2016 Olympics Report #1

I'm sitting here watching the table tennis match between Congo's Suraju Saka and Puerto Rico's Brian Afanador. While this is the first event I've watched since the opening ceremonies, it is not the first event I've watched during these
Olympics. I was able to catch parts of two women's soccer games on Wednesday night.

So far the sports have been great. The table tennis match is really close. And even thought I should be rooting for Afanador since he's arguably from the US, I can't help but root for the older Saka, who is more relatable to me. Wednesday's soccer games were not close. I saw France beat Columbia 4-0 and the US beat New Zealand 2-0. I'm not really a fan of soccer, but today's game is US vs. France and I'll be interested to see who wins that one.

Last night was the opening ceremonies. They were not as intriguing to me as past Olympics. I was struck by how much of the ceremony was orchestrated for the TV audience. There was one point where dancers were running across a simulated roofline projected onto the field. There was only one angle where that made visual sense: the TV angle. I found that distracting. There was also a long segment of infographics about global warming. Perhaps those were also shown on screens in the stadium, but again seemed optimized for the TV audience.

Gail and I usually make international dishes for most nights of the Olympics. Since our daughter, Noele came home for a visit last night, we decide to go out to Japanese/Korean instead. We kept the international theme, just didn't cook it ourselves. I did have a glass of Greek ouzo in honor of the first Olympics.

By the way Brian Afanador won the table tennis match 4-3.

The Best Chowder in the World as Far as I'm Concerned

Chowder is one of the worlds best foods, and Gail makes the best clam chowder I've ever had. Really, I'm not kidding here. Gail's not convinced, but she's never been able to show me better. The key is the bacon and the use of milk instead of cream.

Earlier this week we had some neighbors over for dinner. Gail adapted her clam chowder recipe into corn chowder as a way to use the volume of corn that all came ripe at the same time. I love corn chowder almost as much as clam chowder. Gail's chowder base makes it great.

Along with the chowder, Gail served garden beans two ways. The first was sauteed with garden tomatoes. It was good. But the second dish, with the green beans simply roasted with oil and light salt, was the best. Gail also made a tomato, basil, mozzella salad, dressed simply with a nice olive oil.

In addition to the apple crisp Gail made for dessert, our guests brought these flavored rice candies from his recent business trip to Japan. The rice candies are jellied. The green ones tasted like tea. The black and brown ones were covered with sesame seeds and filled with bean paste. Each is delicate and lightly sweet, a fun treat.





The Best Chowder in the World
Makes 2 cups

1 T olive oil
¼ c chopped onion
½ c peeled chopped potato (higher starch potatoes will fall apart and thicken chowder; lower starch will retain shape)
1 c fish or chicken stock
½ t salt
3 oz cooked or 4 oz raw clams
2 t potato or corn starch
½ c whole milk
freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat oil in heavy soup pot over med heat. Meanwhile, chop onion; add to pot; immediately reduce heat to med-low; saute until tender, about 5 min.
2. Meanwhile, peel potato; cut into bite-sized cubes. Drain seafood if necessary, reserving liquid;  cut seafood into bite-sized pieces. Add stock to any reserved seafood liquid to make required amount.
3. Add potato, stock and salt. Cover; simmer until tender, 15 min.
4. When potatoes soften, mash some right in pot with potato masher, if desired.
5. Stir potato starch into milk until all lumps dissolved; stir into pot.
6. Add seafood; heat through, making sure raw seafood is thoroughly cooked.
7. Best if cooled, refrigerated overnight, and reheated.
8. Serve with oyster crackers or in a bread bowl.
9. Season at table with freshly ground black pepper.

Variations:

• Corn chowder: Add ½ c corn niblets per serving, either in addition to or in place of fish.
• Add garlic.
• Substitute white fish or other seafood for clams.
• Start by sauteing 2 slices bacon in pan until crisp; use drippings in place of oil and salt; add chopped bacon to chowder; season to taste.

Olympics Day 17 (and final): British Fish and Chips

Tonight is the closing ceremonies of a great Olympic games. Congratulations London, you did a good job hosting. And congratulations to NBC for excellent coverage. But most importantly, congratulations to Gail for an amazing Olympics feast.

We started off the final day of feasting with a Japanese sushi lunch with Noele before sending her back to New York. We got takeout from Daikanyama in Lexington. They made some terrific rolls, which we augmented with edamame from Gail's garden and semi-homemade miso soup using Marukome miso paste.

A little later in the day I had most of a Sapporo Reserve beer from Japan. The rest I sacrificed to the batter for the fish we had for dinner. The beer had a golden straw color and a nice rich mouth feel. It had a light malty sweetness that finished clean. It tasted remarkably similar to the Murphy's stout I had with dinner, but without the chocolate malt flavors.

For dinner, Gail and I made fish and chips figuring that Great Britain deserved a second spot in the lineup for their performance. I think we've got the fish recipe tuned just right in the batter flavors, temperature and cooking time. I've added the recipe at the end.

The Murphy's stout from Ireland has a creamy head and terrific flavor. It was almost like drinking dessert.

British Fish and Chips

About 2/3 - 3/4 c vegetable oil for frying

For the chips (per 2 servings):

1 Idaho or russet baking potato

¼ t salt

For the fish (per 6 servings):
2 c flour, divided

12 oz fresh cold beer

1 t salt, divided

¼ t freshly ground black pepper

First make the chips:

1. Peel, rinse, dry potato.
2. Fill frying pan with oil, between ½ and ¾ full. Heat oil to 325 F (about med setting on our stove).
3. While oil is heating, cut potato into ¼” sticks; dry thoroughly with clean paper towel.
4. Fry, about 1 c at a time, until lightly colored but not brown, 4-5 min. Remove to plate lined with paper towels.
5. Repeat with remaining potatoes; sprinkle with salt; serve immediately.1 ½ lb haddock or cod fillets, skinned and boned
6. Keep warm in the oven

Then make the fish:

1. Adjust oil temperature to 375 F (about med-high setting on our stove). Meanwhile remove skin and bones from fish, if necessary, and cut into 1” strips. Sift ¾ of flour into bowl; gently whisk in beer until combined. Stir in ¼ of salt.
2. Pat fish dry; sprinkle with pepper and remaining salt; dredge in remaining flour. Coat fish pieces in batter; fry 4 pieces at a time, turning frequently, until deep golden and cooked through, 4-5 min.
3. Transfer cooked fish to paper-towel-lined baking sheet, keep warm in oven while frying remaining fish.
4. Return oil to 375F between batches; repeat for remaining pieces of fish.