From chicken (Gallus gallus) to Chicken McNugget

Banksy's Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is a truly remarkable art exhibit that explores our connection with the animals we eat. "I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing," Banksy said in a statement. He must have read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma which I'm devouring right now. I've never enjoyed a work of non-fiction like this, nor learned so much. Pick up a copy. Below watch 21st century chicks enjoying their meal of bbq dipping sauce.

Halloween Burger King Style

Who is Burger King marketing to here? As a cartoon, the obvious answer would be children. But check out the tomato being mercilessly slashed in half by a Scream pickle. It's kinda messed up. Overtly violent. I don't care that the tomato is gushing ketchup instead of blood. Thanks BK. Happy Halloween.

Halloween at The Selby

Todd Selby is a photographer whose latest project is to go into cool people's homes, photograph them and post the photographs on his website The Selby. How do you know they are cool people? Well, just look at their homes. The portraits are beautifully shot and it's really interesting to get such an intimate glimpse of fresh apartments and houses. Above, Selby shot Jennifer Earle and Mike Gabel, a pair of entertainers in their London flat. I think this is a perfect food-themed costume.

Sarah Palin: Locavore

"Gun sales have been up this fall, and Tony Aeschliman of the Shooting Sports Association speculated that lack of work gives rural people more time to hunt and more incentive to 'put a deer in the freezer.' And by the deer carcass is where the shooters and the foodies meet."

In his Slate.com article, Michael Agger takes a step back from Palin-bashing to examine what the Alaskan Governor's love of hunting really means.

When Palin was running for governor in 2006, she told USA Today, "We hunt as much as we can, and I'm proud to say our freezer is full of wild game we harvested here in Alaska." You can't really hate on that (unless you think killing animals for food is wrong, in which case you still can).

Wine: Kami no Shizuku

Last week the NY Times ran an article about a comic book that had me salivating. The Japanese brother-and-sister team of Shin and Yuko Kibayashi have been writing the series "Drops of the Gods" for four years. The comic, centered around wine, has gained such a following in Japan and Korea that wine sellers often import wine based upon what the characters are drinking. The beauty of the story is that it uses the pairing of word and graphic image to describe wine in vivid and imaginative ways. (Click on the image to enlarge and read from right to left)
Personally, I believe the graphic novel to be one of the great art forms for exactly this reason. In comics, the old maxim 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is combined with the human necessity to describe and to name. Much like a steak paired with a good wine, words and images play off each other to tremendous effect as the act of story telling is enhanced by a showing of sorts.
The Times article goes on to describe the Kibayashi's as unabashed Francophiles who find American wines lacking in Old-world depth. This, to me, was fine, but what was truly disappointing is that the article states there are no English translations. I was horrified. Then I did my own snooping around and found that at least the first three chapters are translated. Enjoy!

Recipe: Mexican Lasagna

Quick, easy and better than expected (that's what she said) is how Naphie described Rachael Ray's Mexican Lasagna. This looks pretty good. I will definitely have to try it.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 green peppers chopped (Naphie felt the dish was lacking in the veggie dept.)
  
• Salt
• 8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
• 2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.

Genetically Modified Tomatoes Stop Cancer

A European group of researchers have successfully expressed genes from the Snapdragon flower in tomatoes, resulting in deep-purple colored tomatoes with unprecedentedly high anthocyanin content at concentrations comparable to the anthocyanin levels found in blackberries and blueberries. The expression of the two transgenes increased the hydrophilic antioxidant capacity of tomato fruit threefold and a pilot animal study demonstrated that cancer-susceptible Trp53-/- mice fed a diet supplemented with the high-anthocyanin tomatoes showed a significant extension of life span.

"This is one of the first examples of metabolic engineering that offers the potential to promote health through diet by reducing the impact of chronic disease," says Professor Cathie Martin. Next step: testing it on humans. Read the press release here.

Is this exciting news? Yes, but it also raises a lot of questions. True we have been breeding plants since the beginnings of agriculture. And technology is such that we now have the power to alter plants on the genetic level, even introduce foreign genes into an organism. This has implications I've already briefly discussed concerning nutraceuticals. But in some ways, if eating a tomato is going to reduce the likelihood of cancer in the same way taking a bunch of pills would, then I vote for eating a nice salad. Nevertheless, the whole thing really raises some alarms.

Speaking of alarms, I've been reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and apparently there is so much wrong with the industrial food system of America that purple tomatoes might be the least of our worries. I highly recommend this book if you want to get educated (and horrified) about what we eat and how, as a nation, we are suffering from an eating disorder.

Bon Appetit Supper Club

I just got back from the Bon Appetit Supper Club, a 'pop-up' restaurant (it's only open from October 23-31) conveniently located two blocks away from my office. The idea of the supper club is to offer a cheap (under $10) lunch created by celebrity chefs like Mario Batali, Cat Kora, and Michael Psilakis. Along with the meal, each day a different chef gives a cooking demonstration. Today I went for Cat Cora's Thai Chicken Salad Spring Roll, which was about the size of a Chipotle wrap and pretty good for $7. Fearing it wouldn't be enough, I also got a Chocolate Chip Blondie courtesy of Pichet Ong. This was before I knew that upstairs there were free tastings of Robert Mondavi wines, and Ghirardelli dark chocolate. Somehow I managed to go on the one day there wasn't a demo, only Tyler Florence signing books, but I figure I'll be back later in the week to do some more sampling, and maybe (if I'm lucky) catch Claudia Flemming or Johnny Iuzzini teach me a pastry trick, or Ben Ford cook something slow.

Recipe: Spoony Luv's Eggplant Hash

After a delicious dinner of lamb and Cornish hen downstairs at Peasant, I woke up Sunday morning inspired to cook brunch. (Sidenote #1: while I'd heard of Peasant, I had no idea that downstairs there was a semi-secretive cavern, complete with its own menu. No reservations, quality rustic food.) Anyway, I knew I had no potatoes, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I figured that an eggplant would be rich and dense enough to hold down a hash. Frying turkey bacon crisply, then crumbling it into eggplant and onions gave the dish a smoky saltiness and I played off that with a little maple syrup for sweetness. Along with poaching eggs, I sliced a week old whole-wheat loaf razor thin (Sidenote #2: because the whole-wheat boule I baked with Peter was made with sourdough starter, even after a week, it doesn't get moldy like store-bought bread) , and toasted it to make a crispy cracker, then smeared it with fresh goat cheese. (Sidenote #3: I learned at the farmer's market that, because goats are milked seasonally, in a week or two there will no longer be fresh cheese, only aged). This was proper brunch, and I very nearly timed everything right too. I wish I had taken a picture. Alas, you'll have to imagine the hash with poached eggs and toast for yourself.


Spoony Luv's Eggplant Hash

1 medium eggplant, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
5 strips of Applegate Farms turkey bacon (or regular bacon) crispy
1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
2 tablespoons maple syrup
two scallions, finely chopped
olive oil
4 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper to taste

1. Coat a medium cast iron pan with olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook til translucent, about 3 minutes.

2. At the same time, heat a second pan and begin cooking bacon.

2. Add eggplant to onions (and a little more oil if necessary) and saute for 6-8 minutes until eggplant begins to soften, stir occasionally.

3. Add red chili flakes to eggplant and begin to crumble bacon once it has cool.

4. Stir in maple syrup and add two tablespoons of butter. Lower heat to medium low.

5. Add bacon and scallions, along with the remaining butter. Season to taste.

6. Once scallions begin to brown slightly. Take off heat and serve immediately.

I got your seaweed!

The Vapors had it all wrong.

Food Play for a Gourmet?

Ever had a hankering to eat sushi off a naked model with a group of your friends? Yes? Then please go to Nyotaimori, and order yourself up a unique catering experience. It'd make sense that this started as Yakuza phenomenon, this but who knows. Writer Melanie Berliet decided to sacrifice for her art offered herself up as a sushi plate (I guess I would too if I got to publish in Vanity Fair). Check out her story here.

Knead to Know, Part II

So maybe I went out Friday night. Maybe I turned off my alarm when it went off in the morning. When my body jolted me out of a pleasant sleep, the clock read 9:45. The second session started at 10:00. I called a car and somehow managed to get to the Institute by 10:15. My fellow bread makers were all already there, but luckily I hadn't missed much.

Today we would be reap the benefits of the previous night's work. The dough had risen and now needed to be compressed yet again, shaped, rested and put in the oven. Below are the shaped whole wheat boules at rest and behind them a fellow breader deflating the chock-full-of-fruit-and-nut bread before it could be shaped.


One thing that was particularly cool was that we were making breads from a wild sourdough starter that Peter had been growing and feeding for about 6 months as if it were a pig fattening to slaughter (or in this case bake). This is the old-school style of bread making. However we also made loaves with commercial yeast. This yeast changed the game and allowed for the mass production of bread, paving the way for the industrialization of food. While the whole wheat boule and fruit-and-nut bread below were made with the sourdough started, we made a Sullivan Street-style no-knead bread (pictured at the beginning of the post), a french baguette, and focaccia using commercial yeast.


Because everyone was going to get to take home each type of bread, by the end of the class, the kitchen really felt like a bakery churning out loaf after loaf. It was awesome. We also got to sample our efforts along with an assortment of cheeses. Not bad a morning in the kitchen.



It was a pleasure learning from my uncle and really interesting finding out about the whole process of artisanal bread making. I've been eating the bounty I brought home all this week. Now all I have to do is practice so I won't have to rely on the store-bought stuff ever again.

Kevin McKale Mashed

Last night I was going to make steak, tomato soup and mashed potatoes. By the time I got home though, my energy was zapped, so I opted to get a nice vegetable soup from Choice Market, an amazing bakery/sandwich place two blocks down from me. I skipped the steak, but decided to make a mashed potato recipe I found over at 101 Cookbooks. This is a great recipe source created by Heidi Swanson where she explores recipes from all her favorite cookbooks (and the picture on the site are always phenomenal). These mashed potatoes are a version of Steve Petusevsky's from the cookbook The Oldways Table, a "collection of recipes highlighting healthy eating where it intersects traditional foodways".

I chose to use red bliss potatoes which worked out even better than I'd hoped for. The potatoes were deliciously sweet and the skins gave the dish a gorgeous purple hue.

Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoe Recipe

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
sea salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, large stems stripped and discarded, leaves chopped
1/2+ cup warm milk or cream
freshly ground black pepper
5 scallions, white and tender green parts, chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish (opt)
fried shallots, for garnish (optional)

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil and continue boiling for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, chopped kale, a big pinch of salt, and saute just until tender - about a minute. Set aside.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork. Slowly stir in the milk a few big splashes at a time. You are after a thick, creamy texture, so if your potatoes are on the dry side keep adding milk until the texture is right. Season with salt and pepper.

Dump the kale on top of the potatoes and give a quick stir. Transfer to a serving bowl, make a well in the center of the potatoes and pour the remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with the scallions, Parmesan cheese, and shallots.

Serves 5

Knead to Know, Part I

Friday night: 6:00-10:00

I didn't quite know what to expect when I walked into the Natural Gourmet Institute. I'd been there once before for one of their Friday night meals cooked by their culinary students, but never for a class. In fact, I'd never been to any cooking class. When I entered the upstairs kitchen, I was greeted by two long stainless steel work stations with flour and other ingredients neatly organized on them. Beyond that was counter top with a workspace surrounded by burners. Over head was a flat screen facing the 'class' which showed the counter and burners close up so that everyone could see what the chef was doing with his hands.


Shortly after I arrived, other eager students began filing in. At first I thought I was going to be the only male, then a few guys straggled through the door, the end ratio coming in at 11:4 female:male. It was the first time I thought about the question, "who wants to learn how to make bread?" What was I doing here? For me, it was more than just a matter of being given the opportunity to sit in on the class. Had I ever dreamed of making my own pita, my own focaccia? Not really. But as I delve further and further into my own relationship with food and cooking, it seemed like a pretty wonderful skill to have. And I must say, just being in a school devoted to the culinary arts was thrilling.

A few minutes after 6:00, Peter (I'll have to devote a different post to the chef) took the floor and explained the game plan. In the first session, we would be doing a lot of prep work and a little baking. That meant mixing, shaping dough and also letting it rest. Because, as I soon learned, bread-making is about careful preparation and patience. Most dough needs time to rise after you kneed it, then it needs to be deflated, then needs time to rest. Yeast is a living organism and needs to be treated with care and cultivation. And as corny as it sounds, it's this care that makes the bread taste so damn good.


What was particularly fun about the evening was just getting in and getting messy. The process of mixing and kneading dough is hard work. It's like working with clay, really feeling the flour and water and yeast transform into a dough fit for the oven. It was most fulfilling.

The one bread we did get to make from start to finish that night was a whole-wheat pita. While you might think pita is difficult to make, it's not. The picture up top is Peter rolling out the whole wheat dough. Then we cut it into little balls. After letting them rest, these were rolled flat and but in the oven. The coolest thing is that they puff up and create their own pockets! It just happens. We enjoyed our fresh pita with humus and some wine and left the dough to rise til morning.

Artful Dodger

This little NY Times piece about a childhood memory of lunch with Picasso is delightful. Picasso uses a paper table cloth as a canvas and then, to the horror of the other lunch patrons, destroys it at the end of the meal. It's like a modernist mandala. Above, this portrait, taken by the French photographer Robert Doisneau, is another example of the artist's mischievous humor. As if I needed more inspiration to bake.

Bread Starter

This past weekend, I took an Artisanal Bread Making Class that my uncle, Peter Berley, was teaching at the Natural Gourmet Institute. It was awesome. More on the art of kneading soon!

Adverts: Coulrophobia

Here's an advertisement for a then newly opened McDonalds in New Dehli, India. Is this baby Ronald cute or demonic? It seems very unlikely this is going to get the masses rushing in for a Big Mac. In fact, I'm thinking this is better suited as still from a new Batman movie where the Joker has stolen all of Gotham's first born sons, and then gone and converted them into a baby Joker army. Is that pitchable? I'm thinking serious product placement/if there are any new parents out there I think I just found your kid's first Halloween costume.

Wine Tasting in Paso Robles

In the spring of 2006, I went to visit my brother Jesse in San Luis Obespo. He insisted on taking me on a wine tour of the region a few minutes from his house, called Paso Robles. This was by far the most enjoyable (read drunkest) wine-tasting venture I've been on and ended in a phone call to our father in which we convinced him he fervently needed a case of wine. So I was happy to see Eric Asimov shine the spotlight on Paso Robles in yesterday's NY Times. While my tour was a bit less discerning, Asimov's emphasis was on the zinfandels. His top pick happened to be Peachy Canyons, one of my favorite vineyards from the region. In fact, Jesse insisted we go there to pick up a Zinfandel and also their $10 red table wine which is perfect for a home-cooked meal.


Asimov did not however include in his tasting my favorite vineyard, Hunt Cellars. Started by a former musician David Hunt, this place has some heavy hitters. Their Barbera Reserve, their Sangiovese and their Merlot Port are the ones that spring to mind. And this is where, during our wine tasting, I rang our father and demanded he allow us to buy a case for him. We still have a couple of bottles in the cellar, waiting for a special occasion.

Food Magnet

A few weeks ago I passed by Mulberry St. and happened upon Little Italy's San Gennaro Festival. The food vendors were out en mass, from fried dough to fried calamari to the ubiquitous sausage and onions stands. But by far the most exquisite booth was the one with the trays of colorful, dwarfed food. I felt like I was in Kyoto or somewhere, but not downtown NYC. The magnets were 50 cents each so it was obvious that I needed a few, it was simply (or not so simply) a matter of which variety I should choose. At first I thought I wanted the mini plate of paella, but then the shrimp caught my eye...


The second time I circled the table I spotted a purple squid that I knew I couldn't do with out. Then I decided that two pairs of red cherries were too classic to give up. And finally, to compliment my squid, I got an octopus of the same color. Now the outside of my fridge is moderately worth looking at although it's still not as vibrant as these trays:

Fort Greene: No. 7

I was pretty excited to try the latest Fort Greene offering, No. 7. Located directly behind the Clinton-Washington C-train steps, the restaurant is the brain-child of former Perry St. sous chef, Tyler Kord. My girlfriend and I walked in at about 7:15 on Saturday, passed the long white marble bar that has yet to produce a cocktail list (they are still experimenting) and were seated immediately. The restaurant itself is pretty long, with the bar and dining room separated by an open kitchen which makes the segue from hip drinking area to stark white, u-shaped dining room not too difficult. While we looked at the menu, the tables filled up around us and even though all the diners sit close together, the high ceilinged room never felt claustrophobic.

Elizabeth looked at the rather short menu and commented that nothing really popped out at her. However, when the waitress came by and eagerly listed off the specials, the seared duck breast on top of BBQ pulled duck leg had our eyes popping. We settled on starting with the fried broccoli appetizer and then splitting the special and the olive-oil poached smoked salmon. As someone futzed with the ultra dim lighting, we were brought bread with warm butter-bean puree and a dish of cucumber slices soaked in vinegar: a welcome refrain from butter.

From then on, each dish we had was surprising and lived up to Kord's self-proclaimed"casual badass" style. The Broccoli was tempura-ed nicely and came on top a smear of sauteed black bean. On the side was a grapefruit and frisse salad that included copious amounts of dill, an herb I don't always take kindly towards, but here it worked.

I also usually shy away from poached salmon, but the entre was perfectly cooked and a dollop of tartar cream off to the side worked equally with the fish and the cabbage slaw. To top it off, the accompanying scallion latke was killer and the spoonful of apple sauce (or maybe apple butter) playful without being glib.

As a whole, the duck special should be put on the regular menu. The bbq duck leg was pretty much pulled to perfection. The pan seared romaine came with crumbled blue cheese and it was hard to not eat it all at once. The cornbread was cut into a long thin rectangle that was pleasing to the eye, although the recipe could use a few more tweaks. However, things got a little rough with the duck breast . I will say it was succulent and perfectly cooked. The problem was in the seasoning: the skin side of breast was completely over-salted. So much so that I basically had to cut off the skin and push it to the side. Even with this distraction, I would order it again.

The dessert special was a gourmet version of Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pies along with a purple cow (apparently a Midwestern beverage, here made with Concord grapes and Creme). The dish was good but tongue in cheek, and a little too cute.

When we got the check, I told the waitress about the over-seasoning, and she thanked me for the feedback and told me that Kord was overseeing the kitchen tonight but letting his sous chef take the reins. This isn't a good excuse as far as I'm concerned, but the cooking in general had earned my trust. Overall, I came away from meal feeling like I'd be back soon. Who wants to join me?

Adverts: Food Fight

The site, Ads of the World, is a creative advertising archive which showcases incredible feats of advertising in print and television. Their section on food illuminates how brands and restaurants from around the world reach out to consumers. I found two advertisements which I thought I would pair here as very different visions of how we relate to food. They illustrate the age old battle between the carnivore and herbavore and use differnt methods to reach out to their audience. One is for a vegetarian restaurant in Austria, the other a Romanian processed meat. I think both are quite beautiful actually. What do you think?

Eating meat is eating shit:


You can't hunt pumpkins:

Food x Magazine =

Yesterday's New York Times Magazine was fully devoted to food. They have some amazing articles, from new definitions of Kosher, to the Gates Foundation agro-efforts in Africa, to a letter from Michael Pollan to the next president. In short, really great reading. I particularly enjoyed the short profiles of Food Warriors, and the accompanying online exclusive where the 'warriors' describe over the phone what's inside their respective fridges. I like how almost every fridge has Sriracha sauce.


This stuff is indispensable!

Fasting Slow

Yesterday was Yom Kippur. As per tradition, I fasted from Wednesday sundown to Thursday sundown, at which point I went to a wonderful break-fast at a dear friend's house back in Newton, MA. I always associate break-fast with bagels smeared with cream cheese/piled high with lox, and also my favorite Jewish dish, noodle kugel (which is akin to a sweet version of lasagna sans tomato sauce). However, this year I decided to make a little something extra. I went to the blog, The Jew and the Carrot, which tackles 'Jews, food and contemporary issues', figuring it might have some good advice. I didn't find what I was looking for, but a stuffed figs recipe sparked an idea.

I got two packages of Medjool dates, 5 ounces of chevre, and a container of raw shelled pistachios. In a medium bowl I mixed the goat cheese with 3 ounces of coarsely chopped pistachios. I then pitted all the dates, and filled them with chevre mixture. The only problem was, I couldn't try my creation for another few hours until the sun went down. So I enlisted the help of my less observant sister and cousin. I knew I had something when my sister Stella, who is a semi-to-very picky eater, gave her approval. The chevre stuffed dates were a welcome and simple addition to the break-fast spread.

Atomic Noodles

Maybe you've heard of molecular gastronomy, a technique of cooking that uses technology to create non-traditional forms, flavors, and textures. While this term has been embraced by popular culture, not all chefs who use scientific methods associate themselves with molecular gastronomy. However, as Chef Kin Jing Mark shows, sometimes food can be put to good use to help explain science.




Thanks Grant for pointing the way. It's very fine.

Bog Across America

On a tip from seriouseats, I skipped out of the office and walked down to Rockerfeller Center to see a cranberry bog. Ocean Spray set it up yesterday right next to the skating rink as a promotional piece and it's there through Thurday. Cranberry farmers in hip-high waders walked through the bog giving informative talks on the whole cranberry harvesting process. Even though I come from Massachusetts, I've never been to see the famed Cape Cod cranberry farms, so the whole thing was new to me. Cranberries grow on low bushes in a bog until harvest time when the fields are flooded and a mechanical wheel is pushed through the bushes to gently nudge the berries free. If a cranberry is ripe, it'll float. And I must say, to see thousands of cranberries floating on the surface of the water is stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice. I appreciate the campaign, which continues next week in Los Angeles, because it gives people who might never see a cranberry bog a chance to take in its beauty before they see its fruits on their thanksgiving plate.

Stasiland

I'm currently reading the book Stasiland by Anna Funder. It's a personal account of Funder's search for the forgotten history of German Democratic Republic. I can honestly say that I know next to nothing about the GDR. For example, I had know idea this was the East German coat of arms:


The book is illuminating. I usually prefer fiction to non-fiction, but Stasiland is an amazing history lesson wrapped in a tight narrative form, it's actually quite poetic:

After Funder is told a particularly harrowing tale in her apartment, she is at a loss for words. She writes, "I look in the fridge for something else to eat, as if it might yield possibilities missed at first glance. There's an old saggy condom of liverwurst and an apple. I throw out the liverwurst and cut up the apple." (pg. 113)

While I can't say I've ever been a fan of liverwurst, that description is kind of a nail in the coffin.

Caps and Buttons

A few weeks ago, I walked over to my favorite haberdashery, Arnold's Hats, to find a cap for the cold weather. I used to work on 35th and 8th Avenue, so during lunch I'd walk over and stare at the huge storefront window filled with Stetsons and Kangols. This time around I was greeted by an older burly man with a soft smile who started throwing different hats at me once I told him what I was looking for. Almost immediately he began telling me stories and I soon learned that this was Arnold Rubin, the shop's proprietor (that's Arnold on the right with his son, Mark). While I tried on different styles, he told me of fishing trips he took with his grandkids down in Sheepshead Bay, of crazy customers, of his sons who worked alongside him. He knew I wanted a gray wool cap for Autumn, but, being the consummate salesman, he took me through all the styles, not just colors, to find which one fit best. I finally settled on a nice cap made in The Bronx, but it was black. He told me that since he didn't have it in gray, he would special order one and call me when it came in.

I came out of the shop exhilarated. This was the type of interaction I love; there was an intimacy there that is seriously lacking in most daily commerce. I think I learned from my parents the importance of building relationships to your quality of life. To have a trusted mechanic, a reliable plumber, a local grocer who will tell you which variety of melon is particularly good...these things ameliorate your daily comings and goings - which brings me to Glenn the Cheese Guy.

I was charged with putting together a cheese plate for a pot-luck dinner party on Saturday night at my aunt & uncle's. Picking out a cheese plate was something I'd never done before, but I was delighted to try my hand at it. I started off at the Fort Greene Farmer's Market on Saturday morning at the stand for Consider Bardwell Farm, a wonderful artisanal cheesemaker from West Pawlett Vermont. After tasting a bite of their creamy Mettowee chevre, I could not resist. I bought a 'button'. The woman behind me in line, who turned out to be one of the owners of Stonehome Wine Bar down the street, gave a cheer of approval. I was feeling good.


Next, my plan was to visit Greene Grape Provisions, on Fulton in Fort Greene, a specialty grocery with fresh fish, meats, locally grown vegetables and a killer selection of cheeses. As I got to the cheese section, the guy behind the counter was handing little samples of something to his customers; he offered me a slice too. Once they were helped, I explained my situation and he seemed eager to help. I noticed they also sold the Mettowee I had gotten early. I figured because I already had a light goat cheese, I wanted something a little heavier, maybe creamier. My adventure was just beginning. As I started tasting cheese, we chatted. I learned that the guy helping me was Glenn. He from Lansing Michigan where he parents ran two cheese shops. On the weekends he comes into Provisions to be their resident cheese guy.


The second cheese I was given was also from Consider Bardwell, this one the Taleggio-styled East Dorset. Glenn was spouting all kinds of knowledge, like how it was aged two months in high moisture caves to give it some extra funk. I was sold. We went through a bunch more before he asked the infamous question, "How do you feel about Blues?" I told him I was apprehensive, but not adverse. He gave me something just in from London, which I liked a lot. Then he said, "you know, sometimes, if I'm putting together a plate, I like to go regional. How about this Blue from the other side of Vermont?" This was a Bayley Hazen Blue from Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro. It wasn't super strong, but it had tons of flavor. Done. I had my plate. As I left, I thanked Glenn for his help and he said, "Anytime, Noah. You should come to our next wine and cheese tasting a week from Friday." Now I have a cheese guy.

From the Fridge

So it's Saturday afternoon, I'd had two cider donuts from the farmer's market for breakfast, and I'm hungry. I look in the fridge to see if there's anything I can throw together. I spot a small container of leftover rice pilaf and decide to make something up: fried rice balls. I take out an egg, whisk it and pour that into a bowl with the rice. I thought that would make it congeal and I could roll it like play-doh into balls. It wasn't really sticking though, so I add about a 1/3 cup of flour. This seems to do the trick. I heat a fry-worthy dose of oil in a pan over medium heat and then think to modify my idea from rice balls to more like rice patties. While the first side cooked for about 4 minutes, I spot my Mint plant on the sill and chop some leaves up to throw on top as a gahhhnish. When I flip the patties, I am pleasantly surprised at the nice golden brown of the first side. I then open the fridge again to find some toppings. I thought a dollop of spicy hummus would be just the thing. And for good measure I got out a little container of dipping sauce from a few nights ago's take-out Indian. You know the one, that kinda sweet brown sauce that they give you to dunk your pekoras/samosas in. Anyway, with the second side done, I pat the oil off the fried rice cakes with a paper towel, throw on the hummus, sweet sauce and chopped mint, and damned if that wasn't the best impromptu snack I've ever cooked.

Rachael Ray: Bad Girl

So Rachael has a guest on her program show how to get rid of those little silk threads that stick to corn even post-shucking. Here's what ensues:



Inappropriate for daytime television Rachael!

Noah vs. Noah

Yesterday I helped run a Celebrity Soccer Match for Grassroot Soccer at the Lions' Gate Field in Chinatown. Celebrities included cats like Frank LeBeouf (former French Soccer Star), Tony Meola, and that dude who played Superman in the latest Superman movie. But the real highlight was Yannick Noah, the former French tennis star and current Reggae Artist. He had five goals.

The event was partially sponsored by Chipotle which meant free tacos. You have to love Chipotle but I put it in the same category as 5 Guys Burgers: ubiquitous guilty pleasures. They are everywhere! And they are both addictively good. While I have always had serious problems with fast food restaurants (I've only had a Big Mac once in my life, and never a burger from Burger or Wendy's), somehow 5 Guys and Chipotle flew in under my fast food censors and are now fair game. I guess when I think about it there is nothing inherently wrong with Chipotle, but falling under the category of fast food gives it negative connotations for me. I guess that's just Noah being Noah.

On a different note, another of the sponsors for the event was Powerade, and their Stawberry Lemonade flavor is quite good.

Sephardim

Monday night I was fortunate enough to attend my first Sephardic Rosh Hashanah dinner. To clarify, Sephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East and their descendants, while Ashkenazic Jews are the Jews of France, Germany, and Eastern Europe and their descendants. I fall under the latter category. However, my good friend Michael falls under the former and so it was with great excitement that I took the LIRR to Great Neck to take part in his family's traditions and his grandmother's Iraqi cooking.

The meal commenced with a ritual I was unfamiliar with. It involved passing around various foods(from dates to spinach to pomegranate seeds to scallions) to the twenty person table and saying a blessing over each one. The blessings were very interesting, ranging from the pomegranate prayer:
May it be your will Adonai, our God and God of our ancestors, that our deeds be as manifold as the seeds of the pomegranate. …Shenihiyeh Milai Mitzvot K’Rimon.

to the date prayer:
May it be your will Adonai, our God and God of our ancestors, that our enemies will be consumed. …SheYitamu Sonenanu. (the Hebrew word for dates, has a auricular similarity with the word yitamu - will be consumed)

I guess Adonai is a vengeful God.


My favorite of these morsels was the apples stewed in rosewater (to symbolize a sweet new year). This is akin to what my own family does ie. dipping apples in honey, but the rosewater was so refreshing that I went back for seconds and thirds.

After the prayers, the meal was served. The highlight was a traditional sephardic dish called Mahasha which consisted of peppers, zucchini, beets and onions, all stuffed with rice, ground beef and spices. I really had never had anything like it. The catch is that you have to parboil the vegetables then hallow them out, add the filling and then bake them. Delicious. Michael's grandma has this down to a science, but from what I could gather most of her kin are intimidated by the laborious process of making Mahasha. I would love to try the recipe (you can find it here), but I think I'll start with just stuffed peppers and work towards the other vegetables.