Restaurant Widow

Best of 2006

Everyone else gets to do their top tens, so why shouldn't I?  Of course, there might be more than 10 things which were the best of '06, let's find out together as I peruse my archives...

Best Comfort Food: Spagio's spatzle
Best Discovery I haven't written about: curry buns and curry buns with egg at Crescent Bakery in the Kenny Centre.
Best Appetizer in manner of school lunch: Chorizo Corn Dogs at Latitude 41
Best Dinner in manner of school Lunch: Swordfish fishsticks with tater tots at 8 bar
Best Festival for Eating (which I attended): Asian Festival
Best Science project for your kids you can buy at the Farmer's Market: Praying Mantis nest
Best Weekend Cat Blogging post: Saturday, May 27, 2006, various Tinies including Yoda's giant ears.
Favorite discovery I did write about: Carryout from Tensuke Market
Best Grocery store news: Weiland's expanded and became a state liquor agency
Best Household accomplishment: planting a yard!
Favorite Outdoor picture I took:

"Look! Tomatoes!"
Perfectly fine dinner I never wrote about: Kikyo (2706 Riverside Drive, NW side 614.457.5277)

Perfectly fine lunch I never wrote about: Taste of Bali 2548 Bethel Road, NW side 614.459.7230)
Best Tomato Eaten and favorite tomato picture:

"I Grew This!"
Most Beautiful thing I bought at a farmer's market: Squash Blossom
And then fried: Squash Blossom Tempura
Favorite picture taken of food: Penne with sausage
Best new squash tried: Carnival Squash
Best Sandwich Eaten: Bahn Mi at Mi Mi Cafe!
Best Appetizer Eaten: Bresaola at Giuseppe's
Best Salad I made: Mizuna with dried cherries
Best night at work (monetarily speaking): Friday, November 5th Sunday, December 31

Please feel free to share your bests!!

General Tso's (the Restaurant, not the Dish)

I have made another plan for you, as it is Winter (technically) in Central Ohio, and we are in for some cold rain.  Although I might have spent most of my formative years shunning the sun and relishing cold, rainy days (they so complimented my all-black attire, combat boots, and black eyeliner), now that I am a grown-up, I loathe cold and rainy days.  Particularly cold and rainy days when I have no choice but to be a grown up and go to work.  Otherwise, I would have no big comfy sofa for lounging about drinking coffee and reading terrible memoirs on cold and rainy days when I didn't have to work.  But I've digressed, and I haven't even begun.  Suffice it to say, I occasionally have to bribe myself with warm treats on cold and miserable days to make me sane enough for work, and I encourage you to do the same, with General Tso's shabu shabu.

A few months ago, Husband asked a coworker for her recommendations on the best Chinese food in the city.  Her trusted answer came with an unfortunate name: General Tso's, a primarily Chinese restaurant on the Northwest side of Columbus (Godown Rd at Bethel).  I visited alone once, for a $5 lunch special of curried chicken, which was pretty good, and then forgot about going back for a full review until one of Husband's new coworkers prodded him to check it out, especially for the the shabu shabu.

Shabu Shabu is the onomatopoeic name for a hot pot dish where one is provided with a pot of boiling broth and a variety of vegetables and meat or tofu.  One takes a bit of meat or veggie in one's chopsticks and then swishes it back and forth in the broth; it's a classic for a cold day.

General Tso's version seems, from my (rather limited, I'll admit) research, to be a more Korean version of the classic hot pot, minus the common addition of kimchee (hot fermented cabbage). 

Husband and I visited General Tso's on two occasions, one a lovely, sunny day; I intend to return on the very next rainy day.

After water, the first thing that arrives to your table at General Tso's is a dish of fried egg roll wrappers, along with a dish for mixing your own sauce from the condiments on every table (I am partial to the plum sauce/chile paste mixture).  These are addictive, and should be pushed in the direction of whichever person at the table is not trying to limit their intake of fried foods to 4 objects per day:
   
We tried the fried shrimp shumai (dumpling) for a starter.  It was good, probably from frozen, but still a nice munchie to begin:

We also tried the good bean curd with veggies, a generous serving of fried tofu (a good option for those who might be squeamish about the slippery texture of tofu) along with the standard "Chinese" vegetable blend: broccoli, bok choy, snow peas, bell peppers, carrots, and baby corn (I can't help it, I have loved baby corn since I first had it as a child).  The sauce was good, a touch spicy; solid but not earth-shattering:
 
Okay, now let's get down to the subject at hand, the shabu shabu.  The first time, we ordered the chicken, shrimp and scallop version:

The hot pot arrives, along with a nest of rice noodles, an egg, and a dish of satay sauce (which is really a blend of fermented beans, fish sauce, and shrimp paste - it's delicious).  The pot has its own burner and is loaded to the gills and beyond with all manner of goodies, topped with a booklet of fried bean curd sheets.  One ladles goodie after goodie into one's bowl and adds some sauce.  When there is enough room in the pot, add the noodles and cover them to steam (they are soft in just a few minutes) and crack the egg in, allowing it to poach for a few minutes, then breaking it up and stirring it into the broth.  The exciting thing about the hot pot is the bounty it contains.  Aside from the listed shrimp, chicken and scallops, there are fish cakes, several varieties of dumplings, omelets, veggies (bok choy, corn and celery), shitake mushrooms, taro root, and the aforementioned rice noodles and egg bits.  As the pot continues to cook, the flavors deepen and become more savory and delicious.  As the broth is depleted, our server brought more to the table and added it to the pot.  When we had finished every drop, she put the fire under the pot out with a squeeze bottle of water, and we began discussing our next visit.  Pictured below is a bowl of the goodies included in the chicken, scallop and shrimp hot pot.  The item on the left with the pink swirl is a fish cake:

Which is when we tried the Korean spicy beef hot pot:

Unlike the Japanese version of shabu shabu, where one is provided a plate of raw, very thinly sliced beef to dunk at one's will, this pot contained pieces of stew beef.  Some of the pieces started out a little tough, but again, as the pot boiled away, they because tender, savory and delicious.  This pot had a spicy (not too spicy) beef broth base, and all of the dumplings, omelets, fried bean curd sheets, and veggies as the seafood pot contained, but also contained a healthy smattering of beef tendon, a new favorite food I never even thought I'd want to try.  Again, broth was brought to the table until we could eat no more.  The hot pot is so delicious that you want to keep eating and eating, even if you are starting to become full.  This is the danger of having all those little dumplings and the like - you think "ooh, I'll just have one more taro bit."  But it's a happy danger, and everything in the pot is pretty healthy, so there's very little guilt.  Pictured below is a third ladle of the beef pot, after it's cooked down a little:

General Tso's interior is just above standard strip-mall Chinese, with lots of room for seating and a large waiting area for takeout orders.  The service is efficient and friendly; our server kindly brought out the satay sauce and read the ingredients to me after I questioned her about its contents, and she was always quick with broth and water refills (we had the same server both times).

This review might seem a little one-dimensional, what with all the hot pot ravings and all, but everything I've had has been above industry standard, and I hear their beef tendon appetizer is one of the best things on the menu.  And no, I haven't tried the namesake dish, I'll keep you posted when I visit again. 

Info:  General Tso's Restaurant 5227 Godown Road (Northwest Columbus) 614.442.3366.

More Notes on Reviewing

After Jennifer's post on the reviewing in her native Syracuse, I began thinking it's time again for some more thoughts on reviewing.  I have long maintained the fine citizens of Columbus are cheated out of fair reviews by the fact that all restauranteurs know every reviewer in the city; some "reviewers" call ahead to announce their presence, eat in the restaurant in the afternoon when it isn't open, and get everything for free, including wine.  They shall remain nameless but their opinions, of course, are suspect.

So here are a few thoughts I have about reviewing.  I realize some people in the city only believe something if it's in print and the writer is being paid to do it, and that bloggers shouldn't take themselves seriously, but I do take it seriously, for better or worse.

• I base my review on at least 2 visits; I believe the industry standard is 3 visits, but no one is paying for my dinner, and that can be prohibitive.  I'd rather have a full experience twice than skimp 3 times; furthermore, I work 4-5 nights a week and it could take up to a full month to review a single restaurant.  Occasionally I will get so excited about a restaurant that I will write about it after one visit - such as the Refectory, or Kihachi - these are special places who are nearly always on top of their game, and are kind of above petty criticism.  An aquaintaince once whined to me about their dislike of the plating at Kihachi.  Japanese cuisine has an entire set of guidelines surrounding plating of food which I am only beginning to understand, and therefore I have absolutely no leg to stand on to complain they served something is a manner which I found displeasing.
• I would not review a chain, at least I don't think so.  Of course, there are some local "chains," such as Hunan House and Hunan Lion, but these are local operations with an in-house chef and they aren't the same as say, the Olive Garden.  For instance, I happen to love Potbelly Sandwich Works, but, being that it's a chain and just a sandwich joint, I wouldn't give it a full review.  It's enough to say I love it, especially the giardinara, yum.
• I will admit there is a certain amount of Columbus bias which I think is unavoidable when writing about a smaller big city.  Would some of the restaurants I love stand up to others in Vegas or New York?  Probably not, but I like to use Columbus as my point of comparison whenever possible.  Otherwise I might never eat out.  There are a few restaurants and food operations which are media darlings which I happen to really dislike, or have had bad experiences in, but I hesitate to write unfavorable reviews about them because I know they have honest intentions.  There is one restaurant in particular where I have eaten a few times, kind of hoping for a good experience, but haven't had one; maybe one day I'll get up the nerve to write about how bad their shrimp & grits are.  That should narrow it down.
• I have worked in the restaurant business for a long time.  It's easy for me to assess the inner workings of a restaurant very quickly, to see where the managers and servers are going wrong, to notice how everyone works together; I can tell if my food has been sitting under a heat lamp, has visited the microwave, waited for other dishes to be completed, etc.  I can tell if the server is bad or just inexperienced.  In situations like my La Tavola experience, it can be hard for me to sit and relax during dinner because I can literally see the staff coming apart at the seams.
• Whenever possible, I like to visit small ethnic restaurants, and will eat anything at least once.  I don't pretend to know if they are "authentic," as I have never travelled to Japan, Vietnam, etc.  As far as I'm concerned, if the proprietor of the restaurant came from said country of origin and uses recipes s/he learned there, it's authentic.  Who am I to judge.
• I will always be biased towards chefs who source out unique ingredients, support local agriculture, encourage me to try something new, or otherwise invigorate my appetite and food-related curiosity.  This is why I love Alana's so much; even if a dish is a miss, Alana will be the first to get locally-grown fresh black lentils, for instance, or to use an Indonesian spice blend purchased in a marketplace and smuggled back into the States by a regular.
• I would never, ever call ahead to announce my presence.  Not that it matters because no one knows me, but a few times, people have called to make reservations at the restaurant where I work and have said things like "I own Blank restaurant."  If you were that important, we'd already know.  One local restauranteur did that recently and it has totally tainted me towards his restaurant, which used to be a favorite.  His business partner has eaten in our restaurant about 20 times in the past 2 years or so and has never called ahead to announce his visit; he usually gets special treatment anyway because, although we do we know who he is, he's also nice and he tips well.  Those are the keys to getting good service in a restaurant: being nice and tipping well.  Take note, all of you self-proclaimed wine and food aficionados out there.
• If ever I should get a freebie, should know the chef or owner of a restaurant (beyond sight recognition), I will make it known, in the interest of full disclosure.

There we have it; further thoughts on reviewing.  Feel free to challenge me.

Resolutions

Updated again on Thursday, January 4th.  These updates are in orange.
Full Disclosure: this list was updated again December 29th, 2006.  Updates are in yellow.

Here we are, as promised.  These are my food-related New Year's Resolutions for 2007.  We'll revisit this list periodically to see how it's coming along.  As I am a notorious procrastinator (I like to think of it as "building urgency"), we'll probably accomplish most of this around December 15th, 2007.  Some of these things are a call for entry, so if you have something to contribute (a cow, a recipe, a restaurant), please feel free to e-mail me and let me know how you can help.

1.  Learn to make pastry cream.  Considering my typical baking-related hubris, I have never even attempted to make pastry cream.  For some inexplicable reason, it scares me.  When I was about 12, I decided I was going to make cream puffs, and I did it.  They turned out perfectly and I became a cream puff savant.  If only I had decided to make pastry cream filling, I might not be afraid now, but I was want to put boxed chocolate pudding in the centers of my choux.  I believe I've already mentioned I was 12.  I wasn't even aware that pudding came any other way.

2.  Make pate and sausage.  Especially now that I have my nifty new grinder, I have no excuse. 

3.  Eat at Bouchon bakery again.  This, of course, would mean a trip the Napa, New York, or Vegas.  So taking a vacation with Husband, something we haven't done for a long time, is included in this resolution.

4.  Work in a kitchen.  Of course, not my kitchen, but a restaurant kitchen.  The downside to this resolution is that kitchen work doesn't pay nearly as well as front-of-the-house (ie, serving or bartending) pays, so it's one of those resolutions I keep putting off.  I will revise this as necessary to include working in a bakery, cheese shop, meat packing house, etc.

5.  Work on a farm for at least one day, preferably before a market day, so I can see what it's like to prepare for the market.  I'd like this to be a farm with chickens, as I was an egg-gathering pro as a child, and would like to see if I still retain such prowess.

6.  Find a source for raw milk, even if I have to buy a cow.  I grew up drinking raw milk, and remain living and healthy to this day. At dinner with my relatives the other night, my uncle, whose son has a Jersey (who produce the best milk) cow, suggested I might purchase my own cow and keep it in my yard.  Regardless of how my neighbors might treat their back yard, I'm afraid I'm not zoned for livestock, and must therefore keep my cow on someone else's farm.  I'd prefer a Jersey cow, and will proceed to make butter and yogurt from my raw milk.  I promise to keep my source on the extreme down-low.  Anyone with an Amish dairy for a neighbor, let me know. 

7.  Can something.  Even if it's one jar of jam or tomato sauce.

8.  Learn to make new things from others, especially other cultures. 

9.  Take a few field trips - to a local fishery, grain mill, etc, and continue to search out the best Columbus and Central Ohio has to offer, documenting it and encouraging others to support our local businesses and agriculture.

10. Find more people to pay me to write, and someone to pay me to travel.

11. Make bread.

12. Get out of my downtown bubble and explore other parts of the city, particularly the great Mexican food on the West side and the growing abundance of African food on the Northeast side.

12. Eat at a Taquearia (I'm sure my spelling is incorretc) by the side of the road.

13. Have more people over for dinner (sorry if you get invited and have to wait for me to take pictures of everything.)

I hope we can all make our resolutions a reality.  Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The presents are unwrapped, the leftovers packed up, the dishwasher has been run (and rerun, etc.), eggnog gulped, football watched, and sofas warmed.  In typical Ohio fashion, the day dawned dim, rainy and 55 degrees.  I have a hard time remembering our last white Christmas.  We had a small Christmas at home with just my parents, who brought me a bushel basket which belonged to my great-grandfather, and a voice recorder, so I can now justify talking to myself in the car.

Husband gave me a meat grinder for our Kitchenaid, so you can look forward to laughing along with me as I attempt to conquer paté and sausage-making. 

I hope your holidays were as filled with good food, love, family, and warmth as mine.  It's all too soon that we're back to work and the humdrum of life, trudging through the slush of the long dark winter; it's nice to have a day to relax and reflect on the past year and the year to come.  I'll be posting my New Year's resolutions in a few days for your ridicule and review, I have a great restaurant review coming up, and it's almost time for my annual Lisa's Favorites, this year with a new section!

Cheers!  Merry Christmas!

Why I Am a Waitress - a Manifesto

I had a table last night, filled with government workers, who were discussing stress.  One of the girls at the table (who was younger than me) was having a lot of health problems which her doctor told her were stress related.  I happened to be at the table at this point, and the girl looked at me, sighed, and said "everything is related to stress, isn't it?"  Because I had been down the exact road she had been down, I knew exactly what she was talking about. 

"Yes," I said, "You have to work really hard to keep stress out of your life." 

Another lady at the table looked at me and said "You don't look stressed at all.  In fact, you have this really happy glow about you.  You look happy."  At this point, all the women at the table turned and inspected me and concurred.  "You're right.  She has a happy glow."  The continued to stare for a beat, their faces growing wistful.  They can't remember being happy, they all work for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.  I was blushing, but I think I should spread the word about happiness.  And exfoliation, the only way to explain the glow: exfoliate every day.

"I used to be stressed.  I used to have a desk job, at a good company and then I retired to waitressing."  Why did I do it?  Why did I flush my good corporate job and my 401K down the toilette?

My entire life, I have dreamed of being many things - concert pianist, marine biologist, actress, model (what little girl hasn't), lawyer (frequently), nurse (my mom was a nurse - as a child, I thought naturally this meant I would also become a nurse), teacher, professor (in college, it was always assumed by myself and my professors that I would continue on to the PhD level and become another professor: this kept me from becoming better prepared to do anything else upon graduation except consider ghostwriting critical theory papers.), zoo keeper, artist, etc., but the one thing I have always wanted to be above all else was a writer.  From my very first days of book-loving (birthed from my earlier days of flat-out refusing to learn to read), I have wanted to be a writer.  I have an overactive imagination which can occasionally be a detriment to normal life.  Anyone with a similar problem probably knows what I'm talking about.  Get the imagination working and who knows what sort of new fear you might concoct out of thin air.

I got an English degree and began life.  Like many of us with English degrees - Chef included, I started life in a restaurant.  I thought about going back to school after college but was so traumatized by it and relieved to be finished that I put it off.  On a whim, I went with a friend to a Clothing Retail Giant (you've heard of them) to fill out an application.  I landed an entry-level position.  A few months later, I got a promotion.  Within a year and a half, I was a corporate trainer.  I wrote training materials and taught people about fabric and clothing and how to give good service.  I loved my job.  I had benefits and a retirement plan and I was barely beyond drinking age.  And then our department downsized.  I was moved from my nice big desk to a cubicle.  I was suddenly in charge of 15 people.  I had to stay awake and alert all day, every day.  I had a new boss I hated so much I woke up every day and thought about how much I hated her.  Every day before I went in to work I would sit in the car and say the things I wanted to say to my boss, using words which would probably make my mother cry.

On the first week day of every month, we would have cake day.  Our HR department printed a list of all the birthdays for said month and put giant sheet cakes in the break room all day which read "Happy Birthday, X Inc. Employees!!.  Cake day became the highlight of my job.  If I missed cake day, I was actually disappointed the next day.  I was sad about missing grocery store cake.  I was driving 1/2 hour each way to work every day, and on the weekends I would pick up a bartending shift here and there and, in 2 days, make almost a week's pay.  I wasn't healthy, I had all sorts of tummy issues, I couldn't eat, I was an anxious wreck, and I felt I could not survive another minute under the florescent lights in our office, I applied for a promotion and I didn't get it.  It was time for a change.

I had a moment of crisis - I started studying for the LSAT, I looked into going back to school for my teaching certification, and then it hit me.  I was trying to do all these things to make other people happy, so I could quit my job in a frenzy and say "see?  I'm am smart!  I'm going to law school!"  (I never said I was mature.)  I was purposefully delaying my writing career out of fear.  I retired to my first job, restaurant work.  For about the same amount of money.  Of course, there's no 401K, but there is a 30 hour work week.  And good food.  And witty banter.  And the only stress melts away the moment I leave the building.

It took awhile to get around to writing, and I'm still not where I want to be, of course.  I don't send out inquiries for freelance work like I should, and I've never made a book proposal, but those things will come when they're ready.  I'm nowhere near read to write a cookbook yet, and if I don't do it until I'm 45 then that's okay. 

Why did I tell you all of this?  Because in my last year at Giant Clothing Retailer, I made a New Year's resolution to start writing.  Some people decry resolutions, but I think they're great.  People have celebrated their various New Years by ritualizing regrowth, renewal, etc. for thousands of years, and there must be a reason.  It's a good time to take stock and analyze our paths.  In the past I have made resolutions to not eat fast food for a year, to quit smoking, and to have some writing published.  I have kept all of those, even if some of them took longer than a year to accomplish.  I'm just saying if you have a dream you've been putting off, it might be the right time to re-investigate it.

Menu for Hope Update & Reminder

This is a reminder to buy your raffle ticket for UC12, a box of nine! pints of Jeni's Ice Cream with scoop and spoons!  You have until Friday to donate!!  Click here and follow the instructions.  As of this moment, the collective food bloggers have raised $34,700!  Way to go! 

Anyone who was watching Tyra Banks' Girl Party on Monday could see Tyra gleefully shoveling in Jeni's famed salty caramel ice cream!  Now you could have your chance, too!!!  I think that's definitive enough proof, don't you?  Eat Jeni's Ice Cream and look like Tyra Banks.*  If you need other celebrity endorsements, I know that Lyle Lovett loves it as well, sent it to everyone he knew last Christmas and even invited the Jeni & co. to his show when he was here last year and declared his love for Jeni's onstage.  Not to mention Jeni's is served by Columbus' best restaurants and is enjoyed by Columbus' best servers who probably steal bites of it at the same rate I do, or greater. 

Seriously folks, this is for a really great cause.  The people who have to "take advantage" of the UN Food Programe don't even have a thought to be as obsessed about the great foods we think about every day.  There are people in the world whose ration of food is a few ounces or rice and cornmeal every day.  The least we can do is put some money towards a good cause while we are enjoying the fruits of our rich country, especially during this time of year and the gluttony which can accompany it.  To see the other prizes and read an interesting article about some food rations the UNWFP sent Pim, click here.  Then thank whomever or whatever you believe in you are fortunate enough to eat most of the food you dream of. 

*Might require eating Jeni's Ice Cream along with exercise program and personal trainer.

The Classic Martini

I always marvel at people who can guzzle martini after martini (and remain lucid) - I'm not saying I'm jealous, it's just that if I had four Grey Goose martinis up with olives before dinner, my date would have to start checking my vital signs.  Like many classics in our post modern lives, the martini has fallen victim to all sorts of absurdities - sugared rims, chocolate sauce and Apple Pucker, just to name a few.  Perhaps the first travesty to befall this divine cocktail was the sudden, universal hatred of vermouth which took place sometime in the nineties.  All at once, everyone wanted their martinis dry, dry, dry.  I think this might be because it takes a certain amount of machismo to drink straight vodka (especially if you aren't picky about it, and it comes from a plastic bottle somewhere out of sight from your barstool), and this fit with the fat-cat steakhouse resurgence which happened around the same time.  At least in the Midwest.

But why does everyone hate vermouth so much?  Is it because we only have Martini & Rossi?  At the Christmas party I hosted recently, I begged a few snobbish friends of mine (oh, now, don't get offended, you'd be absolutely livid if I called you pedestrian) to try a favorite of mine, Vya vermouth.  I discovered this vermouth, or rather was introduced to it, a few years ago at the Refectory, and I have loved it ever since.  Sadly, because no one else seems to share my passion, you can't really find it in any other restaurants (but it can be purchased locally at Weilands, for around $22).  After a short fight in which yours truly was the sound victor, some friends finally chugged down a little Vya on the rocks.  And I was vindicated.  It really is delicious.  Even without the booze.

So what exactly is vermouth?  Well, it's basically a spiced wine aperitif (to be consumed before dinner, to perk up the appetite) - in truth, Lillet is a similar concoction, which is why I am particularly fond of mixing that with vodka, as well.  Americans seem strangely resistant to the aperitif concept, which might be another notch in the classic martini's noose.  I'm constantly amazed to wait on tables who go straight into cabernet.  I can't fathom sitting down to dinner and drinking cab on an empty stomach.  You might as well lick leather.  But I digress. 

And so, I beg of you, dear friends and readers, help me bring back the classic martini.  Two parts gin or vodka (something decent, please, really), and one part (yes, one whole part) vermouth - try a good one.  You'll find it takes the edge off the alcoholic bite - it also reduces the amount of alcohol in your cocktail, so that you might more effectively make it through that working dinner.  If you're having it with gin, the herbs used to spice up the vermouth will blend nicely with the similar herbs used to give gin its character (especially if you're having something especially herbaceous, such as Bombay Sapphire, or my all-time favorite, Citadelle).

Everyone has their own opinion about how their martini should be created: I am partial to gin, vigorous shaking, the kind which leaves a metal shaker covered in a thin layer of frost, pouring into a nice traditional glass (so styled to prevent the un-mixing of the liquor and the vermouth; without vermouth, there's no reason for the unwieldy, but undeniably sexy, martini glass); notice the flecks of ice floating on top, and the addition of three olives.  I put only one in the picture, because it's more aesthetically pleasing, but I like three - one for instant gratification, one halfway through the cocktail, and one very gin-soaked treat at the end.

Cheers!

New Winter CSA

For those of you who are missing your CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from the summertime, I have just learned of a new Winter share available from Athens County.  Green Edge Organic Gardens has a 20 week subscription which will run from now until April and includes all manner of greens as well as root veggies (beets, rutabagas, daikon).  Shares are $250 for half or $500 for full and will be picked up Tuesdays at Bexley Natural Market (508 N. Cassidy Ave in Bexley).  For more information, please e-mail Green Edge.

Menu for Hope

Update:  Those fabulously fine folks at Jeni's have just bumped up this package to NINE pints of ice cream.  Thanks!!! That's enough for a party, folks.  Don't forget to buy tickets for UC12!!!

This year I will be participating in Menu for Hope, a fundraiser started by itrepid diner Pim, from Chez Pim, whose slide shows from El Bulli and the Fat Duck make me insanely jealous.  Aside from being a globetrotting, chef-dating gourmand, Pim has also proven to be a pretty good fundraiser, as well.  Menu for Hope relies on donations from food bloggers and companies to raise money for hunger relief around the word.  This year, all proceeds will go to United Nations World Food Programme.  You can read all about the Midwesterners participating in this year's menu for hope by going over to Kalyn's Kitchen.   To read about the national campaign, with all prizes, please visit Pim.

My prize for this year's Menu for Hope is . . . Jeni's Ice Cream!!!  If you have never had the pleasure of Jeni's Ice Creams, now is the time.  Winner of a Food & Wine Tastemaker award in 2005, Jeni Britton uses the finest possible ingredients to make her artisan ice creams.  She makes good use of the wealth of great dairy, nuts, honey and fruit Ohio has to offer by creating relationships with local farmers.  Jeni's Ice Cream has won the hearts of Central Ohians and beyond - just mention her ice cream to your friends and watch their eyes light up! This package includes four nine!! pints of Jeni's Ice Cream, sorbet and/or yogurt, along with a specially designed scoop and four ice cream spoons (one for each pint!).  You can choose from four of my favorites, four of Jeni's (current) favorites, or select your own, and there are plenty of great flavors (click to give your imagination a preview!) from which to choose - Dark Cocoa Gelato, Goat Cheese with Port Cherries, Bartlett Pear and Riesling Sorbet, Cassis Yogurt . . . 

Due to the nature of this item, bidders must be in or shipping within the US.

The code for this item is UC12

If you would like to donate for a raffle ticket to win this fabulous prize, here's what you should do...

1.   Go to the donation page at (http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhopeIII)

2.   Make a donation, each $10 will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice.  Please specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation.  Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code -for example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for UC12 and 3 for UW02.

3.   If your company matches your charity donation, please remember to check the
box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

4.   Please also check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we
could contact you in case you win.  Your email address will not be shared with
anyone.

5.   Check back on Chez Pim on January 15 when we announce the result of the
raffle.  (The drawing will be done electronically.  Our friend the code wizard
Derrick at Obsession with Food is responsible for the wicked application that
will do the job.)