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October 27, 2006
Coming soon to a ballot near you: rows upon rows of Carlo Rossi jugs of blush.
Question 1, as anyone who's gone near a grocery store in the past year knows, concerns a proposed law that would allow supermarkets and most convenience stores to sell wine.
I'm sure there are many complex questions surrounding the issue: Would the proposal put booze in underage hands? Is the current setup unfair? (The ballot's "in favor" argument in the "Information for Voters" packet accuses package stores of having a "virtual monopoly" on wine, which seems similar to the way pharmacies have a "virtual monopoly" on antibiotics.)
Here's another question: Does the building in the above photo look like a palace of fine wine? That answer, at least, is clear-cut.
I don't want drunk driving fatalities to increase, as the con side claims they would. And I don't want consumers to be denied choice, as the pro side claims is the case now.
I also don't want more jugs of blush in the world.
If they change the fine print on the question to stipulate that supermarkets and convenience stores must carry only boutique wines made by small-scale producers, then we'll talk.
Posted by Devra First at 05:32 PM
October 26, 2006
It's 6:30 pm and the apple did not hit the spot.
There are light rye Wasa crackers in my drawer and those certainly don't seem appealing. Anyway, I had some for lunch.
I always keep a can of tuna on hand for emergencies. I'm not there yet. And frankly it doesn't look any more appealing on the screen than it does in my desk drawer.
These I'm saving for a moment when I'm desperate, or when the team of Living-Arts copy editors I feed on Thursday nights needs a pick-me-up.
Tonight they got Kathleen's Bake Shop "Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies," made in Midlothian, Va. The box says, "Tastes like fresh homemade cookies!" They do not.
Sometimes that doesn't matter at all.
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 07:07 PM
October 26, 2006
No, not those covers. Book covers. Cookbooks might seem predictable. You have a short prologue about the author's food philosophy, and then the rest is recipes. But a couple of eye-openers came to my attention recently.
Marcus Samuelsson (above), the chef of Aquavit in New York, has a new book, "The Soul of a New Cuisine." In his professional life, Samuelsson creates beautiful, clean and spare Scandanavian food. But he, too, is a surprise: an Ethiopian adopted as a child by Swedish parents.
His book, subtitled "A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa," celebrates his heritage. (Look for a Food article next month about this celebrated chef.)
But the clincher is the foreword. It's by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the famed spiritual leader of South Africa and a Nobel laureate. Now that's a coup for a cookbook.
The other standout book has to do with $$$. The most famous chef working today is arguably Ferran Adria of El Bulli in Spain, whose experimental cuisine is analyzed and copied by countless young chefs.
Adria has a book coming out next month, "El Bulli: 1994-1997" that promises to tell how he does what he does. And it's only $350!
A steal if you agree with Anthony Bourdain, "Kitchen Confidential" author, who calls it "the ultimate foodie object of desire."
Posted by Alison Arnett at 01:20 PM
October 25, 2006
Friday night through Halloween, the consistently delicious EVOO in Somerville is offering a menu of pumpkin dishes.
Coming out of the kitchen: savory pumpkin pie with caramelized onion puree, tart green tomatoes, and Great Hill blue cheese; roasted Verrill Farms pumpkin filled with pumpkin gnocchi, autumn vegetables, toasted pumpkin seeds, apples, sage, and local cider; and pumpkin bread pudding with candied walnuts and maple cream.
The three-course menu costs 30 bucks. Like all of EVOO's food, it uses as many local ingredients as possible.
If you're there Oct. 28, 30, or 31, you can also vote for your favorite jack-o'-lantern in the restaurant's staff pumpkin-carving contest. Costumes are optional but encouraged. OK, fine, the restaurant didn't mention costumes, but I think you should wear one.
Posted by Devra First at 12:40 PM
October 24, 2006
I'm pretty sure that the darling girl on the cover of "Food Adventures, Introducing Your Child to Flavors From Around the World" is eating from a bowl of spaghetti with squid rings in tomato sauce. I looked at the photograph and knew immediately that this isn't an ordinary baby food guide.
In fact, the book is by Elisabeth Luard, celebrated English food writer, and her daughter-in-law Frances Boswell, food director of Real Simple magazine.
The foods for a 6-month-old are blueberry soup (specialty of Scandinavia), leek puree with a little potato (Belgian baby specialty), rice congee (Chinese), junket (Miss Muffet), apple puree (all apple-growing countries), pea puree (Denmark), and polenta (Romania).
Even if the baby you adore wouldn't touch this food, the dishes are fascinating: "first aids" for funny tummy include garlic broth (Provence) and mangu (smooth plantain porridge from the Caribbean). For nights when the tummy's fine, there's homemade pirozhki (like Polish pirogi), fideu (Catalan pork and pasta), jambalaya (Louisiana).
Earlier this year in Sicily, I watched the children at a table across from us, who came into the restaurant after 9 p.m., wait patiently for their parents to eat their first courses -- each child had a slice of bread -- before everyone's entree arrived. Those children, too, dug into big bowls of spaghetti and squid.
So many people cater to children's fussy eating habits. Maybe if squid rings and spicy rice were on the menu (no substitutes allowed), the kids would eventually cave and certainly the parents would be relieved.
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 07:46 PM
October 24, 2006
Now that the Michelin Guide is firmly established on this side of the pond, the 2007 New York City guide, in bookstores tomorrow, will be closely read. Only three restaurants -- Per Se, Le Bernardin, and Jean Georges (above) -- garnered three stars. All French or French-inspired cuisine, one might note.
Four captured two stars, Mario Batali's new Del Posto among them. And 32 places got one star.
But New York is a city of thousands of eateries, so the 487 in five boroughs that squeezed into the guide's pages are still among a select group.
Posted by Alison Arnett at 04:41 PM
October 23, 2006
Post-movies this weekend, we headed to the Blue Room bar for dinner and a drink. But it was a tad chilly in there: Our favorite bartender was nowhere to be seen, and it was 10 minutes till someone finally greeted us. "I'll be right with you," she said, smiling with the utmost insincerity. Somehow the menu no longer looked appealing.
So we hightailed it over to nearby Anise, where we knew it would be anything but chilly.
We were right: Anise's Sichuan food was hot. People seem to be divided on this newish restaurant: Some love it, some hate it, some love it on some visits and hate it on others. And I won't even get into the authenticity debate.
But I will say that I've been twice now, and both times I left happy, with a burning tongue. (Just don't get the weird battered, deep-fried beef.)
Unfortunately, on both of my visits, Anise has been echoingly empty. (Maybe it's busier at lunch; I've only been for dinner.) Why?
Theories:
1. The interior design. Anise, a rather large space, opted for cheery colors and bright fabrics. Perhaps it should have gone for slate surfaces and a palette of grays. It would have been a nice balance to the spicy food, and it would have looked hip. Instead, it looks upscale but slightly outdated.
2. The space is cursed. Restaurants there seem to die on the vine.
3. Bostonians don't like spicy food.
4. Emma's pizza is across the street.
Whatever. I want Anise to stay in business; I think it deserves to succeed. So here's my plug for the place: Try it. It's good! Or maybe it's not! How will you know if you don't go see for yourself?
Posted by Devra First at 07:23 PM
October 23, 2006
The contents of last week's fridge turned out to be wildly popular in blogland. So here's more.
The green bowl on the top right holds apples I don't usually buy (Spencer and Mutsu). The trusty black Le Creuset pot, buy of the century at TJ Maxx, holds golden cauliflower soup. When I went to Wilson Farms to buy golden cauli, there wasn't any, so I used white cauliflower and added a little butternut squash.
The slim white container on the bottom right holds more soup. Under it in the green container is a peasant soup made by mixing everything in the fridge at the end of last week and simmering it in one pot. Before I dare you to eat it, you should know it's always wonderful.
Moving left, the light blue pot holds chicken stew, the big container underneath it has the leftovers from Saturday night's dinner party. The long blue-topped container to the left of that holds roasted Hubbard squash. It's sitting on my lunches for the week.
On the shelf above in small containers is Brown Cow yogurt, which sits beside baggies holding grapes. Breakfast stash to take to work.
I almost photographed the fridge last Friday night because it seemed incredible that it was so bare, compared to how voluptuous it looked on Sunday night. Are we eating too much, I wondered.
Then the answer came: of course!
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 06:19 PM
October 23, 2006
A friend writes: "Since the loss of Rumplemeyer's on Central Park South, I feared that my trips to the Big Apple would never be the same. Remember the whipped cream in a silver bowl brought to the table at Rumplemeyer's?"
But last weekend, she found a chocoholic replacement.
She goes on to tout Max Brenner's: Chocolate by the Bald Man in Union Square. "The hot chocolate was amazing," she writes. "I had the toffee hot chocolate. They serve only one size, tiny, for about $4.20. But once you taste it, you don't care." Her companions had hot choco-pops, which had tiny crunchy malted milk balls, and another had Italian hot chocolate containing espresso.
On its website, Max Brenner's lists many shops in Australia, the Philippines, and Israel, where the company originated, and now one in New York (another is set to open on the Upper East Side). Oh, and the cafes also offer low-fat items and "healthy" breakfasts. Though, as my correspondent says, "Why bother?"
Posted by Alison Arnett at 03:50 PM
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