In Mourning

Tonight my cat, my little one died very unexpectedly.  I will be holding off on publishing anything new until the end of the month. He gave me so much happiness and joy for 13 years.  I will miss him.

Celebration!

The President is re-elected, the DREAM Act is passed, and I can now legally marry in my own home state!  I will celebrate on Wednesday.

Onions do NOT take 5 minutes to caramelize.

Forty-five minutes.  That's how long it takes.  Thank you, Tom Scocca of Slate, for pointing this out - and calling so many chefs to the carpet for perpetuating this big fib!

I plead the 57th

Sometimes you just are left speechless.  Hat tip to Dan at The Hungover Gourmet (via Facebook) for this bit of weird news with the following headline:

Man Covered in Ketchup Arrested After Anti-Tourist Tirade

Er....

Anyway, NBC 6 in Miami reports:

A homeless man covered in the sweet red stuff was reportedly arrested in Key West, Fla. Wednesday while screaming profanities about tourists from the middle of an Old Town street. [WTVJ-TV, 2012]

You just can't make this stuff up, can you?

NYPL Mega Menu Database

Why am I always the last one to see this stuff?  I was doing research on early Indian restaurants in New York City - yes, this is what I do for fun - and came across a site that led me to this database on the New York Public Library website.  It is an extensive database of restaurant menus dating back to the 19th century!  Individuals can volunteer to transcribe them, or correct things that aren't correct.  And it's not just New York restaurants, either.  One random one that popped up: a 1955 menu from Baltimore's own Chesapeake Restaurant, once open near Penn Station and what is now the Charles Theater.  Loving their entry for "Chicken Chesapeake In Casserole" for only $2.50.  That would easily be ten times the amount today, almost 60 years later.

This is a time waster for a few hours.

(Menu cover from the Chesapeake Restaurant in Baltimore, c. 1955.  Image linked from the New York Public Library Menu Database)

Stop SOPA (no, not Spanish for "SOUP")!

Even Google gets something right now and then.  I'm going to let them take it from here.

In Memoriam

My father passed away quietly this morning, after being disconnected from life support yesterday afternoon.  He is now resting peacefully.

The blog is going dark for a month (okay, not literally - I just won't be posting anymore this month).  I will resume posting in December.  Thanks for your support as my family goes through this difficult time.

This week in culture shock...

Three thoughts on a recent visit to H-Mart:

1) Ew.

2) People actually eat this. Stop being so ethnocentric.

3) So... should I try to eat this at some point?

It's too darn hot...

I will be cooking today. I know, I am crazy. However, I do have some cold stuff to pair it off with as well: gazpacho in the freezer and salad in the fridge. Let's hope those go well with those exotic New England fiddleheads I yanked out of the freezer and will be stir frying up today (read about it in a few weeks when I try to interpret the foods of Maine).

In the meantime, deal with the heat in these ways:

* Please stay well-hydrated today, stay indoors in the A/C or at least a fan, as much as humanly possible - , for example, a mall, library, museum, hospital (if you have someone to visit - try not to go there as a patient, please), or house of worship (pray for cool weather - do it).

* If you do visit an air-conditioned pub, make sure you offset any alcohol you drink with water or juice or something along those lines. And don't just rely on soda, coffee or tea today either: the caffeine can be bad in this heat. Again, offset them with water, juices or anything that provides electrolytes.

* If you are doing activities outside (like the footie I was playing yesterday evening in much cooler 90° temperatures), stay hydrated and take frequent breaks.

* It's probably a fool's errand to look for the food trucks out today: the Gypsy Queen Café Truck (Twitter: @thegypsytruck) has already said they are staying home today due to the heat. Not to discourage people from visiting the food trucks, but who knows which ones will be out today? (UPDATE: At least one will be out today; the Kooper's Chowhound - Twitter: @BRGRwagon - is in Mount Vernon until 1:30. And the Haute Dog Carte - Twitter: @hautedogcarte - as always, is selling its delicious dogs).

* Did I mention that you need to stay hydrated today?

* Check in on your sick and elderly, and if you see any animals locked in cars... well I don't even want to think about that!

Tidbits: Early July Edition

A few things I've been eating lately:

* I have been playing a lot of soccer lately - both pickup and league, and my shins hurt like hell (note to self: find something to make these shinguards more, er, comfortable to wear while running around for one or two hours). Last night after one such pickup game down in DC (where I did pretty well, considering my lack of experience), I headed to Adams Morgan for a quick beer and bite before making the long slog home. I ended up at the cozy L'Enfant Cafe & Bar where I ordered a delicious savory crepe of salmon & boursin cheese ($13). It was a bargain, though the refreshing cherry beer I ordered, normally served with ice, clocked in at $10! That kind of took me by surprise (note to self: ask how much the damn beer costs).

* Whenever I eat Indian, I often gravitate to one or two recipes that are tried and true favorites: chicken tikka masala, saag gosht (lamb with spinach), murgh makhani (butter chicken), etc. At Mughal Garden the other night I settled on something somewhat different: their lamb methi ($14), which is lamb in a fenugreek sauce (hence the methi, which is fenugreek). It's not a taste I can easily describe, because I don't have a reference point. It's a very mellow dish, a lovely one with a lot of sauce you can soak up with much of your garlic naan. I recommend it.

* I haven't been to Rocket 2 Venus lately. I did go last week, and could not get over how quickly I was seated... and how my waiter just completely forgot about me (very irritated about that). Fortunately after about ten minutes of tapping my fingers and checking my email, a waiter did come by to find out if I was being helped (nope), and my service was quite fast after that. R2V is a place with such an eclectic menu that you can spend a good long while trying to figure out what to order - maybe that was a plus for waiting while people seated after me ended up ordering first. After all the classic American, Southern, Western, Chesapeake, Cajun and Korean offerings, I ordered the bulgogi plate with fried rice ball, mashed potatoes & kimchi ($13). It was a very satisfying experience, with the soft bulgogi, kimchi and potatoes providing a flavorful contrast against each other. Plus, my food came out much faster than I had anticipated.

* Alas, all the area Super Fresh stores are now history, excepting for the one downtown on N. Charles Street. Some of them are already slated to become something else (like the one in Hampden, for example). The rest are just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs. I hope a Harris Teeter or something moves into the one on Putty Hill.

* I realized the other day: sometimes you want a nice, hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc., just like Mom used to make. And other times, all you want is a bowl of kimchi flavored noodles (second kimchi reference in this post, by the way).

* Find out in a few weeks what happened to this little guy that I got at the Maine Avenue Fish Market in Washington, DC, for all of $7 a pound:


* Soda update: I have been sticking to about 2 cans a day. With Dad in the hospital and the occasional late long drive back from DC I have allowed myself a little more of the stuff. But on the contrary, I have also found myself just normally drinking less. It's been a long time since I have ordered it in the restaurant, preferring beer, tea or water (I did order a soda at Lou's City Bar after a game the other day, to give me a shot of caffeine - which worked). But overall I have been going through a good bit less of it lately.

* And finally: I know he is moving out soon (er, being forced out by our landlord), but could my idiot neighbor please stop putting all his crap out by the side of the road for the trash and recycling people to just leave there!?!? It's bad enough he used to go through my recycling bin for cans, and the only reason he doesn't seem to do this anymore is because I have started putting it in a place where he is too lazy to look.

Ouch, did I just let all that pour out? Maybe I should smack him with one of my shinguards?

Updates...

Blogging has, of course, been sparse of late. My father is in the hospital again, stable but he may be there for a while until he gets better. For now posting will be light, except for some auto-posts from the "State-by-State" series that are in the pipeline.

A few random bites: February Edition

Just a few things I've missed saying...

1) In doing research for my next "Back to the Beltway" post (coming up at some point in the next few weeks, just with the gas prices and expense and all), I was surprised, shocked and dismayed at all the eateries in Linthicum that have seemingly shut down. One hot dog place, Duncan's Famous, hasn't been there for a while. Granted, they once gave me the creamiest hot dog that I have had in ages, not since the Soda Pop Shop near Baltimore Highlands, late 80's.

2) Lunch on Friday was at the House of India in Columbia. I had to get in and out, which I did with ease. It was quite good: some of the least bony chunks of goat I have eaten in a while. plus tasty and toothsome ras malai and various chicken, chickpea and rice dishes. One dish I was not so hot on was the dhabha chicken, which tasted and had a texture like warmed over day-old Chinese takeout, and I don't mean from a good place. And yet there it is smack dab in the middle, piled up as if to say "Taaaaaake meeeeeee. You KNOW you waaaaaant meeeeee." Next time I go back I'll just get everything else. Though at $12 for the weekday buffet, it is a wee pricier than some other buffets that are just as good. I guess you're paying for the "Columbia" experience.

3) The latest beer tasting I did at the Wine Source was of R.J. Rockers out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Most of their beers were lovely though I was particularly captivated by their winter seasonal, The First Snow Ale. Billed as a "malt beverage brewed with honey and spices", the beer's nicest quality is its gingery punch. I rarely leave with a whole six pack ($9) but I did this time.

4) A gas station in Glen Burnie sells Pepsi from Mexico, made with actual cane sugar. Not as sweet as the HFCS stuff.

5) Along those lines, I have been quite good at drinking less soda. I've been averaging 1.5 cans a day - down from about 3. Let's see how much more I can cut back.

6) Try and figure out why I spent the past week making doro wot (Ethiopian chicken stew), GamJa salad (Korean potato salad) and curtido (Salvadoran cole slaw) - and ate it all at once. Go on.

Our new robot overlords

Not food related, but this is pretty neat. At least until they take over.

Please. Shop At. Our Store.

Why this strikes me as funny I do not know. From a Rite Aid in Bel Air:

Freezer science: in case you were wondering...

Home-made Thanksgiving stuffing / dressing is still good after sitting double-bagged in a freezer bag in the freezer, after 9 1/2 months. Just thought y'all should know.

Because she was one of my favorite Golden Girls

Another Golden Girl ventures into the great beyond. Now Blanche can join George in her dreams for good. To wit, my favorite Rue McClanahan clip of all time, involving delirium and a pair of raw eggs.

These are probably the worst pies in London!

Because it's Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday today! It's not a national gay holiday, but it should be.

Here, Len Cariou's Sweeney Todd suffers the worst pies in London, care of Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Lovett.

Tidbits...

1. Rice milk really doesn't taste all that bad straight up.

2. National Pi Day is coming up. What will you bake to commemorate it? Better not be some damn cake. If you're at the Maryland Science Center on 3/14 (get it? 3? 14?), you could take part in a pie eating contest, with pies courtesy of Morton's Steakhouse. Here's the press release I was sent (H/T - Todd Scott):

Parents should round up their kids, take a digression from their usual weekend plans, and find the best root to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Sunday, March 14 when the Maryland Science Center will host its annual Pi Day celebration in honor of π, the mathematical symbol for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Visitors can participate in multiple activities including a pie-eating contest with Key Lime pies donated by Morton’s The Steakhouse, a hula-hoop endurance challenge, (because it’s a circle!) and show off their Pi memorization skills in a fun competition, and listen to Pi related music all day.

All events are free with paid admission to the Maryland Science Center . The Maryland Science Center is located at 601 Light Street at Baltimore ’s Inner Harbor . For information and ticket prices, visit www.marylandsciencecenter.org or call the 24-Hour Information Line at 410-685-5225.

Round up? Oy.

3. Liz at McCormick & Schmick's emailed me some info about an event that celebrates crabs both in and outside the Chesapeake. As she told me:

The special menu ends at the end of April!McCormick & Schmick’s is giving guests the opportunity to “Discover America’s Crab” with a special menu showcasing several varieties and preparation styles for crab. With everything from Regional Crab Cakes to King Crab Legs to Lobster Ravioli Topped with Blue Crab on the menu, there’s something to please every palate.

The special menu runs through the end of April!

4. The Sun Plus has a new story up about the whoopie pie, that classic Yankee dessert that's finally found its way across the Mason-Dixon Line for good. Author Jill Rosen talks about some local businesses that deal in whoopie pie goodness, and argues that Baltimore, surprisingly, is the unassuming epicenter of a whoopie pie renaissance. That's ironic, since Baltimore to me has always seemed like more of a moon pie town. She did email me about the story, due to my own recent post on the topic, but I think I got back to her way too late to be helpful (sorry!!!). Since I don't know too much about whoopie pies beyond what I wrote here, I probably wouldn't have been much help anyway. Regardless, here's her story! I'll be using it to find some more whoopie pies in the area, plus a recipe.

5. This weekend my birthday is coming up. I don't want to think about it, but I want cake. Can I have the cake without the turning older?

Excuses, Excuses

I've seen so many of my fellow foodies hunerking and bunkering down in the midst of the SNOWPOCALYPSE OF 2010, baking and cooking furiously. Even my sister has done so, telling me about this luscious pumpkin bread she made the other day (I would've gone to her house but I really can't get down the street).

I myself have not baked anything. It seems like a lame excuse, but I'm not in the comfort of my own place. I'm in my parents' house, wondering when I will ever see the insides of my apartment again. My landlord tells me that my street has not seen a plow at all (we're not even a secondary road - more like a tertiary or even a quaternary one). All my thoughts are on my wok, my bamboo steamer, my bread maker and my pasta maker (which I would've been using profusely by now). I have scary thoughts that the contents of my fridge will start looking like an episode of Life After People. I'd much rather bake in the comfort of my own kitchen. God love 'em, but my parents' kitchen is not the most organized room in the house. This explains where I get it from.

An even worse excuse, however, is that I've been getting used to having cable again, since all I have at home is super-limited basic cable. Among that, re-loading all the data on my recently fixed laptop*, digging out the walk and editing Power Point presentations that wait patiently to be presented to college students (all classes canceled so far, not that I could even make it there anyway), I really haven't gotten around to baking anything. Hopefully I will at some point. At the rate things are going, Maryland will be buried under ten feet of snow so I may be stuck here for a very, very long time.

* And please don't listen to all those consumer advocates who tell people that buying the extended warranty is the biggest mistake you can make. The ones I bought for my laptop and my GPS have helped me immensely. Otherwise I'd have to have put out another $500 for another laptop or $200 for another GPS. They've saved me a lot of aggravation. Also, please don't ever buy a Dell laptop for yourself. They're unreliable. I should know.

Cabin Fever

A few things I've noticed while trapped in my parents' house in the throes of the Snowpocalypse of 2010:

• It's not that difficult to kind of recreate Jell-O 1-2-3, that fabulously foamy Jell-O confection from somewhere in the 80's: take any Jell-O mix and boiling water, blend it in a blender on medium for 30 seconds, then high for a minute. Then add ice water and blend on high for a minute. Refrigerate as normal. It'll solidify into two layers: the regular Jello-O layer and a foamy layer on top. Sure, it's only more of a Jello 1-3, without the middle #2 layer. But it's still different.
  

• My cat will eat peanuts.

• A piece of bacon wrapped around a hot dog - "Tijuana-style" but without the maters and onions - is blissful after 20 minutes in the toaster oven, on the "Broil" setting. Normally it would shrivel up and get all hard after spending that long in the toaster oven, but the bacon prevents that by lubricating it.

• Caught an Ace of Cakes marathon. The Duffster made that Old Bay cake for the 70th anniversary of Old Bay. Wish I had gone to that.

• Which reminds me: I need to get back to Dizzy Izzies at some point.
  

• I have orange chicken and milk sitting in my fridge at home that probably won't be any good by the time I finally get home. And my banana wine needed to be strained on Sunday.

• I would have gone out for a beer but every parking space is snowed in. And we're getting 10 to 20 more inches of snow. Things are looking quite Antarctic right about now.

Any snowpocalypse stories y'all want to share? Please go ahead!