puppymomma's Profile
New Englander tries Absinthe
My husband and I had dinner on January 8, 2010 in Absinthe. Our dinner was at 8pm and I had made the reservation the night before. I was a big fan of Top Chef, but I hadn't realized that the chef, Jamie Lauren, had since left (that's what an employee at Cocoa Bella told me that day). But our dinner was one of the best we'd ever had anyway.
First, we had such a great table looking out at the restaurant. We got the pre-dinner sourdough, which was tasty as could be.
I ordered the Kubler absinthe. Hey, I had to try it. It has a very strong anise flavor. I dripped some water over the sugar cube and drank the very anise-tasting alcohol. I can see why it earned it's reputation! My husband enjoyed the Pino Noir selection on the menu. I had a taste, and it was smooth as could be.
My husband ordered the scallop and clam chowder. It was beautiful, and I wish I had a pic, but didn't think to take one. It was served with the clams open and still in the shell on top. And I have to say that we were both incredibly impressed with it! The waitress mentioned that they use Old Bay Seasoning in it - good to know!
I knew I'd get the pan fried scallops for dinner before seeing the menu that evening (I had read it online). I was hoping my husband would get something different, but he didn't. I would have loved to taste a 2nd meal! The scallops were amazing! They are on an onion puree and they have big hunks of bacon and different types of mushrooms about them. The bacon was sooo good. I had never had bacon like that. And the entire dinner was unforgettable.
We shared the Cashew Chocolate bar for dessert. My complements to the pastry chef! Another amazing selection.
North Adams Chow?
We ate at Jae's. It was very conveniently located to Mass MOcA. I have some very positive things to say, and some very negative things to say.
My husband got the red claypot curry with beef and the chicken satay appetizer. He got the lava cake for dessert. All of his food was AMAZING!
Dave got the calamari appetizer, pad thai with chicken and shrimp, and a sushi roll. I tried his calamari and pad thai. They were both AMAZING too. He was VERY happy with his sushi.
I ordered two sushi rolls - a yellowfin with scallions and a regular tuna with scallions. My experience was not as good. My sushi, which was my meal, wasn't brought out until my husband and friend were half way through with their meals. Maybe the sushi guy was behind, but that wasn't cool! Also, there was so little fish in the sushi that it was disappointing.
Service was very slow in general. Even drinks. It took forever go just get our drinks.
My mojito was seriously lacking any alcohol.
The worst of it all was that they there was no air conditioning. It had been a very hot and sticky day. Oh, and I don't know why, but we were seated in the bar area.
North Adams Chow?
Thank you all for the recommendations! I think we are going to Jae's. I LOVE sushi, and Joe is very excited by the menu. It will be a great evening! And now I have some other places to try next time.
Ever eaten at Seafood Sams?
I'm going to the Cape in a few weeks. I have a friend who goes to the same area I go to (Dennisport). She always goes on and on about the fried clams at Seafood Sams.
Frankly, I don't know whether or not I want to believe her. She's not chowish. So I'm throwing this out to you guys.
What do you think of Seafood Sams?
Deseeding tomatoes: Do you do it, and if so, when/where/why?
I deseed. The seeds are messy, and bound to fall on my shirts when I leave them in the slices I put on my sandwiches.
Chocolate
I've spent a ton of money on expensive chocolates. But there are no good chocolatiers near where I live and some of the good ones charge so much for shipping! These days, I'm not willing to spend what amounts to $2.00 per one bonbon.
Lately I've been enjoying my favorite good ole standbye - plain m&ms. I still like them! I love hershey bars too.
It seems like Bumble Bee Tuna has gone down in quality
I haven't been on this site for a while, but I sure have been talking about the quality downslide of BB "solit white" tuna in water. I've switched to their foil packed salmon. And I absolutely refuse to eat Chicken of the Sea. That's cat food!
Dealing with those cans is so messy because the tuna is shredded to a point that I can't get the water out without losing tons of the tuna as well. And white, it is not!
I will have to check and see what brands they have at BJs. I don't have a costco nearby.
North Adams Chow?
Going to a concert at MASS MoCA this Saturday evening. We would like to have an early dinner before the concert. Not too expensive, but something nice. I'm not a steak eater, so there needs to be other choices for me - and I'm the chowhound of the three of us.
Can anyone recommend a place for us?
Any opinions of the Angler in Westminster ma
I take it you are the owner. I come to your market from time to time and have since you opened. I am glad you are there. I think your prices are good and I have always gotten good quality seafood.
Last weekend I ate at your restaurant for the first time. The food was good, but not great. I had the fried clams. Some of my clams still had raw coating in spots. My husband had the pesto shrimp pasta, which he enjoyed very much and was happy to see all the shrimp in it!
I wish you much success there!
Why no mint chocolate???
I like the John and Kira's mint chocolates. Also, I've had Lake Champlain mint flavored chocolates, and they are very good.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com
What happened to My Chow?
I used to enjoy being able to see who responded to the same posts since I did. Why has this link disappeared from the menu bar?
Where to buy inexpensive whole vanilla beans?
I bought from this seller (JR Mushrooms). They used to sell on Ebay.
The quality was excellent and I found it was the best buy out there.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
Truffle/bonbon storage issue
Thank you, dolores. I haven't posted it yet. I just finished the truffles yesterday and uploaded the pics this morning. I still have to write out the post.
We ate some last night when we had friends over and everyone loved them. I'm also giving them to people who haven't yet gotten my cookie gift.
I'll post them later today or tomorrow.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
Truffle/bonbon storage issue
I finally got around to making my first truffles yesterday. And may I add that they are fantastic!
But as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I got all kinds of perplexed about the storage issue.
No one refrigerates truffles from fine chocolatiers, right? And those truffles (aka bonbons) do have cream in them. Right? So when I made the gingerbread truffles, I boiled cream with spices in them before adding the dark chocolate. So, I do I, or don't I have to refrigerate the truffles?
The second kind of truffle I found was a cream cheese truffle and I'm assuming they have to be refrigerated since they are uncooked.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
Food that Most People Love and You Don't...
Ever since I was little, I would do anything to avoid a steak dinner. I just never liked steak. I'm okay with hamburgers, though. Oh, and I'm fine with a roast beef sandwich - especially when the roast beef is barely cooked. Go figure!
I despise feta cheese and olives. Greek salad is out of the question here.
I never much liked beer.
What food gifts did you make / buy this year ?
The recipe came from Recipezarr. You can find the recipe here with my pictures: http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/2008/12/almond-cardamom-christmas-cookies.html
Meryl
Top-5 Cooking Goals for 2009
I got the KitchenAid mixer of my dreams for Christmas. I wanted it so I could make bread.
- I got the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and I want to use it.
- New York Style Bagels and play around with different flavors.
- crusty rolls - good ones that don't need any butter or jam.
- gateau de crepe
- pizza
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
foodnetwork.com
I think their site is terrible. I have a brand new pc with lots of RAM, and I can't stand their site still.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
What food gifts did you make / buy this year ?
Every year I bake about 6 different cookies and make packages for friends and family. I was escpecially pressed fo time this year because of the huge ice storm we had. We had to go live with friends for a week until we got electricity back.
But I did make the cookies!
Santa's Whiskers (pecan, dried cherries, coconut)
chocolate mint drops
gingerbread cookies
2 different types of butter cookies
pecan sables
danish butter cardamom cookies
On Christmas eve I was getting ready to decorate the gingerbread and butter cookies. I had already make the royal icing (though I hadn't colored any of it) and then we had a windstorm and the lights went out till 2 am. So I decorated in the dark. I ended up not finishing till 3 am. But I got it done and had 15 gift bags on Christmas day!
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
How best to enjoy fruitcake?
I was just watching the fruitcake episode of Good Eats. Alton Brown eats his toasted with mascarpone cheese. Sounds good to me!
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
Favorite savory butternut squash/pumpkin/winter squash recipe?
I recently made this:
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/2008/11/butternut-squash-casserole.html
It was very good, but I bet some beschamel sauce would make it totally awesome. Ooh, I'm going to try that soon.
Phantom Gourmet- crossed the line
I second that.
To me they appear like a bunch of sofa-jocks who want to spend their days stuffing their faces in Dunkin Donuts and KFC and watching a good football game.
One should not expect too much of them.
Splendid Table-NPR
I absolutely love her show. I download it and listen on my Ipod. But I think I'll try burning a cd for my car. That's a great idea!
What's the BEST cooking site?
I usually end up at Epicurious.com. I don't like how cook's illustrated makes you pay for web access - even if you have a subscription. So I let my subscription go.
I was never a big fan of the food network site, and now the new interface I last saw was unusable to me.
I've gone to recipezarr and allrecipes too. But Epicurious is my favorite by far.
BOCADO's in Worcester, MA
Bocado is my favorite restaurant of all time. I was just there 2 weeks ago and had yet another wonderful dinner. We got the bocado Experience for four. Oh, and I had a flight of reds from the Rioja region of Spain.
I can't say enough wonderful things about Bocado.
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
Picasso Restaurant in Barre, MA
I've eaten there about 5-6 times now, and I've never had a disappointing meal. I love that place and I'm thankful that it isn't too far from home. There are no good restaurants out this way.
Fried Clams on Cape Cod
I live not too far from Val's. Maybe I'll try them and report.
They are definitely not on the cape!
Cooking club for high school- limited resources!
I run an International Club after school. We only have 35 minutes before the late busses start boarding, so time is a problem. Some things I've done with my students are:
quesadillas (using an electric fry pan)
crepes (we have a crepe maker). For the crepes we had whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and canned fruit fillings.
We have fundraisers to help pay for the club. You could have a bake sale (doesn't have to be baked goods - can be granola bars, candies, etc...), and spaghetti dinners, and last year we sold Christmas ornaments with the school logo. I found a supplier online.
To get donations for the bake sale, I offer a 100 quiz grade. The administration supports me with the extra credit offer I give.
Last week we made sugar skulls for the day of the dead.
If you want to communicate, feel free to email me (see my profile).
Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/
