Cooking With Ideas

New Link Posted -- Again

Once upon a time, there was a list called Geneva Related Blogs. It had a few links, some active, some extremely active, some I am dying to hear from again (okay, I admit it, that's this one, which has been more or less dead for a while), and one which is making a come back with a new name. That's what today's announcement is all about -- the change from "Because You Have to Eat" to "eats/drinks." The former Genevan (William Smith student) has moved from Wordpress to Blogspot and so, I have changed the link. Or, you could click here.

The Groaning Board

Punny names for characters sometimes put me off, distracting me from the plot. So, when the anonymous restaurant reviewer introduced me to Smith and Wetzon, I was unsure. (The author is Annette Myers.) But, over the years, I have come to really like these murder mysteries and am grateful for the introduction. They are feminist (yes, they actually use the word) -- and fun. The main characters run an executive search firm (aka head hunting firm) on Wall Street, and Wetzon is a former dancer. Myers herself worked with Broadway producer Hal Prince and the web says is a Vice President at a search firm in NYC. (For a swell article on novelists and their "other" careers that features Meyers, click here. Meyers even appears on the Feminist Majority Foundations's "Feminist Mystery Corner.")

The Groaning Board is a 1997 entry in the series, the seventh, and I think I actually read it before. But it was a great book to pick up off the shelf again (no, it is not another one of those I bought several times) -- a perfect distraction after too much family and too little time to immerse myself in someone else's words. Murder mysteries are perfect holidays-in-a-book. (And much much cheaper than airfare.) And this one did the trick. Murder, a catering company, poison, murder. Drunks and nasty people. An IPO, lawyers, NYC gossip (there is brief mention of God's Love We Deliver, an AIDS service organization I "met" reading another wonderful book ages ago, entitled Heaven's Kitchen by Courtney Bender --an ethnography which is fascinating on food, religion, AIDS/HIV service organizations). A side plot on the nasty realities of competition amongst search firms on Wall Street (who knows, maybe in academie too?). All in all The Groaning Board was entertaining, even if I am a bit ambivalent about Wetzon's abandonment (of or by I am remain unsure) prior boyfriend, Silvestri. No recipes, since this is not a gimmick-y book. Just a good mystery. So, worth more of those precious moments in our lives than much of the silliness pumped out as mysteries with food these days.

A good read. A good holiday in a book. Have fun. I did.

Gastronomy of France

Once in a while I buy an oldish book about food. I had heard of Raymond Oliver because his name appears in gossip-y histories of the foodie revolution in the US and abroad, so when I saw The Gastronomy of France (published by the Wine and Food Society in 1967) for $12 I picked it up. (Ok, I may have overpaid.) And I have finally read it as well as a bit more about Oliver, who some say wrote one of the best cookbooks for learning French technique ever. This, of course, is a different book but still. . .

What a gas! What made The Gastronomy of France such a fun read was partly the information -- but mainly the odd juxtapositions, phrasings, abrupt shifts from topic to topic and back again (sometimes in the space of a paragraph and even, on occasion, in single sentence). The tone is a combination of pompous and chatty. (I am not sure if this is the author or Claude Durrell who "translated it from the French.") In any case, the narrator I imagined was a chatty drama queen with a drink in his hand, but who knows. I should note, too, the peculiar views of women which appear here and there throughout the text; somewhere between women as barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and "oh my god, not in the kitchen." Ok, not merely peculiar -- they put me off. The era --or the author -- or both. (Certainly not, in this case, the translator.) The pictures are fun though -- both black and white and color -- and ranging from art to depictions of a street market in Paris. And here and there, a recipe appears.

What else? Oliver discusses the history of cooking, ranging from pre-history to the Napoleonic era to the mid-20th century with aplomb. While repeating several times his relative lack of expertise with regard to wine, he devotes substantial attention to that history as well, particularly as it relates to cookery. And he offers a chapter on bouillabaisse to illustrate variations across time and place --and themes that endure. (Yes, there are a multitude of recipes.) Oliver's chapter entitled "Restaurants, Cookery Books, and Recipes of the Past" is, in large measure, excitement about his own acquisitons, a numberof which are either unique or one of very few extant. His final chapter offers examples of "historical menus."

An eclectic mixture, as a whole. The thesis? If here is one, it is that gastronomy is one of the humanities. I agree. Though I might add it is interdisciplinary as well.

Do You Hate Coffee?

I don't. So why do I ask? I just read a book by Mark Helprin, that's why. I bought it because I remember really loving his novel, A Winter's Tale, even though I do not remember a thing about plot, character or setting. I read it years ago -- and absolutely all I remember is that I liked it a lot. So, once in a while I consider another Helperin book and I finally took the plunge because it hinted of food because the back matter spoke of coffee as central to the novel. The title: Memoir from Antproof Case.

This novel is odd, I admit. I am not sure I liked it -- but I certainly believed in the narrator who, among other things, absolutely hates coffee. In fact, he believes that coffee is central to the disaster that is human civilization in the 20th century. Wars, personal defects -- coffee is evil, coffee drinkers at best addicts and at worst evil, the coffee industry is a malignant cartel destroying people. Coffee is not merely bad, even smelling it drives this character to a rage that is almost impossible to describe. His rage against coffee shapes his life --or so it seems until fairly far into the novel. Ok, so coffee is not food, but it so often comes with food. In fact, this character would say it ruins a good meal. He hates it when waiters and waitressess assume one wants coffee. He hates those who have it with meals --or on its own. He hates the sound of espresso machines and the smell of coffeeon peole's breath. He hates coffee's pervasiveness. He hates coffee. And coffee most definitely shapes this pseudo-autobiography. Are we shaped so much by what we hate and what enrages us?

I don't hate coffee. I am drinkng a lovely cup of coffee as I write. It smells luscious. And tastes better. What about you?

West Meets East in Medicine Hat

Somewhere I read that the reason there are Chinese restaurants strewn across the miles has to do with the history of railway construction in Canada and the U.S. Yep, immigrant labor -- poorly paid and treated badly. I have also heard that restaurant trends follow displacements associated with war, genocide and refugees -- so after the Vietnam War we got Vietnamese restaurants, etc. So, this summer's exploration of various Asian restaurants in Medicine Hat is less surprising than it felt. There are loads of Chinese restaurants, a pan asian restaurant, a new Indian restaurant, several Vietnamese restaurants, and a Thai place in Medicine Hat, a city of around 45,000 people. Wow. We, of course, did not go to all of them, but here are reflections on those we did get to. . .

We ate "smorg" -- also known as the buffet -- at both the New Imperial Palace and the New Mandarin. Both are, as their names indicate, Chinese. I have no idea why both have the word "new" in their names. The buffets offered an array of foods -- soup, dry ribs, almond chicken, stir fries of various sorts, sesame chicken, broccoli and beef, etcetera. The Imperial Palace had salt and pepper shrimp (and a chatty server). While both restaurants were ok, the Mandarin was the better of the two with much crispier vegetables and clearer tastes. Both were marred by a bit too much fried food on the buffet, which was, though, inexpensive and varied in other ways. The new dish at the Imperial Palace -- a honey chicken with sesame seeds -- was quite tasty. Perhaps ordering off the menu leads to better options -- but for an inexpensive meal the buffet goes a long way.

There are two Vietnamese restaurants in town -- and we lunched at the one local people said was best, located downtown. It's name? Thuy Tien Vietnamese Restaurant. We shared a lemongrass chicken on vermicelli and salad rolls and we each had a Saigon beer. I also had a "vietnamese style lemonade" which was swell -- very lemony and clearly fresh. What about the meal itself? While there was not a lot of meat in the lemongrass chicken, it was definitely tasty. We did, though, order poorly so we ended up with vermicelli in everything -- there was in our opinion way way way too much vermicelli in the salad rolls (aka spring rolls). (The other option was rice with the chicken and kknowing what we know now, we might have gone for that.) The ambience was basic and the food inexpensive, especialy when shared. Perhaps we will return and order a bit more adventurously. (The waiter was not a lot of help, alas.) For another review, click here.

Sushi Miso Japanese Restaurant serves just that --sushi and sashimi and related Japanese food. We did take out -- and were glad we did because the restaurant itself is a busy little place. (All the restaurants reviewed here do take out.) The service was efficient and the food packaged well. We ordered way too much food -- several types of tuna and salmon, a red snapper, barbacued eel, and a california-like roll with roe on it. (We were tempted to get the eel because we had some very good eel in a sushi meal elsewhere, but somehow we didn't eat the eel in this setting. Hmmm.) Everything we had was quite good -- though the portions of fish were big and thick. We'd have preferred them to be sliced much thinner -- and should have ordered a lot less as a result. We got extra ginger ($1.50) because there is often too little ginger in sushi elsewhere. Not true here. Next time, we'll try some of the specials; we passed up tempura yam and asparagus rolls which looked good as well.

Finally, the best of the group: Thai Orchid Room! In fact, the anonymous restaurant reviewer called this "the best Thai restaurant I have been to in ages" and both we enjoyed it so much we went twice. Advertised here and there in town, we were delighted to find this newish restaurant which opened about a year ago. Hidden behind various other businesses, the restaurant is nondescript until you enter - the interior is beautiful (all the other places reviewed here had truly nondescript interiors) and the food delicious. Turns out we had been to the Thai Orchid in another guise when it was located in Bow Island. Its new incarnation in Medicine Hat is well worth a visit; the colors are beautiful, the huge high windows let you see the prairie skies without the prairie parking lots, and the art work is subtle silver. Beyond the decor, both meals were great, The first time we had chicken satay, pad thai, and a barbecued pork dish; the second time we had green curry and an appetizer we were unfamiliar with which was sort of like steamed pork meatballs and shrimp balls. The satay was incredibly tender and came with two delightful sauces, including the traditional cucumber and rice vinegar as well as a peanut sauce. The pork/shrimp dish was great! And the main dishes we had both times were worth a return visit. They do both spicey and mild very well. And the owners are quite gracious -- one checked with our table both visits -- and the staff was kind(and well informed) as well. It is a restaurant which is easily accessible for elderly people and given the range of folks we saw while there, great for all sorts ofpeople. Plus, this is the restaurant where we experienced a new trend in restaurant bathrooms -- dryers for one's hands that are so loud and so intense that it feels like you are standing behind a jet engine. While they work much better than the usual hand dryers in bathrooms, these really blew us away.

So: West meets East in Medicine Hat. If you have one place to try, go for the Thai Orchid -- or try them all.

Locations?

New Imperial Palace 93 CARRY DR SE, MEDICINE HAT, AB T1B 3M6
Phone: 403-526-1222

New Mandarin 1865 Dunmore Rd SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 1Z8
Phone: (403) 526-3939

Sushi Miso Japanese Restaurant 1561 Dunmore Road SE Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
(403) 528-9881

Thai Orchid Room: 3 36 Strachan Court SE Medicine Hat, AB T1B 4R7
Phone: (403) 580-8210

Thuy Tien Vietnamese Restaurant 647 2 Street SE Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
Phone: (403) 526-8500

Blue is my favorite color. . . .

I love blue cheese. I don't remember when I started loving it. I don't remember my first taste. But I love blue cheese. I love Roquefort and Humboldt Fog. I love gorgonzolas and blue cheese dressing on salads even when the blue cheese is pretty darn unimaginative. I love the Stilton that comes home from trips to the UK (and the person who brings it home). And now I have found the holy grail of blue cheeses.

While in Pennsylvania this summer, I went to the Ardmore Farmer’s Market – which is not quite a farmer’s market, but still had swell things, including some Amish farm products. What did I buy? Cheese. What kind of cheese? Bleu de Termignon. At $40.00 or so a pound, this cheese was a splurge, so I bought a very small slice (for $10). It was spectacular. Advertised as made by a woman who owns 9 cows (ok, that's if advertising is hand scrawled magic marker signs over the cheese), bleu de termignon is worth trying. In fact, I bought it a second time to take home and consumed it before I even left Bryn Mawr.

I may not have the right “cheese vocabulary” to describe bleu de termignon either visually or in terms of taste. It is not creamy really, and is not heavy in terms of the moldy/salty taste that some blues have. It smelled wonderfully grassy and blue simultaneously. In fact, it tasted like I wanted more even after eating the slice I bought. And it was so good I turned away from the crackers I bought to accompany it and just ate cheese. This was simply the best cheese I have ever had. It has come close to erasing my yearning for a blue goat cheese I once bought in a small round in Ithaca and have never seen again. At the end of my nosh on this cheese, I wanted nothing else. Not chocolate. Not more cheese. Nothing. It was perfect.

Now, home again, I discover, of course, that it is not a Pennsylvania cheese. It is a cheese from the French Alps apparently loved by Charlemagne. Who knew? For more on bleu de termignon,click here or here. Better yet, find some, and try it. Wow.

Blogs to Watch Out For (and a New Link)

Once in a while emails arrive for Bibliochef, requesting a link exchange or letting me know about relevant blogs. Here are two places to visit that I learned of this way.

NYC NOSH is a fasincating blog site that recently reviewed an intriguing looking book called Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant an anthology edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler (on July 28) but usually focuses on food and wine in the NYC area. As a Sopranos fan (despite the endingof the series rather than because of it), I also liked their commentary on Lorraine Bracco's wine and the related podcast. (For the Bracco wines oficial site, click here.) Thanks to my friend Jeff for recommending I check out the blog site.

A second site also arrived via email from Natalie MacLean and will become a permanent link exchange. Natalie's site is called Nat Decants. She's the author of Red White and Drunk All Over and has won major awards for her writing on wine. You can anticipate an interview with her in the coming month or so.

Keep sending them along -- and I will plan to mention them in blog updates or links.