Before ChuckEats, there was ChuckWorks¹, and he advised e-commerce companies on ways to maximize their revenue through online search efforts, as far back as 1997.

Last week, Google announced Recipe View, a new way to filter and find recipes from Google’s normal search results. You can search for “chicken pot pie” on Google, and it will give you 1.5MM+ results. If you filter by “Recipe”, the results narrow down to 200k. And if you filter by an ingredient, cooking time, or some other attribute, the results narrow much further.

The problem – Homogeny

Once you start narrowing, the results are dominated by large SEO companies like AllRecipes, FoodNetwork, Cooks.com, and other sites that lack the vibrancy of the recipe blogging community. One can presume Google gave them the heads up so the new Recipe View would feature something.

Given the thousands of well-written (and photographed) food blogs, the Recipe View could be much better.

The solution – Micro-tagging

Recipe bloggers need to micro-tag² their recipes. This helps Google better understand the specific contents of your recipe which, in turn, makes it easier to incorporate into their new search functionality.

You must tell Google explicitly what certain parts of your recipe are. If you say “Cooking time: 20 minutes” in a paragraph somewhere, you should micro-tag that. Marking up your recipes with this information helps build “the semantic web” – text can only tell us so much – explicitly marking the information helps computers make connections faster & more accurately. (It could also pay dividends in the future. ³)

How?

In theory, someone might make a WordPress plug-in that will make this easier. In the meantime, tagging your recipes will give you a huge head-start on your friendly blogger competitors.

The nitty gritty is outlined here by Google: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=173379

You can basically tell Google about the following parts of your recipe:

• Name of the dish
• Recipe type
• Photo
• Publish date
• Summary
• Review
• Prep time
• Cook time
• Total time
• Nutrition
• Instructions
• Yield
• Ingredient
• Author

Doing this will require getting your hands a little dirty with HTML – this isn’t too hard in WordPress (i have no idea about other blog platforms.)

Start

1 – Go to the Edit screen of a recipe.

2 – Make sure you’re in “HTML” edit mode, and not “Visual” edit mode. Visual mode will convert the HTML code below into a format that won’t work (and it’s a pain to convert back.)

3 – Let’s pretend you had this recipe in HTML edit mode:

Chicken Pot Pie
(serves 10)
Prep Time: 30 minutes
6 tablespoons salted butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled & cut
Bake for 15 minutes

4- Choose a format to tag your recipe. Google has listed three: microdata, microformats, & RDFa. The problem with competing formats is you never know which one will ultimately win. For purposes of this exercise, Google recognizes all three. I’d choose the microdata format because it’s an HTML 5 standard – and the web, as a whole, is trying to move towards an HTML 5 standard. microdata also looks to be the easiest.

5 -Micro-tag your recipe:

6 – WTF?

What’s Going On? Line by Line

1 –

• A: “everything inside of this DIV is my recipe.”
• B: “this recipe uses the standard found at the itemtype URL”

2 –

3 –

4 –

5 –

A:

B:

That’s it – it’s easy once you get the hang of it.

Things to Remember

Always save a copy of your pre-tagged work. You never know what you might screw up – and sometimes it’s easier to start from the beginning.

A <div> is just a container – make sure there’s always a </div> to close the container. If you added these HTML tags, and your formatting is messed up, a missing </div> can often be the culprit.

<span> is also a container – make sure there’s always one </span> for every <span>

If you put a simple <div> and </div> around some content on your site, and it does funky funky things, your stylesheets for your current theme are interfering. You should seek some advice from a web designer at this point, or change your theme (or learn CSS and change your stylesheets.)

This seems like a lot of work

It could be – depending on how many recipes you have, or if you don’t have much HTML experience. And no one knows how popular this Recipe View will be on Google – or how long it will stay up.

But, as mentioned before, the entire Web is moving in the direction of “the semantic web.” The more you can describe the contents of your content, using agreed-upon industry standards, the easier it will be for future programs to use your information – and (hopefully) provide better distribution for your blog and content. You can consider this a competitive advantage and a long-term investment.

Increasingly, with the distribution power of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, the spoils go to the technical elite who can adjust their content to comply with Google and Facebook demands (requirements.)

- chuck

0 – I haven’t looked at the plug-in in too much detail but it will automatic the technical mumbo jumbo above. The flip-side for this convenience is that you may have to give up some formatting flexibility on your blog. As always, back up everything before trying something new.

1 – I am still working – on something new & exciting. And the next article on this blog will return to fine dining – either Wolvesmouth in LA or Saison in SF, unless a Manresa meal creeps in there!

2 – There doesn’t seem to be a term used to describe this practice, so I’ve deemed it “micro-tagging.” One could say “mark up your pages” but that is a bit techy. We tried to push this as an industry standard in e-commerce in the mid-2000s; it’s taken until now to get some mainstream use.

3 – For example, the Open Graph Protocol might integrate a notion of a recipe entity in its ‘protocol.’ An enterprising young entrepreneur might then come along and devise a new way to search, sort, or rank recipes based on social graph connections – “if 5 of your friends like this recipe, while listening to the new Jay-Z album, you might too.” A second example might be someone figures out, courtesy of the recipe micro-tags, the most-shared recipes on Twitter – and create a unique application / view/ site that utilizes that behavior – and helps distribute your content.

I have found a way ¹ – and (hopefully) it will be of great interest to most readers of this blog.² All will be revealed soon – and some will receive an invitation to participate in the upcoming alpha version.

Meanwhile, to get my hands dirty again with product design and engineering…

I’ve developed the Swirl Guide Napa Valley iPhone app. It is a comprehensive guide to over 240 wineries that can be sliced and diced by

• 30+ characteristics (dog friendly, architectural significance, etc)
• 40+ varietals (pinot, rhone blends, etc)
• all 15 AVA districts (Yountville, Calistoga, etc)
• and 7 different major routes

Full winery details (hours, fees, etc) are included for planning purposes. Find the right batch of wineries and create an itinerary. Get on the road, go, map your route, and take notes. And finally, being 2010, there’s Twitter and Facebook integration for sharing, or bragging, with your friends.

You can buy it directly here ($3.99) by clicking on the Apple button below – or read more at the Swirl Guide web site. Some sample screen shots:

If you buy the app, and like it, it would be most appreciated if you could write a review for Apple’s iTunes Store.

If you just like the idea, please pass it along via Facebook and Twitter to your wine-loving friends – thanks!

- chuck

1 – Don’t worry – this blog will remain this blog – covering future (Paris? Tokyo?) and past (ahem, Japan, Elements, Saison, & more) meals.

2 – What do you think of the re-design? And my new friend? Apologies to Windows users as I’m still trying to figure out the right font to use that maintains readability without distorting. If you know of a good serif font that maintains its character across OS/browser/font-size tuples, please email me.

Meals ran the entire gamut – disgusting, bad, good, great, and unbelievable. I really did not expect the highs to be so high – think two meals in my all-time Top Five high.

If you plan to visit Tokyo, I can not stress enough the importance of buying the Streetwise Tokyo city map – it’s a work of genius that will make everything oh-so-clear. With it, you can get to the block you need to be. The only obstacle at that point is deciphering Kanji in some cases. What is not genius is losing it with two days to go – they don’t sell them in Tokyo!

A second tip – for more obscure restaurants you read about online or in books, bring a picture of the doorway whenever possible. This can get you past the Kanji obstacle. Use Streetwise to get to the right block, hold print-out of doorway in hand, and start comparing. This helped a few more times than you can imagine. I tried taking doorway pics for the upcoming reviews whenever possible.

If you plan to visit Kyoto, Diane Durston’s Old Kyoto: A Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants, and Inns is full of ideas and history for your trip. If you need an inspiration to book that ticket, buy the book – you’ll be on a plane to Kyoto soon. Out of three restaurant suggestions, it only led me astray once; but the real value is in targeting different stores for artisan products.

My one restaurant tip, before the reviews cycle through the blog: Ryugin. It’s beginning to receive more and more press, but it has a conflicted identity that might dissuade some from considering it. The chef made an international name for himself with some zany experiments; however, he has largely abandoned them for the pursuit of a more traditional kaiseki experience. The ingredients I ate there, particularly red snapper from Osaka and wild large eel, were eye-opening, mind-changing, and they might forever spoil me.

Here are a few pictures of various meals to whet the appetite until the reviews come:

Ryugin (Tokyo) – Blue Swimming Crab and Shanghai crab (with roe aplenty!) topped with Chrysanthemum Gelee

Hyotei (Kyoto) – one of the most beautiful bowls I’ve ever seen – this picture does no justice to the color

Yagenbori (Kyoto) – Ayu with roe popping out

Koju (Tokyo) – Three magical pieces of wagyu beef on a gorgeous plate of fall

Sushiso Masa (Tokyo) – Lightly grilled swordfish – one of the best bites of my life, thanks to the layer of fat between the skin and meat.

Tsukiji Fish Market (Tokyo) – Poor little turtles, too bad you taste so good.

Kasagi-Ya (Kyoto) – Fresh, made-to-order o-hagi, yummmm

- chuck

- Fat Duck
- Ledoyen
- Sa Qua Na
- Le Meurice
- L2O
- The French Laundry
- Ubuntu
- Sushi in New York
- and by that time, the Japan trip will have happened

- chuck

Two weeks ago I noticed that traffic dried up. After some digging around, I realized Google had de-listed my pages because of spam. After more digging around, I realized that my blog was probably hacked, thanks to an outdated version of WordPress. And with a touch more digging, I found out that my host (Yahoo) was not updating WordPress to the current versions.

Fair enough – I thought I would just update the blog. Silly me. Yahoo did not provide a mechanism to just update the blog. Fair enough – I will just move the blog to a different host. Silly me. Yahoo only archived the content in raw SQL files. After a bit of wrangling, I figured out how to convert them to the standard .SQL file.

I signed up for a new host – Dreamhost. They don’t have the best reputation but my blog will not bring their servers down; and I like their general system. I signed up. I import the database of content but nothing shows up. I start pruning unnecessary database tables til I reach the bare minimum – mainly, comments, posts, options, and links. Content starts showing up.

I log in to make some changes. Silly Me. I am locked out – “Permission denied.” After digging through countless pages, I finally find the gem – pjh’s post (2nd to last on this page): http://wordpress.org/support/topic/53261/page/2?replies=80#post-294408. Everything works.

I do some dry runs – re-install the blog a few times from beginning to end – make sure I’ve got it down. I do. Set everything up. Great, time to switch the domain name from Yahoo to Dreamhost. This should have been trivial but something got screwed up – site was completely down for a few hours. Got it back up. Uh oh, my email no longer works – where is it? The old stuff is somewhere in Yahoo; the new stuff somewhere on Google (Dreamhost uses Google for their mail servers.) Get that straightened out. Resubmit my site to Google for inclusion into their search engine. Cross fingers. I can only hope the RSS feed still works.

Despite having had some success with computers, I often think they will be our downfall. I am more technical that your average person; and this whole process was quite trying, not to mention time-consuming. I don’t know what the average blogger would have done if they had been in my shoes?

The blog should be up and running, available everywhere. I have no less than six different accounts to administer (Dreamhost, WordPress, Google Webmaster, Google Mail, Google Analytics, and Google Apps) – wouldn’t it be nice if Google actually made their products talk to each other? They may have a great search engine but, aside from Maps and Checkout, the rest of their products leave a lot to be desired.

As for WordPress 2.5 – I don’t like it. The preview post feature does not work. The layout is less intuitive than before. Such is life.

But what about the food?

There will be a few posts coming up soon – The French Laundry, Manresa, McCrady’s, potentially a great sushi restaurant in Atlanta, and Ubuntu.

That should last until my London/Paris trip. Booked so far – Fat Duck, Le Meurice, Ledoyen, L’Ami Jean, and Sa.Qua.Na.

All is almost back to normal.

- chuck

I’ve been to approximately 20% of the restaurants in their Top 100 list. I’ll post some comments for each restaurant with links to my reviews for anyone that is interested. Some of the reviews, from the old days, are quite embarrassing for their petulance and/or brevity.

#1 – El Bulli (Roses, Spain) – The Mad Scientist – The safe pick for such a list, it’s hard to argue there is a more influential chef in our times.

#2 – Fat Duck (Maidenhead, UK) – Master of Production – Another safe pick that is certainly deserving.

#3 – Pierre Gagnaire (Paris) – Best Meal of My Life and
Pierre Gagnaire (Paris) – Truffles and Value – I have eaten the best meal of my life at this restaurant.

#4 – Mugartiz (Errenteria, Spain) – A Beautiful Meal – Certainly a unique restaurant but probably placed a bit too high.

#5 – French Laundry (Yountville, CA) – Calculated Cuisine – Another safe pick and i’d argue it’s placed too high.

#7 – Michel Bras (Laguiole, France) – Near Perfection – I haven’t been in awhile but I’d rank it in the top 5 for perfect ingredients.

#8 – Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain) – Can the Daughter be King? – My meal left a lot to be desired.

#11 -L’Astrance (Paris) – Second Chances for Three Stars – Everyone, including people whose palettes I certainly respect, seems to be in love with this place – not me.

#17 – Jean Georges (NYC) – Bombastic Fantastic – Seems perfectly placed.

#18 – Alain Ducasse (Paris) – Time for a New King – My meal felt like the restaurant was on automatic.

#20 – Le Bernardin (NY) – A Michelin One Star Meal – I believe it was once deserving of this spot but Eric Ripert is spreading himself pretty thin these days.

#25 – Troisgros (Roanne, France) – Jeckyll & Hyde – It’s a favorite of many people, and probably deserving of a higher rank, but my meal was disappointing.

#26 – Can Roca (Girona, Spain) – The Master Revealed – Reasonably placed

#30 – Nobu (London, UK) – This is Fish? – This doesn’t belong on a list of the top 3000 restaurants in the world.

#44 – Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain) – Legendary Expectations – A surprising addition, certainly worthwhile, go before it loses its charm.

#45 – Les Ambassadeurs (Paris) – The Best Truffles for Last – Excellent ingredients but the food can be a bit narcissist.

#46 – L’Arpege (Paris) – Purity of Flavor – A huge injustice since this restaurant should be in the top 5.

#54 – Masa (NYC) – My Best Sushi Meal – Last year, I would have agreed with this position but I’d move it higher after my last meal.

#63 – WD-50 (NY) – Mad Scientist – Seems like a decent position for this restaurant of hits… and misses.

#66 – El Poblet (Denia, Spain) – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Another egregious mis-ranking; this restaurant would make it into my Top 5.

#82 – Pic (Valence, France) – The Empress Has No Clothes – I would not rank this restaurant.

#84 – Ledoyen (Paris) – The Harmony of Modernism – Another egregious mis-ranking; this restaurant would make it into my Top 10.

#85 – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (NYC) – Midtown Michelin Meal – About right, good and competent, but nothing too special.

As with any such list, there will be egregious omissions and some disagreements. There are three that instantly come to mind, including America’s two best restaurants.

Manresa (Los Gatos, CA) – The Spoils of Winter – The best restaurant in America, on the same level as French Laundry, Per Se, and Jean Georges.

Urasawa (LA) – Better than Ever with Real Kobe – The other best restaurant in America, depending on my mood.

And, finally, the complete omission of Japan certainly should raise a few questions as to the validity of their proposed list of the world’s best restaurants.

Next week – the food reviews should return.

- chuck

Tokyo / Kyoto / Hokkaido
A 10-14 day trip is in order to finally explore one of my favorite cuisines. My friends call me a sushi snob, and I’ve eaten at many of the important Japanese restaurants in this country, but my knowledge of Japanese cuisine is certainly at a nascent stage.

Some questions / topics I hope to explore:

Just how good is Japanese sushi? And the quality of their raw fish?
I’ve limited myself in the past year to only eating at America’s best sushi/sashimi restaurants – Urasawa, Sawa, Kuruma Zushi, and Sushi Yasuda (no Masa this past year.) How does the quality of Sawa and Kuruma’s fish compare to Tokyo’s best? Is this magic of a Sushi Yasuda nigiri commonplace in the back alleys of Tokyo? Can Urasawa’s reverence for food and ingredient place among the best of Japan? When I discuss America’s best places, the common response is always “go to Japan.” The subtext of that comment often is, at worst, the continuing Japanese fetish found in America; and, at best, a truly informed point of view. Where does my reality lie?

How are Western fine dining trends manifesting themselves in Japanese cuisine?
I won’t be qualified to answer this question definitively but how, if at all, have the Spanish influenced traditional Japanese techniques in places like Ryu-gin? And, before them, how much French technique has infiltrated the best restaurants?

What do these mythical ingredients taste like?
We Americans, as said above, certainly have a fetish for the foreign; so much so, that the tales of some ingredients take on mythical properties. What does a sliver of A12-5 Kobe beef taste like? How sweet and creamy is fresh Hokkaido sea urchin? How much better does high-end toro taste in Japan, since it is theoretically fresher?

Can I get into the very best places?
Despite the arrival of the Michelin guide in Tokyo, the city’s best restaurants are off-limits to the gajin. Some restaurants, even a three star or two, have multiple locations where the original, and usually best, are by referral only. And, from what I hear, they don’t take kindly to strangers. Can I crack the code?

Finally, where should I eat?
My initial research has unearthed these selections:

• Sukiyabashi Jiro (Tokyo) – three-star sushi with two locations. The trick is getting into Ginza, and not Roppongi.
• Hamadaya (Tokyo) – 90 year old restaurant serving seasonal foods.
• Ryugin (Tokyo) – experimental Japanese with nods to Mugaritz.
• Kyubey (Tokyo) – one-star sushi that is purported to be nearly as good as Sukiyabashi.
• Rakutei (Tokyo) – no stars but potentially a benchmark for tempura.
• Oshima (Tokyo) – one of the main places to go for beef in Tokyo.
• Kozue (Tokyo) – modern kaseiki.
• Kikunoi (Kyoto) – best kaseiki in Kyoto?

London / Paris / Brittany / Copenhagen
What would a year be without a trip to Paris? Despite the Fed’s best attempt to de-value our dollar, I must visit Europe. The main purpose of this jaunt is to visit two restaurants – Noma and Roellinger. Both restaurants have captured my imagination – a potentially dangerous thing in the past.

• The Sportsman (UK) – a man and a woman, their pub, and their attempt to create everything they serve, including the butter and salt. See pictures of a wonderful meal here.
• Le Meurice (Paris) – a focus on seafood and iodization. Read the Luxeat review.
• Roellinger (Brittany) – a story of the sea. Read the Julotlespinceaux review.
• Noma (Copenhagen) – verygoodfood has written about too many great meals.

New York
My excitement with New York dining has declined but I would like to try a few meals over the year.

• Bouley – I would like to finally re-visit this restaurant and see how it rates compared to my last impressive visit.
• Rosanjin – there’s a dearth of reviews but it will be interesting to compare this to Urasawa, Sugiyama, and my meals from the fore-mentioned Japan trip. Read the CountryEpicure review.
• Masa – it’s insanely expensive but I would like to re-try it.
• Tailor – I recently ate here, sans notes and camera, but the food measured up to WD-50 on a good day. I would like to do a proper review.
• Momofuku Ko – both Momofuku restaurants are favorites of mine and it will be interesting to see how it translates to a more ambitious menu.

California
My goal for the base of operations is to try a few other higher-end places:

• Aqua – does it really warrant two Michelin stars?
• Marinus – Michelin overlooked the restaurant but the chef has a commitment to very local ingredients.
• Auberge du Soleil – chef Robert Curry has an impressive resume.
• And a few Manresa, Ubuntu, Quince, and Urasawa visits.

The Rest of America
There are a few places I just need to try:

• McCrady’s (Charleston)
• Komi (DC)
• Blue Stem (Kansas City)
• re-visit
• Alinea

It’s a financially ambitious schedule that I hope to keep. If you have further suggestions, please provide them in the comments.

- chuck

I’ve followed the general rules outlined below with regard to diet and exercise. They say there are no “easy answers” but I disagree – it’s not *that* hard to eat a fairly healthy diet and get the exercise you need. In fact, the most effective exercise only requires 25-30 minutes per day if you make it intense. Yes, you’ll have to give up some good stuff (alcohol, bread, and butter) but you can still enjoy everything in moderation. And you can still pig out once a week without much detriment to your goals.

And don’t worry – the ideas below have not interfered with my eating out schedule. Yes, I could probably lose more weight by cutting back on the fancy meals but then life would become dull and pointless. There will be plenty of restaurant reviews in 2008.

And here they are:

Eat Healthy – everyone has a list of “superfoods” but the lists generally turn out to be common sense. Go to your local farmer’s market and buy the fruits and vegetables in season. Don’t be afraid to try new things. I am the typical American who grew up on microwave and frozen vegetables. As a result, I hated most veggies – broccoli, beets, etc. If you can pick it or shoot it, it’s probably good for you.

40/30/30 rule – you have to eat a balanced diet. You can’t forgo fat or carbohydrates – you need both. The golden rule seems to be 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein for each meal. Using a tool like FitDay, it’s very easy to track your diet and activity day by day.

Eat Often – if you starve yourself, your metabolism goes into starvation mode and it will burn muscle before fat. If you eat 5-6 meals per day, your metabolism will burn faster.

Calories – if you eat less, you’ll lose weight to a point. However, you should stay somewhere in the 1500-1800 range if your goal is intense weight loss. If you want to add muscle, shoot for 2200-2400 on the days you work out. If you want to be a body builder, it seems that 3000+ calories per day is not unusual. Just remember to spread the calories over 5-6 meals, use the 40/30/30 rule during every meal, and eat healthy foods.

Cheat Meals – readers of this site are certainly gluttonous to a point and abiding strictly by the diet above would end in disaster. Professional body-builders allow themselves 3 cheat meals per week (out of 35-42 meals.) Obviously, that seems pretty restrictive. My goal? I get one blow-out meal (eating out complete with alcohol), one fun night out (moderate eating out with alcohol), dessert every 2-3 days, and maybe a Coke here or there (a guilty pleasure.) I obviously won’t make 6% body fat any time soon but you won’t succeed with your weight loss goals if you punish yourself.

Lifestyle – everyone always says it, and it sounds like a cliche at this point, but you’ve got to incorporate your weight loss goals into your lifestyle. It takes some planning and work to eat 6 meals every day. It takes some planning to exercise periodically. It won’t come easy at first but eventually you start craving it.

Exercising – finally, you should exercise. This is not as bad as it sounds. You do not need to devote 60-75 minutes/day to exercising; in fact, short high intensity workouts burn fat faster than long low intensity workouts. Aerobic exercising is more efficient at burning fat, but anaerobic exercise burns more fat overall. If you can work out 20-30 minutes/day, and keep up the intensity, you will see dramatic results. What have I done?

1. The Body by Fish Workout – emphasizes full-body movements that will both build lean muscle and provide an excellent cardio workout. When starting the workout, do as many reps as you can. For example, I could only do a pyramid of 7 push-ups when I started but I worked my way to a pyramid of 12 within a few weeks. When you master this workout, there are plenty more that are much harder available on the web site. The other great thing is you can do this workout in your living room (or hotel room) – no special equipment is needed. Even when traveling, there’s no excuse not to exercise.

2. Circuit Intervals – similar to the Fish Workout above. Pick 6 exercises, based on what you want to work out and/or exercises you find stimulating, and do 10-20 reps of each exercise, back to back, with as little rest (preferably none) between each exercise. When you are done with the circuit, rest for one minute. Repeat the circuit. Do this for 20-25 minutes and you should be breathless and sweaty.

3. Interval Running – do this on a machine or find a nice path with hills. On the machine, run full-steam one minute, relax one minute, and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You should be drenched at the end. On the path, run up the hills and walk down. If the path has extended flats, run full speed, slow down, and keep repeating.

Exercise Schedule – depending on your availability and goals, you can exercise every day or every other day. If you can allocate 30 minutes/day; I’d recommend doing the fish workout every other day with interval running on the off days. You will see surprising results in a month. If you can only exercise every other day, do the Fish workout – you will lose fat and build muscle. If you get a free day, throw in some interval running. Replace the Fish workout with the circuits after a month or two of exercising – your body will get used to what it’s doing and you’ll need to throw it for a loop.

Post-work-out Nutrition – you need to feed your muscles after working out. Within a hour after working out, make sure you get a solid meal in. Aim for around 35g of protein (which means 45g of carbs and 15g of fat.) I opt to feed myself 5 meals of these proportions on days I work out the muscles; on running days, I shoot for 3 meals of this and 2-3 meals of 14-21g of protein.

Mix It Up – your body gets accustomed to what you do. You’ve got to change exercise plans after a few weeks; otherwise, they will become less effective. This isn’t very hard since you can retain the same structures – just substitute different exercises. The same goes for your diet. You should eat a very large meal once a week to shock your metabolism.

My Results?

I gained immediate muscle doing the Fish Workout the first month. I was always very skinny (but with the donut building around the middle) but I built a fair amount of lean muscle, particularly in my shoulders and back. After 2 months, many of my clothes no longer fit because my posture and mass had changed. It was quite remarkable and inspiring.

Interval running works best (for me) for losing fat. I find it very easy to get on the machine and run full speed. I’ve gotten a bit lazy towards the end of the year due to the amazing results of just doing the Fish Workout every other day; but I will being doing the interval running on the off days.

I also bought a kettlebell. Here’s an intense 25 minute interval workout that simply feels amazing by the end. This is my new favorite exercise routine.

You’ve got to want it. It’s very easy to wake up and put off exercising to the next day. It’s also very easy to give in to temptations throughout the day. You’ve got to balance what you want – weight control vs food desires. I’ve found a good balance for myself where I don’t gain weight; the goal for 2008 is to lose 10lbs or so and build a bit more muscle.

My favorite blog for weight loss is Josh Hillis’ Fat Loss And Fitness Articles. He’s a personal trainer that targets women, but his articles are applicable to anyone.

- chuck

The pastiche of chefs and dishes represented here would render an actual meal schizophrenic – from high concept to base ingredients, a jerky back and forth – but try to imagine eating this wonderful meal on its own terms – a collection of wonderful dishes.

The restaurant names are linked to the original reviews of the meals. I’ve left the original descriptions intact.

If you have a blog, post your “perfect meal” for 2007, link to this blog, and I will link to them below:
1 – CountryEpicure has posted a great looking meal
2 – very good food has posted her favorite meals of the year
3 – Ulterior Epicure has an impressively long list of favorites.

Jaminisimo (Barcelona, Spain) Salamanca Jamon Iberico
The toro of ham, nearly melts in your mouth, intense flavor, the sweetest of the three. From their literature (paraphrased):
“.. receives invigorating & constant flow of fresh, cool winds from the surrounding mountains… its altitude of 1000 feet and cold winds, fragrances of fallen branches and leaves can penetrate the aging hams. This, together with less trimming of the fat (of which there is more of) and less time in salt, produces a sweetier & juicer ham.”

Ledoyen (Paris, France) – Amuse of Cuttlefish Sashimi in Almond Milk with Lavender Foam
Amuses are often loud and boisterous statements that have little connection to the meal to come. While impact is necessary, a near-contemplative silence can last forever. This amuse pierced through the outside world and softly cooed about the meal to come. It talked of complementing flavors, textures, and harmony. The luscious almond milk’s slight sweetness perfectly complemented the (very fresh) and naturally sweet cuttlefish. The lavender foam, nearly ephemeral in texture, added a subtle but noticeable sweet and floral quality that lingered for a few extra seconds. It was soft-spoken but all-commanding, a rare work of harmony.

L’Arpege (Paris, France) – Fines ravioles potageres consomme de lopinambour
This was a beet ravioli w/ beet/artichoke consomme. I had a red pepper version of this dish on my last trip and it was easily a top 5 dish of all-time. This version is no different – to call it sublime would be cheating it. The consomme was delicate yet powerful, a salty essence of the artichoke perfectly balanced by the beet’s sweetness, all their earthy flavors providing a backbone. A slight lemon flavor radiated and permeated the consomme, taking it from perfect to heavenly. The ravioli was ephemeral with a radiant burst of beet. Next to Gagnaire’s sea-bass/codfish-intestine and Bras’s Gargouillo, I can’t think of a better dish. If you see a consomme/ravioli dish on a L’Arpege menu, order it.

Les Ambassadeurs (Paris, France) – Herves et Salades D’Hiver/Truffle Noire Surprise
A salad, dressed in truffle vinaigrette, wrapped completely in truffles. After the truffle teases of L’Arpege and L’Aubergade, we finally chanced upon the truffle quality we expected from more restaurants. Despite the truffle’s intense poignancy, the acidity from the vinaigrette balanced the dish beautifully. Louisa of Movable Feast, who oversaw the development of truffle & caviar dishes during her time with Les Ambassadeurs, likens the dish to a “house of cards” – much skill certainly went into composing the dish as you can see how the truffles are folded around the salad in the 2nd picture.

Ideas in Food – Sourdough Ice Cream – wild arctic char roe, blueberries, red mustard
Very creamy ice cream – slight sour note followed by a creamy saltiness thanks to the roe. Meanwhile, the blueberry’s acid and the sharp mustard leaves cut it. Wonderful texture as it turns from creamy to the popping roe.

Ledoyen (Paris, France) – Truffe en Croque au Sel, Quenelle Onctueuse de Foie Gras
Truffles, jerusalem artichokes, some sea salt on the side, and a beautiful foie gras mousse. The first bite left much to be desired – the ephemeral quality of the amuse gave way to a seemingly different experience of contact and crunch. The truffles,despite their high quality, competed with the artichokes for attention in both taste and texture. Thinking I could outsmart the chef, I tried just the foie & truffles – addition by subtraction. It certainly was – this combination failed to excite and made me reconcile the differing “earthy” tastes of the artichoke and truffle.

I played w/ proportions and discovered a magic formula – 1/2 artichoke, 1 truffle, and 1 foie. The texture dramtically improved – very crunchy, neither ingredient overpowering the other, with the lightest of mousse finishes. The “green” earthiness of the jerusalem artichoke fed nicely into the darker earth of the truffle. The foie’s richness, at the end, obviously crossed the line into decadence but only by suggestion; the mousse was so light its taste bordered on the suggestive.

Ideas in Food – King Salmon – foie gras consomme, morel mushrooms, red wine
My favorite dish of the night – this was a Manresa quality dish. The morels were perfectly preserved from the spring – they were as good as the morels I had in May in France. The earthy richness of the morels sublimely paired w/ the fish’s richness. The foie consomme, very subtle, gave the dish some body and a very calm mellow finish.

French Laundry (Yountville, CA) – MOULARD DUCK “FOIE GRAS EN TERRINE” – Jacobsen’s Farm Crab Apple, Shaved Summer Truffles, Mâche and Crab Apple “Gelée”
There is nothing as sublime as TFL’s foie gras terrine. It is worth every penny of the $30 supplement. Its near whipped-cream texture is as ephemeral as a meat-based dish can get. It is akin to eating the essence of foie. It is generally served with a variety of sea salts, ranging from different continents and millennia.

Pierre Gagnaire (Paris, France) – Pate de chataigne aux celeris dores – toast noir a la moelle
A textural marvel where the marrow gave way to the truffle and toast, with the marmalade sitting in the background the entire time. The flavor began with the marrow and ended with the aromatic truffles, the whole thing slightly sweet from the marmalade. At this point, I was thinking “repeat” of my first Gagnaire meal last May.

Manresa (Los Gatos, CA) – Into the Vegetable Garden
Into the vegetable garden continues to evolve, subtly but assuredly. It changes slightly to adjust for seasonality but the taste profiles are getting stronger. Kinch is really honing in on this dish – it is approaching the masterful levels of the Michel Bras gargouillou – the reference dish that Kinch acknowledges in his blog post about the dish. There is no arguing that it has achieved its purpose – to capture the ephemeral nature and experience of the garden.

El Poblet (Denia, Spain) – The Living Forest 2007
The Opinionated About review caused some ripples in the foodosphere by proclaiming experience and abstraction as new culinary frontiers. An argument against this notion is the traditional symbolism, and ritual, found in many cultures around their food. However, symbolism and abstraction are entirely different; and the arguments seemed to get caught up in semantics.

This dish was experiential and, with my limited dining experience in mind, I think it’s a bold new frontier. Other restaurants crossed over into the intellectual realm long ago – French Laundry with its plays on classic dishes; El Bulli and WD-50 with their new takes on ingredients and traditional flavor pairings; Fat Duck with memory and influence; and countless others. El Poblet seems different with these Abstraction dishes (this one, Abstraction of the Sea, Hoarfrost, and The Other Moon of Valencia below.) The ingredients were nonrepresentational in a culinary context; they did not point back to themselves in meaning or intent. The experience was the dish – not the mind trying to link symbol to food item. Whether this becomes important or not is for history to tell.

Mushrooms mixed with a brown sugar sand, it had the crunch and taste of walking through a forest. Each bite yielded different aspects of the earth. The entire dish had the crisp smell of forest air. The brown sugar was just a touch too sweet but its portions could be easily controlled to maintain the delicate ecosystem. Excellent.

Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain) – Grilled Sea Cucumber
A perfect, and I don’t use that word lightly, char that was subtle enough to impart a taste but not dominate it. This dish fulfilled every expectation I had for Etxebarri and his prowess with a grill. Easily, the dish of the night.

Rias de Galicia (Barcelona, Spain) – Octopus Galician Style
Stupendous – I’ve never had octopus this fresh. It was barely cooked, still oozing with slime, the pepper possibly a little heavy-handed but satisfyingly spicy. This will forever remain a reference item and, combined with Jaminisimo’s ham, a reason in itself to book a ticket to Barcelona.

El Poblet (Denia, Spain) – Abstraction of the Sea 2007
The best realization of the four experiential experiments. The mushrooms compose a majority of the dish yet they clearly mimicked the look, feel, and taste of seaweed. The smells and tastes of the ocean breeze were so vivid that one might question why it’s labeled an abstraction. This is an evocative cuisine.

Urasawa (Los Angeles, CA) – Kobe Beef “A10″
There are 12 grades of kobe beef, A12 being the highest, but the chef said A12 is too fatty for more than one bite. The A10 was a good compromise for serving across several dishes. I’ve never seen more marbled meat. For those that say “you haven’t had Kobe til you’ve had the real thing” – they are absolutely correct. This would put any “wagyu” you find in top-tier American restaurants like The French Laundry to shame.

The meat was served in a variety of ways – cubed and grilled, sliced for shabu shabu, and thinly sliced and grilled for sushi. The grilling was done for a few seconds – enough for a char. The piece of sushi was the best preparation where the intensity of fat may have been a bit too much in the cubed and grilled piece.

L’Arpege (Paris, France) – Comte millesime Automne 2002 truffe noire
The meal ended on a much lower note than its magnificent beginnings but, being somewhat-experienced L’Arpege eaters, we knew the Comte was next. You could smell this as it was being walked across the room – very crystallized texture, where the truffles emerged immediately with the comte’s saltiness. Near divine but my other dining companions got more truffles. This was the 2002 vintage of the Antony comte.

Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain) – Milk Ice Cream
Perfect ice cream. Unsure of which sort of milk, sheep’s being my guess, the texture and richness was unparalleled. Others have reported that the ice creams are smoked, but I don’t recall any smokiness in the flavor.

Mugaritz (Errenteria, Spain) – Violet Ice Cream
Dessert time at Mugaritz is unlike any other restaurant – the desserts can be as memorable, if not more so, than the main courses. This year’s violet ice cream was astounding. An intense violet flavor, creamy as can be.

And some misc fun facts for 2007:

Favorite Meal: El Poblet (Denia, Spain)
Favorite Trip: The Spanish trip really opened my eyes to the quality of some amazing ingredients
Favorite Dish: Les Ambassadeurs Herves et Salades D’Hiver/Truffle Noire Surprise
Favorite New (for me) Food: Jaminisimo Salamanca, followed closely by A10 Kobe beef
Most Visited Restaurant: Manresa (Los Gatos, CA), approximately 8-10 times
Favorite New Restaurant: Ubuntu (Napa, CA)
Most Expensive French Meal: 425 euros – Pierre Gagnaire truffle tasting menu (L’Arpege truffle tasting menu @ 415 euros was a very close second)
Most Expensive Spanish Meal: 225 euros – Etxebarri
Most Expensive US Meal: $350, French Laundry with wagyu and foie gras supplements (Urasawa was second at $300)
Most Disappointing High-End Restaurant: Cordeillan Bages
Most Disappointing Mid-Tier Restuarnat: Colborne Lane – it barely beat Au Pied du Cochon
Best Comments in a Post : it’s a tie between Colborne Lane and Au Pied du Cochon – both got quite rowdy

The 2008 Food Itinerary will be published next week – stay tuned!

- chuck

• Jamonisimi – My ham-loving friend says their Salamanca is a life-changing event. See some recent beautiful pictures at Foodite.
• Casa Lucio – Creative tapas in Barcelona.
• Espaisucre – A dessert restaurant in Barcelona.
• Etxebarri – This has the potential to be my favorite meal of all-time – a man, his grill, and perfect seafood. A few key blog posts have mythologized this place and I hope it meets my very high expectations.
• Mugaritz (redux) – The first meal still ranks as the most unique meal I’ve ever had with a trio of desserts that outshine even Sam Mason.
• Pinxto in San Sebastian – Gunbara for mushrooms, Txepetxa for anchovies, Astelena for slightly upscale tapas, Alona Berri for the perennial pinxtos winner (yes, there’s an annual contest), La Cepa for ham, and Pasteleria Oiartzun for baked goods.
• Asador Bedua – There’s a mythical asador in Bodega el Capricho but that would add a day to the trip. Instead, as a compromise, I’ll try Asador Bedua in Zumaia.
• Combarro – Pristine seafood in Madrid.
• Kabuki – The only risk on this trip – Spanish/Japanese fusion. Normally, I would run far away but Spain does have the ingredients to make this work.
• El Poblet – The Opinionated About review is thoroughly convincing; the Living Forest and Abstraction of the Sea dishes sound quite different. Blind Tasting merely re-affirms the greatness.
• Casa Paco – The world’s greatest paella?
• Rias de Galicia – old school seafood that some say will be the benchmark. Chez Pim recently ate there as did the New York Times.
• El Quim de la Boqueria – it’s tapas in the middle of the bustling market but the langostines from my trip last year were nearly as good as those found in the French 3 star restaurants.

That set of reports should keep me busy for a few weeks.

In October, a trip to LA will yield the following reports:

• Urasawa – the temple
• Bin 8945 – I’m friends with the investors and my wine-loving friend is coming out so it will be a 20-course, 5-bottle extravagaza!
• Providence – If it’s as good as the meal last time, I’m proclaiming it the 3rd best restaurant in the country (after Manresa and Urasawa.) It absolutely out-shined my last Le Bernardin meal at every level.