Posts tagged food

You Are What You Eat - 2011

Earlier in the year I posted a quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” Makes sense. Here’s what shaped and fashioned me this year:

Early in the year I discovered Film Riot - an internet video podcast starring Ryan Connely and his crew of misfit filmmakers. Every week they dissect film making techniques - often by tackling requests sent in by readers to figure out how to reproduce big budget effects on a DIY budget. They never fail to be entertaining or useful.

I also found Vimeo’s Video School to be pretty useful. The information there can be a little elementary at times, but since they seek to address aspiring filmmakers at every experience level, that only make sense.

Moving from the web to television, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations was essential viewing. I’ve always loved the show, but this year, in it’s seventh season, it took on an almost religious significance for me. It started with the Haiti episode. There was just something about the scene where Bourdain tried to buy food for a bunch of hungry kids and inadvertantly caused a minor riot - his willingness to show how a seemingly benign act of philanthropy could spin out of control, that our actions, no matter how pure hearted, do not exist in a contextless vacuum. It felt like journalism. It felt like a man making television with nothing to prove. If you can take that kind of honesty and couple it with food porn that’s good TV.

This year also saw the release of a second show from Bourdain called The Layover. It’s presumably filmed on Bourdain’s actual layovers as he travels the globe filming No Reservations. It features Bourdain telling you the best places to eat, sleep, and drink in various cities. It’s No Reservation’s less heady, less serious little brother. I wasn’t hooked by the first episode (Singapore). No problem, I thought, I still have No Reservations. No sense being greedy. But the second episode featured Bourdain in New York, his home base, and it was awesome. It was a Bourdain we rarely see; smiling, comfortable, almost giddy. The best part was him arguing with some poor schlub in hamburger joint about whether you could get good sushi in New York. Hooked.

The Layover features a very different editing style from No Reservations. One I stole from liberally (though poorly)

Moving from the small screen to the big one - I saw a lot of movies in the theater this year - but not nearly enough for my liking - and not nearly enough that really blew my socks off. Here’s what I saw that I liked, though:

Thor and Captain America were both childhood dreams come true, Hanna kept me glued to the screen and looked nice doing it, X-Men: First Class was a nice way to re-imagine a dull franchise, Horrible Bosses was genuinely funny (instead of genuinely grueling like The Hangover 2), True Grit was the western we’ve all wanted for a few years now, and Driver was unexpectedly stylish, compelling, and sad (it’s larger here by random, not because it was my favorite movie by any means).

Musically, I had a lot of favorite bands release new albums this year but none of them truly stood out for me. Instead the highlights of my year musically were all live. First of all there was seeing The Mountain Goats live for the first time at Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Sara loves John Darnielle but had kind of a bad night so out of respect of her, I won’t go on and on about this one:

Next was discovering local boy made good, Vandaveer. Sara and I had a front row table for his show at Natasha’s back in the summer. It was the perfect way to experience a perfect show:

Later in the summer my friends Dan and Jen and I sat with about 30 other people at The Green Lantern and got to hear These United States rehearse a bunch of new songs before taking them into the studio. As far as good shows go, you can’t get much better than that:

Finally, my buddy Paul had his birthday party at Cosmic Charlies at the end of the summer on the same night that one of his favorite bands, Ha Ha Tonka was playing. The band not only sang Happy Birthday to Paul, they let him get on stage and mumble into a microphone for about the minutes while they played. Nicest band ever? Quite possibly:

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! This was also the year that my favorite local band, Sunday Valley, released their first new material in years. It was a great album and cause for celebration:

I watch a lot of TV, see a lot of movies, and listen to a lot of music in a given year - but more than any of those, I read comics. All kinds of comics. What did I read this year that I loved? Glad you asked. 2011 saw the release of the first new issues of Casanova in years. Issue 2, by creators Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba, in particular was comic book magic:

Fraction is my favorite writer in comics. As such, he created more than one book I really liked this year. For instance, his third issue of Mighty Thor was probably the best comic I read all year. It had it all: Norse Gods in space armor, Galactus, naked sword play, Silver Surfer saying cool stuff, Olivier Coipel. That’s a comic!

Other things I loved: Supernatural western, Sixth Gun from Oni Press

Mini comic Wolves from Becky Cloonan:

Weird fantasy book Orc Stain:

There was tons more, but space is limited.

What about books without pictures?

Anthony Bourdain makes good TV and writes good books. This year I read and loved his memoirs Medium Raw:

I also thoroughly enjoyed Blood, Bones & Butter, by chef Gabriel Hamilton:

Notice how both the books I mentioned were more or less about food? I love food. So it only make sense to mention some of the great meals I had this year. Cooking is as much of an art as writing or creating music or films after all.

This year Sara and I discovered Nick Ryan’s Saloon in downtown Lexington and had the best braised short ribs ever:

Our other great discovery was Nicaraguan Latin Grille, a little whole in the wall that blew out socks off:

We also went to Azure, home of local culinary star, Jermy Ashby, and had an incredible seven course meal. Below is just one of the delicious plates:

Then there was Hawaii. We had a lot of great Hawaiin food. Too much to get into, but suffice to say, I now have a deep abiding appreciation for macaroni salad:

There were tons more from tons of great restaurants like Cheng’s , Pho BC, Sam’s Hot Dogs, Planet Thai, Ramirez’ Taqueria, Local Taco, Doodles, Rossi’s, Ramsey’s, Winchell’s, Marikka’s, and El Rancho Tapitio.

Well, that’s it. That was what I ate in 2011. That’s what I loved, took in, digested, and was shaped by. Except for the dozen or so things I will think of as soon as I hit the “post” button.

On to 2012!

Home cooking

I grew up in the kind of family that I imagine is something of an endangered species these days - We ate together seven days a week, most of those meals around a dinner table.

My mom had a rotation of dishes that she worked through. It would usually take you two weeks to make it through a complete rotation, but the same dish never showed up twice in one week. Certain events necessitated certain dishes. Wednesday night was always hamburgers. Hamburgers were quick and since we had church on Wednesdays we needed something easy to prepare. Thursdays we got takeout because Thursday was grocery night and mom wouldn’t get home early enough to cook.

To me, it was idyllic. It was stable and predictable and just the kind of thing a kid needs, I would think. Plus, I liked everything my mom made, so I was never disappointed (full disclosure, I didn’t like meatloaf - so as a result, my mom rarely made it. Spoiled? Yes, yes I was).

My favorite meal my mom ever made, though, was salmon patties. I think growing up I thought my mom invented salmon patties. I’ve discovered since then, that wasn’t the case. I have no idea, though, how common they actually are. If you ate them growing up, feel free to let me know.

Salmon patties are canned salmon (bones, skin, and all), mixed with an egg and crushed up saltines, formed into a patty, then fried. Simple. Delicious.

My mom always served them with fried potatoes, corn, green beans, and macaroni and cheese. Those last three were staples in our home. All out of can, bag, or box, all delicious. To this day, I actually prefer box macaroni to the real thing. Blasphemy, I know.

I’ve tried to recreate this meal at home. It never turns out quite as good. So, in an attempt to figure out what I was doing wrong, I talked my mom into cooking it for Sara and I last night so I could watch.

As it turns out, we prepare the dish the same exact way. There was no missing step in my approach, no secret ingredient other than whatever magical thing happens when a mother cooks for her children that can’t be reproduced.

You can see here, it’s all just ingredients, oil, and cooking surfaces:

The result, though, was incredible:

No pageantry, no presentation, just good, home cooked food that reminded me of my childhood.

Also, those were the same exact plates we ate on growing up.

At one point I got up from the table to go refill my glass with sweat tea (another staple growing up) and from the kitchen I could hear the nightly news on the television in the living room. It had been left on while we ate even though no one was in there - something that happened frequently when I was growing up. I had a sudden overwhelming sense of nostalgia that made me really happy.

My mom also made my favorite desert: Oreo Delight - but that’s another post.

After dinner we washed the dishes and then sat around and talked for a while before Sara and I finally had to leave. Driving home I told Sara that I was the most relaxed I’ve felt in months. And full. Really, really full.

Anniversary meal - 2011

As I posted a few days ago, last year Sara and I decided to make a completely chef-chosen meal at local fine dining restaurant, Azur, our new anniversary tradition. Thursday night we celebrated our three year anniversary with eight courses, designed on the spot by Azur executive chef, Jeremy Ashby. Ashby is a gifted and inventive chef - and a really nice guy. Here’s what he made for us (I was scrawling down descriptions on my iPhone as the waitress served us, so hopefully I got everything mostly right):

First course
Red chile and guava shrimp in a coconut lime sauce (what a way to start…)

Second course
Smoked salmon with pacific rim vegetables and avocado butter (Butter! With avocados! Genius!)

Third course
Fried green tomato with country ham and buttermilk dressing

Fourth course
Halibut w/ mushrooms and cilantro chipotle gnocchi in corn butter sauce (This one was probably my favorite - soooo rich, but not overpowering)

Fifth course
Chicken stuffed with andouille sausage and spinach in tomato and fontina cheese sauce

Sixth course
Olive oil poached beef with fontina cheese wonto in truffle oil (I’d never heard of poaching beef - or poaching anything in olive oil, but the result was a really tender, buttery piece of meat)

Seventh course
Watermelon with cayenne, mint, and melon liquor (We both loved this, but when it came out, Sara looked at me and said, “By the way, this doesn’t count as desert.”)

Eighth course (BONUS)
Blackberry cake with vanilla sauce and ice cream

So much food. We could barely move when we left. But a lack of mobility us a small price to pay for that kind of great food. We wondered if people noticed us taking pictures of all of our food and furiously typing in the names of the dishes into my phone. I’m sure they did and I’m sure they thought, “Tourists…” but I give exactly one flying frick about what the other patrons thought. I love food and I love documenting the things Sara and I get to try together. I’m already anticipating next year.

In Anticipation of Thursday

Monday is Sara’s and my three year anniversary. We’ll be celebrating this Thursday by spending the night in a cabin near Cumberland Falls. Before that, though, we’ll be partaking in what we decided last year would be our new tradition - a multiple course, chef-chosen meal at Azure.

Last year we did five courses. This year we’re doing seven. I know what you’re saying: “Five courses wasn’t enough? You barely finish a meal as it is! Darn you for being so handsome!” Let me take these one at a time. No, five isn’t enough when it comes to new interesting dishes prepared by a talented chef. Yeah, I tend to eat like a bird, but these are small plates and I plan on fasting all day. Thank you for noticing.

Here’s what we ate last year:

Seared ahi tuna on salad with mango mascarpone cheese

Angus beef spring roll with bok choi over guava sauce

Foie gras and passion fruit soup with avocado tempura.

Elk rack and tiger prawn over smoked cheddar and leek risotto with portobello au jus!

Awesome, right? It was all delicious. I’ll be tweeting our meal on Thursday just because it’s the mindless posting of thing we eat on the internet that separates us from animals.

I won’t, however, be tweeting from our cabin at Cumberland Falls. Sorry pervs.

Nicaraguan Latin Grill

There’s a part of Lexington where a lot of the Latin immigrant population lives. Some locals have taken to calling it Lexico.

Clever.

When you drive through that part of town, the thoughts that come immediately to your mind probably have a lot to do with what kind of person you are. I know one guy for instance that immediately assumes everyone he passes on the street is in this country illegally. This guy is what we call a right-wing douche bag.

I know another guy who can’t drive past the area with out launching into a soliloquy about the hardworking immigrants and what we can learn from them and their culture. This guy is what we call a liberal douche bag.

Then there’s me. I drive through that part of town and want to stop and eat at every broke down looking, ex-Lee’s Famous Recipe building with a shingle out front. I am what we call a hungry douche bag.

Last night, Sara and I visited one such establishment. We’ve made it our mission to try and go out on Friday nights and find restaurants that are new to us. This led us to The Nicaraguan Latin Grill.

Please know, I’ve never had Nicaraguan food before, so I have no idea if what we ate was authentic. I tend to believe it was, after speaking at length with the waitress. What I can tell you, with absolute assurance, though, is that IT WAS AWESOME.

Our waitress recommended we try the Fritanga platter as a way of sampling a lot of different items. It had skirt steak, chicken skewers, fried cheese, pork rinds, plantains, slow cooked pork chunks, beans and rice, slaw, yucca, and blood sausage.

Here’s what it looked like:

Everything was good. Everything. Even the blood sausage, which is basically just pig blood and rice made into a sausage patty. Gross to think about? Yeah, but hotdogs are full of pig anus, so let’s not get all high and mighty, anus eater.

There were also three complimentary salsas. One was made with carrots, onion, and habanero peppers, one was a customary tomato salsa, but reeeeeally spicy, and one was a chimichurri that tasted like God made it. I’ve made chimichurri before and it tasted nothing like this, so I asked the waitress how they made it and she told me. SUCKAH!!

Here’s the salsas:

I don’t know if you like Nicaraguan food, and let’s be honest, you probably don’t know if you do either - but I highly recommend you leave whatever family function, funeral, church service, court hearing you’re at right now and go eat at this restaurant. Sara and will probably be there.

No Reservations

Okay, here’s the plan:

Tonight, Sara and I watch the season premiere of No Reservations in which Anthony Bourdain visits Cuba. As usual, I will sit and watch and suddenly find myself craving foods I’ve never even necessarily tasted.

Then, on Wednesday, Sara and I will accompany Freddy and Erin Acevedo to Old San Juan, Lexigton’s favorite (and only?) Cuban restaurant, and enjoy some Cuban food, hopefully informed, somewhat, by No Reservations and Freddy (yes, he’s Dominican, but I’m lead to believe there are more than a few similarities in the food). It will be glorious.

We may also go see Horrible Bosses, afterwards, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with the food part…