spicy

Virtuoso string ensemble Red Chamber and world music artist Randy Raine-Reusch stretch the boundaries of traditional Asian music with a spicy fusion that spans centuries, world cultures and musical genres. Red Chambers repertoire is inspired by ancient Chinese court music and blended with Balkan, gypsy, jazz, American old-time and bluegrass traditions, along with adventurous free-form music. Raine-Reusch has been influenced by a variety of indigenous cultures and Taoism.  

 

If that sounds appealing, then visit Bangkok Corner, nestled into a strip mall a stone's throw from the 55 Freeway. This Thai café has five tables, but does a bustling lunch business, thanks in part to its 12 lunch specials for $6 each. How about Panang chicken curry, in a spicy Thai sauce with coconut milk?  

Chang's new cookbook is a must-have for food fanatics. With recipes for dishes like Hamachi Crudo, Momofuku Shortcakes and Ginger Scallion Noodles, it's a new way of mixed cuisine cooking that many of us like to scarf down at restaurants but aren't actually making at home. You really have to get those sauces right.  

After taking home a total of three awards at the MTV Europe Music Awards last night (Best Female, Song & Video), Beyonce put on one of her hottest shows to date. Dressed in a spicy, read lingerie get-up, she pranced around the stage showin' the audience full of top artists from around the globe how to put on a world class gig. Major props to everyone involved---from the kinky costume designers to the talented choreographers who dreamt-up the sexy performance.  

Some quick-hit reviews from the New York Cork Report Tasting Table over the last week or two. Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Pinot Noir ($20) : Toasty vanilla, cherry, plum and dried leaf earthiness a nice, aromatic nose. Medium body, black cherry and plum, oak, leather, vanilla and spice.  

As we noted last week in the New School Cocktail Glossary , the bar program over at Camino in Oakland, just like the food, is focused entirely on local, seasonal, sustainable, organic ingredients and spirits -- so that means if there's a point in time when there are no local limes available, all the drinks will be made without limes, and all the drinks are made with local liquors. Camino was opened last year by Chez Panisse alum Russell Moore, and the bar manager Alex Phillips sent us this recipe for a Mez  

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802 , a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season. We had a bounty crop of carrots this year. We sliced them and diced them every which way we knew how and still they kept coming.  

Heat lovers, wrap your lips around this if you dare. Though the name sounds like a Brian Boitano figure skating event, Monday's Spice & Ice Cocktail party at Cantina (580 Sutter at Mason) is really all about drinks that pack heat. Author Kara Newman will be on hand to pimp her latest book, Spice & Ice: 60 Tongue-Tickling Cocktails (Chronicle Books, $16.95). You'll have a chance to sample cocktails made with jalapeños, hot sauce, and related fiery stuff.