A new burger place called Blue Sky opened at 98th & Quaker a few weeks ago. The first time I ate there, I had to park across the street, because the parking lot was filled to overflowing. Lubbock may not support the arts, but beef is a different matter.
I tried their green chile cheeseburger, and it was fabulous. The green chiles do come on the side in a cup, not pre-slathered on the patty, but I was okay with that. The burger is very big, and the bun is fresh and soft, so this is definitely a burger you have to hold with both hands. I also tried their onion rings and fried chile sticks (fried anaheim peppers), which were completely new to me. I thought the fried chile sticks would taste good on a burger, so I had to try it, and I can confirm that they are in fact as good on the burger as on the side.
Blue Sky started in Amarillo and expanded to Lubbock. The Lubbock location has a mural on the wall of the Lubbock skyline and cotton strippers, which of course made me feel right at home. I'm digging that there are decent restaurants opening on 98th St, because previously the selection was limited to 7-11 convenience stores, and I hit my lifetime quota of Twinkies in the 80s.
Some months ago, I read this article in the NYTimes about a contest to name a new product line: Vegemite blended with cream cheese. The name that won was Vegemite iSnack 2.0.
Apparently, there was an angry reaction to that name, and Vegemite lovers voiced their displeasure online with
"...thousands of Twitter posts, at least a dozen Facebook groups and a Web site dedicated to 'Names that are better than iSnack 2.0.'"
One online commentator suggested that the 27-year-old designer who had submitted the winning name be tarred with Vegemite and forced to run naked through the streets of Sydney "as retribution for his cultural crime." Others called the name 'uStupid 1.0' and 'un-Australian.'" -NYTimes
As a result of the firestorm of crticism, Kraft countered by changing the name to Cheesybite. I was able to procure some of the "Cheesybite," though in the iSnack packaging, and the real problem is not with a ridiculous title, but that upon tasting the product, I was unable to fool my taste buds into thinking I wasn't licking dumpster refuse. I'm sorry to say that Cheesybite or iSnack or uStupid or whatever you want to call it is not much of an improvement over the original Vegemite. Apologies to my Aussie friends who enjoy the stuff.
Scott reported from down under on Australian foods more palatable than Vegemite. He ate lamb and some 'kanga bangas,' which is kangaroo sausage. He lives in a predominantly Polynesian area now, and they have a drink called horti (or-tie) that's really good. Scott said you can change up what goes in, but it's a drink with milk and then whatever kind or fruit that you want to shred up into it. I was unable to find more information about "horti" online despite my search prowess, so either Brother isn't spelling horti the way everyone else does or the creators of horti aren't advertising their invention online, at least not in English.
Scott further said of Polynesian food that it has almost no flavor and is very starchy. He said he's seen two kinds of cheese there: tasty and light...and neither is tasty at all. I think it's nice that my brother, who was always Mr. Meat and Potatoes for dinner and who avoided ethnic cuisine is in the middle of the Australian melting pot. It seems he's expanding their food horizons himself, though. After hearing a talk with the metaphor "trying to savor the goodness of a grape while trying to chew a jalapeño pepper," he explained to them what a jalapeño is.
Other than that, he said everyone makes them cakes and they are not even close to being like mine, which I take as a compliment. And he said that he was biking down the road and someone threw a metal can at him from their car, but it hit him in the helmet. Hopefully he'll give me some new stories to tell soon. I've been telling that can story for a couple of weeks now and it's played. I should spice it up with "and then they tarred him with Vegemite because they didn't want to eat the stuff..." uStupid.
One of the most interesting things that has happened to me in the last few weeks was meeting my new friend John from Beijing. He is a professor in China and a visiting scholar here, and he needed help at the library, so that's where we met. He is still learning English and has difficulty speaking it well. Anyone that even attempts to learn English earns my respect, especially native speakers of tonal languages. The English language is a mess. So John often comes up to me in the library with a list of things written down that he wants to tell me. I think he was happy to find someone that was nice and patient with him, so he kind of latched on to me. He has trouble saying my name. At first he called me Kim-ber-ler and kept that up no matter how many times I sounded out Kim-ber-lee for him. Now he's started calling me Kim-burger, but I'm trying to stamp that out, too.
John is a pianist and very talented musician. When he found out that I play the piano as well, he was very excited and insisted we play the piano together. The first time we played, I brought along a Nat King Cole songbook, and played some old jazz standards, or as John said, "American jaws." After that, not only did he ask when we could get together to practice English conversation, but he started asking repeatedly when we could play piano together next. Also, every time I see him, he tells me to go to China, where he could get me a really good job as a professor making $10-20,000 a year. You work too hard at the library, he says.
I learned from Katie and now from personal experience that there is not really a word in Chinese for no. Seriously. So my attempts to turn him down gently for after-work meetings, piano rehearsals, and moving to China haven't gone well. At first I say, "Maybe," then "We'll see," then "I don't think so," then "I can't," then "No," and I still think something's lost in translation.
And I feel so guilty that I can't stand it. I'll never forget how frustrated I was when my family and I visited China. I couldn't figure out the currency or the subway system, the ticket machines didn't take credit cards, and the attendant didn't speak English even though he claimed to. It was a nightmare. I can't imagine how frustrated John must be.
Not only do Chinese people never say no, they're also incredibly giving and would do anything for a guest or friend. In Taiwan, one of Katie's friends that we'd only just met bought us dinner, a birthday cake for my mom, and as we were about to leave on the train, she even took the barrette out of hair to give to Katie - they're that eager to give. John took my picture and drew a pencil sketch of me. It was very beautiful - not that I'm beautiful, but the sketch was very good! I'm getting enough Chinese paraphernalia from people I've helped at the library to decorate my office with an Asian theme.
John kept inviting me to go eat Chinese food with him at Lin's Chinese Buffet. I took him to China Town instead. He ordered the food, and we had salted duck and bamboo shoots with a brown sauce. I thought I was pretty open-minded when it came to food, but I could only eat a few bites of that meal. I concentrated on my hot and sour soup. John saw that I liked it and sent for another bowl over my protests. John kept repeating that we should go to Lin's Chinese Buffet. He described the huge room full of good food, to which I said, "No. I do NOT go to Chinese buffets," but he couldn't understand me, so he kept asking, undeterred.
Last week John asked me if I would perform a piano solo at the TTU Chinese Students Association Chinese New Year party. He asked me to play some American jazz. He doesn't take no for an answer, so despite my qualms, I finally agreed to play "Night and Day" by Cole Porter.
He had written down the time for the rehearsal: 1500. I understand the 24-hour clock, so I said "Three o'clock?"
John answered yes, that it was at "One o'clock."
"Oh, ONE o'clock," I repeated.
"Yes, thirteen o'clock."
It was the same routine trying to find out what time the actual performance started. I wasn't entirely sure if it started at six or seven until I saw a formal printed invitation.
Saturday afternoon (at three o'clock) I played my song at the rehearsal. I was pretty nervous because I was one of the only non-Chinese speakers in the whole theater besides the sound and lighting techs, who seemed to be as confused as I was. My heart was pounding because I had no idea what was going on or what I might be asked to do. Sure enough, John asked me to accompany him on a traditional Chinese song he was going to sing. I ended up sightreading the music he had handwritten, and his singing, although good, was not in rhythms, pitches, or words that I could follow, so I was pretty sure this would end in disaster.
At the performance, I told the stagehands to push the piano onto the stage when it was time for John's song, but they either didn't believe me or couldn't understand me. They were late pushing the piano onstage, so John improvised and spoke to the audience in pure Chinese - again, I had no idea what was happening. The stagehands put the piano directly under a vent, so my music was blowing off the stand the entire time. I had to hold the music in place with one hand while playing with the other (see minute 1:48 in the video).
As for my jazz performance, I was the only American in the middle of two hours worth of Chinese performers singing and dancing to traditional Chinese music.
It was COMPLETELY WEIRD that I played my song at that program. I know that the audience was thinking 'What the ?' when I got onstage. I felt like the pianist in this Seinfeld episode.
Mom, Dad, Katie, and Porter attended the performance and confirmed that my inclusion in the program was as out of place as I thought it was. It's not as if I'm some honorary member of the Chinese Student Association, or like I asked if I could perform, but there I was, crashing the party and bringing the coolness level down.
This probably comes as a surprise to everyone including me, but I'm not the least bit sad about not having a Valentine this year. Having no Valentine is definitely better than having an idiot for one. The dating pool here is as dried up as I am, and I don't think any of my eHarmony matches could even pass the Turing test. I guess I could change and try to be more attractive and less geeky, starting with not making references to the Turing test and not obsessing over cooking and food, but what's the fun in that? Today, I am okay with being single.
This year I celebrated my cold, cold heart by hosting an ice cream party and inviting some of my best lady friends. I spent a fun couple of days making four different ice creams - Vanilla, Apple Sorbet, Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet, and Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato - and two different toppings - hot fudge and caramel sauce.
For some time, my favorite homemade ice cream was plain old vanilla. Vanilla can be complemented by any number of sauces, fruits, or toppings, or it can stand alone. However, this night, the apple sorbet was out of this world! I poured caramel sauce over it, and it tasted like a caramel apple that wouldn't ruin your dental work. Definitely the easiest to make out of the four flavors, and I think many of my guests agreed it was the best.
Simply mix 1 quart of apple cider, 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of dark rum (optional, or sub 2 teaspoons of vanilla), chill, and churn. The mixture tasted delicious unfrozen, and I'm sure you could heat it if you're into warm beverages on cold, winter days instead of ice cream like I am.
I'm happy to report that four quarts of ice cream was more than enough for nine women. Those are leftovers that don't get pushed to the back of the fridge - people fight to finish those off.
No, I'm not starting the Mediterranean diet, but the dinner I served tonight is probably the closest I'll ever come to following it. This meal was also simple to prepare, which is something else I usually shun.
First, I made a Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup recipe from Cook's Illustrated. (It looks like that recipe is now behind a pay wall. Email me if you want the recipe.) The formerly secret ingredient in this soup recipe is white bread. You add three slices of white bread, torn into pieces, to the tomatoes and seasonings, then puree all of it. I used my immersion blender, which is so much more wonderful than going through the steps of partitioning batches of boiling hot liquid, pouring them into a blender, blending, pouring that into another bowl, and then repeating the steps with subsequent batches. The white bread gives the soup thickness and a creamy texture, so you don't have to add cream. I drizzled white truffle oil and sprinkled chopped chives on top of each serving. White truffles are among the most expensive foods in the world, so I got a bargain on truffle oil that I didn't have to take out a loan for, right? How disappointed was I to find out that my truffle oil was only synthetically flavored olive oil. It tastes great, but still!
Alongside the soup, we had green salad, and baked brie with orange flower honey and roasted pecans.
And for dessert, lemon madeleines, a traditional French sponge cake, baked in small, shell-shaped molds. I distinctly remember Auntie telling me the correct way to pronounce madeleine in French; I'm just not certain of what that correct pronunciation was. I think it is mad-uh-LANE, not mad-uh-LEN. Auntie, help? I tried to find the correct pronunciation online and only found conflicting answers as in this video of Martha Stewart and Gale Gand making chocolate madeleines. Martha says mad-uh-LEN; Gale says mad-uh-LANE. I tend to trust Gale, because Martha is too, too smarmy, and you know, Gale validated my instincts.
I don't understand why madeleines have a reputation for being difficult to make. The method isn't that strange or elaborate, and as long as you butter the pans sufficiently, the cookies slide right out of the shell-shaped molds. I made dozens of these cookies over the weekend and they turned out beautifully. I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe for Citrus Madeleines. There are lots of possible variations: almond madeleines, Gale's chocolate madeleines, David Lebovitz's Lemon Glazed, mini-madeleines, etc. I used a miniature mold pan and a lemon glaze. I served the madeleines with fresh fruit which made for a tasty, light dessert.
I got home after 10 o'clock tonight and decided I should fix myself a meal more substantive than my last, which was a breakfast consisting of grazing on leftover Indian food. (Al Gore randomly appeared in my dreams last night, and I attribute that to eating super spicy Indian food close to bed time.) I'm never one for conventional meals. I'm proud of myself for maintaining my resolve to keep the fridge clean and uncluttered, though sometimes that leaves reduced options for foodage.
Tonight I opted for a bacon and egg sandwich starring Cooper's BBQ bacon. I ordered their Hickory Smoked Peppered Bacon along with the brisket last week. Two slices of bacon fried up quickly, then I fried an egg and toasted the bread in the bacon drippings, and with some greens and apple slices on the side, it was quite a good meal.
Why not assuage those post-holiday blues with chocolate? It's cheaper than compulsive shopping. Christopher Kimball's America's Test Kitchen Blog has a recipe for Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake.
Chocoholics have a friend in me.
Update 4/10/10: We hate dead links around here, so I must inform you that the blackguard Christopher Kimball removed the recipe from his blog. He doesn't like it when you get things for free. But I still love you, CK. Please email me if you want the recipe.
Today my brother Scott leaves to do missionary work in Australia for two years. We won't visit each other during that time, and we'll only talk to him on the phone on Mother's Day and Christmas. It's a darn sight different from having him be a text message away. With Wendy getting engaged and married in the spring, a new baby's arrival, and now Scott leaving, it seems like everything is different all at once in my family.
I'm happy to provide one constant: having everyone over to my house for family dinners. For Scott's send-off, I ordered a barbecue beef brisket from Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, TX. Once Scott arrives in Sydney, Australia, I'm pretty sure Llano, TX and tasty Texas barbecue will seem like they are a world away.
Cooper's site says "Our barbecue brisket is cooked cowboy style: Directly over simmering mesquite coals for over 5 hours." The brisket was shipped shrink-wrapped with a bottle of bbq sauce, and when I cut open the packaging, a tantalizing aroma of smoky red meat wonderfulness escaped. The brisket's exterior was black with crusted pepper, and I was self-appointed to slice the meat for serving. That's one of the best jobs in the world. The meat juices and pepper coat your fingers, and you simply Must lick it off, and eat scraps as you carve. Cooper's barbecue sauce isn't your expected thick, sugary, ketchup-like sauce. It's closer to what I think of as Southeastern US barbecue sauce: vinegar-based, very thin, and not too sweet.
Scott isn't necessarily one I would term an adventurous eater. He's downright picky about a lot of vegetables, doesn't like mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and won't even try a lot of ethnic foods. But he will try some over the top meat and dessert concoctions with me, like fluffernutters, his S'morito creation, or my Bacon Ice Cream. I seriously thought of making something akin to this double coronary burger for him. It's a burger topped with bacon, cheese, fried eggs, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onion between two grilled cheese sandwiches. I'll save that for when he returns - don't want to kill him before he leaves. This meat and potatoes brisket menu was the perfect thing for him.
Scott's Christmas present to me was a card saying he would take me out for "no less than five dinners." The kid knows that I think food is more fun than most gifts, but I think this was more designed to be hang out with Scott quality time.
So we went to Raising Cane's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cancun, West Crust Pizza, and Chili Dog Cafe. I highly recommend anything at the Chili Dog Cafe with their chili on it, including the Frito Pie Burger. Shut up, it's winter, and it's cold outside, and I don't feel bad about it.
I'm anxious to hear what fun foods Scott finds down under in Australia. The only iconic Australian food I can think of is Vegemite, but from everything I've read, Australia is a melting pot much like the United States, and so I'm sure he'll find a little bit of everything, including some racist KFC?
I couldn't remember having a cold and snowy December like we just had since I was a kid. Turns out that December 2009 was indeed one of the coldest on record in Lubbock. If you ask me, cold weather is terribly unwelcome any time after December. When you don't have the holidays to cheer you, winter makes me miserable.
Look at that ugliness. A fresh batch of cold air from the North Pole. I don't want anything from the North Pole except Santa Claus.
I left work tonight just before 6 and happily discovered sunshine, calm air, and balmy temps in the 50°s. I ran an errand and exited just before 7 to find apocalyptic winds and and arctic chill outside. I hate it. January and February are the most depressing months of the year because it's so cold and gets dark so early.
Tonight I'm coping by drinking Salted Caramel hot chocolate from World Market and eating fresh strawberries. Salted caramels and salted chocolates have been trendy for years, and it's a craze I fully support, although detractors still exist. I went to a Christmas party for singles last month, and one of the available beverages was salted caramel hot chocolate. Actually, there was a squeeze bottle of caramel, which we were supposed to pour in our styrofoam cups, salt, and then ladle hot chocolate over, so, kind of..... But it wasn't something those kids could handle. Conversations consisted of me telling them it was good and they'd screw up their faces and respond, "Eww. Salted caramel! What?!?" And I'd sneer. I was on the other end of the snob spectrum, thinking, "Squeeze caramel! What?!? Caramel doesn't come from a bottle." Not nice.
Perhaps my food snobbery is a pose, as I had never even heard of the exquisite NōKA Chocolate before Matt gave me some for Christmas.
With their four flavors named Vivienté™, Carmeñago™, Bambarra™, and Tamborina™, and the tasting guide with six stated instructions beginning with "Be Present - Smile and breathe deeply," it's definitely good and snobby and very delicious. Half of two truffles was a perfect indulgence tonight.
I'm not one for New Years resolutions, but one thing I'm going to be better about is keeping my fridge and pantry clean and organized. I hate to throw something out if there's even a possibility I can still use it, and it's all too easy for me to push foods to the back of the fridge week after week. "I'll use those tomatoes and herbs later. Okay, that blue cheese is now black. Yikes!" Definitely a case of sunk cost fallacy, because I'll end up throwing the stuff away in a couple of weeks anyway. After my recent weeding of the refrigerator and pantry, and playing a game of 'What's the oldest expiration date I can find?,' I'm not anxious to repeat the task.
Who knew that January 4 is National Spaghetti Day? I celebrated by improvising a Spaghetti Alla Carbonara recipe based on available ingredients. Way to clean out the fridge! It's nice to cook something without going to the store first, and this recipe is open to a lot of variations. It's also a great weeknight meal, as it comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Spaghetti Alla Carbonara Serves 2-4ish - Boy ate 2 servings. Girl ate 1 and had 1 left for another meal.
Ingredients
2 eggs 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 1 shallot, minced 2 T. olive oil 4-6 slices bacon, chopped 1/4 cup white wine 1 pound spaghetti kosher or sea salt pepper
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 200°F and set large heatproof serving bowl on oven rack. Bring stockpot of water to a boil for pasta. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water.
2. In a small bowl (I used a 2-cup capacity glass measuring cup), beat eggs, cheese, and shallots together with fork.
3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-low heat and add bacon. Cook until crisp. Add wine and simmer for several minutes.
4. When water comes to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente; drain, leaving pasta slightly wet.
5. Transfer drained pasta to warm serving bowl from oven. Immediately pour egg mixture over hot pasta, and toss to combine. Pour bacon mixture over pasta, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve immediately.
I find that cooking dinner allows me a lot more creativity than baking, because I don't have to be exact in the ingredients I choose or the amounts I add. This recipe is a classic example. If you don't mess with the method of adding the egg and cheese mixture to the hot pasta and serving bowl, you should be fine. Adding the egg and bacon mixtures to the hot pasta and warmed bowl is what cooks the egg and melts the cheese. The eggs haven't ever scrambled on me; they always thicken to a nice consistency.
Possible variations for this recipe: Don't like bacon? (Blasphemy!) Use prosciutto, but reduce the cooking time, so it doesn't burn. I used some super sexy Mt. Petit Jean Peppered Bacon (ordered from Zingerman's - hope that link works) and it was amazing! If I had some on hand, I would have added fresh herbs. You need something green to distract from the eggs, bacon, and cheese. You could also add tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, or other veggies. Cook them with the bacon if they need to be cooked through, and if not, add them at the end when you toss the pasta. You could use a combination of parmesan and other cheeses. When I've made this recipe before, I used a couple of cloves of minced garlic instead of shallot. However, I only had shallots available this time, and I actually thought they were better than garlic. You can substitute a different wide, flat pasta for the spaghetti, e.g., fettuccine or linguine. Add peppers or red pepper flakes to spice things up. After it's plated, grate additional parmesan over the pasta for extra presentation points.
Not only do Chinese people never say no, they're also incredibly giving and would do anything for a guest or friend. In Taiwan, one of Katie's friends that we'd only just met bought us dinner, a birthday cake for my mom, and as we were about to leave on the train, she even took the barrette out of hair to give to Katie - they're that eager to give. John took my picture and drew a pencil sketch of me. It was very beautiful - not that I'm beautiful, but the sketch was very good! I'm getting enough Chinese paraphernalia from people I've helped at the library to decorate my office with an Asian theme.
