Making Roti with Jogendra (play with your food)
December 31, 2004
I have my way.
Jogi has his way.
But you can tell by his name that its his birthright to know how to make a better roti.
If you make the roti MY way they puff up like pillows. My way involves a lot of not doing anything and getting the heat right. (Plus you get to use up some of the chicken fat from your ever expanding chicken fat collection.)
If you make rotis Jogi's way, they also puff up like pillows, but you get to play with them constantly and tamp them down with a tea towel, in my opinion the last thing to do to make something puff up. I stand corrected.
Pictured below is another way to make roti in which you start out in the pan and then dump them right onto the flame. It was a regular Occitanian roti circus tonight.
Posted by debra at 12:51 AM | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
Hey that's stealing!
December 24, 2004
(images courtesy of Kristine Malden, le ciel est bleu dot com)
A jaunt over to the Accidental Hedonist weblog and what do I see? A link to a list compiled by the BBC of 50 things to eat before you die. If you ask me, this list, compiled by reader survey is pretty piss poor. I'm still a spring chicken (according to my mother) and I've only got 6 items to go and 50 euros says alligator tastes pretty much like chicken.
Here is a list of things missing from the BBC list of 50 things to eat before you die:
- kosher dill pickles
- olives
- peaches
- fresh corn
- uni sushi
- avocados
- burgus
- chokes
- aioli
- bernnaise sauce
- bacon
- wild boar entrecot
- leafy greens
- saffron
- humble pie
What else is painfully missing from this list?
Both a Full English! and Eggs Benedict should be listed but are not.
- Kim Chi? Not on the list
- stolen figs (lots of fruit tastes better stolen)
- persimmons stolen from the neighbours, frost on em, in the dark, sucking blindly, they never make it to the basket; not on the list
- kale plucked fresh from the garden by moonlight on the shortest day of the year, the grass crisp with frost. I just did this today and I'm glad I didn't die before doing so or get killed with regard to the stolen persimmons.
50 things you should eat before you die
Accidental Hedonist weblog entry
No picture today because of the neighbours (can't get close enough).
Posted by debra at 02:00 AM | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
The cost of taking it with a grain of salt and the 'L' word
December 23, 2004
On a more serious note, let's talk about the cost of exporting salt - or any other gourmet food item...
My friend JT shuddered when I asked if I should extend the (relatively local) French salt collection I plan on giving his family with a package of rose coloured Himalayan salt. As with most export products the cost of transporting the goods is not fully reflected in the cost of the product itself. (See his blog here.)
Just like my Mom used to say, 'It's all about location. Location, location, location!' It ALMOST goes without saying that one can best buy locally and hope for nice xmas gifts from the Jewish houseguests.
Pictured above on the left is not a bowl of cornflakes but a bowl of very pretty New Zealand Flake Salt. Pictured on the right is the correct gift buy, the *local, the less well-travelled Fleur de sel de Guerande.
Mr. Bloch's Salt Archive the Motherload of salt information
US Saltworks gourmet salt guide - great salt images here.
* local for I me moi.
Posted by debra at 08:10 AM | post to del.icio.us
Culiblog FINALIST in 2 Int'l Food Blog Award categories!
December 22, 2004
Dear Readers,
Thank you so much for nominating culiblog in the International Food Blog Awards hosted by the Accidental Hedonist. Your support has placed culiblog in the finals in two (2) categories; writing and humor.
Between NOW and midnight on the 31st of December (Pacific Standard Time) you can vote for your favourite culi weblog at the following urls. The urls below will bring you directly to the polls for these categories and not for the entire poll. If you want to vote for the other categories follow the Accidental Hedonist link. You'll have to do a bit of navigating if you want to vote on all of the categories. It's voting information design that only a blogger could love.
To vote in the category of Best Food Blog Humor click here.
To vote in the category of Best Food Blog Writing click here.
Here's the competition:
For Humor my competitors are:
Amateur Gourmet
The Food Whore
Meat Henge
The Passionate Cook
For the category Writing my competitors are:
Chez Pim
Chocolate and Zucchini
Orangette
Shiokadelicious
I am honoured to be signalled among these excellent blogs, and that wouldn't have happened without your enormous support in the nominating phase. Please take 5 minutes to vote in the next few days and let your voice be heard in blogland. Thank you for voting for culiblog!
Posted by debra at 08:53 AM | Comments (3) | post to del.icio.us
Moist towellettes inhibit finger lickage
As usual the package is better than the product because these moist towellettes inhibit finger lickage. Still, it's a great holiday present for under 5 euro for people I don't know. I hope that the receiver of this fine gift won't take it personally.
Posted by debra at 08:08 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
A grain of salt: holiday gifts for under 5 euro
December 21, 2004
In just 3 days I will be one of the extended friends of family at an English Xmas celebration. This could be just the chance I've been waiting for to initiate a salt and fleur de sel tasting. It's the thought that counts, right?
Fleur de sel (salt flower) is the term for the "young" crystals that form naturally on the surface of salt evaporation ponds. They are hand harvested under specific weather conditions by traditional paludiers (salt farmers). Purists would say that true fleur de sel could only come from the Guérande region of France, on the isle of Ré. Impurists know that salt is harvested all over the world and that the purists are just trying to market their particular brand of salt.
Fleur de sel is considered to be a 'finishing salt', a salt that is both rich in regional flavour and not too concentrated and therefore the perfect salt for sprinkling on salads and steamed vegetables. I have read (but have a hard time believing) that the term fleur denotes the violet-like aroma of the ripening crystals in the ponds. If this were true I'm sure the French would not hestiate to call the crystals violets de sel.
Please read more... "A grain of salt: holiday gifts for under 5 euro"
Posted by debra at 04:50 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Chestnut Hunting on a Freeway of Sheep
December 18, 2004
Just start imagining what that might be like.
We didn't get in eachother's way.
We wore red to alert the hunters. Saturday is hunting day.
technorati tags: Languedoc, hunting, chestnuts, food gathering, culiblog, sheep
Posted by debra at 11:49 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
We've got more spice than you do...
And we're also more organised than you are 'ceptin the fact that everything still lives on the floor.
But it's only a matter of days before F&K's dried spice collection becomes a fabulous installation on the kitchen wall.
And so I ask you Gentle Reader, would any of you find it useful to have a spice-o-pedia?
Spice-o-pedia for PALM right here. That was a rhetorical question and I truly wasn't thinking of that very unsexy answer.
Here are some other spice compendia and a book link or two (none of which I have read):
- Epicentre Encyclopedia of Spices
- Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
- Indian Spice Catalogue
- Cook's Thesaurus
- Elements of Taste by Gray Kunz
- Tom Stobart's Herbs, Spices and Flavourings
Posted by debra at 10:55 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Please help culiblog get the vote out!
Culiblog is chuffed and honoured about the nominations for the International Food Blog Award! But there is still ONE MORE DAY to let your nomination be counted.
Here are some URLS for the individual categories:
Accidental Hedonist Best Overall Food Blog Nomination Page
Accidental Hedonist Best New Food Blog Nomination Page
Accidental Hedonist Best Food Blog Photography Nomination Page
Accidental Hedonist Best Food Blog Writing Nomination Page
Accidental Hedonist Best Humor Nomination Page
Accidental Hedonist Best Food Blog Post Nomination Page (an individual weblog entry)
For this nomination you will need to list a url. Maybe this list below will help you fill in the blanks?
No Rest for the Rugged (remember the blood?)
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000653.html
If it Bleeds it Leads
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000649.html
Eat off the floor? Get the facts!
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000749.html
Changes
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000764.html
Hash Shakes are sooooooooo passée
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000820.html
Dabba Walla
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000834.html
Camper Flagship Restaurant
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000598.html
10,000 EURO worth of Ham
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000603.html
La peche qui brule
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000826.html
The Banquet Years
http://www.culiblog.org/archives/000825.html
Posted by debra at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Culiblog nominated for the International Food Blog Awards
December 15, 2004
Could we be more chuffed or more honoured (or more pluralis majestatis?) than when we heard that the dear and fabulous RvT had nominated culiblog for the International Food Blog Awards?
Well, maybe when we win.
There are just 5 more days to second RvT's nomination. Why not click on the category 'The Best of Culiblog' and decide if you want to stand up and be counted. This may be one of the few times in your life when an election goes your way!
Go
here to check out the Accidental Hedonist International Food Blog Awards
and here to nominate your favourite food blog for one of the many categories. Thank you, RvT! And thank you dear and fabulous readers!
Posted by debra at 12:37 PM | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
Re-enact creaming
December 13, 2004
Mediamatic and CASCO's performance night titled Re-enact was rife with food related performance art. My absolute favourite performer was Nezaket Ekici who oh so diva-liciously turned cream into butter with her bare right hand. It took 24 minutes or thereabouts. Everyone was aswoon!
Please read more... "Re-enact creaming"
Posted by debra at 01:47 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Dabba Wallah - git yer tiffin while it's HOT
December 10, 2004
You're a dutiful wife (actually I'm temporarily in-between relationships) and nothing short of your own love-imbued cuisine will suffice to nourish your office-bound husband for his lunchtime meal. Problem is you're out in the suburbs of Mumbai and he's situated downtown for the lunchtime hours. How are you going to get something hot in Lovey's tummy?
Easy. You pay 150 rupees (EUR2,55/GBP1.70/USD3.40) per month for a Dabba Wallah service and let the 'tiffin guy' or lunchbox carrier bring the Mr. his grub.
Please read more... "Dabba Wallah - git yer tiffin while it's HOT"
Posted by debra at 12:02 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Next unto sallat she shall deliver forth all her fricassees...
December 09, 2004
This leafy green quote comes from Gervase Markham's The English Housewife written in 1615 in a treatise about salads. These words are instructions describing the placement of dishes and the order of courses, starting with light leafy green salads and moving through salads with boiled and pickled vegetables. I have gleaned this tidbit from Cathy K. Kaufman's article on 17th century salads on the Culinary Historians of New York website.
Take the buds of al kind of good Hearbes and a hanfull of French capers, seven or eight Dates cut in long slices, a hanfull of Raisins of the Sun,...
Please read more... "Next unto sallat she shall deliver forth all her fricassees..."
Posted by debra at 07:11 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Joe Colombo is dead as a doornail
December 01, 2004
Here is the amazingly efficient Joe Colombo designed mini-kitchen. R.vT. tipped me to him a few days ago as I lamented giving up my superflous spoon collection. As my most informative blog-reader to date, R noted that Joe Colombo designed the Alitalia tableware in 1970.
Apparently the 'MINI-KITCHEN' designed in the year of my birth and produced in the year of my brother's birth contains 'all the electrical appliances and necessary features one needs to cook for and accommodate six people, in just one-half of a cubic meter'.
Well, both the rice-maker and the staff-mixer are nowhere to be seen and I don't see where one would stow them in the mini-kitchen, but the MK remains an inspiration. Joe Colombo died on his 41st birthday of heart failure.
technorati tags: Joe Colombo, design, kitchen, serviceware
Please read more... "Joe Colombo is dead as a doornail"
Posted by debra at 06:41 PM | Comments (10) | post to del.icio.us
