I'm Back

It's been a long time since I lasted posted on Foodphiles. There's no good reason why I took a break. I spent some time in January volunteering for the Obama campaign as a precinct captain in San Francisco, and I spent much of February closely following the campaign. I've played a lot of bridge and studied some Italian in preparation for a trip to Italy in May. I read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food."

I feel the urge to write again, so here goes.

I certainly did not give up on cooking or eating while I was away from this blog. Lou and I ate a wonderful meal in January at Mistral in Seattle. We also cooked up a few fantastic meals--a wonderful chicken with shallots, prunes and brandy recipe from Bon Appetit, a rich and flavorful "Japanese" styled pot roast from Food and Wine, and a Bolognese ragu from the NYT Magazine. We made a meal mostly from The French Laundry cookbook for two friends. And, just the other night, Lou made a fantastic pizza using baby artichokes as the topping.

In addition to posting some stories and photos from those meals, I will give an update on the Farm Bill, which continues to languish in Congress.

I do have one posting in the making now: what to do with a piece of goat meat that is resting in our refrigerator. We bought the meat at the Farmer's Market on Saturday from a small producer in Marin County, and it is turning into a major cooking challenge. I've only found one recipe for cooking goat, and that was in "The Joy of Cooking." Every other place I've searched online turns up only recipes involving goat cheese. Lou wants to braise the meat with rosemary, which I think would be fine, but I want to find some really good traditional preparation. I fear, however, a traditional preparation will call for roasting the meat over an open fire. That won't be an option for us, unfortunately. I'll keep you posted.

Finally, I want to comment briefly on Kim Severson's story in the NYT Dining In/Dining Out section today about overeating foodies, food bloggers, food critics and chefs. She calls them the "Fat Pack," and writes about how many of them have been forced to come to terms with the onset of heart disease, diabetes and other disorders as a consequence of their occupational unhealthy eating. Frankly, the story struck me as ridiculous. Even though she writes about how some of these folks have attempted to strike a balance between eating fatty foods and eating in moderation, it's hard to feel much sympathy for any of the gluttons she quotes. I felt somewhat better reading Frank Bruni's take on her story, but I was generally put off by the self-indulgent bent of her story. While I suspect that many New York Times readers can afford to gorge themselves repeatedly on high-priced, high-fat meals, I think the food and diet related problems facing most Americans result not from eating too many of those kinds of meals but too many of the kinds of meals Michael Pollan writes about in "Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food."