Fallout

“…everyone knows, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘umption’.” – Mitch Hennessey, The Long Kiss Goodnight

On Sunday, I received 3 messages and twice as many direct tweets from food bloggers (most of them from overseas) about the incident. I was away at SGH awaiting a death in the family.

I’ve not thought about it much nor blogged about it because I like to get all the pieces in place first. After all, I am told that premature ejaculation can be very embarrassing (“Oh no baby, it’s because I love you so much/ that I gotta bust my nut…”)

Anyway, I think the bulk of the outrage was caused by the assumptions made by the blogger and his reaction when said assumptions turned out wrong. Based on the articles and blog postings, there seem to be a lot of assumptions being made in the communication between the organizer of the event and the blogger which resulted in a miscommunication of expectations and subsequent falling out.

The vitriolic reaction of the blogosphere and the rest of the Internet was not unexpected as this (the reaction, not the incident) has happened many times before, most recent examples were of a senior civil servant sharing his family vacation amidst economically difficult times and the steeplejacking of a local women’s NGO.

What surprised me was the restaurant’s confession (in their press release) that the reaction (and subsequent attention) was unexpected. This seems to show the relative inexperience of some PR managers, consultants and firms regarding the new social media that is the Internet. It’s a double-edged sword. And like all dangerous tools, it helps if you RTFM. A good start can be found here.

On the other side of the ham hock, my feel is that bloggers are a fun bunch but, like most people, we are often seduced by the invites, fame (real or imagined) and because of inexperience, some will fall to the dark side; it is inevitable.

Big picture-wise, especially with a dear family member on the edge of inevitability, I find this incident a non-event blown up, perhaps, on a slow news day. To close, I leave you with this candid interview with the late Keith Floyd, a highly respected (and most entertaining) TV cook; meditate and its relevance will become apparent.

Posted on 25th Aug 2010 in Musings | 11 comments

How to pan-fry the perfect duck breast

Pan-fried Duck Breast with Tomato Galette

With its crispy skin and rich gamey flavor, the duck breast is just about the most delicious cut of meat there is.

Unfortunately, a lot of people find it difficult to get it right, so I would like to offer my two-cents on this subject.

Posted on 23rd Aug 2010 in Meat, Old School, Recipes | 5 comments

Weekend Home-cooking with Moules Marinière, Tomato Galette, pan-fried duck breast and a deep chocolate with sour cream pound cake

She was talking about Moules Frites for a while now. So I proposed doing Moules Marinière (with frites of course) but I had some confusion with Moules à la Provençale which is basically Moules Marinière with tomatoes and (more) herbs.

She’d also found a nice recipe for a nice Tomato Galette (I had proposed doing David Lebovitz’s Tomato Tart but I’m easy…) The other agenda was to practice doing pan-fried duck breast for Joan’s home-coming dinner.

Posted on 22nd Aug 2010 in Dinner Book, Food and Drink, Fun, Modern European, Western | 5 comments

Update on the Annual Food Bloggers Dinner 2010

Be here or be a very large brassiere.

Also check-check please…

DimSumDolly – 1 x fish

Divine Essentials – 1 x fish

A 1/2 Food Blog – 1 x fish

eevon.sg – 1 x veal

food.recentrunes.com – 1 x veal

The Dirty Stall – 1 x veal

The Hungry Cow – 1 x veal

The Baker Who Cooks – 1 x veal

AromaCookery – 1 x veal

Foodie-ah – 1 x veal

Miss Tam Chiak – 1 x veal

Le Petit Connoisseur – 1 x veal

Wen’s Delight – 1 x veal

Camemberu – 1 x veal

KeropokMan – 1 x fish and 1 x veal

M Eats – 1 x fish and 1 x veal

Pantry Pursuits – 1 x fish and 1 x veal

Posted on 20th Aug 2010 in Food Bloggers Dinner, Food and Drink, Singapore | 3 comments

A comparison of the Singaporean Teochew and the Malaysian Klang (Hokkien) Bak Kut Teh using the analogy of wine

You all know Simon. Couple of weekends ago, he visited us and commented about how our local Bak Kut Teh (BKT) was not as flavorful as the Klang version.

A defense of our local clear version of Bak Kut Teh is that it gives an “honest” clean taste whereas with the Klang version with its herbs and soy sauce, it is easy to hide inferior quality pork within the heavy liquor. Nevertheless, we had a tasting of Bak Kut Teh (BKT) documented here.

And this is what Simon had to say.

Posted on 19th Aug 2010 in Hokkien, Malaysia, Singapore, Teochew | 2 comments