All food, all the time.

I like to make plans. I take time to do extensive research. And when my plans get bamboozled, I get a frown face.

But in the scope of things, it’s not that serious and you gotta enjoy all the moments…all of the moments! [should this be a movie?].

Sooo I’m referring to my ill-fated attempt to eat at The Wren. I was so, so very excited for oxtail marmalade and potted liver! If there’s one thing I love, it’s creamy delicious liver…chicken, duck whatever you got, give it to me.

But that didn’t work out and I ended up at Rare on 26^th. I had my 2009 birthday dinner there.

This is how I eat cake on my birthday:

I used to sweat the place, hard.

I like Rare’s food [and especially when it’s gratis!] lot but it was just meh after reading the menu [pdf] at The Wren!

We obvs had the fry sampler and I tried the chicken lollipops for once. They were fine, although wasteful because they frenched them!

Speaking of which, I have a really strange fascination with menus. I love looking at what people ate years ago. [I also have a tendency to pre-plan my meals by strategically stalking the restaurant’s menu – senor Frenchie doesn’t like this game haha].

This site is pretty much amazing and I can spend hours just browsing. Also check this to see the actual menus.

So now that you know that tidbit, here’s a photo of myself with former gov Patterson last night at Rare.

This sketch gives me the major laughs.

On SNL’s New Season, Gov. David Paterson Confronts Fred Armisen | PopEater.com

I was fortunate to meet Chef Psilakis last year at the Buick Food + Wine event in Stamford and I was happy to also receive, gratis, his latest cookbook, How to Roast a Lamb.

The cookbook is good, albeit, slightly daunting so when I wanted to make gyros – I was surprised how quickly [and easily] they came together [although I barely followed the recipe]!

The key is very finely ground meat. Finely ground, to the point of a paste is what you’ll need. I used turkey ground meat, which is basically paste meat. The meat itself wasn’t flavorful so next time, lamb and pork [as the recipe calls for!].

Recipe transformed [a nice way of saying I did whatever I wanted!] from Psilakis:

*ask butcher to run ground meat through grinder once more for that super fine grind

• 1 thick slice of Spanish or sweet onion [I used sweet]
• extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 pound marbled, finely ground lamb – preferably from the shoulder [I used turkey meat hahahahha]
• 8 ounces finely ground pork
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon garlic puree [there’s a recipe for this but I used the roasted garlic found in the Whole Foods antipasti bar and just mushed it up…do it!]
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon espelette pepper or best quality chile powder [I used Indian EXTRA HOT chile powder]
• 2 tablespoon fresh herbs such as dill, parsley, or chives [I used cilantro because I felt like it]
• 1 whole scallion, minced [I forgot to add this in, so I just topped it with it]
• 2 large eggs, beaten [I used one]

Brush the onion slices with a little olive oil and season with kosher salt and pepper. On a hot griddle pan or in a cast iron skillet, grill the onion until tender. Separate into rings and chop very finely.

Lightly brush a 7.5 x 11-inch baking dish with olive oil and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F [I just used a small rectangular Pyrex].

In a large mixing bowl, combine the grilled onion, lamb, pork mustard, garlic puree, coriander, espelette, fresh herbs, scallion and eggs [I just mixed this in the Pyrex dish because I didn’t feel like wasting another dish!]. season liberally ith kosher salt and pepper and thoroughly combine the mixture with clean hands [opposed to dirty hands]. Transfer to the baking dish and spread out evenly to the edges, smoothing the top flat. Place the dish inside a large roasting pan and add boiling water to about halfway up the sides of the baking dish [I just poured water in the roaster and put it over heat on the burner to make it boil – just make sure you roaster can be directly on the burner!!!].

Bake for 45 minutes or until the gyro shrinks away from the sides and is quite hot in the middle when pierced with a metal skewer [around 150 degrees F]. Remove the pan from the water bath and cool to room temperature [I didn’t do this; we were hungry so we ate it right away].

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or ideally, 24 hours to develop the flavors [again, I ate it right away]. 

Place a large, platter upside down over the baking dish. Turn both over and carefully remove gyro [nope, I just cut it out of the Pyrex!].

I then got some naan + tahini sauce + greek yogurt + feta [made a sauce and smeared it onto the naan]. I sliced some iceberg lettuce and layered that on the naan/sauce, topped it with the gyro meat, sprinkled some scallions on top and VOILA!

I only have one photo because we ate the food in mere seconds! And it’s blurry because I was so excited to eat :-)

rochester, ny is great! it has lots of great food - one of my favorite rocfoods is the garbage plate. a wonky mess of homefries, macaroni salad, a hotdog and/or hamburger and then it’s topped with a hot sauce [sorta like a very fine chili - fine in texture and fine in taste!] plus ketchup…mustard…onions…mmmm.

this recipe takes all of those elements and turns it into a delicious brunch! meat on top of meat!
you can’t go wrong.

i developed and created this recipe [with the help from lots of sources, including the madre] and entered it into the very good recipes breakfast challenge. check it out! 

*meat sauce takes a lot of ingredients and…a lot of time, but it’s worth it! 

HOT SAUCE

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon oil – I use Grapeseed
• 1 pound ground beef – I use 85 organic
• 1 water [or enough to completely cover the meat]
• 1/4 cup tomato paste [if you don’t have paste, just toss in about 1/8 cup of ketchup!]
•  lots - maybe a 1/2 bottle or more of Crystal/Franks cayenne pepper hot sauce
•  1 tablespoon brown sugar
•  1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•  1 teaspoon chili powder
•   a pinch of cumin
•  a pinch of allspice
•  a pinch of cinnamon
•  1 clove clove
•  salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

    In a large skillet, add oil and saute onion/garlic for about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and mix well. Add ground beef - make sure you break it up! Once the meat browns, add water. Bring mixture to boil then let simmer. Use an immersion blender to get a fine consistency [no blender? no worries – just mix it up as much as possible]. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer 1 hour or longer, adding water if necessary to keep it ‘gravy like’.

[apologies for non-precise measurements but I tend to do dashes and pinches and guesses]

Potatoes

• 2 cups diced potatoes
• water
• salt

Place diced potatoes into a medium sized pot. Cover with cold salted [less than a ¼ of salt!] water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender, then drain.

Corned Beef Hash

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• chopped onion - I used red onion and Vidalias - about 1 cup
• 1/2 pound lean kosher corned beef, sliced thick [you can get this at the deli counter in your grocery store] 
• 2 cups cooked potatoes
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream [I probably used a bit less than this]
• salt and pepper to taste

On medium heat, in a large, deep pan/skillet, add butter.

Add diced onions and cook for about 5 minutes – stir them frequently so they don’t burn.

Mix potatoes and corned beef into the onions. Push down on the top of the mix with a spatula and let sit, UNTOUCHED, for about 3 minute intervals.

 Stir mixture and repeat above process, continuing to push down the mix.

After the mixture is brown and starts to crisp up, stir in the cream and mix again.

Add salt and pepper as your see fit.

The key is to get the hash to a golden brown hue [I like mine almost burnt ‘burnt’].

 Serve with your choice of eggs – I did mine over medium. Add your meat sauce to the plate, pour yourself a mimosa [or 3] and brunch is served.

I drove up to Hartford today to have lunch with my girlfriend CML.
My experience with Hartford is…limited. I’ve been to Blue Back Square [West Hartford…had a burger there] and I’ve been to a weird bachelorette-comedy-show-party-weirdness were I threw a tantrum and left because I wasn’t having fun [I was young! Don’t judge!].

Other than that, that’s it.

Before I met up for lunch, I drove around to investigate the downtown but there wasn’t much to see, which was disappointing [sort of desolate…I probably didn’t go to the right area but I literally drove around the entire downtown…].

The capitol building was pretty, so that’s a plus?

Oh well, onto the food!

I must admit that I didn’t really investigate the place – it was on a co-op/community site called Billings Forge, which has it’s own café and kitchen but we decided to eat at Firebox.

We ordered wine: Reunion Malbec and an Alsace blend Riesling.

I ordered the burger with cheese and my friend had grilled cheese with chard.

We ended up splitting our meals because sharing is caring.

The burger was great – although, I ordered it medium well and it definitely came out medium. The grilled cheese was good too, although chard gets weird once it’s cooked. It gets very wet and I think that sort of made it a little funky.

They had cute little bill holders with the CT state on them. The atmosphere was kitschy but austere at the same time.

Anyways, overall, a good choice for lunch in Hartford!

And because I’m a dork, we took a picture of our new bracelets haha [they sell a gold iPhone case for 10k REDONK].

Dear Mexican food, I love you, the end. Just kidding. I don’t love all Mexican food but I do heart Casa Villa. 

For a while, they only had one location on West Main in Stamford. It’s probably more fitting for take-out [although they do have a few tables], so when I heard the news that they took over Myrna’s old spot, on East Main, I was super excited to have the full restaurant experience!

We were welcomed to the restaurant for a Friday night dinner and as usual, we left very satisfied.

To start, we ordered drinks: a margarita on the rocks with salt for me and a Michelada for the S.O. Michelada is a beer cocktail with lime juice, tomato juice, a few spices and then you add your beer of choice [Corona works great!].

For an app-a-teaser, a new concept they’re working on – ceviche. I love, love, LOVE ceviche and theirs was really good. Packed with some heat, lots of citrus and fresh fish, it was definitely good…we ate the entire plate, obvs.

 My go-to order at Casa Villa is always TACOS! My top three are al pastor, cecina [aged beef], and carnitas [pork-o-la]. I’ve actually had all of the tacos on their menu but those three are my favs.

I wanted to try something different, besides tacos, so I went with the carne asada which turned out to be a great decision.

It was a delicious, tender and well-seasoned thin steak accompanied with pico de gallo, sour cream, guac and rice and beans.

The plate was filled to the brim so I brought half home…and ate it for breakfast today because steak in the morning is a good thing.

The S.O sticks to what he loves and he loves their chicken burritos. 

[this burrito vanished moments later…it didn’t stand a chance…]

I went for gold and ordered dessert – I am not a dessert person and almost always pass on this course but the Tres Leches was calling my name.

I haven’t had too many Tres Leches but this one was totally amazing! Rich but light and creamy and just all around delicious…definitely try this.

Casa Villa’s menu is filled with all sorts of delicious – and inexpensive starter favorites like: flautas, gorditas, and nachos [also check out the chilaquiles, epic]

For entrees, it ranges from fajitas to carne asada [amazing] to camarones crema [shrimp in chipotle cream sauce] to my favorite, tacos! 

And desserts, like I mentioned, are yummy.

Whether you order online, call them on the phone or dine in, they consistently serve you prompt, fresh and flavorful Mexican food. 

Go there now.

866 East Main Street [dine-in]
203-348-0622

182 West Main Street [take-out]
203-323-1721

i’m making this next week for my little french canadian :)

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

Photo: Classic Tourtière
Photography by Yvonne Duivenvoorden

Tourtière is the crème de la crème of pies. Lightly spiced and herbed, this pork pie is especially anticipated for Christmas Eve celebrations, but it’s equally tasty throughout the holidays and winter months. Tourtière is completely make-ahead, delicious when turkey or chicken take over for pork and perfectly complemented by a tangy relish such as chili sauce or this Tomato Pear Ketchup recipe. 

Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Ingredients
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
2 lb (1 kg) ground pork
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) beef stock
3 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups (500 mL) sliced mushrooms
1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped celery
3/4 tsp (4 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each cinnamon, pepper and dried summer savory
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cloves
1 cup (250 mL) fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped fresh parsley
Pastry for double-crust 9- or 10-inch (23 or 25 cm) pie 
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp (5 mL) water

Preparation

Variation: Turkey Tourtière. Substitute turkey or chicken for pork. Substitute chicken stock for beef stock. Omit cinnamon, savory and cloves. Add 1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried marjoram and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) dried thyme.

Test Kitchen Tip:
To make tourtière ahead of time, omit pastry cutouts. Wrap and freeze unbaked pie for up to 2 months. Partially thaw in refrigerator for 6 hours or until pastry gives slightly when pressed. Cut steam vents and brush with glaze. Bake in 375°F (190°C) oven for 1-1/4 hours or until heated through and pastry is golden, shielding edge with foil if necessary during last 30 minutes.

Tomato Pear Ketchup (makes 1 serving)

Preparation: In saucepan, combine tomato, pear, chili pepper, garlic, raisins, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato paste, cinnamon, salt, pepper and 1/3 cup (75 mL) water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. 

Discard cinnamon stick and chili pepper; simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes. (Make-ahead: Let cool. Refrigerate in airtight container for up 

i really, really love dinosaur bbq and yes, it’s a rochester thing but the bbq is just perfect.

i’ve tried a few ‘stately’ bbqs - shorty’s in miami + the smokehouse in san antonio + jack’s in nashville + lots of other places [i used to be obsessed with bbq…] but i always come back to dinosaur.

it’s that good.

wango tango sauce, foreplay, creole mustard!, garlic sauce - it’s all so so delicious.

we got it to go because we were tired from eating hotdogs. our order: pork, brisket and a rack of ribs + wango tango sauce + foreplay spice and lots of sides

well they can’t do a lot of things but they can make me instantly happy.

crif dogs is great because…they have a lot of toppings and you know how i feel about toppings!

overall, yum.

i have a lot of requirements for my sandwich to be right: good bread + good meats + good toppings + great sides [i really like sides].

my quest for a reuben [<i’ve made this and it’s great!] didn’t fair so well the other day because the bread was soggy…the meat was too salty and the toppings were meh but the sides were great! 

sandwich maestro in stamford makes AMAZING sandwiches but unfortunately, no reuben sammies on the menu, so i made a diner move.

mr absolutely loathes the diner. any diner. he avoids them always. i’m so-so on them. when i lived in fairfield, i frequented andros diner, A LOT - it was convenient, fast and usually decent food/prices.

diner’s have variety. but too often it’s a lot of mediocrity. maybe i just need to find the right diner?

i’ve always been leery of seafood…not knowing where it’s from is sketch.
but we watched an episode of

that new brian williams show [i heart him] about lobster tails and about how the divers who catch them in honduras are suffering from decompression sickness = paralyzation. read more here.

we bought 4 of these tails on sale at whole foods - they say they’re from canadian waters…so i can presume they were caught in the right way? i hope.

agribusiness is a racket.

one of mr’s favorite potato preparations is twice baked…it’s also one of the most laborious! but these came out great. key is to scoop out insides and put the empty potato back into the oven to hold it’s shape. take it out and stuff it, broil it and voila.

straw and hay! best pasta dish - although, it’s traditionally super fattening, i lightened this one up by only using 1/2 the cheese necessary.

i cooked the peas in the bacon fat [yum] and used some pasta water to thicken it up. pretty fantastic.

after lots of crazy holiday eating - i decided a cobb salad

wusthoff ikons [christmas pressy b/c the main squeeze was tired of listening to me scream ‘DANG THESE DANG KNIVES’…the old ones were super dull]

making a sweet taco salad.

cuisinart immersion blender - makes salad dressing creation a breeze!

since i’ve been feeling crummy for a bit, my NYE was very impromptu but turned out nice because it was at our house and just with a few friends.

lots of food was consumed and lots of bop-it was played.

resolutions? not so much. but i am of course looking to continue to be a better person:

more volunteering
be present
more mindful
dial-down the over analyzing
continue to eat better, healthier
drink better wine!
less caffeine [heck, maybe no caffeine…] 

overall, i look forward to a happy and healthy and lovely 2012.