the ebb - pork cracklins

I learned my culinary lesson of the day from Kroger - never buy those dry-ass, mealy, greasy pork cracklins in the crinkly 99-cent bags - ugh. The only other time I had had pork cracklins was from a Mexican grocery store somewhere on Buford Highway, direct from the butcher. I've had them on my mind lately, probably from watching too many Anthony Bourdain shows, but I cracked at the grocery store today - cracked for cracklin. Ugh, never again will I buy it from a non-ethnic grocery store!!!

In other culinary news, I had to go to my comfort fallback of making a load of won tons to stuff in my freezer. I threw out about a gallon of beans I made at the beginning of my unemployment (good lord, in January, maybe?) that I never touched once they entered the freezer because they turned out crappy before I froze them and I thought I would be able to revive them and zhuj them up with some better seasonings of something. Sometimes you have to give up, and I needed to reclaim the tupperware it was occupying, so to the trash they went.

Unemployment has caused me to eat compulsively all day long as I surf the interweb looking for jobs. I've started working out in the morning to counterbalance the five meals a day I'm eating so we'll see how that goes.

DC Metro food holiday

I'm still in Maryland after about two weeks on vacation at my parents' house. I have eaten twice my weight in all kinds of food. The most noteworthy place I've eatren was at The Birch & Barley/Churchkey in DC on 14th Street (Logan Circle). This apparently just opened and is hard to get into and my friends that took me had made previous attempts. The hostess told us it would be an hour and a half so we scooted up to the bar (Churchkey) and got some cask beers. The Cheesecake Factory-style pager went off after about 10 minutes and we got primo seating at the chef's counter. I had an appetizer of tagliatelle with rabbit and an entree of skate. The rabbit was extremely tender and well-seasoned. The skate was actually a little on the salty side for me. Dessert was an apple-filled beignet and multiple sorbets. We also had beer for dessert, of course. Recommended but I wouldn't actually wait an hour and a half for this place. There was a nightclub-style line out the door when we left.

The best meal I've had so far, actually, was at Michael's Noodles in Rockville, about 5 miles from Rockville Pike. This is Taiwanese style food and it is well done. Highly highly recommended. And cheap, which is always good and recommended. If you're ever in the area. We had the tea-smoked duck (crispy and not too greasy served with bao-style buns), salt and hot chili pork chops (this would make me give up fried chicken), and spicy beef noodles (Taiwanese-style pho). Their dumplings are also freshly made and fantastic.

If you are ever in Rockville, please visit Maxim Supermarket (I think it's also called Maxim's Gourmet Oriental Store, or something lame). It used to be really grimy, as all Asian supermarkets traditionally have been. Lately, it's gotten some stiff competition from another Chinese supermarket behind it. They've cleaned up their act big time. There is a cafeteria-style hot bar that does roast duck, crispy pork belly (which they've been doing way before the current pork belly craze), and all kinds of familiar hot Cantonese-style dishes. I always crave the Cantonese goodies that I grew up with - like black bean hopia and rice cakes (I couldn't spell the Cantonese pronunciation of what it is if I tried). I've looked all over Atlanta and the 'burbs and have not found these particular items or other Cantonese delights that I crave every so often. Maxim is close to my parents' place, once again, and almost makes me wanna move back (not really).

More later as I have to leave for my umpteenth dinner out with family...

So Ba in East Atlanta

Woo!! Finally a real-ish Vietnamese place in East Atlanta! Not Soba but So Ba (I can't do the little symbols over the vowels but it's two words) - this is in the old La Casita space. They don't have their liquor license yet but the place has been re-done in dark wood and a soothing jade green with minimal decor. There is a physical bar that has no contents yet but it acts as a really cool looking centerpiece for the dining room. The menu is limited to broken rice, pho and bun but what else do you need? Some have complained about the lack of banh mi and true vegetarian options, but to me, this makes it more authentic. It's not a Vietnamese bakery so it wouldn't have the banh mi anyway. They are currently only open for dinner but are open until 2am on weekends!! Yay!!! I had the bun with the shrimp, cha gio and pork and it was as good as anything I ever had at Bien Thuy. My friend had the pho and she said the quality of the meat was better than what you usually get at Buford Hwy pho places.

winter and comfort food

Ahh, butternut squash and hazelnut lasagna - cheesy, warm, sage-y, surprisingly light, this is my favorite lasagna recipe ever. Cook butternut squash with onions, butter, garlic, toast a cup of chopped hazelnuts and toss in some chopped sage and parsley. Roux with 5 cups of milk, a bay leaf and garlic, cooked down until creamy, layer with mozzarella/parmigiano-reggiano cheese mix (about 5 cups total) with lasagna noodles and the butternut squash mixture - cook for 25 minutes with foil on, 15 minutes with foil off at 425. So so so good. I ate three huge pieces tonight before I forced myself to put it away. I also made a traditional banana pudding - yum. It probably doesn't help that I watched the Top Chef finale and Gordon Ramsay's F Word that I've had on TiVO for a while all day.

poor food

Alrighty, haven't blogged in a while because I was very busy at my real job and life but now I don't have a job so I'm a full-time jobseeker/blogger/tweeter/facebooker. Excellent. Sometimes, I manage my life better the poorer I am, and I'm ready to get back to having fun. In my six years at this last job I've been pretty miserable in my personal life, to be honest. Maybe not miserable, but in a rut. Excitement was getting to stay home and clear off the TiVO.

Most recent food and drink activities have included doing the Les Dames Escoffier...Afternoon in the Country at Serenbe again (thanks to a friend's generous ticket), Decatur Beer Festival, Thanksgiving, and making chocolate souffle. Afternoon in the Country is a giant meat-wine-chocolate fest. That really is what it boils down to. I had some pretty amazingly simple but delicious brisket with sunchoke slaw and my friend had a date wrapped in prosciutto stuffed with blue cheese that she loved. Otherwise, I wasn't all that excited. I did purchase some honey from one of those little shops in the main village-y part of Serenbe. I just ran out from my unbelievably delectable bottle from last year so it was perfect timing.

Decatur Beer Festival was cold and rainy-ish this year for the beginning part. We had fun because my friend made pretzel/breath mint necklaces for us that others were mucho jealous of. Memorable beers? It's all a blur weeks on but it is always a good time.

Chocolate souffle - the simplest recipe in the world: 3 egg yolks and melted chocolate (pick a good chocolate), 6 egg whites, 1/3 cup sugar. It is to-die-for and super-easy. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 F. Don't leave any leftovers or they will concrete themselves into your souffle dish.

food books

I have not been all that hungry all summer. I am not a hot weather person so I am in pure misery in Georgia from about June to October. Popsicles this summer have been the name of the game. I've found quite a few that I don't like. I think the only ones worth getting are either fudgesicles or the "real" fruit ones. All the others don't have enough fruity flavor/tartness. Fresh pineapple and cherries have also been really good this summer. I had one good batch of peaches and a lot of bad batches.

Although I haven't been eating much exciting food, I have been reading a lot about food. Michael Ruhlmann has been good summer reading. I read The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef and The Reach of a Chef. The first one is about what it takes to make it through the Culinary Institute of America (as of the early '90s). The second starts with profiles on folks trying to become certified master chefs and moves onto how three different types of chefs handle their business and their approach to cooking. The third is more about how we've gotten to where we are as a culture with the Food Network, food blogs, etc. I was mainly familiar with him from seeing him on Anthony Bourdain's show and he seemed a bit bland but his writing pulls you in and the fact that he basically got the C.I.A. training while writing his book and then worked in restaurants gives him good perspective on his subjects. Also check out his blog.

I'm not much of a cook (mainly due to laziness) and have no desire to work in a restaurant but I feel like I have a new appreciation for the really hard work it takes to run and work in a restaurant.

My next food-related reading is on the life of Antonin Careme by Ian Kelly. Recommended: anything by Calvin Trillin, Bill Buford, Ruth Reichl, John Thorne.

depression eating

OK, I'm not really depressed but at the same time I haven't really felt like eating. I've been pretty busy but not that hungry or motivated by food. I have been eating too much fried chicken which always indicates lack of imagination since it's my fallback. I even accompanied co-workers to KFC on Oprah Grilled Chicken giveaway day and was completely disgusted by the KFC "crispy" chicken. Ugh, even their mashed potatoes were completely disgusting. I don't understand how they stay in business or why Oprah has aligned herself with them.

My car is making me depressed as the "Check Engine" light has now been on for over two years. How? do you say? How did you pass your emissions last year? Somehow by the skin of my teeth, apparently. Because about a week after I passed last year (after over $600 in repairs), the "Check Engine" light returned and has haunted me since. I've had it looked at by my trustier garage of several years and they found it was the same problem as last year - a faulty valve that costs $100 and is a piece of plastic doo-doo. This thing lasted 116 miles before it caused my "Check Engine" light to go back on this time. I'm just about out of money to be spending on my car right now.

I am eating egg salad because I don't feel like eating anything because of this bullshit. Ugh!!!!!