Medellitin

Last night I watched Bourdain's At The Table, which, according to comments on his blog, didn't go over well with his fanbase. The format of the show is simple enough. Take five food and journalist industry veterans, plop them down at wd~50, and ask them a bunch of questions, round-table style. It could work. It really really could. It is like John Favreau's Dinner For Five, only with debaucherous restauranteurs, authors and tv stars. I truly believe there is value in this show. But first: Why it didn't work Bourdain is not a natural facilitator. This is a surprisingly difficult task, and not everyone is suited for it. Let's face it, he is typically in a role where he is central to his books or tv shows. The hardest part about this job is stepping out of the way. In his defense, he may not have been able to do this because: Most of the guests didn't do their job. Guests on this type of show are obligated to be interesting. It was pretty obvious t...

** Old-Me has joined the chat room "SousVide:TheNewNotTooHotness" ** Future-Me has joined the chat room "SousVide:TheNewNotTooHotness" Hey... look who it is... Me... again. So glad that in the future the only person I talk to is myself. What the heck is Sous Vide? No time for shenanigans. You need to know this. Sous-vide, French for totally delicious, or possibly under vacuum. It is a cooking technique where food is vacuum sealed in plastic bags and "poached" in a temperature controlled water bath. Originally developed in the 70s as a way of reducing the loss of weight in foie gras during traditional cooking techniques, sous-vide has had widespread applications ranging from industrial food preparation to use in some of the most highly regarded restaurants in the world.There are several benefits for cooking with sous-vide:  1. Consistency. Sous-vide takes a lot of the guesswork out of knowing when a food is done cooking. Imagine a world where everyti...

**UPDATE:** They refunded my money and sent me tablets. While a frustrating experience, they did ultimately make me whole. On June 3rd, Grub Street published a blog post entitled “Miracle Fruit Dealers Will Take You ‘Flavor Tripping’”. In it, they talk about the Miracle Fruit, a berry of West African origin that will temporarily invert your taste of sour for somewhere between 30 minutes - two hours. Obviously, that makes people like me excited. They also mention a New York based company, Miracle Connect , that would deliver the berries to you within a week. That makes people like me incredibly excited. Buying temperature sufficiently raised, I purchased the berries through the website. On June 20th, I still did not have my berries. I sent in a status request. Here was the reply: Hey, We’re getting more berries in two weeks! Sorry for the delay, we sold out after the Times and NY Mag stories. Best, NS > Dear Miracle Connect: > > Can I get a quick status on my order? My receipt...

**UPDATE:** They refunded my money and sent me tablets. While a frustrating experience, they did ultimately make me whole. On June 3rd,  Grub Street  published a blog post entitled “Miracle Fruit Dealers Will Take You ‘Flavor Tripping’”. In it, they talk about the Miracle Fruit, a berry of West African origin that will temporarily invert your taste of sour for somewhere between 30 minutes - two hours. Obviously, that makes people like me excited. They also mention a New York based company,  Miracle Connect , that would deliver the berries to you within a week. That makes people like me incredibly excited. Buying temperature sufficiently raised, I purchased the berries through the website. On June 20th, I still did not have my berries. I sent in a status request. Here was the reply: Hey, We’re getting more berries in two weeks! Sorry for the delay, we sold out after the Times and NY Mag stories. Best, NS > Dear Miracle Connect: > > Can I get a quick status on my order? My recei...