Holiday Ham Wars
Growing up we never had a festive ham on the dinner table. Ever. Yes, we were Jewish. But we didn’t observe the kosher dietary laws. I had a friend who kept kosher and didn’t eat Oreo’s, because at the time they contained lard. However in my home we ate bacon and breakfast sausage without a second thought.
As an accompaniment, or an ingredient, a little bit of pork was no big deal. But a large pork roast as the centerpiece of the meal? That would be unthinkable.
Lobster, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
Perhaps this is why I love holiday hams so much. I never knew they were a thing. And I still recall with glee my very first experience with a HoneyBaked Ham. It was only later that I learned one can glaze their own ham with remarkably delicious results, thanks to one of my greatest bosses ever Bossman Jones.
With this in mind, I was shocked when I took a peek at the supermarket circulars this week.
Why All the Cookies?
Growing up Jewish, there’s a lot I don’t get about Christmas.
It’s not that I haven’t been exposed to it. Christmas is everywhere. And actually, as a young kid growing up in New York City I decorated trees, sung carols, sat on Santa’s lap, and checked out the shop windows every year.
Only after moving down to Miami, where I was enrolled in a Jewish day school, did I learn what it meant to be Jewish. Although, for some people, their Jewish identity is entirely about not celebrating Christmas. Thankfully, I’m not one of those folks.
There’s a lot about Christmas that I love, and I’ll never turn down an invitation to Christmas dinner, or a Christmas party. I take delight in the annual arrival of Christmas cards. Which isn’t to say that I’m great about giving Christmas presents. I’m not. We’re also not really into the whole tree thing. That said, I do love basking in the glow of a freshly cut tree.
What I’m am little confused about are all the cookies.
The French Fry Revolution
In college I took a really interesting class on the French Revolution. If I could remember any of what I learned, I’m sure I could come up with a clever tie in to my current course of action with french fries.
Perhaps you remember the scuttlebutt about the Harvard professor who suggested a burger should come with only six french fries and a side salad. Well, that’s just silly. But the larger point he was making is very valid.
The mindless eating of too many french fries, will make you feel stupid full, very fast. And the opportunity cost of doing so is a wide variety of additional culinary pleasures. Which isn’t to say that french fries should be avoided at all cost. Rather, one should try to maximize their joy by eating fewer french fries, to save room for other treats.
That is something I can get behind. So, last night I put this new ideology to the test. But to make it work, an old ideology had to be sent to the guillotine.
Chili, Judging, and Creativity
In Schenectady on Saturday, the chili game was strong. It was a pleasure to be out on the streets, representing Yelp, and serving as one of the official judges with a couple other members of the Yelp Elite Squad.
Shoutouts to Peter H and Michelle P for spending the afternoon with me talking chili. Actually, Michelle documented the experience as an IG story and saved it as a highlight. While I have no idea how long that will stay up, for now you can catch it here.
In the end, we tasted sixteen chilis. I had made some predictions last week about which ones I thought were going to come out on top. And as it so happens, all of the winners came from that list. Except for one.
So what did it take to be the judges favorite chili? And how did we come to our conclusions? Well, I’m more than happy to spend some time clearing up the answers to those burning questions. Especially in regards to the chili which won the prize for being the most creative.
The Not Quite Six Fry Solution
Yesterday’s birthday was a lot of fun. I made myself a special brunch, took advantage of a free birthday deal, and went out to a new favorite place for dinner with the family.
While there is no age limit on the free giant birthday beer promotions around town, there may be a maturity cap. But I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to try one of the ridiculous coffee drinks from Starbucks for free on my birthday. Especially since I got the reminder by email in the early afternoon, just as I was starting to lose a bit of focus.
Part of me wanted to try the new juniper latte, because that’s something I would never order. But the other part of me thought I should get a drink that I would be most likely to enjoy. I went with something called a Cordusio which isn’t quite so ridiculous on its face. However, a venti has six shots of espresso and would cost more than $7. So naturally, that’s what I ordered.
But what I really want to talk about today are my birthday potatoes.
Lusty Greens
Last week I wrote about the winter markets. In response, auroradesign suggested I check out Lovin’ Mama Farm at the Schenectady Greenmarket.
Usually, my turnaround time on taking action from reader responses is pretty slow. I am running such a long backlog of places I need to visit, and things I need to eat, it’s not even funny. However, I just happened to find myself at the Greenmarket this past Sunday looking for winter vegetables to beef up a pot roast.
Well, that, and to get the kids something to eat after Sunday school. Although the main reason we were at the market was to pick up a Dutch Desserts chocolate tart to bring over to a first night of Chanukah celebration. The tragedy was that Dutch Desserts is no longer at the Sunday market.
The triumph was a small purchase from Lovin’ Mama Farm.
Soul Food, Delivered
Something miraculous happened last week, and with everything that was going on, I didn’t have the chance to share the story. But last Thursday, I had an epic afternoon of raking leaves. When it was done, I was sore in places where I didn’t even realize I had muscles. Seriously. The rib cage? Who knew?
What I did know was that after the effort, all I was going to do was take a hot bath. Dinner would have to be some form of delivery.
I’ve come to understand that getting food delivered is a semi-regular thing that normal people do for dinner. Except that is not the case in the Fussy household. There are a lot of reasons I don’t care for take out meals, which we won’t rehash now. But suffice to say, when I decided to get delivery, I was wading into strange and unfamiliar waters.
Pizza was out of the question. Chinese take-out was removed from the consideration set. As a company man, I turned to the Yelp mobile app to discover our delivery options. Somehow, despite all odds and reason, we were within the delivery radius of Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen!
Emily L Learns How to Eat
Last night was the first night of Chanukah, and even though I told myself this year I would eat more modestly, I left the party having eaten more than I had intended. As it turns out, sufganiyot are hard to resist.
Typically, I overeat on latkes. But I was able to keep myself to just two of those fried potato pancakes. There were plenty go around, but after everyone was served, leftovers were sparse. The same was not true for the sufganiyot.
As the baker who made them was filling these deep fried orbs with jelly, I was on hand to help hide the evidence of the less beautiful ones. And then, every time I passed through the kitchen, there they were calling my name.
Interestingly, while I was struggling to eat moderately at a party hosted by Israelis, Emily was writing about her experience of learning to eat well in Israel. But I’ll let her explain.
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