Several months ago my parents took a trip to Hershey, PA, and my mom brought me back a cute little tin full of Hershey recipes. My parents came over Sunday night for dinner (cheesesteaks from Danny Mac's), and I told Neil to select a recipe from the Hershey box and I would make it for dessert.
What Neil selected was Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.
Hershey's Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups hot water
Whipped topping (make it yourself, it's better!)
1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Stir together 3/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla; beat until smooth. Pour batter into ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top. Do not stir.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand 15 minutes; spoon into dessert dishes, spooning sauce from bottom of pan over top. Garnish with whipped topping. Makes about 8 servings.
For the whipped topping I combined one cup heavy whipping cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and a half teaspoon of vanilla. I beat it on high until it was whipped cream. (There is no excuse for Cool Whip!)
Anyway, the cake. I don't know how, but we managed not to take any photos of it. But basically what happens is that the top turns into something cakey in texture, and the bottom turns into a thick gooey chocolate sauce. It's really neat! And also incredibly good. It's very rich without being overly sweet and disgusting.
What's really awesome (and kind of dangerous) about this is that it's made of stuff I always have in the house. And it's super quick and easy. I can make a gooey chocolate dessert (something I get a craving for not infrequently) whenever I want and with minimal effort! And now you can too!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Fun Article from the NYT
This kid is totally awesome: 12-Year-Old's a Food Critic, and the Chef Loves It.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Reunited and It Feels So Good
As you may or may not recall (or know the details of), Neil and I broke up back in May and I moved into my own place. It was good that we broke up, because there was no other way for us to resolve certain issues that had been plaguing our relationship. I felt strongly that I needed to be on my own for a bit to get my head on straight and figure out what I really needed out of a relationship.
In August we went on vacation together and came home with a tentative agreement that we wanted to try things again. We quickly fell back into the swing of our relationship and things were great. The only problem was that not only had I just signed a lease, I loved (and continue to love) my new apartment, in particular my kitchen. It has an obscene amount of counter space and cabinets, as well as a dishwasher. Neil's kitchen, in contrast, is a bit of a cook's nightmare; no dishwasher, few cabinets, and literally almost no counter space.
At first I thought I would just wait until my lease was up and move back in with Neil, since we were spending most nights together again and were quite in the habit of sharing a residence, having done so for two and half years. But I really, really didn't want to give up my new place. So then we talked about him selling his house and moving in with me, but in this market that didn't seem wise or even necessarily possible. We finally came up with a plan: Neil (and our cat and dog) would move in with me, and a friend of ours would rent Neil's house.
Why am I going into all of this in my food blog? Because today, although all of Neil's stuff is still at his house, we moved the pets over, and I imagine Neil will be sleeping here from now on. Today felt like the first day of really being reunited as a household. And one of the things that made it feel that way is that we cooked.
I decided to make a roast for dinner. I'd never done this before, so I started simply and used this recipe. I also decided to make mashed potatoes using this recipe. I've made mashed potatoes many times before, always improvising the ingredients, with various degrees of success. I decided to use a recipe this time so I'd have predictably delicious results. We rounded out our grocery shopping with some asparagus and frozen rolls, as well as some Granny Smith apples for an Alice Waters apple tart.
The roast was ridiculously easy. I used two cans of cream of mushroom with garlic soup, mixed it with the onion soup mix, slathered it all over the meat, and baked it for four hours. While that was in the oven (and in between putting coats of polyurethane on my dining room table) we had a light lunch:
Benedictine sandwiches with fresh cucumber and turkey bacon. Mmmmmm.
After that I made some pastry dough for the apple tart using Alice Waters's recipe. If you already own The Art of Simple Food (and really, you should), the dough recipe is on page 174, and the the apple tart recipe is on page 180. I'm not going to transcribe the recipes here because: 1) I feel a little squicky about the copyright implications of doing so and 2) I'm lazy. Suffice it to say that the dough involves flour, a ton of butter, and a little bit of water, and making the tart is a matter of rolling out the dough into a circle, arranging a bunch of sliced apples on it, folding over the edges, brushing (or drizzling) the whole thing with more butter, and sprinkling it with sugar. (And we added some cinnamon too, though it wasn't in the recipe.)
Dinner really practically made itself. The roast worked its magic in the oven, we cooked the potatoes and mixed them with their butter and milk, and we wrapped up the asparagus in foil with some olive oil and tossed it in the oven. When dinner came out of the oven the apple tart went in.
I must say, there was an awful lot of anticipation surrounding this roast, both because it was my first one and because it made my entire apartment smell amazing. We were really excited about trying it. We unfurled the foil packet to find..
Delicious steaming meat!
It was so tender that I had trouble getting it onto our plates; it kept falling apart. I know that using two cans of soup and a packet of soup mix does not equate to gourmet cooking and that Alice Waters herself would not approve of all these processed, packaged foods, but damn this roast was good! Tender, juicy, flavorful, and emerging from the oven in a package of its own gravy, which required absolutely no effort on my part. I approve!
A plate full of deliciousness!
In August we went on vacation together and came home with a tentative agreement that we wanted to try things again. We quickly fell back into the swing of our relationship and things were great. The only problem was that not only had I just signed a lease, I loved (and continue to love) my new apartment, in particular my kitchen. It has an obscene amount of counter space and cabinets, as well as a dishwasher. Neil's kitchen, in contrast, is a bit of a cook's nightmare; no dishwasher, few cabinets, and literally almost no counter space.
At first I thought I would just wait until my lease was up and move back in with Neil, since we were spending most nights together again and were quite in the habit of sharing a residence, having done so for two and half years. But I really, really didn't want to give up my new place. So then we talked about him selling his house and moving in with me, but in this market that didn't seem wise or even necessarily possible. We finally came up with a plan: Neil (and our cat and dog) would move in with me, and a friend of ours would rent Neil's house.
Why am I going into all of this in my food blog? Because today, although all of Neil's stuff is still at his house, we moved the pets over, and I imagine Neil will be sleeping here from now on. Today felt like the first day of really being reunited as a household. And one of the things that made it feel that way is that we cooked.
I decided to make a roast for dinner. I'd never done this before, so I started simply and used this recipe. I also decided to make mashed potatoes using this recipe. I've made mashed potatoes many times before, always improvising the ingredients, with various degrees of success. I decided to use a recipe this time so I'd have predictably delicious results. We rounded out our grocery shopping with some asparagus and frozen rolls, as well as some Granny Smith apples for an Alice Waters apple tart.
The roast was ridiculously easy. I used two cans of cream of mushroom with garlic soup, mixed it with the onion soup mix, slathered it all over the meat, and baked it for four hours. While that was in the oven (and in between putting coats of polyurethane on my dining room table) we had a light lunch:
Benedictine sandwiches with fresh cucumber and turkey bacon. Mmmmmm.After that I made some pastry dough for the apple tart using Alice Waters's recipe. If you already own The Art of Simple Food (and really, you should), the dough recipe is on page 174, and the the apple tart recipe is on page 180. I'm not going to transcribe the recipes here because: 1) I feel a little squicky about the copyright implications of doing so and 2) I'm lazy. Suffice it to say that the dough involves flour, a ton of butter, and a little bit of water, and making the tart is a matter of rolling out the dough into a circle, arranging a bunch of sliced apples on it, folding over the edges, brushing (or drizzling) the whole thing with more butter, and sprinkling it with sugar. (And we added some cinnamon too, though it wasn't in the recipe.)
Dinner really practically made itself. The roast worked its magic in the oven, we cooked the potatoes and mixed them with their butter and milk, and we wrapped up the asparagus in foil with some olive oil and tossed it in the oven. When dinner came out of the oven the apple tart went in.
I must say, there was an awful lot of anticipation surrounding this roast, both because it was my first one and because it made my entire apartment smell amazing. We were really excited about trying it. We unfurled the foil packet to find..
Delicious steaming meat!It was so tender that I had trouble getting it onto our plates; it kept falling apart. I know that using two cans of soup and a packet of soup mix does not equate to gourmet cooking and that Alice Waters herself would not approve of all these processed, packaged foods, but damn this roast was good! Tender, juicy, flavorful, and emerging from the oven in a package of its own gravy, which required absolutely no effort on my part. I approve!
A plate full of deliciousness!Just as we finished dinner and relaxed with our wine (a 2006 Mirassou cab), the apple tart was ready.
Mmmmmm, rustic!
The beauty of Alice Waters's cooking lies in the beauty of food itself: simple recipes with real ingredients taste better and are better for us and the environment. This apple tart was amazing; the crust was flaky and tender, and I don't think I even have to describe what happens when you mix apples, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I think next time I might try this in a turnover format, perhaps with apples and cream cheese.
Now Neil and I are sitting in the living room using our respective laptops, drinking our wine and watching as Franklin, our cat, slinks around his new home (he spent at least an hour hiding inside the sofa, but is now bravely investigating the rest of the room). I love these days of easy couple-ness - running errands together, doing odd jobs around the house, and ending the day with an amazing meal that we have planned and prepared together. I started to enjoy cooking around the same time I was falling in love with Neil, and I think those two things will be forever intertwined.
Here's to pot roast, and to us!
Mmmmmm, rustic!The beauty of Alice Waters's cooking lies in the beauty of food itself: simple recipes with real ingredients taste better and are better for us and the environment. This apple tart was amazing; the crust was flaky and tender, and I don't think I even have to describe what happens when you mix apples, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I think next time I might try this in a turnover format, perhaps with apples and cream cheese.
Now Neil and I are sitting in the living room using our respective laptops, drinking our wine and watching as Franklin, our cat, slinks around his new home (he spent at least an hour hiding inside the sofa, but is now bravely investigating the rest of the room). I love these days of easy couple-ness - running errands together, doing odd jobs around the house, and ending the day with an amazing meal that we have planned and prepared together. I started to enjoy cooking around the same time I was falling in love with Neil, and I think those two things will be forever intertwined.
Here's to pot roast, and to us!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Cheapest Dinner in Town
Times are tough all over. A lot of us have watched our retirement savings shrivel away, some of us have lost our jobs, and one in five (soon to be one in four) homeowners owes more on their mortgage than their house is worth. The immediate economic future isn't looking too bright. But fear not! I am here with happy financial news:
Neil and I have discovered how we can have dinner for two for $3.19. $3.19. Value has spoken to us, and her name is Double Dragon.
Neil and I have known the cheapness of Double Dragon for a while; we often split an order of General Tso's chicken (half an order is still almost too much), paying about $8 for the entree and an extra eggroll in addition to the one it comes with. Our latest discovery, however, is that our very own Germantown Chinese take-out establishment will sell us two two-cup containers of soup - I favor egg drop, while Neil likes hot and sour - for $3.19. We found this out recently when we waited too late in the day for lunch and didn't want to ruin our appetites for dinner. I'd been craving egg drop, and we thought soup sounded like a good snack. Both soups ended up being hearty and plentiful enough to serve as meals on their own. We just had them again tonight and we continued to marvel over the fact that we got dinner for $3.19!
(And as if that weren't enough, Neil also got the following fortune in his cookie: "A man's best possession is a sympathetic wife." Free sexism to boot!)
Double Dragon
1255 Goss Ave Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 635-5656
Neil and I have discovered how we can have dinner for two for $3.19. $3.19. Value has spoken to us, and her name is Double Dragon.
Neil and I have known the cheapness of Double Dragon for a while; we often split an order of General Tso's chicken (half an order is still almost too much), paying about $8 for the entree and an extra eggroll in addition to the one it comes with. Our latest discovery, however, is that our very own Germantown Chinese take-out establishment will sell us two two-cup containers of soup - I favor egg drop, while Neil likes hot and sour - for $3.19. We found this out recently when we waited too late in the day for lunch and didn't want to ruin our appetites for dinner. I'd been craving egg drop, and we thought soup sounded like a good snack. Both soups ended up being hearty and plentiful enough to serve as meals on their own. We just had them again tonight and we continued to marvel over the fact that we got dinner for $3.19!
(And as if that weren't enough, Neil also got the following fortune in his cookie: "A man's best possession is a sympathetic wife." Free sexism to boot!)
Double Dragon
1255 Goss Ave Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 635-5656
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Beer Bulletin
I have several things I've been meaning to blog about here, but I want to say right now, while I'm waiting for my Lotsa Pasta pizza to finish baking, that Stone Brewing's Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout is damn fine beer. It is everything I like in a beer: dark, thick, pleasantly bitter, and high alcohol. It's their special 12th anniversary beer, and I'm going to have to stock up on it before it's gone. Wow. Try it!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Old Man at the Fringe Fest
In better news, Neil's band, Old Man, will be playing at the New Albanian Brewing Company's Fringe Fest this Thursday, October 9, at 7:00. The Fringe Fest promises to be a pretty great event to begin with, what with its awesome beer and everything, and having Old Man there makes it even more exciting. And it's the day after my birthday, so you should definitely come out and buy me a beer!
Benefit for Adam
People, something infuriating has happened. Adam Tatum, the owner of Oak Street Pizza, was shot during an armed robbery on Sunday. He was shot after he emptied the register and his pockets and apparently did not produce enough cash to satisfy the gunman. As a former resident of Old Louisville and a fan of Oak Street Pizza, I find this really upsetting. I mean, here is a dude just doing his thing, trying to make it in this shitty economy by selling delicious pizzas, and he gets shot! WTF?
The good news is, Derby City Espresso is hosting a fundraiser for Adam next Thursday, October 16. DCE will donate a dollar of every drink sold, and there's also going to be an awesome silent auction featuring, among many other things:
- A stay at the Gallery House Bed & Breakfast
- Gift certificates and shirts from the Charlestown Pizza Company
- A five-course Nuevo Latino tasting from Seviche
- A $50 gift card from Impellizzeri's
- Two hours of photography or photography lessons from Neil
- Tons of other great stuff that's in the process of being organized
Additionally, live jazz will be provided by the Outfit (which features my former student Jake on bass).
Come on out to DCE next Thursday for a good time and a good cause!
The good news is, Derby City Espresso is hosting a fundraiser for Adam next Thursday, October 16. DCE will donate a dollar of every drink sold, and there's also going to be an awesome silent auction featuring, among many other things:
- A stay at the Gallery House Bed & Breakfast
- Gift certificates and shirts from the Charlestown Pizza Company
- A five-course Nuevo Latino tasting from Seviche
- A $50 gift card from Impellizzeri's
- Two hours of photography or photography lessons from Neil
- Tons of other great stuff that's in the process of being organized
Additionally, live jazz will be provided by the Outfit (which features my former student Jake on bass).
Come on out to DCE next Thursday for a good time and a good cause!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wine please!
So apparently Kentucky is considering grocery store wine sales again. I've always found it a little wacky that when I vacation on the Gulf Coast of Alabama - a state, by the way, that bans sex toys - I can pick up a few bottles of wine as I do my grocery shopping, but when I come home it's back to the liquor store.
I do feel for the local wine shops that could be affected by this. On the other hand, though, Kentucky is one of only 16 states that don't allow wine sales in grocery stores, and I feel certain that those other 34 states still have plenty of wine and spirit shops. When I'm looking for something special I'm going to go to Old Town, but when I want a cheap bottle of whatever to go with a week-night dinner, I would love to be able to pick it up at Kroger along with my dinner ingredients. The wine I would buy at the the grocery store would be in addition to the wine I get at my favorite wine shops, not instead of it.
But wait! Wine in grocery stores could "expose more children to alcohol products"! Which is why they don't sell beer at the grocery store. Or liquor at the drug store. Or... oh, yeah. Nice try, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Kentucky!
I really hope this passes. I know we all have much bigger political fish to fry right now, but this - unlike, say, the Wall Street bail-out - would have a direct and immediate positive impact on my life. If we're all going to be forced into the bread line, we ought to have some wine to go with it!
I do feel for the local wine shops that could be affected by this. On the other hand, though, Kentucky is one of only 16 states that don't allow wine sales in grocery stores, and I feel certain that those other 34 states still have plenty of wine and spirit shops. When I'm looking for something special I'm going to go to Old Town, but when I want a cheap bottle of whatever to go with a week-night dinner, I would love to be able to pick it up at Kroger along with my dinner ingredients. The wine I would buy at the the grocery store would be in addition to the wine I get at my favorite wine shops, not instead of it.
But wait! Wine in grocery stores could "expose more children to alcohol products"! Which is why they don't sell beer at the grocery store. Or liquor at the drug store. Or... oh, yeah. Nice try, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Kentucky!
I really hope this passes. I know we all have much bigger political fish to fry right now, but this - unlike, say, the Wall Street bail-out - would have a direct and immediate positive impact on my life. If we're all going to be forced into the bread line, we ought to have some wine to go with it!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Danny Mac's Cheesesteaks
My dad is from outside of Philadelphia, and one of my favorite things about going to visit that side of the family is gettin
g an authentic cheesesteak. In particular, there's a grungy little basement place on South Street that I always try to make it into called La Pizzeria. Truth be told, I might go for the atmosphere as much as I do the cheesesteaks, especially around Christmas when the place is decorated with slightly sad, ancient-looking tinsel. The cheesesteaks are definitely good, though. As you can see from the photo, they're loaded with shredded beef, cheese, peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and served on a nicely toasted bun. Neil, pictured below at La Pizzeria, had never had a cheesesteak, authentic or otherwise, until I took him to Philly a few years ago. He was immediately hooked, and we often wondered whether a decent cheesesteak was to be found anywhere in our fair River City.
I had heard over at Louisville HotBytes that a place in Louisville called Danny Mac's was serving up authentic Philly cheesesteaks, but for some reason, we never got around to checking them out. Then a few weeks go we accidentally drove by the place and realized that it's about five minutes from my house. Friday night we decided it was high time we give Danny Mac and his cheesesteaks a try.
Danny Mac's doesn't have a website per se, but they do have a rather bombastic little blog trumpeting the superiority of their food. We called to confirm that they were in fact open after the Great Wind Storm and Subsequent Blackout of 2008 and headed over.
Neil and I both ordered cheesesteaks with everything (peppers, onions, and mushrooms) and were informed that they'd be ready in 15 minutes. Because I recently started watching Battlestar Galactica on DVD and have been having trouble dragging myself off Neil's sofa to do anything else, we decided to get the steaks to go, and also to run over to the liquor store while they were being made to get a 6-pack of the BBC's Dark Star Porter. We got our beer, went back to Danny Mac's, and waited. And waited. Fifteen minutes ended up being more like 25 or 30. But friends, these cheesesteaks were worth the wait.
We got home, settled in with our BSG and beer, and opened our styrofoam boxes. Inside were huge (and very hot) foiled-wrapped packages of heaven. We unwrapped our sandwiches to find big, perfectly toasted rolls overflowing with meat and toppings, served with cups of au jus. They were every bit as good as any cheesesteak I've ever had in Philly (and definitely better than some). Neil and I were giddy. As good as it was, I couldn't even finish mine. Neil was all too happy to help.
I'm eager to try Danny Mac's pizza and see if it lives up to all of its creator's hype. I'd typically be skeptical, but that cheesesteak has made me a believer.
Danny Mac's Pizza
1014 Clarks Ln (right off Poplar Level, not far from Eastern Pwky)
502 635-7994
g an authentic cheesesteak. In particular, there's a grungy little basement place on South Street that I always try to make it into called La Pizzeria. Truth be told, I might go for the atmosphere as much as I do the cheesesteaks, especially around Christmas when the place is decorated with slightly sad, ancient-looking tinsel. The cheesesteaks are definitely good, though. As you can see from the photo, they're loaded with shredded beef, cheese, peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and served on a nicely toasted bun. Neil, pictured below at La Pizzeria, had never had a cheesesteak, authentic or otherwise, until I took him to Philly a few years ago. He was immediately hooked, and we often wondered whether a decent cheesesteak was to be found anywhere in our fair River City.
I had heard over at Louisville HotBytes that a place in Louisville called Danny Mac's was serving up authentic Philly cheesesteaks, but for some reason, we never got around to checking them out. Then a few weeks go we accidentally drove by the place and realized that it's about five minutes from my house. Friday night we decided it was high time we give Danny Mac and his cheesesteaks a try.Danny Mac's doesn't have a website per se, but they do have a rather bombastic little blog trumpeting the superiority of their food. We called to confirm that they were in fact open after the Great Wind Storm and Subsequent Blackout of 2008 and headed over.
Neil and I both ordered cheesesteaks with everything (peppers, onions, and mushrooms) and were informed that they'd be ready in 15 minutes. Because I recently started watching Battlestar Galactica on DVD and have been having trouble dragging myself off Neil's sofa to do anything else, we decided to get the steaks to go, and also to run over to the liquor store while they were being made to get a 6-pack of the BBC's Dark Star Porter. We got our beer, went back to Danny Mac's, and waited. And waited. Fifteen minutes ended up being more like 25 or 30. But friends, these cheesesteaks were worth the wait.
We got home, settled in with our BSG and beer, and opened our styrofoam boxes. Inside were huge (and very hot) foiled-wrapped packages of heaven. We unwrapped our sandwiches to find big, perfectly toasted rolls overflowing with meat and toppings, served with cups of au jus. They were every bit as good as any cheesesteak I've ever had in Philly (and definitely better than some). Neil and I were giddy. As good as it was, I couldn't even finish mine. Neil was all too happy to help.
I'm eager to try Danny Mac's pizza and see if it lives up to all of its creator's hype. I'd typically be skeptical, but that cheesesteak has made me a believer.
Danny Mac's Pizza
1014 Clarks Ln (right off Poplar Level, not far from Eastern Pwky)
502 635-7994
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Mojito Again
If my admittedly amateurish recent review of Mojito did not convince you of its awesomeness, perhaps you should check out Robin Garr's review instead. After reading that it's all I can do not to abandon my sensible roasted chicken dinner plans and go stuff myself with tapas!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Corbett's: An American Place
There comes a certain level of dining at which I am wholly unqualified to write a review. Corbett's is at that level. I simply don't know enough about food or fine dining to really do it justice. But, as the saying goes, I know what I like, and I can at least tell you that I liked Corbett's very much.
There's been an awful lot of buzz about this restaurant since it opened. It was quickly relegated to the "maybe someday" category as far as I was concerned; this place is in the top echelon of Louisville dining, and I just don't have that kind of scratch right now. But then I read that they were offering a prix fixe lunch menu for the incredibly reasonable prix of $20. So I decided to take Neil for his birthday. We rounded up our friend Devon, an experienced fine diner, and made a reservation a week in advance.
Devon picked us up Saturday afternoon and off we went to the east end. And I have to say, the setting in which Corbett's is located is utterly ridiculous. Imagine this, if you will. The restaurant is located in a beautifully restored 1850 farmhouse. There are huge, ancient trees out front. A wide porch wraps around the front. It's really quite lovely and idyllic. Now allow your mental camera to pull back a bit. You will realize that this farmhouse is situated immediately in front of a Costo. Practically in their parking lot, in fact. Pull back a little farther and you will see sprawl at its very worst; shopping center after shopping center, ugly cookie-cutter house after ugly cookie-cutter house. You realize that Corbett's might be the only building in the area that's more than five years old. Corbett's and its mature trees sit like a defiant island in the middle of all this, and the effect is honestly a little horrifying. (It's also worth noting, by the way, that this charming old house is located on a street called Norton Healthcare Boulevard. How quaint.)
No matter. Once you're inside it's easy enough to forget the nightmare of urban planning that surrounds you. I could describe the interior, but you could just go to their website for a look; the photo on the front page is exactly where we were sitting. (Aside: Look how white and affluent-looking everyone is! That's how you know it's really Fine Dining!) Anyway, we were right next to a window, and the dining room was light-filled and airy. We all immediately felt that we were somewhere special.
Our server was a very nice young man named TJ. (I feel like I'm 60 years old referring to anyone as a "young man," but he mentioned that he is in fact the same age as Chef Dean Corbett's other restaurant, Equus - 23. And TJ was awfully competent and knowledgeable for someone his age, so it's worth noting.)
Neil and I ordered iced tea, while Devon selected a bottle of wine. Since Devon was driving, we felt obligated to share with him. I don't know what he ordered - it was a Riesling of some sort - but it was delicious. I'll have to ask him what it was.
Anyway, we all decided to go for the prix fixe menu. To start, we had a choice of a Bibb lettuce salad or the soup of the day. I opted for the salad, which came lightly dressed and with strawberries, feta, and carmelized onions. Neil and Devon chose the soup, which I don't remember much about. It featured some kind of grain that I don't think I'd ever heard of - TJ compared it to barley - and vegetables and country ham. Neil and Devon approved, and I liked what I tasted of it, though I found it to be a bit salty.
For our main courses, I chose the tomato and goat cheese tart, while Neil and Devon opted for the cracker crusted chicken. My tart was eggy and filled with veins of creamy goat cheese, with halved grape tomatoes adding a nice tang. It came with a side of mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. The chicken was served with a summer vegetable medley and a mountain of mashed potatoes. I tasted the chicken and potatoes and both were fine.
For dessert Neil and I chose the berries and cream, which came to the table in a feathery phyllo shell. It was beautiful and delicious. Devon had a chocolate cake with blueberry sauce, which he seemed to enjoy.
Overall, it was a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting with good service. Quibbles:
1. The music. It was clearly selected with a Baby Boomer audience in mind. It was like listening to my parents' copy of Reader's Digest's Most Beautiful Songs of the Century. Or possibly Lawrence Welk. And while it certainly wasn't anywhere near too loud to talk over, it was a little too loud to ignore. I would have been much happier with some jazz.
2. I used my knife for my salad and never got a new one for my entree. I actually have no idea if it's proper to use your knife for your salad, but there wasn't really any other way for me to get Bibb lettuce into my mouth without making a mess. And I've been to other restaurants (L&N comes to mind) where I've used my knife before the main course and had it replaced without my having to ask. Yes, this is minor, but at a certain caliber of restaurant, I think it's to be expected.
3. Related to #2, TJ never came to check on us during the meal, so I had no opportunity to ask for a knife. I hate it when servers won't leave you alone and let you eat, but I do like to be be checked on one during the entree. This lack of knife meant that I had to be extremely gauche and cut the crust of my tart with the side of my fork. Neil had to look away, lest he lose his appetite completely.
Those are really my only complaints. I'm looking forward to someday returning to Corbett's for dinner, although with dinner entrees averaging in the $30 range, it's going to be a while. I'd better start saving.
There's been an awful lot of buzz about this restaurant since it opened. It was quickly relegated to the "maybe someday" category as far as I was concerned; this place is in the top echelon of Louisville dining, and I just don't have that kind of scratch right now. But then I read that they were offering a prix fixe lunch menu for the incredibly reasonable prix of $20. So I decided to take Neil for his birthday. We rounded up our friend Devon, an experienced fine diner, and made a reservation a week in advance.
Devon picked us up Saturday afternoon and off we went to the east end. And I have to say, the setting in which Corbett's is located is utterly ridiculous. Imagine this, if you will. The restaurant is located in a beautifully restored 1850 farmhouse. There are huge, ancient trees out front. A wide porch wraps around the front. It's really quite lovely and idyllic. Now allow your mental camera to pull back a bit. You will realize that this farmhouse is situated immediately in front of a Costo. Practically in their parking lot, in fact. Pull back a little farther and you will see sprawl at its very worst; shopping center after shopping center, ugly cookie-cutter house after ugly cookie-cutter house. You realize that Corbett's might be the only building in the area that's more than five years old. Corbett's and its mature trees sit like a defiant island in the middle of all this, and the effect is honestly a little horrifying. (It's also worth noting, by the way, that this charming old house is located on a street called Norton Healthcare Boulevard. How quaint.)
No matter. Once you're inside it's easy enough to forget the nightmare of urban planning that surrounds you. I could describe the interior, but you could just go to their website for a look; the photo on the front page is exactly where we were sitting. (Aside: Look how white and affluent-looking everyone is! That's how you know it's really Fine Dining!) Anyway, we were right next to a window, and the dining room was light-filled and airy. We all immediately felt that we were somewhere special.
Our server was a very nice young man named TJ. (I feel like I'm 60 years old referring to anyone as a "young man," but he mentioned that he is in fact the same age as Chef Dean Corbett's other restaurant, Equus - 23. And TJ was awfully competent and knowledgeable for someone his age, so it's worth noting.)
Neil and I ordered iced tea, while Devon selected a bottle of wine. Since Devon was driving, we felt obligated to share with him. I don't know what he ordered - it was a Riesling of some sort - but it was delicious. I'll have to ask him what it was.
Anyway, we all decided to go for the prix fixe menu. To start, we had a choice of a Bibb lettuce salad or the soup of the day. I opted for the salad, which came lightly dressed and with strawberries, feta, and carmelized onions. Neil and Devon chose the soup, which I don't remember much about. It featured some kind of grain that I don't think I'd ever heard of - TJ compared it to barley - and vegetables and country ham. Neil and Devon approved, and I liked what I tasted of it, though I found it to be a bit salty.
For our main courses, I chose the tomato and goat cheese tart, while Neil and Devon opted for the cracker crusted chicken. My tart was eggy and filled with veins of creamy goat cheese, with halved grape tomatoes adding a nice tang. It came with a side of mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. The chicken was served with a summer vegetable medley and a mountain of mashed potatoes. I tasted the chicken and potatoes and both were fine.
For dessert Neil and I chose the berries and cream, which came to the table in a feathery phyllo shell. It was beautiful and delicious. Devon had a chocolate cake with blueberry sauce, which he seemed to enjoy.
Overall, it was a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting with good service. Quibbles:
1. The music. It was clearly selected with a Baby Boomer audience in mind. It was like listening to my parents' copy of Reader's Digest's Most Beautiful Songs of the Century. Or possibly Lawrence Welk. And while it certainly wasn't anywhere near too loud to talk over, it was a little too loud to ignore. I would have been much happier with some jazz.
2. I used my knife for my salad and never got a new one for my entree. I actually have no idea if it's proper to use your knife for your salad, but there wasn't really any other way for me to get Bibb lettuce into my mouth without making a mess. And I've been to other restaurants (L&N comes to mind) where I've used my knife before the main course and had it replaced without my having to ask. Yes, this is minor, but at a certain caliber of restaurant, I think it's to be expected.
3. Related to #2, TJ never came to check on us during the meal, so I had no opportunity to ask for a knife. I hate it when servers won't leave you alone and let you eat, but I do like to be be checked on one during the entree. This lack of knife meant that I had to be extremely gauche and cut the crust of my tart with the side of my fork. Neil had to look away, lest he lose his appetite completely.
Those are really my only complaints. I'm looking forward to someday returning to Corbett's for dinner, although with dinner entrees averaging in the $30 range, it's going to be a while. I'd better start saving.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Goat's Milk
I get pretty regular cravings for goat's milk. I never actually act on these cravings, because I'm not much of a milk drinker to begin with, and I can't imagine myself sitting down with a nice tall glass of goat's milk - at least not often enough to go through a whole carton of the stuff without it going bad.
The other day I had a rather random idea about how to serve goat's milk. A very small cup of it, heated, served with a couple of exceptionally good ginger snaps. I think the sweetness and slight bite of the cookies would be a nice compliment to the creamy funk of the milk.
I have a set of demitasses that I inherited from my grandmother (along with several gorgeous tea sets) and I think they'd be well-suited to this idea. Now I just have to find at least one other person who's willing to drink goat's milk with me! I love this idea as an after-dinner dessert, but I don't think many of my friends would go for it. Neil probably would, to humor me. Perhaps I'll try it on him and see what happens.
The other day I had a rather random idea about how to serve goat's milk. A very small cup of it, heated, served with a couple of exceptionally good ginger snaps. I think the sweetness and slight bite of the cookies would be a nice compliment to the creamy funk of the milk.
I have a set of demitasses that I inherited from my grandmother (along with several gorgeous tea sets) and I think they'd be well-suited to this idea. Now I just have to find at least one other person who's willing to drink goat's milk with me! I love this idea as an after-dinner dessert, but I don't think many of my friends would go for it. Neil probably would, to humor me. Perhaps I'll try it on him and see what happens.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Mojito = Goat Cheese Heaven
Tonight my parents took me and Neil to dinner at Mojito for Neil's birthday, which was Wednesday. (Neil and I, by the way, have gotten back together. That's good news for this blog, because I had kind of lost my joie de food blogging without him. But all of that is for another entry.) I had read on Louisville HotBytes about their new, more Spanish-influenced menu, and I was excited about trying it.
We got there at 5:45 (we planned to go early to beat the rush) and were seated immediately on the patio. The weather was perfect. It took a little longer than expected for anyone to offer us drinks, but eventually they did, and Neil, my dad and I all enjoyed mojitos. If someone makes a better mojito than Mojito does, I would like to try it. They are just fantastic.
Someday I will get used to being a food blogger and I will actually make notes about the names and contents of the dishes that I eat. But I'll try to describe it as best I can. Neil and I had two favorites from the old menu that had made the cut and two new items. We started with our beloved Ensalada Mediterranea (lettuce, Marcona almonds, pine nuts, shaved fig bread, feta cheese, olives, grapes, raisins, and cucumbers with a muscatel dressing). (I actually lifted that description from a previous Blog Tartare entry about Mojito and I'm not sure if it's still entirely accurate, but the salad was still entirely delicious!) Then came the Queso Fundido, a bowl of melted cheese mixed with chorizo and (I think) Serrano ham, served with bread. Next we had a dish whose name escapes me; it was a mushroom gratin with goat cheese and potatoes, also served with bread. And finally we had flat bread topped with duck confit, marmalade, greens, and goat cheese. We ended the meal with goat cheese flan and Cuban coffee.
Everything was fantastic. The service was a little off; drink refills were kind of hard to come by, and at least four times (possibly five) various servers tried to deliver food to our table that didn't belong to us. But the lovely weather and outstanding food made up for it.
I must say, between this dinner and having recently seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I'm dying to go back to Spain. I could do some awesome food blogging there. Someone should give me some grant money!
We got there at 5:45 (we planned to go early to beat the rush) and were seated immediately on the patio. The weather was perfect. It took a little longer than expected for anyone to offer us drinks, but eventually they did, and Neil, my dad and I all enjoyed mojitos. If someone makes a better mojito than Mojito does, I would like to try it. They are just fantastic.
Someday I will get used to being a food blogger and I will actually make notes about the names and contents of the dishes that I eat. But I'll try to describe it as best I can. Neil and I had two favorites from the old menu that had made the cut and two new items. We started with our beloved Ensalada Mediterranea (lettuce, Marcona almonds, pine nuts, shaved fig bread, feta cheese, olives, grapes, raisins, and cucumbers with a muscatel dressing). (I actually lifted that description from a previous Blog Tartare entry about Mojito and I'm not sure if it's still entirely accurate, but the salad was still entirely delicious!) Then came the Queso Fundido, a bowl of melted cheese mixed with chorizo and (I think) Serrano ham, served with bread. Next we had a dish whose name escapes me; it was a mushroom gratin with goat cheese and potatoes, also served with bread. And finally we had flat bread topped with duck confit, marmalade, greens, and goat cheese. We ended the meal with goat cheese flan and Cuban coffee.
Everything was fantastic. The service was a little off; drink refills were kind of hard to come by, and at least four times (possibly five) various servers tried to deliver food to our table that didn't belong to us. But the lovely weather and outstanding food made up for it.
I must say, between this dinner and having recently seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I'm dying to go back to Spain. I could do some awesome food blogging there. Someone should give me some grant money!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Back in the Saddle (or Apron)
I must say, since Neil and I split up about a month and a half ago, my food life has really changed. I don't do a whole lot of cooking anymore because it's just me, and I can't afford to go out to eat nearly as often as I used to. While in theory I like the idea of cooking for myself so that I'll have several nights' worth of leftovers, the reality is that I get a lot more enjoyment out of cooking when I'm doing it for someone else. Food is a sensual thing and it's meant to be shared. I just don't get as much out of it when I don't have someone else's nose under which I can thrust a bunch of fresh-from-the-garden herbs, or another tongue onto which I can place a bit of divine Capriole goat cheese.
My parents have been extremely generous to me over the course of my setting up housekeeping, so tonight I had them over for dinner as a tiny token of my appreciation. Because I'm a bit out of practice cooking (and because I was honestly never that competent to begin with), I decided to do something simple and make a pizza. My mom declared this one of the best pizzas she's ever eaten, which I think might be a bit of hyperbole, but it was pretty darn tasty.
I started with some ingredients from Lotsa Pasta. They have wonderful frozen balls of pizza dough, so I picked up one of those, some Italian sausage, and a container of basil tomato sauce. The sausage came as links, so when I got home I busted two of them open, took the meat out of the casing, and crumbled it in a skillet. Then I sauteed some garlic, onions, and portobello mushrooms. I rolled out the dough, baked it for a few minutes as directed, and then topped it with the sauce, veggies, sausage, and some Kraft Italian Style Five Cheese (yes, I know I could have used better cheese, but I'm not made of money!). It baked for about 10 minutes and came out all covered in golden deliciousness. It really was incredibly good, and except for the dough, I have enough ingredients left over to do it again. And I plan to!
For dessert we had strawberry shortcake. This was sort of a last-minute dessert idea, so I didn't have time to make the shortcakes myself. I did, however, whip my own whipped cream, which was delightful. (Seriously, why does anyone use store-bought whipped cream? It takes 30 seconds to make and it's so much better.) The strawberries were surprisingly good for being from Kroger.
Overall it was a very easy and very good meal. Now that I finally have some dining room furniture and most of what I think I need for my kitchen (though I realized tonight that I lack a pizza cutter), I'm going to have to start doing some more entertaining. I have a really wonderful kitchen and I want to get a lot of use out of it!
My parents have been extremely generous to me over the course of my setting up housekeeping, so tonight I had them over for dinner as a tiny token of my appreciation. Because I'm a bit out of practice cooking (and because I was honestly never that competent to begin with), I decided to do something simple and make a pizza. My mom declared this one of the best pizzas she's ever eaten, which I think might be a bit of hyperbole, but it was pretty darn tasty.
I started with some ingredients from Lotsa Pasta. They have wonderful frozen balls of pizza dough, so I picked up one of those, some Italian sausage, and a container of basil tomato sauce. The sausage came as links, so when I got home I busted two of them open, took the meat out of the casing, and crumbled it in a skillet. Then I sauteed some garlic, onions, and portobello mushrooms. I rolled out the dough, baked it for a few minutes as directed, and then topped it with the sauce, veggies, sausage, and some Kraft Italian Style Five Cheese (yes, I know I could have used better cheese, but I'm not made of money!). It baked for about 10 minutes and came out all covered in golden deliciousness. It really was incredibly good, and except for the dough, I have enough ingredients left over to do it again. And I plan to!
For dessert we had strawberry shortcake. This was sort of a last-minute dessert idea, so I didn't have time to make the shortcakes myself. I did, however, whip my own whipped cream, which was delightful. (Seriously, why does anyone use store-bought whipped cream? It takes 30 seconds to make and it's so much better.) The strawberries were surprisingly good for being from Kroger.
Overall it was a very easy and very good meal. Now that I finally have some dining room furniture and most of what I think I need for my kitchen (though I realized tonight that I lack a pizza cutter), I'm going to have to start doing some more entertaining. I have a really wonderful kitchen and I want to get a lot of use out of it!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
It's alive!
Blog Tartare, that is!
2008 has been more full of change and major events both happy and sad than I ever could have imagined. Most significantly, Neil and I decided that while we really love each other, we have certain incompatibilities that are, when we're really honest with ourselves and each other, deal-breakers when it comes to marriage. So we have gone our separate ways. I moved into my own place May 31. Fortunately we have remained friends, and I have remained in Germantown just a few blocks away, so we are still eating together a lot.
I had planned to blog about how wonderful my new kitchen is and about the challenges of trying to stock a kitchen from scratch (I left all the food with Neil), but I think instead I will take a moment to reflect on the wonderful food adventures that Neil and I had together.
Neil took me to Vietnam Kitchen on our second date; it was my first time there, and it blew my mind. Soon into our relationship we started cooking together, which was something of an ordeal because I had no idea what I was doing and was also, paradoxically, a total control freak. Over our three and a half years together we sampled poutine in Montreal, ridiculous quantities of seafood in Gulf Shores, cheesesteaks and the delicacies of Morimoto in Philadelphia, and street vendor hot dogs in New York. We introduced each other to our favorite local restaurants and tried new places together. We got excited over my mama's pot roast together. We took field trips to Jungle Jim's and spent hours marveling over the acres of food. And we cooked and cooked together. One of our favorite traditions was Sunday breakfast, and even though Neil's kitchen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of counter space and other amenities, I will forever remember how happy I was in that kitchen, listening to Sunday morning jazz on WFPK and cooking for and with him.
Bah, writing this is making me teary, so I should stop. But I would like to publicly thank Neil for three and a half years of love, friendship, and wonderful food.
2008 has been more full of change and major events both happy and sad than I ever could have imagined. Most significantly, Neil and I decided that while we really love each other, we have certain incompatibilities that are, when we're really honest with ourselves and each other, deal-breakers when it comes to marriage. So we have gone our separate ways. I moved into my own place May 31. Fortunately we have remained friends, and I have remained in Germantown just a few blocks away, so we are still eating together a lot.
I had planned to blog about how wonderful my new kitchen is and about the challenges of trying to stock a kitchen from scratch (I left all the food with Neil), but I think instead I will take a moment to reflect on the wonderful food adventures that Neil and I had together.
Neil took me to Vietnam Kitchen on our second date; it was my first time there, and it blew my mind. Soon into our relationship we started cooking together, which was something of an ordeal because I had no idea what I was doing and was also, paradoxically, a total control freak. Over our three and a half years together we sampled poutine in Montreal, ridiculous quantities of seafood in Gulf Shores, cheesesteaks and the delicacies of Morimoto in Philadelphia, and street vendor hot dogs in New York. We introduced each other to our favorite local restaurants and tried new places together. We got excited over my mama's pot roast together. We took field trips to Jungle Jim's and spent hours marveling over the acres of food. And we cooked and cooked together. One of our favorite traditions was Sunday breakfast, and even though Neil's kitchen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of counter space and other amenities, I will forever remember how happy I was in that kitchen, listening to Sunday morning jazz on WFPK and cooking for and with him.
Bah, writing this is making me teary, so I should stop. But I would like to publicly thank Neil for three and a half years of love, friendship, and wonderful food.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Granola Love
To say that I have never been much of a breakfast person isn't entirely accurate. In fact, I love breakfast. The thing is, I only love it some of the time. I love it if it's a leisurely weekend morning and Neil and I are drinking bloody maries and listening to Getz/Gilberto while we cook, and I love it if I'm at a great breakfast spot like Wild Eggs, Lynn's Paradise Cafe, or my mama's kitchen. But when I'm dragging my ass out of bed on a weekday morning and trying to get myself ready to be at work at the unholy hour of 8:00, breakfast is not much of a priority.
I've been this way since high school, when breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a Bugs Bunny vitamin. Since then I've dabbled in toast, bagels, crumpets, muffins, and other quick, delicious carb-fests that left me feeling hungry sooner than I would have if I'd eaten nothing at all. If you ever asked me to skip lunch or dinner I'd laugh in your face, but it's not at all unusual for me to have nothing but coffee for breakfast.
Since everyone is always harping on the importance of breakfast, however, I recently decided that I should make an effort to eat it. Not the kind of effort that requires cooking or anything, though. But I decided that I could handle pouring some stuff in a bowl and spooning it into my mouth. I don't really care for cold cereal, though. (Except for the occasional guilty pleasure bowl of Lucky Charms.) So, what to do?
Enter Ellie Krieger and her granola recipe.
I picked up Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave, several weeks ago. I'd never seen her Food Network show or even heard of her, but I was in the market for a healthy cookbook that did not rely on a bunch of processed, fortified, low-fat, bullshit "food." This book definitely fits that bill, so I bought it. And found her wonderful, easy, delicious, good-for-me granola recipe inside.
Granola has had some image problems over the years. First it was considered healthy but goofy hippie food. Then people started looking at the nutritional info for granola and saying "Hey, this isn't really that good for me!" Ellie Krieger's granola recipe saves the day by managing to be natural, moderate on the calories, and super yummy. I know this will sound ridiculous, but I actually wake up each morning feeling excited that I get to eat this granola!
Nutty Granola
Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
This makes 9 half-cup servings. Neil and I eat it mixed with a half-cup of low-fat organic plain yogurt. It's more delicious than it has any right to be!
I've been this way since high school, when breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a Bugs Bunny vitamin. Since then I've dabbled in toast, bagels, crumpets, muffins, and other quick, delicious carb-fests that left me feeling hungry sooner than I would have if I'd eaten nothing at all. If you ever asked me to skip lunch or dinner I'd laugh in your face, but it's not at all unusual for me to have nothing but coffee for breakfast.
Since everyone is always harping on the importance of breakfast, however, I recently decided that I should make an effort to eat it. Not the kind of effort that requires cooking or anything, though. But I decided that I could handle pouring some stuff in a bowl and spooning it into my mouth. I don't really care for cold cereal, though. (Except for the occasional guilty pleasure bowl of Lucky Charms.) So, what to do?
Enter Ellie Krieger and her granola recipe.
I picked up Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave, several weeks ago. I'd never seen her Food Network show or even heard of her, but I was in the market for a healthy cookbook that did not rely on a bunch of processed, fortified, low-fat, bullshit "food." This book definitely fits that bill, so I bought it. And found her wonderful, easy, delicious, good-for-me granola recipe inside.
Granola has had some image problems over the years. First it was considered healthy but goofy hippie food. Then people started looking at the nutritional info for granola and saying "Hey, this isn't really that good for me!" Ellie Krieger's granola recipe saves the day by managing to be natural, moderate on the calories, and super yummy. I know this will sound ridiculous, but I actually wake up each morning feeling excited that I get to eat this granola!
Nutty Granola
Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
This makes 9 half-cup servings. Neil and I eat it mixed with a half-cup of low-fat organic plain yogurt. It's more delicious than it has any right to be!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Customer Service, Good and Bad
I am happy to say that I rarely experience truly bad service in restaurants. Of course, sometimes it takes a little longer than it should to get my food, sometimes a server is inattentive or even surly, and sometimes orders get messed up. It happens. But when I stopped the regular excursions to Denny's of my early 20s, I generally stopped experiencing really horrifically bad service.
Until Wednesday.
The culprit, I'm sad to say, was my beloved Third Avenue Cafe. Neil and I hadn't been out to eat in a while and I was really in the mood to do so. It wasn't just that I didn't feel like shopping for food or cooking; I was really in the mood for the experience of sitting in a restaurant and enjoying a meal. I was also really craving a cheeseburger. Off to Third Avenue we went.
We needed to be in St. Matthews at 7:45, but we got to the restaurant at 6:15 and figured that would give us plenty of time, especially because they weren't at all busy; the place was maybe 1/4 full. We were promptly seated and ordered drinks. They came quickly and Neil and I each ordered cheeseburgers, mine medium-well and his medium-rare. I also ordered tomato soup and Neil ordered coleslaw. Even though I love their fries, I made a conscious decision not to order them, because I'm trying to curtail my fried food intake.
We didn't note the time that we ordered, because, frankly, we weren't expecting it to matter. How long could it take to get two cheeseburgers in a 1/4-full restaurant on a Wednesday night? Suffice it to day, it was no later than 6:30 when we ordered.
So then we waited for our food. And waited and waited and waited. Our server was strangely absent. Eventually she appeared with a complimentary basket of fries "Because it's taking a while." Even though my brain didn't want fries, my belly did, and I was thus appreciative. I would have been more appreciative though if she had told us why it was taking so long or, more importantly, how much longer it would take. But she did not. And then she disappeared again.
We continued to wait. Meanwhile, people who had arrived after we did got their food, ate, and left. Two humble cheeseburgers! What could possible be the problem?!
7:15 came and went. It was becoming clear that we were not going to get our food in time to eat it. Since our server was steadfastly avoiding our table, Neil got up and approached her and told her that we were going to need our food to go, since we were not going to have time to eat. She stared at him blankly and eventually showed some sign of understanding.
And still we waited.
Finally, just as I was asking Neil if he wanted to leave, a man approached our table with our food. He said he was the manager, that they only had one cook that night, that he was very sorry, and that "this kind of thing doesn't happen here." (But guess what! It did!) He said he'd throw in two free desserts for our trouble. At that point we didn't care. We had 15 minutes to get from Old Louisville to St. Matthews. We just wanted our food and our receipt and to get the hell out of there.
We arrived at our appointment with a few minutes to spare and decided to dig into our food while we could. Here we experienced the final insult: our medium-well and medium-rare burgers were both well-done, I had coleslaw instead of soup, and we had no napkins or utensils.
Wow.
Did Third Avenue Cafe try to make this up to us by plying us with free fries and desserts? Indeed they did. But neither of us felt that this was an acceptable way to handle the situation. Instead they could have:
1. Told us up front that they were short-staffed and that the food would take a while.
2. Tell us that the cheeseburgers (for some reason I still cannot fathom) were going to take an especially long time and advise us to order something else (since everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be getting their food in a timely fashion).
3. Assuming that the delay was in fact unforeseen, apologize and give us some reasonable expectation of when our food might arrive.
4. Give us our food on the house.
#4 is what really galls me. I went to Third Avenue specifically because I wanted a nice dinner in a restaurant, and they totally screwed that up for me. I get angry all over again when I think about the fact that we spent $28 on this meal which, when we finally got to eat it, was not even prepared correctly.
Third Avenue Cafe, you break my heart. Every year around this time I get antsy to go sit at one of your sidewalk tables and enjoy a beer and some delicious food. But I don't know if I can forgive you for this. Neil has vowed that he will never return.
:(
On the other end of the spectrum, however, we have an unlikely hero: Starbucks. I have to state up front that I am a big local coffee fan and that Starbucks is not a place I frequent. I have no reason to when there are so many awesome local coffee joints in this city. However, yesterday Neil and I were headed back from a wonderful day at the new Cincinnati Ikea, and we decided to break up that long stretch of I-71 with coffee break. So we stopped at the Starbucks in Florence.
Neil had to go to the bathroom and didn't tell me what he wanted first, so I went ahead and ordered and received my drink. Then Neil came out and ordered his. We chatted for a few minutes while we waited, but it seemed to be taking a little longer than it should have. Neil approached the counter and asked about his drink. Oops! It had somehow fallen through the cracks. It would be right out, they said.
Indeed, the drink was ready just a few minutes later. But instead of just calling it out when it was done, an employee brought it over to our table, apologized again, and handed Neil a voucher for a free drink. They took this relatively minor lapse in service very seriously, and we were duly impressed. Good on Starbucks, but how terribly sad that this corporate giant was more concerned about a few-minute delay on a cup of coffee than a beloved local restaurant was that they ruined our entire dinner.
I never thought I'd say that anyone could take a lesson from Starbucks, but Third Avenue Cafe definitely could.
Until Wednesday.
The culprit, I'm sad to say, was my beloved Third Avenue Cafe. Neil and I hadn't been out to eat in a while and I was really in the mood to do so. It wasn't just that I didn't feel like shopping for food or cooking; I was really in the mood for the experience of sitting in a restaurant and enjoying a meal. I was also really craving a cheeseburger. Off to Third Avenue we went.
We needed to be in St. Matthews at 7:45, but we got to the restaurant at 6:15 and figured that would give us plenty of time, especially because they weren't at all busy; the place was maybe 1/4 full. We were promptly seated and ordered drinks. They came quickly and Neil and I each ordered cheeseburgers, mine medium-well and his medium-rare. I also ordered tomato soup and Neil ordered coleslaw. Even though I love their fries, I made a conscious decision not to order them, because I'm trying to curtail my fried food intake.
We didn't note the time that we ordered, because, frankly, we weren't expecting it to matter. How long could it take to get two cheeseburgers in a 1/4-full restaurant on a Wednesday night? Suffice it to day, it was no later than 6:30 when we ordered.
So then we waited for our food. And waited and waited and waited. Our server was strangely absent. Eventually she appeared with a complimentary basket of fries "Because it's taking a while." Even though my brain didn't want fries, my belly did, and I was thus appreciative. I would have been more appreciative though if she had told us why it was taking so long or, more importantly, how much longer it would take. But she did not. And then she disappeared again.
We continued to wait. Meanwhile, people who had arrived after we did got their food, ate, and left. Two humble cheeseburgers! What could possible be the problem?!
7:15 came and went. It was becoming clear that we were not going to get our food in time to eat it. Since our server was steadfastly avoiding our table, Neil got up and approached her and told her that we were going to need our food to go, since we were not going to have time to eat. She stared at him blankly and eventually showed some sign of understanding.
And still we waited.
Finally, just as I was asking Neil if he wanted to leave, a man approached our table with our food. He said he was the manager, that they only had one cook that night, that he was very sorry, and that "this kind of thing doesn't happen here." (But guess what! It did!) He said he'd throw in two free desserts for our trouble. At that point we didn't care. We had 15 minutes to get from Old Louisville to St. Matthews. We just wanted our food and our receipt and to get the hell out of there.
We arrived at our appointment with a few minutes to spare and decided to dig into our food while we could. Here we experienced the final insult: our medium-well and medium-rare burgers were both well-done, I had coleslaw instead of soup, and we had no napkins or utensils.
Wow.
Did Third Avenue Cafe try to make this up to us by plying us with free fries and desserts? Indeed they did. But neither of us felt that this was an acceptable way to handle the situation. Instead they could have:
1. Told us up front that they were short-staffed and that the food would take a while.
2. Tell us that the cheeseburgers (for some reason I still cannot fathom) were going to take an especially long time and advise us to order something else (since everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be getting their food in a timely fashion).
3. Assuming that the delay was in fact unforeseen, apologize and give us some reasonable expectation of when our food might arrive.
4. Give us our food on the house.
#4 is what really galls me. I went to Third Avenue specifically because I wanted a nice dinner in a restaurant, and they totally screwed that up for me. I get angry all over again when I think about the fact that we spent $28 on this meal which, when we finally got to eat it, was not even prepared correctly.
Third Avenue Cafe, you break my heart. Every year around this time I get antsy to go sit at one of your sidewalk tables and enjoy a beer and some delicious food. But I don't know if I can forgive you for this. Neil has vowed that he will never return.
:(
On the other end of the spectrum, however, we have an unlikely hero: Starbucks. I have to state up front that I am a big local coffee fan and that Starbucks is not a place I frequent. I have no reason to when there are so many awesome local coffee joints in this city. However, yesterday Neil and I were headed back from a wonderful day at the new Cincinnati Ikea, and we decided to break up that long stretch of I-71 with coffee break. So we stopped at the Starbucks in Florence.
Neil had to go to the bathroom and didn't tell me what he wanted first, so I went ahead and ordered and received my drink. Then Neil came out and ordered his. We chatted for a few minutes while we waited, but it seemed to be taking a little longer than it should have. Neil approached the counter and asked about his drink. Oops! It had somehow fallen through the cracks. It would be right out, they said.
Indeed, the drink was ready just a few minutes later. But instead of just calling it out when it was done, an employee brought it over to our table, apologized again, and handed Neil a voucher for a free drink. They took this relatively minor lapse in service very seriously, and we were duly impressed. Good on Starbucks, but how terribly sad that this corporate giant was more concerned about a few-minute delay on a cup of coffee than a beloved local restaurant was that they ruined our entire dinner.
I never thought I'd say that anyone could take a lesson from Starbucks, but Third Avenue Cafe definitely could.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I'm back. No, really!
A whole month since my last post? Sacrebleu! In my defense, I have had a pretty crazy month. I've been working on my final project for my master's degree, I started an awesome new job, and Neil and I got engaged. Things have been a bit whirlwind-ish of late! Hopefully these are valid excuses for my neglect of Blog Tartare.
So many things have happened food-wise in the last month that I have wanted to write about. My first (amazing) meal at Proof on Main. Sushi in the City. Our friend Lisa's wine and cheese party. The ever-increasing awesomeness of ValuMarket. My nascent herb garden. My first two wonderful meals at Cafe Lou Lou. All the various food events that I haven't been keeping up with. (I've even been neglecting the Louisville HotBytes forums, which are my Internet crack!)
The good news is that things seem to be settling down a bit around here. The other good news is my new job has put us in a position such that the city's top restaurants are no longer financially out of our reach. Which is not to say, of course, that we'll be eating at those places all the time. But I think we'll be able to manage a splurgey meal every month or two. There are a lot of places that have been on my list for a long time that I'm finally going to get to try. I can't wait!
You may have noticed that although this blog is supposed to be a joint venture between me and Neil, I've done all of the writing up to this point. Neil, however, dined at 610 Magnolia last night. If he's going to go to 610 Magnolia without me, I think the least he can do is provide Blog Tartare with a review. I'm going to do some arm-twisting when he gets home and see what I can do about that. Stay tuned!
So many things have happened food-wise in the last month that I have wanted to write about. My first (amazing) meal at Proof on Main. Sushi in the City. Our friend Lisa's wine and cheese party. The ever-increasing awesomeness of ValuMarket. My nascent herb garden. My first two wonderful meals at Cafe Lou Lou. All the various food events that I haven't been keeping up with. (I've even been neglecting the Louisville HotBytes forums, which are my Internet crack!)
The good news is that things seem to be settling down a bit around here. The other good news is my new job has put us in a position such that the city's top restaurants are no longer financially out of our reach. Which is not to say, of course, that we'll be eating at those places all the time. But I think we'll be able to manage a splurgey meal every month or two. There are a lot of places that have been on my list for a long time that I'm finally going to get to try. I can't wait!
You may have noticed that although this blog is supposed to be a joint venture between me and Neil, I've done all of the writing up to this point. Neil, however, dined at 610 Magnolia last night. If he's going to go to 610 Magnolia without me, I think the least he can do is provide Blog Tartare with a review. I'm going to do some arm-twisting when he gets home and see what I can do about that. Stay tuned!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Events!
Okay, here are some happenings that are on the Blog Tartare radar. They are also now on the Blog Tartare Google Calendar. If you have any hot tips, let me know!
Organic Wine Tasting at Gemelli
Feb 19 & 21, 6:30 pm
This month the tasting series will explore organic wine, and winemaking. Two classes are available: Tuesday, February 19th, and Thursday February 21st. Each class is from 6:30-7:30pm. $15 per person. Class is limited to 16 people, reservations required.
Gemelli Wine & Spirits
3626 Brownsboro Rd
502 895.1400
Huber Winery Wine Tasting at RockWall Bistro
Feb 20, 6:30 pm
Ted Huber from Huber Winery will be at the Rockwall on Wednesday February 20th for a wine tasting. Chef Alex Bomba will create appetizers to accompany the wines. $25. Call for reservations.
RockWall Bistro
3426 Paoli Pike
New Albany IN
812 948-1705
Sushi in the City
March 4, 5:30 pm
This is the event that I'm super excited about, but I might be out of town for it! If I am, I think I will cry. My two favorite sushi places, Sakura Blue and Maido, are participating. From the release:
Belgian Beer Dinner at Corbett's "An American Place"
March 4, 7:00 pm
Corbett's "An American Place" invites you to an evening of Belgian Ales and lambics paired with Chef Chris Howerton’s cuisine. Hosted by Pete Larson of Wetten Imports. Call for reservations.
Corbett's "An American Place"
5050 Norton Healthcare Blvd
502 327-5058
Organic Wine Tasting at Gemelli
Feb 19 & 21, 6:30 pm
This month the tasting series will explore organic wine, and winemaking. Two classes are available: Tuesday, February 19th, and Thursday February 21st. Each class is from 6:30-7:30pm. $15 per person. Class is limited to 16 people, reservations required.
Gemelli Wine & Spirits
3626 Brownsboro Rd
502 895.1400
Huber Winery Wine Tasting at RockWall Bistro
Feb 20, 6:30 pm
Ted Huber from Huber Winery will be at the Rockwall on Wednesday February 20th for a wine tasting. Chef Alex Bomba will create appetizers to accompany the wines. $25. Call for reservations.
RockWall Bistro
3426 Paoli Pike
New Albany IN
812 948-1705
Sushi in the City
March 4, 5:30 pm
This is the event that I'm super excited about, but I might be out of town for it! If I am, I think I will cry. My two favorite sushi places, Sakura Blue and Maido, are participating. From the release:
Louisville’s top sushi chefs are sharpening their knives for a "roll off," a fund-raising competition in which one chef will reign supreme, at Sushi in the City, set for Tuesday, March 4, from 5:30-9 p.m. at The Henry Clay, Third and Chestnut streets. Participants will taste and vote for their favorites to select the Best Sushi in the City for 2008. There'll also be desserts, a silent auction and entertainment. Admission is $60 a person, with a $10 discount for members of young professionals’ organizations. Proceeds will benefit Louisville’s Project Women, a nonprofit agency that provides housing and educational assistance to help homeless single mothers and their families break the cycle of poverty. For information, visit the Project Women website. For details on Sushi in the City, click here.
Belgian Beer Dinner at Corbett's "An American Place"
March 4, 7:00 pm
Corbett's "An American Place" invites you to an evening of Belgian Ales and lambics paired with Chef Chris Howerton’s cuisine. Hosted by Pete Larson of Wetten Imports. Call for reservations.
Corbett's "An American Place"
5050 Norton Healthcare Blvd
502 327-5058
Returning
Oh, Blog Tartare. How I've neglected you. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but there are, indeed, only so many hours in a day. I started this blog during a lull in my employment, but now that I'm working again (temping, and starting a new and exciting Real Job in the next few weeks), I haven't made as much time for blogging as I would have liked. I especially dropped the ball on the Valentine's Day events. Oops.
Also - and I'm hesitant to say this because it seems anathema to a food blog - I went back to Weight Watchers about a week and a half ago. It's going really well and hasn't put much of a damper on my food life. But as I've said before, this is not going to turn into a diet blog. I feel quite confident that I can continue to write about food without letting on that I'm watching my girlish figure.
I really want to update the events calendar, so stay tuned for some posts about local food goings-on (including one event that I'm crazy excited about). In the meantime, in the spirit of busy-ness, I will share this super quick and easy recipe for black bean soup (which I recommend you eat with a grilled pepperjack sandwich). This soup is pretty much everything you could want in a food: it's fast, it's easy, it's cheap, and yes, it's low-fat and otherwise good for you. Most importantly, it's super tasty!
Black Bean Soup in a Hurry
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chunky salsa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion (optional)
1. Dump everything but the sour cream and green onion into the blender. Blend it.
2. Pour it into a sauce pan and heat it up.
3. Put it in some bowls. Garnish with sour cream and green onion if you feel like messing with it. Serves four.
Also - and I'm hesitant to say this because it seems anathema to a food blog - I went back to Weight Watchers about a week and a half ago. It's going really well and hasn't put much of a damper on my food life. But as I've said before, this is not going to turn into a diet blog. I feel quite confident that I can continue to write about food without letting on that I'm watching my girlish figure.
I really want to update the events calendar, so stay tuned for some posts about local food goings-on (including one event that I'm crazy excited about). In the meantime, in the spirit of busy-ness, I will share this super quick and easy recipe for black bean soup (which I recommend you eat with a grilled pepperjack sandwich). This soup is pretty much everything you could want in a food: it's fast, it's easy, it's cheap, and yes, it's low-fat and otherwise good for you. Most importantly, it's super tasty!
Black Bean Soup in a Hurry
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chunky salsa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion (optional)
1. Dump everything but the sour cream and green onion into the blender. Blend it.
2. Pour it into a sauce pan and heat it up.
3. Put it in some bowls. Garnish with sour cream and green onion if you feel like messing with it. Serves four.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Holy Crap
We went to my parents' house for dinner tonight and my mom made bread pudding.
Out of croissants.
I just Googled this and it turns out to be not quite as radical as I had thought. Still, I had never heard of such a thing, and my mom said she just made the recipe up. It blew my mind and was by far the best bread pudding I've ever eaten. She said she'd write down the recipe for me, and when she does I'll post it. Yowza!
Out of croissants.
I just Googled this and it turns out to be not quite as radical as I had thought. Still, I had never heard of such a thing, and my mom said she just made the recipe up. It blew my mind and was by far the best bread pudding I've ever eaten. She said she'd write down the recipe for me, and when she does I'll post it. Yowza!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Lunch Today
Up until August of last year I worked downtown, and Neil works in Clarksville. We'd frequently meet for lunch, usually with one of us driving to the other's place of employment and going to a restaurant from there. But then we found out about Lunch Today, and we only rarely went anywhere else for lunch after that. Not only was it located right in the middle between our two workplaces, it features all kinds of delicious sandwiches, salads, and soups. They have a nice patio and incredibly friendly counter service.
After I quit my downtown job we ate there less often. I'm in the process of finding a job that has something to do with my master's degree, and for now I'm temping. As fate would have it, this week I started a job in Jeffersonville that is within walking distance of Lunch Today (though I haven't actually been walking, because it's cold and gross outside). I've eaten there every day since Tuesday, and yesterday the women that work there said something about it. But what can I say? It's addictive! This week's special is one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten: a panini with ham, cheddar cheese, onions, mustard, and apple butter. I wasn't sure how well the mustard and apple butter were going to work together, but it turns out that it's a pretty amazing combination. The sandwich specials are frequently delicious and interesting, but the regular menu is wonderful too.
Sadly, Lunch Today is only open during the week, so if you don't work in the area you may never get to experience it. But if you work downtown you should definitely try it; it's just over the Second Street Bridge.
Lunch Today
590 Missouri Avenue Suite 100
Jeffersonville, IN 47130
812-282-1005
After I quit my downtown job we ate there less often. I'm in the process of finding a job that has something to do with my master's degree, and for now I'm temping. As fate would have it, this week I started a job in Jeffersonville that is within walking distance of Lunch Today (though I haven't actually been walking, because it's cold and gross outside). I've eaten there every day since Tuesday, and yesterday the women that work there said something about it. But what can I say? It's addictive! This week's special is one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten: a panini with ham, cheddar cheese, onions, mustard, and apple butter. I wasn't sure how well the mustard and apple butter were going to work together, but it turns out that it's a pretty amazing combination. The sandwich specials are frequently delicious and interesting, but the regular menu is wonderful too.
Sadly, Lunch Today is only open during the week, so if you don't work in the area you may never get to experience it. But if you work downtown you should definitely try it; it's just over the Second Street Bridge.
Lunch Today
590 Missouri Avenue Suite 100
Jeffersonville, IN 47130
812-282-1005
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Redux
When I was a kid - and, frankly, well into my 20s - I loved the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit from McDonald's. I don't eat at McDonald's anymore, and if you put said breakfast biscuit in front of me I'd be slightly grossed out. But I'd still be terribly tempted to eat it, partly out of nostalgia, and partly out of the fact that bacon, eggs, cheese, and biscuits are just a damned tasty combination.Last week I made a beef stew that called for the beef to be browned in pork fat, so I bought some bacon. We're not at all in the habit of eating bacon, but I figured I'd fix bacon and eggs for breakfast today to try to use some of it up. But then I had an even better idea - bacon, egg, & cheese biscuits! Except with real food, instead of what McDonald's passes off as food! Wheee!
There's a recipe for cream biscuits in The Art of Simple Food, but it calls for heavy cream, which we didn't have, so I briefly considered my alternatives. One of these alternatives was a box of Bisquick in the cabinet. All that recipe wanted was Bisquick and milk, which we had. But then I looked at the ingredients in the Bisquick. Enriched bleached flour? Partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil?? Hell no! Off Neil went to the store to get me some heavy cream and a few other items.
The cream biscuit recipe called for all-purpose flour (Alice Waters likes unbleached and so do I), salt, baking powder, butter, and cream. "That was so easy," Neil said after the fact. "Why do people even use Bisquick?" Why, indeed.
The recipe was supposed to make eight small biscuits, but we ended up with four and a half big ones; they had to be big enough to make sandwiches with. I fried up a couple of pieces of Wellshire Farms peppered bacon and scrambled a couple of eggs. Neil invented a new fried potato recipe, which we have dubbed Scarborough Fair Potatoes; they're seasoned with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. This herbal cliché is actually a really good combination!
We assembled our bacon and eggs on our biscuits and added slices of Cabot's extra sharp white cheddar. This version of the McDonald's classic was barely even recognizable as the same meal. The biscuits were dense and buttery (as can be expected when you use six tablespoons of butter to make four and a half biscuits), the bacon was thick and crisp and peppery and just... bacony, and the cheese was tangy. (The eggs were, well, eggs.) The potatoes were perfectly seasoned. We've been drinking Jackson's Organic coffee all morning and putting heavy cream in it, reasoning that we don't have any other place to put heavy cream and it'll go bad before we can use it. Very decadent, indeed.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to compare our bacon, egg & cheese biscuit to McDonald's:
Our Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
552 calories, 38 grams of fat
McDonald's Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
480 calories, 31 grams of fat
Oops. However:
Our Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Biscuit
Biscuit - Unbleached all-purpose flour, heavy cream (heavy cream, skim milk, contains less than 1% of each of the following: mono- and diglycerides, polysorbate 80 and carrageenan), salt, baking powder (corn starch, bicarbonate of soda, sodium aluminum suflate, acid phosphate of calcium), butter (sweet cream, salt)
Egg - Just an egg, yo.
Bacon - Pork, sea salt, raw sugar, spices
Cheese - Pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes
McDonald's Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
Biscuit - Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), buttermilk (cultured fat free milk, guar gum, tapioca starch, salt, sodium citrate, carrageenan, locust bean gum, mono- and diglycerides, modified tapioca starch, food starch- modified), palm oil, water, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, sugar, leavening (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), partially hydrogenated soybean oil, soybean oil, soy lecithin, natural flavor (plant source). Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).
Egg - Pasteurized whole eggs, food starch-modified, soybean oil, natural flavors (botanical source), sodium acid pyrophosphate, carrageenan gum, flavor enhancer [salt, maltodextrin, natural flavor (plant source), spices, herb, turmeric (color)], monosodium phosphate, citric acid, soy lecithin. Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).
Bacon - Pork bellies cured with [water, salt, sugar, natural smoke flavor (plant source), sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite].
Cheese - American cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), water, milkfat, sodium citrate, sodium phosphate, salt, sorbic acid (preservative), acetic acid, artificial color, soy lecithin and/or corn starch (added for slice separation).
Um, yeah. I'll stick with our version, thank you. I'll just use a less buttery biscuit recipe next time.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Weekend Round-up: Le Gallo Rosso and Maido
Le Gallo Rosso
Friday night Neil and I met up with three other friends for dinner at Le Gallo Rosso. There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding this restaurant but we hadn't tried it yet. What I'd heard and read most frequently about it was that the food is good and reasonably priced, the portions are huge, and diners are permitted to bring their own wine. Sounds good to me!
The restaurant is located in an alley off Bardstown Road, and they've created a lovely patio area that I can't wait to sit in when the weather warms up. There are separate dining rooms in front of and behind the kitchen; we were seated in the small room behind it. The atmosphere was cozy and festive, though the room was a bit chilly at times because of the frequent opening of the door. This seemed to be less of a problem as the evening wore on.
Small loaves of warm Italian bread were brought to the table in baskets and were accompanied by dishes of olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes for dipping. We gobbled this up, and our server brought us more bread several times. Next came the salads; Neil and I both had Caesar salads, which were very good. Two of our tablemates had the house salad, which comes as a bouquet of greens wrapped in a long slice of cucumber; they were very pretty, and I sort of wished that I'd ordered one for aesthetic reasons alone.
Our entrees arrived and were, as promised, huge. I packed up Neil's leftovers for lunch a little while ago and saw that of his two meatballs (which were stuffed with mozzarella), he'd only eaten about 2/3 of one of them. They were surely the biggest meatballs I've ever seen and, judging from the two small bites I managed to sneak from them at dinner, almost as delicious as they were big. Our companions enjoyed Betty's Deep Dish Lasagna and the Capellini Pompodoro.
Since I am on this little 30-day adventure in avoiding processed foods, I skipped the pasta and opted for the Chicken Artichoke & Sun Dried Tomato. It was described as "seared chicken breast topped with a white wine artichoke and sun dried tomato sauce." I thought that sounded delicious. But I ended up feeling as though I had gotten the evening's booby prize; while everyone around me was ooohing and aaahing over their meals, I was faced with two huge chicken breasts which, yes, came with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes, but were not accompanied by any discernible sauce. They were incredibly bland. If this dish was, as Neil suggested, a nod to people who are on low-carb diets, it certainly succeeded in feeling like diet food (ridiculous portion-size notwithstanding). The small mound of risotto that accompanied the chicken was good, but perhaps only in comparison to the chicken.
The service, up to that point, had been slow, but we didn't mind. Our server was apologetic and seemed a bit frazzled, and we were well supplied with wine, so we were pretty forgiving. The only time I was really annoyed was when, after we'd finished our entrees, we were presented with the bill. He launched into an explanation of how he'd separated the checks on the ticket, only for one of us to have to interrupt him with "Are you offering dessert this evening?" Perhaps he was in a hurry to turn the table over, since by that point we'd been there for nearly three hours, but that was through no fault of ours.
Dessert was a vast improvement over my entree. Neil and I shared the berries and cream. Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries were arranged on a pool of thick, sweet, vanilla-tinged (I think) cream. If I'd been in the privacy of my own home I would have licked the plate when the berries were gone. Another member of our group ordered tiramisu, only to find out that they were out it; he ordered cheesecake instead and was quite happy with it. And... I can't remember what the other members of our party had for dessert. (Lisa, feel free to comment and tell me!) Neil and I were both very impressed with the coffee and wondered where it was from; we've both noticed that restaurants with really good food often fall short when it comes to coffee (notable exception: Mayan Cafe, which serves Jackson's Organic). Le Gallo Rosso's coffee was quite good and I was excited to get a second cup of it.
Because I loved the atmosphere and, more importantly, because everyone else seemed to have great food, I am willing to overlook my boring chicken and give Le Gallo Rosso another chance. I'll even recommend it; just stay the hell away from that chicken (unless, you know, you like plain chicken breast for some reason).
(Aside: Ever since listening to Garlic and Sapphires, I can't get Ruth Reichl out of my head when dining at new restaurants. Neil feels the same way.)
Maido
I love, love Maido. I love the patio in the summer, and I love the dining room when the weather's bad. I love the small plates, the sushi, and I especially love the beer list. The service, if not always meticulous, is consistently friendly. It's one of my favorite restaurants.
Saturday night I experienced Maido in a whole new way; our friend Paul rented the karaoke room for his birthday party. Twelve of us squeezed into a back room that was set up with bench seating and tables (and a few extra chairs in our case) in a U-shape; at the front of the room was the karaoke machine. The moment I sat down and saw Paul and his wife Allison with their beers I knew that my 30-day beer fast was not going to last. I ordered - and loved - a Siberian Night. That was followed by two Left Hand Milk Stouts. Beer, I love you!
Anyway. I'm not going to review the food because I was moderately intoxicated and distracted by the karaoke; I will save that for another visit. Suffice it to say that it was, as always, extremely good. I will, however, review the karaoke. The catalog of songs was huge; I've never actually done karaoke in a bar before, so I can't compare it, but experienced karaoke-ers in our party thought it was quite comprehensive. (It did not, however, contain the one song I actually sing well, Ella Fitzgerald's "A Tisket, A Tasket.") The set-up they have is quite ingenious; there's a remote control sort of thing into which you enter the song number you want, and you can keep adding numbers to the queue while people are singing. We passed the remote around, adding songs, forgetting what order they were in, and then scrambling to grab a mic once our tunes started playing. We had SO. MUCH. FUN. By the end of the night we were all just singing along to all of the songs. (You should have heard our rousing rendition of "Sister Christian.") I like to think of myself as someone who can sort of sing, having done it all through school, but pretty much every single person in our party kicked my ass. Which was slightly demoralizing, but hopefully everyone was too drunk to remember how much I sucked.
I really, really want to do this again. The rates are not posted on Maido's website, but Neil thinks it's $50/hour. Which is kind of pricey, especially considering how quickly time flies when you have a big group of people. But if you can afford it - or if you can get everyone to go in with you on the cost of the room - it's definitely worth it.
Friday night Neil and I met up with three other friends for dinner at Le Gallo Rosso. There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding this restaurant but we hadn't tried it yet. What I'd heard and read most frequently about it was that the food is good and reasonably priced, the portions are huge, and diners are permitted to bring their own wine. Sounds good to me!
The restaurant is located in an alley off Bardstown Road, and they've created a lovely patio area that I can't wait to sit in when the weather warms up. There are separate dining rooms in front of and behind the kitchen; we were seated in the small room behind it. The atmosphere was cozy and festive, though the room was a bit chilly at times because of the frequent opening of the door. This seemed to be less of a problem as the evening wore on.
Small loaves of warm Italian bread were brought to the table in baskets and were accompanied by dishes of olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes for dipping. We gobbled this up, and our server brought us more bread several times. Next came the salads; Neil and I both had Caesar salads, which were very good. Two of our tablemates had the house salad, which comes as a bouquet of greens wrapped in a long slice of cucumber; they were very pretty, and I sort of wished that I'd ordered one for aesthetic reasons alone.
Our entrees arrived and were, as promised, huge. I packed up Neil's leftovers for lunch a little while ago and saw that of his two meatballs (which were stuffed with mozzarella), he'd only eaten about 2/3 of one of them. They were surely the biggest meatballs I've ever seen and, judging from the two small bites I managed to sneak from them at dinner, almost as delicious as they were big. Our companions enjoyed Betty's Deep Dish Lasagna and the Capellini Pompodoro.
Since I am on this little 30-day adventure in avoiding processed foods, I skipped the pasta and opted for the Chicken Artichoke & Sun Dried Tomato. It was described as "seared chicken breast topped with a white wine artichoke and sun dried tomato sauce." I thought that sounded delicious. But I ended up feeling as though I had gotten the evening's booby prize; while everyone around me was ooohing and aaahing over their meals, I was faced with two huge chicken breasts which, yes, came with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes, but were not accompanied by any discernible sauce. They were incredibly bland. If this dish was, as Neil suggested, a nod to people who are on low-carb diets, it certainly succeeded in feeling like diet food (ridiculous portion-size notwithstanding). The small mound of risotto that accompanied the chicken was good, but perhaps only in comparison to the chicken.
The service, up to that point, had been slow, but we didn't mind. Our server was apologetic and seemed a bit frazzled, and we were well supplied with wine, so we were pretty forgiving. The only time I was really annoyed was when, after we'd finished our entrees, we were presented with the bill. He launched into an explanation of how he'd separated the checks on the ticket, only for one of us to have to interrupt him with "Are you offering dessert this evening?" Perhaps he was in a hurry to turn the table over, since by that point we'd been there for nearly three hours, but that was through no fault of ours.
Dessert was a vast improvement over my entree. Neil and I shared the berries and cream. Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries were arranged on a pool of thick, sweet, vanilla-tinged (I think) cream. If I'd been in the privacy of my own home I would have licked the plate when the berries were gone. Another member of our group ordered tiramisu, only to find out that they were out it; he ordered cheesecake instead and was quite happy with it. And... I can't remember what the other members of our party had for dessert. (Lisa, feel free to comment and tell me!) Neil and I were both very impressed with the coffee and wondered where it was from; we've both noticed that restaurants with really good food often fall short when it comes to coffee (notable exception: Mayan Cafe, which serves Jackson's Organic). Le Gallo Rosso's coffee was quite good and I was excited to get a second cup of it.
Because I loved the atmosphere and, more importantly, because everyone else seemed to have great food, I am willing to overlook my boring chicken and give Le Gallo Rosso another chance. I'll even recommend it; just stay the hell away from that chicken (unless, you know, you like plain chicken breast for some reason).
(Aside: Ever since listening to Garlic and Sapphires, I can't get Ruth Reichl out of my head when dining at new restaurants. Neil feels the same way.)
Maido
I love, love Maido. I love the patio in the summer, and I love the dining room when the weather's bad. I love the small plates, the sushi, and I especially love the beer list. The service, if not always meticulous, is consistently friendly. It's one of my favorite restaurants.
Saturday night I experienced Maido in a whole new way; our friend Paul rented the karaoke room for his birthday party. Twelve of us squeezed into a back room that was set up with bench seating and tables (and a few extra chairs in our case) in a U-shape; at the front of the room was the karaoke machine. The moment I sat down and saw Paul and his wife Allison with their beers I knew that my 30-day beer fast was not going to last. I ordered - and loved - a Siberian Night. That was followed by two Left Hand Milk Stouts. Beer, I love you!
Anyway. I'm not going to review the food because I was moderately intoxicated and distracted by the karaoke; I will save that for another visit. Suffice it to say that it was, as always, extremely good. I will, however, review the karaoke. The catalog of songs was huge; I've never actually done karaoke in a bar before, so I can't compare it, but experienced karaoke-ers in our party thought it was quite comprehensive. (It did not, however, contain the one song I actually sing well, Ella Fitzgerald's "A Tisket, A Tasket.") The set-up they have is quite ingenious; there's a remote control sort of thing into which you enter the song number you want, and you can keep adding numbers to the queue while people are singing. We passed the remote around, adding songs, forgetting what order they were in, and then scrambling to grab a mic once our tunes started playing. We had SO. MUCH. FUN. By the end of the night we were all just singing along to all of the songs. (You should have heard our rousing rendition of "Sister Christian.") I like to think of myself as someone who can sort of sing, having done it all through school, but pretty much every single person in our party kicked my ass. Which was slightly demoralizing, but hopefully everyone was too drunk to remember how much I sucked.
I really, really want to do this again. The rates are not posted on Maido's website, but Neil thinks it's $50/hour. Which is kind of pricey, especially considering how quickly time flies when you have a big group of people. But if you can afford it - or if you can get everyone to go in with you on the cost of the room - it's definitely worth it.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Two events at Varanese
90 Point Wine Dinner
Featuring the live jazz of Jeff Sherman
January 24th, 6 pm
$59 plus tax & gratuity
KUNDE ESTATE SAUVIGNON BLANC
Tempura Point Reyes Bleu Cheese and Dried Apricot
GEORGE DUBOEUF MORGON BEAUJOLAIS
Grilled Diver Scallop and Strawberry Gazpacho Napoleon Garnish with Baby
Arugula and Balsamic drizzle
CASTELLO DI MONASTERO TOSCANA
Duck Stuffed Ravioli atop Shaved Baby Fennel and Sweet Onions Accompanied by a Black Truffle Sauce Finished with Fois Gras
MONTECILLO GRAN RESERVA RIOJA
Smoked Braised Pork Belly Served Over Creamy Beans with Manchego Cheese, Roasted Pablano Pepper and Oven Dried Tomato
RENWOOD ZINFANDEL GRANDPERE
Moist Chocolate Cake Topped with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing served with a Sundried Cherry Jam
A Taste of Love
Featuring a menu of foods thought to have aphrodisiacal qualities
February 14, 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Oysters on the ½ Shell Topped with a Pineapple–Cilantro Salsa
Hearts of Romaine, Artichoke, and Palm Salad Dressed by Gorgonzola Cheese, Grape Tomatoes, and Raspberry-Honey Vinaigrette
Grilled Certified Angus Beef Tenderloin Finished with a Black Truffle Demi Glaze and Gnocchi Tossed with a Pesto Cream Sauce
Coriander Seared Ahi Tuna served over Crab Fried Rice and Hand Carved Baby Carrots Drizzled with a Passion Fruit-Ginger Hoisen
Moist Chocolate Cake Filled with a Sun-Dried Cherry Jam Topped with a Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing
Varanese
2106 Frankfort Avenue
502 899-9904
Featuring the live jazz of Jeff Sherman
January 24th, 6 pm
$59 plus tax & gratuity
KUNDE ESTATE SAUVIGNON BLANC
Tempura Point Reyes Bleu Cheese and Dried Apricot
GEORGE DUBOEUF MORGON BEAUJOLAIS
Grilled Diver Scallop and Strawberry Gazpacho Napoleon Garnish with Baby
Arugula and Balsamic drizzle
CASTELLO DI MONASTERO TOSCANA
Duck Stuffed Ravioli atop Shaved Baby Fennel and Sweet Onions Accompanied by a Black Truffle Sauce Finished with Fois Gras
MONTECILLO GRAN RESERVA RIOJA
Smoked Braised Pork Belly Served Over Creamy Beans with Manchego Cheese, Roasted Pablano Pepper and Oven Dried Tomato
RENWOOD ZINFANDEL GRANDPERE
Moist Chocolate Cake Topped with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing served with a Sundried Cherry Jam
A Taste of Love
Featuring a menu of foods thought to have aphrodisiacal qualities
February 14, 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Oysters on the ½ Shell Topped with a Pineapple–Cilantro Salsa
Hearts of Romaine, Artichoke, and Palm Salad Dressed by Gorgonzola Cheese, Grape Tomatoes, and Raspberry-Honey Vinaigrette
Grilled Certified Angus Beef Tenderloin Finished with a Black Truffle Demi Glaze and Gnocchi Tossed with a Pesto Cream Sauce
Coriander Seared Ahi Tuna served over Crab Fried Rice and Hand Carved Baby Carrots Drizzled with a Passion Fruit-Ginger Hoisen
Moist Chocolate Cake Filled with a Sun-Dried Cherry Jam Topped with a Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing
Varanese
2106 Frankfort Avenue
502 899-9904
Roses, Song and Chocolate
The Event Design Group @ Event Design Library & Emporium is holding an event called Roses, Song and Chocolate: Celebrating Love & Friendship. The event is Friday, February 8, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Says the press release:
Knit lingerie, eh? Veeeeeery interesting.
Event Design Group @ Event Design Library & Emporium
1325 Bardstown Rd
502 451-5377
At this fabulous February event, chocolate desserts featuring local Chocolate Artisans Fred Moore of Coco's Chocolate Cafe on Bardstown Road and Prospect, KY favorite, Lilliana Gross of Lilliana's Finest will be served; signature cocktails will be a highlight along with small plate appetizers by nios @917, while enjoying live music by guitarist Craig Wagner. There will also be Knit Lingerie modeled throughout the evening by featured local Event Design Emporium artisan Tonya Wagner.
Advanced ticket purchase encouraged with limited ticket availability at the door.
Please call T. Lynne @ 502.451.5377 for reservations, ticket purchase & event information.
Tickets: $15 single, $25 couple
Advance ticket purchase by Monday, February 4, 2008 encouraged.
A portion of ticket proceeds will benefit T. Lynne's charity of choice: Dress for Success!
Knit lingerie, eh? Veeeeeery interesting.
Event Design Group @ Event Design Library & Emporium
1325 Bardstown Rd
502 451-5377
Changing the Way I Eat
I have decided that something needs to be done about my pudge. I blogged a week or so ago about the conflict between being a foodie and wanting to lose weight, and I think I'm ready now to take action.
There are several books influencing my strategy, and none of them are diet books. They are:
-In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
-What to Eat by Marion Nestle
-French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
-The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters
I first read French Women Don't Get Fat a couple years ago and recently picked it back up and re-read most of it. I bought What to Eat in August. I got The Art of Simple Food a couple months ago. I started reading In Defense of Food last night and can't put it down. All of these books are saying the same thing and in ways that make a lot of sense: Lay off the processed food. Cook and eat real, whole foods. Stop obsessing about calories, carbs, proteins, and fat. Just eat food.
That we have to be told to do this is, when you think about it, kind of crazy, but Michael Pollan does a great job of explaining how this came to be. You should definitely read In Defense of Food right away. I'm only 39 pages into and I can already recommend it unequivocally.
So, for the next 30 days, I am going to attempt to:
- Cut processed foods down to a bare minimum.
- Cook everything from scratch (this isn't really as time-consuming or intimidating as it might sound if you check out some Alice Waters recipes).
- When dining out, choose dishes that consist mostly of unprocessed food; choose restaurants where this isn't difficult.
- Cook four servings of dinner so that we have stuff for lunch that isn't peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- Lay off the high Glycemic Index carbs. I tend to think that low-carb diets are BS, but I also understand the effect that carbs have on blood sugar, and that's something I've had issues with. I also know that if I eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast I will be hungry again more quickly than if I eat a bowl of yogurt. According to GlycemicIndex.com, high GI carbs can be avoided thusly:
Easy enough. We already do a lot of those things anyway.
- Practice portion control; Neil and I both tend to eat whatever it is until it's gone.
- Stop drinking beer. Yes, I know, I just wrote about how much I love beer. But I think it is a big (maybe the biggest) reason I keep gaining weight, and my attempts to drink it in moderation haven't been met with much success. I'm going to go without it for a month and see what happens. Then I will add it back in (hopefully judiciously). The occasional glass of wine is still permitted.
And... that's it. No food-tracking, no calorie-counting, no low-fat anything or artificial sweeteners. I will still cook with butter, oil, cheese, and, when necessary, sugar. I have a strong suspicion that if I use those things in moderation and eat mostly plants I will be just fine. I will let you know how it goes!
There are several books influencing my strategy, and none of them are diet books. They are:
-In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
-What to Eat by Marion Nestle
-French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
-The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters
I first read French Women Don't Get Fat a couple years ago and recently picked it back up and re-read most of it. I bought What to Eat in August. I got The Art of Simple Food a couple months ago. I started reading In Defense of Food last night and can't put it down. All of these books are saying the same thing and in ways that make a lot of sense: Lay off the processed food. Cook and eat real, whole foods. Stop obsessing about calories, carbs, proteins, and fat. Just eat food.
That we have to be told to do this is, when you think about it, kind of crazy, but Michael Pollan does a great job of explaining how this came to be. You should definitely read In Defense of Food right away. I'm only 39 pages into and I can already recommend it unequivocally.
So, for the next 30 days, I am going to attempt to:
- Cut processed foods down to a bare minimum.
- Cook everything from scratch (this isn't really as time-consuming or intimidating as it might sound if you check out some Alice Waters recipes).
- When dining out, choose dishes that consist mostly of unprocessed food; choose restaurants where this isn't difficult.
- Cook four servings of dinner so that we have stuff for lunch that isn't peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- Lay off the high Glycemic Index carbs. I tend to think that low-carb diets are BS, but I also understand the effect that carbs have on blood sugar, and that's something I've had issues with. I also know that if I eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast I will be hungry again more quickly than if I eat a bowl of yogurt. According to GlycemicIndex.com, high GI carbs can be avoided thusly:
*Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
* Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
* Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
* Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
* Use Basmati or Doongara rice
* Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
* Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing
Easy enough. We already do a lot of those things anyway.
- Practice portion control; Neil and I both tend to eat whatever it is until it's gone.
- Stop drinking beer. Yes, I know, I just wrote about how much I love beer. But I think it is a big (maybe the biggest) reason I keep gaining weight, and my attempts to drink it in moderation haven't been met with much success. I'm going to go without it for a month and see what happens. Then I will add it back in (hopefully judiciously). The occasional glass of wine is still permitted.
And... that's it. No food-tracking, no calorie-counting, no low-fat anything or artificial sweeteners. I will still cook with butter, oil, cheese, and, when necessary, sugar. I have a strong suspicion that if I use those things in moderation and eat mostly plants I will be just fine. I will let you know how it goes!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Beer: A Love Story
I was going to write this entry last night, but I settled onto the sofa with my MacBook and a bottle of Ommegang Abbey Ale and things quickly went downhill. Neil started playing New Pornographers songs on the guitar and before long I was tipsy and pretending to be Neko Case and/or Kathryn Calder. (This has nothing to do with food or beer, but do yourself a favor and check out the New Pornographers if you haven't already. They are my most favorite band.)So, beer. My childhood experience with it is probably similar to many people's; at some point I tasted some that my dad was drinking and didn't like it. I didn't like the way it tasted, and I didn't like the way it smelled. Yuck.
My first actual beer-drinking experiences were as follows:
Age 16 - Hanging out with a group of older people, trying to impress a guy. The Bud Light was flowing. I drank several. They were gross, but I was caught up in the fun of the evening and didn't care. Still, I couldn't imagine why so many people liked beer. It seemed like something to be tolerated rather than enjoyed.
Age 17 - Ex-boyfriend threw a party over spring break. I was sad about our break-up and drowned my sorrows in a couple wine coolers. A Bud Light followed. Still gross.
Age 18 - Boyfriend liked Heineken. I tried it. Didn't like it.
And so-on. (Are you noticing this theme of boyfriends and beer? Yeah, me too.) Around the age of 22 or so a friend (a female friend!) introduced me to lambic, which I loved. I didn't really count that as beer, though. It was just fruity and fizzy and delicious. Beer was bitter and full of other strange flavors that did not please my palate.
And then along came Neil. And with him came Blue Moon. I tried it... and I liked it! Not long after that I went out with a group of my grad school classmates and it was decided that we should order a pitcher of Blue Moon. What luck! They'd chosen the one beer I liked! Still, I found that an entire glass of the stuff was a little much.
I kept drinking Blue Moon and soon realized that a big glass of it and an order of chicken wings was one of the best things in the world. Then I started branching out. I liked Harp. I liked Bass, but not as much. I liked Rolling Rock. I liked Negra Modelo. At some point I tasted Neil's La Fin du Monde, which totally rocked my world.
In Montreal we drank Boreale (and were crestfallen when we realized it's not available in the US). In Philadelphia (and, as it turned out, in Gulf Shores) we drank Yuengling. I chose beer based on recommendations and based on the label and based on the name. I got unintentionally wasted on Aventinus at the Nachbar. I came home from a party wearing the little plastic rams that come with Celebrator Doppelbock. I squealed in delight at a grad student gathering when I saw that the chair of my department had stocked her fridge with BBC's Dark Star Porter. I got gently teased just a few weeks ago for walking around a party drinking Rogue's Shakespeare Stout out of its 22-ounce bottle. I fell in love with Left Hand's Milk Stout while dining at Maido. Beer is all around. If I'm at a party, dining in a restaurant, or eating dinner at home, I am more than likely drinking a beer. If I go into ValuMarket for something other than beer, I often leave with beer anyway. (Have you seen their beer selection? If not, go! Right now!)
There's been a spate of talk over at Louisville HotBytes lately about beer, including a heated discussion about why fine restaurants often put more care into their wine list than their beer list. This got me thinking about beer vs wine in general and how I ended up being so enthralled with the former, often to the neglect of the latter. I certainly love wine, and I loved it before I loved beer, but somehow I'm just not as into it. I daresay I find beer more exciting.
Tell me, Blog Tartare readers, what are your favorite beers? What should I try? I favor porters and stouts but I'll try anything once. (Except maybe IPAs. I seem to dislike them pretty consistently.)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
BBC Reopening & Melillo's Valentine's Day Deal
St. Matthews BBC Reopening - After a week-long closure for renovations, the St. Matthews location of the Bluegrass Brewing Co. is reopening tomorrow. Along with the cosmetic upgrades they'll be rolling out a new menu. BBC bartender Becca reports: "The new menu will include some old favorites----Brewhouse Nachos, Shepherds Pie and our much requested beer mustard. The menu will also have a Hot Bacon and Spinach Salad, a Portabello Burger, a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich and Fried Polenta." Yum!
BBC
3929 Shelbyville Rd
502 899-7070
Melillo's Valentine's Day Special - Melillo's is offering a three-course Valentine's Day dinner, including soup or salad, entree, dessert, and a bottle of wine for $90 per couple. Ladies will receive flowers and gentlemen will receive candy. Call Ashley for reservations.
Melillo's
829B East Market St
502 540-9975
BBC
3929 Shelbyville Rd
502 899-7070
Melillo's Valentine's Day Special - Melillo's is offering a three-course Valentine's Day dinner, including soup or salad, entree, dessert, and a bottle of wine for $90 per couple. Ladies will receive flowers and gentlemen will receive candy. Call Ashley for reservations.
Melillo's
829B East Market St
502 540-9975
Odds and Ends
A little later I'm going to blog about beer, but first I want to mention a few other things that don't merit posts of their own. Call it a Blog Tartare Casserole if you like.
Osaka - Neil and I went there Friday night with a group of friends. I like Osaka well enough but it's not my favorite sushi place (that honor goes to Sakura Blue). It is, however, my friend Tabetha's favorite, so we eat there when she's doing the organizing. Osaka was slammed Friday night and it took a loooong time to get our food, but they gave us complimentary edamame and dessert (red bean ice cream, I believe), so we didn't mind a bit. And someone in our group subsequently decided to have her birthday party there next month. Good job, Osaka!
Sweet Surrender - We're Sweet Surrender fans in part because we're friends with the owner, but we'd love it even if we weren't. The friendly folks there didn't bat an eye when our party of 9 wandered in after dining at Osaka. We enjoyed uniformly delicious desserts and one of the employees made sure that we were all signed up to receive coupons for free cake on our birthdays. Several of the people who were with us hadn't been there before and were quite impressed with the food.
Wild Eggs - This is the hot new breakfast place in town, and I ate there yesterday for the second time. I had the Farmers Market Skillet, a dish full of various veggies topped with cheese and two fried eggs. It didn't blow my mind, but it was a perfectly good breakfast. It came with an Everything Muffin; these muffins are inspired by "everything" bagels and are really, really good. I really like Wild Eggs and thought that our 20-minute wait for a table was reasonable. If the wait were much longer (and I suspect that it was by the time we left), I'm not sure I'd find it worth it. (To be fair, I am extraordinarily impatient when it comes to restaurant waits.)
City Cafe - Ah, the Russian roulette that is the City Cafe specials. Sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're... not. Neil and I went last night and both had extremely mediocre meals. I had salmon with a dill cream sauce and Neil had teriyaki flank steak. My meal was mostly devoid of flavor aside from the unappealing fishiness of the salmon, and Neil describes his meat as "blah and frighteningly pink in some places." Blech. I remain loyal to City Cafe though because the stuff on their regular menu is so good and their specials are too, more often than not. Just not last night.
Books - I've been on a big food book kick lately and yesterday I picked up The United States of Arugula (which I'm reading now and quite enjoying), Heat, and In Defense of Food. I'm excited about all of them and will report back as I read them.
Bagels - Earlier today I said to Neil, "Remember those really good bagels we had in Montreal?" Just now I realized that there is such a thing as a Montreal-style bagel. Who knew?
Osaka - Neil and I went there Friday night with a group of friends. I like Osaka well enough but it's not my favorite sushi place (that honor goes to Sakura Blue). It is, however, my friend Tabetha's favorite, so we eat there when she's doing the organizing. Osaka was slammed Friday night and it took a loooong time to get our food, but they gave us complimentary edamame and dessert (red bean ice cream, I believe), so we didn't mind a bit. And someone in our group subsequently decided to have her birthday party there next month. Good job, Osaka!
Sweet Surrender - We're Sweet Surrender fans in part because we're friends with the owner, but we'd love it even if we weren't. The friendly folks there didn't bat an eye when our party of 9 wandered in after dining at Osaka. We enjoyed uniformly delicious desserts and one of the employees made sure that we were all signed up to receive coupons for free cake on our birthdays. Several of the people who were with us hadn't been there before and were quite impressed with the food.
Wild Eggs - This is the hot new breakfast place in town, and I ate there yesterday for the second time. I had the Farmers Market Skillet, a dish full of various veggies topped with cheese and two fried eggs. It didn't blow my mind, but it was a perfectly good breakfast. It came with an Everything Muffin; these muffins are inspired by "everything" bagels and are really, really good. I really like Wild Eggs and thought that our 20-minute wait for a table was reasonable. If the wait were much longer (and I suspect that it was by the time we left), I'm not sure I'd find it worth it. (To be fair, I am extraordinarily impatient when it comes to restaurant waits.)
City Cafe - Ah, the Russian roulette that is the City Cafe specials. Sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're... not. Neil and I went last night and both had extremely mediocre meals. I had salmon with a dill cream sauce and Neil had teriyaki flank steak. My meal was mostly devoid of flavor aside from the unappealing fishiness of the salmon, and Neil describes his meat as "blah and frighteningly pink in some places." Blech. I remain loyal to City Cafe though because the stuff on their regular menu is so good and their specials are too, more often than not. Just not last night.
Books - I've been on a big food book kick lately and yesterday I picked up The United States of Arugula (which I'm reading now and quite enjoying), Heat, and In Defense of Food. I'm excited about all of them and will report back as I read them.
Bagels - Earlier today I said to Neil, "Remember those really good bagels we had in Montreal?" Just now I realized that there is such a thing as a Montreal-style bagel. Who knew?
Friday, January 11, 2008
Better Than Egg Salad
Some months ago I found this recipe for "egg" salad that uses tofu instead of eggs in a Light & Tasty magazine. I'm honestly not sure why there is a need for such a recipe, unless you are allergic to eggs (but then you'd also have the matter of the mayonnaise to deal with). It turns out, however, that we have another use for it; Neil is really bothered by the texture of hard-boiled eggs. But not, for some reason, by the texture of tofu. So we tried this recipe and it was actually really good. I just made it again today and thought I'd post it. It would also be excellent with eggs instead of tofu.
Better Than Egg Salad
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayo
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 package (12.3 oz) silken firm tofu, cubed
8 slices whole wheat bread
4 lettuce leaves
In a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Gently stir in tofu. Spread over four slices of bread; top with lettuce and remaining bread. (I love how these instructions assume that you’ve never assembled a sandwich before.)
Better Than Egg Salad
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayo
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 package (12.3 oz) silken firm tofu, cubed
8 slices whole wheat bread
4 lettuce leaves
In a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Gently stir in tofu. Spread over four slices of bread; top with lettuce and remaining bread. (I love how these instructions assume that you’ve never assembled a sandwich before.)
Chubby McChubbersons
I mentioned in my first post on this blog that I am trying to lose weight. There is a differences between trying to lose weight and wanting to lose weight, and I have definitely been doing more of the latter.
Fear not, kind reader, I have no intention of making this a blog about weight loss. It takes a special blogger (like Wendy McClure, for example) to make such a thing interesting. But I do want to discuss the tension I feel between being a foodie and trying to lose weight.
When I was in my early 20s I gained about 30 pounds, and in 2003 I lost it with the help of Weight Watchers. It was actually astoundingly easy. Since then, as I've watched the weight creep back on, I have tried WW several more times, and I wasn't able to stick with it. The reasons that WW worked so well the first time:
1. I was single and didn't really have much of a social life, so I didn't go out to eat that often.
2. I was living in Shelbyville, so for the most part it was at least a 30 minute drive to get to my favorite restaurants.
3. I didn't really know how to cook and was, for some reason, content to eat a LOT of Lean Cuisine.
4. I had not yet realized my profound love of beer.
In 2004 I started dating a man who introduced me to the sublime pleasures of meals made up of bread, cheese, and wine. Consumed in bed. We ate avocados by themselves and artichokes dipped in butter. It was decadent and wonderful. Wine-soaked evenings turned into hangovers that were treated with greasy Waffle House breakfasts the following morning. Not surprisingly, I started gaining weight again.
At the end of 2004 I met Neil, who is certainly my culinary soulmate (aside from his bizarre dislike of biscuits and gravy). Neil is the love of my life and there are many wonderful things about him and our relationship that are outside the realm of this blog, but one of the single most important effects he's had on my life is that he taught me to like beer. And I actually have a whole other post brewing (haha) about beer and my journey toward it and my love of it, but suffice it to say for now that we drink a LOT of it. We drink beer the way many people drink soda (or, for that matter, water). We actually discussed getting an engagement Kegerator instead of an engagement ring when the time comes. It's like that.
So now here I sit, wearing jeans that I bought in August that are already squishing my middle in uncomfortable ways. Something needs to happen here, I'm just not sure what. Except I actually know exactly what to do: eat better (not even necessarily less) and exercise more. Or, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." But my foodie nature (is that like Buddha nature?) wants to eat everything, including Alice Waters soufflés that contain 29.5 grams of fat per serving. Last night we went to Bourbon's Bistro where we split a "Lobster and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart with Roasted Leeks and Peppers, topped with Grilled Red Onion and a Garlic, Saffron and Tomato Cream Sauce" and then I had "Bacon Wrapped Diver Scallops served with a Lavender Asian Pear Coulis and drizzled with a Balsamic Reduction, served with Sweet Onion Grits and sauteed Patty Pan Squash." We also split a bottle of pinot gris and a piece of cheesecake. Such meals bring me tremendous pleasure. I don't want to have to feel guilty about eating them.
Of course, this flabulous belly of mine is not the result of eating such meals; we can rarely afford to do so. It's the result of too many meals at home (which are actually often restaurant carry-out) that are centered around convenience. I've got to start paying more attention to what I eat and planning my meals and going to the grocery store regularly. If we're eating lean meats and veggies for dinner most nights it won't matter if I want to make a fatty soufflé for Sunday breakfast once in a while.
Somehow I just have to get it through my head that foodie-ness and weight loss are not incompatible. I just need to base my eating on cooking wholesome foods rather than on eating everything that sounds good. We will see how this goes.
Fear not, kind reader, I have no intention of making this a blog about weight loss. It takes a special blogger (like Wendy McClure, for example) to make such a thing interesting. But I do want to discuss the tension I feel between being a foodie and trying to lose weight.
When I was in my early 20s I gained about 30 pounds, and in 2003 I lost it with the help of Weight Watchers. It was actually astoundingly easy. Since then, as I've watched the weight creep back on, I have tried WW several more times, and I wasn't able to stick with it. The reasons that WW worked so well the first time:
1. I was single and didn't really have much of a social life, so I didn't go out to eat that often.
2. I was living in Shelbyville, so for the most part it was at least a 30 minute drive to get to my favorite restaurants.
3. I didn't really know how to cook and was, for some reason, content to eat a LOT of Lean Cuisine.
4. I had not yet realized my profound love of beer.
In 2004 I started dating a man who introduced me to the sublime pleasures of meals made up of bread, cheese, and wine. Consumed in bed. We ate avocados by themselves and artichokes dipped in butter. It was decadent and wonderful. Wine-soaked evenings turned into hangovers that were treated with greasy Waffle House breakfasts the following morning. Not surprisingly, I started gaining weight again.
At the end of 2004 I met Neil, who is certainly my culinary soulmate (aside from his bizarre dislike of biscuits and gravy). Neil is the love of my life and there are many wonderful things about him and our relationship that are outside the realm of this blog, but one of the single most important effects he's had on my life is that he taught me to like beer. And I actually have a whole other post brewing (haha) about beer and my journey toward it and my love of it, but suffice it to say for now that we drink a LOT of it. We drink beer the way many people drink soda (or, for that matter, water). We actually discussed getting an engagement Kegerator instead of an engagement ring when the time comes. It's like that.
So now here I sit, wearing jeans that I bought in August that are already squishing my middle in uncomfortable ways. Something needs to happen here, I'm just not sure what. Except I actually know exactly what to do: eat better (not even necessarily less) and exercise more. Or, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." But my foodie nature (is that like Buddha nature?) wants to eat everything, including Alice Waters soufflés that contain 29.5 grams of fat per serving. Last night we went to Bourbon's Bistro where we split a "Lobster and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart with Roasted Leeks and Peppers, topped with Grilled Red Onion and a Garlic, Saffron and Tomato Cream Sauce" and then I had "Bacon Wrapped Diver Scallops served with a Lavender Asian Pear Coulis and drizzled with a Balsamic Reduction, served with Sweet Onion Grits and sauteed Patty Pan Squash." We also split a bottle of pinot gris and a piece of cheesecake. Such meals bring me tremendous pleasure. I don't want to have to feel guilty about eating them.
Of course, this flabulous belly of mine is not the result of eating such meals; we can rarely afford to do so. It's the result of too many meals at home (which are actually often restaurant carry-out) that are centered around convenience. I've got to start paying more attention to what I eat and planning my meals and going to the grocery store regularly. If we're eating lean meats and veggies for dinner most nights it won't matter if I want to make a fatty soufflé for Sunday breakfast once in a while.
Somehow I just have to get it through my head that foodie-ness and weight loss are not incompatible. I just need to base my eating on cooking wholesome foods rather than on eating everything that sounds good. We will see how this goes.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Julie & Julia
The full title of this book is Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living. You might think that a book that needs both a subtitle and a sub-subtitle needs a lot of explanation, but it doesn't, not really. Julie Powell set out to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking within a year. And she blogged about it. And she got a little famous from it and got a book deal. This is the book.I finished reading this book several days ago and I put off writing about it because I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I'm not sure I can exactly put my finger on how.
Let's start with the obvious criticism. Before she started her blog, Julie Powell was not a writer. It shows. The writing isn't bad by any means, but it's sometimes hard to follow, and at times I got the sense that she was trying a little too hard to be clever. I was also vaguely put off by all the potshots she takes at Republicans; lord knows I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but I find that sort of thing irritating when it doesn't really have anything to do with the story.
Anyway. Julie started the project as she approached her 30th birthday and found herself living in New York City, being told by doctors that she'd better hurry up and get pregnant if she wanted any shot at having kids, and working temp jobs with no clear direction in her life. She started the Julie/Julia Project on a whim, but it quickly took over her existence. She found herself scouring the city for obscure ingredients, cutting up live lobsters, and dining on brains. The surreality of constantly cooking and eating such foods was compounded when the media started paying attention. She wrote about all of it for her fiercely loyal blog audience. The book recounts the whole thing; the cooking, the blogging, and the rise to (moderate) fame. It really is a fun, quick, and interesting read.
I think the thing that caught me off guard about this book is that Julie is bitter, misanthropic, and neurotic. I expected the story to be more beautiful, not laced with curse words and sexual innuendo. This didn't bother me, of course; I love curse words and sexual innuendo! It just wasn't what I expected. And I felt like the cover was misleading; it seems so gentle! Julie's story is anything but; she is not a happy person, and the recipes in MtAoFC are a source of torment at least as often as they are a pleasurable creative outlet.
Still, crankiness aside, it is impossible not to like Julie in the end. It might be stereotypically Generation X, but I can't say that late-20s ennui is something I haven't experienced. Julie attacks it head-on and in the least likely way. She's dark and funny but in the end, also deeply reverent. "I have no claim over the woman at all," Julie writes upon Julia's death, "unless it’s the claim those who have
nearly drowned have over the person who pulled them out of the ocean." That we get to read about this rescue is a pretty great thing.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Schlafly Beer Tasting at Keg Liquors
Keg Liquors in Clarksville is holding a tasting of Schlafly beers on Jan 31, 5:00-8:00 pm. I've really liked what I've had from Schlafly, so I'm definitely going to try to make it to this.
Keg Liquors
617 East Lewis and Clark Parkway
Clarksville, IN
812-283-3988
Keg Liquors
617 East Lewis and Clark Parkway
Clarksville, IN
812-283-3988
Wine Market Wine & Cheese Tastings
Neil informs me that the Wine Market holds wine and cheese tastings the second Wednesday of every month. This month, on Jan 9, the theme is "Fireplace Wines." 4:30-6:30 pm.
The Wine Market
1200 Bardstown Road
502 451-7446
The Wine Market
1200 Bardstown Road
502 451-7446
Sunday, January 6, 2008
White Castle
"You have to blog about this," says Neil. It's a little after 5:00 and we are sitting in the parking lot of a White Castle on Dixie Highway, staring at the J&J Boat and Trailer Supply across the street and sharing a Sack of 10 and an order of onion rings. We are washing it all down with enough Big Red to fill a small hot tub.
"Oh no!" I say. What kind of self-respecting food blogger admits that she eats at White Castle? Ever?
"Not just about eating here," Neil says, "but a meditation on why those of us who really like food also like junk."
I think about this for a few minutes, watching the clouds roll across the sky behind J&J and munching my little cheeseburgers. I'm suddenly shocked at my initial reaction. I am, after all, no food snob. Being a foodie means being in love with food, food of all sorts. Sometimes it means high-end restaurants and Alice Waters cookbooks, but sometimes it means corn dogs at the state fair and bags of Oreos. And sometimes, apparently, White Castle. So what am I so ashamed of?
Part of the problem, I suppose, is that fast food really goes against a lot of what I think food should be. It's processed to death. It's full of nasty stuff. Most of it contains more fat and more calories than anyone has any business eating. I have problems with meat to begin with, and that used in fast food is the worst of the worst. I feel bad, sometimes physically always spiritually, ever time I eat it. So I usually don't.
Why, then, did I call out "Ooooh, White Castle!" as we drove up Dixie Highway? We had just hiked two miles at Tioga Falls. Otis had gone with us and was conked out in the back seat. We were muddy and relaxed in the way that comes after physical exertion, our bodies loose with the unseasonable warmth of the day. We were feeling...
Uh...
As I write this I am sitting at the kitchen table. I just looked up at Neil and said, "Why did we go to White Castle?"
"Because it was there? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time?"
"But why?"
"For those first two burgers. No, the first burger."
It's true. The first burger was delicious. Not because the ingredients were good, of course. I think it was more the familiarity of it. The same was true of that first sip of Big Red; I was immediately transported back to the Friday nights of my childhood, eating dinner at White Castle with my mom before our weekly trip to Kroger. (The onion rings were, objectively, pretty good.)
Between us we could have had two cheeseburgers, an order of onion rings, and a small Big Red and gotten everything we needed from this meal.
Perhaps this is why I felt ashamed to blog about White Castle. Because it speaks of gluttony, but a worse kind of gluttony than that expressed by, say, eating a whole loaf of French bread with olive oil. Because we didn't really enjoy it, not most of it, and we knew that we wouldn't the moment we turned into the drive-thru. Fast food is not about enjoying food, it's about stuffing yourself cheaply and quickly. If you stop to think about it, if you try to savor it, if you attempt to enjoy the play of strange beef and onions and American cheese across your tongue, well... it's just better if you don't.
These are just my tastes, of course, and I imagine that there are plenty of people who might disagree with me. People enjoy what they enjoy and that's fine. But I think we would all do well to stop and think about what we're eating and why. How does it make us feel? Guilty? Vaguely disgusted? Or ebullient and joyous? I prefer joyful food.
"Oh no!" I say. What kind of self-respecting food blogger admits that she eats at White Castle? Ever?
"Not just about eating here," Neil says, "but a meditation on why those of us who really like food also like junk."
I think about this for a few minutes, watching the clouds roll across the sky behind J&J and munching my little cheeseburgers. I'm suddenly shocked at my initial reaction. I am, after all, no food snob. Being a foodie means being in love with food, food of all sorts. Sometimes it means high-end restaurants and Alice Waters cookbooks, but sometimes it means corn dogs at the state fair and bags of Oreos. And sometimes, apparently, White Castle. So what am I so ashamed of?
Part of the problem, I suppose, is that fast food really goes against a lot of what I think food should be. It's processed to death. It's full of nasty stuff. Most of it contains more fat and more calories than anyone has any business eating. I have problems with meat to begin with, and that used in fast food is the worst of the worst. I feel bad, sometimes physically always spiritually, ever time I eat it. So I usually don't.
Why, then, did I call out "Ooooh, White Castle!" as we drove up Dixie Highway? We had just hiked two miles at Tioga Falls. Otis had gone with us and was conked out in the back seat. We were muddy and relaxed in the way that comes after physical exertion, our bodies loose with the unseasonable warmth of the day. We were feeling...
Uh...
As I write this I am sitting at the kitchen table. I just looked up at Neil and said, "Why did we go to White Castle?"
"Because it was there? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time?"
"But why?"
"For those first two burgers. No, the first burger."
It's true. The first burger was delicious. Not because the ingredients were good, of course. I think it was more the familiarity of it. The same was true of that first sip of Big Red; I was immediately transported back to the Friday nights of my childhood, eating dinner at White Castle with my mom before our weekly trip to Kroger. (The onion rings were, objectively, pretty good.)
Between us we could have had two cheeseburgers, an order of onion rings, and a small Big Red and gotten everything we needed from this meal.
Perhaps this is why I felt ashamed to blog about White Castle. Because it speaks of gluttony, but a worse kind of gluttony than that expressed by, say, eating a whole loaf of French bread with olive oil. Because we didn't really enjoy it, not most of it, and we knew that we wouldn't the moment we turned into the drive-thru. Fast food is not about enjoying food, it's about stuffing yourself cheaply and quickly. If you stop to think about it, if you try to savor it, if you attempt to enjoy the play of strange beef and onions and American cheese across your tongue, well... it's just better if you don't.
These are just my tastes, of course, and I imagine that there are plenty of people who might disagree with me. People enjoy what they enjoy and that's fine. But I think we would all do well to stop and think about what we're eating and why. How does it make us feel? Guilty? Vaguely disgusted? Or ebullient and joyous? I prefer joyful food.
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