Posted in ale, America, beans, beer, braised, British, carrots, Christmas, easy, England, family, holiday, holidays, Meat, onions, pork, Potato, rosemary, sauce, stew, tradition, travel, vinegar on Dec 20th, 2011
I often think that living in a small scruffy New York City apartment is akin to a pioneer life in a log cabin somewhere remote. Sure, the commute is easier, but the myriad quotidien affronts and man traps of a city existence certainly resemble the perils of life on the range.
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Posted in America, fennel, Garlic, ground meat, Italian, Meat, meatballs, rice, sausage, Tuscan, tuscany on Nov 2nd, 2011
I was recently introduced to an Australian with whom I had a number of interesting discussions (that is not meant as a joke). The first, an hour-long discussion of the age-old cricketing rivalry between England and his native land is of no concern here, but the second, a frank exchange of views about the quality [...]
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Posted in America, fish, lobster, tourism, travel on Oct 22nd, 2011
Ah, Maine, with its mossy forests, its briny cliffs dotted with picturebook fishing villages, its bracing salt air, and its discount-tastic outlet malls! What could be more uplifting to the benighted soul of a grimy city-dweller than an autumnal visit to the cheerful redoubt of the gaily-painted puffin, the marshy lowlands of the lumbering moose, [...]
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It rarely gives me any satisfaction to work so close to Penn Station, especially in the summer when the areas less salubrious residents are at their most pungent, and, dare I say, because of the heat, most crazed. It is at this time of year that the legion of stupefied zombies, fiending smackheads and other [...]
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I refer regularly to Jim Harrison’s collection of food essays the Raw & the Cooked because even though they were written more than ten years ago their relevance to contemporary culinary trends persists. In one such essay, Harrison writes about the tens of millions of chicken legs and thighs the US ships to Russia annually [...]
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Posted in America, Argentina, Beach, beef, blogging, Buenos Aires, Chorizo, kidneys, Montevideo, morcilla, Naples, restaurant, Restaurant Review, sausage, South America, sweetbreads, tourism, tripe, Uruguay, yucca on Apr 27th, 2011
“A little of what you fancy does you good.” – British saying The hardworking folks behind this non-award winning blog are enjoying a deserved warm weather break on Florida’s Gulf Coast right now. No offense to the locals, but we did not pick this particular destination for its well-known and highly prized food culture. Instead, [...]
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Posted in America, Brooklyn, cafe, history, Italian, Italian-American, meatballs, octopus, offal, Park Slope, pulpo, restaurant, Restaurant Review, ricotta, tradition on Mar 18th, 2011
When you think of old-style Italian-American restaurants does red sauce spring to mind? Red check wax table cloths, family-style servings, a free salad with your entree, rotund red-faced guys with their sleeves rolled-up, going “ey!” and slapping each other on the back? Sure, it’s a cliché, but it’s also close to the truth in a [...]
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Posted in America, Asturias, beans, cabrales, Chorizo, cocido, fabada, Garlic, history, Meat, morcilla, Olive Oil, paprika, pimenton, pork, saffron, tradition, travel on Mar 11th, 2011
Almost seven years ago I journeyed from Santillana del Mar to Santa Maria de Lebaña via San Vicente de la Barquera. So many saints, so much devotion, that it was little surprise to learn that beyond the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana and through the Picos de Europe lies the hallowed ground of Covadonga. [...]
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Posted in America, Argentina, beef, Bourdain, Buenos Aires, chile, chili, culture, fried, Peru, Potato, rice, South America, tradition, travel on Jan 24th, 2011
During his show on Panama, Anthony Bourdain observed that Chinese food somehow gets shinier the further west one goes. He might also have mentioned that it changes in other ways throughout the western hemisphere too, on the whole, becoming less and less Chinese-like. In a similar way to Panama, to which Chinese laborers flocked to [...]
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Posted in America, Christmas, Food Commentary, France, French, French-ness, holiday, holidays, Jacques Pepin, Paul Bocuse, tarragon on Dec 12th, 2010
The culinary memoir has to be one of my favorite genres of both cookbooks and books in general. Combining anecdotes, family history and delicious recipes, and spanning literature and cuisine, there’s really nothing better than a cookbook that you can actually read, that’s not just a selection of quick and easy recipes by some personality-laden [...]
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Posted in agriculture, America, baking, bread, Fast Food, filthy chain stores, Food Commentary, France, French, tradition, travel on Jun 8th, 2010
The destiny of nations depends upon the manner in which they are fed.” – Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin The basic premise of William Alexander’s recent book, 52 Loaves, like his first title The $64 Tomato, is that the author becomes so obsessed with a particular project, in this case creating (and growing wheat for) the perfect loaf [...]
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I’m not reinventing the wheel here. Korean food is slowly getting the recognition it so rightly deserves across America. Although you may not be able to find as giant a Korean menu in Des Moines as you would in Los Angeles or New York, you’d be surprised how many Korean BBQ restaurants exist. (Upon a bit [...]
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