One evening spent with Joe involved serial watching Anthony Bourdain's show. I think he would've enjoyed this one:
Showing posts with label Food and Spirits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food and Spirits. Show all posts
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Friday, July 05, 2013
Cheap Beer
Alas, the best cheap beer is only accessible to Rex Otto among The Clock regulars. I knew there was some benefit to living in Minnesota besides the enticing possibility of witnessing a slap fight between Prince and Garrison Keillor. Yeah, like you haven't fantasized about it.
Author's note: I write this with a little bitterness while drinking Trader Jose' beer, a Corona knock-off which is on the wrong side of putrid. The thing about cheap beer is, when you buy it, you're all in. You've entered into a contract stronger than any that could be written by Alan Dershowitz, i.e., I bought you because you're cheap. I will drink you no matter what.
(Pictured above: Riot Fest headliners The Replacements)
.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Sugar and Salt
Now that hangovers from the Lady Magnolia birthday celebration have subsided, it's time to return our focus to the human condition. Here's a good place to start: sugar and salt production. These are commodities we likely take for granted, but getting them to the dinner table, in many parts of the world, involves a lot of toil and misery. This is well-illustrated in a series of photos at "The Big Picture" (from the Boston Globe), found here. Interested in learning more about heirloom salt production? See Araya, a starkly beautiful French documentary, directed by Margot Benacerraf in 1959, about salt mining in northeastern Venezuela.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
In Defense of Cannibalism
Feral Boy is on board with this. (Worth taking into consideration, Clock members, for the next "summit".)
"You can nosh on me"
by David Plotz
The Internet shivered with horror and fascination last week at the revelation that the Jamestown colonists cannibalized each other during the dreadful winter of 1609. According to the report in Smithsonian, the skeleton of a 14-year-old girl shows clear signs of being butchered for food, with telltale knife marks on her skull, jaw and shin. Fellow colonists probably ate her "brain, tongue, cheeks, and leg muscles." The "starving time" during the first year of Jamestown left most of the 100-odd colonists dead. Ghastly firsthand accounts hinted at cannibalism (as well as the eating of horses, dogs, cats, vermin and shoes), but this is the conclusive evidence that archeologists and historians have been waiting for.
It's the nature of taboos that they extinguish the capacity for calm discussion. Cannibalism occupies a dark cellar in our brains. Merely the mention of a famous episode — the Donner Party, "Alive," the whaleship Essex, the famine in North Korea, Jeffrey Dahmer — provokes fear and disgust. (I also find that it inevitably provokes transference: It is literally impossible for me to think about an episode of cannibalism and not wonder what I would have done in the same circumstances. I suspect I am not alone in this.) Even when the cannibalism is driven by necessity rather than perversion — so-called "survival cannibalism" — most people are repulsed.
This may make you not want to be in a lifeboat with me, but I have never understood the horror and shock about starvation cannibalism. Human flesh isn't anyone's first choice for dinner (or not anyone normal), but the cannibalism taboo has always seemed pretty flimsy as taboos go. In a dire food shortage, one of the very first things you should do is eat the corpses of the dead. Human corpses have the proteins, fats, vitamins and calories that starving people most need. I don't endorse sacrificing the living to feed the starving — though even that done through some fair process may be justified in particularly dire circumstances — but cannibalizing corpses to fend off starvation seems like an easy call, and not a disgusting one.
A decade ago, I visited an Ethiopian village destroyed by famine, and I saw what is still the most horrifying thing I have ever seen: a 6-year-old boy named Saoudi — stick legs and arms, distended belly — whose lips and tongue were brown from eating dirt. It's very likely that Saoudi didn't survive the year, and if he did, he probably has permanent health and brain damage from the lack of nutrition. There were no corpses to eat in Dire Kiltu, but had there been, would it have been wrong — or even disgusting — for those villagers to have eaten them? To have fed their famished children protein and fat, rather than indigestible dirt and grass and shoe-leather, which is what starving people often eat? Survival cannibalism is terribly sad, because starvation is sad, but it is certainly less sad — and less revolting — than almost all of the alternatives.
So if you ever find yourself with my corpse at a remote plane crash site, you know what to do. These meaty thighs, the well-marbled belly, the beer-soaked liver — they won't be of any more use to me. Please, help yourself.
David Plotz is editor of Slate. He's the author of "The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank" and "Good Book."
"You can nosh on me"
by David Plotz
The Internet shivered with horror and fascination last week at the revelation that the Jamestown colonists cannibalized each other during the dreadful winter of 1609. According to the report in Smithsonian, the skeleton of a 14-year-old girl shows clear signs of being butchered for food, with telltale knife marks on her skull, jaw and shin. Fellow colonists probably ate her "brain, tongue, cheeks, and leg muscles." The "starving time" during the first year of Jamestown left most of the 100-odd colonists dead. Ghastly firsthand accounts hinted at cannibalism (as well as the eating of horses, dogs, cats, vermin and shoes), but this is the conclusive evidence that archeologists and historians have been waiting for.
It's the nature of taboos that they extinguish the capacity for calm discussion. Cannibalism occupies a dark cellar in our brains. Merely the mention of a famous episode — the Donner Party, "Alive," the whaleship Essex, the famine in North Korea, Jeffrey Dahmer — provokes fear and disgust. (I also find that it inevitably provokes transference: It is literally impossible for me to think about an episode of cannibalism and not wonder what I would have done in the same circumstances. I suspect I am not alone in this.) Even when the cannibalism is driven by necessity rather than perversion — so-called "survival cannibalism" — most people are repulsed.
This may make you not want to be in a lifeboat with me, but I have never understood the horror and shock about starvation cannibalism. Human flesh isn't anyone's first choice for dinner (or not anyone normal), but the cannibalism taboo has always seemed pretty flimsy as taboos go. In a dire food shortage, one of the very first things you should do is eat the corpses of the dead. Human corpses have the proteins, fats, vitamins and calories that starving people most need. I don't endorse sacrificing the living to feed the starving — though even that done through some fair process may be justified in particularly dire circumstances — but cannibalizing corpses to fend off starvation seems like an easy call, and not a disgusting one.
A decade ago, I visited an Ethiopian village destroyed by famine, and I saw what is still the most horrifying thing I have ever seen: a 6-year-old boy named Saoudi — stick legs and arms, distended belly — whose lips and tongue were brown from eating dirt. It's very likely that Saoudi didn't survive the year, and if he did, he probably has permanent health and brain damage from the lack of nutrition. There were no corpses to eat in Dire Kiltu, but had there been, would it have been wrong — or even disgusting — for those villagers to have eaten them? To have fed their famished children protein and fat, rather than indigestible dirt and grass and shoe-leather, which is what starving people often eat? Survival cannibalism is terribly sad, because starvation is sad, but it is certainly less sad — and less revolting — than almost all of the alternatives.
So if you ever find yourself with my corpse at a remote plane crash site, you know what to do. These meaty thighs, the well-marbled belly, the beer-soaked liver — they won't be of any more use to me. Please, help yourself.
David Plotz is editor of Slate. He's the author of "The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank" and "Good Book."
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Pacific Bluefin Tuna Stocks to be Replenished *
From an AP story:
A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year — even as environmentalists warn that stocks of the majestic, speedy fish are being depleted worldwide amid strong demand for sushi. The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or $3,603 per pound. The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said "the price was a bit high," but that he wanted to "encourage Japan," according to Kyodo News agency. He was planning to serve the fish to customers later Saturday. The best slices of fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at upmarket Tokyo sushi bars.
Stocks of all three bluefin species —the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic — have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing. Bluefin tuna populations in the Atlantic Ocean have declined over 70% in the last 30 years. The Southern Bluefin, which swims in the southern Pacific, has plunged to 3-8 percent of its original levels. On Monday, an intergovernmental group is to release data on Pacific Bluefin stocks that environmentalists believe will likely show an alarming decline.
Therefore, all profits from this sale will go towards efforts to repopulate Bluefin stocks, including lobbying for legislation, with stiff penalties, to adopt and enforce science-based, sustainable limits on both the minimum-size and number of Pacific bluefin tuna that can be caught.*
* Feral Boy is just kidding! Bluefin tuna profits will continue to be used for Eastern European prostitutes and panties that have been soiled by teen-aged school girls. Bluefin tuna populations will continue to decline toward extinction.
A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year — even as environmentalists warn that stocks of the majestic, speedy fish are being depleted worldwide amid strong demand for sushi. The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or $3,603 per pound. The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said "the price was a bit high," but that he wanted to "encourage Japan," according to Kyodo News agency. He was planning to serve the fish to customers later Saturday. The best slices of fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at upmarket Tokyo sushi bars.
Stocks of all three bluefin species —the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic — have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing. Bluefin tuna populations in the Atlantic Ocean have declined over 70% in the last 30 years. The Southern Bluefin, which swims in the southern Pacific, has plunged to 3-8 percent of its original levels. On Monday, an intergovernmental group is to release data on Pacific Bluefin stocks that environmentalists believe will likely show an alarming decline.
Therefore, all profits from this sale will go towards efforts to repopulate Bluefin stocks, including lobbying for legislation, with stiff penalties, to adopt and enforce science-based, sustainable limits on both the minimum-size and number of Pacific bluefin tuna that can be caught.*
* Feral Boy is just kidding! Bluefin tuna profits will continue to be used for Eastern European prostitutes and panties that have been soiled by teen-aged school girls. Bluefin tuna populations will continue to decline toward extinction.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Detroit Summit
I'm gearing up for the pierogi eating contest in Detroit on Labor Day weekend. I've started my training with gyozas, something my Asian digestive system can handle. I'll have to build up my strength to handle the heavy Mitteleuropan pierogis. (If the Marquis chooses to enter, he may have the home-field advantage when it comes to pierogis.) But I'm feeling confident at the moment. Kobayashi is an inspiration. I hope you all can make it to Detroit around Labor Day. It'll be fun--the throwin' up kind!
Monday, May 07, 2012
Snowmass Chili & Brew Fest
This year's Snowmass Chili and Brew Fest sounds fun. Come one, come all!
5:00pm - 8:00pm "Snowmass Seasonal Brew Competition & Tasting" + Home Brew Competition" + International Chili Society Hot Times Chili Cook-Off
6:30pm - 8:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: The Congress
3:00pm - 5:00pm Grand Beer Tasting +International Chili Society Sizzling Snowmass Regional Championships +Verizon People's Choice Chili Cook-Off
6:00pm - 8:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: Gogol Bordello
Friday, June 8th
4:30pm - 6:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars5:00pm - 8:00pm "Snowmass Seasonal Brew Competition & Tasting" + Home Brew Competition" + International Chili Society Hot Times Chili Cook-Off
6:30pm - 8:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: The Congress
Saturday, June 9th
1:00pm - 3:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: Galactic3:00pm - 5:00pm Grand Beer Tasting +International Chili Society Sizzling Snowmass Regional Championships +Verizon People's Choice Chili Cook-Off
6:00pm - 8:00pm Fanny Hill Stage: Gogol Bordello
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
Missives
Rex: You asked about this place once or twice. I've eaten there twice now (a breakfast and a hamburger) and I'm still undecided, but I like the sign.
Rocky: Did you know that Phineas Newborn, Jr. did not pronounce his name like the protagonist of "Around The World In Eighty Days" but rather as "Fine-ass"? I did not either.
Marquis: Don't worry, we can catch "Warrior" at the Penn...or in Roppongi...
Feral Boy: Your free "vision package" should arrive shortly!
***
Friday, September 23, 2011
Feral Boy May Not Be a Paranoid Crazy After All
Man can't live by bread alone, because it will kill you.
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour! In Keystone, CO, June 24-26
Cancel your other plans and book a flight to Colorado for "access to over 3,000 pounds of delicious bacon and bacon inspired treats from a variety of bacon purveyors. The weekend-long event will also feature the BRBF’s famous bacon lecture series delivered by some of the nation’s most brilliant bacon minds."
Mark Mathews, Executive Director of KNC, explains, “The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is highly regarded as the leader in providing bacon enthusiasts with the opportunity to explore and express their love for bacon in a fun, imaginative and supportive atmosphere. We’re excited about this new partnership and can’t wait to play host to thousands of bacon lovers from across the mountain states.”
Brooks Reynolds, co-founder of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, adds, “As far as I’m concerned, if you haven’t sampled a variety of bacon at 9,000 feet above sea level, you haven’t lived.”
In response to the announcement, bacon aficionado Neil Pederson of Golden, CO was overwhelmed with emotion, “If words could only describe how I’m feeling right now. As a native Iowan, I miss the many different types of bacon available at local meat lockers and pig farms. At times, I long for an applewood smoked bacon from a pure bred Duroc pig. Or a few slices of dry-cured bacon from a true Berkshire breed. A tear comes to my eye, just thinking about the opportunity that lies before me. OHHHH, BACON!”
A limited number of Blue Ribbon Bacon Packages are available for $30 online now, while supplies last. Click here to buy your tickets. The package entitles the holder to admission to the three-day event, a commemorative hat, a free beer, a beer koozie, bacon samples at the Bacon Showcase, live music, and bacon educational lectures.
***
Mark Mathews, Executive Director of KNC, explains, “The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is highly regarded as the leader in providing bacon enthusiasts with the opportunity to explore and express their love for bacon in a fun, imaginative and supportive atmosphere. We’re excited about this new partnership and can’t wait to play host to thousands of bacon lovers from across the mountain states.”
Brooks Reynolds, co-founder of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, adds, “As far as I’m concerned, if you haven’t sampled a variety of bacon at 9,000 feet above sea level, you haven’t lived.”
In response to the announcement, bacon aficionado Neil Pederson of Golden, CO was overwhelmed with emotion, “If words could only describe how I’m feeling right now. As a native Iowan, I miss the many different types of bacon available at local meat lockers and pig farms. At times, I long for an applewood smoked bacon from a pure bred Duroc pig. Or a few slices of dry-cured bacon from a true Berkshire breed. A tear comes to my eye, just thinking about the opportunity that lies before me. OHHHH, BACON!”
A limited number of Blue Ribbon Bacon Packages are available for $30 online now, while supplies last. Click here to buy your tickets. The package entitles the holder to admission to the three-day event, a commemorative hat, a free beer, a beer koozie, bacon samples at the Bacon Showcase, live music, and bacon educational lectures.
***
Friday, April 08, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Innovation!
Joel De La Rosa is a CNN Senior Photojournalist. He is based in Dallas.
"Fried beer! Fried beer! Get your fried beer here!"
The minute you enter the food court at the 2010 State Fair of Texas in Dallas, the call cuts through the crowds of people and the smell of cotton candy and roasted corn. Booth vendors shout the choice of foods, "Fried beer...fried club salad...fried caviar!"
Every year the State Fair of Texas holds the Big Tex Choice Awards contest.
The Texas Fried Frito Pie won 2010’s top prize Best Taste award; it's a mix of chili, cheese and fritos that is battered then fried. "It is oowee goowee goodness," says Nick Bert, owner of Bert’s Burgers and Fries. "Everything just taste better fried."
Pushing a stroller already carrying other fried items,Valerie Boscacci from Bedford Texas stopped to try the Frito pie. "It taste like Frito Pie but you don’t have to use a fork," Valerie said, eagerly waiting to get a mouthful.
This year’s Most Creative award went to Fried Beer - a pretzel pocket filled with beer then fried and served with melted cheddar cheese. "It tastes like ravioli with a shot of beer!" said a female fairgoer. "It's like eating nachos and beer at the same time."
Another Big Tex Choice award went to Deep Fried S’mores Pop-Tart. "First we start with a regular Pop-Tart, we batter it, roll it a peanut butter concoction and fry it” explained Issac Rousso of Taste of Cuba. Then he covers it with powdered sugar, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles. "At the end what you got is a Deep Fried Pop-Tart," Issac said with a proud smile.
Among the other fried items featured this year are Deep Fried Frozen Margarita, Fried Lemonade, Fried Chocolate, Fried Texas Caviar and Fried Club Salad. For those fair-goers not daring enough or enticed to try these fried items this year, the traditional fan favorite, Fletcher’s Corny Dog is available.
The State Fair of Texas 2010 runs from Sept. 24th -Oct 17th.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Brewdog
Again, from WIRED: Scotland's Brewdog brewery recently broke the record for World's Strongest Beer with a quaff they called the End of History (55% ABV). It was served in a taxidermied squirrel and sold for $1000 a pop.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Beer!
- a “valuable substitute for vegetables”
From The New Yorker:
A Better Brew
............................................................................
From The New Yorker:
A Better Brew
............................................................................
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Costa Rica
...with Feral Boy and Friday, last March.
..............................................................
..............................................................
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Mother's Little Helper
Don't cry, Timmy, just think of it as Mommy's "juice box." And she REALLY needs her juice box right now.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sudan's date-gin brewers thrive despite Sharia
By Lucy Fleming, BBC News, Khartoum
Three Sudanese men sit on the edge of a bed and watch intently as a clear spirit glugs into a four-litre container. "A little more - it's not quite at the top," one of them instructs the sisters who are pouring the illegal date-gin known as "araqi".
The men are anxious not to be photographed in this small mud-walled home, where chickens are pecking the dirt floor, on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
"This is an Islamic country - if you're caught drinking or they smell alcohol, you will be lashed," one of them explains. Forty lashes and a fine is the usual Sharia punishment.
Once the men are satisfied the carton is full, they hand over 30 Sudanese pounds (SDG) (about $13, £9). "They are regular customers; they come about once a week," one of the sisters says after they leave. "All of our customers are men and Arab, mainly Arab," she adds.
It has been a fairly lucrative way to make money since Sharia was introduced in 1983 - under then-President Jaafar Numeiri, and often women who have fled conflict in Sudan's non-Arab south and Darfur are the illegal brewers in the capital.
The spirit, which is usually drunk neat, is made from fermented dates of which there is a plentiful supply in Sudan.
The dates are mixed with water and yeast and left to ferment for three days. Afterwards the liquid is distilled, producing about eight litres of spirit a night.
The family sells about four - sometimes eight - two-litre bottles a day. Each night, the girls pack up the three stills and bury the small drums of alcohol outside the property.
"The police come about two times a week to check for alcohol," say the sisters, who sit beside each other on the bed answering questions. "We're scared of them. But if they find something outside the house they can't pin it on us," they say, adding that they have eight eight-litre cartons of araqi buried at present and three small drums of fermenting dates.
The last police visit was the day before, but it was a month ago that their mother was caught brewing. "We have to pay between 150 SDG and 250 SDG if we're caught."
This could change now President Omar al-Bashir has been re-elected. During his campaign last month he warned that alcohol-brewers should be whipped too. It is believed many in the police have been happy to allow the brewing to continue as they profit from fines and confiscated alcohol.
Meanwhile many Muslim Sudanese object to a zero-tolerance towards alcohol, saying it is not against their Sufi culture to drink. "I know people who are Muslim - they drink," says Maysara, a regular customer who acts as my translator. "My father, my uncles - they do their prayers and they drink," he says, adding that he knows some alcohol-brewers from Darfur who drink locally-brewed wine and beer. "They do Ramadan and they sell alcohol," he says.
Maysara has been caught by police several times - and sentenced to about 160 lashes in total. The last time he was let off after he paid a bribe. "I like it, I like drinking - why should I be deprived of drinking?" he asks defiantly - and insists that his photo is taken. "It's always possible to be caught, but when I come here I don't worry because I know that I have never seen any problem here," he says.
The taste of araqi is "unbelievable", he says - with a great burst of laughter.
Three Sudanese men sit on the edge of a bed and watch intently as a clear spirit glugs into a four-litre container. "A little more - it's not quite at the top," one of them instructs the sisters who are pouring the illegal date-gin known as "araqi".
The men are anxious not to be photographed in this small mud-walled home, where chickens are pecking the dirt floor, on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
"This is an Islamic country - if you're caught drinking or they smell alcohol, you will be lashed," one of them explains. Forty lashes and a fine is the usual Sharia punishment.
Once the men are satisfied the carton is full, they hand over 30 Sudanese pounds (SDG) (about $13, £9). "They are regular customers; they come about once a week," one of the sisters says after they leave. "All of our customers are men and Arab, mainly Arab," she adds.
It has been a fairly lucrative way to make money since Sharia was introduced in 1983 - under then-President Jaafar Numeiri, and often women who have fled conflict in Sudan's non-Arab south and Darfur are the illegal brewers in the capital.
The spirit, which is usually drunk neat, is made from fermented dates of which there is a plentiful supply in Sudan.
The dates are mixed with water and yeast and left to ferment for three days. Afterwards the liquid is distilled, producing about eight litres of spirit a night.
The family sells about four - sometimes eight - two-litre bottles a day. Each night, the girls pack up the three stills and bury the small drums of alcohol outside the property.
"The police come about two times a week to check for alcohol," say the sisters, who sit beside each other on the bed answering questions. "We're scared of them. But if they find something outside the house they can't pin it on us," they say, adding that they have eight eight-litre cartons of araqi buried at present and three small drums of fermenting dates.
The last police visit was the day before, but it was a month ago that their mother was caught brewing. "We have to pay between 150 SDG and 250 SDG if we're caught."
This could change now President Omar al-Bashir has been re-elected. During his campaign last month he warned that alcohol-brewers should be whipped too. It is believed many in the police have been happy to allow the brewing to continue as they profit from fines and confiscated alcohol.
Meanwhile many Muslim Sudanese object to a zero-tolerance towards alcohol, saying it is not against their Sufi culture to drink. "I know people who are Muslim - they drink," says Maysara, a regular customer who acts as my translator. "My father, my uncles - they do their prayers and they drink," he says, adding that he knows some alcohol-brewers from Darfur who drink locally-brewed wine and beer. "They do Ramadan and they sell alcohol," he says.
Maysara has been caught by police several times - and sentenced to about 160 lashes in total. The last time he was let off after he paid a bribe. "I like it, I like drinking - why should I be deprived of drinking?" he asks defiantly - and insists that his photo is taken. "It's always possible to be caught, but when I come here I don't worry because I know that I have never seen any problem here," he says.
The taste of araqi is "unbelievable", he says - with a great burst of laughter.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Around Town
What do you think? Should this self-proclaimed lunatic be allowed to have chickens and an urban farm in the middle of downtown?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
