Kindle

I've been skeptical of the Amazon Kindle, and so haven't bought one, but did download the Kindle application for my iphone. While I'm not totally convinced about the grey screen of the real Kindle, being able to have entire books show up on your phone instantaneously for $9.99 is totally revolutionary. Just unbelievable.

In the reading queue now is Peter Singer's The Life You can Save, and Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance.

Make your own butter

Cool - how to make your own butter.

What I understand that caterers haven't

The New York restaurant scene is the product of an unsustainable bubble. I am working to educate them.

Mesa Grill revisited

Last night we returned to Mesa Grill for my fiancee's birthday, which happens to be where we had our first, halting, brunch date a little more than two years ago. I blogged the meal, then, but not the date, though the latter had the more profound effect on my life to be sure.

The tuna tartare is still good. The margaritas are good. My pork loin, a perfect medium, was delicious with a sharp tang of spice in its bourbon and ancho chile sauce, and her red snapper was almost as good. Simply, Mesa Grill is a successful, long lasting restaurant that executes properly. As the New York Times observes, though, it's hard for a restaurant to maintain a spirit of inventiveness when its paradigm has been appropriated by Chili's (Bobby Flay is thought to be one of the main progenitors of the chipotle as it relates to modern American food). But I don't see why that's such a big problem. The food is good. The place has a good vibe. The drinks are strong.

We enjoyed our meal and basked in the funny, awkward memories of two people getting to know each other for the first time.

North Korean Pizza

Courtesy of Marginal Revolution, I see that North Korea is importing "high-quality Italian wheat, flour, butter and cheese" to make their first pizzas.

As someone over at MR pointed out, I would like to know what exactly they are planning to do with the butter.

Salad dressing

I would obviously be missing a great story if I neglected to comment on United States v. Farinella. (opinion here), a recent case out of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversing the conviction of a salad dressing dealer. Apparently, Mr. Farinella had been prosecuted for buying leftover salad dressing from a middleman, changing the "best by" date, and then selling the dressing to so-called "dollar stores". The problem for the government was that there is no regulation, no statute, no law, not even an interpretation, a web page, or informal advice from the FDA, to suggest that either establishing or changing a "best by" date was either illegal or required. The 7th Circuit panel, per Judge Posner, was not amused. "Since we are directing an acquittal on all counts", said the court, "the sentencing issues are academic, and we do not address them, beyond expressing our surprise that the government would complain about the leniency of a sentence for a crime it had failed to prove".

I listened to the oral argument this morning. Judge Posner was, if anything, more disparaging of the government's case at argument than in his written opinion. My favorite excerpt (I am transcribing, so this may not be accurate) follows:

Posner: What if this thing came with a label that said "delicious salad dressing. And suppose Farinella covered it over with a label that said "the most delicious salad dressing in history". Is that misbranding?

Government: No, I don't think so.

Posner: Why not? . . . What if in fact you get a bunch of witnesses who say, "most delicious? This is mediocre". "This is not delicious. . . . Did you go out and taste all the salad dressings before you put this label on?"

EDIT: The second interesting issue in this case is that the federal prosecutor was reprimanded for making various improper statements to the jury, including insinuating that there was something physically wrong with the salad dressing (it was shelf stable dressing with no expiration date). Indeed, the prosecutor told that jury that if what the defendant did was "business as usual for the food industry, I suggest we stop going to the store right now and start growing our own food". Posner is obviously right about the various legal issues, and I have nothing to add to them, but I find the prosecutor's cod-locavorism very funny.

Lamb and okra

Over the weekend I had a hankering for lamb and okra, independently.  While we'd normally make okra with chunks of fatty lamb simmering inside the tomato sauce, I decided that I'd rather have chops, so I marinated the meat in lemon and oil, dipped the edges in zataar, and broiled.  The okra are turkish baby okras, from a jar (the best kind), washed to remove much of the slime.

Financiers Again

I made financiers again from Aran's recipe, this time to take to some friends as a gift for inviting us over.  I made them smaller this time and cooked them more, which definitely helped give me some of the extra flavor I thought was missing last time, but I'm still a little puzzled that I'm not getting the almost marizpan like mouth feel I'd expect.  Some of them tasted almost as if they were little, intensely almondy,  muffins, which isn't quite right. I'll have to compare other recipes and see if perhaps there's some element I'm missing.