In May 2016, the Vietnamese noodle store Bún Chả Hương Liên went from relative obscurity to being on television screens all over the world, after two of the world’s most famous men chose it as their dinner spot in Hanoi.  Anthony Bourdain and President Barack Obama came for the slippery noodles or fragrant pork patties—but the world tuned in not for the food, but to see these two icons sit on blue plastic stools and drinking chilled bottles of local beer.  At the time of the meal, Bourdain was filming the CNN series Parts Unknown.  This relative hole-in-the-wall, where the total cost of the meal came in at under $10, fit the bill.  (Bourdain picked up the check.)  Footage from the series shows the men laughing and chatting over their noodles like two old friends.  “Is it appropriate to chuck one of these whole suckers in your mouth?” the president asks, gesturing at a patty with his chopsticks.  “Well, slurping is totally acceptable in this part of the world,” Bourdain replies, with a laugh.  They received no directive from the White House about which topics were and were not up for discussion, Bourdain later told the network.  “We spoke like two dads, and Southeast Asian enthusiasts, and had a good time.”  Today, the restaurant continues to thrive.  It looks much as it did when Bourdain and Obama sat down to eat there, but there are a few key changes.  Guests hoping to relive the experience can now order a “Combo Obama” from the menu:  bun cha, a seafood spring roll, and a bottle of Hanoi beer for a total of 85,000 VND, or about $3.60.  But what they can’t do is sit down at that same table, in those same blue plastic stools.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/anthony-bourdain-and-barack-obama-dinner-table?utm_source=Gastro+Obscura+Weekly+E-mail&utm_campaign=67dfa25f3b-GASTRO_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2418498528-67dfa25f3b-71793902&mc_cid=67dfa25f3b&mc_eid=aef0869a63

The phrase “the real McCoy,” which can be used to describe any genuine version of something, has several possible origin stories.  According to HowStuffWorks, the earliest known recorded instance of the saying was an 1856 reference to whisky in the Scottish National Dictionary—"A drappie [drop] o' the real MacKay”—and by 1870, a pair of whisky distillers by the name of McKay had adopted the slogan “the real McKay” for their products.  As the theory goes, the phrase made its long journey across the pond, where it eventually evolved into the Americanized “McCoy.”  Another theory suggests “the real McCoy” originated in the United States during Prohibition.  In 1920, Florida-based rum runner Bill McCoy was the first enterprising individual to stock a ship with alcohol in the Caribbean, sail to New York, and idle at least three miles offshore, where he could sell his wares legally in what was then considered international waters.  Since McCoy didn’t water down his alcohol with substances like prune juice, wood alcohol, and even turpentine, people believe his customers started calling his top-notch product “the real McCoy.”  There’s no definitive proof that this origin story is true, but The Real McCoy rum distillery was founded on the notion.  There are also a couple other leading theories that have nothing to do with alcohol.  In 1872, inventor Elijah McCoy patented a self-regulating machine that lubricated parts of a steam engine without the need for manual maintenance, allowing trains to run continuously for much longer distances. According to Snopes, the invention’s success spawned a plethora of poor-quality imitations, which led railroad personnel to refer to McCoy’s machines as “the real McCoy.”  Elijah McCoy’s invention modernized the transportation industry, but he wasn’t the only 19th-century McCoy who packed a punch.  The other was welterweight champion Norman Selby, better known as Kid McCoy.  In one story, McCoy decked a drunken bar patron to prove that he really was the famous boxer, prompting others to christen him “the real McCoy.”  In another, his alleged penchant for throwing fights caused the press to start calling him “the real McCoy” to acknowledge when he was actually trying to win.  And yet another simply suggests that the boxer’s popularity birthed so many McCoy-wannabes that Selby started to specify that he was, in fact, the real McCoy.  Ellen Gutoskey  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/604867/real-mccoy-origin-theories

Gochujang is a red chile paste that also contains glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, salt, and sometimes sweeteners.  It’s a thick, sticky condiment that’s spicy and very concentrated and pungent in flavor.  Heat levels can vary between brands, so check the packaging to see if it’s labeled with any kind of spice-level indicator.  Think of gochujang as similar to miso paste—a little goes a long way.  Gochujang can be used in marinades for meat dishes like Korean bulgogi, stirred into dipping sauces, or used to punch up stews or soups.  The thick texture of gochujang means that it is a bit difficult to use straight up, so it is usually thinned out with a liquid of some sort.  Also remember that if the gochujang contains sugar, searing or grilling meats marinated with it have a tendency to burn easily.  Christine Gallary  Find ways to use leftover paste and link to recipes at https://www.thekitchn.com/gochujang-the-miso-of-korean-cooking-ingredient-intelligence-165083

Kimchi Pancakes (kimchi buchimgae)  posted by Sue  https://mykoreankitchen.com/kimchi-pancakes-kimchi-buchimgae/  See also Korean Seafood and Green Onion Pancakes (haemul pajeon) at  https://mykoreankitchen.com/korean-seafood-and-green-onion-pancakes-haemul-pajeon/

The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of 156 miles (251 km) that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop).  Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance:  the related Chicago Portage is a link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico.  The River is also noteworthy for its natural and human-engineered history.  In 1887, the Illinois General Assembly decided to reverse the flow of the Chicago River through civil engineering by taking water from Lake Michigan and discharging it into the Mississippi River watershed, partly in response to concerns created by an extreme weather event in 1885 that threatened the city's water supply.  In 1889, the Illinois General Assembly created the Chicago Sanitary District (now The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District) to replace the Illinois and Michigan Canal with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a much larger waterway, because the former had become inadequate to serve the city's increasing sewage and commercial navigation needs.  Completed by 1900, the project reversed the flow of the Main Stem and South Branch of the Chicago River by using a series of canal locks and increasing the flow from Lake Michigan into the river, causing the river to empty into the new Canal instead.  In 1999, the system was named a 'Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium' by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  The name Chicago derives from 17th century French rendering of a Native American term for ramps (Allium tricoccum), a type of edible wild leek, which grew abundantly near the river. The river and its region were named after this plant.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River

Jones bar-b-q, a two-table eatery in the town of Marianna, was the first restaurant in Arkansas to ever receive a James Beard Award.  The owners, James and Betty Jones, hadn’t even heard of the awards before winning in the 2012 “America’s Classics” category.  The small diner takes up the ground floor of the couple’s home.  The sign out front reads “since 1964,” but the operation dates back to at least 1910.  James Jones’s family recipes are the same ones that his grandfather used when he sold barbecued meat out of his home and that his father used when he opened up an earlier iteration of the restaurant, known as “the Hole in the Wall” (so-called because his father served everything through a window).  Today, James runs the pit and restaurant, while a man named Sylvester chops wood and operates the attached smokehouse, which is a shed.  Oak and hickory logs burn in a cinderblock barbecue pit, where pork shoulders—the only meat they sell—smoke for 12 hours at a time.   Aside from pork by the pound, the menu also includes sandwiches.  Jones dresses the pork with slightly-sweet vinegar sauce and serves it between white bread.  Beyond slaw, sides are nonexistent.  As for what makes the ’cue so special?  Jones’s sauce and slaw recipes are so top-secret, not even his wife knows what’s in them.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jones-bar-b-q-diner?utm_source=Gastro+Obscura+Weekly+E-mail&utm_campaign=96bbb91852-GASTRO_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_06_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2418498528-96bbb91852-71793902&mc_cid=96bbb91852&mc_eid=aef0869a63

The Second Sunday of Easter used to be called Quasimodo Sunday.  The word quasimodo is a compound of two Latin word, quasi and modo, meaning “almost” and “the standard of measure.”  Thus, the combination means “almost the standard of measure,” which in a new translation is reduced to “like.”  However, when one hears the term quasimodo, I would imagine the first thing to come to mind is not the Second Sunday of Easter, but rather the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo (or some later film variant).  The name Quasimodo is given to the abandoned and deformed baby found by Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, on the steps of the Cathedral.  Frollo bestows the name of the child because of the day on which he was found:  the Second Sunday of Easter, none other than Quasimodo Sunday.  Jake Tawney 

https://www.the-american-catholic.com/2017/04/23/quasimodo-sunday/  Thank you, Muse reader!

July 23, 2020  Authorities inspecting a seafood store in Spain have discovered a collection of ancient Roman containers, called amphorae, some of which could have been created in the first century and recovered from shipwrecks off the Mediterranean coast.  A total of 13 Roman amphorae were found, alongside a metal anchor from the 18th century.  They were uncovered by surprised officers during a routine check of the storage and marketing of frozen fish products at the store in Alicante--and the shop's owners now find themselves under investigation for breaking laws on possessing historical artifacts.  "Officers observed several ceramic amphorae at various points in the facility, a metal anchor and a limestone plaque with an inscription that, at first glance, could be of considerable age," the Civil Guard said in a statement.  They brought the finds to the attention of Spain's Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, which determined that they were likely from the Roman Empire and could date back to the first century.  "In particular, one of them could be of significant importance, due to its exclusivity," the statement said.  The items were then taken to the nearby Sea Museum in Santa Pola, where experts confirmed the findings.  Most of them were oleic amphorae, which were used to transport oil to Rome, the Guardia Civil said, while others would have been used to carry wine and fish sauces.  Rob Picheta  See pictures at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/roman-amphorae-seafood-store-spain-scli-intl-scn/index.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2233  July 24, 2020