Record breaking tuna and kartoffelsalat

Food Diary (January 05, 2012)

Breakfast: Rolled oats with raisins, coconut, sunflower seeds and flax seeds

Lunch: Chickpea tikka masala with rice

Dinner: Southern German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat) with garlic brussel sprouts

Baking/sweets:

This morning I checked the detailed weather forecast for the day. The detailed forecast tells you what will happen every hour. It forecasted or guessed snow at 1300, which means snow was expected sometime between 1300-1400. And guess what, the forecast was correct. Amazing, how often does this happen?  This really shocked me, in a good way. I have little faith in weather forecasts but I guess short term forecasts can be a bit more reliable. Then I thought of the worst weather news that I came across some years ago. The radio announcer was describing the weather as it was, it wasn’t a forecast, and his description was totally different from the actual weather. I was only about 5 minutes drive from the radio station so the weather was not different from where I was. I guess if he couldn’t describe the current weather accurately there is little chance of him becoming a weather forecaster. Or maybe his forecasting skills would be as good as any professional weather forecaster.

And then in the evening I made this Southern German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat). It was not inspired by the weather forecasting accuracy in any way, it has nothing to do with the weather. When I saw the recipe on with a glass couple of weeks ago I had to try it. Before seeing the recipe I never knew it existed, maybe I saw and ate it without realizing. Last week at the pub my friends schnitzel came with a side of Southern German potato salad. I knew immediately what it was. We suddenly start noticing things that we are familiar with.  I recently heard a speech where the speaker said once we buy a car we suddenly start noticing the same model of car which we previously didn’t notice.

It’s a strange post, I start talking about the weather, move on to kartoffelsalat and end up with cars. I will stop before I go any further. Back to the salad, the recipe is available here.  

Today's Favourite Photo

Source: Sparklette

Char-grilled Wagyu beef yusheng

Today’s Favourite Blog

Source: Huffington Post

A bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, or about $736,000 in the first auction of the year on Thursday at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. The tuna weighed in at 269 kilograms (593 pounds).

The winning bidder is Kiyoshi Kimura, president of a sushi restaurant chain. Media reports quote him saying that he wants to "liven up Japan" and help it recover from last year's devastating tsunami and economic stagnation.

Trevor Corson, author of The Secret Life of Lobsters, The Story of Sushi and the only Sushi Concierge in the United States, explained that the only reason any bidder at the Tokyo auction ever pays that much for a fish is to deliberately spend way more than any sane person should. Blowing that much on a tuna is either a celebration of recent profits, or a bid for publicity to boost a restaurant or distributor's profile. In short, it's money spent on advertising, not on fish.

And advertising definitely worked. This record bid is now widely known and the winning bidders name publicized. I suppose getting similar exposure through advertising in newspapers and other media internationally would cost much more.

Recent Recipes

Southern German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat)

Polenta/Semolina Crackers

Mulled Wine Spiced Chocolate Cake