Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9411030013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Hunting Hills Executive Chef Curtis Carter recently traveled to and spent 10 days in San Francisco, where he was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs. Admission to the prestigious chef's honor society requires meeting stringent guidelines as well as upholding certain standards including sharing culinary expertise through involvement with apprenticeship and other teaching programs - something that Carter has been doing for many years.
Dedicated food professional that he is, Carter says he made sure to thoroughly check out San Francisco's abundant cuisines. In fact, he's still trying to lose the results of his research, he laughed. The best, he says, was probably at the awards dinner itself, which included grilled pheasant, brioche, braised Maine lobster, grilled fillet of venison, polenta, truffles and cookies. The entire awards menu is preserved on a gold-trimmed souvenir plate that Carter says he will include among his most prized professional possessions.
I'm recently back myself from Charleston, S.C., where both professional chefs and local cooks do wondrous things with the area's varied and plentiful seafoods and indigenous produce. Mark Gibson, chef at the beautiful historic Mills House Hotel, where I stayed, said that the low country's food history is similar to that of Louisiana and other coastal southeastern cities.
One interesting usage in the low country is of grits, which Gibson prepared with cream for a smooth, rich breakfast dish, or with cornmeal and eggs for crispy cakes, less grainy than plain cornmeal, served later in the day.
Grits paired with shrimp in various incarnations showed up on at least half of the menus that I saw, as did She Crab soup, usually made of crab roe and blue crab meat. Other regional favorites, Gibson said, are etouffees and gumbos, which also varied as widely as the area's population, architecture and history.
Although seafoods were hot, they didn't freeze out vegetables on the menu. Gibson's addition of indigenous black-eyed peas and corn to a traditional spinach salad was great. So were Vickery's restaurant's Cuban-inspired black bean cakes served over sauteed spinach with shaved red onion and balsamic vinegar and black bean nachos and black bean egg rolls at Backstage restaurant.
A good friend returned from New York, where she regrets she didn't get to see the life-sized likeness of veteran cholesterol fighter Phil Sokolof amid six-story-tall letters that say "Cut Fat Intake and Live Longer" that replaced Joe Camel on the famous block-long Times Square billboard. The billboard, along with numerous full-page newspaper ads, kicked off a $1 million sweepstakes personally sponsored by Sokolof to increase consumers' knowledge of and interest in the new food labels. All that's required to qualify for one of the 250 cash prizes - from $1,000 to $500,000 - is to correctly answer five simple questions, whose proper responses are provided within the entry form. For entry information, check your local supermarket or contact the National Heart Savers Association, 9140 West Dodge Road, Omaha, Neb. 68114; (402) 398-1993.
For some people, fall's arrival is signalled by a desire to give the house a thorough cleaning and prepare to batten down for chilly weather. Granted, it's a little hard to do while temperatures are still hovering in the 80s, as they have been for the past few weeks. But should an overwhelming urge strike, Amana suggests extending the cleaning spree to your appliances could extend their lives and, in some instances, improve their energy efficiency. Among the hints:
Mild soap and water will suffice for most chores, including cleaning the outer cabinet of refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, ranges and microwave ovens.
Use the soap and water solution twice a year to clean refrigerator door gaskets, then apply a light film of petroleum jelly to the gaskets on the hinge side to keep them soft and pliable. Refrigerator shelves and drawers, as well as microwave oven interiors, can be cleaned with a solution of four tablespoons baking soda per quart of warm water.
The refrigerator's coil, usually located behind the toe grill, should also be brushed and vacuumed.
Boiling a cup of water in a microwave and allowing its vapor to settle in the oven several minutes before opening the door will usually make hard-to-loosen soil in a microwave let go.
The company offers, for $3, a handy little guide called "Amana's Guide to Cleaning Appliances" available through (800) 843-0304. Or, as the company suggests, follow the instructions in the manufacturer's use and care guide that came with the appliance or contact its manufacturer.
Shelf Life runs twice a month in the Extra section. If you have an interesting new product, cookbook, contest, gadget or gew gaw, tell us about it. Write to Shelf Life, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
by CNB