Culinary Muse

PACKING

I pack the suitcase for practice. I zip up the side zipper. And then I pick it up. Hmmm, not too bad. Could I run for a train with this on my shoulder? Sure. Now I get cocky. Can I travel with even less? Out goes the extra just-in-case pair of shoes. With a vow to hand wash nightly, I toss out the extra underwear. I call the hotel to see if they provide bathrobes. Yes, they do. Out goes the bathrobe. Can I part with my slippers? If I want to take the new red dress sandals I must. Good bye slippers. Something still doesn’t seem right. I re-read the article about packing. It suggests choosing just one or two colors for wardrobe. I am staring at a suitcase with three colors. I eliminate one of the colors. And then I remember my Aunt Mary’s European packing advice circa 1974. ‘Take just two colors. But not red and blue. You will look dumpy and everyone will know you are an American’. She would surely approve of my black and white wardrobe. I am comforted by the simplicity of my choice. They aren’t colors at all. They are as plain as a blank page. A good way to begin a trip.

ON THE ROAD TO JAMES BEARD AND THE GREENBRIER

It’s countdown time.  In one week the Muse sets off for food adventures of a magnificent and metropolitan sort.  The James Beard Media Awards and The Food Writer’s Symposium at The Greenbrier, via D.C., are our May destinations.  Planes, trains and taxis (no subways, thank you).  Tickets have been purchased, hotel reservations made (thank you for great deals, Orbitz and Hotels dot com) and we are forcing ourselves to stop the pre-planning there.  We need to leave some room for serendipity. Oh, yes, a letter to our senator has secured a tour of the Capitol.  A White House invitation is in the works.

Every trip needs road songs.  Here is the playlist so far:

‘So little time, so much to do’, Catherine Russell

‘Nigerian Marketplace’, Oscar Peterson Trio

‘Gonna take a miracle’ Laura Nyro

‘Back on the Block’ Quincy Jones

‘You must believe in spring’ Bill Evans

‘Hindustan’ Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby

Let the packing begin!!!

A SHOCKING CHOCOLATE PAIRING

I have used many words to describe the chocolate pairing experiences I have had over the years.  Fruity. Smokey. Citrus. Divine. I have never used the words ‘fungal’ and ‘shocking’. Until last Friday night, that is.  Our friends, T & P presented us with a bottle of Hanahato Kijoshu Sake.  This aged sake (eight years) has a beautiful amber color, the taste of a dry sherry and the nose of fungus gone amok.  I have never sniffed and then tasted any liquid for which the nose had no relationship to the taste.  I poured each of us a small portion. We all took a sniff and then started laughing. Could anything that smelled this bizarre have any redeeming culinary value? After a couple of sips it was clear that we had to try this with some really good chocolate, as suggested by Beau Timkin at TRUE SAKE . I went into my chocolate stash and pulled out a bar of  AMANO CHOCOLATE'S Jembrana 70% Dark Chocolate.  We each took a small bite of chocolate, allowed it melt for a moment on the tongue and then took a sip of Kijoshu.  That is when this, excuse the analogy, magical mystical mushroom trip began. The sake brought out the cherry in the Jembrana.  What cherry, you Jembrana fans might ask?  Exactly.  Alchemy and magic at work.

PEOPLE WATCHING 101

One could easily become a habitué of the Sunday morning outdoor café scene in San Francisco’s Union Square.  The appeals are many.  Lush urban setting. Sophisticated people watching.  Table service.  On this 79 degree morning I have observed an extended French family with a total of eight children consume 10 cans of Coke, an 80-something Grandmother light up a cigar and a young Asian man stroll by wearing a Panama hat, white linen pants, pale blue sport coat and spectators.  Did he lose his walking stick?

It occurs to me that a degree in People Watching would require course work at this Field Campus.

Course Description:

PEOPLE WATCHING IN UNION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCO (1 unit)

This course will work on your people identification skills in the field.Identification will be, but is not limited to, the following Classifications:

 
People with Parrots (single/couple)

Street People (mutterers, screamers)

Tourists (foreign, domestic, w/ & w/o children)

The Tattooed, the Pierced, the Sun Burned

The French

The Nervous

The Confused

I leave you with this final question: Why is that man sucking on his cell phone?