What did you eat last night for dinner?

[kwilkinson]



Mortadella sandwich, potato chips, beer.

Plebe.

I had homemade falafel, with pickled carrots and red onions, and baba ghanoush.

 

[StephenHero]



Something along those lines. In a very pragmatical manner I have to say I don't want food to be the topic of conversation during a meal unless it is done in the most passing manner "duck is delicious!" "nice plating!", want to avoid logistical problems that act as similar roadblocks (how the **** do I eat this? What is it anyway?) and prefer the whole thing to be experiential (in the moment) rather than about remembrance (about documenting, storing memories to be gotten out at a later date, etc).

Oh Fuuma. You're making my heart melt.

As for memories and food, no documentation (photos, blogging) used as a means to an ensure memory will ultimately work or enrich the experience. Memories aren't documented. Things worth remembering at the dinner table will be remembered independently of any effort you made you remember them, just as taking photos of stuff in MoMA won't do anything to prolong your influence from paintings. Teenage girls that go around snapping photos of Picasso paintings are just lost. They'll have made sizable impressions on your more pertinent senses in a phenomenological sense. People could take much influence from this book. It talks about the ritual of food.

 

[Rambo]



Did you have a mohel come in and do that work for you? It looks very professional.

 

[Fuuma]



Oh Fuuma. You're making my heart melt.
As for memories and food, no documentation (photos, blogging) used as a means to an ensure memory will ultimately work or enrich the experience. Memories aren't documented. Things worth remembering at the dinner table will be remembered independently of any effort you made you remember them, just as taking photos of stuff in MoMA won't do anything to prolong your influence from paintings. Teenage girls that go around snapping photos of Picasso paintings are just lost. They'll have made sizable impressions on your more pertinent senses in a phenomenological sense. People could take much influence from this book. It talks about the ritual of food.

I haven't read that Tanizaki book (read only one anyway) but I thought it talked about Japanese vs western aesthetics (i.e. more all encompassing; I've read extracts once or twice so feel free to correct me).

 

[mgm9128]



Did you have a mohel come in and do that work for you? It looks very professional.

Not quite. But you should try making lamb shanks some time. They are cheap, easy to do in one pot, and delicious. One of my favorite meals.

 

[KJT]

Turned some leftover roasted chicken into potpie. Really nice on a chilly evening, but did not photograph well.

 

[impolyt_one]

had a nice wagyu cheeseburger at the Intercontinental for lunch, and then Chinese food for dinner at a place in front of my house; otoshi was celery and asparagus salad in a Uighur-esque sesame oil vinaigrette, and then we had a cilantro and mitsuba salad in the same dressing that we ordered. Cilantro gyoza, prawns in chili sauce, mixed stir fried greens, and then mapo tofu, and we were full. Drank some sikuwasa highballs and some regular mizuwari whiskey highballs with dinner. Back home drinking some beer and relaxing after a long rainy day walking around.

 

[edinatlanta]



i think i know what you mean then. i remember being in this amazing bakery in venice ... the stuff was just outstanding. there were two other american couples in the place at the same time and they both had faith willinger's "eating in italy" (a really great book, btw), and insisted on only eating the specific things she had mentioned in the book. there is a certain desire to acquire the trappings of experience without actually experiencing things that is offputting.

OK I will admit something here... I find I kind of fall into similar although not the same situations when I travel. I find...more often than not ... when I travel that I do like to have some guide for where I go to eat, knowing that X is the classic dish at Z is kind of comforting to me. Now, I think part of it is that I often am alone so it helps to lessen the intimidation or...something with a new place. However, I am not sticking to a guide religiously so that I can say I had the dish So-and-So raved about in "Generic Eating Book". Also, I will frequently order something different and I do strike out on my own and am a fairly adventurous eater so I am guessing I am not part of your critique.

didn't run into any "conceptual" pies. the raw vegan ones were bad enough.

True story: I was eating breakfast a few weeks ago reading the paper (yes, the real paper) at this place with legit breakfasts and overheard one of the waiters talking to a customer saying "I'm putting together a raw vegan cookbook" and dude was absolutely serious. A couple things popped into my mind: A) isn't a raw vegan cookbook an oxymoron and B) that was a very awkward interaction overall.

Why is everybody ignoring me god damn it!?!?!?!?!?!!?

Who the **** are you again?

http://i.imgur.com/V5IOMl.jpg[][/QUOTE]
you've got to put your lamb shanks lying down.

[QUOTE="impolyt_one, post: 4862250, member: 5472"]had a nice wagyu cheeseburger at the Intercontinental for lunch, and then Chinese food for dinner at a place in front of my house; otoshi was celery and asparagus salad in a Uighur-esque sesame oil vinaigrette, and then we had a cilantro and mitsuba salad in the same dressing that we ordered. Cilantro gyoza, prawns in chili sauce, mixed stir fried greens, and then mapo tofu, and we were full. Drank some sikuwasa highballs and some regular mizuwari whiskey highballs with dinner. Back home drinking some beer and relaxing after a long rainy day walking around. [/QUOTE]


Sounds like you are already enjoying yourself.

 

[impolyt_one]



Sounds like you are already enjoying yourself.

Things are good, our neighborhood is a good little area with lots of restaurants and places to have a drink. Fridge hasn't come yet, neither have half our boxes, so we've been eating out more than we planned to already. Plenty of good supermarkets around so once we can cook, we will. Haven't big timed it yet because the yen is ******, but once we do there's a tiny restaurant like 150 ft from my door run by an El Bulli alumni, he does Japanese food structured like a typical Michelin bait French course, with some molecular stuff. It looks promising, want to go there soon.

 

[philosophe]

MGM, do female guests at your dinners smirk or laugh about the phallic platings? You really need to give it a rest.

 

[Manton]



MGM, do female guests at your dinners smirk or laugh about the phallic platings? You really need to give it a rest.

This originates, so far as I know, from a Keller plating of a rib lamb chop in TFL, a much smaller cut of meat. The Keller plate looks nice and both m&m and I have made and I like it. At L'Ecole, we also do a duck leg standing up like that, but again, a much smaller piece of protein.

However, the same principle does not really work with something so large. For instance, I had lamb shank recently at one of Keller's Bouchons and it was lying on its side.

 

[edinatlanta]



This originates, so far as I know, from a Keller plating of a rib lamb chop in TFL, a much smaller cut of meat. The Keller plate looks nice and both m&m and I have made and I like it. At L'Ecole, we also do a duck leg standing up like that, but again, a much smaller piece of protein.
However, the same principle does not really work with something so large. For instance, I had lamb shank recently at one of Keller's Bouchons and it was lying on its side.

Manton--true talk coming up. I'll be in NYC soon, can I go to l'ecole and have you cook for me?

 

[Piobaire]

Had a couple of homemade sausage. This batch was Italian savory with fennel seed. Very good. Side of homemade coleslaw (need the veggies).

 

[Manton]



Manton--true talk coming up. I'll be in NYC soon, can I go to l'ecole and have you cook for me?

I'm only there one or at most two days a week and you never can know exactly who made your dish because there will be at least half a dozen people on the line, also, there are two dinner services and I only work the early one (career students work the late shift) but I recommend going in any case because the food is very good (if not inventive) and the value proposition is outstanding, especially for lunch.

 

[impolyt_one]

Pics of the aforementioned stuff:

Couple days ago, ate some soba and bought home supplies in Ebisu:

Ate some Italian food last night on a dog walk, finished at the pizza because the dog was screaming at everyone on the patio and it was time for the walk home:

Lunch today:
me, wagyu burger:

her, A5 wagyu steak. With salad and rice and soup, 1680 yen. Great price, as a steak like this alone would cost 3000Y in a supermarket.

dinner:
celery, blanched asparagus in sesame oil vinaigrette, very humble looking free dish but absolutely delicious

cilantro and mitsuba salad

cilantro gyoza

stir fried veggies (little fresh baby bamboo shoots but I don't think you can see them, delicious stuff if you've ever had to eat the little hard things from a can)

mapo tofu, good texture, not too corn starch-jiggly. Lots of heat.