Making Great Coffee
So it begins. We’ve been watching kids start school all over the country. But today it’s our turn. Gone are the days of sleeping in on the occasional weekday. The blog will now need to be put to bed earlier at night. And the mornings will be a bleary-eyed stumble until I can suck down that first cup of coffee.
Which brings me to the subject of the day. I’ve written about coffee a lot over the years. But I don’t know if I’ve put all of those words in an order that communicates the following sentiment.
Making coffee at home is stupid.
Perhaps that’s an oversimplification. I make coffee at home. Most people do. But here’s the thing that few people will publicly admit. The coffee most people make at home is terrible. Sure, there are some exceptions. I do my best to make terrible coffee as drinkable as possible. However, I’m under no illusions that I make great coffee at home.
I suppose one could say more precisely that the attempt to make great coffee at home is a recipe for madness. And there are a lot of reasons for this.
Sabotage
Hope you had a lovely labor day. Mine was fantastic. I’ll tell you a little bit more about it in a minute. You know, It’s been a long time since we’ve had a song of the day. Feel free to fire it up, because I’ve got a few pieces of non-blog business to get out of the way before I say what I came to say.
The personal
I binged watched The Get Down on Netflix over the past few days, which has made me think of my own childhood growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. So sorry about the bad rhymes. Hope I can stop them in time. What I really need is to think of some R&B that I can sing for karaoke. I need a song in the right key for me, that I can bust out at the CBH party. Sorry. I’ll stop for real now.
The political
Twitter is a helluva place. Speaking about the 70s, I remember learning about Vietnam, and what set it apart was how the television cameras brought the fighting into people’s living rooms. Well, now Twitter puts conflicts right in your hands as they happen. And it’s powerful stuff. In the past I’ve talked about watching BLM protests unfold life and witnessing the militarized responses. Today, I can’t shake the images from the North Dakota pipeline protests. If you haven’t seen them, you should.
The professional
You have until tomorrow night at 10pm (EST) to enter to win a pair of general admission tickets to the Saratoga Wine & Food Festival’s grand tasting on Saturday, September 10. I’m going. So it would be great to see you there. And if you can get a free ticket because of my other gig, all the better.
Right. So to set the stage for today’s actual post, let’s talk about the cooking of late summer for a moment. But this isn’t a post about cooking.
A Stunning September
Mrs. Fussy looked into some yoga classes for me. But while doing stretches might be great for my overall health and well being, I don’t see them helping to undo the damage that will unfold over the next couple of weeks.
Grab your calendar, because while some of the upcomming events are private, most are not. And you may want to get in on some of the action.
Decadent Yet Healthful Burger Alternatives
There’s still no question in my mind. If you told me I would die tomorrow, the first thing I’d do is go to Swifty’s for one of the deep fried Buffalo burgers. I haven’t had one in a long long time.
Soon, I’ll be making an appointment to see whether or not my modified diet of the past few months has improved my blood cholesterol numbers. I hope it has. I have dropped a few pounds, and made some significant changes to what I eat. I’ve also slipped a bit and perhaps allowed myself a few too many treats. Plus the exercise plan never really got off the ground.
So it’s anyone’s guess. My hunch is that I’ll have moved the needle, but will still have to do more if I want to stay off meds. We’ll see.
Regardless, during that sweet spot of having my blood drawn and visiting the doctor, I’m eating one of those battered beef patties, cooked rare, and slathered with butter, hot sauce, and blue cheese dressing.
That said, traditional beef burgers have been off the menu for the past few months. Fortunately, I’ve found some delicious alternatives.
Burgers for Better or Worse
When I look at a pig, I enjoy the fact that I can point to it and say, “there’s the prosciutto.” I’ve taught Little Miss Fussy where the bacon comes from as well. It’s the belly of the beast. Together we’ve tried chicken feet, which look exactly like chicken feet.
But for the most part, you can’t point to a cow and show where the hamburger comes from. And while you might be able to point to the part of a pig that resembles the sausage, that’s something else entirely.
Relatively recently, Mrs. Fussy was in the mood for hamburgers, and sent me a text while I was at Trader Joe’s asking that I bring home some ground beef. This is my nightmare. Because ground beef can be sketchy, and labeling can be misleading. So I was looking for the best possible option based on what was available.
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t overthink the decision.
Three Hats, Five Chefs, and Lots of Farms
So much was happening on Saturday, I can’t blame you if you weren’t able to visit The Enchanted City in Troy. But if you didn’t, you missed out on the largest iteration of this annual steampunk festival to date.
I had a role to play in the festivities. I was the lead judge for the culinary competition, Trial by Combat. So I had to come in costume. Dressing up isn’t really my thing, but I went to The Costumer and Scott over there helped me figure it all out.
As it turns out, my head is literally too big for most hats. Even the large ones. The only one that fit was a cowboy hat. So I just went with it.
That was was just one of the hats I was wearing on Saturday. Although the other hats were more figurative, so you may not have noticed that I was wearing both my FLB and Yelp hats. Man, life can get complicated sometimes. But I was invited to participate based on the role I’ve carved out in the local food scene with this blog. However, Yelp continued its ongoing sponsorship of this great annual event.
Those are the three hats. But I really want to tell you about the five chefs and all the farms that were included in this culinary showdown.
A Dumb Use For Cheap Vodka
Is it Friday? How is that even possible?
Say au revoir to le Profussor, because I’m off to Sturbridge today. Gotta drop the kids off with their gramma. And it’s very possible that before coming back home, I’ll make a pit stop at Tree House Brewing Company for some of its hard to find and impossibly juicy beers.
But I’ll be back on Saturday for The Enchanted City in Troy. And that’s going to be a great time. Because not only are some great chefs going to be vending from 11am-2pm, but there’s also going to be a culinary competition starting at two o’clock.
Guess who’s going to be both head judge and master of ceremonies for the chef versus chef cooking challenge? It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it.
Actually, the hardest part of the job will be doing it in costume when it’s hot outside. I’ve got my steampunk cowboy outfit mostly ready. It’s a little past my comfort zone, but I think it kinda works. Plus I’ll be going much further outside my comfort zone on Saturday night when I head up to The Hangar for Mab After Dark’s burlesque and curiosity afterparty show*.
You know what I won’t be bringing to The Enchanted City? A flask full of cheap vodka. That I’m saving for an entirely different event.
FUSSYlittleBLOG 