9 posts tagged “food”
mmmmm .... bacon....
We're going here for dinner on Friday to celebrate a friend's birthday. A snapshot from their Web page:
And I'm sort of left wondering how this particular phrasing came about. (Read the red-word paragraph.) I mean, did a customer really once come to their restaurant having seen the original version of the Web site and wonder, "Senor, what is this 'zeal' you say you include in your recipes? Is it like MSG?"
Maybe someone just thought it was a kooky Cuban catch word for "spicy."
I'd like to think our collective level of ignorance hasn't yet reached this level.
Maybe someone just thought it was a kooky Cuban catch word for "spicy."
I'd like to think our collective level of ignorance hasn't yet reached this level.
Hi folks -- in addition to posting here I often have items up at the Past Deadline blog. Here's one that should be of particular interest to foodies and New Yorkers alike: All about Urban Rustic, the new organic grocery store in Williamsburg. Click on over!
These are the movies.
The movies I got sent over the last few weeks as part of the run-up to Oscar nominations.
These are the films that need to be watched. Last night. Today. Tomorrow.
We will attempt to tackle the movies.
Along with lots of lovely food.
And a deep fat fryer.
Viewed thus far: "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" (documentary) and "The Counterfeiters" (German entry for this year's Oscar).
Below, a section of the edibles, and their beloved cooking container.
Stay tuned....
SUNDAY UPDATE
So, Saturday's films were:
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Once"
"Lust, Caution"
Consumed:
Much, including:
Gingerbread cookies (some the victims of an avalanche, some zombies, pictured)
Pizza bagels (pictured)
Cheesecake
Egg salad
Licorice
In attendance:
Mike (the master chef, aka Pope Awesome), Jen & Tim (who provided the cookie feast), Cameron (who did some last minute shopping for us)
We also formed a band, after seeing "Once." We're deciding on a name right now, but "The Bad Poets" may be in the offing.
Overall opinion on the movies: A lot of WWII-related drama going on. We're very focused on that as a society. That said, there's apparently lots of romance and sex to be had in WWII. And "Juno" was quite funny and charming but suffers from the "there are no 16 year olds who are like that in the universe" effect.
Overall opinion on the food: Awesome, way too much, a little too rich for some of us's digestive system.
That said, we are undeterred and will be moving into Sunday with fresh vittles and even fresher movies.
Sorry everyone can't be here!
UPDATE LATE SUNDAY
Well, we got through some more movies, and some more food.
Today's films were:
"The Savages"
"Ben X"
"Dan In Real Life"
"Reservation Road"
Food consumed included:
Pastry-wrapped brie with peppers (pictured)
Fries con queso (and without) (pictured)
Onion rings
Strawberries (with and with Nutella)
And now we are full.
Roundup: Too many movies with precious/precocious children, or set in WWII or both. Too many movies with situations that are unrealistic, even for the advancement of plot's sake. But a few movies with some moving and unexpected twists ("Atonement" and "Ben X"). If I had to make a guess I'd say "Atonement" has it down for script but not acting. "Reservation Road" might get scripting but not acting nominations. "The Savages" should get an acting nomination for Philip Seymour Hoffman. And "The Counterfeiters" will definitely get nominated for the Oscar in the foreign category.
No developments on our band, however.
Happy New Year to all!
The movies I got sent over the last few weeks as part of the run-up to Oscar nominations.
These are the films that need to be watched. Last night. Today. Tomorrow.
We will attempt to tackle the movies.
Along with lots of lovely food.
And a deep fat fryer.
Viewed thus far: "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" (documentary) and "The Counterfeiters" (German entry for this year's Oscar).
Below, a section of the edibles, and their beloved cooking container.
Stay tuned....
So, Saturday's films were:
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Once"
"Lust, Caution"
Consumed:
Much, including:
Gingerbread cookies (some the victims of an avalanche, some zombies, pictured)
Pizza bagels (pictured)
Cheesecake
Egg salad
Licorice
In attendance:
Mike (the master chef, aka Pope Awesome), Jen & Tim (who provided the cookie feast), Cameron (who did some last minute shopping for us)
We also formed a band, after seeing "Once." We're deciding on a name right now, but "The Bad Poets" may be in the offing.
Overall opinion on the movies: A lot of WWII-related drama going on. We're very focused on that as a society. That said, there's apparently lots of romance and sex to be had in WWII. And "Juno" was quite funny and charming but suffers from the "there are no 16 year olds who are like that in the universe" effect.
Overall opinion on the food: Awesome, way too much, a little too rich for some of us's digestive system.
That said, we are undeterred and will be moving into Sunday with fresh vittles and even fresher movies.
Sorry everyone can't be here!
UPDATE LATE SUNDAY
Today's films were:
"The Savages"
"Ben X"
"Dan In Real Life"
"Reservation Road"
Food consumed included:
Pastry-wrapped brie with peppers (pictured)
Fries con queso (and without) (pictured)
Onion rings
Strawberries (with and with Nutella)
And now we are full.
Roundup: Too many movies with precious/precocious children, or set in WWII or both. Too many movies with situations that are unrealistic, even for the advancement of plot's sake. But a few movies with some moving and unexpected twists ("Atonement" and "Ben X"). If I had to make a guess I'd say "Atonement" has it down for script but not acting. "Reservation Road" might get scripting but not acting nominations. "The Savages" should get an acting nomination for Philip Seymour Hoffman. And "The Counterfeiters" will definitely get nominated for the Oscar in the foreign category.
No developments on our band, however.
Happy New Year to all!
Despite all indications to the contrary, that is.
So you first have to know I have a long-range, air-powered water shooter. I had a pigeon problem on the fire escape outside my bedroom window and on the A/C, and for the most part they're now gone. No humans were harmed in the removal of the pigeons. (And for all of you stunned by this revelation, only those of you who've been woken up by screeching baby pigeons and squabbling squabs and their mates and endless cooing and still think they're adorable get a say. Everyone else, sit down.)
So anyway.
I decide to make some microwave popcorn. It's 9 million degrees out, but popcorn sounds nice. Popcorn (kettle flavor) goes in, I potter around kitchen, waiting to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Then the breaker switches off the power. D'oh! You can't run the A/C even on low and the microwave in my apartment, it just trips things off. I knew that, I forgot. It works for about a minute or two, then dies. So I race to the breaker, re-trip the switch, get the corn going again, turn A/C down to fan. Then I run into the computer room to see if anything needs fixing, figuring I have a minute or two left.
The computer takes ages to reboot. I get my name plugged in, thinking, better hurry.
Back to kitchen and something's happening I've not witnessed before: Smoke, pouring from the closed edges of the microwave. Thusly:
1) Open microwave. Fill kitchen with smoke. Close microwave.
2) Turn fan on high, open window. Begin fanning smoke to avoid smoke alarm going off.
3) Open closet door outside kitchen to block smoke from getting near alarm.
4) Blink rapidly because smoke in your eyes, while a nice song, burns.
5) Reverse direction of fan on A/C, open more windows.
The problem: Smoke is still in the microwave, and keeps wanting to come out. I'm clearly not choking off the oxygen supply. Solution?
Well, you know.
So that's how I came to be shooting water into my microwave on to the bag of popcorn which, thankfully, was not in flames. It wasn't quite a "Die Hard" move, but with this pistol and wearing just a tank top I did have a Bruce Willis moment.
6) Remove now-saggy bag (hot!) to trash disposal, pray nothing catches fire down there.
7) Return to now-smoky kitchen and clean out microwave.
8) Put drops in eyes.
9) Order pizza.
The way this is not a sitcom is that if I'd been doing this on a sitcom, it would have happened on a night when I was entertaining 15 guests, all of whom could drastically alter the course of my life's direction (see "The Simpsons: 2 Dozen and 1 Greyhounds" etc.)
Mike, you should have been coming over with the zucchini.
So you first have to know I have a long-range, air-powered water shooter. I had a pigeon problem on the fire escape outside my bedroom window and on the A/C, and for the most part they're now gone. No humans were harmed in the removal of the pigeons. (And for all of you stunned by this revelation, only those of you who've been woken up by screeching baby pigeons and squabbling squabs and their mates and endless cooing and still think they're adorable get a say. Everyone else, sit down.)
So anyway.
I decide to make some microwave popcorn. It's 9 million degrees out, but popcorn sounds nice. Popcorn (kettle flavor) goes in, I potter around kitchen, waiting to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Then the breaker switches off the power. D'oh! You can't run the A/C even on low and the microwave in my apartment, it just trips things off. I knew that, I forgot. It works for about a minute or two, then dies. So I race to the breaker, re-trip the switch, get the corn going again, turn A/C down to fan. Then I run into the computer room to see if anything needs fixing, figuring I have a minute or two left.
The computer takes ages to reboot. I get my name plugged in, thinking, better hurry.
Back to kitchen and something's happening I've not witnessed before: Smoke, pouring from the closed edges of the microwave. Thusly:
1) Open microwave. Fill kitchen with smoke. Close microwave.
2) Turn fan on high, open window. Begin fanning smoke to avoid smoke alarm going off.
3) Open closet door outside kitchen to block smoke from getting near alarm.
4) Blink rapidly because smoke in your eyes, while a nice song, burns.
5) Reverse direction of fan on A/C, open more windows.
The problem: Smoke is still in the microwave, and keeps wanting to come out. I'm clearly not choking off the oxygen supply. Solution?
Well, you know.
So that's how I came to be shooting water into my microwave on to the bag of popcorn which, thankfully, was not in flames. It wasn't quite a "Die Hard" move, but with this pistol and wearing just a tank top I did have a Bruce Willis moment.
6) Remove now-saggy bag (hot!) to trash disposal, pray nothing catches fire down there.
7) Return to now-smoky kitchen and clean out microwave.
8) Put drops in eyes.
9) Order pizza.
The way this is not a sitcom is that if I'd been doing this on a sitcom, it would have happened on a night when I was entertaining 15 guests, all of whom could drastically alter the course of my life's direction (see "The Simpsons: 2 Dozen and 1 Greyhounds" etc.)
Mike, you should have been coming over with the zucchini.
So I was at this party this evening (note to self: Always, always get City Bakery to cater your events, should you ever have events to cater. And should you ever have the money to cater events) and came across a large bowl of something green and pureed looking and definitely not guacamole, perched next to enormous papadums. So I asked, thinking it had to be weird guac, or maybe wasabi something.
Nope: Edamame hummus.
Now, I understand through the power of the Internets that you can't have a hummus that isn't made of chickpeas/garbanzos, but for shortcuts sake, that's really what this was. And let me tell you:
Blew my socks off. I had to take several of the ginormous papdums on my plate to disguise the obscene amount of green stuff I'd heaped onto it. Result: Amazing with papadums. Not as hot with fresh potato chips. But I sense experimentation is needed.
I thought this was some kind of new thing, but of course, there are already a dozen recipes on the Web. I'll be assembling the troops for some cooking soon. Anyone who knows this recipe have a good version to offer?
For anyone who might have been feeling a little down lately, due to things like:
- the crappy weather
- tax time
- significant other breaking up with you
- Kurt Vonnegut shuffling off the mortal coil
- the state of the world today
- the state of bees in the world today
I offer you:
Free Ben & Jerry's Cone Day! Really!
Tomorrow!
It won't make you feel much better about those things, but for around 5-10 minutes, you will have some free bliss. And that's definitely worth something.
- the crappy weather
- tax time
- significant other breaking up with you
- Kurt Vonnegut shuffling off the mortal coil
- the state of the world today
- the state of bees in the world today
I offer you:
Free Ben & Jerry's Cone Day! Really!
Tomorrow!
It won't make you feel much better about those things, but for around 5-10 minutes, you will have some free bliss. And that's definitely worth something.
In honor of my impending trip back to Austin -- twice in a month is some kind of record for me, of a visit to any state, much less Texas -- I am taking up my good buddy and all over wise woman Lynda's request and writing a blog entry about something I like about Texas (as opposed to messing with it, which is my usual raison d'etre). Here it is.
Yes, it's Stubb's. World famous -- and if not it should be -- for its ribs and sauce. Ten bucks gets you a plate o' ribs and two sides; drinks are unlimited and serve yourself (so you can make that classic mixed soda concoction we always called a Suicide). Anyway, the meat falls off the bone it's so well cooked, and if you stick around long and late enough, you'll get music downstairs (though I haven't done that yet). In my 5 days at SXSW, I ate there three times. I am thinking about eating there right now.
There are two kinds of sauces, but I prefer the original recipe. Smokey Mesquite didn't do much for me.
Yee ha!
So you know where I'm having dinner over the weekend, in case you need to find me. That and the Alamo Draft House, where the milkshakes will blow your head off. It was nasty, having to pick up pieces of brain from my seat when I left. C'est la vie.
And yes, I appreciate the contradictions of going to Texas for Passover and eating pork. Thank you very much.
Night, y'all!
There are two kinds of sauces, but I prefer the original recipe. Smokey Mesquite didn't do much for me.
Yee ha!
So you know where I'm having dinner over the weekend, in case you need to find me. That and the Alamo Draft House, where the milkshakes will blow your head off. It was nasty, having to pick up pieces of brain from my seat when I left. C'est la vie.
And yes, I appreciate the contradictions of going to Texas for Passover and eating pork. Thank you very much.
Night, y'all!
So, I've put aside Stephen King for a few days, because I had to get through the book on yon left. Danny Meyer, for those who don't live in New York City, is a genius restaurateur (and yes, that is how you spell it) who runs five or six restaurants in the city, the earliest of which (The Union Square Cafe) opened in 1985. He's never had to close one down. That's completely astounding, considering the half-life of a New York restaurant is a year at best.
Anyway, I'm not getting into the food service business -- or, in this case, the hospitality business, which Meyer is famous for -- but I'm going to be doing an article on him soon and you just have to be prepared. He comes across as a real mensch, not the kind of fightin' man CEO hardass you'd think. I'm sure he's had a good ghostwriter, and of course it's all his point of view, but I like the cut of the man's jib. He insists on putting his employees first, even before the customers, then he has a list that includes the community and one other group before coming to the importance of the investors.
If only most companies could be this way. The way corporate America seems to work is along these lines: How much can you get for the investors in the shortest period of time? If you have to cut corners in any area, do it. If you have to grudgingly give out charity donations, then remember they're tax deductions. Everything is so me me me and investor investor investor that when Meyer comes to the very simple conclusion that if you have employees who like their work and enjoy being hospitable towards the customers (going above and beyond what's needed many times), then the customers will want to come back. If you give to your community, you beautify the world in which you do business, and people associate you not with money-grubbing tax deductions, but in Meyer's case, a revitalized Union Square. Or Madison Square Park. And suddenly, it all circles around: There is goodwill that can't be bought that surrounds your company, thanks to your putting your investors last. And guess who gets to scoop up that profit? The investors.
He can be a little gosh-golly-gee-whiz about the whole thing, but Meyer makes you believe that there really can be good hearted people doing business in the world. As I read I remember going back to the first visit I had at Union Square Cafe, about two years ago. A musician friend was in from L.A. and we met up. As musicians are, he was obscenely late. Like, over a half hour. I had no cell to call him and did want to have lunch, so I put up with the lateness. I sat up front despite being asked a few times if I would rather have the table, but I didn't want to take up the spot someone else could be in. And the people watching me read while waiting for my other party just couldn't have been sweeter. I was under the impression USC was a difficult place to get a reservation, but I'd gotten one easily and just guessed it to be luck; I never thought they'd still have a table for us when he finally arrived. The meal went late until we and one other couple were the only ones left in the room, and he got out his guitar and actually played me a few songs right there in the room. It was transcendent, as something like that would be, but nobody asked him to quit it (it wasn't exactly Led Zep) and nobody asked us to hurry the heck up so they could prepare for the dinner crowd. And they took good care of the guitar during lunch.
The food? Oh, yeah, that: Excellent. But it's the everything else that made it a special afternoon.
Anyway, I'm not getting into the food service business -- or, in this case, the hospitality business, which Meyer is famous for -- but I'm going to be doing an article on him soon and you just have to be prepared. He comes across as a real mensch, not the kind of fightin' man CEO hardass you'd think. I'm sure he's had a good ghostwriter, and of course it's all his point of view, but I like the cut of the man's jib. He insists on putting his employees first, even before the customers, then he has a list that includes the community and one other group before coming to the importance of the investors.
If only most companies could be this way. The way corporate America seems to work is along these lines: How much can you get for the investors in the shortest period of time? If you have to cut corners in any area, do it. If you have to grudgingly give out charity donations, then remember they're tax deductions. Everything is so me me me and investor investor investor that when Meyer comes to the very simple conclusion that if you have employees who like their work and enjoy being hospitable towards the customers (going above and beyond what's needed many times), then the customers will want to come back. If you give to your community, you beautify the world in which you do business, and people associate you not with money-grubbing tax deductions, but in Meyer's case, a revitalized Union Square. Or Madison Square Park. And suddenly, it all circles around: There is goodwill that can't be bought that surrounds your company, thanks to your putting your investors last. And guess who gets to scoop up that profit? The investors.
He can be a little gosh-golly-gee-whiz about the whole thing, but Meyer makes you believe that there really can be good hearted people doing business in the world. As I read I remember going back to the first visit I had at Union Square Cafe, about two years ago. A musician friend was in from L.A. and we met up. As musicians are, he was obscenely late. Like, over a half hour. I had no cell to call him and did want to have lunch, so I put up with the lateness. I sat up front despite being asked a few times if I would rather have the table, but I didn't want to take up the spot someone else could be in. And the people watching me read while waiting for my other party just couldn't have been sweeter. I was under the impression USC was a difficult place to get a reservation, but I'd gotten one easily and just guessed it to be luck; I never thought they'd still have a table for us when he finally arrived. The meal went late until we and one other couple were the only ones left in the room, and he got out his guitar and actually played me a few songs right there in the room. It was transcendent, as something like that would be, but nobody asked him to quit it (it wasn't exactly Led Zep) and nobody asked us to hurry the heck up so they could prepare for the dinner crowd. And they took good care of the guitar during lunch.
The food? Oh, yeah, that: Excellent. But it's the everything else that made it a special afternoon.
