Comments on: Not Paris

By: Kindle

Kindle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:13:11 +0000

Peter Nichols is a beautiful person with a kind soul. I messed up a wonderful bond with a true prince.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:48:25 +0000

Just read your entire blog series from Gourmet and here in one day! Whew!! I am inspired and motivated to live more frugally. We too are in debt up to our eyeballs. We are not even close to the frugality that your family has embraced but we do a little here and there. Reading your blog makes me want to do more, makes me realize we need to do more, challenges me to do more!! Whoo hoo!! You rock the frugal world!

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:40:01 +0000

Frugal Guy! I miss your regular posts! I know you’re probably having to find some work that pays and this blog doesn’t, but yours is one blog that I will read despite ads, so sign up for those ads! I miss your writing, your humor, your stories. I’m sure I’m not alone. Hope you’re hanging in there and the roosters and cold haven’t gotten to you!

By: Melanie Hubbard

Melanie Hubbard — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:09:11 +0000

Hey, Hodding and everyone– I’ve been following this experiment for a while at Gourmet and now here, and last week, inspired, I made some quick cheese sticks, which went over very well but which got increasingly tough and chewy as the days passed. But you mentioned ‘no-knead bread,’ so I googled it and came up with the original recipe by Jim Lahey published in the New York Times. What’s frugal about it is that it uses only 1/4 tsp of yeast and very little active time. What’s fabulous about it is that it made me feel like a rockin’ genius. IT IS SO EASY TO MAKE! Forget the rigamarole of putting the dough into a towel, or heating your covered Pyrex dish to 450F– I just cleaned my bread bowl, VERY lightly oiled it and sprinkled it with corn meal, and two hours later, after the final rise, dumped the dough straight into a cold ceramic covered pot and started with a cold oven. An hour later, a shattering brown crust, moist webbed chewy soft inside– a French boule worth eating in one sitting, good enough to sell if you could bear to.

In the wee hours, the night before the baking, I woke from time to time, thinking of that tiny amount of yeast breeding and fermenting through the night. It was like knowing I was pregnant. I find making bread enormously satisfying, but this is hands down the best bread I’ve ever made. Easy, easy, easy, y’all!

By: KimE

KimE — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:56:04 +0000

Hodding, (love your name) thank you for responding. It’s always about money and I knew it before I ever asked the question. Conjecture, yes, but it makes perfect sense. This smacks of Wal-Mart. They don’t carry what you want, only what makes them a hefty profit. Cutthroat and shitty are fitting terms for both. Gourmet magazine was serious about food. I love that. There was something for everyone…vegans, people who don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen but still care about what they eat, people who like roadside diners. They taught us about food all over the world, where it comes from, the people who grow it, and for me best of all, how to prepare it. Places I will never go but still I could have a taste. Class and wisdom have nothing to do with money. Gourmet had both.

By: Hodding

Hodding — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:27:13 +0000

KimE: I hope I’m not responding too late to your question about Gourmet. Some of the Gourmet staffers… well, ex-staffers think the fact that the magazine wasn’t offered to any potential buyers reveals Si Newhouse’s real plans for the magazine–in a 3-4 years he’ll relaunch it staffed with a dozen or so 23-year-olds. He won’t have to pay them jack but they’ll have the cache of this culinary icon. It makes sense, of course, but it’s such a cutthroat maneuver. I’m not rooting for this outcome for many reasons–the first among many being it’s such a shitty thing to do to some truly first-class editors and the second is that it won’t be the Gourmet we so thoroughly enjoyed (or loved). Of course, this is only conjecture but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise, closing a magazine that had readers who were more likely to buy the merchandise being advertised and promoted between its pages was downright boneheaded. Right?

By: KimE

KimE — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:22:40 +0000

October 5th was my birthday and I was ok with it until I turned on CNN and that Susan what’s-her-name at the NYSE told me that Gourmet magazine was ceasing to exist. WHAT? I had to rewind and make her say it again. How can this be? I wondered why I wasn’t receiving renewal notices which they start sending at least six months in advance. I am so sad. But then Thursday is “read the frugal dude’s blog day” and I am behind a few weeks…double whammy. OMG! Can it get any worse? But here you are! I am so glad!
Somebody please explain to me why this has happened. If the only answer is “money” don’t bother. A tragedy of this magnitude can only be explained by an equally horrific conspiracy theory! Bon Appetit can continue but not Gourmet? Huh?

By: Hodding

Hodding — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:04:47 +0000

Mother Chaos, I wasn’t imagining yapping terriers but something more like baby birds sitting in a nest, mouths wide open, facing skyward, chirping loudly as they waited for their mother-masticated worms and grubs. You agree?

By the way, to the rest of you, this very funny, astute reader kept leaving comments when I was writing for Gourmet. I hadn’t realized she had a blog until she mentioned it a few months into our sort-of correspondence. I’m talking about Mother Chaos’s www.denofchaos.com. Her words force you to spit out the milk if you make the silly mistake of reading her pieces while downing your morning cereal. An especially bad idea if you happen to be sitting in front of your keyboard. It’s cleaned up pretty well, though. No worries, Mother C.

By: JodieMo

JodieMo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:42:39 +0000

Hi there! Came this way from the unfortunately terminal Gourmet site. Love you blog and your mission. The cheesesticks sound great! I’m going to have to give them a try, my kids would probably love them. I thought I would throw a tidbit your way and let you know about a book I have read a few times now ( and available at your local library) called the Tightwad Gazette. It’s a little dated since it was published in the mid-90’s, but I think you might get some good ideas from there. Best of luck to you!

By: Paul Kobulnicky

Paul Kobulnicky — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:58:38 +0000

Here is another …

Make a focaccia dough. It keeps well in the fridge a few days or in the freeze a week or so. In the early AM, get some non-frozen dough out, flatten it into a sheet about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with cinnimon, sugar, chopped walnuts and currents. Cut into 2′ wide strips. Roll each strip along its length to form a twist (the filling is in the center. Put them in a pan with sides so they do not touch. Brush the sides that face each other with a bit of melted butter. Let rise an hour. Back at 400 for 40 minutes. No sweat, pull-apart breakfast rolls.