Tour de Hot Dog
Clearly this is inadvisable from a number of perspectives. But it is on.
I am going on a mini-hot-dog tour and you are all cordially invited to come. You see, my birthday is in December, and I have a long history of doing inadvisable eating to commemorate the occasion.
Probably the most vile was when I conquered the one-pound hamburger at Fuddruckers with cheese, sautéed onions, and bacon on my 28th birthday. It was followed by a phantasmagorical dessert called the I do Declair, which had something to do with a giant éclair and a whole lot of ice cream.
But my birth-month is not all we are celebrating. Those of us on the tour will also be toasting Mr. Dave’s return to blogging. Hopefully it lasts for a bit longer this go around. And now that he has observed my family and me in public, perhaps Mr. Dave will be brave enough to emerge from the shadows and join us on the tour.
After all, if anyone has a strong love for the region’s mini-hot-dogs it’s Mr. Dave.
New Haven Pizza Battle
Coke or Pepsi. Bud or Miller. Beatles or Stones. All of these are definitive dichotomies. You can only choose one of them, and that choice tells the world more about you than you may care to admit.
“Neither” is not a choice. I’ll go first. Coke, Miller & Stones.
In New Haven there is an epic battle between two old time pizza shops that occupy the same stretch of Wooster Street, Pepe’s and Sally’s. The Connecticut branch of my family has unanimously settled that debate, and Pepe’s is the pie they prefer. When I go to visit them, this is a decision that I have to respect.
But my younger cousin S (the food guy who lives in Sicily and owes me a post on cheese) had some newfangled ideas. He likes Modern too, and thought perhaps it might even be better than the family favorite.
We had no choice but to put them head to head. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
Everyone Makes Mistakes
There was another Thanksgiving wine battle that I have yet to tell you about. Aunt N was really excited to try the Navarro Gewürztraminer, and I knew that I wanted to bring a New York counterpart. And given the prior success of the Hermann J. Wiemer Riesling with my family, two bottles of the Finger Lakes’ finest were an obvious selection. Especially after failing to find a suitably good magnum of sparkling wine.
The big question was what to do about red wine.
In the past I had good success with pinot noir on the holiday. Zinfandel’s juiciness and American heritage have given it a seat at the table in prior years. I had even once found some aged Cabernet Sauvignon which has always been John & Dottie’s go-to selection.
But this year I got an email from a local wine store that alerted me to the fact they had a Beaujolais Nouveau from a small family-run estate. And I thought it would be fun to get a bottle of this and compare it to the bulk factory-made stuff from the largest producers in the region.
That actually wasn’t the mistake.
Finger Lakes Thanksgiving Wine Battle
A while ago I said that the problem with New York wines is that far too many of them just aren’t that good. And it was suggested that I should really drink more of them. Well, I took that one step further.
I brought some of the most appropriate specimens down to Connecticut for one of the most important dining events of the year, Thanksgiving.
This bout was scheduled for two rounds.
In the first round, I would pit two Finger Lakes dry Rieslings against each other. One from a winery the family had previously enjoyed (Hermann J. Wiemer, 2008) and another well-regarded bottle of a different vintage (Dr. Konstantin Frank, 2009).
In the second round, I would put one of my favorite wines, a California gewürztraminer against a highly regarded wine from what I was told is New York’s gewürztraminer giant (Standing Stone, 2008).
How did they do?
Thanksgiving Traditions
Well, it’s finally here. I’m on my way to Connecticut a day later than expected. It’s impossible to plan for a sick child. But he caught a nasty bug and sadly will be missing this year’s festivities.
Don’t feel too badly for Young Master Fussy. He really has no appetite to speak of, so he won’t be missing much. The local elementary school indoctrinated him in the classic foods of the holiday, so if he can eat he will be enjoying his popcorn and chocolate chip cookies.
I have no idea what they are teaching him there.
This is when I start sounding like Tevye. Thanksgiving is all about tradition. It’s tradition for Aunt N to cook the festive meal. It’s tradition for me to bring the wine. It’s tradition for Uncle M to carve the turkey. And it’s tradition to do all of this in Connecticut.
Because of tradition I flew out there from California in 2001, joining masses of people who were taking to the skies despite the looming threat of another attack. Because of tradition I flew across the country with a two-month-old. And because of tradition I am leaving my wife and sick child behind in Albany with a roasted turkey breast, a can of cranberry sauce, a store-bought pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, popcorn and chocolate chip cookies.
But you and I have another tradition. Do you remember?
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
In some ways, the more I learn about food, the less I want to eat it. Thankfully there are a few places that make food so delicious that I try to forget everything I know about where the ingredients come from, and just enjoy how the food tastes.
I was just thinking about Ala Shanghai recently. The pork for their Xiao Long Bao surely isn’t happy, but biting into one of those hot, soupy dumplings is a pleasure nonetheless.
But when traveling, your options are seriously limited.
It is not uncommon for me to cruise around an airport on foot scoping out all the available food options trying to suss out which one sells something that is closest to real clean food.
I thought I hit pay dirt at a smoothie place in the Albany airport. But the only way I was able to coax a satisfying and modestly healthful treat from the ingredients they had on hand, was to work closely with the woman behind the counter. This could never have happened on a busy travel day, much less the busiest travel day of the year.
Just a Few Ingredients
I swear that this post isn’t solely intended to get a response out of Kristi Gustafson. But if I don’t hear from her, I’ll be disappointed. After all, she is an avid fan of Pillsbury crescent rolls.
And really, I don’t want to be the food police. There are things that I eat that are truly disgusting and vile, but for some reason I love them still. And there are other things that while I may not love, I will try once or twice to see what all the fuss is about.
Some people like these poppin’ fresh crescent rolls, and that’s fine. Live and let live.
It’s just that I recently came across one of their ads, and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Now I will be the first to tell you that I pay more attention to advertising than the average bear. Having worked in the business, I know how much time and energy is put into each and every second of a spot, and in some cases into each and every frame.
In general, I’m opposed to showing commercial messages, especially for free. But since I’m going to rip into Pillsbury for this effort, you should at least get the chance to see what got me so worked up.
My Holiday Scheme
Are you panicked yet? The madness of the holiday season just hit me. Effectively this is a short week. We are headed down to Connecticut on Wednesday, and I couldn’t be more excited. I already have most of my wine, perhaps all of it, but I’d love to make it to just one more wine store.
Then there is Black Friday and the frenzy of that first shopping weekend after Thanksgiving that I have typically avoided like the plague. Have I mentioned that I hate crowds? My hatred of crowds definitely trumps my love of a bargain.
Do you know what happens on the Wednesday night after that? It’s the first night of Chanukah. That’s only 10 days from now, people!
Damn lunar calendars. They sneak up on you every time. Thankfully because of Gramma Jeanie we have a bit of a buffer on presents for the kids. This is one of those horrible years that my birthday will get swept up in the Chanukah festivities too. It’s no longer such a big deal, now that I’m old, but the scars of childhood never really go away. They only fade.
Of course, most people will be prepping for that other big holiday at the end of December, and hopefully not just by buying presents and eating a festive meal. But I have big plans that I would like to try and sneak into another December weekend that I think you might be interested in hearing about.
Wine Label Libel
You can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s fair. But when you are buying books, you can take a peek inside and read the first few pages. Heck, in many stores you can find a nice comfy chair and read the first few chapters.
When buying good cheese it is customary, and in some places even mandatory, for the customer to taste a sliver of the stuff before committing to the purchase.
But for the most part you have to buy wine blind.
Sure, you may live in a place where there are retail wine bars on every corner, that allow you to try a half-glass or tasting pour of a wine that you are considering bringing home. However, these places are the exception rather than the rule. Sometimes a wine store will be having a sampling event, but even then there are only a handful of bottles to taste.
Most of the time, the only thing you have to base your decision on is the wine label.
I mention this now because many people are going to be heading to the wine stores over the next few days to pick up bottles of wine for Thanksgiving. Not all of them will have retail clerks who know their stuff, or you may just not yet be comfortable talking with a stranger about wine.
Here are the top four things to beware.
The Kids are Loko
It’s hard to resist a rousing chorus of, “What the hell is wrong with kids these days!,” especially after sampling a couple flavors of Four Loko.
Thanks to All Over Albany I had the unlikely experience of getting to taste these with a 22-year old fan of the category, who had a broad level of familiarity with the different brands and flavors. It was illuminating.
On one end of the spectrum is me, an almost middle-aged guy who has never even had a Red Bull. Maybe I took a sip of someone’s once, but I couldn’t even swear to that. On the other end are young drinkers who have grown up with the bitter medicinal tastes of guranna, taurine and ginseng in their soft drinks, and who don’t mind those disgusting and vile flavors in the hard beverages they consume for pleasure.
If they were only trying to get drunk without spending a lot of money there are much tastier ways. In the weeks and months to come, they may be searching for alternatives.
As always, I’m here to help.
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