I'm one of those crotchety old editors who often tell my writers that it's not my job to hand out gold stars - that they must be earned. I get this attitude from the restaurant industry, where only true excellence is rewarded. Until now. In her blog this week Gina Mallet looks at the global Michelin guides and their inclination to scatter stars hither and yon, watering down the whole system and making those stars worth a lot less to the truly deserving. Says Mallet:
There are chefs who committed suicide because they lost a star, [Michel De Grandi] notes, ”and now, they give stars here to everyone?” Poor Serge Loiseau of the three-star Le Cote D'Or. He committed suicide in 2003 when he feared the loss of one of his three stars. If only he'd waited.....
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, k-chan of I Can't Believe I'm Back in Toronto, gives her impressions of the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo, and Rabbit Reporting visits Universal Grill.
There's a party taking place at Cream Puffs in Venice as Ivonne celebrates the first year of the Daring Bakers meme/challenge, and there's always baking going on at Do You Know the Muffin Man? where Eric whips up some apple kamut cake. And at Blog From Our Kitchen, Elizabeth is making some semolina fennel seed bread with currants and pine nuts.
And finally, because it's cold outside and we all want some warming hearty fare, Brilynn has some down east clam chowder on the stove at Jumbo Empanadas, and I've got some groovy maple-roasted root vegetables at The Fork in the Road.
