Tribes

September 10

“That’s Duff Goldman,” said Metromix’s Matt Rodbard.

“I don’t know who that is,” I said.

“You know, from Ace of Cakes.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“You know, it’s, like, the Food Network’s biggest show.”

“I don’t watch it.”

“Ace of Cakes!”

“Don’t know it. I don’t watch food TV.”

“It’s, like, a huge show.”

I don’t think Matt was being obtuse, he was just having fun. And I was being a curmudgeon who doesn’t watch food TV — like lawyers don’t watch law shows and doctors don’t watch medical dramas — because there’s already enough food and food-related things in my work life. I don’t want to sit in front of the TV at home and watch more of it.

Being in the presence of a celebrity you don’t care about can be awkward, because the fawning fans look so pathetic and I feel embarrassed for them.

We were at the James Beard House, at a Greens event. That’s what the Beard Foundation calls events targeting people younger than 40. I think it’s an attempt to create a tribe of young food enthusiasts who are loyal to the Beard Foundation, and I’m not sure how well it’s working. Greens have been around for as long as I’ve been in New York, but I don’t hear about them much.

This particular party was in celebration of Jack Daniels’ birthday, which is celebrated for the entire month of September as no one knows the exact day on which the whiskey’s namesake was born. I don’t expect that anyone has tried too hard to find out, either, as not knowing gives Jack Daniels, the company, an excuse to celebrate and promote the brand for an entire month.

Duff Goldman had made a 150-pound human-shaped cake that looked like Jack Daniels. It was pretty cool. My friend Andy Battaglia of The Onion was appropriately impressed.

I was more interested in checking in with Dave Wondrich, the cocktail historian, drink maven and delightful person who had developed the cocktails for the evening — the Monkey Nut and the Little Ricky.

The monkey nut was a type of Manhattan with orange bitters. I asked if he was using Regan’s orange bitters. Their creator, Gary Regan, was Nation’s Restaurant News’ beverage columnist, and thus we are forever inextricably bound.

In fact, Dave said, he was using a blend of Regan’s bitters and another company’s orange bitters. He said the New York tribe of cocktail makers had all decided pretty much simultaneously that one of those bitters was too orangey and the other was too bitter, so now it’s common practice here to combine the two.

Tribe’s my word, not Dave’s, because tribes are the theme of this blog entry. But Gotham’s mixologist community really is a tribe. It is.

Anyway, the Little Rickey was exactly that.

Not to say it was Desi Arnaz Jr.

Dave explains: Jo Rickey, of Fulton County, Mo., was a prominent Democratic lobbyist at the end of the 19th century. His signature drink was bourbon with soda water and lime juice; later, people made it with gin.

So a Rickey can be any cocktail of booze, citrus and soda water. This one was made with a fancy small-batch bottle of Jack Daniels, a little honey syrup — an addition of which Jo Rickey would not have approved, as he believed sugar heated the blood, Dave said — and lemon juice, shaken, poured into cylindrical shot glasses and topped with sparkling water. Little Rickeys.

I didn’t meet Duff Goldman, and during all the speeches in honor of Jack Daniels I hung back and let the gawkers gawk, but he sounded like a smart, good-natured guy.

“Let them eat cake!” declared Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro, which was silly of her, because, as Duff pointed out, the person who originally said that was beheaded.

As you may know, that sentence was supposedly uttered by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and wife of King Louis XVI, when she heard that the peasants had no bread to eat.

In fact, I believe what she was supposed to have said was “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche,” or, “they should eat brioche.” It displayed her failure to comprehend the fact that her peasantry was so poor that it had nothing to eat — that their caloric shortfall caused by the lack of ordinary bread could not be alleviated by switching to richer, egg-enriched bread, because they didn’t have that either. Ignorance is not a crime, but it’s no excuse, either, and perhaps her executioners decided that it should, in fact, be a crime.

Anyway, they killed her, and uttering her infamous declaration at an event of well-heeled young New Yorkers who have been spending the evening gorging themselves on ribs and little mac & cheese tartlets is weird at best. It was nice that Duff knew that.

Also, incidentally, his cake was delicious.

Anyway, tribes. Legitimate tribes of cocktail makers, an attempt to invent a tribe of young Beard Foundation devotees.

In recent weeks over at the listserv of the Association for the Study of Food and Society , in which I participate, there was quite a kerfuffle that started with a discussion of the meaning and sociological implications of the word “gastronomy,” and that ended with the departure from the list of a person who felt completely justified to hurl ignorant, baseless and personal insults at the gastronomy program of Boston University simply because she felt like doing so.

Other members of the listserv disagreed. She left in a somewhat self-righteous huff, and some of those who remained began a navel-gazing exercise into what the ASFS was. It is, Ken Albala suggested, a tribe.

“ Our interactions work nothing like a business or even a department within a college, because we're not in competition. We all work in different places, and if one of us benefits, the whole group and discipline benefits. And it's why we rose to the defense of our members, and it's why everyone here is so generous with time and ideas — a common enterprise and common goals.”

A tribe. Why not?

I had been at another tribal event the night before. It was the second anniversary party of Bobo, Carlos Suarez’s plaything of a restaurant in the West Village.

I don’t mean “plaything” in a bad way. I mean that it has very personal touches appropriate for his intention, which was to make his restaurant like a private home where he was throwing a dinner party, only you had to pay to eat there. Only recently did he relent and put a sign bearing the restaurant’s name outside the house, on 7th Avenue South and West 10th Street, where the restaurant’s located.

He has a top-shelf cocktail developer in Naren Young and a well pedigreed chef in Patrick Connolly, and a dining room that I find enchanting.

And he has style. He has a turntable and a collection of vinyl. At the party he served Champagne in classic tulips rather than modern flutes.

Tulips do cause a drink to slosh, but there is something extra-celebratory in being drenched in Champagne, even if inadvertently.

Usually parties like that are inhabited by fellow members of my own food-writing tribe, but I was an alien at this gathering which seemed otherwise to be populated by Carlos’s well-groomed, not-quite-lock-jawed Upper East Side friends whom I suspect might otherwise been eating at the Waverly Inn.

At least that’s what I surmised. I don’t know, as I don’t read the society pages. It seemed like some of the people there would have been mentioned in them, though.

They all seemed to know each other from the monosyllabic prep schools they had attended together.

I ended up chatting with young Diana Foote, of the Memphis Footes. I don’t know if there really are Memphis Footes, but Diana was from Memphis, and she vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard (“not Nantuckett?” I thought), although her current visit to New York was making her consider visiting the city more often.

They were gracious and lovely people. Many of them actually brought birthday gifts for the restaurant.

There was an unusually large percentage of very tall blond women there.

There was also an unusually large percentage of very tall blond women at my next party of the evening, the opening of Le Souk Harem.

We all know what a harem is. Souk is Arabic for “market.” So I can think of no other way to translate the name other than “whore house.”

I was invited by the Hall Company, who were doing PR for the restaurant’s food (the chef consultant is Doug Psaltis), but the party was really by Lizzie Grubman, whom you might remember as the society publicist who faced criminal prosecution some years ago when, in a fit of pique, she ploughed her SUV into a bunch pedestrians who were in her way when she was leaving a party.

This scenester tribe also has a bunch of tall blonde women, but rather than being gracious and elegant they’re tacky and boorish. One physically moved me out of her way so she could walk down the stairs.

The restaurant itself had hookahs and belly dancers (dancing to, among other things, Rockin’ the Casbah by The Clash — oh yes, they went there). It all seemed oddly out of place in these dour times.

Anyway, it wasn’t my scene, but I did have a tasty Caipirinha there.

So I was at Bobo and Le Souk Harem on Tuesday, and then took Andy to the Beard House on Wednesday. And then Andy took me to Le Poisson Rouge, a music venue on Bleecker Street that I remembered as Life, a loud nightclub catering to the same tribe as Le Souk Harem.

But Poisson Rouge is a dark and arty spot, and performing there was Circulatory System, and they are members of Andy’s tribe.

Andy is a music writer who went to the University of Georgia, and Circulatory System is a group of psychedelic musicians based in Athens, Ga. When Andy was in college they were Olivia Tremor Control, and he said they had tremendous influence on him.

I don’t think I knew what psychedelic music was, really, but I have an idea, now, and I think it has given me insight into electronica that might help me appreciate it more the next time Andy takes me to one of those shows.

I tend to focus on lyrics and melody and harmony when I listen to music, but Circulatory System was really creating an entire atmosphere of sound that had nothing to do with those things. They just kind of created a music bubble that filled the room, so I just let it wash over me and it was a lot of fun. Sounded pretty, too.

We went back stage after the show, and Andy was greeted with hugs and happy noises of greeting that pleased him. He was clearly glad to reconnect.

Carrot Yema Balls

Yema balls is one of my favorite desserts to do. I had my craving a week ago of doing this traditional Filipino dessert. My secret for my Yema Balls is adding mashed potato to make it more beefy. One day I headed to the supermarket and bought the ingredients for my Yema balls. I got a bit disappointed not to find some potatoes. So to substitute, I bought carrots instead. I'm afraid it won't result as good as the potato version but surprisingly it did! This new concoction is very sinful but very healthy also on the other hand. My Chinese, Thai & Vietnamese friends tasted it. They find it too sweet but very yummy. I myself was also surprised that I can eat 4 balls in one eating. Quite a lot. So allow me to share you this simple recipe I concocted.

Ingredients:
• 1 can Condensed Milk
• 3 pcs. Large Carrot
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• 3 pcs. Egg yolks
• 100 grams Cashew Nuts
• Butter

Procedure:

Boil carrots for 20 minutes. Make sure you have it over cooked. Mashed it smoothly then set aside. Heat pan with butter then add condensed milk. Stir for 10 minutes in medium heat then add the beaten egg yolks. Continue stirring until it thickens. Add the mashed carrots then fold the mixture. Approximately it will thicken after adding the mashed carrots. Add two scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream then continue stirring until it thickens again. Add the chopped cashew nuts. When thick and ready like a mashed potato, scoop some using a spoon on your palm then roll it like a ball. Then ready. Serve hot for a unique satisfaction.

Hope you like my simple recipe :-)

hugs,
joanie xxx

Hikmah bulan Ramadhan 2009, ssstt ketemu guru bimbel ganteng! ;P

Assalammualaikum Wr. Wb.
*Walaikum salam Wr. Wb.* -halaaaah!-

Puasa puasa puasa, udah hari ke 20, ya kaan ya?
Enggak terasa yaa? Cepet banget!
Hmm, entah kenapa gue ngerasa puasa tahun ini berbeda.
Waktu terasa cepat banget. Tapi puasanya enggak berasa...
Hambatan buat ngebatalin puasa enggak begitu sulit, hanya sajaaaa.. ibadahnya makin tipis.
Bahkan bisa jadi menyaingi tipisnya G-string. Huh. -_-'
Ya ya ini bulan puasa, bulan suci, dan itu terlalu vulgar. (Buat anda)
Tapi, ehhmm ini cocok dan enak di lidah. haaalaah!
Anyway, ngerasa berat dengan ramadhan kali ini enggak?
Kalo gue, iya! Iya banget malah.


Gue enggak terganggu dengan panasnya matahari, atau keriuk keriuk laper, tapi gue terganggu soal perasaan dan ketakutan.
Wew, kita serius dikit yaa.
Gue mau curhat aja, entahlah akan menghibur atau malah useless.


Entah kenapa gue berubah, ada yang berubah dalam diri gue, sayangnya gue enggak menemukan itu apa.
gue sangat merasa, perubahan itu berdampak banyak, tapi lagi-lagi gue enggak tahu.
Mungkinkah sikap dan sifat gue yang berubah?
Ataukah cara pandang dan ego yang menetas. Hmm.
Gue merasa memiliki beban yang berat tapi semu.
Gue terlalu terlarut campur aduk kocok-kocok dalam perasaan dan perkiraan gue sendiri.
Up and down, high and then fall.
Cheesy!


Hari ini puncaknya.
GUE MAU NANGIS!
Gue emang orang yang sensitif tapi dableg.
Sensitif ngerasain tanggapan atas gue, dan dableg enggak sensitif sama apa yang gue lakuin.
Mulai dari soal cowok, persahabatan, sekolah, sampai ke kerjaan sekalipun.
gue selalu ngerasa kalah, dan kadang gue suka aneh kenapa banyak orang yang merasa hidup gue sempurna, atau paling enggak lebih baik.
Ya mungkin ada yang lebih baik, tapi ada yang jauh gue lebih buruk.


Gue suka sama seseorang, tapi disaat bersamaan gue ngerasa males dan sebel sama dia. Aneh? Wajar? Pernah?
Gue sayang sama teman=teman gue, tapi tanpa sadar gue nyakitin mereka. (meskipun ini gue belum sadarin)
Gue mau yang terbaik tapi gue enggak usaha, dan gue enggak rela gue tersaingi.
Yup. egois banget ya gue!
Gue pusing sendiri jadinya.
BODOH TOLOL BEGO!
kenapa ya gue begini?


Apakah ini karena janji yang gue buat dengan diri gue sendiri?
Atau ini karena keadaan?
Atau perlahan rasional gue makin sekarat terlindas kepalsuan?
Ckckck.
Drama queen banget ya gue!


Thanks to Raden Roro Frillia ikakusuma Putri, yang sabar banget dengerin gue curhat sampe nangis, meskipun enggak deres.
Dan i wanna say sorry to Adya A. Respati, i knew, all my faults.Please forgive me.
Maaf gue terlalu pengecut untuk bisa berhadapan sama lo hari ini, maaf karena gue enggak sadar nyinggung lo, sekalipun niatan awal gue bukan lo, tapi gue tau gue salah. Maaf yaa Dy. Terlalu maha; harganya gue ngorbanin temen sebaik lo. Dan gue enggak akan rela untuk itu.

i wanna say thanks to Septia Rahmi N. you're not alone.
Thanks to Uza, yvonne, and Gevi.
Thanks to Mia imey, my crazy sista.
thanks to Mas Acel, for your care.

And last but not least, thanks to Agnes Violani Marcelina, sahabat gue yang meskipun enggak gue ceritain masalah gue, tapi bersedia nemenin gue.

Hikmah ramadhan tahun ini yang gue baru banget rasain adalah.
Persahabatan itu terindah.
Dan mahal harganya.
Seperti apapun wujudnya itu, dan seapaadanya pun mereka menerima, tapi hanya rasa sayang itu belum cukup.
Gue beruntung banget!
Beruntung punya teman-teman sebaik mereka.
yang perhatian dan sayang sama gue, yang bersedia nolong gue, yang nerima gue apa adanya, yang menghargai gue, yang mendengarkan gue, yang nemenin gue.
Meskipun gue enggak bisa seperti mereka. Enggak sehebat mereka.
terutama untuk Adya dan Roro.
Enggak cukup kata maaf dan terima kasih yang gue ucapin, apalagi lewat tulisan ini.
Dan percaya deh, gue selalu sayang kalian.
Without you, i'm nothing!
Really love you guys!


By the way, hari ini gue mulai gila.
Saking seteresnya sama perasaan gue yang kurang ajar itu, akhirnya gue berulah.
Setelah sukses ngegeret Agnes ke CBD ciledug buat melakukan 'ritual' kami, gue punya ide yang norak.
Really weird and freak.
Di tempat perbelanjaan seperti ITC itu, gue ngajak Agnes foto box. hahaha.
Sayangnya, di CBD enggak ada fuji film.
Tapi ternyata ada tempat foto box, dan damn!


Setelah ribet nanya ke information, dan melewati toko-toko murahan *hueeeks sok banget gue!*
Sampailah gue pada titah si mbak yang di information tadi.
Naik eskalator. Hmmm.
Eskalator doang kan? Cemen.
Pas gue sama Agnes naik, tiba-tiba ada suara.
"Ngek, ngek, ngik, nging." Gue sama Agnes langsung liat-liatan.
Dan saat itu juga mukanya kaya di sirem oli. SURAM
"huaaaa, ketty!"
Gue meringis, "Ngggg, hiiii, aduuuh"
Sumpah, baru kali ini gue ngerasa naik eskalator lama banget!
Sereeeeeem anjrit!


Dan pas sampai lantai yang dituju, singgah lah di tempat foto box.
Gue agak aneh sebenernya.
Abisnya, diatas box-nya ada tulisan : "FOTO BOX, 6x gaya Rp 6000."
Beeeh murah amir!
Tapi yasudahlah, dicoba.
Ternyataaaa jeng jeng jeng jeng.
Box sih emang box, yang fotoin orangnya. hahaha.
jadi Gue di dalam box, tapi enggak bebas bergaya dengan kamera otomatis, melainkan mbak-mbaknya yang motoin. Wew!
Yasudahlah, udah terlanjur, enggak enak ngebatalinnya.
Walhasil, foto dengan agak malu-malu tai kucing deh. haha.
Tapi enggak apalah, udah lama juga gue sama Agnes yang sama-sama hobby foto enggak foto bareng hahaha.

Abis itu gue pulang dan sampe rumah cuma ganti sepatu sama tas lalu berangkat les.
Gue telat les, dan gue tau pasti itu!
gue tenang-tenang aja, pasalnya pelajaran pertamanya matematika.
Biasanya gurunya kak T**... dan gue agak enggak begitu care sama matematika di bimbel.
Gimana enggak, gue punya guru les mat dan guru sekolah mat yang canggih, Bu Dwi Wahyati.
(Fyi : semalem Bu Dwi ngewall gue di fb, nanyain gue soal pr yang 340 butir soal dari beliau. Dan dia bilang kalo enggak ngerti suruh tanya aja sama dia. Baiknyaaaa huhu)
Dan ternyata, gue enggak nyesel dateng telat. Kenapa?
Bukan karena gue bete matematika di bimbel, melainkaaaan..
Gurunya bukan kak T**... melainkan kakak yang lebih muda dan ganteng. hmm.
Dan dengan gue telat, pastinya dia bakal lebih inget nama gue. HAHAHAAH *ganjen banget deh gue!*
Dan ternyata dia masih kuliah. weeeets, anak stan pula.

belum lagi, pas istirahat pergantian jam bimbel, gue di kasih kado sama sahabat gue yang satu bimbel.
Roland. Dia sahabat gue di SMP bareng Agnes juga.
Di kasih boneka sapi. Thanks yaa roland!
Hari ini berat tapi ditutup dengan manis.

Eh iya, gue baru beli dua DVD film Drama gitu.
Judulnya :

• The life before her eyes

• Feast of love

Bekal liburan. Karena ini hari terakhir bimbel sebelum libur lebaran. Yuhuuu.
Semoga filmnya enggak mengecewakan. Amiiiin amiiin amiiiin.

Chicken and Pineapple Egg Fried Rice

There are a great many misconceptions surrounding the process of how to make egg fried rice. The procedure is not a difficult one, however, and if the necessary steps are taken in the correct order, the result can easily rival that purchased from any restaurant.

Ingredients

3oz basmati or long grained rice
2 eggs
2oz cooked chicken
1 ring of pineapple
1 clove of garlic
1 small red chilli pepper
2 large basil leaves
1 tbsp corn oil for frying
Salt to taste

Method

The first step is to boil the rice. Fried rice is made with rice which has already been cooked and not raw rice. Boil it therefore per the instructions on the packet. Drain it well when cooked then run it under cold water for a minute in a sieve to enhance the cooling process. Put it in a bowl and cover to allow it to cool completely.

The egg for making egg fried rice is usually deep fried in a wok prior to making the dish to form something akin to an omelette. I prefer, however, to make instead a traditional French style omelette. This involves melting a little butter in a non-stick frying pan and pouring in the beaten eggs, cooking over a medium heat. Use a spatula to draw the egg mixture from the edge of the pan in towards the centre until the eggs begin to set. When the eggs begin to set, simply leave them until the process is complete and then remove the omelette on to a plate.

Finely chop the garlic and de-seed and finely chop the chilli pepper. The chicken and pineapple should be roughly chopped.

Put the wok on at maximum heat until it is smoking hot. Add the corn oil and heat through. Add the garlic, followed by the chilli and fry off for a minute, remembering to stir constantly. Add the chicken to fry, followed shortly after by the pineapple.

I like to roll up the omelette I have made and roughly chop it but it should be chopped to the size of personal preference. Add the rice and stir fry, then finally the chopped egg.

When done, season to taste and mix through the torn basil leaves before serving with the garnish or accompaniment of choice.

Food Tip of the Day - Thursday, September 10th, 2009: How to Make Simple Onion Gravy

Onion gravy is a delicious accompaniment to a great many meat dishes. I believe that the main reason why it is not more widely made is simply due to the length of time it can take to prepare. If we view it, however, as simply an accompanying process to roasting a joint of meat, we can easily incorporate it in to our overall cooking process.

How to make simple onion gravy