When the mummy comes to life in Universal’s 1932 movie The Mummy, Boris Karloff does little more than slowly open his eyes, and almost as slowly, drop his bandaged hand from his chest to his side. Yet it is that combined series of small movements which makes the scene so effective. The mummy is not a villain that is going to win by brute strength or agility (unlike the 2001 remake). It is Imhotep’s will that is the source of his power. It’s a shame we only see Karloff wrapped up as the mummy briefly in the opening scenes. Unfortunately, the series’ sequels lacked both Karloff and his intensity: The Mummy’s Hand (1940), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) and The Mummy’s Curse (1944).

When Hammer picked up the thread (no pun intended) with 1959’s The Mummy, Christopher Lee managed to convey the same sense of intelligence, menace, and pity while enjoying much more screen time in his wrappings. Because we never really see Imhotep as a man except in flashbacks, Lee’s portrayal is more threatening and ultimately more sympathetic than Karloff’s, much in the same way we pity the creature in Frankenstein. Hammer, never a studio to pass on a chance to ride a success into the ground, followed with Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), The Mummy’s Shroud (1967) – which should win the award for having the most unsympathetic leading characters ever in a horror movie – you actually find yourself routing for the mummy, and finally closed the book, or casket as you would have it, on the whole thing with 1971’s Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, which was loosely based on Bram Stoker’s story “Jewell of the Seven Stars”. One indicator of how far into a series Hammer was with a particular character was the more lurid the title became, the further along from the original they were (and usually farther away from making a good movie as well). Universal rebooted the series themselves with the Indiana Jones-esque The Mummy (2001), The Mummy Returns (2003) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). Here’s a fun movie game, see if you can find a good movie with a colon in the title.

The accompanying recipe below wraps the shrimp in bacon to keep them from drying out on the grill. Use only thin sliced bacon as thick sliced will take too long to cook, either turning the shrimp to rubber in the process or undercooking the bacon and leaving it not very appetizing. Serve the skewers along side a spicy peanut sauce and little fresh lime juice and you will have an appetizer that is crowd pleaser.

“Mummified” Shrimp Skewers with Spicy Curry Peanut Sauce

• 1 lb 20ct shrimp
• 1 package of thin sliced bacon
• Wooden skewers
• Blackening seasoning (see below)
• Spicy Curry Peanut Sauce (see below)

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 1 hour. Cut the bacon into slices just long enough to wrap around the shrimp once, with a little overlap to secure it firmly on the skewers. Wrap the shrimp in the bacon and thread approx. 4 wrapped shrimp onto each skewer. Season the shrimp skewers liberally with the blackening seasoning. Place on a platter, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours. When ready, grill until the shrimp are cooked through and the bacon has just started to crisp. Serve with peanut sauce for dipping and garnish with lime wedges.

House Blackening Seasoning

This recipe is from New Orleans Chef Andrew Jaeger.

• 5 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Store in an airtight container.

Spicy Curry Peanut Sauce

This recipe is adapted from W. Park Kerr of the El Paso Chile Company. I consider the recipe a guideline only, and usually adjust the quantities to my taste and to obtain the consistency in the sauce that I want.

• 1 C smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 T Thai style coconut milk
• 2 Jalapeno or Serrano chiles
• 2-1/2 T soy sauce
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 1-1/2 T coconut flavored rum
• 1/2 T minced garlic
• 1/2 T minced ginger
• 1/2 T paprika
• 3/4 curry powder (add more to taste if desired)

Combine ingredients in a blender, food processor, or by whisking together in a bowl. Allow sauce to sit, covered, at room temperature for at least one hour to develop the flavors. Taste and adjust seasoning prior to serving.

“I saw Lon Chaney walking with the queen doing the werewolves of London.
I saw Lon Chaney Junior walking with the queen doing the werewolves of London.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s.
His hair was perfect.”
“Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon

Few are those who are unfamiliar with Warren Zevon’s most popular song. Jimmy Buffett has covered it. Kid Rock has sampled it. Thousands, if not, millions, have gone in search of Lee Ho Fook’s. An even greater number have wondered what a werewolf was doing with a Chinese menu in his hand. What many do not realize is that Lee Ho Fook’s was an actual restaurant in the Soho district of London, now sadly no longer around. Allegedly, they did not give out menus.

Also largely unknown is the song’s namesake was actually not the 1941 film starring Lon Chaney Jr., but an earlier Universal Studio’s take on the werewolf myth starring Henry Hull as the title character in Werewolf of London from 1935. The following year saw the release of She-Wolf of London, which explored lycanthropy from a psychological perspective. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man followed two years after The Wolf Man, and was the first, and most believe – the best, of the mega monster clashes on the movie screen. Britain’s Hammer Studio’s oddly made only a single werewolf picture, 1960’s Curse of the Werewolf starring Oliver Reed.

The Wolf Man would keep showing up in Universal monster movies, battling Frankenstein, mad scientists and even tangling with Dracula. It was the only famous monster character to originate from the post World War II era of movie making. Like The Mummy, it had no single literary source, but was cobbled together from myth, legend and the fertile imagination of writer Curt Siodmak. Just in case you ever meet a werewolf in a dark alley, you should be aware that killing it with a silver bullet won’t work – that idea was purely an invention of Siodmak in the original script for The Wolf Man. The movie character will get a reboot in 2010 when Benico del Toro reprises Lon Chaney Jr.’s role as Larry Talbot, with Anthony Hopkins portraying his father (a role played in the original film by Claude Rains), and Hugo Weaving as Inspector Aberline of Scotland Yard. The movie will be released just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend, so make your date plans now, if you dare.

My most cherished cocktail book is a revised edition of Vic Bergeron’s (aka Trader Vic) original bartending guide first published in 1947. More than just a collection of drink recipes, the book gives background information on some of the world’s most famous cocktails along with sound, experienced advice on what being a great bartender is all about. So, since we can’t eat at Lee Ho Fook’s and Trader Vic died in 1984 (his chain is still around though, check them out at www.tradervics.com) the next best thing we can do is to sit back and enjoy and authentic pina colada. I don’t know how well it goes with a dish of beef chow mein (I would probably recommend a Gewurtztraminer or maybe a Marlborough district Sauvignon Blanc). But then again, that’s not really the point is it?

Trader Vic’s Pina Colada (from Trader Vic’s Bartending Guide, Revised edition 1972)

• 2 oz golden Puerto Rican rum
• 3 oz unsweetened pineapple juice

Blend in an electric drink mixer with 1 scoop of shaved ice for 10 to 20 seconds. Pour over ice cubes in a tall 10 oz glass. Serve with a straw, and garnish with a pineapple slice.

For those who want to make the ubiquitous dish from Lee Ho Fook’s, one of the better recipes I’ve found is from the September 2005 issue of Gourmet magazine (sadly R.I.P). The recipe can be found at epicurious.com by clicking here.

And remember, this Halloween, beware of gypsy caravans, fortune tellers, full moons, and the odd howling sound in the distance. Until then, ahhhOOOOO!

“Even a man who is pure of heart
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.”

Would you let this man cook for you?

It had really started to bother me to the point that I resolved to do something about it. Like every 7 seven-year old boy my son is well acquainted with the Star Wars universe and I couldn’t, in good conscience, continue to let him associate one of my favorite actors with the almost comical character of Count Dooku. The time had come, I decided, to introduce him to the real reason movie goers around the world know the name of Christopher Lee. You see while I despise the modern take on horror movies, which are really nothing more than two hours of torture scenes strewn together with dialogue, I have a certain affinity for the classics of old. More properly called monster movies than horror, they came from a time when there were still such things as literary classics to inspire actors and film makers. Peter Cushing, who along with Lee made Hammer both a house hold name and one synonymous with horror, got the better turn in George Lucas’ double trilogy when he was cast as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars. Lee had to settle for Dooku, but then again, throughout the dozens of films the pair made together, Cushing always had the better lines. Famously, Lee complained to Cushing that he had no dialogue in Hammer’s 1957 The Curse of Frankenstein. “You’re lucky,” Cushing replied, “I’ve read the script.”

In the 1930’s through 1950’s when many, if not most, of the best of these films were made, the meal still held an important place in daily life and ritual. This was even more true for the days of the mid to late 19th century when many of the literary works on which the movies were based were originally written. It is therefore no surprise that eating and the requisite drinking played a more important role in these stories than just to supply a background scene. In many ways, the communal meal represented the normalcy that was about to upended when shortly, in a literal sense, all hell broke loose.

Few actors were more adept at creating an air of menace by simply walking into a room, or speaking a single word, than Vincent Price. His distinctive vocal delivery cause many to mistake him for being English. In fact he was an American born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was, in addition to being one of the creepiest presences to ever grace the screen, a gourmet chef and cookbook author with his first wife. He even authored (hosted may be the more correct word) his own cooking program which was released on vinyl LP record. Imagine, the actor most associated with bringing Edgar Allen Poe to the screen delivering in his eloquent, if somewhat eerie, tone, classic French preparations such as Coq au Vin. With his first wife Mary he published A Treasury of Great Recipes in 1965. It has been described as not just a cookbook, but a time capsule of the Kennedy age of Camelot and Pan Am globe-trotting luxury. A second cookbook (which could be a reprint of the first – my sources are unclear on this), was published as Come Into The Kitchen. One is almost tempted to add “…said the spider to the fly.” I think Vincent would have approved.

Just as a sidenote: If there are any family or friends reading this while contemplating your Christmas gift list, I can promise to give the aforementioned tomes a good home.

Which brings us back to the beginning. I have to admit that as a Dark Lord of the Sith, Christopher Lee wields a mean light saber. He has claimed to have performed more sword fights on-screen than any other actor. So in all fairness to the Count (Dooku or Dracula – take your pick, your choice probably reveals your age), I have to conclude with what is, truly in my opinion, his…uh… most infamous role. The film is called The Return of Captain Invincible. Released in 1984, Alan Arkin starred as an alcoholic former superhero. Christopher Lee was, of course, the villain – the evil Mr. Midnight. In what is possibly the best scene in the entire movie (which isn’t saying much), Lee taunts Arkin with a fully stocked bar, dancing girls with cocktail shakers, and some of the most witty lyrics to ever name over cocktails. Watch the clip, and I probably won’t have to tell you that the song was written by Richard O’Brien – yes, the same guy who wrote Rocky Horror. Lee is on record in his autobiography Tall Dark and Gruesome as saying there are many other movies he would “rather drink to.” So in honor of one of the masters of the Halloween movie season, here is the clip of “Name Your Poison”, with lyrics below for those of you who like to bartend while you sing. I promise, you’ll be humming the chorus (and cursing me) tomorrow.

Mai Tai say that I’m Old Fashioned,
Tres Vin Ordinaire
That I want a fresh Manhattan
With white anglo-saxons everywhere?
A Black Russian’s no Pink Lady
Give her a Singapore Sling.
And Moscow Mule is not your baby
So Highball the Vodka, and name your sting

Be a big shot, with a Bullshot
Be a schwein mit der Wein
Have a short, or a port, or a snort, of any sort.
Asti Spumante . Uno Chianti.
Are divine!

I got some economic Hocks,
A Gin and Tonic on the rocks.
Where Angels fear to tread, I say-
Choose your booze! Let’s hit the red-eye!

Think of young Deanna Durbin,
And how she sung on Rum and Bourbon.
Or enhance your luncheon hour
With a Planter’s Punch,
And a Whiskey Sour
If you feel like a wreck,
Try a Horse’s Neck
Or a Sherry with a cherry in the new fun size-

If you don’t name your poison
I’ll have to get the boys in
The spirit of adventure opens ones eyes
If you don’t name your poison
I’ll have to get the boys in
And you’ll never see another Tequila Sunrise

Live happily ever after
With a Chablis and some laughter.
Between the Sheets is lovely
With a dizzy blonde and a bottle of bubbly
There’s nothing sicker in society
Than a lack of liquor and sobriety
So! Down the hatch. Here’s mud in your eye!
Take a bracer with a chaser, wash it down with rye!
Bottoms up, stirrup cup!
It’ll put you in the pink.
And all you have to do is
Drink, Drink, etc.

The chromatic scale consists of 12 notes, out of which endless variations exist to give us everything from Beethoven to the Beatles. The seasons number only four but account for an almost equally diverse number of possibilities for combining flavors and ingredients. One flavor note that most people associate almost exclusively with autumn is apple cider. Apples have their place nearly year round, from crisp green apples in summer salads to caramel apples at Halloween. Apple cider, however, is one of those flavors that just seems fundamentally wrong if you encounter it at any other time of the year besides the harvest and holiday seasons.

Not being a fan of overly tomato-y tasting barbecue sauces, I found the addition of apple cider to my favorite recipe yielded a spectacular feast. And anytime the temperature in central Kentucky hits the 30’s with a full two months to go before the official start of winter, we need something to divert our attention away from what’s happening outdoors. These ribs will have everyone glued to their seats and fighting over what’s left of the sauce, forgetting for a while, the unseasonal temperatures.

Country Style Pork Ribs with Harvest Cider Barbecue Sauce

Inspired by a recipe from Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Tastes cookbook (published 2000).

4 to 5 lbs country style pork ribs

For the rub:

• 2 t salt
• 1-1/2 t ground cumin
• 1-1/2 t dry mustard
• 1 t cayenne
• 1 t dillweed
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t paprika
• 1 t ground ancho chile pepper
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t thyme

Mix the rub ingredients together and season the ribs liberally on all sides. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place ribs in a roasting pan (no rack needed) and cook for approximately 2-1/2 hours until the meat is tender and pulls easily away from the bone. Serve with Harvest Cider Barbecue Sauce on the side for dipping.

For the sauce:

• 1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 T Tabasco pepper sauce
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 2 t liquid smoke
• 1-1/2 t onion powder
• 1-1/2 t ground ancho chile pepper
• 1-1/2 t salt
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t dry mustard
• 1 t thyme
• 1/2 t black pepper

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT the apple cider in a sauce pan. Bring just to a boil then simmer for 45 to 5o minutes, whisking every few minutes. Allow the sauce to cool while the ribs finish cooking. When the ribs are almost ready, return the sauce to the stove and stir in 1 cup apple cider. Simmer the sauce for 5 to 7 minutes. The sauce will be thin, but that’s the idea. A thicker sauce would mask the taste of the ribs, which are good enough to eat plain. But then again, why would you want to when you have some of this sauce to dip them in? Enjoy!

]]> http://nthonaker.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/the-notes-of-autumn/feed/ 0 nthonaker PA172249 PA172249_1_1 http://nthonaker.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/the-first-word-in-healthcare-is/ http://nthonaker.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/the-first-word-in-healthcare-is/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:34:52 +0000 nthonaker http://nthonaker.wordpress.com/?p=1465 ]]>

“You say you want a revolution…”
John and Paul

I don’t make it a habit of reading the editorial pages of newspapers. However every so often, in a rare while, I’ll find a piece published that almost universally restores my faith in the print media. Several weeks ago the New York Times published what is possibly the most intelligent article I’ve read yet in the whole sordid healthcare debate. It was the kind of article that made me want to jump out of my chair, pump both fists in the air and scream “Yes!” at the top of my lungs.

Where does healthcare begin – with the individual or the doctor? Surely not the insurance company? So why is it that the individual is so reluctant to accept responsibility for their role in the drama? We live in a nation plagued by obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. While other areas of the world suffer from diseases over which they have little control, Americans seem almost completely unwilling to accept that they, to a large degree, control their own healthcare destiny. Michael Pollan, writing in the Times, does an excellent job pointing out that there can be no real debate on healthcare without first focusing on the root cause of the problem – health.

click here to read the whole Michael Pollan editorial

Now, the article notwithstanding, I can’t claim to be a full blown supporter of Pollan either. He elicits more than a small amount of derision from farmers and agricultural interests, both big and small. However, in a certain sense he has a point – we are what we eat.

As I was prepping this post I happened to pick up a library book addressing the other side of the coin. In 2002 Jeffrey Steingarten published a sequel to his inaugural best seller The Man Who Ate Everything. Titled It Must’ve Been Something I Ate, one chapter addressed the growing American susceptibility to food allergies. Steingarten railed particularly strong against those who proclaim themselves allergic to MSG. The piece is called “Why Doesn’t Everyone In China Have A Headache”, and should be required reading for anyone who believes that they suffer from allergies to food. This is not to make light of those who truly suffer, sometimes at the risk of death, from contact with shellfish, etc. But if your worst symptom is constipation (or the opposite), chances are it wasn’t what you ate, but more likely, what you didn’t – namely the right balance of foods to sustain proper functioning of your entire bodily system. In this country we tend to overcompartmentalize things, we like to wrap up problems in neat little packages with labels. We’re too quick to draw conclusions, and too impatient to realize that sometimes it’s the absence of something, not its presence, that is the real problem.

click here to see Amazon’s Jeffrey Steingarten page

It’s usually around now that someone in the discussion points out how economically and environmentally unsound eating meat really is. Anthony Bourdain has made a reasonable argument that the future of the American diet may come to more closely resemble its Asian counterpart, where meat is used as a complement to the meal and not as it’s main focus. Those who are most vocal in speaking out against the American meat centric diet inevitable point to hormone laced cattle and inhumane practices in poultry cultivation, which sheds light on their true argument even if they sometimes don’t want to admit it themselves. It’s not the meat that’s the problem, it’s what we’re doing with it and how we’re consuming it. But far be it for me to cede ground in the great omnivore debate – I’ll let the BBC do all the talking. Turns out howler monkeys – one of the most studied and documented primates and previously though to be exclusively vegetarian – have been caught on film raiding chicken coups and eating eggs. Almost predictably, researchers are blaming the behavior on environmental changes causing the monkey’s diet to evolve as more traditional sources of nutrients become scarce. Somewhere there’s a commune of hippies besides themselves in soy soaked angst. We’re always told how smart primates are, so I wonder if anyone ever thought they just decided to branch out and explore other culinary avenues.  Kind of like Food Network contest winners.  I hope Anthony Bourdain has heard about this.

click here to see the whole story from the BBC Earth News

In 1841 British journalist Charles Mackay published a seminal work entitled Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. In it he details how the psychology of groups can often cause otherwise well meaning people to believe the most ridiculous things, often in the face of more than sufficient evidence to the contrary. The book’s second chapter is entitled “The South-Sea Bubble”, and contains a moral lesson every real estate and stock market investor should take to heart. It seems when the CEO of Whole Foods came out in opposition to President Obama’s healthcare plan, choosing as his platform the pages of that bastion of the conservative bourgeoisie The Wall Street Journal, the organic food cult in this country suffered a fit of collective apoplexy. You could say the food snob bubble just burst. It turns out the head of the largest natural and organic grocery store chain in the country is, gasp, a capitalist!

By the way, shares of Whole Foods were training under $10 in January. Market close Friday was $29.21.

click here to read John Mackey’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal

America is at a culinary crossroads. Prosperity since the end of World War II is responsible both for the convenience movement of TV dinners and pre-packaged frozen food, as well as the average American’s expanding culinary exploration of foreign cultures and what they bring to the dinner table. Jeffrey Steingarten, in the introduction to It Must’ve Been Something I Ate, terms it the Calamari Index (C.I.) – the weight of Calamari eaten by the average American over time. From the 1950’s to the 1990’s the C.I. rose dramatically, evidence of our ever increasing culinary sophistication. At the same time, we often lost sight of what was good right outside our front door.

Now the movement is coming full circle, and proclaiming oneself a locavore is the latest badge of foodie honor. Lexington has just wrapped up a major food show (for our town anyway), sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Proud Market and featuring cooking demos by none other than Bobby Flay. What’s a New Work celebrity chef have to do with the Bluegrass locavore movement? Well, Flay has horses at Denali Stud in Lexington, so he at least qualifies as a part-time transplant.  The show promoted all things Kentucky.  I wonder how many attendees stopped to think what would happen to our bourbon industry if the world suddenly switched to drinking only local spirits?  Ninety five percent of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky, and while I know a few friends along with myself who wouldn’t back away from the challenge, I’m pretty sure supply would still out-pace even what we alone could produce in the way of demand.  Our local agricultural economy is tied, inseparably, to global consumption.

So where does this lead us? Does taking responsibility of our health really mean enriching Wall Street barons? Is what’s far away really bad, and what’s close to home always, necessarily, better? Or has our increasing paranoia over what we consider healthy become part of the problem? I suspect it’s more than a little of all the above. The secret to good health is, like in so many things in life, a balancing act. Too much of a good thing is just that, as is too much of the bad. In your kitchen, where do you stand?

“Daddy, you shouldn’t drink so many Ale 8’s. Soda’s bad for you. You should drink more milk. Milk makes you strong.”
my son, age 7, every damn morning on the way to school

Sometimes even the gourmet, foodie, culinary enthusiast – whatever name you want to call them – that person we all know (or in some cases are ourselves), the one with the ever prepared kitchen ready to launch into a meal at a moments notice, sometimes even that person just plain runs out of stuff. A situation all the more complicated when the “stuff” we are out of happens to be, well, something to drink after a hard day’s work.

Such was the situation tonight, I realized, as I stood holding the door of my liquor cabinet open contemplating the near empty shelves with barely even a palatable mixer in evidence. Kirchwasser? Not on your life. An amaretto sour wouldn’t be out of the question, except the only brand in hand at the moment cost a whopping $8.99 / bottle leading me to believe that, for one reason or another, it was best partaken of in the company of more, let’s say, appetizing ingredients. Most frustrating of all was the entire shelf lined with bottles of Maker’s Mark. FULL bottles of Maker’s Mark. Collectibles every one. Three comprise the Triple Crown series – all autographed – honoring Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Others were issued in remembrance of individuals and achievements in University of Kentucky basketball history. I have two sealed in white wax with a ribbon dated 1996 over the seal – the next to last year UK won the NCAA men’s basketball championship. I’m holding onto them with the vow to open one of the bottles the next time UK hoists the trophy. No chance of touching one of those now before Coach Calipari plays his first game. After giving serious consideration to whether I really need a bottle commemorating Coach Joe B. Hall, I realize bourbon is just not in the equation tonight.

The state of the cellar at Chez Honaker wasn’t much better. The lone unfallen solider among the empties – apparently I keep them for decoration – was a bottle of House Wine. Yep, that was what it was called. I had received it as a gift one night from friends who came over for a dinner party. We laughed at the time, it was an interesting bottle to keep sitting around. Truthfully I never thought I would open it, not unless it was really late at night, a group of friends were over and more than a few bottles had preceded it. As it was, the time was shortly past dinner. Besides the cat there was no one else around, and I hadn’t had a glass in well over a week. The bottle had accumulated a nice layer of dust. I wiped it off and turned it over to read the label. “The Magnificent Wine Company” the label proclaimed. Oh no, I said to myself. This is going to be even worse than I thought. Should I put it in a paper bag before I start to pour? I was almost afraid to keep reading, but forced myself to do so. “2004 Columbia Valley”. Great, it’s OLD house wine. I decided to bite the bullet, or in this case, pop the cork, poured a glass and took a sip. It was… not bad. Decent fruit, some tannins, not too much oak. Overall, not half bad. I picked up the bottle and discovered it was a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Syrah. Intrigued, I headed upstairs to my office, googled “Magnificent Wine Company” and dug a little deeper.

Founded in 2004, the Magnificent Wine Company (click here for their website) was the brainchild of former rock band manager Charles Smith, who Food and Wine Magazine recently named 2009 Winemaker of the Year. House Wine and it’s sibling, Table Wine (I’m not making this up), were created by Smith to bring affordable, good wine to the masses (his K Vinters label actually markets a wine called “K Syrah”…). None other an authority than Wine Spectator named the 2006 House Wine Red a “best value” and scored it a respectable 86 points (the House Wine White scored an 89). Retail price is approx. $10-12. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t take the wine more seriously before now. Suffice to say, next time you are over for dinner and find yourself being served a glass of House Wine, or even Table Wine, please understand it’s not because I don’t like you or am in any way less than thrilled about enjoying your company. It’s just that everything good in life doesn’t have to come with a fancy label. And sometimes, the brown paper bag can be a good thing.

This post is dedicated to my dear friends Natalie and Brian – for the years of good times at dinner and the occasional bottle of House Wine.

It’s that time, towards the end of summer, when the garden really begins to give up it’s bounty. Around here that means it’s salsa time. In Kentucky it’s not until late August that the hotter variety of chile peppers start to flourish. Convential wisdom is you never plant anything you want to keep before Derby Day (the first Saturday in May). Even then, it’s a race to bring in a harvest of some of the hotter chile’s (like Tabasco’s) before the cold night air starts to cut off the plants’ fruiting. This summer with it’s unusually cool nights has been a particular challenge in the old chile pepper patch.

The recipe below has become the house standard, although many variations exist depending on what the garden offers up on any given week. Tomato’s sing backup here to a symphony of other flavors, and the English cucumber is a distinctive flavor that sets this salsa apart from it’s more traditional cousins.

Chez Honaker Garden Salsa

If you use a food processor to chop the ingredients, do it in batches rather than altogether. If you throw everything in at the same time the tomatoes will be pureed and the onions and peppers barely chopped. Of course, you can always cut the ingredients by hand into a ¼” dice.

• 8 to 10 Roma tomatoes, quartered
• 1 medium red onion, quartered
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered
• 1 English cucumber (also called a seedless cucumber), diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, quartered
• 1 cayenne, quartered
• 1 habanero, quartered
• Small bunch of cilantro (2-3 tablespoons when chopped)
• 1-1/2 T smoked paprika
• 1 T ground cumin
• Juice of 1 to 2 limes
• Splash of red wine vinegar
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Quarter the tomatoes and place into a large food processor. Pulse several times until the tomatoes having been roughly chopped (don’t over process or they will turn to mush). Place a strainer into a large bowl and pour the chopped tomatoes into the strainer. Allow the excess water to drain out of the tomatoes for at least one hour (water in salsa is NOT tasty.). Quarter the onion and pulse until roughly chopped, then pour onion in a second large bowl. Repeat with the peppers. Dice the cucumber by hand (the food processor will just turn it to mush). Chop the cilantro by hand also (or pulse in the food processor with heavy pinch of salt – the salt acts as an abrasive and helps to chop up the herbs) and add to the bowl with the onions, peppers and cucumbers. Stir in the drained tomatoes. Add the juice of 1 lime and 2 to 3 splashes of red wine vinegar. Stir in the paprika and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and taste, if the salsa seems a little flat, it needs more acidity – add the juice of 1 more lime or several additional splashes of red wine vinegar. This is why it’s important to drain the tomatoes, you want any liquid in the salsa to carry flavor and not dilute the taste, which is what all that tomato water would do. Let the finished salsa stand, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for at least 1 to 2 hours so the flavors can blend. Taste when ready to serve and add more peppers for a hotter salsa or a little more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with chips and enjoy.

Tony Bourdain in season 1. Will season 5 mean the end of snark and the beginning of, gasp, respectability?

The fun starts tonight at 10pm EDT for the final episode of the summer season.

Bourdain’s blog earlier this week was interesting.  The thumb ring, one of the more potent symbols of the man Tony once was, is gone.  Dropped into the abyss to spend the rest of eternity in Davey Jones’ locker.   It went, as he wrote, ”…the way of my earring, joining—in one sense or another—my Dead Boys T-shirt, my telescoping billyclub and my crack pipe.”  On the heels of that posting comes tonight season 5 ending episode where we meet, at last on camera, the Bourdain family.  His brother we know already, but to the image of the little sibling so at odds with his more famous older, more adventurous brother, we know add… Mrs. Bourdain.  Along with all of her Sardinian relatives.    Has Tony turned over a new leaf?  Has the snark finally gone to the way of Dead Boy’s t-shirt? 

I commented in the first post of this series (click here to read it) that Bourdain started off this run of new shows seemingly wiser, less angry and more at ease with himself.  Sleep deprivation from having a baby at home will do that to a man.   I’ll take credit for calling it early on.  Tony the Tiger, sharp tongue critic of everything mediocre in food, has become… respectable.  Next Friday I’ll be Louisville listening to him speak as the (THE!) main draw at Idea Festival 2009.  He’s come a long way from eating cobra heart in Vietnam.

That being said, I highly doubt the new, improved, corporately respectable host of an Emmy award television show (Best Cinematography in a Non Fiction show) will be any less entertaining, enjoyable and fun to watch.  He’ll probably just say “f*#@” a whole lot less.  At least until the promised sequel to the food porn episode airs.  Season six can’t start quickly enough.

 9:55pm EDT

No Reservations – The Drinking Game

In honor of Anthony Bourdain’s upcoming appearence in Louisville, KY next Friday, the fact that this weekend is the annual Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, that September is Bourbon Heritage Month throughout Kentucky, and that the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was named one of the top scenic drives in America by none other than National Geographic, tonight’s drink of choice is – bourbon.  Have it however you want, whenever you want, provided you have it straight or on the rocks.  Remember, always add bourbon to ice – never do it the other way around.  Adding ice to bourbon dilutes an already perfect product.  However, adding bourbon to ice dramatically improves the quality of the ice.

For those of you wondering what happening to last week’s blog of the “NYC – Outer Burroughs” episode, suffice to say the cable and internet weren’t cooperating.  I plan to try and catch it on the rerun, along with the opening Chile episode, just for all your complet-ists out there don’t feel like you’ve been cheated.  After all, people have actually been reading this crazy experiement in internet creativity.  Sometimes.  However, I’ll be glad to get back to more regularly, and culinary related, writing as we head into fall.

10:10pm EDT

Every once and a while “No Reservations” pulls off an episode that you just know is going to be everything the local tourist bureau (if there even is one) dreamed of when they found out a major American TV show was coming  to film.  Sardinia, even early on, looks to be one of those episodes.  Somehow, sometime, hopefully soon, I’m going find a goat, build a fire, and spit roast it while basting it with melting pork fat.   For my friends reading this, we have our fall culinary project.

10:20pm EDT

 Maybe it’s just me, but donkey steaks sounds like something that should have been in the food porn episode.  Snails, on the other hand, are really something that needs to be on more American menus.  Cooked properly (meaning most of the time not overcooked), they are delicious. 

The pig-tailed baby Bourdain, much written about in Tony’s blog but as yet unglimpsed in the NR universe, is every bit as adorable as described.  I envy the child for how well she will eat as she gets older.  More kids should grow up being entirely unfamiliar with McDonald’s.  I just don’t see her Daddy buying anything with the word “nugget” in it’s name.

10:35pm EDT

In cultures where sterling silver tableware is unheard of, bread serves not just as a part of the meal, but as tool and implement.  I’ve always loved the mealtime ritual of breaking bread, and that was long before I understood it’s Biblical connotation.  Food is, after all, about sharing.

And there goes Baby Bourdain, playing with bunnies, while Uncle Bugs and other less fortunate relatives serve a more, noble, purpose.  At least we know she won’t grow up a vegetarian.  It’s always been important to me that my son grows up knowing that not all food comes in a can, out of a box, or appears magically from the freezer before beginning reheated in a microwave.  I won’t lie and tell you there are frozen chicken parts (I can’t bring myself to call them nuggets) in my freezer at this exact moment.  But we also have a garden which my son takes great pride in, particularly now that he’s old enough to not just pick the tomatoes and peppers, but help in making salsa, ceviche, chimichurri, etc.  He gets it, maybe not completely, but he is a lot more interested in the produce section of the grocery store than the frozen food aisle.  And he’s never met a fruit he won’t eat and enjoy.  Come to think of it, he and Baby Bourdain would make a cute couple one day.  I’m just not sure about having Tony as an in-law.  He might scare the grandparents.

10:45pm EDT

How often do you hear the words “homemade olive oil”.  As proud as I am of my farming heritage and that of Kentucky in general, people like those Tony encounters in Sardinia have a completely different relationship with their food and the land and sea.  Tony may be jealous of growing up without a large family, I’m jealous of not growing up around this quality of food.  Now, I’m still not ready to give up my fried potatoes (fried in lard) and cornbread (also fried in lard) at holiday meals, and I’ll commit several larcinous and nefarious acts for a true country ham (not the sugar soaked “city” ham sound by chain stores whose names end in the word “… Ham”).  Fish roe – unheard of in my 1970’s childhood.  I only knew people ate snails because my mother once ordered them by accident (read about this little incident in “A Tale Of Two Snails” by clicking here).   Every day that goes by, I start to think McDonald’s and Burger King are a little more evil…

 10:55pm EDT

Blood as a culinary ingredient, well we are getting close to Halloween.  How often do American communities each together?  Most of the time we sit in restaurants and do our best not to look each other in the eye, and complain when an adjacent table’s conversation intrudes into our own.  We’ve lost the communal nature of meals, the symbolic breaking of bread between total strangers, united by hunger or sometimes just a love of good food.  Sadly, if we in this country don’t find a way to reverse this, more than any difference over political agendas, our refusal to break bread with our neighbors will be our ultimate downfall. 

Full circle.  A family exploration in Sardinia is probably the perfect ending to this season.  Looking back on five seaons of “No Reservations”, and even further back to the days of “A Cook’s Tour” on the Food Network, seeing Tony talk about his new family, to see him carrying around his daughter, his beautiful wife in tow (looking every bit that she could hold her own as a regular on the show), it’s interesting to think that the Anthony Bourdain of Kitchen Confidential is really, truly, gone.  How much of that Tony is left?  Truthfully, were it not for that Tony, we wouldn’t have this Tony.  You never really get rid of parts of your character, you build layers up on top of them.  It’s like cooking.  Too much emphasis on one ingredient and you ruin the balance.  The key, the trick, the whole reason you do the thing, is to find that delicate balance between the individual components.  What you strive for is to have each ingredient play it’s part, but not to overshadow the parts played by everything else.  A symphony orchestra works the same way.  Whether it’s a conductor or a cook, or in some cases an author and TV show host, in the end the best you can hope for is that whole becomes more than the sum of it’s parts.

I am blessed to have friends that love food and cooking, while at the same time being reasonably tolerant of me. 

I have said often on these pages that the best dinners are sometimes those involving the least amount of planning. A few ingredients picked fresh that morning, maybe a quick trip to the butcher, and everything else already present and accounted for in the kitchen or pantry – nothing more is required. Saturday was one such dinner, and I should hasten to point out that I had very little to do with making it happen.

My sole contribution, it seemed, was being related to chief bartender and mixologist for the evening; a role not unfamiliar to me and one my dinner companions were quite use to seeing me fill after all these years. So with two pichers of Hurricane’s in tow, at about 6 in the evening I found myself headed out of town and into the country for an improvised “dinner on the fly”.

• Black Marlin Hurricanes
• Ceviche of Whitefish, Chiles and Ginger
• Red Chile and Roasted Tomato Salsa with chips
• Grilled Chicken with Roasted Peppers, Avocado and Corn Tortillas
• Southwestern Macque Choux

Sometimes, it’s best to let the food do all the talking.

Ingredients and dishes starting to come together

Carlie shows off her knife skills

Charlotte at the stove

The ubiquitous and seemingly omnipresent Hurricane

George's Chicken and Chiles on the grill

The trinity of condiments - queso fresco, cilantro and white onion

Dinner at sunset

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flame went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
“Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash

Ah yes, burning questions. I had a friend in the Marine Corps once come back from leave with a bad case of those, but hey that’s what penicillin’s for, right?

Tonight’s show is based, God forbid, on a Travel Channel online poll.  Tony answers the top questions from viewers, complete with illustrative scenes gleaned from previous episodes.  Now clip shows can be scary enough (anyone remember the NR Labor Day Special from last year?) Shudder.  I’m already incredulous going in, but the No Reservation’s Facebook page promises much hilarity and a Zamir highlight reel, so maybe it will all work out in the end.  I mean, Facebook wouldn’t lie.  Would it? 

9:55pm EDT

No Reservations – The Drinking Game

You know, on a clip show, it’s kind of difficult to determine in advance what we’re in store for.  So for tonight, let’s forego the games, sit back with your favorite evening libation, and enjoy the show.  Cheers.

10:10pm EDT

Question #1: Have you ever gotten sick from food you’ve eaten? 

One word – Namibia.  Followed by three other words – wart hog anus.  Nuff said.

Question #2: How do you deal with tragedies and mishaps?

Lesson to learn here is when all else fails, throw an impromtu beach barbecue.  In Chile no less.  That’s what I do.  And always pack extra underwear during the threat of an air traffic controllers strike. 

Clip shows.  Yeah.

10:20pm EDT

Question #3: Has anyone ever gotten hurt on the show?

Insect related mishaps, subcutaneous larva – but it’s the roller derby scene that makes the cut.  Being somewhat short-listed for possible shoulder surgery at the moment, I am sympathetic to this scene.  Actually, it hurts me to watch this.

You know, the Uzbekistan massage scene is really, really funny.  But after that, I would have sought out revenge on Zamir as well.

Question #4: How do you treat the crew? 

NR has, hands down, one of the best film and production currently at work on television.  The quality of the shows is testament to that.  I mean just compare it to anything, anything else on TV.  And watching Tony berate the crew is good, tongue in cheek fun.  I have little doubt that he is one butt busting tough SOB to work for, but I don’t think I would ever question his affection for this crew. 

Questions #5: Who dresses you?

I think the answer is obvious.  Tony dresses Tony.  Back in black.

 10:35pm EDT

Question #6: Why Zamir?

Truthfully, every successful TV variety show has the recurring comedic character, the foil, to the show’s host or star.  And let’s face it, Zamir is usually more sober than Ed McMahon ever was.  Except of course, in Romania.  The sad part is, the NR Romania episode had more to do with Dracula than some of the later movies from Hammer Studios starring Christopher Lee.  Hey, it’s almost Halloween.  Time to break out of the decorations.  Maybe Zamir can get me a deal on some Romania relics.

 10:45pm EDT

Question #7: What’s your favorite animal?  To eat of course.  Actually your least favorite is probably more interesting.  Tell us about that.

Armadillo on the half shell is not making it onto the Anthony Bourdain commemorative Les Halles dinner menu.  Neither will Ghana Rat.

Question #8: Do you do your own stunts?

I think the better question is, “Which stunts weren’t planned”, like the New Zealand 4 wheeler incident or the Sicilian cliff jump.

 Hmm, clip shows.  Where did Zamir disappear too?

10:55pm EDT

Question #9: How you get celebrities on your show?

Most celebrities have something they own that they want to promote, so why wouldn’t they appear on a show broadcast worldwide to millions of fans?   Either that or Tony’s friends with them, like the Chef’s Club.  One of my favorite gags is still the canoli scene with Mario Batali.  Long live the Godfather.  Or, they could be raving megalomaniacs.  But hey, I happen to love Ted Nugent anyway.   Anyone that has the audacity to write a cookbook called “Kill It and Grill It” will always be one of my heroes.  I’m still waiting for Ted’s follow-up book to come out aimed at vegetarians, “Pick It and Stick It”.  Maybe the anti-vegan thing was why he and Tony bonded so well.

Question #10: How do you achieve the production quality of your show?

Camera time for the computer graphics guy - does anyone still think he doesn’t love his crew? 

Ok, I still don’t like clip shows, and over the last couple of weeks this real time blogging has started to seem like the Star Trek movie franchise – only every other one is good.   But would I watch No Reservations – The Making of Documentary?  Absolutely, as long as Zamir gets a cameo.   However, I have the strange feeling that at some point next season we’ll have the episode featuring the crew, with Tony no where in sight.  Hey, it will still be better than the Labor Day Special.