Good Santa

Well, reality begins now, the ultimate college football game is decided, Johnny Football has thrown his (oversized) hat in the NFL ring, and Tom Brady and friends play this weekend.  Yahoo..

One of the nice things about Christmas is that certain gifts keep on giving (trite, but okay). Santa was kind to me this year and I got a couple of great gifts (among others) that I really appreciate (one came in a bottle, but that’s not the current subject).  In a way, they were kind of a match, with one coming from each of the FOJ’s.   They both were related to something dear to my heart: food; and more specifically cheese.  As you know, I have upon occasion talked about cheese and what a wonderful food it is.  The first gift will help us enjoy it even more, as it was a lovely slate (keeps the cheese at a nice temperature while serving) cheeseboard, complete with a little stick of chalk for labeling the items.  As you also know, I am a big fan of providing guests with knowledge of what they are eating. The board is shown here waiting for its first occupation. 

The other gift also related to cheese in a way.  It was in the form of a book by Edward Behr, who founded the magazine: “The Art of Eating”, a slightly esoteric (can you be slightly esoteric??) food magazine.  It provides in depth reporting on various foods, wines, and cultures.  Great reading.  The name of his new book is “50 Foods – The Essentials of Good Taste”. 

You will note that (mercifully) the “B” word does not appear anywhere in the title.  In fact, his preface states that although he presents his “50 top foods”, they are chosen because HE knows and loves them.  He does not claim that “mine are the absolute best and most delicious.  The world has too many great foods for anyone to settle on a mere fifty.”  Amen. So I will give him a pass on this use of the “b” word.

The book presents the 50 foods (alphabetically) from “Anchovies” (got me right there) to “Walnuts”.   You will note that the final entry is NOT zucchini, which is gratifying.  There are several interesting entries, such as Cod, Oysters Raw, Pork and Wild Boar, and Sweetbreads to name a few.  Each chapter on “X” is only a few pages long, and follows the same pattern of giving a history of the item, along with some world wide uses of ”X”, common preparations, sometimes with a recipe like passage, and followed by three paragraphs entitled: “How to buy and store X”; Complements to X”;  “Notes on Wine”.   Very helpful and a wonderful source.

Cleverly circling back to cheeses, he also says in his introduction that: six of the fifty are cheese, and you may wonder: why so many?  The answer is that (italics mine) cheese is probably the best food, just as wine is the best drink, and even six doesn’t cover all the wonderful basic kinds.”  In this case, I will a;sp not quarrel with use of the “b” word since it mirrors my opinion which I have often stated.  It may very well be true.

Which kind of brings up an interesting thought.  If a so called “expert” or at least a respected person in any field expresses an opinion that happens to match yours, one (I do) tends to think: “Hah! This guy is really smart/discerning/knowledgable/ etc”.  I wonder what I would have thought if he said “Cheese is crap”.  Which is a bit extreme but you get my point.. Anyway, it was gratifying to see my opinions reinforced.  I really do think cheese is the (absolute) best food.

Ah ha!

And speaking of gratifying I’ll include another quote from Number 19 (Blue Crabs) especially for a friend in DC who has an appreciation for fine food and a good palate.  For purposes of anonymity, I’ll refer to him as “Dave”.  

In this chapter about Blue Crabs, he talks about them as well as other relatives (Dungeness, Stone, etc.,) but centers on the Mid Atlantic Callinectes Sapidus, our “beautiful swimmer”.   He goes through the usual life cycle story, complete with the soft shell phase, peelers, papershells, and so forth.  When he talks about eating “hard crabs” he includes this remark which will warm “Dave’s” heart: 

“Too often crabs are flavored with Old Bay seasoning, a product that dates from around the Second World War and tastes of celery salt and baking spice.  A little fresh celery is an old flavoring for crab, but the seed and spice flavors of Old Bay have no precedent in earlier Maryland cooking and don’t complement any seafood).

So there!! There you go, “Dave”! as I said this guy is an expert!!  For reader’s edification the person I refer to as “Dave” does not eat hard crabs for precisely that (dislike of Old Bay) reason.. cakes yes, crabs no.  Hold your head up in SOMD!!

Anyway, a wonderful Christmas and continuing reminder of the FOJ’s 

....and now I’m getting hungry for some aged cheddar.

When we enjoy the cheese board we will of course be

DFD