Let It Snow. Let It Grow. Get It Now.
The snow on the porch last night was beautiful. It sparkled. Once upon a time it used to snow like this throughout the winter.
I’ve got no idea what’s coming up next, weather wise. Food events I’ve got covered. But I don’t know if our infamous Albany winter is just going to kick us in the ass for the next couple of months, or if it’s just going to throw in the towel and try again next year.
While I’ve been enjoying the warmer weather, and the lack of shoveling, it also makes me deeply uneasy. I can only imagine how the farmers feel. Times like these make me glad to be part of a CSA. That’s Community Supported Agriculture, to those for whom it’s a new term.
It’s a great hedge against uncertainty, and coincidentally, the time to start signing up for one is now. So let me get some of those nagging concerns about the weather off my chest, and then maybe I can answer some about CSAs in general.
Okay, so here comes the crazy.
Sucked Into The Hype Machine
Who lost least? On the field, it was the Broncos. You know because they had the highest score and took home the trophy. But it was an ugly game. The commercials were no great shakes either. Some of the filmmaking was top notch. Christopher Walken in the closet discussing beige socks was brilliant. But I suspect precious few will remember that those fantastically delivered lines of dialog were tied to a Kia spot.
And let’s not talk about all the ads about pooping. Either doing too much of it, or struggling to do enough of it.
My old career in advertising didn’t happen by accident. It was a purposeful path I took because I’m so easily influenced by marketing. I figured that if there are those who are doing the manipulating and those being manipulated, I wanted to be the one pulling the strings.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m still not sucked into a clever pitch or some intriguing packaging. In fact, I’m just as tempted by those things as ever. However, I’m starting to be concerned by the hype machine’s ill effects. And I’m wondering if I’m at least partially to blame.
Beers Of The Bowl
What’s an unconscionable amount of beer to keep around your house, if you aren’t intending to age any of it?
That’s probably a good question for my new craft beer friends. The thing is that a lot of beers decline with age. So I thought this would be a good hobby for me, because it would encourage me to drink what I have on hand before I go out and buy more.
Surprisingly, it hasn’t quite worked out the way that I had imagined.
Last night I opened something called The LIzard King by Pipeworks Brewing Company out of Chicago. It was delicious and delivered some lovely pineapple notes. And then I sat down to a plate of Indian food which totally destroyed any chances of me tasting the rest of this beer. That was a dumb.
In just a couple of days the big game is coming up between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers. I’ve got a bunch of spicy, Frank’s Red Hot drenched food on the menu, so I felt compelled to run out and buy even more beer just for the occasion.
I’ve found it always helps to have a plan.
September 2009: Restaurants & Criticism
Hi. My name is Daniel. And this is the fifth week I’ve written an FLB TBT. It’s a work in progress, to be sure. This week we’ll try making a few of the color coded sections a little more readable. My intentions here aren’t to torture my dear readers who have been supportive of this blog for years. Really, I just want to take a look back to see where it’s been, chart the arc it took, and see which ideas have stood the test of time. which ideas have stood the test of time.
We’ve learned a lot so far. The blog started with a bang, and then I took a vacation.
It was in this fifth month that I really started to dig into restaurants. I got to express my thoughts about the low bar for what it takes to have a good restaurant, the three common traits of great restaurants, and the one problem with most restaurants. The topic of criticism also played a large role. I wrote about how critics can be tastemakers, I celebrated the arrival of starred reviews for less expensive restaurants, and I revealed my ultimate goal for the blog. There were plenty of posts about hot sauce, and I flew off the handle on yogurt.
So how did it break down day by day? I’m glad you asked. But before we jump into the daily summaries, you may want to refresh yourself with the color coded key, which has changed just a little bit from FLB TBTs of the past.
Super Bowls of Junk Food
With apologies to Jerry Buckner & Gary Garcia:
I’ve got football fever. Football fever.
It’s driving me crazy. Driving me crazy.
I’ve got football fever. Football fever.
I’m going out of my mind. Going out of my mind.
Man, music was bad in the 80s.
That big football game I watch every year is coming up on Sunday. I’m truly very excited about it. But really, all I know is that it’s the horses against the cats. The horses are from Colorado. The cats come from North Carolina.
Now in the past, I’ve made some kind of effort to pull in some kind of regional foodstuff to this annual bacchanal. But not this year. At first I wanted to cheer for the cats because I don’t recall them being in a championship bout recently. The horses have been to this dance before. And I do like an underdog.
But I was told some sob story about a player on the Colorado team. Apparently, this will be his last game, and people would like to see him go out on a high note. Whichever Manning brother that is, clearly has a winning PR team behind him.
I may end up rooting for Colorado, because I’m more likely to find good Colorado beer locally than anything delicious from North Carolina. And that would be fine.
What I really want to talk more about today, is the food.
The Madness of Februray
Stoic, I am not. Especially when I get a bit of a head cold. Or a cough. But I’d rather suffer with a stuffed nose and hacking cough than take cold medicine. That stuff makes me loopy.
Today, I was going to write a bit about Iowa. You know, because the people on the TV have been talking a lot about Iowa lately. But I was going to talk about the food. I’m intrigued by the Iowa classic made-right/maid-rite/loosemeat sandwich. I’ve never had one before, but my understanding is that it’s steamed ground beef. That just kind of blows my mind. Still, I would like to try one at some point.
Regardless of how horrifying that may sound to you, Iowa is not a place to write off based on its culinary offerings. Because you know what comes from Iowa, right? You’re going to say corn. Or soybeans. But even more important to the state of modern American food is La Quercia prosciutto.
You want to talk about hope and change? Well, who would have ever thought that the state that brought us steamed ground beef sandwiches would now be the place that finally makes the great American prosciutto. Man, I love that stuff.
What I’m not loving is February, and it’s only just begun.
Heather’s Mix Tape
Once upon a time, I was really really into wine. What happened? I moved to New York where wine isn’t sold in grocery stores.
I never bought a lot of wine in California’s grocery stores. Still, it was always good to know it was there. But having grocery store wine did something really really important for the wine culture in the region. It elevated it. And here’s why. If you were a serious wine store or a really good restaurant, you wouldn’t be caught dead with a bottle of wine on your shelf or on your list that could be procured from the Safeway down the street.
This isn’t about snobbery. It’s about an appreciation of small passionate winemakers doing their thing. It’s about interesting wines, with character and nuance being made the hard way, without regard for marketing or consumer trends. These kinds of products don’t usually have the production runs to be carried in supermarkets. These special bottles go to smaller wine stores where passionate owners chase them down. And of course, they go to restaurants, where sommeliers make sure to have great wines at every price point.
Back to the Capital Region. So Vic & Heather opened up a wine store. A real wine store. A wine store with personality. And browsing through that curated selection, you’re unlikely to see any bottles you recognize.
The potential for this shop is huge. So I’ve gone and done something entirely unprecedented.
August 2009: Fussy Takes A Vacation
Here we are in the fourth week of this FLB TBT project. You remember. This is the bad idea I had at the beginning of the year to try and chronicle the history of the blog. See where it’s been. Try to chart the arc it took. And check to see which ideas have stood the test of time.
What we’ve learned so far is that in the beginning there was a whole lot of wine, then I started casting blame about the state of food in the Capital Region. That must have caught some people’s attention, because the blog started to gather steam, and then I dropped the ball.
Yep. That’s what happened in August. After three months of daily posts, I took a trip to San Francisco and I had more than a few days without content. And readership took a nosedive. It would take another couple of months to recover, but I learned a valuable lesson. Post or perish.
So how did it break down day by day? I’m glad you asked. But before we jump into the daily summaries, you may want to refresh yourself with the color coded key. Oh yes. Today’s post looks like I lost a battle with a box of crayons.
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