The Not So Daily Penguin

Thursday, September 18, 2008 - The Secret's Out...

Bon Appetit, a national food magazine in the US has determined that "Durham-Chapel Hill" is "America's foodiest small town".

I take issue on two points. First, Durham and Chapel Hill are separate and second, Durham is in fact a city (pop. 187,000 as of 2000) and Chapel Hill is a town. Both are part of the so called Triangle that includes Raleigh.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/10/americas_foodiest_small_town

When I first moved to Durham in 2002 I recognized that this was a city that embraced both city and country. The countryside contains many small farms and at one point there was a wonderful farm only a few miles from where l lived. Tiny Farm was indeed tiny but the farmer, Mark, grew wonderful heirloom tomatoes that I would pick up and pay for at the farm. Alas, land is at a premium around where I live and it's my belief he was made an offer he couldn't refuse and he moved the farm to nearby Hillsborough.

I've seen the Durham Farmers Market expand since I moved here too. The old market occupied what is now just the parking lot for the new market. The new market has a purpose built roof although it's more open air than enclosed which is much better for both sellers and buyers.

The Bon Appetit article spills the beans on the farmers and restaurants that make Durham and Chapel Hill really foodie hotspots. The Piedmont Farm Tour is mentioned and I went to that this year for the second time. Unike the tour I took in 2005, this year's tour was so much more popular with chaos ensuing when we were leaving Eco Farm due to the number of vehicles parked along a single wide lane and so many vehicles leaving simultaneously.

Locopops, the paleta (Mexican popsicle) shop that started in Durham has grown to several branches across the Triangle. It's great that paletas have really taken off here but with the long hot and humid temperatures, those paletas are certainly thirst quenching and there's even a special paleta for your canine friend.

Other favorite restaurants of mine are mentioned in the article. It would be hard to make changes to Allen and Son, the Eastern NC barbecue restaurant hidden in deepest Chapel Hill. It truly is off the beaten track and exemplifies how Eastern NC barbecue should be done, both foodwise and in ambience. On the other end of the scale, Piedmont, in downtown Durham, is essentially a French restaurant that incorporates locally grown ingredients. The last visit to Piedmont was especially for their cassoulet that was just perfect and better than what I've had in Paris.

Fortunately, the article does name the wonderful Taqueria La Vaquita in Durham which is a take-out only taqueria that serves up authentic Mexican food at bargain prices. On my last visit there (I ate most of huarache made with a homemade tortilla), it dawned on me that the taqueria was across the street from Four Square, a notable more upscale Durham restaurant. This highlights the variety of dining choices in Durham.

No doubt all this publicity about Durham and Chapel Hill will lead to even more small farms and businesses taking off. It's my hope that the community (and beyond) can support all this.

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Monday, September 8, 2008 - Roll Call

I'm prompted to write this because it's only been five days since I returned to work after my vacation and there's already been some personnel changes at my workplace, the restaurant.

I'm going to name all those who've left my workplace since I began there nine months ago:

He, Je, Ma, Mo, Ma (was going blind in one eye so he left of his own accord), Ro (fired for texting while working on the line. Pillock), Re (the guy who trained me. He was a fantastic coworker and person), At, Ka, Pe, Ph (lasted two days) and yesterday, Ta.

OK. These aren't even their first names but I like to respect their privacy. There are at least three others but I didn't really know or work with them and I don't remember their names.

Today, another newbie began working. Ch, is a culinary school grad so it'll be interesting to see how she fits in with everyone. I was supervising her in the kitchen today and things went well. Eventually, it's anticipated that she'll be working on the line (where the orders are fulfilled. e.g. sandwiches made, pizzas baked, etc.) but that's a battle ground. Most people I listed above formerly worked on the line...

Like I say, I've been there nearly nine months and as one of my new coworkers pointed out, I've been there a long time. I suppose so. It's very much a revolving door at my place.

Here's a song that reflects life working at the restaurant-

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Thursday, September 4, 2008 - Vive La Difference!

On my recent travels, I spent time in both London and Paris. I've been to Paris many times on vacation but this most recent trip gave me a fresh outlook on Paris.

Whereas I found London relatively clean in terms of the sidewalks, Paris streets frequently were an obstacle course, dodging trash but worst of all, dog poop. I don't know how often trash is picked up in Paris but on my first day there, I saw the biggest pile of wine corks I'd ever seen next to recycling bins on a very wide sidewalk.

A perfect example of trash ruining the scenery in Paris is the Sacre Coeur. There are grassy areas at the foot of the cathedral but the grass is littered with all kinds of trash, probably from both locals and visitors who have discarded their food and drink.

On the other hand, Paris does have offer recycling out on the streets. The recycling bins (actually bin liners) are recognizable by symbols as well as being a different color (orange) to regular trash cans (green I think).

London still has those "bendy" buses and Oyster cards. However, I might be mistaken but I think some bus riders were fare dodging when they entered the bendy bus through the center doors but didn't swipe their Oyster cards.

I'm also rather puzzled about the French and how they keep their figures. I saw very few portly French people despite their enormous consumption of bread, their love of smoking (it seems very popular amongst 20-30 year olds) and of course their consumption of alcohol (wine and beer).

France is becoming more like Britain in some respects. I spotted a store called Picard which is like a tiny Iceland. Picards only sell frozen foods so when I looked inside from the street, all I could see was end to end chest freezers. I didn't see that kind of shop when I was last in Paris in 2003.

There's no doubt that the French have an appreciation of art. For example, the sales assistant didn't bat an eyelid when I was in the haberdashery department in Le Bon Marche and asked for buttons with rats on/shaped like a rat. The lady was convinced she has seen one and spent a good few minutes searching through the wall of samples before admitting defeat. On the other end of the scale, some national "news" show dedicated five minutes right at the end one night to Coldplay performing a concert somewhere in France.

... and one last thing. Whereas I saw no armed Police or British Transport Police in the UK (and they were a common sight both on the street and in train and Tube stations), in Paris, the Police were armed (with SIG 220s).

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Thursday, August 28, 2008 - Back in the UK, Part 2- What Luck!

I want to relate an experience that happened to me in London that gave me confidence that things aren't as bad as I remember/imagine when I lived in London/the UK.

Earlier this week, myself and the other half were in a pub in Mayfair and following our drinks, we walked down Piccadilly to Fortnum and Mason. Whilst in F & M, I realized that my Oyster card (pay as you go card that is used as a ticket) in its holder was no longer in my pocket. As well as the Oyster card, the holder contained my hotel key (another credit size card). So, understandably, I wanted to find both.

I asked a member of F & M staff if there were any public phones in the store. I really wanted to get access to a phone book so that I could call the pub to see if my lost items were there. There were no phones in the store so the staff suggested I go up to the fifth floor and ask at the office for a phone book. Unfortunately, the lady in the office on the fifth floor had thrown out the phone books she'd found recently because they were very old (from 1995). I explained the purpose of my wanting the phone book and even though she was sitting at her desk in front of a computer, she immediately picked up the phone and called the operator. Once through, she passed the phone to me and I asked the operator for the number of the pub. No luck with that because the pub was ex-directory (the number is not publicly available). I thought that was odd. I would think a pub would have a phone number that was public. A pub is also known as a public house but clearly this one in Mayfair preferred a lower profile. I had no choice but to walk back to the pub, as quickly as possible, in the hope that a customer or member of the pub staff had found my items. Walking as fast as possible, I made it to the pub in about 10 minutes and made a beeline for the banquette where I had been sitting less than 30 minutes before. No sign of the distinctive yellow holder and as I headed to the bar, the bar staff was smiling, waving a yellow card holder. "Oh yes. That's mine" and she handed it straight over to me with no questions. At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, why would the staff hand over an item so easily. Well, it was mid-afternoon and the pub was virtually empty. Also, on entering the pub, I went over to the exact location where I had sat in the pub (where no-one was sitting at that point), so she could see that I was looking for something. I was grateful to be reunited with both my Oyster card and my hotel key card. Public transport in London is not cheap and I had about £6.00's credit on the Oyster card.

I'm relieved that the story has a happy ending.

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Friday, August 22, 2008 - Back in the UK, Part 1

This covers the first couple of days, 21-22 August. Arrival at LHR was a rude awakening. It was as if half of humanity was standing in line to get through UK Immigration. There were hundreds of freshly disembarked passengers from all over the world clutching their passports... and this was before 7.00am! I didn't intend on jumping the queue/line but I stood in the non-EU line with my spouse. I wasn't sure if that was OK so I asked a member of staff if what I was doing was OK (and flashed my UK passport). On hearing my story, the lady pulled us both out of that line and marched us to the head of the EU line so we flew through Immigration. It was kind of embarrassing but the Immigration staff said that in the future we should queue together in the EU line (because we are a family and it is faster). I spent the first day with my parents and I'm relieved to see that they look well. My Mum certainly looks thinner than when I last saw her but she does have some energy because he cut up and trimmed a 15lb whole salmon while I was there. I don't recall British police being particularly friendly or helpful when I lived in the UK but one came to my assistance in Tottenham Court Rd. tube when I was trying to decide on which exit to use to get to the British Museum. The officer must have seen me thinking out aloud and directed me to the correct exit. The highlight of the first couple of days was completely unrelated to my being in London. On Thursday, August 21st, my best friend, R, gave birth to her third child, a boy. Now, since she told nobody, including her husband, of the baby's gender, the parents have to decide upon a name. They haven't come to agreement yet but luckily they have six weeks to register a name. My friend had a super smooth delivery (less than 15 minutes) and was discharged within 24 hours of the birth. I plan on visiting her on Tuesday. That's all for now.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - Things are Not What They Seem When Visiting a Doctor in the US…

This entry is a follow-up to the entry of August 7^th. I’m frankly stunned at the moment and I think there’s a lesson to be learnt from my experience.

My health insurance provider (HIP) never did mail me the revised Explanation of Benefits (EOB) as I was expecting and during a call to Customer Service this morning, I asked why I had not received this document.

To cut a long story short, after the HIP reviewed the charges again and determined that I am to pay the deductible because of how the doctor’s office filed the claim. Despite my visiting a doctor’s office of a major local hospital, it appears that the “office consultation” (this is how it is worded on the medical provider’s bill) has been filed as an outpatient visit. For my HIP, there’s no deductible for an office visit but there is for an outpatient visit.

I made the next call to the billing department of the hospital. The Customer Service rep, Amy, must be accustomed to calls like mine because she quickly explained that the doctor’s office I visited is considered an outpatient facility by the hospital. I explained that I had seen other specialists (unrelated to this hospital) in their offices and had never encountered the claim filed as an “outpatient visit”. However, this is how the location I visited is treated.

So, the lesson learnt from this experience is when calling to make an appointment with any doctor, ask prior to finalizing the appointment if the location is considered an office or an outpatient facility. If it’s the former, it’s likely that your health insurance provider will not charge you, the patient, a copay/deductible. If the location is the latter, it’s likely patients will end up paying a deductible.

Aside from having to pay over $230 odd as this deductible, the price is made more painful because the specialist only spent about five minutes with me. Maybe seven minutes at most.

I can start to see why some people could have money problems paying medical bills in the US. One assumes that one is visiting a doctor’s office but unless the patient specifically asks about the definition of the facility and is familiar with his/her health insurance plan (if he or she even has health insurance), the end result could be a very steep bill.

… and the paper trail for this 5-7 minutes with this doctor? Three bills from the provider’s side and two Explanation of Benefits from my Health Insurance Provider. I guess it keeps people employed, eh?

All this is enough to make me sick…

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - Back Home?

Tonight is the eve of a return trip to the UK. On this occasion, my spouse will be accompanying me and the emphasis on this trip is to spend more time with my parents than previously.

One reason is that my Mum’s health hasn’t been great this year although I spoke to her last night and she sounded much better. In any case, her recent poor health can be remedied but it’s a matter of a consultation with both a qualified and experienced clinician that’s needed. This is something I shall be working on when I’m in the UK.

Now that I have lived in the US for over six years, it remains to be seen if the UK and especially London still feels like home. On past trips back, I have quickly adjusted to the faster pace of life of London. There’s also the unmistakable difference in pollution levels although this may be an unfair comparison because London is a capital city and Durham is a small American city with huge differences in population.

I shall receive a rude awakening on arrival in the UK because, to my disappointment, my direct flight these days, will arrive in Heathrow (LHR), the busiest airport in the world. However, my flight is scheduled to arrive before 7.00am! Let’s hope the flight over is uneventful and I get some shut eye.

Do I have any expectations about what I will find in the UK compared to my last visit (in 2007)? None really except I’m sure the Dollar is even weaker than last year.

So, the question is, is the UK still home? I don’t think so. One test is getting around central London from point to point without the use of an A to Z. I was very familiar with many parts of Zone 1. Will I get pangs of homesickness whilst in the UK? I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to note what triggers any homesickness. I shall have to report back.

And this one’s for Elvira. Is London expensive? All indicators are that it is one of the most expensive cities in the world and I shall be taking notes. e.g. standing outside estate agents windows and looking at the price of homes, the cost of petrol, the price of cinema tickets, the cost of a pint. I wonder if there’ll be as many tourists in the city as last year.

Do I have any “musts” that have to be fulfilled whilst in the UK? Here’s a short list-

Eat fish and chips (and the other half wants to cap it at two meals for the entire trip)

Visit the British Museum

Drink draught bitter

See my brother (easier said than done)

See my best friends, R and C, at least twice.

Track down Optimus Prime and thump him.*

* Just joking!

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - Cooking with the Penguin, Part 2- It's the Little Things...

... that make me happy.

I was off work today and realized that I could go to the Durham Farmer's Market today. It's now open on Wednesday afternoons so I headed to downtown Durham after my hair appointment.

As I expected, there were fewer vendors than on a Saturday, the regular day, and I had no idea who'd be there. I tried to buy a bulb of fennel but it was about five minutes before 3.30pm, the official opening time, and the vendor couldn't sell it to me. Then, after a bell rang at 3.30pm, sales begun. However, I'd left the fennel vendor and I was filling a plastic bag with fresh peas, still in their pods.

For me, picking and shelling peas (I think they're known as English peas in the US) reminds me of my childhood because my family would pick peas right in the fields during the season. I have looked for peas in the pod here in North Carolina but today was the first time I'd seen them. The vendor was selling shelled peas for $5.00 for a 1lb bag but it's more fun to shell the peas oneself. So, I was picking out the plump pods from a big box. Those were $2.00 a pound.

Fresh peas don't last long so I changed what I had in mind to make for dinner and made a spring pea frittata instead. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand so I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store to get fresh mint and some ricotta salata. The resulting dish was delicate and tasty. The frittata was said to be six servings but the two of us ate the whole thing.

I'd been considering going down to Bunn in North Carolina to pick organic strawberries from Vollmer Farm but with the cost of gas, I've hesitated. Fortunately for me, Vollmer Farm had a table at the Farmer's Market today and were selling large punnets (2lbs 6oz) of organic strawberries from their farm. I bought a punnet and have already but some of the berries to use when I made a homemade strawberry shortcake using a recipe from this past weekend's Parade magazine.

Here's a picture of the strawberry shortcake:

Picking strawberries every year, during strawberry season, was part of my childhood back in the UK. My family would make it a (very long) day trip, driving to Tiptree in Essex. For those who know their jams, Tiptree is the home of Wilkin and Sons, one of Britain's most famous jam and preserves makers. Reminising about strawberry picking is probably another blog entry.

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Friday, May 2, 2008 - 12,280 and Counting

This is the number of early votes counted in Durham County, where I live, as of April 30th. I voted early in North Carolina's primary election yesterday.

I waited nearly 10 minutes just to get inside the building where voting takes place. I can't imagine how long voters may have to wait on Primary day itself, May 6th. However, there will be many more voting locations on that day.

I saw on a sheet attached to the door that the number of early voters has been increasing rapidly since early voting began on April 17th.

In North Carolina, one has to declare a party affiliation (either Democratic or Republican) which I think infringes on my privacy because I've received pre-recorded messages from Barack and Michelle Obama as well as getting mail from various candidates for local city and county positions.

2008 is a special year for me because it will be my first opportunity as a naturalized citizen to vote in the US Presidential elections and my state primary is just the beginning.

For the Democratic Party, the party whose symbol is donkey, the Presidential race is extremely exciting and it's exciting for me to participate in it.

My philosophy about voting is simple. If one doesn't vote, one doesn't have the right to complain about the outcome because one didn't participate. Plus, there are some countries in the world where women do not have the right to vote. e.g. Saudia Arabia, Bhutan, Brunei and Vatican City.

In Durham, NC, there's little excuse for not voting, in particular early. During early voting, one can register and vote on the same day and I saw people doing just that (they got to jump the line in doing so). At my polling station, there was curbside voting too and voters were taking advantage of that. I'm not sure if that's an option on May 6th.

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