First Day of the CSA
Spring is all about rain, but that doesn’t make it any less gloomy. There are some things you can do to make it better. It feels like the perfect season for a bright, tropical, East-Coast-style IPA. Something to bring out the sunshine that we just know is hiding behind those clouds.
Part of me would think that all of this rain is necessary for helping things grow. I see all the pollen that’s been blown around the region buried in the grass, and as these rains help to sink those seeds into the soil, it feels like bearing witness to their natural destiny.
Maybe that’s true, but what do I know. I couldn’t make rosemary grow in Northern California where it’s practically a weed.
This is just one reason why I outsource all my local, sustainable produce growing. I was going to add seasonal to the list of adjectives, but when produce is truly local, it can’t help but be seasonal. Well, except for those people who are doing that hydroponic basil, bless their hearts. But I digress.
Yesterday was the first day of my CSA. Woo hoo! And once again, life has sprung forth from the frozen soils around the Capital Region. So, what did I do with my bounty? Good question.
The Insanity of Frozen Pizza
Pizza is one of my favorite foods. Not all pizza mind you, but good pizza.
Here’s the thing: pizza comes in all kinds of styles, and I try to keep an open mind. I remember the very first time I had Pepe’s coal fired pizza in New Haven. Despite all the hype, it just didn’t wow me. But after the third visit, I definitely became a fan.
I’ve cultivated an appreciation for the oily and rectangular tavern pies of the Capital Region. I have long been a fan of the gravitas found only in Chicago Deep Dish. The cracker crisp crust of Trenton Tomato Pie is a far cry from my favorite NY Style slice shops, but it’s excellent all the same. Those grandma slices, which should never be confused for Sicilian, are absolutely delightful. I even found some pizza in Old Forge, Pennsylvania that I’d eat again.
None of this is to brag about the depth and breadth of my pizza experience. Rather, it’s so that when I tell you that I just can’t wrap my head around frozen pizza, you don’t think it’s because of any kind of close-mindedness to the form.
Because much like frozen burritos, frozen pizza is nucking futs.
The Rejection of Inferior Food
Lest I be accused of burying the lede, Business Week Insider would seem to have it out for the Millennials. Actually, it’s more insidious than that. The magazine also appears to have a soft spot for crappy food.
For some historical perspective, on June 9, 2005 Business Week Insider published a story entitled, “Millennials are lying about what they want to eat, and it’s destroying fast food.” But what everyone has been talking about online lately is the story from June 3, “Millennials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s.”
The subheadline to the most current article reads, “Casual dining is in danger — and millennials are to blame.”
For starters, whatever happened to blaming Canada? But this story is just so unbelievably wrong for so many reasons, I just had to take a few minutes and get some things off my chest.
In Memory of a Local Chef
There are a lot of people who cook professionally in any region. Many of whom you will never see. And some are great talents.
I only met Jackie Baldwin once, but I remember it very well because her food moved me. The event was soon after I had returned from New Jersey, and it was in support of the Chefs’ Consortium at Albany Distilling Company. A lot of my old friends were there, and it was great to see them. But it was also a treat to see the Consortium expanding by bringing in new faces.
Not that Jackie was new, she had been running the kitchens of RPI for years. However, unless you were part of the network of local chefs, chef Jackie flew under the radar of Capital Region eaters. I really wanted to talk with her about
That corn crema she made for the Chefs’ Consortium event was spectacular. Almost three years after the event, I’m still thinking about it.
While Jackie may not have been well known by the public at large, she was beloved by the community of chefs that came out of SCCC. The culinary program at Schenectady County Community College has launched the careers of many local chefs, and it’s a tight bunch.
Soon, a bunch of these chefs are going to get together and host a gala to raise funds for an SCCC Scholarship fund in Jackie’s memory. The line up of chefs includes some notables who we rarely see at such events. Here’s all the information I have on the gala, which came in the form of a press release.
The Insanity of Frozen Burritos
If you ever want to get me grumpy, ask me about how they teach kids to cook in school. Kids’ cookbooks aren’t that much better. You’ll likely find a recipe that starts with the line, “Open a tube of biscuit dough.”
I remember one of the after-school enrichment classes, where the kids would be doing things like making cupcakes.
Except they don’t make cupcakes. They decorate cupcakes. With store bought icing that’s just crap fat, mixed with crap sugar, crap flavors, and crap colors. There’s probably some crap preservatives in there too, which is stunning, since the whole thing is sugar and fat. But dammit, if you make enough of something, even an extra day of shelf life can mean millions in profits.
The industrialized food system is so incredibly broken. And it’s heartbreaking that we’re indoctrinating kids into it at such an early age. Heck, the school cafeteria doesn’t even have a way to actually cook real food.
So, maybe we need to take it down a notch when we talk about what it means to cook. I’m going to start here, with microwave burritos. Because even if you can’t cook, and don’t have any time at all, they are still nucking futs.
The Failed Burger Hypothesis
After the Tour de Burger earlier this month, I had some follow up work to do.
One of the great things about the Fussy Little Tours is that by the end of the day, each attendee gains a much deeper understanding about the idiosyncrasies of a specific food. That is just the natural consequence of trying five different versions of the same thing over the course of an afternoon.
With that understanding, one might be able to go back to a place that provided a good but not great experience, and fine tune an order so that it might produce a better outcome.
Foolishly, after my visit to Jumpin’ Jack’s, I thought I could improve upon the Jackburger.
Big Plans for a Short Week
Memorial Day always makes me uncomfortable. Yesterday didn’t really feel like champagne popsicle weather up here anyhow. Instead, I spent time with my family. We did a bit of spring cleaning. Maybe more than a bit. And then, as a reward for all our hard work, we went to Ala Shanghai for dinner.
I’m glad we are all alive to take care of the everyday responsibilities of life. Not everybody is that fortunate. But however you commemorated the day, I hope it was meaningful to you.
Now we’re moving on. And it’s Tuesday. Egads! That means there are only two more days left until June. So real quick, let me give you a little run down on two things which sound super sweet this week. And then you can go back to fretting about squeezing five days of work into a four day week.
Thankfully, there are good times ahead.
Barista Battles
Judging ain’t easy but it’s necessary.
Last night, it was a thrill to have a front row seat at the judges table for Stacks’ Thursday Night Throwdown. It brought baristas out from all of my favorite regional coffee shops: Superior Merchandise Company, little pecks, kru coffee, 3 Fish, and of course Stacks.
The contest was broken into four rounds. Round one was in large, forgiving 12 ounce cups. Round two got a little tighter with the move to 8 ounce cups. The semi-finals were in 4.5 ounce gibraltar glasses. And in the finals, each barista had to shimmy their way into an espresso cup to make a beautiful macchiato.
Nine Pin Cider was the cider sponsor. Tall Ass Matt was spinning tunes. Barista magazine had schwag. Coffee was given away. There was a dance off. And the place was packed.
Judging was based on contrast, composition, and degree of difficulty. The other judges last night were local food personality, cooking instructor, and freelance journalist Deanna Fox; and Hudson Valley BBQ owner Brandon Snooks.
If I were a real journalist, I would have gotten the correct spelling of the baristas’ names. But the competition was fast and furious. What I did get were some pictures, so I could share with you all how it went down.
The C-Store Goes To K-Town
There are two kinds of people in this world. One kind loves Trader Joe’s. The other kind doesn’t get what all the fuss is about.
Trader Joe’s detractors don’t see this beloved market as an actual grocery store. I overheard some HWFC staffers complaining that the place sells nothing but convenience food. This, by the way, is a widely echoed misconception. Trader Joe’s is typically where I buy my eggplants and organic green peppers to supplement what I get from the CSA. It’s where I get bananas for the kids, frozen vegetables to get us through winter, and surprisingly tender 100% whole grain pasta.
Of course TJs does indeed have convenience foods. Lots of them. And while many of them look tempting, not all of them are great. The trick is in finding the ones you love. And over time I’ve honed that list down, and now very rarely veer from my favorites. What I find interesting is how everyone who loves TJs has a list like this, but at the same time everyone’s list is different.
Anyhow, just this week I made a new discovery.
Secrets, Tomatoes, and Patience
Secrets. I’m going to say there are too many secrets. Even about things that aren’t very important, like food.
There are lots of reasons for keeping food secrets. Perhaps a beloved restaurant is doing something maybe less than 100% legal, and you don’t want them to get caught. Actually, that might be the only time that it’s okay to keep a food secret.
I remember a cheese shop once, somewhere in America, that was bringing in black market cheeses. Apparently, back in the day it was not all that hard to sneak young raw milk cheeses past customs, if you knew what you’re doing.
But most of the reasons for keeping food secrets are terrible. Customers selfishly keep culinary discoveries to themselves, lest they find a favorite restaurant overrun with other eaters. Some secrets might be kept because it’s assumed a fact is public knowledge, when in reality it’s more esoteric than expected.
And then there are the stories we just forget to tell.
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