Whose Wii Remote Reigns Supreme?

The Sherbs and I picked up the Iron Chef video game for the Wii at Best Buy, and found it a lot of fun, although also a lot like cooking.

The game, in essence, is going through all the tasks of cooking the necessary dishes. Each particular type of food based on the secret ingredient (eggplant in pita! Carrot gyoza!) has a number of steps required to complete it, such as chopping, grating, running a stand mixer, or boiling a pot. Each step is turned into a 90-second mini-game where one tries to accomplish the task. Chopping and slicing are easy; boiling and grilling are tough.

So, should one pick four dishes, each with six tasks, one then must complete twenty-four cooking tasks, many of them chopping, slicing, or grating. The music, sadly, is a tad repetitive, as are the Chairman's repeated exhortations of the tasks' name (even with two different enunciations) and Alton Brown's Madden-like inanities (e.g., "John Madden’s inane and often insane ramblings are extremely tedious, and it seems as though he and his fellow commentator have a vocabulary of around 30 phrases which they just spout out sporadically and sometimes inappropriately") . Despite all this, The Sherbs and I had fun as a team of chefs against the computer, where we could switch off between grating and boiling tasks.

Is Iron Chef worth what we paid? We'll see how much fun we get out of it. Since the controls are easier than Cooking Mama (I still can't crack an egg in that game), I'm saying yes for now.

Puccini, or Not

I said in my last blog post that we were going to dinner. It was a good dinner. As is our tradition, I'll blog my side.

Went to Tosca last night here in DC, and did not know that the waiters were refilling my glass with pinot noir as I focused on my food. I was a tad loopy on the Metro home (the Sherbs, as always, was very tolerant of my shenanigans).

My meal was as follows:
1) Red mullet and sardines with fava beans and tomatoes - did not taste like the sardines one's used to. Salty, tasty, and the beans were terrific.

2) Quail stuffed with shiitake mushroom. I love me some quail, and this was deliciously moist, on a bed of wilted swiss chard and grilled artichokes. I have never had chard so good, but I tend to stay away from chard and kale because they can be bitter as all get out (still, we're making a dish featuring kale at home in a couple nights - and may make more if kale stays at 99¢ per pound).

3) Gorgonzola ice cream with candied celery and rosemary - as soon as I saw this incredibly Iron Chef-y dish on the menu, I knew I had to have it. Verdict: I loved it. My father (for whom dessert is chocolate) would not.

I believe, in my drunken stupor, I told the Sherbs "it's like an appetizer, for dessert, but sweet." It's a little more than that, but the drunk summary suffices for rough work. The ice cream itself is not sweet; it's more neutral and gorgonzola-flavored. It's eaten with the candied celery, which is like a relish or a fruit topping, and also mixed with the honey syrup that the ice cream is placed in.

The sommelier's wine selection was excellent (we took advantage of his recommendations), and I loved the plum tomato foccacia in the bread basket.

Salads and Knife Fights

Mostly touristy foods yesterday; we saw the Israel Museum, which was jam-packed, half-closed for renovations, and had some tasty kosher for Passover salads (the sandwiches, I heard, were a little disappointing). Once again I am impressed with the mixed greens of Israel.

Also tasty was the shwarma place called "Big Shwarma" 1/3 of the way down the pedestrian part of Ben-Yehuda Street. The chopped meat on a rotating spit was well-spiced and quite tasty, and served with fries and veggies (no pita this week, for obvious reasons).

I also discovered, while scanning the local cable channels, that Israel has its own version of Iron Chef called something like "Knife Fight." In Knife Fight, each chef prepares a course for a celebrity panel, and they vote yay or nay; the yays and nays are tallied up per course throughout the five-course meal. Sadly, the French chef ("Stephan") beat the local hero, even though he made what looked like sweetbreads. As I've mentioned before on this blog, you can make sweetbreads taste good.

The Battle Began

Friday evening for a special event, The Pedant and I reveled in our food network nerdiness and went out to a lovely restaurant run by a loser of an Iron Chef and cast member of the Next Iron Chef. (He didn't make it to the final 4 because he "plated everything the same." It's true.) Well, we wanted to go anyway and got all gussied up and had a late reservation (which was nice since we got to loiter) and got a tasting menu - 7 courses. They even had a 7 course vegetarian menu! Yay! (Although, I will say, 7 courses is A LOT of food. All tasty, but I had trouble finishing them and woke up the next morning very full.)

I will describe my dishes and let TP tell you his world of meats later.

PRE COURSE A: Amuse

Porcini mushroom flan with pesto and a micro green (yes, one single micro green). It was a great start to the meal - very small and creative.

PRE COURSE B: Bread

Slices of French bread, and French bread with cranberries, with an assortment of spreads: a pesto, a orange butter, a sun-dried tomato, and a cheese curd with horseradish (didn't try the last one, looked too much like cottage cheese).

WINE: I got a glass of merlot and it was perfect. All warm, and berry-ey and smooth.

COURSE 1: Mixed Green Salad with Crispy Shallots and Vinaigrette

A simple salad with a few pieces of fried shallots and in a fried filo dough "bowl" (think Taco Bell's taco salad but classier to the factor of 10). The only problem I had with it was the salad was too difficult to eat gracefully and the dressing all pooled in the bottom of the shell. But still amazing.

COURSE 2: Painted Soup - Gingered Squash and Beet Cider

They say presentation is everything and here it was. The soup was well cooked - gingered squash done to perfection - with a small swirl of the beets. Sadly, the beet didn't add much, but it looked very elegant.

COURSE 3: Crispy Grits

I wanted to take a bath in this dish. The grits were well fried and the sauce was decedent.

(NOTE: By this time I was full)

COURSE 4: Black Eyed Pea Risotto

Again, amazing. The black eyed peas gave it a warm flavor and it was all creamy and great. There was a giant tomato in the center (and I don't like tomatoes) but it didn't hurt the dish at all.

COURSE 5: Porcini Gnudi

The Gnudi were similar to gnocchi but with a bit more bite. There were porcini mushrooms in the sauce, and a truffle foam on top. My first experience with foam, and it wasn't worth it. It tasted like air and was just fair. The dish was super good though.

COURSE 6: Mushroom Pot-Pie

Although it was amazing and delicious (a pot pie of porcini mushrooms [ED NOTE: I'm sensing a sale on porcini...] and root vegetables with the pie being a layer of puff pastry over the top (and it looked like a mushroom! clever!). I was only able to take 2 bites of this cause I was about to burst, but it was very good. It wasn't like a chicken pot pie of my youth, or the variants TP and I have been trying lately, but it was very good. What's even better is the waiter packed it up for me! Hooray! I had it for lunch on Saturday and it was still good.

COURSE 7: Dessert: Apple Crisp

Although sadly I was stuffed like a goose on a foie grais farm, I had a few bites of the apple crisp. The filo dough was excellent and I so badly wanted it all.

POST COURSE: Mini Desserts

As a "thank you for blowing a sizable portion of your paycheck on our trendy, tasty food" with the check comes several little desserts: a fantastic chocolate truffle with cocoa powder (I was only able to enjoy half, but it was perfect), a little mango fruit gel (to put Sunkits' Fruit Gems to shame), and a tiny cookie.

A worthy experience. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Another Quick Comment From the Link Archive

A man who clearly watches what he eats is grossed out by his 5x magnification of the fat blobs in processed meats. Clearly he does not share the Men's Vogue editors' appreciation for a fine slice of American mortadella, with its visible-to-the-naked-eye chunks of fat. The Men's Vogue article is also notable for name-checking Chris Cosentino, who was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and is evidently making his own mortadella now.

The closest the Sherbs and I get to The Next Iron Chef is that we live close to the restaurant of Morou Ouattara, who was eliminated early for doing the exact same plating every time.

Going Through the Archives

I'm a big fan of Google Reader, but one of the big problems with having all the useful features of RSS aggregation is that, if I want to comment about something, instead of merely sharing the LOLcat or missive from America's Beef Producers in the little widget box on the right, I have to "star" it and remember to look into my "starred items" folder later.

Which I don't do often enough.

Anyway, this will be the first in hopefully a series of posts where I clear out all the stuff I've been telling myself I'd blog about but haven't really.

LATKES
I am Jewish, therefore I blog about latkes. Haven't eaten any this season, because everyone around me is afraid of the demon fat and will not fry.

• Lots of movement on the internet about latkes. THe most interesting development was the concept of beetroot latkes with goat cheese, pioneered by the blog Eat Like a Girl. The goat cheese used is not the usual chevre, but an Irish goat milk brie. I'm not sure, if your local Teet does not carry brie made from Irish goats' milk (although what grocery doesn't, these days?), whether you should substitute real brie, chevre, or something else, like camembert.
• The Epicurious weblog had a round-up of many other latke blogs out there, which allowed me to consider a blog post about latkes without more of my usual manic searching for links. The best? A recipe on how to make latkes in the oven, which eliminates the oil which makes latkes ceremonially important, but is marginally healthier (if you can afford the carbs; for those who fear Demon Carbohydrate, this latke recipe is for you; if you want your latkes only marginally healthier, here are some tips to avoid common latke perils).
• Ms. McLellan at Slashfood realizes that one must alter the recipe slightly for sweet potato latkes.
  
• If you're taking this Hanukkah as an excuse to relive the famous DeLaurentis/Flay vs. Ray/Batali Iron Chef battle in your own home - Battle Cranberry, as we all remember - I would suggest this latke dressing from Two Fat Als. The Food Network has its own cranberry-themed latke, but I distrust it slightly because anyone who gives so much airtime to Paula "lard" Deen, Rachael "let's put the bacon on the challah" Ray, and formerly Emeril "andouille in everything" Lagasse can't take Jewish food seriously.
  
• Finally, the Jones Soda Company, who sell out their turkey-flavored soda every year despite it, well, being a kosher diet turkey-flavored soda, have a Hanukkah pack with latke-flavored soda. Use your best judgment.
  

A Little More Regarding The Next Iron Chef

In part because you don't really want to hear my thoughts on Win a Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, except that Ms. Tequila seems to dress anticipating the need for an emergency application of Vicks VapoRub to her sternum. Since she lives in the sunny part of the West Coast, I find this dress code odd.

As for the Next Iron Chef, while others have thought the challenges were America's Top Chef lite, I actually found the competition better than Top Chef. For one thing, we weren't treated to endless and irritating scenes of the competitors having to live together in some dorm. In fact, all the competitors, even in the challenge where they were instructed to screw each other over, were relatively collegial. The "atmosphere of hug" was refreshing.

Also, I thought the challenges were better-tailored to actual Iron Chef-ing; think fast, deal with the wacky situation and various food failures, and nobody steps in mid-way and changes the rules (a stupid tension-increaser used all too often on Top Chef). My favorites were the "resourcefulness" challenge, where the competitors had to cook two dishes in an hour on a cheap barbecue grill using mostly random items chosen for them by another competitor, and the challenge of assembling airline food.

My only gripe is that, despite the Chairman unsheathing a katana and playing with it during the opening and commercial breaks, we really didn't get to see him do anything cool beyond that. If you're going to have a martial arts star around, you should use him.

Food, Cookies, Dogs...Oh My!

OK, so I did promise The Pedant I'd blog, but my computer is very, very sick and TP's computer doesn't like me, but luckily I live in a fancy schmancy building with an internet cafe.

So, food wise, I will contribute information about the fantastic dinner TP and I had Sudnay night:

Raosted Garlic Bread
Cheese (Cheddar, Swiss, Gouda, Havarti)
Green Apple
Mustard

It was amazing, although today my stumach is telling me "no more lactose! Stop it!! I want a break!"

Also, part of the amazingness was that we dined in the middle of The Next Iron Chef Marathon, culminating in the win of my favorite, Michael Symon. Very happy. Also, I finally got to see the DeLaurentiis/Ray battle, further proving I love Rachel Ray.

In non-food news, I volunteered this weekend with BREW and got to play with the world's second sweetest beagle, Prince (last one on the page). He was a cutie. I also was dog sitting in DC which was fun for a dog lover like me.

Food news: Jello 60 Calorie Pudding Cups, Chocolate Mint Fudge (or something), fairly tastey, but not quite minty enough.

Tomorrow I begin a new job with a cafeteria. I'll see if they have cookies.

Gar-licking Good!

Last night, after a frighteningly painful (good pain?) Pilate's class with the delightful Stoner, she adn I dinned at Preppy's Place and then proceeded to play Rummy 500, with Preppy, who is a big, fat, smelly cheater. But it was fun. We then watched a DVRed episode of Iron Chef, Battle Garlic. And that made up for Preppy's cheating.

What was great about this episode? Well, let's see. Mario Batali was the Iron Chef, whom I usually dislike, but have a new appreciation for. I recently finished the fantastic book, Heat, recommended to me by The Pedant's mother. And I am now recommending the book to anyone who:

• is a foodie
• doesn't mind being too grossed out by food preparation descriptions
• enjoys cooking enough to get some good ideas

So, now I love Batali. I won't say he's my favorite, because that spot goes only to Cat Cora (whom I have a feminist crush on because she's the only woman), but I understand him more now. We're BFF in literary land.

I also enjoyed last night's episode because of the Secret Ingredient, Garlic garlic, and appreciate that The Pedant likes Garlic as well. It makes anything better. Except the snails and cow . I for one loooooveintestine the Challenger made - those are hands down always gross, no matter how much garlic is added to them.

And Jeffery Steingarten, an iron chef judge whom I have a crush on (because he's a meanie and very funny!), was a judge and I loved him. He said "Don't touch me" to a bimbo judge. My heart skipped a beat.

The Anticipation Builds

I purchased yesterday a 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. I haven't found a good time yet to mix it with anything, but I have sorted out all my airline-size bottles of things, and soon I will. You'll see the results.

I'm looking forward to Iron Chef with mixed drinks tonight.

Ancient Websites That Haunt My Dreams

This is tangentially relevant, because lobster was used in the chocolate battle of Iron Chef that Sherbs posted about "oh so long ago" (like two days, but ten posts ago - we're getting to be Instapundit or something). The lobster was vinegared and on some veggies in a white chocolate sauce, and other than the plating, it looked and sounded really yucky. Bobby Flay, whom my sister would kidnap and marry if he wasn't A) not Jewish and B) already married, did not make that dish, and that is why he won.

Anyway, these days, more than occasionally, the web music video "Lobster Sticks to Magnet" gets stuck in my head while I'm on the subway. I am way more ashamed of that than "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" (remember being in college in 2000 and showing this to EVERYONE in the dorm? If not, click the link and gaze upon this work, and despair) as the latter is actually kind of catchy, whereas a pseudo-metal song claiming that rabbits are ferrous is not.

The only way I can get either out of my head is to sing Daler Mehndi's "Tunak Tunak Tun" to myself. I gotta get more exposure to bhangra.

Iron Chef with Dr. Pepper?

In two weeks, Iron Chef will have a competition pairing chefs with "mixologists," who make mixed drinks.

Despite the clear lack of Sandra Lee in the competition (and, honestly, good riddance), I am hoping the secret ingredient is Dr. Pepper.

Ode to Asparagus

Well, I don't fully disagree with The Pedant always, but often enough, I must say that I did watch the same Iron Chef episode (we were actually in the same room) and did see Morimoto kick Symon's tushy (although Symon put up a relatively good fight, but not good enough), I didn't care about the lemon-lime soda and rum mixture as much as my co-blogger. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the fact that they used asparagus.

I love asparagus. I think not only does it taste good, but it makes your pee smell afterwords. Any food that can do that is a food I'll eat! (Except beets. While they do turn your pee red, I think they taste weird.) Asparagus can taste very good with some things. I especially like it with pasta and olive oil with other veggies and cheese. Or, I find it tasty when roasted in the oven with onions and mushrooms, lots of garlic and a vinaigrette. Yum.

So in conclusion, asparagus good, iron chef good, cooking with lemon-lime soda, ok, Dr. Pepper and Rum...NO!

NEXT POST: The Iron Chef about chocolate and my love for that food....mmmmm

Counterpoint: I and the Cap'n Make it Happen

As a first note, Sherbs clearly overlooks the taste possibilities of spiced dark rum and Dr. Pepper (say a Meyer's or a Captain Morgan). Since Dr. Pepper was first brewed as a patent medicine in 1885, adding some more spices to the twenty-three flavors, plus alcohol, is a recipe for making the world taste drunker.

Second, Sherbs and I watched the Morimoto v. Symon episode of Iron Chef America. The secret ingredient: asparagus. And do you know what Morimoto, the culinary genius who reads the judges better than any other Iron Chef I know, put his chocolate-dipped asparagus in? Rum.

Why is this important? Because, before dipping the asparagus in chocolate, Morimoto pressure cooked them with star anise and "a popular lemon-lime soda" whose name was blurred but the can design was distinctive. Morimoto, having at best a tenuous command of English, was probably not aware that he should be cooking with 7-Up.

Which brings us back to rum. Like 7-Up, Americans know that we can cook with Dr. Pepper. Ergo, since Sprite and asparagus make a delicious chocolate-covered dessert in rum, Dr. Pepper and rum absolutely have to mix well as a non-asparagus non-dessert beverage.

And if you think there are holes in my logic, I'm going to tell you that Socrates, one of the greatest logicians of all time, would agree with me, because he mixed hemlock with Dr. Pepper to make tragic state-mandated suicide taste better. It may not be true, or even plausible, but it is compelling.

A Secondary Introduction

Well, since the Pedant was at the computer first, I was pushed off until a bit later to come up with a first blog post. While I do agree that we should keep you informed on the concoctions we come up with for alcohol and Dr. Pepper (or in my case, Diet Dr. Pepper, since I prefer Diet Sodas personally--why drink calories when I could eat more dark chocolate!?), I disagree with some of the Pedant's choices.

I think the only good choice is VODKA. I personally think it would be the best choice. Mostly because it's the simplest.

Another update will come from either The Pedant or myself tomorrow after tonight's IRON CHEF episode.