Christina's Table

It is that time of year.  Gluttonly abound.  I need to detox – really I didn’t do one in the fall and I am feeling all icky, but who can seriously consider my kind of extreme diet for 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  Not me.  Especially when I spent Saturday assisting at CulinAerie in a chocolate class!!  Flourless chocolate cake, chocolate souffle, chocolate tart, chocolate truffles!!  I am grateful I am not a sweet lover or chocolate addict but even I succumbed to the rich brown seduction.  And after class it was the annual leftover feast (the neighborhood of family friend’s throw a leftover party ever year the Saturday after Thanksgiving – and Dave fries everything in site- fried turkey, fried potatoes, scotch eggs (boiled eggs surrounded in sasauge and breaded and then fried), fried snickers, we even tried brussel sprouts this year) in Silver Spring.  Needless to say everything there would appear on the NO list for my detox.  So what is a girl to do during the Holidays?  Eat, Drink and be Merry I think- at least that is what this girl is doing this year.  I will detox with the rest of the world after the New Year.  Cheers and Happy Holidays.

As a student I always wanted to be a writer.  I had delusions of grander penning something.. what I had no idea, and years later I decided I wanted to be the next Pauline Kael (or Liz Smith- depending on the day).  I never wanted to write the Great American Novel (I think Neil Gaiman did that with American Gods), but I realized through my love of literature and the wonderful toolage of AMAZING professors in Italy that I really loved writing about art, analyzing art, literature and music and recently, I discovered that my idea of art  had shifted,  not only is it something to see, hear or read, it is something to taste. 

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Do I like Sookie Stackhouse any less than I do Jane Eyre?  No, just as I love a great Chili dog as much as I do a seared fois gras with a blackberry gastric (Brandon made this for me for Christmas Eve- it was to die for- honestly, but then again it was made with frozen  Sunnyside Blackberries and my red wine vinegar so how bad could it be?).  You can’t tell someone that their tastes are wrong.  Some people don’t like Shakespeare, or seafood (I don’t like most Pinot Noirs- but then again I have had some unforgettable ones- go figure), but that doesn’t mean anything, not really, it is just a reflection of their self, neither good nor bad, just is.  But what you can do is share a passion with someone,  hoping they will catch it.    This is what I  hope to do, by sharing my passion with food I  hope others catch it because now I have delusions of being a modern day Brillant-Savarin or maybe even MFK Fisher (a girl has to dream- right?!)  So, thanks for reading and Happy Eating!!