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!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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.
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