eGfoodblog: Live It Up

[MarketStEl]

Speaking of lunch, we just had ours. Last night my mom and youngest sister went to this newish BBQ restaurant called Hill Country (thread here). My mom is from Texas and she feels compelled to try every new BBQ place that opens, despite the fact that she is usually disappointed. Anyway, she brought us a sampling of the meats, but no sides and no sauce. So Josh picked up a veggie plate from Mama's for us to share with our meat.

Here we have a piece of sausage, 2 pork ribs, 3 slices of brisket, and the veggie plate: mac and cheese, zucchini, and string beans. We also shared one beef rib, and we still have 2 left.

The ribs, both the pork and the beef were really good. Nicely smoky and very flavorful even without any sauce. My mom got the "lean" brisket which, as everyone in the thread mentioned, was dry. The sausage was the most disappointing, partially because I was expecting it to be really good. Neither of us liked it much, and I only ate a bit or 2. I can't say I'll be running to Hill Country anytime soon, but it was the best BBQ I've had at a restaurant in NYC. (The best I've had in NYC was at Miss Feigenbaum's house last week  )

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Your mother's continual quest for barbecue as good as she would get back home in the Big Apple is the textbook example of "the triumph of hope over experience."

What's your assessment of Rick Bayless' RUB (Righteous Urban Barbecue)? I remember the rather lengthy discussion of the place when it opened, along with (I think it was called) Dinosaur BBQ. Bayless is a Kansas Citian, so he ought to know his stuff, but he's still a Kansas Citian in New York and thus removed from the source.

What you had at Hill Country looks much better than the ribs I had at a highly regarded 'cue joint in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. That brisket may have been dry, but at least it was smoked, which was more than I could say for these ribs.

Should the opportunity ever present itself, perhaps your mother and I should trade notes on coping in the Great Barbecue Desert.

I like the simplicity of the dishes you have shared with us this weekend and the whimsy that fills your shop. When next I'm in New York City -- probably when I try out for "Millionaire" again -- I will make it a point to swing by. Thanks ever so much for burning the midnight oil for us!

[Live It Up]

Your mother's continual quest for barbecue as good as she would get back home in the Big Apple is the textbook example of "the triumph of hope over experience."

What's your assessment of Rick Bayless' RUB (Righteous Urban Barbecue)?  I remember the rather lengthy discussion of the place when it opened, along with (I think it was called) Dinosaur BBQ.  Bayless is a Kansas Citian, so he ought to know his stuff, but he's still a Kansas Citian in New York and thus removed from the source.

What you had at Hill Country looks much better than the ribs I had at a highly regarded 'cue joint in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago.  That brisket may have been dry, but at least it was smoked, which was more than I could say for these ribs.

Should the opportunity ever present itself, perhaps your mother and I should trade notes on coping in the Great Barbecue Desert. 

I like the simplicity of the dishes you have shared with us this weekend and the whimsy that fills your shop.  When next I'm in New York City -- probably when I try out for "Millionaire" again -- I will make it a point to swing by.  Thanks ever so much for burning the midnight oil for us!

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I haven't eaten at either RUB or Dinosaur. I don't know if my mom likes RUB (I had no idea Rick Bayless was involved in that place BTW), but I know she likes Dinosaur OK. She said that Hill Country was the best she's had in NY.

How many times have you tried out for Millionaire? Josh had tried twice, passed the test both times, and didn't get picked. It's an obsession for him now.

[Smithy]

Blogs are always a fascinating look into someone else's life. Thanks so much for taking - no, wrestling, wringing out and beating into submission! - the time to show us a bit of yours! I too love the whimsy of your shop and admire your energy. I'm thanking you a bit early since I'll have to be out of touch while you're wrapping up. I'll look forward to catching the rest after it closes.

Oh, and thanks for providing an opportunity for one of the funnier phrases I've read in a while, courtesy of MarketStEl: "The triumph of hope over experience" . I'll be using that one often. (Thanks, MSE!)

[MarketStEl]

I haven't eaten at either RUB or Dinosaur. I don't know if my mom likes RUB (I had no idea Rick Bayless was involved in that place BTW), but I know she likes Dinosaur OK. She said that Hill Country was the best she's had in NY.

How many times have you tried out for Millionaire? Josh had tried twice, passed the test both times, and didn't get picked. It's an obsession for him now.

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Thanks for the feedback on the other two places.

I've auditioned for "Millionaire" once so far, in June. I also passed the test but didn't make it past the quickie interview. I was surprised how few people passed the test. I'll probably take another stab at it later this summer.

(Edited to add: A Harvard classmate won $250k on the show. We all got to relive the experience at the 25th class reunion.)

Edited July 15, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[Live It Up]

OK, time to do some catching up! Ladies and Gentleman, I will now take you back in time to Friday night! Poof!

If I had known my mom was going to bring me a mountain of meat for lunch, I wouldn't have planned an enormous steak for dinner, but it was already defrosted, so I had to cook it. When I first got my copy of The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert, one of the first recipe that caught my eye was the slow cooked club steak. I wanted to make it, but I had no idea what a club steak was. Then I started to see steaks in the supermarket labeled "boneless club", so that's what I got. I think it's a boneless rib eye. Anyway, the method for this recipe is very intriguing: you sear the meat and then leave it covered in the pot for 40 minutes. I think the trick to this recipe is getting a pot the right size--it's supposed to be a 2-3 quart enameled cast iron pan, just big enough to fit the meat. My pig pot fit the bill perfectly.

First you cook some garlic in olive oil to flavor the oil.

The recipe says remove the garlic from the oil and discard it, but I saved it for Josh.

Next, you sear the meat on all sides.

The recipe says to cook it for another minute, and then put the lid on and leave it off the heat for 40 minutes. The steak I had was slightly smaller than what was called for and we like our meat rare, so I skipped the minute of cooking, and I just let it sit for 30 minutes.

The recipe includes piquillo peppers cooked in a cazuela. I happened to have a can of piquillos stuffed with ham in the cabinet, but I decided not to cook them.

To go with the meat, I made rosti. Rosti is a Swiss potato pancake. I'm no expert on rosti, but I think I do a decent job. I boiled a bunch of potatoes on thursday night, because they need to be refrigerated to firm them up. I used red potatoes, which probably wasn't the best decision. Usually I use Yukon Golds, but they didn't have any at my market. You boil them whole, and then peel them.

They're really easy to peel this way, and it's pretty satisfying. After they're peeled, they get grated. If Josh was there I would have "let" him do it. Actually, he claims to like grating stuff for me.

When he got home I had him take pictures of the rosti making process. I like to cook rosti in goose or duck fat, but I used olive oil left over from making Paula Wolfert's coddled pork this time. First, a layer of the grated potatoes.

Then I put a layer of Beaufort cheese. I don't always put the cheese, and you can use whatever cheese you want.

Then cover up the cheese with more potato.

Shake the pan occasionally so that it doesn't stick.

I flip mine onto the lid from my stock pot.

Then slide it back into the pan.

Despite the fact that it was moving in the pan, it did stick a little. This is probably the least attractive rosti I've made. Anyway, once it's browned on the other side, you're done. I don't bother putting things onto serving platters just for the two of us, but here's one I made for christmas eve (or what was left of it).

Also, if it looks like a huge pancake, it is. Josh has been eating the left overs for breakfast for the last 2 days.

I also made roasted summer squash with mint from Vegetable Love

Before roasting:

And after:

And arugala salad. Here's everything plated:

As you can see, the meat is pretty perfect. I am glad I reduced the resting time, though, 'cause it would have been over cooked for my taste if I had left it for the full 40 minutes.

We also had some wine (from argentina)

TOD was 9:45.

Edited July 16, 2007 by Live It Up (log)

[Live It Up]

So, saturday mornings I go to kickboxing. I'm terrible about getting up for work, but I always seem to be able to get up on Saturday. I have to eat something before class, so I made myself a piece of toast with a fried egg white and some beaufort cheese melted on top. Usually I use cheddar, but I didn't have any.

It's not the most appetizing picture in the world, but it does the trick. Off the the gym I went. I had a lot of stuff I was trying to fit in yesterday, so I decided I was going to shower at the gym and go straight into my errands. Well, we had sub in class and we did all leg work. I was pissed because that meant I was lugging my boxing gloves around all day for no reason. After the gym I stopped by my favorite dollar dumpling plate--North Dumpling on Essex--for breakfast #2 (although it was actually my lunch).

That's 2 chive pancakes and 2 spring rolls for $2. This place is on my way home from the gym, so it's hard not to be tempted in there more often. I treat myself to chive pancakes on saturdays, and I got the spring rolls for the blog. Next I got on the bus and went to the Union Square green market. I thought about taking pictures, but I was under too much time pressure. I think I've decided that I hate going to farmer's markets. I like the products that I get from them, but I get so stressed out there. I was buying stuff for the bbq out in brooklyn, and there were supposed to be 10 people there. So, 10 ears of corn, a few pounds of peaches, a few pounds of zucchini, etc...all very heavy. But I wasn't done yet.

I then had to go to Trader Joe's to get all the stuff I couldn't get at the farmer's market. And I was buying for 10, so it was a lot of stuff--8 artichokes, 4 bell peppers, 2 lbs of mozzarella, 2 lbs of provolone, 2 cans of hearts of palm (trader joe's brand--not too bad) so, even more heavy stuff.

By this point I was loaded down with at least 15 lbs of stuff, plus my gym bag. I hobbled to the bus, which luckily stops a block away from my store. I dropped off most of my heavy stuff, and then went home, stopping at the key food on the way. In the key food, 2 old women were screaming at each other because one of them bumped the other one with her cart. I didn't get home until 4, and I started to make the nectarine upside down cake (from Baking with Julia). Except that I couldn't get nectarines, I got peaches. So they had to be peeled. By the time I was done peeling the peaches and arranging them in the pan, it was 5. The bbq was starting at 7, so there was no way I was going to have time to finish the cake. I did have time to make chimichurri and a yogurt sauce, though.

While I was prepping, our host for the evening called to tell me that 4 of the guests had canceled, so it was only going to be 6 of us. Oh well, so I bought way more food than was necessary. I have to say I was kind of relieved.

Josh came home and we packed up all the food and journeyed to bushwick.

Edited July 15, 2007 by Live It Up (log)

[Live It Up]

Our friends Evan and Sarah have been slaving away to convert the area behind their apartment into a usable outdoor space. Last night we inaugurated it with some grilling. I made grilled zucchini pizza (with store bought dough, unfortunately), grilled artichokes with scallion yogurt sauce, grilled corn, grilled baby fennel, and top secret burgers. JOsh made sangria, and Sarah made dessert (more on that later). This was the first time I had grilled with charcoal. It was slightly difficult because the grill was very low to the ground and I don't think we had enough coals in it. Also, it got dark and it was hard to see the food as it was cooking, but over all we had a great time, and I think the food all turned out really well.

first batch of pizza dough on the grill.

zucchini pizza

burger patties, provolone cheese, and baby fennel

burgers and corn on the grill

Me and Evan minding the grill.

Provolone and fennel on the grill.

Artichokes and sauce

Finished burger

Dessert

In the front are coffee granitas, which were perfect after all that hot grilling. I think Evan actually made those. In the back are cornmeal biscotti and amaretti, both from Baking with Julia. Sarah's cookies were perfect, and now I want to make those amaretti. It was lots of fun, and we actually wound up being 7 people instead of 10 (or 6), so it was a good number. Even with the grill being small, we still ate at around 9:30, so not too bad on time. We got home at around 1:30, in bed around 3am.

I'm completely sore and exhausted from yesterday, but I still have more pics. However, it's time to close up the shop for the night, so I'll finish catching up when I get home.

[dockhl]

Trader Joe's has a pretty good fresh pizza dough (used to have cornmeal but no longer ) for those nights that you aren't prepared (in the fridge section, can be refrigerated at home) . They also have an artichoke bruschetta (??) that I've seen them use as a pizza topping that is DAMNED good for a spur -of-the-moment meal !

Looks like a good inaugural griling, inspired even.

K

[Live It Up]

This morning I slept in til 11:30. My body is incredibly sore from the class yesterday and all the running around I did. I didn't really know what I wanted for breakfast, so I made some scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with avocado.

I only recently learned to make decent scrambled eggs, so I've been making them for myself a lot lately. Eggs are another food that Josh doesn't like, so I only eat them when I'm cooking for myself or if we go out for breakfast (which never happens anymore). Before we opened the store I used to cook breakfast for us about once a week, but I would always make waffles or popovers or rosti.

After breakfast I had to finish making that cake that I started yesterday. I was pretty convinced that it was going to be a disaster, but it turned out well. The first step is to melt some butter in a springform pan, sprinkle with brown sugar, and then arrange nectarines in circles in the pan. As I said before, I got peaches, and of course they were clingstone, so I made a nice mess of them when I was cutting them up. That was the point I stopped at last night. The recipe recommends wrapping the bottom of the pan in foil "in case" the butter starts leaking. Mine had already started to leak last night, and this morning there seemed to be a lot of liquid coming out of the pan. The next step is to make a streusel with almonds. Then you make a lemon chiffon cake, pour half on top of the peaches, sprinkle on the streusel, and then the rest of the batter. I checked the cake about 30 minutes into the baking and the whole thing had domed way up above the pan and the liquid in the foil was boiling. I don't know if that's normal, but by the time the cake was finished it had deflated a lot. Here's what it looked like after I unmolded it and flipped it over.

I don't know what I'm going to do with it, since there's no way I can eat it all myself. Actually, I don't really like it that much. I've mentioned that I'm not a huge fan of cake. I thought this dessert would have been more fruity, but it definitely more cake than fruit. I took the whole cake to the store, so if any of you are in the east village, you can stop by for a piece.

[LindsayAnn]

Ok, I am embarrassed almost to ask this. I am a cheese head, cheese freak, lover, and I have no clue what beaufort cheese is. So - please tell!

P.S Love your blog!!!

Also - what is that drink you mentioned you loved at your friends bar? Something with Soda...I think you called it C, I, something something something something something...it looked pinkish...so I am assuming you meant soda water, but what is it that is mixed with it?

Looks good, and fruity, and I hate beer (I know, I know, bad bad *ducks to miss beer cans being thrown at her*) and am always willing to try a new drink in hopes that my normal list of liquor fav's will get a new add on.

Thanks!

[Live It Up]

By the time I finished baking my cake and everything I was hot and tired, but I still had to go to work. I didn't get there until 4:30, so we didn't get lunch until after 5. We got mexican food from a tiny place called Itzocan Cafe on 9th street. It's around the corner from the coffee shop I used to work at, so I used to get food from there all the time. However, I haven't had it in a while and the priced went up by a lot. It was still delicious, though, so I wasn't unhappy with it.

I got a squash blossom and chicken quesadilla, and Josh got nachos with mole.

Probably my favorite thing about the food from this place is the dressing on the salad. I think the menu says it's a passionfruit vinaigrette, and I wish I had the recipe.

[Live It Up]

Trader Joe's has a pretty good fresh pizza dough (used to have cornmeal but no longer  ) for those nights that you aren't prepared (in the fridge section, can be refrigerated at home) . They also have an artichoke bruschetta (??) that I've seen them use as a pizza topping that is DAMNED good for a spur -of-the-moment meal !

Looks like a good inaugural griling, inspired even. 

K

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Trader Joe's dough was what I used last night and it was pretty good. I just wish that I had had time to make my own dough because I like baking bread. But I was very glad I did buy it and didn't kill myself trying to do too much. As I mentioned before, I bought way too much food, so Josh and I had pizza for dinner tonight. I grilled it again on my little grill pan at home.

I grilled some of the left over squash and some figs for the topping.

I had figs, mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugala on my pizza.

Josh had zucchini, mozzarella, proscuitto and arugala.

I was just so happy not to have to buy anything for this meal. TOD was 10:15.

[Live It Up]

Ok, I am embarrassed almost to ask this. I am a cheese head, cheese freak, lover, and I have no clue what beaufort cheese is. So - please tell!

P.S Love your blog!!!

Also - what is that drink you mentioned you loved at your friends bar? Something with Soda...I think you called it C, I, something something something something something...it looked pinkish...so I am assuming you meant soda water, but what is it that is mixed with it?

Looks good, and fruity, and I hate beer (I know, I know, bad bad *ducks to miss beer cans being thrown at her*) and am always willing to try a new drink in hopes that my normal list of liquor fav's will get a new add on.

Thanks!

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Beaufort cheese is one of my favorites, but I don't know if you can get it in the United States. I mentioned before that my mom is a flight attendant. Whenever she goes to Paris, she brings me cheese, so she brought be beaufort a couple of weeks ago. It's somewhat like a sharp, nutty swiss cheese--like gruyere amplified. I love it for anything you would use a gruyere for.

The drink I mentioned is campari. It's not really fruity, but it's hard to describe the flavor. It's bitter, but if you like grapefruit you will probably like campari. If you want a sweeter drink, you can always mix it with some orange juice. My favorite way to have it at home is with trader joe's grapefruit soda. hmmm, I might have one now.

[Live It Up]

Ok, so just a coupld more pics before I go to bed, and hopefully the blog will still be open tomorrow for a while. This is my espresso machine.

It's a brugnetti top de. I got it for under $200 on ebay, but for that price I knew it wasn't going to be pristine. When I got it I didn't even think it would work, but it did for a year. Lately the electrical connections have just gone kaput. For a while, I could hold the wires in place (by sticking my hand inside the machine) while it was warming up, and once it was heated up it would work fine, but now it won't even turn on. We replaced most of the electrical connectors, but there's one part we still need and we don't know what it's called. Maybe I'll post a picture of it tomorrow if I still can. Anyway, if I were buying another espresso machine today, I would love to get the same model. It's a heat exchanger machine, which means that you can steam and pull shots at the same time, but it's no bigger than most single boiler machines, which is great for me. Most HX machines, with the exception of the Nuova Simonelli Oscar and Expobar Office are way too big for me to even consider for my apartment. Hopefully I'll be able to get it to work soon.

Also, I did find the larger version of my avatar:

There's my kittyroo. The picture's a little blurry, and she looks pissed off, but I really like the picture.

So, I guess that's it for tonight. I hope I can post a little more tomorrow, but if not, I just want to say thanks to everyone who read and commented. This was really fun, and I'm sorta surprised to say that. I'll be back in the morning. Bye.

[Marigene]

Great blog, I enjoyed it!

[Luckylies]

best fooblog ever!

[MarketStEl]

Oh, and thanks for providing an opportunity for one of the funnier phrases I've read in a while, courtesy of MarketStEl:  "The triumph of hope over experience"  .  I'll be using that one often.  (Thanks, MSE!)

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Don't credit me. Credit George Bernard Shaw, who used the phrase to describe a second marriage!

[MarketStEl]

The drink I mentioned is campari. It's not really fruity, but it's hard to describe the flavor. It's bitter, but if you like grapefruit you will probably like campari. If you want a sweeter drink, you can always mix it with some orange juice. My favorite way to have it at home is with trader joe's grapefruit soda. hmmm, I might have one now.

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One more bit of wordplay:

There was a clever print ad about 15 years or so ago for this cordial, featuring several smiling faces and one grimacing one.

The headline read: "9 out of 10,000 Americans Prefer Campari."

Cheers! And once again, thanks for a wonderful blog with a lot of soul.

[Live It Up]

I have one more picture from last night which my computer at home would just not let me load for some reason.

This is a really cool sampler bottle of three whiskeys by Clontarf that Josh got for a birthday present. There are three mini bottles and they stack together. Josh had some of the middle one ( I think it's their regular blended whiskey) last night and I had a campari and grapefruit soda (no pic).

I was looking for a picture of me and Josh together to wrap this thing up and I couldn't find one good picture of us together from the last 6 months. So, here's one from Thanksgiving.

I look different now, but Josh looks basically the same, so that's the real point.

Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to meeting more of you in person.

[Chufi]

That´s a really cute picture of the 2 of you.

I enjoyed this blog very much, thanks for doing it and fitting it into your busy schedule. I hope to make it back to New York sometime in the near future and I´ll be sure to pay you a visit! Good luck with the store, and everything else.

I was browsing through Marcella Says this morning, looking for an easy dish for a dinner party, and the recipe that caught my eye was the peppers with veal sauce! Now I never would have thought of making it if I hadn´t seen your version on this blog. I think it´s on the menu for this weekend.