short notes:
will brady's ruminations
will brady's ruminations
2008-06-25
cusine
In this day and age of herbs fresh picked from the garden to cook with, the pre-packaged spaghetti spice concoction Spatini got taken off the market some time last year, a product I [or my parents] have used in cooking since 1963.
Since I live some distance from grocery stores, I tend to buy in bulk. As a result, it wasn't until today that I learned the only place I can now pick up a box is on e-bay, an option I don't consider particularly efficient [or desirable] when buying powered spices. Nonetheless, I put a bid on one of the offerings that does not seem out of line compared what I remember paying in the past.
Spatini's removal from market shelves has prompted an irate response from other users, many of whom report having been faithful adherents to Spatini's unique taste for 30 years or longer. As noted above, I include myself in that crew.
Spatini's faithful have circulated an online petition asking Lawry's to resume making the spice mix. Others have posed what they think are close approximations of the old Spatini mix recipe [see Glenna Anderson Muse's version, for instance].
Another anonymous
recipe suggestion is as follows:
of Unilever NV] made their own spaghetti sauce blend, which I have tried but never thought it compared to Spatini. I've also since purchased some McCormick blend but have yet to find out if the finished flavor comes close. And I plan on trying Ms. Muse's concoction in the near future.
But my guess is that none of them will compare. So I have dutifully signed the petition in the remote hope that Lawry's will re-market the stuff. Thy could sell it in boutique eateries, along with Kraft dinners [something I've actually seen for sale at a very chi chi shop in Montreal].
[UPDATE 6/30/08] In ten hours I'll know whether or not I got outbid on my effort to get some of this product.
In this day and age of herbs fresh picked from the garden to cook with, the pre-packaged spaghetti spice concoction Spatini got taken off the market some time last year, a product I [or my parents] have used in cooking since 1963.Since I live some distance from grocery stores, I tend to buy in bulk. As a result, it wasn't until today that I learned the only place I can now pick up a box is on e-bay, an option I don't consider particularly efficient [or desirable] when buying powered spices. Nonetheless, I put a bid on one of the offerings that does not seem out of line compared what I remember paying in the past.
Spatini's removal from market shelves has prompted an irate response from other users, many of whom report having been faithful adherents to Spatini's unique taste for 30 years or longer. As noted above, I include myself in that crew.
Spatini's faithful have circulated an online petition asking Lawry's to resume making the spice mix. Others have posed what they think are close approximations of the old Spatini mix recipe [see Glenna Anderson Muse's version, for instance].
Another anonymous
recipe suggestion is as follows:1 beef bouillon cube (crushed with kitchen mallet) or 1 tsp of bouillonLawry's spices [a subsidiary
1 and 1/2 teaspoons 10x sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of ground black pepper
(apparently this is the amount that's in one packet)
of Unilever NV] made their own spaghetti sauce blend, which I have tried but never thought it compared to Spatini. I've also since purchased some McCormick blend but have yet to find out if the finished flavor comes close. And I plan on trying Ms. Muse's concoction in the near future.But my guess is that none of them will compare. So I have dutifully signed the petition in the remote hope that Lawry's will re-market the stuff. Thy could sell it in boutique eateries, along with Kraft dinners [something I've actually seen for sale at a very chi chi shop in Montreal].
[UPDATE 6/30/08] In ten hours I'll know whether or not I got outbid on my effort to get some of this product.
Labels: discontinued products, foods, marketing, spaghetti sauce, Spatini
¶ 22:01 1 comments
2008-06-24
flowers
"We do very well by the flower. They are pleasures to the senses,
the sustenance of their fruit and seeds, and the vast store of new metaphor.
"But as we gaze into the blossom of the flower, we find something more: the crucible of beauty,
if not art, and maybe even a glimpse into the meaning of life.
"For look into a flower and what do you see? Into the very heart of nature's double nature - that is, the contending energies of creation and dissolution, the spring toward complex form and the tidal pull away from it.
"Apollo and Dionysus were names the Greeks gave to these two faces of nature, and nowhere in nature
is their contest as plain or as poignant as it is in the beauty of a flower and it's rapid passing.
"There, the achievement of order against all odds and its blithe abandonment.
There, the perfection of art and the blind flux of nature. There, somehow, both transcendence and necessity.
"Could it be that - right there, in a flower - the meaning of life?"
Michael Pollan, from The Botany of Desire copr. 2001
the sustenance of their fruit and seeds, and the vast store of new metaphor.
"But as we gaze into the blossom of the flower, we find something more: the crucible of beauty,
if not art, and maybe even a glimpse into the meaning of life.
"For look into a flower and what do you see? Into the very heart of nature's double nature - that is, the contending energies of creation and dissolution, the spring toward complex form and the tidal pull away from it.
"Apollo and Dionysus were names the Greeks gave to these two faces of nature, and nowhere in nature
is their contest as plain or as poignant as it is in the beauty of a flower and it's rapid passing.
"There, the achievement of order against all odds and its blithe abandonment.
There, the perfection of art and the blind flux of nature. There, somehow, both transcendence and necessity.
"Could it be that - right there, in a flower - the meaning of life?"
Michael Pollan, from The Botany of Desire copr. 2001
Labels: beauty, Michael Pollan, nature, tulips
¶ 08:10 0 comments
2008-06-23
wilderness preservation
"Most men, it appears to me, do not care for Nature and would sell
their share in all her beauty, for as long as they may live, for a stated and
not very large sum. ...It is for this very reason that some do not care for these
things that we need to combine to protect all from the vandalism of the few."
Henry David Thoreau, from the essay Huckleberries, 1861
their share in all her beauty, for as long as they may live, for a stated and
not very large sum. ...It is for this very reason that some do not care for these
things that we need to combine to protect all from the vandalism of the few."
Henry David Thoreau, from the essay Huckleberries, 1861
Labels: land preservation, land use planning, open space, Thoreau, wilderness
¶ 04:30 0 comments
