Cooking Saveur

Time to cook. Why that egg is so huge inside that poor chicken, only a poultry OBGYN knows. First recipe, pg. 351 on mac and cheese. I've never followed an actual recipe because who the hell has all those ingredients on hand? I live in a DC apartment, not Martha Stewart's Connecticut estate where I can just go out and grab twigs of thyme and a fresh bay leaf. My approach to cooking ot to basically try to use up shit in the fridge before it molds or decays. So cheese was the ingredient guiding me to page 351. And may I just say THANK YOU for extolling the melty virtues of Velveeta "cheese" Saveur! Fuck those snooty chefs who mock its vibrant orange history. It works whenever you want to get that gooey, non-oil-pool, creamy goodness just melting cheddar or any other real cheese can not yield.

I basically just shredded up what I think was a Gruyere/cheddar block from Trader Joe's, a Colby wedge from the farmer's market, leftover Parmesan, and yes, the little ounce of blue cheese and, of course, the Velveeta. Added that mixture to the basic variation of the flour/butter/milk mixture that seems very much like a bechamel sauce? I have to look that up; could be dreaming. I added garlic because, GARLIC. Also jazzed it up with ground pepper flakes instead of cayenne, used dry thyme and two bay leaves since they were looking/smelling kinda wimpy. I also blended panko flakes with the buttered wheat bread crumbs (who the hell have white bread at home? Kindergarten teachers and the CEO of ButterKrust? Are they still in business? Loved that factory sign in San Antonio - endless slices just spilling out of that loaf - now it's just orange juice).

This recipe makes way too much for a 8x8 thus I had to go with two baking casserole pans. Yes, I have more than one, but not going to say how many more. So, after the baking, results were good. Nice, crunch crumb top that you could hear crunching when you dished out portions. creamy but not stringy cheese with nice cling to the spirali pasta. Should have used more garlic, but when haven't I thought that.

Vermillion

Yum. Lucky to have my friends G & J come into the Old Town area of Alexandria. It gave me a chance to try this neighborhood restaurant Vermillion on King Street. I had a Pimm's Cup and bowl of their daily soup - a chilled roasted red pepper puree with chive chive crème fraiche, pine nuts, little croutons & squash “crudo”. Delish. Can't wait to go back. Need to find someone who would like going for the Farm Table menu. Hate when they don't allow a "one".

buttery perfection

Went to French Laundry for my birthday. More on that meal later. Just had to comment on the wonderful sugar butter biscuit cookies they send you home with. Perfect crumble crunch with a light coat of granular sugar. These are simply perfect representations of the traditional English butter cookie that typically can't be found in England as they've evolved to producing heavier, denser blocks. These are a balanced effort in lightness and richness. Any thicker, too much cake; any thinner, too crisp. Too fine a granular sugar and the sweetness would prevent the tongue from truly appreciating the butter cookie. Too large a granular sugar and they'd roll right off. I also tasted a hint of salt grains here and there perfectly enhancing the butter-sugar blend base. Behold the joys of a perfect short bread cookie. The bar has been set high. I look forward to any challengers but this one seems impossible to beat.

Blueberry Kuchen

Confession - I'm a chef only when the bargains or bounty call. This time it was the Friday organic blueberry sale at Whole Foods. Time to make blueberry kuken (that's the way it's spelled on her recipe). Mom has a great recipe I think she picked up when living in Germany. Maybe I should check on that family legend. But I don't want to find out it can from some 1960s issue of Good Housekeeping. I decided to use corn flour for the crust. I got it from Philipsburg Manor in the Hudson Valley and it didn't absorb the liquids as well as white wheat flour so I used that to firm it up. Overall the results were FABULOUS! I'm sticking with corn flour in the future. I t turned out crisp and flaky, blueberries sweet but slightly tart. Brought it into work and it went quickly at our group meeting. Need a bigger spring pan :)

In Search of a Container

Brewed some green tea. Did a half-gallon batch to give the SCOBY something to eat. Felt that might not be a good pool for the baby SCOBY to survive on so I brewed a full gallon and bought a really stupid container - too big and round. The poor SCOBY would have to grow way too much. I obviously don't know what the hell I'm doing. YouTube videos and blogging may not be the best way to approach booching.

Brunch at Locanda Verde

Met Jeremy and Janice and Locanda Verde for brunch. Strangely I noticed I did the same thing last year with Violet. Is this going to be a tradition? I think not after the lackluster meal.

Cappuccino was good (illy) but too small. Gin fizz was a disappointing gin-meets-grapefruit-wedge bore. Can't order the special pastries from the menu grouping (zucchini bread, chocolate donuts, ginger lemon scone) so ended up with an ok savory cheese and bacon scone and a lackluster pumpkin bread. Couldn't even order pastries from the counter selection and the bar?! Bad form.

Janice's shrimp and grits were bipolar. The grits were delish but the shrimp were shellfishy - I spit mine out :O Jeremy and I split Uovo Modenese and the porchetta sandwich. Both were good but I've come to expect more than good from LV.

Looks like next year I'll have to find a new brunch spot ... probably in Brooklyn, argh!

SCOBY drop

Read a freaky scary fun article in the Washington Post on making kombucha at home. By Saturday night I'm picking up my first SCOBY from a guy in the upper UWS. Will I brew a wonderful magical elixir or grow Beelzebub in my kitchen? Time will tell.

DC Living

I almost forgot about my blog given new media like twitter and Facebook. But I like blogging for food, travel, and basic bitching about things like art and film. So bear with me as I go back and fill some things in.

1) I moved. I now live in DC.
2) I still bitch. No surprise there.
3) I now have more access to politicos.

I expect a little more bitching about government, mediocre restaurants and plays but less whining about stinky, trashy streets and rude people. Now I'm the rudest person in town, or pretty dang close.

Yes, I'll miss NYC. But luckily DC has good food sources. Haven't yet found restaurants worthy of mention but I'm in heaven over the cheese mongers! Cow Girl Creamery is a fav and their Mt. Tam is creamy, gobbley goodness. And that's right, NC bitches! Their DC shop is the only one outside of their California neighborhood. Yahoo! So until I find other foodies, I'll be content with good cheese. Wallace (and Gromit, perhaps) would be happy company.

Silver Moon Pain au Lait

Serious Eats has sent me to some great and not so great places in search of cheap yummy NYC treats. Luckily Silver Moon bakery up on Broadway and 105th has always been a favorite. I used to live on 105th so it was both convenient and good. I mostly get the chocolate croissant or cinnamon roll. The former is always good. The later is oftern the best dang thing to bite into on a lazy weekend morning but on occasion they over-bake it resulting in dry disappointment. Never tried their Pain au Lait and I was expecting something bagel-sized. This treat is more like a small wreath loaf. I find the sugar crystals a bit too large to dissolve nicely when eating the bread but the dough, crust, and raisins are so good to make it worth the purchase. Raisins were a tad bit dry but that was OK with the only hint-like sweetness of the creamy bread. I'm a fan now. Luckily I don't live a half-block away now or I'd be a little too indulgent.

Heathman Hotel

Grabbed several small bites in the lounge area of the Heathman Hotel, Portland. Great location when waiting between Portland Film Festival films which are located right across the street.

I had the snails and frogs legs. The meat was wonderfully cooked but unfortunately they paired them with an overly rich and heavy bourguignon-type sauce which was too gooey and overpowering in flavor, smothering the subtler and lighter flavors of the frog and snails.

The oysters were great and they served me plenty of horseradish. But seriously, oysters just need to be selected for freshness and shucked.

For dessert I had the prunes and rice pudding. I hoped for flavorful prunes steeped in a sweet and spicy syrup. Hope springs eternal. I just got rather bland and standard prunes and rice pudding, but it was better than can be expected at the hospital.

The ambiance was fabulous. I feel like I'm in a comfy and posh lounge, no troubles, no rush, just good conversation and comfy seats.

Pearl District and Tea House

Popped into the TeaZone while walking around Portland's Pearl District. Very nice selection of teas and they care about proper brewing. Unfortunately the few tables squashed in the front aren't very comfortable and the surroundings are more crafty instead of relaxing or welcoming. All that comfort and warm seemed to be reserved for the back room, Camellia Lounge. They had a live music set in progress. Nice to know local musicians have a place to play. They whole Pearl District scene seemed to be reflected in the tea place - lots of earthy outdoorsy looking folks who actually may never get out in the outdoors, preferring to just urban explore in their polar fleece and vegan shoes. Couldn't smell patchouli so perhaps there's hope yet for a recovery.

Ping

Lucky for me that while roaming around Chinatown in Portland, I asked for a recommendation on where to eat and was pointed to Ping. This Vietnamese inspired restaurant has many inspired dishes but I was told the spicy ramen noodle soup was worth a try. Noodles not so good but the chili flavors shined. They aren't afraid to use the spice which my taste buds appreciated. Definitely try some of the fun and creative drinks the mixologists prepare. I tried a blood orange update on an old fashion which was pretty good. Skip the thai tea - nothing memorable. As for the serradura dessert - ugh. It tasted like rather flavorless whipped cream and sandy cocoa with only texture to offer up instead of taste. I'd go back for some of the smaller dishes which looks fantastic - small fried fish, spicy peppers. And the bartednder know his stuff. Had a great time eavesdropping on conversation he was having with the couple next to me who lived in Vietnam. He works for Nike. Lucky me I was sitting near them because it offered up an education on soju and I got a taste (drum) of a very good Jinro. Yeah rice fermentation! Never tasted so good.

Mac 'n Cheese

Winter outside. I slept in until noon since the cat incident kept me part of the night. Lovely snow was coming down which induced me to stay indoors, except a quick jaunt to drop the mail in the box. Decided it was time to use up the noodles and cheese in my icebox. Also had some bacon so..... I altered Alton Brown's recipe and ended up with some rather yummy mac, cheese and bacon. Good comfort food for a snowy winter day. Yum.

Little Owl

This little Greenwich Village place on Bedford & Grove is a favorite of mine but I've never been for brunch. It was G's idea so I have to thank her for the suggestion. I got there about 10 minutes before they open at 11 am worried that there would be an insane line like at Prune. Lucky for us there were just ten other people so we were easily seated. We actually table hopped when I noticed the view and location further away from kids was near the door. I worried about a cold draft but I was comfy in the window seat right next to a radiator heater! I was in cozy bliss tucked in this gem or a place, conversation and good food with a friend, the picturesque snow and historical streets all around us. Looking out, we noticed a tour group traveling in a pack looking over at our building, taking pictures; I felt a bit like a goldfish in a bowl. It sort of felt good to be a local - an ignorant local who still has no idea what the histroical significance is of the building we were sitting in. At that moment all I care about was the menu and my hot cup of Mighty Leaf tea. Hmmmm, good.

I know it was 11 am in the morning but I had to have the burger. After reading a piece in the Guardian on the 50 best foods to eat in the world, I had to get me a Little Owl burger. I've had the pork belly at Gramercy Tavern and the pastrami at Katz's; still haven't been to Babbo (bad me!). The burger has also been featured elsewhere (e.g. Serious Eats, Saveur) as one of the best in the city. So I ordered the burger, rare. Yep, I'm a red meat carnivore. When the meat comes from Pat La Frieda, it's gonna be good. And it also comes with cheddar, applewood bacon, and fries. The meat, cheese and bacon were perfect. I can say it is the best ground blend burger I've had in a long, long time. I think the roll was a tad disappointing but that may be due to the need to give it some density to stand up to the juicy meat and not go soggy. I'm going to disagree with other reviewers with my preference of brioche-style buns over this carb-heavy roll. My favorite is Shake Shack's potato bun when it's perfectly grilled with a crispy crunch edge on the rim. Lettuce - good, tomato - not ripe but ok, red onion - perfect and thinly sliced to not overpower. Fries were crisp and seasoned well. Condiments of ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard all came in individual serve containers which is really, really un-green, unsustainable. G noticed my eco-disgusted face when they plopped those on the table. I slowly ate my way through almost the whole burger but I had to leave a bite or two, plus some straggler fries, on the plate. My jeans could only contain so much. I won't have to eat for a week after this.

G got their version of eggs bennie - two poached eggs over a fontina sausage bun (more of a roll-biscuit hybrid), a rustic green (G's guess - escarole, my guess - kale or chard variety), and hollandaise. Looked good. She said the eggs were perfectly poached and they broke into a creamy yellow goodness, no signs of being under or over cooked. The bun however really didn't express either a sausage or fontina flavor in any noticeable way in her opinion, and G knows food! She added a side of bacon 'cause it's just soooooo good. Her latte was good; no foam as she asked. Hard to grab the waiter's attention for some fresh ground pepper for her eggs but in general, the service was attentive.

The place was packed by 11:30 am so best to get there early. Next time I'd do the brunchy stuff. I also like the pastas at dinner. My preference is dinner. But on this cold, snowy and lazy Saturday, it was nice to enjoy the sounds, warmth and comfort food at this neighborhood gem ... that really is more of a city treasure. Good eating!

Potato Leek Soup

Gravlax and cream cheese

Scallion cream cheese to be exact. Tyring out the selection from Russ & Daughters and I'm liking the gravlox the best. The Norwegian is a tad bit to oily and thus a slight bit more of the salmon fishiness. The Gravlax tastes more rich and complex in flavor likely due to the wonderful dill and salt cure, the dill still clinging to the edge, giving that bit a wonderful herbed taste I just love. Yum.

Alias

Brunch with L and J on the Lower East Side (LES). I've done Prune and Public so many times, I wanted to try a new place. I chose Alias. They have an emphasis on southern breakfast stuff. J went with the bland, boring but predictably good poached eggs with sides of stuff like biscuits and bacon. I went with teh biscuits and gravy - looks gray but tastes great and they gave me ample amounts of gravy so I was never left with dry biscuit. That's a good thing given that the biscuits were some strange healthy variety using a whole wheat flour? Well, they looked like they were made from a whole grain and they were dense, not flaky or crumbly which is more typical southern fare. L had the huevos rancheros which looked good with festive colors covering the plate. I personally never order Mexican food north of the Texas panhandle and east of the Mississippi, heck, maybe not even east of Houston. We also got the corn meal waffles with apply compote to share - yum but still too healthy - I need more butter. Good comfy food. Left feeling full and happy.

Lower East Side treats

After brunch, we headed to Essex Market only to find it closed today. Bleck! Guess I've never sauntered around LES on Sundays. No Roni-Sue chocolate covered bacon. Maybe that's a good thing for my arteries and waistline.

Kept moving west on Rivington past adult treats at Babes in Toyland (Seattle has a store, too!) to indulge the inner-kid at the best candy story ever - Economy Candy. This is really becoming an addiction and I need to seek some help or intervention. Luckily everything I bought today, except for sour apple and cherry gum, was for my nieces and nephews. L didn't buy anything - wtf?!

After the movie, I headed to Russ & Daughters with J. He wanted to pick up some lox. Since I was there, I might as well buy some Norwegian, and some gravlox. What's the difference? As their website describes, "[g]ravlax is an age-old Scandinavian specialty of salmon cured and coated in a delicate brine of salt, sugar, dill, and other secret ingredients" and Norwegian is "[a] lovely balance of smoke and salt with a nice firm texture, Norwegian is one of our least expensive salmon, but one of our best." Still it's not cheap. And to make it all worthwhile, the best scallion cream cheese EVER! They put big and plentiful pieces of scallions in there, infusing the whole white spreadable gooness with that green crisp flavor. Much better that the barely visible and almost hidden scallions in Zabar's version. Yep, they beat out Zabar's ... on this one item, and maybe the gravlox. Still, my neighborhood has some of the best fish - lox, gravlox, sturgeon, etc. - given Zabar's, Murray's Sturgeon Shop, and Barney Greengrass are all in walking distance to my place. Obviously, UWSers know good food, and we're too lazy to go to other neighborhoods to shop. But LES is rather fabulous, and they have better plethora of great restaurants.

So I headed home with lots of goodies. Damn, it is great living in the land of the plenty ... what can't you get in NYC? Yep, even some stuff ya don't want like public urination, spitting and bad Mexican food. Luckily today I got the good stuff.

brussels sprouts

I'm super lucky to have a GreenMarket each Sunday just down the block from me. I get my Thistle Milk, bacon, artisan cheese, apples, and various other season and local fare right there, super easy. Mostly I'm happy all week with my finds but about once or twice a month Thistle doesn't have yogurt. This makes me sad. I love their yogurt, tangy, creamy, super fresh. And I get a bag of a bag of mixed apples for $2 and make the yummiest homemade applesauce to add to my yogurt when the dessert-lover in me comes out.

Sad news. Brussels sprout season is coming to an end. It's taking me longer to pick out good ones and more time to prep them for my favorite way to cook them. I like to take bacon fat (it's from the local Tamarack Hollow pig farm folks so I'm not feeling as bad as if it were some HUGE agri-industry place) and brown the cut edge of the sprouts before adding a little water and steaming them. Yum.

San Antonio

Went home for the 3-day weekend. Almost forgot my luggage at the office. Had to run back after boarding the subway and thinking it strange how I didn't have anything heavy to schlep to JFK. Luckily I still had time to make it out to the airport since I caught the very next subway into the city. Far Rockaway is rather far away. Ugh.

Got into SA Friday night. I went back to visit my folks and a friend I reconnected with via FaceBook. FB is truly amazing as it brings up all these old faces I hadn't thought of in years. There are a few negatives but mostly it is an amazingly great way to update friends and family on all the adventures and updates you can't squish into Christmas and holiday card updates. I hadn't heard from my college roommate and her husband in years, so my update with them was two additional children!

Spent most of Saturday doing the tourist stuff downtown. Walked a good portion of the Riverwalk. Picked up the River Barge for the most of the old section of the river. Lots of new construction but I still love the more natural section with the cypress tree knees jutting up and the vegetation bring in the organic calming elements to the stroll. We popped into the mall for a quick bite to eat and bathroom breaks. Walked up to street level to walk past the Alamo. Yep, it's still there. Yep, you still remember it. Back across the street to wind over to the bus stop to head back to T's parents place. Haven't done the downtown loop in years. Learned a few things from the boat guide but mostly it's the same.

Dinner was from Chit Chats Bar-B-Que. Really good stuff from these gals working in a small place near the AlamoDome. Everything was great - brisket, ribs, very lean pork.

Spent Sunday with my folks. We tried going to chamber music at the synagogue but noticed the parking lots surprisingly spare. Everyone in Texas drives everywhere. Turned out one of the musicians was ill so they had to cancel. Weird since my last visit when I went to hear a quartet play they started late due to one of the musicians getting stuck on a delayed flight. Maybe it's me.

We ate at Pappasitos, one of my favorite places. Start with the fresh guacamole which comes with the good chips; table chips are too thin and sometimes stale. They have the best grilled quail. It comes with a lime butter sauce and really fresh tortillas. Damn good stuff.

We went to see It's Complicated. Rather simple and silly plot but the cast delivers the subpar material with enthusiasm. I personally hate this recent genre of film - older woman fantasy flick. The formula includes a 'mature' woman with a great career, fabulous home and wardrobe, can't seem to get guys her age, often her ex, to take notice. AH, but by the end of a series of goofy incidents, some involving a one-upsmanship over their younger competition, she gets the guy, not her ex. Ref: Something's Got To Give, Nights in Rodanthe, I Could Never Be Your Woman. Ugh! Pure fantasy drivel. Sadly most of these lame films are directed and/or written by women, sometimes very talented women. WTF? Why keep perpetuating the myth that a man will complete the happily ever after story? Maybe they need to read some Bella DePaulo.

That rant out of the way, I did enjoy Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin's performances. And I did like the negative reaction to the use of plastic surgery. Good for that message. And John Krasinski delivered great comedic reactions in the supporting role as the future son-in-law. Steve Martin was too restrained, not that they needed to use him in all his chaotic craziness but I wanted to at least see something beyond an impression of being stoned. But it was entertaining escapist material, only because I didn't have to pay ;)

Monday I had to head home. Before boarding the plane back to NYC, I needed a good Mexican breakfast taco fix. Our first choice was closed so we headed to Panchitos. It's across the street from Julian Gold, which is so great to see since most local fine clothing stores have long been gone post Macy's, etc.. Good restaurant switch. I had two tacos which were great. They do great migas and chilaquilas but the standout item was simply the corn tortillas - OMG! This is what all tortillas should taste like - fresh masa, warm, fluffy, cooked yet soft, bursting with flavor and no hint of dryness. Why, oh why can't I get this in NYC?

Ah, I miss food, family, friends. But could I ever live here again? Time will tell.