foodmuseumblog

Beyond Bizarre Food News Coverage--The Suspect Fingered Prawns

Never thought I would write a syllable about this peculiar fellow named Karr, but the AP ( August 21) insisted on providing details of his (maybe last decent) meal, on the Thai Airways plane that brought him Business Class from Thailand to the United States.

"Before takeoff, he sipped champagne. During dinner, Karr had pate, salad with walnut dressing and fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli, followed by a slice of Valrhona chocolate cake for dessert. Karr had a beer before a glass of French chardonnay with the main course."

Thanks for sharing, AP.

Pick Peaches

It's good to know, that while some people in the world are plotting to blow up their fellow human beings while they fly across the Atlantic, others are researching and writing up articles about the world of museums, about intellectual property, about knowledge in danger of being lost, and so on.

The FOOD Museum itself is delighted to have been profiled in the current issue of the Newsletter of the International Council of Museums, a publication of UNESCO, in a section called Museums of the World. ( Coming on-line soon.)

Just a tiny reminder that a very few of the world's people are up to no good. The majority are plugging away at a myriad of positive pursuits.

Why just yesterday I ( Foodie, now tiring of the third person schtick,) picked some rich-looking peaches that were hanging well over a neighbor's fence into the street and gave them a good home.

What Did She Eat and When Did She Eat/Drink It?--Rep. (R) Katherine Harris' Big Meal

You may have read recently of the $2800 meal at Washington, DC's well-regarded restaurant Citronelle shared last year by Florida's Representative ( Longboat Key, R. ) Katherine Harris and a defense contractor named Mitchell Wade. ( Harris' appears to still be running for the Senate, barely. )

According to an April 25 editorial  in the St Petersburg Times, " (Wade) previously had handed (Harris) 16 $2,000 campaign checks. Shortly after the dinner, she requested a $10-million federal appropriation for a Wade project. Wade, not incidentally, pleaded guilty in February to bribery and election fraud related mostly to former California congressman Duke Cunningham."

Now Foodie is not looking for further details of  Rep. Harris' unsavory career in politics. No, she wants to know what the hey these two ate for $2800! Come on.

Citronelle describes itself thusly: " (The restaurant) offers a welcome reprieve from traditional East Coast dining, favoring lighter food and a stylish but less formal atmosphere."

A January 2006 review of the restaurant appeared in Washingtonian OnLine:

"2006 100 VERY BEST RESTAURANTS   Citronelle

THE SCENE. Celebrities, political dignitaries, jet-setters, and foodies descend nightly on the cool yet cozy dining room of renowned chef Michel Richard's restaurant in Georgetown--one of the few spots in town with the culinary magic to make people forget about politics, if only for the night.

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE. The sense of theater that every meal brings, from the relentless whimsicality of the cooking (which transplants the French countryside to anything-goes California) to the puckish chef's forays into the dining room to implore diners to attack their food, not stand back in awe. All of this mischief is undergirded by knowledgeable, efficient service and a world-class wine list assembled by sommelier Mark Slater.

WHAT YOU WON'T. The whimsicality sometimes results in food that's more eye-catching than delicious. And the tab may force you to scrimp on groceries for the rest of the month.

BEST DISHES. The "almost-famous pied de cochon," a sausage of pig's foot, foie gras, and sweetbreads topped off with a lacquered sheet of crispy pig skin; a cappuccino of wild-mushroom soup, served with a straw; the dessert tour de force called Breakfast, a witty, Rauschenberg-meets-Escoffier riff on room-service delivery in which a trayful of sweets impersonates eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, and coffee; house-made cocoa flakes with minted milk. "

Clearly "political dignitaries" Harris and Wade were not taken in by the culinary magic to make people forget about politics, if only for the night.  And Google though Foodie may, she has not yet stumbled across the $2800 menu, though she is certain wine is involved.

Alert food bloggers, please let us know what comprised the meal.

( Chateau Lafitte et al pic courtesy www.schenck-wine.ch)

Mac Attack...Really

People addicted to fast food, in addition to compromising their health, tend to be more grumpier.  Morgan Spurlock reports on his month long McDonald's diet that he was irritable and suffered from  terrible headaches.  He experienced nausea a the thought of his next Big Mac meal while at the same time experiencing cravings for it.  He writes in Don't Eat This Book that he became both a physical and an emotional wreck while on his fast-food-only diet which was the subject of the documentary film "Supersize Me." 

All this may explain the behavior of two Long Island men at a drive up McDonald's window recently.  Denise Bonilla reports in Newsday August 18, 2005

A 71-year-old man argued with a customer behind him at a McDonald's drive-thru, stabbed the man twice, then ordered five double-cheeseburgers and went on his way yesterday, Nassau County police said.

The argument happened when a 45-year-old man, whose name was not released by police, believed he'd been cut off in the drive-thru and started yelling at John Kent, of 924 Fulton St. ..