What I've Been Up To

I'd like to apologize for not posting for the past week of so, I've gotten wrapped up in a few things.

The first is the website for my Pern club, 11th Pass Pern, which I did a complete site overhaul for. I've also been working on other stuff related to said club. My fellow BOD member there just left for a vacation to London, so we wanted to transition the site over to the new Wiki format, get some new graphics, bang out some storylines, etc.

The second is a Pern club that I'm a part of Triad Weyrs, that I likewise wanted to get a bunch of storylines out quickly.

I also borrowed a few animes from Ray and Maggie, including RahXephon, which I watched as a much younger geekling, but keep thinking of recently. I admit, nowadays I consider myself a bit too adult for anime, but there are still a few that I have a softspot for: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and Crest of the Stars to name a few.

What else? I spent two days of my week job hunting for the most part, and try to fit some house cleaning in there as well. Aaron and I both cooking is a double-edged sword - on one hand, it's nice, but on the other hand McDonald's would be a whole heckuva lot less dishes for me to do. I hate dishes.

One thing I've experimented a lot with recently is Salmon. We got a giant bag of frozen Alaskan Salmon after attending the Alton Brown experience last month, and I've been experimenting with various ways to prepare it. My favorite thus far is Kelsey Nixon's "en papillote" technique, largely because no Geek Kitchen should ever be without rice, soy sauce and ginger. If you don't have Toasted Sesame Oil, or Rice Wine Vinegar, you can just mince a clove of garlic for each fishy and that's equally delicious. In the near future, I intend on attempting Alton Brown's Recipe for Salmon en Papillote, but that would actually require me to go to the store to purchase a lot of those ingredients. Beyond that, I hate Anise so I am not 100% sold on liking Fennel. The good part about this technique is that it's very low in the amount of dishes dirtied in the process.

I should be back to more or less regular updates sometime soon, and I have a few good blog posts brewing in the back of my mind. So stay tuned!

Alton Brown Main Event

First off, if you read this blog through some sort of Feed, note that the last post has had Images added to it. Also, I've posted all the images to my Photobucket here. Unfortunately, there are very few pictures of the main event because the Hippodrome doesn't allow photography in the main room - I snagged the one above right before the usher came over to chide me :-(

The topic of the main event was how one time, a little boy came up to Alton, and asked him what he'd learned through the course of making his show. Alton responded with a lot of advice regarding lawyers, and copyrights and the like. The boy stopped him and said, "No, what have you learned about food?" After that, Alton made to a point to work on a list, called "10 Things About Food I Feel Pretty Darned Sure of." I'm not going to go through all 10 here, as it would be an extremely long post, and I don't want to spoil too much of it for people who may get to see it in person. Here were some of the highlights though (sorry if it seems disjointed, I took notes, but he is far more eloquent than I am):

1. Chickens Don't Have Fingers: Children's menus always contain the same 5-6 meals, one of which is chicken fingers. This increases their dependence on Ronald McDonald to feed them as an adult. Alton's daughter really liked Chicken Fingers, until one night she had friends over and he asked them what they wanted to eat. She responded, "Chicken Fingers." So Alton went down to the Asian Grocery, bought chicken feet, and them steamed and fried them, with the toenails still attached. Obviously when he presented them to the girls, they all freaked out, and said, "What is this?!" Alton responded, "Well what do you think McDonald's makes them out of?" and he has not had a request for Chicken Strips ever since.

I have to make a tangent at this point, because some of Alton's fans feel that ever since he lost weight, he has been "holier than thou" about health and weight. I don't know if they are just sensitive to the subject, or if I am less sensitive because I've never dealt with weight issues, but I didn't think that he was holier than thou at all. Honestly, Americans have an issue with obesity. As a result, many of his fans are going to be obese. And I think it's only right for him to explain the tips that he - as someone who loves food and has to watch what he eats - has been using. A lot of the ethical or political points that he made were spot on, and in my opinion were responsible uses of his celebrity status. Beyond that, he was very interesting to listen to, and never seemed "preachy" or "lecturing."

5. Beware Chinese Chili: This was a thought that originally came to him when he opened a can of Chili from China, and it was disgusting. Then came the obvious tangents from the original thought - why would you get a food that is Tex/mex in origin from an Asian Country? And moreso than that, why would you buy food from a nation that doesn't even care about their own people? Recently, there have been a lot of occasions where toys, formula, etc form China have been revealed to be harmful. And there's simple too much food coming into the US for all of it to be tested.

This lead to a discussion about local foods, which Alton feels are a better option. In addition to supporting your local farmers, it is a lot easier to track if you get Salmonella (for example) from a local farm, than if you're eating imported food that's traveled hundred or thousands of miles to get to you. Many of these farms conform to higher standards than are required for "Organic" labeling, but cannot afford it, as the government has made it very expensive.

7. Gratitude: It Tastes Good: Being someone who worked has worked in "Customer Service" type jobs for over 10 years, this really resonated with me. People are rude to servers, cashiers, etc. These are the people that are taking care of your needs, and you should be respectful and friendly to them as a result.

8. Husbands, Your Wife is the Best Cook Ever: Alton regaled us with a story from the early parts of his marriage, where his wife cooked Spaghetti. He commented that it could use garlic and oregano, and she walked out of the kitchen... for 8 months. Now everything that she cooks is the best thing that he's ever tasted.

In between the things he's learned, Alton took questions from the audience via phone and microphone. here are some of the Highlights:

What Would You Request for your "Last Meal?": Duck Confit, since it takes three days to prepare.

What Foods (if any) Do You Refuse to Eat?: Any food from Walmart

Which Do You Think had a Bigger Influence on Cooking, Salt, of Fire?: He had to pause and consider this one before answering, "Fire, but only because you didn't say Kosher Salt."

Favorite Spice: Cumin (I agree with him 100%)

What Do You Think About Justin Bieber?: Pig Roast, With a Shiny Red Apple in His Mouth

Would You Ever Compete on Iron Chef, and If So, Who Would You Compete Against?: Alton said that he would not compete on Iron Chef because if anyone else got the opportunity to do his job, they would realize how cushie of a gig it is. Also because he'd get the snot beat out of him. If he had to, though, he would go against Morimoto, and ensure that the Secret Ingredient was not Fish, and was preferably something very American like cocktail weenies.

Random Stories:

Alton told a few random stories that were extremely funny. One was about his many experiences of smoking food - particularly salmon - at home. When he first began steaming salmon, he did it in cardboard boxes in his carport. But he's not a particularly "clean" person, and hates cleaning up after himself, so he would often leave the boxes out until his wife yelled at him to get rid of them. One day it was raining, so he nudged the box with his foot out into the rain. When it became soft and wet, the neighborhood dogs all came and ate the box. A later iteration of the box would have thick, heavy duty aluminum foil in it, but he forgot about it, and kicked it out into the rain. He then received angry calls from his neighbors because their dogs were crapping up foil for days afterwards.

He also listed off some of his vices, one of which was alcohol. When he drinks, he admits that he makes poor decisions about food, and he compared himself to Homer Simpson in this regard. The only thing that will cause him to set down a beer is a donut. Unfortunately, that's why he has two hands, or if he's careful, he can just put the donut on the beer bottle, and eat it from there.

Another of his vices is Thin Mints. Since his daughter is a Girl Scout, and his wife volunteered to hold on to all of the cookies for a few troops, he couldn't avoid them though. Thin Mints, he claims, are a box that contains two servings, and that anyone who doesn't eat a whole tube in one setting is a Nazi. If he had his own church, he would use Thin Mints as Communion Wafers.

He was asked for his thoughts on several Food Network personalities. The first was Bobby Flay, who people generally think of as being a jerk. Alton explained that he's not a jerk, but that some combination of his New York manner of speaking, and his serious nature regarding food causes him to come off that way. Another audience member asked if Giada's head was really as big as it appeared on TV, and he responded that he couldn't answer because he didn't know a single man who actually looked at her head (but that Giada was really nice as well). He indicated a tremendous fondness for Iron Chef Chairman Mark Dacascos, and did a very good impersonation of him. When Mark went to do Dancing With The Stars, Alton told him that he'd better win, because even if he didn't win, he could kill all his competition and be the best.

All in all, the evening was incredibly worthwhile, and a fun time was had by all.

Alton Brown VIP Foodie Experience

So Saturday night, we had the occasion to attend the 2nd Annual Foodie Experience at the Hippodrome. Being the huge Alton Brown fans that we are, we opted to get the VIP experience tickets, which basically turned the event into two shows. The first part was the VIP event, which was an intimate little cooking demonstration by Alton, and a Q and A session. This was particularly nice because there were only around 150 people in the room, so he was able to answer a good number of our questions. The second part was a larger presentation by Alton, which had about 1000 people attending. Still, he managed to take some questions in his presentation as he had an email account setup so people could email him from their phones while he was talking. I took a ton of notes at the event, so I'm just going to cover the VIP event here.

I have to say this right off the bat: Alton's humor on Good Eats and Iron Chef isn't clever editing, or numerous takes. Alton is absurdly witty, to the point where I could honestly see him being a tremendously successful food comedian if the whole "Cooking Show" angle doesn't work out for him. He was quick with a joke for absolutely every question that was asked of him, and by the end of the night I almost wished he'd give us a breather because my sides hurt from laughing so much. As we were standing in line, getting our drinks before the demonstration, Alton came out. Everyone still in line gave him a guilty look, fearing that we were intruding on "his" time. But he reassured everyone that he had come out early because he was bored back stage and was excited to meet us. As he explained, he normally doesn't get to speak to such a small, intimate audience, and he was really thrilled for the opportunity.

That really set the theme for the entire event. He wanted to be there just as much as we did. The questions asked by the audience varied in topic, but regardless of what was asked, Alton had a clever retort, often at the asker's expense. When discussing with a man whether his wife cooked for him or not, the husband replied, "No, she's watching the baby," to which Alton promptly responded, "Watching the baby? All babies do is sleep. She's sitting there playing Angry Birds!" Now one thing that Alton's discussions make clear is that he's very technology savvy. Macbooks, iPads, and iPhones are all over the place. But there was just something about knowing that Alton knew about Angry Birds (and how time consuming it could be) that cracked me up.

He was also asked about shows regarding allergies and intolerances, and had a good reason for why it wasn't something that he explored. Obviously, much of it is because of legal liability, but also because many allergies and sensitivities aren't well known by doctors either. He then explained an example of a woman who smacked a sandwich out of a child's hand at Chick-fil-A (and then said "I love that place"). His point was that few people realize that peanut allergies generally are to the protein, which isn't found in the oil.

Of course, questions about Iron Chef were coming as well. He was asked if it was true that he never tasted the food, and regaled us with the following tale. When they were working on the original Iron Chef America (the mini series deal, not the Food Network series), Alton ate everything that he could get his hands on. This included food from Iron Chef Sakai, who had (unbeknown to Alton) included Oyster in his dish. Alton is highly sensitive to oyster, and got very ill. Because Iron Chef America is filmed over such a short time period, at two episodes per day, he can't afford to be ill and generally does not eat it. He also mentioned that a very limited amount of each dish is served, and that as he is not a judge, it's not right for him to try it. When he sits in for the Chairman, he does eat for the purpose of keeping the judges on track.

After the initial few questions, Alton began a demo of Baked Alaska. There was something incredibly surreal about watching "Good Eats" in person. At one point, Alton opened therefrigerator, looked and the cameraman and scowled. He then walked over to the cameraman, and tried to take the camera from him, saying, "Don't worry, I'm a professional." He then attempted to fit the camera in the refrigerator, to do his trademark "address the audience in the refrigerator" shot, but unfortunately the camera was too large to fit. He asked the audience what ingredients were in Baked Alaska, and a lady in the front row answered. Since she included "liquor" in her description, Alton teased her about alcoholism, but then incorporated liquor into his recipe. When the bartender brought over a large bottle of Bourbon, the audience tried to encourage Alton to drink it. He refused however, noting that he had a plane to fly at the end of the night, and "Being a pilot cuts into your drinking.... unless you're a commercial pilot."

The audience would later be able to see an Alton "blooper" when the Baked Alaska refused to come out of it's mold properly. The look on Alton's face was absolutely priceless as he rushed to get the one that was already made out of the fridge before his assistant noticed he'd messed it up. As the audience laughed, Alton said, "Martha Stewart is laughing right now. Heck, Rachael Ray is laughing. Not Paula Deen though. Not enough butter. Or ham. Or tooth whitener." He then went on to explain that he had no hard feelings regarding Paula, as since she was a fellow Georgian he had a lot of respect for her.

As he was beating the meringue for the Baked Alaska, he took more questions. There was another one about Iron Chef, this one in relation to whether or not the Iron Chefs and Contestants knew what the ingredients were upfront. It has often been said online that they get the option of anywhere from 3-6 potential secret ingredients, although Alton guesses that the list is probably closer in number to 10. He explained that 6 comes from the Japanese version of the show, but he thinks that it worked something like this: Today's secret ingredient will either be, Bicycle tire, Sweat Sock, SALMON....etc." He says that the reason we don't see the debate at the beginning over what to make is because they have to cut something out, and chopping things is more interesting. They have been making more effort recently to show some of the discussion between the chefs and their sous chefs though. He also pointed out that when you have 60 minutes, you need to get started immediately, and that there are some things you always know that you'll need, so you grab your Secret Ingredient, get the common ingredients from the pantry, etc.

Another Iron Chef related question that was asked revolved around the plating, since on the American show the chefs are only required to plate one dish. Alton explained that they are required to prepare enough for all 4 portions, but the rest of the plating can be done during a period called "Reposition Time," when they move all 13 of the cameras to the judging area. The challenger gets the ability to reheat his dishes during the judging of the Iron Chef, as sometimes judging can take up to two hours.

Then came the time to put the meringue on the Baked Alaska, which Alton did using one of his quick methods - sitting the whole thing on a turntable, and turning it on so it would spin as he piped out the meringue. It was humorous as he futzed with the speed of the turntable and the audience shouted out "45!" since he had said that was the best speed on at least one previous interview. Once finished, Alton produced a butane torch, and asked the audience if we remembered them from Iron Chef. He acted like he was going to use it to carmellize the cake, as he explained that he had a device called "Red Dragon" at home that ran off a propane tank and could generate a 6 foot flame. Unfortunately, the MD code didn't allow that device, so he had to leave it at home. However, bake spray often uses propane as a propellant... so he used the little butane torch to light the bake spray, and the Baked Alaska was quickly baked.

After this, they gave away a mixer, and the VIP event was over. But he came back out to sign the mixer, and a group of his fans (myself included) had stuck around, so he began to sign autographs. Unfortunately, he didn't have a Sharpie, and he turned down the pens that were offered as not good for autographing. Fortunately, I had stuffed one (and my copy of Feasting on Asphalt) in my purse. I offered to let him use it if he posed for a picture (which he did), and then he signed my book. He said that "Feasting on Asphalt" was a good choice as he really liked it. I do as well, and I figured it doesn't stray into the kitchen as much as his other books, so it was probably the best bet to take with.

I sat around for a while while Alton signed autographs and posed for pictures with everyone, got my pen back, and then headed over to the second event.