At first, I was thinking about baking six loaves of bread. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I had a more rational thought: muffins. But then, I thought – muffins? So boring, right? I need to step it up. So, I settled on BIG muffins. Big Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins with Cream Cheese frosting, to be exact. Something I’d swap for. Something I might keep, now that I think about it.

And since I really like to mix things up, I’ve decided to bring three pairs of giant muffins (wow, that doesn’t sound right), and three containers of Indian-spiced hummus.  You know me and hummus.

I met FSC Christina at yesterday’s Schenectady Greenmarket (they were the day’s Local Expert), and I ran my ideas by her. She told me that cookies and brownies and those kinds of items don’t go over very well at swaps (“it’s not a bake sale”, she said), but that muffins and hummus would be just fine. Christina is wicked cool, and I’m so excited that FSC will be coming to Schenectady! Y’all better give her a warm welcome.

What’s cool about this food swap – since it’s new to Schenectady – is that they’re offering 20 “SWAP Curious” tickets to folks who just want to come and scope out the scene, and be sure they know what they’re doing before getting involved in an actual swap.

Me, I just dive right in the deep end of the cold pool while ripping off the Band-Aids.

As of this writing, there are only 8 SWAP tickets (and 17 “SWAP Curious” tickets) left – GET YOURS HERE

If you’re going to the swap, let me know so I can say hello!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

As an added incentive for you to buy a ticket, I will be one of the amateur chefs! I’ll be serving samples of my “Black & White Hummus” – black bean hummus served alongside classic white hummus.

I spent most of today in the kitchen of the B&G Club, making the hummus. It’s amazing how much time it takes to prepare enough food for 200 servings! My hummus recipes take about 15 minutes (tops) to make at home, but it took me FOUR HOURS to make two pans of hummus! The most tedious part was picking the leaves off seven bunches of cilantro. Holy crap that was tedious. But, I think the results will speak for themselves.

The participants will be competing against each other in a few categories:

• Professionals: Pasta Dish, Appetizer, Entrée, Soup, Dessert
• Amateurs: Appetizer/Entrée, Pasta Dish and Dessert

I was told today that it’s a friendly competition, and that it’s all for fun, but I am in it to win it. Go big or go home!

Seriously, I am excited to be taking part in such a fun event. I hope to see some of you there! Let me know if you’ll be coming, and be sure to stop by and say hello if you do! I’ll share photos of the event on Tuesday.

I’d like to extend a very special thank you to the manager on duty at the Clifton Park Hannaford store yesterday. I needed to buy 40 cans of beans (as well as limes, lemons, and cilantro), and he helped me clear the shelves and was super nice about the whole thing. He even gave me a peek into the back of the store – which was fascinating in its emptiness (a story for another time). Thank you, nameless manager! I’ll make sure to figure out your name and thank you personally next time I’m in the store. 

I’ve been a little under the weather for the past week; last Friday, I underwent septoplasty surgery to correct a “grossly deviated” septum. My right nostril was almost 100% blocked, which means I haven’t been able to breathe properly since I don’t know when. Truthfully, I don’t know when – I have no clue when my septum took a sharp right turn. My guess is that it stems from facial trauma I suffered during a car accident in 2001, when my car was totaled and my airbags deployed. But why didn’t I notice a problem then? Again, I can only venture a guess here, but my thinking is that I didn’t notice any problems with breathing through my nose until a few years ago, when I moved in with my husband and was introduced to his hairy demon from hell cat. I am, apparently, allergic to long-haired cats, and the allergies made my poor respiration that much more noticeable and frustrating.

Anyway, since the procedure, I’ve been suffering from mild pain, swelling, congestion, and general malaise. It took five days and an entire bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol for me to feel even remotely human again. It was awful. I’m not even allowed to blow my nose! But probably the worst part of this ordeal was the fact that I had lost my senses of smell and taste due to the considerable swelling of my nasal tissue (No joke. For a while there my nose was looking like Shrek’s). I’d been restricted to a “soft foods” diet, which really didn’t bother me too much because I couldn’t smell or taste anything anyway. In fact, the removal of my two favorite senses made me completely disinterested in food (!!) – so much so that I really wasn’t eating much. I actually lost 5 pounds in the past week because food just seemed like such a waste of time and effort. I was hungry, but hunger pains weren’t enough to entice me to merely ingest calories. Food without taste is just stupid.

Yesterday I felt pretty good – no pain, and I even ventured out of the house for a bit to do some desperately-needed clothes shopping. And today was even better: I had a late afternoon appointment to remove the splints that were inserted into my nose. After an uncomfortable few minutes (imagine someone rooting around inside your nostrils with a giant pair of metal tweezers and a penlight and extracting two Star Wars action figures holding fully extended light sabers, followed by strong suction to whisk away compacted mucus), I experienced something I haven’t experienced in more than four years: full breaths passing through clear nasal passages. It was a minor miracle. My doctor cautioned that my bliss would be temporarily short-lived, however; the congestion would return after about 10-12 hours, followed by another week of slight congestion, after which I should be back to normal. Well, better than normal: actually able to breathe fully through both nostrils. But I still can’t blow my nose for another week or so.

The best part of today: my senses of smell and taste made a reappearance. Not 100% restored, but enough for me to feel like eating and drinking some stuff, just to take my senses for a spin during my window of opportunity. Luckily for me, today was the Downtown Schenectady Merchant Mashup, a neat little event where downtown Schenectady restaurants set up inside downtown retailers for the evening and offer free samples of their menu items. There were eleven restaurant/retail pairings throughout downtown, and I wanted to visit as many as I could in the hour I had to enjoy it. The weather was gorgeous, and the event was really fun, even if I was by myself.  My little trip is documented after the jump.

Welcome to Jay Street!

• Taj Mahal Restaurant @ Zaria & Bella’s: Chicken Tandoori (Chicken marinated in a variety of Indian spices) and Masala Vada (Vegetarian crispy snack made of lentils/spinach and spices). The tandoori was perfect: bright pink/red, cooked until it was juicy and falling off the bone, and with enough spice to make my tongue tingle. The flavor of the masala vada was good, but it suffered temperature and crispness problems from sitting out in a hotel pan for too long. Taj Mahal is a great Indian restaurant, and a favorite among downtown workers looking for a cheap, delicious lunch. I must apologize to the proprietors of Zaria & Bella’s – I never made it inside.
• Tara Kitchen @ New York Folklore Society: Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Dip; Grilled Ground Chicken Kebab with Pomegranate Seeds.  Probably my favorite stop of the evening. I am a huge fan of Tara Kitchen, and I’m thrilled that their little Moroccan restaurant is doing so well since its opening a few months back. Moroccan food is a vivid mosaic of savory, sweet, and spicy flavors, keeping your mouth guessing as to what’s coming up next. The chicken kebab were flavorful (if a tad dry), but Tara Kitchen really hit one out of the park with the eggplant dip. Creamy, spicy, salty. I didn’t detect any pomegranate seeds, but I didn’t really realize that until later.  If you’re interested in checking out this new Schenectady treasure, I’d do it sooner rather than later: they got a great review in the recent issue of Metroland, and people will be crowding the few tables there for the foreseeable future.
• Cafe NOLA @ The Open Door Bookstore: Crawfish Jambalaya – crawfish tail meat and andouille sausage blended with fresh herbs, spices and rice. Pretty good, with a nice kick. I haven’t had crawfish since my high school trip to N’awlins back in ’86.
• Cornell’s Restaurant @ Patricia’s Room: Utica greens (sauteed spinach with garlic and onions, cherry peppers, cappicola), and vegetarian ratatouille (summer squash and zucchini simmered with tomato sauce). I had never had Utica greens before today, and now I’m sorry I’ve wasted so much time. They were fantastic! Nicely spicy, but not overpowering the earthy spinach flavor. I am a convert. The ratatouille was good; not great, just good.
• Bastardo’s Bistro @ From Here to Antiquity: Entrée with layers of chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan and roasted peppers. Bastardo’s is a recent addition to Schenectady’s Little Italy section (such as it is), opening about six months ago. Their menu looks like pretty standard red-sauce Italian fare, moderately priced. The sample they served me was really tasty, and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be heading there for lunch one of these days.
• Manhattan Exchange @ Downtown Designs – Turkey Club Wrap. Neat little shop, so-so sandwich.
• Apostrophe Café @ Anthology Studio: Homemade brownies, coffee samples. Not a whole lot of effort shown here by Apostrophe, but Anthology Studio is a beautiful space and their flowers are spectacular.

Places I didn’t hit:

• The Alto Grille @ Bliss Gifts and Home Decor: Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothies
• Pinhead Susan’s @ The Katbird Shop: Irish Stew
• Katie O’Byrne’s @ Lennon’s Irish Shop: Guinness Irish Stew (really? two places serving Irish stew?)
• Moon & River Café @ Orenda Yoga & Healing Arts: Basmati Rice Pilaf, special iced tea blend

The event was pretty great; it was so nice to see downtown Schenectady filled with people on a beautiful Friday evening. There was delicious food, live music, booming business, and a festive atmosphere – everything the event planners were hoping for. Congratulations to the folks at Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation for a job well done. I took a bunch of photos; they’re in the gallery below.

If you missed tonight’s festivities, you’ll have another shot in August: the DSIC is planning another Merchant Mashup for the third Friday in August. You can get updates about it, and other downtown events, by checking out their website, www.downtownschenectady.org.

Me? I’m just happy to be on the upswing of recovery. I’ve got a ticket to tomorrow night’s Urban Roots local food/beer event at Brown’s Brewing in Troy, and I am excited to have use of my senses again in time to enjoy it.

I was literally sick after sampling a dozen cupcakes on Saturday, as part of the Great Albany Cupcake Tasting. Some of them really were sickening, as it turns out.

Daniel B. planned this tasting event, as a way of finally deciding once and for all which cupcakery can claim dominance over the others in the Albany market. The bakeries selected to be part of the tasting were selected from the four most recognizable names in the Albany cupcake scene – the ones with the cupcake trucks. The bakeries: Bettie’s Cakes, Sweet Temptations, Coccadotts, and Fluffalicious.

I’m not going to bore you with all of the details of the tasting, but I’ll give you a rundown, and then share with you a gallery of the competition cupcakes.

• This was a blind tasting; none of us knew which cupcakes belonged to which bakeries (though some of us had out suspicions)
• The bakeries had no idea they were going to be part of the tasting; orders were placed earlier in the week, and picked up on Saturday morning. Everyone invited to the tasting was sworn to secrecy so that none of the bakeries would be tipped off.
• We all paid for the cupcakes we ate and the milk we drank; nothing was given to us for free.
• We tasted cupcakes from the four bakeries in three categories – Round 1 was vanilla cake/vanilla buttercream; Round 2 was chocolate cake; chocolate buttercream; Round 3 was Specialty Cupcake: Peanut Butter Cup. We judged on cake, topping/frosting, and overall appeal.
• The flavors were chosen as a way to see if the bakery can handle the basics (Rounds 1 and 2), and also to see how they do with a fancier local favorite (Round 3).
• Each Round had a winner, and then gave each bakery a ranking (1-4) in cake, topping, and overall.
• There was a very clear winner (Bakery A), and 2 very clear losers (Bakeries B and C). The losers were both pretty bad, and seemed to be only marginally separated score-wise. The fourth (Bakery D) was not very good, but better than the bottom 2, and not nearly as good as the winner. I’ll let Daniel reveal the names of the winners and losers.
• It’s pretty safe to say that I am done – DONE – with cupcakes (and cake) for a good long while. I was sooooo sick on Saturday afternoon from all the sugar.

It was brilliant of Daniel to keep this tasting a secret; we panelists were able to sample the cupcakes that they were offering for sale to average customers. I know bakeries are capable of putting out high-quality products, if they know they’ll be judged. We got to see some of the normal products that anyone walking in off the street could buy on a typical Saturday morning. And it was not pretty.

I was actually quite appalled at what a couple of the bakeries let out the doors. Really, they should be ashamed to give them away, let alone charge $3 or $4 per cupcake. I ate vanilla buttercream that tasted like black pepper, buttercream that tasted like it had gone bad, and buttercream that was crusty and hard. I ate cake that had obviously been sitting out for days. Cake that was obviously stale. Cake that was overcooked and tough. There is NO EXCUSE for this. None. Except laziness and complacency, and those are terrible excuses.  You bakery owners better stop resting on your laurels and start making some quality products, if you plan on staying in business much longer. Cupcakes will always have a place in bakeries, but I can assure you that the cupcake trend will go away someday (soon, I hope), and you won’t be able to get away with peddling inferior products just because they’re trendy.

The best part of the day? Getting to meet and taste with such notable folks as DerryX, Val & Drew, and others. I’m sorry I didn’t get to mingle around more; though I did get to chat with AOA Greg, too, which was great.

You can get the full tabulation of scores and the winners over at All Over Albany when it’s posted; I’ll link over there as soon as I get word that the scores are up.

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The official tally is live, but I’ll give you the short story, for the record:

• Bakery A – Fluffalicious (WINNER)
• Bakery B – Sweet Temptations (LOSER)
• Bakery C – Bettie’s Cakes (3rd Place)
• Bakery D – Coccadotts (2nd Place)

These cute and fuzzy bunnies tell it like it is. Sorry, Christopher Kimball. I think you’re great, but this is hysterical.

Props to Laura Zigman for the video – and my apologies for the previous lack of attribution, Laura! Folks – we have a NYT Bestselling author reading this blog now, so BEHAVE YOURSELVES. Please.

I saw a forum post recently, asking readers to submit their nominations for menu items that need to…well, need to just go away. You know – those items that have outlived their usefulness on American menus. Items that every restaurant fell over themselves trying to create a “signature” version of. Well, my nominations are here.

1. Cupcakes. I think I’ve said my piece on this subject. But no one seems to be listening; cupcake shops and cupcake buses just keep popping up everywhere, with no end in sight.
2. Mac & Cheese. White Cheddar Mac & Cheese. Four-Cheese Mac & Cheese. Lobster Mac & Cheese. We get it, we get it. Your “spin on a classic comfort food”. 
3. Sliders
4. Grilled/glazed/planked salmon. Enough already. Don’t you know the damage that salmon overfishing is doing to fish populations? Plus, it’s a smelly, fishy fish, and I’m convinced people only like it because they think it makes them seem sophisticated. It doesn’t.
5. Surf and Turf. That combo went out of style with 8-tracks and macrame.
6. Wings
7. Fried Calamari
8. Caprese Salad, anytime other than tomato season. I mean, really. Who wants to eat slabs of cold, flavorless tomatoes?
9. Paninis. Everyone makes them, hardly anyone makes them well. These days, anyone with a George Foreman Grill thinks they run a panineria.
10. Tiramisu. Now, I love tiramisu. I even have my own award-winning recipe. But, it’s such a stupid-easy recipe that it really doesn’t belong on restaurant menus. Challenge yourself, will ya chefs? Plus, the Olive Garden has it on their menu. And you know that ain’t right.

What menu item would you nominate for this list? 

I am a huge fan of whole wheat pita – I love making my own pita chips, and I also love just eating plain old wedges with hummus, olives and feta cheese (my all-time favorite lunch combination) .  I suppose you could use them for sandwiches, but I can never seem to keep from punching holes in them while stuffing them. Which of course renders them useless as food vessels. So, I’m content to eat them dipped and unstuffed.

This recipe came from Cooking Light magazine (best food mag out there, with Cook’s Illustrated coming in a close second), March 2009 issue (so, yikes, I’ve had that recipe for almost THREE years! Now, I’m REALLY surprised I didn’t lose it). The pitas came out fairly well. I do think it’s a recipe I’d have to try again a few time before getting the hang of it.

Recipe, results, and photos after the jump. As usual, my notes are in blue.

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Fresh Whole-Wheat Pitas

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 pita)

Recipe from Cooking Light magazine, March 2009 (click the link to get a printable version)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 package dry yeast (about 2 ¼ teaspoons)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (100° to 110°)
• 10 ounces bread flour (about 2 ¼ cups)
• 4 ¾ ounces white whole-wheat flour (about 1 cup), divided (King Arthur Flour makes a great version)
• 2 tablespoons 2% Greek-style yogurt (I only had nonfat, which seemed to work just fine)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• Olive oil cooking spray

Preparation

Dissolve sugar and yeast in 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add bread flour, 3 ounces (about ¾ cup) whole-wheat flour, yogurt, oil, and salt to the yeast mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining whole-wheat flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands – dough will feel sticky. (I really had to restrain myself from adding more flour at this point – the dough was stickier than I am used to. It was difficult, but I decided to trust the recipe.)

Really, really sticky.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Position the oven rack on the lowest shelf. Preheat the oven to 500°.

Divide dough into 8 portions. Working with one portion at a time, gently roll each portion into a 5 ½-inch circle.

I used a kitchen scale to weigh these portions - about 3 ounces each.

Place 4 dough circles on each of 2 baking sheets heavily coated with cooking spray. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, at 500° for 8 minutes or until puffed and browned. Cool on a wire rack. (These really only need about 5-6 minutes to bake. The first few that I baked for 8 minutes nearly burned. Best just to watch).

One of the puffy almost-burned ones.

I was poking around The Joy of Cooking (my favorite cookbook), and found a recipe for Oatmeal Molasses Bread, which I adapted. It wasn’t too difficult, and produced great results (with some tweaking that I’ll explain in blue). Recipe and photos after the jump.

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Oatmeal-Flax Molasses Bread (you can find a printable version here)

Combine in a medium saucepan:

• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 cup steel-cut or rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¾ teaspoon salt

Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-low heat until oatmeal is soft, smooth, thick and free of lumps (about 20 minutes). Let cool, stirring occasionally, until tepid and no warmer than 115°.

Combine in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:

• 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water (105-115°)

Add to the yeast the oatmeal mixture along with:

• ½ cup room temperature water
• 1/3 cup molasses

Stir until well blended. Whisk the following together, and gradually stir in until the dough is moist and not sticky:

• 3 ¾ cups to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup ground flax seed (this was not in the original recipe – I added it for fun and Omega-3′s)

Let’s stop here for a moment.
This is where I began to distrust the recipe a bit.  After adding 4 cups of flour, the dough wasn’t just moist or sticky, it was loose and runny, slightly thicker than dumpling batter. I was pretty sure I wasn’t get to get good sandwich bread from such a loose batter. So, I kept adding flour until the dough no longer stuck to the bowl. I didn’t measure, but I added at least another cup and a half. At least.  It was also at this point that I added about a tablespoon of whole flax seeds and the same amount of uncooked oatmeal, both for texture.   Onward.

Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, either by hand or on a low-medium setting on your mixer with a dough hook. Then, transfer the dough to an oil coated bowl. Turn the dough a time or two to coat it with oil. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for 1 ½ hours. Once it is doubled in volume, punch down the dough and knead briefly. Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a loose loaf shape on an floured work surface. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes (I actually forgot this resting step and it turned out fine)

.

Loaves before panning. Notice the cute little flax seeds tucked in there!

Form the dough into free standing loaves, or place them seam-side down in oiled bread pans. Cover loosely with the damp towel, and let the dough rise in a warm place for another 1 ½ hours until doubled in volume.

In the pan, prior to the egg wash.

Preheat oven to 375°. If you’re making free-form loaves, slash the tops before baking. I topped my loaves with an egg wash and a sprinkling of oatmeal and flax seeds.

Bake until the bottoms of the loaves sound hollow when tapped, 40-45 minutes. You can also use an intant read thermometer to tell if they’re done – 190° is the right temperature.  Remove from pans to a rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Done and smelling fantastic.

Results:

• It wasn’t dry! I was a little worried after adding all that extra flour, but it turned out to be the right thing to do. The crumb was perfect for a sandwich bread, and very moist.
• The crust was a little chewier than I normally like. Might have been because of the egg wash.
• My spontaneous addition of the ground flax seed turned out great. I don’t really taste it, but I know it’s providing me with Omega-3 fatty acids that I don’t get in my normal diet (I hate oily fish).
• Adding the whole flax seeds and oatmeal was a great idea (thank you very much). I love breads with texture, and the seeds and oats give the bread heartiness.
• There’s a nice dark molasses taste, not overwhelming but just enough to give it depth and a slight sweetness.
• This would make an ideal bread for sandwiches, or even just slathered with butter. Highly recommended.

Again, I’d like to mention that you can find a printable version of this recipe by clicking here. If you decide to make it yourself, please let me know what you think of the recipe and any thoughts you have about improving it.

And, just as obviously, if I’m going to write about it here it has to be something that would be of interest to others; really, no one cares about my progress if I pledge to get out of bed fifteen minutes earlier each day (though, I really should think about fighting that battle).

As I was contemplating what my 2012 project should be, I recalled something a wise man once tweeted:

“Resolutions don’t work. Replace them with rituals. Rituals work.”

A pleasurable Sunday ritual for me is bread making. Extended time spent in the kitchen, meditative actions, fantastic aromas filling the house, and delicious results. Nothing but love going on there. And I truly enjoy sharing the fruits of my labor with others – breaking bread, so to speak.  So my 2012 project is going to be to try one new bread recipe per week, and sharing the recipe and experience here with you. With photos, because even though I’m not very good at taking pictures, I do enjoy taking pics of food!

I’m going to try recipes from cookbooks I already have first – especially The Joy of Cooking, Barefoot Contessa at Home, and Baking Illustrated. I’m also open to any recommendations, suggestions, or family favorites you might want to share. I’ll try anything – high fiber, quick breads, gluten-free, vegan, you name it. I may even try to create something original, based on reader suggestions. I’ve got 52 opportunities, and I think this is going to be fun!

First bread, made today – Oatmeal Molasses Bread. It’s in the oven right now (it smells fantastic), so you can expect a post with photos tomorrow!

Happy New Year to you and your family. I hope you have a delicious 2012.

I didn't make these - these beautiful loaves were made by Our Daily Bread, one of the vendors at Schenectady Greenmarket. I took this photo last winter.

My culinary odyssey is presented here in more-or-less chronological order.

DC3 - A while back, I had inquired about finding a Chicago-style hot dog in the 518. I did get a couple referrals, but I never followed up. So when Sarah asked if it would be okay if we got hot dogs for lunch on Friday, I jumped at the chance. DC-3 is a one-off little joint, with a large menu and a small seating area. Of course, I ordered the Chicago 7: all beef dog, poppy seed bun, tomato, pickle spear, “nuclear green relish” (they aren’t kidding – that stuff is day-glo green), onions, sport peppers, yellow mustard, and celery salt.  It was terrific. Those sport peppers pack quite a kick (you can see one tucked in there near the bottom left), and the pickle spear is a weird but welcome topping. I loved it. I got a side of fried pickles, which were pretty great – nice and tangy.

This was very, very messy.

On Sunday, while Sarah was out at a baby shower, I made a return visit to DC-3, and tried a Tucson Sonoran dog (bacon-wrapped dog, buttered bun, pinto beans, onions, diced tomatoes, white spicy mayo, jalapeno relish, mustard). It was not as tasty, and about 10x messier than the Chicago 7.  And it was sufficient fuel for the Oprah LifeClass marathon I sat (and cried) through that afternoon.

There’s more. A lot more. After the jump.

The Sweet Lobby – where I had my first macaron (properly spoken with a gravelly French accent). A religious experience, almost. I only recently became aware of the existence of these little delights, but was put off by the mania that has begun to surround them (much like that of my nemesis the cupcake). I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by the experience. I could not have been more wrong. The selection at the shop was vast – they had probably 12-15 varieties from which to choose. After much deliberation and guidance from Sarah and the shopworker, I selected two: Hazelnut Praline Salted Caramel, and Pumpkin Black Sesame.

Heavenly, heavenly bites...

I thought the cookie would be crisp and chalky, like a traditional meringue (probably my most hated sensation). Instead, it was chewy and delicate. The filling was intense and ethereal, its flavor fading quickly and leaving me wanting more. I had remarked to Sarah that upon entering the phone-booth size shop (seriously – the place could really only hold about 5 people, tops) I wanted to buy approximately 8 dozen macarons. They were so beautiful, and looked so incredible.  But, she reminded me of their price. Sometimes I get carried away when I see sweets. Anyway, I’ve been dreaming about them ever since. I hear that one of my favorite local merchants, Dreampuff Marshmallows, makes macarons. She is also a vendor at the Schenectady Greenmarket (and the Troy Riverfront Farmers Market), so I’m hoping I can score some right here at home.

Busboys & Poets – we only had time to stop in for a quick beer and hummus plate, before we had to run to catch a play at the Capital Fringe Festival (Sarah’s friend Michael Merino wrote an odd – and amusing – play entitled “Squirrel, or the Origin of a Species”, which is essentially a series of conversations between Charles Darwin and an American Gray Squirrel. Yes, it was as weird as it sounds.) The menu was intrigiung – lots of vegetarian and vegan offerings, in domestic and ethnic varieties. I hope to get back here on a future trip – hint!

Fort Fringe - this is the theatre space where we saw the show. The venue itself was unremarkable – your standard black box with rickety stairs and dangerous, not-up-to-fire-code seating.  But the bar had PROSECCO ON TAP! What?!? No kidding. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Kushi – After the play, we lingered around a bit until we finally decided to get some dinner. We ended up at a Japanese place in Mt. Vernon Square, which surprised me by actually being open that late (yes, I know, I’m from Upstate NY, where stuff closes at 9pm). It featured small (small!) plates, and we each ordered a couple things. The idea was to share, but the plates were so small that sharing was actually kinda difficult. I know that sounds very fat-American of me, but I am a cheapskate, and I really didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of value there. Anyway, I ordered a delicious soba noodle salad (fresh soba, with a splash of rice vinegar, soy, and some fresh greens), and an order of chicken breast skewers with shiso & plum sauce. The mixture of shiso and plum was transcendent – flowery, pungent, green, not at all sweet. It was unlike anything I’d ever had before.  More, please! Maybe give me two orders next time.

Chick-Fil-A – At one point, Sarah had mentioned that she loved the sandwiches at Chick-Fil-A, which took me aback. Sarah and I are both socially liberal, and I was surprised she would patronize a company which supports anti-gay organizations. She is, to her credit, conflicted by the fact that such a bad company makes such good chicken. I kept kidding her about it  (calling it Chicken and Hate) until she made me stop at one so I could understand why she would set aside her convictions long enough to eat their food. Grudgingly, I have to admit she is absolutely right. The original chicken sandwich was terrific, and simple – fried chicken breast on a buttered bun with pickles (we were in the South; butter goes on everything). I really did like it. Their waffle fries were not that good – undercooked and underseasoned – but, oh that chicken. It’s a good thing that chain isn’t here in the Northeast.  A nice touch: the bible verse on the receipt.

Argonaut – with Sarah and Joanne for Sunday brunch, something I just never do anymore, for some reason. I knew nothing about this place before Sarah suggested it, but I woke up that morning craving a Bloody Mary – apparently I was having some sort of premonition, because The Argonaut has an actual freakin’ BLOODY MARY BAR.  They bring you out a pint glass that has some ice and vodka in it, and you hie yourself over to the bar and help yourself to tomato juice, twenty different kinds of hot sauce, horseradish, celery salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning, lemons, limes, and giant stalks of celery. I have never tended a bar, so I really had no idea of a Bloody Mary recipe, so I kind of just poured a bunch of stuff I like in the shaker. I made a huge mess. I did not return to the scene of the crime. Sarah enjoyed a bottomless Mimosa and tried valiantly to find the bottom, to no avail. Oh, also we ate some stuff that I don’t remember.

Hello Cupcake! – I know, I know. I hate cupcakes. I have no excuse. I bought two: Dulce de Leche and Maple Bacon Pecan. They were quite lovely. The Maple Bacon Pecan one did not actually have any bacon flavor in it, at least that I could detect. Perhaps Sarah’s experience was different. That’s all I’m going to say about cupcakes.

Founding Farmers – A very popular restaurant that my friend MEB suggested – she’s a frequent DC traveler, but hasn’t made it to FF yet, and thought it was something I might like. She was right. Founding Farmers has a goal of “promot[ing] sustainable agriculture and the ways of the American family farmer at every turn,” and “quality and natural ingredients.”  They don’t always buy local and organic, though – sure, if it makes sense, but they are mostly on the lookout for high quality ingredients from sustainable resources. And they buy carbon offsets in case the food sources are not all that local. A nice philosophy.

We started with an appetizer of Proscuitto, Fig & Mascarpone flatbread- so many delicious things going on there: fresh creamy cheese, fatty prosciutto, tangy balsamic vinegar, and sweet figs. We also got a bottle of Arbanta Tempranillo from Rioja, which was outstanding.  Sarah got a skirt steak with chimichurri (which looked good, but I did not taste it) and I ordered the Macaroni & Cheese with Gouda, Gruyere, ham, peas, & apples. The apples really put that over the top – so so good. I can’t remember if we ordered dessert. I don’t think we did, but we did finish the bottle of wine.

Mitsitam at the National Museum of the American Indian – We stopped there for lunch before I hopped the airport shuttle. The cafeteria is unlike other museum cafeterias, in that it serves interesting food – in this case, traditional offerings from several different American Indian geographical regions.  I went for the  cuisine of the Great Plains, and ordered a Chipotle Chicken Taco. I wanted it because it was made with fry bread, which looked so fresh and fluffy. I was also not really feeling particularly well that day, and there wasn’t anything else I really felt like eating. The fry bread seemed so soft and comforting. It turned out to be the best part of the dish – the chipotle chicken was so mild, there was not even a hint of heat. And it was topped with boring cheddar, lettuce and tomato. Eh. Not really worth $11.50. Sarah’s New England Lobster Bread Pudding (and her blueberry cobbler) looked delicious, but I didn’t even feel like trying it. Like I said, I was not well. The best part of this lunch was the fact that Sarah’s teeth were stained blue for the rest of the day.

Free Wine from Southwest Airlines – the end of a long trip. I boarded my flight home and was towards the end of the second boarding group, so seating choices were slim. I headed to the back of the plane (“the back of the plane gets there at the same time as the front” sez Sarah), and somehow managed to find an aisle seat. I was just settling in when I noticed a woman and her daughter, maybe 7 years old, trying to find a couple seats together. The mom told the daughter to sit in the seat next to me (the middle), while she would head back a few rows for another middle seat. I didn’t think the mom would want her kid to be sitting alone, so I offered up my aisle seat and took the lone middle seat in the back. The flight attendant saw me, and told me that since I was so nice, she was going to buy me a drink. A guy in the back yelled, “What’d she do? Can I do it, too?”  I still wasn’t feeling so hot, but who am I to turn down free Merlot? Thanks, SW.

Wow. Looking back on my weekend away, I am noticing that I ate a lot. A LOT a lot. No wonder I wasn’t feeling well that last day. Back to the gym I go.

*****

Other good things that happened on this trip: met someone who possesses the same superpower I do, got to see Joanne and new baby Lilah, and FINALLY got down to Richmond to see parents-to-be Marlene and Chris. It was a pretty fantastic weekend.