Food
Photos from Chefs for the Cure 2010
Yummy Mummy brownies (a certain acronym comes to mind)
It was a pink-ribbon affair to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure at the Viking Center in Weymouth on Friday. Despite terrible rain (and a clogged freeway), my friend and I made it in time to sip cocktails and watch culinary firecracker Alissa Bigelow of In The Kitchen show us a neat kitchen trick for her lobster roll: squeeze a lemon through a cheesecloth to strain out the pulp and seeds. The lemon and creme fraiche made me think oddly of dessert, and man, those were some big, juicy chunks o’ lobster.
Outside the kitchen proper were a slew of mini display kitchens where chefs set up camp (although some brought their own burners or prepped beforehand). Some culinary highlights from the evening – a superb example of Peruvian-Italian fusion from Jose Duarte of Taranta, who served up spoonfuls of yucca gnocchi coddled in spicy lamb ragu; a well-executed steak tartare from Gaslight; sugar-spiked, bone-knawing comfort food in the form of candied spareribs from The Beehive; and beautiful pork pate from Beacon Hill Bistro, apparently made from pigs the chef himself crooned to sleep.
Photos courtesy of friend Sam Lipoff, who brought his far-superior camera along to be my photographer for the evening.
Kung pao for dummies
Every other week, I produce a food-themed column for that most dear and prickly of den mothers, The Harvard Crimson. It’s been a long and strange relationship with the school newspaper. Freshman year, I basically kept a toothbrush there and when I wasn’t there, I was madly refreshing my Gmail inbox to jump on a story pitch. Oh, yeah, I wanted to be a real journalist. How bizarre.
Don’t forget to check out my other column this week, for the Crimson’s FlyByBlog, where I answer a question about ethnic restaurants in the Quad. (The comments section is also helpful. I had no idea about that Nepalese place. Is that new?)
This column photo is completely nonsensical. I remember the photographer and I wandered out into the street and were like, uh, ok, here’s a giant water jug because you wrote about boiling water. Oh, look, there’s a fountain! It doesn’t have to make sense, right?
Anyway, here’s my contribution this week, out today in Fifteen Minutes, on my experiences learning how to cook (and making this kung pao chicken recipe).
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I’ll be honest: I’m a fearsome eater. One of my proudest moments was vanquishing an entire table of drunken Australian businessmen at an all-you-can-eat Japanese grill in Shanghai; while they ignored bowls of fried rice and poked at lackluster ice cream, I wolfed it all down.
But I’ve found that describing myself as a food writer has led to awkward lines of inquiry. I’m scared of a certain question. And it always comes, revealing me as a rank impostor. After finding out that I write about food, someone always asks, “Oh, so do you cook?”
I’ve come up with a few ways to answer this.
One method is the soft sell. “No. Nothing,” I’d say. “I’m not sure if I can boil water.”
Another reply is to hedge. I say, “Uh, sorta,” adding with apologetic smile pasted on my face, “I’m learning.”
This tended to bring less vitriol, more pity.
But all this underselling and hedging wears on the soul. And besides, I genuinely wanted to learn how to cook and to quit cowering behind a pot of cold water.
Food Porn of the Day: Canelé bordelais at Crema Cafe
And for good measure, here’s a closeup of their carrot cake, pronounced “not bad at all” by an epicurean Hollywood producer. He really knew his stuff – he pointed out that the cafe wasn’t using the optimal mold for the canelé bordelais (not enough caramelization) and introduced me to the eponymous Felipe behind Felipe’s (of the classic Harvard Square burrito joint). It was like meeting the mythical Betty Crocker, except better.
Tasty Charity Roundup
Happy Friday, blog readers. Here are some of next week’s upcoming charity events where you get to eat a dozen restaurants for the price of 1 really nice meal.
We’ll return to restaurant review/musings soon. Life has been full. I’m about to dash off to a Harvard Culinary Society lunch at L’Espalier, followed by dinner at Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger. No, this is not a typical Friday. Yes, this is totally excessive. Will Lingbo find time to write her philosophy paper? Will her bank account shrivel and her stomach explode? Only truffled parsnip puree and artfully prepared pork belly will tell. I don’t know what I’m writing anymore. I haven’t been sleeping.
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A Spoonful of Ginger - Monday, April 5, 2010, 6-9pm at the Museum of Fine Arts. Top area chefs like Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger and Joanne Chang of Myers + Chang and Flour Bakery come together to support Joslin’s Asian American Diabetes Initiative. Also on tap: MEM Tea, China Pearl, Mantra, Upstairs on the Square. This is a cause that is dear to my heart (my grandpa has diabetes).
Chefs for the Cure - Friday, April 9, 2010, 6-10pm at the Viking Center (which as 20 kitchens!) in Westwood, MA. A VIP session includes a demo from Alyssa Bigelow of “In The Kitchen.” The usual spate of Boston yummy-peddlers like Joanne Chang (in case you missed her Monday), Nicole Coady of Finale, and Mary Dumonte of Harvest, among others, to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Cochon 555 – Boston 2010 video coverage
Cochon 555 at the Boston’s Liberty Hotel is ripe for piggy puns. But hey, I tried to restrain myself to 2-3 in this video/audio slideshow of the event, narrated with a sarcastic edge. But you know I’m all love. Really. Truly. Happy Passover. Please distribute this widely and share the non-kosher love.
Edit: Forgot to mention, thanks to foodbuzz for the tickets!