Manolo’s Food Blog

This week Mrs. Henry had surgery. She no longer walks with original factory-installed parts. Chromium now replaces mother nature’s original joint.

In the adjacent room Mrs. Scharf sceamed, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I’ve just come out of soy-gery! Noyce! Noyce!”

The nurse told her to stop yelling and noted that here in the Hospital for Special Surgery all the patients have just come out of surgery. This argument cut no ice whatsoever with Mrs. Scharf, however, who kept it up the whole day long.

At dawn on the second day after surgery they gave Mrs. Henry two Vicodin (codeine) followed by a can of “creamy milk chocolate Ensure, complete, balanced nutrition.” To the medical profession it may be complete, but Ensure did not offer much nourishment. Its foul taste and texture ensured instant regurgitation.

Poor Mrs. Henry had a bumpy ride that day, but after she refused both the medication and the hospital diet, she began to improve. Throwing himself into the breach, Mr. Henry prepared a dinner that she could find palatable and easy to digest.

What is your go-to comfort food after a bad day in the operating theater?

For Mrs. Henry it is miso soup, soft tofu, white rice (with umeboshi) and broiled Arctic char. She felt better within minutes. For breakfast he made her a compote of white nectarines eaten with cottage cheese and crackers. They released her the next afternoon.

The list of ingredients for Ensure defies exaggeration:

Water, corn maltodextrin, sugar (sucrose), milk protein concentrate, canola oil, soy protein concentrate, corn oil, cocoa powder (processed with alkali), short-chain fructooligosaccharides, potassium citrate, whey protein concentrate, magnesium phosphate, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, soy lecithin, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride…

That is only half the list. The remaining ingredients have really complicated names.

Ensure may well be parody-proof, but its use in hospitals is positive proof of the commercial might of America’s corn and soy agro-industrial complex. To Mrs. Henry, and to anyone who eats a sensible diet, Ensure tastes like poison. Why can’t hospitals figure this out?

Friends brought baskets of goodies. Stinky baked delicious too-many blueberry muffins. Kim sent a gift basket from E.A.T. including a silver bell shaped like a Southern belle (get it?) which Mrs. Henry now rings every eight to nine minutes. The physical therapist is on his way over to treat her bell-ringer’s elbow.

If you are Mary, at dawn you don your sunhat and amble down to the chicken coop for fresh eggs, pull a few egg-sized potatoes from the earth, cut some lettuce (several exotic varieties), cut nasturtiums, shiso, mint (a mild one), and pick tomatoes warming in the morning sun. With a can of tuna, a few boiled eggs, some anchovies and some olives, your lunch will be an unbeatable salade niçoise ready in 10 minutes.

Since Mary swims a mile every morning except on the days when she climbs rocks, dessert, like swimming, is always an option exercised. In July she served a gooseberry pie that was the most delicious fruit pie Mr. Henry ever tasted.

Mary mixes fresh gooseberries (various colors, stems pinched away) with diced lemon peel and a tablespoon each of sugar and flour. In the refrigerator, dough mixed the night before lies nicely chilled in a ball, ready to roll. She bakes in a convection oven until the fruit bubbles up, and lets stand a few hours so the liquor congeals. Mmmmm.

The only accompaniment to such delectation is the greatest and most reliable American dessert, our one true locus of national culinary pride, the perfect choice, the universal dessert donor. Mr. Henry is speaking of the ultimate frozen custard -– Haagen-Dasz vanilla – not the 1/2 calorie one, mind you, but the buttery original. He has sampled ice creams across the globe. Although Italians boast justifiably of their gelatos, their vanilla can’t compare. Ben & Jerry’s is fun for the kids or to share on a date, but again, their vanilla lacks the creamy mouth feel, the umami, of Haagen-Dasz.

But of the several attempts by family and friends to overcome the oppressive heat here in New York, none bested Arielle’s Bellini in a bowl, a sublime and sublimely simple concoction of peaches and sauvignon blanc.

Peel ripe peaches and, leaving them whole, cover generously with sauvignon blanc or, indeed, any white wine at hand, ideally the one you are serving for dinner. Chill them for a few hours, slice into sections and place them in individual bowls. The chilled fruit in its chilled bowl will bring your dinner to a climax of icy cool.

Need Mr. Henry suggest a scoop of vanilla with that?

Today the New York Times “Science Times” section (p. F6) reports that in a 14-year study the risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver cause by alcohol abuse was lowered by drinking coffee. The more coffee the participants drank, the better their livers fared.

Mr. Henry would like to extend a personal thanks to the principal author, Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Oakland, California. Although the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine did not include Mr. Henry’s case history, he would like to contribute a post-publication testimonial whole-heartedly supporting the paper’s conclusions. Mr. Henry has conducted extensive field research in this domain. Two strong cups of good coffee in the morning go a long way toward quieting his jumpy liver. In light of the paper’s conclusions, from now on, when necessary, he will drink three or four.

Mr. Henry has every confidence that through internet publicity this study will reach its intended audience in time for them to adjust their coffee consumption to maximize health benefits. The need is critical. Please help.

Manolo says, here are the few things that may perhaps amuse…

He could breakdance in a tutu and fright wig on American Idol and STILL be the coolest chef on TV. He’s a Magnificent Beast and good for the world.

It seems like half the shows on Japanese television are cooking shows

We loosely define weird food as anything that the typical American would likely find odd or disgusting, but that someone somewhere on this planet would eat and consider normal.

Manolo says, here are the few food related items that may perhaps amuse.

Salty, Sweet, Sublime: Bisteeya

The World’s Best Restaurants

Gummy Bacon

Coca Cola Blāk

Manolo says, here are the few links to the things culinaria that may perhaps amuse.

The Best Baguette in Paris

Pig Candy

Reading Rachael Ray

Manolos shouts, Allez Food Blogging!

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