This and That

When there isn't too much going on in the food world, I sort of let life happen and that pretty much results in a “this and that” type entry.. so here goes:

Humans

Now that the slicing and dicing of the super bowl has waned and college basketball is winding down the regular season, (and Pebble Beach is over) one of the things that fills the gap is the Olympics.  NBC’s main station is given over to the antics of Today’s Matt Lauer who feels the whole event is being held just for his benefit, and they continue to play the game of pretending there are no time zones.  “Be sure to watch tonight to see if Shaun White can win the Half Pipe!”  well, excuse me, the event was over hours before you will broadcast it..  And I’ll close the small rant portion here with just a comment that if I had a dollar for every time one of his bevy of “reporters” used the phrase: “What was going through your mind when….”  Boy I hate that.

But the good news is that there are other affiliated channels that DO carry events live.   Hockey, skiing, speed and figure skating, and other contests are available.  One of the things I really enjoy is the coverage of Curling.  It’s a great sport, kind of shuffleboard on ice with special lingo like “house”, “rock”, “has the hammer” and so on.  Watching those sweepers with brooms keeping up with the rock, all the while being yelled at alternatively to “Stop!!”.. followed closely by “Hard! Hard!” and so on is just great.   I guess it does do something because they seem to control the arc of the stone.  And just the scrubber guys scooting along with the thing without falling down is a feat in itself.  Kind of low key fierceness..

And while you hear about “the spirit of competition”,  “fellow competitors”, and the “Olympic Spirit”, we have to Americanize everything.  That damn “B” word just won’t go away.  Watching coverage and all of a sudden there is a “scoreboard” thrown at you with medal counts, whose in “first place”, who’s “winning”, projecting gold medals… good grief.  Can’t we just enjoy the events and admire the talent without having to figure out who is “first” as judged by the number of trinkets on their necks?  Sigh… I must admit the athletes seem to have the right attitude, more interested in doing their best and not worrying so much about the results.   “what was going through your mind when you knew you couldn't get that Gold Medal?”  Strangling you, my dear!…  Stay away from the network outlet and enjoy the outlier channels..

Puppies

Another great event we enjoy this time of year is the AKC Westminster Dog Show.  It started last night (Monday) and continues tonight, culminating in Best of Show award.  We are non-owning dog lovers and like watching the competition.  I suppose I’ll get comments but it seems the dogs are just having fun, not so much caring about the competition swirling about them.  Actually, what they DO seem to care about is “treats”.  That’s what drives them, their eyes ever hopeful on their handler who manipulates the dogs by holding the treats to keep their stare in a particular direction.  And, if you watch closely you can see that the handlers keep said precious treats in their…pockets?  no; the little pouch?  nope; in their MOUTH!…  and the little pooch seems to know that because that’s where they watch..  keeps the head up you know.. And congrats to the (Cardigan Welsh) Corgi for taking best of breed in the Herding group.  We have a friend who has a Corgi (or vice versa) so are somewhat familiar with the type.  As the announcer who talked about the breed,said "his intelligence will quickly have his owner trained."   By the way, he (announcer) gets off some great lines.  Worth a watch!  And see, I didn’t even talk about the handlers who are a show of their own.. (with a mouthful of treats).

Duckies

Every winter we get our own animal show in our back yard.  For some reason (clam beds we have been told) the winter waterfowl like to sit out behind the house.  Being a birder I always enjoy seeing who shows up.  This year was a banner year.   Nothing rare, but most of the usual boarders showed up:  Goldeneyes, Longtails, Cormorants, Scaups, Buffleheads, Tundra Swans, and even a couple of Mergansers, and a few Canvasbacks.   But the real plus this year was the numbers there were, especially of Ruddy Ducks.  The most we have ever seen; hundreds..  here’s but a small portion, there are usually two or three raftss like these around (too many for one picture)

We’ll miss them when they leave.

Foodies (National)

Tonight the President is host to the French President François Hollande for a State Dinner.  (side note, he’s attending alone tonight).  I wondered about the menu, scratched around a little, found it, and after a little reflection I think it is appropriate.  At first I thought maybe they would serve “French” food, but of course that is dumb.  We should showcase our National Cuisine (which we don’t have) so there are Caviar from Illinois (?); quail eggs from Pennsylvania; twelve (!!) varieties of potatoes from New York, Idaho (whew), and California.  The salad comes from the White House garden.  And of course what else do you eat in America for dinner?  Steak of course, sourced from a “a family owned farm” in Colorado, dry aged and served with blue cheese crisps from Jasper Farm in Vermont.  Dessert will be a chocolate malted cake that combines bittersweet chocolate from Hawaii and tangerines from Florida and will be served with vanilla ice cream from Pennsylvania. Additionally, the menu boasts fudge made from Vermont maple syrup, lavender shortbread cookies and cotton candy dusted with orange zest.

Okay, stop right there.  Unless it was omitted from the menu I saw, there was NO cheese course!  What the hell?  We have cheeses that rival good French Cheeses… a Frenchman comes to dinner and you don’t serve him cheese??  International incident!

And what, you might well ask are the wines?  Well, once again when in America, you serve American wines.  BUT… there is a bit of a nod to their guest… White wine:  Morlet "La Proportion Dorée" 2011 from Napa Valley.  Winemaker Luc Morlet grew up in France;  First Red: Chester-Kidder Red Blend 2009 — Columbia Valley, Wash; Their wine maker Gilles Nicault also grew up in France worked in Côtes du Rhone;  Sparkling: Thibaut-Jannison "Blanc de Chardonnay" from nearby Monticello, Virginia. Frenchmen Claude Thibaut and Manuel Janisson, are from from the Champagne-Ardenne region.  Latter choice is probably more historically driven, as we know Thomas Jefferson was a lover of French wine and imported massive amounts of it.. So although there are American wines, the French influence is not far behind..

Excuse me Mr. President? No Cheese course???? 

C’mon Man! 

Of course there is NO doubt they will all be

DFD