The Seafood and Cheese Food Myth

What’s wrong with seafood and cheese appearing together in the same dish? Does cheese really make seafood taste funky? Food Network star, and Italian chef extraordinaire, Scott Conant appears to have a pet peeve about this, but is he right? If cheese really does make seafood taste funky, a lot of famous dishes shouldn’t have been invented, mush less become famous. A case in point would be lobster thermidor. In his second battle, Iron Chef Japanese Komei Nakamura made a version using blue cheese; the tasters loved it, and Nakamura won. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay asserted on TV that he likes mussels with blue cheese, and on Triple D, Guy Fieri enjoyed linguini clams sprinkled with parmesan (an Italian dish, Scott). And what about the following famous dishes: seafood gratin, seafood risotto, and seafood fondue? OK, so maybe Chef Conant is really talking about cheese and, specifically, fish. For that I have Iron Chef Cat Cora making baracuda chips for fondue, and fish with marscapone in Paris on Anthony Bourdain’s 100th episode. Continue reading “The Seafood and Cheese Food Myth”

Celebrity Chefs Don’t Just Cook

Some celebrity chefs stick with their cookbooks and TV shows, some just lend their name and some go the full route of actually producing a line of products. But like many sports figures who actually make far more money from their endorsements than from their sport, many cooks seem to have hit pay dirt with their own personal line of gadgets, cooking apparatus and seasoning lines. The list is seemingly endless, but here is who tops the hit parade:

Michael Chiarello – this Italian foods chef seems happy with his family vineyard, award-winning Napa restaurant and cookbooks, all of which keep him busy.

Guy Fieri – wild and vivacious restaurant owner and Food Network star, he hawks a simple line of kitchen gadgets, cutlery and T-shirts on his website. Continue reading “Celebrity Chefs Don’t Just Cook”

The Omnivore’s Dilemma – A Review

Pollan’s body of work about food is an honest attempt to hack through the jungle of marketing terms, like organic and natural, used to confuse today’s grocery shopper. It is doubtful that you will find his books in any grocery store, because it does not fit into the business of food. Rather it explains the shifting food trends that make you skinny, brilliant or youthful one day and fat, diabetic or dying the next.

Continue reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma – A Review”

It Is Impossible To Replicate the Taste of Your Favorite Wine From One Identical Bottle To the Next?

Have you ever been to a wine bar or restaurant and decided to try a wine that was available by the glass; a wine you had wanted to experience without committing to a whole bottle? Maybe it was a wine someone recommended. Or, you found a wine you really like–the aroma and taste that was unexpected. Then at a subsequent next trip to your wine shop or Costco you bought the identical vintage produced by the same winery. You get it home, lit the candles, and broke out the same cheese and bread you enjoyed at that memorable tasting, only to be thoroughly disgusted that the aromas and taste of the wine was not what you remembered back at that restaurant or wine bar when that ah-ha moment hit. Continue reading “It Is Impossible To Replicate the Taste of Your Favorite Wine From One Identical Bottle To the Next?”

Dhamma Vihara

Buddha en Mexico

A Conversation between Morgan Zo Callahan and Bhikkhu Nandisena

Jilotepec, Veracruz, Mexico

It’s been an enjoyable two visits (April, ’08 and April, ’09) to Dhamma Vihara Monastery where I conversed with the abbot, Theravada Buddhist monk and teacher, Venerable Nandisena, and some of his students

The retreatants at Dhamma Vihara practice both “mindfulness meditation” (Satipatthana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya, 10) and metta meditation (Metta Sutta). Mindful meditation is emphasized. In metta meditation practice, the retreatants shower loving kindness to themselves and others. The retreatants also do a practice called “sharing merit.” At the end of the day, the meditators recite out loud, “May all beings share the merits received by us for the obtaining of any kind of happiness.” [Que todos los seres compartan los méritos que hemos obtenido para la adquisicíon de todo tipo de felicidad; que los seres que habitan el espacio y la tierra compartan nuestros méritos que ellos protejan las enseñanzas.] Continue reading “Dhamma Vihara”

The Unofficial Protocel Diet

Protocel is a non-toxic alternative cancer treatment. It works a bit differently than other alternative treatments in that it does not work by trying to strengthen the immune system so that your natural immune system can fight off your cancer. Protocel works directly on the cancer cells by starving them of ATP, (adenosine triphosphate,) which is how both healthy cells and cancer cells get their electrical energy.

Most non-toxic alternative cancer treatments require rigid dietary changes to strengthen the immune system. Some of these dietary changes include switching to an alkaline diet, going vegetarian, and limiting high glycemic foods. These types of diets will work with Protocel also, but that is not the primary concern. The primary dietary concern while using Protocel is to limit eating foods that actually interfere with Protocel, and can cause it to become ineffective.

Continue reading “The Unofficial Protocel Diet”

Permaculture and Mezcal in Oaxaca, Mexico

A few years ago I was leading a group of travelers to the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca on a mezcal educational excursion. Mezcal is the agave based spirit produced in Mexico dating back to anywhere between the 1500s to over 2,000 years ago, depending upon to which theory of the history of distillation one subscribes. In the course of visiting a number of small, artisanal distilleries, or palenques as they’re known, we attended a co-operative in the village of San Baltazar Chichicapam (“Chichicapam”). There were about a dozen men, women and children pitching agave hearts known as piñas into an in-ground oven on top of and around a mound of rocks, below which were flaming logs. They were members of the indigenous Zapotec ethnolinguistic group. They working feverishly. My clients were intrigued. Some began photographing, while others offered to assist the workers. My clients asked me a plethora of questions about what they were witnessing. I explained how the co-op worked. One exclaimed “this is a classic example of permaculture.” Continue reading “Permaculture and Mezcal in Oaxaca, Mexico”

Is the Craft Beer Rocket Ride Fizzling Out?

Craft beer is still growing as a segment of the total beer industry. Like wineries, there is a craft beer brewery in all 50 states. Craft brewing, as a category in the alcohol beverages industry, has only been around for approximately four decades; however, there is no specific event to delineate an official genesis of the industry. In 1859 the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco started brewing operations. Unfortunately, until 1965 the company had a sordid history of financial failures in making fine beer. However, since 1965 it has a stellar record of success and is now recognized as America’s first craft beer brewer.

Despite the growth in breweries, the craft beer industry is experiencing significant issues. For example: constantly changing consumer trends; rapid industry expansion; growth in product offerings (this includes new products such as hard cider); distribution restrictions; response to market trends; and, imports. However, in December the new tax law took effect and should free up capital to fund expansion and marketing programs without incurring debt. “CMBTRA (Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act-2017) as part of the new tax bill is cutting the excise tax bill in half for the nations small brewers,” reports Bart Watson-Chief Economist for the Brewers Association. That’s a decent chunk of capital for reinvestment. “There are benefits for wine/spirits producers as well.” Continue reading “Is the Craft Beer Rocket Ride Fizzling Out?”

Hooray for Jackie Robinson! Activism and Volunteering

Hooray for Jackie Robinson!

Activism and Volunteering

Not being reactive is not being passive. It’s not a kind

of stupidity, holding back or being uninterested, removing

oneself from the world. Real equanimity isn’t indifference.

It’s the capacity to be present with your whole being and

not add fuel to the fire.–Jack Kornfield

I had my first taste of “activism”–terribly naïve, but well-intentioned–when I wrote letters to “Dear Chairman Mao Tse-Tung,” the first on May 23, 1956, as well as letters in support of the Civil Rights Movement which absolutely captivated the attention of a few of my grammar school teachers, nuns, who gave me books to read. It was the year of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. I was 12 years old, living far away in Norwalk, Connecticut. Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s organization solicited letters of support from many churches, including our Catholic church. A few nuns were very active in asking for letters of support, but only from those who really believed in the cause. I learned so much from their attitude of not imposing their activism on others. Several of us jumped at the chance in addition to write letters to China to ask for the release of innocent prisoners. The nuns knew that letters had to be respectful but very definite in listing the names of the prisoners & stating in the opening that China’s government passed the deadline promised to release the prisoners. Then the rest of the letter appears to just kiss Chairman Mao’s ass, but maybe that is just diplomacy. The nuns encouraged us to write something original and brief. We wrote the letters very carefully in pen. Continue reading “Hooray for Jackie Robinson! Activism and Volunteering”

Wine Selecting Tips – Basic Advice on Choosing a Wine at Dinner

Wine has played a kingly role in the history of the world.

People have drunk it in majestic rituals and it has lived in the palace cellars. It has survived through the medieval times and has been used by the priests to cleanse the body and cure devotees their common maladies. Whereas it used to be enjoyed only by kings and noblemen, today wine is ubiquitously consumed by people all over the world. A buffet or a fine dining experience will not go well without a Chardonnay, for instance. Most people drink wine to loosen themselves up, after a hard day’s work. Others imbibe wine as a form of epicurean art.

A meal will always be more enjoyable if paired with a great tasting wine. Continue reading “Wine Selecting Tips – Basic Advice on Choosing a Wine at Dinner”