iTether
t says: Today, Apple approved the Tether application (actually, I think it was yesterday). Later today, Apple pulled the Tether application from the App Store. Why? Well – you see – Tether allows you to use your iPhone’s cellular network as an internet source for any attached computer … without paying for it. Ok, that’s not exactly true: you pay $15 for the application and then that’s it. It’s not like when you sign up for the tethering service through your cell phone company and they hit you for $20 per month and then hit you up more if you exceed a certain number of MB. So this was quite a steal.
Apple used to have an app called NetShare that functioned similarly and suffered a similar fate. While I can neither confirm nor deny that I was able to download this application before it was pulled (those who have downloaded the app before it was pulled retain the ability to use the app), I can at least say that Apple could have very well “stuck it to the man” by letting the application slide (but of course, I’m sure they’ve signed some sort of agreement with the cell services saying they wouldn’t). We’ll see what the future brings …
supper’s brunch disappoints [despite a big dog]
t says: adsz likes Supper’s brunch, having recommended it in the past as a great place to go for Saturday brunch, as our perennial brunch favorite (i.e. Cochon) is closed on Saturdays. Having a hankering for some red velvet waffles, we went again. Here’s how it went down.
November 2011, Sunday Brunch, Party of 2. g and I strolled in and confirmed our opentable reservation (another 100 pts! yes!). We were seated within 60 seconds and had our heads in menus in another 5. Exxxxxcellent. The menu had some new sweet breakfast items that I had to choose between: Pumpkin Pie French Toast and Gingerbread Pancakes. Feeling in the mood for some pumpkin pie in breakfast form, I opted for the French Toast:
pumpkin pie french toast = pie crust + spiced sour cream + chunks-o-pumpkin
The dish came out and I was ecstatic. It looks awesome, right? Sure did! Unfortunately, something about it just didn’t deliver. The spiced cream was very subtle – mostly because my brain kept wanting it to taste like pumpkin, but it didn’t (that’s probably my brain’s fault). The pumpkin, itself, didn’t really have much oomph to it, either, adding more of a textural element than any real “pumpkin”. And the pie crust was just that: pie crust. Actually, the crust crumbles were a little on the anemic side – more like the pie crust on the bottom of a piece of Pumpkin pie and not that fluted edges that get brown and tasty. So basically, I was left with the French toast as the main harbinger of flavor (with maple syrup, of course). Normally, that’d be ok, as I’m a sucker for egg-dipped bread. In this situation, however, the bread, while browned to perfection, suffered from the same fate that Distrito’s French toast had in the past: too heavy/oily/fatty. It’s the kind of thing that you bite into and immediately react, “whoa, that’s rich” … which is surprising because it’s not a piece of PORK BELLY or chocolate cake – it’s French toast! It’s most certainly a side effect of the cooking process and likely intentional – some will love it and some will hate it. After the first bite, I kind of hated it. To illustrate just how overwhelming this sensation was, I only finished one of the slabs, and the other one I opted to not take home (and I normally take everything home). Yea, that’s some serious aversion. So in the end, what I had was some exceedingly unctuous French toast but not a a single thing to take the edge off of the richness (n.b. the toast, itself, didn’t really bring much to the table – it was more like a vehicle for fried-ness). Damn.
g went for the chilaquiles navidad, fondly remembering the chilaquiles from San Francisco’s Ferry Building Market. Supper’s rendition was a bit more, shall we say, “refined”.
chilaquiles navidad = eggs + tortilla + red salsa + green salsa + chorizo
I want to say first and foremost that these were not bad, as g did get around to eating the entirety of her plate. That said, these did not quite live up to her memories and were certainly not worth the $14. The problem list is long. The chorizo was cold (i.e. cooler than room temperature), which is a big error. Neither of the salsas were as cooked down or as deep as she was expecting – but they weren’t fresh and zingy, either. g takes the mic: It’s like they put together some Mexican ingredients, but it didn’t really have that punchy flavor that they had in San Francisco. t yanks the cord to steal the mic back: My question – why serve the cilantro with stems? I mean, maybe I’m just a sissy, but I don’t like trying to chew stems. That’s the second time they’ve done this, so maybe it’s their style: no sissies allowed.
g and I also shared that Supper Dog. We loved their Supper Burger, so we figured the Supper Dog would be a smashing success as well.
supper dog = PORK SHOULDER dog + BACON + bbq onions + sauerkraut + bun + fried pickles
I have to confess that this dish looks a little ridiculous. It’s clear that it’s composition is for wow-factor moreso than practicality. Seeing no way that I’d be able to distribute the bread to the unclad parts of dog, I was forced to attack this thing with a fork and knife. As far as taste goes, g was particularly surprised with how “hot doggy” the hot dog tasted, and I guess I was as well. It’s like you’d imagine it would taste like straight-up PORK, but there’s no mistaking that the inspiration was indeed “hot dog”. sr would have been proud. But that’s where the similarities end, because no hot dog tastes this good (it had a meatier, sweeter taste to it). Couple the dog with those bbq onions and I was in heaven. The sauerkraut and BACON, on the other hand, were a bit superfluous, as I would have easily traded in either/both for more of those onions for my dog. I’m normally not one to turn down BACON, but, as usual when bacon wraps things, the side touching the bacon (i.e. not exposed to heat) wasn’t texturally pleasing, coming across very chewy/slimy/unappetizing. The sour and delicately fried pickles were a great way to reset the palate, while the aioli really didn’t do anything for me, so I skipped it. The bread, let’s face it, was unnecessarily fussy; give me a softer bun that actually promotes the use of my hands instead of a fork and knife and I would have written a title of, “Supper’s Super Dog Saves Brunch!”. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that the dish was a little “too much”; “over-accessorized” is what g would say – but there’s something here for sure.
In conclusion, I’m a little disappointed in this brunch, overall. Actually, maybe I’m more than a “little disappointed” – I am going to have to remove Supper as our Saturday choice for brunch. Sorry guys. On one hand, I feel bad about it because the proprietors seem like such nice, hard-working people. Then again, I’ve also heard that they claim to have “started” the farm-to-table concept in Philly. While I’m not Philly-food-historian, I think that may be a bit untrue. While I don’t know exactly who “started it”, I’m pretty sure that White Dog Cafe has at least been doing it longer, having had its roots from even before Fork opened its doors. Be that as it may, we’ll be back around to Supper eventually to give its brunch another go. In the meantime, stay tuned for the brunch spot that will take Supper’s spot on our “gold standards” list.
celebrity chef switcheroo
t says: Those who know me know that I’m not the biggest Bobby Flay fan. Ever since meeting him with k at the opening of Bobby’s Burger Palace, I found him to be short, too Hollywood, and kind of an ass. That said, I listened to him on Wednesday before Thanksgiving on the radio (Q102) and he was actually far more “normal-sounding”. He poked a little fun at himself, and he didn’t take cooking too seriously. He seemed like a real human being. Bravo Bobby!
On the other hand, I’ve added a new celebrity chef to my personal “dislike list”. Marcus Samuelsson. Ever since his appearance on the Next Iron Chef (the season that Jose Garces won), I’ve hated him. He may be an awesome chef, but he is not a nice person. I even booed him every chance I got on Top Chef Masters (but he still won … BOOOOO!). Now that he’s competing again on Next Iron Chef Super Chefs, my negative feelings have been rekindled. I will take up my arms and continue to boo him. a disagrees with me about Mr. Samuelsson. We’ll see, a. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll post this absolutely ridiculous picture of him from the subway in NYC:
Tell me that you can look at the above ad and keep a straight face.
cm gives up the family cranberries
t says: I made cm an offer he couldn’t refuse. Here is his family’s cranberry sauce recipe from our recent Thanksgiving get-together. But now we owe him g’s mom’s lasagna recipe …
Separately, rumor has it that a is a cranberry sauce connooissieur with a secret recipe of his own … guess I’ll have to evaluate it at our upcoming holiday party? It’s on like Donkey Kong.
Ingredients:
__ 12 oz bag of cranberries
__ 1/3 c H20 (we had apple cider so used instead and used less sugar)
__ 2/3 c sugar (most recipes will call for 1-2 cups)
__ zest and juice of one orange
__ 2 cinnamon sticks
__ splash of orange liqueur
Directions:
0) Combine berries, water, sugar in a pot and bring to a boil.
1) Add zest/juice/cinnamon and simmer until all cranberries have popped. You can simmer as long as you want – the longer you boil the thicker it will get.
2) Splash the liqueur in a few minutes before it is done.
cm says: Also sometimes i throw in random other stuff like vanilla to mellow it out a bit (or the apple cider as noted above).
how g and t do Thanksgiving
t says: g and I normally cook up a storm for Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. This year was a little different, as we did a lot of cooking at her mom’s house. While I just hate to toot my own horn, I have to say that the food turned out pretty darn good. g’s mom and family took care of the classics (mashed tatoes, sweet taters, dressing/stuffing, lasagna), while g and I took on the remainder (forcing everyone to enjoy new-to-our-Thanksgiving additions of cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and fennel salad) and coordinated the cooking schedule. What does that mean to “coordinate a cooking schedule”. Let’s just say that I run a tight ship – a dictatorship (buzinga!). See what I mean:
the master schedule ... color coded slots for ovens (pink and blue) and stovetop (orange)
We finished approximately 15 mins behind schedule due to some unforeseen baking pan mishaps (one pan was too wide for the oven so it had to wait until I could free up another pan from another use). And another hiccup included using extra virgin olive oil for high heat roasting (i.e. it smoked a LOT). Our only real folly of the evening was forgetting to put g’s special sauce on the table (a gouchuchang-based sauce that’s sweet and spicy … just like g … i’m sooo funny).
Oh – and a special shout-out to honorary family members k and cm who brought their homemade cranberry sauce (not to be confused with Ocean Spray’s can-berry sauce [g interjects: i’m so funny!]). g’s mom hopes that their recipe gets posted on adsz so she may use it in the future. We made the case that this is unnecessary just so long as k and cm come to every Thanksgiving from here on out. Be that as it may, we’ll also have to see if cm can divulge his secret family recipe.
k and cm also get a second special shout-out for the stroke of genius that occurred at their recent Thanksgiving gathering. Somewhere along the line, one of their guests was looking for a vessel for the gravy for cm’s turkey. Not having a gravy boat on hand, it was suggested that a pitcher be used for the purpose. This was genius. With a large enough pour-ready vessel, we didn’t have to get up to refill the gravy boat 17 times throughout the dinner. g and I stole this idea and, inspired by Apple’s brilliant strategy, served our gravy in a brand-new, colorful, aesthetically-appealing pitcher of our own.
the all-new most technologically advanced gravy boat ever: a pitcher ... sure, the technology's been around for a while, but I'll still claim it's "new" and "never before seen" ...
lc felt that perhaps the pitcher had too small a base and was easy to tip over, having demonstrated its propensity to tilt on a number of occasions. As a result, we took another strategy from Apple by learning from their dealings with the iPhone “death grip” fiasco: we told everyone that they simply had to be careful when setting it down, as clearly its instability is not a fault of the product’s design, rather, something that we should just adapt to. Duh!
So three cheers for Turkey Day 2011! Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray!
is it iced coffee or iced tea? both!
t says: I happened across this bottle of Harney & Sons iced tea today: “Organic Coffee Tea”.
coffee + tea = ???
The back label describes: “While most tea and coffee drinks are made with extractions, Harney & Sons fresh brew our black tea blend with a delicous full bodied medium roast bean to make this very unique brew. Heavy on the tea, light on the coffee, it is a brew that is popular all over Asia and one we decided was delicious enough to bottle.” While full of useless propaganda (and contradiction – is it “unique”, or is it “popular”? Make up your mind!) g had had it once before and admitted to a both-good-and-bad experience.
g says: At first sip, it was kind of gross. But, I figured: “I’m thirsty, and I paid for this.” So I drank more [t interjects: g does NOT throw away food, especially if she paid for it], and by halfway, I kind of liked it. But the guy at work loved it at first sip …
t says: So, I’m not a coffee drinker. It doesn’t taste good to me. Consequently, the extent of my coffee-drinking is Starbucks Double-Shots (the one with the espresso, not the coffee) the last day or two before an exam to give me those extra couple hours of study time (instead of sleeping). As often espoused by Dr. David Dinges, I use caffeine “like a drug”. Hmm – that sounds wrong. What he/I means/mean: I use it for the desired effect only when necessary, not every day because that would diminish the effect when I especially want/need it.
But this time, Dinges be damned – this is supposed to actually taste good, brain stimulating properties aside. After all – would Harney & Sons really want to be associated with an inferior product? (As if they care just so long as people buy it.)
Result: it was actually quite good. I liken it to a mild black tea that somehow tastes “creamier” and sweeter to me than their normal iced tea (i.e. more caramel or dulce de leche flavors), whereas their normal tea gives me more bitter bite/bark. The coffee for me was very subtle (i.e. I didn’t gag), coming in mostly in the aftertaste, balanced with the tea (I’d say it’s 3:1 tea to coffee). While I don’t think I have full-on coffee breath afterwards, it’s still probably not benign enough to go without a mint. I don’t know if I’d have one of these every day, I’d venture to say that this is my favorite of the Harney & Sons cold drinks. So if you see it, I’d recommend giving it a try just so you can say you have!
breakfasts of champions
t says: Because I like to pretend to be hip/cool, I’ll hang out in the cafe at g’s work. Hmmm – in retrospect, I realize that that sentence doesn’t really seem like it makes sense: “yea – I’m soooo cool that I hang out at my wife’s workplace.” Well, regardless, the point of this post is not my “coolness”, rather, the cafe’s food. Like any good cafe, they have fresh coffees and pastries (including a few vegan selections for those out there who like to make baking sweet treats as difficult as possible). But even better are the awesome breakfast specials that change day after day (I’ve never seen the same one twice). These are my three favorite thus far:
nutella+pb+banana+bread=superbreakfastsandwich. It reminds me of that nutella commercial where the mom talks about how she uses it to get her children to eat healthyl: "I spread Nutella on all kinds of healthy things, like Multigrain toast." What the hell else would you put it on? Broccoli?
bacon+egg+cheese+pretzel roll. And you thought a bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit was good? Not after one of these. AND, because it's pretzel instead of a biscuit, it's healthier, right? Riiiiiight.
No big deal - it's just some pancakes, right?
Wrong! It's a return of the bacon-egg-cheese combo, this time flanked by mini-pancakes. These are 10x better than the McGriddle could have even dreamed. (Trust me, I've had plenty of a McGriddles in my time.)
The only problem with these specials is that because they change every day, you are never guaranteed such success as these on any given day. Or you could be like g and go for the good ‘ol standby: egg-and-cheese wrap. (Apparently, for her, pig is not its own food group … Boooooo!)
The cafe also has an assortment of interested packaged foods. For instance, I’ve also encountered many intriguing chocolate bars, chocolate-covered items, and candies. We got db hooked on these:
If I take a picture of the object in the manner above (i.e. off-center, shadows, lots of wasted space, peculiar background), that's "artistic", right?
chocolate unwrapped
Personally, I found these chocolates to be a little too crumbly for straight-up eating. Maybe grating on top of some baked items would be good. But of course, db can go to town on these, right from the wrapper.
after dinner sneeze 