Western food vs. Asian food - chemically different?

This might be why I like Asian food so much - dissimilar chemical flavour combinations! Click here to read more...

What NOT to buy a cook for the holidays

Don't buy me any of these. Ok, maybe the brass knuckle meat tenderizers, but just for when I walk in sketchy parts of town...

With fall comes comfort food; short ribs are a must

Saturday night (or early Sunday morning) we 'fall back' an hour. In exchange for the extra 60 minutes of sleep that I gain, is fewer hours of daylight, heightened pallor, minimized vitamin D, and potential seasonal acute depression (SAD). While some girls might cure these symptoms with a visit to the tanning bed, I have a feeling Dr. Robin might not approve (even if I DID wear the SPF 100 that I have seen time and time again in our closets). Instead, I'll make do with a little comfort food - short ribs! I decided to wait before including osso bucco...the marrow that's an essential element of osso bucco freaks some people out - but short ribs hit the comfort-food-spot, and best of all? They're still great after cooling/reheating or freezing! To be honest, I'm not sure about the exact science behind it, but I'm pretty sure I has something to do with the amount of collagen present and breaking down certain connective tissues, resulting in a more tender, falling-apart piece of meat. You can sop up the remains with many a starch: couscous, mashed potatoes or pasta do the trick, but my fav is barley, which combines with short ribs to form a hearty and healthy stew. There are a plethora of short ribs recipes, but the true secret is solely to give them enough time braising in the oven with enough liquid to absorb it all and  slowly disintegrate into a lovely, tender mixture. On top of the addition of salt (and maybe a little balsamic??) at some point, I suggest serving most short ribs with a touch of dijon mustard on the side... never an insult to the chef, but the addition of a little cold tang to some hot stew makes all the texture and flavour difference in the world. Enjoy!

Here's a slideshow of 12 yummy-looking recipes, most of which have my vote. Feast away! http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshows/2009/10/short_ribs_slideshow

SUPER simple, but you need many hours (5-8, but it can be divided e.g. turn it on for 3 hrs in the morning, 3 hrs in the evening): http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/10/braised_short_ribs

Just as easy and much shorter cooking time. They suggest marinating the short ribs overnight which surely does wonders, but I bet you could even do it for just a few hours before cooking: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2007/10/cabernet_braised_short_ribs_with_gorgonzola_polenta_and_mixed_herb_gremolata

And last but not least: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Braised-Beef-Short-Ribs-with-Root-Vegetable-Ragout-100597

Again, I tried to stick to the more simple, non-scary ones, but feel free to peruse websites for a few more additions! And I always like adding a little mushrooms to the sauce as it's braising in the oven. 

Tipping etiquette

It's always a dilemma - how much to tip at restaurants? It can make or break a meal. Great date but the guy tips 12%? Sorry, can't go out with you again. I have yet to try waitressing, but as a hostess I witnessed poor tipping firsthand and was sometimes even the victim of it. Most often the culprits were gaggles of European tourists - strollers and twelve massive 5th Avenue shopping bags in tow - who  checked their cumbersome bags and never deigned to tip even a buck. I often embarrassingly turn away when my dad makes calculations, subtracting the wine and the tax from the overall total, but also never know if 20% is way too far overboard. And what about in Quebec where the tax is already sky-high? I don't need my $15 dollar salad to be double its price with tax and tip, thankyouverymuch! Bon Appetit's Foodist outlines some tipping protocol. For the full article, click on this link: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/10/foodist_tipping

If you just want the essential summary, here you go! My favourite is #5. So true...

The BA Foodist's Tipping Rules

• RULE NO. 1: Unless the server is rude, condescending, and/or completely absent, tip between 18 and 20 percent.
• RULE NO. 2: Never tip on tax. Tip based on the subtotal. And if you're calculating your tip simply by doubling the tax, stop it—you're being cheap.
• RULE NO. 3: Unless you drink like Dean Martin or have a taste for expensive wines (i.e., $40 or more, depending on your budget), it's best to include booze when calculating a tip. Bartenders expect a dollar tip per drink (which is usually about 20 percent of the drink's price), and it's no different with waiters.
• RULE NO. 4: Never turn a blind eye when others are tipping—especially if they're unfamiliar with our tipping culture (i.e., Europeans). If you think your tablemate is lowballing the service, it's best to hand the waiter a few bills on the way out.
• RULE NO. 5: If a few dollars here and there really matter that much to your bank account, perhaps you shouldn't be going out to eat in the first place.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/10/foodist_tipping#ixzz1bR8DRGYQ

Title clarification

Last night's post was a little bit of word vomit (a la Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls...if you get my reference, I like you already); I kind of haphazardly made a blog and posted before I could turn back and regret it. I feel like I owe you all a little bit of an explanation regarding its title though - "Salt and Balsamic??" What the hell is that supposed to mean? There are stories that go with both elements of this title. There are some things a girl just can't live without. For my friend Val it might be a special moisturizer, for Jacq it's undoubtedly a "sick" pair of shoes, and for Kara it's that perfect chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven. My things? Salt and balsamic. Maybe dijon mustard too, but the first two win out.

My mom tells me stories of how as a 3-year-old I used to slurp the balsamic vinegar from my plate. You'll still see me drawing designs in the remnants of my salad dressing and licking my fingers. And when I'm alone? I do drink the leftover balsamic from my salad plate. But I reserve that for the comforts of my own home (imagine doing that in a nice restaurant or on a date? I'd be banned from the establishment and dumped in about 3.2 seconds!). But Bon Appetit recently ran an article about 5 simple, overlooked ingredients you can add to dishes to amplify and enhance flavour, and "acid" was one of them. No hardcore stuff you'd find in your chemistry lab, but add a little lime to your guac, squeeze a little lemon in your salad dressing, give your saucepan a generous splash of red wine vinegar, and all of a sudden your meal has depth! and tang! and zest! My favourite though, is balsamic vinegar, so that's where part A of the title comes from.

Part B? Well, anyone who knows me can attest to my salt addiction. I would try to cut back for health reasons, apart from the fact that my blood pressure is on the low end of the scale, and so I see no problem in adding a little salt to my soup, or my salad, or my butter, or (best of all) on some raisins, nuts and chocolate (weird, I know, but it hits the spot). Salt too, adds depth and flavour to a dish when it might not have been obvious before, and while I realize my appreciation for salt borders on fanatical, I do think that the average lay-healthy-eater needs to appreciate it more. Most of the massive amounts of sodium we consume comes from processed food, which has all kinds of preservatives and unpronounceable junk in it anyways. If you're a healthy, conscientious eater who doesn't eat much pre-packaged, frozen food, you should be pretty good in the sodium department. On top of that though, I love the ritual of it. You know those pompous, fancy restaurants that never have salt on the table? I always think, "What a shame!" First of all, people have different levels of salt preferences. Just as we like our meat prepared differently or how our spice levels vary, so too does the amount of salt we like differ. Also, adding salt to a meal includes the consumer (i.e. me, eating the dish) in the process of creating the dish (i.e. it makes me a chef for a fleeting instant). Suddenly, I'm not only a placid, lazy patron, but I'm part of the creation of this meal, putting the finishing flourishes on something I will then enjoy. 

So salt and balsamic, two things I would have a lot of trouble living without, are the title of my blog. And while they seem to be solely food related, in truth, they aren't. Balsamic reminds me of my childhood, of adding zest to life - a little something I hope this blog will help with. My salt tale is representative of participation, and of finding deliciousness, luxury and enjoyment in the simple things. Together, they are vital (for me, at least...I managed to find balsamic in Zambia, thank goodness). And thus I honour them here.