Obscurorant 2.0

Submitted for your consideration: a cookbook featuring recipes from classic children’s literature. The author’s website and blog can be found here.

Speaking of books, there was a particular title I was hoping to come across Saturday (but didn’t). Different folks have recommended Heat and The Apprentice as books that someone with an interest in cooking would enjoy, and I intend to read both. But I’ve also heard tell of another cooking-related book I want to find and read - The Belly of Paris by Zola. Naturally I’m curious to know if anyone else has read it already.

Last week The Intended told me that I shouldn’t make any plans for the coming Saturday, as she had a surprise in mind for me. So Saturday came and we got in the car, and drove. And drove, and drove. And we wound up - Surprise! - at a bookstore. Namely this one, the Montague Book Mill, advertised as “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.” Go take a look at the pictures.

It’s a lovely use for an old building, isn’t it? The building houses not only the bookstore, but a restaurant and a cafe as well. Since we visited during the day, the Night Kitchen was closed, but after browsing the stacks we had a slight repast (A No. 1 and champagne for her, No. 6 and a Left Hand Chainsaw Ale for me), courtesy of the Lady Killigrew Cafe. The stacks, for those of you who are bookishly inclined, lean more towards hardcovers and trades, rather than your garden-and-yard-sale variety paperbacks; whoever does the buying there is picky, which means good titles for the plucking. I wound up with four books: Wodehouse, The Long Recessional, In Command of History and Defeat Into Victory.

On the way home we stopped in Amherst (like Burlington but slightly less annoying full of hippies and trustafarians) for a brief walkabout. Naturally we stopped at the Amherst Brewing Company for some more eating (beer bread) and drinking (Workingman’s Wheat). Then we went home. The End.

A damn fine day. Lovely weather, a lovely bookstore, good eats and drinks, and the best company. One couldn’t ask for more, and days and places like that remind me why I still live in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.

Not only was I unaware that such a thing as the Culinary Arts Museum existed, I had no idea there was an entire exhibit devoted to diners. Might be a nice day trip, if you can get there before June of this year (when the exhibit ends).

Between the collections that The Intended and I brought along when we moved in together (and two recent purchases en route), there’s a fair number of cookbooks lining the shelf in our kitchen. So what I’m kind of curious about is - do folks treat their cookbooks strictly as reference material, plucking them from the shelf when looking for specific information? Does anyone read their cookbooks like a novel - i.e. cover-to-cover and front-to-back?

Me, I treat ‘em like reference books. But there are cookbooks I could see myself curling up in a chair with, like the gorgeous Pork and Sons.

Right then. As I talked about earlier, the inaugural use of the mandoline was in making ratatouille, using a recipe I found at SmittenKitchen. It was quite tasty, though as the following pictures show, I won’t be winning any awards for presentation in the near future:

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I’m contemplating trying this recipe for ratatouille for my inaugural use of our new mandoline.

Now that we have a mandoline, the only kitchen gadget I can think of that we’re lacking is a hand mixer, which would be useful for my specialty - soups.* The question is - do any of my dozen or so regular readers recommend a particular brand or model? Or is it a case of six of one, half dozen of another?

*Allright, maybe it’s an exaggeration to say I have a ’specialty’ - safer to say that when I fire up the stove, more often than not I’m making soup.

Sauteed asparagus is definitely a specialty though.

21 great uses for beer.  (Apart from drinking it of course.)

One thing I’d like to do more of this year is cook. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a resolution though, more like a vague determination. Between both our busy schedules, neither The Girl nor I did a lot of cooking as 2007 wound down, so ideally we’ll have some more home-cooked meals in 2008. Plus, the food at The Local has declined to the point of being inedible, so where else am I going to seek nourishment? (Don’t panic though, the beer’s still cold.)*

The fruit of this determination so far? I made an ass-kicking potato leek soup this past weekend, and The Girl spent part of New Year’s Day making a garlic herb salt (from this cookbook that the Bunny gave me for Christmas) which I used on a steak last night, and will use on some skillet smashed potatoes tonight. Hopefully there be more such kitchen mischief to come.

* The answer to this question is, obviously, the Punjab Cafe, Schoolhouse Pizza, and Gaslight. And the Siam House and I seem to be speaking again, at least until the next time they need half an hour to take my order.

UPDATE: Sacre Bleu! How could I have forgotten the Wheelhouse?

Also - I had no idea such a place as Anna’s Hungarian Kitchen existed in Quincy? Assuming it’s still open, I may have to investigate and satisfy curiousity.

The papers have been submitted and last night I delivered my presentation. Barring one final assignment, my second semester of library school is (just about) over. My social life will revive accordingly beginning this weekend, and just in time for the holidays.

Speaking of holidays, here’s a couple of drinky links for my three or four remaining readers:

First - here’s some instructions on how to make your own limoncello (I guess it’s the Italian version of poiteen).

Second - those with less ambition or time will find here a story and recipe for the Blood and Sand, my cocktail of choice when imbibing at the B-Side.

Every so often in my travels I’ll pass an eatery, usually of the greasy spoon or diner variety, with a sign stating that the establishment features the ‘New York System.’

So, anyone know exactly what this system is?

This past weekend The Girl and I ventured out to Rhinebeck in upstate New York, for my cousin’s wedding and the attendant gathering of the clan.* Heading there and back again, we managed to cram in some good eats and a bit of sight-seeing. What follows are a few of the high lights.

Barrington Brewery and Restaurant
We stopped here for lunch on our journey west, as part of our Beer Quest. The verdict is mixed. The Girl felt her veggie burger went from a box to the stove to her plate, and was similarly unimpressed with her beer, though I’m struggling to remember her choice of brew. I thought my Steak & Stout sandwich was very tasty and my raspberry beer quite refreshing; the summer wheat beer I tried was serviceable if uninspiring.

Opa Opa Steakhouse and Brewery
Which it’s a western-themed steakhouse, founded by Greek immigrants in the middle of Massachusetts. Another suggestion from The Good Book, I highly - highly - recommend you make a stop at Opa Opa next time you’re crossing the Bay State via the Pike. We stopped in on our trek back to Q-town, and left the premises with a growler of their excellent Marshall Brown Ale. The Girl and I are avid consumers of pub grub, so you can trust us when we give our seal of approval to Opa Opa’s Spinach Artichoke Dip and their steak fries.

Calico Restaurant & Patisserie
We stopped here on Sunday morning, to try the brunch and feed my hangover. I had the soup du jour, a pumpkin bisque, and the Southwestern Wrap. The Girl had the Chive and Goat Cheese, and we couldn’t have been happier.

Terrapin Restaurant
We ate Friday night, and ate rather sparingly since we were still somewhat full from our stop at the Barrington Brewery. Terrapin is divided into a bistro and a restaurant section; we sat on the bistro side. I loves the soup in general, and I loved the cream of garlic soup I had that night (I’m going to try find the recipe and make it at home). The Girl had a lovely salad (endive, blue cheese, candied walnut, apple). The Terrapin also has a nice selection of New York micro-brews from which beer lovers can choose.

Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market
After brunch at Calico The Girl and I decided to take a walk through the Farmer’s Market. We wound up driving back home with a back seat of goodies, including fresh bread, mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, corn on the cob, and onions, a lot of which went into the tasty ratatouille the Girl cooked up.

*Pictures will be forthcoming.

In one of those weird coincidences life occasionally puts in your path, shortly after starting my second semester of library school and moving into an apartment with a real kitchen in which to cook, I come across Cooked Books, Rebecca Federman’s explorations of the New York Public Library’s culinary holdings. Yes, recipes are posted, both for food and drink. Plus, you can learn about les Dames du Boeuf and LUPEC, groups featuring my kind of folks.

Also, The Girl and I have been thinking it would be fun, as well as beneficial, to take a class in basic knife skills.  Maybe here perhaps?

Today marks the debut in action of the Mr. Bento that Heather kindly gave to me for my birthday a month or so ago.  The main course is some left-over pasta with a tomato-avocado sauce that The Girl and I made last night. Also nestled in Mr. Bento’s innards: cornflakes (that I already had for breakfast), tomato and mozzarella, and some balsamic vinaigrette for the ‘maters and cheese.  Simple, but it’s a start.

The mini-vacation was quite lovely, starting with a surprise visit, courtesy of The Girl, to the Mt. Washington Hotel. Some pictures will follow when I have the time to upload them.

In between a stay at the Mt. Washington and a wedding in Burlington, The Girl and I continued our quest to visit every brewery and brew pub listed in The Good Guide Beer Guide to New England. Over the course of the weekend we stopped and sampled at the following:

The Italian Oasis - yes, it really is a brew pub.

Three Needs Brewery and Taproom - I would’ve enjoyed this place more if my visit hadn’t coincided with Eric Gagne coughing up the first of two to the Orioles.

Vermont Pub and Brewery - so nice, we went twice.

Magic Hat Brewing Company - You can drink all the samples you want, before and after the tour. Just saying.

Long Trail Brewing Co. - the drive off the highway, past Queechee Gorge and through the incredibly scenic Woodstock, is as lovely as Long Trail’s Blackbeary Wheat.

We didn’t have time to hit the Switchback Brewing Company, though I did have a pint of their IPA at the Three Needs. The tour of Cabot Cheese was pretty cool, but the selection of samples left much to be desired.