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Q). This will be one
of the odder questions you get, I'm betting. We were in a Mexican
restaurant in South Carolina last week, and my husband ordered Jim Beam
and diet Coke. It wasn't strong enough, so he ordered an extra shot. The
shot was served in a sundae glass rimmed with salt and lime. We were
surprised and somewhat amused that he'd been served tequila when he
clearly ordered Jim Beam. When the bill arrived, my Corona was noted at
the bottom, and his beverage was noted as "Pisto." Unfortunately, the
gentleman I paid did not know much English, but I clearly heard him say
tequila when I asked |
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what Pisto meant. So, I was wondering: What
is the origin of your name? Does it mean tequila or something else
entirely?
Thanks a bunch!
Via e-mail
Ellen & Howard Wager
Land O' Lakes, FLA). Ok
let's tackle Pisto first. Actually, the correct spelling is "Pisco"
which as a brandy much like grappa and it's some pretty hairy stuff.
Tequila is made from a cactus plant and Pisco is made by distilling
what's left over after you crush grapes - big difference. The origin of
my name is derived from the Greek name "Pistos" and we |
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believe my relatives came to Sicily five or
six hundred years ago. I have visited the original village which is in
Calabria, very close to Messina. My family now resides in a small
village near Toremina called Furci Siculo. I visited the old graveyard
in Storella, Calabria and never knew so many Pistos existed. Sicily was
settled by so many different nationalities over the centuries that there
is really no common face. Some are dark, some are blond, others are
short or tall with red, straight or curly hair.
Comment: Want wild salmon? It's
available! Frozen Alaskan sockeye for $7.99 per pound at Safeway.
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I have requested a great shrimp recipe from
a good friend Stalee VanderWoude. This one is definitely worth a try.
Stalee's Boiled Sweet Sake Shrimp Recipe
1 Cup Sake
1/2 Cup Sugar
3 teaspoons salt
2 lbs Shrimp
Leave shrimp in the shell, but cut through shell along the back and
de-vein. Mix together ingredients for sauce and then pour into a large
saucepan or non-stick skillet. Add shrimp and
cook until done (approximately ten minutes). Serve warm as is or with
cocktail sauce. |
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Q). Dear Johnny,
We caught your show on the lamb shank and that is the biggest lamb shank
I have ever seen. It looked like the whole lamb. Why do the call it a
lamb shank when the shank was bigger than a
lamb? Why don't they call it sheep shank?
Via e-mail
Sonny
A). Out west everything is a little bigger - you ought to see our
cattle.
Comment: Dear John, Please do not regale us with accounts of
unhealthy eating.
Thank you
Marilyn McMasters
Via e-mail
Response: Now just hold on to your
skivvies, darling. You're talking about our five restaurant dine |
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around with John Madden. I know we had
multiple dishes, 15 to be exact, plus dessert, but as I said (check the
column) we had bites, small bites, what do you think we are animals? A
varied diet is what we are supposed to eat - varied and in moderation
and that's what we did, honey. Thank you for reading the column!
Q). Hi John,
Thanks for your column. My girlfriend and I had a wonderful chocolate
lava cake at the Chart House in Malibu. You mentioned a chocolate lava
cake in your article of Feb.9th. Where did you have that and how did it
rate? Thanks,
Via e-mail, Rick
A). Hi Rick, Blue Moon and the Whaling Station. I think they're out
of this world!
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At Clint Eastwood's request, a new addition
to our annual AT&T celebrity party will return next year. World-class
mushroom expert, David Arora will do an encore of his tales of humorous
fungus collecting. This party, co-hosted by Dr. and Terice Clark and Mr.
& Mrs. Eastwood, gives a group of celebrities a chance to relax during a
demanding week and spend some time together. I had gathered some wild
mushrooms to serve with dinner and invited David to talk a bit about
them. To my surprise, he launched into a somewhat meandering tale about
him and a buddy taking an "exuberant" blindfolded young lady to a secret
spot to collect some rare mushrooms. This really is an amusing story but
these people were hungry, having come off a long day of playing golf.
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Finally, musician Kenny G. stood up and
yelled, "But what did the mushrooms taste like?!" David finished his
story and received a loud standing ovation. Later, as has become custom,
several people stood up to tell a story or two. Comedian Tom Dressen
broke everybody up when he opened with, "Two mushrooms walked into a
bar..." Michael Bolton did a Rodney Dangerfield skit and Huey Lewis told
a very funny joke, that wouldn't make it past the editor. As for the
menu, this year I pulled out all the stops. I phoned the salmon farm in
B.C. and asked for a next-day air delivery of salmon. Wow, folks, this
is hard to beat, wild or farmed. I was also sent some delicious smoked
salmon nuggets from Hardy Buoy Smoked Fish Inc. (250-949-8781) done only
with salt,
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sugar and alder wood chips. Try it out. For
dessert, I presented Mr. Eastwood with a lemon meringue pie with boxing
gloves on top. He seemed delighted, but when he cut into it I could see
that it hadn't set up. I served him lemon-meringue soup! Luckily I had
three others that were perfect - I always say I hate baking. Some final
notes: Dina Eastwood has to be one of the world's nicest persons;
country singer Clay Walker and Lindsay Clark promised to do a cooking
show with me - what a nice couple; David and Terice Clark deserve praise
for seven days and nights of hard AT&T work; you might all get a chance
to see this on HBO soon as Ray Romano and Kevin James walked in with a
film crew doing a documentary of Ray's effort to make the cut (which he
did).
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