NYT Dining & Wine 01/21/09

Julia Moskin anoints the cellphone as Top Kitchen Toy. She goes through all the uses you'd think she would including photography, list making, unit conversions, and looking up recipes. I'm still not willing to spend $80 a month on something like an iPhone or Blackberry. It just doesn't add that much value to my life. I'm content using my camera to take pictures, my computer or books to look up recipes, my calculator for unit conversions, and...GASP! pen and paper for lists. I can do all of these tasks BETTER with my current tools.

Eric Asimov dicusses South African wines and proclaims the country "one of the greatest sources for moderately priced cabernet sauvignon on the planet today". Asimov and his panel give a $32 bottle four stars (De Trafford Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2004) and has several 'Best Value' recommendations (although $32 really isn't all that bad for a great bottle of wine). Fabricant includes a recipe for Lamb Shanks in Red Wine with Prunes.

Bruni reviews a recently renovated Daniel and says of the many touches: "These flourishes make you feel that you’ve slipped into a monarch’s robes, if only for a night, and turn an evening into an event." He gives Boulud's namesake four stars. No surprise there.

This week's Minimalist column includes a recipe for 15-Minute Fried Herb Chicken, using a paste of onion, herbs, tahini, and olive oil to coat the chicken. Sounds great.

Marian Burros provides insight into the Innaugural Luncheon in the Capitol, although the menu and other details are available at the official Innaugural web site.

Finally, although this isn't in the Dining section, I want to briefly mention something Obama said yesterday in his Innaugural Address: "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." I'm all for making the most of the sun and the winds (although I'm a little less pro-wind power as it changes weather patterns), but we just shouldn't be using products from the soil for cars and factories. I won't go in to terrible detail here and now -- perhaps I'll explore this issue in a future post -- but let's use our soil for food -- healthy, nutritous food. We don't need more ethanol and we don't need more corn by-products.