The Shrinking Universe
Happy Monday! The Tour de Slice: Schenectady was a fantastic success. The Jewish Food Festival was filled with all kinds of deliciousness. And Yelp Restaurant Week has officially started, and I’ve already enjoyed one meal at 30% off just by checking-in with the Yelp mobile app.
This week is going to fly by, and I suspect there will be a ton of things I’m going to miss. For example, tonight is the second bracket of the Albany Distilling Company’s cocktail contest. This one is held at Brown’s Brewing Co. in Troy, and beings at 7p. Tuesday is the next 26er release at Nine Pin Cider. I’m going to have to take a rain check, because it’s also Queens Day. But more on that later.
We’ll be posting the official results of the Tour de Slice as soon as we can, but you can look online for some early reads on the results. Steve N. and Jon in Albany were both on the tour.
Actually most of the people on the tour were people I knew from previous tours or from Yelp events. Except this time, we were able to draw out a relatively new reader, and for me that was one of the most exciting parts. Today I want to tell you why.
Tools To Soften Stiff Necks
Last night I saw Burnt My Fingers and he gave me a piece of his cheese bread. Once this is done, I’m going to warm it up in the oven and eat it for breakfast. And I cannot even begin to tell you how happy this makes me.
Bread. I love it. So much. But I’m not a baker.
Maybe, I should say, “I’m not a baker…yet.” The family has been watching the Great British Baking Show, and it has been inspiring to my wife and daughter. And I suppose, we could create a culture of family baking at some point down the road.
But there’s this level of precision that seems to be required in baking that I just no longer have the desire to achieve. At one point in my life I lived by recipes, measured out ingredients, and followed steps to the letter.
Now I kinda just go with my gut. Which is exactly what I did with a bunch of necks.
On Pizza Shakers
The Tour de NY Style Slice is coming to Schenectady on Saturday! Have you signed up yet? It’s good for the whole family. Don’t be shy. The more the merrier.
Five slices over the course of a few hours is totally doable. And don’t forget, I still contend that the standard for pizza in Schenectady is the highest in the Capital Region. So not only will it be an enlightening experience, but it should also be delicious.
There is one more thing I want to talk about before going into the tour, and that’s the role that shakers play in the pizza parlor experience.
The Kid and The Cannoli
Listen to your mother.
It’s generally good advice. My own mother wants me to fatten up my son. I’m sure she would put it a different way. But as a result of her encouragement, I continually encourage him to eat delicious things, and perhaps in greater quantities than he would if left to his own devices.
The kid is thin as a rail. His doctor says he’s very healthy. But if anybody out there has a Jewish mother… you know… they worry.
Love. It’s all love. And food. Which is also love. So I’m hoping that my mom will particularly enjoy this story. It’s just a coincidence that it’s being posted on Pi Day, and those who live in the Capital Region should take special note.
Because there’s a great cannoli hiding in plain sight at one of our best pizza parlors. And I’m pretty sure it’s not on anybody’s radar.
Delving Into The Dutch Udder
Last night The Dutch Udder hosted an Official Yelp Event. Sometimes these events are joint partnerships with a few different local businesses, but last night was all about ice cream. Although, on some level, The Dutch Udder is all about partnerships. There are lots of local businesses represented both in the flavors they make and in the products they create.
For example, Cider Belly Doughnuts are used in the Cider Donut flavored ice cream; Nine Pin’s signature cider is used in the Hard Cider sorbet; and Adirondack Winery is represented in the Strawberry Wine Sorbet.
Kem makes her own brownies for the brownie sundae, but she uses donuts from Schuyler Bakery for the hot glazed donut ice cream sandwich. Sometimes she’ll make a special flavored batch of whipped cream—there’s an Irish cream one planned for later this week—but the hot fudge comes from Saratoga Springs. And the root beer in the root beer floats comes from Delmar’s Royal Meadery.
Oh man, that root beer float. I’m an ice cream soda guy, and this was pretty killer.
In the heat of the moment, I think I may have swooned hard for the brownie hot fudge sundae. But if I think about what I might order again on my next visit, it’s going to be hard to get me to stray from the root beer float. Unless, of course, they’ve got even something more special being served at that moment.
Because I’ve learned something important last night.
A New Take on an Old Promotion
Happy Monday! We’re getting further into the unlocking. Can you feel it?
I’m feeling the pressure to finish up my big cooking projects while the garage can still be used as a refrigerator. I’ve got a mega Cuban black bean project, one more quick chana masala, one last batch of chicken stock (hopefully), and just yesterday I picked up a whole pile of lamb necks. Oh yeah. I’m really excited about that last one.
The cooking shouldn’t be all that hard to squeeze into the rhythm of everyday life. The eating, on the other hand, is going to be more challenging. Just because there is so much going on.
And I haven’t even told you about Yelp Restaurant Week.
The Annual Jewish Food Festival
Every year before the Jewish Food Festival, I tell people there’s going to be a Jewish Food Festival. Every year after the Jewish Food Festival, I share my tales of hot sliced pastrami with mustard, schmears of chopped liver, and bites of sweet blintz casserole.
And every year I hear the similar refrain, “I didn’t know there was a Jewish Food Festival!”
Let’s try this once again. And this time with feeling.
The Jewish Food Festival is coming!
The Jewish Food Festival is coming to Schenectady!
The Jewish Food Festival is on Sunday, March 18th!
Hey, isn’t that the day after the Tour de Slice: Schenectady? Yes. Yes it is. There’s been a lot going on in Schenectady recently, and it’s not going to stop. Just wait until you read Monday’s post. But one thing at a time. First let’s talk more about the Jewish Food Festival, including how to win free tickets.
Tour de Slice: Schenectady
Thankfully it still feels a bit like winter, because the FUSSYlittleBLOG’s winter tour is finally here! The name of this tour has been shortened for the headline of today’s post. If I called this the Tour de New York Style Pizza Slice: Schenectady Edition it wouldn’t fit on one line, and we can’t have that.
Plus the word slice should absolutely imply New York style pizza. And if it doesn’t, this probably isn’t the tour for you. Or maybe it’s the perfect tour for you, because this would be a fantastic introduction to thin crust pizza by the slice.
We’ve already had a period of nominations, and readers have weighed in with their thoughts on what this tour should and should not be. I’ve taken it all into consideration, and am looking forward to getting this show on the road.
Now whip out those calendars and write down this date, in pen.
Pots of Fats
When two people from very different backgrounds get married, there is always the cross pollination of ideas. Mrs. Fussy has contributed a great deal toward my greater sense of thriftiness and abhorrence of waste. And she has picked up a greater appreciation for some of the finer things in life, including an impressive wine palate that exceeds my own.
Before we were married, I would throw away food with reckless abandon. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t take home leftovers. I would. They would just sit in my refrigerator until they spoiled, and then I would throw them away.
Since those days I have changed, and now save all kinds of food scraps to work into other dishes. But I also have some hoarding tendencies. So sometimes those two things can result in unintended, if not entirely surprising outcomes.
For example, have you heard about my pots of fats?
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