edibleporn

I Knew She Was the Devil ...

2007-10-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Anthony Bourdain has deemed Rachael Ray "evil" for endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. "She’s hugely influential," he says, "particularly with children. And she’s endorsing Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s like endorsing crack for kids.” He's got a great point. Plus, anyone who says "yummo!" and "EVOO!" needs some holy water treatment.

Wii Cooking!

2007-01-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

I just posted this over at Miss Tasty's Cafe, but it seems so very ... EP, somehow. I just had to bring it on over here.

Last Meals

2006-11-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

I was e-mailing a friend about indulgent feasts, which reminded me of Francois Mitterrand's last meal. A little Googling led me to this brilliant blog: Your Last Meal.

It's a wealth of surprising and disturbing tidbits on the last morsels of everyone from World Trade Center attacker Mohammed Atta (pizza) to a nearby black hole (which devoured the galaxy Centaurus A). Among the least surprising discoveries: George Washington had vastly better than Richard Nixon.

Welcome, Li'l Nibble!

2006-09-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

Special congratulations to Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon on the addition of Li'l Nibble!! (To retain Li'l Nibble's anonymity, we've posted a picture of a baby in a hamburger bun instead of an actual photo.)

SOS - Summer of Salads

2006-09-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

Our August meeting was Summer of Salads. It was during the heat wave, so no one wanted to crank up their stoves (I'm pretty sure at least three fourths of us did anyway...). Click here for Miss Tasty's recounting of the evening...

'3 Second Rule' Dinner

2006-09-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Allright, this entry is more than a little overdue. Back on June 17, 2006, the EP crew (myself, Miss Tasty, Smooth Melon, V-Licious, Slim Jim, Scoop, and Cheesy T) got together for EP - Dropped Foods, or as I like to call it, the '3 Second Rule' dinner.

And so we being. Round one. V-Licious and Slim Jim are up first. There is a lot of secrecy, and some giggles. Oh, and music. We all head outside. Eye of the Tiger blares on the stereo, and Slim Jim appears from the back door. Overalls, holster, pouches of ingredients, and a huge bowl of hummus. Ingredients fly to the beat of the music, perfectly choreographed. Absolutely amazing (and quite delish). Pita, falafel, yogurt, all the fixins. Good show. No one wants to follow this act, but someone must, and Miss Tasty offers to take up the challenge.

Before you know it, tostada shells are flying across the tarp. Bowls of beans, salsa, guacamole, and cheese are passed around, and everyone takes turns flinging toppings onto the shells (or at least trying to... you'd be amazed at EP's collective bad aim).

Third is my contribution, orzo. I had built a contraption that, when dropped, should have jettisoned 7 equal portions of orzo onto the tarp. This, however, didn't happen. Only 2 of the 7 segments shot their orzo appropriately. I spread a bit more around before everyone jumped in and chowed down.

Finally, the hosts step up to the plate. First, a gorgeous bowl of golden saffron pasta. Beautiful and tasty. Little red saffron strands on yellow strands of pasta, dumped lovingly onto the tarp.

And for dessert, a homemade cake that refused to break upon impact with the ground. We must have thrown that thing onto the tarp 5 times to make it split. And it was so worth it. The frosting was amazing.

The whole night, no one used untensils, napkins, or plates.

Absolutely Amazing

2006-08-04T08:38:00.000-07:00


I can't believe this exists...

Hurra Torpedo from Norway from way back in 1995. These guys were SO ahead of their time. The bill themselves as "the world's leading kitchen appliance rock group."

53 and 3/4 Hot Dogs

2006-07-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a little follow-up to Scoop's "Heroes" piece from a few weeks back...

Takeru Kobayashi, the undisputed king of the hot dog eaters, set a new world record on Tuesday, July 4, 2006. Yep, he ate an amazing 53 and 3/4 hot dogs at the annual Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Contest. Even more amazing is how little time it took him to complete this arduous task. Twelve minutes.

For the first time in years, there was a serious threat to Kobayashi's dominance. An American, Joey Chestnut, ate 52 dogs in 12 minutes, and actually led Kobayashi until the 10 minute mark. This was a new record for any American hot dog eater.

Here's my favorite quote from the press release...

"...never before has America been so galvanized by a sports hero." Lance Armstrong? Michael Jordan? Brian Boitano? Nope, Joey Chestnut...

Many of you have e-mailed and asked "Hey T, what about your favorite competitive eater, Sonya Thomas? How did she fare this year?" Well, loyal readers, Sonya came in 3rd, with 37 hot dogs. Now, before you start bad mouthing Sonya for her poor performance, I ask you, when was the last time you ate 3 hot dogs a minute for 12 minutes straight?

For the full story, check the IFOCE's news archive here... http://www.ifoce.com/news.php?action=detail&sn=431

It's hard to beat the simple things

2006-05-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Aside from a few comments about my esteemed colleagues' posts, I've been pretty quiet on this blog. I guess it's because, even though I'm an enthusiastic and devoted member of EP, I'm a bit apprehensive of treading on holy ground. I don't know nearly as much about food and wine as the others. I'm the only member who doesn't like to cook, as well as the sole vegetarian. An EP vegetarian? Shocking! My priorities for the group are wonderful friendships, antics, eating and drinking. Cooking, you will note, does not rank. (I guess that makes me a big EP mooch.)

Sure, I've been known to go overboard and make, say, a six-course meal for Valentine's Day, or a cheesecake entirely, and I mean E-N-T-I-R-E-L-Y, from scratch. But I would call those manic moments, really, and between my annual, sometimes biennial, cooking outbursts, I lie dormant.

So perhaps I'm maturing, or maybe it's the influence of my beloved EP brethren, but lately I've been trying a few simple things. You know, arguably indispensable things that I've always avoided as boring. Don't laugh, but I recently steamed vegetables for the first time. (Yes, it's as easy as everyone says.) I'm close to perfecting roasted asparagus.

Last week, Scoop and I had several friends over, including most of EP and a few interlopers, for a BBQ. We served grilled chicken with rum-honey sauce (Scoop concocted), my above-mentioned roasted asparagus, and corn on the cob. Which brings me to the point of this post, a little thing called lime-chive butter. This treat achieves its deliciousness with NO COOKING REQUIRED. It's just mixing, my friends, and you can't beat that. Room-temperature stick of butter mixed with 1/3 cup chopped chives, two teaspoons fresh lime juice, 1 teaspoon finely grated lime peel, 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. The butter was intended for the corn on the cob, but I also ate it on asparagus, bread, crackers, whatever else I could find. I ate it straight off my fingers. I'm very enthusiastic about this butter, as you can see, and it was so darn easy. It reminds me how much I adore other simple things, such as perfect strawberries (also no cooking required) and those legendary chard enchiladas (yes, cooking required, but the ingredients are simple). Who knows, maybe next time I'll even churn my own butter, a la Hungry T.

Heroes

2006-05-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Dragline: My boy says he can eat fifty eggs, he can eat fifty eggs.
Loudmouth Steve: Yeah, but in how long?
Luke: A hour.
Society Red: Well, I believe I'll take part of that wager.
Dragline: Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for? Why not thirty-five or thirty-nine?
Luke: I thought it was a nice round number.

Maybe it's Eric Booker, the 420-pound rapper and Manhattan subway conductor with appetites (burritos, matzoh balls, cannoli, corned beef hash) as diverse as the great city itself. Maybe it's Joey Chestnut, the California rookie who "roared onto the scene in 2005 with a break-out performance in asparagus." Or perhaps your belly churns for the undisputed champ, Takeru Kobayashi, who once ate 57 cow brains in 15 minutes.

We all need heroes. And the International Federation of Competitive Eating is offering them. Oh, you might call gluttony a sin. But not when Dale Boone is around. Unless you want to get hit with that bell.

The record of 65 hard-boiled eggs in 6 minutes and 40 seconds belongs to 105-pound Sonya Thomas.

Kenton Mule - Further Refinement

2006-05-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Had some folks over to Casa Hungry T last night. Mule was the drink of choice. We made quite a few drinks for quite a few people, and this gave me an excellent opportunity to tweak and further refine the drink we all know and love...

highball glass full of ice
a bit less than a 1/4 cup Ketel One vodka, poured over the ice
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger on top
the juice of 3/4 of a lime (squeeze one half lime all the way, and the other half lime half way)
pour Reeds Premium Ginger Brew onto the ginger pile, helping to dissipate
stir slowly and gingerly (ha ha) to mix ingredients together but avoid fizzing up all the carbonation
enjoy

So, I think I've got the fresh ginger and fresh lime perfected. I'll try a few other brands of ginger ale next, and later, confirm Ketel One's supremacy.

The quest for the perfect mule continues...

Kenton Mule - redeux

2006-05-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Working on perfecting EP's favorite unofficial drink, the Kenton Mule...

Tonight:

highball glass mostly full of ice
a touch less than a 1/4 cup Ketel One Vodka
approx 1 teaspoon FRESHLY grated ginger (through the small microplane)
the juice of an entire lime (I had been using half)
topped off with Reeds Premium Ginger Brew (seems to have a touch more fizz than the Extra Ginger Brew)
stirred VERY gently, enough to mix in the ginger but not overly fizz the brew

Really enjoying the results.

Wingin' it

2006-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

April 29, 2006: Let's face it. Those involved in the New York magazine scene are inherently untrustworthy (except you, Rome, if you read this). So instead of setting ourselves on fire for Time/Life's first immolation pix since the Vietnam era, we're sitting in Thom's house, wondering what or who to flame (besides Time/Life Inc.)

ADC helped us by setting fire to a loverly concotion of vodka and Cointreau, with a slice of lemon and sugar on top. A brave act, since the Bacardi 151 label clearly warns you not to set Bacardi 151 on fire. Personally, it seems more dangerous to drink it without first burning off a few dozen proof. But I once set my moustache afire with a flaming drink and spent three days smelling burnt hair everywhere I went, so what do I know. If you squint, you can see Hungry T's fingers in flames in this photo. We quickly salved his burns with basil-avocado butter left from Masylanitsa and called EP's team of high-priced culinary liability attorneys.

Once burned, we decided to delay the full EP in Flames festivities until paramedics and the media could both attend. We considered flaming food outdoors. Rain doused those plans. So we uncorked another EP first: Take-out.

After establishing that the Kenton neighborhood's rich history does not extend into the culinary realm, we headed further afield. Our quest for fire led us to Fire on the Mountain, a wing joint sited conveniently close to Oregon Burn Center. We cobbled together a menu of fried and fired foods, including fried twinkies, fried pickles, fried Snickers, fried potatoes, fried sweet potatoes and wings barbecued and bathed in tequila chipotle, medium and El Jefe sauces. (Some EPographers are enjoying the peanut pasta, 'vegeterranean' sandwich and other non-wing, non-fried foods. Cheesy T, who has set many a loin ablaze in her young life, says the peanut sauce is in interesting mix of peanut and BBQ tastes. These foods involve more nutrients and less fire then the others, however, so I shall write of them no more.)

The fried pickle has provoked the night's hottest predicament. A full-crisped spear, I find it a tasty rendition, more sour and substantial than fried slices. Some agree. Others want more grease and less pucker. Most liked the thick fatty dipping cream that comes with.

The fries, sweet and otherwise, survived some sort of ordeal to arrive at T's cool, flaccid but still delicious. We're eager to try them on the Mountain, where they may be firmer.

Angry that we had not asked them about the "Dessert of the Month," our wingmen refused to give us fried Snickers. Instead, they doubled our order of fried Twinkies to four, fulfilling our USDA-recommended consumption of fried snack cakes for 376 person-years. After a brief discussion of the best snack cake, we poke our collective tongue into the gelatinous innards of the fried Twinkie. Nearly everyone thinks it delicious, the crisp crust transforming the familiar Memory Foam texture, the creme filling melting into a sugary porcelana. I taste a car crash of acrid old-oil flavor and viscous texture. But are democracies ever wrong? At least it surely beats Twinkie sushi. And I take delicious pleasure in imagining the screams of the Twinkie Kid being lowered him into the Fry Daddy.

Out of the frying pan, back to the fire: The wings are tasty.

The carnivores all like the mild chipotle sauce. The medium slather is straight from the junior prom: respectable, mildly above average and only a little adventuresome. But El Jefe truly sets our souls on fire. And our tongues, esophagi, stomachs: Best not to follow this chain further.
The Chief (that's him at the top left) packs a nearly nuclear punch that has several of our members sweating, crying and otherwise seeking liquid to quench the flames. (That's them, below.) Hotter than jalapenos and Tabasco by far. Not quite whole Habanero hot, but very close.
And yet, still tasty. A flavor more interesting than the medium sauce shone through the hotness. It's the wing you woke up with after the DKE party, never remembering quite how you get here, never sure you could manage it again. As Slim Jim says, No chingues con el Jefe mojado.

Well, why not? Sheep, goat, cow ... camel.

2006-05-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Check it out. I'd like to have a taste-off. Mmmm, camel cheese.

When It Rains It Pours

2006-05-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

While at the Doug Fir last night to see Destroyer (see my review here), I saw what I consider to be one of the coolest tattoos I've ever seen. A woman had the Morton's Salt umbrella girl tattooed on her shoulder...

I went searching for an image to place here, and ran into another individual with the same tattoo online (which is the image seen below).

And, as it turns out, there are 6 different Morton's Salt 'Umbrella Girl' designs. The girl above is the current one, and was unveiled in 1968. Here's a link to Morton's Salt's page "History of the Morton Umbrella Girl."

EP 04 : Masylanitsa (Butter Week)

2006-04-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

This post has taken WAY too long to compose, and I am sure to leave out some important details, so if anyone notices any incorrect info, or mistaken omissions, please leave a comment. Thanks...

I was reading a book on Caviar (Caviar by Inga Saffron, if anyone is interested) and ran across an enticing mention of Masylanitsa, or Butter Week: as Saffron writes, "...[the] Russians' all-fat version of Mardi Gras, the last indulgence before the start of the pre-Easter fast." What better theme for EP than Butter?!? I wanted to host this theme in March, to keep with it's seasonality, so I cautiously asked the group if I could swap turns with Scoop and Cheesy T. All agreed, and a date was set, March 4, 2006.

Typically in Russia, everyone eats blini with butter or sour cream and caviar. Who was I to alter tradition? I searched for blini recipes, and found a few that seemed suitable. Brought out my grandmother's huge cast iron pan, and got to work. This was my first opportunity to work with buckwheat flour, and I was excited. I decided to fly by the seat of my pants, not test the recipe, and make them for the first time as the group arrived. No problems at all, the blini were tasty. I also provided sour cream and a small ounce of fresh Sterling Royal caviar from the Stolt Sea Farm (I wanted to get Caspian, but the new restrictions on importation drove the cost WAY out of my price range).

The rest of the group was asked to make and bring their own butter. This is actually much simpler than it sounds. Here is a rundown of the varieties of butter we had before us... black lava sea salt butter, fresh ginger butter, cardamom and clove butter, orange blossom butter, basil and avocado butter, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and Earth Balance. Wow!

Scoop and Cheesy T brought a fantastic salad (I still have their salad bowl at my house).

For drinks, I bought a large bottle of vodka, and we whipped up cocktails all night. The new favorite drink seemed to be the Moscow Mule (vodka, lime juice, and ginger ale). My variation, which I am calling the Kenton Mule, consists of Ketel One vodka, fresh squeezed lime juice, and Reed's Ginger Brew. Mmm. Also served: greyhounds, pear ginger fizzes, hmm, what else. I'm sure there were others.

For dessert, I made a Russian lime tea cake. I found it a little dry, but most of the EPsters were kind enough not to agree!

Overall, a great dinner with good friends. Can't wait until the next one!

Best Wine of the Year (Thus Far) - 2006:2

2006-02-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

OK, installment 2. The setting, our company's 'post holiday' party. We're very busy during the holidays, so we decided to have our holiday party in February. I pull from the cellar (at Slim E.'s urging) a magnum of:

2001
Weingut Nigl
Gruner Veltliner
"Privat"
Kremstal, Osterreich, Austria

This was the 3rd wine of the night, following an excellent German Riesling (2002 Weingut Heymann-Lowenstein from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, "Uhlen 1er Roth Lay" maybe? These guys are among the avant garde German producers who don't label in the traditional manner. $60 retail), and the 2000 Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling from Trimbach (Alsace, France $42 retail).

The Privat from Nigl, in my opinion, blew them both out of the water. I haven't tasted a ton of Gruner Veltliner (I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has), but I have always liked what I have tasted. This wine, though, was a revelation. Bracing acidity (and I love acidity in wine), killer minerality, pleasant fruit, and a great finish. Absolutely stunning!

And, unlike the last wine I wrote about, you may be able to find this in Portland (although the current vintage is 2004, retail will be around $40 for a 750ml). Ask your favorite retailer. Nigl is imported by Skurnik and is a Terry Theise Estate Selection (if you are in Portland, this, I believe, is distributed by Triage, which should help your favorite retailer track it down for you).

Yeah, it's a splurge at $40 for a white, but you WILL NOT be disappointed (unless you like over-oaked Cali Chard, in which case you should skip this wine completely).

And, for the truly geeky, here is an excerpt for Theise's 2005 catalog on Nigl, and here's a link to the page where you can download current and past Theise catalogs.

EP 21 : Team Cuisine

2006-01-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

EPsters from far and wide gathered on the evening of Saturday, Jan 21 for Team Cuisine at the home of Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon (all right, we gathered only from the East side of Portland, but we did represent N, NE, and SE). Team Cuisine, you ask? Here's Miss Tasty's original e-mail detailing the event. A few moderations were made, but we'll get to those later.

We all arrive and talk, and eat, and drink, as tends to happen at EP gatherings. Then, names are put into a hat. We are short a few people, so we decide that 2 teams of 3 are better than 3 teams of 2 (there are 4 crusts anyway, so each team will be able to craft 2 pies).

As the hosts, Miss Tasty holds the hat and Smooth Melon draws names for team captains. Then, each captain draws 2 additional names from the hat to complete the teams. Here are the details on round 1.

Team 1 - Hungry T as captain, Scoop and Smooth Melon as co-conspirators. The pie: coconut red curry sauce, curried potatoes, goat cheese, cracked black pepper, and cilantro, baked to perfection (or maybe just a touch short of perfection), served with wedges of fresh lime to be squeezed on top. Everyone agrees, points for both taste and creativity. By the time we get to eatin', the pie has cooled ever so slightly, and I feel it would have been a bit better if consumed when piping hot.

Team 2 - Miss Tasty as captain, V-Licious and JH as co-conspirators. The pie: tomato sauce, mozzarella, hot sopressata, and caramelized fennel. Then the twist, in the center, broccoli shavings and a dollop of goat cheese. This is genius, as it serves as a sort of built in amuse bouche for the slice, as the center is naturally the first bite. Pie was done perfectly, sopressata was slightly crispy. Lovely.

Oh, while photographing pie #2, I tweaked some setting on the camera that threw off the white balance, so pies 2, 3, and 4 will look a little darker than pie 1.

There are a few late arrivals, as we agree to add their names to the hat and re-draw for teams. Again, as hosts, Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon draw for captains. In turn, each captain draws three more names from the hat to complete the teams. After a short break for digestion and discussion, the cooking continues... Oh, forgot to mention that using the same ingredients you used on the first pie has been forbidden.

Team 3 - Scoop as capitan, with RT, KL, and Hungry T as sous chefs. The pie: olive oil base, zucchini sauteed in oil with a dash of salt and drizzled with agave honey, topped with a cheese blend, crushed Marcona almonds, and cracked black pepper. Tasty, well prepared, albeit a touch sweet, and all agreed that the color combination and overall visual design were lovely.

Team 4 - Smooth Melon as capitan, with JH, V-Licious, and Miss Tasty as sous. This will be the final pie of the night, and the pressure is on. The pie: tomato sauce base, sauteed asparagus, truffle oil, garlic, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan. With this pie, Team 4 used on of those metal pizza pans with holes in it instead of the pizza stone (which had been used all night). Bold move at experimentation, which resulted, unfortunately, in a limp and somewhat soggy crust. The pie itself was delicious, though, faint hints of truffle, and that tasty asparagus. Mmm.

JH had a birthday last week. V-Licious made a carrot cake in his honor (and from a recipe from his youth). It was amazing. Moist, great frosting (just sweet enough, leaving plenty of zip from the cream cheese), no nuts or raisins, either. Just moist, lovely cake. Happy b-day, JH!

As always, a magical evening of food and friends. But, we are left with one unanswered question, does cheese count as a topping? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments section.

EPsters, if I've left anything out, please feel free to add to this, and if I've gotten anything wrong, correct away. Oh, and now that I have this all written, and practically posted it, it occurs to me that it may be very bad form to post if you didn't host. Hopefully Miss Tasty will forgive me?

Until next time...

Best Wine of the Year (Thus Far) - 2006:1

2006-01-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings, and welcome to a new column here at the EP blog, 'Best Wine of the Year (Thus Far).' What prompted this new column, you might ask? I had THE BEST wine I've had ALL YEAR today at lunch. Here are the details...

2002
Domaine Latour-Giraud
(no, not Louis Latour)
Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru

And it's not just me who feels this way. Three of us at lunch (wine geeks all) agreed that this wine is outrageously good. All agreed that it's the best wine we've had in 2006, and certainly in the top 10 if we're looking at 1/20/05 to 1/20/06.

And, I'm not a Chardonnay fan (I've even admitted to a few folks that this includes the oft lauded white Burgs). But this wine is smokin'!

It's got a killer nose. Yeah, it smells like Chard, but there is this intriguing high toned note in this nose too. And the palate, whoa! Well balanced with a lovely finish. Creamy without being buttery.

Seek this wine out. Buy it if you can find it. If you live in Oregon, too bad for you, as it is not currently imported here. If you live somewhere else, make it your quest to consume this gem. You will pay dearly, I'm sure, but it will be worth it.

Cupping at Stumptown

2006-01-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

6 of us EPsters met up at the new-ish Stumptown Annex on Belmont at 11AM on Sunday, January 15, 2006. Cheesy T is not in attendance 'cause she's not too into coffee and Stumptown can only accommodate 6 at the cuppings (thanks Cheesy T for sacrificing for the good of EP, we missed you!!). Hungry T, Miss Tasty, Smooth Melon, Scoop, JH, and VP are in attendance.

We get there a touch early, but can't begin until 11AM, even though we fill all 6 spots for the cupping. The intense aromas make it hard to wait. While suffering through the smell of the sweet, sweet bean, we check out the display of grinders and brewers from both past and present, some of us wondering 'how the hell does that machine work??' Finally, 11AM hits, and the ceremony begins...

Our host (whose name I didn't catch) begins by setting 6 small blue trays on the counter, followed by 18 small white bowls and 6 clear glass cups. Then comes the coffee. Our host (who is both knowledgeable and friendly) asks if we have any requests. We leave it up to him, but do request the house blend as a sort of control. He pours six different kinds of beans into the six blue trays, and places a card into each one, listing the name of the coffee.

Our host then begins to grind. A small scoop of each type of bean is ground and divided among 3 of the white bowls, which means there are 18 bowls sitting around the bar. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Here is the rundown of the coffees we were presented (for more info on the coffees themselves, check out Stumptown.com)...

Colombia La Esparanza
El Salvador Peaberry Reserve
House Blend
Kenya AA Thageini
Panama Esmeralda Especial
Sumatra Mandehling Grade 1

So, the first step, we are told, is to note the dry aroma. We hold the bowls, give 'em a little shake, and plunge our noses in. We work our way from the right side of the bar to the left, smelling each coffee in succession (this corresponds to 'top to bottom' on the list of coffees above, by the way).

Step two is to note the wet aroma. Hot water is added to each of the 18 bowls, bringing the level nearly up to the rim. Hot water is also added to the 6 glass cups (one for each coffee). After a few minutes, a cap has formed atop the water. At this point, we stop being passive observers and before active participants. There are spoons for each of us. We now break the cap. This is the point where the aroma is most pronounced. With the spoon in eating position, we plunge the cap of grounds slowly and gently back into the liquid. Rolling the spoon, we smell the exterior, which is now coated in foam and grounds. This is where the magic is. What aromas and sensations! Between each of the 6 types of coffee, we rinse our spoons in the cups of hot water (we don't want to cross contaminate our coffees, do we?).

Step three, naturally, is to taste. Our host scrapes out any remaining floating grounds out of the bowls with two spoons. He then demonstrates how to taste. Fill your spoon with coffee, and slurp it up. Sounds simple, right? There is a bit of a trick... there are tastebuds all over your mouth, so you have to 'vaporize' (for lack of a better word) the coffee by slurping it with GREAT force into your mouth. Let me just say I have NEVER heard a louder slurp in my life. No matter how hard we try, we are not as loud (and we DO try, believe me). We are given the option to spit into a paper cup, and as I had plenty of coffee at breakfast, I do just that.

Overall, a great EP field trip. We learned a lot and had a great time. I'm going to let my fellow EPsters comment on their favorites. My top pick was the Panama Esmeralda Especial. Floral, citrus, acid, and truly unique amongst the others.

I guess you could call it fusion?

2005-11-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

My Thanksgiving feast brought together two wildly different cultures - mine, and Smooth Melon's.

It was a potluck hosted at our place. Good thing we have a place, because there is no way our families would gather in one spot at the same time otherwise. Especially not for a group meal that would require, ahem, accepting our differences. All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time and even enjoyed "all them different flavors!".

La mia familia:
* Handmade ricotta gnocchi and tomato sugo w/ parmegiano reggiano
* Cranberry sauce with orange zest, slow simmered from real berries
* Stuffing made from Grand Central bread
* Roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and pecans
* Lemon-Lime jello with whipped cream and walnuts
* Mashed potatoes
* Cranberry-orange pound cake

Smooth Melon's folks:
* Roasted root vegetables (my favorite dish of the night, by my no-dairy no-wheat sis-in-law)
* Yeast rolls from scratch
* Wheat-free dairy free pumpkin pie. No, I have no idea how this is accomplished. Something about amaranth flour.
* "Scalloped" corn (canned corn with saltines and ... something?)
* Green bean casserole (canned green beans with cream of mushroom soup and those crispy onion thingys)

These last two are courtesy of my mother-in-law. 'Nuff said.

She did make two apple pies, though.

And of course, we roasted the turkey. My first turkey. After I pulled the bloody, purple neck and giblets out of the carcass, I could no longer touch the raw bird. Smooth Melon had to take over. We brined it, though - it was soooo tender.

Turkey soup and turkey tacos are on the list for this week, since we got a damn 17-lb bird. Cripes.

Giving Thanks in Chicago

2005-11-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

Allright, you all. Just saw this on Big Sweet Tooth, one of the blogs I read with amazing regularity. Thought you'd enjoy.

http://sweettooth.typepad.com/mst/2005/11/these_legs_just.html

And, if you don't already read this blog, you totally should!!

http://www.sweettooth.typepad.com/

Happy Turkey Day

2005-11-23T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hey there, Team. Happy Turkey Day to you. Me, you ask? I'm heading out to Florida. Watch for stories of my culinary torture on the Sweet T blog (that's my new moniker, hope y'all like it).

Anyway, I wanna see everyone's thanksgiving menus up here next week, and if you feel like sharing, what you are thankful for too.

Allrighty, safe weekend to you all. Blog updates from me on Monday!

PS-Anyone else think it is weird that blogger's spell check doesn't recognize the word 'blog'?

Bacon tshirt ... it's so ... meta ...

2005-11-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.threadless.com/product/345/You_Are_What_You_Eat

Please, someone buy this for me for Christmas ...

Foodie magazines on newsstands now!

2005-11-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

A year ago I saw this new magazine stuffed into a back row in the foodie mag section. Called CHOW, looked cool and different, bought it ... it was a little lacking, like most debut mags are. Today at lunch (pulled pork sandwich from New Seasons - too greasy, needed more spice and more slaw), I spied a CHOW magazine in the rack. "Wow," I thought. "They beat the odds and actually lasted a year." (you can find it at www.chowmag.com)

Long story short, I picked up the new issue of CHOW, and it's pretty darn good. Irreverent, a little visceral, a foodie ReadyMade of sorts ...

And appropriately enough, the current issue of ReadyMade is the "food issue" (www.readymademag.com). It has an article on how to start a supper club (among other good articles, like DIY sushi plates and covering your ugly fridge with stainless steel). Says supper clubs are "sprouting up across the country as a growing number of urbanites seek connection to one another and to the growers, process, and politics involved in food preparation."

Guess we're part of a delicious wave, EPsters.

Cool clock

2005-10-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

So, I got this clock a while back from some friends, you know who you are. I can't believe that it took me this long to realize that the person in the clock is holding both a goose and a lobe of foie gras. For real. Check it.

Can you trust a critic?

2005-10-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been perusing some of the local foodie blogs/sites and have come away questioning the usefulness of food reviews. Not to say that they're worthless--rather I'm questioning just how much stock to place in them. I'm sitting here in this moment not quite sure that it's even possible to quantify such an emotional experience as dining (which is distinctly different than eating). Not only do personal preferences weigh in, but how about personal space at a given moment? I know my own mood and daily circumstances (not to mention the company I'm with) greatly shape my dining experience. Wouldn't it be on par with music? You may hear a song that doesn't grab you initially, but place that song into a context and it may become your alltime favorite? Clearly there are bad songs out there and similarly dining at Denny's will only ever fit a certain (usually very late night and very hammered) niche, so maybe food reviews can only hope of providing very general guidance and probability and not a regressionable data plot on the epicurian plane. (oooh baby!)

Any thoughts?

Aphrodisiacs...

2005-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Anyone have any experience with aphrodisiac foods?

Feeding them to your parter? Success or failure? I have this cookbook cleverly titled 'Inter Courses.' Some of the food is actually pretty tasty. Other recepies, not so good.

Comments?

food & sex

2005-09-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

Expanding the food-in-bed question ... how do you feel about food and sex?

Maybe I have a thing about combining hedonistic practices, because, like my aversion to eating in bed, I also cannot tolerate food products as sex toys. The whole whipped cream thing I do not understand. It's cold, sticky, distracting, and makes cleanup that much more time consuming. I have no desire for a menage a trois with an ice cream sundae. Warm skin is so lovely in its own right ...

eating in bed

2005-09-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

A question: do you eat in bed?

I never, ever do. I find this strange, since I love sleeping in almost as much as I love food. But even thinking about mixing bed and food together makes me irritable. I would even freak out if someone ate next to me in bed. Fingernails on a chalkboard, that.

Now the couch and food, on the other hand ... perfectly gratifying.

The Story of Margarine

2005-08-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

So, I just picked up this fantastic book at Powell's...

Here are a few of the chapter titles...

Margarine Law, History, Making Margarine, and Distribution to consumers.

Amazing!

yum

2005-08-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

rad!

2005-08-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

That is all.

Welcome

2005-08-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Edible Porn, home of a group of Portlanders who are passionate about food...