November 2007


 by

Tall, Dark and Horrible

brooklyn stout

Sure, everyone loves a tall, dark and handsome man, but only a few of us love a dark beer.

My fav beer, Beamish, turned me on to stouts. Maybe because I like ice cream and beer so much together, I’m instinctively turned onto those oatmeal stouts and coffee themed beers. That being said, I picked up Brooklyn Brewery‘s (a fav brand of 80P’s) ‘Black Chocolate Stout.’

Hoping for a rich and delicious feeling, I instead was hit with “poopie-shit with an alcohol after-taste,” to quote 80P. Of course I’ll finish the 6-pack (I mean, I’m not going to waste beer, and such an expensive one at that) but now I’ll just use it for the high alcohol content – 10.6% – than for what I was hoping for – exquisite taste.

Photo: A Good Beer Blog (and they totally disagree of my stout assessment)

in Drinks 16 comments
 by

National Gluttony Day: T Minus Twenty

thanksgiving.gif

Now that Halloween National Slut Day is over, we can start officially planning for the biggest foodie celebration of the year: National Gluttony Day, a.k.a. Thanksgiving. Some news and views to get the ball rolling:

– The hard-hitting investigators over at Cook’s Illustrated have announced that the best-tasting turkey on the market is (gasp!) frozen. [Epi Log]

– Red Alert! Our global gluttony dominance may be under threat from the rising power of South Africa. A group of Pretoria bakers recently smashed the world record for largest pumpkin pie ever, creating a 1.5-ton monstrosity that bested the record set by Ohioan farmers two years ago. [Slashfood]

– Personally, I’ve always been a believer in the “it doesn’t get any better than stovetop” school of stuffing thought. But if you’re more inclined to drop some fancy, BA has some recipes for prosciuttoing, shrooming, and sageing up your stuffing. [Bon Appetite]

Cartoon: Humor Matters

in Desserts / Fowl 3 comments
 by

Meryl Streep – Done With Fashion, On to Cooking

Editors Note: ES gives credit to Britannia for uncovering this bit of food inspired entertainment news. Here is his take on this upcoming book turned movie.

the julia meryl

That little blog that turned into a best selling book, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen is being worked into a movie, yes, you read that right. Variety is reporting that Meryl Streep will take on the role of Julia Child in the upcoming movie Julie & Julia, while Amy Adams will play the frustrated secretary, Julie.

I have to say, being English I don’t know much about this culinary queen, my knowledge of the older and wiser television chef’s leads me to Two Fat Ladies and Delia Smith. However, if Meryl Streep (re: gay icon) is involved then every gay on the other side of the pond soon will know the wonders of Ms. Child. Food and Meryl, what more could one want!

If this is as campy as I hope it will be, then pass me a bottle of gin and a movie ticket.
Thank you, thank you!

Do you think you could do it… 524 recipes in 365 days? I personally think she’s mad.

in Celebs 9 comments
 by

Jumped the Tomato

tomato monkey

Okay, I definitely jumped the tomato on this one. (Not the shark – Fonzie style)

Three weeks ago I declared the end of tomato season. Well, shortly after, BS showed me this contest, I spied 3 beefsteak tomatoes at the farmers market and then today – I received a huge package, from famed commenter “dad gansie,” full of his Jersey-fresh garden tomatoes.

Because the gansie family house had major renovations done earlier this year, dad gansie wasn’t able to plant his tomatoes until late July. So, while we cross our fingers hoping that Fall’s first chill is still weeks away and won’t kill the 20 or so green tomatoes still on the vine, we will — with some luck — enjoy tomatoes well into November. (Tomato themed T-giving anyone?)

So, now that I’ve been proven wrong, and my apartment is bursting with tomatoes, I’m trying to decide what to make. Some initial thoughts are salsa (never made in the blender before), tomato sauce (never done before), and tomato soup (never done before).

Let me know if you have any celebratory (final farewell) tomato dishes.

(Oh, and excuse our masked, caped monkey!)

(Wow – lots of parenthesis in this post, huh?)

***
Editors Note: Here are the subsequent tomato posts:
One Tomato Down, 37 To Go

in Personal / Veggie 6 comments
 by

First Bites in Brooklyn

67burger-668-x-502-501-x-376.jpg

I took a break from moving and unpacking last night to take a walk and explore the local Ft. Greene food scene, making my first stop at 67 Burger, which opened late last year. It’s another casual, “step above fast-food” burger joint, offering made-to-orders. They drew me in with their signature 67 Burger, which is served with a creamy blue cheese spread and bacon. As you can see above, this is not one of those bacon burgers with a couple of slices of half-broiled bacon that get lost in the mix, but rather the kind where you pile on the pig like there’s no tomorrow.

The burger itself is decent, if not revelatory. Wow I don’t even know what that means, please excuse me trying to be Frank Bruni for a second. Anyway, decent patty, although I must issue the common complaint that my “rare” burger had not a drop of red. The real draw here are the toppings – you can load your bun up with foodie ingredients like roasted red peppers, crispy arthichokes, olive tapenade, and red wine pickled onions. The only drawback it they charge per item, so this can add up to a pricey burger. Skinny fries on the side are perfectly golden and crispy; curly fries even better. Oh, and there are salads for all you whackos.

Verdict: Not going to put Shake Shack out of business, or cause any problems for the rapidly expanding Five Guys empire, but a solid neighborhood standby.

67 Burger
67 Lafayette Street
Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
718.797.7150

67 Burger in Brooklyn

in Bacon / Red Meat 3 comments
 by

Did a Pig Just Fly by My Window???

tahini.jpg

Or did 80 Proof cook an entire meal and is now writing a post about it?

It’s true folks, just this past Monday night, I spent over an hour in the kitchen, dicing, searing, and serving a meal for two. I will fully admit that I did not make this recipe up, in fact I downloaded it from epicurious. (BTW, you might notice a new tag called, follow the leader, which in the future will detail our attempts at cooking other people’s recipes.)

We love eating fish, but our local stores, Giant included, have just a woeful selection. If you are in the mood for sea creatures your choices revolve around 8 kinds of shrimp or crabs, salmon, or tilapia. Freaking tilapia. It tastes fine and is easy to season and cook, but 12 times in row gets a little stagnant. Since Gansie was already planning on shopping at Whole Paycheck, she picked up some catfish. Truth be told, it ain’t that different from tilapia, but enough to make us happy.

Read More›
in Fish / Recipe 6 comments
« Previous