Chez Christine

Food, sets, and photography

Been here at CHOW.com for over a year and thought I had gone through some fairly elaborate photo shoots until now. It was only 5 photographs, but involved a group of 5 people who cooked, styled, shopped, propped, photographed, retouched, reimaged, and more for a week!

The Last Kodachrome Christmas

For a real behind-the-scenes look and a shocking revelation of just how small photo and movie sets can be, we put together some "outtakes" together:

Behind The Scenes

One of the funnest parts was looking the food culture in the '60s and '70s and seeing if we could update or reinvent them while keeping the spirit of the dish, things like a glazed ham, soft dinner rolls, and casseroles. While a jello mold was not involved, there was definite discussion about it.

Bon Appétit!

Not in My House

Elise Bauer has a great post about moderating comments on a blog, and I really agree with a lot of her points.  (Thanks Michael Ruhlman for the heads-up!)  I didn't use to moderate comments until I started getting spam, and then it became a necessity.  Nowadays, I moderate because I deem some comments unpublishable.

My basic principle is that I will publish all comments even if they are arguing against me and what I say.  I believe that everyone's opinions should be heard, but here are a few other guidelines that I impose:

• Write in a respectful tone even if you are disagreeing with me.  People who rail and are accusatory are offensive.
• Back up what you have to say, I try my best to check sources before I publish posts.  You should too.

Case in point:  Here is a comment I received recently about my post about Pain Poilâne being sold in Boston.

"Ha! you think the Poilane bread flown in to Formaggio Kitchen every thursday is FRESH? joke's on you...it's not. Really uber-pretentios people buy it though and think it's JUST wonderful. You know most people can't tell the difference between 5$ cheese and 35$ cheese. There's a sucker born every minute sez P.T. Barnum"

A couple of issues I have here.  First, my information about Poilâne bread coming into Boston was direct from the owner herself, Apollonia Poilâne.  She never said how fresh the bread was.  I assumed it was fairly fresh, which one could argue was fairly naive on my part.  Since then, I have purchased the bread and have not detected any staleness, so I now have an informed opinion.  However, the commenter here has provided no evidence that the bread is not fresh.  Before making accusatory statements, find evidence- such a simple concept to protect your integrity.

Next, listing the quote from P.T. Barnum was rude and insulting.  My blog will never be totally objective (is any journalism for that matter?), so I reserve the right to censor whatever I like.  Again, I'll publish anything, even opposing thoughts or arguments, as long as it is done in a respectful manner.  I love the dialogue that I've engaged in and hope it continues.

Bon Appétit!

Voncigars: A Thief Revealed

I cannot tolerate plagiarism.  There's nothing like seeing one person's hard work stolen and passed off as original by another.  When I read Chez Pim's post revealing the content that a so-called food blogger stole from her site, I was outraged.  It touched a nerve.

Then I looked at Voncigars' plagiarized post and gasped.  One of the photos looked familiar.  Quickly looking through my archives, it was confirmed: he had stolen one of my photos from Barcelona.  My original post was about tapas in Barcelona, and the photo in question was one of chickpeas and spinach.  Now it was personal.

Screen Shot of the Post with My Photo

The outrageous part of this is that his post wasn't even accurate.  He labeled the photo "Baby Squid." Baby squid is actually in one of my other photos, right above the photo he stole. In what ways do chickpeas look like baby squid?!?  What kind of "food blogger" are you if you can't even identify food correctly?  To add icing to the cake, the link leads to a restaurant named Paco Meralgo.  I've never eaten at Paco Meralgo in my life.  He is sending people to a restaurant that probably doesn't even serve what he is picturing.

I'm following Chez Pim's excellent instructions on how to get this guy off the web, including having saved a copy of the post onto my computer as proof.  I also plan to delve more into his website to see what else he may have stolen.

A few weeks ago, someone emailed me and asked me for permission to use one of the photos featured on my website.  That photo was actually taken and GIVEN to me by my friend Cindy of Food Migration when we went out for ice cream in Paris.  What did I do?  I emailed her to ask if she was okay with it (which she was), then I told the person that he could go ahead and use it as long as he attributed it correctly.  He gratefully agreed to do so.  That people, is the right way to do it. 

Best part?  It didn't cost him a penny. Or his integrity.

Update: After an email telling him to remove my photo, he took it down.  His post now has no photos except a photo from the restaurant's website.  Here's hoping he finally realizes the ethical way to run his website.

Bon appétit!

Peekaboo

Honey, I've hopped on the bandwagon.  I've been fascinated by the recent round of "Contents of the Refrigerator" posts going around the food blogosphere.  To prove that I'm a taker but also a giver, I thought it only fair to contribute myself.  This is really a photo of my boyfriend's fridge- we (naturally) eat so many meals together that I treat it as my own.  In fact, I might be more familiar with the contents than he is!

Top shelf (from left to right):

• Brita water pitcher
• Asian pear from Russo's
• Gold BBQ Sauce from Blue Ribbon BBQ- slightly mustardy and quite unique
• homemade pickled peaches (I think they look gross but they're H's family recipe)
• Plugra butter
• butter  with Sel de Guérande that I lugged back from France
• chives from the planter on the fire escape
• broccoli rabe from Russo's
• two duck leg confits sitting in duck fat that need to be made into rillettes soon
• Jarslberg cheese from Costco
• Carla jams (champagne raspberry and mango passion fruit) from La Grande Épicerie in Paris
• chocolate strawberry mint jam from Paris
• sangria mix from Williams-Sonoma
• skim milk (H prefers skim, I prefer lowfat, but hey, it's his fridge)
• half-and-half
• Boursin cheese

Middle shelf:

• Patrick Roger allégories, lime bouchées, ganaches- I know you're not supposed to store chocolate in the fridge, but the apartment absolutely bakes when it's hot!
• leftover roasted eel
• fresh pineapple from Russo's
• buffalo and honey hot chicken wings from Buff's Pub (best wings I've ever had)
• dried shrimp
• fiddlehead ferns (I've never tried them before but can't wait) from Russo's
• homemade salad dressing
• summer squash from Russo's
• Maille cornichons
• mesclun mix from Russo's
• Chinese dried shredded pork
• sweet potato and honey purée
• homemade toasted breadcrumbs with almonds

Lower shelf:

• cheese drawer with cheeses from Formaggio Kitchen, quince paste from Paris, pâté de campagne, and tons and tons of parmesan cheese rind
• 6 pounds of Bell & Evans chicken backs and bones that need to be turned into chicken stock, compliments of the test kitchen
• Chinese sausage

Lower drawers (not photo'd): lemons, carrots, celery, cucumber

Dirty little secret: the green can of parmesan cheese in the door, used only in making hot artichoke dip

Looking back at this list, I can't believe that I was whining about not having anything interesting to eat in the fridge today.  I should be more creative and find interesting combinations with all this stuff.  Chinese sausage salad with Gold BBQ sauce dressing?  Hmmm...maybe not.

Bon appétit!

Paris in the News

I'm too busy enjoying the fact that spring has FINALLY arrived in Boston, but I'll leave you with links to a few articles in the New York Times that involves two popular Paris-centric topics: hotels and food.

Paris Chic, On the Cheap

Paris Match

(I remember my jaw thudding to the floor and rolling out the revolving door when I saw that the Sunday New York Times cost 16 Euros at the Publicis store on the Champs-Élysées. 

To cope, I went to L'Avant Gout in the 13ème for a 12.50 Euros lunch that included a starter, main, wine, and coffee instead.  Filling the stomach usually won out over enlightening the mind, not surprisingly.)

Bon Appétit!

Whips!

Yoplait Whips!

Bon appétit!

Jelly Belly-icious

Mmm....pure sugar in the form of Jelly Beans.

Bon appétit!

Scharffen Berger Factory Tour- Berkeley

Dark, dark chocolate.  Who can resist?

Not I, especially when you get to take a tour of the factory where it's made.  Click here to read my review of the Scharffen Berger Factory in Berkeley, CA.

Bon appétit!

The Quest Ends

Hot chocolate?  Cold Chocolate?

Discover my final rankings for the best chocolat chaud in Paris on Sugar Savvy!

Bon appétit!

Cars & Bubbly?

This is what happens when a bunch of culinary students go off on a trip to Champagne. (photo from Independent.co.uk)

We visited Pommery and Moet & Chandon and took their cellar tours, stopping for lunch and a look at the immense cathedral in Reims in between.  Too bad lunch was a yawn- but what do you expect from a place called the James Joyce Pub?

As for the champagne tastings, I didn't find anything spectacular that I wanted to buy.  If I ever return to Reims, I'd probably want to visit Bruno Paillard instead.  We popped a bottle in celebration of the completion of my first market tour, and I can see why Joël Robuchon stocks his restaurants with this champagne.

Psssttt...when we couldn't finish the entire bottle, it went into Pear Mimosas later.  Sounds a little weird, I know, but we had fresh pear juice purchased directly from the bottler when we visited Avignon a few weekends ago.  Nothing beats fresh juice, no sugar added, from a beautiful sun-drenched part of Europe!

Champagne Pommery
5, place du Général Gouraud
51100 Reims, France
Open daily, tour reservations available online

Champagne Moet & Chandon
20, Avenue de Champagne
51333 Epernay, France
Tel: 03-26-51-20-20
Open daily in the summer, M-F in the winter

Bon appétit!