Hero Pommes Fines Herbes

I made these as a side dish last night with some dinner. They looked gourmet and reminded me of some MREs, in their package. They came all foiled and when they spilled out in the pan, came out in a giant lump.
While cooking, the directions, which were extremely sparse, mentioned that it would take about fifteen minutes. In actuality, it took about a half hour before any crispiness was present, and by that time, all the potatoes were reduced to tiny potato shards, and although they were very soft, they were bubbling and freaking out and skipping all over the pan.

I was also disappointed in the usage of sunflower oil over duck fat in the potatoes. Call me an asshole or a gourmand or a lover of trans fats, but if you're going to make easy to cook French cuisine for the every day housewife or aficionado, use the actual ingredients. I don't want the damned sunflower oil. But maybe I'm just picky and when I die at the age of 35 from liver failure, cite this article and raise a glass of Riesling for me.

When the potatoes were finally ready, we had them after dessert. And to be honest, they were decent, but none too impressive. They weren't fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. They were very irregular and some were undercooked and slimy and some were very crispy. The good ones were tasty and had an earthy, very natural taste and the herbs were intense and also delicious, but the remainder wasn't impressive and the overall package just didn't yield what we expected at all.

Blogiversary. Yet, Again.

As I enter my fifth year of food blogging, it's time to take the annual look back at the previous year's posts. A heartfelt thank you to all who stop by to read my gibberish, and an even bigger thank you to those who leave comments. Well...not the spammers.

Favorite PostsA labor of (didn't quite) love (it), I put a lot of time into researching Cincinati Chili. I spread the word of my BoBerry love. And, did you know that I love peanut butter and pickle sandwiches?

Best Restaurant DishesThe simple combo of salty Halloumi and sweet date jam at Zahav is so good,I hope they never take it off the menu. This deviled egg junkie would like to give props to Supper for their deviled egg happy hour. Not from a restaurant, but from a couple of ladies who dish up raw food at monthly meet-ups, this raw apple crisp was the best dessert I ate out the entire year.

Best RestaurantWhat I really meant to talk about under Best Restaurant Dishes was Bebe's...but I had to spread some love around. Bebe's is killin' it when it comes to Southern cooking. I'm talking about their all-vegetarian sides of course, and their mac and cheese in particular. And don't forget dessert. Meat eaters say they're killin' it in the barbecue department, too.

Favorite Dessert RecipesThe whole bbq fever in Philly last year had me disappointed with the banana pudding offerings (Bebe's got it right), so I posted a banana pudding recipe to show 'em how it's done. Gingerbread pudding cake became my bestest snuggle buddy. Chick-O-Stick ice cream? O-yeah!

Favorite Recipe...Ever!Mac and cheese, of course! And, it's made by my cute lil' ol' Mom. She sends her love.

Most Popular PostsBut who cares what I think. The most viewed posts from 2009 were recipes for donut muffins, charoset truffles, and tomato pie.

Judge and Be JudgedLoads of fun was had being a judge at A Full Plate's Annual Rib Cook Off, as well as at an Iron Cupcake Challenge in New Jersey. Nervous at my first public speaking as a food blogger during 215 Festival's Food Blogger Brunch, I quickly got over it and couldn't shut my mouth.

BurgersHave y'all been to a Burger Club Philly meating put on by the Burgerbaroness? You should. It got me thinking about how I was unfamiliar with the Philly veggie burger scene. Many meatings have veg burgers, so I love to go and skew the ratings (usually down). Veggie burgers I've eaten this year (not all with BCP) include those at: National Mechanics, SquareBurger, Sketch, PYT, The P.O.P.E., and two more that I haven't posted yet. Oops.

VacationA free trip to St. Martin was lovely, even if Lyme disease fudged the end of the trip. (Eat more deer, all y'all meat-eaters!) This time last year I was in Belize having the time of my life. Now I'm just perma-stay-cationing in Philly.

Max and Dylan's, Boston, MA

Erik and I went to Boston to see Of Montreal last night and after the show, went to this little restaurant to grab food before heading home. It was tiny and chic and I'd seen the menu online and was pleased to find that although it was quite upscale, it had really cool and comfortable foods that one wouldn't be afraid to order and enjoy with a nice glass of wine and company.

So after the show, it wasn't quite empty, but that was perfect because our food arrived within ten minutes of us ordering it. Erik ordered the beef tenderloin flatbread with mashed potatoes, frizzled leek, and truffle oil, and I ordered the flash-fried jalapeno cheese sticks. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the beef flatbread because it contained two things I really try to avoid- beef and mushrooms. Truffle oil being a far cry from the actual fungi, but still.
However, being a food critic, I had to do my duty. And hot damn. First off, when it came out, it wasn't what I expected, which was the one piece of flatbread like a sandwich with the potatoes and leeks on the side, but the flatbread was covered in the potatoes, drizzled with leeks, the beef was also liberally placed all over it, and then, the truffle oil.

It was cut into squares like a pizza, and what I imagined would happen was that I'd take a piece, from Erik's chiding, nibble off a piece, pretend I liked it, and then let him eat the rest, but I ended up eating half of the entire pie. It was amazing. I've heard people say, "That beef melted in my mouth," only to eat beef and have it be stringy and disappointing, but that beef actually melted. It was so tender and buttery, with just the tiniest bit of rock salt on top, which sweetened the truffle oil and accentuated its buttery flavor. The mashed potatoes, which I originally thought were some sort of ricotta or mascarpone cheese, were gods unto themselves, and to think that I thought them a lowly side dish. They were creamy and amazing, like the sperm of the gods. The leeks added a crunch to the flatbread that the bread itself also gave, and it held together in a wonderful combination that I would have never tried if it wasn't for stepping outside of my damned comfort zone.

Ain't it good?
The jalapeno cheese sticks also exceeded my expectations, because I thought that the cheese sticks would have rounds of pickled jalapeno studded amidst them, which isn't really my forte, but I liked the idea, and was excited to try something spicy. When they came, they were colorful, big triangles with sea salt on top and gooey mozzarella on the inside. The serving was more than enough for the two of us to share and still be full. The jalapenos were infused throughout the breading, which was made of tortilla chips. The flavor was great, and since they were flash-fried, there was virtually no grease to be found in them. They were fresh tasting and wonderful, and the salsa they served it wish was sweet and very ripe.
We really loved the restaurant, and it inspired me- MAYBE- to try a few more new things in my diet outside of the general meat and potatoes. I'm not going to try mushrooms, so don't expect to see them on the reviews anytime soon, but maybe a few new things will pop up. But I really did enjoy the atmosphere and loved the home-like and comfortable menu. If only there were desserts! Overall, though, we loved Max and Dylan's pretension free style and laid back way of service.

Growing Shiitakes

We were part of a White Elephant gift exchange with friends over Christmas, and were thrilled when we unwrapped a Shiitake mushroom growing kit. Immediately, we vocally gushed and then gave the stink eye around the room to anyone who might consider stealing our present. It worked.

Having lived for two years in Kennett Square, PA, "the mushroom capital of the world," and toured a few mushroom growing houses in the area, I've always wanted to get a batch of mushrooms going, but it's been one of those simple and easy indulgences I've just never acted on.

If you're an apartment dweller or a city dweller and don't have a patch of soil to grow vegetables or herbs, this may be the thing to placate the primal urge we all have to grow something edible. It's so simple. Here we go...
Take your mushroom kit (basically a block of spore inoculated substrate) out of the box, and read the directions. The kit you get may have different direction, but below is what happened when we followed the direction with our kit. The block may already be sprouting, but in our case it was not, so the block still wrapped in the incubation bag went into the fridge for 3-5 days.
Then the bag was cut open at the top and the block was soaked in water (spring, well, rain, or boiled tap water) for 24 hours.
The block goes down to the basement (or any room with indirect sunlight and temps in the range of 60-80 degrees). The bag is turned upside down to form a humidity tent over the block. Skewers are poked in the block to hold the bag up. The surface of the block gets misted 3-4 times a day with water (spring, well, rain, or boiled tap water). This is what the surface of our kit looked like at the beginning or the misting — white, popcorn-like bumps.
Misting multiple times daily and with the humidity tent still on, after about 10 days, the surface started to blacken and blister, which are young mushrooms beginning to form.About two weeks into the daily misting program, a protuberance appeared (kind of nubby like the one on the top middle of the block), and over a few days developed into a full grown mushroom (like the one on the top right corner of the block).

Supposedly, we'll continue to get flushes of mushrooms for the next 6 months. Yay! I'll try to update about how many and for how long we got mushrooms.

Mi Tierra, Hadley, MA

I ate the best Mexican food in the world this weekend and now I am scheming. I am scheming to abduct a worker from this restaurant so that they can cook for me. Because I must know the secrets to this restaurant. Erik showed me this restaurant a little while ago and now I simply can't get enough of it. It's just incredible, and the food couldn't be more simple, hearty, or good for its value. And the best part is, it's in the backwoods of Massachusetts, untouched by the rabid Smithies in Northampton or the drunken UMass kids or rowdy Mt. Holyoke girls or pretentious Amherst College students or granola-munching Hampshire hipsters. So nobody, save a few older people, knows about it.

And now all that will change.

So Mi Tierra is tiny and amazing and wonderful, and we are in love with it. We went there tonight after a healthy workout at the gym and ordered the best thing on the menu- the tacos dorados, mine with potato, Erik's with cheese.

At the start of every meal, the lovely server, usually Dora, will bring you a massive basket of hot, homemade chips with a fresh salsa verde. The salsa verde is to die for, and I could probably drink gallons of it and not break a sweat. It's spicy, enough to make you blush but not make you swear (out loud), and the chips are very crispy, bubbly, not oily at all and the perfect size for dipping. I wish they were a little saltier, but they bring out the salsa quite well and balance without one overpowering the other. The salsa is smooth and perfect- no chunks, just the way I like it, and is a wonderful bright green color.
Onto the entrees. We both ordered the tacos dorados, which are four corn tortillas with your choice of filling, (steak, chicken, cheese, or potato) deep fried until golden brown, covered in homemade queso and sour cream, and served with rice and beans. For years, I avoided most Mexican because rice and beans, for me, is just a side dish to be swept aside or given to someone else. It's too goopy or too dry or too something or not something enough, but this...I've never had something like this, where I've finished the side dish before I've even stared at the entree. The rice is perfectly seasoned, and I usually end up pouring the extra salsa verde on it for a little more kick, and the beans are godly. They are salty and buttery and probably have pure lard in them, but taste amazing. They aren't mushy, but are tender enough to melt in my mouth.

The tacos themselves were incredible. As I write this, I'm eating the leftovers. They are the size of a large penis, semi-erect, and taste better, too. The potatoes are spiced and crispy on the inside and tender, and the outside is smothered in freshly grated queso and sour cream. They are extremely crispy, and for being deep fried, really not all that greasy. The cheese tacos are amazing. The log of cheese inside is semi-solid and creamy, tastes fresh and has a nice bounce to it when you bite into the crispy taco. The shell stays firm around the entire thing and makes a great pocket to keep the entire thing in.
The portions are also massive. When Erik and I go, we generally order these and, though we try to finish, on an average day when we haven't had anything else to eat, we generally end up bringing home two to four tacos to snack on later and rave about. If I kill anyone, I want to eat these when I'm brought my last meal, they're so good. The best part, though, was that our entire meal, with drinks, (the chips are free!) came to under $20. How's that for entirely awesome?

In short, Mi Tierra is a place where unicorns go to have their children. We're going to camp out until they let us live there.

Doritos Late Night All Nighter Cheeseburger

Being a student on a budget, sometimes I have to make substitutes. Some days, I want filet mignon, but I'm usually broke, so that generally results in me reheating a leftover steak burrito and shaking pepper on it. Some days, I want Baked Alaska, so I shake some rubbing alcohol over Cool Whip and take a lighter to it. It ain't pretty. But I ain't rich.

All kidding aside, I'm generally not a fan of beef, so when I have a craving for greasy fast food that a cheeseburger can only satisfy, and I have only a vending machine at my disposal, I have to get creative. Luckily, these new Doritos are here to help. I saw them at the convenience store today and had to try them. Although these are remarkably similar to the secret flavored X-13D Doritos that were out a few years back, these are much tastier. There's less of a pickled flavor to these, and much more of a beefy, meaty flavor, a much more flavorful and savory, salty taste.

Although the corn base is quite prevalent, it's definitely noticeable that these are burger flavor chips. There's a great smoky flavor and a cheesy powder on these, and a mustard and onion, too. I didn't notice as much cheese, so these are more "hamburger" than cheeseburger, in my opinion. However, they're damned addictive. Be careful of that. What's next from the late night section? Doritos already did buffalo wings, but they're liable to bring that back for their Late Night selection. Loaded nachos? Loaded potato skins? Chicken sandwich? Cheesecake laced with a massive hangover? Pepto-Bismol and Chaser Collisions?

And more importantly, how drunk do you have to be to come up with a name as awkward as Late Night All Nighter? Chrissake.

Shank's At Pier 40

Need a plumber? How about an electrician? Stand in line at the new Pier 40 location of Shank's, and you can easily find a repairman to fix your sink. Or your lights. Or probably anything that's broken.

The South Philly location of Shanks Original (original location near the Italian Market closed and reopened on 15th St. in Center City last summer, and they added a second location at Pier 40 along Columbus Blvd. at the end of 2009) appears to be a great location for working men and their trucks to easily pull in for a traditional Philly hoagie lunch break.Not quite as mod and glam as the architect's rendering, this small box on the side of the road has little indoor space for placing orders, but smartly has a window that opens up to take orders from the long lunch lines that form outside. When warm weather arrives, perhaps the patio area will be filled with tables and seats, as the architect envisioned.There are two veggie hoagies on the Shank's menu (not counting the breakfast hoagies, which I'll have to return for — egg, cheese, potato, and spinach sounds like a good combo to me), and I tackled them both.
The Eggplant sandwich can be ordered Shank's Style (pan-fried, lightly breaded eggplant with greens and homemade gravy) or Parmagiana Style (pan-fried, lightly breaded eggplant with homemade gravy and Provolone).

I went Shank's Style with spinach instead of broccoli rabe. Every thing — eggplant, spinach, and a mound of tomato gravy — goes on the grill to get heated before being tucked into the long Italian roll. What I liked about this sandwich were the ultra thin slices of eggplant with crispy fried edges. No thick-cut spongy eggplant here.
The Veggie with pan-fried, lightly breaded eggplant, broccoli rabe, roasted peppers and Sharp Provolone was not different enough from the Eggplant to really warrant another listing in the sandwich column, in my opinion; it's all just a fried eggplant hoagie. Slap some gravy on The Veggie and you've essentially got the Eggplant.

Always a fan of sauce, though, I preferred the Eggplant. And bitter broccoli rabe is not a favorite of mine, but I braved it just in case they laid their hands on a mild bunch. They didn't.

While these are great hoagies (the thin-sliced eggplant is a revelation) from an iconic Philly hoagie maker, this non-native Philadelphian will never be head over heals for the Philly-style veggie hoagie with fried eggplant, broccoli rabe, and Sharp Provolone that can be found at Chickie's and other Philly hoagie institutions. It's just not in my blood.

Shank's Original at Pier 40
901 S. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-218-4000
Mon-Sat, 7:30am-4pm