chez pim

Tea recommendation for Mr.P

Mr.Plotz sent a message this morning to ask about tea. He is apparently in Paris and will be visiting Mariage Frères to buy some so he wanted to know what I would recommend. I wrote a reply to him, and then thought some of you might also find it useful, so I am blogging it as well.
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I buy lots of tea from Mariage. It entirely depends on what type of tea you are looking for. My favorite, of course, is Darjeeling. This is probably too late in the season to buy 1st flush, as all the good ones will be gone. You probably have a better chance at 2nd flushes. If they still have Castleton 2nd flush, get some. I've also got some Namring Upper 2nd flush this year, which I prefer to the one from last season.

But if you haven't had single estate Darjeelings, I suggest you buy one kind of 1st flush anyway, whatever they have left, so you could have a little tasting comparison between the two.

1st flushes are a little more floral, with a stronger nose, but often slightly astringent as well. I wouldn't brew them long, only 2 minutes, or 2.5, at most. The 2nd flushes are also floral, but less assertively so, and a little more round and subtle in taste. The best 2nd flushes are even more expensive than the 1st flushes, actually. The best 2nd flushes that Mariage carries are Castleton, or Brume d'Himalaya. I wouldn't brew these longer than 2.5-3 minutes.

The best Darjeelings, properly brewed, have this fantastic taste, almost an orgasmic explosion, that seems to rush back out of your throat to fill your mouth right after you swallow the tea. Need I say more?

Mariage also do tisane very well. They have a huge range of Thés Rouges, which are not tea at all but leafs of Rooibos bush from South Africa. I always have Metis, Surabaya, and Bourbon on hand. A cup of freshly brewed Thé Rouge Bourbon (not to be confused with their black Bourbon), with a little milk and a tiny bit of sugar is sometimes better than hot chocolate on a cold night.

If you want to try some great green teas, I suggest you try either Gyukuro or Sencha Uji. You can order them in pots at the salon before you buy them in bulk actually. Gyukuro is considered one of the best Japanese green teas, perhaps the best one available outside of Japan. It brews a delightfully bright green cup. But the taste of Gyukuro is perhaps a bit of an acquired type. It can taste distinctively seaweed-y to some. Sencha Uji is my favorite that Mariage carries, it tastes a bit seaweed-y, as all great Japanese teas, but a little less so than Gyukuro, and a bit more well rounded and ever so slightly nutty.

imbéciles!

The French cabinet just adopted a ban on the wearing of the Hijab in French schools. The bill was introduced for debate, I believed by Chirac, a month or two ago, and the cabinet adopted it into law yesterday. Well, to be fair, I must say the letters of the law ban the wearing of all religious artifacts. But it is common knowledge that it was written to curb the "rise" of Islamic extremism in France--and the particular artifact it aimed to ban is the Hijab.

Jesus (*&%$@^$) Christ! How stupid can people get?

Don't get me wrong, personally, I think organized religion is as useless as a dull knife. But the French government is going much too far here. What the hell happened to the Liberté part of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité?

Isn't freedom to express one's religious belief is just as much a freedom as any other?

Of course, I agree with the Church/State separation here in the US. But individual expression is a different thing. I totally agree that the stupid judge (whatshisname) in South Carolina, who refused to take down the Ten Commandments, rightfully got his ass kicked off the bench. He was in a position of power, and should not be allowed to use it to endorse a religious belief. A little girl wearing a Hijab to school is an entirely different matter, however.

I think it was stupid of the Taliban to have a law requiring the Hijab, but it is just as stupid of the French to ban it.

(stepping down now from the soapbox to get back to blogging about delightfully frivolous things like food.)
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P.S. Just came back from Salam's blog, of course he had something to say about this too. As always, he's right on. You may need to scroll down to his blog on Jan.18 to read his "It's-my-right-to-cover-my-head demonstrations" because his Permalink is working a bit oddly.

P.P.S. Actually it wasn't Salam speaking, it was Raed. Oops, sorry Raed. Well, you're right on too!

Chez Pim in German?

Life is full of delightful surprises in Blogosphere.

Looking through my log of the last week I found a few referrals to Chez Pim from an unfamiliar IP address, so I went to look.

To my surprise, I found a link to me on this oddly named German blog, Itadakimas. It is odd because the blog is in German, but "itadakimas" is what one says before chowing in Japan. Looking closer on the blog I also found some Japanese posts, and some links to Chinese teas and Japanese food sites.

My favorites are definitely this delightful Japanese home cooking blog called, Yasuko-san's Home Cooking, and a couple of photo blogs of bento boxes, Bento Moblog, and Today's Bento.

The recipes on Itadakimas look so yummy, unfortunately they are almost entirely in German. Perhaps it's time I learn some German. Who knows, it may come in handy sometimes, no?

Piperade's braised rabbit...mmm...rabbit...

Another dinner at Piperade last night. I wasn't too happy the last time I was there with Malik, Dave, Allison, and a few others. I was in the mood for something French while shopping at the new SOMA REI, so I decided to give them another chance.

We had the sheep's milk cheese and ham terrine and Endive salad with seasonal fruit to start, and shared a braised rabbit "Irouleguy" with prunes for dinner.

The gratin was wonderful, much less salty than the last time, so it married even better to the tangy frisee and sun dried tomato salad. And I still loved the contrast between the crunch of the crispy ham and the sheep's milk cheese.

The endive salad was delightful, with perfect chunks of crunchy endives, gorgeous and paper-thin sliced blushing pink radishes, grapes, and citrus, in a light vinaigrette. Fantastic.

And then there was the braised rabbit in Irouléguy red wine. It was divine. I have a soft spot for braised dishes, and this one was just hit the mark. “Irouléguy” is the name of a town in the Basque country, which lends its name to a light and fruity red wine produced there. This rabbit dish is presumably braised in said wine, perfectly I might add. The sauce was dark and tasty, with a slight note of sweetness from the prunes. It also had plenty of delicious mushrooms. The dish is a special for Thursday. I am thinking of returning every Thursday just for it.

We had a glass of Irouléguy and St.Estephe from the by the glass list. There were also very nice, though I prefer the St.Estephe.

How to eat on skis

I put my skis on for the first time in three years last Saturday. It was fan-bloody-tastic.

I knew that I loved to ski, but apparently I had completely forgotten how absolutely exhilarating skiing was. It took going back to the slopes with my trusty old Salomon strapped to my feet to remind me what an unadulterated delight it was to zoom down the slopes. I am going again this weekend.

Not one to let crappy ski lodge's food sully my food snob reputation, I prepared a little pique-nique lunch for the slope. Here's what was in it:

Gourmet Lunch on the slope:
Montgomery Cheddar: $7
Lincolnshire Poacher: $6
Tomme de Savoie: $8
Tomme de Couserans : $7
Acme Sweet Baguette: $2
Bisca (no hydrogenated oil) crackers: $2.50
Roasted Almonds with spiced salt: $3
Odwalla Carrot/Apple/Orange juice: $2.50

Someone who's willing to carry the above items in his backpack for you: PRICELESS

Best/worst food moments of 2003

Best Overall Food Experience: The day trip to Paris from London with Martin, beginning with Robuchon, then for patisserie from Hermé, on to procuring Castleton été at Mariage, and finishing the afternoon with chocolates from Hévin.

Best Food Shopping Moment: Flash-mobbing Borough with the OA crowd.

Most Fun Cooking: In Bangkok with my Aunt Chawiwan. The Thai feast for 16 hungry londoners with Max, Simon, and Vanessa.

Best "I didn't know it could taste like that" dishes: Roasted Woodcock (brain, innards, and all but the feathers) at St.John

Best Restaurant Meal: St.John

Best Overall Restaurant Experience: L'Arpège, malgrès les betteraves.

Best Service: L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, on the third consecutive lunch in August, and Kiss, by Naga-san, as always.

Most Fantastic Discovery: The New Tayyab, The Sutton Arms (now closed, dammit!), St.John

Best homey dessert: Rosie's crumble and custard at the Christmas Party at the Sutton Arms

Best fancy dessert: Ispahan from Pierre Hermé

Worst fancy dessert: Ispahan at Ladurée

Most Bizarre Meal: 66

Most Blah Meal: 66

Most Disappointing Meal: Nahm

Worst Meal: Nahm

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Best Compliments:
"Best Overall Food Experience of 2003: Pim's Thai Banquet (by some stretch)", Tony Finch
"When you find the time, will you marry me?", Maurice Naughton

On my way home

Or is it, on my way from home. I'm a bit confused. Oh well I'm on my way back to San Francisco, that's for sure.

United is putting me through quite a journey, commencing at an ungodly hour today in Bangkok, stopping once in Taipei (of which United ticket office failed to inform me at booking time!), now transiting in Soul. This journey will take me through Seattle before I finally arrive in the city by the bay.

Thailand has been great fun, with bits of profound melancholy sprinkled in for good measure.

A day wild goose-chasing in Chinatown with Fahro's niece. A day with one of my best friends, Nokkie whom I've known since we were five years old, shopping in the bedlam that was the Jatujak flea market and Or Tor Gor food market. Another day spent alone deep in the labyrinth of the grand palace, out of reach of tourists, searching for the well-hidden Royal Goldsmith's workshop, successfully, I might add. Many days spent in the kitchen playing with food with relatives and old cooks. Many a great meal at various restaurants, on the kitchen floors of friends' and relatives' houses. Collected enough good karma from multiple visits to temples to last me an entire year, at least. My two younger twin nephews calling me auntie for the first time. Fabulous times.

I've been so busy I've had practically no time to blog. I've been taking notes in my little notebook though. I promise to de-analog-ize them and turn them into blogs very very soon.

Bangkok Report VII: shopping for good karma

The New Year holiday is prime time for paying respect in Thailand. We bring gifts to relatives to wish them a happy new year, and go to temples to pay respect to the Buddha and ask for a blessing for a prosperous year.

I've been doing my best imitation of a dutiful daughter by letting my parents drag me around to all these places. My parents are not religious people, but they do act like so during the holidays.

As for me, I see these temple visits as more of a cultural expression than a religious one. After all, Buddhism requires no belief, no faith. I think of it as a philosophy, as a way of life. I'd say I am as much a Buddhist as I am a postmodernist.

I do, however, enjoy visiting temples. There is something profoundly beautiful about visiting a quiet, remote temple, sitting under a benevolent gaze of a serene Buddha, quietly chanting Pali verses in contemplative meditation. I could sit like that for hours, thinking of as little as I possibly could.

Unfortunately, visiting temples during the holidays is nothing like what I've just described. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people cramming into every well-known temple in Thailand, competing to buy as much good karma as one could afford, physically and financially.

Cars swarmed at temple entrances, trying to enter the hollowed grounds where karma could be bought like groceries. Throngs of people, pushing and shoving their ways in, to get as close as possible to the Buddha statues. Seas of shoes awaited patiently for the owners to reclaim after having had their fill of karma for the year. (Today's lesson: Never wear your Manolos to a Thai temple!)

Most temples set up stalls selling all sorts of good karma acquisition aides, incense, candles, lotus flowers, orchids, etc. All to ensure that one's prayers are heard by proper authorities.

The Buddha himself would have been amused by all these. He professed a practice of self-awareness and a path to end cycles of sufferings, by simply stopping one's own contribution to them. He demanded no faith, no belief, only that we think for ourselves, that we are mindful that our actions have consequences in the world and the lives of others.

In fact, one of my favorite types of Buddha statues is a Pang Hahm-yaat. Statues of this type are of the Buddha standing, his left hand held up chest level, palm facing outwards, in a stopping gesture, with his benevolent gaze looking down at us, gently reminding us that all we had to do is to stop. Stop contributing to the sufferings in this world. Stop the hatred and bigotry. Stop. It could all end today.

Buddhism as practiced here in Thailand, and perhaps elsewhere, is an entirely different animal, however. Here, the religion of Buddhism functions much like other major religions, that is to say, it can be perceived as a sort of an insurance company!

People are afraid of what fate awaits them in the afterlife, so they buy into an insurance policy, and dutifully paying the premiums, in the forms of incense, candles, stuffing collection baskets, attending church on Sundays, etc. All the while hoping that when they die, the policy would pay off, ensuring them a vision of the afterlife that they could easily prepare for.

So, here, there is heaven, and hell, but if one buys enough incense or flowers, one might be assured a place “up there”. Unfortunately, exactly where “there” is, I don't know.

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In between visiting temples and relatives, I managed to squeeze in some kitchen time to learn how to make more old Thai dishes (but apparently very little time to blog). I had a blast doing it. I will post about those days soon.