Sunday, September 18, 2005

Wagon, Schmagon

Local eating took a big dive today. We were too filled up from yesterday's salade niçoise for lunch and the cloying, over-dairied macaroni and cheese for supper. So we avoided even the semblance of lunch today until pure, biological craving took over. And where were we when that happened?
At the Sir Francis Drake Kennel Club dog show, right up the road where they hold a farmers' market twice a week.
We have too much produce in the house right now to patronize the market, so we dropped a few bucks on admission instead, to watch little packets of energy run the agility course, and gape at tall, gorgeous Afghan pooches, fresh from a shampoo and a trim, parading their stunning fur coats. Oh, and the humanity! The humanity! It seems the required costume for female dog presenters is a dowdy suit, straight skirt below the knees, sensible flat shoes... very Barbara Woodhouse.
Well, it wouldn't do to partake of the — gasp! — hot dogs being sold on the grounds, would it? [Employing best Barbara Woodhouse voice impersonation.] So we walked off the premises — Walkies! — and into the Santa Venetia Market across the street, where we were captured — leashed, corralled, placed in a crate, kennelled! — by a sack of Tim's Cascade Style Potato Chips, Wasabi flavor.
Now, I know that back in July, Fatemeh of Gastronomie posted a rave review of Trader Joe's Sesame and Ginger potato chips. And I've tried to find them, to no avail (though I admit that parking lots at all Trader Joe's are so nucking futty that it's hard for me to make attempts very often). But I loved her idea of using the tasty little snacks as platforms for a tuna tartare.
But! Now I've got wasabi-flavored chips! I'll just add the ginger and sesame seeds to the tuna tartare, and boy, will I have a dandy nibble.
For today, though, it was just grab from the bag and stuff mouth. Tim's chips are thick and snappy, just like you want. Dog!

12 comments:

Greg said...

You nailed the female presenters discription cookiecrumb. I thought the same thing but was arrested by the PC Police when stating it. Dogs must love Polyester.
G.

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: Today we saw a kid, maybe about nine or 10, dressed in a black suit, leading a doggie. Suits for kids? "Hello, Anachronism Department? What do you have in a dark, sweaty color for a hapless boy? Lovely, then. Be right in."

Jamie said...

I don't know, either, what it is that sucks the fashion sense out of dog presenters. It's bizarre.

You say wasabi, I say jalapeño (thick cut, fried in peanut oil), and the s.o. is unflinching in his loyalty to Golden Flake Sweet Heat. For every one of us...a strangely flavored, yet irresistable, potato chip.

cookiecrumb said...

Jamie: Not so sure if doggieness sucks the fashion sense out of them or if they're all copying each other to get an advantage. When a presenter walked by me yesterday in a fairly smart-looking, rather short skirt, I imagined judges saying, "Oh, that's going to cost her a few much-needed points, tsk-tsk."
(Next bag is going to be vinegar and salt flavored.)

Monkey Gland said...

have you eaten those wasabi pea snacks? I love those...

cookiecrumb said...

MG: They're just a touch too nose-blasty for me, but painfully addictive. Like whenever you eat really hot salsa, the only cure for the agony is more salsa.
Props to you, via IMAIE, for your photo and recipe of mussels. Great yellow tinge in their shells. I've only done mussels once, in herbs, shallots and wine (and -- yark! very nice).

MizD said...

I don't know if it was the same brand or not, but we picked up some wasabi chips back when we had that ahi sashimi and did the absurd thing of eating chips with chunks of sashimi on top. Best upscale Asian-influenced football snack EVAR. :-)

All the dog talk is reminding me I really must rent Best of Show.

cookiecrumb said...

Yeah, I was walking around at the dog show like Parker Posey. (Oh god. Or maybe I was Catherine O'Hara. I sure hope I wasn't Eugene Levy.)

Anonymous said...

I may lose much of my foodie credibility by admitting this, but we're in line for a show dog later this fall.

Another Frenchie. Don't know what I'm thinking, except that it's a pup out of a top 10 dog, and you just don't turn that down... anyway.

If you want me to pick up a bag of those chips for ya next time I'm in TJs, let me know. We buy 'em 3-4 at a time.

cookiecrumb said...

F: Well, is there any good reason I can't get those chips in San Rafael? Jeepers.
So: My own doggie is the grandson of a U.S. champion Maltese. (His mom and dad are winners too.) And boy, does it show in his gait. He walks with "important feet."
No, no shame there. But my vet thinks show dogs have "beauty pageant syndrome."

Anonymous said...

That's awesome!

My Stella was supposed to be a top dog, but she refused to move in the ring. Just hated it.

Bogart is a rescue from FBRN, but we're taking him up to the National Specialty next Thursday so he can walk the ring in the rescue parade.

I will have to join the weekend doggie blogging thing.

cookiecrumb said...

Yeah, Fatemeh, let's see some pix!