Random Photos around SoCal

Today we went for glorious, glorious dim sum at the Ocean Star in Monterey Park, followed by random grocery shopping at the 99 Ranch (the Chinese-American answer to H-Mart). Before finishing, we had a little time to stop off at the Joseph Filippi Winery in Rancho Cucamonga for some wine tasting and purchasing. Since it's late, I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Scenic Atlantic Avenue in Monterey Park

Hmmm, I guess the Ocean Star doesn't have much to worry about in this economy.

Yes, I should have taken the picture before I finished the dim sum. I wish there were more dim sum places in the Baltimore area.

This is only a simulated lobster ball. In the event of an actual lobster ball you will be given further instructions through your local Emergency Response System.

Insert your own line here.

They also had live fish, both swimming in tanks and laying in bins of crushed ice. The big-eyed cod was a bit disconcerting. There was one with very big, glazed-over eyes that was definitely not alive at all. but prodding its neighbor with tongs showed me that it was very much alive.

Perhaps the most descriptive name for a food item I have seen since those "Round Cookies" I bought last year.

Home of Christians. Not sure which ones. Probably just some random Christians.

Five wines tasted for five dollars. I bought two, a rosé and a chocolately dessert wine. You should have seen the guy stocking the shelves. Damn he fine!

Farmers' Markets of America, Unite!

I just heard on NPR this morning a new series they're doing for their Morning Edition program. They are exploring the farmers' markets of America. Of course, they can't hit all of them. They're just doing a representative sample. The first installment of this series looks at a farmers' market in northeastern Vermont (How much more Yankee-fied can you get?). Here, they're focusing on my old nemesis, the tasty fiddlehead fern which, when prepared incorrectly, could make you very ill.

Un día de comida mexicana

I fulfilled one of my specific goals for this trip: finding and eating actual Mexican food - you know, the edible stuff, which is difficult to found "Back East." I got to do this twice today, eating at two restaurants I have never been to before. Now don't get me wrong: I've eaten a lot of Mexican food out here in Cali. I just haven't eaten at these places.

Síquio's is in the smallish city of Colton, next to a water park. I had passed by it many, many times but had never gone in. Jim and I headed in today and got hit in the face with the possibility of a Mexican buffet. It did not look impressive, so we ordered the lunch combos. Like many Mexican restaurants in SoCal, you can choose items to form a two- or three-item combo, which typically comes with beans and rice. My two items were the chile relleno and meat enchilada. Both were good, but I preferred the enchilada. The chile relleno was a little slippery under my knife and fork, but that's to be expected. The coating was the perfect level of light and eggy, and didn't have the strange egg-ish aftertaste that many chiles rellenos I've eaten have had. The enchilada seemed more like a small burrito. Most enchiladas I have had are thinner and wetter. This was a substantial enchilada! Along with that were house made tortilla chips with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole. The total for each two-item combo: about $10, plus an extra $3 for the guac.

I later met a former professor of mine and his wife for dinner. We met at Pepito's in Riverside, near the corner of Central and Magnolia. It was a cozy, colorful and lushly decorated restaurant and cantina. They go there all the time, and I can see why. After ordering a Dos Equis lager at the bar, I met them in the restaurant for our meal. This time, we all ordered off the a la carte menu. My professor suggested the ground beef tacos. The thing I hadn't expected was the mixture of potato in the taco (apparently, this is how they do it in Michoacán). The shell was hard, but this was no pre-fab Ortega taco shell. Instead, it was a normal corn tortilla that was folded over and fried (Síquio's were the same, except at the cheaper buffet). I ordered two ground beef and potato tacos and a tamale. The tacos were flavorful, especially with the side order of guacamole. As an aside, I have no idea what they put in their guac at Pepito's, but they need to keep putting it in because this is better than most guacamoles I have had. The tamale was massive, bigger than any I had ever eaten. It was a nice big layer of corn dough wrapped around lots of shredded pork, and smothered in a delicous red sauce. The waitress came by to ask specifically about the tamale. I told her I was pleased. These three things each cost around $2.50 (the Dos Equis? Four bucks).

Calfiornia 2009: Notes from the Road, Part 2

It dawned on me today that it has been a full five years since I moved back to Baltimore from the Inland Empire. This made my travels today a bit more melancholy than I had expected. But as we say on the East Coast, I had an overall good day yesterday.

• My tour of my favorite fast food joints kicked off in San Bernardino, outside of the local Cal State campus, with Del Taco, which is much much better than Taco Hell Bell (I'm not alone in that opinion). I got a very simple, not as cheap as I remembered Del Carbón taco for $1.49. It is just about the least fast-foodie thing I have ever gotten at a fast food restaurant (yes, including the crap that McDonald's passes off as "healthy").

Mmmm. Taco.

• After my aforementioned experience with Fresh and Easy, I had a filling lunch and then headed towards Riverside. After visiting some professors at UCR I headed over to one of my earliest haunts, the lush Canyon Crest Town Center. I was surprised to see many of the same businesses there that had been there when I left in '04. Most were then when I moved out in '97, including old faves like Papi's Tacos al Carbón and Miyako, which gave me some of of my first tastes of Japanese food. Ooh, and Miyako is back to its 2004 prices, apparently.

See?

• Jammin' Bread, located in Canyon Crest Town Center, holds a special significance for me. At one point, I went after a Ph.D. at UCR (yes, more grad school). It was here, after much hemming, hawing and soul searching, that I decided I needed to stop with my MA. Beyond that, Jammin' Bread makes a mean loaf of bread, and they make their own bread, cookies, brownies, cakes, croissants, even English muffins. I ordered the softest, spongiest walnut brownie (I usually hate walnuts in brownies but I hardly tasted it in this one) for $2.50. I also got a cup of iced tea. They asked if I wanted it regular or in several other varieties. I said "regular," and then asked if it was sweetened. She said no - it was regular. D'oh!

Picturesque, innit?

• I remember when they zhuzh'd up the Ralph's (California's version of Giant). Basically, they Whole Foods-ified it and sold slightly fancier things. One less fancy thing was a bag of Beer Chips. These chips are a little sweet and actually taste a little like beer. I am intrigued.
  

Beer and Chips...

• I got a chance to go back to UCR and watch their Javanese gamelan orchestra practice for their big concert on the 5th of June (of course, after I leave). Before that, I drove around to see what haunts were still around. I saw Indian and Mexican markets, Arabic, Italian and Vietnamese restaurants, and several Starbucks that were there when I last left. Another familiar place was the sort-of UCR-affiliated Getaway Café, where many grads, undergrads and even the occasional prof or two go for some wings or beer. I got a (somewhat overpriced) $4.25 pint of Inland Empire Brewing Company's somewhat hoppy, somewhat peppery India Pale Ale. It was pretty tasty, but not for $4.25.
• After passing by the "East Coast Bagel" restaurant, I realized something that I had forgotten after leaving SoCal: to many in California, everything on the Atlantic Coast is just "The East." There is no elusive "New England" or exotic "South," no "Upstate," "Mid-Atlantic" or "Low Country." Nope. It's all just one big lump of East Coast-iness. Funny. Too funny.
  
• Did I mention the delicious dinner I had at Thai Place with my hosts? Best tom kha kai I've had in ages.
  

Fresh and Easy - That's My Style (or, "Tesco, Can You Hear Me?")

I love Fresh and Easy. That's what my friend Jim told me last September when a Fresh and Easy supermarket opened up in Yucaipa, where he lives. After visiting today, I am of the same opinion: I love the place.

I was early meeting him for lunch (Tokyo Sushi for a super-filling meal), so I decided to visit Fresh and Easy. As I've mentioned in the past, F&E is owned and operated by the UK-based Tesco Supermarket chain. Their mission: to open up supermarkets in urban places, especially the inner cities. Yucaipa is not the inner city. It's about as rural and rednecky as you could ever hope for (besides, maybe, Banning). So why open up a fresh and fun Fresh and Easy store right across from Yucaipa's "master-planned golf course community" (I'm not kidding), now covered in all the ooze and goo that is the uber-bursted housing bubble? Who cares why? It's awesome!!!

The one time I went into a Tesco sandwiched in between compact buildings in a tiny corner of St. John's Wood in London, I saw the same crispness and efficiency of the layout. Like Tesco, Fresh and Easy prides itself on higher quality at an affordable price. The prices were slightly higher than those at Trader Joe's (with more fresh produce and other stuff you would find in a supermarket but not at Trader Joe's), and much lower than those at Whole Paycheck Foods.

They also have a free sample section with several different free samples, just waiting to be eaten. Their hash browns and homemade macaroni salad were pretty tasty - not the best, but definitely good. And employee enthusiasm is not to be taken lightly. The woman manning the free sample section insisted on giving me a ten-minute tour of the place when I told her that I had never before been. She told me about how:

• this location was the first in the Inland Empire that had been built for F&E instead of just moving into a pre-existing location. You can tell by the skylights, which are put in to save on energy.
• everybody who comes in zeroes in on the "Day-Old / Up to 50% Off" section, by the beer (Oh GOD, do I miss living in a state that allows supermarkets to sell alcohol!). I bought lemon bars that were about 25% lower than their normal cost.
• the place prides itself on natural ingredients, without the ridiculous markup that the sometimes-valid, sometimes-dubious "ORGANIC" label brings.
• it's a place that a lot of people come into just to buy something quick and cheap and tasty.
• most of its wares are shipped to their Moreno Valley warehouse and then distributed to all the area F&E's, thereby reducing carbon emissions from the trucks.
  

She showed a zeal for the place that lay somewhere between "Scientologist" and "Chick-Fil-Aniac" on the enthusiasm scale (that is, quite high). But while it may be easy to poke fun, I can understand her enthusiasm. It is a lovely place, and many of the items sold at F&E are indeed F&E brand items, packaged in much the same way that Tesco items are packaged.

I did buy some items. I went for the aforementioned lemon bars for a mere £1.40 $2.25. Along with those, I got a bottle of mint-flavored water for 60 cents. They also have cucumber, strawberry and (get this) coconut. Total after tax: about three bucks.

A few snacky things from Tesco, American-Style

Honestly, I do see myself going there next Tuesday (the day before I fly back home), buying a few supplies, and shipping them back to Baltimore. When did I last do that? Oh yeah, it was about 12 years ago, after I had moved to California and found this great place called "Trader Joe's" that had yet to move into the Baltimore area. Then it was for family. This time, it's mine! (Yes, and theirs, too.) Maybe Tesco will plop a few Fresh and Easy's somewhere in Baltimore someday?

Calfiornia 2009: Notes from the Road

I am tired and not in a mood to type tonight, but I wanted to give at least a culinary and un-culinary update.

• A human can subsist on honey roasted peanuts alone when he's taking the eight-hour trip from Baltimore via Cleveland via St. Louis via Phoenix to Ontario. But it ain't fun. Neither is that trip.
• Make sure your job references actually send in the forms.
• Those South Beach bars really aren't half bad...
• Airplane reading: the incredibly engrossing Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. I started reading it on the runway in Cleveland and got through 80% of the book over the next six hours. A review is forthcoming, but I just have to say: WOW! Y'all HAVE to READ this BOOK! It's non-fiction, by the way (I mostly enjoy reading nonfiction books).
  
• On the non-food front: I pre-paid for my rental, but Hertz let me upgrade for $5 a day ($40 total) for a hybrid car that gets 48 miles to the gallon!!! That's twice what the car I originally ordered got to the gallon. Plus my 70% savings on Priceline for the cost of the car, and I'm making out like a bandit.

That's it for now. Off to bed. Sushi beckons for lunch and I am hungry...

I Made It into Baltimore Magazine

I have to thank Dara for being patient with me. She let me know that I got a very nice mention in Baltimore Magazine. But because I am, as I told her, a spazz, I could not find it. So she was kind enough to type it out for me. Under the story "101 Things to Eat, See & Do," page 116 (Baltimore-centric corners of the web):

#79 Local foodies appreciate Baltimore Snacker (baltimoresnacker.blogspot.com), a humorous, often-updated look at food and drink around the city. Also worth a mention are Mango & Ginger and Dining Dish

Woo hoo! Dara, Kit and I all got a mention in Baltimore Magazine! I am humbled, especially since I have only just now picked up where I left off a few months ago. Thanks to Baltimore Magazine, and thanks to those who have sent me well wishes!

Because it's Memorial Day

Did Guy Fieri actually call Baltimore "historic"? Um, exactly what does that mean? Sure, we have lots of history here, but, um... This is why I usually ignore Guy Fieri. Except when he's hangin' with the Duffman, in this spot about that tasty concoction that's not quite BBQ but not quite not, that most Baltimoronic of red meats - pit beef. (And no, it's not an "East Cost" thing. It's a "Baltimore" thing.)



Yes, we grill pit beef (so if it is in the BBQ family, it's the black sheep. And a distant cousin). But wait! Most of us buy our pit beef. I've never made my own. So why put it here on Memorial Day, when most of us are grillin' hamburgers and such? Because so many people are talking about grilling burgers today, I just wanted to do something different. That and I'm burger'd out.

I admit: I've never been to Chaps Pit Beef. I can't believe I passed it by on my Beltway Snacking tour (but hey, you're bound to miss a few things, even some biggies). As far as pit beef goes, I usually stray not far from what's familiar, so i usually find myself at the pit beef stands in the southwest when I do get it. I like the one in Lansdowne, but there are probably scores of good ones all over the area. Still, this is a trip I should make soon.

Brew at the Zoo!

I should have posted this earlier, but it's definitely not too late yet!

Brad at the Beer in Baltimore blog has been "Tweeting" about the Brew at the Zoo event yesterday and today. It runs until 6pm today. It costs $45 if you're not a member of the zoo, but if you are then it's $30. I'm still scratching my heah why children under 2 get into a beer-centered event at all, much less for free, but I digress. Regardless, anybody 21 and older gets lots of good beer. Somehow, I really really doubt that Bud Light factors into that (ick).

A Taxonomy of America's Regional Barbeque Sauces

Persons of all political persuasions can probably agree that this is one of the most important items posted on the Huffington Post website in ages: Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn's lovingly detailed breakdown of the nine major variants of BBQ sauces and rubs in the South and Midwest (there are more, but these are his big ones). The one I most want to try? That Alabama white sauce (which I just found out I can no longer get at the fabled Alabama BBQ Company, since it's now closed). The ones I love the most so far? The North Carolina varieties, vinegar and pepper mop sauces both with (Western / "Lexington") and without (Eastern) tomato, most often found in pulled pork (you can get pulled pork at just about any pit beef stand). And because the whole point of the article is making your own one of these BBQ sauces, recipes are linked!

Wales Is Toast

Or moreover, Wales as toast. And no rarebit in sight. And yes, that is a Wales-shaped cookie cutter.


This is why I love the Strange Maps website. Originally from the BBC Website.

California up ahead...

Ah, California. With that screwy, falling-apart sort of economy. I used to work in some capacity for Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. I truly wonder if I would still have work there given the current budget crisis. Oh, and I also can't get married there >:( At least there's still most of New England. And Iowa. Let them get the "wedding tourism" that California just won't be getting now. They need all the money they can get.

Anyway, I'm going back next week. Again, flying on a cheaper-than-expected ticket (via Southwest), driving with a prepaid, much-cheaper-than-expected rental car (via Priceline), and staying with friends (so no need to pay for a room at all). A few foodie things I am looking forward to while I'm back in the Eureka State...

• The last time I went out to Cali, I was introduced to Fat Tire Beer, one of the most wonderful beers I have ever drunk in my life. At least a six pack is coming back to Maryland with me, once I figure out how to fit it into my luggage without letting it break (stupid, stupid, antiquated no-shipping-of-alcohol-into-or-out-of-Maryland laws).
• The promise of actual, edible Mexican food - an elusive dream on this side of the Mississippi River, but something easily found in SoCal.
• Eric was berating me yesterday about ever eating fast food. He's reading a new book about healthier eating. Yes, I should look it up, but I'm a slow reader, so I'd rather wait for the audiobook. Anyway, there are lots of great - and not-so-great - fast food options on the lovely Left Coast. Faves include Del Taco and In N' Out, which merit an immediate visit. Not-so-faves include Carl's Jr. and Jack-in-the-Box, whose food has achieved a truly inedible quality. Weinerschnitzel became tiring but I'm willing to give it another chance.
• It's a helluva lot easier to find See's Candies out there than it is out here.
• I hope my main man Kurt is able to meet up. He and his wife may be out of town the whole time. He's a darn good cook and always has something good when I come over to visit. He makes a mean cochinita pibil. Being from Richmond, he also loves 'em blues as does almost any person that grew up near the Chesapeake Bay. When I first moved out there over a decade ago, the two of us introduced the rest of our grad student friends to steamed crabs. I still get a kick out of thinking about one guy's plea to just "set them free."
• The small city of Redlands has one of the first farmers' markets that I ever set foot into. I'm longing for their kettle corn and mini-donuts.

Plus, I can't get the promise of that strong, strong smell of orange blossoms and garlic farms along the 10 out of my head. It's strongest just west of the San Bernardino County Museum. Wonderful, just wonderful stuff.

Soft Shell Crab Week

I recently got an email from the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore touting "Soft Shell Crab Week." I had no idea it was "Soft Shell Crab Week." Here's what the DPB says in its email:

Downtown Baltimore restaurants are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend with the kick off of the Downtown Baltimore Soft Shell Crab Week. The Chesapeake Bay is famous for its blue crabs, which is the main catch for local watermen. The shedding cycle of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab runs from late May through September and produces the delicious soft shell crab. Considered a true delicacy, renowned the world over, the soft crab is prized by those who are first to sample a season's catch.

It seems like a good idea. Even though I don't see any low, low "Baltimore Restaurant Week"-esque prices, there are still a few locations that are either promoting their soft shell choices or offering new ones, including Brass Elephant, The Charleston, Donna's, Eden West, Grille 700, Ixia, La Scala, Mother's Grille, Nick's Fish House and Sotto Sopra.

I love soft shells as much as the next Bawlamoron. I remember a bachelor's party I went on in Old Town Alexandria for an old college buddy. He and all of his friends were from Upstate New York - Somers to be specific - where they apparently do not have soft shell crabs (poor souls), and I was the only one of his friends that was in any way familiar with the DC area. Everyone else was very interested in drinking (and at least one of them threw up). I would have been interested in drinking too, had I not been driving, and had I not seen the soft shell crab sandwich on the menu. The only thing these guys could say was, "Now I think I'm going to throw up!" It looked like a big batter-fried bug in a sandwich. I guess it's a Chesapeake thing.

End-of-Grad-School Dinner

Symbolically, food is important to me. Otherwise, why would I be writing a blog - about food? Y'all know I've finished grad school. The last year entailed a year-long internship, starting in August and ending last week. At various points during the internship, I made food and froze it, with the intention of eating it all together in one big meal at the end. I did this three different times:

• August - vanilla spice muffins (from a mix bought on clearance at Williams-Sonoma)
• January (end of Christmas vacation) - Neapolitan Sugo di Pomodoro (smooth tomato sauce), from Arthur Schwartz's excellent cookbook Naples at Table
• March (3/4 way through) - Irish colcannon (mashed potatoes mixed with greens - in this case, cabbage), made around St. Patrick's Day, from the Helen Walsh cookbook Irish Country Cooking

To weave all these frozen foods together, I settled on a meatloaf. The spaghetti sauce covered the meatloaf, and the colcannon was a side dish, along with some of Ina Garten's wonderful roasted broccoli (I also added red bell pepper strips). The muffin was eaten on the side.

The meal

The thing I was unsure about was exactly how well the food would stand up to two or four or nine months in the freezer. I have pulled foods out of the freezer before that survived several months pretty well (like a deer stew I made a few months ago), while others really did not hold up well at all (like some pieces of roasted chicken I stocked away - it's as wonderful out of the oven as it is inedible after six months in the freezer). So how did these foods stand up? Firstly, all of these items were stored on the door of my freezer. Sometimes, items placed there hold up better than they do in the main part of the freezer.

Vanilla spice muffin (total freezer time: nine months) - It tasted fine. The only problem I had was that it fell apart easily, which actually did not ruin the texture since it tended to fall apart anyway.

Tomato sauce (total freezer time: four months) - It was still as tangy and spicy as I remembered. I wish I had poured over the potatoes, too, but they were fine either way.

Colcannon (total freezer time: two months) - I was surprised at how good it tasted. The colcannon included not just potatoes but also butter, cream and boiled cabbage. What surprised me was how well the cabbage froze. It actually tasted and felt the same as when I made it!

Overall, the food froze well. Plus, I know now how well potatoes infused with cabbage turns out after being frozen for a while!

Now I'm going to freeze some of last night's meatloaf and eat it once I find a job!

Don't Knock the Anchovies

Here's a tidbit from the Atlantic Magazine's Food Channel, which has a lot of fascinating foodie articles that you wouldn't expect to see. It's by Ari Weinzweig, who urges the anchovy-wary reader to give those little fishes a second chance. I've loved anchovies for years, so he's preaching to the choir with me. But for most of you who are "anchoviphobes," you've probably been eating crappy ones that don't come from the Mediterranean. The best ones are, it seems, caught by Ortiz of Spain. A bottle like the one above costs $17! Hmmm, maybe I have to stick with the crappy ones?

It just hit me...

Getting the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger value meal at Wendy's - even with a bottle of water - costs about half as much as the cheapest featured "value meal" also at Wendy's. Add a hot fudge sundae from the McDonald's across the street (so conveniently located across from each other on Nursery Road in Linthicum) adds a mere $1.06. not exactly good eating, but it is cheap eating.

Preakness Weekend Tidbits...

A few thoughts:

1. If I had to choose between Loco Hombre and Alonso's, I'd choose Alonso's in a heartbeat. That's the conclusion I came to last night with my friend Scott when we went for Mexican. Easily a third of the items on Loco Hombre's menu was from Alonso's (to be fair, you can order several of Loco Hombre's items on the Alonso's side).

But it seemed that Loco Hombre's food was a bit on the, um, charred side for Scott. We ordered their Loco Nachos ($10) as an appetizer. They came out a good while after we ordered them, but they were indeed piping hot, with nice, cold guacamole and cream cheese on top. They can't be faulted on their presentation, and honestly I did like the nachos. But they were, again, a little burnt for Scott's taste.

The main courses were more overall underwhelming. Scott got the chicken fajitas ($14), with lots of chicken, onion and bell pepper - half of which was burned onto the fajita pan. It smelled good to me. Scott couldn't finish it. My tacos ($13) were soft and juicy, but a little dull. On the plus side, the meat was pretty good in those tacos. The chicken was the best, followed by the shrimp - both were juicy and tasty - and then the steak, which was also pretty good. It was the rest of the entrée that underwhelmed me. I wish some salsa had come with them, to at least spice things up - maybe their very different nopal cactus salsa, for example. Also, the tortillas were a little bland, but that's really a failing of flour tortillas in general and I can't blame Loco Hombre for that one (give me corn tortillas any time). The sides were bland to the point of inedibility. I can't remember when I've last had such forgettable rice. The refried beans had an interesting presentation, lumped onto the plate like an ice cream scoop, which did nothing for their flavor. I wouldn't have minded the tacos, despite the problems with the sides, had they not cost as much as they had. But I was still more satisfied than Scott.

Since it was Preakness Day, and since I had just posted about the Black Eyed Susan, I thought I would try one. Scott has made them before, and the recipe I described was completely unfamiliar to him.


What I got for my $7.50 seemed like an orange juice with a kick. Not a hard kick, just a kick. I didn't get much of a buzz off of it. Each of the Yuenglings I had later at the Central was stronger.

Next time I think I'll just stick to Alonso's.

2. Speaking of the Preakness, there was many a woman in a big silly hat coming in for food after the big race. Yes, we are Big Hat Country.

3. Clothes easily add almost five pounds to your total weight, as I found out this morning. Not counting drawers, which weigh nothing:

• Jeans - 2 lbs
• Belt - 0.2 lbs
• Socks - 0 lbs
  
• Tennis shoes - 2 lbs
• T-shirt - 0 lbs
• TOTAL - 4.2 lbs extra

4. On the, ahem, recommendations of friends who read the blog, I have lightened the background graphic. Hopefully that will help with the readability.

5. Oh, and just as I Tweeted yesterday, I have officially passed graduate school!!! Next task: finding a job for the upcoming school year. Now I can officially celebrate.

Black-Eyed Susan - no, not the flower

Since today is, in fact, Preakness day, it seemed appropriate to post this recipe for the traditional drink of the Preakness. Other versions are fancier (there's the Southern Living version I saw in their last issue, and check out this version from DrinksMixer.com), but this simple old recipe on simple old About.com is, apparently, "how it is served at the Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico and also to the fans at the Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness Stakes." It's not the traditional one (the others are closer to that), but it is the current version. All I have at home is the vodka, but maybe y'all have the rest?

This is quoted from the About.com website.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 oz. Whiskey
• 3/4 oz. Vodka
• 3 oz. Sweet and Sour Mix
• 2 oz. Orange Juice

Preparation:

Fill a highball glass with shaved ice, add the liquors first, then top off with orange juice and sweet and sour mix. Stir and garnish with an orange slice, cherry, and stirrer.

And that's **HIC** it!

Dangerously Delicious Home Cookin'

Rodney Henry, the Dangerously Delicious Pies guy, is a man after Paula Deen's heart. He is Paula's latest guest on Paula's Best Dishes. The man is no healthy eater (at least not today) judging by what he's just done in Miss Paula's kitchen. In just the last seven minutes, I saw him slather a raw chicken with one or two sticks of butter (I lost count) and a generous amount of kosher salt. Plus, I don't think I've seen so much shortening go into anything in a long time. Paula's eyes were bugging out - and not in a displeased way!

Not criticisms, just observations. And yes, I've eaten stuff like that before...

And now the two of them are going to fry some pie. Oh my goodness.

A match made in Heaven...

Coming Up Next: Paula and Rodney's Down Home Empanadas...

I'm being silly of course, but they are certainly happy about those fried pies

The episode ends with skillet brownies with marshmallow creme frosting, and Rodney playing the guitar for Paula.

Have you noticed that every guest star that Paula brings in from Baltimore ends up in a jam session on one of her shows? First Duff on Paula's Party, now a Dangerously Delicious Def Jam. Just an observation...

Using Twitter to Find Food...

I'm visiting SoCal again in about a week and a half (a little graduation gift to myself). Such divine providence it is that I found this news tidbit on Yahoo. Apparently, foodies in LA are using Twitter to keep track of where their favorite roving food trucks are. As the article says, one of the leaders in this movement, Kogi (they sell Mexican/Korean fusion food), uses Twitter to tell people not only where they are but also what secret items are on today's menu. To wit:

Since Kogi's launch in November, hungry herds of have been following the pair of white trucks that rove the city selling tacos, burritos and other gourmet tidbits steeped in traditional Korean flavors.

In short order, the Kogi name has become recognizable to foodies around the country. No small accomplishment for a pair of taco trucks, says Kate Krader, restaurant editor for Food & Wine magazine. "That's 90 percent thanks to Twitter."

And she thinks the success of food truck Tweets likely will inspire a broader use of Twitter across the food world.

"Chefs will be Tweeting from the farmers market about the mushrooms they just picked up and will be part of their mushroom pasta that evening," she says.

For diners, there are benefits to the Tweets beyond just knowing where to find the eats.

Kogi is using the service to maintain the Californian tradition of restaurants having secret menus one must be in-the-know to order from (such as the hamburger joint In-N-Out). On the side of the truck, Kogi's menu lists a few items, including tacos and burritos stuffed with Korean short ribs, spicy pork, chicken and tofu. But keep up with Kogi's Twitter feed and the options multiply.

"We do that because it's fun to have something different and experimental available every day," says [Kogi brand manager Mike] Prasad, adding that the truck wouldn't have as many followers if it didn't provide new options.

I will have to start following them now so I can find out where they are when i wind up in LA at last. Mmmm, kimchi and bulgogi tacos.

Little Mouse Bastard...

I told y'all I'd be posting more by weeks' end.

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a mouse running around. I have lived in this apartment for about a year and a half, and have so far managed to avoid anything worse than a spider or the occasional bee flying in through the window. But this mouse has gots ta go.

A few things I found today while spending $17 on one of those ultrasonic noise makers that hurts little micey's ears but is imperceptible to people, pets and plants (those things have worked for me before):

• The little buggers are repelled by mint (that I knew) and also by bay leaves (that I did not know). Maybe that's why I haven't found any droppings or remnants of a little "mouse party" in my pantry. Still, I went out and bought large ziploc bags to put all my boxed foods in, just to be proactive.
• They also fear the scent of fox urine. Pyoo, so would I. But it seems that they make mouse-repelling things with the scent of fox - a natural predator of the mouse - pee in it. Can't imagine why I'd want that around me though.
  
• Chili pepper spray does the trick, too.

I still bought one of those "mouse motels" that I put a blob of peanut butter into. It's away from the windows, so that it won't attract that other obnoxious pest, the ant.

I'm on the Internet Wayback Machine!

I love Archive.org. It has links to pages from years past, but more important is that those pages look like they did in the past!

On a hunch, I searched for my site. I found pages from years ago with webpage layouts and links from 2007, 2008, etc. Just have a look at some of these links. Certainly you can find other blogs on there, too.

Tsunami Martini

A friend and I went to Minato tonight to vent about issues each of us has been having lately. It was his first time (I have this habit of introducing people to Minato). He was happy to see the $3 martini special all night on Wednesdays. I don't usually do martinis. I dunno. I just like driving while sober, what can I say? But I was intrigued by the bevy of martinis on the menu. Knowing I'd be sober by the time we finished our meal, I went ahead and ordered the Tsunami Martini, one of their sake martinis. I don't know the proportions, but it contains vodka, sake and plum wine. We eac tried it, and found it intriguing. The next time I have a free Wednesday night I may have to go back for this.

Because it's Mother's Day

Tattoos are from the dev-ell...

It sounds odd but it's actually pretty good...

Starved for a quick snack? Do what I did: take vanilla wafers and scoop them into some low-fat whipped cream cheese. Sounds odd, yes, but it tastes surprisingly good. I used Trader Joe's "Ultimate" Vanilla Wafers, which taste so much different from the Nabisco Nillas. I wonder how a banana pudding would taste with those?

My first photo of the second 1,000 posts. Pardon the mess. It's been a very busy month.

Look at My Face...

Grad school is almost over. Literally, it's about four days away. Regular posting will start back up again by the end of this upcoming week. Yay! I miss blogging. Plus, I'm working so hard that my defenses are down. I seem to be the only person I know of that has a cold. Nope, not swine flu. It's a cold.

Here's something funny I saw the other week. It's not food related at all. I just need some silly right now. Think Deven Green's mock soundtrack to the Brenda Dickson craptastic classic "Welcome to My Home" (both of which continually get yanked from YouTube due to copyright violations). Amac990 did his own music video using Deven Green's vocals. Isn't it fashion?

Pink Lemonade Cookies - courtesy of Jolene Sugarbaker

Regular posting should resume in about a week (and a few days)! In the meantime, just to reassure y'all that I am indeed still alive (and burning a new ulcer in my stomach with the worry over grad school), here's something to chew on for the warming weather: pink lemonade cookies. By La Jolene:



I could picture this at HonFest.