Heat and the Kitchen...

Just a few diversions as we wait for the thermometer to once again reach the triple digits.

First, I am very tired of this weather. I was watching the weather channel the other day, and in between shots of people in trouble or homes crumbling into raging waters, fires lapping at your foundation and silly “Storm Stories” and other glorifications of natural disasters, there was an interesting piece. Some guy in Iowa (?) or Kansas has written a book about (this isn’t accurate) the “Cooling of America”. Which documents the cultural effect of air conditioning on today’s generation. It promotes people staying inside, kids don’t appreciate the joys (?) of summer anymore, that type of thing. The video goes on to show him saying that he only turns on his air conditioner one day a year, just to make sure it works. Otherwise they depend on fans, open windows, etc. What struck a chord with me was that he said that there is a developing trend of people who have come to fear summer’s heat. They should embrace it. Bingo, buddy, count me in the fear category.

Whew, how did we get started on that?.. Back to food for a moment. In the latest issue of “Sauce” that St. Louis based monthly foodie newspaper, there was an article that caught my attention. They “interview” some chef every month, and this time it was Brian Carr a veteran of Pomme and now Atlas, on Pershing in the city of St. Louis.. He recently purchased the restaurant, and the article was Q&A about what he was changing, keeping and so forth. One quote sort of caught my eye. The question was what would remain on the menu, and the answer was the piccolo frito (steak frites). Then he described his considerations in preparing the honored but humble dish. “What kind of potato do you use? How do you cut the potato? How long to you cook the potato? What kind of salt do you use? How much of it? That’s what I love about that restaurant and what we try to do at Pomme. God lives in the details”. For some reason, I really like that last phrase. The thought that careful attention to the minutia can produce a heavenly food. Neat. Out Mr. Devil!! a new tenant is in the details..at least in the kitchen.

And, speaking of chefs, did you see Sunday’s front page Washington Post piece on Roberto Donna (Galileo, Bebo Trattoria, etc.) the almost legendary chef in DC? It documented his financial difficulties of late, missed paychecks, bouncing checks, lawsuits, taxes, etc. I was fortunate enough to eat at Galileo and take a couple of classes from him in the “Laboratorio”. No doubt a great chef, he produced some of the best risotto I’ve ever had (and still can’t cook). It always amazes me that these guys gain fame by what comes out of their kitchen, and somehow it gets in their heads and they try to become what they are not. In his case, great chef, lousy business man. I suppose it has something to do with the food network culture of celebrity chefs and those disgusting “Iron Chef” competition shows. Just stay in the damn kitchen, do what you do best, and be content making people happy by what they put in their mouth. Got that, Mario/Emeril/Bobby/etc.?, and I won’t even mention Rachel Ray….

And while we’re descending slowly into a rant, here's another little vignette I saw on the Today show (fast becoming the National Enquirer of the airwaves) last week. There was a little piece on the trend to “different” weddings these days, under water, mountain tops, caves, Home Depot, dancing, that sort of thing. They interviewed one young couple that had their ceremony in a TJ Maxx store. They said that the store played such a “large part of our lives” that they wanted to share vows in a place that meant so much to them. They plan vacations around visiting various sites, and so forth. At one point the starry eyed bride said that: “like, TJ Maxx helped me learn about life! Like, it taught me the reeeeal value of a dolllllll-urrrrrrr” with the last word ascending in pitch as the r’s trilled. Good grief. I’m glad she has her life in order.

So like, that is one place like I would not consider for preparing to

DFD