Morning Ramen...

I've been on a big ramen kick lately. Partly because I got the Momofuku cookbook over Christmas, and partly because ramen is great 'cheap eats'.

My ramen today:
1-2 tbsp miso (red)
1 tbsp ginger-scallion sauce (from Momofuku)
1/2 package of ramen
3-4oz tofu
3-4 slices of pork belly
scallions
bean sprouts
1 sheet of nori
hot water

I wish I could get pix from my phone to the blog at work, b/c I've always felt that a "bowl of noodles with a bunch of stuff on it" photographs well.
I was going to post a stock photo, but when I googled, I didn't find good pix, but I did find this page, billing itself as the "Official Ramen Homepage" (I don't believe him, though), and this inspiring article from the NY Times travel section, which makes me want to go loaf around Japan, eating noodles.

Totally unrelated to food, pt. 1

Esquire magazine has a great article this month on Roger Ebert that is well worth checking out.

I remember watching "Siskel and Ebert" when I was kid, and whenever I think of movies, one of the images that flashes in my head is of those two, arguing over the merits of a film.

Another favorite "Roger Ebert" memory of mine is the first time I read of this episode (quoting from Wikipedia):

In January 2005, film critic Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said in an
article that Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo was overlooked for an Academy Award because
"nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered
by a Third-Rate Comic." Schneider responded two weeks later with full-page ads in
Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, saying he had done research and found
that Mr. Goldstein had never won any journalistic awards, commenting,
"Maybe you didn't win a Pulitzer Prize because they haven't invented a category for
Best Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who's Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers."
...
In August 2005, film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times responded to the
Schneider-Goldstein conflict in his review for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.
While noting that an online search showed that Goldstein had won a National Headliner
Award, a Los Angeles Press Club Award, a RockCritics.com award, and the
Publicists' Guild award for lifetime achievement, Ebert said, "As chance would
have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my
official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Happy "1st day of Spring Training"!

Ok, so actually yesterday was the first day of Spring Training (pitchers and catchers), but I didn't realize it until late yesterday.
Anyway, since nothing says "day at the ballpark" like a hot dog (with chili and cheese, please), I give you Serious Eats' "Hot Dog of the Week":



I love the Serious Eats blog, and it's worth checking out, even if you don't like hot dogs. (But if you do, there's more here).

Phases and stages...

I think I'm misquoting Willie on my title, but that's ok.
My youngest daughter turns 7 tomorrow, so when I got home tonight @12:30, I broke out the streamers and "Happy Birthday" sign, and decorated the kitchen. Hopefully she'll like it and feel special. On your birthday, you should feel special.

On other 'phases... et al' notes, this is probably the best kiss-off song I've heard in a while, and it's by one of my favorite bands to boot.

I will write about food soon...

Two in one day!

I must be going for some kind of record here, but for my second post of the day...
Another link.
This one has a little bit of a back-story. A relation of mine (my mother-in-law's stepson) is a chef in Canada (who was recently on 'Iron Chef America', where he was completely robbed! How do you pick a 'secret ingredient' that one of the judges says he hates??)

But anyway, he's the executive chef for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (so he's apparently feeding all 12000 people involved in the Olympics), and the link is to two people who work for him.

Good stuff.

Fun food visualization

I've been getting interested in doing data visualization stuff lately, and saw a link on a blog I read about data vis, and since it seemed neat, I figured I'd pass it along.


(Plus, I haven't posted in forever, and I know someone who posts like 6 times a day, so I need to be less slack about this).