Emily L Eats Zongzi
Last night was another epic beer pairing dinner at The City Beer Hall. It was fun to hang with some of the Yelp crew, see some of my beer friends, and to taste the imaginative food of chef Dimitrios. But it was longer than most, and when it was done, I popped over to Excelsior Pub for a few rounds of pinball.
Suffice it to say, I was not writing the blog. Thankfully, Emily L had submitted a guest post about one of my favorite local restaurants, Hong Kong Bakery and Bistro. She tried a seasonal specialty, which we thought you should know about.
So without further ado, here’s Emily’s post.
The Chipotle Tragedy
Preparing a house to be sold is no fun at all. It is very cathartic though. We’re getting rid of so much clutter from our lives, it’s really remarkable.
But whenever you add a new activity into an already busy life, something has to go. My hunch is that we’ll be sacrificing a lot of home cooked meals for take out, delivery, and quick restaurant outings in the near future.
The hard part is finding a place that everyone will agree upon. Mrs. Fussy generally reserves her veto power for Five Guys, seeing it as the least healthful option. My son tends to dig his heels in at the suggestion of Blaze. So when it’s a full contingent of Bermans and we’re looking for something fast, often the answer is Chipotle.
That was the case last night. Sadly, there seems to be an entirely new kind of cruelty that’s putting more pressure on an already overtaxed system. It’s the scourge of online ordering.
The Healthier Barbecue
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and I have a history. It’s a different history than most. Because in Upstate New York, Dinosaur is legendary. But arriving to the Capital Region from the west coast, I had never heard of the operation when they opened their Troy location in the old abandoned Fresno’s on the banks of the Hudson.
Still, the hype was extraordinary. And I’m a sucker for the hype. Plus I was invited by AOA Greg to come out with him and the All Over Albany crew to try the place on opening day. To make the expansion of the restaurant empire a bit more special, Dino was creating location specific dishes. So if you wanted to try the smoked sausage, you had to come to Troy. Barbecue lamb was the signature dish at the Brooklyn opening.
Anyhow, I fell in love with that sausage. Then I fell out of love with that sausage. That resulted in a sit down meeting with John Stage himself, which was amazing, and we were back in love. Mostly though I was in love with the ribs. There were future sit downs with the executive chef, when he came out to Troy to conduct some trainings. Then I fell in love with their chicken. And most recently, Dino hosted an Official Yelp Event where some lucky members of the Yelp Elite Squad got a tour of the operation, and were able to see the smokers and learn more about their pit to plate process.
What I had not been able to try is Dino’s new lunch special. But just yesterday, I put another notch in my Dinosaur belt.
Secondary Tools
Apparently there is a fine line when selling a house, between the interior seeming vacant and barren, and it being filled with the stuff of everyday life. Right now, we’re not exactly packing. But we’re thinning out the material possessions contained in our home.
A lot of it is being given away to friends, family, and charitable organizations. As little as possible will get thrown away. Some will be packed for the move to Michigan. And the rest will stay snugly in place to highlight certain features of each room.
It’s an interesting process.
One picture remains above the fireplace, so prospective buyers can envision their own knickknacks on the mantle. Bookshelves are being pared down, so it seems there is plenty of space to store a larger home library. The coat closet will be emptied of most coats and other stored objects, with a few token items remaining just for show. Nonessential furniture is being removed to make the rooms feel as large as they can be.
I get it. On one hand, it’s a fun game. On the other hand, selling a house is no fun. Which is why I’m glad we’ve enlisted some local experts to help.
But right now, I want to talk about the kitchen.
Afternoon Papers
The current state of newspapers is a national tragedy.
If you’ll forgive the grumpy old man trope for just a moment, when I was a kid my family subscribed to two local newspapers. In the morning, we received The Miami Herald. It told the story of everything that happened yesterday. Well, up until the printing deadline, which was probably somewhere close to midnight. Then, in the afternoon, a copy of The Miami News appeared on the doorstep. And that helped to fill in some of the gaps of news that broke before lunch.
The afternoon paper was notably thinner. But I guess that’s just the way it goes. People tend to do their reading in the morning, either at breakfast, on the way to work, or when settling into their desks. In the afternoon, after a long day, reading can feel like work. It’s time to kick your feet up and relax.
Today, the FLB is publishing another afternoon post. But it’s not by design. As it turns out, trying to get your house ready to be sold, finishing up your old job, looking for new jobs, maintaining a blog, enjoying a social life, and participating in family life takes more time than one might expect.
But a day without fussy? Perish the thought! Thankfully, the readers of the FLB read for fun, so hopefully today’s post won’t feel like work. And as readers, I think you’ll have some thoughts on the topic of the day.
Cold Prevention
A sickness has descended upon the Fussy household. First it came for my son, who after a day of being listless in the bed, was able to get back into the hustle of daily life. Then it came for Mrs. Fussy, who is tough as nails, and it knocked her out too. She’s still recovering, but might recover faster if she knew how to take it easy.
Now I fear it is coming for me. On the cusp of a beautiful long weekend to boot. Well, maybe not that beautiful. It’s supposed to rain on Saturday. But I’ve got work to do. Not necessarily Yelp work, but house work. Because before we can sell our home, we’ve got to make it ship shape.
I’ve already postponed my trip down to the city for this weekend, so I don’t get anyone else sick. And I’m struggling to balance getting things crossed off my to do list before I succumb to the bug, versus getting more sleep and building up my body’s defenses.
While I may not be as tough as Mrs. Fussy, I’m a fighter. My plan is to fight this thing tooth and nail. Today, I want to share my plan, and maybe you can help supplement my efforts.
Deanna Questions Breakfast
Wow! These posts are getting later and later all the time. I swear I’m not checked out. Today I just had to get a diagnostic MRI. Please tell my mother everything is fine. The body is just getting old, and there are some parts the doctors can’t see, even with their modern tools.
So, that’s my excuse. But I also haven’t been thinking too much about food for the past couple of days. I know. The horror. And as I was struggling with what to write about today, a fortuitous note popped up on my Facebook feed.
Deanna Fox, who writes about food professionally (locally for the Times Union, and nationally for others), and who owns the Albany Cooking School in Different Drummers Kitchen, posed a question. Actually several questions. And since I can’t respond to even a simple question with just a few words, I thought it might be fun to chronicle my thoughts on the blog.
Because as it turns out, I do indeed have a lot of thoughts on breakfast.
Pantry Staple: Ak-Mak Crackers
Great news! After ten days of medicating, cutting out coffee, reducing my alcohol consumption, eating more healthful foods, exercising a little bit, and monitoring my blood pressure, the train is back on its rails. I even dropped close to five pounds over that time. My doctor is thrilled.
What’s even more amazing is that I was able to do that while judging the Best Burger competition for the New York Beef Council and attending Saratoga Brewfest followed with a smorgasbord of delights at Mexican Restaurant El Cilantro.
My mantra has been “eat more oats” and I’ve been living on low fat yogurt, whole grains, green vegetables, beans, green tea, nuts, fruit, and dark chocolate for the past two weeks.
Yesterday I made perhaps the most intense heart healthy lunch to date. I pureed ramps, pistachios, mustard powder, chili flakes, and apple cider vinegar into a bright green pistou. And I spread that on ak-mak crackers. That served as a base for some brisling sardines, and the whole thing was topped with a sprinkling of sumac.
After posting a picture online, someone asked about the cracker. Well, where do I start?
Eight Burgers I Ate
It was a tremendous honor and privilege to get to help the New York Beef Council determine the best burger in New York. Last week I was one of the judges tasked with tasting all of the finalists. There were only supposed to be four. But because of some technical difficulties with the online voting, all ten nominees were invited to the judging.
Two were not able to make the trip out to Onondaga Community College. Zoe’s Ice Cream Barn in Lagrangeville pulled out, so I didn’t get to try their JSK Cattle Co. Burger. But most tragically Nighthawks from Troy wasn’t able to come with its triple burger topped with a fried egg, special sauce, cheese and house-made pickles.
I didn’t even know they made a triple burger. Seriously, that thing had the potential to win it all.
But burger slingers came as far as Long Island to bring their beloved burgers to the NY Beef Council contest. And at the judges table were Kita Roberts of Girl Carnivore, Jacob Pucci who writes about food and dining for The Post-Standard, Christopher Carosa who literally wrote the book on hamburgers, and Kenneth Krutz from the NY Beef Council board.
All of the judging was done blindly. No, we weren’t blindfolded. We could see the burgers, but we had no idea which burger belonged to which restaurant. Each judge was provided a full sized burger, and could do with it as they saw fit.
One judge would just grab the burger with both hands and shove it in their mouth. Another went to great lengths to make it beautiful for Instagram. And as for the Profussor? Any guesses?
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