02.10.10
Posted in food-related musings at 15:14 by Dominique
I have been going to all these inspiring, fun foodie events! I kept meaning to blog about them but I’ve been super busy with my other careers and playing housewife (I’m a slow chopper and a perfectionist. Not an efficient combination). Anyway – first there was the free Word of Mouth event about Online Media and the Future of Food Writing. It’s amazing how many people turned up. Housing Works was packed. I was really excited to see Ed Levine from Serious Eats and it was inspiring, but a bit overwhelming, to hear how many other food sites are out there. I guess it’s good that my blog has a clearly defined niche or I’d be even more lost in the shuffle.
The Boyfriend and I went to Hill Country to use my Blackboard Eats coupon when I stumbled into a foodblogger party, courtesy of Hagan Blount and his 93 Plates project. I met some other interesting people – hello Diva Jackie! – and realized that I should be networking a lot more if I want to make any headway at all.
Which is why I actually paid to go to the Culintro Future of Food Journalism seminar. It was, as all verbal discussions of food and writing tend to be, a little bit omphaloskeptic, but I actually learned some stuff this time. I’m not a trained journalist, though I’ve read enough books and issues of the Economist and New Yorker to have a pretty good idea of the ethical rules. It was nice to discover that I have been instinctively following them the whole time.
I like being more involved in the foodwriting world. The Boyfriend is helping me improve the website and I am thinking of new things I can do. I might write a little more about things I cook at home, since I do that nearly every night, and I think I will try to stick to a posting schedule. I’ll throw my hat over the fence and say Mondays and Thursdays will be the magic days from now on. Tomorrow is my birthday, so there, by publishing this I am ahead already!
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01.21.10
Posted in food-related musings at 14:00 by Dominique
I am hungry all the time. I also try not to eat sweets, since they are empty calories and not filling to me. This is a problem when I’m away from home and just want a little snack. You can buy a candy bar or brownie or tons of other treats, but where are the non-junk savory snacks? As much as I love chips, they’re empty calories too. Jerky is out, Hot Pockets require equipment, and sandwiches or pizza slices are usually too much food. Fast food dollar menus tend to have smaller foods, but a burger is still not healthy or small enough.
My favorite solution to this conundrum is Café Zaiya. They have a location on 41st near Madison, and inside Kinokuniya Books on 6th and 41st. Their onigiri is great! A palm-sized triangle of rice with tuna, salmon, or shrimp inside, wrapped in crispy seaweed, is exactly the healthy, tasty small bite I’m looking for. And at not even $2, it’s a great deal. I wish more places had it. We have sushi and udon at nearly every random deli and café; onigiri is just as easy to make. This could be the solution to America’s much-discussed obesity epidemic!
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11.26.09
Posted in food-related musings at 22:49 by Dominique
The lucky food critic at GQ, Alan Richman, invited Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin (which is now even higher on my list of must-trys) to dinner at his house, to give M. Ripert a taste of suburbia. Imagine the great French chef’s reaction to food sold in bulk and jumbled with other unrelated products. He is comically horrified at everything, and can’t even bring himself to push the shopping cart, though he readily owns to being petulant. The part that really gets me is that he unhesitatingly admits the meal is good. That may have something to do with Richman’s skills in the kitchen – apparently cheese soufflés are trés difficile – but I like that even a renowned chef showered in honors for cooking some of the most amazing food in New York City can find the good in non-organic, processed food of uncertain origin. I doubt Alice Waters would ever unbend that much.
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10.14.09
Posted in food-related musings at 00:51 by Dominique
My friends J & H had an extra ticket and very kindly invited their favorite foodie along. I had no idea what would happen besides Anthony Bourdain talking, so imagine how much I hyperventilated when they said Frank Bruni would be interviewing him!
Mr. Bruni is much handsomer than I was led to expect. He is also very nice and circumspect. Bourdain, on the other hand, is blunt and funny. He really doesn’t give a shit if people disagree with him, think he’s an asshole, or want to vilify him. Who else would say that fat people should be taxed the way smokers are? (I think it but I don’t say it in front of fat people. I mean, they might sit on me.) With some of the idiot audience questioners at the end I could see he was actually quite patient, trying not to destroy their fantasy worlds, so it’s not that he’s a jerk. He just isn’t afraid to be outspoken about sensitive subjects. Good for him.
It was actually a very enjoyable talk. Generally people yammering about food is not terribly engaging, but Bourdain had tons of interesting tidbits to share. If I could cram more TV into a life already full of about 4 different careers, I suspect I could get very addicted to his show. He was admirably articulate, probably partly due to getting the questions in advance, and the Times made good use of multimedia clips. They talked about a lot of broad picture, “best/craziest in your life” and “how are things different today” subjects. The only thing I didn’t like – he described Southeast Asia so glowingly, it made me want to go even more than I already do. That probably won’t happen for a long time. I also thought it weird/inappropriate that the “afterparty” was minutely catered by the random Italian restaurant (Montenapolo or something, not even going to bother looking it up) next door. Obviously, it was very convenient, but I think they should have had food from Les Halles in Bourdain’s honor.
This event was so much more worth it than the DailyCandy Midnight Munchies thing I went to last year. Despite that one having food and open bar, I felt royally ripped off for $100. Next year I might actually pay the $50 to go to another inspiring talk like this.
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09.12.09
Posted in food-related musings at 19:29 by Dominique
I gotta say, I’m a little offended at the new Nissin Chow Mein tv ads with the Chinese tiny old man cartoon. He spouts some vaguely Confucian-sounding crap in a thick accent and looks straight out of, I don’t know, 60 years ago. Long wispy beard, bushy eyebrows, a robe (what is he, Chinese Hef?) and something that could be a scroll or a lame samurai sword strapped to his back. Plus, he turns out to be “Eddie from Accounting” at the end of the ad. If they just went with the retro silliness it might have been funny, but it ends up weird and nonsensical.
Do they actually think this will get people to buy their noodles? If a real Chinese person said they were good that’d make the same point except a hundred times better. This little drawing telling a white girl that she has “followed the path to noodle enlightenment” is just dumb. I hope he’s not what the execs imagine when they think of Chinese people.
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06.25.09
Posted in food-related musings at 23:00 by Dominique
I submitted myself a few weeks ago & they picked me. I don’t know how many people read their blog, but I’m pretty excited about it. :)
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05.17.09
Posted in food-related musings at 03:37 by Dominique
Because I’m not busy enough, clearly. I just keep seeing recipes online and thinking that they look yummy. I kind of figure, since I’m injured and can’t exercise, if I have to cook my dinner instead of just ordering it I might burn more calories that way. Also, I really enjoy multitasking and being organized, which seems to be a very important part of cooking well. And of all the neighborhoods I could live in, Chinatown definitely has the cheapest groceries and makes it easier to experiment. Last week I tried my hand at Chinese rice cakes – the little oval ones – with pork and veggies. It was pretty tedious chopping up the big hunk of pork with my dull knife but overall it was as soothing as people always say cooking is. And the dish turned out quite well! My mom still makes it better but that was my most ambitious attempt at anything to date. I’m not sure what to make next; maybe this interesting broccoli sauce pasta.
Update: have now made several more dishes and they’ve all turned out very well, although so far only I have eaten them. The hardest part I find is the chopping. I can be fairly clumsy around knives – I accidentally stabbed myself last year with a prop sword (yes! a prop! in my defense, with a ridiculously sharp tip) so, desiring to keep all my fingers, I chop quite slowly. I’ve found that playing poker online while cooking forces me to speed up, though. Otherwise I have to bet with the knife handle or wet hands and the mouse area doesn’t always recognize that.
Another update: other people love my cooking too, yay!
Sites I’ve found helpful so far (thanks @TroyOrleans for foodgawker!):
foodgawker.com
amandascookin.blogspot.com
chaosinthekitchen.com
bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com
epicurious.com
myrecipes.com
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04.09.09
Posted in food-related musings at 00:34 by Dominique
This isn’t really food-related but it’s bizarrely awesome. Isabella Rossellini has been making “Green Pornos” for the Sundance Channel, about the mating habits of various little beasties. They’re short and hilarious – she dresses up as each insect or animal! – and actually, I guess they are slightly food-related in that they kind of put me off my dinner. Just for a few minutes, though.
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10.08.08
Posted in food-related musings at 15:11 by Dominique
Yesterday, Mr. Bruni at the Times investigated how different treatment for men and women at restaurants is evolving. (I was impressed by how many people he interviewed for the article. I barely have time to eat out, let alone write about how it went – I don’t know how he does it.) I’ve noticed lately that some restaurants have stopped serving ladies first. Now, I don’t really mind, as no matter who gets food first we all have to wait until everyone’s ready to start. But it bothers me when servers seem to deliberately serve the men first. If you’re just going from left to right around the table, it makes sense to start with whomever is closest. If I see a waiter deliberately start with the same person every time then it’s really weird if that person is not the woman at the table. Especially if the restaurant insists upon all those fancy phrases like “pardon my reach” (seriously, it doesn’t bother me unless you clock me in the face, I’m always happy getting food) and “tonight we are offering [xyz]” (oh, so it’s free? Sweet).
According to proper manners, ladies come first. Through doors, in chairs, wherever. The places I hostessed at were very upscale and they told us to always give menus to the women first. It’s just common sense too. If you are at a nice restaurant it’s like being at a formal event. A gentleman in that situation would never greet a woman sitting down or not open the door for her. I know there has been some noise about how unfeminist it is to allow men to be gallant, but I personally prefer a man who thinks he should take care of things for me to a lout who lets me fend for myself.
Now, if the restaurant is more casual, it doesn’t matter. I completely see Apiary’s point in the article. Serving people in the most space- and time-efficient manner is perfectly fine. And I’m glad to see that many restaurants are moving away from the assumption that the man is picking the wine and paying for the meal. I remember the criticism of Momofuku Ko in the Wall Street Journal (can’t find the link, might be too old) and elsewhere that the surly chefs there were very obviously giving the male diners the heavier, some might say better, dishes. The man would get the short ribs – the woman, the chicken. It’s the same kind of sexist assumption when we order wine and the waiter gives it to the guy to try. If you really think about it, I should taste it, because the guy is more likely trying to please me than the other way around. In any case I think that’s more men patronizing women than being gallant, so that can go.
Basically, these are separate issues. One is substantive – money, wine, food for the table – and one is etiquette in formal situations. Proper manners should be observed at nice restaurants and equality is better otherwise.
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07.28.08
Posted in food-related musings at 03:12 by Dominique
I live in a buzzer-less building, and believe me, it’s really frustrating trying to get food delivered. Since I moved down here in December I don’t think I’ve actually had takeout for that reason – except today, when I remembered SeamlessWeb. I used it a lot with the English Ex, who never met a technological advance he wasn’t ready to embrace immediately. Somehow I never thought of using it here. I have to admit – Seamless rocks. You don’t have to make yourself understood to someone who barely speaks English, you can use your credit card without ever taking it out of your wallet, and most importantly, you can make sure the restaurant knows the guy has to call when he’s outside. I can’t count the number of times FedEx has been completely befuddled by that simple concept.
Seamless is great if you know what kind of food you want, even a specific dish. You can sort by cuisine, estimated delivery time, restaurant rating, price, minimum for delivery or do a search. Unfortunately, if you’re just browsing, it’s not quite as user-friendly. The site doesn’t allow right-clicking to open a restaurant’s menu in a new tab, so when you’re clicking around trying to figure out what you want, it can get tedious going back and forth from the restaurant list. But I’ve only been annoyed by that a few times, plus I’m very finicky so it’s probably less of a problem for most people.
I really like how they’ve worked out deals so that many restaurants offer discounts, at least the first time you order from them through Seamless. There’s even a pickup option that was just added. Inside the menus themselves, you can see how people have tagged them, leave your own notes on dishes and see what the most popular ones are. It’s also good for making sure you don’t get all excited about what you’re going to order and then finding out oops, the place is closed. (That happens to me a lot. It’s disappointing how many takeout menus don’t have delivery hours on them.) Seamless never lets you order from a place that’s closed and shows a little reminder on top of the page if the kitchen is about to wrap up. Though I wish they’d make it possible to open more than one menu at a time, it’s a great system and lets me be a hermit and have food delivered to my door like everyone else.
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