tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33647213873935784262024-03-14T03:22:54.654-04:00The Cultural Diplomacy of FoodMusings on food and place by a cosmopolitan foodieJaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-52919985164285461222016-08-21T23:52:00.000-04:002016-08-21T23:52:50.917-04:00Souvenirs from Cape TownWhat do you cling to, to hold on to the vacation glow?<br />
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Mine was salt and vinegar chips left over from a week staying in Cape Town. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTPk6MUVt74nC4yuJoCHO7pTMdl33mfmVKpOnFFhyLKg0fF9pDb2U9hwGW85cwXnDZnBwjp-jb7ssiyAHysxZBlMAb5y5lZnQzyUUDw9PEbJmbGi7wd4GVgPcoh-d_bsrm5jyoo5Igizz/s1600/Salt+and+Vinegar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTPk6MUVt74nC4yuJoCHO7pTMdl33mfmVKpOnFFhyLKg0fF9pDb2U9hwGW85cwXnDZnBwjp-jb7ssiyAHysxZBlMAb5y5lZnQzyUUDw9PEbJmbGi7wd4GVgPcoh-d_bsrm5jyoo5Igizz/s400/Salt+and+Vinegar.JPG" width="225" /></a><br />
My friends and I had rented an <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/782208" target="_blank">Airbnb</a> just outside of the central business district, and my first order of business upon arrival was sorting the food situation. Luckily, there was a <a href="http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/dept/Food/_/N-1z13sk5" target="_blank">Woolworths Food</a> just down the road from our house, and I ended up visiting the M&S doppelganger three times in our first two days of vacation. (For those unfamiliar with <a href="http://www.marksandspencer.com/c/food-and-wine" target="_blank">Marks & Spencer</a>, imagine a high-end grocery store, shrunk down to the size of a 7-Eleven, with all the ingredients you would need for cooking at home -- produce, meat, bread, etc. -- supplemented by lots of prepared options if microwaves and ready to eat are more your style).<br />
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I had selected the sharing-sized packet of salt and vinegar chips thinking that our merry band of four friends would have ample snacking opportunities during our week in this coastal city. But as it played out, we came to the end of our stay, ready to fly to the eastern part of the country for some safari time, and the bag had remained untouched. I considered leaving the chips for the next Airbnb guests, but an inexplicable fear that we would find ourselves somewhere desperately hankering for some salty-sweet fried potato goodness -- on the airplane, during the drive to the lodge, in the game viewer 4x4 doggedly hunting down an elusive big animal -- pushed me to hastily stuff the chips into my carry-on.<br />
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Of course, the <a href="http://www.newmarkhotels.com/accommodation/game-reserves/motswari-private-game-reserve/" target="_blank">game lodge</a> did a superior job of feeding us and hunger became but a distant, abstract notion during our four days of safari. By my count, the lodge offered a meal or snack no less than every two to three hours, from our pre-dawn coffee and muffins to the nightly four-course dinner. And so the salt and vinegar chips got buried deeper and deeper under a mass of khaki and olive green clothing in my luggage.<br />
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Neither did my 28+ hour return journey proffer an opportunity to justify my impulsive snacking purchase, so I found myself back in the United States with an errant Woolworths branded packet of salt and vinegar chips amidst sundry other relics of our South African adventures. And it was there, in the jetlagged, disturbed cicadian rhythm haze of my re-entry into the real world, that I finally feasted.<br />
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With their origins in Ireland, salt and vinegar chips are hardly the most representative items of Capetonian cuisine. Coincidentally, I had also purchased a packet of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_piri" target="_blank">peri peri</a> potato chips that, due to their more exotic appeal, got consumed before we even left Cape Town. Yet, over the next few days of returning to work, stressing over how to feed myself absent a full game lodge culinary staff, and waking up at 4 am, each time I turned to that bag of sweet and salty goodness, I felt flushed with a wave of nostalgia for our South African vacation. Others might use postcards or kitschy souvenirs to recall the glory days of a recently completed vacation, but this was no ordinary Lay's packet of chips; these chips traversed hemispheres to accompany me back home.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-34344080328257044302014-04-29T00:13:00.000-04:002014-04-29T00:16:54.068-04:00Bright Lights, Big CityThere's something wonderful about looking out at night over a city, all the little lights representing people and lives, whole existences separated from yourself and yet connected to you through this luminescence. <br />
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There's something wonderful about looking out over a great city at night and just marveling at what civilization has accomplished. From nothing, to this. Unimaginable toil and suffering and destruction and inequality.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XlSad2dLzTgOJE3zts-caSbTNLSxgeZghy9ziWkS1veEFpVwBzBIRaUOz54EgWr1rk2FIBK1DTeJKu-VVUV8r5FKa-xmovXmQZyhrUdyaeLbIkV8qqcsZ3bKxyvxNofTU0RAVixLy_RA/s1600/HK+from+TST.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XlSad2dLzTgOJE3zts-caSbTNLSxgeZghy9ziWkS1veEFpVwBzBIRaUOz54EgWr1rk2FIBK1DTeJKu-VVUV8r5FKa-xmovXmQZyhrUdyaeLbIkV8qqcsZ3bKxyvxNofTU0RAVixLy_RA/s1600/HK+from+TST.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a> </div>
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But also, all of this stands witness to lifetimes upon lifetimes upon lifetimes of happiness and joy and revelations and love and peace and appreciation, and whole, whole extremes of the human experience. Cities hold within them magnitudes of life, teeming, over-flowing, rife with the human experience all compacted one on top of each other. So many thoughts, so many feelings, so many experiences... surely the meaning of life hides in there somewhere.<br />
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Surely one of those lights represents someone falling in love, appreciating love, savoring life, being raised to new heights, living a happily ever after.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_12RBh361NiJ7tb1AMFBdDiFoLy8SrjWEO_G8s6XLALbK_y58jtmZnv-yhqrLmJQRSBviH19W4i6UlhhqL-gGz9EbFlKCKkb9pNTo752umino7CVMRCYxtpIjO55ijMZ8iMYMbBJgr29W/s1600/SF+Bay+Bridge.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_12RBh361NiJ7tb1AMFBdDiFoLy8SrjWEO_G8s6XLALbK_y58jtmZnv-yhqrLmJQRSBviH19W4i6UlhhqL-gGz9EbFlKCKkb9pNTo752umino7CVMRCYxtpIjO55ijMZ8iMYMbBJgr29W/s1600/SF+Bay+Bridge.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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There are undoubtedly people who, like all of us sometimes, are just going through the motions, are just passing time until chance or destiny might smile upon them again. But in cities with 500,000, one million, six million, 10 million people in them... surely one, if not some, if not several people might be experiencing some of those things in life that make us feel ALIVE. And there is an energy that comes out of that, that comes from being close to that, that comes from gazing upon it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0d5Hje7TKDR1Mk9kJEpUqiIChi2GR-zKvASB6LJjVGr3dbuDDtHk4nxwuhiPAg0dZLpZPyImsjc0bSqQOgV2WCOY8iis55zy88BfOtUPILcjB0GtYLRd78E7lmwFucRsVCI26_lndaUr9/s1600/HK+Skyline.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0d5Hje7TKDR1Mk9kJEpUqiIChi2GR-zKvASB6LJjVGr3dbuDDtHk4nxwuhiPAg0dZLpZPyImsjc0bSqQOgV2WCOY8iis55zy88BfOtUPILcjB0GtYLRd78E7lmwFucRsVCI26_lndaUr9/s1600/HK+Skyline.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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The country is a lovely place to be when you are happy with yourself, when you are happy with your life, when you want to be alone with your thoughts, or alone with the thoughts of a select few. But, for inspiration, for illumination, for the human experience beyond oneself, the city is clearly where it's at.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-15558370193866274072014-03-04T01:06:00.000-05:002014-03-04T01:16:27.247-05:00Best Bites of 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I realize that March of 2014 is rather late to be posting
a best eats of 2013 list. But so it goes around here, and better late than
never!</div>
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<b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%99http://www.2amyspizza.com/%E2%80%99">2Amys</a>
(Washington, DC)</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFNPHxTGKCDljrgWvX1WFCdD7QkAvyFexYNGJVcSYiT5lDFuCvcX34vWNgg6QTc3m13NDLpi0O983hPcrvP0zFVsbSFnHHqDlII3T4eJ4A5d3xD4a13hh7Tr7eyOvYduiB8nB2QWzNmHK/s1600/IMG_8273.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFNPHxTGKCDljrgWvX1WFCdD7QkAvyFexYNGJVcSYiT5lDFuCvcX34vWNgg6QTc3m13NDLpi0O983hPcrvP0zFVsbSFnHHqDlII3T4eJ4A5d3xD4a13hh7Tr7eyOvYduiB8nB2QWzNmHK/s1600/IMG_8273.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Rare, I think, is the restaurant that can be a comforting
midweek family treat, and also a destination for celebration that feels special
and unique and indulgent – but 2Amys does it with aplomb. Lucky are the tourists
who might casually stumble onto the black and white tiled floors after checking
out the National Cathedral. For those who prefer not to leave their culinary
delights to serendipity, make sure that 2Amys is built in to your DC itinerary
(and yes, the cab ride or mile walk uphill from the Cleveland Park Metro
station is well worth it). Their pizzas are always delicious (when in doubt,
you can’t go wrong with the classic margherita), but their attention to detail
and clean flavors in their small plates selection is also phenomenal. Yet this
is no hipster hangout, nor is there any white tablecloth pretension; parents
and kids can easily enjoy a plate of house-cured salumi or fresh gigante beans
with the most amazing olive oil without batting an eye. Admittedly, this place
made it on to my list of best bites of 2013 for somewhat sentimental reasons,
but I didn't plan months in advance to celebrate my 30th birthday here on a special trip to DC just for sentimentality. </div>
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<b><a href="http://www.burmasuperstar.com/">Burma Superstar</a> (San Francisco, CA)</b><br />
All the things you’ve heard about Burma Superstar are true, and YES, the wait is worth it. I don’t say that lightly. Though I often recommended the restaurant to others and especially out of towners (seeing as most people visiting San Francisco are hard-pressed to find Burmese food in their own hoods), for a long time I eschewed Burma Superstar personally for its less hyped, less populated Burmese counterparts elsewhere. I mean come on; a tea leaf salad is not that difficult to replicate.<br />
<br />
But then out of towners came to visit ME, and when the place that I had hyped to them (Ad Hoc in Yountville) was less than spectacular, I joined them for a final meal at Burma Superstar. With five people arriving at 7:30 pm on a Friday night, it was close to 10 pm before we finally sat down (dear gaggle of twentysomething girls just dishing the dish for a solid 30 minutes after you have paid the bill: yes, those death stares were aimed at you). And I understood again why the wait list begins about 15 minutes after they open at 5 pm and doesn’t abate until late in the evening. If you’re just craving some tea leaf salad or mohinga soup, the 20 or so other Burmese restaurants in the Bay Area will likely suffice. But if you want a tea leaf salad that feels refreshing and not slicked down with oil, or a mohinga soup that finishes clean on the tongue even as its thick warmth satisfies your belly, stop the grumbling and wait for a table here. The menu items are similar to all the other Burmese places, but everything is just done *better* than anywhere else. </div>
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<b><a href="http://www.beastpdx.com/">Beast</a> (Portland OR)</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlOlOwP2VFrb4lfndlTokGkbxj1NpDqbini4gn-5pOcRBzFQ3hOmll8QSWfxyUMivzLYV6ga8mho6GZZpoI0-TEIobg0dRURcIuI5xVSMgf_lXOpXKhrV6qU0-O6Y6scphYrUaTXU6JWf1/s1600/IMG_6645.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlOlOwP2VFrb4lfndlTokGkbxj1NpDqbini4gn-5pOcRBzFQ3hOmll8QSWfxyUMivzLYV6ga8mho6GZZpoI0-TEIobg0dRURcIuI5xVSMgf_lXOpXKhrV6qU0-O6Y6scphYrUaTXU6JWf1/s1600/IMG_6645.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a>Such a delightful surprise of a brunch -- there was something just so lovely about arriving on a crisply sunny Sunday morning to this straightforward, unassuming, simple space. Everything was clean and organized and placed just so, such that I was inspired by the mere simple reptition of multiple place settings on the communal tables. The space is minimalist in the best way: a straightforward dining room of two long tables overlooked by an open kitchen, and just enough pink and chalkboard writing to feel modern and welcoming. When we arrived on the early side for our seating, the chefs (all female by the way) were still preparing dishes: hand-whipping cream, breaking up candied bacon (more on that later), dicing vegetables. Nothing was hurried or frantic; rather, I felt instantly at ease and comforted by the fact that *they* all seemed so at ease and comfortable. </div>
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There are just two seatings for brunch, and everyone sits at the same time and eats the same menu. Though my party didn't really interact with those next to us, there was definitely a sense of a shared rather than individual experience. When you're eating a divinely indulgent poached clafoutis with whipped cream and a slice of maple-glazed bacon oh so deliciously thinner and more crackly than you would ever expect, your heart veritably swells with appreciation that all these people around you get to experience the same amazing food.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.benusf.com/">Benu</a> (San Francisco, CA)</b><br />
This was a bit of a surprise. I had heard of Corey Lee when he came to speak at a CIA graduation, and had heard great things about Benu, but clearly didn’t have my facts right. For one, I thought that his restaurant was in Oakland. For another, I had no idea when I suggested my friend try this place at the end of the year that the tasting menu would be $200. Many jokes were had about getting our full money’s worth... but once we arrived, I swiftly regretted not having brought the “fancy” camera.</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh131GPRESkfhDGfYjqnrVV-SjQavclibyX8nlOknr1fw0Ao9sbJ16qadMqsgluTGbLbboxk5_uDEOHeBNYyVfxgDE7x_LIrz7YKEBOtdM5vxidGjhRJdTCUvmsgV0x9yyziNoUHt9d5HsK/s1600/benueel.jpg" height="320" width="240" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjiC-ry6Mo-4N6TaKJxYrZ6W9iieCLVThAgONP7F3dPbMuNxyMVa2daEbT1pwKZke3Rcr9-VIVIg1xkCGs6GEe2tHLy8DHVvZlwKVO2soC58EaLOk_AQOYrHLsjyMbgWnTj3StKl3BcE5W/s1600/IMG_0487.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjiC-ry6Mo-4N6TaKJxYrZ6W9iieCLVThAgONP7F3dPbMuNxyMVa2daEbT1pwKZke3Rcr9-VIVIg1xkCGs6GEe2tHLy8DHVvZlwKVO2soC58EaLOk_AQOYrHLsjyMbgWnTj3StKl3BcE5W/s1600/IMG_0487.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
I don’t know if it was fully worth $200 per person, but I’m a cheapskate. That said, it was a very very good meal. Surprises abounded, there was whimsy, but with soul, and I loved the new take on some very familiar Asian flavors and concepts like black beans, XO sauce, xiao long bao, etc. I actually don’t know if someone not familiar with these the flavors would have had the same experience… perhaps such a person would interpet the dishes as more novel, rather than as innovative re-creations. On the other hand, I often thought to myself that my mom would have dismissed the food as frou-frou versions of Asian cuisine that is readily available for cheaper elsewhere. To some extent I think she would have been right: some dishes were highlights, while others were so-so, like a more modern take on salt and pepper calamari. None were horrible. The final dessert, a light and airy cake flavored by the tempting mystery of white sesame and counterbalanced by an intense sweet-tart plum sauce, was perfection.<br />
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<a href="http://thecavaliersf.com/">Cavalier</a> (San Francisco, CA)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIwpY9LNMdgpAUB2Fi4ZMPOkKjaKEQ3TdAFfidFOGfWPqkCzBgBhmVOxtAHGmgfYF03H3KS2eReGMpYv_FdMpDdwWKhsDpizVKxubE24jhbeTtgAWX6okF93XQiNIRRO_K-gTg7r8lXNo/s1600/IMG_0496.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIwpY9LNMdgpAUB2Fi4ZMPOkKjaKEQ3TdAFfidFOGfWPqkCzBgBhmVOxtAHGmgfYF03H3KS2eReGMpYv_FdMpDdwWKhsDpizVKxubE24jhbeTtgAWX6okF93XQiNIRRO_K-gTg7r8lXNo/s1600/IMG_0496.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> <br />
I’ve been intrigued by the bad rap that British food gets all the time, and I have to say, if more places like Cavalier opened up around the world, maybe that rap would go away. There is a kind of practiced, pretentious masculinity in its ambience that verges on obtrusive to me (I always hate when a restaurant makes me feel not cool enough to eat there, before I've even eaten anything), but the menu is like a greatest hits compilation of all the British food Americans didn't realize was delicious. The vibrancy of colors on my plate should surely put to rest the idea that all British food is gray mush, and this sticky toffee pudding in particular made me feel like I had died and gone to heaven. The prices could come down a bit to make it all feel a little bit more accessible... though I suppose if you consider the exchange rate between the British pound and the US dollar right now and standard London prices, the Cavalier might actually seem like a good deal.<br />
<a both="" clear:="" href="http://thecavaliersf.com/%27%3ECavalier%3C/a%3E%20(San%20Francisco,%20CA)%3Cbr%3EI%E2%80%99ve%20been%20intrigued%20by%20the%20bad%20rap%20that%20British%20food%20gets%20all%20the%20time,%20and%20I%20have%20to%20say,%20if%20more%20places%20like%20Cavalier%20opened%20up%20around%20the%20world,%20maybe%20that%20rap%20would%20go%20away.%20There%20is%20a%20kind%20of%20practiced,%20pretentious%20masculinity%20in%20its%20ambience%20that%20verges%20on%20obtrusive%20to%20me%20(I%20always%20hate%20when%20a%20restaurant%20makes%20me%20feel%20not%20cool%20enough%20to%20eat%20there,%20before%20I%27ve%20even%20eaten%20anything),%20but%20the%20menu%20is%20like%20a%20greatest%20hits%20compilation%20of%20all%20the%20British%20food%20Americans%20didn%27t%20realize%20was%20delicious.%20The%20vibrancy%20of%20colors%20on%20my%20plate%20should%20surely%20put%20to%20rest%20the%20idea%20that%20all%20British%20food%20is%20gray%20mush,%20and%20this%20sticky%20toffee%20pudding%20in%20particular%20made%20me%20feel%20like%20I%20had%20died%20and%20gone%20to%20heaven.%20The%20prices%20could%20come%20down%20a%20bit%20to%20make%20it%20all%20feel%20a%20little%20bit%20more%20accessible...%20though%20I%20suppose%20if%20you%20consider%20the%20exchange%20rate%20between%20the%20British%20pound%20and%20the%20US%20dollar%20right%20now%20and%20standard%20London%20prices,%20the%20Cavalier%20might%20actually%20seem%20like%20a%20good%20deal.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%C2%A0%3C/p%3E%3Cp%20style=" left="" separator="" text-align:=""></a><br />
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Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-1031547352278990072014-01-23T01:11:00.001-05:002014-01-23T01:27:07.243-05:00Getting my panties in a bunch over media coverage of female chefsThank you, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/dining/a-change-in-the-kitchen.html?_r=0">New York Times</a>, for succeeding where TIME magazine so clearly, publicly, woefully failed. Not by writing a story about how few women there are in professional kitchens – that story has been written several times over – but by talking about how women *have* penetrated the once male-dominated kitchens, and how their presence and influence is only growing in the world.
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The backstory: The internet and culinary worlds were aflutter back in November over TIME Magazine’s publication of a <a href="http://time100.time.com/2013/11/07/the-13-gods-of-food/">“Gods of Food”</a> feature that neglected to include any female chefs. Taken to task over the lack of female chefs in the list, editor Howard Chua-Eoan dug a deeper hole for himself by explaining in an <a href="http://eater.com/archives/2013/11/07/eater-q-a-time-magazine.php">interview to Eater</a>, that, "We did not want to fill a quota of a woman chef... We wanted to go with reputation and influence."
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Cue female indignance, and every savvy internet editor (read: any and every other editor) capitalizing on Chua-Eoan’s fail moment to print their own lists recounting multitudes of female achievement in the kitchen.
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But I have to admit something: I get it. When Chua-Eoan says that a Barbara Lynch is not as well-recognized or as well-celebrated as a David Chang, I get it... because aside from Dominique Crenn and Alice Waters, I, perhaps like you, did not immediately recognize many of the names that have emerged in the wake of the article's uproar.
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I can name the renowned female chefs that have informed my own culinary sphere of course: Julia Child (I distinctly remember watching her make a hollandaise sauce on VHS over and over again), Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustard's (maker of the best hamburger, per my parents’ world view, which of course became my world view), Judy Rodgers of Zuni Café (favored haunt of my dad from when he used to sup there weekly), Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Slow Food, the Edible Schoolyard, etc (it’s Alice Waters… there’s really no explanation needed, is there?). I've had the pleasure of meeting and witnessing firsthand the energy and innovative brilliance of Susan Feniger and Elizabeth Falkner, and most recently marveled at the all-female kitchen that served me a delicious brunch at Beast (Executive Chef, Naomi Pomeroy). My Top Chef addiction (and their wise choice in later seasons to seed the competition with many more female chefs from the get-go), has exposed me to more female legends in the culinary world, both longstanding and emerging, like Anita Lo and Stephanie Izard. I'm a slightly more educated than most foodie who now works in the culinary world, and yet I have to admit (though don't tell my boss!) that I struggle to name more female chefs than that. I'm guessing that unless you are a dedicated foodie or professional chef, you might also struggle to do so.
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But, is our inability to name "big" female chefs with a widespread reputation similar to David Chang or Rene Redzepi or Thomas Keller due to the "basic reality" that there are fewer of them who have the name recognition? Or is it about *how* one gets their name recognized? That is to say, is David Chang really more of a "God" of food than Barbara Lynch as Chua-Eoan suggests, or is Chang’s PR machine, his drive for public recognition, his ego and machisimo -- in sum, his "manliness" -- more intrusive into the popular culture sphere than a female chef is wont to be? Yes, yes, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" has become passe. But men have particular traits, women have particular traits, and the system of public recognition (largely distilled through media coverage, awards, and festivals) tend to reward those who trump up their own accomplishments more, i.e. men. Men who want to establish a broad geographical empire. Men who are concerned with leaving a legacy, and being critically acclaimed, and seeking recognition for their genius.
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People say that one’s cooking should speak for itself and that reviews and accolades should not necessarily highlight the sex of the chef. Indeed, some people think that by calling out the sex of a female chef, it's like saying, "This chef is great despite being a female." But, when Anthony Bourdain writes in Kitchen Confidential that the kitchen is no place for a woman, and you have to be a certain kind of woman (to wit: a man-like woman) to survive -- well, it just makes me put an extra pump into my fist when I see a woman being celebrated and lauded and deemed a culinary god (or goddess if one should prefer).
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Because to me, the more interesting story is when a woman succeeds not in spite of being a woman, but *because* she is a woman. Because she cares about things like soul, and feeding people, and serving others rather than herself. In sum, those things that people so often decry as the failings of being a female, the reason female “success” lags behind male success. To ignore that one's sex, the way your identity is shaped by socially constructed notions of behavior based on sex, has an influence on how you cook, how you run a business, how you promote yourself, is to be as naive as to think that we live in a race-blind era.
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Really, Chua-Eoan and the TIME team could have easily avoided this whole debacle by including some female chefs... yes, even to fill a quota. Up until Chua-Eoan's interview, I thought that TIME, as a leading news publication, would see its role not simply as telling people about the reality that they think they already know, but to push the boundaries and expose them to something that they don't know. Chua-Eoan does a pretty pathetic job of trying to defend the decision not to include any females chefs by saying that he thinks "media covers the industry. I don't think the media has to advocate for anything." On this, he and I profoundly disagree: I absolutely think that the role of media as gatekeepers and influencers themselves, is to push the boundaries and illuminate imbalance or injustice. Several people have commented that the preponderance of male chefs reflects that Chua-Eoan hasn't really been out eating in these restaurants and actually observing who is in the kitchens, relying instead on press releases and other media coverage to assess influence and reputation. Who is better at trumping up one’s own ego and reputation? Who tends to put money and energy and effort into making sure that people know their name and their influence? Let's be honest -- the men.
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<br />
In the end, I see two failings here: TIME's failure to take a stand and be a voice for what this list should be, and a general failure to acknowledge that sex *does* matter. So thank goodness for the New York Times. For not being afraid to acknowledge that sex has a place in this, and that achievements and acclaim based on one’s sex are nothing to shy away from. For recognizing that the media’s role is to illuminate that which people cannot readily see for themselves, and to advocate for the world that we want to live in. And for the very basic ability to recognize that hey, women *are* doing amazing things in the kitchen... and have been for a while.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-25812003216051738292012-06-05T21:04:00.001-04:002012-06-06T19:02:20.319-04:00Pizza<iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jGoQBKeJIkM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-4646840033379617832012-05-23T16:44:00.000-04:002012-06-06T19:02:40.535-04:00Update on Conflict KitchenTwo years ago (wow, really, that was two years ago?!?), I <a href='http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2010/06/conflict-kitchen.html'>wrote</a> about an intriguing project just getting started in Pittsburgh, called <a href='http://www.conflictkitchen.org/'>Conflict Kitchen</a>. The premise was to focus on the food of a country with which America is in some kind of conflict, using the food to engage people in learning about these countries.
The other day, I came across this <a href='http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-conflict-kitchen-20120508,0,7610359.story?page=1'>Los Angeles Times</a> article profiling the project, and its anticipated expansion from a stand serving street food to go, to a full-service restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh. Since the last time I read about them, they've done Persian, Afghan, and Venezuelan food, are planning for a Cuban iteration soon, and are also exploring a North Korean version. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, check them out!Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-14657305342634128232012-05-02T23:24:00.001-04:002012-06-10T21:04:56.435-04:00Cultural Diplomacy and Turkish Coffee<iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wRVaqhZpXc8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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This is what I call closing the last 3 feet of public diplomacy: handing out free Turkish coffee on the streets of DC, and inspiring lots of conversations about Turkey, Turkish culture, Turkish food, and Turkish coffee fortune telling in the process. </div>
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And I get to be a part of it! I would write more, but I'm headed to New York with the crew tomorrow as they spread the Turkish coffee love around the East Coast. So in the meantime, check out the <a href="http://www.turkayfe.org/">Turkayfe </a>website for more info on the project, and look out for lots of pictures and videos (courtesy of my newfangled DSLR) to come!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6HNZmS3Km81HbbJjXwFcWx5ltswzGdGPiGVlKbIZ72lGjU9lWQwsxr_I9mBJHi1hH5Hx-hHueeO4QFwErhXL5BBRkIRgea8lVy8UEUffm3ReWNrJzDqXRehe4K9LrcEuqozFuJ7KbQwz/s1600/IMG_1519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6HNZmS3Km81HbbJjXwFcWx5ltswzGdGPiGVlKbIZ72lGjU9lWQwsxr_I9mBJHi1hH5Hx-hHueeO4QFwErhXL5BBRkIRgea8lVy8UEUffm3ReWNrJzDqXRehe4K9LrcEuqozFuJ7KbQwz/s400/IMG_1519.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kJG960h8dcIH2npZRBjZhf5EWuhhw5Yt5p9n2_jF3YabWwQs1UnHhz_Ri2RSd2Fs_jtHzbo98kBlVtRzMby28Y_7DA9_om0LINxc0mHH6W_3qvwL99PuyK1xOmzx47KgeALN24pKTin6/s1600/IMG_1492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kJG960h8dcIH2npZRBjZhf5EWuhhw5Yt5p9n2_jF3YabWwQs1UnHhz_Ri2RSd2Fs_jtHzbo98kBlVtRzMby28Y_7DA9_om0LINxc0mHH6W_3qvwL99PuyK1xOmzx47KgeALN24pKTin6/s400/IMG_1492.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-71936545524573549832012-03-10T15:58:00.000-05:002013-08-08T01:06:03.559-04:00Chipotle's CSRSince taking on a full-time internship in November that sadly for this blog has little connection to food and travel, my bandwidth for writing about these topics has been constrained. Of course, my appetite, both figurative and literal (get it? Literal? I made a double pun!), has not waned.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461421019/" title="HawaiiAppetite by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7328/9461421019_7d0194f8d2.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="HawaiiAppetite"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Chowing down on a puka dog in Hawaii</div><br />
My internship deals with sustainability and corporate social responsibility communications, and one of my interview questions was, predictably, "What large company's sustainability efforts do you admire?" I say that the question was (or should have been) predictable, but clearly unemployment had hampered my clairvoyance, and I froze, afraid to mention a brand name that had some horrible environmental or social practice known only by true CSR experts. Or worse yet, that I might incriminate one of their clients as a bad example of CSR. Luckily a week-long temp gig a few weeks earlier got me through: I said something about admiring companies that fully integrate sustainability principles into all aspects of their activities, and cited National Geographic's zero-waste policy in their headquarters as an example of an organization expressing its mission -- conservation of the world -- through every little detail of its work.<br />
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It occurred to me recently, however, that if someone were to ask me the same question today, I would say Chipotle.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464210766/" title="ChipotleLogo by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/9464210766_459bd7b095.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ChipotleLogo"></a></div><a name='more'></a><br />
Of course, I'm no stranger to writing about Chipotle (see <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2010/12/chipotles-asian-concept.html">here</a> and <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2011/12/chipotles-asian-concept-called-it.html">here</a>). I've been a fan of Chipotle since first trying its burritos as a wide-eyed undergrad exploring the exciting culinary options of Evanston, IL (I somewhat jest, but in reality, Evanston was the proving ground for Michelin-award winning, Ferran Adria protege Grant Achatz, had a Whole Foods back when it had more hippie granola rather than rich yuppie connotations, and is also home to some of the <a href="http://www.thaisookdee.com/">best pad thai</a> ever -- IMHO). Chipotle's cilantro-rice was a revelation to me back then, and as a poor student living thousands of miles from home I appreciated that one Chipotle burrito could easily sustain me through both lunch and dinner. Like cold pizza, half the pleasure of getting a Chipotle burrito was in the knowledge that I had a second delicious meal to look forward to.<br />
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Back then, the big news about Chipotle was that McDonald's was a major investor, and yet the subsidiary was oh so much cooler than the golden arches. Chipotle had yet to establish a national presence, and as it started to expand (notably in California right around the time I graduated college and returned to the Bay Area), there was a certain cool factor in being able to say, "Oh yeah, Chipotle. I know them."<br />
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Fast forward a couple of years: McDonald's has since cut off its ties and Chipotle has been making a name for itself in its own right, as both purveyor of good, delicious food, and forward thinking, conscious corporate citizen. I especially loved <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/chipotle-bites-the-hand-it-used-to-feed/">this ad campaign</a>, where Chipotle distinguished itself as an independent company of integrity, committed to its ethical food sourcing principles, and trusting its customers to value those principles as well. The campaign showed that not all advertising has to be dumbed down, and that not all fast food is solely about convenience and price. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464199796/" title="ChipotleAd by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3828/9464199796_7f32791765.jpg" width="480" height="144" alt="ChipotleAd"></a></div><br />
And then came the <a href="http://youtu.be/aMfSGt6rHos">"Back to the Start"</a> video, delighting foodies and sustainability advocates alike.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aMfSGt6rHos?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div><br />
Aired during a particularly heavily watched Grammy's (RIP Whitney), the deceptively simple video features a Willie Nelson rendition of Coldplay's "The Scientist" as it traces a farmer's journey from pastoral family farm through increasingly industrialized and mechanized processes, and "back to the start." Even though the video has been available since September, this was its "breakthrough" moment, so to speak, with lots of write-ups and (that currency of the 21st century) social media buzz. <br />
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<ul><li><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/chipotle-ad-willie-nelson-singing-coldplay-airs-during-grammys.html">Chipotle Airs Anti-Factory Farm Ad During Grammy Awards. What Does This Mean for Sustainable Business?</a> <i>Tree Hugger</i></li>
<li><a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/02/chipotles-anti-factory-farm-ad-captures-hearts/">Chipotle’s Anti-Factory-Farm Ad Captures Hearts and Changes Minds</a> <i>Triple Pundit</i></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/business/media/chipotle-ad-promotes-sustainable-farming.html">An Animated Ad With a Plot Line and a Moral</a> <i>New York Times</i></li>
</ul><br />
The video even prompted a counter <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/opinion/happy-pigs-and-unhappy-farmers.html">op-ed in the <i>New York Times</i></a> by Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau. And in an odd reversal of former parent-subsidiary influence, the day after Chipotle's video aired, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/business/mcdonalds-vows-to-help-end-use-of-sow-crates.html">McDonald's announced that it would ask its suppliers to phase out gestation crates for pigs.</a> (Of course, such an announcement clearly had to have been in the works for a while before the video, but the timing definitely reinforced Chipotle's position as an influencer).*<br />
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What really clinched things for me in terms of seeing Chipotle as a CSR leader, though, was finding this "Making of" featurette, wherein you see the enormous scale of work involved in creating the video. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/28349065?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ff3333" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/28349065">Back to the Start - Making of</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/johnnykelly">Johnny Kelly</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>. </div><br />
It is astounding to think of how much time, manpower, and money went into making this video which, at two minutes long, can't really be mobilized as a mass marketing tool like a commercial. But there is something gratifying about seeing a video about valuing traditional processes produced through traditional processes. It also speaks to a corporate commitment to not cutting corners, and to choosing the method, whether in food sourcing, filmmaking, or advertising, with the most integrity. Sure, they're still using mechanized processes, like 3-D printers and I'm guessing they shot on digital rather than film. But we're not talking about Luddism here (nor are eco-agricultural methods anti-technology, by the way). I just appreciate their choice to embrace the imperfection and textural quality of live models.<br />
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I hope that I'm not coming across as overly nostalgic or romanticizing the past in applauding Chipotle for its vision of a good food system, as well as <a href="http://www.mickeyandjohnny.com/">Johnny Kelly</a> and his team at <a href="http://www.nexusproductions.com/">Nexus Productions</a> for using live models. (I may cop to romanticizing Johnny Kelly though. Hello adorable!). While I admit that a certain romanticism of the past is part of the allure of less mechanized food processes for me, we can't talk about feeding a world projected to hit 9 billion people by 2050 by convincing everyone to return to the earth take up a plow. Rather, what I see in Chipotle's strategy is recognition of the value of food and filmmaking, the value of work that it takes to feed people in a way that goes beyond a myopic focus on profits and selling more food (<a href="http://www.tacobell.com/food/menu/fourth-meal/">Taco Bell's fourth meal</a> anyone?). I see Chipotle as a vanguard in restoring the humanity of food production on a large-scale. It's a strategy worth starting over to pursue.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-10950891495100331652011-12-10T18:39:00.005-05:002013-08-08T01:09:00.522-04:00Chipotle's Asian Concept -- CALLED ITA long time ago on this blog, back when it was still in its infancy and I was figuring out what shape it might take (I say as if I have since figured out what shape this takes...), I wrote about <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2010/12/chipotles-asian-concept.html">Chipotle's new "Asian concept"</a> that was reportedly in the works. <br />
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Specifically I wrote: <br />
<blockquote>Sidestepping the PC-minefield of conflating the diversity of Asian cuisines into one concept, I can see a Vietnamese "inspired" (for all you purists out there) menu that could easily work within the Chipotle model:<br />
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Banh mi sandwiches<br />
Bun (room temp vermicelli salad-type dish)<br />
Spring/summer/garden rolls (I'm thinking of the fresh ones, rather than the deep fried ones)<br />
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All of these draw upon easy to source local ingredients, can be adapted to suit a variety of diets and food preferences, and can be quickly assembled to order. Oh yes, and they're delicious.</blockquote>Well <a href="http://shophousekitchen.com/">ShopHouse</a> has been open for a few months now, and all I have to say is,<br />
<b><br />
CALLED IT.</b><br />
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The basic components of ShopHouse's menu? "Bowls" of protein, veggies, and sauce over your choice of jasmine or brown rice, or chilled rice noodles, and banh mi sandwiches.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461430557/" title="ShopHouseMenu by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2822/9461430557_ebddfa3064.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="ShopHouseMenu"></a></div><br />
Interestingly, despite being almost a year old, that original post has the most hits of any post here, and people still regularly find my blog from searching for "chipotle asian concept." <br />
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Apparently Chipotle is not the only one to draw on the mainstreaming banh mi bandwagon, though, as I discovered when I stumbled upon <a href="http://eatbonmi.com/">BONMi</a>, just a 10 minute walk down the street from Shophouse. BONMi's website seems to espouse a lot of the same values as ShopHouse: inspiration in Vietnamese/Southeast Asian cuisine of course, but also "locally sourced environmentally friendly products whenever possible", and even similar tones of orange in their color schemes. <br />
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Despite emanating from national companies (Denver-based Chipotle and the New York-based <a href="http://jbhadvisorygroup.com/">JBH Advisory Group</a>), both ShopHouse and BONMi are currently only located in Washington, DC. In another example of eerie similarities, both proprietors have talked about how DC is actually a great city for trying out new food concepts.<br />
<blockquote>The District is an ideal launching pad for the concept, according to [Lynne] Jacoby [a partner in the JBH Advisory Group that has conceptualized the new 40-seat eatery]. "...D.C. is the best place for restaurants to open, believe it or not," she says. "Unemployment is very low here, it's a very eclectic group of people here, and there's a high concentration of educated people..." (<a href="http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011/10/24/bonmi-opens-today-in-downtown-d-c/">BONMi Opens Today In Downtown D.C.</a>)</blockquote><blockquote>"As for why ShopHouse chose to debut in the District of Columbia and not in New York City, [ShopHouse's director of concept development, Tim Wildin] explained that D.C. is a better "proving ground."<br />
"There are just hundreds of restaurants in New York City that aren't great, but last," he said, noting that New York City's high population density might sustain an eatery even when the concept isn't exceptional. On the other hand, Wildin said, a restaurant's performance in D.C., a city with a burgeoning food scene but fewer people, might be a better indication of a concept's potential success elsewhere. (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/chipotles-new-asian-shophouse_n_964747.html">ShopHouse, Chipotle's New Asian Spin-Off, Opens In D.C.</a> )</blockquote>This is one of the few times that, from a food perspective, I feel lucky to be in Washington, DC.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461421629/" title="ShopHouseSign by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3786/9461421629_8204a283d8.jpg" width="439" height="500" alt="ShopHouseSign"></a></div>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-62310480944335787182011-11-23T13:55:00.004-05:002013-08-08T00:58:02.534-04:00My Love Affair With BrunchThis is a story that begins with buffet and ends with brunch.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461349249/" title="First by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5474/9461349249_80a9784759.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="First"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">First plate</div><br />
When I was a kid, I used to say, "I don't know" a lot to people's questions. What did I want for lunch? I don't know. Did I want to sit next to Mom or Dad? I don't know. Do I want milk or juice? I don't know. Buffets, however, were the perfect answer to my indecisiveness. At a buffet, you don't have to decide on just one dish, only to regret your choice later. You can have it all. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461344017/" title="Second by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5533/9461344017_5fc6ed67dc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Second"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Second Plate</div><br />
I loved buffets. My family used to go to the Sunday brunch buffet at the <a href='http://sanfranciscoregency.hyatt.com'>Hyatt Regency</a> in San Francisco. I don't actually remember much about the food there, except that there was a lot of it, and I could choose anything I wanted. What I remember most are the distinctive concentric circle-patterned floors. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464127322/" title="HyattFloors by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/9464127322_b8ff55bd0b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="HyattFloors"></a></div><br />
My love of buffets often befuddled my parents. Or maybe just pissed them off, because much as I loved the variety of food available, I could never actually eat enough to get their money's worth. Such are the perils of having a small stomach.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464121728/" title="Third by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3671/9464121728_38e7220078.jpg" width="500" height="372" alt="Third"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Third Plate</div><br />
When my family moved to Hong Kong, we started frequenting the Sunday buffet at the <a href='http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/index.do?ctyhocn=HKGHCCI'>Conrad hotel</a>. There are actually two restaurants that jointly occupy the eighth floor of the hotel, <a href='http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/dining.do?ctyhocn=HKGHCCI&id=DIN2'>Nicholini's</a> and <a href='http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/dining.do?ctyhocn=HKGHCCI&id=DIN6'>Brasserie on the Eighth</a>. Though they generally function as separate restaurants, with a de-nationalized room mediating between their Italian and French cuisines respectively, on Sundays, the borders dissolve to host a tour de force champagne brunch buffet. Over 20 years of patronage, my family has now come to refer to this experience simply as "Conrad". As in, "Did you confirm the reservation at Conrad?" or, "If I died tomorrow, I would want my last meal to be Conrad." <br />
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Or, "Conrad is the birthplace of my love affair with brunch."<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461344897/" title="SaladBowl by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2869/9461344897_1eaee8a0c0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SaladBowl"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy of my niece</div><br />
What Conrad lacks in cool floor patterns, it makes up for with a bounty of deliciousness. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461344557/" title="Seafood by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/9461344557_b2b588b7bb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Seafood"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy of my niece</div><br />
Omelette station, carving station, sushi and seafood station, pasta station, waffle station. Mounds of breads and pastries, plates and bowls of antipasti and salads, tureens of cold and hot soups. Bamboo steamers with dim sum delicacies, sterno-fueled chafing dishes full of international cuisine reflecting the diversity of Hong Kong's globalized influences, and, in more recent years, a kiddie table with popcorn, mini-hotdogs and hamburgers, and gummi cola bottles. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464127838/" title="GeneralSpread by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/9464127838_aeabcc9daf_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="GeneralSpread"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461346759/" title="KidTable by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2813/9461346759_171e847438_m.jpg" width="240" height="215" alt="KidTable"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464125360/" title="Pickles by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7407/9464125360_6a169c60f7_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Pickles"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464129986/" title="Antipasti by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2819/9464129986_663b5eeb4c_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Antipasti"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Photographs courtesy of my niece</div><br />
There's a respectable cheese selection, a massive array of desserts and fresh tropical fruits, juices and bottomless champagne for the adults. Still not satisfied? You can also choose from one of several hot entrees from the cook-to-order menu.<br />
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Though the potlatch-esque excess of the buffet at Conrad seems to be its main feature, for me, brunch at Conrad is never just about the food. I mean, of course it's a little bit about the food -- it's hard to find such an expansive selection that does not sacrifice quality for breadth, and there are few other places where I can find gummi cola bottles to accompany my prime rib. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461348635/" title="Fourth by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7334/9461348635_784a1a4a90.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fourth"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Fourth Plate</div><br />
But Conrad is less about taking advantage of an all-you-can-eat deal and more about a complete experience. It's about making a reservation at 11 am, with the luxury of getting there closer to noon, and not leaving until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. It's about starting off with a few plates, taking a break to explain how baseball team standings work, perhaps having some dessert, and then deciding that you actually want more pasta.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464125964/" title="Newspaper by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3759/9464125964_17256a9021.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Newspaper"></a></div><br />
It's about the Conrad-stamped rubber duckies they give to kids that have accumulated around my mom's tub in Hong Kong. It's about the choice between champagne or sparkling peach juice that makes you feel fancy even if you are a teetotaler. It's about the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the tangle of skyscrapers of Hong Kong's banking district. In short, Conrad is a break from LIFE -- the very definition of luxury and leisure.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461349773/" title="Fifth by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/9461349773_6c7941b742.jpg" width="500" height="433" alt="Fifth"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Fifth Plate</div><br />
From time to time, my family will attempt to branch out of our Conrad mold. Like Vegas, Hong Kong is awash in buffets. We've tried the Japanese fusion brunch at <a href="http://www.tv.com/users/Jaxiecracks/profile.php?action=show_blog&entry=m-100-25671896">Zuma</a>, and the French-inspired brunch at <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-of-great-things-about-having-mom.html">Spoon</a>. Stateside, the <a href='http://www.naviorestaurant.com/sunday-brunch.html'>Ritz Carlton</a> in Half Moon Bay has come close to a Conrad experience, though the price point is much higher, and their two-seatings system doesn't allow for quite the same amount of langour. Despite consistently good food, magnificent settings, and superior service, nothing seems to satisfy quite like Conrad.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464122232/" title="Sixth by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3726/9464122232_a043502643.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sixth"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sixth Plate</div><br />
Objectively, no brunch experience truly rivals Conrad in my mind. Yet, over the years, I have extrapolated my love for Conrad to my love for brunch in general; brunch in any context ultimately relates back to Conrad in some large or small way. The drawn-out, forget-the-clock, lazy feeling of brunch at home. The indulgence of eating a substantial meal early in the day, wherever and whatever that meal might be. The intimacy of gathering friends and loved ones around before dispersing for scheduled activities and individual errands.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464122748/" title="Sixandahalf by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7402/9464122748_ae86438ebf.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Sixandahalf"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Six and a half</div><br />
Brunch is not a business meal, a first-date meal, a grab-and-go meal. It's not as formal as dinner, nor as casual as breakfast or lunch, even if all you're doing is having breakfast in the afternoon or lunch in the morning. It's about taking the time to say, "Hello day!"<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464123292/" title="Seventh by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3712/9464123292_2dc6a01a0e.jpg" width="500" height="343" alt="Seventh"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Final Plate</div><br />
Oddly, my affinity for brunch has intensified over the years, even as my love for buffets has waned. Perhaps now that I'm older and have to pay my own way, I realize what a bad deal I am in those all you can eat scenarios. Brunch at Conrad though? For that I will gladly shell out anytime.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-11673451112223309852011-10-13T11:35:00.015-04:002013-08-08T01:13:50.729-04:00The Evolution of a Foodie OR An Ode to My Nephew<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464207178/" title="Nephew by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/9464207178_6d681e5d40.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Nephew"></a></div><br />
Since coming into my life about 7.5 years ago, my nephew has been one of my favorite people in the world (the other favorite being his sister who followed him a year and a half later).<br />
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One of the things that makes him especially awesome? The fact that he will pause mid-bite in whatever he is consuming with nary a complaint, just to let me take a picture.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461423367/" title="IceCream by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2887/9461423367_f96ba25625.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IceCream"></a></div><br />
Of course I would love him to bits regardless of his aptitude for being a featured subject in my food photography habit. But seriously, here he is about to chow down on an ice cream mooncake (kind of like an ice cream mochi), and he barely batted an eyelid when asked to delay his gratification so that I could take this picture.<br />
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Since I've never lived in the same city as him for more than a couple of months, I don't get to witness the evolution of his food tastes firsthand very often. Of course I know that he loves chocolate cake, and that he will eat almost anything wrapped in a tortilla. I know that when he's about to garnish his pumpkin pie with whipped cream, you'd better make sure he takes his finger off the trigger at some point. But usually these are things that I learn ex post facto, seeing the culmination of several experiences into one preference that I can identify, but don't know the origins of. I'm rarely there at the actual moment of discovery, the moment when he takes a bite of something and realizes that this is not just anything in his mouth, but something that he wants more of, something revelatory and magical that transcends the current meal to become a food memory.<br />
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Maybe it's the age he's at or the experience of being in a foreign place, or some combination of the two, but our trip to Hong Kong at the end of July proved an especially ripe occasion for memory-making. Like the night we had three dinners.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464208678/" title="MaksNoodles by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/9464208678_f8ab0dccf8.jpg" width="500" height="360" alt="MaksNoodles"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Dinner number one</div><br />
My sister could only take a week off of work, so for the first few days of my two-week trip in Hong Kong, it was just me, my parents, and my niece and nephew. We started the evening at the Kowloon-side outpost of Mak's, a won ton mein place known for their noodles made the old-fashioned way: with a bamboo pole and plenty of elbow grease. (Do yourself a favor and hunt down the <i>No Reservations</i> episode where Anthony Bourdain watches the guy making these noodles. It's nothing short of pure poetry).<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461425543/" title="BackBooth by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/9461425543_5e2e990f99.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="BackBooth"></a></div><br />
Crammed into a utilitarian booth, knocking knees at the very back of this postage stamp-sized restaurant, my dad ordered plain noodles, sans won ton, for the kids, and three house specialties for the rest of us. My niece will readily slurp up anything involving noodles or soup, but my nephew can require a bit of prodding at times; he's more rice than ramen. Ever one to share, however, I proffered one of my won ton for him to try.<br />
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Like many of the male sex, my nephew is rarely exuberant in displaying his emotions. Unlike my niece -- who will charm you with an over-the-top display of closing her eyes in rapture, licking her lips, and declaring, "Yummy!" when she likes something -- you have to look for the more subtle clues of his delight. Like him readily accepting the rest of my won ton mein. And then proceeding to ask for more.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461428393/" title="Moreplease by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7327/9461428393_142ed0e4fc.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Moreplease"></a></div><br />
Bowls of noodles at Mak's are pretty small, and my parents had been discussing a place my grandparents had visited that purportedly had massive won ton. Since this other place was just a few blocks away, we decided to continue on to dinner number two -- because that's how we roll.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464206136/" title="SecondDinner by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5336/9464206136_ff3c6aab57.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SecondDinner"></a></div><br />
That this new place's won tons were significantly larger than at Mak's did not escape my nephew's attention. Having just discovered that he did, indeed, like won ton mein, he readily attacked his second dinner of the evening.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464209138/" title="LargeWonton by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3826/9464209138_48e6b81ba2.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="LargeWonton"></a></div><br />
Then, to finish things off, my dad suggested a stop at Yee Shun Milk Company.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461422811/" title="KowloonDairy by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/9461422811_4dd8532a1c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="KowloonDairy"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464205648/" title="SmilingBowls by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3799/9464205648_35b32c130a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SmilingBowls"></a></div><br />
Famous for their steamed puddings, this "cha chaan teng" (kind of like a "tea diner") also serves the usual suspects of cheap and easy food: HK style milk tea, Ovaltine, and, my favorite, corned beef sandwiches on white bread with the crusts cut off.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464203958/" title="DadMilkPudding by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3687/9464203958_fc137850b0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="DadMilkPudding"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461425083/" title="CornedBeef by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3681/9461425083_f0cd289d4b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="CornedBeef"></a></div><br />
My dad's intention was just to get dessert, but faced with an assortment of delectables that I never eat in DC, I couldn't resist making this dinner #3. I ordered a sandwich and milk tea, while my mom shared a "sai daw", or Chinese French toast, with my nephew.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464208282/" title="MomandTYSaiDo by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7326/9464208282_439b9a1bca.jpg" width="500" height="412" alt="MomandTYSaiDo"></a></div><br />
This is perhaps one of my favorite pictures of the trip. Though my mom and nephew dutifully posed for a more typical picture celebrating their third dinner, I feel like this one captures the shared intensity of grandmother and grandson eating something especially delicious. Completely focused on the food, they're oblivious to anything else around them. For my mom, this was but one of many sai daws she's consumed, dating back to her own childhood, through her kids' childhood (though I prefer mine with peanut butter in the middle), and now through her grandchildren's childhood. For my nephew, this was the beginning of what I hope to be a long line of French toasts. And given the epic nature of the night, I wouldn't be surprised if he remembers exactly when he first discovered the wonders of a sai daw.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464205210/" title="TheNextDay by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2865/9464205210_9dc8b6b18d.jpg" width="370" height="500" alt="TheNextDay"></a><br />
By special request, sai daw for lunch again the next day</div><br />
But if, by chance, he forgets, if, by chance, this night fades into a blur of won ton meins and American, French, and Chinese French toasts accumulating over a lifetime, I suppose I'll at least have these pictures to remind him. Dear nephew, THIS is when we turned you into a foodie.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464203368/" title="DinnerNo3 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2820/9464203368_105d4296af.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DinnerNo3"></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Post-script:</span><br />
That my family is preoccupied with food, especially in the context of traveling, is something that I both identify and take for granted as an adult with a fancy piece of paper that attests to my research background in food and culture. Yet it still kind of bowls me over to have this preoccupation pointed out to me by my nephew's innocuous remarks.<br />
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He recently returned from a trip to France (where he spent the first few years of his life), and when I asked him if he had missed home during the two weeks he was gone, he said yes.<br />
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"What did you miss?" I asked, imagining that he might mention his mom, or his grandparents, or his friends at school.<br />
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"You know, Stacks [a local breakfast joint], Fresh Choice, things like that."<br />
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"Oh. And now that you're back in San Francisco, what do you miss about France?"<br />
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"Duguesclin [a restaurant]."<br />
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While in France, his dad took the family to a beach resort in Spain. When they Skyped me, I asked very generally how things were going.<br />
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"You know," he said, in a tone of amazement, "There's actually really good food in Spain."<br />
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Kids say the darnedest things...Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-41452281947835372082011-09-28T14:08:00.007-04:002013-08-08T02:03:55.762-04:00The Fanciest Dim Sum I Ever AtePart of the fun of returning to Hong Kong is in seeing how food in its "original" context is so much more varied and nuanced than the standardized version that gets exported to the States. To see the myriad interpretations of a dish in its homeland is, I think, one of the strongest arguments against the idea of a single, representative "authenticity" when it comes to food. Dim sum is a perfect example of this.<br /><br />In the States, dim sum is generally a casual affair. As with most American Chinese cuisine, its hallmarks involve tasty, quick food at a cheap price with minimal attention paid to the quality of service. More often than not, it's raucous, noisy, and crowded, with some jostling for the har gow lady's attention to be expected because no one's about to settle for anything less than the shrimp dumplings that JUST came out of the kitchen. Even the "nicer" dim sum places (some might say the "gwailo" dim sum places) are still more large than intimate, the previous night's Chinese wedding banquet hall transformed into rows of ten-tops crowded with tea-swilling regulars. Only the glittery foamcore cut-out names hanging on the wall mark any change in experience from week to week.<br /><br />Suffice it to say, then, that dim sum as I grew up with it, is not a "precious" experience. The Chinese are a feisty bunch, and when delicious delicious bbq pork buns are at stake, there's no time to worry about the teapot that invariably leaks on the tablecloth as you refill your neighbor's cup, or whether the eggs in the custard tarts were free-range.<br /><br />At least, that's what I thought dim sum was about, until I had "all-you-can-eat" dim sum at the W Hotel at Kowloon Station in Hong Kong. I would venture to say that the W brand tends to be too cool for me on any given day, but the disconnect between this mod boutique hotel line and my clearance Old Navy duds and 4 year old Target sandals seemed especially striking early on a Saturday morning (the all-you-can-eat offer is only available from 9:30-11:00 am). As a twenty-something, there's also nothing to up your cool factor like going out with your parents and young niece and nephew. Much as I adore their company, I think they all needed a giving or taking of about 20 years to make our motley crew fit into the target demographic of the W hotel hip yuppie.<br /><br />As we entered the lobby through stylishly massive doors, vaguely techno music pulsated around us. Appropriately beautiful people stood behind the registration counter, ready to cater to <a href="http://www.w-hongkong.com/en/whatever-whenever">the whims</a> of the slightly more beautiful people who stay in such places.<br /><br />Then I turned to the right, expecting to see supermodels and TV celebrities waiting for their fancy cars to be brought round. Instead, I was bemused to find a small gaggle of decidedly plebeian families. Parents crowded anxiously around the closed doors of the <a href="http://www.w-hongkong.com/en/sing-yin-restaurant-promotions">Sing Yin</a> restaurant, waiting for the magic hour when the dim sum feast would begin. Meanwhile, their assorted kids frolicked amidst a giant iron horse sculpture, and plastic black boxes that were too sleek to be comfortable seating implements. As my niece and nephew experimented with the utility of cushions on a backless sofa, I was grateful that they might be spared the burden of self-consciousness for another few years at least.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461516813/" title="KidsWHotelLobby by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3809/9461516813_0fd50a081c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="KidsWHotelLobby"></a><br /></div><br />As befit its mod surroundings, far and away, dim sum at the W was the fanciest dim sum I've ever had (at HKD$175 per person, or about USD$23, it was probably also the most expensive dim sum I've ever had). Gone were the claustrophobic arrangements of tables designed for 10 but squeezing in 15. Gone was the bright lighting that makes dim sum a curious Sunday rendezvous for hip and hungover twenty-somethings. Gone was the noise, the chaos, the flat-screen TVs showing Chinese dramas or the football game.<br /><br />Instead, what followed for the next two and a half hours was a decidedly refined and civilized affair. The five of us occupied what amounted to a semi-private room, surrounded by painted glass panels. Our chairs came with armrests and cushions; no fighting for extra chopstick-maneuvering room here. The interior of the restaurant was dark, and the selective lighting both lent a certain atmosphere to my foodie pictures and made me curse my low ISO settings.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464308490/" title="DimSumTable by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7399/9464308490_b7c7172b24.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DimSumTable"></a><br /></div><br />It's interesting what happens when you take familiar food out of its usual context. While other Hong Kong restaurants have expanded beyond the usual har gow, siu mai, char siu bao rotation into more innovative and experimental dishes, the W selection deviated little from the expected list of dim sum staples.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Standard fare in above-standard surroundings<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461537767/" title="VegDumpling by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3747/9461537767_261c32884e_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="VegDumpling"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461521667/" title="HaGow by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/9461521667_5a0c1f6a59_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="HaGow"></a><br /></div><br />And yet, the setting definitely made a difference vis a vis the eating experience. Even the picture a few paragraphs above, simply capturing our table and assorted dishes, evokes sophistication rather than banality. While other travellers might take pictures of their overcrowded tables in a noisy dim sum hall to say, "I am cool because I travel to exotic places to eat exotic food," this picture draws upon a different kind of a cool, a "W" cool, rather than a "Lonely Planet" cool.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464311374/" title="ChrysGojiBerryDessert1 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/9464311374_64fc665f9d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ChrysGojiBerryDessert1"></a><br /></div><br />Though chrysanthemum and goji berry jelly generally impresses, the dessert appeared particularly rapturous under the dramatic lighting.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464310938/" title="ChrysGojiDessert2 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3762/9464310938_4d61896b3c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ChrysGojiDessert2"></a><br /></div><br />Fried spring rolls, neatly lined up on a white platter, seemed to hold a deeper message.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464279808/" title="SpringRolls by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/9464279808_20f2097b77.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="SpringRolls"></a><br /></div><br />Shadow -- rarely found in dim sum food photography -- gave these fried taro balls a hefty sense of gravitas.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464272922/" title="TaroBalls by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7337/9464272922_377207d3ae.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="TaroBalls"></a><br /></div><br />As the fanciest dim sum I've ever eaten, Sing Yin probably doesn't fit the vision of "authentic" Cantonese dim sum that some travelers or even locals might be looking for. And while $20 and change per person for dim sum is twice the price that I would expect to pay anywhere else, it seems like a reasonable deal when you factor in the calmer, upscale ambience and attentive service. I'm probably still not going to fool anyone into thinking that I can hang with the hip crowd at the W on a Friday or Saturday night. But maybe they'll be kind enough to let me sneak in every now and then on a Saturday morning.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-51815292174788770212011-09-22T18:10:00.005-04:002013-08-08T01:53:15.866-04:00Finishing out TokyoWhew, who knew it could take so long for me to blog about 48 hours in Tokyo? But here I am finally finishing out my posts on my August trip. Clearly the two weeks in Hong Kong that preceded Tokyo will see this blog through the end of the year...<br /><br />Just some bits and pieces that didn't quite fit in anywhere else or didn't seem to merit a full blog post on their own:<br /><br />In-flight snack on ANA; I'll take this over stale pretzels and coke any day (thanks again for the deluxe air tickets Mom!)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461535569/" title="ANASnack by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3772/9461535569_b4744c4934.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ANASnack"></a><br /></div><br />A big part of the reason I was intimidated about navigating Tokyo on my own.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461497913/" title="SubwayMap by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3764/9461497913_60bb65188b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SubwayMap"></a><br /></div><br />A manmade stream-like feature running through a park in Ropponggi where people can "rent" a seat:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461509751/" title="RentedSeats by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3727/9461509751_d7e1df0be5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="RentedSeats"></a><br /></div><br />Further along in the park, a tranquil scene at dusk:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464289080/" title="RoppongiPark by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/9464289080_e5cd56599e.jpg" width="500" height="342" alt="RoppongiPark"></a><br /></div><br />A fairly delicious avocado and "Italian frozen yogurt" shake from the food basement of Mitsukoshi in Ginza. What made it "Italian", I don't know, but the attention to detail with the petite mint leaf tickled my fancy:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461533949/" title="AvoShake1 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7457/9461533949_3e3cc99380.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="AvoShake1"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461491835/" title="AvoShake2JPG by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3795/9461491835_a29fd2931f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="AvoShake2JPG"></a><br /></div><br />Lunch at a delicious <a href="http://www.aoya-nakameguro.com/">Kyoto-style small plates</a> place in the Nakameguro neighborhood. This place was tucked away from the street down a narrow little path with nary a sign (as far as I could tell) to indicate that it was even there. Definitely would never have found it on my own. Thanks for lunch Taro and Christine!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461492437/" title="TaroLunch by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3759/9461492437_c6f7d923b9.jpg" width="500" height="286" alt="TaroLunch"></a><br /></div><br />Cold udon was perfect for the 30+ degree Celsius weather<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464263140/" title="TaroLunchUdon by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5328/9464263140_98ee6d7cb1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="TaroLunchUdon"></a><br /></div><br />The history of Sensoji temple juxtaposed against the hypermodern Sky Tree broadcasting tower in the background<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461505629/" title="SensojiandTower by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3716/9461505629_cd7b54617a.jpg" width="500" height="353" alt="SensojiandTower"></a><br /></div><br />Cheerful mini-temple<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464281018/" title="SmilingTemple by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7391/9464281018_9939459e2f.jpg" width="383" height="500" alt="SmilingTemple"></a><br /></div><br />Something about the way this bike was parked outside the restaurant and the black and white photo in the window made me think of an old Japanese film. Maybe channeling the quiet simplicity of an Ozu film?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461542753/" title="TokyoBike by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/9461542753_a3fd6d2c2f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="TokyoBike"></a><br /></div><br />All the guidebooks talked about the "salarymen" aka government workers who throng Tokyo's izakayas and bars after work. I have no idea if this crowd worked for the government, but this picture captures the faceless anonymity that that term always conjures in my head:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461508457/" title="Salarymen by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3702/9461508457_09b2c377a3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Salarymen"></a><br /></div><br />A big reason I was delighted to be navigating Tokyo on my own -- more tonkatsu for me!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461515341/" title="MaisenTonkatsu by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5444/9461515341_4b5d1f1d00.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="MaisenTonkatsu"></a><br /></div><br />This was at Maisen, a well-known tonkatsu establishment. Their special sauce totally made the meal -- none of that thick gloppy sweet stuff you squeeze out of a bottle.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464293980/" title="MaisenTonkatsuSauce by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2846/9464293980_02872b6bb9.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="MaisenTonkatsuSauce"></a><br /></div><br />This stuff was fresh, with I have no idea what inside it, but definitely had hints of fresh ginger and maybe even pineapple? I recommend dousing the tonkatsu with it to get that perfect bite:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461541447/" title="TonkatsuBite by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2879/9461541447_fff3030275.jpg" width="500" height="363" alt="TonkatsuBite"></a><br /></div><br /><br />All in all, not too shabby for a glorified layover methinks!Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-39805261708994782372011-09-12T23:49:00.008-04:002013-08-08T02:20:07.193-04:00Sensoji Temple and Carving Out Your Own Fortune<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464282904/" title="SensojiOutergate by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7433/9464282904_5eaf0f6ee6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SensojiOutergate"></a><br /></div><br />For some reason, Senso-ji, the major Buddhist temple in Tokyo, was closed when I visited it in early August.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461507131/" title="Sensoji by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7358/9461507131_7f533cbd5e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sensoji"></a><br /></div><br />Luckily, my visit to Asakusa, the neighborhood around Senso-ji, was not a complete waste. Not far from the temple is the kitchenwares district, with shops upon shops selling all sorts of food-related implements. Including those awesome plastic food models found outside many a restaurant. I was actually hoping to come away with some kind of plastic food as a souvenir (how cool would it be to have a bowl of udon on my desk, ALWAYS), but the prices seemed exorbitantly high for this unemployed vagabond (USD$20 for a keychain with a plasticized crepe at the end of it at one store!).<br /><br />There is also a shopping street, the Nakamise, leading up to the temple that was bustling despite the temple’s closure.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461501925/" title="SensojiShopping by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2832/9461501925_b93ef94c70.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="SensojiShopping"></a><br /></div><br />In addition to the usual knickknack and souvenir stores selling fans, ninja costumes, and perpetually waving cats, were snack stands selling freshly made rice crackers:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461517801/" title="JapaneseCrackers by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5470/9461517801_d487cf777a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="JapaneseCrackers"></a><br /></div><br />I chose to indulge in a deep fried cake filled with a green tea paste:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461522611/" title="GreenTeaSnack by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5535/9461522611_990f2d9e53.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="GreenTeaSnack"></a><br /></div><br />Though I didn't get to actually enter the Senso-ji temple, I did participate in one of its popular rituals.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461524673/" title="Fortunes by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9461524673_e4aee99185.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fortunes"></a><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How to get your fortune told at Senso-ji temple:</span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464284498/" title="SensojiInstructions by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5550/9464284498_2e0d41c1fb.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="SensojiInstructions"></a><br /></div><br />(My favorite part is the warning at the end against being arrogant or fearful based on your fortune.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Step 1: Shake the canister (politely!) while thinking of your wish.<br />[insert picture of tall hexagonal silver canister with a small hole at the top here. I tried to take a picture, but just couldn't get a good photograph out of it.]<br /></div><br />Step 2: Note the number on the stick and find the corresponding drawer:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464307472/" title="Drawers by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3713/9464307472_b003ac340e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Drawers"></a><br /></div><br />Step 3: Open the drawer to reveal your fortune:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464291818/" title="OpenDrawer by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/9464291818_bc4e000a8c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="OpenDrawer"></a><br /></div><br />If you get a bad fortune, you might want to do this so as to leave the bad luck behind:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464323474/" title="TiedFortune by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7435/9464323474_2e1a272266.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="TiedFortune"></a><br /></div><br />But if you are destined for awesomeness, like me, and draw stick number 78, feel free to carry your fortune with you and go on to rock out in life. Of course, in case you have doubts about your proverb-interpretation skills, you can always consult the handy breakdown of what this all means in layman's terms at the bottom:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464300506/" title="HighestMostExcellentFortune by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/9464300506_83257e7e1c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="HighestMostExcellentFortune"></a><br /></div><br />No matter what you draw, though, don't forget the final takeaway from those initial instructions: <span style="font-weight: bold;">"You can carve out your own fortune."</span>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-86954552466677347022011-09-08T15:06:00.002-04:002013-08-08T02:09:13.374-04:00Sushi Breakfast at TsukijiOf course, no visit to Tsukiji is complete without a sushi breakfast (or so the guidebooks tell me). Although there are several places to eat in the outer market, two places in particular have become the “biggies” that attract all the attention.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461495153/" title="SushiDai by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2885/9461495153_59f57a750b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SushiDai"></a><br />This picture doesn’t quite do the crowds justice, as the line breaks off after a certain amount of people, and continues around the corner.<br /></div><br />Finding places to eat while travelling can be an interesting process. On the one hand, you want good food, which usually means following some kind of recommendation, whether from friends, friends of friends, guidebooks, online forums, etc. Often a few places rise above the pack and end up getting repeated by everyone – which presumably ends up being a testament to the quality of the place. On the other hand, I often question the real value of going to said "must-visit" places. Is this place REALLY so much better than the others? I have this perpetual instinct to try to find the "undiscovered" gems instead, rather than following the previously trodden path of so many others. At a crossroads, I’ll sometimes err on the side of risking a bad experience for the opportunity to stumble on an undiscovered gem, rather than following the crowdsourced advice of "tried and true".<br /><br />Thus I was of a mixed mind about where to eat. On the one hand, I only had 48 hours in Tokyo, and precious little time (and stomach space) to waste on a so-so meal. On the other hand, I had heard that most of the places in the market were of fairly comparable quality, which seemed to resonate with me. I mean, they’re all getting their fish (purportedly) from essentially the same source (i.e., 20 yards away) – what could make them so different anyway? Ever the bargain hunter, I decided to eschew the long lines in front of the “biggies” in favor of finding a less-touristy, potentially cheaper option.<br /><br />The sushi bars must be in collusion, though, as there didn’t seem to be a cheaper option to be had. Apparently using lower prices to draw more customers in isn’t the practice here. Despite the fact that almost every sushi place, save the biggies, was practically empty, they pretty much offered the same options: various set menus starting around 2100 yen (at the time I was traveling, about USD$25-30) and up. Suddenly my options seemed to be 1. wait in line with everyone else to have the iconic experience at Daiwa Sushi or Sushi Dai, or 2. take my chances on one of the other places that seemed essentially deserted.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461494361/" title="SushiSet by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2828/9461494361_ae43012713.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SushiSet"></a><br />Standard offerings<br /></div><br />Overwhelmed with indecision (as I am wont to do), I finally ducked into Ryu Sushi (i.e., not one of the “biggies”) on a whim.<br /><br />I wish I could say that my gamble paid off. I wish that I could tell you to head over to this place on your next trip to Japan, rather than those too popular for their own good biggies. I wish I could say that the sushi set I ate made me feel like I had died and gone to heaven, and included the freshest fish I had ever tasted. Lord knows that’s the prescribed formula for most travel writing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461529641/" title="ClamSushi by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5490/9461529641_2de0c13498.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ClamSushi"></a><br />Looks great, but is it tasty?<br /></div><br />Like the time I got a free “student” haircut and ended up with much too short bangs instead of shelling out the cash for a real live professional stylist (now that I think about it, actually, I’ve done that twice…), however, my sushi experience was only kind of so-so. Truth be told, aside from the novelty of being in Japan, at Tsukiji, and not entirely able to communicate with my restaurant staff, the sushi I ate was fairly forgettable. While undoubtedly fresh (as in, I couldn’t smell anything off about it), most of the fish I ate was distinctly tough and chewy. Not the end-all, be-all of sushi eating that I had heard legends about.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464320422/" title="Toro by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3755/9464320422_a032258d04.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Toro"></a><br />Much-prized "toro", or high-grade bluefin tuna, on the right<br /></div><br />Surprisingly, the most enjoyable parts of my breakfast involved eating things that I don't normally enjoy eating. Like eel.<br /><br />Whether sliced in rounds and steamed with some soy sauce and ginger, or lathered with sauce and broiled in the form of unagi, I just don't like the texture or the taste of that snakelike sea creature. And yet the eel here was (here’s the travel writing formula kicking in again, though I say this without any exaggeration) a revelation to me. It melted in my mouth with just a hint of sweetness from its accompanying sauce, something slightly thicker and sweeter than soy, but definitely not the usual unagi iteration.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464316330/" title="Anago by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5543/9464316330_1908c99355.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Anago"></a><br /></div><br /><br />I was taken aback to have actually liked an eel dish. Just to be sure I was actually eating eel, I pointed to the empty dish, then made an undulating motion with my hand. Drawing upon my memory of those visual placards found at almost every sushi restaurant in the States outlining sushi types and their names, I tried to remember the word for eel.<br /><br />“Ana?” I asked.<br /><br />“-go” the sushi chef responded, nodding. I had left off a crucial last syllable, but had essentially identified my breakfast species correctly. Who knew that I could like eel?<br /><br />Wasabi is another thing I can generally do without while eating sushi. Part of that comes from my relatively low tolerance for spicy things. Though, as I've gotten older, and especially in more recent years, I've been starting to enjoy more spicy foods, recognizing that they impart something more than just heat on the tongue, watery eyes and cleared sinuses. I'll usually just put a small dab of wasabi in my soy sauce dish (for some reason it just looks odd to me without the wasabi. Childish, even), and give it a little swirl, though I do cop to swiping off the wasabi-tainted rice that sneaks into my nigiri.<br /><br />The wasabi at this sushi bar came from a fresh wasabi root, however. Unlike with the industrially produced, reconstituted green paste that one usually associates with sushi, eating this wasabi was like discovering a new side of the sushi world. Though I've had fresh wasabi before, it hadn't been the revelation for me then that it was here. I don’t quite know how to articulate it, but this wasabi was complex and layered, with flavor and piquancy hitting at different parts of my mouth in contrast to the simple, smooth, straightforward sashimi. I was tasting several different things at once, not just a mustardy spiciness that shoots up your nose. For the first time in my life, I actually appreciated wasabi.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461495911/" title="SushiChef by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/9461495911_a034568bba.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="SushiChef"></a><br />Don't mess with the guy with the knife<br /></div><br /><br />After finishing my meal at Ryu Sushi and feeling full but not impressed, I did (and still do) wonder if I should have bit the bullet and waited in line with the other tourists for the iconic Sushi Dai or Daiwa Sushi experience. I’ve seen and read various reports by friends that indicated that it was well-worth the experience, and perhaps I missed out on an amazing, life-changing meal. Then again, what’s the fun of travelling if not to take some risks and make your own path, for better or for worse? No regrets, just more reasons to go back.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-9748214396370269252011-08-26T12:54:00.007-04:002013-08-08T02:14:03.382-04:00Tsukiji Fish Market*For those people who find images of carved fish heads and bodies disturbing, please note that such images occur within this post.<br /><br />Almost every account aimed at educating tourists about the famed Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo will tell you that the key to a successful visit involves waking up well before the sun rises. The fish and seafood actually start arriving from all over the world before the previous day has ended, and by 5 am the wheeling and dealing is in full swing. This is what most people come to Tsukiji to experience: a glimpse into the nexus of a multi-billion dollar industry unlike any other.<br /><br />Many of the write-ups, however, also mention how a 2008 incident involving a tourist allegedly licking a tuna head has made what were already wary employees even more disdainful of the unanticipated and unwritten addition of "tourist attraction" to their business cards. As the <em>always</em> considerate, <em>always</em> respectful traveler, and appropriately scared off by warnings that the people who do the real business in Tsukiji <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/12/world/fg-japan-fishmarket12">hate bumbling tourists</a> getting in their way and taking pictures willy-nilly, I early on decide not to attempt to navigate the wholesale auction aspect of this behemoth. Instead, I reason that I can save the early morning taxi fare (new procedures have tourists lining up hours before the subway trains start running), abstain from participating in the depletion of the world’s stock of tuna, and still soak in the atmosphere of the more tourist-friendly outer market.<br /><br />After a few delays thanks to the snooze button, I finally drag myself out of bed, hating, as usual, the feeling of having to wake up while it is still dark outside. In this part of the world, however, the sun rises early, and despite the cloaked-in, wee hours of the morning feeling of my hotel room, I draw open the curtains to see that it is full daylight outside.<br /><br />Or perhaps I simply don’t get up at 6 am enough to realize that this is the norm in the summer, regardless of geographical location.<br /><br />When I arrive at Tsukiji, I’m immediately thrown for a loop. Thinking that I had missed the height of the wholesale chaos, I nonetheless encounter an endless stream of trucks, mechanized trolleys aka "turret trucks", and scooters that seem destined to mow me down at some point. I can hardly figure out where one is supposed to go, and blindly walk in what seems to be the direction of the center of activity.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464318272/" title="TurretTruck by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/9464318272_fd70a6b7d1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="TurretTruck"></a><br />I've never seen one of these before, but I'm pretty sure it can take me out in a heartbeat<br /></div><br />As I try to make sense of my surroundings, I find myself in the outer market area where auxiliary businesses support the main business of the fish traders: stalls selling all manner of knives, tubs of assorted pickled vegetables, bins upon bins of bonito flakes, ceramicware ranging from the intricately detailed to straightforwardly functional, thick logs of tamago (egg cakes), and, of course, a host of sushi purveyors. I weave through the pathways of this more familiar, consumer rather than wholesale setting, and begin to feel calmer, less overwhelmed, and more able to keep my wits about me.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464271462/" title="TsukijiMap by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3815/9464271462_ce1ce89284.jpg" width="500" height="383" alt="TsukijiMap"></a><br />Finding my safe zone<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461526365/" title="Edamame by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/9461526365_f01fda2141.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Edamame"></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">I've never seen soybean pods still on the branch before<br /></div></div><br />By the time I have explored every nook and cranny of the outer market and filled my belly with a <a href='http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2011/09/sushi-breakfast-at-tsukiji.html'>sushi breakfast</a>, I feel reasonably satisfied with my visit, notwithstanding the fact that I have yet to actually see where the real business of Tsukiji takes place. As I walk around considering where to go next, however, I see some tourist-looking people headed towards a large building. In one of the few instances of finding comfort in the presence of other tourists in the context of traveling abroad (as opposed to that, "Oh, man, you're here too?" feeling), I reason that they must know where they are going, and that there is some shielding from the wrath of angry fishmongers to be found in sticking with other tourists. So I take advantage of a momentary lapse in the steady stream of traffic that still surrounds the market, and with the help of TWO crossing guards, finally find myself in the main seafood market.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aF9gKuUgMU4?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" width="420" frameborder="0" height="345"></iframe><br /><br />There's a definite buzz going on, but as I pick my way through puddles and dodge temporary styrofoam aquariums, I come to realize that I have inserted myself into something less than a full-fledged business trading floor. I also learn that if you want to fit in to this place, the key is to invest in some rubber boots.<br /><br />At around 9:30 in the morning, the height of the activity has long since diminished, but there are still a few hours to go before the market fully shuts down for its daily top-to-bottom cleaning, replete <a href="http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/youkoso/24hour_e/24hours.htm">sprinkler trucks</a>. Though the main attraction of Tsukiji is the bluefin tuna auction drawing buyers and sellers from around the world (though most of the fish ends up in regional restaurants), I find a certain magic in this winding down time, in limbo between the real business of the day and the full-shutdown of the market. The wholesalers are standing around, or visiting each other’s stands, and I feel like I am granted a glimpse into the underlying camaraderie that must maintain the social networks of this place above and beyond the wheeling and dealing. A gray-haired gentleman leans in closely as a younger protege slices through a massive hunk of deep red tuna with careful deliberation. Others walk a U-shaped pattern, coming down the narrow walkway between the freezers and trays in front of their stall, briefly joining the public path, then turning to walk up to another stall to greet their friends, competitors, and colleagues with a handshake and perhaps a word on how their accounts went in the hours prior. There is still some business to be had, tourists or other regular consumers taking their bounty away in bags rather than crates or order slips, but for the most part, this seems to be a window of time dedicated more to socializing than to transactions. Not only do I feel distinctly outside of these exclusive social circles, I am also acutely aware of my status as one of the few females in what is clearly a male-dominated industry. Rather than globalized trade routes or international commodities, I think of sociology studies, of the inherent fraternal nature of this place and the business it supports.<br /><br />Interestingly, this fraternal socialization thrives even amongst the vaguely abattoir setting of a wholesale fresh (and freshly killed) seafood warehouse. There is good reason for the ubiquitous rubber footwear worn by those in the know: against the dark floor, it is difficult to discern spilt water from spilt fish blood. While I am an unabashed omnivore, and reasonably accustomed to confronting the realities of living at the top of the food chain, I find the constant reminders of death intriguing, a candid mix of mortality, the moribund, and the morbid all together. A few styrofoam containers appear stained with a deep garnet hue, while others hold more explicit deep sea entrails. Turret trucks neatly cart off open tubs of fish carcasses, while mounds of fish heads patiently await their due processing on the ground.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461525555/" title="FishCarcass by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2872/9461525555_8908d1977a.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="FishCarcass"></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464292838/" title="ManyFishCarcasses by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/9464292838_a0ca109b47.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="ManyFishCarcasses"></a><br /></div><br />I come across a lone fish cutter, hacking away at a giant head. The presence of a few other tourists gathered around him makes me think that taking a picture would be okay, and with my flash turned off, I quickly do so.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464312276/" title="CarvingFishHead by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7331/9464312276_e0277b872f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="CarvingFishHead"></a><br /></div><br />Then another man comes up to the fish cutter, says something in Japanese, and they both glance in my direction. "Shit," I think, "so much for being the considerate and respectful traveler." The fish cutter gives a shrug, though, and continues about his business. I've been let off the proverbial hook, it seems, though I wouldn't be surprised if I was unwittingly the subject of some bad words in Japanese.<br /><br />Though I still would not recommend this place for the squeamish, there is actually a greater sense of sanitization amongst the refuse here than in some of the wet markets that I've walked through in Hong Kong. Perhaps this comes from my knowing that the market completely shuts down every day for the sole purpose of cleaning. Or maybe it is just that, unlike those markets that I visit during regular business hours, here I am seeing people in the active business of cleaning up following a day of work, methodically soaping up and hosing down their stations. I was struck in particular with one stall that had long since packed up for the day. At the very front of the stall, carefully laid out on a wooden chopping block were, literally, the tools of trade. All sorts of knives of varying lengths and sizes, lined up with such precision one might think that Her Majesty the Queen's butlers had stopped by with their rulers. Taken by the latent sense of non-ostentatious pride in the display, this time I seek permission before taking out my camera. Mobilizing my limited Japanese language skills, I tentatively call out to the man smoking at the back of the stall.<br /><br />"Sumimasen?" I mime taking a picture of the knives.<br /><br />He doesn't respond at first, and I think, "Shit, I'm that horrible tourist they hate." But then he nods, and without a word or a smile, flicks on the lamps that hang directly over my subject before leaving me to my business. I quickly snap a few photos, and then, having already used up most of my Japanese skills, draw upon the dregs of my vocabulary. "Domoarigato," I say as I do a sort of odd, uncertain bow, which seems both appropriate and totally out of place at the same time. He just nods, cool as a cucumber, and descends to re-extinguish the lamps.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464296266/" title="knives by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3702/9464296266_4835dc441c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="knives"></a><br /></div><br />I finally leave the place in awe of some of the amazing things I’ve seen. But I also leave with a conflicted sense of this place’s status as a “must-see” tourist destination in Tokyo. In tourism studies speak, the Tsukiji fish market presents a blurring of the front- and back-stage areas of tourism performance. The massive scale of trade that goes on in this place has made it an international tourist destination. And yet, what makes this place more touristic or less a workplace than any other wholesale distribution warehouse on the outskirts of a major city? What makes these fish tradesmen more “performers” than their lesser photographed and visited counterparts on the docks of New York or <a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/10/a-visit-to-rungis-market-france-marche/">outskirts of Paris</a>?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464319492/" title="TsukijiAlley by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2828/9464319492_2c1ae1cee6.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="TsukijiAlley"></a><br />The back of the backstage<br /></div><br />A wholesale food distribution warehouse is right up my alley as an interesting diversion, a distinctive experience, and an opportunity to better understand our food supply chain. But I also sympathize with those Tsukiji employees who find the due course of their business impinged on by people looking for something new and novel, people who see a place of work as a playground for leisure, rather than as a livelihood. Perhaps, though, this all reflects the general theme of globalization that underlies modern tourism and trade. Just as globalization renders geo-political borders subservient to commerce and money, the barriers between everyday life, tourism, and performance get blurred as well.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-47179981050519069062011-07-14T17:30:00.002-04:002012-06-06T19:07:22.102-04:00Scotch eggs and teaBritain continues to be on the brain, though it's nice to know that we're often on their brains as well, as evidenced by this article which ran in the Independent in May:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/are-we-winning-americans-over-to-traditional-british-fare-2286044.html'>Are we winning Americans over to traditional British fare?</a><br /><br />It's interesting to see the UK concerned with creating a positive food image amongst Americans who lack the more celebrated food connoisseurship of Italians or Spaniards (we'll chalk up the absence of concern over French impressions of their food to the historical icyness between these two nations). Even I admit to taking a <a href='http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2011/02/americas-food-image-needs-to-get-move.html'>stab</a> at the perceived drearyness of British cuisine.<br /><br />The way in which patrons of the stall readily embraced British food after trying just one or two things makes me think that reforming one's national food image need not require a sustained, intensive, glossy campaign. Rather, some initial good eating experiences might be enough to overcome prejudices, freeing people to generate their own momentum in embracing food from that culture. Once people stop automatically equating British food with blech, they'll be more open to trying the variety of foods encompassed under the Union Jack. Like tea:<br /><br />(NSFW on account of some hilarious potty-mouths)<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2l1F6BmKbO0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-61379163046527321712011-07-06T14:05:00.003-04:002013-08-08T02:24:03.286-04:00The Authenticity Predicament<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461737265/" title="IMG_4194 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/9461737265_4ab2cc3e2f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_4194"></a><br />Posole Guerrero from Oaxaca, Mexico. Tasty? Incredibly. Authentic? Up for debate.<br /></div><br />Authentic: it's a loaded gun when it comes to food. Especially when referencing food that comes from another culture. So I give props to Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, for how he handles the question, <a href="http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/06/27/what-is-authentic/">What is authentic?</a>, in a recent blog post. The post came in response to a reader challenging the idea that certain restaurants in the Bay Area hailed by Bauer served authentic pozole.<br /><br />In the months that I spent researching culinary tourists' notion of authenticity in online reviews, a lot of people asked what I meant by "authenticity."<br /><br />No, no, I said to them. The question is, what do THEY (the reviewers) mean by authenticity?<br /><br />Ah yes, you know you're in the social sciences when you refuse to make definitive claims about your own views, but instead refer to other people's opinions. You also know that you're in the social sciences when you say, "X is a social construction."<br /><br />Well, this is what I have to say about authenticity: it's a social construction.<br /><br />That is, authenticity means different things to different people, and often in different contexts. What is and isn't authentic to any given individual is fluid, rarely conforms to any standardized schema, and often has as much to do with one's audience as with one's own opinions. To muddle things even more, some scholars propose the concept of an experience being authentic to oneself, lending to a certain sense of self-realization, even if the experience or object of consumption is not thought of as "authentic" (for you nerds out there, object-related authenticity vs. existential authenticity).<br /><br />As for Michael Bauer, he thinks that,<br /><blockquote>When people say something isn’t authentic, it’s generally to set themselves up as experts. What they’re really saying, in most cases, is that a dish is not like the one they had when they traveled in Mexico, Italy, India or whatever region is under discussion...<br /><br />There are as many recipes for posole as there are cooks, so what makes one more “authentic” than the other? I think most times the one we deem as “authentic” is the one that is most familiar or appeals to us.</blockquote>In the context of social construction, I find authenticity fascinating. What people do and don't think of as authentic says a lot about them and how they see the world. The marketing of "authenticity" also plays an integral role in destination branding, creating a sense of limited resources (e.g., one can only get authentic posole in Mexico vs. authenticity as socially constructed whenever and wherever one wants).<br /><br />When it comes to food, though, my overarching question is, is it tasty? Michael Bauer and I sometimes disagree on what restaurants serve tasty food. But we do seem to agree that the question of authenticity is more about the who rather than the what.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-15158084492783287282011-07-04T11:07:00.001-04:002013-08-11T01:05:05.490-04:00Happy Fourth!In honor of the Fourth of July, here's a sampling of America's bounty, procured from the <a href="http://www.freshfarmmarket.org/markets/dupont_circle.html">Dupont Circle Farmer's Market</a>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461756075/" title="IMG_6962 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6962" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/9461756075_f752854cbc.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
Approximately clockwise from top: blueberries, corn, milk, eggs, cucumber, garlic scapes, radicchio, red onions, green tomatoes, green beans, apricots, and white onions.<br />
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Some macro fun:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461760783/" title="IMG_6955 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6955" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7332/9461760783_2e7f5de18f.jpg" width="300" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9464537272/" title="IMG_6957 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6957" height="400" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3760/9464537272_e56aa8e7b9.jpg" width="300" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9461757715/" title="IMG_6959 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6959" height="400" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5324/9461757715_eb1910fb46.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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<b>This</b> is what gets me excited about food.Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-53525344766420810202011-06-29T10:19:00.003-04:002013-08-11T01:13:59.429-04:00Nathan Heller thinks pie is un-AmericanClearly <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2296054/">Nathan Heller at Slate</a> hasn't eaten <a href="http://www.littlepiecompany.com/">Little Pie Company's</a> apple pie. Or read <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2010/05/as-american-as-apple-pie.html">my blog post</a> about how freakin' delicious this stuff is<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9484455726/" title="IMG_3874 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5327/9484455726_71f298f676.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_3874"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481665397/" title="IMG_3883 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7417/9481665397_0a2e7b5354.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_3883"></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2296054/">Pie: It's gloppy, it's soggy, it's un-American.</a>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-35064540305640730452011-06-27T11:42:00.000-04:002013-08-11T01:12:05.701-04:00Living the Brit life through foodBeing newly graduated and unemployed, I've got a lot of time and potentially unwarranted optimism to think about what kind of life I might be about to embark upon. Like many new graduates, I at times have the sense that the world is my oyster, and I simply have to want a life in order to live it. As if we all have complete control over the process of bringing to fruition the life plans that we so idealistically design in our heads.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481655631/" title="IMG_6786 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6786" height="240" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3815/9481655631_40a8df1ef1.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9484442954/" title="IMG_6806 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6806" height="240" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3689/9484442954_a55325992e.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481657099/" title="IMG_6785 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6785" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/9481657099_74eff40056.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then I remember how many applications I've sent out for, say, food writer/editor positions, and how few responses I've gotten to said applications (to date: zilch).<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481653983/" title="IMG_6794 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6794" height="400" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2887/9481653983_513b43f022.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Nonetheless, humans are a <a href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2074067,00.html">relentlessly optimistic species</a>, and the optimistic daydreams persist. Case in point, a few months ago, I was enamored with the notion of living a simple life in England, just knitting tea cozies and drinking tea all day. Maybe with Chopin nocturnes as the soundtrack to my life.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481652307/" title="IMG_6805 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6805" height="300" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2851/9481652307_d38f2c5d46.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Somehow the part about being in England was very integral to the satisfaction I imagined I would derive from such a life. Why knitting tea cozies and drinking tea all day in my apartment in DC would not suffice in quite the same way perhaps says something about how objects can capture a sense of culture and association with a place. England completes the trifecta of tea cozies and tea in a way that DC doesn't.<br />
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Or maybe England's distance from my present life lends the romanticism of geographical escapism, the sense of "anywhere but here," that makes such a simple life more enticing.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9484434422/" title="IMG_6830 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6830" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/9484434422_1ec3eda5d2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Fast forward a few months, and I come across a <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-20/features/sc-food-0415-royal-cake-20110420_1_cake-recipe-mcvitie-s-cake-royal-wedding">recipe</a> for the chocolate biscuit cake that so <a href="http://jaxiecracks.blogspot.com/2011/06/royal-wedding-menu.html">exemplified a British sensibility</a> at the Royal Wedding. Clearly I needed to recreate this biscuit cake for myself.<br />
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In the process, I got to play out another little life fantasy of mine.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481649067/" title="IMG_6812 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6812" height="320" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3717/9481649067_8f1c2daed7.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481644011/" title="IMG_6822 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6822" height="320" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/9481644011_6c5babb930.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481645661/" title="IMG_6818 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6818" height="240" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3725/9481645661_f31a543c0a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Graced with endless hours of free time and some great natural light, I spent the better part of an afternoon positioning my biscuits just so, working the macro function on my trusty little digital camera, and imagining what life might be like to do this every day.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481647271/" title="IMG_6816 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6816" height="300" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3814/9481647271_986f8d0f7a.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9484432192/" title="IMG_6835 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6835" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7363/9484432192_81b87f5cc0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I took one of my oh-so-British chocolate biscuit cakes (I ended up making lots of mini-cakes instead of one large one, since I didn't have the requisite size cake pan), sat down with a pot of tea and my newly completed tea cozy, and, after taking a few pictures...<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481636479/" title="IMG_6849 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6849" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/9481636479_b7eb03e4c6.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481634989/" title="IMG_6857 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6857" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5549/9481634989_feab0f6e03.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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...(okay, taking a lot of pictures), found a quite satisfactory sense of contentment.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481633403/" title="IMG_6863 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6863" height="375" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2855/9481633403_77c2a9eb4c.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Sure, these pictures might be a little sexier if I told you I had taken them while renting a flat in London, or Edinburgh, or staying in a cottage in the Welsh countryside. But, thanks to my stash of chocolate biscuit cakes (which hold up remarkably well in the fridge), I've found a way to "escape" to that simplistic, romantic little vision of life in England just about every other day this week, all while remaining in the good ole US of A.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481637991/" title="IMG_6841 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6841" height="500" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3705/9481637991_d8cf767db0.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Clearly I'm not accepting eating a bit of chocolate biscuit cake with some tea and a tea cozy as an acceptable replacement for being in England. But if I'm going to be stuck in DC anyway, there are worst ways to while away a few moments.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyplate/9481631793/" title="IMG_6869 by Jaxiecracks, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_6869" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/9481631793_6e332a28b0.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-4319402791797776912011-06-24T19:18:00.003-04:002012-06-06T19:09:47.336-04:00Inauthenticity = deliciousnessFrom Food and Wine Magazine's <a href='http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/the-evolution-of-a-restaurant-mission-chinese-food'>July 2011</a> issue, Karen Leibowitz talks about the evolution of San Francisco's <a href='http://blog.missionstreetfood.com/'>Mission Street Food</a>. I particularly love this quote:<br /><br />"Deciding to completely redesign our menus twice a week taught us <span style="font-weight:bold;">how delicious inauthenticity can be</span>, and gave us the <span style="font-weight:bold;">cross-cultural hubris</span> to combine rice noodles, meatballs soaked with Asian fish sauce, Thai basil, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella and call it a Vietnamese Caprese."Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-56874057212631435472011-06-08T23:46:00.001-04:002012-06-06T19:10:01.780-04:00When it comes to "authentic" New York Pizza...... don't cross Jon Stewart:<br /><br /><object width="512" height="288"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/1UocJqm6MGXW-8Gp_ZxCRg"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/1UocJqm6MGXW-8Gp_ZxCRg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" height="288" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-52992335319129864652011-06-06T19:37:00.004-04:002012-06-06T19:10:27.601-04:00The Royal Wedding menuSo, in case you've been living under a rock unawares, there was this little thing called the <a href='http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11767495'>Royal Wedding</a> that happened a few weeks ago.<br /><br />For many, in the weeks building up to the big event the main question centered around the designer of the wedding dress. Brits seemed to nod in approval when it was finally revealed that Sarah Burton, protege of the late British designer Alexander McQueen, was the lucky anointed one. (By contrast, some criticized Michelle Obama for wearing a McQueen frock at the state dinner for Chinese president Hu Jintao, instead of opting for an American couturier).<br /><br />For me, the big question was, What are they going to eat?<br /><br />Of course, I'm always curious about what people eat. But I was especially interested in this menu after having researched Prince Charles's promotion of organic, sustainable, non-GMO farming and food production. Would the father of the groom and host of the exclusive evening reception use the occasion to reinforce <a href='http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/personalprofiles/residences/highgrove/thegarden/index.html'>his own call</a> for sustainably-grown foods that preserve British rural communities and traditions?<br /><br />Indeed he did. Reports of the evening reception's menu describe a 3-course meal with Welsh seafood to start, Castle of Mey lamb prepared three ways and accompanied by organic spring vegetables from Highgrove (site of Prince Charles's first forays into organic farming) as the featured entree, and mini sherry trifles, chocolate mousse, and honeycomb ice cream in a brandy snap basket to close.<br /><br />By all accounts, the Royal Wedding seems to have constituted a huge win for Anglophilia both within the country and around the world. Some 2 billion people were estimated to have watched, and the newly minted Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently announced an American extension of their state visit to Canada in July to capitalize on the royal fervor.<br /><br />I heard from a few "what's the big deal?" party poopers in the lead-up to the nuptials, and I have to admit that even I was taken aback by pictures of the full-scale military rehearsal ahead of the actual event. All <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380983/Royal-wedding-2011-Dress-rehearsal-Kate-Middleton-Prince-Williams-big-day.html">THIS</a> for a wedding? But it seems like much of the pooh-poohing eventually fell to the wayside as the grandeur of British pageantry captivated all but the hardiest of cynics. As British Prime Minister David Cameron put it, "We're quite a reserved lot, the British, but when we go for it we really go for it." (Interesting how American nationalism often comes off as obnoxious at best, and arrogant and insensitive at worst, but when other countries do it, it's cool, eh?).<br /><br />A wedding for any couple can be an opportunity to present a particular image about themselves to their guests. For the future King and Queen of England, it's an opportunity to reinforce their very British-ness, and hopefully in a way that turns people on to British culture. The oh-so-British touch that sealed the deal for me? It wasn't the dress designer, or the Scottish lamb entree, or the pomp and circumstance of a royal rite of passage. It was the <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royal-wedding/2011/04/29/royal-wedding-cake-guests-tuck-into-prince-william-s-favourite-chocolate-biscuit-cake-115875-23095851/">McVities chocolate tea biscuit cake</a> specially requested by Prince William to accompany the more traditional fruitcake wedding cake. A prince who commissions what amounts to "chocolate digestives"* in cake form for his wedding clearly has his culinary priorities in order in my book.<br /><br /><em>*If you are uninitiated into the wonders that are chocolate digestive biscuits, I promise they taste much better than they sound. If you don't believe me, Cost Plus World Markets often carry these biscuits; though they are generally served at room temperature, I've taken a liking to keeping them cold in the fridge.</em>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3364721387393578426.post-24918972466959995102011-05-24T12:27:00.004-04:002012-06-06T19:11:03.618-04:00Global browniesMy blogging clearly took a hit as the last month of graduate school saw me constantly chained to paper-writing, editing, and re-writing. Then my family came out for graduation, which passed by in a surreal blur of blue robes and picture-taking. Now, as I settle in to unemployment, I've got to admit that the ole noggin' seems to have taken a hit for the worst. Someone better find me a job soon before I lose all that intellectual nerdspeak that I've been accumulating over the past two years.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'll let someone else make the insightful statements for me:<br /><blockquote><p>"The spiced <strong>Black Bean Brownies</strong> may not be traditionally Mexican, but since I’m an American eating in a Mexican restaurant in Paris where the chef is Peruvian and the brownie-maker is British, just take a bite and I’m sure you’ll agree that these brownies are a very compelling argument for globalization."</p></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">courtesy of David Lebovitz's entry on </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/05/candelaria-mexican-restaurant-paris/#more-5592">Candelaria</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> over at his </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/">blog</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span>Jaxiecrackshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312001377032923065noreply@blogger.com1