Cuisine

There is nothing quite like seeing the flash of fear on a child’s face when he realizes that his seat on the water park ride is now at the bow of the craft ... heading backwards as he plummets over the falls. It seemed that the more he requested of the lifeguards to be facing the deep and fast drop the more they employed their stealthy tactics of spinning the multi-person tube just right. I guess it’s the same as pushing the “close door” button on the elevator when someone with an armful of groceries is asking you to hold the car.  Our children enjoyed their weekend at Great Wolf Lodge a few weeks ago as did we. While enjoying the three-acre, four-story water park, it seemed as though the more hair-raising rides we went on, the more our youngest would defy his young mind’s logical processes and continue to get on the rides for more excitement. Arriving home, there was no rest for the weary. It was time to get down to business as I had to plan and c...

Raised in a country that thrives on patriotism, it is second nature to pronounce the four syllables of our national moniker when singing one of the myriad anthems written to inspire and move us. Mayhap when one is speaking to a board of some sort, or arguing his case in front of the magistrate, “Amer- ica” is quite polysyllabic. Yet, after a week­- end of monster trucks, mechanical construction and the Super Bowl, one all but falls into the habit of yelling “’Murka!” at the top of his lungs. It is the rally cry of the masses; a country brought together by 5-ton trucks hurled into the stratosphere, a feat that salutes the ingenuity of Gravedigger and Ghost Rhyder. It is the battle drum of a nation united to help the USA to regain ground in technology and science. It is the summons of all football fans, followers of the contenders or not, to come together to watch the most observed sporting event of the year. But most of all, it is a salute to ...

 So it is now almost midnight. My keyboard is well-warmed as I have already finished tomorrow's agenda and menus are done for the various parties that I have coming up this holiday. I wish the game could have been a little closer to at least be interesting, but you can't always get what you want.  But football or no, I did get what I want in this particular case as I work through the virtual pile of work that I have on my desktop. Dinner was hours ago, and I feel like eating as do the Spanish. Traditionally, many if not most Spanish families eat dinner very late in the evening, starting their repast at 9 or 10 in the evening; and this is with young children.  This eases my mind as I catch my second wind. So wait; aren't we all being told to 'eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper'?  Shouldn't we not eat late since 'that' is part of what's causing our national obesity epidemic? Oh, you know where I'm going with th...

Wanderlust rocks my very foundation as I awaken. Did I dream about the British Isles? Was I thinking of Provence as I nodded off? Am I really itching to travel to the Germany or the Pacific Rim again? No, it is the after-effect of teaching global cuisine, a fascinating subject that confuses the issue of ethnicity in food and then attempts to explain the amalgamation of various cultures into one, synergistic body of work. In studying the foods of the world, one cannot help but note the vast and numerous paths of migration, amalgamation and destruction left in the wake of exploration, trade, conquest and discovery. The Nomads, Vandals, Alans, Moors, British, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, Asians, Goths and Normans were all known to explore mightily in the name of trade or conquest. And with them came the foods and cooking techniques of their homeland. As the groups moved from land to land, the culinary treasures of untold worlds were combined into a one-pot meal. In many c...

 Sometimes trying to cook for my own children is reminiscent of the opening scene of “Eat Drink Man Woman,” a 1994 Taiwanese film in which a widower lives with his three full-grown daughters. The family ritual calls for an elaborate dinner every Sunday evening, with the father (a highly trained chef) spending countless hours in the kitchen beforehand. When dinner is served, a much more elaborate spread than I have ever given my family short of our Thanksgiving annual assault, the three daughters merely wince “politely” and critique the meal, sharing their feelings freely on what could have been done to better the meal. Now, my kids may not be as critical of my work as the three heroines, but I do laugh every time that I see the movie, as it reminds me that children are fickle beasts, and some things shall forever remain a mystery. It is a common trick of ours to tell the kids that Mom made the chicken teriyaki when, in fact, I was the artisan in charge ...

The only thing more satisfying than teaching people how to cook is doing so with ingredients that are easily and locally procurable, once you know where to look. I have to admit that this is one of the complaints that I get on my column from time to time — I explain a technique or dish that simply can’t be recreated by a reader without a trip to the finer markets in the city. And by “city” I don’t mean Salisbury or Berlin. It is important for people in love with food to explore products with which they have never worked. They need to play with their food. This is how one grows his or her repertoire, a common theme in my writings. And the larger your repertoire, the smaller the world. I guess Disney got that one right, after all. In what seems like a different life, I worked at Michel Richard’s Citronelle during its short tenure on the top floor of the Latham Hotel in Baltimore. I was an expediter, so I was in the kitchen regularly. Among other thi...

Oh, rapturous joy, a sunny and eighty degree day here on the Shore. I imagine it is one of the very last we shall see on our doorstep until May, but I will take it without an ounce of remorse. When the weather is warmer, we tend to think of cooling foods, and now that the days are getting a tad bit chillier as time goes on, our thoughts sway to the hardy foods — foods that satiate and placate our hunger while giving us fuel to perform whatever duties may lay ahead of us. I, for one, am glad that one of my favorite foods is also one that lends itself well to the cooler month menus: lamb. With a taste that is a touch gamier or richer than beef, it is not a sought after choice by many a carnivore. Personally, I am glad I’m the only one in the house who enjoys lamb. That simply means that on “lamb day,” there is more for me. The lamb holds a special place in many cultures around the globe, and I am still surprised that so many Americans don’t c...

 It's time to go over my article checklist: Lie to faithful reader about writing an article on bratwurst. Check. Supplant with sarcastic checklist to open my magnum opus. Check. Finish submitting grades for the early semester. Check. Install French patio door with no formal carpentry training. Check. Actually have aforementioned door open and close with little effort and lock securely. Check. Make presentation for the early class. Check. Watch Disney's Christmas Carol with the tyke while I write my weekly tirade. Check. We have lived in our house for 13 years, and it never ceases to amaze me how much we have accomplished in renovating the beast. It is nigh impossible to enter a room without thinking about either the work we've done or that which needs be completed. In fact, when I installed the door tonight, I mused to my wife that the molding, caulk, sill board and every other detail would be complete in approximately 18 months, the average project time for any...

King Ken recently reproached me at the hardware store for not writing enough about German food. I immediately started thinking about German food and then thought to myself, “Ken, I’m not going to do it.” True, he remains the unchallenged champion of the fruitcake championship, but today is not a good day for me to write about Wiener schnitzel (written about it), sauerbraten (written about it), German soft pretzels (written about it) or bratwurst. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I have written about brats in more than 400 articles. How did that happen? I cannot worry about that today. I am focused (inner-chortle) on being well-planted into the months that end in an “r.” We have all heard the saying that you should only eat oysters in months that own an “r,” but let me ask you one question: did you by any chance notice any oysters on the menu around town this summer? I bet you did. As it is difficu...

“Munga, munga. Gingu.” Or so the caveman would have said thousands of years ago as he foraged and hunted his way to a presumably healthy table and I imagine that by “table” I mean rock. Yes, I am referring to the Paleo Diet, a newly popularized food fashion in a very long line of dietary devices. The Atkins diet, Tom Venuto’s “Burn the Fat,” Feed the Muscle, high-carb/high-intensity cardio, endurance regimens, Insanity, P90X and even Richard Simmons are all presumably “right” in helping one to attain leanness and meanness. The choice of diets is as staggering as one’s choice of world religion among the thousands out there, but that is for another conversation altogether. No, for now I just want to investigate and learn about all things Paleo. A local gym owner peaked my curiosity today and as an old friend of mine had talked to me about it at length at one point, I figured I could at the very least check it out for myself...