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.  

Cabinet Secretary

I just noticed this article about staffing problems at our Department of Treasury, which includes a complaint from a somewhat vaguely described British official, Gus O'Donnell:

"Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary for the British government, was quoted this week in British news reports saying it has been "unbelievably difficult" to talk to people at the U.S. Treasury: 'There is nobody there.' "

It bothers me when newspapers quote people without bothering to explain why they're important enough to listen to. In this case, we might as well be told that Gus O'Donnell is the grand olephaunt for the British government, for all the indication the article gives us that O'Donnell is in fact the head of the extremely powerful British civil service. If he's complaining, it's very unlikely to be nonsense.

Thoughts elsewhere

I'm linking to a post of mine on egullet, which summarizes my current thinking on midtown "coffee and a doughnut" style breakfasts (my favorite breakfast, just beating out egg and potato).

Text of the post is below:

A few of my favorite coffee and something sweet breakfasts: An espresso and an apricot filled cornetto at Zibetto (italian espresso) on 56th and 6th (no seats) (or, even, get your croissant or pastry at Bouchon in Time Warner and run it over to Zibetto for the coffee). Pain au chocolat and cafe au lait at La Bergamote (19th and 9th, and 52nd and 10th). The "country breakfast" at Amy's Bread (I'm not a huge Amy's fan, but I love the combination of biscuits and jam) (multiple locations). Cream (not raspberry) bomboloni at Sullivan Street Bakery.

I'm sure someone will eventually mention Artichoke for a slice of pizza. As for other lunches, you can make a bit of a study of the burger renaissance, if that's your thing. In midtown, there's Burger Joint, Beacon, 5 Napkin Burger, City Burger.

What I want to cook

This blog is (now) mostly for my own amusement and thoughts, though I appreciate every page view. I use it to remember where and what I've eaten, and what I'm thinking about on any particular day. It unites the last five or six years for me, along with Crescat Sententia and my original Waddling Thunder.

Anyway, I've been thinking about how to make it more useful. My twitter feed is part of that. I love having a flowing record of my restaurant visits. And recently, I tried to create a record of what popped into my head to cook over in the left margin, to fix the problem of forgetting about some neat ideas I have over my working day. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to consistently update the list in the way I can twitter. From now on, therefore, I'm just going to post what I want to cook in my twitter feed under the title "Stuff I want to cook" or SIWTC. Let's see hwo that works.

Halfsteak

It has been fascinating to watch how the New York restaurant scene has reacted to the economic cataclysm. Some restaurants have closed. Others are offering discounted menus, discounted wine, new bar menus, or off-hours discounts. Among the most aggressive restaurateurs in this regard has been Tom Colicchio, Top Chef master and head of the Craft family. The flagship Craft itself has pioneered Frugal Fridays, a $10 a plate occasional restaurant in Craft's private dining room. And Craftsteak, Colicchio's extortionately expensive steak restaurant, has started Halfsteak, which we visited last night.

The concept is straightforward. Half portions of Craftsteak food for half price. The headliner? A half portion (6 oz) of Craftsteak's signature dry aged bone-in steak with fries for $14.50, supplemented by half pints of local beer ($3.50) and some funky appetizers (fried tripe?). We tried the fried oysters with smoked coleslaw, a couple of drinks (an excellent dark wheat beer and a half cocktail with lime) and a dessert cupcake, along with two steaks. Good news first - the steak and drinks are worth the trip to the dark recesses of 10th avenue. It's terrific meat, properly cooked, with excellent fries. Not to mention that someone is finally serving me the perfect portion of steak - I don't want a 16 oz he-man cut.

The service and the appetizers and dessert? Well, one was bad, and the others didn't add anything to our experience (I don't like cupcakes). But my qualms about the waiters, at least, were mollified a little by being handed a slice of coffee cake "for breakfast" on the way out, which I've gobbled this morning.

The halfsteak is a great, great, value. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Notes from today

Caterer: And of course, our price includes a tasting at our [legitimately good] restaurant!

Me: Of course, if I just picked a cheaper caterer, I could come to your restaurant and bathe myself, my fiancee, and any number of laid off New Yorkers in truffes and caviar with the savings, no?

Rank hypocrisy watch

I should note that I realize I am susceptible to claims of hypocrisy, given that I keep extolling the virtue of saving all the while being in the middle of negotiating an extremely expensive wedding that I think both of us wish didn't need to be so. I really have no answer whatever to this.

Also, let me put forward a hypothetical conversation I intend to have with a bidding caterer today:

Me: I notice that you are charging me [X obscene fee] for service.

Them: Yes. We have the best service.

Me: Indeed. And I also notice this delightful 15% "service and administration fee" over here. What's that?

Them: The tip.

Me: Aha. But let's play a little intellectual game. Why has America adopted the tip (i.e., the voluntary gratuity) as a model of waiter compensation, you think? As opposed to the service included European regime?

Them: Oh, because American restaurateurs don't pay their wait staff anything resembling a reasonable wage, instead hoping that tips will compensate them fairly.

Me: Right. So it's fair to say that the tip is in lieu of some percentage of wages paid out by the restaurateur?

Them: Yes.

Me: Then why the f&@# are you charging me both $35 an hour for these waiters, from which you can pay them whatever the hell wage you'd like, *and* expecting me to pay them a tip, calculated on a base figure that somehow includes the $35 an hour fee?

Them: Because we're trying to rob you.

Me: I figured.

Stimulus again

Some very interesting discussion from Russ Roberts and Arnold Kling on Blogging Heads about the economic crisis. As I've mentioned before, I agree with them that (1) the government is trying to put the leverage-bubble humpty-dumpty back together again (2) their efforts aren't going to work. We are just going to have get used to a world of much lower leverage both at the corporate and personal finance levels, and yet our government officials appear to be trying to just ressucitate the model that just broke down. As Ricky Gervais might have said, why are we sending horses to perform medical procedures? (watch the clip).

By the way, all we normal people are pretty irrelevant to the great economic debate going on. But how should we all act in view of what's going on? To me, the only rational response is to batten down the hatches. 30% of gross income is no longer an acceptable debt burden. De-lever to 30% of net income. Carry no credit card debt month to month. Push savings to over 10% of personal income, if possible. Amass 6 months to a year of living expenses in liquid savings. Oh, and ignore politicians that tell you it's time to spend.

EDIT: of course, I'm guilty of inexact language above. I meant to say that the cost of carrying your debt (the payments) should be no more on an annual basis than 30% of your net income, not that your entire debt should be no more than 30% of your net income.

Dehydrated Olive Tapenade

I got my hands on some extremely fresh wild salmon over the weekend, and though I knew how I would cook it (on my flat griddle, skin down, 10 minutes, until skin is potato chip crisp) I was groping a little for a sauce until I remembered a neat idea from the Alinea cookbook - an olive oil jam made of dehydrated olives.

I don't own a dehydrator.  But I've done well dehydrating tomatoes in the oven at 170, so I put some shriveled, oil-cured, thasos olives in the oven on a low burn and forgot about them for about 7 hours.  They emerged further shriveled, tough jerky like pellets of concentrated olive flavor.  I pitted them, and then set to with my mortar, pestle, and good Cretan olive oil until I got a smooth paste.  The resultant sauce was a fantastic, salty, counterpoint to the salmon with a texture that differed markedly from standard issue tapenade or olive paste (i.e., tapenade sans anchovies).   This is a highly recommended building block, and it's going to make further appearances all summer (this seems an obvious element of an updated greek salad, or a great sauce for baby lamb chops or rack of lamb).  It is salty, however, and care should be taken  when pairing with cheese or other intensely savory ingredients.

Things I was wrong about

I've been thinking about errors that have been exposed by this crisis.  The one that I think I'm most embarrassed about is the 401(k) as a retirement vehicle.  I suppose it seems obvious now, but it turns out to be entirely unacceptable (as others, I admit, said) to base people's retirements on a mechanism that might decline in value 40% (or more) almost at random due to circumstances beyond any normal person's control.  Of course, investing conventional wisdom tells you to shift slowly out of equities over time, but I've never seen any investment advice recommend *no* equities, and that is the only expedient that would have saved a retirement aged  person in this crisis.  Now to find out what kind of employer might offer a traditional pension. 

Err?

Sometimes, you have to wonder whether people really have no imagination, or whether there's something more nefarious at work.  Look, for example, at these two articles - one from the Post, and one from the New York Times.  

They have the same premise - America's blue chip stocks are crumbling.  Reasonable enough that two major newspapers would have a story on that issue given the calamitous state of the stock market, you think.  But the similarities stretch far beyond general theme. They both start by comparing the price of a share of Citigroup to something else - an ATM fee for the Post, and an item at the dollar store for the Times.  Both describe Citigroup's falling below $1.00 as having "broke the buck".  Both refer back to Citigroup's price of $55 two years ago. Both mention that a share of GM isn't enough to buy a gallon of gasoline.  Both compare the price of a share of GE to something else.  Remarkably enough, to precisely the same something else, "compact fluorescent lightbulbs".    Thankfully, they disagree on just how many lightbulbs one gets to buy with that share.

I'm sure, if I had the time or inclination to compare them further, I'd discover even more to list here.  In any case, though, it seems likely that both authors cribbed substantial portions of their articles from some common source. Is there a journalistic practice I'm unaware of that legitimizes this kind of half-plagiarism? 

UPDATE: I was mistaken.  The Post refers to compact fluorescent flood lightbulbs.  There's some good reporting for ya.  Also, in case anyone thinks that "breaking the buck" is a common way to refer to a stock going below a dollar, it's not.  Finance people typically talk about "breaking a buck" when the NAV of a money market fund falls below a dollar - which incidentally is a shocking, world-changing catastrophe that has happened recently. Not when a stock falls below a dollar.

Death & Company

We sampled a number of drinks I haven't had before at our favorite bar in New York last night - Death & Company.  Particularly amazing was the Fancy Free  (mostly bourbon and maraschino liqueur) and the Martinez (potentially a precursor to the Martini - gin, sweet vermouth, more maraschino liqueur, and angostura bitters).  We also liked their Hyde Park Swizzle.  

Organic means safer?

I'm completely, completely baffled by this New York Times article, exposing the amazing secret that the USDA organic classification has nothing to do with food safety. Why would rodents and pests be any less inclined to raid organic grains and other produce than conventional food? And in any case, "food safety" in the traditional sense is often the most gruesome enemy of the organic and localist and taste interest groups. For the food safety advocate, after all, the ideal world is where everything is irradiated to a sterile crisp.

I especially liked the nurse practioner's lament at the beginning of the article, which reminds me of a different misunderstanding:

“Why is organic peanut butter better than Jif?” said Ms. Devlin-Sample, a nurse practitioner from Pelham, N.Y. “I have no idea. If we’re getting salmonella from peanut butter, all bets are off