WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD CAVIAR WITH ALL THOSE GARNISHES, VODKA AND CHAMPAGNE?

I've long been expressing huge concern about at least four groups most responsible for spreading COVID-19:

• The unvaccinated.
• Asymptomatic people who innocently pass on this virus.  Said to spread 59% of all cases.
• Trump states.
• Because of schooling, children, who bring home this disease.

From the Sunday New York Times:

According to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 18.8 percent of children in the 5-to-11 age group are now fully vaccinated and only 28.1 percent have received one dose. The disparity among states is stark. In Vermont, 52 percent of young children are fully vaccinated; in Mississippi, it is 6 percent.

More and more, as I get older and older, I splurge on a meal, for I don't have all that much time left.  What are the ultimate eating pleasures?  CNN last year had a list of 50 world's best foods:

• #50  Buttered popcorn, U.S.
• #48  Potato chips, UK
• #47  Seafood Paella, Spain
• #45  Chicken rice, Singapore
• #43  Tacos, Mexico
• #39  Ketchup, U.S.
• #36  Hummus, Middle East
• #29  Wagyu beef, Japan
• #22  Poke, U.S.
• #21  Croissant, France
• #17  Lobster, global
• #13  Corn on the cob, global
• #9    Ice cream, global
• #6    Hamburger, Germany
• #5    Peking duck, China
• #4    Sushi, Japan
• #3    Chocolate, Mexico
• #2    Neopolitan pizza, Italy
• #1    Massaman curry, Thailand

Can't say I agree with the above.  I've been to Thailand 25 times and don't remember ever having Massaman curry.  I was a bit surprised to see chocolate ascribed to Mexico.  Turns out this delicacy can be traced back to the Mayans.

Lonely Planet had a top ten, placing som tum from street vendors in Bangkok as #5.  Again, never tried this dish.  But I avoid vendors in Thailand.  And I really don't like green papaya salad.  #1 was San Sebastian's pinxtos, another term for tapas.

Turns out much of these ratings had to do with not so expensive meals you can have at home.  Or as culturally important where you live.

Lux Life rates the most luxurious foods in the world.  #1 is saffron, #2 white Alba truffles and #3 oysters.  However, while oysters can be the base for a good meal, saffron and truffles are additives.  #4 was caviar.

There was a time when first class air travel meant caviar.  While this level of comfort seems to be disappearing, some still serve caviar.  When the Gulf War began two decades ago, I remember once being the only passenger traveling first class on United from Honolulu to Japan because of terrorism threats.  I blatantly asked for a little bit of all the red wines.  They opened a really large can of beluga caviar.  I ate a lot and almost died.  In 2010, in one of my most tumultuous flights, first class from Delhi to Munich on Lufthansa, I was smart enough to stick with the caviar that was served.

In 2013 I again was the only passenger in first class on Thai Air from Sydney to Bangkok.  They started with Dom Perignon and went on to caviar.  I was wise enough to also stop at one serving.

Seven years ago tomorrow, an organization I belonged to, Chaine des Rotisseurs, gathered at the Pacific Club in Honolulu for Champagne and Caviar.  There were six kinds of champagne, going up to $106/bottle for the Blanc de Blanc Cru of Billecart-Salmon.  The caviars were Sturia:  Classic, Grand Chef and Oscietra.

Three years ago, on my way to a special tasting of Chateau Lafitte Rothschild in France, I passed through the International terminal of Los Angeles Airport.  I had an absolutely fabulous lunch at Petrossian of French caviar, a French champagne and Grey Goose Vodka (which comes from France).

I found a review of the the very best meals possible from Food and Wine:  13 Over-the-Top Dining Experiences to Splurge on with Your Tax Returns.  Caviar dominates.

Here are some caviar highlights from Wikipedia:

• Traditionally, caviar is salt-cured roe from sturgeon of the Caspian and Black Sea.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization indicates that true caviar only comes from a sturgeon.
• 
  Supposedly, the Chinese invented the salt-curing of fish roe, caviar was loved by Greek philosopher Aristotle and Russian czars elevated it to luxury status.
• Kaluga Queen is said to have won most of the actual tasting contests.  That was the caviar I had on my Lufthansa flight mentioned above.  Guess where this caviar comes from?  China!  Can you believe that China today supplies 60% of all caviar.

• 
  Can you believe the USA is #3?
• In earlier America, sturgeon of the Delaware caviar sold for a nickel, as tavern keepers saw that the more their patrons ate caviar, the more they consumed alcohol.  So caviar was the salty peanuts of our past.
• The best Osetra Caviar in the U.S. is from Marshallberg Farm.  Note the golden color.
• Here are how the three primary sturgeon look:

• 
   In addition to these three, there are 25 more species of sturgeon.
• If you can find it, Polanco Caviar from Uruguay compares with the best from Russia and Iran. The fish came from Russia  and is Siberian Sturgeon, as was the French caviar I had above. 
• Humanitarian processes are more and more being utilized to safely extract the roe from sturgeons.  Massaged-out caviar is among the more expensive.

I have long looked upon caviar as being deleterious to my health because of the sodium content of the product.  However, here are 6 surprising benefits of this fish egg, from Healthline:

• One ounce (28 grams) provides 7 grams of protein, 236% of daily Vitamin B12, 34% of daily selenium (for immune response), 19% of daily iron....but 18% of daily sodium.
• Small amounts of calcium and vitamins A, D, and E.
• Great source of omega-3 fatty acids.  The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend you get per day
• 250 mg of EPA and DHA.
• One ounce of caviar delivers 800 mg of EPA and 1080 of DHA.
• Stimulate adipocytes to produce adiponectin, which improves skin's wound-healing and anti-inflammatory processes, while also promoting collagen synthesis.  In short, caviar reduces skin aging, while improving skins smoothness and reducing fine lines and crow's feet.
• May improve brain and mental health, while lowering depression.
• May promote heart health, while lowering blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels and preventing platelet aggregation.
• May improve male fertility.  Increased sperm counts in rats.
• May support your immune system by reducing inflammation while restoring barrier function of skin, intestines and lungs.

Just how expensive are caviars, and why don't you see some of the more popular types in your markets anymore?  

•  The Guinness World Record is Almas from a rare Iranian Albino Beluga.  $1000/ounce.
• A range of factors including government bans, difficulty with growing/handling and general scarcity raises the price of caviar.  A few comparisons:

• 

  In 2005 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put Caspian sturgeon on the Endangered Species list and banned the importation of the classical caviars.  Finding them means a lot more money, but this is allowed if the fishery farm in the U.S. started before 2005.
• Royal Beluga Caviar can still be bought for around $200/ounce.  
• This means $3200/pound.
• White truffles are traditionally a bit more than $1000/pound, but last year went up to $4500/pound because of weather and supply problems.

• 
  But there is American caviar from shovelnose sturgeon (right), paddlefish, lumpfish and bowfin.
• Sturgeons are the biological cousins of sharks and can grow up to 24 feet long and weigh as much as a large car.  One pregnant female can carry up to 100 (1600 ounces) pounds of caviar.  Compared to the other two, sturgeons provide the best caviar.
• Sturgeon AquaFarms is the only legal producer of Beluga caviar in America.  Typically, Marky's  Sturgeon Caviar sells for $420/ounce.    

• 
  I went to Amazon.com and saw this brand selling for $3995/35.2 oz, which is $113/ounce, or $1800/pound.
• The true caviar eggs range in color between dark brown and black.
• Marky's Paddlefish Caviar sells for $28/ounce.
• Amazon does not send to Hawaii.
• Other American Sturgeon Caviars regularly sell for $50 to $70/oz.
• Herring roe:  $17/oz.
• Bowfin roe:  $17/oz.
• Golden Whitefish rod:  $5/oz.
• Paddlefish roe:  $38/oz.
• Salmon roe:  $16/oz.
• Tobiko (flying fish egg):  $12/oz.
• Trout roe:  $10/oz.
• Whitefish roe:  $9/oz.
• 
  There is also lumpfish caviar.  
• Lumpfish is a marine bottom animal like a flounder, and can be found on both sides of the Atlantic:  Newfoundland/Labrador to New Jersey and Iceland/Greenland.
• A female lumpfish, which is larger than the male, can produce over a quarter-million eggs and grow to 2 feet long and weigh more than 22 pounds..

• 
  Amazon sells Agustson caviar for $40/3.3 ounce, or $12/oz or $194/pound.  Which of course is not sent to Hawaii.
• Other lumpfish roe can go as low as $1.75/oz.
• You should know that the lumpfish itself is made into dogfood.
• How terrible is lumpfish caviar?  If you are not familiar with caviar, you might not be able to tell the difference from Beluga.  The lumpfish roe is slightly crunchier and taste a bit more fishy.

Williams Sonoma suggests well-chilled vodka (which does not freeze in the freezer, but can get syrupy).  Some restaurants flavor with lemon.  Champagne, or any sparkling wine, is also recommended.  Some serve white wine if the caviar is part of a meal.  Also, consider sake and soju.

You can serve caviar any way you want, but the more snooty use a mother-of-pearl spoon to scoop the morsels.  Silver spoons do tarnish.  While most sources say keep the vodka and caviar as cold as possible, another school of thought suggests that you miss the nuances unless you raise the temperature a bit.  Of course, still cold, but not ice-like.

You can show-off by placing the caviar on the back of your hand (right).  They say that your body temperature brings the pile to the right temperature when you get the purest taste of delicacy.  Me?  I place some cream cheese (the more esoteric use creme fraiche, which is sour) on a bliny (a small Russian pancake made with leavened batter, using wheat or buckwheat flour).  I like to lightly fry the bliny in butter.  Add some chopped red onion and hard-boiled egg, then top with a safe amount of caviar so you don't spill the eggs.  Some use a thin slice of lemon peel on top, but I squeeze lemon or lime juice onto the above.  I hate rind.

With all that introduction, I had another memorable meal of caviar last night.

A good excuse for social distancing:

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MUGA Day #12: Bangkok to Tokyo on the Airbus 380

I got up at 3:30AM after a good five hour sleep.  The Luxury Collection Sheraton Grand Sukhamvit insisted that I leave by 4AM, as I needed to be at the airport three hours before my international flight at 7:35AM.  I left at 4:15 by catching a meter taxi.  The cost, with all toll charges, was 210 baht (around $7).  The airport limousine coming into town a few days ago cost me 2100 baht ($70).  Mind you, the sun is not close to rising, but when I jump out of the taxi, my glasses immediately fog up.  The high today in Bangkok will be 105 F.  I'm not unhappy to leave.  Incidentally, if you ever have this choice, bypass the secure service, even at midnight, and catch their meter taxi.  It is safe and ten times cheaper.

I might have mentioned that the traffic in Bangkok is again bad.  They have two metrorail systems (the Sky Train to the left, and the other one on the right) that don't talk to each other...with a lot of stops throughout the city...and the tuk-tuks have been replaced by a lot of cars and more motorbikes...meaning that the air pollution is not good, but not as bad as before...but the roads cannot today accommodate all the current traffic.  At 4:15AM, it was okay.  So I get dropped off at their international airport at 4:40AM and find that the Thai Air desk is closed until 5AM.  So much for checking in 3 hours early.

However, the first class check-in is incredible.  You don't stand in line but sit in a lounge.  A few minutes later an attendant walks you through express immigration and customs.  A fancy golf cart then whisks you to the First Class Lounge.  I'm there by 5:15AM.  The first question I'm asked is:  would you like to start with a massage?  I decline.  Why, I'm not sure.  Later I learn they have a full spa here.

The huge room sits at least a hundred, maybe two, with private areas, but I'm the only passenger with a dozen staff I can see.  This is not one of those airline lounges where you fix your own drink and pick from a buffet.  You interface through your contact, who comes with an iPad for you to order what you want from their kitchen.  I settle on a Thai fish soup with rice to which I ask for a dollop of Johnny Walker Black Label, plus a Bloody Mary.  In a few short weeks I'll be in DC, which is now 6:30PM.

So here I sit in uber ultimate luxury, pecking at my computer, awaiting my first experience on an Airbus 380.  It is 6AM and there are three people enjoying this decadence.

The Thai Airbus 380 sits 467, with 12 in first class.  Business class has fully reclinable seats for sleeping.  If you want more room to survive Economy, Singapore Air only sits 371, total.  United Airlines does not plan to use this plane.  Emirates already flies 31 (with 59 more in the pipeline) and Singapore Air has 19.  Here is my plane:

And my seat:

How was my flight?  Disappointing.  The problem was that I was expecting a Kings's Throne with a 60 inch 3D TV screen.  Great Expectations can ruin Reality.  The service and food were like United Airlines First Class, passable, but not fabulous and lacking in cultured solicitousness, which prevailed on the Thai Sydney to Bangkok leg.  A nice touch midway was duck soup with Thai noodles, topped with slices of grilled duck, which I enhanced with some Johnny Walker Blue Label.  The champagne was Dom Perignon, but there was no ceremony.  No caviar, but it was breakfast.   Also, I realized later that I really don't like Thai food because of the fermented fish intestine sauce added to everything.  There was an external camera, which gave you an added view of the outside.

Tomorrow?  Lunch with President of Tokyo University of A&T, Tadashi Matsunaga, at Les Creations de Narisawa, the BEST restaurant in all of Asia.

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MUGA #8: Sydney to Bangkok

I love departing at 11AM because you can wake up without stress.  Why I fly west is that this 9 hour flight will arrive in Bangkok at 4PM, and I fear finding my way to my hotel late at night in a foreign town.

No, that's not a Dubai building.  The first noteworthy experience today was almost running into that $168,000 Penfolds 2004 Block 42 being exhibited at the Sydney Airport.  Only twelve were bottled, although the appropriate term for this elixir is ampoule.  This is a Cabernet Sauvignon, and only 12 were ampouled.

The Air New Zealand Lounge was average.  Interesting, though, that the breakfast buffet was exactly the same as at the Sydney Westin.  They're in a rut here.

I was led to my seat, and was informed that I was to be the only passenger in first class:

While still on the ground, this fabulous service began with Dom Perignon:

In the air, the meal began with appetizers and a sherry:

The next course was caviar with all the trimmings, plus frozen Stoli:

Two salads followed, which I had with a California Chardonnay and French Chablis, which comes from the same Chardonnay grape:

Next came two beef filets with French Burgundy (a Pinot Noir) and Bourdeaux:

I had a portion of a wide assortment of desserts, with Kahlua expresso:

The cheese tray was all for me:

I hope they have an effective recycle system.  I had those cheese with an apricot and a date, plus a port and remainder of reds.  Try this:  with port, any red wine tastes something similar to water:

I later had a chicken satay, followed by a tortellini enhanced with chorizos:

That rose is a wine-dyed towel created by the stewardess, who indicated that agricultural restrictions prevent them from using orchids.  There was, of course, the obligatory Johnny Walker Blue Label on rocks:

I watched a Thai comedy.  Something to do with aliens in the form of a one-eyed green slug.  There was much over-acting and silliness.  I then attempted to survive another comedy made in the Middle East.  Same thing, so bad in fact that I gave up after half an hour.  Both these movie-producing regions are in the early stages of development and will eventually become more professional.  My audio-video system allowed me to program 72 songs on my playlist, which I listened to while reclining:

How could I sleep and waste this indulgence?  The service was impeccable, cuisine outstanding and drinks over the top.  The ULTIMATE in MUGA (my ultimate global adventure) certainly was demonstrated here.  If I gave this flight a 9 rating, United's from SFO to Sydney would be a 3.  My flight to Tokyo will be Thai Air on that huge Airbus 380 (left), which will be a first for me.   

I was picked up at the Boeing 747-400 door by a Thai Air greeter, carted the mile distance to immigration/customs and whisked through an express system, all within 15 minutes.  Unfortunately, it took another 15 minutes for the suitcase to arrive, but I made it to the Sheraton Sukhamvit in about an hour and a half from landing, only because the traffic to the hotel was horrendous.

I always seem to get this view of Benjakitti Park, with the Queenn Sirikit National Convention Center in the background.  Well, the timing is perfect for my free evening cocktails in the Library.

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