Photo Friday: Before the Locking

It’s the end of October. Finally, there is a chill in the air. It’s beginning. The locking, that is. The time when the air and land prepare for the deep cold that is the heart of winter. Then it will take a couple of months for the earth and the sky to unlock, before Spring can arrive in earnest.

To close out this week, and bring on the weekend, I’m sharing a bunch of pictures that have accumulated over the past few weeks. It’s been busy. Be forewarned, not all of them are appetizing. But each of them chronicles an important food moment.

Each is presented with as little commentary as humanly possible. Okay? Here we go.

Behold the tlayuda at La Mexicana in Schenectady. There’s no reason you need to accept the blend of meats that the kitchen wants to load on top of this beast of a dish. Really, it is best split by three to four adults, so you can order a couple other small bites or have room for dessert. This one is topped with carnitas and lengua.

Below is the financier from The Placid Baker in Troy. Get this. I fell in love with these very adult treats in Paris. They are like cupcakes, but without the icing. It may look like a muffin, but it’s not. Trust me on this one.

I don’t like to share two photos from the same place on a Photo Friday, but holy crap was this delicious. The Placid Baker doesn’t always have pizza, but when they do, a slice from the white pie is fantastic. Leave it to a bakery to understand rectangular sheet pan pizza.

I have always love getting a little extra from the time I was small, and got my first mixing tin of milkshake with a couple inches of precious liquid that couldn’t fit into the long tall glass. Below is how Ron serves pour overs at Stacks on Broadway. It’s beautiful coffee.

At the end of tomato season, I had to have the BLTea at The Olde English. You can’t quite see how much bacon is in this thing. But it’s astounding. In fact, there is so much food packed between these slices of bread, I’d advise finding a friend and sharing one sandwich. The “BLTea” adds (e)gg and (a)vocado to the classic build.

As long as I’m showing pics of eggs, below is one of mine. I cooked this one to top a batch of kimchi fried pasta. It’s one of my favorite ways to use plain leftover pasta that the kids left behind. Kimchi, gochujang, and a fried egg, can make anything tasty.

Do you remember when I went on that trip with the NY State Beef Council, and they served me a Subway roast beef sandwich for lunch? I figured it was a “pictures, or it didn’t happen” kind of moment. So here it is. In all of it’s alarming mediocrity.

Do you know what wasn’t mediocre? The strip steak I cooked as part of the same trip, outside, in the dark, with those who raise beef for a living in New York. Mine was delicious because I salted the heck out of it, and I left it on the grill long enough for the heat to help create a lovely crust. Technique. It’s all about technique.

I still haven’t talked about the time I decided to take the hardest, longest, veal slider recipe at the beef and veal blogger retreat. Well, below is the dish I made. Considering it was my first time ever working with veal, and in a strange kitchen, I was happy with my performance. But I was also totally the last one done.

Look at that! You learn something new every day. They do have pickled jalapeno peppers at Taco Bell! Thanks for the tip. Now I’ll get them on my pintos, cheese, onion, and rice bowls whenever the kids make their poor father eat at their favorite fast food place.

I still think of the mini hot dog as the Albany taco. It’s just a great little burst of flavor and protein for when you need a lift. This one came from the Hot Dog Charlie’s in Clifton Park. Is it my favorite? No. But on those days that I’m crashing, I’m thankful to be able to grab one of these Capital Region classics.

Parm-Reg crusted potatoes. Mrs. Fussy stored a cheese grater with its hopper loaded with just a bit of cheese in the fridge. I had to empty the fridge to make room for more pork shoulders. So, I did the obvious thing. Took a leftover potato, fried it in olive oil, and then grated the cheese into the hot pan over the crisped spuds. Man, this was good.

The Ipswich fried clam roll at the relatively recently remodeled Ankers in Schenectady. I let the bread serve as purely an oil draining device, and enjoy the clams on their own. This was a great way to enjoy a small portion of clams with their bellies, for just $7.50.