The History and Purpose of Tours
My hope from the beginning was that I would not simply be preaching to the choir. So it always fills me with great joy to have readers who question what I’m doing here.
On Monday, I announced the slate of businesses Saturday’s Tour de Italian Deli Sub 2.0 will visit. My biggest concern about the tour is its incredibly long name. Sure, it’s a mouthful, but so are the subs we’ll be evaluating that day. So perhaps it makes some kind of cosmic sense.
However, EPT had other concerns. I have to believe that if he’s raising these issues, there are other people in the wings who have similar questions. And I really can’t remember if I’ve ever talked about the purpose of doing these tours. But even if I have, I’m happy to spend some time diving into it further, because there is more going on this Saturday than simply stuffing my face with Italian meats and cheeses.
First, let’s repost EPTs comment in its entirety.
The Enchanted City: Trial By Combat
Have you visited The Enchanted City?
This is the annual steampunk and fairy-themed street festival in Troy, where the city is transformed into a magical place populated with all kinds of fanciful characters. Some are kind, and others maybe less so. But there is something for everyone over the course of the event.
Last year through Yelp I helped to organize a kind of Victorian culinary stroll. Local restaurants were challenged to create Victorian-themed bites that they sold for a mere pittance, and were then judged by a roving band of Yelp Elites. Marla Ortega at The Illium Cafe won with her duck pot pies.
This year, the festival is getting bigger, and the culinary challenge is increasing as well. Thanks to my role with Yelp I will once again be involved, although metaphorically I’ll be wearing both of my hats. In actuality, I’ll most likely once again don my powdered judge’s wig.
Beyond the spectacle of it all, there will be something very exciting happening with local food.
Tour de Italian Deli 2.0
If you missed the first Tour de Italian Deli last year, this Saturday you’ve got another chance to bust your gut sampling some of the region’s best Italian subs.
We had nominations at the end of July, and I heard from a bunch of people who were slightly confused about this summer savory tour. Yes, we’re going to Italian delis. But we’re going there to check out their sandwiches. I guess here we call them subs. Other places might call them hoagies or grinders. The idea is to find out which of the beloved Italian delis you should visit when you’re in the mood for a sandwich.
In 2016, the Tour de Italian Deli Subs is headed to Schenectady.
Last year’s tour was a tremendous success. We had enough people that we were able to break up into three teams. One explored the Italian mix, another explored each shop’s specialty, and the third was hard core, eating a chicken parm sub at each of the five stops.
Who knows what the turnout will be this year. Hopefully we’ll have more, but feel free to invite your friends. The greater variety of sandwiches that can be evaluated, the deeper the learnings. So what’s the slate of Italian delis we’re going to visit? I’m glad you asked.
Parsley Toast
First, I have to say, thank God for the microwave. Those are hard words for this long-time microwave hater to utter. But I have this clay filled plastic pouch that you put in the devil-box for 45 seconds. And when I lay down upon it, I get a few moments of comfort from whatever the heck I did to my back.
If it weren’t for the injury, the most used appliance in the kitchen these days might be the food processor. When you have a CSA, you need to try and reduce the volume of the fresh produce as quickly as possible. Grilling is great. Sautéing greens works like magic. And chopping is so effective, it feels like cheating.
I found myself asking Mrs. Fussy to run out and pick me up another cabbage, just so I could chop up some green onions into a new batch of slaw. And while I admit that the slaw thing will never take off, I wonder how people would respond to the idea of parsley toast.
What’s Wrong With Me
Before we begin you should know that I’m taking some very powerful medicine. I’m also in a fair bit of pain, and that has a tendency to make be a bit extra persnickety. Actually, the pain started right before the Yelp event on Tuesday. And the longer it goes on, the grumpier I get.
But today’s post isn’t entirely about my physical and psychological issues. Because last night, instead of writing new content for the FLB, I was engaged in a bit of housekeeping, inspired by a tweet from an old friend and fellow pizza judge.
Joe found the X-Files on the FLB. They aren’t quite hidden, but I have a feeling they go unnoticed by most. I don’t even think there’s a way I can link to that section of the blog. Which is fine. Because the X-Files aren’t really all that interesting in and of themselves. But they do leave me asking the titular question.
Big Without Bad
On Saturday there was a guy at Empire Farm named Larry Olmsted, and he spoke a little bit about his new book. The book is called Real Food, Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating & What You Can Do About It.
The thing is that if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve got a lot of that covered already. You know that honey isn’t always honey. You know that 100% orange juice isn’t quite that either. We’ve covered the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine grown beyond Reims and Epernay.
I would have loved to asked him his thoughts on cream that’s not cream, and the awful stuff that passes for bread. Heck, just recently we’ve been having a conversation on the blog about what should qualify as Greek yogurt.
But this post isn’t about sour grapes. I have no interest in writing a book, and I’m glad that Mr. Olmsted is shining some light on these issues. However, his talk started me thinking about something, and I could use a little help mulling it over.
The Summer Farm Bowl
Nature is amazing. On one hand, it can unleash a devastating flood on Ellicot City in Maryland. On the other, it can create a perfect peach. Having lived in Miami during Hurricane Andrew, I’ve seen nature’s fury first hand, and know the feeling of waking up in what looks like a war zone.
Of course, there are plenty of actual war zone’s around the world today. And I would rather wake up in a flood ravaged town, than face the prospect of more war machines unleashing destruction from above.
Okay. That got really dark, really quick. I want to get back to nature’s perfect peach.
Last Saturday night was the FarmOn! Foundation’s 6th Anniversary Hoot! It’s a fundraiser for this non-profit that does a lot to support local farmers. Perhaps my favorite of the foundation’s efforts is its “Milk Money” campaign which helps to subsidize the cost of getting better milk into schools. The goal is “cow to kid in 36 hours.” And I’m thrilled to be able to highlight Tessa Edick’s efforts both here and on Yelp.
What I want to share today, isn’t about the foundation or the farms themselves, but about the food.
Sell Out Snippets
Chef Dominic does such a good job writing his snippets posts, and he makes it look so easy. I’ve tried writing in a similar style before, and it’s a lot harder than it seems.
This has been one of those extra crazy weeks, and there is still so much to talk about. Plus there is so much going on. Too much to squeeze into a blog that only publishes one post a day. So today, I’m going to try again to make a series of snippets sound interesting.
Of course, one of the reasons this has been such a crazy week is because of the job. So expect to see more than the usual amount of Yelp related news in this week’s FLB snippets. However, I promise there will also be some delightful surprises. Let’s start with one of those.
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