Ask the Profussor – Marching On

I know it’s a rookie mistake, but everyone is doing it. The calendar says March, there was a big rain (and not a big snow), roofs are starting to clear of snow and ice, and I even lowered the windows of the car yesterday. It’s difficult to not think spring is almost here.

But March will kick you in the ass and take your milk money.

Because just when you think it is over, March will dump a pile of snow on your dreams of an early spring. So I’m trying to stay calm, and accept that it’s still winter. Today I’ll be making another big pot of chana masala. And really I should cook up another batch of chicken stock sometime soon too.

Speaking of time marching on, I can’t believe it’s time for another Ask the Profussor. I had hoped to get it done a week ago, but the vacation really threw me for a loop. If you happen to be new around here, every so often I catch up on the unanswered questions that were posted in the comments.

If you make sure to use a question mark when asking a question, I will make sure it eventually gets answered. That’s my contract with you. Now without further ado, onto the questions.

KB @ Home-Baked Happiness is going to get me in trouble.
So who DOES have a “stunning cappuccino” around here? Or isn’t there one?

Stunning isn’t a word I use lightly. The best cappuccino I’ve had in these parts comes from Caffe Vero on Lark Street, although someone at Crisan has been practicing her craft, and I’m eager to get in there and see how she’s progressing.

Along the same lines StanfordSteph had this reaction to the Espresso Map:
What an excellent resource! Are you going to contribute any from this area?

Our places aren’t really like the places on the map. This third wave thing is intense. Yes, the owners of Caffe Vero were trained under David Schomer and roast their own beans. And that is impressive. But while I was in there earlier this week I couldn’t help but notice the special peppermint latte. That may pass muster in second wave circles, but why would anyone do that to good espresso?

Tonia knows I love her, but I need to address her little rant.
Kids never had food allergies back in the day? C’mon. I don’t buy it. And what, no kid sneaks stuff at school? How are the schools monitoring that? Are the teachers really reading all the labels of everything children put into their mouths? Silly.

So when I was growing up we had a close friend of the family die of anaphylactic shock. She was allergic to peanuts and was always very careful and would ask if there were nuts in foods she thought might contain them.

It never occurred to her there may be nuts in chili.

Not only was her death tragic, but apparently all her organs shut down and were not even viable to those direly in need of a transplant.

There were certainly kids back in the day with serious and life threatening allergies. I just have the sense that there weren’t as many of them. While I’m not going to venture a guess as to the changing awareness and sensitivities to allergies, I know the schools and teachers monitor things very closely. Young Master Fussy has been trained from a very young age by his teachers to not share his food or eat food from someone else’s lunch. Frankly I’m amazed he complies, but he does.

Speaking of Young Master Fussy, Phairhead wanted to know:
Does he sing along w/ The Talking Heads as well?

You better believe it, and it’s gotten me in a heap of trouble. My mother-in-law asked the boy if he knew anything about heaven. His face lit up and he said, “Heaven is a place. A place where nothing ever happens.” My mother-in-law was not amused. 

As long as we are talking about Talking Heads, Sophia Walker asked:
Whatever happened to Talking Heads anyway?

Bonus points to Miss Walker for using the proper name of the band. But Talking Heads broke up after the release of Naked, an album that I happen to enjoy. It sounds like David Byrne was a bit of a jerk to the rest of the band, which is a real shame. He sometimes does some solo stuff and did a tour with Brian Eno recently. The rest of the band did some post break up tours as the Tom Tom Club. For me Talking Heads is all about David Byrne, but Young Master Fussy is really into Chris Frantz.

Catherine made my week with this:
Thank you for giving me a smidge more courage to speak up and say ” why don’t we make it from scratch so its a little tastier?’ There is ease and there is expense and there is the way we teach our kids to eat. My boys (8 & 6) eat lots of garbage and lots of good stuff and any excuse I can take to move the weight to good stuff I will. Thank you

You are very welcome. The truth is that not only is it tastier, but it’s healthier. And often it’s not really all that hard. Sure there is a learning curve, and the first attempt you make at anything takes a bit of extra time.

slilly has an even easier way of making polenta:
I satisfied my recent polenta craving in a manner that required even less skill on my own part – I ordered it as a side dish Sunday night at Cafe Capriccio. I really think you need to go back there…order the eggplant, the beans and greens, a salad topped with housemade pancetta and a couple of small portions of pasta – maybe the fettucine with kale and housemade sausage? Share with Dr./Mrs. Fussy and I think you may begin to understand the spell the Cafe has the ability to spin.

I really do appreciate this keen bit of insight into this beloved local restaurant. When an entire community loves a place, there has to be something to it. And as slilly picked up, the appeal of Cafe Capriccio has continued to elude me.

The one thing that sticks in my craw about this restaurant is this piece they wrote about their use of garlic. It’s no longer directly accessible from their website, but you can see it here. My issue isn’t garlic, rather it’s their stance on canned chicken broth.

If I don’t find it acceptable for home cooking, why would I want to pay a lot of money to eat at a place that boasts of its copious use in the restaurant? Should I find my way past this, I will certainly follow slilly’s lead and see if I can be equally enchanted by the restaurant.

irisira corrects people when they call her husband Mr. instead of Dr.
We don’t get rankled if someone corrects us on pronunciation of a name, or your otherwise preferred address, why does this rankle people so much?

People like to be treated the same as everyone else. Regardless of the fact that your husband earned his title (instead of being born into it) the very notion of a different title hints at the idea of class. And class is a very touchy subject in this country. Most people like to pretend it doesn’t exist in America. But it very clearly does.

Matt K wanted the bottom line on my grass fed burger:
Yes – but how did it taste?

You know why most vegetarian food tastes so bad? Because most vegetarians are just so relieved to have something they can eat out at a restaurant, they don’t mind so much. It’s a terrible shame. Vegetarian food can be really tasty.

So can grass fed burgers, but just not this one. This one was more like a cafeteria burger that had been packed hard, likely frozen, cooked on a griddle, and let sit on a warming tray indefinitely.

That said, there is some degree of comfort to a cafeteria burger that goes beyond taste. It’s that warm meaty sandwich that is hearty and filling. It’s the meat and potatoes for the lunch hour. But given my concerns about the state of mass produced beef, I would never ever, never ever, have even considered eating a conventionally raised cafeteria-style burger.

I’m not entirely sure with where LB was going with this, but I like her tangent:
Are the concessions run by the museum itself, or contracted out to a profit-seeking national cafeteria vendor? Not that it isn’t possible for contractors to put out quality food and responsible food.
On an almost wholly unrelated tangent, I have a secret wish that the New York State Museum forget about the Subway, and have a real working automat with fresh food. I mean, they already have the automat doors set up on the cafeteria level. Wouldn’t that be amazing? /nerd

I have no idea who runs the Atrium Café on the ground floor of the National Museum of Natural History. If you really wanted to know the answer, you could call the management team at 202.633.9501. Should you call, please let me know what they say. Because now you’ve got me curious, just not curious enough to call myself.

Besides the actual subway car, I agree that Subway has no business being in the New York State Museum. The Connecticut Museum maybe, but we’ve got better sandwiches in this state, thank you very much. The automat would be amazing. But so would an outpost of one of the New York City delis. /jewish

When it comes to happy pigs on the menu, Jen was curious:
Do we know for sure these restaurants don’t use another local pork source? Flying Pigs isn’t the only farm within 100 miles of Albany raising “happy pigs.” I agree these places should be serving high quality, ethically-raised food for the price.

And Jon in Albany is of a similar mind with Jen:
There are several local farms producing pork…Is there a reason pork from Flying Pigs Farm is assumed to be more desirable?

We know nothing for sure, especially given some restaurants reluctance to supply detailed information on their menu. Your points are fair. I am arguing for Flying Pigs Farm as an example of just one farm that can’t find a market locally and whose bulk of production is going down to New York City instead.

What does set FPF apart from some producers is that they are already set up, willing, and able to work with restaurants. In my experience this is not the case with all small-scale farms.

Chris was picking up what I was putting down about meat at the HWFC:
Is a 100%+ markup on the meat really necessary?

From what I’ve been told, there is a strong cadre of anti-meat member-owners and that brining meat into the Honest Weight Food Co-op in the first place was a major deal. But clearly it is not a priority for the store to do it well. The co-op isn’t a grocery store, it’s not a gourmet market, it’s a health food store with a cheese counter and a driving ideology. We need a Whole Foods, but I’d settle for a Wegmans.

Rob sees gold in them fields of rye:
Seventy bucks? Time to build me a still!

Tell you what? I’ll build the still, if you take care of the paperwork.

I only have the merest hint at how maddening the local, regional and national governmental forms and procedures are when it comes to licensing and taxing distillers and the products they make. I’d love to be a part of the micro-distilling revolution, but I don’t think I could stand the bureaucratic nightmares.

Stevo used a bunch of question marks defending me from myself:
I’m sorry, but if you are willing to spend $67 on a bottle of booze, sight unseen, you are not cheap. Cautious on where and how you spend your money? Probably. Always looking to get the most from your dollar? Definitely. Cheap? No.

Cheap is a powerful word. It’s like lazy. Many people think of these as vile and despicable traits. But not me. I’m cheap and I embrace it. In some ways my laziness holds me back, but in other ways it helps me to achieve things others cannot. And granted, neither of these are defining traits. They are like veins of ore in the rock. They run deep within me, there are times when they are more or less prominent. But they are there, and they are a part of me. And I’m okay with that.