Carrot Top

Ah, now. Don't be so hard on yourself. . . Actually, now I remember that too, and I think he was Japanese from Japan. And I also remember that the top winner of one of these contests sometime recently was a tiny little sprig of a girl. . .about 19 years old and in the area of 115 lbs. So. . .I guess size doesn't always matter!

I'm also wondering if this is a peculiarly American idea, the idea of competitive eating as a sport, or whether it has happened at other times and places. . .

Mmm. Sometime in the past year I read a book (fiction) (can't remember the name of it at the moment) . . .where the protagonist was a young teenage girl who ran away from home along with her brother (for some romantic-type reason having to do with a breakup one of them had with their girlfriend or boyfriend, not for any terrible home situation). The plan was that he would support them in their travels by doing competitive eating, either in formal competitions or just in places where he could gather a crowd that would bet for a win on how much he could eat. The kicker was that she was anorexic. And her brother did not really know this fact. What a tale. . .the tension between her reality and his. . .and the fact of what he did to make enough money to support them. . .(and since they were living out of a car, the support was basically just for gasoline and . . .food!) And the scenes of the excitement of the crowds when he was "competing". Whew.

Hmmm. Nobody else could take it, either, huh? It was interesting that there were two commercial sponsors: Alka-Seltzer (heh, heh) and The Federation of Competitive Eating. The Federation posted its website, with an underlying low imposing intonation made by the announcer that competititve eating was "the fastest growing sport in the world". (In so many ways, I thought to myself!) Here is the link to the website: http://www.ifoce.com/ Anybody know anyone that competes in Competitive Eating as a sport? What are your thoughts on this phenomena?

Sounds like a perfect meal. My first thought for a dressing was a spicy tomato vinaigrette. . .but then that might be too tomato-ey. Second thought was that something like a Green Goddess, but lighter in texture and sparked up with fresh cilantro and fresh mint might be interesting. . . Of course the children would love Ranch, I bet.

Here's one I just thought of putting together: Tender escarole (not the tough old heavy stuff) leaves chopped fairly fine tossed with a bit of good olive oil, sherry vinegar, a touch of salt and a generous amount of fresh ground pepper. . .top with a claw from a fresh Maine lobster right smack dab in the center. . .(an extra one from the batch steamed for dinner last night bien sur ) that will then be topped with a swath of fresh lemon mayonnaisse. For the counterpoint, steam some mussels in white wine and a splash of Pernod with a battuto of aromatics that would include onion, carrot, fennel, and flat-leaf parsley. . .steam then gently remove when finished, while allowing some juices and aromatics to remain nestled inside the shells. Mussels in shells to be arranged around lobster claw in slightly casual manner. What do you think? Any ideas for improvement? I might try this when I get back from my weekend trip. . .

Mmm. And steak salads are really so pleasant for a casual meal in the summertime! The steak that I had this time was truly so excellent to start off with that I wanted to keep the extra flavors on the simple side. . .but when I can't find a piece of meat with a distinguished flavor, I use a stronger dressing to top it. The two dressings that I tend to use over and over are a very mustard-y vinaigrette with minced shallots, capers, and fresh thyme. . . and an oriental-style dressing similar to a mayonnaisse but thinner, made with a soy sauce-star anise-garlic reduction, flavored with sesame oil. . .scattered with fine-cut scallions to finish. I wonder what other people out there might be using as dressings for their steak salads?

Ah. I think this is the point of it right here, Melissa. The problem is not lack of Trader Joe's in Atlanta. . .it is that you went the wrong place for vacation. Your daughter should not live in such a nice place as California with all these things around to tempt you. She should live in some place that you could visit where Atlanta would look great in comparison! Please. Do yourself a favor. ( ) Next time you go somewhere, go somewhere WORSE than Atlanta. It will make you feel better. . .

That should not happen on Arthur Avenue, Rachel. They are ruining their good name! You are lucky to have tomatoes growing, though. Soon your own Caprese will be ready and delicious. . . Last week I had some great arugula from the Farmers Market and a good skirt steak. Tossed the arugula with a balsamic vinaigrette, rubbed some herbs and garlic onto the steak, and cut up some zucchini, yellow squash, and onions in slices about 1/3" thick and seasoned them with salt and freshly ground pepper. Heated the griddle on the stove, brushed with more olive oil and grilled the veggies and steak. All done, sliced the steak on the diagonal. Arugula on plates, steak fanned out on top with juices left on the plate after slicing poured over it, veggies cuddling up next to it. Served with a pleasant rosemary-olive oil bread gently heated in the oven. Easy, quick. . .and yummy!

The world contest of Competitive Eating is showing on ESPN (eating is now a sport, everyone! ) at this very moment. Naturally, it is being held in Las Vegas. I can't watch it, myself. . .but thought I would post for anyone who might be interested. Enjoy! And do write in, if you watched, and tell us your thoughts. . .

That is fantastic, hathor! No, I haven't dreamt scents but have dreamt of talking of scents and have smelled them in my dream, but not in the visceral way you describe. The sense of smell is supposedly the strongest of our senses in terms of memory retention. People will remember exactly what a house smelled like, or what their grandmother's kitchen smelled like, many years later. . .and not be able to remember any other particulars regarding the scene. . .clothing (visual), conversation (aural), the taste of the food that day or the weather. I love smells. If I imagine Heaven, it would be filled with good smells, for me. . .one just coming right after the next. How lucky you are to be like that! (Unless, of course, the sardine was rotten. . . )

Hey, forget about guilt over shopping at Whole Foods! I am feeling guilty over even letting the charm of that little horse at the head of the cart of veggies for sale twenty years ago influence me into buying, through the fact of his big doleful eyes and so-scratchable ears and indefineable smell, that smell that says "Horse. Countryside. The Good Life." There really isn't anywhere that is free of some sort of atmospheric influence on our ways of shopping, is there? ................................................................. It came to mind last night as I drove home from the grocery store (no it wasn't a grocery store but I did buy things to eat there. . . it was Target) absentmindedly eating the entire bag of Ghiaradelli chocolates which had somehow fallen out of the top of one of the bags and somehow pried itself open just to jump into my waiting hand that had wandered off the steering wheel towards it. . . Where does Julie's piece "fit in" with others of its ilk? Have there been other "food" writers who have unburdened themselves on the Op-Ed page of a major newspaper? What have been their subjects? What was the response from their readers? How well did they do, in general (if there is such a thing as "in general") as opposed to other types of writers (let's choose political columnists for a good example) in terms of using argument or rhetoric to prove their final point? Just curious.

Ah! It must be you guys from North Carolina that help Blacksburg in attaining its ranking as the single place in the state of Virginia that sells the most alcohol annually. . .(an unverified fact that is bandied about town but that the amount of bars on Main Street seem to attest to! ) Vintage Cellar is actually quite a find in a place like Blacksburg. . .the owner is quite knowledgeable about both beer and wine, has an incredibly good stock of both, and to boot there are often "wine tastings" held at the counter on Saturdays where everyone gets quite chummy till they are forced by the growing line of people waiting for a taste to go off and buy a bottle or two. . Really. What beats a casual wine tasting when the wines are good, I ask you. . . Which brings to mind to also suggest Gourmet Pantry for a bit of shopping for whatever pot, pan or kitchen utensil has come into your mind to desire. 712 North Main Street near Mill Mountain Coffee. . .wonderful things of all sorts here. She also carries a few good books and some pantry items and wines. Great place to browse, great place to buy that little gizmo for something or other or the tart pan that you are sure you'll need sometime! And speaking of tarts. . .Our Daily Bread on South Main Street across from Vintage Cellar (which is a tiny place in the Kroger shopping center) has wonderful baked goods if you need something high-carb. Which you can gobble down then wander into Oasis next door, which is an "international market" with a surprisingly enormous variety of "ethnic" foods on its shelves. You can even get chicken feet there if you're in the mood to make a good chicken soup. . .

Well, it seems that the heat wave affected me to the point that I dreamt that we lost a month of summer when I was writing the last post. "Steppin' Out" is actually happening on August 5th and 6th. Not September 5th.

Great idea. . .both for a small-business owner and for the neighborhoods it would be part of. I remember. . about twenty years ago in Brooklyn Heights there was a little old Italian guy who came through the neighborhood with his cart full of vegetables actually pulled by a small horse! Now that horse really sold those veggies. At a pretty penny, too.

I found the topic that had some more information. . .the focus is on feeding kids, but the idea is the same. Lots of food for not too much money. And the suggestions are good. Unfortunately, I've never linked to an internal eGullet topic, and my patience on how to figure it out is too short at the moment so must just give you the name of the topic (maybe an administrator will come along and nicely clicky-clicky to make a real link for you. . . ) "Feeding a Bottomless Pit; Dear God What Do I Do?" is the topic title, and it is in the General Foods forum. . .

Beautiful. And although I really wanted to stay out of this today, I feel a terrible urge to give the American Heritage Dictionary's definition of "elitism" as the word keeps cropping up. Just to add to the fun, you know. elitism: 1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. 2a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a class. b. Contol, rule or domination by such a class.

Soba, you sound like one of my kids. They each eat like this. And apparently, this is normal for kids their age! (No, they are not overweight at all!) Ouch. There was a thread that could also have some ideas on this subject on trying to contain food costs that was focused on "feeding the growing kids with the neverending hunger" sort of tack. . .I wonder if anyone knows that link. . .

Well, really. . .I do have to laugh at the way my last post sounds, for it truly sounds as if I think all the ills of the world can be cured with a bushel of fresh red peppers or something. Oh, well. I guess it is as good an idea as any. Though definitely rather loopy sounding.

I brought this up with a friend of mine who loves to cook and eat and also happens to be on disabilty for a mental illness. She showed me another perspective on this whole thing. When she has her druthers, and the money, and especially the energy and stamina, she is very glad to get ingredients that are exellent quality and to fix wonderful food with them. But she also stressed that many times she can barely make her self eat anything and it takes more energy and time than she can invest in even the simplest thing. Hence the junk food, the boxed/frozen foods, etc. She also pointed out to me, that I may not know if a person in line in front of me who has a basket full of this stuff is in such a situation, say on disability or has some medical or mental problem that precludes them from doing even a bit of cooking. I started looking at it differently after this. ← I think it is possible that we see this in quite a similar fashion. When writing the original post, I deleted some words that spoke of my "worry" about these people, for it sounded pretensious. For who am I to have the right to "worry" about anyone else for whatever reason? There is, however, something that speaks to me of health and life in fresh foods as opposed to the boxed up type. That is a separate issue from the price/shopping venue issue that we've been discussing. So when I see people whose carts seem to say to me, "Empty of the life that fresh real foods can offer", I wonder why it is that way, and why it has to be that way. And I worry about the people. I wonder how things could be changed to make it "better" for them. But that "better" is of course, only my opinion, my sense of what food is and how it can create a good and happy life in its own small way for people. Finally, I push it to the side of my mind as "something just to mull over" for surely I am not positive that I am right in projecting what are my own ideas of what food is and what it can do, onto other people. I think it was andiesenji who wrote in a thread a ways back of how the cooking of good things, fresh things, had brought health at times not only to her but also to other people she had known. I guess in some part of my mind, I think that if that health and good-feeling can be brought by fresh vital foods cooked and eaten by people who are physically ill, then perhaps the same idea might be used to heal the hurts of people who are also either mentally or. . .may I say culturally ill? If poverty could be considered a cultural illness. . .I don't know.

Yeah, it is a good topic, isn't it? I'm hooked. Here today it smells like Bolognese Sauce, Origins Tangerine Body Balm, and freshly ground black pepper. With an overlay of air-conditioning which does not sound as good as the other stuff, but for which I am extremely grateful. Here, jamie. . .your ponderings on your fiancee's ways of cooking reminded me of a quote so I looked it up: "Zee always went naked in the house, except for the brassiere she wore when it was her turn to get dinner. Once, cooking French-fried potatoes in a kettle of boiling fat, she had come within an inch of crisping her most striking features." G.S. Albee Or in other words, be sure she exercises caution.

Then I'll have to stop in there too, for the food, Holly. And I'll give the nice waitresses a shout out from ya.

russ, I wonder about the shopping carts that are filled with processed foods, too, most specifically even more when I see it within this income group. Yes. When I remember carts like this, I don't remember seeing it with recent immigrants, though. . .I see it more with the sort of "entrenched" poor here. I have a recurring rather surrealistic vision that they are buying these foods as a substitute for something more real that they think they can not attain. The foods become a metaphor for the American Dream in my mind. . .and it seems that they are going home to simply eat their dreams, whatever they may be. . . to swallow them whole in a huge bag of potato chips. It is difficult sorting out these cultural/class/money things without someone's toes getting stepped on verbally, I guess.

Busboy, your good deed of starting this thread has yielded results already! This weekend I'll be in the area Big Wyoming mentioned, and as he says. . .by God! I hope to try this place he has been kind enough to write in about!

How I wish I could agree with you on this. But when I look at the prices for either meats or veggies at the Farmer's Markets I've been to, either in large cities or smaller. . .I can see the difference between these prices and the ones at the places that the "economically disadvantaged" tend to shop. Many of the people that I have known that have not had too much money in their wallets have been immigrants, with large families, children (which are always expensive no matter what one's income level is! ), debt from starting a new life, and very little money left over after the bills are paid. Many do not even have health insurance. Alternately, they come from low-income rural areas where life can still be quite hand-to-mouth for many. It might be that they could and would like to take the effort to pick up the ingredients for a good dinner at the Farmer's Market, but that one dinner would at its price take the same money that would have fed them four dinners put together from food bought on sale at Wal-Mart. And they simply can not afford to do it. I so wish I could be persuaded otherwise. I do agree that "elitist" is a strong word that has an aura of sanctimoniousness. There might be a better word that could be used.