Day: December 3, 2007

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Ted Turner’s “Ted-istan” is one Big Little Country!

If I could be KingOkay, our friend Ted I-wanna-own-the-world Turner just locked up 2,000,000 acres. Now, I don’t know about you… but I suspected he always wanted to own his own little country… and now he has it. For the easy conversion, his holdings translate into approximately 3125 square miles ( or a block roughly 55 miles by 55 miles)!

Ted-istan is about 60% the size of Puerto Rico or about 2.5 times the size of Rhode Island.

There are a whole bunch of countries that could fit into his living room.

Lets make a list: the Italian land locked country of San Marino is a mere 24 sq. miles, Andorra (between Spain and France) is 180 sq. miles with 180,000 people, and Liechtenstein is a paltry 62 sq. miles (but they produce beautiful stamps). The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is less than half the size of Ted-istan … The list goes on and on .
I wasn’t going to mention it… but what does he REALLY want with all that land and should we be concerned?

Roger Freberg

Like many Americans, I do admire someone who can build so much from so little… but most Americans do worry about so much power in any one person’s hands.

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A Great Chef has many Sources & Cookbooks!

one of the secrets that makes a great chef

One of the little secrets I learned a long long time ago was the mark of a great chef… finding the best sources of their ingredients! The other little secret…. if you can’t invent a great idea…. borrow one!

Obviously, in every chef’s secret library are hundreds of cookbooks and with the internet …. the ability to review interesting ideas , recipes and cultural offerings is virtually limitless. Here are three interesting cookbooks from an age gone by that offer some timeless ideas to enhance any modern table.

Helen Corbitt’s Cookbook

“Creative recipes that can be prepared quickly from a few ingredients, from first woman to win food service industry’s Golden Plate Award, and then Director of Restaurants at Neiman-Marcus.”

Her philosophy could be summed up with her often quoted statement that “every woman can cook.”

St. Francis hotel Cookbook ( 1910 or 1919)

“Hirtzler originally published The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book in 1910. Organized as a year’s worth of Breakfast, Luncheon, and Dinner menus with recipes displayed next to each menu, the cookbook served as a scrapbook of St. Francis occasions, as well as a recipe collection”

the Epicurean

“The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies 1894 3,500 recipes from master chef Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico’s, turn-of-the-century America’s best restaurant. Also many techniques known only to professional chefs. Includes 800 illustrations.”

Just as a suggestion, you can find these cookbooks and others at ABEBOOKS.com.

Now cook!

Roger Freberg

NOTE: Quotes from various sources at Abebooks.com