ordered black coffee,
they brought a plate of cookies,
well-played, love won.
Love Won [Senryū]
2
Category Archives: Beverages
BOOK REVIEW: Made in Chicago by Monica Eng & David Hammond
Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites by Monica EngMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Release Date: March 21, 2023
Chicago is a food city. Once famous for its stockyards and still a major transit point for the products of America’s breadbasket, the city is home to a diverse people, a gathering of migrants and immigrants who brought a wide variety of foods from their homelands and put the necessary twists on them to make them salable to Chicagoans while using available ingredients. This book features entries on thirty foods and beverages that are products of Chicago ingenuity, be they dishes that were wholly invented in the Windy City or one’s that have a distinctive Chicago-style variant. Foodies know exactly what is meant by Chicago-style hot dogs, pizza, or tamales.
If all you know about Chicago cuisine is that ketchup on a hot dog is considered a sin, you’ll learn about some colorfully named Chicago inventions such as: “the Jim Shoe,” “the Big Baby,” and “the Mother-in-Law,” as well as many others that are more prosaically named, if equally calorically dense. One also sees the mark of Chicago’s immigrant story in the Akutagawa, Flaming Saganaki, Gam Pong Chicken Wings, the Maxwell Street Polish, and Chicago Corn Roll Tamales.
Each chapter discusses the nature of the respective dish, its influences, the [often contentious] origin of each item, where one can obtain said dish, and (for most) includes a recipe for making one’s own home variant. So, it’s mostly food history, but with a bit of cookbook, as well. There are pictures throughout, of the foods and in some cases of the location that invented or popularized each dish.
Be forewarned, while Chicago is a city that loves food, it’s not a place that’s wild about nutrition or moderate serving sizes. In fact, I feel certain that many people attempting to consume every item in this book in, say, one month’s time would drop dead of a coronary shortly thereafter (if not during.) Most of these dishes are foods done fast and served with an allowance of fat, sugar, and / or meat suitable for a family (for several days.)
If you’re a traveler (or a Chicagoan) and want to know more about quintessential windy city foods and where you can sample them, you must read this book.
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Beerplugs [Limerick]
There was a man with a fondness for beer. There was nothing else that he held so dear. Beer-goggles were his Cupid, & beerplugs muted his stupid: though it remained for the plugless to hear.
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DAILY PHOTO: Coffee or Tea? Why Not Coffee & Tea
BOOK REVIEW: The Botany of Beer by Giuseppe Caruso
The Botany of Beer: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 Plants Used in Brewing by Giuseppe CarusoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: July 26, 2022
This is an excellent reference for those with a serious interest in beer, botany, or both of the above. For the amateur brewer, it offers insight into some new and exotic ingredients for experimental brews. For the amateur botanist, it offers greater understanding of how plants are used by mankind — in one prominent domain, at least. For the beer connoisseur, it provides examples of some brews with unusual ingredients that might just expand one’s palate. The book is well-organized, easy-to-use, and has some fine ancillary features to make it an even more valuable tool.
For each of the 500-ish plants, there’s an orderly entry. Entries are arranged alphabetically by scientific name, and the book also provides alternate names, as well as common names and variations. There are drawings that break parts of the plant out for better identification, and there are sections offering both physical and chemical textual descriptions of each plant. There are also sections listing related species and cultivars (cultivated variants.) There is a geographic section that describes, if known, the place of origin of the plant, as well as the domain the plant has expanded to, or in which it’s now cultivated. One section describes what parts of the plant are used in beermaking, another provides a list of the styles of beers the plant has been (or might be) used in, and another (where applicable) an example of a beer in which that ingredient is found. As applicable, there’s also information about plant toxicity and – in some cases – fun facts related to the plant’s use in brewing. There’s a glossary, bibliography, and common name index, as well.
I’d put the included plants into three categories: 1.) plants that are common cultivated foods somewhere on the planet (note: that doesn’t mean they will appear in grocery stores in your particular neck-of-the-woods;) 2.) trees whose wood is used in barrel-making or smoking, but aren’t ingredients, per se; and 3.) ingredients that aren’t likely to appear on your plate unless you’re a hardcore forager or a deep-dive foodie with connections to a botanist or native population.
I found this book to be a well-crafted guide to beer-relevant plants, and would recommend readers interested in beer (or – more broadly – food and beverage ingredients) give it a look.
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BOOK REVIEW: Darjeeling by Jeff Koehler
Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea by Jeff KoehlerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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As Bordeaux or Tokaj are to wine, Darjeeling is to tea, producing a quality beverage considered by many to be the best in the world. However, this isn’t merely the story of how this region of northern Bengal (or, alternatively, Gorkhaland) came to produce a unique kind of tea that would be sought-after around the world. It’s also a story of empire and how Britain’s insatiable demand for tea drove major developments in geopolitics. It’s yet further the story of recent troubled times of Darjeeling tea, from labor shortages to environmental degradation, and what tea estates have done to adapt – from management / organization changes to organic production techniques.
Lessons in the history and geography of tea may seem niche and uninteresting, but the story of tea is actually quite fascinating, involving Opium Wars, the Black Hole of Calcutta, and an industry shakeup resulting from India’s independence.
I found this book compelling, and thought it did a good job of zooming in and out between local and global (and past to present) to maintain the interest of a diverse readership. Whether the book is exploring attempts to transplant tea shrubs and expertise from China or the changing customer base for Darjeeling tea, it’s an engaging and thought-provoking story. If you’re interested in tea, world history, or agribusiness, you’ll likely find something in this book to hold your attention.
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Tea Master [Free Verse]
drink the wisdom -- you'll find it more in the heat than in the liquid subtle - like the flavor of tea in drinking it you'll discover: there is no tea, but the tea -- a tea-less tea the life in you the life in me melted into a mound of unity
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Atlanta Limerick
There once was a man from Atlanta who wouldn't drink Coke, Sprite, or Fanta. They called him crackpot, fired him on the spot, and he was put on the naughty list by Santa.
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BOOK REVIEW: Real Food Fermentation, Revised and Expanded by Alex Lewin
Real Food Fermentation, Revised and Expanded: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen by Alex LewinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: December 21, 2021
This is an expanded edition of a book that explores the process of fermenting a wide range of foods and beverages, including – new to this edition – sourdough bread. It’s a great book for a neophyte such as myself as it covers all the basics without getting too arcane (though it does include natto and some other regional foods that may not be widely familiar.) The book provides step-by-step instructions for making sauerkrauts (and variations such as Kimchi,) yoghurt & kefir, fermented fruit condiments, beverages (alcoholic and non-,) bases / starters (e.g. vinegar,) and sourdough products (including, but not limited to, bread.) It describes some of the challenges one may run up against as well as showing what equipment one will need. It also proposes some of the ways a curious person might experiment with variations.
Color photos are used to clarify the production processes as well as to show appetizing finished products that will whet one’s appetite.
If one is looking to get into a narrow domain of fermentation, e.g. making beer or other alcoholic beverages, one may want to look elsewhere for a more specialized and in-depth guide (of which there are many.) However, this book may introduce one to ideas for brewing adventures one wouldn’t have otherwise considered.
This book is an awesome choice for someone looking to get into or to expand their food fermentation activities. It’s well-organized, beautifully presented, and – as I mentioned – not overwhelming. With the mounting evidence of the benefits of fermented foods, this is a great guide to learn more about how one can best begin producing such foods at home.
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POEM: Kool-Aid Gets A Bad Rap
I’m told The Kool-Aid Man was seen busting through this wall moments before my arrival, but I can neither confirm nor deny it.
They say, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”
It’s because the 919 people at Jonestown who did so died of cyanide poisoning.
Except they didn’t.
Well, they definitely died, but they didn’t drink Kool-Aid.
They drank “Flavor Aid.”
You see, Jim Jones has been accused of many things,
but not being frugal in the conduct of mass murder isn’t one of them.
Why use the name-brand when everyone is going to keel over by cup’s end?
Now, Ken Kesey did use genuine Kool-Aid in his acid tests —
dubbed “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests” by Tom Wolfe —
because he knew the people he was feeding LSD would live,
if, perhaps, zoinked out of their ever-loving Fahrvergnügen,
and he wanted them to have a quality simulated fruit flavor experience.
I’ve been told many times not to drink the Kool-Aid,
but I can’t say that I’ve been given Kool-Aid with anything in it —
well, other than water, a crap-ton of sugar, and whatever Kool-Aid is made of —
which I assume is similar to the non-liquid ingredients in spray paint.
[And no fatalities have ever been proven in building collapses involving The Kool-Aid Man.]
the !n(tro)verted yogi 