soupnancy

Bits and Bites

April 25, 2007

Top 50 Restaurants in the world: El Bulli reclaims the number one spot on S.Pelligrino’s annual list of the top 50 Restaurants in the world.. Spain has the most in the top ten, France the most overall, with the U.S. better represented every year. The French Laundry is fourth and top in the Americas , Jean Georges is in 18^th and Trotter in 30^th, with Alinea climbing fast. Whatever any of that means.. Not that I wouldn’t mind dining in any or all of them.. http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2007/apr/24/restaurants

Chinese Penis restaurant: Yes, dozens of varieties of penis of all sizes, simmered, sauced or sushi style, with the supposed effect of boosting vitality and sexual performance. I heard a reporter who visited the infamous restaurant telling his story on CBC; he didn’t seem sold on the eating of the penis part, but who knows what it might have done for him in the bedroom..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/17/wfood17.xml

Corn the culprit: Corn, so innocent looking, but so evil (in the wrong hands). It is in so much of our food, it is the reason our food is so cheap, and so bad for farmers, bad for the environment, not to mention bad for our health, a leading cause of the obesity epidemic… quelle scam. If you haven’t read about this already (Michael Pollan..), look for the documentary, King Corn. View the trailer at:

http://www.kingcorn.net/trailer.html

Heirloom tomato windowsill kits – Cool! Also tomato growing tips and paraphernalia..

http://www.windowbox.com/store/category/Heirloom+Tomatoes.html

Farmed sturgeon caviar from New Brunswick : A promising Canadian replacement for real caviar.. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/weekendlife/story.html?id=8ee0ae8a-6dc6-455c-af4b-0eb499cb8354

Fair Trade: I saw this heart-breaking documentary on PBS about the coffee trade. Parallel to my reading Carol Off’s book Bitter Chocolate, it is all almost too much to take; capitalism can be so cruel. Many of us are aware of the exploitation and outright injustices associated with our beloved java, but not enough of us are doing something about it. All it takes to force change is spending your money in the right places. Fair trade should not be a choice. Check this film out, and your coffee will never taste the same again. Or just do it - buy fair-trade already. It would make my Mom very happy (this has been her cause for over 15yrs). http://www.independentlens.org

La Quinzaine de l’Equitable: Events marking 15 years of Fair trade..

A fair trade wine tasting is being held at Dix Mille Villages in NDG.

Wednesday May 2nd, 2007 , 7:00 – 9:00 PM , 10$

The wine is from Paarl , South Africa , called Winds of Change. There will also be a screening of the film Aftertaste. To reserve or find out more about this or other events, please email dixmillevillages@journeymontreal.ca or phone 514-483-6569 or visit the store at 5674 Monkland Avenue .

Going Carbon Neutral. Everyday, another big gun jumps on the environmental bandwagon, weehoo! Now, it is Yahoo and Lancome going carbon neutral. Good for publicity, good for guilt and good for the environment, a win-win situation. Compensating for your own carbon emission footprint by reinvesting in global sustainability projects, planting trees and so on, is a great concept, as long as everyone reduces and reuses FIRST. Then, why not take the next step?

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=399693&itype=8486

http://yodel.yahoo.com/2007/04/17/dont-even-leave-a-footprint/

To make your own contribution, go to http://www.carbonfund.org/site/ or listen to David Susuki. He tells you all you need to know about going carbon neutral with links to different carbon calculators and offset companies..

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/carbon_neutral.asp

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/10/10/gies/

http://carboncounter.org

The Experimental Cuisine Collective kicks off, a NY association of cooks, scientists and artists with big goals. They will be meeting regularly to brainstorm and work on projects, all towards pushing the boundaries of cuisine. I bet it will end up being more about a bunch of crazy guys hanging out with some food, some beakers, protein powder, and lots of wine, with everyone just having a good time. Sound like fun.

http://starchefs.com/features/plating/vol9/index.shtml

Back to the tap: Good on Leslie Chesterman for bringing up the water issue in her Saturday column and challenging restaurateurs to put some thought and effort into the water they serve. Following Alice Water’s lead and serving filtered tap water sounds smart to me, as opposed to encouraging the wasteful snobbery of ‘specialty’ imported bottled water lists.. Not only because of the hazardous effects on the environment with all the plastic, glass, and carbon miles, but afterall, we are the water capitol of the world, so why aren’t we drinking our own? Especially, if all it takes is a wake-up call and a slice of lemon..

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=686ed37d-79f0-4118-ade9-433881220d34

Curing an egg yolk looks like an interesting activity, to do ONCE, maybe, when you have lots of time to waste in the kitchen..

http://www.starchefs.com/events/studio/techniques/PRudolph/index.shtml

Bittman’s ‘The Best Recipes in the World’: This website is a great source of reliable recipes from around the world, an electronic version of Bittman’s book, ‘The best recipes in the world’. http://www.randomhouse.com/broadway/bittman/main.php?p=recipes

“The Best Recipes in the World” is also a celebrity chef/travel/cooking show featuring Mark Bittman, whom you might know from his column in the New York Times. Although he regularly pairs up with celebrity chefs, he remains a very down to earth guy and cook. I’m a fan. His recipes are generally seductive and simple, and he always throws in some interesting tidbits of information. His recipes are known to be reliable, although I think they often need some jazzing up, a splash of wine or lemon or spice. Then again, I can’t follow a recipe for the life of me. ‘They’ say his recipes work. Any of his books are indeed a good buy even just for inspiration, and although I’m not a big food network connoisseur, I’m sure his show is better than most of the stuff on there.

The 100 mile diet, a movement that is really gathering steam.. I think it is just good in that it makes us stop and think about where every bit of what we eat comes from, which inevitably leads you to make some different choices, cutting out the unnecessary, and buying local when you can. Baby steps count.

http://www.100milediet.org/