eG Foodblog: suzilightning

[suzilightning]

I'm really enjoying this blog.  I usually lurk but your blog has sparked more interest because we (my husband and I) will soon be moving to your neck of the woods - specifically Randolph.  I am totally new to the area so anything that I can learn is really helpful.  I've already read up on the American Grill, but are there any other recommendations that you have for the Randolph/Morristown area?

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Living in Morristown (formerly in Sparta by way of Australia) here's a few places for you:

Stonefire Grill on Rte 10W in Randolph

http://www.stonefire1.homestead.com/menu.html

East Tokyo on Rte 10E in Randolph (almost directly across from Stonefire)

An American Grill even though Lou's no longer there

There's just some to get you going

Tom

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I was goint to say Tom would be a good choice to pm. Unless Stonefire has moved as of today it is gohn and an Italian - American plece in it's stead. You could also head to Chester if you're on the Mount Olive end of town. Redwoods is very reliable and I've heard some good things about several places in Hackettstown.

About the only time I ventue into Morristown is every 5 years to be sworn in a Notary Public. I am a country girl and that is too much city for me.

PM me which side of Randolph you are moving to and I may be able to come up with some other suggestions.

[snowangel]

susan, if you cover it, it probably won't rust out like mine did.  See the picture of the back of the house?  See that huge tan bulk?  THAT is the monstrosity John picked up at the Home Depot.  His rational was that with propane we could cook on a moment's notice.  I do use it, occasionally, especially in hot weather and I do both hot and cold smoke on it.  Last year, one of the hottest, most humid days, my neighbors could have seen me out there at 6 am in my baby doll pjs hot smoking some salmon for john's lunch.

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Yikes! The Trusty Kettle has such nice rounded lines; apparently we've been blessed because ours has sat out for just about three decades (in Minnesota, no less) and is still sturdy and trusty -- save a bit o surgery just over a year ago.

Spiedies? Do, tell. Diana was looking over my shoulder as I read this and thought perhaps male speedo swimsuits (a sure yuck if you are a current teen), but I assured her that they HAD to be food related.

[MelissaH]

Spiedies?  Do, tell.  Diana was looking over my shoulder as I read this and thought perhaps male speedo swimsuits (a sure yuck if you are a current teen), but I assured her that they HAD to be food related.

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Yes, they're food-related.

Spiedino (plural=spiedini) is an Italian diminutive word for a skewer. But I've never heard anyone call them spiedini, always spiedies (with various spelling variations). Think meat chunks (originally lamb, but other meats such as chicken or beef are permissible) that's marinated at least 24 hours but possibly much longer, skewered (NOTHING else on the skewer besides meat), grilled, and then removed from the skewer by grabbing with a chunk of Italian bread to make a sandwich.

This may be as far as spiedies have ever traveled from Binghamton.

MelissaH

[Dianne]

Spiedino (plural=spiedini) is an Italian diminutive word for a skewer. But I've never heard anyone call them spiedini, always spiedies (with various spelling variations). Think meat chunks (originally lamb, but other meats such as chicken or beef are permissible) that's marinated at least 24 hours but possibly much longer, skewered (NOTHING else on the skewer besides meat), grilled, and then removed from the skewer by grabbing with a chunk of Italian bread to make a sandwich.

This may be as far as spiedies have ever traveled from Binghamton.

MelissaH

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Nope. I had some great ones at a friend's on the Severn river in Ontario, Canada two years ago. I have been dreaming of them ever since.

[monavano]

Yay for spiedies here! Ever since a friend from Central PA introduced this sauce to me:

http://www.spiedie.com/

It's a chicken's best friend.

[santo_grace]

Road food of the best kind from Binghampton.

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Binghamton? Spiedies, perhaps?

MelissaH

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DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!

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Darn, MelissaH beat me to it (note to self: check blogs more than once a day)! I went to college at SUNY Binghamton and developed a taste for Spiedies - once I had the real thing, not the ones from the dining halls. The dining hall used Good Seasonings mix.

I was just discussing Beef on Weck with my husband since he had never heard of it. My first (and only) taste was from Olean. Not sure how it compares to Buffalo or Fredonia, but it was fun to have a local food.

edited for grammar

Edited August 30, 2007 by santo_grace (log)

[suzilightning]

Darn, MelissaH beat me to it (note to self: check blogs more than once a day)!  I went to college at SUNY Binghamton and developed a taste for Spiedies - once I had the real thing, not the ones from the dining halls.  The dining hall used Good Seasonings mix.

I was just discussing Beef on Weck with my husband since he had never heard of it.  My first (and only) taste was from Olean.  Not sure how it compares to Buffalo or Fredonia, but it was fun to have a local food.

edited for grammar

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The difference between the Fredonia and Buffalo weck is this:

Buffalo - hot roast beef with au jus

Fredonia - cold roast beef, swiss cheese, lettuce and Thousand Island dressing

Which style did you get in Olean?

[suzilightning]

Birthday Dinner

atZoe's by the Lake , our favorite, local special dinner or lunch spot. This also is supposed to be a former speakeasy and I believe it because if you would not, in a hundred years, find this place on your own. It truly is in the back of beyond.

The second set of pictures shows Seneca Lake. It is remarkable that this Lake is back. On August 16, 2000 a thunderstorm cell settled over the Sparta/Lake Hopatcong border. We had already had 7" of rain but in the next 8 hours we had 16" of rain for total of 23" in 24 hours. The dam in the bottom picture burst wiping out the lake. The dam was rebuilt and the lake refilled about 1 1/2 years ago.

Dinner always begins with the bread basket. Rosemary rolls, roasted garlic bread, French country white and both herbed and regular butter.

The amuse was a chicken salad.

John ordered from the bistro menu and I chose the a la carte. John had a mixed baby green salad, cod and fresh fruit with sorbet.

I had the pork loin with carmelized apples and a potato blue cheese croquette. The cheese board was dessert.

A margarita for John and a glass of wine for each of us completed the evening.

[tommy]

A margarita for John ...

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i knew i liked that guy.

[suzilightning]

Birthday Resolutions

I don't make New Year's resolutions. For the last 15 years or so I have spent the 2 weeks before my birthday thinking about the last year - what I feel I did well, where I need improvement, what I could do differently. Most of the time I try to take on something positive. That is how I started going to the gym on a regular basis. This year, at the age of 53, I have now outlived my grandmother. Only 11 more years and it will be my mother.

This year I am going to try to change a behavior I have had forever. I am going to try to stop biting my fingernails. As an incentive I designed and had made a right hand ring for myself

At work I also received from Diane something that speaks to two of my passions.

Here are the garlic geese, the newest additon to my kitchen. When I opened this up I laughed myself silly.

Deanna, another coworker, just gave me a box of mixed vegetables from her garden. Time to create.

[suzilightning]

Breakfasts tend to be the same for me. This morning was cottage cheese and fresh Jersey peaches. I love this time of year. Actually I think the peaches are even better than the corn and tomatoes in indicating summer in this part of the state.

I was able to use a gift card at Bed, Bath and Beyond that my mother-in-law gave me to get a new toaster after the old one self destructed so I could make John's breakfast.

Really hot and humid here so today was my day to stop at Smart World Coffee for a Chocolate Raspberry Swirl.

Lunch was a small salad.

[Carrot Top]

Those geese are adorable. The ring is, too.

Happy Birthday, suzi!

(My daughters' was two days ago. You Virgos are okay folk. )

[Chufi]

Happy Birthday Suzi! Zoe´s looks like a wonderful place to have your birthdaydinner

Blue cheese potato croquette, eh? that sounds sooo good!

[monavano]

Oh those croquettes caught my eye too. What a beautiful setting. Happy birthday and enjoy that gorgeous ring.

[Smithy]

The garlic geese are hilarious! The ring is gorgeous! Clever you, for designing that ring.

The food looks like it lived up to the setting. Tell about the sauces, please. John's cod and your pork both have nice-looking sauces on the plate. What are they? What's in the middle of the cheese plate, and what's drizzled over that? That looks especially pretty.

Happy birthday to yez. 53 is a funny age. At 52 one is finally playing with a full deck; at 53 there's a joker in the pack. I like to think of it as my first wild card.

[eskay]

Happy Birthday suzi...mine was monday but I'm not celebrating until this weekend. I giggled when I saw those geese, too.

[suzilightning]

Fridge and freezer shots

It took me 4, count them 4, tries to get usable pictures. I don't think I was meant to post these. Let's see if they post or self destruct.

First the upstairs fridge.

The freezer

The downstairs freezer that I can't live without. Along with John's beer stash

Finally is how I keep track of what is in them.

The big list is for the downstairs freezer, the two little lists are front and reverse of the upstairs freezer.

[suzilightning]

The food looks like it lived up to the setting.  Tell about the sauces, please.  John's cod and your pork both have nice-looking sauces on the plate.  What are they?  What's in the middle of the cheese plate, and what's drizzled over that?  That looks especially pretty.

Happy birthday to yez.  53 is a funny age.  At 52 one is finally playing with a full deck; at 53 there's a joker in the pack.  I like to think of it as my first wild card. 

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I'm not sure what John's was but he said there was butter in it so he had to take a lactaid pill. Mine was a mapley vinegar reduction. I can't be more specific than that because I didn't copy it down and it wasn't on the website's menu link.

Yeah, I have learned what you mean about that joker in the pack.

[suzilightning]

If anyone is interested you can find the geese and other assorted and scary animals by typing the following search into a browser bar:

"home grown" enesco

The cauliflower sheep and the lemon goat are quite cute.

[suzilightning]

While we are downstairs we have a dry bar with a smallish drinks fridge behind it.

I'd like to do something with this space but the kitchen needs work first.

Our wine racks.

John bought the top set of racks for me for Christmas two years ago. Except for 5 bottles or so all the rest of the wine is his.

The second picture was a birthday present several years ago. John paid $1.00 for it at our local Rescue Squad's garage sale.

I actually have two of the racks from the last picture. One upstairs and this one downstairs. The picture on top is of my last cat, Allie, whose domain was this entire lower level.

In the back room the pantry

John promises to clean up the basement this winter/spring. What you don't see are two racks with empty beer bottles and about 6 - 5 gallon carboys for brewing. When he decides on a hobby he jumps in feet first.

[Smithy]

I keep thinking I need to make inventory lists like those: what's in the freezer, the pantry, the other freezer, and so on. I never get around to it. Well, I may have once, but I didn't keep it up. As a result, I rely on the mental inventory and DH relies on random search and luck.

Nice beer and wine stash!

[StInGeR]

Happy Birthday Suzi,

Thanks for the invite One day we're finally going to get together for a meal.

Tom

[Peter the eater]

Happy birthday, that's a lovely ring!

I'm enjoying your words and pictures. I figure I could survive for around two years in your basement.

[suzilightning]

Nice beer and wine stash! 

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Ah, yes. The beer and wine stash. John could never understand the guys he grew up with in Poughkeepsie. On a Friday night they would buy a 6 pack or maybe a 12pack of beer. Then, along about 11 pm, someone a collection would be taken up and someone would have to do a beer run or as his friend says "additonal purchases for medicinal purposes". John's favorite method of operation is buy in bulk and you don't have to risk a DUI.

Last year he was a favorite of Sheri, the manager of our local Bottle King. He went in to buy me some champagne/sparkling wines as a gift, decided he should drink more red wine, got a Bottle King card and proceeded to buy 4 mixed cases of red wine, 1 case of sparkling wine(to be portioned out to me over various holidays) and a few bottles of sherry. That certainly helped her bottom line.

The same for the beer. Actually what you see there is a summer/fall transition set up with the Coronas and Newcastles in the front. In about 3 months it will switch to Newcastles and Guinesses for the fall/winter. John rotates his beer stock like a woman rotates her wardrobe. Me? An occasional beer, an glass of wine matched to my food but I do love my bubbles.

Edited August 31, 2007 by suzilightning (log)

[Dejah]

Happy Birthday! What a cleaver lady to design and reward yourself with the beautiful ring.

I love your fridge and freezer shots (and all those that came before). Is your husband a guitar player? I noticed guitar magnets on your fridge.

Nice choice of beers: Newcastle Brown is a favourite of the family. (eta: Guiness too )

I remember your mention of pinot grigio vinegar. Is that a commercial vinegar or home-made with the wine? I don't know much about vinegars but I enjoy the wine.

Edited August 31, 2007 by Dejah (log)