SF chronicle suck

I used to read the SF chronicle in print when I lived there (Niles always gave me his copy after he was through), now that I live in the land of freezing ass cold, I still read it online periodically.

On their website, you are allowed to leave comments on every thing including news stories, reviews, commentaries, and of course blogs.

I read the food section more often than others, but I do think it is not serving the bay area residents and its food professionally properly. One of the biggest problem has long been the chief restaurant critic and editor, Michael Bauer. The disdain for his extremely subjective assessment of restaurants, his tireless and partial promotions for restaurants connected to people he knows, and his inability to provide sensible and thoughtful critique on anything beyond comfort food is universal for anyone work in service industry.

I have posted many critical comments on Bauer's reviews and blog posts, but I have been careful to keep the comments objective and avoid mere personal attack. But my account has recently been blocked by the chronicle for reasons that I don't quite understand. What is even more interesting is that he recently accused some of the posters on his blog as having psychological problems. WTF? Not only he is a horrible critic who can not take criticism, now he feels qualified to give out mental health advices? What do you think those hard working people of the restaurants that he blasted with undeserved and misguided negative reviews feel?

what is the most baffling aspect in all this is how the chronicle has trusted Bauer in this capacity of influence and power for so many years while he is obviously a train wrack that is happening over and over again in front of our eyes. It may be no surprise then to learn that the chronicle is itself in serious trouble.

all down hill from here

maybe I am over reacting a little, but I think obama is done.

what was hope now is hopeless.

heat wave!

the temperature has been hovering around freezing for like 3-4 days now, comparing to the freeze we had during the first week or 10 days of Jan, this feels like heat wave.

Alice's soap box or something good for kids?

one more news item that caught my eye recently. Caitlin Flanagan wrote this piece (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/school-yard-garden) in the Atlantic calling out Alice Waters and her edible school yard program.

a lot of people have voiced their dismay and objection to Flanagan's article (pretty typical of more liberal news/opinion outlets). While I don't think the gardens are a bad idea (my first grade class grew green beans right outside our class room, in the middle of taipei, it was fun), and it is good for kids to learn that food doesn't have to come out of a McDonald's wrapper, Flanagan did make some interesting points.

To me, her attack may not have been entirely fair, but I think it did accomplish something important, it is making these programs have to defend themselves from a critical point of view. They can't just keep doing these programs, keep asking for money just because some nice lady who owns a restaurant in Berkeley thought it was a good idea. These programs have to take a harder look to make sure that they are not just wasting the time of the students, and something good is coming out of this. The children needs to benefit, that is the bottom line of an education, that is why they go to school, growing vegetable or not.

google = hypocrite?

well, my blog might be shut down since google owns blogger.

but like a lot of people, I am wondering how google "managed to gain access to a computer in Taiwan that it suspected of being the source of the attacks" (from the Times). Did they hack this server in Taiwan? If so, aren't they doing exactly the same thing that the alleged chinese hackers were doing? Last time I checked, being a large corporation doesn't give you the right to break the laws .... well, unless it is a company run by Dick Cheney, but I digress.

a good attempt, but no bacon

here is the last of that duck, the one that yielded a nice dinner of roasted duck breast, salted duck legs as well as the soup with sour mustard green.

this salt cured duck breast, or duck breast prosciutto as some call it, required a little bit of creativity to do in my small and cramped fridge. I found a few recipes online, and followed the general directions, but I think something was lost in my reading because the result was way too salty. It looks decent, but the salt overwhelms all other taste (I used a little coriander and black pepper).

I will probably not be able to eat this on its own, but I can use it to season vegetables or soups.

the duck that keeps on giving

new years day, snowing hard outside, so clearly I was not going to step outside unless the building is on fire (knocking on my table right now).

I decided to make a soup with the bones I saved from the duck I bought not long ago, with sour mustard green. This is a combination that my grandmother used when making a soup with duck (scented with ginger and star anise). the mildly tart greens cut through the rich broth nicely. adding some rice noodle, this was a simple one dish meal for a cold day.