Posted by chefmax on October 13th, 2009
I am already starting to miss summer. This is what my chives looked like just two weks ago. They are not looking so good today. Oh well. Time to winter garden.
Here are some of todays food related news stories that I found interesting.
From the LATIMES, By Andrea Nguyen. A great article on the making of Bao. This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes and I have always wanted to make them at home. I have made them when I was at the CIA and I eat one every time I go by the Slanted Door in San Francisco (the Vietnamese version) This article has the whole lot of information and technique. It is a good one to keep in your library. Thanks Andrea.
In a question to the some local Chefs in Arizona the ARIZONA REPUBLIC, asked ” What menu item bores you to tears? and why? I think my answer would be the stagnate menu itself. If it is not changing daily I get bored. I love opening restaurants and getting new programs started but I do not like to do the same ting over and over again.
Christopher Kimball has an op-ed article in the NYTIME on the demise of Gourmet magazine. Mr Kimball does a good historic deconstruction of the beginning to the end of the iconic food magazine and seems to enjoy (with what I imagine is a sly smile on his face) the fact that his magazine, Cook’s Magazine, and website are still going strong and Gourmet has gone the way of the dodo. Cook’s was purchased in 1990 by Condé Nast, the publisher of Gourmet, and cannibalized for its subscribers. Mr. Kimball restarted the magazine again in 1993 from the bones discarded by Condé Nast and has had great successes since. The thesis that Mr. Kimball eludes to in this op-ed is that we need to charge for our intellectual property. Advertising dollars are not focused and free content is pushing several good businesses into bankruptcy. I am dealing with this myself with A Flash in the Pan . We would love to give away all of our great recipes and planning tools but then we will be around 6 months. For a small monthly fee all your dinners are planned and all the tools you need to save time and money are at your fingers. For me, the end of Gourmet is not surprising. I used to love the magazine until I got my monthly issue and there was a perfume ad in it. The last thing I want to smell as I am reading about foie gras is flowery perfume. I hated that so much I canceled my subscription and never went back.
GFF building a united front with food manufactures and marketers on gluten-free products. Great info on GFF from Foodnav, By Caroline Scott-Thomas.
From CNN, By Val Willingham. You are what you eat. Start eating healthy to give yourself a good chance a staying healthy this flu season.
I hope you have a great day.
Chef Max 10-13-09
Tags: Bored to tears, flu season., gluten-free products, Gourmet, making of Bao
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | 1 Comment »
Posted by chefmax on September 25th, 2009
There are still a few tickets for the up coming SUNDAY SUPPER on October 4, 2009 . It is 30 of the top bay area Chefs cooking family style with local farmers. Great event. Go to CUESA for information and tickets.
Todays Food news;
From the NYTIMES, By Christine Muhlke. Great article on editor Judith Jones.
Avant-garde or contemporary art? From the Washington Post, By Black Gopnik.
This weeks market watch from the LATIMES, By David Karp. Habanero peppers, Lychees, Peaches, and apples.
The uptick in culinary schools. The economy is helping with job training programs within the bay area culinary non credential classes. From SFGATE, By Carey Sweet. When I worked for the CIA at Greystone, I saw allot of job changers in the backing and pastry classes. The common thought with several of these students was that they wanted to do something easy like cooking. 10 hours on their feet later and…
Food industry is fighting to advertise junk-food in schools. From CSPI. Go figure.
Proctor and Gamble on the other hand has tabbed a billion dollars to Sustainable Innovation Products. FromProgressive Grocer. By Meg Major.
I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for reading.
Chef Max 9-25-09
Tags: advertise junk-food in schools, Avant-garde, culinary schools, Food News, Judith Jones, market watch, Sustainable Innovation
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | 2 Comments »
Posted by chefmax on September 22nd, 2009
This is a heirloom strawberry pop corn from my garden. Very small bright red kernels and the cob is about 4 inches long. Cute. I have not popped them yet so I will let you know how it taste.
A great article on food and health insurance by Michael Pollan in the New York Times.
From the NYTIMES, By Melissa Clark, a good article on Coconut Rice. I love coconut rice and this is a example of it.
I enjoy a good review as much as the next Chef but the ones that cover a restaurants flop are timeless. I do not take pleasure in other chefs problems and I am the first to want all Chefs to succeed but when you read a bad review there is just something in it that triggers a deep response. First it is probably ” Thank God that is not my review”! Then I usually re-read to see if the critic is being too harsh. This one has some ouch moments-From NYTIMES, By Pete Wells.
From the WashingtonPost, By Sally Sampson. An article on making fast food at home and the cost being cheaper. Sally does a good job here breaking down the cost and portions of the fast food equivalent of home cooked meals. I like her idea and she is correct in the assumption that it just taste better made at home. The biggest problem is people have forgot how to cook.
The USDA program to promote local foods. From SFGATE, By Miriam Morgan.
Have a great day.
Chef Max 9-22-09
Tags: Coconut Rice, Fast food at home, food and health, Food News, ouch review, USDA local food programs.
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | 1 Comment »
Posted by chefmax on September 3rd, 2009
Above is a picture of Thai Basil from my garden. I love it in curries, pastas, salad rolls, and with garden tomatoes.
From Grubstreet NY, By Ben Leventhal, A great question and answer article on the State of the Culinary Worlds Future. This is a cool article asking questions of some great minds in the culinary world.
9 hidden toxins lurking in food. From Mercola.
Obama and his White House Farmers Market. I am sure there will be a death panel involved some how. Maybe they will sell Soylent Green. Alert Glenn Beck!!! From OCA, A serious article on the FDA and President Obama’s promotion for local foods.
The turnover in restaurants in New York. From the NYTIMES, By Florence Fabricant. The restaurant business is one of the hardest adventures that one can undertake. It is soooo volatile and back breaking and has a very small profit margin. You can do everything perfect and have a great following but if a new spot opens up down the street, you could lose a big percentage of your cliental over a period of weeks maybe months. The margin is so thin that if something like that happens, you could lose staff, not be able to pay purveyors on time and start cutting corners. The quality then goes down, you get a bad review and welcome to the death spiral. Been there. Not pretty.
Boudin Bakery’s brownies. From LATIMES, By Noelle Carter. I liked the picture and it made me hungry for a brownie. Here is their recipe for their brownies. Time to go preheat the oven.
Have a great day,
Chef Max
9-3-09
Tags: brownies, Food News, hidden toxins, State of the Culinary Worlds Future, turnover in restaurants, White House Farmers Market
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | No Comments »
Posted by chefmax on August 29th, 2009
Please vote for A Flash in the Pan for top home based company of 2009. You can sign up to vote every day and the contest ends in October. We are almost to the top and just need a good push to get us there. Thank you!
From the NYTIMES, By Christine Muhlke, a really good story of a farming family that is fighting the good fight. They are also tied in with Chef Rick Bayless and he has helped them grow some really cool items. Great story.
If you are in the East Bay area this weekend there is a a Eat Real Event. From SFGATE, By Tara Duggan. Jack London Market, Jack London Square (at Embarcadero and Webster), Oakland. 4-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for the beer shed can be purchased in advance, at $20 for eight tastes ($25 at the door). Cash only (credit cards accepted at beer shed). See eatrealfest.com for times, tickets and locations of special events.
A new study shows that consumption of wheat may contribute to type 1 Diabetes. From Healthday, an overview of this study.
Monsanto’s legacy. From the Organic Consumer Association, a report on a scientist in Argentina that has received threats over his findings that the herbicide has some serious health hazards. Not really a surprise is it? See FOOD INC.
Also form the Organic Consumer Association, a break down the real issues with the Swine Flu. You do not need to just blindly wait for a vaccine that may not work and contains very questionable ingredients. It is a good idea to know the facts and not just the propaganda.
Sorry to end on a couple of downers. I know we can change things for the better but we have to beat down the false information that is gobbled up by people that hate for no real reason. I hope you have a great weekend and I will talk with you on Monday.
Chef Max
8-28-09
Tags: Eat Real Event, Farming family, Food News, Monsanto's legacy, the real Swine Flu info., Wheat may affect Diabetes
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | 2 Comments »
Posted by chefmax on August 26th, 2009
Just sitting at my desk waiting for a call back from My Web Grocer a possible strategic partner for our company A Flash in the Pan. They set up all the functionality for grocery stores e-commerce sites and we fit in perfectly with our menu planning service. We could send our customers to their member sites for fulfillment. We can contact all these grocery stores ourselves, and we have started with Raley’s who is interested in us, but it would be much more economical to work with My Web Grocer and share some of the wealth. We will see. Any way onto todays food news.
From Chelsea Green, A really good article on the farmer Joel Salatin and what his philosophy of farming is. If you have seen FOOD INC., Joel was the farmer talking about sustainable farms while he was cutting up chickens. He seems like a great guy and has a very strong understanding of biomimicry.
Schrute farm anyone? From NYTIMES, By Kim Severson a story about how to go a be a farmer for your vacation. I hope Mose will do his carving demo for us. $300 a night to wake up early and milk a cow? Would you do this?
I was just thinking about this the other day. A broker between home/ organic farmers and companies that produce products for schools or senior living facilities. Cool article by Jane Black for the Washpost. This company looks like they are doing a great job and it is a non profit. The company is called the Local Food Hub. There are a couple more in the article.
I am really interested in preserving this year,well not the year exactly, but the harvest. This is a story from the LATIMES, By David Mas Masumoto. No recipes but a great story. I can almost taste the raisins myself.
Here is a nice article on the 10 Maya foods that changed the worlds eating habits. It is by Christine Delisol and is at SFGATE. You got to listen to the guys that brought us Chocolate and the concept of Zero.
Time to move along. I need to revise the revision of my business plan. The life of an Entrepreneur is so glamourous.
Write to you later,
Chef Max 8-26-09
Tags: and Chocolate and the concept of Zero., Farmer Joel Salatin, Food News, Local Food Hub, preserving this year, Schrute Farms for real
Posted in Chef Max Blog, Food News | No Comments »
