Post 1: The reading I found interesting was “consider the lobster”. It was little shocking to me to think that boiling lobster or cooking lobster is cruel, I only loved eating it while on the other hand, I did not want to see the process of cooking. This article gave me new perspective in cooking lobster and I thought that it is hard to decide whether it is right or wrong because it is a dilemma for people who eat any kind of meat, and everyone will have to be vegetarians. I saw how people’s thoughts can vary widely depending on who is reading it. The reading I found that was interesting was the article which I read during my annotated bibliography, “6 countries around the world where curry is a big deal“. I chose curry because it is one of my favourites and I knew it is in many countries with different styles, but I did not know how exactly they differ and the article explained how they differ in details.

Post 2: I did not know what exactly is the rhetoric of food before this class. I can now say that it is one distinct genre of rhetoric, a communication topic. People write, talk, record about food and interact with the readers. Foods are different and distinct in countries, cultures, races and more. Food is essential for people’s living so it has grown up to be one huge medium in our lives. I can see at least one things that is related about food it I spend no more than 5 minutes on the internet. It is a common language across the world. People communicate, agree or debate their own thoughts and share them. The rhetoric of food will grow together with the internet.

I am doing a restaurant review, writing about my experience in certain restaurants and give readers brief ideas ahead of their visit so they can be prepared how the restaurant is going to be. I found many different types of restaurant reviews and I found this guy named Pete Wells, he is a professional restaurant review critic who works for the New York times. I thought I liked blog type reviews but his reviews looked professional and trustworthy. While other reviews focused on introducing good things about restaurants, his reviews looked neutral and trustworthy. I chose his reviews that I found interesting for my texts.

–Top New York Restaurants of 2016

–The Art of Flavor at Flora Bar in the Met Breuer

I categorised some objects Wells’ reviews cover, which are the mood, price range, sanitation, kitchen crew, menu, and some dishes to suggest. Reviews can have diverse styles such as listing few brief explanations for many restaurants or choosing one and listing all the details. Each will have its own advantages. Reviews should also think about the readers, and which readers it wants. Most of the readers who read reviews will be there at the moment for the first time, or planning to be there soon for the first time. The point is that they have not been there. The purpose of restaurant reviews are to walk through each step as if the readers were there and give backgrounds so they will not be frustrated or have difficulty in choosing their dishes. In Pete Wells’ reviews for an example, he always includes the pictures or short videos of the outlook and inside of the restaurant, some dishes he suggests, the mood, and kitchen crews. It’s better to see it once than hearing it a thousand times.

Wells, Pete. “The Art of Flavor at Flora Bar in the Met Breuer.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Jan. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

I chose a restaurant review for my mentor text. Guy names Pere Wells, the restaurant critic for the New York Times. He wrote a review of his visit at the restaurant names floral bar, a new restaurant and café located on the lower level of the Met Breuer. He starts talking about his favorite restaurant, and says the restaurant was the “inverse relationship between prettiness and deliciousness”. Which means that the plate was unpretty but highly delicious. This was his introduction to show why he found Floral bar restaurant, spending time to find a restaurant that has pretty and delicious plates. Wells talks about where the Floral bar is located at, which is inside the Met Breuer Museum and briefly talks about the outlook of Museum.

The first dish Well introduced was tuna tartare, which he described it was nothing like anywhere else’s. Tuna was topped with toasted flax seeds with fried shallots but it was not too much to hide tuna’s own taste. The next was steak. Wells explained that there must be something special thing added to make the steak extraordinary but it is not visible. He does not compliment everything. Shrimp cocktail was expensive, he said, being $29 but worth the price.

Wells then mentions the name of the bar. Despite its name, Floral bar is more like a restaurant than a wine bar. However, in small portion compared to other steak restaurants. He briefly explained the purpose or goal of this restaurant, which is that it is not intended to be a cheap grab and go place. That work goes to the coffee shop next door.

Wells then descripted the interior of the restaurant. “It’s an exceptionally dramatic one, with marble surfaces and banquettes of dark leather and windows the size of billboards that look out on Breuer’s bridge across the moat below Madison Avenue. A sculpture garden when this building still housed the Whitney Museum of American Art, the moat is now an outdoor extension for Flora Bar.”

Then he went back to the menu, talking about the raw fish dishes and to the deserts. The desert was also in a dish shape, like he mentioned before, a signature design for Floral bar.

It looked like a good restaurant review for me. Even though he was more in positive attitude, I liked how he wrote it like he was there for the first time and what people generally think that this restaurant doesn’t. I thought it will be a goo review for people who are planning to go to this restaurant for the first time and need some advise advance to visiting. I also thought it was a good idea to include short video and some photos of inside of the restaurant and the kitchen also. I could imagine how the foods are going to be and how the restaurant’s mood was like.

I chose Indian cuisine and culture for my research topic, especially about curry. I had several topics in my thought and finally chose this since I love curry and I have always wondered about the variety of curry. I saw many curry, in many different ways, in many countries. However, it is general to think that curry is from India so I chose Indian cuisine and curry. I will still have to narrow down the culture part, wether I will focus on just the curry culture or other Indian cultures too.

So far I found many sources related to my topic. I found difference between southern and northen cuisines of India and also what spices that goes in the curry that defines the taste. Also interesting argument that wether curry in from India or from England. And curry from different countries and their styles. I tried many different styles of curry so I can include my own experience when introducing the difference. I found many sources but most of them are from the internet. I will have to work on finding more hard copied books.

My research is going well so far, at least I chose the topic and working on finding more sources. I think I can make things more organised as I go on.

I spent past week thinking about what topic I will choose for the research. I had few things in mind, history of Italian foods such as pizza and pasta, origin of coffee, and Indian culture and food, especially curry. I started with all these topics and looked over  some recipes or videos to see which I am most interested. Then I remembered that the curry I had here in America such as Teji’s on Guadalupe street is different with the curry I make at home which is Korean curry. Curry that is sold at vietnamese restaurants also has different taste. This was pretty interesting and I began to question the diversity of curry and further more, Indian food history and origin. I guess I will stick with this topic. What I am thinking now is where I should start. Right now I am relying on google, but UT library search engine seemed helpful and had many books about curry, Indian food and culture. I have not seen them yet but after I narrow down how my research is going to be, I can use these sources to write my annotated bibliography.

Chocolate chip cookies are one most generally loved sweets. I love chocolate chip cookies but most of them that are in the markets are too sweet for me. I know basic knowledge about baking so I tried to make chocolate cookie on my own a year ago and it worked out great. It had deep chocolate taste and moderately sweet. I tried many different versions, one with chocolate chip on top or one without chocolate chip and just the cacao taste. The cookie itself does not contain a lot of sugar, so it was better to stick some chocolate chips as topping. It is softer than normal cookies and can be used in making cakes such as cookie cakes. This is optional. Its tastes differ by what cocoa powder you use. I use tall house cocoa powder. It will make about 20 cookies. The directions are easy to follow and you can find all the ingredients at any grocery store. Make your own cookie and enjoy it!!

Ingredients :

• Butter 100g
• Sugar powder 120g
• 2Eggs
• Cocoa powder 30g
• Milk 30g
• Bake flour (normal flour is okay) 180g
• chocolate chips

Directions :

• Micromave butter for 30 secs to melt and put in large bowl.
• Add sugar powder.
• Add 2 eggs total but put in one egg and mix completely before adding another egg.
• Add cocoa powder and mix well
• Milk is optional, but it gets softer with milk added.
• Sift bake flour and mix well until the mixture looks like a dough.
• Place the oil paper on flat oven pan and put the mixture into pastry bag and squeeze on the oil paper. The shape does not matter but it cannot be too high. (I will include the photo I made).
• Stick some chocolate chips on the squeezed cookie dough to add some more sweet taste.
• Pre-heat the oven in 320F and bake for 10 mins.
• Enjoy your delicious chocolate chip cookies!!

 this is the shape of cookie dough I made.

Recipe is one unique style of writings that has existed for a long time. Recipe does have big frame but its style varies by the author. One important part in recipe is an introduction. Introduction is how every recipe of one certain food becomes special. There are many different versions by different authors of one same food and that is possible because each story and background of that food depends on author’s own experience. That is how others adapt the existing recipe and put in their own stories and their own cooking tips to make it their own recipe. One interesting introduction is Brown Good and Cheap recipes. Most introductions starts with food’s history or authors experience with it but this book talks briefly about the taste and its look and sounds like the food is introducing itself. It sounded to be more tasteful and fun to make. Another thing that is important in recipe is marking the ingredients. This is also crucial because it tells or warns person who is allergic to certain ingredient. Putting exact amount or ratio of ingredient leads to perfect food. Direction is the next important step in recipe. Some recipes have pictures included or Internet recipes can put some video clips to help understand each step. Especially in baking, baking needs good technics in order to success and well-explained directions will help.

The purpose of writing recipe is basically to help and inform readers to cook but every author’s goals are different. In Brown Good and Cheap, author’s target is those who wants to cook with low money but want to have good quality of foods. One of the recipe I researched before also helps to make good Korean food with small money. It also has historical background, where during war where people had nothing to eat and cook, just put everything they had and mixed together.(http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-bokkeumbap) That is the origin and after several years someone wrote it down as a recipe and now it has became one of Korea’s most favourite food and still many different recipes of Kimchi-bokkeumbap is coming out. There is no same recipe in the world, unless one copies exactly same from others. Every recipe has its own story and its own style. The purpose or target readers will be different even the final food is similar. That is one characteristic of recipe that differs from other writings.

1. Ground Beef Tacos : I chose beef taco as one of my recipes because I love mexican foods and beef taco is my favourite taco. I have never tried to make taco myself but I think it is good chance to try one and the recipe does not look so difficult.

Ingredients

2. Fried Calamari : Fried calamari is my favourite appetiser. I chose this recipe so I can learn it and make it as a snack instead of buying it every time.

Ingredients
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 pound clean squid with tentacles, bodies cut into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rings
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons dried parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, cut into wedges
1 cup simple tomato sauce, recipe follows or jarred marinara sauce, warmed
Simple Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.
Pour enough oil into a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Working in small batches, toss the squid into the flour mixture to coat. Carefully add the squid to the oil and fry until crisp and very pale golden, about 1 minute per batch. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the fried calamari to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
Place the fried calamari and lemon wedges on a clean plate. Sprinkle with salt. Serve with the marinara sauce.
Simple Tomato Sauce:
In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.
Add 1/2 the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.

3. Kimchi Fried Rice : the last recipe I chose is Kimchi fried rice. I think I am the only korean in this class and it is the one I cook a lot and good at. It tastes really good and I wanted to make

Ingredients

• 3 bowls steamed rice (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped kimchi
• ¼ cup kimchi juice
• ¼ cup water
• 2-3 tablespoons gochujang
• 3 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
• 1 sheet of kim, roasted and shredded

Directions

1. Heat up a pan. Add the vegetable oil.
2. Add the kimchi and stir fry for 1 minute.
3. Add rice, kimchi juice, water, and gochujang. Stir all the ingredients together for about 7 minutes with a wooden spoon.
4. Add sesame oil and remove from the heat.
5. Sprinkle with chopped green onion, roasted gim, and sesame seeds. Serve right away.