non-food blogs giving you the skinny on local grocery stores

i love grocery stores and one of my favorite things to do when i travel is check them out. i am really into seeing what kind of weird yogurts or chips or whatever are sold in various places. because i am such a grocery store nerd i got really excited that a couple local non-food blogs have been hitting up and writing about grocery stores around town.

first up is alex over at the new kid in town, who recently blogged about his first trip to jungle jim's. i haven't been there in forever and reading the post totally made me want to head out there again. the problem of course is that it takes me like four hours to get through the store and by the end of it i am too exhausted to drive home. but that is the price of unparalleled grocery store awesomeness. alex actually writes about food a lot... he has had posts recently on taste of cincinnati and findlay market. i think he should consider food blogging full time. you can never have too many food bloggers.

the other blogger highlighting a grocery store recently was jenny of recycled bin, who wrote a fun and fascinating tutorial on how to shop at aldi. i have heard a lot about aldi but have never been, and her post takes a lot of the mystery out of it for hesitant shoppers. as luck would have it, i just met jenny the other night and she has promised to take me on a personal tour of aldi in a few weeks. i am very excited!

keep up the good food writing, bloggers!

GIMB goes to taste of the nfl

yes readers, that's right, i am taking the plunge... i have decided to try pimping out my blog in exchange for free food. i will be going to taste of the nfl where i will mingle with football players whose names i do not know, stuff my face with cincinnati snacks, and try to get someone to bid on silent auction items for me, all to support the freestore foodbank.

what is taste of the nfl? here is some info from the press release:

On Friday, June 19, the FreestoreFoodbank will present this year’s Taste of the NFL, an annual event giving Cincinnati Bengals fans the unique opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with members of the Bengals team, sample delicious dishes from Greater Cincinnati’s best restaurants and help their hometown team tackle the growing issue of hunger in our community.

The benefit will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Club Lounge West at Paul Brown Stadium. Hosted by Cincinnati Bengals guard Andrew Whitworth and Chef Andy Hajjar of Andy’s Mediterranean Grille, this dinner-by-the-bite event will pair chefs from more than 30 of the Tri-State’s favorite restaurants with players, coaches and alumni from the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

"wait a minute liz," you ask, "why the hell are you going to this event? you are like the opposite of a bengals fan." it is true, i do not know or care about the bengals. when i moved to cincinnati, all anyone ever talked about was the damn bengals. it took me a good week to figure out that this was a sports team and not a pack of wild animals. i was also trying to remember how the hell to order food in a drive thru so cut me some slack. i lumped the bengals in with wal-mart, casey kasem's top 40, the cracker barrel, and other icons of the midwest that make me want to kill myself.

however, time has passed and now i am trying to embrace all things cincinnati and what is more cincinnati than the bengals? i am ready to give them another chance, especially if a) there is free food involved and b) i do not have to actually watch football. furthermore, the freestore foodbank is an awesome organization that helps a ridiculous number of people in cincinnati and i am happy to do what i can to support and promote it.

here is some info about the freestore foodbank:

The FreestoreFoodbank is the largest emergency food and services provider in the Tri-State. The organization is a trusted partner to 400 nonprofit member agencies spread across 20 counties, through which the FreestoreFoodbank annually distributes 10 million pounds of food and product to more than 160,000 individuals. By providing emergency food distribution, the FreestoreFoodbank works to determine the root causes of poverty and food insecurity and is able to provide an array of services (emergency clothing, housing services, Food Stamps assistance, Medicaid outreach and others) aimed at creating self-reliance.

clearly this is a cause i can get behind. however, the fact remains that i know nothing about the bengals. fortunately i get to bring a guest so kieran invited himself along as a "bengals fan." i have serious doubts about his actual knowledge of the bengals, so we will see how that goes. i am imagining the scene in my head...

liz: yum, ribs! hey, who is that guy?
kieran: that's ocho cinco.
liz: what is ocho cinco?
random bengals player: what the hell. i am NOT ocho cinco. who are you?
liz: get in mah belly!!!
random bengals player: security!

so readers, if you would like to stalk, i mean join, me for an evening of food, bengals, hopefully an open bar, and definitely lots of awkward conversations, buy your ticket now for taste of the nfl.

homemade caesar dressing update

ok readers, i think i have mastered it. thank you to everyone for the tips... you all helped me get here. i couldn't have done it without you!

liz's damn tasty but your breath will kill people caesar dressing

8 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs (boiled 60-90 sec. if you are scared)
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tin anchovies
1 t. dijon mustard
1/2 t. worcestershire sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

mash up the garlic and anchovies with a mortar and pestle. i like to use my chirmolera. make it into a paste. put in bowl with lemon, mash it all together. crack in eggs, whisk them in. add worcestershire sauce and mustard, whisk more. then whisk while drizzling in the olive oil. stir in parmesan. taste and add salt and pepper and maybe a little more lemon. drizzle on top of fresh or grilled romaine and either croutons or grilled bread. sprinkle with more parmesan if you feel like it. die happy.

warning: this dressing is super crazy potent. mashed up garlic and anchovies = possibly the scariest breath you can have. just fyi.

guerrilla queer bar shout out

i feel like i'm breaking new ground left and right over here at GIMB lately. first the highlight of queen city discovery. next, coming soon, will be a sneak peek at a really exciting free meal i'm going to be eating soon in exchange for publicity on my blog (i'm giving it a shot... we'll see what happens). and now today i'm doing what i normally don't do, which is use my blog as my own personal soapbox about non-food related things my friends are doing just because i damn well feel like it.

i want to point you all to lauren's article in the enquirer today about cincinnati guerrilla queer bar (they also have a facebook page). guerrilla queer bar is a group organized by ethan, a hilarious and fascinating guy who i have met a couple of times. ethan came bouncing into cincinnati not too long ago pretty much determined to make the city his own and he is succeeding as far as i can tell.

i thought we were doing pretty good with cincinnati imports because we get about 50-70 people at most of our events and we just started doing them in february. however, the first guerrilla queer bar happened in may and they get 150-200 people every time. it's amazing.

if you don't feel like reading the article, the basic premise is this: CGQB picks a bar and emails its group members to let them know where to go that night. the point is to get a big group of queer and queer friendly people to meet up at a normally "straight" bar. there are themes (gender bending, cowboy, etc.) and awesome drink specials. the atmosphere is social and friendly and dynamic. everyone dances and chats and some people make out and grope each other but it's totally cool if you don't want to.

the thing that i think is so cool about CGQB events is that, despite the name and the premise, it's pretty much devoid of gender or sexuality (or any other) expectations or requirements. ethan and his posse want everybody to just come and have fun, whatever that means for you. no matter who you are and how you are planning to end your evening, CGQB promises you a good time in a welcoming environment.

in addition, it is one of the cheapest nights out you can have. there are always awesome drink specials (i think the event at sully's had free drinks for ladies, and you could define "lady" however you wanted) and no cover. that is even cheaper than sitting home and drinking franzia in front of your tv all night. it's crazy.

anyway i just wanted to let you all know about how you should be spending your free time and also to say to ethan: good work, and to lauren: awesome article. and now back to our regularly scheduled food blogging.

homemade caesar dressing... i need help

i got into this thing recently where i really want to make homemade caesar dressing. like ranch, bottled just does not do it for me. one of the stops on the road trip i told you guys about a couple weeks ago was tijuana, where caesar cardini invented the caesar salad in 1924. of course i had to try the original caesar.

i can't remember the name of the restaurant we ate at, but they claimed that caesar had invented the salad there, which seemed kind of unlikely since it didn't seem like all that old of a restaurant. of course, i could be remembering wrong since not long after eating the salad, i got sick to my stomach and could not finish dinner and spent the night in pain and agony with the worst sunburn of my life.

i do remember the salad being damn good though. they mixed the ingredients in front of us and i remember it being the best caesar salad of my life. the other night i got a craving for it so i decided to try to make it on my own. i based my caesar off of the one in how to cook everything by mark bittman, and it came out ok but not great.

i used:

• 1 clove garlic
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 6 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T. colman's mustard
• 1 T. minced anchovies
• dash of worcestershire sauce
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small head romaine, washed, dried, and chopped
• homemade garlic croutons (cubed sourdough which i sauteed in garlic infused oil until light brown and crispy)
  
• 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

i rubbed the inside of the bowl with the garlic clove then tossed it. then i boiled the eggs for 90 seconds and then cracked them into the bowl. i whisked them with the lemon juice, mustard, and olive oil. then i whisked in the anchovies and worcestershire and then tossed half of the dressing (there was way too much) with the lettuce. then i added the croutons and parmesan.

like i said, it was just ok. it was not zesty enough (even though i added extra lemon and the mustard) and it was too runny. so help me out. what should i do differently to make my caesar dressing really amazing? i am thinking i need more anchovies next time and maybe only one egg. do you guys have any other suggestions?

super awesome blog shout out

i never do this because i feel like there are so many fascinating, well written, informative blogs out there that it's really not even worth my time to try to point them all out, and anyway anyone who is interested in knowing what blogs i like can just check out the links to the right.

however, i have recently become completely obsessed with queen city discovery, to the point that i just have to share it with you guys (although most of you probably already read it). it's written by ronny salerno, aka "gordon bombay" as he calls himself on the blog. i have never met ronny but i have met his partner in discovery, sherman cahal, really briefly, and he seemed like a nice dude.

i am not trying to sell you on their personalities though so what i really want to tell you is that ronny's blog kicks ass. basically he goes around to random, unheard of places in cincinnati (he's really into the never-used subway line for example, and abandoned buildings), takes amazing photos, does great research, and then posts on his blog about it.

this post about an abandoned apartment building in price hill is both captivating and creepy, as are the photos which i cannot stop staring at. i also love this post about the now almost empty forest fair mall, and reading about ronny getting kicked out for taking pictures totally freaked me out.

ronny loves cincinnati and he has a unique perspective, an awesome photographic eye, and a clear and informative writing style. his research is totally interesting and thorough and i have learned so much about this city from reading his blog. i highly recommend that you all check it out.

the best ribs in cincinnati based on what i ate at taste

1. city barbeque (delicious and second only to sam the cooking guy's ribs)
2. montgomery inn (good texture and juicy but i think the sauce is too sweet and bland)
3. pit to plate (tough, dry, not enough sauce)

i have a bone to pick (get it? bone to pick? ribs? hahaha. sorry.) with pit to plate because the guy was like "the ribs can be hit or miss but they are really good today." ok a) your ribs should not be hit or miss and b) if this was a hit, i don't want to try a miss.

i also tried the "best damn dish" which was arloi dee's chicken lettuce wraps. readers, this is not the best damn dish in cincinnati. it's not even close. pf chang's serves much better lettuce wraps. and there are so many other better things to eat in this city. i will cut them a little slack since i am sure the food at taste is not as good as what is served in the restaurant but still the sauce was just peanutty and boring. no spice, no flavors other than peanut, blah.

and that is all i ate at taste. i am poor so i ate before i went so i would not spend a lot of money. feel free to leave comments about all the delicious food i missed out on.

pleasant ridge chili

(note: this post was cowritten by me and maggie. her comments are in blue.)

when i was in college at michigan state, we used to go to canada all the time because the legal drinking age there is 19 and it was only about an hour and a half away. back then border crossing was easy (you didn't even need a passport) and as long as you could find a car and some sucker willing to volunteer for DD duty, you were good.

eat here now

we usually went to windsor since it was right across the border but occasionally we would go for a weekend in toronto. when we did, we would always stop at some random little diner to eat poutine. in case you have never had this culinary masterpiece, i will describe it for you. poutine is originally from quebec i think which means it is easier to find the closer you get to quebec (hence why we could get it in toronto but not in windsor). it is just french fries covered in cheese curds and beef gravy. it is damn tasty.

DAMN TASTY! I only had it once when I was in Ottawa back in 2002, but it instantly shot up to my top ten favorite bar foods.

this photo makes me feel super artistic

i remember reading in a polly campbell blurb at some point that poutine could be found in some little town in northern kentucky. however, poutine is for me really just middle of the night post drinking food so i am not going to haul my ass all the way down there to eat it.

well then one day it was revealed to me by some charitable soul (i can't remember who) that pleasant ridge chili served "gravy cheese fries." once i found that out, i had to go there. coincidentally, right around that time i became friends with maggie and ryan who are obsessed with pleasant ridge chili.

i can't really remember what was going on here

Our obsession started back in November after a family friend who grew up in Pleasant Ridge told us about his favorite place for Cincinnati chili. I am addicted to coneys so I had to check it out with Ryan. It was love at first bite. In the past 6 months we've been so many times that we lost count. It is the place we go the most in Cincinnati (it helps that it isn't too expensive).

for months maggie and i talked about going there but it never happened. but then last weekend after a long night of westside bar crawling, the time was right and we made our way to pleasant ridge.

the spread

the first thing you notice about pleasant ridge chili is that it seems as if you have stepped back in time. the restaurant and its employees are straight out of the 60s. then you look around and realize this is maybe one of the most diverse (in every way possible) crowd you have ever seen in cincinnati. then you look at the food people are eating and you think you have died and gone to gravy cheese heaven.

pleasant ridge chili is open mon-sat from 9 am to 4:30 am. yes, 4:30 am. readers, add this place to the short list of late night dining options in cincinnati. we rolled in at around 2:30 and the place was busy. however, the service is fast and friendly even at that hour.

ryan and maggie chow down

now the moment of truth... the food. maggie and i both ordered gravy cheese fries and a cheese coney. ryan was feeling less gluttonous and stuck to a small three way and a coney. the coneys were fine but nothing special.

the cheese fries were amazing. we both got crinkle fries (you could also get thick home fries) and they were completely covered in shredded cheddar cheese and absolutely dripping with gravy. the gravy was good but a little salty. it tasted like kfc gravy which i love so i liked it.

i stuff my face

I think the coneys are special. So special that when I 'forget' my lunch at my job in Norwood, I drive up Montgomery Road, stop at an ATM, order two, drive back and eat them at my desk. I haven't tried Camp Washington or Dixie, but I definitely think these are better than Skyline. The chili has just a hint of cinnamon and the other spices blend together for an overall Delicious taste. I bet that a competitor on Top Chef would have a hard time picking out the subtleties. I love how the waitresses always ask me if I want mustard and onions added to my coney. Also to note about the cheese (used on the gravy cheese fries) is that it is the trademark Cincinnati shredded cheese. I love that stuff and can eat buckets of it. It gets even better when you douse it with gravy.

i could not finish my fries because my belly started to hurt. at that point i just picked off clumps of gravy soaked cheese and crammed them into my mouth. my belly kept hurting so eventually i had to stop.

me attempting to be artistic again

we went home and when i woke up the next morning, i felt great. no hangover. gravy cheese fries are not only delicious but they work miracles. they are not quite as awesome as poutine, but they are damn good and i'll take what i can get.

I think I saw the image of Jesus in my fries. Next time, I'll check for the Virgin Mary.

poached salmon on the grill and cold rice noodle and veggie salad

back in college my friend bryan and i got this great idea. we were going to go on a road trip after graduation. we saved our pennies (well actually bryan saved his pennies and i applied for more credit cards) and stocked up on camping supplies and snacks and off we went for a month out west in bryan's granny car with no cruise control, the phatty buick.

we hit up colorado springs, the grand canyon, las vegas, zion national park, san diego, tijuana, mesa verde, phoenix, and a bunch of other places i am forgetting right now. we spent the trip alternately having a hilariously awesome time and not speaking to each other because we were so sick of each other's shit.

my favorite place we stayed on the trip was at this crazy bed and breakfast slash farm place run by these two very gay guys in nowheresville colorado somewhere. the place was rustic and there were dogs and chickens and turkeys running everywhere, including in and out of the house. we went for drinks at the only bar in town and everyone stared at us. however beer was like $1.50 so we did not care. kind of like the west side.

here i am at the grand canyon. this was back in 2002 so nobody had a digital camera. in fact i am not even sure why i have this photo.

at another point in the trip we were in utah and sick of camping. we decided to get a hotel. well good luck if you are an unmarried guy and girl trying to get a room together in utah. one after another every hotel with a vacancy sign told us they were full. we swore up and down that we were not going to have sex, and in fact, if either one of us touched the other one we would punch them and then throw up, but to no avail.

finally after driving about an hour we realized that we could just tell them that we were married. it worked like a charm. the fact that we wanted separate beds did not even phase them. the next day we went to the local bar for drinks and were told that bars do not serve alcohol on sundays. don't go to utah.

one of our stops on the road trip was at my uncle james's house in santa fe. we loved it there because it was free and spacious and they fed us. james married a french woman a while back and upon tasting foie gras, he who hadn't eaten meat in 20 years took up consuming animal flesh with a vengeance. one night for dinner they made us the most amazing salmon. they had cooked it on the grill in a foil pouch with butter, soy sauce, lemon, and white wine. it was awesome and one of the best salmon dishes i have ever had. i made a mental note at the time to make it when i got home and then promptly forgot.

today i was wondering out loud to my coworkers about what i was going to grill for dinner and kieran said "salmon" and then rickell said "put it in foil on the grill." and then eric who just stopped being a vegetarian like a week ago said "i love eating dead animals." immediately i knew what i was making... uncle james's foil pouch salmon. it came out damn tasty.

poached salmon on the grill

all you do here is get some salmon and marinate it in whatever the hell you want for about 20 minutes. i used approximately equal proportions of fresh lemon juice, soy sauce, and white wine, and i also put in some lemon zest, garlic, and ginger.

get 2 sheets of foil and form one of them into a square bowl shaped thing (flat with edges). put the salmon and sauce in, cover it in some little chunks of butter, and cover the whole thing with the other sheet of foil. crimp all the edges so no steam gets out. throw it on the grill on low heat for about 8-10 minutes. pull it off the grill and let it sit in the pouch for another 10 minutes. open it up and eat.

i think i am going to go eat more of this right now

with this i decided i wanted something light and crunchy and flavorful so i invented the following salad.

liz's fresh and tasty cold rice noodle salad with veggies

8 oz. vietnamese rice sticks
6 oz. (or a package or whatever) sugar snap peas or snow peas
1/2 english cucumber, halved and then sliced thinly, or cut into strips
about 15 baby carrots, roughly julienned (i just wanted to say "julienned")
2 scallions, sliced into little circles
1/2 romaine heart, julienned (again!)
1/4 red cabbage, julienned (ok can you even julienne that?)
1/3 c. san-j thai peanut sauce (or maybe more than that)
1/3 c. seasoned rice vinegar
2 T. cilantro, chopped
2 T. toasted sesame oil
1 T. grated ginger
a few dashes of chili oil
a few dashes of fish sauce
a few squeezes of sriracha

put cucumber, red cabbage, and carrots in a bowl with the rice vinegar. mix and then let sit for about 20 min.

cook the rice sticks according to directions then rinse them in cold water. blanch the snap peas and then rinse them in cold water too.

add all vegetables except lettuce to the bowl. then add rice sticks. add sauces. toss together. add lettuce. toss a little more. sprinkle with cilantro. enjoy.

this was an absolutely delicious light summer meal and eating it brought back all kinds of memories of my trip, such as the time bryan ate a whole plate full of "navajo tacos" at some hole in the wall just to spite me because i thought they tasted like hell and refused to eat them. he then got the shits so bad that he had to take a dump in an outhouse in the middle of monument valley. i laughed my ass off and would have made fun of him except that we were not speaking at the time.

here is bryan on our second road trip in 2007. we were not speaking to each other but i still insisted on taking pictures "to document the journey." clearly he was thrilled.

can you believe that we went on another road trip together 5 years later up route 1 in california? it was a fun trip for a few days, and then in san francisco we got in a huge fight and stopped talking to each other. still, at least i got some good food out of it.

time for some craigslist!

kw....hanson fan..... - m4w (Cinti. - mrmnt)

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Reply to: pers-e8v8r-1171333553@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-14, 7:27PM EDT

K, What 's up? I am really attracted to you. You have the best blue eyes! Just don't know how to tell you. Reply back with the type of car you drive so I know its you. Let's keep this on the DL, please.

i would want to keep my infatuation with a hanson fan on the DL too.

UDF Boudinot/Queen City - m4m (Cheviot )

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Reply to: pers-ddajv-1170256136@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-14, 9:20AM EDT

We met at the UDF.....I knew the way you looked at me you wanted it. We drove somewhere, showed each other our cocks.......you had to get back home......tell me where we went so i'll know that it's you. Would love to fuck around with you.

if you showed him your cock and then he had to "get back home," something tells me he doesn't want to fuck around.

to the man at Penn Station in Harrison - 46 (Harrison OHIO)

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Reply to: pers-5snmj-1169837092@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-13, 10:13PM EDT

I know this is a long shot but I am hoping for a miracle. You were in penn station I think 3 maybe 4 fridays ago about 6:30 a hair dresser from great clips walked up to you at the bar you were sitting at waiting for your food. She ask you your name. Then I came up to you and was totally shocked when I ask you your name and it was the name of a person I know who died a yr ago I was totally shocked because if you are not him you are his identical twin brother you even had the same name as him. PLEASE IF YOU GET THIS THERE IS WAAAY MORE TO THIS STORY AND I NEED DESPERATELY TO TALK TO YOU. IF IT IS YOU PLEASE TELL ME YOUR NAME SO I KNOW ITS YOU. I DESPERATELY NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU!!!!

first place winner in the category of missed connection that is most likely to stay missed.

Chiquita Building Garage Elevator - m4w - 31

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Reply to: pers-rabhs-1168077012@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-12, 9:42PM EDT

It was yesterday morning. You were the beautiful brunette that got on the elevator on the 2nd floor. I was the tall guy standing in the back of the elevator. I'd love to get a chance to say hi sometime. If you happen to see this send me a message back and tell me what you did when you got on the elevator.

every woman's dream... being stalked on craigslist by the creepy guy in the parking lot elevator.

Tower Mall Victoria's Secret.... - m4w (Downtown)

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Reply to: pers-pqyqt-1167918368@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-12, 7:51PM EDT

You're pretty much the cutest girl I have ever seen......you helped me pick out some panties today and gave me some recommendations on bras. How awkward would it have been if I had said, "You know, I think you're gorgeous....."? I mean, you probably assume I'm buying them for a girlfriend, but, truth be told, I'm single.....they're for me. Not sure if that is worse or better....

I didn't catch your name, but I cannot get your smile out of my head.

i am going to take a wild guess here and go with "worse."

the most amazing fucking ribs ever

readers, i have died and gone to rib heaven. what is the secret, you ask? well i will tell you. i have discovered my new food guru... sam the cooking guy. i was introduced to sam by avani, who heard about him from her friend christina who lives in san diego. sam is on local san diego tv helping people to navigate their kitchens to culinary bliss.

sam is awesome because he is just like whatever. the dude sets up a video camera in his kitchen, opens his fridge, and makes something out of whatever is in there. meanwhile kids and dogs run in and out of the kitchen, shit is freezer burned, he substitutes like mad, and all his recipes have a very minimal number of ingredients and require no skills.

"sure liz," you say, "we have heard of 30 minute meals and all that, but that stuff is not actually that good of food." and therein, dear readers, lies the difference. at easter avani brought over this sweet "finger bread" she called it made with a recipe from sam the cooking guy. what she did was bust open a few cans of poppin' fresh, throw on some raisins and pecans, douse it in cinnamon and sugar, bake it, and then dump 2 sticks of melted butter on top. nothing special? you are wrong. it was one of the best fucking desserts of my life. i am sorry, i cannot stop saying fuck. that is how good sam's recipes are.

sell your soul good finger bread (unfortunately the recipe is not online)

i was already pretty sold on sam based on the online clips avani had showed me, but this finger bread convinced me completely that he is a culinary genius. everything is quick and easy and cheap and damn good.

a week or so after easter, avani told me that she had made sam the cooking guy's ribs for liberal foodie and her husband. the husband, who considers himself a rib connoisseur, proclaimed them "some of the best ribs i have ever had." i am a rib freak so knew i had to try this recipe. before tonight, i had never made ribs before, mainly because i was intimidated. wait that's not true, once i got some precooked and presauced from trader joe's and put them in the oven for a half hour but that doesn't really count.

anyway, i love them and making them at home is so much cheaper than eating them out but i just was scared. i wanted them to be fall off the bone tender and crazy flavorful and i knew if i made less than stellar ribs at home, i would be so disappointed that i might never try to make them again. friends had given me recipes before but nothing had really wowed me enough to get over my fears and try it.

today was the day, and it was all thanks to sam the cooking guy. i got the urge to grill at work and i knew it was my time. i headed to the grocery store and picked up some baby backs and sauce on my way home and set to work. two hours later, i was eating one of the most delicious meals i have ever made.

you simply cannot argue with this

i am going to list sam's recipe below, but as usual i had to mess around with it (specifically, the sauce). with the ribs i also made:

• my red cabbage slaw (with the recipe slightly altered to include fresh pineapple chunks and a few tablespoons of seasoned rice wine vinegar and less lemon juice)
• the hungry mouse's fiery chili lime rice (with the recipe altered to include no chipotle pepper, jasmine instead of basmati rice, and extra cilantro, and also i made it in my rice cooker instead of on the stove)

this meal was amazing. i kept saying "oh my god yum" as i ate. i sat outside (i eat all my meals outside lately) and my upstairs neighbor stuck her head out and laughed at me for being so enraptured over my food. and the best part is that i made so much food that now i have lunch for the rest of the week. yay!

sam the cooking guy's sticky sweet ribs (recipe and how-to video here)

• 2 racks pork back ribs, about 4 pounds
• 1 1/2 cups barbeque sauce, plain
• 1/4 cup pancake syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar
  

1. Mix sauce, syrup and brown sugar, set aside
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Place ribs in their racks (I just mean do not cut them) in a large baking/casserole dish
4. Pour vinegar into dish with ribs and cover tightly with aluminum foil
5. Bake about 90 minutes or until very tender
6. Remove from oven and carefully lift off tin foil - watch out for steam
7. The ribs are now fully cooked and just need to be 'sauced' finished'
8. Heat bbq to medium and place ribs meat side down without sauce - but you can baste the back with the sauce
9. Cook until they start to develop grill marks, and turn over - now baste the top
10. You could stop here after they grill a bit on this side, or you could baste them a bit more and then give them a couple more minutes meat side down - that's what I do
11. Give 'em one extra baste them after they've been removed, but just before you serve them

as i said, and as you guys know by now, i literally cannot make a new recipe without playing around with it. i didn't believe sam that the ribs could be that good with a sauce of only bbq sauce, pancake syrup, and brown sugar, so i added a few things and it turned out delicious. however, after having eaten the ribs, i now have total confidence in sam and i can say honestly that i think his sauce would probably have been excellent on its own.

liz's rib lickin' good bbq sauce

whisk all of the following together:

• 1.5 c. sweet bbq sauce (my favorites are bone suckin' sauce and shum daddy's bbq sauce)
• 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. pure maple syrup
• 2 T. soy sauce (i prefer tamari)
  
• 1 T. hot sauce (my favorite is melinda's xxxtra hot sauce)
• 1 T. grated fresh ginger or s&b prepared ginger paste in a tube which you can find at asian grocery stores (i am totally addicted to this)
  
• a few shakes each of garlic powder, chili flakes, and lawry's seasoning salt

dinner of champions

this meal was absolutely wonderful. i felt sorry not only for the hungry children in china but for all people everywhere who were not sitting in my backyard dining with me tonight (which would be everyone). anyone who has not eaten the meal i had for dinner has not lived. i was in food heaven, and i owe it all to sam the cooking guy. sam, you are awesome!

tuna pepper pasta salad

it's mother's day so i called my mom earlier. she reads my blog and mentioned that she liked the post about broccoli salad and laughed about me saying how she never fed us mayonnaise.

my mom sandy and me. without her there would be no get in mah belly, and what a world that would be.

i don't think i have shared any of my mom's recipes on here yet so in honor of mother's day here is one. this is a pretty simple recipe but i love it and i make it constantly. it is perfect for making a big batch and taking it to work for lunch. i like to heat it up in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds before eating it so it's not too cold.

mom's tuna pepper pasta

1 lb. pasta (penne, rotini, or bow ties all work)
1 6 oz. jar of roasted red or yellow peppers, sliced into strips
1 can of tuna packed in oil (sometimes i use 2 cans)
1/4 c. red onion, chopped or sliced thinly
6 T. olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar (i usually use more)
1 t. dried basil
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

mix oil, vinegar, basil, salt, pepper, and onions in a large bowl. cook pasta, drain, cool with water. add pasta, peppers, and tuna to the bowl. mix it all together. eat.

my sisters and i used to love this recipe growing up and we would clamor for it all the time. it's super easy and delicious and i can see how it would appeal to a busy mom with loud children.

happy mother's day to all the moms out there! make this recipe and i promise your kids will actually shut the hell up for five minutes.

ikea restaurant

i like ikea and all but given my current budget situation, it's not a good idea for me to go there. i always end up seeing a bunch of things i "need" and despite the cheap prices, i spend more money than i should. then the shit just sits around my apartment.

how do you say bon appetit in swedish?

my biggest ikea disaster was a few years ago when i went to one of the chicago locations to stock up for my apartment. i needed shelves really bad so i bought this cheap set. i get home and try to put it together and what did i do? i only picked up one of two necessary boxes for the shelf set. so i had the metal shelf frame, but no actual shelves. dammit. of course ikea was 5 hours away so there was no way i was going back any time soon. big waste of money.

one of my favorite things about ikea is going to the ikea restaurant for the swedish meatballs. i love those things. yes they are kind of oily and covered in a heart attack inducing sauce but i do not care. they are tasty and satisfying and pop in your mouth awesome. at ikea, you can get 15 (yes they count them out) swedish meatballs, yummy red skinned mashed potatoes, and lingonberry (what the hell is a lingonberry?) sauce for only $4.99. for another $1, you can add on 5 more meatballs if you want. this is a damn good deal.

there was a meatball hidden in the mashed potatoes so i actually got 16. score!

ikea has other foods but i am so addicted to the swedish meatballs that i have never tried any of them. they do have a wednesday rib special (1/2 rack of ribs, cornbread, and fries for $7.99) which sounds good but honestly i will probably never get around to trying it.

the ikea restaurant is pretty much just a really big cafeteria decorated ikea style. it has nice big windows which give you a lovely view of the massive parking lot and the rolling hills (ha) of west chester. the service is fine. it's very clean.

this is only a small section of the huge seating area

there is really no reason to make a special trip all the way to west chester for the meatballs, but if you are at ikea you should stop by. tell them liz sent you. that will mean nothing to them, but it will be funny when you say "liz sent me" and they give you a blank stare.

dusmesh indian restaurant

i was all fired up to go to dusmesh ever since i read veggie option's glowing review. i was not disappointed. some friends and i decided to go a couple weeks ago before a movie at the esquire. the food was delicious.

we wanted to try different things but somehow we ended up with both chicken tikka and chicken tikka masala. we also got the navratan korma which looked irresistible in VO's photos and the lamb saag.

a welcome addition to the hopping cincinnati indian food scene

everything was excellent. i especially loved the lamb saag. it was really flavorful, tender, juicy, and not at all gamy. when it is done well, i am a huge lamb saag fan. that and eggplant bharta or whatever that dish is called are my indian restaurant favorites.

everyone i know is always claiming that the food at ambar, baba, etc. are all the same, but the only place that makes a decent lamb saag is baba. ambar's lamb saag is gamy, dry, and flavorless. ambar also makes the worst bharta known to man. if you want good bharta, go to amol. but anyway i am supposed to be reviewing dusmesh.

i thought dusmesh serves the best indian food i have ever had in cincinnati (caveat: i have never tried krishna or new krishna, both of which i have heard many rave reviews about). sorry for that preposition at the end of the sentence, grammar nazis.

avani also really liked the food. i can't remember what laura thought. but emma didn't think it was that amazing. she always gets chicken tikka and she thought it is better at ambar. however emma is from cincinnati and very much a food traditionalist so i am pretty sure she just likes ambar the best because of her food nostalgia rather than because it is objectively better.

chicken tikka

the chicken tikka masala was really excellent. it was not as creamy and was much more complexly (grammar nazis, is that a word?) spiced than at the other indian places in town. to me this means that the cook at dusmesh is just more skilled than at other restaurants, where they would rely on the richness of cream to carry the dish.

navratan korma was awesome. the vegetables were fresh and not overcooked. the spices were again really complex and interesting. the flavors of the dish just flowed.

clockwise from top: chicken tikka, chicken tikka masala, navratan korma, lamb saag

it is worth noting that the menu is very comprehensive. they just have more, and more interesting, dishes than most indian places around town (which have a lot). things i had never heard of. i can't remember what any of them are though, sorry.

service at dusmesh was... odd. we went for dinner so we did not have the buffet experience. the waitress was extremely friendly but we felt like she was trying too hard. i think she was probably just inexperienced as a waitress. we had a couple issues (charged for an item that we ordered but never got, served the wrong kind of tea, etc.) but she was really nice and resolved them all without a problem.

we got these little fried dough dessert balls for free, probably because i was taking pictures

the decor is fine, nothing special. it's just a big room with tables and a few decorations here and there. it is a little loud in the restaurant but then i am loud so it doesn't bother me. one thing that was weird is that however they make their grilled dishes makes them extremely smoky. we all had watery eyes every time one of those platters of tikka came out. i have seen the smoky platters at other indian restaurants but have never experienced watery eyes and sneezing from it so that was weird. i don't know if it is the particular spices they use or what. and the food was damn tasty so we didn't really care.

note to drinkers: they don't have a liquor license so it's byob, at least for now.

dusmesh is awesome and a million times better than shitty india palace which used to be in that building. ambar diehards, step out of your comfort zone and try dusmesh. you will be happy you did. and even if you aren't, it's not like ambar is going anywhere.

country cruz'en

sometimes for work i have to go out to various outlying counties. the drive can be either relaxing or a pain in the ass depending on how the weather and traffic are. however any time i have to drive on route 50 and the weather is nice, i am happy because it means i get to stop for lunch at country cruz'en.

i love this place. it is a totally old school drive in. they come out to your car or your patio table and i think they even do the whole car window tray thing. the menu is burgers, hot dogs, fries, shakes, etc. i always get a cheeseburger with everything, fries, and a root beer float (or sometimes a vanilla shake). yum.

the food is really nothing too out of the ordinary but it's just fun to break up my drive and sit outside in the middle of nowhere eating some delicious fried goodness. it's hilarious too because i am always on my way to or from some school meeting or court hearing so i am usually in a suit. i am pretty sure i am the only person to ever set foot in this establishment wearing anything other than flip flops, cutoffs, and a tank top. i have gotten a few strange looks but it is worth it.

the service is really friendly and the prices are good. sometimes they run out of things but who cares. the next time you are bored with nothing to do in owensville, ohio, i definitely recommend you stop by.

broccoli salad

you guys know by now that i am a huge fan of kitschy 1960s american grandma style foods. bacon wrapped water chestnuts, macaroni salad, lemon squares, deviled eggs... i love it all. i've mentioned before that this is not the food i grew up on. my mom worked hard to feed us healthy. lots of veggies, low fat, whole grains, no junk food or soda. mayonnaise was meant for spreading in a very thin layer on a sandwich and that's about it.

and yet now as an adult i can't get enough of the rich, mayo-laden, we've never even heard of blood pressure type foods of the past. i didn't learn any of these recipes from my family so i'm having to figure them out on my own. it's fun.

my craving du jour this time was broccoli salad. you know the kind... a sparse sprinkling of broccoli absolutely laden with bacon, cheddar cheese, raisins, and the omnipresent mayo. sweet, tangy, creamy, delicious. my first stop was paula deen, who had a recipe that was passable but too sweet for my taste. i continued googling and tried a few more recipes.

grandma says this broccoli will put some meat on your bones

after a few tries i finally came up with a broccoli salad i loved, so it was time to reveal the dish to the world. fortunately i had some cincinnati food blog heavy hitters (liberal foodie and the westside foodies) on hand to be my guinea pigs. they loved it. success!

liz's kick ass broccoli salad, aka the least healthy way to eat broccoli ever

(as always, all measurements are approximate)

1 large or 2 small heads of broccoli, washed with stems cut off and chopped into bite size pieces
1/4 large sweet or vidalia onion, chopped
6 strips of bacon
5 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
1/4 c. sugar
3 T. apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

cook the bacon until crisp. let it cool then crumble it.

mix the sugar into the vinegar. microwave it for about 20 seconds until the sugar melts into the vinegar. whisk this mixture into the mayonnaise in a large bowl.

add salt, pepper, raisins, sunflower seeds, onion, bacon, and cheddar cheese. stir until combined. add the broccoli and mix until coated.

eat to your heart's content, or until your arteries scream for mercy. then have more. you're much too skinny and grandma won't be happy until you clean your plate.

general latino food shout out

polly campbell wrote an awesome article in today's enquirer about all the great places to get latino food in the cincinnati area. you guys should check it out. and don't forget the cincy cinco festival this sunday on fountain square (the article was written to coincide with that). i went last year and there was a ridiculous number of delicious foods available, and i think fountain square will be a much better location than riverbend. and on sunday parking is free on the street downtown. cheap + delicious, i can't argue with that.

cincinnati pizza quest 2009 (march): pomodori

cincinnati pizza quest took liberal foodie, the husband (hers, not mine), and me to pomodori's in march. we liked it. the toppings were interesting and fresh, the service was good, and the pizza itself was damn tasty. our only real complaint is that we did not think there were enough toppings for the price. it's pretty much a one pizza per person kind of place, and at $12-14 each for the pizzas we ordered, we just thought we would get more.

fig and prosciutto pizza

actually, my pizza (fig and prosciutto) and the husband's (prosciutto and mushroom) were fine. but LF's (shrimp, red pepper, and asparagus) was kind of sparsely covered, and all the toppings were clumped up in the middle of the pie. since it had no sauce on it, a lot of the bites she got were just dough and cheese. blah.

shrimp, red pepper, and asparagus pizza

other than the lack of toppings everything was pretty good. it's not the cheapest pizza, and there are no drink specials, but i think it's worth it. the crust is flavorful and soft and chewy and delicious. the service was friendly and attentive. next time i would like to try their pizza margherita.

wood fired oven = damn tasty crust

here are our ratings:
crust - 4
toppings - 3 (the quality was excellent so this would be higher if LF's pizza had more toppings)
sauce - n/a (none of our pizzas came with sauce)
cheese - 3.5
service - 4

overall - 3.5 slices

there are other items besides pizza on the menu, but i can't tell you what they are because i forget. anyway everyone else in the restaurant was ordering pizza so i'm thinking that's pretty much the thing. however, they do make their own pasta so that would probably be worth trying.

(all photos courtesy of LF)

what i do when i'm home sick

(besides feel sorry for myself)

i grill.

tan thai

do not eat here. bottom line.

the long story is this. my coworkers and i eat at tan thai semi-regularly for lunch (like maybe once a month). it is only open 5 days a week from 11 am to 2 pm. it's lunch only. we used to also like some of the other thai places downtown, but one by one they have died off and the only one left is tan thai.

this is where you are not eating lunch

the first thing you need to know is this: we don't actually call it tan thai, we refer to it as "slow thai." this is because the service is slow as hell. back in its heyday about a year to a year and a half ago, you would have to wait at least 15 minutes to even get seated (it was that busy). then another 15-30 to get your food. it was good so we only went when we had time to wait and we didn't mind.

over the past year though a lot has changed at slow thai. the service has gotten slower. the food has gotten worse. the portions have gotten smaller. and the staff has gotten... less asian. we're at the point now where you are getting served by white women in tie-dyed t-shirts. it's very odd.

things have been going downhill for a while now but tan thai used to be so good that we keep giving it another shot. well today was it and we are officially crossing it off of our ever dwindling list of lunch options.

the first sign that things were really in the shitter over there was that we arrived at 12:30 and we did not have to wait for a table. in fact, the place was only about half full. this used to be unheard of over there. our next red flag was the waitress, who was complaining about being at work and saying how she could not wait to go home. ok lady, you only have to work for THREE HOURS. are you serious?

next problem: the prices. they are steadily increasing. i ordered pad see ewe which is some rice noodles, a few chunks of beef and broccoli, and some sauce. total cost: $7.50 before tax and tip! and the portion size was so small that i am kind of hungry and i just ate like an hour ago.

food quality was a huge issue. rickell ordered an egg roll and sesame chicken. i ordered the pad see ewe. eric got a crab rangoon and pad khee mao. rickell said the egg roll tasted like it came from the freezer case and did not eat it. eric said the crab rangoon was terrible and came with "raspberry jam or something" to dip it in.

my pad see ewe was ok, except it was ridiculously salty. eric said the pad khee mao was fine (but it was also a small portion). rickell hated the sesame chicken. i tasted it and i can understand why. it was not actually sesame chicken. it was deep fried chunks of chicken covered in sweet and sour sauce. the only thing indicating that sesame was even considered was the sprinkling of raw sesame seeds on top. i tasted it and it was completely bland.

now here is the thing, we have eaten there many times before and we know what the food has tasted like. rickell hated her sesame chicken so much that she called over the manager and said, "this is not sesame chicken." the manager looked at her and said "well that is our sesame chicken" and walked away. what the hell!

when it was time to pay, rickell again complained about her food. she asked for a discount since she had not eaten most of it and did not like it. the cashier said she could not help her and called over the manager. again the manager repeated that "this is our sesame chicken sauce." rickell told her she understood but said that it was not actually sesame chicken, it was sweet and sour chicken. the manager was adamant that "this is how we serve it" and "that's just how it is here." rickell again asked for a discount since the fact is that she did not eat her food and was not offered anything else.

the manager once again repeated that "this is our sesame chicken sauce" but went in the back to confer with "him." who is "him," you ask? i have no clue, but she kept referring to "him" through the conversation. we waited.

after a few minutes she came back. "he said just what i said. that's just how we serve our sesame chicken. maybe it's not what you were expecting but that's how we make it here." rickell again asked for a discount. the manager told her that "he said" she could have 25% off but that "this is just how we make our sesame chicken." no apology, no attempt to offer her something else.

while the manager was discounting her bill, i decided to peek in the kitchen to try to figure out who "he" was. i saw a maybe 18 year old guy washing dishes and an older, actually asian woman at a counter. no one else. and i seriously doubt the 18 year old dishwasher is "him."

so who is "he?" who knows. the mystery remains. all i know is this: do not eat at tan thai.

(photo courtesy of eric, who i made retake it like 5 times until i was satisfied)

curry chicken salad

liberal foodie got me all worked up over chicken salad after i saw the amazing photos of her creations with her homemade mayonnaise. completely unrelated, i also got sick and have been sitting around reading. mostly i have been reading just an ordinary day: the uncollected short stories of shirley jackson. and reading shirley jackson got me thinking about sylvia plath, specifically the bell jar, specifically the banquet at the beginning of chapter 3:

arrayed on the ladies' day banquet table were yellow-green avocado pear halves stuffed with crabmeat and mayonnaise, and platters of rare roast beef and cold chicken, and every so often a cut-glass bowl heaped with black caviar.

and then that got me all worked up over chicken salad... with avocado. i read the bell jar like 5 years ago, and i can't really remember what exactly it is about (the 50s? depression? oppression?) but what is still etched clearly on my memory is that damn avocado stuffed with creamy crab. mmmmm.... ok, unsettling journey into my psyche over.

being sick means i have a rotisserie chicken in the fridge (for some reason whenever i am sick i always buy a rotisserie chicken). i got bored of eating it plain fast and decided to concoct my own chicken salad. i always make mine with curry. i had a lot of exciting ingredients around and made up what turned out to be a damn tasty recipe. as always, all measurements are approximate.

liz's damn tasty curry chicken salad

half a rotisserie chicken (or any other chicken), cubed
1/2 c. mayonnaise (or maybe a little more or less)
1/4 c. walnuts, chopped
1/4 c. dried apricots, chopped
half of a small sweet onion, chopped
2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 T. madras curry powder
1 T. apple cider vinegar
a sprinkle of lawry's seasoning salt
some grates of pepper

mix it all together and you are in curry chicken salad heaven! and just so you know, this gets better over time so the longer it sits in your fridge, the better. until it starts getting gross and rotten.

here is a picture of a sandwich i made with the curry chicken salad

i just finished off the last of my curry chicken salad today. i stuffed it into two avocado halves and put it on top of a salad. mmmm... 5 year old craving satisfied. now back to my book.

another specific food item shout out: ciao bella blood orange sorbet

i'm sick right now as everyone who knows me already knows. when i get sick, i feel very sorry for myself and inform everyone i know in an effort to get as much sympathy as possible. i was on the phone whining to my mom today and she said, "you are really bad at being sick." meaning i am annoying as hell. sorry world.

anyway, right now i have some weird combination of strep throat and a sinus infection. to ease my throat pain, i wanted something cold and delicious. i like ice cream ok, but i tend to get sick of the richness of it after a couple bites, so i hardly ever buy it.

i was browsing the ice cream section at fresh market (i give myself free license to eat whatever i want from whatever expensive grocery store i want when i am sick). there i came across ciao bella. i had tried ciao bella's gelato before and not been that impressed. however, my gelato standards are pretty much impossible to satisfy. the only good gelato i have ever had in the US was this random place in miami beach. anyway, the point is that just because i didn't like their gelato didn't mean i would not like their other frozen products.

for relaxing times, make it ciao bella time

then the sorbets caught my eye. the containers were bright pretty colors and they were expensive enough that i thought they were probably good. none of the flavors were really jumping out at me... until blood orange. i am obsessed with blood oranges lately so this was it.

i brought it home and dined on my expensive store bought sushi, garlic marinated olives, and honey rotisserie chicken (i told you, when i am sick i get to eat whatever i want). then it was time for sorbet. ok. this sorbet is amazing. it tastes even better than a blood orange. is that even possible? sweet, tangy, sharp, delicious. readers, if you like tasty, run out and buy ciao bella blood orange sorbet immediately.

pondering free meal offers from restaurants

readers, i need your help here. i have been getting an increasing number of offers from restaurants over the past few months for comped meals in exchange for publicity on my blog. up until now, i have declined all offers.

let me explain why i have not accepted these offers. basically, the premise of this blog is that it is me writing about what i feel like, when i feel like, how i feel like. i do not want to feel in any way that my opinions are affected by getting things for free. in addition, i consider this blog to be a hobby and something i do for fun. i do not want any component of obligation or expectation to become a part of it. furthermore, i believe that my readers value my honesty and may not appreciate reading this blog as much if i were to be writing about places because they were giving me free things.

however, the increasing number of these offers and my current limited budget have caused me to think it may be time for me to revisit this topic. the bottom line right now, and for the next 3 years if i stick to my plan, is that i can't really go out to eat very often, especially to restaurants that are not super cheap. also, no matter what, i would always feel obligated to disclose when i was eating a meal that i did not pay for. so while i might not be getting a fully authentic restaurant experience, that would always be clearly stated.

additionally, as i said, i do this blog for fun. it could be fun to get some shit for free. and as anyone who reads this blog knows, i am not an expert in food at all and have zero formal training. for the official, presumably anonymous reviews, i am assuming people turn to polly campbell. my opinions on restaurants have never been objective and i have loved or written off places for reasons even dumber than that they comped my meal.

so what do you guys think? food bloggers, i know there are some of you out there who regularly partake of meals offered by restaurants, and others who would never even consider it. what are your reasons and what are the pros and cons? and readers, what do you think? how would you feel about me writing about places because they had given me a free meal? would i be enjoying an expected perk of food blogging or selling out?

i really don't know what i will do and would value your opinions as i try to mull this over. thanks guys!

specific food item shout out: garlic expressions dressing

this shit is crack, straight up. i first discovered it while housesitting for avani last fall. she had it in her fridge and i must have gone through half the bottle in the 4 or 5 days i was staying at her house. oh my god. i love it.

here is a salad i made recently with garlic expressions dressing (and flat iron steak)

here is the description from the website:

Garlic Expressions
We use a green bottle to protect Garlic Expressions® from the light. When you pour it out you'll discover a beautiful, golden dressing with whole garlic cloves, flecks of delicious course ground pepper and other spices!

INGREDIENTS: Cider vinegar, Canola Oil, Sugar, Fresh Garlic Cloves, Salt, Spices & Xanthan (a Natural Gum).

garlic expressions can be found at the hyde park bigg's in the salad area (like near the lettuce and stuff where they put all the dressings that have to be refrigerated). it has the whole sweet/tangy/zesty thing going on which i am addicted to. i definitely recommend that you buy stock in this product asap.

yagoot

lauren and i met up at yagoot last week so i could buy tickets for the roller derby. of course, we also had to eat yogurt. lauren loves yagoot but i had never had it before. i'm not a big frozen yogurt person, but yagoot is delicious. it is not really sweet... it is a sour yogurt that is apparently very similar to pinkberry if you have ever had that. you can get fruit or a variety of crunchy toppings (chocolate chips, granola, fruity pebbles, etc.) on top. the yogurt itself comes in plain, coffee, or strawberry.

yagoot? ya, goot! (like i could pass that one up)

yagoot is apparently not a chain, although it seems like it should be based on its sleek logo design and modern interior. the busken bakery people came up with yagoot and served it in busken stores years ago, then stopped for some reason. yagoot is awesome and you should check it out even if you are not normally into frozen yogurt. currently the only yagoot store is located in rookwood, but it is open until 11 pm every day which is convenient.

the interior... very mod

as for the roller derby, it is also awesome and you should definitely go to their next bout on may 9 at cincinnati gardens.

(all information and photos courtesy of lauren bishop, who also shot this video about yagoot which is informative to listen to but painful to watch)

is anyone still out there?

sorry for my miserable lack of posts lately. i'm not dead, just super busy and exhausted. i spent the weekend in detroit for the final four, where i watched my spartans kick uconn's ass on saturday only to get completely, embarrassingly destroyed by the tarheels on monday.

my awesome friend lavine got us last minute tickets on ebay and we had what i can really only describe as by far the most amazing sports event experience of my life. watching my team play in the final four in our home state? unbelievable. this even beats the time we snuck an entire pollo campero fried chicken dinner for four (for the two of us) into the us open and gnawed on drumsticks and plantains while watching roger federer kick everyone's ass.

this was one of the best nights of my entire life. yes we were in the nosebleeds.

the game on saturday night was beyond description. the energy in ford field was amazing, 2/3 of the 72,000+ fans were there for the spartans and we were all loud as hell. i screamed so much that i lost my voice and got lightheaded. it was so much fun. monday was another story but at least we made it to the championship game!

my metro detroit food highlights of the weekend:

• lou's deli in southfield. get the counterman's treat: "Corned beef, Swiss cheese, cole slaw, Russian dressing on an onion roll." you can thank me in cash. i accept paypal.
• the breakfast club in farmington. get anything. it's all awesome. go for the tomatoes au gratin as a side. yummo! (sorry, that just slipped out. i promise it will never happen again.)
• vicente's cuban cuisine downtown. best cuban sandwich outside of miami (other than zingerman's although, to be fair, vicente's is more authentic). maduros that are so perfect you just marvel at them. amazing cuban food in detroit? yes my friends, the dream is now a reality.
• la marsa mediterranean cuisine in farmington hills. the detroit area la shish restaurants used to serve the best hummus i ever tasted in my life and chicken with this dipping sauce that was literally crack mixed with garlic. for years they were having problems with tax fraud and then rumor spread that they were sending money to terrorists in lebanon. thousands and thousands of metro detroit residents ignored the problems and continued to pour their hard earned dollars directly into funding al qaeda simply because they could not live without this hummus. then la shish got shut down in 2008 and the city mourned. but no worries, the food carries on at la marsa, which somehow got its hands on all the la shish recipes.
  
• jamaican curry, rice and peas, coleslaw, and lemon cake cooked by lavine and cindy and my mom's roast rosemary chicken. good luck finding that, suckas!
  

it was an awesome food and sports weekend. however, i barely slept. we drank bottle after bottle of wine, talked 24-7, and went to bed no earlier than 2 am every night. i also visited my family and tried to keep up with work email/voicemail. so it was crazy.

then i got back to work on wednesday and the shit was hitting the fan all over the place. hence no time to blog. i promise i will do better. don't leave me, readers!