I love to eat. I love cooking just as much, but it's hard for me to be consistent about it. I'll cook up a storm for a couple of weeks, then months will go by when the corkscrew and the French press are the only kitchen implements in my apartment that get any use.
Yes, I realize there are hundreds if not thousands of food blogs out there - trust me, I read many of them and save the recipes religiously. So many of them are really good, and the authors seem to be having so much fun. "What a great group to join!" I've thought, always wistfully. Today I'm thinking "What a great way to help me with my little problem."
You see, today I woke up at 11:39 (it's Saturday, but still), fixed a lovely French press of First Colony coffee (2/3 Guatemalan Sunset and 1/3 Viennese with cinnamon) and realized there was no milk. Unfazed, I punched open a can of evaporated milk, but as I waited for my coffee to steep I started rooting around in my refrigerator for something to eat. What I found there was not pleasant.
First let me say that I've been working / traveling a lot for oh, the past four months or so. It's not an excuse, it's an explanation.
There were eggs that expired in October 2007. Ditto butter in October, November, and December 2007. Spinach and kale I got from the good folks at Real Food Williamsburg on March 18. Leftover roast beef that I cooked, oh, maybe a month ago, just sitting in a Le Creuset casserole. A nasty smell was coming from my freezer. Could that be the package of boudin that I brought back from New Orleans in 2002, the same one that "survived" the great Hurricane Isabel-related power outage of fall 2003 as well as a move across town? Or was it the six ziplock bags of chicken bones, vegetable scraps, and shrimp shells that I've been saving for stock?
I fled the apartment with a big bag of food gone bad and tossed it in the dumpster with a huge sigh of relief. The world was new again, birds were singing, buds were opening around me. I could start over. Anything was possible. So I went to Fresh Market for milk from Yoder Dairy. And the Wine Seller for a great Greek wine tasting, Amish butter, cheese, one of the Greek wines that tastes like a light port, and an Italian prosecco that Andy recommended (more on those in a later post). Note: the Wine Seller has tastings 4-7 every Friday and Saturday. And finally to Ukrops for everything else.
On the way back I stopped in at the Spitfire Rotisserie (4391 Ironbound Road, open 11-8 Mon - Sat). Even though it's only about a mile from where I live I hadn't heard of this place before getting an email from them last week. Since all I'd had for the day was the coffee with evaporated milk and a creme horn sample at Ukrops, it was time for a little something something to tide me over until I could do some cooking.
The Spitfire is a local establishment owned by Craig Reeves of The Catering Company and Steve Rose of Williamsburg Event Rentals. It's on the small side but there are still a couple of tables where you could sit down and have your meal. Chicken and ribs are displayed in a hot case, and a cold case holds a good selection of salads. Hot sides are kept behind the counter. To be honest, everything looked good but in the end I brought home a half rack of ribs, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread stuffing with gravy. (Note: I do know that this does not sound like a snack, but it really is if I'm only tasting and saving most of it for tomorrow.)
The ribs were meaty and perfectly toed the line between tender and chewy. The sauce was a bit on the sweet side for me, but I'd still recommend them. With just a bit of salt added the mac & cheese tasted almost as good as homemade, cheesy and toothsome. The stuffing was just how I like it: moist, mushy, and slightly herb-flavored with a bit of celery crunch. Others might find the gravy on the salty side, but I love salt so for me it was just right - not too chicken-y, if you know what I mean - and it paired perfectly with the stuffing. I really did have just a bit of each and am looking forward to making all of of tomorrow's meals from the leftovers. Oh wait, there's that brisket from Ukrops waiting to be braised ...
This blog may help me be better (as in more sensible) about cooking and eating. It may be a great way to praise or vent my spleen about local food establishments. It may be a great way to prove to myself (and others) that Williamsburg isn't such a terrible place for a foodie to live. Or it may not. But it's going to be fun.
The adventure begins.
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4 comments:
very well done with all of the links - I'm excited for the next post!
you can have special beer posts
This is great, Lisa--I haven't been to the Spitfire Grill yet, so the review was really helpful. Me, I'm up to my elbows in mango juice, making something called "Ante de Mango y Almendras," which is apparently a mango & almond trifle which Rick Bayless (my hero) argues is a Mexican recipe dating back to the 16th c.
Here's a helpful hint for getting into a mango--I learned this not from Rick Bayless, but from Hercule Poirot (no kidding). With the tip of a sharp knife, make eight or so verticle slices in the mango, top to bottom, going in only until you hit the hard pith in the middle. Insert a soup spoon, back side to the skin of the mango, and work the skin off with the spoon (both easier and safer than using a knife). Then insert the spoon into one of the incisions from the knife, back side to the fruit, and work the fruit off the pith. (Do it over a bowl and with a wet rag nearby--if anyone knows a NEAT way to get into a mango, I'd love to know it . . .) Anyway, I'll let you know how the trifle comes out, and maybe even bring some leftover into work tomorrow. If it's edible.
My first comment in a blog EVER.
Colleen
Thanks guys. I love links Sadie, and they're easy to do so I don't know why bloggers don't pepper their posts with them. Jordan, I definitely want you to do a beer post on April 7 (if not before) so get that defense over with. The trifle sounds fantastic Colleen. Not sure I've had mango and almonds together but it makes sense and I hope to sample some tomorrow! (and I'm way flattered that you commented)
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