Category: Links

Rosie Rocks!

Bitchin’ in the Kitchen with Rosie: A new tome for the archives: Forking Fantastic

An actual review from an actual stranger! I feel so proud! And relieved that more of “our kind of people” really exist out there, and get our jokes.

Seriously, I was faintly worried that we were writing for an audience that we had just conjured up in our imaginations. “Who’s coming to dinner? Well, Mr. Fox–he loves to swear. And Barney Squidgems–he loves ham. And Miss Violet–she lives in a tiny apartment, but actually does want to cook for people, even though she doesn’t know it yet.”

(I think I had an imaginary friend who was a fox when I was little–the others, I just made up on the spot. I swear.)

DIY Cairo

Cairo BakeryLonely Planet just posted a portion of the guidebook I worked on a couple of summers ago: DIY Cairo: streets to stroll.

We were told to add more “DIY” travel–places to wander, rather than specific sites to see. I was really happy with my writing on that book, and this section was one of the pieces I liked best–so it’s nice to see it posted. (Although they cut my advice to accept tea or soda from someone, at some point, in one of your strolls. I stand by it!)

(And that’s one of my own photos from Cairo wandering.)

Aleppo Falafel

Thanks to Syrian Foodie, I am now starving. But starving in the way only a plane ticket can fix.

Syrian falafel rocks the house. No mucky tahini to make things heavy–just really tart yogurt and tons of fresh mint and tomatoes. And the really skilled sandwich makers (I assume this guy too, though he’s working so fast I can’t see) break up the falafel a little bit, so it’s in crumbly pieces in the sandwich.

And I can I just add how great it is that Syrian men seem to love the camera? And they’d better not change that movie poster before I get back to Aleppo! How else am I going to find the place?

Good Travel Reading

When I was in Mexico, I got desperate for some English reading material by the end of the month, so I plunked down US$10 for a copy of the newest issue of Dwell, which I was surprised to find in a bookstore on Cozumel.

And what a fine investment! In the back were samples from the new travel mag Afar, which I’d heard whispers of back in the spring. As soon as I got to the Miami airport, I bought myself the full issue.

It’s so refreshing to read a magazine that isn’t explicitly gunning for a particular market segment. Street food and fancy treehouses, fancy French knives and Berber villages… Check it out, if you have a chance. And you should have a chance, because it’s quarterly–just about the pace I can handle for magazines.

With Perceptive Travel, though, I’ve almost completely lost the thread since it jumped to monthly! Fortunately, I did drop in recently and catch “A Dollar and a Dime in Vietnam,” by Richard Sterling. What starts out as just general commentary on the function of small change in many countries turns into a specific story, with a specific moment, the sort of which (for me, at least) is one of the main reasons for traveling.

Even though the odd moments of kindness can happen at home (and Sterling does live in Vietnam), I suspect you’re more open to them as a traveler, when you’re coasting on guest etiquette, as opposed to resident habits. And if you’re lucky, that attitude will persist a little too, after you get back and before you’re back in your rut.

Specific to odd kindnesses of taxi drivers, I just realized that the fact that Egypt was the first place I really traveled has colored everything since. Because Cairo is a hideously polluted, overcrowded city where everyone is out to grossly overcharge you or feed you food that will make you violently ill, well, every place after has seemed positively hygienic, courteous and completely uncorrupt.

And I’m of course grossly overblowing the Cairo stereotypes, but that has a benefit too. When I returned to Cairo in 2007, after nine years’ absence, the stereotype had built up so horribly in mind that I was pleasantly surprised and touched at nearly every corner, when people were polite and not grabby and quoted me an accurate price on a bottle of water.

Still, though, no cab driver ever did what Sterling’s motorbike guy does in his story…

Fresh Meat: Jamie at the Slaughterhouse

A-16 tasty murder pcmSo, as of this moment, I still have not seen my appearance on Jamie Oliver’s show about the US. But now I have seen a couple of clips from it, thanks to Eat Me Daily.

And here’s the post about it.

“Scary inner workings” of the halal butcher? Maybe I’m in too deep, and way too used to going there, but…it’s not that scary.

Perhaps it is not the gleaming vision of stainless steel and bright white tile in which people fantasize their meat is being slaughtered. But nowhere is. And certainly not a Midwestern meat packer that supplies your supermarket.

No, it is not photogenic. But it is not a filthy place. And I (and thousands of others) have happily bought meat there and served it to other people. And they’ve all said, “Mmmm, delicious! This chicken tastes so good!” And they didn’t die.

I wonder if Raphael’s disgust at watching this clip came not so much from the seemingly unsanitary setting, but from the proximity of live animals to dead ones. This is not something we see often in the US. Only in the last decade or so have food magazines begun to show live, gamboling lambs on one page, then a plated rack of lamb on the next–and that was a huge, contentious step when Saveur took it.

And it’s not like I am naturally all tough and jaded and carnivorous. The first time I bought a chicken there, in 2002 or so, I had to say, “Can I do this?” to myself. And still every time I go to that butcher, I have a momentary twinge.

But if I’m going to continue to eat meat, I figure it’s the honest, upfront thing to do: look that animal in the eye. And then go home and cook every last scrap of it into something really delicious. And serve it to people you love.

Anyone curious about this place? I am happy to answer any questions, or even take people there on a tour. Seriously, I love it, and I think it’s one of the best sources of well-taken-care-of meat in the city.

Link Love: Cheap Food and Travel

Cheapness and creativity converge in two great posts I just read:

Conner’s nitty-gritty on substitutions required for cooking in Cuba reminds me of every expat kitchen I’ve kept and visited. None quite so rough as Conner’s situation, though Cairo required a certain savoir faire. That’s where I foraged for basil in vacant lots. (I just made that pasta, what I call Cairo Noodles, again a couple of months ago–creamy cheese, basil, tomatoes, garlic and loads of olive oil. It stood the test of time, even though I didn’t have the signature buffalo-milk ‘feta’ from the Parmalat box.)

I would love to see a photo or video survey of expat kitchens all over the world, where treasured ingredient X is always squirreled away in the cupboard, and getting ingredient Y calls for a party. I imagine people giving little tours of their kitchens and pointing out all the treats and various little bounties and clever workarounds.

Meanwhile, over at the Frugal Traveler blog on nytimes.com, Matt Gross interviews Lauren Weber about her new book and the virtues of cheapness. The first answer is the most concise reason I’ve ever heard for being generally cheap (and I’m always looking for justifications, as I often need to push back a lot here in NYC, the city where everyone pretends to be wealthy).

And I like her point about how travel becomes boring if money is no object. Whenever I’m visiting fancy resorts for work, I think of that. Sure, it’s fun to go hang out there for a night or two, and imagine that lifestyle. But if I really lived it? Totally boring. Challenge and constraints are good, both in cooking and travel. There’s a whole damn world out there to visit and eat, and frankly I don’t trust my own taste/instinct entirely to take me into the best stuff. Sometimes I need to be forced there, whether it’s due to a shortage of basil or an uncooperative train.

And then, well, this is just funny. Oh, and this, about accents. Love the Pakistan clip at the end. Hooray for Bajira, the new Blanquinou!

Jamie’s American Road Trip

Tamara and I are going to be on the New York episode of this show, to air in Britain September 15. Spread the word to your mates across the pond!

And we haven’t seen the final cut of what we taped, so who knows how we come across? All I’ve been told is that I get to say, “I fucking hate restaurants.” Which means this will never air in the US, alas.

In the meantime, I’m trying to track down the earlier episodes, to see what the show is looking like. Eat Me Daily has a clip from the Wyoming episode that aired this week. Hilarious. I think we’re in good hands…

Sripraphai Database

What?! A YEAR has passed since I last ate at Sripraphai? Where is my life going? Soon I will be dead.

Well, anyway, I stuffed the panic back down inside and soldiered on to update the incredibly fruitless Sripraphai Database.

Fruitless not only because I will of course be dead soon, but also because they changed the menu, and all the numbers on it! My world is unraveling before my eyes.