Greek Corner Restaurant (Somerville, MA)

It’s been my pleasure on multiple occasions to visit the Greek Corner. My only complaint is that it’s never the seven minute walk from Porter Square that I think it is (in reality, it’s a fifteen minute walk from Porter and about a ten minute walk from Davis). But I never mind, because after the walk, the food is great.

The souvlaki sandwich with lamb is tasty—it’s got the right amount of meat and plenty of that delicious yogurt sauce. It’s $6.95 and completely filling. I also recommend the sampler plate (to share as an appetizer, or as a dinner item for one person). It has dolmathakia (stuffed grape leaves), tsatziki (that delicious yogurt sauce), a caviar-blend thing that sounds weird but tastes great (taramosalata), spinach pie, hommus, tabouleh, feta cheese, eggplant salad, and olives. Very tasty and satisfies all your varied Greek food cravings at $10.95. I’ve also had the rice pudding ($3.25), which was excellent.

All in all, a great place. Recommended for: Cheap but tasty dinners or lunches out, take-out, and groups/families.

Hypothetical Vacation

So I just discovered that I have about 5 days of vacation that I have to take before March 31 or I will lose them. I was thinking of going to Germany to visit my family in Heidelberg, but the tickets are an outrageous $800/apiece. (For mid-week travel. On economy. I called several airlines and had them price multiple things and that was the lowest.) I would have been willing to spend about $500, but $800 is out of the question.

But I still have to take those days. I could do a basic staycation, but I think that would result in me planning a lot and doing very little all week. Does anyone have any suggestions on ideas for what I should do?

The Preservation of Man, Woman, and Any Other Adult Over 21

I was going through some old papers in preparation for moving, and I found this poem, which I had copied down from the wall of Johnny Joe’s pub in Cushendall, Northern Ireland. (I lived there for the summer of 2003.) It amused me then and it still amuses me now, so here it is:

The Preservation of Man

The horse and mule live 30 years
and know nothing of wine and beers.
The goat and sheep at 20 die
with never a taste of scotch or rye.
The cow drinks water by the ton
and at 18 is mostly done.
The dog at 15 cashes in
without the aid of rum or gin.
The cat in milk and water soaks
and then in 12 short years it croaks.
The modest, sober, bone dry hen
lays eggs for nogs and dies at 10.
All animals are strictly dry
they sinless live and swiftly die!
But sinful, ginful, rumsoaked men
survive for three score years and ten.
And some of us, though mighty few
stay pickled ’til we’re 92.

Dumplings, Dumplings, Dumplings, oh my!

For weeks I’ve been meaning to write about this.

One day a few weeks ago, Catherine and I were meandering through Cambridge after finishing an artery-clogging-but-otherwise-heavenly brunch of fried chicken on waffles at Tupelo. As we wound our way from Inman to Harvard, Catherine suggested we duck into the Harvard Bookstore to browse. Never one to turn down a book, we did. As we were looking around, I noticed the staff recommendations. There, standing out in the middle was a book about dumplings. It was fittingly called: Dumplings: A Seasonal Guide. I browsed inside it for a few minutes while standing. Then I found a chair and started really reading it. Fifteen minutes later, Catherine was ready to go. I looked at her and clutched the book in my arms the way a small child holds a security blanket. “If it makes you that happy,” she said, “you should probably get it.”

So I did! I should say up front that I haven’t tried too many recipes yet, but that doesn’t stop me from giving the book a pretty glowing review. The book is organized by month, with recipies within it that culturally and seasonally make sense to eat during that month. January, for instance, has the German potato-based dumpling spaetzle. February has dumplings in celebration of Chinese New Year (which I know can bridge months, but for a book that couldn’t organize itself by the lunar calendar, I think February was an okay choice). Within each month, the dumplings are organized by difficulty. So you can start at the beginning (as I did with some semolina-based dumplings) and then pick up speed and skill towards the end.

The book also has a section that details all the different ingredients that can be in dumplings, as well as section on all the different ways to fold dumplings. For the book, the authors decided that a dumpling was “a portion of dough, batter, or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that is cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon,” so there are lots of different kinds of dumplings. Some are technicallyone big dumpling (like English bread pudding), and some bear more resemblance to  pasta (like my semolina-based dumplings that I tried).

Some recipes are just the dumplings, some have soups and sauces to match. Some are sweet, some are savory. All of them look delicious. I can’t wait to try them all!

Some Travel Required

When I interviewed for my current job, they asked me if I minded that “some travel was required.” Mind!? I thought, incredulously, imagining solo visits off to far away cities, exploring off-beat cafes and second hand shops. Why on earth would I mind?!

Of course, as anyone who travels for work will tell you, at the end of the day, it’s just a longer commute. Mostly when I travel for work, I see the airport and the hotel. If I’m lucky, I might get to have dinner somewhere that’s not a chain. It’s not glamorous, and while I do like meeting people in different parts of the country, it’d be a real stretch to say that I’m seeing much of it.

I am, however, seeing a lot of hotels. And as a result, I’m developing some pretty firm opinions about them. Hampton Inns? Love em. They’re clean, they feel luxurious, and the breakfast is decent. Holiday Inns? Depends. If it’s a newly renovated one, go for it. They’re clean, modern, and also feel very luxurious. If it’s a non-renovated one (check TripAdvisor for reviews on the one you’re thinking of), AVOID. They smell old and are completely run down. The elevator ride in one was so slow they should have had a beverage service. (For what it’s worth, I am usually around the $100/night mark for hotels. So sometimes I don’t have a whole lot of choice.)

I also recommend TripAdvisor for scouting out non-chain hotels. Some towns I visit don’t have a big chain place. And while I like collecting points, sometimes it’s fun to stay someplace else. TripAdvisor is also good for looking for a place to eat in whatever town your visiting. While Yelp is great for reviews by locals (“The burritos here are nowhere as good as the ones down the block”), TripAdvisor gives me the reviews by someone who drove into town, ate, and drove out of town (“Easy to find, good service, very good food, try the steak and blue salad”).

And let me tell you, after a long flight and checking into my hotel, a good steak and blue cheese salad is pretty much the best thing in the entire world–besides being home, of course.

Quiche with Potato & Leek

Not sure how this is going to turn out yet. I’m going to a pie palooza, but decided to bring quiche instead. I figured that after a lot of sweet things something savory would be appropriate. I followed my standard quiche protocol, and used quiche and leeks for the inside. I boiled the potatoes first, but I didn’t saute the leeks. I just thought it would give it more of a tang. I eat leeks raw sometimes, so I figured that it wouldn’t be an issue. However, now I’m concerned that it’s going to be way too sharp.

And of course I made three, because I had to buy a bunch of leeks, and crusts only come in packs of two or three… I did make one with a potato crust for my gluten-free friend. I’ve done it before but never actually tried it, so we’ll see.

Update: They came out great! The tang that I was worried about wasn’t an issue at all. However, I felt like it could’ve used another flavor in it… I’m thinking ham would’ve tasted great, or maybe mushrooms. But overall, a success!

Thanksgiving 2009

This is what we ate at my house on Thanksgiving this year:

olives, hummus, and carrot & celery sticks as an appetizer

Turkey Lurkey (turkey basted with orange juice and white wine, stuffed with bread, dates, dried figs, dried apricots, dried applies, walnuts, and more orange juice & white wine)

gravy, obviously, as well as extra stuffing

a humongous fresh salad with lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper

braised brussel sprouts & chestnuts (a new dish this year and surprisingly delish!)

sweet potato pudding (with pineapples and fluff)

pecan pie with homemade whipped cream

Sticky Fingers (Washington, DC)

This is a vegan carrot cake cupcake from the DC bakery Sticky Fingers, located in the Columbia Heights area. Vegan, of course, means that there were no eggs or butter involved in the creation of this cupcake. That said, this still tasted deliciously decadent. I’m guessing that the frosting was a cream cheese-style topping. Presumably, they had to use something other than cream cheese, since that is obviously not vegan. Honestly, I don’t care what they used, it was delicious.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup (easier than pie) with inspiration from Barbara Kingsolver

Buy small local sugar pumpkin. Cut out top and save. Carve out inside (remove seeds and pulp).

Fill with stock and 2 tablespoons of butter. Add dash of salt & pepper. Replace top.

Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.

Remove from oven. Scrape down sides, being careful to not scrape too close to edge. Add 2 tablespoons milk (if you have it) and squirt of honey.

Blend with handheld blender (this is key). Add dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Serve!

Farmer’s Market Bounty Hunter

This past weekend, I was driving East on the Mass Pike when I spotted one of those signs for a farmer’s market at the rest area.

“Damn,” I thought, “it’s after 5:30, they’ll be closed!” But I decided just driving through the rest area couldn’t hurt.

Thank goodness I did! Though they were packing up, the farmer’s market still had lots of produce. I bought a quart of blueberries, about a pound of green beans, an eggplant, an Asian eggplant, a bunch of beets, a bunch of carrots, and a cucumber. The total was $14.10. Such a bargin for so much organic produce! I was so overjoyed with the fact that I’d made it in time, I gave the farmer $15 and told her I didn’t need change. She looked surprised, then grateful. (And then she told me to take another cucumber!)

We devoured the blueberries en route. I thought we’d munch on the green beans, but I never want them quite as much as I think I do. I think I confuse them in my head with snap and snow peas. I’ll make those with garlic and lemon sometime this week. The beets and carrots will get shredded and make a nice salad.

Tonight, though, I tackled the eggplants and the cucumbers: I sliced the cucumbers, salted and peppered them, and tossed them in some vinegar and olive oil with some freeze dried dill.

And then, whoops, I ate them all. SO TASTY!

For the eggplant, I braved the summer heat and warmed up the oven. I sliced them up, laid them on a cookie sheet, coated them in olive oil, sprinkled on kosher salt, pepper, and dried rosemary.

(Now, in retrospect, I can see that I need a pastry brush, since I definitely used too much olive oil. But if there’s one thing I hate, it’s chewy eggplant, so I erred on the side of caution.)

I stuck the eggplant in the oven on the top rack uncovered at about 350ish (my oven is old and I don’t think that it gets up to its temperature sometimes), waited about 10 minutes until everything was crispy and delicious. Then I put them in a bowl, got a fork, and devoured them all. The regular eggplant got softer than the Asian eggplant, but really, they were all SO TASTY!

(Now, in retrospect, I really should have blotted them with a paper towel. But man, they were so perfectly charred and the greatest combination of crispy and velvety that I couldn’t resist. But really, could they have been any worse for me than fries? I doubt it. Somehow organic eggplant plus olive oil can’t be as bad as partially hydrogenated oil-coated potatoes.)

Plus, while the eggplant was cooking and while I prepped the cucumbers, I marinated and then roasted some chicken for lunch this week. With fresh basil from my little basil plant, hooray!