narrowly avoiding sadness.
t says: As I had mentioned before, g and I were going to finish off our last bottle of one of our favorite white wines, a Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc wine from the Loire Valley in France) called La Crele. We were feeling like jazzing up some take-out sushi after a particularly exhausting week, so we pulled out the bottle and prepared for deliciosity …
come to papa ...
Unfortunately, as soon as I removed the cork, I was filled with fear. Allow me to show you why:
my-oh-my, the wine seems to have invaded a substantial portion of the cork!
holy crap that's really close to the edge!
As you can see from the above pictures, I was nervous because the bottle/cork/wine was oh-so-close to being compromised! Had the wine leaked around the cork and made it to the very edge (i.e. all the way to the left in the above pictures), then certainly the wine would have been exposed to air; in short, I would have been left with vinegar. Upset with the possibility that our last bottle was going to be a dud, I scowled at my glass as I poured the wine. It looked ok (although I’m not sure it would have looked differently had it been oxidized – or if it did, I wouldn’t have known). Next, I gave it a “sniffy sniff”. It smelled ok. Oxidized wines tend to smell pretty sour, so I had some hope. I braced myself for an acidic bite to take over my mouth and ventured a sip … and kablammo – I was met with pineapple and apricot/peach and a super-clean finish with florals and a bit of zip – it was just as I had remembered. Mmmmmmmm. It was going to be a good dinner – hooray! … But damn that was close …
no overhyping in FedNuts’s chicken
t says: The other day, a and v decided that it was time to rectify a wrong. We had had Federal Donuts’s donuts, but not the fried chicken. So we set out to fix the problem:
March 2012, Saturday Brunch, Party of Several. We ventured over the 2nd and Federal (actually, it’s a block over from 2nd and Federal), where we were greeted by a huge line. Fortunately, a and v were already there, in line, and right about to order. Woohoo! They ordered, we transported the chicken back at their crib, and then I proceeded to plate the chicken.
FedNuts chicken
I can’t remember all the flavors, but I’ll see what I can do: chili-garlic, traditional buttermilk, zatar, honey-ginger-something, and something else.
The chicken was easily the second-best fried chicken I’ve ever had, with first place going to Meritage’s Korean Fried Chicken. Ironically, it was the chili-ginger (i.e. the one most like a Korean fried chicken) that was the crowd favorite, for its vivid flavors and spicy oomph. The chicken was fabulous on all the flavors, however. It was nice and juicy and tender despite the car ride and time spent waiting for me to arrange the chicken into like groups on a single plate for the above picture (I was drooling the whole time). I think a special honor goes to the buttermilk, which was most surprising for us – I guess we expected it to be a bit boring when compared to the other fancy flavors, but no, it hung right in there with the rest of ’em.
Moral of the story: despite Rotisseur‘s frequent jabs at FedNuts (I’ve gone there often enough to overhear a comment or two), they do a good job at a great pricepoint. We’ll be going back again for sure – and I think a and v already have!
the ‘burgh says hello.
t says: lc took me to some hippy-dippy-lookin’ donut place in Pittsburgh for breakfast one morning. Looking at the sign outside, which said “Peace Love and Little Donuts”, I wondered if I’d be required to don a woven pancho before entry. Fortunately, they didn’t discriminate against non-hippies, and I was granted access. And look what I found:
look at all those donuts!
This place has three tiers of donuts. They are more silly-named than Coldstone Creamery’s sizing scheme (i.e. “like it vs. love it vs. gotta’ have it”). <Uncontrollable aside: “what kind of crackhead terminology is that? i gotta have it, man! i’m tweakin’ i’m tweakin’!” Ok, I feel better now that I got that out.> Here, the donuts are “groovy”, “far out”, or “funkadelic”. Refusing to acquiesce to such silly names, I began to assemble a dozen of “the really fancy ones” to bring in to some co-workers. Unfortunately, lc chose some of the lamer “groovy” ones for the dozen as well, claiming that maybe some people would like a more “normal donut”. (Blasphemy!)
It’s ok. I made sure we got 2 of these babies:
maple bacon bacon bacon bacon!
Yes, I know that putting bacon on sweets is soooooo “two years ago”, but I don’t care. I have never seen such a bacon-loaded sweet before, so I knew that 2 of the dozen were going to be this maple bacon concoction. Funny thing – these were the last 2 of 3 remaining donuts after people attacked the dozen. I guess the bacon scared people away. I admit – it’s not for the faint of heart.
How’d it taste? Pretty damn good. I give the hippies big props for loading on the bacon. I do wish it was a little crispier, but am really happy I went for it. The donut was nicely textured and surprisingly not-too-sweet. It was plusher/softer than FedNuts, and the glaze wasn’t too thick/syrupy at all. Man, if these hippies opened up shop i Philly, they could give FedNuts a run for their money (FedNuts does better with “unique” flavors, but honestly, how can you say no to classic combos like strawberry shortcake or chocolate-peanut-butter?).
Regrets? Well, after consuming the maple bacon donut, I was then over-full for a long time … but it was worth it … and I’d do it again … and maybe ask for a single swirl of chocolate …
sign me up.
a says: t, enjoy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/dining/doctors-learn-to-cook-healthy-crave-able-foods.html?_r=1
t says: sign me up.
g’s still got it!
t says: The other day, I looked in the ‘fridge to see some tasty-lookin’ leftovers g made for me:
eggplant parm sandwich with broccoli rabe
if you haven’t watched these, you should:
t says: Hulu’s been kind to us, freeing us from the grasp of Comcast. On top of that, g and I also find some of the Hulu-specific programming to be pretty darn good. While they tend to require HuluPlus in order to see the whole season, if you do happen to have it, be sure to check these out:
Whites
Spy
And, for those without HuluPlus, fear not, there’s always Kitchen Confidential, which is not a Hulu-specific special , however, I didn’t see it when it first aired. Maybe I was just too un-cool.
the perfect morning drink?
a says:
"affogato" = double espresso with hazelnut gelato
From Pitango Gelato DC. The perfect morning drink? Quite possibly.
g says: Yes! They had [Pitango Gelato] in Baltimore when I was there years ago!
t says: Yes! I’d drink that for coffee every morning!
after dinner sneeze 