Potluck Likes
Potlucks make great parties. Especially for the food obsessed. These are fantastic opportunities to see what other people cook. Not to judge them, but to be inspired by them. And if you have kids they can be a giant laboratory to learn more about what the little ones will tolerate without having to cook a wide variety of foods that will ultimately be rejected.
Last night I learned my kids aren’t so crazy about grassfed rib eye. And that’s okay. It just means more for me.
That aside, we went to a potluck on Friday. The last time I attended such an event was in the fall. Usually, I try to make something relatively easy that transports well and can feed a lot of people without breaking the bank.
So, this time I mashed up two different Marcella Hazan recipes with some degree of success.
Speaking of Excellent Small Producers
What does it take to be a confident drinker? It means that I don’t need a national spirits writer to sample Harvest Spirit’s Cornelius Applejack to tell me it’s excellent. I know it’s excellent. And if some trained nose can’t sniff that out, that’s okay. Tastes vary. The country is a big place and there are so many craft spirits. Plus the market for applejack is minuscule.
Now, should this product that I’ve known and loved since the first day it was available to the public get national acclaim, I’ll proudly share the news. But it won’t make the spirit any better. It’s been great all along.
We are quite lucky living in the Capital Region. We are surrounded by great small producers of all kinds of things. Are they the best of the best of the best? No. But that’s a crazy high bar. Actually, though, one could make an argument that Delaware Phoenix is the best absinthe distillery in the U.S. Her stuff is amazing. But I digress.
The point I was trying to make is that sometimes people don’t realize how good we’ve got it until an outsider comes along and shows us. This time that outsider happens to be Paste magazine.
Constructive Criticism for Wine & Dine
A note from the Profussor: For a long time I’ve been looking to open the platform of the FUSSYlittleBLOG to other voices in the community. After all, if there is something about food or the food culture in the Capital Region you want to get off your chest, what better place is there to vent your spleen than on a community of readers who will tolerate several hundred words on the evil of sprinkles?
Recently, Deanna Fox picked up the gauntlet and asked to write the story below. If you don’t know Deanna, she’s awesome. Not only does she now write the Eat This! feature for All Over Albany, but she writes food stories for the Albany Times Union too. Her own blog and the one she’s maintained over at the TU have languished a bit, but she’s active on Twitter and Instagram.
So, I’ll let her say this in her own words, but D. Fox has some strong feelings about the Albany Chefs’ Food & Wine Festival: Wine & Dine for the Arts. And I know she’s not the only one.
Tavern Pie
The Capital Region’s taverns are one of the area’s crowning glories. As we’re getting into the heart of winter, this fact is now more apparent than ever.
When it’s cold outside, people tend to stay indoors. But should one venture out, the soul craves warmth and comfort. It wants fried foods and foods dripping in cheese. It wants hot sauce and cold beer. It wants a cozy atmosphere, where you can come as you are and feel like you’re at home.
Like it or not, this is the food culture of the area. And if you want a good meal that delivers on expectations, you’re most likely to find it in one of these neighborhood joints.
I totally get them. I’ve learned to embrace them. And when I left the region for a spell, I have to say, I kind of missed them. But there is one part of the tavern experience that still continues to elude me, and today I’m turning to you for some guidance.
Not Hummus
Coming back from vacation is hard. It’s hard to get back into the regular routines. And for me, it’s also hard to stop eating like a jerk. It doesn’t help that I brought back a chunk of scrapple, a bunch of kielbasa and sauerkraut, some local knockwurst, and a few other meaty treats from the Keystone State.
You probably don’t want to hear any more about my gorging on fatty foods. And frankly, I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to take my meats into a quiet corner and scarf them down in silence and shame.
Someday soon I’ll get back to my regular diet of whole grains and legumes.
It’s probably unlikely that anyone has the patience to read another free form food rant like yesterday’s tirade on sprinkles. But speaking of legumes, there is something I have to share that makes me irrationally angry.
A Rational Hatred of Sprinkles
Somebody out there must like sprinkles, or jimmies, or whatever you want to call them. After all, they are offered in every ice cream parlor across the country. Plus, they regularly show up on cupcakes, cookies, and donuts. Occasionally, you’ll even find some making an unwelcome appearance on a cannoli. At one point they could even be found at coffee shops.
Hear me now and believe me later, sprinkles are horrible.
The Unfussy Rib Roast
Meat and potatoes. It’s not how I usually eat. Far too often it’s dull and boring. I mean, what’s more played out than a roast of beef. But when done right? Oh my.
Getting a bone-in rib roast is a commitment. They don’t come small, and they aren’t cheap. When you are making one, it’s going to be the centerpiece of a grand meal. Maybe it’s for friends. Maybe it’s for family. But regardless, there are going to be several hungry people waiting for your roast to be placed on the table.
Your friends and family may say they aren’t judging you. But we all know that they are.
I know this first hand as I attempted my first standing rib roast for friends at a New Year’s Eve dinner in those days long ago before the kids came along. We started the meal with lobster bisque. There were yorkshire puddings to go along with the beef. And, amazingly, it wasn’t a disaster. However, for most of the early evening, I was totally ill at ease that the roast would either be too rare when it came out. Or even worse, that I would cook it beyond the medium rare point and ruin this expensive joint of meat.
After yesterday’s bold experiment with this same cut of meat, I’m never going to fret again.
Eating Pennsylvania
In years past, New Years Day has found the Fussies heading up through the Leatherstocking Region of NY to get back home from rural Pennsylvania. After our year in Princeton, we’re still out of our rhythms.
There is so much pork and sauerkraut at the farm, and that makes me happy. It’s a combination that I only get out here, but man do I love fermented cabbage with swine.
Later today, my father-in-law is going to cook a bone in standing rib roast that he picked up from a local butcher. Little Miss Fussy is going to celebrate her birthday yet again (but this time with cousins). I’m thinking there may be some more kielbasa squeezed into the day somehow. Maybe for second breakfast. Elevensies at the latest.
Actually one of the things I’m most excited about doesn’t even have to do with food. Bedford now has a pinball museum, where all the machines are not only playable, but free with the cost of entry. Man, I love pinball.
But the food is exciting too. It may even be a bit daunting. I mean, we’re only here for a few more days.
2015: Integrity and Change
There was one New Year’s resolution that I was very good at keeping, but that was a long long time ago. I resolved to only eat one hamburger a month. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. The campaign had been so successful that I started to repeat the identical resolution year after year.
Over time, the resolution was diluted to only one “unhappy” hamburger a month. And after years of moderating my burger consumption, I just let the whole thing go. I do have to say, that I eat far few burgers today than I did twenty years ago. Maybe the resolution served its purpose after all.
I’m not making resolutions for the upcoming year. But 2015 is going to be a big year. It’s going to be a year of change. There are some exciting things in the works that I can’t quite share with you yet, but they are going to have some ripple effects on what happens at the FLB.
Most notably, I’m putting the Tastemaker of the Month feature on the shelf for the time being. More than anything else, this deserves some explanation.
2014: The Stories That Resonated
One of these days I’ll write another post that takes off and becomes a juggernaut. Way back in 2009, I wrote a little post about the effects of corn starch in the process of tenderizing meat. In 2014 alone, it got more traffic than the combined pageviews of this year’s top 10.
That’s just how big it is.
There’s another post that’s on its way to superstardom status. I wrote it last year in an effort to try my hand at click bait. The findings were that click bait works, but it also makes makes me feel dirty. So, you won’t be finding more titles like 3 Reasons Not To Trust Dunkin’ Donuts on the FLB anytime soon.
Still, I did have ten posts that broke away from the rest of the pack in 2014. Given their relative success, it’s likely that you not only read them, but you shared them as well. Because, that’s how ideas on blogs take off. Not from the reading, but from the clicks on the buttons below that place the posts in your Facebook or Twitter feeds. You may notice that the top two posts were shared over 100 times on Facebook. That’s amazing. Thank you. Seriously. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate these small acts of support.
So? What were these posts from the past twelve months? Okay. Here we go.
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