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This is either too funny or too sad. I can't figure out which. An article in the paper this morning caught my eye. (Yes, I'm one of six people left in the nation that still reads the news the old-fashioned way -- with a print newspaper.)
The headline said "Tokyo fish market takes licking from silly tourists." Some crazy (and slightly inebriated, according to the article) British tourist was filmed licking the head of a tuna at the famed fish market. Those kooky Brits! As a result, the market was closed for a while to tourists. Hey people, this isn't a freak show -- it's an auction!
Last October, I visited the Honolulu Fish Market auction early one morning as part of a professional culinary tour. We arrived at the market just before 6 a.m. Any later and we would have missed it. The market is located at water's edge, and boats pull up every morning and unload their haul. Tunas, swordfish, skipjacks, dolphinfish (mahi-mahi) and moonfish make up the bulk of the offerings.
It's all very serious business in the bustling, freezing warehouse. Fresh caught fish are sold to the highest bidders. The buyers are chefs and restaurant owners, vying for the best of the catch. Fish are stacked on movable carts and men with rubber boots with pen and paper in hand move up and down the aisles hunched over the fish while an auctioneer sputters bids with rapid succession. As soon as the fish is sold, a tag is slapped on the fish and they move on to the next one. It takes less than a minute to sell a fish -- sometimes less than 30 seconds.
Entrance into this chilly Poseidon tomb is a privilege, and I'm happy to report that our group of chefs, food writers and cookbook authors behaved with the utmost respect for the fishermen, the auction staff and the marine biologist who led our tour. Besides, really, would you want to kiss this?
Super Bowl brings out snack fiends. Just look at the food coupons in Sunday papers to see what I mean. Every coupon is for some type of snack, dip or chip. Pam Anderson has an article in this week's USA Weekend magazine about "super-yummy" Super Bowl snack food, and to be completely honest, none of it looks yummy. Healthy? Perhaps, but definitely not yummy.
What took my breath away (not in a good way, more like a stab to the chest) was her recipe for "a lighter" guacamole. Now, I admit I'm a guac-freak. I'm very picky about guacamole. You can't put tomatoes in guacamole. You have to use ripe, but not mushy Haas avocados. Lots of garlic. Lots of lime. A healthy portion of chopped jalapeno or serrano for more heat. Touch of cilantro and a smidgen of finely chopped red onion. Some salt and pepper. That's it.
Anderson's "healthy" guacamole has...gulp...1-1/2 cups of frozen green peas! Yuk! Phutzhtz! That's not guacamole! That's pea puree. Oh, she calls for 6 small Haas avocados, but half the bulk of her guac will be peas. Thank goodness she didn't also call for tomatoes.
The thing is, avocados are high in calories and fat. But it's mostly the good kind of fat (unsaturated) and avocados are bursting at the seams with fiber, minerals and vitamins. Sure, if you eat too much of it you will get fat. You will also get fat eating too much of anything other than lettuce. But if you eat moderate amounts, and you are not a couch potato, real guacamole can fit into a healthy diet.
I'm stepping off my soap box, but before I do, here is my recipe for real guacamole. Be sure to share.
(istockphoto.com/copyright by Cathleen Clapper)
Gwen's Guacamole
First, you should know that I don't really follow a set recipe. I just start with the basic ingredients and then I taste and adjust as I go along. I did write these proportions down the last time I made guac, so it's a guideline. But you should taste as you go along as well. You might like less lime or less garlic than I do. I only ask one thing. Please, please don't put tomatoes in my guacamole recipe. Tomatoes have so much water in them, they dilute the flavor of the avocado. If you must, you can garnish the top with some chopped tomatoes. Just don't tell me about it.
Serves 6
3 large ripe (but not squishy) Haas avocados
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2-3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno (or serrano) minced (remove seeds if you are a weenie)
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro (tender stems OK)
Juice of 1 lime (have another one handy in case you really like lime)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (less if using regular table salt)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the seed. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into a large bowl.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently, careful not to turn the mixture into mush. You want some chunks of avocado. Use two knives or two forks to toss and slice. I use my hands but it's easy to over mix using your hands.
3. Taste and add more lime juice or salt and pepper, or more of any of the ingredients. Taste with your serving chip, as it likely has salt on it and you may not need any more salt.
4. Let rest for 30 minutes for the flavors to marry.
5. To store, spread guacamole surface smooth and flat. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface making sure the whole surface is in contact with the plastic (this keeps it from turning brown, unlike sticking the seed in the mix...that's an urban myth. Air is what makes guacamole turn brown.) Cover the bowl again with a lid or more plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Keeps for up to 3 days this way, although you may have to scrape a little bit of oxygenated, brown guac from the edges.
Not everyone is letting the economy get them down. In fact, when we ran across this sign in Austin, Texas recently, we thought, "huh, isn't that clever?" Little Woodrow's is known for offering 100 beers, 30 of them on tap.
I never drank beer until college, and even then, I never took a liking to it. Kegs of Bud Light and Coors just don't have much flavor to me. During my beverage classes in culinary school, we took a field trip to a local microbrewery. The Brew Master took us on a tour and then we gathered in a private dining room to sample all of his craft beers.
He described the aroma and flavor notes just like winemakers describe their wines. We picked up on hints of caramel, chocolate, smoke and blackberries. It was a revelation to me that beer could actually have flavor.
Since then, I've studied beer making in more detail. I wrote a story about Arizona's only female brewer, Melissa Osborne, from Four Peaks Brewery. I spent the day with her, watching with fascination, the process of turning grain into brew. It's not a glamorous job. It's heavy lifting mixed with a bit of chemistry and a touch of art.
These days, I'm just as smitten with discovering a local brew as I am discovering a new, boutique wine. Really what I'm saying is that I'm doing my part to help the economy by sampling local beer wherever I happen to be. You should try it, too. Let's all do our part to get this economy moving again, even if it means downing a few brewskies.
Fortune says I love words, and I should write a book....in bed. I'm kidding about the bed part. I learned from neighbors years ago, that fortunes from fortune cookies must be completed with the phrase "...in bed." Why? I don't know. Perhaps they are funnier that way.
I kept this fortune because for the first time ever, a fortune cookie had my number. Yes, I love words. And I've already written three books. Maybe I should write another one.
I read a story a while back that said the fortune cookie was an American invention -- not a Chinese one. That figures, doesn't it? Still, I don't think a trip to a Chinese restaurant (in America, of course) is complete without a fortune cookie. Most of the time, the cookie tastes like crunchy cardboard.
Only once did I taste a fortune cookie that made me want to eat the whole thing. It was at Prime Chinese, in Phoenix, off Central and Camelback Road. It was crunchy but in a delicate way. It tasted of almond and egg whites, not the typical pasty taste. Usually, I crack open a fortune cookie, read the inscription...adding the words "...in bed" just so that it's funnier, and then toss the broken cookie back on the table.
But getting this particular fortune in my cookie the other night has me thinking. How does one get a job writing fortunes? Now that sounds like a fun job, don't you think? Next Monday, January 26, is the Chinese New Year -- the year of the OX. Go out and celebrate, and grab a cookie on your way out. It might just have your number.
Other than browsing cooking stores and grocery stores, moseying around a bookstore is one of my favorite pastimes. I don't mind hanging out in the major chain bookstores (Borders or Barnes & Noble) but I prefer independent bookstores.
Knowing what I do about the publishing world, I have a keen sense of appreciation for what it takes to own and operate a bookstore. It's tough. Whenever I travel, in addition to seeking out the coolest restaurants, cooking stores and grocery stores, I look for the independent bookstore.
Near downtown Austin is a fabulous, funky independent bookstore called Bookpeople. It is one of the largest independent bookstores I've seen, almost twice as big as our Tempe, Arizona independent gem, Changing Hands.
What struck me as cool about Bookpeople was their merchandising. Sale books are up front. Walking in the front door, you can't miss the mothership of an information desk, manned with helpful, smiling employees. Yes! Smiling! Imagine that!
The two-story store is obviously about books, but they also carry a wide variety of gifts -- bags, pens, stationary, cooking utensils -- in the cookbook section, of course. I was amazed at the variety and depth of non-book products. The magazine section was also one of the largest I've ever seen.
Returning from the bathroom, I found this antique barber chair tucked in a corner. It was occupied most of the time we were browsing the store, but just before we left, I dashed back upstairs and it was empty so I snapped a picture. Clever. Unique. Just like the rest of the store.
April 14-19. Put it on your calendar. The 31st Scottsdale Culinary Festival is shaping up to be a week of culinary fun. The festival kicks off with a Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner at the Westin Kierland, featuring local and national chefs. The new W Scottsdale hotel will host Bubbles and Bliss, with bubbly and bites from Sushi Roku. The Great Arizona Picnic is back for the weekend, and the event wraps up with Best of the Fest, a five-course wine-paired dinner at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa. There are 12 events in all, and if you purchase tickets before March 6, you'll save money. Visit scottsdaleculinaryfestival.org for more information. Photo provided by margomedia.com
Salt used to be good as gold. Or at least it was traded as currency in ancient civilizations. Now it's cheap and plentiful. We couldn't survive without salt in our diet. Like most things that are good for us, too much can be deadly...even sodium.
Recently, I picked up a spice mix at a swanky Texas market, a mix from a company based out of Boulder, Colorado. Now, I know most commercial spice mixes contain salt, and most are too salty, which is why I normally create my own blends. But this one was called orange pepper and salt was the third ingredient (U.S. food labeling laws require companies to list ingredients in order, by weight, beginning with the heaviest weight.)
Many prepared spice ingredient lists begin with salt. But I thought this one might not be too salty since salt was third. I was wrong. Now, if I had just sprinkled a whisper of this salty, orange pepper combination on my chicken breasts, I might not have noticed so much.
But I like to coat my protein in spice mixes for a full-on flavor blast, and I loved the idea of a peppery orange crust on my seared chicken. The dang thing was so salty, I'm sure it raised my blood pressure on the spot. I still like the idea of the orange pepper combination, so I've created my own blend (that does have a touch of salt, but not enough empty the coffers at Morton's.)
Gwen's Peppery Orange Spice Blend
Makes 1/4 cup
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper (coarse grind)
1 tablespoon freshly ground white pepper (coarse grind)
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Stir all ingredients together and store in an airtight container. Recipe easily doubles. Use on chicken, turkey, or even fish.
Did you know that there are 27 steps to fine dining? I didn't either, until I went to culinary school. One of my classes was restaurant management, and as part of the class, we waited tables in the school's fine dining restaurant, while our sister class played chefs in the kitchen.
Now, 27 steps might seem excessive...you think? It is. But interestingly, we were told that the most important step (I think it was step 23) was picking up payment for the check. That makes total sense. If you're running a restaurant, the most important step is getting the money, right?
It's important to the customer, too, because once they throw money down, they want to wrap up the meal and be on their way. Or even if they want to linger a bit, getting the check out of the way is good for the guest and the server. It doesn't let the server off the hook in terms of making sure your needs are still met -- more water or coffee or tea?
Even casual restaurants need a certain amount of dining steps. Twenty-seven is overkill in my opinion, even at a fine dining restaurant, but taking care of the check is important no matter what kind of restaurant it is.
"Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." Mark Twain
I rank cauliflower only slightly ahead of brussels sprouts, which is probably the cruelest joke of a vegetable ever. I know people who love, no...adore brussels sprouts. My sister-in-law is one, and she keeps trying to convert me with different BS dishes -- some with garlic, some with lemon, some with bacon. I say "BS" to them all.
Cauliflower is only marginally less offensive. Yes, I've had it steamed, raw, and pureed to replace mashed potatoes (a cardinal sin, by the way...there is NO substitute for perfectly mashed potatoes.) The only way I hadn't tried cauliflower was roasted. And, eureka! I found the key to getting cauliflower on my plate in an edible form.
Shopping at the farmers' market this weekend, I was struck by the beauty of the bin of cauliflower heads (I never said I didn't like the way they look, I just never liked the way they taste.) I picked up a perfectly formed head of cauliflower, creamy white with tight florets, and soft green leaves curling seductively over the edges of the head. I couldn't resist.
Since I picked up some gorgeous red beets at the same time, I thought perhaps I should try roasting the cauliflower while I was at it. The beets, wrapped in foil, take about an hour to roast at 400 degrees, so just 30 minutes before they were done, I got to work on slicing the cauliflower.
First I cut the florets from the core. Then I sliced each floret just thicker than 1/4-inch. They looked like mushroom slices when I was finished. I put them in a deep bowl and drizzled a dipping oil over them -- a combination of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that I also picked up at the market. I drizzled probably 3 tablespoons of the dipping oil all over the head of sliced florets. A sprinkle of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper, combined with a few good tosses to distribute the flavorings, and it was ready to go into the oven.
My timer read 15 minutes and I scooted the foil wrapped beets to one side of the sheet pan and spread my cauliflower over the rest of the pan. After ten minutes, I gave the cauliflower a good stir, noticing that the bottoms had started to caramelize nicely. Another 5 minutes and the cauliflower was tender, and spotted brown in places from contact with the sheet pan.
Fork ready, I took a bite. Oooh. Sweet, tender, and just a whisper of tang from the vinegar. Ah. I think I like educated cabbage after all.
istock photo/Gary Martin
He saunters over to our table like he owns the place, but he's just our server. "Cheers," he says (about 30 times before the evening is over.) He tells us his name, something trendy like "Dillon," (I changed his name because I'm really not picking on him, too much) and ceremoniously announces he'll be taking care of us (what a relief!) -- in his own sweet time as it turns out.
The service wasn't really bad, per se, just lax. Of course, we were in a Texas ice house and the vibe is cathartically laid back to begin with. It seems as if everyone is moving in slow motion, even the guests. Maybe that's just Texas time and I've been out of my home state too long to recall the dawdling pace.
Most folks fall into one of two camps regarding the friendliness of servers. I've got nothing against friendly, or casual service for that matter, but I tend to not like my server sitting down at the table with us to take our order, or even sitting on a chair at a nearby table. Or leaning their butt on a nearby chair as Dillon was prone to do, which technically isn't sitting down, but still conveys the same assumed familiarity. It just sends a message that the server doesn't really want to be a server.
Hard to fault anyone for that -- I know I never liked waiting tables. But I never sat down with my customers because it just isn't professional. I don't care how casual the joint is. So what's the point of this post? Nothing really, just an observation about a(nother) restaurant pet peeve I have, ranked right after #1 -- waiters swiping plates before I'm finished eating.
This is either too funny or too sad. I can't figure out which. An article in the paper this morning caught my eye. (Yes, I'm one of six people left in the nation that still reads the news the old-fashioned way -- with a print newspaper.)
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