigeon would be interesting. Could
have called it "urban quail". (G)


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


... If you focus only on the thorns you will miss the beauty of the rose.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=-

Just not so much at their restaurants in the USA it seems.

Maybe they think we only like it as ham, bacon or pork chops.

Or sausage, or ribs, or pulled pork, etc, etc, Maybe they're Jewish or Muslim instead of being in thrall to the Pope and his minions.

At this point, it's anybody's guess.

I was being facetious.

Yes, but it would have been nice to have gotten notice earlier in
the day.

Did they indicate why they would be closed? It might have been a vital part of the place had been compromised - like, no air conditioning, or
no gas service (for whatever reason) to light the stoves. If they
could predict what happened it would not be an emergency.

At the time they said "no staff available", changed later to "family emergency".

Might have been both. The "staffing issues" thing was quite common at the depths of the CoVid pandemic.

8<----- EDIT ----->8

He served us pigeon cacciatore - which was appropriate as the dish

is DD> translated as "hunter's stew" and the flying rats were all that
could DD> be hunted downtown - unless you wanted real rats. Bv)=3

No thanks to having a real rat but pigeon would be interesting.
Could have called it "urban quail". (G)

Despite feeding on offal and garbage rats are very clean animals avows he, who has raised rats (for laboratories) and kept a couple of their close relatives as pets when younger.

Rats got a bad rap back in the middle ages for causing bubonic plague. But it was their hitchhikers, the fleas, which were the vectore for the plague.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Bureau Of Sewerage Ratatouille (Revised)
Categories: Vegetables, Cheese, Wine
Yield: 2 Servings

1 (8 oz/225 g) zucchini; in
- 8 mm/1/3" slices
8 oz (225 g)portobello mushrooms;
- in 8 mm/1/3" slices
2 lg Red bell peppers; seeded
- chopped in 2 cm/3/4" pcs
1/2 Onion; chopped in 2 cm/3/4"
- pcs
1 tb Olive oil
1 tb Grated cheese
Minced parsley

MMMMM-----------------------FLAVOURING MIX----------------------------
1 Bay leaf
2/3 ts Salt
Pepper
1 tb White wine
1 tb Ketchup

Cut zucchini and mushrooms into 8 mm slices. Remove seeds
from red peppers. Chop onion and pepper into 2 cm pieces.

Put vegetables in a microwave-safe bowl, add flavouring mix
ingredients and mix well, and pour olive oil over.

Cover with cooking paper, and poke holes with fork.

Put plastic wrap over it, and microwave (500 w) for 8 min.

Take it out, sprinkle grated cheese, and mix. Microwave
again for 2 more min.

Take it out, sprinkle minced parsley, mix lightly, and
serve.

Cooking time may vary depending on your microwave and/or
ingredients' condition.

There is no frying involved, reducing the oil amount by
half, as well as heating time to 1/5.

Recipe supervised by Kagawa Education Institute of Nutrition

FROM: Bureau of Sewerage, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

From: http://www.gesui.metro.tokyo.jp

Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen

MMMMM

... Law of Cooking: Fancy gizmos don't work.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
* Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)

Hi Dave,

Maybe they think we only like it as ham, bacon or pork chops.

Or sausage, or ribs, or pulled pork, etc, etc, Maybe they're Jewish or Muslim instead of being in thrall to the Pope and his minions.

At this point, it's anybody's guess.

I was being facetious.

Aren't we all at some time or other?

Did they indicate why they would be closed? It might have been a vital

At the time they said "no staff available", changed later to "family emergency".

Might have been both. The "staffing issues" thing was quite common at
the depths of the CoVid pandemic.

We had a very enjoyable meal at the other place. The one we wanted was a
local place under new ownership so my siblings in law wanted to see how
much it had changed, for better or worse.

8<----- EDIT ----->8

He served us pigeon cacciatore - which was appropriate as the dish

is DD> translated as "hunter's stew" and the flying rats were all that
could DD> be hunted downtown - unless you wanted real rats. Bv)=3

No thanks to having a real rat but pigeon would be interesting.
Could have called it "urban quail". (G)

Despite feeding on offal and garbage rats are very clean animals avows
he, who has raised rats (for laboratories) and kept a couple of their close relatives as pets when younger.

I'd still rather not have street rat.

Rats got a bad rap back in the middle ages for causing bubonic

plague. DD> But it was their hitchhikers, the fleas, which were the
vectore for DD> the plague.

I'd still rather have a cat or dog for pet than rat.


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


... Are you sure you really want to know that?

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)