Thursday, May 28, 2009

Scipps National Spelling Bee's gastronomic words



I am watching the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee and wow, talk about channeling my inner geek. I am so entranced with this show I cannot tear myself away. There are just a handful of kids left as I type. Here are some of the foodie words I should have known but would totally have bombed:
  • Neufchâtel (as in the cheese)
  • Caerphilly (as in another cheese, what's with the cheese thing?)
  • tagliatelle, pronounced "tallatelly" (as in the pasta)
  • palatschinken (jam-filled pancakes)

That last one tripped up my favorite kid, Kenyi. Bummer.

Speaking of food, I'm currently working with a French chef of international renown who's been written up in The Atlantic, New York Times, been featured on television, etc. and am gaining more gastronomic education about haute cuisine than people in chef school, but unfortunately my job leaves me no time to blog about my new foodie repertoire. One job perk is the geusioleptic aromas wafting in the kitchen. I just learned that word tonight courtesy of the spelling bee.

Below is the French-made oven the chef cooks with. Isn't it amazing? It's "The Chateau" model by La Cornue. I didn't know that forty-thousand-dollar ovens even existed. Surprise!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

But without a window, how do you know when the chocolate chip cookies are done?

Tiger: )

Memetician said...

He can be making 7 different dishes simultaneously and he knows exactly when the cookies are done. He does make chocolate chip cookies, for real. I had to use the oven one night when he had the day off. It was like driving a Ferrari when all you've ever owned was a Dodge.