Picky Lunch

Sandwich of the day

2012-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

When a boy needs a sandwich, sometimes it's a ham and cheese on brioche with house pickles.

Scenographic sandwich

2011-12-08T14:56:00.001-08:00

when a 12-year-old makes a sandwich...it might be provolone, mayo, and overboiled, halved hotdogs on white bread. Sigh. At least he was proud.

Field trip to new Hitchcock Deli on Bainbridge Island

2011-12-02T15:35:00.001-08:00

The Hitchcock Deli is now open, and it's amazing. I love both the working environment and the food. I've had two lovely sandwiches, and ca't wait to start buying dry-aged meat and fresh fish from the case. And some bread-and-butter pickles, they have those too from local cucumbers. I'm not alone in loving it in a simple, satisfied way. The top picture is of a house-made braunschweiger sandwich with butter, gruyere, and a little mustard on rye.

Minecraft cake!

2011-09-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is a Minecraft cake, if you haven't seen one. Here's some info about it:

Cake is a special food item that allows for multiple uses. Cake must be placed to eat.

To enjoy a cake, once it is made, you must place it on the ground. Each use of it will take off a slice (6 slices total). Destroying a cake will yield nothing in return. If you are already at full health, no cake will be consumed.

Cake cannot be moved once placed.

Empty buckets will be retained after cake is made.

What does a 12-year-old want when he celebrates his birthday? Why, a Minecraft cake, of course. Here's what ours got, thanks to the efforts of his dad. It was declared to be the Best.Cake.Ever.

A buttery plate of rigatoni?

2011-09-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

No. It's pineapple twizzler candy. Very, very good.

Night Kitchens

2011-09-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Walking through Belltown the other night, I passed the Macrina Bakery kitchen vitrine. I became used to seeing this kitchen bustling with baking and whatnot in the mornings when I passed by on my way to work a few years ago, but I'd never thought about it being visible at night. Nothing unusual about the kitchen, just a fun sight. Made me think of In The Night Kitchen, which I now learn was controversial because Maurice Sendak's illustrations showed a naked little boy. Sheesh.

Oysters, old school

2011-09-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

Somehow, among all the other things going on, this weekend has been about oysters, some I had this weekend and others I have had in the past or will have in the future.

Saturday found us for the first time at Emmett Watson, in Pike Place Market, a remarkably hard-to-find oyster joint stuffed into a crawl space at the foot of a big engineered cliff. Menu on a paper bag, condiments in a Red Stripe 6-pack holder, and oysters on the half-shell adorned with nothing more that a plastic thimble of ketchuppy sauce and lemon. Rating: 2 stars. Rationale: The oysters were too big and not cold enough. I rank red sauces lowest on the totem pole with oysters, as I like to taste the liquor and will always prefer vinegar if I need tang. Points for charm: neutral; the vintage promise was appealing but the delivery was a little, well, (Calling Nina Garcia!) sad. Scuzzy is a word I heard bandied about.

In contrast, let's reminisce about just a few past oyster high-water marks:

Hitchcock: This is the very recent past, but Hitchcock has shown me a new oyster dimension in which herbs and a few molecules of berry or granita can bring into focus the plain oyster like no other dressing, even a shallot mignonette, which I also am a fiend for.
Oysterbar in Grand Central Station: Pan Roast. Perennial, though I am not lucky enough to keep going back; geography intrudes. Sigh.
Reading about the introduction of oysters into pre-revolution French Court life: barrels came, and hundreds were consumed with abandon in short windows of time. No restraint. Here's a blurb about the excess among nobles in 16th Century England:

In a period of three days, Elizabeth's court managed to consume 67 sheep, 34 pigs, 4 stags, 16 bucks (used to make 176 meat pies), 1,200 chickens, 363 capons, 33 geese, 6 turkeys, 237 dozen pigeons, 2,500 eggs and 430 pounds of butter, plus a cartload and two horseloads of oysters.

What/where are my oysters of the future? At the Taylor Shellfish Farms outpost in the Melrose Market. While I was up on Whidbey Island this weekend for some very fun hijinks, others were having a glass or two of wine and having delectable oysters on the half-shell brought to them with a choice of lemon, mignonette, and a tomato-based cocktail dressing — with the option of Tobasco. Buy 'em for $7/dz and they're shucked for $2.

The touch

2011-09-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Update from fellow diner, since we're picky around here: The smoked meat we had at Bisato wasn't Parma, it was Speck. Austrian-style, not Italian.

So yes we went to Bisato the other night, and yes it was as divine as always.

What was interesting? The menu had a lot of the same presentations as before, and yet each one was changed to suit the season and the whim of the chef. Cool.

(I also willfully made it happen hat I hugged Scott Carsberg, and though he seems distinctly non-huggy, he absolutely got it. I am a fanboy seeking expression of my gratitude, and there you have it.)

Here's what's amazing about this restaurant: Every little thing you order is a surprise, in a loud or quiet way. Some things that seem simple enough on the menu (which uses blessedly few adjectives) are a revelation in construction and finesse. Other things are as simple as they could be, but strangely not. I know I'm expressing myself poorly, so look at the grainy iPhone picture here. Is a plate of paper thin Parma ham simply a plate of paper-thin Parma ham? Not here. Here, it is even thinner, and fluffed up into a cloud of heaven that transports. You thought you knew and loved Parma ham. Now, you will always seek THIS Parma ham. It's a complicated equation, not just dining well. You lose your delight in all Parma ham, but you gain a new dimension.

That happened to me with Armandino's salami*, and now it's happened again with how Parma ham should be put on a plate.

* A couple of things about that last link and Salumi in general:

ONE — I have a friend who is a vegetarian of the Indian variety — has never, will never eat meat — and this is her favorite lunch spot: they make fresh mozzarella daily and have 2 choices of sandwich roll taste/texture, and care about the tomatoes, peppers, etc. enough that you get the best damned sandwich on the planet whether or not meat shows up to the party. And they always have vegetable sides that are OMG so good.

TWO — Why must Absolutely Monica, whoever she might be, obscure her photos with a massive watermark?! Give me a break.

Now that's a brioche!

2011-09-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Le Pichet!

Lucky me!

2011-09-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

Going with superfriends to Bisato tonight!

Then off to Whidbey Island bearing gifts for a new baby: A wardrobe of Atelier Daguerre tshirts, quilts I sewed (kind-of, I used quilt tops made by the industrious ladies of South Whidbey!) back in the day for my own babies, and some instructional and fairy tale pillows.

The secret of the universe

2011-08-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, it's cottage cheese pancakes. The 1959 edition of the 1896 Fannie Farmer Cooking School Cookbook explains all that weird stuff called "life" on page 290.

Don't be fooled by the foxy look of my book's cover, left; be convinced by the ingredient-encrusted page of my book, shown below.

Don't plan to make them if you can't serve them hot, immediately as they are made, i.e.if you have too many people or for some other reason can't be in production mode.

Nothing is better (You'll hear me say that about a few things, but not too many).

Put in a bowl:
I cup cottage cheese
3 beaten eggs
2 tbs butter
1/4 cup flour, sifted <-- Not 3/4 cups as I mistakenly told a superfriend!
1/4 tsp salt

Beat only until blended. Cook by tablespoons on a hot griddle. Spread with tart jam or drizzle with real Vermont maple syrup. Serve. Makes 12.

I made a little bit of that up. The actual printed recipe doesn't specify my home-state syrup (instead saying you can serve them with jam rolled up and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar) and tells you to serve them as dessert. I prefer a tangy, eggy, best-ever breakfast treat. The tang of the cottage cheese with the syrup is the secret of the universe.

Gifts from abroad!

2011-08-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Arriving in San Francisco just in time for middle school in the heart of Chinatown — such an impressionable age — greatly shaped many of my tastes and ideas about "Things Chinese."

My brother began studying with T'ai Chi master Simmon Kuo at 11, and I followed in his footsteps with more lackadaisical flair several years later, for a bit. The pleasure of the studio on Portsmouth Square was deep, and Mrs. Kuo's brutal, funny, and loving criticism was equally deep.

I discovered palmiers (by a different name) in Chinatown, and they became a lifelong love. Whenever there was a dollar or two, there was a need to brush flaky, buttery crumbs from the front of my school uniform before entering the building.

Then there were the vitrines with snakes and whatnot in clear urns filled with formaldehyde — thrilling, mysterious, repulsive. And strange medicinal herbs and practices. When I visit SF I love them still, and they are marginally dustier 10-20 years later!

Big family lunches, birthday dinners, Christmas celebrations at a venerable restaurant that made the Chinese Chicken Salad that has made me very underwhelmed by most suchlike since.

Those are the upsides of living cheek-by-jowl with a vibrant tourist-dependent and by-now-indigenous Chinese community in one's formative years. The downside is that because much of the retail in San Francsico's famous Chinatown is aimed at tourists or offered at prices anyone can afford, many of the goods on display are frighteningly cheap in both senses of the word. So I guess I grew a bit of a sense of Euro superiority when it comes to manufacture and marketing/design quality, a sad vestige I have been trying to stamp out since. I mean, really, Apple: "Designed in Cupertino, California, Made in China"? What do you mean by that..."Not really MADE in China?"

Imagine my delight when my dad and his [second] family returned from Taiwan bearing a food gift of gorgeously rigorous little pastry blocks filled with pineapple. The website was as design-forward as the product and its packaging, but developed in such a way that Google did not offer to translate it for me into English :-(. I learned from my dad's wife that Taiwan is a nexus of design-centric operations. I love that! Inspired? Explore sunnyhills.com.tw.

Tiramisù

2011-08-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

I hear this dessert's name is loosely translated from Italian as "Pick Me Up." Cool.

I have loved making it since working at Café Esprit in San Francisco, in the 80s, when visionaries transformed an old industrial garage into a hip dining spot on the grounds of the Esprit de Corps Outlet in the crumbling, transitional, very accessible Mission Bay neighborhood.

The menu was so simple and modern, even for today: 4 salads (Cobb, Niçoise, Caesar, and 1 other classic), 4 pizzas (Margherita and 3 other classics), some other like-minded stuff, a soda fountain serving egg cremes and other exotica with authenticity, an espresso bar par excellence, and yummmy wines.

I was on tiramisù duty, and loved layering the mascarpone, espresso, marsala, and ladyfingers (Savoiardi). We didn't trifle (pun alert) with the zabaglione, or whipped cream...why bother. I still kind of agree....it's not strictly necessary or worth the time and effort when you can make a stunning (Ramsay-speak) tiramisu without it.

HOWEVER! I made tiramisù today and leapt through all the hoops.

A lot of people today (marion Gordaon, etc) like to make individual tiramisùs, but I am a fan of the trough. Scoop and enjoy. Or slice and enjoy.

Here's the super-brief photo diary:

Zabag + whipped cream

Marsala and espresso-soaked ladygingers in layers between layers of the above

The yield: 2 beautiful, refrigerated tiramisùs, one for us to eat with family members returning from a jaunt to Asia (stomach trouble ahead) and one to send with friends to a party we can't attend due to relative influx.

Field Trip to Salumi!

2011-08-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

A rare opportunity brought me to the hallowed doors of the Salumi storefront in Pioneer Square, Seattle.

I offer step-by-step instructions for the to-go version of a trip to Salumi:

Arrive a hair before 11 to wait in line for the opening. The Picky Lunch motto is, after all, "Tasty lunch is always at 11:00"
Ogle the curing cavern as you wait to place your order, and entertain some fond memories of Izzy and her window-side gnocchi-making.
Buy a salami with your lunch, stuff it in your purse or manbag.
Take a picture of your glorious sandwich featuring, perhaps, daily-made house fresh mozzarella and exquisite mole salami. (or not! The place has plenty for vegetarians to love as well.)

If you were going to stay and eat in, I'd add this step:

Pay for a couple of tumblers of wine, as there are bottles on the cheek-by-jowl communal table, and it is a pleasure to empty a couple as you dine. Or, buy a single glass, and if you end up enjoying more, just pay for any overage as you leave!

This isn't an eat-in step, but it's something I did one time and am glad I did:

A couple of guys across from me had ordered a cold tomato soup that I had been interested in but hadn't ordered. As they got up to leave, I asked if I could taste the dregs. Yum.

Summer veg in Western WA

2011-08-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

August 10, and finally the first "real" vegetable delivery from the farm comes in...so welcome, so overdue, so WA. Chard, Kale, small tomatoes, green beans, lettuces, and a few herbs to die for.

And on August 9th I met up with a friend new to gardening for some downtown happy hour drinks/snacks, and what utterly sweet giftu did she unexpectedly provide? A lovely lemon cucumber, a summer squash, and a neat little packet of basil all from her home plot. Yum, and thanks.

Wish I'd photographed them too before devouring.

Fancy & Interesting

2011-08-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

Fourme d'Ambert cheese with melon terrine ~ Courtesy of Ideas in Food via Twitter. Sometimes it pays to fire up the ol' Tweetdeck.

Uncommon food

2011-08-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

It's quite rare we go out...financial constraints join the fact that a lot of dinner food to be had out there is simply not so great, compared to the home thing.

However, there's a gem of a local restaurant we love and we decided to grab a bite on, of all things, a work night.

Here's what Hitchcock served up. To start with, the perfect summer menu and and some pastis (Pernod and water to make drinks from).

Then we raged through small plates, all based on the kind of summer we're having in Seattle (Sorry, Texas, Missouri, East Coast, et al.), which means, shortest growing season ever for sunloving things!

These are local oysters dressed lightly with the likes of olive oil, hyssop, pickled watermelon (grown on Bainbridge Island, not sure how you do that!), etc.

And OMG the tempura- fried smelt! Delish whole small fish served hot and light over fried fingerling potato slices...fish 'n' chips? Yes.

Also: watermelon and cheese salad and the pickled turnip with bagna cauda dressing.

Bun!

2011-08-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Picky Lunch went for Vietnamese takeout today, little knowing there was a pan-office plan to dine together. The day was all meetings, so it was just as well I grabbed lunch on my own before I heard about the plan. Plus, I had to leave early to avoid the predictable SeaFair traffic melée.

I went to a place I hadn't tried before, Pho Tai. I thought it was a little pricey for the strip-mall location, but look what wonders I got for $7.50!

Urbanspoon reviews of the place are pretty bad, and it wasn't the pinnacle, but it was a hearty and happy lunch with nice sparkly veg & cilantro alongside the "variety-pack" of meats and noodle base.

Welcome email

2011-08-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

It's rare that a business sends you email (whether you subscribe or not) that you actually welcome. I love the email I get from Big John''s PFI (Pacific Food Importers).

It's a great offbeat — and off-the-beaten-track — location in Seattle to buy bulk olives and whatever kind of edible wonders you may or may not be looking for. For instance, they carry my favorite packaged pasta, Rusticella d'Abruzzo (brand) Croixetti (shape) pasta I crave and can no longer get at my local grocery, as well as surprise finds I cannot resist.

As a visual designer, I cannot say I love everything about the email. It is intensely hard on the eyes. And I am utterly amazed that somehow they manage to send their email as an embedded image rather than HTML or text. Wow.

But, it's kinda cute in a "Que?" kind of way, and it makes it way easier to share here, and it's worth your and my read (Click to see larger:)

A perfect bite

2011-08-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

A slice of Italian sausage and an equal slice of jalapeno. Umami meets its counterpoint.

No, that knife handle was not always bare wood. I don't remember what it used to be actually, after so long.

Office drinks brought to you by Facebook

2011-08-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

It all started with a Facebook post by my former boss.

I shared it with a co-worker who had long been daydreaming about instituting "tea time" in our design group's office. A concept stolen from our previous stint on a design team at Microsoft. You know, certain Thursday afternoons after 4...

So, starting Friday, tea time it is at the office. Cute story, but that's just part of it.

Thanks to the power of Facebook to create truly strange happenstances, my mother is now ordering Armenian brandy online and having a geography-independent tasting with my former boss who — if I recall correctly — she's never met.

One of the much-touted attributes of Google+ is that your mother is not there yet, and I love me some Google+, but I don't want to live in a world where this doesn't happen:

Ad-hoc, defining summer dinner

2011-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

Look who's having me over for dinner! A dear friend is a longtime favorite urban caterer and going to her house for a casual, stolen bite is always a revelation.

First off, I got to see the innovative table design her amazingly creative team is putting out. I want these terrarium balls on my table every day. Fat chance, but hey.

And then we had clams she quick-steamed with not so much butter, which turns out to be not a bad thing. Not at all, they had their own true flavor. Followed by an amazing shared plate of shrimp, quinoa, and diced veg that had sparkle and panache. An incidentally homey lean meal that had all the jollies. Mmmmm.

This, along with unrepresentatively (this year) sunny summer weather, all the backdrop to great conversation, some work ;-) and some great wine I don't remember from Garagiste. Heaven.

Invite me over again!

Takoyaki mania!

2011-07-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

A happy Happy Hour on the terrace (OK, it's a coralled sidewalk) in the dappled sun with coworkers at Nijo reminded me of takoyaki. Because we had some. Because I love takoyaki.

We had octopus takoyaki with scallion, really, really good. Fluffy and hot. Not too much sauce. Accompanied by $4 Lychee Martinis. Very fresh, matched the nice weather and soft afternoon breezes and bonhomie.

One of the things I really like about the Nijo menu is that it is full of vegetarian dishes alongside the seafood, so we can bring our whole design team, some of whom are from India.

If you don't know what takoyaki is (An Osaka specialty, along with okonomiyaki which I also LOVE) or need a new song to get stuck in your head, I have helpfully provided this video.

I have never made takoyaki myself, but I have the maker (no, not the one in the video, alas) somewhere. It's cast-iron and has little octopi in bas-relief in each little cup so the balls get a little tattoo. Maybe it's time to dust it off and dive into fullscale takoyaki production.

Rusty celery

2011-07-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

You're at an airport. You're making food choices to accommodate a group. You don't expect much. Sigh.

But what you do not expect, even with the expectations at rock-bottom, is celery that looks like it was scavenged from the back of a shelf in the walk-in, vintage unknown. Boo, Chili's.

When a chain earns comments like, "Bad even for Chili's," I guess you know to stay away from the entire operation, even at airports under duress. Will do.

Catfish banh mi

2011-07-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

Back in Houston, and of course there's a little food to discuss. It's a work trip, so it's not as if each meal is special: time is short, control is shared, and logistics are tied to who needs to be where, when. So here's what has been up:

Some takeout from Whole Foods: ** 1/2
Fage Greek Yogurt from Whole Foods: ****
A few bites of corporate campus Thai food: ** 1/2
Homemade Indian snacks (Paneer Pakoras, sliced kiwis and mangoes) at my colleague's cousin's house in Sugarland: ***** +
Dinner at Vegas-themed Gringo's Tex-Mex in Sugar Land: * (apologies to the lovely hosts, may they never see this post!)
Lunch at India's: **** (Zagat: "Excellent")
Dinner sandwiches at...remember the catfish banh mi at Givral's, "for the Lenten season?" I had it! **** 1/2

First, some mis-en-scène.

Bellaire Blvd. in Westchase has a pretty amazing strip of Asian, mostly Vietnamese, strip malls and commercial complexes of various vintages stretching a few miles. To the East of Sam Houston Tollway:

And now, back on the downtown side of the Sam Houston Tollway, but not by much, the sublime Catfish banh mi and accompanying Café du Monde Vietnamese coffee (ca phe) before hot or iced (hot!!!) water was added:

Hopefully, you can see the perfect cooking of the fish and the SIZE of the seeds-in (hot!!!) jalapeño pieces in the sandwich, as well as the light, flaky, freshness of the baguette. Abundance of cilantro.

Want a glimpse of less ethereal food locales mentioned above but not featured? OK! Let's Go:

And at the above establishment, a salad Xx bigger than your head (Ho-Hum-Food Department):

What is your potsticker wearing?

2011-07-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Pretty much everywhere I go, potstickers seem to be served with soy sauce. Period.

I object! This is not the way to eat potstickers. Once you try them with the right dressing, you'll be a sad, sad individual like me at restaurants, staring down potstickers looking naked with a wardrobe of the wrong things to wear.

What send potstickers into the firmament is:

Rice vinegar + hot chili oil.

That's it. Srsly. Not chili paste or chili sauce, but chili oil. When it mixes on the plate with the vinegar, it makes a glaze, potsticker-centric vinaigrette that absolutely sends you.

Try it, Tell me if I am not über-correct. Tell me if after trying this you prefer soy sauce. Good luck.

NOTE: When I was 10, we moved from Vermont to San Francisco and within what seems like weeks we were experiencing amazing flavors and International traditions, and this edict of mine comes from forays to Hunan, one of the city's first pepper-driven, no-MSG, western-friendly Chinese restaurants. It was located mere blocks from Chinatown proper, but in an akward fringe part of the downtown business zone, and hence felt neither inscrutable nor touristy to its slavering patrons.

The best sale page!

2011-07-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the sale page at Capri Flavors, I am now the proud owner of many, many packages of really nice Italian dried penne, etc. pasta made in bronze dies. Though we often make pasta at home, it's nice to have a pantry.

I also fell for the packaged "croissants," not sure what to expect. As it happens, these pastries taste just like wonderful, spongy panettone and who doesn't love that?!

BTW, a Panettone-buying tip: In my opinion, the boxed pannetone with dust on it often exceeds the flavor of fresh panettone, so don't be deterred or suspicious. It's made to last and gets better with age!

French honey & Vermont maple cream

2011-07-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Two disclaimers: My childhood was spent in Vermont. I am a little iffy on honey in general.

Another pantry thing I picked up at Garagiste the other day is a jar of Maquis Honey, something I had never heard of. It's got the consistency of a paste, rather than a viscous liquid. It has crystallized regions of the jar.

It is usually made in Corsica, but this one's from Haute Languedoc (let your browser translate from French for you if you follow that link), near the southern central coast of France. I am reading here and there that its savory flavor and lack of the usual sweetness is the result of herb-ridden and scrub-brushy terrain where the bees forage. It's said to taste like lavender, myrtle and whatnot.

A taste test was proposed, pitting this lovely honey against my beloved maple cream — spreadable maple sugar!

What happened was surprise: On a nice Macrina ficelle toast, this pasty honey made the maple cream seem too sweet and simple in comparison.

I can see having the Maquis honey with cheeses. In fact, one of my favorite recent-ish dining-out dishes was a really amazing cheese and honey pairing at Hitchcock.

The maple cream is still up there in my pantheon of foods, though.

Mustard

2011-07-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Mustards like no other, conveniently delivered in a well-designed tube: Tubissime, from Paris. These mustards first came into my life as a gift from a superfriend.

Then, they showed up at Garagiste, where we sometimes buy really interesting and delicious wine based on subscription list offerings (Cool service: you buy wine and they store it until you want to schedule a Seattle pickup or ask for shipping of everything you've bought). Yay!

If you are skeptical about whether this mustard is truly delicious or just a novelty, the little picture at the left should straighten you out.

We have enjoyed these mustards in the following flavors: 3 peppers, tarragon, truffle. Now, we will be embarking on the Espelette (a Basque paprika-like delight) and with-nuts flavors. Can't wait!

Lunch review: Starbucks chicken lettuce wraps Bistro Box

2011-07-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Who knew that the Bistro Boxes had been introduced at Starbucks just 2 days before I tried one? Not me. But it's fun to be able to weigh in on a newly launched lunch idea that people are talking about.

I bought the Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and overall liked them quite a bit. The julienned vegetables and generous cilantro were fresh and tasty, I loved that there were crunchy peanuts (kept separate to preserve crunchiness), and the minced cooked chicken had nice flavors.

Contrary to some opinions, I found it to be right-sized and refreshing, at 360 calories. Here's the official Starbucks description:

Build your wrap with crisp red lettuce leaves and Cantonese-inspired chicken filling. Served with chopped peanuts, a mix of fresh vegetables — cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, and peanut sauce. For dessert, a premium Starbucks chocolate.

2 detractions:

The lettuce leaves were a little thin and some had tears in them, making wrapping a little difficult
There has to be a way to use less plastic and still keep everything separate and orderly

Perhaps interesting:
Huff Post compares the Bistro Boxes with chain competitors' menu items here.
A very like-minded review to mine here.

3 cheers for @qualityrye

2011-07-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Loved this so much:

the $80 brunch | DailyCandy

DailyCandy is selling a $40 brunch deal ($80 for a couple) at the Kimberly Hotel in Midtown East. That includes an entree, dessert and two cocktails. It represents a “35 percent” discount. To explain why this is BAD DEAL, let’s listen to a conversation between Renee and Charlee, a young (and fictional) Williamsburg couple with lovably androgynous names, and who always get into fights over deals. Observe:

CHARLEE: Hey babe. Wanna have brunch in Midtown Manhattan?

RENEE: Not really, who goes to Midtown on the weekends?

CHARLEE: But I bought us this great offer: two courses and two cocktails.

RENEE: $40 bucks? A cocktail each? Sure That’s enough to share.

CHARLEE: Wait, sweetie, there’s no sharing allowed with this deal. So I had to buy two vouchers. So technically that’s $80 bucks.

RENEE: Hold on, I thought we were saving money?

CHARLEE: Yes, we’re saving 35 percent! Of course, we’re supposed to tip on the original price of $63 per person, so after tax and 18% tip that comes to $109.

RENEE: We’re spending $109 on brunch? Listen, we could have gone to Balthazar, ordered two Bloody Marys, half a dozen oysters, foie gras terrine and apple pancakes for $79 bucks — and we’d tipping on $79, not some fictional $123 that we’d never have spent anyway! Can we at least get some oysters and foie gras at the Kimberly?

CHARLEE: No sweetie. We can get lobster benedict or whatever then we have to get dessert at The Kimberly. The second course is dessert.

RENEE: Two dessert courses? What is this a fanny-pack convention at TGI Friday’s? No one orders dessert at brunch! And now we’re stuck with two. Listen, just return the offer and let’s go to Balthazar.

CHARLEE: The DailyCandy deal is non-refundable.

RENEE: Why didn’t you ask me before buying?

CHARLEE: I thought the deal was going to sell out.

RENEE: Sell out? SELL OUT? Did you think they were gonna sell out of brunch? Is this brunch endangered like bluefin tuna or Iranian caviar?

CHARLEE: Well its DailyCandy you know, I trusted them.

RENEE: I know you did honey. I know you did. Don’t hate yourself. Hate the people who sold you this crummy deal.

CHARLEE: Okay, let’s go get some tattoos.

RENEE: Cool.

Canelé

2011-07-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

When our local bakery, Pane D'Amore, proved to have canelés issuing from their ovens, I could not have been more excited.
If you're not familiar with this treat, Chow will fill you in:

I am not sure about what the concerns are that led the baker in this video to limit production to 12 canelés per day. Hmmm. The well-loved organic bakery in Paris that introduced me to canelés, on rue Daguerre, certainly produces more than 12 per day; untold masses would not be amused to encounter an empty tray by, say, 8:12 AM.

Cheri Pye (I did not make up that name) at Greenhouse Design did a really gorgeous behind-the-scenes photo tour of this bakery, Le Moulin de la Vierge, which should not be missed.

Sometimes I suspect that the only thing I would like more than a perfect canelé is a perfect canelé surrounded by its friends. Luckily, my local bakery is happy to make this happen for me.

What was that McTakeover email you mentioned in your last post, Abigail, anyway?

2011-07-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

In case you're curious, here's the thread about the McTakeover fundraiser. You'll notice that the most recent communication in the thread was my response to a call for volunteers, sent to the full list of 31 cc'd people (PTO members, other parents) 15 months ago. The response was utter silence. And I really tried to be polite and articulate and reasonable! How do you think I did?

From: Abigail Hamilton
Date: Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: McTakeOver 4/14...We need your help!
To: [email]
Cc: [31 email addresses]

I know this is probably the wrong venue for this type of comment, but I don't know any other avenue, and wanted to share my perspective on the McTakeovers. I know they make heaps of money. I know the school NEEDS heaps of money.

But. I tried to have a good attitude last time there was a McTakeover fundraiser, and attended and bought food. I felt very conflicted for a couple of reasons. First, I had seen all the posters around the school that the children had spent time making. These posters advertised McDonalds and its unhealthy food, using the logo, arches, etc. I felt like that it was inappropriate for children to spend their school time creating advertisements for a fast food restaurant.

I also felt that the very idea of fundraising by encouraging people eat McDonalds food was very much in conflict with the nutrition education they get at school. I know we all have eaten and probably will again eat fast food. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. That's a personal choice and anything goes. But within the context of the school and its educational messages, this seemed really undermining.

I hope the event is a great success, but I can't help or partake, and I do hope the next fundraiser is just as, or even more successful and does not involve a tie-in between unhealthy food and the school, and doesn't encourage kids to eat fast food.

Thanks for listening, maybe this note can spark some good discussion and lead to some new ideas for the future.

All the best,

Abigail

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 12:28 PM, <name> wrote:

Hi Third Grade Parents!
We hope you had a great spring break! This is a quick reminder that next Wednesday, April 14th is our McTakeOver at McDonalds to raise money for Outdoor Ed scholarships. We will receive 40% of food sales between the hours of 6-8 pm! In addition, McDonalds will make an additional donation to Ronald McDonald House based upon our event sales. For those of you who attended last year's event, it was a lot of fun. This year could be event more fun since Ronald McDonald himself will be making an appearance between 7-7:30 pm!!!
We need your help to make this event a success. We need parent volunteers to help staff McDonalds (they will have their full staff, but will need assistance taking orders and cleaning tables). Volunteers need to be there by 5:45 for training. Please let us know if you can help between 5:45-7 or from 7 - 8 pm. Also, we need a couple of people to stand with signs at the road to pull in customers, and a couple of kid/parent teams to sell coupon books. Please email [link] or [link] if you can help. Let us know which job and 1 hour shift you would like to help out with.
We will be sending out school announcements over the next week. Please be sure to invite your friends, neighbors and family members!
Thank you!
name, name

School Lunch, opening salvo

2011-07-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a frequent topic here, because, sadly, it needs to be. There are so many prismatic angles to discuss.

I live in a school district with an economically diverse population. There are many, many families that live or die by what's in the WSJ, with plenty of cash on hand for vacations in Fiji and conveyances in the BMW-Lexus-Mercedes-Porsche-Land Rover family. There are plenty of mothers and fathers in these families who are able to, and choose to, be heavily involved in the PTO and volunteer frequently in many capacities.

There are also many families whose parent(s) work long service jobs and have little extra time or money to contribute to the school district. These families rely on the school to provide the high-quality education — including nutritional education and good lunches — it is capable of. And except the lunches and some undermining PTO fundraisers, it does. The school district is consistently ranked #1 or #2 in the state.

If you have the stomach for it, head over to Holy Taco

to see what other delights are on school menus

Which brings me to lunch.
For 6 years I have watched:

Kids spend 20 minutes eating lunch at their desks because there is no lunchroom. Really?! Yes.
Lunch menus that week-in-week-out offer the likes of: Chicken Fryz and Waffle Sticks, with the option of "organic salad bar items." OK, they're doing a little better lately, but still! Look! These lunches with milk now cost $3.50.
The "kitchen" relying on collated cold-room food and reheating, the cooking ranges no longer being used. No doubt these foods comply to the letter of the law with nutrition requirements, but isn't that a problem in and of itself? Where are the required/integrated vegetables? Why so much frying over grilling? Why do the children see no sign of cooking in preparation of their lunches? Honestly, the kitchen pretty much looks like a pared-down, non-customer-facing fast-food operation.
The PTO organizing fundraising McTakeovers that undermine all the nutritional education the children receive in class. (I wrote a response to the PTO mailing list when they were asking for help, and not one person on the thread replies with so much as a word.)
The PTO also sponsoring a Capri Sun Fundraiser:

ITS (sic) EASY, HERE IS HOW TO EARN MONEY FOR BLAKELY:
If you have a Capri Sun Pouch, there is a special garbage next to the garbage area after lunch. The container is labeled with Capri Sun Packaging. Just remove the straw and place your EMPTY pouch in the Capri Sun container. Then Blakely Elementary will earn 2¢ per pouch.

This money can add up fast, so let’s get drinking Capri Sun for Blakely! (My emphasis added)

Caprisun (sic) does have organic and 100% juice varieties!

My own children, who eat so well at home — and this DOES include treats and compromises sometimes — often preferring to eat the crappy school lunch over home lunch for a variety of reasons during different periods of time.

Screen grab of Sound Food's
wonderful local map

This is in a community where the Farmer's Market is a Saturday "must," thanks to plentiful, verdant farms within 2 to 20 miles. This is in a community where fresh local eggs can be picked up from "honor boxes" at the foot of many driveways. This is a community rife with organizations such as:

EduCulture Project at Suyematsu Farm (Where Akio Suyematsu still farms at 89 years old and has inspired, despite himself, a Friends of the Farms Annual Award in his name), Friends of the Farms, Sound Food, Port Madison Goat Farm and Creamery, Islandwood, Farm Kitchen, Tani Creek Farm, Laughing Crow Farm, Persephone Farm, Butler Greens, to name only a handful.

This is in an elementary school whose 60s-era building has a central courtyard perfect for a garden, but largely neglected and unused. And in a district where each of the schools has ample outdoor space for gardening.

I was very ired by this before the advent of Food Revolution, and I remain very ired.

If Michelle Obama's excellent initiatives, Jamie Oliver's passionate TV-driven advocacy, and the abundance of parent time and resources unique to my district can't make things better here yet, how long do we have to wait for schools both rich and poor in resources to provide a tasty and nutritious lunch?

Some additional "why?"s that just occurred to me:

Why can't the schools and local farms team up to have after-school farming partnerships? So many extracurricular activities have been cut due to funding, this one would require nothing more from the school than some alternate bus drop-off spots (assuming the parents can pick up their children after work, as they would from any aftercare program). The kids could weed and pick, clean, bunch, etc. vegetables in exchange for a percentage of the harvest going to the school. If the farms wanted to augment the program with cooking tips and experiences, etc., all the better.

At a high school level, the kids who had been in the program could be the managers of the program, providing supervision, cooking classes, adding heirloom gardens with research and Farmer's Market sales opportunities, etc.

In an era where college admission and scholarships are so competitive, wouldn't this really give these kids a meaningful edge alongside the lifelong connection to quality, natural food, where it comes from, and how to prepare it?

Photo from Sound Food's
wonderful local map

Iron Chef Butter Chicken

2011-07-10T08:30:00.001-07:00

Ah, family dinner. When you all sit around the table and talk about high-minded cultural phenomena. Like Iron Chef. What?!

It has become something of a practice that when I cook — I am not the primary cook at home for a host of reasons including my propensity for shortcuts and lack of follow-through (LOFT)— somehow Iron Chef ratings break out.

Last night I made a somewhat tame version of Butter Chicken. I take that back: Indian Butter Chicken is in itself somewhat tame. I made Butter Chicken.

It was fun to learn how many tomatoes go into the dish, and that the secret behind its richness is cashew butter (the butter butter is obvious, and it's there, too).

Thanks to the LOFT I mentioned, Richard made the rice and zucchini. They were heavenly!

Before we break down the scoring, here's a new rule that we implemented: No-one gets to rate his/her own dish. So, the total possible points for each of the three elements was 20 points (there being 3 of us at the table last night). I think in the future we will refine this game to be more authentic — 5 points each for presentation, taste, and creativity, rather than a flat 10 possible points for the dish.

My chicken got a respectable 17/20. Had there been a tangier element somewhere it might have soared even higher in the ratings.

Richard's rice drew in 19/20 points: it WAS really nice rice with shallot and saffron, nice separate grains.
But, oh, the zucchini. What happened there? 8?

The zucchini itself was young, fresh, summer zucchini and was cooked perfectly, a quick seasoned sautée in the pan, with a nice chiffonade of scallion and a quick rasp of parmesan on top. So what happened?

A 10-year-old was at the table. Zucchini is still a hard sell. He gave it a 2, even though he is known to be naturally veg-leaning. I am complicit in the low score as well, giving it a 6/10. Why? I am not sure! Maybe it's because, though I "love" zucchini and yellow summer squash cooked this way, it is still a squash and — forgive me — I have not yet fully cozied up to the category.

I live in a dream world where a 10 for zucchini makes it truly memorable and transporting...

And speaking of lunch / dinner / whatever in Houston...

2011-07-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of Vietnamese sandwich shops and I do not fool myself that I found The Best One when I happened to be in Houston for 2 weeks, eating plenty of banh mi. I was just glad fresh and happy banh mi were plentiful, and I indulged.

I learned two new things at Givral's Sandwich Shop.

1. You can really, truly make a banh mi with any protein: In the bayou, that can mean a southern-fried catfish banh mi — especially "for the Lenten season." I'm a little regretful that I didn't try this when I had the chance.

2. Putting a fried egg on your banh mi is said, at least by some, to make it even better. As if. But again, I look forward to trying this because it is just barely possible that an excellent Vietnamese sandwich becomes excellenter (sic) when you add a fried egg.

OMG, I just thought of this: Make the banh mi at home so the egg can be from my sisters-in-law's henhouse.

I have put this on the To Do list for someday. I hope it comes soon!

How to eat cereal

2011-07-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Hugo, for showing how it's done.

A lunch well remembered

2011-07-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

Houston. April 9, 2011. I found D'Amico's and was delighted by my very first muffaletta sandwich.

The olive relish had a crunch to it which was unexpected and incredibly welcome. Also, not too much bread.

The restaurant was full, but I liked the side room with retail walls better than the main area, maybe because there were windows and I am a daylight hog. It was so serene in there, away from the crowd.

I also liked, while I was waiting, considering the lunches that I didn't order that day:

And who doesn't love an Italian treat without having to buy the box/tin? Genius!

If you go:

Also visit the nearby Menil Collection.

Post one

2011-07-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

Aloha and bon appetit.