My, my how the tables have turned! It wasn’t so long ago that I was the comfort food provider. Ok, I wasn’t the best at it, that's true. But I did try in my own non-foodie fashion. My own particular way of comforting tends to be located in the shoe department. Whenever I needed a bit of TLC, be it from a broken heart, a lost job or just a downright crappy day, I wouldn’t even think of heading into the kitchen but would head straight to Barneys shoe department. Better yet, if in NYC, into the shoe Mecca of all shoe Mecca’s, Bergdorf’s.
As a matter of fact, I was in NYC last week and after a family luncheon that left me feeling rather low, I marched myself straight into Bergdorf’s, took the escalator to the second floor and personally said hello to every shoe out on display. And this took a bit of time too.
Don’t know if you’ve ever been to Bergdorf’s shoe department but it is huge. Stellar and Amazing! A world unto itself. By the time I’d greeted each shoe, said “Hi, I’m Annie and I totally get and appreciate you”, an hour had passed and I felt all better. Thank God it’s the looking not the buying that sets me straight, shoe prices being what they are today.
Culinary historians have traced the first cake “brownie” to the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, edited by Fannie Merritt Farmer. This recipe is an early, less rich and chocolaty version of the brownie we know today, utilizing two squares of melted Baker’s chocolate. Food historians don’t know if Fanny Farmer obtained the recipe from another source, printed it as is or adapted it, or provided the name.
So simple looking yet packed with an unreal amount of flavor, not to mention its perfectly thick consistency. It's just the way I like my soup, creamy, cheesy and yummy.
I knew I would regret the Wall Street Journal’s expanded leisure section! Before, I was free to read the home sections of any newspaper knowing my darling husband, Bill, would never notice if there was an article on how to be or do a better anything (even dominatrix sex), but the Wall Street Journal - that’s different. He habitually reads it cover to cover. This Saturday’s paper had a recipe for POT OF GOLD (“serves 16!”), and that is when he said– in a moment of early morning intimacy – “You never made me Pot au Feu!”
I dream about this kind of soup. It's completely decadent. It's probably one of the biggest comfort foods out there. Which is perfect for this time of year in Oregon. It's cold, rainy, snowy, sleety and it's so dark outside by 2 in the afternoon. The gray landscape just begs for dishes like this Triple Threat Loaded Baked Potato Soup.