Amuse Movie

[Christain Cobb]

Ifyou have a question, bug report, or feature request, please make a new issue on the main AMUSE github page and we will try to answer as soon as possible. You can also reach us by email: in...@amusecode.org.

The term is French and literally means "mouth amuser". The plural form may be amuse-bouche or amuse-bouches.[3]In France, amuse-gueule is traditionally used in conversation and literary writing, while amuse-bouche is not even listed in most dictionaries,[4] being a euphemistic hypercorrection that appeared in the 1980s[5] on restaurant menus and used almost only there. (In French, bouche refers to the human mouth, while gueule means the wider mouth of an animal, e.g. dog, though commonly used for mouth and derogatory only in certain expressions, e.g. "ferme ta gueule".)[6][7]

The amuse-bouche emerged as an identifiable course during the nouvelle cuisine movement, which emphasized smaller, more intensely flavoured courses.[8] It differs from other hors d'œuvres in that it is small, usually just one or two bites, and preselected by the chef and offered free of charge to all present at the table.

The function of the amuse-bouche could be played by rather simple offerings, such as a plate of olives or a crock of tapenade. It often becomes a showcase, however, of the artistry and showmanship of the chef, intensified by the competition among restaurants. According to Jean-Georges Vongerichten, a popular New York celebrity chef with restaurants around the world, "The amuse-bouche is the best way for a great chef to express his or her big ideas in small bites".[9]

At some point, the amuse-bouche transformed from an unexpected bonus to a de rigueur offering at Michelin Guide-starred restaurants and those aspiring to that category (as recently as 1999, The New York Times provided a parenthetical explanation of the course).[10] This in turn created a set of logistical challenges for restaurants: amuse-bouche must be prepared in sufficient quantities to serve all guests, usually just after the order is taken or between main courses. This often requires a separate cooking station devoted solely to producing the course quickly as well as a large and varied collection of specialized china for serving the amuse. Interesting plates, demitasse cups, and large Asian-style soup spoons are popular choices. In addition, the kitchen must try to accommodate guests who have an aversion or allergy to ingredients in the amuse.[11]

Tapas originated in Spain. Orignally the tapa was a piece of bread, served to travelers in Spanish inns, to cover a glass of expensive sherry ... for the purpose of keeping the flies away!! Later, the custom came to include a piece of salty meat, such as a sausage or jerky. Innkeeps knew that the meat was cheap, and thus encourage the traveler to drink more! Good businessmen! ;^)

Bocas, on the other hand, are more like snacks to have while drinking. Boca means "mouth" in Spanish. The equivalent in an American bar might be a bowl of popcorn or nuts. During "happy hour", one might find a taco bar set up, or a relish tray of raw vegetables, olives, pickles and giardiniera set out.

Amuse-bouche are served in a restaurant setting. They are not selected by the customer, but are prepared complimentary of the chef. They might be served before ordering, or between courses.

Amuse-bouche mean "mouth amuser" in French. They are served in bite-sized portions and represent the culinary tastes of the chef. They might be a small portion of the evening's special entree, a taste of a dessert, or a palate cleanser. They can even be off-menu items that showcase the whimsical side of the kitchen staff. Have fun with them and feel free to ask questions of the waitstaff. I once got a visit and good conversation with the chef because I asked about a particular amuse-bouche.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)LINDA HOLMES, HOST: It's summer. So today, we're talking all about road trips. Should you blast music that's familiar or unfamiliar? What makes for a good road trip audiobook? What are some road trip games we hate?I'm Linda Holmes. NPR's POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR talked all about how to entertain and amuse ourselves in the car way back in 2012 with me, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon and Trey Graham. And today, we're bringing you that encore episode.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)HOLMES: So here's the thing. It's summer. Several of us are road trip people. I don't know how many of you are road trip people. But I, for one, once went west with my parents when I was 10. My sister was 13. We drove from Philadelphia out to California, and then up the coast of California, and then - and camped the whole way.TREY GRAHAM: I will be road tripping as you hear this.HOLMES: We had one of those little...STEPHEN THOMPSON: Actually, so will...HOLMES: You know, pop-out - (laughter) we had one of those little pop-out trailers. And we camped the entire way...(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: ...Six weeks.THOMPSON: Well, now, that's - what? - about...HOLMES: Six weeks.THOMPSON: That's, like - what? - 2,500 miles with kids.HOLMES: Are you - 2,500 to go all the way up to California...THOMPSON: Each way.HOLMES: ...And back.THOMPSON: Each way.HOLMES: Yeah. I mean...GRAHAM: Yeah.HOLMES: We put 10,000 miles on the car almost 'cause we drove all around and went to all the parks and stuff like that.GRAHAM: Let the record show that the grunts of horror or groans of psychic pain are coming from Glen Weldon.GLEN WELDON: Yeah. I bet you guys smelled great.(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: We were fine. Don't be mean. So as you can see, I am a very experienced road trip person. Stephen is also a guy who likes a road trip now and then.THOMPSON: No offense to my beloved children, but I do tend to favor road trips by myself.HOLMES: The solo road trip.GRAHAM: You like the solo road trip - yeah.HOLMES: OK. So when you are on a solo road trip - and that is not - for the purposes of the rest of the segment, we're just going to say not any sort of euphemism or anything...(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: ...Like that. When you are on a solo road trip, how do you amuse yourself?THOMPSON: How do I amuse...(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: See, now it sounds dirty to y'all.GRAHAM: By solo road-tripping.HOLMES: Now it sounds dirty to you.THOMPSON: Well, one way that I was actually thinking about this segment, you know, when we were initially talking about it was, what do you do? - particularly for the road trip when you are with someone...HOLMES: Oh, yeah.THOMPSON: ...And how different that is from a road trip. 'Cause when you're by yourself, it's basically the equivalent of any - you know, if you are prone to exercise, which I am not, you sort of set up something that kind of goes well with your interior monologue...GRAHAM: Right.THOMPSON: ...As opposed to something...HOLMES: Say, for you, it would be crying.THOMPSON: For me, it would mostly be crying and eating sunflower seeds.(LAUGHTER)GRAHAM: Nice.THOMPSON: But...GRAHAM: See, here's the thing. Here's - a byway we need to take is road trip food, right? Because...HOLMES: Oh, we'll get there. Yeah.GRAHAM: I eat worse on a road trip than I would dream of eating on our daily life.HOLMES: Well, so tell me, Stephen, when you are with another person on a road trip, what would a road trip with Stephen Thompson...THOMPSON: (Laughter).HOLMES: ...Offer to our audience if they were (laughter)...GRAHAM: Oh, God.THOMPSON: Well, we talked about crying.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: No, I mean, I was actually reminded of a road trip that I took many, many years ago. It was right after college. I had to attend a conference in sunny Flint, Mich., which entailed a road trip from Madison, Wis., to sunny Flint. And I was with a friend of mine named Sarah Strack (ph). We took her pickup truck. And tucked in the dashboard of her pickup truck was a cassette copy of an album by a heavy metal band called Biohazard.GRAHAM: (Laughter).THOMPSON: Now, this was a wonderful road trip. And I remember we were absolutely tearing through the Loop in Chicago at about 1 o'clock in the morning, blaring Biohazard's, I believe, "State Of The World Address," which, if I may emulate Biohazard, was basically (imitating heavy metal music). And I just want to put out there that when you are road-tripping with someone, heavy metal is kind of (laughter)...GRAHAM: Now, see, the difference between Stephen Thompson and me, Trey Graham...THOMPSON: (Laughter).HOLMES: Everyone else here is like, well (ph)...GRAHAM: ...Is that...WELDON: You numerate them alphabetically or by order of importance.(LAUGHTER)GRAHAM: ...A friend and I once drove to the beach, yowling along at the top of our lungs to the original cast recording of "Sunday In The Park With George."WELDON: Yeah.THOMPSON: This is exactly what it was like.(LAUGHTER)GRAHAM: I was hoarse the entire weekend, of course, because Mandy Patinkin's vocal lines tend to lie a little high. And the other guy now works in the White House, if you want to know what kind of people are running the country.THOMPSON: His name is Barack Obama.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: I posit that this is not actually that different. I - what I'm saying about heavy metal is not, you should always road trip with heavy metal. I'm saying, if you have a sort of gigantically, theatrically, massive...GRAHAM: Yes.THOMPSON: ...Piece of music that...GRAHAM: Loud.THOMPSON: ...You can enjoy together and sort of - you know, the equivalent of, like, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"...GRAHAM: Yep. Yeah.THOMPSON: ...Or whatever - like, loud, familiar, silly. I would - I - this is where I throw out two recommendations. One is Andrew W.K's "I Get Wet," which I talk about at every opportunity. It's one of my favorite albums. That is the album which has 11 songs, three of which contain the word party...GRAHAM: (Laughter).THOMPSON: ..."Party Til You Puke," "Party Hard, " and "It's Time To Party." And...WELDON: So a trilogy, then.THOMPSON: A trilogy.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: His party trilogy, I call it. And it's just an absolutely, fantastically wonderful - like, overdriven. If you're driving someplace fast, if you need a jolt of energy...GRAHAM: Right.THOMPSON: ...If you want some sort of sense that you're on an incredibly exciting...HOLMES: If you're falling asleep...THOMPSON: ...And fun journey.GRAHAM: Right.THOMPSON: If you are falling asleep...HOLMES: ...At the wheel.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: ...I recommend the album "I Get Wet" by Andrew W.K. I also recommend a wonderfully titled album called "Celebration Rock" by a band called Japandroids.GRAHAM: Awesome.THOMPSON: It's kind of a silly name for a band.GRAHAM: Yeah.THOMPSON: The album is - it's eight songs in 35 minutes, and it is just - it's two guys making so much noise for two guys.GRAHAM: (Laughter).THOMPSON: And there's a line in one of the songs that's like, we'll yell like hell to the heavens.GRAHAM: OK (laughter).THOMPSON: It's just - it's - that's just a perfect embodiment of how great it is.GRAHAM: It's funny that we should be talking about size and noise and spectacle and theatrical, because, if you're on a serious, long road trip, then, like, large-scale works are fantastic.THOMPSON: Sure.GRAHAM: You know, I'm the opera nerd here. So I'm going to say, I will listen to an entire opera on a road trip.THOMPSON: Sure.GRAHAM: The Mahler second symphony - which is this massive thing that has little quiet parts but also just thunderous - it's a hundred people making a lot of noise - not two people, you know?THOMPSON: Well - and anything like that that is - and, you know, this is also true, obviously, of audiobooks, which are another, obviously, great way to...GRAHAM: Which is a thing that we've often talked about as, you know, a thing that makes time pass really quickly.THOMPSON: And - yeah, and if you're trying to make time pass quickly, that's a whole different story. But what you're talking about with operas is absolutely true of audiobooks. Anything that is sort of taking you on a journey through phases, and you can sort of almost mark time and mark off your trip...GRAHAM: Right.THOMPSON: ...Based on the point in the story you are, that's a great example.GRAHAM: Yeah.WELDON: Have you noticed that if the book is too good, it doesn't make for a good audiobook? If the book is too much about its language, it doesn't make for a necessarily good audiobook because I zone out. You zone out. When you're pulling up to a gas station, when you're pulling into a Hardee's - whatever the hell you do...HOLMES: Hardee's?THOMPSON: (Laughter).WELDON: I just pulled...GRAHAM: Wow, Hardee's.WELDON: Your attention goes in and out.THOMPSON: I'm more of a Culver's man myself.WELDON: We listened to "A Visit From The Goon Squad," a great book - didn't work - did not work...HOLMES: I was going to say...WELDON: ...As an audiobook.HOLMES: ...Not that one - I would expect would not work...WELDON: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.HOLMES: ...As, like - as an audiobook.THOMPSON: Well, not to get too inside baseball with life at NPR, but the first time I ever recorded a monologue for NPR, I had written this incredibly dense and flowery...GRAHAM: Oh, yeah.THOMPSON: ...Clause-ridden...WELDON: Yep.THOMPSON: ...You know, an essay like I would write for the website. And I was doing it for Morning Edition and went in and recorded it. And I was so happy. I was like, oh, this is so good and read it out loud. Like, I realized as I was reading it that it was completely and utterly stultifying.WELDON: Yeah.THOMPSON: And I talked to Neda Ulaby on the NPR arts desk and was sort of like, what's wrong with this piece? And I show it to her, and she says, well, first thing you have to do is slay your dreaded enemy, the clause.WELDON: Yeah.GRAHAM: Yep.THOMPSON: And that is the thing when you're talking about writing that is all about the intricate construction...GRAHAM: The structure, yeah.THOMPSON: ...Of language. An intricately constructed sentence is not going to...WELDON: No.THOMPSON: ...Track like something that your mind is going to be able to follow. It's just going to become this drone of words, sort of like what I'm doing right now.(LAUGHTER)GRAHAM: Yeah, yeah.WELDON: What you need is a narrative that has mileposts along the way. If you can go with a mystery, if you can go with a thriller, even if the prose is crap, which - you know, one of the things we like doing is picking up some mystery thriller. There's a medical examiner, and she's jetting off to Nantucket, and she's got her own...THOMPSON: And a cat is going to help her solve a mystery.HOLMES: (Laughter).WELDON: It is - it's like - and so the clunkiness becomes a thing that you can enjoy together.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: And it's just about who's going to kill or who'd be killed. It's...THOMPSON: I love it. You and Faust, united by mockery.WELDON: Yeah.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: Well, we made a deal long ago that the guy...HOLMES: With Faust - you made a Faust - you...(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: He made a Faustian bargain.GRAHAM: He made a Faustian bargain.WELDON: We made a deal that the guy who drives...HOLMES: I was going to say, I bet that they've heard that before.WELDON: ...Gets to control the tunes.HOLMES: Oh, I see.WELDON: And I am not a strong driver...(LAUGHTER)WELDON: ...So I don't drive all that much. I'm a pedestrian and proud of it. But we like to listen to John Hodgman's books on tape because it's not just him reading. He brings in Jonathan Coulton...THOMPSON: Sure.WELDON: ...And he does a lot of that. The same thing with "The Daily Show" books and "The Colbert Report" books - a lot of fun because they're multimedia in a way. You know what's bad is punch buggy and padiddle. Those are backseat games.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: Padiddle.WELDON: Padiddle is...HOLMES: You don't want to distract the driver.WELDON: You don't punch the driver.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: We learned this the hard way.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: Punch buggy, by the way - you see a Volkswagen Bug. Padiddle is you see...THOMPSON: It's just one headlight.WELDON: One headlight, exactly. Sometimes I read short stories to him. I read "The Great Gatsby" to him...THOMPSON: Aw.WELDON: ...Which you'd think - which, again, to get to your point...LINDA HOLMES AND TREY GRAHAM: Aw.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: ...Had to read the last sentence of "The Great Gatsby," like, six times because it is...HOLMES: No.WELDON: ...So beautiful, and it doesn't make sense unless you kind of - OK, well, let's diagram this.HOLMES: The beating on...GRAHAM: Let's...HOLMES: ...Part. Yeah.GRAHAM: Right. Yeah, right.(LAUGHTER)GRAHAM: Theoretical question - road trip music. Should it be familiar or unfamiliar?WELDON: Oh, definitely, it has to be familiar.HOLMES: Well, it has to be familiar. And that's one of the reasons - a desire not to mess with the music and stuff like that is one of the reasons why I rarely listen to music on road trips. I am much more likely to listen to something spoken. And I say this as someone who just got back from a 10-hour road trip...GRAHAM: Ten-hour road trip - each way?HOLMES: ...Each way by myself, yeah.GRAHAM: Can I be completely reactionary and suggest one final activity that might be interesting to undertake as you take a road trip with someone you know? Conversation.THOMPSON: No.WELDON: Overrated.HOLMES: No. I would never do that.(LAUGHTER)THOMPSON: This is one reason I travel alone.GRAHAM: (Laughter).HOLMES: Well, I - yeah.GRAHAM: No, there's something about sitting next to each other but not looking at each other that can open up a conversation in interesting ways, at least to me.HOLMES: You know what? This is such a dude thing, and I'm going to say exactly what I'm talking about. One of my friends from college told me one time that both Nintendo and basketball hoops were invented so that men could talk about their feelings.(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: And basically, what you're saying is the same thing. Like, I don't want to be, like, talking to you...GRAHAM: Right. It can't be...HOLMES: ...Like, directly face to face like a person.GRAHAM: Exactly.HOLMES: But I still want to talk about, like - anyway (ph).GRAHAM: Yep.THOMPSON: I can talk to your disembodied voice in the same room.GRAHAM: That's right.HOLMES: Exactly.THOMPSON: I mean, two of the greatest conversations that I've ever had were with strangers on inadvertent road trips, where I got stuck in an airport and rented a car with someone.HOLMES: The greatest conversations you've ever had?THOMPSON: Far better than any I've had with present company.(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: I was going to say. (Inaud***) stop...THOMPSON: I didn't say the two only conversations I've ever enjoyed.(LAUGHTER)HOLMES: That's shocking.GRAHAM: No, but seriously, I've learned more about partners and parents on road trips...WELDON: Oh, it sounds awful.GRAHAM: ...Sitting there.(LAUGHTER)WELDON: Sounds terrible.HOLMES: Glen's like, I would turn everything up...(LAUGHTER)WELDON: I was just...HOLMES: ...That from happening.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)HOLMES: Well, that was so much fun. And I can tell you that, more than 10 years later, I still love the open road, and maybe you do, too. We want to know - what are your favorite things to listen to on a road trip? Find us at facebook.com/pchh.And that brings us to the end of our show. This episode was produced by Mike Katzif, and Hello Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all tomorrow.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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