Okun on Food

Looking at the world through food-colored glasses

If you haven't had your fill of inauguration centered stuff by now, take a look a blog called Obamafoodorama  that  looks at the Washington world through food colored glasses. It's a little like looking through the wrong end of binoculars actually,  The first lady's dress is described as "lemongrass" color; the couple's inaugural dance is described as a "caketopper," and you can find out what the girls are eating in school.

Written by three irreverent woman from LA - they call the president "Bam" - it's a fun read and sometimes even educational. Take a look..

The First Lunch

I've just been reading the wire reports about the first meal  Barack Obama will eat once he becomes president Tuesday. The lunch, organized by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, is being catered and served in Statuary Hall in the Capitol for 232 people including the Supreme Court, cabinet designees and congressional leadership. Months were spent , we're told, researching the food and cooking style of the 1860s since Abraham Lincoln is Obama's hero. The first course will be served on replicas of the Lincoln china chosen by the supposedly profligate Mary Todd Lincoln.

Quire a menu this: seafood stew of lobster, shrimp and black cod topped with puff pastry; duo of pheasant and duck served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes, and apple cinnamon sponge cake with a sweet cream glaze.  (The prez will have to work out the next day for sure.)

Want to see the recipes? Guess what? They are available. Go to Inaugural Lunch Menu and click on luncheon.

More on NRs (neighborhood restaurants)

Bloggers have sent in the names of some wonderful nabes but there's a further question that follows. What makes certain neighborhood places so beloved? You're going to say the food, of course, but the truth is, in many spots (not necessarily the ones blogged below) the food isn't all that stand-up-and-cheer fabulous. Is it the ambience, the welcome, the other customers? What?

Neighborhood Restaurants

Western New York, as I mentioned in my column today, is lucky to be endowed with so many good restaurants and perhaps the category we are best in is so-called neighborhood restaurants. Small, informal, mom-and-pop type places that still do most of their cooking from scratch. We mentioned a few like Mulberrys, The Place, Ulrich's, Creekview and Eckl's, but we have so many others. Anyone want to send in the name of a favorite or add a comment?

Food on TV

I normally don't watch much food on television. Programs like "Top Chef"  or "Iron Chef" don't appeal to me at all, and most of the so-called cooks like Rachael Ray or Paula Deen leave me more than cold. (Ina Garten is OK, though, because she is so likable and low-key.) But Monday night, HBO presented a special  on the famed Le Cirque restaurant in Manhattan, actually a profile of the Maccioni family who owns it, and the generational  struggle that ensued about opening a new Le Cirque in a new location.
The show illustrated how the restaurant  business has changed through the years, with the sons wanting so badly to serve creative food, and father, Sirio, insisting that no restaurant could exist if it didn't offer classics like melon and prosciutto.The impasse never got completely resolved, but the show sure offered, er, food for thought.

Anyone else see it? What did you think?

Upside Down Christmas

Last Sunday (Dec. 21)I took my turn being criticized. Prepared a meal for Paul Jenkins of Tempo Restaurant, using the ingredients he suggested, and was judged my him. His critique appears in the Life and Arts section that day. And, of course, you're dying to know this: Jenkins awarded me 2 and a half stars.

He didn't exactly go overboard, but it was a pretty fair rating in my opinion. (Sorry about the risotto, Paul. I guess it waited too long.) Anyhow it was an interesting experience. Not that I'm going  to repeat it anytime soon. 

The big 2008 food story

In my column today, I discussed some of the big food stories of 2008, according to a New York City marketing firm, anyway. I also noted that it wasn't the happiest year.  Some of the stories suggested were grim. Really grim.

Food editors get this list annually and vote on which stories they think are the most significant.  My choice  concerned rising food prices, but there were others equally scary, too.

So now I"m asking you: what  national food story did you think was the most important in the last 12 months? Read the column to get some ideas and let me know what you think.   

Missing recipes

It's the time of year for happiness and joy; it's also the time of year for missing recipes. Who can even count the numbers of people who set out to cook their favorite thing (which they haven't done in over 12 months, needless to say), only to find that the instructions cannot be found.

Here at The News, we  get hundreds of requests and cannot answer them personally because of staff and file constraints. But one request turns up all the time: Mrs. Schottmiller's Fruit Cake. (The spelling is probably wrong.)  And it bugs us. We think it was an old Courier-Express recipe, and it must have been really great. Does anyone know?

Edible Christmas Gifts

What goes around, comes around. I'm thinking that home-made edibles are going to make a big comeback this year. (They were big in the '70s and '80s.) And, actually, that's not a bad thing. Who wouldn't prefer some old-fashioned cookies instead of another useless gadget, I wonder. And who wouldn't opt for homemade marmalade or bread?

In a strange way, this recession might result in all of us eating better.

Thanksgiving necessities

In my column today, I talk about the things I never have enough of when I  host a Thanksgiving dinner. But I forgot a few. I never have enough twine for one thing, to tie the bird's legs together so it doesn't flop all over the place while it roasts. (Some turkeys have what they call a "natural truss", a band of skin that you can utilize but some do not.) I often run out of foil to cover the bird after it browns sufficiently. And it always bothers me that I forget to buy something green like a salad or a vegetable. What with the sweet potatoes and the squash and even the turkey itself, it seems  like the whole dinner is brown or orange. I'm mentioning these things because it isn't too late to get some of them if you have a last-minute shopping trip planned today. Have a good dinner, anyway. Have fun.