Last night, it being a balmy St. Pat's, I made colcannon and Cook's Illustrated's salmon fish cakes. These were, obviously, an enormous pain in the ass. The three-part breading alone was a major ordeal, and anyone who suggests placing a cookie sheet in the freezer (to firm the cakes up pre-frying, of course) has a much bigger fridge than I, or else has a lot less crap in hers. (You know theirs are empty, save for a few neatly-labeled bags of homemade stock and maybe some made-in-advance meals frozen in individual portions for the nights they work late.) With the pileup of dishes, the batch-frying and draining-on-paper-on-yet-another-plate became a chaotic space issue. And, of course, the smoke alarm went off and I'm too short to reach it. Also, the house now smells like frying fish, never a happy morning-after. I have placed dishes of white vinegar around, which some old housewives recommend for this sort of thing.
That said: they were delicious.
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Hi Sadie
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know that you gave us excellent recommendations on our recent trip to NYC. My friend Lindsay was the go-between for us. We stayed on the lower east side in this awsome apartment we found for super cheap on Craigs list. It had an AWSOME kitchen, but unfortunately your restaurant recommendations were so alluring that we didn't use the kitchen besides making hot tea.
I adored Marlow and Sons. We went for lunch and just happened to sit down next to one of the owners. I struck up a conversation with her and she was delightful. We talked about school gardens and the farms that she sources food from. I am really freaky about locally sourced food - for all the obvious reasons - flavor, freshness, carbon footprint, knowing the farmers and producers etc. Anyway I had excellent locally sourced spinach salad with fried shoestring carrots, marinated mushrooms and pecorino cheese. The crostini had carmelized shallots, sauted mushrooms and goat cheese. My husband Reid set down his big fat roast beef sandwich to ask for another bite of my crostini.
We also loved the Mario Batali restaurant on your list. Lola I think. I'm not sure that was the name, but anyway it was wonderful. We didn't eat much there. We happened upon it on a late night stroll and went in for a drink. I couldn't resist some kind of sweet potato appetizer. It was good, the atomosphere was exactly what we were in the mood for, and the wine we had was spectacular!!!
We stopped in at a few of the other places that were on your list and had little tastes here and there. We just weren't there long enough.
Thanks again! If you are ever in Asheville please get in touch. I'd love to give you the same kindness.
Cathy
Cathy, I'm so glad you had fun - and what a great write-up! Thank you! I am dying to get down to Asheville and will surely look you up when I do. Lindsay has told me about your commitment to eating locally, so what luck to end up right next to one of the founders of the NYC version - a kindred spirit for sure (and good thing the food was good ;) ) Also, drop me a line if you make it up here again - we will try one of the other new, locally-sourced spots I have been meaning to try...
ReplyDeleteCathy, I'm so glad you had fun - and what a great write-up! Thank you! I am dying to get down to Asheville and will surely look you up when I do. Lindsay has told me about your commitment to eating locally, so what luck to end up right next to one of the founders of the NYC version - a kindred spirit for sure (and good thing the food was good ;) ) Also, drop me a line if you make it up here again - we will try one of the other new, locally-sourced spots I have been meaning to try...
ReplyDelete