Wesley Morris's Favorites
My curiosity as a cook exceeds my talent (I have none). But last summer I tried to replicate a seared scallop dish I had at a restaurant. The chef was nice enough to share his ingredients, one of which was Asian fish sauce. Huh? I'd never heard of it, but apparently I eat it all the time, and apparently I like it. What I don't yet like is cooking with it. Its salinity makes it a tricky base, but nobody hated the scallops I made with it, and I was introduced to a new culinary friend. I used Three Crabs brand, but there are lots of others. Available from pacficrimgourmet.com.
My mother often makes carrot cakes, and I'm often not paying attention. But I was shocked -- yes, shocked -- to discover how easy a dessert it is (eggs, spices, and carrots!). This old-fashioned confection is enjoying a revival -- in cupcakes, too. I may be a kitchen caveman, but at my cave there's homemade carrot cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Cupcakes (right) available at Lulu's Bake Shoppe, 227 Hanover St., 617-720-2200.
Recipe: Carrot cake
The South End has an embarrassment of good-to-greatish restaurants. This year -- with Toro, Oishi, et al. -- things just got more embarrassing. But the most promising rookie is Orinoco, a tiny place on Shawmut Ave. under an affordable Venezuelan spell. The wait can tax your patience (some nights, two hours of preprandial aromas tease you to death). But the tenacious get to reap delicious spoils. Orinoco, 477 Shawmut Ave., 617-369-7075 .
One of the best-kept secrets in the cable universe is TVOne, which is like BET for people whose pants fit. One of the original shows is "Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin." Garvin is handsome and affable. What might stop people who stumble across his show is the sight of a masculine black dude casually mincing shallots. He says he's just "your boy holding it down in the kitchen," but Garvin is sexy, too, making you want to make love to your dinner as you prepare it -- he's the Ron Isley of food. "Heat" airs Sundays at 6 p.m. on TVOne.
