MSG for You and Me

In the Dining & Wine section of the The New York Times is a good column about the history and uses of MSG. Author Julia Moskin goes into how MSG got a bad rap, how it is still being used in most Asian cuisines, and how forms of glutamate are used in lots of common items that most American consumers would probably not realize. I found this very enlightening, since all I ever knew about MSG was that it was a shortcut for adding umami to foods and that it was supposedly bad for you.

Maybe I'll start using that Accent I bought all those years ago...

Kapusta-head

I almost never cook cabbage. My grandmother did. A lot. She was Polish. I like to make Corned Beef and Cabbage every St. Patty's day, but that's its limited run in my house. There was a period when my wife (girlfriend at the time) went on that awful cabbage diet. At our annual Pig Roast, my mother-in-law makes cole slaw. Otherwise, cabbage is pretty non-existent.

So tonight, I had a cabbage in the fridge. I read a recipe about wilting t and serving it as a side. So I tried it. It was good. I gotta tell you though, it doesn't "wilt" very easily. Cabbage is a tough bugger. The recipe said to melt some butter, spice it up, then wilt the cabbage for about 5 minutes. Try 15. What was nice is that it was still a little crunchy, but tender and very tasty. I was thinking it would be like spinach, creamy and shrunk. But nope.

Anyway, if I can add it to the regular rotation, maybe less frequently than spinach, more often than lima beans, I can become a good kapusta-head...

Old House

I haven't talked much about the house, but I should. It was built in 1727 and deserves some respect. We love it, it has the style and charm of an old house, but has been so well maintained that non-do-it-ourselfers (which we are) can handle it. Now that's not to say that there's not stuff we need to do or to get done.

Here's a fun one: This is the time of year when I get to start worrying about water in the basement. Hurray. Our first house had that fabulous problem, too, so we buried a nice and expensive and extremely effective dry-basement system into it. It was great. Never had to worry about it again. Problem solved. However, I don't live in that house anymore. And the new house (err, OLD house) has a nice water-in-the-basement problem to deal with. Fabulous. So this will probably be my last Spring of up-and-down the stairs with the wet vac because the peace of mind of having a dry basement - not to mention how that will help preserve the house from water problems in the floors and walls - is tremendous. I just need to part with all the money. Which is not fun to think about.

Oh, and did I mention I probably need a new driveway this year too? And that its about 200 feet long? No? Well chalk that one up to "preservation" as well.

Well doing all this will get me excited for our annual Spring Pig Roast - never too early to start planning for that.

Recipe: Guinness Batter Fish Fry

The fish fry went well so I wanted to share the basics of the batter.

[Needs to be a photo here - working on it]

4 Tilapia fillets - or whatever fish you want - I also used scallops, though a deep fryer would have made them better
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2/3 cup beer - in this case Guinness Stout which made for a nice creamy flavored finish

Whisk the wet into the dry ingredients

Salt and pepper the fish then dredge it in flour, dip it into the batter and place it into a pan of hot oil (olive, or your preference). How hot? I didn't measure but should have since I splattered a little and got some nice grease burns on my arm. Keep the temperature under control or you may burn the batter before cooking the fish - What? Maybe that happened to me. So? - Cook the fish for a couple of minutes on each side - til its done is my general rule - and with fish, don't overcook.

That's pretty much it. Its not really original, I mined some recipes from around the web and other cookbooks - I'm not good with flour ratios and that kind of thing, so I always have to look that stuff up.

I served it with lemon slices and tartar sauce (how bold!) and of course a pint of Guinness.

Not in Denial

I'm not in denial over what happened Sunday, but I'm not going to talk about it (or read about it, discuss it, watch it). So instead I'll go over the food, which was a huge success. I thoroughly enjoyed the fish fry. (We took pictures and I'll post when I get around to it). Here's the menu:

• Shrimp (ok, so I boiled the shrimp, I'm easing into the whole fry thing);
• Mussels steamed in butter and garlic with parsley and taragon (still not fried - yikes! Some fish fry!);
• Tilapia fillets, Guinness battered and fried(hurray!);
• Scallops, same Guinness batter and fried;
• Fish sticks for the kids - although they ate mostly the shrimp and some mussels - next time I'll skip the frozen sticks;
• French fries (ok, so I went frozen here as well - maybe next year I'll get a fryolator and make my own).

I guess that was it. I had planned to do cole slaw and some raw veggies but got all wrapped up in the fry. I need a sous chef sometimes.

Accompanying this was a few pints of Guinness. We ended with grocery store bakery cupcakes with red and blue icing and little plastic footballs on them. The footballs were rings and we wore those as we watched [something] on TV.

It worked out great. The food was ready and consumed before [something] started and we were couch bound with brews and snacks by [something].

I really enjoyed it - the battering and frying. *Sniff* *Sniff* Do I smell a fryolator in my future...

The New England Patriots Deserve My Full Attention

As the Super Bowl approaches I find myself in the same dilemma as every year. Where to go? Whom to watch it with? What to eat?

I've been lucky in that as a life-long Pats fan I've been enjoying the fruits of their labors this past decade. (And I remember being pissed off as a kid when home games weren't on TV cause the game wasn't sold out so I REALLY appreciate this team.) So naturally as the team goes for the impossible - the undefeated season plus championship - I feel torn. Do I go to a party where everyone is spouting their opinions or discussing the merits of onion dip over salsa or recounting how in 1985 they remember watching the Pats get whooped by the Bears and this will more than make up for that? Do I bring my kids into a lion's den of other kids who will distract them from the monumental once in a lifetime experience of watching this team (hopefully) complete the impossible task before them?

I decided (I should say we decided, since Laurie and I struggled together on this one) that for posterity's sake and sanity's sake and for the ability to completely immerse myself in the game with minimal distractions that staying home, alone, family only, would be the only way to go.

So now all I have to think about is what snacks will be served. My parents always ordered Chinese food for Super Sunday. Option. But recently we had a smorgasbord of 'pub' type of food on a random Saturday afternoon and the kids got a huge kick out of it. So we're doing that again. Stuff like french fries, little pizzas, shrimp cocktail. (Maybe some chili - Laurie made an awesome chili this past weekend - very nice.) I want to get more creative so I'll be pondering this this week. I'll post the menu when I decide what it is.

Until then, Go Pats!

Plate of Shrimp

Lunch today in Chinatown. Suishaya. Great sushi and Korean fare. Really enjoyed it even though all this mercury talk kept me from ordering tuna. Gah.

So despite the title of this entry, I didn't get shrimp. But on the way there I had a "plate of shrimp" moment. Yesterday I was randomly thinking of co-workers whose weddings I had attended at various points in my life. (This is actually a fun exercise to help yourself remember points in your past.) But while thinking of that I thought of other random people - like a girlfriend I had in college whom I had taken to my sister's wedding. Well we only dated for a short period of time, so she's a random memory but a permanent one because of the wedding thing. (Which is why I think its fun to remember co-workers whose weddings I've attended - some of them I am still friends with, but mostly not. So to think that I am kind of a permanent memory for them in their photo albums is kind of neat.) So she's this random permanent memory and for whatever random reason I was thinking about her yesterday.

And then, today, on the way to Chinatown - you know what's coming! - there she is. On the street. So we stop and say hi and all that and its very nice. But how random and "plate-of-shrimpish." So i got salmon even though I wanted tuna and thought about various other college days...

Eating on Thursday - A Bright Breakfast and a Lousy Lunch

I recently read a review on Boston.com for a burrito place right near where I work. Then I looked it up on yelp.com and really liked that site (I had never been there before). So I thought I should post some comments on yelp and then said to myself, "heck, why not blog it." And since I rarely have used my blog, I decided this is a good idea.

So the burrito place is Burrito Express on Bedford St. And I got the breakfast burrito and I thought it was quite good. Eggs, chorizo sausage, black beans, onions - yumm. Very filling, nice and spicy. I was so excited waiting in the place - with the music and the decor very Mexican. I felt like a margarita - at 8:30 in the morning. Which is fine if your actually in Mexico. On vacation. But it doesn't fly on a work day so much. Anyway it was great.

Since it was so filling I had a hard time deciding on lunch. I have a pretty standard set of places in the Downtown Crossing area that I frequent (and I'll post on those at a later date - baby steps!) and they are all good but also very filling. I was looking for light and on the healthy side.

For some reason I settled on Sebastian's on Summer St. I had eaten there in the past and remembered not thinking much of it, but, I wanted a make-my-own-salad so I figured it fit the bill.

Well what a mistake. Price: outrageous. Salad: bland. Bread that comes with the salad: crappy. I got basically a grilled chicken and caesar salad but I added artichokes. The artichokes were blah, no flavor and wilted. The chicken tasted like chicken, but not special, and not cut into nice bite size pieces, so the fork I was using was inadequate (a problem with takeout!). The dressing was watery. The croutons tasted like stale bread, which they generally are, but they don't have to taste like it. And the best part, the price! $10.50!! Awesome. What a deal.

Nothing can ruin a good day of eating (the burrito was so exciting, new and fun!) more than a bad meal at a bad price. I'll have to figure out what to have for dinner to salvage this day. I'm sure a margarita would help though...

Wines Under $10

from NY Times

Casa Cadaval Portugal Ribatejano , $8.99, ***

Padre Pedro 2002

Smoke, earth, cherry and spice flavors in a well-structured Old World wine

Domaine de l’Ameillaud France , $9, ** ½

Vin de Pays de Vaucluse 2005

Mild tannins with attractive, lingering flavors of berry, cassis and olive

Viña Gormaz Spain Ribera del Duero , $9, **

Tempranillo 2005

Fresh and juicy with a lively spiciness

Georges Duboeuf France , $9, **

Beaujolais-Villages 2006

Juicy, fruity and floral. Decent Beaujolais best served chilled

Altas Cumbres Argentina Mendoza , $9, **

Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Lingering, jammy flavors of cherry and licorice

Wyatt California Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 , $10, **

Big and almost over the top with dark fruit, oak and spice flavors.

J. Vidal-Fleury France , $10, **

Côtes-du-Ventoux 2005

Aroma of burnt rubber gives way to flavors of bitter cherry and spices

Domaine Monte de Luz , $7, **

Uruguay Tannat 2006

Rich and plummy with smoky, spicy cherry flavors

Ravenswood California Vintner’s Blend , $10, **

Merlot 2004

Fruit, floral and spice flavors; straightforward and pleasant.

Paringa , $9, * ½

South Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

David Hickinbotham Individual Vineyard

Big and powerful with berry, oak and fruit flavors