Yearly Archives: 2008

Fog in the East Bay

fog in el cerrito CA in november 2008

It was a foggy evening.  Fog is no stranger to the East Bay, but I can’t remember when I’ve seen such thick fog meandering around from bay to hills.  When Steve walked Berry, they had a good time with it because Berry enjoys anything that involves colder weather. 

fog in el cerrito california november 2008

Check out the photos I took outside the house.  Although you lose something in the translation with a photograph, they at least give you an idea of how fog looks in these parts.  When you’re in it, it’s a little like pea soup, and sometimes it moves past you in moist clouds. 

fog in el cerrito california in november 2008

 This was, however, a perfect evening for congee, aka jook, so it was handy that I decarcassed my freezer in the morning to make way for Thanksgiving leftovers.  I have a congee recipe here, so I will only remind you again to freeze all your poultry bones — raw and cooked — and when you have enough saved up you can make this delicious, warming rice porridge.  I wish I had a photo of Berry in the fog; he looks like such a criminal when it wafts around him.

bowl of congee or jook

Usinger’s Wurst

Our Usinger’s Wurst order arrived today, so we had German pork products for dinner.  This is a place we always wanted to order from for Christmas, but thought better to first do a trial run to make sure things are up to cut.  Fred Usinger, Inc.  is located in Milwaukee – a pretty good meat city – though I have to say I was a bit disappointed.  As many of you know, I always make my base order from Karl Ehmer, and then add a few things from another butcher.  Ehmer’s offers free shipping, which saves you money even though the products are pricier.  Note that I paid an amount for shipping and handling equal to what I shelled out for actual products from Usinger’s, which is standard everywhere but Ehmer’s.  The reason I keep sniffing at the door of other companies is to find the perfect Leberwurst.  Karl Ehmer’s is good, but, like many brands, is too heavy on the cure and/or smoke for me.  After awhile I find this sickening.  I want to taste the liver, I want it to be moist, and I don’t want to taste TCM.  I also like it chunky, or grob.  Next, I am looking for the Grobe Mettwurst of my childhood – an almost spreadable, tangy, coarse, cured pork sausage product that might be lightly smoked, if at all.  Something like this may be had in the form of Grobe Teewurst, which is really a spread, from places like Schaller & Weber and Ehmer’s, but it’s not really the same thing.  Some meat packers even call Teewurst Mettwurst, which is an outrage.  Speaking of outrage, Karl Ehmer sells Canadian Bacon as Nuss Schinken! Madness.  Back to the illusive Mettwurst.  You have to know your stuff to find this, and you will only be able to come close, since it cannot be legally sold in the US in its original form, according to some of my German butcher friends.  In many cases, sausage close to Mettwurst is sold in the US as summer sausage, but there are so many varieties of the latter that trial and error is not a good way to go.  Call the meat packer and ask for one of the butchers from Germany and he’ll be able to steer you.  For example, the Schaller & Weber people told me that the closest they come to my fantasy is cervelat, which is pretty damned good.  Anyway, we ordered a small quality of each of six liverwursts, a smoked Mettwurst, and a few other things from Usinger’s.  Everything arrived well packed and frozen solid.  I was a little concerned about the frozen part.  Allow me to give you a rundown and review:

Tongue and blood:  Good.  Plenty of tongue.  The downside is the heavy smoke flavor.  They made a mistake and sliced it when we ordered a chunk.  Some in our party were not amused by this, since slicing destroys the texture.
Braunschweiger liverwurst:  Unremarkable.  Springy, perhaps from being frozen or not having enough fat.  It tore.  Not bad on the cure/smoke end of things, but not much flavor.
Milwaukee-style liverwurst:  Ditto.  Could not really tell the difference from the non-Milwaukee version.
Hessische liverwurst:  The only liverwurst  that was truly distinctive.  Pretty good, and heavily smoked, but it worked here.  More creamy than dry.
Old-fashioned liverwurst:  Not really chunky, though they said it would be.  Same review as the Braunschweigers.
Ring liverwurst:  My mother’s favorite, and a bit more flavorful and creamy.
Bavarian leberkaese:  This is a loaf made of pork puree that’s baked and then sliced thickly.  Good, but dense.  If you want it lighter get it from Ehmer’s or another butcher.
Topfsuelze:  No idea, as they sent head cheese by mistake, which is much sharper (more vinegar) and comes in a tube, as opposed to a square.  I was seriously pissed off about this.  When I called they said they’d send the right one out to me or provide a credit.  Nice people, but my nose was out of joint because this is my favorite thing in the whole world, and I didn’t get any.  Not all chopped pork jowl-area scrap meat in aspic is the same, after all.  The head cheese was tasty,  though, as it had plenty of tongue and other good bits, so it wasn’t a total loss.  Steven really liked it, partly because it cut through the heaviness of some of the other items.
Mettwurst, coarse, smoked:  Almost like kielbasa, so it did not work for me.  It’s hard to find the real deal because of the FDA regulations involving the sale of cured meat.
Beef, Farmer & Thueringer summer:  All fine.  The beef has some tang to it.  Texture is firm.  These are like salamis.

Bottom line is that Usinger’s products are good, but tailored to the American palate, in my opinion.  The liverwursts come across as less rich in taste and texture — more like top supermarket versions.  They are also less unique as individuals, whereas there is no question with Ehmer’s, Schaller & Weber, Koenemann’s and Stiglemeier that you know which one you are dealing from first bite, if not sight.  I like that the smoke and cure flavors are less pronounced in all cases but the Hessische – which is by nature heavily smoked – but not enough to pay for that kind of shipping, given other issues.  Berry liked all of it – even the head cheese, which he grabbed after I dropped a piece on the floor and it bounced away from me.  Even I have to admit this is kind of scary.

Snacking taters

Little red potatoes steamed with dip

Small red potatoes make a great snack.  Steam them for about 5 minutes, allow to cool, and serve with a dipping sauce.  Treat them gently so you don’t tear the skins – they’re prettier for service that way.  A simple dip is easy to make:  toss a small jar of fire-roasted red peppers, a couple of tablespoons of good mayo, 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, the juice of one lemon and some salt and pepper into your food processor.  Process with the blade until the mass is smooth but not runny.  They love this at my place, particularity during the summer, when I make a variety of dips.  Try to remember that Greek-style yogurt is your friend when it comes to throwing together dipping sauces on the fly.  If nothing else, you can add fresh garlic, lemon, salt and pepper to produce a serviceable dip, but use a yogurt with at least 2% fat or you’ll have no mouthfeel.

Cruising, part II

the pacific ocean off a cruise ship near california in june 2008

The Princess Patter – a daily newsletter delivered to your stateroom – really got down to business in terms of activities today.  Yesterday’s served as an information clearinghouse for the cruise, overall, indicating nightly dress codes and how the dining works as well as the names of key crew members….you get the idea.  Today there was a full schedule of events, including morning and late afternoon trivia, where I met a group of about seven people who would, along with myself, make up a team of six in various concatenations for all the rest of the trivia events during the cruise.  There are at least two basic trivia contests daily, and then they throw in others, like Jeopardy-style trivia, as well as other games.  No matter what else was going on, no matter what the port of call, our group attended trivia events religiously.  Dinner was nice, though an annoying couple joined us at table 133.  They were nice people, don’t get me wrong, but the man was clearly high-maintenance, needing to hold court, and the woman somewhat pretentious, talking about the merits of her jewelry, particularly how some of it was designed by her husband, no doubt looking for “oohs” and “ahs.”  My guess is that they don’t have a pot to piss in.  They also gave off a bit of a religious vibe, and not in a good way.  Steven and Jill, our Union City folks, were there, which was great because they are not only nice people, but down to earth and fun.  Jill is a smoker trying very hard to quit, so she and my Mom have something in common.  They both rushed out of the restaurant when the last fork was set down – which was to be repeated many times over the course of the cruise.  This evening we saw the better of two excellent performers, Tony Pace, a singer who also does singing impressions.  He has a rich voice in the lower registers and performs ballads skillfully chosen to make the most of his range.  He has a bit of a schmaltzy style, but it works because he comes across as a sentimental guy.  His impressions were spot on and hilarious.

friends we met on the star princess in june 2008

Cruise to Mexico

On the star princess cruise ship in san francisco in june 2008

Today my Mother and I hopped in a cab and headed for Pier 35 in San Francisco for a Mexican Riviera cruise.  We kind of hopped.  I had two large suitcases and a luggage cart loaded with my laptop, good camera, video camera, bag with a six-pack of small bottles of spring water, a liter of spring water and a container of Kirkland disinfectant wipes, and my handbag.  My Mom brought one monster of a suitcase.  The luggage cart set-up fell apart as we tried to maneuver it into the cab, which became a problem when we got out in front of Pier 35, where there was a mob scene.  Porters were lined up and one grabbed our bags as I struggled to reassemble the camera and laptop setup with a bungee cord.  We said “bye-bye” to our bags and made our way into the terminal, through the various check-points and then up the gangway into the Star Princess, one of Princess Cruise Line’s larger luxury ships, able to accommodate 2,600 passengers and a crew of 1,000.  The Star Princess was built in 2002 and this was its first voyage after being in dry dock for a renovation, so we were able to enjoy an especially modern and clean environment.  Why a ship would need a reno after only six years seems odd, but I suppose cruise ships take a beating from both passengers and the elements.  There was also a major fire on the Star Princess in 2006 – something I chose not to think about while on the cruise but which entered my mind every now and again, like when I was in our windowless cabin during the night.  We made our way to our lovely little room to check it out and then straight to the buffet to tie on the feed bag.  We arrived on ship at about 11:00 a.m., so there was plenty of time after lunch to take a few photos of the San Francisco skyline and go exploring.  As we did the latter, my Mother, no stranger to cruising, explained the ins and outs of how things work, and how the card I was issued in the terminal could be used to charge anything that was not included in the price of the cruise, like drinks with alcohol.  Cruising is an almost cash-less experience, and you only need real money in ports of call, it turns out.  We unpacked when our bags arrived, which was late in the afternoon, and had no problems at all with space and with getting about 30 extra hangers from our room steward, John, a lovely young man from the Philippines.  At about 5:30 p.m., after getting organized, we took the elevator down to the Portofino Dining Room on the 5th floor for dinner.  We were pissed off about being wait-listed for traditional (reserved) dining, but found that “anytime dining,” which is what Princess calls it, is just fine.  I had been convinced that this happy moniker meant that it would actually suck compared to traditional dining in the Amalfi Dining Room, but this did not bear out.  We were seated at table 133 with one couple each from Union City and San Bruno, the latter being from Germany, and a few other Bay Area folk.  This is what I was waiting for:  nightly fine dining with no driving home afterwards, no parking, no check, no having to settle for only one of something if you want two.  To be able to sit down at a beautifully appointed table and receive super-attentive service is one of the great pleasures in life, and one that I planned to never miss while on this cruise.  Why would we be crazy enough to eat dinner in the Horizon Court Buffet?  Better to go there late in the evening, when you are looking for a little snack that might have been a main course in one of the fancy dining rooms earlier in the day, or perhaps a ripe slice of cantaloupe, or hunk of Gouda.  I caught on quickly that a cruise means many meals per day, so you find yourself eating modestly at each so you are able to experience all.  I certainly did not want to miss the daily formal tea, what with its little savories and pastries, nor did I plan to do without the mini paninis I saw in passing this afternoon at the International Cafe, located in the Piazza on deck 5.  The final act of the night, after a civilized cup of tea for myself and a cigarette and coffee for my Mom out by the Terrace Pool, was the application of anti-nausea patches behind each of our right ears, to ensure we would not spend the next couple of days in rough waters in our cabin wishing we were dead, which is apparently how sea sickness makes you feel.  You can see the water in the pool listing to one side with the ship.  Oh, Lord, I forgot to mention that this is Fleet Week in San Francisco, so we all had the pleasure of a Blue Angels demo from the deck, as well as major traffic on The Embarcadero en route to the ship.

terrace pool on the star princess in june 2008