Piney Grove Kitchen

My first veggie burger...

2010-04-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Had my first veggie burger last night at Tyler's, and I have to say, as a "burger substitute", it was awful. But, as a "patty comprised of beans and other stuff", it was pretty ok. I was trying to stay away from stuff like this, but I'd already had a salad earlier in the day, and I figured that if I didn't try a veggie burger at least once, then I really wasn't getting the vegan experience. I shall speak of it no more.

Before I went out last night, I made dinner for the girls, and while I was cooking that, I made a snack for myself. When we were cruising the grocery for dinner ideas, I saw that avocados were on sale, 2 for $3. So, I picked up an avocado, some little heirloom tomatoes, some cilantro, a lime, and a serrano pepper, thinking I'd make a kind of guacamole-ish tomato salad.
I ended up chopping the avocado into chunks, and tossed it with the chopped tomatoes, some lime juice, some olive oil, and the cilantro. Some coarse kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and it was done. I was careful not to mash the avocado, since I really didn't want a pure guacamole, and I had to use lime juice to keep the avocado from going brown. I think it was pretty tasty, and it was a nice snack to tide me over until Tyler's. If I could've brought some to put on my veggie burger, it would've been pretty darn good.

I also saw "Hot Tub Time Machine" last night. It was funny, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. I was thinking it would be laugh out loud funny (and there were some parts where I did laugh loudly), but overall it was "good", not "great". (Although there were a lot of cameos, where I thought "man, whatever happened to _that guy_?" "Bad Guy from The Karate Kid", I'm thinking of you).
The soundtrack was pretty good, though, and any time you can hear one of "the Greatest Bands of All Time" in a movie, it's getting at least a couple points:

(this is just the audio)

An aside:
In the pantheon of "bands that changed my life", the biggest has got to be these guys. There was a time when I spent way too much effort tracking down and buying every single 'Mats album (including "The Shit Hits the Fans" bootleg).
They were the first band that I listened to in high school that really sounded like they were talking right to me. In much the same way that I will always be a Rolling Stones guy over the Beatles, I will always be a 'Mats guy over REM. The Replacements always seemed like a "high school" band, while REM was always more of a college band, with abstract arty lyrics about "feeling gravity's pull" and stuff (although, I do think REM's a great band, those early albums are terrific), while the 'Mats talked about being a misunderstood teen, the difficulties of growing up, drinking too much, and had jokey songs like "Gary's got a boner" and "Lovelines" (with the lyrics straight from the Minneapolis personals, and containing gems like "slightly overweight girls need sex also, similarly noted desires: means of contact po box 891, baby, you've been alone"), along with serious songs like "Sixteen Blue", or "Kiss Me on the Bus".

They never got played on MTV, probably because they made videos like the one here, which were a middle finger to the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to meet Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson when they played in Richmond in 1988/89, and ended up going to a bar with them and a couple of other people. They were very cool, and I remember I got Paul's autograph in the back of my copy of Goldfinger. This also makes my "Axl Rose" number 1, since I've met Tommy, and he plays bass in the "new" Guns and Roses. This signifies absolutely nothing, but I figured I'd mention it. It also gives me a "Bacon" number of 3, since Paul Westerberg did the soundtrack for "Singles", Kyra Sedgwick was in that movie, and she's married to Kevin Bacon.

For me, it's still a quick "cool check" on someone. If they've heard of the 'Mats and like them, then I have a pretty good feeling that I'll like the person. (and the reverse is true, as well. If they're really big into a band that I hate, then it's a giant red flag).
It extends musically, as well. One of the reasons I gave Justin Townes Earle a listen was because of his cover of "Can't Hardly Wait":

Anyway, the point is, if you've never given the Replacements a listen, you should. They're one of the best bands ever, and it always made me mad that they never made it big.

Half-way home....

2010-04-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

Dinner last night was a noodle salad with tofu, red pepper, and snow peas, dressed with a peanut sauce. I also had some roasted cauliflower with cilantro dressing.
Both were really good, and were what I had in mind when I thought of avoiding "fake meat". I wish I'd given this whole thing more thought before I dove in, because I feel like every evening I've been scrambling to come up with something meatless to make. If I were carnivorous, it'd be easy to just slap a piece of meat on the grill and do some veggie sides, but without that fallback, it's tough. I guess the flip-side of that is that it forces you to be more creative with your meal planning.

Anyway, the kids were eating dinner with their mom, so it gave me a quiet evening by myself to cook solo and listen to music, dork around on the guitar some, and basically relax.

I need to get some new music, though. I bought the Hold Steady's Separation Sunday the other day, and I think I've listened to this song:

about 8 millions times already. But it's a great song, and if you've never checked out the Hold Steady, you really should. I saw them last fall on a double bill with the Drive-By Truckers and they both absolutely killed.

Both have new albums either out (DBT) or coming out soon (Hold Steady). Unfortunately, neither will be at Bonnaroo, but then again, the Gossip will (and they apparently are great live), so I guess things even out in the end.

The recipes:
The peanut sauce came from an excellent blog I read called "Thursday Night Smackdown", and the cauliflower came from the equally good Serious Eats blog).

Cold noodles with peanut sauce:
1 red bell pepper
1 cup snow pea pods
4 oz extra firm tofu
soba noodles or "good" ramen noodles (1/2 lb?) (not Top Ramen!)
peanut sauce (recipe follows)

Blanch snow peas in boiling salty water for 1 minute, and then shock in ice water. Drain and set aside.
Cut off top and bottom of red pepper, remove seeds and membranes, and cut into julienne strips.
Cut tofu into strips.
Boil noodles according to package directions, and drain and rinse with cold water.
Put in large bowl, add half of the pepper, snow peas, and tofu, and add peanut sauce to taste. Toss to combine, and use remaining pepper, peas and tofu on top.

Peanut Sauce
(from Thursday Night Smackdown)
Spicy Peanut Sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. soy sauce
3 tbsp. mirin
1 14oz. can coconut milk
2 tbsp. chili-garlic paste
4 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
1-3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/2 c. peanut butter (not the all-natural kind)
2-4 tbsp. sugar
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepot over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and let sweat for 5-6 minutes.

Add the soy and mirin and let them reduce to a syrupy consistency. Stir in the coconut milk, chili-garlic paste, sweet chili sauce and sugar and whisk together.

Once it comes to a simmer, whisk in the peanut butter until smooth. Taste, and add rice wine vinegar to taste; you want to add brightness without turning the sauce overly acidic. Add sugar to taste; you want some sweetness but you don’t want the sauce to become unbalanced. Salt to taste.

Let simmer for a few minutes and adjust any flavor if necessary – soy or salt if it needs salt, vinegar if it needs brightening, chili-garlic paste if you want heat, and sugar for sweetness. Use on noodles, as a dipping sauce or for whatever the hell else needs some spicy peanut.

Chili-roasted Cauliflower (from Serious Eat's 'Crisper Whisperer'):
Chili-Roasted Cauliflower with Cilantro Dressing

- serves 4 -
Ingredients

1 head cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 small bunch cilantro (leaves and delicate stems), roughly chopped
2 small cloves garlic. roughly chopped
Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 425°F with a rack in the center. Wash and thoroughly dry the cauliflower and cut into large florets.

2. In a small bowl, combine the two tablespoons olive oil, chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Place the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and toss well with the oil mixture. Roast for 25 minutes, turning once with a spatula mid-roasting.

3. While the cauliflower roasts, combine the extra-virgin olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, cilantro, garlic, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary.

4. Drizzle the roasted cauliflower with the dressing and serve immediately.

Kathleen Edwards is awesome

2010-03-31T10:56:00.001-07:00

That is all.

Day 3, or now I know why vegans are so skinny....

2010-03-31T09:35:00.001-07:00

I've made it to day 3.

I've been having a blue period lately, so after lunch at Udupi yesterday, I ran 6 miles in Umstead on the trails, which helped quite a bit. There's something about charging up and down hills pockmarked with roots and rocks and holes that focuses you, and helps you forget your troubles for a bit.

When I got back to work, I was little high from endorphins, so I really didn't plan a meal for dinner. After a busy evening of gymnastics, the library (where the girls got books on tape and I picked up the "Ad Hoc at Home" cookbook, which is probably not the best thing to be looking at right now, but it was an impulse grab), tubs, and a quick game of "Trouble" (where Bridget got mad about losing to me, and threw each playing piece, one-by-one, across the room. I don't know where she gets that from...), I still had to feed myself.

I scrounged around in the fridge for a bit, and came up with a salad of silken tofu, grape tomatoes, torn lettuce, cilantro, and pickled mushrooms, dressed with a little olive oil, a bit of rice vinegar, and a sprinkle of coarse kosher salt.
I've always liked simple salads like this, and it really hit the spot (enough that when I finished it, I immediately made the same thing again, minus the lettuce, and ate a second helping).

It's getting a little easier to avoid the meat/animal products, I think, and I feel pretty good but a little weird, like I'm really on edge or something. I don't think it's the food, though.

Udupi, Idupi, Wealldupi...

2010-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

It's day 2 of the 'vegan challenge', and I'm already feeling the strain.
My breakfast today was some fruit (cantaloupe and an orange), and when I reached into the fridge to put my leftover cantaloupe in, I admit that the eggs in my fridge were very tempting.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I think that's the toughest part for me. It's not the "no meat", that's surprisingly easy. It's the "no animal products".

But there's one place where it's easy to get a vegan/vegetarian meal, and that's Udupi Cafe. We went there for lunch today, and it was great. The food was good (even though I have no idea what most of what I ate was), and I didn't have to deny myself anything. I think if I were a permanent vegan, I'd be eating there an awful lot.

Does my company hate me?

2010-03-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I decide to be meat-free for a week, and the last two days, the cafe has served buffalo wings (yesterday) and steak today.

What's for tomorrow? A lamb? Barbecue? Sheesh.

And dinner...

2010-03-29T19:17:00.001-07:00

I'm a little drained from my first meat-free day, so this is pretty bare bones.
I started thinking, what can I make?, and scribbled these ideas:

Out of all that, I came up with:

and enjoyed a nice bowl of:

If you want to do the same, email me for the recipe (it's late, and there's only like 5 people who read my blog anyway).

Using your noodle...

2010-03-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, that title stinks.
But, that's what I'm doing for lunch today. I love noodles anyway, so this is another "ease into things" meal.
I'm a big fan of ramen (who isn't? I mean, come on, it's 17cents a pack), especially the "good" ramen where you make your own broth, and add stuff like nori, pork belly, onions, etc.
When I do noodles at work, I usually take some miso, add hot water to make a miso broth, drop about half a pack of ramen into it, cover the bowl, and let it set until the noodles are done. Then I add whatever stuff I bring from home (like hard-boiled egss, pork belly, cubed tofu, chopped scallions, what-have-you) or get from the cafe here at work. Since pork belly is obviously out (but is really good in ramen), I made some pickled shiitake mushrooms last night to provide some umami flavor (got the recipe out of the Momofuku cookbook) and brought those in (along with some cilantro), and to round things out, I just hit the salad bar here to pick up some spinach and tofu.

The worst part of this lunch is that they were serving buffalo chicken wings at the cafe right next to the salad bar, and I admit, I looked upon them with lust in my heart. But I was strong, and resisted the temptation. But man, I do love some chicken wings...

Lunch should be pretty easy this week, if a little boring, since I could get by on a salad every day for lunch. I don't care for creamy dressings too much anyway (my go-to salad dressing at work is oil+vinegar+dijon mustard, which is safe), and dressing seems like the only thing that could screw me up (that, and I'd need to avoid cheese).

The usual "eat-out" lunch places are tough, though, since the rotation is usually Super Wok (hole-in-the-wall Chinese), Little Tokyo (sushi), and Bosphorus, and none of these are particularly vegan friendly. (One of my lunch buddies said "just get the greek salad at Bosphorus", and I was like, "nope, feta's out". That's ok, though. I don't like feta). I'm going to make a push for Indian next time we go out, since that's supposed to be a safe haven.

I did want to mention the pickles again, though. I'm thinking that various pickled/preserved vegetables are going to be a good way to add the flavor that gets lost by not using cream/butter/stock/etc, so I expect to be making more pickles through the week.

Here are the pickled mushrooms I mentioned earlier (from Momofuku cookbook):
2 cups dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 cup usukuchi soy sauce
1 3inch knob ginger, peeled

Put mushrooms in a bowl, and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 15-30 minutes.
Remove mushrooms, and strain soaking liquid through a fine mesh strainer to remove any grit, and reserve 1 cup soaking liquid.
Remove stems from mushrooms, and slice into 1/8inch slices.
Combine sugar, soaking liquid, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and mushrooms in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, discard ginger, and then pack mushrooms in a pint container (I used one of the big olive containers from the olive bar at Harris Teeter), and cover with the pickling liquid.

And so it begins...

2010-03-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

Had my first vegan breakfast today, which wasn't that much different from my normal breakfast. (An aside: I'm not a big breakfast guy, at least as far as eating it regularly. Don't get me wrong, I really like breakfast food, and in my younger days, was always up for a late-night Waffle House hit (scattered, smothered, and covered, thank you), but most mornings, I'm not motivated enough to do more than 3 cups of coffee, and maybe a banana or something. Maybe that's why I'm a little sick feeling by lunch time, but I digress)

Anyway, I figured I'd ease into the whole experience with something simple, which for me meant "smoothie". I admit, it's a little weak, and not really blog-worthy, but it's better than "I had an orange". I think I've given a smoothie recipe before, but if I haven't, here's today's version:

Mixed Berry/Banana Smoothie:
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4-1/3 c silken tofu
1/2-1c frozen mixed berries
1 banana

Combine in a blender, blend until smooth. Drink.

My usual smoothie is milk and yogurt (and a little honey to take the edge off the yogurt), so soy milk was a natural to replace the milk, and I figured silken tofu would be a good thickener. Since vanilla soy milk is sweet anyway, and there's no yogurt tang from the silken tofu, I skipped the honey. (and I guess honey is technically an animal product, so that should be verboten). I'll have to check the nutrition label for soy milk, I'm curious as to how much sugar is in it. I know that when I took a food class in college, the professor was talking about low-fat food (which was the fad at the time), and how "low fat" != "low calorie", since a lot of times, replacing fat meant jacking up the sugar content to get the same mouth feel. I wonder if makers of soy milk employ a similar trick to make it taste better.

So far, no real challenges (even though it's just been one meal). I did have to remind myself as I made the kids' sandwiches not to snack on turkey (or cheese), but that's not a big deal. I think the constant checking of things, and reminding myself that a lot of stuff I like to eat (cheese, meat, a lot of condiments, a lot of chinese food, sushi, etc) is off limits for the week is going to be a pain, though.

I told my oldest about the vegan thing, and she said "we don't have to eat tofu do we?!". I assured her she was safe, and that when we had dinner together, there would be a meat option.
Then we had this exchange when Bridget came in the kitchen:
Bridget: "what happened?"
Gretchen: "Daddy's a vay-gan"
Me: "Vee-gan, not vay-gan, get it right".

(I thought it was funny)

Next up, the thrilling experience of lunch....

The Vegan Challenge....

2010-03-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've been going through a bit of a dry spell on the ol' blogging front, mostly because I haven't been able to think of anything very interesting to write about.
So, I'm thinking I'm going to try something a little different for the next week, and maybe that will break me out of my rut.

Basically, I'm going to go vegan for a week, starting tomorrow and going through to Saturday. (I'd say through to Sunday, but that's Easter, and I'm planning on eating lamb that day, and well, nothing gets between me and lamb).

My motivation is that I have several friends who are vegetarian or vegan, and I've always wavered between "gee, that must be hard to stick to" and "how hard could it possibly be?". I don't think it'll be easy, but it should be interesting.

The ground rules (such as they are) are pretty simple. Every meal/snack/etc has to be vegan, and no meat substitutes (ie, tofurkey, fake bacon, veggie burgers, etc). The only exception for that is tofu, since I figure it's been around for hundreds (thousands?) of years, and it's established enough as a food that it's not "just" a meat substitute. I think the "no fake meat" rule will force me to be creative (plus, I have been known, on occasion, to render some strong opinions on the subject, and this will make me see how hard (or not) it is to do this without falling back on them).

So, for the next week, it's "no meat" in the house.

Tribeca Tavern, and a note about ice cream...

2010-03-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

My dad and his girlfriend came to town last night for a quick visit, and we went to Tribeca Tavern for dinner. Several folks I know had said positive things about it, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
They pride themselves on their burgers, and I think they do a good job on them. They're ground 'in-house', and the kitchen will cook them how you want, so if you ask for 'medium-rare', you'll get it. I had a simple bacon-cheddar burger, and aside from being really messy, it was quite tasty.

The beer selection is pretty good, too, and they have a lot of NC beers to choose from. I had an Aviator Belgian White that I liked.

After my visit with my dad, I finished up the ice cream recipe I started the other night. Mr. Lebovitz is right, it doesn't have the most appetizing appearance, but the "banana-brown sugar coconut milk" ice cream was pretty tasty. It would probably very nice with something chocolate, like a chess pie, or flourless chocolate cake or something.

Sandwhich

2010-03-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

I saw that Sandwhich is moving, and that gives me an excuse to say that I have always wanted to try this place.

Monday dinner

2010-03-22T17:17:00.001-07:00

I had plans last night to go out to dinner with my friend Anne at Remedy Diner in Raleigh, but when I hadn't heard back from her by around 5, I started thinking "hmm, I think I need a backup plan".

So, I headed to the store, picked up some salad greens, some organic chicken thighs, etc. and then before I got started cooking, I heard back from her, and we ended up going to Remedy after all (which was pretty good, I must say. It reminded me a lot of a place I used to go to a lot in the 'burg, in that it was very vegan/crunchy. I ate "vegan buffalo wings" for the first time, which were actually pretty good, or at least the sauce was. My reuben was pretty good, and pretty messy, and I ended up eating way too much, including dessert, which for me is pretty rare). I'd go there again, and I was surprised at the size of their vegan menu. I've been trying to think of things to write about on this poor neglected blog, so maybe I'll try to work more "meat-lite"/vegetarian/vegan things in...

But, going to Remedy last night left me with this dinner tonight. I figured I'd make a simple salad (lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes, and some quickly pickled onions), and put some grilled chicken over top, which was exactly what I did. After I grilled the thighs, I brushed them with a little honey/soy/hot pepper mix right at the end, just to give them a little more flavor. I then whipped up a quick dressing with some kewpie mayonnaise(sp?), some miso sitting in the back of my fridge, some rice vinegar, and some wasabi. It turned out ok, but I think I could've done better by leaving out the wasabi.

The only real "recipe" out of this is the pickled onions, which were inspired by looking at the Momofuku cookbook's section on pickles (where, oddly, there are no recipes for pickled onions):
Quick pickled onions:
2 small onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp (or more, to taste) rice vinegar

Toss onions with salt, sugar, and vinegar in a container, and allow to sit for a while (15-30 minutes). Taste, season, and serve.

Anyway, it was a nice light meal, and I'm now left with enough energy to take a stab at making the Banana Brown Sugar ice cream recipe (which is vegan, actually) off of David Lebovitz's excellent blog.

Morning Ramen...

2010-02-19T05:22:00.001-08:00

I've been on a big ramen kick lately. Partly because I got the Momofuku cookbook over Christmas, and partly because ramen is great 'cheap eats'.

My ramen today:
1-2 tbsp miso (red)
1 tbsp ginger-scallion sauce (from Momofuku)
1/2 package of ramen
3-4oz tofu
3-4 slices of pork belly
scallions
bean sprouts
1 sheet of nori
hot water

I wish I could get pix from my phone to the blog at work, b/c I've always felt that a "bowl of noodles with a bunch of stuff on it" photographs well.
I was going to post a stock photo, but when I googled, I didn't find good pix, but I did find this page, billing itself as the "Official Ramen Homepage" (I don't believe him, though), and this inspiring article from the NY Times travel section, which makes me want to go loaf around Japan, eating noodles.

Totally unrelated to food, pt. 1

2010-02-19T05:08:00.000-08:00

Esquire magazine has a great article this month on Roger Ebert that is well worth checking out.

I remember watching "Siskel and Ebert" when I was kid, and whenever I think of movies, one of the images that flashes in my head is of those two, arguing over the merits of a film.

Another favorite "Roger Ebert" memory of mine is the first time I read of this episode (quoting from Wikipedia):

In January 2005, film critic Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said in an
article that Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo was overlooked for an Academy Award because
"nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered
by a Third-Rate Comic." Schneider responded two weeks later with full-page ads in
Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, saying he had done research and found
that Mr. Goldstein had never won any journalistic awards, commenting,
"Maybe you didn't win a Pulitzer Prize because they haven't invented a category for
Best Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who's Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers."
...
In August 2005, film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times responded to the
Schneider-Goldstein conflict in his review for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.
While noting that an online search showed that Goldstein had won a National Headliner
Award, a Los Angeles Press Club Award, a RockCritics.com award, and the
Publicists' Guild award for lifetime achievement, Ebert said, "As chance would
have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my
official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Happy "1st day of Spring Training"!

2010-02-19T05:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, so actually yesterday was the first day of Spring Training (pitchers and catchers), but I didn't realize it until late yesterday.
Anyway, since nothing says "day at the ballpark" like a hot dog (with chili and cheese, please), I give you Serious Eats' "Hot Dog of the Week":

I love the Serious Eats blog, and it's worth checking out, even if you don't like hot dogs. (But if you do, there's more here).

Phases and stages...

2010-02-17T22:35:00.001-08:00

I think I'm misquoting Willie on my title, but that's ok.
My youngest daughter turns 7 tomorrow, so when I got home tonight @12:30, I broke out the streamers and "Happy Birthday" sign, and decorated the kitchen. Hopefully she'll like it and feel special. On your birthday, you should feel special.

On other 'phases... et al' notes, this is probably the best kiss-off song I've heard in a while, and it's by one of my favorite bands to boot.

I will write about food soon...

Two in one day!

2010-02-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

I must be going for some kind of record here, but for my second post of the day...
Another link.
This one has a little bit of a back-story. A relation of mine (my mother-in-law's stepson) is a chef in Canada (who was recently on 'Iron Chef America', where he was completely robbed! How do you pick a 'secret ingredient' that one of the judges says he hates??)

But anyway, he's the executive chef for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (so he's apparently feeding all 12000 people involved in the Olympics), and the link is to two people who work for him.

Good stuff.

Fun food visualization

2010-02-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've been getting interested in doing data visualization stuff lately, and saw a link on a blog I read about data vis, and since it seemed neat, I figured I'd pass it along.

(Plus, I haven't posted in forever, and I know someone who posts like 6 times a day, so I need to be less slack about this).

Why food is cheap....

2009-08-19T05:13:00.001-07:00

Saw this article in the Washington Post titled "Gut Check: When Food Is Discounted, Consumers Should Ask Why".

It's an interesting morning read, basically a synopsis of a book that just came out. The article talks about the different forces contributing to changes in food prices, and uses the price of shrimp as an example of not-completely-understood forces affecting the price. This line jumped out at me during that discussion of cheap shrimp:

While a traditional shrimp pond yielded 450 pounds of shrimp per acre, the industrialized shrimp farms produce 89,000 pounds per acre.

That's amazing, and it makes you wonder exactly how that $2.99/$3.33lb shrimp that's mentioned in today's N&O "frugal feasts" post gets to be that cheap, and how differently it might taste from either wild shrimp or the low-intensity shrimp farm.

The book that Ezra Klein (the article's author, and a great blogger in his own right) is writing up is called "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture", and I've already put it on my Amazon wish-list.

Western Wake Farmer's Market news...

2009-08-08T04:11:00.001-07:00

The Western Wake Farmers' Market (which, luckily for me, is located in my neighborhood) is celebrating "National Farmers' Market Week" today. The chef from Zely and Ritz (Sarig Agasi) will be there, and there's other stuff as well.
The chef from Heron's is also occasionally there, with samples etc. (but I don't know if he's there today).

If I weren't going to BarCamp today, I'd definitely check it out.

Lunch at Heron's...

2009-08-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Liz and I had lunch today at Heron's Restaurant, taking advantage of the "Market Menu" that they've started running (and which was listed in the N&O last week).
The menu's a prix fixe lunch, 3 courses for $20, plus wine pairings for an additional $12.

I took advantage of the wine (Liz didn't), and overall it was great.
The menu was:

A Tasting of Heirloom Tomatoes (Tarte Tatin, Consomme, Local Mozzarella)

Cane Creek Pork & Beef Meatball with Short Rib Ravioli, Ratatouille and Fresh Chevre

Pan Roasted Local Figs with Brown Butter Cake, Toasted Almond Ice Cream

and the wine pairings were:

Waterbrook 'Melange', Columbia Valley, WA

Pinot Noir, Nicolas Potel, Bourgogne, FR

La Yunta, Late Harvest, Torrontes, Argentina

Everything was perfectly cooked, and the portions were just right. It's a little pricey for lunch after you include wine, but considering the dinner prices, I think it's a good deal, and it's nice to treat yourself some times.

Milltown

2009-07-30T03:38:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I went to see She & Him at UNC Memorial Hall. They were the last act to perform as part of the "Merge XX" fest, and they were good. The people who went on before them (American Music Club) were not my cup of tea, but all-in-all, a good show.

Before we went to the show, we got dinner over in Carrboro at Milltown (sorry, no website). It's apparently owned by the same people who own Federal in Durham. I've never been to Federal, so I can't really comment on that, but I thought Milltown was pretty good.
They have an extensive beer list (an inch thick tome, and probably rivaling Tyler's), and both the beer and food lean towards Belgian. I had a Dogfish Head 60min IPA, an Ommegang Rare Vos, and then a Stone Pale Ale (yes, I had 3 beers, so sue me). Oh, and I also had a pretty good grilled cheese w/tomato and avocado, and the fries looked pretty good.

I looked on chowhound, and their take was something like "good beer, good bar food, probably not going to win any awards, but who cares?", and I agree with that. It's a good place to get a good meal (and a good beer with it), but it's not a Lantern or Elaine's, and it's not trying to be. I definitely recommend it.

Wednesday @Daniel's

2009-07-30T03:32:00.000-07:00

We went to Daniel's Pizza Pasta in Apex last night for dinner, and it was pretty good.
If you're looking for your typical "red sauce" Italian place, Daniel's fits the bill.

It's a little pricey (which is probably my main bone of contention with them), and I have a love/hate relationship with this place, in the sense that I think their wine list is terrific, with a vast selection (and obviously, the Wine Spectator thinks so, too, since they're listed every year with them), but I think the food there is nothing special. A lot of people, including my family, disagree, but what do they know?

However, the real reason we went (or why I went along with it) was that on Wednesday's, they have 20% off all bottles of wine. So, while the food wasn't "wow", the 2006 Catena Malbec we had with dinner was pretty good, and @20% off, I feel like we're shaving at least some of the "restaurant markup" off.

Frugal Feasts entry...

2009-07-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

I entered the N&O's frugal feasts contest, and here's the recipe I sent (No pics for this entry (I really need to get back into the picture taking swing of things...)):

Grilled Chicken Tacos
1 - 1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless) chili powder flour tortillas
1 bunch cilantro
salsa (store-bought or homemade) or tomatoes
1 can black beans
1-2 limes

Directions:
Rub chicken thighs all over with chili powder and set aside.
Wash the cilantro by filling a large bowl with water, and swishing the cilantro in the water. Dump the water and repeat until no sand is in the bottom of the bowl.
Chop the cilantro and put in a serving bowl.
If using, chop the tomatoes and put in a serving bowl.
Heat black beans and put in a serving bowl.
Grill the chicken over med-med high heat until done. Allow to rest 5 minutes.
If using bone-in thighs, remove chicken from bone and chop. If using boneless, just chop up.
Put the chicken in a serving bowl.
Wrap the tortillas in a paper towel, and microwave 15 seconds to heat.

Serve chicken with tortillas, and use cilantro, salsa/tomatoes, black beans, and lime juice as garnish (plus whatever other garnishes you desire (an avocado, mashed with some lime juice, salt and pepper plus some cilantro makes a good quick guac).

A good side dish would be a simple rice, like:
1 cup white rice
2 cups chicken stock/broth
1 can rotel tomatoes

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, and then cover, turn down to low, and allow to simmer 20-25 minutes.

For a simple salsa, something like:
1-2lbs tomatoes, chopped (you could also seed them, but I don't) chopped cilantro (to taste)
1/2 small onion(chopped)
1-2 serrano peppers, seeded, with membrane removed, and chopped.
juice of 1 lime
salt + pepper to taste.

Man, I'm already hungry!