Cooking With Ideas

Watch This Space For. . . .

What should you be watching for in the upcoming month or so? No, not more pink watches. In fact, nothing that I can think of would persuade me to put more pink on this site in the coming month. But you could watch for:

***Interviews with a restauranteur in upstate New York and with an unnamed but well known novelist
**Several new blogs to watch out for
*Discussion of The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal
**A cheese review (No -- NOT a cheese-y review)
***A few words on institutional food

Sola

Another meal in the Bryn Mawr area -- and finally a restaurant I can recommend wholeheartedly. The restaurant: Sola. The meal -- quite wonderful (though I admit I wish I had had dessert). I did have a fresh corn soup to start which was garnished with just the right amount of lobster meat. I followed the soup with duck two ways -- a confit (which had been removed from the bone) and a nicely cooked and sliced duck breast. The duck came with a foia gras flan. Absolutely swell. I had a taste of another person's calamari starter, not usually something I like, and it was both tasty and the right texture (aka NOT a disguised rubber band). The amusee bouche was a salmon tartare -- and I give it an A+. The other entrees I saw were plated well and served in appropriate portions. The service was just the right balance of attentive and non-intrusive. And the parking goddess was with us -- we got a spot right in front of the restaurant on Lancaster Avenue with 15 minutes left on the meter so we didn't spend a cent to park.

My only bone to pick with Sola seems to be a trend in this area: it is BYOB. Alas. Though it likely helps people's pocketbooks, one would wish for a small, perfect wine list chosen to go with the meals.

No bathroom review -- never been there!

Address: 614 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr 19010
Phone: 610-526-0123

For other reviews, click here or here.

Silk Cuisine

Silk Cuisine is a Thai restaurant in Bryn Mawr, PA where I recently ate with friends. The meal was just ducky. Yes, when traveling with these friends/colleagues, I order duck. I ordered duck gnocchi in Washington DC. I ordered duck in a chinese restaurant in Wellesley. Most recently, I ordered duck in Bryn Mawr at Silk Cuisine. A crispy half of a duck in a passion fruit sauce. It was swell. It was especially so with the red rice I ordered to accompany it. A sort of nutty, chewy, red rice -- which balanced the slightly too sweet passion fruit sauce and the wonderfully soft, tender duck meat which contrasted so well with the crispy skin. One minor quibble -- the food was definitely NOT spicey -- and one definite down side -- Silk Cuisine is BYOB -- otherwise the restaurant offers tasty possibilities and reasonable service.

For a review of Philadelphia area Thaii restaurants and loads of good information on Thai cuisine, click here.

Location: 656 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr PA 19010
Phone: 610-520-2470

The DaVinci Cook

Da Vinci Code. Da Vinci Diet. The Da Vinci Cook. It is a marketing bonanza. Well, actually, I do not think that Joanne Pence wrote this book to build on Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code hype. At least I hope not. I admit, the cover is what drew me in -- a Mona Lisa, with that enigmatic look (a smirk? a smile? a grin?), holding what I fervently hoped was a wooden spoon. I like books that are pastiches -- I am currently reading a mystery about Mrs. Hudson of 221B Baker Street (yes, she of Sherlock Holmes fame), for example, but this whole genre where famous paintings get modified entertains me to no end. (For more Mona Lisa possibilities, click here. My favorite is the Mona Lisa made from pieces of burnt toast. But then, I am obsessed with food. . . . ) But it was not just Mona's smile that made me buy the mystery. The Barnes and Noble I wandered into was closing and thus had a huge sale. Ask yourself: when are books actually on sale?

So: An Angie Amalfi mystery. I remained baffled by the title. But the mystery itself was fun -- there is religion (is it really a newly discovered religious relic?), a chef or two, a loving description of a meal or two, murder and mayhem, travel to Italy, car chases. All great fun. While the prose is occasionally stiff, and the characterization of Angie's personality (and her sisters' quirks) is both over written and over the top, this is part of what makes the book a fun read. I particularly liked the descriptions of successful -- and unsuccessful -- pasta making. And the obligatory recipes at the end of the book are for biscotti. pasta with pancetta, and bread pudding. Carbs are back. Da Vinci never left. And Angie Amalfi, the rich amateur detective and occasional chef (or at least culinary class grad) is on the job.

Da Vinci Code
Da Vinci
Joanne Pence

A Truly Bad Book

Once I left a movie before it ended ("Pulp Fiction"). I hated it. Rarely, though, have I simply given up on a book before. I am on page 72 of Irvine Welsh's The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs.I bought it on a whim in an airport. Yes, I spend too much time in airports. No, it was not just the title. It was that I had read every other book in that airport bookstore which even appeared to be about food. And this one used phrases like "foodie San Francisco" on the back cover. Of course, Welsh wrote Trainspotting, so perhaps I should have known it was not my sort of thing. But, really, I never expected to say this but: I HATE THIS BOOK. I hate the characters. I hate the writing. I hate the plot (though I am not totally convinced it has one). I hate the use of dialect. I ... well, hate this book.

Can anyone help me? Should I keep trying or do you have a suggestion on what to do with this not-so-small object, which I paid $14.95 (plus tax) for and carried across several airports?