Mike's Crusty Cornbread
I have been having a great time chatting with and getting recipes from a friend down in South Carolina. His name is Mike and has a great wife, Barbara, who bakes - and wins all sorts of ribbons and such. Lots of them. I admire folks who have the patience to create recipes and enter contests. It's a lot of work. And I really love recipes with a story. Real food with history.
I won 2nd Prize in a Cherry Pie Bakeoff once - and the People's Choice Award for my White Bean Chili when I was on staff at UCSF. Neither were State fair-type competitions, but they were fun. But I digress...
This recipe (as all great recipes do) comes with a great story - and pictures!
Crusty Cornbread
Mike Amason
Rural South Carolina during and after the Great Depression was a lot like a third world country. There was little to eat if you didn’t produce it on the farm. Everyone had a few chickens and a couple of hogs, both very efficient animals at producing meat from whatever could be foraged. Lots of farms had a single cow for milk and butter. With chickens came eggs. The only groceries that were purchased were coffee, flour, salt, corn oil, and on occasion a bag of sugar. Everything else was grown at home or done without.
Many farms had small patches of corn of a variety suitable for grinding at the grist mill for grits and cornmeal (My grandfather grew a white corn called “Hickory King” just for this purpose). The miller ground and bagged your corn and kept a portion as his payment which he later sold. Biscuits ruled at breakfast, but cornbread was the staple quick bread for lunch and dinner. Many a child in the South in the 30s and 40s went to school carrying a pint jar of buttermilk and a large slice of cornbread for lunch, with a slice of fried fatback if times were good.
The secret to the crust:
This is the way all six of my great aunts and my grandmother made it, baking it in a cast iron frying pan which gives it a crust like no other bread in the world. Cast iron holds heat better than anything else, and that is really the secret of this bread. You can make suitable cornbread in a roasting pan or a casserole dish if you have to, and some modern cookware may be up to the task, but I have never been able to get this crust from any other cookware I have owned. Other materials simply lose too much heat while you are pouring the batter into the pan. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can pick one up at a junk store or thrift shop for a couple of dollars. I use a 7” pan for mine, but an 8” works just as well. My Mother still uses a 6”pan she bought in 1944 for fifteen cents, and her cornbread beats mine every time. But I think she cheats.
Serves 6-8 Quick breads are only good the day they are baked. Leftovers don’t freeze well for reheating to eat, but should be frozen to use later in pan dressing to go with chicken or turkey. If you already have a freezer full, toss the leftovers out for the birds. They love it.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 450.
- Two cups self-rising white or yellow cornmeal, or add 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt to plain cornmeal
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- One egg, beaten
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted fat
- 1-1/4 cups buttermilk (or plain milk with 2 tsp vinegar to sour it)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil to coat pan
Take the 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil and put it in the frying pan. Turn the pan to coat the bottom and sides well. Too much is better than not enough. You should be able to see a shallow pool of oil in the bottom of the pan. Put pan in oven to heat.
Put dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the wet ingredients all at once and stir to make the batter.
When the oil is HOT! (smoking slightly), pour the batter into the pan and enjoy the sizzle. Return it to the oven for 20 minutes. It is done when a knife inserted into the top comes out clean.
Turn out of pan upside-down onto a plate. Stand and be amazed at the reddish brown crackled crust approximately 1/8” thick covering it. Do not sample at this point if you plan to serve for dinner. You may not have any left by the time everyone gets to the table. It slices better when it cools for a few minutes, anyway.
Outstanding with any vegetables (especially a thick vegetable soup!) or by itself with butter.
WARNING: South of Pennsylvania it is illegal to serve collard or turnip greens or any type of beans without cornbread.
It is a capital offense in some states to serve black-eyed peas and collards with pepper vinegar on New Year’s Day and not cook a cornbread to accompany them. And it well should be.
Variations:
1) Any type of onions are great chopped and sautéed for a couple of minutes before adding to the batter. The result is like a hush puppy but not as greasy.
2) A chopped jalapeno pepper added to the batter improves any bland side dish.
3) ½ cup whole corn makes a good addition. Drain whole corn well if you use it. For creamed corn, use ¾ cup, reduce the milk to 3/4 cup and reduce sugar to 1 tsp.
4) ½ cup finely chopped broccoli florets gives the bread a flavor that surprised me the first time I tried it.
5) Cracklins. Many people have never heard of them. These are bits of pigskin (cured bacon rind) that have been chopped and cooked and are available in groceries all over the South. ½ cup of them make a cornbread you will talk about for years.
The 20 Worst Foods in America
I just read an article in Men's Health magazine that lists the 20 worst foods in America. My first thought was "Who eats this junk, anyway?" and then realized I am the abnormal one, here. People eat this stuff every day. While we just went over the top with our Thanksgiving dinner, that's not the norm around here.
The worst food in America was determined to be:
Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing
- 2,900 calories
- 182 g fat
- 240 g carbs
Not bad for a side dish, eh? Some of the other ones were pretty interesting, too.
Folks tend to think that ground turkey is much more healthy than ground beef. Not so. In the supermarket it can be the same as 85% ground beef, but in a restaurant?
Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger
- 1,145 calories
- 71 g fat
- 56 g carbs
Or, how about a lovely kid's meal?
Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n' Cheese
- 1,210 calories
- 62 g fat
- 3,450 mg sodium
That's a kids meal, alright. And I want dessert, mom. And a Coke.
And it's not just dining out. The worst supermarket meal was:
Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie)
- 1,020 calories
- 64 g fat
- 86 g carbs
The nutritionals on the label call for it to be two servings. Sure. It's like the can of Coke being two servings, or the premade burrito being three servings. Anything to confuse the consumer.
You can decry the food industry all you want, but if people weren't buying this crap, they wouldn't be making it. And they wouldn't be introducing more and more and more of it every day.
The Day After The Night Before
I'm stuffed.
We just had Thanksgiving Dinner, again. It was just as good the second time around - and just as filling. It's 8pm. I'm ready for bed.
Yesterday was a blast. Everything went off without a hitch, the turkey was perfect, the food fabulous, and the company even better. Who could ask for anything more?
A couple of slight revisions to the menu. I didn't make the Pumpkin Wontons. When I pulled the skins out of the refrigerator wednesday night, they were moldy! (And dated mid-December.) I wasn't about to head to a grocery store on Thanksgiving Eve, so... delete. We still had more food than we needed. (I tried to cut back. Really, I did!)
I also saved the Brie Fondue for today. I heated it up whilst we were doing our Christmas Decorating. It was a great afternoon snack.
I simmered the carcass all last night and most of today. I have an extremely rich broth out there right now. It's strained and ready for Turkey Soup tomorrow. I'm psyched! Turkey Soup is my most favorite part of Thanksgiving (well... other than the 10 different desserts!) My mom made great soups. They're the ultimate in comforty foods for me.
Back to last night's dinner... Marie made the best sweet potato casserole! The potatoes are whipped and topped with brown sugar and pecans. If you put them in a bowl and topped 'em with whipped cream, they would be a fantastic dessert! I love 'em. She really liked my pumpkin polenta. The fresh peas were a hit - even with the youngsters. Gino went back for seconds.
Speaking of Gino... we're going to have him down here with us again in a couple of weeks to bake Christmas Cookies with us. We had a blast last year and were hoping we'd do it again. Last night we found out his sister, Elizabeth wanted to join us this year. Gino was bummed because this was 'his' time with us. A guy weekend.
The solution: We're having a Boys vs Girls Cookie Bake-Off! Gino will stay with us and bake cookies, and Elizabeth will be with her mom and Aunt Marie making cookies. Each side will get to submit one cookie for judging by the rest of the family on Christmas Day. We're a shoe-in, unless Aunt Re-Re makes her Jelly Strips. Marie makes the best Jelly Strips...
It was a great time. We cooked for days, had a houseful of people, ate for hours and still had the house completely put back together before we went to bed.
And about 80% of our Christmas Decorations are up! Since neither of us would be caught dead at the mall - or any other national retailer, Black Friday is our day to decorate for Christmas! Today is also our 13th Anniversary. What better way to spend it than to transform the house to our Santa's Workshop?
'Tis the Season to be Jolly, indeed!
John Grogan and Shameless Self-Promotion
No food today - just shameless self-promotion.
Both of us have always been avid 'letters to the editor' writers and have had scores of letters published over the years.
About four years ago (former) Inquirer columnist John Grogan came across one of my letters, happened on to ourtimandvictor.com website and, intrigued, emailed me about doing a column on us. Being the shy, quiet person I am, I immediately said "YES!" and a few days later found John at the house, notebook in hand. The following column is the result of those couple of hours sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee.
John went on to become famous writing "Marley and Me" (now being made into a motion picture) and we went on with our lives.
Yesterday, Victor got a call from a woman he works with out west. She had picked up a copy of John's latest book "Bad Dogs have More Fun" a collection of his Inquirer columns and was reading about us! What a surprise!
**NOTE: We just found out the book was put together by the Inquirer - not John Grogan. The Inquirer owns his past columns... It doesn't change the fact hat we're in the book (pages 164-167) but John had nothing to do with the publication...
So... we're currently #34 on the NY Times best seller list!
We're also wondering who we should get to play us in the movie. I think George Clooney and Brad Pitt would be fine - and Cybil, of course, would play herself.
Here's the original column:
John Grogan | Ordinary people vowing to marry
By John Grogan Inquirer Columnist
In many ways, they are a typical suburban couple.
They spend their weekends remodeling their tidy three-bedroom house, which sits on a quiet street in the Main Line community of Strafford. They enjoy gardening and cooking and spoiling their dog, Cybil.
They both come from large, traditional Catholic families, and they dote on their 17 nieces and nephews.
Now in their early 50s, they prefer quiet nights at home to going out on the town. They pay their taxes on time, look in on sick neighbors, and vote each election.
They are ordinary in all ways but one: Tim Dineen and Victor Martorano, a couple for nine years, are homosexuals. And that puts them squarely in the middle of the national debate on same-sex marriage.
They are not the ones protesting on courthouse steps or trying to force change by seeking marriage licenses where they know none will be issued. As the debate rages, they have written letters to newspapers, but otherwise go quietly about their suburban lives. It was for this reason - their very ordinariness - that I sought them out last week. I wanted to see for myself just how different from the heterosexual majority a gay couple in a long-term relationship is.
Marriage of the minds
They give me a tour of their house and show off improvements they have made
- new tile, enlarged kitchen, hardwood floors. On the table is a vase of pussy willows brought in from the garden. Outside, a pile of rain gutters sits in the yard, next weekend’s project.
In their own minds, Dineen, a demonstration chef at a market in nearby Wayne, and Martorano, who works in the travel industry, already are married. On their first Christmas together, they privately exchanged gold bands that have remained on their left ring fingers ever since. Still, says Dineen, “we will get married the day we legally can do it.”
Some of the motivation is practical. If one is incapacitated, the other right now would need a written power of attorney to make medical decisions - a precaution they already have taken. And as Dineen pointed out over a cup of coffee, “If Victor died tomorrow, I would have to pay inheritance tax on his half of our house.”
Adds Martorano: “The law does not recognize me as his next of kin, and that is wrong. It’s just wrong.”
But more important to the couple is what marriage stands for - a public acknowledgment of a couple’s love and lifelong commitment. “Marriage is a stabilizing force in society,” Dineen says, “and we want to be part of that stabilization.”
After all, they consider themselves solid members of the community. And so do their neighbors. As Peg Schwartz, 73 and a registered Republican, told me later: “I can’t say enough about them. They really could not be better neighbors. They are delightful. They’re just nice, kind, caring people, and that’s what you want in a neighbor.” Having them next door has softened her position on gay marriage, she said. “If that makes them happy, then that’s all that counts.”
Battling stereotypes
And yet, for now at least, Dineen and Martorano will remain the one couple on their street for whom the civil contract of marriage is not an option. Until that day comes, the two men believe stereotypes and prejudice will continue.
“Gay people have a reputation for being extremely promiscuous,” says Dineen, whose full beard and wire-framed glasses give him a professorial air. “Well, not all gay people are.”
Some of them lead their lives not much differently from the straight people on their streets, sharing the same worries and joys and dreams. And that brings Dineen to his main point.
“If we were married tomorrow, the only thing that would be different would be the piece of paper that grants us our rights and responsibilities. Nothing else would change. We would still be here just as we are today, putting new gutters on the house, going to work, grocery shopping, taking the dog to the vet.”
He adds: “I think that’s what so many people fail to realize. We’re here already. We’re a couple already. For all intents and purposes, we are married. We just lack the legalities.”
Pumpkin Done Right
I just got home from a Pumpkin Recipe Contest at work. OMG! I am stuffed - but more than stuffed, I am impressed! What an unbelievable collection of foods in one place! Each employee came up with their own recipes and without prior consultation, we had no duplicates. Each item was totally unique with its own distinct style and flavor. I didn't even think to bring a camera. I guess I just wasn't expecting to have my socks knocked off - but knocked off, they were!
We had:
Pumpkin Ravioli with a Brown Sage Butter
Pumpkin Apple Almond Potstickers with a Ginger Honey Scallion Sauce
Pumpkin Cheese Cannelloni with a Cranberry Sage Butter Sauce
Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Lasagne
Puff Pastry filled with Fresh Pumpkin Chunks and Sour Cream topped with India Relish
Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Muffins topped with a Cream Cheese and Pumpkin Icing
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Toffee Sauce
Pumpkin Pancakes
Pumpkin Smoothies, and
Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
I'll start at the top with my own observations...
The Pumpkin Ravioli were something you would find at a fine-dining establishment. A pumpkin dough filled with a delicate pumpkin and cheese mixture. Light, yet substantial. And the browned butter sage sauce was the perfect accompaniment. You could actually make a meal of them adding nothing more than a glass of wine (and bread to sop up the sauce, of course!). Just divine.
The Pumpkin Potstickers were an OMG! surprise. Totally unexpected and totally delicious. I had more than one and could see a tray of them disappearing quickly. The flavors in the filling were perfectly matched, and the dipping sauce worked great with them.
Pumpkin Cheese Cannelloni was yet another fantastic taste sensation. Very similar to a blintz in texture, it's another item that could be found at an upscale eatery. Also light and delicate - yet substantial. Two of these on a plate with a salad would be a perfect meal.
The Pumpkin Soup was a vegan entry (full disclosure here - I made it!) that took its cue from the Caribbean. Pumpkin, coconut milk, rum, hot peppers - plus tomatoes, hominy, black beans and black rice. Sweet with just enough kick to be interesting. It was hearty and thick. Definitely a full meal during the cold months.
The Pumpkin Lasagne was layers and layers of tantilizing pumpkin, cheeses, greens, and pasta. It was the type of dish that if set on a table would be empty in minutes with people clamoring for more. Warm crusty bread, a mixed green salad, a bottle (or two) of a good red wine. Heaven.
The Puff Pastry was the only entry that used fresh pumpkin! The sweetness of the pumpkin worked perfectly with the spiciness of the India Relish. It also made a great presentation - and would be a great addition to any appetizer table. Come to think of it, they could also make a great plated first course.
The Pumpkin Bars were another (last minute) entry of mine. A fairly traditional pumpkin pie filling topped with a basic cake mixture and walnuts. It would be better served cold with whipped cream, but I took them out of the oven minutes before heading off to work, so they were served warm. They were pretty darn good warm, too!
The Pumpkin Muffins were good enough for dessert! They were a perfect balance of moist and sweet and the icing was another perfect balance of flavor. These were any-time-of-the-day muffins, for sure!
Bread pudding is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and the Pumpkin Bread Pudding exceeded every one of my expectations. It was just perfect. The texture of the bread, the lightness of the custard, the wonderful sauce... Just perfect. I ate lots.
The Pumpkin Pancakes were light as a feather! They were perfectly puffed up and airy - unusual for a pancake with something as dense as pumpkin added to it. (The secret is the yogurt!) And they were really decadent with some of the Toffee Sauce poured on top!
Pumpkin Smoothies - who wouldda thunk?!? But what a great taste sensation. I could definitely see these with a float of dark rum and a little paper umbrella. Too good just for breakfast!
And Pumpkin Crème Brûlée. Yes - Crème Brûlée! Talk about another show-stopper! Light, creamy, rich, flavorful - all at the same time! The sugar topping was perfectly crisp and crunchy, contrasting superbly with the silken pumpkin custard beneath. One would not be enough.
Everything was superb in its own right. The tastes and textures were as varied as the individuals who brought them in. Everything was over the top. There wasn't a single "ordinary" item in the bunch. I can't even imagine trying to actually judge them. It's a 12-way tie for first place in my not-so-humble opinion!
And the variety of items really illustrates just how versatile the humble pumpkin is. From sweet to savory and everything in between.
And another great benefit of today is that I now have some great ideas for Thanksgiving! I did a ham and gorgonzola won ton one year, but I'm thinking potstickers might work this time around, I could do a large creme brulee instead of individuals... Ravioli as a first course?!?
It's gonna be fun - thanks to some great people today!
A Full House
My father is coming East for a visit this coming weekend! A Friday-to-Monday hit-and-run visit, but since he's pushing 84, I'll cut him some slack! He's been back east before - my parents did a lot of travelling back in the day - but it's his first visit here since we moved from San Francisco back in 2001.
My sister Eileen and her best friend Renee are flying back with him, and Renee's daughter Samantha will be driving up from Maryland where she's a nurse at Johns Hopkins. A dual family reunion! It's going to be one big slumber party weekend!
Saturday afternoon we're going to have a BBQ, inviting Victor's family and a few friends. About 20 folks. A small, intimate gathering! :)
I'm working on the menu... I've already made homemade chicken chipotle sausages, and will pick up a couple of chickens Wednesday at the Farmers Market to start soaking in buttermilk. Cold fried buttermilk chicken is definitely on the menu, too - along with a couple of London Broils in a Pumpkin Butter and Steak Sauce marinade... Simple, yet tasty!
And, of course, lots of homemade potato salad, pasta salad, and whatever else I can dream up between now and Saturday afternoon. (I always panic about not having enough food - as if.....) And we're going to have Pineapple Cream Pies for dessert. My mom made the best pies and this was a favorite of my dads (and me!!!)
So... I'll keep ya posted on what's what - and I'll post some pictures after everyone leaves!
I Got The Cook Books
In redoing the recipe website and blog, I had to completely redo my Mom's cookbook pages. While most of the site had been updated at one time or another, I have resisted doing Mom's cook books because, well... it's a real pain in the butt. I have had to retype every single recipe title, and manually link every one to its page in the book. There are hundreds upon hundreds of pages - and even more recipes. But it will have been worth the trouble when I'm finished
My Mom was a great cook. She really enjoyed being in the kitchen and creating fun dishes. No small feat for a woman with six kids to feed every night! And she was innovative. She could look at a recipe, figure out what she had on hand, and rework it to fit what she had - or what she liked. Dinner was always an adventure in our house.
And Desserts. We had dessert virtually every night. She also loved to bake, make fudge, whatever... Dessert was important - and I still have dessert every night!
Re-typing all of those recipe titles has really sent me spinning down Memory Lane! How I remember her Chinese Casserole and fabulous soups and stews. And her Pineapple Meringue Pie... My version of "comfort food" is decidely different than the boxed Mac and Cheese of so many people. Mom made REAL Macaroni and Cheese - from scratch - with whatever pieces of cheese she had leftover in the 'fridge. It was just the best.
It was great growing up in San Francisco, because we had access to so many different ethnic cuisines. I was weaned on exotic-spiced foods and it definitely paved the way for my culinary journey through life. there is nothing I won't try - and very few things I don't like.
Mom gave me her cookbooks a few years before she passed away. She also had 4 daughters, but she knew I was the one who would appreciate them the most (that, and the fact that we have no kids meant they might stay intact for another generation to enjoy!) I scanned the books immediately, and gave a copy to all my siblings - and then posted it on the web.
10+ years have taken their toll on the tables and layouts of the original compilation. Within a few days I should have new, neat and clean links to everything!
And in the meantime, I'm copying down recipes and page numbers because there are an awful lot of recipes I want to revisit really soon!
Dinner with Linda and David
One of the great joys of moving to Pennsylvania was meeting up with people from Victor's past... and the greatest joy of them all was meeting Linda and David. Victor has known Linda for nigh on 50 years. They grew up together, their mothers played bingo together, they worked together... Linda was our real estate agent when we bought our house back here and David arranged our home loan. Friends, indeed.
And what's even more fun is they both love to eat just as much as we do. We have two main dinners a year - one in August where we celebrate Linda's and my birthday, and one around Christmas. Summer, their house - winter, ours. Linda and I exchange fabulous presents and ignore Victor and David's birthdays. True friends!!
We were a little late in the birthday celebration this year because of Victor's foot surgery, but we headed down to their house tonight knowing that a treat was in store for us - and boy oh boy was it ever!!
We arrived right at three o'clock and were greeted platters of salami and cheese, breads and crackers, a smoky red pepper hummus, a variety of olives... the perfect nosh after an hour drive.
Linda and David live way out in Oxford - where local fresh from the vine tomatoes and picked 10 minutes ago corn abounds! The fresh tomato salad and corn on the cob were, of course, the perfect accompaniment to a succulent pork roast and some of the best ribs I've ever eaten. David really knows his ribs - and these were perfection! A barely perceptable sweetness coupled with a great smoky heat had me going back for more - and more - and more!
Just perfect. There was a Caesar Salad as well as Oven Roasted New Potatoes - perfectly roasted with fresh garden herbs - to round out the table - and me.
Steaming cups of coffee and espresso - and fresh Fruit tart, a medley of fresh melon, and decadent fudge brownies finished me - and the meal - off.
The fun part will now be planning dinner for their visit to us this winter... I have no idea what it's going to be, but i have a tough act to follow.
Damn, this is fun!
Tortuga Rum Cake - Sicilian Style!
I love the internet! The other day I received an email from a woman in Sicily asking about the Tortuga Rum Cake recipe. From Sicily! Clear across the world!
Her name is Daniela and lives in a village at the foot of Mount Etna. How cool is that? She had a question about baking powder (lievito in Italian!) While she has a fantastic command of English, the phrase had her stumped. It took me a few minutes searching Google to come up with the correct term (my Italian is pretty much limited to "ciao") and we've had a few emails back and forth since. A girlfriend of hers has raved about the cake forever, so she decided to make it for her. A true friend, indeed!
I've always said that food is the great equalizer - that food truly does bring people together. And here is but more proof. Meeting real people from real places. Bringing the world together, one recipe at a time!
Sicily has always been on our list of places to see - and it's just been bumped up a few notches!
I just love the internet!
Viva Las Vegas!
What does Vegas have that Atlantic City will never have? Fabulous Buffets and Glamorous Showgirls, to begin with...
We just got back form a five day trek to Las Vegas, meeting up with 15 friends from around the USofA we rarely get to see - and never all in one place. What a blast we had!
The last time I was in las Vegas was circa 1978. The first time I was in Las Vegas was 1967. To say it's changed a bit is an understatement! My (very fuzzy) recollectiuons of Vegas were mainly downtown - The Strip was too far away and the casinos pretty far apart. My how times change.....
Trying to get dinner reservations for this many people would be impossible most anywhere on earth, but in Vegas? No problem - just head to one of the bazillion and one buffets. Thursday night we started of at the buffet at the Paris Hotel - Le Village Buffet. The buffet is set around a city-scenr, with storefronts and shops containing the many different cooking stations from the various regions of France... The Paris website states: "Le Village Buffet brings to life five provinces of France through culinary expertise and visual attention to detail. Each station is themed for a particular province and features an intricate facade designed to replicate the architecture of that region. Meals are prepared as they are ordered to ensure the quality and freshness of each selection." And believe it or not, it's actually true! We feasted on every conceivable food, prepared with an attention to detail that is lacking in most restaurants these days. Seating is in courtyards or gracious sitting rooms with fireplaces.
And desserts...
There was a building in the center of the courtyard that served up some totally incredible desserts - and we all know my weakness is desserts. Under normal conditions, I'll pass on dinner and head right to the desserts - this time around, though, I had a hard time because the other food was so great.
After several hours of food and laughter, we headed off to see Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel. A flamboyant only-in-Vegas style show. Huge red leather booths, showgirls dressed in nothing but sequins and feathers... It was great!
And more buffets... Paris was the best of the dinner buffets, by far. The following night we headed to Cravings at The Mirage, because we all had tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil's Love - the Beatle's show. (More on that in a minute...)
The Mirage buffet was good - not fabulous, but good. It had the requisite mountain of shrimp and crab legs on ice (and just what is it about shrimp and crab that makes people go crazy? It's cooked, frozen seafood trucked in by the ton, fer crissakes!) and carvinfg stations for prime rib (another over-rated meat unless it's an inch-thick center cut from a prime 109 rib!) But I digress, again...
They did have a really good selection of Chinese and Asian foods, and fresh sushi, egg rolls... all the requisite items.
And a huge array of meats and fowl, salads galore, several different vegetables - and an impressive dessert display. I was just this side of stuffed when we went off to the the show...
And what a show it was!
Of the six Cirque shows I've seen, this was by far the best! But... as far as food goes, the worst - and the best - were yet to come.....
Saturday night was a show at The Flamingo - right next door to our hotel. The Flamingo has been around forever, and one would think that with all of the new kids in town, they'd be on their toes. As far as their Paradise Garden Buffet goes, they were flat-footed. It wasn't "bad" but it certainly wasn't what i was expecting from a legendary hotel. Bugsy Seigal would not have approved. As I said, it wasn't "bad" but not as good as I expected. It was also the least expensive of the ones we went to. A plus. It, too, had the requisite mountain of shrimp and crab, and the prime rib and the turkey, as well as a fairly large array of other dishes. It just seemd to lack pizzaz... But the desserts were good.....
Sunday brought us to the show-stopper buffet - Todai. What a surprise! It was a surprise, because I am 1) skeptical of chains, and 2) particular about my sushi. Todai not only exceeded my expectations, it made me wishing there was one close to me - I'd visit it weekly!
There was an array of sushi that knocked my socks off! Eel, roe, salmon, tuna, every fish imaginable, every combination imaginable - all being made in front of our eyes. At least 40 different varieties of sushi alone! And... if you didn't see what you wanted, they would make it up for you!
There was tempura, there were steamed buns, soups, egg rolls, crab cakes, there was every conceivable seafood... It was unbelievable!
Our waiter was a hoot. Young, funny, just sarcastic enough. He was definitely part of the fun. But the real show was the food. The block-long buffet was constantly and continually being replenished with fresh offerings. We literally ate for hours.
By Sunday night, the last thing we wanted to see was another buffet... Our numbers had dwindled to 9, so we headed down to our hotel's Steak House to see if they could seat 9 without reservations. One look at the completely a la carte menu had me heading for the door. I don't mind spending money for good food, but... $35.00 for the steak, and then $7.95 for a starch, $7.95 for a vegetable, $15.00+ for a salad, appetizers... Adding coffee and dessert would have required a second mortgage! I just wasn't in the mood to drop a hundred bucks per person for dinner. We headed across the casino to the dining room to try out the $14.95 Steak or Prime Rib dinner special. We were glad we did. We were seated right away in one huge booth. That in itself was fun, because we actually got to talk with everyone! The salads were simple iceberg lettuce, but the steaks were all cooked perfectly. My extra rare was perfectly mooing, the medium rares and even the medium well's were all done to perfection. They have a damn good grill man! They also served what may be the hottest horseradish I have ever eaten! Damn, it was good! So, for $22.22 per person, we had our last meal together.....
If you've never been to Vegas, you have to go - once. I can't say I'll be back soon, but what a great time - and gastronomic adventure!
Tipping The Scales
I got on the scale this morning. While I won’t bore you with the actual number, let us just say that there was a “2” involved. It is my (not so humble) opinion that seeing a “2” as the first number on a scale is not a good thing – especially if you’re a mere 6’ tall. Actually, that “2” has been there for a while… and another “2” is getting closer every day. Too close.
I’ve always been a bit overweight – except, of course, during the ‘70s… I weighed less than 150 pounds when I came back from Southeast Asia in 1973. Naturally, illicit substances were the cause of that. And through the ‘70s, the 165 lbs was maintained by a steady diet of hard work, Bombay martinis, disco dancing, and lovely white powder. That is what youth is all about.
At some point, I left youth behind me. And the pounds started to slowly arrive. Oh, they’re clever, those pounds. They don’t just show up one day and say “Look! You’ve gained 50 pounds!” No… they s-l-o-w-l-y drop by. Too slowly to notice right away, and too slowly to think about doing anything about them. And then one day, you get on a scale and see a “2.”
It’s time to do something about them. My real problem with food is that I just eat too much. Portions are too big. I cook like I’m still in the Navy – for two of us! Hell – at any given moment half the neighborhood could drop in unexpectedly for dinner – and everyone would go way full. I cook like I’m still in the restaurant business, expecting 300 patrons to come in and order the Veal Marsala. Did I mention portion control?!?
It doesn’t help that I’m surrounded by food all day, either. A bite here and a bite there translates into a pound here, and a pound there.
Because portion size is my real enemy, we actually took a look at Nutri-Systems online today. They’re all about portion size. And microwave ovens. And little plastic trays. They have a special “Men’s Program” that states “Hey guys, let's be honest. A man wants to eat real food – hot dogs, burgers, pizza and lasagna. You know, man food, big taste, hearty portions.” Right off the bat I knew I was in trouble. But… I decided I’d look over the menu, at least and see what they had to offer for $326 dollars for 28 days worth of food.
While many of the items looked reasonably good, ingredient-wise , I kept reading ingredients and maltitol, sorbitol, isomalt, high fructose corn syrup and/or partially hydrogenated fat were just too prevalent for me. I don’t eat a lot of prepared food in the first place, and I just don’t see putting all of this stuff into my body when the purpose of losing weight in the first place is to get healthier. We decided that perhaps, this wasn’t the right way to go.
Back to portion size. Back to finding alternatives to that cake, pie, or ice cream that is always in the house.
It’s time to see “1” again.
Eating in San Francisco
Another trip to San Francisco – and another all-out foodfest! What is it about traveling home that brings out the glutton in me?
We landed at 11am on Thursday, after a fairly uneventful flight from Philadelphia (okay, after boarding, they discovered we had a leaking fuel pump on the plane and United brought over another plane – only an hour delay in leaving…) and after picking up a car and checking into the hotel, went to pick up Pop for lunch.
We headed to the local IHOP. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an IHOP, and this particular one in San Bruno hasn’t changed much on the inside, but the menu has definitely improved! It was high noon on the west coast, but I hadn’t really had breakfast, yet, so I decided to blend the two with their new Bacon and Egg Burger. I hate to admit it, but it was really good! I ordered the egg over easy to the shock of the waitress (who had to let me know it would run all over the place – the whole idea!) and it did, indeed, make a bit of a mess. A yummy mess, I might add. Victor ordered waffles and Pop had a burger. We ate like there was no tomorrow!
Going out with Pop is always a treat – his. He flat-out refuses to let one of his kids pick up the tab. One would think that after almost 55 years I’d be used to it – but I always try and grab the check. The man is fast at 83!
After lunch it was back to the hotel to unpack and get ready for dinner. We were meeting our friends Christi and her mom, Pat at Nick’s Rockaway in Pacifica at 5:15pm.
Nick’s hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s still an adequate 1950-s Italian-ish restaurant with a killer view of the Pacific. Our waiter, Jim, was another story. Fun and talented, he really made the meal a memorable one. I opted for a Crab and Shrimp Louie – an old San Francisco salad one cannot find east of the Pacific Ocean. Iceberg lettuce, hard cooked eggs, beets, tons of crab and bay shrimp… Tres fabu!
Of course we had to spring for desserts, too. Tradition when eating with Christi and Pat is ordering desserts and then taking a bite, passing to the right, taking a bite, passing to the right… We ordered “Banana’s Foster” that actually was banana fritters – OMG good!
Saturday breakfast was at Big Joe’s in San Bruno. It’s an institution in SB with food that’s hard to beat – and prices that are cheap, cheap, cheap. I had the requisite bacon and eggs with hash browns and sourdough toast. I got 6 slices of thick-sliced bacon and perfectly cooked over easy eggs. Buttery hash browns… It was perfect. As usual.
Saturday night took us to Celia’s Mexican restaurant in San Bruno. I’ve been going to Celia’s since first stepping into the original Celia’s when it was a mere storefront on Judah Street. (I also went to grammar school with the owner’s son many moons ago…) We were actually supposed to go to my grammar school's 40th Reunion that night, but Pop had other plans for us. 40 years ago I would have done what I wanted. Funny how priorities change as we age.
But, back to dinner... One “Perfecto Special” later, I was stuffed beyond belief. Carne asada, flautas, enchilada, chile relleños, taco, burrito, rice, and beans. It was perfecto, as usual!
Pop’s birthday – and Super Bowl Sunday – brought all of us to my brother’s house for a day of serious eating! Debbie made chili - a recipe she found that called for Kobe beef (she didn’t use it…) And Mike mde ribs… fall-off-the-bone ribs… and Phoebe’s baked beans, and fresh Dungeness crabs from Eileen. Susan brought jalapeño chicken wings. And chips and dips, and guacamole… more food than we could possibly eat. But we did try.
And then not one, but two birthday cakes!
I was pleasantly miserable until the cakes came out. I had to go for it. Both cakes. Not small pieces.
Pass the Bromo.