Road Weary
Summer is here!
There is the stickiness in the air. The kids are out of school. The strawberries are delicious. And that endless winter we had seems like a distant memory.
For the next several weeks, the rhythm of my life is going to change significantly. Summer camp starts later than school. I’m only going to have one lunch to pack. And the amount of travel is going to ratchet up significantly.
Just this weekend I logged over 700 miles in just about 36 hours. And that brought us to some new but oddly familiar places.
Eggs Benny with Emily: NWBB
Albany is no place to be a purist. Sometimes it takes me a long time to learn a simple, obvious truth. I learned this several years ago with pizza, thanks to the All Over Albany Tournament of PIzza. Then a few years back I had a burger awakening, and opened myself up to all kinds of ridiculous toppings.
Last night, I went to a pan asian restaurant—something I’ve resisted doing for years—and really enjoyed it.
One of my favorite meals is a simple breakfast, with a just laid egg, poached gently, served on top of a thick toasted slice of yeasty, crusty bread, alongside some cultured butter, and maybe a crisp strip of bacon or two. A warm sauce of butter and egg yolks would just be gilding the lily.
But the more I read of Emily’s guest posts, the more I start to reconsider my deeply held beliefs. At least up here, in this corner of the world. Maybe I can hold onto those earlier ideals and seek out some vacation spot in the French countryside or somewhere up in northern California. Or maybe I need to bump that visit to Heather Ridge Farm up my priority list.
I’ve got some more to think about. In the meantime, here’s Emily with the next installment on her love of—and search for—amazing eggs benedict.
Read more…
Signs of Summer
How do you know it’s summer in the Capital Region? Things start heating up! Not just the temperature outside, but the whole food scene in general comes alive.
Sometimes that makes it challenging to capture the news of the week in just five blog posts. But this is a daily blog, so we’re going to do the best we can. And that might mean jamming a few stories together with connections that are a bit tenuous.
First things first. The summer issue of Edible Capital District is coming out soon, and chef Josh Coletto has a shot at scoring the cover. But here’s the catch. There’s a poll. So, I’m encouraging people to vote for him here.
Josh’s cover is the one with the chicken-fried chicken livers. Seriously, don’t let me down, people. Any Edible Community can feature a jar of pickles, a farmer, or baskets of tomatoes. These little fried morsels are the guilty pleasure of Trojans in summer.
But speaking of summer produce I want to give a tip of the hat to another chef on the other side of the region.
Goodbye to Chester’s
I’ve been sitting on this story for days. Mostly because I didn’t want to admit that it was true. And perhaps, I hoped, that someone from Chester’s would change their mind and reopen the store.
What I still haven’t done is told my kids.
There may be other places to go for pierogies, liverwurst, and bacon. But I know of no other place that was making smoked veal loaf or smoked breakfast sausages. Part of me is contemplating asking the crew at Rolf’s if they could smoke some breakfast sausages. I wonder what the minimum order would be for something like that.
In my heart of hearts I hope that a few of the key people from the operation can reorganize and find someway to open again. Even though Mark, who bankrolled the operation has passed away, Chester himself is still very much alive, as is Mark’s son Ken, and their crew.
When a beloved local business closes, I think it’s appropriate to eulogize it a bit.
When Grass is Grain & Other Observations
It’s easy to get distracted when writing about food. Sometimes, when writing late at night, inspiration can come from something in my kitchen cabinets, or from some weekend cooking project. At times it can also be tempting to talk about the news of the day, with issues about food feeling secondary to violations of human or civil rights.
Food can be very important indeed. However, covering some of those important food stories can involve resources of time that I’m not always in the position to dedicate to this blog.
Which is why I’m very thankful to the NY Beef Council for helping to connect me with beef producers in the region, and providing me the opportunity to meet the people producing our food, tour their operations, and create bridges between rural and urban communities.
Recently, I got to spend several hours with John VanDerwerken, the fourth generation operator of Central Bridge Farms, his farm hand Josh, and chef Michael Lapi who was gracious enough to come and join me on this adventure.
Father’s Day Abstinence
Father’s Day is always a struggle. My father lives over a thousand miles away. We don’t talk to each other very much, and we see each other even less. It’s not ideal. Sunday, I will call him. Maybe he’ll pick up the phone. But maybe I’ll just have to leave a message.
It’s Father’s Day, after all. That’s what you do.
The crazy part about getting older is that I’m now a father too. I know that my daughter has been working on some kind of gift for weeks. Most likely it’s made out of paper and tape, and incredibly elaborate. I’m not expecting anything from my son. As it turns out, there’s nothing I want.
Which isn’t entirely true. I want a new pair of sandals, but those I need to buy myself. Looking at the Delaware Supply Instagram feed recently, I realized there was a bottle of beer they brought in that I wanted to try. By now, it’s probably gone.
If I’m lucky, I’ll get a nap. But I’m not sure that’s going to fly. What are you getting your dad?
Eggs Benny with Emily: The Mission Begins
When Emily L approached me about writing periodic guest posts for the FLB I was excited.
Sure, there is the part about encouraging new voices to chime in on the local and regional food scene. But more than that, there was something very specific she had in mind. Emily wanted to chronicle her hunt for the best eggs benedict in the Capital Region.
Now that we’ve gotten to know her a little bit through a few of her earlier posts, I’m thrilled to share the first of hopefully many posts on which eggs benny are worth eating, and which ones are better skipped.
Even if you’re not a fan of poached eggs topped with an egg yolk and butter sauce, there are still some good takeaways from Emily’s brunch experiences. And they can be especially helpful as you start to think about the weekend, and what you might eat for brunch.
Read more…
Coffee Confession Number Four
Confession is good for the soul. I tend to do it a lot on the blog. For those of you who may be new here, we should probably do a quick review of the coffee confessions to date.
Coffee Confession Number One was how I thought that Starbucks coffee was underrated. Actually, I look back on that one and cringe a little bit. I stand by the sentiment, but with the caveat of sticking to the lighter blonde roasts.
Coffee Confession Number Two was that I drink crappy coffee at home for my first cup. Although this too has changed over the years. Mrs. Fussy no longer wakes me up with a hot cup of coffee in bed. The good news is that now my first cup of coffee is far less bracing.
Coffee Confession Number Three involved me buying into the Starbucksification of coffee. Officially, I have not ordered that drink a second time. But I might. What I will never do is pay for one of those monstrosities.
Which brings us up to date for my latest transgression. I guess the moral of this story is to never say never.
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