The Food Matters Cookbook: A Review and a Giveaway

You've likely heard of Mark Bittman, author of a variety of award-winning cookbooks, including the grandiosely-named How To Cook Everything. (I don't own a copy, so I'll refrain from passing judgment on the validity of the title.) I was not actually very familiar with Bittman's work until recently, when a publicist at Simon & Schuster asked if I'd like to take a look at Bittman's new book and host a giveaway. Well, this is that giveaway! The instructions will be at the end of this post.

Impressions
The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living is a hefty volume packed full of tips for eating like "food matters" - and as you may have guessed from the title, there are a lot of recipes. 500 of them. Revolutionary? I'm not so sure. I think Bittman just gets a kick out of hyperbole. His writing did convince me, though, that it would be both doable and desirable to shift the ratio of meat and veggies that I eat so that meat becomes a side dish rather than the centerpiece. This book appeals to me because Bittman comes across as an omnivore who knows he will never give up meat entirely, but for a variety of reasons, he works to shift his focus (and the readers') to vegetables. This is something that I can do, and I was surprised that many of the veggie-heavy recipes sounded good to me, a slowly reforming steak-and-potatoes kind of girl. 

Bittman's philosophy towards food is friendlier than, say, Michael Pollan's. No rules here; this isn't a "manual." Instead, it's a friendly, relaxed collection of suggestions for ways to treat our bodies and our planet better. Less animals, less processed foods, more plants. This goes well with the guideline I've always tried to follow: everything in moderation. If I want bacon, sure, I'm gonna have bacon, but it doesn't need to be the daily main course. (Ok, maybe once in awhile...)

The recipes are friendly as well, written in an easy-to-follow conversational tone with abundant suggestions for variations. In fact, I see these more as starting points with hints about how to improvise rather than full recipes. You could follow them as written easily enough, but I found myself using them as little brain triggers from which to develop a full menu.

There are no photographs of the food; I suppose for a book of 500 recipes, there isn't really room for photos. The lack of images disappointed me initially, but I actually think it's for the best. Bittman's secondary goal seems to be to leave the readers more self-sufficient and more confident in the kitchen and the market, and by not providing photos, he forces us to work harder to learn from the book and test our own abilities.

There are many cookbooks on my shelf that I go to for a few standard recipes and then forget about for months, but The Food Matters Cookbook - aside from having so many recipes - has lessons and hints that will always be useful. I'm looking forward to delving into it in greater detail.

Upcoming Events
Bittman will be speaking in Boston twice this month: this Wednesday, November 3rd, at the Museum of Science, and Monday, November 15th, at New Center for Arts and Culture. (Click those links for ticket information and more.)

The Giveaway!
Simon & Schuster is providing a copy of The Food Matters Cookbook to one lucky reader! You have until this Wednesday, November 3rd, at noon (EST) to enter.

(1) Get two entries into the giveaway by leaving a comment on this post about what the phrase "food matters" means to you. (Maximum two entries per person for commenting.)

(2) Get one entry into the giveaway by retweeting any of my Twitter updates regarding this giveaway. (I'm @blumie.) I'll update this post with a link to my tweet once I've posted the first one. (Maximum one entry per person for retweeting.)

So, you can get up to three entries. I'll announce the results on Twitter on Wednesday night after using a random number generator to pick the winner. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of The Food Matters Cookbook by Simon & Schuster, and one reader will also be provided with a free copy. As I am not backed by the budget of a publication, I do occasionally accept free food and products for potential review. Acceptance of these samples and products do not obligate me to write a positive review or any review at all. When I do write, it is my full and honest opinion, regardless of the cost (or lack thereof) of the food or product.

Pinkberry's Hingham and Boston Arrivals

Pinkberry has arrived in Massachusetts.

If you're a member of the tart yogurt cult, you might be jumping for joy. I was a few years late to this party, but I do get a strong BerryLine craving now and then. In any case, the opening of another place in this category doesn't interest me all that much as BerryLine exceeds my needs.

Despite my admitted disinterest, I accepted an invitation to attend the opening of the Hingham Pinkberry back in August; I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I had a chance to sit down with CEO Ron Graves and try the yogurt.

Graves is on the left; I believe the two men on the right are the owners of the Hingham location.

The ribbon-cutting at Hingham.

Graves ushers in some children.

I was curious about how Pinkberry intended to compete with BerryLine, which is already firmly rooted in this area. Graves seemed irritated to be placed in the same category as imitation brands and said that Pinkberry, the "first" and the "leader", prefers to look inward and be the best it can be - the products, the store environment, the people - without considering the others. Graves doesn't measure his success based on the competition. Fair enough. "All frozen yogurts are not created equal," he said. (I'm picturing a West Side Story-style rumble between Pinkberry and BerryLine. This elaborate vision includes the throwing of fruit and candy toppings, giant cups of yogurt smashed on the ground, and plenty of singing and leaping gracefully.)

Graves told me of Pinkberry's three areas of focus: a delicious product, a bright beacon-like environment, and happy, energetic service. The environment's pretty cool; I'll give it that. Check out the floor and lamp:

Floor

Lamp

The service has a squeaky clean perkiness about it, much like the smiley sticker hander-outers at WalMart. Personally, I'd rather hang out with the music students who staff the Fenway BerryLine. Large chain overly friendly service creeps me out. (Think Chotchkie's in Office Space.)

Enticing.

Graves scoops.

I'm loving the pink ties.

Fresh fruit toppings.

I got pomegranate yogurt with mochi and some other stuff.

This one is mine. Yum yum!

Graves actually took this photo of me. If he ever gets sick of yogurt, maybe he should look into a photography career!

Obligatory yogurt porn. I got pomegranate yogurt with mochi, gummy bears, pineapple and liquid pomegranate topping.

Graves talked a lot about the "clean finish" of the yogurt - the lack of a milky aftertaste. I've gotta be honest: I actually tasted that milky aftertaste stronger than any other brand of tart yogurt that I've had. The fruit topping (I had pineapple) was fresh and tasty, but the candy (special organic gummy bears and mochi) just didn't live up to my expectations. Each BerryLine store makes their own mochi from scratch every day, and you can really tell, but the Pinkberry mochi seemed like it was part of a monster batch made at some central factory location.

Pinkberry does have a special set of toppings that BerryLine lacks - liquid toppings. I got pomegranate juice, and it was a nice touch. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that they do take local, seasonal ingredients into account when changing up the flavors.

It's not my intention to be overly critical; if you're part of the Pinkberry fan base or if you've never had it before, you'll probably love it. My loyalties are with the brand that has already rooted itself into Boston and Cambridge, though. I'm glad that Pinkberry started this tart yogurt trend, but for the Boston market, BerryLine totally owns it. I love that they feature local artists and really make an effort to be a part of the community, and I find that their product simply tastes better.

If you'd like to check out the new Pinkberry, it's opening today at 288 Newbury Street (at Gloucester).

Disclaimer: I received a free tart yogurt and toppings at the Hingham Pinkberry opening. Since I am not backed by the budget of a publication, I do occasionally accept free food and product samples. Accepting free food or products does not obligate me to write a positive review or any review at all, and regardless of cost or lack thereof, my reviews represent my own full and honest opinion.

Nerdnite Boston (October Edition): A Geeky Night of Cooking, Science, Art, and Math

Yesterday, a friend forwarded me an email about an event called nerdnite (motto: "be there and be square") - a monthly opportunity to totally nerd out while drinking awesome cocktails at Middlesex Lounge - and it was conveniently taking place last night.

Aside from the fact that I'm a total nerd, I was drawn to the event because the first speaker of the evening was going to be Jeff Potter of Cooking For Geeks fame. I've been following him on Twitter for a long time, and back in March, I tested out a chocolate cake recipe for him.

My attempt at following one of Jeff's recipes back in March 2010. Probably due to poor oven calibration, my cake imploded, but it was still delicious!

As science and food are both major parts of my life, Cooking For Geeks is a perfectly fun and informative resource for me, so I was excited to hear Jeff speak. He focused on a couple main topics: the Maillard reaction and sous vide ("under vacuum") cooking, and he also made us taste a piece of paper that told me that I am a "supertaster." (Oddly enough, I love most of the things listed on that site: raw broccoli, grapefruit juice, dark chocolate. I guess the flavors are intense but also enjoyable for me.)

Before delving further into the nerdalicious portion of this post, I should pause and tell you that Middlesex has an awesome cocktail list. I nursed a Chartreusian Mule throughout the night: green chartreuse (a LOT of it) with ginger beer and lime. Tasty and strong.

Ok, back to the science.

The Maillard Reaction
You like your cookies a nice golden brown around the edges, do you? Thank the Maillard reaction for that. In very basic terms, it's an amino acid reacting with a sugar, typically under the influence of heat. In less basic terms, it's the amino group of an animo acid reacting with the carbonyl group of a sugar, which results in an unstable glycosylamine which rearranges to form a ketosamine, which can then react in several different ways, ultimately resulting in a wide variety of molecules that produce a wide range of odors and colors associated with the browning of food.

Jeff showed a neat series of photos of a cookie baking, so we got a clear picture of what happens as the cookie reaches certain temperatures. One of the first noticeable changes, for example, is that the cookie flattens out when the butter in the dough begins to melt. Eventually, you start getting the browned edges. I didn't make note of the temperatures because I was in a bar, drinking, and I think it would cross the line even at nerdnite to whip out a notebook and pretend this was a lecture.

To learn more about the Maillard reaction, check out the website of the International Maillard Reaction Society. Yep, there's a such thing as the Internation Maillard Reaction Society, and it appears they have an International Symposium every 2-3 years. Awesome.

Sous Vide
Think of the best steak you've ever had. Was it perfectly rare or medium-rare on the inside but wonderfully seared on the outside? If so, it was probably cooked using the sous vide method, a technique that allows you to cook at a lower temperature than usual for a very long period of time to get a food to the proper interior temperature without messing with the texture or integrity of the ingredients. To achieve this, the food is placed - often in a vacuum-sealed bag, although this is not really necessary - into a water bath with a controlled temperature. Since the temperature is controlled, you could leave food in there for hours if you'd like, and it'll come out perfectly. This is useful for steak because it allows you to almost separate the cooking of the interior and the exterior. Using sous-vide, you get the interior to the appropriate done-ness, and then you can very quickly sear the outside in a hot skillet (for example) to get that beautifully crunchy crust while maintaining the rare inside. Sous-vide is also a particularly good method for cooking eggs.

The second speaker at this month's nerdnite was Ben Jordan, a biologist who talked to us about his visual representations of mathematical questions. Cool stuff.

I'd definitely go back to nerdnite. It made me realize that I'd love to find some bizarre way to combine my love of science, food, music, and photography. Hmmm...

For more nerdnite information, check out the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Maybe I'll see you at the next one!

Pumpkin Potluck Party

We still haven't had an apartment-warming party, but we've squeezed in a few dinner parties in the new place. We've got a big dining room and a nice drop leaf table, so it's a perfect set up for five or six people.

Dining room + Autumn = Pumpkin Party!  

To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of pumpkins. Toasted seeds started to grow on me a couple years ago, and I've had a few pumpkin soups and breads that have been very good, but I've never really gone out of my way to eat pumpkin.

But for some reason, I decided to throw a pumpkin potluck party on Sunday, and you know what? I loved every dish!

To get into the spirit, I attempted to dress up the cat. She was not very enthusiastic about this.

Sierra the Pumpkin-Cat

For food, we ended up with toasted seeds (one bowl of normal seeds and one bowl of extra hot ones sprinkled with ghost chili powder), two pumpkin breads (one with cranberries, walnuts, and raisins and one with chocolate chips), a vegan pumpkin soup (served in a pumpkin and topped with sage and toasted seeds), pumpkin gnocchi (from Russo's) in a sage brown butter sauce, and kaddo bourani (from a recipe posted on Chowhound based on a dish from The Helmand). We drank Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale.

 
I guess pumpkin's not so bad after all! I would definitely eat any of these dishes again. Happy autumn!

Tater Tots and Balkan Rock

My arteries will not allow me to embark on a Tater Tot Quest, but that's OK, because I doubt any restaurant could top Cambridge Common. (Yep, I've had the famous tots at Garden at the Cellar, but they just didn't do it for me.) Cambridge Common makes them perfectly crispy, just like the ones you devoured in the high school cafeteria back in the day when you could consume buckets of grease and your metabolism would keep things under control. Ah, the good old days.

Tater Tots from heaven

Cambridge Common also has a great beer selection and decent burgers, but more importantly (for me, anyway), it's connected to the Lizard Lounge, where we attended an epic show Tuesday night.

It was the second-to-last show of the Bury Me Standing residency, put together by marimbist/composer Vessela Stoyanova and drummer/composer Nate Greenslit. I had previously seen Nate perform with HUMANWINE, and it was a pleasure to see/hear Vessela for the first time. She is a terrifyingly good marimba player - playing "Happy Birthday" in an outrageous time signature of 17 was no problem - and her face radiates sheer joy as she plays. They put together an amazing night with many guest players, many of whom played with more than one band on the line-up. At times, the stage area was packed with ten or even fifteen musicians, even including three upright basses at one point. Totally impressive.

Molly Zenobia with THREE(!) upright basses. (Gotta give Joel credit for taking this photo while I was sitting lazily in the back of the bar.)

What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? started out the show. A band I'm in, The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library, played a show with them at Church earlier this month, but I sadly had to leave before their set as I was (a) sick and (b) wanting to run away from my first ever creepy groupie. (See my bandmate Sophia's lovely comic for the full story.) I was excited to finally see them, and I wasn't disappointed. Lead singer Brian King has an impressive range and an arsenal of different voices, and the band's songs have a dark wit that is endlessly entertaining.

What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? and a volunteer from the audience

Next up was a short set from Molly Zenobia (pictured above). I couldn't see from where I was sitting, but I think she was playing a harmonium or similar instrument while singing eerily. It was a very interesting performance.

Next, Vessela, Nate, and a revolving group of guest musicians played an intense Balkan set in every unusual time signature imaginable - even "seven-f***in'-teen," exclaimed Vessela. The set was full of energy, and some audience members even started up a Balkan line dance. (It resembles the Hora, but more complicated and rhythmic.) For their last song, they covered System of a Down's "War?"; my bandmate Sophia Cacciola (drawer of the aforementioned comic) (also of Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling) sat in as guest vocalist.

Vessela and Sophia covering "War?" by System of a Down

I was so excited to see the last band, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, which I'd heard of from past HONK! Fest line-ups. I was only able to stay for the first few numbers of their all-Balkan set, but I was totally blown away. Throw everything you know about marching bands out the window. This is a totally different experience.

The existence of a line-up like Tuesday's has landed Lizard Lounge a spot in my mental list of awesome music venues, and I heartily encourage you to check out all of these musicians.

And if you go to Lizard Lounge, be sure to stop by Cambridge Common for some tater tots first!

Cambridge Common:



Lizard Lounge: