Me vs. The Menu

You Know What I Like?

PopChips and Lemon Hummus.  Mmm-mmm good.  A co-worker introduced me to PopChips and ever since I've been hooked, when I'm not dipping them into hummus, I usually go for the Barbeque flavor.  They are by far the best flavored chip going right now.  Try some and you might just get hooked too.

Edible Garden

We've been kicking around the notion of buying a home, and with a home comes the chance to grow an honest to goodness garden.  Until then we're left to window sill gardens (limited), or sneaking the occasional planter onto the fire escape (illegal).  By now, I'm sure you have seen the upside down tomato planters, but here are two recent finds have us thinking in an entirely new way - check out woollypockets, and DYI window farms.

Saturday Special

My wife made a favorite recipe this weekend - crab cakes.  They were the best.  About four years ago she went to Chicago for a convention and happened to order them at Keefer's Restuarant.  If you want to make them at home too, here's the recipe.  We decided to place them on a mix of greens tossed with a light a vinaigrette and opened a bottle of grenache to complete the course.  To show my gratitude I made the desert - apple crisp.  It was lacking, but she assures me that she can fix that too...next time.

Friday Night Bites

To kick-off the weekend we finally took the opportunity to make it over to Sweet Afton.  I've been wanting to check out this establishment since it opened in Astoria last August.  Well, we went, we saw, we tasted and we were not blown away.  Don't get me wrong it was good, not great, but good. 

The service was way better than the complaints online; our waitress was attentive and friendly.  The food, however, was just so-so.  We ordered the fried pickles, hand cut french fries, and Irish sausage rolls. What?  It's a bar...we had bar food. Know this - I love pickles and I would fry my cat's tail if I thought it would taste great.  The fried pickles at Sweet Afton are more like Puff Pickles, the batter was doughy and rubbery not crispy and flaky like the word "fried" suggests to me.  The french fries were average and the puff pastry wrapped sausage rolls were great until I dipped them in the HP Sauce that accompanies the dish.  Maybe I've suckled on the A1 sauce infused teet of America too long, but I much prefer that sauce to the British alternative, and I should have known better.

And the drinks (did I mention it was a bar?) were well...interesting.  We both ordered the Spicy Cherry Margarita.  As the menu maintains this drink is a mix of Habanero infused tequila, cherry preserve, simple syrup, and lime.  True to it's name, it's spicy and took me nearly 40 minutes to drink.  For comparison, it usually takes me ten minutes to finish the average margarita; 5 minutes if it's been a long week.  Given the time issues related to the first round, we decided to only stay for one, but there were a couple of other choices I'd come back for next time.  So, I guess what I'm saying is that despite the bar food, the bar drinks mean I'll probably be back.

No Freakin Way

Guess where these coffee beans come from.  YIKES!

Quick Question

Do you prefer sea salt, kosher salt, or table salt?

Lest we think these are the only choices, there are apparently loads more available.  Then there are those arguments about the health benefits of one over the other; or maybe not.  And if that's enough to inform your choice, there's even a book about the History of Salt.

Me, I use sea salt on prepared foods, table salt in recipes, and kosher salt where specifically called out.  I use pickling salt when I'm in a quandary.

C.R.E.A.M. - Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all

Living here in the Big Apple affords one the opportunity to experience all manner of great chow.  I say "affords" and make no mistake, I understand the pun involved.  As expensive as most can seem, there are still plenty of great choices in the more "affordable" range.  To me, Watawa is great example.  Their menu is full of reasonable choices, but none better than the Lunch Box or the Sushi Roll specials.  For less than $10 you get a salad, miso soup, and your choice of three rolls or shrimp tempura with pork dumplings and a California roll.  Throw in the free green tea and that's a pretty hefty haul.  Now there's the second pun of this post.  The portions are huge.  In fact, we generally go and can't finish our lunch.  Our most recent visit yesterday, saw us both order the tempura special and take-away the leftovers for dinner last night.  Below are some pictures so you can judge for yourself...

I'm back!

It's true, it's true, it's true - after the long break for various reasons, I have finally returned.  Make no mistake, I have missed it.  I just haven't been blogging.  That's all going to change now that I have put other distractions behind me (or maybe just beside me).  Why should you believe me?  Well, I have a new goal - the International Food Blogger Conference.  Yes, there really is one of those, in fact there's two...check out the Food Blogger Connect.  And I really want to go; Maybe not this year; I need to post a little more regular first (need fiber so to speak).

Anyway, I'm headed back to an old favorite tonight, Craft Bar, and I'm going to check out a new place (for me at least) this weekend, Hecho en Dumbo.

Well, see you next time?