Archive for November, 2006

Gettin’ my art on in Berlin

Published November 30, 2006 art , articles , food , music , travel , winnie 1 Comment

The local paper published an ever-so-timely article on the museum scene in Germany’s capital. I was there this past weekend and while I didn’t make a point of going to the Bode, I did discover two very, very cool institutions that have made it onto my list of favorite museums of all time.

7. Jüdisches Museum - Berlin
8. Hamburger Bahnhof

It’s remarkable how much museums have changed in my (albeit short) lifetime. Or maybe just in the past decade. I guess if you want to see the old-school methodology for exhibit and information display, you might go to the Egyptian Museum in Turin. But the Jüdisches Museum ranks right up there with the Terrorháza (admittedly also in theme) in terms of innovative exhibits. The latter is probably more tactile or interactive, but the former gives you all kinds of personal narrative to make the exhibit (“Home and Exile: Jewish Emigration from Germany since 1933″) really hit home. I also like that they inundate you with so much information, so much evidence of the difficulties, the nightmares and tragedies that these emigrants had to deal with that you emerge from the museum feeling you’ve had the shit kicked out of you. That’s what museums should do to you.

The Hamburger Bahnhof is similar in the visceral sense, but I more marvelled at the physical space and use of this former train station. The Hamburger is one of many modern art museums in Berlin (I also went to the Neue Nationalgalerie, which, while designed by architecture demi-god Mies van der Rohe, has a very institutional (read: gym-like) feel. I’m not into the short screen-wall things they’ve hung stuff on on the main floor. Modern art needs telescoping, swooping spaces. Or at least that’s what I’ve been cultivated to think anyway. Short walls = short shrift.) They have some really great installations there right now. Definitely a must-see.

This is the Altes Museum, which I didn’t actually step inside, but I like what they had to say out front.

Anyway, what I ate in Berlin:

Most of my time was spent in the Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, which are very, very cool neighborhoods. Mitte/parts of the PB are sort of like the Lower East Side/East Village/Williamsburg. In fact, much of Berlin reminded me of Williamsburg. I’ll even go so far as to claim that Berlin IS the Williamsburg of Europe. Other parts of PB are almost like the Upper East Side or St.-Germain-des-Prés.

Just up the street from where I was staying is the famed W Imbiss that was mentioned recently in the NYT piece on Berlin street food. I don’t know if Gordon W was actually ever there the two times I ate there, but there were definitely plenty of ex-pats hanging around both behind and in front of the counter. I had

the avocado-chipotle naan pizza. With sprouts and arugula, as you can see. Naan is excellent at this place. Berlin is like NYC in terms of food — you’re not necessarily going to find anything spectacular that’s ‘local’ per se, other than bratwurst and currywurst, but there are many places that specialize in that sort of neo-continental student fare of, like, carbohydrate + spreadable item (+ cheese when appropriate; + greens when you’re in an area riddled with hipsters or yuppies). Basically variations on burritos, pizza, bagels, etc. Even better when it comes with a mango lassi! W’s are excellent.

A few blocks further north, I stumbled upon one of those little boutique/coffeeshops that’s so hot these days. Misses Marbles, this one is called, and they have some delicious kirsch-streusel-torte:

and really nice, really expensive tote bags.

Berlin, you’re A-OK. I’ll be seeing you soon, you can bet on that.

Random notes:
I caught Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” at the Staatsoper, and it has to be one of my favorite operas yet. Clever, funny and just plain fun. I spent half the time trying to tease some kind of meaning out of the German subtitles and understood maybe 5% of the Italian they were singing in, but I still thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I think I’ve commented on this before, but in Europe, operagoers skew on the young side.

A list I made after finally getting from Milan to Berlin:

Metropolitana di Milano S/U-Bahn
Bad/infrequent signage Well-designed signs everywhere, where they ought to be
Dirty Pristine
Ticket machines from 1970s New ticket machines
Inscrutable instructions for ticket purchase Clear instructions in 8 languages
Where are the maps? Maps everywhere
Where’s the train official? Train official very helpful and right where he should be
Where’s the train? Train ETAs electronically updated by the minute

Dining & Wine does a number on us

Published November 29, 2006 articles , new york city , winnie 1 Comment

Whoah. Did Bruni just review Spicy & Tasty or am I imagining things? (And plus, was this section always called “Dining & Wine” and I only noticed it just now? Nevermind, rhetorical question.) Is this Pete Wells’ doing? Meehan’s maybe? I guess they figured that if it worked okay with Sripraphai, it might also for S&T. This is a positive development, I think: the local paper is finally validating the top-notch ethnic establishments in the outer boroughs and not just throwing them a bone at the $25-and-under kiddie table. If this means that Wall Street types, Meatpackers and trustfunders start schlepping out to Flushing for cold jellyfish, I’m all for it. As long as I don’t have to sit next to them. What does this signify for Meehan and ≤$25? And for Chowhound? Does this mean Sietsema will have increasing competition for scooping the latest ethnic hole-in-the-wall? (Or will NYT continue to be a year behind on picking up on these stories, thereby signalling that its freshness has peaked? (Remember that story on PBR and hipsters?))

Last turkey in Italy

Published November 23, 2006 food 3 Comments

My very last Thanksgiving in Italy had to happen a day early, as I have to spend tonight in Milan to make it on an early morning flight to Berlin, but that means all you Americans get some turkey action before your own turkey action:

The Before shot. Beauty, no? Once again, I used the full-blast heat method on a 5.655 kg beast, just rubbed with a very, very generous amount of salt and a reasonable amount of pepper. Total cooking time came to about an hour and a half in the oven, but I overcooked a little. Thankfully, this method is forgiving enough that even overcooked, the bird is tasty. But I’ll speculate once again that it’s because of the better quality turkeys you can find here. It’s not that easy to get your hands on one (every last guest asked me where I found this guy), but the ones that are available tend to be raised free-range and seem to come from normal-shaped specimens (and not those overbred, overbreasted monstrosities that make up the bird dump at your local American supermarket this time of year). Not to put too fine a point on it. But yes, good turkey. Even better with my first successful attempt at actual roux-based gravy. Very, very thick gravy, but delicious nonetheless.

I braised my brussels sprouts this year and tossed in a healthy handful of crisped guanciale.

Clockwise from 9 o’clock: onion gratin, braised brussels sprouts, stuffing, biscuit, roasted squash with apples, mashed potatoes with gravy. Turkey in the middle, maybe? Also missing: pickled beets with quail eggs, pickled carrots and fennel. Only so much room on the plate, you know.

Pecan pie (made in a tart tin because they don’t make pies (and therefore pie plates) in Italy). No pumpkin pie this year because we didn’t want to chance it on the fresh stuff (which tends to have too much moisture and a weird texture, compared to Libby’s-in-a-can). No one missed it however — this pie was like pralines and caramel and everything good in the world, all conveniently placed in a buttery flaky crust.

The After shot. Like something out of Jurassic park. And I guess, Darwinianly-speaking, it is in a way.

And in other news: another article on synaesthetes. This one’s food-related.

HACCP makes everything less tasty

Published November 22, 2006 food 0 Comments

Peter Hoffman (chef at Savoy, in NYC) has a great op-ed in the NYTimes today. Will the threats to our food sovereignty never end?

On an unrelated note: Happy birthday, Fred! Have a drink on me. (I’ll pick up the tab whenever I’m next in Beantown.)

Okay, I think I’m full now.

Published November 21, 2006 food 0 Comments

What I’ve been eating over the past week and a half month [sorry about the lax posting; i've been a-spinning on the playground merry-go-round that is life. a little dizzy and nauseated, but at least i'm finally going to post something already]:

Pork cheek, tongue and shank (I think) with bean stew at the Dan Barber dinner at Salone del Gusto.

Ciccio Sultana’s (of the famed Il Duomo in Ragusa, Sicily, where I had perhaps my all-time best meal in Italy) arancina, made with carnaroli rice with saffron and filled with a meat sauce and canestrato cheese fondue. This was at a different Salone dinner.

La Taverna di Fra Fiusch (in the difficult-to-find hamlet of Revigliasco in Moncalieri, just outside Turin. This would be their version of carne cruda. Delightfully peppery little sprouts they had on there.

British rare-breed Manx Loaghtan lamb that I picked up at Salone. With more-fat-is-more-better mashed potatoes and tons of red wine sauce. And salad. Can’t forget the salad.

Bob’s beans, from Cascina di Cornale, every celebrity chef’s favorite humble provisions store in the Langhe. I think they’re Bob’s — they’re named after someone with a very American-sounding name, but it’s been a while since I’ve been, so could be Sam or Bill or something like that. In any case, cooked John Thorne-style: 4 hours in a covered clay pot with nuthin’ but bean juice to cover, a handful of sage leaves, a clove of garlic and salt, pepper and paprika. I’ve been eating variations on this for the past two weeks (that is, different beans, same process). Does wonders for cranberry beans. And seriously, the more freshly dried they are, the better the results. The crazy-expensive Zolfino beans I picked up in Tuscany last year and finally excavated from the deep, dark, long-neglected recesses of the pantry went into the pot this week and took eons to finish cooking. Crunchy beans are no one’s friend.

The beans are part of this whole process of cleaning out my not insignificant store of dry/edible goods. Yes, if you weren’t on the receiving end of the missive, I’m moving back to NYC and I’ve got to divest myself of as many of worldly goods as possible. It ain’t easy. Especially since I’m an aspiring John Soane.

More tantalizing photos and obscene close-ups of what I’ve eaten recently on the Flickr page. Don’t go if you’re hungry.

whee!

Published November 17, 2006 fwc , notfood 0 Comments

this will be the last time i post about the wii, but i just wanted to put up this post from boing boing about the wii. you’ll prob. be hearing a lot of similar stories in the days to come. what will be interesting is whether or not the wii not only levels the playing field and brings new casual gamers, but keeps things engaging for more experienced players.

mama’s cooking!

Published November 12, 2006 food , fwc , notfood 1 Comment

i’ve been meaning to post about this for a while. and although this is about video games, it is somewhat food related (and i know winnie’s been playing her sister’s DS) so i thought i’d post it here. for those who haven’t heard, nintendo has proven that innovation can succeed, with their fairly recently released handheld the DS (now available in a “lite” version). the DS uses two screens, but more importantly it uses a touch screen/stylus interface (and a microphone for voice recognition components). their games brain age (simple activities to exercise your brain) and nintendogs (keep a pet dog; like ye olde tamagotchi toys but on a whole new level) have been huge hits worldwide.

which brings me to the food-related portion of this post: one of their latest quirky offerings and a sleeper hit is cooking mama. there are other video games like this that consist of “mini-games” that are usu. fairly straightforward tasks such as tapping the screen or moving your stylus in a certain way. in this case, cooking mama takes you through a whole slew of actual recipes, from simple tasks of making rice or a sandwich to more complex tasks such as making fried wontons (and you have to do the plating as well haha). lively animation and music are the major draws here (although one drawback is it’ll make you hungry!), and although experienced cooks may not get a whole lot out of it, if you have friends or relatives who know nothing about cooking, this might get them started on the right track.

here’s the US trailer:

and here’s a video of someone going through one of the recipes: tenderizing meat, breading it, and then throwing it into the deep-fryer:

the newest thing nintendo has come up with is the wii (pronounced “we”), due out in the US in a week. like the DS, the focus here is on innovation rather than horsepower. here the controller is motion sensitive, so instead of pushing buttons you move the controller around. this japanese commercial will give you some idea of what possibilities this interface provides in terms of games. nintendo’s promo videos, in which they got regular people from different countries to try it out, are hypnotic to watch. someone has compiled the first few and put them on youtube (below) but the originals are much higher quality and can be found here. be sure to check out the one w/ the older japanese couple playing golf and the japanese family playing baseball.

it’s not too surprising that a wii version of cooking mama is in the works. here’s a video from france from a gaming convention where someone tries out a demo.

people have been endlessly debating about whether or not the wii will succeed ever since it was announced, esp. in its attempt to draw the attention of more casual gamers. the DS’s success is promising, although nintendo already had a huge share of the handheld market. they’re far behind in the home console market, but this could very well be a gamble that pays off. looks like we’ll find out soon though.

kentucky animals, land and sea

Published November 5, 2006 fwc , louisville , notfood , travel 0 Comments

i meant to post this a while back before winnie visited my homeland (i.e. kentucky) in case she needed something to do when she wasn’t stuffing her face. last time i was there i made two worthwhile excursions. first off: henry’s ark:



this is lesser known than it should be. it’s a completely open farm where you can see a load of farm animals (pigs, roosters, chickens, cows, goats, ducks) side by side with more exotic animals (camels, emu, zebra, monkeys). most are behind fences, but quite a few (including the emu) are just wandering around. people can drop in with vegetables (we brought carrots and celery) and crackers, and wander around feeding whatever they want. you’d think the setup would be chaotic, but it’s very laid back and everyone i saw visiting when i was there was responsible and self-policing. it’s located at: 7801 Rose Island Road, Prospect, KY 40059 (open every day til sunset except mondays), and here’s an interesting newsletter from 1999. fyi: prospect is right next to one of the edges of suburban louisville (and only a few minutes away from where my family lives).

second, the newport aquarium in newport, KY:


i haven’t been to boston’s aquarium in a while, but i remember when i went the second time i was fairly unimpressed. not so w/ the newport aquarium, located directly across from cincinnati (about 1.5 hours from louisville). they’ve clearly spent a lot of money on this, and some of the areas are quite amazing. in particular, they have some glass walkways underneath tanks where you’re completely surrounded by water above you and on both your sides, a small “rain forest” room where you can feed birds nectar, and a place where kids can pet starfish and another where they can pet sharks.

so now you know what to do for the next time you’re going through kentucky. ;)

bahn mi fest

Published November 3, 2006 catfoo , food , new york city 3 Comments

So as of thirty minutes ago, I, along with my esteemed colleagues, have completed the circuit of new york chinatown bahn mi establishments. Of which there are three. Of which they are within a two block radius.

Methodology: We tested the regular bahn mi at each of three establishments. Generally this is “#1″ on the menu, and has roast pork along with pate or other mystery meats, lightly picked daikon and carrots, large pieces of cilantro (”why don’t they ever cut their cilantro?” you wonder, as you end up with a tree trunk of the herb in your teeth). And we always ordered it spicy.

The regular joint: Bahn Mi So #1. On Broome between Mott and Elizabeth. We discovered this while wandering around one fateful day, hungry for an in-between meal snack. It looks like a little convenience store inside, with only enough room for 10 people to stand if they pack in like sardines and risk knocking all sorts of dusty things off the shelves. They have something like 17 different types of bahn mi with all combinations of meats, and meatless things with confusing names like “vegan lemongrass chicken (no meat!)”. The sandwich is amazingly good and wins for selection, but falls short in a side-by-side comparison with its neighbors. Generally open until 7pm, and the owner goes on vacation for a week in August. Next door is the chocolate fondue restaurant. Unexpectedly, the vegetarian options are more expensive than the meat options.

The runner-up: Tu Quyen. On Grand between Elizabeth and Bowery. The menu has two options “Tu Quyen Mix Bahn Mi” and something else. When you try to order the “something else”, the woman behind the counter won’t be able to understand you, leading you on a wild goose chase where you hope you end up with the right thing (I ordered three sandwiches and ended up with two). The rest of the store is a larger convenience store with DVDs and it’s next door to a pharmacy of the same name where the toilet paper is too expensive. The sandwich seemed to have more different kinds of meat in it (at one point, the woman behind the counter held up some sort of sliced meat to see if I wanted it in my sandwich).

The winner: Saigon Bahn Mi Bakery. On Mott between Hester and Grand. It’s in the back of a jewelry store. The roast pork is extremely well seasoned, and it has big chunks of jalapeno peppers in it (if you order it spicy). There are a couple of options here — chicken, pate, sardines — which we haven’t explored yet. I also like the way the sandwiches are packaged, sliced in half, with each half in its own little bag inside a larger paper bag. This most-delicious sandwich, however, carries a premium price tag. Instead of the usual $3, this one cost a whopping $3.25.

Flickr Photos

wild chicken and bamboo shoots

taiwanese food

aunts

sticky rice





More Photos