December 31st, 2007
…back from the Holidays where an extra 3106 miles were logged on my awesome little car.
The food I ate ranged from homey to sugary to delightful to all of the above. How can you beat a sit down "dinner" at noon on a Sunday with a table full of what I know to be Sloppy Joes, and everyone else knows to be "BBQ", followed by baked mac & cheese and Jell-O salad?
For further proof of the delight of midwestern food the meal is finished with a frozen peppermint ice cream cake, gooey and sugar-headache inducing.
But it continues, because the next day you can then have supper with roasted duck, squash, green beans and follow it up with my first ever homemade pecan pie (taste was great but filling a bit hard to slice…). Then as the evening progresses and the wine keeps flowing, you just have a cookie or two and call it a night.
The next day is more of the same – new food yet still comforting and rich, familiar faces, wine, and cookies. When surrounded by family and loved ones that's really all that matters.
That was Illinois and then Wisconsin.
Then the trek went on to Colorado, and we fulfilled our various ethnic cravings: Ethiopian, Mexican taqueria, and "chi chi" (more of a craving than an ethnic category). Denver is a great food city, its really too bad about all the damn snow and how the mountains are soooo far away. But an excellently prepared shot of espresso hits the spot, and Jason Sheehan always tells me where to go eat (if I get lucky I might even get taken out to dinner, but that's a story unto itself).
December 29th, 2007
…but it is still important local foodie news, so I'll link up as is proper. *grin*
Ambrozia to close on New Year's Eve
What will I miss? In a word, BRUNCH. Best bargain in foofy food for $20 in the Duke City, and tomorrow – Sunday the 30th – is your LAST chance to try it.
Get your butt down there and enjoy it while the red flannel hash and deep-fried PB&J are still hot.
December 19th, 2007
Like cheese? You OWE it to yourself to visit the Downtown Gourmet, meet Carey behind the counter, and taste a few of her hand-picked, fabulous cheeses.
Each one is selected for a reason, and with refreshing grace is priced reasonably (read: cheaper than a place known as "food hole").
One day I went in searching for the classic Maytag Blue from Iowa, and instead I was steered towards a much more potent and wonderful blue from another unlikely midwestern state – Wisconsin – and came away a happy girl for much less moolah per pound than the Maytag name has come to expect.
Anyway, I received a newsletter from the store the other day about some of their holiday specials:
"17 December 2007
For Immediate Release
Fond Food Fancy Facts and Memories—
When did you last enjoy that favorite recipe of Aunt Nancy’s, Grandma Betty’s or your Mom’s?
Downtown Gourmet can interpret your fondest memories for food hankerings that your taste buds grew up with. With the holidays hanging in the air how about plum pudding? A customer just requested that recipe and Carey Smoot, owner of the shop, suggested he bring in the recipe if he still has it. If not, she will recreate it from his description.
And who hasn’t a very fond memory for pecan pies, a small one just for you or larger for a group.
For a festive display there are multi-colored peppers stuffed with a distinctive melange of lamb, rice, and seasonings topped with a creamy French feta cheese.
From Belgium there is a lofty cream of tomato soup, smooth and creamy with the rich flavor of a secret ingredient that provides a suave and worldly undertone.
Recently, a favorite request was for a vegetable crepe. For this Carey prepared a filling of ratatouille topped with an oh-so-creamy Mornay sauce. It has become a best seller for a take-out entree.
For those of you with enough French blood, Carey makes an elegant, chicken liver pate that will delight any palate.
Carey’s beef stew (and that recipe came from her own mother) flies out the door. It is succulent with flavors of beef and vegetables steeped in a rich gravy.
Or would you like Carey to prepare platters for any size gathering with different types of cheeses, (She has 80 some.), and various appetizers, such as a request from one customer for blue cheese-based, olive loaf or the ingredients may be bent for a savory, holiday spread.
Call Carey at 877-2262 or go by the store at 900 Central SW, directly across the street from Robinson Park with your taste buds’ requests.
Contact: Sue Smoot 345-3043 or 615-3043"
December 4th, 2007
…today, in honor of Pete Powdrell, the founder of Mr. Powdrell's BBQ in Albuquerque's north valley.
At 86 years of age and a lifetime of fabulous smoked brisket and collard greens, Mr. Powdrell died yesterday at home.
December 1st, 2007
Last night I had a huge craving for enormous bowls of hot soup as well as slightly sweet coconut juice to sip, so I headed to Cafe Trang, one of my favorite Viet places in Albuquerque.
I was successful in slurping my spicy beef noodle soup, but they were OUT of coconuts – the horror! My inclination was to tell them to run across the parking lot to TaLin and just buy some more, but I was nice.
So I'll squelch the craving for now, and wait for my next chance to have coconut to drink and coconut meat for dessert, all for the bargain price of about $3.
3106 Miles of Midwest
