foodmuseumblog

Lobstah Roll!

Toasted roll with the New England flat sided "hotdog" roll. Fresh o fresh lobster. Butter, lemon. Cyndi's Dockside, Poland Spring, Maine.

Eat at Silly's... Go On, Do It!

The fish burrito I ate at this funky joint in Portland, Maine was so perfect, and so hugely generous in size, that I took half back to where I was staying, and happily ate it cold, two days later, as I drove from Maine down to a town on the Hudson River.

But right then and there, in Silly's, my nephew and I shared a divine chocolate cake slice--triple layer, people!--and barely managed to save a two inch portion for those back on the farm. Notice the way they serve the Java: pression. Impressively fresh. 

Silly's has a jazzy, retro interior, and serves up drinking water in wine bottles. Fab.

 

 

The Beauty of Breakfast in Bali

In the tranquility of Ubud's Hotel Tjampuhan open air dining area, we ate perfect omelets, croissants, the local ( lousy) powdered Balinese coffee, fruit, and, for "dessert," Bubuh Injin or black rice pudding, a not-too-sweet treat that goes well with the excellent tea we chose, after enduring the poor coffee.

 ( With Sumatra and Java right next door, how is it that Bali coffee, Kopi Bali, reigns supreme?  One can get fine Italian-style coffees, yes, at cafes, but not at the hotel, and non touristic restaurants.)

 

 

 

Bubuh Injin---Black Rice Pudding via Bali The Online Travel Guide

Ingredients... 1/2 cup of black glutinous rice (see below). 1/3 cup of white glutinous rice (Asian variety). 1 or 2 pandan leaves (may be omitted). 3 cups of water. 1/4 cup of palm sugar (white sugar is OK). 1/4 cup of water. 1 cup of thick coconut cream (canned is OK).

Method... Mix the black and white glutinous rice, and rinse under running water to remove starch.   Place the rice, the pandan leaves and 3 cups of water into a heavy pan and simmer, stirring occasionally. The mixture will turn a deep purple color while cooking!   Meanwhile, chop the 1/4 cup of palm sugar, and add it to the 1/4 cup of water. Bring the ingredients to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes to make a syrup.   When the rice has simmered for about 30 minutes, add the palm sugar syrup to the cooked rice, and continue to simmer gently until most of the liquid has evaporated. Be careful that the mixture does not boil dry. The rice and syrup will now be a dark purple color.   Allow rice to cool before serving.   Serve portions of the cooled black rice pudding drizzled with coconut cream. Garnish with slices of banana.   Enjoy!   Note: The ingredients for this recipe may be purchased from Asian foodstores or from the Asian section of most larger supermarkets. Black rice is not the same as "wild rice", which may not be substituted. Black rice sold in western supermarkets is often from Thailand - this is OK. Pandan leaves may be the most difficult ingredient to source, but they may be omitted. Palm sugar may be purchased in blocks or jars (often from Thailand).

 

Move, Learn, EAT!

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

  "3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films....."

Back, Back, Backety Back from Fiji, NZ, OZ, Bali and HK: Rice and Mangosteens

 

 
Back from exploring some of the foods of Bali, we can attest that rice is primary, along with sweet potatoes intermingled with flowers, as well as chiles and other veggies. 
Rice feeds 50% of the world's population, of course, bolstered by America's many offerings to Asia, chiles and sweets among them. 
But oh, the mangosteen! A rare non-sweet perfect tropical fruit, its segments are hidden under a thick, maroon rind, and well worth the seeking. (Those at left were on sale in a huge Hong Kong mall supermarket.)

The mangosteen has only one fault; it is impossible to eat enough of it, but, strictly speaking, perhaps that is a defect in the eater rather than in the fruit. It would be mere blasphemy to attempt to describe its wonderful taste, the very culmination of culinary art for any unspoilt palate. 

--Eric Mjöberg, author of "Forest life and adventures in the Malay Archipelago" 1930

( NB Posting from this remarkable part of the world on a regular basis was well nigh impossible--WiFi was sorely lacking in NZ and OZ, other than in (!) McDonald's', posting was time consuming, and we had to pay for Internet access everywhere  until we reached Bali. Bali, the land of mega overseas visitors, marked a return to WiFi, and free access in many cafes and restaurants. ) 

NZ farmed!

Farmed oysters in Russell in the Northland, a family business for 40 years. And these are good oysters, unlike the farmed ones we have sampled in Florida.

Coffee Chef and Chickens

Along the route up to Northland in NZ we stopped to change drivers and met an Englishman trained at the Savoy in London who now operates from a van at this turnoff. He roasts his own coffee beans from Papua New Guinea, bakes his own whole grain with rosemary bread, and produces authentic Cornish pasties from scratch. From his van!

We had coffee, the best egg salad sandwich ever, and a spud pastie with melting pastry.
And, bonus, friendly chickens milling about who apparently emerge each day from "the bush."

Lunch on beach, Nadi, Fiji

Evening Meal, LAX

View Airline "Food" Options Before You Fly

Planning an upcoming trip, we came across this site, Airline Meals, that details what one can expect to be served on an enormous list of airlines. Food matters, right? Especially on long journeys.

Zowie.  This one makes the Best of 2011, week 18, economy meal via Thai Airways. 

Glossy (National) Geographic Edibles

 This handsome mega-book weighs far more than most of us will eat today, and, alas, it fell open to an entry titled "French Fries in Ghent."  ( No!) Those of you who know me and this blog well understand that we speak of Belgian Fries, particularly if zeroing in on a Belgian city.

Anyway--It's Food Journeys of a Lifetime--500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the World, created by National Geographic. Over 300 pages, it's filled with the rich photography the National Geographic is known for. It's also one giant cliche---paella in Spain, baguettes in France, feijoada in Rio. Anyone who has traveled has eaten these things.  Sake in Japan, wine in Sonoma.........you get the picture.

Even though it lists websites,  recipes, and suggests places and concepts of interest to the alert traveler, it is decidedly a book for those who have not yet begun to travel, or those who want to contemplate travels completed. But, to give it credit, it has taken on the entire world of eating, an absurdly gargantuan task.

The most interesting sections are the book's top 10's--and in one of them, our own country's top edible, apparently, is the hamburger.

(Crayfish are big in Finland, as this photo attests. )

Musings on Mullet

Today, children, we turn our attention to the magnificent leaping mullet, the mostly-vegetarian fish with a gizzard ( tastes like flying chicken?) and the focus both of a kiddie book, The Wise Mullet of Cook Bayou, and an October event in Florida's northwest panhandle with the enticing name Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival.

The book was written by journalist and native Floridian Timothy Weeks. It tells the strong simple  story of three mullet in a Florida bayou who choose different life paths, with the "wise" one making out the best. Weeks says his book is based on a story by the Persian Sufi mystic Rumi, a philospher and poet who inspired the "whirling dervishes," those for whom dance was a pathway to the Divine.  Many old hand Floridians say the mullet "leaps for joy," as often as it leaps to avoid danger, so the Rumi connection is fitting.

Weeks' children's book project became a family affair. His mother, Jeanne, did the illustrations. His sister, Kimberly Bryant did the editing, and his Dad, David inspired his early interest in mullet. Crazy as it may sound, this shiny, tidy book laid out with a combo of hand drawings and computer graphics, smells terrific, sort of a petroleum and printing press melange. The odor does not from the two recipes by Jeanne at the back  for Golden Brown Mullet and Cheese Grits, staple foods of the denizens of Cook Bayou.  ( Contact Weeks directly for the book-- educators can obtain a teaching packet as well. )

Once we saw the mighty leap of one of these fish in Florida, we decided perhaps we harbored a mullet-within, and became loathe to eat them. Before the infamous net ban of 1995, mullet was the least expensive fish in local Florida markets. Today it's harder to find, though the smoked mullet at South Pasadena's( St. Petersburg) Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish is a favorite.

For more things mullet, visit the B.B. Mullet Festival in Niceville, named Boggy Bayou until the citizenry wanted a more Up Town name. You and 100,000 other visitors will eat 10 tons of mullet ( we know, mullet doesn't sound scarce) during three days, October 20, 21 and 22.

(For exhaustive info on fishing mullet in the UK, click here. Seems they will bite at flakes of white bread..)

As for the fabled "do," known as The Mullet, no mullet possibly could leap to the notion that its arrangement of fins (?) ( see the mullet pic up top) would spawn an entire culture. Wikipedia says the mullet --short everywhere, but long in the back, was sported by fishermen in the 19th c to keep the backs of their heads warm.

"Gastronomie! Food Museums and Heritage Sites of France." Buy This Book!

      Yes, fellow foodies, our glorious book ( says Foodie modestly,)  is now in stock and raring to be bought by you and yours. 

Christmas is coming, so snap up this one for your foodie friends and family members hunkered down in armchairs, waiting for fuel prices to drop. Or buy the book for active foodie travelers bored with all the usual sites. Gastronomie! is the first extensive exploration ever of French food historic sites.

No one else delivers you this kind of book, food-lovers, packed with colorful photos from our trek and from The FOOD Museum's collections. We traveled over 10,000 kilometers around France ( someone had to do it) to bring you the backstory of French food.

France, the mother country of Western cuisine, is the home of more museums about food, and more initiatives to preserve food heritage traditions and sites, than any other.

Explore the Saffron Museum in Boynes, the world food museum at Agropolis in Montpellier, the ruins of a huge Roman mill outside Arles, the Olive Museum in Nyons, the fig orchards of Sollies-Pont, the oyster beds of Ile d'Oleron, the turkey parade and festival in Licques, the village ovens of Bugey, the Chocolate Museum in Biarritz, the Newfoundland Fishing Museum in Fecamp, the Honey Museum in Gramont, the melon statue in Cavaillon, the truffle market in Lalbenque, and more.

And sample a few choice recipes, as well.

Buy it! ( Only 19.95.)  In stores, via Amazon, or on-line.  ( By Meredith Sayles Hughes and Tom Hughes, Bunker Hill Publishing.)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation--Food History in Oaxaca

Regular Blog commenter and writer Cynthia is just back from a Foodie dream vacation in Oaxaca, Mexico. Not her first visit,  this time she decided to delve deeper into the food history of the region.

" I signed up for a couple of courses with Susan Trilling at Seasons of My Heart.   Susana's classes were particularly well-suited to my interests--not only did she work overtime  exposing us to every possible traditional Oaxacan food, she also lectured on food origins, arranged for us to have a local scholar show us through the Ethnobotanical Gardens and lecture on the history of food domestification, cultivation, and processing in Oaxaca ( where the first maize may have been bred)
and she took us to a Zapotec village in the mountains, where the women taught us how to use pre-Hispanic cooking tools and techniques to prepare an almost entirely pre-Hispanic meal.

We also had heaps of fun in the classroom/kitchen at Susana's Racho Aurora, where we prepared a wide range of traditional Oaxacan specialties on both traditional and modern equipment. It was simply splendid--and just the sort of thing I thought might interest others interested in food history."

Menu English: "We serve Pork with fresh garbage!"

Foodie pal Marc recently sent us a book called Here Speeching American--A Very Strange Guide to English as It is Garbled Around the World, by Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras, Villard Books, NY.  The authors are quick to note that, yes, they do not speak Hindu well either, and that American travelers butcher the world's languages regularly.

Having said all that, they offer some funny tidbits,  such as  these menu examples translated into English by the locals:

                                 

Shrimps in Spit   

Bacon and Germs

Chicken Mouse in Tartlet

Appendix Salad ( Pork)

Toes with Butter and Jam

Children Sandwiches

Pork Condom Bleu

Deep Fried Peking Dumpings

Lobster Thermos

Horse-Rubbish Sauce

Boiled Tasteless Jam Pork Soup

Bon appetit!

 

Feeding Firenze

This food tour of Florence really got my mouth watering. Besides claiming the Florentines invented ice cream it brings up the touchy subject of how Italians really taught the French to cook. It's by Jay Rayner in the Observer Food Monthly, one of our favorites.