Granny's Gadgets #11

Here we are in the eleventh week of our culinary exploration... for me, it gets more exciting every time! How 'bout you?

I am gaining confidence in the kitchen daily. I am moving beyond preparing just the ordinary and am reaching out the the extraordinary! While I still am a little chicken to tackle complex meals with multiple ingredients per item and requiring more than one item to be cooked, I am really working on my presentation:

California Hautedog Queasy-ne

I saw this at Chez Panisse (click on it and be impressed). And now that I am highly skilled in the kitchen, I had to try making it for myself... actually, I made it for Baby X.  I think it came out pretty snappy ;-)

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly this I saw.

And maybe it wasn't exactly at Chez Panisse that I saw it.

But if Alice Waters (click on it) were on my budget and feeding my picky-sticky eaters, I am positive that this is what she would have come up with!

Presentation can make all the difference.
See above. Lovely presentation can turn a lousy hot dog, a fistful of baby carrots and a passle o' raspberries into a glorious feast for both eyes and mouth...so appealing in every way...That is what makes Martha Stewart so popular...turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Panache. Style. Fancyness.

So far all of our gadgets have been quite utilitarian. yes, big word. means they do something useful.

Not today's.  This one is brought to you with Martha in mind... and maybe Alice Waters, too.  

And note the beautiful plate! The plate was also my mother-in-law's.  Granny's plate is in the mix :)  Part of her wedding china...really.  1950, baby.

I am really serious, you guys.  If anyone knows what this thing really is... tell!  Or if I got it right but you have some ease-of-use tips or something that would enable greater success...SHARE!

That is what the comment section is for!  aren't you glad you know now ;-)
– so leave some!


What is the most renowned and/or famous restaurant in your area?  Have you ever eaten there?
– Chez Panisse is right up the street from my mom's house, which is about 15 minutes from where we live. It is probably the most renowned/famous restaurant in our area... it started that whole California Cuisine thing. Alice Waters, who founded it, used to shop in the store where I worked. She was kind of odd.  But most genius-types are.  At least that's what I keep telling myself :P  I have eaten there.  There are two parts... the upstairs and the downstairs.  The upstairs is where normal people go for an expensive night out.  The downstairs is where people go who want to drop an ungodly amount of money on a meal.  I have only ever eaten upstairs.