Culinary Daring Aboard Acela

"Are you sure you don't want to take a cookie with you?" asked a new acquaintance as I was leaving a meeting "Microwaved hot dogs await you on the Acela."

This guy is an urban planner who knows all too well the deterrent b ad hot dogs --and high fares--can be to a potential rider of passenger rail.

Fortunately, it ain't always true. Recently, due to an accrual of Amtrak rewards points, if one has them, I was able to upgrade a business class Acela ticket for free.

I don't know that the difference is substantial enough to pay for, but as a thank-you fordealing with the status quo, it was a pretty sweet deal.

The snacks and appetizers are more interesting and better tasting than the entrees, and everything is made better by the zippiness of the train itself and the procision of *exactly* the amount of alcohol--no less, no more--one would expect to be served by the federal government.

My hummus-centered small plate ("for those who would prefer a smaller meal on the train") was comprised of fresh veg (a few crudites--celery,carrot, espc. Cucumber--were not the frshest and a bit off), hummus topped by toasted (i.e. fried) chickpeas accompanied by table water crackers and was surprisingly bright woth the flavors of garlic and lemon. The cheese lasagna entree I had on my second trip was about equivalent to transcontinental airline food; the osso bucco of the passenger next to me looked oily and dreary without the requisite accompaniment of risotto milanese and gremolata. The cocktail snack (pre-meal) of roasted sweet and salty nuts was by far the most satisying component of the meal -- the perfect complement to the mix it yourself tanqueray-and-tonic (two teeny bottles per passenger, no more), distributed as the plebs are boarding; perhaps for that reason alone, highly satisfying. Does Diageo get a kickback, or provide the booze to Amtrack gratis just for the visibility? I don't know, and I don't care. All I can say is, it took the edge off a long-ass day.
Dessert is no more than a mint-filled Ghirardelli square, and depending on the hour and the crew, there may or may not be coffee, hot towels (warm wet-naps, really), and/or a mini bottle of spring water just before the journey ends.

Play your cards right, though--boarding the train tired and hungry at the end of a day where nothing else is required of you--and you will fall into your seat, have your ticket collected by the cabin's waiter so that the pleb conductor will not disturb you, drink your cocktail, get sufficiently lit to fall into a mild doze near Wilmington, and not really give a fuck.

9

Fromage Find

While I couldn't qualify as anyone's affineur, I'm definitely more than a cheese novice who has tasted more than my share of the runny, the moldy, and the smelly. So I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a cheese I hadn't tried before at Whole Foods yesterday. Ossau Iraty is a mild, nutty ewe's milk cheese, semi hard and sliceable. It manages to combine a bit of St. Andre's butteriness with the nuttiness of gruyere. It's damn tasty, is what I'm saying. It hails from the western Pyrenees and I'm eager to try it during its June-September peak, when the ewes graze higher up in the mountains, resulting in a more robust, nutty flavor. Would be a most welcome addition to a French cheese plate where the stinky & runny, bleu, and chevre bases are already covered.

So now you have the cheese; how do you cut it? Everything you need to know about decoupage here.

Favorite Farro Recipes

I've been trying, all the month of February, to do a long and elegant post, in keeping with Valentine's Day and heart health awareness themes, of the foods we cook for the people we love -- all about the comfort food we make for the sick, the sexy food we make for our dates, the full-on holiday feasts we spend a week or more preparing to celebrate in the dark days of winter with our nearest and dearest.

But February is a short month, and I never got around to it. February sucks! The days are short, the weather is cold, it snows, and the only holidays are an excessively corporatized celebration of beer-drinking and guacamole eating, and an excessively corporatized celebration of, I dunno, chocolate truffles and long-stemmed roses. And President's day.

Instead, I proffer a couple of my favorite recipes for farro, a lovely, nutty whole grain that's easy to prepare. This lovely combination of farro and pureed borlotti beans in a soup is evocative of something the Roman legionnaires themselves might have eaten; this super combination of roasted squash and onions, thyme, walnut oil and a dash of balsamic gets a filling oomph from teh grain. Either make a filling vegetarian entree or a lovely first course or side dish to grilled fish or lamb chops.

If you don't want to go headlong down the new recipe path, you could also substite farro in any recipe for which you'd use barley or spelt; soak it in chicken broth and substitute it for wild rice pilaf; toss your typical Caprese salad ingredients in with it and convert a first-course standby into a meatless main.

Speaking of balsamic, I'd be remiss if I didn't alert you to Zingerman's balsamic blowout through March 16th. The free shipping is a boon to those of us no longer privileged to live in Ann Arbor. If you are still a culinary novice making do with that balsamico di modena stuff from the grocery store, I highly recommend you pony up and get a life buy a bottle (the 10-year balsamic's a good place to start).

New Year's Greetings!

That's all she wrote in 2008
But before it ends I just had to state
My apologies for not getting my act together
To write you each a warm new year's letter.
This rhyming attempt may be weak and retarded --
Next year I'll try to get you all carded!

How quickly the months passed! What a year has transpired!
Sarah Palin entertained us; Barack Obama inspired;
We picked up Senate seats, lost our shirts in the market;
I've been on the road with no chance to park it
To New York; Detroit; Philly and Boston!
To Chi-town, Louisville, San Fran and Austin!

We went up to New York in earliest spring
To hear Rich and Mindy's wedding bells ring
Then Tom and Mary Blaske hosted our wedding vows
Which we took 'neath the gazebo at Foxcroft House.

In June besides finally marrying Brad Katz,
I raised lots of money,saw the Louisville Bats,
Bet on the ponies, sipped lots of bourbon,
Knocked on Kentucky doors so suburban.
In November, Lunsford lost by a couple of digits
But a Brad at home makes a happier Bridget.

Such a strange wondrous year from finish to start!
I partied in NY with Nora C. and Madonna;
Bernie Madoff's hijinks broke my heart.
Shout out to my hometown and its poor Big 3 scions,
Its copious snow, and its winless Lions.

But a fresh start is at hand and times they do change
So I'm going to go drink une coupe du champagne,
Tip my hat to Roger Angell, and extend all my warmest wishes
To you, with a slight gloat, as I write from Paris, bitches!

Gifts for the Culinary Badass on Your List

Foodies should be easy to buy for, but they're not. You know they already cook a lot, so what if they already have that nifty new gadget you're eyeing in Crate & Barrel? You know they love cheese, but what if that fabulous wedge of Vermont cheddar turns out to be something entirely pedestrian and they never invite you to their holiday party again?

Never fear, the Culinary Badass Gift Guide is here. We'll go in descending in order in case there are any big spenders left in this economy.
Overdoing it
Caviar -- Truly, all I want for Christmas is this creme de la creme sampler. And some little buckwheat blini and creme fraiche. Oh, and some Cristal.

Really, I'm not high maintenance. Just expensive.

Cooking Lessons -- Not just any community ed cooking class, of course. I know I have a lot to learn and I think I could learn a ton from the pair of chefs behind Ideas in Food. They not only revel in the curiosity endemic to cooks and cooking ("what would happen if I braised this turkey in duck fat?," hypothetically, which I attempted to answer last week), they drop some serious science on you in the course of exploring and answering such questions. A night in a "Hands on with Liquid Nitrogen" class would doubtless yield some good ideas for revving up the occasional dinner party.

Custom-made pastry: Bryant Stuckey made a lovely croquembouche for my wedding, and I think a tasty tower of beautiful cream-filled pastry accented with spun sugar would make an equally festive New Year's Eve option.

The good stuff
Respect your Elders: St. Germain elederflower liquer adds a festively flowery kick to a gin and tonic, or mixes beautifully with champagne (not the Cristal!). Light a clove cigarette and get all Rive Gauche.

Scrape-free baking: The beater blade features little rubber fins that scrape the batter from the sides of your mixing bowl without your having to do the tiresome dance of stopping the KitchenAid, ratcheting down the mixer bowl, and scraping down the sides yourself. If you're a badass baker with places to go and people to see, you need this.

Luscious lushes, on the go: Since you can't take your bottles on the plane with you, bring a couple souvenirs from Napa bag safely in your checked luggage the Bottlewise way.








Nice for the Price
For potheads: How cute are these little clips that hold your spoon while you're cooking? How much time would I save cleaning off my countertip if I had one of these?!
Shrooms: This little jar of truffle salt adds a nice little hit of black truffly goodness to eggs or starches without the cloying, exaggerated flavor of truffle oil. Chardonnay oak-smoked salt is a beautiful accent to oysters, knocked back with a glass of Cakebread Cellars chardonnay.

Cheeseball: I'm waging a subtle campaign for liptauer and rye bread to replace hummus and pita as the hipster cocktail party snack fo 2010.
The kicker
This t-shirt by Married to the MOB, with its simple, acronymic question, would be the envy of any straight-up badass, not just a culinary one.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good meal!

NaNoWriMo

I'm failing doing National Novel Writing Month, for the third year. Even if you fail, I highly encourage you to check it out and flex your creative muscles.

At least it gives me an excuse for being a terrible blogger, as opposed to other months, when I am just an inexcusably terrible blogger.