I’m afraid that I drove a deli counter clerk around the bend recently.  And I still don’t know how it really happened.  A bit of background, first…

There are two bits of Italian food that I absolutely love - Bruschetta and Prosciutto.  As much as I love them, the pronunciation of them has always been a stumbling block unless I thought about it, because my inclination is to pronounce each of these in the opposite way that they should be. 

Bruschetta is pronounced Brew - SKET- ta.  But I always wanted to pronounce it Brew - SHET - ta.  Proscuitto is pronounced pro - SHOE - toe, but I always wanted to pronounce it pro - SKEW- toe.  I’m sure you can understand the stress this has caused me in life.

In my spare time, I could be found muttering to myself “pro-SHOE-toe - brew-SKET-ta,  pro-SHOE-toe - brew-SKET-ta,  pro-SHOE-toe - brew-SKET-ta”.  And then one day, it just came naturally.  Without thinking, brew-SKET-ta flowed naturally from my lips without thought.  Pro-SHOE-toe was simply second nature, requiring no deep concentration.

And so, without even thinking, I walked up to the (non-Italian) deli counter in our mass market chain.  They used to carry chopped tomatoes, seasoned with basil, garlic, and olive oil at the counter (they called it bruschetta), but as of late they had started putting it in cartons and hiding it in a new place each time I visited.  I suspect it is one of those games born out of boredom that deli counter workers indulge in worldwide.

“Excuse me,” I said politely.  “Can you tell me where you’ve put the brew-SKET-ta?”.  The deli counter said, “What are you talking about?”.

“Brew-SKET-ta”, I said.  “The chopped tomotoes that you used to keep in the deli counter, but that you now put in cartons.  Can you tell me where they are?”.

The deli counter stared at me with frustration in her eyes and exclaimed loudly, “It’s brewSHETta.  BruSHETta!”

Taken somewhat aback, I merely responded, “Ok, so where do you keep that?”

She waved in the general direction of a deli case afar, and continued to exclaim loudly, “It’s brewSHETa.  I’ve never even heard it called brew-SKET-ta.  I am so sick of you people”.

I grabbed my carton of bruschetta and carried on, as the deli counter clerk continued to rant loudly.  Three aisles away, I could still hear her loudly exclaiming her disgust with customers in general, but me specifically.  Though not the smartest move on my part, I turned back to the counter to discuss her clear stress.  She got even louder as she screeched about the twenty years of service she had put in dealing with idiots like me.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry you didn’t agree with my pronunciation - but don’t you think this is a bit uncalled for?  I’m just here shopping.  There’s no need to scream at me while I am three aisles away”.

The deli counter clerk  exclaimed, “I hate customers.  I’m through with customers.  I’ve spent twenty years dealing with customers and I’ve had it!  Go ahead and turn me into the manager - I’ve already turned my two week notice in.  What are they going to do, fire me?!?!?”

I admit.  I did go and speak with the manager.  I let him know that one of his employees had snapped, and was on the verge of doing irreparable damage to his customer service image.  I didn’t really need to tell him - we could hear her screaming as we talked.  As he approached her to get her to calm down, she grabbed her belongings and announced her intentions to leave rather than be asked to leave.

I’m still a bit puzzled by it all.  My only hope is that it does not create a setback in my newly found bruschetta/prosciutto confidence!  Who knew the peril that could be found in proper pronunciation.

This evening I participated in a Madison area “foodie” panel. It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed meeting people of like minds, and I hope to continue to connect with all of them in the future, in one way or another. My thanks to the moderators: Eating in Madison from A to Z.

One of the questions was this (paraphrasing…): “Foodie has become a politically charged term… do you still consider yourself a foodie?”

My first response was a resounding yes. I do consider myself a foodie. I added this disclaimer, “I didn’t know that it was controversial… so maybe I shouldn’t admit it that readily”.

I was the only person who admitted to being a foodie. An odd situation, for a “foodie panel”.

The argument seems to be that “Foodies” are elitists who prefer to horde the sheer foodiness to themselves. If foodies had their way, only the wealthy could afford to enjoy good food, when, in fact, food should be for the masses.

I chose not to turn the panel discussion into a debate. But it is very clear that my definition of foodie is not the same as some that exist. To me, a foodie isn’t about repression to the little people. Often, it has nothing to do with economics. Here are a few bullet points that I’ll throw out there which represent my view of “foodie-ism”.

• Foodies appreciate the dining experience.
• Foodies consider dining an adventure, not a neccessity.
• Foodies connect emotion with food, and vice versa.
• Foodies are often motivated by tradition, in terms of family as well as heritage.
• Foodies do indeed have a smug and superior attitude… not because they can afford to be a foodie, but because they get pleasure out of it, they take the time to do it, and they are committed doing it well.
• Being a foodie isn’t all about eating. It is about the process that goes into creating food. It is just as much about thinking and planning as it is about eating.

Foodies care about the social aspects of dining. It’s not about the money you spend, it’s about the time you spend enjoying your dining exprience. Good food does not need to be expensive. It needs to be creative, it needs to be enjoyed and it needs to be shared.

I contend that “wealth” is not the underlying required demographic in being a foodie. I know plenty of people who exist in my demographic world who would rather go to MacDonalds, or order a pizza from Pizza Hut, rather than put in the time, interest and dedication that is needed to qualify as a Foodie. These people can easily afford organic food (though I would note that organic food is not a foodie necessity), and could easily spend all kinds of money in an effort to qualify to the ranks of “Foodie”.

But that is not what it is about. It’s about attitude. It’s about interest. It’s about creativity. It’s about investing your time and effort and about becoming enthralled with the challenge.

With creativity, food becomes art. At one point I stated, “We’ll sit down to dinner and smugly ponder the fact that nobody else is my town is eating what we are right now”. That smugness has nothing to do with having something that others do not, and everything to do with the pleasure of having created something so artful it is unique.

I live in a city that can overpoliticize anything. I refuse to do that to the philosophy and motivation that drives my inner Foodie.

To my fellow panelists, please don’t take this as criticism about the discussion. It was truly enjoyable to share thoughts with people who live in this world. It was clearly thought provoking for me, and I sincerely enjoy exchanging differing views.

Perhaps we should hold another panel in the upcoming months… or simply share a beer…, and have a great time debating this specific point! I’d love to bounce this concept around a lot more.

Comments are open, thoughts are appreciated.

A quick perusal of my blog stats tell me that many of you are hitting this blog right about now searching for tickets to the Great Taste of the Midwest.

Pardon me for a moment while I rant.

I will never again purchase tickets to another Great Taste of the Midwest. I won’t even use tickets if they were given to me for free. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to go to the Great Taste of the Midwest, even if you paid me.

Whew. I have that out of my system now. Perhaps I can address this issue in a purely intellectual sort of way.

The Great Taste of the Midwest used to be like Christmas to us. The first one that we attended (I believe it may have been the second one ever) was held in the Capital Brewery warehouse, with maybe 400 people and not so many breweries represented.

We stuck with this event for many years through thick and thin, laughing as tickets became harder and harder to come by, and saluting the Madison Home Brewer’s Guild on their success. We followed the event from venue to venue. We were intriqued when it settled in Olin Park. Of course, that’s when it started to go to pieces, the victim of its own success and its own arrogance.

And arrogant it did indeed become.

Last year, the ticket policy became ludicrous. In order to get tickets, you basically had to skip work, stand in line, get a “right to purchase tickets” ticket, then go back later in the day (again missing work) as the tickets went on sale.

The amazing development last year was that many of the venues trusted to sell the tickets to the public released the “right to purchase tickets” ticket to their regulars, long before these pre-ticket tickets were available to the public.

So, let’s say you were a die-hard, and you decided you were going to wait in line early, get your pre-ticket ticket, and then come back and purchase your ticket. Well, SURPRISE! Guess what! The pre-ticket tickets were gone before they were supposed to be available.

Does this sound like sour grapes? Let me hasten to assure you that this is far from the case. I had many a person approach me to see if I wanted tickets. But by that time, I had such a bad taste in my mouth over the arrogance, the abuse, and the ridiculousness over the ticket policy that I vowed that I wouldn’t set foot inside these beer tents again.

So, I urge you all to join me in this boycott. Get together with your friends and plan your own event. You can all bring your favorite unique six packs to try. Hold your own private Great Taste Festival in August, and then attend the Quivey’s Grove Beer Fest in the fall, when the temperatures are cooler and the attitudes are more palatable.

I would say that I would hope that the organizers of The Great Taste will once again get in touch with the philosophies that once went into making this the premier beer tasting in the Unites States.

But, frankly my dears, I no longer give a damn.

We have a neighborhood butcher shop that we go to religiously. It’s not in our neighborhood, but we make the trip out of our way to buy all of our meat there.

This shop doesn’t have a huge selection of cuts of meat - if I have one complaint, that would be it. But the cuts of meat it does have simply can not be beat. It’s almost impossible to buy meat in a grocery store after going to a place like this

We don’t really shop like most people, I suspect. Particularly in the summer, when our CSA program is going strong, our shopping habits don’t typically include a grocery store unless really necessary. We get all of our produce direct from the farm, we get all of our meat from our butcher shop, we get much of our other supplies from a local Italian deli, and we often visit a German deli/specialty store for our fix on German specialty items.

I know that we’re spoiled, and if any of these places ever go out of business, we’re in trouble!

Like probably most people with food blogs, when there is nothing else on TV, the default channel that gets turned to is the Food Network channel. There are some great shows on the Food Network, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a *recipe* from a show. Instead, I tend to absorb concepts and techniques.

One of the FoodTV hosts that can grate on my nerves a bit is Rachael Ray. She’s just a bit too perky and giggly for me. On the other hand, she also is the person who introduced the “garbage bowl” concept to me.

It’s a simple concept, really. I mean, it’s so obvious, and I don’t have a clue why I never really thought of it. But basically, she always has a nice, big bowl sitting next to her on the counter as she cooks, and she tosses garbage and waste into it as she goes.

Now why on earth didn’t I think of that on my own? I’m embarassed.

In our old house, a garbage bowl seemed a bit pretentious. I mean, you could touch just about every part of the kitchen while standing in one place. But since moving into the new house, the garbage bowl has become an important part of the cooking routine. Why? Because food prep takes place on the opposite side of the island from the garbage cabinent. And it is a BIG island (see below).

So thanks, Rachael, the garbage bowl was a great hint. Now if only you could work on a bit less perkiness and giggling.

Kitchen Island

As I’ve mentioned a time or two, the reason I’ve been so lax about updating Cuisine Capers is because we are right at the end of building our new house. We got to start moving in on Saturday, after going through a building process that started with the ground breaking way back last April.

One of the reasons we are so excited about the new house is the kitchen. When we started working with our architect, we knew we were going to go nuts the kitchen - and we did. Now, after seeing how it all came together, we are ecstatic. The kitchen turned out better than we ever imagined it could. Take a look at the pictures below!

(And the picture to the left is of our new Shiba Inu puppy - 12 week old Toshiro Shiba!)

The latest “Is My Blog Burning?” will prove to be quite a challenge for me. Hosted by Derrick over at Obsession With Food, he’s chosen to make the IMBB #9 theme “Terrines”.

I’ve never made a terrine before. I’ve never even thought about making a terrine before!

This ought to be interesting!

I’ve hit a dinner road block. I can not, for the life of me, think of something exciting to make for dinner.

So I thought, hmmm, what to do… what to do…?

Then I said to myself, “Self, you have links to some of the most interesting, inventive food bloggers in the world! Why not scour their pages and come up with something for dinner tonight!”

And so I shall! I’ll let you all know what struck my fancy later!

The latest edition of Is My Blog Burning has been announced! It’s IMBB 8: Lift your Spirits High, hosted by There’s A Chef In My Kitchen. Entries will be posted on September 19th.

The only rule for this edition: Use wine or spirits as a central component of your recipe.

I can do that!

IMBB #7 has been announced: “You’re Just the Cutest Little Dumpling!“. August 22 is the date.

Hmmmmm. Well, that will be a challenge.