Chips/crisps, the challenge of home manufacture

If you choose to make chips/crisps at home, there are some pitfalls (similar pitfalls restaurants can face, but more on that later). If you make them at home in a FryDaddy, the heat it accomplishes is set and unchangeable, so you cannot really be suave in chip-making unless you vary the thickness of the chips to match the temp, which is too hot for thin chips. In this cooker, the best you'll get are very nice chips if you let them overbrown so as not to be soggy, and throw some herbs in the oil along with the potatoes. And SALT!!!

If you use a modulated-heat method, such as oil on the stovetop, you can fry on somewhat lower heat and achieve a golden brown, crispy crisp/chip.

Which brings me to restaurants: So many fry their fries/frites/chips (that last int he British sense) at too low a temperature, and end up with soggy brown fries with a bitter texture, rather than the delightful, fluffy and resilient frite of one's dreamlife: That golden brown crispy fry with a steamy potato inside, quite ready for the mayonnaise into which it really should be dipped. Hate mayonnaise? No fear, there's vinegar there for you to have an also finishing effect.

Vinegar makes the world go 'round, unless it's good mayonnaise.

Cold, rainy barbecue

Not known for its barbecue, Washington nonetheless strives to dish up some of that sort of goodness. Word has it some really great specimens used to be on offer underneath the 520 overpass on Northup Way in Bellevue. Dixie's Barbecue was the lovechild of a gent — Gene Porter — from Mississippi who named his hotter-than-hell sauce "The Man," and those who survived a tiny taste of The Man were given a bumper sticker to that effect.

Alas, 2010 saw his demise, and neither The Man or the man are around anymore. (Apparently you CAN take it with you.)

The joint perseveres nonetheless, and though I can't say the BBQ sauce is not too predominant and sweet, and the brisket a little on the tough side, it's nonetheless a pleasure to darken the door, order lunch, and feel the awesome past and better days of the place. The images below will show you why, when you go to Dixie's, you feel a million miles from Washington State, the Eastside, and its shadow of a software giant.

File under: Go at least once, miracles can't last forever, and have fun.

Field trip to new Hitchcock Deli on Bainbridge Island

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.

Now that's a brioche!

Thank you, Le Pichet!

Lucky me!

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.

Field Trip to Salumi!

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:

1. 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"
2. Ogle the curing cavern as you wait to place your order, and entertain some fond memories of Izzy and her window-side gnocchi-making.
3. Buy a salami with your lunch, stuff it in your purse or manbag.
4. 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

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.

Uncommon food

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.

Takoyaki mania!

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.

Catfish banh mi

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:

1. Some takeout from Whole Foods: ** 1/2
2. Fage Greek Yogurt from Whole Foods: ****
3. A few bites of corporate campus Thai food: ** 1/2
4. Homemade Indian snacks (Paneer Pakoras, sliced kiwis and mangoes) at my colleague's cousin's house in Sugarland: ***** +
5. Dinner at Vegas-themed Gringo's Tex-Mex in Sugar Land: * (apologies to the lovely hosts, may they never see this post!)
6. Lunch at India's:  **** (Zagat: "Excellent")
7. 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):

Canelé

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.