One more day of grading then I'm done. In the meanwhile, two blogs I haven't visited in a while are back up and putting out good things:

1. I haven't visited the National Association of Scholars blog in awhile and after reading there have decided they need to be in the RSS reader. Let me in particular encourage those of you with high school juniors and seniors to consider putting this list of questions in your pocket. If you want to be non-confrontational or a bit sarcastic (your voice will make all the difference here), try "Do you have a tunnel of oppression?" or "What family planning services do you provide?" Or, if you like the more in-your-face approach, you could ask "Is this a right to carry campus?" (Mitch, I expect you to do this next year.) If you don't have such a college-ready student, give a read to what's going on at Macalester.
   
2. My colleague Ming Lo travels each summer, and each summer he blogs (then goes dormant for about ten months, a shame.) Ming and I both love Anthony Bourdain, and as a single, younger guy Ming is able to visit some pricier restaurants that Littlest's scholarship fund will not permit. From Las Vegas, He writes about Bouchon:
   

   Bouchon has a wonderful selection of fresh seafood. James and I love oysters, and we got a handful. For the main course, the other two picked the daily special pork tenderloin. I opted for the bistro favorite, steak-frites. Unlike an American steak house, French bistros do not offer different cuts. Primier cuts are usually offered at restaurants, a more formal eatery than bistros. But this is why certain cuisine is more highly regarded in terms of skill--how to make less desirable ingredients into great food. The steak at Bouchon was not too tender, more like a flank steak. The problem with lean and chewy meat is that it lacks either the taste (from the fat, like rib-eye) or the tenderness. But the chefs at Bouchon managed to make it as tender as possible while keeping the juice inside. Of course, the sauteed onion (almost mashed, in butter and red wine) definitely helped to enhance the experience.

   I'm not sure if Ming is misspelling or inventing with the word "primier", but works for me either way. Vegetarian moi gives most bistros a miss, but if you're a fan of the Paris cafe scene, this sounds like one more example of how Vegas recreates every other part of the world, which is the point of Ming's post.

Labels: food, higher education