Before hitting 2013 running, let's take a moment to enjoy some of the finer food parts of 2012. Favorite Sandwiches: Beer Barbecued Chiken with Sprite Biscuits Vegan Fish Tacos BBQ Portobello and Mushroom Sandwich from the Chubby Vegetarian Veggie Ruebens with Kimchi Chicago Style Italian Seitan Monsieur Red Dog Braised Kale and Chickpea Sandwich from Serious Eats Calabacitas Burritos with Homemade Tortillas Lone Star Lentil Tacos [...]
For the second year in a row J-Fur and I hosted Thanksgiving at our place. Her sister and parents were in attendance. Here are the highlights of some of the great tastes that we enjoyed: Appetizers Spiced Almonds Roasted Apple Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Pizza Salad Kale Salad with Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Pepitas Soup [...]
Let's step back in time for a moment. The scene is Astoria, New York circa 2005. Somewhere nestled in amongst the Hollywood backdrops, Sufjan Stevens' CD wrappers, Sesame Street and copies of The Great Gatsby a young poet/songwriter from Lebanon meets up with a choir girl from Dallas, Texas. They decide to start a band. Perhaps people notice, perhaps they don't. Perhaps Frank Costello and Scott Joplin shift slightly in their graves. Leap forward seven years and those two ladies, Dania Abu-Shaheen and Zilpha Starnes, have spent time living in Boston and New York, toured the [...]
I've been in a bit of a funk this past week, having a hard time motivating myself to get anything done. Whether it's washing the dishes, exercising, or working on a few writing projects at hand — I feel like the most I can handle is making it through my regular workday. Traffic on the freeway has been increasingly getting worse as the days are getting darker, and I think the only thing getting me through my early mornings is NPR. The other day, I was listening to an interview with Grizzly Bear , hoping it would never end [...]
On one of my last weekdays off of the summer I set out to conquer a twenty mile bike ride. This ride was unlike the others I took this summer because it would be along main roads and through trailer parks rather than winding in the woods. I had gone about seven miles when I blew out my tire. I flipped the bike and tried to pump it back but to no avail. My tire had been punctured by a nail. I called J-Fur who was on an interview at the time and left her a message. Then I began [...]
September has a way with me. It has, in the last few years, become one of my favorite months. If you are considering a trip to San Francisco, I would encourage you to do it in September. The fog is usually light, the days are generally warm, and the summer sun continues to linger in the evening sky. Cooking in September is the most fun of all. Our late summer produce — peaches and strawberries, zucchini and heirloom tomatoes — begin to play with early Fall treasures. I have already tasted the first of the season's apples, and soon I'm [...]
Every once in a while, usually after a late night of communist Russia dancing , I find myself seated in the dining room of a hole-in-the-wall diner. While definitely serving an important purpose in night owl society these diners usually aren't loaded with vegetarian food. And when they do have vegetarian options, they aren't always adequately stocked. None of this would matter if the one thing that always catches my eye, chili fries, fell into the vegetarian category. Pile your menu with meat and meat based gravies, I don't care, just offer a pile of nice vegetarian chili fries. [...]
During my formative years gravy, along with canned vegetables, boxed vegetables, meat and milk, made up my personal five food groups. There was something about that thick, comfortable, gray liquid that made food taste better. No one did it better than my grandma. Part of the reason I was ok with becoming vegetarian was I could still eat her gravy. At Thanksgiving I would skip the turkey and pile gravy all over mashed potatoes, corn and stuffing. It wasn't until later that I realized gravy was a meat based food and any true vegetarian wouldn't touch the stuff. I remained a [...]
Capdevila at La Teresita (commonly referred to as just La Teresita) is a Cuban restaurant in West Tampa that is probably no place for a vegetarian to wind up. The list of foods that are vegetarian friendly could be ticked off using the fingers of just one hand. Let's see, there was fried yucca, arroz amarillo, papas fritas, platanos fritos and tostones. There are a few variations of yucca and platanos so if I counted those separately then we are looking at two hands. That's it. But there I was to visit with some former co-workers and celebrate a [...]
(photo from Kyler England's Facebook page) Kyler England is the Atlantic Tomcod of music. This comparison has nothing to do with the bottom feeding tendencies of the fish but rather its ability to evolve quickly in order to prosper . Kyler has built an illustrious career on the back of her ability to evolve. While firmly established as a solo singer-songwriter she has always sought out new ways to grow and enhance her sound in order to remain fresh for her fanbase. Kyler's music has appeared on numerous television shows (Grey's Anatomy, Vampire Diaries, Private [...]
As the name implies, Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe , is more than just a restaurant. It is also an art gallery, concert venue, hipster hangout and drinker's paradise. From the moment you squeeze into the way too tight parking spaces and see the metal horse lying upside down in the grass surrounded by half buried bowling balls that act as a black rubber road that ends beneath a winged Elvis shrine , you know this will be an unforgettable experience. Having been to Ella's a number of times as an audience [...]
Today's lunch was the product of a number of unrelated occurrences that have taken place over the last several months. It all started when my friend Becca randomly posted on my (insert social media page here) that she had just enjoyed a vegan Cuban at a restaurant in Chicago. I want one, I thought. Skip ahead a month or two and there was an article in one of the free dailies that are circulated around Tampa about the food fight taking place between Tampa and Miami in regards to the Cuban Sandwich. I read the article and immediately [...]
When the words Columbus, Ohio and music come together in the my mind they usually flow into lo-fi (Times New Viking) or punk (Gaunt). If it hits Southern Rock (Jasper Mills) I know I've gone too far and I quickly backpedal to the punk. Never, not once, has Columbus and music ever led me to electro-pop. Then Ryan Smith came along and changed all that. Ryan's new album Waiting is, at its core, an electronic album. Front and center are the beeps and bings and bops created by a synthesizer. But the album is [...]
A few years back I was at a karaoke party that catered to academics. In between bad renditions of Bob Dylan songs I could barely make out a conversation between two people I didn't know. They were going on and on about the deconstruction of something really boring. I yawned a few times, audibly like Chris Farley in a chimpanzee movie, but they didn't seem to pick up on how dull they were. When I finally was able to escape, I went right up to the karaoke microphone and had the DJ put on some Meatloaf "I Would Do Anything [...]
It wasn't that long ago when J-Fur sat me down at our kitchen table and said "We need to talk. Seriously. You have a kitchen gadget problem." I stared into our crowded kitchen and thought for a second. There was the immersion blender but that thing really helps make soups without the mess of pouring into a food processor. I've had one two many nights of cleaning broth off my floor because it leaked from a tiny food processor crevice. I wasn't going back to those days. There was the food processor itself but that was helpful for when I [...]
Female at a Deli: "Is the reuben sandwich a living tradition? Why can't we just make our own version?" Male at a Deli: "You want to surrender to chaos?" From the short film: A Reuben by Any Other Name This small conversation from A Reuben by Any Other Name , a four minute indie film that takes place in a small Californian deli, highlights my feelings about the reuben sandwich. Why can't we all just make our own. The film's story is that a patron goes [...]
While there are some vegetables I'm not that fond of, I can be persuaded to like anything when it is buy one get one hundred free. That's what sweet potatoes were last week. Typically the sweet potato is too sweet for my taste (go figure) but their local calling and cheap price enticed me so I bought a few. I scooted around the internet for a while before I came across this recipe for Sweet Potato Grits from Deep South Magazine . I had some stone ground grits I was in the process of getting rid of so this [...]
A few weeks back I talked about my struggle to track down the elusive jack fruit . When I finally did find it I figured I had two choices: go big or go home. Well I went big. I loaded up a cart, filled it with dozens of cans of jack fruit and watched the cashier's eyes as he ran it over the scanner. I filled the trunk of my car and...well technically at this point I went home. I guess I actually did a little bit of both going big and going home. My first foray, [...]
I trust you guys enough to let you in on a little secret. I didn't relocate to Florida because of school or jobs or J-Fur's education. The real reason I'm here is because I'm part of the Foodie Protection Program (hmm...excellent idea for a television show Food Network). It all happened because, as a troubled teen, I walked into a local tacqueria and asked for a chorizo taco. The whole place went silent. Every eye turned and looked at me. If there was a tumbleweed around, I'm sure it blew behind me. People in my town didn't do that kind [...]
Those of you who have followed this blog since its inception (and let's face it that's no one) know that a few months ago it transitioned from a blogger cookie cutter dirt palace to a fat cow wind powered gravel track. I have my dear friend Michelle to thank for all of that. The other night I finally had a chance to thank her with what I do best, cook. I went with a completely vegan, sans dessert, meal of carrot soup, salad, bread and tropical collards. These are a remix of a recipe that Simon Spire sent my [...]
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Turntable Kitchen
Frau – Tarian Sari (stream)
Franz Ferdinand plot tour, share behind-the-scenes video
