I went down to Allentown this weekend to clean out my Grammy and Pop Pop’s house. Jean, Pete, Mike, Lesley and Andrea were all there too.
Grammy has always been a seamstress, she was the person who taught me to sew. She still sews Christmas stockings. Anyway, I found so many neat things there! I found an old sewing book, TONS of fabric and a Singer monogrammer. I can’t wait to use everything.
I found these cookbooks tucked away. They are from the mid-50’s and I am so excited to read through them and check out all the culinary gems inside. We also found a whole slew of special edition bottles of whiskey (emptied out by my Pop Pop some years ago).
Monthly Archive for February, 2006
I stayed up until midnight last night only to see Sasha Cohen blow her chance at gold. Dear Sasha, America hates you. Think about what you did-ten minutes in the corner. Arakawa totally deserved to win, she was absolutely flawless.
All that ice got me to thinking about Rita’s Water Ice back home in Pennsylvania. Since most people have no idea what I mean when I saw “water ice,” let me break it down for you.
A water ice is sort of like a more solid version on your standard 7-11 variety slushy, but without the little bits of ice and it must be eaten with a spoon. Rita’s goes one further and throws in some chunks of real fruit in certain flavors like strawberry and blueberry. If you want to get fancy, you can put 2 different flavors in one cup. I’ve always been a straight one-flavor kind of gal, or I’ll get a gelati. A gelati is soft serve custard (like gelato) on the bottom of the cup, topped with water ice, then crowed with another dollop of custard. My favorites are strawberry and rootbeer gelatis.
Every year, Rita’s has a free water ice day to kick off the water ice season. This was a huge deal in Collegeville, PA. We would skip lacrosse practice to take advantage of this amazing offer. Everyone in town was there waiting to dig into the first water ice of the year. It’s that good people!
So, I was reading Restaurant Business Magazine and they had a little blurb about sliders (slyders), which got me hungry for one. I’m planning a venture up to White Castle tonight (insert Harold and Kumar joke here-I never saw the movie). I was also looking for other joints that have sliders-Sassy’s sucks, but I will eat there anyway cause I think sliders are adorable.
White Castle Double Cheeseburger
Anyway, I stumbled upon The Stanton Social online. How have I never been here?!?!? They have Kobe beef sliders, pierogies, crab “corn dogs” and a slew of other delectable dishes. I am going by this Sunday and will give a full report when I do. I also need to check out Burke in the Box, David Burke’s place in Bloomingdale’s. They too have a slider on an english muffin aptly named “Cheeseburkers.” har har, Mr. Burke.
So, I went to see Dirty on Purpose play Friday night — good show, good times. Anyway, at the afterparty in Brooklyn, someone ordered from a place called Anytime. I was delighted to see tater tots on the menu and even more so when they arrived. I subsequently threw up, through no fault of the tot.
I adore restaurants that carry comfort food, which got me thinking of Mr. Danny Meyer of course. At Blue Smoke, you can order deviled eggs better than my grammy can make! And warm BBQ chips with blue cheese sauce. It’s fantastic. But what really lifted my skirt today is that Shake Shack (also Danny Meyer’s) is opening soon:
as evinced by this ticker. I can’t wait to stuff a burger in my meat-hole. I think it may be my favorite fast food burger this side of In-N-Out. Now if we could only get In-N-Out and Yocco’s Hot Dogs here, I would be the happiest little lady in the state.
So, I was looking online at who knows what & I stumbled across a recipe for Cowboy Cookies at allrecipes. I became very interested in where the name “cowboy cookies” comes from. Are cowboys known for their cookies? I looked at a couple of recipes and they all seem to be a basic chocolate chip-type dough with the addition of rolled oats. Some recipes have additional ingredients like m&ms or various nuts, sometimes butterscotch chips.
The only explanation I found for the peculiar name is that these cookies contain ingredients that are usually found in trail mix. I also found that politicians seem to have an affinity for these particular pastries; Laura Bush has a recipe for them and so does David Beasley, former governor of SC. Laura’s seems pretty yummy, Mr. Beasley’s does not.
I have my own take on these & I call them Clint (as in Eastwood) Cookies, which are just as delicious as their namesake circa The Good the Bad the Ugly. I use oats, chocolate chips, coconut, and walnuts in my recipes. I won’t give you my recipe, but I will bake them for you if you ask nicely.
So, it appears that I haven’t written anything in a year. Sorry.
I’m really excited about this book:
It is translated from French & was written by Herme This (pronounced Thees). He is the only person who has a doctorate in Molecular Gastronomy because he totally made that field up. Nonetheless, I want to read it.
I just came back from Philly and ate at a really cute diner, Morning Glory, with Buster. Speaking of Philly, is anyone else excited about Stephen Starr coming to New York? I sure am. He has several amazing restaurants in Philly and now he is going to pounce on the New York scene. Morimoto (the same Morimoto from Iron Chef) is already open and Buddakan is going to open soon. It turns out I know the pastry chef there.
I heard about the recently opened Aspen bar/restaurant that is supposed to feel like a lodge, and thought it was right up my alley. I tried to check it out with my friend Doll, who makes amazing wedding cakes, but alas they were closed for a private party. Too bad.
