STUDIOKITCHEN

OCD

Coming back from my shrink today and thinking about circles, I always wonder why pastry turnout people try to draw freehand perfect circles which end up looking lame, you can't fight nature or even physics and geometry. Cheating works much better. Using the turntable roller from a discarded microwave, depending of the viscosity and speed of rotation, better circles..... even near perfect ones can be had.

Pumpkinseeds.

Pumpkinseed-Anchovy Praline For Roast Lamb Loin.
1 cup toasted green pumpkinseeds
1 cup pumpkinseed oil
2 flat anchovies
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste.

Deliciousness

Now that says deliciousness.
Thanks J.R.

Fish Talking.

Fish Say...... "If you can correctly guess my name in Japanese and post it in the comments, you-San will get a free dinner for 2 at shola's next guest chef gig"

Answer and winner below.

Hiatus

Some say creative expression is directly tied to sanity, I actually disagree. Some of the most brilliant artists are patently crazy.  What I do agree with is that it is tied to Zen. Zen  is a state of positive outlook when you wake up and there is a spring in your step, the stepping stones line themselves up, the balls being juggled are equidistant. To borrow a term from molecular gastronomy everything just gels softly.
Zen not only questions your results but also your motivation.
Things are not gelling right now and I will be taking some time off from the blog. I need to  think straight. Right now it is increasingly difficult to do so but in the words of the terminator.........
I'll be back.

Cheers

Foie Gratuitous

Foie gras is the current catalyst in the politics of cluelessness and distraction regarding consumer choices of perfectly legitimate and acceptable food products. Knocked off the podium are the zealots of Local=Fresh who fly on vacation to Mexico with bottles of Evian in thier suitcases.
Here are the facts, evidence of ducks being raised for thier livers has been traced back to ancient Egyptian times. There certainly is no  statute or decree that undesirable behaviour regarding food cultivation becomes legitimate because it has been practiced for hundreds of years, the fact is IT IS legitimate. While claims can be made that factory farming of other livestock is far more egregious, harmful and generates incidents of animal mistreatment that make Foie gras production pale in comparison, that frankly is besides the point. Discussions on who inflicts more pain on animals due to be dispatched solely for human comsumption is the same strategy used by the anti-abortionists to sideline the issue of a woman's choice regarding her health.

This is a simple question.
Do we want to become a country that starts to restrict food choices solely because it doesnt fit the somewhat  warped sensibilities of a minuscle portion of our society who essentially eat rarely any meat anyway ?
No we dont and we do not because it simply is a door we cannot allow to be opened.
As much as I despise the alarmist veil of the phrase "slippery slope", that is what it is.
It has much less to do with ducks than it does a few misguided zealots using a luxury high profile ingredient to lay down stepping stones to thier larger agenda.
We should stop them now, immediately and decisively.
It's nonsense.
Until we are locked away by the government for more anti-social crimes, there is no greater choice than what we choose to eat.
That is of course unless you live in the inner city and you are sorrounded by a phalanx of fry shacks standing ominously between you and the nearest salad.