Cotton is up and food stocks may suffer

NYTimes: Amber Waves to Ivory Bolls
This is a good piece on the cycle of chasing prices.

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Our daily bread

Today's bread is a light, airy whole wheat boule made with a biga and a soaker. The bread is meant to be a sandwich bread, which results from the honey and slight bit of oil in the dough.

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When organic is not organic

The temptation when there is a new lucrative market is to rush to that market. Organic food has boomed in recent years as affluent and not-so-affluent consumers have decided that the flavor, ethics, or support to small-scale farmers was worth the extra cost. Predictably, others such as Walmart and Target have gotten into the business. However, whenever profit is involved, there is incentive for some to cheat. Apparently the USDA has actually caught some organic certifiers in the act of, well, not certifying correctly. Read more about it at the Food Politics blog.

I like oatmeal

I do, I like oatmeal. I make scottish porridge on weekends when I have time (the package says six minutes, but that's after you bring the milk to a simmer). On weekdays, I use a quicker version. I add granola, or raisins, or banana, or whatever strikes my fancy. But I could just go to McDonald's. Or you could read Mark Bittman's take on it.

Ardbeg SN2010

I had meant to write about Ardbeg's SN2010 last year when it was released, but I have been a bit lazy, and it is also an extraordinarily difficult dram to decipher. SN2010 is the second release of the ultra-peated Supernova, bringing 100 parts per million of peat to the fight (other Islay whiskies, for comparison, will have somewhere between 25 and 50 ppm of peat). The numbers themselves are not terribly meaningful, however, since there are two methods for measuring peatiness, which can yield wildly different results. (For a quick primer on peat, read this short piece.)

Regardless of the method used, there is no mistaking the power of this whisky straight from the bottle. The smell (some might call it stench) is apparent as soon as it hits the glass. The color is very light, closer to a pinot grigio than any other wine you might compare it to. The whisky comes at 60.1% alcohol by volume, but does not have the nose burn you might expect from a whisky this powerful. The seaweed and brine are there, as well as some fruity notes (more like candied fruit than anything fresh). There's a campfire there in the background and maybe some licorice. Undiluted, it is powerful to drink. Not quite fire-water that will leave you gasping and dunking your head in a bucket of water, but it is not far off. That said, it is surprisingly smooth and well rounded.

Once the water is added, some spice comes out, but much more like Thai spices and chilies. I get a slight hint of orange peel, grass, and even a little dried pine needle. Taking a sip, I still get quite a bit of fire, but the finish is long and warming. This is a very good whisky for the peat freak, though I don't think it comes across as significantly more peaty than the 10 year old or Uigeadail. If I remember correctly, this was about 65 GBP at the distillery, but in the States I have seen it for as much as $130 a bottle. Is it worth it? Hard to tell, but I don't think you'll be disappointed even at that price.

MOO Milk

It's easy to forget that not all the big states are out west. Maine is large. In fact it is huge. Much of the highlands of Maine are owned by paper companies and investment firms. It is also very sparsely populated once you get away from Portland and the southern coast. Which makes it difficult to maintain some businesses when your potential clients are so far away. One such struggling business is MOO Milk, covered recently in this New York Times story. For those of you lucky enough to live in Massachusetts near a Whole Foods, go out and buy some of this milk and help this family get its business on a sound footing.

Valentine's Day

A little early, but who wants to go out on a Monday night. Since Leslie is working all weekend, Saturday night was Valentine's Day dinner at home. The menu I devised is below.

To start I went simple with some farmhouse stilton and prosciutto di parma, washed down with Barboursville's Brut sparkling wine.

The main course was pork tenderloing medallions with a cherry-port sauce, accompanied by roasted herbed fingerling potatoes and charred brussels sprouts and broccoli with pancetta. We had a lovely bottle of 2005 Chambolle-Musigny from A. Chopin & Fils, an impulse Burgundy I purchased at Calvert Woodley this past summer.

Dessert was risotto di ciocolato with Cockburn's Ten Year Old Tawny Port.

As far as a decadent dinner, it was all very good, yet restrained, and certainly didn't leave us feeling like beached whales afterwards. Plus there was not long Metro ride or drive home to deal with. A perfect evening!