Restaurant Widow

French Women Don't Get Me to Read Their Books

There has been a lot of hype lately surrounding Mireille Guiliano's book French Women Don't Get Fat: the Secret of Eating for Pleasure.  It's about a French teenager who came to America as a student and went home fat.  Her doctor saved her figure by getting her to eat only small portions of the best of everything.  I was in Target the other day strolling through their Oprah's Book Club-heavy reading selection and here was Guiliano's book, on sale for the low price of $15.  I was tempted to purchase it.  Now, this is incredibly silly, as I know loads about nutrition, eating in moderation, eating for pleasure, etc., and there is probably nothing in this book that could inform me.  I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, but really, it's no secret to me that if I just limit myself to one ounce of cheese (the best triple cream), or one decadent chocolate (the very best, of course), and eat loads of yogurt, fruit, vegetables and whole grains I could maintain my girlish figure.

Sadly, 10 years of restaurant work have giving me a camel in the dessert water-retaining hump sort of attitude towards eating:  "Let's see, it's 4 o'clock now, and it's a Saturday night.  I have to work and think efficiently, smile at people and act nice until at least midnight, and then I have to pick Husband up from work and be nice to all of his employees lest they think I'm evil, then I have to have at least 2-3 beers, and I have to do all of this without fainting.  Hm.  I guess I will eat this day-old baked pasta covered in cheese, even if I'm not quite hungry yet.  I have to think about how I'll be feeling when I am polishing silverware in 7 hours." 

See?  I just can't trot off to the gourmet market on my every whim to pick up the choicest Saint Andre and a baguette.  I certainly don't have the luxury to lie about eating tiny nibbles of exquisiteness while quaffing French champagne.

Which brings me right around.  Fortunately, I happened to open the book to do a little pre-purchasing skimming and landed right on the page where Guiliano is discussing her love of Veuve Clicquot.  As it turns out, I don't need any advice from a French woman who thinks Veuve Clicquot is the best champagne in France (confidential to Cork Dork Friends: I'm not kidding.  Click on the Amazon link to see a picture of her standing in front of loads of yellow label).  Nope, I sure don't need that advice.

I did, however, almost get sucked into purchasing a parody, French Cats Don't Get Fat, while standing in line at Barnes & Noble half an hour later.

Braddock's Restaurant, RIP + Fun Things to do in Columbus this Weekend

Braddock's Restaurant in Grandview (1470 Grandview Ave.) has closed; there had long been speculation about its demise, and it is finally over. 

Here are some things to do in Columbus this weekend:

Columbus Italian Festival will happen this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at St. John's on 4th Street in Italian Village (corner of 4th St. and Warren St.).  Admission is $5; I have never been, but I hear the food is great.

You can be Italian and German this weekend!  It's Oktoberfest this weekend in German Village, for once at least one of the days falls in October.  Located at Grant St. and Livingston Ave, admission is $8.  Don't forget to eat a giant cream puff from Schmidt's on my behalf.  Thanks.

Hot, Salty and Full of MSG

I have an obsession with all manner of Asian noodles.  Every since my first 15 cent packet of ramen as a teenager, I have been hooked.  It might have something to do with the sodium content, as I consider salt to be one of the basic food groups (okay, I realize we don't really have food groups anymore, but saying "one of the the layers in the pyramid thingy" is a little wordy for me).  My friend Philip, who from what I can tell, spends all of his time researching new peach varieties and discovering which Asian market in town has the best noodle selection, suggested I tried Yao Lee market on High street, where they have an entire section devoted to noodles of all kinds. 

But which to try first?  The one with happy thumbs-up man on the front?  Pork and Mushroom flavor?  Original Sezchuan style?  I finally decided to try the IndoMie brand Mi Goreng Pedas, which seems to mean "hot fried noodles" (please, correct me if I'm wrong.)  (Have you ever looked at the fine print on Asian foods?  There seems to be a large concern with ISO certification.  Good; it's yummy and mistake-free.)  I tried this particular packet because it contained 5 "seasoning sachets," and I am always down with numerous seasoning sachets.  I alone control my noodle destiny.  Here is a picture of three of them - the other two are in boring foil sachets:

The noodle prep is the standard, 3 minutes boiling, but in the meantime, you prepare the seasoning mixture in the bowl:

The chili sauce is a skin irritant; as I write this I can feel at least 5 patches of skin on my person that are burning, and it's an hour later.  There is also a sticky, sweet soy sauce, and two other packets of powder; one is chili powder, and the other seems to be a combination of MSG and yeast extract, among other things.  There is also a packet of fried onions, but those are reserved for garnishing.  After cooking and draining your noodles, you add them to the bowl with the seasonings and stir vigorously.  Here's the finished product:

I ate them in about 3 minutes flat - I pride myself on my skillful chopstick handling, surely the speed of consumption is a testament to the deliciousness of the noodle and my superior (for a girl of Amish descent) chopstick/noodle prowess.  These were one of the best 49 cent snacks I have ever had; sweet, spicy, salty, with a nice little crunch from the fried onions - I almost drove right back to Yao Lee and bought another pack.  Mmm.  Noodles. 

The other thing I love about Yao Lee Market is that I bought about 6 packets of noodles, a bottle of noodle-sprinkling chili powder, a giant bag of baby bok choy heads, a pack of Chinese sausages, jar of palm sugar, a gallon of plum flavored green tea, a pack of fried tofu and a tray of frozen green tea flavored taro rice balls, all for $19.  I almost feel like I should give them more.

Info:  Yao Lee Oriental Market, 2848 North High Street  Columbus

The Best Apple You've Never Eaten. Unless You're One of My Fruit Dork Friends

Meet the Honeycrisp apple.  Developed by the horticulture department at the University of Minnesota in the early 90's, the Honeycrisp apple is a hybrid of the Macoun and Honeygold apples, and it is delicious.  While there are some orchards growing the Honeycrisp in Washington state, they are primarily grown in the Midwest at this time; I predict they will take over at least the Gala and Fuji in popularity as they become more widely available.  The apple is incredibly crisp, featuring a honeyed sweetness but with still a nice little tang of tartness.  It is great for eating and baking.  Last year I couldn't buy enough of these.  I don't know how Ohio's Honeycrisp crop has been this year, because as my critics (by which I of course mean friends) will happily point out, I tout buying locally and then buy the first little Honeycrisp that comes along, which happened to be from New York.  I promise to buy some local ones soon.

Anyway, here is a quick and easy recipe for dessert, Baked Honeycrisp Apples with Streusel Topping - Serves 4.

4 Honeycrisp apples, tops sliced off and cores and a little flesh removed with melon baller

2 tsp mild honey

1 cup AP flour

3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal (rolled oats, not Irish)

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch ground cardamom

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a shallow baking dish with cooking spray. Place 1/2 tsp honey in the bottom of each apple.  Combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and salt together and stir until large crumbs form.  Stuff each apple with steusel mixture, mounding the tops.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the apples are slightly soft.  Serve hot with good vanilla ice cream.  (of course, Granny Smiths can be substituted, but they might take a little longer to bake)

IMBB #19 - I was a Vegan for Four Hours

Bean and Chorizo Soup with Croutons

It's another football Sunday, and while I was out buying goods for tonight's dinner, Husband decided to order a pizza.  Over two hours later, still no pizza, and Husband looked to me and said "do you have a plan B?"  Of course I did, being organized Wife Extraordinaire.  I saw something similar on KQED's Jacques Pepin site, and was skeptical, no soup could be that easy and be really good.  The TV clip took about 10 seconds.  Well, it really was that easy and that good.  Pepin's recipe calls for about 4 ingredients - chorizo, white beans, chicken stock, and heavy cream.  I replaced the cream with beer, to good end.  I really wanted this soup to be white for the picture, thinking it would be so pretty studded with bits of chorizo floating about, sprinkled with a little smoked paprika.  Alas, I added one can of white beans and Husband and I looked at each other - this would never feed us - and only had black beans left, so it turned out more black, but that's what happens sometime.

Chorizo, a Spanish pork sausage typically flavored heavily with chiles and smoked paprika, has an earthy, almost gamey fatness; by which I don't mean it's fatty (although being sausage, it is that, too), but the flavor is round and full.  A little goes a long way, and that is why this soup can be so simple and yet so good.  Today I used two sausages, but when I make this again, I think I will use only one.  My chorizos came from the Kroeger & Sons Sausage Company, located in Cincinnati's Findlay Market, where I journeyed while Husband was in Italy.  Their sausages are all outstanding, although I believe ownership has recently changed.

This really is the perfect lunch for a game day.  It takes so little time and babysitting that you can make it during commercial breaks with one eye on the TV.

(recipe in extended post)

WCB #16

This is Gray Kitty.  I can't really call him a stray, although he lives outside, because he has been sitting on our porch looking in our windows from the day we bought our house.  A very sweet lap kitty, he loves it when we spend time outside with him.  Commonly found (at this very moment, in fact) sleeping on the hood of our car.

Here are the others, courtesy of Eat Stuff:

Check out Matildes puss playing Hide and Seek! at Skør i Skralden
Check out Macroom strutting it with the big cats at Dispensing Happiness
Check out the cat showing her displeasure at the idea of WDB at Belly Timber
Check out Tasha waking up from a nap at A few of my favourite things
Check out The Stunning Nero at Anne's Food
Check out The big black sweetie named Jazz at Look hunny, I cooked.
Check out Meow Meow relaxing in her new bed at Masak Masak
Check out Alices's boys relxing on a Saturday morning at My Adventures in the Breadbox
Check out Farmgirls best pal the doodle monster washing herself at Farmgirl Fare
Check out bussi practising the art of feline hedonism at basic juice

Fun Things to do in Columbus this Weekend

You still have time to head out to the Columbus Food & Wine affair at Franklin Park Conservatory this evening (7-10pm).  There will be numerous wineries there, offering over 400 tastes of wine, along with 25 local restaurants.  Notable restaurants include the Burgundy Room, the Refectory, Handke's, and Basi Italia.  Non-notable restaurants are the Cameron Mitchell Group.  I'll be there, playing sous chef (wearing a chef's coat in public is almost like debuting a new handbag, although with more free drinks).  Admission is $75, but includes a souvenir Riedel and loads of quaffing; tickets will be available at the door.  Where?  Franklin Park Conservatory, 1777 East Broadway in Columbus.

If you'd like to do something cheaper, visit the Via Colori street painting festival at Goodale Park this Saturday and Sunday.  Live music from 11 am to midnight on Saturday, and 11am to 8pm on Sunday.  The event features loads of artist creating ephemeral works of art on the street, with chalk.  You have no idea how amazing some of them are unless you go, although you can see the slideshow here.  Here's one of my favorites from last year:

Now get out of the house and do something fun!

Blog Party #2 - Tiki Edition

Roasted Whole Bass with Early Autumn Veggies