Sundae in the Park

On 5/7/2019 at 5:24 AM, smithhemb said:

Another 99Ranch fan!  There’s one near my parents’ house in CA and I keep a mental list of things I can’t find here to pick up there when I visit.  

That is what I did when I lived in VA and traveled to CA for work! Flying cross-country with groceries is ridiculous and yet I did it, every time.  I got really good at packaging bottles of sauces so they don't break in checked luggage...

!!!!! I ❤️ Ranch 99, though I've only shopped CA locations, and I'm excited for you guys that they made it to the DC metro area!!  I like it especially because of their Chinese/Taiwanese background so, despite being somewhat pan-Asian, they carry all the brands/types of items I grew up eating.

We made pizzas again over the weekend, this time with homemade dough, which is always noticeably less salty than the store-bought dough.  Other oven use included roasted squash and date-walnut muffins.  I made a batch of vegetable stock and used some to make a fairly light chicken corn chowder, which is both springy and warming, so perfect for our "May grey" weather.

Here's an article today from Slate about judging a restaurant from the outside.

Since it's about food I clicked (bait: accepted!) and it was...fine.  The usual tips (curated menu, attention to provenance, matching the restaurant decor/location to mission/theme, long lines, people of the same presented ethnicity eating there, etc.) , which more food-centric folks would already be well familiar with, resonated, albeit weakly because <shrug> we already know all this!  But there was also a judgy section that bugged me - not about restaurants, but diners:

These initial quick judgments usually take a few seconds, at which point we walk over to the posted menu and study it like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here’s what you don’t want to see: everything. This isn’t  a  food court, and while figuring out what you want to do in life is often a long journey for people, restaurants should have this decided far before the menu is printed.

“When it’s too cross-cultural, when it’s too all over the place, that’s an issue. There’s a restaurant I’m thinking of right now that has fettucine Alfredo with your choice of shrimp, chicken, or salmon. You’re like, ‘OK, that’s not a good sign,’ ” says Stowell. “That’s the way people used to eat in the ’80s: They would offer everything for everybody, and let them combine it how they want. But we’ve gone away from that and more toward, ‘We’re going to guide you to what’s good.’ If you’re everything for everybody you’re usually nothing for nobody.”

Emphasis mine, on the lines I thought were unnecessarily reductive.  I know a lot of these people!! They simply don't care about food as much as me, and derive much more of their dining utility from getting things just their way on a (perhaps a rare) night out.  Which is fine, and it doesn't necessarily (but can, and that is also fine!) mean that they don't want high-quality food, or ambiance, or overall experience!  And besides, who, exactly, is the audience for an article about how to pick a restaurant?  People who care a lot about picking a restaurant will already know these very general guidelines or have their own, much more relevant metrics, so those that could most benefit from learning about these ideas to improve their dining experience are likely the very people being (gently, I concede) mocked as being decades out of touch.

Anyway, I probably just wanted to pontificate this morning, but this section of the article really rubbed me the wrong way.  Since I've gotten older, and moved to a more conservative area, and become a parent, etc., I've met and dined with many more types of people (than my City-dwelling, free-wheeling, proto-hipster, semi-rabid insistent days on authenticity and excellence), with lots more (and valid) dining preferences.  I'm much more viscerally aware that more/most of America (especially away from the coasts) is occupied by people who, while more aware of food culture than in the pre-Food Network and Insta days, simply don't give food as much head space as me and are happiest when they can get exactly what they want, when they want.  Holding their preferences in contempt is pointless and mean, and these days more than ever, I think, every kindness counts.

(I'm aware that I am more sensitive to this perhaps perceived issue because I lost a friend back in the day after a meal at a wonderful DC restaurant during which I was, mostly unwittingly, a total a** about her food choices and naiveté, and I really wish I could go back and smack 20something me for being a jerk.)

22 hours ago, Bob Wells said:

For me the attraction at Heidelberg is the bread. Not only is the variety impressive, but the rye breads such as the corn rye are easily some of the best I've had since the sissel breads of my youth in RI. The breads with various other seeds are really good too.

The hamantaschen are excellent too, available year round, and I am pretty sure they even have mun (poppy seed paste) in addition to the apricot and raspberry filled. Maybe even the nontraditional chocolate?

We've also enjoyed various of the pastries, such as the cream cheese slabs with blueberries and other ooey-gooey delights.

Ooooh, this brings back memories.  When I lived within walking distance this was once of my favorite places to pop in and grab a treat, especially on the weekends when they pulled out the grill cart (pure genius for getting people to follow their noses!).  Are they still doing periodic open houses?  Those were the best and included tours of the workspace and lots of samples. 

The kids both really like brothy soups.  The Little especially likes to drink up "Chinese style," holding up the bowl to his face and slurping away. Other than dropping the bowl, this method of eating is typically less messy than his usual excited spoon-waving shenanigans.  Both, however, will magically leave behind pretty much all the solids except for noodles (even if they like the solids in other forms) and also refuse to eat the soup entirely if it too thick/pureed.  All this is to say that the Little had a version of egg drop soup last night which was successful mostly because I didn't make it with many egg ribbons/shreds (as is my preference), instead incorporating the egg more fully into the broth kind of like Greek lemon soup, and the Big opted for chicken and rice (which we were also having) because there were no noodles available. 

We made more grilled chicken this weekend, plus a pot of chili and a batch of chicken korma curry.

Yesterday I made West Lake soup (more or less this recipe, with the addition of chopped shitake mushrooms) for the first time, since I wanted something simple, brothy, and without a lot of alliums, per consideration of the sick folks in my house.  I had been thinking about trying my hand at it ever since we had a disappointing version at a restaurant a few weeks ago (virtually no flavor, not enough egg, meat, or cilantro, too much tofu).  I think it is interesting that the main meat choices are either lean beef or white fish, as they are not usually considered as substitutes!  But it is correct - I've had both iterations at restaurants that tasted great.  I cheated and used ground instead of minced beef and it came out pretty well and was really easy!  It's a nice change of pace to add to the soup repertoire. I also sauteed up some eggplant with black bean sauce (still not using enough basil, argh) and roasted some vegetables to serve with a pot of rice.

The new LA law is not a ban per se, like in SF or Malibu, but it does affect fast food restaurants, so it is more restrictive than the state-wide bill passed last year. So far in Ventura County in sit-down places I've noticed that servers ask if I want a straw (not in compliance with the law, which says the customer has to ask and went into effect on January 1 this year), but I don't usually use them so haven't felt much of a difference.  In the more bougie areas (i.e., places with electric scooters scattered about like Santa Monica, UCLA-ish, etc.), it seems like they've already switched to paper/other reusable straws and have continued to just give them out.

Ok Pat, now I want really want some lamb!

Last night we had grilled chicken thighs served with rice and green beans stir-fried with egg. Also, sliced cucumbers and pineapple.  

Only food adjacent but this listicle (27 Tweets that Sum Up Costco Shopping When You're in a Relationship) is SO TRUE, made me and my hubs LOL today, and so I thought I'd share 😉 

Amazon has a sale on All-clad sets today (only).

On 4/23/2019 at 7:00 AM, ktmoomau said:

Has anyone found a cheddar cheese at Costco that isn't super crumbly?

Not big wedges but my Costco has the white cheddar Babybels (on sale this cycle!) that aren't very crumbly, if you are looking for a transportable snacking cheese.  It is definitely a mild and not a sharp cheddar flavor. I do prefer the originals, which are a kind of Edam cheese, though they don't actually taste extremely different to me. 

At my Costco the Babybels aren't with the fancier wedge cheeses near the meat anymore, but with the large quantity shredded/string cheese in the yogurt/cold juice section.  The moved them when I was pregnant and dependent on Babybels as a low-carb snack, so was really upset that they might have stopped carrying them and super relieved when I found them again.

Wanted to mention that I always get the large jars of Better than Bullion @ Costco when they are available because they are a great deal.  I haven't seen the big block of yeast in a while, but am keeping an eye out. 

Easterish items from yesterday were a giant batch of hot cross buns and chicken marsala with soooo many mushrooms.

Other cooking from the weekend included a batch of spaghetti and meat sauce, a chicken/bean/corn enchilada bake (casserole version of enchiladas), impromptu corn chowder when I couldn't bear to throw away the corn cobs without making some broth, and roasted squash.

Camarillo

The Waypoint Cafe  is a nicer All-American breakfast/lunch place that has quite a bit to recommend - it's at our teeny airport so you can watch the Cessnas land and take off, and has an outdoor seating and grassy waiting area where you can have drinks, take in the views, and wait to be seated.  That wait, however, is its biggest drawback, especially at weekend brunchtime, when it can take literally hours to top the list. The food is good (especially on tri-tip days, when they are grilling on the deck and making the neighborhood drool) but not that good, and there is no way to make reservations.  My town seems to have an unnatural fascination with breakfast dining (seriously. There is a wait everywhere on the weekends all morning long), and the wait here is exacerbated by the fact that friends of the house can count on cutting the line. Still, when I can pop over on a weekday before the lunch rush begins, it's a nice place to meet a friend amongst the chatty din, grab a milkshake/mimosa (or both!) with your choice of brunchy treats, and settle in for a while (which doesn't help the wait of the folks after you...).  The price point is higher but generally worthwhile for the loaded plates of pretty food, and the wait staff absolutely hustle - no complaints there at all.

The Hidden Cafe is a different animal, except for the wait.  It's a joint serving up breakfast/lunch classics with a few California / Hawaiian twists (loco moco is often/always? a special). At least one person at our table always gets the chicken-n-waffles and their omelette/eggs/pancakes, etc. game is solid. It's smaller, more crowded, the tables are closer together, and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly but not primed for lingering.  It's cheaper, faster, at the opposite end of town, and always packed. 

There are a bunch of other breakfast/brunch places in town, but I'd say these are both the best and most popular. 

Greek Cuisine, which has a terrible location in the Trader Joe's plaza (you can't park right in front and it's not visible from the parking lot) and a small, utilitarian dining room, serves up a really good gyro and has warm, efficient staff. I can't speak to the rest of the classically Greek menu because I always get the gyro, which comes loaded with well-seasoned, plump and juicy (freshly sliced, of course, and warmed on the flat-top until the edges crisp a bit) meat and nicely balanced tzatziki sauce. My husband likes their desserts, which are served in big portions. 

I heard that my favorite ice cream shop, Portland-based Salt & Straw, recently opened up a location at Disney (the Downtown Disney District, anyway) and when I went to check their website, WHOA!! I knew they had come to the LA area in the past few years, but had no idea that they had so many locations up (hopefully) booming: 6 spots in greater LA, including Disney, 4 in San Francisco, 2 in San Diego, and 2 in Seattle, in addition to the 5 Oregon locations. 

The flavors are inventive, delicious, and ever-evolving, the ice cream itself is silky and lip-smackingly thick and rich, and, OMG, they deliver to your door and even have subscription clubs!!  Highly recommended if you get a chance to stop by and worth the nearly inevitable wait.

So I've been really delighted by the variety of less sugar or calorie / sugar free ice creams available today but generally disappointed with the taste (both mouthfeel and flavor) of said products. Some are better and many are worse, but none live up to even the junkiest kind of regular ice cream, at least for me.  Instead, portion control seems to be the best approach, and we've really been liking the Blue Bunny mini swirls, which are small, pre-filled, chocolate-dipped cones a la classic drumsticks treats. The vanilla mini swirls have 140 calories and 16 g. carbs, of which 11 g. are sugars (the other flavors have slightly more carbs).  Not bad for a decent-tasting treat, and easy to count, since 15 g. carbs is usually counted as 1 serving or "exchange."  Also good for little hands and tummies if you have kids!!  They have a less-sugar line called "Sweet Freedom," but if you compare the nutritional info, there are way fewer sugars (2 g.) but still 17 g. carbohydrates (though far fewer net carbs because there are 2 g. of fiber and 6 g. of sugar alcohols).  When I get a chance to try them I will, for comparison, but in general I don't like the taste of sugar alcohols, and would prefer to just eat less of the real stuff, so it's nice to know about the regular cones. Just thought I'd share my ice cream musings 😉

Both kids refused to eat the jap chae (sweet potato noodles, tossed with garlic-sauteed beef, mushrooms, and zoodled squash/zucchini/carrots, and soy sauce, brown sugar, onion powder, and sesame oil) when it was fresh on Tuesday night (though they've liked it in the past), but GUESS WHO wanted it all when I pulled it out for my own dinner last night, hmmmmm? And after they had both supposedly eaten a full meal of quesadillas before I got home! Plus they also wanted to share an apple! Nutritionally / palate-wise I was delighted but it was annoying that my dinner was relegated to various fridge scraps after they gobbled up Every.Single.Bite.

On 4/16/2019 at 12:12 AM, TrelayneNYC said:

Spaghetti with scallops, garlic, parsley and hot pepper, from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan, pages 185-186.

1/2 kg deep sea scallops or bay scallops
olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
30 g chopped parsley
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt
cooked spaghetti
toasted breadcrumbs

This is probably my favorite pasta recipe in that book. It's much better than the tomato-butter-onion sauce in my opinion.

Oooooooh, this looks beautiful and doable! How much flavor would you say comes from the brininess of the scallops? Would a sub for chicken be too bland?

Over the weekend we made a vegetarian Thai red curry (cauliflower, eggplant, red peppers, and mushrooms) that didn't suffer at all from the lack of our usual chicken. Similarly, we made a vegetarian good things salad (sauteed corn and peppers, black beans, cherry tomatoes, avocados, with cilantro-cumin vinaigrette.  I had run out of chix breasts in the freezer and didn't feel like running out to grab more, and these recipes weren't hurt a bit.  A good reminder that meat isn't always necessary, especially when you already have such strong flavors going on.  The good things salad is great as a hearty dip with tortilla chips or even Doritos!!

Yesterday I made a batch of curried cauliflower soup, which was way too bland. I'd run out of broth/stock so used water and bullion instead and it was meh (also, I forgot to sweat the aromatics first and boiled onion does basically nothing).  A potato thickened it up nicely but the flavor is begging   More successfully, we made a batch of grilled gochujang chicken thighs, jap chae, brownies, roasted asparagus and squash, and pan de yuca ("cheesy bread").  We happened to have some friends over and the adults ate everything except the soup (that's gonna be all me, sigh) while the kids ate a few bites of cheesy breads, the contents of the fruit bowl (" Who wants a banana? Some apple? An orange? Avocados? The rest of the frozen blueberries?"), chips, yogurt, and many brownies.

Note that I haven't checked the sources of this content but the carb counts I was familiar with seemed to check out, so thought to share this visual representation of types of foods with more/less carbs from the Diet Doctor website that I found quite interesting and memorable.  Darn it, cashews for being so delicious!!! Turns out almonds might really be a better choice.

The alcohols, sauces, and different representations of various carb counts were particularly neat.  Nothing earth-shattering, just good visuals. 

The Big has been very picky about dinner lately (as in, refusing to eat anything we have on the table) but remains very focused on treat acquisition. So for the past few days he has been eating a small plate of cucumbers (the one true vegetable) and whatever sliced fruit we have lying around.  All to get a piece of Halloween (yes, he's still working on his Halloween candy as we approach Easter, and he didn't Trick-Or-Treat all THAT much) candy.  Eh, whatever, fine.  

Turns out that I do not care for corned beef.  My mom made a classic-sounding preparation by cooking it with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.  The veg and resulting soup were fine but the meat was too soft and weirdly salty yet not (I do NOT think this was the cook's fault!).  For someone that grew up near Boston I can't believe this is my first time having it, but I think I would have remembered...perhaps I tried it when was young and then blocked it out?  Eh, not for me.

Earlier this week/weekend (missed the site while it was down!) we made various pizzas, still more chicken tenders, lentil soup, and turkey-spinach potstickers.

1 hour ago, ktmoomau said:

I was given the leftover tray of crudite from an event- because they knew I would use it- ahhhh.  I mean I likely will, but still, the pressure.

Worst-case, you could just freeze the stuff you can use in soup/stock. I used to have celery guilt because I could never use up a whole bunch before it went bad (heh, we don't really like celery except in soup). BUT!! I figured out that I can save it for later and alleviate all guilt! If I have a little time/the cutting board out already, I dice the stalks so they are ready to be dumped into any mirepoix. If I have no time/energy to deal with it, I just rinse and freeze and throw into a stockpot sometime later. Most of the things that don't freeze well probably roast well so could be made with minimal effort.

Last night we had zucchini fritters with a sour cream sauce, since we were out of yogurt.  So rich!

54 minutes ago, Pat said:

Last night was chicken breasts (dredged in seasoned flour and cooked in some oil in a skillet), green beans with lemon and butter, and macaroni and cheese enhanced with some of the hot pepper compote left from the plantain dish. We also had cole slaw and crostini (olive oil, garlic, Parmesan). Adding the compote added a spark to the mac and cheese.

Similar!  Over the weekend we made a lot of baked chicken tenders (that had been marinated with soy, wine, onion powder, and sesame oil), and then last night we had pretty much the same thing but pan-fried.  Both were good but obviously the fried were better.

We've also sauteed a couple heads of cabbage that were lingering after St. Patty's Day sales. The butter-sauteed-soft cabbage was better than the cabbage lightly cooked in some the leftover chicken-frying oil.

Last night we also made a coconut-chicken curry with carrots, potatoes, and onions, eaten with rice or parathas.

15 hours ago, reedm said:

Sous vide tri-tip was amazing.

I am intrigued - do you mind sharing details? How big was your tri-tip? Trimmed or untrimmed? 

22 hours ago, dracisk said:

My daughter blew through a bunch of yogurt recently, so when yogurt was on sale at Costco I stocked up. Now she doesn't want yogurt. 😭

Siggi's Icelandic yogurt was on sale last week so I bought a whole fridge drawerful to forestall another literal fistfight that ensued when apportioning the last one and...yep, no one likes it anymore, apparently. And I am NOT eating triple-cream yogurt, no matter how delicious it is.

20 hours ago, leleboo said:

Although my favorite was, "I don't like chicken anymore!" So what do you want for dinner instead of this chicken I'm serving? "Chicken noodle soup?" 🤦‍♀️

18 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

WTF with the not liking chicken. I call BS on that.

Hahahaha, yeah. Sigh.