Scoreboard Gourmet

Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies Menu, in the suites

I realize it's too late to do any good with the following information (because orders needed to be placed a month ago), but it's still interesting and worth sharing. And, you weren't attending the Opening Ceremonies anyway. Were you? Or the Closing. Didn't think so. 

CANADIAN WELCOME - $3875, Serves 12
PRE-SET SNACKS: Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Pretzel Pralines, Maple Syrup Roasted Agassiz Hazelnuts with Sea Salt, House made Kettle Chips with Caramelized Onion Dip, Indian Candy (Honey and Sea Salt Cured Alderwood Smoked Northern Pacific Salmon strips), Red Pepper Hummus with toasted pita chips and fresh vegetables
PRE-EVENT RECEPTION: GATE OPENING: Cheese (fruit, berries, crackers, flatbreads and baguettes), Canadian Maple Margarita Shrimp “Lollipopettes”, Cortez Island Smoked Oysters and Boursin in Cherry Tomato, Pepper Crusted Albacore Tuna on Nori Crouton, Mini Compressed Melon Stick with Cilantro, Shooter of Local Carrots Ginger Juice with Tapioca Pearls, Mini Cones with Ojibwa Manomin (Wild Rice) Salad, Okanagan Cabernet Braised Beef Short Ribs and Local Goat’s Cheese “Poutine” (Pan fried Yukon potatoes topped with cabernet demi glaze braised beef short ribs topped with local goat’s cheese), Shredded Zucchini Pakoras with Mint Okanagan Pear Chutney, Fire Roasted Fanny Bay Oysters, Cabernet Roast Okanagan Pear Salad

2008 Culinary Olympics in Germany

No these Olympics do not have anything to do with sports, unless you consider the fact that some chefs from sports venues are attending...

Kevin Doherty, executive chef at TD Banknorth Garden, Tab Daulton, executive chef at HSBC Arena and Rick Ortiz, executive sous chef at Soldier Field will compete in the cold platter portion of the Culinary Olympics hosted by the German Chefs Association (they call it the Olympiade der Köche).

Details to follow

The Breakfast of Champions at the Carlyle Hotel

$25 for breakfast? Those flakes better be crunchy! By Christina Boyle, NY Daily News (yes I swiped the entire thing just for you)

It's a 603-calorie breakfast fit for a champ. But you won't be counting just calories after you try it. The bowl of Wheaties, topped with bananas and accompanied by a blueberry smoothie, costs a muscular $25 at the upper East Side's Carlyle Hotel.

"The Breakfast of Champions" was added to the menu in honor of 2008 Olympic decathlon winner Bryan Clay, who spent three nights at the posh E. 76th St. hotel last month. "We just wanted to do something that would honor him because it was such an amazing feat," said hotel manager Andrea Gates. "It's not often you have an Olympian stay with you."

The cereal-smoothie combo contains 43 grams of protein, 12.5 grams of fat and 603 calories. The Wheaties can be served with whole milk or skim. The smoothie is made with soy protein. A complimentary copy of Sports Illustrated accompanies every order. "Our chef prepares the items and helps us come up with the pricing," said Gates. "If people would like other fruit instead [of bananas], we can offer it."

The most expensive breakfast item at the Carlyle is the traditional buffet of eggs, sausages, cheeses and baked goods, which sets guests back $35. Even though guests could make the cereal breakfast themselves for about $4.25, Gates says guests want to eat their Wheaties at the hotel. "We've already had quite a few orders," she said.

BMX at the Olympics!

You know I'm a ten year old boy when BMX at the Olympics gets an exclamation point!

from the NYTimes...

Shortly after BMX cycling made its Olympic debut Wednesday, the American riders gathered down the hill from the site at a bike shop called Trek.

In the back, they sat at tables, eating muffins and sandwiches and cinnamon rolls. They hugged their parents and shook hands with their coaches and relived the races they had just finished.

full story here.

it ends with: “Just the whole experience has been crazy,” [American rider Mike] Day said. “Eating in the dining hall, sleeping in the village, getting police escorts. It’s the coolest thing ever.”

More Phelps Diet Details

Yes I'm still happy that a certain swimmer is off air (more or less), but that doesn't mean his diet isn't fascinating. I just can't get enough of the details (following from BBC News):

For breakfast: three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by three chocolate-chip pancakes; a five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge), washed down with two cups of coffee.
For lunch: half a kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread smothered with mayonnaise, washed down by energy drinks.
For dinner: Another half-kilogram of pasta, perhaps with a carbonara sauce, followed by a large pizza and more energy drinks

TFMJ is so jealous.
Jeff Kotterman, director of the US National Association of Sports Nutrition, said: Phelps, with an estimated 8% body fat, probably burns 1,000 calories per hour during his swimming training, compared to the equivalent exercise for an average person - vigorous walking - that would burn between 170 and 240 calories.

Consequently, trying to emulate the Phelps diet by consuming up to 12,000 calories a day in order to attain his physique would more than likely come to a wobbly end.

One pound of fat has roughly 3,500 calories, so an ordinary man could put on almost three pounds of fat a day.

Beijing's One Kosher Restaurant

I'm all about kosher this week...

Beijing’s kosher restaurant plans on 300-500 meals daily during Olympics
Jerusalem…by Idele Ross, KosherToday Israel Bureau Chief…As reported, Dini’s, the only kosher restaurant in Beijing, took Olympic strides ahead of the opening of the games to prepare for the increase in traffic.  Ohad Turtinski, manager at Dini’s, told KosherToday that they are planning on serving between 300 and 500 kosher meals a day, and that’s just based on the reservations that have come in. Turtinski said that there is a kosher kitchen in the Olympic village where meals are prepared for the athletes from Israel and elsewhere who keep kosher.  Dini’s is remaining open 24 hours a day during the next two weeks, except for Shabbat, in order to meet the demand. The organizers of  the Beijing Olympics have been extraordinary in their efforts in assuring that all the Jewish people staying in the Olympic village have their Jewish needs met. They provided a rabbi, kosher food, and a makeshift synagogue.

that's interesting, no?

Table Tennis - Olympic Sport Since 1988

Did you know ping-pong (gossima, whiff-whaff, flim-flam, ping-pang, table-tennis only when it's masquerading as a sport) started as an alternative to lawn tennis in gay 90's England? or were the 1890's only gay in the US? they used cigar box lids for rackets and champagne corks (shaved down) for balls. that's a much much heavier ball, btw.

Since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, the Chinese have taken home 16 of the 20 gold medals.

Here's a little something about the history of US Table Tennis (info from www.usatt.org):

New York City’s Tompkins Square Boys’ Club--led by its star player and all-around athlete (swimming, basketball, the shot-put, volley ball, handball, tennis) Marcus "Mark" Schussheim--helped to bring Ping-Pong in the U.S. back into popularity. After Mark’s fame as our first National Champion, he was boyishly profiled in one of his Club’s "Poisonalities" columns:

MARCUS SCHUSSHEIM: Ping-pongist unique of the Boys’ Club. Bloomed the 5th [make that the 4th] of August, 1912. Stands 5 feet 7 inches. Sleeps on his stomach. Snores but claims it is unknown to him. Sleeps in the raw and encourages all to do likewise. Dreams constantly of the opposite sex. Slumbers alone. Drinks lemonade before retiring and upon rising. Owes his life to an ashcan. At the age of two he fell from the third story directly into the can. Two points! A scar from this ‘shot’ persists beside his left eye. Combs his hair three times daily. ... Nothing pleases his palate more than a broiled steak. Never drank coffee, or--er--beer. Likes to dunk his bread and crullers...

There's more but I'm sure you get the point that the question of whether or not ping-pong is a sport is still a question. 

Olympic US Women's Bronze Match and Men's Semis are today.

Peking Duck-athlon in Beijing, Part 3

in case you missed Part 1, click here
and here's Part 2

Beijing Duck has long been a favorite indulgence in my family. Yet one single pancake pocket each seemed to be the norm at the Chinese dinners of my youth. “Waa!” we cried. No tears at the tables in Beijing, however where an expert can slice a bird into 120 pieces, each with both meat and skin, another key element in the elaborate preparation – truth be told, since returning to the U.S. I cannot find one person to confirm this part of the process but I remain certain it’s true.

After the Bianyifang dinner, pleasurable yet somehow not as satisfying as the no-name-house, we strolled through Tiananmen Square where, with no wind yet plenty of steamy air, kites were being flown and sold and picture-taking appeared more important than sightseeing to Chinese tourists, many of whom, we later learned, were seeing their own sites for the first time. Unfortunately, just like my Lenin non-encounter in Moscow, Mao’s body was being re-embalmed and, therefore, was unavailable for viewing -- it’s a communist conspiracy against me.

Upset by the closed Tomb and unable to make sense of the subway schedule, we opted to take a pedicab back to the hotel. I believe our driver’s decision to quadruple the agreed-upon price was motivated by the fact that we actually arrived without injury. A near fistfight ensued until Chris took a moment to ponder the implications of striking a 90-year old man in the middle of a massive intimidating thoroughfare. We paid the original fare and ran.

 The next day, audio-guided by Sir Roger Moore, we walked through the incredible once-Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum. Like everything in Beijing, it’s larger than life and full of Chinese tourists wishing to take my picture. “See you on the Internet,” Chris joked incessantly; a premonition.
 Advance preparation for my imagination -- reading history and fiction and watching “The Last Emperor” -- really added to my appreciation of this immense site.

As we exited through the Gate of Spiritual Valor, the back door where the Empress would enter (the front door is Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace), we felt inspired by the Imperials and needed a final Beijing feast. We decided on an outpost of QuanJuDe where the main restaurant appeared able to seat thousands of diners at once. Maybe that’s why it’s known as “the Big Duck,” not to be confused with “the Sick Duck,” the branch nearest a local hospital.

Bright red ducks hung by their necks like a fence around the chef. The only other colors in the room were florescent white (the lights and tablecloths) and pink (the napkins). Very Valentinesy. We wiped our hands with wet-naps and licked our lips in anticipation. Tomorrow we’d be cruising the Li River in Guilin and soon after we’d be back home where the ducks do roam but the experience is like Guinness in Brooklyn: you like it; you’ll order it again but there’s nothing like that first Dublin pub. Maybe  that ingredient was the secret sauce of the first night’s Beijing Duck.

One again, the duck did not disappoint. I asked Miranda Zhao, who has lived in the City her entire life, if she ever had a bad experience. She could not think of one. Zhao said that the best place to eat the famous dish is anywhere you may be when the craving strikes. She also mentions QuanJuDe as a “well-recognized brand.” Like other residents, Zhao eats duck in restaurants (home preparation would be too difficult) or takes one to go.

During my final duck dinner, the third in four nights (one night we had Buddhist vegetarian mushroom-something-cabbage after a day-long mini-bus trip to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs and four “historical” gift shops), we analyzed every bite and attempted to create the perfect ratio of fillings. The bond of the duckathlon led to some fantasizing about bringing one home and some revelation of truths: Chris admitted the train food had scared him and I admitted that there was mutton and shark’s fin in his future. Can’t we just enjoy the duck, he wondered? Yes, we could.

the end

Peking Duck-athlon in Beijing, Part 2

in case you missed Part 1, click here

Like most of the food in the capital city, Beijing Duck has its roots in imperial court cuisine. Yet how the dish made its way from the Emperor’s table to menus from across the globe is not quite clear. Some Beijing lore recognizes the mid-1500’s as the opening date of the city’s first roast duck eatery, the old Bianyifang Restaurant. This theory is somewhat substantiated by anther notion: the transfer of the capital from Nanjing to Beijing (1420) created a canal for supplies along which local ducks could fill themselves with fallen grains. Fat ducks are, of course, tastier than skinny ones and these birds were obviously available to people living outside of the Forbidden City. Equal opportunity dining courtesy of the Ming Dynasty. Other sources claim the old Bianyifang opened in the mid-1800’s. Either way, hundreds of years later, the Bianyifang name (“cheap house of food”) and method of cooking duck (inside a closed oven, not over open flames) endures.

For our second duck dinner, after a morning tour of the hutong in a convoy of pedicabs (just like Chelsea Clinton!), learning how not to ride the bus and an afternoon visit to Tiantan, the Temple of Heaven, we chose Bianyifang, which  is in Chongwen, the same district as the oft photographed Temple. Here we were able to observe more of the duck-making procedure. True, we did not see the special local duck farms or the killing and cleaning but those steps are obviously best left to the imagination. What we did see is the pumping of air in between the meat and skin of the birds (with a little hand pump though we were told many cooks use their own lungs, if you know what I mean).

After the body is inflated, the bird is blanched in boiling water, coated with a sugary syrup and hung until the skin is dry, hard and a deep, dark red. Lower orifices sealed, the cavity is then filled with boiling water, fully sealed and hung vertically in an oven (closed door or not) until the skin becomes golden brown and crispy. The ovens that roast the duck are full of wood from fruit trees.

Finally, the best part: eating. A rich, sweet and salty bean sauce (tianmianjiang) is spread over a thin, small pancake then topped with Chinese chives (scallions), slices of cucumber and pieces of crispy duck skin, sweet fat and juicy meat. The pancake is closed and rolled into a manageable little packet. Beijing Duck is the burrito of the East. A perfect combination of sweet, savory, soft and crunchy. Small dishes filled with salt or sugar are generally available for dipping...

come back for Part 3

Peking Duck-athlon in Beijing, Part 1

Following the 30-hour train ride from Hong Kong to Beijing during which we ate nothing but ramen, peanut butter, a gray-shoe-stew in the dining car, and the bananas I had the audacity and stupidity to smuggle in, it took little discussion to plan gorging ourselves on the city’s most famous dish, Peking Duck (actually, Beijing Duck; actually, Beijing Kao Ya).

Showered (well, wet then dry, soap that lathers not being an amenity) my friend Chris and I went down to the lobby of the Beijing International Hotel in search of a concierge and a recommendation for a good, nearby duck house. We did eventually find a woman willing to uh, stare at us while we attempted communication; service, we would come to realize, is not a strong point in China’s service industries.

The woman took my travel book and its list of food symbols to a group of hotel employees. They were fascinated. Force was necessary to reclaim my guide and we were still no closer to a dinner destination. If the train was a bad dream, this attempted conversation was the rude awakening. China is not Hong Kong. Chris was losing whatever little faith in me remained. I had to make a decision.

“Let’s just go,” I said. “It’s a city. We’ll find something outside.”

Despite fear of what that something might be, hunger propelled him to follow me into the hot Beijing night. Since the front of the hotel was a massive intimidating thoroughfare, we walked around to the back into a massive intimidating construction project.

“Hong Kong or Tokyo if anything happens,” I said as a reminder of my health/injury travel requirements, “or Germany.”

“Germany’s not really close," he said.

“I am not going to a Chinese hospital, not even an herbal one,” I said.

“Then watch out for those nails.”

On the other side of the scaffolding we faced a row of two and three-story houses. One looked vaguely like a restaurant. We stood for a moment, contemplating until we acknowledged an appealing aroma flooding the alley. It was a sign. We followed our noses, something not always positive in that part of the world, and entered the crowded dining room. A hostess escorted us upstairs where we sat at a folding table next to a family of six. They were eating duck. We were suddenly giddy.

We pointed to the neighboring duck and the symbol for “green vegetable” in my book. Then we waited. While we’re waiting I should mention that “green vegetable” could mean any of an assortment of green vegetables from Chinese broccoli to mustard greens to various sprouts and choys (bok choy, by the way, is white vegetable). As long as you like vegetables and salt, you’ll be happy with whatever the day or restaurant may bring. This night “green vegetable” was something like watercress with a squirt of a sticky brown bean sauce. It was fantastic, as was the duck.

We were so wired from our successful dinner (or maybe excessive tea) that even our travel fatigue could not stop us from watching all 97 minutes of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker working together across cultural divides to solve the mystery of a kidnapping. East and west, together forever, like duck in a pancake in a tummy...

come back later for Part 2

Michael Phelps and the 12,000-calorie daily diet

This is so fantastic I must post it in its entirety:

From the NYPost by Clemente Lisi...Swimming sensation Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day.

"Eat, sleep and swim. That's all I can do," Phelps, who won two more gold medals today, told NBC when asked what he needs to win medals. "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can."

By comparison, the average man of the same age needs to ingest about 2,000 calories a day.

Phelps, 23, will swim 17 times over nine days of competition at the Beijing Games - meaning that he will need all the calories he can shovel in his mouth in order to keep his energy levels high. Phelps' diet - which involves ingesting 4,000 calories every time he sits down for a meal - resembles that of a reckless overeater rather than an Olympian.

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.

He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Phelps remains on course to at least equal Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals won at the 1972 Munich Games. At these Summer Games, a typical day for Phelps starts with a 5 a.m. wake-up call. Most of his races have taken place between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET when in China - 12 hours ahead of East Coast time.

the photo: click here