A Little Pasta

On some day in the not so distant past I concocted a meal for myself that included sauteed garlic, mushrooms and green pepper, bits of smoked salmon, a lightly fried egg and pasta. I'm not sure of this, but I would guess that I added cheese and truffle oil to boot. Because that is simply how I roll.

Old Friends and Maybe a New One

It's been a long time since I saw C. and T. In fact, it has been a little over three years since I went out to Seattle and visited them and M&A. A whole heck of a lot of things have changed since that time. C. and T., for example, moved to Houston. Oh yeah, and they have a CHILD. So three years can really change some things. They let me know that they were going to be flying out to Philly before driving out to the shore for a few days with their good friends at the beach, and I was glad to swipe a little chunk of their time. I had all sorts of ideas of places we could eat that would be kid-friendly, but many of those places are not truly kid-friendly, at least not on weekdays (ie: they don't open til 5 and the window for us was pretty much 1-3), so I had to rethink. In the end we decided to meet up at Franklin Square Park to have a meal c/o Square Burger. And that is just what we did. It was a warm day that seemed like rain but just stayed remarkably humid. I think we all ordered the same Square Burger. T. ordered a milkshake and I ordered my own thing of fries.

Well who is that? That is M. C. and T.'s little one. I love kids and hanging out with them, but I also know that kids sometimes need a little time to get to know you, and knowing our time was short I didn't try to overpressure M. into any quality time. I was happy to see her happy with her parents. Girl loves her some walking and some birds and really was quite a sweetie for having just come from a plane ride and then a car ride and then a meeting with a total stranger. This is not entirely surprising, considering the generally laid back nature of her parents. The burgers etc. were good. Maybe not totally magic or 'this is the one place you need to go back for another burger' type vibe, but honestly I had never actually gone to Franklin Square Park and I was glad to have the experience. Mainly because of seeing some longlost folks and their newest family member.

The other advantage to Franklin Square Park was the playground equipment and kid-friendly activities. Though I hadn't seen them in a while, seeing C. and T. as parents wasn't some crazy thing. My brain didn't need to adjust to it and I was impressed by their overall teamwork and attitude about parenthood. Not being one myself I know that I don't really have a position to say anything about it one way or the other, but they seemed to be rocking the whole thing.

Seriously, she was a pretty chill baby. Or toddler.

Then I went on the carousel with C. and M. while T. took my camera and my iPhone died. M. got a little hot I think at this point and then C. got in trouble for riding on the same horse as M. Seems that is totally FORBIDDEN. The dude running the carousel stopped the ride to let us know about this. In the end we ended up in this booth.

And then our time came to a close and I begged a ride off C. and T. I was so glad to see them after such a gap and loved meeting their little one (and spending a little quality time with her in the backseat talking mainly about bottles and her shoes...without actual words of course).

Spatchcocked Chicken

Another spatchcocked chicken. It's kind of a thing I like to do. It's so simple. And in the summers it's so much easier to keep the house cool by keeping the oven off. And that makes grilling very much the thing to do. And as a single lady, roasting a chicken isn't the worst way to have a week of meals at your disposal. You can eat it fresh off the grill and love it. Then do any number of things with the leftovers.

Fresh off the grill I went with a drumstick/thigh, grilled sweet potato and one of my own tomatoes. And a glass of water that looks like it is filled with the light of angels. But it was actually water. I forget which book I was reading at this particular point in time, but there are quite a few books that I have enjoyed this summer that I'll need to write up. Books are great.

Meeting a Reader Over Drinks and Snacks c/o The Dandelion

A few months back one of the blog's readers reached out to me about her impending arrival in the States. Huckleberry has been occasionally commenting on the blog for at least two or three years, though perhaps closer to four. And I've always gotten a kick out of the fact that she's a reader whom I never actually met in real life. It feels, on the whole, like I'm writing this blog mainly for myself and for those who already know me and like to see themselves turn up in the narrative from time to time. So to have any readers who aren't related to me or know me in some other context, is very neat. Well, Huckleberry finally made it to the States and so we determined a day and place to meet up in real life. My first suggestion was A.Bar, but when I got there a little early the space was entirely packed and I didn't really want to stand awkwardly in a crowd while trying to talk to a new person. So when Huckleberry appeared I suggested we try The Dandelion Pub instead. It, too, was certainly crowded, but not to the point where we weren't able to get a table.

I was drawn to the Nosey Parker cocktail, which included Bulliet Rye, grapefruit, Campari,
basil, and Peychaud's. Huckleberry went for the Pimm's. I liked my cocktail with its tart grapefruit notes and the slight bitterness of campari evened out by the sweet rye. Good stuff. I think Huckleberry seemed pleased with her drink as well.

I also ordered a snack of the curried crab, cod and chili cakes, which came with a little ramekin of malt vinegar mayo.

Definitely crispy on the outside and more interesting than many a fried fish ball on the inside. I think I would have appreciated having four instead of three as the serving size, but such is life. Huckleberry had the....hmmm. I think it was the pickled beet root jar? Or olive tapenade? Memory is such a fickle thing.

I joked a bit about not wanting to be murdered by a stranger because it is an odd thing. Huckleberry seems to be a non-crazy, interesting person and I'm glad of that, but one never knows. While on the whole I realize that this blog is a vanity project, it's still a vanity project that is open to the public. I'm not too personal or revealing, but Huckleberry definitely knew more about my life than I did hers. And that's par for the internet course. There are plenty of folks whom I follow on one social media channel or another that, if I were to meet them in person, would know barely anything about me but I could be a wealth of creepy knowledge on. That was a terrible sentence. What I'm trying to say is that it was nice to meet Huckleberry and to hear more about her journey and to be assured she wasn't a murderer. And that I hope if I ever meet any of the people I follow from afar, they also realize that I am interesting and not a murderer. Murder is so not 'in' right now y'all.

A big thank you to Huckleberry for reaching out and braving public transportation for a meet-up. And an even bigger one for the drinks and meal!

Sushi c/o Shiroi Hana

In the first week of August LW celebrated a birthday. She gathered a few of her folks together for a sushi dinner to commemorate her new age, which was held at Shiroi Hana. MP was among the attendees, which was nice because pretty much the next day she headed out of Philly for an extended stay in Michigan. She will be missed. But at the time we were all there. I was especially interested in having the ankimo, which I've only ever seen at Shiroi Hana's sister restaurant Doma. I'm telling you these monkfish livers or pate or whatever it really is...it's good. It's things like this that make me glad that I'm not an overthinker when it comes to food. If it's good, it's good and I'm not going to worry about the exact body part of the animal it is I'm actually eating.

LW, MP and I split a sushi platter that included a few rolls as well as salmon, tuna, white tuna, shrimp, eel, and a few other fishes.

Pretty good stuff. I think LW had a good time at the dinner and then I know she went out pretty hard at darts later that night. I basically went home satiated.

Seafood Country Days

After CPM, R. and Brutus departed I futzed and fiddled around the house and woods and consumed a whole lot of Divergent and Insurgent. If you are a teenage girl, or have one lurking inside of you, you should really read these books. Eventually I realized that eating would probably be a good thing, and that's when I remembered that in addition to the salmon I purchased at a suburban Whole Foods, I had also seen the rather unlikely option of soft shell crabs and had gotten two. So I took care of that whole thing. Seasoned the breading with salt and pepper and accompanied the crabs with lime because I had no lemons at hand. They were generally good for previously frozen crabs. I was glad to have them at such a late point in the summer.

The next night S. stopped by and I decided to try a slightly different approach to another fillet of salmon. This was farm raised salmon instead of the more fancy Atlantic salmon, and I usually am a hater of that kind of salmon...but I will say that this version of salmon was actually a bit better. In this rendition I sliced up a sweet onion, one lemon, three stalks of lemon grass and some garlic and thyme and created a bed on which I could put the salmon. Then I salted and peppered the salmon itself and filled the baking dish up to the base of the salmon with a white bordeaux. No lie, it was really good. The salmon I made the other night was good, but this was definitely better. I don't know if it was the aromatics of the lemongrass or the fat content of the farmed fish, but it definitely was pleasing to the taste buds.

Frittata, Walkabout and Catan

The next morning I was very excited to make a frittata for CPM and R. I beat about eight eggs with a bit of half and half, sauteed mushrooms and green peppers, and then put the eggs in a big skillet before adding the mushrooms, peppers, goat brie, tomatoes and smoked salmon. The result was quite delightful in my humble opinion.

After breakfast we took a bit of a woods and field walk.

Brutus was pleased about it.

This is just pretty.

Obligatory 'I have friends sometimes' shot.

We then played two additional games of Catan before CPM and R. headed out. I was quite happy to have the company and get to spend some time with them all. I am such a sucker for simply sitting around, reading books, playing games and cooking for people. It's basically all I want to do, and that is why I often think the best option for me would be to run a B&B somewhere wonderful. Of course I have also realized that most B&Bs don't actually make money so there's that small problem, but a girl can dream can't she? Yes. Yes she can.

Dog love.

Salmon Dinner and Catan

The main meal of the evening was Atlantic King Salmon, which was accompanied by roasted potatoes and sauteed squash and zuchini. CPM did the potatotes and squash/zuchinni while I handled the salmon and a salad. Everything turned out quite well.

Afterwards we enjoyed a round of Catan and Brutus slept, wiped out from all the walking we did earlier in the day.

Country Evening Starters

After our sandwiches we spent the rest of the day enjoying the wonderful weather and scenery with a walk. Or maybe that was in the morning before the shopping? In any case the remainder of our day was predominantly spent reading. I was reading an Anita Shreve's All He Ever Wanted, which is a book that I wouldn't necessarily recommend but that I didn't hate either. CPM made some serious progress in the last available book in the Song of Ice and Fire series (ie: Game of Thrones). I really need to re-read that last book to remember many of the details that have, at this point, been momentarily forgotten. We were also waiting for R. to show up and join us. I put out a cheese plate in the expectation of his arrival so that the cheese would be ready for consumption, and once he did turn up we popped a second bottle of Prosecco and retired to the outside for conversation, cheese, grapes and prettiness.

I think this was an aged gouda, a cow's milk triple cream and then I forget what the last cheese was, but it was nutty in a good way.

Carolina-style Pork Sandwich c/o Fresh Market

The next day we had to do a bit of a grocery run in preparation for the meal we'd make that evening. We didn't really have lunch so while we were at Fresh Market we were taken in by the idea of a sandwich made right at their deli counter. I chose to try their barbeque pork tenderloin with coleslaw. I forget what CPM had, but I believe it involved Brie. Neither of us were terribly impressed, though the sandwiches did sit for about 45 minutes due to my thinking I knew how to take us on a nice back route...except I had no idea what I was doing so it took a pretty long time. In any case, the bbq sauce on my sandwich was extremely sweet. I would have preferred a more vinegar-based sauce. Lesson learned.

Country Pizza

About two weekends back I finished my day at work and gathered myself together before picking up CPM and Brutus the dog to drive out to the country. Once we arrived we popped a bottle of champagne, which I sipped while doing just a bit more work. While I was working away, CPM was also being industrious in putting together the dough, sauce and ingredients for the pizza we then enjoyed.  The rest of the evening was spent chatting, sipping wine and enjoying the pepper, mushroom and pepperoni pizza that CPM's hard work created. A good evening was had by all.

Heirloom Tomato, Baby Cukes and Burrata

So my tomato plant is perhaps not quite as prolific as I might have expected, but it is producing. On this particular day I took a might fine tomato off, sliced it up, drizzled a bit of olive and truffle oil on it with salt and pepper. I also sliced cucumbers and added a few triscuits. The centerpiece was burrata. It was a really lovely plate that I enjoyed eating on the deck.

Sushi c/o Umai Umai

There was a weekend where I found myself in Philly with literally no plans. The option of a day at home with no commitments or activities was, in a sense, rare. I have been perking up my summer weekends with a fairly consistent number of trips and whatnot. But home I was. And home, it was good to be. Except that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in a long, actually just long but not really hot, second. Except that second was more like two weeks. So I was at home, hungry, and watching episodes of the David Chang version of a cooking show. You should watch it too. He'll make things you know are complicated seem, for a moment, not-so-much, and then more likely than not you'll go to a restaurant that somehow relates to whatever the episode is. In my case it was a delayed reaction. I had watched the Chang episode where pretty much it's all Japan, all the time. At the time, I restrained myself. But an episode featuring a Danish chef with his own experimental houseboat and weirdo farmer? Somehow it was too much. There they were with a 100 year old clam and freshly picked plants and rotten potatoes and all these other things, and all I could think of was the other Japan episode. I wanted real and good sushi and I wanted to try new things like it was just par for the course. And so for those reasons, and others, I decided to go to Umai Umai. Umai Umai is not terribly far away from where I live. I have heard many people really praise it. But I gotta say in the first few times I went? I always felt slightly like I wasn't getting it. Really I felt like I paid more money than I would consider reasonable without the pay-off of my eyes rolling to the back of my head due to the glory of the tastes on my tongue.

And that's the thing. If you're not paying with a company card or being comped, you have to decide on a few things and then you judge the place on them. And by "you" I mean me, trying to showcase information about places I can't truly explore as frequently as could lead to a good review on a budget that already dedicates way too much funds to the pursuit of good food. My point here is the fact that even though monetarily I had decided that Umai Umai and I wouldn't work out, I looked at the collective reviews one more time, and I thought about how culinarily turned on I got at seeing sushi,  and I decided to give Umai Umai one last chance. I looked only at the more sushi/sashimi centered options and really didn't even process any descriptions of hot dishes. I was going to eat the prepared fish in whatever form the chef thought was best. It was early. Senior citizen hour. And me sitting alone at the bar when tables were available, but without the chef readily being personable, and with me being extremely sensitive to the concept that someone would rather not talk to me. Well. It was quiet for a while. The chef and his sous chef? Apprentice? Stood behind the bar making conversation that made me think that the one guy was new.Or that's just how chef dudes talk in front of a random woman customer who opted for the sushi bar but then wasn't immediately gregarious? In any case. I ordered a miso soup and the chirashi. And if I wasn't a complete jerk, I could tell you what every single thing on this plate was. But I was a jerk and thought I could remember...but I was wrong. What I can tell you is there was: uni,  a quail egg, ikura, extremely tender magic salmon, escolar, tuna, scallop, and about seven other things I cannot lock down.

I'll tell you this: it was pretty. And the eating of the raw scallops was a new thing for me. But I did it with faith, and I was rewarded. Whatever I thought it might be like, it was better. I realized I had misunderstood the nature of a scallop. I liked and enjoyed the whole bowl, and of course some parts more than others. But the whole experience was wonderful.

I did witness a less than ideal interaction between another patron and the waitstaff, during which the woman complained loudly about the fact that her food was too hot. When her waitress suggested ways to fix the situation, the woman was having none of it. I thought the server did a pretty good job of keeping her cool, but the lady was clearly not a happy camper. As she and her husband left she made a big point of saying that they would never return because the service was rude and her food was too hot. If you know that lady, don't believe her. They were polite and tried to find a solution, but she was the one who was rude. Yes, when you're paying for a meal it should meet your expectations. But getting so snippy when the issue is that your food is too hot seems insane. Just wait and it'll cool off. Or, if you're asked how the situation could be favorably handled to please you, actually have a solution. I don't know. There is a sense of entitlement in the whole restaurant thing. When I go I expect certain things like prompt and friendly service, food as I request it, and the like. And if those expectations aren't met and I actually raise the issue of dissatisfaction with someone from the staff, I would hope that they would try to listen to my concerns and address them. And I would hope that I would not become someone who completely forgot what an appropriate response is vs. and inappropriate one. It was awkward for all in the small restaurant to have to overhear her complaints and increasingly impatient and rude treatment of the server. After the initial outburst there was a very quiet atmosphere where all diners felt as if they couldn't strike up or resume their normal conversations. I eventually asked the sushi chef a question about escolar, so that lightened at least my mood.

My overall thought and point is this: I was wrong to have given up on Umai Umai in large part because I was wrong in what I had been ordering. If you want crazy rolls or teriyaki, there are quite a few other spots in the neighborhood and in Philly, but for a really interesting and wide variety of fresh fish prepared with care and beautifully presented? Keep Umai Umai in your mind.

Post-BBQ Lunch

While the barbeque's end was a wee bit debaucherous, the overall event ended around 11 PM, which made it not so difficult to get up the next day, clean up and take advantage of some of the left over grub. I fired up the grill and made myself a burger for lunch. I season my burgers with a mix of garlic, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper and cumin. With cheese they do not fail to please. I also used some of the leftover tomato basil dip that I had made as an alternative for ketchup. I also had a little helping of the Asian tinged slaw I made (sesame oil and rice wine vinegar, also with julienned green apples).

Barbeque Fun Times, 2013

A few weekends back my roommate and I invited a group of folks over to our deck for a barbeque. I got up early and drove north to Czerw's to get some fine Polish kielbasa, and went to a few other spots in preparation for the afternoon and evening. I got a few different kinds of sausage. Below is me holding the fresh Kielbasa aloft in all my triumphant double chinned glory.

There was a moment where it seemed like the new propane tank wasn't going to work and that the barbeque would lack actual grilling, but that crisis was averted.

In addition to three different kinds of sausage, I also made burgers, cole slaw, and some dips.

Burgers and sausage, huzzah!

The roommate fixed some very tasty beverages with the aid of the coconut rum I brought back with me from the Bahamas.

Thumbs up!

The roommate's lady friend brought her dog over, and Brutus came with CPM and R. So there was a good dog presence.

CPM also brought the fixings for sangria.

While S. brought ice cream cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes.

Later in the evening there were quite dramatic thunder and lightning clouds on display before turning to torrential rains. We took the rain as an opportunity to play beer drinking games in the living room.

And that's just what we did. A good evening I think.