alaina browne lives here

green tea

lime-cucumber agua fresca

Dinner time

Sitting at my bedroom desk, the printer next to me grumbles, beeps, and eeps to life and then slowly spits out driving directions to the nearest In-N-Out. Must be someone's hint that it's time for dinner.

Dinner at Spices

Epicurious curiosities

Epicurious' recipe collection is a great resource for cooks. Reader reviews of recipes are especially valuable, often containing modifications and suggestions. Though sometimes, they are down right bizzare. Here's one I found today, attached to a recipe for "Crisp Curry Chicken Wings with Coriander Cucumber Sauce":

Good food, but my cousin Adji died suddenly during the supper. I believe that it was his gout and a combination of small shoes. Pushbawa, his widow, insisted that it was that the coriander was not cut in small enough pieces. To avaoid family quarelling, we have chosen to never make the dish again. In turn, Pushbawa will agree to remain in black for 12 years in honor of my cousin. Win/win

Best Fish Ever

Reflection

It seems that United Noodles has changed owners. The space is unchanged, but the menu is now "Simply Thai." Too bad, I will miss the former UN.

Japanese Rice Cooking Contest

Thanks to an invitation from the most generous Souris, I attended the taping of the Kumai Harvest Japanese Rice Cooking Contest Semi-Finals, sponsored by NHK Television, to be broadcast in Japan. You can read more about the experience at NYC Eats.

A mind of its own

As I suspected, researchers confirm that my stomach has a mind of its own:

The digestive system has a rich network of neurons, which is not too surprising considering the important job it must do. The "enteric nervous system," as its called, mostly controls local feedback: helping the gut (which includes the stomach and the intestines) release the right chemicals, mix and churn food around for digestion, and squeeze food along the system at the right rate.

But researchers have discovered that the nerve cells in the belly are more than just the workhorses of digestion. In fact, they are saying we have a "second brain"--a simple nervous system in the belly that functions unconsciously, partly independent of the big brain in our heads. This collection of neurons doesn't just control digestion once the food's already down the hatch. It plays a role in appetite, eating, and perhaps even helps us decide what food we like to eat.

This makes sense in terms of otherwise inexplicable cravings (hello, pregnant women!) or aversions. For example, I will never forget the taste of chocolate chip banana cake thrown-up over and over and over again, even though it was many many years ago. Today, the sight of chocolate chip banana cake makes my stomach churn. God forbid I get a whiff of the stuff. My perfect nightmare: trapped in a room with a clown, balloons, and chocolate chip banana cake.

when chemists cook

Oliver Sacks is coming over for dinner? Sounds like the perfect excuse to whip up some liquid nitrogen ice cream!

We mixed up a standard ice cream recipe calling for two quarts of cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flavoring. (Just about any ice cream recipe and flavor will work.) Then, working in a well-ventilated area (lest the nitrogen displace oxygen from the air) and with due regard for the ability of liquid nitrogen to freeze body parts solid, we gently folded about two liters of nitrogen syrup directly into the cream, much as you would fold in egg whites.

The result, literally 30 seconds later, was a half-gallon of the best ice cream I'd ever tasted. The secret is in the rapid freezing. When cream is frozen by liquid nitrogen at –196°C, the ice crystals that give bad ice cream its grainy texture have no chance to form. Instead you get microcrystalline ice cream that is supremely smooth, creamy and light in texture. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.