Ask the Profussor – The First 300
Welcome, my friends, to the official 300th post on the FUSSYlittleBLOG. It feels like a big milestone, but even bigger will be the one year anniversary of this thing on the first of May. I never anticipated that I would actually have this much to say in one year.
I also never anticipated that after saying so much, that there would be so much left to say.
And for some reason or another, I have been so delinquent in responding to reader questions that I’m looking at fifteen pages of comments to bring myself current. Luckily the wiser Mrs. Fussy suggested breaking down this task into two Ask the Profussor posts, since nobody would make it through a 3,000-word response.
Fair enough. Now let’s begin.
French Toast Technique
Mother’s Day is coming up. No, it’s not this weekend, but it’s soon enough. And everybody is going to start talking about brunch. Really, it’s already happening. Restaurants are putting together fancy menus and planning elaborate buffets. You may already have reservations.
Yes, I understand a grand champagne brunch is an entirely separate creature from breakfast. Brunches can have several carving stations and mounds of shellfish as well as standard breakfast items like omelets and waffles made to order.
But sometimes simple is better.
No meal is simpler to prepare than breakfast. And no breakfast dish is as foolproof as French toast. Plus if you start practicing now, you can have it down in time for Mother’s Day. Even if you have no plans to cook for some lucky mother on the ninth of May, everyone should know how to make a good pain perdu.
Revolution is in the Airwaves
I was sitting in a hotel in Providence, Rhode Island when I first heard the promotional spot for a new television show. But this wasn’t an ordinary show. It was something that seemed so unbelievable, so brash, and so up my alley, that I grabbed a pen and some paper from the desk drawer. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss it.
The show is Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. And you don’t have to worry about missing the first few episodes, because they are all available for free on hulu.com until June 5.
For those who may not be aware of it, here is a synopsis of the show. Jamie, British chef and Food Network television star, has been on a mission to improve the food schools serve to kids. He did it over in England, and now he is in America – specifically, in Huntington, West Virginia where obesity is literally killing the children and adults of the town.
Love and Judgment
One of our wisest sages once said, “The power of love is a curious thing.” It certainly has a way of affecting one’s judgment. One thing you won’t hear a lot of people say is, “I love this place, but really there is a better one up the road.”
The thing is that there are a lot of different reasons one might love a restaurant, café, bar, bakery or other such establishment that have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of their food, coffee, cocktails, or pastry.
Maybe it is childhood memories, or positive associations. Perhaps it is just a sense of peace and belonging you get from the physical space or the warmth of the proprietors. It could even be that this place is the only joint around that makes a certain something that just cannot be found elsewhere.
They are all justifiable reasons for one’s love and affection.
But are the places we love the best?
I’m From Brooklyn. You From Brooklyn?
People say I’m not from New York. And they may have a point. The hospital where my mother gave birth was in another state. And the vast majority of my education from elementary through high school was in Miami.
However, I did live in Brooklyn for most of my formative years.
At least that’s what I learned in college. They told me that your personality is largely created by the time you are six years old. So if that is indeed the case, then my childhood in Brooklyn played a significant part of who I am today.
I mention this because recently I got a comment about pizza from a fellow Brooklynite. Except this was no ordinary commenter, this was Lorenzo, the owner of Paesan’s.
Four Donuts and a Hot Dog
As they say in High School Musical, “I love Troy.” And for sake of argument, let’s just include Watervliet in that blanket statement for today.
Last week, I discovered some amazing new donuts in Troy thanks to some keen reporting by All Over Albany. But sometimes finding something good brings more questions than answers. Thanks to a lot of hard work yesterday, one of those questions has been answered. Specifically, “Who makes a better Boston cream donut, Bella Napoli, The Cookie Factory, Schuyler Bakery or Dunkin’ Donuts?”
What, you’ve never heard of a control group?
I don’t quite know how this all got set up, but it had something to do with a late-night phone call with Albany Jane. We had a donut date scheduled for last week, but our wires got crossed. And somehow our attempt to reschedule turned into a brainstorming session that gave birth to a four-way blind tasting.
Complete with guest judges.
More Trouble With Soy
Gah! I hate how we keep on finding out that companies are engaged in all kinds of shady things with our food supply, and nobody thinks to tell us. You know, the consumers who buy it and put it in our bodies.
The whole thing reminds me a lot of the “ground” beef affectionately referred to as “Pink Slime.”
Except this time it involves soy. The last time I wrote about soy was when I was concerned about all the unlabeled genetically modified soybeans that are in almost everything we eat. Since then, I committed to exclusively buying products made with organic soybeans or pledged that the soy contained no genetically modified ingredients.
And I thought I was fine.
That is, until someone tweeted a link yesterday to an article from the Blue Marble blog on MotherJones.com: Which Veggie Burgers Were Made With a Neurotoxin?
Ten Days
The past few days actually writing about food have been fun. I felt the need to take some time off from the campaign to get the truly best businesses in the Capital Region recognized by the 2010 Times Union poll.
But just because I haven’t been writing about the FUSSYlittleBALLOT does not mean things haven’t been happening.
If I expect you to spread the word about this effort, you deserve a full update.
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