eG Foodblog: Megan Blocker - Food and the City

[Pan]

Yes, folks, I talk to myself.  A lot.

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As long as you don't expect a response, you're good to go.[...]

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Nah. It's more like, if you talk to yourself, you're guaranteed an intelligent conversation. Um, or something like that. (Also talks to himself.)

So Megan, you are really making breakfast for dinner?

[Megan Blocker]

Megan, thank you for this uplifting and lovely blog. My spirits have been very down this week (I lost the orange kitty in my avatar to unknown causes) but your blog is helping to ease the hurt - and that is saying something, since I didn't think anything could.

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Darcie, this is quite possibly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said/written to me.

As a fellow pet-lover, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. My thoughts are with you.

[Megan Blocker]

Yes, folks, I talk to myself.  A lot.

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As long as you don't expect a response, you're good to go.[...]

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Nah. It's more like, if you talk to yourself, you're guaranteed an intelligent conversation. Um, or something like that. (Also talks to himself.)

So Megan, you are really making breakfast for dinner?

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Hell yeah, I am. It'll be good times.

When I was growing up, this was one of the dinners my brother and I requested most often. Oh, we loved breakfast for dinner. We called it "French dinner," and for the longest time I thought this was because French people were constantly eating breakfast for dinner.

Only years later did I discover the actual origin of the name...my au pair's mother's maiden name was "French," and it was her grandmother and grandfather who had loved breakfast for dinner.

Edited February 28, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Darcie B]

Megan, thank you for this uplifting and lovely blog. My spirits have been very down this week (I lost the orange kitty in my avatar to unknown causes) but your blog is helping to ease the hurt - and that is saying something, since I didn't think anything could.

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Darcie, this is quite possibly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said/written to me.

As a fellow pet-lover, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. My thoughts are with you.

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Thanks for your thoughts. I have had *no* appetite for several days, but reading your blog made me actually interested in food again. My dh made me eat something last evening, but all I could choke down was oyster crackers and water. Today I actually wanted food, due in large part to your blog. It makes me want to visit NY again soon, too.

Edit: PS - I also love to make breakfast for dinner. I am much more awake and less likely to burn myself on the griddle...

Edited February 28, 2006 by Darcie B (log)

[Lori in PA]

When I was growing up, this was one of the dinners my brother and I requested most often.  Oh, we loved breakfast for dinner.  We called it "French dinner," and for the longest time I thought this was because French people were constantly eating breakfast for dinner.

Only years later did I discover the actual origin of the name...my au pair's mother's maiden name was "French," and it was her grandmother and grandfather who had loved breakfast for dinner.

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We call it breakfast-for-supper and it is one of my kids' faves, too. We do it once every week or two -- it's cheap, relatively healthy, and fast. It might be eggs in any form and/or homemade pancakes/waffles/French toast and if bacon is on the side, so much more the glee.

Re kids getting funny ideas about the meanings of words: When I started Kindergarten, the principal's name was Mr. Foreman. I knew what the word "foreman" meant -- the guy in charge -- so for at least the first two years of elementary school I thought "Mr. Foreman" was his title. When my teacher told me to take a paper to the principal, I didn't know what she was talking about. When we finally got the confusion cleared up, she laughed and laughed. We big people don't KNOW what those little people don't KNOW, sometimes.

[ruthcooks]

It's been a lovely blog, Megan, and like the others, I echo the general amazement at your level of sophistication and energy in matters foodie.  Thanks so much for all your efforts this week.  It's been a blast.

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Abra said it just right, Megan. I noticed this about you when you first came on the scene: what food knowledge and sophistication for one so young! Thanks for blogging for us.

[Megan Blocker]

When I was growing up, this was one of the dinners my brother and I requested most often.  Oh, we loved breakfast for dinner.  We called it "French dinner," and for the longest time I thought this was because French people were constantly eating breakfast for dinner.

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So, I called my little bro (and fellow Gilmore Girls addict) to invite him to dinner tonight, but he has a play to go to (he's a candidate for an MFA in Theatre Management at Columbia - I'm very proud of his over-achieving ways). However, when I told him I was having "French dinner," he was really sad that he had to miss it.

Then he asked, "Did you tell them about our childhood?" Literally. That is literally what he asked me. With those exact words. How effete can you get? He just wanted me to make sure to tell you all how much he loooooves breakfast for dinner.

I'll be saving him some leftovers.

Edited February 28, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Yes, folks, I talk to myself.  A lot.

←

As long as you don't expect a response, you're good to go.[...]

←

Nah. It's more like, if you talk to yourself, you're guaranteed an intelligent conversation. Um, or something like that. (Also talks to himself.)

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Speak for yourself!

When I was growing up, this was one of the dinners my brother and I requested most often.  Oh, we loved breakfast for dinner.  We called it "French dinner," and for the longest time I thought this was because French people were constantly eating breakfast for dinner.

←

So, I called my little bro (and fellow Gilmore Girls addict) to invite him to dinner tonight, but he has a play to go to (he's a candidate for an MFA in Theatre Management at Columbia - I'm very proud of his over-achieving ways). However, when I told him I was having "French dinner," he was really sad that he had to miss it.

Then he asked, "Did you tell them about our childhood?" Literally. That is literally what he asked me. With those exact words. How effete can you get? He just wanted me to make sure to tell you all how much he loooooves breakfast for dinner.

I'll be saving him some leftovers.

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Awww!!

[Wendy DeBord]

OH man I just read thru this all at once............really well done Megan! I feel like I've been girlfriends with you forever......you had me smiling, laughing and totally digging this peek into your life.

Gotta add, I just loved:

the photo of your shoes

the remark about not having to duck under trees

the places you visited.....like the grand chocolate tour..........I didn't know you were into sweets........yeah for our team.

when you ate your sandwich before you photographed it because you were just too hungry to wait...................HUGE LAUGHS, boy can I relate to that.

loved your honesty and revealing nature.........it's like a softly scented candle that permeates your writing.

I have a couple quick questions, please.

How does grocery delivery work? You go to the store and shop, pay for it, then they deliver........what an hour or so later? Or do you phone in/fax in/email your order and they deliver at a certain time? Did I read that correct, it's only $3.00 for them to deliver all your groceries.........that's a steal!!!

[Megan Blocker]

I have a couple quick questions, please.

How does grocery delivery work? You go to the store and shop, pay for it, then they deliver........what an hour or so later? Or do you phone in/fax in/email your order and they deliver at a certain time? Did I read that correct, it's only $3.00 for them to deliver all your groceries.........that's a steal!!!

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Thank you so much Wendy!!!

Well, there are a couple of different ways to have groceries delivered. One is to call up the store, place an order, and have it arrive either that day or later in the week. Another way is to order online...this became hugely popular in NYC thanks to Fresh Direct, an entirely online service that delivers all over the city (and to the Hamptons now, I think). Finally, you can do what I usually do, which is go do the shopping, pay, give them my address, and wait for the delivery to come a little later...usually within an hour or two.

I like to do my own shopping and choosing, especially when it comes to meat and produce, so this is the method I typically use. I've been known to use Fresh Direct when cooking for a huge crowd, though. It's also a really nice service for people who live in neighborhoods where grocery stores are scarce, like Tribeca or the very far East Village.

[Megan Blocker]

Last night I promised to get a proper greasy breakfast sandwich, but when I woke up this morning, I just couldn't do it. I'm so sorry, guys! I did, however, have a hankering for something, so I went around the corner to Pax and got a sesame bagel with peanut butter, and a medium coffee. In all honesty, while the bagel hit the spot, the coffee did not blow me away...it was really no better than what I can get at work for free. However, it was big, something the coffees at work are not.

My day was pretty busy in the morning, with a couple of projects due and a few fires to put out, so I didn't get around to grabbing lunch till about 2:00. I was going to get a salad, as I mentioned above, but then I thought, "Come on, Blocker, give these people something more interesting than a salad!" So, for you, I suffered.

I went to a lunch cart at 52nd and Park, right outside of the Seagram's Building (which houses the Four Seasons restaurant). It's called Rafiqi's, and their line is always long, so I figured the food must be pretty good!

I checked out the menu while I waited on line...

And decided to get a chicken platter - chicken with rice, lettuce, tomatoes and sauce - "white" and "hot." Oooooh, it was good. Nice and spicy, and the chicken was tender but not stringy. Very good for a $4.00 lunch - a salad would have set me back more than twice that.

So, there you have it - a true New York lunch, right from a cart. Eating from gyro carts always makes me think of that scene in Working Girl when Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith meet over gyros and walk down the street talking "business." Oh, so good...that's a great New York movie. Definitely one of the ones that made me think Manhattan was for me...that opening sequence, circling the Statue of Liberty and then zooming in on downtown Manhattan, then finally on the ferry? SO GOOD.

Sorry, that was a bit OT.

[mizducky]

Many thanks for a terrific blog, Megan. Whenever I'm next in New York City, I'll see if we can get together and do some damage to our waistlines and credit cards.

P.S. -- As another 5'3" type, I am definite proof that short people can put away a whole lot more than their height-proportional share of food. In fact, my entire family runs to short-and-stocky. I have been known to joke that our ancestors' genes must have been selected for optimum survival on the Russian steppes--low-slung and close to the ground, the better to dig potatoes and not be blown away by winter storms.

[handmc]

Megan

All week I have been reading you blog with a big goofy grin on my face. Thanks for the diversion. Last week was pretty ugly, your blog took the edge off.

I saw the shot of your shoes and thought you and my daughter think alike. I asked her why she took a picture of her shoes, she said so people will know how I get around....

[Kouign Aman]

We also grew up with breakfast for dinner. Ours usually was fried eggs, toast and baked beans (English parents, can you tell? ) Now I'm having cravings.

Your blog is DANGEROUS, Megan! Thank you!

And your photography is much more than the quality of your bread. Its your choice of angles, lighting and cropping and ..........

[Pam R]

Megan - brilliant blog. Thanks so much.

Your week was as far from my last week in NY (in November on a Kosher finding trip). I hope to get to even 1/2 of the places you've showed us on my next trip.

I'm telling you - you should offer chocolate tours of New York. You'd make a mint!

Thanks,

Pam

[alanamoana]

megan,

although i'm disappointed you couldn't stomach the baconeggandcheeseonaroll, i'm glad you got lunch from a cart!

the best ones are on 6th Ave (Ave of the Americas) where all the publishing houses are. lines around the block and they're there until like 3am! i think all the taxi drivers go there on their graveyard shifts...

thanks again for a great blog! i've enjoyed it tremendously.

[ghostrider]

Just want to add my thanks for a most entertaining tour of my city. Although we've been across the Hudson since '91, after the previous 20 years of living in the West Village, New York will always be "my city." Of course I've lost touch with so many of the daily rhythms & rituals of city life since moving out to Jersey, & even more so since ceasing to work there 4 years ago. It was lovely to get a sense of those things again through all of the details that you've brought to life so well.

I wish eG had existed 30 years ago, I'd have done a killer blog back then when I was teaching myself Indian and Chinese cooking, running up to Little India & down to Chinatown in search of spices, sauces, peculiar dried things & odd items of produce. Alas, that was a different life.

And you've also reminded me again how vast New York is and how it keeps evolving. We gradually slow down but the city never does.

Anyway, thanks again for all the marvelous tastes from places I may never see, even though they're still so close. You almost make me want to chuck this huge kitchen & funky old house & trade them in for one of those apartments where you can't turn around. Almost.

[Megan Blocker]

I realized on the way home tonight that I didn't have any sliced bacon - only the lardons I use for carbonara. So I stopped off at Schaller and Weber, at 86th and 2nd, to pick some up!

In addition to a great butcher counter and some really fun German speciality foods, this place has, hands-down, the most outrageous windows in the neighborhood.

Steins, sausages, stuffed animals...and my favorite, the swinging garden gnome.

They also have a delightfully 70's-flavored, kitschy interior. Check out that light fixture!

I went inside and right up to the counter, where I ordered a quarter pound of sliced bacon. Ooooh, so good.

[Megan Blocker]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present the final meal of this blog.

When I got home I decided that the best drink to have with my "French dinner," especially since I was planning on eating it while watching Gilmore Girls, was hot chocolate. So, I combined some cocoa powder, sugar, water and a touch of salt, boiled it up into a syrup, and added some milk. I let it heat up while I cooked the rest of my dinner...

First, I made the pancakes (the recipe from The Joy of Cooking) and stuck them in the oven on warm. Then, I made two hash browns with a couple of fingerling potatoes and a little grated onion...

I cooked them up in a little schmaltz, and then drained them on paper towels, sprinkled them with some salt, and added them to the plate warming in the oven.

Finally, I cooked the gorgeous bacon and plated it all with some maple syrup.

I plopped down on the couch to watch my favorite girlish show, and things could not have been sweeter.

This dinner was fantastic. It was the perfect accompaniment to GG, and it was delicious. I don't know why I don't do this more often.

Yum.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Shaya]

Hi Megan,

I just found your blog and I can't wait to read through it. We are bringing the kids to NYC in mid-March for their first time (my parents took us often as kids, I love the city) - your blog came at the perfect time!

I look forward to seeing what it's like to live, eat, work there through your eyes.

[Katie Nell]

This dinner was fantastic.  It was the perfect accompaniment to GG, and it was delicious.  I don't know why I don't do this more often.

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Damn Logan!

Sorry to see your blog go Megan! I felt like I had someone to watch GG with!

[Megan Blocker]

This dinner was fantastic.  It was the perfect accompaniment to GG, and it was delicious.  I don't know why I don't do this more often.

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Damn Logan!

Sorry to see your blog go Megan! I felt like I had someone to watch GG with!

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Eh...I'm kinda sick of Logan...I feel like everything about him was an excuse to have all sorts of fantasy enter into a relatively grounded world. Birkin bags, weekend trips to MV, a ridiculous apartment...I've never really liked him, and I like it best when Lorelai and Rory appear together. We shall see!

Hey, I watch every week - so I'm still with you!

ETA: And, more importantly, I'm almost sure to be eating something I shouldn't, as per Lorelai's eating habits, so feel free to join me in that, too!

Edited March 1, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[MarketStEl]

I realized on the way home tonight that I didn't have any sliced bacon - only the lardons I use for carbonara.  So I stopped off at Schaller and Weber, at 86th and 2nd, to pick some up!

In addition to a great butcher counter and some really fun German speciality foods, this place has, hands-down, the most outrageous windows in the neighborhood.

Steins, sausages, stuffed animals...and my favorite, the swinging garden gnome.

They also have a delightfully 70's-flavored, kitschy interior.  Check out that light fixture!

I went inside and right up to the counter, where I ordered a quarter pound of sliced bacon.  Ooooh, so good.

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Finally, something German from your 'hood.

I knew a fellow--a friend of a roommate--who lived at 151 East 83d back in the early 80s and took a keen interest in many things German (he was himself German-American).

It was he who told me that this particular part of the UES was also known as "Yorkville" and had historically been a largely German community.

I'm guessing that's not so much the case now, but I may be wrong about that.

[Megan Blocker]

I'm in love with the idea of the little cheese shop and the Italian deli with the real Italian meats/cheeses/products.  Are there any of these convenient to you that you can work in?  Also, is frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity too "touristy" these days?  Any chances of gaining kitchen tours of your favorite eateries?

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Don't know about kitchen tours, but I'll do my best!

As for a little Italian market - there certainly are places like this in the city! My neighborhood is historically German/Austrian/Hungarian, so we don't have a whole lot of Italian spots. But an ethnic market is definitely on the schedule.

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Finally, something German from your 'hood.

I knew a fellow--a friend of a roommate--who lived at 151 East 83d back in the early 80s and took a keen interest in many things German (he was himself German-American).

It was he who told me that this particular part of the UES was also known as "Yorkville" and had historically been a largely German community.

I'm guessing that's not so much the case now, but I may be wrong about that.

Hey, Sandy.

As I mentioned in that earlier post, yes, the neighborhood is historically German, Hungarian, and Austrian. A lot of that flavor has left (apparently 86th Street used to be stuffed to bursting with German restaurants), but there are still glimpses here and there. We have Heidelberg, an authentic German restaurant (great beer, great schnitzel), which is two doors down from S&W, and a Hungarian restaurant called Andre's Cafe just opened on 2nd between 84th and 85th - it was mentioned in an Op-Ed about cabbage streudel by Nora Ephron.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Megan Blocker]

All righty, folks. I'm off to bed, but I'll be back tomorrow for the traditional wrap-up and goodbye. Thanks so much for spending this past week with me - blogging has been more rewarding for me than I would ever have expected.