Holla! Look, proof that I sat at the same table as Ruth Reichl! Looks like you could slice the tip off my chin and dip it in barbecue sauce. Whatevs, they spelled my name right!
I didn't actually do any chef stalking, sadly. I came, I saw, I concurred. And then I went home with a pocket full of mini tabasco bottles and moisturizer samples.
This morning, probably just as I was turning 30, I felt a little sting on my eyelid. Sure enough, at about 7:00am, I heard the distinctive buzz buzz of a skeeter in my ear. I managed to smash the little fucker, but now I look like Forest Whitaker. My eyebrow is perma-cocked because my eyelid is so pink and swollen. I'll take a picture when I get home. HAPPY FUCKING 30TH BIRTHDAY QUASIMODO.
Anyway, why the fuck do I have a mosquito problem at the end of October???
It's my 30th birthday. I'm into it.
"Well, as I was saying, it costs a lot to be authentic, ma'am. And one can't be stingy with these things because you are more authentic the more you resemble what you've dreamed of being." -- the drag queen in All About My Mother
"I acquired that drinker's face before I drank. Drink only confirmed it." -- Marguerite Duras, The Lover
"Extra sugar, extra salt, extra oil and MSG." -- Cibo Matto, "Birthday Cake"
3 reasons to watch this clip:
1. Who knew peanut butter and powdered milk could save malnourished children?
2. It's interesting to learn that food allergies are much less prevalent in developing countries. Why do you think that is?
3. It's funny to hear Anderson Cooper say "Plumpynut" over and over again.
1 warning:
Unless you want to hate yourself, do not watch this after eating a big meal.
Great round table of women chefs on NYMag.com. If female chefs are so rare, I think it's statistically interesting that so many of my favorite eateries in New York are helmed by women. Anna Klinger of al di la, Ilene Rosen of City Bakery, Rebecca Charles of Pearl Oyster Bar, Chika Tillman of Chikalicious, Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune, etc. At the Julia Child panel, Dan Barber revealed that he prefers to hire women in his kitchens because they're in it for the food, not the glory, which makes them better cooks.
As I've said before, I think David Chang cooks "male" food, and that's what's so appealing about it -- it's brash and unapologetic. So is there such a thing as a feminine palate/palette? In the article, Rebecca Charles says, "Women’s food is, for the most part, more accessible, it’s easier to understand, it’s friendlier, it’s more comforting, and it doesn’t get bogged down in all these nutty freaking trends." I would say that's true of the chefs I love. Chikalicious is a perfect example of the gender divide -- several of my male friends really don't understand why I love it so much, and most of my girlfriends worship at Chika's altar. On the flip side, I don't really get why Will Goldfarb has gotten so much more ink for his powders, gels and foams.
What about the idea of assigning gender to a dining experience? I ran into my friend Miho at Rai Rai Ken the other night. I had slipped in solo with the idea of slurping up a quick bowl of chahan and soup. Miho said that ramen joints in Tokyo were generally testosterone havens, and that a woman would have to have pretty big cojones to walk into one by herself. But New York women think nothing of it. (Because we have balls or because we don't give a shit if people think we have balls?)
The feminine food associations I can think of aren't exactly flattering to the sex. A deli by my work has a sandwich board which displays their AM offerings, including two kinds of omelettes -- a "hungry man" and a "skinny woman" -- how much you want to bet that the skinny woman means some wan egg white and spinach monstrosity on a cold wheat tortilla? Or "girly drinks", by nature fruity, sweet, and headache inducing. "Mom" and "grandma" associations are generally positive, but they're usually "comfort" foods -- heavy, sleepy dishes designed to knock you out.
Anyway, how about a quick assessment of your favorite restaurants -- are they led by women or men? I'm curious.
In case you were wondering, the "sri" in Sriracha and Sripraphai is pronounced "see" -- not "shree", not "sree". The "r" is silent.
Who cares, right? Well, I care.
Alex Witchel covers the re-opening of the 2nd Ave. Deli in this article. If you're like me, and you miss that deli like you miss your (goy) bubbe, it'll break your heart and make you hungry for some matzoh ball soup (with noodles and carrots).
I am pretty thrilled that it's opening just one block from my work. Here are just a handful of the article's really cherce quotes:
Abe Lebewohl to a conference of food writers: "'What am I gonna tell you?' he said. 'My food will kill you.'"
One employee on Abe: "[He] came to this country with a dollar and a dream except for the dollar."
Russ and Daughters' Mark Federman on keeping it all in the family: "I just think it’s right that there’s a Russ angsting over every piece of fish that goes out the door.”
Steve Cohen, general manager for 2nd Ave. Deli on who's in the kitchen: "They are Puerto Rican, Chinese, Haitian, Indian and from Central America. It’s the U.N. back there.”
Cohen again on the clientele: "But my favorite was when we had five nuns eating matzoh balls served by a Lebanese waiter — in a kosher deli. That’s New York.”
Quoted by Tim Russert this morning on Meet the Press:
"A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
I was a little worried about turnout for the Gourmet Institute panel on blogging -- I mean, who wants to listen to a bunch of bloggers when Masaharu Morimoto is down the hall doing a cooking demo, and wine is being liberally poured into shiny crystal in the tasting room? As it turns out, we had a healthy audience of about 30, mostly young people in casual garb. Before we settled in the auditorium, Ben Leventhal of Eater wondered if anyone was going to throw tomatoes.
It was a fun discussion, and I'm glad there were no tomatoes -- though it might have been fun to parry a little. Some highlights:
Ben Leventhal (Eater) revealed that Eater's readers are half male, half female, are mostly 25-34, go out to eat 5 times a week on average (!), and have 2-5 cocktails every time they go out. "So they're drunk when they're reading Eater," he joked. Adorable. He also thinks that blogging has already become a legitimate job and speculated that strong bloggers, like those at Gawker, could be making $100K/yr.
Tyler Colman (Dr. Vino) doesn't allow wine advertisers on his blog because he wants people to trust his recs, and pay-to-play is the fastest way to lose that audience. He makes a pittance on advertising and makes more from the business that has grown out of the blog -- private wine tastings, classes, etc. I really enjoyed his friendly, inclusive demeanor. He's the opposite of a wine snob. I'm looking forward to perusing his archives (and finding an appropriate wine for my upcoming birthday.)
Ed Levine (Serious Eats) had a lot to say on the topic of the WSJ blog payola exposé. He made the strong argument that old media has been taking freebies for much longer than bloggers have. When asked what it was like to go from print to blog, he said that he was born for the blog medium.
The panel also discussed Gawker, Restaurant Girl, Yelpers, the speed of publishing, how blogs are changing new media, and more. I've never been on a panel, and as I said to the panelists before we began, who doesn't like to hear themselves talk? I hope I didn't come off as a total jerk. Doug says I did alright, but he's on my side, of course.
Biggest thrill for me: during introductions, Ruth Reichl announced to an entire room full of people today that this blog was the first one she started reading regularly.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was plotzing. I must have been as red as a beet.
I meet La Doug at Ollie's tonight (check!) for fake Chinese food (check!) before going to watch Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met (check!) where we are subscribers (check!).
Over sesame wontons and shrimp chow fun, I tell La Doug that I'm thinking of finding a psychiatrist (check!) because I'm having this anxiety problem (check!) where, well, I won't go into details because it's TMI (check!).
The guy next to us, who's sitting just twelve inches away because the tables are crammed so close together (check!), gets up to leave. He deposits a card on the table. "Hope you don't mind, heard you were looking for a therapist. Here's my therapist's number. She's very good. Give her a call." (Check, check and check, please!)
How New York is that?
