Vietnamese food has always been a little out of reach for me. Until recently, there were so few local places that served it that I had little experience with it. One of my longtime favorites had been Bamboo Garden in Ormond Beach, where my friend Vanessa and her family have served not only Chinese food, but also dishes from their native Vietnam and all around Southeast Asia.

Within the last year or two, several other noodle joints have popped up locally, and now, after a recent trip to Las Vegas, I feel renewed interest in Vietnamese food and in trying to make my own pho (pronounced "fuh," rhymes with "duh"), a noodle dish traditionally served for breakfast in its native land.

At a restaurant named Pho at the Treasure Island in Vegas, We had pho tai, which includes beef meatballs in the mix, and pho bo vien, which has strips of raw or seared beef that cook in the noodle soup's broth (that's me above with my noodle bowl). My husband, Nick, pronounced the stop, made after an evening of playing the slots, a highlight of the trip.

First, I seached for pho recipes online and found surprisingly little that was usable -- there was a shrimp pho I may try later, though.

The best version for an American home cook, I think, is in a book called "Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes" by Nancie McDermott (Chronicle Books, 2006, $19.95). Once I had finished, Nick was surprised at how close I had come to the inspiration dish. The rice noodles I used -- made by a Taste of Thai -- were even better than the restaurant's.

And, since Pho charged about $10 for each bowl, albeit enormous, I know I beat them on price.

McDermott's recipe follows (don't worry it's not as difficult as it looks or as the list of ingredients would suggest):

 
My at-home pho, because I can. 

Sure, I like sweets. A lot. Angell & Phelps is one of my favorite places. And I've felt that way as long as I can remember. But here's something I now love that took me a little while to understand:

 

Tonight at 9 p.m. on Fox-TV, we'll see if Danny Veltri, a contestant from Edgewater, can live up to the boast he made in last week's season opener:

"I will dwarf everyone and make them look like they are nothing compared to me, this god of cooking."

One things's for sure. He'll have to take more punishment from chief chef Gordon Ramsay:   

If I had to bet, I'd say Colleen, the blonde who seems to get most of the negative attention, will be leaving.

Here's something I didn't hear when I went to New Smyrna Beach tonight for the season premiere party around a local chef's competing in Fox-TV's "Hell's Kitchen." The crowd was roaring too loudly. When Danny said he had pulled the idea for his signature dish "outta my ass," Gordon Ramsay retorted, "Well, put it back there then." That would have really made it funny.

As it stood, I filed the this report for The News-Journal and for you, here, now:

Flip Flops Grill & Chill wasn't big enough. A tent being installed on Thursday also was too small -- and cold and drafty -- for a season premiere party where everyone watched Danny Veltri, 24, of Edgewater compete in this year's first episode of "Hell's Kitchen."
 
Just hours before the show began, local publicist Bill Denmark said Flip Flops owner Scott Lewitt decided to rent a nearby city building to accommodate the "shindig" in honor of executive chef Veltri, plus more than 100 guests.
 
It was as dank and cool outside as "Hell's Kitchen" master chef Gordon Ramsay's heart, but the screening was hotter than H-E-double-hockey-sticks. The crowd erupted when Veltri appeared in the taped show the first few times. He was also on hand, live.
 
As Ramsay tasted the 16 contestants' signature dishes, Veltri was grilling, but not chilling, on three big screens. At first, his competitors' dishes were met with comments like "delicious, spot on" and "cooked perfectly." One good-tasting dish didn't look that great: "Presentation: zero," Ramsay declared.
 
Of another plate from a member of the men's team, he said "The sauce is disgusting."
 
Finally, he tasted Veltri's "mahi, grilled banana.'" "It's hideous," Ramsay said." The idea came from where?""
 
"I just pulled it out of my a**, sir," Veltri said on screen. The crowd in the hall cheered. The live Veltri looked not the least bit chagrined.
 
At least Ramsay didn't spit the bite into the trash.
 
Such was the "best signature dish tasting in the history of 'Hell's Kitchen,' " as the announcer put it.

Dentist Al La Fleur, a partner in Flip Flops, traveled all the way from Coopersville, Mich., "just to be here for the premiere." In the spirit of the evening, he wore a visor with spiky fake hair sprouting from the top.
 
The aroma of appetizers cooked by Veltri and his co-executive chef, Erik Amalfitano, 27, filled the air, as did the scent of local pride. "These are great kids, wonderful chefs,"" said Charles Ellicott, director of the Marine Discovery Center, as the festivities were gearing up. "We're doing an event with them in April.""

Both Veltri and Amalfitano had auditioned for this season, and Amalfitano reportedly had come very close. "We knew they had a really good chance," owner Lewitt said.
 
A confident Veltri said on screen ,"Give me the lane; let me drive this dish.""
 
His competitors had other opinions: "Danny, he just needs to learn to shut up," "Robert" said. (Veltri did get Ramsay's first "Shut the eff up" reprimand of the season.)
 
In the crowd, Aaron Deering, a school buddy who moved here from Sarasota with Veltri years ago, said they had come to New Smyrna Beach "just all on a whim. We just wanted to surf."
 
As it turned out, Veltri is surfing -- on to the next episode as one of 15 remaining chefs trying to win a position as head chef at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. Look for him at 9 p.m. Feb. 5 on Fox-TV.
 
"We'd like to thank you guys for coming out tonight," he said over the microphone at the program's end. "Great show tonight. I've been waiting a long time for this to happen."
     

 

 

Soup's On Local soup-focused fundraisers have come and gone, but the 19th annual Greater Southeast Volusia Chowder Contest benefiting Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches is coming right up: WHAT: More than 20 restaurants will participate, providing five gallons of chowder each. Kevin Hannah, manager of Gilly's Pub 44 in New Smyrna Beach says, "We're trying to make this the biggest ever." He says there are three categories: New England, Manhattan and specialty. WHEN: Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Hannah said contestants can enter almost up until the moment the event begins. WHERE: Gilly's, 1889 S.R. 44 WHO: Hannah says the Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge 1835, 2335 S. Ridgewood Ave., Edgewater, is "the driving force behind it all." COST: $9 ($6 in advance) DETAILS: Call Gilly's Pub 44, 386-428-6523, or the Moose Lodge, 386-428-2621 your box info

Cookbook authors, competitors and companies are busy this month -- National Soup Month -- showing that soup can be something worthy of a little begging.

Far from the suet pudding and Scotch broth Oliver Twist famously craved in an eponymous Dickens novel, soups present a world of rich flavors that can come with a relatively modest investment of money, time and calories.

Soup may be an ancient food, but its appreciation continues unabated. According to Mintel Menu Insights, a company that investigates restaurant trends, sales of soup in this country were destined to reach $5.4 billion in 2008, a 34 percent increase since 2002.

How many ways can it be made? Ask authors Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds, who wrote 2008's "300 Sensational Soups" (Robert Rose, $24.95), with chapters on stocks, chilled soups, vegetable soups, bean soups, cheese soups, meat soups, chicken and turkey soups, seafood soups, chowders and even dessert soups.

And "Sensational Soups" is just one of almost 70 soup-oriented cookbooks major publishers have put out in 2008 and 2009 as listed on Amazon.com

Or ask Kevin Hannah, manager of Gilly's Pub 44, site of the annual Greater Southeast Volusia Chowder Contest for 18 years now. "We have corn chowder, crab chowder, lobster chowder, and all colors, red, green, you name it," he said.

Though the restaurant trend is running to homemade-style soups and ultra-premium ingredients, canners of familiar pantry soups are stepping up their efforts, too.

Often criticized as too high in sodium, Campbell Soups are now being introduced that meet government criteria for healthy foods: lower in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and a good source of positive nutrients. "Campbell Soup Co. has reduced the sodium in all 12 Campbell's Kids soups (like chicken and stars, double noodle and chicken "NoodleO's"), to contain 480 milligrams of sodium per serving, a spokeswoman recently said.

Earlier in 2008, competing brand Progresso expanded its line of "light" soups; nine of its varieties currently qualify as "reduced sodium." Both companies are appealing to customers who want to lose or manage their weight. "Studies show that eating low-calorie soups may help individuals lower their caloric intake," the Progresso spokeswoman said. "As colder weather approaches, ready-to-serve soups are a comforting and smart addition to a strong weight-loss strategy."

No surprise; Campbell's spokeswoman agreed: "More than two decades of research link the consumption of soup to satiety, decreased hunger and reduced calorie intake -- all factors that can help with long-term weight-loss success.

'Hell's Kitchen' Season Premiere Party at Flip Flops The restaurant where "Hell's Kitchen" contender Danny Veltri's home kitchen is located, Flip Flops Grill & Chill, is hosting a season premiere party. WHAT: For one cover charge (to be announced), all-you-can-drink draft beer, a buffet, live music and a screening of the series' season opener WHEN: Doors open at 7 p.m. Jan. 29; show begins at 9 p.m. WHERE: 103 S. Pine St., New Smyrna Beach PHONE: 386-424-0161

  Tough-talking inferno-keeper Gordon Ramsay, star of Fox-TV's "Hell's Kitchen," may finally meet his match in rugged, outdoorsy Edgewater resident Danny Veltri, above. On Jan. 29, as the sixth season unfolds, the rest of us will begin to see how Veltri, 23, fares as one of the 16 contestants vying for the grand prize of a head chef position at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J. Meanwhile, Veltri answers a few questions by phone from the kitchen of Flip Flops Grill & Chill in New Smyrna Beach, where he is an executive chef:

Did you grow up in Sarasota or around here? 
 
I was born and raised in Sarasota. ... I went to Sarasota County Technical Institute; it's like a vocational school in Sarasota, and they do all kinds of trades, and I just took culinary school there. I was there in, like, 2000. I moved here five years ago.

How and where were you cast in the show; how did you find out about it? 
 
I just watched it a lot and always thought -- y'know, sitting at home on your couch -- oh, I could do that. It's easy. And so I went down to, I wanna say, Fort Myers or somewhere around the Miami area, and just went to an open call. I actually went a couple of years before they actually cast me. I talked to the casting producer/director lady and they liked me, and then I just went through all the different stages of the casting process, which is pretty long. 
 
What do you think made the difference this time as opposed to when you auditioned before?
   
I don't know; I think they just look for certain people, and you basically fit the script or you don't. I think that maybe they weren't looking for me that (first) season.

I just said the right thing. I was talking to the producer, and I was telling her that I was actually coming back down to that area to go 'gator hunting, and I told her, "I'll be back down here next week to get me a couple 'gators" and this 'n' that, and she's like, "What? Did you say 'to get me some 'gators'? Do you really talk like that?"

I was like, "Talk like what?" Like, I didn't even realize what I said.

And I was like, "Yeah, I guess so." So she was like, "Oh, my God; you're perfect."

They're really playing up that side of your personality. .¤.¤. Have you read the bio that's online? (We interrupt this Q-and-A to tell you what Veltri's official Fox bio says: "Danny calls himself a redneck that hunts, fishes, and doesn't care what people think of him. .¤.¤. (He) has already proven himself in the kitchen, winning the hearts and stomachs of his customers. This self-proclaimed ladies' man feels he'll run circles around anyone and is not afraid to go after Chef Ramsay.)

Yeah, yeah. They're definitely playing up the redneck hunting, fishing kind of deal, but it's just part of my life. It's honest.

 And you're OK with that, right?

Well, that's all me; that's me, so .¤.¤. 

OK, so is that something you've done all your life?

I've always fished and always liked to camp and stuff and always liked to be outside. I started hunting probably when I moved over here to this area. Sarasota's more city-ish, as opposed to over here, it's more laid-back, kind of country people.

Are you involved with someone now, and how do you think she'll feel about the bio that's posted? How's the (lady's man description) going over?

That's fine. She knew that when she signed up. That was back in the day. (She's) actually the first one I've stuck with for a few years.

Can you tell me her name? Is she a local person?

It's Devon Dempsey, and her parents own a couple of local businesses here in town. She grew up right here in New Smyrna.

Have you seen the shows yet, or do you have to wait to watch it with everybody else?

No, I haven't seen anything. I have to wait, just like everybody else.

It's never too late for a renaissance.

That's probably not what two grande dames of Italian cooking are trying to prove, but it's what they are showing me.

One, Aurelia Esposito, is making a comeback after an illness. The other, Vittoria Agostini, hasn't ever gone away. They are locally so well known they can go by first name only.

Aurelia's Restaurant: A Taste of Rome has recently reopened in a location familiar to Aurelia's longtime customers, 3218 S. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach Shores. It's the original Aurelia's, the place she had before Il Bacio in Daytona Beach, which closed a little more than a year ago.

And Vittoria, who began teaching Italian cooking at The Casements in Ormond Beach in 1986 and is known most recently for her work at La Bella Pasticceria in Palm Coast's European Village, launched a new enterprise just two days before Christmas, also in Daytona Beach Shores. It's called Vittoria's Italian Coffee and Pastry at 3106 S. Atlantic Ave.

Their current proximity is only one thing the women share. They come from the same region in Italy, a little southeast of Rome. Latina, Aurelia's hometown, is close to the Mediterranean coast, and Vittoria's birthplace, Sezze, is on a mountain that overlooks the coastal area, Vittoria explained last weekend.

Sezze, which has grown into a city since Vittoria last visited in the 1980s, is famous for its bread, and it's where Vittoria learned many of her considerable skills. Her menu of assorted pastries, cookies -- such as her famous amaretti -- breads, coffees and teas reflects her heritage and knowledge she's picked up along the way.

She plans to set up tables and chairs in her new shop before she begins advertising and inviting customers in earnest, but she or a helper already is there most days from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (call 386-788-6063 to be sure).

Vittoria and Aurelia both said current customers are recognizing their names on the signs and wandering in.

When asked if she ever considers retirement, Vittoria, 69, said, "Aurelia is five years older than I am, so I'm going to wait until five years after she retires." Aurelia is serving all of her beloved dishes again, including grouper Aurelia, eggplant Romana and veal Amalfi. (The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; manager Denise Duarte encourages reservations -- 386-788-4266.)

Aurelia's paintings again hang on the walls of her restaurant. As always, she will come and chat at the table. If you ask, she'll tell you how to make the peas so creamy and delicious. These days, joys always overwhelm headaches at the restaurant, but she recognizes the pressures.

"For someone I don't like very much, I will tell him, let's open a restaurant together," she jokes, her eyes twinkling behind large, Sophia Loren-style glasses. "You will love it!" Then she laughs and heads back toward the kitchen.

Kwanzaa, first celebrated by Californian Dr. Mulana Ron Karenga from Dec. 26, 1966, through New Year's Day, draws directly on African culinary, cultural and language traditions.

But every day, all around us, we taste subtler traces of Ghana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Namibia and Morocco.
 
It's peculiarly difficult to pin American foods to specific African origins -- countries or tribes -- but the influence stretches back to the earliest history of colonization here and around the world. A new book, "Hog and Hominy: Soul Food From Africa to America" by Frederick Douglass Opie, takes the history back as far as the 1490s, when global exploration set up the "creolization, or mixing, of cultures, as Europeans, Amerindians and Africans interacted for the first time in the New World."
 
"Hog and Hominy" isn't a cookbook, but a scholarly work. Cookbooks go into more detail about individual dishes, but are usually a little shy on the history.

Jean Anderson, in "A Love Affair With Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections" (William Morrow, 2007), writes that in 1619, 20 Africans (no mention of region of origin) arrived in what later became Virginia on a Dutch ship, "as indentured servants, not as slaves."
 
After that, she mentions rice's arrival in Charleston, S.C., from Madagascar -- off Africa's southeastern coast -- in 1684 and the first African slaves' arrival in Louisiana in 1708. Florida played a role when the English and French imported slaves into that state, and parts of three other Southeastern states, in 1717

By 1750, slaves in the colonies numbered 280,000, more than half working tobacco plantations on the Maryland-Virginia coast -- and cooking in the plantation kitchens.
 
The African ancestors of Caribbean islanders enter the story in the late 1740s, when the British gained control there. Less than 20 years later, the major imports from the British West Indies to the colonies were rum, sugar and slaves.
 
Locally today, we can taste the African influence on the Caribbean and on those who came through the island vortex by visiting a Jamaican restaurant, such as Atuchaspice, in Daytona Beach.
 
Standing behind the counter at the Ridgewood Avenue restaurant earlier this week, manager Fane Dacosta recalled customers had said ackee, as in ackee and saltfish, is well-known in Africa. Although he couldn't pinpoint the exact origin, the popular food is made from a soapberry tree native to West Africa.
 
"The islands are all descended from Africa," he said. He estimated the food is "90 percent from Africa."
 
"They use yam in Africa," he and fellow manager, Sheena Bryan, agreed, referring to the tuber that grows abundantly in the tropics, not the sweet potato that got that nickname in the Southeast U.S. (The remainder of his homeland's cuisine, he said, comes from longtime British domination. "Tea, high tea, is popular.")

"Soul food" from another part of the African diaspora might be even easier to find locally. Sherry's Kitchen and Buffet, famous for fried chicken, whole fried catfish on Fridays, greens, hushpuppies and cornbread, has two outlets: one on State Road A1A north of Daytona Beach Shores and one on New York Avenue in DeLand reopened earlier this year.
 
Another hot spot is Double D Soul Food Restaurant on Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard in Daytona Beach. The 24-year-old place currently appears shuttered and no one answers the phone, but word is the proprietors will return after the holidays.
 
It's not hard to spot the African influence at the local supermarket either. Could there be anything more common in American cooking than sesame seeds (benne), tapioca (cassava), eggplant or, especially in the South, okra?
 
Luckily for us taste adventurers, ever more is being done -- in books and through other media -- to discover the original flavors and every variation they have undergone.
 
Lately, Travel Channel show hosts seem crazed for African destinations (last year, it was South America). Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain, the globe-trotting chefs, recently visited Ghana. While they were looking for the strange and exotic, both commented on how familiar and comfortable some of the foodways seemed.
 
If they had read "Hog and Hominy," they might not have been surprised at all.

Thought I had posted this blog entry last Friday, but checked again over the weekend, and it had disappeared. I heard recently from cooking instructor Elaine Pitenis and, in connection with the Daytona Greek Festival in mid-November, we're going to record a video for news-journalonline.com about how to use filo/phyllo dough. She has scheduled some classes, though.

 "My Big, Fat, Greek Cooking Class!" is returning to The Casements in Ormond Beach with Elaine teaching about two popular aspects of the Mediterranean cuisine.

On Oct. 18, she will concentrate on "Fun with Filo," making feta cheese triangles, beef Wellingtons wrapped in filo, contemporary Greek salad and filo-based desserts: galaktoboureko and baklava.

On Nov. 22, Elaine will cover Greek appetizers: tzatziki, hummus, Greek caviar, kalamari (sticking with Greek spelling), crab meat wrapped in filo, stuffed grape leaves, loukaniko and saganaki.

Classes meet from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and the fee for each is $47.30, plus a $29 supply fee.

For details, call The Casements, 25 Riverside Drive, at 386-676-3216.

Here are some more tidbits, courtesy of our wire services:

I've been working on a story for Saturday's paper, for up in the front where the big boys' (and girls') stuff usually goes. Today, my friend and coworker Sue started to design the page. E-mails ensued:

Sue:  One observation: Don't apologize for incorporating more fresh veggies and fruits into your budget (esp. those not laden w/pesticides or genetically modified). Healthier eating habits will save you beaucoup bucks in medical/pharmaceutical bills in the long run! And frankly Americans need to eat less and cut out the processed junk being marketed as food. We'll all be better for it. End of rant.

Me: Did I come across as apologizing? I didn't mean to. Maybe I should look at that again. All I was saying is that frozen or canned, generally speaking, is cheaper than fresh, particularly if the item is out of season or has to be shipped from far away. I think that's what the corporate nutritionists had in mind when they formulated this plan.

I just happen to like the taste of fresh much better, although lots of industry spokespeople claim that canned or frozen (there's the "fresher than fresh" argument, particularly pertaining to fish rather than fruits and veggies) is equally nutritious.