I know, I know... everyone hates blind links but describing this just won't do it justice. All I can say is: groovy.

Some thoughts on tonight's Top Chef behind the cut

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 27 jun 10)

Dara Puspita 1966-1968 :: Dara Puspita
Ouled Bambara: Portraits of Gnawa :: various
Trans-Continental Hustle :: Gogol Bordello
Secret Agent :: Tony Allen
Bonjour :: Rachid Taha
Sound Iration in Dub :: Sound Iration
Romancero :: La Bien Querida
Koes Bersaudara 1967 :: Koes Bersaudara
Cubist Shapes of Sound and Time :: Jerry Leake
Africa :: Amanaz

this week's video feature: Rachid Taha

This is the post I was planning to write last night (before I got to feeling like I didn't want to write about blood sausage). Saw this article on Serious Eats about a new documentary that screened recenty in New York about Florent Morellet of the late, lamented Florent which really was the restaurant that started it all in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. I've written before about my fond memories of Florent, which really was my intro to bistro cooking, boudin noir and going to restaurants w/ serious food-geek cred. It struck me as odd that the SE blogger said that Florent "seemed to have little interest in transplanting French cuisine through his restaurant's menu." Cos that's not how I remember it (see previous references to boudin noir and steak frites and I also remember mussels on the menu). But maybe my memory is as selective as it is hazy. Altho the restaurant's website is still up, the menu is gone so I can't fact check how much was American diner vs. French bistro. Like I said, I remember it as both a bistro and a diner. But maybe the focus was more on burgers than boudin. Or maybe it changed in the later 90s after I moved down to NC.

Was going to post something last night but wasn't feeling well.And, as Mr. Flyrite accurately observed, mostly I write about food. At least lately, Since something I ate over the weekend didn't agree with me (which is depressing a bit cos everywhere we ate over the weekend was really good), I wasn't much up for writing.
Of course, I could've written about futbol. But yesterday's matches weren't exactly a treasure trove of interesting. I was a bit suprised at how easily Brazil slapped around Chile. Seeing as how Chile had finished second in qualifying, I'd expected them to give Brazil more of a match. Oh well. It's setting up well for the weekend. Netherlands/Brazil and Germany/Argentina should be stompers. And Ghana/Uruguay has potential.
Seen on the way in this morning, the latest in the local parade o' geektastic vanity plates:
       4UBUNTU

Well, that was a fine weekend. Went to the farmer's market yesterday and got a nice haul (pea shoots, Italian sausage, chioggia beets, fresh mozzarella, eggplant, donut muffins, polenta bread, cherry tomatoes). Also got to see a bit of the chef challenge. Sort of a Durham Farmer's Market version of Iron Chef. They had chefs from Toast, Guglhupf and Four Square competing with the theme ingredient being squash. We didn't stay until the end (too damn hot) but based on the prep I got to see I was most interested in Four Square's offering. Okay, maybe that was cos they had a big pile o' bacon on the cutting board. In the afternoon, Sarah and I went over to Tobacco Road to watch USA v. Ghana. Our friend D. joined us. Tobacco Road was pretty cool place to watch the game. Huge crowd, lots of TVs, even someone with a vuvuzela. And the food was excellent. I had a pulled lamb pita and Sarah had a shrimp burger. Both good enough that we'd go back even if there wasn't a game we wanted to watch. D. had a Caesar salad but I didn't get a chance to ask him how it was. Later in the game (Sarah and I got there super early to make sure we'd get a table) we got a hummus and pimento cheese appetizer. Also good (altho retrospectively maybe a bit too much food in the middle of the afternoon). And they have several local beers on draught including Triangle, Sisters of the Moon and Aviator.
Too bad about the game, though. Going in, I thought USMNT had a chance against Ghana but wasn't sure they could pull off the win. And that's about what happened. All through this year's World Cup, they seemed to be giving up early goals, digging themselves a hole that they spent huge amounts of time chasing down goals.
Not surprised to see England lose to Germany this morning, altho I was surprised to see them get beat like a drum. Sorry to see Mexico go out, altho I expected that as well.
Tonight we had dinner with an old friend who I hadn't seen in (what) eight years. He was down the road in Charlotte for a family event and popped up (okay, one doesn't just pop up from Charlotte but it's a damn sight closer to Durham than RI) and we all had dinner at Watts Grocery. As usual, they didn't disappoint. New summer menu is on now and good reviews for the trout, frogmore stew, summer pasta,chilled red pepper soup, summer berry slump, lemon coconut chess pie.

Today's reminder for today: some people absolutely have to have the last word. I mean, I get it. But then again I don't. Someone rolls up on some website and offers their opinion that something sucks. Not cos they know anything about it. They've just heard that it sucks or whatever they've heard about it makes them believe that it must suck. Naturally, people who actually know anything about anything and like the thing in question show up and disagree. You might think the sensible thing to do at that point would be to shut up and sit down. Unless you knew anything about the internets then you'd know that the frequent response is to double down on your unsupported opinion and insult everyone on the thread who disagrees with. All the while loudly defending your right to disagree and How Dare you people try to silence me and quash dissent.
Of course, my immediate inclination when confronted with such idiocy is to inform the person dispensing it that they are, in fact, an idiot. But (most times) on further reflection, I remember that I do have a general goal in life to not be That Guy. Which is usually enough to get me to shut up and move along. (see also)

Maybe going down to Savannah (5+ hours south of here) in the middle of June wasn't my most practical idea ever. But we didn't have time for a long trip. And we both really had a good time when we were there last (five years ago!! yikes, where does the time go?). And it was a nice couple of days. We'd been planning to drive out to Tybee either Monday night or Tuesday to check out a seafood place I'd read about online but ended up just leaving the car parked for the whole trip and walking around downtown. Mostly we checked out the squares and the cool architecture, watched World Cup, and ate. Food-geek highlight was definitely Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room. Old school southern cooking, served family style. We were lucky enough to end up sitting at a table with a local family. The woman sitting next to Sarah asked us if we'd been to Paula Deen's restaurant. When we told her no, her response was that Lady & Sons wasn't that good and that we'd made the right choice coming to Mrs. Wilkes'. Other tourists may not think we're locals there but at least they endorse our dining options. I have no idea if Mrs. Wilkes' is better than Lady & Sons. I can tell you that the line for L&S (as you'd expect) are much much longer. It went around 2 corners of their bldg when Sarah and I walked past on our way to MacPherson's to watch futbol yesterday morning.
If you go to Mrs. Wilkes' (and you really should). note that although they open at 11am, the line starts forming before 10am. They seat at tables of 10 and they stagger the seatings enough to give the staff and kitchen time to keep up. I think we were in the third group seated so we probably ended up waiting about an hour. I would imagine that the wait gets longer when you're waiting for people to finish eating. I wasn't sure if I'd be hungry for a big meal before noon but let me tell you, 45 or so minutes of smelling the chicken frying while waiting outside will whet the appetite for sure. I don't remember every single thing on the table but they included: cole slaw, rutabagas, dirty rice, peas and noodles, sliced pork barbecue, beef stew, greens, mac & cheese, rice & gravy, biscuits, corn muffins, creamed corn, sweet potatoes, hot potato salad, lima beans, mixed veg stew w/ okra, green beans, sweet tea. And fried chicken, of course. Blueberry cobbler or banana pudding for dessert. The only thing I've ever seen like it are the family style restaurants in Amish country in Pennsylvania.

Should you happen to find yrself in Savannah, Ga over the next few weeks and want to watch a World Cup match, I highly recommend Molly MacPherson's. We watched US v. Algeria there this morning. Nice crowd of a dozen or so folks. Everyone was super into the game. (Which was just insanely tense... 90+ minutes of "argh" and "oh no" but it all paid off at the end). The bartenders and staff are very nice. Good times, for sure. They're at 311 W. Congress, right by City Market, only a couple of blocks from Lady & Sons (if that's your thing -- it's not ours, but who am I to judge...) In other words, pretty convenient to most of the downtown historical district.
More vacation musings to come. Meanwhile, I think USMNT has a chance against Ghana. And I'm definitely looking forward to the England v. Germany 1966 rematch death match.

What I learned yesterday (or rather confirmed for myself) is that watching a team get absolutely destroyed by another team really isn't much fun. This of course refers to Portugal's 7-0 dismantling of North Korea. Of course, the reverse (nearly impossible tho it is that such would ever happen) would be insanely fun. So it's not just margin of victory that's the issue. I guess it's almost like a bully thing. Watching someone who is clearly better stronger faster demonstrate that over (and over x7), well, that's just not much fun after a while. Seeing a plucky underdog over-achieve and pound the living snot out of some team that have no business beating OTOH... super good times. I suppose that's less true if you're rooting for the supergood team that gets upset.
Anyway, World Cup is into the last round of group play. Simultaneous games and eliminations galore. I'm seriously hoping that SA hands it to France this morning. Go Bafana Bafana!

Random thoughts on this week's Top Chef:

- Glad to see the mise en place challenge show up early in the season. I like this format better than the relay. This way the top finishers have to go thru all the steps (peel potatoes, brunoise onions, break down chickens and then cook a dish using the ingredients). Down side was with so many people competing it was hard to get a look at who was doing what.
- It may be too early to call this after one episode but it seems like the editors are playing a couple of people as this season's version of some of last season's contestants.
- Things not to say to Tom Colicchio #1: I've made this dish hundreds of times but I got it wrong tonight because I didn't have a recipe (which was a totally bizarre combo of patting-self-on-back and making excuses anyway)
- Sorry to see Crazy Dreadlocks Chef get sent home. Not because he didn't deserve to go. But because his loss will further the TC truism that desserts lose. That's too simple, I think. Bad desserts lose but bad anything loses. What I don't get is why would you (as a contestant on the show) choose to make a dessert if you're not very good at making desserts. I mean, Carla (from season 5) would often make desserts but that's cos she was good at it. If the best thing you can come up with under pressure is a napoleon (which seems to be the default choice for non-pastry chefs trying to make a dessert) AND you buy your puff pastry instead of making it well then you better not screw up anything else in the dish or you're going home.
- When Eric Ripert is telling you why your fish wasn't cooked correctly, you'd best just stand there and listen.

Sarah and I went to Galaxy Cinemas in Cary this afternoon to watch France v. Mexico. They're showing selected games on one of their screens. It's only the 2.30 games during the first round. They'll add some of the 10am games once it gets into the knockout rounds. Not a very big crowd this afternoon. Altho they told Sarah that they sold out the US v. England game last weekend (tix are free but first come, first serve). Snacks and beverages (inc. coffee drinks, beer and wine) are available for purchase. Comfy seats. Bigass screen. It wasn't the sports book at Caesars but I bet for the weekend games it'll be fun. Oddly enough, one of the folks at the game this afternoon was Lionel Vatinet of La Farm Bakery in Cary. He was there with a couple of friends to root for France, obviously. As a professional courtesy I tried to keep my rooting for el Tri somewhat restrained. And, yes, I know that since I'm an American I'm s'posed to hate Mexico as they have (shall we say) a fairly heated rivalry with the USMNT. What can I say? I'm rooting for Spain in the World Cup. Just one more example of how I'm a bad American. Anyway, it was a pretty exciting game. Well, not so much if you were rooting for les Bleus, who turned in a pretty lackluster performance. Mexico won 2-0 pretty much guaranteeing that they'll advance out of the group. Lots of talk on ESPN that Mexico and Uruguay would be content to play for a draw next time which would send them both through regardless of what happens in France v. South Africa. But, as several folks pointed out online, 2nd place almost certainly plays Argentina while 1st place will get either South Korea or Greece (or even possibly Nigeria). Uruguay's ahead on goal differential (3 to 2) so I fully expect them to park the bus, as they say, and play for a draw. Mexico need a win to take the group and avoid Argentina so they might come out pretty aggressive, as they were this afternoon.

Check it: Foodie World Cup, which combines two excellent things, futbol and snacks! Y'know what they say -- vote early, vote often.

I'll have some more thoughts later on last night's episode of Top Chef but did just want to say that I'm "impressed" that Serious Eats seems to have managed to find someone to do recaps for this season that are even more knee-jerk snarky and hateful than Amelie Gillette's "god this show sucks" recaps of the last 2 season's of Project Runway on AV Club. Great job, internets! (OK, maybe I'm over-reacting and/or wrong. I could only get thru about 2 paragraphs before I gave up and stopped reading. Might try again next week after ep. 2 and see if things have improved any)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 13 jun 10)

Secret Agent :: Tony Allen
Koes Bersaudara 1967 :: Koes Bersaudara
Blue Eyed Black Boy :: Balkan Beat Box
Cubist Shapes of Sound and Time :: Jerry Leake
Romancero :: La Bien Querida
Africa :: Amanaz
zii e zie :: Caetano Veloso
Nigeria Special, vol. 2 :: various
Ahora Mismo :: Choco Orta
Excavated Shellac: Strings :: various

this week's video feature: la Bien Querida

Oh I'll probably start writing about something other than World Cup again at some point. But not tonight. Following up on yesterday's topic, Mr. Fred Hatman is not interested in your complaints about vuvuzelas. I was actually pretty surprised to read at the Guardian today that FIFA's actually made some comments about maybe banning them. Most people seem to think it won't come to that and I hope it doesn't. Only saw the start of Netherlands v. Denmark this morning. Sounds like Italy was lucky to get out w/ the draw against Paraguay. I'll probably record Brazil v. DPR Korea. Not that I expect it to be much of a match but, hey, first chance to see Brazil in action.

The downside of Copa Mundial frenzy (other than not being able to find a seat at a frakkin' bar anywhere to watch the game) is that because it's a globally important event and because the Worldwide Leader has invested heavily in broadcasting and promoting it, every-damn-body on sports yak radio feels compelled to have an opinion about it. Even if they obviously know nothing about soccer and haven't thought about it since the last World Cup. Well, it's like the 24 hour news cycle, I guess. Something's gotta fill that time even if, in this case, it's knee jerk drivel about how soccer is boring or will never be popular in the US or whatever cliché nonsense... y'know, that shit's too boring to even get a good rant on about. I will instead direct you to the Guardian's minute-by-minute for Germany v. Australia which includes several righteous smackdowns of "any eejit still tediously banging on about the vuvuzelas." Right arm, sir! Anyone who has ever listened to Ornette or Neubauten or Throbbing Gristle or, oh, anything on the edgier edges of the XDU playlist really has no standing to be bitching and moaning about vuvuzelas.

Game on! Didn't get to watch any of South Africa/Mexico (on account of being at work). Also missed France/Uruguay but that match looked like a dog. Saw most of South Korea/Greece -- South Korea looked good while Greece looked pretty awful -- and bits of Argentina/Nigeria. I still expect Argentina to implode at some point (on account of their coach being a crazy man) but they're looking pretty impressive at the start. Had to miss pretty much all of US/England while I was on the radio this afternoon. Playing a World Cup themed programme of world music (which, I had to conclude at some point, wasn't my best idea ever since anyone interested in futbol was watching the US/England match and not listening to XDU). Caught up with Sarah, S & D in time to catch about the last 5 min. of the game. They'd tried to go to Tobacco Road, the sports bar/resto at DBAP, but there was a 15 person wait for a table and they got there a half-hour early. I'd say that at least provides a counter-example to this bit o' whinging about how No One (tm) is interested in soccer in the US. Well, except for all those people at Tobacco Road. And Bull McCabe's is showing the games. And Dain's is opening at 7am for some of the games. And the Galaxy in Cary is showing some games on one of their movie screens. And this is Durham, after all. But what do I know? I just write a blog It's not like Slate is paying me to run my mouth.

Interesting story from last month about a farm installation on the Champs Élysées. Somewhere between an art installation and a political demonstration. I noticed at the end of the report a mention that there will be a similar install in NYC. I wonder, since it was privately funded, just who is providing the funding. Is this really supporting small, local, family farms or is it some sort of big agribusiness greenwashing? I'll have to do some more digging around online and see what I can find out. Still, it looks pretty amazing and I'd definitely go check it out if it gets close enough to home.
A few thoughts about last night's finale of Top Chef Masters behind the cut (in case any time-shifting DVR folks haven't had a chance to watch it yet)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 6 jun 10)

Africa :: Amanaz
Koes Bersaudara 1967 :: Koes Bersaudara
Nigeria Special, vol. 2 :: various
Blue Eyed Black Boy :: Balkan Beat Box
Romancero :: La Bien Querida
Cubist Shapes of Sound and Time :: Jerry Leake
zii e zie :: Caetano Veloso
Ahora Mismo :: Choco Orta
Rise & Shine :: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
Excavated Shellac: Strings :: various

this week's video feature: Balkan Beat Box

I haven't gotten my pics off the camera yet so here's one from Ms. Pants taken at yesterday's food truck rodeo. As someone remarked online, it definitely raised the question of if it's possible for something to be too successful. It got mentioned in the N&O and on Carpe Durham and on Facebook. And I'm sure they were expecting a healthy turnout but what they got was (apparently) up to 2000 people and a very hot day. Sarah and I waited about 45 min. on line for Mom's Delicious Dishes. They normally operate in Raleigh so we figured if we're gonna wait on a long ass line it should be for something we can't get on any other day in Durham. Sarah had the meatloaf sandwich which she really enjoyed. I had a taste and would agree that it was pretty excellent. My ABLT (avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato) wasn't quite all that. I'd wanted to try the shrimp tacos seen here but they got 86'd by the folks in front of us. Oh well. The smell of cooking bacon convinced to go w/ the ABLT but, for me, the nice filling could not compensate for the wack croissant-like object on which the sandwich was served. OK, fine, I'm a pastry snob but for me a sandwich roll is a sandwich roll and a croissant is a croissant and something which combines the two is a crime against nature and an abomination before the eyes of Grom, the angry sky god.
I'm hoping that they'll follow up with more food truck fiestas more often and that once the novelty wears off the crowds will be less extreme. Having them later in the day might help. Now that the vendors have seen that a crowd will show up (to say the least) they might be more willing to set up in the evening, say, which would make for a more pleasant atmosphere of ambience. I'm also hoping some actual taco trucks will be in attendance at future events.
Here's a post w/ some comments from Carpe Durham.

www.marriedtothesea.com

The Guardian is pretty much my go-to source for futbol news all the time. Here's their World Cup page. Includes linkage to group guides as well as news, analysis, features. There's a few other things I've been reading that I'd also recommend as we get into the last week before play starts. There's some good intros and group analysis over on Balloon Juice. So far he's only done Group A and Group B but I'm hoping he'll get to the rest this week. Also, ESPN, of all things, has had some pretty good stuff. I've particularly enjoyed their World Cup 101 (101 features in 101 days). Their doesn't seem to be any way to permalink to the archive so that link is to the first article from back in March. Some stuff is better than others -- they've got Nate Silver breaking down stats for each group, which is good. Anything about status, injuries, or even projections from back in April or May you might want to take w/ some grains o' salt since so much is changing. I also note that the folks writing on ESPN seem mostly to be taking great pains to talk around how France qualified, using words like controversial or some such other doublespeak. Other venues seem much more willing to cut to the chase and point out that France qualified by beating Ireland on an obvious hand ball. Not that this is in ANY way related but I think the thing that's most mystifying me in the run-up to Copa Mundial 2010 (other than the fact the top players are dropping at an alarming rate) is how Argentina ended up being coached by Diego Maradona. Srsly, what? That's like making Dennis Rodman the next coach of the Chicago Bulls. I know the man's a national icon and all but has anyone there seen Maradona by Kusturica?!?

UPDATES: Here's Randinho's overviews of Group C and Group D as well as the Guardian's World Cup Guide

Here's several bits o' retrolicious fun I've seen around the internets this week:
Love love love this sample of vintage restaurant menus. So interesting to see the things that have changed (when was the last time you saw "broiled squab on toast" on a menu anywhere?) and those that haven't (cheeseburger, french toast, tuna sandwich). And since these are mostly from San Francisco, there's local specialties like hangtown fry and oyster loaf.
Or if you prefer your retro with a bit more snark, here's someone spending way too much time on deconstructing an old 7-Up advert. Not that I didn't laugh. But, wow... that's a thorough going over.
Finally, here's a nice set of grilling-themed photos. This was actually on Slate last weekend for Memorial Day but I'm not reading Slate as much these days so I missed it until a link popped up on one of the foodie sites.

So you might have noticed that's there's been (shall we say) a bit of buzz about food trucks, esp. in the food geekier sections of the internets. And you might not think that Durham is enough up on the cutting edge to be part of that scene. But you'd be wrong. Food truck extravaganza this Sunday at Sam's Quik Stop in Durham. More details at the link but some of the participants will include OnlyBurger, Bulkogi Korean BBQ and Daisy Cakes.

oh yeah...