Web logs in Fort Worth.

Sun Drenched Hillside / Nancy Merkle



I started writing this web log a little over a year ago because work was slow and I wanted something to fill the time -- and because I like to eat, talk about food, and review restaurants. A friend and I used to joke about the fact that we couldn't think of a significant (large or small) restaurant in DFW that we hadn't visited. That's no longer even close to being true.

I had a theme. I wanted to have a post a day on food and restaurants. But I realized after a month or so that I couldn't write about food everyday, so just started writing about other things that I was thinking about. I commented on things of interest to me. There is a differnce between writing about yourself, which no one is interested in, and writing about the things that interest you. What started as a web log on food and Fort Worth should probably have been called Life in Fort Worth. Especially now that I am in Philly more than Fort Worth limiting my ability in restaurant reviews. I thought about stopping but decided, "it is what it is" and not to worry about it.

All that to say that Fort Worth has many good web logs, all different, but I think enjoyable to read. The boys over at The Whited Sepulchre Blog had a post on Fort Worth web logs. I thought I would do the same. Here are a few I visit often:

FortWorthology -- probably the best photographs of the city that you will see. Very knowledgeable commentary on development.

The Whited Sepulchre -- Allen is a good writer. I like his stuff. Good web log.

Fort Worth Architecture -- The big Kahuna, not a web log but a website on the subjects of architecture and development in Cowtown. A large forum section.

Long Horn Lucy and Thoughts of Net.Developer -- Minnesotans who are adjusting to Fort Worth, and as far as I can tell enjoying it. I always check in there.

The Caravan of Dreams - If you moved here within the last, hmmm . . . 10 years maybe, you might not know that Caravan of Dreams once was a pretty serious music venue for -- jazz, folk, a little country, and anything else the proprietors liked. I saw Emmy Lou Harris with an audience of about 75, as well as many other musicians. Good blog, good name.

Hole in the Wall -- Good commentary on food and restaurants.

Cowtown Chronicles -- commentary, like mine often political, probably not a handful of things CC and F&FW would agree on, but hey, this is America.

All the sites have links on the right column of this site.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark the Evangelist
Gortzius Geldorp / 1605
(from Art and the Bible)

From the Gospel of Saint Matthew

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Alchemy or Cooking.

I like the Food Network. But my first taste of cooking shows was Public Broadcasting Systems' (PBS). Food Network came along years later. On channel 13 I watched Justin Wilson from Louisiana, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, the Galloping Gourmet, the Chinese guy, Yan Can Cook (I still use a big cleaver for a knife because of him) - I watched them all. My favorite was Justin Wilson.

Today my favorite show is Good Eats because host Alton Brown explains what happens in the cooking and ingredient mixing process, plus the guy is a little wacky. Two other favorites: America's Test Kitchen on PBS (the same people that do the Cook's Illustrated Magazine) and Sara Moulton, lately of PBS' Weeknight Meals. Mrs. Moulton is a professional cook. She knows the how and why of good cooking and good food. Some I don't care for: Emeril annoys me. Bam this, Emeril. The lady from Louisiana has a voice that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. And her two boys need to cut the apron string sometime before they turn 50. Sara Lee is a little too soccer mom for me, Barefoot Contessa, a little too Hamptons, although both of them seem likable as people. The Cake Show with the Goth, Gen X'ers is way too hip for me, plus I can't watch anyone cook with tattoos on their neck. But hey, to each his own. Remember the Two Fat Ladies cooking show on BBC? That was an all time great.

From all of this I have concluded the following, shall we say, fundamental, rules of good food:

1. Cooking is chemistry: you can ruin good food with poor cooking.
2. Cooking isn't alchemy: you can't make a good meal with bad ingredients.
3. Spices enhance flavor, they do not create it.
4. Opposites create depth when done appropriately. Sweet/sour, salt/bland, hot/cold, oily/dry, crispy/soft, yin/yang (sorry). The simpler the better. For example: lemons, sugar, water. Fresh bread, cheese, tomato, salt. Chocolate, coffee. Cold beer, pretzels.
5. Vine-ripened, fresh, natural always taste better.
6. Occasion and company add or subtract from taste and enjoyment. Dining is more than eating. An animal eats at a trough, a person at a table.
   
7. Nothing is good without appreciation and gratefulness. Never "turn your nose up" at the charity expressed in a cooked meal. If a hot dog is all you have -- be thankful you have it.