DC Food Blog

And so it begins . . .Send Your Friends

2008-07-09T03:04:00.001-04:00

The links aren't ready and we're busy pulling entries together, but soon, you'll be seeing more of us at Bay Area Food Blog.

We miss you all!

xxoo

Come on over!

2008-07-02T12:07:00.004-04:00

So we're still working on the website for the food blog because hey it's the Bay Area and there are a zillion food blogs. But I am now indulging my obsession with weddings and started a wedding blog. This is a place to talk about funny wedding stories, give tips on how to put together a wedding, and share pretty pictures of pretty people. Come on over to The Blessed Freaking Day. Sorry for the radio silence, but you know, we did move across the country.

The Last Meal

2008-05-13T12:40:00.003-04:00

So Saturday we had our final meal around our dining room table (which sadly will NOT fit in our new apartment). The gathering consisted of our gang and J's mother who came to help us pack and clean (and she's the reason why we can move cross country without killing each other). It was a fitting end and closed the circle for the time we spent at the Cheverly house.

Our first night in the Cheverly house was two years ago when J's mom came to help us move in. We invited our gang to come over the night before the movers arrived to experience the joy of assembling IKEA furniture. My wonderful mother-in-law singlehandedly put together our dining room table and created a no-cook meal that consisted of hummus and pita bread, chips and salsa, sandwich fixin's, strawberries and cookies. Over a meal of paper plates and plastic cups we created a home. Our beautiful buffet was assembled and we hung our pictures and laid out the knick-knacks.

Over the same set of paper plates and plastic cups, our friends came to share one last night around the table. It was a table where we hosted a Thanksgiving. A table that held the love and fun from many parties, bridal showers, and open houses.

It's been such a gift to gather the people I love the most around a table and break bread with them. J made vanilla marshmallows. I made vegetarian and shrimp won tons and a pitcher of mojitos. J's Mom made cookies and Chili Cream - a divine concoction of chili, cheddar cheese, creme cheese and, surprisingly enough, unsweetened whipped cream.

Thank Heaven and her boyfriend brought Indian cauliflower that just tasted brilliant. I've always had trouble making Indian food. It's never tasted as good as what you get in a restaurant.

Pauline brought her famous Nepalese potato salad. The best potato salad in the world. It was spicy with fenugreek and asefateda and fresh with cilantro and mint.

Slim and Connecticut Bob brought Bob's famous rolls with BBQ from Red Hot and Blue to go inside.

The Marrieds brought sorbet and frozen custard from the Dairy Godmother in Del Ray. Dairy Godmother has been a key piece of our collective hanging out - talking about politics, pop culture, and youtube videos.

Stinkle was kind enough to bring herself, after coming in from a work trip that afternoon. Even better she was kind enough to host our last last hurrah. A night of beer and pizza the night before the movers came.

My Other Wife brought a wonderful strawberry cake. As a fellow Asian, she knew we Asian love fruit in our desserts and hate sugary frosting.

There were others who couldn't make it. Ron and Shyin and their baby Stonewall. Graphic Designer. Stinkle's boyfriend who we've come to adore.

It's a great way to spend your last days in a city. I'm grateful for our time together.

To you, our online family. Keep your eyes posted. We'll be starting a west coast blog.

Maureen at Barnacle Bill's

2008-05-13T02:03:00.002-04:00

Every once in a while, I come across stories I've written in other journals. This was a favorite from an early lunch at Barnacle Bill's in Sarasota, Florida, a place I love to eat. This is not so much about food as it is about freedom.

Janet is the name of the waitress. She has stopped by regularly, filled my raspberry tea, brought me some extra bread, and in general been top-notch.

I came to Barnacle Bill's to enjoy a meal and to remember the time my partner and I had come there for our anniversary dinner after hours of soaking in the sun and sand. It was to be a quiet lunch.

That was until I met Maureen.

I wanted to grab Maureen. Rush out the door quick like an action hero, like freaking Tank Girl, like anyone who could really move up and out in one swift motion.

I wanted to grab Maureen and run down Sarasota's Main Street - home of incense-soaked hippy women, boatless people who dress for boating, and magical skaterboys who will dance in the street off one cup of coffee.

I wanted to grab Maureen and get her the hell away from her parents. To rescue her from a life of being pecked at and being shot down Whack-A-Mole-style by these scattered and smothering people.

They babied an adult child, pushed hard enough to where she could not even fit a sentence in edgewise because her breath was sucked down, forced there by the aggressive word bubbles they kept blowing up and bursting on her. She was against a window.

Maureen sits pliant with her naked salmon.

"Is it good, Maureen?" asks mom.

"It's fine. Just fine," says Maureen from the table on the other side of my booth. There's an odd lilt in her voice. It starts higher and ends low, like she is trying to reassure herself that her entire being in fact is "fine" like her salmon.

"We can get a sauce for it, Maureen. Where's the waitress? This salmon needs a sauce."

I can't see Maureen and her mother, but this was the fourth or fifth exchange like this. Mom knows best. Maureen has a throat full of socks.

I'm alone, reading materials for a board meeting. Before I noticed them I was engrossed in my conch soup and French bread that is so close to perfection it is almost Cuban. But the distractions were ongoing and mom and dad were not going to give Maureen or myself any peace.

A drill in the next room is putting the finishing touches on the bar where I suspect Maureen may want to spend a few hours, months, or years.

Mom yells across the restaurant towards the hostess stand. "I hope they're not planning to work all the way through lunch." She's uptight, old, cranky, and not interested in niceties.

I look at the clock on my cell phone. 11:00. Not even noon yet.

The hostess says, "It's worse in the early morning." She knows it was sassy. She glances my direction and we share a very quick wide-eyed moment of empathy for one another. And for Maureen.

I wanted to grab Maureen and take her out and celebrate disagreement, to hear her resistance or whatever subjective voice she had, if it was still possible. If they would just go to the bathroom or run out for a Virginia Slim. If Maureen could just be alone for a second maybe we could flee?

Would she go with me? Or even alone?

Janet stopped by with some more bread. Maureen's mother got up, preceded by "Do you have a lady's room? Is it all the way in the back? All the way back there?"

She looked pissed. At what, I am just not sure. She passed me in a slight breeze of baby powder and Estee Lauder makeup.

Maureen and I were alone. I edged myself over to the very lip of my booth. Pushed one ass cheek off the left side and leaned over just a bit so I could get a better look.

Brown hair, probably just a bit older than my thirty-two years. A Marcia Gay Harden from a beach town sort. My glimpse could not last long. I have an easily-read face and I am sure Maureen would be able to tell what I was thinking. She'd know I wanted to grab her. This might be disturbing.

I wrote a simple note on my sprial pad. "They'll be back from the bathroom soon. Are you okay?" I signed it, "The Guy in the Next Booth." It was like I was writing Dear Abby. I folded the note and was ready to toss it to her when it felt like someone was coming up behind me. I got back in my seat and turned around.

Just Janet.

But as soon as I recognized it was Janet, from the next table came an uproarious slurp. The end of a vanilla shake met with an eager Maureen wanting desperately to taste every last drop. It was as loud as the drill, a yawp of sorts. This was a hungry woman. Maureen was pulling every sugary drop into the depths of her.

I peeked over again. This time raising myself in my seat like I was leaving. Maureen was still alone and laughing her ass off.

I paid my check, left a double-tip for the waitress along with this story, and walked out the door without Maureen.

I think back on this now and wish I had gotten Maureen's address, but I know it's none of my business.

A Lil' Bay Area review - Maritime East

2008-05-01T09:17:00.004-04:00

So isn't weird when you and your siblings grow up enough so you're not just siblings but also friends? Stef, considering your brother is like super cool and you seem to get along, when did that happen for you?

When J and I were in the Bay Area, we got together with my brother who lives in Fremont and is some kind of entrepreneur (and not that kind of entrepreneur that says they're an entrepreneur as an excuse for slacking; he works his ass off and has the income to show for it). We asked my brother where we should all get together for dinner and he suggested Martime East in Berkeley. What he didn't tell us was that he was friends with the owner. It was a really enjoyable evening where we got to talk with the owner about the restaurant business and catch up with my brother.

The dining experience itself was really wonderful, even apart from the free appetizers and dessert. I will agree with the posters on Yelp that say the storefront sign does make it seem like Maritime East is an aquarium store. But the inside looks well designed and upscale. We were worried that we were underdressed but this really was a neighbhorhood joint and we saw people in jeans. The decor modern but warm and the onwer highlighted the showpiece which was a wall with 2-inch lines of colored sand. One thing I will have ot highlight is the excellent sound control. People never think about it unless it totally sucks. And this time the designers did a great job to make sure that the background noise was loud enough so that you didn't feel like you were in a funeral home but not so loud you couldn't hear your tablemates. That is the downfall of Cafe Asian in Arlington where you feel like you are ain a train station.

The food itself was truly excellent, and not just because we got a free appetizer and dessert. There was a clean and fresh quality to the dishes, even the burger tht my brother ordered. This was not a restaurant that depended on heavy sauces and overpowering flavors. Like a good seafood restaurant, Maritime East knew to choose fresh fish and get out of the way. Their flavors are very citrus and spice focused.

We started with cocktails. J got the Maritime margarita and I got the White Out, with citron vodka, white cranberry juice and cointreau. Both were excellent as I like fruity drinks. I ordered the seafood chowder to start that had clams, fish, mussels , bacon, and fingerling potatoes. The soup was resonant with fish broth and scallions. Rather than being heavy, the chowder broth was light and allowed for the individuality of each of the ingredients. As a bonus, we got an order of the dungeness crab gratinee. This is where I am a total west coast boy because dungeness crab RULZ! I find it interesting that they call this a gratinee becuase it's a fresh salad with apples. blood oranges, and micro greens. The sweetness of the crab really comes through.

For dinner, my brother got the burger, I got a wood fired pizza and J got the sole. Surprisingly, the burger was excellent. You would have thought it would be an afterthought but the burger was perfectly cooked. The wood fired pizza had the appropriate chewiness and crunch that you would expect. The toppings of bonito tuna, olives, and capers was wonderfully briny. Craving vegetables, I got the brussel sprout and pea sprout hash, a lovely combination of the two sprouts shreeded and sauteed. The best of the bunch was J's sole which was served with pureed cauliflower, capers, and brown butter. This was an earthy treat for a cold Berkeley night.

While we were all stuffed, my brother's friend gave us complimentary desserts - the chocolate pot de creme, the sorbet and gelato selection, and the apple and cranberry tart. All were excellent but the pot de creme was pure indulgence in a cup.
I asked about the lack of vegetarian options and the owner said that the chef made a vegetarian meal upon request. Knowing her skill with seafood, I hope they would let everyone know about that option.

It's very nice to have a go to place in the Bay Area. This is perfect for a quiet evening or a celebration. Thanks to the brother for a great choice!

Off Topic - The Paper

2008-04-30T08:57:00.002-04:00

For anyone who had any doubts. Yes, I am a geek. And therefore, I am totally addicted to The Paper on MTV. Yes, I was on the school paper all four years of high school. And I love The Paper immensely mainly because it's just so over the top. I feel so sad for Amanda, the Editor in Chief. She's Tracy Flick as a real person. Her organizational skills are in inverse proportion to her people skills. She's the high school editor version of Michael Scott, organizing team building exercises and team meetings, all the while her staff is either laughing at her or actively trying to bring her down. I'm not sure who is more loathsome, Giana, the Features Editor who is trying to channel Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls or Alex, Amanda's ex-friend, and the person she beat out to be Editor in Chief. It's clear Alex and Amanda are into each other but Alex is more than happy to sell her out to the "popular" kids on the paper, Giana and her minions. It doesn't help that Alex has some festering resentment of Amanda being editor in chief because she, like, wrote a good application. Seriously folks, this show is my crack. For those of you wonder, I was News Editor two years running. I was one of those Type A folks who read the minutes from the school board meeting to see if there was anything newsworthy.

An Entry 14 years in the Making

2008-04-24T10:06:00.001-04:00

For those Wrinkle in Time Fans, I'm going to pull a Mrs. Who for this entry – using the words of others to capture my feelings.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same

The thing is, I'm the one who stayed. I came here in 1994 and saw friend after friend move away for a job, grad school, family or just because they didn't like the weather. But I stayed. There's something about DC that feels like home. Maybe it's the scale of the city. Maybe it's the fact that we talk about elections in the same way we talk about sports. Whatever it was, DC wasn't just a place to live.

DC has been really good to me. I sort of stumbled into a career where I get to make change. I found things to do – singing, quilting, playing tennis. I came out. I got my heart broken. Multiple times. I broke hearts. Far fewer times. I found the love of my life and got married. We turned 30. Turned 35.

We built a life together that involved friends, family, and food. We lived in a group house and then we moved to an apartment by ourselves. Another apartment by ourselves on Capitol Hill. And finally a house in Cheverly with a real dining room table. We threw dinner parties. We found the best group of friends anyone could possibly ask for.

Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It started as just an idea. Nothing firm. No plan. Just kicking around the thought of moving to the Bay Area. As ideas went, it looked like something far in the distance if it were to happen at all. It was more of a joke than anything else. Wouldn't it be fund to work in San Francisco? We could pay $3000 in rent for a studio! Hahaha.

But then we both had job opportunities with places that we wanted to work. We looked at Craigslist and saw some two bedrooms in our price range. And we visited and spent time with June and Muffin and Rebecca 1.0 and Bellisima. At some point, it felt less like walking away from this awesome life we built in DC and more like walking towards a new adventure.

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity

Then we both started applying. By February, I got a job offer from an organization in Oakland that allowed me to work from home until June and J was interviewing for four different positions in San Francisco. The weird thing was we kept seeing all of these signs for us to move. One night we turned on the TV and PBS was doing a travelogue on the Bay Area. Another day we turned on the Food Network and THEY did a travel show on San Francisco. And then we turned on Lifetime and saw the series finale of the Golden Girls where Dorothy marries the guy from Airplane! in the ugliest wedding dress ever made.

I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down...

We did fall in love with San Francisco. Really all it took was an afternoon at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. Then Bellisima, who works as a beverage manager at a high end wine bar took us to dinner and showered us with free wine. Then we went to dinner with my brother at his friend's restaurant, Maritime East and J got to taste Dungeness crab. And then J had a burrito in the Mission District.

Beyond the food, was a city with views. We thought about weekend mornings driving ten minutes to the beach or driving across the Golden Gate Bridge to see the redwood forest.

I'm Limited
Together we're unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team
There's ever been, Glinda,
Dreams the way we planned 'em
If we work in tandem

So here we go. We'll definitely be in the Bay Area by June. My piece of reassurance about this whole things is that I came to DC with a little bit of family in the area and that was it. J and I head to Oakland will each other, great jobs, June and Muffin, and Rebecca 1.0 and Bellisima. We've both been asked to serve on the Board of Directors of two community organizations we love and respect. There are a zillion farmer's markets and hopefully a good CSA we can join. Hopefully, we can find a place that can accommodate our dining room table. Hopefully we can build a circle of friends to eat around the dining room table.

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly

Mixed in with the sadness is a huge amount of gratitude. J and I would have never met if it weren't for DC. We wouldn't have started this blog and met awesome people like Scotte, Jason, and Stef.

There will always be a piece of me in DC. This city has sustained me in a zillion ways. I get a clench in my stomach about leaving this city and our friends but as I've told many a person who's left this city before me, the sadness means that you actually did something. Leaving is already hurting like hell because I know there will always be a piece of me in DC.

Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity!

Another dairy free delight

2008-04-23T09:55:00.002-04:00

We visited the Lambers in the Bay area a few weeks ago. They are exceeding fun to hang around with and even more fun to cook with. They have a lovely gas grill where almost every night we made some marvelous grilled protein (turkey burgers, chicken breasts) and a set of grilled vegetables (zuchinni, eggplant etc). So my last night with the Lamers, L made this great tomato sauce composed of quality canned tomatoes, two big springs of basil and two whole garlic cloves. The basil and garlic were fished out of the sauce at the end of the cooking. As the Lambers are conscious of making sure they get protein, I suggested putting in pureed tofu into the sauce to make it creamy. I'd seen in on a vegetarian cooking show where some lady made a fake alfredo by marinating tofu in miso and then pureeing it. I figured we could make a protein-rich, dairy free penna in vodka by doing the same. As it turned out, the pureed tofu was a wonderful addition. It had more of a ricotta texture but definitely added the requisite creaminess. A healthy shot of vodka and some simmering later, there was our penne in vodka sauce. For about two cups of sauce, I would add a half a block of firm (not silken or extra firm) tofu.

Zesty!

2008-04-15T09:51:00.002-04:00

Ok this is a tiny little entry. Sunday night, we had the marrieds come over for dinner. This was a very casual thing and we ended up making stromboli with Morningstar Farm "meat" crumbles and a salad (bag of salad greens, walnut, balsamic vinaigrette). I will say I learned to put the seam side down on a stromboli because as they baked, the seam split.

For dessert J bought coconut and raspberry sorbet. As an accompaniment, I made lemon cookies. I am beginning to understand Ina Garten's obsession with citrus zest. At a crafting thing I went to, someone put orange zest in a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie and it tasted amazing. For the lemon cookies, I went to epicurious and their recipe for lemon cookies were simply a basic sugar cookie recipe with two tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of lemon zest. The result was one of the best cookies i have ever made. It was spring in a cookie with a resonant lemon flavor and aroma. Next up lemon panna cotta! All hail the zest!

Spaghetti Carbonara - SOOO EASY!

2008-04-01T09:11:00.003-04:00

CRAVING FULFILLED! I've been craving spaghetti carbonara for ages and I finally got around to making it. The great things about spaghetti carbonara is the sauce is based on scrambled eggs and pasta water as opposed to cream. Given that J is lactose intolerant, this makes a great pasta dish for both of us (as I can put tons of parmigiano reggiano on my plate of carbonara separately). The other great thing about spaghetti carbonara is how totally easy it is to make. Perfect for a cold night after work.

Here's how I did it:

1 pound of pasta
lots of salt
5 slices of bacon (or an equivalent amount of pancetta or guanciale if you want to be totally traditional
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup of parmigiano reggiano

Fry bacon (or any cured meat thereof) until fairly crispy and fat is completely rendered. Add the garlic and turn off the heat. Bring water to a boil and add enough salt until the water tastes "as salty as the Mediterranean," which is to say, pretty salty. Cook spaghetti according to instructions. When spaghetti is close to being done, take about half a cup of salty water out and reserve. During that time, heat up the bacon mixture. Drain the pasta and add to the bacon. Toss thoroughly with the pepper and nutmeg and turn off the heat. Add eggs and toss furiously so the eggs turn into a creamy sauce but don't solidify and coagulate. Add about two or three tablespoons of the pasta water and toss thoroughly again to make the mixture creamier. If the mixture is still too thick, add a bit more pasta water. Sprinkle lots of the parmigiano reggiano on top and toss again. Add even more cheese. Enjoy.

I'm No Expert Either, Paula Deen

2008-03-30T09:48:00.003-04:00

Here's another post we came across both linking to our post and with more reaction to the situation.

http://jenn964.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/oh-paula/

Again, Paula Deen's response that since labor issues are not her expertise, she won't be "dragged into it," is sad to me.

Somehow, I don't have to be "dragged into" having an opinion reflecting compassion and fairness.

Do you?

Hollywood East Cafe Again and Again

2008-03-26T08:09:00.004-04:00

After long days, last night we headed back to Hollywood East Cafe for another wonderful meal. These folks know how to cook. Time after time we have had delicious food made right and I always look forward to going back.

Shrimp wonton starters were thick and delicious. The wrappers were a bit thicker than I am used to and the shrimp was reminiscent of that found is their tasty haw gaw on the dim sum menu.

Chicken and mushrooms in a rice hot pot. Such an unremarkable sounding dish but a total hit. The ceramic pot arrived smelling deeply of smoke and goodness. Chicken falling off the bone, with a very light sauce over moist rice with plump mushrooms. Everything smoky, everything delicious, everything subtle but flavorful.

Sauteed string beans, something I've had many times at other restaurants were sassy. Thin julienned ginger sticks, garlic, onion, and just enough red pepper and a light sweet soy sauce to really bring the dish together. Cooked but crisp. The salt balanced with the sweet.

Crispy shredded beef is the best I have had. Very lightly floured (rice flour?) a tangy sweet sauce, served hot with a generous portion.

Again, Hollywood East succeeds for me by their restraint. Just enough sauce, just enough heat. Nothing gloopy, nothing pushing it too far. But everything seems so well-considered.

Avoiding Smithfield Meats: Where Do You Shop?

2008-03-25T17:52:00.003-04:00

We've had a good amount of questions about the Paula Deen / Smithfield story posted a few days ago. I want to say that I had no beef (haha) with Paula Deen before I looked into this story. My post was activist and I am glad it informed folks, but it was also about being disappointed in someone who keeps missing a huge opportunity to do the right thing and take a stand herself. Someone who we have enjoyed. And yes, as some pointed out, Smithfield is the company that could be making much better choices here. But when you promote the company for money, you have become the company.

That said, I'm not quite ready to go vegetarian again but would like to buy meat from folks who make better choices.

So what do you say? Do you know where to by local meat from sustainable farms? Is it possible to do?

Someone also linked to this article in Rolling Stone that blew me away. Pig pollution to the nth degree.

I guess I'm moving past not wanting to know about my food to wanting to know more.

-J

Trusty's - in desperate need of a deep fat fryer

2008-03-24T13:55:00.003-04:00

Can we take up a collection for Trusty's on Capitol Hill? They make some of the best hamburgers in the city but don't have a deep fat fryer so no fries, onion rings, cheese sticks, or wings to go with that. Just potato chips. I don't know about you all, bu potato chips aren't going to do it when I am having the best hamburger in DC. The meat is hand formed and comes from ground beef that tastes like beef. The patties are a perfect size and the beef is so good that I had a double burger, took out one patty, and just ate the patty by itself without the benefit of a bun. Still tasted pretty damn good. But really, a deep fat fryer would pay for itself in one night. How much can a fry daddy cost?

Speaking of fries, we went to Clare and Don's Beach Shack last Friday with our friends the Marrieds. It's a nice fried seafood restaurant with tons of vegetarian options. But the real kicker is the small, crinkle cut fries. J and I love those fries but only if they are small. Luckily, the fries served at Clare and Don's are small, meaning there's a good crisp to potatoey ratio there. It was nice to see them treat their vegetarian dishes with the same care they treated their fish.

Which of these is a can't miss . . .?

2008-03-24T12:40:00.003-04:00

A while back, we had an entry with a list of places we've wanted to try. We've checked a few off the list, most notably Guajillo, Locanda, Thai Square and Mark's Duck House (mini-reviews coming).

For our next step, we want to hear from you. If you were going to pick three (okay four) from this list as can't miss spots, what would make the cut?

Anita’s
Bangkok 54
Bebo Trattoria
Bob’s Noodle 66
Colorado Kitchen
Crème
Cuba de Ayer
Cubano’s
Duangrats
Eat First
El Charrito Caminante
Pollo Campero
Etete
Faidley’s (Baltimore)
Farrah Olivia
Hank’s Oyster Bar
Ill Mee Buffet
Jackie’s
Joe’s Noodle House
Kotobuki
La Sirenita
Mi Rancho
Oegadgib
Rasika
Ray’s The Classics
Ruan Thai
Saigon Café
South Street Steaks
Tabard Inn
Taqueria Distrito Federal
Taqueria Nacionale
Thanh Son Tofu
Zaytinya

DC Food blogger potluck

2008-03-17T11:22:00.003-04:00

So yesterday, at the very sane time of 5:00 pm, the Food Bloggers of the Washington, DC metro area had their first potluck to show off our skills at cooking and purchasing. The potluck was courtesy of these two ladies and it was held at this gentleman's well appointed group house. I kid you not this group house rocked and I lived in group houses for all of my single life in DC (and one year of my married life). The kitchen was huge with plenty of counter space and a island where the stove was. Eatfoo said that while the layout was perfect, the appliances were hit or miss which led to a great question - would you rather have a well designed kitchen with so-so appliances, or a small kitchen with high quality appliances?

The potluck itself was a total blast. This was an eclectic group, from law students in their 20's and older couples in their 40s. You could easily have a conversation with anyone in the room and the conversation was lively and witty. We talked about blogging but even more about cooking and living in DC. You totally knew it was a foodie room when we were talking about the joys and frustrations of living with roommates and one person said, "And I knew I had to hide my knives when I found my Henckles in the dishwasher." A collective gasp ran through the room as if we were ladies in a small Southern town talking about the Mayor's gay son have an affair with the seminarian. This led to a 20 minute conversation about knives.

And the food? Most excellent. But what would you expect from a Food blogger potluck. I love the sugarcured pork belly serve by our host that was accompanied by a raisin-yoghurt sauce (much better than it sounds), some kind of sugar-salt crumble and the delightful carbonated orange segments. Somehow our host was able to put orange segments in a carbonator (normally used for club soda) and infuse the orange with bubbles. The result was fruit that danced on your tongue. But EVERYTHING was wonderfully made. The menu included two kinds of bread (Irish soda and wheat), an Irish Guiness stew with some of the best beef I've ever tasted, some Italian chicken croquettes, a nicely season Indian potato salad and an Israeli couscous salad, and my contributions - Vietnamese clay pot chicken (the catfish didn't look good at the store) and two kinds of dumplings. Dessert included an amaretto cake, a walnut cake, an old-fashioned vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and mint brownies. We all ate seconds and thirds and packed up many plates of leftovers.

The over the top element to this happy potluck (as if local beef and sugar cured pork belly wasn't enough) was getting our own mixologist who made up cocktails specially for the gathering. The one with blueberries just rocked!

But don't take my word for it. This person had a good time too!

Paula Deen Resolution: Why We Think You Can Do Better by Smithfield Workers

2008-03-16T08:15:00.005-04:00

It is with great disappointment that we have made the decision to no longer watch Paula Deen, a Food Network chef and cookbook author who we have loved for many years. We will no longer be purchasing her magazine or books, sharing stories about her show, or making any statement or observation that could in any way be construed as supporting her continued relationship with and consistent statements in support of Smithfield Foods.

We offer the following blog resolution in support of encouraging Paula Deen to make a better choice about who she works with and why. That she opens what she calls her big heart and educates herself about the historic struggle many workers face to be physically safe at work.

We hope that she turns a critical eye to the situation at the Tar Heel packing plant in North Carolina and that she works to understand the difference between not liking your job or having a hard job where you have complaints, and the challenges faced when you are systematically and consistently facing horrible conditions.

And, finally, we hope that Paula Deen understands that healthy family values are worker-friendly and that corporations have a real opportunity to be and become safe and family-friendly places to work.

So today, we offer the following:

WHEREAS Paula Deen is not only connected to but serves as the public face of Smithfield Foods, a meat packing and processing operation,

WHEREAS Paula Deen has received compensation for her relationship with Smithfield Foods,

WHEREAS numerous sources have documented horrible conditions for workers at the Smithfield Plant (source, source, source)

WHEREAS "the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Somerville and Cambridge all passed resolutions supporting the workers at the Tar Heel Smithfield plant and calling for the removal of products made in the plant from the shelves." (source)

WHEREAS "the city of Chicago has already passed a resolution against Smithfield, insiting the company “cease and desist from the deplorable, immoral and illegal conditions they have inflicted on their workers.” (source)

WHEREAS groups like the United Church of Christ have passed resolutions encouraging members to pay attention to the problems at hand (source),

WHEREAS workers have publicly stated that they have tried to contact Paula Deen and urged her to break ties with Smithfield due to some astounding problems at the plant,

WHEREAS "In February 2005, Human Rights Watch released a report that was the result of a year-long research into operations at three separate processing plants operated by Smithfield Foods plant, Tysons Foods and Nebraska Beef company. The report says workers at the plants are frequently injured, then refused medical care or fired." (Human Rights Watch)

WHEREAS numerous sources have documented Paula Deen's public response:

"It is not my expertise." (source)

When asked directly, "If it is somehow found out down the road that Smithfield is intimidating their workers, would you ever pull your name or not be associated with the company?" Deen responds, "You know, all of us in America who work, we all have some complaints about our work. You know it's called work for a reason. It's not called play so there will always be complaints about our work place. . .I am not the one to solve union issues."

WHEREAS Smithfield has been associated with the following products:

Armour, Butterball, Smithfield Lean Generation Pork Tender 'n Easy, Smithfield Self Basting, Lykes, Sunnyland, Jamestown, Gwaltney, Great, Valleydale, Esskay, Reelfoot, Smithfield Ham & Products and Stadler Country Hams.

WHEREAS Smithfield has been associated with the following affilated companies:

- Animex, S.A. - Warsaw, Poland
- Carolina Turkeys (Subsidiary) - Mount Olive, NC
- Charcuteries Imperator S.A. - Saint Priest, France
- Esskay (Subsidiary) - Riderwood, MD
- Gorges/Quik-To-Fix Foods - Garland, TX
- Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. - Smithfield, VA
- Jean d'Erguet S.A. - Quimper, France
- John Morrell & Co. - Cincinnati, OH
- Lykes Meat Group, Inc. - Plant City, FL
- Moyer Packing Company (Subsidiary) - Souderton, PA
- Murphy Brown - Warsaw, NC
- Murphy Farms LLC (Subsidiary) - Rose Hill, NC
- North Side Foods Corp. (Subsidiary) - New Kensington, PA
- Packerland Packing Co., Inc. - Green Bay, WI
- Packerland Transport Inc. - Green Bay, WI
- Packerland-Plainewell - Plainwell, MI
- Patrick Cudahy Inc. - Cudahy, WI
- RMH Foods - Morton, IL
- Showcase Foods - Philadelphia, PA
- Smithfield Division - Smithfield, VA
- Smithfield Specialty Foods Group (Subsidiary) - Portsmouth, VA
- Societe Bretonne de Salaisons France - Landivisiau, France
- Sun Land Beef Company - Tolleson, AZ
- The Smithfield Packing Co., Inc. - Smithfield, VA
- Valleydale Foods, Inc. (Division) - Salem, VA
- Williamsburg Foods, Inc. - Toano, VA

RESOLVED that we cannot and will not in good conscience support, encourage the support of Paula Deen or Smithfield Foods and their subsidiaries.

RESOLVED that we unequivocally state that Paula Deen may not be responsible for the problems and conditions at the workplaces of any products she endorses, but that she is now part of the very corporation creating said problems and conditions.

RESOLVED that we will continue to speak out against worker abuse and intimidation.

RESOLVED that we stand in solidarity with cities, organizations, and individuals speaking out on this matter.

NOTE: I did write to Paula Deen but did not receive a response.

Top Chef Teaser

2008-03-13T16:50:00.002-04:00

Just want to let you know I have high hopes for this season of Top Chef. The down to earth, fun personalities seem to outnumber the annoying personalities. Not only that, Tom Collichio is less high and mighty and the judging seems to be less about trying to rip people apart and more about a thoughtful critique of a dish. Not only that - a lesbian couple! A full recap will be forthcoming.

Take That Bay Area! DC food bloggers are doin’ it for themselves!

2008-03-12T13:11:00.005-04:00

I’ve read the tales of the joys of the Bay area doing their food blogger potluck and the delights that were enjoyed. Like many other Washingtonians, I’ve always felt a tad inadequate about DC’s food scene. But now with the DC Food Blogger potluck, we are sticking our flag in the sand and saying that we can do a potluck too! So about a month or so ago, Trouble with Toast posted on her blog that she would love to do a food blogger potluck. Culinary Couture came on board to help organize and many bloggers joined the bandwagon. So yes, this weekend we will have the inaugural DC Food blogger potluck with a big chunk of the DC area food blog community represented.

From the looks of things, the menu will reflect DC’s international nature.We’ll make sure to give you a full blow by blow of the potluck, complete with catfights, fierce runway walks, and stolen granola bars. We at DCfoodblog will be making vegetarian and shrimp potstickers along with Vietnamese caramel fish and sticky rice cooked in a traditional Laotian basket. I hope our food can hold up to what will be a high standard of cooking. I definitely think we'll give those Bay Area foodies a run for their money. -T

Bruno and Austin

2008-03-11T14:41:00.002-04:00

In January, my dear friend Lady Lancaster gave birth to twins, turning her family of three into a family of five. Holy cats, that's a huge change. It was a difficult pregnancy for Lady Lancaster (and really for the whole Lancaster family) as she was on strict bedrest for three months. The one ray of light was that I got to spend a lot of hanging out time with my oldest friend. I would stop by the hospital and spend hours talking about Tyra Banks, the Presidential Race, and our respective life paths. It was a great gift for me to be able to spend so much time with my dear friend just talking.

As Lady Lancaster is among the more social and active people I know, she was more than happy to give birth and subsequently be allowed to walk around. Being premature twins, Bruno and Austin were in the hospital for a good six weeks. Because of my crazy work schedule I wasn't able to see the twins until a few weeks ago, when they finally came home. Like I did with their older brother, I totally fell in love with the two babies. I totally don't get people who are bored by newborns. I adore newborns. While it's true newborns eat, poop, and sleep, holding a newborn means that your entire world is a soft, bundle of snuggliness.

What's amazing is that Bruno and Austin love to be held. They totally love having someone hold them close. There's something so profound about being able to be the entire world for another person. When you put them down they'll fuss and whimper a bit. But when you pick them up, they turn their head to get close to you and close their eyes and use their tiny little hands to grab you and pull you in. Seriously folks, there's no better feeling than a little baby snuggling next to you. It's like aromatherapy.

Thanks for being born you two. I hope my kids will be a nice as you.

For the sister - Tortilla Soup

2008-03-03T14:15:00.003-05:00

When my sister and her boyfriend came to visit us a few months ago, I decided to greet them with a warm bowl of Tortilla Soup. Tortilla soup is one of the most interesting things I make because the corn tortillas give the soup a unique texture and a warm corn flavor. This is based on the Barefoot Contessa recipe but I added a few more Mexican touches of my own.

Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 stalk of celery chopped
2 poblano peppers chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, finely chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of cumin

1 can of pureed or diced tomatoes
1 cup of corn (frozen or canned)

6 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of pre-cooked chicken, shredded (what I do is buy whole chicken breasts, sear them on both sides and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes)
8 corn tortillas sliced in 1-inch slices

Throw the first set of ingredients into a large pot and saute until the vegetables have softened and the onions are translucent, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the next two ingredients and saute another 10 minutes. Add the last set of ingredients, bring the whole thing to a boil and then quickly lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tortillas have completely disintegrated. Serve with avocado, cilantro and sour cream.

Chinese New Year: Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard

2008-02-29T09:31:00.003-05:00

In a totally spur of the moment thing, our friend Pauline proposed getting together for a Chinese New Year's activity. This is the year of the rat, the year that Pauline, J and I were born. Hopefully that means something lucky will happen this year. Actually the meal in itself was lucky. A perfect Lunar New Year banquet with lion dancers, food, and red envelopes.

So the Saturday of Chinese New Year week, six of us decided to go to Hollywood East (which I lobbied hard for) to do a white elephant red envelope exchange. We've said how much we adore Hollywood East in Wheaton. Their dim sum is totally the best in the city and their dinner menu keeps up the quality. With the exception of the mayonnaise-laden honey walnut shrimp, every dish is well flavored without being overly sweet and syrupy. The service is friendly (if a bit slow). Surprisingly (especially during dim sum), there isn't a huge wait.

In a bit of luck, Hollywood East was having Lunar New Year's entertainment that night as well. In a happy bit of luck, we came in on the tail end of the lion dance. We waited in the vestibule and got to see the dance without having it disrupt our meal. As a nice touch, the lion dancers did a little dance on the street for those folks who were just arriving.

We started off with tea and the gift exchange. J and I gave lottery tickets (as they could fit in a red envelope). Our friend L also gave lottery tickets but her boyfriend J 2.0 put together a gourmet Chinese take out box with little chocolates and goodies from World Market. J 2.0 is so Martha! Rootbeer gave a gift card from Whole Foods and Pauline gave a rather naughty red envelope stuffer. Going all out, Pauline gave us all little Asian ceramic cats from the Sackler gallery gift shop. They are kind of the precursor to Hello Kitty.

And then the eating began. We ordered four appetizers - won tons, har gow, shu mai, and potstickers. While the won tons were very crab rangoonish, the dim sum style dumplings were their usual high quality. One thing about the shrimp dumplings is that they don't puree their shrimp until it becomes a paste, the taste and texture of chunks of shrimp in the shrimp filling is a really thoughtful and delicious touch.

And then came the entrees. Each of us ordered one and the dishes came from the land, sea, and air. All were wonderful. The surprise of the evening was the seafood pan fried noodle. It came out looking a bit disappointing. The array of shrimp, fish, and squid with vegetables over rice stick noodles with a clear sauce. It looked like boring city but the dish actually had a lot of flavor and the sauce was neither tasteless nor overpowering. The standouts in our six-entree meal were the crispy beef, a wonderfully light take on a General Tso's beef with a lovely sauce that didn't have a speck on cornstarch (YAY!), and the chicken with garlic sauce, a New Year's special that was spicy and earthy at the same time.

I can never come to Holly East for dinner without ordering the steamed ling fish. I discovered this dish when I took my parents and my cousins Amanda and Madeleine to Hollywood East. Both Amanda and Madeleine are foodies in their own right and Amanda asked for whole rockfish with ginger and scallions (a dish they don't have). Our server suggested the ling fish and it was a perfect choice. The ling fish is moist and tender with a very seabass texture. It was cooked with the lightest of touches, steamed with ginger, scallions, and garlic with a hint of sesame oil and soy. The flavors were subtle but profound.

And the bill with six dishes, hot tea, and four appetizers came out to $21 INCLUDING tip. It was a night of much joy and a bit of luck!

Books and Crackers: A New Blog

2008-02-23T13:06:00.002-05:00

Hello friends,

Have a look at my friend's new blog, Books and Crackers. If you read books and like crackers this is the place for you.

If you don't read, I'm wondering how you are following along here.

Crackers? Well, that's another story.

As for me, my favorite crackers come from Cheesetique in Del Ray. Peppery and yummy. I'll need to get some more to give you the name.

Xanadu Interlude

2008-02-23T12:34:00.003-05:00

While we work on the next post, I thought you might want some Xana . . .du.

Obama/Clinton Struggle: Thanks

2008-02-15T10:46:00.003-05:00

Thanks for the emails about the Obama/Clinton post. We love having this be a food blog, but sometimes it is something different. To the Clinton folks who emailed with supportive comments, that is so cool. I get that we ended up in different places, but the dialogue has been civil and mutually supportive. Not that any of us require that, but I enjoy it. We're taking the White House and building a Democratic spine at the same time.

Complicated Road A Vote and a Note for Obama

2008-02-12T18:04:00.006-05:00

After an incredible amount of thinking, research, conversation and fret, I cast my vote for Obama today. I sank inside a bit.

My hope was less audacious than I would have liked. I voted for a man who gave a speaking opportunity to someone who thinks a part of me that I love and cherish is something to be healed. That man, Donnie McClurkin, globalized his homophobia and now preaches that we all have the opportunity he thinks he took, to be delivered from homosexuality.

And I listen to Obama, who said he does not agree with McClurkin, speak of hope. Speak eloquently of hope, and I cannot help but feel used to gain votes from more conservative Southerners.

Senator Obama, I want to be cheering and excited and on the wagon. I want to be behind this candidacy full on. I have some time on my hands due to a job change. I want to volunteer and engage and shake hands, and use my considerable skills to help bring change to this country.

And I'm struggling terribly with it.

And for the record, Mr. McClurkin, I don't want to be delivered from my relationship of 9 years that is full of a more Audacious Hope than Barack Obama could possibly speak of while he allows you his pulpit to throw me under the bus.

McClurkin's message creates silence, self-loathing, and encourages anxiety, fear, and hatred. That silence keeps people in the closet, slows access to information about sexuality that young men and women need. And I expect better from Obama, from my leaders, and better from any Democrat so boldly proclaiming he will bring us together.

And to explain it as dialogue with those who are different? Try that with the known racist, the known woman-hater. I still feel completely thrown under the bus. It makes me doubt Obama's commitment to unity. It makes me question the audacity of his hope, his political courage.

It makes me feel like his foot is crushing my neck while he stands on the stage. And I can't be part of the celebration of all these wonderful ideas when you say my marriage is not worthy, that listening to others opinions is a good idea here.

Speaking in front of other audiences and disavowing hatred against gays is great, but handing the haters the microphone is deplorable.

Toni Morrison speaks of Obama as “someone whose moral center [is] un-embargoed.” Really? When you dance with McClurkin in the name of educating people about the other side, I would say this is a significant embargo on your moral center.

It’s hurtful to Americans and Obama should apologize for having McClurkin on the microphone and should do so while having his picture taken with Gavin Newsom.

To be fair:

I think I would have sunk inside if I voted for Clinton as well. Someone who, like Obama takes the position that my marriage is unequal to hers. Someone well acquainted with struggles for dignity and humanity but who would only repeal part of the Defense of Marriage Act (Obama, as a plus, would repeal it all).

Someone who voted for a war so many of us knew was preemptive, wrongheaded, and full of opportunities for greed and a misuse of patriotism, a great misuse of our resources and our military.

It is not about finding the perfect candidate. My struggle is with supporting people who deny my humanity. Who say I am less worthy than they are. Who use policy and political tactics to separate me from others. And one who made war possible when we need peace. I hate it.

Obama and Clinton should be grateful that I can still remind myself that my party offers the best opportunities for women, for people of color, for education, for gays and lesbians, and for a healthy economy.

We are more likely to get our soldiers out of Iraq, to sensibly reform and fund No Child Left Behind, and to invest in a green economy. We may very well offer the best opportunity to save Darfur, to encourage peace, and to create opportunities for Fair Trade. To insure the uninsured, to fix our crumbling infrastructure, and to install Supreme Court Justices who are wise and invested in our civil rights and liberties.

I can't help but think I had to make a tough decision today while, at the same time, being excited about the end of the Bush reign.

Even Republicans are understanding what an incredible failure this man has been. Our country, and yes, even Republicans, can do so much better.

For me, a classic undecided Dem for weeks, the decision to vote for Obama came down to a few key factors:

1. We need the strongest contrast to McCain's hawkishness on the war. I reject the thought that Obama is some peace savior here. He has been voting for continuing the war funding and could have been more courageous in his votes. But Hillary Clinton trusted the wrong guy. This is where a healthy partisanship might have helped. Block anything that could come close to authorizing force. Obama looks better against McCain and that matters.

2. I think she would be more effective at ending the war, at patching things up abroad, and getting the right people in place to re-imagine diplomacy. But, I think it is a real roll of the dice to say she can win against McCain. I trust that the people surrounding Obama will work with him to make good choices. I hope she is one of those people.

3. The mobilized, grassroots operation that Obama has is working and reflects Dean's 50 state strategy. An energized electorate matters and Democrats are coming in with record turnouts.

4. The downline Democratic candidates around the country need to ride in on something. The freshness of someone less known but popular will help Democrats in red states in a way that I do not think Hillary Clinton could. She is too known, overexposed, too discussed.

Here is a bit of my thinking before I cast my vote. I take notes on such things:

Neither candidate is a slam-dunk for me.

I will support the Democratic candidate in the general.

I am more interested in what someone says they will do and how they will do it than big ideas writ large.

I believe the country is partisan and divided and that common ground can be useful provided we are not finding it at the expense of the poor and the disenfranchised. Similarly, I think our candidate should be a Democrat first, rest assured their candidate will be a Republican and rushing to the middle ground will not be high on their agenda.

I believe corporate interests have too much power and control and that this has diluted the influence of citizens.

I believe the war in Iraq was wrong and that anyone who knew Bush should have known that. We invaded a country that has nothing to do with 9/11 and spent billions of dollars and thousands of lives and I'm sickened by the thought that anyone could think Bush was going to do this on the up and up.

I do not believe all opinions are equal. I can respect a difference, while taking a stand. But that does not mean I favor consensus, especially when it relates to dignity and equal opportunity and the horrific ways the right has demonized gays, women, and others. When Obama consistently talks about uniting the country and even says he respects the views of those who feel differently than he does on gay rights, I am angered. When he says he wants to end the partisan bickering in Washington, I want to know what he will say when the right goes after a woman's right to choose, fails to sign Kyoto, creates insane corporate loopholes, devises anti-child legislation that is harmful to education, and more. We bickered over FEMA royally screwing New Orleans. We bickered over parental notification. Many Democrats bickered over Iraq. I want to hear that you will fight.

I don’t believe Clinton has cornered the market on being a target of right wing propaganda and intense, distracting media-absorbing insanity. These people are working on Obama already. I’m certainly not going to let these tools of distraction have anything to do with my vote, but I think it is naive to say Clinton would be more of a distraction.

I’m a Democrat, a liberal, and I believe in progressive values.

I believe Hillary Clinton is sharper on policy, more issue-focused, incredibly intelligent, and astoundingly capable. I respect her experience and dedication fighting for children and families. I am grateful for her initial attempt to take on health care reform and think the current campaign would not be featuring this very important issue had it not been for Clinton taking some major hits during the Bill Clinton years. I respect her knowledge and foreign policy experience.

I believe Barack Obama is more tested than people give him credit for and less verbal about his policy knowledge than many of us would like. I think he is incredibly intelligent, a savvy campaigner, and an inspiring force. I believe he has surrounded himself with more progressive advisors. I think he will bring new people into the government and that we need that. I am excited that we have someone running with a community organizing background. No Republican has been out there trying to help working families and Obama's work here is inspiring.

Hillary’s likability is irrelevant to me. Too often, it has seemed like people throw the likability statement around with little reason. I am certain that some do feel that they do not like her, but for me, it’s not an issue. I will not be having beer with the President any time soon. I will not be going to dinner with them. And I absolutely do not need the President to be like me. I think our leaders need to be well read, incredibly policy-savvy, with a detailed and critical understanding of history and how policy decisions have made a difference in the world and at home. I believe Hillary Clinton is all of those things and yes, I think I would actually like her quite a bit.

Race and Gender Matter

Race and gender matter. They matter to me. I have to be honest, that I want to see young black and biracial men see someone leading the country who looks like them. I want the racist woman whose story I recently heard to look up and see a person of color whose name sounds different than hers, as the leader of the free world.

And I want to see young girls know that despite the sexism and misogyny of much of the world and much of the country, they too can achieve visible and acknowledged power and agency. I want boys and men to see a bold and loud testimony that women are powerful, courageous, and wise.

I refuse to choose on this regard, but it matters. I am also grateful to be connected to a party that has put forward two candidates who have some understanding of outsider status.

To not be in the majority, to not look like those with most of the power to be connected to the disenfranchised matters. And for the misogynist, the racist, the hater, I hope whoever is elected sends a message to them as well. "I will achieve in spite of the laws you put on my body and I will change them. I will achieve in spite of your prejudice and hatred that would keep me bound, in prison, in fear and I will make important changes to make a better world, even for you."

Next Steps

I hope to catch the Obama fever for the general. I care about what happens to this country and am against McCain's war stance and so many of his policies.

I hope to feel Obama's foot lift off the backs of gays and lesbians and that he will find a clear way to support us as equals. His record points in that direction, I hope his actions will from this point forward.

Next stop: Chinese New Year!

We're not irrelevant

2008-02-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

During the New Hampshire primary, I totally pissed off a friend of mine who is an Obama supporter by supporting Hillary for that primary. The reason wasn't who I personally would vote for, it was because I didn't want a coronation that would leave the Potomac Primary irrelevant. And guess what? We're so relevant? The nomination race is a true blue horse race and I am so happy to be important. It's so nice to have candidates come to my state, air cheesy commercials, and kiss my ass. Our two states and the District of Columbia matter. Three areas that encompass urban and rural, that have significant Latino, Black and Asian American populations, and cover the South and the mid-Atlantic get our votes counted. It'll all go away in the general election, but let's enjoy our moment in the sun.

This came from dailykos:

This post was inspired by a comment I read earlier yesterday, which I can't find now, so apologies for the unsourced inspiration.

One of the hilarious side-effects of every Obama victory is the spin from Clinton quarters and its surrogates and supporters explaining why said victories "don't matter".

Iowa didn't matter because it was a caucus state, and it's undemocratic. Same goes for every other caucus state including Maine. The only caucus state that mattered was Nevada.

Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Alaska, and Utah don't matter because they're small Red states that Democrats won't carry in November.

Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana don't matter because they have black people. Expect the same spin out of DC this Tuesday. Black people don't apparently count.

Washington and Minnesota don't matter because they have educated white people.

In any case, Washington, Nebraska, and Louisiana didn't matter on Saturday because everyone expected Obama to win them anyway.

Virginia and Maryland, assuming they're won by Obama, will be a combination of the "black people" and "educated people" rationalizations. Throw a little of "Obama was expected to win anyway", and you've got the trifecta.

Illinois doesn't matter because that's Obama's home state. Expect the same spin when Obama wins Hawaii by double-digit margins in two weeks.

Missouri doesn't matter because Clinton sent out a press release claiming she won it.

Colorado was a caucus state, so that leaves Delaware and Connecticut. Those are the only two states that apparently matter, giving Hillary Clinton a commanding 10-2 lead among states that matter.

One final line of attack used to minimize Obama's victories is the notion that "he can't win states without his base", his base of course being African Americans, white yuppies, and Red state Democrats. Yet the corollary of that is what? That Hillary can't win states that

1.) she hasn't lived in recently (New York and Arkansas),

2.) aren't next to states she has lived in (Tennessee, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma),

3.) don't share a media market with states she has lived in (New Hampshire), or

4.) are outside the Southwest with its large Latino population (California, which she won with the strength of her SoCal vote, Arizona, Nevada and probably New Mexico).

Pretty silly game, huh?

Incidentally, if these stupid generalizations were to actually hold true the rest of this primary, the states would fall like this:

Clinton: Texas, Rhode Island, Vermont, Pennsylvania.

Obama: Virginia, DC, Maryland, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Mississippi, Indiana, North Carolina, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota.

Neither: Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky

But that's not what the final tally will look like.

p.s. Interestingly enough, other than New Mexico, the only other razor-thin contest thus far was Missouri -- a state which borders both Illinois and Arkansas. So in the battle of "neighboring state contest", Obama won, but only by a hair, and only because the Illinois-Missouri border is longer than the Arkansas-Missouri one.

First Taste of Rajaji: Indian in Woodley Park

2008-02-06T18:09:00.000-05:00

Rajaji Indian Curry House
2603 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington 20008
Phone: 202-265-7344

Last week, we were looking for a nice meal near Woodley Park and were interested in trying something new. After looking around the net, I discovered Rajaji, one of three Indian restaurants across from the Woodley Park Metro on Connecticut Ave NW.

So we headed over around 6:30 on a Thursday night. The room was almost empty. I was not expecting a large crowd at 6:30 on a Thursday, but the lack of customers worried me a bit.

Turns out, there was not much to worry about at all. All three of us enjoyed our meals. Mine was exceptional as was our friend's. T's was good, not great.

We started with the combination appetizer platter which consisted of two samosas, chicken croquettes, botti kabab (lamb pieces), chicken tikka & 2 pakoras. These were just what you want from an Indian meal. Served warm with a good level of spice for each of us (we are medium-spice people, though T tolerates hot quite well). The lamb was succulent and aromatic. Pakoras were not too greasy as sometimes happens, and samosas had a nice filling-to-crust ratio.

T enjoyed his vegetarian platter, which started with a salad, then aloo gobi, palak paneer, vegetable kofta, aloo matar, rice, raita, mango chutney, puri and gulab jamun. Again, T felt this was good. Good enough to go back and good enough to be our go-to place in Woodley Park.

Ms. Stitch was very pleased with the Keema Matar, sauteéd minced lamb, cooked with peas and a delicious sauce. I'm not sure I can even describe it. Definitely some garam masala, garlic, and maybe some cumin and or cilantro. I loved my taste of this and will definitely order it next time we go.

But I was also quite pleased with my dish, the Lamb Doh-Peeazah, lamb with tomato and onion cooked until the flavors were quite harmonious. Delicious and Doh-pleasing!

Gulab jamun, (what my high school friends called "Honeyballs") was less successful, mostly due to being cold in the center. But that did not detract from an otherwise delicious meal.

Oh, and get the cardamom tea. It really hit the spot on a cold night!

Off topic - A post that blows away all credibility

2008-02-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

Last night I went with my friend writergirl to see High School Musical, the Tour, playing at the National Theater. J was able to score us some free tickets so we were so there. Boy was it a cultural experience. I felt old as the hills as there were gaggles of preteens and their parents who looked MY AGE! It was less a night at the theater and more like a Hannah Montana concert. Complete with audience clapping, streamers, and screams of "I love you" to certain characters. Sadly I have seen both High School Musical and its sequel. Multiple times.

As I am one of 10 people over the age of 25 who can claim an encyclopedic knowledge of High School Musical, I offer to you a comparison of the TV version and the stage version.

Ways the Stage Version is Better than the TV Version

1. Kelsi actually has a good excuse for running into people and dropping her music - new glasses.

2. Troy actually looks like an athlete and not a member of a boy band.

3. Ryan is REALLY gay. Like REAAAAALLLLY gay. Like REAAAALLLLLY REAAAAALLLY Gay.

4. Sharpay actually has a decent excuse for being such a beeoytch - she's really insecure.

5. The row of 15 year olds behind us doing group cheers.

6. The synchronized clapping of the audience. Yes, I totally clapped along.

7. The random shout-outs to other Disney movies.

8. The prominence of pop and lock girl. (if this befuddles you, then you need to see the movie).

Ways the Stage Version is Worse than the TV Version

1. The sucky sucky sound system where you could barely hear the vocalists.

2. The fact that Kelsi didn't get her makeover where she wears an one should top and shakes out her fabulous hair.

3. They turned both power ballads into peppy group numbers.

4. The stage show didn't include Gabrielle's control freak mother.

5. The compressed timeframe where there were fewer scenes with Troy and Gabrielle rehearsing.

Apparently it's all gyoza all the time

2008-02-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

So yes I love me some gyoza. It was your typical weeknight where neither of us could figure out what we wanted to have for dinner. One thing we kept on coming back to was some crab we picked up at Trader Joe's. I highly recommend getting the Trader Joe's crab because it's like half the price of what you get in the regular grocery store. So yes we tried to think of a good use for the crab. Crab and pasta? Crab salad? Nothing was really popping out at us until I saw the gyoza skins and decided to make crab potstickers. Very good decision. They turned out perfectly. We were both worried about how much liquid the filling was giving off but the filling ended up handing together quite well. Here's what we did.

Finely mince

1 tablespoon of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
2 jalepeno peppers (deseeded)
1/2 a medium onion
1/4 of a red bell pepper (or two or three red chilies)

I just throw the whole mess in a food processor myself. Then in a tablespoon of oil, cook the whole mixture until the liquid has evarporated and the mush is tender. Let cool and add that to and mixture of:

1 1/2 cups of crabmeat
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
1 egg

Mix thoroughly. Put a scant tablespoon of the mixture onto the gyoza, brush one side with an egg wash and seal. In a nonstick skillet, pan fry the potstickers in enough oil to coat the skillet. Flip them over, and let them fry another minute and the add 1/4 cup of water and cover. Let the mixture cook under low heat for about 5 minutes. And then you have crab potstickers!

Slow Cook: A Blog Worth Reading

2008-02-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

There are so many great food information sites out there, but I am especially enjoying reading The Slow Cook. If anything, joining our CSA this year helped us be more thoughtful about our food and food choices. The Slow Cook takes that to what I think is a quite visionary and dedicated place.

Where and how we get our food matters and how we plan to do something about the food challenges confronting our society and economy matter as well.

I for one have refused to shop Nike, Wal-Mart, Disney, and others for many years because of ongoing policies and practices I disagree with. I think it's useful to think about our food as well. I was astounded to recently learn that Paula Deen from the Food Network is shilling for Smithfield, a meat plant increasingly notorious for highly problematic labor practices.

I think there are some intriguing lessons and ideas, policy updates and more over at The Slow Cook and I will definitely be reading consistently.

I also look forward to highlighting blogs like this and organizations like those in the nonprofits section over on the right.

The most recent entry details some of the horrible practices at Westland Meats, a major supplier of beef to our public schools. The US Department of Agriculture has weighed in as have the Humane Society and the Washington Post.

The entry also details the promotion of junk food in the Montgomery County Schools, and has a great link to one of my favorite stories about a high school student who doe s what it takes to open his town's only grocery store.

I should also mention that The Slow Cook also frequently has entries about cooking with kids and teaching kids about food. Love this!

Powerful stuff people, I hope readers of DC Food Blog check it out.

-J

Food Crush: Mary Alice from Ace of Cakes

2008-01-31T23:05:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Reasons Why We Rock the Mary Alice Love

Besides the fact that her name is comprised of trochees, we celebrate the following:

1. Mary Alice redirects Duff, but does not thwart him. She's not a thwarter, she's a supporter.

2. Mary Alice rocks the bangs and the Madonna microphone-headset with a sassy elegance. She's in control and witty and does not appear to have succumbed to the BlueTooth robo gadget blue light special ear contraption that must be quite tempting, especially when she has complete access to the tools to make one that is partially edible.

3. Some people call her quirky. We call her awesome. It's a better word and "quirky" gets overused by people hinting that someone is just too weird or off for them. Mary Alice is just fine the way she is so don't get it twisted.

4. She says "rad" in a way that just does not bother me. At all. (I know!)

5. Mary Alice is the absolute totally awesome Queen of the superlatives and she's superduper triple excellent at using them.

6. She bested Gabrielle Union in a Patron Saint contest. And Gabrielle Union was in Bring it On and is now on Ugly Betty. I believe she should win a World Wrestling Federation belt made out of golden pierogies for such an honor.

7. She's pro-cake. A Cakevocate. We like cake a lot and she facilitates cake making. Maybe her title could become Chief Faciliicaker and she could wear our Gilded Pierogie Championship Belt of Awesomeness.

8. She has a picture of Tagalongs on her Charm City Cakes blog. 2 years ago, I wrote about the Tagalong/Tagalog/Hoedown perplexities in my entry about my time as a male girl scout. I appreciate any version and appreciate the support in my national effort to have peanutbutter goodness overtake Thin Mint superiority.

The best cookies, hands down were called "Hoedowns." Peanut butter on a cookie, covered in chocolate. Here they are called "Tagalongs," but of course I always accidentally see or speak the word as "Tagalogs." Maybe someday they will come out with a Filipina cookie and they can call it that?

9. Mary Alice is friends with the pun. The mind of a writer and the wit of a really funny writer. We're going to do more pun posts like our Dirty Dancing Chimichangas.

10. It really looks like she is part of a team. A team that works hard but has fun. Fun that is creative and silly. And silly with a clipboard is kind of hot.

Here's to Mary Alice for being our Food Crush of the Month! And to the Charm City Cakes team for being quite rad.

p.s. The "pun" link above is to Christina Aguilera playing Samantha from Sex and the City in an SNL skit. Puntastic and she does an incredible job.

p.p.s. Things we like that we think Mary Alice would also like: Flo Anito, Carol Channing, Elastica, Pasta Plus, Our Tie-Dyed Aqua Fresh Marshmallows, Nibblefest 2007, Laurie Notaro, The Lynda Barry Experience.

25 Recipe Blogs in One Search: The List

2008-01-30T23:26:00.000-05:00

Here is the list of the sites I've included in the Mega Recipe Search. Regular updates and an emphasis on recipes were the criteria. Is your blog missing? Maybe in the wrong place? Let us know in the comments!

We're getting lots of hits here. Hopefully people are finding some great recipes!

Next up, the full list of who is in the search of the DC area food blogs.

-J

101 Cookbooks
80 Breakfasts
Accidental Hedonist
Apartment Therapy
Becks and Posh
Chocolate and Zucchini
Coconut and Lime
Cook Almost Anything
DC Food Blog
Desert Candy
Dorie Greenspan
Eat With Me
Humble Pie
Matt Bites
Milk and Cookies
Orangette
Other People's Food
Serious Eats
Simply Recipes
Smitten Kitchen
Thai Table
Traveler's Lunchbox
Veronica's Test Kitchen
Whipped
Wicked Good Dinner
You Gonna Eat All That?

There's shortcuts and there's shortcuts

2008-01-29T13:05:00.000-05:00

I hate to sound blasphemous but Nigella Express really irritates me. I watch it week after week hoping it will get better and it just gets more annoying. In the grand scheme of what's on the Food Network, it's clearly more satisfying and entertaining that most of what's out there. However, I am grading on a curve here and I am comparing Nigella Express to the divine Nigella Bites, the fabulous Forever Summer, and even the decent and not annoying, Nigella Feasts.

It seems the Nigella overall demeanor and the demeanor of her guests has a rehearsed quality to it. While the dinner scene don't do that forced gushing about the food that Barefoot Contessa is notorious for. The way they talk seem a lot less natural and spontaneous than in her previous series. I also compare that to Jaime Oliver's new show where his delivery just seems a a little messier and therefore a lot more natural. He'll be like "the pepper is the friend of the garlic while the basil is best friends to them all" and somehow it doesn't come off as twee in the least. I think it does help that whoever styles him goes for a deliberately tousled look. When I compare the two shows, a sheen of perfection has settle on Nigella Express while Jaime at Home has an enthusiastic spontaneous energy. And the thing is, some of the stuff he does do, like throwing vegetable scraps directly from his outdoor table into a flower bed, would be really annoying if it didn't seem like Jaime did that sort of thing all the time.

The previous shows were built on a reliable premise - Nigella likes to cook. She may not always have time to cook (i.e. the TV Dinners episode of Nigella Bites) but she doesn't see cooking as this horrible chore. The thing that seems to be missing in Express is that cooking is enjoyable. There are times you really want to just make something that takes all afternoon. At least I do. Sure she took some shortcuts (using boullion cubes and frozen peas), but they weren't shortcuts that compromised the flavor of the dishes and they weren't being used to avoid cooking. however on Nigella Express, she liberally uses bottled lime juice and seriously that stuff has nothing to do with what you squeeze out of the fruit. It's sad because Nigella has been a voice of intelligence, balancing the utter insanity of Martha Stewart perfectionism with the complete the Sandra Lee levels of expediency. I am sad that she's leaning towards the Sandra Lee side of things.

One shortcut I am very happy to use is gyoza skins as ravioli. Ever since New Year's when I made dumplings with round gyoza skins, I have been dying to use them as ravioli. Two Saturdays ago, I went on a riot of cooking, got some peeled, chopped butternut squash from Trader Joe's and made butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sauce. It's probably one of the most successful dish I have ever made. The ravioli froze beautifully and tasted sublime. Here's what I did:

Butternut squash ravioli
1 package of round gyoza skins (these are round and slightly thicker than won ton skins)
1 package of peeled and chopped butternut squash
1/4 cup of dried breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons butter

Roast the squash in the oven for half and hour at 425 degrees. Let cool. Blend the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Add the squash and puree until smooth but not baby food. Put about a tablespoon of the filling onto the gyoza and brush half of the gyoza with the beaten egg. Seal and press out any air. Repeat. A lot. If not using immediately, freeze on a cookie sheet and then put the frozen ravioli in a ziplock bag.

To serve, boil in salt water until they float to the surface. Cook butter until browned. You can add toasted chopped walnuts or a few sage leaves to the butter. Toss the butter and ravioli together and top with shaved parmesan.

I've done the dumpling route. I've done the butternut squash route. What else can I fill these gyoza skins with?

Who's In The Searches, Coming Soon

2008-01-25T20:15:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone, thanks for coming by! We're excited about these custom searches and have heard from several folks wondering which sites are included. Check back soon. We'll put up a list and see if we've left anyone out.

Our goal was to pull together blogs that are consistently being updated (within reason) . I'm sure there are some great ones we are missing, but from the looks of it, people are having a very good time with the Mega DC Food Blog Search. Less so on the recipe search, so we're moving that up the page. I've been having a blast with that one!

And yes, more pictures too!

-J

"Before the Time of Fancy Marshmallow Cream"

2008-01-24T19:01:00.000-05:00

Now and then, I come across some of my grandmother's writings. These are often discovered in the margins of books, sometimes right over the text. She was a prolific writer and cook. In Mary Blake's Carnation Cookbook from 1948 she writes:

December 1994-Sorting out my cookbooks- will sell in April, 1995. My goodness. Remember the first sale at the new house when we brought all the leftovers from two sales at the old? A woman from the new street stole many of my cookbooks- walked right off with them.

As I touched these cookbooks
they are spread all over the house
I'm trying to rid the ones away
or should I say like a baby
from a mother's breast

I remember
certain days
cold outside
wind blowing
as I was cooking

Autumn moods, put
in my stomach,
May sadness - yet again

Could it be I was overjoyed
for it might have been Spring
-time to turn the soil over-
I can raise my kitchen window letting
it announce its presence to me

My man is in sight
I am watching him digging
stopping to shake out
clods of dirt
remaining stubborn

Palomarvelous: Domaso Trattoria

2008-01-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

Domaso (at the Hotel Palomar)

What a lovely meal. Our recent trip to Domaso was wonderful. Specialty cocktails were $8-12 and each was a hit. I was partial to the vanilla bellini.

The room is quiet and elegant. It was very comfortable.

Bread was delicious. Rosemary breadsticks and some soft focaccia. Both were served warm.

Appetizers included sausage stuffed fried olives. A somewhat too-small portion, but delicious and satisfying and a prosciutto di tonno which was unique to me and perhaps my favorite dish of the night. This was prosciutto made of tuna with fennel and orange. Total harmony of texture and flavor on the plate. It has a saba* dressing that was applied with a light touch. I may go back and just have a double portion of this as my meal. Fabulous.

I then had the ravioletti, red snapper ravioli with shrimp, clams, mussels and a tomato and white wine sauce. Again, a lot of balance and harmony as the sea met the pasta and the sauce brought it all together. It had a saltiness to it that some may not like as much as I did, but the flavor was incredible. Fresh and simple and well-portioned.

Others enjoyed spaghettini, and tortelloni and a few other appetizer dishes.

A trio of sorbets was dessert for me and they were expert. Others at the table had a trio of small krafen (Italian doughnuts) which were good, but cream-filled versions were more successful than a Concorde grape.

I tend to not be so worried about service, but service was very attentive.

Don't forget to look at the bar menu-- both for drinks and for a few more small plates.

I will definitely go back and think this is a very nice addition to the DC dining scene.

*Saba was new to me. It's a sweet cooked grape syrup that resembles balsamic vinegar.

See what others are saying about Domaso by using the new blog search on the right. Click here to read what the search turns up for Domaso.

Loafin' around

2008-01-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

For a long time, J didn't like meatloaf. I made a vegetarian version with Gimme Lean log o' meat and I converted J back to the dark side. The great thing about meatloaf is that it is a clear-out-your-fridge dish that is fairly forgiving. The key pieces that make meatloaf, meatloaf are: the meat (obviously), breadcrumbs, eggs, Worchestershire sauce. from there you can go the Italian route (grated parmesan, basil, etc), southwest (jalepeno, cilantro, cumin) or even Asian (shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, spring onions).

So last Thursday we had a bunch of stuff lying around - ground chicken, Mexican chorizo, sun dried tomatoes, and bacon. All of it went into a satisfying meatloaf. Along with the meatloaf, we threw some sweet potatoes in the oven and it made for a nice winter meal. The sweet potatoes only needed a bit of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Here's what we did with our Thursday night meatloaf:

1 lb of ground chicken
2 links of Mexican chorizo
1 egg
1/4 cup of dried breadcrumbs
1/4 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
12 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce (we used JT Pappy Florida Gator Sauce)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
5 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
6 slices of bacon
ketchup

Throw everything except for the bacon and ketchup into a bowl and mix well with your hands (seriously it's the only way to do it). In a greased pan, form the meat mixture into a nice loaf shape. Lay the raw slices of bacon on the loaf lengthwise and then smear the ketchup all over the top of the bacon covered meatloaf. Bake at 375 degrees in the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes. Slice and enjoy.

Leftovers make great meatloaf sandwiches.

DCFB announces New Searches of Recipe Blogs

2008-01-21T13:48:00.000-05:00

So we have two cool new searches. The first is for DC food blogs and shold be great for learning about local restaurants, reviews, etc. The new one (just before the recipe site links section) is for recipe blogs. It does not search huge sites like Epicurious, Food Network, or Chowhound's Home Cooking. But it should be a cool way to see what people are cooking at home and sharing with the world!

Enjoy!

-J

Search Many DC Food Blogs at Once: The Makeover Entry

2008-01-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

DCFoodBlog has a brand new look and all sorts of fun happening. We've had the same look since 2004 and were ready for something fresh! So what's new?

-We created an awesome Mega Search that you can use to find information about restaurants, neighborhoods, and more. When you use the Mega Search over on the right, Google will pull entries from 21 local food blogs. It does not include the local media and larger discussion sites, but we hope this is a fun way to explore blogs and DC food.

-We finally got around to adding links to all the great sites that have been recommended and sent to us! This includes links to all the sites in the Mega Search as well as those that were sent to us as site nominations.

-We added a new section on DC food-related nonprofits. If you are looking for a great place to invest time, energy, and money, each of these is a worthy cause.

-We added a new header photo. This is a beet shooter from a visit to Latino Dim Sum at Cafe Atlantico. J is planning on doing more food photography this year and you'll see it in the template and in the posts.

-We divided the sections up a bit more. DC's food media and the larger message boards have a section of their own, recipe sites have a section as well, and we'll be developing the section on Great Food Links and Blogs that are not in DC and are not focused just on recipe. (Explore Shuna Fish Lydon's site for some mighty fine writing and thinking).

-Last, we've temporarily removed the recipe and restaurant index. It will be back, but is deserving of some TLC.

Here's to 2008! We're excited to write, read, cook, dine, and chow down with everyone.

More to come . . .! -J

5 years married!

2008-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

On January 18, 2003, J and I made our vows to share out lives together. Here's the lyrics to a song we walked into the ceremony.

I Adore You

If I adore you
it is because you are
my love my accomplice and everything
and in the street arm in arm
we are much more that two

Your hands are my caress
my agreed daily affirmation
I adore you because your hands
Work by justice

Your eyes are my spell
Against the bad day
I love you by your glance
that it watches and it sees future

Your mouth that is yours and mine
your mouth is not mistaken
I adore you because your mouth
Knows to shout defiance

And by your sincere face
and your vagabond step
and your weeping for the world
because of this I adore you

And because our love is neither famous
nor innocent
and because we are two
who know we are not alone

I adore you in my paradise
it is to say that in my country
People live happily
although they do not have permission

Splendid Table

2008-01-14T14:20:00.001-05:00

So we're both huge consumers of food media. We've mentioned books and god knows we've talked about TV, but we're also happy to get our food media fix on the radio. Thank god for NPR and its Splendid Table series hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, the Jewish-Italian aunt everyone wishes they had. Lynne is a warm, funny, expansive personality to really delights in talking about food. Along with her bales of laughter, she brings a really deep level of food knowledge. Moreover she's got a wonderfully inquisitive nature that brings out great bits of information from her guests. We discovered the Splendid Table on our trips to the farm. In the DC area it airs from 2:00-3:00 pm every Saturday. That means we usually can catch half of the broadcast and we then download the show via the internet to hear the rest of the broadcast. It's been a welcome addition to my morning commute.

The segments for Splendid Table include:

Road Food with Jan and Michael Stern. This earthy couple roams the country eating out of diners, drive-in and dives but is a zillion times less irritating than that guy on the Food Network. They really let you know what's good at a particular place and what the particular mood and crowd is. They are great compliments to Lynne's earthy love of life. I will say that Michael has the queeniest voice this side of Harvey Fierstein.

Stump the Cook with the nerdy editor of Cook's Illustrated. A very funny segment where people call in, give five completely uncomplimentary ingredients and Lynne has to come up with a recipe using ingredients like: pomegranates, coffee, sour cream, corn, and butterscotch. Chris Kimball is the judge of how good the recipe is. While I love both Chris and Lynne in this, the challenge isn't particularly useful because I would just eat everything separately.

Finally, there's my favorite section which is the call-in part. People call in to Splendid Table looking for cooking tips, food trivia and even advice on how to patent a recipe. For the most part the callers are delightful. Case in point - an 8-year-old who wants to make baked French toast. Lynne tells the girl to layer the bread in a baking pan and says it's ok if the slices of bread overlap. The girl responds, "there are worse things in the world."

Along with the regular sections she has segments about ingredients, farming, travel, and food history. On top of that she has delightful guest like Nigella Lawson and Nora Ephron. The only thing I don't like is the wine segments which bore me to tears (sorry sis!).

But if anyone likes talking, eating or hearing about food, the Splendid Table is a great way to go.

Babe's - crazy ass amounts of food

2008-01-07T17:02:00.001-05:00

One of the highlights of our trip to Texas was going to Babe's, a local Texas chain of restaurants that is a true Texas experience. It's a family-style, old-time dinner joint complete with stuffed animals on the walls (and we're not talking teddy bears) and honky tonk signs saying "Life's too short to live in Houston." On top of the roombiance, periodically the waitresses would start doing karaoke to Shania Twain and Bonnie Raitt on the jukebox. Because the food is served family style, most people were coming in groups of nine or ten. Our own group included myself, J, J's brother and parents and J's sister and her family of four. We were lucky to come at 5:30 (when the restaurant was already 3/4 full) because when we left two hours later it was packed with mange many large parties waiting outside.

This was Texas so you know the servers were going to be nice. When they say family style, the food is served family style. All of the food is in platters in the middle of the table and plates are passed around. You get a choice of meat that includes fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fried chicken tenders, smoked chicken, catfish, and pot roast. Since the Babe's is known for their fried chicken, we al went with fried chicken. The meal started off with salad dressed in a solution of white vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper, and water. No oil. It made for a surprisingly light and refreshing salad. J's Mom said that this was the dressing she grew up with. along with the salad came feather light biscuits accompanied by butter, honey and molasses. Already we were feeling happy and sated and the main course was yet to come.

After the salad, the chicken came in big platters along with sides of Mashed Potatoes
Creamy Gravy, Green beens, and Grandma's Corn. I'd like to highlight Grandma's corn which is shaved fresh from the cob and is in a thick corn milk sauce. It was sweet and fresh at the same time. The trip was worth it just for the corn. The chicken itself was surprisingly moist and tender. Kind of like a homey version of KFC. One good thing about the chicken is that it tastes great cold the next day. Essentially everyone was served the equivalent of half a chicken which meant many many leftovers.

For dessert we have a choice of peach cobbler and banana pudding. The clear winner was banana pudding which tasted like a banana version of creme anglaise. Babe's is kind of a once a year type of place because of the insane portions but it's well worth going there once a year.

A few cooking things

2008-01-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

So Friday, I had this urge for both finger foods and vegetables. Go figure. As a result I made pigs in blankets, broccoli slaw, and bacon wrapped dates. That was like the best dinner ever. The pigs in blankets were of the crescent roll-lil' smokie variety and the broccoli slaw was a bag of broccoli slaw (yes you can find it in the bag o' salad part of your grocery store), dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts with a nice balsamic vinaigrette. The true kicker was the too easy to be true bacon wrapped dates. Basically, take a few dates and take out the seed which makes a remarkably neat hole for you to fill. I filled in with a 1/4 inch chunk of pecorino romano. then you just wrap the whole shebang in 1/3 of a slice of bacon (cut widthwise), secure with a toothpick and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. I found that the bacon needed some time in a hot frying pan to fully render out the fat. The end product was a Jaleo worthy meld of sweet and salty.

The other thing I made this weekend was an amaretto cake. While we were grocery shopping, we looked wistfully at all of the expensive holiday cakes soaked in rum, or frangelico or amaretto. For some reason they were not on sale and therefore, prohibitively expensive. I decided to make my own. I figure I'd find a recipe somewhere. In all of my cookbooks there wasn't really a cake that fit my needs so I made one up. I adapted the Barefoot Contessa lemon cake since it was a cake that required soaking the cake in a lemon syrup. I substituted amaretto everywhere the recipe asked for lemon. It made two cakes. One of which I iced and sliced immediately and the other I put in the freezer. The first was lovely, but the syrup really didn't soak through. I then took the second out of the freezer, poked a zillion holes in hte loaf and made another batch of syrup to soak the cake. We're still finishing the first loaf so I'll report later on whether the second loaf had the requisite soaking.

BTW, the homemade gyoza for New Years turned out PERFECTLY! I made it before the holidays and froze them. They boiled to perfection and none of them exploded in the pot. The key is using round gyoza skins and NOT won ton skins which are much thinner. The gyoza would also be perfect for ravioli.

Stories Coming! Happy New Year . . .

2007-12-31T17:16:00.000-05:00

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

2007-12-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

I love that song. It's just so wistful and hopeful at the same time. Our friend Thank Heaven For Little Girls is hosting this year and in a fit of creativity, I suggested doing a tasting menu. The centerpiece of the tasting menu is a set of soups served in cheesy shot glasses. I've collected a few from Dollywood, Disneyworld, and New York and I thought it would be hilarious to have an elegant soup in a shot glass that says "Maryland - We're not angry, just crabby."

My contributions to the tasting menu will be:

Tom Kha soup with shitake mushrooms and crab (in a shot glass)
Vietnamese spring rolls
Crab dumplings in a Chinese soup spoon with a sauce of black vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil
Fake log o' meat dumplings with the same sauce (served in a soup spoon as well)

By the way, J and I went to Central Market to get fixin's for my Hawaiian inspired meal I made for J's mother for Mother's day. For anyone outside of Texas, Central Market is like Whole Foods on steroids. It's got a whole sauce bar that has onion dip, a zillion kinds of salsa, and even mole. It's pretty incredible. It ranks right up there with Wegman's. So at Central Market we just had to get Meyer lemons because they have such a delicate fragrance and flavor. They are availabel like one month a year and even then aren't really at supermarkets. Any suggestions for using them? We were thinking a Meyer lemon panna cotta. What do you all think?

Tales from Christmas 2007 - the Croquembouche

2007-12-26T07:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the radio silence. We're out in the great state of Texas with J's family. I have been reading J's mother's scrapbooks like they were the rosetta stone. I love reading personal history (perhaps that's why I read so many blogs).

As with any other family, food is a big part of Christmas with te J family. Because J's sister had to have an early dinner with her in-laws, the J family Christmas celebration was an early brunch, complete with two spirited boys in football uniforms.

It always amazes me how organized J's mother is about making big meals. The night before, the table was set, all of the food was prepared and in the freezer The only thing to do was to reheat. One the menu was:

Sunday brunch egg casserole (complete with Jimmy Dean sausage)
Cheese grits
Citrus salad
Little smokies (made because J's nephew recently had pigs in blanket and only ate the pig)
Sausage balls (sausage mixed with bisquick)
Mini blueberry muffins
Cheese pennies
Cream puffs rolled in powdered sugar
Pumpkin brean with chocolate chips
Cranberry danishes (I made)
A HUUUUUUGE assortment of cookies and candy

And finally, a croquembouche. J's brother recently has gotten into cooking and is pretty ambitious about what he'd like to make. A croquembouche really intrigued J's brother and J is as adventurous a cook as he is an eater. So Christmas Eve, we made the vanilla pastry cream (quite delicious) and the cream puffs (or choux). The pastry cream went without a hitch but hell's bells the cream puffs bedeviled us. You see, choux paste is a very old recipe with very easy proportions. The basic recipe (which I got from Mastering the Art of French Cooking) goes like this:

1 stick of butter
1 cup of water
1 cup of flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt

You melt the butter in the water, bring to a vigorous simmer and dump the flour in all at once. Stir until the paste gathers together and is hard to stir. I like to stir in on low heat to make sure the flour incorporates. Many recipes say t take it off the heat once you add the flour. Once the paste is made, add the four eggs either big stirring even more vigorously (and building your forearms) or dumping the paste into a food processor and incorporating the eggs that way. Once done, quickly dump tablespoonfuls of the paste into an old ratty cookie sheet that is completely uninsulated. A pastry bag would be helpful here to pipe the dough and made sure the surface is smooth. Bake for around 20 minutes until the choux are puffed and golden.

That's how it SHOULD have worked but for some reason, the first batch of dough we ended up with turned into a batter. I grilled J over and over about our measurements and decided the dump the whole thing and start over. Luckily, the next batch was a sucuess. That night we filled the choux with the pastry cream and set them in the freezer.

In the morning we made the caramel sauce and the melted sugar to bind the whole shebang together. The melt sugar consisted of sugar, water and corn syrup heated to 320 degrees. on there we dipped one side of the choux in the sugar and stuck it onto another cream puff. Once we had a nicering of choux, we pour the caramel sauce on top. We had enough pastry to make a very nice castle wall with cream puff turrets. A little less than the big tower of cream puffs, but I pointed out, we only had 11 people for brunch. The best part though was dipping a few forks in the melted sugar and making spun sugar that glistened around the castle wall. it was nice collaboration between J, j's brother and me. And while I won't kid anyone about it being a pain in the ass to make, we all had a good time making it.

It's All Nigella All the Time

2007-12-19T20:49:00.000-05:00

That's because I used a Barnes and Noble gift certificate to buy How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Nigella's baking book. Like every other Nigella book, it's an out and out great read. I've been salivating to make something from the book and I decided to go all out and making something really complicated - Danish. This would be a complicated recipe what with all of the butter and the rollng, but while there were many steps involving many hours of rising, no one step was all too complicated. It turned out wonderfully - buttery, flaky, and absolutely delicious. There isn't too much sugar in the dough itself so you could just as easily put in a savory filling like ham and cheese or spinach and feta. I used two types of fillings - cranberry jam (from the same book) and raspberries and blackberries. I found the berries were too wet and a bit too tart. The danish needed something more sugary.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk at room temperature
1 large egg at room temperature
2 1/4 cups of all purpose or bread flour
1 package of yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup of butter cold, and cut into thin slices.

Pur the water and milk into a measuring cup and add the egg, beating with a fork to mix. Put to one side in a warm place. Put the flour yeast, salt, and sugar in the processor, and give one quick whizz to mix. Add the cold slices of butter and process briefly until the butter is cut up to visible chunks around 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch. Empty the contents of of the food processor into a large bowl and quickly add the contents of the cup of liquid. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients together, but don't overdo it: expect to have a gooey mess with some butter lumps pebbling it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator at least overnight or up to 4 days.

After having it sit overnight, take the dough out of the fridge and let it got to room temperature and roll out to a 20 inch square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter, turning it afterward so that the closed fold is on your left, like the spine of a book. Roll out again to a 20 inch square and releat the steps above 3 times. Cut the dough in half and fold up each half to a manageable size and wrap both pieces in plastic wrap. Let sit in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes and up to 4 days. To make the Danish, cut each dough into eight squares.

To make specialized danishes, Nigella offers two recipes, one with a homemade almond paste and a cheese one with ricotta. I decided to use the cranberry jam and the mixed fruit. Jam or a thick fruit compote is ideal. There are two ways to put together the danish. One is to put the filling in the middle diagonally and then fold two edges towards the middle. The other way is to plop a heaping spoonful of the filling directly into the middle of the square and fold all the corners towards the middle to keep the square shape. Either way, let the Danishes rise in a warm place for an hour and a half. Brush with an egg wash made from a beaten egg and 2 tablespoons of milk. Then bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until golden. Let cool and drizzle a glaze made with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of warm water.

One final thing. Is anyone watching Battle of the Choirs? It's twelve kinds of awesome. And the superstar of the show is Nick Lachey and his choir. As someone who sang in a choir for eight years, I love that he actually wants the choir to sing as a choir and not just a singer with some backup singers. But boo Blake Shelton whose choir kind of blows.

In Defense of Milk Chocolate

2007-12-17T16:46:00.001-05:00

Ok. It seems as if chocolate is the new cheese which was the new wine. It's all about the percentages of cocoa nibs and all artisinal and crap. even more so it's all about the dark. Good chocolate has to be dark, dark, dark or it's just some plebian slab of sugar. To that I say phooey. I have a deep and abiding love of milk chocolate and want to defend the milk chocolate and mellow flavors in general.

You know I do love bitterness (hee!). I love bitter greens. I love sharp flavors like lime, mustard, and vinegar. Anyone whose been with me to an Asian restaurant know I can bring the spicy like noone's business. But does that mean they should push out lovely soft mellow flavors? For all of the oohing and aahing about dark chocolate with high cocoa content, you've just got to love the balance of sweet, sharp and creamy in a bar of milk chocolate. Milk chocolate certainly adds a lot to bake goods, enhancing the sweetness instead of competing with it. While dark chocolate may be a better vehicle for flavors like coffee, flavors like hazelnut really sing in a matrix of milk chocolate. Finally, while everyone is all purist about their truffles, I've found milk chocolate makes a smoother and more stable truffle.

I hope someone out there starts making some artisinal milk chocolates so it doesn't get relegated to the Halloween candy aisle for good. While dark chocolate may be about sophistication, milk is about comfort.

Nigella's Christmas Kitchen - Salzburg!

2007-12-11T09:57:00.001-05:00

Oh MY GOD! We're in Salzburg, land of Mozart and the Von Trapps. The Salzburg Christmas market looks like a postcard and winter really agrees with Nigella as she's in a comfy white trenchcoat and is happily declaring her love of Christmas and its twinkling lights. OH! The Nigella Christmas Kitchen lights! Oh how I love them! Cut to yet another market shot, this time with candied apples. And then linzer cookies! Next Nigella's on a balcony overlooking the market talking about the aroma of mulled wine. This episode she will make Christmas cake (fruitcake), ham, and spiced hard cider.

Dear god I want to hop a plane right now to do to Salzburg. It's so quaint and pretty. (And it really is that way). Nigella comes home with her suitcase and waxes on about the aromas of Christmas at home. Her first dish is mulled hard cider. To show I'm a lightweight, I spent my year in England drinking pints and pints of hard cider as I still couldn't appreciate a good lager (I still can't). Nigella points out she's doing cider instead of wine because wine can get a cough syrup thing going on. I completely agree. One time J and I bought this bottle of organic cherry juice form Trader Joe's and it was like drinking cough syrup. BLECH! Anyway, into the pot goes cinnamon sticks, cardamom (Scandinavian and Middle Eastern at the same time), brown sugar, clementines with cloves stuck into them, bay leaves (?), and ginger and apple tea and finally a splosh of rum. She lets the mixture simmer for 10 minutes and ladles a cup for herself. I love that she admits she cracks cardamom with her teeth. Oooh! Bumper with the Christmas lights!

Bumper back to the show, we get Nigella slicing a ham and then a happy scene of people eating around a Christmas tree. At the kitchen, Nigella says that until recently she's cooked her hams the way her mother does, which is to say immersing them in simmering water to leech out the saltiness. Nigella says that the new hams aren't as salty so that method isn't relevant. In the bottom of her couscous steamer, Nigella puts the ham (snugly!) and red wine. Nigella wins me over even more by expressing her disdain fr highfalutin wine writers that talk about blackberry scents and new car smells (hee!). She does, however, appreciate the aromatic flavor of wine. Into the pot goes fennel, an onion, garlic, fennel seeds, peppercorns, and star anise. She then adds enough water to over the ham. The ham will cook for three hours to infuse with the winy juices. Oh more Salzburg!

After Salzburg, Nigella makes a glaze with red currant jelly, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and red wine vinegar. While the jelly melts, Nigella takes the rind and a little of the fat off the ham and cuts a diamond pattern into the remaining fat and inserts cloves into the diamond pattern. She puts the glazed ham in a hot oven to cook the outside for 15 minutes. A typical entertaining Nigella meal scene. Lots of conversation around the giant Dr. Seussian ham.

I feel a kinship to Nigella because she's telling us how she prefers winter holidays in the snow to tropical vacations. As someone who honeymooned in Toronto in January, I heartily agree. She does this in front of a gorgeous ski slope. At home, Nigella makes cookies with her kids. This time they actually cook with her, measuring the flour, butter, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon and black pepper (to keep the children from eating them all). To the mixture she adds an egg, beaten with honey. What I love is that the ids are doing the cooking. I can't wait to see her daughter Cosima all grown up because right now she has those interesting, slightly awkward features that say "supermodel in five years." The kids roll out the cookies and bake (making sure to cut out a hole to turn them into ornaments). To decorate they use white icing and silver dragees.

Nigela then narrates the cookie decorating from the ski slopes. Her kids genuinely look like they are having fun decorating. Nigella's last dish is a fruitcake! Yay! I love fruitcake. It was something my grandmother loved and it just brings back Proustian memories. If only they would leave out those bizarre green things. Anyway into a pot, Nigella throws raisins, currants, and chopped prunes (which she describes as wrinkled up teddy bear noses). As she chops, she talks about the horror of bad fruitcake but says fruitcake is necessary. Her version is to put everything into a saucepan. Into the fruit she throws in Tia Maria coffee liquer, butter, pumpkin spices, dark brown sugar, and honey. To the thick mond of liquid she puts in the zest and juice of an orange. Finally she adds a few tablespoons to chocolate to give a ghost of chocolate flavor. She lines the cake time with a crown of reusable baking parchment. Into the fruit and stuff, she adds the cake ingredients of eggs, flour, and baking soda. The cake goes into a low oven for two hours.

When the cake comes out she decorates it with chocolate covered espresso beans and edible glitter (to choirs of angels singing) along with edible gold stars and another round of silver dragees. What is up with her thing with dragees? Is she trying to break a tooth? Ah another Nigella entertaining scene with kids decorating the tree and people eating fruitcake. We end with Nigella diving into a huge piece of fruitcake as a late night snack and having a nip of Tia Maria.

Late night inspiration

2007-12-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

Ok. It sounds like the Nigella Christmas specials are happening all December! Wheee! I loved the last one (which I will be recapping) mainly because it has scenes set in Salzburg, land of Mozart and the Von Trapps. And if anyone doubts that I didn't hit the Sound of Music Tour while I was in Salzburg and I didn't force my friend to do the Sixteen Going on Seventeen Dance at the the gazebo, you obviously don't know me at all.

Anywhoo, I was in bed reading Feasts when I got to the chapter on cranberries where the easiest jam recipe ever appears. As most of who've made cranberry sauce know, cranberries have a LOT of pectin. That's why the cranberry sauce sets up so well. Therefore, the only ingredients you really need for cranberry jam are cranberries and sugar. So at 11:15pm, I raced out of bed, got the bags of cranberries that were lingering in our freezer form Thanksgiving and made the jam. It's 2 minutes of prep, 7 minutes of cooking, and 15 minutes of cooling. That's it.

Here's the recipe as I did it.

4 cups of fresh cranberries
1 3/4 cups of sugar
I added the zest and the juice of one orange and the juice of one lime (they were hanging around!)

Put a little dessert plate in the freezer. In a large saucepan, toss all the ingredients together and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar dissolves, turn the heat up to a boil and let the jam heat vigorously for 7 minutes. Test the jam by putting a half a teaspoon of jam onto the frozen dessert plate. if you run your finger trough the drop of jam and the track your finger made is still there (because hopefully the liquid is thick enough not to ooze back), then the jam is ready. As you all know I can't be bothered sterilize jars so I put enough jam for a week in a jar that goes in the fridge and the rest of the jam goes in tupperware in the freezer.

I highly recommend this recipe. It is very forgiving and open to add-ins (ginger!). I just had some this morning on a brioche roll and it was heaven on a bun!

Nigella's Christmas Kitchen

2007-12-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

My deep and abiding love for Nigella Lawson knows no bounds. However, I really wish the Food Network would just run her shows without doing a hatchet job on them. With the Nigella Bites series they would cut whole scenes out to the point of leaving out the preparation of whole dishes. If anyone could run the Style Network's airing of Nigella Bites versus the Food Network, you'll see what a horrible job the Food Network does airing Nigella's shows. Sadly it's the same story with her second Christmas special. But happily Nigella is Nigella and the show (apart from Food Network's cutting and pasting) is wonderfully produced.

Open with Nigella's Christmas party in full swing. A turkey is laid out and Christmas lights are everywhere. Already I am wondering if the music from the special is on an iTunes playlist because its funny jazzy Christmas music. Nigella slips away to talk to the tv audience and say that while Christmas dinners can be sources of great joy but they can also be fear inducing and fraught. She embraces the meal that includes a panaloply of dishes by making a careful plan of action. She is evangelical about it. We then go to the bumper to commercials with a string of lights that spells out Nigella's Christmas Kitchen. Do they sell that on ebay?

The cooking actually starts in Nigella's new kitchen (the one that is in the house she shares with husband Charles Saatchi) where she fills a big red tub with water to start a brine for the turkey. She extols the virtues of brining the tueky to ensure moistness. Having had scotte's brined turkey I heartily concur. Her's has cloves, caraway, star anise, mustard seeds, allspice berries and cinnamon. She revels in throwing everything in with abandon. To help the flavors infuse, she throws in both massive amounts of salt, sugar, and maple syrup. She then cuts up an onion and plops it in as well saying that onions are always the basis of savory flavor (how true!)She assures people that the turkey will not somehow taste like all of the spices but just has a fuller depth of flavor. Wow, and then goes in ginger, an orange and parsley. Making a baby with bathwater analogy, she throws the turkey into the brine. With more confidence in the weather staying cold than I, she shoves the whole bucket o'brine in her backyard. Good luck on that one. Cut to a scene of all of the post-it notes with her to-dos.

Beside her tree, Nigella writes her plan of attack. First up is making a gravy and then making roast potatoes, maple roast parsnips, and brussel sprouts cooked with chestnuts and pancetta. Actually she first makes her redder than red cranberry sauce that's fairly standard with the addition of cherry brandy. It's a simple matter of simmering the cranberries until they pop and throwing them into a bowl. Oh the happy bumper of Nigella lights and an awesome jazzy Christmas song!

After commercial Nigella a red robe as if she's just woke up (in full makeup!). She releases they turkey from its briny bath with a pair of leopardskin gloves. She leaves the turkey to sit at room temperature and makes the beginnings of an allspice gravy. It looks like she's making stock (carrots, celery, bay leaves) with the addition of allspice and cinnamon. In a bit of evil Food Network editing, Nigella also puts in a clementine that she says she used the zest to make gingerbread stuffing. However, nowhere in the episode do we get to see the gingerbread stuffing being made. To make it taste like turkey she puts in the turkey neck and then simmers the whole mess covered. I think Ella Fitzgerald is singing Winter Wonderland in the background as Nigella's kids are playing. I will have to say that Winter Wonderland is my favorite holiday song. My brother and I would sing it as a duet in on long winter car rides. He would sing "sleigh bells ring..." and I would respond "are you listening?" And thus I evaproate any bit of street cred my brother my made. Sorry B.

Nigella then peels potatoes and parsnips as her kids play connect four. She waxes on and on about the joys of repetitive activity like peel vegetables and Brussels sprout. I call bullshit because I firmly believe she would have conscripted her kids to do that work. In a time saving bit, she extols the virtues of roasting things in foil pans to alleviate the cleanup.

Cutting the sprouts, Nigella cuts Xes in her Brussels sprouts and then parboils them as well as parboiling her potatoes, cutting them into big chunks. To help the turkey skin crisp, Nigella makes a "bronzing liquid" with butter and maple syrup to brush over the turkey. And more fun jazzy music!

Back from commercial Nigella takes out the potatoes and dredges them in semolina (a family tradition) and then plops them in a foil roasting pan with hot goosefat. The potatoes sizzle as they are dropped into the goosefat which she mentions is high in omega fatty acids (which makes them health food). She salivates over the sizzling potatoes. Okay her dining room is gorgeous and full of candles and strings of lights. She then goes over the virtues of buying a Christmas pudding and making her own rum butter (which we never see! - BOOO!) She put the pudding into the steamer and then pours maple syrup over the parsnips in a roasting pan (foil of course).

One unique thing about Nigella's shows are the completely believable party scenes. She's filling everyone's glasses with champagne and people are talking. And not the fake talk where everyone is complimenting her cooking. More jazzy bluesy Christmas music. Nigella is serious about her Brussels sprouts. She dumps the boiled sprouts into a colander and then sautees pancetta and chestnuts in butter. She adds a splosh of marsala and then the sprouts. A sprout that is lousy and waterlogged is vile so she only cooks hers for five minutes and then sautees. She covers the pan with a lid and let it steam with the heat off.

When return from commercial (and those disturbing CGI-claymation versions of Food Network stars - let Giada-bot close her mouth!), Nigella's daughter is pour her friends sparkling cranberry juice. Nigella takes out of the turkey and then makes the gravy with the pan juices and the allspice stock. She then puts in a vast platter with roast potatoes and parsnips. The turkey and sides come out and along with the phantom stuffing is also phantom mashed potatoes. At dinner people are pulling apart Christmas crackers (as in firecrackers) as Nigella carves. More believable conversation.

The final scene is the spectacular steam Christmas pudding with the flaming alcohol poured on top. Now this is the rightful moment where people should be oohing and aahing over the food. Nigella recommends using vodka for Christmas pudding because it will burn with a blue flame all night long. It looks like a fun party. But you know what was a fun party? Thanksgiiving at Scotte's where Stef, Jason, Joyous and I were wondering if Giada's boobs could possibly get any bigger now that she's pregnant. They might need their own walker at that point. Good times people. If only Food Network would keep their grubby hands off of Nigella's shows and show them in their entirety.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

I realize that i really don't have a Thanksgiving routine. Sometimes I fly out to California to spend time with family. Sometimes I stay in DC and J and I host. This year, J was visiting a friend in Asheville and I was lucky enough to be invited to Scotte's. What did we eat? Take a look here.

I had a great time. It was kind of a blogger Thanksgiving with three other bloggers at Scott and Jason's. Like Scott and Jason, their friends are really delightful. Scott put together little cards for everyone asking them an interesting question to provoke conversation. I, however, am the conversation killer where I got the "what's one restaurant you want to go to before you die?" And I responded, "French Laundry. Period." In between courses we watched Ratatouille and Sordid Lives, a totally hilarious indie movie about over the top personalities in a small Texas town.

The tasting menu consisted of a warm lentil salad (which I came too late for), a sage and onion tart, and a butternut squash and apple soup. I absolutely adored the sage and onion tart. Usually I avoid sage as I think it just has a musty flavor but here it complimented the onion and balsamic vinegar. The actual meal was traditional and best in class, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and the light for me, collard greens. They were made with smoked turkey wings and tasted absolutely wonderful. There was a good balance of the smoke and salt in the collards.

I am immensely impressed by how completely organized Scott and Jason are in their cooking. The kitchen was spotless and the food came out piping hot. They managed to have enough refrigerator space to brine their turkey and seemed to clean up and get plates out without a dishwasher! They were a well-oiled machine! Contrary to what Scott thinks, he did carve the turkey expertly.

Thanks to the two of you for a delightful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for bloggers!

Finally, the week before Thanksgiving marks the 8th year that J and I have been together. EIGHT YEARS! Wooo!!!!! Thanks J. It's been the best eight years of my life.

Gratitude

2007-11-22T07:44:00.000-05:00

Love, life, family, friends, spirit, senses, humor, expression,
Experience, perspective, reflection, flexibility, education,
Motion, narrative, story, history, truth, knowledge,
Light, color, shape, texture.

Performers, teachers, chefs, artists, writers, thinkers,
Farmers, workers, activists, organizers,
Volunteers, immigrants.

Appreciation evolved beyond tolerance,
simplicity with knowledge of complexity,
self-preservation with love for community,
consciousness married to critical thinking,
creativity without shame.

A swirling kitchen
A house full
A host

Outsider perspective
Feminist thought
Consideration
Action
Rest

The wild mind in whirl
Speaking with voice
Striving gently
Healthy silence
Peace

T

-J

p.s. And for today. Those who grew or raised the food we eat. Those who cooked it. Those who engaged and made warmth with one another at the table and those who had not found much to do who got up before anyone else and got going on the dishes.

What's next? Fashion Week? Feng Shui Classes at Zengo

2007-11-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

I think we've graduated from the blogging farm team to the blogging minor leagues. We went to a press event for Zengo restaurant in Chinatown where the press (that's us - HAH!) participated in a cooking Feng Shui class.

I was hoping we'd rearrange some furniture and put in a koi pond, but it was a class to talk about feng shui in cooking and drinking. The feng shui press event was to introduce their monthly cooking and mixology classes. Starting January, Zengo will be having classes the last Monday of every month.

We figure we were asked because Zengo was on our list of places to try. Not really sure why, but we decided to give it a shot. We've been asked to promote a few places in the past several months and might have done so if we had been to the place, but we've tried to have the blog be a bit more about our experiences and how we've enjoyed food here, there, and everywhere.

So we had never been to Zengo. From the outside it looked like a bar but once we got inside it was a sleek, sexy, hip eatery. If the food matched the decor, that was in reds and rusts, then this would be a place wed come back and pay for a meal. We've never been to a press event for anything sexy before. We've been to press events for the introduction or passage of a bill or the opening of a community center. But at a hip restaurant?

We came fairly late and sat at the table with the representatives from the Herradura Tequila U.S. distributors. Herradura Silver is a top shelf tequila (bring a ladder) that J was familiar with before the event. (Texas will do that to you).

Part of the class would be margarita making, using Herradura tequila. While T is more of a rum person, good liquor is good liquor. And you know, we really enjoyed it.

We came to the table and there were lobster potstickers and edamame waiting for us. The potstickers were divine, although T did think the sweetness of the lobster wasn't allowed to shine in this dish. What did make the dish was the wasabi plum sauce. One would think that the sweetness of the plum sauce would fight with the sharp salty flavor of the wasabi but they really worked together. The wasabi gave what would be a syrupy sweet sauce a nice tang and heat.

Next up, we met Ms. Claudia, the totally awesome beverage director for the restaurant group that Zengo is a part of. Think a warm Celine Dion crossed with an Almodavarian party hostess. She beckoned us to order a drink. With such yummy tequila on hand we had to start with margaritas. And OH MY GOD. They were mindblowing. The margarita was smooth. Really smooth.

As described by our tablemates, traditional margaritas in Mexico are tequila and lime juice. Period. Sometimes with a bit more of this and that, but often not. With a really great tequila I can see how this would be possible. We had more fun with Claudia as she talked to us about her role as beverage director, developing beverages for each of the restaurants in the Modern Mexican Restaurant Group.

Before the actual class starts, we order another round of drinks, a margarita for J and a mango mojito for T. And once again. OH MY GOD. If there was ever a drink for T, this was it. It was sweet and sharp. The mango worked organically with the flavors of the lime as opposed to being a kitschy add-in. Someone's been feng shui-ing their drinks.

We were then given Kobe Beef gyoza dumplings before starting the actual learning. These were truly exceptional. The beef was tender and flavorful and the black vinegar soy sauce cut through the rich and savory flavor of the beef. Well done.

We learned from Claudia, now our favorite gregarious, badass, amazon mixologist, that she wouldn't really advise making a big pitcher of margaritas to lay around unless the goal is to just get drunk. You make it fresh -- as we were about to do. The most important part is that you don't leave the ice laying around. It needs to be separate and mixed in at the last minute. We learned how silver tequila won't fight with the juice, that cocktail measurements can be as vital as baking measurements, and more. We got to use jiggers and shakers (a great name for a girly bar) and while J made his perfectly and got a stamp of approval from Claudia, T was not so lucky, but then again T is a rum man.

After the drink class, which continued for J as he was making the drinks for some of our new friends, we were joined by a few pro journalists. An editor at DC magazine and a travel writer for USA Today. In a entry rife with exclamation points, this is taking the cake. We were hitting with the big boys and girls. Not some of the big foodie names, the marketing people told us that reviewers didn't go to these things. We also learned that we were the only bloggers at the event. Surreal considering how much we love to read some of our more popular DC foodie blogs. We may have been the only ones to say yes?

But really, whoever thought that we would be at a press event with real journalists? It was surreal. It's not really what we have been going for and probably not where we are headed, but it was very fun to step into another world for a while.

OK, back to the food: Before the sushi-making part of the class we tried Zengo's raw hamachi with cucumber and shiso on a Chinese soup spoon. It had a bright, clean flavor. Delicious.

But this was overshadowed by the Arepas Vegetariano, cornmeal cakes with shitake mushrooms cooked in what tasted like hoisin with avocado and crema. These were just divine and gave the Asian influenced meal a nice heartiness. Like the margaritas, we really wanted more. We will definitely look for these when we go back to Zengo.

The sushi making class affirmed why you leave that stuff up to the professionals. The chef de cusine deftly prepared a huge slab of sushi-grade ahi tuna for the sushi demonstration. In about ten minutes he made a perfect tuna roll garnished with a sesame-chipotle rouille. The chipotle was a nice addition to the sushi, adding a wasabi-like spice with a nice amount of smokiness.

T had to wait a while to try my hand at the sushi making since only one station was set up at first. The excellent Zengo staff noticed that there was a like of guests waiting to make sushi and set up three more stations. Unfortunately, the chef de cuisine could only focus on one person at a time. T was able to get my sushi to look like a nicely shaped log but completely fell apart when Y tried cutting the log into bite-sized pieces. A little more instruction would have helped but there were quite a few people at the sushi-making station. Luckily, however messy his sushi looked, it tasted absolutely wonderful.

While we would have liked to try our hand at some more mixology, T had to leave for Cleveland the next day so we ended our evening with the warm goodbyes from the Zengo staff. As an added bonus we got a bag of swag which included a nice cocktail shaker. To those of you who are real food writers, is it always like this? While neither of us are writing this blog to be online celebrities, it's fun to have an evening where we're treated like rockstars.

Fried Pies!

2007-11-19T11:47:00.000-05:00

Ok. I just had a moment of inspiration. The Thanksgiving meal that I am going to is probably going to be utterly mindblowing and elegant. Seriously, it has a TASTING menu. No event I have ever thrown has had a tasting menu.

Along with my pear tart tatin, I will be making.... FRIED PIES!

This is straight out of the Paula Deen playbook (or should I say cook book). I am rolling out canned biscuit dough with a premade (by me!) apple pie filling. With fried pies, because the cooking time is so fast, you need to precook the filling. When I've done it in the past, I've made a half recipe of pie filling (four apples, 1/4 cup of cranberries) and sauteed the mixture in a shallow pan for about 5 minutes until the apples have soften and the flour in the mixture has thickened the juices. After that, put about two tablespoons of the mixture in a biscuit that's been rolled to 1/4 inch thick; fold the dough over the filling and crimp with a fork. Fry in 2 inches of regular vegetable oil until golden brown on both sides. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Looking for a Thanksgiving side dish and dessert?

2007-11-14T12:53:00.001-05:00

yes I have scored an invite to an awesome Thanksgiving meal from an awesome fellow blogger. I think I will make a small turkey the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to have a turkey to pick on for the rest of the weekend. As written in the invite, what the host would appreciate is desserts and wine. I do have a lovely Riesling from my Virginia winery trip earlier this fall so I have that covered. But I also need to MAKE something. I am thinking of doing two desserts - my old standby, the ever beloved apple crostada with a creme anglaise and a pear tart glazed with a cardamom syrup and a nice sliced og Gorgonzola on the side. You see last Thanksgiving when J and I hosted, he made baklava and I made a griddle cakes with pears and Gorgonzola. In a Reese's Peanut butter Cup moment, we dipped the extra pear in the cardamom syrup from the baklava and topped it with Gorgonzola and a little slice of heaven was made. So I have to try my hand at recreate those flavors as a dessert. I was thinking of using the pear tart tatin recipe and tossing the pears in cardamom. What do you all think?

This Monday, J and I made the perfect fall meal. A tatsoi salad with homemade pickled onions (sugar, salt, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar), a quinoa pilaf that was cooked with shitake and porcini mushrooms, and a fall vegetable mash. The pilaf was good but needed a boost of flavor. Call me a philistine but I don't get the hoo hah over procini mushrooms. The soaking liquid made a good broth base but the mushrooms themselves were bland. The mash on the other hand was spectacular. We had cauliflower, turnips, and yukon gold potatoes from the farm so I boiled them all in salted water, put the cauliflower and turnips in the food processor and then mashed the potatoes by hand. I put stirred them together with more salt, olive oil and butter. And surprisingly, no milk or cream. Unlike regular mashed potatoes, the cauliflower and turnips makes it easy to reheat on the stovetop.

I am eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving, given that I don't have to clean!

FAAAAHYNE Cooking

2007-11-12T20:55:00.000-05:00

Have I told you all how much I adore Fine Cooking magazine? It's totally expensive at $6.95 an issue but J got me a subscription for my birthday I've been reading it before I go to bed every night. Fine cooking combines the great photography with Cook's Illustrated-style of tips. The layout is really clear and readable with nice food pron shots. They go into ingredients, cuisines and techniques in depth. Throughout the issue there are themes where advice and tips are given.

So in my issue, there's tips on putting together a cheeseboard. Another section has readers write in to give their own tips such as using an ice cream scoop to scoop out the flesh of butternut squash. The highlight of the holiday issue for me was making crispy potato pancakes. The instructions were very clear and they are really good about emphasizing directives that make or break a dish, including using starchy potatoes, grating potatoes in a food processor, and frying only a few in a pan.

So here's the receipe J an I made (a double batch!)

Honey Almond Granola

4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup of oat bran
2 cups who almonds, coarsely chopped (sliced almonds work great)
1 cup nonfot dry milk powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 honey
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract (I used amaretto)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup raisins (or dried cranberries or chopped dates - optional)

Position racks in the upprt and lower thirds of theo ven and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray two rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the oats, oat bran, and almonds. In a smaller bowl whisk the dry milk powder, oil, honey, vanilla, almond flavoring, and salt. Pour the mixture (it will be gloppy) over the oats and stir.

Divide the mixture between two oiled baking sheets and spread in an even layer. Bake for 15 minutes, stir granola, and switch the positions of the pans. Bake until oats are golden brown and the almonds look well toasted, another 10 to 20 minutes, don't overcook. The oats may feel soft but will crisp as they cool. Let cool completely in the pans. When completely cool, stir in raisins, if using.

REALLY useful tips

* Spread the granola in a single layer on the baking sheet for even toasting

* Don't bake granola in a hot oven until completely crisp or it will tasted burned. It should come out a little soft and wilm firm as it cools.

*For added crispness in the granola, turn off oven, leave the door ajar, and let the granola cool in the oven.

Celebrating 100,000 Visits: DC Food Blogging Nominations

2007-11-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

How cool is that. When we started this little blog, it was really just a way to track recipes and restaurants. I think it's also ended up as a semi-focused chronicle of other parts of our lives, but we've stayed mostly engaged with food, cooking, and dining. Since we started, we've enjoyed learning more about local restaurants and cooking from nearby farms, enjoyed being part of the DC food blogging community, and made some new friends along the way.

We've also enjoyed savoring the experience of cooking and dining in a more deliberate way.

It's also exposed us to some talented and interesting food writers and food writing. We've both enjoyed the Holly Hughes collections of the Best Food Writing, all of Ruth Reichl's books, and our local favorites: Tom Sietsema, Don Rockwell, Todd Kliman and all those amateur and semi-pro blogging and message board folks who take the time to consider their meals.

All that said, we're happy to announce our first annual poll of our readers. Please email us your nominations in the following categories:

Favorite Food Blog (any area)
Favorite Food Blog (DC area)
Best Recipe Blog
Best Food Photo on a DC Blog
Best Food Story in the DC Press
Best Restaurant Website
You Name it Category: Best _____________________

We'll take entries up until November 25th. After that, we'll pull some results together and share. One lucky person who sends a nomination will receive a prize as will the winner of the Favorite Food Blog (DC area)

Send your nominations via email to dcfoodblog@gmail.com, not in the comments (though comments are welcome. We'll compile and release the nominations by December 1.

The basic rules: We're not so fancy here so rules seem kind of limiting. You can nominate in just one category or all. Thanks to those we've heard from so far. And yes, you can totally nominate yourself, your friend's blog or photo, etc. No nominations for us (thanks).

Off Topic - The Mushu Alarm Clock

2007-11-09T12:23:00.001-05:00

I've had this story in me for ages. Well, since 1997, when it, you know, happened to me. It's a story of love, loss and Kelly Taylor-ish "I choose me."

So ten years ago I was unceremoniously dumped by my boyfriend of 2 years, The Red. The last three months of this long-distance relationship were seriously beating a dead horse even though I didn't want to admit it. I was doing so much reassuring to The Red that he was a good boyfriend that I forgot about myself. When I tried to articulate my needs, it came out in crazy ways because, at age 25, I didn't have a handle on who I was and what I wanted. It was quite the rollercoaster being accommodating and demanding at the same time. I certainly didn't have my emotional act together. The crazy (at least on my side) came to a head at his high school reunion where, faced with a situation that was in no way, shape or form about me, I turned into a churlish ball of resentment. This resulted in a 5 hour fight before the reunion. Then AT the reunion, I gathered all the other resentful significant others and herded them to the hotel bar where we all refused to leave said bar and actually be part of the reunion. Which goes to show that I am a natural born community organizer.

In the end it was a classic situation of the more he pulled away, the tighter I held on. I wanted to fight for all the things that were good about us and it hurt the bejeezus out of me that the person on the other end wasn't willing to fight for something that was so precious. I didn't realize how much I was apologizing for myself, apologizing for WANTING to be with him, like it was some crazy ass burden that he had to carry. So he ended it. Looking back, that was the right think to do. We were both bringing the crazy by the bucketload and didn't know how to stop.

That shook me to my core. It made me question my worth. Whether I was worth fighting for and whether I could EVER be in a relationship if I couldn't make that one work. (Thank god that didn't come to fruition - Thanks J!!!)

I had a friend Tom, who I had lunch with weekly to dish over our love lives. We had this fear that only one of us could be in a functional relationship at a time and we monitored our love lives in great detail during these lunches. So about two weeks after the breakup, I had my weekly lunch with Tom and he hands over a box. In the box was an alarm clock in the shape of Mushu the dragon from Mulan. It was my favorite movie and I watched in four or five times that summer. Tom saved ten box cereal box tops to get me the dragon alarm clock.

And then I got it. I got it that I was worth having someone think of me enough to send ten box tops to General Mills to be redeemed for a plastic alarm clock. This is what friends do. They see you and they know you and they think of you. The silly inconsequential things that mean a lot to you are also important to your friends. To Tom, I was worthy of being cared for, considered, and respected. That alarm clock was the first huge step in healing from the breakup. It was a tangible reminder about my own worth as a person.

Here's the thing folks, don't settle for less than your friends. We all deserve a significant other who wants to be with us. Who celebrates all of the weird and goofy things about us. We deserve someone who makes a place for us in their lives and knows that place is a cherished gift we give each other and not an obligation.

In short, we deserve someone who will save ten box tops to get us a plastic dragon alarm clock.

Restaurants we want to try, and some to remember

2007-11-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

In high school, we were allowed to leave campus for lunch. The goal was to get out and to the restaurant as quickly as possible. Have your books for your next class with you. No locker stops. No bathroom stops. No last minute grabbing of too many more people. Just git!

Inevitably, we'd get in the car and start the dance about where to go. Where could we go for $5? $7? Subs n' Stuff? The Chinese buffet our friend's Japanese parents owned? The burger joint our Chinese friend's parents owned? Pizza Buffet? A daring trek to the Olive Garden or all the way across town to the sandwich shop frequented almost exclusively by fro-yo loving real estate ladies and the mom's of kids who went to the rival high school?

And there was often a lot of back and forth. And I always wanted a list. Well, I wanted two lists. One for places we hadn't tried and one for places we went to but really liked and were workable for lunch.

Now I find myself in a similar situation. After a long day at work, when we're not really wanting to cook, sometimes we are too brain-dead or addled to come up with workable ideas of where to go for dinner. We tend to fall back on favorites, and that's fine, but I think keeping a list around to jog our thoughts is a good idea.

This list is not about my favorite restaurants, or the most practical for dinner. Not so many high end places on here either and there is a greater representation of places we don't mind driving to and parking at. And of course, some places simply closer to work or home.

I was most surprised writing the list of places I haven't been. We have some work to do.

My Restaurant Reminder List

2 Amy’s
Aatish
Addis Ababa
Afghan Grill
Alamo Restaurant
Ban Cuon Saigon Restaurant
Bistro Italiano
Busboys and Poets (VA)
Dairy Godmother
Dino
El Tapatio
Grace’s
Han Sung Oak
Hollywood East Café on the Boulevard
Huong Viet
Lebanese Taverna
Los Tios
Majestic Café
Manna
Mark’s Kitchen
Minh’s
Mixtec
Mr. Henry’s
Myoung Dong (“Oriental Noodles”)
Pacific Cafe
Parkway Deli
Pasta Plus
Penang
Pete’s Diner
Pho Hiep Hoa
Pho VN One
Plato’s Diner
Rabieng
Rocklands
Rustico
Saigonese
Saravana Palace
Sonoma
Sorak Garden
Spices
Taqueria Tres Reyes
The Old Siam
The Ugly Mug
Viet Bistro
Whole Foods

50 Places I Need to Visit for the First Time

Anita’s
Bangkok 54
Bebo Trattoria
Bob’s Noodle 66
Breadline
Cassat’s
Colorado Kitchen
Costa Alegre
Crème
Cuba de Ayer
Cubano’s
Del Merei Grill
Dixie Bones
Domku
Duangrats
Eat First
El Charrito Caminante
Pollo Campero
Etete
Faidley’s (Baltimore)
Farrah Olivia
Guajillo
Hank’s Oyster Bar
Ill Mee Buffet
Italian Inn
Jackie’s
Joe’s Noodle House
Komi
Kotobuki
La Sirenita
Locanda
Mark’s Duck House
Mi Rancho
Mitsitam Cafe
Oegadgib
Ray’s The Classics
Ruan Thai
Sabang
Saigon Café
South Street Steaks
Sunflower Vegetarian
Suporn
Tabard Inn
Taqueria Distrito Federal
Taqueria Nacionale
Thai Square
Thanh Son Tofu
Tiffin
Woodlands
Zaytinya
Zengo

Chicken Stew

2007-10-29T12:13:00.001-04:00

The end of our fall Saturday was homemade chicken stew served atop mashed potatoes. Sensing that fall was upon us, I roasted a chicken last week. With the carcass, I made homemade chicken stock. With the leftover chicken meat in the freezer and the chicken stock, I made the perfect fall chicken stew. I served it on top of mashed potatoes but you could just as easily serve it with egg noodles, put chunks of potatoes in the stew, make dumplings for chicken and dumplings or put it some rice.

Fall chicken stew (think of this as a guideline)

3 pounds of chicken meat (already cooked)
- this can be two breasts, a breast, 2 thigh and leg meat or any other combination

The vegetables chopped in large chunks
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 stalks of celery
1 clove of garlic

optional vegetables
three large yukon gold potatoes
1 parsnip
1/2 a rutabaga
1/2 sweet potato
1 cup of frozen peas

The herbs
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 tablespoon parsley

Enough chicken stock and white wine to cover (about 4 cups)

The Thickener
1 tablespoon room temperature butter and 1 tablespoon of flour

Chop the chicken meat into large chunks. Set aside. Saute the onion in a large pot for about ten minutes until softened and a little translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute for another 15 minutes. Add herbs along with salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken stock and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables get soft but not completely mushy. Add the cooked chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes. This step is where you would add uncooked rice or dumplings for chicken and dumplings. If you do add dumplings, avoid the next step. Mush the butter and flour together until you get a smooth paste. Add the paste to the stew and stir vigorously to avoid lumps. Let the stew thicken and serve on top of whatever starch you want.

Ah Fall

2007-10-29T10:42:00.000-04:00

The timely and most welcome (and most coveted) invite to a certain food blogger's Thanksgiving tasting menu, just alerted me to the fact the happiest food holiday in all the land is right around the corner. Thanks to this wonderful high pressure system we're deep in the throes of fall. YAY! I get to wear hoodies, and sweaters, and long sleeved shirts! And best of all...SWEATPANTS DELUXE! It's a tradition my friend Evelyn does with her significant other. Sweatpants are clearly the world's most comfortable form of clothing and it's a good night when you can slip on the sweatpants, watch some trashy tv, and snuggle next to your one and only.

More than sweatpants deluxe, I get to use the oven without worrying I will be heating the house to hellish levels. This past weekend, we celebrated the advent of fall by have a food-centered Saturday. First we went to Rabieng, the second Thai restaurant by the people who run Duangrats. While I find Duangrats to be perfectly fine Thai food, I've never found it to be anything to writer home about. Our friend Uncle Tim and Auntie Em have raved about Rabieng's Thai dim sum and small plates fan that I am, I had to go. And it was WELL WORTH IT! Rabieng knows sticky rice like noone's business. Both of their sticky rice dishes, sticky rice with shredded coconut shrimp an sticky rice with taro were exceptional. The sticky rice was redolent of coconut milk and complemented the starchiness of the taro and the saltiness of the shrimp. In the same vein, we had the coconut crab won tons which had a similar crab filling as the shrimp. It had the same sweet nutty flavor as the coconut shrimp. We also had the expertly made scallion cakes which were had a nice crunch on the outside to contract with the soft glutinousness on the inside, served with a sweet soy dipping sauce, it was definitely a standout. Finally, we LOVED the green curry beef with a deep fried rice cake. I normally don't like green curry but this was a small serving that fit well with the pleasing crunch of the deep fried rice cake. Two dishes that I was meh on was the shredded chicken and carrot salad that was like a syrupy version of a Vietnamese Goi salad and the siracha chicken wings that were drowning in a siracha laced barbecue sauce. Overall it's a great food experience. I will say that the waiters are pretty businesslike and ask you to order by number.

Next door to Rabieng is the Duangrats Thai Market. Ever since our great Tom Yum experience, J has wanted to make Tom Yum soup at home. The only thing missing was galangal, a citrusy cousin of ginger. It was a bit of providence to find frozen galangal at the Thai market which we picked up along with a replacement sticky rice steamer basket (that my uncle and his family call "the hat"), and a few Asian condiments.

And then next door to that is the poetically named Aphrodite's Greek and Mediterranean market. This is truly pan Mediterranean with Egyptian busts, Little Greek Statues, and Turkish coffee machines. J and I went crazy here, buying all kinds of baklava, rose water, dolmades, Greek Phyllo pastries, rose water, and orange flower water. The service was attentive to the point where the woman behind the counter told me to put away the spanikopita I was about to buy and directed me to the homemade Greek phyllo pastries.

Going to both the Greek and Thai markets made me think of why New York is so awesome. In New York, these types of markets wouldn't be 15 miles away in a suburban strip mall. They would be in the city near public transportation.

After all of that, we went to the CSA to get our vegetables for the week and made a point to pick a good two pounds of basil for pesto.

The day ended with J and I curled up on the couch with a bowl of chicken stew and mashed potatoes. Recipe to follow.

More TV Commentary - Positivity

2007-10-22T10:25:00.000-04:00

Did anyone see the Halloween episode of Barefoot Contessa this past Saturday? I know know why but I found her goofy Halloween attitude to be pretty entertaining. For once, I thought her whimsical "boo" on her cake (which was perfectly laid out) and the disappearing trick at the end to come out of a naturally goofy sense of humor as opposed to being put upon schtick. I liked that the conversation around the meal wasn't to heap tons of praise on the food but a natural delight over a bunch of adults with witches hats. It made sense that some guy would be joking and making the big "mwaaah haha" sound. On top of the the food really did look divine. The pork appeared to be perfectly cooked and tender and the marinade for the pork made a lot of sense - mustard, lots of salt, fennel, rosemary etc. It was a well composed meal with a balance of meat, vegetables and starch, unlike many meals where there a huge heavy main course and Ina throws in one of her repetitive salads with a vinaigrette. My only criticism is the espresso martini which I would find vile, and Ina's compulsion to throw citrus zest into every dessert she makes.

Also on the upswing is the Gourmet Next Door whose second episode is light years better than her first. she still seems to have trouble connecting to the camera and her plating is not so good but the actual recipes themselves looked very appetizing, especially the lemon chicken. I hope her producers reminds her not to go the the roasted potato well too often.

Siri's Chef's Secret: So Right

2007-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

5810 Greenbelt Rd
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 345-6101

Balancing heat and sweet while offering attractive plates, Siri's is our new go-to for Thai. And I love Thai. I've had some great meals at other Thai restaurants, but I am so consistently impressed with Siri's that I had to share.

Thai has so much happening. From the texture of the chicken in the Pad See Ew to the crisp of the spring rolls, Siri's has paid attention to what comes out on your plate. Herbed grouper comes in a sauce that is sweet and hot and is perfectly cooked. The dusting of peanuts and onions contrasts with the buttery fish and hits the spot.

Pad See EW is earthy and spicy and served in a healthy portion. Not overwhelmed by vegetables, nor sauce, I'll have this again.

Don't miss the soup. I may have had the best cup of Tom Yum soup I've ever had. Siri's version is not unique, but very well-executed. The lime and lemongrass flavors rubbed up against the salt of the broth. The mushroom pieces and chicken bites were delicious.

The Thai sampler is wonderful with the tasty Angel Wings and curries are, like everything we have tried in our four visits, flavorful, balanced, and worth coming back for.

The place is actually dimly lit and sometimes that really hits the spot. It's not too dark, but you do get the sense that you are away from all the hubub your busy email-addled brain carries around all day.

Service has always been laid back and attentive. The managers seem to know all the regulars.

I'll be back. Maybe tonight?

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Back to business - Negativity

2007-10-17T14:08:00.001-04:00

Ok. So I've finished the travelblog that ate our blog. There are a few things I wanted to talk about.

1. Gourmet Next Door. Ok who the hell let that atrocity that is the Gourmet Next Door on the air? Poor Amy Finley who was genuinely likeable on the Next Food Network Star. She was light years better on THAT show than she is on her own show. The recipes kind of blow - the choux paste recipe looked horrible and I live and die by the Julia Child one which is significantly different from Amy's. She almost never looks at the camera. The sequence of cooking is disjointed. Is the food network just throwing Amy away? At least they gave Dan and Steve two seasons.

2. Top Chef. Poor Casey. She had that in the bag if she could have dealt with the altitude. It was so sad because Casey must have been watching the final show and knew form the footage she was not going to be Top Chef. While I think it made sense for Hung to win, I still think Dale is adorable.

3. Eggplant Balls. Speaking of recipes that blow. The recipe for Mario Batali's eggplant balls is probably one of the crappiest I've come across in my entire life. The texture never comes together to actually roll it out into a ball, even with the additional of a ton of breadcrumbs. Even after cooking they are the consistency of mush. And the flavor is just bland bland bland. We had a windfall of eggplant from our CSA and was hoping this would be a good use for the five pounds of eggplant but sadly, no. You know what is a good use of five pounds of eggplant? The Wyatt's cafeteria eggplant casserole my MIL made when she was visiting. She went on and on about it being a Proustian moment for her and how much the eggplant casserole was a part of her childhood. One bite and it became a Proustian moment for me. It was that good. I am trying to get that recipe from her. I know it involved cornbread stuffing mix.

4. That two caterers show on FoodNetwork. Dear god does that blow chunks. It's like someone told the Food Network, let's replicate Ace of Cakes but with a bunch of really annoying surfer dudes. The thing about Ace of Cakes that's entertaining isn't the frat boy antics, it's the wry, dry, witty observations and the obvious care that Duff and the gang put into the cakes. Also you really get a sense of the timing and process for making the cakes. For the caterers show, it's like "heh, let's go to the fish market. heh."

5. Finally, last weekend a bunch of us went winery hopping in Virginia. I highly recommend going to Linden winery before the end of the year. Their wines are truly exceptional, especially their Riesling for those of us who like sweeter wines. Even better, the tastings are FREE! But go before the end of the year because Linden will be a member's only wine club in 2008. I would only recommend going to Three Foxes winery if you want to see the world's prettiest port-o-potties. Seriously, their port-o-potties are clean and decorated in seasonal swag. The wine, not so much.

Hawaii - Day Zero

2007-10-11T14:54:00.000-04:00

Ok. This was seriously the travelblog that ate our blog. I'm sure this is literallyjavascript:void(0)
Publish Post the blog version of watching someone's vacation slides and given the huge numbers of people aren't coming to the blog, it REALLY was the blog version of watching someone's vacation slides. But you know, 50 years from now, my grandchildren will be reading this and realizing their grampas had a good time in Hawaii.

Anyway, I wake up the Saturday after our Convention ended enjoying a beautiful view of the Ala Moana beach from out hotel balcony. As with every other day, I left J to his own devices to come up with a fabulous food filled day while I packed up. I got to hang with the in-laws in the hotel lobby as Convention attendees came up to me and congratulated me on a great convention. AAAAAW! It's nice to have your in-laws witness you as a competent professional. When J came back from the hotel business center, his hands were full of printouts of fun things to do and eat.

First off was the Farmer's Market at Kapiolani Community College. Like everywhere in Hawaii, this farmer's market had a gorgeous view of the ocean. Where this farmer's market is different is the vast array of prepared foods ready to eat. This is seriously the best eating on the island. The food is fresh, plentiful and filling. the only downside is that the food is expensive. But really, we got what we paid for. First up was fried green tomatoes. These were really a get-what-you-pay-for thing because it was $1 for EACH slice of fried green tomato. But every bite, every crumb was worth it. To go with our fried green tomato we had fresh roasted corn with chili butter. It was sweet, messy and utterly indulgent. It's amazing that in the bright sunshine we kept wanting fried foods. We gathered up the fixings of a meal that included kimchee fried rice (which I loved but J could have done without) and the completely trashy Loco Moco that was made with organic farm-raised beef. It's rice, a beef patty with gravy and a fried egg. Doesn't it look divine?

Finally our [inic lunch was capped off with a huge helping of fresh beignets that were served with a pineapple sauce. Continuing our food tour of Honolulu, we went to the famous Waiola Shaved Ice. Everyone needs to go here. As I said last year when I wrote about Hawaii, the shaved ice is like soft snow. It's truly a mindblowing experience and Waiola is the best. As I did last year, I got the shaved ice surround flan while the in-laws got shaved ice with soft serve ice cream on the bottom. J had his straight up. Everyone was duly impressed.

We then drove through the center of the island with beautiful vistas of the ocean and mountains. Once we got to Kailua, took a gander at the spectacular beach and then looked for food. After trying to find Boots and Kimo and finding it closed, we ended up going to a nearby diner in a strip mall. The in-laws got salad with grilled chicken and a club sandwich. I immediately perked up when I saw poke on the menu. Yes, a strip mall diner serves sushi grade ahi tuna marinated in onions and soy sauce. It looked spectacular and tasted even better. Just look.

After all of that fine eating. Our dinner was a laid back meal of Maui Fish tacos.

Thanks everyone for putting up with the travelblog. I hope you weren't too bored.

Hawaii - Day One

2007-10-02T09:31:00.000-04:00

Ok. Now I have that whole millennium dilemma thing going on because I counted wrong. This is really our second day of actual vacationing but because we headed out to Kailua the day before I am calling the previous day, Day 0. So like the Gregorian calendar, I am starting with Zero rather than One.

This day was the BIG day of good old fashioned touristy fun. We went around 3/4 of the island of Oahu and even hit the Dole Pineapple plantation. As with every other day, I woke up at 5:30 am and went to the beach to see the sunrise. FIL and I let J and MIL work out a plan for the day. They did a great job with the previous day so we figure they knew what they were doing. They came up with a killer day. It helped that Highway 82 was absolutely spectacular with vistas of the mountains and ocean.

Tropical Farms The Macadamia Nut Outlet
First up was the Macadamia Nut Outlet. This outlet had fresh nuts that are brought from the orchards? nutteries? daily. You definitely can taste the difference. And taste we did because they have free samples galore. Their samples included all variety of macadamia nuts but also Hawaiian coffee. This is a total tourist area but a good tourist center because of great service and tons of free samples.

Polynesian Culture tour
In the back of the Nut Outlet, is a Polynesian Culture Tour. As it turns out, the Nut Outlet land is used a lot for movies and tv. All of these locations were pointed out to us. Be prepared to be flexible because the tour starts when it starts. Another thing to be prepared for - sexual harassment. Our tour guide's schtick was to constantly make sexual innuendos and proposition the women in the tour group. I honestly felt like taking a shower afterwards because it got a little too icky for me. The three swinging bachelorettes from West Virginia ate that schtick up. The multigenerational Korean family was completely bewildered. In an ancient school bus we saw a lot of local crops including tea trees, taro, and coconut trees. We went to a little amphitheater where we saw our lusty tour guide crack open a coconut, start a fire without flint or matches, and make coconut milk. We then went on a tour of the lagoon where some submarine on Lost was sunk and the lagoon scenes from Giligan's Island were filmed.

We then went back to the bus where there was a fake cantina where 50 First Dates and ER's African scenes were filmed.

As a shout out to my Brother in Law, Stef, and Jason, more scenes from Lost.

After the movie tour, we met up with the lascivious tour guide and happily he dropped the dirty talk and just gave us a damn tour. Actually, he gave us the most awesome tour EVER! We heard about his own background growing up in Samoa and what he's done to develop a tourist trade in him home island. We heard about his education and background in being a firestarter and twirler. We also heard how he's developed the tour we were on. The best part, going to the fruit orchards where we saw the efforts to preserve native fruits. Well, that was part of the best part. The best part of the best part was actually EATING said native fruit. Right off the tree. It was a foodgasm of infinite proportions. We got fresh starfruit, pineapple, and guava. He just stopped the bus and chopped fruit for us. It's was one of the best food experiences of my life.

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck
all of that fresh fruit just made us even hungrier so we zoomed down Kamehameha Highway to go to the part of Oahu with all the shrimp trucks. In the North Shore of Oahu, there are shrimp farms with taco truck style eateries that serve shrimp. All of the guides recommended Giovanni's as the go to shrimp truck.

This is the best shrimp you will ever have bar none. I recommend getting the scampi style which is shrimp sauteed with a ton of garlic. The shrimp was tender and flavorful and just melted in your mouth. I put liberal amounts of Giovanni's hot sauce on the shrimp and it was heaven. I would say that the rice is comes with is a big gloppy mess but you get such as generous helping of shrimp you don't need the rice.

Dole Pineapple Plantation
Finally we decided to go around the North shore tip of the island past the Polynesian Cultural Center (owned by the Mormon church!) to the leeward side of the island. It was raining so we stay in the car and just enjoyed the drive. To get back to Kailua, we decided to go towards the center of the island and take the H2 to the windward side. The benefit of this route was a stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation where we all got a Dole Whip. For any of you who grew up in SoCal, Disneyland's Adventureland has Dole Pineapple Whip. It's seriously the best reason for going to Disneyland. It's essentially pineapply frozen yogurt that is surprisingly dairy free. I learned from that the Dole Whip was 100% pineapple that was just pulverzied and run through an ice cream maker. But this was ideal for J who is lactose intolerant. Does it look divine?

We has such a good day of food we just stayed home and ate sandwiches and quesadillas while J got fish tacos from Maui Fish tacos.

Hawaii - Day Two

2007-10-01T11:11:00.000-04:00

Yay! The main activity of day 2 is snorkeling with the in-laws. No pictures in this one because I forgot to bring and camera and was way too cheap to buy an underwater one. On Day Two, I went to the deservedly famous Hanauma Bay with the in-laws for some spectacular snorkeling. As the guidebooks say, this is not a hidden gem or an undiscovered treasure. It is packed with people. We decided to take th guidebook's advice and head over there at 7:00 am. Good decision as by the time we left at 11:30 am, the line for tickets was at least 300 feet long. We took the scenic drive on highway 72 and promised that we would take J on the drive the next day. Here's the thing about Hanauma Bay, apart from the incredible snorkeling, the view of this crater is breathtaking. That makes up for having to stand and watch the very lame safety and conservation video.

Once we got down to the beach, I made sure that the in-laws were thoroughly slathered with sunscreen. In fact, I made sure to get FIL to get out of the water every 20 minutes to reapply. The process worked because four hours later none of use were sunburned! I could not believe the huge variety of sea life in the Bay. Along with a ton of fish, I was a few feet away from both a sea turtle and a moray eel! It was like swimming in an aquarium because everywhere we looked there was something beautiful to see. The big challenge was to avoid touching the coral. We were at low tide and it took a lot of maneuvering to avoid the coral.

Lunch was sandwiches and quesadillas at the condo. Everyone relaxed at the condo in the afternoon except for me. I decided to swim out to the little island that is a bird sanctuary in Kailua bay. the thing is, after the 3/4 mile swim. The last thing I wanted to do was walk around a damn scrubby little island to watch bird. I sat in the sand and had to catch my breath. And then I had to to swim 3/4 of a mile back!

For dinner, the in-laws stayed at home and I and I went to Buzz's for dinner. I had the opah and J had the swordfish both prepared chef's style seared with ginger and garlic and served with mashed potatoes and napa cabbage slaw. As with the Day Three, the fish was perfectly prepared and exactly what we wanted from our fish experience. Be forewarned that Buzz's only accepts cash.

Hawaii Day 3

2007-09-25T15:40:00.001-04:00

It’s funny how each day does end up having a theme or at least a big outing. As is our usual routine for the day, we did some big touristy thing in the morning and decided to spend the afternoon lazing around the condo and the beach. We wanted to take J to the view of Hanauma Bay but the Bay is closed on Tuesdays. Luckily we got to drive on the rocky and desolate windward side of Oahu. The ocean and beaches are spectacularly beautiful here. See?

This day was our rainforest day where we went on a hike to Manoa falls. I am kind of amazed that Manoa falls trail isn’t necessarily surrounded by a national park with a big visitor’s center. The infrastructure is some guy with a folding table and a parking lot. One major plus about the guy with the folding table was the free use of bug spray which made our hike infinitely more enjoyable. The hike itself was spectacular - exactly what you want your rainforest hike to be. It started off being cool and relatively dry and the closer you got to the falls, the warmer and more humid it got. One word of caution, our guidebook called this trail a moderate to easy hike. If that’s moderate to easy, I hate to see what difficult-expert looks like. There was a progressively steeper incline and the trail got increasingly muddy. Being a “moderate to easy” trail, it was full of hikers and tour groups. But the payoff was incredible. The falls were beautiful and the trail itself was lush and verdilicious.

After the trail we all needed to have some food so we hit a MacDonald’s whose drive thru was another little kiosk connected to the main restaurant via a conveyor belt. We watched with rapt fascination the bags of food sliding down the conveyor belt. After a stop at the condo to clean up. We went to the much anticipated Boots and Kimo’s pancake restaurant. Boots and Kimo is an unpretentious, football themed restaurant with a particular focus on the Denver Broncos (go figure). Whatever you do GET THE PANCAKES WITH MACADAMIA NUT SAUCE. This rises to the level of plate-licking good. J and I split a stack of pancakes and an order of short ribs. J didn’t like the short ribs as much as I did. They were simply grilled with a generous coating of salt and pepper. They were a little chewy for J but the flavor of the meat was really savory and yummy. But really, the star of that show is the macadamia nut sauce.

After lunch we settled into the afternoon routine of napping/reading/swimming at the beach. This does not ever get old.

For dinner we went to Buzz’s Steakhouse which was conveniently right next door to the condo. Actually it was at the end of the driveway of our condo. With a décor that was wasting away in margaritaville, Buzz’s was that Hawaiian fish experience we were dreaming of. They serve other stuff but the star here was the many many kinds of fish served in several different preparations. J and I had been eyeing Buzz’s the whole trip and had actually went there the night before but this night we had to take MIL as well. FIL was feeling tired and we promised to take him some carry out. So MIL and I had the Ono (one the continent it’s known as wahoo), a mild moist fish while J had the Opah (moonfish) which was also a mild white fish with a bit more texture. J and I had our fish with the Asian preparation, steamed with ginger, garlic and scallions and then seared on a hot pan. MIL had hers grilled with lemon. While the salad bar has had complaints for some reviewers, that night, the ingredients, while not extensive were really high quality. I loved their pickled maui onions. We took home for FIL a rich and tender steak with béarnaise sauce. FIL was happy.

J and his mother kicked our asses in canasta for the second night running.

Hawaii - Day Four

2007-09-17T16:13:00.000-04:00

Before I get to the Hawaii vacation recap, let me rant for two seconds about the whole Britney MTV movie awards flap. Can we stop calling her fat? There are many many many reasons to stop that crap (i.e. "fat" Britney is like a size 4), but I'll just say that line of mocking is just boring. Seriously, the whole thing was a major trainwreck from start to finish (including her wearing an unflattering costume and having the rattiest weave this side of America's Next Top Model). So why of all things to focus on, do you choose her weight? She performs stoned/drunk/crazy, she DRESSES like a mess, her hair's nasty, and she lumbering around the stage like a polar bear, she is molesting herself and her dancers, and the funny part is her weight? It's like the Daily Show doing a riff on Bush's press conference and making fun of his tie.

AAAAANYWAY. Day four of the Hawaii vacation was major relaxation time. After driving all over the island of Oahu, we decided to actually take advantage of the fact that we were one block away from what is arguably the most beautiful beach on Oahu (Yay Kailua!!!). It was a leisurely morning hanging out at the condo. As with every day of our vacation, I woke up at 5:30 am and walked to the beach to see the sunrise.

Here it is:

We decided to have lunch at Zia's Italian restaurant in Kailua. In keeping with our no-fuss day, we all decided to order familiar food. J had a fish sandwich. MIL had the risotto soup and a chicken sandwich and FIL had a sandwich of his own. I had the pesto and olive pasta that was surprisingly bland. It was a nice serviceable meal.

But the kicker was going to Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop for malasadas, Portuguese doughnuts that are the best bites of fried dough this side of Doughnut Plant. At Agnes' we waited for a batch that came fresh from the oven. They were crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Normally malasadas are filled with custard of some sort but these were plain and all the better for it. You could really appreciate the cinnamon sugar coating.

Aren't they adorable?

After lunch we settled in for a lazy afternoon on the beach. How much better could it get? The only downside was that FIL didn't put on the sunscreen early enough and got fried. He ended his afternoon lobster red and multiple coats of aloe were applied.

For dinner with chose the cheesy Pinky's Pupu Bar and Grill. The decor was middle of the road seafood restaurant with a view of the waterfront (or in this case a view of the canal where we saw outrigger teams paddling). Please don't let the tacky name fool you. The food is great. Like the rest of Hawaii, Pinky's was abundant with fresh, sushi grade ahi tuna. J and I split the ahi tuna plate with the ahi served three ways, sashimi style with soy and wasabi and pickled ginger, the traditional poke which is chunks of raw ahi marinated it a little soy and onions, and seared sesame tuna. The ahi tuna plate in the cheesy Pupu bar suprasses any piece of fish you will get in DC. The tuna was fresh, not fishy, and completely soft and yielding without being mushy. I love that sushi grade ahi is diner food. I cannot sing the praises of the ahi enough. In addition to the taste, the price of ahi is dirt cheap. In addition to our ahi, J and I also split a mountain of Kahlua pork which is shredded pork cooked underground. It was good but salty and an interesting contrast to the clean fresh flavor of the ahi. Seriously people, I am not touching tuna from the continent again! MIL decided to get the wonderful coconut shrimp. FIL's fish and chips was the only disappointment of the meal.

We went back to the condo where we played another round of canasta where FIL and I finally won a game off of J and MIL.

Working Backwards - Hawaii

2007-09-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

So this is what we had to leave. Waaaah!!!!! I've said it before but the thing about Hawaii is that you always have access to beauty - whether that be the beach or the mountains. I'm doing the Hawaii recap from the end of the trip to the beginning since the food fun didn't really start when I was there. So our last day was Thursday and we were all leaving at the end of the day (in my case at the VERRRRY end of the day). We decided to go to the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki for their reasonably priced elegant breakfast with one of the best views of Waikiki beach. On the way we decided to take route 72 that goes along the tip of Oahu past Hanauma Bay. It's spectacularly scenic with rough barren rocky terrain that makes you feel like you're on another planet.

We ate a very leisurely breakfast at Orchids, the hotel's upscale dining place that was right on the beach. This was where J and his parents ate their first morning in Hawaii and it could not have been better. The service was friendly and warm, the views were spectacular, and the ambiance was bright, clean, and elegant. My parents would have gone nuts over the vast array of exotic orchids. My father-in-law and I ordered the haupia French toast with the coconut syrup. This was regular French toast with the traditional Hawaiian coconut custard in the middle. J ordered the blueberry pancakes and his mother ordered the three-egg omelette. We also order popovers for the table. Here's mine.

Food porny enough?

What I loved about my French toast was that the custard and the syrup with light. You weren't going into sugar shock after the meal. After breakfast we left FIL reading the paper on the hotel's lanai while the rest of us did some last-minute gift shopping at the zillions of souvenir shops in Waikiki. This left us plenty of time to get to the airport... where the shit hit the fan. As it turns out, I misread my flight information and I totally missed my flight that left WEDNESDAY and flew in to DC THURSDAY. This led to some begging and pleading with ATA airlines to let me fly to which they lied through their teeth and said it was overbooked and I would be flying out that night.

J is totally my hero because he found a wireless hotspot, broke out of the laptop and booked THE VERY SAME FLIGHT via the Southwest website (Southwest and ATA are partners). Unfortunately, I was still sweating bullets (literally!) because we hadn't confirmed a seat. With my loving partner saying he wasn't going to leave Hawaii without having me confirmed on a flight, he and my FIL got Southwest to talk to ATA and give me a confirmed seat. Nevertheless, I waited five hours with my book and laptop to make sure I was the first in line when the ticket counter opened at 6:45 pm. After that, everything went fine.

I lounged around the gate getting some work done and reading until my flight left at 10:45 pm. I did have to buy a new t-shirt and one of those neck things for the long flight. But I just felt lucky I had a spouse who could keep it together while I was completely losing it. As we work backwards there will be more food content.

In Memoriam - Madeleine L'Engle

2007-09-10T15:36:00.000-04:00

I read the appreciation today in the Post about Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time. I didn't know she died last Thursday. She is the only person I've actually wrote a fan letter to (bloggers not included) and I got a very nice form letter with a nice note from the author.

The Wrinkle in Time series was mindblowing. Reading about someone who was socially awkward and intelligent was like reading my own experience on the page. Meg Murry was my id because she was sullen, impatient, bitchy, and short tempered. All of those emotions roiled inside me as a child and I rarely had a chance to express them. In Wrinkle, not only are Meg's faults acceptable, they're valuable.

A New Yorker article came out a few years back on Madeleine L'Engle and her penchant for turning the truth of her life into fiction and fictionalizing the the truth of her life. It was hard to hear that she how much of her life she used for her craft and how much of her autobiography was fictionalized. But it made an icon human, which is part of growing up.

Her later works were difficult as her adult women seemed to have all of their rough edges smoothed out but I still read every single L'Engle book because I loved her gentle and loving take on humanity.

I read that she was working on a book that would show more of Meg Murry as an adult and give us a chance to see Meg's inner life. I'm sad I won't know how Meg turned out.

Kinda Like Creme Brulee

2007-09-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

Hey Stef, here's a dessert for you!

Ok, every since Nigella did it with pineapple, I kind of have an unabashed love for grilled fruit. Since then, Giada did it and then Ina did it so now I have to do it. Last night, I grilled peaches and nectarines on the grill pan and the result was heaven on a plate. Not only that, it was the fruity approximation of creme brulee because I smashed the halves in sugar before I stuck them on the grill pan. The sugar hardened to a nice brulee.

Here the guidelines.

Heat a grill pan to low (until water dances on the grill pan). Take 2 peaches or 2 nectarines or a combination thereof. Cut both in half lengthwise. Pour about a tablespoon of sugar on a small dessert plate (vanilla sugar is divine for this). Dip of the cut-side of the fruit into the sugar. Put on the grill pan and let grill for about 10 minutes. turn the heat to medium and grill 5 minutes more. If the fruit is still a little hard, stick in the oven (preferably the toaster oven so as not to heat the entire house) for another 10 minutes until the fruit is soft. Bash some hard amaretti cookies on top. Add some thickened Greek yoghurt if you are into such things (as I am). Enjoy guilt free.

Pink and girly Bridal Shower

2007-09-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

So before we launch into the blog post that ate our blog aka Hawaii 2007, I wanted to report on the pink and girly bridal shower we threw for our friend RootBeer. Rootbeer's been a dear friend for ages (coming up on a DECADE) and helped plan our wedding. Because the actual Bridesmaids were all out-of-towners, we volunteered (read: insisted) on throwing Rootbeer a DC bridal shower. This took a month of planning and the help of Auntie Em and Writergirl. J actually planned 99% of the activities that went over like a bang.

The Decorations
Ok. I have this thing for those paper accordion wedding bells. They are totally cheesy but I insist on them at every wedding event I get to plan. J got those and went to town with wedding theme streamers and a daisy and ladybug theme. The true kicker was having professionally arranged floral arrangements all over our house courtesy of Auntie Em and Writergirl. The shower was on the Sunday of Labor day weekend so Auntie Em, Writergirl and J and I went to our CSA to get our fill of flowers. We went to town getting armfuls of sunflowers, Indian Summers, cosmos, zinnias, bright red Mexican Sunflowers, and flowers from chive plants, basil, and garlic chives. This ended up making six arrangements artfully placed throughout the house.

The Food
Luckily I made a lot of the food ahead of time. It was girly finger food with a bit o'Southern flair. So on the menu were:

Thai chicken meatballs and Thai vegetarian meatballs with satay dipping sauce

Pesto and goat cheese mini-quiches

Roasted pepper mini quiches

Tomato and feta mini-tartlets

Lemon bars

Mac 'n cheese (baked southern style)

Deviled eggs

Sugar cookies

ANNNNND .... The Steel Magnolia Style Grey-Icing Armadillo cake complete with sliced almond scales. Rootbeer made one for our wedding shower and we had to return the favor. The red velvet cake came from a box and we used the same football cake pan for the body of the armadillo. For the feet we used two small aluminum loaf pans that I expertly cut in half widthwise and cut toes out of (HIRE ME Charm City Cakes!). I did make my own frosting (basic buttercream with tons of vanilla).

Drinks included lemonade, iced tea made with Good Earth tea (the best in the world!!!), and a champagne punch that included champagne, ginger ale, and frozen strawberries and raspberries. The future mother in law let me know it tasted good but packed a punch (no pun intended).

The Favors
J is from the south and therefore he gives out favors at parties. As the favors he made a marshmallows with cherry puree, turning them a pale mauve and a hot pink set with lots of vanilla. He cut them into little squares are put them in adorable silver bags.

The Fun
J did most of the work on this side. My one contribution was to set up a station in our basement for people to put handprints on tablecloth we would give to Rootbeer as a present. They turned out great.

But J made a DVD with photos from all of Rootbeer's friends. An uproariously funny mad-lib that ended up reflecting the groom's Jewish heritage (place - JERUSALEM, holiday - PURIM!). And a stick the ladybug on the daisy (kind of like pin the tail on the donkey), complete with prizes.

It was a great afternoon to celebrate our dear friend's impending nuptials. An interesting thing is that many of the gifts were cooking related, which meant we'll all be enjoying the gifts for years to come.

DancerinDC's answer's

2007-09-04T09:45:00.001-04:00

1. Did you ever keep a diary? Do you still? How is blogging different from keeping a written journal?

--> I did off and on in high school, but not regularly. I think blogging is different because it's an opportunity to publicly express your opinions. I tend to keep the details of my personal life offline.

2. What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you because of blogging?

--> Probably meeting our twins, T&J! But beyond that, I'd say being linked to from the Lostpedia.

3. Have you ever met someone who read your blog without previously knowing they read your blog?

--> Not yet, but I'm sure it's bound to happen. (Especially if I'm in Moscow or Sydney - apparently people there love to visit my blog.)

4. Is there an entry you are particularly proud of? What was it about?

--> I'd say any ANTM recap I did during the Jade season. That was such fun, and I was loving to hate Jade while I was loving Joanie.

5. Is there any entry you are particularly embarrassed about? What was it about?

--> I think just my earliest posts. I wasn't quite sure how/what to write, and re-reading those makes me cringe.

6, Why do you keep blogging?

--> It's a way for me to review the world of entertainment as an avocation in a way I wish I could professionally. And with my friends it's often a springboard for conversations on various topics.

Mishri's Answers

2007-08-29T01:41:00.000-04:00

Thanks Mishri! I'm still in Hawaii. The big Hawaii update wil lbe forthcoming.

1. I used to keep a diary off-and-on, but I was too lazy to maintain the discipline need. Blogging is easier because I can now type faster than I write and typing enables me to keep up with my mind's pace better.

2. The weirdest thing that happened to me because of blogging was that I got offered a job. I didn't take it, but it was fun to be offered a job by a reader.

3. Nope, never met someone who read my blog without my previously knowing it.

4. I think I'm proud of most of my entries about being Indian. They can veer toward whiny, but I think they're heartfelt.

5. I wrote an entry on another blog I keep anonymously. It was about hating certain types of people and I got a hate mail for it, and I was not prepared to cope with the flaming.

6, I don't keep blogging. I'm lazy about it. But when I do write, it's because I can't hold it in anymore and I want to share what I feel. The occasional positive comment serves as a nice boost.

Scotte's Answers

2007-08-28T04:02:00.000-04:00

1. Did you ever keep a diary? Do you still? How is blogging different from keeping a written journal?

No. I think blogging is different because it's open to anyone who clicks in. Some folks guard themselves a bit when writing a blog. Some people hide behind the anonymous web and share all.

2. What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you because of blogging?

I met you! HA. But seriously, I have met some very interesting, great people.

3. Have you ever met someone who read your blog without previously knowing they read your blog?

No.

4. Is there an entry you are particularly proud of? What was it about?

There are few, but the one I keep clicking back to is the Brown Butter/Vanilla Brioche. Particularly because it was such a project!

5. Is there any entry you are particularly embarrassed about? What was it about?

Not really. Being a food blogger, I try to post the good and the bad. There was one mishap with scallops that was certainly awful.

6. Why do you keep blogging?

I love it. It's the longest I've kept with any hobby.

My answers

2007-08-26T00:11:00.000-04:00

Ok here are my answers. I am not blogging from the beach but blogging from the lanai of our one-block-away-from-the-beach condo we are renting in Hawaii. Jealous? BTW Stef, you get a home cooked, healthy meal courtesy of yours truly. Name the date.

1. Did you ever keep a diary? Do you still? How is blogging different from keeping a written journal?
I kept one journal in my life and that was my year abroad in Europe. It was really boring and mundane and said stuff like "today I went to see Big Ben." It's funny that having an audience makes me a lot more open and free with my writing and myself. Knowing that i am just talking about food (for the most part) makes me able to share the WHO of what I am if not the what.

2. What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you because of blogging?
The fact that the Next Food Network Stars read DCfoodblog. It's alternately thrilling and weird. It is a reality check to the power of words.

3. Have you ever met someone who read your blog without previously knowing they read your blog?
Yep. In fact he's marrying one of my best friends.

4. Is there an entry you are particularly proud of? What was it about?
I am an attention whore so any entry that gets lots and lots of comments is one I'm proud of. The two that come to mind are my Barefoot Contessa ones that STILL get comments and the Paula Deen ones. Both have comments that range from "right on" to " screw you to Paula/Ina hater." And the thing is I LOOOOVE those two.

5. Is there any entry you are particularly embarrassed about? What was it about?
Actually on another blog I wrote, my first entry was an analysis of Ally McBeal and Bridget Jones. Talk about dated.

6. Why do you keep blogging?
Didn't you hear? I'm an attention whore. Seriously though, I love the interaction. I love having an audience and I love reading other people's blogs.

Stef's answers

2007-08-20T17:33:00.000-04:00

It looks like stef is the only one to play. Come on folks. Gimme some love.

1. Yes, off and on since I was about 10. My biggest journaling time was college-grad school-early 20's. I'm a lot more open, vulnerable, and seraching in my journals than on the blog, for obvious reasons.

2. The random happy hours with strangers were pretty weird. I usually had fun, but it was a strange way to have small talk with people you didn't know at all but had been reading about, and vice versa.

3. I don't think so, but I've had friends who I didn't know read my blog say things to me that they only could've known by reading.

4. I was really excited that my first time in the Express was one of my more thoughtful political posts. Later ones were more random. And I made it into Wonkette with an Ann Coulter-hellfire post!

5. Ah, the whole eHarmony thing. I really didn't know it was that evil until I posted about it and everyone told me. I was embarrassed that I hadn't done more research on my own and had been giving money to a company that I should've despised all along.

6. God, who knows. I think about quitting pretty often. I don't get the same out of it as I used to - and I tend to like reading my friends' blogs more than writing my own these days.

Shout out to Pie a la Mona

2007-08-17T18:29:00.000-04:00

Are you reading Pie a la Mona? We are :) Great pictures, tasty recipes, and an enjoyable voice. Yahoo!

-J

Since Scotte's Answering Questions...

2007-08-17T16:05:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow I'm headed to Hawaii. For work. I know. I know. Hard Life but it is a hard life. I will be cranking the 18 hour days and hoping that i wake up at 5:00 am to go to the beach for a half an hour before I need to set up registration. Anyway, so we don't go into complete radio silence when I'm away, I am leaving it up to you all, my fellow bloggers to help a fellow blogger out. Put answers in the comments and I will post them on the blog.

Here's some navel gazing:

1. Did you ever keep a diary? Do you still? How is blogging different from keeping a written journal?

2. What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you because of blogging?

3. Have you ever met someone who read your blog without previously knowing they read your blog?

4. Is there an entry you are particularly proud of? What was it about?

5. Is there any entry you are particularly embarrassed about? What was it about?

6, Why do you keep blogging?

My answers will be forthcoming. I will most likely be wearing a lei while typing them. In the meantime, I want answers!

Finally, a Recipe

2007-08-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

Between recapping NFNS (thanks for all the comments!), work - preparing for a Convention in Hawaii, and the New York trip, I haven't had much time to do any recipes. This past Saturday, J and I had a wonderfully relaxing al fresco dinner in the backyard of the Timily's. The Timily's brought some refreshing rose wine and made a German potato salad that was light and refreshing (it contained sugar snap peas, and fried ham!). Our contribution was a two-way pizza. One half was a basic pizza margarhita with fresh tomatoes and basil from the CSA and topped with mozzarella and (surprise!) cheddar cheese. On the other side was my famous (among a certain group of my friends) Thai eggplant pizza. Inexplicably, I hadn't made it since J and I got together. It really is divine. Once again, think of this as guidelines and not necessarily a recipe. It all depends on how much eggplant you have and how big your pizza crust is.

Thai Eggplant pizza
1 large or 4 small Japanese eggplants
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons Thai Sweet Chili sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ball of pizza dough (homemade or otherwise)
1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
Additions - sliced onions, scallions, slices of grilled chicken, shitake mushrooms

slice the eggplant into 1 inch slices. Throw them in a bowl or ziploc bag with the next 6 ingredients. Let sit for at least an hour. Roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thick. Put a layer of the cheese enough to the cover the dough with a 1 inch border. Cove that with the eggplant and additions. Spoon a little of the marinade on for moisture. Bake at 425 degrees (this is cooler than usual because the eggplant needs time to cook) for at least 20 minutes.

John Edwards

2007-08-09T21:56:00.001-04:00

After watching John Edwards in tonight's GLBT conversations on Logo, it is clear that at this point, at this time in history, with all the information that is out there, his position on gay marriage is unacceptable. Depressing. Mr. Edwards, you should expect better of yourself.

New York: Quickie Food Tour 2007

2007-08-06T07:44:00.000-04:00

In a historic turn of events both T and J will be writing this entry. T is in italics.

A few weekends ago J and I went to see Wicked in New York (he gives great Christmas presents!). We stayed at the luxurious Benjamin Hotel, one of the best hotel experiences we’ve ever had. They have a pillow menu where you can choose hypoallergenic, magnetic(?), Japanese, full-body, memory foam, etc.. Not only that, we left several items in the fridge and they were kind enough to ship them to us. It’s expensive but well worth it and we had a major price break through priceline.com.

Given our limited time in New York, we ended up having to make the choice between doing food stuff or seeing another show in addition to Wicked. Well this IS a food blog. We have to thank the denizens of chowhound for their excellent advice. Every eatery we went to that was recommended by Chowhounders was a home run.

Late Night Dining, Friday Night

Sarge’s Deli
548 3rd Avenue
between 36th & 37th Sts.
New York, N. Y. 10016
(212) 679-0442
(877) SARGES1

By the time we arrived at Sarge’s Deli in Midtown, we had been traveling far too long by train, cab, and foot. Our Amtrak snack was wearing off and we were hungry.

The Scene: a cooler of pies, the expected celebrity photos (Soupy Sales, Jerry Springer, Jackie Mason), rows of knishes, and shrink-wrapped black and white cookies ready for us to enjoy. And enjoy we did.

Starting with the Chopped Liver Appetizer was a good choice. In a word, it was “fresh” tasting. Served just slightly cool with healthy tastes of onion, pepper, garlic, and of course chicken liver. To me, it tasted like New York. All in all, It was quite competently made, but we have been spoiled by the amazing chopped liver that Syprogyra’s Mom makes for Rootbeer’s Seder. The flavor was great but the texture was a bit too crumbly for me. Ms Gyra simply nails this.

Our waitress was hard, but attentive. She was alternately curious about how we were doing and somewhat dispassionate in general. It’s amazing how quickly we moved from being the residents of a popular tourist destination to being the somewhat gawking visitors. I felt like Bobby Hill, both because I loved the taste of the plate of organ meat before me, but also because I wanted to yell, “That's so New York!” It’s amazing that New York can make the residents of the nation’s capitol feel a bit like clueless rubes.

I don’t mean to imply that we were idiotic about the situation or that we are not in some sense comfortable and unobtrusive travelers, but I am certain that a few key observations would have given us away. That said, T has spent much more time in New York than I have and between his experience and my research, we charted a pretty good course for the weekend.

Sarge’s offers a platter with a couple of items that are new for us. Stuffed Derma and Kreplach sounded a bit to me like the spinoff of Dharma and Greg that never got off the ground. T asked Sharon ( I call her Sharon, but don’t know her name) just what Derma and Kreplach are.

Sharon explains that derma is some kind of a stuffed savory item and kreplach is a Jewish dumpling with shredded beef. The derma was like a thick mashed sweet potato (though made of carrots?) while the kreplach was kind of like a Jewish version of a potsticker. Crispy outside like a thick potsticker skin with a center of flavorful, finely shredded beef. These were served with a potato pancake that had an amazing texture that was crunchy, fluffy, and starchy all at the same time.

Pastrami Sandwich The Pastrami sandwich was positively architectural. In general, there wasn’t much to it. Whereas some of the other dishes brought a better flavor or texture than most we have had before, the pastrami was really just pastrami. 350 pounds of it and tasty, but just pastrami. If this was a pizza place, it might have been called the Triple meat deluxe.

Really though, I’m not sure that’s a criticism. It was what it was. The spicy mustard on the table certainly helped it along.

Saturday Morning

I really wanted to take J to the Lower East Side where the Hasidic Jewish community, the Asian Community and the Italian community come together. It’s in the process of gentrifying but still has crazy good food for nothing prices. The Lower East Side is a foodie dream.

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002
212-505-3700

Doughnut Plant was our first morning stop. Just off Grand Ave ,it’s a place T had been before. I have not had a better doughnut. Ever. We were pacing ourselves so we shared just three. After a few bites, it was clear why so many in line were purchasing dozens.

The pastry was not too sweet, fresh, bready and had a great tooth-feel. Cold treats are often described as having a good “mouth feel,” so I figure “tooth feel” is fair game. Not too chewy, not too thick or thin, it just felt right.

Let’s break down the doughnut goodness for you.

The Valrhona Chocolate Doughnut was iced with a thin but opaque dark coating that sat on top of the pastry like a rich brown crown. It was friends with the pastry and neither forced the other one to take a leading role. This was doughnut and chocolate harmony.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Doughnut was such a reasonable approach to such a concoction that I was grateful for whatever restraint the baker had shown. The reason I even comment is that it seems like making a peanut butter and jelly doughnut offers such an opportunity to go towards the sickeningly sticky and overly gloopy. I’ve made many a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was oozier and rarely one that tasted as good. It should be noted that Doughnut Plant's yeast doughnuts that are filled are square with a hole in the center. Every bite has some filling and the apricot jelly in this one was fabulous.

The Coconut Doughnut was what put Doughnut Plant over the top. I would describe it in elaborate and gushing detail, but I am not sure our readers could handle the extremity of my lusty praise. If you run an internet search of “’Doughnut Plant’ Coconut” you can read more about this wonderful concoction. We had the yeast-raised doughnut with coconut cream, glaze and coconut on top. Insane. I was giddy and walked out of Doughnut Plant a changed person.

I don't know if I was changed for the better, but I was changed for good.

And to wash it all down, a Blueberry Lemonade that was the best lemonade we had on the whole trip. New York was sticky and humid so there were several cups and the sugar overload in most was pretty ridiculous. I also am quite grossed out by powdered lemonade and its barrel o' chemicals taste.

The blueberries in Doughnut Plant's zingy cup of goodness gave this a robust antioxidant-filled kick and, though it was a bit pulpy, it was unique and refreshing. And no, Doughnut Plant does not ship as of yet, but I have to hope one day they will.

Dumpling House
118 Eldridge St
New York, NY 10002-4418
(212) 625-8008

“How do they do it?” We kept asking ourselves that question for the rest of the weekend. Dumpling House was a Chowhound recommendation and, again, a place T had been before. A very small alcove tucked right off of Broome Street, in the lower East side, this is a find.

I swear you could feed a small army there with twenty dollars. Not only are the dishes very affordable, they taste wonderful! We shared Sesame Noodles and a serving of Pork and Chive Dumplings.

And how much did this set us back? $3.50. That’s right. Less than five bucks for easily the best dumplings I have had and noodles that were hot, thick, and yummy. Of all the places we went, I am certain I would want to return here. There’s something about having affordable food done right and just hanging out slurping it up outside the walk-up window. How do they do it?

The sesame noodles were extraordinary. They had a lovely doughy texture that is indicative of fresh noodles. While the sesame sauce was nothing to write home about the noodles themselves were just spectacular. One thing about the Dumpling House, if you don’t speak some Chinese dialect, you will wait.

Economy Candy
108 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
(800) 352-4544

A few people had recommended Economy Candy. Now neither of us are big candy people. (Not as in made of candy!) But places like this are pretty fun to visit. An assault of colors and memories and camp. There were gargantunoid Pez dispensers, foot-tall Chuppa pops, about twenty shapes and flavors of licorice bits, gummy everythings, and more.

I was most happy to see an old friend, Zotz. Zotz are a fizzy candy I used to pick up at the dime store after school or on a weekend bike ride when I was a kid. Intense flavor with a real zip and sizzle. The handful of apple Zotz I picked up have been fun!

We were also glad to find Sunkist Fruit Gems. We usually pick these up at Franklin’s General Store in Hyattsville, but have been without our fix since they have been renovating.

Banh Mi Saigon Bakery
138 Mott St
(between Grand St & Hester St)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 941-1541

This was good banh mi. I’d probably even go back, but the banh mi at Song Que in the Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia is a bit tastier. Same goes for $1.50 banh mi in Toronto's Chinatown. We opted for the pork and the vegetarian and took them home for dinner. Perhaps there was a quality loss in the carting around but there was hardly enough pork on the pork sandwich to get a real taste for it, and the vegetarian version ended up rather sloppy. This did provide us with the banh mi fix we wanted, but I’d enjoy less bread next time. I wasn’t crazy about this place. It was a competently made sandwich but I measure all sandwiches by the Lee’s Sandwich chain and this wasn’t even close.

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoon was one of those wander around traveling experiences you dream of. We walked north looking for a cab and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Little Italy. I know it’s all touristified but damn if they didn’t have Italian Ice that hit the spot. J had the lemon and I had the pineapple. I do love that it’s such a pedestrian area.

Despana
408 Broome Street
(between Centre St & Cleveland Pl)
New York City, NY 10013
(212) 219-5050

In the ultimate food traveler story, we wandered north of Little Italy desperate for a cab to Chelsea Market and I happened to see the red sign for Despana Spanish market. This gleaming, Williams Sonoma style market called out to me to come in. How could I resist the big hunk o’ prosciutto being sliced thinly by hand in the window? Despite our exhaustion, this excursion was well worth it. They had samples everywhere of cheese, olive oil, vinegar, and cured meats. It was all delicious and the friendly people behind the counter beckoned me to try (and buy) everything. My biggest regret is not buying the paprika-flavored goat cheese, but I was afraid it wouldn’t keep. We did end up getting a delicious and reasonably-priced sherry vinegar (I’ve been looking for that for ages), some prosciutto, and the best chorizo I’ve have ever put into my mouth. Rather than being bright red, this chorizo was a dark brown and had a sweeter, muskier flavor.

Chelsea Market
Location
75 9th Avenue
(Between 15th and 16th Streets)
New York, NY
10011

Chelsea Market is one of those famed New York culinary food destinations that we were excited to visit. After a long day of walking around, it may have been slightly less amazing tan we were expecting. Shops for kitchen wares, cookies and cupcakes, seafood, bread and baked goods, gourmet gift basket items, Italian specialty foods, and more.

The one shop we found totally absurd was Eleni's Cookies. Don't get me wrong, the place was terribly cute. Colored icings and fancy frilly things abound, but for goodness sakes, the cookie prices were hilarious. Over $50 for a dozen assorted decorated cookies. Come on. Are they adorable, labor-intensive, and beautifully made? Yes. But even on a food adventure, we have our limits.

I was also sad the the perfectly decorated chocolate cupcake I had was sub par. The buttercream frosting was good and the portion was generous, but the cake itself was dry. I would suggest they try using Ina Garten's chocolate ganache cake recipe, or something?

The Lobster Place, was a feast for the eyes. According to their site, they are "New York City’s largest purveyor of live lobster, selling over 1,000,000 pounds . . . year." We're talking stunning and gorgeous fish. Tuna was a deep jewel-toned purplish red, healthy looking cuts of salmon, and lobster everywhere. We were simply too full to eat anything here, but I know we will go back. And yes, it was pricey as well, but truly stunning.

Bread choices at Amy’s Bread were tasty. I can't say this is the best bakery I have ever been to, but the olive loaf, wheat bread, and pound cake we bought for home have been quite enjoyable. The Amy's staff were bright and friendly and helpful. I always think it's funny when people talk about folks in New York being rude or sharp. Sure, that happens, but the people we dealt with had great customer service skills.

Buon Italia is a fabulous Italian market that was a lot of fun to explore. I must admit that we were truly running out of steam by this time so we were becoming less and less curious about discovering new and delicious treats. But then . . .

I found it. Pocket Coffee. Are you kidding me!? I've been looking for Pocket Coffee for at least a year. The manufacturer will not ship it during the summer because they say it will melt in the heat. Pocket Coffee, for me, is the Holy Grail of Italian novelty candy. And I found some. And I loved it. And it loved me. And we were happy.

And I left it at the hotel. All of it except the three pieces I had enjoyed. My sweet espresso filled thin pralines covered in chocolate. I am still heartbroken.

A quick interlude here to say that we truly enjoyed Wicked. The acting was first rate and the singers did a fabulous job. I have only seen the show once, but the leads, Lisa Brescia and Kendra Kassebaum were incredibly compelling and I was moved by their performances. The characters were incredibly real and the choices the actors made helped build a very natural and realistic story in spite of flying monkeys and absurdist dance numbers.

Late Saturday Night

Morningstar Café
949 2nd Ave
(between 50th St & 51st St)
New York, NY 10022
(212) 588-1050

We really did not focus much on the food because the conversation at the next table kept creeping our way. Morningstar Café was right by the hotel and two gentlemen in hats were having an intense conversation about a documentary about ping-pong. Table tennis. If we were in the South I might have poked my head over the booth and offered that I would really enjoy a documentary about ping pong and they should go for it. I would even offer to be on their street team!

I had pancakes and eggs. Tasted great, filled me up. Service was courteous and attentive. That was all I needed. T had the liver and liked it too.

Sunday Morning

Ess-a-Bagel
831 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-980-1010

What a fitting way to end a trip to New York. It seems there are a million opinions about where the best bagels are, but I can tell you that I have yet to have one anywhere close to Ess-A-Bagel. We arrived to a medium-sized line and separated. T went to the sandwich ordering line and I went over to the bagels by the dozen line. When I ordered my bagels to take home on the train, the man behind the counter said it would be a minute because the bagels were on their way out of the oven. A few minutes later he popped a baker's dozen of piping hot goodness into my bag.

I enjoyed an everything bagel with lox and red onion while T had a chopped liver sandwich. We read the New York Times, drank orange juice and felt like we were home.

A little navel gazing

2007-08-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

Wow, check out this article about online food reviews. While the two of us at DCfoodblog are intermittent food reviewers, we do take review much more seriously than we do the other posts that we do. After all this is someone's livelihood.

I really like how even handed the article is. The tenor of the article, which is the push-pull of having non-Food critics do food reviews is really fascinating. It's about the broader issue of those of us as consumers being a little savvy about the information we take it. J and I use both yelp and chowhound religiously. In our past trip to New York, every eating establishment we went to was recommended by a yelper or chowhounder. While we wouldn't depend on any one critic, the consensus is really valuable to see whether a food place is worth going to. I think of non-food critic opinions as snapshots while I think of a food critic's review as a painting. Food critic will take the time to capture the dining experience in its totality. They will research and eat multiple times and consult. BUT having the chorus of opinions is really valuable to see if a consensus occurs and to see SPECIFIC experiences.

I think that the restaurateur who actively engaged with his critics really has the right attitude. No one critic should have their reviews taken as gospel. But the feedback is really invaluable to making a better dining experience. In the end, I don't think there's a conflict. In fact, I think us in the blogosphere really build the audience for the pros. A lot of the people who J and I know, read tom Sietsema's reviews and chats religiously. They appreciate his thorough expertise even in the cases they don't agree with his actual opinion. Most of the food bloggers we know are voracious readers of food periodicals, watchers of the Food Network, and buyers of food books like Ruth Reichl's or Julia Child's memoirs. The fact that we can extend the conversation into our blogs is a good thing.

NFNS - Finale

2007-07-26T08:55:00.001-04:00

Hosting the LIVE broadcast is Marc Summers. I wish that Food Network had a sense of humor and would drop 50 gallons of green slime on the winner. The final starts with a trip down memory lane and past contestants. Wow, Vivien? Patrick? Nikki? I finally get to someone I remember with Tommy and noone can forget Colombe and her incompetence. Adrien's point of view was Southwestern style healthy comfort food. Whuh? That doesn't even make sense. Name a dish that covers that. Paul and his damn party food and Michael just sounds like he wants people to enjoy eating. That makes me sad he's not in the final. JAG's point of view was Latino Caribe cuisine. Amy gives the first of a zillion chi-chis. God that bugs. Rory and her blue collar bistro crap.

Then we also get Bob and Suzy, and all the past judges. A particular highlight was Giada telling them it was a soul searching journey. That's hilarious considering she flopped out of the gate and was given chance after chance until she became a very competent and accomplished Food Network host. And oh the challenges. The stupid, inane Top Chef style challenges with ridiculous parameters. Only occasionally interrupted by a challenge that related to hosting a Food Network show. The first challenge where Colombe's team blew chunks and Patrick and Vivien left. And then the Bon Appetit challenge where Rory's ribs won and Nikki left. Aaaaand another BS challenge where they have to sell their food at a New Jersey Nets game. Colombe gets the hook on that one. The Fort Dix challenge where Amy starts with all the fancy schmancy and oh the tears. THE TEARS! The lovable Michael gets the boot. The next episode is the on camera challenge of woe where noone does well and Amy goes on and on about missing her family and not wanting to be there. Adrien and his lack of cooking gets kicked out. And the redemption of Amy with the Iron chef challenge. It seemed that Amy sucked all of competence from the other contestants. Eveyone else sucked but Paul sucked harder with his "plummy!" Finally the Rachael Ray challenge where everyone bugs but somehow Rory lands on Top and Amy gets kicked off. BUUUUT JAG's lies catch up with him and he "resigns."

We then go to the live studio with Marc and the two finalists. Both of them are gracious but they have some serious fashion mistakes. Amy is wearing a lovely little black dress spoiled by some bizarre crocheted neckline. Rory is wearing a lovely kimono style top with crazy ass culottes that make her normally thin legs looks stumpy. I wish Rory would pull her hair back in a ponytail because she looked great on the Iron Chef challenge. After commercial, they get asked about how their lives have changed because of NFNS. Amy talks about getting accosted in a grocery store. Rory gets asked about her town rooting for her. Rory responds with a heartwarming story of how the town of Vega didn't have the Food Network on their cable provider. Through much begging from the residents of Vega, the cable provider put the Food Network on the cable listing - channel 99. I'd like to bring up this little tidbit that New Jersey Rory came to Vega because she was on ANOTHER reality show called Popularity Contest, where out of towners have to live and suck up to the residents of Vega for $100,000. she came in second. Ooooh! BUUUUURN!

In her segment, we see Rory's boyfriend Klay and her life in Vega, Texas. She hangs out with cowboys and decided to pack up all her stuff and move to Vega. Scenes of Rory grilling. But then we see Rory with designer sunglasses talking on her cellphone. At the opening of her restaurant, Boot Hill, she serves, chicken won tons (and ode to JAG?), steak, bacon wrapped shrimp (ok enough with the bacon wrapping), and her rustic bruschetta. Rory is happy that the trays come back empty. There's some old guy who says he was too macho to watch Food Network but then Rory was on it and then it was acceptable.

Back in the studio Rory is asked what she learned on the show. She says she learned patience. In the audience are her divorced parents and their respective spouses, her sibling, and her boyfriend. Amy's asked whether it's easier to raised cattle or children, Amy says cattle. Another segment on Rory talking about how important traveling is for her, courtesy of Hilton.

Back in the studio, Marc points out that this will be the first time a woman will win NFNS. Marc asks Amy about her role as a Mom of the contestants. Then we get her segment. She's a third generation San Diegan and the whole thing is refreshingly normal. She's driving her kids around. She takes them to the beach. She and her kids love the kids and did she name her son "INDIANA?????" She's so relxaxed at the beach. We get a gander at Amy's house which is located on the same property as her parents. It appears the whole family lives on that property and Amy calls it a compound. If she wasn't so relaxed and normal in this segment I would totally bristle upon hearing the word compound. She makes a beautiful salad with spinach and avocado. I love Amy a little bit more because she's one who who makes things and shows her family members how she does it. I have many happy memories of showing my cousins how to make creme anglaise to go over an apple tart. I also love how she treats INDIANA in the kitchen. He's helpful and she's really responsive to him. She also admits she's never grilled before NFNS. Amy's mother and father credit her with being the social director of the family. Then a little confessional of her much younger sister who seems a little stoned. Absent form the segment is her French husband.

In the studio, Amy talks about her sibling's food pickiness. In the audience are Amy's mother, sisters, and aunt. And NO HUSBAND? Any inside scoop? The ousted contestants come out in the order they were ousted. Niiki is wearing a hideous denim smock that makes her look huge, and she is not a huge person. Amy talks about her love of traveling, courtesy of Hilton.

In the reunion show, Paul congratulates the two finalists. Ok it's time for the living together segment. Tommy jokes about his snoring. I kind of love him now. Then there's that bit about Amy talking in her sleep. And another bit about Paul, Michael, and Adrien being shirtless all the time. Paul is a lot more ripped than Adrien, which is saying a lot. Marc Summers ribs Michael about the shirtless thing and Michael says "when you're 50 and fit, you want to show it off." Adrien gets asked about Tommy's snoring and responds by saying that Tommy provided earplugs.

We review the wedding challenge and Paul and Nikki not mentioning the chicken stock in polenta issue. Nikki responds by making Paul the fall guy. Then there the rehashing of Colombe's duplicity in the NBA challenge and AMy reading Colombe the riot act. Colombe does the it's a competition" excuse. A review of meatloafgate at Fort Dix. JAG and Paul really laugh that off. Paul and JAG really like each other. That's really great. Marc asks JAG about his stuff and JAg gives a "it ain't over" answer. JAG says working with Paul was the most fun for him. Rory says that her toughest challenge was the Iron Chef one where she bombed. Amy chimes in that it was a tough challenge.

Another segment on the contestants being goofy and the mess ups happening with the contestants and the judges. Paula tells Giada she has green in her teeth. Much dancing by Tommy. In the studio Tommy is asked to dance and finally does it when Adrien pulls him up. Then there's Nikki spilling her dessert in front of Bobby Flay. Nikki says that Paul made her do it.

After commerical, we get the segment on the judging. Many confessionals about the evaluations being a pressure cooker. And there's the jack russell terrier comment from Bob. And a cavalcade of the crying and Amy's "I don't want to be here" comment. In the studio, Bob, Suzy and Bobby Flay come out. Bobby humbly says that he would have ended up seventh because he wouldn't have done well in the commentary and wedding cake challenge. Bobby says that they are lucky because they can watch the Food Network and study it. Bob kisses some contestant ass. Patrick says that his wife gave birth after he returned. The contestants get to question the judges. Colombe asks what was the hardest challenge for the judges. Bob just says it was hard being a judge. Paul says the jack russell association is angry at Bob. And also asks Suzy for advice. Suzy responds by saying he needs to beef up his culinary expertise.

Another segment on the oustings. Much hugging. Adrien and Tommy have a HoYay moment when they are hugging and Adriens says that Tommy is the greatest person ever. Ever. Ever. Still hugging. Even more crying. Paul and JAG hugging and being kind of aawesome to each other. AAAWWW. My heart isn't made of stone.

Finally it's time for the decision. Emeril comes out and brandishes the keys to the big ol' car. And then the wizened President of the Food Network comes out and congratulates the Amy and Rory. Bobby Flay presents Emeril with the Golden Envelope. Emeril and Bobby open the envelope together and....it's AMY! Thank god for that. Rory looks devastated and Suzy then Adrien are trying to comfort her. The entire cast of the Food Network are tryng to comfort Rory. It's kind of ridiculous. Well there it is. Thank you to the Food Network editors for making me love Amy in the last three episodes.

NFNS - The Big Lie before the finale

2007-07-25T22:43:00.000-04:00

So after that previous episode of Amy rising to the top in the most confident way possible and JAG, Rory and Paul falling all over themselves to suck hard, we get this episode with even more drama. Rory blearily opens her eyes and voice overs how bad she wants it. She recounts the ups and downs of her journey on the Food Network while Amy says she just wants to win. That's wasn't what you were saying two episodes ago. BABY! She realizes her biggest selling point is her Mom persona. JAG says he's gone through so much, from being beat up as a kid, to being a Marine, to being a chef. Boy is that ironic.

Bobby Flay joins them in the carriage house. He introduces the contestants to two PR folks form the Food Network. They give advice to the contestants to be positive (translation: don't talk smack about the other contestants) and plug the show. JAG says he's just focused on the food. They go to an XM radio station where they will be interviewed by some dudes named Ron and Fez. Rory's heard of these two and says they are sarcastic and quick witted and will grill their asses. I'd like to note she is wearing the tackiest vest combo that screams more about her Jersey roots than her Texas ones.

First up is Amy, who is pretty composed. She is given the task of coming up with a dish using crap and a microwave. Amy cannot stop talking about the damn French food while she makes a bagel with baloney and American cheese. She says the first of a zillion "fancy schmancys" this episode. She does hold her own, French talk nothwithstanding. She gets to sit a control booth to hear the rest of the contestants.

JAG is up next and is fairly focused at first. He avoids trash talking the ladies. He comes up with a donut with apple and orange for his load o' crap challenge. Then Fez and Ron trap JAG into saying that the Food Network ignores Latinos which really is the truth but the truth has nothing to do with the Food Network. Rory is the last one and really is dumb as a box of rocks. Rory says that Amy is easier to beat because JAG has a huge culture backing him up. Because Latinos love liars who can't pronounce the word Chipotle. Rory makes a huge plate of crap in the microwave. The radio hosts hate it.

The second test is to do a spread and interview with Star Magazine. JAG is interviewed first. The interviewer tries to get the trash talking going and JAG artfully dodges the question. In a voiceover, JAG says he doesn't want to the interviewer to dig too deep and reveal any crazy things about his life (LIKE THE TRUTH - J calls out to the tv). I will give him, that he's good in the interview. He eats up all of the photo stuff. Rory gets interviewed and says that she will bring a bolder female personality. She's pretty bland in the interview except in the photo shoot where she's all gums and boobs. In her interview Amy whines about being away from her family. And seriously she needs to shut it because noone put a gun to her head. Amy does answer the balance of life question by mentioning her Mom being a working Mom. She seemed fine in the photo shoot.

In judging Carrie and Lisa the pr people liked Amy the best, thought JAG was competent and Rory messed up the radio interview. The Star magazine interviewer says that Rory was the best interviewee and JAG was evasive (HMMMM....), and Amy was poised.

The next challenge is to do a cooking demonstration in front of a live audience on the Rachael Ray show. I do love that Bobby (who has been twelve kinds of classy up to this point) chokes on the sentence "it doesn't get any bigger than Rachael Ray." The contestants are excited. The contestants have 5 minutes to demonstrate their signature dish. They will be judged on their performance, engaging RR and promoting NFNS. Rachael stops by to give encouragement and advice. She tells them to storytell and put out their style and point of view. She's really focused and competent, much like her persona in the first year of her cooking show.

Amy - She seriously cannot stop with the French talk. God shut up about France already. She talks about her Gourmet Next Door concept and being all busy Mom. She is making eggs baked in a ramekin with sauteed tomatoes and peppers. Fancy Schmancy count goes up to four. She treat Rachael like an annoyance. As much as Rachael annoys me she's doing yeoman's work to keep things going and make the demonstration informational. You can tell the audience is being forced to clap. I don't know why Amy's French talk annoys me but it does. Rachael is just trying to stay out of the way. Fancy Schmancy count: Seven. To her credit she isn't manic or crazy.

Rory - Poor Rachael, Rory also is treating Rachael like an annoyance, as Rachael is saving her ass. Sadly Rachel gets even more shrill and crazy and the segment goes on. Rory makes a steak with grilled asparagus. She starts by talking about her whole real food for real people crap. I hate that. Who are you defining as real? Am I less real because I get my veggies in a CSA and live in a blue state? I'd like to point out that the person who lives in a big ass house in the Hamptons and is surrounded by rich divorcees and gay men, has the most approachable food in the Food Network. So shut it Rory. Whose father bankrolled her restaurant career. The only tip she gives is to put a cedar plank when grilled the steak. I will say that she does give some concrete tips. She makes roasted potatoes slathered in butter and RR goes nuts. When the dish is completely plated she throws like a cup of herb butter on top of her steak. It looks like a coronary.

JAG - He makes Emeril look like he's on Xanax. Even more than Amy, his cooking ingredients and techniques are esoteric. Not only that he is screaming the whole time. He starts by calling his annato flavored oil EVOO-RED. His screaming makes RR scream louder. He contradicts himself by saying the annato seed is a poor man's saffron but then uses LOBSTER. He sautees the lobster with cilantro and tomatoes. RR cant stop saying NIIIIIICE. It looks like he's totally ovecooked the lobster. In a seriously big of ridiculousness, he whips out some culantro (not a typo) and says anyone can find it in the supermarket. RR calls him out on that and says you can substitute cilantro. He adds brocolinni as as a side dish, making the dish messier. He is constantly calling Rachael "honey." Finally, he goes over the top by saying that the Italians say that it is taboo to put parmesan on seafood, BUUUUUT he's not Italians so he will. And that is so crazy since most seafood would be overpowered by the taste of parmesan. He seriously doesn't know what he is doing. His dish is a mess and his over the top demeanor is really irritating.

On Rachael Ray's talk show Bob, Suzy, and Bobby lie like dogs saying how great all of the contestants are. Rachael likes them all but thought JAG had the most energy. At judging, the judges criticize Rory's inconsistency and her trash talking. Amy is praised for her XM performance but is told she is snobby on Rachael Ray. Amy tries to backtrack from the snooty French girl. JAG is criticized for his honesty on the XM interview about Food Network being liy white. The judges LOVE JAG's crazy act on the Rachael Ray show. Suzy criticizes JAG for not revealing more of his past. JAG says he wants to focus on who he is now. So ironic!!!Sadly the chronically incompetent Rory is called up first. And in a complete surprise, JAG is asked to stay. Amy is gracious and supportive in defeat.

BUT IT'S NOT OVER!!!! The screen goes blank and says that JAG mislead the Food Network about his military experience and graduating from culinary school. HE DIDN'T! He also did not step up to the plate to set the record straight in a press interview.

So JAG walks down the halls of the Food Network to meet with Bob and Suzy. He's complain about the huge responsibility of being a Food Network Star and the press going into his personal life. DUM DUM DUM!!! In a clearly stage performance JAG comes clean to Bob and Suzy and steps down from the competition. Bob and Suzy clearly don't look surprised or shocked. Clearly a set up and additional videos of the talk on the Food Network website show JAG blaming the press about his lies.

Rory is called in to the studio and is told that JAG stepped down and she has a new competitor - AMY!

Goodbye John Edwards, Who's Next?

2007-07-23T20:20:00.001-04:00

After hearing John Edwards say he is personally against gay marriage during the You Tube debate on CNN.

Dear Edwards Campaign,

I am sad to say that I am unsubscribing from the Edwards list given Mr. Edwards lack of courage on the issue of gay marriage. To still maintain that my relationship is somehow different, less than, or worthy of anything but full and equal standing with his own is offensive. I am glad to hear Edwards would not act on his personal feelings as President, but, sir, you are an educated man and one who has had plenty of opportunity to grow beyond the discriminatory and oppressive beliefs you may have been raised with. I expect better. Maybe I will not find it, but I do.

I wish Mr. Edwards all the best, but I will be actively organizing to ensure that he is not our nominee.

I do hope Mr. Edwards, who I know to be bright and capable, is able to get over his irrational religious beliefs and stand tall with gay and lesbian Americans who support his sound economic and educational policies.

Quite sad for this bow to oppression. I understand you may think this is being realistic, perhaps, but can't we do better?

XXXX

For those who might ask, I'll united behind the Democratic nominee, this answer really jabbed me in the neck. This discrimination tears at families, endorses a religious state where there should not be one, and encourages a society invested in fear of difference. We have to do better.

It's a Good Thing I'm Not Getting Paid to Do This

2007-07-23T10:30:00.000-04:00

So I know I have two episodes of NFNS to recap and a To Chef as well but you see, there's this book that came out, and I've been reading it like a mofo. I'm done but exhausted. It was a great read and that's all I'll say.

Top Chef - The One With the Bad Desserts

2007-07-17T22:36:00.000-04:00

Here's so ALLEGED antics I'd like to relay to you, my audience. It appears that I need to amend my nickname for Padma from Salman Rushdie's Trophy Wife to Salman Rushie's Trophy Ex-Wife. OOOOOORRRRR Tom Colicchio's Hot Tamale. So for the rest of this episode I am so looking for alleged romantic glances between SRTEx-W nd Chef Tom. It could explain how Tom' shirt keeps getting unbuttoned lower and lower.

Anyway, open with Casey talking about that she's in it to win it. And Howie who likes being the underdog. At the kitchen, Dale is happy because the kitchen is filled with cocktails and his last job was mixology and food pairing. This makes Casey nervous. With all this screen time she's destined to win or crash and burn. The quickfire is to pair an appetizer with a Bombay sapphire gin cocktail. Bombay Sapphire mixologist, Jaime Walker, is on hand for the judging. He talks about hte pair is about balance and a marrying of flavors. And he also says that these days top restaurants don't jsut have sommeiliers but also master mixologists. Which I say bring that on because I love me some cocktails (no really I do).

The contesants draw knives to see what cocktails they will be pairing with their appetizers. All of thise cocktails taste great. On a related note, this January I discovered the joys of a good gin and tonic. I always thought gin tasted like lighter fluid but I had a sip of a friend's gin and tonic and I LOVED it. The chefs love the cocktails and are drinking them under the pretense of making sure they taste them thoroughly. Joey especially likes his. Casey is befuddled with her strawberry balsamic ricky and has no idea what defines a ricky. I think it's lime juice as a gin ricky (also very good) is a essentially a mojito with gin instead of rum. I christen Casey's cocktail a gin lucy for the addition of the red strawberry. Casey says she'll make French toast as her appetizer. Hung, on the other hand thinks hard alcohol is unrefined and doesn't go with his food. Bite me Hung, I spent an entire Italian meal sipping on limoncello. F4 with product placed stoves.

Ther's much tasting by Jaime and like those sitcoms in the 60's where people have double martinis at lunch, I wonder how Jaime is able to stand up with all the sipping he's doing. At the end, Joey's scallops and risotto and Hung's salmon and cream. Hung is all snotty aobut the criticism in his voice-over. Jaime's top three are Dale's foie gras, Casey's French toast, and Tre's halibut. Surprisingly, Casey's french toast is the winner. Ok fine, but can there be a Top Chef season where we go one episode without scallops, foie gras, Colorado lamb or lobster?

For the elimination challenge, they divide themselves into teams of three to make a tasting menu. Each team makes a trio of dishes using the same ingredient. Lia is anxious about the first team challenge of the season. They will have to make their dishes for some guy named Barton G and his Chaine De Rotisseurs. Pluh-EASE! Hey Scott, can we make up some secret society called the Decolletage De Saute? SRTEx-W emphasizes that the Chaine has VERY REFINED PALATES!

The chefs initially draw for teams. Dale is unhappy about being with Howie and Casey who has immunity. Hung is unhappy with being the last course. Dale switches team to create Team Pineapple with Sarah M and Camille. Casey is in a team withmortal enemies Howie and Joey which will be subsequently named Team Tuna. Hung is match with Lia and Brian who want Scallops but will be Team Shrimp. Finally, the remainders are Team Beef. Already, Howie is completely not seeing any value with working as a team. I think this would spell his doom in the later rounds as the chef's ability or lack thereof to get along with other chefs has been a key factor in being Top Chef. It's kind of like Survivor in that sense.

At the Top Chef hotel, Casey is trying to put her ideas out there but Howie is wanting to shut her down because she has immunity. Howie and Joey are really awful as they then ding her for NOT participating. You can't have it both ways.

The next day, the chef's go shopping with only $150 per course. Seriously Bravo, that is totally absurd. Team Shrimp notice that the scallops are totally frozen and decide to go with shrimp. Then Team Tuna sees that duck is really expensive and goes with tuna. Dale talks a lot about pineapple being his idea.

At Barton G's, Team Shrimp is the first course and seem to have their ideas well thought through. Team Tuna is completely disconnected to each other. Casey is concerned about the lack of soy for her tartare. She's trying to deal but Howie and Joey are really nasty. Team Beef seems to be thoughtful as well.

Chef Tom comes for his sniff and sneer (TM Televisionwithoutpity). He asks Team Dessert on their pastry experience. Joey is really defensive about Tom criticism of Team Tuna. He acts as if Tom is singling him out but Tom criticizes EVERYONE. Get over it. Wow Joey is being a baby. In confessional, Casey thinks Joey's histrionics are a waste of time. WORD. And in the second year in a row, the gelatin dessert falls apart. As Keckler from Televisionwithoutpity points out, the enzymes of the pineapple would prevent the gelatin from setting.

Wow, this group of foodies is so pretentious they have sashes with medals and chains. Can I get a medal for EATING? Actually, I would settle for a tasteful emerald bumblebee pin. Another thing is that it looks like a sash is the ONLY thing of skanky looking woman is wearing. Let's just say we know exactly how much she spends on her implants. Sadly, none of the editing shows any longing, lustful looks between SRTEx-W and Chef Tom. Maybe they're playing footsie underneath the table.

Team Shrimp is first up - Brian does a shrimp ceiviche with citrus and caviar. Lai does an olive oil poached shrimp with cucmber and poblano lime. Hung does sauteed shrimp with corn pudding and a corn/shrimp foam. The judges like all the dishes. They think Brians is a bit salty and don't like hung's foam.

Team Tuna is next - Howie is STILL bitching. But Caset seems literally out to lunch when it comes to serving. Casey does a really boring tuna tartare. Howie does a tuna with blood orange marmalade. Finally Joey does a confit tuna with cherry tomatoes and bacon. They don't like the marmalade and Casey's tartare.

Team Beef - They seem get along and come up with a beautiful presentation. CJ does a filey carpaccio with a sherry sauce with a cigar tuille. Sarah N. does a butter braised beef with asparagus and carrots. Tre finish their dish up with a beef on top of a risotto cake. They like both boy's dishes but someone compare's Sarah's to something you get at Denny's. And that would be a compliment for me because I loves me some Denny's grand slam breakfast.

Team Dessert - Looks like ass. Sarah does a pineapple semifreddo. Dale does a pineapple tart. Camille does a pineapple upside down cake. The diners hate it. Chef Tom just can't eat all of it because it's so dreadful. Dale gives himself a backslap for taking a risk.

At judging, they bitch about the pineapple course. Everyone does like the shrimp course with the exception of the foam. Everyone does like Brians dish. Ted is happy with the shrimp course calling it poetic. SFTEx-W calls Team Shrimp in trying to fake them out but at this point everyone knows the first called up are the winners. Many compliments on the dishes. Hung calls it "corns." Lia is pronounced the winner. She's dead in the next episode given the track record of this show. Her "prize" is to slave over a hot stove for some pretentious friends of Barton G.

Team Tuna and Team Dessert are called up. Team Dessert is criticized for even thinking of dessert, along with the fact the dessrt tasted bad. The chefs defend their risk taking. Particularly Ted, snarks on the Camille's pineapple upside down cake. Team Tuna is reamed for the lack of cohesion. Casey is targeted for her tartare but the judges wonder why the other two didn't even taste each others' dishes. Casey cops to letting her team down and snuggles under the judges "guilt blanket."

WHile the judges are deliberating Casey shows some class and apologizes to her team. Yeah, yeah, yeah the judges bitch about Team Tuna but seriously, the edit is so fricking obvious, it's clear one of the Team Pineapple ladies will be getting the boot. In the end, Camille gets kicked out. Thanks Bravo for spending so much time on her that we care she gets eliminated.

This is the achilles heel of competitive reality shows on Bravo. The judging is totally inconsistent. Dale, as the ringleader should have been flat on his ass out as the ringleader, but he's are of the white guy trio of inevitability. Dale, Brian and CJ may get some lumps but they always seem to rise to the top in the next episode. Nevertheless everyone is sad about Camille leaving.

NFNS - Iron Chef

2007-07-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

Wow. After weeks of bitching, I finally get a satisfying episode of NFNS. An on-camera challenge that actually combines the food, camera presence, and expertise into one. And a totally justified winner. Sadly, the loser was not so justified.

We open with Paul stating the obvious, which is the final four being a stepping stone to the final two. Well so is the final ten and final nine. Amy says she wants to win for her family. Rory says she needs to be herself. JAG says he needs to simplify his food so that when he gets his own show he can "JAG it up." I have to words for you JAG. Ingrid. Hoffman.

They all head to the Institute of Culinary Education. Paul whines about possibly having to TEACH something because he has no formal training. Well neither does Amy but she brings the information ad nauseum. They soon find out that this is an Iron Chef challenge. JAG is thrilled. He thinks he has this challenge in the bag and reveals that Bobby Flay is his idol. Both Bobby Flay and Cat Cora are there for judging. Cat tells everyone they will be judged by taste, presentation, and originality. Bobby adds that they need to make the recipe accessible to the home cook. So in a confessional, JAG says the first of the twelve million simples that he will say throughout this competition. He needs to make his recipes simple. Sadly, the word edible does seem to be in his brain that day. Alton also says that they competitors not cooking will have to give floor commentary to show their extensive (NOT!) knowledge. JAG still thinks he has this one in the bag.

Alton also says that they will choose sous-chefs to help them in their challenge. The sous chefs are folks who've been previously voted out this season. Paul chooses first and chooses Michael. Amy chooses Tommy. An interesting choice since i think his cooking is pretty heavy and unrefined. But I will give Amy this, from the first episode, she's chosen good partners. Rory chooses Adrien and JAG is stuck with Colombe.

The first to face off are Rory and Paul. The secret ingredient is striped sea bass and Alton does all of the faux-Japanese samurai yelling that is de riguer for Iron Chef. Paul is freaked out by it and makes me wonder if he ever watches the food network. Paul and Rory get their sous chefs to butcher the fish so they can focus on coming up with a menu. Rory seems to work well with Adrien. He focuses on skinning the fish and she starts on sauces. JAG presents the menu. Paul thinks about his culinary point of view as party food on a budget. This dooms him right there because the Food Network already has Dan and Steve. Amy is REALLY competent. She seems knowledgeable and even personable which is the real challenge for her. JAG gets dinged for not knowing how to tell the difference between wild or farmed sea bass. JAG gets even stupider when he confessionalizes that he's not interested in competing with Alton Brown on food knowledge. It's not trying to show up Alton, it's about showing how much you know. Amy reports that Paul will be using Panko to bread his fish and says that panko is a Japanese breadcrumb. Alton asks about how they make panko and Amy wins the competition by going over and READING the ingredients from the panko bag. Way to think on your feet. I will say that she never seems flustered. She schoolmarm tendencies make her shine here. Much F4.

Bumper to commercial JAG is fratty. Bumper from commercial, Amy is endearing goofy. Amy is asking great questions abut the ceviche. JAG is giggling and jumping up and down for no reason. He covers by talking about Rorys sauce. Amy is really shining on the reporting. Paul has a neat station whereas Rory's is a mess. Both feel confident about their dishes.

Rory - She makes pan-seared sea bass with sugar grilled asparagus. Her point of view is the backyard bistro - basic ingredients with elegant presentation. The judges love the dish. The next is jalepeno-bacon sea bass fritters. It sounds wonderful Another home run. Te final dish is a striped bass napolen with sweet potato. Cat says it's a bad move to bake the sea bass. They think it's too dry and tough. Two out of three isn't bad.

Paul - His first dish is a tropical ceviche. Following his party theme is to make it for a pool party. The judges like th presentation but want more seasoning. Both Cat and Bobby give ideas on getting more flavor. His baked sea bass with blackberry and chive is deemed tasteless. In a weirdly non-arrogant way, Bobby says that if Paul came to his kitchen, he would send him home with a spice rack. Paul's final dish is fried sea bass with caramelized onions. The judges like the flavor but don't like the burned onions.

Wow they are totally pimping the Simply Delicioso show with INGRID HOFFMAN! I wonder if Giada is fuming because there's another woman on the food network bringing the rack.

Amy vs. JAG. Amy doesn't think her chances are good because JAG worships Iron Chef and cooks quickly. The secret ingredient is chicken. JAG is whining that you can't prepare chicken simply which is beyond stupid. I'm coming up with my menu right now. That includes a Chinese-poached chicken with a ginger soy sauce and pan-fried rice noodle, a Thai ground chicken salad, and a Vietnamese caramel braised chicken thigh. None has more than five ingredients. All are easy to make. And THAT menu came off the top of my untrained head. So zip it JAG. This guy works my last nerve. And JAG says simple three more times. Simple count is up to seven now. JAG seems to be spending a lot of time thinking about his menu. Colombe to her credit tries to DO something while JAG is thinking. He brushes her off. I WISH this were like Top CHef and they would also get judges on kitchen management. Oh my god am I bringing the Amy love right now. She works incredibly well with Tommy and already has him butchering. JAG put Colombe to work peeling potatoes. Rory starts off ok listing JAG's menu. Paul also starts off ok asking Amy about her menu. When asked by Alton what about Amy's stew is Morrocan, Paul completely flounders. He's really clueless and trying to be cute about it. It's truly annoying. And seriously, even I could give that answer. Which is the spices and chickpeas and couscous. Rory also blows it by saying there's no difference between chilies and peppers. Alton reprimands her for that fun unfact, pointing out that chilies and peppers are botanically very different. Rory says her approach is to be sarcastic with Alton when she doesn't know anything.

Any brings the love even more by talkign about her dish and remembering to explain the term duxelle. She is so on right now. Paul blows it yet again when Alton asks him about where the can of plum tomatoes are from and Paul replies, "plummy." Alton pushes him further to READ the can and Paul cannot promounce "San Marzano." This is totally humiliating. I hate how he totally blows off any need to have actual knowledge. JAG's chicken is smoking up the whole room to the point where the fire alarm goes off. Everyone is coughing. Cat is giving huge thumbs down. JAG thinks it's a big joke. Paul blows it some more on the bumper back from commercial. Amy is singing Tommy's praises. Rory shows a sliver of competence by talking aobut JAG's dishes but Alton dings her on ignoring the bacon in his dish. Rory responds by saying she couldn't get a word in edgewise with all of Alton's talking. What is with Rory and Paul? They are so completely assholeish about this. The judges give her the daggers of death. In the plating, Colombe looks miserable as JAG sous chef.

Amy - Says that she is happy with the dishes she AND TOMMY put together. She's the only chef to acknowledge that she had assistance. Her fish dish is a casbah chicken lollipop, a spiced chicken wing that was pushed up to look like a lollipop. The judges are lukewarm. She does put out her point of view which is the gourmet next door. Her next dish is a chicken roulade with a mushroom filling and fried fingerling potatoes. The judges are over the moon with this one. Her final dish is a moroccan chicken stew and once again the judges think it's a winner. The chicken is perfectly cooked. Amy gives Tommy a big hug.

JAG - JAG says that his approach is Latino fusion. He says simple three mor times (simple count up to 10). His first dish is a grilled chicken and goat cheese won ton with balsamic vinegar. The judges hate the vingar in the dish and think it's overpowering. JAG says he's not used to someone dogging his food. Did this guy actually go to culimary school? Oh wait. He LIED about that didn't he! His second dish is his Latin chicken soup with white bean and cilantro. Three more simples - 13! JAG is at a complete loss when Bobby asks him what was Latin about his dish. Suzy is pissed that there's a charred piece of skin in her soup. JAG is SAAAAAD! His last dish is a grilled chicken with saffron cream and potatoes. Four more simples. Cat doesn't love the dish. And what I am liking aobut both Bobby and Cat is that they clearly want the chefs to do well. JAG just seems to wilt. Noone likes the dish. JAG whines that he COULD have come up with awesome recipes but he was wanting to cater to us neanderthal home cooks. Which seriously, I think of Scotte who makes gorgeous, flavorful (from what I HEARD!) food with what comes from the grocery store.s It's not an either or thing JAG. More of JAg's whining. WAAAAAAAH!!! He has daddy issues.

After commercial, JAG is bawling like a baby in his bed. Literally!!!! Paul is trying to comfort him. At judging, the judges like Rory's food. They ask Rory about her style and she goes back to the real food for real people. As a raging liberal who lives in a blue state. Shut it about the real people crap. We're all real people. With the exception of Ann Coulter who is a Republican fembot. The judges like Paul's point of view but think his food needs flavor. Both are ripped apart (and rightly so) for treating the commentary part as a joke. Paul responds by saying his weak point is teaching. And what are you doing with a food show. Rory asks a zillion rhetorical questions as if she's Donald Rumsfeld. Do I think there are problems in Iraq? Yes. Do I think Democrats love the troops? No. Do I think i screwed up this week's challenge? Yes. Amy gets another pound of love from the judges. JAG on the other hand spews out more stuff about dumbing down his style for the home cook He's so fricking condescending. I kind of hate him. Then he turns on the waterworks and I hate him a bit more.

Amy is the obvious winner. Then Rory. The judges make Paul and JAG beg for their life. And surprisingly, JAG and his condescension gets to stay. Paul has to go. I'm not at all sad about that and only wished that could have kicked out JAG as well.

Next episode - FINALE!

Top Chef laziness and randomness

2007-07-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

Ok. The balloon has totally deflated on Top Chef for me. It just seems so, pre-ordained. Sarah N continues to be dumb. Hung continues to be jerky. CJ, the guy with the Mohawk and Brian seemed to be consistently on top. And my favorite, Tre, is on the downslide. Everyone else just feels like cannon fodder. What are your thoughts?

So we're well into our CSA and are now getting squash by the truckload and TOMATOES! Yay!!!! We are also picking flowers like there's no tomorrow (the sunflowers are now in bloom). It's frickin Martha Stewart at the DCfoodblog abode. One thing I am struggling with is the end of the week crush of vegetables that haven't been used. I am now having these standby dishes that use up end-of-the-week veggies. Here's what I've been making:

Stir fries
Curries
Vegetable pancakes (nothing tastes better than shredded veggies)
Breads (sweet zuchinni and carrot, savory squash bread)

And finally:

Sambussas! For those of you who may not live in a city with Ethiopian restaurants, sambussas are essentially overstuffed won tons with either a collard green filling, lentil filling, or potato filling. With the bounty of vegetables, I've grated things like squash and carrots, along with the huge number of greens that have been finely chopped for my sambussa filling. Think of this as a guideline not a recipe. This is really for throwing what you have in.

4 cups of shredded squash, carrots, zucchini etc.
2 cups of finely shredded greens (kale, collard, swiss chard)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 jalepeno peppers with the seeds and ribs removed from at least one of them (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons cooking oil (not olive)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup of bac-os (I cannot sing the praises enough. This is for vegetarians to get the smoking flavor of ham in their greens)
1 teaspoon honey
1 package won ton skins
1 egg (for egg wash)

Saute the onion and peppers in 2 tablespoons of regular cooking oil in a large pot until the onions are translucent. Add the shredded veggies, soy sauce, bac-os and honey and stir. Reduce heat to low and cover. Let the veggie mixture cook down for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the mixture cool. Put a heaping teaspoon into a won ton skin. Brush edges with egg wash and seal to make a triangle. Fry until golden brown. These freeze beautifully!

BTW, Stef, Scotte and Jason, would you all want to see Butter, A Love Story that's playing as part of the Capitol Fringe Festival? Could they not have written a play more suited to us?

"What happens when you combine the evil genius of Paula Deen and the overblown vocals of Patti LuPone? You get Sandy Patti, TV's hottest new chef. Join her for this delicious take on TV cooking shows with comic songs sure to leave you with belly laughs and buttery dreams!"

It's playing:
Saturday, July 21 @ Noon
Sunday, July 22 @ 7:00pm
Tuesday, July 24 @ 9:15pm
Thursday, July 26 @ 8:00pm
Saturday, July 28 @ 8:30pm

NFNS - The Wrath of Alton

2007-07-07T06:57:00.000-04:00

So in this episode, Alton Brown is really mean and the Food Network is really dumb and the contestants are dumber. I do find it mystifying that the show spends next to no time (maybe an episode worth if we're lucky) on on-camera skills, yet somehow expects people to come up with scripts, memorise them, hit your talking points, and be a friendly, knowledgeable, on-camera presence in the space of 24 hours. AAAAAND come up with a recipe using an ingredient that you hate. What happened to season 1 where folks had challenges JUST on following a teleprompter. Not only that, the casting for this season is completely whack. How am I supposed to want to watch anyone's series when the NFNS has established them as a) incompetent, b) annoying? And finally, is this a way to promote your existing stars? It's sad that BOBBY FLAY is the most humane and instructive. Giada seems to be bringing the bitchface and cleavage in equal proportions and, damn, Alton just plain mean. The editors needed to put in footage of him giving advice to the contestants, as opposed to just ripping on them in judging.

With those lovely feelings, here the recap. We spend no time in the apartment and move directly to the kitchen where a bearded, raggedy Alton Brown comes out. He introduces bullshit challenge #1 which focuses on working with the camera or as Alton puts it, "the big stack of glass." They choose components of their dish from three sacks of rice. Amy gets a veal cutlet, oyster mushrooms and popcorn. Paul gets calamari, fennel, and persimmon. JAG gets shrimp, snow peas, and cornflakes. Adrien gets flounder, japanese eggplant and peanut butter. Rory gets Minute steak, red radish, and dried prunes. They need to come up with a dish and a demonstration that lasts 3 minutes. Seriously, this challenge would have happened three episodes ago in season 1. Ah the F4. Noone looks too flustered. That will change once the demos happen.

Rory - She's not too annoying, she starts with the premise of having an empty pantry with only her challenge items. She says the prunes should be used like raisins in a salad. She gets cut off but manages to get her dish plated.

JAG -He refers to himself as "the JAG." Dear god. He uses the cornflakes as a crunchy factor in a tempura. He's actually fairly competent as well.

Paul - Already with the nervous energy. Starts in with his Dad catching fresh calamari. then he talks about making fried calamari healthy. BOO! It's FRIED! More on the fishing story but it seems like there isn't much instruction. MORE of that DAMN STORY!

Adrien - FINALLY they acknowledge that he has his own local cooking show. But according to the Televisionwithoutpity boards, he doesn't cook on on the show, he hosts while REAL cooks do the cooking. He's feeling confident. His story is about comfort food. Rather than do any actual cooking, he justs refers to the ingredients and mimes the cooking. WHUH? It's his death knell.

Amy - She's totally nervous and getting the loser edit. She's giving herself the loser edit because her presentation is so measured. Hi. I'm. Amy. Finley. Her story is to make a simple dish with a wow factor. Popcorn encrusted veal? Yuck.

Afterwards, Alton gives the contestants feedback. Rory needs to cook more. JAG needs to explain his terms. Paul is too much story. Amy tells, not shows. She's deflated. Adrien didn't cook. BURRRN!

After commercial, the contestants get covered plates. Underneath the plates are ingredients they hate. Amy hates bok choy because it's bland. JAG hates tofu because it's high protein gunk. Paul, who wins over my heart, hates lima beans because they are pasty and dry. WOOOOORD!!!!! Rory hates goat cheese because it smells like male billy goats. Where did she get THAT experience? Adrien hates baby corn because he thinks it tastes like baby corn. He obviously didn't have Cafe Atlantico's grilled baby corn. So they have to develop a recipe, design a 5-minute demonstration and write a script with 4 talking points. Six episode's in and they get sprung with THAT? WTF?

Ok. Shopping for food is my F5. F5 all around. Sadly, JAG decides to do a Carribean pad thai with banana peppers. Before hitting the kitchen, they kvell over their well-appointed set. That night they all work on their scripts. Everyone is seriously stressed. I do like the camaraderie among the contestants. Knowing that this is essentially a job interview, the contestants are aware that backstabbing doesn't get you the job. Oh, Amy gets the "I miss my family edit." Everyone is trying to convince her to stay.

The next day the contestants F4, except for JAG who doesn't have his banana peppers and immediately cries sabotage. The others sensibly blow him off. Amy is sad, sad, sad. Then she cuts her finger and is drenched in blood. Quickly they move into the presentations. I'd have to say, Alton is really getting off on the stern taskmaster role. I think it would be hard to understand being in the contestants' position since he came from a tv background and then went to culinary skills. He came to the Food Network with the chops.

Paul - The lima bean goes on an adventure. Then it's about his mom stretching her budget. Then it's about him not liking lima beans. Then it's about his catering. He finally gets to the cooking and he's fairly good. And then about him mom. I like the idea of the parmesan crisp. But really he's all over the place. And then he makes a silly joke about the oven being hot (it's not). The judges don't like his lack of focus.

Amy - Whine whine whine. She's blanking out. Hi. I'm. Amy. Finley. She promptly forgets her script and talks about her sister Diane. Wow she is two seconds away from crying. It's painful to watch. The judges hate the recipe and say she had no personality. Bob says that she better hope someone else does worse than she does. Not to worry about that one.

JAG - Makes his pad thai with something like 20 ingredients. He can't spend time on any one technique or ingredient. Sofrito? Scallops? Whuh? The other contestants are watching and criticizing. Wow, and JAG totally shoots himself in the foot by pronouncing his dish, "not half bad." He promptly spits out the tofu in disgust. GROSS! They hate the complex dish.

Rory - Her theme is out of the city and into the panhandle. Wow, her eyes are bugging out. It's scary. She does a lot of talking without actually cooking. She mentions rennet, the enzyme in an animal's stomach. This is grossing everyone out. I think the recipe is simple but there wasn't much cooking. She actually finishes ahead of schedule which is totally bad.

Adrien - More on the cooking show. He has a good personality but doesn't do much demonstrating. He refers to the baby corn as baby corns. It bugs. Alton is pissed about Adrien not showing how the corn is grilled and then his referring to pan frying his nuts as roasting them. Adrien gets totally flustered getting the pasta out of the boiling water. It's all going downhill. Then he adds an egg and says the egg is for flavor. The egg isn't cooking like it should and so Adrien is now serving a dish with a raw egg. Alton is freaking out about the egg, screaming "the eggs is for EMULSIFYING!" He can't even watch the end.

Backstage, Amy is all about going home. And Alton wants to kick them all out and start over. You made your bed Food Network. At judging, the judges like the performances in the first challenge and HAAAATE the second challenge. Everyone except for Adrien admits to struggling with the challenge. JAG gets his ass kicked because his recipe wasn't geared for a home cook. He also gets reamed (rightly so) for his banana pepper freak out. Rory gets criticized for her point of view, or lack thereof. And then Rory says her point of view is all the food in America. Paul is criticized for starting stories and not finishing them along the lack of a clear point of view. Adrien is knocked down three pegs with his lack of cooking and his misstated food facts. And then there's Amy. Same criticism as everyone else. She was the worst elements of everyone. And here comes THE INCIDENT. Being told she's a big ol' loser, she tries to save face by saying she didn't want to win anyway and wants to go back to her family. Even I would give her the bitchface on that one. But it gets better. After the commercial, the judges push her on her statement on wanting to go home. She gives the half assed answer of "if they had a decision to make between me and these other people, I would send me home." They push her harder and Amy, sensing they might like her, say no she doesn't want to send her home. I'd send her home because she's being a big baby.

In the end Paul is called the winner just because he did marginally better from the first challenge to the second. Amy, the whiner is called next. The judges say they chose her against her wishes. Amy says she wants to stay but really, does baby want her bottle? Amy and Paul hug in releif. Rory is safe and it's down to JAG and Adrien. And once again, it's clear these people like each other. That is a really huge plus about NFNS. JAG gets to stay and no hard feelings all around. Group hugs!

The final four go over their points of view. Amy- Gourmet next door (good luck on that one. Sara Moulton's on PBS). Paul - Dan and Steve part 2. JAG - that Ingrid Hoffman latino show Part 2. Rory - Real food for real people.

Movie review - Ratatouille

2007-07-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

So what if Pixar made a movie for foodies? Good news! THEY DID!!!! And even better, it was made by Brad Bird, the genius behind the Iron Giant and the Incredibles. The marrieds and I went to see Ratatouille on the 4th.

Pixar movies have always worked on several levels without resorting to the wink-wink, nudge-nudge, pop-culture humor that so many CGI "family" films resort to these days. But Ratatouille works on another level, it pleases the foodie/food lover/chowhound. Along with the thrill ride antics, the subtle wit, loveable characters, Bird also gives some serious food porn and a realistic portrayal of the inner workings of a high-end restaurant. The food action is some of the best I've seen since Eat Drink Man Woman. I also loved that people who worked in Gusteau's kitchen were a diverse group of immigrants reflective of a restaurant kitchen.

As a science major, I'm as unsqueamish is the get when it comes to rats. Considering I did brain surgery on the little suckers for my senior year neuroscience club, they don't frighten me in the least. Nevertheless, the film wasn't pretty unflinching about the fact that thousands of rats in a kitchen and when they all scurried out of the kitchen as once, I got the willies.

Still, the rat in question was totally adorable and the plot and ending were surprisingly realistic given the premise of a rat who can cook.

P.S.

2007-07-03T22:20:00.001-04:00

I made the Italian style panzanella.

NFNS - Fort Dix

2007-07-01T23:11:00.000-04:00

I'd haveto say NFNS swing wildly from an actual audition for the Food Network to Top Chef territory. This as Top Chef territory with another catering under stupid conditions style challenge.

Whoah. There's a lot of beefcake in the NFNS house. Paul, Adrian, and Michael are getting up at 5:00 am, shirtless. Michael is remarkably good shape for 50 years old. They head to Jersey and Michael and Paul are resolving to do better. The contestants arrive at Fort Dix army base. JAG thinks he has an edge since he's been in the armed services. In a Fort Dix hangar, JAG is seeing all of the gear and getting flashback to his military days. Surprisingly, he's feeling uncomfortable. But maybe it's because he mislead the Food Network about his experience in the military. Giada arrives with two guests from the Army. Surprisingly, Giada wearing a scoop neck sweater that shows no cleavage. Maybe she's sending a hint to Rory. The challenge is to reinvent a MRE - Meal Ready to Eat. All of the basic MRE ingredients look like dog food. It's a pretty ridiculous challenge that not even Tof Chef would do. There are reconcstituted beef patties and pork ribs. They have to make a three-course meal out of that garbage.

Our first F4 of the episode. Amy is feeling out of her element. JAG is feeling confident, except when HE sets a dishtowel on fire.

MRE Challenge
Amy - Shut up about being the gourmet next door. Noone wants to watch a show with a big French know-it-all. She throws minestorne soup, cheese sauce, and chicken breast together for a "mexican Mac and Cheese." Huh? She also serve some truly vile looking toasts with a shrimp salad on top. She also serves a vile blend of lemon poppyseed pound cake mashed with pineapple and condensed milk, Giada and the officers are not happy.

Adrien - Adrien makespork rib chopped up with pineapple. And corn chowder with shrimp and tabasco. He just serves the cookie as is. It looks pedestrian but the soup is way to spicy.

JAG - Using the rib packet meal, JAG makes a stew with white beans and carrots. He makes it a "chipoltay" stew.

Paul - He puts together chiekcn and the sweet potatoes and a dijon cherry glaze. His dessert is a caramelized pineapple layered with the lemon poppyseed pound cake and sprinkled with M&M, He envisions the Army folks would throw the M&Ms at each other. Giada likely.

Rory - Rory explains her dish with the circular argument that what brings the soldiers right home is somethign that reminds them of home. She makes a beef stew and a cobbler.

Michael - Chops up the meat patty with mac and cheese and a crumbled pretzel topping. He also makes smokey BBQ stew and bread with BBQ sauce. He calls the MRE an MRI.

In the end, the loser of the challenge is Adrien who did nothing to his dish and JAG who was least successful in his presentation of the dish. Paul wins for both presentation and actual food. JAG is pissed about losing and makes a stupid analogy of Rambo being put in Vietnam and forced ot bake a cake. I wish that were the last reference to Vietnam in the episode.

At the next challenge, Paula Deen joins Giada for the home cooking challenge. She's perky and radiant and while some folks thinks she was corny in the episode, I thought she was fairly genuine and warm. Anyway, for the challenge, the Food Netowrk polled the soldiers at Fort Dix on what home cooked foods they missed the most. The top three were lasagna, meatloaf, and pot pies. For the challenge they need to prepare the entree with two sides. THe remaining six break up into teams with Paul choosing since he was the first challenge winner. The teams are: Paul and JAG - meatloaf; Amy and Rory - lasagna; Michael and Adrien - pot pie. He sets up the challenge to help the girls. The teams also have three minutes to present their dish to the 75 soldiers.

F4 with a lot of huge pots, pans and mixing bowls. Adrien's lack of cooking skills really shows and he defers to Michael. JAG seems be fairly competent and Paul is turning up the gay. Surprisingly, Amy and Rory go off like gangbusters. Amy is a-twitter because there's no brown sugar and she has to change her chocolate chip cookie to a shortbread. Paula comes along and tells her to chill the hell out. Michael and Adrien decide to use fried potato chips as a crust for the pot pie. JAG and Paul are seasoning their meat (DIRTY!) and SINGING. This is hilarious. The ladies haveare hard time draining the pasta from the giant pot. And then come THE INCIDENT. THey find that their oven is on cool down as opposed to heat so the oven doesn't work. Paul is surprisingly calm but JAG is losing it calling sabotage. JAG in his anger, comes up with the solution of deep frying the meatloaf, This sounds iffy to me and Paul. What I do like about Paul is that he is going along with the plan and NOT undercutting JAG. Michael and Adrien make a dessert of peaches and cherries and cool whip, They are frozen and Adrien asks Michael if they should run them under cold water. Michael says no. F4 to get everything on the trays.

Then it's time for the presentations.

Amy and Rory - They do a silly military routine complete with cadenced yelling. Rory turns up the Southern accent. I actually thought they did well, if not a little over-rehearsed. THey highlight their different styles but focus on the home cooking aspect. They make garlic bread, salad, and shortbread with chocolate chips. Amy notes that Rory is stcked. Not that we ever forgot.

Michael and Adrien - It starts off badly with Adrien trying to shake Michael's hand and Michael ignoring him. THey thank the soldiers profusedly. Along with the potato pot pie, there is a tomato salad and the vile looking cherry and peaches. In a completely cringeworthy moment, Michael goes on and on about Vietnam. I seriously don't get what he's trying to do.

JAG and Paul - In a smart move, JAG does most of the talking. THey make meatloaf, flambeeing vegetables and some really bland looking steamed vegetables. Paul seems to be firing on all cylinders because he is definitely turning down the gay. JAG won't let go of the oven incident.

The judges like the meatloaf, except for Paula. Paula likes the sweet potatoes. They hate the steam vegetables, especialyl Giada who is bringing the bitchface. They also are slamming the frozen peaches and the lasagna. THe only thing they like fro mthe ladies is the shortbread. Back in the kitche, JAG is STILL pissed about the ovens. Everyone is trying to calm him down.

At judging, it's cryfest 2007. JAG tears up at the memories of his military experience. Giada tells him to deal with his demons. Paul gets props for being best in show. He is told to be consistent. The judges like the potato chip crust. The jduges HATE the rapport between the two. What they really hate is the talk of Vietnam. Susie called it disingenuous. Michael can't elucidate his culinary point of view. In what is totally emblematic of where the Foodnetwork is, they admonish Adrien to be more of a jackass. That explains a WHOOOOLLE lot. Amy and Rory get dinged for their lasagna but get props for their presentation. The judges push Amy to be less rigid. Rory is told by Giana that being a star is a soul searching quest. This sets off the waters in Amy. She feel uncomfortable about the public/private challenge. This sets off Michael. And then sets off Rory.

Post waterworks, the lovable Michael is sent home for really flubbing it that day. Sadly, were left with NOONE I think is a particularly strong host. It should be renamed the Next Food Network Bleh.

Opinions are like eyes...everyone's got them

2007-06-28T14:08:00.000-04:00

AND I WANT YOURS! BWAAHAHAHAHA!!! Well, your opinion anyway.

For a picnic Sunday, I would love to make a bread salad. The kicker is I am loving my Asian Brined Cucumbers. I was thinking of making an Asian style bread salad where I would omit the tomatoes, increase the red and yellow bell peppers, and put in Thai basil instead of Genovese (got both from the farm - YEAH BABY!)and drenched in a rice wine vinaigrette. Dear readers, how does that sound to you? Would the very western bread croutons do well soaking up an Asian dressing? Should I commit to one or the other?

I would love some advice from you all.

off topic - Hairspray!

2007-06-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

So what if someone made a fat acceptance/racial integration 60's bubblegum-pop musical? Let's just say I'm so there. Or more exactly, I WAS so there. Connecticut Bob and Slim let us know that One in Ten was having an advance screening of Hairspray that the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse. The cheesy, wall mural of carpet ambiance of the Drafthouse was perfect to see Hairspray. Even better was having a crowd that was ready to love the movie. Because of the 6:30 pm opening (for a 7:30 pm movie start time), there were no drag queens in full regalia. All of the people dressed up for the contest were WOMEN. And a girl who was clearly aiming to go play Tracy on Broadway completely won the contest and the hearts of the audience. This was the first time in YEARS that J and I were in all Gay boy company with Slim, CT Bob, and their friend Smokey.

On a food note, while the food at the Drafthouse is a slight step above movie food, the drinks are really lovely. We all had the cosmopolitans and they were very tasty. On the food front, we did order pizza, nachos, cheese fries, and potato skins so it's not like we were aiming for the stars there.

So how was the movie? So good that I am fuming about the fact I can't download the soundtrack on itunes. This is a movie that knows what it is. And what it is is 2 hours of fun. For a movie about fat acceptance and racial integration, it wasn't a statement movie. The pacing and direction moved merrily along. The music was crazily catchy (hence the anger about no soundtrack) with no Oscar-bait power ballads (we're looking at you Dreamgirls!). Here is a musical that isn't ashamed to be a big, fun musical comedy. It starts with Tracy bopping through the streets of Baltimore (complete with rats) sing the opening number. This movie may be the reason I will see Knocked Up because here is a movie where big girl Tracy Turnblad gets the dreamboat without undergoing a makeover, apologizing for her weight, or having the movie portray the romance as Linc doing her a big favor. I want to use the line from the closing song "you can't stop my happiness, because I like the way I am" as my epitaph.

Best of all the cast was uniformly excellent with one HUUUUUUUUGE exception. Sorry to disappoint the John Travolta fans out there but he was just off. The performance seemed to be blunted by the layers of latex. And while the role was screaming for high camp, he seemed to be playing a drag queen as opposed to BEING a drag queen BEING a 60's housewife. He did come to life in the song and dance numbers but they were few and far between for the Edna character.

This was brought in huge relief by the boatloads of charisma radiating from almost every other member of the cast. The two revelations were James Marsden as Corny Collins and Michele Pfieffer as Velma Von tussle. Who knew that James Marsden could sing and dance like like the 50's style non-bloated Elvis. It's clear he's relishing this role and makes the most of it. Where has Michele Pfieffer been all these years? With Velma Ton Tussle she's found a role where she can chew on scenery as if it were a $2.99 buffet as the Mirage. The over the top campy acting is precisely right the Hairspray and she really buoys every scene she's in. Nice to see she brought her A game.

No review would be complete without singing the praises of Nikki Blonsky as Tracy. She makes a believable, unself-pitying Tracy who really does light up every room she's in. Her singing and dancing is top notch and she really carries the movie. Here's hoping that Hollywood will know what to do with her.

Top Chef -Episode 2 Sunny Delights

2007-06-25T22:51:00.000-04:00

Finally the Golden sister gets to talk. Unfortunately for most of the episode she's kind of clueless, being incoherent at the Quickfire, having no idea about the heat of a scotch bonnet, and then acting as if she's never had to light a BBQ before. She wasn't covering herself in glory this episode but she does pull it out in the end.

So we open in the Hotel "Fountain Blue." The poetically named Sandee Birdsong is talking about her rise to power. Micah is grumpy about getting up. She parades her grumpiness to the crew. Howie is feeling vulnerable and wants to win the next challenge. Wow CJ is tall.

The contestants walk into the kitchen overflowing with citrus fruits. I correctly predicted there would be a plethora of blood oranges being used because blood oranges are the go to citurs of the snooty and pretentious. The guest judge is Norman Van Aken, some Flordia foodie bigwig. Salman Rushdie's Trophy Wife (SRTW) says that the challenge is to make a dish with some of the gorgeous citrus in the kitchen. F4 F4 F$. Sarah the Golden Sister says she wants to keep it simple and expects to win the challenge if she can keep her cool. Fat cha nce girlfriend. Micah self deprecatingly points out that she is having a harder time figuring out what to do with citrus than with geoduck and monkfish liver. F4 F4 F4 Tre and Hung are both feeling confident. Sarah the Golden Sister is discombobulated about her unpeeled and undeveined shrimp.

CJ towers over everyone. He makes satueed sea perch with tangelos and oranges and a citrus seed. Casey the unremarkable makes a citurs style s'more. The presentation is a big ol' mess. Sandee does a key lime mojito, a brulee of pink grapefuit and a orange/scotch bonnet sea bass. The mojito has a big flower in it that's kind of silly. Micah does an avacado soup that is the consistency of pudding. Lia does a crab salad with grapefuit vinaigrette but blows it on the execution when SRTW bites into a piece of shell. She's endearingly sheepish about it. Dale does a salad of Belgian endive, watercress and citrus segments. Sounds pretty pedestrian to me since even I can make that. Although I hate fennel so I wouldnt. Sarah N. completely loses her shit and can't even get the words out to describe her dish. She hates her own dish which is always bad. Hung, on the other hand is calling the other dishes "slummy" and thinks he will win the challenge. He does a slow roasted sea bass and a citrus crumble and a watercress salad. Ray leky. Tre does a hot and cold salmon which gets raves from Ray. Howie doesa vanilla butterpoached lobster tail with a ctirus salad. Why is this sweeping the nation? It sounds a little silly to me since I love vanilla as a sweet thing. Brian Malarkey does a halibut with a blood orange and pomegranate molasses. That also wins approval from Ray. I am really hoping they do a team challenge and kick off two people because I am getting sick of recapping this many dishes. New York Joey does a watermelon shooter and a fennel salad with blood oranges. YAAWN but Ray likes the shooter. There's a portentous shot of Hung looking on. OOOOO! Foreshadowing!

At the bottom are the ladies - Sarah N. SanDeE*, and Micah. Micah is pissy about being at the bottom. The top three were CJ (complex and coordinated), Hung, and Tre. Hung wins and he thinks the win is totally expected. What gets more interesting as the episode goes along is that Hung only is a ass in confessional. He's actually really nice face to face. Joey is pissed that he wasn't in the top three. It's fennel and citrus salad. INA GARTEN makes it. It's not all that innovative.

The next challenge will be to cooking at an"ulta-glamorous champagne BBQ" thrown by some male socialite (would that make him a social?) Lee Schrager. The challenge is sponsored by Kingsford and they have to make an upscale BBQ dish for the sexy and sophisticated crowd. They have two hours to cook it. And what seems to be causing flames of outrage across the internet food world, two hours is GRILLING not BBQing. Having in-laws from Texas, I know BBQ takes DAYS not a couple of hours. Tre is from Texas and he's feeling good about this challenge. Howie wants to prove himself.

Much F4 at the market. Sarah N is getting a lot of confessional time. Caset tries to get CJ to help her buy meat but CJ begs off on helping her. Malarkey goes with seafood since everyone is going for the meat. Micah is focusing on the produce and also whining aobut being away from her daughter. Ok seriously, this was not inflicted on you. Noone FORCED you to be on a reality show that would take you away from your daughter. You are not Sophie and this is not your choice This is working my last nerve. At least she isn't saying she's doing ALLLL for her daughter. GAWD these reality show people are like 6 year olds at camp. In a total moment of non-assholeness, Hung helps Sarah N. out by pointing out getting 20 pounds of ribeye would blow her budget. She scales back. And Hung becomes a touch more endearing.

Back at the GE kitchen, lots of F4 style scrambling. Hung s going nuts. He's not jsut F4ing, he's F16ing. Something drops and Hung says he didn't do it but he also cleans the mess up. CJ is making some pineapple thing that is wrapped in salt. Brian is pureeing scallops to make a seafood sausage. For those of your who think this is the shit, I'd like to point out Lee Ann did that two seasons ago and it feels like a whitey version of the Vietnamese chao tom which is pureed shrimp wrapped in sugar cane. Tre is feeling good about his grilling skillz. Lots of onion chopping. SanDeE is doing lobster with bacon and vanilla butter. Dear god there's more whining from Micah. Everyone sees right through her and points out she DID lose the quickfire and seems to excusing her whinyness by missing her daughter. OH MY GOD, Sarah N is freaking out because her hands are on fire using SCOTCH BONNET PEPPERS! Did she go to culinary school? One trip to California Tortilla would have taught you THAT lesson. Think of all the bottles of hot sauce that say sotch bonnet and have some red faced cartoon character on it.

Bakc at the apartments, Tre and Hung are doing pushups and SanDeE is calming Joey down from cooking for 60 Hung and Brian Malarkey dress up for the challenge. Joey derides Hung, saying that he looks like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Hung just laughs it off. I would have responded by saying "at least I don't SOUND like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever." Hung is clasier than me. Sarah N is stressing. The editors are giving her a big loser edit.

Poolside at some condo complex, there are 14 BBqs lined up. And Sarah is completely hapless about lighting the BBQ. Micah freaks me out by pour a gallon on lighter fluid on the coals. Poor Brian some constantly bent over cooking food over the BBQ. Chef Tom does is patented sniff and sneer. He approaches Hung who refuses to rest on his laurels and Tre who is confident that his BBQ skills will carry him through. He questions Joeys taste level for cooking chicken. He also disapproves about SanDeE's poached lobster and Howi'e dried out meat. Timing-wise, it looks as if everyone is ready to serve. Gail, Chef Tom, Ray and Padma arrive and the oh so glamrous people arrive. Sarah decided to just chill the heck out and serve her dish. Much shots of produced place Moet. Brian is very organized and able to socialize and serve. Micah does have mad plating skillz. Her lamb and grilled haloumni sounds great. Sarah does a traditional Vietnamese BBQ on a lettuce leaf with cucumber. Brian des a badly plated seafood sausage. Tre does a peach BBQ glazed salmon. SanDeE* vanilla butter lobster spends absolutely no time on an actualy flame. Howie's pork is dry as the Sahara. It gets back to Joey who says if that happened in New York someone would go home. Joey spreads the sunshine even more by criticizing Hung's watermelon champagne and cribbing off of his watermelon shooter. YOU DO NOT HAVE A PATENT ON WATERMELON DRINKS JOEY! he then calls Hung a kiss ass. Huh? Joey insults Hung by saying he will buy him knee pads (for the ass kissing). Hung has the good taste to just laugh it off. Padma does a little more product placement by telling the chefs to clean up using the glad force flex bags.

At judging, Hung gets dinged for having a simple dish. Tre's salmon gets criticized for being both salty and unseasoned. SanDeE* is duly ripped for her lack of BBQ or even GRILLING. At the top Brian, Sarah N. and Micah get accolades. Padma in her mean judge voice asks for the top three to come in. They are all releived when they are told they are the top three dishes. Sarah is losing it in her surprise. She gives very good answers of her reasoning. Brian is kind of weird and bubbly while Micah talks about lamb being her country's go-to BBQ meat. Ray likes the redemption stories of Sarah N and Micah. In the end, Brian wins.

The bottom four are Tre, SanDeE*, Howie and Joey. At their evaluation, the pot is serious stirred when Joey is asked whose dish he would send back. He points out Howie even though he never tasted Howie's dish. Howie then pints out Joey's whining. When they leave judging it's the battle of the meatheads as Joey does the "be a man" attack on Howie and Howie does some major finger wagging at Joey. Is this an episode of the Sopranos?

You would think all of that whining would impact the judging but in the end the judges tell SanDeE* that she's the one to go based on her lack of actual BBQ. It makes me sad as she really does seem very chill. Bye SanDeE*!!!!!