beverage

Yeh Yeh’s Funeral (The Way He’d Want It – Lots of Food)

May 18, 2013

beverage, beef, seafood, soup, travel, dessert, tea, Korean, dumplings, Chinese, NYC

Don’t Worry – this post is only contains pictures of the food we ate and written things we did for Yeh-Yeh’s funeral service.

Albany John & I drove down for the service. My lovely sib-in-laws, Maka & CVS, were nice enough to let us stay with them. We drove down late on a Friday night, so that I could be at the airport to pick up my sister, who was flying in from Seattle.

Once I picked her up, we went to the YehYeh’s condo in Flushing. The parking god must have smiled on me for driving late at night and waking up early to pick up my sister from the airport, because I found (free!) street parking almost instantly. In Flushing. On a weekend. My poor sister was sick, and the flight didn’t help, so she napped in the condo while I went out to lunch at Jin Cheng with my dad and Aunties.

Jin Cheng is stupid close to the condo, and it has free parking, so it’s in my family’s roster of restaurants to go to. And guess what? They actually serve a good lunch. Unlike the rest of Flushing, Jin Cheng was pretty quiet, not even half full. The meal was miles better than when I’ve been for dinner or Chinese New Year. They really can’t handle a crowd.

Seafood Congee up top. Light & gingery. I didn’t mind a bowl.

I requested we get a plate of black bean squid. Good wok hei on the squid. Bleh to the peppers.

Beef and gai lan. Very tender beef, also with good wok hei.

Oop, sorry, this was chicken with hard chives cut long. Tasty stuff. I bought more chives to cook with at home shortly after this.

We hung around and just talked for a while. It’s just a whole other transition, a new step in life, to process with Yeh Yeh passing.

We went to San Soo Kap San for dinner with my uncle, aunt & her husband/my uncle, and one of my cousins. That dish with the red strip in the right bottom corner on the big plate? Raw squid. It was soooo freaking good! They only gave 1 plate of it as ban chan, and probably for good reason (I could have eaten about 10 of these). The rest of the banchan spread was also pretty impressive – fresh tofu, konjac (I think…) kimchee, cucumbers, small fish, pickled parsnips (MY JAM!), turnips. So much tastiness.

One bubbling bowl of scrambled egg ban chan. Very delicate – like a savory custard.

They grill all of the meat for you. Kind of expensive – most dishes hover around $30! Yikes! You can see tongue above. Thin rounds. Tasty.

Pork Belly! Yeah!

Galbi! We got two orders. My other cousin’s girlfriend is Korean and she said you don’t normally get 2 orders of the same thing, traditionally. My cousin said his parents know and do it any way, lol. I can’t argue, that galbi was great. Meaty, juicy, had that nice galbi marinade.

I think we got some other kind of sliced beef, too.

I still felt like eating my feelings after dinner, so my dad and I went to Tous Les Jours for some dessert. I was up for anything, but my dad says after going to Korea for a few months last year, he prefers Korean bakeries over Chinese ones because they have better quality ingredients & products, and are more innovative in what they make.

I think they are kind of expensive, but they are also the only bakeries open after 6/7 PM in Flushing. All of the Chinese ones close by then. There’s also a Paris Bakery nearby in downtown Flushing (that you can see from Tous les Jours) and is also open late.

I went for a black sesame doughnut and a cream cheese filled danish.

My dad got a blueberry cheesecake.

All sliced up:
Black sesame doughnut – mochi dough was chewy and kind of odd at first, then an addictive texure. Not too sweet.
Blueberry cheesecake – Asian cheesecake. Fluffy and cake-like.
Cream cheese danish – rich, rich rich, and crispy pastry exterior. Indulgent, but really good.

And like that, I was down with the more expensive Korean bakeries. Good stuff, and different than what the Chinese bakeries sell in Flushing.

Saturday I went to Flushing not knowing when I was going to leave. I wound up spending the whole day there & taking the subway back to Forest Hills. I was really happy to have late night public transportation – I wouldn’t have been able to drive, I was so sleepy!

The next morning we got up and ready to go to the funeral home for the Chinese equivalent of a wake.

Mama & Papa John had come in and were staying near the funeral home. We went out there to grab an late dim sum at … some place in Manhattan Chinatown. My bad, I forget the name. I was trying not to spill anything on my clothes and get to the funeral home on time (Thanks for lunch, Mama & Papa John!).

Someone brought treats to the funeral home. Dan tats. Okay, I will have one. Still warm. Yum. Yeh Yeh. Sigh.

And we went in. It was a traditional Buddhist Chinese funeral, even though we’re not really religious. We folded lots of coins out of paper – that was pretty nice – having something to do with your hands at all times. These were burned as offerings. Although my cousins & I were smartasses and couldn’t help but jokingly bemoan how stereotypical it was to have origami at an Asian funeral, or how we were doing arts & crafts.
Showing emotion/sadness was discouraged, and certain curious circumstances before the funeral helped prepare me for this, although, really, I’d been fairly emotionally detached up until then, so I don’t think crying would have been all too much of an issue any way.

Two Buddhist Monks came in and read a chant. We thought it would just be for a few minutes, but it ended up being about 45 minutes. It wound up being very soothing. Albany John was sweet and took a video of it all for my brother, who couldn’t make it. I think he will really appreciate the monks’ chant.

The service was also bilingual, for us ABCs who don’t understand Cantonese. I’m thankful for that, so I could still participate and understand what was going on without feeling ashamed about my lack of Cantonese.

After the funeral, the sons (my dad & uncle) took all of the remaining guests out for dinner at a nearby restaurant on Mott Street. Eh, food was okay, but Manhattan Chinatown is mostly for tourists now.

This was “special” chicken, in that it tasted like they steamed it one day not quite all the way, and then served it the next day. :X

Salt & pepper pork – okay, this was good.

Gummy lobster. Didn’t even finish it. My dad tried it and agreed. His table’s was good, though.

I always forget how absurd banquet food seems to people who didn’t grow up with it.

After this, we all went our respective ways. Albany John had to get back to Albany that night, so he took a train back.

The next day was the burial. We woke up early to get to the funeral home. Some more traditions/rituals that I didn’t quite understand. Drive to the graveyard, where YehYeh was buried next to Grandma.

Once Yeh-Yeh was buried, we went to one of his favorite restaurants in Flushing – Mellie’s. Another traditional post-service meal.

Sticky Rice with lobster, sweet & sour pork, some soup.

Then I spent the day hanging out with my cousins & sister at my Aunt & Uncle’s place just outside of Flushing. That was great. I haven’t done that since I was a kid. Just spend a few hours hanging out, watching TV, chatting. My sister was all about mahjong. We got Caribbean food & pizza for dinner.

I went back to Forest Hills for one last night with CVS & Maka. Maka took me with her to work in the morning. It was kind of like the world of tomorrow. How did it take me so long to visit this place? There were also snacks everywhere, so I left well fed & caffeinated on my way to Flushing to hang out with my Dad & head back to Albany with my sister.

My Dad and I decided to go out and try a bunch of food from all of the places in Flushing. My sister tagged along for the com First up:

My Sweet Home Dumpling on Roosevelt for 10 tasty dumplings. Freshly made to order (including the dough rolled out!). So good, and under $5.00

Then we walked to the underground food mall on Main Street. You know, the one past Starbucks? Any way, we hit up NY Lan Zhou La Mian. The guy at the stall evidently was asking my dad if my sister & I were single, and my dad quickly responded in the affirmative, haha (my sister is single).

There’s one long folding table and some low stools near the menu board.

Dad went with oxtail noodle soup. He loves oxtails, and I can’t seem to get enough of them, either. The broth was very flavorful, and came with a few pieces of baby bok choy.

Hand pulled noodles were great! Springy chew, flavorful, and went well with the oxtails and broth. The bowl was enormous, and there were hot sauce condiments aplenty on the table. Dad let me spike the broth near the end when he was done with the soup. Yeah!

Then we walked off our gluttony a little more around the edge of downtown Flushing. My Dad saw Forest House, and “Hong Kong Milk Tea” on the sign and wanted to go in.

My Dad said he hadn’t had Hong Kong style Milk Tea in the US, and the difference between this and other Milk Teas you get is that they steep the tea for longer. He said in Hong Kong when he was growing up, the really legit places would strain the tea through a silk stocking.

It took a few minutes for this to come out, but boy was it good! Now I want Hong Kong Milk Tea ALL OF THE TIME – it makes other milk teas look weak and too creamy by comparison. There was a nice bitterness to contrast all of that dairy, and the bottom of the cup had some tea leaves (in Flushing Chinatown it’s usually a teabag in coffee + cream, and it’s not steeped for very long).

Our mini food tour was a nice segue into leaving (fat and fairly happy). There are plenty of things to think about when one of your loved ones passes. I’m lucky to have been able to connect with my Yeh-Yeh. I was still a kid when my other grandparents passed, and I didn’t get to know them as well.

Brunch at City Beer Hall

May 10, 2013

Albany, beef, beverage, fried, restaurant, review

San Diego

May 6, 2013

beverage, Mexican, restaurant, review, salad, sandwich, seafood, travel

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After Albany John and I went to San Francisco , I cut off to San Diego for a little solo trip while he came back for some previous commitments. I like that we can take separate vacations from each other and aren’t joined at the hip all of the time. My camera also ate it while I was in SF, so all of my pictures from here on out are on my phone. So, not great, but they’re something.

Any way, shortly after I got off the commuter plane to SD, I met up with Albany John’s Uncle and his new fam for dinner. (Side note: we kind of forgot that they lived in San Diego (because we are evidently really bad relatives) until after we made plans, so only I met up with them and they really missed him. yeah. really bad relatives). But they are really good and nice relatives, and my new auntie took us all out for dinner at a place in Old Town that makes fresh tortillas.

See? Ladies making tortillas.

Queso fundido app.

Tortillas were okay, but kind of meh and heavy.

I got some pork, beans, and guac. Hearty stuff, lol. It was great to spend time with more family. Maybe this is weird of me, I don’t know, but I like being around people when I’m bad at expressing my feelings. Yeh-Yeh was not doing well at this point, and I’m not one to say it to family I haven’t seen in a while. I just don’t want to be “that guy” being mopey or having people think I’m trying to get attention because of my sick grandpa. Or just making things awkward with sad subjects. Besides, he wouldn’t want a big deal about that any way. But when times are tough it’s nice just to be around people you like, you know? Reconnecting/connecting and all. I spent several hours with them at their house, too. They have an orange and lemon tree right in their backyard! They smelled so good!

Left to wander San Diego on my own (I was staying downtown), I ended up making foods I can’t get here in Albany a priority. Hello, Pho Express! My gosh, this place was awesome and I’d give a kidney for something like it in Albany. This was a small pho Tai, which is supposed to be rare beef. It was piping hot and basically cooked all the way through by the time I got it, but oh my gosh, still so freaking good. It was $6.25 and came with the side of Thai basil, lime, jalapenos, and bean sprouts that I tossed in the soup. There’s a condiment bar on each table, too. Great flavorful broth alone. And the noodles were vermicelli & flat rice noodles. Cool texture.

I got the shrimp rolls, too. They were the shrimp pounded with a bit of sugar and then grilled.

I think regular shrimp might have been better than this, but just marginally. Can I please have fresh rice rolls like this? So refreshing. The peanut dipping sauce on the side was also the bomb. I was so full after eating all of this. Because no way was I leaving any of it behind. Although to be honest, it would have been enough to split with another person. So much!

This new donut bar just opened.

Vanilla bean glazed twist doughnut. Eh, just okay. On par with Bella Napoli in Troy.

All of that pho = afternoon walkies. Cool effect to walk on a sidewalk between water.

Walked down to North Embarcadero park.

Sadly I did not get to try any of my delicious neighbors.

Looking at South Embarcadero.

Walking into the tourist section. There were a lot of chain restaurants here. Old Spaghetti Factory, Chili’s. They all had hosts outside kind of hawking for people to come in. Interesting.

And then I walked to a Grocery Outlet. Oh man do I love grocery store tourism. Forget a magnet, I wanna see what’s on your shelves.

BOXED WINE FOR $5.99. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I cannot even fathom these prices. And they had Unjunked candy bars for $3 for 12. I may have bought a box. And ate a lot of them.

After a good afternoon & evening of walkies, I wound up by J. Wok for some Asian tapas fusion.

I got a few small plates: Shrimp with lemongrass salad, papaya salad, and kalbi. Dinner was like, $13 with tax! I thought I would want to eat more, but these were good portions of food and I left feeling quite sated.

The shrimp w/lemongrass salad had a hearty dose of sprouts and a light hand on the dressing. Papaya salad = refreshing and YUM! Galbi – how can you not like galbi, especially when it’s got a bit of char on it.

I walked on down to Crunch Time because I heard they make their own ice cream.

Peanut butter ice cream with some caramel sauce. Caramel sauce was pre-made and too saccharine. Albany John’s caramel is way better. The ice cream was okay but melted really quickly (it wasn’t really hot) and I think we have better homemade ice cream in the Cap Region. This was also crazy expensive. Like, over $5 for a small ice cream.

The next day I woke up ready for more walking. I never did make it out of downtown, but there’s so much to do and see down there. Like the Chinese benevolence center, which was mainly a bunch of grandparents playing mah jong.

It was right next to the cultural museum that I peeked into, but then kept on walking. Maybe next time. It was pretty small.

More walkies into the south Embarcadero! I liked these things. Reminded me of the moving art sculpture at RPI.

The south embarcadero featured more homeless people and a fishing pier. No homeless folks ever hassled me in all of my walking, though.

I liked this! How cute!

This is the bridge for crossing the main road to the South Embarcadero.

And the view of the city. The other side is the more industrial port.

I walked a little more to Rolando’s Taco Shop.

Shrimp burrito & a fish taco! The fish taco was piled high with cabbage. I really liked the fish taco! It was only $1.50

The burrito was like $7.50 and CHOCK FULL OF SHRIMP. And cheese. And it worked. I ate half of it easily, but the 2nd half I wound up picking the shrimp out and eating the burrito skin. So good, but SO. MUCH. FOOD. My stomach just cannot.

My uncle & auntie wanted to hang more, so we drove around to the beach. Nice beach. Next time I will bring swim wear. Or find a beach where I don’t have to worry about forgetting a suit, lol.

Dinner time was, you guessed it, more walking to Gaijin Noodle. Is it weird that I was all about these Asian fusion restaurants in San Diego? We just don’t have anything like it up in Albany, so I kind of wanted to get my fill of any and everything I can’t get normally.

The bartender greeted me as soon as I walked in and invited me to sit at the bar so he could keep me company. Aw, sweet gesture even though I’m very comfortable by myself.
I ordered one of their shaved ice cocktails ($9), which was cherry syrup, chocolate pocky, and a side shot of sake to pour over. They put the cone in a cup with a wee spoon, so it makes for hands free drinking/consuming. I am super uncoordinated, so I wound up pouring about half of the sake on the counter. Whoops. Still tasty, though. It helped offset my meal, which wound up being EVERYTHING SPICY on them small dish menu. Even better, the bartender comped my drink at the end for whatever reason (I would hope my general awesomeness, but probably the pity comp for a single lady dining alone)

Yellowtail poke with purple potato cups on the bottom (with spicy togarashi dashed across!), a freebie salad on the left, and blistered shisito peppers sprinkles with more togarashi on the left. Oh man, I am all about shisito peppers now. They pack a punch, but nothing I can’t handle. Really enjoyable heat.

Fire chicken wings. Slathered in a spicy sauce with peanuts, the skin was cooked non-crispy style, so it was okay, but I think it would have put them on another level if they crisped the skin just a bit.

I walked back to Pho Express for lunch on my last day. Papaya salad with shrimp. Oh man, I fell in love with papaya salad while I was in San Diego. I tried recreating it at home with absolutely no success. But this. Oh, this was great.

Crunchy green papaya in a tangy-tart sauce (it didn’t reek of fish sauce), and a whole bunch of crunchy crushed peanuts and sliced shrimp. How can anyone not love this? One of my favorite things about San Diego was that I got to eat seafood every day I was there. Albany Jane, depleting the oceans one bite at a time.

I grabbed a banh mi for a snack at the airport. It was like $4. Very reasonably priced. About 1.5 Albany Jane hands long.

The bread was so great! Crispy on the outside & pillowy-soft on the inside. Beat the pants off of any $5 foot-long or any other airport snack option.

Chock full of pickled carrots + daikon, cilantro, cucumber, porky pate, and a schmear of inoffensive mayo.

Oh San Diego. I can’t wait to go back to you. With Albany John the next time. You weren’t as friendly as San Francisco, but holy cow were you full of so many tasty and dirt cheap eats.

Wine Bar & Bistro

March 1, 2013

beef, beverage, bloggers, dessert, fried, lamb, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood

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My lovely friend Slivia gave me a gift certificate to The Wine Bar and Bistro, a place near and dear to her heart. It took me forever and a week to use it because I am really pretty about about using gift cards, and man, I really should get better at it, because it has been too long since I grabbed some food at the Wine Bar! I started out with a glass of bubbles. Life is worth celebrating, y’know?

Sil saved the makeout booth for Albany John and me. Super cozy, and pillows, even! A great (private) space for the introvert.
Oh. My. Gosh. Bone marrow ($14). Get yourself some bone marrow at the Wine Bar.So savory and salty. So much umami. Albany John and I daintily started putting little knife-fuls of marrow onto toasted bread, but by the end we were practically licking the bones like wild dogs. Thank goodness for the privacy of the makeout booth.
I was really tempted to text a picture of this fatty, meaty beauty to a friend of mine on a low cholesterol diet, but thought better of it. You know who you are.

Restaurant-cured gravlox on the right topped with caviar and creme fraiche. Another amazing plate. Top just about anything with caviar and I’m a happy gal, especially when it’s cured salmon.

Mains! Hanger steak with fried gnocchi on the left. Albany John was all about this dish. This also reminded me of the right way to cook steak rare. It was cooked as one piece, then cut into smaller pieces; instead of cooking several smaller pieces over the desired temperature.

The crispy lamb on the right had my heart at first bite. Lamb chops ous vide cooked to medium rare, then flash fried so the exterior got crispy. Oh. Yes. SO lamby and good.

On to dessert: Creme brulee! A lightly warmed brulee with delicate sugar shell. Love – wasn’t too rich or creamy. I paired it with a dessert wine for some extra indulgence. And a little tester of chocolate chip meringue on the right.

Dinner total for all of the above dishes + 2 glasses of wine + 1 beer (the beer selection is small, but quality & very well priced) was just a bit over $100. Something like $109 before tip, perhaps.

I hope that bone marrow never leaves the menu. That’s one of my top favorite foods I’ve put in my mout for 2013 so far.

Druthers Restaurant Week

December 18, 2012

beef, beverage, dessert, duck, fried, frugal, local, restaurant, salad, seafood, soup

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Restaurant weeks in the Capitol Region can be disappointing. Generally, it’s 3 courses for a set price in the $20-30 range. Oftentimes, restaurants post menus they wouldn’t normally serve to meet a price-point, or just for the sake of participation. When I saw Druthers‘ menu for Saratoga Restaurant week, I thought “Hey, these guys are doing it right.” Their menu was 3 courses for $20, and all of the items on their menu seemed like plausible dishes to make their menu.

Danika of Garnish Marketing and her hubs, one of our other girlfriends, and Albany John joined me for dinner one night.

Albany John tried a Druthers Manhattan. Our waitress was friendly, although when she dropped it off she mentioned that while the cherries seemed ugly, they were the best cherries she’d ever had. Kind of an odd comment, but the cocktail was well balanced and enjoyable ($10).

I went for the lobster bisque for the appetizer. Huge bowl of lobster bisque, and an enjoyable toast to the roux base of the soup. I was quite surprised with this portion on a restaurant week menu. I hope they add it to their regular roster of soups, because this was great. Not only was the roux well-toasted, but the lobster and cream were well balanced with a sherry finish (I couldn’t pull a tarragon note, but sherry in lobster bisque = awesome) and this wasn’t over-the-top rich.

Albany John got the duck wings in Thai peanut basil sauce with a raspberry puree & basil. Holy moly, these need to go on the menu, like, NOW. The skins were crispy, and the peanut basil sauce didn’t sog it up one bit! The flavors all really worked well with duck meat. Oh man, I want a ton more of these! Again, there were a good four duck drumsticks on this plate – a crazy amount!

Danika went for the slivered beet salad, which was heavier on the arugula and dressing than beets.

Entrees are where Druthers slipped a bit. Their menu listed the cod as “pan-seared” with a smoked tomato puree, crispy pancetta, and cous cous and tarragon salad. , so we were surprised when they came out battered and fried. A few of us ordered the cod, and we were so confused, we wondered how we could all misread a menu.
We asked the waitress to double check for us, and she brought over a menu and made mention of how she hadn’t read the restaurant week menu and how this was how the cod was prepared all week. She even went to check with the chef, and came back to tell us that it turned out that this was a mistake in printing that no one had caught. She’d said the chef told her that pan searing cod was impossible since it would fall apart, and that this was the intended preparation. She was nice for checking, although her delivery was a little rough at times, asking if we were “going to eat it or not?” or if she’d have to take it back to the kitchen. She came back later, and was more apologetic and more insistent about taking things back to the kitchen. I’m not the most effective vocal communicator, so I can relate to not having a perfect response in awkward situations, but some of my other dining companions were wowed (and not in a good way) at first hearing “Well, are you going to eat this, or am I going to have to bring it back to the kitchen?” in a flat tone.
What was interesting what that this is how the cod had been prepared all week, and our table was the first to notice this (or at least, the first to bring it to the attention of the staff).

The fry job was a bit oily and greasy on the cod, so the thick batter wasn’t the most pleasant thing to eat; I picked all of the cod out of the batter. I didn’t see any pancetta on the plate. Maybe it was left off, or was another misprint. I think pan-seared would have been a much more enjoyable preparation method. Use Real Butter didn’t seem to have any issue with her cod falling apart when pan searing.

The Duo of Filet Mignons were prepared as the menu stated, however, both of the orders at our table were requested rare…

And came out closer to medium and fairly tough. Aww.

So, while the entrees were a bit of a low note, dessert ended on a high note. Chocolate mousse, peanut butter & chocolate layered cake, and a strawberry sorbet in the back. All of these were great. While I don’t normally order desserts in restaurants, I think I’d order them again at Druthers. I couldn’t even finish the peanut butter & chocolate layer cake – so rich! The vegan sorbet had tons of fresh strawberry flavor, and the mousse was dense at first, but finished lightly.

Our waitress came back during dessert to chat a bit more. There was something about her that I really liked, she seemed like a good person and a good fit for Druthers as a server. She thanked us for being a “cool” table and not freaking about about the entrees earlier because it was a mistake on their part, but was ultimately out of her control (a server can’t control how the kitchen decides to prepare dishes). I just wanted to hug her – you could tell she felt badly about the preparation/earlier interaction (probably more than she should have) – it’s tough being the middleman between diner and kitchen sometimes. I still also think that Druthers restaurant week menu was an example of a restaurant doing Restaurant Week the right way – having dishes that they might be testing out for their main menu, or seem like they’d fit in with their normal menu (i.e.: they didn’t break out raw oysters, prime rib, burritos, or other stuff that wouldn’t fit with their menu).

I Haz Beer!

October 1, 2012

beverage, Homebrew

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My beer is complete! My beer has sat in my friends’ basement for 2 weeks and my Irish Red is now a bouncing baby beer! (Here’s the first steps of homebrew)

I did a single fermentation. This was so easy! The bottling process was easier than I thought, the most difficult step I thought would be sterilizing, but luckily my pals let me mooch off of their dish washer which has a sterilization setting.

Folks, meet Seamus. He’s is a little molasses-y right now, but overall it everyone was fairly happy with him. I’m hoping the molasses fades a bit with time, but overall it tastes like an Irish Red.
A group of tasters agreed it was better than Killians, decent for beer in general, and a good job for a first attempt at homebrewing. This was a nice starter beer & I’m happy it turned out so well & was so well received. I had anticipated a poor product, mainly since this was my first attempt, but the kit made it pretty straightforward.

I’m not quite sure what the ABV was since I didn’t test it before I added the sugar to ferment it, and it was reading at 3% after I opened a bottle. Based on the panel of willing testers, this may have been higher than 3%. I’ll nerd out on the next homebrew, this was just a “Can I do this without creating an unfortunate science project in a bucket?” and since the answer to that appears to be “yes” I will try to nerd out on my next round.

Also, if you’re looking for bottles, you can try a beverage center, they may give you their returned bottles for the $0.05 bottle deposit fee. Prior to this my panel of tasters did their best to empty a case of 22 oz Beck’s, which are non-twisty bottles.

Saratoga Wine, Food, & Fall Ferrari Festival 2012

September 21, 2012

beverage, local, recommendations

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I went to the Saratoga Wine, Food, and Fall Ferrari Festival at the beginning of September. This was my third year covering it, and it featured the addition of the Cast Iron Chef challenge between Chef Jaime Ortiz of Mazzone Hospitality and Patrick Longton of the Wishing Well (you might remember the Wishing Well from their Dark Dinner). The two chefs put on a fierce competition, and the entertaining emceeing skills of Suvir Saran also kept the crowd engaged (he was delightfully snarky with judge Steve Barnes). In the end, Chef Longton won.

The secret ingredients were peanut flour & bitter melon. The chefs tended to have a dish around one of the ingredients, not both. The lighting inside the Hall of Spring wasn’t really conducive to photos, so you’ll have to take my word on it. As a side note, the cooking set ups for the chefs were really sweet. I now am planning my dream kitchen and plan on shopping at Adirondack Appliance for all of their neat kitchen gizmos and some cranked up gas stoves.

Immediately following the Cast Iron Chef, it was time to head out to the Grand Tasting! The Grand Tasting is my favorite part of the Saratoga Wine, Food & Fall Ferrari Festival. Yes, there are tons of wines, but there are also so many different foods to try! If you’re thinking of going to one thing during this Festival, the Grand Tasting is where it’s at.

Caputo flours were featured at one booth cranking out wood fired pizzas.

And now I need to get my own wood fired pizza rig, plus some 00 flour. So good. Best pizza of the Grand Tasting. Perfectly airy crust.

Ahi tuna tacos – Albany John loved this from a photo standpoint, but flavor-wise the flour tacos were too thick for the tuna.

Chicken pate. Mmm, nice and pate-y.

Mama Mia’s Pizza and Cafe was one of the friendliest tables at the festival, and that’s tough because everyone at all of the tables are generally in good moods. They were filling cannoli to order and pulling their own mozzarella.

What a nice pull! The cannoli shells were delightfully crispy and flavorful. Thin, but not thin enough to shatter, and the cheese filling was sweet without being sickly. I need to get up there to try their goods in store.

The Steak and Wine Pairing seminar sponsored by Angus Beef featured a few different styles of beef prepared by chefs from Mazzone Hospitality. Unfortunately none of the beef rested between when it was cooked and when it was sliced, and many were cooked past medium, so a lot of what was served was a bit on the dry side. The folks serving the wine also had no idea what cuts paired with what wines, and had no suggestions for where to start. It was more just like “Here are three different kinds of steak and four red wines to drink in a tent” than a pairing.

The golden Buddhas from the Chocolate Gecko were so pretty! Their table had some chocolates and toffees out. Yum.

The Gideon Putnam had a great spread as well. They usually have an impressive spread, and this year was no difference. Niman Ranch pork belly with an apple cider foam. So fatty (but balanced) and good!

St Germain’s table featured an addictive fruit punch. I just love that elderberry flavored liqueur.

I love that roasting beef was just as much a decoration as it was a dish.

Maple Whiskey. Yes!

Rounded out the day with some samples from the Hudson Whiskey folks before heading over to the wine tasting with Kevin Zraly.

Now, the wine tasting with Kevin Zraly is where things get interesting. First of all, I learned about covering your wine glass and swirling for a few seconds to release more of the scents. That was really cool, and really effective for drawing out some of the more subtle notes of a wine. A few glasses into the tasting is when the storm really hits and people start heading to their cars from the Grand Tasting. Kevin takes the lead and tells everyone to be calm, because we have more wine to drink. Wind starts flying everywhere, and while we’re under a tent, we can all still feel the elements. He gets us through the tasting, and then we hang out in a sort of limbo with the few vendors and attendees who hadn’t left during the storm. It was like the pre-after-party.

Homebrew Attempt #1

September 11, 2012

beverage, Homebrew

7 Comments

I can’t tell if I like these photos this big. Lemme know your thoughts…
I ordered a groupon for Midwest Supplies. It was something like $50 for their Starter Kit, plus a choice of beer to brew. Albany John chose an Irish Red. It comes with a bunch of stuff for easy home brewing. You can see the different hops, cheescloth, molasses, grains, yeast, and priming sugar above.

And here is some of the other stuff in one of the brewing buckets. Caps, some hosing, and a few bottle brushes. Also a temperature sticker (which I didn’t use) and a hydrometer.

Handy Dandy capper.But we don’t need that just yet.

The brewing kit makes it fairly easy to figure out how to brew. They also have a PDF of their directions in case you lose things easily or get the sheet they include wet. Not that I did that. Any way, the first step is to put your crushed grains in the cheesecloth bag & steep them at about 150-155 for 10-30 minutes. I did 30 minutes because the sheet told me that the longer it steeped the better. Okie dokie.

I got tired of holding a thermometer in the water in short order, so I rigged this old wire hanger so the thermometer hung into the water without touching the bottom.

Once that’s done, take the grains out and the water off of the heat. It looks like tea. Then toss in the included molasses. Stir until it dissolves.

Once that dissolves, toss in the Cascade bitter hops. They are pellet hops. This starts the long part of the brewing process.

Once this starts to boil, let it go for 60 minutes, then toss in the Fuggle hops for the last 2 minutes. I used a really big pot, so I didn’t have to worry about any boil overs. I kept walking away from the pot and ignoring it for minutes at a time. This will probably bite me in the ass the next go-round, but my kitchen escaped unscathed this first time.

After the hops are added, Midwest urges you to cool down the brew as quickly as possible. The total water needs to add up to 5 gallons, so they suggest using a whole bunch of fancy tools that I didn’t have… or using ice as part of the water you add to get the entire brew up to 5 gallons. I went with the ice method, and also had a fan going in the kitchen pointed near the hot brew.

Once things had cooled down, I added it to my sanitized brewing bucket and tossed in the yeast.

Once that’s done, pop the airlock on and then mooch off of some friends for the use of their sweet, cool basement (which hovers aroun 65-70F) and peace out for 2 weeks. I liked that the kit said I could use the hydrometer, but that letting it go for 2 weeks would pretty much be fine. Sure enough it was. I plan on nerding out on future brews, but wanted to take a low-key approach this first time so I wouldn’t get pissed if I screwed it up.

After 2 weeks, continue to mooch off of friends by using their dishwasher to sanitize your beer bottles (bonus points if you have friends that will sanitize them for you while you drive over).

Then bottle!

The next round of homebrewing will showcase the finished product. 2 weeks.

Key Lime Cocktail @ Hooters

June 23, 2012

beverage

4 Comments

Key lime pie cocktail from Hooters on Wolf Road. Something around $6, and SO tasty! I now need to figure out how to make it ,myself. Refreshing, and didn’t pack too much of a boozy kick.

Service was okay – our waitress was a bit less welcoming once she learned the group I was with just wanted a few drinks, I guess she was hoping for a larger bill. The place was dead, so I don’t really get it.

The guys were happy with their beers. Their larges are LARGE, hehe.

Steadfast Beer Night at The Ruck

May 2, 2012

bar, beverage, gluten free, local, PSA, recommendations

1 Comment

Local company Steadfast Beer is going to have a gluten-free night at The Ruck on Friday, May 11th.

They’re working on having gf wing burgers & some other food. I am really interested to see how The Ruck will eliminate cross-contamination. I hope they get a tap line going, that would be awesome! (they’re working on it, so far bottles are def going to be there).

—Albany Eats!

Documenting the foodings of a local. With a grain of salt.

Archive

beverage

Yeh Yeh’s Funeral (The Way He’d Want It – Lots of Food)

Brunch at City Beer Hall

San Diego

Wine Bar & Bistro

Druthers Restaurant Week

I Haz Beer!

Saratoga Wine, Food, & Fall Ferrari Festival 2012

Homebrew Attempt #1

Key Lime Cocktail @ Hooters

Steadfast Beer Night at The Ruck

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