Food Blog

Here’s what I’ve been eating.

A dippin’ dog, at Wiener and Still Champion.

A hot dog at Fast Track.

Wild Boar Burger at Hop Haus

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I’m not sure what’s happening, but my Movable Type (the content management thing behind the scenes) is completely hosed.

Also I’ve turned off comments since I’m getting a viagra comment every 5 seconds, no joke.

It might be awhile until I get under the hood and figure out what’s wrong.

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Just in case anyone’s thinking I’m not doing any eating around here, these are some recent shots.

Bacon and Cheese Strata. Probably from this recipe for bacon and egg strata, with the addition of some cheese.

A Boddingtons. One of a few on-tap beers I haven’t reported on yet. This was from The Celtic Knot.

Deep-fried oysters. From the Celtic Knot. Perfectly cooked – fried oysters should be damn-near raw and still juicy.

Some Mac and Cheese. Based on Alton Brown’s recipe, but I’m usually to lazy and/or hungry to bake it for very long. I make a flour roux, add the milk, melt in the cheese and add the pasta. It goes in the oven for a few minutes, really just for ceremony.

Lamb Vindaloo and Keema Samosa (lamb stuffed pastry). Delivery from Mt. Everest.

Hot dog from Portillo’s. The big tourist one downtown on Ontario. I had never been there before. I all the years I’ve worked in that area, I had never thought to try them for something quick to eat when working late.

I don’t eat much candy, but I lucked out with a slightly broken candy machine when working late. I got about 5 bucks worth of candy for a buck and a half. But when did candy start coming with a warning?

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Yes, that’s an ad over there on the right. I’m just testing the concept with a few of my food related clients to see what they may be worth.

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After staying at a couple of hotels that lied about having a working internet connection (I guess some people figure a phone line is a type of internet connection), I finally have WiFi and can update.

I’d post my Del Posto review, but I don’t have the menu with me to do it justice, so it will have to wait until I get back. My concise review would be that the food is worth the trip, it’s expensive but not quite as bad as the most expensive places in NY and the wine tasting for $65 with the meal is a great deal considering they just keep pouring and pouring. The room didn’t impress me as much as everyone else – I expected something grander considering all the talk about the cost.

Here’s a taste.

In other news, spring most be the time to start a food blog, since I’m getting tons of suggestions. Unfortunately they are all spread out among a month of emails and comments, so even when I get back, it will take a month to sort them out and list them. I don’t want to encourage too much work for me weeding out duplicate requests, but feel free to leave your URL in a comment in this post if you want to get listed. Even if I don’t get to them, at least everybody can check out some new blogs.

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When I started blogging I made a promise that I wouldn’t post cat pictures. But back then I didn’t have access to a cat. Now I figure I should do it at least once. Here’s Doc proofreading one of my posts. More Weekend Cat Blogging at Masak Masak.

Just before I was about to post this he got off the couch and puked out a hairball. I should have got a picture of that.

Tags: WCB34 and Weekend Cat Blogging

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I really hate theses meme things, they feel like a homework assignment. And I almost never do non-food related ones. But once in awhile I’ll do one. S’kat tagged me with one that will make me sound interesting. Ten random and interesting facts about yourself (they don’t necessarily need to be food-related). Also you’d need to read through 6 years of KIPlog to find out anything about me, so here’s some stuff.

People who know me now, don’t know I once had really red hair.

I once ripped asbestos out of the basement of the lion house in the Lincoln Park Zoo. And the old fossil hall in the Field Museum.

I used to go into people’s homes and shoot their babies. Then I’d try to sell them a nice album and wall frame package.

I lived above a pub in Auckland for several months.

I’ve skied on an active volcano.

I’ve chased a tornado in a Chevy Citation.

And some food related things-

I’ve never had a Cosmo.

As a result of spending some time as a prep cook, I can crack eggs, clean lettuce and de-vein shrimp faster than most people.

As a result of other restaurant experience, I can wash dishes better than most people.

I didn’t own a microwave until about 2001, when someone gave me one. I didn’t use it much for a year or so.

Since I hate these things, I don’t like passing them on, but I’ll tag a few of Food Blogs that have requested to get on my list. They look like the meme type.

So I tag Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, Passionate Eater and Tartine Gourmande.

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There’s a meme going around about favorite foods. Before I get tagged, I might as well go ahead and do it, especially since it’s easy.

1. Oysters. Sometimes I wish I lived on a rocky island, because I could subsist on them. Raw or cooked.

2. Soft Shelled Crab. Get one of the small, delicate, melt in your mouth ones, and there isn’t any thing better. Except a fresh kumamoto.

3. The rest of the shellfish/mollusk orders. I could fill this list with all of them, so I’ll group them here. Squid, other crabs and lobsters are also included. Oh, and uni.

4. Sushi/sashimi. Notice a trend here? Although it’s not just the fish, it’s the combination of the zen like preparation and presentation, the variety, and the ritual of eating it. And the excuse to eat wasabi.

5. Mushrooms. I live in the midwest, so I can’t have seafood with every meal. But shrooms make it into most everything I eat. I love that exotic types like matusakes are becoming more available. The morel is my favorite of all, but since they’re worth their weight in truffles, I can settle for portabellos.

6. Chicken. I love chicken and can eat it day after day. Versatile, cheap and relatively healthy (except when it comes in a bucket). Some people crave chocolate or red meat, I crave chicken. Although if duck was as cheap, I’d eat just as much of it.

7. Pasta. This is where the Sicilian roots overpower the Irish ones. Potatoes are okay, but nothing satisfies like pasta. I usually choose a marsala or other red sauce over a buttery, pesto or white sauce.

8. Beer. The kind that can be considered food. A good locally brewed ale, a hearty bock (or my favorite, the dobbelbock) porter or stout satisfies me just fine.

9. Game. I don’t usually crave red meat, but venison, bison, elk, boar, pheasant or other ‘zoo foods’ is what I go for on a menu. It appeals to my sense of ’something different’ and is wholy satisfying in both refined and primal fulfillments. Almost never have I had game with the sort of ‘gamey’ characteristics that turn people away from it.

10. Just about everything else. I’m a true omnivore and there’s very little I won’t eat. Except for the stuff beyond the truly absurd that shouldn’t be considered food anyway. These include natto, weapons grade hot sauces, animal eyes or genitalia, deviled ham, canned corned beef hash and sandwiches from a vending machine.

What? No dessert? I like donuts, cake and ice cream as much as the next person, but I’m not the kind of person who ruins dinner by eating dessert first.

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More AZ reviews to come, but here are some food lilnks.

The Beer Belly “A removable spare tire that also serves a stealth beverage.”

Santa’s Top 10 Cookbooks “Recipe Collections That Don’t Suck—And a Few That Do”

The 2005 Food Blog Awards are now accepting nominations. And now that it’s no longer secret, I can mention that I’m one of the judges. Bribes will be accepted in the form of cookies and beer only. Just kidding, I intend to perform my duties with the utmost impartiality.

If the nominees at the awards don’t inspire you (or make you salivate), try the Flickr Professional Looking Food Photography Group. Don’t go there hungry.

From a food photographer, an essay called Real Food Doesn’t Hold Still “I am very lucky that Americans still have a continuing fascination with – but little connection to – good food. They optimistically purchase Emeril’s cookware, download Daniel’s recipes and watch cooking shows. Yet they eat breakfast in their cars, lunch at their desks and chicken from a bucket.”

In food blog news, I’m going to miss being in NY for the final bar of 1000 bars, which is quite a feat. However I’m worried about The Smoking Tongue, who was attempting to eat a whole bottle of hot sauce every day. He was doing fine until the El Yucateco. We haven’t heard from him since.

Speaking of drinking, Drinktown is a Google map tool to help you find local drink specials (the link is set on Chicago). I’m working on one of these Google maps myself. I should be done around the time someone else finishes the same idea I have.

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I linked to a story about Chicago’s Chocolate smell last week, but I missed the stories and conspiracies about NY smelling like pancakes for a day.

Darn it. I also missed a whole bunch of Marshall Fields (or Walmart or whatever they’re going to be called now) demonstrations by several very cool chefs like Gale Gand, Mario Batali and Marcus Samuelsson. Some guy named Lagasse will be there Saturday.

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