Off-White Light, Off-White Heat. May 27, 2012

~ i finally got around to trying the White Chocolate Reese Peanut Butter Cup recently, and contrary to expectations, it wasn’t totally horrible. it’s not very good, but i think the worst thing one can say about it is “this would be better if this white chocolate wasn’t in here.” it actually kind of reminded [...]

Haltingly Into The Night. May 10, 2012

~ after months of roommates, friends, and acquaintances threatening to just up and eat the goddamn things some night when i was out of town, i finally decided this afternoon to open the comically* oversized 1/2-pound Reese cups that i received for Christmas, only to find, lo and behold, they’ve gone kind of stale. at [...]

Embittered I: Fernet vs. Fernet. Or, Branca Vs. the Czech Pretender. April 20, 2012

~ while i’ve been on Euro-Tour one of my Big Goals has been to drink as many different kinds of weird European bitters as possible, which has proven to be no small feat since many countries (such as Germany) have a wealth of such drinks, although outside of Italy they tend more toward the sweet [...]

In the Film Adaptation, Liza Minelli Will Play These Chips. April 11, 2012

~ i felt some hesitation before i left bringing a book that would so strongly evoke America as does Willa Cather’s My Ántonia (1918). it seemed almost perverse, but i justified it in part on the rationale that it was an America in all its newness – not only seen through the eyes, but made [...]

“Where Were You When I Needed You?” April 5, 2012

~ the deadline for another Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery has come and gone without me getting my act together to apply to it, although this year is something of a special case because i was actively looking forward to the thing for some time. when i initially heard that 2012 was going to [...]

I Think I May Hate Bon Appétit. March 27, 2012

~ i think i may hate Bon Appétit. it’s a shame to say, after making the decision last year to let my Saveur subscription lapse in favour of taking up the vastly more affordable BA, but it does appear to be the case. it is not as if it is a wholly loathesome magazine, it [...]

This Is Everything That’s Wrong With Everything, And I’m Gonna Eat It. March 15, 2012

Bannock‘s pickerel taco, which you will notice, is on a steamed bun, not a tortilla. “pickerel taco + cucumber apple salad, on steamed bun, caviar tartar” ~ sometimes i suspect that my outrage at stuff like this is no different from the frothing about the mouth that academics and social scientists were getting into over post-modernism [...]

From the Cauldron of the Speckled Seas. January 21, 2012

~ sorting through some old notes, i ran across the following, headed “Recent Developments”: i have now buttered something that is already in my mouth. as in, stopped chewing, took a knife, and spread butter on the mass that was currently in my open mouth, and continued chewing.i also undertook to call several SAQs to [...]

Thank Heavens For Small Failures December 4, 2011

~ somewhere along the line the Oh Henry has become one of my favourite chocolate bars. i cannot account for how this happened, as it was certainly not one of my favourites growing up; the ‘fudge’ inside so unlike either the rock-hard brown-sugar fudges of my mother, the gummy chocolate varieties of my friends’ parents,* [...]

God Won’t Be The Wiser November 23, 2011

~ i’ve been contemplating allowing my Saveur subscription to lapse, in part because it is a touch expensive ($27.97 plus some brutal Canadian shipping charges = money i could be spending on -actual food-), and in part because Bon Appetit is approximately one third the price (apparently they are offering me a “professional rate” subscription, [...]