Not that you were missing my Sisyphean Thai-dining adventures, probably.
I know I wasn’t–I’d totally forgotten about it in the whole server-move shenanigans, and it wasn’t till I went to write a new post that I realized it had been abandoned, like a 3-year-old accidentally left behind in the mall during the Christmas-shopping chaos.
So it’s back, safe and sound, and there’s a new post, even.
Oh, that is just the fucking coolest. I need more theme cakes in my life. (Scroll through the photostream to see more pics.)
The funny thing is, I was just at the Brooklyn Kitchen, for a pig-butchering demo (more on that in a bit), and I saw that very same pirate-ship cake mold. “Rad!” I thought. And then, “Agh–dangerously close to Williams-Sonoma.” And I turned away.
My “vegetable garden” (really, just some planters on the front balcony) didn’t work out so well this year. Everything was cruising merrily along when I left for Amsterdam: beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, morning glories, mint, strawberries that held over from last year, even a chayote that had just been sprouting all of its own accord on the kitchen counter, so I tossed it in the dirt and soon it was kicking the ass of everything else.
Then, well. I went to Amsterdam.
Inspired by Very Good Taste’s Omnivore’s Hundred, here’s a list of 100 things that an ambitious, globally inspired cook could take on. It’s a bit of a random brainstorm, drawing some things from VGK’s list, and then ranging around various culinary traditions. It doesn’t accommodate vegetarians all that well, and it definitely skews American on the “easy” items (but, hey, toast is universal!). It’s early yet, so I’ll probably think of a million more good ideas over breakfast–and so will you.
But anyway. Here’s the list. If you want to run this on your own blog, please:
1) Copy the list (and the instructions, if you like).
2) Mark all the items you’ve cooked in bold.
3) Strikethrough the items that will never touch your kitchen counter.
4) Post a link back to your blog in the comments, if you like.
The Roving Gastronome Home Cook’s Hundred:
I’m at a job in an office, waiting for work to come my way, so I’ll actually do one of those things that office-job people do: a clever meme post!
From the British Very Good Taste blog, here’s a list of 100 things any good omnivore should’ve tried. A few years ago, I thought I’d aspire to taste everything possible. Now that kind of accomplishment makes me feel a little tired–maybe if every flavor of the world were brought to me on a little platter, while I reclined on the couch? (Maybe with a bucket next to me, for when we got to the balut.) I would also consider being whisked via first-class Asian airline to the source of the flavor.
In the meantime, here’s at least what I have eaten, in bold:
The New York Times ran a nice little piece on a live-poultry-and-more joint in the Bronx. I’m a big fan of these operations, so it’s nice to see some positive coverage about them, and with a ‘here’s a normal part of the neighborhood’ tone, instead of the ‘what is that mysterious place at the end of the block?’ tone you get in the few other articles that have been published.
Gourmet’s July issue also had a great story about getting a live goat from a halal butcher. Well, it wasn’t alive in the end, obviously, but you know what I mean. The butcher says something to the effect of “Hopefully Americans will come to understand Islam better by enjoying this meat.” That would be great (Ramadan kareem, btw). The article isn’t online, but here’s some info about a documentary on a halal butcher, posted by Ian Knauer, who wrote the original story.
I recently came across (OK, no, Peter forwarded me the links) two blogs doing reviews of Astoria restaurants.
Every Restaurant in Astoria seems like the more promising, if only because its authors recognize the sheer foolishness of their endeavor: “like Sisyphus, but with gyros,” as they put it. I like their moxie, and their attitude comes through loud and clear in their review of Sparrow, which pretty accurately gets at the hipster/no-hipster dilemma of Astoria.
Spotted this video on deboning a pig’s head on Gourmet.com, but was too distracted to watch it. Handily, one of my informants passed me the link yesterday. I’m glad I didn’t miss it.
Oddly, the only thing I found heebie-jeebie-inducing was the part where he cleaned out the ears. Ew.
Good prep for the pig-butchering class I’m taking next week. Care to join me? I’ll bring the disposable razors.
We went to the St. Francis of Asisi crab feast in Baltimore again. It was fantastic. They had a new caterer this year, which may be why the crabs seemed plumper and the side dishes were tastier. Zim Zemelman and his orchestra were replaced by some new dame, but the monsignor still played the trombone, and the guy with the big moustache spun the wheel of fortune (Peter won big at the liquor wheel!). And of course there was a crazy lady stuffing crabs in her purse–there’s always one.
I’m so proud! An essay of mine about my killer year in Cairo is in the new summer issue of Gastronomica (Vol 8, no. 3).
You might remember my previous appearance in Gastronomica, but that was just on the letters page, and I was wrapped in blue Saran wrap.
Now I have two whole pages to tell a story near and dear to my heart: namely, how being violently ill in Cairo brought me to Astoria, with some new Indian-cooking skills along the way.