Feast of Saint George
April 23rd is the Feast of Saint George. For all of his popularity little is known about Saint George except that he was born in Cappadocia (Turkey), that he was a soldier and suffered martyrdom. The crusaders brought his fame to the West. He is the patron saint of England, Aragon, Portugal and certain parts of Germany. Before the Conquest many English churches had been named after Saint George and the story of his brave deeds were revered everywhere.
Saint George’s best known deed is legendary. Legend has it that he slayed a horrible dragon in order to save a maiden who had been vowed to a monster. The story goes that Saint George transfixed the dragon with a spear and then told the maiden to lead the monster around so that he could put an end to him. St. George was very well known by that time as a man of God and a confessor of His works. Apparently, after witnessing the miraculous slaying of the dragon, 20,000 people were converted to Christ. The king begged St. George stay in exchange for half of the kingdom. St. George refused the offer because he wanted to ride on and carry God’s message.
Saint George is especially honored in England as its great patron. Flags are flown on this feast day, but in earlier times this feast day was filled with more elaborate celebrations (processions, jousts & races). The dishes served on this day should be English favorites such as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
In Allier, a winegrowing region of France, there is an interesting observance of Saint George’s Day. If frost has not harmed the vines by this day then a clean, soft little towel is offered to the statue of the saint and his feet are washed in wine. There will be shouts of “Vive Monsieur Saint Georges.” If frost has harmed the vines, however, Saint George is not very popular and though his feet are still washed a rough, coarse cloth is used.
Tiny New York Kitchen Goes To Koreatown
Last week Tiny New York Kitchen took a little trip to NYC’s Koreatown. I had a west coast girlfriend come into town and was thinking of things to do and hadn’t been to Koreatown (West 32nd Street) for quite a while and figured that it was about time to pay my respects. First we went for Korean barbeque at my favorite place, Wonjo. I made sure that we got there a bit early to beat the inevitable rush. We had delicious marinated meat that was cooked on the table grill. We had the usual sides of kimchee, tofu, little dried fish and all sorts of things that were quite interesting. I also ordered fish stew and a side order of vegetable tempura. Everything was delicious and what was not eaten was brought home for the next day’s lunch.
After making our way through the waiting crowd we finally left Wonjo stuffed. Being stuffed didn’t stop us from walking a few doors down to the Korean bakery, Paris Baguette. Don’t ask me why in the hell it’s called Paris Baguette because it’s a cafeteria style Korean bakery. We picked up our cafeteria trays and giant metal tongs and helped ourselves to a strange, but delicious, array of desserts. The place was packed with mostly Korean people doing the same thing. We got in line, paid and took them to go because we had one more place to go.
At this point it was about 9:30pm and our final stop was, Zen Spa, a 24 hour Korean spa that was cheap and bizarre to say the least. I had been to two other 24 hour Korean spas before and just found out that one of them is a gay sex place so I crossed that one off the list. We showed up at the “spa” and the place wasn’t very busy at all. The front end was a nail salon and I was looking around for where the spa part might be. We were shown to the tiny back area where we were given robes to put on and then promptly taken away never to be seen again. We were shoved into a sauna until I was burning up and poked my head out to see what the heck we were doing next. These two short Korean women, wearing matching black sport bra outfits, brought us into a room with two side by side plastic covered massage tables. We were still buck naked and they had us get onto the tables and scrubbed us raw and then threw buckets of water on us. This was the exfoliation treatment. They scrubbed every inch of our bodies and I am NOT exaggerating one iota. The tables were so slippery and we were sliding all over the place. When I was told, “you turn over now,” I swear I was going to go flying across the room. When they were nearing the end of the exfoliation treatment they were slapping our butts like they were spanking us. I don’t know what that was about. They shoved us back into the sauna until I couldn’t take it anymore and popped my head out. We still had no robes or towels and it’s a good thing I’ve known my friend for many many years. My woman says, “You ready now?” I replied that we were ready for our massages. We were taken back into the same wet room and put back onto the same tables where the women were up on the tables massaging us with their knees and elbows. Actually felt pretty good.
Finally the treatment ended with a “facial” of cucumbers and hair washing. The cucumber stuff was weird and didn’t seem to do much, but the hair washing was kind of nice. We laid there and they washed and conditioned our hair with vigorous hands. Then they threw more buckets of warm water over our bodies. The very last thing they had us do was sit up and handed us cat bowls of milk to put our faces into. I don’t know what that was supposed to do either, but I am sure it had some purpose. Finally we were handed a towel each to dry off and get our clothes on. I tipped the ladies quite well and luckily it was a nice evening out as we walked back to my apartment with wet hair at midnight.
Mac & Cheese Please!
Forget that horrible box stuff and make your own delicious Mac & Cheese. Here is a different spin on the usual cheddar cheese macaroni & cheese dish. Using the brie, cream cheese and mascarpone makes it nice and creamy. I used macaroni pasta here, but you can use pasta shells or farfalle pasta.
INGREDNTS
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
12 Ounces of Farfelle or Macaroni Pasta or Shells
7 Ounces Brie (Rind Removed) Cut Into Chunks
5 Ounces Cream Cheese Softened & Cubed
3 Large Eggs Lightly Beaten
1 Cup Mascarpone Cheese
1 Cup Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
3/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Finely Grated Nutmeg
Heat your oven to 375º F. Butter a 2 quart gratin dish. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente and then drain well. DO NOT rinse the pasta. Transfer the hot pasta to a large bowl and toss immediately with Brie and cream cheese until melted and smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, mascarpone and Parmigiano. Stir the egg mixture into pasta. Season with the kosher salt, pepper and nutmeg. Place the pasta into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Serves 6
