Two-fisted Taste Test

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLfYtDK286cJx9PtDKCiZfsiPuSviAKh3rZmQjc-jfJ9TP_U1GcgudSR_Fqz6q7CL3Cz0GPhbnGp1qTToyf5ltzWLvv5zfww7Jt_PPoG13t48F6_4oq7gMXf1XbEeQiapnaJDA-bkwO-x/s1600/biscuits7559.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636436564871222994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLfYtDK286cJx9PtDKCiZfsiPuSviAKh3rZmQjc-jfJ9TP_U1GcgudSR_Fqz6q7CL3Cz0GPhbnGp1qTToyf5ltzWLvv5zfww7Jt_PPoG13t48F6_4oq7gMXf1XbEeQiapnaJDA-bkwO-x/s400/biscuits7559.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 207px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Trader Joe now sells "Bistro Biscuits" very similar to the Biscoff cookies served on some Delta Airlines flights, and available randomly at some stores. These are justifiably popular cookies, maybe even a cult item, and I'm really glad that TJ has come through. <br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCS5A5mbxdqdIYm6WV9I4dOPmhXjm_5792O-q0G08sJH8tHdJoOhi_XCeit4Sh-XiZrfifWFx6qQ0oDc_BAlr9r2oWrtcpwXeDwlzVOiGxmGAiI34DITvKkTCONcTJu7eByEwjsBX9cNR/s1600/biscuits7562.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636436562212662866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCS5A5mbxdqdIYm6WV9I4dOPmhXjm_5792O-q0G08sJH8tHdJoOhi_XCeit4Sh-XiZrfifWFx6qQ0oDc_BAlr9r2oWrtcpwXeDwlzVOiGxmGAiI34DITvKkTCONcTJu7eByEwjsBX9cNR/s400/biscuits7562.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>We did the two-fisted cookie challenge, taking bites from a TJ cookie and one of the two Delta Lotus Biscoff cookies that a friend thoughtfully saved for me from a flight she was on. The TJ version might be just a tiny bit sweeter, but the taste is almost identical. The TJ cookies are slightly smaller, measuring approximately 3 inches. I ate the Delta cookie before I thought of measuring it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzzPR6BXk3Fo-fW3MACheOsu8IPXfLt4Pq_49NNaZz3tLs1rCSSEnUMrCT_-SAwzqO-2bfSps7TL2T2fBCM5_aJMiZ2BPOh-OY4lkn9np2xNR91zog_c1VhvLZ5EBPlcGSJWNJTzh-fGH/s1600/delta-cookies.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582615469194454338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzzPR6BXk3Fo-fW3MACheOsu8IPXfLt4Pq_49NNaZz3tLs1rCSSEnUMrCT_-SAwzqO-2bfSps7TL2T2fBCM5_aJMiZ2BPOh-OY4lkn9np2xNR91zog_c1VhvLZ5EBPlcGSJWNJTzh-fGH/s400/delta-cookies.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Above are the Lotus Biscoff cookies that I bought from amazon.com a few months ago (eaten up long ago of course -- see <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2011/03/delta-cookies-hard-to-find-on-delta.html" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">Delta Cookies -- Hard to find on Delta flights</a>). </span>As it happens, amazon.com now sells two kinds of Biscoff cookies, one from Lotus and another from "Gourmet Center" and the cost of the Lotus original has nearly doubled since I bought them. Lucky thing I can now get Trader Joe's Bistro Biscuits!</div>

Two-fisted Taste Test

Trader Joe now sells "Bistro Biscuits" very similar to the Biscoff cookies served on some Delta Airlines flights, and available ra...

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Chinese Woodblock Prints

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZdi2qguIJeYhFTrw_VhRrCtQQ0AijTjMY3KclA1ry8gpJhPLuumqapBGWMFwI7qu-qsmnK0eUFFBGmLcVejZLV5-y4SQUphAVG86mMXygSHo5_AL2FZg2v5QjFNIWc3WwEhD5bOtUY7S/s1600/chinese-woodblock7558.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635640558475605986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZdi2qguIJeYhFTrw_VhRrCtQQ0AijTjMY3KclA1ry8gpJhPLuumqapBGWMFwI7qu-qsmnK0eUFFBGmLcVejZLV5-y4SQUphAVG86mMXygSHo5_AL2FZg2v5QjFNIWc3WwEhD5bOtUY7S/s400/chinese-woodblock7558.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 390px;" /></a><br />This afternoon we saw a remarkable exhibit of Chinese woodblock prints all dating to the past decade. I was especially impressed by this image of a family eating dinner, reflected in a spoon. I loved the detailed imagery of dishes and foods, and the suggestion of family life. My photo isn't good at all: the print is around 6 feet tall, so I took it from across the room.<br /><br />We also heard a fascinating lecture about the meaning of the prints, especially about a conceptual artist, Xu Bing, who used to work in New York but is now in China.

Chinese Woodblock Prints

This afternoon we saw a remarkable exhibit of Chinese woodblock prints all dating to the past decade. I was especially impressed by this ima...

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The Ego Trip

Last night I saw the BBC film "The Trip." The title should really be "The Ego Trip" because it's all about two boring men who think they are celebrities. The actors are supposed to be famous -- they wish. Well, maybe they are famous somewhere, not here.<div><br /></div><div>A lot of "The Trip" is improvised, with them congratulating themselves all over the north of England as they supposedly are dining in famous restaurants in order to write about the food. In fact, as Len pointed out, it's too chaotic to be fiction. Mocumentary is the best description I've seen for the genre.</div><div><br /></div><div>The claim that the two egomaniacs are exploring something about fine restaurants is a sham. There's no way they could ever write about what they were eating because all the time they are tasting the food, they are competing to do impressions of truly famous film stars and also competing to quote famous poetry about the places they are traveling. They sit in front of painstakingly plated little morsels of fish, duck, pigeon, chocolate cake, or whatever that's just come out of the kitchen of whichever restaurant they are in. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are lots of shots of the kitchen staff painstakingly sauteing and arranging the food which the two characters shovel into their mouths without seeming to notice it. Although they are supposedly in 5 different restaurants I suspect that all the shots were taken in only one kitchen. Repetitiveness is another annoying feature of "The Trip."</div><div><br /></div><div>A few images of their posturing:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dfcV13q3tabggqqekS9mBSdyxP3_vAjShRpqvm2G5bPo_AcB378HemI4mZaTjgW-Q_a4oHuZMT0OaoRFADkv2p3BceIQoWMX26tkkZoSRMS42GDH1H9gCvfWlP2SQYqOiNLnyLjtst8c/s1600/thetrip.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635511749922037634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dfcV13q3tabggqqekS9mBSdyxP3_vAjShRpqvm2G5bPo_AcB378HemI4mZaTjgW-Q_a4oHuZMT0OaoRFADkv2p3BceIQoWMX26tkkZoSRMS42GDH1H9gCvfWlP2SQYqOiNLnyLjtst8c/s400/thetrip.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 380px; height: 319px;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkvE6V6WZfBZk1rXj55obQgbYGdJ1vpthx01pGQcNZatUABFINnFe2CMNn68DwgVcQGqh5rB_nWtL1tfk3Y6tAPNHLCF6X9FAKZO-oi0XusFTSCj_XrQOIH6tv7jA2Qebdm2W4OUT_LkN/s1600/thetrip2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635511752812278018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkvE6V6WZfBZk1rXj55obQgbYGdJ1vpthx01pGQcNZatUABFINnFe2CMNn68DwgVcQGqh5rB_nWtL1tfk3Y6tAPNHLCF6X9FAKZO-oi0XusFTSCj_XrQOIH6tv7jA2Qebdm2W4OUT_LkN/s400/thetrip2.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 352px;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImlGX9viSdnD1k4SbXVASmRSwshgBT4rJwVZShHAuQ9RhPKCr_YDL8G6PtyKHAeKSMVbb3v-EXMnAsVH3xTXVOr55BQaugdC4HN9DLn8wNQRKoXSa5FxBnc0Cn3C13pXm9M8fNjkZELYU/s1600/thetrip3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635511746578801202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImlGX9viSdnD1k4SbXVASmRSwshgBT4rJwVZShHAuQ9RhPKCr_YDL8G6PtyKHAeKSMVbb3v-EXMnAsVH3xTXVOr55BQaugdC4HN9DLn8wNQRKoXSa5FxBnc0Cn3C13pXm9M8fNjkZELYU/s400/thetrip3.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 177px;" /></a><br /></div><div>Fortunately the evening started better. We ate at Seva, which has been Ann Arbor's principal vegetarian restaurant for nearly 30 years. I think it's <i>improved</i> since I was last there -- a marvel for a local restaurant. Our 4 dinners were nicely plated but not to the extremes of the awful film:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0RfJRJ06f0XDw9owJhi3Y7391pkoqmNhpdBQq5dZF_mmfssaXJ98Ci7DIs7N0KqVXNOSudu_Mc17HNkREvZewO_PhqAOykNYjP3hu176oe7hq4GfjTILzyZmrva8dvA6dLcMF51Ze8ja/s1600/tripdinner.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635511741276748658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0RfJRJ06f0XDw9owJhi3Y7391pkoqmNhpdBQq5dZF_mmfssaXJ98Ci7DIs7N0KqVXNOSudu_Mc17HNkREvZewO_PhqAOykNYjP3hu176oe7hq4GfjTILzyZmrva8dvA6dLcMF51Ze8ja/s400/tripdinner.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 302px;" /></a><br /></div>

The Ego Trip

Last night I saw the BBC film "The Trip." The title should really be "The Ego Trip" because it's all about two borin...

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What's the carbon footprint of your dinner?

First, here's a graphic that's getting a lot of attention, just published by <a href="http://breakingnews.ewg.org/meateatersguide/">The Environmental Working Group</a>, a Washington lobbying organization:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Full Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Common Proteins and Vegetables</span></b></div><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5971413140/" title="carbon-ftprint by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="carbon-ftprint" height="411" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6142/5971413140_6ba334435c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><div>Here's a graphic (thanks, Len!) showing some of the same foods with their carbon footprint for 1000 calories instead of for one kilo:</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Greenhouse Gas Emissions for 1000 calories of Common Proteins and Vegetables</b></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5971398280/" title="carbonftp_1000cal by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="carbonftp_1000cal" height="479" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6001/5971398280_02fa6d1fcf_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The first graph comes from the EWG's "Meat Eater's Guide," discussing the impact of meat eating on the environment. It illustrates the carbon footprint of common foods, measured in kilograms of carbon expended to produce a kilogram of edible food. I find the idea of comparing various foods by their carbon footprint be effective, but comparing the foods by weight seems misleading. Comparing a kilogram of tomatoes to a kilogram of edible beef seems rather naive: after all, the kilo of tomatoes supplies you with around 180 calories, while a kilo of steak is 2010 calories. Comparing these to cheese is even less helpful: a kilogram of cheddar has just over 4000 calories. To me, calorie content is a better measure of nutritional value than weight, and if you look at some of the foods from this point of view, the profile is very different, as you can see in the second graphic.<div><br /></div><div>Comparing beef to lentils still gets the same result: the carbon footprint of beef is over 30 times as high as the carbon used to deliver a plate of lentils to a diner. However, in between, the differences don't come out so consistent -- cheese turns out to be a much more responsible carbon-conserving choice if you look at its calorie value.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Note:</b> calorie values are based on the information in the <a href="http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/">USDA online calorie counter</a>.</div>

What's the carbon footprint of your dinner?

First, here's a graphic that's getting a lot of attention, just published by The Environmental Working Group , a Washington lobbying...

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Appreciation of Food in Fiction

In the Guardian food blog: <meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><h3 style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 21px; display: block; border-top-color: rgb(209, 0, 139); border-right-color: rgb(209, 0, 139); border-bottom-color: rgb(209, 0, 139); border-left-color: rgb(209, 0, 139); line-height: 1.185em; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jul/15/food-writing-glorious-food-writing" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(0, 86, 137); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Food writing, glorious food writing</a></h3><div> <br /></div></span> <br />The author, Sarah Crown, describes the use of food by a number of authors, many new to me. I loved this passage: <br /><blockquote>All books, in my opinion, benefit from a bit of food – and I've been a connoisseur since childhood. During my Blyton phase, it was the luxurious descriptions of midnight feasts, and the Famous Five's acquisition of "new rolls, anchovy paste, a big round jam tart in a cardboard box, oranges, lime-juice, a fat lettuce and some ham sandwiches" (<span style="font-style:italic;">Five Get Into Trouble</span>, in case you're interested) that hooked me. In Laura Ingalls Wilder's <span style="font-style:italic;">Little House in the Big Woods</span> I was enthralled by the descriptions of meat smoking, butter-churning and the putting away of provisions against the long, cold winter. My mouth still waters at the thought of the homemade ice cream with burnt toffee which Roald Dahl remembers eating at his grandmother's house in his childhood memoir, <i>Boy</i>.</blockquote>

Appreciation of Food in Fiction

In the Guardian food blog: Food writing, glorious food writing The author, Sarah Crown, describes the use of food by a number of authors, ...

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The Lone Ranger and Tonto...

Sherman Alexie's story collection <i>The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven</i> is a collection of brief glimpses of Indians (his term) living on and off the Spokane reservation. Their lives are tragic, but their view is often to see the humor in what they experience. "Laughter through tears" was a classic description of the works of Sholem Aleichem -- who wrote about Jews on the reservation. I mean in the shtetl. The similarity is odd. <div><br /></div><div>Sometimes the humor is open, sometimes indirect. In one story, a character named James Many Horses is abandoned by his wife because he makes too many jokes about death; another story says "even the other Indians got tired of his joking." (p. 203)<div><br /></div><div>Food and hunger are both repeating themes in Alexie's stories, among the many themes that make the work vivid and poignant. Also beer, vodka, whiskey, and (unexpectedly) Diet Pepsi. One character thinks that "one more beer could save the world. One more beer and every chair would be comfortable. One more beer and the light bulb in the bathroom would never burn out. ... " (p. 88) </div><div><br /></div><div>A few examples of the foods Alexie mentions: macaroni with commodity cheese, fry bread (of which the best recipe was lost when the older generation died), cheap hamburgers, Green Giant mushrooms (in absence of magic mushrooms), and a creamsicle (one of many items from the 7-11). In the delivery room a new mother has just one question about her baby son: "Will he love to eat potatoes?" (p. 81) Another character says:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>... eating potatoes every day of my life, I imagined the potatoes grew larger, filled my stomach, reversed the emptiness. My sisters saved up a few quarters and bought food coloring. For weeks we ate red potatoes, green potatoes, blue potatoes. ...[We told] stories about the food we wanted most. We imagined oranges, Pepsi-Cola, chocolate, deer jerky." (p. 151)</div></blockquote><div>Some of the characters have diabetes, and must politely refuse candy that a policemen offers them. One junior high kid says to a bulimic girl in his school "Give me your lunch if you're just going to throw it up." But the girls "Grow skinny from self-pity." (p. 177) An empty refrigerator begins one story. The narrator of one story is locked in the 7-11 refrigerator by a robber, who "pulled the basketball shoes off my feet, and left me waiting for rescue between the expired milk and broken eggs." (p. 150)</div><div><br /></div><div>Poverty, hunger, exclusion from education, and being able to see the mainstream without joining it might be common points between Sholem Aleichem's village and Sherman Alexie's reservation, but the real nexus is laugher through tears. And they all ate potatoes.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>

The Lone Ranger and Tonto...

Sherman Alexie's story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven is a collection of brief glimpses of Indians (his term...

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Jason's Birthday Cake

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHOaGOUvuI5-1fmO5pIgzcSLC-inxYkrun11YucoC5eAcUxYpzs-TzcVgnIScuxv85uPcbZrK2D0opbhPx9RhlJAbtWfi4O53Rcphgha5t6tU5T6AIcPVNQz82d1ztnJe2sByAGxFO9lf/s1600/jason7539.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629234054225579010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHOaGOUvuI5-1fmO5pIgzcSLC-inxYkrun11YucoC5eAcUxYpzs-TzcVgnIScuxv85uPcbZrK2D0opbhPx9RhlJAbtWfi4O53Rcphgha5t6tU5T6AIcPVNQz82d1ztnJe2sByAGxFO9lf/s400/jason7539.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" /></a>Lemon with notes of ginger and strawberry candle holders...

Jason's Birthday Cake

Lemon with notes of ginger and strawberry candle holders...

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