Saturday, February 25, 2006

Savouring Books

I come from a family that loves reading and you can call me a voracious reader. In my parents’ house we had a library and I used to devour all my mother’s stuff – including her nasty Harold Robbins’ Carpetbaggers at aged 10 (imagine her horror, and mine – when I first encountered the concept of auto-eroticization).

I hoard books and have around 30 unread titles waiting in the wings. Whenever I am out of the country, bookstores figure in my itinerary, even before the clothing shops. I like fiction, non-fiction, in love with biographies of fascinating people, but mostly I love books on food.

So I’ve decided to write a piece on five of my favorite food books. Why 5? Because that’s the maximum number of photos this blog article can hold. In reality I have a whole stash so email me if you’re searching for new titles.



Gastronaut (Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy and the Brave) by Stefan Gates
Love the title, love the deranged wit, laughed my ass off in countless passages. This book is for people fascinated by the crazier side of food, including extreme culinary experiences. There are menu recreations of memorable meals (The Last Supper, The last dinner at the Titanic, Francois Mitterand’s last meal (ortolans – illegal to hunt or eat in France, oysters, foie gras and capon)! Interesting sections center on Cannibalism (the gastronautical survey results show Brad Pitt and Kylie Minogue leading the list of famous people one would like to eat), How to throw a Bacchanalian Orgy (preferably with food that brings flights of fancy and marvels of sybaritic indulgence), Aphrodisiac Lothario Cuisine (make sure that alcohol is involved!) and recipes that horrify and inspire at equal amounts (Bum Sandwich-essentially a sandwich that you sit on for an hour to warm, Salmon and Issey Miyake Ceviche- ummmm, hello…Fish sperm on toast). Incidentally, Pinoys are certified gastronauts because this book includes pig ears (sisig!), suckling pig (lechon), insects and frogs – stuff we’ve eaten without batting an eyelash. Here’s a quick recipe in the book for you try:

Heartbreaker (Elvis Presley's favorite Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich)
In a bowl mash a ripe banana with 50g of peanut butter. Spread the resulting goo on 2 slices of white bread and sandwich together. In a small frying pan, melt the butter till foaming, then add the sandwich and fry on each side until golden brown. Eat while listening to Elvis’ version of “Suspicious Minds”. Truly wicked.



French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
The core essence of this book centers on Portion Control. I like that it champions the idea of eating what you want but in moderate amounts. Finally, no more resorting to deprivation! What a welcome idea coming from South Beach and all those diet fads. Personally I’ve never been on any diet and don’t intend to start soon. Life’s too short to deprive yourself of food, especially when you’ve worked so hard or stayed in the gym for like, 3 hours.

The book details recipes to try (I like em books with recipes, as you can see). My favorite:

Egg Omelette with Mixed Herbs and Ricotta Cheese
Mix 2 tbsps each of the ff herbs: parsley, chives, chervil and coriander, with 1 diced shallot, 1 tsp pimiento and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. Cook mixture in olive oil, stirring constantly. Reserve.
Beat 10 eggs in 2 tbsps water. Add salt and pepper. Melt 1 tbsp butter in pan and add the egg-herb mixture. Stir until the omelette starts settling, then add 60g ricotta cheese or mascarpone. Cool for 3-4 minutes then serve immediately. Serves 4.



Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
I love simply this woman to bits! Ruth Reichl started as the feared resident food critic of The NY Times and moved on to become the editor of Gourmet Magazine. This is her second book, following the first autobiographical title, Tender at the Bone. Ruth writes about her life and how food figured and continues to figure, prominently in it.

We actually tackled the two books in a Book Club meeting a long time ago and I remember our fantastic host, Angel G. recreating the dishes Ruth Reichl mentioned. She also came up with a menu for the book club gathering and I swear, she is truly the best host (love her!).

I asked hubby Christian recently this question, “If I were a dish, what would I be?” Without hesitation, he answered, “Sweet and Sour Pork!” Sigh. Well at least, it’s one of his favorites.



The Fourth Star (Dispatches from Inside Daniel Bouloud’s Celebrated New York Restaurant) by Leslie Brenner

I haven’t eaten in Daniel’s (I want to, I want to!!!) but judging from the reading, it seems that a meal there would be quite a fascinating experience. Leslie Brenner chronicles Daniel Bouloud’s fixation on getting the NY Times’ 4th Star (symbol of superstar restaurant/chef status, different from the Michelin, okay?). Along the way, you are sucked into the hectic world of restaurants – from the drama surrounding the reservationist’s table assignment policies to the chaotic, overheated, crazy scene behind the swinging kitchen doors. You wonder if the restaurants here would even hold a candle to Daniel’s where they fixate on plating, the linen, the timing of the dishes being served, everything.

A related title I am raring to start on is Rudolph Chelminski’s The Perfectionist (Life and Death in Haute Cuisine), an in-depth look at the top dogs of the French food scene and what it takes to get and hold on to those 3 Michelin Stars. It also chronicles the life of Cote d’Or superstar Bernard Loiseau who offed himself in the name of Haute Cuisine, much like the way of the legendary chef to the French King, Vatel.



The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
This fictional tale is about a Vietnamese cook Binh, who is the personal chef of the famous couple Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in rue de Fleurus. It is a book to be savoured, the writing is a rich, poetic feast.

My favorite part is when Binh dines with The Man from the Bridge, when he first encounters Fleur de sel. Consider this passage:

Salt flowers, “ he translated, “Think of it in terms of a poem. A flower, as in the first to bloom in the heat of the sun. There is a development, a rise and fall, upon which the sea salt’s salinity becomes apparent, deepens and then disappears. Think of it as a kiss in the mouth.”

In the rare occasion that you encounter this in Fully Booked, buy it immediately. I promise that you shall not regret.

The book speaks of food in a most sensual manner, as it should.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Hi-Lo Kebab: Hossein meets Behrouz

There was a time when the only place you could grab decent kebabs was in the original Behrouz in a tiny side street along Timog. This is going to date me, but I ran across it right after a drunken spree in nearby Club Dredd during my crazy college days. Yep, when Club Dredd was still around. The Behrouz shack did not even have a sign. It was open-air dining with rickety tables and chairs, mismatched plates and utensils, suspect looking glasses (I normally ask for a straw and Christian laughs at my hypocrisy: who’s to say that the straws are not recycled?! Heaven forbid.) and sullen, dazed waitresses. No meal is complete without a stray cat brushing against your legs, hoping for some dole-out.

Just recently hubby and I visited old Behrouz to satisfy an intense craving for kebabs. I was surprised to find out that they were renovating and making the place decidedly swankier. I also noted a bevy of SUVs and Explorers now parked outside…there seems to have been an upgrade of patrons.

But regardless of the fact that it was mid-renovation, people still ate in the makeshift tables and chairs, lit by a lightbulb on a string, right beside piles of dry cement. Talk about drawing power. Freakin’ unbelievable. So we plunked our asses down and placed our orders, for as far as I’m concerned it would be chaos if I didn’t get my kebab fix and the air-conditioned Behrouz franchise branches in Metrowalk and Wilson absolutely don’t count.

We ordered beef kebabs, grilled onions and tomatoes, the bread, hummus and ofcourse, the brain. Hubby likens it to a Persian DIY hamburger – the brain takes the place of cheese. For a full meal with multiple rounds of kebab we shelled out an amount in the vicinity of 400-500. The kebabs and hummus cost 30 pesos and the brain, 40 pesos.



Nowadays there’s a whole slew of Persian restaurants in the metro. I consider Ziggurat in the Burgos Makati district to be in the midi range, price-wise. Frankly I find it okay, nothing to crow about. The dish that saves them is the Tuna Tikka, the tuna served in big, thick chunks. But then again at 260 pesos a stick – it damn well should have thick chunks, right? I guess the thing with Ziggurat is that I am always confused by their menu which reads like a page from an encyclopedia. It’s crammed with dishes and I am always wary of places that offer more dishes than you would care to read. I like the ones with spare menus – where every entrée is well thought out and perfected. The rugs and throw pillows likewise could use a good airing out (warning: no chairs here, baby) and in our last foray Christian had an instant attack of hives. My friend Jay ordered the beef curry and likened it to “Indian mechado” which cracks me up to this day.



On the High side there’s Hossein’s Persian Kebab which is a fast favorite. Expect to spend at least 800-1,000 pesos per person. Okay, I know – for kebabs that you can get as low as 30 pesos a stick at Behrouz, it’s a bit of a stretch, right? But truly it is worth the price. Hubby and I spent our Christmas Day dinner date there and couldn’t have been happier. We ordered lamb kebabs, biryani (long-grained yellow rice with Persian essence), fried brain – paired with roti channai, hummus and masala curry and best, Jujeh Tandori (chicken thighs and wings marinated in tandori masala, yoghurt and Indian spices). The only drawback was that the brain cost like 5x++ higher (290 pesos!?!) than Behrouz (essentially the same, really – still fantastic) and we had to pay 30 pesos for the garlic sauce which normally comes free in other restaurants. Hossein’s just recently opened a branch at The Fort Strip – better parking than the old Makati avenue place.



So would you go for the Hi-Medium or Lo option on the kebabs? I’d say go low. But if you really want tiptop, better to invest on the high side. But that’s me so you decide.

P.S. Christian’s bestfriend Red and wife Gigit gave us a shisha pipe complete with apple, strawberry, lemon flavored tobacco and charcoal. I don’t smoke and hubby quit many moons ago but I am titillated with the idea of a Persian shisha shindig. I wonder if these kebab places cater? But then again that will probably happen when baby is atleast 5 which is a looooooong time from now.

Monday, February 06, 2006

The Diet Nazis are coming!

When Rome Kanapi of the Pregnancy and Childbirth Preparatory Classes told me to prepare a food diary, I should’ve known it meant Trouble. Imagine my horror when in our first session, we were tasked to exchange food diaries, read and point out each other’s dietary transgressions.

“I noticed a whole lot of carbs, like rice and pasta. She also ate peanut butter frequently. And oh, while she had Fruit Shakes – they were of real fatty fruits like Mango and Avocado. Lastly, she ate a whole lot of tikoys. Is that part of carbs?”

The shame! My heart sank when I quickly scanned my partner’s list and found that she only slipped with one measly strip of Spam.

So I’m now on brown rice, going easy on the pasta and removing Skippy’s from my cupboard. But the fruit shakes are damn hard to shake off.

Thankfully there’s Fuzion –a shop selling smoothies made from real, premium fruit. No ice, no sugar, just real fruit + yoghurt. They’ve taken out the ice so as not to dilute the drink. They are likewise relying completely on all-natural fruit sans that nasty, addicting sugar syrup you see poured in every Big Chill fruit shake. Btw, don’t mean any disrespect to Big Chill – I love em shakes and all but Blair Mitch needs to stay clear for now. My Fuzion faves include Very Berry Good (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) and Strawberry Teaser (strawberries, oranges and bananas). Gal pal Gigi also introduced me to Lime Light which is a nice, refreshing treat (lime, lychees and cucumber).

There are 2 Fuzion cafes I know of, one in Greenhills Promenade and the other in Robinson’s Galleria. The smoothies are quite pricey at 95 bucks a pop for the small size but they’re really good. Fuzion also serves food but I’d stay with their core competency, i.e. smoothies. Incidentally I can’t stand the letter “z” on Fuzion – it seems like they’re propagating bad spelling (that’s another topic, btw).



Speaking of yoghurts, hubby Christian swears by Nestle yoghurt drinks for healthy breakfast on-the-go. It’s so “on-the-go” that it’s finished by the time he gets to the lift! And scanning the supermarket yoghurt section, I find the Spanish Pascual brand to be really good value and laden with more interesting flavors like Dark Cherries, etc. They had a price increase recently, although still cheaper than Nestle yoghurt.



I scanned my food diary this week and while I’ve kicked out the peanut butter and the fruit shakes, in popped irresistible Crispy Pata and 2 servings of Beef ribs (eaten in different days)! And while I proudly proclaimed during class that I’ve switched to smoothies, I was promptly asked how many calories it contained (as you know, low-sugar does not automatically mean low-cal).

And so Blair Mitch asks, is there any way to win here?!