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NANCY SILVERTON'S "PANICALE PEASANT ZUPPA" NAMED BEST SOUP OF THE YEAR FOR 2022
/Yes, mister and misses know-it-all,. I realize there are over 360 days left in the year 2022 and, as they say, “anything can happen.”
But, the truth is “anything” can’t happen.
Sunday, on the second day of the year, Nancy Silverton made a soup so delicious that many of the world’s greatest restaurant chef and the world’s revered home cooks formally announced they could not make a soup takes that good even if they tried for the next 363 days. As a result, the the ISF, the International Soup Federation based in Geneva. formally proclaimed Silverton’s Panicale Peasant Zuppa as “Soup of The Year, 2022”.
The soup was of humble origins. The base or starting broth aka bouillon de demarrage was he liquid of long cooked beans from a New Year’s Eve meal. (It should be noted that several prominent chefs including Mauro Colagreco, Andreas Caminada, Alain Ducasse and Ruth Reichl lodged formal complaints with the ISF claiming the Panicale Peasant soup could not be named Soup of the Year 2022 because it was started in 2021. The compliant was tossed out with the following admonition “Thinking like that would lead to other complaints such as you could not win the Nobel Peace Prize for one year because you had done some good stuff the previous year,” said Dr. Hans Christian “Pea Soup” Anderson, ISF’s Director of Operations.
So the soup. It was made with cabbage, Rovejo dried pea native to Umbria. unnamed seasonings. a cardboard box of vegetable broth. potatoes and other things. The write Michael Krikorian was the only human to have it for dinner. Later, however, Nancy gave a small container of Panicale Peasant Soup it her sister Gail and brother-in-law Joel. She wanted to give them more, but Krikorian would not allow this to happen, even though he likes Joel and Gail.
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NANCY SILVERTON'S "PANICALE FRITTATA" TAKES EARLY LEAD IN BEST DISH OF 2022 COMPETITION
/As soon at the gate fell for the start of the Best Dish World Championship 2022, American chef Nancy Silverton stomped on the gas and took a commanding lead with an egg dish that had the few fortunate diners thanking their lucky constellations and the competition wondering how the hell where they going to catch up.
Silverton, cooking in her pajamas, and using two eggs, made her revered Panicale Frittata which, today, had artichokes, ham and swiss cheese.
It was, in its original meaning, delicious.
With Silverton safely in the lead for best dish of the year 2022, others contenders scrambled ( not eggs) to think how they could close the gap. Massimo Bottura said he needed to be alone. Rene Redzepi took a walk in the woods. Thomas Kellar considered retirement. Fredy Girardet considered offers to come out of retirement.
After Michael Krikorian told her how good the dish was and she had just made the best dish of 2022, Silverton shrugged and said “It’s just eggs.” Yeah, and that stuff on the “Mona Lisa” is just paint.
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F.D.R.- NANCY SILVERTON'S STUNNING LABOR DAY CREATION, FRITOS DIPPED RUDY (BUTTER)
/For the last two hours, Nancy Silverton and I have pondered where in carnation we could eat out tonight, Labor day, 2021.
Everywhere we tried was closed. Even Mozza is closed today. You name it, we tried. Connie and Ted’s. Alimento. Carousel. Jitlada. A bunch of other places.
And if you know the refrigerator at the Van Ness home, you know other than some condiments and Captn Eli root beer, it’s barren. I mean there is some Rudy, aka Rodolphe Le Meunier Buerre de Barrate French butter,
And on the counter there are a three-day old bag of Fritos, Original, or course.
So I’m figuring I’ll lose several ounces tonight when I hear Nancy say “Umm. That’s delicious. Try this.”
I go into the kitchen and she’s holding out a single Frito with a gob of Rudy on it. I take and eat.
Do you know the opening lines of “Cheek to Cheek"?
Nancy says “Crunchy, salty and creamy in one bite. What more could you ask for?”
Nancy has created another masterpiece. Today in the Times of London there is an article about Nancy’s Chopped. And today in Krikorian Writes there is this article about Nancy’s brilliant Fritos dipped with Rudy butter, aka F. D. R.
As I go type this, as always, Nancy is trying to improve the dish. “Next time, get Scoops.”
“Heaven, I’m in Heaven. And the cares that come around me though the week, seem to vanish, like a gambler’s lucky streak, when we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek. “
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27 DAYS ALONE ON VACATION, NANCY AND MICHAEL DOING GREAT 99.7% OF THE TIME, EXPERTS SAY “THAT’S NOT HEALTHY”
/“Let’s Get Lost quote.
Getting away from it all is one of life’s grand pleasure. Even if you are alone. And when a couple gets away, especially a couple often surrounded by others, it is the ultimate.
Still, that can turn volatile as fast as Hamilton and Verstappen on Copse Corner at Silverstone. A mumbled reply, a misplaced key, an accusation, a glance, a spill. Little things that go big.
That has not happened for Nancy Silverton and Michael Krikorian who have been living together - and alone - for the last 27 days. It has been wonderful and in Krikorian’s words “Our best vacation ever.” Nancy agrees.
The couple’s vacation has been tracked via the international “How’s My Vacation?’ website and - other than some very minor disagreements - their vacation has been nearly flawless. Silverton Krikorian has scored an unheard of 99. 75"% GAG (Getting Along Great) rating. the highest of any couple from the Western Hemisphere since the website debuted in 1989.
A conflict resolution analyst from the United Nations said there have been several key factors in the couple’s astounding GAG rating Even Krikorian’s driving has played a role in the two getting along so well.
“He is speeding as usual. but, and this is key. he’s not accelerating in the corners and yelling out “Fangio!” or “Senna!” or “Hamilton!” like in previous years,” said Edward Felson, assistant director of of the UN’s “Can’t We All Get Along” Division. “That makes a difference because that would drive Silverton bonkers.”
As an example. Belson referred to 2017 Panicale when Krikorian bought up Aryton Senna. Juan Fangio and Lewis Hamilton more than 140 times in a 37 day period. So far after 25 days. he has only mentioned Fangio four time. Senna three and Hamilton three. This has pleased Nancy no little.
As for Silverton, another observer from the United Nations said Krikorian is reaping the benefits of being the only person with her.
“Nancy is a giver and she has no one else to look after. and feed so all of her focus is on Krikorian. the lucky motherfucker. “ said Walter Payton. of the Sweetness Institute “If you listen to the tape, everyday she is asking Michael ‘What can I make you to eat? What do you want?”
And the music they have been listening to. the Piazza Mozza playlist made by both of them has been the ideal sound track. Nancy is even liking Bruce Springsteen tunes such -“Moonlight Motel. “The Wrestler” and “The Land of Hope and Dreams”.
Still, with that astoudning 99. 75 rating. some are concerned ithey are getting along too well.
“It’s not normal to get along that good,” said Dr. Robert Schneidemeider, of the University of Vienna “To take use of an old standards, ‘Something’s Gotta Give.”
That might be the key. Or maybe Someone’s gotta give.
SEEING THE POETRY OF GILLES VILLENEUVE’S BROKEN FERRARI
/“That’s the poetry of everyday life. You have to be ready to see things as others don’t even imagine. Make visible the invisible.” – Massimo Bottura, 2014
Walking to a lunch reservation at Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana, Nancy Silverton stepped into a Modena second-hand vintage shop and came out of telling me of the many Ferrari models inside I went in and after consulting with the owner, purchased an F40 for my small collection in Panicale, Umbria and a Formula One, a model, the owner said, of the four-time World Champion Alain Prost, who is half French half Armenian and famous for his duels with Ayrton Senna.
Of course, I had to buy that. I got it with the intention of giving it as a gift to Massimo Bottura to add to his collection of model Ferraris he has on display in his restaurant’s wine cellar that double as private dining room. On our walk is to his restaurant – named #1 in 2016 and 2018 by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization and, for the record, not illegible currently because he had already won - the plastic bag I was carrying with the the models inside slipped out of my hand and fell to the cobblestone street. I didn’t think anything of it as the shop owner had wrapped the models in layers of newspaper.
We went to Osteria and Nancy and I were sat in the wine cellar, reserved for friends of the house. We were immediately poured two goblets of 2011 Ca’ del Bosco Annamaria Clementi Franciacorta sparkling wine. In preparation of Massimo’s greeting, I unwrapped the F1 Ferrari and to my sheer disappointment saw it was broken. When the bag fell, it had severely damaged the F1 car. One front and one rear wheel and tire were busted off, another was loose. Brakes were busted. Damnit. God damnit. I could not give Bottura a broken model.
Nancy and I tried in vain to put the tires back on but it was too intricate and key pieces were broken. I put it away. I didn’t know what I would do with it. Maybe it was destined for trash.
Within moments, Nancy came to the Ferrari’s rescue. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll give you the chance to say it.”
“Say what?”
“Think about what you can say to Massimo about the Ferrari.”
I couldn’t think of anything.
“Come on,” Nancy said. “You’re the writer. You gonna feel stupid when I tell you. Your gonna wish you came up with this.”
I scanned my mind, but came up empty. “Nancy, what?”
She had a sly smile, She knew she had a winner and then she just said it. “Oops, I dropped the Ferrari.”
O. M. G. Straight out brilliant. She had just saved the Ferrari from garbage bin. She had seen the poetry where I couldn’t envision. She had made the invisible quite visible.
Massimo’s most famous dessert is called “Oops, I dropped the lemon tart.” which was accidently born when a Osteria Francescana sous chef, Taka Kondo, well, he dropped a lemon tart. Bottura told a food publication this. "Taka was ready to kill himself because he's Japanese and his culture doesn't make mistakes, or they make mistakes but they're not allowed to. So, I saved Taka's life saying 'Taka, it's amazing’.”
Bottura and staff went on to painstakingly recreate Kondo’s fallen tart and “Oops, I dropped the Lemon Tart” became a classic.”
So when Nancy said “Oops, I dropped the Ferrari” I knew that was the magical line to say to Massimo. Though he came to our table three times that lunch – one of the best meals of my life – none was the appropriate time to drop the magical line. That night we went to Massimo and his wife Lara’s small heavenly countryside hotel called Casa Maria Luigia. Nancy was too full to eat but I indulged in his classics; 48-month culatello, tortellini Parmigianino, psychedelic beef, even the “Oops, I dropped the Lemon Tart.” I told the Ferrari story to our server Domenico and the chef Jessica Rosval who was just named by Guide dell L’Expresso as the best female chef in Italy which she was particularly proud of because she’s from Canada. From Montreal’s West Island.
I asked Domenico for a plate and he added he would bring a plate and cloche, the plate topper He did and I put the Ferrari, broken pieces and all in there and topped it with the cloche.
Massimo came by and I told him the story – I got you a Formula One Ferrari. Alain Prost’s model. Bag slipped out of my hand. We looked at it. Couldn’t give to you. Then Nancy had the line.
As I lifted the cloche, I said the “Oops, I dropped the Ferrari.” He gasped, walked away about five steps and came back and said “Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. (Yes, four “amazings” from Massimo Bottura.)
I gave Nancy all the credit and he hugged her. He looked back at the Ferrari and immediately said ”Not Prost. Gilles Villeneuve. Number 27. That was Villeneuve’s car.”
That made it all the more special to me and others. Gilles Villeneuve was one of the fastest drivers in Formula One history. He died in a horrible airborne crash in 1982 during qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix at Zolder. F1 legend Nikki Lauda said this of him;. "He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1. The fact that, for all this, he was a sensitive and lovable character rather than an out-and-out hell-raiser made him such a unique human being". (Out of respect to Gilles, I need to say his son, Jacques, became the first Canadian to win the Formula One World Championship in 1997.)
When chef Jessica joined in the table again I told her it wasn’t Prost’s car it was Gilles Villeneuve’s. She almost cried. Villeneuve was a Canadian as well.
Massimo took the broken Ferrari away “I am going to frame this.”
Gilles Villeneuve is still remembered at Grand Prix races, especially those in Italy. At the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the site of the San Marino Grand Prix, a corner is named after him and a Canadian flag is painted on the third slot on the starting grid, from which he started his last race. There is also a bronze bust of him at the entrance to the Ferrari test track at Fiorano in Maranello. At Zolder the corner where Villeneuve died has been turned into a chicane and named after him.
And soon, at one of the world’s greatest restaurants or its family hotel, one of the world’s greatest Formula One drivers, now invisible, will be made visible.
HOWARD WEITZMAN HIRED TO DEFEND BRUTUS IN RETRIAL OF JULIUS CAESAR STABBING
/Famed Los Angeles attorney Howard Weitzman will defend Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus in the highly anticipated retrial of the infamous Julius Caesar stabbing assassination on March 15, 44 B.C. in Rome.
Brutus Albinus, much better known as simply Brutus, was convicted of murder in the first degree in a highly publicized trial in 45 B.C. and sentenced to LWOP, life without the possibility of parole. Since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D., , Brutus has sought a retrial
Weitzman, who left Los Angeles on April 7th to join the prestigious firm of Hammurabi, Cicero, Darrow and Kardashian located on the westside of Mount Olympus, held a press conference Monday on the steps of the Really High Court to make the announcement he had taken the case. The unusual maneuver was more like an opening statement than a presser.
“The evidence will show that my client did not kill Julius Caesar and was, in fact, rushing to protect him from an unruly mob,” Weitzman said with a slight smirk. “Mr. Caesar was Folsom shanked 23 times. Look at my client. He couldn’t shank a spencer prime roast from Vincente Foods let alone fully grown adult with more attitude than anyone since Alexander.”
Weitzman laid much of the blame for Brutus’s centuries-long assumption of guilt conviction on William Shakespeare who famously wrote about Caesar’s killing, undoubtedly the most famous assassination in history.
“Shakes did more damage to my client’s reputation than all the forensic evidence in Rome, “ said Weitzman, who, as is his style, was juggling doing the press conference with making lunch reservations, this time at Escoffier’s new bistro. “When Shakespeare wrote that Caesar said ‘Et tu, Brutus’, that’s all the public heard. Hold on. Do you have the roast Bresse chicken stuffed with Perigord truffles today? Yes, where was I? Oh, yeah. Brutus loved big Julie. The trial will show that.”
Weitzman contended that since security footage of the Caesar assassination is “spotty at best” and several eyewitnesses to the brutal attack who were not allowed to testify in the original trial, will testify in the retrial and “put enough reasonable doubt to free my client.”
“Look, Brutus has been held without bail in a holding cell since 44 B.C, that’s, what, 2,065 years. I would normally argue for ‘time served’, but he is adamant about clearing his name.”
Weitzman even leaned further into what will likely be a key element of his defense when he spoke of incriminating evidence against Brutus in the first trial.
“They claimed a bloody toga was my client’s,” Weitzman said. “I will prove in court it was not. Brutus was way too fat to wear that toga. If the toga doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
Sources close to the investigations told this reporter that Weitzman was being paid in rare bottles of wine including a 47 B.C. Chateau Cheval Blanc, a 217 B.C. Panicale rosso H, Barca Cuvee and a 2009 A.D. L’Evangile.
A reporter in the crowd asked Weitzman how he was getting along in his new home.
“They call this place heaven, but I was already in Heaven on Earth with my Margaret by side,” said Howard, his voice uncharacteristically cracking. “I saw some footage yesterday of Margaret with tears in her eyes. I want you to get word to her. Relish those tears. Those tears are from me. I have them for you. There are two tears. The ones that tear your heart and the one that fall from your eyes. Some people never have tears of any kind. Those poor souls. We are blessed and we have tears.”
Then Weitzman appeared to have a revelation of sorts. “Tears and tears,” he said softly, seemingly to himself. “Hmm. Tears and tears. ‘Tears and tears. At Hammurabi, Cicero, Darrow, Kardashian and Weitzman we get rid of them both.’ That could be our logo. I’m gonna run this by Hammurabi. Can you text up here?”
NANCY SILVERTON TAKES A SHOWER
/BY JIMMY DOLAN., Mozza Tribune Staff Writer
Last fall, when Mozza chef Nancy Silverton, her director of operations Kate Greenberg and a journalist went to the Four Seasons Cabo Del Sol resort in Baja, Mexico, they were awash in luxury. From their huge showers, to the small wading pool adjoining their rooms to the warm, awaiting Sea of Cortez, they lived the good life as clean as could be.
The trio’s next trip together was the polar opposite. In fact, you could call it the polar bear opposite. It was on March 8th to Alaska to be a curious part of the famous Iditarod sled dog race. Nancy had been lured to the Winterlake Lodge, a luxury resort with Kirsten Dixon and her daughter Mandy Dixon, a Thomas Keller trained chef, in a town where the closest post office and market was an hour away by helicopter. She was to take park in what was billed as an “Ice Cream Social”, a gathering featuring her renowned Nancy’s Fancy gelati served in the main lodge.
The Winterlake is at the Finger Lake stop on the Iditarod, a nearly 1,000 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome that always brings to my mind the wonderful 1903 Jack London novel “The Call of the Wild” about a dog named Buck from Santa Clara Valley, California who is dognapped, shipped to Alaska and forced to compete in a (fictionally) extremely brutal sled dog race.
Normally the Lodge would host this upscale event and have the dog sled drivers, their crews and those rich enough to stay at Winterlake. But, because of Covid, the lodge would only allow Nancy, Kate and Michael and the other six guests into the dining area.
The three of us stayed in rooms about 600 feet from the main lodge. And one of stunning features of the rooms is they had no running water. None. They turn off the water in the rooms this year because, I guess, they know they will burst. To shower, we would have to walk the 600 feet to a dining area, past the yoga room, past the main lobby, past the bar, past the music room and into a bathroom that had a shower.
In the five days they were there, Nancy, Kate and Michael took a grand total of two showers. That’s not two showers each, that’s two showers total for the three people. Nancy Silverton took no showers at Winterlake. None.
Now, if you know Nancy like this Tribune reporter does, you know she is one of the most carefully-cleaned, well-groomed and brilliantly dressed people on Earth. So, for her to go five days without a shower is unheard of.
Still, she somehow managed to look as fresh as the icicles hanging from the eves of the lodge every morning. She would almost brag to her entourage, “I’m not gonna take a shower today.” The trek to the shower was a turn off more than the temptation of hot water.
But, when she got home, Nancy Silverton took a shower. Still, to this reporter, she didn’t look any more beautiful than she did at our experience in the Call of the Wild.
EDITOR’S NOTE This story is the sequel to Nancy Silverton Has A Cold http://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2015/10/17/nancy-silverton-has-a-cold
Which was a take on one of the classics of new journalsim, April 1966 Esquire article by Gay Talese called “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold”
OSTERIA ENTRANCE, PART 2; CAR CRASHES INTO MOZZA FRONT DOORS... AGAIN, DULL MOMENTS ARE RARE ON “THE CORNER”
/Less than a week after it reopened Osteria Mozza took another powerful punch to the gut, but got right back up. Well, everything but the doors.
Shortly after noon Monday, a car slammed into the front entrance of Osteria Mozza, ruining the front doors and bruising the big cabinet inside but injuring no humans.
“We’ve taken many blows before and we always get back up and start swinging and we will do the same with this,” said chef/owner Nancy Silverton “We will be open as scheduled on Wednesday.”
Kate “KGB” Greenberg, Mozza Director of Operations, was on the phone with the insurance company about damages from the May, 2020 riot on The Corner when she heard the what sounded like an explosion. “I had just hung up on a call about the riot here and then I hear this giant crash sound,” Kate said. “Dull moments are rare on The Corner.”
Nancy said she was working on a coconut cupcake when Kate walked up to her. “In cool and calm Kate Greenberg fashion she said ‘Someone just crashed into the Osteria front doors.”.
Like most sequels, this one was not as good as the original.
On April 18, 2015 a Toyota Tundra erupted into the Osteria during staff lunch, lovingly known as “Chicken Time”. Legendary pasta man Alex Vasquez was injured by a falling pillar, something he gets to brag about. I mean how many of us can say we were injured by a falling pillar?.
The damage then was se extensive Osteria closed for nine days.
The crash was likely caused by a left turn from northbound Highland to westbound Melrose, something that President Biden has vowed to outlaw.
On another Mozza front, that coconut cupcake Nancy was working on will be the best of its kind ever. But you probably figured that out already.
