What Do I Know?

Old Stuff

Today was the first day of classes, for me anyway. I'm starting a new course at Oxford, The Architecture of London and the Home Counties.

What are the Home Counties, you ask? Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Surrey.

But why are they called that, you wonder. I've no idea. Maybe it sounds better than Bedroom Counties.

Anyway, we started out on an auspicious note. When the instructor asked what was the oldest thing in London, several people guessed the Temple of Mithras, the city wall, etc. But I knew immediately it was Cleopatra's Needle. Score one for the home team.

I am still attempting to make up for the London Bridge debacle. (There is, apparently, a vicious rumour around here that the Arizonans thought they were buying the Tower Bridge.)

Unfortunately I will miss the next two sessions. I'm leaving Tuesday for Rome, and then off to the States the next week. But I hear Rome has some pretty old stuff too.

Wednesday Food Blogging: Lentil Pie with Porcini Mushroom Gravy

Comfort food, this time with umami.

I wanted to make Porcini Gravy with the dried porcini mushrooms my husband brought back from a recent trip to Florence. Plus I had some leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge. And as I spun around the circular shelf in my cabinet, I spied some green lentils. I suddenly envisioned a lentil pie, with mashed potatoes on top and porcini gravy running over the top.

Now, if last month was Chipotle Month here at WDIK?, this month will be porcini month. There are similarities—both chipotles and porcinis take your tastebuds a step beyond the plain old. (To put it another way, chipotle is to jalapeno peppers what dried porcinis are to mushrooms.

Porcinis are in season now in Tuscany, where they grow wild. It’s easy to find them here, at nearly every supermarket, in their dried form. I’ve never seen them fresh, presumably because they don’t travel well. But dried porcinis, as well as being remarkably versatile, have a unique, woodsy flavour that livens up any recipe.

I call this a lentil pie, since it's very similar to shepherd's pie. (The word pie in Britian typically means a savoury pie, not sweet.) It's really more like a casserole, however. I baked it in a small casserole dish, just big enough for two. You can increase the amounts accordingly if you're feeding more than two, or want leftovers. The gravy was plenty for three or four servings, so you don't need to increase that.

I steamed some broccoli to go alongside. The entire meal was surprisingly elegant, yet never veered from the realm of comfort food. And with three different kinds of umami going on, my tastebuds were happy as well. (See how that word umami keeps appearing everywhere?)

Wednesday Food Word: Umami

You know how sometimes you learn a new word, and then you suddenly see that word everywhere? This week that word has been umami. It suddenly seems to be everywhere.

Umami is the so-called fifth taste, in addition to salty, bitter, sweet and sour. It was discovered by a Japanese researcher, who named it "umami", which has no literal translation in English. "Deliciousness" has been suggested, as well as savouriness. This taste is triggered by the free (unbound) glutamates in food, which is why MSG—monosodium glutamate—enhances flavour. But you can get it in your food without adding MSG.

Glutamates are found in protein-rich foods, like meat, fish and parmesan cheese, but they're also found abundantly in plant foods such as tomatoes and mushrooms, particularly the dried forms of these foods. It might, therefore, be a good idea for anyone transforming to a vegan diet to try to incorporate as many umami-rich foods as possible. Miso, tamari, dried mushrooms—all have intense umami tastes.

Tamari, a type of soy sauce, is available at any Asian market. I've been using it for years instead of soy sauce, and now I know why it tastes so much better. Miso, when added to soup, enhances its flavor, as I discovered in this recipe. And if you've poured out the liquid after rehydrating dried porcini mushrooms, you've just poured out umami-rich stock that will add zing to whatever you've got simmering.

But if you're a raw foodie, you may be missing out on something. Cooking processes, including browning, fermenting, and brewing, enhance umami-ness. Adding sweetness, such as sugar to tomatoes, also brings out umami flavor.

More plant foods containing umami flavors include truffles, marmite, wine, and yes, potato chips. Even bread, with its gluten content and browned crust, will excite your umami receptors.

If you want to learn more about umami, you can read about it at the Umami Information Center. For more on vegan cooking and umami, you can subscribe to Bryanna Clark Grogan's vegan newsletter here and read about it in her last issue.

If you're really into umami, maybe you can join the Society for Research on Umami Taste. And if you've got time, you can read this long article with quotes from chefs familiar with umami and which includes umami-rich recipes.

You might want to read it over some green tea, which, as you guessed, is rich in umami.

Outrageous Fortune, Cont.

The dog is feeling better this morning. Woke me up at 5 a.m. as usual, tail wagging. "By a sleep to say we end" indeed. No more pale casts of thought brought on by late night Google searches.

Hamlet can kiss my butt.

Slings, Arrows, Etc.

I realize I risk turning this blog into a series of unfortunate events, but my best friend is sick today. She was off her food all weekend, unusual for her, and very lethargic. I did convince her to walk up to the Fun Fair Saturday, but even the thought of discarded hotdogs didn't generate much more than a few half-hearted tugs at the lead. All day Sunday she just lay around on the couch, not at all interested in the fine meal I'd prepared.

By Monday morning, she didn't even lift her head to greet me when I came downstairs.

I took her in to the doctor, who immediately got down to business with the thermometer, placing it in a very indelicate place. She suffered that indignity with a few choice looks: Dr. Sue has been crossed off her list of "friends", I'm afraid. But as we suspected, she was running a temperature: 104.6, high for any species. ("Very impressive," was Dr. Sue's response. I'm still not sure how to interpret British understatement.)

She stayed there all day, while they ran tests and inserted an IV for fluids. (Fortunately, they used a pink bandage, to match her collar. Dr. Sue at least understands the fashion needs of her patients.) Although there is clearly a bacterial infection, the exact one isn't known, nor the location. Nevertheless, they started her on antibiotics, and gave her an anti-inflammatory for the fever. She perked up a bit when I brought her home, and then returned to the couch, where she's been all night.

My best friend has been there for me these last few weeks, when I came home from Heathrow after saying goodbye to my daughter, through the ups and downs since then, most of which I have refrained from blogging about. I've cried into her fur more times than I can count, and taking her for walks has probably saved my sanity. So I am not happy about this latest turn of events.

Whoever is in charge of these things, please note that when Shakespeare talked about the thousand natural shocks that the flesh is heir to, he didn't mean that literally.