foodmuseumblog

If Not Chiles, Then What?

An old friend of mine is visiting from the East. Last night I made us a ( delicious) shrimp and veggie dish with white wine, and when I tasted it it lacked zing, somehow. As this particular pal does not do spicy foods, I was momentarily flummoxed as to the zing element required.

She asked me--"Well, back in the Belgian years, before chiles, what did you use? Thyme? Basil?"

Hmmm...

Meanwhile, I was rummaging.  No fresh ginger in the house.  Zut, alors!

In the end, a dash of soy sauce provided the zing I was looking for, but I was indeed wondering if I had spent umpteen years unaware of the joys (  zing effects) of the American hot pepper. Basil is my next favorite, but it is not zingish.

Ah well--This morning, as I was cooking up potato cakes for breakfast, I carefully avoided anything but black pepper and salt on my guest's fodder. My own cakes were well spiced with a cayenne blend my local store stocks.

Zing!

Buy Palestinian!

 Olive oil from Palestinian growers will become a Fairtrade brand sold to UK consumers, according to this report from The Guardian.  Today marks the start of an event called Fairtrade Fortnight, an initiative of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK.

"(PM Gordon) Brown said: "Olive oil production provides an essential part of the West Bank economy. In buying this oil, British shoppers will be helping the farmers of Palestine to make a living.""

The international "fairtrade" movement came about to provide greater equity in global trade, promoting sustainability and supporting better conditions for disadvantaged producers and workers.

You can show FT solidarity with the Brits next month by eating a FT banana next month...see what's up with that here.

(  Tks to http://greenprophet.com/2008/11/16/4310/dr-bronners-organic-olive-oil/for photo of Palestinian olive grower.)

The Prez Hits a Bakery "Up There"

 Like many, I still am delightedly astonished that Barack Obama is our president. Imagine--he bolts from his limo in search of a snow globe, on his first trip to Canada, in fact his first official foreign visit. Then insists on a stop at a French bakery where he tried to buy maple-leaf-shaped cookies for his daughters. The baker refused his money.

"As he left, a woman emerged with the one local favorite Obama had heard a great deal about _ a deep-fried pastry known as Beaver Tail."    As this blog relates:  "Essentially a Canadian version of the donut, the dough is made into the flat shape of a beavers tail and flavoured with lemon, maple syrup and cinnamon."

Apparently discussion of pastry occupied a few minutes of Obama's meeting with Canada's opposition leader, Michael Ignatieff.

According to the AP report, " The two chatted briefly at the start about the pastry, which the president had tried and described as delicious.

He added that in Chicago, "we have some stuff that will thicken the arteries."

This guy is REAL. And he notices food.....

( Tks to http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/?p=565 for photo.)

Bill Maher's Elusive Eating Habits

Apparently comedian Bill Maher doesn't eat anything from "the supermarket," nor anything that comes in cans or boxes. And he's healthy as hell. But nowhere on the Internets can I find what he does eat, and where he gets it. Does he grow his own veggies in L.A.?

A member of the board of PETA, Maher is not a vegetarian, but eats little meat. According to Wikipedia, he thinks high fructose corn syrup is a huge factor in Americans' obesity. I agree. And, he has a "very eccentric diet."

But what is it??

Anyone?  Does it really matter what Maher eats or does not eat? No. But still, I'm curious.

UPDATE:  Tks to commenter Andrea, I watched a new CNN clip with Larry King wherein  Maher describes his all-organic eating--when at home, where it's possible. A morning drink with raw egg, fruit, midday fresh veggie juice, grains..............at that point I think Larry lost interest, asking Maher if he ever ordered a steak in a restaurant ( LARRY!), but Maher went on to say "You can't make yourself miserable with your eating."   And stressed he's not perfect---Larry looked happier when Maher said he ate hamburgers on the road maybe twice a year.

Pizza Dough Transformed

Let's face it, and with all due modesty, I'm a genius. I was peering into the fridge this morning in search of something exciting (!) to eat when I espied a bag of Trader Joe whole wheat pizza dough with a due date of this very day.

OMG, today?  Hmmm....So I took out the dough,  cut it in half, warmed it in the micro, and fired up my countertop convection oven.  I spread out ( with a glass) the dough, sprinkled it with sugar and cinnamon, and then rolled it up. Then I stared down at it, added a tad more cin/sugar, and remembered a vision from the distant past--of someone cutting the dough into smaller bits before baking. ( The real bakers out there are roaring with laughter over this, my epiphany, but, hey--baking never was my strong suit, ok?!)

I bet it was a Pillsbury commercial of some kind, turning its refrigerated,  additive-filled white biscuit (?) dough into cinnamon rolls.

Who knows. In any event, the 4 resulting mini rolls were perfect, 2 eaten with swiftly cooked-in-olive oil scrambled eggs, and accompanied by  a good strong Scandinavian blend cuppa.

The 16 oz.package of dough costs $1.29 here in Albuquerque, and I have half left. ( Whole wheat flour, oil, yeast, sea salt.)

All I need to do now is create some baking powder frosting, freeze it, and then go crazy with this notion on a lazy Sunday morning.

NB This took all of maybe 15 minutes.........

( Thanks to pic from http://www.chow.com/pick/5678)

Exquisite Excess

We have an unemployed, unmarried mother of 6 deciding she absolutely had to have more children; we have a whistle blower filled with info on the nefarious Bernie Madoff ignored for years by the SEC; we have our beloved and leguminous Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipping out salmonella-afflicted products, inspection reports by the state overlooked by the overworked USDA, slapped in a file cabinet; we have Republican leaders deeply involved in the financial and international debacle of the past eight years whining and wringing their hands on tv because their wisdom is being overlooked----whatever!!

Justice: PCA filed for bankruptcy. Its CEO took the Fifth before Congress days before, his emails piling up as evidence against him.

Questions:  

Did Bernie's wife squirrel away $15 million in chump change before his arrest? Has she Madoff with it?

Where will the nation's Lovebirds in Chief have Valentine's Day dinner? ( In Chicago.)

What would happen if you didn't   A--pay your taxes; B--have a financial plan ready, accurate to the penny, as you are asking for,  ooh, billions of dollars?

Does anyone really like that bizarre red velvet cake?

We All Scream for (Clever) Ice Creams

You recall that Ben & Jerry's  launched Yes, Pecan!  ice cream to honor the election hoopla (Barack Obama?)

Well----if you haven't seen these flapping around the Internets--here are my favorite suggestions for ice creams "honoring" Prez 43. ( For the full list go here.)

Grape Depression
Heckuva Job, Brownie!
Cluster Fudge
Iraqi Road
Chock 'n Awe
Impeachmint

Kitchen Classroom

Michelle Obama sees potential in the WH kitchen as a focus for learning. Here's hoping she also will be making possible the creation of a kitchen garden on the grounds.  From a snippet of the Vogue cover story:

"I am excited about the potential of the White House kitchen being a learning environment for the community. The current chef, Cristeta Comerford, is the only female chef in the history of the White House. She's a young Filipina woman, a mother with a young child, and I am excited to get to know her and for her to know us as a family. If you think about all the kids interested in finding out about all of the inner workings of the White House—I'm hoping that we can build a team to reach out."

Let 'Em Eat Dirt--Those Not Invited to the Mugabe Party, That Is

In case you're into having a good time with a relentless dictator, here's Robert Mugabe's gustatory wish list for his February 21 birthday feast: (Apparently people/corporations are being asked to supply either the raw materials or large outlays of cash.)

2,000 bottles of champagne — Moët & Chandon and ’61 Bollinger
500 bottles of whisky — Johnny Walker Blue Label, 22-year-old Chivas
8,000 lobsters
100kg king prawns
3,000 ducks
4,000 portions of caviar
8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher
16,000 eggs
3,000 cakes — chocolate and vanilla
4,000 packs of pork sausages
500kg cheese
4,000 packets of crackers

All this while his country Zimbabwe is ravaged by assorted horrors. As reported by the Times OnLine--"...seven million citizens survive on international food aid, 94 per cent are jobless and cholera rampages through a population debilitated by hunger."

The Times notes a Mugabe caveat re local eats: “No mealie meal” — the ground corn staple on which the vast majority of Zimbabweans survived until the country’s collapse rendered even that a luxury."

President Mugabe will be 85. We have no idea who he is expecting to join him for dinner.

From Soup to Song: La Chorale sous les Etoiles

A Frenchman named Pierre Anthian had a notion:

According to a report in the Guardian Weekly, "I already had the idea of starting a choir when I was volunteering in a soup kitchen back home in France. I didn't want to just serve homeless people soup, as if I were a farmer handing out hay to a herd of cattle. I wanted to help them make something of themselves, to live with human dignity. 

Just as the idea was developing, I received my papers to migrate to Canada. I began volunteering in a soup kitchen again as soon as I settled in Montreal, but this time I didn't just ladle soup into the bowls of the homeless who queued up in front of me: I got to know them."

The result? The 12th year of the "homeless choir," in Montreal. Though they started out singing in the Metro, since that beginning they have performed widely, and recorded an album. And Anthian has moved ahead with varied plans for linking up homeless men with employment and educational opportunities.

See his website here.

( Photo by  Nachammai Raman.)

Scary Peanut Satay Sauce?

As I prepared a leftover multi-grain pasta and veg dish for my lunch yesterday, I considered opening a brand new jar of Trader Joe's Peanut Satay Sauce to go with.
OY!

What about those nasty, scheming, b*****ds at Peanut Corp of Amurrica? Were they in any way involved with TJ's sauce?

I called my local TJ's and asked.   The back and forth of the staff was not that reassuring. 'Hey, Luis-- what about the Satay Sauce?  Peanuts from those guys or what?"

Silence.

Me: Errr, isn't there some kind of list?
Them:   Yeah, well, maybe, I think so, on our website.
Me: Well I know that some of your peanut trail bars are on the USDA list of tainted products.
Them: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah.
Them: Hang on.
Me: ( gnash, sigh...)
Them: No problem, no worries. The Satay Sauce is not affected.
Me: You're sure?
Them: Luis, are we sure?
Me: ( OY!)
Them: We're sure.

So the fact that I woke up at like, 2 am, with weird tummy things going on was, like, nothing to worry about?   Huh?
OK, so maybe it was just my overactive mind.

Later, like, just now, I checked the TJ's website. At the bottom of the Home page is a tiny line of type that mentions the peanut thing. And when you click on it, it takes you to a page all about their having destroyed those crappy tainted products. No mention of Satay Sauce.

New worries, though: STILTON CHEESE, for gawd's sake. How could anything biologically inappropriate penetrate that stinky, bacterially-awash cheese?

Luis?

USDA Kicks Lethal Legumists Off The List

Verbatim, from the USDA press release:

USDA PROPOSES TO DEBAR PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it is suspending, and proposing to debar, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and its subsidiary Tidewater Blanching LLC from doing business with the federal government. Effective immediately, PCA is excluded from participating in government contracts or subcontracts, as well as federal non procurement programs. PCA will also be excluded from doing business as agents or representatives of other contractors, including serving as a subcontractor to other individuals or companies doing business with the government.

The suspension will remain in effect for one year and the debarment is proposed for three years, beginning today.

"The actions of PCA indicate that the company lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government," said David Shipman, Acting Administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

Charmless, ( Tasteless,) Chain Food

In recent weeks,  for the first time I have ventured into two chain restaurants that purport to be "neighborhood" joints where everyone gleefully gathers after work, after the game, to enjoy, depending, authentic Italian food, or basic American edibles. 

The Olive Garden--"When you're here, you're Family--" featured huge salads made with mostly the white bits of iceberg lettuce, plus 3 canned black olives, tasteless tiny loaves of bread, limp, unlayered eggplant parmigiana, tasteless old calamari, and no olive oil on the table. When I asked for some, the waiter looked at me oddly, then returned with a small saucer filled with oil. If this is Family, give me Friends...

Applebee's--"Welcome to Applebee's"--served up fish and chips that were 90 percent beer batter and oil, 10 percent no-taste fish, fries pretending to be fresh cut---they had evidence of skin on them-- and barely passable cole slaw. The tartar sauce was the only item with any taste and even it seemed more like some kind of  overripe dip.

Two examples of American chain cuisine. OMG. Granted, I only had one meal in each, but I felt I had been served up prepared food ( from Sysco?) that had been heated up, not cooked. Tasteless stuff. Appalling when compared to actual, flavorful food. Amazingly bad.

Remember HoJo's luscious, freshly made onion rings? Anyone?

Anyone?

Two Beers, And A Game

American soldiers in Iraq will watch today's Super Bowl game ( whenever they get it--2 am Baghdad time tomorrow?) accompanied by two beers each. No more.
As the war is officially an alcohol-free zone, this morale-boosting bonanza is apparently being warmly received by military personnel, along with the chance to pretend they are home, with friends and family, enjoying a game.

From an  ESPN report:  "Amazing how something so simple can energize so many people. The menu already has been e-mailed around the base. Sports-bar food: chicken wings, pizza, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, beer-battered onion rings. And, of course, the two cold ones. They've heard one of their higher-ups will make everyone sign for the beers, make them drink them inside the dining building and turn in the cans afterward. No funny business. Doesn't matter."

Can they make it last? I suppose even the non-sports people will show up for their brews, knowing the base will most likely not be showing a Coen Brothers retrospective as an alternative.