FIVE BASIC TYPES OF RUM

Light - Usually clear in color, these rums are the perfect base for making cocktails because they are not strong in flavor.
Gold - In general, gold rums have been aged and are frequently mixed with molasses to add flavor and color.
Dark - These rums are usually very dark due to the added molasses and longer period of aging. Bold in flavor, they they can be drank on their own.
Infused - Ranging in styles, these rums reflect the flavor of the ingredients they have been infused with. Popular infusions are mango, banana and coconut.
Spiced - This is usually a gold rum that has been infused with a range of spices.
Source: Fine Dining Lovers

Travel photos

From the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, I came across this gallery of readers' travel pics. I am drawn to textiles and color so of course this image captured in an alley in the medina of Chefchaouen, famed for it's sky blue streets and buildings, brought a smile to my face.

Illustration: Peter Gerrard

The accompanying article Look beyond the lens is definitely something I can relate to and am sure many others can too. I read a similar article where the author recounts his/his cameras' underwater encounter with a whale shark and when he came up, he realised not once did he look at it with his own eyes. 

Whenever I take a trip my must-bring item is my digital SLR. But often I forget to simply look with my own eyes. Enjoy the moment, listen to the sounds, study the detail. It's far too easy to say I will study the details later in my own photos so let's move on. Why not enjoy them when they are right there in front of me? I am getting better about it but still, I return home with hundreds of jpegs to sort through. And often, numerous images of the same thing. Sigh. 

Quince and Apple

I retreated into Pastoral today from the blistering cold and came out with a bagful of goodies. One of which was a jar of Apples in Sparkling Wine by Quince and Apple, a Madison, WI based artisan duo .

I had already selected a jar of fig jam from Spain when I spied the product tasting at the cashier counter for Quince and Apple. I had seen jars of the preserves at Pastoral before so I piped up at the man behind the counter and said 'Are you Matt?' having glanced back and forth several times between him and the picture postcard of the founding duo on the counter. Yes he was so I graciously scooped up a sample of the apple preserve onto a piece of bread and popped it into my mouth.

I admit, now that I am tasting it at home with my face and body at normal room temperature, the sparkling wine sweetness of the diced apples really shines through and elicits more than my earlier frigid response. I was impressed to learn that they source locally so of course feeling a tinge of guilt about sourcing from Spain, I picked up a jar of the preserve. But now that I have been able to savour each mouthful atop sliced olive bread, I am truly glad that I did. The preserve or perhaps the batch is a bit runny for my liking but certainly something I would choose to entertain with in future.

Apples in Sparkling Wine is a preserve exclusive to Pastoral. Pastoral chose the sparkling wine themselves to feature in the preserve and the Quince and Apple duo added Wisconsin heirloom apples to the reduction they prepared and voila! .

I was even more pleasantly surprised to out that it pairs well with Marieke Gouda, another Wisconsin gem I picked up today as well.

Albert Adria

I have been meaning to rewatch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations episode in Spain for some time now. I finally did and lo and behold,  there is a short segement featuring Ferran Adria's (born 1962) younger brother, Albert Adria (1969), a master chef in his own right of pastry. Check it out.

El Bulli Movie

For my first post, I think it is fitting to start with my thoughts on the documentary El Bulli Cooking in Progress, currently showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago until Feb 16, 2012.

It offers incredible insight into the now far from defunct but closed restaurant elBulli, a mainstay on numerous best restaurant lists of years past under head chef and star of the attraction, Ferran Adrià. Located in Roses, Spain in the coastal region of Costa Brava, Adria closed his restaurant for 6 months of the year to work on the menu for the next season with his culinary team (amongst them are Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch) - who to me certainly seemed to do all the hard yards. The team and staff packs up elBulli as the winter sets in and retreats to a kitchen in Barcelona to conduct experiments, all the while meticulously documenting each and every ingredient and amount. Adria pops in and out to sample the results of the day's work. Ok I am sure that he does more than pop in and out in real life. But as the documentary progresses, you cannot help but be in awe of his discerning palate as to what tastes good, out of this world or just rubbish. I really felt for the chefs as their eyes widened in anticipation of what Adrià would say. With the restaurant opening for the current season, you really see the restaurant in action. And for someone like me who never had the chance to visit the restaurant, this is a glimpse well worth the ticket price. I could not help but cringe when the waitstaff asks for the names of the dishes minutes before serving them, only to have a random name thrown at them or when Oriol rushes back from the dining room, absolutely beside himself having served up sparkling water mistakenly in one of their concoctions. Hearing him recount the traumatising experience and his bewilderment when he sees the bubbles as he pours the transparent liquid only reminds me that these people are normal people.

elBulli opened in 1964, Ferran Adrià joined in 1984 and took the restaurant to 2 then 3 Michelin stars, forged a new type of cuisine for the faithful and took gastronomy to new levels. Having closed in July 2011, this movie is one of many homages - through Feb. 3, 2013 you can visit an exhibit dedicated to Adria and elBulli in Barcelona at the Palau Robert “Ferran Adrià and elBulli. Risk, Freedom and Creativity”.

I thoroughly recommend this article in The New York Times on the contenders who cannot help but be pitted against each other to take the spotlight. I hope to read more about Santi Santamaría, who dared to challenge Adrià calling his food 'unhealthy and, far worse in Spain, dishonorable'.

I am currently dreaming about enjoying an aperitif in the beautiful garden at Sant Pau during sunset in my Karen Walker ensemble.

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As an aside, I read a comment which I thought incredibly funny. Hopefully the tickets for the elBulli season of Next Restaurant also here in Chicago, do not go on sale during a showing of the movie as surely the whole crowd will rush out, smart phones ablazing trying to secure tickets.