Happy Hockey Day

This is something that was started by Paul Kukla of Kukla's Korner to promote the game that unfortunately only some of us love to play and watch. We have three regular hockey players who are a part of this blog, one who grew up playing on the frozen ponds of Harbin, another who played more organized hockey from a young age in Southern California (of all places), and one from Northern Virginia who might have made it big if not for an injury.

For me, the game has always been something that I've shared with my dad and brothers, if not for hockey, we'd often have few things to talk about. We were lucky in that my father would often get NHL tickets and take us into Maryland to the old Capital Centre in Landover. At first, I was too young to go as there were only 4 tickets, but when my older brother went off to college, I was finally in the loop. I remember many a night watching guys like Rod Langway, Mike Gartner, and Mike Luet. There were lots of bad season, a few tragic losses (like the '87 playoffs defeat against the Isles), the Stanly Cup run in '98, and many very bad seasons after that, though now things are finally turning around with a new era of stars like Ovie, Semin, and Mike Green.

The Cap Centre is no more, replaced by the "Phonebooth" in Chinatown, and I'm a lot older and further away from northern Virginia, but I still try to catch parts of every Caps game online (thank god the NHL has kept their broadcasts free!), though it was hard getting excited during the playoffs last year for games that would sometimes start at 5 or 6 am.

My father and one of my brothers are still in the DC area, still attending games and for me, despite the distance, hockey, especially the Caps, is still a common topic of conversation for us. It's something I wish I can pass along to my kid, perhaps not the love of Caps hockey, but just hockey in general (though it wasn't the Caps, the NHL has come to Japan).

No matter how long its been since we last talked, no matter how strained things are, I know I can call or email my siblings and start talking hockey and it will be just like old times, breaking down the barriers that we sometimes put up when mad or frustrated. That is truly why sports, and specifically hockey, are great and why I love hockey.

Sunday Photo Thread: Independence Day in DC Edition

El Bulli at My Fingertips

For those that don't know, El Bulli is considered one of the top restaurants in the world. The restaurant, which is closed from October to March, is almost impossible to get into and a dinner there is very expensive. To get a reservation, you must call in mid October for the following year, except if you don't call on the first day or two, you'll be out of luck. The man in the photo above is head chef Ferran Adria, who is credited with the creation of "molecular gastronomy," though it seems he wishes that term would go away.

He has published 5 huge books that are called "general catalogues" and document all the dishes the restaurant had on its menu over a certain period of time. It's not a cookbook as no home kitchen has all the tools needed to prepare his dishes and even if you did, you still couldn't make them. It's more to offer inspiration and get one thinking more about food. These books are insanely expensive (well over US$200) and, thanks to a great library, I finally have my hands on one (at least for a brief period), the 1998-2002 edition. So I'm very, very excited now!

While I've never been lucky enough to sample Adria's food, I did have the opportunity to eat at one of his discpile's restaurants in Washington, DC. Jose Andres has 3 VERY popular restaurants in DC, Zaytinya, Jaleo, and Cafe Atlantico. These places serve simple, true to their respective region cuisine, but the main attraction of the Andres empire is the restaurant within a restaurant, Jose's Minibar inside Cafe Atlantico. The Minibar is where Andres shows off the influence of Adria with an abundance (around 35) of delicious small courses. It's not the kind of food you'd want to eat every night and its not for everyone, but for those interested in something new and totally rethinking what food is, its well worth checking out. My meal at the Minibar is one of the most memorable meals I've ever had in the United States.

And the pictures, as usual. This is food as artwork just as much as it is food as food:

The chefs at work

the famous foie gras cotton candy

meat and potatoes: thin slices of top quality steak served on top of a potato foam with a truffle (heavily) scented napkin

Lobster Americaine: You eat the lobster bite off the syringeand then squeeze the soup into your mouth.