#I also love how they just casually eat horseradish

[meanpersonaart]

I'm currently re-reading the Witcher Saga and I am at the point when Regis invites Geralt and company to his little hut and they eat horsemeat, horseradish and drink mandrake moonshine and the whole time I am like GIRLLLL DINNNEREER

[thisislizheather]

June Jaunts 2021

July always feels like one big long nap to me. There’s never really anything going on, kids are off school, adults seem to work less, it’s kind of great in that way. Maybe I won’t hate it this year? In any case, here’s what went down in June.

I compiled the best tweets of June over here and here.

I visited and wrote about the new Rockaway Hotel and pool.

I did Nathan’s podcast amidst his hiatus.

I recapped what I did from my spring list and made an upcoming summer to-do list, which I really encourage you to do on your own.

I read and reviewed The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Archor.

I’ve almost finished watching Living Single and seasons one through four are definitely the best ones. Love the episode where Kyle says goodbye to an old jazz venue that gets demolished, such a solid show.

I just saw the latest issue of the LCBO magazine and someone needs to pick me up that dill pickle vodka immediately.

Dying over how good the Strawberry Pound Cake candle smells from Bath & Body Works. Also picked up the Whipped Coffee candle for later this year from their semi-annual sale.

I went on an impromptu day trip to Connecticut.

I met up with Irene in Chinatown so I went early to walk around because man, I love that area.

Above Photo: Chinatown NYC, June 2021

Above Photo: Doyers Street, Chinatown NYC, June 2021

Above Photo: Irene!

Above Photo: Me!

I ate at dell’anima and it was insanely disappointing. It felt like being in a cafeteria at the mall, it’s just a terrible location. I wasn’t expecting much since I knew it was on 11th Avenue, but still. I had no idea it would be so deeply casual (which is upsetting for an NYC restaurant). The food was as average as could be. Also, can we stop with the plastic cups at restaurants? It’s time.

I also stopped by Anfora which is a pleasant little spot, especially before or after dinner.

I went to Daily Provisions and tried their roast beef sandwich and salted caramel brownie and does everywhere just suck this month? And I support Danny Meyer, but he truly is the master of overpricing food. Also - on what planet can a brownie taste bland?? Tell me??

I’m on the lash extension train again (I know, I’m weak) and I just got them done at Lash Princess in the city and they look incredible so I’m definitely going to return.

I rewatched Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding and yep, still great.

Love the stationary/toy store Modern State on the Upper East Side.

I’ve heard about cotton candy grapes for years and have never been able to get ahold of them, but I just found them and whoa! Everything you want them to be and more. Am I bothered by the fact that they’re 1000% modified and MUST be terrible for humans to eat? A bit.

I finally ate the Wednesday sandwich special at Mama’s Too on the Upper West Side and it was pretty incredible. It was a roast beef au jus with horseradish cream on top of their house-made pizza crust. It was a little heavy on the fatty pieces of meat, but once those were taken out, it was insanity to eat. Take a look.

Above Photo: Roast beef au jus with horseradish cream at Mama’s Too, NYC

We saw A Quiet Place 2 in theatres and yes it’s an okay movie but it was too suspenseful for me after not seeing a movie in theatres for so long. I don’t think I want any more suspense in my life

We also watched The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It at home and meh. Patrick Wilson can still get it, though.

Yet another great song off of Olivia Rodrigo’s album.

I finally got a reservation at Forsythia and it was looooovely, I can’t wait to go again. The restaurant itself is beautiful and such a perfect date place, the chairs are gorgeous and comfortable, the service was flawless and the pastas were phenomenal (the garganelli was a standout for sure). And god knows how much I love a place that serves their bread with olive oil as well as butter, WHY DOESN’T EVERY PLACE DO THIS?

I had to try the panzanella salad at L’Artusi and of course it’s great, but it’s also just so genius to put the cheese ON THE BOTTOM of a salad like this one. (Also, I’ll forever support whatever this team wants to do.)

Above Photo: Heirloom Tomato & Burrata Panzanella with Stonefruit, Sourdough, Basil, Yuza, Nigella at L’Artusi, NYC

Above Photo: Bucatini with Pancetta, Tomato, Chiles, Pecorino at L’Artusi, NYC

I tried the new Milk Bar cookies at Whole Foods and they truly taste like the cake truffles at their stores, so watch out.

The two best gelato flavours at il laboratorio del gelato? 1) Peach 2) Ginger. I’m telling you.

I’ve been looking for the perfect navy raincoat for years and I finally found her at J. Crew on sale for $71.

I tried the gelato at Anita Gelato and even though the wild strawberry with ricotta & mascarpone was really good, there’s no way it’s worth waiting in line for twenty minutes.

Above Photo: Wild strawberry with ricotta & mascarpone with a vanilla scoop, Anita Gelato in NYC

A great piece, with great photos on NYC reopening.

I made hash browns at home and does everyone do this already? It’s ridiculously easy and satisfying and I had no idea.

I’ve been on a real orzo bender lately and this tomato one was great. So was this lemon basil one (I added a ton of fresh parmesan and it was nuts).

This sketch is old, but I just saw it for the first time and man it’s great.

The new Halloween trailer is out and I want to love it but can’t we just let some things die?

This Target candle reminds me of Florida vacations and I want to buy ten.

I stupidly ate at Eataly (don’t do it, especially if you live in New York, you should know better) and of course it was bad. What a smart idea to eat at a place called Le Pizza & La Pasta, I’m a moron. Even smarter, I got the steak tartare and it was as bland as the day is long (and look I know I’m a clown for not even ordering pizza OR pasta when it’s in the name). The basil vodka cocktail was pretty good, though.

One thing that Eataly is good for, though, is selling really good dried pastas. I finally tried the brand Afeltra (the pasta as well as their canned tomatoes) and wowza. Definitely will be buying again. Best dried brand I’ve tried so far. Oh! I also bought this Ponti Balsamic Vinegar that tastes like candy, it’s so good. It’s thicker than other balsamics, so maybe it’s more of a finishing vinegar but I highly recommend.

I made these white chocolate apricot scones (and then later that week some white chocolate strawberry scones) and they were phenomenal. I did use cake flour because that’s all I had and I think that might be the reason they tasted so great. Also, it’s a wildly easy recipe to follow incase you’re intimidated by the word “scone.”

Above Photo: White chocolate apricot scone

I started watching the new season of Dave and it’s so well done I could scream (do you remember how good this part was from last season?). Such a good show. I do sort of hate men more by the end of each episode, so I don’t know what that’s about but I think I’m okay with it.

Bought a new nonstick frying pan (the GreenPan) and it’s incredible. Sometimes the answer is new cookware, no matter the question.

Nathan bought a new filtered shower-head and it’s making me excited for every shower now. Just a powerhouse. Feels like I’m at a hotel in there.

Since it’s summer, I’d love to make these summer recipes:

Grilled Caprese Skewers with Halloumi and Sourdough

Pan-Seared Scallops with Chorizo and Corn

BLT Pasta Salad

Summer Coconut Chickpea Curry

Strawberry Crumble Coffee Cake

Some things that I’m looking forward to: I’m not usually into miniseries but Nine Perfect Strangers looks pretty good so I might watch that, we’re going to TWO weddings this month so that will be wonderful, and I really need to get back in a pool so I’m working on that happening.

If you have any interest in reading what went on in May, come on over here.

[ansgar-martinsson]

The Best Intentions - Part 23

“Gravlax as a main, Rose?” Ansgar queried, tucking his napkin back into his lap. “I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when you didn’t bring it out with the salad greens, darling.” He eyed his plate with some suspicion, and then flicked his gaze back to the chef, who, much to his admiration, did not deflate at all beneath his criticism.

“You know I’m a fusion chef, Sgar,” she replied adroitly. “Experimental. New takes on the traditional and all that.”

“But still… it’s an appetizer, isn’t it?” He gave Joline a quick wink and a quirk of his lips, out of view of Rose, as if to say, “I’m just giving her shit, she loves it.”

“Oh, yes,” Joline added. “I’ve only had it as a starter before.”

“You’ve been gone too long, mate,” Rose gave Ansgar a dismissive gesture. “I’ve been shaking things up, serving the cured salmon as a main from my kitchen for a year now. It’s been all the rage in Stockholm. Probably beyond.” She stepped forward, and pointed, two-fingered, to the different items arranged on Ansgar’s plate. “See, I served it with a horseradish and cream cheese sauce, peeled new Idaho potatoes - flash boiled, dilled and tossed in organic fresh-cream butter, along with a California white wine pickled beet and red onion salad, and freshly baked rye bread, made in my own stone oven. All of this paired with a crisp, yet sweet Fattoria Casa di Terra Bolgheri Vermentino.”

“Rosie, mate,” Ansgar lifted his fork and licked his lips, peering with feigned impatience up at his friend. 

“Yes,” she replied.

“It looks and smells amazing. I love your cooking, otherwise I’d not have hired you for this evening. Now. Shut up, stop ranting, and let us eat it.”

Rose chuckled. “Yeah, all right,” she said, bobbling her head. She turned to Joline and gave her a small, respectful bow. “I really hope you like it, Joline,” she said, “Sgar here asked me to make for you what I’d make for one of my girlfriends on a second date.” She winked. “And you know, salmon is an aphrodisiac… not that you’ll need it with him around.”

Ansgar growled, forkful of food suspended just in front of his mouth. “Rosie,” he gnarled.

“Yeah, Sgar?”

“Bugger back off to the kitchen, will you? There’s a darling.”

“Salaam,” Rose grinned broadly, gave an elaborate, twirling-hand bow, pressed her hands together in mock prayer, and stepped backwards into the kitchen. 

Ansgar paused with his first bite, surreptitiously waiting for Joline to take hers. However, as soon as his gaze peeled from the Rosie spectacle back to Joline, she had already tucked into a quarter of her fish, and at least two of the potatoes. “It’s good?” Ansgar laughed before finally biting into the first bit of salmon.

“Ohmgd!” Joline mumbled. She chewed and swallowed, smiling. “It’s delicious! It’s amazing!” She pointed back toward the kitchen with her fork. “She’s amazing! Can I keep her?”

“Christ,” Ansgar agreed, laughing. “It is. It’s perfect. It’s perfect, and no you can’t keep her. She’s mine. But don’t tell Rosie. She’ll get a big head about it and expect me to somehow score her another Michelin star on her door.”

“I heard that!” Rose chimed.

“You were meant to!” Ansgar called back. 

***

But the rest of the conversation between Ansgar and Joline went unheard, busy as Rosie and Jacqui, her sous chef, had been preparing the desserts and coffee.

Ansgar found it lovely and strange how comfortable he felt, how comfortable Joline appeared, in the face of a lack of conversation between the two of them. They consumed their meals in pure enjoyment, and in relative silence save for the occasional hum of delight or the acknowledgement of a particularly palatable tidbit, or the sharing of a bite or two across the corner of the table. 

Even better how she’d accepted his hand on her thigh, how she’d switched to her non-dominant hand to finish her meal, all so that she could entwine her fingers with Ansgar’s under the table. Better still how she had kicked off her shoes and brushed her bare foot against the small hairs and the flash of skin above his socks, beneath the cuff of his jeans. 

Their meal was casual, yet sensual. Friendly, yet romantic. Happy. Content.

Secure. Safe. As if the world was reduced down to just the two of them.

At least until Ansgar’s phone chimed in his back pocket. 

“Shit, sorry,” he said, fumbling to retrieve it. He flicked the mute switch on the side. “Damn. I meant to turn that off.”

Joline’s brow furrowed. “Was that… was that Joy Division? That ringtone. It sounded like the first few notes of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.”

Ansgar laughed. “Yeah, it is,” he affirmed. “It’s what I have as a tone for when Magnus texts or rings me. Joy Division’s his favorite band.”

She leaned into him, tucking her leg up beneath her on the chair, her elbow on the now empty, dessert-anticipatory table. “Didn’t you say that your brother and his wife just had a baby?”

“Babies, plural,” he said, glancing at his brother’s text. “In fact, here.” He turned the phone toward her, showing her the photograph he’d just received. “That’s Magnus, looking absolutely shredded if you ask me, holding the twins. Bec must have taken this snap.”

Joline snorted. “Yeah, as if I couldn’t tell that was your brother. You know? That could be you in that picture.”

Her statement gave Ansgar pause. He knew she hadn’t meant it like that, but still. He knew she was referring to the fact that he and Magnus were mirror images of each other, but still. 

That could be you in that picture. That could be you - married with three beautiful children. That could be you, holding the next generation of your family. That could be you, making your sister and mother over the moon with the babies. That could be you - stable, happy, well cared for, well fed and well fucked every night by a woman you loved and who loved you more than anything else in this world.

That could be you. 

That could have been you.

Could it still? One wonders. One hopes.

Could be you.

“Yes, it could be me,” he said at last, trying his best to pull himself out of the slight funk, trying to hide the wash of melancholy that crashed over him, trying to remember just how happy he was in that moment with that woman. With Joline. “I told you I was a twin, and I meant it. Magnus and are truly identical, right down to our matching genetics.”

“Those Martinsson genes make beautiful babies,” Joline mused for a moment, staring at the photo before glancing back up at him, an unreadable expression on her face. “So um… what are their names again? I know you told me, but I uh… I was kind of distracted at the time.”

“I’ll bet you were.” He laughed. “That’s Ingrid Elise,” he pointed to the small pink bundle in the photo, and then to the blue one. “And that handsome gentleman is Axel Gregor. The next A.G. Martinsson to terrorize this world and then some, and I plan to make him my little apprentice, my little mini-me someday.”

“Gregor,” Joline perked. “Gregor? Is… is that what the G in AGM stands for? Is that your second name?”

“Bingo,” Ansgar nodded and winked. “Tell me, what did you think it stood for? George? Gavin? Grant? Giovanni?” The last name he said with a mock Italian accent, his pinched fingers flipping in the air. 

“No,” she smiled coyly and leaned forward, bringing her other elbow up to support her chin as she shifted toward him, into him, her eyes soft and hooded and flirtatious. “I thought the G meant generous, genius, gallant, gentlemanly, and most of all, gorgeous.”

Ansgar’s lips curled and his cheeks went an uncharacteristic shade of pink. He shifted in his chair and brought his own elbows to the table, rest his own chin in the upturned palms of his hands, brought his own lips close to hers, his nose to brush delicately against hers. “You think I’m all those things, do you?”

“I don’t think so, I know so.”

“There’s one G that you missed, though,” he cooed, and slowly moved his hand below the table, insinuating himself between her thighs, his fingers up high and into the crevasse at the top of her legs. “A very important one.”

She hissed at the pressure of his touch on her clothed sex. “Mmmm, and what might that be?”

“G-spot,” he murmured low and heady, a whisper just outside her earlobe. With a sensual rumble from his chest, he flicked his tongue quickly behind the curve of her ear and took a slow, consuming mouthful of the skin of her neck. “And I know exactly where you keep yours hidden, my darling.”

“Oi! Dessert! Come on lovebirds, you can wait!” 

Ansgar groaned, his head falling heavily and comically to Joline’s shoulder. Her shoulder which began to shake with mirth and laughter in a rhythm to match his own. He pulled himself up, grinning like a fool, to find Joline with her hands over her mouth and nose, her eyes sparkling with a hand in the cookie jar child-like mischief. 

“Have your gateau breton with apricot sauce, now, Sgar. Then, you can eat herpeach out later,” Rose quipped. “Listen, if you two keep that up, Jacqui and I may need to borrow your guest bedroom for a fuck of our own.”

Ansgar’s eyes flicked over to Joline’s, gauging her response to Rosie’s signature vulgarity. Joline gave him the same look - wide eyed, unblinking, mouth taut and slightly puckered….

… before they both, as if in stereo, snorted and dissolved into a fit of giggles.

“So are you the new flavor or a new main?” Rose asked quietly between her and Joline. Ansgar disappeared into the media room to set up something for them to watch while Rose served them coffee. Joline suspected that he also excused himself to exchange texts with his brother.

The amount of love, respect, admiration, pride and perhaps a bit of envy thrown in there that Joline saw in Ansgar towards his twin warmed the cynical side of her personality, the realist she claimed. But she witnessed it. Ansgar returned to Sweden and his family’s fold after running and hiding after the dissolution of his marriage. He loved his family beyond anything or anyone else, and that was the splice of Ansgar that Joline favored.

She slid her fork through her lips upside down slowly, raising her gaze from her dessert plate to the attractive chef. “I’m sorry?” Her tongue worked the delicate yet rich gateau Breton along the roof of her mouth.

“I mean no offense,” Rose annunciated clearly, deliberately. “But let’s cut past the outrage and denial and ‘how dare yous.’” She spun the last three words in a high pitched impression of Joline. “Are you a garnish or the real deal?”

Joline slid her ponytail through her circled fingers from root to tip twice before sticking her elbow upon the table and cupping her in chin in her palm. She couldn’t keep the humor from her tone. “Are you asking my intentions with Ansgar?”

“Yeah, girly, that’s what I’m askin’!”

Joline picked up her fork again and poked at her dessert, thinking. Since her very first conversation with Ansgar, she wrestled with a title or relationship with him, how they fit. Two days in and they’d been through so many variations and incarnations. She asked the other woman, “No shit? Absolute truth?”

“Yeah, that’s what I want to know.”

“No bullshit, I don’t know.”

Rose unloaded the chip upon her shoulder and chuckled, sitting beside Joline at the table. “I like you and that’s Ansgar Martinsson all over.”

Joline nodded, rolling her eyes with Rose. “By all means, if you want to defend his honor and threaten me,” she gestured with open palms in front of her, “this is… your dining room.”

“I’ve known him for too long. His roar is bad, his bite is terrifying.”

“Are you defending him or warning me?” Joline genuinely liked this woman, her veiled attempt of protecting Ansgar was entertaining in its respect and pan of the man. “I thought to warn you of that… that was until I realized that you knew each other.”

Rose looked Joline dead in the eye. “He was fucked. over. He deserves someone who can…” She suddenly waved that thought away, feeling that it was entirely too cliché. “Okay, forget that. Just know when to treat him like a man, when to treat him like a baby, and when to pet him like a lion.”

“I’m learning that.

Rose got to her feet again when she thought she heard Ansgar coming back. “Second date, huh?”

Joline shrugged, her voice waivered in uncertainly. “I think so.”

“There’s enough sexual tension there to power the city of lights. How are you not wet all the time?”

Joline crossed her legs under the table. “Who said I’m not?”

Rose laughed. “I knew I liked you.”

Ansgar returned then, shooing Rose back to the kitchen to let him and his date finish their dessert without crude remarks or interruptions. He folded himself back into the seat, taking Joline’s hand once more, kissing her palm.

“Is everything okay? With Magnus and the babies?”

“Yes, darling. No more interludes. I’d like to spend the rest of my night with you.”

Joline scooted her legs toward him, moving closer. She hooked her legs over one of his and leaned in closer. She brushed her cheek along his, feeling the bristles of his beard prickle her skin. She nuzzled her nose to his, breathing him in. She wanted to live clear of questions or ulterior motives. “I don’t know what this is, Sgar.” She angled her head back and sideways, feathering her lips over his. “I’m—“

“Ask me, Joline,” he stated calmly, hiding that he was already bewitched by her seduction.

“I don’t want to put demands on you or create any sense of obligation.”

He fell into her mouth, tasting the summery fresh flavor of apricot along her tongue. He nipped at her, nibbling her like he planned to scoop into his dessert. He almost preferred the taste of Rose’s delicacy laced with Joline. Maybe it was Joline laced with Rose’s dessert. “Ask me,” he repeated huskily.

She retreated a bit, her eyes flicking between his then down to his lips, returning again. She willed him to speak to give her some indication. “You told Rose that… that this is a date?”

Confidently, he confirmed it, no shame and no hesitation. “I did.”

Her hand rested against his chest under the base of his neck. “Is this… Is this a date? Is this more than sex?”

The stampede of his heart that usually pounded in his chest at the thought of entanglements didn’t scare him. He didn’t feel the need to take to the road. Masks or identities had no place in his life now. “I’ve told you, Joline, that I feel happy with you, happier than I’ve been in a long time. Comfortable. Safe. I trust you, with more of myself than I’ve shared with others.”

“Why me?”

“Is there a rhyme or reason for it? Blunt as I can be, you don’t give a shit. You don’t care about material possessions, you don’t care what I do, you don’t care what I have. You accept me as I am without trying to change me. I’m a pompous ass, you let me be that. What you do care about is being with me, close to me as you are now, and getting to know me.”

Despite the seriousness and intimacy of their talk, Joline cracked a smile. “We did this all wrong, you know.”

“I don’t think I’d call any of it wrong.” He heaved the woman into his lap, making her abandon her seat entirely. “I thought we had some fun along the way.”

Joline turned her head allowing him access to her when he combed his teeth along her neck. “I only meant… you asked me to the gala after you met Harold—“

He chuckled against the smooth column of skin. “Is that really the highlight of the afternoon? Your opera ghost?”

“Harold’s important to me, ass… but that wasn’t the point. You asked me to the gala, an actual date, and I turned you down.”

“Would you like me to invite you again, Joline?”

She giggled into another hoard of kisses along the slope between her neck and shoulder. “Well, if you’re only going to sex me up afterwards,” her breath caught when his hand closed around her breast, “I should… should get a date out of it too.”

“Then it’s settled.” He glided his lips down the crease of her clavicle, down, down, down into the valley between her breasts.

“Fuck, Sgar…” She held him to that erogenous and sensitive place on her, reeling at the pounding in her bloodstream and the spin in her head from the spike in arousal. Her fingers dug into his thick curls, the scrape of the coarse hair of his beard along her breast driving past want directly into need.

Hauling the woman up into his arms, he stood suddenly, cradling her knees with one arm and her back with the other. He called over his shoulder into the kitchen, “Rose, bring dessert and coffee into the media room.”

Joline wrapped her arms around the back of his head. “Why are you doing this, caveman?”

“The chair’s a bitch to get around when I want to feel you up.” As he walked from one room into the other, he had another bit of business kicking around his head. “Are you working tomorrow?”

“Well, yes… I’ve this tiny little construction company poking around my main stage and infiltrating my little stage,” she teased loudly. “Not to mention that someone’s trying to electrocute my lead singers and maybe the audience too. And a brand new partner that doesn’t like to let me sleep AT ALL.”

Ansgar unceremoniously dropped the ranting woman onto yet another massive lounge in the media room. He was quick to silence her protests for the physical dumping by blanketing her body with his and stop her mouth with his. He felt her surrender and melt into his affectionate display.

Rose knew enough to clear her throat loudly, more than once, before bringing the desserts in, Jacqui behind her with the coffee.

Joline pressed in beside Ansgar when they righted themselves again, threading her arms through his and laying her head on his shoulder.

“Sneak away for an hour or two tomorrow. For lunch,” he told her, reaching for the remote.

“Tell me why.”

He pressed a kiss against her, “Corporate picnic. I need a date.”

[holidays-events]

Guide to the Passover Seder Jacqueline Weiss

Questions like, “What do I wear?” and “What do I bring?” are all too common. So if you’ve never been to a Passover seder before, it can be hard to know what to expect. We asked a few first-timers for their insight on attending (and hosting!) Passover seder. If you’re a newbie, or just interested in learning about the traditions, here’s what you need to know.

Passover Seder at a Glance

Passover is the Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The holiday lasts seven days and is traditionally celebrated with a seder. Think of the seder as a celebratory dinner with family and friends. What’s on the table, you ask? Delicious recipes like these.

This year, the holiday falls from March 30-April 7, but the seder is generally held on the first night. Some families hold two seders on the first two nights, first with family and second with friends.

What to Expect

The word seder means “order.” At a traditional seder, you’re likely to partake in a dozen (or more) traditions, from washing your hands to breaking the matzah to singing Pslams. Each represents a part of the Jews journey from slavery to freedom.

However, not all seders are alike. For most families, the traditions may vary and the steps may be abridged, Taste of Home staffer Gina Kapfhamer explains how she hosted her first seder, “We cut out the singing, for example, because we had all non-Jewish friends coming and wanted to have them get the ‘gist’ of what a seder is, but didn’t want it to be quite as long as a traditional seder.”

Pro tip: The dress code may vary depending on if your seder is more cultural or religious. Be sure to check with your host if you should plan to dress more casually or formally.

The Seder Plate

The seder plate is the center of the celebration, and has five ceremonial foods representative of parts of the story of Passover.

Zeroa (shankbone): This represents the lamb that was the paschal sacrifice on the eve of the exodus from Egypt, and annually in the Holy Temple on the day before Passover.

Beitzah (hard-boiled egg): The egg represents the pre-holiday offering traditionally brought into the Holy Temple.

Charoset: This sweet mixture represents the brick and mortar that they used to build for the Pharaoh. Check out our recipe, here.

Maror (bitter herbs): The bitter herbs, often horseradish served on romaine lettuce leaves are representative of the bitterness of slavery.

Karpas (vegetable): While the type of herb can vary, it is often customary to serve parsley alongside a small bowl of warm salt water, representing the tears of the Jews while leaving Egypt.

“We had a traditional seder plate to explain all the symbols, but had mini seder plates along the table,” says Kapfhamer. “This worked out great, so we didn’t have to pass the large plate.”

Pro tip: Tradition and wine typically come before the main course if following the steps of the seder, so don’t go in with a completely empty stomach.

Matzah

Matzah, unleavened bread, is one of the central foods of the holiday. The Haggadah (special Passover text) tells us that the bread is flat, crispy and unleavened because there was not enough time for the Jew’s bread to rise before leaving Egypt.

Along with the seder plate are three covered and stacked pieces of matzah, representative of three groups of Jews: Israelites, Levites and Priests, and also commemorating the three measures of flour that Abraham told Sarah to bake into matzah after being visited by three angels.

“Every year at the Pesach seder my grandma tells the entire table about how her mother and grandmother taught her to make matzah with a little pinwheel (they called it a dreidel). My grandma had to hide her religion from their neighbors because it was illegal to practice any religion in the USSR. The family would close the shutters and do everything in secret. Pesach is about freedom, and I love how my family has its own Exodus story,” says Fanya Donin, a student at Pace University.

Main Course

When it comes to the main course, this is completely personal preference and up to the host. A few traditional dishes that you may find at the table are roast chicken, matzo ball soup and brisket. If your host asks you to bring a dish, make sure to check if the meal will be Kosher for Passover, which needs specific preparations.

“We tend to have a lot of side dishes (farfel, kugel, etc), matzo ball soup, and a salad—we have a few friends who are vegetarian, so with those options everyone has plenty to eat!” says Kapfhamer.

When it comes to dessert, chocolate covered matzah can be purchased or made at home, as can a delicious toffee bark. Expect lots of Manischewitz and red wine to be shared and enjoyed as well.

More Seder Traditions

Some of the traditions you may see as part of the seder are the hiding of the afikomen (a piece of matzah—unleavened bread—in a traditional wrap), which is typical if there are children at the table. You’ll also see a cup of wine set out on the table or by the door for the prophet Elijah who visits every Jewish home during the celebration (although the host is usually responsible for sneaking in to drink the wine).

“It’s a great way to share a culture and celebrate a tradition over food with friends. Keeping the story alive, and sharing the experience with people of different faiths, it’s a beautiful thing,” says Kapfhamer.

Chag Sameach! Have a wonderful holiday!

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/passover-seder/

[juniorformulamotorsport]

Thursday, 26th September 2019 – Raben, Horben

On Thursday evening we set off on a white-knuckled drive from Glottertal, through Freiburg and up to the village of Horben, which seemed to involve rather more hairpin bends than I cared for, as well as fairly dramatic stretch when we first had to run on the tram lines, and then had to dive through a single lane arch that the trams also shared! We were on our way to the one-Michelin starred restaurant, the Gasthaus zum Raben, where, according to Michelin, Steffen Disch is in the kitchen where “using top quality ingredients, dishes with distinct flavours are carefully prepared to a consistently high standard”. I’d booked a table well in advance by email, and was very much looking forward to trying out the food that would come from what their website describes as “a regionally inspired gourmet kitchen, which dissolves all facets and refinements of kitchen art in a remarkable straightforwardness, in his historic inn”.

The chef and his wife run the inn, after he did an apprenticeship at the Hotel Colombi in Freiburg, and plied his trade in other hotels before he arrived at the Gasthaus. The inn itself may well be the oldest such establishment in Horben, dating from at least 1604, and it has been lovingly renovated. The food is firmly rooted in local products from the neighborhood, and these in turn become a fresh take on Baden classics on the menu. The cuisine had been described as “cozy, sophisticated and creative” so we were hopefully of a good dinner. We got far more than a good dinner. What we got was the culinary experience of the holiday. First, though, having parked in the extensive, gravelled car park, I needed to recover from that drive. A glass of Riesling sekt with a home-made syrup of quince, proved to be just the thing. It was also quite a striking colour.

Some time passed while we tried to figure out which version of the menu we wanted to go for. We were in debate about whether the five course menu or the four course menu was the answer. Eventually we settled on the five course menu, because there were interesting sounding things in the dish that would be missed out if we’d gone for the four course option. An amuse-bouche that was described as “blood sausage” arrived. What it turned out to be was a tiny bread-crumbed, crunchy morsel of the local blutwurst, iron-inflected from the blood, and slightly bitter, on a soft puree of celeriac, with rice layered through it.

Some bread was delivered by the charming waiting staff, along with some very good butter and a sweet potato mousse that could also be used as a spread on the bread. It was all very honest, and could have been rustic had it not been subject to such refined treatment before it arrived on our plates.

We both held back from the bread, not wanting to commit space in our stomachs to anything that wasn’t part of the menu.The first course, when it arrived, was a perfectly constructed dish of lightly smoked goose liver, the offal tender, soft and melting, layered with a chocolate, served with a tiny brioche roll, an apricot ice cream quenelle, a couple of spheres of apricot gel, and dusted with almonds. It was a technical and gustatory triumph. We absolutely loved it; you could tell by how long it took me to eat t, because I just wanted it to last!

Next up came a fish course, with a dish of char, beetroot, celery and horseradish. The celery puree was glorious, far richer than I could imagine celery ever being, no matter what you do to it. The beetroot came in several forms, with some small, sticky cubes, a sharp and spicy juice, lightly pickled slices and a beetroot crisp. The fish was the start of the show though, enhanced by the beetroot, perfectly cooked and flaking apart if you so much as looked at it the right – or maybe wrong – way.

A fabulous middle dish was next up, with a dim sum dumpling filled with soft strands of Berkshire Ferkel piglet, and red prawn, a chunk of slow roasted piglet, all dressed in a delightful dashi and Black Forest miso broth. It was dressed with micro herbs and it tasted fabulous. If I was going to upset my digestive system with pork, I might as well do it for this sort of quality in both cooking and provenance. It would be worth the slightly queasy morning for the night before.

For the wine, I’d gone with the sommelier’s recommendation, and we had drunk a 2017 Lösswand Weisser Burgunder from Arndt Köbelin, a wind from old vines (over 45 year’s old), with the winemaker ensuring a low yield, and then aging the wine in oak barrels. It was an excellent choice, which is why we trusted him to recommend a red wine for the meat and cheese courses. This time he sold us a Fritz Wassmer Syrah from 2015, which was fruit and perfect for what we wanted.

The main dish, which is not to take away from the dishes that went before, was venison with parsley root, wild cauliflower, pear chutney and hazelnut potato noodles. Every time we thought they couldn’t outdo the previous effort, they promptly did. The softness of the meat, the tenderness of it and the way it almost fell apart when you got your knife to it, pointed to a man with a sous vide machine who really, really knows how to use it properly. The pears were sweet and offset the meat and the density of the sauce, and the potato noodles were nicely buttery, complemented by the hazelnuts. It was heaven on a plate.

We’d got to the dessert or cheese point and now we had another decision to make. In the end though, it was an easy choice. We would have one of each. The staff are obviously used to this sort of thing, and quiet happily brought extra plates, cutlery and anything else we might need to divide up the spoils! Chocolate soil, a chocolate and plum layered mousse, plum ice cream, and a cute little chocolate and nut muffin made an excellent dessert, the whole suffused with the warmth of cardamom, and drizzled with a port jus. It was pretty to look at, and superb on the tongue. Of course it helps that I love plums in their many and varied forms, and of course we both love port, so it was pretty much guaranteed to be a late summer winner.

A selection of raw milk cheeses from Affineur Waltmann provided an excellent finish, with some very good bread and local fruit chutneys (plum, mirabelle).

The atmosphere is pleasantly casual, the food anything but casual with a precision and attention to detail that means every mouthful is rewarding, delicious, and memorable. A Michelin star is no less than this place deserves. We paid the bill – after a bit of uncertainty as they generally don’t take VISA only MasterCard or cash. Whatever the case, the payment went through so everyone was happy! And then we had to drive back to Glottertal. Strangely, the route down the mountain seemed a lot shorter, so the SatNav promptly misdirected me on the way out of Freiburg and instantly added 10 minutes to the journey time. The Gasthaus has rooms, at quite reasonable rates, so if there’s a next time, I’ll look at staying there instead.

Food 2019 – Alsace and Baden, Day 14, Gasthaus zum Raben, Horben Thursday, 26th September 2019 – Raben, Horben On Thursday evening we set off on a white-knuckled drive from Glottertal, through Freiburg and up to the village of Horben, which seemed to involve rather more hairpin bends than I cared for, as well as fairly dramatic stretch when we first had to run on the tram lines, and then had to dive through a single lane arch that the trams also shared!

[prosejudo56-blog]

What Do You Cook When No One's Watching?

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

"Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly," M. F. K. Fisher writes in my favorite chapter of her Alphabet for Gourmets, "A is for Dining Alone." There's nothing more devastating to me than a bad dinner date. Which is why I often find myself alone after work, sitting at my kitchen island with a plate of food and a glass of wine, my dog at my feet. At the end of a long day, this table for one is more than just a place for me to have my dinner—it's a place, as well, for me to have my thoughts.

There's great pleasure in the cooking, too. When we talk about the foods we cook for ourselves, they can often feel like throwaway meals we're embarrassed about and would never serve to others. But I find that it's in this kind of cooking—where the sole purpose is to nourish myself—that I'm the most at ease, and thus much more able to experiment, create, and, eventually, master a recipe.

Anita Lo's chicken dinner for one makes use of day-old bread and celebrates broccoli. Photo by Ty Mecham

As I started gaining my foot in the kitchen years ago, I found that I was eager to learn new ways to feed myself—only myself—but that I had to create my own scaled-down versions of recipes from cookbooks and online. Which is why I was grateful when Anita Lo's Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One arrived at my desk, and even more so to read the comments on Tejal Rao's coverage of it in The New York Times. It meant not only that publishers were starting to take the subject of one seriously, but also that there were other people out there, like me, looking for single-serving recipes that had as much care and complexity as their larger-serving counterparts.

As a writer, too, I find that it's in this realm of the solo dinner that there are the best stories. The plight of the single-serving recipe is that it often has to parade joy and self-love (or else it's sad). It's often sold without any acknowledgement that there’s always a reason, always some kind of context, that explains why that one is not two, or four, or six to eight (how most recipes are written). As Lo writes in the introduction to her book, "I've been dumped as many times as I've been in relationships—and I can count those on less than two hands. Spread over my fifty-year life-span, that's a lot of solo meals."

Solo is a testament to celebrating all of the reasons we find ourselves alone at the table with knife and fork—and never apologizing for any of them.

Earlier this month I asked the internet (Twitter, Instagram, and you guys!) a couple questions to test a theory: that people are indeed looking for recipes for one and cookbooks like Anita's. The first question was pragmatic:

The second question was more of a conversation starter: What do you cook for yourself when no one's watching? Not knowing what to expect, I got a slew of responses (too many to capture here). But here were some of my favorites:

"One giant pancake."

"7 eggs with an avocado and ketchup, 6 if someone's watching."

"A whole head of broccoli, roasted, and eaten on its own with a fork (it's not like I'm doing this for anyone else)."

"Big fat Fordhook lima beans with a ton of butter, salt, and fresh ground black pepper."

"The iceberg wedge Grandma would make—with a decent layer of good mayo on the cut sides and some chopped black olives on top."

"Tuna on pickles: I make a salty tuna salad with just a little mayo, minced onion and celery, tons of salt and pepper and a splash of pickle brine. Then I pile little mounds onto zesty bread and butter pickles. Maybe sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Then I pop 'em in my mouth and wish there were more!"

"Canned corn beef hash."

Many turn to carbs when they're alone, naturally.

"Instant mashed potatoes with meatballs in gravy."

"An extremely loaded baked potato: roast beef, caramelized onions, butter, sour cream, chives, horseradish."

"Leftover pasta, fried in butter with bread crumbs and ketchup."

"Pasta alle vongole with a few cups of white wine is my recipe for when my heart aches."

"Warm leftover spaghetti and meat sauce sandwich folded into a single slice of fresh white bread with softened butter. (Sigh.)"

"Ramen and accidental hard-boiled eggs (I always aim to soft-boil but just can't get it right)."

"Shin Ramyun with scallions and a last-minute egg dropped in."

"I eat loaves of bread—whole loaves—in one happy sitting. Crusty, crackling, warm artisan hearth loaves fresh from my oven. In baking school, I ate entire baguettes for dinner followed by an apple for good luck."

"Frozen pizza."

The things men come to eat when they are alone are, I suppose, not much stranger than the men themselves.

M. F. K. Fisher, An Alphabet for Gourmets

Some get very creative when they're alone.

"Crunchy peanut butter, mayo, grape jelly, iceberg lettuce, on gummy, fresh, white bread."

"Cheese-covered Ritz crackers melted in the microwave."

"Microwave nachos on saltines. Don't hate!"

"Saltines and sriracha (apply several dots and eat in two bites)."

"Tate's cookies mashed up with a fork in a mug of milk, eaten like cereal (but with the fork)."

"Grape Nuts with milk and a couple tablespoons of unprepared Jello powder."

"Banana and bacon with mascarpone on a grilled split bun. Drink juice to remove the guilt."

"I make packaged ramen (Top Ramen brand, Soy Sauce flavor) and turn it into what I call 'faux pho' by adding more broth and spiking it with fresh ginger and thinly sliced mushrooms, celery, carrots, scallions, red pepper flakes, and a little sesame oil."

A lot of people eat rice when they're alone.

"Rice with brown butter–scrambled eggs."

"Day-old rice, fried eggs."

"Leftover rice, fried egg, soy sauce."

"White rice. Sauteed onion. Crispy sunny egg."

"White rice with butter, soy sauce, and fried egg on top. Sour kimchi on the side."

"Spam and rice, served with kimchi."

"Steamed white rice, thin and crispy Spam, fried eggs, and kimchi if I've got it."

"Kimchi fried rice, straight out of the pan."

"The spiciest-of-spicy, mouth-on-fire fried rice with as much kimchi and gochujang as possible, sautéed in butter, any leftover veggies I have in the fridge (to make me feel that it's healthier?) and an egg."

Some choose to treat themselves when they're alone.

"A meal I savor alone—an appetizer of beautifully prepared artichokes or tomatoes, then a piece of grilled fish (halibut or trout, e.g.), finished in brown butter. With Barolo or white zinfandel on the side."

"Seared scallops (easy to pop a few out of the freezer) with extra super garlicky greens (whatever I have) and tons of lemon juice on both. The rest of my family would never eat this, so it’s a treat for me."

"A pound or more of sautéed mushrooms with Worcestershire, maybe add broccoli or another veg. I don't even bother to put it over pasta—just tuck in with a bowl and a spoon in front of the latest episode of Great British Baking Show."

"The only one that sees me eat is the cat. But when I'm feeling particularly indulgent, I make a big pan of chicken livers sautéed with onions, apples, and (of course) bacon."

"Sometimes I like to make a lobster and consume it barehanded over the sink."

Somehow, reading all of these made me feel less alone this week, reiterating something that I've always felt about cooking for one: If these are the foods we choose to eat when no one is looking, then why wouldn't we always eat like that?

It's these private meals that seem to celebrate, most honestly, the very act of eating itself—the nourishment of our bodies—as something we should never be ashamed of, regardless of the contents of our plates. And in their casual, unsurveilled preparation, recipes for one also take the stress out of cooking and allow us to seek refuge in the quiet, solitary hummings of the kitchen, in the pleasures that can come from such a reliable self-sufficiency.

Anita Lo's Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast With Broccoli Panzanella

View Recipe

Ingredients

1 small head broccoli, florets cut off, stems saved for another use 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 pinch salt and black pepper 1 chicken breast, skin on 1/2 lemon, juice and zest 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste 1 small clove garlic, pasted 1 pinch red pepper flakes 3 large leaves basil 2 tablespoons diced red onion 1 1/2 cups loose cubed stale French bread Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 small head broccoli, florets cut off, stems saved for another use 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 pinch salt and black pepper 1 chicken breast, skin on 1/2 lemon, juice and zest 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 small clove garlic, pasted 1 pinch red pepper flakes 3 large leaves basil 2 tablespoons diced red onion 1 1/2 cups loose cubed stale French bread Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What do you cook for yourself when no one's watching? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: https://food52.com/blog/23301-solo-dinners-table-for-one

[gyrlversion]

America’s Most Exciting New Diner Is in Upstate New York

The West Taghkanic Diner in Ancram, New York Photo: Lauren Lancaster

It’s not every day that your diner’s hash was made by a cook whose last job involved making aged, pressed cakes of pork fat for an entire menu built around whole pigs. But, Kristopher Schram isn’t running an everyday diner. Schram — who is now, perhaps, the world’s first short-order chef — spent over a decade cooking from California to Copenhagen, at places like Copenhagen’s Manfreds, Melbourne’s Attica, and Healdsburg’s Madrona Manor. The chef was moving toward opening his own place there. Now, though, he’s back in his upstate New York hometown of Ancram, running a diner that’s 15 minutes away from the house where he grew up.

Schram is the first to admit that, after culinary school, he never thought he’d land at a place like the West Taghkanic Diner. He was one of many talented cooks to pass through Napa Valley’s iconic but now closed Terra, eventually becoming the chef de cuisine. Romance brought him to Copenhagen in 2012, where he linked up with Christian Puglisi, one of the most famous of the Noma alums. After a stint at Puglisi’s tasting menu spot Relæ, Schram was offered a sous chef gig at the chef’s wine bar Manfreds. “I started realizing that I’m still using the same techniques I was using in fine dining,” he says of his time there. “It’s just at a lot faster pace and a much higher energy and that really opened my eyes to the fact that I just didn’t want to do fine dining anymore.”

After two years at Manfreds, Puglisi tapped Schram to open Bæst, a pizzeria where the produce comes from Puglisi’s farm. He was there for three years, leaving in September of 2017 to open his own restaurant in Copenhagen. But romance brought Schram back home, when his wife got the U.S. correspondent gig for a Danish paper. As he put out feelers in New York City, he realized he couldn’t get rid of the “itch” to do his own thing. Then he was let in on some interesting news: A classic roadside diner was available “My whole family is still here, so they have their ear to the ground and I just heard some rumbling that the place was for sale. I snuck in there before anyone really realized it was on the market,” he says.

The WTD hash with two fried eggs, red potatoes, 12-hour smoked pastrami, bacon, and toast. Photo: Lauren Lancaster

The decision was, Schram says, a no-brainer. He bought, and went about rehabbing, the diner — gutting the kitchen (it “was a nightmare”), tidying up the dining room, and bringing on an marketing agency, Sophie Wedd Design. Early on, a local baker named Kate Snider (of Honey’s) was tipped off by a mutual friend who said Schram needed someone to bake pies once a week. They hit it off, and she proposed a full-time gig. Schram also brought on the chef Christopher Bradley, who worked at Gramercy Tavern and Untitled.

Open since 1953, the West Taghkanic is a silver-dollar pancake’s throw from the Taconic State Parkway. It’s got that Back to the Future chrome look, with black and red lines, big square windows, and a neon sign that’s very much of another era. It drips with Americana like melted butter. The culinary road warriors Jane and Michael Stern once enthusiastically endorsed the old iteration and Schram went, he says, 20 or more times as a kid. But he says everyone he knows stopped because it’d gone downhill in recent years. He wanted to restore it, both physically and culinarily, without straying too far from what makes American diners so great in the first place.

The breakfast sandwich with crispy egg, stracciatella, greens, bacon, and sesame kaiser. Photo: Lauren Lancaster

“When I go to a diner I’m always looking for those classics, you know? I feel the other things you can have a lot of fun with. And that’s what I’ve always searched out in a restaurant — a place that you don’t have those extreme rules,” the chef explains. The menu reads very familiar, but Schram sees that changing in a couple years. Still, things won’t get too unfamiliar during the day. “I want them to walk in and be like, ‘ah, this is a diner. And it’s comforting like a diner. And there’s my favorite dishes just like a diner but whoa, what is this?’”

There are plenty of diner classics, but nothing is straightforward. Everything is under $14, and many dishes are $10 or under. Cornmeal buttermilk pancakes get a pat of salted butter, and a juicy “hamburger sandwich” (or “veggieburger sandwich”) is crowned with charred onions. A 9-foot smoker is parked outside, for bacon and homemade pastrami, as well the turkey and smoked mayo in the properly tall club. Fries are thick and shattering, with condiments like smoked mayo with a red swirl of fermented chili. You can get your omelet with ‘nduja and stracciatella, and there’s lemon-y sumac in the Greek salad. Snider walks the same line with her rotating pies and layer-cakes, making carrot cake with sliced ginger in the frosting, coconut pie, and an orange meringue pie in lieu of lemon meringue. Last weekend, she put out more counter-top items like buckwheat blondies and, of course, there are milkshakes.

The turkey club (with hot smoked turkey breast, bacon, avocado, and smoked mayo) and a Bloody Mary Ann (mezcal, smoked tomato, fermented chili, pickle juice, red miso, and horseradish). Photo: Lauren Lancaster

“You walk into a diner and you see a display case with these over-the-top desserts. So, that’s not really our aesthetic. We are finding that middle ground,” she says. Later she adds, “I always have felt like if I’m gonna go to a diner with someone, I’m gonna sit with a cup of coffee and be engaged in talk. And it’s not about the food, it’s about the environment. I love that concept.”

Other dishes are more all-day café. Take the local grain porridge flavored with citrusy earl grey, or the local greens and grains (so New Nordic!) with smoked chickpea with Nordic rye. The most provocative for the grumpy ones is the avocado toast. “As much as you can kind of snicker at how everybody has it on their menu, people like it,” he says. “As trendy as it is, for sure I think that is something that you could definitely envision even casual diners putting on their menus.”

Some of Snider’s desserts. Photos: Lauren Lancaster.

Some of Snider’s desserts. Photos: Lauren Lancaster.

On a recent, rainy Friday, lunch got progressively busier as it turned to early afternoon. Schram was there cooking, emerging every now and then to deliver food. I was there with a couple upstate friends and one’s fiancé, who grew up not that far away. The topic of the Phoenicia Diner — which a New York friend remarked he sees a different person Instagram “literally every single weekend” — naturally came up. “When I was growing up, it was full of people wearing flannel. Now it is full of people wearing flannel,” he says.

That place raises the question of how to not alienate locals and regulars — at a moment when real-estate market is rising, and the New York Times asks, “Is the Hudson Valley Turning into the Hamptons?” — though bad food does this in its own way, too. On the beverage menu, there are hallmarks of today’s hipper restaurants. Natural wines, instead of supermarket wines; Nine Pin cider from Albany; a mezcal cocktail in the Bloody Mary Ann; and Yesfolk’s uniquely delicious kombucha. Still, the coffee is endless. (It’s from Ithaca roaster Forty Weight.) And there’s house-made chocolate milk. It’s a balancing act.

“Of course, with anything you do, you’re going to alienate someone. This historic diner has been a certain way for a long time. So there are probably going to be locals who are not so interested in what we’re doing,” Schram says.

A couple in for Saturday lunch.Kristopher Schram cooking in the kitchen.More guests.Photos: Lauren Lancaster..

A couple in for Saturday lunch.More guests.Kristopher Schram cooking in the kitchen.Photos: Lauren Lancaster..

One man posted up at the long, wide counter that’s the gravitational center of the dining room. People ate Reubens while what might be called dad rock in ten years played softly: the Replacements, the Velvet Underground, Joy Division’s less brooding songs. Many of the tables were occupied by older couples, one of them were greeted by a friendly server like they’d been coming forever. Maybe they will.

Diners occupy more real estate in the minds of Americans than any other kind of restaurant. They’re egalitarian and expansive. And people are opinionated about what they should and shouldn’t be. But diners are not fixed, which is what appeals to Schram. Greek immigrants added gyros and more to menus in the Northeast. There’s meatloaf and chicken parm. One of my favorites, West Brattleboro, Vermont’s the Chelsea Royal, serves pizzas, a Cajun skillet breakfast, and on Fridays and Saturdays a “Mexican menu” with Southwestern wings. Once upon a time, Southwestern food was the hottest thing in American cooking. That’s no longer the case. But trends get folded and baked into these places, like butter into flour. A diner can be, relatively speaking, whatever you want it to be. Which is how the West Taghkanic Diner ended up with, in all likelihood, the world’s most pedigreed short order cook.

Snider and Schram. Photo: Lauren Lancaster

The Greek Salad gets a lemon-y hit of sumac. Photo: Lauren Lancaster

West Taghkanic Diner, 1016 NY-82, Ancram NY; 518-851-3333

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The post America’s Most Exciting New Diner Is in Upstate New York appeared first on Gyrlversion.

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[woundgrey39-blog]

What Do You Cook When No One's Watching?

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

"Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly," M. F. K. Fisher writes in my favorite chapter of her Alphabet for Gourmets, "A is for Dining Alone." There's nothing more devastating to me than a bad dinner date. Which is why I often find myself alone after work, sitting at my kitchen island with a plate of food and a glass of wine, my dog at my feet. At the end of a long day, this table for one is more than just a place for me to have my dinner—it's a place, as well, for me to have my thoughts.

There's great pleasure in the cooking, too. When we talk about the foods we cook for ourselves, they can often feel like throwaway meals we're embarrassed about and would never serve to others. But I find that it's in this kind of cooking—where the sole purpose is to nourish myself—that I'm the most at ease, and thus much more able to experiment, create, and, eventually, master a recipe.

Anita Lo's chicken dinner for one makes use of day-old bread and celebrates broccoli. Photo by Ty Mecham

As I started gaining my foot in the kitchen years ago, I found that I was eager to learn new ways to feed myself—only myself—but that I had to create my own scaled-down versions of recipes from cookbooks and online. Which is why I was grateful when Anita Lo's Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One arrived at my desk, and even more so to read the comments on Tejal Rao's coverage of it in The New York Times. It meant not only that publishers were starting to take the subject of one seriously, but also that there were other people out there, like me, looking for single-serving recipes that had as much care and complexity as their larger-serving counterparts.

As a writer, too, I find that it's in this realm of the solo dinner that there are the best stories. The plight of the single-serving recipe is that it often has to parade joy and self-love (or else it's sad). It's often sold without any acknowledgement that there’s always a reason, always some kind of context, that explains why that one is not two, or four, or six to eight (how most recipes are written). As Lo writes in the introduction to her book, "I've been dumped as many times as I've been in relationships—and I can count those on less than two hands. Spread over my fifty-year life-span, that's a lot of solo meals."

Solo is a testament to celebrating all of the reasons we find ourselves alone at the table with knife and fork—and never apologizing for any of them.

Earlier this month I asked the internet (Twitter, Instagram, and you guys!) a couple questions to test a theory: that people are indeed looking for recipes for one and cookbooks like Anita's. The first question was pragmatic:

The second question was more of a conversation starter: What do you cook for yourself when no one's watching? Not knowing what to expect, I got a slew of responses (too many to capture here). But here were some of my favorites:

"One giant pancake."

"7 eggs with an avocado and ketchup, 6 if someone's watching."

"A whole head of broccoli, roasted, and eaten on its own with a fork (it's not like I'm doing this for anyone else)."

"Big fat Fordhook lima beans with a ton of butter, salt, and fresh ground black pepper."

"The iceberg wedge Grandma would make—with a decent layer of good mayo on the cut sides and some chopped black olives on top."

"Tuna on pickles: I make a salty tuna salad with just a little mayo, minced onion and celery, tons of salt and pepper and a splash of pickle brine. Then I pile little mounds onto zesty bread and butter pickles. Maybe sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Then I pop 'em in my mouth and wish there were more!"

"Canned corn beef hash."

Many turn to carbs when they're alone, naturally.

"Instant mashed potatoes with meatballs in gravy."

"An extremely loaded baked potato: roast beef, caramelized onions, butter, sour cream, chives, horseradish."

"Leftover pasta, fried in butter with bread crumbs and ketchup."

"Pasta alle vongole with a few cups of white wine is my recipe for when my heart aches."

"Warm leftover spaghetti and meat sauce sandwich folded into a single slice of fresh white bread with softened butter. (Sigh.)"

"Ramen and accidental hard-boiled eggs (I always aim to soft-boil but just can't get it right)."

"Shin Ramyun with scallions and a last-minute egg dropped in."

"I eat loaves of bread—whole loaves—in one happy sitting. Crusty, crackling, warm artisan hearth loaves fresh from my oven. In baking school, I ate entire baguettes for dinner followed by an apple for good luck."

"Frozen pizza."

The things men come to eat when they are alone are, I suppose, not much stranger than the men themselves.

M. F. K. Fisher, An Alphabet for Gourmets

Some get very creative when they're alone.

"Crunchy peanut butter, mayo, grape jelly, iceberg lettuce, on gummy, fresh, white bread."

"Cheese-covered Ritz crackers melted in the microwave."

"Microwave nachos on saltines. Don't hate!"

"Saltines and sriracha (apply several dots and eat in two bites)."

"Tate's cookies mashed up with a fork in a mug of milk, eaten like cereal (but with the fork)."

"Grape Nuts with milk and a couple tablespoons of unprepared Jello powder."

"Banana and bacon with mascarpone on a grilled split bun. Drink juice to remove the guilt."

"I make packaged ramen (Top Ramen brand, Soy Sauce flavor) and turn it into what I call 'faux pho' by adding more broth and spiking it with fresh ginger and thinly sliced mushrooms, celery, carrots, scallions, red pepper flakes, and a little sesame oil."

A lot of people eat rice when they're alone.

"Rice with brown butter–scrambled eggs."

"Day-old rice, fried eggs."

"Leftover rice, fried egg, soy sauce."

"White rice. Sauteed onion. Crispy sunny egg."

"White rice with butter, soy sauce, and fried egg on top. Sour kimchi on the side."

"Spam and rice, served with kimchi."

"Steamed white rice, thin and crispy Spam, fried eggs, and kimchi if I've got it."

"Kimchi fried rice, straight out of the pan."

"The spiciest-of-spicy, mouth-on-fire fried rice with as much kimchi and gochujang as possible, sautéed in butter, any leftover veggies I have in the fridge (to make me feel that it's healthier?) and an egg."

Some choose to treat themselves when they're alone.

"A meal I savor alone—an appetizer of beautifully prepared artichokes or tomatoes, then a piece of grilled fish (halibut or trout, e.g.), finished in brown butter. With Barolo or white zinfandel on the side."

"Seared scallops (easy to pop a few out of the freezer) with extra super garlicky greens (whatever I have) and tons of lemon juice on both. The rest of my family would never eat this, so it’s a treat for me."

"A pound or more of sautéed mushrooms with Worcestershire, maybe add broccoli or another veg. I don't even bother to put it over pasta—just tuck in with a bowl and a spoon in front of the latest episode of Great British Baking Show."

"The only one that sees me eat is the cat. But when I'm feeling particularly indulgent, I make a big pan of chicken livers sautéed with onions, apples, and (of course) bacon."

"Sometimes I like to make a lobster and consume it barehanded over the sink."

Somehow, reading all of these made me feel less alone this week, reiterating something that I've always felt about cooking for one: If these are the foods we choose to eat when no one is looking, then why wouldn't we always eat like that?

It's these private meals that seem to celebrate, most honestly, the very act of eating itself—the nourishment of our bodies—as something we should never be ashamed of, regardless of the contents of our plates. And in their casual, unsurveilled preparation, recipes for one also take the stress out of cooking and allow us to seek refuge in the quiet, solitary hummings of the kitchen, in the pleasures that can come from such a reliable self-sufficiency.

Anita Lo's Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast With Broccoli Panzanella

View Recipe

Ingredients

1 small head broccoli, florets cut off, stems saved for another use 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 pinch salt and black pepper 1 chicken breast, skin on 1/2 lemon, juice and zest 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste 1 small clove garlic, pasted 1 pinch red pepper flakes 3 large leaves basil 2 tablespoons diced red onion 1 1/2 cups loose cubed stale French bread Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 small head broccoli, florets cut off, stems saved for another use 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 pinch salt and black pepper 1 chicken breast, skin on 1/2 lemon, juice and zest 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 small clove garlic, pasted 1 pinch red pepper flakes 3 large leaves basil 2 tablespoons diced red onion 1 1/2 cups loose cubed stale French bread Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What do you cook for yourself when no one's watching? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: https://food52.com/blog/23301-solo-dinners-table-for-one

[anachef]

Review: Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Port Orleans Riverside – Including NEW Menu Items!

Boatwright’s Dining Hall might just be one of Walt Disney World‘s best-kept dining secrets. Located within Port Orleans Riverside, it’s a great spot to seek out if you’re looking for a quiet table service dinner outside of the parks.

Boatwright’s Dining Hall

Boatwright’s has had a few menu updates since our last visit and most recent guest review (hello, All-You-Care-to-Enjoy Chef’s Platter!), so we were excited to get back to Port Orleans Riverside to check it out.

Atmosphere

If you weren’t looking for Boatwright’s Dining Hall, you might never know it’s there. This table service restaurant is open for dinner only and specializes in down-home, southern-style cuisine. It’s also one of the easier Walt Disney World restaurants to get into without a reservation or on short notice.

Outside at Port Orleans Resort — Riverside

Boatwright’s Dining Hall recently debuted the All-You-Care-to-Enjoy Chef’s Platter, and we were very much looking forward to the opportunity to try it out.

Boatwright’s All You Care to Enjoy Chef’s Platter

But first! This restaurant is themed after an old boat construction warehouse, so you can anticipate being greeted with warm lighting, a casual feel, and various boat-building tools and boat hulls as decor.

Boatwright’s Host Stand

Boatwright’s — There’s a Boat Hull “In Progress” Hanging from the Ceiling

The theme of a boat-building warehouse is carried through from the in-progress boat hull to the tools on the wall to the compass-like in-lay on the tables.

Boatwright’s Ship Building Tool Decor

Whether you’re here for a dinner for two or have your whole family with you, Boatwright’s can accommodate groups of any size. Plus, the kiddos in your group will probably love looking at all of the tools on the wall and listening as the parents make up the purpose of the tool!

Seating and decor

Cozy seating. Love the light fixtures!

Boatwright’s Seating

Alright, I think it’s time to place our order!

Boatwright’s

Starters

As we’ve mentioned once or twice before, there’s an addition to the menu here. You can now get an All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Chef’s Platter here in addition to other entrees.

Boatwrights Menu

Boatwright’s also offers a special “Best of the Bayou” Menu which is a four-course prix-fixe menu. This menu really does offer some of the best or most popular items on their full menu, so if you’re looking for this type of meal dive in!

Boatwright’s “Taste of the Bayou” Menu

A full bar, River Roost, is next door and Boatwright’s can offer a full range of cocktails, beers, non-alcoholic specialty drinks, as well as fountain drinks.

Boatwright’s Drinks Menu

Each meal at Boatwright’s Dining Hall starts with warm, sweet cornbread and fluffy whipped butter. This is still complementary, which is nice…so many restaurants now charge for the bread service.

Cornbread with Whipped Butter

If you’d like something more than cornbread, there are plenty of appetizers available!

The Andouille Sausage-Cheese Dip ($13) is served in a bread bowl and features Andouille sausage in a three cheese blend.

Andouille Sausage-Cheese Dip

This one is yummy, but the well in the bread for the cheese dip is small. So the cheese dip portion is on the stingy side. If your favorite part of this is eating the bread bowl afterwards, you’ll be fine. But if you’re looking for ample dip, this won’t suffice.

Still the flavors are excellent, and this isn’t too spicy if you have a less adventurous eater in your party.

Andouille Sausage-Cheese Dip

Continuing the cheese theme, the Mardi Gras Fritters ($9) are filled with house-made pimiento cheese and are served over pepper jelly. These were highly recommended to me by a friend and I can totally see why!

Mardi Gras Fritters

Our server told us that these are “what mozzarella cheese sticks want to be when they grow up,” and that’s basically the perfect description. They have a mozzarella cheese stick feel…just with bigger flavors.

Mardi Gras Fritters

Entrees

Entree time! Let’s start with the new on the menu All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Chef’s Platter. With this platter, you get bottomless ribs, Nashville hot chicken, smoked sausage, barbecued beef brisket, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, street corn, and green beans for $33.

It reminds us a lot of the All-You-Care to Enjoy Skillet at Wilderness Lodge‘s Whispering Canyon Cafe. This All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Chef’s Platter at Boatwright’s is a great opportunity to try a variety of different dishes and sides that’ll please multiple palates.

All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Chef’s Platter

Unfortunately it’s not all “wow” material. The hot chicken had great flavor, but was tough and dry; and unfortunately the breading was almost sharp feeling and too crunchy. The brisket was fine, but not as flavorful as I’d like. The sausage was very good, and the ribs were very tender and acceptable flavor-wise. The mac and cheese was creamy, but bland. And the corn wasn’t akin to any elotes or street corn I’ve had before. It just didn’t come together.

So the skillet is an OK option if you want to try a lot of different things; but I’d probably stick with one of the better entrees like the prime rib or jambalaya, personally.

The Deep South Shrimp and Grits ($23) comes with creamy, Charleston-style grits, Andouille sausage, and sustainable shrimp, topped off with red-eye gravy.

The gravy here was truly delicious, and the grits and shrimp were quite good. The sausage gave some great flavor as well. If you’re a shrimp and grits fan, I’d recommend.

Deep South Shrimp and Grits

General Fulton’s Prime Rib ($35) is slow-roasted in Boatwright’s signature blend of chicory-coffee seasoning and served alongside mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and horseradish cream. This was as good as it’s always been — not as good as the Prime Rib over at the new Snow White character meal at Artist Point, but still worth the price.

General Fulton’s Prime Rib

You can’t have a southern-style restaurant without Jambalaya. A New Orleans classic, Boatwright’s Jambalaya ($19), features spicy shrimp, chicken, and Andouille sausage over rice. A vegetarian version is available, too! This is one of my favorite dishes here historically, but, honestly, it might be better to grab it at Sassagoula Float Works over at Port Orleans French Quarter — I think it’s a little better there (and cheaper).

Boatwright’s Jambalaya

Desserts

You can’t have dinner at Walt Disney World without having dessert, right!? We ordered four on our visit and they were ALL delicious — seriously the highlight of the meal! The major bummer for desserts here, though, was that instead of buttercream frosting, the restaurant used whipped panna cotta as an accent texture. I really missed that sweet-salty flavor and heavier texture of the buttercream frosting here.

Boatwrights Dessert Menu

Boatwright’s After-Dinner Drinks Menu

First up was this Red Velvet Cheesecake ($8). The red velvet was clearing an accent here as there wasn’t much of it; but there didn’t need to be. The cheesecake was excellent on its own, though my dining companion and I both thought that this could be a no-added-sugar dessert considering how little sweetness there was to it.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

According to the menu, there’s bourbon-vanilla cream involved, but that’s not really a flavor we tasted a lot of.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

The Joie de Vivre Peanut Butter Mousse Cake ($8) comes with peanut brittle and triple berry sauce. I expected this one to be a typical blah-bland “candy bar” dessert as I’ve seen in so many Disney restaurants lately. But I was SUPER surprised! The peanut butter layer was almost like a light cookie dough, and the flavors were SO GOOD. I can definitely recommend this one! The bottom layer, by the way, is a super dense brownie.

Joie de Vivre Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

How about some St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake ($8)? I LOVE LOVE LOVE butter cake, and always order it when it’s on a menu. This one was wonderful — if a little too sweet (I know, how is that possible!?). This version is topped with bourbon sauce and toffee brittle.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the chocolate! Spiced chocolate sauce and whipped vanilla panna cotta have come together to make this Mississippi Mud Pie ($7). Even though I’m not a huge fan of the all-chocolate-all-the-time desserts, this one was actually very, very good.

Mississippi Mud Pie

If you’re looking for southern comfort food in a casual, comfortable atmosphere, give Boatwright’s Dining Hall a try! It’s tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the theme parks and the resort quick service locations, and you won’t have to stress yourself out trying to get a reservation. From meat-heavy dishes to vegetarian options, there’s something for everyone in your travel party!

I know a lot of my readers and viewers don’t LOVE this one, but honestly I’m pretty pleased with it each time I go.

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Have you been to Boatwright’s Dining Hall lately? Leave a comment and tell us all about your favorite menu items!

Related posts:

Guest Review: Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort

DFB Video: Eat This at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort!

21 Myths About Walt Disney World Food DEBUNKED

from the disney food blog http://bit.ly/2ESPbNb via http://bit.ly/LNvO3e

[backhomehi]

Recent Grinds - Kalapawai Market (Kapolei Location)

The original location in Kailua has been around since as long as I can remember (looked it up- actually since 1932), and I used to casually get baked goods and juice as one of my friends growing up lived only about 5 blocks away.  Happy to find out they’ve grown and grown and now have a new location in Kapolei- maybe 15-20 mins away from where I live now.

I was just commenting to my husband about how we’re going to have to find a new sandwich scene, since Portland was so sandwich-friendly, and I really didn’t eat many sandwiches outside of my house growing up.  This is definitely a winner on that scene- everything is fresh with good ingredients.  They have more decadent sandwiches, and also simple fresh sandwiches.

The first visit here was with my dad and I chose to go with a lunch special instead of a sandwich.  I ordered the Furikake Crusted Fresh Fish [(top) (furikake fish with sweet chili aioli, pickled ginger and green onion- Market Price)], he ordered “da Tsunami” [(2 photos 2nd row) (tuna salad, capers, cucumber, carrots, sprouts, lettuce, tomato on 12 grain- $10.00)], and of course had to have a Govinda’s juice (chose the lilikoi that time $4.00).  The fish was PERFECT.  Cooked until it was just crisp on the outside, lathered in the sweet chili aioli, pickled ginger and green onion.  Those 3 toppings on this furikake crusted fish absolutely made the dish. Had a bite of the tuna sandwich as well- delicious!  Nice to have a few added ingredients to a typical tuna sandwich- you can really taste how fresh everything is in the sandwich- quite refreshing.

The second visit here was with my husband after we were STARVING after being stuck in traffic in Nanakuli (water main breaks on 1-2 lane roads = hours of traffic) and we both opted for sandwiches.  I ordered the French Dip [(bottom 2 photos) (roast beef, provolone on garlic baguette with au jus & horseradish; opted for tossed greens- $13.00)], Rob ordered “da Skinny” [(4th row down)(kalua pork, BBQ sauce, pepper jack, coleslaw on brioche; he opted for the shoestring fries- $13.00)], and of course, again had to have a Govinda’s juice (chose guava nectar this time $4.00).  The French Dip was good, and adding both the horseradish and dipping in au jus made it great.  However, I’m not a huge French Dip person, so I’ll probably choose another sandwich next time.  That being said, everything tasted fresh and I loved that it was on a garlic baguette.  Had half of da Skinny (because we normally split-split our meals)- now that is a good sandwich.  The kalua pork was sweet with the BBQ sauce on it, and the little pickles were a nice touch.  The brioche was soft and definitely enhanced the flavor of the pork.  Shoestring fries were plentiful and deliciously crisp on the outside, but still soft and warm on the inside- pretty perfect.

Excited to have this place nearby and to eat more food!