I was just sent this piece of sad news over the wire from a friend. Perhaps many of you know of it already – I just heard.

Sad News

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 31 but had maintained a healthy lifestyle by being an early riser and following a high-carbohydrate diet.

Doughboy, or Pop N. Fresh as he was known to friends and family, was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch.  The grave site was piled high with flours and was draped in white.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was considered a very smart cookie, but wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

 

A few years back, Bob sat next to author Irena Chalmers at a professional food conference. They had met before, and took advantage of the time to catch up with one another. As they chatted, Irena told Bob that she was working on a new book that explored the wide variety of professional career jobs that the food industry had to offer.

As she explained, Bob was intrigued at the scope of her concept. She asked Bob a few questions about being a specialty food retailer and he gave her his thoughts on this and that, including what we both do in the daily operations of our store.  At the end of their converstation, Irena told Bob that she would like to include his thoughts in her book.

Fast forward several years ( it takes at least 2 years on average for a book to appear in stores from the moment of signed contract to final bound and printed book is ready ) and imagine our surprise and delight when we received a copy of  Irena’s book Food Jobs: 150 Great JOBS for Culinary Students, Career Changers and FOOD Lovers.  

True to her word Irena did include Bob’s thoughts. In fact, she gave him special attention in a boxed sidebar titled: Words from the Wise in the Chapter dedicated to Retail Jobs.  But as to what he said… you’ll have to purchase the book to find out !

Food Jobs: 150 Great JOBS for Culinary Students, Career Changers and FOOD Lovers by Irena Chalmers, 2008, Beaufort Books, NY  $19.95

Chapters include: restaurants and foodservice; retail jobs; art and design; food media ( publishing, television, the internet, radio); promotions and publicity; history and culture; science and technology; farming; cooking schools and culinary education.

Food Judging ? You bet. Read my previous post. 

Food Media ? Yes, check out this link to Bob’s lively food radio shows !  http://www.cooksshophere.com/otb_whmp/off_the_burner.htm

Judge Bob flashes a wedge of his favorite slicer

This week is Massachusetts Farmers Market Week and the 25th Annual Massachusetts Tomato Festival and Contest. In this good natured competiton, farmers from the Commonwealth face off in categories such as field tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, heirloom varieties, weight and of course, flavor.

Despite the rain, rain and more rain that we have had this summer, and the resulting demise of many a good tomato patch, the competiton drew appromimately 70 entries, a similar number to that of last year. 

According to the Offices of Energy and Environmental Affairs, more than 532 farms in the Bay State produce 6.2 million pounds of tomatoes a year on 575 acres of farmland.  For a self-confessed tomato-aholic like myself, this is splendid news. The market value of this crop is estimate at $12.4 million, which includes the share we spend at our neighborhood farmstand and farmers market. And there is good news for Farmers Markets as well in the Commonwealth – 38 new markets were added in 2009, bringing the statewide total to 198.

Many Boston-area farmers who entered their best fruits came to the judging with their game faces on. In addition to Bob’s repeat Judgeship, the other judges comprised a distinguished panel of  food writers, chefs, cookbook authors, grocers and state officials.

Verrill Farm tomatoes scored two 2nd place finishes

This is the listing of the 1st Place winners, many of whom were present to accept their trophy. All left smiling and trimphant.

Slicing Category: Macone Farm, Concord, Ma                                                        ’Orange Blossom’  yellow variety

Cherry Category: Red Fire Farm, Granby, Ma,                                            ”Sungold’ yellow variety

Heirloom Category: Macone Farm, Concord, Ma                                     ‘Macone Farm ‘ heritage variety

Heaviest: Kimball Fruit Farm, Pepperell, MA                                                          ‘Big Raspberry’ variety

 

Bob and Julia then....

Yes, today ( August 15th ) is Julia’s birthday…she would have turned 97.  OK, so she is no longer here to actually celebrate her birthday with a sip of this and a bite of that, but spiritually, she is omnipresent amongst us. If the fact that she is remembered lovingly by all whom she influenced and that her cookbooks are still relevant to legions of cooks is not proof enough, just evidence the long-suffering current dialogue about ‘the book’ and ‘the movie.’  Would she have approved or would she have gaffawed at the amount of lip-time that this new national obsession has racked up?

Anyway, here’s to you, just you, dear Julia. We met you in 1991 at a United Way Benefit fund-raising event. You were signing copies of your new book: The Way to Cook and charming your fans, and we were serving cups of our coffee to attendees.

In fact, we were serving cups of a coffee blend that we created in your honor and introduced that night: Mastering the Art of Coffee. http://tiny.cc/d4d6p. You were so thrilled to have a coffee created just for you ( you said it was a ‘first’ ) and several cups of it were requested to be sent over to your table throughout the evening, if I remember correctly. We’ve sold your coffee blend in the store since than, and it is very popular indeed. Later that evening, you signed one of the large display posters of your book that hung in the room and gave it to us for a memento. Do you know that it is one of our most cherished possessions and proudly resides on display in our store to this day ?

The following year we sent you a birthday card when your turned 80. Your note of appreciation for our well-wishes sent us to the moon and back when we received it, and we grinned like school children when we showed it to all of our foodie friends.

Then, to make it even better, Random House sent us a cardboard likeness of you – a PR piece that was to top a generous display of your books. We like instead to put you in the window of our store from time to time ( we dressed up your smock with a silver “J” pin that belonged to Bob’s mother Jean ) and watch passersby do a double take when they see you. The sight of you always makes people stop, and do a bit of a double take. Many of them smile, with a look that tells me they are fondly remembering something endearing about you.

Of course there are those who ask if they can purchase the cardboard ‘you’ ( sorry, no ) or have it ( are you kidding me ? ) or borrow it ( ya, right ! ).  We’ll always keep our ‘cardboard Julia’ …..just for the memories. 

Bob and 'Julia' now.....

Over the summer, I put aside my cookbooks and let nature inspire me when I visit at my local farmers market ( and our beloved neighborhood farm stand operated by the Butynski family).  My usual strategy at the farmers market is to make a exploratory pass around the stands to eye this week’s seasonal goodies, then I begin to mentally combine this and that to make a few complete dishes or entire meals.

I try to be creative, and mix colors and textures to my best seasonal advantage. While I enjoy doing this, it may be a futile exercise ( so too, I have learned, is too-much fretting about what plants to put together in a flower garden ) because Mother Nature has seen to it that seasonal, local vegetables almost never miss when combined together.

For instance, the veggies in these pictures became a beautiful, colorful and delicious salad that I made to go with dinner that evening. In fact, the salad was so beautiful that I decided to turn it into dinner by embellishing it with a little local goat cheese and some thin strips of a maple-cured ham steak that we bought from Hollister Hill Farm in Vermont and grilled to give it a nice ‘char’ around the edges. 

I drizzled richly-textured Olivar de la Luna extra-virgin olive oil http://www.cooksshophere.com/products/oliveoil.htm over the salad to conteract the slight bitter-bite of the radicchio and finished with a few splashes of  La Masia Rioja red wine vinegar http://www.cooksshophere.com/products/vinegar.htm and a scattering of crunchy sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Here’s what I bought: squeeky-fresh snow peas, a trio of yellow, orange and red heirloom carrots, radicchio, and fresh-dug red and white onions. I also purchased a small head of cabbage which I used to make a delicious, colorful coleslaw that featured the trio of carrots, red onions, chopped walnuts and some tiny Turkish golden raisins.