Bruni leaves

The big news in the New York restaurant scene is that Frank Bruni, the current critic, is leaving soon.

Interestingly, the norm of anonymity has become so entrenched that most of the well established critics who could take his place are disqualified, because they are well known. It's almost like the Supreme Court nomination process - if a candidate is too notorious, they're passed over.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. Of course, I am available for the job. Heh.

Changing norms

It occurred to me yesterday as someone was raving in the subway that I was far more struck and offended when he used a slur for gays than when he used the f-word. I promise you that ten years ago, my reaction would have been completely differet.

This is a sort of pseudo-baguette I made the other day. I knew it wouldn't come out perfectly, because the dough was really too dry to give me a proper crumb, but it still tasted delicious.

This was made with some leftover (uncooked) dough from a pizza a week ago to add flavor, a mix of bread and all purpose flour (not a scientific mix at all), and lots of fermentation time. I did not knead.

Asparagus and Morels with Pommes Maxime

I realize that this doesn't look like much, but we enjoyed this last Saturday. It's an asparagus puree (asparagus with lemon and cream) with sauteed morels and pommes maxime.

Yogurt recipe

Part of the reason I've posted less recently is that I'm overwhelmed by the number of other food sites I read to keep up with the scene. One of my favorites is Tom Sietsema's "Table", since it's the closest I can get to a daily chat with a major food critic.

Anyway, I note that he recently mentioned my favorite comfort food, pasta with yogurt and garlic, on his discussion board. I, posting as my email address "imrit", had suggested it as a favorite solo meal.

Dinner last night

Dinner last night was a simple meal inspired by Jacques Pepin - poached salmon (poached in nothing more than water and lemon) with a sour cream and chive sauce.

Poaching truly is the simplest of all cooking - simply bring the water and slices of lemon to a boil, drop in the fish, and wait till it boils again. Keep at a simmer until it's cooked (there's no magic here - just pull apart the flesh and check if it's cooked).

The sauce is sour cream mixed with chopped chives. That's it.

Busy, busy

I've been busy with a number of projects recently, which has eaten up my blogging time. An example of one of these projects is illustrated by the following discussion with a mortgage broker (yes, yes, we're considering becoming home-owners):

Mortgage Broker: So, I have two options for you. $X payment per month, or $Y per months ($800 less than X).

Me: wow. Y sounds good. Why is it less?

MB: Oh, it's just broken out into two different loans, a jumbo, and another one.

Me: Neat. So what's this other one?

MB: It's just another loan. It lets me put together a package cheaper.

Me: Well, money doesn't magically cost less if you just package it in some other loan, right? How exactly does it work?

MB: Well, it's all pretty technical, but it's an interest only loan, basically.

Me: An interest only adjustable rate loan for a substantial sum, adjustable off the lowest rates in the history of man (almost?). Sounds stupid, no?

MB: No, no, it works fine.

Me: Let's see an amortization table.

Mb: (Reluctantly) ok.

Me: (15 minutes later). Soo. It turns out that this number next to "balance" keeps getting bigger on this supposedly innocuous second loan. Doesn't that sound like a massively bad plan to you?

MB: Well, it gets paid off eventually.

Me: {click}