over the transom

May 14

Time for a bit of housekeeping and news reportage
Thanks to the 42 people who participated in the poll asking what type of blog entry you prefer to read here. A solid 16 percent said you like news, so here we go:

Item 1) For national readers, and people in Baltimore, my friend E. Michael Reidt has a new job. He has joined the San Francisco-based Kimpton Group to be the executive chef of B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore, scheduled to open this July.
I sent E. Michael an e-mail about it, and he replied, “Sssshhhh!! Don't tell anyone! It's a secret.....” but as I did, in fact, get the information in a press release I’m going to go ahead and report it.
B&O will be Kimpton's first restaurant in Maryland, and apparently the menu will be “approachable American brasserie” food, plus a pizza oven.
E. Michael's background is varied and interesting. He’s a New Englander who also spent time in Miami before heading out to California. He has a particular passion for Brazilian things (food, spouses), and recent travels include an extended excursion to Southeast Asia. He’s a Food & Wine Best New Chef, class of 2001. We met several years ago in Aspen, where I bonded with him and another 2001 Best New Chef, Randy Lewis, which leads me to

News item 2) From SF Weekly’s Sfoodie blog, Randy is going to head up the kitchen at Tavern at Lark Creek in Larkspur, Calif. I actually met Randy before meeting Michael. He spent some time as corporate chef for Kendall-Jackson winery, which for awhile was the wine sponsor of the National Pork Producers Council’s national cooking competition, Taste of Elegance, which I attend with enthusiasm whenever I can, less for the pork than for the chefs, because as great as the pork is, the chefs are greater. Mostly Midwestern salt-of-the-earth guys. Randy's not Midwestern, and he’s certainly more high-profile than most of the chefs at Taste of Elegance, but he's a good guy all the same.
And a busy guy. He’s also involved in a would-be burger chain called Best-o-Burger. It just has one unit now, so it’s not a chain, but Randy says they have signed a lease for a second location, are working on a third and are trying to move forward with licensing deals for 50 locations in Los Angeles.

Speaking of burgers, for New Yorkers, news item 3) Elevation Burger, a chain based in Arlington, Va., that serves organic hamburgers (made from grass-finished, free range cattle, thank you very much) and French fries cooked in olive oil, has its sights set on lower Manhattan. It has signed a franchising deal with Fabian Rosario and John Harris.
It might take awhile, though. Elevation Burger currently has just three locations (in Falls Church and Arlington in Virginia, and in Baltimore), but has signed deals to open 40 more throughout the mid-Atlantic as well as in Texas and Florida. It is unusual for all such deals to bear fruit. Then again, Fransmart has been put in charge of the development plans, and that’s the same company that has helped Five Guys Burgers & Fries expand so rapidly. So, you never know.
Rosario and Harris are Brooklyn restaurateurs. Rosario co-owns the Brooklyn IHOP, and Harris owns The Spot American Bistro in Prospect Heights.

Okay, finishing up, the results of my latest poll:

WHICH TYPE OF FOOD WRITER’S DIARY ENTRY DO YOU PREFER?

Quick news about restaurant openings and chef changes: 7 (16%)

Gossipy items about who shows up at what parties: 3 (7%)

Meandering think pieces on food and life in general: 11 (26%)

Personal reminiscences and thoughts of family and friends: 2 (4%)

Entries that let readers live vicariously through a New York food writer: 4 (9%)

Travel pieces: 0 (0%)

All of the above: 15 (35%)

Chocolate Mousse Redux - Video Recipe

No, that's not me. It's (a slightly more hirsute) Heston Blumenthal demonstrating the method I wrote about last week to make mousse from just chocolate and water.

For all you naysayers, here's the proof:

Family Trip

12 Mei 2009, selasa

Hari ini rencana buat trip keluarga, pagi pagi jam 6 uda brangkat dari rumah, tujuannya ke kagawa pref, kira2 3 jam perjalanan dari matsuyama by tol. Lumayan juga perjalanannya, anak2 uda ga sabar, Mei nanya terus jam berapa nyampe nya..da pada cape perjalanan mobil.



Nyampe di hotelnya, taroh barang n ambil tiket masuk Reoma World, karena udah 1 paket ma hotel n 2 kali makan. Jam 10an kita nyampe di sana, anak2 uda ga sabar pengen main main di taman bermain yang mirip2 dufan kalo di Jakarta, cuman bedanya, disini ada ruangan ruangan yg dilengkapi banyak mainan.

Pertama ke kamar block, lego. Disitu banyak banget block yang dimaenin bisa dibentuk macem2. Bagus banget buat perkembangan otak anak. Ada ruangan yang khusus main masak2an, mainannya anak cewek, trus ruangan aneka mainan dari kayu. Ada lagi ruangan khusus mainan Licca, boneka n Sylvania Family. Banyak banget dah...
yang paling enaknya, itu ruangan uda kayak punya pribadi aje, coz musim liburan uda lewat n bukan weekend, jadi sedikit banget orang yg datang ke situ.

Di arena lain, ada mainan seperti jet coster, ato train, ato bianglala, komedi putar, cuman perlu beli tiket lagi n cuaca saat itu panas bangett, jadinya ga main dah...cukup main di dalam ruangan yg ber AC..hehe...

Main mpe sore, trus kita balik lagi ke hotelnya buat istirahat. Mei bukannya istirahat, langsung ngajak ke pool n onsennya...wak...akhirnya kita main di poolnya da...airnya hangat, menyenangkan banget, mpe disuruh udahan pada ga mau...

Abis itu kita makan malam di restorannya, kali ini dapet pilihan makan steak, soup, n ebi chili n sashimi, ada dessertnya puding ice cream. Mei dapat makanan anak2, omurice n burger , sup kentang, n puding. Makanannya enak, kenyang banget dah...
sayang ga difoto, ribet gara2 Xiang meledak nangis, minta tidur..kecapean kayaknya.

Link reoma park disni.
Link hotelnya disini..

Hari kedua, ke yasima suizoukan...hari ini blom sempet ditulis, sabar ya

Aldea opened

May 13

Sometimes it takes me a really long time to realize the obvious. Three years, usually. I think that's how long I lived in Thailand before I came to understand that rainy-season downpours are preceded by strong winds that let everyone know they should pack up their wares and go inside. I’d look around and wonder where everyone was running off to and then I’d be drenched. I finally put two and two together around 1995.
It also took me about three years to realized that many pastry chefs are gay. I had been in this job for around that long when I went to a party called the Pastry Jam, thrown by a supplier during one of the Javitz Center trade shows, and it was the gayest party I’d ever been to, with nearly naked men in body paint adorning many of the tables. Nice guys. Then I thought about the male pastry chefs I know and how many of them are gay. For awhile after that realization I used to make that observation to people in the restaurant world and they’d look at me like I was an idiot for not having noticed before. It probably took me three years to stop voicing that observation.
I don’t know how long it has taken me to realize that if you go to a restaurant opening that starts at 9pm, you're not going to be able to just pop your head in, kiss a couple of people on both cheeks, turn around and leave, because the party’s simply going to be too fun for that.
Because if a restaurant opening starts at 9, chefs are coming.
That was for sure the case on Monday, when Aldea, George Mendes's new place on W. 17th St., opened its doors. George was actually in the kitchen for much of the night. You know, cooking. It's an open kitchen, so he could briefly pause, say hi and get back to work.
For awhile it was low key. I met Txikito chef-owner Eder Montero, tweeted once, because it seemed like the right thing to do. (If you look at the time stamp, you’ll see that the message didn't actually escape my phone until I left the party) and discussed many small matters with Julian Alonzo of Brasserie 8 1/2. Then I fell in with Oceana chef Ben Pollinger and pastry chef Jansen Chan before an unusually energetic Dave Arnold, the French Culinary Institute's director of culinary technology — possibly the only director of culinary technology anywhere — bounded in with Nils Noren, the school's vice president for culinary and pastry arts. Dave's future business partner, Jean Georges pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini (not gay, by all accounts) might have arrived with them. He did appear around the same time, but I can’t say for sure. I asked Dave when he and Johnny were going to open their much anticipated bar, and he said they were still tracking down funding.
So, if you want to invest in a bar run by Dave Arnold and Johnny Iuzzini, let me know.
I’d heard that Wylie Dufresne was downstairs while I was upstairs talking to Ben and Jansen. Paul Liebrandt was there, too, but we didn’t talk. Cesare Casella came with his signature rosemary bunch in his sport coat's breast pocket, which he told me he left with George for good luck.
Wearing rosemary seemed like such a good idea that I considered starting to do it myself, but I was told that everyone would know I was copying Cesare and that I would therefore be dubbed lame, which is probably true. So I changed the subject to another fashion goal of mine. I'd like to be able to convincingly wear a cape.
Of course the problem is that I’d probably look like an idiot, and it would take me three years to realize it.

How does it feel to be in a Washing Machine?

Well, if you ever wonder how it feels like to be in a washing machine, then head down to Tasik Titiwangsa, KL to experience it.

what do i mean, well ladies and gents, allow me to introduce the Zorb Ball!!!! This is an experience that i will only imagine , how my laundry feels in the washing machine....
you will be strap to the inside of the ball, can be solo or with a partner, then you will be push down a small hill..... =0
you can choice two options,
RM15 (adults) dry
RM20 (Adults) WET (oh yeah!!!)
from the picture, you will know what we pick... hehehe

If you still don't get it, hopefully this video from youtube will.



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