Archive for the ‘Happenings’ Category
Gone Pickin’
t says: This past weekend we went strawberry picking at Sparacio’s in Rosenhayn/Bridgeton, NJ. The weather was beautiful (we were there at 9:30 in the morning) so we fooled ourselves into thinking that bending over or crouching to pick strawberries was “exercise”. If you bring your own container, you don’t have to pay for one from Sparacio’s – not that the $1 for a cardboard crate that holds several pounds of strawberries is absurd. The going rate is $1.45 per pound of strawberries – you get to keep on picking until you’re satisfied – no limits [that I was aware of]!
Welcome to our gym!
However, in the end, we found that the berries weren’t huge – they were kind of small-medium sized. Apparently the large ones were picked off the weekends before – darn.
g says: Our booty is beautiful!
We did pick close to 7 lbs or so, which looks like a lot – but 2 lbs went straight into a pie, we gave some to my parents (g’s parents already have a strawberry stash), and a pound went into a strawberry-upside down cake. Next time, we’re going to pick more so we can also give tons to our friends!
I made the cake similar to our cranberry upside down cake, as per j’s instructions. g gave some to her coworkers today, and it doesn’t seem like there are any issues. g did notice however that strawberries have a LOT more moisture than cranberries, so the topping (when you flip the cake) is much more syrupy. If you do use the recipe with strawberries, attempt to dry them as much as possible before using them (next time, I might even pat them dry AFTER I cut them into slices).
t says: If this was at my workplace ... it'd be gone by 1pm for sure ...
Finally … here’s my favorite strawberry …
It's so ugly it's cute ...
Pittsburgh: We Came, We Saw, We Ate
t says: We visited one of g’s sisters in Pittsburgh for a few days. We sampled various cuisines at multiple price points – from fine dining to street carts. It was definitely a lot of fun, but will take a while to recall – especially because the make-up work for taking the vacation takes precedence over blogging. Check back for some details from our visit, later!
Ice Cream “Scoop and Stack”
t says: While perusing a kitchen gadgetry website, I came across this ice cream scoop. I thought it was kind of cool. I’d totally use it to wow friends at our next gathering. g had a slightly different impression …
g says: Thumbs down! Those are not scoops!
t says: So you decide …
Bryan Sikora Does Scrapple?
t says: Foobooz says that Daniel Stern says that Sikora is to come on as a culinary director, with his first task being to focus on the scrapple-obsessed Midatlantic Restaurant and Tap Room. I love scrapple. g doesn’t. I love the crisp outside and the smooth, porky inside. g thinks it tastes like someone chewed up sausage, spit it out, shaped it into the brick and fried it. Result: we haven’t gone to Midatlantic – it’s not even on our radar. I’m willing to give Bryan a few months to see if he can offer some noteworthy dishes that would entice g to go. I wish him good luck with that … he’s going to need it …
Talula’s Split Goes More Public
t says: This had been reported a while ago, but now that it’s in the Inquirer, I feel a little more confident in its truth. I do want to say that it is kind of weird that this is front page news, but I guess if you consider the impact that Django had on the Philadelphia restaurant scene as well as the foodie-prestige that Talula’s brought to the area, it is somewhat big news.
What do I think? Well, regarding the article’s focus on the Aimee-Bryan relationship (and comments below the article), I feel that most readers will feel that LaBan is most certainly painting a stunning portrait of Aimee, and a less-than-stunning one of Bryan … but … if Bryan did truly pull a Tiger Woods here, then I’m totally fine with that. Obviously, there weren’t many details.
As far as the Bryan-cooking relationship is concerned, it’s quite a shame, because when we talked to Bryan in the kitchen in June 2009, we loved his attitude about food and cookery and restaurants. He even admitted that his days at Django killed him with stress, and that he liked Talula’s food-centric, slower-paced gig. But now the Inquirer claims he doesn’t want the cooking-for-one-table job, either, because he has to do some schmoozing? So he doesn’t want to cook a lot because it’s stressful, and he doesn’t want to schmooze because he doesn’t like it, but he does want to be “in the loop” as far as thinking up that prospective new place with Stephen Starr?
Finally, what do I think about the future of Talula’s? Well – g and I have been to the market and agree that they still have excellent food. As far as the dinners are concerned, we also have 2010 Labor Day Saturday reservations, and if we can get together the minimum number of people, we are in! If you want to come with us, let us know!
Zavino Gets 2 Bells: Laban Lays on Some Zingers!
t says: Laban reviewed Zavino, ultimately awarding them two bells. g and I still have yet to go, ever since we tried so desperately to get in when they were giving away free wine before they got their liquor license. Given some of the criticisms Laban had, I wonder if maybe he wasn’t allowed in during the snowstorm to get free wine, either – if so … payback’s a bitch. Well, we won’t let Laban influence whether or not we go – but now we just have to find a time when we’d rather go to Zavino than the nearby Tria …
By the way – g reminded me that Tria has never let us down. Sure, their menu could use some refreshing, but we’ve just never ever had a bad time there! The funny thing is – we can’t even blame them for the one time that we ordered a cheese that we didn’t like – it’s not their fault we didn’t like it – they did nothing more than cut it up and serve it! It makes me think that they have one hell of a business model …
after dinner sneeze 