eG Foodblog: JennyUptown - Fun with food

[JennyUptown]

Like anyone else, I find that the more I know about a subject, the more likely I am to like it. I'm like my Dad in that when I pursue something, I tend to work and work until I perfect it. Upon retirement Dad thought "you know, when I was a boy I liked archery." Now he's a competitive archer who has been invited to the Senior Olympics. If there were a clickable smilie for "proud," I'd insert it right here.

My desire to throw myself into things and learn it all really shows with my NBA experience. I went there knowing nothing of the game and came out with a passion for it. Back in high school, I, a dancer, asked one of her jock friends "so what's a rebound anyway?" It confounds a lot of HS friends that I not only do what I do, but that I enjoy it.

The reason I bring this up is that I'm contemplating a cooking class (singular). I'm reluctant to committing myself to a series in case I hate it, but there seem to be some interesting one-offs put on by Roberto Donna/Galileo(fancy, Italian) and Lebanese Taverna (maybe simpler, Med).

I did this research while wolfing down a late lunch of - what else - corn chowder. This time it's just from Cosi which is closer than High Noon. Between the cold outside and the fact that I've been in meetings all morning, I needed to go for speed.

I like both chowders, but they are quite different. Cosi's is not as thick as High Noon's and it has chicken (High Noon's is vegetarian). I think Cosi's slightly spicier

from the presence of many red (yum) and green (yuck) peppers. High Noon uses a few poblano peppers sliced tiny, and thickens the soup with feta cheese. It's richer and thicker, and it has chunkier potatoes too so I probably like it a little better than Cosi's.

Chocolate chip banana bread for dessert. Love it! I took PLM a piece. He was busy but I managed to grunt in gratitude.

Tonight I'm off to Matchbox with my friend Emily and I hope to take pictures so you can have a peek into one of my favorite places. I love it because I can have a personal pizza with high-quality toppings and a beer and still get out for about $15.

Oh dear...I saw this on MSNBC.com:

There’s one restaurant in Australia where you probably won’t see Bill Clinton eating.

Four entrepreneurs are planning to open a place in Darwin next month called Lewinsky’s, a theme restaurant inspired by the former White House intern.

“We’re going to go very funky and theme the restaurant around Monica,” one of the restaurateurs told Australia’s Northern Territory News. He says Lewinsky’s will sell cigars and hopes to also carry handbags designed by Monica, which are also sold on her Web site. “There are no other bars registered in her name and we think she will be quite flattered,” he says.

Lewinsky’s rep didn’t sound flattered. “I negotiate all her deals, and this is the first I’ve heard of it,” Barbara Hudson told The Scoop. “I’m not sure they’re allowed to do this, legally.” We’ll keep you posted.

Regarding my real estate situation, thanks for your suggestions. If it were closer to the metro I might check it out...hmm, a bar in the building. Cool! In the end though, I am hoping to stay put. If the price is right.

[JennyUptown]

Let the countdown begin!

Bring on the pizza...I'm famished because today's lunch soup was a small portion and I didn't finish the bread that came with it. In thirty minutes, I'll be sitting at the bar, sipping a Rogue Dead Guy Ale waiting for my friend to find a d&*n parking space.

From there, we'll contemplate ordering a starter of Matchbox's mini-burgers (served 3-6 or-9 to an order) with crisp onion straws. Because there are only two of us, my guess is we'll skip 'em and focus on pizzas. My favorite is called the prosciutto white - you can guess the key ingredients. I ask them to skip the olives.

Can you tell I'm pumped up for this?

[Pan]

I've known him for a few years now - we met at a bar in NYC called Solas in 1998 or so.

I just walked past Solas a few minutes ago on the way home. I'm glad to be inside now! They were forecasting a low of -2 tonight with a wind chill of -20 to -30 and warning that being outside tonight could be life-threatening. You're going out tonight? Is it comparably cold in DC tonight?

[Al_Dente]

Bring on the pizza...I'm famished because today's lunch soup was a small portion and I didn't finish the bread that came with it. In thirty minutes, I'll be sitting at the bar, sipping a Rogue Dead Guy Ale waiting for my friend to find a d&*n parking space.

Good beer. Dontcha just love the dumbwaiter at the bar! I also like to monitor the temp of the brick oven from the bar-- sometimes approaching 900 degrees!

[Busboy]

I don't know how things are now, but I suspect if you grew up in the Midwest before 1990 -- unless dad was a fisherman -- you didn't taste much good fish growing up.  Even these days, in Denver, good fish is harder to find than it is on the coasts.  And, of all things, I think freshness is most important to seafood.

So there is this huge, giant thing in the Midwest called Lake Michigan... they grow fish there and even eat them. Not only that but there are other lakes too, lots of them, and they have fish.

I didn't mean to imply otherwise -- I was referring to, seafood from the sea, not seafood from fresh waters (is trout seafood?). And even then, grocery store selection was pretty slim - very different from, say, heading up to the local Safeway in Oregon. And I specifically excepted families with active fisher-persons from any commentary about fresh fish availability.

I love flyover country. I always wave to it as I fly over But it's still hard to get good oysters and fresh tuna there, outside the major cities.

[suzilightning]

First food memory-- I was a kid in Saugerties NY. Not sure which comes first-- ice cream from Stewart's (I still remember the design of the metal wire chair backs), or pizza from so-and-so's Hunting Lodge. Might have been Frank's.

franks hunting lodge pizzeria

117 partition street aka rt 9

we used to stop here on our way back from school - and dropping joyce amato off in saugerties on our way to kingston. course this was in the mid 1970s

[suzilightning]

I'm curious if the people who dislike seafood grew up in inland areas? I have frequently met midwesterners and Minnesotans that would not eat fish or seafood. I grew up in Northern CA where most people seem to like fish and seafood. I also feel that Californians seem to eat a lot more vegetables and salad.

maybe but my husband and i are just the opposite.

he grew up in poughhkeepsie,ny german grandmother - irish father. never had fish except fish sticks. now he would happily eat seafood at least once a day.

i grew up eastern long island. ate what we caught so that meant bluefish, weakfish, scallops, clams, oysters, mussels, flounder, porgies, etc. give me game or chicken or beef anyday

[hillvalley]

Pan, it's about 17 now. Hard to complain when there are places right now where this is warm! I was very bummed about the snow though. We didn't get a flake!

Jenny, have you thought about taking classes at L'Acdemie De Cuisine? They are metro accessible and have one timers. There is a knife skills workshop that is suppose to be great.

Otherwise, go with Roberto at Galileo. He is a complete charmer. In the early nineties I went to a lot of those charity events where they raise money buy getting a lot of fancy chefs to cook at one time in one place so you can gorge yourself. (Zoofair, held across the street from the Zoo bar, is my favorite.) By the third or fourth he recognized me!

[Pan]

The snow was pretty coming down, but it blew straight into my face for 3 blocks last night, and today, what was left was slippery and messy.

And it's currently +1 F. in New York!

[Al_Dente]

First food memory-- I was a kid in Saugerties NY. Not sure which comes first-- ice cream from Stewart's (I still remember the design of the metal wire chair backs), or pizza from so-and-so's Hunting Lodge. Might have been Frank's.

franks hunting lodge pizzeria

117 partition street aka rt 9

we used to stop here on our way back from school - and dropping joyce amato off in saugerties on our way to kingston. course this was in the mid 1970s

No freakin way!

It was the early to mid 70s for me too.

[JennyUptown]

I had a few drinks thus there are no photos from last night. Sorry to disappoint!

But the pizza, and the company (and yes, the drinks) were great. I began with a happy hour special ($4) martini at the bar. It was ok, sweet (which I knew going in), but good enough for a starter. They have other happy hour specials including three different draught beers available for $2.50.

Afterward, we moved up to Matchbox's third level. It's an interesting space - very narrow and somewhat deep so they built UP. The first level is a high-ceilinged bar with a few tables for two as well as the aforementioned HOT-HOT oven and dumbwaiter. On the second level (probably my least favorite part), there are a few tables and half-booths. I find the top level to be coziest and that's where we sat, catching up about this and that.

We began our meal with their delicious mini-burgers (3) and onion straws. I know some repeat customers have said they've fallen off a bit, but these seemed perfect to me. My friend Emily found them amusing in a charming way, these tiny burgers completely surrounded by fried onion straws seasoned with garlic.

We didn't break any new ground with pizza: the prosciutto white (hold the olives) for both of us. There was a single man dining along next to us and we ended up chatting with him quite a bit about food, DC and the like. He turned out to be a 50 something pilot from France and he hadn't been to Washington in at least ten years he said. Nice that he found such a cozy spot just by luck!

When Emily and I finished up (no room for dessert), I checked in with PLM who was still at work, but almost ready to go so I got him a Matchbox Meat pizza to go. He seemed to like it (more grunting).

Coming to work was quite painful today. It's absolutely freezing (for DC anyway) so I broke down and brought out the big guns. I have this white down jacket. It's on the long-ish side (probably mid-thigh), quilted and has a rather large furry hood. I feel like Kenny from South Park every time I wear it.

I overslept (8:10!!) which is rare and then I did a bad thing: I stole the two small remaining slices of the Matchbox Meat. Bad girlfriend, bad girlfriend. But oh, what a nice lunch I'll have today...

* * * * * *

Only a few more days left on my blog and I need to find the next victim, I mean blogger. If anyone wants to make this process easy on me, feel free to PM me about it.

[JPW]

I overslept (8:10!!) which is rare and then I did a bad thing: I stole the two small remaining slices of the Matchbox Meat. Bad girlfriend, bad girlfriend. But oh, what a nice lunch I'll have today...

Stealing a man's food!!

OOOOOHHHHHH !!!!! You're in trouble!

That's going to require a lot of payback.

[chezlamere]

.

Halupki (aka halushki)

Pennsylvania has a lot of Eastern European cultures represented. My father's family is Polish. My mother's side of the family is Welsh and German - strangely enough, it was my maternal grandmother who liked most of what I considered to be the weird foods. I hated it when Nana would make these meat and rice-filled cabbage rolls. Again, it was primarily the smell and they would usually convince me to eat some of the filling (never the cabbage shell though - bleechh).

Tongue

No, no, no. Mom's sister, my dear Aunt Mar, loved it (and loved grossing me out even more).

cabbage is the worse part of cabbage rolls, I too only ate the filling. Then I discovered savoy cabbage. It's sooooo much better, rolls up without presteaming, and just rolls up better. Paper thin when cooked in cabbage rolls, try it.

[crinoidgirl]

Coming to work was quite painful today. It's absolutely freezing (for DC anyway) so I broke down and brought out the big guns. I have this white down jacket. It's on the long-ish side (probably mid-thigh), quilted and has a rather large furry hood. I feel like Kenny from South Park every time I wear it.

You remember what happens to Kenny, right?

[JennyUptown]

I kind of feel like death right now actually. The leftover pizza...either from guilt or a salt overdose...

[SobaAddict70]

It is indeed pasta & peas (sans tomato sauce).  I think I messed up the resolution when I resized it. 

PS  It's a representation of pasta & peas, but the dish shown was not made by me.

Funny, it looked (to me) like a bowl of creamed corn with peas.

hehe

Charming blog, Jenny. I vote yours as one of the best blogs thus far, right up there with Kristin's and Jack's, and of course, Ellen's wonderful Mongolian travel-blog.

Soba

[JennyUptown]

Thanks, and I'm loving putting it out there but... if I don't get a volunteer for next week's blog, you could be stuck reading my blogging efforts forever and ever and ever and...

I am happy to ramble on, and am enjoying this process immensely, however I promise: you will get sick of me.

[JennyUptown]

Amusing story that has nothing to do with food. If you only want to read food-related stuff, skip this post!

I am notorious for saying "I'm on a budget" but excluding my social life from that proclamation of future thriftiness. This comes from my mother, herself a social butterfly (these days, she and my Dad go out more than I do!). When I was a college student, she would always admonish me to watch my spending and stop wasting my money on CDs/dumb novels/etc. But when it came to good times with friends, her motto would shift to "where there's a will, there's a way. I'll send you money. Don't stay home."

But there are some areas of life where I'm really good at saving money. One example? Wall calendars. Why buy one in December when you can buy one for 25% of the original cost in January. Today, I went to Barnes and Noble (had a gift card) and pored over the remnants of what had once been a dynamic selection of 12-month wall art.

I expected to have a limited set of options - wildlife, kittens-in-teacups, photos of Amish people, sports teams I don't like, etc. And, in fact, my choices were decidedly limited as it's January 16 (I should have gone last week!): Harry Potter, SI's Swimsuit calendar, the Make-Your-Own-Jewish-Calendar calendar, Nelly (the hip-hop dude, not the mean girl from Little House on the Prairie), Anne Geddes' babies (sure to freak out PLM) and... Quilts. Forced to choose from a real mish-mash of mostly-junk, I got a not-terrible calendar featuring Delaware's Shoreline. Incidentally I vacation there every year.

This is probably not at all funny or interesting to you, but the other girl looking over the selection and I had a laugh, and I felt vindicated when I plopped down my $3.63 for Delaware's Shoreline.

[JPW]

Anne Geddes' babies (sure to freak out PLM)

BBBWWWAAAHHHHHHAAAAHHAAAAAAHAAAA !!!

You should have, just for the hell of it.

[hillvalley]

Afterward, we moved up to Matchbox's third level. It's an interesting space - very narrow and somewhat deep so they built UP. The first level is a high-ceilinged bar with a few tables for two as well as the aforementioned HOT-HOT oven and dumbwaiter. On the second level (probably my least favorite part), there are a few tables and half-booths. I find the top level to be coziest and that's where we sat, catching up about this and that.

Jenny, it pains me to say this, but I don't get Matchbox. Gratned, I haven't had the cheeseburgers (must try cheeseburgers, must try cheeseburgers) but the pizza wasn't that special. I went over the summer and I got the mushroom pizza. I don't know, I guess I am missing something.

Coming to work was quite painful today. It's absolutely freezing (for DC anyway) so I broke down and brought out the big guns. I have this white down jacket. It's on the long-ish side (probably mid-thigh), quilted and has a rather large furry hood. I feel like Kenny from South Park every time I wear it.

I have the same one in black!!!! It came out during New Years and been out since. I love that jacket. Right now it is my favorite piece of clothing. What ever is under the coat is perfectly warm. Keep in mind that I am only five foot two, so I am covered from my ankles to my neck. It has a hood that I am going home to to get from my parent's house tomorrow. My mother loves that I finally admitting to needing the hood. Grandma's hand knit hat was great, but this weather has gone on for too long now.

There was a single man dining along next to us and we ended up chatting with him quite a bit about food, DC and the like. He turned out to be a 50 something pilot from France and he hadn't been to Washington in at least ten years he said. Nice that he found such a cozy spot just by luck!

This kind of thing happened to my sister and I all over Europe. Since we were from DC people thought we were interesting. They did not believe that we actually grew up on Capitol Hill

[JennyUptown]

Don't think I didn't consider it. I am, after all, the evil one who stole pizza!

There were other choices..."spirited horses" was one but I was never the girl who pined for a pony.

I wish this calendar had been available.

My 2003 calendar was devoted to Spain (I liked it enough that I bought it at only 50% off). I've never been and would love to go. I have no good reason for not having gone.

Oh, the Olsen twins calendar was available, and full of shots of those luscious almost-legal young ladies looking dewy-eyed. PLM would never leave the kitchen if I bought that (and he wouldn't be cooking).

Edited January 16, 2004 by JennyUptown (log)

[hillvalley]

I forgot to tell you that I bought my calanders last week. I struck gold with a small Harry Potter for the classroom and sunflowers, which is one of my faovrite flowers. The kids are pissed because the big one came with stickers, but after three years of Harry, I needed a smaller version of that actor's head staring at me all day long.

[JPW]

That calendar is absolutely hilarious.

It's special to me because that could be my mom on the cover (she's Sisters of St. Margaret).

[JennyUptown]

JPW Posted on Jan 16 2004, 03:01 PM

  That calendar is absolutely hilarious.

It's special to me because that could be my mom on the cover (she's Sisters of St. Margaret). 

Is it just me or is this somewhat scandalous?

[JPW]

Short version of story.

Parents divorced when I was young.

After I graduated high school (I'm the youngest of 5), mom decided to start anew and moved to Maine where she was a nurse.

After a few years she decided to take a new tack and, as the saying goes "Got married to Christ"