Food/Booze blog is back!

Hey kids,

Going to start posting over at the collaborative Simmer, Sip, Share blog once again at the request of a Twitter buddy. I'm planning on this year being the Summer of BBQ, so I start it out right with a review of a local Texas-syle BBQ joint nearby.

Dixie's Smokehouse Three Rib Combo

Go on and check it out, if you are so inclined. Expect to see the bulk of my blogging being done over there this summer. And maybe some posts from some familiar faces. Ya never know!

Cheers!

Recipes for the Big Fella

A few days ago, our pal the Chef posted a recipe for a spicy lamb stew.  It was one of those recipes that I
knew I had to make immediately. I remarked that it seemed like more of a chili than a stew, so I made some slight changes to the recipe.

• I couldn't find the particular chorizo that I wanted, so I went with a lamb merguez sausage instead. Very mild, but with an incredible taste. 
• Since it "felt" like a chili to me, I couldn't help but add a can of peeled San Marzano tomatoes. 

Besides those small changes, I was pretty faithful to the original. And it came out delicious! The lamb shoulder and sausage offered a much, much different flavor than any chili I have ever made or tasted before. Gia called it her very favorite chili, but she's been known to do that before.

Looking tasty with a dollop of sour cream

By the way, if you aren't reading Chef's blog, well...you fucking should be. Great recipes, great stories, great commenters (if I do say so meeself). You'll be a better soul for having visited, I can assure you.

He mentioned wanting some of my own recipes. So I thought I would go back in the blog logs and post links to all my old recipes. Enjoy or don't at your own risk. Cheers!

• Ropa Vieja (recipe included in link)
• Tasty Sandwiches
• Chili Burgers (chili is going to be a theme here)
• Shaksouka (with a chorizo twist...also an addendum here)
• Gaeng Massaman
• Bucatini Al'Amatriciana (recipe included in link)
• Country Fried Steak and Gravy
• Chickpea and Artichoke Heart Salad
• Lamb Meatballs with Couscous and Feta (recipe included in link)
• Thai Ginger Beef Stir Fry
• Spring Vegetable Pasta Salad
• Chicken Chili with Black-Eyed Peas
• Grilled Eggplant with Tomato and Mint (recipe included in link)
• Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder
• Dad's Band-Aid Chili (trust me)
• Roast Beef with homemade Red Cabbage Slaw
• Skyline Chili (I wasn't kidding about that theme!)
• Pickled Snap Sugar Peas (recipe included in link)
• Thai Larb/Laab Salad
• Farfalle with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Pancetta
• Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee
• Wasabi Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Bacon-infused Bourbon (recipe from PDT in NYC)

Phew! I feel like I'm missing some. I KNOW I'm missing some. And I still have a bunch of recipes and food porn that I haven't gotten around to posting just yet. Seems as if I've been posting my food porn pics on Instagram without sharing the recipes over here. Sinner. It'll happen. One of these days.

By the way, I have 46 (now 47) posts that mention bacon. Is that a lot? Nah....

Chicken Chili with Black-Eyed Peas

Fergie, amirite?

No, not those Black-Eyed Peas. I'm talking about the food. The legume. The main ingredient in Hoppin' John. Those black-eyed peas. And they've recently become one of our new favorite foods. As in yesterday. Yup...that recent.

I was whipping up a batch of chicken chili (see an old recipe here) and I usually add some small white beans to the mix. But I happened to see a bag of black-eyed peas right next to them at the grocery. So I says to myself "Self, howzabout you give them black-eyed peas a shot instead." Then the old woman next to me in the grocery aisle gave me a snide look and went in search of manager or security guard. So I moved on.

Cooking the black-eyed peas is as simple as...cooking black-eyed peas. You give them an overnight soak in some cold water, or you can do a quick soak per the instructions on the bag. But that's only if you are one of them lazy sumbitches. You aren't one of them lazy sumbitches, are you?  Then rinse the beans and give 'em a once through to make sure there aren't any stones or anthrax capsules hidden amongst them. Then simmer them in some vegetable broth for around 45 minutes or so. Or until just tender, but not mushy. I used 4 cups of broth for a 16 oz bag of beans. This left the cooked beans in a just a bit of delicious beany veggie broth. Is beany a word? Not beanie. That's a silly cap. Hmm...

Anyway, the beans tasted delicious just as is. Didn't need to add any salt or pepper or anything. Just delicious beans in a light broth. This would have been a delicious meal unto itself. Except...

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 lb mild chicken sausage - removed from casing
• 1 lb fresh tomatillos - cleaned and roughly cubed
• 1 large green bell pepper - diced
• 1 large white onion - diced
• 4 celery stalks (include the leafy part) - diced
• 3-4 jalepeno peppers - seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp green curry paste
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• juice of 2 limes

 - Brown the ground chicken and the chicken sausage. Separately or together. It doesn't matter to me and it didn't matter to them. Make sure you break up the meat from the chicken sausage with a spatula or wooden spoon. Set aside.

 - In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil and then add the green curry paste and heat for a minute or so to release the delicious flavor and aroma. Add the green pepper, white onion, celery and jalepenos. Simmer on medium-low heat for a few minutes. Until the onions get a bit translucent. Add the salt, white pepper, red pepper flakes and allspice and give it a give mix. Simmer for another minute or so.

 - Add the tomatillos, cilantro, chicken broth, lime juice and the cooked chicken you had previously set aside. Give it all a proper mix and get a nice little boil going. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for around an hour or so. The tomatillos should cook all the way down and leave you with a thick, delicious green sauce.

 - This is when I would normally say that you should now add the cooked beans to the chili and cook for a bit more. But the chili on it's own tasted awesome, and so did the black-eyed peas. Instead, I served the beans as a side dish to the chili. In the same bowl. Kinda like this:

Not sure what that shadow is there at the bottom. My nose?

Made all with fresh ingredients, this mother-fucker tasted like it was handed down from heaven by the baby Hay-zoos himself. I started alternating spoonfuls at first. One spoon of chili. One spoon of beans. But I was soon just scarfing the whole thing down like a prisoner huddled over the bowl, gripping the spoon like a weapon in case anyone rolled up on me. Yeah...it was that good.

Everyone go out shopping for ingredients and make this over the weekend. You kitchen will smell wonderful and you will most certainly thank me once you have begun putting it in your tummy.

That is all.

Blogogenesis

Yeah, I know. I'm not there when you wake up in the morning, and you hate that! Actually, I'm under the bed. Just waiting for you to leave for work so I can do nasty things with your underwear drawer.

Now do you feel better?

Anyway, this happens to me every Spring Training. I just don't care about anything except baseball. Well, I still care about bourbon. And food. And The Walking Dead. Oh, and Gia...crap, almost forgot Gia. You see what baseball does to my brain?

Speaking of baseball, it brought a big ole' smile to my ruggedly handsome face to see some people actually care about February baseball games on Twitter the past few days. Sure, it's February. And if March baseball doesn't fucking matter, then I don't know what the hell we are supposed to do with February baseball. Me? I'm taking it out behind the junior high and gettin' it pregnant. That's how much I love me some February baseball.

Speaking of Gia, we've both been doing well with our diets. Well, we are trying hard not to call it a diet because we don't plan on it ever ending. It's more of a healthy life-style change. A Live-it, if you prefer. Ugh...I really don't prefer that. In fact, I fucking hate that term. Purge it from your mind, forget that I ever mentioned it. Here's what we are doing; controlling portions, limiting caloric intake, fresh ingredients, lotsa water, weekend splurging. Lather, rinse, repeat. It can be a little boring, but I'm trying to keep things interesting in both the bedroom (heyooo!!!) and the kitchen. That's how I roll.

Speaking of The Walking Dead, it's been fucking fantastic this year thus far. Haven't watched this past Sunday's episode yet, but I'm sure I'm gonna dig. Maybe they will finally do something interesting with that great big black hole of suck that is Andrea. Right now, I just want a spin-off where Carl roams the country just shooting fucking zombies in the fucking head.  That's it. That's all I want the show to be about. It's faint praise that annoying, little Carl has become my favorite character on the show. Everyone else needs to take a big step up...RIGHT NOW!

Speaking of food, Gia's sister is still rocking her food blog. Her latest installment detailed a Hobbit-themed party that she threw for her son's birthday. You gotta go check it out. I helped a bit with the preparation of the menu, but that's all. And since it happened in warm SC while we were stuck in cold NY, I'm more than a little jealous. Sigh.

Speaking of bourbon, I've got a new inexpensive favorite. Old Grand-Dad 100 Proof. I never gave it a try because...well, the bottle looked so cheap. Bad orange label. Bad orange plastic cap. It's around the same price as Jim Beam, maybe a couple of bucks cheaper. And I recently found out the Old Grand-Dad himself is Basil Hayden, a founding member of the bourbon expansion into Kentucky back in the 1700's.  There is another, more premium bourbon eponymously named after him as well. And the two share the same mash bill (oooh....getting me hot with all these fancy bourbon terms!). Just aged 6 years instead of 8. It's delicious! A bit more rye than your normal bourbon, which is something that really appeals to me over some of the wheated bourbons on the market.  Needs a bit of ice to mellow it, but that's how I drink bourbon anyway. So it works out perfectly. Don't judge the book by it's awful cover and give it a try.

And I'm spent. Bye!

Food Blog Reminder

Gia's sister is continuing to run through her Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking cookbook, and I've been a bad blog friend because I forgot to keep checking it out. I'm a feed reader guy, and she didn't have her feed enabled in the beginning. But now it's all set and you can go visit daily or put her blog in your feed reader and enjoy the food porn.

And holy hell!!! She's been up to some shit! Collared Greens with Pot Likker. Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder.
And Chicken Dumpling Soup with Kale. Wow!

Via Jill

To it to it, kids! You won't regret it. Food porn is the best porn.

Earning Her Roots

Hey kids!

Long time, no blog, amirite? It's the holidays and I suck at life so there are excuses (or none). I plan on getting back to a regular blog schedule starting in January. Yeah, right! We'll I said I was planning on it, not that I'm actually going to do it.

But until that time, lemme give a shout-out to my talented and lovely sister-in-law on her new blog that she just started today. It's called Earning Our Roots, and it's a project that I'm personally very excited about. She and her family moved down to Charleston, SC a few years ago, and they have fallen in love with the regional cuisine down there. You can read her story about it on the first blog post here.

The project is this: She has her talented mitts on Nathalie Dupree's latest cookbook, Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking, and her plan is to attempt all 760 recipes in the next year starting on January 1st. And she will attempt to chronicle that journey on her blog. Not in a trying to get famous/Julie Powell kind of way. Just something for herself, her family and their community that they have grown to love. And to give some of that love back...in the form of delicious food!

So join her on this journey, if you are interested, and let her know how she is doing along the way. She's a blog newbie so I'm going to give her all the assistance and encouragement that I have to offer. Should be a fun ride. 

Dig.

Make this. Eat this.

Trying to be a bit more health savvy lately. Sometimes that means cutting back on the fats, cutting back on the calories, cutting back on the processed crap. But I've been missing pasta a whole freakin' bunch lately. And in that vein, I found the following recipe while watching an episode of America's Test Kitchen. It's a version of Pasta Primavera that uses no cream at all, and I have to tell you...it's one of the most favorite meals I've ever prepared. So easy too.  The original recipe is behind a membership wall, but I changed it anyway. I'll paraphrase it here.

Spring Vegetable Pasta Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 leeks - washed and halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Split between dark and light parts.
• 1 pound asparagus - washed and split 1/2 between the spear and the rest. The spear halves can be cut into 1/2 inch pieces cut on a bias. The ass ends can be chopped roughly however you want.
• 2 cups frozen peas - thawed.
• 4 cloves of garlic - minced or pressed.
• 4 cups no-sodium added vegetable broth.
• 2 cups water.
• 1/2 tsp fresh grated lemon zest.
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice.
• 4 tbsp fresh chopped herbs (I used oregano and chives, but feel free to play).
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.
• 1 cup dry white wine.
• 1 oz grated Parmesan cheese.
• 1 lb dry farfalle/bow-tie pasta (or something similar...I used mini-farfalle).
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions

 - Place the dark green leek trimmings, ass half of asparagus trimmings, 1 cup of the peas, 3 minced clove of garlic, vegetable broth and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high heat then reduce to medium-low and continue to simmer for around 10 minutes. Strain broth through a fine mesh and extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids and return broth to saucepan. If you don't have 5 cups of broth, add some water until you do.

 - Combine your herbs and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

 - Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large Dutch oven or saucepan over medium heat. When oil is shimmering, add the rest of the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook, covered, stirring often until leeks have cooked down a bit and browned. About five minutes. Add the asparagus tips and cook, stirring often, for about four minutes.  Add the herbs, lemon zest and remaining clove of minced garlic and stir vigorously until aromatic, about a minute. Add the rest of the peas and cook for another minute. Then transfer all vegetables to a plate or bowl and set aside.

 - Heat the remaining 4 tbsp of oil in the Dutch oven after carefully wiping clean with a paper towel. When oil is shimmering, add the dry pasta. I know...right? Cook over medium-high heat for about five minutes stirring frequently until the pasta starts to brown. Add the wine and cook down for about two minutes, until the pasta absorbs the wine.

 - Add the hot broth...all five cups of it. Cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is al dente. Around eight minutes or so.

 - Remove pot or Dutch oven from heat and add lemon juice, Parmesan and vegetables. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.

 - Sprinkle a bit more grated Parmesan on each serving as you plate it. 

______________________________________________________________________

So you are basically cooking the dry pasta almost like a risotto. Amazing! I had never tried anything like this before, but it worked out incredibly.


The starch from the pasta should thicken the broth to a light sauce, as will the addition of the Parmesan cheese. The flavors that arose from the fresh vegetables and boosted veggie broth was amazing. Nutty and fresh and delicious. You can use either vegetable or whole wheat pasta, if you prefer. The version I made came out to about 8 servings at 350 calories per serving or so. Of course, we eat more than the recommended 1 serving, but it probably wasn't more than 500-550 servings based on our larger portion. So I was fine with going with the regular pasta. Gia recommended I use some sun-dried tomatoes next time, and I think that would be a fine addition. Maybe some pine nuts as well.

Guys...this sounds too healthy, but it was really, really, really freakin' good.

Do it to it.

Thai Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Trying out some new things in the kitchen here at the cat ranch. This one was super easy and healthy to boot. Came out spicy and aromatic and tangy. Just the way we like it. Used mostly this recipe here, but I jazzed it a bit. As I do. Check it:

Thai Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1 lb thinly sliced sirloin cut into bite-sized strips
• 1/3 cup beef broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 cup chopped broccoli florets
• 1 cup julienned string beans
• 4 green onions - bias-sliced in 1 inch lengths
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 2 cups cooked jasmine rice

 - In a bowl mix the broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime, garlic chili sauce, corn starch, sugar and grated ginger. Set aside.

 - Lightly coat a skillet or wok with the cooking spray and then pre-heat over medium high heat. Add the broccoli, string beans and green onions. Toss and cook for 4-5 minutes until the onions have gotten a bit crispy and the veggies are nice and tender. Remove veggies from skillet and set aside.

 - Return the skillet to the burner (medium-high heat) and add the cooking oil. Add the beef strips and stir-fry until cooked/browned. Give the liquid mixture you set aside a bit earlier a quick mix and then add to the skillet. Toss until all the beef is coated and the sauce begins to bubble and thicken.  Add the cooked veggies you had set aside and make sure everything is coated with the sauce and heat through.

 - Serve over jasmine rice.

From beginning to end, this took me about 15 minutes. Sooooo simple. Sooooo tasty. And did I mention kinda healthy?  We tend to use a bit more citrus and maybe a bit more heat in our recipes, so feel free to only use the juice of 1/2 a lime or reduce the amount of garlic chili sauce.  And we like a lot of fresh ginger, so we used quite a bit more than the original recipe stated. But a recipe is just a basic guideline. Fly your freak flag and adjust it accordingly.

Bon appetit!

Bullets Over Tuesday

Just because. Just for scuzz. If you follow me on Twitter, some of these items may be repeats. Sue me.

• Went out of my comfort zone and made something that I had never heard of much less made before on Monday night. Gia had a hankerin'* for steak, and a hankerin' for steak in a beurre rouge sauce in particular. I've got high school level French going on, so I knew that beurre = butter and rouge = red, but that's about all I knew, besides the hunk o' meat that is. Turns out it's a steak in a red wine/shallot reduction with butter. A LOT of butter. This is not something for the faint of heart. But it is oh-so-fucking-delicious. It ain't going on the regular weekly rotation, but maybe once a month or so... We shall see. 

The sauce was a creamy, dark pink and the meat was slightly above medium. Delish!

•  I saw today that Katy Perry has a concert video coming out. My first reaction was that I couldn't care any less. Then I saw that it was in 3-D and I suddenly became more interested. I'm still not gonna see it, but I'm definitely...interested.

click for the jiggle

•  We just finished this season of Mad Men. That show is freakin' amazing and I don't care if you agree or disagree with me. I just love it. Now we have a month or so until the final season of Breaking Bad begins. Or ends. Sniff. I don't think I could enjoy TV as much as the dramas that AMC and FX are producing. Amazing stuff.

• Speaking of well-made television, I finally saw Season One of Game of Thrones a few weeks ago. Watched it over one weekend. I had just finished the first book in the series, so I immediately wanted to see what HBO did with it. It didn't disappoint. I'm reading Book Two right now, and I understand the second season has just ended. Excellent. I can't wait to watch it. More amazing stuff.

• Speaking of unknown television, I recorded the first couple of episodes of the new A&E drama Longwire. It's about a lawman out of Wyoming. Other than that...I have no idea. But I dig shows about tough guy lawmen in cowboy hats (see Justified), so I'm willing to give it a go. Anyone watching?

• My pee is gonna smell like asparagus tomorrow. I just know it. Too much information? Tough shit.

That's all I got. See ya!

*When you are in the mood for steak, you have to use the word "hanker". It's the law. 

Food Cart Heaven

Had a great experience with some food cart, um, food last week.  A place called Garbo's Grill in Key West.  I had done a little web reconnaissance before heading there, and I was surprised to see that this little food cart was the highest rated "restaurant" in town on Trip Advisor.

I wasn't surprised for long.

I got down there a few hours ahead of some friends on Tuesday, so I decided to check it out on my own. Figured if it was good, I could be a hero to my buddies by introducing it to them. If it sucked, well...only I would be worse for the wear.

Turned out to be a huge mother-fucking win! Of epic proportions. I was there for 5 days and ate lunch at this food cart 4 of those days. Wish I had eaten lunch there the other day too. Plus some snacks here and there. All of the rest of the crew ate there at least once as well, most of them multiple times. Everyone loved it. Check out this menu:

click for mouth-watering goodness

Very simple, but with the freshest ingredients possible. Everything was stored in coolers that served double-duty as seating for the crowd waiting for the delicious goodies.  I had the Cayo fish tacos twice, the Yum Yum shrimp tacos (Cayo-style again) once and the Mango Brie quesadilla with Jerk Chicken the last time there. All were awesome.  I also tried some of the Kogi Korean BBQ tacos that another friend ordered. Incredible!  And the couple that own the cart are some of the nicest folks you will ever meet. On my second day there, I already felt like a regular with them yelling out my name when they saw me every time afterward. Good stuff.

I think I love a good food cart. Especially when it's run by a couple of foodies like this one here. And there are a TON of supposedly great food carts in NYC, but I really don't frequent them. I really think I should, based on this experience. At the very least, I'm going to do some research into the ones that are getting some good press.

But Long Island is a barren wasteland for delicious food cart, um, food. I've just never seen nor heard of any really good food carts out here.

I think I'm going to make it my new obsession. Find a great food cart here on the island, or find someone willing to open one. Because this kind of food? It's my kind of food. And I don't think I can ever go back to a world that doesn't have this kind of food in it anymore.

How about you? Any good food carts near you that you love?

Food porn!

Nothing to see here, but head over to Simmer, Sip, Share for some titillating food porn as I review a local restaurant called Mara's Homemade that serves New Orleans-style grub and Arkansas BBQ. 

The food made my pants tight.  For several reasons.

Click on the picture for the review

Let's Try This Again

Didn't get a lot of response from this last week, so I figured I would give it one more try. If there still isn't any interest...well, then there is no interest. And we'll just move along. However, I'm all for giving folks a second chance. Unless they do icky stuff with kids, I mean.  Those people can burn in Hell, although I would prefer to see them burn here on Earth.  Instant gratification and all. Where was I?  Oh yeah...have at it! - Earl

_____________________________________________________________

So....one of the ideas that my co-host had for Just Talking to the Cornfield in the off-season was to have a show specifically dedicated to Christmas food and recipes.  Which is odd, because he's Jewish. But I think he meant the "holidays", in general. Not just Christmas. Or he just hates his heritage. Let's move on...

Besides, I don't really know what Christmas food is anyway. In my family, we basically just did Thanksgiving all over again on Christmas Day.  Maybe a spiral ham in addition to a turkey. I just don't remember anything memorable about Christmas or Christmas Eve dinner.  I know some of my friends of Italian descent do the whole Seven Fishes thing on Christmas Eve. I don't know what that is about. Sounds good though.

Here's my thought. We are gonna do a show sometime in the next two weeks about Holiday Food including recipes and suggestions. You can be a part of it. Either by joining us during the broadcast (I'll let you know when that will be), or by commenting here with your suggestions or recipes, or by emailing me your suggestions and recipes to babyburke at aol dot com.

I'll then post all the recipes and/or suggestions to our collaborative food blog after it is all said and done for everyone to enjoy.  What do you think?

Do it to it, peoples!  FUN!

Holiday Food Ideas/Show

So....one of the ideas that my co-host had for Just Talking to the Cornfield in the off-season was to have a show specifically dedicated to Christmas food and recipes.  Which is odd, because he's Jewish. But I think he meant the "holidays", in general. Not just Christmas. Or he just hates his heritage. Let's move on...

Besides, I don't really know what Christmas food is anyway. In my family, we basically just did Thanksgiving all over again on Christmas Day.  Maybe a spiral ham in addition to a turkey. I just don't remember anything memorable about Christmas or Christmas Eve dinner.  I know some of my friends of Italian descent do the whole Seven Fishes thing on Christmas Eve. I don't know what that is about. Sounds good though.

Here's my thought. We are gonna do a show sometime in the next two weeks about Holiday Food including recipes and suggestions. You can be a part of it. Either by joining us during the broadcast (I'll let you know when that will be), or by commenting here with your suggestions or recipes, or by emailing me your suggestions and recipes to babyburke at aol dot com.

I'll then post all the recipes and/or suggestions to our collaborative food blog after it is all said and done for everyone to enjoy.  What do you think?

Do it to it, peoples!  FUN!

Get Thee to the Greek

Don't live a stone's throw from half a dozen greek joints where you can get a tasty, authentic gyro?

I feel sorry for you.

BUT...Fugs1 (aka Bill Mangini) is here for the rescue!

Well, not here...over there.  With a recipe for homemade gyro sandwiches.  Including a recipe for the Tzatziki sauce that goes with it.  Yum!

Check it!

Over there now

I'm not here, and probably won't be for the rest of the week. Well, I'm here, but not here...ya know. 

Instead, I'm over there...talking about sandwiches.

Today: The Best Cuban Sandwich Ever!  Check it!

Sandwich Week: Simmer, Sip, Share

It's late on Sunday night as I type this, and I've had a rather sudden urge to write about my favorite food.

The sandwich.

A hero, a roll, a slice of pita or maybe just two pieces of bread. And something to put inside that bread.  That's what I like.  Gimme, gimme, gimme a great sandwich.  And don't be half-ass about it.  If it's gonna be tuna salad or egg salad, jazz it up a bit.  If you want to make it as simple as bologna, how about fried bologna?  All I'm saying is that I just don't want something hastily thrown together.  I need some thought put into it.

This coming Friday is my birthday, and Gia wanted to know what I wanted.  And, like every year, I have no response to that.  I don't really need or want any kind of gift.  I don't pine for objects I don't have.  If I want something bad enough, I don't wait for someone to buy it for me.  That's just been a part of my DNA forever.

So this year, I asked her to research the best sandwiches to be had in NYC.  I'm taking the day off and we are going to head in early for breakfast at this bakery I've been dying to try.  Then walk around some, maybe do some shopping, maybe have a beer someplace before heading to the sammich joint late in the afternoon to see what we see.

That's what I want to do on my birthday.  Have an incredible sandwich experience.  Insert gay joke from Slyde here.  Yeah...he's THAT obvious.

Oh...so we've got this food blog called Simmer, Sip, Share going on as well. I've been a little lax with posting over there lately.  So I've decided to make it Sandwich Week over there.  I'm going to post once a day about a great sandwich that I've made or enjoyed.  I encourage everyone who contributes to the blog (you know who you are) to join in on the fun, if they so wish.

Let's start off the week with this bad boy:

Yeah...that's a paper plate. Deal with it...

Looks delicious, right? Wanna know what it is? Well, you'll have to go here to find out. Heheheh.

Welcome to Sandwich Week!

Weekend Recap

Here's a brief rundown of what I did over the weekend.

Friday night:

• Took a hilarious picture of Bootsy sleeping with a big smile on his face. And we watched all the television shows that we had recorded from Thursday evening. Then Gia went to bed and I watched Fringe.

Saturday:

• Went to the local Pickle Festival with our besties. You read that right. A pickle festival.  And it was...glorious. Had a pickle on a stick and bought two bagfuls worth of pickles and related pickled...stuff.  I wrote about it once before on this here blog. Way back here.  Check it.
• Then we all headed over to our new favorite local restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. I reviewed the joint over at our food blog here. I knew what I was having before I even walked into the joint. A big burger smashed between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  The server called it "the heart attack". But then the manager grinned and said, "If you want to do it up right, then add a fried egg and some bacon." Which sounded too good to pass up.  Which I didn't. Neither did my buddy. It was absurdly delicious, and exactly what the doctor ordered. Well, not an MD, but you know... Here's what it looked like:

• After spending about 4 hours at the restaurant (seriously), we headed back to the house for a mini-ramble and a sudden surprisingly awesome sunset. So sudden and surprising that I didn't get to take a picture of it. But it was really cool. Trust me.

Sunday:

• Spent most of the day napping in bed. I had been fighting off a bit of a stomach issue for several days, and the excesses of Saturday certainly didn't help.

So was your weekend filled with as much whimsy as mine?  More? You kids are awesome!

Two quick reminders

Besides this here joint, I've got two other places you can sometimes find me on the internets.  Well, three if you count Twitter...but I don't really use that all that much other than to bother people.

1. Just Talking to the Cornfield - The Colonel and I are still doing our mostly-weekly show.  We've strayed from our regular Sunday night time-slot at 9PM EST here and there, and it looks like it's going to be on more of a mid-week schedule going forward.  So if you can't find us live, you can always listen to the replay on Talkshoe or iTunes.  Just try not to fall in love with me when you finally hear my dulcet tones.  I don't even know what that means.

2. Simmer, Sip, Share - The collaborative food/booze/whatever blog I set up several months ago hasn't quite taken off like I hoped.  I'm hoping this post will nudge those who agreed to participate into, ya know, participating.  While we wait for that, ahem, check out my latest post for a vegetarian treat with a Mediterranean twist.  A recipe I kinda followed from a wonderful site called Smitten Kitchen.  Turned out great, I understand.  I wouldn't know about that since I had a burger instead. :)

Don't leave me out there in the cold, kids!  It's brutal out there.

Sonic Chicago-Style Dog

Here's what I want to know.

Looks, er, okay.  I guess.

Has anyone out there tried the Chicago-style hot dog from Sonic?  To be more specific, has anyone out there who knows and loves Chicago-style hot dogs tried the Chicago-style hot dog from Sonic?

And if you have, is it worth driving 10.64 miles to get them?  Before you answer, please note that there is literally NOWHERE around where I live to buy Chicago-style hot dogs.

Hmmm...maybe this should have gone on the food blog. 

Something New

UPDATE - Yeah, so I screwed up. Apparently Blogger is a little clunky (go figure) when starting a new blog. They automatically set it to invite only.  Who knew?  It is now fixed.  And I am humbled. - Earl

So, several months ago I announced that I would be starting a food and drink blog and I was looking for contributors.  Well, laziness happens folks.   But now it's here!

Simmer, Sip, Share



What's the content going to be about?  Well, just about anything and everything that has to do with food and drink.  Recipes of the food and drink variety, restaurant and bar reviews, product reviews, great food and drink experiences...whatever.  I'm leaving it up to the discretion of the contributors. 

Contributors? Yeah, it's gonna be a collaborative effort too, if you will. I sent out the invites to those of you who requested it, even if you've forgotten by now.  But we want to invite anyone (cool enough) to join.  So shoot me an email or leave a comment if you want to be part of the fun, and I'll send you an invite.


In the meantime, check out the site and add it to your feed reader or follow it the way you follow other blogs.  Or not. I'm not the boss of you.

Yet.  Hehehe.