Food Train... All Aboard

This week I learned that I have been living under a rock, because I did not know that one of my favorite restaurants, Bin 27, has a very affordable tasting menu every Tuesday night.  Prixe fixe of $25 (!) for three courses, two items to choose from for each course.  My dining companion and I decided to get one of everything and share because, well, do I even have to explain? 

Course 1

Salad with pears and blue cheese.  Predictable, but good. Could've done without the tomatoes. With pears? Really?

Cuban black bean soup.  Now we're talking.  This had a slow burn of chipotle on the finish and a piquant lemon cream drizzle in the middle.  Classic with a twist, which is what I was hoping for.

Course 2

Poached salmon over roasted fingerling potatoes and leeks with a field pea salsa, drizzled with a balsalmic reduction.  Creamy flavor of the fish and potatoes balanced with the tart glaze and fresh salsa on top made for a delicious and well-balanced plate.

Korean braised short ribs over brown rice with a spicy Asian BBQ sauce.  One of my favorite games to play in a restuarant is "Deconstruct That Sauce".  This had anise, allspice, brown sugar and sriracha, thankyouverymuch.  However, one of my least favorite restaurant games to play is "Try to Eat Short Ribs With Your Knife and Fork Without Flinging the Bone Across the Table".  I don't like to play games that I'm not good at, and unfortunately "Gnaw Your Short Ribs With Two Hands Like a Normal Person" wasn't really an option given the circumstances.  Alas.

Course 3

If I may get a bit Dickensian for a moment: it was the best of desserts, it was the worst of desserts...  Basically, one of them sucked, and one was fantastic.  The dessert on the top was a complete waste of calories.  Citrus sorbet with blueberry balsalmic reduction.  The citrus was more bitter than a jilted bride, and the blueberry balsalmic reduction tasted like the chef forgot to add sugar... or perhaps used the same sauce as what was on my salmon.  Egads.  The dessert on the bottom was a bruleed cantaloupe with vanilla ice cream, caramel and a nut shatter over the top.  Very creative and quite good.

Next stop was Monstah Lobstah.  Fun place with great lobstah rolls and chowdah.  Yes, unfortunately, they use that spelling convention (and have the nails-on-a-chalkboard New England accent to accompany it), but the food makes up for it.  If you live in Tampa and have not tried it, please do.  We have lots of seafood in Florida, but I can't tell you where else you can get a good lobster roll.

Last stop on the restaurant tour this week was an old favorite, Ella's Folk Art Cafe.  It's in Seminole Heights on the corner of Murder and Crack Deal, but once you're in the restaurant you're in for a treat.  ESPECIALLY on Soul Food Sundays.  We waited at the inside bar for a table for a while and enjoyed some cocktails from a great bartender dressed like a vampire.  My peach bellini was lovely, but nothing holds a candle to the ultimate hair of the dog:

Bloody Mary with smoked salt on the rim, pickled okra and brussel sprout as a garnish with a big ole hunk of brisket.  If I had a hangover, I'm pretty sure that would be the ultimate remedy.  Or the ultimate curse... not sure.

Once we were seated, our waitress who was about 15 months preggo came over to give us a whole lot of attitude and not a lot of service.  My meal arrived 20 minutes after everyone else's, which was super fun.  The one person at the table who had birthed children said that being that pregnant was no excuse for being as rude as she was, so I don't feel bad saying so.  (Thanks for taking my guilt away, C!)  However, the one thing that never disappoints at Ella's is the food.

Chicken and waffles.  One plate could feed three people.

Funky Monkey waffle with nutella, peanuts and bananas and powdered sugar. 

Fried pickles so good they'll make you slap yer mama. 

Veggie burger with fried onions and fried green tomatoes on the side, which makes this Southern Grrl smile on the inside and the outside.
All in all, it was a great week of good food and fun times.  Can't believe November is almost here!

Food for Thought...

This weekend I attended a workshop about poverty and how organizations can help people help themselves out of it.  It was a very powerful experience that challenged my perspective in many ways.  The training was based on the book Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby Payne, Ph.D. and Terie Dreussi-Smith.  As a member of the middle class, it takes some thought to imagine what a day is like in the life of someone living in poverty.  In my world, I can plan ahead for the future financially because I make more than I spend.  I can drive to where I want or need to go on the time frame of my choosing.  If I am sick, I can get medical care when I need it without problems.  The luxury I enjoy enough to cultivate as a hobby is of course food.  I can choose to eat what I want and prepare it in the way that pleases me.  None of this is the case for someone living in poverty.  And yes, I knew this all of this before the workshop (a little credit, please...), but talking about it and hearing stories of people who have lived it completely shifted my perspective.  You can read a bit more about this workshop in a well-written article by the St. Pete Times. 

I am blessed beyond measure to have been born into a family where we did not live in the tyranny of the moment wondering where our next meal was going to come from.  I have so much to be thankful for with every passing day.  In my life I do strive to savor each proverbial bite.... and along those lines I did have a few good meals this past week.

Those who know me well understand that I take great pride in running an extremely efficient kitchen.  That basically means waste not want not.  Chicken bones and vegetable scraps go into a bag in the freezer for homemade stock.  Kitchen Sink Pasta is a regular item of menu rotation. (This basically means "everything but the kitchen sink" goes into the pasta to clean out the crisper drawer/pantry.)  And now, I'm happy to report on yet another way to maximize efficiency in my kitchen... fall decor turned dinner entree! 

See?

Zoomed in version:

Delicata squash and acorn squash with cinnamon candle and pumpkin-colored mums.  Charming fall decor, right?  I smile when I look at it.  Look what happens when I cut the squash in half, bake them, scoop out the flesh and add to brown rice, chicken sausage, sage, onions and peas with mozzarella on top.  Tell me this doesn't make you hungry...

I also made this. 

Butternut squash  and whole wheat penne pasta with wild mushrooms, pine nuts, goat cheese and sage.  This was lunch for the week.  (Yes, I cooked the butternut squash before it was used for decoration.)

In the spirit of utilitarianism, I also saved the squash seeds and baked them.  When they come out of the oven, add your own spice mixture.  Mine was sea salt, garam masala, curry powder, chili powder and ginger, but you can make anything that suits you.  Look at this month's Food Network magazine for suggestions.  They are addictive and a nice healthy snack.

I didn't forget about dessert.   I had some apples and pears that only had about a day or two left before going soft, so I made them into a crustless pie.  Peel the apples and pears and splash with lemon juice.  Make a mixture of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks with a heavy splash of amaretto and toss with the fruit.  Throw into a pie dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes.  My kitchen smells like heaven!

Happy eating to all, and remember to give thanks for every forkful.