Zeppole by Caleb Lost
We here at ETW do a St. Joseph’s Day post every year, mainly as a reason to feature zeppole, a delicious custard-filled doughnut. Currently I (L) am in a location where the zeppole landscape is unknown to me, so I’ll be up bright an early to see if I can find any at the local bakeries. But in the meantime here’s a recipe from Giada.
Filed under Finer Things Club, Holidays, World Eats
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, have a look at the oldest published Irish Soda Bread recipe [Via Sodabread.us]. It comes from a November 1836 Farmer’s Magazine (London) p.328 referencing an Irish newspaper in County Down.
Irish Soda Bread by Claire Brosman
A correspondent of the Newry Telegraph gives the following recipe for making “soda bread,” memorablystating that:
“There is no bread to be had equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the stomach, and improving the state of the bowels.”
The recipe follows:
“Put a pound and a half of good wheaten meal into a large bowl, mix with it two teaspoonfuls of finely powdered salt, then take a large teaspoonful of super-carbonate of soda, dissolve it in half a teacupful of cold water, and add it to the meal; rub up all intimately together, then pour into the bowl as much very sour buttermilk as will make the whole into soft dough (it should be as soft as could possibly be handled, and the softer the better,) form it into a cake of about an inch thickness, and put it into a flat Dutch oven or frying-pan, with some metallic cover, such as an oven-lid or griddle, apply a moderate heat underneath for twenty minutes, then lay some clear live coals upon the lid, and keep it so for half an hour longer (the under heat being allowed to fall off gradually for the last fifteen minutes) taking off the cover occasionally to see that it does not burn.”
If there’s anything we like as much as world eats, its cheap eats. Even in NYC there are still some deals to be had.
Dollar Slice by Matthew Hurst
Filed under Links
A group of students tracked back the sources of the food found in a taco truck taco. Though some of the food was in fact local, some of the spices had traveled around the world to get there. Makes you think how truly global most eating nowadays is (for better or worse), even when we don’t realize it.
Filed under Links
Wow, time flies. This blog has been a bit quiet as of late, but we have a good excuse, we promise. Both eaters are en route to becoming ABD and thus have basically been hunkered down over books and papers…. It’s a hectic time, but once Spring Break comes around, we may have a little more time to update. Especially since one of us is incorporating food culture into our research (good idea!).
Filed under Note
Contrary to what was previously reported, El Bulli is not going to close temporarily and then be re-imagined. It is going to be closing for good. I had no idea they were losing so much money!
Filed under Links
We don’t often feature foods from Canada on ETW, but it’s not for a lack of variety. With the Winter 2010 Olympics (we are both big Olympics fans) being held in Vancouver we decided that we wanted to feature Canadian food more prominently for the duration of the games. So to start off, with we have a Vancouver original with a perplexing name, the Nanaimo bar. Named after a town in British Columbia, the Nanaimo bar is a no-bake dessert with vanilla custard filling, a cookie crumb base and a coating of chocolate. Yum! The Nanaimo bar seems pretty simple to make, but there are certainly many permutations. Chowhound put out a call for the definitive Nanaimo recipe and a recipe from Closet Cooking came out on top.
Filed under Recipes, World Eats
Jaffa Cake by Stuart Bryant
A co-worker recently got back from the UK and brought back a dozen boxes of Jaffa cakes, specifically McVitie’s, the producers of the original Jaffa Cake in 1927. Jaffa cakes are a soft cookie with a layer of apricot/orange jam on one side, covered in dark chocolate. I am all for the flavor combo of orange and chocolate so these are right up my alley. However, that’s not all there is to the Jaffa cake story, apparently every British snack food maker has their own version of the cake. And moreover, there was some scandal over if they were proerly classified as “cakes” or “cookies” because in the UK cookies get taxed much more steeply than cakes. McVities even went to Inland Renvue to claim their status as ‘cakes.’
Filed under World Eats
El Bulli, the famed Molecular Gastronomic restaurant in Spain, which has often been called the best restaurant in the world – is closing for 2 years, starting in 2012 and will open in 2014 with a completely different concept. Wow – so much for eventually getting there!
L and M head to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia.
We’re excited.
Filed under Note, Quest, World Eats
The blog Fake NYC Restaurant Reviews is evil genius – and just what it sounds like. If I didn’t know better I’d almost swear some of these could be real.
Filed under Links
…Hello Ethiopian Diamond II. When we visited Africa Harambee over the summer it seemed like it was on death’s door, with nearly zero patronage. While we are sad to see it go, we are happy to see another African Restaurant fill the void – Ethiopian Diamond, who had an ownership interest in Africa Harambee as well. According to Time Out, the menu is similar to the original Ethiopian Diamond location, and while it has been open for a little while, we haven’t ventured to the new location yet at 7537 N. Clark St.
Filed under Reviews
Cafe Luna
116 North Chestnut Street
Champaign, IL
M went to school in Champaign-Urbana and it’s the source of some of our first food memories – like M’s first Thai food experience. Despite our fond memories, then, as now, Chambana is not known for its range of fine dining options. However, despite a preponderance of pubs and burrito joints, there are always a few diamonds in the rough. Cafe Luna is one of those diamonds, and offers and upscale tapas experience in downtown Champaign.
We arrived at Cafe Luna at 5PM on a Wednesday, not exactly a hopping time, so we received quick and attentive service. Cafe Luna is housed in the former train station, which gives the restaurant an expansive space, which was dimly lit and well appointed with dark wood tables, purple walls.
Cafe Luna has a range of tapas items, for mostly under $10, but it also boasts a selection of larger-sized entrees including bouillabaisse ($18) and yellowfin tuna with an anchovy-caper beurre blanc ($24). In terms of entrees, Cafe Luna features a different risotto every day, when we went the particular variety of risotto was asparagus and Parmesan ($16). The portion was quite large – big enough for both of us to share. While we are something of risotto snobs, Luna’s rendition was very good.
To start off, M and I ordered two tapas to split. First, we had Gruyere crostini ($5), which were four perfect rounds of bread smothered with sauteed mushrooms and melted Gruyère. We also got a tapas order of tuna tartare ($8). The tartare had a citrus dressing, and was almost ceviche-esque, though it is too bad the portion was extremely small.
We were impressed by Cafe Luna’s ambiance and menu, and it’s definitely a place to go when you are looking for something more than takeout pad thai (though there’s nothing wrong with that).
Filed under Reviews
New Years Eve in NYC ca. 1913 from the Library of Congress
Not only was yesterday the last day of 2009, it was the last day of the 2000’s (Naughties) or whatnot. So as a final farewell, here are some decade in food wrap ups. Prepare for a lot of looking back on molecular gastronomy, corn, Rachael Ray and organic food.
Happy Eating in 2010!
Filed under Links
2010 is almost here. If you’re looking for a celebratory idea – Chow has an interesting article that gives a different drink for every time zone. Start out slow with water in Kiribati on the International Date Line and finish up with a Lychee-infused Cheehu cocktail in Hawaii
Feeding America is an interesting project out of Michigan State that is dedicated to digitizing local cookbooks from all eras of American history. I came across this site when I was researching recipes for St. Lucia’s Day, and found a Swedish-American bilingual cookbook from 1897. You can browsw by year or interest, which includes ethnic cookbooks, and then look at pages of the cookbook itself or a trascript of the recipes. Other great finds include Aunt Babette’s Jewish cookbook from 1889 and a Chinese-Japanese Cook Book from 1914.
Offerings at Boule de Noël
Finally – after 2 years we made it to the macaron boutique at NoMi – Boule de Noël. There wasn’t actually a storefront, just a display case of desserts with a chef standing by to take any orders – it was $9 for three macarons – they couldn’t be bought individually, which was a bit of a bummer. The three flavors on offer were banana, chocolate Grand Marnier and lime mint. We opted for 2 chocolate (of course) and one mint. The presentation, of course was beautiful, and each macaron was picture-perfect and vibrantly colored. The macarons were delicious, too, and practically melted in your mouth, though the chocolate variety was the clear winner. Though a bit pricey, we enjoyed the macarons and are looking forward to next year’s macaron boutique incarnation.
Feast of the Seven Fishes by Austin Kleon
Have a Merry Christmas this year – and especially a Merry Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Filed under Holidays, World Eats
Christmas is right around the corner and that means gingerbread houses. Who could resist these Not Martha mini gingerbread houses made to perch on your mug [of hot cocoa].
Carnitas Uruapan
1725 W 18th St
Chicago, IL 
Here at ETW, we have noticed a couple of trends in our many years of restaurant-going. Food value in relation to quality goes up when owners and employees are primarily speaking a language other than English. Smaller places are better – street places are the best. And the fewer items on a menu, the tastier those items will be. So, if you have a small place with one menu item where nobody is speaking English, you will probably have a great time. Such is the case at Carnitas Uruapan, a small, unsuspecting establishment in Chicago’s predominantly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen, that serves up only one menu item – carnitas – and serves it very well.
The protocol: after walking in, the man behind the counter will greet you in Spanish. Greet him back, and ask for a number of libras (pounds) or carnitas, either mixta (mixed with skin and ears) or not. Say thanks, grab a table, and in a few minutes a large plate of carnitas will appear in front of you. Your server will also bring you a few small Mexican staple extras: the necessary 
complement of corn tortillas, pickled jalapenos and carrots, as well as two salsas: a thinner one with tomatoes and cilantro, and a much spicier, thicker version. After that, the combinations are up to you. We tended to be big fans of throwing everything together in a tortilla and scarfing it down, but then again, the carnitas are wonderful, juicy, and flavorful just on their own. The single pound we ordered turned out to be too much for both of us, so we had some for lunch the next day. Total bill for this feast? $10.
Just as well, the food is accentuated by two factors: the quick, efficient, no-nonsense service (always a plus in our eyes), and the absolutely fantastic pig murals and assorted decorations all around the restaurant.
On a final note, we are yet to be disappointed in Pilsen, either in terms of cultural institutions or eating establishments. Add Carnitas Uruapan to the ever-growing list of must-tries.
Eating The World 