foodmuseumblog

Speaking of Elitist Eats...Frito Pie!

Though I have lived in New Mexico over 15 years, I had never tasted that NM-created delicacy, Frito Pie, until this past Saturday. It was being served up free by people staffing an Obama table at a picnic thrown for local Democratic Party volunteers. ( No Hillary Clinton table--perhaps as the event occurred right after her " June assassination" brouhaha?! Who knows.)

Anyway--I asked for the vegetarian version.  Friends, it was tasty, messy, calorific, fine.

Recipe: Take one small bag of Fritos, open it, pour in a generous dollop of chili, add shredded Jack cheese, plus salsa, and eat. ( Some also include sour cream and guac, but not this time.) The combo of mushy atop crisp really worked for me, though I doubt I will ever make such a dish myself. Still, fun.

Other tables offered more pedestrian Amurrican cookout fare.

Elitist Eats on the Campaign Trail

 

In a NYTimes piece on Obama's right hand guy, Reggie Love, we learn the following tidbits about the candidate's tastes:

"...when it comes to food, Senator Obama “eats pretty much anything, from chicken wings and barbecue and ribs to grilled fish and steamed broccoli.” But when he is campaigning in a small town with limited options, a cheeseburger is always a good bet. (“Cheddar is the cheese of choice,” Mr. Love added.)

He knows that “the boss,” as he calls Mr. Obama, likes MET-Rx chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew — Black Forest Berry Honest Tea. He keeps a supply of both on hand."

 I think we've all realized the guy does not drink coffee. We also have to come to grips with the fact that he, unlike G.H.W. Bush, likes broccoli, as well as spinach, but essentially dislikes asparagus. Delighted to have a potential president who's at least conversant with veggies, I think I'll go patriotically chomp on a carrot.

Mainiac Farmers Make The TeeVee

Our own young Summit Springs Farm duo, Sonya and John, star in a video report that ran on WCSH-TV, Portland, recently. The camera person kept their faces in the shade throughout, but, hey, young seedlings need a tad of respite from the sun. More importantly, the reporter, Sharon Rose, has joined SSF's CSA or Community Supported Agriculture endeavor this spring and plans to report back at intervals on her experience with it. Huzzahs! Farmer John outstanding in his new-found field.

( To see video, click on link above and then click on Play Video.)

On Fat Kids and Stingy Buffets

The Washington Post is running Part 2 of a major piece on childhood obesity in America, an exploration of the excesses of one country's love affair with bad food and drink choices, among other things.  But always part of this not-new story, is that in the poorest of our country's neighborhoods are the fewest decent supermarkets. The well-off have access to good food, gyms,  personal trainers, and multitudes of how-to books and magazines on health and well-being.
( My unsolicited advice to all new parents--never take your kid to McD's or the equivalent, period. One visit and they are hooked. )

Meanwhile, to buffets---I returned to a favorite Indian joint recently and found two of the three primary veggie offerings were 1--potatoes and a few green pepper hunks; 2--carrots and peas. Neither dish had much appeal, even though I enjoy both spuds and carrots. But I felt I was witnessing the "cheapening down" of what was once a worthwhile buffet, a phenomenon written up on the Internets recently.  And, puzzled by the not so fine taste of the chapati bread, I decided that they were made with inferior flour, to save costs, given the huge rise in wheat prices.  I will ask about that the next time I stop by, if I stop by again, but before parking myself for lunch, I will more closely scan the buffet offerings.   

Eat Crap, Win Voters' Hearts and Minds? Part Two: The Booze Factor

"Mocked for not finishing his waffles, he (  Obama) has made a joke about his newfound willingness to drink beer in blue-collar bars and sop up the gravy at working-class diners. After he lost the Pennsylvania primary to a beer-swilling, whisky-downing Hillary, Obama mordantly announced to his staff, "OK, now I'll eat anything."  This week's Newsweek cover story is about Senator Obama and his team.

So many silly issues, dumb attacks about nothing--I wonder how many of those who voted for G.W. Bush because they thought he was the kind of guy they'd like to have a beer with have actually had a beer with him during the past eight years. Please contact me, wherever you are.

Meanwhile, if you haven't had a politically incorrect laugh lately, take a gander through That Hillary Show, my new personal favorite web offering. The most recent video is up top, wherein Hillary urges Bill to keep drinking with the denizens of a bar in West Virginia. The creation of the clever and focused Rosemary Watson, it features a dogged, yet addled Hillary fighting on, and on, and on. The show has finally had some play at the NYTimes and The Atlantic--wish I had blogged the link earlier because I have been enjoying these for some time.
( This YouTube  pic of Rosemary at left is lousy, but all I could find at the mo'.)

In the Face of World's Disasters, What?

What can we do? Thousands of people are without shelter, food and clean water in both Myanmar and China. At least in China, the government is working to rescue its citizens and welcomes the assistance from international agencies.
We probably won't stop eating and drinking and enjoying our lives, and it wouldn't help the people in peril anyway.
But we can send money--Two of my favorite emergency groups are  Oxfam and American Friends Service Committee.
Network for Good lists many other such organizations.

Spuds Are In At Summit Springs Farm

Reddale, Carola, Butte, Cranberry, Russian Banana Fingerling, and All-Blue--they are in!  Potatoes, of course. Glorious tubers orginating in the South American Andes and now growing worldwide.
Our intrepid farmers in Poland, Maine not only planted them in recent days but they've already harvested some local media coverage in Portland from a tv journalist who has joined SSFarm's CSA and wants to chronicle her experience there over the season. The details at 10!

( Sonya plants, in the trench dug by John.)

"Food 2.0" Energizes!

Charlie Ayers is my kind of food guy and cook.  Most associated with being the fellow who "fed Google," he was the head chef there from 1999 to 2005, responsible for feeding 1500 people each day, 4000 lunches and dinners, in 10 cafes at Google's Mountain View, CA, campus.  His goal was to feed a diverse and smart group of people tasty, healthy food. Evidently, he succeeded.

His book , Food 2.0,  $25,  just published by DK Publishing, reflects his Google-ish commitment to  fast, unfussy, fresh food that might even push you into the genius category.  His tips upfront are utterly sensible and smart,  laid out with crisp, readable efficiency. What to keep on hand and how to keep it so that when the yen for a snack wafts over you, the veggie munchies are right there, ready to go.   I imagine he's the kind of person who stands at the fridge, eating a handful of blueberries, a couple of carrot sticks, a few lettuce leaves, and calls it salad on busy days.

What utterly won me over, however, was his love of full-fat, plain yogurt. He speaks my mind, indeed.  That ambrosia is good for the digestive system, satisfying, and bears no resemblance to the manufactured sweet, fruity little cupfuls of junk all over the supermarket. He also praises Trader Joe. Yes! Also: "Chocolate is a non-negotiable part of my life."

One of his early recipes is for "Mystery Fondue," made from assorted bits and bobs of cheese he saves up and then melts together with white wine and mustard seed.  And Apple and Brie Quesadillas, Silicon Valley Split Pea Soup, as well as Seared Southwestern Ahi Tuna Tornadoes, and a further slew of eclectic offerings.

The ahi is rubbed with a chile-spice mix, seared, and then wrapped in a tomato tortilla spread with a lime and spice avocado mayo and a stack of jicama, carrot, napa cabbage.....

OY--he even makes spinach latkes.

Food 2.0  is a solid and satisfying book, even in review-copy grainy black and white.  The retail hardback is in resplendent full-color from fabled Dorling Kindersley Ltd.

Myanmar Disaster Also Affects World's Rice Eaters

The destructive tsunami that has killed more than 22,000 people in Myanmar quite obviously has a food repercussion. First of all, the hundreds of thousands of survivors  in the devastated area must be fed. And there is no telling whether or not the tightly-controlling regime in power will allow adequate aid and food aid workers into the country.

In addition, according to a report in The Economist:

"The disaster may have ill effects well beyond Myanmar’s borders. UN agencies such as the WFP are already suffering huge strains on their finances because of the soaring cost of rice and other food staples. Having another big emergency on their hands may force them to divert scarce resources from other needy parts. Worse, the cyclone, which hit Myanmar’s main rice-growing areas, may intensify the worldwide panic over scarce rice supplies that have led to food riots in dozens of countries."

Thailand, the world's largest exporter of rice, cannot grow much more than it does already. Still,  in April the FAO forecast that most Asian and Latin American rice producing areas would do better in 2008, while Australian rice production would fall due to water shortages and US production would be less as  more profitable crops replaced rice among farmers.  But the FAO did not forecast the typhoon/cyclone that just wiped out much of  Myanmar's rice paddies.   The brightest spot may well be Cambodia,  one Asian country with a decided surplus in rice--even there, officials may well restrict exports of rice, given the volatile nature of the market.

Update from the LA Times---"This is the rice bowl of Myanmar, so we have to assess the impact on food production in the longer term, " said ( Christine ) South, (with the International Red Cross.)

Myanmar had agreed to supply tens of thousands of tons of rice to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, according to the World Food Program (WFP), but now those prospects are uncertain."

Pumped for the Primaries? Krispy Kreme 'Em!

" Anyone who finishes without vomiting is a winner," says the young dude on YouTube. You thought he was referring to Senators Obama and Clinton, right?
Wrong! In my ceaseless quest to find rich foodish material for this blog, and to honor America's democratic process and the IN and NC primaries tomorrow,  I explored YouTube's offerings re "eating in Indiana," and "eating in North Carolina."

The result?

Most of "Indiana eating" was at the State Fair, with the usual sausages and deep-fried testicles and what-not. And too many shots of depressingly fat Americans.
So-- I chose to share with you instead this vid view of the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a 4 mile race held at NC State in January, wherein the runners are urged to chomp down and swallow a dozen KK donuts at the 2 mile mark, then continue on to the finish line.  12 donuts, 2400 calories, some running, loads of retching,  and all to benefit  Children's Hospital.

What's not to like? Alas, the local and very earnest tv peeps reporting on this offbeat story have worked diligently to make it extraordinarily dull and lacking in humor.
Sorry.

On Thirsty Bees, and Benevolent Bee Removal

For many days in a row I delightedly had noted at least three dozen honey bees buzzing around my fountain, many of them lined up in a row drinking from it like winged mini cows along a trough. Each morning I gently refilled the fountain to the top so that the insects would not have to struggle ( and likely drown) for their water.  I told a friend of mine in the neighborhood about it and she said she had no bees at all among her apple blossoms. It was " a puzzlement," to quote the King from The King and I.

Then, the other evening, my "everything-is-of-intense-interest" terrier, Lillian J. Russell, went into a major barkathon at the front door. The low key man standing there was asking if he could "borrow some power" from us so as to extract the bees from an impromptu hive on the foreclosed  property next door.

Well!  I went next door with him, dragging my extension cord, explaining about the major bee drinking marathons going on at my place. Mountain Bee Man, Dennis Parks,  said I had been keeping them well-irrigated during  an extremely dry period in Albuquerque.  And bees en masse, who knew, can drink as much water in a day as a large, hairy dog!  Apparently, I, Foodie, was an unlikely heroine to the inadvertent bees next door.

Feeling chuffed and halo-deserving,  I watched as Dennis and his apprentice began to set up the vaccuum-cleaner-like machine that would gently remove the bees from their dog house and into their new portable home. Their efforts to save these creatures and make them comfortable genuinely touched me, given the times we live in, or rather the violent news with which we are bombarded each day.  Credit, too, goes to the realty company or the bank people or someone who chose to hire a professional bee crew to relocate rather than eliminate this unlikely colony.  ( Bee Man expected the bees would be moved to either the east mountains of Albuquerque or to Corrales, a rural Spanish land grant community along the Rio Grande.)

My physical reward, not that I needed one, came a few hours later in the form of a plastic bear filled with honey from the Bee Man's honey farm. Readers, it was sublime.

( Since I did not take a pic of the bees drinking,  I am grateful to http://www.tonitoni.org/images/050422_beesdrinking.jpg for the shot above.)