Food Adventures

If you've never been to a place where nobody speaks English (or whatever language you speak) and ordered for you probably won't relate very well to this post. But today Cheryl and I ventured out into uncharted waters with my minimal experience ("just enough to be dangerous") with Dim Sum.

The place we went was absolutely packed, so you know it had to be good. As we stroll in we don't hear a word of any language we can distinguish, and the menu (which was a yellow piece of butcher paper on the wall) was written in some Oriental language as well. Avoiding the riot for the first table, apparently a group of six had been waiting for a while, we got a table right away. Maybe the fact that the restaurant wasn't the cleanest place in the world, or that the host didn't say much, or that the place looked like was a cafe from 1970 and hadn't been redecorated since wasn't enough to tip my wife off that she wasn't going to like the food, but the fish tank with green water, a really ugly carp and several dead clown fish certainly did the job.

Immediately upon sitting down the waitress shows up with a tray of food and yells something that I don't understand. Time to resort to tourist food tactic #1 - what I like to call the "Point and Grunt" method. Okay so the first item we had appeared to be some sort of pork with a really slimy noodle wrapped around it. Maybe tactic #1 is failing me, go for tactic #2 "avoid the moving things" method. Okay so it is less of a tactic and more of a hard fast rule but I guess the real guidance was "Go for the thing that looked the most normal" which happened to be some tasty mushrooms and barbecued pork. Okay that satisfied Cheryl well enough now time to make tourist food mistake #2, try something exotic (#1 was going to a place where no one knows the language spoken). Our something exotic happened to be dumplings with seafood in them which led us to retreat to tactic #3 "Always know where there is something you might really like to eat nearby". Seeing how the bill was in a foreign language I have a feeling I committed mistake #3 "Not being able to compare the price on the bill with the price on the menu."

Well it looks like funky "recommended" dim sum place won this round. But nevermind that if I overcame the fear of sushi and ghetto vegan food, I am certain I will be able to conquer more strange food adventures. But for now dim sum is off the menu.

Coffee or Beer

So when I was a young undergraduate and hung around lots of physics and math people, I drank lots of beer. I was even encouraged by my departments to drink beer. To the point where I shared my homebrew with a one and went out drinking with another. In fact when I was in charge of the department banquet, I wanted to hold it in one of those science museums for kids but was told by at least four professors that they would boycott a dry banquet on principle.

Now I hang out with largely computer science people. They drink coffee. Pretty well end of story, go to the bar with a group of cs grads and it's like taking a fish out of water. Even I as I go through the day find myself desiring a good cup of coffee.

What is the deal here. One group wants a drug that helps them pontificate and the other wants the drug that helps them work. Why am I now in the second group? My undergraduate professors did not warn me about this. Although there is hope. The group of us computational math guys like both, well we also like tea. And apparently some of my colleagues like tea way too much, spare yourself an hour and never ask them what kind they like best.

At least there is lasagna

I feel like I have had a whole week of Mondays. From my crazy networks project, to my crazy father, to my advisor leaving, to finally hit today. Where I get home and the doorknob is missing, and a cop busts some kid right next to me.

Well I made lasagna for our weekly dinner with some friends from church, and I guess there isn't much more soothing than cooking something slow. But with lasagna there isn't a part of it that doesn't taste good, so while I make the two sauces and the noodles and shred the cheese, I get little bits of goodness for a whole hour.

If you ever want to impress someone with a good spaghetti sauce I have this really good,simple recipe. Basically it's just saute onions and garlic, throw in some celery and carrot, when that is soft throw in a can of crushed tomatoes and a bay leaf. Then let is simmer for an hour. It is really good and pretty low maintenance especially if you have other stuff to get done.

Seafood in the Midwest

I now have substantial proof that Midwesterners have no idea what good seafood is. Last night to celebrate the end of the quarter, my wife and I grabbed a recommendation off the reader, which has never let us down. The highest rated seafood place (non-sushi / pan-asian) was this little neighborhood place called Pier 5736. We get there and find it to be little more than a glorified bar that served fish.

I won't say much about the service, besides the fact that I am convinced our waiter was intoxicated. We start with some lobster medallions (yeah we spend too much when we go out to eat). The remoulade was wonderful, the lobster tough. Then we had an awesome salad. But the kick in the pants came with the main course: Cheryl shrimp, me rainbow trout. Let's say I've had better trout cooked on a carburetor, and Cheryl's shrimp could have been sold as really old silly putty.

So that's it from now on if I want fish here in Chicago, I either make it myself or go to a sushi bar or pan-asian place. You might try the Satay, it is wonderful, look it up on the reader.

Thanksgiving

HAPPY BIRD DAY.

And for the first time in my life I will attempt to cook one. Sorry vegans, I don't like tofu that much.

What are you having for Thanksgiving?

We get to have:
Maple Roasted Turkey with bacon, cornbread stuffing, potatoes au gratin with portabello mushrooms, some fancy green beans, veggie mix salad, pumpkin pie, magdalenas, cookies, marinated mushrooms, pita bread w/ some of my special sauces, and rolls.

Donde esta los tamales

Grocery stores were made "por mujeres, para mujeres, y de mujeres", well at least stocked with this in mind. No matter how many times I go to the grocery store by myself with a list from my wife, I always spend 30 minutes looking for one last item. This last time it was tamales. But that isn't quite as funny as me looking for q-tips. First I thought q-tips would be with make-up since that is what it is used for quite a bit. No luck, well lets try pharmacy, nope. Next to cotton balls, nice try. How about paper goods, not on your life. Okay let me go to a random corner, and the winner is ... They were next to nothing in particular at all!!!!

Then the worst is when they move something, you ask about where it is and the employee acts like its always been in the same place. One week I was looking for tofu; it's not in the Chinese produce section but the man says look in the natural foods section. Not there. Next week there it is again in the Chinese produce. GOO I'm about ready to get all my groceries delivered.

Good Bad

Good things of today:

• Yummy veggie dish, Solyenka.
  
• My program worked.
  
• My wife.
  
• Evernight remembered who I am, even though I haven't played in about two years.
  
• Mass
  

Bad things of today:

• Veggie dish didn't have meat.
  
• My program needs more work.
  
• My wife has to work.
  
• My Valkirie in Nethack died of deadly poison, she is the third I lost that way.
  
• Mass ended.
  

Vegetarian YUM YUM

Okay I have found a truly amazing vegetarian dish. Now I know that people in my past would be taken aback that I could ever like anything but meat and potatoes, but they have yet to try the Indonesian dish Gado Gado. It starts off with a humble bed of baby spinach, with yellow rice to serve as a base to this visual masterpiece. Then we add the veggies: cabbage, sprouts, green beans, carrots. Top the veggies with come tofu and drizzle the oh-so-good peanut sauce all over it. And finally add sauteed onions, garlic, and ginger root.

Hehe much to the chagrin of my wife, I really want to serve this to all my vegetarian friends if they ever come over for dinner.

OOH OOH NEW COOKBOOK!!!!!

Yup, I gots a new cookbook. So what you say! Well believe it or not, it is a vegetarian cookbook. My family is in shock and awe. "Andy ... eating vegetarian food ... He doesn't even like vegetables!"

Well, the times are a'changin. I just got the new Moosewood Cookbook, and let me tell you if everything in the book is as good as the first recipe that I made, spinach and cheese calzone , then I might become vegetarian.

The Moosewood Cookbook has been the largest selling cookbook of all time. I am sure that without it there would not be so many vegetarians today.