Cornuts

Today's the 20th anniversary of the release of "Heathers" - aka the movie I was obsessed with when I was 13. And 14. And older.

This "where are they now" slideshow is interesting and enlightening. I'm surprised by how many of the actors are on shows I've watched recently (JAG, which I watched ALL of in the early mornings right after Dixon was born; The Suite Life on Deck, which proves how much Disney I accidentally watch; Charmed, which I don't feel like I have to explain because, hello, Aaron Spelling?). But most of them I didn't connect - at all - to their roles in the movie.

Twenty years. Wow. Does it make me sound crochety if I say "they just don't make them like that anymore"?

Ideabook Tuesday: Less vs. More

Minimalist vs. Maximalist - that is today's great design debate. I used to be planted firmly in the "minimal" column, but as time goes by I find myself more and more comfortable with "stuff." Not too much stuff, of course, but stuff, nonetheless.

Over at houzz, where I posted this ideabook last week, there's a little bit of a debate going on in the comments. Well, not exactly a debate, but everybody's weighing in with their own opinion. The question of the day is: if there's a line between less and more, where do you fall?

Less vs. More: The Great Design Debate

more home design ideas on houzz

Trendy Monday: Decent Hotel Restaurants

When I think "hotel restaurant," I usually don't think "good food." My impression of the average hotel eating space is a blandly decorated room with an overpriced, overcooked and uninspired menu. Fortunately for travelers, that might be changing.

Last week, commercial design mag, Conract, published an interesting article on the evolution of the hotel dining experience. The money quotes:

"If there is a trend in hotel design, it is toward a greater recognition of the importance of the restaurant and food and beverage experience in defining its competitive position. The restaurant needs to stand on its own as a real restaurant, and increasingly the hotel is highlighting the restaurant as a standard bearer for design, cuisine, and brand expression."

"It used to be conventional wisdom that hotels need a specialty restaurant for fine dining, a three-meal restaurant for basic all-day service and a lobby bar to activate the lobby," he says. "We're seeing a shift toward consolidation to create a more flexible food and beverage venue with greater draw."

Both quotes are from Patrick O'Hare, AIA, IIDA, a California-based interior architect.

While I'm sure this won't hit hotels at every part of the spectrum - it's doubtful that the low-to-mid-range hotels are about to say goodbye to their limp-bacon-and-gross-eggs buffets anytime son - but it's still encouraging. And certainly a reminder of just how much of a priority food has become.

Entertaining Friday: Birthdays

As much I love having parties, birthday parties have never been all that big of a deal for me. When I was little I'm sure they were, but I don't really remember. That's not to say that I don't celebrate my birthday - I do, always with a trip to McGarveys - but it's just not a big dramatic occasion. The same is true for the rest of the Waskoms - we recognize birthdays with phone calls and presents and Boston cream pie (except for me - I like angel food cake), but that's about it.

There are a few birthdays out there, though, that for one reason or another, we really did celebrate. The oyster roast at Ben Oaks beach for my dad's 50th. The surprise party at my parent's neighbor's house for my mom's 50th. Dinner and lots and lots of oyster shooters for my brother's 30th. Dinner and way too many drinks and possibly some sibling rivalry down in Lexington for my brother and sister and I for Erin's 21st.

Plus, one random birthday that sort of sums up how the Waskoms hang out. It was my dad's 45th - 18 years ago this Sunday. Instead of going out to dinner, we had the Waskom special - lots of hors d'oeuvres in the living room. We sat around eating cheese and more cheese and my dad opened a bottle of champagne that he'd gotten as a gift. My parents, I guess, were feeling Continental, so they poured me a glass (I was 15).

And that is how it came to be that the very first sip of champagne I ever tasted was Dom Perignon.

Unfortunately, at that time, my palate was, shall we say, unrefined. I didn't really like it much at all and I don't even think I finished the glass. That certainly wouldn't be the case today. What a waste.

This weekend, we'll actually be celebrating in similar style. Everybody's coming up to our house tomorrow afternoon for hors d'oeuvres and cake and drinks. No Dom, this time, though. And that really is a shame.

Per Se: Food vs. Experience

Cail just sent me this link with this question:

Would you even WANT Per Se a la carte, or is the whole Per Se cheapened or somehow not as great without the multiple course tasting menu?

Good question.

Old School Thursday: Stoves, Spinach and Snickers Edition

Happy National Nougat Day! Celebrate with a Snickers!

Today’s pretty random, and pretty sparse. It’s Benjamin Thompson’s birthday (1753). Who is Benjamin Thompson, you say? Also known as Count von Rumford? He was an American doctor who invented a bunch of stuff, including the percolator, pressure cooker and a kitchen stove. And Baked Alaska. From what I know of food history, it seems like he lived during a particularly interesting time of invention and growth – the first part of the American food renaissance, you could say (which happened to correspond to the American democratic explosion, too).

March 26th, more than 150 years later, something nearly as revolutionary happened when Crystal City, Texas – the self-proclaimed spinach capital of the world – erected a statue of Popeye.

And…that’s it. Inventions and spinach. Plus nougat. I hate it when everything doesn’t pull together into a nice theme. So I’ll leave you with this teaser for next Wednesday: it’s the Feast of Acan, the Mayan God of Wine. Possibilities there? You bet.

Artsy Wednesday: Spring Brings Green

Last week, while I was freaking out after finding out that a picture of our kitchen was used in a post on Apartment Therapy, Dara "Dining Dish" Bunjon sent me a photo she'd snapped at an Art Blooms event at The Walters.

As a part of Art Blooms this year, The Walters hired designers to create tables for an imaginary garden party. Knowing my love for all things green, Dara thought I'd appreciate the table in the photo at the left. She couldn't remember the name of the designer, but she definitely nailed my taste. I love the linens, the flowers, the dishes - everything. And I really love the little side table stacked with books. Great addition. I'd love to see this whole table stuck in the middle of a really bright, really colorful garden.

Of course, if I was setting this table, I'd also be thinking about the food going in the dishes. That's got to match, too. Fruit salad - with lots of oranges and pineapple and hot pink watermelon - would be pretty. Or maybe French toast covered in strawberries. Something to add a little contrast.

I'm sorry to say that Art Blooms is over - it was early this year - but fortunately, spring is really just starting.

Ideabook Tuesday: Fashion-Inspired

Despite the fact that I wear yoga pants and ratty t-shirts most of the time (yay work from home!), I have always really loved fashion. In fact, for a little while when I first started college, I thought I might want to get into buying as a career. One summer + one semester of working retail cured me of that, but I still love clothes.

That's why this ideabook - rooms that represent the styles of some of my favorite designers - was super fun to write. It's not all-inclusive, of course - there's no Michael Kors and I love Michael Kors - but it's pretty cool anyway. And also pretty inspiring, if I do say so myself.

Fashion Inspiration: Designing with Your Wardrobe in Mind

more home design ideas on houzz

Trendy Monday: POM + Prosecco

Today's trendy Monday isn't actually all that trendy. Or, rather, it was trendy, just in 2005. But I'm still pretty taken with the pomegranate juice cocktail.

A couple of years ago, during a visit to Richmond to see Tom and Cail, I was introduced to the "Pom Fizz" - a cocktail of champagne, pomegranate liqueur and cranberry juice that's a specialty at Can Can (one of their favorite restaurant/bars). It was sparkly and a little tart and very delicious. At Can Can, the drink has since been renamed The Marcail, in honor of Cail (they spend a lot of time there) and in Baltimore, a simpler version has become a staple among my friends.

My version is even lighter and easier. Fill a champagne glass one-third full with pomegranate juice (preferably POM Wonderful - who also just sent me some free juice!) and fill the rest of the glass with prosecco. Voila! A light and tasty cocktail that is also enormously heart-healthy (as I am fond of reminding everyone when I'm on my 5th. But really, they are very light and easy to drink.)

Plus, what an excellent anytime drink. Light enough for brunch, perfect with a salad for lunch and fancy enough for dinner. The ideal cocktail? Yes, I think it just might be.

Hard Work in the Kitchen

I'm not really feeling the posting today. I don't have any sort of "entertaining" inspiration - for which I blame Dixon's pink eye - and I am tired. So, in lieu of an actual post, here's a picture of Dixon and his favorite new hobby: working on his knife skills with day-old Play-Doh and a complete set of Williams-Sonoma cheese knives:
He's really pretty good, too.

Old School Thursday: The Lobbyists Win (Plus, Beer!)

Only one major event of historical significance today, but that one is pretty important. If you’re British, anyway. Today in 1936, the British public was able to buy canned beer for the very first time. It was from Felinfoel Brewery in Wales (that, as it turns out, is still around. It’s got a pretty interesting history, too.)

Other than that, today belongs to the lobbyists. It’s Poultry Day and National Agriculture Day (pretty broad, right?) as well as National Chocolate Caramel Day (not so broad). The last actually is the most logical, as today is also the Feast of St. Joseph and he is the patron saint of confectioners.

Today’s celebration, then, really ought to include some chocolate caramels. And some canned beer (preferably from Felinfoel, but I’m not sure that you can buy any of the brewery’s beers in the US). Beyond that, you’ve got some wiggle room. Any sort of poultry and…anything else that involves agriculture. Take advantage. Celebrating food history is rarely so easy.

Artsy Wednesday (also Book Review): The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace

For my birthday (yes, last December) my brother gave me a book I'd been dying to read: The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine. The book, by super-smart Benjamin Wallace, begins with the 1985 Christie's auction that set a record for the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of wine. The auction winner was Kip Forbes and the bottle was touted as a newly discovered part of Thomas Jefferson's cellar (well, actually, a bottle that never quite made it to the cellar, but that belonged to TJ nonetheless).

The rest of the book zigzags between years, explaining the evolution of the wine market, the nearly-untouchable world of high-end, rare wine tastings, and the investigations and doubt surrounding the Jefferson bottles and the man who "discovered" them, German music producer-turned-collector, Hardy Rodenstock.

It's pretty amazing.

While it's clearly a history book, and the Tarantino-like chronology is a little confusing at times, TBV is a good read. Wallace is a compelling writer and, obviously, a pretty fantastic interviewer. He got cooperation from pretty much every major player in the rare and old wine world, and got them to say some stuff that's revealing. What's interesting, too, and that I didn't realize until I was nearing the end of the book, is that the whole Jefferson bottle affair wasn't 100% settled when he decided to write the book. His research ran in parallel to several other investigations and appears that the book itself contributes to the overall case. Cool.

So the book would be worth reading even if it was fiction. But it's not, and I'm also fascinated by what I learned about the wine industry - especially in the US. My parents have always drank wine with dinner. My grandparents drank cocktails, but my parents always drank wine, so I've always thought of wine as a normal part of a meal.

What I didn't realize was that my house was ahead of the curve. If Wallace's story is to be believed - and I think it is - wine wasn't mainstream in America until fairly recently. Really great wine glasses weren't even available in the US until the late 1980's - which is crazy when you consider that Reidel glasses are now available at Target. The article jibes with Robert Parker's look at the last 30 years in US wine history that ran in Food & Wine last September. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it still shocks me to read about wine and realize that I've been an active part of the awakening of the wine industry in the US (the later part of the awakening, of course, but part of it nonetheless).

But I digress. The Billionaire's Vinegar: if you're into wine, or drama, or history or forgery (according to Amazon, 13% of people who viewed the TBV page ended up buying The Man Who Made Vermeers, another book I really liked, even though it had nothing to do with food)...read it.

Ideabook Tuesday: Happy St. Patrick's Day

You can never have too much green at home. Not at my house, anyway...

It IS Easy Being Green

more home design ideas on houzz

Trendy Monday: India & Wine

This is officially my first "trendy Monday" post inspired by a dream. Sometime very early this morning, I woke up thinking about the wine industry in India. I'd been dreaming about a grape called Sirjay (that does not actually exist). I can't decide if it was a totally interesting dream or completely dorky and boring. Probably the latter.

Either way, it got me thinking about the potential for Indian wine and I started doing some googling this morning, only to find out that today is the first day of the India International Wine Fair. Wine consumption (and production) is on the upswing in India, and recent classification shifts have removed some of the restrictions from selling wine in the still-partially teetotal country.

Not surprisingly, winemakers in the US and France are pretty interested in the Indian market. Like China, India represents a whole lot of people and a domestic industry that's not super sophisticated. Importing and investing aren't without hurdles, but the size of the potential market makes it worth it to navigate the country's system.

It's less certain that we'll hear a lot about Indian wine exports - at least not anytime soon. But I still wouldn't mind trying some.

Entertaining Friday: Match That Wine!

As longtime readers know, I'm a big fan of Canadian wine writer Natalie MacLean. For one thing, I like her recommendations (and that she makes a lot of them). For another, I like her. That's a bonus.

She's had a food and wine matcher on her site for some time now and she's just created a widget that allows you to transport the widget pretty much anywhere online. I've got it on my facebook page now, for example, and on the sidebar of this blog. Downloading it takes about 2 seconds, too. In fact, here it is now:

And in case you're wondering, Nat has more than a few recommendations for wine to drink with your corned beef and cabbage. If you're into reds, she suggests a nice Bordeaux, a New World Cab or a Cab-blend Meritage. If you prefer white, try a Sauvignon Blanc or a Gruner Veltliner. Either way, slainte!

Old School Thursday: Coke and Cookies Edition

I know I say this nearly every week, but I am continually surprised (and sort of delighted) by the industries that have enough of a lobby to end up with their own national day of recognition. Today, for instance, is National Baked Scallops Day. And, as usual, all I can say is this: of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be National Baked Scallops Day?

In other, more red, white and Atlanta news, today’s a big day for Coke. Today marks the 115th anniversary of the initial bottling of Coca-Cola – by Joseph Biedenham of Vicksburg, Mississippi. It’s also a sad day for Coke fans, though, as today is the 80th anniversary of the death of Asa Griggs Candler. While Candler didn’t create the formula for Coke – he bought it for $2300 from a pharmacist named John Pemberton in 1887 – he did build the brand as we know it. By the time Candler sold the company in 1919, it was worth $25 million. His name is still pretty revered in Atlanta.

And something to eat with your Coke? How about some cookies? Today in 1912, the Girl Scouts of America was founded by Juliette (Daisy) Gordon Low. Lucky it was, too, because can you imagine life without Girl Scout cookies?

On one more sad note, today is the 16th anniversary of the death of Christian Kent Nelson, inventor of the Eskimo Pie.

If nothing else, today’s an easy one to celebrate. Break out the Coke, an Eskimo Pie and any Thin Mints you’ve still got in your freezer (1/2 a box at our house). After your baked scallop dinner, of course. Only after.

Artsy Wednesday: Pantone Kitchen Canisters

On Monday, Libby sent me a link to these cute Pantone kitchen containers (via Apartment Therapy). Aren't they great? There's a bright blue one for tea that I really love - and that I think would look great in my kitchen.

These are a perfect gift, really, for anybody in graphic design or advertising. Back in my agency days, I would've wanted a whole set.

Ideabook Tuesday: Sitting on the Porch

Kind of an amazing weekend, right?

On Saturday afternoon, Cooper and I were sitting on our front porch, watching Dixon make a mess of himself in the yard (and use a file to try to cut through the side fence, which he's going to be able to actually do one day, way too soon). Cooper looked at me and said, "you know what would be good right now? Jen's summer drink."

Jen's summer drink is Firefly sweet tea vodka and lemonade, aka the "John Daly." She had the vodka on a trip to see her parents in Florida a couple of months ago and came home evangelizing. Cooper had tasted it, but I hadn't.

Even taste unknown, I was pretty sure Cooper was right, so Dixon and I sent him off to procure some of the vodka in question.

Twenty minutes later, we were sipping our drinks and, well, still watching Dixon file through the fence. It was a pretty perfect way to spend a warm, lazy late Saturday afternoon. And also the inspiration for this:

Sit a Spell: The Art of the Front Porch

more home design ideas on houzz

Trendy Monday: Ireland (Again)

As is usually the case around this time of year, my thoughts have turned to the cuisine of the great Emerald Isle, such as it is. Our annual St. Patrick's Day celebration kicked off yesterday with an afternoon (and evening) at Ryan's Daughter (more on that tomorrow on Examiner.com) and all week I'll be working on the menu and details for another get together on Saturday.

So of course I've got Irish food on the brain.

But the trend here, actually, is what I'm not seeing. Last year at this time, I couldn't open a magazine, or my email, without being hit over the head by some kind of "new Irish food rocks" article. Not so much this year. I'm guessing that's not because the new Irish food no longer rocks, but simply because it's not so new anymore.

Entertaining Friday: St. Patty's Kickoff

St. Patrick's Day is kind of a big deal around my house. Cooper and I are both mostly of Irish descent (we are also both English and Dutch, thus providing Dixon with some very pale skin). We both like celebratory holidays. We both love parades.

For years, we spent the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day at the Baltimore parade, standing right on Charles Street, in front of David and Dad's. Two years ago, though, when we first took Dixon to the parade, we realized that it wasn't quite as much fun as it used to be. It was crowded and loud and kind of annoying. Cooper blamed it on the parade changing. I blamed it on us growing up.

Last year, we decided to skip the parade - but not to skip the celebration altogether. Instead, on the parade day, our friends decided to get together at Ryan's Daughter. It's right around the corner from us, big enough for a group, full of friendly bartenders and after the parade it fills up just enough (but not too much) with elementary school-aged girls in Irish dancing costumes and their proud parents.

So that's why we found ourselves, on a Sunday in early March, filling up Ryan's Daughter's bar. We waited and waited for the parade overflow...but it never came. Because I had organized everything for the wrong day. As it turned out, the parade was the following week. But the thing is, it was a really fun Sunday. We had space, quick service and waitresses who weren't a little crazed by the crowds.

We decided, right off, to start celebrating "Fake St. Patrick's Day" every year. Because, well, why not? This year, the St. Patty's season starts for us on Sunday, again at Ryan's Daughter, with Guinness and Harp, fish and chips and a lot of green clothing.

It doesn't end there, of course. We've got a lot more lined up - which is why tonight and tomorrow night we'll be resting. It's a big week.

Slainte!

Foodie Kids

I apologize in advance for this weird half-ass cross posting, but if you don't already, please go read my Examiner article today. (Don't worry, I trust that you already do. Who can get enough of me?)

It's about the foodie kid trend and how completely insufferable it is. It was inspired by this fantastic article in Slate. Fantastic because a) I agree with it, and b) it starts with a dig at Rachael Ray.

And who doesn't like a little RR-mocking on a wintry morning?

Old School Thursday: Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman Edition

It’s National Cheese Doodle Day. Also, Britney is back on tour (tonight, Atlanta is like a circus). Coincidence? Not a chance.

More coincidental anniversaries:

Today in 1558 (maybe), a guy named Francisco Fernandes introduced smoking tobacco to Europe, or so the story goes. Britney…she also likes cigarettes.

Plus, today would be the 99th birthday of Momofuku Ando – the inventor of Instant Ramen noodles, that deceptively unhealthy college kid staple. And doesn’t it seem like Britney would love ramen, too?

So here’s the question: does this mean that the stars are somehow aligning for Miss Brit today? Or is it all a bad omen?

Artsy Wednesday: Maps are So Cool

Yesterday, Design*Sponge's Grace Bonney posted something so cool I felt compelled to immediately email my brother and sister. A woman named Jodie Silby, a recent grad of University of Portsmouth, created this map of Portsmouth that illustrates not only the city layout, but also the language of the place. The lines on the map are made of the words and phrases that create the local dialect, and its organized to show how that dialect shifts in terms of neighborhood.

This hits so many of my "this is cool" markers that I'm not sure where to start. Maps? Check. Art? Check. Language? Check. Cultural history and evolution? Check. Innovative and creative display of data? Check. I'm in love with it.

And as soon as I saw it, I started thinking about ways to steal this data presentation idea and make it my own. A food or recipe-related map of Maryland, maybe? A map of food language? Something that shows evolution over time?

The possibilities seem endless.

(Image from Design*Sponge)

Introducing Alltop

If you're really, really observant, you might have noticed that my sidebar changed. I've added a new banner and widget for Alltop, an aggregator site that's now listing M&G posts (that link just goes to the food section, but Alltop covers tons of subjects). It's a useful site and nicely organized...and fills a void that foodporn.com left a while ago.

Ideabook Tuesday: Decorating with a Sense of Humor

We have more than a few kind of ridiculous things in our house. I like art and accessories that are slightly absurd, and that make me laugh (like the toilet paper-storing tampon machine in the basement bathroom). In general, interiors that take themselves too seriously make me a little nervous. I have a tendency to spill things, and red wine stains don't look quite so jarring when they're in a room that's already got a sense of humor.

So that's the inspiration for this collection of photos:

Make Me Laugh: Decorating with a Sense of Humor

more home design ideas on houzz

Trendy Monday: At-Home Molecular Gastronomy

Molecular gastronomy is not, on it's own, brand new. It's been around for over a decade now, most notably in Spain, thanks to MG champion Ferran Adria and his restaurant home, El Bulli.

Over the past year or two, though, it's been making it's way into the home. Blame it on Top Chef, maybe - as at-home viewers watched Marcel and Richard win challenges with creativity + science, ingredients like xanthan gum all of a sudden didn't sound so unfamiliar and, well, weird.

Just a week or so ago, via Facebook, Blais announced that he'll be launching a line of at-home molecular gastronomy products. A few months earlier, writer Sara Dickerman experimented in her own kitchen, wondering if the cool factor of molecular gastronomy would convince her picky four year old to eat his veggies. (Answer: no.) When French Laundry at Home blogger Carol Blymire finished with the FL book and moved on to Alinea, she added a spreadsheet to her blog, showing her readers exactly where she found all the crazy ingredients necessary to cook her way through that (gorgeous) book.

It was with all this in mind that I ventured on a little gastronomic experiment of my own last Saturday. Not even a big experiment. My plan was to make this Michael Bras recipe for slow-roasted onions with "licorice" powder. The powder in question is actually a combination of oil-cured olives that have been dehydrated in the microwave and blanched almonds that have been pulverized and roasted in the oven with demerara sugar. Not complicated, but kind of cool anyway.

Or maybe it would've been...if this hadn't happened:

That's right. Kitchen fire and a melted microwave.

Dehydrating the olives required removing the pits, chopping them up a bit and microwaving them - on high - for 12 minutes. I stuck them in the microwave (on a perfectly microwave-safe plate) and went about my business. With five minutes to go, I ran downstairs to get a diet coke (my 10th that day, but that's another story). By the time I got back into the kitchen - maybe a minute later - I could smell the burning plastic and looked over to see flames darting around the inside of the microwave. By the time I got to the microwave to push the "cancel" button, it shut itself off (never to revive).

I called Cooper upstairs and he got the plate out of the microwave, threw it in the sink, then smashed out the fire with a pot-holder-covered hand. It took a little longer than either one of us was comfortable with - it was a tense moment - but fortunately, since the fire was contained in the microwave, there wasn't any smoke damage on the walls or the ceiling.

But wow - the smell. After opening the doors and windows for about 45 minutes, the very cold kitchen smelled better. Then, I walked upstairs and realized that the rest of the house smelled, too. Fortunately, it dissipated after a couple of hours.

So, no licorice powder. And, of course, we don't have a microwave that you can just buy at Home Depot. I'm working on that today.

Oh, and how did the rest of the dish turn out? Actually, very well. The onions, which roasted at 325 for six hours, were soft and fantastically sweet. The vinaigrette, which I made with beef demiglace instead of veal or poultry (only because I had beef demiglace already) was intense, but a nice complement to the onion. It all looked kind of cool, too. Pretty and simple:

But was it worth it? Well, probably not. I'm just today realizing how much I use my microwave. I guess, though, at least I now have my really solid kitchen nightmare story.