a french term!

pot·pour·ri

/ˌpōpəˈrē/

is: a mixture of things, especially a musical or literary medley;

a miscellaneous collection : MEDLEY

which is what I got for us today: since last posting, I have amassed some nine odd snippets of things I found interesting from the world of (duhhhh) food, sports, and just general interest.  Given my penchant of going on far too long about virtually anything, it may be best not to give you a nine course reading menu, but rather break it up into smaller bites, hopefully letting you savor each one (ha ha)

okay off we go, with a bit of humor I found amusing for some reason in the good old New Yorker magazine, a source of often esoteric and bizarre cartoons

Next:  some interesting statistics from my Restaurant and Hospitality publication:

Top Customer Service Complaint and Frustrations (in restaurants, in order)

One: The time it takes to receive their order (35%)

The Price of the Meal (34%)

Getting the order wrong (34%)

Not being satisfied with the quality of food (31%)

Rude restaurant Service (30%)

In other words, a third are not happy

Same Source:

68% of Millennials support a $15 minimum

And while I generally don’t like “Best of” things, they compiled a list of 10 best sandwiches in America, with no rankings.  All are independents (although some belong to Restaurant “Groups”)

From Antone’ Famous Po’ Boys In Houston founded in 1962

Hope you can read the description; note the cost data: sells for $9.95, cost of food is $2.75

From The Kentucky Inn Cuban Kentucky Inn, Denver ($13/$3.15)

(House –braised Pork, spicy brown mustard, bacon pickles and Pimento cheese made with roasted hatch green chiles and Monterey Jack in lieu of Cheddar; spiked with Sriracha; minced red onions; and jalapenos)

And Brooklyn Seoul; Rogue Sandwich Co., Springhill FLA ) ($8.50/2.10)

(steamed Pastrami; kimchi; Kimchi, Baby Swiss; Gojuchang-infused Russian Dressing)

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All the rest show equally imaginative ingredients.  All look good!  Now I’m hungry

On we go:  Tips for Exploring and Foodie City

Wander around Farmer’s Markets for a true sense of local cuisine

Research the city’s Immigrant Communities (more and more cities taking in  refugees)

For “fine – dining” opportunities, research James Beard Foundation awards, (given to chef’s across the country)

Sport:  English Premier League Football season begins.  Great Stuff (watching MANU vs. Chelsea while I type).  Will spare you the usual rant on the Little League tournament.   Mothers are just as crazy.

Music:  MFO is reading a book loaned to us from (Blues aficionado) friends

I must confess I have not started it yet, but I am not sure about the “invention of the blues” note, hopefully doesn’t mean Robert Johnson invented them, however he is mostly considered the premier country blues singer (“better c’mon in my Kitchen..)  toward the end, the author inserts his observations and muses about blues audiences and contrasting white and black audiences.  Plenty of fodder for later, but I did like the following quote:

“while white fans drink straight whiskey to get in a blues mood, Muddy Waters drank only champagne, and insisted that it be the real French stuff”

Closing Potpourri one with two shots from our garden taken yesterday

While they are certainly DFD, I doubt they get sustenance from a

MJ

Dining "In" and "Out"

Which has special meaning for my friends in the Military (which I can never get straight anyway), I am much more mundane.. and apply the terms as I sees fits

"Out"

Not to harp on it, but these days my eating away from home is more governed by access than choice of food.  I have not compromised my standards however, which further narrows choices.  For instance, I would never eat at Olive Garden if they met me at the door with a velvet covered sedan chair.  So in no particular order, choices are limited (but not restricted) to:  either of the two Ruddy venues, CD Café, and Cow and Fish.   To be fair, MFO and I did a drive about on the Solomon’s and most of the places over there (Solomon’s Pier, St. Charles Brasserie, Striped Rock, Lighthouse, and the ilk) have access ramps but kind of fail the food side of things.  A possible exception might be the Island Hideaway, which does require a bit of an overland transit to their sidewalk plus they don’t accept reservations on Friday or Saturday.

Anyway we sort of gathered our little “dining group” last Friday (2^nd) since key members were (for once!) in town and all met at the Cow and Fish.  The food there remains quite good, imaginative, well prepared and presented, with the only distraction of spotty service (sometimes reciting “specials” almost before you sit down,) the stemless “up glasses”, and the most egregious Mason Jars.

 

As I have mentioned before the wine list (which hasn’t changed forever, hint, hint) has interesting choices, and if a second glass is desired the bottle is brought to the table, a civilized touch.

Anyway one of the party ordered steak (which was described by server as “Blue Diamond Steak with Blue Diamond Sauce”).   A google search turns up something called “Bleu Diamond Dressing" which is apparently no more, as posts referring to Blue Diamond Dressing. seem to have been removed.

Anyway, the steak (always a challenge to get a good photo, hence none offered) was quite tasty according to the diner.  As for the Flutters, MFO indulged her jones for a burger

Although she differs from the Feeder in choices of cheese (MFO=Swiss; BF=Cheddar!) it was tasty, however in truthfulness, “rare” means almost raw in the middle (caveat emptor!).  The feeder stayed away from Beef (no protein imitations offered…..yet) and went with scallops (the kitchen continues to be enamored of flowers)

Which were excellent.

A hunk o’cake was shared for a sweet at the end of the meal.

All in all a good experience, although DFD is also spotty.  Shorts and Caps are often seen. 

In

One of the Feeder eating like a bird at home (no, NOT seed) is quantity.  For instance if we get a small pork loin, even cutting it in half (freezing half) leaves us with enough meat for a couple of servings left over, which gets boring ; In the case of the pork, I do make Pork Fried Rice.  So I set out to do that yesterday. The labor comes in the prep side of things, getting the Mise en Places set up.   Fried rice is one of those “clean out the ‘fridge” things.   Aside from the rice you can put almost anything into it, as I did yesterday:

Clockwise from “12 o’clock “ – lower sodium Soy sauce; (elderly) frozen peas and butter beans; cubed pork loin; diced shallots and red onion/Garlic; (diced) green and red bell pepper; Poached chicken breast (for variety); egg strips (two egg omelet); and of course the (cold) rice. 

Then fabrication ensues.  I prefer to cook the separate ingredients singularly, 

just warming the meat to avoid making it tough; sweat the peppers till soft; sauté the onions till a little brown on the edges, adding the garlic at almost the end to avoid burning it. Finally incorporating into the rice, adding the Soy Sauce sparingly, mostly for color and allowing the grains to separate.

Warm through and plate!

Traditionally, bean sprouts and mushrooms might be added, but hey! if they’re not in the dark recesses of the ice box, they’re out.  

I normally sprinkle a bit of ground red pepper or cumin on it to zip it up a bit. 

Quite Good!

 And no MJ to be seen, and truthfully, maybe not appropriately

DFD

One or two more rants - then i'm done

Well, I crammed a couple of rants into the last edition, and since then I have a couple more while I’m in that mood/frame of mind.   Then we can move on to some happier stuff.

Another Rant/Comment

I was working in the kitchen the other day, and had left the TV on in the other room, waiting for the evening news to come on, I believe it was on NBC.  Of course things went long, and a new program came on after the news.   I believe it was called “Access Hollywood”, featuring a couple of hosts who acted like they were either high or on laughing gas.  An inane smile never left their faces as they wallowed in salacious stuff about glitterati who seemed so full of themselves.  I suppose people watch this stuff, and probably subscribe to People magazine. Yes; I know there’s a “mute” button on the remote as well as an on/off command, but it was there and I was here…

This inanity was followed by something called “the Wall” which is too despicable to comment on.

Shakin' and Bakin"

And then there’s a show we are sometimes driven to watch waiting for a BritCom or Drama (Midsomer Murders, Vera, The Heart Guy, Shetland, etc.,) is “The Great British Baking Show” (as it’s known in USA).  Another one of those chef competitions but not (quite) as obnoxious as some of it American brethren.  Contestants are given “challenges” like “you need to make a Frangipane tart!” It has its moments mostly because of the contestants.  Okay, it is British/England, but the “judges” are extremely annoying and probably English to the core. 

The sort of “emcee” is Sue Perkins, who apparently has no food background, and her job is to occasionally shout: “okay bakers there are 30 minutes left” followed by quick shots of the contestants looking panic stricken.  Another “judge” is a bona fide Mary Berry who is a food writer, and seems to have compassion for the contestants mostly praising their work with usually some good suggestions.   Unlike Paul Hollywood a supposedly “celebrity” chef who never met a dish he couldn’t rip.  “this crust is soggy; could have been baked more; isn’t very attractive is it?” and so forth.  Officious bas***d.  many contestants are reduced to tears.

Gaaack dept.

Was going to quit (rants)  And here, but there is an article in the Post today (Sunday) that I can’t help but pass along.  Written by Laura Reiley (pg G5), it reports results of finding stuff in bagged lettuce.   Not bugs critters like frogs, snakes (!), some of whom “are not deceased”. As reported in journal Science of the Total Environment eight frogs, a toad and a lizard were found alive in bagged greens”.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 30 to 60 food borne illness outbreaks a year from 1998 to 2016 were caused by produce.  I could go on, but the last paragraph says: “even with triple washed bagged produce, it’s good practice to wash it at home.  And in the event that your produce contains unintended animal protein? It’s time to order a pizza!”

No Cow, No Fish

I was going to finish with a quick reprise of a recent dinner at Cow and Fish, but I’m putting that on hold in the interest of brevity.. 

The game show:

Yesterday a got a package from Amazon, with no “from message” and it turned out to be a game that FOJTY sent (they find some interesting things) and look what it contained!

And with an endorsement like this

How can you go wrong?

I haven’t tackled the “recipe for play” yet, but there’s a board and everything.  Generally I am poor at this kind of thing, instead of showing how much I know, I generally show how much I don’t know. 

There is a board and that pack of cards is at least two inches thick.  Oh, my!

More to come

And don’t forget to

DFD

And despite liking C&F for food and presentation, I can’t break them of “no stem” up glasses, nor the stupid Mason Jars.   I will continue to fight the good fight

This and That and vindication/Rev A

If you read the feeder as originally posted, this should replace it.  somehow they screwed up the sizes of the actual pictures from the actual article

It’s been a while since I devoted ink to “rants”, and these all don’t qualify, they have that flavor.  

We're Number One! 

What is it with the American Psyche that drives sports fans to a seemingly insatiable desire and fascination of “who’s number ONE”.   In the wee smalls, one of my defenses for the demons of the night is to listen to Sports Talk Radio Shows from one network to another.  Granted, they are eager to fill their time slot somehow, but they feed the American beast by endless debates as to whether LeBron or Michael is the GOAT, or Brady and Montana.  Who the he** cares? They’re all talented athletes (or atha-letes as one host says) and can’t they just co-exist without designated one as the “Best” ever regardless of decade or whatever.

One of the last refuges from this mania has (to me) been in the world of golf.  You can watch a tournament on the weekend (the recent Open Championship) and just enjoy that event, and when it’s over, it’s over.  On to the next.  Okay, there are occasional comparisons of stats (Tiger/Nicklaus) but palatable.  Well, that has now changed.  Now, every weekend when Tournament du Jour coverage starts it begins with a statement like “CBS Sports welcomes you to the Ridge Open, part of the season long race for the FEDEX cup!!”; now you can’t just enjoy the competition without continuous screens showing the cup points and standings.  The only reason the “regular season” exists is to see who is eligible for the FedEx Cup, The SUPER BOWL, NBA playoffs, or World Series. The other night one of the sporting talking heads urged his listeners to call up and say why or why not their NFL team would be in the playoffs!!  I am not sure but I don’t think game one has been played, and scrimmages (OTA’s as they’re called) have just started. Ridiculous!  Makes me ill and takes the enjoyment out of watching weekly competition for what it is. 

Press One if...

Okay, enough of that..second aggravation.   The other night we were hosting some friends over for dinner, and I picked up my (Android) phone to look at contacts or something, and upon pressing Contacts, a green box appeared around it and the phone said:  “You have selected contacts, to continue you must double click the box, or long press to (do something)” OMG what have I done? Same for anything. I couldn’t make it stop.  Panic set in, my worst nightmare, a phone that took 2 minutes to do anything!  After flailing around unsuccessfully, I called my contact with MFO's phone at the local Verizon store and, bless him, he answered, and said I had apparently somehow turned on the TalkBack feature.   "It’s pretty involved to turn it off, but if you call Verizon at 611, selecting option 4 they can do it over the lines".  Okay, I’ll try.  Press phone icon “you have selected the phone icon, press it twice to continue or long press..”  finally was able to call 611 to get the “welcome to Verizon please enter your Verizon pin number”.  Crap! I never use it, let alone know what it is.. took shot (you have entered 6 green box, 3 you have entered three (green box), and finally “That is not the pin associated with that account, please try again later”.  Click. A few tries later it asked me to briefly describe why I was calling… “Stop phone from talking back”   “I don’t understand you, let me get someone to help” finally an actual human answered and we stumbled through the process.  Do you know it makes a difference (at least in that mode) whether you scroll with two or three fingers?  By this time my heart rate was a million, and my nerves were in shreds.  I hope I never get in that mode again.  Once again the phone proves to be much smarter than its owner.  Kind of tainted my whole evening.

Well, well well

Okay, I want to finish on a upbeat.  Alert and longtime “Feeder Reeders” know that I continually have harped over the years on proper behavior when in a restaurant.  You also remember that the food writer/critic for the Washington Post (Tom Sietsema) sometimes deviates from his weekly reviews of restaurants to comment on similar subjects.  Last Sunday, I found this synopsis from one of his on-line chats:

I found the article extremely interesting

The “cleaning up” part was about the growing practice of presenting “naked tables” (i.e., no linens) even in dressier restaurants with silverware resting on bare surfaces, and the cleaning of same.  Wiped down?  Disinfected?  It was surprising to me how many people objected to this practice and lengths they go to for removing them from the table top (hence the cartoon above)

“Showing up” was discussion on whether or not you should return the call from restaurants that go to the trouble to dial you up and remind you.  Some places actually release your reservation if they don’t hear back.  Are you obligated to confirm your booking!  Polite manners would be to call the restaurant only if you had to cancel, otherwise it should be understood you are planning to fulfill your commitment. More interesting discussion

But, But, But what really got me was his third subject (Does Tom read the Feeder??)

Reiterating things I have railed about for years – apparently sharing the opinion with Mr. Sietsema (and the WaPo fashion editor)

Interpreted for readability  Somehow blogger screwed up my pics from the actual article.   They would read:

“My pet peeve is men wearing ball caps in dining rooms, which didn’t go over very well with a chat participant who claimed to be seated at the upscale Fiola while wearing jeans and a hat.  He called my annoyance “Disrcriminatory” without providing any details.

Call me prehistoric, but removing one’s hat indoors demonstrates respect.  Was I missing something?  I took the matter to The Post’s esteemed fashion critic, Robin Givan, who settled the matter to my great satisfaction when she responded via email that “unless that dining room is at an actual ball park, I say take off your cap”.  To me, keeping it on just makes you look like you're ready to flee the scene at any moment.

Givan added, "it's a little like sitting in a dining room with your sunglasses on.  Take them off, stay a while

In other words

Another part of the Feeder’s definition of his DFD has always been to dress in accordance with the restaurant which he also addressed:

T-shirt and cargo shorts at the Inn at Little Washington is not going to match the décor; someone in a tuxedo at McDonald’s similarly clashes

It is gratifying to me that I am not just some loonie howling in the wilderness but have others (far more into the “scene”) than I that share similar opinions

Other short notes

67 years ago (1952) today marked the opening of the linking of Maryland's Eastern and Western shore from Annapolis to Kent Island.

Rumor has it that there is much activity on the long awaited restaurant in Leonardtown on the other corner of the old Café Des Artistes (sigh)

And as Tom and I would remind you

DFD

where's the beef?

Being able to have easy access to this laptop enables me to plague you more often… like now..

First of all, have to fess up to an error when I was talking about that lovely necklace I showed you from our “art o-the day” calendar. Worth a second look:

In the  accompanying yakking I calculated the age of the piece.   Thanks to an alert reader who always has appreciated my acumen with numbers from the early editions of the Feeder (I did things like “if you take the day of the month, and multiply by the number of the week, and subtract…you get the number of orangutans at the Bronx zoo.”  Well, in calculating the age of the necklace I stumbled on going from across the bridge from AC to BC.  Should have been 2019 – (  a minus ~ 1880) which makes the necklace nearly 400 years old!  Even more amazing.  I guess beauty has been a fascination of humans for centuries.

In the Kitchen

The other thing that I can do now, is cook certain dishes.  I recently got some lovely aged (which may have been Wagyu) beef tenderloin, and I decided to make

Like other dishes, there are many variations from simple preparations to one of those recipes with 50 ingredients.  But, I figured with premium beef, why mess much with it.  So I assembled the ingredients (mise en place)

And chopped up the beef some and mixed in the bottled stuff and...... Whoops! Forgot an ingredient!

So diced and added in the neglected Shallot chopped the chives and also the egg yolk (not previously pictured)

I let it rest in the refrigerator a bit and then assembled a nice appetizer tray, with the classic accompaniment of Cornichons and an unclassic Dry Manhattan on the rocks. 

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It was pretty tasty, and there’s some for tonight.

And all the time I was assembling (winging it) the Tartare, I was treated the Dee of St. Mary’s a skipjack.   It’s such a graceful boat.   It was out last night, along with what we call “the little guys”.

Well time to prepare for cocktail hour, and I have to admit I am NOT

DFD

But there will be no Mason Jars within miles.