Sunday, January 01, 2006


new year's day

"without wishing in the slightest degree to disparage the skill and labour of breadmakers by trade, truth compels us to assert our conviction of the superior wholesomeness of bread made in our own homes."

-- eliza acton, modern cookery, 1885, quoted by elizabeth david in 1977

this quote was brought to mind today by reading
today's nytimes article reporting that at a recent food conference celebrity chef mario batali declared the new fashionable foods to be those considered authentic: handmade bread, handmade cheese, and handmade salumi. naturally long-time readers will note that bccy has long been devoted to 2 of these 3, and that with my kitchenaid stand mixer, i could buy the food grinder/sausage attachment and literally go whole hog.

just another example, dear readers, of how as each year passes, the rest of the world is catchin' up to us. . . .

mr. right and i celebrated new year's day by having pizza out at that nyc icon, john's. why out?

simply because for some reason during my time away, the dishwasher died. le dishwasher est mort; vive un dishwasher nouveau!

i will make pizza by hand; mozzarella by hand; various chocolate things by hand; pasta by hand, etc. . . but i draw the line at washing dishes by hand. and mr. right didn't want to do it either. . .so. . .there!

as you can see, it's been an unconventional sunday around here. this also interfered with my intent to properly taste andrew's prize-winning yrg from yesterday.

sorry -- i did however instead make his reserve espresso, which is probably the thickest, most syrupy espresso ever. a gorgeous body there, with a lovely sweet taste, and naturally highly recommended!

inspired by memories of a single-origin harrar shot paul bassett pulled for me in sydney, i ended up making an americano of andrew's ecco hama yrg, which was quite good -- caramelly and chocolately. but the blue doesn't survive in the americano as strongly as i'd like.

speaking of sydney, i was naturally awed by the gorgeous new years fireworks cnn showed. it's a pity i couldn't stay for new years, since sydney is now thought to have the best new year's street party on the planet. sigh.

but i was concerned to hear about today's wildfires north of sydney -- however unlike those in the u.s.a. currently, which are rapidly moving from house to house -- i doubt sydney will be in broad danger, due to the simple fact that most sydney houses are brick with tile or metal roofs. thus the spectacle we see in oklahoma city of wildfires jumping from one closely built wooden roof to another can't really happen in sydney's broad suburbs. . .

posted by fortune | 6:26 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 2 comments