marlena spieler
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Posts posted by marlena spieler
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We're fat! If not the carbs, or fats, what can it be? answer: how about high fructose corn syrup. Kim Severson, who has possibly won more food journalism awards than any other person on earth, and who unmasked and explained the evils of transfat, exposes and explains the troubles of high fructose corn syrup. the biggest trouble it seems is that it is everywhere.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGS24VKMH1.DTL
There's gonna be a foodie mini-mall in berkeley right off of gourmet gulch, says Graceann Walden. stop in and have a nosh, then stop around the corner at the cheeseboard for a selection of fromage to tote home. Only problem? no parking. Inside scoop Graceann tells all:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGS24VRBT1.DTL
How one baby learns to love soy sauce with her grandpa in a chinese restaurant and pawn shop on skid row: folks that's your own marlena's Roving Feast. btw, don't miss the delicious and deceptively simple vegetable dip at the end
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGS24VRBV1.DTL
Whats New? Tara Duggan, Olivia Wu, Karola Saekel: Neapolitan pizza opens on Chestnut, and the divine Sharffenburger chocs open a cafe; local smoked sturgeon, and which bakeries are offering strawberry goodies.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGS24VRBV1.DTL
Tasters Choice: Carol Ness does low carb bread.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51JKJ1.DTL
Mustard greens, beet tops, and grandma: South to North columnist Jaqueline Higuera McMahan shares her childhood memories of greens; greens and beans, as well as chipotle meatballs sound mighty good.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51JOE1.DTL
Book review: Karola reviews: "Bistro Cooking at Home,'' by Gordon Hamersley with Joanne McAllister Smart. What are you waiting for? Make that confit!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51JTM1.DTL
Mardi Gras and Crab Fest! read all about it:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51JTO1.DTL
Chefs cook for a cause: at the Ritz Carlton. Eat up, its for a good cause: underpriviledged children.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51JTQ1.DTL
Sushi and dinosaur? Must be true,......Bill Daley says so! (you'll need to scroll down to get to the dinosaur part, though)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGOP51K141.DTL
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oh yes, NVNVGirl, delicious sounding artichokes!
Be sure to one of these days
eat alongside a roasted chicken, or add the whole baby artichokes to the bottom of a roasting chicken during the last 10-20 minutes of its cooking, so that the juices mingle back and forth.......
artichoke is a chickens best friend i think.
and mine.
i think that the next time i plan a move i'm taking into consideration the seasons of artichokes. my mistake in my current location is that there are no artichokes growing here, though there could be....the agricultural climate is right, its just that the people who would eat them couldn't be bothered.
steamed artichoked with a good skortalia--Greek garlic mayonnaise--is yummy too.
lightly sauteed baby artichokes with chunks of feta cheese in a flat omelet.
artichokes alongside roast rare lamb, with a handful of black olives.
make a puree with truffles or truffle oil and spread it on bread.
invite me.
anyone for an artichoke party?
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yes, yes, yes, so adorable!
and what about brik a l'oeuf? that pastry of filo or warka dough wrapped around a bit of onion, anchovy, meat, potato, tuna, harissa, etc, and a raw egg, then fried. the pastry gets crispy, and the egg gets poached. it is delicious but big.
if you made it teeny tiny with quails eggs......what do you think? probably messy, you'd need to get the wrist action going, but i think maybe a lovely little morsel. Maybe wrapped in pasta dough instead?
oh, i don't know. but i'd love one of your little toast with the egg in the hole right now though..........and maybe a teeny weeny sausage? or lardon to resemble bacon?
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i find an easy way to open them is with a small serated paring knife
This is great! the serrated part is important, because it acts like a little saw.....its the tough inner membrane that makes these little delicacies hard to crack open.
I also sometimes use a combinatio of rachel's knife-whack and a pair of sizzors.
My favourite quail egg goodie?
tiny teeny huevos rancheros, i just pan brown the little egg-lettes, in a few nubbins of butter or oil in a nonstick pan--the no-stick pan is important because the eggs are so delicate. and i brown rather than poach because it looks so cute on the tortillas.
okay, they are going to rest on tiny corn tortillas that you cut with your sizzors and warm in a pan. same pan. before so they are ready to top with the little eggs.
and you make a lovely salsa fresca, or ranchera, or simply do the cheat-y thing and doctor a fresh storebought one. Spice with a little of what you love to make it your own, then serve a dab of salsa on top of the little tortilla rounds, topped with a darling adorable quails egg, and another dab of salsa.
i like cilantro, too, but there is only room for about one leaf.
makes terrific canapes.
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japanese food? sushi? there is a new japanese restaurant, a read a couple of good reviews awhile back, in the washington jefferson hotel in hells kitchen.
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What a wonderful description of your evening at chez denise! What delightful writing! it is a totally charming place, and well, perhaps my meal was less than delicious because i was with a best friend who was evolving into a no-longer friend at all, know what I mean: the tension, oh the tension. I think i need to go back, and maybe i can borrow a doggie to go with me.
and I'm tres tres proud of you, girl, for getting the doggy bag........in Paris! you are now officially my hero-ette!
x marlena
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Pim, your foodblog is delicious!
I'd love to take over from you, but not until you finish your travels, as i can hardly wait to see what you eat and photograph next.
and also because i'm on deadline this week.
next week would be fine as i'm going to paris, and maybe later in the week barcelona.....and am actually thinking that the week following might be even better. tried emailing you privately but your email wasn't listed in member list.
very handsome website though!
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Or Milton Berle: "Anytime somebody orders a corned beef sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise, somewhere in the world a Jew dies."
Hysterical!!!!!!
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when i was growing up in sacramento california my mother was very taken with the whole american food thing, canned vegetables and hygenic stuff not like the old country foods. we never ate sliced bread and butter with a meal, though, somehow that just smacked of what the "others" ate.
even chicken soup: my mother didn't go the route that my grandmother did, with the chicken, vegetables, etc, she felt that if it could fit into a packet or a can, it was the better deal.
but into all of this tidy sterility came my fathers favourite treat, and later my own: raw garlic, raw onions, eaten on bread. it was what they ate in the old country and i could never resist though clearly it was a truely unamerican culinary digression.
strangely enough, into this gastronomical wasteland except for the garlic and the grandma food and the mexican and chinese restaurants, came tamales. there are always tamales in my parents house. thank god. just don't anybody tell them what goes into the masa!
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Not wanting to be competitive or anything, we here in Britain have some very very very bad food writing, too, and often without the benefit of facts being true (an irrelevance not considered important). (of course there are fabulous writers here too, and reviewers so delicious that you could read as a humor novel, though not really useful when it comes to knowing where to go and eat).
But when an American reads English bad writing, I admit it still might sound cute, all those beguiling English-isms.
Personally, I think the devil and culprit in all of this is the age old desire to reach readers by writing what is expected, and what sells papers. whether it is done by focus group, or simply done by writing "to" and "about" whatever is popular.
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chris cognac is a police detective?
wow! i want to interview him!
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chez denise has great atmosphere, and if you were making a movie about a bistro, you'd have to star this leftover from the days of les halles, but i have been dissappointed by the food!
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To simplify: Ashkenazi Jews are of Eastern European heritage, Russian, Norther Europe, etc. Sephardi Jews are of Spanish origin, then spread to parts of Europe, Africa, South America......there are also italkim, italian jews (several types, roman jews are the oldest romans in italy!). and indian jews come in a variety of different flavours; there are yeminite jews, and iranian jews, and iraqi jews, and its sometimes hard to find out where each community originated and what its heritage trail is.
but as a round up of simpligication: lets see........ ashkenzaim come from a yiddish speaking, chicken shmaltz-cabbage-potato eating cold weather culture, and sephardim come from sunbaked lands like the mediterranean where olive oil bathes vegetables of bright and vibrant colours, and splashes in lots of fragrant spices.
until recently, the larger part of the american jewish community was of ashkenazic heritage, bagels, lox, cheesecake are but a few delicacies that originated there. now there are many varied groups and sephardic communities. in brooklyn is the only real cochinese community........and in los angeles, you'll find more jews than in tehran (?)......or so it seems.........
jewish food is so uniquely global and varied...........
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Well, they ARE headquartered in South San Francisco. And get their chocolate from Guittard's factory in Burlingame.
And, hooray hooray,
at the south san francisco headquarters they have a shop, and they sell discount sees candies. nothing quite so delicious as a discount.
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le baracane, definately le baracane..........
utterly reasonably priced lunch menu, and just have the wait staff choose wine for you........there are some lovely ones and they always choose exactly what i want to drink with what i'm eating.
if they have the pear in red wine, lucky you. or the salade maraichaires......mmmm.
i've been dissappointed in the cassoulet, though, and it takes a lotta badness to dissappoint me when it comes to cassoulet, as i'm a bit of a slut. i'd avoid it.
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We, too, dislike eating in a restaurant that's not at least half-full; there is something missing in a restaurant experience when the place is almost empty-- it's really intangible, but the liveliness is part of dining out.
on the other hand:
one of my best dining out alone memories was of a cold cold night in the 9th, a restaurant usually busy during the day, but empty at night, about 3 tables filled with one diner each, and another two with two at each table: a couple of lovers, and two businessmen.
the meal was so rewardingly warming and satisfying: saussicon, cassoulet, fromage, far more red wine than i usually drink alone, too much food, too heavy, and too wonderful in a funny way. because our waiter was a sort of liason, and with his encouragement, each table eventually started conversations with each other. it was not intrusive (as it sounds) but so inclusive, and for we three solo diners, delightful, and for the businessmen, too. the lovers joined in, but understandably, not a lot. they had other things to concentrate on.
the room developed such a warm feel-good atmosphere. and the cassoulet was good too.
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Oh, Yes!
And I can hardly wait to try the really really BIG ones, that an indian friend told me about.
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Raw Obsession: Georgene Brennan waxes lyrical about the renowned aphrodisiac, the oyster. Info and history of the local Bay Area oysters, plus guide to the names, instructions on shucking, as well as places to visit for oyster-nibbling at the source (ie where they are grown/caught). Recipes include: Oysters Rockerfeller, fried Oyster sandwiches, oysters gratin with chard and pancetta, oyster soup with celery and red potatoes.
Question: Is it true what they say about oysters?
Marlena's Answer: Yes.
Happy Valentines Day!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...DGH647C3N30.DTL
The Daley Special: new column by Bill Daley, in which our Bill dishes the dirt and the gossip wherever he might find it. He had me panting with descriptions of the Valentines Day menu at raw restaurant Roxanne's. All of the perfumed aromatic sensual rose water and rubbing and skin.......whew.....dingers get sent home with chocolate body paints..........read it for yourself. also, update on Martha Stewart, Thomas Keller in NYC, dr atkins......column promises tasty reading for future.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...DGFR4NV8C33.DTL
Graceann Walden rounds em up, and lets us know whats going on behind the scenes in Bay Area restaurants, this week starting with a profile of a yummy new Peruvian place. Which Bay Area chefs are opening up in Vegas? Which Napa restaurant has gone under? and where can you get a Kobe beef burger? Graceann knows EVERYTHING and you will, too, when you read her column.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...DGM74NBLT55.DTL
Blissful Bergamot: Carole Ness tells us everything you've always wanted to know about Bergamot and then some. History, where to find it on menu, where to buy it to cook with it, how to grow, and two recipes: bergamot salmon, and bergamot bunt.
ps: bergamot malmalade is divine, if you manage to get your hands on some of the little citrus fruit.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...DGOV4P4MJ22.DTL
Beef barley soup, with chunks of beef; pasta with greens, pine nuts and raisins; two great every day recipes from Tara Duggan, The Working Cook. Dishes you can whip up without thinking too much, enjoy sniffing as they cook, then sit down to a fabulous dinner, despite your long hard day and your sore feet, and any little ones pulling at your skirt/trousers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGEM4PMD09.DTL
Whats New: Tara Duggan, Karl Foronda, Carol Ness, Olivia Wu, Karola Saekel
Fair Trade, Milkshakes, pizzas in a vineyard, and pretty much everything you might want to know, chocolate-wise, for Valentine's Day.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...DG6L4NDKD61.DTL
Chicken Tenders: what are they? how to cook them? Carol Ness does a tasting:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGP14QQVG9.DTL
Critics Choice: capsule reviews for Valentines Day. Bill Daley and Amanda Berne
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1.DTL&type=food
Cooks Night Out: Graceann eats out with Dennis Leary, chef at Rubicon. They go to a Turkish place and eat all of my favourite dishes. Pass the cacik please.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1.DTL&type=food
Dining Guide: round up: Middle Eastern Restaurants: sensuous eating? (eat with your hands! but ask first)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1.DTL&type=food
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ps: what i meant about the lightly smoked nature of the lamb, as if it had just bopped through a parisian cafe, i mean, it could have just smoked a couple of galouise', instead..... (sure my spelling is off there)
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lunch yesterday at cinnamon club:
warm pickled beef on a soft ricey pancake, one of the most wonderful things ever: tangy, spicy, meaty, yet light.........desert island dish divine.
tandoori-ish quail starter also fabuloso.
smoked lamb was wonderful too: not too heavily smoked, the lamb was so succulent and delicately smoky, as if it had just bopped smartly through a parisian cafe before being marinated and roasted and arriving on my plate.
also the mash that came with it was amazing: potato? sweetcorn (yes). something creamy and cheesey? (Perhaps).
my chicken alas, my blackfoot chicken should have kept its little black feet on its chickeny body and avoided the kitchen completely....
a fabulous spiced rice came with it though: moist rice with the fragrance of rice, and also of spice: star anise, cinnamon, cardomom. light rather than buttery. yum.
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I frequently work from home in pajamas as well. My theory is as long as I don't have video-teleconfrencing, it's acceptable. Now, the fuzzy bunny slippers are another story.
Some of us wish we could work from home!!!
some of us just wish we could have bunny slippers! (me)
x
marlena
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You guys are so fantastic, so generous with knowledge and suggestions! I know daughter will choose one of your suggestions, they are all terrific.
thanks again, and i still have a few weeks though they'll have to make reservations soon. i think i'll ring the chef and have something done specially too. its so wonderful to feel i can do something special for these guys, and with your help, i am. hard when your kids grow up, i'm telling you, and you're far far away. though i pass through once every other month or so but still............
x
marlena
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I shall be doing a digest for the San Francisco Chronicle, and am hoping that as I get better at linking etc i'll be able to do a better job.
x
marlena
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This week's San Francisco Chronicle features 5 of the bay area's Rising Chefs, 2004. Michael Bauer introduces the piece which includes contributions from the rest of the food department. Each chef is young--under 32 years, all from a wide variety of culinary sensibilities, the list includes a husband and wife co-chef team. Each chef and his/her restaurant/food style is profiled; favourite dishes are listed with a recipe for each: molasses-grilled duck breast, ratatouille stuffed calamari, malaysian lollipop lamb, for examples. a round-up of rising chefs 2003 is included in piece.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bn/article.cgi?f=/c/...3DTL&types=food
GraceAnn Walden welcomes two new restaurants to North Beach, one Argentinian, the second Basque (we old timers remember when North Beach was full of family owned Basque restaurants!).
For Graceann's and the following articles, click onto:
http://sfgate.com/eguide/food/chroniclefood
The virtues of heirloom cast iron is extoled in Shanti Wilson's piece Heavy Metal.
Carl Foronda tells us the history of cast iron, its beginnings going all the way back to ancient china, and Karola Saekel tells us how to find a good modern cast iron pan.
Olive Wu introduces a crab to a microwave, here are the results.
Carol Ness' panel of tasters evaluate nonfat yogurt.
Baker par excellence Marion Cunningham takes us through the history of cheesecake back to ancient Greece, circa 776BCE--a dish possibly fed to the athletes of the first Olympic games?
Bill Daley reviews two spicy Sichuan-Taiwan restaurants on Clement Street (a must stop on next trip there for this spice-girl)
and Karola reviews David Bouley's "East of Paris" subtitled, the new cuisines of Austria and the Danube.
wish me luck on this linking thing, meanwhile, click on to sfgate.com and catch up on the archives, too. lots of good recipes, and writing, I'm tellin' ya.
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i know i'm late with dessert recipe/suggestion for your last nights dinner, but might i suggest the poached pears in white wine with candied lemon peel from last week's roving feast column? you can get it on http://www.sfgate.com my recipe, so i know intimately how delish it is.
while i used to be a fanatic for pears poached in red wine then the wine boiled down into a thick glaze, poaching them in white wine with strips of lemon zest is so light and vivacious you don't even need a shlomp of ice cream to go with (as i always needed, wanted, craved with the red wine reduced sauce pears.)
x
marlena
Lucy Mexican Barbecue
in New York: Dining
Posted
with great dedication to the task, and with perseverence, even mexican food can be ruined.