Bitchin' in the Kitchen with Rosie

Cookie Confab turned Cookie Bust!

2010-12-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

This year – our plans did not gel. Not sure why -with this thing or that we just could never get the time together to bake. Debbie did stop over for a little while and dropped off some spritz cookies and have a little tipple.

Rose and Debbie knocking one back.
So Debbie's sister can tell - Debbie is the one on the right.

Debbie helped me decorate these.. after the knocking back.

Not that I was going to let a lack of teamwork get me down! I had cookies to make dammit! I have people counting on me for their holiday excess!! I made Tony step up to be my kitchen bitch – roll this, wash that, where the hell do you think you're going – get me that flour out of the pantry. He cried like a little girl “But its 1 am!” Breakin' weak - marathon cookie baking is not for timid.

Here he is making the stroopwaffles... I cropped the picture so you can't see the shackles.

This is a new recipe from A Baker's Odyssey.
The are called Nuspatchen (or something like that).
They are a hazelnut and cinnamon topping on a spice cookie.
Next year...the bottom will be chocolate for that Nutella-like flavor combo!!

Every year I make a new cookie – I have to. If I made the same damn thing over and over where is the challenge in that? Lord knows that I am a glutton for punishment.

My first thought was to try a recipe I found in the LA Times. They took recipe submissions and I was intrigued by the recipe for Nana tea cakes. It seemed simple – the dough had three ingredients and the filling could be varied to give different flavors. However, the write up as provided in the original posting seemed a little too basic. Trust me – if there is one thing I learned, Nana never measures anything and she usually never describes the nuances of the prep work.

I make up a batch of the dough and let it chill up over night. I roll it out, cut and fill it, set to oven to 350 as instructed and tossed in the first sheet. Ten minutes later, I pull the cookies out and they are still raw. Where is the flaky goodness? I put them back in for five more minutes – still no love. I pull these out and toss them.

I pump up the oven temp 25 degrees and bake four cookies. 20 minutes later, too brown on the bottom, raw on the inside. Into the trash with those as well.

What the hell Nana? This is not working out at all...

I pump up the oven 50 degrees – take that cookies!!! Oooooo puffy action! They are rising!! They are bursting open!!!! Shit. Four more cookies not right- this time they are edible and we scarfed them up.

Last four cookies – what to do? It is a steam issue. Hmmmm...I'll try docking the jam pocket to let out the steam, bake at 425 and get them just the tiniest bit brown. Bingo!!

A couple hours of work for four good cookies. We ate them before I thought of getting a picture. Shit again.

The funny thing, this recipe made the final 10 best recipes and the LA Times test kitchen published the recipe with the same time and temperatures as the original submission. What the hell, LA Times? Are you sure you really test these? Tony says “LA Times is a lyin' bitch!”

I ended up not using that recipe.

Instead I pulled out an old mini fruitcake recipe. Oh before you start your bad jokes and bellyaching, this is one of the best fruit and nut filled, booze infused treats ever created. Tony, who hates fruitcake, begs for these. Of course, he also begs for oxygen when he can't remember the safe word.

This recipe comes from the Cookie Lover's Cookie Book by Richard Sax. I love this little book. It has been out of print for years and it's hard to find. It is worth the effort though – this recipe is a gem.

And no - there are no pictures of these. 1) they look lumpy and ugly but taste great 2) they are all gone!!!

BABY FRUITCAKES

You'll need miniature muffin tins for these guys, though a regular-size muffin pan can also be used. Paper muffin liners make this recipe easier to remove from the pan and store, but you can use non-stick pans if you have them.

The original recipe called for the neon colored cherries you usually find in fruit cakes. I substituted in dried cherries, but they do not look as festive. If you think they need a little color, you can add a glace cherry half to the top when you glaze.

Makes 2 dozen 1 1/2-inch miniature cupcakes, or 1 dozen muffin-size

2 cup of mixed fruit (mix and match from the following): raisins, golden raisins, dried currants, dried cranberries and chopped dates

1/3 cup chopped dried pineapple

1/3 cup chopped dried cherries

3 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

3 tablespoons bourbon or brandy (or apple cider)

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

½ cup flour

¾ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup each coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans, and almonds

BOURBON GLAZE:

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 teaspoons bourbon or brandy (or apple cider)

1.  Place the mixed fruit, pineapple, cherries, and crystallized ginger in a bowl. Toss with the bourbon and set aside to soak at least 30 minutes. It is best to not to let it set overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 300°F., with racks in the center and bottom of the oven. Place a pan of hot water on the lower rack. Line miniature or regular-size muffin tins with paper muffin liners. If you don't have paper liners, butter the pan(s) generously.
3.  Cream the butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer until light; then add the egg, mixing until smooth. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder, and baking soda onto a sheet of wax paper. Using a spatula, stir in the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing just until blended, no longer. Stir in the fruit mixture with its soaking liquid, along with the walnuts, pecans, and almonds, mixing just until incorporated.
4.  Bake the fruitcakes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, about 30 minutes (or 35 for regular-size muffin tins). Cool in the pan(s) for about 5 minutes and remove from the pan(s) (leave the paper liners on). If they seem to be sticking, then run the tip of a knife blade around the cakes. Placing them on a wire rack over a sheet of wax or parchment paper.

Bourbon Glaze: Place the corn syrup in a small pan and heat gently, just to thin it. Remove from heat, stir in the bourbon, and brush the tops of the fruitcakes with the glaze. Let stand until set; then store airtight.

These keep well for at least a week, and can be mailed. I have also frozen them with great success. Just thaw at room temperature in their packaging. To brighten them up before serving, reglaze so the tops are shiny.

Adapted from the Cookie Lover’s Cookie Book by Richard Sax

The Anti-Food Porn Rant

2010-12-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

Smokin' Hot Food Porn

We love looking. We can't help it. That smokin' hot construction worker, that sexy black dress in the shop window, those rows and rows of flaky, creamy pastries – we look and we salivate. We desire. And if we have the cash, it becomes ours. (Well, maybe not the construction worker, but we can dream, can't we?)

But how many times have we been mis-lead? How many time have you bought that luscious perfectly iced slice of chocolate cake only to find it is dry and flavorless? And that little black dress – you try it on only to find that it wasn't really all that sexy when lovingly draped over that pooch left by one too many pieces of mediocre chocolate cake?

And how many times have you been walking through the book store, pick up a beautiful cookbook full of stylish photos and recipes featuring trendy ingredients only to take it home and find out you were snookered? Taken in by a pretty face only to be left with a pot full of barely edible – and sometimes extravagantly expensive – dog kibble? Or that the amount of work necessary to achieve the pictured item has left you drained and impotent for the rest of the evening? And that construction worker, even if you could afford him, would have been a another wasted purchase as you retire to the boudoir with a migraine.

Like the strategically placed silicon in an adult movie, food porn is there to enhance your enjoyment of your most recently purchased fantasy book. And like elective plastic surgery, food styling is an artificial enhancement. Few real women (most of us included) look like that busty sexpot in Pizza Slut 3, and most of the food you make at home will ever look like the pictures in the books.

Books, magazines and TV shows – there is a lot of lying going. True, lying can be a good thing. Some lies are necessary – From your hubby: “No your ass doesn't look big in those jeans.” To your hubby: “Honey, I don't miss those golden curls I used to run my fingers through.” To the kids: “Don't worry Heather, you'll grow out of it. It's just baby fat.”

But we all realize deep down that lies are social lubricants. Like the Quarker State in your engine, it keeps everything moving along smoothly and prevents the unsightly build up of corpses along the highways.

In the modern media, food styling keeps the food industry looking fresh and sexy – its a necessary set of lies to keep Martha, Sandra Lee and Rachel on the cutting edge of the current market. Without the pretty pictures, would anyone buy their products to see if there was any substance?

It also puts lipstick on that pig – a little light on content? Then slap some pretty pictures in there, send it off to China for some sexy full color printing and get it out in time for the holiday gift giving season. Grandma loves the pretty pictures...and the political prisoners in China need the work.

It's not to say that sexy food photography is a bad thing. Good photos will give you an idea of how brown the edges of your cookies should be, how thick you should roll the dough, but you have to remember that they are the stuff that dreams are made of. Your mileage may vary. Things in the mirror may be larger than they appear (and that includes your rump in that little black dress!)

So remember, there are some worthwhile cookbooks that don't have 8 x 10 color glossys. Pick up the old school Joy of Cooking, The Fanny Farmer Cookbook or if you want some fantastic cookie recipes, get yourself a copy of The Cookie Lover's Cookie Book by Richard Sax. No food porn in any them, but lots of solid recipes.

And for Pete's sake – stop staring at the construction workers while sitting at the light. You are holdin' up the rest of us.

Mule Train Ho!!

2010-11-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

Been grabbing supplies for the Thanksgiving feast and cookie baking - wanna know the best deals on flour and sugar?

Aldi's! - whodathunkit?

Even cheaper than the Restaurant Depot.

Book Review: The Christmas Cookie Cookbook by Ann Pearlman

2010-11-21T23:07:00.001-05:00

It's coming time for the big Cookie Confab – though once again this year it is going to be downsized. Gail, Debbie and I have no days off in common anymore. It's sad. I love getting together to bake cookies and chew the fat. And drink. And bitch. And eat.

I have been pouring over my cookie books and even asked to review one. So yes – being the cheap chiseling food whore that I am - I got another free book.

The book I requested was The Christmas Cookie Cookbook, from Atria Books. This book is written by Ann Pearlman, who also authored The Christmas Cookie Club, a book about a group of women who get together every year to trade cookies and share their lives.

Now ya know me – I am not a chick lit kinda gal. My family was filled with evil harridans who smiled nicely at each other in public and cut each other to ribbons with their razor sharp tongues behind closed doors. Family gatherings were not the sappy sweet female bonding experiences that you find in so many books aimed at women. So needless to say I haven't read the novel The Christmas Cookie Club.

But I do love cookies and have been running The Cookie Confab for almost 10 yrs now so I was very intrigued by the premise for this book.

All that being said – I really enjoyed reading The Christmas Cookie Cookbook. Ann talks about how the club got started, about the women involved, and the deep bonds that have developed over the last 20 years – yes 20 years. That is some stamina right there!! Plus, you get concrete advice on how to start your own club, hints on how to make the event a success from setting the date to passing out the goodies.

There are recipes too. Now, do not expect any ground shattering breakthroughs in cookie baking technology. Many of these recipes have seen print elsewhere – including the recipe that I made as a test batch. (In fact, the Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookie is from the Ghiridelli website, modified to make the dough a little easier to handle when shaping into log. I, and my boss, have made a couple other changes which I will share below.)

Other recipes are included for appetizers and buffet dishes to keep everyone on the edge of sobriety, plus cookie making tips.

Oh yeah – and then there are the Rules. The Rules are brilliant. The Rules are awesome. They are the work of someone who understands how to organize and maintain.

This is my snarky non-chick lit interpretations of the rules. If you want the nice friendly PC version, then you will just have to go and buy the book.

Cookie variety – no chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin – it's freakin' Christmas so act like it whydoncha?
No Goo – cuz too messy is no good...
Exclusive membership – No one wants to bake 20 dozen cookies for a party, so no – you don't get to come!
Commitment - what?! You came one time and now you wanna back out!!!?? Bitch!
Life Membership- well if we can put up with you, you can put up with us every year... or in other words the only way to leave the cookie club is feet first!
Packaging – Thou shalt invest in something pretty to hold your cookies – no paper plates ya lazy ho!
Share a dish – we need some food to soak up all this booze!
Charity – spread the love – and calories – around!
More Fun – do things that will be memorable - memorable enough to cut through the alcohol-induced haze.

I think the one thing I would have like to see with the cookie recipes were “keeping instructions” - a consistent addendum to each recipe talking about how long the product would keep, and the proper way to store them. One would assume that these recipes have been made and tested by the ladies who submitted them and those ladies would have some idea of how long these different types of cookies keep. Maybe that is kinda nit-picky but I'm just sayin'...woulda been nice.

Overall, I would say buy this book, especially if you have ever dreamed of running a cookie exchange or even another seasonal event every year. The advice is sound, the tone supportive and if you are lucky enough to have friends and family who actually like each other then I say give it a try!

Now your reward for putting up with my ramblings – the recipe!!!

Here is the recipe for Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies. They demand something like milk or, even better, the slight bitterness of black coffee.

Here is the recipe as it is written in the book.

Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

12 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

11 1/2 ounces 60% Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

6 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
In double boiler over hot water, melt bittersweet chocolate chips and butter. In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick. Stir in chocolate mixture. Set aside.

In small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Stir in chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts (dough will be gooey). Chill for 30 minutes to firm up.

On a sheet of plastic wrap, form dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. Wrap tightly. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until firm.

Shinny Shiny cookies...yummmy....

Pre-heat oven to 375°F. With sharp knife, cut into 3/4-inch slices and place on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake 14 minutes or until shiny crust forms. Cookies should be soft inside. Transfer cookies to rack to cool.

Differences from the original recipe on the Ghiridelli sight:

The original recipe does not call for the 30 minute chill before shaping. This does make it easier to handle when shaping.
The shape of the logs is 2” in diameter and 12” long. Even though the recipe in the book says 8” - the logs did come out about 12” during the test.
The original recipe stipulates that you unwrap the logs before cutting. Duh.
The original recipe kept the cookies on the pan until cool. These are kinda delicate and I would cut the difference between the two recipes and let the cookies cool for a few minutes before removing them to the rack.
The original recipe called for 12-14 minutes. 12 minutes did the trick for me.
The original recipe states that these will keep up to one week. I hid a cookie and just pulled it out. A week is kinda pushing it – they were much better the first couple of days, but I still would not turn my nose up at one of these that was a week old.

Changes that I made to the recipe:

I would say chop the walnuts into medium to small pieces. Larger pieces taste good but are a bitch to cut.
Use a serrated knife when cutting the log. This is for two reasons: first, the sawing motion means you do not have to press down as hard on the log so you do not flatten it out or cause the dough to crumble. The second is it will cut through the chocolate chips when they are cold.
I also froze one of the logs of dough, then thawed it in the fridge overnight before baking. Turned out just as awesome as the non-frozen dough.
Lastly – this can easily be made gluten free! My boss, Melissa, substituted ½ cup of commercial gluten free flour and they turned out fantastic.

My Life of Leisure...

2010-10-28T11:43:00.011-04:00

This is all the excitment
that you get at a magic party...

Yeah - it’s been almost 6 months since I posted. To be truthful, its been entirely selfish. I have been doing and being and not writing about it. And having a wonderful time with it too...
First - I got to go to San Francisco in June. Actually, I got to visit LA and San Fran. Scary part - it was 90+ degrees with 98% humidity in C-bus, but when we rolled off the plane in CA it was a cool 75 degrees with no moisture at all. Heaven!
We flew into LAX with its big spaceship out front and went to the rental car company to pick up our car. We had asked for a full sized model - since we are not compact car kinda folks - and was told they were out. Panic!! The gal at the counter says - we upgraded you to a luxury model. It’s in slot 42.
Lo and behold - it a was a freakin’ land yacht! A huge caddy with all the bells and whistles. The perrrrrrrfect car for our PCH drive as it turned out. Just don’t try parking in the LA or San Fran though...
After a night on a hard bed in an overpriced hotel in Hollywood, we hit the road. Being a Mid-west gal, my first impression of California - brown. Even in the middle of a drought here there are still vestiges of green, but even the trees looked dusty and brown on our way North out of LA on State Route 1.

The brown, brown hills of Southern California

The only thing that relives all the brown is the blue blue Pacific Ocean. As you think that all you are going to see are brown rocky hills, you come around a curve and BAM! the ocean hugs the coast and little towns are nestled along the edges. Then back up into the hills.
The good news about those hills is that they hide little canyons filled with tasty, tasty food.

I am sure I’ve never talked about this before, but I hate blueberries. I have no idea why - I always thought they tasted “musty” or something like that. I have no real term for it, but there is a componet in the flavor that I just do not like. Until I pulled into Restoration Oaks Blueberry Farm just outside of Santa Barbara. Tucked back into a space between two foothills was this farm selling these freshly picked blueberries. I almost didn’t stop- well -cuz I hate blueberries.

Perfect!

At $4 a pint, I just picked up one. They were tiny. They were blue. They were sweet and tart. They were some of the best damn things I have ever eaten. I immediately regretted not buying a hundred bucks worth.
So we head off down the road, munchin’ fruit and looking at hills and the ocean. We would see signs for avocados 10 for a buck, Strawberries, peaches, and cherries. After a while we transitioned into the large valleys filled with produce and immigrant labor. The companies advertise which brands are being grown in the fields - Andy Boy broccoli or Green Giant lettuce. And the workers walking through the fields behind the big machines, harvesting the produce that ends up in my market 2000 miles away. So while I am listening to the radio (mostly Hispanic music and news in this part of the state) I think about eating local and what would happen to all those people laboring in the fields.

We have spent the last 100 yrs coming up with ways to feed our ever growing population. Through a combination of technology and corporate greed, we’ve managed to come up with a fucked-up, but functional system. We have cities full of people who want fresh produce and meat and we have succeeded in making those items available. And the backbone of our produce production still relies on people who are willing to be farm workers. Farms have always relied on cheap labor to make them profitable. It used to be hired hands or your passel of 13 kids, and now it is immigrant labor. And god help all you folks out there in the cities if the immigrant labor disappears or is restricted. No more cheap lettuce and broccoli for you!

And I don’t see any of you telling your kids to go out and get in the fields...

So after my thought-filled afternoon we are nearing San Fran and I am getting hungry. We saw this little carry out and thought, we’ll just stop the use their bathroom and get something to drink... Maybe we’ll find and In -N- Out nearby...

The Prunedale Market - damn fine eatin'!

I walk in and the place smells like heaven - all smokey and meaty. Turns out the owner smokes his own tri-tip for sandwiches. We start to chat and he was awesome. I tell him to hook me up. Tri-tip is the cut of choice for Calli style BBQ. And he gives me a free cup of beef stew - though he tells me its spicy - he has to make it spicy for the locals and he thought a Gringa like me would find it too hot for my liking. I told him I like spicy and grow my own hot peppers- I am no ordinary Gringa. It was thick, meaty, smoky and spicy. It was - hands down - the best beef stew I’ve ever had. I went back to the car and gave Tony a bite - and he ate almost the whole damn thing. The sandwich was great too...but that stew. I want some right freakin’ now!!!! Why o why must you be a continent away!!! Let me stop to get a napkin to wipe off my chin...

Tony spent some time talking to another customer in the parking lot while I was in the store. Turns out the owner does not have a liquor licence which is pretty much a death sentence for a small carry out. So instead he turned to BBQ to attract customers.

My little man and his new hat...

We did eventually stop at In-N-Out Burger. I would pit this fast food burger against 95% of the “restaurant” burgers in the state of Ohio and I know it would win. Fresh bun, juicy patty - its just damn good. Every single restaurant is family owned - and the consistency of the experience reflects that.

San Fran was awesome - though I did not get to eat at any of the places I had mapped out. I was actually there to work. Tony and I were specifically invited to run the convention suite at the Golden Gate Gathering. It’s a small magic convention run by four locals - Kent Gunn, Dave Nelson, Dorian Rhodell and Theron Schaub. It has a rather boisterous group of attendees - so boisterous that the hotel had threatened to kick the whole group out if they didn’t behave this year. Hench - we were the out of town hitters brought in to keep the peace.

Here is Kent reading the room party rules.

Needless to say everyone was very well behaved once we explained the situation and we have been invited back for a repeat performance. ( And to the young man who told us we were assholes my answer to you is - yes, yes we are and if you keep it up you’ll find out just how big a pair of assholes we CAN be.)

Kent looking frightened - as he should...

To all the folks that attended the 3G, if I didn’t make it apparent then, let me make it so now. I had a great time. I saw some amazing magic. I got to see old friends like Mike Gallo, Lee Asher and Allen Ackerman and make new friends like Kent Gunn and Howard Hamberg (Dropping some names!!!)

Dave Nelson Licking a Pickle.... Don't ask me why...

To everyone who wasn’t there - If you are looking for a small close-up convention that is fun and friendly with a tremendous amount of talent - then look no further... A word of warning though...get in early, seats are limited... And if you’re extra good, I will bring something super tasty for the suite...

My hope is to say a few days over this year and eat at some of the great restaurants in San Fran. It is a foodie town after all...

The drive back was awesome even if we were exhausted. I stopped at this little flea market and picked up a fruit cocktail from a Mexican couple who had a very busy stall there. It was amazing. I trust that folks in CA are familiar with this type of treat. But to a gal who is from the Midwest this was a real treat. Freshly cut papaya, mango, strawberries, pineapple and cucumber were mixed together and topped with salt, lime juice and this fruit salad season that had chili pepper in it. I’ve made it several time now - I even made a trip to La Michicana to get the spice mix they used at the booth. I know - I am so ignorant. But then again, I have the best time discovering all the stuff that I don’t know about. It must be awfully boring be a know it all...

I also picked up some fresh picked cherries and garlic in Gilroy - and you can smell the garlic as you drive through town.

The night before we flew out we stayed at a motel in Oxnard. As we drove in, we saw a restaurant next door - The script writing was indistinct in the dark and it looked like it said “Hurl’s”. Not exactly an auspicious name for an eatery.

The next morning we got up and saw that it was really named Henri’s. We inquired at the front desk and the young lady there gave it two thumbs up, so we figured we would give it a try.

Huevo Rancheros

It was pretty damn good. I ordered Huevo Rancheros and Tony ordered Corned Beef Hash. The ranchero sauce was home made, the eggs and hash were perfect. The coffee was just plain old coffee, but sufficient to get us up to speed. I love beans and theirs was excellent. (Though my fellow passengers on the plane didn’t think so later...)

Transplanted East Coast Native Carol after enjoying her strudel...

We also meet this really nice lady, Carol, sitting next to us. She lives in Port Hueneme but originally came from northern Virginia. We asked her about moving back East, but the siren song of the Pacific Ocean keeps her firmly in California.

We finished up our last meal in California with an apple strudel shared with Carol. The grill cook warmed it up on the griddle and it, like everything else was excellent.

The flight out was unexciting...and once we landed in Columbus we went back to sweating and bitchin’ about the humidity.

So that was about it for my California trip... I cannot wait for next year...

Where is the HELL is San Margherita, you ask? And why should I go there?

2010-05-12T18:28:00.004-04:00

Last time I talked about Charlie and his unerring ability to find good food. This time I am going to tell you about another one of his finds - all the way over in San Margherita on the West side.

What is San Margherita you ask? According to Columbusite (an awesome resource for those of you who have never used it!), San Margherita was an outpost for the Italian laborers who worked the nearby quarries. Now it is home to a lot of people who want upscale condos and strip malls.

Still hiding on McKinley Road is a couple older buildings housing businesses like an auto shop and a carry out called the San Margherita Market. It's the Market we are interested in here.

One afternoon we were heading back from Charlie's house, when he said, "We are goin' someplace good for lunch." And then didn't say another word about where we were going. As he was driving, we were at his mercy.

We pulled up in front of this brick building with an ancient sign. It did not look promising. "Wait till you try one of their sandwiches - they are so damn big you can hardly get 'em in your mouth!"

Up front it looks like your average carry out with an above average selection of beer. As you get toward the back, you see the food section.

The menu reads like this.

Polish Sandwich

Ground Itialian (sic) Sandwich

Meatball Sandwich

Roast Beef Sandwich

Pizza

and

Eggrolls

I am sure there are other items - but I cannot recall... My mind boggles at the sight of the sandwiches...

First - let me tell you that the Polish Sandwich is made out of Polish sausage - and yet - its is not the sausage sandwich that you would expect. It is not the round meaty tube one associates with Polish sausage. It's more like meat spaghetti. The links have been shaved lengthwise so that the meat hangs in long thin strips. This is cooked in some type of liquid. But it's ok - don't be afraid. It is delicious. The owners pile mounds and mounds of this shaved sausage onto a soft white bun (from Audino's - synchronicity at work here folks!), along with cheese, onions, banana peppers and if you wish, yellow mustard and hot sauce.

Here is a picture of the large sub. I have put a King size Snickers next to it for reference. Not a little Snickers. A King size!

The medium is hardly any smaller.

Their meatballs are fantastic as well...tons and tons of them in sauce on the same soft bun...

And then there is the Ground Itialian. Yes - that is how it is spelled on the menu. This is a loose meat sandwich made with Italian sausage instead of hamburger. And yes - they are just as big as the Polish. I love these dearly, but they are a mess to eat. The last time I got one I stopped in a park on the way home and ate it on a bench hunched over so none of the meat would drop down my shirt.

Prices? Well they run like this - $6.25 for a large sandwich, $5.25 for a medium sandwich and a small is only $2.95. Personally, I would get the large even if you think you could not possibly eat it. We dropped off a Polish to our friend Eric who has been home ill for two weeks. He looked at it and said, "I cannot possible eat this big sub." When I got home there was a message on the machine from him. It said, "I called to tell you I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

Last but not least is the egg rolls. Handmade by the owners, they are fried up fresh and served with this fantastic dipping sauce that is sweet, sour and hot. At $1 each, they are a real steal.

So the next time you have a Charlie-sized appetite, or even think you might just want an egg roll - stop into the San Margherita Market and strap on the feedbag.

San Margherita Market

3255 McKinley Ave

Columbus, Ohio

Hot food served from 10 am - 8 pm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Doughnuts...

2010-04-21T10:01:00.007-04:00

I have a soft spot for deep fried dough. I come by it honestly - my parents loved them too and there were always some type of cake doughnuts hanging around the house waiting to be dunked into coffee or a cold glass of milk. Occasionally, the local scout troop or some other fund raiser would bring around Crispy Cremes - and 20 secs in the nuke later we would have sinful glazed goodness.

Roll forward to my college years and its 3 a.m. on Campus and the only thing open was Buckeye Donuts. Staggering home from "the library", all it would take was a hazardous waste container of their strong "varnish remover" and a couple sinkers - man I was ready to tackle that sociology paper due in the morning...

Now in my dotage, it takes a truly magnificent doughnut to turn my head. While Crispy Cremes are good (especially when they just come rolling out of the glaze). Light and sweet - they have their place, but after one or two, they show their shallow nature. And the variety doughnuts they carry - so lacking in character they are not really worth the time it takes to mention them.

So the point of all this you ask?

Meet Rosa Auddino. She is the matriarch of the family owned bakery Audinos. Locals in the food service industry will recognize the name - Auddino's delivers fresh baked buns and breads to customers all over the city. What most people don't know is they have a retail outlet. And inside that retail outlet - they have doughnuts. Good doughnuts. Did I say good? I meant - Fantastic Doughnuts. Well those and other really great baked goods as well.

Let me regale you with the story of how my hubby found Auddino's.

One of Tony's best friends is Charlie. Charlie owns a towing company. One thing you can depend on is that Charlie knows where to find good food - north, south, east or west he can point you to something that is truly delicious. So one day I asked Tony to hunt down some rolls for the Italian Beef I was making and he was having no luck. So he stopped in at Charlie's shop to get his butt whipped at gin and shoot the shit.

"So watcha up to, Tony?" Charlie says as he rolls his big stogie around in his fingers. (Charlie is a big guy - he makes my hubby look like an anorexic dwarf- and his voice rolls over you like a jet engine ready to take off. You know Hagrid the giant from the Harry Potter books and movies? Well Charlie would bitch slap Hagrid and take his lunch.)

"Rose has me running all over the city trying to find these rolls for dinner tonight and I just can't find what she wants. I tell you if she wasn't such a good cook, her ass would be out on the curb!" says Tony as he shuffles the deck and deals.

"Well why don't you go over to Auddino's?" Charlie starts sorting out his cards while chewing the hell out of his half lit cigar.

"Auddino?"

"Yeah, Auddino's. Over by the fairgrounds. We'll go over after I finish takin' all your money. They'll have what you want."

So after finishing the game in which Tony was forced to cough up his stripper tipping cash, they headed over to Auddino's. (He denys it, but why else would a man carry around $30 in ones? All men are dogs...)

And I'll be damned if they didn't have the prefect rolls. Plus a ton of pastries. We ate really good that night. I even forgave Tony for his stripper tipping habits - for the moment.

A week later, I made Tony take me over to the bakery so I could check out their wares for myself.

Underneath an ancient sign reading Auddino's Breads Cakes Donuts and Pastries lay one of the best bakeries in Columbus

Behold their bounty...

Fried Croissant -This is my favorite. Take a plain croissant, throw it in some hot fat, then drench in a glaze. It is sweet, flaky buttery and totally sinful. This is what Krispy Kreme wishes it could be.

Apple Fritter - Soft, with tiny apple pieces and lightly spiced with cinnamon, these are some of the best examples of this fried goodie I have ever found.

Cake Donuts - Paired with coffee or milk, cake donuts are that old fashioned midday treat.

And let's not forget the classic Italian treats!!

Amaretti - These are dense moist very sweet cookies made with almond paste. I had tried for years to make these at home but to no avail. Now - I just stop down and pick up a dozen of these to serve with coffee after dinner. And you have to serve these with coffee. The extreme sweetness make this the perfect accompaniment to a strong espresso or dark roast americano.

Cannoli - The real deal. Crunchy, creamy and sweet - these are a dream.

This is not all they offer, so I recommend you stop in and check it out for yourself ASAP.

In parting, here is some advice concerning your upcoming trip to Auddino's.

1) If you see a really big white pickup sporting a set of truck nuts parked out front, be prepared for gale force winds in the building - this means Charlie is there picking up goodies for his crew.

2) Go early. Their more popular choices sell out quickly and you may miss out.

3) Needing lots and lots of bread and goodies? Call ahead and place an order. They are professionals ya know...

Auddino's Bakery
1490 Clara St
Columbus, OH 43211
(614) 294-2577

If only it were so easy....

2010-03-04T02:16:00.000-05:00

Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo.

Some Veggies for Stacy

2010-02-07T09:17:00.004-05:00

Before Christmas, I had lunch with my friend Stacy. We were talking about food - as always - and she asked me what I did for veggies in the winter.

Of course, eating local in an Ohio winter is almost impossible unless you've had the good fortune to freeze or can your own. I did get some strawberries and peas frozen but that was about it.

At present, I have been haunting ethnic groceries. Being a poor house owner, I haven't been able to eat out like I used to. So I have been learning a lot about Indian and Asian cooking, which are two of my favorite types of eat out food.

My most recent visit was to CAM grocery over on Bethel Road. They have a great selection of fresh produce, meats and seafood, plus a lot of staple items like soy sauce and rice. The prices of the produce are pretty amazing. I picked up 1.5 pounds of baby Shanghai bok choy for $2.50.

Chinese veggies like baby bok choy are great for quick dinners because they cook so rapidly.

A quick way to make a side dish from baby bok choy:

Clean and cut apart the bunches of greens. It's ok if they are not totally dry.
Thinly slice a clove or two of garlic and grate a little fresh ginger if you have it (if you don't its not the end of the world)
Heat up some oil in a non-stick skillet.
When the oil is hot, toss in the garlic and ginger.
Now toss in the moist baby bok choy into the pan, and toss until the leaves just start to look wilted.
Take out of pan and put onto plates. Hit it with a couple shots of soy or sprinkle with salt. Also, you could toss the warm leaves with a little oyster sauce before plating if you are partial to oyster sauce.
Done!

I served it up with sliced roast pork and mashed sweet potatoes. I like the unadorned flavor of greens so a lot of people may find that pretty minimal.

The other thing I did was make "Fabulous Fake Asian Noodle Soup".

I love soups like pho and egg drop soup, so I kinda came up with my own version.

This serves two.

Faux Asian broth

3 cups of homemade no-salt chicken stock (See notes below about commercial broth)

A piece of ginger, cut about 1/4" thick and smashed with back of a knife (you want it kinda beat up to release flavor)

A clove of garlic, smashed

A couple slices of onion, thin

A small dash of five spice powder OR a mixture of star anise, cinnamon bark, Szchuan peppercorns and cloves (I will be truthful and tell you I use just a little piece of cinnamon stick and the peppercorns because my hubby hate anise and cloves!!)

Put all the spices into the broth and simmer for about 30 mins while you are prepping the rest of the soup items. You can also do this ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate the strained broth.

Soup Fixin's

1/2 pound of baby bok choy or other greens, cleaned and blanched

3 or 4 white button mushrooms or any other mild mushroom of choice, thinly sliced

1/4 pound of meat, thinly sliced or diced (I've used shredded leftover chicken and pork roast. The main thing is that the pieces will fit in a spoon.)

1/2 pound of fresh noodles, either Chinese or Italian (Cook according to the instructions)

2 green onions, finely sliced

Soy Sauce

Fish Sauce (if you have it)

Asian sesame oil (if you have it)

Here is how I streamline my prep. If you have it, use a hot pot to get your water to a boil quickly. Put it into a saucepan on the stove over high heat to keep it boiling. Have a bowl with ice water sitting next to the stove. Plunge the greens into boiling water for about a minute (until they look bright green). Using a slotted spoon, fish out and put into the ice water. Let the blanching water return to a boil and throw in the noodles. Cook until finished (I let mine go until they are no longer al dente. I like soft noodles in soup.) Drain and rinse the noodles.

Assembly

Split up the veggies, noodles and meat between two large soup bowls.

Remove the flavoring agents from the broth.

Now here comes the tricky part - the salty part.

I use unsalted broth because I want the salt to come from soy sauce and fish sauce. How much you use of each is fairly subjective - I would estimate about 1 -2 Tablespoons of soy sauce and a teaspoon of fish sauce does it for me. Make sure you taste the broth after you add the minimal amounts of the salty agents and adjust as needed. The flavor should be very light. If you put too much soy sauce it will over whelm the flavor of everything else. If you choose to use low sodium commercial broth, please be very careful as things can go bad very quickly - nothing is worse than too much salt in a soup.

Once you are happy with the broth, ladle over the ingredients in the bowls.

If you have some Asian sesame oil, you can add a couple of drops to each bowl.

This is a very light soup - I usually eat it when I don't want to get filled up. You could add more veggies, meat and noodles to it if you would like to make it more filling. Everything but the cooking of the noodles and the bok choy can be done the day before, so all you have to do is heat up the broth while you finish the noodles and greens. You could even use the stock to cook the noodles, I suppose, and add the bok choy just before you take it off the heat. It might muddy up the broth though... something to think about though...

(Still no camera. My daughter took the pictures of the baby bok choy for me. Thanks Annie!!!)

So what have I been cooking?

2010-01-03T22:24:00.008-05:00

So what have I been cooking?

Hmmmmmmm let's see.

Banana Foster pancakes - ham - chicken curry - homemade dinner rolls - pot roast - bean soup - lentil soup - jambalaya - steaks - baked potatoes - a 20 pound turkey - cookies - OH YEAH! The cookies!!!!

So after not seeing each other for almost nine months - I get Debbie and Gail into my new house. Ah, the excitement! Ah, the alcohol!! And we roll and we scoop and we sweat over our cookies and what happens?

Cookie Rustlers!!

Dag Nabit! We turn our backs for one minute and woosh! So if you did not receive you allotment of cookies from me this year - Blame it on the rootin', tootin' varmits!

However, I will not let this dastardly deed crush the spirit of the Cookie Confab.This was a time of togetherness. A time to catch up on the last twelve months and remember what friendship is really about. A time to ooooh and ahhhh over pictures of grandbabies. A time for us to drink pina coladas and Irish coffee while waiting on the timer to ding. But mostly it was a time for us eat all the “broken” cookies and swap recipes.

Who needs elves? Keebler - eat your heart out!

This was a rather rushed affair this year – no pre-Confab planning lunch or shopping trip. Our new work schedules kept us from getting down to that kind of detail this year, but we still managed to coordinate enough that we actually got some baking done.

The cookies weren’t the only thing getting baked!!

We baked some of our old favorites: Gingersnaps, Cut-outs, Pecan Sandies plus few more. Truth be told, I still do not have all my cookbooks unpacked yet, so I was relying on some of my old typed recipes, magazines and Internet sources this year.

Snickerdoodle Roses from Gail

Oh GingerSnaps!

New on this year’s roster was a lemon cut out with pistachio topping. Debbie found the recipe in one of the every present Christmas cookie magazines that start showing up in the checkout lane in October. I think her magazine was from Taste of Home. I was worried they would taste like they had been dipped in Lemon Pledge, but the flavors were just right. Annie kept sneaking in and eating them “to save you from yourselves.” Thank you Annie for throwing yourself on that grenade!

Debbie Cookies

The other recipe I tried was from Better Homes and Gardens. These cookies were supposed to remind you of a certain famous coconut and almond candy bar. The flavor was close, but almost too sweet. The almond flavor was over whelmed by the sweet coconut. The biggest disappointment was the chocolate topping. I melted the bittersweet chocolate as instructed, but it never really set up once it was on the bars. I tucked it into the fridge and the chocolate got so hard you couldn’t cut it without breaking even after setting out for about 30 minutes. I couldn’t help thinking there had to be a better way to do this…maybe something like almond -coconut tassies? More work than a bar cookie, which is one of the reasons I was drawn to this recipe, but the current recipe just isn’t working for me…

However, these were one of the cookies the rustlers favored - so maybe they were worth making a second batch.

Here is the original recipe

Now here is what I did to change it!

Coconut and Almond Bar Cookies - Rosie Style!

Makes 36 bars

ingredients

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1-1/2 cup whole almonds, toasted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 14-ounce package flaked coconut
1 14-ounce can (1 1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces dark chocolate chips

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, leaving enough hanging over the edge to form a cookie sling. Place graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup of the almonds, and the brown sugar in a food processor. Cover and process until almonds are finely chopped. Add butter; cover and pulse with four or five on-off turns or until mixture is well combined. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of the ungreased, lined baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes. Allow to cool until just warm to the touch.

2. Combine coconut and sweetened condensed milk in a medium bowl. Spread mixture evenly over crust. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup almonds evenly over coconut layer. Now sprinkle the chocolate pieces on top of the almonds and coconut. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. As soon as you remove the pan from the oven, spread the now-melted chocolate chips evenly over top of baked bars. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. (If desired, chill in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set.) Once cooled, but before the chocolate gets really hard, pull the bars out of the baking dish using the foil sling. Using a long sharp knife,cut into bars. If your chocolate is too hard, score it with a paring knife along your intended paths of destruction to encourage even breaks. And if you try everything and they still come out looking crappy - the taste will be just fine.

To store: Place bars in a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. Let stand for 30 minutes before serving.

Reasons why I think my version is better:

I use one less bowl. Less clean up means more time to drink.
I use a single bag of chocolate chips. It means you spend less and you don't have a half bag of chips looking for a use - or ending up as snacks which don't really taste good with pina coldas .
The chocolate is thinner and allows for easy cutting.
The foil sling lets you liberate your pan for another batch of cookie. I don't know about you, but I only have two 13x9x2-inch pans and they are in constant use during cookie season.
I remove a whole step by melting the chocolate on top of the cookies instead of in another bowl. Why is this important? See reason 1.

If anyone would like any of this year's cookie recipes, please let me know. I will be happy to share them with you!

I know...I know...

2010-01-03T20:11:00.005-05:00

I know its been a long time since I last posted. To be truthful, I've been having a lot of fun doing stuff instead of writing about doing it. Selfish...totally selfish. Sorry if that hurts anyone's feelings, but there it is.

I still don't quite have the new kitchen up to snuff, but damn...the room...I even have my kitchen bitch Tony slaving along side of me without stepping on each other's toes. Hell, even when the Cookie Confab met up we still had plenty of room with three cooks baking away.

First things first - I finally got Annie to loan me her camera. Mine is still conveniently MIA - being held hostage by the Underwear Gnomes I wouldn't doubt. You damn gnomes cannot have my lacey underalls!!!

Let me give you a tour of the new digs:

This is my new “kitchen” table. I got it at a used office supply place with the original intention of using it in the basement. However, once I got it home, the kitchen seemed like a perfect location. Its sturdy – I had Annie sit on it and hop around. Not a wiggle. Plus I love “putty” as a kitchen color theme, don’t you? Oh and the drawer holds 500 sheets of parchment paper! Ding Ding Ding!! Jackpot!!!

I added three really heavy duty bar stools I rescued from a thrift store. I had Tony hop around on these – still no wiggling. True, they are a little tall for the table, but are perfect for working at the sink or other counter tops.

This is my new stove. I know you were expecting something high end – maybe a Viking or something like that. Nope. Here is the best thing about this stove: It works. The stove at my old place was a no name, cheap-assed electric range. It probably worked fine when it was new – 30+ years ago! Towards the end the oven would vary up to 50 degrees and two of the stovetop elements would barely work. It’s one of the reasons why I stopped cooking at home and started eating out so much. It was depressing to get things prepped only to have them burst into flames halfway through baking time.

These are my cupboards. I think the term you are looking for is “retro” – not damn old. They may be a bit dated but I love them. They remind me of the cupboards in my mother’s kitchen – even down to the handles. Yeah they may be old, but to get the same quality of wood and construction in new cabinets, I would have to spend a small fortune. No MDFB here baby!

And this is my fridge. Once again – nothing fancy, but it works!! It doesn’t leak water all over the inside, the stuff in the freezer stays frozen and it doesn’t wheeze like an old steam engine every time the compressor comes on.

And last but not least - I now have a kitchen mascot! His name is Jim Swine. Loving crafted by my daughter, he holds a place of honor on top of our fridge.

You will get to see more of this facility as I get back into cooking. I am more interested in function than fashion – so don’t expect me to worry about how pretty something is as long as it works.

Next Time: The 2009 Cookie Confab!

more news from the homefront...

2009-11-30T10:39:00.001-05:00

While I am soooooooooo happy to be in my new home, I had forgotten what a royal pain it is to pack everything you own into boxes and bags, have strangers thrust it into the back fo their truck, then have to spend time unwrapping every item and trying to decide why you brought it with you in the first place...

The bad news is that I haven't found my camera yet, so no pictures of my glorious new kitchen for you guys yet. I am in the process of convining my daughter to let me borrow hers long term. So far she is pointing to Christmas sales fliers and telling me what good deals are to be had. I then point out the house and tell her that i already got my good deal, so cough it up!

Ah Tony Bourdain - too bad I didn't know you were coming to town or I would have gotten you drunk and taken you..about the town for a tour! Yeah that's it! I would have shown you our giant ears of concrete corn, poker with a bunch of rednecks, and Hound Dog's at 4 am. It would have been magical, Tony and you missed it...

A couple folks mentioned having heard my dulcet tones asking about the secret Chinese menu and ratting out my daughter for the coward she is. I even heard one lone voice ring out with "Rosie!" from the balcony. That you for remembering your humble blogger...

Other exciting news: Thanksgiving went well. I am still getting the hang of cooking with appliances that actually work the way they are supposed to, but all told I was pleased. I made my Leftover Turkey Soup last night thus signalling the end of Thanksgiving.

I am trying to organize the 2009 Cookie Confab and I'll let you know more about that later.

So I am off to unpack a few more boxes of stuff and to look for the missing camera.

Where I have been...

2009-11-21T07:09:00.002-05:00

We bought a house!! With a real kitchen...that has a real fridge...and a real GAS stove...and room for all my cooking equipment that has been in storage for years. I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid to jinx the process - I try to be a rational human being most of the time but occasionally the superstitious part of me rears its head.

We purchased our house through The Columbus Housing Partnership and Homeport, two non-profit organizations that help first time home buyers find affordable housing. I hope to be detailing our experiences with the process for you. Who knows? Maybe it will help someone else find a home they can own too...

We just got internet back this week so I hope to be posting a bit more regularly now that the holidays are upon us.

So now its off to work and then to see Tony Bourdain speak tonight. Yeah me!

100 Days of holiday cookies

2009-10-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

I've been hiding...

2009-10-23T09:37:00.002-04:00

I am sorry about not posting lately. It's because I have a secret. I can't tell yet...but soon, very soon.

Since it is coming time for the 2009 Cookie Confab, I thought I would add a cookie widjet from Better Homes and Gardens to keep you amused.

Next week I can tell you more...I promise!!

Say it ain't so!!

2009-10-20T10:16:00.003-04:00

Smackie's restaurant is no more...

I received this in response to an email I sent earlier this week.

Hey Rosie.
We had to close Smackies, but the same recipes are being served on the corner of James and Broad in a trailer. Open thurs-sun. But don't mistake it for the new BBQ joint called smoke shack BBQ going into the old Sammies bagels right next to us, that is not it.

thanks for the support.

James Anderson

So now yah know. I will have to be making a trip for my que now...

A reminder! - a free stuff!!!

2009-10-06T09:45:00.003-04:00

Forking Fantastic hits the bookstores today!!! Yeah Zora!! Yeah Tamra!! You guys need to pick up a copy asap so you can get started on all your parties...

In case you didn't hear about it - the FTC is now saying all bloggers have to tell you when they get swag for doing reviews. Well, not only did I get some swag for reviewing this book- you can too!!!

Starting today, the person who sends me the best "party tip" will be in line to receive his/her very own copy of Forking Fantastic. You have until Sunday night (that is October 11th). So get crackin' by crackie!

To start you off - here is one of my rules: If a off duty stripper shows up and starts flashing everyone, snap pictures before you toss her out!

Could it be true??!!!!

2009-09-30T14:48:00.000-04:00

Nancy's could be making a come back...

A new tome for the archives: Forking Fantastic by Zora O'Neill and Tamara Reynolds

2009-09-24T01:45:00.002-04:00

It's not often that I will tell you I have laughed out loud while reading a cookbook. Occasionally a chuckle, or a snort of derision, but rarely because it is over-the-top had to read it out loud to the hubby "oh my gawd - this is awesome you gotta hear this" funny. I can't say that anymore. Enter into my life Forking Fantastic. (Yes, I snuck a preview copy in when you weren't looking!)

Forking Fantastic is a book about hosting dinner parties. We are not talking about those old fashioned granny parties with the good china, better posture, fancy duds and Miss Manners glaring over your shoulder. This book is about inviting people into your life, cooking for them, getting drunk with them and having a great time while doing it all . The best part is that the authors of Forking Fantastic, Zora O'Niell and Tamara Reynolds are experts at doing just that.

I could go into extended detail about their food pedigree - how they meet while working at Prune and had an intense bonding moment over dinner one night -how they started cooking together, how they invited friends over to eat and eventually became the organizers of a Sunday Night Cooking Club dedicated to food, wine, laughter and song. It sounds pretty damn awesome doesn't it? The good news is - Zora and Tamara (can I be on a first name basis here ladies?) actually tell you all about the history of their love of food, how the party got started and how they keep it going - and they are much better at telling their story than I could ever be.

So the writing - My bout of hysterics were brought about by two factors.

First: this book is brilliantly written. Engaging, witty, naughty, down-to-earth, sassy...ummmm where is that thesaurus? A couple lines that tickeled me.

On vegetarians: "Our vision of vegetarianism, at least, includes a bacon exemption..."

In the intro to Spanish tortilla with saffron: "... Zora learned the technique from a Spaniard, as payback for teaching him the invaluable idiom booty call." (Zora, sweetie, we need to hear more about that! Where should I bring the wine?)

The second reason: These ladies are on the ball. Long time readers will know that once to twice a month I cook for anywhere from 10-20 people and speaking from experience, I can tell these women know how to rock large scale cooking in the home kitchen.

And they don't just talk recipes - they hit on logistics, organization, prep work, where and how to wrangle supplies so you don't break the budget - oh, and how to get people to "feed the kitty" AND bring a bottle of wine to boot. They are willing to tell you why something worked - and why some things things don't or can't or simple won't. The first part of this book is there so you don't have to make their mistakes - and you get to laugh with (yes, with...be nice...) them while they tell you about their misadventures.

Now on to the recipes...

I will confess I have not had the opportunity to test any recipes yet. (The better part of my kitchen is in boxes - you all will find out why in about a month...) I want to - oh boy, how I want to. Zora and Tamara ease you into the game with a few iron clad winners like roast chicken and pot roast. They include side dishes that work with the main course - not just because of the flavors, but logistically as well. At the beginning of each menu there is a action plan that gives you marching orders on how to execute your feast so that you don't rend your garments and lament openly on your front lawn because you were the victim of your own poor planning. After you try a few of their fool proofed menus - there is even more...

Feeling spunky? How about fried chicken for 30 people? Or a whole spit-roasted lamb? No kidding folks - there are even instructions on how to truss up the lamb to the spit so it doesn't descend into the flames of the fire pit you built (once again - instructions included).

When I finally get my kitchen back I am going for the "Fall Means Ham" menu. (A whole on the bone ham is one of the great party foods - there is something primal about bringing out a hunk of roast beast and putting it on the table with a nice big knife...then getting everyone likkered up.) In addition to the ham with a bourbon-brown sugar glaze, the menu includes sides such as potato and turnip casserole, roasted fennel with black olives, bitter green salad and apple spice cake for dessert. Seasonal, affordable and tasty.

Forking Fantastic hasn't been unleashed upon the unsuspecting yet. It will take the world by storm on October 6th, but you can pre-order it on Amazon or from you friendly local book purveyor. It's only $20!! It is cheap at twice the price!! What are you waiting for?!!

In the meantime to get your appetites whetted while you are waiting for your copy to arrive, you can check out the porn on Tamara's blog or watch the YouTube video of them cooking some fantastic looking mole. Oh...and they are going to have a website that will go live on October 6th - so make sure you head over and check it out...

BBQ - St. Louis and Kasas City

2009-09-08T10:05:00.014-04:00

I am going to preface this part of my blog by saying that bbq is a deeply personal subject for most people. I imagine that there have been Hatfield/McCoy type feuds about whose ‘que is the best and while I am a woman of strong opinions, I would prefer not to meet any pissed off ‘que fan with a shotgun in an alley anytime soon…

Here in town, I’ve eaten ‘que at the two big chains –Hoggy’s and City BBQ. City BBQ and Hoggy’s ain’t that bad…but they ain’t that great either. They are acceptable bbq. If it was all I could get, I would be fine with that. However, I know that there is extraordinary ‘que to be had. I would rather wait for great than settle for O.K.

(My current in-town favorite is Smackie’s. You’ve heard me sing their praises before, so I won’t belt out that tune here.)

In St. Louis, there is a chain called Bandana’s. It is the equivalent of Hoggy’s - acceptable, but not the greatest. Every time I’ve been to St. Louis, this is the only place anyone could tell me had good bbq. However, this time I got to venture out into the surrounding area and went to Roper’s Ribs. Tate, who you know through last year’s adventure at Comic-con, did some research and wanted to visit Roper’s.

Smokin' in the front...

And in the back...

Roper’s is a tiny place north of St. Louis proper. There are three 4-tops, and an order window. This was obviously a place designed for carry out. On the walls, there are autographed pictures of celebrities proclaiming their undying love for Roper’s Ribs and a picture menu featuring all the items you can order.

Check out that menu. It was torture while we were waiting...

I wish I lived closer to St. Louis, because there is no way you can eat everything on Roper’s menu in one visit. They have an amazing array of goodie – including deep fried shrimp, snouts, ribs, rib tips, and brisket to name a few. Tate and I stared open mouthed for a few minutes while the two guys in front of us ordered. We finally settled on a rack of St. Louis style ribs, a brisket sandwich and rib tips.

Back at the hotel, we popped open the containers and started in. I love ribs. The St. Louis cut is my preferred style and these were truly excellent. They were cooked until done, but not overdone and soft. The sauce was a nice balance of tomato, sweet, sour and spicy. The tips were the same way – If you like to gnaw around the cartilage on a big slab of ribs, then rib tips are for you.

Tips.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Tate ate the brisket. He said the flavor was good, but he disliked the way it was thin sliced – almost like a deli meat. We are used to chunks of brisket like we eat at Smackie’s, so we decided we were not qualified to rule on the brisket.

Our next stop was Kansas City – both states – MO and KS.

On our last trip to KC, we went to Rosedale’s. This year we went to two of the big players in town: Oklahoma Joe’s and Gates.

BBQ and Gas!!

Oklahoma Joe’s first. This ‘que joint was on Anthony Bourdain’s “13 places to eat before you die” list for Men’s Health magazine. This is why Tate was absolutely adamant that we go. This restaurant is really in a gas station. (I am beginning to think that being in a gas station may be one of the hallmarks of a good “joint”. Thank you, Diner, Drive-ins and Dives!)

I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and coleslaw on the side. Tate ordered a combo plate that had ribs and brisket.

The pulled pork was good. Moist and perfectly done, lightly sauced with their house sauce. (I was not offered a choice of sauces at the counter.) I added a little more of their “Night of the Living Sauce”. Most folks would find “the Living Sauce” fairly high on the heat scale, but for our group it was just warm.

This is as happy as Tate ever looks...

and it took eating some very nice red beans and rice to do it...

Tate traded me a bone for a bite of my sandwich. The meat on my rib was too soft and over done. I have teeth and like to get a little resistance when I pull the meat off the bone. This fell off with the first bite and got sauce all over my top – naughty naughty. Tate’s ribs came in two parts: the larger ribs and a smaller end. The large part was overdone, but the smaller end was perfect and tasted fantastic. That’s not a good sign to me… I like consistency in my ribs…

So would I put this on my list of places to eat before you die? Probably not - there was no life changing revelation about ‘que that would put this restaurant onto my list. I did, however, have that moment when I went to Allen and Sons and had Carolina pulled pork for the first time. It seems to me that KC ‘que is all about the sauce. Carolina ‘que was more about the pig – the sauce enhances the sweetness of the pork and the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Oklahoma Joe’s was some inconsistent meat with a pretty decent sauce on top.

Last on the list was Gates and Sons BBQ. Along with Arthur Bryant’s, this ‘que joint is a KC institution. I understand that most folks in KC fall into one of the two camps. Gates and Sons has the traditional tomato based sauce, with a balance of sweet, spicy and sour. Arthur Bryant’s (according to our friends who live in KC) is a little more vinegary.

Even if Gates is not your cup of ‘que, you have to go for the experience. The order taker belts out “Can I take your order?” and then relays your request back to the kitchen staff all at the same 100 decibels. This place is not for the timid. Jason and Bryan, our friends from KC, were all excited to see how high we would jump upon entering. Fortunately for us, we are not easily frightened. Otherwise we would never have heard the end of it.

Half and half sandwich

I once again got a pulled pork sandwich (see a trend?). I had wanted some burnt ends, but we had spent too long in the US Toys Magic Shop, which is right next door. The rule is – get there early for the burnt ends, ‘cuz when they are gone, they are gone. (Damn you magic people and your penchant for prolonged discussions about sponge bunnies!) Tony got a half and half sandwich consisting of ham and brisket and Tate decided to go whole hog (so to speak) and order the Four Bone combo which had ham, four ribs, brisket and two sides for $20.

Four bone platter

Gates and Sons cuts your meat to order, so when the order taker screams back what you want, they fish out the appropriate chuck of protein and cut away. My pulled pork was done correctly, moist and not too soft. It was not sauced before serving. I added their spicy sauce at the table.
Tony’s sandwich was really awesome. It was served on plain white poofy bread, but I am not going to hold that against it. Barbequed ham is really tasty and when piled up with the brisket – mmmmmmm. I am going to have to try replicating the ham at home soon.

Pulled Pork with French Fries.

The fries were really strange - like mashed potatoes in a crispy crust.

Not bad, but strange.

Tate traded me a bone for some of the pulled pork. The meat has some tooth to it without being tough. Tate was not too thrilled with the ribs because there were some small slivers of bone along the top edge of ribs. He did like the ham, but once again refused to rate the brisket because of the way it was sliced.

I had heard from other folks in town that we talked to that they did not like the meat at Gates because it was too tough, but loved the sauce. The sauce was a nice middle of the road tomato based sauce. The spicy sauce was decent, but not quite as good as the sauce from Oklahoma Joe’s.

If I had to, I would eat at Gates again. It was pretty good and the experience made it all the more fun.

So who was better Gates or Oklahoma Joe’s? Wow that is hard question…

If I had to go by sauce, it would be Joe’s. If I had to go by meat, I would pick Gates (mostly because the product was consistent, if the ribs had been perfect, it would have been Joe's hands down).

The next question is – if I had a craving for KC style ‘que where would I drive to for satisfaction?

I would say the winner would be Roper’s Ribs in St. Louis. Sorry KC!

Side note: For me, the perfect side dish for barbeque is cole slaw. And I am super picky about it too. Slaw should be cool and creamy, not watery, with a nice balance of salt, sweet and vinegar over top of crisp cabbage. I ate cole slaw at all three places mentioned above but my favorite was at Oklahoma Joe’s. The dressing was dead on and was not too gloppy. The cabbage was shredded rather large and held a nice crunch. The slaw at Roper’s was good, but not outstanding. Gates was good as far as dressing and consistency, but had green pepper in it – which I did not like. The green pepper flavor dominated the cabbage.

Roper's Ribs

6929 W Florissant Ave
St Louis, MO 63136

Oklahoma Joe's Barbeque

3002 W 47th Ave
Kansas City, KS 66103

Gates and Sons

W 103rd St & State Line Rd
Shawnee Mission, KS 66206

A Tale of Two Chickens: The Second Bird

2009-09-08T09:19:00.008-04:00

Those of you who remember my last trip the KC might remember a mention of Bobbers. It's been two years and Eric, who was our traveling companion on that trip, still talks about the lunch buffet. When we told him we were heading to KC again, he said, “You can stop twice then! Once on the way there and once on the way back!”

Well, we only got there once this time, heading back after the massive BBQ-and-fried-chicken-fest that was KC.

Bobber Cafe is a local gathering place - the counter of the coffee shop is held down by a bunch of old farmers who meet there to eat a perfectly executed breakfast and drink pot after pot of coffee while they chew the fat. The parking lot fairly full when we got there.

Alas, we arrived too early – the lunch buffet did not start until 11 am and it was only 10 am. Tony and I wanted to wait. Tate, who had never been there, not so much. I think by that point Tate was contemplating where along I-70 he could hide two large bodies. So we cajoled Tate into waiting by plying him with beverages and amusing stories.

Pam - thank you for everything!

Our waitress, Pam, was intrigued by the fact that we had made Bobbers part of our vacation plans and told the cook in the back about the crazy people from Columbus, Ohio waiting an hour for her food. We could see people peeking out at us from the kitchen.

Thirty minutes later – the cook was putting out the buffet. The regulars thought she had gone offer her rocker – the buffet was never put out early! (I am sorry I do not remember the cook's name - if anyone knows what her name is please let me know so I can record it here!!)

Turns out – Thursday was fried chicken day. And the buffet gets busy on fried chicken day so I guess it was good we got their early.

yummmmmmmmmmm - fried chicken

The lunch dishes consisted of liver and onions, spaghetti and meat sauce with meatballs (Double your meat, double your pleasure!), fried chicken, and chicken and stuffing. There was also two types of homemade gravy (beef and white), really awesome mashed potatoes, corn, peach cobbler, homemade rolls, a salad bar and chicken noodle soup. And the cost for this amazing display of culinary prowess? Wait for it...wait for it.... $8.95!!! Even if you just went and got one plate, soup and salad, you would still have a deal!

Looks like hell - tastes like heaven. Real liver and onions...

Two gravies - the brown one is a beef based gravy.
The white is a country style milk gravy with lots of black pepper.
Both were excellent over the homemade mashed
potatoes lurking in the upper right corner.

Tony and I made the appropriate happy food noises. Tate seemed pleased – I mean he did go back for seconds. I loved the liver and onions – with the perfect mashed potatoes - oh boy! Was that awesome!

Now to the fried chicken – Can a platter of fried chicken from a $8.95 buffet go toe to toe with Straud's lauded by the likes Zagat and the James Beard foundation? Ummmmmmmm yes. The chicken at Bobbers was just as moist and succulent as the Stroud's chicken. The pieces were smaller, and the Bobbers chicken was not pan fried, but breaded and deep fried.

But still, I cannot say that those differences really diminished my enjoyment in any way. Really good food is really good food – no matter how much you pay for it...

Perfectly executed eats is a pleasure, no matter where you eat it and how much you paid to obtain it, but I have to point out its the staff that really can make or break a restaurant. The waitresses at both Stroud's and Bobbers were diligent, personable and excelled at their professions. The kitchen staff members were perfect in their execution of all the dishes we tried. That means they invested time and effort into learning their craft and they should be praised for the hard work and dedication they put into feeding strangers like me - and probably never hear a "Thank You" or a "Well Done" from those patrons. So if you are happy with the food and the service - please tell the manager. A job well done deserves notice.

So no matter which chicken you like best - Both Stroud's and Bobbers should be on your list of places to eat in Missouri. I know both are at the top of our list next time we drive to KC .

Bobber Cafe
16975 B Highway (Exit 103 off of I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City)
Boonville, MO 65233

Too Many Cooks: Blogger Night

2009-09-07T19:48:00.011-04:00

I just wanted to thank everyone who came out to hear myself and the other bloggers talk about our passions last night. I had a great time meeting everyone and hope to meet up with you again sometime in the near future.

It was nice meeting Nick, Bethia and Zach who I had not had the pleasure of meeting before and I hope we can meet again soon...it's not like we don't have a lot in common...

As a tease for all those who did not come last night (shame on ya!!), here are some pictures...

Two bloggers blogging...

Marmite Danties from HungryWoolf - I liked them alot.
The hubby said that he would "hide my body
where the hunters won't find it" if I made him try some...

Nick made what I know as "Toad in the Hole" -
Lord help me but I can't remember what he called them.
(It's my advanced age...sorry Nick!!)

Dave and his wonderful foccacia.
It was perfect, Dave, so stop worrying!

Pastellios from Becke - man these were good!
She also made this fantastic roast pork that I would die for...

CMH Gourmand made two types of chili - one with venison and one with kittens - I mean vegetarian. And Zach provided some awesome homemade pork and beans...emphasis on the pork. Sorry, there are no pictures - I blame the camera for how crappy they came out...

Me- I made my killer banana bread royale and gooey peanut bars... That's me - all about the sweets...

A Tale of Two Chickens

2009-09-04T10:33:00.010-04:00

Tony in food heaven!

After my review of Annie Gunn’s, I bet all of you are thinking that I am cheap bitch who isn’t willing to pay for good food. That is not true. In the slightest. I’ve shelled out plenty of clams for a great dinner – and am willing to do so again – provided the food is worth the price being asked.

My first example is going to be Stroud’s from Kansas City.

I had never heard of Stroud’s. None of my friends in KC had been there. I really hadn’t done much research before our trip, so when we pulled into KC Sunday night, we were hard pressed to find someplace we really wanted to eat. After surfing Chow.com and Roadfood.com at the hotel, we stumbled upon Stroud’s.

I asked myself – how could I not have known about this place? It has a Zagat excellent rating PLUS a James Beard award. Then we looked up the website. Sticker shock set in. $16.00 for a chicken dinner? After our lunch at Annie Gunn’s, we were a little wary of $16.00 entrees.

But as we were hungry AND the internet (the fount of all knowledge) said this place was good, we opted to take the plunge.

We were so glad we did.

Stroud's prides themselves on their pan fried chicken. Pan fried – not deep fried. The chicken is barely coated with seasoned flour then fried in a cast iron skillet. That takes time. That takes skill.

Every chicken dinner comes family style. That means you get an overflowing bowl to be shared by everyone at the table. The side dishes for the chicken dinner consist of your choice of potatoes, green beans, chicken noodle soup or side salad and cinnamon rolls. Being classically minded people, we opted for mashed potatoes – with homemade gravy.

The noodle soup was great – and so was the homemade poppy seed dressing on the salad, which was served on your basic iceberg lettuce house salad.

So while we are waiting on our drinks, we are watching people go out the door – and there are a lot of boxes and bags in their hands. We assume the folks with the bags were getting huge to-go orders, 'cuz fried chicken traditionally transports pretty well. The boxes – we had no idea. Maybe they were taking out the garbage?

Since it takes time to put out pan fried chicken, we asked for a ½ order of chicken livers. We figured it would be 6 or 8 livers on a plate. This is what we got.

We stared at it a moment. “This must be a mistake – I am sure they brought us a double order.” Tony said. At that moment the manager walked by and said, “No, its a half. Did you want a full order? I can get that for you.” “No no! This is fine!”

Best freakin' chicken livers ever in a restaurant. Perfectly done and served with a side of gravy.

Before we had finished our livers, out came the chicken and side dishes. Holy cow – it was a lot. I grabbed a chicken breast to see how dry it was. Not at all. Moist, Juicy...(I am now salivating all over my keyboard.)

G.B.D!!!

The mashed potatoes were creamy and rich – and the gravy...

I would go and get just the gravy and eat it with a spoon. Rich, flavorful... If you have ever had really good gravy, you know the what I am talking about.

Ladies - is you husband not as "attentive" as he used to be?
Just apply this gravy generously to the neglected area...

The green beans whisked me back to childhood – soft with pieces of ham in them. No healthy fresh veggies for us!

So we ate and we ate and made obscene sounds while doing it – because this was food sex.

Then we got the cinnamon rolls for dessert. These are not what most folks think of as cinnamon rolls. Think more along the lines of monkey bread – yeast dough rolled in butter, than coated in a thick crust of cinnamon sugar. They beg for coffee or milk...

Now I will tell you - we put a serious hurtin' on our food and still couldn't finish it. So without asking, Michelle, our server, brings over a big stack of styrofoam containers for the leftovers. AHHHH – now the light goes on. All those bags leaving with the other patrons...

I haven't mentioned this before – but Tate had opted to stay back at the hotel and watch “The sexy vampire show” on HBO, so we had ordered his dinner for carry out.

We had been going to play a trick on Tate. We are evil like that and Tate would not hesitate to do the same to us if he had the chance. (He is evil too – it's why we get along so well.) The plan was, before pulling into Stroud's, we would stop at Steak n Shake and order something, then put his dinner in the Steak n' Shake bag. We would says that the chicken place was closed and here is your dinner. He would be pissed until he opened the bag -awesome! Nothing like pissing off the guy you have to spend lots of time with for the next three days. We are brilliant!

Tate's order came out in a box. Second mystery solved. Evil plan squashed.

Screw Doggie Bags!

So we waddled out to the car with our bag AND a box of food, drove back and laid like beached whales on our bed while Tate gobbled down his dinner. He made the appropriate orgiastic noises appropriate when one is eating really good food sitting on a hotel bed and saying, “These guys must be sadists! There is so much and I can't stop eating!”

And by the way, leftovers do keep and microwave very acceptably – we got two more lunches out of them. Screw eating fast food in our room...

We went back on Wednesday before we left and had lunch – Tony was weeping for chicken livers with potatoes and gravy. I had some of the best pot roast I have ever had and Tate ordered the chicken fried steak. All excellent.

And yes - there were leftovers. I packed them into the cooler
and ate them for a late dinner when I got home. Damn....

A note about something other than the food: The staff was fantastic. Both servers and the managers were friendly, they put with our constant demands for attention and even took our picture posing with boxes of food. Bless you Stroud's staff members!

Melissa was fantastic! And so patient!!

I am only sorry it is a 10 hour drive to KC, since I would be stopping in at least once a month for some of their top notch food.

They're here.... they're live...they're on the inside....

2009-09-03T10:14:00.000-04:00

So you wanna see what REAL LIVE BLOGGERS look like?

Wild Goose Collective will be displaying us...I mean... having myself and other Columbus bloggers talk about our love of food this Sunday at 7 p.m.

Other bloggers include Jim Ellison from CMH Gourmand, Nick Dekker from Breakfast With Nick, Dave Scarpetti from weber_cam and Dave’s Beer, Bethia Woolf of Hungrywoolf’s Food Blog, and Becke Boyer from Columbus Foodie.

Each one of us is going to cook something tasty for you to eat...so wear loose pants....

When: Sunday, September 6th, 7 PM

Where: 2491 Summit Street, Columbus, OH 43202

It's $5 at the door - looking forward to meeting everyone!

R.I.P. Shelia Lukins

2009-09-03T08:55:00.001-04:00

The Silver Palate Cookbook has sold over 2.5 million copies. That's a lot of chicken liver pate, boys and girls.

When I first started getting into cooking in the mid-80's, the Silver Palate Cookbook was one hot commodity. The couple who I worked for at the time complained that "if I eat one more recipe from that book at a dinner party..." But they had it on their shelf too and used the recipes in their catering work. It was what people wanted.

So thanks Shelia for goosing us in the behind and getting us to try a whole new world of party food...

St. Louis Eats: Annie Gunn's

2009-08-31T12:42:00.001-04:00

Tony and I go to St. Louis almost every year. We’ve had good and bad food experiences over the years. So when a local friend asked us to go out to lunch with him before we left town for KC, we were happy to oblige. I mean we do like to eat after all…

Then there comes the moment when you sit down and start looking over the menu, you question your judgment. “Holy cow! Should I take out a loan on the house to cover the bill?”

Annie Gunn’s is a restaurant owned by Thom Sehnert , who prides himself on presenting food with a pedigree: the pork is from locally sourced heirloom breeds, the beef is grass feed, the heirloom tomatoes for the salads are grown by local farmers. Their wine and beer list is so large that it reminds me of a study guide from one of my college courses. (The download on their site is 7 MEGS for the wine and beer list.)

The prices are those that you would expect from items with such a pedigree: $6 for a half portion of heirloom tomato salad, $5 for a 4oz. hamburger, $14 for corned beef hash – That was off of the lunch menu. The dinner menu made my pulse race.

Let me say that the bread was very good. It reminded me of my own homemade hard rolls. It came with pats of Irish butter which was the perfect accompaniment to such good bread.

Tony ordered the cream of potato soup. It was great soup – I loved the little croutons of the same bread crumbled up into it so you got the soft creaminess and the little crunch.

I ordered the heirloom tomato salad. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a half portion for $6, but I had sticker shock at $12 for a whole salad. It was good. Fresh tomatoes, basil and onions topped with goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette. The portion, however, was fairly small for $6.00. The salad was only two slices of tomato about 4-5” across and about 1/2” thick. If that was half portion, I would have been shocked at getting four slices of tomato for $12. (When I got home, I made the same salad for myself with items from my garden and goat cheese from Trader Joe’s and it still tasted awesome. I just paid a hell of a lot less.)

For the entrées, the unfortunate fact is – the execution did not live up to the prices paid.

I had asked for my burger to be cooked rare. I like raw meat. It makes me happy to see pink when I bite into my burger. The burger I received was barely pink. It was still juicy however, but it still was not what I asked for.

Tony ordered the corned beef hash topped with locally sourced free-range eggs. The hash itself was fine. It really needed to have a bit of a crust on it. A crust would have made a nice contrast to the soft interior. (I was a little put off by the sweetness of the corned beef – I am assuming they cure their own. Tony did not really have a problem with it.) The biggest problem was with the eggs. He had ordered his egg sunny side up. It is his favorite way to eat really good farm fresh eggs. However when he got his eggs they were almost hard cooked, with only a little tiny bit of the yolk left runny. Tony was very sad. Also, the hash was supposed to have a buttermilk biscuit with it. Our server told us they were out, but about 15 minutes later we saw biscuits leaving the kitchen with other orders and our server did not offer to get any of the new ones for him. Not good!

Before you ask – no, we did not ask the dishes to be redone. We did not want to embarrass our host, nor did we have time to wait while our food was properly executed.

So while to food was acceptable, I would have a hard time going back to Annie Gunn’s at the prices asked. For that much money, everything should be dead on the first time.

So where have I been?

2009-08-25T09:58:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year folks! You all know what I mean - vacation time!! If I haven't been out of town, I've been working crazy hours so that I can get the time off to be out of town - so as usual my blogging has suffered.

For those of you who haven't gleaned this info from my writings - my hubby is into magic. Not wiccan magic, but the "Is this your card?" type of magic. His work - and yes, he is a pro - makes it possible for us to travel and eat all over this fine country of ours.

Tim Felix - owner of Midwest Magic

and legend in the making.

This is his sexy "mysterious" pose.

Max Maven eat your heart out.

Earlier this month Tony lectured in Chicago. One of my favorite places to go is Chicago...and Tim Felix of Midwest Magic plays a big part in making me feel like that... Tim knows how to make a magic wife happy while her man is busy playing with his toys - hey! Enough of that filthy stuff right there! I am talking about food here - it is a food blog!

Tim took us out to dinner before the lecture. He has been telling us about Jay's Beef for years and I finally got to visit this trip. (For those who have never heard of an Italian beef - here's a description.) Actually we got a beef and sausage with peppers - no cheese. Damn. Soooooooooooooo good. The right bread, the right meat, the peppers and giardiniera. If you are in Chicago, please stop in and try Jay's. Your tastebuds will be sooooooooo happy!

Here's the beef - now shut the hell up Clara Peller!

The rest of the evening went swimmingly. We had a nice turnout for the lecture. The Chicago magic scene is always welcoming and there is a lot of fine, fine talent in the Windy City.

We headed home the next day and about 4 hours outside of Chicago I had a serious beef craving, but Tony wouldn't turn around. Bastard.

Vintage!

One of the best things about driving places is the little gems you find hidden along some of the byways. One tiny place, in Churubusco, IN, is Magic Wand Burger. It's a family owned ice cream and burger shop off of Route 33. We had driven past it several different times, choosing to eat at our favorite pork tenderloin place instead. This time we opted to give them a try - and damned glad we did.

This was staring at me as I came out of the ladies' room.

Scared the hell outta me too...

and I am not afraid of clowns...at least I wasn't....

I will warn you - if you have coulrophobia, then this is not the place for you. The whole interior is coated in clown pictures and statues... At least there were no pictures of weeping clowns in the bathroom.

More clowns to watch you eat...

Tony ordered the Magic Burger, a double decker cheeseburger made from fresh ground meat. The restaurant has the local grocer grind it for them every morning - a benefit of living in a small town. The fries were food service, but fried correctly. I took the plunge and ordered the deep fried cheese burger. Yes -I said deep fried cheeseburger. Essentially, they took a partially cooked meat patty, put a slice of cheese on it, breaded it and then deep fried it. It was pretty good - not as good as the Magic burger, but an interesting novelty filled with molten cheese. Onion Rings were food service, but once again acceptably cooked. It might seem that I am belaboring the "cooked properly" part, but considering none of the staff was over 18, I found it kind of impressive. We also ordered the homemade apple raspberry cobbler, which was pretty darn good too. They also offer all your favorite soft serve ice cream treats as well.

The legendary Magic Burger - two layers of meaty cheesey goodness.

Deep fried cheeseburger - as if a fried meat patty wasn't enough....

Next time we go, I am going to try the pork tenderloin sandwich which they make themselves (according to our waitress).

Part of my love for this little place was the fact that they have been around forever. In my head, I can see people meeting there for dates after the high school football game, getting married, taking the kids there, then those kids meeting their dates after the football game. It has that feel - and I think that's a really nice thing to have in this age of fast food burger places.

So after all the foodie goodness, I worked seven days in a row in preparation for my next out -of -state adventure: St. Louis and Kansas City.

While Tony slaved away in the dealer's room at the Midwest Magic Jubilee, Tate (you remember him from last year!) and I ran around St. Louis, eating and visiting the St. Louis Art Museum. You didn't have me pegged for an art lover did you? Just a food lover... *sniff*

Tate and I also went to a concert at the Pageant, a concert venue down on the Loop. The headliner was Reel Big Fish, a ska punk band that has been around since the 90's. If you get a chance to see Reel Big Fish - it is worth the time and effort. This Youtube video shows the final song from their encore - See them jumping around? They did that for 90 minutes. And the mosh pit was amazing. 'nuff said.

Of course we ate in both St. Louis and KC, and I'll be posting all about those foods up coming posts...

Jay's Beef

9732 Irving Park Rd
Schiller Park, IL 60176

Magic Wand

602 S Main St
Churubusco, IN 46723

I am a lucky lucky woman....

2009-08-08T09:45:00.004-04:00

I know a lot of you have put me on the MIA lists, but really I am still here...just busy as heck...

A short list of a few things I have been doing...

Not weeding my garden... bad me...
Traveling to Chicago.... yeah me!
Working 8 days straight while a co-worker is on vacation...sad me...
Getting ready to head out to St. Louis and Kansas City, MO...happy me...
And eating at a fantastic new restaurant down the street from work called Ali Baba's ...fat and happy me...

This is just going to be a quick note about Ali Baba's.

You need to go eat there...now.

“Why?”, you ask.

“Because the owner of Ali Baba's used to own part of Pita Hut...but he sold his interest to open this restaurant.”

“And?”

“This place has all the great food from Pita Hut PLUS lots more sides, a grill for kabobs and REAL CHINA to eat it off of.”

“Damn...let me get my coat...”

I've become very spoiled in the last week... I have a total weakness for the falafel sandwiches at Pita Hut, but was able to resist simply because it was a pain to get in and out of the parking lot. Now I walk two blocks to food heaven.

And I've converted my boss and co-workers.

The only drawback is that there is no designated parking, so you will have to take your chances on one of the side streets and walk down...or come by bus..or just walk the two miles from home...doesn't matter how you get there...just get there...

Ali Baba's Mediterranean Grill is located at 1980A North High Street, right next to McDonald's. (But for the love of Pete, do not park at McDonald's...they tow...)

Julie & Julia Update

2009-07-25T07:40:00.005-04:00

Thanks to everyone who showed up to attend the movie with me and my hubby... It was great talking to you and I hope we can do it again soon.

I liked Julie & Julia - it made me laugh, it made me cry and, most importantly, it made me hungry. (I should have eaten a big dinner before I went.) Meryl Streep was fantastic as Julia - she made us so nostalgic we pulled out our French Chef dvds and watched the real Julia make potato dishes when we got home. Dead on. Ms. Streep is amazing.

I have to say though - I really wish someone would make a "good parts version" and cut out all the Julie parts. It didn't really add anything to Julia Child's story, and to be frank, Julie came off as a little unstable and bitchy.

So in a nut shell - watch it for a compelling tale of a middle age woman's obsession with French cooking and married sex, and not the muddled, mixed up life of one food blogger... 'nuf said.

I know, I know - but I have goodies!!

2009-07-20T09:24:00.005-04:00

To all the folks who keep checking this spot hoping I'll have something to say - hello.

As a reward for your diligence, I have a treat!

There will be a free screening of Julie and Julia this coming Thursday (July 23) at the Landmark Gateway. It starts at 7:30pm.

As if that weren't exciting enough - I have the passes you need to get in...

So drop me an email and we'll talk...

First come, first serve...

So to get in the mood, stop over at the movie website, enter the contests, check out the blog of the week and get ready to see real thing on Thursday!

Simple, Rich and Old-fashioned

2009-06-03T10:44:00.002-04:00

No - the title does not describe my last surviving aunt. If it did, the title would be "Simple, Rich and Dead Under Mysterious Circumstances That Points To Rose's Last Surviving Uncle". But I digress...

Pop with a patron

Saturday, I had the chance to go to the Worthington Farmer's Market - something rare these days. I was kinda disappointed - most produce was priced pretty high (being the cheapskate I am, I can't bring myself to buy hot house tomatoes or hydroponic lettuce) and there were way too many people offering baked goods. As I made my way around the market, I stopped in and visited a few old friends. The folks over a Meade Farms had tons of heirloom tomato plants for sale, so I bought a couple from them. The other booth I always make a bee-line for is Pop and Judy's. They do a wonderful job of growing the stuff I am willing to spend my hard earned cash on. This time it was an old favorite of mine, rhubarb. My parents had rhubarb in their extensive garden, and it had been years since I had been able to grab some fresh picked. The secret to really great rhubarb is to get small stems, before they get large and spongy or stringy. Pop and Judy's was just perfect and the price was right too - $2.50 for a pound bundle.

Since I had rhubarb, I needed some strawberries. The sad part is - strawberries are in season, but only one person had them at the market. The cost? $5/ quart!!!! No way! and they weren't even ripe! So, I headed over to Meijer and picked up a two pound pack. Not as good as home picked, but damn it! I gotta get my fix!

The best thing about strawberries and rhubarb is that you can do a minimalist approach to it and they still taste fantastic...

Rhubarb Compote or Stewed Rhubarb

1 pound of rhubarb, cleaned and cut up into 1inch pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sour you like it. I went with 1/4 cup!)
2 t of lemon zest

To clean rhubarb: First - never ever ever use the leafy part of rhubarb!!! It is poisonous!!! Cut off the leafy end of the stems and trim the bottom end. Wash to remove any dirt. The next step is optional. It all depends on big the stems are. Larger stems will have string in them (kinda like celery) and you have to peel them off to keep the compote from being tough and stringy. It's easy though. You just take a paring knife and grab the skin at one end. Pull and the strings will come right out along the whole length of the stalk.

Cut up the rhubarb, toss with the sugar and lemon zest. It then sat at room temperature for about an hour. This brings out the natural juices and keeps the flavors from being diluted. When you have about 1/4-1/2 cup of syrup in the bottom of the pan, simmer on medium heat for 7-10 minutes, until soft and cooked through. Cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.

That's it!

Strawberries are even easier.

Strawberries for shortcake

Clean and cut up the strawberries into slices. Toss with about 1/4 -1/2 cup of sugar depending on amount of strawberries. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour to bring out the juices then refrigerate.

Almost done!

I wanted something that would be serve as a base for stewed rhubarb and strawberries.

Then I though back to a dessert I had forgotten about - pound cake. I used to make pound cakes quite often about twenty years ago. My mother was very fond of them - chocolate pound cakes, lemon pound cakes, sour cream pound cakes, you name it - if it had a pound of butter in it, my mom loved it. I have tons of recipes from all over, but I just wanted a plain, simply cake that would set off the fruit.

I dug around in my cookbooks and settled on the Marion Cunningham version of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I picked it up for $1.00 at Half Price books a while back and it has been a fantastic resource. My hubby has a not so secret crush on Marion ever since he saw her on Baking with Julia a couple years back. Knowing that I use her recipes probably adds to his enjoyment in some perverse way...

With a cake this simple, it is really important that you use only the freshest ingredients. I actually went as far as to purchase a pound of Plugra ($2.28/pound wholesale) for the pound cake - in something this basic you can taste the difference. Plus, you never want to use a butter that has any off flavors - yummmm onion flavored pound cake!

Also, a low gluten flour is important here. If you have some White Lily or other low gluten AP around, you could try it instead...

The hubby started picking at the cake as soon as it came out of the oven - bad Tony!

POUND CAKE

1 9 x 5-INCH LOAF

½ pound butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 ²/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla, or ½ teaspoon mace

5 eggs

2 cups cake flour

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9 X 5-inch loaf pan. Cream the butter, slowly add the sugar, and beat until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each in well. Stir in the flour, salt, and vanilla or mace, and combine well. Spoon into the pan and bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Serve very thin slices.

Oh yeah baby - look at that fine moist crumb. You know you want it!

Strawberry and Rhubarb Longcake

I can't really call it strawberry and rhubarb shortcake - 'cuz there ain't nothing "short" about it. It's long on flavor, long on looks and long on calories...

If you really want to gild the lily you can top everything off with whipped cream. Bar none - this is my favorite spring dessert!

Breakfast At Nancy's

2009-05-31T07:34:00.002-04:00

Well tomorrow may be the last day for Nancy's Home Cooking. Fans everywhere have been furiously raising money in an attempt to help Cindy King and her family save this beloved Clintonville Landmark. I've thrown my share into the pot - and I am betting if you know about the place you have too.

For my readers who don't know about Nancy's Home Cooking, here is what you need to know - Cindy King runs the best "greasy spoon" in the city. I love little places like this. I love the fact the food is honest - fried eggs, potatoes, meatloaf, chicken and noodles over potatoes (!!) and an endless cup of coffee. I love sitting at the counters and talking to the other patrons (even if they wish I wouldn't), and I love that Cindy and her family have made it a welcoming home away from home for so many people over the years.

I started going to Nancy's when Tony and I were dating. Twenty years of garbage omelets under my belt and twenty five for him. We have taken all kinds of people there - I once dragged a severely jet lagged friend from France there for a pot of coffee and a heaping plate of fried eggs and home fries as soon as he stepped off the plane. I've taken my mom. We've taken starving college students, business people and comic artists and they all love it. It is something that is complete in itself - more than the food, more than the location, more than the people.

So a couple weeks ago, Tony, Eric, Tate and I got up at the buttcrack of dawn and went down for breakfast. Garbage omelet, home fries, fried eggs, toast and sausage gravy all around. A word about the sausage gravy - YUM. Makes everyone else's - including mine - taste like wallpaper paste.

I also annoyed people with my camera just so I could take some good-bye photos for my collection. I would have stolen a menu if there were any...

Garbage Omelet, home fries and sausage gravy
- all topped off with OJ so Tate felt he was eating something "healthy".

I have a theory about how the space where Nancy's currently resides used to be a walkway or
alley between the buildings on either side. Someone just put a roof on it
and said "Rent it out!" I present my main exhibit for the court's consideration.

Ed at the grill. Bonus points (and a breakfast) to the first person
who can tell me what he has tatooed on his right calf.

From left to right: Eric and Tate. I think Eric had like 3 hours sleep and
Tate hadn't been to bed yet. Perfect time for food overload, then going back to bed.

The obligatory menu shot

Tony on his 3rd cup o' joe. Yes we were hogging the only table,
but we got there damn early to do it!

15 minutes after opening

An hour after opening. I didn't stay to see the line snake outside.

I have doubts about whether this last ditch effort will truly save Nancy's - it may save the business, but folks, it will change. Its the nature of the beast. Cindy is ready to retire - she's been at it a long time and deserves to rest a little bit. I've heard the city is requiring the building be brought up to code - and that takes money and the business would most likely have to close for a while to accomplish that. So let's say the King family decides to sell the place - I sure as hell would not buy it. I would not want to be known as the person who "killed Nancy's". As soon as you raised the prices, or made changes to the menu or do what you thought would be best for the business as a business and not as an Columbus institution, you would have detractors, people whispering behind your back "She's killing this place - its not like it used to be." or "The fry cook working doesn't make xxx like Ed." or a million other numerous thing that each and every patron has come to love about the restaurant. Nope - it is a thankless task that I would not want.

I hope the place makes it for a while longer - long enough for my daughter to learn the joys of eating there on Saturday morning with a hangover on her last fiver. Not that I would know anything about that...

Frugal Food: Buying foodstuffs

2009-05-13T10:41:00.007-04:00

The Economics of Food

Ever since I read Becke's entry about eating out cheap, I've been thinking about how to eat cheaply at home. Unlike searching out coupons or dining specials, eating cheaply at home requires a different set of strategies. It requires buying savvy, storage capacity, cooking know-how and willingness to be flexible in your habits. I am sure that most of these strategies are old news for most of you, but bare with me. If you have some suggestions, toss them in. I am always looking for new ways to deal with old problems.

Think of your life this way – it’s really all about profit and loss. Profit means having money left over out of your paycheck at the end of the month. Loss means you had to charge your cable bill on the credit card once again. Your food bills can help you make or break your bottom line – since it is really one of those things that we just can’t do without. But it is a controllable cost. Unlike a fixed cost like your car payment or rent, you have the power to use strategies that can change the way you spend what money you have available to you. The more you think of your household finances as a business model, the better you will do in the long run.

Image by timsamoff. Click on the photo to see his original comments.

Knowing a deal when you see one

The first step is learning what the mean prices of your favorite everyday items are. For example: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Go to your favorite store and take a look at the non-sale price.

Did your pulse stop racing yet? That stuff is expensive!

It’s important that you know what an item you regularly use costs at full retail. That is the only way you can know if something is a good deal. You can find organizers for price logs online. Me, I keep them in my head – but that also means when my memory is on the fritz, important details like where I live, where I work and who those strange people in the house are with me get lost. Eventually, I am going to have to start writing crap down!

Refresher Math Course! (This is for my math genius daughter, who can work advanced calculus problems, but probably can’t remember what a mean is.)

A mean price is the average for a range of numbers. You get the average of a set of numbers when you take all the values for an item, add them up and divide by the number
of values.

Chicken Breasts: a Mean

The prices you purchased your chicken breasts at the last five times: $4.50/lb, $3.75/lb, $2.99/lb, $2.49/lb, $1.99/lb

Mean: ($4.50+$3.75+$2.99+$2.49+ $1.99)/5= $3.14/lb

If you have some basic math skills, you should really use this formula . It’s so much quicker and easier.

There are other reasons why you need to know what you average cost is for regularly used items - and we'll cover that in another installment.

So how do we get what we want for less?

Loss Leaders – Every week, grocery stores offer deep, deep discounts on certain items. They are willing to sell these items to you at a thin profit margin to get you into their store to buy the other items you need at regular prices. You – the savvy consumer – can buy up those items and put them in your freezer or pantry.

My most recent buy was Chicken of the Sea tuna at Kroger’s. They had 20 cans for $10. $.50 a can is a fantastic deal, and I hadn’t seen a name brand tuna that cheap in years. I now have 40 cans in my pantry waiting to be added to salads, casseroles and pasta sauces

If you don’t get the Sunday ads for all the various stores nearby, then hop on the internet. Lots of the stores list their ads every week – and sometimes list the next week’s as well, letting you plan which day you will do your shopping to get the best deals.

(Of course, maybe you should be getting the ads in the bag, but maybe you have a lazy shiftless goodfornothing bag delivery guy who simply tosses them all into a dumpster and goes off to smoke crack. Not that I am pointing fingers…FRANK!)

Discount stores – Let’s say you really want to buy something that isn’t on sale this week. Places like Marc’s and Aldi’s offer regular groceries at discounted prices, plus there are specialty shops like The Pepperidge Farms outlet store, the Wonder Bread/ Hostess Outlet stores and Arena Produce where you can pick up items on the cheap. Once again, beware! Just because the store says it offers discounted prices doesn’t mean that you can’t get the same item cheaper as a loss leader or with coupons.

Ethnic Groceries – I love cooking Indian, Mexican and Asian foods. Buying some of the more uncommon items in “regular” grocery stores can set you back a pretty penny. Produce like baby bok choy at Meijer will put you in the poor house if you buy enough for a family of four, but you can get a big bag of this stuff for $2.50 at a grocery store like CAM (Columbus Asian Market). Or stopping into Patel Brothers on Kenny Road, I was able to find really good cauliflower for only $1.75 per head. Olives and feta can be an amazing deal if you start frequenting Middle Eastern markets.

Of course, like any other grocery, you need to shop there on a regular basis to familiarize yourself with the products as well as the prices. Really small shops may not have the turnover that a larger store might have, and the quality of some items can suffer. On the other hand, I found some really good Cracker Jacks from 1964 with prizes they don’t put into them boxes anymore – so sometimes this could be a good thing. Try not to eat the canned chili from 1963 though – it was not a good year.

While I am not an expert on every shop in Columbus, I thought it might help if I listed a few of my favorites.

Crestview Market
CAM
Tensuke
Market (great place to shop, crappy website)
La Michoacana Mexican Market (I shop the one on Morse Road and usually stop in to grab a couple tacos when I am out!)

Coupons – Yes those old stand-bys. You can get them from magazines, newspapers and mailers. Also, for those of you who didn’t know this – you can buy them on Ebay. My friend George turned me onto it. You buy a packet of identical coupons from sellers online – usually for about a buck plus postage. George used his coupons for Tabasco – which he eats on everything even the cans of chili from 1963. Combined with a really great sale price, plus double coupons, he was able to get small bottles of Tabasco for about $.08 each. I think he ended up with 70 bottles. Yes-he is that crazy about hot sauce - and the letter W.

I will confess I rarely use coupons. You know why? Because so many of them are for things that I don’t use (pre-packaged foods or the latest, greatest version of a name brand cereal with a cartoon character on it) or I can get store brands cheaper on sale without a coupon.

However, I know people who use them to great effect. It takes organization and perseverance to make the “coupon queen” thing work well and I have a lot of respect for people who work that system. That being said, I just don’t have the skill set necessary to get that system to work every time I go to the grocery store (IE: I am really incredible disorganized. I would be pulling expired coupons out of bodily creases for weeks afterward.)

Clearance – Perishable items are just that – perishable. Rather than throw out those items, grocery stores will mark it down a percentage of the original cost because something is better than nothing. Recent example: I went to Marc’s to pick up some items when I saw a three pound bag of carrots marked down to $1.00. Upon examination, I discovered that several of the overly long vegetables had snapped in half. They were otherwise undamaged. Considering the regular cost of a bag was $2.50, that is $1.50 I could spend on something else. (Remember that huge power outage? About three days into it, I got some great deals on shrimp and other seafood. And don’t let me tell you how cheap I got ice cream!)

The same holds true for pantry items as well. After the holiday season, Kroger had their 28oz cans of pumpkin 2 for $1.00. I ended up buying four cans. The expiration date was 2010. That means my pies for the next two years are already taken care of.

A few tips for buying clearance items:

· Inspect all your perishable produce carefully A bruised banana might make great bread, but not a bruised eggplant. Some items will develop mold inside their plastic packaging.

· Check the sell by date on the meats and dairy In stores with less than stellar product rotation, I’ve found bad meat and spoiled dairy lurking in the case with past sell by dates on them. Meat should be used or frozen ASAP. Some dairy products like milk have a couple extra days left in them after their sell by date, so you have a little leeway there.

· Check packaging for damage If it looks like the integrity of the container has been compromised, let it be. Better safe than sorry.

· Know your products Whenever you go into Meijer’s, they always have a huge rack of clearance food items. Some are there as part of regular stock rotation, some are there as seasonal clearance and some of them are there because they suck and no one will buy them. No matter how cheap the item is, money spent on something you can’t use is not a bargain. (Personally, I got suckered by a couple cans of Wolfgang Puck soups. He is now known as Wolfgang Sucks in our household because of his crappy canned soups.)

Sweat Equity – Don’t use boneless breasts. Get a whole chicken and bone it out. Make your kids learn to eat dark meat. Or buy bone-in breasts and take the bones out yourself. It isn’t that hard. Use those kitchen skills to save you money by expending a little time. Or better yet, make your kids learn to eat meat off the bone…geesh!

Bulk Purchases – Sam’s Club, Costco - or in our case Restaurant Depot - can save you tons on the items you use frequently. That is if you can use it all up before it goes bad. This is where a purchasing co-op can come in handy.

“A purchasing Co-op? What the hell is that?” you ask. A Purchasing Co-op is a group of people who band together to buy large quantities of items then split them up into manageable parcels. Example: Eric, Moose, Andy, Tate and my family have started shopping at Restaurant Depot for bulk meats. We recently purchased a case of boneless chicken breasts for $.60/lb. A case is 40 pounds. That’s a lot of meat for a family of three or a single guy to buy on their own. However, the seven of us were able to share the costs and storage of the chicken, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

One key to setting up you own private co-op is to make sure you have people who like-minded. If your best friend in the whole world is an organic vegan – then your chances of getting her to buy in on a great meat deal is pretty darn slim. However, if you too are an organic vegan, then you guys can buy a 20 pound bag of tofurkey and split it up – no problems. (If you do manage to locate a deal on 20 pounds of tofurkey, please do not call me. The thought of a tofurkey getting that big scares me!*shudder*)

The other key is to work with people you trust. A person who refuses to pay or to carry their share of the work will kill the whole group.

Shopping in Season - Seems pretty straight forward doesn’t it? In the summer, you can buy all your fresh veggies at the farmer’s market for pretty darn cheap. Now, you are paying $3.00 for a head for “out of season” romaine grown in a local greenhouse. Yes you are buying local – but buying yourself into the poor house. In winter, you see things like cabbage, citrus fruit and greens that are cheap and plentiful. True they may not have been grown local, but when you are strapped for cash – well, I am willing to bend my rules to make sure I eat healthy within my budget. Recently I bought some lemons (a 2 pound bag for $1.50, a standard sale price), and following tips from the internet, I am throwing them in my freezer for later in the year…lemon chess pie…yummmmm

Here is a resource map from Epicurious that outlines what states are producing what products in what months. Use it wisely.

Grow Your Own – This can be done fairly easy, even if you live in an apartment. A single tomato plant in a container purchased for $6.00 will easily produce more than $6.00 worth of produce in a season – as long as you take care of it. If you have a yard, convert one of your flowerbeds into a small kitchen garden. Hell, even a pot of cilantro on the window sill saves you some cash in the long run. If you wonder what a regular garden can net you savings-wise, check out this article over at Kitchen Gardeners International.

Barter – You find someone who has the item you want and work out a trade. One of my co-workers, Justin, hunts deer every year. I would really like to get some venison for stew/chili. He and I are negotiating to see what I can trade him in return for a few pounds of meat. So far – no agreement has been reached. I will let you know what happens.

Of course, buying stuff for cheap is just the beginning. These is so much more to Frugal Food - and we'll talk about that next time...

A bit of Columbus History

2009-05-05T06:00:00.002-04:00

I was cruising around the internet and came across this little gem...

It a quick article about the Maramor Restaurant that used to be East Main Street.

The whole blog is very interesting - especially if you love reading about "how it used to be".

Resources for wanna-be gardeners

2009-04-28T00:00:00.005-04:00

Hey folks - It's time to start planting that "recession" garden! Every little bit will help you. A pot of herbs, a patio tomato - money invested in a growing plant will come back you tenfold. Take a gander at a recent Dispatch article talking about the backyard garden revival.

Afraid? Don't be! OSU has a Master Gardener's program with trained volunteers to give you a hand. Check out their website. Not only are there articles with general information, but the Master Gardeners can give you personal advice!

Even if you don't have room of your own, you can look into using community gardens. A community garden is a place where land is set aside for use by the general public for growing vegetable and flower gardens. Some sites require you to rent the plot, others ask for volunteer hours or donations to offset the cost. Check with the owners of the garden plots to see what the rules are...

A few of the sites I found here in Columbus:

Four Seasons City Farm

Leave A Mark Community Garden

University Area Enrichment Program

Sycamore Hills Community Gardens

Grandview Heights Community Gardens

Plus more...

I was surfing the net and came across this site for the American Community Gardening Association. They do list quite a few sites in and around the Columbus area, but the information is sketchy, so research will be necessary.

You have land but don't have the tools? Check out the Tool Library run by the City of Columbus. They have a sod removing tool and a rototiller. I wish I had known about the sod remover a couple years back!

If you are on Food Stamps, you can purchase food bearing seeds or plants with your allowance . As long as the store accepts your Ohio Directions Card, you can start growing a few things of your own!

Finally, if you do grow a garden this summer, remember those who are less fortunate than yourself and Plant a Row for the Hung ry .

These are but a few of the resources available online. So what are you waiting for?

Meet and Greet

2009-04-22T11:58:00.001-04:00

Anyone interested in hanging out at the Banana Bean Cafe tomorrow from 4pm til 7pm? There will be a gathering of foodies - I hope to be there with the hubby after 6pm. For more details, check out the Meetup site.

Garden Envy

2009-04-12T15:07:00.007-04:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhh - it spring and an old woman's fancy turns to thoughts of home gardening... I've caught myself pouring over seed sites trying to locate things like Ghost Peppers for the garden this year. I still have to till the ground - and this year I am using Ben, one of Annie's friends (who owes me money) to help me get the ground ready for planting. (Get to work beotch!) I just hope it drys out soon before he graduates and heads out for college - damn Ohio weather!

In other gardening news...

Michele Obama wearing the latest in gardening gloves.
Damn girl - those make you look hot!
(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

I think it's really exciting that a Kitchen Garden is going in at the White House. Check out the diagram from the article. Pretty freakin' sweet. Of course, for the Secretary of Agriculture, it was still a press opportunity to pimp out the plan to put more fresh fruits and veggies on the lunch trays of school children ever where. I want to know if there is money in the plan to train the cafeteria staffs on how to cook food properly and not leach every single bit of nutrition out of the fresh produce - and food education courses for the kids so that they learn to appreciate all the new foods that are going to be coming across their plates. I can just see it now - tons of fresh veggies getting dumped in the trash because it"tastes yukky!" Sigh.

I think other government agencies should let people grow food on their vast expanses of green lawns. Every time I drive by a huge lawn in front of a building and think of how much herbicides and pesticides go into just maintain some grass..... *grrrr* it makes me mad. We talk about how expensive fresh fruits and veggies are, and yet we waste valuable growing area on grass.

And churches - they have tons of empty lawn space they could use to help raise fresh veggies, not only for their own congregation members, but for charitable donation as well. I know that there in one church up on Sawmill Road that has plots available. (Sorry I suck and can't remember the name.) Also, The Leave A Mark Church is offering garden plots for people who don't have land of their own. If you are interested, give them a shout.

Not sure how to start with your own garden? Check out the Master Gardeners website. The volunteers in this program offer advice and classes for people who want to learn how to grow their own veggies and fruits.

OH and I just wanted you to know that home gardening is non-partisan - I won't hold it against any of you Democrats or Republicans if you want to raise a few veggies...

I WANT CHICKENS!!!!

2009-04-09T23:24:00.001-04:00

I came across this during my internet adventures this evening. I love the idea of having some chickens for fresh eggs - and chicken manure for the garden...

Am I crazy or what?

Isn't she cute?

2009-03-18T00:56:00.002-04:00

Eighteen years ago today - my daughter Annie was born.
Amazingly enough, her head is still that pointy.

Happy Birthday!!
Love Mom

Book Review: Eat Feed Autumn Winter

2009-03-17T14:08:00.003-04:00

I've been a bad girl for the last few months...I've been sitting on a copy of the wonderful Eat Feed Autumn Winter by Anne Bramley , published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang (who always publish rockin' cookbooks!). It's not that I didn't want to share, but merely that I was distracted by other things. Plus I really didn't want to share. There I said it! It's mine! You can't have any of these wonderful recipes!!

As we know, eating seasonally is easy in the summer, when we have lots of top quality produce just laying around at the markets, but what about fall and winter? If you have to ask that question, then this is the book for you! Anne uses focuses on what is in season during the various cold months, and ties those items in with holidays and events. And we are not just talking about American holidays like Valentine's day or Christmas. There are menus for events such as Burns' Night from Scotland or Twelfth Night , which we generally don't celebrate here. However, with these new recipes in hand, I may just have to start celebrating these holidays just so I have an excuse to make this food.

One of the things I liked best about this cookbook was the use of all different types of ingredients in a variety of new and different ways. For example, most of us don't think of beets except as pickled or roasted. How about beet fries? With blue cheese dressing on the side? What about pumpkin seeds? What if I told you that they were used in a stuffing for chicken breasts? Intrigued? I was! If you are timid, don't let things like beet fries scare you away. There are still good solid fare for the less adventurous as well, such as a beef and ale pie, puddings and roast beef.

And the desserts are not forgotten either. With dishes ranging from items such as traditional English puddings to the sinfully decadent triple chocolate stuffed mocha cupcakes (OMG, the photos for those made me swoon!)

Criteria number one: Food porn - Lots of porn action here. However, the book isn't just about looking good. There is a depth of content here which ensures that this book will be staying in my collection, and will be come out again and again whenever there is a nip in the air..

Criteria number two: Ingredients - Most of the ingredients are readily available - the right time of year. Remember, this is a "seasonal" cookbook. Plan on plonking down some cash for things like lamb, caviar or lobster but there are still plenty of other recipes with ingredients that are cheap in season, like mushrooms, apples, pears and citrus fruits.

Also, a couple recipes call for specialized equipment like a pudding mold. If you have one, great. If not - it would have been nice to have explicit instructions on an acceptable substitute along with photo illustrations. Sometimes a picture can be all the encouragement that's needed to try out something new.

Criteria number three: Difficulty - This book would be accessible from an intermediate beginner on up. There are not a lot of fiddly recipes that require a degree from the CIA to accomplish. I love looking in a cook book and the recipe is only half a column long - I am more likely to try something that I don't have to sweat over in the kitchen - especially when I am entertaining (IE eating like the glutinous pigs we are).

Criteria number four: Recipes - Anne covers the gambit from appetizers to desserts to drinks. I have quite a few tagged for future investigation, mostly in the main dish category, like pasty pie and chili lime shrimp. Most of the recipes are straight forward - nothing ground breaking with recipes like roasted root vegetables - but still a nice mix when pared with the holidays she details in the side notes.

Criteria number five: Author - I will confess, I had not heard of the author before receiving this book. Anne Bramley is co-founder and host of Eat Feed, a podcast that focuses on eating seasonally, no matter the time of year. She is a professional foodie - she obviously loves her craft. The books shows a certain flair for understanding the day to day workings of a home kitchen, something often lacking in other "pretty" cookbooks.

So in celebration of St. Patty's day, I decided to make the "Irish" dinner - the last menu in the book. The other reasons I decided on that was 1) the lamb shoulder chops were on sale because they were *gasp* seasonal, and 2) the recipes were easy and I had all the other ingredients on hand. (And yes - I do keep Guinness in the house at all times. It's that kinda house, baby!)

I will tell you - the hubby LOVED these lamb chops. He has been talking about paying full price for more chops just so he can have them again. That is pretty high praise in this cheap-ass household.

If you get a chance this week - please make this dish. You will not regret it one bit!

Here is the recipe for

Stout-Glazed Lamb Chops with Colcannan

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 lamb shoulder chops (6 to 8 ounces each)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup stout, such as Guinness

3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

Generously salt and pepper the lamb chops. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the chops to the skillet and brown 3 minutes on each side. Remove the chops to a platter. Deglaze the pan with the stout, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the brown sugar until it
dissolves. Return the chops to the sauce. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn and cook, covered, for another 15 minutes. Remove the lid and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook the sauce and chops for a final 8-10 minutes until the sauce is thick and syrupy and the chops are tender. Turn the chops to coat in the glaze every 2 minutes or so. Serve the chops on a bed of colcannon (recipe follows) and drizzle with the sauce.

Serves 4

Colcannan

(I will admit to cheating a little bit on this recipe. I did not use two pots. I put the potatoes in a large pot of water and when they were done enough, I simply added the cabbage in with them and cooked them the last . Such a cheater - I know! - R)

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup warm milk

3 cups cabbage, thinly sliced

Salt

White pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil Add the potatoes and cook until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain. While the potatoes are cooking, bring a medium pot of salted water to boil and cook cabbage for 5 minutes Drain. Mash potatoes with the butter. Stir in the milk and cabbage. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4

You mean somone will actually have to COOK in the school cafeteria?

2009-03-15T07:21:00.002-04:00

About time!

Really Sad News

2009-03-11T07:28:00.002-04:00

I saw this in the Dispatch this morning - it breaks my heart. Not only do I feel bad for the folks losing their jobs, but Columbus will loose a wonderful aroma as well. I am not a real big fan of Wonderbread, but it still smells wonderful when it's baking.

It's just another in a long line of bakeries that have gone the way of the dodo. My parents shopped at Omar bakery off of Parsons Ave. when I was a kid. The whole South side of the City smelled like fresh bread when they fired up the ovens. In college, I lived near the Big Bear Bakery. While I still loved the smell - it was torture because I was poor and knew that I wasn't going to be eating Big Bear baked goods anytime soon...

Gettin' my Geek on!!!

2009-03-04T23:22:00.002-05:00

My family and friends already have tickets to see the midnight showing of The Watchmen at Studio 35. If you can't make it tomorrow night, please attend opening week! Support one of our last independent theaters. It will make you feel good inside. Plus they serve beer.

You know you are a Watchman Geek if:
1) You own more than two copies of the graphic novel
2) You are wondering if you could go as Dr. Manhattan for Halloween if you started working out now and invested in a lot of liquid latex
3) You have The Black Freighter pre-ordered on Amazon
4) You plan on wearing the exclusive Comic-con t-shirt to the premier opening
and
5) You hope they come out with the Silk Specter Tijuana Bible - real soon....

Deals!

2009-02-18T00:29:00.002-05:00

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post this earlier...

Stopped by the Pepperidge Farm Outlet store on Kenny Road today to find out that they had more baked goods then they knew what to do with. They had loaves of bread Buy three, Get one free. The final cost was about $5.25 for four loaves.

For your sweet tooth, they had packages of cookies 2/$1! That included Milanos, which have a big following in our house...

Breakfast: Kickin' it old school at Paul's Fifth Avenue

2009-02-13T11:05:00.003-05:00

I love eating out for breakfast, especially when I get there nice and early on a week day.

My usual haunt is Nancy's. The price is right and the food is plentiful. The best thing is the atmosphere. Where else can you get up and serve coffee to the rest of the patrons and not get yelled at?

This morning I just happened to be in Grandview. It made me tingly all over because it meant I got to eat at Paul's Fifth Avenue. Paul's has been around for a long time and like a lot of little places here in Columbus, I think it's been forgotten in the rush to find the "shiniest" new place to chow down.

What do I mean by "shiny"? My hubby and I came up with this theory long ago. People are attracted to the newest, most trendy of anything: movies, books, houses, and, of course, restaurants. Just like all primates, we like things that sparkle. Given the choice between a dull pebble and a sparkly one, most creatures will pick the sparkly one. It doesn't matter that the dull one might actually be more useful, or of better quality, or be worth more money - the sparkle is the selling point and the new one will win out. Of course, that is a generalization, but analyze some of the choices you make and you might find that you are fascinated by "shiny" as well.

Paul's has a fairly simple breakfast menu, with some items of note - for which I love them dearly.

The first is the Callahan. What is a Callahan you ask? They define it as a omelet made with home fries instead of eggs. I say its hash. HASH!!! Hash with cheese on it. When was the last time you saw real hash on a menu? I love hash. It's my favorite part of leftover roasts...but I digress...

Cheesey, starchy goodness

The second is the Joe Fries. Extra crispy home fries. Not burnt - like when you order them well done at TeeJay's (blech!). These treats have a permanent place on the menu - as well they should.

The food is simple, but prepared properly. Tony ordered 3 eggs over easy, toast, sausage and joe fries. Eggs are a telling point in a busy restaurant. These were perfect - the whites set and the yolks runny. The sausage wasn't dried out and the joe fries were crispy but not burnt.

yummmmmy - eggs!

I ordered the Louisiana Callahan. It had an emphasis on the potatoes, with a nice mixture of add-ins. My only regret is that I didn't ask for joe fries instead of the regular potatoes. My fault - not theirs! Topped with cheese and sprinkled with hot sauce - it was just the thing to get me going.

At 8:30 am,the place was filed with a mixture of older folks, young couples with babies in tow and a bunch of third shifters from OSU hospital. The decor is plain, but clean. The wait staff was friendly and kept the coffee coming. The food came out fast and hot. What more can you ask for?

Paul's also has a reputation for having a killer lunch and dinner service. I've caught lunch only twice in the last few years and it was stellar both times. I have never made it to dinner, but I have been told I need to make the effort, since they run daily specials based on what is fresh, plus they are supposed to have incredible Italian fare. (Can anyone confirm?)

Fryin' Taters

2009-02-12T08:50:00.002-05:00

My food ventures have been plebeian at best in recent weeks. When I am busy, I tend to make the same old standbys time and time again. It makes the family happy though - they bitch because I will make something once and then never make it again in my quest to keep the Internet engaged.

Take the recent blizzard. I actually had an adult snow day when my company shut down. Woohooo!! Stuck in the house, we decided that a nice big breakfast would be perfect before we went out to wrestle with the snow and ice that had encased both of our vehicles.

And what did my lovely hubby and daughter request?

Fried taters and eggs.

Fried taters and eggs - they are so simple they are easy to ruin. And I will confess that I have ruined my fair share of both. But not this day. For I -Rosie the magnificent - hit the proverbial nail right on the head and produced a platter of perfectly prepared potatoes for my progeny and her progenitor. Yeah - there have been days when I was not worthy of the lowly spud or humble ova, but as the snow gently drifted against our battened door, I was able to rise above my base station and produce a breakfast that was fit for a monarch (and not any butterfly either!)

Lo! Behold my perfect potatoes!

Look pretty damn good huh? Mouth watering yet?

To me, these are not hash browns or home fries. Hash browns are shredded. Home fries are precooked then browned off in a hot pan. They are fried taters. That means you start with raw potatoes and fry until crisp.

There are a couple of secrets to making good fried potatoes.

The first is to make sure the potatoes are sliced thin. My new mandolin does an fantastic job in that respect. I would say that these were sliced about an 1/8th of an inch thick. If you have to cut by hand, make sure you keep all the slices fairly uniform.

The second is to have a large pan. A large heavy pan. Cast iron being my favorite. You want a lot of surface area - the potatoes need to be spread out so that they don't steam themselves into mush. You also want a pan that will hold the heat when you toss in the potatoes. A sudden dip in temperature is bad. It will allow the oil to soak into the potatoes before the whole mess comes back up to optimum frying temp.

The last is to pick the right type of potatoes. I prefer russets, but have made due with Yukon Golds in a pinch. How many potatoes to use? Once again, it depends on your pan. For my 12 inch skillet, I will use 4-5 large russets. Maybe 2-3 pounds of taters. You don't want to over-crowd.

These instructions are kind of sparse. I learned to cook these from my mom, who was also known for her fantastic fried potatoes. The real secret to any fried food is finding the golden ratio of food to oil for the specific pan you are using. if a recipe calls for 1/4 cup of oil in a 10 inch skillet, that is fine. But be aware that not all 10 inch skillets are built alike. A straight sided cast iron skillet will give you a different depth of oil than a skillet with sloping sides.

For my 12 inch cast iron skillet, I pour in enough oil to give me about 1/4" depth. I used to use Crisco. My ex-mother-in-law swore by it as did my mom, but I switched to veggie oil as it was something I always have on hand.

A full load of potatoes in my 12" cast iron skillet -
notice there is room around the edges and the whole pan is not packed tight?
That's what you want to see...

I heat the oil over medium high until a potato slice will sizzle when I drop it in. I think of it as "shallow deep frying". You want the moisture in the potato to escape, so you oil needs to be good and hot. Now the tricky part - I feed in a few potatoes at a time and let them start to brown off. Then I will add a few more and turn everything over. But this needs to be done fairly quick, so that the potatoes will cook at about the same rate. Repeat until all the potatoes are in the pan

Now comes time for the seasonings. I use seasoned salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and some ground chipotle pepper. You could use cayenne instead, but I like the heat and bit of smoke that the chipotle gives. You don't want to potatoes to be too spicy, so be stingy with the ground red pepper. Sprinkle the seasonings on top of the potatoes. They will get mixed in as you flip the whole sheebang.

Try not to flip too much. This will break up the potatoes. Have patience and give them 'lil guys on the bottom a chance form a brown crust before you flip. I will take the time to wrangle the really pale slices or slices that are not getting cooked through to the bottom.

The whole point of the exercise is to cook the potatoes through, drive off moisture and get a crisp exterior. Not every potato needs to be super golden brown, but I have been know to fish out the really brown ones to give the less cooked pieces a chance to brown off before we have charcoal briquettes in the pan.

The final touch for me is to add a finely chopped onion the last few minutes of cooking. They get transparent, but still retain a bit of crunch.

Drain the potatoes on paper towels to blot off excess grease and serve.

And there you have it - fried taters.

Any questions?

Smackie's update

2009-02-11T08:36:00.002-05:00

My new work schedule prevents me from partaking in the glorious all you can eat Sunday buffet at Smackie's, but that didn't stop my family and friends (bastards!) Smackie's suffered a personnel shake-up a while back, but the good news is that the food is as good as ever - or in some cases (as reported by my backstabbing friends) even better.

I did, however make it back to the restaurant on a Thursday night when they sell the 1/2 chicken dinner. Best bird in town!

The other update is that they will be moving soon. It's ok - don't panic! Deep breath!! Instead of being housed in the freestanding building where they are at present in Columbus Square, they will be moving to the same strip that houses Mi Li's (Mi Mi's) Cafe. That just several hundred feet away. The website says they will be closed mid-February and reopen March 1st.

Something to warm you up!

2009-01-19T10:23:00.002-05:00

I was checking out CowTv today and found their video tour of the Cajohn facility. Being a chili head, I love CaJohn's products, even though I haven't tried their new line of sauces made with the infamous Ghost Chilis. Maybe I can get some and our little group of chil heads can have a "bonding" moment.

This is a long video, so I recommend getting settled in before you fire it up...

The truth about "surprise" visits or Bamboo Cafe redux

2009-01-17T21:22:00.002-05:00

When I was in college, I shared a apartment with a female roommate. Sad to say, we were both total slobs - lazy drunken slobs. It was shameful. You wouldn't think two gals could live in such a trash heap, but to my chagrin, we did. Instead of cleaning, we spent time drinking $2 pitchers of Old Swill at the Beer Stube. My roomie - we'll call her Betty to protect the not so innocent- had parents who were very generous with the monetary gifts - allowing us to "further our studies" of cheap beer and cute guys on her parent's dime. The only catch was that twice a year, Betty's parents would come down and spend the weekend in Columbus. Part of the visit included stopping by our apartment before taking us out to dinner. Since we KNEW when they were coming, we would spend the two days before the visit cleaning our pad from top to bottom, making sure that everything was spic and span, that we strategically placed our textbooks and "notes" from class where they could be easily spied and that our fridge was totally empty of anything except a bottle of ketchup and an expired yogurt - since we were starving college students. When Betty's parents appeared at the appointed hour, we were the neatest, most upstanding, hardworking co-eds that ever attended OSU.

So what does that have to do with restaurant reviews?

Imagine that a restaurateur knew that a reviewer and a photographer from a local newspaper were coming for a visit. Don't you think that the restaurateur would make sure everything was spic and span - just like Betty and I did when we knew her parents and their checkbook were coming to visit?

I read Jon Christensen's review of Bamboo Cafe in this week's week Dispatch. Amazing how Bamboo Cafe went from a one star restaurant to a four star restaurant when The Dispatch food critic and a photographer showed up. Do you think there was an advance phone call? Did the folks at Bamboo Cafe get a chance to hide their dirty laundry before the man with the credentials showed up? I am going bet on one of two things - either there was an advance call or someone at the Bamboo Cafe ran a psychic hotline before they opened the restaurant. I know where I would put my money.

My question is:
Will you - the man on the street - have the same dining experience as Jon the Dispatch reviewer?

It depends on two things
a) are you a paid restaurant reviewer?
b) Do you have any way to influence the public's opinion of this restaurant?

Since I doubt that most you get paid to eat out, I will guess that the answer to question A is "No!".

However,the answer to question B is "Yes"! The Internet gives you - the average person - power to let others know of your "covert" visits to the various restaurants you patronize. Any restaurant who trots out their A game for a KNOWN reviewer is not a good place to patronize. You will only end up being disappointed and have a kid who dropped out of college after three years (Poor Betty!)

Instead, find a good restaurant that you like and vote for them with your wallet. Let people know through sites like Urbanspoon or Columbus Underground. The everyday experience is what counts in the long run, not what any reviewer - including me - says. Your experience will determine how you should feel about a restaurant. You should only use a review as a guide, not words from the burning bush.

Cuca's

2009-01-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for a non-chain Mexican restaurant to go to for a while now. While the El Vaquero chain is OK, its not the best I've ever had, plus they are all invasive - kinda like kudzu. They have other restaurants under different names that use the El Vaquero menu...Cazula's Grill on campus is an example of that practice. I feel it is my duty to support the little guy who is making good food and takes personal pride in what he is making, so I try out all kinds of small out of the way joints...

Enter Cuco's on Henderson Road. I stopped in a few months ago to grab some carry out during a grueling double shift at work. At the time I chose a tamale with beans and rice for sides...$5.95 carryout. The beans were tasty. The tamales were homemade, and the rice was moist. A big plus was that the whole meal came with a big bag of fresh cooked tortilla chips and homemade salsa.

I went home and raved about Cuco's to the hubby. He was skeptical. The last time I took him to out for Mexican at Aztecas and it was awful, so once bitten - twice shy. Plus, the bar has been set pretty high since we went to Las Palmas in St. Louis - which is fantastic.

After much wheedling, I talked him into stopping for lunch while we were out grocery shopping. He went from not happy to ecstatic in the course of the next 45 minutes. First, our waiter brought a big basket of homemade chips and salsa. Tony complained that the salsa wasn't hot. So I went up to the salsa bar and got some of their other homemade hot sauces, a red and a green. While not incendiary, they were both very flavorful.

Vats of homemade hot sauce - made me wanna go for a dip!

They also had some pico de gallo and a pickled onion dish which I can't remember the name of. All were very good - the pico de gallo would have been better with summer tomatoes, but you have to work with what you have...

We also ordered guacamole - which was fresh made to order by mashing the avocados with a helping of pico de gallo. It was pretty decent.

I ordered carnita tacos - the lunch special for $5.95. Tony had commented on the fact that cheese, sour cream and guacamole were extra. I told him I would reserve judgment until they came.

Tony asked the waiter what he would recommend. "The fajitas" came the answer. Recommending fajitas to us was a risky thing - with us thinking back to all the tough flavorless meat and mounds of burnt veggies we had been served in the past. Tony looked doubtful, but being the brave soul that he is, ordered away. (We ask for recommendations from the staff to see if they know their food - its a good way to get a handle on how well the front of the house knows the back of the house.)

A few minutes later - out came our main meals. Yes - my tacos looked plain, consisting of nothing but warm tortillas, meat, and a sprinkling of white onion and cilantro. But when I picked them up and took a bite, the meat was the star. It was perfect - moist and flavorful. The only addition I made was to sprinkle a green hot sauce on them for a little punch. The beans and rice were spot on as before. I asked the waiter if the beans were homemade and he indicated that they were - a big plus in my book.

$5.95 - can you beat that?

Tony was reticent about eating his fajitas. He looked suspiciously at the sizzling plate. He stabbed a piece of beef off of the pile and bit an end. Then he ate the whole piece. Then he started loading up the tortillas and tearing into his lunch with gusto. Yes - it was good. Some of the best I've had in years. The steak was tender and not overdone. The veggies, while charred a little, were not burnt or bitter. The sides were generous and included guacamole and sour cream. I stole some as well - there was plenty to go around.

Hot Sizzlin' Meaty Goodness

Tony insisted that we order dessert and asked for flan. The waiter said - no you want the churros. So we ordered the churros. He had been right so far, why doubt him now?

Sorry I couldn't wait!

Churros - wow. Hot, deep fried dough with caramel inside, covered with dulce le leche and cinnamon sugar with whipped cream on the side. Damn. That is all I can say. Damn.

We were so impressed that we took our friend Eric out to eat there the next night. It was still good then too... even though they were busy as heck.

So if you are looking for a reasonably priced Mexican place that takes pride in their food- I say give Cuco's a try.

Bamboo Cafe

2009-01-09T07:23:00.006-05:00

We have been driving by Bamboo Café on Bethel Rd for the past month or so– the spot they now fill has been empty a while. The reason – it is located behind a McDonald’s. Not the best location for any business, much less a restaurant. However, Annie was intrigued by the “curtain” of live bamboo that screen the window and the very beautiful décor within. Much begging ensued and we reluctantly gave in.

The Bamboo Café promises both Vietnamese and Thai food. We like both. We have our favorite places to go for each cuisine, but there is always room for one more restaurant on our list. MiLi’s (MiMi’s) is my normal go-to place for pho and sets the standard by which I judge all others. We have also become big fans of Tai Thai in Grandview for Thai curries.

We came into a nearly empty restaurant on a Thursday lunch. There was a single waitress on the floor and one other couple at a neighboring table. As we sat down, we admired the scenery – bamboo walls, a bamboo archway over the entrance to the kitchen, rich textiles under the glass of the tabletops. It looked nice.

The menu was limited, but offered a sampling of standard dishes from both cuisines. The prices were a little on the high side - $10.00 for a bowl of pho, $9.50 for curry.

After looking over the menu, I decided to get the Pho. Annie chose a Thai red curry. Tony asked the waitress what she recommended and she pointed out the same pho dish that I had ordered, so that is what he ordered. Tony and Annie asked for water, and I ordered hot tea.

The whole group started to get bad “vives” when the add-ins for the pho came out. The Thai basil was wilted and bruised, as was the culantro. The sirrachi and hoisin sauce bottles were kind of “gnarley” and needed a good wipe down.

Yummmm - rotting vegetation!

The food arrived quickly. Much to our regret. It was terrible. I know that is brutal – but true.

The worst bowl of pho EVER!

First the pho. For those of you who have never had pho, I need to explain a basic technique that goes with the dish. Thinly sliced raw beef is placed into the bowl, then very hot broth is poured over the top. This cooks the beef quickly, and it is very tender. I’ve heard it termed “shaboo-shaboo style”. Not so with the Bamboo café. The meat had been precooked, re-warmed (possibly in a microwave) and then put in the soup. It was like chewing on old shoe leather. The same was true of the tendon meatballs. I had never had a tough meatball before – but I can no longer say that. To top all this off – the broth was straight out of a can. Nasty, metallic beef broth. The whole dish was inedible.

My daughter’s curry was the wrong dish. She had ordered the red curry. What she received was a pale yellow in color. The beef was the same as in the pho – pre-cooked, re-warmed and dumped into re-warmed curry base. The curry sauce had no real flavor other than that of coconut milk. So, tough nasty beef in a bland sauce.

Does this look red to you?

The meal was so bad we didn’t finish it. The waitress asked if we wanted to take the leftovers home and we said no. In most restaurants with an experienced wait staff – this would have been a tip off something was wrong. Fat people who didn’t want to take the extras home. We tried to explain that the food was not good, but the explanation appeared to be lost on her, as her English vocabulary was not very strong.

We were presented with the bill. I asked her to take off the tea – which I had never received. All told, our lunch came to $35.00 with tip. That is a lot cash for bad food and mediocre service in a pretty setting.

So, in summation, I would rather have bamboo under my fingernails than ever eat at Bamboo Cafe again.

Read my reactions to the Dispatch Review here