Thursday, October 30, 2008

They Eat Food in London too...

Here is a sampling of my food photographs in London; the food both in London and in Berlin focused a lot on meat, and has made me very happy to be back in my vegetable and fruit friendly San Francisco.
New British cuisine seeks to reinvent traditional British foods (read meat and potatoes) to become something along the lines of haut cuisine intended to rival French Cuisine. Needless to say, um, it doesn't quite rival French Cuisine, but it was better than bangers and mash with a side of mushy peas. Photographed here, is liver (I think) covered in Japanese breadcrumbs.

So this I believe is London's attempt at "healthy" "California-style" nouriture. It was good, but well, not amazing. It sort of felt like beginner vegetarian cuisine. Still, it was nice to see vegetables on the menu :)

One thing that I thought was terribly cool were these wooden "sustainability" spoons, personally dubbed as such. While our corn spoons are nice and might not have a woody taste, our dependability on corn is not exactly the best for the world food economy. So, way to go Europe!

So, this is the top of the tastiest hot chocolate I have had to date. I believe it cost over 5 American dollars, but was well worth it. The top was frothy foam and the bottom consisted of a rich chocolate/milk mixture that still had some of the chalky texture of good chocolate.

Brixton Market dubbed as both the "whole cow market" and the "smelly fish market". Both definitions are true.

Whole cows...with cow hooves in background.

These pretty fish weren't the smelliest, but sure were lovely to look at...

Dried catfish carcasses. There were three types of dried catfish, each used as different spices and these did smell a bit fowl.

One of my most favorite fall plants is squash, specifically butternut squash. Here is a photo of a meal of butternut squash and mushroom pasta I made for my friends Phil and Tamara.

These are Cornish Pastries. They are quite the tasty buggers, but were initially designed for mine workers rather than fancy London-ites. The crust was intended for mine workers to hold onto the pastry as they ate down, the pastry containing all the parts of a complete meal, from vegetables and potatoes to meat at the bottom. At the end, they threw out the crust. Today, the crust is the best part :)

Dim Sum, London style! (sorry, SF is till better...)


Beautiful cupcakes in Covent Garden.

A surprise farmer's market in Central London...

A funny little sign that I thought was good to end this posting on...

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Berlin Essen! (Berlin food!)

Writing from London (writing that sort of makes me sound like a slightly fabulous world traveller...) after having spent the last five days in Berlin. I had an amazing time in Germany and have so many stories and photos to share, but, before I get to those, I thought I would quickly post a survey of photos of the food I ate while in Berlin. There were some amazing markets, tasty restaurants, and lovely meals shared with new friends. So, here is just a sampling:

Bulk olive oil AND liquor; take that Rainbow Grocery!

First night in Berlin and feeling a little nostalgic for San Francisco, so I went to Dolores for a buritto.

While note quite a burrito from El Feralido, it was tasty in its own right. Also, please note that I was reading "Tale of the City" while eating my meal. ha ha.

Amazing mushrooms at the Wednesday farmer's market.

Big, juicy raspberries...2 euros a box! damn. Take that Ferry Terminal Market.

Really delicious pasta with truffles and saffron; first full meal with my Israeli friends Matan and Noa!

Tasty souffle with mango sauce...

Turkish Market; swoon!

They even clip off the thorns for you!

prickly pears....

Grape leaves, not wrapped over rice and cheese...

There was an impressive selection of fish across the market...

Feta never looked so good...I also bought some amazing, clear, yes clear, honey that will go os so very tastily with Bodega Bay feta upon return to the Bay.

Kepern means caper, and yes, they are huge.

Dragon fruit was 2 euros for 2; at Rainbow it's $20 for on. Dear god. I wish I could take fruit across international boarders outside the EU.

Before.

After.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

So, I'm sorry I've been bad about updating my blog...

But my dear roommate Nikki showed me a hilarious food related video tonight that I wanted to share :) So, here it is:



Here is another video, not related to food, but to Elijah Wood, that is also pretty great...

pretty hilarious, yes?

Anyways, I'm leaving for London and Berlin Saturday night and am going to do my best to write a blog with some culinary porn while I am happily traveling.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Omnivore's top 100

This list was sent to me by Daniela and Danish; it's pretty broad diversity of omnivorous foods :)

Copy the list, bold the ones you have eaten.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (Um, gross!)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst (will be having that in Berlin!)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (this is where I draw the line...)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (squash blossoms!)
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake