Walking Into Deliciousness
Winter is a good season for walking. Sure, it’s freezing cold, but that’s why god invented GORE-TEX®. Or, you know, goose feathers. Or wool. Whatever you use to keep yourself warm, you can always put on another layer to fend off the cold.
Cold weather is no reason to avoid walking.
That said, it’s so much easier to head out of doors when you can do it without putting on even so much as socks. Slip on some walking sandals, and you’re ready to conquer the world.
Well, Saturday’s outing had a bit more weather than I was expecting—remember, it’s still officially the unlocking, dammit—but that didn’t stop Little Miss Fussy and me from eating our way across downtown Schenectady. A feat which we did mostly on foot.
Cocktails at Dawn
Let’s see what I can remember about last weekend.
On a beautiful, chilly Saturday evening I was dropped of in downtown Albany. I had been talking about how easy it is to walk around the city, and was enticed by my own advice. Just to increase the distance of my walk, I first went down to the Times Union Center and picked up a quick slice of pizza.
There was no time for a proper meal. I had places to go and things to drink. The whole reason I came downtown was to attend the final round of Albany Distilling Company’s second annual Capital Region Cocktail Contest.
But first, I had to drop by Nine Pin Cider for my bi-weekly 26er.
Summer and Peeling Skin
I can’t remember the last time a post has gotten up this late. It’s been a long time. Last night was a late night. Not because I was out and partying with the creative set at Savoy.
Nope. I got caught by the cooking bug.
It’s totally spring now. The rain should be a good clue. As are all the buds on the trees, and the increasing greenery of the grass. It’s still going to be a couple of months until we start getting in fresh local produce from the CSA. But the warmer weather has an impact on both my cooking style and the dishes that I prepare.
Large boiling pots of pasta will soon be a thing of the past. The large scale production of chicken stock isn’t going to happen much any more. Maybe, if I’m lucky I’ll get in one more batch on an unseasonably cool night.
Right now, I’m trying to get ahead of the game. That was part of the logic of buying an Instant Pot. Sure, I haven’t been using it a lot in the winter and the unlocking. But my hope is that I’ll be able to keep on cooking beans, instead of having to resort to opening up cans.
That said, the bean dishes I make are going to be changing too.
Eating Out and Saving Lives
Today is Wednesday? Who is going to Albany Med for the turkey sandwich? Well, if not today, maybe some other week. I also just found out about something cool happening tonight at Savoy Taproom. All the cool kids are involved.
It’s called Regrettable Tales and Redemptive Music: Edition II and is a project by Richard Lovrich. Music will be by DJ Trumastr and stage direction by Persephone Pomme. And while I haven’t met the folks from Troy Foundry Theatre, they have to be pretty rad to be hanging with this crew. Since it’s at Savoy, you know the cocktails will be fantastic. Plus I hear good things about the current chef and his menu.
But today isn’t about cocktails and dramatic performances of short stories. Today’s post is about tomorrow. Where once again I’m going to encourage you to go out, but for an entirely different reason.
The Secret Albany Med Turkey Sandwich
Happy Monday! This weekend was pretty epic, but past experience has told me that nobody wants to read about cocktails at the beginning of the week. And that’s totally fair. So I’m going to bide my time and sit on the story of the Albany Distilling Company cocktail competition and other cocktail tales.
In the meantime, today we have our first guest post in many many moons.
One of the things that should be no surprise to regular readers is that I’m continually looking for new voices to write about food in the Capital Region. It doesn’t matter to me if they Yelp, blog, or tweet. Instagram is cool too, but that’s mostly pictures. I really hunger for more words.
It’s also no surprise that I love lunch. Nor that I have strong feelings on sandwiches. And while I do try to stay on top of the food scene in the area, every now and again I learn that something has fallen through the cracks.
Well, my new friend Emily L. is another outlander who is on the hunt for some great things to eat, and it sounds like she’s found one. I’ll let her tell you about it. She even took a picture.
Photo Friday: Getting Through Winter
Happy 4:20! There may be some of you who decide to celebrate the unofficial holiday today. And if that’s the case, my thoughts are two fold:
- People might not have the concentration to read words
- People might still like to look at pictures of food
Even if you aren’t going to wake and bake, it has still been three months since the last Photo Friday. So let’s take this moment to share some of the photographs I’ve taken as winter has stretched into spring, and I’ve tried to eat my way out of the cold. Read more…
On Second Chances
Yesterday I did something stupid. Twice.
There’s this Cuban restaurant that popped up on my radar a while ago—all the way out in Amsterdam, NY—and I really really wanted to try it. My eating schedule is fairly packed these days, so I pencilled in an outing on the calendar for last Saturday.
However, I needed to change my plans to tackle the project of taxes with Mrs. Fussy. Yay taxes! The less we talk about that the better. I’m just glad we’re done.
Well, last night I found myself alone in Schenectady around dinner time with a couple hours to kill, so I decided to make the trek out west and see what the fuss was about.
The Bridge on Broadway
What does kippered herring have to do with Downtown Albany?
Nothing. I’m sorry. Sometimes I set out to create theme weeks and fail on the very second post. It happens. Especially when I’ve got a big Yelp event the very next day. But today I’m climbing back up on that horse, because last night’s Official Yelp Event was a lot more than just fun and games. It was important.
How can hanging out, drinking craft cocktails, and eating nibbles from Ama Cocina be important? And what does this have to do with Downtown Albany? Well, I’m glad you asked.
A Little Fishy
Remember that old diet I used to talk about a lot?
Don’t worry. This isn’t about the diet per se. I’ve kind of let that slide, much to the detriment of my midsection. However, I’m still very much interested in healthful, delicious eating. At least that part of the diet remains lodged in my brain.
Which isn’t to say I’m not tempted to run out to Cheesecake Machismo right now. But instead of focussing on the foods to avoid, I prefer to think about all the foods I should be eating in moderation.
The goal is if I try to eat all the positive things I should, there will simply be no room for those amazing lobster tails at Villa Italia, or the doughnuts at Cider Belly. My old list of healthful foods included vegetables, heart healthy fats, unrefined grains, and fermented foods. One thing I really struggled to work into the diet was fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids.
I explored the wide world of sardines, and those were fine, but I never loved them. But just recently, I stumbled upon something in the tinned fish aisle at the grocery store that seems like the perfect food. But it can’t be.
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