Bellies
Bellies are delicious. Give me some fish from the fatty belly part, and I’m a happy camper. The same goes for mammals. Pork belly is everywhere. Maybe one day lamb belly will be as ubiquitous.
But those unctuous layers of fat surrounding strips of meat are so full of possibilities. Roasted and crispy, braised and tender, or even ground and seasoned, bellies are a decadent cut of meat. And like all other once underrated things, bellies have been discovered and are now no longer available for the rock bottom price they once were.
Then there is bacon.
Here in the U.S. it is the final destination for most of our pork bellies, and for good reason. It has captured the imagination of those who like to push the limits of fat intake. And it’s been the achilles heel of many who tried to convert to a vegetarian diet. But you know all of this.
But did you know about Bacon Fest coming up this Sunday? Well, they are having a bacon cook-off and I am one of the judges. So before I put all of those bellies into my belly, I thought I should get some things off my chest.
There Can Only Be One Ice Cream Sandwich
What does Traver’s Day morning like in downtown Saratoga Springs? From the sound of it I thought it would be madness. I came hours in advance to make sure I had a place to park for the first two stops of the Ice Cream Sandwich Throwdown. I expected traffic, throngs of tourists clogging the streets, general mayhem and chaos.
It was none of those things. There was anticipation in the air as restaurants prepared for a busy evening after people left the track and headed downtown. Travers was on people’s lips at Uncommon Grounds as I had my pre-game coffee. But the streets were relatively clear and quite when I pulled into town at 9:30 a.m.
Oh, and the drive to and from Saratoga Springs was easy. It’s really not that far. I need to remember that and get up there much more often.
That said, not everyone was dissuaded from participating in this joint event conceived of by Idiots Being Idiots in partnership with the FLB. Thirteen brave souls, myself included set off on the adventure of sampling four of the region’s most lauded ice cream sandwiches. Although not everyone made it through. At the end of the day, I had nine completed scoresheets, and one clear winner.
Happy Well Fed Readers
If you missed out on yesterday’s Ice Cream Sandwich Throwdown, you will just have to wait until Monday to hear the official results. It takes time to go through all those scoresheets. And today, after returning from the tour, I completely crashed from all the sugar.
As I get older I find it more difficult to bounce back from these all-day eating affairs. Not just things like the tours but also my annual Super Bowl rites. Still, that’s not going to stop me from judging BaconFest or attending the Saratoga Wine & Food and Fall Ferrari Festival in the weeks to come.
I like to imagine that those who joined in the festivities yesterday left happy and well fed. More accurately it was probably tired and overfed. But I’m pleased to report that the FUSSYlittleBLOG has been able surprise and delight readers recently with some tasty treats and food experiences.
Today, I thought it would be fun to share with you a couple of their stories.
Half Cold
I know that Jumpin’ Jack’s is still open, and thus summer is still upon us. However, I’m kind of jumping the gun on Fall.
Last night I spent hours at the stove making my first pot of Cuban black beans. It’s a crazy story. I got one large green bell pepper from the CSA, so naturally the thing to do is make a megabatch of beans in AUGUST! I also roasted an eggplant in the oven for an hour. Oh, and I slow-roasted a pan of tomatoes overnight. Those two last things are for escalivada. Mrs. Fussy is a very patient woman.
While these things were unthinkable just a couple weeks ago, they probably weren’t a great idea while we are still running the air conditioner. But it’s clear that summer is on its way out, and there are a lot of summertime things that I haven’t had a chance to write about.
Before we move into fall, and while I have ice cream sandwiches on the mind, this is probably my last chance to write about another frozen treat that is a classic, but remains under most people’s radar.
Enter the Chipwich
My grandfather told a lot of stories. I don’t know how much they were embellished, and how much was God’s honest truth. Now I can no longer ask.
But he had one about the Chipwich.
In 1981 these launched and turned the ice cream sandwich world on its head. They were made from two large chocolate chip cookies, surrounding a hefty wedge of vanilla ice cream, and rolled in chocolate chips. They sold for a dollar, which was an unheard-of amount for a frozen novelty at the time. And they were hard to come by. Mostly because they were so popular, they would sell out. People would line up on the streets of Manhattan to eat one of these ice cream sandwiches.
As the story goes, the man behind this ice cream sandwich craze was a patient of my grandfather. And the two of them once had a conversation about what made the Chipwich so special.
In Loving Memory of The Pizza King
I’m not terribly good with death, but the Times Union reported yesterday that Djovalin “John” Camaj died in his home on Sunday.
He was a man who perhaps was a little eccentric, but through his craft he brought joy and pleasure to those who appreciate really great food. He was also always very sweet to my kids and once gave Young Master Fussy an especially shiny dime that found its way into his cash register. To them, John was always The Pizza King. And going to his shop for a slice never ceased to elicit an enthusiastic response. Usually in the form of, “PIZZA KING!”
My thoughts are with his family in their time of grief. He will be missed and fondly remembered by those whose lives he touched.
Ice Cream Sandwiches ISO Judges
Thank you for your patience. The Ice Cream Sandwich Throwdown between Albany and Saratoga is ready to go.
The Saratoga Idiots challenged regional restaurants. A few brave chefs picked up the gauntlet. Readers of IBI and the FLB have narrowed down the field to two contenders in Albany and two in Saratoga. A route has been selected. Timing has been locked down. Scoresheets have been printed.*
All that’s left is to assemble a panel of passionate food lovers who are ready to sample four of the most promising ice cream sandwiches the region has to offer. Today, I’m recruiting for Team Albany. If you feel like you are a better fit for Team Saratoga, you need to get over to IBI pronto.
Because today we are finally releasing the very limited number of tickets to Saturday’s big dance.
Eat Up Me Hearties, Fro Yo
Yesterday, half in jest, I suggested that this might be Ice Cream Sandwich week on the FLB. The closest link I can draw between frozen yogurt and ice cream sandwiches is that they are both frozen novelties. However, I take the standards of identity very seriously when it comes to ice cream. That means if you put some frozen yogurt between two cookies and tried to call it an ice cream sandwich, well, let’s just say we would have words.
On this last trip to Providence I stepped foot into Pinkberry for the very first time. And there I got a glimpse of the cup of frozen yogurt with a pizzelle sticking out of the bowl. That comes dangerously close to ice cream sandwich territory. But an open faced ice cream sandwich, is also not actually an ice cream sandwich. Plus this was yogurt, so it was doomed from the start.
I mention all of this because I’ve had frozen yogurt on the mind a lot lately. The kids love it. My kids love it too. And you know what? I don’t think all of it is entirely awful. In fact, after going to Pinkberry, I have come to realize a few important things about the newest incarnation of this once popular strip mall delight.
Ice Cream Sandwich Superstars
Let’s just go ahead and call this Ice Cream Sandwich Week. Maybe I can get a few other posts snuck into the schedule as well, but this event with the Saratoga Idiots on Saturday may just do me in. Looking back on it, perhaps we shouldn’t have kept voting open for a whole week. That would have given us a bit more time to finalize things with the winning restaurants, so we could sell some tickets, and have us a good old fashioned city versus city ice cream sandwich smack down in peace.
As it stands, we’re still doing all of those things, but the ticket selling period may be crunched into a couple of days before the event. My best guess is that we’ll have a link to tickets by Wednesday or Thursday.
Looking back on it, perhaps we shouldn’t have scheduled the whole thing for Travers Day either. But it was the only date that the Idiots and I could make it happen. Sorry about that too.
Still, come hell or high water, there will be ice cream sandwiches for a lucky few on Saturday. And now that voting has closed, the smack talk can begin, because each city has selected its champions.
Problems in Providence
Mrs. Fussy likes to write in the mornings when she is fresh. Me? I like to write at night after everyone is n bed and the world is quiet.
Usually that works out great.
I’ll write my little pieces of prose about food in the evening and Mrs. Fussy will copyedit them in the morning before I even wake up. Truth be told, she’s been slacking a bit about bringing me coffee in bed. But as long as we’re on the subject of truth, I’ve been getting to sleep in a good bit later during our more relaxed summer schedule.
Today however I’m in Providence, and I’m having some late night Internet problems, so this is the very first FLB post that I’ve written on my phone. My thumbs are already killing me. I don’t know how the kids do it these days.
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