Food Porn Alert

When I set this blog up I intended to post some things about some of the stuff I cook along the way (you've already read my treatise on the Holy Trinity of cereals). Cooking has always been a really important aspect of my lifestyle. Even if it's a crazy day I try to make a home cooked meal, no matter how simple or quick. I can thank my parents for my love of cooking and of food. I grew up in the country and mom always had a huge garden in the backyard for a number of years. She would make our bread and rolls, go for locally raised eggs and farm produce, and look for large cuts of meat which we would butcher up ourselves. A lot of it had do to do with saving money, I'm sure, but it really did give me a good perspective on how to buy and to cook. When I was 5, mom and dad began their catering business out of opportunity and they kept it going until I was about 18 or 19.

Outside of the very unfortunate health food kick that mom went on in the late 1970's, I have very fond memories of cooking with her or family meals in general (the health food phase was not ideal, especially the time mom made dandelion salad, but didn't realize you eat the GREENS AND NOT THE STEMS, not the other way around).

We didn't go out much for dinner, but when we did, it was always a special event and there was nothing off limits on the menu in general. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, you'll remember fine dining was quite a bit different than it is now. There were some pretty predictable standards (prime rib, duck a l'orange, and the one I always coveted - surf 'n turf), but it was what my childhood memories are about eating out. A few weeks ago I wanted to recreate that kind of special feeling from my youth and decided that last night I was going Old School with the surf and turf for Heidi and me.

The thing is, lobster is pretty cheap if you know where to shop. The asian supermarkets usually sell it for $5.99 a pound and they offer full beef tenderloins for $4.99 a pound. The latter is only good if you know how to butcher it up (which, thanks to Dad working in a butcher shop when he was a kid and my copy of The New Professional Chef, I do). I decided to go over the top with Oysters Rockefeller, since that was always a predictable appetizer at such fine establishments as Red Lobster.

After running around yesterday getting all the ingredients - and cursing Giant Food for the decision to stop carrying oysters (jackasses) and tracking down the one lobster that escaped from the bag in my car when I finally found the oysters at a seafood market, I got started. I got up to my apartment and realized, hmmm....I bought two lobsters, I had two lobsters in my bag, I have one lobster in my apartment. Head back to car in garage, retrieve the roach of the sea and lay everything out - here are the before pictures.





and the final meal:





All in all, I think I spent under $35 for dinner for two that included oysters, lobster, and filet mignon. The sides were potatoes fondant and spinach with nutmeg. I was a fun meal to make and to share. It definitely made me feel like a little kid who was trying to act all posh and grown up.

Food is a great way for me to recreate some of the very special times I had growing up when things like going out to dinner were certainly a luxury. Plus I'm now getting very good at muscling my way in at the fish counter at the Asian market so I can fight the little old ladies and little old men who are loading up on $1.99 a pound live blue crab or these lobsters. The fish at some of these markets, really are superior to the ones sold at twice the price at Whole Foods.

Next food related post will probably be related to the Julia Child party that keeps getting postponed. All guests will bring something that is published in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Crazy people scare me

Washington DC is a strange place. I, like others I'm sure, assumed that this was probably one of the most sophisticated and intellectual towns in the country growing up. I think, to some degree, it is - you have a wide array of academics, lobbyists, politicians obviously, think tanks, and really smart policy people (like really smart health policy folks....guess what I do for a living?), but it's also home to some really weird people. I'm not talking quirky, I can deal with quirky - Hell, I'm quirky. I'm talking flat out weird, and not in the endearing sense.

Case in point - yesterday I'm leaving an appointment I had out in the 'burbs and am approached by a woman who asks me if I know how to fill a tire. I figure, she's older, looks distressed, sure, I'll help her. As we are walking throught he wooded area between the office buildings I'm envisioning cadaver dogs finding my body sometime next week, so I decide to let her lead.

We walk up to her beater Dodge pickup truck and as she is dragging over this rusty ass air tank she got from God knows where I'm thinking it's probably the dry rot on these tires that is causing the air to leak, not a vandal as she is so adamantly claiming. Short story - tires barely hold air and as I'm trying to explain that she probably should invest in new tires, she blurts out "well, either it's a bad tank or you didn't do it right. Thanks anyway, I guess." Wait..what? Really lady?

As you can tell from my initial post, I'm two-thirds of the way through a mandatory separation period before my wife and I can file for divorce. During this period we agreed that we could date if we wished. I posted a profile on a popular free dating site on the urging of a friend and started really getting a lot of interest after a few weeks. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Yes, there were the random people that creeped me out a bit, but I was, for the most part, getting some interesting women contacting me. Not being in the dating scene for 16 years, I figured, hey, this is encouraging. I decided that I would go out on a few dates. Worst case, I get a friend out of it right?

First date...the woman tells me she's a single mother. No problem. I'm a single dad. I didn't realize she meant she was a single mother AS OF THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE DATE! She shows up with a 3 week old infant...to the date.

Second date...woman shows up drunk...to a lunch date...during the work week. Date over.

Third date...woman is older, 42, I think and proceeds to explain to me ever terrible thing her ex did and how she likes to go out on double dates with her 20 year old son. Ummm.....yeah...no.

And there were plenty others. I really figured I'd have a good time with this one girl on June 20th, but that it really wouldn't go much further. She seemed cool and I figured she's an outdoorsy kinda person, we could totally do stuff like that as friends.

....we've been together 4 months now and it keeps getting better.

The Holy Trinity - or my Crusade Has Ended

Today I was at the grocery store stocking up on stuff for home cooked meals (we made a pact that next week is our healthy week - no junk food and we go to the gym every day) and I ran across the most amazing find - the Trifecta of Halloween Cereals......

....ladies and Gentlemen...I humbly bring you Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry.

It's been about 30 years since I've seen these three fellows together. I remember the urban legend that said Boo Berry and Frankenberry were carcinogenic and that they were pulled from the market. In reality, I believe the company couldn't in good conscience continue to sell these kiddie crack cereals (remember, there was a cereal literally called "Sugar Smacks"). The B-F-CC cereals have been seasonal as far as I can tell, but I have not had the pleasure of seeing this most fortunate reunion until today.

I abandoned my cart in the middle of the aisle and began the agonizing process of choosing which of these fine rakes to bring home. I can always get Count Chocula. He has a place on the shelf reserved for him 365 days a year. The other two, however, were a different story. Pink berries or blue? Artifical weapons grade chemical berry, or well....different weapons grade berry?

I did what any devoted follower would do...I purchased them all. They were a steal at $1.88 each. Do you know what a box of Kashi costs these days? It's all cereal, people.

I have to confess, over the past few years I all but gave up my quest, resigned to the sad realization that my boys were gone for good. While I could remain hopeful, I feared in the darkest hours my memory of the three ghouls of the grain were to be just that - a faded memory formed in a 6 year old's mind.

This Halloween is going to be the best....ever.

H1 to the N1

So I've been doing a lot of thinking about this whole swine flu thing since I have a morbid fascination with pandemics. I think at one point I had polished off 4 books consecutively on either the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic or the Black Death. This is the guy who was giddy the day he saw that google had a map application plotting all the known cases of H1N1.

Most of my most vocal opinions on the subject of widespread infection have been, for the most part, downplayed by friends and family. However, I had a pretty in-depth discussion last night with a friend who is a biologist and works in the infectious disease field (and on this issue directly). Turns out, she's, in her words "a little freaked out." This in turn, freaks me out even more.

My plans at this moment are to continue to keep my apartment well stocked and connected in case our offices and stores start closing down or a significant part of the population falls ill at the same time.

...and really, the plan is not much different than preparing for a widespread zombie uprising, is it?

Finally joining the egotistical world of blogging

I've finally decided to begin blogging since I know you have all been saying "why doesn't Top share with us everything in his life?" You may sense an air of sarcasm in this post as I've always had a slight contempt for blogs, but since I'm never going to actually finish my book, this may be the closest I get to publishing anything. I envision this to be part life musings, part food porn since I have a love affair with cooking and have been doing a ton of it lately (including fresh pasta and all things pork).

For those of you that know me from back in NJ, a lot has changed after I left. I went to college in VA and stayed down here ever since. I am a single father of two incredible kids aged 5 and 8. Their mom and I remain committed to raising them together despite our differences. I'm a Director in the DC office for a large biopharmaceutical company and when not working or parenting, enjoy cooking, SCUBA, and a lot of outdoor activities. I'm currently living in Arlington, VA but hope to buy a house closer to my kids in the next year. I'm also dating a really great woman who enjoys a lot of the same things I do.

So with that background, keep checking back for more random thoughts and food postings. I plan on updating at least twice a week. For those of you on Facebook, I'll post there when I update.