Quite possibly the most entertaining restaurant review ever...

I'll admit I don't know much about the Amateur Gourmet, other than his blog is part of my blog roll and I dutily peruse his postings as they appear. There's nothing like the title "Waiter! There's a Nipple in My Soup! (A Review of Robert's Restaurant at Scores Gentleman's Club by Cole Escola)" to make me stop and read the full piece. This is definitely the most entertaining restaurant review I've ever read! See the link to the full article below.

 Amateur Gourmet Article

The dangers of raising a foodie child...

Can you tell I'm catching up on my reading? Just when I caught up on the essentials that I missed while on vacation, I did a Miami for 4 days, San Diego for 2 days, home to Boston on the red-eye kind of business trip that would normally knock me flat when I got back into the office, except that I'm slammed with projects right now and don't have a free minute to rest my mind. While a bout of insomnia keeps me up, thanks to my mind's inability to rest, I came across this article from blogger/writer Elizabeth Minchilli and I thought it was appropriate after reading the Hungry Monkey: Perils of raising a foodie.

It's also behavior that I recognize in both myself and the husband - we're firmly in the food-obsessed camp, and I think I'm somewhat glad we don't have children since I would probably find myself in the position of trying to ship guanciale legally...

That's my kind of science class

The NY Times is covering a topic that's been the buzz in Boston for a while now - Harvard's From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science, an undergraduate course that uses the kitchen to convey the basics of physics and chemistry. In reading the description of the class, something like this might have made me more interested in physics if it required an examination of the elasticity of fruit jellies. The celebrity chefs are conducting free lectures that are open to the public - I hope to get into one soon!

NY Times: Harvard Food Science Class

Follow-up to The Kitchen Reader - Michael Pollan's in Defense of Food

Two interesting articles that offer practical solutions on how to achieve Michael Pollan's goals set forth in Defense of Food. The first illustrates the use of Sesame Street to reach out to the "food insecure" in a fun and appealing way to encourage healthier eating in children. The second is a healthcare initiative in the Boston area that provides vouchers to low-income families for use in farmer's markets in order to improve nutrition.

My beef with Pollan's book is the access/affordability angle, so it's nice to see there are some innovative ways to tackle the problem. Definitely not the answer, but it's a start.

Sesame Street

NY Times - Boston Farmer's Market Initiative

David Lebovitz and Doughnuts

I think I need to follow this man around NYC - not that I'm a stalker or anything, it's just that he seems to be in the know of places to go. We have been to the Doughnut Plant, though not on the most recent trip - 80+ weather isn't really conducive to doughnut consumption. I'm horrified to see that he didn't try the creme brulee doughnut, which somehow manages to perfectly capture the creme brulee experience in doughnut form. The tres leches doughnut is a close second, though I don't know what 3 milks could be in there.

The first time we went, we stood in line and noticed the two burly men ahead of us buying 3 doughnuts each. We each bought one doughnut and went outside to eat them, where we noticed the two burly men wolfing down their first doughnut and proceeding immediately to their second. After I had my first bite of the creme brulee one, I too wolfed it down, turned around and went back inside to stand in line again. I think I bought another 6 doughnuts and ate 3 of them on the drive home. That was not the smartest thing to do and I didn't eat doughnuts for 6 months after that. They're worthwhile trekking into the depths of Lower East Side though!

David Lebovitz Blog

Pricey ice creams

Guess I'm not the only one to be thinking about the price of ice creams - this article from yesterday's NY Times discusses whether artisanal ice creams are worth the high price. I'm in the camp of paying top dollar for quality - I'd much rather pay a small producer who takes the care to make really good  ice cream than give my money to the mass marketed brands. Besides, I agree with the statement that artisanal ice creams are an affordable luxury - to paraphrase Cookie Monster, I think of ice cream as a "sometimes food" so it doesn't bother me to spend $4 on a small scoop when it's a once in a blue moon. It probably helps that my favorite gelato can't be found in the Boston area...

Pricey Ice Creams - NY Times

Mmmmmmm, pig...

Did anyone see this NY Times article on how to roast your own pig?

NY Times Article - Do-it-Yourself Pig Roast

As much as I love a roast pig, we definitely won't be roasting one in our tiny backyard - nothing like having a wood deck surrounded by a lot of wood fencing to kill that idea, though the husband is determined to one day have his own tandoor oven out back so that he can make his own naan bread but more on that topic another time.

Continuing on the pig theme, this was my birthday present from my best friend:


 
Yes, that is a pig-shaped cutting board and a cookbook entitled "Seduced by Bacon". These are not the first bacon-related gifts I've received, which somewhat scares me. I guess I'm just that obvious.

Everywhere else they're cooking "co-ops", whereas in Boston they'd be "coops"

I think you may have to live in Boston to understand the "co-op" vs. "coop" reference - it's one of my pet peeves, even after 5 years of living here. How hard is it to pronounce co - op people?

In food related news, I just read this article in the NY Times - I'd never heard of cooking co-ops before, but it sounds like it could be a great concept, following on the dinner club theme.

NY Times Article: Cooking Co-ops