"Save Milk, Drink Beer: Swiss Philosophy"

on a postcard received this week

"The scale, the endurance, the adjectives! The specialized ingredients and gear! Now that men are starting to take over the kitchen, cooking has become a kind of extreme sport, involving wild game and feats of endurance. And like every other specialized hobby, “manly cooking” now has its own magazine."

XX Factor article on the new German Magazine, BEEF: Für Männer mit Geschmack!

"I move on to the potatoes. I know I'm in trouble when Julia says that 'the cooking is rather exacting.' 'If you were living in France,' says Julia, 'you would buy smooth oval potatoes 2 to 2 1/2 inches long, with yellowish flesh, pommes de terre de Hollande.' Well, we're none of us in France. So instead I spend the better part of an hour cutting new potatoes into 'elongated olive shapes all the same size.' I 'cut them smoothly, so they will roll around easily and color evenly when they are sauteed.' Julia doesn't mention the bit about the vodka tonic, but I find that it smooths the process a bit."

from The Julie/Julia Project