Fresh Chablis Mustard will be Served on Tap at NY Wine Expo 2013, March 1-3.

Here's the scoop:

"At the upcoming New York Wine Expo at the Javits Center, the famed French mustard maker Maille will sample Fresh Chablis mustard  "à la pompe" (on tap) during the Expo's Grand Tasting events on bothFriday evening, March 1 and Saturday afternoon, March 2."

Il n'y a que Maille qui m'aille.

From February 27 to March 10, the Japan Society in New York "offers a retrospective of rarely shown films produced from the late 1950s to the early 1960s by mercurial, pioneering Japanese film studio Shintoho" with its Globus Fim Series 2013.

About the studio"

Founded in 1947 by employees of the Tokyo-based Toho Company during strike action (its name means "New Toho"), Shintoho promptly established itself as one of the major studios of the second golden age of Japanese cinema, specializing in low- (or no-) budget productions that have become absolute cult classics.

Selection for INTO THE SHINTOHO MIND WARP: GIRLS, GUNS & GHOSTS includes New York premiere of Vampire Bride (1960) on March 2nd.

Vampire Bride plot:

"Fujiko, a dance student with a horrific facial scar, seeks help from a sorceress in the mountains, who ultimately transforms her into a powerful monster. After undergoing a ritual that results in her temporary death, she returns to life as a fanged, hairy monster. Not long afterwards, her dance school classmates Kiyoko, a film star, and Eiko, a model, encounter Sayoko, a girl who is the spitting image of the presumed-dead Fujiko. Sayoko, it soon becomes apparent, is not a double, but the original in a new guise. But as much as Sayoko wants to live a normal, peaceful life, she cannot control the monster within her who wants payback against her tormentors."

More titillating is Flesh Pier (1958) is also having its New York premiere on March 2nd.

Synopsis:

"Another world of illicit pleasures lies beneath the glittering neon surface of Tokyo. Ken Utsui stars as an undercover cop investigating a call-girl ring operating out of a Ginza nightclub, where he is surprised to discover the boss's moll is his long lost love. He also recognizes a fashion model at the club—Haruko (Akemi Tsukushi), whom he knew as a reporter when he was fighting crime in Kobe. The sharp-eyed pianist, Teruo (Teruo Hata) senses something fishy about these two—and relays his suspicions to Rumi, who has Haruko confined in Teruo's room."

Sex, blood and B-Movies for Tokyo Thursdays # 251

Previously: Soy Sauce Broiled Dango Balls, Salty Tea Snacks from Japanese Farm Food cookbook

(* Image from Vampire Bride © C.E.C.-Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, from Japan Society's program pages)

Program for 4th edition of Les Printemps de Chateauneuf du Pape (April 6-7, 2013) is falling into place like pieces of a puzzle.

80 producers will be present.

Besides the degustations, a number of workshops ('Ateliers de Degustation') will be offered.

They range from Vieux Millesimes to Grenache dans tous ses Etats featuring both American and French wines and also Chateauneuf du Pape et Fromage (and cheese).

This cheese and wine pairing session will be led by Claudine Vigier on Sunday, April 7 at 11 am at Maison des Vignerons. 

American winemakers will be present at the event (list is not final yet).

Check Printemps de Chateauneuf du Pape Facebook Page for updates.

The city of Briancon is a good place to stay in for an Alpine vacation.

It is one of the 2013 winter vacation destinations offered by Voyages SNCF.

For example, in March you can take night train (Intercite de Nuit) from Paris Austerlitz at 9:22 pm on Tuesday the 12 and arrive next morning at 8:30 am in Briancon for 42 Euros.

Return on Monday, March 18 also by night train leaving Briancon at 8:30 pm and you will be back in Paris at 7:37 am, refreshed and in time to head for work. Fare for return trip is 65 Euros.

Total cost of trip: 107 Euros.

On both legs of the trip you get a reclyning seat in second class.

For those planning a visit in April, there are currently fares as low as 33 Euros (each way).

Briancon is a UN World Heritage site and is also known as Europe's highest town. Old town was built by Vauban.

You could then book your stay at Hotel Ibis Briancon- Serre Chevalier (Room rates start at 70 Euros, Breakfast not Included) close to the slopes.

(* Briancon logo from Tourisme Briancon Facebook Page)

It's been almost a month now since I published Eating for Health and Happiness, Fuchsia Dunlop 'Every Grain of Rice' Interview...

I thought it was time to follow up with second recipe excerpted from Every Grain of Rice, Simple Chinese Home Cooking (W.W. Norton, February 2013).

Stir-fried cucumber with wood ear Huang gua mu’er

Stir-fried cucumber can be a revelation if you’ve never imagined eating it hot. This recipe, a simple marriage of sliced cucumber and frilly cloud or wood ear mushrooms, is a Sichuanese supper dish taught to me by Chef Zhang Xiaozhong. Add a little pork if you like (see variation, right). 
And if you have neither pork nor mushrooms, sliced cucumber simply stir-fried on its own, with a little salt, can be really wonderful, bringing out a whole new side to this familiar vegetable.

Ingredients:

A handful of wood ear mushrooms (about 4 oz/100g, after soaking)
4 oz (100g) cucumber
1 spring onion, trimmed
1 Sichuanese pickled chilli or 1/2 fresh red chilli
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp peeled, sliced garlic
1 tbsp peeled, sliced ginger
Salt
Light soy sauce, to taste
1/4 tsp potato flour mixed with 1 tsp cold water

Pour hot water from the kettle over the mushrooms and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
Cut the cucumber section lengthways into thin slices. Lay these flat on a chopping board and, holding the knife at an angle, cut them into diamond-shaped slices. Drain the wood ears and, if they are large, break them into bite-sized pieces. Cut the spring onion and pickled or red chilli on the diagonal into “horse ears.”

Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil, then the garlic, ginger, pickled chilli or red chilli and the spring onion and stir-fry briefly until you can smell their fragrances. Then add the cucumber and mushrooms and stir-fry until everything is piping hot.

Add 1 tbsp water, season with a little salt and light soy sauce to taste, then pour in the flour mixture, stirring vigorously as you do so. Stir a couple of times more, then serve.

Variation

Stir-fried cucumber with pork and wood ear
Cut 3 oz (75g) lean pork into thin slices. Marinate in a couple of pinches of salt, 2 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1/2 tsp potato flour and 11/2 tsp cold water. Stir-fry the pork slices briefly to separate them before you add the garlic and other seasonings, then proceed as in the main recipe above.

(* Reprinted from Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop. Copyright © 2012 by Fuchsia Dunlop. Photographs copyright © 2012 by Chris Terry. With the permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company)

European commission seems to have decided that entertaining your audience can be more effective than a big expose.

They balanced the lengthy expose of Generation Awake on overconsumption, recycling, etc...with light hearted green eyelashes batting for Europe Eco Label (launched I believe in 2012).

Sprouting eyeslashes for Green Day # 242

Previously: Green not Drab, Brio Bamboo Lacquer Spotlight, Eco-Laboration with Anne and Thibaud Klepper

More than starlets in Gulf of Saint Tropez, there is Rose.

Near Grimaud (Provence), the Chateau Saint Maur team was busy labelling its Rose wine today.

Here's a view from the bottling line as posted on their Facebook page a few hours ago.

The Grandi Langhe DOGC is hosting 3 days of tastings in May in southern Piedmont giving professionals a chance to taste Barolo, Barbaresco, Diano d'Alba, Dogliani, Roero, Roero Arneis - directly in the various municipalities of origin, to meet the producers.

The area is also famous for its truffles.

Browsing the Consorzio Turistico Langhe Monferrato Roero site Tartufo e Vino, I learned that hazelnut groves are an integral part of region's heritage.

Visitors can sign up for an Hazelnut Discovery and learn about "history and secrets of the unmistakable taste of the PGI Piemonte Hazelnut" with "guided tour of a small farm in the Upper Langa, from hazelnut grove through shelling and roasting to the production of choice sweets, learning some of the secrets of so intense and lingering a flavour. A tasting rounds off the tour."

Tour takes 90 minutes and is offered all year round. Cost is 30 Euros per person. Booking by 10 am the previous day to your preferred date is required. It is suggest to availability.

A very American looking image of Miss Meat in Full Regalia landed on my screen thanks to a visit to Meme Pas Mal, a blog for Le Monde on food ethics written by Anne Sophie Novel...

Miss Meat illustrated her very serious piece on the hazards created by industrialization of food (for example horsemeat masquerading as beef).

I asked Anne-Sophie about the origins of Miss Meat image. She did not know.

Maybe someone out there can enlighten us?

(* Meme Pas Mal blog is written in French only)

Portland, Oregon is a creative hub for all things bicycles.

It has also a lively food scene as you will see when you get your hands on a copy of The Mighty Gastropolis Portland (Chronicle Books. 2012) by Karen Brooks with Gideon Bosker and Teri Gelber.

Tattoos are standard fare, Supper Clubs such as Din Din an integral part of the Portland scene.

Here is a Pinot Noir flavored recipe from Din Din.

Hazelnut Panna Cotta with Pinot Noir Strawberries

Every restaurant, it seems, serves panna cotta or “cooked cream,” but none does it like this, intensely flavorful and so light you fear it might levitate off the plate. Things really get interesting when the hazelnut flavor hits—a golden brown haze of nutty particles free floating on top. Oregon is the world’s hazelnut headquarters, and the best come from Freddy Guys, a Portland farmers’ market favorite with a website boasting “Read about us in the New York Times!” Grab them if you can. Break out some pinot noir for dinner, and let guests macerate their berries at the table to spoon over dessert: very French, very Din Din.

Serves 6
Panna Cotta
tsp vegetable oil
cup/70 g raw hazelnuts
vanilla bean
cup/180 ml whole milk
1 cup/240 ml heavy cream
3 tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar
tsp kosher salt
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 tbsp cold water
2 tsp good brandy

Strawberries
2 to 3 tsp sugar
cup/120 ml Oregon pinot noir
8 ripe strawberries, cut into-in-/6-mm-thick slices

1. To make the panna cotta: Coat six 2- to 3-oz/60- to 90-ml ramekins with the vegetable oil and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/gas 5. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast, watching carefully to avoid burning them, until lightly browned and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool briefly, then enclose the nuts in a kitchen towel. Using your hands, rub the nuts together to remove their skins. Set the nuts aside.

3. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise, and, using the dull side of a knife, scrape the seeds into a medium saucepan. Add the vanilla bean pod, hazelnuts, milk, cream, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then immediately remove from the heat. Discard the vanilla pod.

4. While still hot, transfer the mixture to a blender and, holding the lid down, pulse about four times to break up the nuts slightly. Return the mixture to the same pot to infuse at room temperature, about 15 minutes.

5. Put the gelatin in a large bowl and sprinkle the cold water over it to moisten. Set aside.

6. Over medium heat, warm the hazelnut mixture until just hot to the touch and starting to steam, about 3 minutes. Add the brandy and immediately remove from the heat. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl of gelatin, whisking well to combine. Strain one more time over a clean bowl. Pour into the prepped ramekins, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Chill for 4 to 6 hours, until set.

7. For the strawberries: In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and wine together. Add the strawberries and marinate until they’ve softened slightly and absorbed some of the wine, about 20 minutes.

8. Remove the panna cotta from the ramekins by running a hot knife around the inside edge. Turn each upside down over a separate serving plate and tap the ramekin to release. Garnish each with a few spoonfuls of the strawberries and their liquid. Serve immediately.

(* Recipe from The Mighty Gastropolis Portland by Karen Brooks with Gideon Bosker and Teri Gelber- Chronicle Books, Fall 2012- reproduced by permission, all rights reserved....Illustration is lovely Courtney Sproule of Din Din)