commodities

to toque or not to toque

August 14, 2010
By
to toque or not to toque

The toque blanche was once a status symbol in the kitchen. It is said that the number of folds in a chefs hat represents how many ways a chef can prepare an egg, the maximum being a hat with 100 pleats. The toque was a way to distinguish who in the kitchen was head chef, sous chef, and line chef. Times have changed, and we as a people have evolved: now a chef can be considered awesome with a TV show instead of a big fancy hat. The toque still has an important position in the restaurant, but is is very different than in years past. The real prestige of the toque comes with hibachi cooking and “the shrimp toss”. This is one of the ways the hibachi chef is ranked. How many shrimp can you catch in your hat? Exactly! Hibachi Shrimp 4-6 per person soy sauce garlic butter lemon juice olive oil (just to oil the griddle) Get a griddle (or hibachi table if you happen to be so lucky)really hot Drizzle a little olive oil on the griddle. Place the shrimp on the griddle add some garlic butter, and lemon juice. Add some more garlic butter and

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bridge the gap

July 31, 2010
By
Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell

Bridges bring places together. Food brings people together. Food is a bridge. Strangers or friends, from near or far, each and every day or for special occasions, food is a bridge that connects us. Everyone has time to eat, and why not eat with someone. Grab a quick bite with a friend or sit down for a long drawn out Thanksgiving dinner with annoying relatives you haven’t seen in ages. Sit at a table and laugh or yell or cry. Food gives us a reason to slow down, stop and spend a few minutes or hours with another person and maybe, just maybe, even score some real life human interaction. The common denominator here is food; it’s what’s on the table. Birthdays, first dates, graduation, last dates, weddings, holidays, business meetings, there is almost always a meal involved. Food can take you to a far away country, too far to get to by bridge.  It can teach you something about a far away time. Food is the bridge and we are the bridge builders. 7 Mile Bridge Chicken Soup 1 whole chicken 1 Avocado, cubed 1 chopped onion, quartered Blood (or hot sauce) 3 Key Limes Sweat (can NOT be substituted)

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the secrets in the sauce

July 24, 2010
By
recipe thieves beware

Cooks have a reputation for being superstitious to the point of paranoia. Reveal any recipe at your own risk: you could end up at a dinner party 3 months later eating the dish prepared with that same recipe. It might even taste better than you ever made it, all of the guests would be raving, and the hostess with the mostest would pass it off as her own. Can you imagine? The chutzpah! I had dinner at the home of one of my fairy godmothers not too long ago. She prepared an amuse bouche for all of us — a delightful chilled cucumber soup. I asked her about the ingredients: Me: “Is there cream in here?” Fairy Godmother: “No.” Me: “Is there yogurt?” FGM: “No.” Me: “That’s so strange — I’m amazed that it could have such a creamy taste.” FGM: “Oh…well, I did add some sour cream.” If you ask me, sour cream falls under the cream category. I understand that everyone wants to be the secretive and mysterious chef, the one who all the others want to emulate. Don’t worry — no one could ever even aspire to your culinary mastery, because no one knows what the hell

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sizzling sensational summer steak

July 17, 2010
By
grillFire

I'm sure there aren't many who know the sounds of summer quite like Thoreau. But when it comes to food, forgive me, get out the way.“I did not use tea, nor coffee, nor butter, nor milk, nor fresh meat, and so did not have to work to get them; again, as I did not work hard, I did not have to eat hard, and it cost me but a trifle for my food; but as he began with tea, and coffee, and butter, and milk, and beef, he had to work hard to pay for them, and when he had worked hard he had to eat hard again to repair the waste of his system.”

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block the bloody world cup party buster

July 10, 2010
By
My Last Block Party

The big football game is tomorrow. Block parties are springing up everywhere. All the people you know, and hopefully a good handful of new faces, will be meeting up in a back yard or empty patch of grass/pavement. When planned correctly everyone should be encouraged to bring some type of food or drink.

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lay off me i’m starving\/\/mud pie

July 3, 2010
By
hut

Summer in Miami brings rain, thunder, heat, humidity and inevitably mud. Put those elements together and you have a great venue for two things. 1) Boogie Boarding in the flooded streets, perhaps towed by a neighbor on a bike or 2), making fresh mud pies in a palm frond hut. I highly recommend trying both this summer. (Amateurs, trust me its not the same without the hut.) Mud pies are the epitome of simple summer treats and the only real necessity is a relatively pie shaped vessel. The rest is up to you, some like a little grass and leaves I think pinworms add a pleasant touch to a fresh packed pie. As far as the effects of pinworms, an itchy hole (not your pie hole) is the only one I know of and frankly, it’s worth it. Some cultures believe mud pies are actually a potent aphrodisiac. If you ask me, that’s just dirty. But give it a try. What the hell it’s 93 but feels like 102 degrees outside what do you have to lose? Breeding ground for people and pinworms alike. Classic Mud Pie 1 large pie pan Heaps of wet mud Grass and leaves for garnish

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i wear my sunglasses at night\/\/super

June 8, 2010
By
i wear my sunglasses at night\/\/super

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” said Jack Nicholson to a reporter who requested he remove his sunglasses for a photo. “With my sunglasses on, I’m Jack Nicholson. Without them, I’m fat and seventy.” Street style can get pretty stale when everyone from Milan to New York is cursing the winter of their discontent. The fashion capitals of the world spent the last season buried under the puffy jackets and voluminous scarves needed to get through the months of endlessly falling snow. While the recent inclement weather made for some great innovations in the footwear and active apparel markets, fashionistas far and wide were anxiously awaiting a change in scenery. What better than the rising mercury to inspire new trends? Summer is always the perfect season to revamp your look: the sun is bright, the days are long, and spring is finally ready to shed its layers. Nonetheless, the current economic climate can make seasonal wardrobe overhauls difficult, if not impossible. Luckily, investing in statement accessories is an affordable alternative to a full closet makeover. Sunglasses are the perfect summer accessory. Instantly chic, the right pair of shades can take an entire look from commonly banal to alluringly elusive. From the uneven cobblestones of the

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commodity fetishism gone right\/\/shopping in harlem

May 27, 2010
By
commodity fetishism gone right\/\/shopping in harlem

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tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow

May 21, 2010
By
tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow

Time, time, time. The Cloudy Messenger. That which escapes all of us. Flash indeed. Most people no longer use a watch so the piece of music above, Leroy Anderson’s The Syncopated Clock (1944), sounds like a lulling relic of a playful time where brass was oiled, and tea came with DELICIOUS cookies. Push play. I could check my watch all day to that ish! Pops gave me a pocket watch for my birthday this year. A huge antique train conductor’s watch. It’s like having a metal ice cream sandwich in your pocket. Like the ones from camp that came six to a plastic clamshell. Good god I want one, it’s so hot outside. And there’s a huge chain on this watch that gives it the authority of a mace. Watch is legit. Not built for skinny jeans. It’s for those who REALLY need to know what time it is. I could have used that watch this past weekend when every mode of communication went to hell in one glossy-sleek-personal-hand-held-computing-basket. My friend Officer Mike, in an act of complete and utter lunacy, decided to run a 50 mile ultra marathon from mile marker 51 to mile marker 1 in the Florida Keys. It

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the desultory results of theavantguardian logo competition\/\/the candidates

March 5, 2010
By
the desultory results of theavantguardian logo competition\/\/the candidates

We have results! For the logo competition we’ve been blathering about for the last month or so. Please admire. What follows is a list IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER of the logos we received. We would like you to admire them, comment on them, hold them, love them, and decide amongst yourselves. We will be pow-ow-ing over here and will most likely publish the results on Monday. If you would like to give us some input please email tracey@theavantguardian.org (she needs something to do) or leave your suggestions in the comments. FYI My critical analysis is dumb. 1. Let’s start out with some suck. I warned that you mine would be a bit ridiculous. I find that purposefully crooked arrangements, while funny, often just look terrible and sloppy. Most of the things I do maintain a pretty solid “terrible and sloppy” image, so it’s really a lifestyle at this point. From the chicken flava. 2. Next a huge step up from reader Sam Petersson form Buckshots Inc. I see what you were going with here. That’s Avant. Looking smooth. My Thoughts are that this is the beginning of something great. Ecstasy? Do we need a Private Room? 3. From reader Aram

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