Filed under: Uncategorized
The new half-season of No Reservations starts tonight, and I don’t have a TV to watch it 
I wonder if they’ll put it on Hulu. Tony kicks it the season by going to Chile.
Latin food is my new obsession, and I’ve already used past episodes to guide my food journey. My first intro to the world of rice and beans was Puerto Rican food, which I ate a lot I was working in non-profit in a PR community. Then I moved to Providence and craved it all year long. I finally started branching out and trying other types of latin food that Rhode Island had to offer and wasn’t disappointed. I ate Peruvian for the first time two weeks ago (wasn’t too excited by it), and the other day I had Salvadoran tamales, another thing I missed from my non-profit days. Anyway, my motto “WWABE – What Would Anthony Bourdain Eat” hasn’t failed me in picking adventurous things to eat.
Unfortunately, the new San Francisco episode airs the day after I get back from San Fran.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I like to do weird things. Check out this absolutely insane-sounding dinner/performance that I’m going to this weekend:
You are cordially invited to celebrate the passé-ist glory of Futurist degustation: a tactile seven-course meal of gastronomic revolution. Those without suitable tactilist garb will be loaned one upon entry.
That didn’t quite give me enough information, so I looked into what the heck tactile dinner parties were like. They’re based on The Futuristic Cookbook, written in 1931, by F.T. Marinetti. Here’s an exerpt from the book’s instructions for a tactile dinner party:
Polyrhythmic salad: the waiters approach the tables carrying for each guest a box with a crank on the left side and a china bowl. In the bowl, undressed lettuce leaves, dates, and grapes. Without the help of cutler, each diner uses his right hand to feed himself from the bowl while he turns the crank with his left. The box thus emits musical rhythms: and the waiters dance slowly with grand geometrical gestures in front of the table until the food has been eaten.
I’ve only been able to read articles written about the book, but it’s amazing how similar the food sounds to what I would consider today’s futuristic and modernist foods (French Laundry and Alinea most obvs). And it was written in 1932! Futuristic then, still futuristic 70+ years later.
If it sparks your interest, read some more passages from the original book.
Anyway, I’m excited to be witness to this crazyness and I even convinced two of my classmates to go with me. I’m not sure how much they’ll be into it, but they’re generally adventurous and it’ll make a good story to tell our friends back at Brown.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This was breakfast on Sunday. Much better than my bean & cheese burrito breakfast today.
Filed under: Life
I’m settling into my digs in Washington DC, but the food situation is bad. Bad even before getting to the cooking part. It’s difficult to get to a grocery store, and I had a really bad experience trying to get grocery delivery. Farmer’s markets are excellent, but a little bit far away so I can only get to them on weekends when they are of course, mobbed. I bought some peaches the other day and… OMG. Unlike any peach I have ever eaten up north. It reminded me of reading James & the Giant Peach and the part where he takes a bite from inside the peach, and I always *knew* that I had never experienced a peach like that. And now, I know. It was a million times sweeter and like, buttery in the mouth.
Eating out was also hard. Brian came with me to help me move in, and he stayed for about a week. We’re tight on cash, so we wanted to keep things affordable and it was difficult finding good places to eat for under $20 per person. We did find places, but it took a lot of research. I also get the feeling that DC isn’t much of a food town (I’m opening myself wide open for some flaming). Maybe it’s just not a food town for my tastes. I felt like with Providence, Seattle, and Chicago, I did my food research and quickly found lots of places within my budgets that I just had to go. That didn’t happen with DC. Maybe it’s just a suit-and-tie, country club kinda town with food to match.
What’s great about DC though? HAPPY HOUR. We don’t have happy hour specials in New England, so this is my first experience and it totally makes up for lack of good food.
It’s a crappy cell phone picture, but check out this bento lunch that I got today from a cafe/lunch spot Teaism:
So cute! It’s definitely American-sized though; too much food. Fried chicken with a ginger dipping sauce, brown rice with furakake, cold sweet potato salad with miso dressing, and cucumber salad. It was $10, which is a decent price for getting good quality, sort-of nutritious food. There are tons of places around here with cheaper lunch specials, but they all just seem really unhealthy or gross. I can’t wait to try the one with seared rare tuna, which costs the same.
I had an AH-HA moment tonight. I bought a bunch of fresh peppermint from the farmer’s market because it looked and smelled so good, even though I had no idea what to do with it. So I just put a few leaves in a cup, poured in boiling water, and it was sooo good. I happen to love mint tea and now I can drink it all day every day for like $1 a bunch.
Hopefully with more time for exploring, and more money, I’ll find better things to eat.
Filed under: Restaurant
And now for a break from the “budgeting” focus of this blog, in favor of extravagance. For Brian’s birthday, he asked that his gift be a tasting dinner @ Gracie’s. Ah, that is why I love this man.
You can choose from a 5 or 7 course menu, with or without wine pairings for each course. We chose the 5 courses with wine. The pours weren’t full glasses, they were more like half or 3/4 of a normal glass and it was mostly white wines. The food is a surprise until it comes to the table, but they do ask you if you’re allergic or strongly dislike anything. I didn’t take any notes, so I’m just going from memory here:
Filed under: Life
I’ve neglected this blog for months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating and cooking. Where have I been lately? Conquering the internet, mostly: My blogging/content-producing energy is being sucked up by WBRU and my social media job, and most exciting news is that I’m on my way to Washington DC to do work on internet policy.
The cooking situation in DC is going to be a little strange. I’m living in a dorm that is equipped with a minifridge and microwave, and my kitchen will be a communal kitchen on my floor. And I’m only bringing one small frying pan, a rectangular cake/casserole pan, a small pot, and a small santoku knife. Oh, and the Magic Bullet blender. Plus, I’ll rely on public transportation, so my lazy ass isn’t carrying anything too heavy. It’ll be like a little experiment in what kinds of half-decent food I can make under these conditions.
Filed under: Shopping Day
Last week, we spent $60 @ Whole Foods and it lasted us exactly one week. I made beef stew, bean & cheese enchiladas, and something else I don’t remember. This week, we spent $57 @ Whole Foods and I’m very excited about this week’s menu. They are all new recipes to try, except for the stir fry of course. The plan is:
Tuesday - Mussels cooked with white wine and chorizo, Italian bread, arugula & beet salad
Wednesday – random veggie stir fry, rice
Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Roasted vegetable stew, spinach salad; maybe dinner out on Friday?
Sunday & Monday – mushroom-pea risotto, some kind of vegetables
We have consistently been spending $60/wk shopping @ Whole Foods, which I didn’t think was much until I added up that it’s $240/month, way up from the $160-ish/month we spent when we were on food stamps. But the food stamps shopping was split with some shopping at the conventional grocery store, which saved a lot of money. So I guess we are eating better, if you count organic and better quality produce as “better.” Our wallets aren’t really hurting from the increase in grocery budget so I guess those two things are all that really matter.
We’ve been trying to tighten up on going out to eat and money spent at bars. It’s only been like 3 weeks, but man it feels like *work*. School has been in session for almost 2 weeks, and I resolved to spend less on buying food during school days. I have not bought a single cup of coffee! I’ve been sticking a tea bag in my purse just in case I need an afternoon caffeine fix. I was so proud of myself when I thought I was doing well, but it hasn’t even been that long. Still, I’m pretty sure I might have saved at least $20 per week, maybe even $30, when I stayed conscious about buying food on campus. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I was spending about $10-$15 lunch once a week, then around $15 on coffee spread throughout the week. Yikes.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Want! A 10-week online course dedicated to Food Writing. I was thinking about taking a Continuing Ed class at RISD, which costs about the same amount, but maybe I could do this instead…
Then again, I might be able to use my AmeriCorps Education award to pay for the RISD class but definitely not the food writing thing.
Filed under: Tips
I always have problem with using up veggies that only come in big quantities – carrots & celery for example. Only once in a blue moon can I find single stalks, and I can never use up a whole bag. I tried freezing extra vegetables before, both raw or cooking first then freezing but it never worked out.
It never occured to me to blanch the vegetables first, then freeze. I even found these guides with instructions for all different types of vegetables. This will also make farmer’s market shopping easier if I can preserve the veggies for just a bit longer.
After holidays, over two weeks of vacation at the in-laws, and an amazing culinary visit to Seattle I’m now ready for “food detox.” Mom cooked meat every day, and we indulged way too much in deliciously rich restaurant meals. It will be lots of low fat and veggie eating for the next couple of weeks.
Plus I have a week before classes start so I’m thinking of doing a round of food & freezer prep. I’m not sure what to call it, but it’s things I never get around to doing but are so convenient once I have done them. Make chicken broth with the bones and veggie scraps I’ve been saving in the freezer, make pasta sauce, make a batch of homemade veggie burgers to freeze, prepare & freeze dried beans, etc. Last semester I was really terrible about buying lunches & bad snacks during the school day, and I am going to change that. I am going to get a leg up by preparing lunch foods at the beginning of the week, and making small portions that I can throw in the freezer and pull out when I need them. I think I’ll start by making mini-burgers and mini-quiches.
