Late night at work
+ vegetables from last week on the verge of rotting that I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT (eek)
+ a new share
+ gone for the weekend
= stress
I was a super ninja and triaged the shit out of my fridge and cursed myself for forgetting about the basil and frisee hidden in the back that I forgot about. See, when frisee starts to go bad, it goes bad at the very tips and it goes bad unevenly. At least, mine did. So when I was picking out all the slimy leaves, I literally had to pick through each little tendril and pluck off the slimy bits to salvage what was left. Sure, I could have thrown it out, but I'm stubborn like that (though I do feel a little scared to eat it now after having gotten all up close and personal with the rotting tips). Besides, I felt vaguely guilty about tossing my kale salad and squash from last week. So I plucked. And plucked. And plucked some more.
Same thing with the basil, except basil starts to go bad where the leaves meet the stem, which means plucking each leaf off before stripping out the slimy part. Sigh. Fortunately, the parsley was in good shape. There were no other orphaned leftovers from last week's share to handle and I promised myself to be better about handling my CSA shares going forward.
I have to say, neglectfulness aside, I'm really impressed with myself. In under two hours, I managed to handle everything. In fact, I'm so impressed, I'm going to write down my triaging thought process so I can marvel at my ability to think on my feet later.
- Cabbage and napa cabbage: these keep forever ish. Take two seconds and store those suckers in fridge.
- Onion and fresh garlic: semi-long lived creatures. I lopped off their pretty green tops, rinsed those and tossed them in my "odds and ends" soup bag in the freezer. Tossed the bulbs in the fridge. Done. (Pro-tip: fresh garlic can be stored in the fridge for a week. Cured/dry garlic should NOT be stored in the fridge or in a plastic container, as it will sprout or mold. Store those outside in a dark location, like a paper bag or covered, ventilated basket.)
- Green beans and wax beans: Rinsed, admired their prettiness for a few moments, and stored them in ziploc bags as snack food. No prep, no cook, just rinse and store.
- Cucumbers: Washed, peeled, and sliced them into snackable sticks. No cooking (notice a trend?)
- Frisee and parsley: I debated cooking these together, but was too lazy after all that plucking, so I just googled "parsley frisee" and discovered that the internet says you can eat these together as a salad. Boom, done. I also chopped up a bit of parsley to sprinkle on some leftover hummus. I've discovered that I rather like the taste of fresh parsley on hummus and pasta. Those flecks of green are so surprising when you come across them, unlike their dried counterparts, which bear an uncanny resemblance to green paper.
- Basil and zucchini: arguably the most time consuming part of my evening. I basically followed the recipe for marinated zucchini, but spent a lot of time picking out the edible parts of the basil :/ I left the zucchini to marinate in a ziploc baggie and I made the basil-garlic-lemon dressing in advance. I'll give it a taste tomorrow and see how that went. My fingers are crossed. For once, I'm actually really excited to eat zucchini.
And that's it! My share(s) are packed into bags or containers or are safely in storage, and I am ready to face the rest of my week. Oh, I also got another chicken. I now have three chickens in my freezer and I'm running out of room. I should butcher one or roast one early next week so I have something to feed my brother when he gets here. That boy will eat you out of house and home. One time, I had to go to the grocery store twice IN ONE DAY to feed him. When you live in a five floor walkup, this is no laughing matter.
TL;DR: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, avoid cooking like the plague, and google has all the answers.
Side note: I feel like this is a weird thing to admit, but I really like the way zucchini feels when you cut it up with a super sharp knife. It's really soft, almost buttery, in texture and it looks so clean and fresh. And it's so much less messy than chopping up, say, a chicken.
Showing posts with label questionable eats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label questionable eats. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
chickening out of eating chicken
kay so one definite downside of educating yourself about what you eat is that you actually notice what you're eating and you know what's probably in it (or not in it, as it were).
In the past, I've ordered chicken from a number of restaurants with no problems at all. Recently, I've noticed that food from my old standbys just doesn't seem as good anymore. I highly doubt that the food from all these places radically worsened at the same time, so the problem is probably me. But seriously, it's a problem. The chicken is weird. It tastes funny. It sometimes crumbles (yeah, I know right? that is not something meat should do, ever, except maybe ground meat but that's a totally different story and we won't go there today.) The chicken doesn't hold up to close inspection and it generally does not appeal to me. There are exceptions, of course, and I've started taking notice of which places serve food I actually want to eat.
Bored and curious, I googled these exceptions and discovered that interestingly enough, the places serving food I like tend to source free-range, hormone and antibiotic free, and sometimes organic chicken. It could be that a place willing to buy quality chicken probably invests in other high quality ingredients, generally leading to higher quality dishes. It could also be that they put in more effort to cook the chicken well. Whatever the reason, I've become more picky about what meat I choose to eat. Being picky is usually seen as a bad thing, but I think this time, the offense is forgivable.
(It's not just chicken, by the way, but inferior chicken has been the most obnoxious offender to my newly vigilant tastebuds.)
Alsoooo...it's still freezing. Spring, hurry up!
In the past, I've ordered chicken from a number of restaurants with no problems at all. Recently, I've noticed that food from my old standbys just doesn't seem as good anymore. I highly doubt that the food from all these places radically worsened at the same time, so the problem is probably me. But seriously, it's a problem. The chicken is weird. It tastes funny. It sometimes crumbles (yeah, I know right? that is not something meat should do, ever, except maybe ground meat but that's a totally different story and we won't go there today.) The chicken doesn't hold up to close inspection and it generally does not appeal to me. There are exceptions, of course, and I've started taking notice of which places serve food I actually want to eat.
Bored and curious, I googled these exceptions and discovered that interestingly enough, the places serving food I like tend to source free-range, hormone and antibiotic free, and sometimes organic chicken. It could be that a place willing to buy quality chicken probably invests in other high quality ingredients, generally leading to higher quality dishes. It could also be that they put in more effort to cook the chicken well. Whatever the reason, I've become more picky about what meat I choose to eat. Being picky is usually seen as a bad thing, but I think this time, the offense is forgivable.
(It's not just chicken, by the way, but inferior chicken has been the most obnoxious offender to my newly vigilant tastebuds.)
Alsoooo...it's still freezing. Spring, hurry up!
Friday, September 28, 2012
CARROT TOPS!
For the last few weeks, I have been stripping the bushy green carrot tops off of my carrot bunches, admiring their lush greenery, and then sadly relegating them to the trash pile. After my last two ventures into carrot tops (toasted, garlicky green grass and a rather noxious carrot top tea), I had given up altogether on carrot tops, thinking that perhaps there wasn't anything to be done with them. I started brainstorming ways to build a little compost pile on my rooftop...but...
This week was particularly difficult. The purple carrots were so beautiful and the carrot tops were so abundant. I felt remorse and shame as I sliced off the tops and threw them away.
While I was contemplating the sad fate of my carrot tops, I had a suddent guilt-induced flash of insight. Perhaps carrot tops could be used for medicinal purposes? I shuddered a bit, thinking on the carrot top tea/infusion I had tasted earlier, but I figured it was worth a try.
I found a lot of interesting facts about carrots, the history of carrot cultivation, and its various uses through the ages. Did you know the wild carrot is native to Afghanistan, where it was found in its original purple and purple-white hues? There are yellow and black varietals as well, and researchers have managed to create a particularly sweet varietal of purple carrot with an orange core. I wish I could do that for a living - create new varietals of edible plants. Sighhh... if dreams were pennies, I'd be rich.
I found several reports of carrot top and carrot seed infusions (yeck) and extracts being used for detoxification and as a diuretic. Apparently, poultices made from (wild) carrot mash also work as an external antiseptic.
I also stumbled upon a particularly entertaining 2009 NY Times article by Michael Tortorello.
The Toxic Salad (NYT)
Tortorello is more gifted than I. After cooking up some carrot tops, I believe my description of the experience was something along the lines of "garlicky toasted grass" and "interesting." In Tortorello's words, "The immature carrot greens were cheerfully bitter—say, like a $150 million Powerball winner paying his tax bill. If you can’t quite taste that simile on your tongue, here’s another adjective I could use to describe those carrot greens: toxic."
Yeah, basically. Apparently, carrot tops are mildly toxic, given their high alkaloid content. I might be just spreading internet hearsay along, but hey, I believe it. Those things are vile.
I like to read the readers' comments sections sometimes. You get such an interesting view into the lives of the most annoying netizens floating out there. NYT, WSJ, Huff Post all have very different varieties of lurkers, some more obnoxious than others. But there are also a lot of normal people and I will occasionally discover the odd gem here and there. Especially when I read inoffensive niche articles, like this one. After all, no matter how determined the would-be political commentator, it is difficult to connect leftover vegetable tops with the varying obstacles our country faces from the pernicious effects of greedy, no-good (fill in your politician or minority group of choice here - Romney, Obama, bankers, and politicans as a general group seem to be particularly popular choices these days).
I digress. While I was sifting through comments that had been posted and forgotten several years ago, I discovered quite a few interesting and useful things. I felt like a packrat, successfully scavenging scraps that would prove useful someday, perhaps.
- Rhubarb leaves are toxic.
- Parsnip sap and sunlight are a dangerous combination for your skin. The two together can cause serious blisters and rashes. Yikes!
- A nice reminder that tomato plants are toxic, except the fruit. In fact, all parts of the nightshade plants are usually toxic, with a few exceptions.
- Another nice reminder that the carrot/parsnip family is very dangerous for the unaware forager. Deadly water hemlock is all too tragically mistaken for wild parsnip or wild carrot - even a bite is fatally toxic to children (and adults).
- Rabbits like carrot tops, sometimes. So do goats, apparently.
Of course, this being the comments section, even if it is the comments section of a top notch paper with a fairly respectable readership, it is wise to take all these comments with a healthy grain or two of salt.
But anecdotal evidence is sometimes oh-so-helpful in ways that dry facts simply are not. One woman, after reading the article, exclaimed that in France, carrot tops are sold by the bunch in farmers' markets for making an excellent soup stock. Is this true? Who knows? But oh, how brilliant!
I should have thought of this. The lady casually mentions freezing large bunches of carrot greens for winter soup making purposes and I can't help but smack myself over the head for disposing of my poor carrot greens. I knew there was a good use for them.
I prefer eating my carrots raw, most of the time. Occasionally, I might roast them. But I don't like wasting them in soup, since I find the raw version ever so much tastier than the cooked version. I do like the flavor that they infuse into the broth though. And that, exactly, is what carrot tops are useful for. I can make lovely, carrot flavored soup stock without sacrificing my carrot snacking habit. Why, oh why, didn't I think of this before...?
Well, now I know. And fortunately, carrots are not a summer vegetable, like the tomato or the eggplant, so perhaps we'll be getting a few more bunches in the next few CSA shares. Thinking of carrot tops as herbs, like parsley or dill, makes a world of difference. After all, you wouldn't want to cook a dish of sauteed parsley, but you certainly would throw a handful into a soup pot. (At least, I would.) Prepared and armed with my newfound knowledge, I am ready to tackle these carrot tops again.
Please, don't doubt. I know this will work. After all, third time's the charm!
Afterthought: I think I know why every culture has soup in one form or another. And I know why every culture has it's own version of "buddaejjigae," which is essentially a mashup of anything and everything available to Koreans during the civil war (popular ingredients include ramen noodles, sour kimchi, random veggies, cheese, spam, or pasta). All ingredients are optional and can be used in any order.
Soup is just the most forgiving food to make (and one of the most economical and healthy too!)
Leftover vegetables bits (carrot tops, onion and potato peelings), the aesthetically displeasing, the odds and ends of an animal carcass (bones, gristle, tendons, innards, skin, bits of extra meat and fat), the excess herbs - they all make lovely additions to the soup pot and can be added in any whatever quantity is available. Even the strongest herbs, like cilantro or dill, can be thrown by the handful into soup, where their flavors will soften and commingle with the other ingredients, producing a flavorful but not overwhelming soup base.
Soup! How versatile you are!
This is turning into an ode to soup. I'll stop here.
This week was particularly difficult. The purple carrots were so beautiful and the carrot tops were so abundant. I felt remorse and shame as I sliced off the tops and threw them away.
While I was contemplating the sad fate of my carrot tops, I had a suddent guilt-induced flash of insight. Perhaps carrot tops could be used for medicinal purposes? I shuddered a bit, thinking on the carrot top tea/infusion I had tasted earlier, but I figured it was worth a try.
I found a lot of interesting facts about carrots, the history of carrot cultivation, and its various uses through the ages. Did you know the wild carrot is native to Afghanistan, where it was found in its original purple and purple-white hues? There are yellow and black varietals as well, and researchers have managed to create a particularly sweet varietal of purple carrot with an orange core. I wish I could do that for a living - create new varietals of edible plants. Sighhh... if dreams were pennies, I'd be rich.
I found several reports of carrot top and carrot seed infusions (yeck) and extracts being used for detoxification and as a diuretic. Apparently, poultices made from (wild) carrot mash also work as an external antiseptic.
I also stumbled upon a particularly entertaining 2009 NY Times article by Michael Tortorello.
The Toxic Salad (NYT)
Tortorello is more gifted than I. After cooking up some carrot tops, I believe my description of the experience was something along the lines of "garlicky toasted grass" and "interesting." In Tortorello's words, "The immature carrot greens were cheerfully bitter—say, like a $150 million Powerball winner paying his tax bill. If you can’t quite taste that simile on your tongue, here’s another adjective I could use to describe those carrot greens: toxic."
Yeah, basically. Apparently, carrot tops are mildly toxic, given their high alkaloid content. I might be just spreading internet hearsay along, but hey, I believe it. Those things are vile.
I like to read the readers' comments sections sometimes. You get such an interesting view into the lives of the most annoying netizens floating out there. NYT, WSJ, Huff Post all have very different varieties of lurkers, some more obnoxious than others. But there are also a lot of normal people and I will occasionally discover the odd gem here and there. Especially when I read inoffensive niche articles, like this one. After all, no matter how determined the would-be political commentator, it is difficult to connect leftover vegetable tops with the varying obstacles our country faces from the pernicious effects of greedy, no-good (fill in your politician or minority group of choice here - Romney, Obama, bankers, and politicans as a general group seem to be particularly popular choices these days).
I digress. While I was sifting through comments that had been posted and forgotten several years ago, I discovered quite a few interesting and useful things. I felt like a packrat, successfully scavenging scraps that would prove useful someday, perhaps.
- Rhubarb leaves are toxic.
- Parsnip sap and sunlight are a dangerous combination for your skin. The two together can cause serious blisters and rashes. Yikes!
- A nice reminder that tomato plants are toxic, except the fruit. In fact, all parts of the nightshade plants are usually toxic, with a few exceptions.
- Another nice reminder that the carrot/parsnip family is very dangerous for the unaware forager. Deadly water hemlock is all too tragically mistaken for wild parsnip or wild carrot - even a bite is fatally toxic to children (and adults).
- Rabbits like carrot tops, sometimes. So do goats, apparently.
Of course, this being the comments section, even if it is the comments section of a top notch paper with a fairly respectable readership, it is wise to take all these comments with a healthy grain or two of salt.
But anecdotal evidence is sometimes oh-so-helpful in ways that dry facts simply are not. One woman, after reading the article, exclaimed that in France, carrot tops are sold by the bunch in farmers' markets for making an excellent soup stock. Is this true? Who knows? But oh, how brilliant!
I should have thought of this. The lady casually mentions freezing large bunches of carrot greens for winter soup making purposes and I can't help but smack myself over the head for disposing of my poor carrot greens. I knew there was a good use for them.
I prefer eating my carrots raw, most of the time. Occasionally, I might roast them. But I don't like wasting them in soup, since I find the raw version ever so much tastier than the cooked version. I do like the flavor that they infuse into the broth though. And that, exactly, is what carrot tops are useful for. I can make lovely, carrot flavored soup stock without sacrificing my carrot snacking habit. Why, oh why, didn't I think of this before...?
Well, now I know. And fortunately, carrots are not a summer vegetable, like the tomato or the eggplant, so perhaps we'll be getting a few more bunches in the next few CSA shares. Thinking of carrot tops as herbs, like parsley or dill, makes a world of difference. After all, you wouldn't want to cook a dish of sauteed parsley, but you certainly would throw a handful into a soup pot. (At least, I would.) Prepared and armed with my newfound knowledge, I am ready to tackle these carrot tops again.
Please, don't doubt. I know this will work. After all, third time's the charm!
Afterthought: I think I know why every culture has soup in one form or another. And I know why every culture has it's own version of "buddaejjigae," which is essentially a mashup of anything and everything available to Koreans during the civil war (popular ingredients include ramen noodles, sour kimchi, random veggies, cheese, spam, or pasta). All ingredients are optional and can be used in any order.
Soup is just the most forgiving food to make (and one of the most economical and healthy too!)
Leftover vegetables bits (carrot tops, onion and potato peelings), the aesthetically displeasing, the odds and ends of an animal carcass (bones, gristle, tendons, innards, skin, bits of extra meat and fat), the excess herbs - they all make lovely additions to the soup pot and can be added in any whatever quantity is available. Even the strongest herbs, like cilantro or dill, can be thrown by the handful into soup, where their flavors will soften and commingle with the other ingredients, producing a flavorful but not overwhelming soup base.
Soup! How versatile you are!
This is turning into an ode to soup. I'll stop here.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Tomato Sandwiches
I realized my TAV (the adventurous vegetable) for CSA Share 11 should have been the tomato, not the bell pepper. I decided last minute that it would be nice to bring some sliced tomato and bread to work before the bread went bad. I think my original plan was to eat the bread with jam or hummus and eat the tomatoes as a snack, but then someone sent me a link to tomato recipes, and I became utterly fascinated by the tomato sandwiches featured in the article, which called for nothing more than bread, tomato, mayo, and a dash of salt n pepper.
I'd heard of such things before, of course. And I am no stranger to strange sandwiches. When I was a little girl, my dad would occasionally have the thankless task of feeding me and my little brother while my mom was out of town for work. I love my dad dearly, but when I was growing up, it was clear that he was rather clueless in the kitchen. When mom wasn't home, we knew exactly what we'd be eating: bibimbap, sandwiches, or dinner at the local Hometown Buffet. Unsurprisingly, we would always beg dad to take us to Hometown Buffet, but the one time we ate there every night, my mom got mad at him for being lazy and feeding us unhealthy food. Second of all, my dad doesn't eat a lot. Two small children don't eat a lot. Buffets are a bad idea for my family, in general. We end up subsidizing everyone else. One time, when I was a toddler, we were at a fancy buffet in an upscale Las Vegas hotel. I picked out exactly three strawberries, ate them happily, and declared I was full.
So instead of Hometown Buffet every night, we would add sandwich nights to the mom-less dinner rotation. To make it more entertaining, my dad would turn this into a competition to see who could eat the most sandwiches in one night. I usually won, which is kind of disgusting now that I think about it. I'm pretty sure Hometown Buffet was probably healthier, but I must admit, the sandwich competitions were hilariously fun.
There was definitely a method to the madness. First, we would raid the pantry and the fridge for all the condiments and fillings we could find, including a few rather unorthodox ones with questionable expiration dates. Then, we would start combining condiments to make sandwiches. The rule was one sandwich on a plate at a time. You had to finish your sandwich before you were allowed to grab two more slices of bread. Each sandwich had to include at least one filling and two slices of bread. Speed was not important, as it was the total number of sandwiches that were eaten which determined the winner. Although fillings like butter or jam were easier to eat, recognition was given for sandwiches made with flair and style and creativity, and eating 10 butter sandwiches was considered poor sportsmanship. Sandwiches did not count towards the total unless they were completely gone, no matter how disgusting the filling might be.
We got creative and invented all sorts of odd sandwiches. PB & banana, ketchup and cream cheese (we only tried this once), cheese and jam (yum), grilled PB a la Shel Silverstein, butter and PB (a bit redundant), and even relish and ranch (VILE). I tried all sorts of combinations of all sorts of things. I even tried putting soy sauce on my sandwich once, but I don't think it worked. There were two things on the table that I never touched though: the mustard bottle and the mayo jar.
I despise mayonnaise (and mustard). As far back as I can remember, I have always ordered my Subway sandwiches and chicken burgers with no mayo or mustard. If there was a trace of mustard or mayo on my food, I would throw it out. As I got older, instead of throwing out mayo contaminated food, I would just wipe it all off or throw out the mayo-soaked bread, but I still couldn't help but shudder as I scraped off the gloopy white sauce.The most disgusting thing I had ever seen was a pizza in Korea that was slathered in Kewpie mayo. I nearly barfed right then and there. Apparently mayo coated pizza is a thing...?
The only exceptions to my no-mayo rule were tuna salad sandwiches and the occasional BLT. I would mix in just enough mayo to make the tuna stick together. To keep my BLT bread from getting soggy, I would smear the stingiest smudge of mayo on my bread in a super thin, molecule-sized layer. And that's about it.
This tomato sandwich thing though. There was mayo, a horribly healthy generous slather of mayo, and it seemed the mayo was integral to the tomato sandwich. I had to try it though. If the queen of tea (me) could try something as odd as carrot top tea, the queen of sandwiches (also me, in case you were wondering) should be able to give the tomato sandwich a chance, right? I had a packet of Hellman's mayo buried in my drawer from last week's dinner, so I went digging in my drawer and managed to fish it out of the chaos of napkins, pens, and sugar packets. I took my bread, spread some mayo all over the slices, piled on the tomatoes, added salt and pepper, and then took a tentative bite.
Before we talk about my reaction, you may be wondering why I didn't just skip the mayo and eat the tomato sandwich plain. According to the internets, the mayo provides a nice balance to the acidity of the tomato AND it keeps the tomato juice from turning the sandwich into a big soggy mess. The internet is not always right, but in this case, collective wisdom seemed trustworthy. I went with it and took the jump.
It was good. I liked it. But then, a dawning realization...surprisingly, I liked it because of the mayo. As promised, the mayo provided a nice balance to the sandwich and kept the sandwich bread from disintegrating from my juicy tomato slices. I tried a nibble of tomato and bread without mayo (I somehow missed a corner of my bread slice when I was spreading my mayo) and it just wasn't as good. It tasted dry and off balance, kind of like eating s'mores without chocolate (heresy!) I can't believe I just equated mayo with chocolate. o_O The world is ending.
In any case, I declare this sandwich a winner. And I will quietly acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, there's a reason someone invented mayo.
If only I'd known about this during my sandwich-competition days...!
On a side note, my coworker has separately discovered that toast with scallion cream cheese and tomato slices makes for a lovely savory breakfast at the desk. Similar concept, and a nice way to compensate for the lackluster tomatoes in the 2nd floor cafeteria. Might detract from good quality tomatoes though, so I'd save the scallion cream cheese for post-tomato season.
I'd heard of such things before, of course. And I am no stranger to strange sandwiches. When I was a little girl, my dad would occasionally have the thankless task of feeding me and my little brother while my mom was out of town for work. I love my dad dearly, but when I was growing up, it was clear that he was rather clueless in the kitchen. When mom wasn't home, we knew exactly what we'd be eating: bibimbap, sandwiches, or dinner at the local Hometown Buffet. Unsurprisingly, we would always beg dad to take us to Hometown Buffet, but the one time we ate there every night, my mom got mad at him for being lazy and feeding us unhealthy food. Second of all, my dad doesn't eat a lot. Two small children don't eat a lot. Buffets are a bad idea for my family, in general. We end up subsidizing everyone else. One time, when I was a toddler, we were at a fancy buffet in an upscale Las Vegas hotel. I picked out exactly three strawberries, ate them happily, and declared I was full.
So instead of Hometown Buffet every night, we would add sandwich nights to the mom-less dinner rotation. To make it more entertaining, my dad would turn this into a competition to see who could eat the most sandwiches in one night. I usually won, which is kind of disgusting now that I think about it. I'm pretty sure Hometown Buffet was probably healthier, but I must admit, the sandwich competitions were hilariously fun.
There was definitely a method to the madness. First, we would raid the pantry and the fridge for all the condiments and fillings we could find, including a few rather unorthodox ones with questionable expiration dates. Then, we would start combining condiments to make sandwiches. The rule was one sandwich on a plate at a time. You had to finish your sandwich before you were allowed to grab two more slices of bread. Each sandwich had to include at least one filling and two slices of bread. Speed was not important, as it was the total number of sandwiches that were eaten which determined the winner. Although fillings like butter or jam were easier to eat, recognition was given for sandwiches made with flair and style and creativity, and eating 10 butter sandwiches was considered poor sportsmanship. Sandwiches did not count towards the total unless they were completely gone, no matter how disgusting the filling might be.
We got creative and invented all sorts of odd sandwiches. PB & banana, ketchup and cream cheese (we only tried this once), cheese and jam (yum), grilled PB a la Shel Silverstein, butter and PB (a bit redundant), and even relish and ranch (VILE). I tried all sorts of combinations of all sorts of things. I even tried putting soy sauce on my sandwich once, but I don't think it worked. There were two things on the table that I never touched though: the mustard bottle and the mayo jar.
I despise mayonnaise (and mustard). As far back as I can remember, I have always ordered my Subway sandwiches and chicken burgers with no mayo or mustard. If there was a trace of mustard or mayo on my food, I would throw it out. As I got older, instead of throwing out mayo contaminated food, I would just wipe it all off or throw out the mayo-soaked bread, but I still couldn't help but shudder as I scraped off the gloopy white sauce.The most disgusting thing I had ever seen was a pizza in Korea that was slathered in Kewpie mayo. I nearly barfed right then and there. Apparently mayo coated pizza is a thing...?
The only exceptions to my no-mayo rule were tuna salad sandwiches and the occasional BLT. I would mix in just enough mayo to make the tuna stick together. To keep my BLT bread from getting soggy, I would smear the stingiest smudge of mayo on my bread in a super thin, molecule-sized layer. And that's about it.
This tomato sandwich thing though. There was mayo, a horribly healthy generous slather of mayo, and it seemed the mayo was integral to the tomato sandwich. I had to try it though. If the queen of tea (me) could try something as odd as carrot top tea, the queen of sandwiches (also me, in case you were wondering) should be able to give the tomato sandwich a chance, right? I had a packet of Hellman's mayo buried in my drawer from last week's dinner, so I went digging in my drawer and managed to fish it out of the chaos of napkins, pens, and sugar packets. I took my bread, spread some mayo all over the slices, piled on the tomatoes, added salt and pepper, and then took a tentative bite.
Before we talk about my reaction, you may be wondering why I didn't just skip the mayo and eat the tomato sandwich plain. According to the internets, the mayo provides a nice balance to the acidity of the tomato AND it keeps the tomato juice from turning the sandwich into a big soggy mess. The internet is not always right, but in this case, collective wisdom seemed trustworthy. I went with it and took the jump.
It was good. I liked it. But then, a dawning realization...surprisingly, I liked it because of the mayo. As promised, the mayo provided a nice balance to the sandwich and kept the sandwich bread from disintegrating from my juicy tomato slices. I tried a nibble of tomato and bread without mayo (I somehow missed a corner of my bread slice when I was spreading my mayo) and it just wasn't as good. It tasted dry and off balance, kind of like eating s'mores without chocolate (heresy!) I can't believe I just equated mayo with chocolate. o_O The world is ending.
In any case, I declare this sandwich a winner. And I will quietly acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, there's a reason someone invented mayo.
If only I'd known about this during my sandwich-competition days...!
On a side note, my coworker has separately discovered that toast with scallion cream cheese and tomato slices makes for a lovely savory breakfast at the desk. Similar concept, and a nice way to compensate for the lackluster tomatoes in the 2nd floor cafeteria. Might detract from good quality tomatoes though, so I'd save the scallion cream cheese for post-tomato season.
Friday, August 10, 2012
CSA Share #9
This drought must be heavily affecting Free Bird Farm. Supposed to get a ton of rain this weekend though. Good for them, bad for me, especially since I have no clue where I put my umbrellas as I was moving to my new apartment.
Anyways, this week's share:
- 2 japanese eggplant
- 2 light green bell peppers
- thai basil
- carrot and carrot tops
- 3 leeks
- swiss chard
CWTC: leeks! I'm thinking about making leek soup this weekend. om nom nom.
TAV: Carrot tops. Must find a new use for them, as I would very much prefer not to repeat last week's toasted grass experiment.
WTF: Thai basil. What to do with MORE thai basil???
I've actually managed to do pretty significant damage to this week's share already. Down to the eggplants, one bell pepper, the leeks, and some thai basil. But before I get ahead of myself, I must admit that it's probably just because the drought is reducing the sheer volume of our shares.
Since my update is a bit delayed, I already made a few things with this week's share, with varying degrees of success.
Bell pepper and carrot sticks make for lovely office snacks, especially with a bit of 된장 or hummus.
Carrot top tea is...interesting. I couldn't stomach (haha) the thought of eating more woody, chewy, bitter stems, so I decided to try carrot top tea. Besides, I fucking love tea. Apparently, carrot top tea is chock full of vitamins and minerals, and detoxes your kidneys. I probably need a liver detoxifier more than anything else, but any kind of detox is probably a good idea for me. Pretty straightforward stuff.
1. Wash and trim carrot tops.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Drop carrot tops into the pot and wait one minute.
4. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Strain out carrot tops.
7. Refrigerate and enjoy.
The carrot top tea was a pale olive green color and tasted pretty nasty when still warm. Much better after being chilled in the fridge overnight, but it was a struggle to finish the entire glass. I would probably only make two or three cups of tea and call it a night. I don't think I'm capable of drinking more than that in one week. Definitely interesting though!
Sauteed swiss chard with garlic and wilted thai basil
Yum. This was probably the crowning glory of my culinary experiments with my CSA shares this season. I blanched the chard and sauteed it with some aromatics. It's pretty simple, but it's more like a real recipe than anything else I've done so far, so I'll document it as such. Really delicious stuff. Even my coworker thought it tasted good. It probably can't compete with anything from the food trucks or midtown eateries, but hey, one step at a time right? #turtlewinstherace
Ingredients:
- Handful of thai basil
- 7-8 large leaves of swiss chard
- 5 cloves garlic (or to taste)
- olive oil
- salt
1. Wash chard and basil thoroughly.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Drop the swiss chard in the pot of water for about 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Drain and refill pot (with swiss chard still in there!) with cold water. Repeat until water drains cold.
5. Squeeze the water out of the swiss chard, chop into ribbons, and set aside.
6. Slice garlic.
7. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan (medium-low heat). When a drop of water "spits" back at you, add the sliced garlic. Stir occasionally until the garlic just begins to brown.
8. Add chopped swiss chard to the pan.
9. Sprinkle some salt over the pan.
10. Add the handful of thai basil leaves (stripped from their stems).
11. Stir gently until the thai basil is wilted.
12. Remove from heat and serve!
Yum yum. This weekend will be eggplants and leek soup. We'll see if I can top the swiss chard dish...
Anyways, this week's share:
- 2 japanese eggplant
- 2 light green bell peppers
- thai basil
- carrot and carrot tops
- 3 leeks
- swiss chard
CWTC: leeks! I'm thinking about making leek soup this weekend. om nom nom.
TAV: Carrot tops. Must find a new use for them, as I would very much prefer not to repeat last week's toasted grass experiment.
WTF: Thai basil. What to do with MORE thai basil???
I've actually managed to do pretty significant damage to this week's share already. Down to the eggplants, one bell pepper, the leeks, and some thai basil. But before I get ahead of myself, I must admit that it's probably just because the drought is reducing the sheer volume of our shares.
Since my update is a bit delayed, I already made a few things with this week's share, with varying degrees of success.
Bell pepper and carrot sticks make for lovely office snacks, especially with a bit of 된장 or hummus.
Carrot top tea is...interesting. I couldn't stomach (haha) the thought of eating more woody, chewy, bitter stems, so I decided to try carrot top tea. Besides, I fucking love tea. Apparently, carrot top tea is chock full of vitamins and minerals, and detoxes your kidneys. I probably need a liver detoxifier more than anything else, but any kind of detox is probably a good idea for me. Pretty straightforward stuff.
1. Wash and trim carrot tops.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Drop carrot tops into the pot and wait one minute.
4. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Strain out carrot tops.
7. Refrigerate and enjoy.
The carrot top tea was a pale olive green color and tasted pretty nasty when still warm. Much better after being chilled in the fridge overnight, but it was a struggle to finish the entire glass. I would probably only make two or three cups of tea and call it a night. I don't think I'm capable of drinking more than that in one week. Definitely interesting though!
Sauteed swiss chard with garlic and wilted thai basil
Yum. This was probably the crowning glory of my culinary experiments with my CSA shares this season. I blanched the chard and sauteed it with some aromatics. It's pretty simple, but it's more like a real recipe than anything else I've done so far, so I'll document it as such. Really delicious stuff. Even my coworker thought it tasted good. It probably can't compete with anything from the food trucks or midtown eateries, but hey, one step at a time right? #turtlewinstherace
Ingredients:
- Handful of thai basil
- 7-8 large leaves of swiss chard
- 5 cloves garlic (or to taste)
- olive oil
- salt
1. Wash chard and basil thoroughly.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Drop the swiss chard in the pot of water for about 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Drain and refill pot (with swiss chard still in there!) with cold water. Repeat until water drains cold.
5. Squeeze the water out of the swiss chard, chop into ribbons, and set aside.
6. Slice garlic.
7. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan (medium-low heat). When a drop of water "spits" back at you, add the sliced garlic. Stir occasionally until the garlic just begins to brown.
8. Add chopped swiss chard to the pan.
9. Sprinkle some salt over the pan.
10. Add the handful of thai basil leaves (stripped from their stems).
11. Stir gently until the thai basil is wilted.
12. Remove from heat and serve!
Yum yum. This weekend will be eggplants and leek soup. We'll see if I can top the swiss chard dish...
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Housewarming-ish
I am finally getting ahead in my summerlong battle with the vegetables!
The roasted beets, potatoes, and onions were lovely. The roasting kitchen was rather not. I think I'm going to avoid roasting anything in the summertime from now on... On the bright side, I did manage to finally use up (and eat) all the root vegetables I'd been collecting over the last few weeks!
The roasting process itself was quite simple: drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil packets, bake for 40-60 minutes or until tender when poked with a fork. I'm pretty impatient though. I kept taking my potatoes out every 15 minutes and serving them, hoping they were fully cooked (they were not). I think my poor guests ingested at least one entire undercooked baby potato each. Luckily, I have very patient friends who let me putter around the kitchen, constantly shuttling their dinner back-and-forth from their plates to the oven and back again.
The eggplant sauteed very nicely. I splashed a bit of olive oil in a pan, added some sliced up garlic, and let the garlic crisp and turn a bit golden. When the garlic was on the verge of browning, I dumped in my eggplant cubes, sprinkled some salt on top, and let the whole thing cook for about 10-15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Carrots with 됀장 made for a nice midnight snack (and desk snack).
I tried cooking my carrot tops like I cook 쑥갓, since the taste is pretty similar. I blanched the carrot tops for about 30 seconds to a minute and then sauteed them lightly with garlic and oil and a smidge of fish sauce. While they weren't too bad, I don't think I'm going to try that again. I seriously felt like I was eating garlicky toasted grass.
On a side note: I'm really glad I have so much garlic. At first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of it, but then I realized that it really helps with the vegetables. Especially since I have no spices at the moment (thanks to moving into my new apartment).
I think next time, I'll probably try making carrot top tea instead. Apparently there's a lot of Vitamin K, potassium, and other minerals/vitamins that are quite good for you. Carrot top tea is also supposed to serve as a particularly effective kidney cleanser. Regardless of the health claims, I'm obsessed with tea, so I'll give that a try the next time I get carrot tops in my share.
The roasted beets, potatoes, and onions were lovely. The roasting kitchen was rather not. I think I'm going to avoid roasting anything in the summertime from now on... On the bright side, I did manage to finally use up (and eat) all the root vegetables I'd been collecting over the last few weeks!
The roasting process itself was quite simple: drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil packets, bake for 40-60 minutes or until tender when poked with a fork. I'm pretty impatient though. I kept taking my potatoes out every 15 minutes and serving them, hoping they were fully cooked (they were not). I think my poor guests ingested at least one entire undercooked baby potato each. Luckily, I have very patient friends who let me putter around the kitchen, constantly shuttling their dinner back-and-forth from their plates to the oven and back again.
The eggplant sauteed very nicely. I splashed a bit of olive oil in a pan, added some sliced up garlic, and let the garlic crisp and turn a bit golden. When the garlic was on the verge of browning, I dumped in my eggplant cubes, sprinkled some salt on top, and let the whole thing cook for about 10-15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Carrots with 됀장 made for a nice midnight snack (and desk snack).
I tried cooking my carrot tops like I cook 쑥갓, since the taste is pretty similar. I blanched the carrot tops for about 30 seconds to a minute and then sauteed them lightly with garlic and oil and a smidge of fish sauce. While they weren't too bad, I don't think I'm going to try that again. I seriously felt like I was eating garlicky toasted grass.
On a side note: I'm really glad I have so much garlic. At first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of it, but then I realized that it really helps with the vegetables. Especially since I have no spices at the moment (thanks to moving into my new apartment).
I think next time, I'll probably try making carrot top tea instead. Apparently there's a lot of Vitamin K, potassium, and other minerals/vitamins that are quite good for you. Carrot top tea is also supposed to serve as a particularly effective kidney cleanser. Regardless of the health claims, I'm obsessed with tea, so I'll give that a try the next time I get carrot tops in my share.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Good, the Gorgeous, and the Gross
I enjoyed a lovely salad for lunch yesterday, chock full of crunchy-sweet-spicy radish bits and tender baby greens. Such a nice change from the usual uninspired offerings I usually end up with around lunchtime...
I had to take about 20 minutes the night before to wash and prepare everything, but it was definitely worth it. Even the mini heart-attack I suffered while washing my salad greens.
Heart attack? How could a bowl of salad greens and a radish possibly trigger a heart attack? Ha.
Let's go back to that night. I had pulled out a few handfuls of salad greens and planned to rinse them and dump them into a plastic bowl to take with me to work. I was going to top the salad with chopped radishes and supplement with some almonds and viniagrette at work. Nothing too complex, since it was late and I was tired.
I rinsed my greens a few times, decided they were clean and began blotting them dry (I really need to get a salad spinner). Into my plastic container they went. Suddenly, one of my salad leaves moved. I stared for a moment, sure that my sleep deprivation had finally led to hallucinations. No, I saw it again. The leaf had definitely moved. I cautiously flipped the leaf over and sure enough, there was a nice fat green larva about the length of a quarter and the width of a pencil.
An undignified yelp and hop followed...
I couldn't bring myself to squash the bug, so I gingerly picked up the leaf (with a napkin) and threw it in the trash can. I know, I know. I'm such a girl and death by starvation is hardly less humane. I should have squashed it.
I spent the next 10 minutes washing each leaf individually. And that night, I dreamt of giant caterpillars. Somehow, they seem less friendly in real life than in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which, by the way, is an epic childhood classic. I hope I still have my copy so I can read it to my kids :D
Anyways, there you have it. The first sighting of a hitchhiker in my CSA share. And a reminder to always wash every leaf. Carefully and thoroughly.
Salad: made with individually, carefully washed baby greens and a chopped up easter egg radish
I had to take about 20 minutes the night before to wash and prepare everything, but it was definitely worth it. Even the mini heart-attack I suffered while washing my salad greens.
Heart attack? How could a bowl of salad greens and a radish possibly trigger a heart attack? Ha.
Let's go back to that night. I had pulled out a few handfuls of salad greens and planned to rinse them and dump them into a plastic bowl to take with me to work. I was going to top the salad with chopped radishes and supplement with some almonds and viniagrette at work. Nothing too complex, since it was late and I was tired.
I rinsed my greens a few times, decided they were clean and began blotting them dry (I really need to get a salad spinner). Into my plastic container they went. Suddenly, one of my salad leaves moved. I stared for a moment, sure that my sleep deprivation had finally led to hallucinations. No, I saw it again. The leaf had definitely moved. I cautiously flipped the leaf over and sure enough, there was a nice fat green larva about the length of a quarter and the width of a pencil.
An undignified yelp and hop followed...
I couldn't bring myself to squash the bug, so I gingerly picked up the leaf (with a napkin) and threw it in the trash can. I know, I know. I'm such a girl and death by starvation is hardly less humane. I should have squashed it.
I spent the next 10 minutes washing each leaf individually. And that night, I dreamt of giant caterpillars. Somehow, they seem less friendly in real life than in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which, by the way, is an epic childhood classic. I hope I still have my copy so I can read it to my kids :D
Anyways, there you have it. The first sighting of a hitchhiker in my CSA share. And a reminder to always wash every leaf. Carefully and thoroughly.
Salad: made with individually, carefully washed baby greens and a chopped up easter egg radish
Sunday, April 22, 2012
social musings
Time and time again, I realize how central food is to the formation of community. Eating is such a social act, with food singlehandedly defining entire cultures and communities. Even the act of eating family meals together has been shown to be correlated with healther, better behaved children (which probably leads to happier parents too). I can't think of any other single act that brings people together so effectively (except maybe drinking haha).
I was reading an article on the importance of family meals, and one section in particular stuck out to me:
“But something precious was lost, anthropologist Fox argues, when cooking came to be cast as drudgery and meals as discretionary. "Making food is a sacred event," he says. "It's so absolutely central--far more central than sex. You can keep a population going by having sex once a year, but you have to eat three times a day." Food comes so easily to us now, he says, that we have lost a sense of its significance. When we had to grow the corn and fight off predators, meals included a serving of gratitude. "It's like the American Indians. When they killed a deer, they said a prayer over it," says Fox. "That is civilization. It is an act of politeness over food. Fast food has killed this. We have reduced eating to sitting alone and shoveling it in. There is no ceremony in it."
First of all, this is funny. But second of all, it’s so true. Food has gotten too easy. You don’t value what is easily available. Why do you think girls (and guys!) play hard to get all the time? Haha.
But seriously. Think about it. The food you cook at home is probably less tasty than what you could get from a restaurant, unless you are Jamie Oliver. But the pride you feel after cooking a meal makes it taste a lot better than it probably should. Why is that? It’s because you worked hard, dammit, and you’re going to be excited and eat every last piece of rubbery, undercooked chicken that you made (and so will everyone else) because you made it. All by yourself. It’s like when a child makes a macaroni painting of questionable aesthetic appeal and the child’s parents can’t stop talking about how beautiful it is. You almost feel like you're looking at a Picasso masterpiece, though your eyes are clearly telling you otherwise.
I think one of the biggest reasons I was drawn to the idea of a CSA was because it brings back some of the significance to food that I feel like I’ve lost. When I eat literally every weekday meal at my desk at work, it becomes unimportant. Unshared. I’m not about to get all depressed over this, but I definitely miss sharing those moments at the cafeteria, dining hall, or family dinner table.
Even in college, when I was fairly busy and ended up eating on the run half the time, most of my social activities revolved around meeting up with people to eat. Even on nights out, my friends and I always end up bonding over late night munchies. Now that I've graduated, this continues to be true, but with one major difference. In college, we ate out a lot, but we would also get together and make dinner, experiment with new recipes, or bake random goodies to get us through another rough midterm-laden week on a fairly regular basis.
Now?
I can't remember the last time I cooked with anyone. I still try to cook occasionally, but I haven't met up with a group of friends to cook in a long, long time. I miss that.
One big side benefit of joining a CSA could be that it will force me to cook more often. And if I'm cooking more often, I will probably bring some friends over to cook dinner or brunch with me at some point. And that would be really nice.
Goal for the summer:
Haha just kidding, I only wish my apartment looked like that :D
But the sangria is not just kidding. That's definitely happening.
I was reading an article on the importance of family meals, and one section in particular stuck out to me:
“But something precious was lost, anthropologist Fox argues, when cooking came to be cast as drudgery and meals as discretionary. "Making food is a sacred event," he says. "It's so absolutely central--far more central than sex. You can keep a population going by having sex once a year, but you have to eat three times a day." Food comes so easily to us now, he says, that we have lost a sense of its significance. When we had to grow the corn and fight off predators, meals included a serving of gratitude. "It's like the American Indians. When they killed a deer, they said a prayer over it," says Fox. "That is civilization. It is an act of politeness over food. Fast food has killed this. We have reduced eating to sitting alone and shoveling it in. There is no ceremony in it."
First of all, this is funny. But second of all, it’s so true. Food has gotten too easy. You don’t value what is easily available. Why do you think girls (and guys!) play hard to get all the time? Haha.
But seriously. Think about it. The food you cook at home is probably less tasty than what you could get from a restaurant, unless you are Jamie Oliver. But the pride you feel after cooking a meal makes it taste a lot better than it probably should. Why is that? It’s because you worked hard, dammit, and you’re going to be excited and eat every last piece of rubbery, undercooked chicken that you made (and so will everyone else) because you made it. All by yourself. It’s like when a child makes a macaroni painting of questionable aesthetic appeal and the child’s parents can’t stop talking about how beautiful it is. You almost feel like you're looking at a Picasso masterpiece, though your eyes are clearly telling you otherwise.
I think one of the biggest reasons I was drawn to the idea of a CSA was because it brings back some of the significance to food that I feel like I’ve lost. When I eat literally every weekday meal at my desk at work, it becomes unimportant. Unshared. I’m not about to get all depressed over this, but I definitely miss sharing those moments at the cafeteria, dining hall, or family dinner table.
Even in college, when I was fairly busy and ended up eating on the run half the time, most of my social activities revolved around meeting up with people to eat. Even on nights out, my friends and I always end up bonding over late night munchies. Now that I've graduated, this continues to be true, but with one major difference. In college, we ate out a lot, but we would also get together and make dinner, experiment with new recipes, or bake random goodies to get us through another rough midterm-laden week on a fairly regular basis.
Now?
I can't remember the last time I cooked with anyone. I still try to cook occasionally, but I haven't met up with a group of friends to cook in a long, long time. I miss that.
One big side benefit of joining a CSA could be that it will force me to cook more often. And if I'm cooking more often, I will probably bring some friends over to cook dinner or brunch with me at some point. And that would be really nice.
Goal for the summer:
Haha just kidding, I only wish my apartment looked like that :D
But the sangria is not just kidding. That's definitely happening.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Chicago in NY: Snap Food Truck
My group at work loves food trucks. Loves. I was a bit wary at first. After all, who knows where that street meat's been? Or how long it's been there? Or where it's even from...? I wasn't so squeamish when I was younger and traveling around in places like rural Mexico (tacos de menudo) or the streets of Korea (boshintang), but now that I'm older, I know better. I know exactly why my food from a cart is so cheap: it's using cheap cuts of meat and cutting corners for the uneducated or simply indifferent consumer.
I resisted at first, but 8 months later, I have to admit I'm a convert. Food trucks are effing amazing! From Korilla to Luke's Lobster Rolls to grasshopper tacos and Coolhaus, there's no shortage of fun foods I want to try*. Still trying to save $$$ so I can do something cool later in my life, so my food truck expeditions are limited, but every now and then, a super cool truck comes along and I simply can't say no...
Earlier this week, one of my most die-hard food truck enthusiast coworkers yelled at me across the desk rows, "HEY! There's a truck with Chicago style hot dogs!"
Now, as you all know, I spent four years in the beautiful Windy City. Famous for all sorts of gut-busting noms like deep dish pizza, Chicago-style dogs, and steaks.
Sadly, deep dish pizza never quite did it for me. In my defense, I tried, I really did. I dutifully took all my out-of-towners to Uno's, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. I always felt like I had an unpleasant cheese baby kicking its way through my stomach. No thanks - I'll take L'Asso over Giordano's any day.
However, Portillo's hot dogs are something else. Chicago-style dogs with the works (hold the onions)are so good, I wouldn't care if they were made with questionable meat cuts (which is good, since they probably are).
So when my coworker popped up gopher-style from behind her computer announcing Chicago-style dogs, my ears perked up right away.
Snap Food Truck. Coming soon to a city block near me. !!!
Interestingly, the owners (a married couple) are working to fuel their truck with biofuel (aka leftover french fry oil). Very cool. They haven't quite gotten off the ground yet, but when they do, I'll be the first in line.
Even more interesting - they source locally. Can't be easy. I admire their dedication and I can't wait to see and taste the end result.
For those of you who are curious, Snap is partnering with Dickson's Farmstand Meats and Karl Ehmer in Brooklyn for their grass-fed beef and all-beef hot dogs. (Yay! now I know where the mystery meat is coming from! +5 points for this alone). As for their pickles and cheese? The Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn and artisanal pickles from Rick's Picks. Mmm.
I really hope Snap tastes as good as the picture above looks. Bonus points for cucumbers. If there's ketchup, I will smack someone on the head. You wouldn't put ketchup on your drunk chicken'n'rice would you!? So why the F would you put it on your perfectly good Chicago dog?! Yeah. What I thought. Omg...I'm getting hungry. Go support Snap on Kickstarter so they can launch their truck and drive it to a street corner nearby. I want my food!!!
Fueled by Fries: Kickstarter page for Snap
*Also helps a lot that some of my favorite NY restaurants get reviews from yelpers like "roaches in rice!" Still eat there, so can't really be elitist and snobby about food trucks anymore. Especially since the trucks look a lot cleaner. I also belatedly recalled that my favorite taco shop in Tucson had roach and rat issues too. Maybe roaches secrete MSG and we just didn't realize it yet? ERUGH.
I resisted at first, but 8 months later, I have to admit I'm a convert. Food trucks are effing amazing! From Korilla to Luke's Lobster Rolls to grasshopper tacos and Coolhaus, there's no shortage of fun foods I want to try*. Still trying to save $$$ so I can do something cool later in my life, so my food truck expeditions are limited, but every now and then, a super cool truck comes along and I simply can't say no...
Earlier this week, one of my most die-hard food truck enthusiast coworkers yelled at me across the desk rows, "HEY! There's a truck with Chicago style hot dogs!"
Now, as you all know, I spent four years in the beautiful Windy City. Famous for all sorts of gut-busting noms like deep dish pizza, Chicago-style dogs, and steaks.
Sadly, deep dish pizza never quite did it for me. In my defense, I tried, I really did. I dutifully took all my out-of-towners to Uno's, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. I always felt like I had an unpleasant cheese baby kicking its way through my stomach. No thanks - I'll take L'Asso over Giordano's any day.
However, Portillo's hot dogs are something else. Chicago-style dogs with the works (hold the onions)are so good, I wouldn't care if they were made with questionable meat cuts (which is good, since they probably are).
So when my coworker popped up gopher-style from behind her computer announcing Chicago-style dogs, my ears perked up right away.
Snap Food Truck. Coming soon to a city block near me. !!!
Interestingly, the owners (a married couple) are working to fuel their truck with biofuel (aka leftover french fry oil). Very cool. They haven't quite gotten off the ground yet, but when they do, I'll be the first in line.
Even more interesting - they source locally. Can't be easy. I admire their dedication and I can't wait to see and taste the end result.
For those of you who are curious, Snap is partnering with Dickson's Farmstand Meats and Karl Ehmer in Brooklyn for their grass-fed beef and all-beef hot dogs. (Yay! now I know where the mystery meat is coming from! +5 points for this alone). As for their pickles and cheese? The Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn and artisanal pickles from Rick's Picks. Mmm.
I really hope Snap tastes as good as the picture above looks. Bonus points for cucumbers. If there's ketchup, I will smack someone on the head. You wouldn't put ketchup on your drunk chicken'n'rice would you!? So why the F would you put it on your perfectly good Chicago dog?! Yeah. What I thought. Omg...I'm getting hungry. Go support Snap on Kickstarter so they can launch their truck and drive it to a street corner nearby. I want my food!!!
Fueled by Fries: Kickstarter page for Snap
*Also helps a lot that some of my favorite NY restaurants get reviews from yelpers like "roaches in rice!" Still eat there, so can't really be elitist and snobby about food trucks anymore. Especially since the trucks look a lot cleaner. I also belatedly recalled that my favorite taco shop in Tucson had roach and rat issues too. Maybe roaches secrete MSG and we just didn't realize it yet? ERUGH.
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