Reset the Chamber for Skywalker
I can’t wait to get down to the Mall to check it out.
Taster’s Cherce
If you can deal with the scene (which isn’t always easy), you should stop by the Spotted Pig for a burger.
Oh, and the fried pig’s ear might sound unappetizing to some but it is delicious like you wouldn’t believe.
Sundazed Soul
[Photo Credit: Bixentro]
Taster’s Cherce
Sometimes the simplest thing on the menu is the most intriguing.
My wife and I celebrated our fifth anniversary at Manzo recently. It was our first time at Eataly and we drove ourselves into a ravenous state walking around the market for 30 minutes before our meal. The menu – a fantastic menu for me – swirled before my eyes as every choice seemed better than the one next to it.
I skimmed right past something called ‘tajarin al sugo d’arrosto.’ It was a pasta, though beyond that I had no idea, and I was busy reading menu items which contained words I understood. I got to the end and started to think about my order when I noticed that the last page of the menu contained a glossary of terms.
Tajarin al sugo d’arrosto is a simple dish, ribbons of egg-flour pasta in a light sauce made from the juices of the roast meats. Manzo being a meat place, they have a lot of that juice to go around.
It occurred to me that I rarely order something with such a bare menu description. But the idea of it wormed into my brain and I couldn’t shake it. I asked the waiter to give me his take, ala Alex Belth, and he was a brilliant salesman. He gave me the Indiana Jones “you’ve-chosen-wisely” vibe which made me proud for an instant before I realized I was such an easy mark.
We ordered a lot of incredible dishes, but a week later, I’m still thinking about the tajarin. Still wishing there was one more chunk of bread to wipe in the sauce.
Here’s an attempt to reverse-engineer the recipe, though they have used a different pasta from the one I’m pining for.
Movie Love
Here is an excerpt from Roger Ebert’s forthcoming memoir:
My blog became my voice, my outlet, my “social media” in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of. Into it I poured my regrets, desires, and memories. Some days I became possessed. The comments were a form of feedback I’d never had before, and I gained a better and deeper understanding of my readers. I made “online friends,” a concept I’d scoffed at. Most people choose to write a blog. I needed to. I didn’t intend for it to drift into autobiography, but in blogging there is a tidal drift that pushes you that way. Getting such quick feedback may be one reason; the Internet encourages first- person writing, and I’ve always written that way. How can a movie review be written in the third person, as if it were an account of facts? If it isn’t subjective, there’s something false about it.
The blog let loose the flood of memories. Told sometimes that I should write my memoirs, I failed to see how I possibly could. I had memories, I had lived a good life in an interesting time, but I was at a loss to see how I could organize the accumulation of a lifetime. It was the blog that taught me how. It pushed me into first- person confession, it insisted on the personal, it seemed to organize itself in manageable fragments. Some of these words, since rewritten and expanded, first appeared in blog forms. Most are here for the first time. They came pouring forth in a flood of relief.
The book is due out next month.
[Photo Credit: Babelsdawn]
New York Minute
The farmer’s market wins again. Really, it makes life in the city even better than it already is.
Taster’s Cherce
The good folks at Saveur offer a gallery of pesto recipes.
Hey, it’s that time of year, isn’t it?
[Photo Credit: Zumaorganic.com]
Beat of the Day
Kurious Jorge on the welfare line.
Afternoon Art
Photograph by Dorothea Lange, 1939
Beat of the Day
I can’t listen to this without cracking up.
--Earl Weaver