Plate It or Hate It

Recent food world discoveries the ES crew is loving and hating…

Plate It: Grapesicles

Frozen grapes on a stick. The most perfectly simple summer cooler ever. Bonus points for the bed of frozen melon balls.  (Little Ladies Who Lunch, via fuck yeah my health).

Hate It: Cake Pops

We’re all about cute, but there’s just no need. Why would anyone take a tender cake and turn it into a round mass of gumminess? Then take that disgusting bit and dip it in candy melts? Candy melts are about as tasty as candle wax. Please, just let us eat cake.  (Photo: Mimsen)

Plate It: Food Duels

 

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Beer > Wine

Anyone worth their fleur de sel knows that wine is the proper drink to accompany good food.  It’s time-honored, suitably French (therefore snooty) and an excellent way to blow a whole lot of money to impress your date.

But what if there was another beverage?  One which offered just as much flavor, went just as well with your meal and wouldn’t break the bank?  Is that something you would be interested in?

As I made my way around town during my second annual Philly Beer Week Pub Crawl, it occurred to me that — in so many ways — beer is superior to wine.  It’s sacrilege to say this, I know, and it would certainly not have been true twenty years ago, in the days before the craft beer revolution.  But in 2011, the flavors, experiences and overall vibrant culture attached to beer appreciation offers a more dynamic experience to a larger audience than wine does.

How so?  Well…

1. It’s Cheaper than Wine. Think of the best wine in the world.  Then think about how much it would cost for a glass of it.  The mind reels.  I had what I believe to be the best beer in the world — Russian River’s Pliny the Younger — and it was about $10 for an eight ounce pour.  While frugality isn’t the main thing you want to strive for when you’re talking about booze, just think about how quickly you can develop your palate and learn to enjoy the “big boys” when you only have to lay out single digits for the privilege.

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Cocktail O’Clock: The Beer Float

Problem: you love drinking dark beers, but they just don’t seem appropriate for 85-degree summer days.

Solution: Add ice cream.

This beer float, made from Barrier Lights Out Stout and Steve’s vanilla bourbon ice cream, was Spotted at 61 Local in Brooklyn. I’d tell you it comes highly recommended, but do I really even need to sell this one to you?

(Photo: Audrey Luk)

Cocktail O’Clock: The Gringo

It’s a billion and one degrees outside. Does that call for a frosty beer? Or a cold glass of juice? Maybe a shot of tequila? How about all three?  Red Star Tavern in Portland, Oregon is now serving The Gringo, a beer-based cocktail that will make you forget all about the heat.

The Gringo

1.5 oz. silver tequila (100% agave)
.5 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1 Double Mountain Vaporizer Pale Ale (or your favorite pale ale)

Shake tequila, elderflower, and grapefruit with ice. Strain over fresh ice.  Top off with pale ale. Serve in a salt-rimmed glass with a grapefruit twist.

For more summertime cocktail recipes, check out Endless Cocktails

Diggin’ DC Dirt: A Raised-Bed Garden Adventure

Part One: We’ve been framed

My indoor basil plant looks like this:

I know, pathetic.  Believe me, when I was pregnant, it was the inspiration for many “so you think you’re ready for parenthood” cracks. My response was, there is a reason that babies scream when they are hungry.

Elijah is eight months old now, and so far so good, so this summer, my dear spouse and I decided to take on another complicated project for which we were only minimally qualified: a raised bed garden.  I hear that these are trendy at present, but let me tell you, that trend hasn’t reached my neighborhood.  Our block seems to favor vegetation more like this:

New age sculpture or misguided but admirable attempt to grow a beer tree?  You decide.

We decided on the back porch as the locale for our foray into botany.  Large and concrete, it has thus far served little purpose aside from storing some semi-decaying deck chairs.  The whole back “yard” is paved over, so it seemed like concrete was our fate.  We called up our friend Pat, who jumped at the chance to bust out some power tool action.  He and Kurt (my husband) headed to Home Depot for supplies.  They were gone for about three hours, reasons for which are still unclear, and returned with some very long pieces of wood.  The folks at HD were kind enough to cut the 12-ft. boards into two sections, 10 ft. and 2 ft. Pat was a little sad about not having a chance to use his circular saw.

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Summer Cocktail Season: The New Moscow Mule

A couple of weeks ago I received a text from a friend who was having dinner at DC’s newest taqueria, El Centro, D.F. He asked me if I had ever tried a Moscow Mule. I immediately had a flashback to New Years Eve 1995. I was 15 and my older sister had taken me under her wing to a nightclub in my hometown in England. If you’re familiar with the UK bar scene you’ll know that they’re not too strict on ID and age restriction — I used a fake birth certificate to get in the door — and well, I don’t remember much other than drinking the night away on one too many pre-bottled Smirnoff Mules, to the point of not ever drinking them again.

I had a perverted hope that El Centro, D.F. would be serving these pre-mixed bottles, but my hopes were dashed. Instead I found a seductively crafted cocktail from El Centro’s beverage director, Brennan Adams. I’m not sure what has happened to the Moscow Mule I first encountered and quite frankly, I don’t care. Adams’ version, with its summer fresh tones, splash of beer, and peppery aftertaste, is a whole new kind a mule. I spoke with Adams about his drink, explaining it was too good not to share, and he was kind enough to give me the recipe.

 

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