Has this ever happened to you? You decide you need your phone for something
important, and reach for it only to find empty space/pocket/clip, whatever you
use to attach it to yourself, and….. it’s
empty.. WHERE IS my phone!!?? A room to room search finally turns it up in
the bathroom next to the toilet or something.
Yes, you could call it and listen for the ringtone, but that’s something (at least for
me) like asking others for directions. Real
men don’t do it. At any rate, you finally have the cherished
phone in hand, and…..you forgot what you wanted it for… sigh…
We do not subscribe to the WashPo daily edition, but I may
have mentioned that a thoughtful neighbor pulls the Wednesday food section and
saves it for me. Usually contains some interesting
things in it. I won’t regurgitate the
whole thing, you can do that, but some of the more notable items from the last
edition:
Margrit Mondavi passed, at age 91, second wife of
Robert.
Jancis Robinson has published a 112 page “The 24-Hour Wine
Expert”, (at a hefty $43 bucks!!) with an aim to provide the basics of wine without all the hype and
detail she usually includes in her other works (Oxford Companion to Wine, her World
Atlas of Wine (with Hugh Johnson)), etc.
I have not seen it, but the Wine writer for the post likes it.
Beer of the Week:
Blue Mountain Spooky Pumpkin Ale -
God help us.
But what fascinated me most was a piece on, of all things, New
London High school cafeteria lunches in New London, Connecticut. School/institutional lunches have lots of challenges to meet
governmental limits on sodium, fats, calories, budgetary restraints, and so
on. And we all may have remembrances of glop on a plate. Not happy. And so a new chef arrived to take on the
job. One Daniel Giusti. Not a name familiar to most people (including me). It listed his previous experience was listed as Chef de
Cuisine at….. NOMA, which some readers might recall was considered the greatest
restaurant in the world. He left there
to participate in what has come to be known as “chef activism” and is a member of
the “Chef Action Network” a movement which is “engaged at the local level around school lunches and at the national level
when it comes to legislation regarding food and nutrition”. In January, he launched Brigaid, a startup
that aims to put professional chefs in public school cafeterias in order
to improve their lunches. He did away with styrofoam, trays, and instead serves up lunch on plates.
In these days of “celebrity
chefs” falling all over themselves to be on Food Network as “stars” and cult
heroes, it is gratifying to see somebody trying to make a real difference with
food, not bucks. Good on them.
Distasteful Department (Finally)
I’ve been kind of
turning over in my mind whether or not: to include this in the Feeder, and: how to include what I consider a distasteful subject; but in a tasteful
manner. In the end (pun intended, read on) I thought it was so
repugnant and in poor taste that I guess I would like to share it. And, it involves a national publication and a
serious subject, so somebody thinks it’s okay, but it sort of grossed me out and incongruous with food…
so here goes:
I suppose as a result
of subscribing to almost every (important) food publication, I am on some sort
of sucker list, and hence I get invitations to subscribe to many food related magazines
and newsletters. Mostly I don’t sign
up. So the other day I get a “complimentary”
copy of a slick magazine called “Taste of Home – Best Loved Recipes from Home Cooks Like You”, (me? really?) and on the cover was
some sort of photo of a Four Cheese Rigatoni Bake in a home style casserole
dish. And a sub tile was “Your Best
Family Dinners”. On the bottom of the cover
was a highlighted proclamation on a red banner that this was “The #1 Food &
Entertaining Magazine in the Entire World”.
Really! Wonder by whom… So between that claim, the “B” word appearing
twice on the cover, and what seemed to me an attitude of denigration of “home
cooks” (dullards, they need simple, easy to make casseroles for dad and the kids), I was
ready to head for the recycle bin.
But, out of morbid
curiosity I opened the first page. And
there, there, on the left inside cover was a full color, three quarter page close-up
of a lady’s derriere, clad in jeans. Please
forgive and understand me when I say that it wasn’t “cute” but rather a full
cut posterior, with the words: “Made you look.
And yes, I’m wearing them” superimposed between the left hip pocket to
the right one, across the bum. The remainder of the page was an ad for “Always”, a “discreet”
garment for (quote): "bladder leaks", and descriptive words of the functionality
of the garment not to be repeated here.
Now I suppose
these magazines rely on advertising to exist, and with a check, I presume their products could be given accommodation as to placement in the magazine. But, any respectful editor of a FOOD magazine
might have some considerations of what his market might (or might not) would
like to see on the inside of the front cover, not to mention a sense of decency.
Maybe it might be okay across from the Page 83 recipes for Antipasto Bake, Ground Beef Taco
Dip, and Slow Cooker Artichoke – Spinach Dip, but inside
front cover? Culinary journalism at its
best..Completed my trip to the recycle bin.
Thanks..
With that
closing, it kind of sheds a (last and unsavory) thought on
DFD
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