Steak and Potatoes

I usually compliment myself when I work very diligently on my own to create a meal for my family. Now, I know what you might be thinking, just steak and potatoes, not hard, nothing for David to brag about. I just want to let the audience know that whenever I cook, it has to be high quality and not just thrown together. The real name for the dish should be:

Spice and Rosemary Rubbed NY Strip Steak

with lightly fried baby red potatoes and cooked in garlic butter

It took a long time to prep and make though I did everything on schedule and it all came out together and hot and the steak was cooked at a perfect medium rare. As well I made the garlic butter from scratch using a recipe from Julia Child's cook book, though everything else was invented on my own. I'm particularly proud of the rub in which I took about an hour to figure out, though when I did, it was pleasing to smell and taste.

The rub included odd proportions of:

garlic powder, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and diced rosemary.

It seems odd to put cinnamon on the beef, though it just most of the spice from the pepper and garlic (without removing flavor) and really lets the flavor of the beef and the garlic butter shine through. When doing the steak in the pan, I added a small amount of white wine before it finished cooking. In terms of the potatoes, I tossed them with a very small amount of diced rosemary and pan fried them in olive oil until they were golden brown and crispy.

From a very critical family, I thankfully received approval and not ridicule as I would only make the best and when I cook, all of my effort possible goes into making it the best dish it can be.

Good Rice Pudding?

I know the title might be hard to believe, however, after going to a WQXR concert in the Greene Space, I took a trip down to Little Italy and stumbled upon this store called Rice to Riches. I thought it was an upscale, modern, Chinese restaurant. After eating at Lombardi's, which has very good pizza regardless of a fact that people assume it's a tourist trap, I went to check out the store's outside to find that it has an array of different flavors of rice pudding.

Standing across the street, my parents and I were contemplating whether we wanted to check out the inside. After we were heckled by a homeless person smoking a cigarette, that sealed the deal to cross the street and go in. The store had a very futuristic setting with rice pudding flavors like chocolate-hazelnut, rocky road, strawberry, pina-collada, and many more. They were as well being served in four large sizes which where difficult to finish considering how rich the pudding was.

After being so skeptical of rice pudding, I dipped my odd spoon into my pina-collada flavored pudding and took a bite which was a pleasant surprise. I continued to eat it because it just tasted so good, however, it was packed to the top of the container and after a while, it started to feel bottomless which I was happy about because the flavor and the consistency enjoyable, unlike other puddings that I've had in the past, however, I was getting full.

Rice to Riches was so good that I'm looking to coming back there all summer and maybe some of the time that I'm at Mannes to try all of the flavors. I know that many other people would enjoy this little secret and this company will soon get big, that'll be possible for them for the reason that they deliver all over the country from that one store. Even if this post isn't about eating their "Moby" size (serves 10) by myself, it's a good place to know about. A good snack or dessert, Rice to Riches is worth checking out.

Daily Dozen Doughnut Company

Here I am with another post about doughnuts, though what's not to like about them when they're done right? I'm surprised at myself that I didn't post about this place sooner. I thought of it while I was looking for restaurants in Austin and the Round Rock Donut Company came up with their massive doughnut for $5.99 which I'm looking forward to try, though that's a post for another time. The Daily Dozen Doughnut Company is a small stand that lies in the heart of Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.

When I don't know about a place, I have an eye for knowing that it's a good place just by looking at it and when you will have to wait on a long line to get to it. I was in Seattle walking around in the market when I got there in the evening (when everything is closed) and I came across this place and said to my parents, we have to get here early to try this or else we'll be waiting on a long line.

I was right when we got there just 10 minutes before it opened, there was already a line that was being formed to get the fresh doughnuts that were being made. We got on line to get a bag of 12 of the best doughnuts that I have ever tried in my life, good enough that I was genuinely upset when the bag was finished; however, there is so much good food in that market that I was easily satisfied with something else around.

We continued to walk around Seattle and the market for most of the day and eventually passed by the doughnut shop again to see a line that was going all around the market which was very long and I wanted to stand on it and get more, but I just decided to get them the next morning. I continued to have some other very, very excellent doughnuts at dinner at the Dahlia Lounge in the same area of Seattle and as well the best crab cakes I have ever had (not at the same time).

The Polish Diet

Just to clarify, I'm still talking about food, Polish Food! Still at our summer house, the family needed to decide what we were doing for lunch because we haven't collaborated on that for a year. We're finally back for the first weekend this summer and no one wanted to go to the supermarket to get regular cold-cuts (or eat cold-cuts for that matter). My uncle brought one of his good friends out to visit the house as he does a few times throughout each summer.

Right near the house, a new Polish deli just recently opened up, and my uncle loving world foods, especially foods such as German and Polish decided that he would go and pick up some Polish ham and such to have for lunch. He had gone there and came back an hour later with 2 and a half pounds of Polish meat and complained how it was a 20 minute ordeal, while everyone hungrily wanted to attack the food to eat, but he wasn't going to let us do that until he was done telling us his story.

The packages of food that he brought back contained 3 different Polish cold-cuts, as well as 2 different cheeses. In addition he brought back some Polish pickles (which I had no interest in) and also a very heavy Polish bread. I was busy in a game with my little cousin John for a little while as people began to take food, though, they didn't take much because they were afraid of the weight of the food that they had, even the bread was heavy.

Once the food rush was gone, I finished my game and went to the kitchen to pick up my sandwich. I normally wouldn't finish a plain ham and turkey sandwich because it is just that boring. However, I came over and planned to eat a nice, large sandwich because one of my favorite foods of all time from any country are cured meats.

I proceeded to make my sandwich starting with two slices of the very heavy Polish bread. I had no idea what the different meats were, they were all good and I took two of each and put it on one slice of bread after putting a liberal amount of German mustard down. After, I took two slices of each of the cheeses and finished with the other slice as well with a liberal amount of mustard. I was shocked at how heavy the dish was when I picked it up; it was very, very heavy for a sandwich, probably the heaviest sandwich I have ever eaten (approximately .9 pounds).

After I finished making the sandwich, I proceeded to eat the entire sandwich with a great deal of ease. I was quite surprised at how quickly and efficiently I finished.

FRIED TWINKIE!!!

The monster of all things one can eat! I've mentioned that I have a thing for fried food, though this is horrendous when it comes to it. Most likely, the only place you can find this horror is at a carnival, and it can either turn out really good and worth it, or really bad and a horrible waste of $3. The North Fork of Long Island is currently having it's annual Strawberry Festival and in my family, it isn't the rides that matter, it's the food.

The first thing that we came to when we walked in was the strawberry shortcake stand which is the most popular attraction that they have to offer. However, when we made it to the festival at 9:45, after having dinner, we were deferred by the shortcake stand because of the fact that they RAN OUT!!! I wasn't going to leave after paying $5 to get in to the fair. I remembered that years ago, I went to a fair right near where my permanent residence is and I had a fried Twinkie there for the first time in my life and it turned out really good, though, I never managed to get my hands on one since.

Being it that we were at this carnival where there had to have been about 10 or more food stands and about 2 serving fried food, I felt the urge to get myself a fried Twinkie for the first time in years. Big mistake.

My cousin and I were both there and we had to wait on a very long line because the fried food is "oh, so popular" and people were waiting a little while to get it, as were we. I planned on getting Twinkies which they had in stock and my cousin wanted to get a funnel cake. Once we got to the front of the line, we found out that there were no more funnel cakes being served, though they were serving them at another stand. I ordered my Twinkies, got them, and proceeded to wait on another line with my cousin who wanted his funnel cake.

Once we had obtained all of the food and scarfed it down like the animals we were, we were both highly disappointed with what we got. My Twinkie was soaked in batter, while it only should have been lightly dipped, and both of our food items were fried in dirty oil so it wasn't that good tasting. We ate it regardless because of the fact that we spent our money already. As of now while we are both sitting here in the bay house like two hermits, the fried dough is laying

at the bottom of both of our stomachs.

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

I think one might know where I'm going with this. After finishing a bowl of Rice Krispies, I thought of the problem I have when there is a box of that cereal available to me. At times where I experience no self control whatever, I have finished entire boxes of it involuntarily. I don't know what it is about it. It might be the fact that it isn't exactly the most filling cereal on Earth, or maybe I just like the taste of it. It may be a little of both. I just can't help myself when it comes to them, that's why I rarely see them around the house.

There is something that is satisfying in the flavor of puffed rice. It's much more that a plain flavor because it almost has a bit of a sweet-grain flavor to it that's very faint. It might be nice to try them with soy sauce since that it is white rice. Anyone who has read my oil spill post knows that I would try something like that. Alas, I have not tried that, maybe a project for this weekend.

There is always about half of a large box left of the Rice Krispies when my mother makes Rice Krispy Treats for a family gathering, Italian Sunday Dinner, or something of the sort. The last time she made them, I went at the whole box and finished it within 15-20 minutes. I'm not even one to shove things down my throat, I may eat a lot but that was just crazy. I remember it well, I finished the box with no issue and then I took a nap on the couch.

Today, I bought a box at the store and I just had the one bowl that I mentioned before... in the past hour... just kidding, that really was the only bowl.

Chicken Fried Anything.

Generally from my love of doughnuts, one might expect that I have a fancy for fried food, particularly chicken fried. Now if you don't know what "chicken fried" means, it's a southern term. Picture fried chicken, now that method of frying with a batter to make the chicken crispy is applied to other foods such as steak (chicken fried steak). All of which are really good tasting, though staggeringly unhealthy. Other methods of frying have to do with taking what you have and cooking it in the hot oil.

Just for the fun of it, my mother and I took a trip out to Cutchogue again for less than a day to go to Braun's Seafood Co. and Wickham's to get doughnuts. Here's another thing that I'll do just for food. The drive is exactly 71 miles from my house just to get fish and fried dough. However, while out at Braun's, we were contemplating what would be good to have. We already have a lifetime supply of Gulf Shrimp because of the oil spill, the tuna didn't look too good today. There however were a few nice pieces of flounder there, perfect for frying.

It didn't occur to me until the drive home, though I managed to talk my mother into buying the flounder. I was thinking of all of the great fried food and BBQ that I'll be getting at Clarinet Fest in Texas and I thought of doing a fish fry. The flounder was perfect, though I didn't have fries, home fries were substituted (and are healthier since their fried in olive oil).

It was a good dinner for the trip that we took for it. Chicken-fried beer battered flounder, home fries, and a nice remoulade for the fish. The moral is, if it looks good, it can be chicken-fried, just like the flounder.

Wickham's Doughnuts

I have to emphasize how much I love these doughnuts, being the doughnut connoisseur that I am. Wickham's Fruit Farm lies as a small garage on the Main Road in Cutchogue (North Fork, Long Island). As we drive down to our summer house for the weekend, we always pass this staple of North Fork farms. In addition to great fruits and vegetables, this farm has a large amount more to offer, going from fruit tarts, to pies, to doughnuts.

Besides the fact that I can polish a strawberry-rhubarb tart in a matter of seconds, that's not why I'm writing this. My main interests lie in doughnuts. They are as fresh as they get, making bags of these doughnuts each day until they sell out by mid-afternoon (which they always do). They make their own dough by hand, fry the doughnuts on their own, and coat them in sugar (or not), and bag them.

These doughnuts come in bags of 6 and I've seen people fighting for them some of the time. They as well come in 3 different flavors which are: plain, sugar, and cinnamon. They come in mixed bags as well, though the favorite amongst many people is sugar. I thought of this as I was eating out of a bag of sugared doughnuts and felt I needed to write about them when I wasn't paying attention to how many I had been eating and finished off the bag on my own.

They are addicting and just taste really good, I wouldn't do that with a box of Dunkin' Donuts, these are worth the trip and they are a nice reward for the hour trip it takes to get out to the beach house.

Brownies!

Another fruity title. This however is not about any brownies, especially the ones that come out of a box (people claim that they have homemade brownies, but they just made it at home using the mix). This is about my mother and her brownies. Let's begin by saying that my mother makes the best brownies in the world, hands down (that's not just because she's my mom, I'll get to why in a second). Secondly, they are addicting but bad for you, I can remember times where I have polished off an entire tray easily without even thinking about it.

My mother's brownies are not the ordinary thick chocolate cakes in a pan that you would see in a pan any day. Her's are pretty much like a combination of cake and fudge mixed together, though more like fudge. People, not just me go wild for them and they beg her for them regardless of the fact that eating one slice is just like eating a stick of butter. There are a lot of things to say about these brownies and there isn't generally anything bad to say.

My mother tends to lure people into her brownie "cult" for lack of a better word; they are hypnotic quite oddly (I think it might be the vanilla extract...). It is almost like a religion, I'm a priest, I go and spread the good word about how good these brownies really are which gets people excited to try them and when Jesus Christ (my mother) comes along with her brownies and people try them, they all follow her and ask for more.

I have friends who are die-hard eaters of my mother's brownies, I as well am one of them. Whenever we see those friends (4 different families) we they beg for them, and there are still a large amount of people trying them. Today, she made a batch for a symposium for the science research department and there was almost a fight in the faculty over them. You may be skeptical until you try my mother's brownies, and then you will be a follower.

I don't think it's that bad of a cult in you eat them in moderation.

Cupcakes!

Yes, it is a very flamboyant thing to write as a title, though I have to say that I have a taste obsession with those "semi-homemade" cupcakes (the ones with the mix in the box and the frosting in the tin). Whenever I get I chance to, I try to snag one off of a bake sale, though I end up paying. I go crazy when those things are laying around for free; I'll just walk over and take about four.

Playing a recital tonight and coming into a room where a reception (bake sale...) was being setup for everyone who played and those in the audience. Everyone had been setting up and taking a treat for themselves for their strenuous efforts, I made sure that I had not taken any of the cupcakes because I don't ask for anything in return. People around me of course were shocked that I wasn't taking anything and controlling myself. Everyone knows that I'm the food guy.

It did so happen that about 6 of the cupcakes were missing by the time people began to come in for the reception. We'll never know how that happened, and I have no inclination to lying and saying it was me because there were a lot of people there and I wasn't the one who snatched the cupcakes. No matter how much I like those things, I would feel guilty if I stole 6 of them. Whoever must have did that must have been hungry, or has a cupcake problem worse than mine.

However, for my efforts in helping set up and playing a great performance, I was allowed one cupcake for free which made me deeply happy and perfectly satisfied. There were plenty of them anyway, I'm surprised I didn't notice the cupcake bandit in action, I must have been outside at the time, otherwise I had my eyes on the food longingly the whole time. Even six would have been too much sugar for me.

I'd prefer some fine cheese and a glass of olive oil.

The Oil Spill Situation.

Hearing the constant news about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I was reminded of a conversation I had recently with my friend, Patrick. As we were going to the deli right down the street from school, he was complaining about the tart and tangy taste of vinegar and how the taste of it makes him nauseous. I immediately responded by saying how absurd that statement was (in my opinion) and began to rant on and on about how much I live for the taste of vinegar on almost any sandwich I eat, or anything else vinegar goes with.

At that point in the conversation, I started saying which seasonings I would drink in large quantities and vinegar had been one of them. Vinegar, especially balsamic, has a very unique taste that people work for years to create, age, and bottle. Thinking of this, I know that so much effort had gone into creating that taste that I love and makes me happy when I taste it.

Making my way back to the title, it really has nothing to do with the fact that there is an oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, it has nothing to do with crude oil at all (this is a food blog for God's sake). I'm talking about olive oil. Without a doubt one of the best things that vinegar pairs with is olive oil, which holds a very powerful flavor in a very contained consistency, enough that I would as well drink it on its own. Olive oil would be the only one though, all of the others like peanut and vegetable oil are meant for frying (and they're good at what they do), though don't have that great of a flavor on their own.

Returning to the conversation I had about drinking seasonings, that afternoon, I just felt the need to do so; plus, I had the craving for the taste of oil and vinegar anyway which I haven't had in a long time. I poured equal amounts into a small glass, mixed it a bit (since they don't mix on their own), and drank the whole glass within a few seconds. I have to say, I greatly enjoyed the taste of it and it had quite a powerful and advanced flavor.

I recommend trying it for people who think that they can handle it, but don't do anything absurd like drinking a whole gallon of oil or a whole bottle of balsamic vinegar, that'll make you sick. Remember, I only drank a small amount and that was good enough to satisfy my flavor cravings and it kept me full for a few hours.

My Problem With American Cheese.

One thing that continually bothers me as I sample different cheeses from around the world, is that, for one, none of them are named after their country while one of our's is (for example, there is no cheese from France called "French Cheese"); and the other thing is, all of them have their own distinct flavor, and all of them are good flavors. Now, my problem is American Cheese (just that particular cheese, I don't have a problem with other cheeses from America like Cheddar). It's named after our country and it's a bland, orange, square!

I can think of so many great cheeses through out the world, almost any (with the exception of Feta, which I hate) that aren't named after their country and taste fantastic. Mozzarella, Brie, D'Affinois, Gruyere, Cheddar, you name it. I feel that having this mass produced condensed milk product is an insult to our country!

I was considering this when I went to Rosa Mexicano last night (finally, a good meal!). For those who don't know this stapled Mexican restaurant in Lincoln Center, it is a must but if you walk in, be prepared to wait about an hour, which I did. I sat there eating my Carne Asada (which in any essence is steak in a skillet with chesse and other flavors on the side to make tacos with), and I was admiring the Chihuahua Cheese that was melted under the beef and I was thinking that this is wonderful with its almost nutty flavor that paired perfectly with the meat. At that point I started to think about the American cheese and that's the stuff that you get next to the yogurt in the supermarket.

With all of this in mind, I was reminded of my trip to Manhattan with my friends when the Krispy Kreme incident happened. We were walking in the Village where we past both Faicco's (an Italian Pork Store) and Murray's Cheese Shop, and I pleaded to go in and they said no, we're getting a cheeseburger... and my hatred of American Cheese grows stronger.

Where's The Beef?

Besides the fact that this is a slogan from an old Wendy's commercial said by an old lady, I often say this when there's no real good food around. This happens to be true. It's unfortunate that I haven't been able to have a truly good meal in a long time, especially today. Today was the "Moving Up" ceremony at my school where we officially change grades... The sad thing was, we were force fed these lame subs and we couldn't even leave school.

Some of them were even scary, of course, growing up in an Italian family from Brooklyn (originally from Napoli), I took the Italian sub, which consisted of supposed "cured meats" and provolone, and unfortunately, it didn't taste like that, or have oil and vinegar. Obviously, when you're in school, the food isn't going to be the quality of food that one would get in Faico's or Pastosa's but couldn't they give us a choice to leave and go to the deli or cafe across the street.

Well, after eating 5 of the sandwiches, I still wasn't hungry, and I finally got the privilege to leave for a minute 25 minutes where I was able to run across the street and get a coke and a big chocolate chip cookie. That was quite satisfying, though unfortunately, not a very healthy lunch. That's another problem, I haven't been healthy at all this week. It's sad, really, and I just weighed myself today, and after a week, where over a week of unhealthy eating, and a primary measurement of 147 pounds, I got a reading this week of 144.5.

Tonight, when I went to my grandmother's house where we usually hand make pizza, we ended up ordering and I got to eat three slices of pizza. I can't stress how much I miss the food in Italy or something like Jean-Georges... I haven't been in the city to just relax for a long time.

Wings n' Things

Cravings hurt sometimes and I couldn't help but think today about one of my favorite foods and the planet, chicken wings (yeah, classy right?). Now, there are two places where I have had notable hot wings in my life, both of them are small chains, but that doesn't mean they can't be quality; when restaurants start to be mass produced and publicly in the stock market, that's when they start to get bad (though good if you're buying stock). Those two places are Croxley Ale's which is New York (3 on Long Island, 1 in Manhattan) based, and there is the Wild Wing Cafe, which spans the South East.

The thing about the Wild Wing Cafe is that the main thing that they have are wings, the wings are prepared well, and there are 32 flavors (or more)... I'm sure a lot of places can hold themselves to those standards (lest the 32 flavors), such as the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY where the chicken wing was first invented. I'm not going to get into the history of wings because it's important to note that this place has good wings and the flavors are good, plus they give you the chance to try up to 5 flavors at a time with a platter of 25. I can't stress how much I love this place with much more than the fact that whenever I'm in a location that has one, I make an effort to go.

Next there is Croxley's, another place that holds up to the standards of quality and taste, plus the fact that the wings are award winning. I try to get to this place as much as a can for the sake of 10 cent wing nights (Mondays and Wednesdays), though, because of the constraints of school, it's hard to get there any time but during the summer. Another thing that I should mention is that heat is not much of a problem for me, I've trained myself to handle some pretty spicy stuff. Which of course, brings me into my story of my immense gluttony.

Celebrating both mine and my friend's birthday, us an his cousin went to Croxley's on a Wednesday for ten cent wings. I felt it necessary to go ahead and split 100 wings between the three of us. I know that 100 wings sounds like a small amount, however, after a while, it begins to become a bit much to tolerate. We managed, after gorging ourselves to no end to finish about 80 wings total, which isn't bad, but it's a damn large amount of food. I ate more that the other two, finishing with 28 and still kept it in my stomach with a feeling of fulfillment. That was a good day and the reason I'm reminded of this story is because I'm planning for it again this summer with a few extra people.

I'm Just Full.

Sitting here wondering what crazy thing I may have done today to get something for lunch, nothing is coming to me and I feel full, which is also unusual. I can't help but sit here and think that, why, especially after a school day, at 6:09 PM am I hungry? After wondering for a while, it finally came to me that I basically gorged myself for almost every period of the school day.

Beginning with breakfast, I had I massive chocolate muffin, followed by lunch (Chinese food) which consisted of a large order of General Tso's Chicken, two orders of white rice, a coke, and about three fortune cookies. I somehow managed to eat all of that in the twenty minute length of half a period.

Two periods after that, I took a practice final in class and since I finished remarkably early, I was sitting in my seat and quite bored. Knowing myself, I usually eat out of boredom, and when I do, I eat a lot. Going to the cafeteria, I got myself two bottles of Gatorade and two large cookies, which I scarfed down also very quickly in the second period of the same class. At that point, I thought to myself that that had to be enough junk food for the day, because I don't have any way to work off all of the calories that I just took in.

Walking into English, my teacher of course surprises us with two BUCKETS of Italian Ices. My self control and I went over and took four servings for myself, soon realizing how much I had ingested in the whole day...

It's just one of those days where I feel that I don't know if I'm going to be able to eat dinner. I fear that my eating habits are going to follow me when I go down to Texas for Clarinet Fest...

The "All-American" Dream

I can't help but to make a note today about the quite famous and deliciously fattening (because what isn't delicious without being fattening) All-American Drive In. After taking a drive all the way to Massapequa to get there (that's not entirely true, I had other reasons to be there that aren't relevant), I felt like I needed to gorge myself with all of the fried treats that they have in there, even after all of the stuff I told you about for Memorial Day.

Honestly, it's not the worst thing in the world for you, because there is the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona, though, that's a completely different conversation. I picked myself up anything on the menu there that was large, unfortunately for my arteries. Their "Double-Double" (double cheeseburger), an order of large fries, large onion rings, and a large Coke. I can say (sort of proudly), that I ate the whole thing and I can still feel it. That amount of food is not meant for someone as thin as I am...

It honestly isn't just fast food though, there is care that goes into making the food, unlike the assembly line that you would see at McDonald's. There is flavor to the food, it's affordable, and the burgers have been honored in several ways. The Food Network featured the drive in in one of their specials, and it was voted #1 burger place a person needs to try, over the fancy Peter Luger (which don't get me wrong, is very good, though, they are meant for their steak, and they take it seriously). There is for sure I make an effort to go to this place.

Massapequa is home to a lot of secret and not so secret junk food locations such as Marshal's Ice Cream, right next to All-American. There is also Smokin' Al's, in which I need to make an effort to go to. Overall, the point being, regardless of the fact that this place is fast and cheap, just like any other fast food joint, there is a reason to go there that is hard to explain.

Maybe because it's one of a kind?