Rain

Yesterday's plan was a wee bit problematic.

The plan: Go to the MOMA for three hours 12:30-3:30). Meet up with college friend at Union Square and have drinks(4-6). Meet with hostess and go see movie(7-10ish).

Well, of course MOMA is closed on Tuesdays and I should have remembered to look into that. So, there I was, walkin' around with no plan (I hate that esp in nyc). Then the friend I'd be meeting up with let me know that she wasn't sure she was up to leaving the house which left me with even less of a plan. This all made me very annoyed.

But the end result was a nice lunch with a grad school pal and her gracious allowance of her space, time and wii. Oh my goodness, now I want to play Wii tennis all the time. Like, really, I want to get super good so I can serve aces. And maybe Guitar Hero too except I've got stubby, chubby fingers that lack dexterity...and I think maybe my eye hand guitar coordination is fucked.

Today I'm meeting another college chum for lunch. Then will have a number of hours of blankness before meeting yet another college chum for drinks at what she has called "a secret bar". I think I might go see a movie...like Atonement...or 27 Dresses.

Last night's movie was a sneak peek of Charlie Bartlett...now I don't think it being free had so much to do with the fact that I liked it and found it funny and that it did a good job of never turning into one of those movies that was straight up funny for the first half and then straight up depressing in the second....though more serious in tone, the second half still had a few laughs up its figurative sleeve. And the dude who plays Charlie Bartlett...he was also in Alpha Dog as the doomed kidnappee...and when I watched Alpha Dog I thought to myself, I thought 'gee, this kid is pretty good at acting.' Seems I can spot them. Perhaps my future is in casting.

Probably not.

NYC

My gracious hosts have special wireless internet, the glory of which my computer cannot share. So no photos for a while. Thus far there has been dim sum c/o Sun 27 Inc....far superior to The Golden Unicorn in heat, amount and variety. Still a bit under $10 per person...though we left a ridiculous tip rather than each get $1.32 back...or whatever it would have been. I've gone to Noodle Pudding and a wine bar as well. But I"m not going to bother writing much about them, seeing as there are no photographs to accompany them. Today I have nothing on my plate (ha) so I may hang around my host's and hostess's apartment and cook them some kind of dinner. Though my host is here and I have concerns that he will wish to have time in his house without me typing and cooking and sitting and loafing. This may just be a little paranoid on my part :)

Until a better photo solution is found, adieu!

Barbeque Pig and Beer c/o Natty Greene's

On my last Greensboro night I took my gracious hostesses to Natty Greene's Brewing Company for dinner. Since I'm about to wing away from the generally understood 'world of barbeque' I though I'd have me the Barbeque Pig. Since they're a brewery I thought I'd have a beer or two...and I did...it's amazing how I think something and then, it like totally happens. It was goooood. Tender pork with a sauce that did a good job skirting the line between sweet, vinegary and spicy. My belly almost exploded in my attempt to leave no piece of pork untouched. I had a Wildflower Witbier which was, perhaps, the best Belgian style Heffeweisseny kind of thing I've had in a time. Not too sweet with a wonderful, I don't know what it was, finish. Then I had a more proper Heffeweissen. It was fine and good but that Wildflower I'll remember.
Okay here I go to NYC where it will be decidedly busier, here's hoping I don't fall over with food com.

Escoveitched Fish Fillet c/o Da Reggae Cafe

Yesterday we had lunch (minus the 14 year old sickie) at Da Reggae Cafe. Both my hostess and I ordered pepper pot soup to start and water to drink. The place is small and in a funny little shopping center not quite near a bustling anything. Bright yellow walls, posters featuring Sean Paul, Bad Brains and a few other reggae artists punctuating the expanse of bright, bright yellow. On the flat screen television hung on one of the walls, UB40 played live...and when it ended the DVD was started over gain, just in case we hadn't gotten enough of Red, Red Wine, (though I was happy to hear that Elvis cover song from Sliver...oh 1992 wherever did you go?). Aside from the fact that it took a long time for our soup to come and no water came until we asked a second time...and also a long time for a food...it was amazing. The length seemed to be more about my dish...a nice chunk of fish marinated in vinegar then fried and topped with peppers and onions. Oh it has to be one of the best things I've eaten in a while. The vinegar was potent was there was more going on then just that one flavor. Sigh. The fish and perhaps my companion's curried goat (or mutton) were made to order...which is, of course, a good thing...instead of vats of jerk chicken etc sitting on the stove for who knows how long I knew that my piece of fish was freshly cooked. So, in that sense, the long delay for food was worth it.
The goat/mutton (?) was also tasty. The portions of cole slaw and 'peas and rice' (beans and rice) were quite generous. If you live in Greensboro you should go here often (though perhaps not on your lunch break) and keep them in business so the next time I come down I can try their fish bisque and jerk pork butt. Mmmmm.
The pepper pot soup was forgettable at best. A muddle of flavors in not so rich a broth...basically tasted like kale soup.

It Seems We've All Got a Cannibal In Us

39%

But I think this is mainly because I said I liked veal and sushi...neither of which are my friends.

Shanghai

Over the last day or so I've been getting a number of visitors from a link. The link's owner is someone who has something to do with Sewanee and something to do with Shanghai...but it's a closed blog so I can't see why they linked me or what their story is. If you are the blog owner of this will you give me permission to look at your blog? I'm curious! The secret is killing me.

Dippity Delicious

Last night I gorged myself on pita chips, homemade guacamole and lobster dip c/o Costco. Boy howdy was it good.

Sushi c/o Wasabi Restaurant

Yesterday one of my hostesses took me out to Wasabi Restaurant for a sushi lunch. We had two specialty rolls (Whirlpool and Malibu), 1 salmon tempura roll, 1 spicy tuna roll, 1 yellowtail roll and one tuna roll with wasabi tobikko. The presentation was quite good, as was the lighting. Oh yes and the food was good too...the rolls were constructed well, the cuts of fish not too large or defective in any way.

The spicy tuna's mayo to fish ratio was admirable: not soupy. I don't think I've ever had a salmon tempura roll before. It was good and better when topped with a bit of eel sauce.
I thank the hostess. It was delicious!

Ye Olde Doggehs

Ah yes the dogs, the dogs. The dog along doggy-style all the dog day dog.

Good ol' Soupy Soup

On Tuesday I made stock from the chicken dinner of Saturday. Then I turned the stock into a curried soup (or heavily curried flavored soup not actually curry). Added some egg noodles at the last moment and voila: a successful soup for sickies and non-sickies alike.

Mac 'n Heart Attack Yummy Goodneese

On Monday the 14 year old had a day off from school and I had, well, another day off. So we combined our cooking desires and made truffles (see below) and vegetable soup. Both recipes came from a Shrek cookbook that, perhaps a bit surprisingly, had decent recipes that were definitely easy to follow but not lacking in tasty. I, then, made my infamous adult macaroni and cheese. The cheeses used, this time around, were Rosey Goat, Fontina, Havarti, Sharp Cheddar and just a wee bit of fresh mozzarella on top.

Build Yourself a Truffle Army

We did and now they do our bidding....
The peppermint cocoa covered ones are good for wet operations while the cinnamon sugar ones can solve any Sudoku puzzle or Odyssian (sp?) riddle and, in addition, will set up a great investment plan for you and take the dogs on walks. It's truly amazing. Everyone should have a truffle army. Except, of course, for my enemies. They can go to hell with their banana cream pie (yuck, yuck, yuck) army....see because banana cream pie armies are notorious for throwing themselves in the faces of their masters. Okay, enough of this ridiculousness.

Lunchy

We had pasta fagioli, salad and avocado slices for (I don't know how to spell it so what are you going to do about it?) lunch on, uh Saturday?

Chicken Dinner

On Saturday night I made rosemary stuffed chicken. It was not a complete success. Having approximated the weight of the chicken I assumed that the time it would take would be a good 20-45 minutes less than originally planned. This led to much checking, re-checking and confusion over why, in god's name, the chicken wasn't ready. A very impatient 14 year old also making the point well known (she was definitely right) that we were eating way, way later than any of us wanted to. In the end it kind of worked out. More rosemary should have been used.
Leftover chicken for lunch today was quite good though. I'll say that with impunity...mainly since I was the only one...except as I write that I realize it's not actually true.

Vietnamese in Greensboro

Yesterday my hostesses with the mostessest and I went out to lunch just as the oft spoke about snow started making its (in the end minimal) presence known. I ordered a salted lemonade because, well, I was curious. After taking three sips I was no longer curious....a waitress came around and asked if I liked it, I had to admit that, no I did not and then they were kind enough to replace it was a regular lemonade. The salted lemonade was an interesting combination of tastes on my tongue...but, strangely, the one that lingered the most was a sort of fake lemonade-y taste. It wasn't the salted aspect that went so terribly awry it was this slightly metallic weird thingy. I'm almost tempted to try it again so I can better capture what was so disturbing about it. The replacement lemonade was super sweet and tasty.

I had a crispy spring roll. It was nice and hot.
And PH3 pho. Beef meatballs, strips of meat, noodles etc. It wasn't bad. Though the meatballs were a little gristly/chewy and the meat not as tender as I had hoped (but this could also be said for my last pho experience in Chicago) so maybe the problem is I expect one thing but it's not how it's actually supposed to be?
The broth was definitely good and the quantity of soup/noodles etc generous. And how do you pronounce pho? It's not fo and it's not fah it's feh. This is what our waitress told us, when asked. It is not neccessarily only eaten for breakfast but this is because (once again according to our server) in Vietnam there is less of a 'breakfast' 'lunch' 'dinner' mentality. But then she grew up here so she might not know either. I don't know. She definitely knew the pronunciation however.

Dinner in Greensboro

I did arrive in Durham not too terribly later than I, and the airlines, intended. A high school chum was kind enough to pick me up from the airport. The original plan was to have myself dropped off at the train station (which I expected to be more than a trailer next to the train tracks) but at first it seemed like I was going to miss it and after that it turned out that the train was an hour late. So we did a half-way deal, high school chum driving me half way to Greensboro (or perhaps a little over half) and my hosts picking me up and taking me the rest of the way. All was good. It was a nice little car visit. And then on the other side there was tortellini with homemade tasty pesto with freshly shredded cheese. Yummy!

Veal Scallopini

I am now in a new visiting modus operandi. My first stop? Greensboro by way of Durham by way of Charlotte starting with Nashville. I will not get into the details of my flight because, well, at this point all airplane travel has ridiculous an inexplicable delays, redundancies and general stupid. Okay. I will say something...in Charlotte I was going to catch a plane to Durham. When I got there the gate manager lady announced (and it seemed for the second or third time) that she needed volunteers to go on a later plane, that round-trip tickets would be their reward for their troubles, that she needed 14 people to do this. 14! So then, as our scheduled loading time came and went, she got it down to 10, then 4, then 2 then we were golden. Everyone got on the plane (15+ minutes late) and sat down. And guess what? There were empty seats. So then, instead of getting on with the whole flying thing, we had to wait while they RECALLED the people who begrudgingly bowed out in the first place. There were about four of these people. So then we had to wait for them to get on the plane. Then there was more counting. Then, obviously, they had to get one person back off. There was a seat but, you know, it just wasn't going to work out. I mean, really. And the worst thing is that there is never any explanation of why this sort of stupid shit happens. No 'sorry ladies and gentlemen, we don't know how to properly communicate with one another which has led to this ridiculous musical airplane chairs game.' Nope.

My last night in Tennessee involved packing, dinner (veal scallopini with rice and broccoli c/o my mother) and furiously reading a book that had to stay in Tennessee and be returned to the library.

I read the first book in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series back in the summer and enjoyed it thoroughly. One part English mystery, one part literary science fiction, one or two strong helpings of satire and wit, another part inside reader/writer book/story plot jokes and you've got a pretty original world. I seriously recommend you start at the beginning (Jane Eyre Affair) and go on from there. They're fun but smart. Naughty but nice. You know, pretty great.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Last night my mother made a delectable Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). Tender sirloin tip, button mushrooms and carrots in rich wine sauce. Yummy goodness yummy. And we got to use the plates I loved oh-so-much as a child though, regrettably, my French is not so good as to understand all the different captions.

I love me a tender stew carrot like you wouldn't believe. I was quite militant about their inclusion.

Framed Photographs: More to Think About