Condimental divide: In perhaps the ultimate act of foodie patriotism, the NY Times food blog went on a 50-state search for dishes containing the fiery condiment sriracha, like the cheesesteak dumplings with sriracha ketchup at Philly's Fireside Tavern. Problem is, red states seem to have an aversion to the red stuff: Thirteen states are apparently sriracha free, including Arkansas, Kentucky, and Idaho. WTF, America?
Well put: Ideas in Food's Aki Kamozawa blogs in the equivalent of Engrish-kissed haiku. It's lovely -- like today's meditation on asparagus-eating: Ingredients and how we eat them are often inspiring. Asparagus, long and slender, brittle and toothsome screams to be eaten with your fingers. Often times fingers and setting do not mingle well.
Our first reaction when we saw that Alan Richman anointed three local restaurants as serving one of America's 25 best pizzas in GQ -- Pizzeria Delfina, Gialina Pizzeria, and A16 -- was pride in our hometown: Cool! That's 12 percent of the best pies around!
Richman boasted of visiting 10 different cities -- and going deep into their outlying areas -- ultimately racking up, he said, 20,000 miles. (Hometown New York got 5 out of 25. Big surprise.)
Like his earlier pieces on the best burgers and best sandwiches, he anointed a specific pie for each place: at Pizzeria Delfina, it's the panna pie, "priced at a remarkable $10". We talked to Laura at Delfina, who said "Awesome!" when we told her about Richman's article. She hadn't seen or heard anybody mentioning the piece, but she did notice a lot of panna pies being ordered. "If you eat meat," she told us, "and you get sausage or pepperoni on the panna pie, it's just magical."
It's a fairly complex drink to assemble but is well worth the effort. Rim four wine glasses with lime juice and powdered sugar and place in the freezer. Throw a dozen ice cubes in a blender. Add 6 oz. gin, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup lime juice, 4 egg whites (coddled for 45 seconds if you're squeamish), 1/4 cup superfine sugar, a splash of seltzer, and up to a dozen drops of orange flower water. Blend until it's smooth as silk. Taste. (You'll probably have to add more sugar, but that's up to you.) Pour into the chilled wine glasses, dust with a little nutmeg, and either serve to three worthy friends or drink them all yourself.
Most recently, the happenings at Ghost Town Farm have involved goats. Which Novella learned the birthing practices of by watching YouTube videos people had posted of their own goats in labor. Why? The world is a strange and interesting place.
Imagine your kid (or a neighbor's kid, or just some random kid -- we've got a kid shortage in this town, but you might be able to rustle up a loaner) as fledgling permaculture propagandist! The Eisenstein of the vegetable patch. The Leni Riefenstahl of slow-mo egg-laying. The mind boggles.
Everybody but me was pretty much thrilled with the main courses. I found them well-conceived and carefully cooked, but lacking that ineffable touch that elevates good food, even very good and sincere food, into memorable and great food -- food that you want to eat again.
