Let’s have a history lesson.

I was always a good student. I was one of those kids that did well in almost every subject (notice I said almost…numbers still elude me).

But numbers aside, history was/is particularly delicious to me.

Cooking has an interesting history of course. You don’t have to go all the way back to medieval times to find a fascinating tale.

In fact I have a fun story for you. In the 1960s & 70s, in this country at least, the foodie-world was abuzz with the suddenly “discovered” truth behind “classical French cuisine”. It was brought to our attention by the commendable talents of Julia Child. Her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking changed the way American home cooks like my mother began to look at gourmet food.

As I have said before. I was raised on this kind of fare. I was a nine year old who liked chicken liver pâté. I knew crêpe was not pronounced crape, and sauces always started with bones.

But things can never stay just as they are, now can they? In fact changes were afoot in the culinary world. Because just as Ms. Child was introducing Americans to classical French cooking; classical French cooking was being challenged or perhaps re-interpretted in of all places– France!

I have a little story. Oh don’t look at me like that! You’ll like this story. It has a happy ending. I promise it’s about food too. Okay, I also promise it's brief. Now will you keep reading?

I have this friend (‘cuz this could never happen to me). He was in the middle of preparing a special dish. Let’s say it was Salmon Tartare inspired by his buddy Dash of Stash (who is coincidentally a buddy of mine as well). And for the sake of this story let’s say he’d gotten to a certain place in the preparation of this dish. He came across that moment. You know the moment I am talking about. We have all been there.

He had spent a considerable amount of time, energy, a pretty penny getting to this moment. As he leaned over his concoction of sweet salmon beautiness, the hills and crystal blue sky in view outside his kitchen window (okay, I am editorializing here somewhat). He took in the deeply savory aroma of his creation and he put a spoonful into his mouth. This is the moment of “taste”.

But something was wrong. You could see that by the look on his face. But he is an experienced cook. He knew this was no big deal. So he did not panic. This is why the phrase “season to taste” was invented. It’s that last shining moment when the cook gets to tweak his culinary baby into its peak performance.

He began to reach for the salt, because surely “season to taste” means salt and possibly pepper. Right?

Two more recipes for your consideration!

In this the last of my Thanksgiving Double-Takes, I am tackling the green beans. Green beans are usually seen this time of year in an oozy-gooey, over-baked casserole topped with something crunchy that I can never actually identify.

Well I have a confession. I won’t eat that. I won’t watch you eat that, and I certainly am not cooking that and putting that mess on my lovely blog! I won’t do it.

But I do understand tradition. Really, really I do. And I know a whole lot of you require this side dish each and every Thanksgiving. The funny thing is you require it, with out really liking it. Come on admit it, you don’t really like it. Just ‘cuz your Gramma made it a certain way you feel obligated to reproduce it just so. Then you force yourself to choke back a few mouthfuls every year. It’s a tradition, right?

Well not at Sups! house. Not now. Not ever…

It’s my Birthday! Yep, today is the day. November 11^th. Eleven/Eleven!

Don’t ask how old I am though, not that I wouldn’t tell you; it’s just that I have not quite decided how old I am going to be this year. I used 32 for way too many years. I can’t really get away with that one anymore. So I gotta think of a new age. Once I decide you’ll be the first to know. I promise.

In the meantime what are we going to do to celebrate? I am not really a “gifts” kind of person. Presents always make me uncomfortable, in an “I’m not worthy kind of way”. It’s always excruciating, even when I love the present, because I always manage to come across as ungrateful. I can be such a prickly bastard. I don’t know why. In actuality I have never been given a gift I did not love whole-heartedly. I just have trouble expressing it in any other way than an “I’m not worthy” kind of way.

It’s kind of like that scene in the movie Harold and Maude. Harold gives Maude a lovely token of his love and she flings it into the bay as Harold watches in astonishment. She then sighs contentedly and says, to Harold’s confusion– “so I’ll always know where it!” It’s not that she didn’t love her present, it’s just the emotions of the moment overwhelmed her, and she acted unconventionally. Well, I am kind of like Maude, only younger and not as good looking… so don’t make any jokes, ‘cuz I’ve heard ‘em all before!

Sometime in our past we humans were digging around in the dirt and hit about the idea of eating roots. The world has been a better place ever since!

There are many ways to enjoy these vegetables from the underworld, but roasting is just about my favorite. Roots such as parsnips, carrots, and beets are commonly roasted because it brings out their distinctive, rustic charm, and actually amplifies their inherent richness and bolsters the sugars in these vegetables.

Which got me thinking, Radishes are a root vegetable. Could I roast a radish?

So I did an Internet search and quickly landed at The Bitten Word. These guys have a great blog, and like me they seem to like to mix up expectations. So when I saw they had already experimented with roasting radishes I knew that their insights would help put me on the right path with my roasted radishes.

Happy Halloween! In keeping with the season I have a tricky treat for you. This treat is in the form of a mini-horror film I call Brussels Sprouts: The Revenge Of Farmer John! Click here or on screen grab below to watch film.

You might call it Brussels Sprouts: All Smelly and Green. Because be they supernatural or merely tricky to cook. I say they are indeed a treat most any time of the year.

But it’s true many people are afraid of Brussels sprouts– even horrified because they are often prepared in a horrifying manner…boiled.

Boiling really does not suit Brussels sprouts. That is because they are technically a cruciferous vegetable. Which is a fancy way of saying cabbage. As we all know, boiled cabbage can be stinky and mushy. So too, Brussels sprouts. In fact, in French they are called les choux de Bruxelles, which means cabbages of Brussels. So all the mistakes people make cooking cabbage can be amplified in these “little cabbages”!