Author: zora

What I’m Doing This Weekend

I saw this video about cooking paella over an open fire on the NY Times website earlier this year, and it has stuck in my head.

Basically because I want everything in it: ready availability of the gorgeous seafood in the market in the beginning, that market woman’s giant cleaver, the kitchen “range” made of rebar, the cute little wood spoons they eat the paella with, and, needless to say, the adorable Spanish chef himself. Pep Crespo, I’m yours! As for Mark Bittman himself, I’d normally say thanks, but no thanks–but even he starts looking pretty suave in this context, especially when he says “Balenthia.”

Must go to Spain again soon. In the meantime, here’s hoping this Saturday’s dinner chez Tamara pans out. I’ll start whittling the wooden spoons right now.

Ali’s Kabab Cafe: Now Starring on No Reservations

Can I just say?

Anthony Bourdain, while eating Ali’s food: “I’m insanely jealous of people who live in this neighborhood now.”

Hell, yes!

Now watch the clip:

The funny thing is, I was _there_ for the taping. In the other half of the restaurant that you don’t see on TV. It was not as thrilling as it sounds, to be 10 feet from Anthony Bourdain et al., but the food kicked some incredible ass. (Despite–or perhaps because of–the fact that Ali was drinking his “special” espressos from the cafe across the street, meaning with a slug of sambuca.) If you’re looking very, very, very, very closely, you can see the edge of my glasses in the background while they’re smoking sheesha afterward.

However, if you go here and get to photo No. 9 of 11, you’ll get to see my actual boobs, all decked out in baby blue! Granted, I’m hunching over a little, so they’re not at their best. And you unfortunately can’t quite read my culturally appropriate “New York”-in-Arabic T-shirt from Rana Hajjar. But it’s me. And Tamara. And Nina, another KC loyalist.

But, really, it’s all about Ali, and he looks fantastic. Independent sources confirm this. We have a houseguest arriving in a couple of days from Savannah, Ga., and he said, “Oh, there are two places I want to go in New York! I just saw them on TV! One’s this place called Kabab? In this neighborhood called Astoria? And the other is Prune.” (Sorry–no one’s posted the Prune section online yet.)

Welcome to my world! I know how to cook potatoes rosti the Prune way, and Tony Bourdain is jealous of me!

Even More Baltimore Crabs

In what looks set to become an annual tradition, Peter and I attended the St. Francis of Assisi Crab Feast in Baltimore again this year. Karine, ever willing to pull an ocean crustacean limb from limb, came along.

For our benefit–Peter and I were out of practice, and Karine was new to the sport–Curtis demonstrated his masterful crab-picking skills:

Notice how he moves so fast at some points that our video camera could just not keep up. For every crab I ate, Curtis probably had three or four. And by the time Karine and I were kind of getting the hang of it, we were already full. I should’ve worn an elastic waistband–what was I thinking?

Otherwise, it was a highly successful day. We didn’t win any peach schnapps in the liquor raffle, but Sandy gave me her mums she’d scored (that’s Sandy buying her raffle tickets in the video in the beginning), and I was almost moved to do the chicken dance. Afterward, Peter got schooled in Dance Dance Revolution by Curtis’s daughter, even though she’d spent the day waiting tables at the crab feast and Peter had just spent it sitting down. We capped it off with some $1.50 Natty Bohs in the kind of dive bar that just doesn’t exist in NYC. Oh, Baltimore.

(Read the account of last year’s feast here.)

Queens Bloggers on Brian Lehrer

So Peter and I left the blessed borough for about 26 hours earlier this week, and we both missed chances to be on the Brian Lehrer Show, completely independent of each other, just because we weren’t checking our email.

I was asked to be on a show that just aired this morning, about Queens bloggers, a club of which I am at least 20 percent of the time a member. megc, of Joey in Astoria and OuterB, represented our ‘hood, fortunately. Here’s a spiffy little link to the clip:

(And if that’s not working, go here).

Through that, I found my way to Queens Central–a nice-looking blog that proves that you can make a blogging career out of one post linked back to Curbed.

Of course I clicked right on the “Astoria” category. Only to find a post giving credit to the beer hall for making Astoria what it is today. Oy. No. What makes Astoria what it is is all the people who _aren’t_ at the beer hall, all the Greeks, Egyptians, Croatians, etc. who keep moving here. I am happily subject to their whims (even if, I guess, they can’t keep a French patisserie open, damn it). Anyway, cranky comment to this effect alongside the original post over there.

I guess it’s better I wasn’t on the radio or I might’ve started a fight.

Mange du Kebab

I think I’m in love.

I know it sounds silly, but I’m a sucker for French rap. Especially goofy French rap from the counter of a kebab joint! (For those who may not be instantly charmed by a Turkish guy dressed in kitchen whites and wielding a sharp knife, I’ll point out that there are also some adorable French girls featured in the video.)

Lil’Maaz is a Turkish guy (real name: Yilmaz Karaman) who has been rapping his way through his job at a kebab place in Paris, and some customers helped him produce the single and the video. Good article here (the Independent via Syria Comment; scroll down), avec a little translation.

The Tyranny of Christopher Kimball

It seems like every time I click over to the Cook’s Illustrated website, the whole operation has gotten even more oppressive.

Don’t get me wrong–Cook’s Illustrated was an essential tool in my learning how to cook, and I suppose it is still helping many people out there. By “perfecting” only known and classic recipes, however, it had a built-in lifespan, and I’m not sure how the editors are managing today. I know they lost me when they had the recipe for school-lunch-style tacos about five years ago.

And now, maybe because I’ve shaken myself free, it appears to have gone from just geeky and twee (cute bow tie!) to downright evil.

The website livened up with a big splash photo of CI minions hard at work in “America’s Test Kitchen.” Unfortunately, everyone looks like they’re about to slit their wrists. This may be because Christopher Kimball is a pompous ass, and also that cutting things into tiny, tiny pieces all day, and then cooking the same recipe over and over and over is the closest thing to hell on earth.

Don’t you agree?
liz
Assistant equipment editor Liz Bomze tosses beef while testing pans to determine which is best for stir-frying.

The quiet desperation.
charles
Test cook Charles Kelsey calculates how to best position sauteed pears to maximize caramelization.

The tyrant himself:
ribs
While filming the next season of America’s Test Kitchen, Bridget Lancaster and Christopher Kimball debate just how much magic is needed for perfect Kansas City Ribs.

A lot of magic, people. A lot would be needed to reel me back in to the maddening world of Herr Kimball.