A Minor Note of Patriotism

June 22nd, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

American chain hotels/motels. HG finds them wonderful. Holiday Inn Express is HG’s favorite. Clean rooms. Working AC. Flat screen TV. WIFI. Shower with good water pressure and plenty of hot water. Abundance of towels, shampoos, etc. A competent toilet that does its job efficiently. Comfortable bed with high quality mattress. Swimming pool and fitness center. Free coffee. And, the price for all this is quite modest. To find something comparable in Europe, you’d be paying lots of dough. Yes, the USA can’t handle the guns problem and the Land of the Brave and the Free likes to indulge in needless, expensive wars. But, when it comes to weary wayfarers wanting an affordable nightly accommodation, Uncle Sam rules.

Uncle_Sam_(pointing_finger)

Movie Heaven — The Bronx Gets Slapped By Santa Fe

June 20th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Depressing fact reported by The New York Times: The Bronx, with a population of 1.4 million, contains two movie theaters (multiplexes with a combined total of 23 screens). When HG grew up in The Bronx, there were scores of movie theaters ranging from palaces (Loew’s Paradise, The Interboro, etc.) to intimate art houses (The Ascot). Fordham Road, in a six block expanse, contained The Lido, The Concourse, Loew’s Grand, The Valentine and The Fordham. “Going to the movies,” like rooting for the Yankees and eating pastrami and pizza, was an integral part of Bronx life. HG/BSK are fortunate to live in Santa Fe. “The City Different” has a population of 80,000 which supports three multiplexes (and another in a nearby community) plus three cinematheques. In terms of movie going, it’s almost like living in Paris. Santa Fe also has opera housed in a spectacular setting; live theater, dance and concerts at The Lensic (a beautifully restored old venue); live music in lots of clubs ranging from the raucous to the sophisticated. And, of course, Santa Fe has art: A dozen museums and numerous galleries plus world famous annual Native American and Hispanic art markets. And, the weather is great. Plus you are never far from a breakfast burrito smothered in green chile sauce. Heaven.

Lensic_Theater_Exterior_Santa_Fe_New_Mexico

The Leopard

June 19th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Here’s a recipe for a perfect night. Start with a dinner of barbecued, Adobo dusted chicken breasts accompanied by a melange of olive oil gilded, grilled vegetables (Belgian endive, red bell peppers, Vidalia onions). Drink plenty of red Malbec. Settle down in the Eames lounge chair with a snifter of Bushmill’s Irish Honey Whiskey. Watch The Leopard on TV (the three-hour Italian language subtitled director’s cut version). Directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Burt Lancaster (adroitly dubbed into Italian), The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), was made in 1963 and is one of the few films that deserves the term “epic.” The final 45-minute ballroom sequence, exquisitely and subtly acted by Lancaster, is a cinema masterpiece, combining social commentary, visual splendor and individual experience. Movie magic. The film is faithful to the great novel upon which it is based, The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomaso di Lampedusa, a Sicilian of noble lineage. Read the book. See the movie.the_leopard_poster

The Lethal Martini

June 18th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

HG gathers the lethal cocktail, The Martini, is making a comeback among today’s hard drinking generation. A dangerous trend, fears HG. Dorothy Parker, no stranger to strong drink, summed up its fearful effect on women: “One Martini. Two, at most. Three, I’m under the table. Four, I’m under the host.” HG recalls, from his younger days, many embarrassing incidents caused by two Martini lunches and three Martini cocktail hours. HG’s football coach at CCNY tried to inspire HG by saying: If you’ve got the ‘want to’ you’ll have the ‘can do.‘. Well, in terms of amorous adventure, Martinis inspire the want to but diminish the can do.

Martini-Stemware

Breaking Bad

June 15th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Last night clumsy HG broke a water glass (market value: 10 cents). This brought to mind some more dramatic events in the history of smashed goods. At a dinner party at a Colorado mountain home, HG saw a guest break two fine crystal wine glasses. “Sorry,” the guest said. The hostess replied: “They can be replaced. They cost $40 a piece.” The hint was not taken. No check was forthcoming. At a New York dinner party, HG’s friend broke the host’s (who happened to also be HG’s friend’s boss) valuable vase. Said the boss: “The only two others are at the Smithsonian.” The event — no doubt — diminished the unfortunate fellow’s chances for promotion. HG’s favorite breakage anecdote: The Hollywood screenwriter and wit Charles Lederer was at a fancy London dinner party. The hostess made a number of hateful remarks about Jews. Lederer strolled to the sideboard and picked up a priceless Ming Dynasty pot. “You certainly dislike Jews, Madame,” he said. “No, I don’t,” the hostess replied. Lederer dropped the pot and as it shattered, he said: “Well, now you do.”

close up of broken wine glass. conceptual photo. white background

Eating French Regional

June 13th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

NY Times Travel section had a nice piece by Ann Mah about eating French regional specialties in the places where they originated. Like Mah, HG has found the Paris versions pallid. For the real stuff, Mah traveled to Lyon for Quenelle de Brochet; to Alsace for Choucroute Garnie; to Cassis on Provence’s Mediterranean coast for Bouillabaisse; to Brittany for Galettes and Crepes; to Languedoc, Roussilon and Midi-Pyrenees for Cassoulet. The writer devoured a lot of mouth watering stuff on her countrywide jaunt. HG has never found the need to run all over France for these specialties. BSK makes a very lush Choucroute using Bubbie’s sauerkraut (stewed with the BSK mixture of onions, apples and caraway seeds) and adorned with Schaller & Weber pork products (available online). BSK makes her own version of Boulilabaisse when at the HG/BSK seafront house on Prince Edward Island (BSK uses freshly caught and harvested haddock, cod, clams and mussels plus mineral rich PEI potatoes and tangy fish broth). HG makes a fiery, hot pepper laden mayonnaise to smear on slices of toasted baguette to accompany the dish. HG/BSK never construct a Cassoulet. The best in culinary history was served to HG/BSK at the Port Washington, L.I., home of HG cousin Wini Freund. Useless to compete with that masterpiece. HG/BSK don’t do Galettes (reliable sources say that true Breton galettes can now be found in the Marais neighborhood of Paris at Cafe Breizh). Top flight crepes are made by Gifted Daughter Lesley R. in her sunny Rhode Island waterfront kitchen. She tops them with creme fraiche and Alaskan red salmon caviar. HG can easily knock off a dozen with a few (or more, alas) glasses of icy vodka. BSK and Lesley R. once made Quenelles in Nantucket using bluefish that had just been pulled from the sea. HG was absent but both women attest to their excellence. However, curiously, they have never made them again. Best Quenelles HG ever consumed were at the venerable Veau D’Or bistro in New York many years ago. In order to duplicate that experience, HG will have to get over to Lyon. Unlikely. HG will have to live with his delicious memories.

25-cover-top-master675

New Taste Thrills at The Compound

June 11th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

When HG is feeling particularly festive, the ever hungry oldster manages to forgo the lunchtime treats of Menudo, Chicken Enchiladas, Carnitas, Arroz con Pollo, Posole, Green and Red Chiles that are always available at El Parasol and Sopaipilla Factory in the HG/BSK New Mexico neighborhood of Pojoaque. Instead, HG and BSK dude up a bit and lunch at The Compound on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. Beautiful, restrained decor (by Alexander Girard) in a landmark Southwestern building. A few pieces of good art on the white, plastered adobe walls. Usually, HG/BSK chooses among three specialties: Stacked Salad (very savory variation on the California Cobb salad); crispy Chicken Schnitzel with a caper, lemon and parsley sauce with sautéed spinach; Wild Mushroom Saute with Organic Stone Ground Polenta with a side of Arugula with Shaved Parmesan. Splendid victuals. Today, BSK opted for the mushroom/polenta dish while HG delved into the unexplored side of the menu. HG had a very sumptuous Spiced Panko Crab Cake served with frisee, Old Bay aioli and a small bouquet of sweet herbs and fennel seeds (gave a nice, unexpected bit of crunch). The crab cake was loaded with high quality lump crab meat with just enough Panko to hold it together. Best crab cake dish HG has ever had. Dessert was equally unusual: Black Pepper Sorbet. Cool. Creamy. A love bite of spice. Summing up: The Compound lunch is superb and moderately priced. The wine by the glass list is thoughtful. The light. The seating. The clientele composed of elegant ladies who lunch. Deft service. Quiet voices (unusual in the Land of the Free and Brave). The Compound is a don’t miss experience.

Compound, Santa Fe

Asian Penicillin

June 10th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

So, pal, life getting you down? Boss giving you the bad eye, buddy? Boyfriend/girlfriend announced a break up, bunky? You need comfort, friend, so do what Asians (and HG) do. Have a few bowls of Congee. If chicken soup is Jewish penicillin then Congee is Asian penicillin. Every Asian mom has her own version (the dish is also called okayu in Japan, Jook in Korea and in Indonesia, Bubur Ayam.) Essentially, it is rice porridge. You can add, shrimp, scallops, pork, beef, chicken or hard boiled egg. You can top it with peanuts, fried garlic, fried shallots, sesame oil. You can flavor it with Sriracha, soy sauce, garlic chile sauce. With each spoonful, the blues will be banished. HG guarantees it. HG began eating Congee at the busy, no frills Congee Noodle House on Broadway in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver, B.C. A very heartening breakfast on one of Vancouver’s many rainy mornings. At Congee Noodle House, the Congee was accompanied by a fried cruller (a rather greasy special taste). HG ignored the cruller but accompanied the Congee with fiery chile pepper fried squid or minnows. The Congee at the restaurant was very smooth similar to grits or Cream of Wheat. At home in Santa Fe, HG makes the Indonesian version—Bubur Ayam. The rice is not a puree. It retains some body.You can find a very good, authentic recipe on The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook website. Eat Congee. Be Happy.

salmon congee 1

Squid and Octopus

June 9th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

HG has written before about the reluctance of most Americans to make squid and octopus part of their everyday diet. Sure, raw octopus is hard to find and cooking it well takes some skill. But, squid? Always available at Whole Foods and many supermarket fish counters. Cheap. Healthy. Simple to prepare. Versatile. Here’s how HG/BSK do it. Squid tubes are cut into rings and the tentacles into manageable clusters. Rinsed and then dried thoroughly. Very thoroughly, so that when fried, the squid will get crispy. Toss them into a pan of hot, smoking vegetable oil. Cook for one minute to 90 seconds. After draining on paper towels, BSK ads them to a pan of gently warmed Sicilian olive oil, thin slices of garlic, Greek hot and sweet pickled peppers. Showers the dish with parsley and some lemon juice. HG likes the sautéed squid (minus the peppers) mixed with linguine and a parsley/anchovy/olive oil mix plus some capers. David Tanis, the very good food writer, likes to top warmed canned cannelloni beans (Goya is the best brand) with squid, surrounded by slices of raw, sweet onion and ripe tomato and drizzled with a bit of olive oil. As far as octopus goes, HG gets some cooked octopus at Whole Foods and treats it like sashimi. Otherwise HG revels in grilled octopus at Greek restaurants (The eateries in Chicago’s Greektown section are expert in cooking octopus). But, the best octopus dishes are found in Europe. HG/BSK remember with fondness eating octopus with the late, great Italian food authority Marcella Hazan and her husband, Victor, at a stately restaurant in Mestre, the industrial town that is Venice’s neighbor. These were baby octopus just pulled from the Venetian lagoon, poached gently and served with only olive oil, lemon juice and coarsely ground black pepper. Sublime. In Madrid, HG/BSK found a funky, noisy, non-tourist bistro that served beautifully tender Polpo Gallego (octopus prepared in the Galician style). After lunching on this dish plus a platter of delectable little fried peppers); Gambas Ajillo (garlic shrimp) and a pitcher of sangria, HG/BSK were fortified to view Velasquez, Rubens, Titian, Bosch, Rembrandt, Goya and El Greco at the nearby Prado art museum. Nice to combine delicious food for the body with exhilarating food for the soul.

Octopus_vs._Squid

The Demise of The Hand

June 6th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Warning to you of tender sensibilities — this is an R Rated Posting. HG is going to be naughty. Very naughty. Since HG is of advanced years and has limited knowledge of the mechanical advances in the area of human sexuality, HG was quite surprised recently to find there are many male masturbatory devices on the market. It is a growing industry say economic analysts. Essentially, the onanistic male slips his most precious and private part into a sort of comfy sleeve and electronic vibrations take over. These “sexual aids” can cost as much as $150. The French describe pornographic literature as “Books that are read with one hand.” We Americans (and Japanese where many of these devices got their start) have scaled new heights of decadence by discarding the human hand as a deliverer of solitary pleasure. Farewell to, as the wits of HG’s adolescence termed it, “Miss Palm and the Five Finger Sisters.”

thumbnail

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »