11/11 = Venice's San Martino!

Yesterday was not only the U.S.' Veterans Day, but it was also the Feast Day of Saint Martin of Tours, which is celebrated to this very day in Venice!

It's a bit like "trick or treating" in the States... Children go to shops and sing a traditional song about San Martino while banging pots and pans until the shopkeepers give them small change, and then they move onto the next shop.

I have to say though that my favorite part of the day is the decorated sugar cookie in the form of Saint Martin (who was a knight on horseback until his religious conversion)... Here's a particularly ginormous and ornate one!

You can see more photos at the great blog Venice from beyond the bridge!

UPDATED: "A Question of Taste"

According to the comic strip "Mother Goose and Grimm," the Wright Brothers invented airplane food using just flour, glue and mayonnaise.

Why does airplane food seem so tasteless? It might be because the average full meal is said to cost less than $3.50 per passenger (down from twice that last decade!) But maybe, just maybe, our own senses are to blame...

According to the Lufthansa in-flight magazine from May 2010, that airline contracted with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics to test food in their decommissioned Airbus A310 fuselage fitted inside a huge low-pressure chamber (pictured at left).

In this research, they've discovered, for example, that tomato juice is not just consumed on flights because of the bloody marys! Instead, the mustiness of tomato juice when tasted on the ground apparently becomes refreshing and fruity at 30,000 feet (because, they say, that's when those usually-masked flavor notes are finally released).

We may likewise perceive the average airplane meal differently after take-off: according to the researchers, sugar seems about 20% less sweet in flight and salt about 30% less salty; spicy foods have to be made even spicier, herbs seem to lose their punch, while acids still manage to keep tasting every bit as sour.

Why the difference? Even back in 2005, a researcher at Surrey University had discovered that the combination of low air pressure and low humidity generally have a dulling effect on our tastebuds. As a result, he said, some (unmentioned) airlines apparently even have special kitchens which can replicate high-altitude conditions so that their chefs' compositions don't lose something in the translation between take-off and dinner time. In the end, Lufthansa itself declared, "These findings are in line with phenomena we already knew about and will be adopting in our recipes."

Hopefully, for long-haul flyers like myself, airlines will manage to get it figured out sometime before in-flight meals are eliminated all together! Or, as another editorial cartoon put it, "Sir, would you like juice, milk, a soft drink, coffee? Actually, it's just a rhetorical question."

UPDATED (7/27/2010): Everything you ever wanted to know (and surely way more!) about airline food can be found at AirlineMeals.net, including a gallery of meals from the '70s, '80s, & '90s! (via "50 Best Travel Sites You've Probably Never Heard Of")

Anywhere else it would be gourmet; in Italy it's just the grocery store

Thanks to all the wonderful local fresh fruit and veggies here, it's easy to eat low calorie. That is, until you get to the grocery store and see all the wonderful food there!

I snagged such goodies at the Italian grocery hypermarket today!

• Fresh Agretti greens (also called "Friar's Beard)
• Culatello Prosciutto Crudo
• Roast Prosciutto
• Radicchio & Speck Pasta Sauce
• Grilled Eggplant Pesto Sauce
• Bagna Cauda
• Dried figs seasoned with sesame and cinnamon
• Tuna Bottarga
• Mullet Bottarga
• Cheese: Imbriago di Prosecco, Imbriago di Cabernet, Cruccolo Gigante, Soligo, Sardinian Cream Cheese with Bottarga
• Wine: Sparkling versions of Pinot Bianco, Muller-Thurgau, & Riesling

Eating low cal's going to be kinda tough... ☺

Predictably Irrational!

I'm spending these couple of days easing into my new (Italian) milieu and catching up on some reading, which - it must be said - I'm doing on the iPhone through a mix of available apps, including eReader, Amazon's Kindle and Stanza. Sure, it lacks the satisfaction of the physical experience of reading a REAL book, but, let me tell you from past experience, it weighs a heck of a lot less than if I'd lugged every book I might possibly want to read over the summer to Italy with me!

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine was quite entertaining, about the real-life events and intrique that unfold following the $156,000 record-breaking auction in 1985 of a bottle of Château Lafite supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson (not least of which was whether this bottle, and several siblings which also surfaced thereafter, was in fact a fake). My only wish for this fun read would have been for its conclusion to be, well, more conclusive. I understand the legal actions are not all finished, but I can't help but think that the author could have nevertheless given a greater sense of closure at the end for the readers who had followed him and the whole story all that way...

Why spend $156,000 for an object which cannot realize the destiny for which it was made without being destroyed? Not to mention for an object which is practically impossible to guarantee complete authenticity? The next book I read might give us a few clues... Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions is the popularization of the groundbreaking research in behavioral economics by MIT prof Dan Ariely. I first encountered his work through a fascinating podcast for the series "All in the Mind." I've since seen him speak live (via stream) at TED2009 about the economics of honesty and on the PBS Newshour about the current economic crisis, and I remain a great fan of his keen and creative intellect.

For further info, Ariely's going to be in the spotlight a lot again soon! TED just posted this afternoon his talk from the EG ("Entertainment Gathering") 2008 conference, and an expanded and updated edition of his bestseller is out TODAY, with additional information regarding his scholarship and experiments, not to mention addressing the astoundingly predictably irrational current stock market crisis!

Hope they pique your interest as much as they did mine! Enjoy!!

VIDEO O' THE DAY: Rube Goldberg vs. the Cadbury Creme Egg!

As they said on the site, "This has to be the most impressive Rube Goldberg contraption I’ve ever seen." (And with cheap household materials, too...) My words can't possibly do it justice. Watch it and enjoy!!

Things to Do with a Cadbury Cream Egg - watch more funny videos

(Thanks to @jackiegerstein for the heads-up!!)

Cooking Tips

What's Twitter Good For? Lots of things, even the NY Times says!

To wit, here are some cooking tips that caught my eye while following @foodimentary (who is apparently somebody who's quit their day job to become a fulltime Twitterer, although I have to admit that I have no idea exactly how that would work...)

Anyway, hope they're also useful/interesting to you! Enjoy!!

1. Tip for Wilted vegetables: Soak wilted veggies in 2 cups water, one tablespoon vinegar to help bring them back to life. @Vegimentary!3:38 PM Mar 18th
   
   
2. Hint for Spaghetti Sauce: Add a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your spaghetti sauce to lower acid taste from tomatoes.12:33 PM Mar 18th
   
   
3. While cooking smelly foods, soak a cloth towel & let it dry in the cooking area. It will absorb the smell, keeping the room fresh!4:25 PM Mar 16th
   


4. While frying Onions, add a little milk - this will help retain a rich color & prevent them from burning6:30 PM Mar 22nd


5. If you accidentally burn gravy, just pour it into a clean pan & continue cooking. Add some sugar to cancel out the burned taste.3:23 PM Mar 21st

Scenes from Today's "Maine Maple Sunday"

"Maine Maple Sunday" happens every year about this time, when maple syrup producers all over the state open their doors to visitors so they can see (and taste!) the wonderful alchemy which turns 50 gallons of watery sap into just one gallon of gorgeously golden maple syrup!

Today, my hubby and I hit the road and went to about half a dozen sugar shacks in western Cumberland County, enjoying the heavenly, sweetly humid aroma of the saphouse and sampling goodies like homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh hot syrup, homemade doughnuts with fresh hot syrup, maple baked beans, maple snow toffee, freshly baked bread with maple butter, maple-glazed roasted nuts, and more! What a great day!!

Anyway, here are some random shots of the fun... Enjoy, and you oughta plan to join us in Maine for all the sweet maple-y goodness next year!

UPDATED: Fortune Cookies

I'm one of those people who fondly collected the best fortunes from fortune cookies in my wallet, with the whimsical idea that the ones kept in the wallet are the ones that will (or the ones I'd like to see) come true.

But in a slim wallet there's no longer any room for the fortunes... I figure immortalizing them digitally would be the next best thing. Hence my small homage to this terse but artistic literary form!

UPDATED (7/27/2010): I now twitter my worthwhile fortune-cookie fortunes instead of pocketing them!

Blogging Thanksgiving Dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is of course not limited to those in the States... I've cooked my share of Thanksgivings in Italy for my Italian friends and family. After all, giving thanks is universal!

Today, I'm cooking some oldie-but-goodie recipies, but mostly a messload of brand-spanking new vegetable recipes from food magazines and around the web! (I'll let you know how they turn out!!)

• 15-lb. Kosher Turkey with Ariosto Italian Roasting Herbs, stuffed with Country Bread Stuffing Seasoned with Knorr Italian Soffrito Spices
• Oyster Dressing (from this November's Saveur magazine)
• Mid-atlantic mushroom and chestnut stuffing (from November 1994 Bon Appétit)
• Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Pecans (from this November's Saveur)
• Haricot Verts with Bacon and Chestnuts (from this November's Gourmet magazine)
• Braised peas with pancetta and onions (from "Cook Almost Anything At Least Once" blog)
  
[Too many veggies! Had to cut somewhere...]

• Citrus-Glazed Carrots (from this November's Bon Appétit)
• Collards braised in red wine (recipe of the day from Mark Bitman's Bitten blog on the NY Times) [Ditto!]
  
• Roasted Potatoes and Shallots (from this November's Gourmet) [Double Ditto!]
  
• That cranberry sauce that comes out shaped like the can!
  

Everybody should get as excited as this lil' one about lobsters!

(via Mental Floss)

Pasta tops Italian desert island wishlist | Italy Magazine

(Posted using ShareThis)

Moose: It's What's For Dinner!

Of course, Alaska doesn't have the monopoly on eating moose...

A Political Punch Line Is Dinner in Alaska

(Posted using ShareThis)

My "Omnivore's 100"

Very Good Taste introduced the "Omnivore's 100" meme, a list of one hundred foods that every gourmand ought to try.

My results were pretty good, I guess... a good 80 out of 100! Literally, great food for thought! (Especially when my first taste ever of venison had actually been [fresh] roadkill!)

Here's the list...

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison (See comment above!)
2. Nettle tea (I had nettles at a vegetarian restaurant in Italy once and seemed to have a bit of an allergic reaction to them... Never ate 'em again, just in case!)
3. Huevos rancheros (Not a big vegetables-at-breakfast person!)
4. Steak tartare (Wanna try!)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (I'd like to say that I'm open-minded enough to try everything, but I just can't...)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (Am I brave enough?!)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (Mmmmm... *HOT* glazed doughnuts!!)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (See number 25!)
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (See comment at top of post!)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini (Venice's *elegant* cocktail!)
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (Totally sign me up, if you're paying!!)
85. Kobe beef (Ditto!!)
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate (Thanks to Timinus!)
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

How would you do???????????????

Wanna see the meme rules? Check 'em out here!

(via SlashFood)

Starbucks' Oversaturation?! It's Surreal!

This amuses me greatly... What could be better than a mashup of Escher AND coffee?!

(via Tumblr)

Medieval Food Blogging: Shrewsbury Cakes!

I went to college at William and Mary, where at times you couldn't help but feel that - as a local greeting card once put it - "I'm tired of the eighteenth century... Please send poptarts!"

But make no mistake, perpetually living on the doorstep of Colonial Williamsburg did have its perks.  One of them was a phenomenal eighteenth-century style cookie called a Shrewsbury Cake!

Little did I realize that this tasty little treat (named after the English town and pronounced "shrowsbury") had a much longer history!  This past week, the recipe was blogged (tongue-in-cheek even!) as a post on "Medieval Baking." If you don't plan to hit the Raleigh Tavern Bakery on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg anytime soon, here's the next best thing!  Enjoy!!

(P.S. You might find the "official" Williamsburg recipe if you buy the Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop cookbook, but another 18th c. recipe is available online free here!)

Food Blogging Stateside: The Ethereal Jams of Maine's "Appledore Cove"

As I've mentioned before, I don't often have reason to food-blog when I'm in the States. But every now and then I discover something locally that I have to tell the world about!

This time, it's Appledore Cove... By now, many folks already know about Stonewall Kitchen, yummy jams and condiments sold from their Martha-Stewartesque company store in York, Maine. Don't get me wrong... I love their stuff, and I had never tasted jellies and jams so good before. (I'm particularly partial to the Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam myself!)

That is, until I discovered this week Appledore Cove's "Strawberry Honey Lavender Jam" made right here in N. Berwick, Maine... What a revelation! Elegant in its simplicity... You can taste each of the main ingredients, but it's the beautiful marriage of these flavors which outdoes Stonewall, in my opinion!

Yes, it's also a bit pricey... but as long as you don't indiscriminately slather it on PB & J, it's totally worth it! We had ours on toasted butter croissants this morning, and it was out of this world... So good that it need not stop at breakfast. According to Applecove, the jam is also excellent "as a topping for ice cream or as a filling between cake or pastry layers." I don't doubt it!! Trust me... try it and you'll love it!

Venice to give up mineral water for Lent?

"The diocese of Venice is encouraging people to give up mineral water for Lent and start drinking tap water in a campaign to raise funds for charity..." (more at Rome general News: Venice gives up mineral water for Lent.)

What's more, Italians are already "locavores" when it comes to their (natural, not tap-filtered!) mineral water... Take that, Dasani!

Wickles in Maine!!

I don't get too much occasion to food-blog when I'm not in Italy, but I just can't resist broadcasting the wonderful news! Wickles, made in Alabama and called by my folks "the world's best pickles," are being sold in Hannaford's supermarkets right here in Maine, the land of the "wicked good"!!

As their website attests,

Using a secret 70-year old family recipe differentiates Wickles products from all others... Wickles (short for "Wickedly delicious pickles!") are a unique blend of dill, garlic, and sweetness with just enough spice to keep you reaching for more.

And it's true! Southern, sweet and spicy... What more could you ask for?!

The Prize Inside

The Prize Inside: Lovely prose on food, family, traditions and origins from this month's Utne Reader. Enjoy!

Forget the "Da Vinci Code"! Learn about the "Waffle House Code"!!

Waffle House is a beloved southern institution.

Open 24/7, its cheese eggs and raisin toast were what got us through our all-nighters in College. (Even if we did - pretty uncharitably - call the place "Awful House"!) In grad school, it was a like a cheery oasis where I once ate breakfast on a lonely drive home on Christmas morning.

But at a short-order establishment where you can order everything in myriad combinations ("scattered," "smothered," "covered," "chunked," and "topped," just to name a few!) what arcane mysteries allow the waitresses and the cooks to keep it all straight?

The truth revealed by Boing Boing: Condiment codes of the Waffle House kitchens!