Recipes and deliveries...?

Coming soon!

• What will Les Jardins de Tessa, my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, bring me this week? The pick-up is Tuesday, a mere half-block from my apartment.
• Vichyssoise w/ Fennel (hot or cold, it's up to you)
  
• Gnocchi² (potato with red pepper pesto and ricotta with basil pesto -- first pillow-y batches were consumed tonight!)
• Brined Pork Tenderloin (it's "well preserved in my Frigidaire"), brining right now per Chez Panisse Cooking's instructions -- when will I eat it? who will I eat it with? Stay-tuned!)

Müvbox

I have seen pictures around of some similar set-ups, but I was shocked when I heard that this shipping-container-turned-canteen had hit the streets of Old Montreal. Not only is it partly solar-powered and made from a ton of different recycled materials, it is the perfect mix of high and low dining, serving up lobster from les Îles de la Madeleine and seafood pizza street-fare style.

I'll visit this week and give an update.

Watch the video below to see the cube come to life!

Müvbox
Open from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.,
7 days a week, weather permitting.
Quai des Éclusiers,
Old Port of Montreal
(Corner of McGill & de la Commune)

Terri Timely: Synesthesia

The directing team Terri Timely makes great short films, commercials, and music videos for some equally great artists (St. Vincent, Joanna Newsom and Modest Mouse, to name a few). Their short film "Synesthesia" is less food-related than food-containing, but it's neat looking nonetheless.

You can view it here thanks to A Rockridge Life and Terri Timely:

Cookin' with Coolio

This is old. I bet you haven't seen it though. If you haven't... you need to (yes, this is the Coolio of "Gangta's Paradise" and "1,2,3,4" fame). Most people will find this ridiculous, but I find it hilarious. Either way, it's worth watching. 10 episodes in all at MyDamnChannel.com.

Food, Inc. & Kitchen 4B

Food, Inc. is a documentary-style film recently released. It features several food 'activists' (or at least today's bunch of talk show circulators with their own films and books). Apparently it is in the same vein as Michael Pollan's recent books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

Check out Jill Santopietro's interview with Robert Kenner, the filmmaker: Now Screening | ‘Food, Inc.’

You may also want to see Jill's video series for the online NY Times Magazine. If any of you have lived in a small apartment for the past 5 years like me, or have seen how small some New York apartments can be, you will find these videos shot in her tiny kitchen pretty endearing.

It's the "End of the Line" at On the Line

No, I'm not quitting this whole blog business on my second post.

I have a link for you about our fish stocks. I am feeling pretty good about how convenient the release of this film makes it for me to continue writing witty titles.

For the record, I have pretty much sworn off Bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass. Pretty much. In saying "sworn off", what I really mean is that I haven't been tempted by them. It has been my luck (or as the devil on my other shoulder tells me, my bad luck) that I have not crossed the path of tuna or sea bass on a menu ever since I became conscious of what it really means to eat them.

But they taste so damn good. Seriously. Have you had a plate of tuna sashimi or sea bass baked in a salt crust?



I don't know what I'll do when either is presented to me. Just listen to me - I'm almost talking in the past tense; "presented", as if ordering them is obligatory and I had no part in the decision. Half of me thinks I would do the right thing, not the indulgent thing, but a delicacy is a little like a femme fatale: some men cannot help but indulge themselves, no matter how much chaos and death they know will come about from their wayward acts.

Maybe this high-profile film, "End of the Line", and the 6 episode special courtesy of Babelgum will bestow (or force) some morally-charged will power upon me. The film is narrated by Ted Danson! wooo.... (I can't really talk trash. The guy was on Cheers and Curb.)

Let me know what you think!

Click below for the first couple of episodes at Babelgum:

Ugh. Really? Another food blog?

You are not alone.

I am also fatigued by the recent irruption of food blogs.

At first I loved them... but now most have grown tiresome. Too many Betty-homemakers and self-acclaimed gourmets with dial-up and digital cameras are out there trying to be the next Ruth Reichl or land a cook-book deal.

As with most things however, there are a few that hit the sweet spot and do justice to their aims. Many of these successes can be found in a good top-50 list done by The London Times: 50 of the world's best food blogs.

As you may be hoping, I will do my best to avoid the food 'diary' model -- it's boring and sort of self-indulgent. Instead, I want to provide you with a "feed" about food, for food. While my life is in limbo (staff/student/searching for the next step) I need an outlet for my obsession. I will update here as frequently as possible with items collected from other sites and blogs, as well as a few food experiences of my own or a short blurb explaining a link I want to share.

I chose "On the Line" thinking mainly about the backbone of any great restaurant's kitchen: the fast-paced line cooks -- specialists who serve up individual components that, once plated, aspire to be greater than their individual parts in a sum-ptious meal. I was kind of thinking I'd do something like that, but with like 'online food', and links, and the odd write-up of my own, you know?