Posted on 17 Comments on Branding

Branding

In a moment of weakness (pre-Xmas shopping fatigue) M and I went to one of those chain restaurants that tries to feel homey and welcoming, but in fact they are off-putting and clinical in their sameness.

I ordered a “Bloody Caesar Chipotle,” which is, as the name implies, a Bloody Caesar spiked with chipotle pepper sauce. Look at what arrived — a regular Bloody Caesar with a small bottle of Tobasco brand chipotle pepper sauce on the side.

Buy this brand

On the one hand, the bottle is cute — although the spout was so small I almost gave up trying to get the sauce out. (I finally used a toothpick to help it along.) But when I order a cocktail, I want a cocktail, not an advertising experience. And I want the bartender to do the work.

No doubt, this resto gets the pepper sauce free, on the condition they deliver it on the side so we can see the label. Tobasco has recently introduced variations on its traditional pepper sauce, and considering how hot the pepper sauce market is these days, they are undoubtedly very happy to gain a bit of product placement.

In the end, the drink tasted well enough (it’s hard to make a bad Caesar). But the advertising threw me off. It’s the kind of subtle thing that is utterly lost on many people — so accustomed as we are to the constant bombardment of advertising and consumption-oriented imagery. But for those of us who still imagine a life that doesn’t revolve around retailing, it can ruin an otherwise decent cocktail.

Posted on

Craig’s a yawner

Not much action on the Montreal version of Craig’s List. There are only five items for sale, and four of them were posted by me.

Not so surprising though, as it’s unilingual English and severely underpromoted. The ol’ viral network thing works well among Montreal Anglos, but it’s a pretty small lab. It’s like there’s this one buzzing but very tiny petrie dish on a table full of bubbling test tubes. In other words, the Anglo-only Montreal Craig’s list reaches about as many people as “Craig’s List Truro Nova Scotia” or “Craig’s List Nelson B.C.” would. Certainly far less than would “Craig’s List Saskatoon.”

BTW, does anyone reading this have a really long parallel cable they’d like to sell for cheap? I need one at least five feet long…

Posted on 1 Comment on Trout for dinner

Trout for dinner

We had agreed yesterday that tonight’s dinner would be the trout filets that sat anxiously in the fridge. I hadn’t decided on how to prepare them, and as I didn’t get home from work until after 7:00 P.M. I was hoping that M had — in that magical way of hers — simply taken care of it.

No dice. She wasn’t home when I arrived. My only reception was a sleepy cat. No problem — I quickly concocted a plan and set to work.

I sprayed a light coating of olive oil on the bottom of a rectangular Pyrex dish, then laid in the filets, skin side down. I gave them a light whoosh of salt and pepper, and a breath of dried dill (alas, it’s winter). Then I alternated thin slices of lemon and onion, and poured in about a half a cup of white wine and a squirt of lemon juice. Then a quick scatter of of thinly-sliced red bell pepper and into a hot 400º F oven, uncovered.

Then the pasta. I set a large pot of water to boil, and in a deep saucepan set a hashed shallot and three smashed cloves of garlic to sweat for five minutes in a big slug of olive oil. By then the oasta water was boiling, so I threw in a few nests of taglitelle and stirred it up. (In the meantime, I had prepared some asparagus for steaming — at this point I turned on the heat.)

The fish was nicely oven-poaching, so I returned to the sauce pan. I added about 3/4 cup of chicken stock to the shallots and garlic and cranked up the heat to a rapid boil. A mitt full of dried parsley fell in, along with a whisper of thyme for aroma. It reduced quickly, so I turned down the heat and poured in a glug of sherry.

The fish came out of the oven (total time, about 15 minutes), the pasta was drained, and the asparagus was taken off the heat.

Finally, I removed the sauce from the heat and stirred in a couple of spoonfuls of 15% cream. I tipped in the pasta, stirred it up, and plated everything onto warmed dinnerware.

Sorry, no pictures. Too hungry.