New Year's at Home

For dinner, I had leftover chicken and apple sausage, with a side of glazed carrots and a glass of cava.



Jon is still in Florida, and most of the people we know are still out of town. Despite a fleeting desire to check out roller disco, I decided to stay home and hang out with the dog for the night. I planned on roasting a chicken and making ratatouille, but I lost my appetite after making these cookies. Not because they're bad, but because they're so full of butter I felt stuffed after two cookies (and some cookie dough....)

I don't really like carrots, but I happened to buy some the other day. I blame this. I used it merely as inspiration, because I was feeling too lazy to make a production of glazing carrots.



I melted a little butter, tossed the carrots around for awhile (hoping to brown them a bit, which did NOT happen), added a little water, and tossed them around a little more. Drizzled in a little lemon juice, threw in some thyme, salted, and done. I didn't add any sugar, and I wish I hadn't added any thyme, which was too heavy. They were still ok.

My new favorite thing: the multi-pack of herbs. Pretty cheap, lasts for weeks.







The cava was likewise ok.

I prefer big, manly red wines, but go for silly girly whites when I drink them. I love a good vionier. Vinho verdes are nice, but that is about as sparkly as my tastes get. Next time, I'll be less festive and get something more exciting.



And no, I don't own champagne flutes. I don't even own glasses for white wines anymore. Sorry.

Light Snacking at Home

For dinner, I had some chicken and apple sausage from Trader Joe's, with a glass of red wine. I've been grazing all evening, so I guess "dinner" also includes some pfeffernüsse cookies, some maple yogurt, some pasta sauce (I snack on it sometimes like soup), and maybe even the roast beef I snacked on as a late lunch. I am currently snacking on more (addictive) pfeffernüsses. Damn you, TJ's.

In other news, I just got back from a week in Florida, and a week in Houston before that. While at the in-laws' house in Florida, I devoured their large stack of Cook's Illustrated magazines. Great articles, but I found myself losing patience with a certain bow-tied individual's overly cutesey-folksy introductions. My grandfather was born in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Vermont, then raised by a single mother there during the Depression. I'm just as bitter about the encroachment of rich New Yorkers and loss of community as he is. If anyone would appreciate his brand of cutesey, you'd think it would be me. But no. It grates.*

However, I think his introductions would make a great drinking game for wonky cooking types.

Take a drink every time he mentions:

-charmingly rural townsfolk by name (+1 if it is one of the "old" families)
-maple syrup (+2 for sugaring stories)
-a cute story about one of his kids
-hunting (+2 if he smugly refers to the cycle of life or the thriftiness of rural folk)
-"hardiness"
-his childhood (+1 for missing the old days; +3 if it involves outhouses or a lack of electricity)

I'm sure I'm missing a lot. Any suggestions?


*Which is not to dis the man. I hear he is incredibly nice, and I love bowties. And New England.

Light Lunch at Home

For lunch, I had smoked salmon, cranberry compote, and butter on a roll from Whole Foods.

The salmon is leftover tidbits that are getting old; the compote is basically thick cranberry sauce I made last night out of leftover Thanksgiving cranberries. I was curious to try WF's "seeduction" roll after some friends made a DIY version as part of their Thanksgiving dinner. The combination was pretty tasty. My inspiration was the Sironia turkey sandwich from the late, much-mourned JD's Art Cafe in Waco, TX (don't laugh- rumor has it JD was married to an amazing French-trained pastry chef, and I'll be trying desperately to track down her gorgeous cake recipes for the rest of my life). The Sironia was the historic building's name, and the sandwich was allegedly based on one served at a cafeteria in the building in the 1950s. I have no idea how I got smoked salmon and butter from turkey, cream cheese, and cranberry sauce, but whatever. I see the Sironia is back, in the form of an antique mall, apparently.

Sashimi at Home

For dinner, I had some swordfish sashimi, a baked potato with butter, brown sugar ice cream, and a fuyu persimmon. And lambrusco, god help me.

Trader Joe's claims their frozen fish is sashimi-grade (which I am fully aware means close to nothing), so I took them up on it. Again. Turns out, swordfish doesn't make very good sashimi. It was certainly an easy meal, but it had a bitter aftertaste and a slightly soggy constitution. The texture was so varied from one side of the swordfish steak to the other that Jon (already skeeved out by raw fish outside of a legit sushi restaurant) refused to eat it. He has finals right now, and thinks that my recent raw fish propensities are some kind of sabotage mechanism. I have to agree with him about the texture issues, but portions were edible.

The potato was unobjectionable. The brown sugar ice cream was not homemade, but tasty nonetheless. In case you haven't noticed, I love anything browned- brown butter, brown sugar. Penuche fudge is the quantum singularity of awesome browned foods in my world.

The persimmon was the result of my afternoon venture to Whole Foods. I sort of felt like I was cheating on Trader Joe's, and their prices look particularly insane after months of TJ's shopping, so I didn't buy a ton. But their persimmons were very ripe and on a huge sale, so I bought a bunch. I'd never had a ripe persimmon before. Bitter ones, yes. Dried ones, yes. My grandfather's much maligned and much missed holiday persimmon pudding, yes. But fresh? Never.

Oh MY GOD, I have a new favorite fruit. It's like apricot meets medjool date, with amazing textures- the skin, the little segments inside...I can't even describe it. Just go find one. I ate all three, and plan on going back for more tomorrow.

The lambrusco was likewise experimental. My mother doesn't really drink, but she occasionally orders sweet lambrusco out at Italian restaurants. I saw some at TJ's, and wondered if "real" lambrusco was like that. Sort of. It's carbonated, not as sweet, but still not dry. I caught a lot of pear flavors, and a little raspberry. Not bad, and I can definitely see how it could be popular with pizza or at a summer barbecue, but it's really not for me. I might consider using it to make sangria. Maybe. But I like Spanish wines much better.

Tuna at Home

For dinner, I had sauteed tuna steak with roasted garlic potatoes and a coffee stout.

I realize the beer doesn't match the food. I totally failed to plan ahead, even though I should have known better, since the tuna steaks have spent the last 24 hours defrosting in my refrigerator. To be fair, maybe it's just the pairing, but I think Schlafly's Coffee Stout is just gross. It lacks substance and heaviness, and reminds me of that vile coffee-flavored soda.

The food, thankfully, was much tastier. At the last minute, wandering around the kitchen with a large slab of raw tuna in hand, I located some leftover panko in the pantry to use as a crust. I sauteed it in butter, and added a little fresh thyme to the skillet. I'm still working my way through leftover fresh herbs from Thanksgiving; not usually a thyme fan, but I figured it was better than the leftover rosemary. In the end, it added a delicious lemony tang that complemented the tuna nicely. I haven't had a burger in forever (this excellent article sort of turned me off), but this was a nice substitute. I'd rather ingest parasites from partially-cooked fish than E. Coli, I guess.

Foam Coffee in St. Louis

For breakfast, I had a cappuccino and a "savory croissant" from Foam Coffee in (across the street from?) the Cherokee-Lemp Historic District.

The coffee was delicious. My cappuccino tasted vegetal and intensely grassy, to the degree that I wondered if they roast in-house. Nope, their beans are from the Northwest Coffee Roasting Co. (which I totally need to try, and happens to be on my running route. Now I have a new reason to go for a morning run.)

My croissant was good, although it was described to me as 'bacon and gruyere'...instead, I caught some serious moldy cheese funk. I think he meant to say 'gorgonzola'. I hate moldy cheese, but it was otherwise tasty- flaky, with an onion-heavy filling.

The decor is gorgeous- I could move in and feel right at home. Exposed brick wall, distressed wood floors, and an attractive mix of mid-century and traditional-style furniture. Jon noted the aesthetic is reminiscent of Snooze.

The only thing marring our morning? The roomful of screaming children. I felt like I was in some Park Slope-esque circle of hell. I do not mind children in public. I respect that sometimes parents need to get together in an adult space and bring their children. But I also expect them to try to control their children, and not to be selfish fucks who think a coffee shop is an appropriate venue for a playgroup. Screaming ensued. Running ensued. Toy car races down the ramp running the length of the coffee shop ensued. Parental attempts at control most certainly did NOT ensue. Really? There is a park, with a playground, like two blocks away. Come buy your morning coffee, and then go there. I promise your little snowflakes won't wilt in the thirty-degree weather if they are properly dressed.

I don't blame Foam for the irritating swath of humanity we encountered there, and will be back for more tasty coffee in the future. But, for Foam's sake, I hope Saturday morning playgroup is not a regular thing.

Lou Boccardi's on the Hill

For dinner, I had chicken marsala, with a nice side salad and pasta with marinara.

The location was serendipitous- I did a little research this afternoon, trying to find an interesting Italian place we hadn't tried yet, but came up empty. Everything looked either average and run-of-the-mill (key indicators: heavy use of Provel; exceptional reliance on pizzas and toasted ravioli) or intriguing but pricey (small plates; $260 bottles of wine (pdf)). In the end, we just went to the Hill and drove around, and somehow came across delicious Italian magic.

Lou Boccardi's had the lost-in-time feel I like in family-run Italian restaurants. The silver tinsel garlands, Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, and neatly clad waitstaff added to the atmosphere. The menu listed slightly toward the Provel-and-toasted-ravioli end of things, but with one big difference- they did it really, really well. Jon ordered some toasted ravioli as an appetizer, and they were amazingly crispy and chewy and delicious.

The salad was pretty good, a typical iceberg affair with a tomato half, grated Provel, and house Italian vinaigrette. Their other house dressing is "anchovy celery", which Jon tried. It was interesting...it needed more lemon juice or vinegar to cut the fish flavor- and I LIKE anchovies.

The marsala was incredible, but not at all marsala-ey. The sauce looked suspiciously thick and glossy, but it tasted like pure essence of chicken, like the best chicken soup ever. The only thing I can figure is that lots of chicken fat was involved.

The pasta side was the only disappointing part of the meal. The marinara was thick and exceptionally good, but the pasta was seriously overcooked. I don't blame the restaurant, considering no one in St. Louis seems to know the meaning of al dente. It was just a surprise because they were above average in so many other ways.

Pizza at Home

For dinner, I had pizza and a glass of malbec.

Pizza is a great way to get rid of lingering leftovers. Plus, I'd heard good things about Trader Joe's pre-made pizza dough and wanted to try it. I chose the whole wheat dough- my whole grain obsession rears its head once again- and paired it with garlicky, herby olive oil. I'm not a huge fan of tomato sauce. I added some chopped roasted red pepper, black oil-cured olives, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and spicy italian-style chicken sausage.

The toppings were good, and the dough didn't stick to my pizza stone as much as I thought it would. But the dough was barely ok- really dense and grainy. Moreover, it smelled like wet paint when I first removed it from its plastic bag. Too much fermentation? I'm curious to try their white flour dough, but I can make tastier whole-wheat pizza dough at home with my white whole wheat flour.

The malbec was La Finca, also from TJ's, $3.99. There are a lot of gorgeous Argentine malbecs in the $7-10 range, and next time I might just spring for one of them. The La Finca wasn't bad, but it was watery and undistinguished. It reminded me of bad California Pinot Noir.

In other news, I ordered a DSLR. It should arrive tomorrow. I have high hopes for more impressive food photography, and hopefully fewer battery issues. It's used, but 6.2 megapixels is still a step up from 3.1 megapixels.

Pho in St. Louis

For dinner, I had pho and spring rolls.

We went to Pho Long, having heard they make better pho than Pho Grand (they have a website, but it's annoying flash). I need to try them both again to be certain, but I think Grand might be better than Long.

The spring rolls were tasty, but the wrappers were a little dried out. No big deal, but not perfect. The pho was likewise decent. For me, the most important pho component is the broth- it should have very deep flavor, and a clear, non-oily appearance. I prefer a ton of star anise, along with complex, warming spices. Theirs was not as deeply-flavored as Grand's, although their noodles and meat were equally delicious.

In other news, I am excited for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty casual and non-OCD about it, so I just figured out what I'll be making today. Actually, I figured out the sides and dessert. I still have no idea what kind of turkey product I'll be preparing. Jon suggested turducken, and Schnuck's even sells them, but the price tag is not cool- $75. If anyone has a great idea, let me know (also, if anyone in St. Louis wants to come over, please do...we are lonely). Right now, I'm leaning toward a roulade or some kind of modified DIY turducken configuration. Or maybe I'll spatchcock it. Tomorrow, I'll go check out the posh grocery stores and make a decision, then go wine shopping.

The sides? Sweet potato leek gratin with candied bacon topping, assorted cooked greens with bacon, sausage/apple/sage/dried cherry stuffing, and pumpkin gooey butter cake for dessert. The dessert alone requires two sticks of butter. Like I said, exciting.

Tapas en St. Louis

For dinner, we had tapas and sparkling wine.

The impetus was the boquerones (left over from a few months ago) languishing in the fridge, ready to expire in a few weeks.

I paired them with some roasted red peppers from TJ's (at $1.99/jar, they're cheaper than buying and roasting my own), some goat cheese, olives, a sliced baguette, and some homemade garlic alioli.

I hadn't made alioli, or indeed any mayo derivative, in years. Mayo doesn't like me. Usually I use my mini food processor to make it, but I'd forgotten in the intervening years that food processors don't like me, either. My egg yolks lacked volume, to the degree that the food processor's blades couldn't even reach them. I added dijon and copious quantities of lemon juice and garlic, hoping it would help. It didn't. I ended up tilting the food processor precipitously to blend the ingredients, then giving up after adding perhaps three tablespoons of oil. Yes, I know you're supposed to add a ton more, but my heart wasn't in it.

It worked out surprisingly well. My theory is that the excessive quantities of lemon juice I added denatured the egg proteins, causing it to thicken. Although I quit while it was still very runny, it coagulated to a nice consistency relatively quickly.

The sparkling wine was Albero sparkling wine ($4.99) from Trader Joe's. It was a nice complement to the tapas, dry and refreshing but not terribly remarkable. I never drink sparkling wine, but it reminded me of a vinho verde. Maybe I'll have more to say about it once the alioli wear off- I can't taste much after all that garlicky deliciousness.

Edit: also, note that boquerones are not appropriate snacks for pets.


This is Adria, my sweet rescue dog. I let her lick the extra fish oil off the package of boquerones, and she immediately had some respiratory problems. She started wheezing and hacking, and I worried she had a heretofore unknown fish allergy. She mostly recovered, but is still hacking off and on, hours later. We think it was the vinegar. So, don't feed boquerones to your dog.

Revenge of Super-Pancake

*No, I did not get a new camera. I had to get a photo of this, so enlisted my trusty cell phone camera.

For brunch, I had ricotta pancakes and coffee.

I saw the recipe for pancakes earlier this week, but I really hate pancakes, so promptly forgot all about them. Then this morning, I was overcome with a french toast craving, but we'd run out of bread yesterday. Enter the pancake.

I remembered seeing the recipe, and had been wondering what the hell to do with the dozen eggs I bought yesterday anyway (I got them to make kasha, but not even I can eat that much kasha), so it was perfect. I replaced the flour with white whole wheat flour, and the ricotta (which smelled weird) with Greek yogurt.

The recipe was not as time-consuming as I'd feared, but does use an absurd number of kitchen things (three bowls, two kinds of eggbeater wisks, sundry spoons, knives, and spatulas). The painful part was cooking the damn things- between the LOW heat and trying to flip something that fluffy and sticky, I gave up after completing a single one. I spooned the rest of the batter into a parchment-paper-lined cake pan, and baked it for thirty minutes at 350.

I actually haven't tried Super-Pancake, having eaten my experimental stove top-cooked one instead. It was incredibly fluffy and delicious, not at all sour from the yogurt. I'm hoping Super-Pancake tastes as awesome as it looks. If it does, I'd make it again as a great quick-cake sort of recipe, with some maple syrup frosting.

The coffee was also tasty- it was Trader Joe's dark French Roast blend. I'm slowly working my way through all TJ's coffees, which seem to be uniformly good, if not very remarkable.

Salmon Burgers at Home

For dinner, I had a salmon burger with a baked potato and a beer. I also roasted some red peppers, but forgot about them until I was done eating. Maybe breakfast?

The salmon burger came from Dierberg's. Dierberg's is quickly becoming my favorite non-posh grocery store, only because they tend to be pretty average. We live right between several nice neighborhoods and several very, very bad ones (not to glorify crime, but the local paper just came out with this really cool murder map), so most of the local grocery stores vary hugely based on the socio-economic neighborhood they're in. Going to the grocery store has become a sociology dissertation in itself, so sometimes it's nice to just go somewhere and not have to get angry that the one in the "bad" neighborhood has crappy food and the one in the "good" neighborhood has an entire aisle of organic produce.

In any case, my salmon burger was surprisingly tasty. Between copious use of breadcrumbs as filler and its error-riddled instructions (I pity the inexperienced cook out there who believes its "precooked- no cooking required, just re-heat" instruction label), I expected something bready and excessively fishy, but no, it was good.

The potatoes were less successful. One unfortunate side-effect of having a Trader Joe's in town is that I never want to buy any produce items TJ's sells anywhere else, because they're always cheapest at TJ's. I bypassed the cute little dutch creamers for this reason, and ended up with some funky-looking russets instead. Despite my heretofore foolproof methodology (wash, dry, coat with oil and salt, roast on pizza stone for close to an hour), the potatoes smushed into little, oddly sticky chunks when I tried to split them. I added some grated garlic and butter, which made them passable.

In other news, there are no pictures, still. Not (for once) because I'm lazy, but because my camera (a very sad 3.1 megapixel relic from five or six years ago) has finally died. No photos til I get a new one. If anyone has any camera recs, or if you just want to send me the DSLR of my dreams because you love me so much, let me know.

Experimental Ravioli at Home

For dinner, I had some butternut squash ravioli, with a side of (surprise!) butternut squash, and a saison beer to drink.

Mid-afternoon, I decided today was a crazy cooking adventure kind of day. And then I remembered seeing this recipe, except I had a butternut squash to get rid of, not a pumpkin. I've made homemade pasta before, but never ravioli, despite having a mysterious, bulky contraption lying around the house for YEARS that appears to be a ravioli mold. So, I went for it.

I made homemade pasta with semolina flour, three eggs, and a little warm water. It's probably my inability to find 00 flour (I was actually sort of offended that the Whole Foods here doesn't sell bulk semolina flour, instead forcing me to buy an overpriced bag of it courtesy of Bob's Red Mill, but that's another story), but my pasta is always pretty dry and finicky. Despite this, I was able to get it stretched through my pasta machine, then press it into the weird ravioli mold, filled, dried out a bit, and into the water. They turned out deliciously, although the recipe's 3-4 minute cooking time is wildly optimistic. Lucky I like my pasta very, very chewy.

Jon was less thrilled. He dislikes squash, and is miserable every fall when I torture him with the seasonal bounty of new, undiscovered squash varieties. He was especially not thrilled when I decided to serve the remaining squash filling as a side dish. Said filling consisted of roasted, mashed squash, mixed with a little ricotta, brown butter, shallots, nutmeg, and bere bere powder (because one of my cardinal cooking rules is that anything is improved by adding more bere bere); I rationalized that nothing in it made it inappropriate as a side. No slimy raw eggs, for example.

The beer was ok, but not amazing. I am still mourning the loss of New Belgium's Saison (bastards), so I was excited to see that Schlafly, the local large-ish brewery, has released a seasonal saison. It's nicely balanced and appropriately fall-ish, but a little syrupy. More bitter, less molasses please.

Marsala Madness in St. Louis

For dinner, I had chicken marsala, with snow peas and a glass of viognier.

The chicken marsala came from Trader Joe's prepared foods area. Considering our complete apathy toward cooking lately, this was a godsend. And it wasn't bad, exactly. It was just sort of sub-par.

Chicken marsala is not very hard to make. I actually make a mean chicken marsala, and my father-in-law makes an equally delicious, albeit completely different, chicken marsala. Maybe that's the problem; I have an image of chicken marsala in my head: basic, immutable elements of chicken marsala, regardless of specific ingredients, and TJ's just didn't meet it. In my world, it involves Maillard. Theirs reminded me of a very soupy schnitzel, especially the egg-heavy batter that separated from the meat. Jon thought the chicken breasts still had skin on them, the crust was so bizarre and thick. It was edible, but not anything I'd call marsala. I'm surprised they don't at least try to get a little caramelization on their chicken, or reduce their sauce further and compartmentalize it separately from the chicken. They also sell a balsamic-glazed chicken prepared meal, and it somehow manages to have a little sear and a good, not-soupy texture. Maybe TJ's likes soupy chicken marsala. Next time, I'll make my own.

Uncle Bill's in St. Louis

For breakfast, I had pancakes and fried chicken. They were actually leftovers from our post-Halloween party 2am excursion to Uncle Bill's. Uncle Bill's, menu-wise, is St. Louis' Breakfast King, but with a Southern accent rather than a Southwestern one. Decor-wise, it's 1970s faux-English-Countryside...it would've been right at home at Buckingham Plaza pre-redevelopment.

As usual, I had no idea what to order. Too many choices. Then the waitress volunteered that she could make their fried chicken "dinner" (salad, potato) into a "breakfast" (hash browns, eggs, pancakes). Awesomeness ensued. Their food is mostly greasy diner food, and sometimes doesn't succeed at that, but their fried chicken was some of the best I've ever had. Even more amazing? They make it to order. Even at two in the morning.

Food in Denver, Part I

I've been in Denver for the last two weeks- long story short, I own a condo by City Park still, and have been trying to get it rented out after the last (very, very horrible) tenant left. This has given me ample opportunity to revel in yummy Denver food.

I've visited a number of my favorite, and/or nostalgic restaurants:

the Bagel Deli- I finally made it in time for their early bird specials...the beef baken is not as enticing as I'd imagined. And I really miss the classic wood paneling they got rid of years ago. But it's still homey, and I love their garlic bagels with salmon cream cheese.

Rico's- sooo good, and really great prices. I usually go for their veal canelloni. Never tried their pizza, which is apparently what they're known for. But everything is tasty. I missed out on a visit to Romano's this time around, which is another of my favorite neighborhood Italian places.

Oshima Ramen. No commentary, I just love it.

Tommy's Thai. Another great local place. My condo is pretty close, so we'd eat there once a week or so when we lived in town. I'd forgotten all about the chicken soup they serve with meals at lunch- it was just what I needed with the cold weather- and I'm always amazed at how cheap it is, especially at dinner.

Goosetown. Great calzones, good 2am pizza. I usually get their Standard calzone, but tried their veggie this time. It was just as good.

Watercourse. I wasn't even going to go here, but a certain vegetarian acquaintance wouldn't shut up about their chili (which I actually didn't try). I'm impressed by how much they've improved. I've been going there since they opened at the original 13th Street location, and the service has always veered between apathy and suckage. The food has always been good, but too salty and too pricey. The price point is the same, and the salty is not entirely their fault- my favorite item is their Mediterranean Blue Plate Special, which is full of horribly salty things like feta, capers, and olives- but they seem to have toned it down. And our waitress was actually organized, helpful, and had the cutest Southern accent.

I've also eaten at a few new (at least to me) places:

Bender's Brat Haus- I had a krautburger and German potato salad. The burger was really a rich pasty filled with hamburger meat, sauerkraut, and a mysterious creamy cheese sauce. Delicious, but probably horrible for me. I'm not remotely bacon-obsessed, but the potato salad had intriguingly thick and chewy bacon chunks that were awesome. It needed more of the bacon chunks, and more acid, to be truly fabulous.

Ya Ya's. Oy. Their menu items sounded tasty. And their wine list was a huge book, heavy on Spanish wines, which makes me happy. But it was incredibly weird. And, well, it makes complete sense now that I've discovered their other outposts are in Wichita, Little Rock, Kansas City, and St. Louis. It's in the DTC, and a prime business lunch/ladies who lunch sort of place, so I had high expectations. Our server was attentive and friendly, but my orechiette with winter veggies (which said waitress highly recommended) was really lame. The hummus was just ok. The baba ghanoush and the hummus were almost interchangeable. And the waitress took it upon herself to explain to my mother, who lived in a vegetarian commune long before said waitress was born, what baba ghanoush was. It made me cringe. Their decor sort of sucked, too. The styles of food are completely different, but for my money, the best real European dining experience to be had in Denver is at Kinga's on Colfax. I know it's primarily a bar, but their traditional Polish plates are really good, and the atmosphere is legit European.

Lunch at Home

Today for lunch, I had some mac n' cheese and half of a squash.

The mac n' cheese was pretty foul, despite being Annie's. I prefer her white cheddar and shells, but they take forever to make, so I settled for the nasty microwaveable version. I see Annie's makes a whole-wheat version, so in the future I'll eat that instead. I have no guilt about eating anything, regardless of how bad it is for me, as long as it's real food. But white flour is gross.

The squash was much better. I prefer roasting, but opted to microwave today because I was starving. I've recently discovered sweet dumpling squashes, and they are my new favorite. Very substantial, almost meaty, with buttery flavors between pumpkin and acorn squash. They're also adorable!

Jewish Deli in St. Louis

For lunch, I had the soup and sandwich combo from Kopperman's Delicatessen in the Central West End, with an iced tea to drink.

They were out of chopped chicken liver already, so I had a corned beef on rye with spicy mustard.Probably slightly better for me than chicken liver, anyway. The meat for our sandwiches was freshly sliced, and the place was actually sort of posh as delicatessens go. The sandwich was delicious, and the rye was really nice- I usually eat rye only grudgingly, but theirs was flavorful without being heavy.

The soup selection was decent- I had meat-filled kreplach soup, while Jon tried their matzo ball soup. They were on the fluffy side, but not very exciting; to be fair, matzo balls are never exciting for me. They also offer a variety of other soups, along with chili.

The meal was perfect for today's cold and rainy weather, but I'm still on the lookout for a good bagel place. Although Denver's Bagel Deli has mostly average food, I do miss their garlic bagels and lox spread, and their chicken soup. I also miss the kitschy paneling they took out when they remodeled a few years ago, but that's another story.

Crab Cakes at Home

For dinner, I had homemade crab cakes with a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti Sicilian red.

I used the same recipe as last time. The recipe comes from a tiny, poorly copy-edited cookbook labeled "A Taste of Charleston, South Carolina Restaurant Recipes" that we purchased while visiting several years back.

I always follow the recipe rather loosely, especially considering they forgot to include the unit of measurement for the Worcestershire sauce. "1/4" what?!? I stick with this mangled recipe only because it is relatively unadulterated by weird fillers, and because it calls for much less (gloopy, disgusting) mayo than other recipes- 1/2 cup per pound crab. I could just make my own mayo, but it's messy and takes a ton of oil, and I'm lazy sometimes.

The crab cake mixture tasted boring this time, so I quadrupled the amount of hot sauce called for. I was using Louisiana Hot Sauce, which proved to be overpoweringly distinctive. Not bad, but next time I'll try using Marie Sharp's. I suspect its citrusy undertones would yield a less obtrusive heat.

I was also slightly disappointed with my crab. I used canned crab from Trader Joe's, which was about $8 for a pound; previously, I used canned crab from Costco for about $12/pound. It could be completely random, but there were no stray shells in my Costco crab and a TON in TJ's.

Overall, it wasn't bad, and relatively quick and easy to make. The Sicilian wine I had with it was the 2006 Fourplay- a blend of four traditional Sicilian grapes (including my much-loved Nero d'Avola). It was, predictably, a little heavy for this meal, but I had been dying to try it after I found it at the (awesome) local Italian market and couldn't wait. It's a nice, slightly tannic wine, with candied fruit undertones, but it could have a little more structure- it seemed to wilt after a few hours of air.

Italian Beef in St. Louis

For lunch, I had half an Italian beef sandwich and "Italian broccoli slaw", with an iced tea to drink. The location was Adriana's on the Hill, an Italian sandwich shop in the old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, The Hill.

I've never had two Italian beef sandwiches that taste the same. Jon is from Chicago, so he is very picky about his Italian beefs. His favorite outside of Chicago is at Chicago in Denver. I am not a fan of Chicago's Italian beef, instead preferring the olive oil-soaked version from Fontano's. A quick read of the wiki confirms that Italian beef is in the eye of the beholder; Jon scoffed at today's sandwich because it contained cheese, but it appears that this isn't necessarily verboten.

In any case, this Italian beef was pretty tasty, despite its lack of Chicago street cred. The beef was on the bland, lean side, with roasted red and yellow peppers, Provel cheese, and a sparse coat of olive oil and au jus, on dense sub bread flecked with sesame seeds. The bread lacked chewiness, and the cheapskate in me is bothered that Adriana's charges extra for au jus, but no major complaints. I ordered the lunch special, so my half-sandwich came with slaw. I've never seen anything like it, and am still not clear on what, exactly, it was. I suspect it's not very unusual, but I am working on a decades-long hatred of slaws, so it was new to me. I think it consisted of pickled, julienned broccoli stems with red onions, shredded carrots, italian seasoning, and a ton of salad oil. Its great potential was drowned by said salad oil, but the concept was interesting.

Indian Food at Home

For dinner, I had awadhi aloo mutter with basmati rice and tofu. I also had some kale on the side and a walnut, chocolate, and butterscotch chip cookie for dessert.

Aloo mutter is potatoes and peas seasoned with turmeric, coriander, and chili powder. This particular one was vacuum-packed from Kohinoor. We've had them sitting around for years, and are trying desperately to eat them all before they expire. Unfortunately, the one I ate tonight expired in April. It was so spicy, I couldn't tell. The basmati (thank you, rice cooker) and soft tofu made it more interesting, and blunted the heat a little.

The kale was prepared using this recipe I couldn't wait to try. Baking the kale at such intense heat has the effect of oven-frying the leaves into delicious garlicky bar snacks. It's simple and awesome, but beware: it makes eating a pound of kale in one sitting very, very easy.

Finally, the cookies. After much internet soul-searching and cookbook-scouring, I decided to go retro and use the famous Toll House recipe printed on the bag of chocolate chips, which I hadn't made in perhaps fifteen years. I balked at the cup of butter and teaspoon of salt it contained, and compromised by baking only half a batch. A moment of weakness befell me at the grocery store, so I had a bag of butterscotch chips to contend with as well. Butterscotch chips are synthetic little blobs of vegetable fat (in this case, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil), but I have sick nostalgia for them. I ended up using this butter/oil blend instead of all butter, white whole wheat flour (my new favorite thing) instead of ordinary flour, and a blend of chocolate and butterscotch chips, along with walnut pieces. The cookies turned out perfectly, but I never realized quite how bad Toll House's recipe is for you.

Pursuant to my grocery store critiques: today I went to Schnucks (yes, Schnucks), the local grocery store. Their veggie selection was as good as, or better than, both Whole Foods AND Trader Joe's. Also cheaper. Also approximately the same amount of organics. I'd love to know why WF here can't seem to find decent produce in this town. From now on, I'll be making the trek to Schnucks for produce, at least until I find a good Mexican grocery store a la Avanza.

The bonus? When I was accosted by a woman in the checkout line about the squash I was buying- how much she loves it, asking me for cooking tips. She came across as sweet, if overly friendly and a little eccentric, until I looked into her shopping cart. 2pm, and her only purchase was a very large bottle of vodka. Interesting.

Tapas in St. Louis

For dinner, I had some homemade tapas, with a tinto de verano.

The idea came from today's trip to Whole Foods- my first here in St. Louis. I was hoping for a wider variety of produce than Trader Joe's, and was somewhat disappointed. In any case, they were having a sale on vinegar-cured anchovies (aka boquerones) that I couldn't pass up, so I decided to go for tapas.

First, I need to pontificate about tinto de verano, aka "tinto verano". It's crappy Spanish red wine mixed with European Fanta, or whatever facsimile one can find in the U.S. The idea is to find something with at least 8% real orange juice (EuroFanta does, American Fanta does not), and mix it in 1:3 or 1:2 proportions with red wine. It's supposed to be cold and refreshing, and not terribly sweet. It's brilliant, and I love it, but no one in the U.S. seems to know what it is. Outside of the 9th Door in Denver, I've never been to an American tapas place that has even heard of it. Waiters and bartenders look at me like I'm crazy. Granted, it took more than a month living in Spain before I heard of it, and most American tapas places are in it for marketing rather than a passion for Spanish food, but still. It's too simple and yet delicious to remain unknown.

In any case, I made my tinto with Condesa de Sarabella 2007, a grenache I found at Trader Joe's for $6. It was good enough to drink alone, but I made my tinto anyway, mixing it with some "Club Orange" soda from Ireland I found at the Global Market a few days ago.

In addition to the boquerones, I roasted some red peppers and topped them with goat cheese, and marinated some mushrooms in a garlic and wine broth. It made for an interesting and relatively easy dinner.

Ful at Home

For lunch, I had ful mudammas, some miniature heirloom tomatoes, and greek yogurt with pomegranate syrup.

The ful has been sitting around in the pantry through two moves, so I figured this was a good time to finally eat it. To clarify, ful (pronounced "fool", also spelled "foul") is an Egyptian breakfast/lunch item made from fava beans cooked with olive oil and spices to the preferred degree of mushiness, served with pita. The ful I had on hand was simply canned favas pre-seasoned for ful. I'd never tried canned ful before, and quickly decided the seasonings were too sweet. To remedy this, I mixed in about a teaspoon of sumac. When that wasn't sufficient, I added several huge pinches of Ethiopian berbere powder I had lying around, along with a little olive oil. The result was interesting and a little spicy. If I'd wanted to make a pita, my Greek yogurt probably would've been a nice contrast to add.

Instead, I prepared the Greek yogurt with my favorite obscure condiment, pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate molasses is just pomegranate juice, cooked down into a thick syrup for use in cooking, but the flavor is like the best tart, bright, earthy, fruity candy you can imagine. Really tart. The effect is similar to passion fruit puree, with a less acidic finish. It's excellent over yogurt or ice cream, and I've even used it to successfully sweeten olive oil & oatmeal cookies. It's one of my favorite snacks that's vaguely healthy yet delicious.

Spaghetti at Home

Tonight for dinner, I had whole-wheat spaghetti with red sauce, arugula, vegetarian Italian "sausage", and some leftover Nero d'Avola.

All of the components were better together. I was particularly happy with the veggie sausage from Trader Joe's. I used it in the other night's pizza, and was thoroughly unimpressed, but here the pasta sauce disguised its texture so effectively I could *almost* pretend it was real. The sauce was TJ's "rustico" sauce, chosen for its imported Italian tomatoes. I know that sounds snobby, but I really can tell the difference, and I prefer the Italian ones for their lower acidity and more plummy, round flavors. This particular sauce had the mellow acidity I like, but was quite overshadowed by red pepper flavors when eaten alone- which I do, often, as a weird snack. So it was a nice surprise to discover that the whole-wheat pasta and arugula (which I mixed into the sauce) balanced the sweet pepper flavors perfectly.

A note on Trader Joe's. I had never seen one before moving here, despite wishing for one for the last five or so years. I had expected something resembling a Whole Foods- a traditional grocery store model, turned organic- but cheaper. TJ's, with its emphasis on prepared food components, pre-made meals, and house-brand staples, is not at all what I expected, but I'm still finding its presence has completely supplanted my Whole Paycheck fixation. I haven't set foot in the local Whole Foods in my entire month here, even though it's less than a mile from TJ's. It just seems TJ's has almost everything I'd want from that sort of grocery store, and other things are best purchased at the ordinary market. My only complaint so far is that, while TJ's makes a delicious-looking array of granolas, NONE of them have less than 10g of sugar per serving. I hate sugary cereals. Otherwise, good job TJ's.

Pizza in St. Louis

For dinner, I had quasi-homemade St. Louis-style pizza with arugula and red wine.

First, let me digress to point out how ridiculous this article is, particularly in light of its title. More than anything, I think the technique of cooking has been lost. We don't need more recipes, we need explanations and education. Good cookbooks teach technique. If you buy all your cookbooks for recipes alone, perhaps the problem is yours and not the cookbook's. Moreover, if you are a new cook scared off cooking completely by Julia Child's lengthy, detailed recipes (rather than, say, finding a less onerous cookbook), perhaps you are the problem.

So, dinner. I have a fondness for Chef Boyardee's pizza kits which predates both the presence of a Trader Joe's (hello pre-made pizza dough) and also my own extensive pizza-dough-making capabilities. Dates, actually, to the mid-Eighties. Thanks, mom.

The pizza kit, if you are not familiar, consists of a box with crust mix, can of tomato sauce, and Kraft parmesan cheese. It's maybe $2-3 at your local non-posh grocery store. My camera battery died, again, so no photos. The idea is to mix the crust mix with hot water, mix, let rise a few minutes, press into pan, decorate, and bake.

My cooking proclivities, much like Julia Child's cookbook, are not that simple. I modified the process by actually kneading the (very sticky) crust mix, and using olive oil to keep it from sticking. I wanted to use my pizza stone to cook it, but lacked a pizza peel to transfer it into the oven without incident. I improvised by patting the dough out onto the underside of a pan lid, then flipping it upside down over the (pre-heated) pizza stone and peeling it off. I then topped the dough with Trader Joe's rustic pasta sauce (better than the crap tomato goo it comes with), cheese, and vegetarian Italian "sausage", and put the stone back in the oven. Speaking of cheese, St. Louis has its very own pizza cheese. Provel is a processed cheese blend of swiss, white cheddar, and provolone. It melts into a gooey, smoky, buttery mess reminiscent of really, really good spray cheese. Useful but plasticky. Kind of like Velveeta, but tastier. The pizza turned out well...the sausage wasn't quite dry, crispy, or flavorful enough to truly imitate Italian sausage, but it wasn't bad for soy protein, and the pizza stone created a nice crust. The arugula salad nicely balanced the processed cheese's sweetness, and the wine (Nero d'Avola, $6, Trader Joe's) was very jammy, if a little too sweet. Not bad.

Amighetti's on the Hill

Sorry for the long absence. We just moved to St. Louis. More on that in a minute.

I know I promised a dissection of Feast's tasting menu, and I don't want to denigrate the (very good) food they serve by not discussing it in-depth, but it's already been covered by a number of good food writers- notably Frank Bruni and Food in Houston. I don't have a lot to add. The tasting menu was reasonably priced, with absurdly large (Texas-sized?) portions of each course. I had never visited an offal restaurant before, so every course held new and intriguing flavors for me. The pork rillons were particularly delicious, but my favorite course was the onion roasted inside crispy, seasoned chicken skin. So simple, but amazingly good.

On to St. Louis. I am (perhaps irrationally) VERY excited at the food possibilities in this town. My biggest complaint about Houston food last year was the lack of home-style, cheap Italian food, where they're at least cool enough to make their own pasta, along the lines of Denver's Romano's or Angelo's. Here in St. Louis, there is an entire neighborhood of Italian food. So far, I have tried Cunetto; the atmosphere and prices were good, but the food merely okay. I had the pasta with olive oil, garlic butter, and anchovies, and, although the sauce was nearly perfect, the pasta was quite overcooked.

Today for lunch, I had the lasagna at Amighetti's, even though I knew they are known for their sandwiches. My mistake. The portion size made it an excellent value, but it tasted like something I could have made at home without a recipe. I chose the full portion (under $7) rather than their "side" portion (under $5), figuring it would be meal-size, but it was more like three meals. Jon and I just ate the leftovers with an arugula salad and $5 nero d'avola (thank you, Trader Joe's) for dinner. For the record, Jon (who is food-apathetic, but a huge sandwich connoisseur) had their famous "Special Sandwich" at lunch and was unimpressed. Not bad, but I'll explore the other sandwich places on the Hill before returning.

Summer Food Adventures

Today for breakfast, I had iced coffee and a guava bar from Inversion Coffee.

I've been on a search this summer for the best iced coffee in Houston, and Inversion has tied for first with Dirk's. Dirk's is the Dietrich's across from the University of St.Thomas, inexplicably re-branded, and which some internet sources claim is a front for Starbuck's...which puzzles me, because Starbuck's iced coffee is beyond awful.

But I digress. Both shops have excellent iced coffee; Dirk's is incredibly mild, with chocolate/caramel flavors, while Inversion's is more acidic and robust. They tie because their coffees are both excellent, but completely different.

I also like Inversion for their guava bars- buttery cake-like bars with a quarter-inch thick layer of guava paste sandwiched in the middle. They're unique, and delicious.

So, where have I been?
Vacationing in rural New England and Washington, DC.



This is the lobster shack we visited, it's just past Two Lights State Park outside of Portland, ME. Sorry for the photo wonkiness, that's what happens when you drop your camera in the sand at the beach. It has since recovered.

I had a lobster roll plate for about $15, which consisted of lobster chunks on the typical split-top roll (for anatomy of a lobster roll, this site is a good primer), with a side of fries and coleslaw, and a strange, jam-filled cookie for dessert. It was good, and the view was awesome:



Another delicious meal of note was from Jonathon's Seafood Restaurant in North Conway, NH. I had the baked scallops lunch, which came with a nice salad, for about $10. The scallops were cooked perfectly, not at all dry or tough, and drowned in butter. So yummy. Jonathon's is a nondescript local place my NH family visits regularly; apparently, it was just sold to a new owner, but the food has gotten better, not worse. The waitstaff were all very sweet (despite the glass of water that ended up in my lap...), and the fish counter they run on the side looked delicious and inexpensive. I'd go back in a second.

My time in DC was more frenetic. I was looking for an apartment, thinking we'd move there for Jon's grad school, but we've since decided on school in St. Louis, so the whole thing was moot. I didn't have time to seek out interesting food, but I managed to eat some delicious things anyway.

I stayed with some friends in DC who have recently become vegetarian; their cooking is always interesting and delicious, influenced by the years they lived in Hungary. My dinner with them consisted of red sweet peppers and jalapenos, stuffed with kasha, brown rice, and a variety of seasonings, with a side of veggies and some red wine (maybe a garnacha?) from Spain's Rioja region. It was the perfect light summery dinner. I'm skeptical of most vegetarians (only because most use it as an excuse to load up on simple carbs, to cover up an eating disorder, or both), but this meal reflected the potential vegetarianism holds for people who know how to cook and know what they're doing. Well played, Stephanie.

My other interesting DC meal was Ethiopian food from Meskerem, in Adams-Morgan. I had missed Ethiopian food fiercely since leaving Denver last year. There is supposedly one Ethiopian place here in Houston, but we haven't been, and the menu sounds more soul food-ish than truly Ethiopian.

My friend and I debated going to Zed's in Georgetown instead, but reviews were mixed and this place sounded more our style. Definitely made the right choice- the atmosphere was far less stuffy, the food was perfect, and it was much cheaper than Zed's. We first ordered a bottle of honey wine and beef- and chicken-filled sambusas, which I'd never had before and sort of resembled samosas. They oozed grease, but in the best possible sense. The honey wine was also a new experience- I'd ordered it in Denver and truly hated it. The wine there always tastes vinegary and overly sweet, though I have no idea where it is from, or why it tastes so awful. This wine was produced in California in the style of Ethiopian honey wine, and was much, much better- semi-dry, with a light, lingering honey flavor, and reasonably priced at $22/bottle.

Our entrees were kitfo and special tibs. We ordered the kitfo raw, which was spicy and incredibly delicious. Just thinking about it gives me a massive kitfo craving; I'd had it before, but it was never anywhere near this amazing. The tibs were a little disappointing- my usual Ethiopian order is key wot, and Jon usually gets the special tibs. I wanted to try something different from what I usually get, so I settled on the tibs. They were tough and bland, and reminded me why I usually don't get them.

Last night, we finally ate at Feast here in Houston. I'm still pondering that experience, but will post on it in a few days.

Indian Nachos at Home

For lunch, I had a big bowl of mango dal with butter beans and tortilla chips.

We've had a bunch of vacuum-packed Indian meals sitting in the corner of our kitchen for months; one of the Indian groceries in town had a huge sale, and we completely forgot they were there.



I've used all my cool HMart groceries, and we're going to New Orleans this weekend, so I didn't want to buy more. Moreover, we are moving in August, and I have a pantry full of things I don't want to have to move. Butter beans looked more appetizing than the corn (Jon has a canned corn addiction), black beans, "okra and tomatoes" (wtf? also a Jon thing), sardines, or fruit cocktail.



I've wanted to try the mango dal forever. It looked too substantial for a side dish, but not enough for a meal, so it's been sitting around for months. I decided to mix it with the beans and see what happened.



It looked repulsive. The little black dots in the mixture are coriander seeds, and the color was akin to Kraft Mac n' Cheese. Mango was the primary ingredient in the dal, but mango flavor was completely absent. It tasted instead like a very spicy hummus. I ended up dipping tortilla chips in the mixture, for a different yet tasty lunch. It would have been better with a little melted cheese on top, but we only have Kraft parmesan in the refrigerator. I can desecrate many things with sprinkle cheese, but Indian food is going a little far.

Guinea Pig Weekend

No, I did not eat cuy this weekend- Jon would never forgive me...

Our friend Charlie bought a smoker, and wanted to get the hang of using it by experimenting with different meats and smoking chips. We were very, very happy guinea pigs all weekend long.

Friday night, he smoked chicken breasts, bratwurst, and some sort of spicy crawfish sausage, all from Pete's Fine Meats. I've always noticed the shop, but never checked it out. My mistake. It all took about two hours to cook in the smoker with some relatively light chips (peach and pecanwood, I think), and turned out great. We supplemented it with beans, potato salad, and a wide variety of Mexican and American beers.

Charlie's Saturday project was baby back ribs. He rubbed them with a pretty typical spice blend- brown sugar, salt, chili powder, and some other stuff- then let them smoke for hours on end in mesquite and hickory. He finished them with some honey bbq sauce at the end. Best ribs EVER. They were nice and crispy-sweet, with incredibly tender meat inside. I could hardly stop myself from eating the bones.

That dinner was accompanied by the same sides, more beer, and some ice cream I made. It was loosely based on this recipe for brown sugar & sour cream ice cream. I really wanted to make creme fraiche ice cream, but creme fraiche was super-pricey, and I mistakenly thought I could make it with sour cream. Turns out, creme fraiche is buttermilk + cream, NOT buttermilk + sour cream. Hence, the weird ice cream. I added a pound's worth of pureed and strained strawberries to the recipe, along with a little corn syrup. I froze the blend in my ice cream maker, then left it in the freezer for almost three hours. Happily, it didn't over-freeze (the sour cream probably helped; more fat=softer ice cream). It was refreshing and delicious, but tasted like frozen yogurt because of the tangy sour cream.

My biggest mistake of the weekend was not bringing my camera- we had a lot of fun, and it was so very Texas. I'm sad I don't have photos of Charlie, in his "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt and UT hat, tending the smoker. Maybe next time. I like being a food guinea pig...

Leftovers

Mmmm, skate.


Skate, as I learned this afternoon, is a stingray-like creature. I bought some yesterday at the H-Mart because it was a nice compromise between the boring fish (tilapia) and the weird/scary seafood (snails, monkfish heads, LIVE tilapia), and I remembered my Bouchon cookbook has a few skate recipes in it.

This afternoon, went to cook it, only to be overwhelmed by ammonia. Considerable internet research allowed me to conclude that it (*probably*) won't kill me, and that soaking it in lemon for an hour will help.

In the meantime, a little food blogging about things Gen ate in the recent past:

[EDIT: skate=fail. It cooked beautifully, and I was so excited to try it. I'd sauteed some oyster mushrooms in butter rather than follow Keller's recipe, and it made a nice sauce. I lifted the first forkful of fishy goodness, and was (again) overcome by the smell of ammonia I thought I'd eradicated. It was too strong for even me to try. Lunch was sauteed mushrooms, boo.]


Crab.

This is the leftovers of a fabulous meal I made from scratch on Sunday. Homemade crabcakes on arugula with some goat cheese. I also made lemon-goat cheese biscuits (not pictured) as an adaptation of the biscuit recipe from my new cookbook, Beard on Bread. They froze really well.

Also in recent eating news:

Dolmades

Being the weirdo I am, I had this for breakfast a few days ago. Vegetarian dolmades from Phoenecia, with arugula and a poached egg. Like most normal people, I suck at poaching eggs. I was excited about the concept, dreaming of velvety poached eggs from brunches past, only to fail, again. I followed the procedure described in my circa-1960s Joy of Cooking, but got only watery egg drop soup. I tried again, with slightly better results, but had to fish slippery egg chunks out of the pot for my salad.

Finally, Mai's. I was really annoyed with their refusal to let me try anything interesting on the menu the last time I went, so it had been months since we'd visited. They did it again. I almost walked out when the waiter refused to let me order the salty limeade I wanted. We argued for several minutes, and he finally relented. I LOVED it- it tasted like lemon-lime Gatorade, or maybe Mountain Dew, but made with real juices. Sooo good after a hot day in the sun. After seeing me enjoy it, our waiter didn't even blink when I ordered the jellyfish salad.


It was the PERFECT summer food. I'd been craving jellyfish for weeks (I'm not kidding- it's actually delicious), and it was very different from the Chinese-style jellyfish salad I was used to, but it was awesome. It had jellyfish, tons of crunchy veggies, peanuts, spicy sauce, and fresh fried shrimp crackers. So now I actually like Mai's. But I wonder how much more business they would get if they would let their waiters let customers be adventurous without a fight.

Desperately Missing the Mediterranean

Tonight, I had sardines and baked eggplant for dinner, with a glass of Lebanese wine to drink.

I've been wanting seafood-heavy Mediterranean dishes for weeks now. I didn't discuss it here, but I had an unfortunate baby squid cooking incident a few weeks ago- basically, I was at the local Korean market, and they were handing out samples of the baby squid that was on special. The woman cooking made them taste amazing...even though I hate squid. It was awesome. So I bought two pounds of baby squid, and attempted to recreate it. Did not go well. Squid carnage:


I should have learned my lesson about non-traditional protein sources and ethnic markets, but no. Today, I found myself out at Phoenicia, the amazing market whose name I still cannot spell without help, again. I've been eying their fish for a long time. They sell inexpensive, underrated, but fabulous fish such as sardines, smelt, and the like. I bought a pack of large six sardines. They're perhaps six or seven inches long whole. I assumed they'd been gutted, but I got a fun surprise upon my return home...

I used to fish with my grandfather, but he always killed and gutted the fish for me. I dredged up whatever I remember from those experiences, plus the knowledge I've acquired from my habit of using cookbooks as leisure reading, and commenced the carnage. It was pretty gross, but logical. I always thought the fish blood and guts had to be removed quickly after death to prevent spoilage, so I hope I don't get ill.

I dusted their little carcasses with flour, and pan-fried them in a butter/olive oil blend. They turned out fine, but the little bones were distracting, and the cooking method added to their fattiness.

To complete the Mediterranean experience, I roasted some eggplant slices with Parmesan cheese. I was so overwhelmed with foodie joy at the visit to Phoenicia that I failed to actually plan for the eggplant, so my dish was rather sad- just cheese and eggplant. And the cheese? Let's just say that my cooking adventures have taught me Kraft sprinkle cheese is far more versatile than one would think.

The wine was also pretty good. It is labeled "Petit Noir", from Cave Kouroum in Lebanon, about $7/bottle.I'm not sure if "Petit Noir" is Lebanese for "Pinot Noir"? Google isn't helping, but it tastes heavier than a Pinot to me. It's also darker in color. Not bad, just a very dry, fruity red.

More Denver Food. Plus: Snotty College Students Ruin My Coffee

One of the new places I was excited to try was this place. Denver has a lot of unexpectedly good fast ethnic food places- notably Tokyo Joe's- but Indian fast food fell flat. Bombay Bowl offers a variety of bowl options for proteins, sauces, toppings, and sides. There is something to be said for a fast-casual place that will dump tons of steamed veggies on your food, but it's Indian food like Fazoli's is Italian food- not as appalling as Taco Bell's interpretation of Mexican food, but bad. I ordered a tofu bowl with veggies and korma sauce, with a side of naan and a mango lassi. The korma was very thin and depressing. I'd also ordered some vindaloo sauce on the side after the person working couldn't adequately describe to me how hot it was. It wasn't. At all. The crispy bread resembled Native American fry bread more than naan, but tasted good, and the lassi was nice. Unfortunately, India imports some very tasty vaccuum-packed dinners that taste far better and are far cheaper, so I won't be back.

I also had lots of coffee. I love Pablo's. We were regulars, and haven't been able to find any coffee consistently on par with Pablo's here in Houston, so many visits were necessary. They have good pastries and bagels, too. Everyone who works there and hangs out there is strange, but in the normal coffee shop sort of way. It is the natural habitat for such regulars as the barista with a huge breastplate tattoo; the ponytailed guy who moodily doodles in his journal with Prismacolors; the middle-aged man with not-quite-ironic black nerd glasses and a pseudo-intellectual entourage; the college professors and their very hip three-year-old kid...I love it. I walked into Stella's- which serves coffee made with Pablo's beans- on a whim, however, and it was downright scary. The place is huge, for an independent coffee shop, and no one, in any of the six or seven rooms was talking. We walked outside, and there was another group talking very quietly, so we chose to sit out on the patio. We proceeded to have a very enjoyable, but loud, three-hour conversation, while everyone openly stared at our table. We got some seriously dirty looks on our way out, even though we were sitting outside. My friend thought they might be DU students in the middle of finals preparation, but that's no excuse. If talking bothers you, maybe you should be studying at the library. Stella's demographic was decidedly less hipster than Pablo's, but I'll take my coffee shop weirdos over Stella's stuck-up DU students any day.

Denver Food

I went to Denver last week. Among the highlights were:

-A huge Greek omelet from Pete's Gyros Place on Colfax. Pretty tasty Greek diner food- a huge omelet filled with feta, tomato, and gyros, with a side of hash browns, pita, and tzatziki for dipping. The coffee was a little off, but I'd missed the huge platters, career waitresses, and typically charming Colfax atmosphere. I also like the Greek bakery two doors down, Omonia.

-Graham cracker ice cream from Lik's. I had a bizarre craving for their "Tabasco" flavor, but they didn't have any. They did have a "Caramel Cayenne" flavor that tasted similar, so maybe it's replaced Tabasco. In any case, the graham cracker ice cream was compelling- finely ground graham crackers and hard toffee chunks. The combination was unique, but the flavors played off each other really well. Lik's seems to specialize in creating subtle flavors that one wouldn't think work well together (ie, Tabasco, peanuts, and caramel), but do. Another favorite is their Guinness ice cream, which combines Guinness, caramel, and chocolate. The flavors are subtle, but perfect.

-South Central II. I eat at a lot of restaurants with strange, nondescript names. Maybe it's because they're the best. SCII is a hole-in-the-wall Greek place across from Swedish Hospital in Englewood, with haphazard decor that hasn't been updated in decades. I am in love with the atmosphere, their food, and the fact that the waitress still recognizes me after a year away- she even still remembers we always get iced tea, and that my mother wants pink sugar with hers. Most of their daily specials are wonderful- the roast lemon chicken with potatoes and the lamb and noodles come to mind. They come with a tangy Greek salad and addictive homemade bread for about $8. We went on Monday, when the special is a weird-sounding pasta salad. As much as I adore them, it sounded boring, so I went with the vegetarian moussaka instead, which was delicious but incredibly rich. It had caramelized layers of eggplant on top of scalloped potatoes, covered with Bearnaise sauce and a noodly sort of layer on top. The homemade bread and salad were awesome, as usual.

-Mole de Pollo from the original La Fogata (don't be put off by their slightly cheesy website). The plate consisted of shredded chicken doused with homemade Mole sauce, tortillas, beans, and rice. It was good, but not as amazing as usual. Perhaps they stopped making their own sauce, or maybe they had a bad day.

-Sesame chicken at Palace Chinese Restaurant. This is the sort of restaurant I loved as a kid and now sort of hate. Super-formal dining room and service, really predictable Americanized (ie, inoffensive) menu. I'd had a craving for jellyfish salad, but my family took me here instead of the sort of Chinese restaurant that would actually have jellyfish on the menu. On the good side, their menu claims to have the "Best Sesame Chicken in Denver" and they actually do. Ultra-crispy, with a light and crunchy coating of batter, and a sticky coating of sugary sesame sauce.

More highlights next week, including the weird fast-casual Indian food that made me sick, creepy coffee shops, Denver's ugliest house, Polish food, gooey buns, Cajun food, and the tragic Ethiopian food failure.

Salad isn't always awful

For dinner, I had a summery salad with pizza. They were both from Whole Foods' prepared section. Maybe Whole Foods should hire me to blog for them, it seems like I don't eat anywhere else...

The pizza was ok. It was a personal pizza with goat cheese, mozzarella, and sun-dried tomatoes. I am quite possibly the least observant person alive, so I was halfway through my pizza when I fully realized why it tasted 'different' from normal- I usually get it with fresh tomatoes, not sun-dried. Not a fan of sun-dried tomatoes- too sweet, and they're usually dry and gummy. These were no exception, but I could deal with them.

The salad, however, was fabulous. I wanted a veggie to go with my pizza, and the asparagus-mozzarella-fennel salad looked interesting. I was put off at first by the fact that they used all the stalky chunks of asparagus they probably had leftover from making their roasted asparagus spears. I should probably be happy to see them using their produce efficiently, but god knows what their profit margins are on the $11.99 roasted asparagus already- why must they compound it by putting the leftover stalks into my ($9.99/lb) salad? In any case, the stalks were not woody, as I'd feared, and the salad was perfectly balanced- bright and acidic, with lemon and shallot. It was a little heavy on the onion, and they could've perhaps blanched the fennel to make it less mouth-numbing, but the overall effect was happy and sunny.

Polenta and Honey

For breakfast, I had hot polenta cereal at Empire Cafe.

I've always seen it on their menu and wondered what it was like. I've only had polenta a few times- covered in butter and salt, it's lovely, but otherwise not a favorite. Plus, virtually anything covered in butter is good. But polenta-as-breakfast, covered in honey and almonds, sounded very interesting.

It was a little goopy and gloppy, in the same way that grits are sometimes gloppy. Almost like they've mixed in a little egg. The polenta was pretty dull, but the honey creme drizzled on top was fabulous. The almonds should have been toasted, and there should have been more of both. It was served dry, so I trotted over to their self-service coffee area and sloshed maybe a quarter cup of whole milk over the top. Much better.

In other news, the wine I had with dinner (baked salmon with horseradish butter)smells like peanut butter. As soon as I opened it, I was seriously confused. Upon reflection, the peanut butter scent is mixed with strong, wet mineral and pine notes. It's the Petit Caprice 2007 vin d'pays. Very tannic Grenache/Syrah blend. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. I always find it intriguing when wines (usually French wines) have an unusual scent or flavor. It didn't go with my salmon very well, but it's fun to puzzle through a wine every now and then that's not "drinkable" in the ordinary sense.

Fusarium Venenatum

Tonight for dinner, I ate something I am ashamed to love. The food that grosses me out the most for being disturbingly fake and over-processed is not factory farmed chicken, or Little Debbie snack cakes, or McDonald's. It is Quorn. But God, is it good.

Quorn is frozen mycoprotein- basically, fungus grown in a lab and mixed with egg whites and natural caramel color. I'm disgusted by the concept, and if you have ANY mushroom allergies whatsoever you should not go near it. But it is, hands down, the best meat substitute I have ever tried. And I've tried them all. Tonight, I took their ground beef substitute, thawed it in the microwave, mixed it with some leftover pasta sauce and Kraft sprinkle cheese, heated, and poof- a meatloafish dinner. Quorn by itself is a little dry, but mixed into sauces is completely indistinguishable from beef. What I ate tonight would have been amazing over spaghetti or gnocchi.

I think I would be less freaked out by mycoprotein if it weren't quite so good for you. But no, it is incredibly low-calorie, and very high in fiber and protein. It's like a disturbingly engineered superfood from space. It also comes in different textures- I keep their fake grilled chicken patties in the freezer, too. They are a little dry (again, sauce is your friend), but the inner texture is exactly like chicken. I don't know how they do it. But I'm a little scared.

Hamburger Fail

No, I actually didn't have a hamburger for lunch.

I've been wanting to try this place for months. Jon had gone a few months back with friends, and raved about how yummy it was. Good god, they make their own hamburger buns, it has to be good. I told him he was sort of lame for not inviting me, but as long as he brought me next time, whatever. It's in an inconvenient location unless we're already downtown, so it's not the sort of place I'd think to go on my own.

Did I mention my darling husband went years without eating red meat, refuses to grill (that's my domain), and regularly eats tofu for dinner? I am the rabid carnivore around here. So one can imagine how thrilled I was this afternoon, after my meal of thawed frozen edamame and a smoothie grabbed on the run, to discover where Jon ate lunch. Again.

I think this qualifies as hamburger fail.

As for MY lunch, meh. Frozen edamame is surprisingly resilient, and I melted a huge pat of butter on top. I'd enjoy anything with that much butter on it. The smoothie came from Jamba Juice, and was possibly the worst smoothie I've ever had there. I love Jamba Juice, but this one was located in a Whole Foods and staffed, er, poorly. They did not have a functional cash register, so when I ordered, the woman wrote a UPC on a slip of paper and sent me off to pay in the grocery line. I was too flustered to remember to tell the woman what sort of vitamin boost I wanted, so I don't think I got one. Or perhaps I did get a protein boost, because the resulting smoothie had that nasty, chalky protein flavor I hate. Also undertones of very spoiled bananas. Yuck.

Smorgasboard for Lunch

Today for lunch, I had a little bit of everything- some steak, some quasi-chicken picatta, green beans, scalloped potato casserole, a roll, a brownie, and some iced tea.

All this culinary excitement was caused by a CLE (continuing lawyer education) course at school. Turns out, lawyers demand better food than the pizza-or-Chipolte conundrum faced by student organizations. I was very surprised at the good quality of food, particularly the steak and the potato casserole. The steak was a perfect medium rare and tender, individually hand-sliced by some poor catering guy. The potatoes tasted like some little old Southern lady's home cooking. The potato flavor was prominent and woodsy, with perhaps six pounds of butter and cheese melted in between the layers...I could eat that for weeks. Everything else was just ok; the chicken picatta was pretty sad, although I was impressed they actually put capers in it (and red pepper? weird). The brownies were clearly not from Chick-Fil-A, but tasted like they were. It was a nice meal, and an interesting afternoon diversion, mortgage crisis lecture notwithstanding.

Ravioli at Home

Tonight for dinner, I had some red pepper ravioli in a garlic butter sauce with a glass of rosé.

I didn't really know what I wanted for dinner, so I wandered aimlessly around Central Market looking for ideas. I came across some yummy-looking clams at their seafood counter, and started planning for pappardelle with clam sauce. Their seafood counter was grossly understaffed. I waited several minutes, only to discover that they were not utilizing their take-a-ticket system and it was line-jumping anarchy. I was seriously annoyed, so kept wandering. I found the papardelle, grabbed some wine, and looped back around to seafood, as I hadn't found anything else I really wanted for dinner. The congestion was actually worse. I found it interesting that twenty or so people were clogging the seafood counter, while the meat counter had exactly one customer. Usually it's the opposite. Maybe all the Texans need a warm-weather respite from all the beef. I was irritated that the two unoccupied meat counter guys weren't popping over to help, and finally gave up on clams.

I ended up with some red pepper, mozzarella, and basil ravioli. It was really red pepper ravioli, with only the slightest inkling of mozzarella, and none of basil. Still pretty decent. I got some Alessi marinara sauce to go with it, but decided at the last minute to make a simple garlic butter sauce instead.

The wine was the standout of the meal. Santola is a Portuguese producer, and I'd had their vinho verde and their red before, but never their rosé. It's delicious. I was looking for a French-style rosé (usually pretty dry, floral and herby) rather than a California-style (usually sickly sweet and fruity), and this is passably close. It's sweeter than a French rosé, but it has the most amazing smell- lots of heady grassy and floral honey smells. It doesn't taste nearly as good as it smells, but it smells fabulous.

Cheesy Lunch at Home

Today for lunch, I had a spinach salad and some couscous.

They were both very, very simple. I think salad should be about the greens, not the dressing, so I don't usually use any dressing at all. If I do, it's a splash of olive oil and salt, or Annie's Shitake Vinaigrette. But today, nothing. I added some strawberries and cheese to the spinach to make it a little more substantial.

The cheese was a cave-aged Swiss gruyere I got on sale last week at Whole Foods. I'm still ambivalent about it. I normally buy a different cave-aged gruyere that has a really nice nutty-toasted flavor, with some sweet and floral undertones- I don't recall the brand. Sometimes I buy Le Gruyere, which is even cheaper and almost as good as my regular kind. But this stuff looked very funky and crumbly, and was normally super-expensive, so I was curious. It lacks the nutty flavor I love, and has that slightly musty sweat-sock-ammonia smell common to certain aged and blue cheeses. The first time I tried it, I hated it. It's growing on me, but it's still nothing like what I imagine when I think of "gruyere".

I topped the whole-wheat couscous with some shredded gruyere and sea salt. The starch cuts the pungent cheese to a more manageable level of funkiness. Not a bad lunch.

I hope dinner won't kill me. But it's so good.

For dinner, I had some homemade cured salmon, with an arugula salad and a Fireman's 4 beer.

Cured salmon is one of my favorite things to make. I base mine loosely on this recipe from Cooking for Engineers. My version is very lazy and very easy. Basically, you rinse the fish, then coat it with a 50-50 mix of sugar and salt and whatever herbs or spices you like. Wrap in plastic wrap, stick in a drip-proof container, weight with a plate for 24 hours, then flip and weight for another 24. Unwrap the mess, rinse off any remaining mixture, and eat. This time, I bought about a half-pound of wild salmon, and flavored it with some Ethiopian bere-bere spice mixture I had lying around. I was a little worried about how the spicy and exotic mixture would go with the salmon, but it turned out very well. It doesn't taste weird or fishy, just a mellow sweet-spicy salmon flavor. Next time I make it, I'll try to remove the skin prior to curing, because it's always very hard to separate the fish from the skin after curing.

I had a huge arugula craving today. I bought bigger leaves than I normally do, so my arugula salad was very spicy, a nice counterpoint to the salmon's spicy-mellow flavors. Originally, I meant to cook some rice for a chirashi sushi sort of meal, but I didn't have time to cook the rice. Nonetheless, it was pretty good.

The beer, Fireman's 4, is from a (sort of) local brewery, the Real Ale Brewing Co out of Blanco, TX. I always thought it was an Austin-area brewery, but it looks like Blanco is actually out pretty far West into Hill Country. F4 is the only beer of theirs I like. I respect little breweries a lot, but their other beers are just ok. F4, on the other hand, is a drinkable, medium-bodied ale with a sassy label.