Marking time on food
Begging for tea cosies
The Queensland Maritime Museum Association emailed its members today, with this charming request:
We are requesting donations of spare Tea Cosies you have at home that are no longer wanted, for use in the member’s mess room at the museum. One of our last remaining Tea Cosies has recently disappeared. Sunday desk volunteer Cassandra Madden has, so far, kindly knitted two replacement ones. We are seeking donations to increase the number available for members to use, to allow for the apparent inevitable attrition over time. There is no need to dispose of stained cosies, if that is what is happening, they can simply be cleaned or washed. If you can help us out, then please let us know, or just bring along a spare Tea Cosy that you no longer use at home.»more»
Chelsea Physic Garden
Roger Dean, London photographer and partner of Penny, an old friend of my sister’s, compiled a list of places we should see while in London in September 2010. Chelsea Physic Garden was on the list, and Roger and Penny took us there for lavish cakes, tea, and a wander around.
»more»Alimentari
In Florence, home of wonderful hole-in-the-wall grocery shops.
»more»Gelati
Licking the produce of the Oceanic gelati and coffee bar, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island.
»more»stoveburner.com
This is yet another website that consists of an ordered collection of related objects. Burners from discarded gas appliances are collected here, and sorted into piles: from stoves [subdivided into stovetop, broiler, hot plate], from heaters [space, hanger, hot water], and from commercial kitchen equipment. Lined up for inspection, these burners invite us to enjoy and compare their physiognomies.
»more»Another toaster museum
Here is another web collection of toasters to add to the one I pointed out last year.
»more»Whale on the menu
IKEDA, Osaka — Children at public elementary schools in Ikeda will be feed [sic] whale meat with their school lunches for the first time in 23 years, education officials said Saturday. [From the online Mainichi Daily News today.]»more»
Chilli peppers
The New Mexico Chile Pepper Institute can tell you all about growing and eating chilli peppers.
»more»Pastry
The fine arts are five in number, namely: painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture, the principal branch of the latter being pastry. [Antonin Carême (Marie-Antoine Carême) (1783-1833)].
Found among the pastry quotes on the Food Reference Website.
Zanzibar in Dublin
When I wondered yesterday what does a themed bar look like when it’s in Ireland?, I should have known the answer would be on the web: The theme is African/Middle Eastern and thankfully there’s not too much wood. Lots of marble effect, big paintings and drapes. A huge place with a very high ceiling, it can hold around 1,500 people. A most impressive pub. And as for the women…hey, hey, party on.
»more»Irish themes
Around here a lot of hotel bars are turning Irish. It seems you can pull in more drinkers by calling your bar Molly O'Somebody's Irish Pub and laying on draught Guinness and fake wooden beams. This piece from Dublin makes me curious; what does a themed bar look like when it's in Ireland?:
»more»The mortar and pestle
Janet Fletcher has written in the San Francisco Chronicle praising the mortar. It’s a well written piece, with delightful photographs of a selection of mortars. According to SauteWednesday it won a 2002 James Beard Foundation journalism award:
»more»Recipe for boredom
See this piece by Laura Calder: Recipe for boredom: why must the modern cookbook be such a flavorless affair? She quotes from Elizabeth David, Sir Hugh Platt, George Augustus Sala and Hannah Wooley to show the literary delights of the recipe, now lost. Like Hannah Wooley’s recipe from The Compleat Gentlewoman, published in 1711:
»more»News to put you off your pudding
Last night’s closing dinner for the 20th century heritage conference was held at the newly opened National Wine Centre of Australia. This bold new building seemed a fitting venue.
»more»Stirring porridge
I enjoyed reading Dean Allen’s piece on how to eat oatmeal, which makes a case for porridge. I agree with him, except he didn’t do justice to stirring; to me porridge is better with some stirring by way of foreplay. It’s important for risotto too, for which I use a wooden spoon, but for porridge a spurtle is the right tool.
»more»