Breakfast Bowl of Beans
I love beans. In fact the whole B family is mad about the little buggers. Thanks to the post I wrote for All Over Albany recently my chest freezer has been full of Cuban black beans, Southern black-eyed peas, and Indian chana masala. But those stocks had started to dwindle and I dragged out my bean pot once again.
This time it was going to be white beans, great northern to be precise.
At the time I started soaking them, I had no idea exactly what they would become. All I knew is that they would be seasoned with bacon. It was only once I started cooking that the dish began to transform into something resembling breakfast.
Feeling Spicy
Maybe you heard that Albany is getting a retail location for Penzeys Spices. It’s coming to Crossgates Mall (maybe in early March), so now there will be a good wine store and a good spice store under one very large glass roof.
I got the word on Thursday morning when I received an email asking if I’d like to work for them.
No, I didn’t. I got a bulk email that announced Penzeys is hiring in Albany. But I guess they thought I might be interested as someone who had ordered their spices online in the past. What’s funny is that I might be. It doesn’t come up very often on the blog, but I don’t actually have any kind of meaningful income (besides the occasional check I get for my posts on All Over Albany). And while most of the time I’m okay with being a kept man, sometimes I have a desire to contribute more to the GNP.
Plus selling some outstanding spices to the people of the Capital District does help bring me closer to my ultimate goal of improving the overall level of food in the region. In many ways, I’m exactly the kind of person Penzeys needs. But I’m totally not what they want.
Smell the Glove
Is there a biologist in the house? The past few years have required the assistance of chemists, and miraculously they appeared. But 2012 is already headed down a much different path.
Really I need a microbiologist to make me smarter about bacteria.
Although I would have been fine just leaving the subject of dangerous micro organisms to Danger Milk, -R went and made the following comment, which really got me fired up:
All it takes is one careless swipe of an ungloved hand, and poof – E. coli or salmonella for the masses. I actually find it rather amazing that we don’t see more outbreaks of food poisoning, especially given the lax hygienic standards adhered to by most food distributors and eateries. A short review of Albany County’s DOH Restaurant Inspection site, shows how even the most upscale places have more than the occasional unwanted pratfall.
-R’s overall point was that risk exists everywhere, and that should not stop us from eating tasty food. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. Where we part ways is on the importance of gloves and the relative danger of “an ungloved hand.”
Egg (and Cheese) Hunting
The egg and cheese sandwich on a hard roll, it’s a classic. Now there are surely some people reading who are native to New Jersey but find themselves in this far northeasterly outpost of civilization. And they may feel like the Garden State has cornered the market on this particular breakfast sandwich.
If you add Taylor ham and saltpepperketchup then it’s an inarguable point. But I’m not willing to cede the basic egg and cheese just yet. Or even the hard roll.
Despite what it seems, I’m not proposing an interstate Tour de Egg Sandwich, although I am indeed proposing a regional one. Really, it was Jess who suggested it way back in October. However, this tour is not going to be without its challenges. In the end we will certainly have a better sense of the form and a determination about which is the best of the five we sample. Although there will be worthy venues that will unfortunately be left on the sidelines.
Today I’m taking nominations. You have until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday to submit any qualified venues. What qualifies? Good question.
Danger Milk
I expect to take some flack for this, from both sides.
Milk is a mess. Talk about a heavily processed food that most people think of as wholesome. Luckily, fewer and fewer cows are treated to the artificial growth hormones rBGH/rBST to increase their milk production. However, cows are often kept in cramped conditions where they are fed feed that is likely laced with sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics.
This notion of cows roaming around an open-air pasture eating grasses and being milked is largely a fantasy.
Although there are a small handful of producers who make milk just like that. On my recent trip to Pennsylvania, I happened to find a half-gallon from Clover Creek Cheese Cellar. Except on the jug I noticed something unusual. It was the following block of text:
This product has not been pasteurized and may contain small amounts of harmful bacteria. The consumption of raw milk may increase the risk of illness to preschool-age children, older adults, pregnant women, and other people with weakened immune systems.
Naturally, I started calling this pure and pristine product, “Danger Milk.”
Meat Week
It’s very possible that you didn’t notice I took a vacation last week. But I did. The most noticeable part was probably the spelling errors and odd punctuation, because while I didn’t really take time off from the blog, Mrs. Fussy did.
But today we are back from Pennsylvania, and I’m putting her back to work.
The most noticeable part of vacation to me was having my in-laws around to take care of the children for most of the day. Well, that and all the meat. My father-in-law used to do a bit of butchering at the family store, and grew up eating a lot of meat. When the family comes to visit it’s a festive occasion, and festive occasions involve big meaty dinners. I really do forget what it’s like to have meat on the center of the plate for dinner every day.
Honestly, it was fun to eat like this for a little while. But I’m glad to be back home where meat is used more in a supporting role and not as the main event. Here’s a brief recap.
Happy New Year’s Breakfast
Many new years ago, back in the Miami days, a bunch of friends went out for a New Year’s Day breakfast in the wee hours of the morning. There was an old bar, Fox’s to be precise, which served a breakfast menu all day.
Naturally I ordered poached eggs.
There is little more soothing and more perfect than a pristine poached egg on toast. Even an egg that is less than pristine will most likely pass muster after a long evening of celebrating the end of one year, and the promise of the next.
Now I don’t know how hard you’ve been partying, or the condition that you may find yourself in right now. It’s possible you still haven’t slept. And it’s possible you feel like death warmed over. But I promise you, if you can boil water, you are half way to salvation.
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!
Soundtrack to today’s post can be found here.
God help us all. This year New Year’s Eve is on a Saturday night? I’m glad that I will be hunkering down with a few bottles of sparkling wine, family and some glorious traditional foods in a cozy rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.
You may feel otherwise. Some of you might be preparing a lavish feast, or have made reservations at a nice restaurant. Others may be going out for a night on the town. All of these have their pros and cons. But I have to say, I really do enjoy the comforts of home when it comes to casting off the old year and bringing in the new.
There is no need for a designated driver, no reliance on cab drivers, the bathroom is always clean and a warm comfy bed is only feet away. Man, I’m getting old.
Regardless of how you celebrate, sparkling wine is probably on your radar. Even if it’s just a glass or a sip at the stroke of midnight, this beverage seems to be an inescapable part of the holiday. And since I haven’t bought mine yet, it’s probable that many of you haven’t picked up yours either.
As always, I’ve got some tips, and I hope you will find them helpful.
The Dozen That Did
Interesting. On the heels of yesterday’s post, eight of the twelve stories highlighted, actually got some action. The Father’s Day note to my dad remained a stinker though. The most read of the bunch, by an order of magnitude was about the liquor store that didn’t stock crap.
All of these are data points I’m filing away.
But 2011 wasn’t just about posts that did poorly. There were also some posts that did staggeringly well. Most of these achieved their elevated levels of readership by being highlighted by some other local blog or website. These include but are not limited to such juggernauts as On The Edge, Table Hopping, and All Over Albany. But to all of you who linked to a post, liked it on Facebook, +1’d it on Google, retweeted it, sent a link over email, or even dragged some poor soul over to your monitor, thank you.
Seriously, thank you. The following posts are not here because of their brilliant prose or unique take on everyday foods locals take for granted. No. They are here because many of you helped to spread the word.
So what made it into the top? We’ll do it Letterman style.
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