A friend at dinner boosts appetite

In response to our description of Daisy's finicky eating habits, Mara describes the after-dinner food fight at her place and offers a suggestion:

"Then Maggie dashes to Lisa's bowl, and finishes any atom of food left in or near it. Lisa does the same to Maggie's bowl. Floors, bowls, etc. come out spic and span...

So, the solution is obvious. Daisy needs a dinner companion."

Funny you should mention this, Mara! Feeling hesitant to throw out a wonderful Saint Bernard calendar for 2007, I thought of a new purpose. Perhaps Daisy would enjoy looking at cute Saint Bernards while at dinner. So I posted a puppy clambering amidst lavender behind her dinner station. (This also serves as an easy clean-up option for the rice and egg splatters -- just toss out the photo every so often.)

What do you know? You are absolutely right. Ever since that puppy has been her breakfast and dinner partner across the bowl, Daisy has slurped up every bit of food she can, and right quick, too.Our scientifically minded readers might object: "Correlation is not causation!" And indeed, it's true. But, failing the ability to interview Daisy, we have to go with anecdotal observation. And we do have two data points from separate locations -- New York and San Francisco -- that suggest that dinner companions do boost appetite.

A dog's homemade dinner

Mara, home cook for Maggie and Lisa, asks:

Why do you cut the eggs up into small, but not tiny, chunks? And, what kind of bone meal do you use?

As I learned in the bookstore cooking section yesterday, it's all about "plating." With the eggs chopped up too small, all the ingredients of the dinner begin to merge into a indistinguishable, unappealing, green-tinged mush. Better to offer small segments of bright yellow, contrasting with the morsels of white egg. The lightly chopped greens can be scattered throughout, adding texture and appealing color. Small squares of carrots contribute brightness. Finally, the rice and oatmeal tie everything together and serve as a pleasing background.

An old-fashioned potato masher is the perfect tool to get to the right texture without a lot of effort. We've learned that Daisy has little appetite for the over-chopped amalgamation. She turns up her nose at the big chunks, or else carries them off to place somewhere in the middle of a room. So we have made an effort to construct a more delightful plate. It may be time, though, to rethink the giant round stainless steel bowl. The trend today is toward small servings on big plates.

"Crowding food is a no-no," according to How-to-Cook Gourmet.

So we could go with an even bigger bowl, with less food. Or perhaps the same size bowl -- maybe in a more appealing green or red to contrast with the tan rice, though -- with smaller portions served a couple of times. What do you think?

Oh, and if you hard boil eggs often, you may have suffered through many a difficult peeling process. The shell sticks, it breaks into tiny pieces, it pricks your fingers. Here's the solution we've found:

Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Place up to 20 eggs in the water and let it return to a boil.
Turn the heat down and boil for 5 minutes.
Turn off the burner and let sit for 45 minutes to cool.
Store the eggs in their original box in the fridge.

You can also place the eggs in a bath of cold water to speed up the process. One way or the other, they'll peel like a dream!

Here's a video of a fun alternate method. I did try it, but I think you have to have very powerful lungs to make it work.

As for the bone meal, we've recycled the jar so I'll have to report back after our next shopping trip. Any recommendations?