thinks too much's Profile
Fried belly clams.
Matunuck Oyster Bar. Had the whole belly clam roll a couple weeks ago ($11). Light, greaseless and tasty! Some of the best fried clam I have ever eaten. They also sell them as a pint. Warning: this is not a clam shack; it is a sit down restaurant, and it does get mobbed. On the other hand, their raw bar is varied, including oysters that grew in sight of the restaurant. And oh, the clams!
Vermont Restaurant Week 2012
Nudged by my friend, we have reservations at Salt, Kitchen Table Bistro and L'amantes this year. All places that I keep meaning to go to and hear nothing but good things about.
Vermont Restaurant Week 2012
Anyone going? It starts on Friday. Last year I had any appetizer, any entree and a cheese for $30 at Hen of the Woods. That strikes me as a steal, even if some restaurants may offer up only the plainer and cheaper entrees. I haven't heard any discussion of it on the boards.
http://www.vermontrestaurantweek.com/
Bad beer trends.
magic Hat changes their lineup seasonally, so while I could get Blind Faith for a brief time last summer, and my beloved Roxy Rolles in what passes for Fall, there has been no non-black IPA all winter. Now that that their new seasonal IPA, Vinyl, is out, I am hoping that they are some with that Howl (black lager) and Encore, marketed as "a sweet and malty IPA." A long winter without beer ing he lineup to suit my hoppy palate.
Otter creek's only IPA these days is a black one. Just verified on their website.
What did you have for breakfast today?
Pork dumplings, steamed over kale. Coffee and orange peach mango juice.
Bad beer trends.
Both Otter Creek and Magic Hat produced black IPA's for the winter and no regular IPA's, which was a season that seemed to go from September until March. Those are the ones I can think of off the bat (and they are local to me)
Bad beer trends.
Thanks for some different perspective. I will reconsider my position, since I thought they were fusion mongrel beers.
I still think that a black IPA should not fill be that only IPA that a manufacturer makes.
Bad beer trends.
This isn't going where I expected. Here are my unsettling trends, since I love the proliferation of abundent beer types (especially IPAs)
#1. Black lagers and black IPAs. For the love of God, make one type of beer! Mixing all the colors together in a palette and you just get brown. Same thing happens when you mix beer types. Besides, beer manufacturere seem to feel that a black IPA fills both categories of a porter and an IPA.
#2. Sometimes I just like a stout, thick and rich and creamy, or a porter. I'd like to be able to get it straight, without chocolate, coffee or even rasberry thrown in to make it special.
#3. Today is April 16. That means that it is Spring in this hemishere. Not summer. I'd like to be able to purchase a spring beer during the season that bears its name . I was told on Friday that Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye is a "spring beer " and the distribution season for spring is over. If a brewer is going to match their beers to the season, why can't we purchase them at the appropriate time?
Rant over (the sound of someone folding up their soapbox and moving on with life)
2012 Confessions
The black radishes and the watermelon radishes keep great company with potatoes (and rutabegas and turnips and parsnips) to make a better hash.
Braise them with butter and rasberry vinegar.
Will you be looking for anything specific at yard sales this season?
I live in a college town, so the best sales are right after the semester ends. They don't always have the greatest kitchen ware, but I am sometimes surprised.
I am always looking for something to add to my le creuset collection.
Question from a new guy.
Also, if you are packing a lunch thermos, boil some water in the morning while you are prepping your lunch. Fill the container first with hot water. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then empty and fill the thermos with your hot meal. It makes a huge difference in how long something stays warm!
New London and / or Mystic .....Where do locals eat????
I gave up on 84 High street a few years back when I realized that standards were just dropping. Dev serves a whole bunch of frozen apps microwaved or deep fried. The menu sounds lovely, but the food? Meh. What is the status of Kitchen Little? They lost their lease a couple months back. When are they closing/relocating?
Lots of negativity, so lets put a more positive sping. Where do I like to eat? Last time I was there I was surprisingly impressed by the food at Sneakers in Groton which is a bar, often with live music, but with real food. Chaplin's in New London is lovely with a very friendly cook. I definitely agree about the shout out for Water Street Cafe and Milagros, but I also like Noah's for brunch or lunch.
If you are looking for dim sum, especially at lunch time, Golden Chopstix in Westerly is an unlikely hit. Some orders you can't get at dinner time, like their fresh rice rolls (They also own the Chinese grocery in the same strip mall. I get frozen dumplings by the unlabeled sackfull there.)
For greasier fare, I am pretty fond of Kamp Dog in New London, which unapologetically serves up reubens and chili dogs par excellence. Much stuff is made in house, and again, the owner is a delight. And finally, Chester's bbg in Groton is good stuff too. It will probably piss off purists, but in Connecticut beggars cannot be choosers. I love a burnt end sandwich. Plus they get extra points for bending over backwards to get ingredient information when I brought in a friend with celiac. (She had a great meal with no side effects!)
CSA - how many chowhounds use a CSA
I have had a CSA for 4 years now, and I recently plunked down my money for a fifth. Last winter I paid for one through the colder months.I have belonged to 2 different ones, due to a move. Count me in the camp that loves them. We are two adults, and a half share works well for us, even with guests for dinner.
Granted, I live in Burlington, VT; there are an amazing array of CSA's available to me, in this town where food worship is a well-accepted practive. In general, there are a couple of factors that make CSAs make more or less sense.
How much do you center your meal around vegetables? I am an omnivore, but I lean more towards "meat as condiment." I have leaned harder since I put emphasis on using up my CSA every week.
How much do you eat out? How often do you cook a full meal? If you are eating out more than once or twice a week, you may not be home enough to keep a good grasp on the status of your fridge.
Do you cook predominantly with or without recipes? If you won't make a dish with chard because it calls for spinach, then a CSA may not work out well for you. I can't imagine making a plate of nachos without some sauteed kale in it anymore, because it is a handy way to use up the last of it. And I pretty much consider garlic scapes to be the equivalent of garlic until the scape season is over.
Do you have a pickup that works well with your schedule? I had one where I could pick it up on my drive home from work with a 2 mile detour. My current one I can walk down during an afternoon break from work. I also liked that for both of them, I picked stuff up a couple days before the farmer's market. So if I the tomatoes hadn't come in yet on my farm, I could supplement with others.
How much flexibility does the CSA offer and how much do you need? My first year CSA had a Sunday pickup. I was always going away on the weekends. Fortunately, she was very flexible and allowed me to pick up on Mondays or Fridays. My current CSA? No way. They are just too big to allow that; I think they have 100 or so shares, On the other hand, my first CSA pretty much handed me a bag (or two) of produce. My current one sets up tables where they give you options: Choose 6 leaves of Collards OR kale; 2 pounds of a mix of carrots, beets and radishes. You get the point: you have more autonomy, and you can decide whether you want small beets or large ones.
Finally, do you like the farmer? Are you going to be understanding if they flood out or if the pigs get loose and eat all the strawberries one year? Do they produce food that you believe in, whether they have organic designation or not? This is a business deal, but there is a level of personal interaction as well.
I still buy vegetables and fruit in the supermarket, just not as many. After all, oranges and pineapples are not local. I do notice that I no longer buy lettuce through the winter, because in my gut I understand how out of season it is. I pick up every week from May into October. Then every other week until Thanksgiving, then once a month (2 heavy shopping bags full!) through March. I still have root vegetables to work through, which will last the next month. Summer share was $415; winter share $350. $15 per week if you break it down to year-round basis. Expensive enough not to waste, but cheaper than our cell phone plan.
What's the best way to grocery shop cheaply?
Quick note! I just went shopping and was burned by this assumption! 3 for 3.99, so I picked up one... and was charged 2.99 for it. Always check the fine print!
What's the best way to grocery shop cheaply?
It's called "Bake the Bread, Buy the Butter" with cost (and taste) analysis about which way makes more sense.
veal demiglace substitutions?
I cooked a pork shoulder this week. Got all that lovely gelatinous fluid left behind. Would that be a decent veal demiglace for pork recipes?
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Drinks, Hors D’oeurves and First Courses; Soups
The curried carrot and coconut soup I have made time and again. I always eat it hot and not cold, though.
November Cookbook of the Month 2011: Gourmet II: The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl, et al.
Has anyone read the blogs that have covered cooking all of the recipes in this book? Last time I checked, there were three or four of them. I read some of one, a math prof who is nearing completion of all of the recipes. I think she has 11 left.
http://thegourmetproject.blogspot.com/
She's not as witty or as open-minded as Carol Blymire is on her romps through French Laundry and Alinea. Sometimes I want her to be less judgmental about recipes that involve ingredients she doesn't care for. For instance, she downgrades anything that involves bitter greens, like kale, collards etc, and is highly suspicious of lobster. On the other hand, I have to give her credit for doing it all, and trying out things that she finds off-putting. Plus, I have found that looking at someone else's results with a recipe serve as either warnings or encouragement to me.
Anyone else have thoughts on it?
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Salads; Vegetables
I make this all the time. The leftovers cook up into a great hash for the morning after too!
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Sandwiches and Pizzas
The grilled eggplant with feta mint and aioli is an amazing summertime lunch. One of the problems with a book like this being assigned to a given month is that so many of these recipes are seasonal. There are some that I have waited years to make because I never remember to cook them during apricot season ... or some other narrow time window.
November Cookbook of the Month 2011: Gourmet II: The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl, et al.
I have cooked plenty from this book over the last 6 years. By now, I beat the active cooking times on a regular basis. My partner, well, typically you should double the time estimate.
Need help with low sodium recipes
You are right. Everything must be cooked from scratch. My mom somehow lives on about 1000 mg per day, and it is tough to feed her at times. At the same time, it's amazing how much sodium gets packed into our diet without us reaching for the salt shaker. As the baby boomers age, there are alternative products on the grocery aisles that were not easily available 10 years ago.
Get rid of the top piece of bread in a sandwich, since there is a fair amount of sodium in bread. Start looking for no-salt canned tomatoes for cooking. Use dried beans instead of canned. Don't believe that prepared broth is low sodium, unless it has 140mg of sodium or less per serving. (College in has 1050mg; their "low-sodium" has 570). Cook with fresh vegetables rather than canned or frozen. Unsalted butter, of course. If you are serious, you can purchase low sodium baking powder.
But there are ingredients that you can reach for to add flavor. Herbs you already know about; basil, cilantro, parsley, dill and even scallions all pack a freshness in. Vinegar also adds a lot of flavor in the right dishes. So do lemons and limes; don't forget to use the zest! Spices that you may not think of all the time include nutmeg, fenugreek, curry powder and cayenne.
Steam your veggies. Make your own salad dressings. Roast veggies with a little olive oil in a hot oven. The carmelization can help pack some more flavor in.
Snack foods. You can find some salt-free chips if you look hard enough, potato, sweet potato, pretzels too. Pop your own corn on the stovetop, and sprinkle it with curry powder, taco seasoning, or cinnamon sugar.
Mashed potatoes are rough, but roasted potatoes aren't so bad. Nor are boiled potatoes tossed with a little olive oil, thyme, and pepper. Brown rice and quinoa have more flavor to them.
Don Pedro's Taqueria - Winooski, VT
Thanks Morganna! I was wondering when someone would post about this place. We've driven by twice and the lines look crazy!
Too hot for ice cream?
My partner thinks I'm weird. When it gets this hot I think that it is too hot for ice cream. Sorbet, popsicles, no problem, but there is.something about the frozen dairy that just leaves my mouth feeling sticky, coated and altogether unrelieved from the heat. Pretty much if it is over 85 with the heat index, then it is too hot for me to break out the B&J. Anyone else strange like me?
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Providence Restaurant Week Recommendations?
I wasn't complaining about the crowds at all. I was merely pointing out that you don't need to go to Gracie's for the special deal during restaurant week, since they offer it year round.
I have often been told that lunch is a much better deal than dinner, but I have a job that didn't allow me to drive up to Providence midweek and midday.
What I was pointing out, was that the restaurants typically offer their cheapest and least imaginative entrees, rather than showcasing themselves to new diners. Sure from a dollar perspective it may be a deal, but if I wouldn't order the creme brulee anyway it may not be such a bargain.
Pairing that with servers who are roll their eyes at you since you are not bringing in their average-size check, I no longer feel that Restaurant Week is a great opportunity any more
I'm not trying to be negative. There are some restaurants offering some great food for prices, but I haven't found that to be the norm.
Providence Restaurant Week Recommendations?
Went last year to three places. My response is that this is not a deal. I don't apply this attitude to Gracie's; however, last I checked, they offer a similar deal all year, so I wouldn't put a press to go there when the restaurants are fuller than usual. For the most part, restaurants put out their dull chicken entrees, plus mass-produced desserts. Often the appetizers have been the most inventive part of the meal. I walk out thinking that I could have gone in for 2 appetizers and a glass of wine, spent less money and enjoyed myself more. Furthermore, I have watched the waitstaff just turn off as soon as I mentioned Restaurant Week. Most especially I experienced this at Cav and Siena. That said I went to Opa once (I think this was 2 years ago) and the treatment couldn't have been more different. They were wonderful and warm, and they seemed delighted that we came just because of Restaurant Week.
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Cav
14 Imperial Pl Unit 101, Providence, RI 02903
Burlington CSAs
Thanks MsMonet!
Since no one got back to me on the board, I walked around the winter farmer's market one day and talked to every vendor that offered a CSA. I wound up choosing Full Moon Farm on my own, but I'm very happy to get your feedback that I have chosen well!
Also, since the Intervale has experiences so much flooding, I'm feeling fortunate that I didn't go with one of them. (Though I have much sympathy for the farmers down there!)
"Only in Canada" food items: add to the list
Because they don't require refrigeration, are nonperishable and can be packed into a suitcase/car. Fiddleheads are wonderful, but almost as delicate as fresh rasberries.
