Please To Enjoy ... Or Not

Eating Slow at The Crossing

The Crossing Wine Dinner to Benefit Slow Food St. Louis

Who: Slow Food St. Louis
What: Fundraiser
Where: The Crossing, Clayton, MO, 314.721.7375
When: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Why: To show your support of businesses that support Slow Food St. Louis as several tickets are still available for tomorrow's wine dinner, which is sure to be a great night of eating!

The Details:

With much gratitude to Jim Fiala, Slow Food St. Louis is excited to announce a wine dinner to support Slow Food St. Louis's Biodiversity Grant hosted by The Crossing and Local Wine Company.

The menu will feature not only the great cooking The Crossing has come to be known for, but also the fabulous wines of Murphy's Law, Ransom, and SNAFU. Best of all, some of the terrific local ingredients Fiala and team will be utilizing in the dinner will have come from some of our very own Biodiversity Grant recipients.

The price is set at $75 each and you can make reservations by contacting The Crossing at 314.721.7375.

The Menu:

First Course
Passed canapes from the local farmer's markets and blue cheese souffle w/ 2007 Murphy's Law White

Second Course
Gaspacho with warm walleye and extra virgin olive oil w/ 2008 Ransom Pinot Gris 'Selection'

Third Course
Missouri chanterelle mushrooms with a Yellowtree Farm fines herbs w/ 2006 Ransom Pinot Noir 'Selection'

Fourth Course
Rain Crow Ranch grassfed beef tenderloin with melted fennel and roasted red potatoes with local pole beans w/ 2006 Murphy's Law Red

Fifth Course
Trio of Goatsbeard Farm's cheeses and local berries/fruits w/ 2005 SNAFU Red

Sixth Course:
Trio of Illinois peaches

See you there!

Chewing the Fat: Batali and Bourdain

Please to enjoy:

500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late

At a time when big restaurant chains seem more ubiquitous than ever, "Roadfood" authors Jane and Michael Stern continue to focus on the quirky all-American food haunts.

In their latest guide, "500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late," their advice ranges from the best hot fried chicken (Keaton's Barbecue in Cleveland, NC) to whoopee pies (Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster in Freeport, Maine).

I just added 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late, a new book by Roadfood authors Jane and Michael Stern, to my Amazon wishlist.

There is also a great interview with the book's authors in the latest issue of The Wall Street Journal. Attention St. Louis readers: Click on the "Interactive" tab in the article to see a shout-out about our very own Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.

Gosh, what I wouldn't do for a chocolate concrete right now!

So ... What Exactly Is Meat Glue?

"Meat glue: It sounds utterly repellent; like some pre-industrial, rustic adhesive made out of horse hooves that smells of old fish and burnt hair, but it's actually a fine, tasteless powder that looks like icing sugar and is one of the more clever things to come out of molecular gastronomy. Produced as Activa by Japan's Ajinomoto Company, it's scientific name is "triglutaminase" and it's an enzymes that catalyzes covalent bonds between free amine groups and gamma-caroxminid groups of protein or peptide bond gluatamine. In English, that means it makes meat and other proteins stick together like super glue."

A recent article at examiner.com highlights some of the various uses for "meat glue," but head on over to the Activa website to check out all the interesting details.

Its use to hold "chicken nuggets" and "sea legs" together is, of course, gross to me, but in the hands of Wylie Dufrense I'm all for it.

Yes, I know ... hypocrite much?

An Oldie, But A Goodie ...

I have no idea why I've been posting so many random videos lately; apparently, the long hours at the job use up all my brain power hence I cannot post anything coherent!

Anyway, here's an oldie, but a goodie from SNL:

Mr. Pink Takes Manhattan

"I don't tip because society says I have to. Alright I mean, I'll tip if someone really deserves it, if they really put forth the effort, I'll give em something extra, but tipping automically, that's for the birds." -- Mr. Pink

One of my all-time favorite movies is Reservoir Dogs. Here's a video that synchronizes the audio from the scene where one of the characters, Mr. Pink (another favorite, Steve Buscemi), rants about tipping with video from The Muppets Take Manhattan ... this is sure to be a classic!