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themanhattanfoodproject · 1 month

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Some food highlights from my travels this year:

The vegan burger at Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia topped with bacon and cheddar. I could detect real vegetables in the “patty” and since it was a bit of a later lunch and we had an earlier-than-expected dinner reservation that night, I actually liked that I got a balance of light and substance in this meal. The bourbon mayo, however, is something I need to bring into my life as soon as possible. My husband wants to make fried chicken for his birthday--this might be a surprise treat to go with it.

Strozzapreti with shrimp and scampi butter at Teller’s in Oklahoma City. This place was cooler for lunch than dinner, but I still was inspired by that dinner to fuck around with something similar, and while I’m still tweaking the recipe, I’m feeling optimistic that I’m close on this one.

Cajun shrimp cocktail at Parson’s Chicken and Fish in the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago. I love this restaurant, and this was my first visit to the Andersonville outpost, and the Cajun shrimp cocktail just spoke to me at the time. Served with some spicy cocktail sauce along with remoulade, it’s been one of my favorite versions of shrimp cocktail in a minute.

Mozzarella di bufala with tomato confit pizza from Stanzione 87 in downtown Miami. Sadly, this amazing pizzeria closed a few months ago, which sucks because I only got to have their pizzas twice in the span of six months, but I’m glad I got to enjoy it while I had the chance. Did it inspire the tomato confit pasta I have since made and enjoyed? Yes.

The Basque-style chorizo sandwich with Basque salad from Louis’ Basque Corner in Reno, NV. I can’t say that I loved the food in Reno, but this place was heralded and for good reason--it might be the best Basque food I’ve had in the US. This place is delightfully unassuming and the staff is really friendly, and it was the best meal we had in The Biggest Little City.

The vegetarian and chicken dumplings at Ah Chun Shandong Dumpling in Famous Foods Street Eats in Resorts World, Las Vegas. This was my first exposure to Famous Foods Street Eats, and I am kind of mad about that because every stall was open when my husband and I were there on this one-night stopover, but on a subsequent trip in April, this place never opened, even for dinner. I really wanted to have these dumplings again!

The mochiko fried chicken thighs at Kuleana Rum Works in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. To be frank, the poke was the most inspiring food I enjoyed, but most of it came from the local grocery store where they would make it fresh until 5PM daily, so I’d have it in to-go containers either in my hotel room or at a table in the bar area of the hotel that wasn’t open until the evening so they didn’t care. Mochiko fried chicken, which is made with cornstarch and sweet rice flour, is absolutely outstanding. The best fried chicken we had on Hawai’i was at Broke Da Mouth Grindz, but the Kona store has sadly been closed since May due to a fire at a laundromat next door , and I hope they are able to reopen sooner rather than later. They have other locations open on other islands, but it sucks to see such a wonderful place closed for something completely out of their control.

#food #travel food #food tales from the road #pasta #food inspiration #fried chicken #hawaii #oklahoma city #chicago #andersonville #philadelphia #reno #las vegas #miami #downtown miami #downtown reno #las vegas strip #resorts world

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brookstonalmanac · 7 months

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Beer Events 3.9

Events

In an effort to avoid growing anti-German sentiment, Star Brewing's Kaiser Beer renamed "Stag Beer" (Illinois; 1907)

James Brainard patented a Wooden Barrel or Keg and Head Therefor (1909)

New Jersey became the 46th and last state to ratify the 18th Amendment (1922)

Monk’s Cafe opened (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 1997)

Great Bear Brewing began packaging their beer in foil pouches, like fruit juice, for backpackers (Alaska; 2002)

France raises the minimum drinking age from 16 to 18 (2009)

Utah finally ends the private club system, opening bars to the public (2009)

Seef 1st sold in modern times (2012)

Breweries Opened

Table Rock Brewpub & Grill (Idaho; 1991)

Termini Brewing (Washington; 2011)

Kelly Brewing (California; 2019)

#Events

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binghamtonbeer · 6 years

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Tilquin Oude Mure - Also from the Monk’s fundraiser event. Had never heard of this before then. Will probably never get to try it again. But it was great. Tons of blackberry with balanced sourness.

#Tilquin #Oude Mure #Blackberry #Lambic #Beer #Craft Beer #Monk's Cafe #Philadelphia

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The United States vs. Billie Holiday: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics Was Formed to Kill Jazz

https://ift.tt/3smcRhE

This article contains The United States vs. Billie Holiday spoilers.

Federal drug enforcement was created for the express purpose of persecuting Billie Holiday. Director Lee Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday focuses a cinematic microscope on the events, but a much larger picture is visible just outside the lens. Holiday’s best friend and one-time manager Maely Dufty told mourners at the funeral that Billie was murdered by a conspiracy orchestrated by the narcotics police, according to Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. The book also said Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was a particularly virulent racist who hounded “Lady Day” throughout the 1940s and drove her to her death in the 1950s.

This is corroborated in Billie, a 2020 BBC documentary directed by James Erskine, and Alexander Cockburn’s book Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press, which also claims Anslinger hated jazz music, which he believed brought the white race down to the level of African descendants through the corrupting influence of jungle rhythms. He also believed marijuana was the devil’s weed and transformed the post-Prohibition fight against alcohol into a war on drugs. The first line of battle was against the musicians who partook.

“Marijuana is taken by… musicians,” Anslinger testified to Congress prior to the vote on the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. “And I’m not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type.” The LaGuardia Committee, appointed in 1939 by one of the Act’s strongest opponents, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, ultimately refuted every point made in the effective drug czar’s testimony. Based on the findings, “the Treasury Department told Anslinger he was wasting his time,” according to Chasing the Scream. The opportunistic department head “scaled down his focus until it settled like a laser on one single target.”

Federal authorization of selective enforcement should come as no surprise. Just this month, HBO Max released Judas and the Black Messiah about how the FBI and local law enforcement targeted the Black Panthers and put a bullet in the back of the head of Fred Hampton after he was apparently drugged by the informant. In MLK/FBI (2020), director Sam Pollard used newly declassified files to fill in the gaps on the story of the U.S. government’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Days ago, The Washington Post reported the daughters of assassinated civil rights leader Malcolm X requested his murder investigation be reopened in light of a deathbed letter from officer Raymond A. Wood, alleging New York police and the FBI conspired in his killing.

During the closing credits of The United States vs. Billie Holiday we read that Holiday, played passionately by Andra Day in the film, was similarly arrested on her deathbed. She was in the hospital suffering from cirrhosis of the liver when she was cuffed to her bed. They don’t mention police had been stationed outside her door barring family, fans, and well-wishers from offering the singer comfort as she lay dying. They also don’t mention that police removed gifts people brought to the room, as well as flowers, radio, record player, chocolates, and any magazines. When she died at age 44, it was found that Holiday had 15 $50 bills strapped to her leg, the remainder of her money after years of top selling records. Billie intended to give it to the nurses to thank them for looking after her.

As The United States vs. Billie Holiday points out, the feds had been watching Holiday since club owner Barney Josephson encouraged her to sing “Strange Fruit” at the integrated Cafe Society in Greenwich Village in 1939. Waiters would stop all service during the performance of the song. The room would be dark, and it would never be followed by an encore.

The lyric came from a three-stanza poem, “Bitter Fruit,” about a lynching. It was written by Lewis Allan, the pseudonym of New York schoolteacher and songwriter named Abel Meeropol, a costumer at the club. Meeropol set the words to music, and the song was first performed by singer Laura Duncan at Madison Square Garden.

Holiday and her accompanist Sonny White adapted Allan’s melody and chord structure, and released the song on Milt Gabler’s independent label Commodore Records in 1939. The legendary John Hammond, who discovered Holiday in 1933 while she was singing in a Harlem nightclub called Monette’s, refused to release it on Columbia Records, where Billie was signed.

The song “marked a watershed,” according to David Margolick’s 2000 book Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights. Influential jazz writer Leonard Feather called the song “the first significant protest in words and music, the first significant cry against racism.”

Holiday experienced the brutally enforced racial segregation of the Jim Crow laws during her trips south with her bands, according to Billie Holiday, the 1990 book by Bud Kliment. She was also demeaned at the Lincoln Hotel in New York City in October 1938 when management demanded she walk through the kitchen and use the service elevator to get on the stage. Holiday also caught flak for being considered too light skinned to sing with one band, and was on at least one occasion forced to wear special makeup to darken her complexion.

Holiday was 18 years old when she recorded her first commercial session with Benny Goodman’s group at Columbia Records, but knew firsthand that an integrated band would be more threatening than an all-Black group. According to most biographies, Holiday began using hard drugs in the early ’40s under the influence of her first husband, Jimmy Monroe, brother of the owner of Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem.

Anslinger, the first commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was an extreme racist, even by the standards of the time, according to Chasing the Scream. He claimed narcotics made black people forget their place in the fabric of American society, and jazz musicians created “Satanic” music under pot’s influence.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday doesn’t shy away from the drug czar’s blatant racism, but Garrett Hedlund’s Harry J. Anslinger doesn’t capture the full depths of the disgust the man felt and put into practice through his selective enforcement. Hedlund is able to mouth some of the epithets his character threw at ethnic targets, but most of the actual quotes on record are so offensive there is no need to subject any audience to them today. The film barely even mentions the strange and forbidden fruit imbibed in slow-burning paper that Anslinger obsessed over almost as much as Holiday’s song.

Movies

Judas and the Black Messiah Ending Shows Horrific Legacy of COINTELPRO

By David Crow

Culture

Ma Rainey’s Life and Reign as the Mother of the Blues

By Tony Sokol

Commissioner Anslinger came to power during the “Reefer Madness” era, and shaped much of the anti-marijuana paranoia of the period, according to Alexander Cockburn’s Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press. His first major campaign was to criminalize hemp, rebranding it as “marijuana” in an attempt “to associate it with Mexican laborers.” He claimed the drug “can arouse in blacks and Hispanics a state of menacing fury or homicidal attack.”

Anslinger promoted racist fictions and singled out groups he personally disliked as special targets. He said the lives of the jazzmen “reek of filth,” and the genre itself was proof that marijuana drives people insane. On drug raids, he advised his agents to “shoot first.” Anslinger persecuted many black musicians, including Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington. When Louis Armstrong was arrested for possession, Anslinger orchestrated a nationwide media smear campaign.

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics’ “race panic” tactics had a double standard. Anslinger only had a “friendly chat” with Judy Garland over her heroin addiction, suggesting she take longer vacations between films. He wrote to MGM, reporting he observed no evidence of a drug problem.

Anslinger ordered Holiday to cease performing “Strange Fruit” almost immediately after word got out about the performances. When she refused, he sent agent Jimmy Fletcher to frame the singer. Anslinger hated hiring Black agents, according to both Whiteout and Chasing the Scream, but white officers stood out on these investigations. He did insist no Black man in his Bureau could ever be a boss to white men, and pigeonholed officers like Fletcher to street agents.

Donald Clark and Julia Blackburn studied the only remaining interview with Jimmy Fletcher for their biography Billie Holiday: Wishing on The Moon. That interview has since been lost by the archives handling it. According to their book when Fletcher first saw Billie at the raid on her brother-in-law’s Philadelphia apartment in May 1947, “She was drinking enough booze to stun a horse and hoovering up vast quantities of cocaine.”

Fletcher’s partner sent for a policewoman to conduct a body search. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll strip,” Billie said before stripping and marking her territory in a provocative show of non-violent defiance by urinating on the floor (another action Daniels’ movie glosses over). Holiday was arrested and put on trial for possession of narcotics.

According to Hettie Jones’ book Big Star Fallin’ Mama: Five Women in Black Music, Holiday “Signed away her right to a lawyer and no one advised her to do otherwise.” She thought she would be sent to a hospital to kick the drugs and get well. “It was called ‘The United States of America versus Billie Holiday,’” she recalled in Lady Sings the Blues, the 1956 memoir she co-wrote with William Dufty, “and that’s just the way it felt.” Holiday was sentenced to a year and a day in a West Virginia prison. When her autobiography was published, Holiday tracked Fletcher down and sent him a signed copy.

When Holiday was released in 1948, the federal government refused to renew her cabaret performer’s license, which was mandatory for performing in any club serving alcohol. Under Anslinger’s recommended edict, Holiday was restricted “on the grounds that listening to her might harm the morals of the public,” according to the book Lady Sings the Blues.

The jazz culture had its own code. Musicians not only wouldn’t rat out other musicians, they would chip in to bail out any player who got popped. When it appeared Fletcher, who shadowed Holiday for years, became protective of Holiday, Anslinger got Holiday’s abusive husband and manager Louis McKay to snitch.

Two years after Holiday’s first conviction, Anslinger recruited Colonel George White, a former San Francisco journalist who applied to join the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The personality test given to all applicants determined White was a sadist, and he quickly rose through the bureau’s ranks. He gained bureau acclaim as the first and only white man to infiltrate a Chinese drug gang.

White had a history of planting drugs on women and abused his powers in many ways. According to Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, after White retired from the Bureau, he bragged, “Where else [but in the Bureau of Narcotics] could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest?” He “may well have been high when he busted Billie for getting high,” according to Chasing the Scream.

White arrested Holiday, without a warrant, at the Mark Twain Hotel in San Francisco in 1949. Billie insisted she had been clean for over a year, and said the dope was planted in her room by White. Bureau agents said they found her works in the room and the stash in a wastepaper basket next to a side room. They never entered the kit into evidence. According to Ken Vail’s book Lady Day’s Diary, Holiday immediately offered to go into a clinic, saying they could monitor her for withdrawal symptoms and that would prove she was being framed. Holiday checked herself into the clinic, paying $1,000 for the stay and she “didn’t so much as shiver.” She was not convicted by jury at trial.

Afterward White attended one of Holiday’s shows at the Café Society Uptown and requested his favorite songs. After the show was over, the federal cop told Billie’s manager “I did not think much of Ms. Holiday’s performance.”

In 1959, Billie collapsed while at the apartment of a young musician named Frankie Freedom. After waiting on a stretcher for an hour and a half, Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Hospital turned her away, saying she was a drug addict. Recognized by one of the ambulance drivers, Holiday was admitted in a public ward of New York City’s Metropolitan Hospital. She lit a cigarette as soon as they took her off oxygen.

In spite of being told her liver was failing and cancerous, and her heart and lungs were compromised, Holiday did not want to stay at the hospital. “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me in there. Don’t let them,” she told Maely Dufty.

Billie went into heroin withdrawal, alone. When Holiday responded to methadone treatment, Anslinger’s men prevented hospital staff from administering any further methadone, even though it had been officially prescribed by her doctor. Drug cops claimed to find a tinfoil envelope containing under an eighth of an ounce of heroin. It was found hanging on a nail on the wall, six feet from Billie’s bed where the frail and restrained artist could not have reached it.

The cops handcuffed her to the bed, stationed two policemen at the door and told Holiday they’d take her to prison if she didn’t drop dime on her dealer. When Maely Dufty informed the police it was against the law to arrest a patient in critical care, the cops had Holiday taken off the list.

Outside the hospital, protesters gathered on the streets holding up signs reading “Let Lady Live.” The demonstrations were led by the Rev. Eugene Callender. The Harlem pastor, who built a clinic for heroin addicts in his church, requested the singer be allowed to be treated there.

Holiday didn’t blame the cops. She said the drug war forced police to treat people like criminals when they were actually ill.

“Imagine if the government chased sick people with diabetes, put a tax on insulin and drove it into the black market, told doctors they couldn’t treat them, then sent them to jail,” she wrote in Lady Sings the Blues. “If we did that, everyone would know we were crazy. Yet we do practically the same thing every day in the week to sick people hooked on drugs.”

Holiday’s social commentary didn’t end with “Strange Fruit.” She wrote and sang about racial equality in the song “God Bless the Child,” her voice captured the pains of domestic violence. Most of Holiday’s contemporaries were too scared of being hassled by the feds to perform “Strange Fruit.” Billie Holiday refused to stop. She was killed for it. But never silenced.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday is streaming on Hulu now.

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The post The United States vs. Billie Holiday: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics Was Formed to Kill Jazz appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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rantsintechnicolor · 2 years

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we have been together 21 years

married for seven

i remember where we were when we learned it was finally legal

Philadelphia

Monk's Cafe

We ordered an expensive bottle of Cantillon to celebrate, the one with the cute, big, pink, naked girl on the label.

we love to travel

we love sci-fi, fantasy, dark comedy

we love food and cooking and making things

we love camping and nature and travel

we are curious

we love people

we hate people

we love our people

we love our problematic family though I make a greater effort with mine

we compliment each other

we make a good team

we love each other but not in the same ways

#maybe poetry #creative writing #writing #love #romance #marriage #m's wife

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all-my-books · 7 years

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2017 Reading

262 books read. 60% of new reads Non-fiction, authors from 55 unique countries, 35% of authors read from countries other than USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Asterisks denote re-reads, bolds are favorites. January: The Deeds of the Disturber – Elizabeth Peters The Wiregrass – Pam Webber Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi It Didn't Start With You – Mark Wolynn Facing the Lion – Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Before We Visit the Goddess – Chitra Divakaruni Colored People – Henry Louis Gates Jr. My Khyber Marriage – Morag Murray Abdullah Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines – Margery Sharp Farewell to the East End – Jennifer Worth Fire and Air – Erik Vlaminck My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me – Jennifer Teege Catherine the Great – Robert K Massie My Mother's Sabbath Days – Chaim Grade Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me – Harvey Pekar, JT Waldman The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katarina Bivald Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier Savushun – Simin Daneshvar The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran Beyond the Walls – Nazim Hikmet The Dressmaker of Khair Khana – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck *

February: Bone Black – bell hooks Special Exits – Joyce Farmer Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose Bright Dead Things – Ada Limon Middlemarch – George Eliot Confessions of an English Opium Eater – Thomas de Quincey Medusa's Gaze – Marina Belozerskaya Child of the Prophecy – Juliet Marillier * The File on H – Ismail Kadare The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara Passing – Nella Larsen Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers The Spiral Staircase – Karen Armstrong Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi Defiance – Nechama Tec

March: Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson Discontent and its Civilizations – Mohsin Hamid The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Patience and Sarah – Isabel Miller Dying Light in Corduba – Lindsey Davis * Five Days at Memorial – Sheri Fink A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman * The Shia Revival – Vali Nasr Girt – David Hunt Half Magic – Edward Eager * Dreams of Joy – Lisa See * Too Pretty to Live – Dennis Brooks West with the Night – Beryl Markham Little Fuzzy – H. Beam Piper *

April: Defying Hitler – Sebastian Haffner Monsters in Appalachia – Sheryl Monks Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho The Man Without a Face – Masha Gessen Peace is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh Flory – Flory van Beek Why Soccer Matters – Pele The Zhivago Affair – Peter Finn, Petra Couvee The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake – Breece Pancake The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson Chasing Utopia – Nikki Giovanni The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer * Young Adults – Daniel Pinkwater Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel – John Stubbs Black Gun, Silver Star – Art T. Burton The Arab of the Future 2 – Riad Sattouf Hole in the Heart – Henny Beaumont MASH – Richard Hooker Forgotten Ally – Rana Mitter Zorro – Isabel Allende Flying Couch – Amy Kurzweil

May: The Bite of the Mango – Mariatu Kamara Mystic and Rider – Sharon Shinn * Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis Capture – David A. Kessler Poor Cow – Nell Dunn My Father's Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Elmer and the Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * The Dragons of Blueland – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Hetty Feather – Jacqueline Wilson In the Shadow of the Banyan – Vaddey Ratner The Last Camel Died at Noon – Elizabeth Peters Cannibalism – Bill Schutt The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry The Food of a Younger Land – Mark Kurlansky Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue Words on the Move – John McWhorter John Ransom's Diary: Andersonville – John Ransom Such a Lovely Little War – Marcelino Truong Child of All Nations – Irmgard Keun One Child – Mei Fong Country of Red Azaleas – Domnica Radulescu Between Two Worlds – Zainab Salbi Malinche – Julia Esquivel A Lucky Child – Thomas Buergenthal The Drackenberg Adventure – Lloyd Alexander Say You're One of Them – Uwem Akpan William Wells Brown – Ezra Greenspan

June: Partners In Crime – Agatha Christie The Chinese in America – Iris Chang The Great Escape – Kati Marton As Texas Goes... – Gail Collins Pavilion of Women – Pearl S. Buck Classic Chinese Stories – Lu Xun The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West The Slave Across the Street – Theresa Flores Miss Bianca in the Orient – Margery Sharp Boy Erased – Garrard Conley How to Be a Dictator – Mikal Hem A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini Tears of the Desert – Halima Bashir The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs The First Salute – Barbara Tuchman Come as You Are – Emily Nagoski The Want-Ad Killer – Ann Rule The Gulag Archipelago Vol 2 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

July: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz – L. Frank Baum * The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali Duende – tracy k. smith The ACB With Honora Lee – Kate de Goldi Mountains of the Pharaohs – Zahi Hawass Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Chronicle of a Last Summer – Yasmine el Rashidi Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Leaving Yuba City – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty * Circling the Sun – Paula McLain Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken Believe Me – Eddie Izzard The Cracks in the Kingdom – Jaclyn Moriarty * Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg * One Hundred and One Days – Asne Seierstad Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * The Vanishing Velasquez – Laura Cumming Four Against the Arctic – David Roberts The Marriage Bureau – Penrose Halson The Jesuit and the Skull – Amir D Aczel Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Roots, Radicals, and Rockers – Billy Bragg A Tangle of Gold – Jaclyn Moriarty * Lydia, Queen of Palestine – Uri Orlev *

August: Sir Thursday – Garth Nix * The Hoboken Chicken Emergency – Daniel Pinkwater * Lady Friday – Garth Nix * Freddy and the Perilous Adventure – Walter R. Brooks * Venice – Jan Morris China's Long March – Jean Fritz Trials of the Earth – Mary Mann Hamilton The Bully Pulpit – Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Exit – Derek Humphry The Book of Emma Reyes – Emma Reyes Freddy the Politician – Walter R. Brooks * Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey * What the Witch Left – Ruth Chew All Passion Spent – Vita Sackville-West The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde The Curse of the Blue Figurine – John Bellairs * When They Severed Earth From Sky – Elizabeth Wayland Barber Superior Saturday – Garth Nix * The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt – John Bellairs * Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal The Philadelphia Adventure – Lloyd Alexander * Lord Sunday – Garth Nix * The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull – John Bellairs * Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie * Love in Vain – JM Dupont, Mezzo A Little History of the World – EH Gombrich Last Things – Marissa Moss Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke Dinosaur Empire – Abby Howard The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett *

September: First Bite by Bee Wilson The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander Orientalism – Edward Said The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan – Carl Barks The Island on Bird Street – Uri Orlev * The Indifferent Stars Above – Daniel James Brown Beneath the Lion's Gaze – Maaza Mengiste The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde * The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shahib Nye The Alleluia Files – Sharon Shinn * Gut Feelings – Gerd Gigerenzer The Secret of Hondorica – Carl Barks Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller The Abominable Mr. Seabrook – Joe Ollmann Black Flags – Joby Warrick

October: Fear – Thich Nhat Hanh Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 – Naoki Higashida To the Bright Edge of the World – Eowyn Ivey Why? - Mario Livio Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman Blindness – Jose Saramago The Book Thieves – Anders Rydell Reality is not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell * The Witch Family – Eleanor Estes * Sister Mine – Nalo Hopkinson La Vagabonde – Colette Becoming Nicole – Amy Ellis Nutt

November: The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing The Children's Book – A.S. Byatt The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta Who Killed These Girls? – Beverly Lowry Running for my Life – Lopez Lmong Radium Girls – Kate Moore News of the World – Paulette Jiles The Red Pony – John Steinbeck The Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage A Woman in Arabia – Gertrude Bell and Georgina Howell Founding Gardeners – Andrea Wulf Anatomy of a Disapperance – Hisham Matar The Book of Night Women – Marlon James Ground Zero – Kevin J. Anderson * Acorna – Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball * A Girl Named Zippy – Haven Kimmel * The Age of the Vikings – Anders Winroth The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Graham A General History of the Pyrates – Captain Charles Johnson (suspected Nathaniel Mist) Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers * The Lonely City – Olivia Laing No Time for Tears – Judy Heath

December: The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich Gay-Neck - Dhan Gopal Mukerji The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane – Lisa See Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright The Testament of Mary – Colm Toibin The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Vicente Blasco Ibanez Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O'Brien SPQR – Mary Beard Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild * Hogfather – Terry Pratchett * The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh Drowned Hopes – Donald E. Westlake * Selected Essays – Michel de Montaigne Vietnam – Stanley Karnow The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog – Elizabeth Peters Guests of the Sheik – Elizabetha Warnok Fernea Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg Wicked Plants – Amy Stewart Life in a Medieval City – Joseph and Frances Gies Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia – Mary and Brian Talbot Brat Farrar – Josephine Tey * The Treasure of the Ten Avatars – Don Rosa Escape From Forbidden Valley – Don Rosa Nightwood – Djuna Barnes Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn Over My Dead Body – Rex Stout *

#books #reading #2017

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stagepaul2-blog · 5 years

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Eat Philly's best BBQ with impressive young first responders -- and no lines

Updated 12:45 p.m.

The best barbecue in Philadelphia is not easy to lay hands on.

It’s found in a tiny East Passyunk-area storefront slightly off the main drag, and only available from noon to sellout, which often happens hours before the shop’s official 6 p.m. closing time. On weekends, a queue snakes out the door and wraps around the corner.

Yes, Mike’s BBQ really is that good — and there’s a chance to try it this week without standing in line. It’s what we’ll be serving at the Who’s Next First Responders happy hour on June 12.

What makes the South Philly joint’s meat special? Self-taught pitmaster Michael Strauss, who also co-owns Taproom on 19th, is a stickler for quality, while also being a fan of experimentation.

His juicy smoked chicken and candy-sweet spare ribs earned a Philly Mag Best of Philly, and his brisket cheesesteak (with housemade “whiz”) scored a shoutout from The Inquirer’s Craig LaBan. Food & Wine named Mike’s tops in all of Pennsylvania, and his Deep Fried Spliff was a huge hit with rapper-slash-TV chef Action Bronson.

We won’t have that over the top creation on Wednesday at Bok, but we will have plenty to chow down on, including something for people on plant-based diets. On the menu:

Smoked brisket

Smoked chicken

Smoked lentils (vegan, except there is honey in the BBQ sauce)

Mac ‘n’ cheese

Collards and beans

For dessert, we’ll have the perfect chaser for ‘cue in the form of classic sprinkle cupcakes by Bonnie Sarana Noll of the excellent Vanilya Bakery (also on East Passyunk).

Your $25 ticket includes all that plus beer/wine/soda. Bonus: Behind the bar will be Felicia D’Ambrosio, partner in Federal Donuts, resident beer expert at Monk’s Cafe and all-around cool Philadelphian.

Other cool Philadelphians you’ll meet that night? The impressive group of first responders we showcased in the latest edition of Who’s Next. Our 13 honorees are paramedics and firefighters, recent grads and city officials, counselors and coordinators of homeless services. In times of crisis, they’re the ones who vow to keep us safe.

The party in their honor is happening at Bok, the repurposed high school that’s turned into a hub for creative professionals and entrepreneurs. We’re taking over a ground floor spot that has a separate entrance, on Dudley Street — so head there instead of the main door on 9th Street.

After the event, everyone’s invited upstairs to check out the famous views at Bok Bar and the gorgeous interior design across the way at Irwin’s, where all ticketholders will get 10% off all night.

To recap: your $25 ticket (here) gets you Mike’s BBQ, drinks and a fun night with some of Philly’s best. See you there.

Source: https://billypenn.com/2019/06/08/eat-phillys-best-bbq-with-impressive-young-first-responders-and-no-lines/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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brookstonalmanac · 7 months

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Beer Events 3.2

Events

William Bass died (1787)

C. Conrad & Co. registered “Original Budweiser/“Budweiser Lager Bier” trademark (1886)

Isaac Danenberg died (1889)

Eldridge Pope Brewery incorporated (1898)

Interstate Highway Numbers introduced (1925)

1st legal liquor license issued for Jimmie Kramer's "Olde Central Cafe," later know as "The Peanut Bar" (Reading, Pennsylvania; 1934)

David Shore patented a Production of Brewers’ Wort (1965)

Delta Biotechnology patented a Yeast Promoter (1988)

Loretta Miller Kopmeier, the model for Miller's "Girl in the Moon" logo died at age 97 (1990)

Monk's Cafe opened (Philadelphia; 1997)

Carlsberg patented Barley for Production of Flavor-Stable Beverage (2011)

Breweries Opened

Blue Cat Brewpub (Illinois; 1994)

#Events

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binghamtonbeer · 6 years

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Russian River Pliny the Elder - At the Monk’s Sierra Nevada fire relief fundraiser. Wish all charitable donations tasted this good.

#Russian River #Pliny the Elder #PTE #Beer #Craft Beer #Double IPA #DIPA #IPA #Monk's Cafe #Philadelphia

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thesivellife · 5 years

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7 Little hidden gems in Philly

Have you ever visited one of these sites in Philadelphia? If not you should go to one this weekend! One of our favorite bloggers, @fishsflourish , is doing a segment on Philly and posted this incredible pic outside a little garden shop in Old City http://petitjardinenville.com/ . You’ll find the most wonderful window displays😍. Be sure to take in all the history, café’s and awesome sites of Old City while you’re there!

Petit Jardin en Ville in Old City ~ Owners and designers Claudia and Vincent opened Petit Jardin en Ville after their years abroad in France. Vincent, born in France grew up gardening beside his grandfather in the family orchard. Claudia who grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, always had a love for gardens, flowers and design.

The Philadelphia Magic Gardens on South Street ~ Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG) inspires creativity and community engagement by educating the public about folk, mosaic, and visionary art. PMG preserves, interprets, and provides access to Isaiah Zagar’s unique mosaic art environment and his public murals. https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/

The Cave of Kelpius in Wissahickon Valley Park ~ The first doomsday cult in the new world was located in Philadelphia, in today’s Wissahickon Valley Park. In 1694, a group of German monks and mystics called “The Society of the Woman in the Wilderness” emigrated to Philadelphia and settled along the Wissahickon Creek. They believed the world would end before the year was out, and wanted to live an ascetic life on the edge of the known world while they awaited the Second Coming.Their leader was 26-year-old Johannes Kelpius, a Transylvanian born in the same village as Vlad the Impaler. Like the rest of the forty-strong group he was educated, with an MA in theology from the University of Altdorf. The monks belonged to the Pietist movement in Lutheranism, though they claimed to be above sectarian divisions. More here: https://hiddencityphila.org/2011/11/doomsday-cult-on-the-wissahickon/

Shane Conectionery ~ America’s first candy store! in 1863 The Confectionery opens at 110 Market Street. The first confectioner on this site was a gentleman by the name of Samuel Herring, who also had been operating a confectionery supplies wholesale business next door at 112 Market since the 1850s. The Herring family were well noted and sought after for their confectionery mastery; several Herrings operated on this very block going all the way back to the 1840s. More here: https://shanecandies.com/history/

White Dog Cafe in University City ~ with locations in Wayne and Haverford as well (shout out to our listings in Haverford www.thesivelgroup.com) ! The first restaurant in Philadelphia to use environmentally sustainable, organic and local foods from farms within 50 miles, White Dog is known for warm hospitality and inspiring cuisine. More here: https://www.whitedog.com/

Blue Corn Mexican Restaurant and Bar in South Philly ~ The most authentic tacos and gorditas in town! Blue Corn is also on Philly Mag’s top 50 list! https://www.facebook.com/BlueCornRestaurant

The Poke Experience at Poi Dog Philly in University City ~ The Poi Dog Poke Experience invites guests (1-2 at a time) behind the scenes to learn about the history of traditional Hawaiian poke, break down fish with our staff and mix up poke with us. Afterwards, be treated to a poke feast with that you had a hand in creating. Parties of 6 are also welcome on select dates. Call to reserve and stay on top of events here: https://www.poidogphilly.com/schedule

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sfjazz · 7 years

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10 Acts to Catch at the 35th San Francisco Jazz Festival - SF Weekly

http://www.sfweekly.com/music/allshookdown/10-acts-to-catch-at-the-35th-san-francisco-jazz-festival/

10 Acts to Catch at the 35th San Francisco Jazz Festival

Don’t miss The Suffers, Lizz Wright, Cory Henry, and others.

Brett Callwood Fri Jun 2nd, 2017 12:19pm

San Francisco has a rich jazz history. A surge in blue-collar jobs on the docks in the 1940s saw a massive migration of African-Americans to San Francisco and, by 1950, more than 40,000 people lived in Fogtown, the Fillmore district that became known as the “Harlem of the West.”

The first jazz clubs opened in the Tenderloin and North Beach in the late 1940s and, by the mid-‘50s, more budding bar owners had followed suit, opening venues with names like Club Alabam, the New Orleans Swing Club, Elsie’s Breakfast Club, Harold Blackshear’s Cafe Society, The Favor, and the Havana Club.

Since 1983, the San Francisco Jazz Festival has been a highlight of the city’s musical calendar, a celebration of the many branches of the genre ranging from avant-garde to traditional. This year’s event includes more than 40 concerts spread over two weeks.

Here are 10 artists you should definitely check out.

The 35th San Francisco Jazz Festival takes place from June 6 to 18.

Jacob Collier

It’s been a wild couple of years for English singer, multi-instrumentalist, and inventor Jacob Collier. Through self-made, split-screen Youtube videos of him playing every instrument for songs such as Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” he was signed to Quincy Jones’ management company and, towards the end of last year, he released his debut album,In My Room. The man’s a bonafide phenomenon, a 22-year-old musical tour de force. He’s also part mad-scientist, designing and creating tools and devices that allow him to play multiple instruments on stage. See for yourself how he does it.

Lizz Wright

As much as jazz is about instrumentation, it’s also about the voice(s) behind the music. Lizz Wright first got into jazz by singing Billie Holiday songs before she discovered that she’s capable of penning her own sumptuous tunes. She’s released four albums on Verve Records, and her most recent full-length effort, Freedom & Surrender, is her debut for Concord. Wright’s voice is strong and smooth, yet husky, and it’s perhaps best on display in “Nearness of You.

The Suffers

The Houston 10-piece The Suffers have appeared on The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, among other national shows, but there’s no chance anyone is getting sick of this charming outfit anytime soon. Keyboardist Patrick Kelly and bassist Adam Castaneda formed the band six years ago, and it has made steady progress ever since. The self-titled debut album was released last year, and the gloriously multicultural Suffers will be playing a bunch of those tunes during their Jazz Fest performance.

Jake Shimabukuro

There’s only so much you can do with a ukulele, right? WRONG! Jake Shimabukuro is redefining what it means to be a ukulele player to the point that people are actually calling him “the Jimi Hendrix” of the instrument.Just listen to his interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and it’s clear that the ukulele is more emotive than most people give it credit for.

Cory Henry

Cory Henry can almost make his keyboard talk. Seriously, it feels as if the instrument is having a conversation with the super-charming and charismatic Grammy-winning member of Snarky Puppy. Henry will be at Jazz Fest with his band the Funk Apostles, playing a rich blend of gospel, R&B, funk, and jazz.

Derrick Hodge

Philadelphia’s Derrick Hodge is known to hardcore jazz-heads as the longtime bassist for the Robert Glasper Experiment. But he’s also a renowned solo artist, working with Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, Common, Mos Def, Timbaland, and Maxwell. From that mini-resume, it should be clear that Hodge is able to adapt his skills across genres, and it’s his ability to find the middle-ground where R&B and modern jazz meet that makes him so sought-after. Hodge — who worked on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke and A Take of God’s Will — released his solo debut, Live Today, in 2013. His sophomore effort, The Second, just came out, so expect a lot of tunes from it. This will be an instrumental set, but Hodge’s sound is accessible.

Bokanté

Some of the members of Bokanté are also in Snarky Puppy, but this is an altogether different outfit from the Texas jazz ensemble. The name of the band translates to “exchange” in Antillean Creole, which is spoken on singer Malika Tirolien’s home island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The band’s multicultural approach is passionate, with lyrical themes that tackle topics like racism, heartbreak,triumph, joy, and protest. Songs such as “Jou Ké Ouvè” are hair-raisingly epic and joyous.

Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra

To really experience a jazz festival, you just have to catch a show by a traditional jazz orchestra. No contemporary frills or R&B/hip-hop twists, just the real, old-school deal. The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is co-led by saxophonist Jeff Clayton, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton, musicians that, between them, have played with the likes of Count Basie, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Woody Herman. These are super-talented instrumentalists, capable of playing just about anything. But as a trio, they keep it smooth and traditional, and that works perfectly.

Jon Jangtet

One of the Bay Area’s own, Jon Jangtet is presenting his “Can’t Stop Crying For America: Black Lives Matter” project at this year’s festival. As the name suggests, this is an important piece of work that Jangtet has completed alongside collaborator and poet Amanda Kemp. Organized into vignettes, each song is named after a victim of violence, like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. Jangtet’s set isn’t going to be your average jazz toe-tapper — this one will be saying something.

Marquis Hill Blacktet

Marquis Hill was the winner of the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition a very prestigious prize in the jazz world. Since then, the Chicagoan has established himself as one to watch in the modern jazz world. The man can wrench a remarkable amount of passion, energy, and warmth out of his trumpet and, while the music of his Blacktet isn’t for every jazz newbie, it’s intricacies are accessible to the casual fan.

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keywestlou · 5 years

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BEWARE.....CASHLESS SOCIETY COULD SCREW BANK CUSTOMER

Major financial institutions have been talking about a “cashless society” for several years. They want it. Desperately.

One has to begin with the premise that banks will screw you if they can. A bank is no different than any other type corporation. The bottom line is what is important. Those who help create the bottom line not.

The 2008 recession an example. The banks turned mortgages into stock and traded them in bundles.

The government bailed the banks out. No one has gone to jail for the wrongdoings which occurred. Millions lost their homes in the process.

A cashless society is as it sounds. No more cash! Neither paper nor coin. Everything done with a card. Similar to using a debit card.

In addition to the banks, Visa and Master Card are obviously pushing for the cashless society. How their businesses would boom!

You do not want a cashless society. Unless of course you wish to give banks license to grab your money.

The primary reason the banks want a cashless society is to protect themselves from a “run on the banks.” The economy turns bad. People fear a great depression. Run to the banks to withdraw their funds. Cash is king!

Banks go broke in days. They do not have sufficient funds to cover the deposits. Banks close their doors. They ran out of money. Depositors screwed.

Banks are aware that a run on them would destroy them in a matter of days. Better the depositors hurt rather than the banks.

Some background so to better understand how the bank justifies pressing a button and electronically closing all accounts world wide.

Once a person deposits into a checking or savings account, the money is no longer theirs. Title passes to the bank. Yes. For real. The bank owns your dough once you deposit it.

By law. Banks have more influence than people.

The depositor “surrenders” title. The money placed in the bank is a “deposit.” Legally described as a “liability” owed by the bank to the “depositor.” The “deposited” monies become an “asset” of the bank. The bank as a practical matter has “borrowed” the money and is legally obligated to pay it back.

Computers have sophisticated banking. If a cashless society were in place and the bank feared a run or some other action adverse to the bank’s interest, the bank would only have to press a button and all accounts would be frozen shut.

A few governmental entities have addressed the problem and formally moved to reject the cashless society concept. San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

The issue recently came before the New York City Council. It opposed the adoption of cashless banking by a 43-3 vote. A loud no!

Tibetan monks have been in Key West the past few days. Part of an annual visit.

St. Paul’s Church on Duval has been their place to exhibit themselves and their wares. The monks chant and work on art. To them, “sacred art.”

On the alter floor of St. Paul’s, they have worked in sand on a large colorful “mandala.”

They will continue the art work till 2 this afternoon. Then they will march and chant as they carry the mandala to the Simonton Pier. Continuing to chant, the mandala will be allowed to flow out into the ocean.

Dan Reardon walked out of the Key West hospital yesterday afternoon. Doctors found nothing. He passed all the tests.

The Key West Citizen continues to publish daily copies from May Johnson’s 1896 diary. May is a 19 year old school teacher.

She appears to have the growing pains that today’s young people experience. Except ours begin around 12 with Mom doesn’t understand me, etc.

I am beginning to think May’s Mom does not like Miguel. May and Miguel seem to be together most days.

Time will tell.

The Key West Commission approved sidewalk seating along Duval for the rest of the year. Seating must be cafe style and only on the sidewalks. Permits are required.

I did not like the weekend mall that the City experimented with this past year. Must be the Commission thought it was a success. Ergo, the recent approval for sidewalk dining.

Key West has Fantasy Fest. New Orleans, Mardi Gras.

Key West now has its own Mardi Gras.

I believe this will be the fifth annual one.

It will be held saturday February 8 at the Key West Amphitheater. Dress Mardi Gras style.

Dinner, music, dancing, etc. One hundred sixty five dollars per person.

Fantasy Fest is free. This Mardi Gras event costly. Makes me wonder how successful the event will be. Will it take hold?

Eugene Robinson is the much read Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post. He and his wife spend the month of February in Key West each year. Eugene reads, writes and walks around town. His wife an artist. She is involved with Studios of Key West.

Robinson’s most recent column was titled: Trump Prefers Servile Minions Who Will Do What He Wants. Robinson’s opening paragraph: “How on earth does President Trump find them? All the worst people in the world.”

The Battleship Maine entered Havana Harbor this day in 1898 after having left Key West.

On February 15 at 11 am, it exploded and sunk. The Spanish- American War resulted.

Many Americans were killed. A good number are buried at the Key West Cemetery. A large memorial overlooks their final resting place.

Respect is still shown these American heroes. Each year a memorial service is held at the Cemetery. A touching remembrance.

Syracuse/Pitt noon today. Both teams with basically similar records. I obviously hope Syracuse wins. It will give them a 5 game winning streak. All ACC wins.

Enjoy your day!

BEWARE…..CASHLESS SOCIETY COULD SCREW BANK CUSTOMER was originally published on Key West Lou

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wineanddinosaur · 5 years

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Raising a Glass to Moules Marinières, the Ultimate Summer Seafood

“Mussels are amazing because they take on the flavor of whatever sauce they’re prepared in,” Alexandra Shapiro, owner of Manhattan eatery Flex Mussels, says. “They’re not overpowered by flavor, they’re enhanced by it.”

Shapiro speaks with authority on the topic. Flex sells one and a half tons of the mollusk every week and offers 23 different mussels dishes. The restaurant’s “Classic” preparation is inspired by the traditional French method of cooking mussels, moules marinières, which sees them steamed with finely diced shallots, garlic, thyme, and white wine.

Moules marinières might not strike most home cooks as an easy undertaking, but the dish calls for considerably less effort than a lasagne and cooks in a fraction of the time of mac and cheese.

When buying mussels, they should smell fresh like the ocean and their shells should be tightly closed. Unlike some other seafoods, farm-raised mussels are actually more favorable than their wild counterparts as they’re much cleaner when you buy them, they’re sustainable and help clean the waters they’re grown in, and they’re available all year round.

The bulk of the effort involved in preparing moules marinières comes before any pan hits the stove, during the cleaning of the ingredient. Broken shells should be discarded, while open mussels should be tapped sharply to make them close. Shells that are open and won’t shut indicate the mussel is dead and must not be cooked — you don’t want to make your dining companions sick, after all.

The live, undamaged mussels should be soaked in a sink filled with ice-cold water and scrubbed clean with a sponge to remove grit and dirt. A small paring knife can also be used to remove the fibrous “beards” that sometimes emerge from the inside of the shell. Once clean, all mussels should be lifted out of the water before the sink is drained.

A heavy-duty pan with a close-fitting lid is essential for cooking moules marinières. Its thick base will maintain the high temperatures required, while the lid locks in steam, cooking the meat and opening the shells in the process. An open shell signals the mussel is cooked, while any that remain closed after considerable cooking time should be discarded.

White wine is the most common alcohol used to cook the dish, but chefs use a number of different beverages to impart a range of interesting flavors.

At Monk’s Cafe, a legendary beer bar in Philadelphia, chef Keith Ballew adds a Belgian flair to his menu, incorporating beer into almost all of his entrees. Five different mussel preparations utilize a number of styles of beer, including Flemish sour ales, geuzes, and Belgian saisons.

“I like the nuances of beer because you can add a ton more flavor to the dish, especially if the brewer is using herbs in their beer, or fruit, or different types of malt,” he says. “We try not to do a lot of hoppy beers, though, as they tend to get bitter as they cook down.”

In Normandy, chefs prepare moules à la normande using guzzles of hard cider. Diced fresh apples, on the other hand, can impart “acidity, softness, and sweetness,” according to Michelin-starred French-Belgian chef Raphael Francois. “I’m crazy about garlic, too, to the point where I don’t care if I smell of it,” he says. “When my mussels are ready, I add smashed garlic and toss it just a little bit, without cooking.”

Mussels cooked in white wine and arak at Lebanese-inspired Brooklyn eatery Seven Seeds

In Brooklyn, at Lebanese-inspired Seven Seeds, chef Melissa O’Donnell fuses classical cooking techniques with her love of Lebanese cuisine. For her mussels dish, she includes arak, an aniseed-infused Middle Eastern distillate that tastes similar to pastis. (French chefs regularly add pastis to seafood sauces and stews.)

O’Donnell cautions against using too much arak, as its flavor can become overpowering. To bring balance, she suggests mixing it with white wine, in a two-to-one ratio of wine to arak. The resulting sauce is rich and flavorsome, with a notable aniseed kick that pairs perfectly with the salty, ocean-flavored mollusk.

Whether you’re using wine, beer, hard cider, or a little-known spirit, when it comes to side dishes, there are only two choices: bread or fries (à la Belgian moules frites).

A hearty wedge of sourdough is perfect “to suck up the juice,” O’Donnell says, while the tangy bread adds an extra layer of flavor. For Francois, however, nothing compares to the combination of mussels and hand-cut fries — though only after they’ve been dunked in the cooking liquor. Shapiro agrees and says, “Not doing that is a huge missed opportunity.”

For drinks pairings, most point to crisp, coastal whites, such as French Muscadet or Galician Albariño, as mussels’ perfect match. Others, including Shapiro, urge against overthinking it. “I’m a big fan of drinking what you want to drink,” she says. “Stop worrying about what the food world considers to be the ‘right thing to do’ and drink what you’re going to enjoy.”

Moules Marinières Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ bunch thyme, leaves picked and chopped

2 ½ pounds mussels, cleaned (see above)

250 milliliters white wine, e.g. Muscadet

¼ bunch parsley, leaves picked and chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat the oil in a large cast-iron pan and add finely diced shallots, garlic, and thyme. Gently sweat the ingredients until they become translucent (around 2 minutes).

Increase the heat to high and add the mussels. Cover with a lid, and cook for 1 more minute.

Before the shallots and garlic start to burn, add white wine and continue to cook with the lid on until you can hear the first shells begin to open (around 5 to 10 minutes). If you’re unsure, quickly lift off the lid and take a peak.

Remove from the heat and keep covered for 5 more minutes. During this time, the remaining mussels will open.

Stir in butter and chopped fresh parsley.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with a doorstep-sized wedge of sourdough or freshly cooked hand-cut fries.

The article Raising a Glass to Moules Marinières, the Ultimate Summer Seafood appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/best-mussels-recipe-wine/

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