In Defense of Weird Food A square of saut�ed foie gras, crisscrossed with dark chocolate sauce, seasoned with ground pepper and nutmeg, and accented with bitter orange marmalade, has been a staple of David F�au’s menu at Lut�ce since he took over as chef two and a half years ago. It strikes me as a highly awkward clash of flavors, and others have made a similar point, yet Mr. F�au perseveres

New York Times article about the history and current state of the art of pastrami.

The development of pastrami as we know it today happened in America, Ms. Nathan said, first as a way to preserve goose meat and then, when the availability of kosher beef became more widespread in the 19th century, with what butchers call the cow’s plate, also known as the belly or navel. It is found next to the brisket alongside the underside of the animal and is much fattier than brisket. The navel was dry-cured in salt and other spices for weeks, then smoked and, finally, steamed.
These preserved meats were not easy to make in the home. Delicatessens, or stores selling prepared meats, rose up to help fill the need. By the 1930’s, said Joel Denker, author of “The World on a Plate: A Tour Through the History of America’s Ethnic Cuisine” (Westview Press), there were no fewer than 5,000 of them in New York City, most serving home-cured pastrami.

Patti Smith.com

Not what I expected…

A colleague at Kodak sent out a message with the subject line “Hey fellas!” and so I replied. It bounced back to me, with a message that I had used a “forbidden word” in the subject line. I contacted their postmaster, who replied:
Unfortunately, over 99% of messages that arrive at the gateway with the word “Hey” in the subject line are spam. We’re sorry if this was a problem for the particular message you sent.
In order to protect our employees so that email remains a useful tool,
we sometimes need to filter on seemingly innocuous words.

Now isn’t that a frightening attitude? I mean, don’t false positives fail to “protect” their employees? Their spam fighting system is totally broken, and of course, they don’t see it that way.

Ahhh, corporate IT folks. Lovely.

Tags: blocking, forbidden, hey, postmaster, spam

Chuck Klosterman writes a funny and true essay in the NYT about his experiences as a new New Yorker.
Everyone Knows This Is Somewhere

In the 10 months I’ve been here, I have learned only one thing: Absolutely everything is no longer relevant. Every rock band, every film, every book, every restaurant, every street, every emotion, every newborn baby, every religion, every species of antelope, every over-the-counter cough medication, every style of affordable trousers and every future moment is completely over. Moreover, I fully realize that pointing out how “everything is over” is also over, so this essay is completely tired and clich�d. It was over before I started.

Tastes of India in U.S. Wrappers
American fast food chains are all but reinventing themselves for India, hoping to escape being tarred as unhealthy and uncool, as they have been elsewhere. Fast food is growing rapidly in and around India’s major cities, and the two best-known American chains here, McDonald’s and Subway, are bidding to dominate the Indian market by tailoring their menus to local tastes. Their offerings here, liberally flavored with Indian spices, bear little resemblance to the American originals, and their networks are poised for rapid expansion in India despite the war in Iraq and the slump in the global economy.

DNA Makes Sweet Music!

Imagine the human genome as music. Unravel DNA’s double helix, picture its components lined up like piano keys and assign a note to each. Run your finger along the keys.
Spanish scientists did that just for fun and recorded what they call an audio version of the blueprint for life.
The team at Madrid’s Ramon y Cajal Hospital was intrigued by music’s lure – how it can make toddlers dance and adults cry – and looked for hints in the genetic material that makes us what we are. They also had some microbial genes wax melodic.

To hear the music> go here.

You’re In Control (Urine Control) The You�re In Control system uses computation to enhance the act of urination. Sensors in the back of a urinal detect the position of a stream of urine, enabling people to play interactive games on a screen mounted above the urinal.

Our submission to the Stockstock Film Festival is in the mail. We’ll find out May 19th if we won or not. Never have done anything like this, but we’re excited and optimistic. If we did win, it would be an excuse to go to Seattle in June for the awards.

I had never heard of this before, but had a neat experience in SF tonite. Rice ball in a boiled peanut sugary “soup.” The lady tried to talk me out of ordering it, thinking I was some white guy who wanted the trendy tapioca drink, she kept saying this is something different and you haven’t had it before and I kept explaining that if that was the case, then I really definitely wanted to try it. I think that won her over because she warned me several times how hot it was and explained how Japanese people liked the red bean version but the Taiwanese people liked the peanut version.

It was neat, but it wasn’t great. I was really in the mood for one of those sesame balls you see at Dim Sum places. Next time, I guess.

It is a Chinese tradition to eat Tangyuan (Glutinous Rice Ball) to welcome the Winter Season. It signifies the end of a good harvest and the beginning of the resting period because it is too cold for the farmers to tend the fields.
Tangyuan is also served on all auspicious occasions like wedding, birthday, anniversary or an official opening as it symbolized Tuanyuan (reunion) and Yuanmun (perfect).
Chinatown Frozen Tangyuan is delicious. It is an ideal after meal dessert or snack and perfect for anytime, anywhere. It is hygienically prepared under stringent quality control using the best natural ingredients. The dough is fine, thin and smooth. It is the best Tangyuan that any manufacturer can offer. Five varieties are available – Peanut with White Sesame seed, Red Bean, Black Sesame, Green Bean and Yam.
It is very simple to serve the Tangyuan, It can be boiled and eaten as it is or served with ginko seed, peanut soup, red bean soup or rock sugar soup, It can also be boiled and served with a coating of grated peanut or grated pistachio nuts. It can also be coated with white sesame seed and deep fried.

Webby Awards canceled / Economy, travel fears turn event into virtual affair The seventh annual ceremony, a flamboyant production that came to symbolize the online industry’s excess, has been canceled. Many nominees from outside the Bay Area simply couldn’t attend the event — scheduled for June 5 in San Francisco — because of the bad economy and fears about traveling, Webby organizers said Friday.
Instead, winners will be unveiled online.

We can only hope
Sinead O’Connor Bids Farewell to Music Business
“As of July 2003, I shall be retiring from the music business order to pursue a different career,” wrote O’Connor — who distinguished herself in the 1990s as much with her shaven head and brash opinions as with her music — on a Web site devoted to all things Sinead, (http://www.sinead-oconnor.com).
Although the site is not the official home page for the singer, Lellie Capwell, a spokeswomen for Vanguard Records, O’Connor’s U.S. label, confirmed the message was authentic.

I’ve got “errors” on this page – some sort of javascript “Object not found” error that seems to come up right when the page lists the individual items.

Can anyone look at the source code of this page and offer some suggestions?

Where I was in Squamish, BC yesterday, I was trying to remember any details about the Squamish Five. CBC has a good summary here

When they met at the beginning of the ’80s, the five – who would become the Squamish Five – discovered they saw the world the same way. They believed that street protests were achieving nothing and that mainstream activism was spent as a force for radical change.. They would soon conclude that nothing short of “direct action”: would stir a response from governments and corporations.

It’s hard to explain why an old green bus packed with performance artists and bicycles-turned-psychotic-carnival-rides is pulling a trailer with three 10-foot-tall dachshund heads from San Francisco to New York.
Fourteen members of this eclectic scene, who gathered Tuesday under the last Doggie Diner head in use, are taking this road show through middle America on their way to their final destination at CBGB’s Gallery in Manhattan.

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