Rows of homemade grappa in a bar in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

​Grappa. Just the word sends waves of warmth down the esophagus.

Grappa is brandy distilled from pomace--the solids left over during the wine-making process; the stems and pips and skins and pressed pulp. The French call this leftover gunk marc and distill eau de vie de marc from it; the Italians call the pulp vinaccia and distill grappa from it.

The concoction called caffè corretto ("corrected coffee") is available all over Italy; it's a shot of espresso "corrected" with a shot of grappa. In the mountains above Venice, though, there's a variation called resentin, in which the sugar sludge left in the bottom of a cup of espresso is moistened with a small amount of grappa, then swirled and drunk.
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Pee Wee Herman's Facebook page

The secret word of the day is... DISHWASHER!

​Pee Wee Herman--yes, that Pee Wee Herman--linked our "Will It Dishwasher?" post yesterday with the caption, "Strawberry Cobbler a la Dishwasher." That post was from last year and attracted a new wave of commentators, which we welcome.

But we're sorry, Pee Wee: That part of the experiment failed kind of miserably. Still, this is the kind of research that will keep America at the forefront of progress.

At least if it had blown up, we could have cleaned it with Kool-Aid, thanks to Pee Wee's previous Tweet of an eHow article on alternate ways of cleaning the dishwasher.

(What is it with Pee Wee Herman and dishwashers, anyway?)

​It's not fair to impose resolutions on OC diners when I myself have failings. Some of those failings will have to stand (I absolutely despise white chocolate, for example--if a bakery specializing in white chocolate ever opens, it will be down to Gustavo, Edwin or Shuji to review it), but some are correctable. Read on for my five OC food resolutions for the New Year.

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Dave Lieberman

It doesn't get more local than your own backyard.

​We're mocked a great deal in Orange County for our love of chain restaurants, convenience food and cheap, Sysco-type food. It doesn't seem to matter that our tastes mirror those of the rest of the country--the point is that food is trucked in from God-only-knows where, six or ten or fifteen steps removed from its growers by the time it reaches its consumers. So tortuous is the chain of custody of the food we eat that the U.S. government is attempting to enact food safety laws to require traceability of specific foods. The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), who naturally have something to say about this, estimate that the average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm (or factory) to plate.

Becky Prelitz, the wife of environmental consultant Chris Prelitz, read her husband's book Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide for Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle and realized something had to be done.

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Dave Lieberman

​My, do we have humble people working at the Weekly. A couple of days ago, I heard rumors that our calendar editor, Erin Dewitt, and Dave here at SaFII both placed at the Orange County Fair for their creations. But I received no email about the victory from Dave (who emails Edwin and I about EVERYTHING), and Erin didn't say a word about it until I asked her--hell, she didn't even tell the rest of us Weeklings she entered something until I accidentally ran into her while taking in my chica's entries.

But the rumors are true: THEY WON!!!
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Flickr user Wordislandinfo.com / futuristmovies.com

​So you've got a vendetta against chickenkind, but you're barred by restraining order from Zacky Farms? Get your revenge by torturing and murdering the popular Easter candy known as Peeps. We worked with Pepe the Peep to find which was the most efficient way.
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Dave Lieberman

​"I made beer can chicken last night," said Guy #1. "I rammed the chicken down onto an open can of beer and threw that sucker on the grill. Best chicken ever."

"No way, dude," said Guy #2. "I once made beef stew on the manifold while I drove from Des Moines to Minneapolis. Got there, used a dirty flannel shirt to get it off the manifold, and dug in. It was great."

"I can beat that," I said. "I make catfish in the dishwasher."

Raucous mocking and disbelief. Nobody makes food in the dishwasher. Can't be done.

Or... can it?
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"You know, the... the... the thing! With the pork. And the floppy rice noodles. You know, that you put the sauce on."

Dim sum, or yum cha as it's sometimes called, is meant to be a relaxing occasion. You're supposed to drink a lot of tea, eat some salty or sweet snacks, and chew the fat (so to speak) with friends.

Everybody's got their favorite dim sum, though, and if you're at a place with cart service and you end up sitting closest to the aisle, you are going to be asked to procure these favorites, which can be tough if you don't know what they look like and can't ask for them. Not exactly relaxing.

So here's the guide to the most common foods at dim sum.

wenzday01 @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Sold-out reservations. Credit card deposits required to get a table. Roses at $100 a dozen. Surly valets. Huge crowds packing tiny bars and foyers. Harried waitstaff rushing to turn tables. Limited menus. Food prepared two and three days earlier and warmed over. Couples who are resentful because their romantic evening out involves 100 other such couples.

nathancolquhoun @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

But our reservation was TWO HOURS AGO!

​
Yep, sounds like Valentine's Day in the restaurant world.

We don't have this problem, my wife and I. We haven't had to experience any of this in years, because we've come up with the perfect solution.More >>

lennonisgod @ flickr.com CC BY-ND 2.0

​Besides being a total food geek, I am a great student of languages. Whether you're travelling to Little Saigon or O.G. Saigon, Santa Ana or Mexico, being able to say even a few phrases in the language of the place you're visiting can build bridges and result in a better time and, more importantly for this blog, better food the next time you visit.

Add to this that in some cultures it is considered the height of rudeness to shoo someone out of your restaurant by presenting the bill before it's been asked for, and you'll see why these phrases are necessary if you don't want to be left there until the cows come home. While you can make the International Gesture of the Bill Pad from across the room (it's one of the few gestures that isn't obscene anywhere in the world), these may come in handy.

There are some glaring omissions here: to my great shame, I don't speak even two words of Tagalog; the languages of India are a complete mystery to me; Farsi is another miss. Feel free to chime in with additions in the comments section. More >>