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United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

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Saturday, January 18, 2003

Here you can buy an old oak log, impregnated with spore plugs for shiitake mushrooms. They also sell the plugs, in case you have your own old oak log or five. 7:43:37 PM    comment []

Yesterday, all my jet lag seemed so far away. I got up the normal time, coasted through the day, met Liz at the Armadillo, had a brew or two, came home, fixed farofa and steak, went to bed the normal time, had a nice normal sleep. "So much for jet lag," I thought this morning when I got up at the normal time. Then I slept all day today with truly weird dreams, instructing me to be wary of MJ-18, whatever that is. Probably something I picked up from the TV on IFC, most likely the rating PG-18 misheard. A bunch of light bulbs burned out while I was gone, so I went to Harris Teeter to stock up again. While there, the Seville Oranges at 4 for a dollar put a big blip on my bargain radar. These are the orange of choice for making marmalade and they're usually available only for a brief span in February at a much higher cost. They're also called Blood Oranges because of the red fruit inside as well as (usually) orange skin mottled with red. I picked up 8 immediately and will pick up some more if needed, after checking the recipe,  for my first 2003 preserves. 6:18:28 PM    comment []

Akasaka Morning Each morning at the New Otani, they had a "Continental" Breakfast on the 21st floor of the tower. They didn't specify which continent, but the pastries were Danish. If you arrived early enough, you might see the rising sun bring light to the Crown Prince's residence, Shibuya, and Shinjuku. If it was clear enough, you could see Fuji catching the first rays of the sun. 3:53:46 PM    comment []

Here's some farofa in context, with a strip steak and some sauteed mushrooms. Taking this picture gave me a new respect for food photographers, making this genuinely scrumptious meal look even passably appetizing was nigh impossible. The flash made refective spots on the steak look like gigantic globs of grease. In this photo I took them out with the digital airbrush, which sacrificed detail. The white plate is all wrong for this food, which is dark and introspective (I know, but I've never seen that word used for food. Wine, maybe). A darker background would bring the essential contrasts into a clearer perspective. The mushrooms are especially brooding (okay, I'll quit) and ill-defined, but the farofa looks good. Think I'll try this photo again. Meanwhile, I've learned why Japanese restaurants use ryon mihon, those carking plastic food replicas, because real food doesn't always look that good. 3:14:51 AM    comment []