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Saturday, June 23, 2007

This Should Be, Uhm, Interesting

So I’ve gone and done it, hired a personal trainer (Nate) to help motivate me. We’ve met six times, and he’s given me a new workout routine (six days a week, two body parts a day) that’s supposed to build strength and pack on a little bit of muscle. Good so far, right? I realized after our second session how lazy I’d become at the gym--sure, when I didn’t travel I’d show up at the gym five or six times during the week, but that’s all I did, really. I haven’t asked for a spot in years, I’ve been so lax in my routine. Nate’s new program is going to hurt, but in the good way.

Not so good, the new nutrition program he’s put me on. A pre-workout glass o’ whey (two scoops of protein powder in water). A post-work glass o’ whey, one egg, two egg whites, a bowl of oatmeal, raisins, and almonds. Mid-morning snack, 200 calories. Lunch, 200 calories. Mid-afternoon snack, 200 calories. Dinner, 400 calories, no carbs. And my martini-and-a half (I traded in my fruit servings to eek out enough calories for the drinks). Obviously, Nate doesn’t braise.

So what’s a foodie to do?

Yesterday, day one, stream of consciousness:

“This protein shake doesn’t taste so bad. I could get used to this. But what a waste of the egg yolks, just tossing them out. And the eggs are nowhere near as pretty without the yellow. I’ll just use two eggs instead. And I think I’ll swap out the oatmeal for half of a sesame-dipped bagel and chive cream cheese, which is a perfect fat substitute for the almonds. Mid-morning snack? Hmm. This toffee mix from Trader Joe’s looks perfect. Ooh, and lunch at Cafe 28 with a vendor today. Chips and guacamole, and a Cubano sandwich and small salad--a tad over 200 calories, but I’ll make it up later. Mid-afternoon snack? Mark just brought in a six-pack of The Bitter End pale ale, I think I’ll have one. And dinner. Roast chicken with red potatoes--I know he said no starch, but they shouldn’t go to waste, and they absorb the fat from the chicken, causing less smoke as I roast. And a tomato gratin. Panko breadcrumbs aren’t really starch, are they? I’ll add some cheese, just to balance things out. And a glass of white wine. Teeny glass. Ah yes, and now time for the martinis.”

And now, this morning, day two:

“This protein shake doesn’t taste so bad. I could get used to this...”

Friday, June 22, 2007

Home Bistro

This just in, a recommendation from Devon on a great new restaurant. And if this is the Johncarl from the now dearly departed Urban Epicure, we’re in for a wonderful treat!

Home Bistro
Joncarl Lachman
Chef/owner
773.661.0299
www.homebistrochicago.com
3404 N. Halsted
Chicago IL 60657
USA

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

All Hail OpenTable!

I’m one of those people who would almost always prefer to make a reservation at a restaurant--and I consider restaurants that don’t take reservations to be customer-unfriendly. I don’t want to stand at the bar and drink and wait for a table, thank you. Or at least I don’t most nights.

So I love OpenTable: you can decide you want to dine as a party of four at 7:00 p.m. in Chicago on 9 July and the system gives you all the options available. Or you can refine your search in a variety of ways (by location, type of restaurant, etc.). Absolutely perfect for someone like me who needs to plan a business event and doesn’t want to make four or five phone calls to do it, or wait while a reservations agent talks to someone ahead of me in the queue, or call after 10 a.m. when someone’s in to take a reservation. OpenTable is a tool that makes my life a lot easier.

Here’s an example: D and I were in Manhattan a couple of months ago. I never would have called Union Square Cafe for a reservation because I’ve been so often disappointed there--they are very popular and reservations are hard to snag. But I checked on OpenTable and found that there was an opening available right at the time we wanted to dine. I snagged it immediately. And if it there hadn’t been an opening at Union Square, I could have booked something else.

It doesn’t hurt that many of my favorite restaurants are on OpenTable--Rendevous and Oleana in Cambridge, North Pond in Chicago, and many others. And though I generally still call osteria pane e salute to see if they have room when I want to dine there, I could make reservations there by email, as I can at my other local favorite, The Inn at Weathersfield. But elsewhere, give me OpenTable! And I’ll be really grateful.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Good Golly, Miss Molly

There are just certain things you don’t forget: your first kiss (second grade), the title of your favorite book of all time (The Palace Thief), the date of your commitment cocktail party (5 May 2002). And braising class with Molly Stevens (yesterday).

Michael and Molly had been talking for over a year about the possibility, and they finally found a date to make it happen. So off I went to Woodstock this past weekend for an afternoon-long class and reception and the added bonus of getting to spend some time catching up with Michael and Denise.

Molly prepared three dishes: butter-glazed radishes, red pine chicken over wilted spinach, and shortribs braised in porter ale with maple-rosemary glaze, all from her book All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking.  She also brought party potatoes from her book The 150 Best American Recipes. Woodstock Farmer’s Market provided a barley salad and a couscous salad, Caleb and Deidre from Pane and Salute created the appetizers, and Jason from The Inn at Wethersfield made the desserts. All proceeds from the dinner went to the support of the Vermont Fresh Network.

Roughly 15 of us gathered in Denise and Michael’s kitchen for the lesson. During that time I learned so much, it’s hard to even begin to get everything onscreen. Here, in a glorious sprawl:

• Regarding salt, Molly uses coarse kosher salt primarily. It’s easier to work with than table salt, has less sodium, and doesn’t stick to your fingers. She salts throughout the cooking, not just at the end.
• Regarding oil, Molly uses two types: peanut oil for high-temperature cooking and extra virgin olive oil (two grades).
• Molly keeps a fresh bay leaf tree at home: bring it out in the summer, in in the winter.
• The best way to peel ginger is with a teaspoon. The spoon can reach into all of the crevices of the root more efficiently than a knife or peeler.
• White, black, and green peppercorns all come from the same, well, pepper. Green peppercorns are underripe and white peppercorns are cultivated past ripening and stripped of their exterior. White pepper is more intense but less complex in flavor.
• When you’re using parchment in the braising stage, crumple it before you lay it over the pot. The crumpling will help the paper to sit low and close to the food for a wonderful braise.
• Silicone, good. Run, don’t walk, to Sur La Table for that basting brush you’ve been thinking about buying.
• Wood cutting boards, good--you can feel the blade bite when you’re cutting. Melamine, bad. Epicurean boards go into the dishwasher, don’t warp, and are pretty enough to present food on.
• Try to put as few miles on your food as possible. Buy local when you can, and learn about the people who grow the produce and raise the poultry and livestock.

And what can I say about Molly herself, other than she was charming, gracious, and an absolute delight. I’d asked her whether she’d ever considered starting her own restaurant--she replied that she had thought of it and of the possibility of doing food TV ... and thought better of it. In teaching people to cook and in preparing meals for them, she was doing exactly what she loved. I thought to myself, me too. And thanks to Molly, I can do it a little better.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I’m Not Sure It Ever Left

This afternoon’s New York Times online cover story proclaimed that fat’s moved back to the center of the plate. Thank goodness, I was beginning to miss it. Honestly, fat carries flavor. And reading about this makes me think about all of the wonderful different variations I can think of in preparing Mario Battali’s porchetta. Dry rubs, wet rubs. Rub a dub dub! Spices, fragrant spices, permeating the air and seeping into every room of the house as the pork slowly roasts through the night. And then the rich result ... yes yes yes oh, baby, yes. I mention the article about the Momofuku Ssam Bar to business partner, friend, partner-in-cook Michael, who says “of course, same guy who owns Fatty Crab. We need to land an account in New York so we can go there.” Yes yes yes oh, baby, yes.