Steak Salad

American Table Culinary Tours

2008-07-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

This Southern Food Alliance program, run by W&M History doctoral student Catharine Roeber and Hanna Raskin, sounds fantastic. From the site:

"Our three-day interactive tours chase America's signature dishes across the map, stalking the best expositions of the land's bounty from church basements and home kitchens to humble roadside cafes and white-tableclothed bistros. Every tour features commentary from respected scholars and hands-on workshops. We aim to craft tours which are fun, convivial, educational and inspirational."

The next trip gets to the bottom of Kentucky bourbon. Check it out!

A Quickie

2008-07-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

Salem is great so far even though I've only eaten in the hotel (which is really lovely) and at the conference, The food hasn't been bad at all. I have, however, managed to fit in two glasses of this stuff & I highly recommend it if you can find it.

Sara gave me very strong recommendation for Blossoming Lotus. She swears I'll love it (even though it's vegetarian) and I trust her, so I'm going to try it. My conference ends with dinner tomorrow and I'm going to lie in the pool, haunt Powell's, and eat for five days so if you know of other must-eats in the Salem - Portland area, please let me know in the comments.

Another Saturday

2008-07-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I was up before 8. Now I could have been cooking or cleaning right out of the gate, but instead I got on Facebook (which I joined last night). I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am a fool.

That aside, I made some cinnamon sugar donut muffins before going into town to pick up Sadie and hit the Obama campaign office grand opening. They looked scrumptious but were a little... dry? Chewy? I'll have to have another one in the morning with some coffee.

Even though I was up early this morning, I didn't go to the Farmer's Market. None of the meat vendors were going to be there, and since I'm leaving on Tuesday it doesn't make any sense to get produce. So, on my way home from the Obama office opening I stopped at Food Lion to pick up some spicy Italian sausages so I could make one of my favorite recipes ever, pasta with hot sausage and fennel.

Here's the "mise," with some of the muffin stuff still laying around. Cinnamon toast in the morning?

Here's everything save the pasta and sausage cooking down to a thick, creamy sauce.

And here's the final product. Even though it looks like Hamburger Helper, this is one of the tastiest dishes in my repertoire. The fennel becomes velvety smooth, very nearly melting into the cream. The spicy sausages + red pepper flakes provide the perfect kick. As an added bonus, it freezes well.

Pasta with hot sausage and fennel

3/4 pound hot Italian sausage, casings discarded

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic, minced
1 large fennel bulb, sliced thin (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound penne or other tubular pasta
freshly grated parmesan to taste

In a heavy skillet cook the sausage over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up any lumps, until it is cooked through and transfer it to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Add the oil to the skillet and cook the onion and the garlic over moderately low heat, stirring, until the onion is softened. Add the fennel and cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the fennel is softened. Add the wine and broth, bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer the mixture, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the cream and red pepper flakes and boil the mixture until it is thickened slightly and reduced by about one third. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta until it is al dente and drain it well. Stir the sausage and pasta into the fennel mixture and toss with the parmesan.

Smokin' (by Schwartz)

2008-07-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

Last night Joel and Karen had some folks over to celebrate the return of Ron and Patricia and introduce Joel's father's day present to a wider audience. It was a great evening all around.

All the smokin' had been done well before the guests arrived for dinner, but Joel kindly agreed to strike a few poses with his new best bbq buddy. Note the sad Weber off to the side. I'm surprised he lets it sit on the same deck.

Always the educator: "This is where the fire goes."

"And this is where the meat goes." Careful with the scotch!

Bags o'meat

Here are the finished products. First up, melt-in-your-mouth brisket, perfectly moist. Joel may look goofy but the man sure knows his way around a bbq.

Pork, also perfect (and so juicy it didn't need sauce):

As always at Karen and Joel's, the sides were spectacular too. Corn salad:

Baked beans (this bowl and wine cooler, the plates, and platters were made by Amy Schwartz):

Here's my laden plate:

One very happy Cosmo.

Ron and me. We're SO glad to have them back!

Catching Up

2008-07-13T11:37:00.001-07:00

Another busy week with not so much time for cooking (or cleaning...). But today I made one of my favorite dishes, one that screams SUMMER: spicy roasted cherry tomatoes with marjoram.

This is adapted from an Epicurious recipe that calls for chicken breasts. I make it with chicken thighs but more often than not I'll just go with the tomatoes and garlic. Here's my version.

Spicy Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Marjoram

1 pint cherry (or grape) tomatoes
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp seasoned salt (I like the salle alla diavolo I got in CA last year)
1 tbsp fresh marjoram
4-5 garlic cloves

Preheat oven to 450. Mix all ingredients well, place in a shallow baking dish and roast for about 30 minutes or until tomatoes are blistering and splitting.

If I have hot pepper jelly I'll substitute that for the flakes. It's excellent warm or cold, add some feta and you have a great salad.

I used my Neuwave oven for these and they only took about 9 minutes to cook. The upside is that the kitchen stayed cool, the downside is the lack of crunchies that form on the bottom of the dish when it's roasted in the oven. That's a tradeoff I can handle in the summer.
...

While I was in Europe I missed my friend Tom's birthday slumber party so on Wednesday we went out for a belated celebration dinner at Cities Grille. This place has been open for quite a while and the food is consistently great.

We each had a salad to start and he went with the Chick-a-rizo: gulf shrimp sauteed with chicken breast, scallions, tomatoes, mushrooms and chorizon sausage in a white wine lemon herb sauce, served over cheesy tortalloni. Sorry the pic is a little fuzzy but it still looks delicious. Tom gave it a thumbs up. (He chose not to have the shrimp.)

I had my Cities Grille standard, the Blue Gouda. It's a beef tenderloin served on toasted cornbread and topped with a housemade bleu cheese, gouda cheese and sun dried tomato spread and comes with herb sautéed shrimp and mashed potatoes. The juice from the beef soaks into the cornbread and the cheese / tomato spread is spicy and sublime. I've always thought the shrimp were overkill on an already perfect dish but I'm not about to ask for them to be held!

Cities Grille

Congee Wonderland

2008-07-08T14:59:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while. This shop, Congee Wonderland, was one of about fifty in the half block between my hostel and the subway in Hong Kong. The sign flashes purple and green, 24 hours a day.

I walked past it every day and only stopped on the last day, preferring to go to the bakery for pineapple or curry buns or cinnamon twists instead. Of course everything was so good I wished I'd stopped every day I was there.

Here's a demure Helen and our wonderful spread of food at her favorite Thai place. Grilled squid on the left, green curry cooked (and served) in a coconut on the right, and pad thai in front of Helen. Delicious!

Store Wars

2008-07-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Aidan for the highlight.

Kitchen progress update, weekend eating

2008-07-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, my kitchen is not yet in tip top shape. Life, work, and - best of all - books got in the way this week. However, I'll have you know that I'm writing this post while taking a break from scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Honest to god. As the floor has only been Swiffered occasionally since I moved in over three years ago, this is a very gratifying exercise. So I'm giving myself a week extension (for good behavior) to finish this project.

Yesterday's trip to the farmer's market was a little disappointing. Some of the vendors I'd hoped to see weren't there so I didn't get any meat, but I did stock up on onions, eggplant, jalapenos, and cherry tomatoes. Add this to my realfoodwilliamsburg order and I have plenty of stuff for a week's worth of great fresh meals. Good thing I'm working at home tomorrow and can be cooking while editing essays, etc. I also got a couple of pots of herbs to start my balcony herb garden earnest. You can see them (and Samuel) here.

In the afternoon I met my friend Laurie for lunch at Emerald Thai, still my favorite Thai restaurant in Williamsburg (264 Mclaws Cir, Williamsburg, VA 23185,757-645-2511). Yes, we only have two and I do like Thaipot, but Emerald still holds the top spot. Laurie got some tofu dish that I refused to take a photo of (one of these days I'll conquer my very visceral dislike of that stuff) and I got a seafood soup I hadn't had before (forget the name, I'll look it up and post later). The broth was like that of Tom Yum but with more of a fish sauce tang. My bowl had scallop, shrimp, mussel, and squid, one large piece of each. It was delicious and I'd definitely get it again.

For the main I got the soft shell crab special with panang sauce. The first couple of bites were truly excellent, the crab was lightly battered and fried crisp and the panang flavors complimented it perfectly. After that, I must have been talking too much and the crab got a little soggy. Simple solution: eat first, talk later!

For breakfast this morning I ate the last of the peaches soaked in white wine that I made the other night, with some plain yogurt, sliced almonds, and a little demarara sugar sprinkled over. Although they weren't very pretty (thus no photo), they were delicious, and since peach season is just starting I'm looking forward to a lot more of these. The wine I used was the one I had open for sipping, a crisp and light Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Tenuta Mormorala.

Here is one of my very favorite summer indulgences: the cotton candy Blizzard from DQ.

This pic does not do justice to the creamy, crunchy, tooth-achingly sweet dessert. It's only available in the summer so a couple each year won't kill me, right? Right.

July 4

2008-07-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Colonial Capital. From the safety of my apartment I've been watching storms come and go all afternoon - hope the weather doesn't ruin anyone's holiday.

Yesterday I picked up my second realfood order of the summer:
free range chicken eggs
blueberries
white & red cabbage
potatoes (austrian crescent, adirondack red)
carrots
gold beets
daikon radish
italian zucchini

You'd think that I'd have spent today cooking all these great things, but you would be wrong. Instead, I cooked up a couple more turkey sausages and made home fries with some of the potatoes I'd boiled the other day + green onions. Why green onions? Well, for reasons that I don't entirely understand, I have NO onions in my apartment!! I will remedy that at the farmer's market in the morning. The home fries were good but I definitely missed the strings of crispy browned onions.

I did have some grill envy earlier in the day when it seemed like everyone in the complex had toted their Webers and Colemans down to cook up big holiday feasts. But the thought of schlepping equipment up and down the steps made me get over it pretty quickly. To think that I took for granted all the barbecues that we had pretty much every summer weekend when I was growing up: ribs, chicken, venison. sigh. We even had a fire pit where you could cook a whole hog.

Tomorrow is another day, and it has a blueberry smoothie, borscht and ice cream on the agenda. Have a happy 4th!

Pumpkin (seed) power

2008-07-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

Under the influence of the Times piece on The Best 11 Foods You Aren't Eating, I picked up some pumpkin seeds at Ukrops tonight. Beets, cabbage, swiss chard are all on my realfood order coming tomorrow so I was ahead of the curve there. AND I ate fresh blueberries as a snack this morning. For once I'm on top of things, healthwise at least.

I also made my hotel reservations for the NCHC conference in San Antonio in late October. Ahh, 3+ months to mull over the many Texas food possibilities. Is Lockhart on the list? Damn straight! I will be reading up on Homesick Texan's posts in preparation.

In other news, I stopped at the Wine Seller in hopes of getting a fruity beer to go with the outstanding clinatro chili pork lettuce wraps seen below but came away with three bottles of wine (yay) and an Imperial Cherry Saison beer. The beer turned out to be good but it's not the kind of cherry beer I was hoping for, as Andy warned me. If anyone knows where I can get a good lambic or kriek in Williamsburg please let me know in the comments!

P.S. I also got some pink prosecco but blogging about that would have made this post way too alliterative, what with all the pork and pumpkin power.

A little progress, a few crabs

2008-06-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

This morning I ran a full dishwasher, hand washed a couple of large skillet-type items, and wiped down the stove. It made sense to move the water kettle next to the stove since there's a) room and b) a plug there that never gets used. Baby steps, but still it's nice to have a clean stovetop.

Here are some luscious soft shell crabs from the Farmer's Market. I soaked them in a mixture of milk and an egg for an hour, dredged them in flour, salt and pepper, and paprika, and fried them in butter / vegetable oil. A dollop of mayonnaise and a leaf of lettuce made the perfect sandwich.

In other food news, I had this very forgettable fish & chips meal at Spectators Sports Bar while watching the Euro 2008 final. The chips weren't bad but didn't raise the level of the fish which were just two obviously frozen planks plunked down on the plate. The breading was hard without being crunchy or crispy, if that makes sense, and there was no malt vinegar in evidence (though to be fair I didn't ask the rather nice and obviously very new waitress). The house-made potato chips were lackluster and needed a lot of salt. On the heels of the so-so buffalo wings from the semi-final on Wednesday (not the best in Williamsburg as the website proclaims), this does not bode well for future dining outings. I will have to give the place one more try for their burger but if that doesn't come up to the hype it's three strikes and they're out.

I Need Help

2008-06-28T16:25:00.001-07:00

Observation of the early evening: if I never hear another 30 something white guy say "Back that thang up" it will be too soon.

Spent the morning reading and the afternoon at the office and didn't eat a thing. I think the heat has wrecked my appetite, for better or worse. When I got home I boiled up some beef and spinach ravioli from Cavanna Pasta, put a simple tomato sauce and some reggiano over it and scarfed it up. I may eat a salad in a while. But that's not what I'm here to write about. Bigger things are afoot.

Ok, I've known it for a long time but have been in denial. My kitchen is a wreck, my apartment is a wreck, my office is a wreck, my life may well be a wreck too. But all I'm ready to deal with at this point is my kitchen, and I'm going to use Steak Salad to document the progress.

Here's a 360 of it. Unfortunately, these photos have not been altered.

First, the stove / sink area with kitchen table in the foreground.

Next, the counter around the microwave / over the dishwasher, to the left of the fridge.

The water heating / pot and pan storage area. Fancy! sigh.

And finally, a reverse view of the kitchen table / laundry drying area.

My project this week is to whip the kitchen into shape and post the "after" photos by the end of next weekend. Even though no one who doesn't already love me and understand my tendencies reads the blog, the minute chance that a stranger might stumble on it and idly wonder if I got the ungodly mess cleaned up is motivation enough. I hope.

The kitchen is not a small room. The main problem is the lack of useful storage space. Well, that and the fact that I don't put anything away in the space I do have. That gift bag is from April.

Wish me luck with this, and feel free to post encouraging words and helpful suggestions to the comments. Who knows, if this works I may have to tackle the rest of the apartment.

On the sunny side (think 74 degrees, no humidity kind of sunny), this is one of the cute rubber coasters I got at the V&A. Do NOT ask how much they cost.

Last Dinner in London

2008-06-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

I can see that the photos and descriptions of meals from my month away are going to be dribbling out slowly, and that's okay. My last day in London involved a leisurely afternoon in the Victoria & Albert Museum, an excellent lunch at a place in Covent Garden (the name of which I will figure out soon), a viewing of the gripping but depressing French film The Heartbeat Detector starring the amazing Mathieu Amalric.

There was a Giraffe restaurant just around the corner from the movie theater and on the way back to my hotel so I stopped and had wok fried edamame (made with lemongrass, lime, and chiles and sprinkled with rock salt). With that I had a glass of Jeio prosecco.

For my main I went with the Malaysian coconut curry laksa with chicken and prawns, accompanied by a glass of Riff pinot grigio de Venezie. It's lovely, no? I would have preferred the laksa to have had more of a kick but it definitely provided a soothing end to the meal. Once back at the Tavistock I had "just" one pint of Magners cider. An apple a day and all that.

Yogurt Roasted Chicken

2008-06-23T11:29:00.001-07:00

Since I'm working from home today (trying to catch up on roughly a bajillion emails and reading Fulbright essays), I thought the least I could do for myself would be to have something roasty filling the house with gorgeous smells while I toiled away.

A few weeks ago I drooled over The Wednesday Chef's version of Liz Pearson's Yogurt-Rubbed Roast Chicken with Red Pepper Sauce and was remembering said recipe on my way home from a dinner party last night. Those who know me know that my memory is amazing in its sievelike qualities and won't be surprised that "chicken" and "yogurt" were the only things I actually remembered. Undeterred, I stopped at Bloom for a container of greek yogurt, set the chicken from Saturday's Ukrops run to soak in some brine last night and got up early this morning to figure out the rest.

Basically the only things that remained from Luisa's version were the chicken, yogurt, olive oil, salt, pepper and dry mustard. I added some dried thyme, tarragon, and cayenne to the yogurt as well as a couple of dashes of sriracha. I had a cut lemon laying around so I stuffed that inside. Instead of using a rack, I cut up some onions and new potatoes to use as a bed for the chicken and cooked it for two hours at 325.

And here's the tender, juicy, delicious result:

The chicken is perfect. Seriously, I could barely stop picking at it long enough to wash my sticky hands so I could upload the photos and write a post.

The potatoes and onions may not look like much, but with a twist of pepper and a sprinkle of salt? Man, are they yummy.

The red pepper sauce still intrigues me and I'll probably try it in the near future. For now, this has made my week - and it's only Monday!

Back in the 'burg

2008-06-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm back - and very glad to be staying put for a while. For the past two days I've eaten fairly horribly, with the exception of a delicious flank steak caesar at Alize for lunch yesterday. After being gone a whole month, my cupboards and refrigerator were completely bare so some shopping was in order.

This morning I was up early and at the Williamsburg Farmer's Market by 8:30. In addition to catching up with some old friends and petting a lot of dogs, I got: a couple of soft shell crabs, zucchini, garlic, string beans, onions, new potatoes, some baby salad greens, a couple of loaves of whole grain bread, a new pot of rosemary, and a pot of pet grass for Sammy. As you can see, he's in seventh heaven.

This was the best photo of the lot - the rest were either really blurred action shots of the feeding frenzy or featured his crazed shiny eye look.

Since the pork folks weren't at the market this week I stopped at Ukrops for a pork loin and ended up getting some salmon, monkfish, kebab meat, skirt steak, a roasting chicken, and turkey sausages (the ones I had in Germany were really delicious so I figured I'd give them a try). After side trips to the Wine Cellar for wine (duh) and Amish butter and the Fresh Market for Yoder milk and Strongbow cider (yes! as if I hadn't drunk more than my fair share of that over the past week) and a Ritter Sport bar, my rounds were complete and I rewarded myself with a latte at the newly-opened Harbour Coffee in New Town.

The latte wasn't bad, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place - it felt completely comfortable to sit down and read a couple of chapters of my book while I sipped my drink. They serve some food and pastries, and they had a cooler full of Yoder milk - and half & half! - for sale. Right now they're only open 'til 2 but later in the month they'll extend their hours to 10 p.m. I believe the grand opening is July 1. Let's get out there and support the newest coffee shop in town!

After all the shopping and running around I came home to collapse and try to make a dent in my way backlogged blog reading. Dinner was simplicity itself: roasted salmon with lemon sliced thinly over it and lots of pepper and a glass (or three) of Cantine Riondo Pink Prosecco Raboso. Here's to a nice long month of cooking for myself.

German Food: Berlin

2008-06-07T03:44:00.001-07:00

So far I've eaten really, really well Germany. On Tuesday night Cookie, Laura, Ruth and I went to Cavalinno Rosso on the recommendation of Rolf Hoffman from IIE. It was fantastic and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Berlin.

First, the amazing antipasta plate: capers (those bulbous stemmed items), sundried tomatoes rolled in pickled eggplant, pickled herring, fresh mozarella, cheese stuffed tomatoes, pickled zucchini, veal in tuna sauce.

Ruth and I got the tagliatelle with chanterelles.

Cookie and Laura both got the cadillac of the night: ricotta filled ravioli in cream sauce with shaved truffles. Ruth and I were a little bit jealous even though our food was perfectly delicious.

The food at the Hotel Relexa where we were staying was very good as well. Here are some veal sausages and a pretzel with hot mustard that I had for lunch one day.

This is Laura's cutlet "Vienna style" with spring leek au gratin, leaf salads and lime-herb butter.

My pork belly.

The amazing spread the Thüringen embassy set out for our group.

Three Days in London

2008-05-23T03:45:00.001-07:00

The flight over was more eventful than I would have liked - a guy in the row behind me drank three airplane bottles of wine and threw up all over himself, his seatmate, the seats, etc. - half an hour before landing. He was originally sitting next to me but traded to be across the aisle from his buddy, thank goodness.

I'd decided to eat in the Charlotte airport (barbecue, of course) and not to eat anything on the plane, so I just had some water and orange juice. This is the first time I've done this and it really is the way to go unless you're flying on an airline like Air France where the food is usually very good.

My eating record here in London has been incredibly boring. After rolling, bumping, and dragging myself and my luggage to the Tavistock Hotel in Bloomsbury I had to cool my heels for a few hours before getting into my room so I had strong English tea and a lunch of bacon (really ham) and onion quiche, salad, potato salad, and a mixture of rice and corn at Jacques wine bar on the ground floor of the building. Yes, that's potatoes and rice. The Tavistock's English breakfast buffet is been quite good, especially if you like artery-clogging stuff first thing in the morning.

On Wednesday night I got in late and exhausted so had the chicken paprika over rice (pretty flavorless). But last night's supper of lamb chops, roasted new potatoes and grilled vegetables was excellent.

(post photo here)

Today I have a late-afternoon flight to Brussels from Heathrow's notorious terminal 5. I'll have one more lunch at Jacques and head over there right after. Fortunately I can catch the Picadilly Line here at Russell Square and go directly there so there'll be a minimum of bruises.

On the way to Europe

2008-05-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

I'm writing from the Charlotte airport, which has free wireless internet. Yay Charlotte!

Tomorrow morning I'll be in England. After that I go to Belgium, back to England, Germany, back to England, and home on June 18th. This is 3/4 work and 1/4 fun (the Belgium part is entirely fun). I'll be posting here as often as possible. Frites, mussels, belgian beer, here I come!

Get Yo' Man Chicken

2008-05-12T18:05:00.001-07:00

I got this recipe from Down Home with the Neelys during my blissful-but-all-too-brief morning watching FoodTV in the hotel room. Even though the Neelys were perfectly nice and lovey dovey throughout the episode, I keep referring to it as "Slap Yo' Man Chicken" for some reason. It's not as though I actually have one to slap, now is it? Which is why I reduced the recipe to 4 chicken thighs and made a couple of meals out of it. As you can see from the photo, I also served it over couscous which soaked up the sauce perfectly. It was a fast and easy Friday night mean - this one's a keeper.

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 chicken thighs, skinless
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in thick puree
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon-pepper
Hot buttered rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken, meat-side down first, and turning once, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate to reserve.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the pan.

Add onion to the pan and saute until tender, roughly 3 minutes. Add the stock and wine and stir, scrapping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Turn heat to high and reduce by half, about 3 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and add the dried herbs and lemon pepper. Add the chicken thighs back in. Cover and cook on medium low for 40 minutes.

Remove chicken from liquid and serve on hot buttered rice. Ladle the sauce on top and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

(adapted from Down Home with the Neelys)

DC Food Trip, Finale

2008-05-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

This lovely young woman is Stephanie. She is grinning at the camera not because she's getting ready to see Eddie Izzard but because she's poised over a tray of three gorgeous little dishes of crème brûlée. We're still at Belga Café, still full and happy from our meal and beer.

The brûlée on the right is either maple or molasses and it was delicious, the brown sugar was crackly perfectly on top and the creamy dense custard inside tasted like ginger snap cookie pudding. Thank god it was so good as it was the high point of the course. The one in the center was supposed to be vanilla cb with five peppers (?) and strawberry topping. The one to the left should have been pistachio cb with tapioca topping. Instead, the center was pistachio cb (clearly, as it was green) with strawberry topping and it was so-so. The strawberry topping was good but the pistachio was underwhelming. Plus, cb should be crackly on top or it's just custard.

The third dish contained what was to be the real problem of the night. As far as we could tell it was the vanilla with five peppers (never understood, never explained) with the misplaced tapioca topping (identified by the tapioca pearls). Steph, the cb afficianado, took one bite and the sides of her smile dropped. "Taste this." I did, and it was bad. Not as in "I don't like this," more like "this dessert is really old or has been left out of the fridge and has gone off." We both tried another small taste before suggesting to the waiter that something might be wrong. His response was "Oh, that one's my favorite. But lots of people don't like it." No "Let me take that back to the kitchen." No "customer is always right" attitude here! Maybe if we'd been obnoxious instead of excruciatingly polite he wouldn't have blown us off.

To further add insult to injury a manager came by and asked us how things were. We said the meal and beer were great but something wasn't right with this one cb. He also informed us that that was the least popular flavor and breezed off. Clearly our palates aren't sophisticated enough for Belga Café's rancid crème brûlée. Our powers of observation also don't allow us to remember which topping should be on which dessert. Hmm.

Love the mussels, love the beer, but the dessert experience left such a bad taste in my mouth it will be a while before I go back.

DC Food Trip, Part II

2008-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday of Birthday Week, after Colleen had left for the train and I'd crawled back into bed, I had a long debate with myself about whether to stay in bed, read a little (maybe), and order a pizza. Maybe venture out to the nearby Starbucks at some point. But I mentally kicked myself in the ass with the "you have a chance to eat cool things and you're going to do something you can do at home?" argument and rallied.

Once I'd taken the metro in there were loads of choices. I went to the Navy Memorial metro stop, arriving just before noon, and there was some sort of ceremony going on with the US Navy Band. It was pretty awe inspiring, all those people in dress whites.

In the end I went up the street to Oyamel for a really lovely lunch. I had the special, a pepper stuffed with pork, pine nuts, and loads of great spices, the sopa de chileatole al lima y tequila con camarones (lime and corn masa soup with shrimp, marinated red onions, cilantro and reposado tequila), and a tamarind soda. The soup was brought out in a bowl brothless and the server poured the steaming stock over it at the table. Nice! I stupidly dumped in my entire tequila shot without tasting first. It was still delicious but I'd like to see what it's like with say a half or 3/4 shot. Another visit is in order! There were lots of tempting things on the menu, including the ceviche choices, so a return trip shouldn't be a burden.

Sadly, I didn't opt for one of Oyamel's beautiful margaritas. Instead I made my way back to the hotel for a nap then met Stephanie for dinner and the second Eddie Izzard show. We caught a cab and went to Belga Café for dinner. I'd been here a few weeks ago and had awesome mussels and, of course, amazing beer. We started with the kip & krab sigaar (spicy cigars of chicken and crabmeat with assorted sauces) which paired nicely with the beer we were drinking. Steph got one of the steak dishes & it look fantastic. I had the mussels "curry" (Asian style in a light curry-ginger-sesame-soya-oyster sauce) which were delicious. We were perfectly happy, sipping beer and catching up. Then we ordered dessert.

To be continued...

DC Food Trip, Part I

2008-05-06T09:05:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, as part of my birthday week celebrations, Colleen and I went to DC to see the Eddie Izzard show and EAT! The train got us in around 1:30, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and went back in to the city for a late lunch.

After calling first to find out that the dining room was closed but we could order off the bar menu, we made our way to TenPenh, an Asian Fusion place at the corner of Tenth and Pennsylvania.

We ordered wine and three dishes: pork empanadas with a spicy cilantro sauce, Indonesian chicken stuffed roti with a yellow curry apple dipping sauce, and Filipino lumpia style pork and shrimp spring rolls with a dark vinegar sauce, a sweet chili sauce, and a spicy aioli. The empanadas were outstanding, the spring rolls were a close second, and the roti came in a not too distant third. But the real winners were the sauces, which were fantastic!

For dinner we went to the Peruvian El Chalan on Eye Street for a delicious but slightly rushed meal (especially disappointing when the show started 45 minutes late). We had salads and shared a to-die-for ceviche mixto with squid, fish, shrimp and - my favorite - conch. It was light, citrusy, perfect for the evening.

The next post will cover lunch at Oyamel and dinner at Belga Café.

Not Perfect But Very Good Grilled Cheese

2008-04-28T05:26:00.001-07:00

This was last night's supper: grilled Kasseri sheep & goat's milk cheese & tomatoes on Panera country bread.

All afternoon I'd been thinking about the cheddar that had been in my fridge for a while & I stopped at Panera for the bread on the way home to be ready for either mac & cheese or grilled cheese. Apparently I'm one of those people who make their way to the kitchen and eat in their sleep because the cheddar wasn't in the fridge. At least I hope that's what happened, it would be better than tossing it out on accident. Fortunately, the Kasseri came to the rescue and I didn't have to make yet another trip to the store.

The bread was sliced too thick to allow for optimum melting (my fault) but the salty Amish butter made it nice and golden. The tomatoes were really, really ripe and flavorful. With a couple grinds of pepper and some sea salt (and a Victory Saison beer on the side) this definitely hit the spot on a rainy Sunday night.

Lunch at Maurizio's

2008-04-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Office went out for a birthday lunch at Maurizio's Italian restaurant (264-E McLaws Circle, Williamsburg). I was not keen on this having had a less than stellar Sunday dinner there in the fall but other people were eager to try it, and I'm very glad they were! Lunch was a completely different animal and I'm ready to try dinner again.

First, a word on the garlic knots. These were disappointing to me. IMO, Doraldo's has the best garlic knots in town. They're smaller, more dense and chewy. On the plus side, the larger size and airiness of Maurizio's knots was helpful when it came time to soak up the sauce. The knots were the only part of lunch that wasn't really great.

*** They had sweet tea, always a plus! ***

I had the special, homemade sausage with onions and peppers over pasta, and it was fantastic. I chose bucatini and half wish I'd gone with the fettucini like my boss did, but there's always next time. Other folks at the table were gushing over the gnocchi which looked lovely in both cream and marinara sauce.

It was easy to tell that everything was made fresh on order. My pasta was perfectly cooked, and the homemade sausage was hearty and nicely spiced to match the red sauce. We had birthday cake waiting back at the office so didn't order dessert, so that and espresso are definitely on list for the next visit.

Brunch at 2nd Street

2008-04-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

My friend Tom and I had brunch at 2nd Street an American bistro on Sunday. Neither of us had been there since their big renovation, and we were looking forward to it. I'm happy to say that 2nd Street an American bistro did not disappoint! Can you tell the an American bistro part of their name cracks me up a little?

On to business. Care to guess what this is?

Only if you said "Obviously, that's the smoked gouda mac & cheese, panko breaded and fried golden brown with a fire roasted pepper coulis" would you be right. Oh wait, "That's a little piece of heaven on your plate" would be correct, too. Now I'm not a mac & cheese snob, but I am a few light years from being able to appreciate the stuff in blue box (though god knows I've eaten my share). This was really wonderful. The ratio of crunch outside to creamy inside was perfect. Note that though it's in the starter section, it's plenty big enough for a meal for one.

Even though we were pretty full and cooing with mac & cheese-induced delight, we plunged gamely on to our main courses. Here is Tom's torso getting ready to enjoy his french toast, a "flaky croissant dunked in a Frangelica-infused batter and served with apple wood bacon." With a little cup of straw- and blueberries. You can see what's left of his mango mint drink that really had no mint to speak of in it. His verdict: the french toast was a winner.

I had the Southern Chesapeake Benedict. The crab meat and gouda grit cake were delicious and worked well together, but I wasn't a fan of the flattened herbed scrambled egg or the greasy chive hollandaise. My second bloody mary here was much better than the first. Draw your own conclusions about that.

We didn't have dessert and I hope we're better people for it because the cakes in the display case looked pretty good.

The spaciousness of the new look is great. The place used to feel really cramped but now there's actually room to move between tables, even after you've eaten a big plate of fried mac & cheese. The decor is typical for this kind of restaurant (i.e., boring). One tiny complaint: Sunday was a dreary day in the 'burg and the restaurant was pretty dark anyway, so we asked to be seated near the windows to get whatever light we could. The hostess told us that section was closed off then promptly seated the next three tables out there. Ah well, we didn't need light to see those fried mac & cheese logs! We'll be back.

Beat This!

2008-04-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

Reading food blogs makes you think a lot about cookbooks. I have many, certainly, and with the exception of those by Mark Bittman and Nigella, most of them just sit on the shelf unless I'm looking for a very specific recipe. Even that happens less and less often, thanks to the internet. I would never have the discipline to cook every recipe in a book, which is why I was so enthralled with the Julie & Julia Project- Julie Powell is my hero! But the two that I find myself reading for fun, chortling over really, are Ann Hodgman's Beat This! and Beat That! Both of them have loads of great comfort food recipes and are great starter cookbooks. How can you not love a cookbook author who thinks recipe would be improved by adding bacon???

La Tienda, Continued

2008-04-06T12:24:00.001-07:00

As mentioned before I went to the La Tienda store on Thursday. There was no one in the shop but I waited until I'd had time to look around before following the instructions next to the bell that would call someone down from upstairs. I figured they didn't need to see me oohing and aahing over jars of olives, tins of tuna, and bottles of saffron.

The shop pretty much lays out the products you see online. There's a refrigerator for their many varieties of cheese, sausages, and those luscious slices of Iberico ham and lots of shelving for the other items. All of the paella pans are on display as is their wood, glass, and ceramic tableware.

Despite slavering a bit over the ham I managed to control myself and came away with just the items pictured here: 'Bonito del Norte' Tuna in Olive Oil by Arroyabe, sweet olive oil tortas, Magdalenas Breakfast Muffins, a jar of Nocilla 'Duo' Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, and a jar of Mousse de Pimientos del Piquillo which would be delicious with the savory type of olive oil tortas. I really should've gotten some sausage. And I'd like to try some of their smoky paprika. Guess that means another visit is in order!

If you're not in the Williamsburg area you can still get all these things and more at La Tienda online.

Hola La Tienda!

2008-04-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

This morning I wasn't feeling so great (thanks crazy Virginia weather) and decided that playing a small amount of hooky from work and finally taking that field trip to the La Tienda retail store in nearby Toano, VA was exactly what I needed. Needless to say I was right: the experience made me feel better for hours and hours. Above you see the lovely Iberico ham slices. (insert gurgly drooly Homer Simpson sound here)

Watch this space for the full report of what I saw and bought.

La Tienda
3601 La Grange Parkway
Toano, VA 23168

Lazy Sunday

2008-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

A horribly unoriginal title already. Apt, but unoriginal.

Today was not a sleep in til noon day, no sirree. I was up by 8:30 enjoying coffee with whole milk goodness. Stephanie Insley Hershinow, one of my favorite people in the whole world, and her husband David came over for brunch. We had talked about going to the Blue Talon for their excellent Sunday brunch, but decided that with the 45 degree weather and the sleet and all it would be too much of a hassle.

After some strong coffee and good conversation, I had a pancake disaster (Steph, I promise you pancakes to go with your lime curd next time) so switched to simple scrambled eggs and fried ham. In the process we discovered some additional moldy food in the refrigerator, so I guess it wasn't entirely a bad thing.

This is the rare case where the company is the important thing, anyway.

Just before Steph and David got here I threw a brisket in the oven. This gem of a recipe from the NYTimes gives the biggest bang for the smallest effort I know. I think it was originally called Friday Night Brisket, and it involves putting a brisket fat side up in a dutch oven-like pot (I use my beloved blue Staub Cocotte), dumping onion soup mix then bottled chili sauce on it, crushing a couple of garlic cloves and scattering them around, adding just enough water to almost cover the meat, and letting it sit at 350 for 4 1/2 hours. (I recommend doing this on a gray day when you're stuck inside, or when you're just doing some crap job around the house. Trust me, the smell of this brisket cooking will make everything better.)

At that point you take it out and let it cool - it's okay to refrigerate overnight, for instance - skim the fat, pull the meat apart a bit with a fork, add a bag of baby carrots, and pop it back in the over at 350 for another hour. That's it. Except for the part where you eat it and think you've died and gone to heaven.

Long-time reader, first-time poster

2008-03-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

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.