Nobody ever accused the Feeder of not being diverse. Where are you going to find a combo like
this??
Stringer Report: (sic) hazelnut kitchen
Normally, the Feeder doesn’t relate stringer reports but got
one the other day worth passing along since it has kind of a “local” hook, and is from a trusted source!. Probably a little known (and useless, as they
say) fact is that MFO was NOT born in Michigan (like me), but is in fact from the Empire
State, specifically Ithaca in the Finger Lake region. She came along while her father was earning his
MS Degree (in automotive engineering) at Cornell University. At the time, they didn’t offer a Doctorate in
that field, which motivated him to migrate to the Wolverine State and Michigan State
University (or Michigan State College then – aka Cow College) where he did get
his PhD, and eventually became dean of the department of Mechanical
Engineering.
A mildly amusing side note: her Father, being an automotive
guy, could take apart a transmission blindfolded behind his back and reassemble
it with one hand. So his daughter marries this guy who could
only change a tire with lots of help. Take
apart a generator, rewind it and put it back together? Piece of cake for him, beyond the reach
here. 10WF40 Beam? I'm all over that!
But, I digress as I often do. We have some good friends here in Pax with whom
we often enjoy dinner, and they have educated palates so we commiserate on the
state of dining here in SOMD. Anyway,
they took a little vacation and were going to Ithaca so we related above and
they said they would report on their travels.
Well, last Friday a few food pictures pop into my phone from a
storefront restaurant: “hazelnut kitchen” which was rated by the New York Times, in Trumansburg, a little hike northwest of Ithaca.
It’s run by a young couple and is of course on the trendy
bandwagon of:
“we have been using
locally sourced farm ingredients in a casually elegant open kitchen dining
atmosphere…Our menu changes frequently, inspired by what’s in season and
reflects our commitment to utilize goods obtained from local farmers and
producers”;
which of course is fine and proper, you just kind of tire of
hearing about it.
At any rate they turned out very good food,
beginning with a lovely cheese board
(is that a Laguiole (la -yol) knife?)
They settled on main courses of Halibut on Spinach for her,
See any drips or smears? Nope - pretty
And for him, the choice was the entrée selection of “Surprise
me” or as they say more formally on the menu: “enjoy a thoughtfully
designed entrée by our chef”, an interesting concept, which in this case
resulted in a delicious cherry encrusted chicken over summer vegetables
The restaurant also features an “open kitchen”
Thanks to our friends for sharing their experience (and the images), and we’ll
keep it on our list in case MFO ever wants to return to her roots.
Speaking of local…
One of our neighbors is an avid gardener, producing loads (and loads) of
fresh produce which she is happy to share with us. Over the years, we have stemmed the tide of
zucchini’s and eggplants (we’re weird) but gratefully accept cukes (to a
point), spring onions, and of course love apples.
MFO made tuna salad last night, and served it with the
sliced fresh “maters” and lettuce, with a dusting of smoked paprika and
sprinkling of Panko crumbs. Very nice
Isn’t it amazing that the rich red (or yellow) color is all
the way to the core instead of tough, thick white stuff just inside the gas ripened
exterior of the food chains?
Share locally!
The Project
“Project Negroni” is moving along. As you recall I was intrigued by a recipe for a "white Negroni" from
the WashPost (which I included in the last posting: Docs and Drinks), but had zero of the
ingredients. Well, a trip to my trusty purveyor
of spirits, and a visit to Amazon (Prime) for the bitters, resulted in the assemblage
of the necessary “stuff”.
My only holdup at this point is that the Junipero Gin weighs
in at an eye watering 98.6 proof! One
drink and you’re done! So I have asked
my contact at the liquor store if there is a lower proof edition. I swear I had one once, but it was a while
ago.
That question led me to go to the world wide web and try to
figure it out. Appears Anchor Distillery
(producer) may have changed the options recently. So I’m on hold…
While I was researching the issue I ran across the site: ginfoundry dot com, and clicked on the “Gin” link.
You can too! Alert readers will
recall that I have taken to asking servers “what gins do you have?” and
occasionally finding some variation from the (borrowed from the culinary) holy
trinity: Tanqueray, Bombay, and Beefeater.
Green hat, Bluecoat, and occasionally others show up, and pretty routinely
Hendrick’s (not my fav) is finding its way on the shelf.
Anyway, if you click on the link above you will be (as I was) astounded
at the two hundred eight! (count ‘em, 208)
varieties of gin. Wowsers! An Around the World effort would take you the
rest of your life. Not to mention
putting you on your butt every night.
Anyway once I solve the proof issue we’ll make the
drink. Incidentally, it ain’t going to
be cheap. The higher proof variety of
Junipero is $32; the Luxardo Bitter Bianco is $27 the (everyday) Vermouth is
about 14 bucks and the Fee Bros. Celery Bitters (which will be a lifetime
supply) was 15 dollars American, so we’re nearing ninety dollars’ worth of
ingredients. And what if after using about 4 % of each bottle for one drink you say: Ptooie!
Stay tuned and
DFD
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