SobaAddict70

All right, elyse doesn't want to take a shot, so who wants to go next? Alacarte? Rachel? Kristin? Bueller? Soba

yep, elyse, yours. I don't think people here can quite stomach another week of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, not even the way I make them. God, I hope I don't morph into Nero's ex. LOL. Separated at birth? Soba

Thanks...I think. heh Soba

(Saturday, continued) Chicken thighs are good too, especially stewed with chicken legs (skin on) in garlic, vinegar, soy and black peppercorns. Adobo manok is one of the great hallmarks of Filipino cuisine. (I prefer chicken to pork adobo, just my preference.) Just finished off a slice of pizza, sprinkled with lime salt, red pepper flakes and basil. Extra cheese. A plastic cup of 7-Up. Might chill out for a bit before I go clubbing. Thanks for reading along. All right elyse, it's your turn. Soba

Can't do...heh. Confidentiality agreements and all that. Oh, you were talking about day-to-day interaction and all that? Well....office politics aren't my cup o'tea anyway. It's nothing none of us haven't seen, especially to long-time eGulleteers. Soba

The portions at Lupa seem to be slightly larger. But I could be wrong... Soba

Friday (continued) I didn't leave the office until a little after 7 pm. At least I didn't have to stay any longer (although I could've...). Instead of heading to the Village, I went home and picked up a few things from a local Food Emporium and Cantonese takeout palace. When in doubt, and hardly anything in the refrig, chicken breasts will usually win out. So, broiled skinless boneless chicken breasts, smeared with a good couple T. of EVOO, topped with halved grape tomatoes, diced onion and some diced bell pepper; seasoned with some lime salt and cracked black pepper. Green salad (Bibb lettuce, endive, arugula) with a white wine viniagrette. Couscous, with chicken stock from the Cantonese takeout palace. (I call them takeout palaces because they're above and beyond just a typical Chinese takeout place. Evergreen Shanghai and China Fun, two specific ones, offer cold appetizers, Hong Kong-style dim sum and stuff like tripe and jellyfish -- stuff you'd never see at a typical takeout place.) Iced blueberry oolong tea (it's basically flavored oolong tea, served iced.). Might do the borscht thing this weekend, if I can drag myself out of the house. Who knows. Macerated some berries with sugar and a splash of cassis. Had the berries over Haagen-Dasz vanilla ice cream for a late night snack. Saturday, 23 August 2003 During the weekend, my eating patterns tend to be irregular, meaning I eat when I'm hungry and have no set meal times. I usually tend to sleep in late unless I'm hanging out late Friday or Saturday night. I actually intended to go hang out last night but fell asleep around 1 am. Didn't get up until a couple of hours ago. Just did takeout -- scallion pancake, sliced chicken with broccoli, brown rice. Going to take a nap before I do my weekly food shopping. Ever since we tossed out stuff in the refrig due to the blackout, the refrig's been pretty bare. (to be continued...) Soba

Hate is a pretty strong word. I'd say my attitude tends more towards a depression. Typical holidays like Valentine's Day and July 4th, the depression is barely noticeable. It's only the year-end period when things get acute. Soba

This explains why (among other reasons) I WILL NOT cook for my relatives. Ever. Nyet, comrade. Case in point: My mom loves to talk about food but doesn't like things to be "too complicated". What's complicated? How about pasta with a properly made bolognese sauce. A roast chicken, stuffed with lemon and herbs. Quiche lorraine, from scratch. So, dinuguan (pork and beef innards stewed with pig's blood and vinegar) and pakbet aren't complicated but all of the above are? Whatever! Soba

Long complicated answer but in short: I get depressed during holidays, ESPECIALLY end-of-the-year holidays. Turkey Day is barely tolerable, but Christmas and New Year's are the worst, and I can't wait for them to be over as soon as the holiday season arrives. Pretty much the last two weeks of December are sad times for me. Lunch looked um...interesting. Among the offerings downstairs are: Buffalo Chicken Tender Wraps -- chicken fingers/tenders with a choice of toppings -- tomatoes, peppers, onions, roasted garlic cloves, sour cream, olives and a choice of sauce. I didn't look long enough to notice. Other offerings included BBQ ribs, Maryland crab cakes, smashed red skinned potatoes, roasted asparagus, pasta sitting under a heat lamp, lasagna with either roasted tomato sauce or meat sauce, corn mini-cobs (cobs sliced in half and sititng in a bath of water , vegetable chowder, and shrimp soup. I took the safe option and went for lasagna with meat sauce (mediocre) and the asparagus (actually, pretty good). An orange. Poland Spring (bottle #3). Since I prefer to eat in my office, anything that results in lots of mess (and grubby sauce-coated fingers) is out, which is why I didn't go for the ribs. I don't think any of my lawyers would appreciate me getting grease stains all over their opinions, for example. I can't wait for 5:30 when I'm outta here. Soba

About my handle -- when I first joined eGullet, I was under the handle "SobaAddict", but shortly afterwards there was some sort of glitch -- can't remember what it was exactly (maybe Rachel and/or Jason can explain) -- that caused a bunch of users to reset their passwords. This would've been around March 2001. I'm not sure exactly if I forgot my password or something but I remember distinctly not wanting to bother with this small administrative detail so I just created a new screen name and explained on the boards that SobaAddict and SobaAddict70 were one and the same. Yes, Kristin, the "70" refers to part of my birth year. I was born in 1970 as well....but MY birthday is on Christmas Day. This is part of the reason why I'm not a fan of Christmas specifically and holidays in general. Thursday (continued) For the uninitiated or non-NY eGulleteers among us, Veselka's is an Eastern European/Russian (or Ukranian) coffee shop/diner located on 2nd Avenue near 9th Street in the East Village. Veselka's is primarily known for being open at all hours of the day and evening, and serves great renditions of EE/Russian classics such as borscht, cabbage soup, stuffed cabbage, kasha varnishkes, pierogies and blintzes. They do diner fare like hamburger deluxes and sloppy joes, but I've learned that the Eastern European stuff is the way to go. I didn't have dinner at Veselka's but I was there for a late night snack. Dinner: I actually felt like Japanese food but not sushi, so takeout from one of the innumerable Japanese places in my neighborhood. Clear soup, the ubiquitous salad with iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber and that orange/carrot dressing that I can't quite deconstruct. Zaru soba, topped with minced scallion and bonito. I went the extra mile when it got to my place, and also had on hand sesame oil, furikake and Mrs. Dash. Also -- spicy crunchy scallop maki roll (crunch provided by tobiko which coated the outside of each section) and saba sashimi. You can thank Jinmyo for turning me into a mackerel freak. Evian. Later, I got a craving for cabbage soup, so I hailed a cab and went down to Veselka's. Had a nice bowlful of cabbage soup, thick with chunks of potatoes and chicken, and melt-in-your mouth cabbage. Couple of slices of challah to go along with that. A mini-fruit tart to finish things off for the evening. LOTS of water. Now that I'm thinking of borscht, I may go to the West Village for dinner tonight (Friday). There's a place on MacDougal called the Olive Garden or Olive Tree (can't remember exactly what the exact name is, but it's NOT that OG we all know and love (to hate)). This Olive-something is located above a comedy club and has your typical diner food along with Greek/Mediterranean stuff like shish kebabs, hummus and babaghanouj. Their borscht is a meal in itself -- cabbage, beef, potatoes, carrots. Sour cream. A couple of slices of pumpernickel bread to accompany things. Will report back later. Friday, 22 August 2003 I never eat breakfast at home, since I can just grab it at work. Just had my first bottle of Poland Spring, along with a breakfast burrito: scrambled eggs, roasted onions, peppers, tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese. The cafeteria serves breakfast burritos as part of their staple breakfast items. Past burrito fillings include turkey bacon and onions; roasted tomatoes, onions and peppers; chorizo, roasted garlic and chicken; and spinach and mushrooms. Today's has got to be my favorite yet. (to be continued...) Soba

fave: Julia Child Jacques Pepin the late Jean-Louis Palladin Rick Bayless Jula Della Croce Ruth Reichl (for her writing style) Nigella Lawson (for her writing style) Lidia Bastianich (for the passion that she brings with respect to Italian food and food in general) Roger Verge not so faves: Madeline Kamman (just her personality, sorry, rubs me the wrong way) Jeff Smith (he talked too much) the main restaurant reviewer for the SF Chronicle (pim knows who I'm referring to -- can't remember his name atm) William Grimes (for his writing style and what I see as a lack of passion for his subject matter) Amanda Hesser (for her writing style, although truth be told she's gotten slightly better IMO ever since her Food Diary days) Martin Yan Graham Kerr (in either incarnation) Soba

Wednesday (continued) When I got home from work last night, I was a bit mawkish so ordered out for steamed pork and chive dumplings from a local Cantonese takeout palace. Also got a vegetable spring roll and a container of brown rice. Scarfed the dumplings and roll. Had half of the brown rice with leftover keema mattar and onion chutney. Iced blueberry oolong tea. Not sure what to do about dinner tomorrow, but Veselka's is on the horizon. ------- Thursday, 21 August 2003 LOTS of bottled water throughout the day. Poland Spring wins again. Fruit cup for breakfast -- watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, banana, mango and pineapple. Also cottage cheese, blanched almonds, raisins and shredded coconut on top. Salt and vinegar potato chips as a snack. Lunch was "veal meatloaf". This apparently was ground veal that the kitchen thought to shape into a mystery meatloaf. With an herb mushroom sauce, it went down surprisingly well. Green beans almondine and roasted squash as sides. A banana for dessert. (I try to eat A LOT of fruit each day. Satisfies my sweet tooth craving...but sometimes the spirit is weak, ya know?) A roll with chipotle garlic butter....wow. Munching on some trail mix now... (to be continued...) Suzanne: its a partnership with Marriott Food Service. MFS has been employed by my firm for at least 13 years going strong -- they were there when I started at my firm in 1990. Still, I can't help but compare food services with other firms, like for instance the one provided by Davis Polk & Wardwell. I once went there for lunch while visiting a friend several years ago...their cafeteria blows the one at my firm away by leaps and bounds. Metaphorically speaking -- foodwise -- it's like the difference between Babbo and San Domenico. Soba

Well, maybe tommy should be our next candidate -- subject to his consent, of course. The blog series is entirely voluntary. Wednesday (continued) Lunch: stuffed peppers, garlic-sauteed spinach, gnocchi with tomato sauce. I should seriously re-evaluate the cafeteria's pasta production capabilities. This was the first time I've had gnocchi here that didn't go down like leaden bullets. Amazing. Still not foodie-quality gnocchi, but hey, I suppose its a vast improvement from before. Peppers were stuffed with a mixture of seasoned rice, red kidney beans, ground beef and onions. Not bad, although maybe I should have gone for the herb-crusted halibut. Dried fruit and nut mix for an afternoon snack. Dinner (what I'm eating now as I'm typing this): Since I'm here late at the office, I thought I'd give things another go. Polenta triangles with parmesan, cheddar and minced roasted peppers. Garlic-rubbed leg of lamb with rosemary jus. Roasted herbed red-skinned potatoes. Julienned yellow squash, carrots, zucchini and peppers in an herbed butter sauce. An orange for later. I'd say things have improved above and beyond the nightmare from before. Time will tell if things level off in the near future or if there's consistency. Dunno how long I'll be here -- hopefully not too much longer. Check in with y'all later.... Soba edit: corrected day.

NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out Section Wednesday, 20 August 2003 The Anti-Olive Garden (Janelle Brown) Temperature: When Chefs Play With Their Food (Amanda Hesser) Atelier (William Grimes) Hong Kong Newcomer In Old-Style Chinatown (Dining editor Sam Sifton sitting in for a vacationing Eric Asimov) Vegwiches: It's What's For Dinner (Kay Rentschler) At My Table (Nigella Lawson) Bits and Pieces: Yak Cheese, Grandma's Desserts, Tupelo Honey, Vegemite on Brioche and Openings Galore (Florence Fabricant) The Minimalist: Atkins' Dieters, Stay Away! (Mark Bittman) The Latest Offering From Craft: Corn Risotto (Laurie Woolever) Pairings (Amanda Hesser) Recipe: Lobster Salad with Avocado and Hearts of Palm Recipes in today's section: 1. Summer Meatballs 2. Strawberry Pavlova 3. Roast Lamb with Basil-Anchovy Sauce 4. Zucchini Soup 5. Tomato and Potato Tart 6. Shredded Potato Cake with Egg, Cheese and Bacon 7. Vegetarian Dagwood 8. Sauerkraut, Beet and Cucumber Roll-up with Walnuts 9. Classic Margarita Cheers, Soba

Tuesday (continued) Picked up some bhel puri mix from a neighborhood "Indian" restaurant near where I work. Dinner was pretty much leftover tawa paneer (grilled paneer with peppers and onions) and coconut rice from Chola, and a bowlful of cottage cheese topped with bhel puri mix, sauteed onions and a good pinch of Italian-style Mrs. Dash. Poland Spring. Banana lassi for dessert. Honeydew chunks for a bedtime snack. ----------- Wednesday, 20 August 2003 Our new corporate cafeteria definitely needs a few more visits before I can form an opinion. It's certainly spacious and expansive whereas the previous version seemed a bit cramped. Placement of some items was not intuitive -- i.e., the napkins are in a bin on a bottom shelf, in the condiment/utensil station. It's probably going to be a while before I acclimate myself to the new environment. Whether or not the food will improve to match the redesign remains to be seen. Wilted lettuce, anyone? LOTS of bottled water (Poland Spring in most cases) throughout the day. Plain Dannon yogurt (I thoroughly detest the sugary fruit/flavored versions), asparagus potato frittata. An orange. [to be continued...] Soba

Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Sausage Stuffing and Rosemary-Garlic Jus (Disclaimer: for those of you who care, the recipe can be found in "How To Cook Meat" by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby; William Morrow, 2000; pages 334-337.) Brine (optional): water dark brown sugar kosher salt fresh rosemary (Chris recommends 5 or 6 sprigs) garlic cloves bay leaves ------ boneless center-cut pork top loin roast, external fat trimmed to 1/4" Stuffing: OO red onion Italian pork sausage, casings removed and well crumbled minced garlic minced dried apricots egg, lightly beaten bread crumbs (fresh if possible) salt and pepper to taste 1 garlic head, top 1/4" sliced off additional OO chicken stock dry white wine apricot preserves fresh rosemary needles salt and pepper to taste The authors recommend that the roast be brined for 24 hours prior to preparation time, stirring the brine and turning the meat occasionally. Stuffing: saute onion until translucent. Add sausage and garlic; cook until sausage is cooked through. Remove from heat, cool; then add apricots, egg, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Roast: Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Remove roast from brine; discard brine. Stuff roast; tie with twine as needed, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes to brown the outside, reduce temp. to 300 F and continue roasting until the meat is done to your preference. Sauce: Roast garlic. Transfer cloves to bowl and puree or mash. To pan drippings, deglaze with stock and wine, and reduce for about 5 to 7 minutes. Skim. Stir in preserves, garlic puree and rosemary. Adjust seasoning. Serves 6. The authors recommend serving the above with roasted apples and candied sweet potatoes, or roasted kabocha or winter squash. Enjoy, Soba

sure. cool beans! Soba

About once or twice a month to either Honmura An and/or Soba-ya. Any other recommendations are greatly appreciated...of course, of course. Soba

heh. not unless I can get some of those tasty cheese thingies. I'm still dreaming about them... Soba

Since Nero kindly passed the torch on to me, I'm going to start with what's happened so far today and update as the day progresses. I'm afraid I'm neither as entertaining as Nero or as poetic as maggie, but I'll try. Tuesday, 19 August 2003 LOTS of Poland Spring or whatever bottled water happens to be lying around throughout the day. Breakfast was plain Dannon yogurt, a banana, and a Granny Smith apple. Cup O' Soup noodles for a pre-lunch snack. Ever since our corporate cafeteria from hell was closed for renovations and a total redesign, I've been relegated to food hell of a different sort: takeout, sausage sandwiches and scrounging around in the wilds of Lower Manhattan. The cafeteria opens tomorrow, starting with breakfast. Ooooh I can't wait. Gone I suppose will be the radioactive looking frankfurters stewed with peppers, bologna, onions and ketchup that they serve for breakfast. I kid you not. The joke was that someone donated a shitload of hot dogs to the kitchen and they had to get rid of it somehow.... Went to a deli-food court across Water Street and got some minestrone soup (for an afternoon snack), and salad bar fixin's. Pretty good -- steamed brussel sprouts with butter, stir-fried snow peas with garlic, cauliflower and broccoli salad, yogurt marinated grilled chicken, and a couple slices of luscious roast pork. Berry, banana and apple smoothie to wash it down. Just had the minestrone. Nice mix of veggies and penne pasta. Dinner will probably be leftover takeout from Chola (see the Dinner thread for the gory details) unless I decide on something different. Soba

It's been a lot of takeout lately mainly because I'm not in a cooking mood and because we had to toss out everything in the refrig because of the stupid blackout. ALL of the contents. ALL. all the unsalted butter, chicken, meat (the freezer had completely melted and soaked everything below), ramekins of chipotle peppers en adobo, EVOO covered anchovies, yogurt, soy milk, salsa and other goodies. I'm especially depressed about the salsa because I spent Tuesday evening making a nice batch for a party that was supposed to happen on Friday. Gone, tossed into the garbage. Roasted tomato, onion and garlic salsa with chipotle chiles en adobo, toasted anchos, red wine vinegar and a dash of scotch bonnet infused vodka. Have to start all over again and restock the refrig, and I feel like vegging for a week. Last night was takeout from Chola. I'll post but I'm sure you don't want to hear about it. Tawa Paneer Keema Mattar Coconut Rice Dal Gulab Jamun I did make some lassi though. Plain, sweet, colored with a dash of rose water. Soba

Sure, when I get home tonight. I had a cookbook in the office ("The Rice Encyclopedia" or something like that, can't remember the exact title), but took that home earlier in the year. My officemate was giving me weird looks at the time. Soba

And what a nicely equipped kitchen it is, Suzanne. Soba

Now there's a story there, waiting to be told. How on earth...?!? Soba