The Way To A Fleet’s Heart Is Through Its Stomach

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Judy

 

I worked for the Navy as a civilian for several years.  The coffee mess was a sacred institution, and I often heard the saying, “Ships float on coffee, not seawater!” And although I never spent a night on a ship, I can understand how essential good food and java can be to the morale of Navy units both afloat and ashore.

When I got the press release from the Navy League describing the cooking demonstrations planned for their Sea-Air-Space 2013 Exposition at National Harbor, I was surprised that so much emphasis was given to the culinary arts in a trade show basically dedicated to showing off the latest in warfighting technology.  Five cooking demonstrations were held daily for the three days of the show, and although I only attended for one day, I was impressed by the full kitchen, enthusiasm, and dedication of the personnel I met there.  The food was excellent, as well.

The Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP, for short) is in charge of logistics and supply for the Navy and Marine Corps.  It ‘s also charged with maintaining “quality of life” for servicemembers and their families – and I’d say food service is an indispensible part of quality of life!

Michael Harants, the Corporate Chef for the Navy, proudly supplied me with many statistics about the Culinary Specialist (CS) rating.  The Navy currently has 7,300 CS’s who served 93 million meals last year from 237 food service operations.  They get specialized culinary training in “A” School.

Each demo was designed to showcase a different chef.  CS2 Richard LeBlanc, from Norfolk, repeated the preparation of his Smoked Stuffed Chicken Breast, just as he had made it to win the Gold Medal at the Annual Military Culinary Arts Competition run by the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence.  Chef Michael explained that this is the largest culinary competition in North America, and is organized in cooperation with the American Culinary Federation.  At the expo, Chef Richard did everything from breaking down the chicken to making the forcemeat stuffing and the barbeque sauce, with the exception of the smoking (not allowed in the exhibit hall!).

 

 

Even without the smoking, it was delicious. 

Other demos were more of a team effort.

Each dish was nicely plated and displayed after the demo.  Even better, menu cards were provided, although the quality of these varied.

Chef Michael is also in charge of the Adopt-A-Ship program, which sends civilian chefs to serve on ships at sea, and provide further training to the CS’s in industry practice.  Of course, the civilians learn from the Navy procedures for keeping the galley ship-shape.  From 40 to 110 chefs a year have shipped out as volunteers – only their travel expenses are covered.

There was more to the expo than NAVSUP, of course – even other food experiences.

It seems that all one hears about drone deployment these days is negative.  I am delighted to report that I attended a presentation by Northrop Grumman, which incidentally provided a nice cold buffet lunch, and learned about an application of drone technology that is nothing but beneficial: an airborne mine-hunting system which detects underwater mines remotely.  Not only does it save sailors’ lives, but it can be deployed for civil incidents.  It was used in body recovery from the Flight 800 crash, and in the fatal Baltimore water taxi accident in 2004.

And no article about a Navy event can close without a mention of coffee (see lead graph).  There were at least four booths on the show floor dispensing the brown elixir, among them SAIC and Lockheed Martin.  They know their audience.

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Change Lobsters, and Dance

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Judy

I went back to Wegman’s in Columbia (see preview) looking for dinner, and stumbled across a treat: Thursday is Lobster Night.  At the Food Bar, they will steam to order a 1-pound lobster and serve it to you with corn, potatoes and melted butter for $16.00 plus tax.  You can eat it there or carry it out.

It takes ten minutes.  They give you a beeper to alert you when the beast is ready, so I wandered about the store while I waited.  I noticed that they have lobster available in many forms.

Primo, of course, live.  Instead of putting their lobsters in tanks like any other store, Wegman’s displays theirs on a bed of ice.  You can get up close and personal with them.  Maybe not too close.

They also had whole steamed lobsters, lobster rolls, and (priciest), lobster salad.  When I thought I had seen all possible permutations, I noticed one more: the lobster pretzel.

This appeared to be a generous amount of lobster mixture topping an oversize pretzel, possibly the soft kind from Philadelphia.  A woman standing next to the counter (a customer, not an employee), noticed my interest and assured me that she had bought one in the past and that it was quite good.   I’ll have to take her word for it.

There were some very large fish displayed on ice, which Wegman’s employees will slice to order.  One of them held up a halibut so I could get a good picture – thank you, Michael!

 

Then the buzzer went off and my personal lobster was ready.  It was very good.  I had to take two of the three boiled potatoes home as leftovers.  Just one problem: the half-ear of corn was overcooked and mushy – it must have been precooked.  Why not just throw one in the steamer with each lobster?

But overall it was a thoroughly satisfactory  lobster supper.  I look forward to returning some Thursday in the future for another one, and perhaps on a Tuesday to try the steak special.

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Too Close Starbucks; Invasion of the Albino Bunnies; Free Water

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Judy

Three strange food-related things observed lately:

Two Starbucks Too Close

In the Fallsgrove shopping center in Rockville, the Safeway has a Starbucks stall inside.  The next store to the left is, guess what?  A Starbucks!  Is this a contender for the Two Closest Starbucks in the Known World?

The green mermaid can just be discerned in the Safeway window on the right side of the picture, while she stands proud on the building at the left.  They can’t be more than 100 feet apart.

Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers

I was shopping at the Dutch Country Farmer’s Market in Laurel when I spotted these rather scary-looking Easter bunnies at JR’s Candy and Bulk Foods stall.  They were about two feet tall and on the march.  Maybe it’s because I dislike white chocolate, but I thought I detected an inimical glare in their eyes.  Or maybe they were feeling rejected; they were, like the rest of the leftover Easter candy, half-price.

Free the Water

The 7-Eleven near my house will give you a free bottle of water if you buy a sandwich.  I’m old enough to remember when buying water was considered the height of extravagance – and it wasn’t available in a 7-Eleven, either!  Except of course, it was, and still is – free from the tap.  I hope that one day we will return to feeling that buying a bottle of water instead of refilling a reusable bottle is a luxury we can live without.

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FLASH! Fortune Cookies Have Direct Link To Heaven!

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Judy

Today I had an experience that was unique in my 50-plus years of eating Chinese food.  I cracked open the fortune cookie and found this:

<smiley face> God will help you overcome any hardship. <smiley face>

Now, I have received moralizing fortunes (“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”), sententious fortunes (“Morality is truth in full bloom”) , flattering fortunes (“You are an exciting and inspiring person”), non sequitur fortunes (“The job is well done”), and even a propos  fortunes (“May you have a good appetite!”).  Sometimes I have even received actual fortunes (“A thrilling time is in your immediate future”).

I’ve been offered ethical advice (“There are many ways you can be hurtful, but only one way to heal.  That is through love”) and many pep talks (“The best angle from which to approach any problem is the TRYangle”).  My all-time favorite may be this one: “Time flies.  Suns rise and shadows fall. Let time go by. Love is forever over all.”

As you may infer, I make a habit of keeping these little strips of paper.  If I learned all the Chinese language lessons and played all the lottery numbers on the other sides, I’d be a inveterate bilingual gambler today.

But! I have never, ever, been quite so preached at in a fortune cookie fortune!  None of them have ever purported to bring me the word of you-know-who!  And what a promise – any hardship overcome!

I hope this isn’t a trend.  I really don’t need God making promises with my dessert.  I could go to religious services or tune in to AM radio for that.  I want to be amused and entertained – maybe even touched – by my fortunes.  Is that too much to ask of a little slip of paper?

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Adventures in Reviewing: A Book Claiming to Teach How to Cook

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Judy

A few months ago, I won a copy of How to Cook: Delicious Dishes Perfect for Teen Cooks as a door prize.  Now, I have been cooking for 50 years, so I would not be the best person to judge how well this book fulfills the (rather large)  promise of its title, but my cooking-averse daughter is just the audience it’s written for.  She’s 28, her freezer is full of Lean Cuisine, and her refrigerator is usually almost empty. (“Where I have failed?’  is a question best left unanswered.)

I loaned her the book, and she promised to look through it and pick out some recipes she would like to try, but only on condition we would cook them together.  Fair enough!  We made a date to use her kitchen, after she bought the ingredients.

That highlighted one of the first difficulties: this book needs a chapter titled How to Shop.  My daughter (let’s call her “Jane”) noted the variety of ingredients some of the recipes call for, such as “lamb shoulder, cut into cubes,” and others using a long list of spices, presupposing either a very well-stocked (parents’) kitchen or a budget beyond the reach of many teens.  Shopping for exotic ingredients needs more education than the “Back to Basics” chapter offers.

Jane decided on Spanish Omelet, Potato Rosti, Pad Thai, and Chickpea Curry.  Buying potatoes for the omelet and rosti, Jane assumed the description “floury potatoes” meant “covered with flour.”  The book did not disabuse her.

The omelet took longer to produce than claimed, and called for about twice as much oil than was necessary, but the final product was satisfactory.  Even though we’d added some onions to the basic recipe, we concluded that it could use a little more punch – some hot sauce maybe, or cheese.

The rosti was less successful.  The potatoes turned an unappetizing shade of grey and stuck to the pan, even though we followed the recipe exactly: parboiling, grating, then squeezing out the excess water before frying.  They tasted good, though. (I understand turning grey is somewhat random, and may be a result of how the potatoes were raised.)

Pad Thai called for a wok.  Jane did not have a wok, but used a large pan instead. Another problem with the book – kitchen equipment necessary to prepare the dishes: a loose-bottom pie pan, hand-held mixer, food processor – may not be available to a beginning cook.

This recipe was not difficult to prepare and the dish was tasty, but the 15-minute prep time given was totally unrealistic.  Jane needed help shopping for shallots and a fresh red chili.  There were too many noodles in proportion to the other ingredients, and the final product was a little too oily.

The most successful recipe was the chickpea curry.  Again, the 25-minute prep time was totally unrealistic (and as I think back, so were all the estimates of prep time for all the recipes we cooked.  I did not realize this before because I was teaching as we went.)  It made more than the four servings claimed, but we didn’t mind.  Jane could eat it for several days – and did!

As a primer for beginners, How to Cook is a good supplement or basic text when combined with lessons delivered by a more experienced teacher, but should not be a substitute for the personal touch.

How to Cook: Delicious Dishes Perfect for Teen Cooks, DK Publishing, New York, 2011.

NOTE: there is no author indicated.  Maggie Mayhew is credited as a “Consultant.”

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Where The K-Pop Never Stops

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Judy

Honey Pig first showed up on our radar when we went to the brand-new Lotte Supermarket in Catonsville (just down the road from the H-Mart).  There’s a stall selling Honey Pig Dumplings inside the Lotte.  We bought some and were hooked.  Since they opened with only three kinds of dumplings, they have expanded to about eight (but not all are available all the time).  They are large, steamed, filled buns served with dipping sauces to go – there is no place to sit and eat in the store.

All of the varieties we tried were excellent – pork, beef, bulgogi, kimchi, vegetable, chicken.  Many fillings incorporate transparent noodles and greens along with the main ingredients.

Then we discovered that the Honey Pig franchise had expanded to a restaurant in Ellicott City.  Honey Pig Korean BBQ Restaurant on Route 40 is open 24 hours (except Monday morning) and was doing a roaring business when we went on Saturday night.

I mean roaring literally – it was so loud you had to shout to be heard over the crowd and the music.  The noise bounces off metal surfaces all over the room, and out of the speakers of the large screen with Korean music videos playing constantly.  Fortunately, the wait staff is patient and good-humored.

As soon as you sit at the table, a variety of little dishes starts showing up. About half a dozen panchan; chili paste, garlic and peppers to season your meat; dipping sauce ditto; a bowl of green salad; rice.  You consult the laminated menu for your choice of meats (there are some soups and appetizers as well), as the waiter fits your grill to the fixture and turns on the gas.  We decided on boneless beef ribs, duck, and beef tongue.

The first thing to hit your grill is a mixture of bean sprouts and kimchi.  Then the thin slices of tongue.  Your waiter will keep an eye on your meats, turn them and caution you when to take them off the grill.  The tongue cooks in a matter of minutes, until it’s crispy on the edges and succulent.  Mixed with the rice, sauce and complementary steamed egg served sizzling in a stone bowl, it makes a fine first course of meat.  My only complaint – that the thin slicing muted the distinctive taste of this cut of cow – was outvoted by my family, whose vow that I would be the only one eating tongue was overcome by its mildness.  Win some, lose some!

The duck comes next.  The rim of fat mostly melts off on the grill, leaving a soft slice which mixes nicely with the bean sprout-kimchi mix.  Then the beef, cooked until rare.  The small chunks were tasty, but a few were tough.  It was least successful meat of the meal, in my opinion.

By this time, the sprouts and kimchi had cooked down to a surprisingly delicious mess of crispy-tender-sweet-slight-spiciness.  We scraped it all off the grill  and onto our plates as a fitting end to our adventure in Korea by way of Ellicott City.

One way I judge an ethnic restaurant is by the proportion of that ethnic group present at the tables.  By this measure, Honey Pig is a hit.  Many Koreans, some young in groups, some with large families, were enjoying the food when we were there.  So were many non-Koreans, thanks to the helpful staff.  If only we could hear them a little better!

When we return, it will not be on a Saturday night.  And we will return.  Din does not trump deliciousness.

 

P.S. I have just learned that a Honey Chicken stall has opened in the Lotte next to the Honey Dumpling.  Stay tuned!

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How Much Is That Donut In The Window?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Judy

Book Review: An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies

Tyler Cowen is an economist with an eating habit.  The book jacket copy for An Economist Gets Lunch tells us that he writes the “world’s leading economic blog” as well as TylerCowensEthnicDiningGuide.com.  One has to admire a man who attempts to combine his vocation and avocation with such gusto.

Unfortunately, that’s the crux of my main problem with this book: it reads like a series of blog articles about aspects of eating interspersed with chapters explaining economic factors in greater depth.  This unevenness wears on the reader.  To his credit, Cowen seldom descends into econo-speak, but his constant reiteration of the phrase “everyday foodie” referring to himself, and one assumes, to his readers, distracts one into wondering what the opposite might be:  a special-occasion, holiday foodie? Someone who doesn’t eat every day?  What?

The chapters discussing the economics of food (“How American Food Got Bad,” “Another Agricultural Revolution, Now”) are clear and blessedly jargon-free.  The best example of these is the chapter explaining “Why Does Mexican Food Taste Different in Mexico?”

His subjective experience of eating around the world and at home in suburban Virginia provides amusing chapters, such as the one on the many varieties of Asian food and how to maximize the dining experience for each of them.

I found myself nodding in agreement of his description of the Great Wall, a Chinese supermarket in Fairfax County – Asian supermarkets in general have superior produce and fish to mainstream ones. And his adventures tracking down a specific restaurant in Tokyo eerily echoed the experience I had trying to find a conveyor-belt sushi joint located “behind the Akihabara station.”

It’s an enjoyable read.  I learned some new things about the economics of food distribution, if not about where to get good ethnic food – but I like to think that that’s because I’m already so knowledgeable about food; it justifies my writing this blog!

Cowan, Tyler, An Economist Gets Lunch, Dutton, New York, 2012.

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Three Odd Things

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Judy

I’ve been collecting odd food-related sightings since I’ve been writing (and carrying a phone with a pretty-good built-in camera).  Here are three of them.

Rude Scarecrows

These scarecrows were sighted on Muncaster Road between Route 108 and Redland.  They were put up for Halloween and stayed there for months.  They are obviously Republican scarecrows (note the Romney sign), and I can’t but think that the continuous mooning  is now just sour grapes.

Ronald And Friend

This picture was taken in the Crystal City Underground.  I think Ronald was eavesdropping, and trying to cheer up his seatmate.  She looks like she could use some good news.

Serendipity at Starbucks

An odd juxtaposition, no?  Crusading against diabetes next to a tray of samples of super-sweet caramel cappuccino.  The barista hadn’t noticed anything amiss.  Maybe I have an overdeveloped sense of irony.  Oh, and Starbucks loves me!  So sweet.

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A Tale of Two Ciders

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Judy

Earlier this month, I went to a meeting of a club I have belonged to for many years.  This club has a tradition of members bringing refreshments for everyone to share.  The tipple of choice is usually beer – those of us who don’t like the taste of hops make do with soft drinks or the occasional Woodchuck or Strongbow hard cider.

Looking into the bin of contributed alcoholic drinks, I spied a few bottles of Angry Orchard cider.  Ah, serendipity!  I had just been reading about this new brand of a newly-fashionable product.  I lost no time trying a bottle.

I was a little disappointed with it.  For all the surrounding hype, I found the product to be curiously flat, with little of the complexity promised on the Angry Orchard website.  Here is a sample of their copy:

Our search for particular flavors led us to the traditional growing regions of Europe, where we hand-select bittersweet apples from France and culinary apples from Italy.  These areas were ideal because of their soil composition and climate. The wide range of apples used in Angry Orchard cider contributes to the complex flavor profile of each of our cider styles. (angryorchard.com)

Maybe one or two of their other flavors are more interesting.  I was drinking the Crisp Apple.  There are also  Traditional Dry, Apple Ginger, and a new Elderflower (to cash in on that flavor craze in mixed drinks).

Our host, John, noticing that I was not impressed with my drink, handed me a small glass full of a ruby-tinged liquid.  “Try this,” he said.

It was something very special.  Flavors bloomed on my tongue: layers of fruit, aromatics and spice.  Turns out it was John’s own recipe for taking cider to another level.  He makes four gallons at a time, and doesn’t share much; but he was happy to provide me with a copy of the recipe.  “The Delicate and Subtle Art of Brewing Apple Cider” is a bit of a misnomer, as it doesn’t ferment – the end product is non-alcoholic – but the six-hour process is every bit as complex as home-brew beer would be.

Starting with a blend of apple cider and white grape juice, five different spices, fruit, raisins, molasses, vanilla bean and sea salt, three simmers and strains, maceration overnight, and a final strain into clean vessels, John recommends customizing the recipe with combinations of fresh fruits to create variations to the brewer’s taste.  Believe me, the results are worth it.

He graciously gave me permission to share his recipe, so if you would like the detailed directions for  “The Delicate and Subtle Art of Brewing Apple Cider,” leave a request in a comment.

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Good Food and Drink for a Good Cause

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Judy

This year’s Saturday Night Sips was held once again at the Newseum, and it once again featured an array of creative cocktails, nibbles from the area’s trendy restaurants, and artisanal, handcrafted food by hopeful, entrepreneurial purveyors.    Some new features: a food truck was represented, along with a regional winery, a brewery, and a dessert spread.

And, a brief, magical appearance by Carla Hall!  She had just stopped by on her way to somewhere else, but took time to pose with some of the kitchen staff.

Although local celebrity chef Jose Andres was absent this year, Joan Nathan and Alice Waters were both there, mingling with the crowd.  It wasn’t easy getting a clear shot of Alice – everybody wanted one!

 

 

 

 

 

A long table of mixologists greeted guests with their specialty cocktails.  Drink secured, one is free to visit the chef stations and try each excellent morsel.

Some of the outstanding tables were manned by Will Artley of Pizzeria Orso, offering lobster tacos; Michael Costa of Zaytinya with an interesting spin on stuffed leaves – not grape or cabbage, but kale.   “Kale’s in season, and delicious,” he claimed, and so it was, stuffed with chestnuts, basmati rice, and currents, and served with cumin yogurt.

 

 

The CapMac food truck people were dispensing meatballs.  They assured me that “balls out” and “sloppy” refers to their two specialty styles of mac and cheese.  The chicken parm meatballs are another specialty, and delicious.

 

Waiting in line for the sushi made me too late for the oysters.  Not enough oysters!!  What were they thinking?  But the sushi was excellent, hand rolls with cured salmon, flavored miso, and (in a burst of fusion), Asian pico de gallo, made to order by the chef of SEI.

 

 

Upstairs, Wagshal’s was dispensing bites of Fermin’s Iberico de Bellota Jamon, a rarefied imported ham.

 

 

 

 

 

From the mezzanine, there was a fine view of the news helicopter.

Joan and Alice spoke on behalf of the two charities which benefit from this event.  DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table both contribute immensely to the well-being of our community not only through providing meals to the homeless and seniors, but also through providing training in culinary jobs.  How appropriate that all these terrific restaurants and food service folks get together to help their programs go forward!

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