I haven't been inspired to make a recipe, but I just searched out and purchased a candle that was described in a book.

I recommend this movie:

Daisies - Czechoslovakia, 1966 It has several food scenes.

Movies about Thomas Jefferson.

First foodie President , first farm-to-table gourmet--- supposedly he was the one who first introduced French fries into the US.

Jefferson changed cooking in the US

I have several Jefferson cookbooks.

BTW, that is the actual historic Jefferson's Monticello kitchen chef Walter Staib is cooking in.

I was going to make that stuffed cabbage for St. Pat's Day.

dcarch

I think the closest I've come was just this last week on TOC cooking competition, I saw a home version of a ”drum mandoline” and had to have one. It's supposed to arrive Monday. :)

I don't know about people or authors, but I do get inspired by those who "write" here. I have attempted quite a few things mentioned, and have usually been successful.

Well said!

I have no idea what "TOC" cooking is, unless it is "This Old Chef."

I don't recall food inspiration, but distinctly remember having to try Pinot Noir after watching the movie Sideways, lol.

The Godfather always makes me want to be stirring a giant pot of spaghetti sauce. Cannolis are fried so I don't do that!

Sorry, Lars. first thing in the morning... It's a cooking competition on Food Network called Tournament of Champions. I like this kind of show because everybody is nice, there's nothing ”important” going on, I don't have to pay a lot of attention, and I learn things. But I haven't been motivated to make any of the dishes. I learn concepts and techniques.

This week I learned about the home drum cutter. There are large, steel versions that are used in restaurants. I looked at one by Volrath for comparison. it was marketed as perfect for untrained, casual kitchen help, because they turn the crank and get uniform results. The home version is comparable to the Salad Shooter, I think, but stands on its own with a covered suction, like on a clamp, and has five blades, julienne, large grater, small grater, slicer and criss cut. And the bits go in the dishwasher. This is for small jobs that aren't worth the wash water for using a food processor or my big mandoline, but more time consuming than I want to do by hand. And it shoots right into the container, futher reducing dirty dishes.

Something I learned as an idea on a competition, which I've mentioned before, was to crush cookies on the fly. I needed a plated dessert in not-my-kitchen. I had a half-pint of berries and a pint of cream. I found a bag of PFarm Milano with 3-4 left, still crispish, but on their way to soggy. The thought to just crumble them up came from having watched competitive cooking shows. I made parfaits—not what I'd seem crumbled cookies for on TV, but I'd seen them used as a topping or something. I can't remember if there was ice cream, but I think so. Probably not enough for everybody. Anyway, it took about three minutes once the cream was whipped and got raves. This isn't the only thing I've learned from TV, by far, but the something from not much sticks with me.

Which drumcutter did you decide to buy?

I got this one, but they're pretty much all the same. It's one of those things they make in China that all kinds of companies sell under their own names. The one on the show was branded Cuisinart, but that only has three blades, and the barrel is opaque and doesn't disassemble for cleaning. I think it's an older model. Other companies sell that exact one, too.

What can you do with a drum cutter that you can't do with a Cuisinart using different discs and blades? It looks very similar to me from the pics. I do all those foods in the FP.

It's small, easy to wash (I hope) and manual. My FP (Breville) is huge, doesn't go in the DW, and doesn't do leisurely. My mandoline is equally huge, hard to wash and requires a lot of counter space. The crank grater is to replace the flat manual grater for small tasks that take too long, like grating half a pound of cheese or a carrot or two.

I have a salad shooter in the basement I need to go bring up now!

We loved the movie Chef. A man who quit working in a restaurant to have his own food truck.

I made Cuban sandwiches because of that movie. Cooked the roast pork with appropriate flavours with using the leftovers for Cuban sandwiches.

I recently watched the Stanley Tucci in Italy series. One pasta recipe using zucchini intrigued me. It took time though, you let the zucchini sit overnight if I'm remembering. Not sure why, but that pasta dish caught my attention.

Thanks plllog- I put my Cuisinart in the dishwasher so would use it for all those jobs.

Another "Chef" movie lover. I really love the lesson he gives his son about the importance of "craft."

As for me, I am actually in the middle of figuring out how to use this video I made of myself making "brown bread" as part of a kid's program centered around the book "Peter Rabbit." In the beginning the mother rabbit is going out to get currant buns and "brown bread." No real specifics, but I decided to make brown soda bread with soft wheat flour, since it was a quick bread version which I thought would be good for a kids' program. I made it for a camp for which I used to work. During the 2020 Covid lockdown, they went virtual and a lot of former staff made videos for them to use for the kids to watch and follow along from home. It took me a while to get the knack of making high quality home videos (still working on it), so my video didn't get finished in time to made the cut. I was just looking at it yesterday, it's a great video but I would have to edit it a little bit more to make it generic rather than specifically for the camp and the pandemic, which I mention in a couple of places.

I think if I had to do it over again, I would use a recipe I just got for whole wheat "drop biscuits" from the Smitten Kitchen blog. She was inspired to make the recipe by a breakfast she had in Great Britain at a castle bed and breakfast. I haven't tried the recipe yet though. I don't eat very many carbs so my consumption of my products is slow, which results in a limited output. I have a "to try" list a mile long of carbs . . .

Castle Breakfast from "Smitten Kitchen" blog

As for the currant buns and blackberries also mentioned in the book, I may try the buns some day, but again, it may be a while . . . I did plant black raspberries two years ago in homage to my grandmother who had a big patch. I have a very fond memory of eating black raspberries in cream with grandma, just like is mentioned in the Peter Rabbit book with the blackberries. I may plant blackberries some day too, but black raspberries are harder to come by so I went with those first. I am finding that they spread like crazy! My berries last year were paltry, so we'll see how well they produce, it was early on in the game and I have to learn more about how to prune them and whatever else it takes to get a good berry crop. They were small and dry last year. I'd also love to try currants, but they are a vector of white pine blister rust, and I have white pines on my property. There are supposedly rust resistant varieties, but I'm skeptical and not making it a priority. Not a fan of gooseberries, which are also mentioned in the book. I could see maybe making jam with them, running them through a food mill, but they are too seedy for me to enjoy raw . . .

I am finding the "Peter Rabbit" book very inspiring overall for culinary purposes, particularly using garden produce. I am sort of planning a "Peter Rabbit" luncheon one of these days, but am still working on the recipes. I made "Four Pea Salad" last week as a start, it was great. Green peas, snow pea pods, blackeyed peas and peanuts, with scallions, radishes, shake of fake bacon bits, and minced parsley and I think maybe some dill weed . . . served over spring greens dressed with an evoo and orange juice dressing. My other food idea for the luncheon is carrot quiche or crostada, which I have made before . . . and maybe some blackberry jam cupcakes or shortbread, both of which I have also made before . . .

Beatrix Potter is sort of an idol of mine, I love her second act!! And also I am a lover of the English style of decorating and gardening, and a bit of the cooking, although Mediterranean is of greater favor. I just happen to be part British/Scottish so do cook in that style from time to time, to connect with my roots, although I am vegetarian, so focus on the garden to table type of foods . . .

I once went on a camping "holiday" in the Lake District, the inspiration for much of Ms. Potter's illustrations and stories, and where she lived at the end of her life, becoming a conservation activist. At the time I was with a friend, and we focused on hiking in some of the wilder areas. I did not realize it was the setting for the books at the time, this was not much on my radar. I regret that I did not realize it and visit her home and museum.

Another "moving picture" scene that inspires me is something I once saw on "Midsomer Murders." I can't remember the episode anymore, other than the "serving tea" scene. Not sure whether it was tea being served to the inspectors, or part of a scene of one of the murders, because I know eventually one of the characters gets murdered. Not even sure if it wasn't a poisoning . . . the part of the scene I remember was the suspicious character wheeling out a cute little tea cart and serving tea and some type of sweet, maybe shortbread, to guests with the fancy china, etc. I have always wanted a tea cart, but can't seem to find one I like, but I already have the tea service and last year I bought a book of afternoon tea recipes which I would love to work my way though. Not likely to happen because again, I have to diet and don't really have many folks to invite over for tea. Folks I know mostly work, and when they do have time off, these days a lot are spending the limited time with the grandkids . . . I don't have local grandkids or I would share the afternoon tea tradition with them just like my grandmother did with me . . . sigh.

Well I have some lovely movie/tv suggestions. I think I am more inspired by books - where my imagination does more of the work. Movies or TV shows of sumptious meals is more intimidating to me. Thank you all!

Here are my made up attempt at garlicky rye bagels. I quite like them - a tip of the hat to Calvin Trillin for the inspiration. I will look for an actual rye bagel recipe now.