Sunday, October 8, 2017

Chapter 26 Over The Telephone Continued

How It Tasted

Cold Boiled Tongue

Milomir: Is this tongue?

…and with that the tongue melted down in a puff of smoke.

No, not really.<grin> But my attempts at secrecy a la Mission Impossible were for naught—DH guess what it was with just a single bite.

Surprisingly, though, the revelation didn’t noticeably affect my son’s appetite. His only comment was that the tongue was “too plain”—meaning, I guess, that he would have preferred it doused with barbeque sauce or stuffed into taco shells.

Personally I thought the tongue tasted fine. It tasted exactly like what it was—beef. Rather plain, as my son noted, but really not bad at all.

Apple, Celery and Green Pepper Salad

As noted in Part 1 I dressed this salad with one of Bettina’s boiled oil concoctions. It was the first time I’d ever made such a dressing and probably the last—it broke down somehow between the refrigerator and the table and had an oily slickness that none of us cared for.

But the combination of chopped apple, celery, and pepper was surprisingly good—the apple and pepper in particular went well together. If I’d only gone with a better dressing this would have been a major hit—even as prepared we all seemed to enjoy it.

Golden Bantam Corn On The Cob

My son was very pleased to see this on the table—DH much less so.

Since his gallbladder surgery three months ago he’s been very cautious about his digestion and what he eats—particularly in regards to vegetables with thick skin. I hadn’t realized that boiled corn would present any problem, but he was concerned about the tough jackets on the kernels.

So he compromised by eating half an ear and then waiting to see how it went down. Fortunately there was no problem—unfortunately by the time he returned for more the corn was gone—DS had munched every last cob!

Bread and Butter

Filip: This is old.

Darn! I was hoping no one would notice that the bread was less than fresh but, like the tongue, some things are impossible to keep a secret. I honestly didn’t think the loaf was all that bad—toasted with olive oil garlic it would have been terrific—but DH and Son were definitely not interested.

Peach Butter

Although the peaches turned dark after cooking it didn’t affect the taste at all—rather a shame, in my opinion, because once again the stuff was overly sweet.

But DH really enjoyed it—so much so, in fact, that he dumped half a cup on his plate and ate it like cranberry sauce . Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do more than toy with mine—spooning it up was like munching sugar out of the bowl, or gulping down a entire cone of cotton candy.

Iced Tea

I’ve made iced tea any number of times in the last few months and always brew it exactly the same way, but this time it seemed rather weak. Perhaps my taste buds had been zapped by the overly sweet peach butter? I have no idea but, if I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn I was drinking ice water with a twist of lemon.

Sliced Watermelon

This melon was a satisfactory end to the meal. In fact, despite it being (almost) out of season it went over far better than Bettina’s overly dry cakes generally do. The only rumblings I heard from my crew was that the melon wasn’t quite cold enough, and the center was a little soft.

Would I Make This Again?

The tongue? No. It tasted fine but was just too expensive. And, although its visceral origins raised little fuss at our table, I doubt very much that guests would react as calmly.
But the salad (had I used a different dressing), the corn, and the watermelon were good, and my husband certainly enjoyed the peach butter.
The bread and the tea were less successful but, as Bettina staples, I doubt anyone was prepared swooned over them anyway.
In short it was a decent meal and, as Bettina promised Mrs. Dixon, didn’t take a lot of fussing to prepare.


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