Floating Dinner

Image: School of Fish Foundation

Now this is a restaurant that I'd like to try: The Plastic Dining Room, a temporary outdoor dining room on the False Creek in Vancouver, BC.

Developed by the The Goodweather Collective, the structure floats on approximately 1,700 recycled 2 liter pop bottles.

The project was built for The School of Fish Foundation, which was co-founded by Shannon Ronalds and Chef Robert Clark of C Restaurant in Vancouver. The Foundation is dedicated to persuading culinary schools throughout the world to include a comprehensive sustainable seafood course as a requirement prior to graduation.

Image: Goodweather Design

The Plastic Dining Room is also a fundraiser - every night between July 21st and September 30th, 12 guests will enjoy a multicourse sustainable seafood dinner, complete with matching wines, as designed by Chef Robert Clark.  The seats are going for $215 - not bad for a fabulous dinner in a unique setting.

I would love to see something like this on the Chicago River.  I can see the menu now - Asian Carp six ways...

via DesignBoom

How fat is your food?

Question - What do these 3 food items have in common?

New York

Indiana

North Carolina

Answer - in addition to being something I can safely say I would never consider eating, they represent their State’s fattiest food.

I’m not sure how thorough the investigation was, but Health.com identified the food associated with each State that had the highest fat content.

The prize for Illinois went to deep dish pizza (40 – 55 grams of fat per serving depending on topping) while Louisiana’s Beignet came in at 11 grams (about the same as that found in a McDonald’s cheeseburger).

At least pizza and beignets are good to eat. Words cannot describe the level of ick I feel with these guys:

• the Garbage Plate from New York:  93 - 203 grams of fat per plate depending on the version
• the Fried Brain Sandwich from Indiana:  24 grams for beef,  only 18 for pork 
• the Livermush from North Carolina:  30 grams per serving

I would rather eat an entire deep dish pizza myself than even a forkful from one of these.

See the whole list at Health
Via SoGood

Birthday Campari

I’ve posted about Campari here before – that ruby red bitter apéritif from Northern Italy.

"…The recipe, which has remained unchanged, originated in Novara in 1860 and is the base for some of the most famous cocktails around the world. Campari is an alcoholic spirit obtained from the infusion of bitter herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. With its distinct colour, aroma and flavour, Campari has always been a symbol of passion - passion that expresses itself in terms of seduction, sensuality and transgression..."
~ Gruppo Campari

Transgression???

Campari & Soda is one of my favorites, refreshing and just a bit exotic – oh look: here I am enjoying a before dinner drink on my balcony overlooking the Mediterranean while Signore Blogger puts a little Ornella Vanoni on the stereo.

And Campari with either grapefruit or orange juice is like a party in a glass, only more sophisticated. It’s Italian.

This year is the 150th anniversary of Campari and they are celebrating with a series of labels created by the artists AVAF, Tobias Rehberger and Vanessa Beecroft.

via SUT KUTUSU

I need to get to the liquor store.

Chicago's French Market - meh

Remember how excited I was for the opening of the French Market at the Ogilvy / Northwestern train station last year?

Well, it really hurts me to say this because I really wanted to be a big supporter, but I've been there 3 times now and I have to say that I am very disappointed.

Not in the selection of vendors - they have a wonderful variety of high quality purveyors of produce, flowers, pastries, cheese, deli and prepared foods. What they don't have is an environment that makes anyone but the harried commuter with no other option want to shop there.As you can see from these photos, although clean and well lit, the space is cold and sterile. I understand the difficulty of making a warehouse space feel intimate, but maybe the use of overhead florescent lighting that you find in hospital corridors wasn't the best idea.
Even the eating area looks and feels like a bus station.

Compare our market to the one in New York at Grand Central Terminal - the lighting makes a huge difference.

And a little bit of wood goes a long way - note how the wooden shelving at the back of most vendor booths offsets the cold box feel of the standard display cases?

Or take LA's Grand Central Market - yes, part of the ceiling is skylight but it's also a huge warehouse space that they have somehow managed to make inviting.This market has been here since 1917, yet still meets all modern food handling and storage code requirements without turning into a sterile environment.

This is the only vendor space in the entire Chicago market that doesn't make me feel like I'm in a meat locker.Although I'm sure that this is an upgrade implemented by Pastoral, it's a shame that the developers couldn't figure out how to provide more than bare bones space throughout the market.

I truly wish the French Market well and hope that the captive commuter crowd is enough to keep it going. I'll even continue to walk through and pick up the occasional needed item when I'm in the area. But I probably won't be making any special trips.
Si triste.

The Professor and Maryann...

Remember that fun tip on how to peel a banana like a monkey? Here’s another one, forwarded to me by my cousin Cherie in California. How to peel a potato without the mess (and without a peeler).

Brought to you by Maryann from Gilligan’s Island:



Just one correction to the process – be sure to start your potato in cold water. Once they come to a boil, cook until tender. If you dump a potato into boiling water and cook for 15 minutes you will have raw potato on the inside and mush on the outside, regardless of how you peel it.

Btw – I totally missed the Dawn Wells / Maryann is a pothead story that came out last year. Per the video below, Ms. Wells was driving home from a birthday party and got distracted trying to turn the heat on in her car. Long story short, she was pulled over and they found pot in the car. Turns out the stuff had been left in her car unbeknownst to her by someone else. When all was said and done, Maryann ended up with a reckless driving citation while the pothead was arrested and fined. Unfortunately, the bad publicity messed with a number of the non-profit and business endeavors she had going.

Why is it that the media never jumps on the truth with the same rabid zealotry they exhibit over a potential scandal?

Fun in the kitchen

I like to cook. Not everyone does and I can accept that. But I would suggest that having the right tool or gadget in the kitchen can turn slogging through a chore into a pleasurable experience.

Once you have the basics - good knives, heavy bottomed cookware and a good set of mixing bowls, it's a matter of adding in some key utensils. Bonus if those utensils are both efficient and fun to use.

I wouldn't mind having any of these items in my kitchen:

The Parmenide Cheese GraterFrom Alessi

The Head Chef's Pastry BrushFrom Cheftools

The Pot Utensil HolderFrom Cheftools

The Palm PeelerFrom Chef'n

I don't really want this Hot Dog Rotisserie, I just thought that the sales pitch was funny: "Enjoy the great taste of Cinema style hot dogs at home."

I guess this makes sense given that the UK doesn't have ballparks but I can't imagine a nastier place to find hot dogs than 'the cinema'...

If you must have it, you can find it at Giles and Posner

Let's Get Fat Tuesday

I've never made it to Mardi Gras in New Orleans but my family has always gotten together for the traditional celebration before the start of Lent.

Of course, with last names like Ferrone and Bortolotti, we usually have this celebration at an Italian pizza place - I'm pretty sure I have family members who've never had a gumbo or an etoufee.

I won't be able to make the feast this year but I will be cooking at home. A nice, hot and filling jambalya - perfect for a cold winter night. See the comments for the recipe.

Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez!

Pop Quiz

Can you tell what this is before you get to the last photo?






It's the remains of instant coffee with sugar, dried at the bottom of a cup. I wish I could see all my food close up...

From Izismile

Mmmmm....eggs

Baked Eggs in Bread Bowls

I'm not a huge fan of breakfast, my insides don't like much more than coffee first thing in the morning. But I'm a huge fan of brunch or even breakfast after I've been up for a couple hours.

So these Baked Eggs in Bread Bowls from Noble Pig have me thinking about brunch tomorrow...

See the link for the recipe
And Happy Birthday to my brother John!

Mmmm, Tasty

The Cherpumple

You've heard of the Turducken - that's the poultry nightmare that consists of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.

Well Charles Phoenix has come up with a dessert along the same lines - the Cherpumple. It's a cherry pie baked inside a white cake on top of an apple pie baked inside a yellow cake and a pumpkin pie baked inside a spice cake. All covered in cream cheese frosting.

Yummy.

For the Cooks in the House

I don't mean to pry, but are your noodles soft? Do you have a hard time figuring out when to pull the pasta out of the water? Never fear, making perfect pasta at home has just become foolproof, not to mention musical.

Thanks to Solutions, you can pick up an Al Dente noodle timer.

Just pop him into the pot of boiling water when you add your pasta and he'll let you know when it's time to pull it out by singing from his favorite operas:

- at 7 minutes he’ll do the “Triumphal March” from Aida
- at 9 minutes, the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Nabucco
- at 11 minutes, “La Donna é mobile” from Rigoletto

Perfect pasta and great opera at the same time - it doesn't get better than that!

Food For Thought (cont.)

TW: A poignant take from Roger Ebert on the implications of losing one's ability to consume food orally.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/01/nil_by_mouth.html

Classic Posts: Food 2009

TW: For Ms. Blogger's best "Food" of 2009 we go back to a February, 2009 post:

From This is why you're fat a site where people submit photos of 'food'. It doesn't say whether or not anyone has actually eaten any of these items but given that the US has the highest obesity rate of any nation in the world, I wouldn't be suprised.

The Double Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt

Three bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwichs for buns, cheese, bacon and two four-ounce beef patties.

Now that I take another look, the sloppy joe on a krispy kreme here looks kind of tasty...

My Food Post For TGiving

TW: Watch out Ms. Blogger, Mr. Blogger is moving into your space...
"MAKES 12 SERVINGS
4 tablespoons butter
1 large white onion, peeled and diced
1/2 head celery, diced
1 pound brown mushrooms, sliced
1/2 ounce fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon paprika
¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
18 White Castle hamburgers (no pickles), chopped into 1-inch pieces, or 1 small loaf white bread, cubed and toasted
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large saute pan, heat butter until foamy. Add onions and celery and cook until tender but still slightly crisp. Add mushrooms and some salt. Cook until mushrooms are brown and liquid is gone.
Add sage, paprika and nutmeg to the pan and cook until spices are fragrant.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and add diced White Castles; toss together. Put the stuffing in a baking dish and drizzle chicken stock over. Toss again and season to taste.
Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered, until the top is brown and crispy.
Jill and Chris Barron

Nutrition facts per serving: 162 calories, 10 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 22 mg cholesterol, 13 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein, 259 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
From Chi Sun-Times

Things I Like - Food

Time for another recipe – this one is in regular rotation at the White House.

It’s easy to make and hard to mess up, very tasty although not necessarily pretty. I’m talking about Escarole, Sausage & White Bean Pasta.

The name pretty much sums it up – add some garlic (ok, a lot of garlic), crushed red pepper flakes and chicken broth and you’re good to go. A great dish now that the weather is turning cold, serve with a glass of wine and some Italian bread.

See the comments for the recipe and enjoy.

Things I Like - Food

I’ve lived in a lot of places over the last 25 years (at least 14 not counting apartments during my school years) and I can remember the kitchen in every single place. Some of the more memorable include:

The London kitchens – the first was in the basement of the flat, at least the dining room was down there too. The second was memorable for the Aga stove that came with it. Took a little getting used to but was great fun once I learned all the different heat levels.

The Oak Park kitchen – beautiful cabinetry and a good sized space but kind of cut off from the rest of the main floor

The New York kitchens – the first was a typical NYC kitchen, by which I mean closet sized. I could literally stand in the middle and touch all four walls without moving. We extended the space by putting a large butcher’s block work table about three feet in front of the door - it worked fairly well. The second was totally modern and HUGE by New York standards – plus it's hard to beat a view of the Empire State building out your kitchen window.

The White House kitchen – by far my favorite, open to the rest of the room with plenty of work space and excellent cabinet storage.

But happiness in my own kitchen doesn’t mean I can't check out other options…

I think I need a ladder too

ManhattanYep, it's that tiny. And this one is a 'luxury' kitchen...

TraditionalLove the glass front cabinets

FunkyThe color is fun but I'm getting a headache just looking at the photo

PerfectI would take this kitchen over my own in a heartbeat!

Photos:
1st, 3rd and 5th from PointClickHome
2nd from HouseBeautiful
4th from RemodelMySpace

Things I Like - Food

I found this article fascinating – but then, I am truly a geek:

How to cook perfect boiled eggs
…Nearly every basic cookbook offers conflicting techniques on how it should be done—start the egg in cold water, or gently lower it into boiling water; add vinegar to the water to lower its pH, or add baking soda to the water to raise it; cover the pot, don't cover the pot; use old eggs, or use new eggs, and on and on—but very few offer evidence as to why any one of these techniques should work any better than your average old wives' tale. Apparently, boiling is not...ahem...an eggs-act science.
- J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats

The article goes on to painstakingly address every step in the process of making soft and hard boiled eggs, from a scientific perspective and with illustrative photographs.

If you can’t make the perfect egg after reading this…you should probably stay out of the kitchen.

Things I Like - Food

When did humans first make bread? How about ice cream? Did you know that we’ve been eating marshmallows since 2000 BC?

There are many food related sites out on the web – The Food Timeline is devoted to food history.

The site is an independent research project created and managed by reference librarian Lynne Olver. I love the timeline feature – foods and the date they were first eaten on the left, recipes from those dates on the right. Many of the food entries are linked directly to research sources (Stilton cheese was first made in 1722 according to the History of Stilton website) while others are linked to a summary of the available research on that item, complete with reference cites.

In addition to the food histories, the site also provides historic recipes and offers a free answer service for your food questions. An interesting place to spend some time and a great reference for all your food history questions.

Btw, flat breads were made around 10,000 BC, it took another 6,000 years to make yeast bread. The Chinese made ice cream as early as 3,000 BC and marshmallows are made from the sap of the marsh mallow plant which grows in marshes and other damp areas.

Things I Like - Food

You probably heard the news last week, and if you like to cook or even just to read about the world of food, you were likely a little saddened when you did. Gourmet Magazine is done – the November issue, currently on the newsstands, will be its last.

Food writers everywhere were lamenting the closure of the nation’s oldest food magazine. Some questioned the on-going viability of the current magazine business model while others railed at Conde Nast’s choice to shutter Gourmet rather than its less literary little sister Bon Appetit.

The fact is that the magazine’s ad revenues were down severely in the 2nd quarter this year. It seems that the financial crisis we are all working through is still landing some punches; Gourmet is just the latest casualty.

I have to admit to feeling like I didn’t do my part to help. Although I subscribed to Gourmet for years, I dropped it when tracking down a recipe became easier to do on-line than searching through old copies.

I used to grab the current issue when I had down time in an airport – in addition to the recipes there was always an interesting article on food, wine or food related travel. I guess that wasn't enough.

At least the recipes will still be on Epicurious.

Things I Like - Food

Today is a good day for River North – it’s the eagerly awaited re-opening of Club Lago*. Established in 1952 by Gus and Ida Lazzerini, this family owned Italian restaurant is the quintessential neighborhood spot, old school in both looks and food (think lots of red sauce and a killer eggplant parm). Photo from Chicago Creative Partnership

Or at least it was old school up until March 9th of this year. That’s when the boiler in the building next door exploded, sending the chimney crashing down into the restaurant kitchen.
Photo

The current owners, brothers GianCarlo and Guido Nardini (the third generation) posted some photos from the restaurant’s early days in the window, mounted a dry erase board on the door for messages from loyal customers and started the process of bringing the place back to life.



Photos

Although I’m sure that the regulars probably loved the place as it was, I’m hoping that they made some changes to the dining area in the back. While the booths up in the bar area were comfortable, I never found the back room to be very welcoming. Regardless, I look forward to stopping in soon – happy to have Club Lago back in business.

*They actually re-opened last week to get a feel for the new kitchen but today is the official grand re-opening party.