Burrata

I had lunch at La Masseria today (a consistently decent italian restaurant near my office). Apart from my excellent sea bass (with an astonishing wild prawn on top), I had burrata, which I'd never had before. If you want to make eating a large round of mozzarella any less healthy, you'd add cream to the middle of it when it's still cooling - and that, of course, is what burrata is.

EDIT: Also, it was $32, which I only realized when I looked at the bill a second ago. Ah, expense accounts.

Shrimps

I love shrimp. Which makes what I'm reading about shrimp in Bottom Feeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood more than a little depressing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not much of an ethical eater, though I'll try if it doesn't inconvenience me too much. But, more and more, ethical eating, and vaguely natural eating (which I am interested in) intersect. To wit:

"According to Tamil Nadu's fisheries department, a dry pond should be prepared by spreading urea and superphosphate to encourage plankton growth. Once the poind has been filed with brackish water . . . it is typically covered with diesel oil . . . The water is then treated with a piscicide = a ubstance that poisons any competing aquatic life - such as chlorine or rotenone; the latter has been strongly linked to Parkinson's disease in humans. As the shrimp grow, the water is treated with pesticides and more piscicides, but by far the gravest area of concern is the use of antibiotics to ward of disease. (p. 158).

And, p. 170.

If the shrimp in your supermarket display case glisten unnaturally, or if they taste soapy even after being cooked, they have probably been treated with STPP . . ., the suspected neurotoxicant used to prevent drying. . . A grainy substance coating the shell could mean the shrimp has been treated with caustic borax.

Strawberries

When I talked about how much better fruits were in France, I meant everything. Peaches, strawberries, raspberries, and all the way down the line (though, depressingly, french fruitiers and markets have started to sell non-French fruits in greater numbers). But these strawberries are a pretty darned good example of what I mean - impossible red inside and out, and a flavor like the best jam, except better.

Take 'em out

The Washington Post is reporting Obama as saying a rather curious thing today. First, he excorciates Palin for mocking Democrats who supposedly want the constitution to apply to suspected terrorists:

Calling it (the writ of habeas corpus) "the foundation of Anglo-American law," he said the principle "says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, 'Why was I grabbed?' And say, 'Maybe you've got the wrong person.'

"The safeguard is essential, Obama continued, "because we don't always have the right person."
"We don't always catch the right person," he said. "We may think it's Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it's Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president."

We'll leave aside the wisdom of using the "Barack the bomb-thrower" line. But the article continues:

[I]f the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government's sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed.

"My position has always been clear: If you've got a terrorist, take him out," Obama said. "Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take 'em out."

So, what happens if you "take out" Mohammad the cab driver, accidentally? Or are constitutional rights somehow less crucial when you're killing people? Of course, I have a lot of sympathy for habeas rights and so on - but you've got yourself some serious contradictions if you're ok striking people you think are terrorists with missiles launched by drones, but think that imprisoning people without applying controversial rights to them is a serious betrayal of American liberties. I've no idea where I come out on this, but one would expect the hyper thoughtful Obama to have grappled with the problem.

Les Fables de la Fontaine

We tried to get into Cafe Constant one night in Paris, and found ourselves at the end of a long line. "For two?", the waiter said? "No way".

So we wandered up and down along Rue St. Dominique and ended up at Les Fables de la Fontaine, a one michelin star restaurant known for fish.

The one thing I will say without equivocation for Les Fables - the welcome was without fault. We walked in late, at about 10:00 pm. We made no indication we would order a bottle of wine, or a big meal, and in fact proceeded to order only a main course. Although restaurants are in the hospitality business, we all know that a one michelin star establishment, especially in France, would feel entirely within its rights to get a little sniffy. There's wasn't even the slightest whiff of it.

As for the food, we have an excellent amuse bouche of a bell pepper mousse, and each of us had a piece of fish - my fiancee dorade, and me lotte. Both fish were cooked impeccably. But there was so much on each plate. Mushrooms and foam, and onion and mashes and vegetables and herbs. Each component was delicious, but by the end we were confused and baffled. The whole was entirely less than than its parts.

I'd like to back for a full meal. Maybe a real meal would have all built up to a crescendo to that final main dish. But I'd still have left off the foam.