Snack Jail Release Program: Taste the Cairo

I hope you've been following the "Escape from Snack Jail" site that chronicles my efforts to clean up my infamous, glass-walled Snack Jail -- home to uneaten, old, scary, and odd snacks. Not everything is worthy of a post on this site, so I've been sharing quick pics and notes about that release program on Tumblr. Everyone's getting off with "time served!" But eating it takes time and focus, so it's a slow process.



I released a particularly special friend yesterday -- these Cheesy Cheese Pringles came back with us from our trip to Egypt ages ago. I can't tell where they were actually made, as most of the writing on the package is Arabic, but we picked them up in Cairo before flying home. They've held up really well.

The flavor is pretty basic cheese, but with a sort of hidden mystery note -- almost yeasty or what I imagine the background of marmite might be (side note: when will I remember to try marmite?!). In the English ingredients list I see buttermilk powder and onion powder, which I think contribute to this slightly "thick" cheesiness.

Speaking of the ingredients, anyone know what "nature-identical cheese flavour" would be?  The incomplete explanation given in parentheses is, "composed of cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese out of non-animal enzymes." Sounds a bit iffy to me.

Still, I approve of Cheesy Cheese! What's your favorite international Pringles flavor?

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Chicago or not, here I come.

So, somebody tell me -- do Chicagoans really eat their cheese popcorn mixed with caramel corn (and vice versa)? I'd like to check into whether it's accurate to call this blend by G. H. Cretors a "Chicago Mix."

True or not, this might be my new favorite bagged popcorn. I bought it to go with the particularly nice BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato) sandwich I ordered for lunch, but continued eating it long after the sandwich was gone. 



I probably don't need to tell you this, but the cheesiness of the cheddar popcorn goes really well with the sweetness of the caramel kernels. Moreover, both flavors on their own taste like quality corn.

Despite my effort to save some for another snacking occasion (and for Dan to try), I've almost finished the bag now, so it lasted about 6 hours. I guess you could say its life was short and sweet. And cheesy.

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New Breed

It seems like the Union Square Subway (sandwich place, not train station) is my place to spot new flavors of Sun Chips. I found another one there last week. This variety, Sun Chips 6 Grain Medley Parmesan Herb, claims to contain "corn, wheat, oats, brown rice, buckwheat, [and] quinoa."

They tasted like parmesan, sure. Herbs, too, I guess, in that indiscriminate "flavored chips" way. But quinoa? Buckwheat? That's a stretch.

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No Line? So Fine.

The problem with the original Shake Shack in Madison Square Park is that the lines are almost always ridiculously long.  When it opened in 2004, I was working nearby and managed to get in on the ground floor of the phenomenon.  The frozen custard "concretes," which are like Blizzards, and cheese fries were my special loves.  But as the lines grew longer, I stopped going.  I wasn't going to give up most of an hour-long lunch break waiting to place my order.  The food is good, but not good enough to justify the wait. 



Now, Shake Shack is expanding across this city and into others.  Until today, I had yet to try any of the new locations.  I guess I assumed the long line in Madison Square would be replicated at each.  But, happily, I see that I was wrong.  After an early afternoon at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (closed to the public on Mondays, but I have a hook-up!) seeing, among other things, the Alexander McQueen retrospective, we walked over to the Shake Shack on 86th Street.  It was about 4pm, so perhaps the time was a factor, but there was no line at all!



Dan's burger was good, he reported. My fried mushroom burger, filled with gooey melted cheese and topped with crisp onion and tomato and lettuce and pickles, was excellent.  The cheese fries were fresh, warm, and swell.  Dan's root beer didn't disappoint.  My lemonade was perfect. Our Coffee Bean Brownie (coffee-caramel-brownie-vanilla) concrete was sweet and smooth.  And, to make things even better, there was outdoor seating in a public plaza adjacent to the restaurant.  And the bathroom had a changing station.  Golly! What an afternoon of happy flavors and thoughts!



So maybe I won't wait in line for it, but I will take the train.

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Afeared

I was too scared to try these.  Or maybe "worried and suspicious" would be more accurate than "scared."

Since when can one buy cheesy fries at Burger King, anyway?  If it's not for sale at the "restaurant," why brand it and sell it at the bodega?

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Photo Essay: Our Baby Shower (February)

Host: Rachel





Spread: Cheese Fondue with fruit and vegetables, pickles, spice cake. I enjoyed the food so much I didn't get any photos of myself, and very few photos of any of the guests!




Decorations: Tissue paper garland (made by me), flowers and butterflies (made and donated by FEAST organizers).  Flowers.




Activity: Draw a picture for our homemade alphabet book!



Thanks, friends!
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Fast Snack: Tuna Salad on Crackers

Dan makes a wicked tuna salad.  This one, assembled for tuna melts the other night, was heavy on the onions. I added a sprinkling of cheddar left over from breakfast and ate it on crackers this afternoon.

Disclaimer: Yes, pregnant women shouldn't eat too much tuna.  There's a debate raging about whether they should eat any at all.  The most extreme opinion I've read is that NO woman of "child-bearing age" (!!!) should eat tuna.  I'm pretty careful (and choose light tuna when buying it for myself), but decided I was unwilling to give it up completely.

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The Cookbook Challenge: Book One

For a couple of years, I've been wanting to prove to myself that the many cookbooks I've hoarded (about a quarter of which can be viewed in the photo above) are good for something.  I do cook regularly from a number of them, but there are others that just hang out in the kitchen as novelty items.  Far too often, I turn the internet when looking for a new recipe to try.  I know this is, in part, because it is much easier to search for specific ingredients on my computer, but I love quite a few of the cookbooks I've collected -- even ones I don't use often.  They do take up space, though, and I should probably use them or lose (at least a few of) them.

I thought perhaps I would create a challenge in which I attempt to make at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks (and books of "food writing" that include recipes) over the course of a year.  This may help me decide which cookbooks to get rid of, but it might also clue me in to some new favorites.  As a bonus, this could also create some entertaining blog content (for you!) along the way.



For my first book in the challenge, I chose The New York Times Large Type Cookbook (by Jean Hewitt; illustrations by Maida Silverman. Golden Press, NY, 1968).  I don't remember exactly where I picked this up (as will be the case with many of my second-hand sources), but for some reason I was drawn to the format.  The recipes are fairly basic in an appealing way (large print makes everything look easier!), and the illustrations are spare but sweet.



This morning, I made up a dish of the cookbook's: 

Boone Tavern Spoon Bread
 (note: recipe instructions have been paraphrased)

1 1/4 c. white cornmeal
3 c. milk, rapidly boiling
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt (you could ease off the salt a tad, I think)
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 T. melted butter, cooled


Once the milk is boiling (be careful, as it can easily boil over in a too-small pot), add the cornmeal and stir constantly until it is well-mixed and thick.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Preheat oven to 375 F. 


When cooled, stir cornmeal mixture into other ingredients.  Mix (I used a stand mixer) at high speed for 10-15 minutes, or until smooth.  Spread in a pie plate or casserole dish (1-1 1/2 qt capacity).  Bake in oven for 30 minutes.  Serve with melted butter (or cheese or hot sauce or sour cream, I thought, with bacon on the side).  The cookbook specifies that this should be eaten with a fork, which tickled me.  It's "spoon" bread, after all!





I hope you appreciated my "large print" homage.

Spoon bread is like a corn bread casserole.  I found the recipe plain but filling, which seems true to the aesthetic and contents of this cookbook.  I have a hunch, flipping through it, that there are other things in this volume I would enjoy making and eating.  The New York Times Large Type Cookbook is staying on the "keep" pile for now.



How many cookbooks do I have, anyway?  I'm taking bets.

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Where'd they all go?

Happy Herbert's Cruncheezy things look like a healthier alternative to Cheetos. Taste good, too.

Oops. I ate the whole 4.5 oz. bag in one sitting.  So much for "healthier."

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Emergency Snacks on Hand

Sometimes, when I'm riding on the subway or in an elevator, I think to myself, "How long could I live on the food I'm carrying with me if I got stuck?"

I cleaned out my bag this morning and discovered a number of snack items (plus a water bottle, Tylenol, and vitamins) -- Clif Bar, peanuts, cheese, and an apple.  As hungry as I've been lately, this wouldn't last too long, but I'll ride the elevator without fear this afternoon.

So, what's edible in your bag?

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Too much relaxing

What is it about vacations that mess up my blogging flow?  I should be more productive with more time off.  I took my laptop with me on this latest trip (over July 4th weekend) and everything!

Anyway, I was only in Pittsburgh for three and a half days, but I did a lot of eating there that I need to report on.  Not to mention that I'm behind in chronicling all the CSA veggies I've been eating at home (when it's not too blazing hot to cook, which it has been several nights).

Above is a new treat Anna and I discovered at the Pittsburgh farmer's market -- fresh goat chevre and swell jam (strawberry in this case) on a graham cracker.  You should try it.

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C is for...

Cheese farm -- September Cheese Farm in Honey Brook, PA, to be exact, where the staff is pleasant and the samples are many.  Try the spring onion cheese (alas, sold out when we were there)!  Try the bacon cheese spread on an almond cracker!






Cheese Curds -- These have been a favorite of mine since childhood.  We bought plain (unflavored) and roasted garlic cheese curds.  They should squeak when you chew them.  That's how you know they're good.  Also, my parents say if you leave them in the fridge a little too long and they start to lose savor, just zap them in the microwave for a few seconds.




Cute Cat with three paws who lives at the Cheese farm:


shoes by Marais

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Another Ladies' Night

In general, I'm not in favor of events that are designed to be "women only" or "just the boys," but I do love to hang out with my female friends -- and I don't mind if we just happen to do so without the husbands/fiances/boyfriends/guy friends every so often.

Several weeks ago, Rachel and Steph and I checked out a relatively new wine bar in the neighborhood.  Called The Counting Room, their small plates menu is pretty inspiring.  Rachel and I enjoyed deviled eggs with mustard and lemon, and all three of us shared a lavishly appointed 5-cheese plate.



We also drank a couple of half-carafes of wine (2 varieties), but I didn't bother to note which ones we ordered.  My apologies, etc., but you should know me by now (unless you're just joining the blog).  I'm not as into the alcohol as the savory snacks. My mind strayed to, then stayed on the food.  

I can't wait to go back to try the "warm bag of croutons" that I ordered (but which they forgot to bring me).

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Why can't now be always?

Moments like these, in weather like this, with loved ones and sage cheese and a Hartford white wine, make me wish it were Friday all over again.  But it's Monday, and I suppose I should just treasure the hours that do remain before I have to be back at work.

Spuyten Duyvil
359 Metropolitan Ave
(between 4th St & Havemeyer St)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 963-4140

Hey, Brooklyn! Don't let my Baba die.

I don't like taking photos of my meal in restaurants. I don't want to be "that blogger" when I'm eating out. I don't want to disturb other diners, call attention to myself, annoy the staff, or delay my own eating. Plus, the light's usually too dim (and I would sooner perish than use flash in a restaurant). But my desire to avoid restaurant photography creates only a guideline, not a prohibition.

I took the above picture midway through my first dinner at Baba because I knew I'd have to write a blog post about it. No one else was eating there that night, at least during the course of our meal, and I got worried. The food is too good and the staff too friendly (and it's too conveniently located) for it not to survive.

Initially, I was a little unsure about the place. I took a sewing class there last year, back when it was a boutique called Maiden Hong Kong, and I felt loyal to MHK's owner and identity. I was sad when MHK closed its doors, and only somewhat cheered up when I heard that "a cheese shop" was moving in. But Baba didn't shut down Maiden Hong Kong, and I do like cheese, so how could I penalize this lovely little restaurant/cheese shop/specialty grocery?

I say it's part grocery, but that's not a large part. The few shelves with dry goods don't take long to browse. We went for dinner, and I fell deeply for the food and the friendly staff. Someone cooked me a chicken leg torchon, which was like moist medallions of meat sauteed in something wonderful (I'm guessing butter) until crispy on top. I also had a heavenly polenta (again, crispy on top) and some bitter chicory sauteed with garlic. Dan ate pork with burst grapes and something-else-that-I-didn't-pay-much-attention-to-because-my-food-was-so-good. I really think the chef must love cooking. And eating. And me.

The prices are perhaps a touch high for the neighborhood, but the food was so charming, and cooked with such evident care, that I want Baba to survive and thrive. I want to make it a neighborhood joint. I could realize my dreams of becoming a "regular" here, with a little time and care. But I need you to help me.

So, please eat there. I mean, don't go crazy (I'd like to be able to get a table without an overlong wait), but if you're in the neighborhood you've probably been to Dumont a hundred times already. Think before you retrace your footsteps to another "same old" place. Try something new! Preferably this something new. And then tell me all about what you ate and what you think about what you ate.

Baba is at the intersection of Powers and Lorimer, just so you know, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If you're not in the neighborhood, but you can get to the G or L train easily, I suggest you take one of those subway lines to the Lorimer/Metropolitan stop and then walk over to get dinner (or meat or cheese, if you're not that hungry) at Baba. Let's all do what we can so I can keep eating there.

p.s. As this blog post went to press, Baba waitstaff were in the habit of distributing strong, chewy, tiny licorice drops at the conclusion of each meal. Remember how I don't like licorice (mostly)? It's growing on me.

Cheez-Whats?

I'm not suggesting that Parmesan & Garlic Cheez-Its would be anywhere near as good as my favorite Hot & Spicy Green Tabasco flavor, but I was intrigued by this display.

I'd never seen or heard of the Parmesan & Garlic variety before (these were spotted at a Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh, PA). Has anyone tried them?

In Print | In Process | Snacking with Dan Funderburgh

A week ago, I was able to attend Dan's first public talk and demonstration, In Print | In Process: Dan Funderburgh. The event was held at the Museum of Arts & Design here in NYC, in conjunction with American Craft magazine (there's an article on Dan in the latest issue). I'm biased, but I'm also insightful, and I say he presented with integrity and wit to the overflowing house.





The talk and demonstration were fun (and informative!), but I especially enjoyed our overpriced dinner and drinks at Ace Hotel NY afterward. Friends gathered in the hotel bar and lobby both to congratulate Dan and to celebrate tall-and-talented-drink-of-water Brock's birthday.





The hotel's atmosphere was jovial -- and not, as I'd feared, snooty -- but my grilled cheese and ham sandwich was the shining star. It was splendiferous (of course, at $16, it should have been) -- hot and crunchy and melted cheesy, served with a few incredible cornichons and a fab spicy mustard for dipping. Cheese, pickles, and mustard are three of my favorite things, individually or together.



The only dark spots on the evening?

• Dan's (chicken?) sandwich was a little less exciting than mine (but I liked mine too much to go halvsies).
• The waitress said she couldn't make me a white Russian. (You're a trendy hotel with a kitchen and full bar. You don't have milk or cream back there somewhere?)
• Our sandwiches and drinks came to $80-something. (We were only there an hour or two.)

I wouldn't call those spots too dark, though. They were more like flickers of wrong in the midst of a whole lot of right.

Congratulations again, Dan! I can't wait for my next opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments with terrific food.

Reunited, and it CHEESE so good (this pun isn't working).

'Tis the season for cheese grits and vitamins (multi-, calcium, and fish oil) and cranberry juice and Martha Stewart Living's holiday issue.

I once made cheese grits myself, with a recipe from Paula Deen, but she calls for so much cheese (24 oz) that I discovered I actually have a limit to how much cheese I can eat in a dish. I wouldn't have guessed it, but her mixture is super-saturated and then some. "Too much cheese," I was surprised to hear myself shout.

The cheese grits pictured above are a better balance 'tween cheese and "grit." I picked them up from Whole Foods in Union Square, where they have returned as a selection on the breakfast bar (they were missing for a time). A little salt and pepper make them quite good.

If that Whole Foods would just reinstall their smoothie counter, this store and I might become close friends again. Still, these creamy, mild cheese grits are a kind gesture.

Snacks for Dinner

Milk, Greek yogurt with raw honey, Muenster cheese, Kalamata olives, golden delicious apple, spicy salami.

The fax we didn't throw away.

Agnes and Eva's Tasty Goods opened nine weeks ago on 13th Street, between 2nd and 3rd avenues. I don't often make my way to that block during my searches for lunch in Union Square.

When I finally did get way over there yesterday, it was because someone had faxed "a thousand" (so the woman behind the counter told me) menus to area offices. Ours was one of those offices.

We receive a lot of junky faxes, as well as menus shoved under our door (which I enjoy immediately shoving back), but Wendi, our Admin Queen, usually tosses them into the recycling bin immediately. This menu caught her eye, though, and she kept it. Moreover, she kept it on her desk, where I spotted it. And that banal chain of events led me to Agnes and Eva's.

It is a cute establishment, a few steps down from the street. It was nearly empty at 2:30 pm, with ample space for people to sit and eat or drink -- with friends, books, laptops, or their thoughts. The place was a casual cross between a coffee shop and a cafe, with a reasonably priced menu and excellent, super-tart, pulpy lemonade. My drink and an order of baked-to-order three cheese macaroni and cheese cost pennies under $10, which is good for the neighborhood. The service was friendly and swift (I had called ahead, as the macaroni takes 15-20 minutes).

I think I'll return to Agnes and Eva's to try a dessert and a chai latte, or to enjoy a sandwich with a bottle of MASH Water (which I've never had). It's good to have another lunch option near Union Square, and it's nice to have a little bit of luck with an unbidden fax.