Blog – Page 58 – Nicole Peyrafitte

9th Annual Tsatsawassa Poetry BBQ & Reading

Phil Good Bernadette Mayer Dave Brinks

Saturday, July 5, I was at the 9th annual Tsatsawassa Poetry BBQ & Reading at the home of poets Bernadette Mayer & Phil Good. The event was “ring mastered” by poet, editor of YAWP and chef Dave Brinks. The poetry, the company, the weather were perfect, one of these moment that imprints the 7 senses of the memory .

My taste memory keeps reminding me of Dave Brink’s Jambalaya. A perfect alchemy between the ingredients he brought back from New Orleans (alligator sausage, crayfish, cayenne pepper) and fresh herbs from Phil garden. According to Dave the magic ingredient was lovage. I think it was the first time Dave used lovage in his Jambalaya, but it sure was successful.

For a photo reportage of the day check out this link. Also Phil & Bernadette host monthly poetry workshop at their home. For more info contact: .

Vive Michael Pollan!

“SUVs in America are competing with eaters around the rest of the world for good food and arable land. You can imagine who is going to win.” Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is always an inspiration. He is professor at the U.C Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, writes regularly for the New York Times Magazine, and author of many enlightening books. Recently I subscribed to his “upcoming events related to Michael Pollan” and I wanted to share the latest communication, this article makes a lot of sense to me:

“I think you’ll be interested in this interview, “Michael Pollan on What’s Wrong With Environmentalism,” from a terrific new on-line environmental magazine called e360. It’s published by Yale University and edited by Roger Cohn, the former editor of Mother Jones and Audubon –and is full of good stuff.
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2031
Best,
Michael”

Below a list of webcast & videos :
Michael Pollan speak @ Google March 8 2008
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/05/explaining-food-vs-n.html

Berkeley Podcasts:

11/05/07	The Death of Environmentalism Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Michael Pollan – Moderator
3/21/07	Food Fight: A Teach-in On the 2007 Farm Bill Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various
2/27/07	The Past, Present, and Future of Food Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Michael Pollan
4/17/06	The Omnivore’s Dilemma Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Michael Pollan
10/26/05	Berkeley Writers at Work: Michael Pollan Sponsored by College Writing Programs	Michael Pollan
10/13/04	Bush Science: Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various
12/11/03	The Pulse of Scientific Freedom in the Age of Biotech Industry Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various
11/24/03	Fast Food World: Perils and Promises of the Global Food Chain Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various
11/20/03	The Politics of Obesity Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various
11/13/02	The Ecology of Food – Panel with M. Pollan and Others Sponsored by UC Berkeley	Various Pollan
11/12/02	Michael Pollan: Cannabis, the Importance of Forgetting, and the Botany of Desire Sponsored by Townsend Center for the Humanities	Michael Pollan
9/23/02	Factory Food: Are the Alternatives Viable? Sponsored by Graduate School of Journalism	Various

Clich her for Michael Pollan website for a complete bliography and more info.

Asperges/Asparagus (I)

An extremely simple, fast and delicious dinner:
Broiled asparagus and pan fried lamb chops.
We are in the midst (here in New York State) of asparagus season and I found beautiful organic ones ($ 4.59 lb / origin New York State) at the Park Slope Food Coop. I bought 1.40 lb and that was enough for two.
I wash the asparagus and cut the stem when it becomes stringy and hard (never more than a 1/3 from the bottom) — which will depend on the quality and the freshness of the kind you purchase. I place them in an oven proof dish big enough to be able to able to toss them easily. I sprinkle them generously with a good pungent olive oil, salt, pepper, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1 or 2 cloves of garlic chopped fine. Toss it all very well and place under the BROILER for 10/20 minutes -depending on your boiler. I do toss them every 5 minutes to make sure they cook evenly.

Meanwhile I preheat my cast iron skillet and 5 minutes before removing the asparagus I pan fry my lamb chops –a great source of lamb is d’Artagnan— in a little bit of olive oil, not much is needed because the fat will give you enough grease. I like my lamb rare so about 5/6 minutes on each sides is enough for me. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The simplicity of the preparation will let you taste all the subtle flavors of these ingredients.
Next post I will give more info on asparagus. Bon Appetit!

Gardaram la lenga nosta!

Under the “Modernization of the Institutions of the 5th Republic” the French Assemblée Nationale voted YES to the Amendement Nº 605 . The amendment reads:

L’article 1er de la Constitution est complété par une phrase ainsi rédigée :
« Les langues régionales appartiennent à son patrimoine. »

Article 1 of the Constitution is completed by a sentenced that reads:
” Regional languages belong to the national heritage ”

Then the amendment went to The French Senate, and there June 18th, my birthday, the senators rejected it (216 against / 103 for). If you read French you can check out the article in Le Monde.

This is very sad because not only are the regional languages part of the French national heritage, but I also truly believe that strong regional culture is the best way to resist globalization and promote sustainability at many levels.

The senators reasons for rejecting the amendment are xenophobic and show a terrible lack in their own culture. Below, an example of the debate’s level.

Senator Michel Charasse (ex-PS -the socialist party- recently expelled from that party, he represents the Puy-de-Dôme):

“J’ai été surpris de voir apparaître à l’Assemblée nationale un amendement tendant à classer les langues régionales au patrimoine de la France. Pourquoi ne pas y classer aussi les monuments historiques, ou même la gastronomie, voire la potée auvergnate ?

“I was surprised to see the national Assembly propose an amendment favoring the classification of regional languages as part of the French National Heritage. Why not also include historical monuments, gastronomy like the potée from Auvergne?

Mr. Charasse, who is from Auvergne, and probably fell into a pot of potée when he was a little boy (reference to Asterix le Gaulois!), is now so self imbued that transmission of culture is not his concern or stops with him.

Anyhow, if I understand the process correctly the goose is not yet cooked. We are now starting the “navette” or a “shuttle” process. The amendment will return to the Assemblée for another round of discussions, and maybe undergo modifications before being submitted to a new vote, after which it would be sent back to the Senate. This process can happen several time and if consensus is not reached another set of procedure will be applied. To become part of the constitution, the Amendment has to be ratified by both chambers.

Affaire à suive/ To be continued!

Important links on the topic:

Petition:
http://crida.oc.free.fr/index.php

Déclaration Assemblée nationale :
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/dg/dg0876.asp

compte rendu general:
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/cri/2007-2008/20080165.asp#INTER_2

amendement No 605
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/amendements/0820/082000605.asp

Detailled vote of the Senators:
http://www.senat.fr/scrupub/2007/scr2007-98.html#correctif

French Artist Ben Vautier on the subject
http://www.ben-vautier.com/divers/newsletters_display.php3?num=753

Chinatown I : Zongzi

I find food wrapped in leaves very appealing and it is interesting to note that we can find them in many cultures around the globe. It seems they all have one thing in common: the rather blend starch hides something in smaller quantity ans most of the time a good surprise.
A few weeks ago while walking through Chinatown I walked by a lady selling something that looked similar to what I remembered having few years back also in New York Chinatown.
I tried to ask her what was it was. She spoke to me only in Chenise and nedeless to say I couldn’t understand, but buying one of the wrapped leave package from her small portable makeshift stand for $1.25 was possible. I couldn’t wait to eat it but I decided to wait to go home and try to identify it.

The internet investigation revealed that it appeared that I had purchased A Zongzi. They are mostly made for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival that takes place every year the 5th day of the 5th moon. This year it was June 8th. Mine was wrapped in bamboo leaves and filled with peanuts & pork and but they come with different fillings.

I printed out the name and returned to Chinatown on Wednesday to see if I could confirm my identification. The old lady wasn’t there but a sidewalk cart stand had a pile of them. I showed the lady the print out, –see image of print out above– and she nodded positively

Then she tried to explain something about the position of the threads in chinese, a man came to my rescue and translated that: one one thread at the bottom indicated that it was a peanut zongzi and the other a bean paste zongzi. I got one of each.

At first the sticky rice tasted a little blend and gooey but when you I hit the peanuts and then pork it all comes together. The pork meat tasted very similar to pork confit we make in the South of France. I much prefer the one with peanut than the one with the yellow bean paste. Also I must say that the one purchased at the cart on Wednesday were really mediocre compared to the one I got from the old lady. I had gotten only a peanut one from the old lady and it was delicious, the pork was moist and perfectly salty and what appeared way to much rice and very little meat, dotted with still crunchy boiled peanuts was PERFECT. I also found out they are also called zong in some parts of China.