Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Fletcher]

Many years ago, when Michelangelo was stuck in a dead-end job painting ceilings, I went with my wife to Venice, Italy.  We went out to dinner and had a local speciality called fegato alla veneziana - calves liver and onions served with wallpaper paste which is what Italians call polenta.  It was a revelation.

 

We in the UK had a staple if not a rival - liver and bacon.  This was almost always lambs' liver - and sometimes pigs' liver if you were peasants - and served with mashed potatoes which, in the wrong hands, could resemble wallpaper paste.  I loved liver and bacon until that dish in Venice showed me how utterly rancid and  vile was the liver of a lamb.  I swore I would only ever eat calves liver from that day on.

 

Which brings me to last night's dish chez Fletcher. It's a hybrid, a combination of that Venetian classic and the British standby.  To make it I buy high quality calves liver - in this case from our local Waitrose  supermarket.

 

First off I fry some sliced onions in butter until caramelised.  Then I boil a few broad beans and shell them.  Then the mashed potato.  As this is an expensive, luxury dish I spend time on the spuds, baking them in their skins for an hour or so, scooping out the flesh and whisking it into simmering milk, nutmeg, butter and cream.

 

Now the liver which should be carefully deveined and sliced into smallish pieces.  I pan fry some pancetta which preserves both the Italian and English bloodlines of the dish.  Keep the pancetta warm and in its fat fry the liver which has been given a light dusting with seasoned flour.  They will only take two minutes on each side.  If the slices are thick enough you will have a slight pinkness in the middle.  Then add a hefty glug of marsala, sage leaves, and allow it to bubble.  Then add your beans and onions and monte with butter.

 

Plate the liver mixture, top with the pancetta and then a dollop of your smoothest, creamiest mashed potato.  Bellissima!

[Fletcher]

Something very weird is happening.  Twice now I have tried to post up a description and photo of last night's dinner and twice I have a message that it needs to be moderated by CC staff.  The first time, last night, nothing happened and it exists there only for me to read.  Now it has happened again.    I have studied my text thoroughly for possibly 'banned' words or phrases and I can't find a thing.  There is a lot of fascinating stuff on liver and bacon dishes. And the picture is simply of mashed potato and liver and bacon.

 

Anyone else had this experience?

Edited October 4, 2020 by Fletcher

[Lois R]

25 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Something very weird is happening.  Twice now I have tried to post up a description and photo of last night's dinner and twice I have a message that it needs to be moderated by CC staff.  The first time, last night, nothing happened and it exists there only for me to read.  Now it has happened again.    I have studied my text thoroughly for possibly 'banned' words or phrases and I can't find a thing.  There is a lot of fascinating stuff on liver and bacon dishes. And the picture is simply of mashed potato and liver and bacon.

 

Anyone else had this experience?

Good morning Fletcher, bacon and mashed potatoes sound good🙂, sorry can't help with whatever issue those photos are causing.  Since that particular message showed up, we are not supposed to question

on here (CC rules). I would email cchelp and tell them what happened and hopefully someone can

assist you.

 

[zqtchas]

28 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Something very weird is happening.  Twice now I have tried to post up a description and photo of last night's dinner and twice I have a message that it needs to be moderated by CC staff.  The first time, last night, nothing happened and it exists there only for me to read.  Now it has happened again.    I have studied my text thoroughly for possibly 'banned' words or phrases and I can't find a thing.  There is a lot of fascinating stuff on liver and bacon dishes. And the picture is simply of mashed potato and liver and bacon.

 

Anyone else had this experience?

Maybe they are taking my entries out on you?

[jpalbny]

Fletcher, are you posting pics by direct upload, or by a link to an upload elsewhere? 

 

If the latter, then I've run into an occasional weird problem where the URL of the picture itself contains the banned letters (most commonly the sequence w, then t, then f) so the whole url gets ***ed out due to the bad letters. Maybe now they review the post instead of just banning it?

[TLCOhio]

12 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Fletcher, are you posting pics by direct upload, or by a link to an upload elsewhere? 

 

Seems to be working OK for me this am.  I do the "dragging and posting" method to place on the CC website.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

 

[lincslady]

Fletcher - maybe they are just snobs, and see liver and bacon as a bit proletarian?

 

Lola

[spinnaker2]

Happy Sunday.

 

And we awoke to an underwater bathroom.

Water has found its way in somehow and also seeped into family room lifting up wooden floor and soaking carpet.

 

Since the top of the sink and toilet tank are covered in water it Likely came from up rather than groundwater.

[silkismom]

Yuck, that will be a major cleanup project, hope it wasn't sewer water!!

[Lois R]

26 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Happy Sunday.

 

And we awoke to an underwater bathroom.

Water has found its way in somehow and also seeped into family room lifting up wooden floor and soaking carpet.

 

Since the top of the sink and toilet tank are covered in water it Likely came from up rather than groundwater.

Hi Spins, omg.........so sorry about that......so when is the plumber coming? 

[mysty]

47 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Happy Sunday.

 

And we awoke to an underwater bathroom.

Water has found its way in somehow and also seeped into family room lifting up wooden floor and soaking carpet.

 

Since the top of the sink and toilet tank are covered in water it Likely came from up rather than groundwater.

 

Sounds like your Sunday is very far from happy.  Hope things improve for your home!  Enough with the nasty!

[spinnaker2]

We had torrential rains in past week.

Was in the family room last night and no water.

Happened while we were sleeping.

Water from above not from plumbing.

Serv pro just left.

Vacuuming water but wood floor and cabinetry a total loss. 

Wallpaper in 2 rooms ruined. We have plaster walls so lots of moisture and hopefully no efflorescence. 

 

Well we wanted to be on the water sailing.

 

Just not indoors.

 

[Tothesunset]

I promise this will be the last of the "let's cheer everyone up" doggy photos. 

 

For a while. 

 

[mysty]

I think we need more humour today.  Here is a link to a funny about aging (although I prefer to think of myself as "ripening").

 

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FLR2qZ0A8vic%3Frel%3D0&data=02|01||b6c96149667b432c911e08d8688e3dc4|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|637374307408444478&sdata=xyhDJaCaBsHN7g0nuUZ6astQ5wLmHSz894LTRUnCOTE%3D&reserved=0

 

2014 delivered at a conference on Aging

[lincslady]

That is a truly noble animal, tts.    Please do keep them coming at intervals.  I am not a 'doggy' person, but appreciate the lovely ones, and they certainly give a bit of perspective, somehow.  Especially when there is some rotten luck going about, as for poor spins.  I think we all feel there is enough to cope with, without extra nasties happening.

 

Lola

[Tothesunset]

Lola, this is your fault. I usually last a little longer before breaking my promises: 

 

 

Autumn. In England. Raining. What a surprise. 

[clo]

8 hours ago, zqtchas said:

We liked Seattle better than SF. The seafood was wonderful (but not as good as the Chesapeake bay area). We really liked the Olympic oysters. Wife was there, years ago, on a business trip and we stayed at a hotel on the water that allowed fishing from the room porch.  

We hope to hit Taylor Shellfish. We usually have six each of three different oysters. With a bottle of sparkling.

[QueSeraSera]

So sorry Spins, I'm glad you were able to get Servpro out today.  2020 whew. 

As they say, it never rains but it pours...

Forgive me...maybe too early for that 🌈 

Thanks for the Alice B Toklas reminder awhile back.

The outdoor picture is a delight TTS!

Recently JP mentioned ordering fish from Alaska.  Clo's post from Seattle have inspired me to do the same.  Anyone have experience with rockfish from way up north? 

Edited October 4, 2020 by QueSeraSera
trying to cover a possible clumsy post

[zqtchas]

[Emtbsam]

Spins. So sorry about the mess.  I hope you get it cleaned up and repaired soon.

[Fletcher]

15 hours ago, lincslady said:

Fletcher - maybe they are just snobs, and see liver and bacon as a bit proletarian?

 

Lola

 

Not the way I cook it - as I hope you'll see!

 

Years ago, when Michelangelo was stuck in a dead-end job painting ceilings, I went with my wife to Venice.  We went out to dinner and had a local speciality, fegato alla veneziana which was calves liver and onions served with wallpaper paste, which I learned was what Italians called polenta.  It was a revelation.

 

We in the UK had a staple  if not a rival - liver and bacon.  This was lambs’ liver - or even pigs’ liver  if you were a peasant - served with mashed potatoes.  I loved it - until that dinner in Venice showed me what an acrid thing was the liver of a lamb.  The liver I ate in Venice was from calves and I swore I would never eat any other liver again.

 

Which brings me to last night’s dish chez Fletcher.  It’s a hybrid - a combination of that Venetian classic and the British standby.  To make it I buy high quality calves liver, fairly thickly sliced.  Last night’s offal actually came from our local Waitrose supermarket.

 

First off I fry some sliced onions until caramelised.  Then I boil a few broad beans and shell them.  Then the mashed potato.  As this is a luxury dish I spend time on the spuds - I bake them in their skins for an hour or so, then scoop out the flesh and whisk into simmering milk, nutmeg, butter and cream.

 

Now the liver.  I pan fry some pancetta - this preserves both the Italian and British bloodlines of my dish.  Keep the pancetta warm and in its fat fry the liver slices which have been given a  light coating of seasoned flour.  They will only take a minute or two each side.  If they are thick enough you will have a slight pinkness in the middle.  Then add a hefty glug of marsala, sage leaves, and allow to bubble, add your beans and onions, then ‘monte’ with butter.

 

Plate the liver mixture and top with the pancetta and a dollop of your silkiest, creamiest mashed potato.  Bellissima!

Edited October 5, 2020 by Fletcher

[lincslady]

Fletch - I meant the moderators on CC, not me!  It is a lovely dish, especially done the way you do it.  We always have it on a cruise, because they use calves' liver.  I could almost manage some of yours now, even just after breakfast.

 

I am glad that some of the 'old-fashioned' dishes are coming back into favour, like coq au vin and so on.  Getting a bit tired of things with edible flowers on etc.  My son, who is  a real foodie, said when he was here last Friday that he infinitely preferred eating the coq au vin at Le Cep, in Fleurie,  to the meal he had at L' Enclume not long ago!

 

Much drooling here, over both food and lovely dogs.

 

Lola

 

 

[Fletcher]

32 minutes ago, lincslady said:

I am glad that some of the 'old-fashioned' dishes are coming back into favour, like coq au vin and so on.  Getting a bit tired of things with edible flowers on etc.  My son, who is  a real foodie, said when he was here last Friday that he infinitely preferred eating the coq au vin at Le Cep, in Fleurie,  to the meal he had at L' Enclume not long ago!

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Lola.  Quite agree with classic dishes such as coq au vin - difficult to cook these days because chickens are not allowed to mature, so I use guinea fowl instead.  We went to L'Enclume a few years ago and found it quite ridiculous and exhausting - we ended up skipping courses and going out for short walks during the four hours they take to serve up their mini-dishes.  I avoid tasting menus like the plague . . .  speaking of which . . . no, let's not talk of that at all.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe day all!

[zqtchas]