Just kind of a short (I hope) “this and that” compendium of
things worth mentioning, but maybe not dwell upon (hopefully). No particular
order
Au
While the metal has been made into pieces to adorn humans
It is now showing up on menus and culinary items (as we have
seen)
With apologies to the dear lady who supplied a sample for me to play with
My question has to be “Why Gold”? I suppose it has a wow factor, but why “guild
the lily” (ha ha) of a perfectly good dish (in this case pancakes)? I played a little with the sheet and it
sticks to anything, blows away easily, so I have nothing but respect for the chef
trying to make it behave. And the
question might be: “Is it okay to eat the stuff”? the short answer is “yes” because: “Gold is considered "biologically
inert," meaning it passes through the digestive tract without being
absorbed”; hmm without getting too
graphic, if it passes without being absorbed….think briefly about the end
result…. Nuff said. Anyway, I might try
to use it and see what happens!
Venues
Got a little more gouge on the history of the CD Café. Apparently the original “Deb” (the “D”) and
her original colleague “Chris” (the “C”) had a disagreement which led to splitting
up, with Deb keeping the restaurant. She
may have sold it again recently.
A reader responded about “The Slice” in Leonardtown (old “Kevin’s”
space) and allowed it was good, but that person likes “The Brick (nee: Brick
Wood Fired Bistro)” in Price Frederick I think in the old “Jericho’s” space
which, as I recall, burned. You can peruse
the menu here. They also list local
sourcing of their ingredients.
Tips
Among the lot of food magazines I get is “Cook’s Country”
kind of a spin-off from Cook’s Illustrated, now part of the “America’s Test
Kitchen” empire, which MAYBE had Chris Kimball involved originally, but he has since
moved on to become president and founder of “Milk Street”, which has more of an
international bent. Anyway, back to
Cooks Country. It has some interesting
recipes, equipment reviews, “how to’s” and so forth. It also, like other publications of its ilk,
always has a section of reader submitted questions. There’s a doozy in the latest issue which should
go to the Smithsonian archive of idiocy.
The person submitting it might have a hard time boiling water… (how do
I..) I will include the complete quote from
“New York” for your edification (and hopefully not education!)
“Recipes often call
for slicing beef against the grain, but I don’t understand what this means or
how to do it. Can you clarify?” Okay,
N.Y. immediately sell all your pots and cooking equipment, and find a different
hobby, cooking is not for you. The
editors do not dismiss the query, but spend a couple of columns explaining
fibers, etc., (including a photo of some eye of the round thing, clearly
showing “grain”.) and helpful explanations like: “If you think of the fibers as
a handful of dry spaghetti, you want to cut the bundle of spaghetti into
shorter sections”
Hooey Department
Well, I will be the first to admit I am a fan of Robert
Parker and his “Wine Advocate”, which originally had what I found to be valuable
and reliable reviews of wines. Of course
there grew to be many “imitators” like Wine Spectator who, while it does
contain some interesting articles, never met a wine they didn’t like, seldom
rating anything below 90 points.
Anyway the Wine Advocate has expanded over the years, spending
more time reviewing international wines, and Parker has hired several “experts”
who specialize in various wine regions (Italy – Monica Larner; Bordeaux, Sonoma
County Bordeaux Varieties and Napa Valley by Lisa Perotti-Brown) and so on. Well now that they can spend more time on
narrower topics they seem to have taken the art of “Wine Speak” to new
levels. A quick and tiny sampling:
2018 Ausone (Lisa Perrotti): Deep purple-black in color, it
is an impenetrable wall to begin, unrelenting without persistent coaxing, at
last uncoiling to offer glimpses of preserved plums, blueberry coulis, molten
licorice, and underbrush with emerging scents of lavender iron ore, crushed
stones, (mick???) charcoal and Indian
spices plus a waft of red roses.
2018 Cheval Blanc (and le Petit Cheval)… “comes strutting
out of the glass with …. Candied violets, star anise, …. Kirsh and unsmoked
cigars”
2005 Joy! (Iron Horse vineyards, Sonoma; Erin Brooks) It has a bright, saline-accented nose with
mineral aromas of crushed stone and shell, lemon pith, acacia blossoms, and Golden
Delicious apples. Not Macintosh, mind
you, Golden Delicious!
I could go on forever (as did they!).
Give me a break!! Do they just make this crap up? Is there a wheel in their office they spin for
phrases? Geez, it’s GRAPE JUICE!! Some hints as to tannins, fruity or no, ready
to drink or cellar, stuff like that is helpful to some degree, but “unsmoked
cigars”.. C’mon, man!!
Okay enough for today
DFD and DAMJ
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