Daily Stuff : Bites

This Is Fishy

Tamara Wieder — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:53:00 GMT

Call me crazy, but I'm a little weirded out by the New England Aquarium's Celebrate Seafood Dinner Series. I mean, I love fish as much as the next fish-loving girl, but I can't say that I want my pan-seared halibut's googly-eyed cousin watching me as I dine tank-side. (Okay, I exaggerate: the dinners are actually held in the Aquarium's Harbor View Cafe.) What's next: steak dinners at Drumlin Farm?

Still, the series does have its merits, given that its goals are to "promote healthy and responsible seafood choices" and to "encourage New Englanders to consider the health of the oceans when purchasing seafood." And Garden at the Cellar's Will Gilson is the guest chef at this year's final dinner on November 18, so the food -- including farm-raised oysters and wild-caught striped mullet -- is sure to be good. Register for the event on the Aquarium's Web site.

There Is Such Thing as a Free Lunch (Well, Almost)

Tamara Wieder — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Just for a minute, put aside your obsession with your ever-shrinking 401(k). You're not destitute and starving just yet -- and you certainly won't be on October 29, thanks to Pressed Sandwiches. From 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Wednesday, the shop's two locations in the Financial and Seaport Districts are offering $2 Cuban sandwiches -- while supplies last -- in celebration of the not-so-creatively-but-accurately-named $2 Cuban Sandwich Day.

What could be better? How 'bout music and professional salsa dancers to entertain you while you scarf down your practically-free lunch?

On October 30, we'll return you to your regularly scheduled financial anxiety.

work of the Devil

Tamara Wieder — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:47:00 GMT

My name is Tamara, and I'm a cookbook-aholic. No matter that I don't make 99.9 percent of the recipes in the enormous collection I've amassed. I read them, I drool over the photos, I plan elaborate menus for imaginary dinner parties. I'm a newlywed, after all -- I have all the expensive cookwear and fancy kitchen gadgets an aspiring chef could possibly want. One of these days I'm going to use them, and when I do, I'm going to need those books.

Until then, though, there's this: The Devil's Food Dictionary: A Pioneering Culinary Reference Work Consisting Entirely of Lies, by Barry Foy. How can you not love a work that's billed by its publicists as "the most unreliable food book ever"?

Some of my favorite entries:

Celebrity chef: An accomplished chef who, because his food's prices have reached their conceivable upper limit, is forced to host TV series, appear on culinary cruises, and open proxy establishments in Las Vegas in order to avoid income stagnation. Celebrity chefs are believed to have more frequent sex than regular chefs.

Sourdough: A type of bread this is unconventionally appealing in every respect but its odd, unaccountably sour taste. Sourdough bread is a longtime favorite on America's West Coast, particularly in the San Francisco area. It must be a gay thing.

Pear: Perhaps the only fruit famous for being shaped like itself.

Locavore: A buzzword that found its way into American English just in time to beat the publisher's deadline for inclusion in this dictionary. Unfortunately, the word's definition ran a little late, and didn't make it.

Buy it on Amazon.com or, better yet, pick it up at your favorite independent book store.

What I'm Drinking ...

Tamara Wieder — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:20:00 GMT

... I mean, not now (I wish), but last night, and hopefully again very soon: the Gocce di Zucca ($10), one of the new fall cocktails at Rocca, in the South End. It's made with Frangelico, Stoli Vanil, pumpkin, and cream. Sounds heavy, right? It's not. Sounds like it should be an after-dinner drink, doesn't it? Not necessarily so: I had one as soon as I arrived at the bar, and if anything it whet my appetite for the new (and similarly autumnal) dishes on the menu, including a positively lovely roasted butternut squash and pear pizzetta with ricotta, gorgonzola, and sage ($9). That and a bowl of divine Tuscan tomato soup with farro, chickpeas, and white beans ($7) and I could've quit right there, absolutely satisfied. (Of course I didn't. Good thing I'd just come from a personal training session.)

$1 Oysters

Tamara Wieder — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Need I say more?

Oh -- you want to know where? Riiiight.

The bar at Pigalle is the place. Tuesdays through Thursdays until the end of October, get 'em while they're ... well, raw.

What I'm Not Reading

Tamara Wieder — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:15:00 GMT

A press release just landed in my inbox: "Announcing CRUNCH!: A HISTORY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN POTATO CHIP."

For starters, why does this press release have to yell at me?

Secondly, there's this little sales pitch: "Who doesn't love potato chips? What began as an accident in a nineteenth-century New York kitchen has become a global industry, and each year Americans consume over one and a half billion pounds of the salty treat. And yet, shockingly, the fascinating story of the history and culture of the iconic American snack product has never been told ... until now."

Now, I consider myself someone who's pretty interested in all things food- and restaurant-related. I eat out far more often than I probably should. There's a book by Anthony Bourdain on my nightstand as I write this. But I do not find the fact that a book has never been written about the history of the potato chip shocking. The Patriots' Super Bowl XLII implosion? Pretty damn surprising. The ineptitude of the Bush administration? Yup, that qualifies. But potato chips?

Not so much.

What are you not reading these days?