June 2005 Archives

Recently, Ling, a student at the University of Melbourne, asked me to participate in a study for a final thesis on food blogs and food media.  Ling's last question was:

> Have you come across instances of developed-nation superiority,
> cultural ignorance or other 'ugly blogging' behaviour (veiled,
> unconscious, implied or otherwise)? How do you think readers and
> bloggers can deal with, or be protected against these occurrences?

I basically said that I don't go googling for culturally ignorant sluts, so I don't really come into contact with that particular brand of idiocy. 

But lookie lookie what a precious present we gets on Wednesday morning.  Frank Bruni's review of Yumcha starts out by sympathizing with the plight of Chinese cuisine:

"Like private school admissions, the Tony Awards and Judge Judy, the New York restaurant scene isn't entirely fair, and the first cuisine to tell you that would be Chinese."

Poor, poor Chinese food, always being carted around on bikes, always the ugly bigfoot stepsister.  Frank sees your plight. Frank knows what you're going through.

But then he says:

"You won't find any of those dishes at Yumcha, which takes on the challenge of casting Chinese in a softer, subtler, more elegant light."

As though it were really a task to make Chinese seem elegant.  But wait!  Not only is Chinese inelegant, it's downright dirty.  How about a little exotic erotic, Suzie Wong style?

"If you sense in those descriptions a blurring of boundaries - a sort of pan-Asian embrace coupled with a French kiss - you understand Yumcha's wiles. It christens its come-on "modern haute Chinese," the first and second words of which signal that this restaurant isn't exactly pledging greater ethnic authenticity than your corner supplier of salt-and-pepper prawns." [emphasis mine]

His final condescension is the best part:

"At Yumcha, Chinese is relieved of its bicycle, put into a limo and squired to the prom, where it sashays onto the dance floor, giddy and resplendent, and cannot figure out precisely how to twirl."

Um.  HELLO?!!!  Are all the editors at the NYT on leave or on crack?  I canNOT believe they let this shit run.

At best, it's an extremely clunky metaphor (like all of his o-v-e-r-e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d metaphors).  But at worst, I think this may be an example of the developed nation superiority and cultural imperialism you're looking to write about, Ling.  Are you taking notes?

****

Also, how about this Pearl S. Buck-worthy headline, same issue:

Beauty That Hides Beneath the Lotus Blossom

In a moment of vanity-fueled daftness, I decided that I would cut out all carbs to try and lose some of the padding I've been slowly but steadily adding since puberty.  I ate protein, I ate veggies.  I did not have my regular whole wheat raisin roll and Lescure butter with lunch.  I thought I could give the no-carb thing a two week run, see if I could tough it out.

Let me tell you something, that shit is WRONG.  I am only allowed to be that annoyed and irritable once a month, and even then I find myself intolerable. 

I only lasted about 10 hours.  After an unsatisfying supper of spaghetti squash with oven roasted tomatoes and tofu, Doug came home and didn't have to twist my arm to get me to join him at al di la.  I ordered a second dinner of the gloriously butter-slicked, high-carb beet and ricotta filled casunziei and washed it down with a glass of sweet prosecco.  I am starting to feel like a human being again. 

I'm going to bed on a starch-laden full stomach to the sound of the summer storm as a damp breeze circulates through my window, and if I get struck by lightning in my sleep, at least I will already be in HEAVEN.

While looking after Julie's kitty T-Bone last week, I was reminded what a fabulous tool her pepper mill is.  It's a traditional Turkish brass coffee grinder, which is super easy to refill with peppercorns and effortlessly grinds prodigious amounts of fine pepper in seconds.  The little cup on the bottom is great for collecting all the pepper you need without the sneezy pepper dust factor -- not to mention the fact that it won't leave pepper fairy rings all over your table and counters.  (Bewildered guests will often give the grind lever a couple of turns over their food before realizing that the cap has now collected a tablespoon of pepper.)  Julie has had hers for probably ten years now, and its grinding mechanism still works perfectly. 

I got one similar to the one pictured at left at the bazaar in Istanbul, for what I'm sure was the astronomical tourist's price of $12 (which is about 16,000,000 Turkish lira).  Can't make it to Turkey this year?  eBay often has an assortment of grinders like this one, which is being offered for $19.50. 

Lunch can be so savage in New York.  We have thirty minutes to an hour to run out and claw our way through the long lunch lines for pre-packaged sandwiches and styrofoam-bound steam table foods.  We barely have time to wolf everything down before clocking back in, much less to digest and savor our food.  I've always thought that life would be wonderful if I could just take two hours off in the middle of the day everyday to prepare something fresh and hot, eat on real plates with real silverware, finish with a cup of tea, and slowly ease my way back into work.

If you're like me, those five places within walking distance of the office get pretty monotonous pretty quickly.  And I refuse to support work cafeterias and pour my paycheck back into the company in return for heat lamp-warmed institutional wares.

Even if you've only got 15 minutes to eat lunch while working at your desk, you should eat something that makes you happy.  That sustenance is going to have to carry you through the rest of your work day.  And treating yourself doesn't have to mean taking two hours for the prix-fixe at Jean Georges.  For me, it means freshly cut fruits or crisp veggies, and foods that don't scream, "I died of radiation poisoning in the microwave."

I love the variety you get from upscale salad bars at places like City Bakery and my local work eatery, Deb's.  But I'm always the loser that piles on way too much potato salad and winds up paying more for my lunch than I've earned working through the morning.  Now that summer is here, it's time to start packing my own lunches with fresh veggies. 

My problem with making lunch is that:
A.) I don't want to wake up early for any reason, so it better be easy to prepare and pack the night before;
B.) It better still taste good after being refrigerated for 20 hours; and
C.) Even though it's easiest to bring leftovers from the night before, I don't want to eat the exact same meal I did the night before.

Here are some hassle-free Sunday night recipes for lots of midday nosh choices that will keep well in your work fridge but won't break the bank.

Oven-roasted Tomatoes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Halve lengthwise and remove the stem end of 4 plum tomatoes.  Pour 1 tbsp. olive oil into the bottom of a baking dish.  Place tomato halves in the dish, cut side up.  Dribble one teaspoon of honey, 1 tbsp. olive oil and sprinkle 2 cloves of chopped garlic, plenty of salt and pepper over the tomatoes.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Cucumber salad

Halve two Persian cucumbers lengthwise.  Thinly slice the cucumbers on a diagonal.  Thinly slice 1/4 of a red onion.  Toss together with 2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill, 1 tbsp. good quality rice vinegar, 1 tsp. honey, salt and pepper.  Refrigerate before serving.

Chickpeas with olive mash

Drain and rinse one can of chickpeas.  Mash 6-7 good quality (not canned California) black olives with a mortar and pestle.  Toss 1/2 chickpeas and olive mash with 1 tbsp. chopped parsley and a squirt of fresh lemon.  Save the other half of the chickpeas for later use.

No mayo tuna salad

Drain one can of tuna.  Add 1 tbsp. chopped dill, 8 chopped capers, 1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tbsp. minced red onion.

* Here's a tip -- keep a bottle of olive oil, a bottle of vinegar, and some dijon mustard at work to make fresh vinaigrettes.  It's easy, and I'm sure there's room in that little kitchenette for a couple of bottles.  That way, you can just pick up triple washed greens, radishes, carrots, and maybe a piece of smoked chicken or smoked trout at the Greenmarket on your way to work and have delicious, envy-inducing salads for lunch.  I'm bringing my Laguiole knife to work, which I plan on using on everything from paring fruit to slicing up cheese.  I'm even bringing my pepper mill.  My little desk larder's starting to fill out nicely. 

Name:  Miho Hatori

Occupation:  singer/songwriter/musician

Borough:  Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

I ate Udon with grated ginger and a lot of scallions for lunch.

What do you never eat?

chicken feet
worms
Durian

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

My identity  [Ed. -- precisely!]

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Small Tea Pot

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Applewood

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

Yuzukiri Soba ( Yuzu=Japanese citrus, the soba noodles are yellowish, of course, home made !! )
Home made Tororo Soba
My mom's flatfish meunière
My grandmother's Kinpira and rice balls.
Tomatoes my father grew in the backyard
Sushi at Tsukiji fish market
Tojo ( Japanese restaurant in Vancouver ) Omakase menu
Pão de Queijo
Kobe beef sukiyaki
Tofu from Kyoto
Pizza I ate in Bari, Italy, Pizza place on the cliff.
Som Tam w/ fermented crab at Ruen Pair in L.A.
Tacos al Pastor at Tacos Matamoros
cheese fondue
Oysters

I think I might die from too much food before the world ends.
Too bad I won't reach dessert.

From: Doug
Date: Wed Jun 01 11:20:50 CDT 2005
To: Ganda
Subject: Re:

I think we may have to look far from civilization, if we wanna pay the same thing. I have to tell you, I've been thinking of two, very awfully dreadful words:

New Jersey

>On 6/1/05 1:37 PM, Ganda wrote:

>BITE YOUR TONGUE AND KNOCK WOOD I AM NOT FILING TAXES IN NEW JERSEY BITCH.

>>On 6/1/05 2:47 PM, Doug wrote:
>>You ARE a snob after all!!!!!

>>>On 6/1/05 3:02 PM, Ganda wrote:
>>>New Jersey is for blueberries and tomatoes.

At the Union Square Greenmarket, Migliorelli's got perfect golf ball-sized red beets for $2 a bunch (eight per bunch).  I would have taken a picture but I ate them all already.  Sorry.  I roasted them and tossed them in a green salad, with a healthy wedge of fourme d'ambert raw cow's milk blue cheese on the side.  Tomorrow, I'm going to cook the abundant greens down with the last smoked chicken wing from Monday's smoke-out.  Migliorelli also had generous bunches of young dill for $1.  Take advantage of the deals at the Greenmarket while growing season is here.

Migliorelli Farms
North side of the Union Square Greenmarket
Wednesdays and Saturdays
(He might be there Fridays too, I forget.)

More on picking and cooking beets here.