>yummmmmy bar code design

Noodles with chopsticks - brillllllllliant. (Courtesy of Bar Code Revolution)

>Mont Blanc cupcake - a faux "spaghetti" treat

Have you ever tried Spaghettieis ("spaghetti ice")？

It's a sweet ice cream dessert that delights in fooling you into thinking it could be vermicelli.

A somewhat similar "pasta" confection is still popular as Mont Blanc, a delectable cake covered with wispy noodle-like strands of cream that comes in all colors of the rainbow.

Relished at chic cafes in Ginza, such as at Hills (ヒルズ) or Tricolore (トリコロール).

Chestnut cream is the preferred flavor. Many come in the form of cupcakes that are just too cute to unravel.

>battered art

by jun0504

Created by a bored Japanese food enthusiast - no information is given on what this panko art is hiding inside.
For those of you who don't read foreign jibber jabber, here are a few selected comments:

-Never... never... never... please, no ketchup -- (yororic2y)
-Pompeii...? (id1135)
-If overfried and blackened... it'd be a burned body, oh my god. (kunakunajj)
-I'll start with the legs, hahaha, he shall never walk again (mmx1_8)
-A voodoo doll, chew it slowly thinking of that hateful guy (bibianee)
-I wonder if I should use... a knife (toymaki)
-Perfect for sex education *^^* (jw0817)
-...pugilistic attitude... (nubjuck)

>bioluminescent "blue plate" special - firefly squid, honey mushroom...

It was not glowing jellyfish that Huck Finn used to light his way in the dark.

On a long cross-country trip, I decided to get a book on tape. Not many titles enticed me, really, and turns out these "books" cost quite a bit. I picked up just one - Huckleberry Finn. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was one of my favorite childhood books, yet I had never actually read the other "more important" work.

Indeed, it was an excellent tale to be read aloud, preferably not by me, so it was a decent choice - it felt especially appropriate on the Mississippi River. "...because Tom said we got to have SOME light to see how to dig by, and a lantern makes too much, and might get us into trouble; what we must have was a lot of them rotten chunks that's called fox-fire, and just makes a soft kind of a glow when you lay them in a dark place. We fetched an armful and hid it in the weeds..."   Fairy lights, will o' the wisp? Foxfire refers to the ghostly blue-green glow produced by certain mushrooms. Jack-o-lantern (it's obvious why it was named such) is poisonous. But honey mushroom, also called honey fungus or armillaria, is edible. There are quite a few bioluminescent delicacies, if you only look around.  Firefly squid, also called sparkling enope (Watasenia scintillans), for one.

>hotaruika no sumi-tsukuri, salted and fermented firefly squid and intestines with squid ink, Anago Kanzake Ginza, Tokyo
>New York striploin, 12 oz. striploin grilled with truffled mashed potatoes, honey mushroom and vanilla enhanced jus, Flow Restaurant and Lounge, Toronto
>green papaya and jellyfish salad, Ponzu Restaurant, Waltham, MA

>watermelon heads

These are real watermelons. Not photoshopped.
But most of these mutants are not yet carried by your local grocer.

Their shapes include

spheres
cubes
cones 
triangular pyramids 
triangular pyramids with facial features
...and hearts.

Watermelon on the Vine　♪

See that watermelon a'hanging on the fence

How I wish that melon was mine
Some folks are foolish, they just don't have no sense
Or they wouldn't leave that melon on the vine
Hambone it is sweet, chicken it is good
Rabbit is so very, very fine
But give me, oh give me, oh how I wish you would
That watermelon hanging on the vine

You may talk about your peaches, your apples and your pears
Persimmons growing on the tree
Folks have their favorites just most everywhere
But that watermelon is the best for me

* Refrain

I went to get that melon, I thought I'd have some fun
The stars they had just begun to shine
But when I heard some moving, I left there on the run
But I didn't leave that melon on the vine

* Refrain
              

>risotto alle fragole, pink strawberry risotto

Pretty in pink?
Or Pepto Bismol putrid?

Opinions seem to be neatly divided into two rather incompatible camps. Either you lust after this summery fruit risotto or you spurn its kind like some noxious porridge.

Popular pink, purple or red rice concoctions are also created with red wine (risotto al vino rosso), beets (risotto alle barbabietole) or other berries.

>risotto alle fragole, Ristorante Velando, Borgo Vittorio, Roma
>risotto alle fragole, Ristorante Vecchio Mulino, Palestro PV, Italy
>risotto con le fragole, La Famiglia, London

Want to try making it at home? You can find the recipe here.
Dessert suggestions;
1) un bicchierino di panna cotta alle fragole
2) pink strawberry balls (ichigo daifuku イチゴ大福)

>scallops - with guts intact, please

When we eat oysters, we devour the whole thing. Many oysters are apparently hermaphrodites, so we are eating oyster roe, sperm, gills, guts and all in one mouthful.

When it comes to mussels or clams, we throw away the adductor muscles (the chewy white bits that stick to the shell, often erroneously called the "abductor" muscles) and eat the rest.

Strangely enough, when we eat scallops, we throw away the rest (or don't get the see the rest) and eat only the adductor muscle, the white fleshy "meat", the lone posterior adductor muscle.

What's wrong with this picture?

The whole scallop can be delicious, be it sea scallop or bay scallop, including the large salmon-colored mantle. Scallop is hard to ship fresh, the main reason for separating the hardy and more presentable "meat".

When you order scallop at a good restaurant, try asking for the whole scallop and not just the white meat, and they might happily oblige you. It is also a test of how fresh their scallop really is.

>hotate & kani misonnaise - baked scallops & crab meat with miso mayonnaise, Tsukiji Restaurant, Richmont, British Columbia

>symphonie d'hamachi roti aux pistaches, scampis en risotto de riz noir et corolle de noix de Coquilles Saint-Jacques en fine ratatouille de legumes nicois et coulis safrane, La Mer Restaurant, Honolulu, Hawaii

>pansotti, paccheri, tajarin, lune...

Unlike the more comprehensive pasta list I made for New York's L'Impero, I am going to abbreviate the pasta list at San Francisco's Perbacco. One evening in early March, I found the following choices. Agnolotti, tajarin, gnocchi, pansotti, paccheri, lune, pappardelle and ravioli. Some of these dishes are listed on this Zagat menu.

>pansotti (pictured on the right) / braised chard / ricotta / herbs / walnut butter
>paccheri (pictured on the left) - large pasta tubes / heritage breed pork spare rib ragu / Bellwether Farm's ricotta
>butternut squash lune / sage butter / Castelmagno cheese
>tajarin - handcut tagliatelle / 5 hour pork sugo / porcini mushrooms

My list is so brief today, it should be easy to digest. As for lune the big round ravioli, try singing "when the moon hits your eye like a bigga lune pie(?) that's amore..." Okay, supposedly it's "White Day", today.

>Coffee or tea? Or organic mint melange, cafe latte, jasmine pearls...

Menus used to end simply with "coffee or tea".

Now, humble coffee and tea routinely come with a list of choices (at times puzzling - breakfast tea at dinner? Why not, if you want to stay up?) that fight for space with desserts, dessert wines and cheeses.

Last week's Italian dinner at Perbacco in San Francisco was another agreeable one. The menu came with too many choices, however, considering you can only try a couple. Three choices of crudo (hamachi, tuna, cuttlefish noodles) seven choices of salumi tasting plates (salame, cooked salumi, cured meats, salumi misti, fegatini d'anatra, ciccioli, prosciutto) 12 appetizers (including vitello tonnato, bagna caoda, baccala fritto, fritto misto, puntarelle, various salads), 10 choices of soup, pasta, risotto, eight main courses (the Incredible Shrinking Main Courses - a story by itself), five side dishes.

Coffee, espresso, cappuccino and latte have become de rigueur choices.
Compare Perbacco's tea selection with Flora's, a Classic Californian restaurant in Oakland.

Loose Leaf Tea (Perbacco)

organic English breakfast
wild blackberry
mountain spring jasmine
organic mint melange
ginger twist
chamomile citrus

Tea (Flora)

hojicha - toasted green tea
ancient forest - rich and smooth black tea
lemon verbena - light, refreshing herbal tea
jamine pearls green tea - green tea "pearls" scented with jasmine

>roasted fruit and vegetables

Among "roast" definitions, from brainyquote.com:

-To cook by exposure to radiant heat before a fire; as, to roast meat on a spit, or in an oven open toward the fire and having reflecting surfaces within; also, to cook in a closed oven.
-To cook by surrounding with hot embers, ashes, sand, etc.; as, to roast a potato in ashes.
-To dry and parch by exposure to heat; as, to roast coffee; to roast chestnuts, or peanuts.
-Hence, to heat to excess; to heat violently; to burn.
-To cook meat, fish, etc., by heat, as before the fire or in an oven.
-That which is roasted; a piece of meat which has been roasted, or is suitable for being roasted.
-Roasted; as, roast beef.

Meat, fish, potato, chestnuts, coffee - but these typical definitions overlook the important items happening on restaurant menus, roasted (also grilled and charred) fruits and vegetables. Roasted tomatoes, roasted red peppers, roasted eggplants, roasted squashes, roasted brussels sprouts, roasted asparagus, roasted root veggies, roasted onions, roasted leeks, roasted garlic cloves, roasted seaweed, roasted chili peppers, roasted peaches, roasted plums...

A recent dinner at Flora with a cousin visiting from Georgetown University was a memorably good one. Four months after it opened ("people will flock to this former floral depot no matter what, I promise"), it has undergone a major menu change, and it has already become a neighborhood institution. Their caramel pudding alone should become an institution.

Roasted fruit and veggie sightings on Flora menu - fennel, pineapple, red beets, cauliflower.

>puntarelle, roasted fennel, pancetta, lemon-anchovy vinaigrette, shaved pepato cheese
>seared sonoma foie gras, pineapple-ginger fritter, roasted pineapple, spiced pineapple gastrique
>seared scallops, roasted red beets, beurre blanc, kumquat relish
>roasted cauliflower, Moroccan charmoula, pinenut and parmesan risotto, sauteed chard

What kind of roasted vegetable would I like? Beets me. (Sorry.)

>white strawberry (白いイチゴ)

Violets are blue.
Strawberries are... white?

Not only is this white strawberry still a strawberry, it can be a seductively sweet strawberry. Size is comparable to red ones, bigger than yellow-tinted alpine strawberries.

Lovely novelty gifts of fruits and vegetables are irresistible, and more developers are coming up with interesting new cultivars.

One pink-tinged white strawberry breed is being grown near the city of 防府 (Hohu) in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and is still waiting for a proper name. So far, it goes simply by 白い苺 or 白いイチゴ, "white strawberry".

The white cake sold at 洋菓子工房ゆーたん bakery in the town of Matsumi (pictured on the right) is decorated with a mix of regular red strawberries and these still rare gems.

***
Why is the strawberry sad?
Because she is in a ...

No worries - you won't see THIS kid in a jam anytime soon.

>flor de pito, izote, loroco... pétalos comestibles

The energetic electrician installing recessed lighting in the kitchen is from El Salvador. With a wide grin, he boasts of having at least 10 siblings, a dozen aunties and uncles, and a couple of dozen nieces and nephews. Among this happy clan, there are at least a few amazing cooks.

"I am the baby. My parents tell me I was a mistake." He grins again. 

"I have this big family, and no one in our family is named Carlos. No Jose. We have different names." It amuses him that people mistake him for a Mexican, but it doesn't bother him, not too much. 

"We have different foods, too. The best is the pupusa my auntie makes." 

The essential ingredient is loroco, an edible flower. 

 "Everybody uses loroco in our pupusas. It's a flower. We eat many many flowers. In eggs, in soups."

Flower-loving Mesoamericans.

Indeed, yellow blossoms of flor de ayote, pink buds of madrecacao, white petals of flor de izote and red buds of flor de pito.

>pupusas de queso con loroco (Salvador-style tortillas stuffed with cheese and vegetable blossoms), Sarita's Pupuseria Salvadorean, Los Angeles, CA

>huevos con loroco - eggs with loroco, rice and beans, Elizabeth Restaurant, Redwood City, CA

>soy lecithin-free chocolates?

While sitting around eating bonbons and admiring HD TV's trees, rocks, ice, dirt and flowers, I noticed that all but 2 of my chocolate bars had soy lecithin listed as their ingredient. The good(?) guys - Taza's "Stone Ground Organic 70% dark" and Theo's "Madagascar 65% cacao".

Soy or soya lecithin is not an additive I readily understand to be natural. What with all the GM (genetically modified) food controversy, soybean's image has gone from healthy to possibly harmful. It does make you pause when you think of lecithin as the emulsifier for paint and soap, and sure, margarine. Not quite enough to scare me, though.

This "mouthwatering" passage is taken from sanwariaagro.com :

"We are manufacturing soya lecithin, it is used as emulsifier, also to increase life of products, to reduce fat content and also for easy spreadability of the product. Lecithin is a mixture of polar and neutral lipids and phosphalipids. Polar lipid consist of glycolipids, neutral lipids are triglycerides, phosphalipids contain phosphates. This is in liquid form. Thus lecithin contains Acetone Insoluble Phosphatides, its ingredients are phosphatidcholine, phosphatidyleth, V linositol, phosphatidylserine, other substances are triglycerides, fatty acid, carbohydrates, this is extracted from fresh soya gum directly through fully automatic plant. Uses: Soya lecithin is used as food emulsifier in confectionery (Biscuits, Bread, Chocolate, Candies) Aquafeed, Poultry feed, Paints, Inks, Explosive, Animal feed etc."

(?)

I am still disinclined to get involved in agenda-ridden "organic lecithin" or "organic chocolate" movement, but I have to admit, I can't help liking the natural sound of cacao beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. Period.

>veggie monologue and the c word

I am not sure when this started, but I am not much fond of cooked carrots. I prefer them raw.
There are plenty of other c word veggies I do like -
cauliflower
chard
cucumber
celery
chilli pepper

all of which I recently found on the menu at Adour Alain Ducasse.
And coffee.
(I chose Ethiopian Harrar Longberry at Adour.)

What, did you think coffee beans were grains?
Not legume, either. "Fruit", then, maybe. Okay, seed.

I nominate coffee as the ubiquitous yet mysterious c word of the day. I don't usually allow myself to touch it after 5 pm. 

"(The Harrar coffees) are grown on small peasant plots and farms in the Eastern part of (Ethiopia) near the old capital of Harrar, at about 5,000 to 6,000 feet. You may see these coffees called longberry Harrar (large bean), shortberry Harrar (smaller bean), or Mocha Harrar (peaberry, or single bean). The Harrar may become Harari, Harer, or Harar." - lucidcafe.com

>sweet nothings - tributes in red, white, black and blue

I am not making fun of this commercially sacred and festive red-saturated day, am I?

As Ophelia sang, tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. If she was born in the era of modern greeting cards, and was awaiting March 14th instead of February 14th, AND IF she was less ruefully inclined and more tartly or mathematically inclined, she might have been persuaded to sing of Pi Day, as well.

Pi day, yes, March 14th, is also designated as "White Day", when you are supposed to return the favor you received a month earlier, with a gift sufficiently white-chocolaty or marshmallow candy-coated.

Baloney?

Not a bad candidate for the next month, but it would be a wrong color. April 14th has been appropriated by some people as Black Day, when you could gather to indulge in black food together to either celebrate your chic singledom or to wallow in dark gooey sauce.

(This is nutty... so what is May 14th, then?)

It would depend on what you're celebrating.

Let's see. The curiously over-eulogized Frank Sinatra, Ol' Blue Eyes, died the same day Seinfeld aired its final episode after 9 years, on 5/14, 1998. It is Independence Day in Israel - their flag is blue. You are still alone after all these cheerful get-togethers.

"Blue Day", it seems, at this point.

No, really, I am not making fun of any of these. Bring on the Blue M&M's and Jelly Belly Berry Blue Jelly Beans. :)

>pione (ピオーネ), large black seedless grapes

The pursuit of the perfect seedless grape continues.

One of the more popular grape varieties in Japan, pione is almost unknown in the U.S.

Dark violet-black and perfectly round, it resembles the concord variety, and does have somewhat similar sweet, floral characteristics.

Despite sounding like Italian subatomic pi meson, (pione is named after "pioniere" in Italian, meaning "pioneer", or French pionnier?) the fruit is rather large, and it is seedless.

A cross between Cannon Hall Muscat and Kyoho (巨峰) grapes,
pione was created by Hideo Igawa (井川秀雄) in 1957.

Ideal candidate for sorbets, pione grape is used in all sorts of jellies, cakes, wine and myriad other pretty confections, and even in ... curry.

Pictured below are fruit curries - white peach curry, pione curry and persimmon curry, and on the right is "pione waffle".

>garganelli, strozzapreti, cappelletti, agnolotti...

I can never get the pasta names straight.

A pasta guide for Italian restaurants (serving good ones) would be handy.

I wouldn't really want our menus to come with shiny little accompanying pictures, either. They would start to look like T.G.I. Friday's.

I suppose I'd have to make one myself. Here's one for *L'impero, which offers a relative bargain four course prix fixe at $64. Different from seven course $110 chef's tasting menu.
(Some cab drivers don't know where the charming Tudor City Place is, between 1st and 2nd. I wasn't paying attention, and he stayed on 42nd and missed it. You have to tell them to go to 41st and turn.)

*since closed, now Convivio

***

L'impero Winter Dinner Menu

PASTA

1)

Garganelli con Funghi e Rosmarino
-homemade pasta quills, braised wild mushrooms scented with rosemary 

garganelli
derived from Latin gargala, tracheal artery
mnemonic - 'quill', 'cannoli'

2)

Agnolotti al Bietole e Ricotta di Bufala
-swiss chard and buffalo ricotta ravioli, tomato puree and garlic breadcrumbs 

agnolotti
derived from Latin anellus, diminutive of anus ring
mnemonic - uh, 'ravioli'

3)
Tagliolini al Nero di Seppia alla Pescatore
-squid ink tagliolini with mixed seafood

tagliolini
like tagliatelle, cut into strips
mnemonic - 'fettuccine, spaghetti'

4)

Strozzapreti con Seppia, Pancetta e Cime di Rape
-hand-rolled maccheroni with cuttlefish, pancetta and broccoli rabe 

strozzapreti
means 'priest choker'
mnemonic - 'pretty ringlet'

5)
Cappelletti di Frutti di Mare
-crab and shrimp filled pasta with black trumpet mushrooms and lobster butter 

cappelletti
from Latin cappa 
mnemonic - 'little hat'

6)

Fusilli al Ragu Napoletano
-handmade pasta twists, Neapolitan pork shoulder ragu and cacciocavallo fonduta

fusilli
from Latin fusus
mnemonic - 'corkscrew'

7) 

Tortelli di Amatrice con Salsa di Cacio e Pepe
amatriciana filled pasta, melted butter, pecorino and black pepper

tortelli
from Latin torta
mnemonic - 'dumpling'

***
L'arte di mangiar bene.
Buon appetito!