Troy’s Hidden Treasures?
Wow, I’ve fallen behind. Yesterday I was compelled to write about the start of Passover, so I completely forgot to mention the big news from the weekend. The highlight was Steve Barnes including the FLB in his Sunday column suggesting that restaurants should reduce their portion sizes and increase the quality of their ingredients.
I am thrilled, positively thrilled, that he’s come forward as an advocate for a position I’ve held for a long time. The more people we have banging the drum, the more likely we’ll be to change people’s minds.
But this weekend there was also a significant dust-up of mom-bloggers about the new KFC kids meals. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to know I have some strong feelings both on the product and its promotion.
Saturday also marked the launch of Albany Distilling Company’s Quackenbush Still House Rum. I’m excited that I now have one of the few bottles in my possession, but the vessel remains sealed. It’s been too busy around here to even pop the cork and inhale its vapors.
And just yesterday there was an awesome announcement about the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery and Wine Bar expanding into an adjacent building. Granted, it’s one that needs a lot of work, but Vic (bless his heart) sees nothing but potential in the crumbling bricks of Troy.
However, before we can even start with any of the above, there is another piece of Troy news that needs to be addressed first.
Passover Passages
Tonight is the first seder! Yea!
Seders can actually be quite fun. The rest of Passover has a way of dragging on and on. My mother and my sister are coming into town and I won’t be able to bring them to my favorite restaurants. That’s fine. I’m not expecting any sort of accommodation since I’m well in the minority of those abandoning hametz for the next eight days.
Some religious observations I find to be crazy making. Others I think make a ton of sense. For the curious, here’s what I’m giving up this year (in addition to how I plan to survive the week).
SOS: Truly Interesting
Mrs. Fussy is still away. Luckily I was able to call on my work wife to come over for dinner on Friday night, while my real wife was out working. I think Albany John got stuck working too. It was a bummer because Young Master Fussy really loves geeking out with him, and I thought they could bond over the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books.
At least I was able to finally get my Sardinian cheese tasting completed. That means my head cold is gone. I can taste things again. It’s like a miracle.
I’ve also been working steadily on finishing my far-too-old bottle of Meadows of Love Absinthe to make room for a new bottle of Quackenbush Still House Rum. I’m a real fan of unaged rums, and to have this one made in Albany from an ancient recipe and Caribbean molasses will be a real treat.
But today I’m sharing none of that. Today is a round up of press releases and other news that others have wanted me to pass along. I’m actually amazed at how interesting some of these items are this week. One of them even has a beautifully shot video.
Grocery Spelunking
Mrs. Fussy has left the state. Don’t worry, she’ll be back in a couple of days. But that means I’m left to my own devices. So be forewarned, today’s post may be a little rough around the edges.
For the FLB neophytes, I’ll give a brief description of her role in this enterprise.
Every night I stay up late and vent my spleen into some diatribe about food. And every morning Mrs. Fussy wakes up and reads the words. She takes out a lot of my commas, fixes lapses in parallel structure, and leaves me little notes in the places where she think’s I’ve flown off the rails. In those cases, I’ll usually make some minor revisions, because she’s usually right. Although sometimes I’ll decide to let it ride and just deal with whatever fallout may result.
There is no vitriol in my post today. No bitter disappointment. No dispair at the state of food. Instead it’s a joyful look at grocery stores after yesterday’s visit to the brand new Healthy Living Market and Cafe in Wilton.
AskTP – Snowy Spring
Sure, there is snow on the ground and it may not feel like spring. I’m just happy I didn’t jump the gun and remove my snow tires before this last storm. The roads were icy yesterday morning.
We have more new people here today than usual. So I’ll take a moment to explain the semi-regular feature Ask the Profussor or AskTP for short. Despite people’s natural tendency to call me Mr. Fussy, I answer to no such name. That is someone else’s intellectual property and I am neither green nor sport a mustache. Instead, you are welcome to call me the Profussor.
The entire enterprise of this blog is intended to help people out. And sometimes people have questions. So I’ve committed to answering every question asked in the comments thread of the FLB just as long as it contains a question mark. After all, without proper punctuation it isn’t a question but a statement. Right? Right.
However, I’m terrible at answering questions in a timely way. So every couple of weeks, usually on a Wednesday, I’ll look back on all the unanswered questions and get them all answered in one marathon session. Oh, and it may seem like all the links to the questions are dodgy. Don’t be alarmed. That’s just the mystery link of the day.
Now that that’s all settled, onto the questions.
Taken Out
This week has been amazing thanks to a whole lot of sharing going on around Facebook. Thank you to those who are helping to spread the fussy. That social media platform has been bringing in dozens of new readers over the past few days. So, if you are new, welcome. I hope you get to dig around the archives, and soon feel comfortable enough to come out of the shadows and write a comment or two.
In some ways the recent sharing of posts isn’t all that surprising. Monday was about my love for a city that has passionate advocates and rarely gets the respect that it deserves. Tuesday was about a restaurant that people love to hate.
Today’s post is similar to many I’ve written in the blog’s infancy, although lately I’ve been largely silent on the Times Union’s restaurant reviews. One reason for my silence is because I’ve come to realize that perhaps I overestimated the influence of the paper on the local food scene. And while she’s not perfect, I recognize that Cheryl Clark has been an improvement over Ruth Fantasia.
That said, I can’t let this latest review go without comment.
The Thing About Olive Garden
Last week Chuck Miller threw down the gauntlet. He called out this blog by name after he went to Olive Garden for dinner…and loved it.
There are some people who reflexively hate chain restaurants. I’m not one of those. My love for Chipotle is well documented. I take the children to Taco Bell with what I consider to be an alarming frequency (in reality it’s probably about once a month). When I’m on the road I’ll drive through McDonald’s for fries or grab a brewed coffee at Starbucks.
My problem with Olive Garden has nothing to do with it being a chain, or the fact that you can opt for almost identical menu items at an array of independent locally owned and operated independent restaurants. You can read his post in its entirety, but Chuck had the seafood Alfredo and his girlfriend had the chicken parmesan.
I understand Chuck’s situation. I too occasionally enjoy a chain restaurant that is reviled by others. Except today I’m going to use this common ground to show why Olive Garden is actually worse. So let’s talk briefly about Hooters.
The Joy of Troy
Sauteed spinach is great. I’m a big fan of kale. Greens and beans have become a favorite since moving to the region. Bok choi, ramps, scapes, claytonia, rocket, and even the ubiquitous romaine lettuce are all green. I’ve got nothing against green. Some of it I even love.
But for the love of God, I hope you didn’t ingest any dyed green foodstuffs yesterday. Yes, beer counts as food. And I hear some people were starting St. Patrick’s Day early this year. What gives? Holidays exist in time and space.
Have you ever considered that by celebrating St. Patrick’s day on March 16 that you are trampling on someone else’s holiday? Yeah, you are. March 16 is Freedom of Information Day. And it’s not celebrated by wearing green hats and drinking beer.
I’ll have to confess that I had a nontraditional Freedom of Information Day. But spending some time in the home of Uncle Sam can’t be the worst way to honor the “Father of the Constitution.”
It all started with a donut.
SOS: Much in March
Wow, there’s a lot going on in March. For those of you playing along at home, my juror number has been called, so I’m off to the courthouse Monday. My plan is to plea “no contest” and throw myself on the mercy of the court.
See? I’d make a horrible juror. With any luck they will send me home.
I take care of my civic duty in other ways. You know, like passing along valuable information that was sent to me by local area businesses in the form of press releases. And there are a bunch of them in this batch.
They are presented totally unedited and without commentary in roughly chronological order. But there are a couple in here that are really very interesting. Especially if you are eager to reduce your cholesterol, buy sustainably raised kosher meat, welcome the newest combatant to the local supermarket war, find a CSA, or eat an Easter brunch at a restaurant affiliated with The Chefs Consortium.
Okay. Here we go.
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