Ninja Cream Puff

"If a Ninja could be a food, what food would it be?

A cream puff. A very deadly cream puff. Maybe the pastry, it has very sharp angles on it, and the cream that's inside is poison. The powdered sugar is actually, um, powdered swords. That's a pretty deadly food right there. I wouldn't mind being that food. Would not want to eat one, though."

Ask A Ninja Classic: Question 17, Omnibus

(At the very, very end.)

DIY Dinner via WiredScience

Photo Credit: DC Duby Wild Sweets.

I'm not much of a DIY girl, but I received a tweet from WiredScience linking to a blog post called DIY Dinner and the 'Dinner' bit prompted me to go check it out. Thankfully so, as it contained a fascinating set of links to molecular gastronomy resources that I'd never heard of. The highlights:

Kymos.org, with it's PDF collection of Hydrocolloid Recipes such as Pomegranate and Vodka Fluid Gel, Frozen Parmesan Air and Spherical Tea Ravioli. In addition, upon delving a bit into the Kymos blog, I found a link to the beautiful as well as informative Foodpairing site.

DC Duby Wild Sweets, a somewhat difficult-to-navigate but nontheless interesting site where you can purchase a variety of high-end scientific sweets (Pinot Noir Hot Ganache & Strawberry Praline Pearls for me, please!) as well a "complete line of culinary elements" that you can purchase to spherify, densify and gelify your food (recipes available on the site).

Kopykake Edible Ink for Epson printers, which will enable you to make like Cantu in your own kitchen. Say good-bye to that hot oven, toss the methyl cellulose, and just chow down on pictures of your food!

Saturday Night: Fish!

Some girls spend their Saturday nights out: dinner and a movie, drinks and dancing. I often spend my Saturday night experimenting with food while listening to my favorite podcasts. For example, last Saturday was spent up to my ears in fish viscera while being entertained by MacBreak Weekly, Girls Gone Geek and Generally Speaking. Fun, right?

Actually, it was.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a marketing agent for Kona Blue and asked if I would like a sample of Kona Kampachi to try and, only if I wished, write about. I agreed, saying that I'd love to try it and would be happy to write about it as long as I genuinely liked it. I had the choice of receiving the fish whole, cleaned or filleted, and as I'd never worked with a whole fish before, I decided the take the more adventurous route.

I did some research on cleaning fish in my reference books, On Cooking and The Professional Chef, and found resources online from Cooking Enthusiast and Dummies.com. Then I jumped right in, rather clumsily and making a fairly big mess, and ended with two notably uneven fillets (the second side went more smoothly than the first). I'm sure I left a shameful amount of fish on the bone, but I froze the the head and bones to make fish stock at a later date.

It seems, from what I've read online, that Kona Kampachi is especially tasty raw, but I'm still not comfortable enough with raw food preparation to attempt sashimi in my home kitchen. I decided to pan sear it, since that's the method that I'm most comfortable with, with just some salt and pepper so that I wouldn't be getting anything but the full flavor of the fish. I cooked half leaving the skin on and half skinned, and preferred the skin on. A trick to this is to remove the skin after the fish is cooked and continue to crisp it up a bit in the pan.

The fish was delicious—moist and full of flavor. Kona Kampachi has a 30 percent fat content, which makes it tasty and hard to overcook (my initial cooking was on the rare side, but I actually preferred it medium). It also makes it a good source of Omega 3's, so it's also a healthy choice. I'd like to try it again, and next time I may steam it.

If you'd like to try Kona Kampachi but your local restaurants aren't serving it yet (it only recently reached the Chicago market), you can order it online directly from Kona Blue, or find it at Whole Foods. If you're in the Chicago area but would prefer to try Kona Kampachi at home, you can find it at Dirk's (it's currently listed at one of Dirk's favorites).

Winter Borscht

This recipe, adapted from the New Moosewood Cookbook, is one of my favorite winter soups. Borscht is a traditional Eastern European dish, and there are many variations. This version comes from the Russian tradition, where beets, cabbage and tomatoes are standard. Beef stock, as well as the addition of beef or sausage, would probably be the more authentic, but I like to use chicken stock and I don't add meat. You could also use vegetable stock or just water for a vegetarian stew.

The original recipe called for boiling the beets with the potatoes, but I thought that roasting them would provide more flavor. However, I really wanted to preserve the red color and wasn't sure that I would get the same results as boiling them and then using the cooking liquid. To keep the color, I rinsed the cooked beets (and the juices off the tin foil I roasted them in) in a bowl with some water (I used some of the cooking liquid from the potatoes, but cold water would be easier) and then peeled the beets over that bowl of water so that any juice would be retained. I then strained out the beet peelings and reserved the liquid for cooking. All of this is optional (it's a little messy). If you want to preserve the color without the extra work, boil the beets and use that liquid. Or you can roast them and peel them without reserving any liquid. It won't affect the flavor and you should still get some color. I just think that the intense red is pretty, and I like to extract flavor from anywhere that I can think of.

I also used the reserved pot likker from my New Year's collard greens as part of the cooking liquid, and that worked out well.

This soup is great for a warming but light weeknight meal, served with some hearty bread (or in my case, leftover cornbread).

WINTER BORSCHT

3 medium russet potatoes
3 large beets
4 cups liquid, (chicken stock, beef stock, or water)
1 Tablespoon oil or butter
1 medium onion, medium dice
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 half small cabbage
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon dill
1 Tablespoon brown sugar or honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
lemon juice or a little more cider vinegar, to taste
salt and pepper , to taste
sour cream or yogurt, for garnish
dill, fresh or dried for garnish

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Wrap beets in foil and roast for one hour or until tender. Cool with cold water (reserving liquid to preserve color if desired.) Remove skins (over bowl to reserve liquid if desired). Chop into bite-sized pieces.

Peel potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces. Place in a pot and and cover with cold water. Add salt and cook over medium heat until tender (approximate 20 to 30 minutes).

Heat oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add onion and saute until translucent.

Add cider vinegar and saute to au sec (almost dry). Add caraway seeds, celery, carrots and cabbage, plus 2 cups of the liquid (including reserved beet liquid if using). Cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes).

Add the tomatoes, dill, brown sugar or honey, beets and potatoes. Cover and simmer for at least 15 more minutes.

Add Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot, topped with sour cream or yogurt and dill.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Growing up in North Carolina, we always ate black-eyed peas and greens at my grandmother's house on New Year's Day. We moved to Wisconsin when I was 10, and I don't remember if my mom continued the tradition for a while but at some point it stopped and I forgot about it. As I got older and more interested in cooking and food history, I remembered and decided to return to this tradition.

Now, every year I make Hoppin' John, collard greens and cornbread on New Year's Day. Hoppin' John, at its most basic, is a mixture of black-eyed peas (or in some traditions, field peas) and rice. According to this history, the dish is primarily associated with the Carolinas, but can be found in Georgia as well and, I believe, Louisiana. The dish is thought to have Caribbean roots, and was most likely created on Southern plantations by slaves originating from that area. According to Wikipedia, the dish dates back to at least 1847, when it was published in The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutledge. The black-eyed peas in the dish are thought to bring luck and money (the black "eyes" of the peas resemble coins) and the greens are thought to add an extra financial boost. I like to say that we eat Hoppin' John for luck, collard greens for money and cornbread because it's good.

I stole this year's recipe from Emeril, so it has a bit of a Cajun influence. It starts with the Cajun trinity, onions, celery and bell pepper, and incorporates cayenne, which I substituted with a Cajun spice blend. I think Hoppin' John was originally flavored with bacon, and while I used bacon fat to start both the beans and the greens, I used a ham hock as the main flavoring in both. To make these dishes meat-free, you could substitute smoked paprika to get that smokey flavor.

So far, I don't know that making these dishes on New Year's has made me any richer, but it's fun and makes for a good hearty meal on a chilly January day.

HOPPIN' JOHN

1 Tablespoon bacon fat, or vegetable oil
1 large ham hock
1 cup onion, medium dice
½ cup celery, medium dice
½ cup green pepper, medium dice
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning, or to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup green onion, chopped for garnish
¼ cup red bell pepper, chopped for garnish
3 cups white rice, pilaf or steamed

Heat fat in a large soup pot and sear ham hock on all sides (approx 4 minutes).

Add the onion, celery, green pepper and saute for approximately 4 minutes.

Add garlic, saute until fragrant.

Add vinegar and reduce to au sec (almost dry).

Add black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme and Cajun Seasoning.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes or until the peas are creamy and tender. If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock.

Adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. You can also chop up the meat from the ham hock to add to the dish if you like.

Garnish with green onions and red pepper. Serve over rice.

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COLLARD GREENS

1 Tablespoon bacon fat, or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, medium dice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 quart chicken stock, or water
salt and pepper , to taste
pepper vinegar (or cider or white wine vinegar and tabasco), to taste for garnish

In a large soup pot add bacon fat or oil, then sear ham hock on all sides (approx 4 minutes).

Add onion and saute until translucent.

Add garlic and saute until fragrant.

Add vinegar and reduce to au sec (almost dry).

Add stock or water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Gradually add greens to pot, allowing time between additions to allow them to soften into the liquid.

Return to a simmer over low heat and cook until tender, approximately 55 minutes.

Season to taste and serve with pepper vinegar or vinegar (cider or white wine) and tabasco. You can also chop up the meat from the ham hock to add to the dish if you like.

You can serve a bit of the liquid, called 'pot likker,' as a dip for cornbread. You can also reserve the liquid to add to a future batch of greens, or add it to an appropriate soup (freeze it if you won't use it right away).

Red Velvet Cake

After a long hiatus (no good excuse really, just busy), I hope to be a little better about updating in 2008.

I'm just now returning to the real world after a wonderful holiday. I love the Christmas season—I think it may be my favorite time of year. I can even appreciate winter and snow when it's part of Christmas (past January, though, I could really do without it).

My boyfriend and I always spend the Yuletide season with my mom and stepdad. My mom is a fabulous cook and the house is always filled with good things to eat, things much too good to turn down, and I tend to eat myself silly. I currently feel like a little stuffed sausage, and at least 25% of my wardrobe doesn't fit. Ah well, but it was fun.

One of our traditional family desserts at Christmas is Red Velvet Cake, and it's been my favorite Christmas dessert for as long as I can remember. My mom's is still better than mine, although I watched her this year and realized she was doing a lot more mixing than I was. I made the cake pictured above as a post-Christmas treat for my dad, but I haven't heard back yet as to how it turned out.

My mom has said that this recipe was published in a North Carolina paper years ago. I'm not sure whether it was first adopted by my mom or my grandmother, but I'm guessing it was my mom.

No one seems to be quite sure where Red Velvet Cake comes from. It's generally considered a Southern recipe, although it was a signature dessert at the Waldorf-Astoria in the 1920's (though they, too, called it a Southern dessert). This New York Times article from February '07 gives a great overview of the history. They surmise that the cake may have evolved from the practice of adding beets to chocolate cake to enhance color, or from the fact that the cocoa powder used before Dutch process cocoa became standard created a reddish color that people felt the need to replace (that reddish hue may have been the origin of the name 'Devil's Food' as well).

The cake recipe the article lists is similar but different, and the frosting (from the Waldorf-Astoria recipe) is completely different. I may give it a try for a post-holiday dinner that a friend of mine is throwing. I like our frosting recipe, but I wouldn't mind lightening up the texture of the cake a bit (it's a very dense) if I could do it without changing the overall flavor.

RED VELVET CAKE

2.5 cups all purpose white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa
1.5 cups sugar
2 cups oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 ounces red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 recipe cream cheese frosting (below)
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped


Preheat oven: 350 degrees.

Prepare 2 9" cake pans with butter and flour.

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream sugar and oil.

Add eggs and beat well.

Add dry ingredients alternatively with buttermilk in 3 additions, mixing well inbetween.

Add buttermilk.

Mix vinegar, food coloring and vanilla. Add to batter and mix well.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set.

Cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

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CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces butter, softened
16 ounces powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla


Mix together cream cheese and butter.

Add powered sugar a little at a time until well blended.

Add vanilla and mix well.

Frost cake!

Recipe: Earl Grey Brownies With Lavender Honey Ganache

This was my first Bakespace recipe submission in response to the Baker's Edge brownie contest. I didn't win anything, but it was really just for fun. It's an original recipe, so it's experimental. I tweaked it a bit after testing—I thought the flavors weren't quite strong enough and that it was a little overly dense—but I haven't tested it again. I think the crystallized lavender is really what adds the most interest, although I originally added it just for the visual.

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
6 oz. unsalted butter (1.5 sticks, cut into quarters)
6 oz. eggs (4 large)
13.5 oz. granulated sugar (1.75 cups)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. looseleaf Earl Grey tea, ground in a coffee grinder
5 oz. cake flour (1.25 cups)
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray or butter pan.

2. Melt the chocolate with the butter over a double boiler.

3. While the chocolate is melting, whip the eggs and sugar in a large mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes.

4. Combine Earl Grey powder, flour, baking powder and salt. Sift.

5. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla to the eggs. Stir by hand to blend completely. Fold in the flour, mixing until just combined.

6. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

7. Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted tester comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

8. Allow to cool, then add ganache and garnish with crystallized lavender (recipes below). Refrigerate.

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Lavender Honey Ganache

2 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
6 oz heavy cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. lavender

1. Finely chop the chocolate into 1/4-inch pieces.

2. Place the chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl.

3. Place lavender flowers in the cream and scald. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain and rewarm.

4. Immediately pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, stir gently in a circular motion, starting from the center of the bowl and working out to the sides. Be careful not to add too much air to the ganache. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and completely emulsified.

5. Cool. Spread over brownies.

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Crystallized Lavender

1 egg white (pasteurized, if desired)
1/4 cup lavender
1/2 cup sugar
food coloring (optional)

1. Color sugar with food coloring, using fingers to spread color evenly. I divided the sugar and used both pink and lavender.

2. Spread lavender onto a sheet pan covered with aluminum foil. Using a pastry brush, coat dried lavender with egg white. Spread sugar over lavender, mixing with fingers to coat evenly. Allow the lavender to dry.

3. Stir lavender to remove clumps, and transfer to an airtight container.

Cooking 2.0: Bakespace.com

I'm a social networking junkie that will join up and check out almost any new site, although I generally create an account, look around, and never go back again unless I start to get messages from friends. I really only use Twitter and Facebook on a regular basis, although I have a lot of friends on MySpace and will answer messages and read blogs there. That said, a relatively new social networking site called Bakespace, which is specifically for "cookers and cakers," has caught my attention and, more importantly, has managed to keep my attention.

You can tell that Bakespace is a new endeavor—it's a little awkward to navigate and I find it to be a little less than user-friendly (although I think MySpace is a nightmare but people love it, so there you go). What's keeps me going back? I, of course, like the subject matter and while there are a gazillion great cooking forums, discussion lists, and recipes sites out there, this type of site seems to appeal to me more. I can search around for recipes, have a place to save them, and submit my own—which I can also do on, say, Epicuirous, but I can also make friends and create a community, and Bakespace just seems friendlier for whatever reason. Maybe it's the cupcake logo—I can always be wooed with a cupcake.

I also really like their newsletter, which I receive by email. They include recipes, tips, trivia and contests and again, while there are other sites that do this, Bakespace continually seems to draw me back to their site for more information. I've been wanting a centralized space to save all my recipes, and I think this might be it, especially if the site continues to evolve and grow. Check it out, and if you decide to stick around, add me as a friend.

Everything's Better with Bacon!

Well, maybe not everything. Bacon desserts have been popping up for a while now, but I wonder if the appearance of the Vosges Bacon Exotic candy bar is the official indicator that bacon craze has reached its peak. If you feel like celebrating the fact that during this Year of the Pig, the pig is still big (over a year ago Josh Friedland declared that "the other white meat is the new black."), check out the following:

• Chocolate Covered Bacon, a recipe to make it yourself if the Vosges is just too expensive (or if you just want to add sprinkles).
  
  
• Memphis Barbecue and Bacon Ice Cream from Delaware-based Udder Delight Ice Cream House (sounds kind of icky, but the peanut butter and jelly ice creams sounds delish).
  
  
• Bacon Brittle, which doesn't sound so bad. It's reminiscent of Pig Candy, and I literally laughed out loud when I read Jonathan Gold's description of Pig Candy on the LA Weekly site:
  
  "Pig candy has been a secret dinner-party hors d’oeuvre for years, and there has been a bit of an underground craze for the dish started in Washington, D.C. The only place I know to get it in Los Angeles is at Lou, a tiny, wonderful wine bar that just opened at the south end of Vine. Lou serves a pretty decent range of artisanal cheeses, the garlic-laced salamis of Seattle’s Armandino Batali, and slivers of Colonel Newsom’s legendary Kentucky ham, but on cool nights there may be nothing better than a plateful of pig candy and a glass of organic Cotes du Rhone."
  
  Huh. Secret dinner-party horsd'oeuvre? The only place he knows to get it is a wine bar? Here I thought you just put a bunch of bacon on a pan, cover it with brown sugar, throw it in the oven, and munch on it with a Diet Coke at 2am (I think the Bacon Cheese Baconburger may be the male equivalent of this scenario). And I bet it was invented by a southern woman with PMS, not a fancy chef in D.C. Anyway, it's got to be good because the Sweet Potato Queens say it is.
  
  
• Bacon Salt from J&D's (Justin and Dave, “bacontrepeneurs”), which is vegetarian. I haven't tasted it, but the concept seems similar to smoked salt and smoky paprika, both of which I love. These are great additions to anything you want to add a smoky depth to, and make great substitutes for bacon or ham hocks when you want to make a vegetarian (or just lighter) version of a dish that really needs that flavor. Amusingly, Justin Ozersky and Daniel Maurer of Grub Street feel that the bacon salt is the point where this bacon fervor jumped the shark (and I loved J&D's response), but they're all about the bacon chocolate. I bet they eat their pig candy at wine bars, too.
  
  
• Bacon of the Month Club from the Grateful Palate, where you receive a different artisanal bacon each month, along with a variety of bacon tchotskys. They also have a Bacon Geek T-shirt. Fun!
  
  
• Bacon Scarf from Shopsin's General Store, one side marbled, one side lean. Show your piggy pride with flair!

Thanks to my friend Heather's bacon-link email, the original inspiration for this post.

In a piggy-related Bleu factoid, I met many of my current circle of friends (including Heather) through a Yahoo Group of Chicago goths called Black Porkchop. Here's a photo from the Black Porkchop Goth Pool Night at Sheffield's [edit: oops, that's Philosophur's—Sheffield's is down the street] (now Cherry Red) from back in the day:


Ah, memories! Photo swiped from Tarik Dozier.

Things to Do in Cleveland, OH: Little Italy

I spent approximately half of my high school years in Cleveland, OH. Unfortunately, because I was a teenager and, stereotypically, only interested in boys, music and shopping, I really missed out on all the best bits. Little Italy was one of those places that I was vaguely aware of but, at the time, not the least bit interested in. These days, I'm fascinated by diverse little neighborhoods that add such flavor to the cities they inhabit, so when my mom planned a Red Hat bus tour to this historic area, I had to tag along.

Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood, also referred to as "Murry Hill" after the street that runs along its center, was established in 1885. By 1911, 92% of the residents had been born in Italy. Today, it's a trendy and artistic little area that is feeling the strain of gentrification, and as is so often the case in these cultural hotspots, the native ethnic population is dwindling and the art student population is rising. However, it still retains its Italian charm: the cobbled streets, young boys toting baskets of fresh baked Italian bread from the bakeries to the restaurants, old men sitting and chatting by the storefronts, eager to flirt with the passing ladies, and shops that open lazily at 1pm on a summer Saturday (to our dismay, as we were there early). I loved it, and if I lived in Cleveland, it's most likely the neighbohood that I (a little past art student but not so far past) would want to live in.

Our highlights:

Presti's Bakery, originally opened in 1903. The bakery was relocated to the current location in 1999, and while it has a more modern feel, it's still has atmosphere aplenty. They have good coffee, fresh bread, a wide selection of pastries, and a large variety of savory items. I also sampled their gelato before we left, and it was very good (although I have to say that I think the homemade gelato at Ventrella's Cafe here in Chicago is still the best I've ever had.)

Trattoria on the Hill, where we had lunch, is only 20 years old but still seems to be a local favorite. They had great bread, supplied by Presti's, and the pasta was very good. Everyone loved the food (although the service was a little chaotic). You can buy a jar of their tomato basil sauce to take home with you.

Algebra Tea House: A little off the beaten path, and a little out of place, this tea house made me feel like I had returned to the apartment that I shared, a decade ago, with my friend Kym. She was (and still is) a wonderful artist who turned our living quarters, originally a run down office space directly above the notorious Tuman's, Chicago's Alcohol Abuse Center of old, into a bohemian work of art that also functioned as a fabulous party pad. They have a variety of tea, a selection of Middle Eastern coffee, old boards games, couches, shelves of dusty pottery and free wi-fi. I bought some hand ground Turkish coffee along with a cute polka dot Turkish coffee pot, and received verbal preparation instructions and a free cup along with it.

Little Italy Wines: A cute little wine shop that was so crowded when we visited that I decided to forego trying to search out a bottle to try, but they have a wide variety of wine available as well as a selection of good beer. We did, however, purchase the Bellavitano cheese that they sell, and it was quite tasty! Although Bellavitano is made in Wisconsin, it's made in the Piave style. Apparently Little Italy Wines is the only store in the area that carries it, and if you're curious you can order it from their site.

Also, although it isn't in Little Italy, I have to mention Alesci's as well. This Italian deli located in South Euclid, OH (right around the corner from where I lived) carries all kinds of Italian specialty foods, including Alesci's own sauce and meatball mix, and some of the best Italian bread I've ever had.

There were a lot of other places that we didn't get to explore, so I hope to be able to get back there some time (preferably in the late afternoon—I think I need to move to Europe!) and explore what we missed.

More pictures of our trip are available on Flickr.

Some other interesting facts about Little Italy, courtesy of Wikipedia:

• The first pasta machine was invented in Cleveland's Little Italy by an Italian immigrant named Angelo Vitantonio, who received a United States patent for the product in 1906.
• Guarino's was the first Italian restaurant in Cleveland, and arguably the first Italian restaurant in the state of Ohio. It is located just past Murray Hill on Mayfield Road.
• Chef Boyardee's cooking skill became notable when he opened his first restaurant called "Il Giardino d'Italia" in the Little Italy section of Cleveland in the 1940s.
• Cleveland's Little Italy was home to the largest Mafia organization between New York and Chicago, comprised of family names like Porrello and Lonardo. The organization was the seat of power for families that operated in Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Toledo, Detroit, and Akron.

Wine 2.0: Wine Library TV

I've been meaning to post about Wine Library TV ever since Diggnation put it on my radar, which was a while ago. I hadn't gotten to it, but as host Gary Vaynerchuk's guest appearance on Conan O'Brien last night was big news on the geek circuit, I think now is the perfect time to talk about it.

If you're interested in wine but haven't heard of Wine Library TV (yet, because if you haven't, you will) you should definitely check it out. In addition to being on Conan, he was also interviewed recently in Time, where he is described as "more hyper than Emeril, more cheerful than Rachael Ray, more street than Bobby Flay and cockier than all of them combined." An article in Slate described the show as "Wine Geeks Gone Wild." The Food Network may have given this country the foodie bug, but it warms my heart that it's a vidcast by a New York Jets fan from New Jersey that will make this a nation of wine geeks. Only in America can a guy on the internet compare wine to "big league chew and to your leather baseball glove" (ABC News), spit into a New York Jets bucket, and then get Conan to eat dirt on national television. I'm sure there are plenty of oenophiles crying foul, but in my opinion, the more wine appreciation there is here, the easier it makes it for me to enjoy and learn more about good wine.

Gary's rise to fame has also a been a great 2.o social networking experience. I saw his announcements about the Time interview and the Conan appearance on Twitter, saw (and participated in) the responding congratulatory and good luck tweets, and then followed along as he sent out updates from the Conan set. It's a well-connected and entertaining new world, folks, and I'm excited to be a part of it.

Keep on bringing the thunder, Gary, you'll make Vayniacs of us all!

Movies for Foodies

In response to the fact that this seems to be the summer of restaurant-related movies (Ratatouille, Waitress and No Reservations), Premiere Magazine has released a list entitles "The Top 20 Most Mouthwatering Movie Moments." I'll leave it to you to go and peruse the descriptions, but here's the movie list:

1. Babette's Feast
2. Big Night
3. A Christmas Story
4. Eat Drink Man Woman
5. Fatso
6. Fried Green Tomatoes
7. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
8. In Her Shoes (brought the term 'foodie' to the movies)
9. Like Water for Chocolate
10. Marie Antoinette
11. Mostly Martha (the German film that inspired No Reservations)
12. My Best Friend's Wedding
13. Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's
14. Soul Food
15. Spanglish (featuring the Thomas Keller BLT, pictured above)
16. Tampompo
17. Tom Jones
18. Vatel
19. Volver
20. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original)

A couple of my favorites that aren't on this list: Chocolat and Under the Tuscan Sun (although I preferred the books for both of these). I also think of Sideways and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover as being foodie movies, but the the former counts only if you're into wine and counting the latter could be seen as a tad morbid.

What are your favorite movies about food? I've added all the movies from this list that I haven't seen to my Netflix queue, but I'm sure there are others out there. List your recommendations here, and/or add me as a friend on Netflix.

Thanks to The Stew for the original link to this story.

Maybe All We Need is a Little More Wine

My friend Ben sent me the link to this Washington Post article: "A Gate-Crasher's Change of Heart."

"A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest. 'Give me your money, or I'll start shooting,' he demanded."

But the robber was distracted by another guest's suggestion (panic-induced, I'm assuming) that he join them for some Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry. After a declaration of "Damn, that's good wine," the robber proceded to tuck his gun away, tuck into the Camberbert, and eventually ask for a group hug. Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar has contacted Chateau Malescot to suggest that "Damn, that's good wine" be their new slogan.

You can find a detailed overview of Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry at TheWineDoctor.com.

Things to Do in Akron, OH: Lavender and Lace

Finally, podcast episode #2 has arrived! I've switched to being mostly on my Mac, and it took me a bit to figure out Garageband (much thanks to Big-O's Techno Fodder podcast for making it much easier). I also used Adobe's new sound editor Soundbooth CS3 to attempt some heavy-duty cleanup. I really like the program, and it did manage to make my noisy recorded-in-the-car podcast a little bit cleaner. It's still not great sound quality, but I tried!

Now, on to tea. There are many tea rooms in Ohio, and I hope to explore many of them, but my mom's favorite is Elizabeth's Lavender and Lace Tea Toom in Dover, OH which is about 45 miles outside of Akron. The tea room is housed inside an absolutely gorgeous 1876 Second Empire Victorian Home that retains the original mansard roof. I love places like this because the history is just palpable.

The interior is decked out in Victorian style. There are multiple tea rooms and plenty of hats, boas and stoles to play dress-up (you're never too old to play dress-up!). They specialize in afternoon tea parties for all ages, and it's a great place for birthday parties, bridal showers or just a casual get-together.

We enjoyed a four-course meal, and everything was very good. Our tea choices were the Winter White Earl Grey, which I found to be much lighter than the standard black, and a Raspberry Tea, which wasn't our favorite but would be good if you're looking for a fruitier, non-caffeinated choice. The color was beautiful. Our menu was as follows:

First Course: Lemon tea bread, Chicken noodle soup and a light salad.

Second Course: Chocolate chip scones with raspberry jam and whipped cream.

Third Course: Three varieties of tea sandwiches - cinnamon pineapple cream cheese, chicken salad and tuna salad.

Fourth Couse: A variety of desserts - raspberry tart, chocolate cake and key lime pie.

We had a great time and were absolutely stuffed upon leaving. We visited the gift shop before we there, where they sell a variety of tea. I purchased a sample of their pumpkin spice tea, which would be lovely in the fall.

We weren't able to record inside the tearoom itself, so we had a discussion about tea on the drive home. We talk about our experience at the Lavender and Lace tea room, as well as about the history of tea and it's renewed popularity here in the U.S.

Links of Interest

Stash Tea: A nice overview of the history of tea.

Harney & Sons: One of my favorite tea purveyors (I thought they were British, but apparently they're in Connecticut.)

Intelligentsia: Known for their coffee, but I had an intense to-go cup of Jasmine tea here. I could have worn it as perfume.

British Express: Browse and purchase a variety of British tea here.

How to Make a Perfect Cuppa: BBC Guide to a perfection in a tea cup.

Tea Post from Neil Gaiman: What my favorite Brit author has to say about teal.

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Click here to listen:
Bitespot 02: Lavender and Lace

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View photos of our Lavender and Lace visit on Flickr.

Ear Candy: Cupcakes Speakers

Yes, they're cute enough to eat but do they sound as sweet? Don't know and probably not, but these cupcake speakers that I spotted on Geek Sugar are certainly adorable (I voted geek chic). This is a product produced by Semk; the site was slow to load for me and a little odd to navigate, but they have some fun stuff. Neat little flash intro, too. Technabob mentions that these are brand new and probably won't be available for a while, but will probably start showing up in stores in a few months. Unfortunately, I don't think they'll to a thing for my cupcake circuit.

Cupcake Circuits, Colbert and The Science of Appetite

First, apologies for the recent lack of posts. I was laid off from my job last week and it threw me for a bit of a loop, but I think everything's relatively under control now.

As I was catching up on my feeds this afternoon, I came across this post by Cathering Morgan on Blogher: The Science of Appetite, Weight Loss, and Dieting. Can We Rethink Thin? The post was inspired by a Time Magazine article, The Science of Appetite, which I found fascinating. It begins with the concept of a "cupcake circuit," the elusive and non-quite-understood part of our brain that associates cupcakes (or whatever food it is that creates the serotonin-induced happy dance in your brain) with pleasure, happiness and satiety.

I, like many others, am one of those people that have always struggled with weight. I was a pudgy kid, a teenager that thrived on sugar and alternated between pudgy and starved and eventually, a very overweight adult. However, I witnessed the staggering decline of both my grandmother and mother-in-law due to a lifetime of obesity and diabetes, and as I was starting to experience symptoms of irregular blood-sugar myself, I was freaked out enough to change my habits. So over the course of a few years I changed my diet and became a lot more active and I lost around 60 lbs. and 12% body fat and am now probably healthier than I've ever been in my life.

That said, I still struggle with my weight, and I definitely struggle with my cupcake circuit. I love sweets. They make me happy, and sometimes I crave them so badly that I feel like I'm having a drug withdrawal. I still eat too much sugar, but not nearly as much as I used to and as long as I stay active it seems to be okay. It fascinates me how much influence food often has over our psychological state of being. I try to use exercise as my overall spirit-lifter (for example, I've been more conscientious about my workout lately to counteract the blues of being unemployed) but sometimes, only a cupcake will do.

The article goes on to talk about how humans have historically had too little to eat rather than to much, and how we're adjusting (or not adjusting) to the current abundance of the industrialized nations. Scientists are currently scrambling to understand more about the process of appetite so that they can address the obesity epidemic that has emerged in the U.S. and is now spreading to other countries as they adopt more of our higher-speed, overstressed, fast-food culture.

Morgan also dicussed the recently released book by New York Times science writer Gina Kolata, Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting, which talks about the history, science and myths of weight loss and the diet culture. I followed Morgan's link to an interview with Kolata on the Colbert Report, and what she had to say sounds interesting. The concept that we should happy even if we're not a size 2 is pretty standard, but she goes into a little bit of why dieting is so hard and just how long we've been doing it. I had no idea that the original low-carb diet was invented by William Banting, an English undertaker, in 1863. According to the arictle The History of Dieting, "British Medical Association immediately attacked this approach, and because Banting was not a scientist, claimed that it had no scientific value and would not work for others. The public however were impressed, and people all over the English speaking world read of his plan and lost weight themselves, not caring about the doubters. So popular did it prove to be, that it was translated into other languages and thus spread even wider." Amazing how much things have changed, and yet how much they've stayed the same!

Note: Email Issues

It recently came to my attention that there was a backlog of email on my mail server that never came through. I've switched over to a new host, which has solved the problem, but lost some email in the process. If you've recently emailed and haven't received a response, please send another to bleu@bitespot.com. Sorry!

A Little Bit of Wine Geek Humor

From the Akron Beacon Journal, 11/3/06.
(And yes, I'm slow).

Island Cake and Lost Finale Party

Hatch Map Photo: Lostpedia

The Cranky Fanatic Lost Finale Party was a blast, and my island cake turned out pretty well. It's not the prettiest (the hatch map on top was very hastily added at around 3:30am), and I think the fondant got a touch dry, but all-in-all, I would say it was a success!

Working with the fondant really was fairly easy. One thing I will do differently next time is mix in the base color as I'm initially mixing the fondant. One recipe I referenced recommended this, and it would have made sense since I wanted the whole thing to be green. I wanted some darker swirls to create a marbled effect, but the darker color could've been added later. I think the little bit of dryness I experienced was due to having to mix all of the color in after the fondant was formed. It took a lot of kneading to get it even.

In related cake-decorating news, Epicurious' latest email newsletter contained a link to an article on a DIY Wedding Cake. I haven't explored it completely, but it looks like they have some nice how-to information there.

My other favorite dishes from the menu were the Garlic Shrimp (I didn't have Sherry, so I used Tequila) and the Grilled Sweet Potato Salad (I used toasted macadamia nuts instead of peanuts).

You can see a couple of pictures from the party on Flickr, and you can listen to us rehash the finale on the Cranky Fanatic Lost podcast.

Big-O is going to be hosting live Lost trivia contests on Talkshoe during the hiatus. I just participated in the first one, and even though I got the lowest score—I'm not so good with the trivia—it was a lot of fun! You can listen here or join in on Wednesdays at 8pm CST.

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On a completely unrelated note, please pardon my dust as I make some domain adjustments. A friend of mine originally set up the hosting for the Bitespot domain name and I'm transferring things around a bit so that I can apply it to this blog. I'm currently having some picture link issues with older posts, but that should hopefully be resolved soon.

Baker Baker, Baking a Cake

This Wednesday night is the Lost Season Finale, and Cranky Fanatic Big-O is having a finale party here is Chicago. In my book, all celebrations need cake. Therefore, I'm attempting my very first fondant cake in an attempt to create something Lost-themed.

The cake itself is a Margarita Cake, basically a white cake that used margarita mix for the liquid. Honestly, I really haven't gotten the whole cake thing down. My mom, although she'll deny it, is a master. Mine are usually too dry or too dense or too bland or too something. I just finished making the cake layers, and the smaller top layer seems okay, but I used a single large round cake pan for the base and I think it was probably too big. Perhaps the reason that smaller, individual layer pans are used for conventional home ovens is that there isn't enough even air circulation for the big pans. I plan to use a strawberry preserve filling and frosting in between layers, though, so that will help if it's dry.

I'm going to decorate the base of the cake with regular shortening-based blue frosting. That should be easy since it's representing waves and doesn't have to be any sort of smooth. I would use buttercream since most people prefer it (I, myself prefer the supersweet stuff) but I can't refrigerate the fondant so this will be more compatible.

The fondant was a spur-of-the moment inspiration. I was listening to the Dharmalars Finale Predictions podcast earlier today and, oddly enough, they were discussing fondant with Jorge Garcia (he's an Ace of Cakes fan). I think that was the catalyst. The top, smaller layer will (in theory) be covered in green fondant to represent the island, and I plan on piping on a simplified version of the hatch map. I have absolutely no experience with fondant (other than eating it) so this is entirely experimental. I followed a recipe on the Wilton site, and it went so well that I'm suspicious. It can't be that easy. It's all wrapped up in an airtight container, and on a double-check seems to be fine, but I'm convinced that I will come home tomorrow to something rock-hard and unusable. Or maybe the hard part is getting it on the cake? We'll see, and I'll let you know how it goes!