chez pim

Bocuse d'Or: meet your worst nightmare

So, you've heard of the Bocuse d'Or.  You know Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud are throwing their formidable weight behind the selection and preparation for the 2009 competition this coming January in Lyon, the home of the original golden Bocuse himeself.  You might even know that Hung, the winner of Top Chef last year, is reportedly interested.

You probably also know today is the last day to submit your application if you want to make the team and spend the next six months training with Thomas Keller and a roster of big name chefs at a secret training center.  Ok, it's next door to the French Laundry, so perhaps not so secret. 

But do you know who you're up against?  Let me give you a peek.  The leader of the French team is Philippe Mille, and he's going to be a formidable opponent for the US team to beat.  Who is this Philippe Mille, you asked?  Not some young upstart, I can tell you that.  He is second to Yannick Alleno at the three-star Le Meurice in Paris.  Knowing how exigent and demanding Yannick can be on his cooks, I must say I'm already plenty impressed by this guy.

My friend Stéphane Riss of Cuisiner en Ligne in Paris has been making videos chronicling the French team's preparation, and he's kindly letting me share some with you here.  The video on top of this post gives you a little peek at Philippe Mille cooking, and the one after the jump talks to the team on a visit to the famous Musée d'Orsay to see if they can get any inspiration from the beautiful Impressionist arts inside.

I don't know about you, but if the French is visiting museums and concerts and art galleries, the American team might also think about getting out of sleepy Yountville once in a while too, no?

not a kitten

Ceci n'est pas un chaton.
--not a fish either.

It was at Kossar's

Some of you were right on, that sign was from the front window of Kossar's Bialys, that venerable institution in the Lower East Side of NYC.  You see why it's the sign of the apocalypse?  If an institution like Kossar's gave in to the fad....  The bialys was still toothsome and tasty as ever.  But still, I wonder what the "low carb" bagels were made of.  I also wonder why people who want low-carb bagels don't just eat a little less of the real stuff...

Happily, not far from there, Katz's Deli is still its old fashioned self.  Read the note on the 3 Meat Platter.

sign of the apocalypse?

Is this supposed to be funny or is it a sign of the apocalypse?  What do you think?

Do you know where this is? 
(hint: a venerable NYC specialty baker, perhaps the place you least expect to see a sign such as this..)

capturing moving images vs. shooting still photos (still at the Lexus dinner)

It's hardly new news to anyone that telling a story via moving images and still ones are two different things.  But it took doing it, and comparing the shots that were taken in the video camera and the still photos I took myself, for that old news to really hit me.  While I think I've gotten a bit good at telling stories through photographs, and at getting the right shots at the right moments, my instincts on the video stuff left quite a bit to be desired.  I'm not sure how my friend Joey Altman managed to string together a pretty coherent and compelling story from the meager set of video clips I gave him.  Not that he hadn't tried to teach me a few good video reporting skills before I let me alone with our wonderful cameraman Eric, but in the heat of the moment in the kitchen I sort of forgot them all, and ended up just winging it.  Goodness I didn't even put on lipstick I was that tense.  Ha.

Oh well, I guess I'll take solace in knowing that I once sucked at taking still photos too, so who knows, I might get better yet at this.  I'm certainly determined to play more with videos for the blog anyway.

So, for those of you who are interested in a bit more details about the dinner and more action photos (with captions) from the kitchen, here they are..

Backstage pass to the Lexus Rare Wine dinner at Pebble Beach Food and Wine

Remember the fun weekend at Pebble Beach Food and Wine a couple months ago?  I told you we shot some videos of the event, and here's the very first installation.  It's a backstage pass to the very exclusive Lexus Rare Wine Dinner.  I was undercover in the kitchen spying on the chefs cooking before and during the fabulous event, and now you can come with me!

Brought to you by yours truly and our good friends at Foodbuzz (Are you buzzing yet?) and the irrepressible Mr. Joey Altman.  (Joey will be in the other two videos with me, check back tomorrow.)

P.S. Let me warn you first, this was quite the epitome of conspicuous consumption--a sort of SATC for foodies, you could say.  It's called the Lexus dinner, not the Prius dinner, you get the point.  If you think this just might possibly offend your sensible sensibility, don't click on the video.  Seriously, just mozy on over to another blog--makes for less heartburn for the both of us.

Lend a hand to a friend in need: paging all food bloggers

Our food blogging community has been quick to band together for a good cause.  This time, the cause is a bit closer to home: one of our own needs help. 

Briana Brownlow of Figs with Bri has breast cancer.  She's undergoing intensive chemotherapy and she needs our help.  There's a fund set up to help relieve some of her healthcare cost.  If you have some money to spare this month, even just a little bit, please help.  The donation site is here, if you have a Paypal account the whole thing will take only seconds.

Apparently there's also a photograph contest or something as part of this fundraising, though I'm a little sketchy on the details.  It's one o'clock where I am so you'll have to forgive me.  You can check out the details on this post here.  (via Kalyn's Kitchen)