9 posts tagged “food”
What question do you hate being asked?
Are you a vegetarian? I radiate a faux vegetarian persona. It has dogged me since forever, and I swear I could be chowing down a hot dog and I would still be asked if I was a veggie. I don't quite know how someone can 'look like a vegetarian' but I apparently do. Given that I love meat, and am about as far removed from vegetarianism you can get this is rather annoying. Yes I am pale, but I am BRITISH not anemic. Do I dress like a veggie? Is it the Birkenstocks, natural fibres and the multiple earrings? You know carnivores get things pierced and enjoy sensible sandals. A few weeks ago a group of us from work went out for lunch, to accommodate a veggie we went to a veggie restaurant nearby and of course at the last moment the veggie had to stay behind so we were all condemned to tofu and beansprouts. The restaurant was good but the portions were lacking. I had pasta with pumpkin and asparagus. It was tasty but could have done with some chicken, a nice lamb chop or even some tofu to bulk it up. If you're serving veggie food the least you can do is pack the dishes with lots of vegetables (and perhaps cheese) don't treat the asparagus like a truffle or a garnish.
I have fallen down the rabbit hole that is VFest. Toronto is my favourite festival for a number of reasons: climate (temperate not sweltering), the people (Canadians are uber friendly and polite), the setting (Toronto Island is a park so it is green with plenty of real bathrooms) and the VIP buffet. You can only truly appreciate a good buffet when you've been held prisoner for 12 hours with regular festival fare. This year the food options included gourmet mac and cheese, roast beef or pork with a baked potato, a salad bar (veggies are generally in short supply), and a selection of deserts with coffee. I ate everything. In fact, I had to take my mac and cheese to go so that I could snack on it back in the tent.
This is my fifth festival with Unite, and you have to be smart about making sure that you have enough fuel to see you through a 12 hour day on your feet chatting with the public. For brekkie I had scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, and a fruit salad then instead of having a pastry I had a bowl of porridge*. I figured that since oats are slowing burning they would keep me going until the buffet opened at 4pm. As you can see figuring out were my next meal is coming from is more important than catching a band. Today I wasn't that bothered about the music I could here the Fratellis from the tent, and I caught a bit of Bloc Party. I decided to split before The Kooks and Foo Fighters because I was having withdrawal issues from being away from the internet, plus tomorrow is going to be a big day for Brit pop - Sterophonics, Paul Weller and Oasis.
Our building has started having a mini-farmers market in the foyer on Sunday mornings. This is a huge blessing when you are bleary eyed and in desperate need of baked goods, and don't want to get out of your pajamas. Minutes after I had woken up I stumbled down in search of a scone or muffin to go with our hot chocolate (the morning beverage of choice for those avoiding coffee), and I guess in my weaken state everything looked good. I ended up purchasing two apple danish (very yummy), two orange brioche (for tomorrow's breakfast), a loaf, and four peppered lemon soles. I get back to the apartment and Alex's gives me the look of "You went down for pastries and came back with fish! Is your krytonite fresh produce? Does it render you powerless?".
Yes, and you should be thankful they didn't have any preserves or chutneys!
Alex and I love dessert. We both have extremely sweet teeth, and will always find room for something drizzled in chocolate. Over our anniversary dinner last month we had a weighty discussion about rankings because we felt that when presented with a choice of puddings a lot of factors come into play before we "over thinkers" can make a decision. Is there custard or cream, a new twist on an old favourite, is there fruit or a wild card lurking? What is our tipping point?
Location is also a big factor. Pie and cake are okay in a home setting but don't cut the mustard in a restaurant, and we designated them part of the fall back bottom tier. The cake to our left is one of our favourite treats to bring home from Bruno's Bakery. What is not to love about it - pastry, jam, sponge, cream and fruit! However we look for other things when we are out, and then there are the terrible treats that we consider to be over-rated. For instance madeleines (stale sponge fingers), cup cakes, chocolate fondue (always more fun in theory) and cannoli (the worst offender of all). People go gaga over these cripsy tubes filled with something that isn't sweet enough, and I just don't get it.
We think that there is a science to picking the most agreeable dessert from a menu. A lot of things to be weighed up, and a strict hiearchy that is occassionly toppled by a wild card. Many is the time when a home made pistachio gelato or a selection of sorbets can topple the gooiest of puds. Here is our first crack at back of the envelope rankings:
Ivy League Desserts (worth the risk of inducing a diabetic coma)
Hard to describe as they tend to be innovative and not something you would think of, like -
Pylos' tower of phyllo triangle filed with Greek custard and drizzled with cinamon and Greek honey - DELISH!
Louvre's chocolate pyramid - life saving for weary sightseers
The Generally More Tempting Tier
Syrup Sponge & Custard
Molten Chocolate Gooey Something
A Serious Take on Bread & Butter Pud
Crepes
Mince Pies with Custard or Clotted Cream
Creme Brulee
Tiramisu
Profiteroles
Safety Tier (no surprises)
Trifle
Chocolate Mousse
Cheesecake
Emergency Fall Back Bottom Tier (when nothing else sparks your interest)
Lemon Meringue Pie
Fruit Crumble or Pie
Cakes of all flavours
Wildcards:
Gelato
Sorbet
Catching up with the Archers and testing out the Cornell note taking system. The verdict is that I love it because it streamlines my note taking and forces me to think about the bigger themes of each topic. Man those peeps Cornellians really know a thing or two! I have Alex to thank for introducing me to it as he heard about it in a pod cast, and I would love to spend the summer converting my notes from the first year of my course into the Cornell format, but we'll see if I actually get round to that because I am planning on trying to learn Latin come summer. There has been a little bit of a bruohaha over the Cambridge Latin course. Personally I think it sounds like a great place to start and I intend to order the first book after my May exams. It looks like a more holistic (and fun) approach to the language and it comes with DVDs! Can't think of a better way to spend my summer Fridays.
I guess I better go take a shower as we are finally venturing out of the apartment for dinner at Lupa. I foolishly made the reservation a month ago (such is New York life) without checking the all important return of Jack Bauer - bless DVR! Oh and my Mum drew my attention to this article in the Sunday Times and it is oh so true.
I am tried. (So tired that I can't spell.)
I started cooking at 9am and pretty much stayed in the kitchen till we ate at 5-ish. I am confused how Alex - who slept later than me and wasn't on his feet in the kitchen grating, peeling, zesting, roasting and dipping - is claiming to be fatigued as well. But I suspect the wine and whisky might play some part.
Even though I do say so myself the food was awesome. In the end I made the chicken (times two as they were wee) stuffed with couscous (plus dried blueberries and cranberries and almonds) on the sweet potato stovie, cranberry and orange cornbread stuffing (on the side), turnips with butter and nutmeg, brussel sprouts and roasted potatoes and parsnips. For pudding I russled up Baileys bread and banana pudding with crem fresh - delish!
Very much looking forward to leftovers tomorrow and a full day hitting the books. Augustus here I come!
I have survived running the pre-Thanksgiving grocery gauntlet. We have enough food to feed a small Roman legion and I even managed not to loose it over sweet potatoes in Whole Foods. I had a crisis of root vegetables, some confusion on my part on if there was a difference between a yam and a sweet potato. I thought I was loosing my mind as I kept circling the fresh produce section on the look out for some sweet potato sign-age when all I could see were yams, yams and more yams. Oh, and of course marshmallows to go on top.
One of the shows that Alex and I have really been getting into is Dexter.
It is such a good adaptation of the Jeff Lindsay novels and Michael C.
Hall is mesmerising as the sympathetic serial killer. My reason for
mentioning this is that when ever I cook my food looks like Dexter hashad a go at it. Lots of little slashes to check to see if it is cooked through.
