Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Healthy Fear

This is a list of some things that I avoid for no really good reason. I am not a picky person but each of these things throws up a internal orange flag and I need to stop the boat so I don't run over the skier. The fears are mostly ungrounded but nonetheless real. A few of the mentions are listed for good reason. Keep in mind, I don't mind YOU trying them and using them and loving them. Many will be happy to know I have overcome my fear of mint but not green food coloring in excess.

1. milk chocolate chips
2. pumpkin flavored cold food
3. wild rice (is it really all rice, or are there other plants/twigs? mind you, i eat it but do not cook with it.)
4. white cooked cellaphane-y asian noodles that are too thick and too soft. (they look like brains which i have eaten but did not love.)
5. tube pans
6. cheesecake (and most cream cheese-based dishes)
7. carrot cake that weighs over 12 lbs. (once i was made to lug a carrot sheet cake for an event and the orange flag was born that day.)
8. cookies from a mix (i embrace packaged cookies in general.)
9. vegetable oil (i would use any amount of butter any day.)
10. sugared nuts in salad (i roast and toast but do not sweeten the savory and perfect nut.)

Remember?

The castle of Cair Paravel on its little hill towered up above them; before them were the sands, with rocks and little pools of salt water, and seaweed, and the smell of the sea and long miles of bluish-green waves breaking for ever and ever on the beach. And oh, the cry of the sea-gulls! Have you heard it? Can you remember?

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe


I don't know about you but it seems awfully summertime to me. My interest in seasonal food is renewed. Having come across tomato pie in a plethora of cookbooks, you can be sure I'll try it this summer. Also on the hotplate would be coleslaw with celery seed. I just found a nice recipe in The Junior League at Home, Carolina Coleslaw with Celery Seed Dressing. No mayo but the dressing is boiled. And, it calls for cider vinegar. As I am a sucker for marinated cabbage, the Mango-Cabbage Slaw is also a draw. Since we're talking salad, Virginia Bicentennial Chicken Salad is making me hungry. Soy sauce and water chestnuts are involved as are pineapple tidbits.

And, since we're talking cookbooks, I am under the influence of Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets. There is a very seasonal creation I plan to see to fruition. My days are filled with the question, "when?" It is a mite involved from crust to pastry cream to orange marshmallows to strawberries at their peak. My current radar is programmed to find potato starch to dust the marshmallow pans. Once found, I will be on my way.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Saffron, or Why You Should Take a Trip

My favorite freeway exit downtown is Washington Street. It housed the Pier 1 outlet which peaked for a short time, became mostly seconds, and then a place I never went. Years ago I purchased a headboard there. Recently it gave up the ghost and become a vacant building and canvas for graffiti art. I wonder about its rebirth.

The thing about Washington is you take a left turn and then a right onto India Street. The corner is gelato, Saffron is midway down, and Shakespeare's pub corners it off. You either turn left and go up the hill or you turn right into El Indio's parking lot. Might I suggest the lot? I have spent some quality time at El Indio especially when I first moved to this fair region and have Scout to thank for indoctrinating me. I recall with fondness the mini bean and cheese burrito, the paprika chips, the taquitos. We have enjoyed it to the fullest. I've been to the gelato place a couple times, and never to Shakespeare's pub. I heard it was so-so. Saffron was an unknown.

Katya introduced me to Saffron, and specifically the tofu salad rolls. The rolls are made in the morning. You walk into the baby pocket of a shop and order, calling out the sauce preference. I get peanut and a spicy sweet. The three salad rolls are wrapped in cool white parchment and stuffed with tofu, carrots, lettuce, mint, white noodles, and more. The sauce is potable. For under $5, one walks away with perfection.

I know I'm ignoring Old Town, and I'm turning a blind eye to Sassafrass, an exit I avoid for airport popularity. When I drive to the airport I get off at Washington and drive the rest of the way to the airport, turning right on Sassafrass and left onto the big street. It is my affection for Washington and India and my dislike of the road most travelled. A personal quest if you will. Every trip to the airport should include a stop on India Street for some homey vittels. It's hard to go wrong.