Sometimes on a Monday moaning - er, morning - a person just needs a little positive reinforcement. I got mine in the form of a photo of my tiniest fan. Apparently, my friend Beth's daughter, Hayden, decided to pick up the most important section in the paper last Wednesday. See what she is reading? Hahaha...
I'll be back later with a Brunswick Stew recipe that'll feed the entire neighborhood. I know it'll be feeding us for the rest of this week!
A gingerbread "Cockaigne?"
Dad called me last night to ask a food question; it's not an uncommon occurrence for either of us to ring up the other and talk food. I usually buzz him because he's a great, experienced cook, and he usually calls me because he lives in the Bath County boondocks with dial-up and can't Google the answer.
Last night's question: "What does the cooking term 'Cockaigne' mean?"
The answer wasn't in the food Bible, "Food Lover's Companion." And once I wrote it down (because you can imagine the array of unfortunate mispronunciations) and stared at it, it looked really familiar. I was sure I'd seen it within the past few days - In "Joy of Cooking," it turns out.
The word is sprinkled liberally throughout "Joy," appearing at the end of various recipe names, such as Almond Torte Cockaigne or Fruit Cake Cockaigne. So I Googled it for Dad, my cell phone crunched between my ear and shoulder. Oddly, the first hit was "A great place for winter fun." Then Wikipedia, with "a medieval mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease."
Where were the official food and cooking sources? Merriam-Webster dictionary defined "Cockaigne" as a 13th century invention, indeed a magical land of wonderment and riches. And the word itself, some believe, derives from "cake."
News in the restaurant world:
* From Jenny Boone's Retail column this Sunday: Judge's Chambers, the healthy little downtown eatery in the former peanut shop on Jefferson Street, is expanding. Owner Waqar Malik, who was a partner in The Isaac's Mediterranean restaurant when it first opened, is apparently doing well in his new venture. Considering that I've just started a weight loss challenge, I may be heading to the Judge's Chambers for lunch more often.
* Signs spotted around town: El Rancho Viejo to go in the former Fast Freddy's location at 4th and Main in Salem. Peppers on Apperson Drive is no longer open? That sub shop has been there for a pretty long time. Looks like an Italian or International restaurant may be taking its place. More info on that to come.
* Finally, a request from a blog reader. John Garland wrote in to say that he owns the building that houses the Downtown Roanoke Sports Club. The building will be turned into a multi-purpose space that will include a grocery store, which I've said could be a boon to downtown residents and workers alike. Garland wants your input. Here's his note. Feel free to drop comments in response:
I am the owner of the Downtown Sports Club building (16 West Church) and would love to have additional input on what people would like to see in our building. The current plan is a second floor fitness center and first floor upscale grocery/convenience store, pharmacy, stalls for retail and light food service, coffee/smoothie bar and vendor carts, along with the Chiropractor that is currently there.
Macado's wrap tastes better than it looks in this pic.
My best friend growing up, Samantha, used to order the exact same thing at almost any restaurant we visited together: a club sandwich. Of course, some restaurants didn't have a club sandwich on the menu, but you could bet money that if they did, Sam was going to order it. My editor and friend Kathy is the same way about french fries and Caesar salads. I'm pretty sure she has tried the Caesar salad and french fries at every restaurant in and around Roanoke. Those are just her go-to orders.
Over time, I have come to realize that everyone has a go-to order. My husband's is an Italian sub. It starts as a personal preference and often morphs into a quest to find the VERY BEST club sandwich, Caesar salad or Italian sub in town. I'm pretty sure that Kathy could tell me, were she not in Oregon right now, where she goes to get her favorite Caesar salad. I believe hub's favorite Italian is actually a version of the Italian at Brambleton Deli called the B.D. Special.
What kind of idiot goes away for a long weekend at the beach and forgets her digital camera? Um, one with red hair and the first name "Lindsey" and a last name that conjures up images of short shorts. That's who.
This same brand of idiot thought the traffic to the Outer Banks wouldn't be too bad on Labor Day weekend. And that the hotel room for which she paid $165 per night would be large and roomy and wouldn't smell like gym socks. And that the swimming pools would not be teeming with screaming children desperate to eke every last moment of enjoyment out of summer vacation before school started today.
There was nothing left to do but eat and drink (and wish I had a digital camera with which to take tantalizing food photos). Instead, you'll have to picture this tour of Outer Banks restaurants:
* At J.K.'s: Oysters Rockefeller made with spinach pesto and bubbling hot Parmesan cheese, served with a crusty French baguette and pats of real butter shaped like flowers.
* Also at J.K.'s: Clam chowder (my all-time favorite soup so long as it is made with heavy cream and not destroyed with tomatoes) crowded with big chunks of potato and some of the most tender, delectable clams I've ever had melt in my mouth. If you travel to the Outer Banks and you have not tried J.K.'s, I highly recommend it. The best bartender in the world works there. His name is Rick. But I'm biased. Rick is my friend.
* At Food Dudes Kitchen: A roasted vegetable quesadilla stuffed with portobello mushroom, roasted red peppers, corn and zucchini. Did you know the term "portobello," which roughly translates to mean "fat beauty," was invented as a marketing ploy to sell an ugly mushroom that nobody wanted? The things I learn from "Food Lover's Companion" never cease to amaze me.
* At the Black Pelican: A frittata with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and goat cheese served over a pile of jalapeno-cheddar grits.
* At the Kill Devil Grill: Cheesesteak egg rolls stuffed with minced steak, caramelized onions and oozing white cheese. For an entree, we split a full rack of ribs. They weren't bad, but the egg rolls were better.
* At Port O' Call: Crab and cheese wontons and a big, fat, juicy piece of fried flounder on a sub roll with tartar sauce, lettuce and tomato.
* And finally, the chain restaurant I could not resist -- Dairy Queen, where I bought a large Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard and consumed the entire thing before feeling like my stomach was going to burst inside me. Why, oh why, did I decide to DQ something different? But then again, that's what vacation is for, right?
If you need me, I'll be at the gym.
"I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, a big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer, well good God almighty which way do I steer..."
Hey folks, this is Nona, your pets blogger, filling in for Lindsey, who added an extra day to her three-day weekend. I am quoting Jimmy Buffett, the poet laureate of beach bums, for two reasons. First, to me nothing says long holiday weekend like cooking cheeseburgers on the grill and second, I HAVE TICKETS to Jimmy Buffett's Labor Day weekend show in Manassas! Holla!
So I plan to take a holiday from being a good calorie-watcher and indulge in at least one cheeseburger while I am in paradise, and I may take a little sip of a margarita, too.
This got me thinking about what makes a diet-busting worthy cheeseburger and a hurts-so-good margarita.
I am a purist when it comes to burgers. I don't like to load them down with a lot of stuff before they are cooked. Salt and pepper and a charcoal grill are all that is needed to make a tasty burger. Gas is OK, but charcoal adds so much flavor that it's pretty hard to beat.
I also think if you are going to enjoy a burger, you have to be willing to ignore the fat grams and use beef that is no more than 80 percent lean. If I have to use extra lean beef or buffalo, I brush the burgers with a little olive oil before grilling so they aren't too dry.
Now when it comes to toppings, I love muenster, cheddar or pepper jack cheese (all three work well together too), lettuce, homegrown tomatoes or none at all, pickles and barbecue sauce (Don's Best or Camp Sauce are good choices.) I also love sauteed mushrooms and bacon.
As for margaritas, I actually skip the blender and make mine on the rocks. I use four or five ounces of Daly's sour mix, an ounce of fresh lime juice, an two ounces of really good gold tequila, and an ounce of amaretto, which adds a new layer of flavor to the 'rita. Shake it all up and pour over ice into a heavily salted glass.
If I were going to add the booze to the blender, I found this recipe (after the jump) for a frozen concoction, a mango margarita, that sounds heavenly.
Tell me how you would blend the perfect margaritas or top the tastiest cheeseburger in your own version of paradise.
This is my granola bar. It's a Quaker "True Delights" Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut granola bar. And let me just say that it is delicious -- all two bites of it!
I don't want a granola bar the size of my leg, but seriously, look at this tiny thing. I had to place it next to my stapler for context. When you buy a box of these (they were on sale for $2.49 this week), you get five bars. And then you open them and they are miniscule. Hey, I think Barbie might be hungry, guys. If I give her one of these, she MIGHT have enough to share with Ken.
Maybe it's my imagination, but I still think we are getting less food for our money in some cases at the grocery store. Has anyone else continued to notice this? If so, got any specific product examples?
Let me take you back to a scene from last night: I'm sitting in my kitchen, staring sadly at half of an angel food cake that I know will never see the lining of a human stomach. Why? Because in my house, there are just certain products that never seem to get finished off.
With the angel food cake, it's because I always buy it for strawberry shortcake and the strawberries always run out before the cake. I know I could dream up some other delectable topping, such as peaches or fudge sauce, but the little voice in my head that doesn't want to be grossly overweight says, "You don't HAVE to polish the durn thing off. You got it on clearance for 99 cents. See the blaze orange sticker?" Not to mention the fact that Howard will never eat it if I don't dress it up and set it in front of him. He isn't a huge dessert guy.
What else routinely goes bad in my house? The last 1/4 of the jug of milk. I know you folks with kids out there are probably laughing and thinking about how often you have to make emergency trips to the store just for milk. I don't have kids, my husband drinks chocolate milk, and I only use milk on cereal, which I don't eat every day. So something usually goes down the drain.
It strikes me that every household probably has at least one food item they can never finish. And since I love these little sociological experiments, I want to know what it is that your family just can't seem to polish off before it goes bad? Is it the loaf of bread? The head of lettuce? The lime you bought to garnish cocktails?
Maybe we could start a food trade! My angel food cake for your lime!
Ray Jamison of Roanoke passed along a message to me last week from Capt. Kirk McGeorge, a Cave Spring High School graduate who is currently sailing around the world with his family on their 49-foot sailboat. According to Jamison, he and McGeorge were buddies with the late Paul Corne of Capt'n Paul's Seafood fame while attending Cave Spring.
McGeorge sent along the following poem in memory of Corne and wanted us to publish it somehow. It's a beautiful poem. Enjoy.
"Sea-Fever," by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
and the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
and a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
and all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
and the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
to the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
and all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
and quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
Bringing beef back to life
Remember the barbecue-braised pot roast I wrote about a few days ago? Well, the chunk left in the fridge last night didn't look very appetizing, but I didn't want to let it go to waste. Hubby had a great idea: Why not make burritos out of it? I was a bit skeptical about the sweet, mustardy glaze working in a burrito format, but it turned out great.
I sliced the roast into pieces and warmed it with a little of the glaze, some sriracha and some chopped fresh cilantro. The sweetness of the glaze ended up marrying beautifully with the spiciness of the hot sauce. With a little black beans, some cheddar cheese, sour cream, lettuce, my first ripe yellow tomato of the season and some leftover grilled corn salsa, an unappetizing chunk of leftover meat turned into one of the best meals of the week. I hope this inspires someone else with a chunk of leftover meat!
On another note, my wonderful editor, Kathy Lu, turned up at work today with a bag full of chanterelles for me. She and her husband filled one and a half Kroger bags with the delicious delicacies while hiking this past weekend. I've heard from several people over the past couple of weeks that this has been an odd yet rewarding wild mushroom season. Chanterelles usually pop up much earlier in the season, so hunters had assumed they weren't going to find any this year. But all that rain we've been getting brought the forest to life again.
If you're an experienced mushroom hunter, you may want to take advantage of this. If you are not, you should be extremely careful before EVER, EVER eating a mushroom you picked in the woods. You'll definitely need your liver for the rest of your life.
