Love me, love my food

Amidst hot summer season, there is one more reason that irritates me: coffee shops. This time, the reason has nothing to do with the quality of coffee they sell.

I like buying a pastry on the way to the lab, walk into my office, and eat the pastry with a steaming cup of green tea. Naturally, I am one of few people who buy a pastry and no drink at a coffee stand; most others buy drinks.

What's wrong is that people order iced coffee beverages and specify how many spoonfuls of sugar, milk, whip cream, cinnamon powder, cocoa powder, chocolate flakes and an endless list of useless things. What people order is a sort of reflection of their personality; many customers seem to order drinks with very detailed instructions and then ask them to fix something when the drink doesn't taste right at the first sip. What does this mean? Long lines.

I only want a piece of pastry for $2, but I may end up waiting for those demanding customers, and everyone is irritated by the hot weather and then by the long lines.

Yamagata local edition of a major leading Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun reported a story from Hiroyuki Yoshida, the sommelier who worked at the summit, serving sakes, wines and other fine beverages at the summit for the leaders and their spouses.

He listed recommended wines, from which the prime minister Fukuda, known as a wine enthusiast, picked the final selection to be served. There were many other wines available for the leaders.

The sommelier Yoshida reports that Angela Merkel, the Chancellor (prime minister) of Germany ordered modestly priced wines, avoiding expensive ones. George W Bush brought in cans of Diet Coke, so Yoshida opened the cans and poured it for the president.

Yoshida said he paid great attention not to make any mistake in the order of serving the beverages.

 (More)

On July 15, 2008, Japanese fishermen boycotted their job and protested in response to hiking fuel cost, which made the fishing industry uneconomical to operate. The rising fuel price has hit the US fishery and it has been frequently reported on NPR and other media as well.

Instead of waiting to see the empty shelves in the fish market, I have reviewed my list of favorite fish, and further narrowed to those that are least dependent on the fuel, least damaging to the fishing resource and least contaminated by mercury, cadmium and PCB. In general, I prefer to eat fish captured in the coastal area of northern Atlantic, or fish farmed in areas near Boston, since they are close to Boston, meaning more fresh fish, less fuel used to bring to Boston, and usually, tasty.

As a result of this, I will be significantly reducing the frequency of cooking croaker fish, a small seabass-like fish, since it is reported to contain an elevated level of PCB and adults are recommended to eat no more than 1 serving per month.

So, my remaining preferred options are:

• striped sea bass
• mackerel
• anchovies
• rainbow trout
• freshwater perches
• porgy (scup)--- small snapper-like fish from nearby water
• silver (white) pomfret
• Alaska wild salmon (exception to the rule)
• clams
• mussels
• oysters

Unfortunately, wild salmon is experiencing price hike this year (predicted to be as high as $45/lb), and while I have a big fillet in my freezer, I’ll not be eating much more once my stock exhausts.

All of the fish listed above, besides the wild salmon, are small fish. Small fish require greater skill to fillet and cut into serving pieces for beautiful presentation. However, it can be done with a bit of practice. Also, small fish is excellent for cooking in whole and cut into serving pieces on the table.

You may realize that my list contains few nationally recognized fish such as red snapper, tuna, swordfish, catfish, etc. This is because many of these fish are from far ocean, burning extra fuel. These fish are not as fresh as those from nearby water, and freshness is absolute requirement for good seafood dishes. Many of these fish are captured by methods that are not very eco-friendly, as seen at the EDF link below. The only advantage of these "well known" fish is stable supply throughout the nation and seasons, but I would rather change my menu and recipe throughout the year to appreciate the seasonal nature of fish activities and take advantage of Boston's geographic location.

In making the list of my favorite fish, I have also considered fish resource availability and the method of fishing (e.g. the rate of bycatches) as described here:

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1540

Summer is when sea bass tastes the best (and they are dry and bland in winter), and mackerel season will kick in soon.

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• Summer day frustration at coffee shops
• Wine preferences of the leaders at the 34th G8 summit at Toyako, Hokkaido
• Fish day: July 15, 2008

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