Clancy’s Fancy Hot Sauce
Frankly, I don’t miss too much about living in Ann Arbor. I did live in a wonderful house, and had a great group of friends. But with most other things: the harsh winters, self-flagellation, and same circuit of four bars- I’m happy to have moved on.
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Get the cardiologist on the line
This cut of beef, pictured above as an integral part of Sunday’s breakfast, is a bit of a mystery. Procured from a Pennsylvania purveyor at the Clark Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday, the “Ranch Steak” is the ideal size for the “steak” half of the classic “steak and eggs” combination. Grass-fed and dry-aged, the steak had a nice degree of marbling. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, cooked it for about five minutes in a pan over medium-high heat, then put it under the broiler to cook the other side, until the steak reached medium rare.
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Rick Nichols, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, also found the concept of Dollar Dog Night noteworthy. He also had the wherewithal to make it to the first such event of the season and was less than ecstatic with what he found: Read the rest of this entry »
Lest my readership assume that I’ve lost every bit of my social conscience, and embraced a lifestyle of decadence, I should reemphasize that not everyone in the world gets to consume in quite the same way that we Americans do. Read the rest of this entry »
The service part of my new job may be on the grueling side, but the work does come with some benefits. As I had hoped, I am apparently doing some learning. To those who know me, I’m obviously a big fan of education for the sake of education. This made it easier for me to scrap over five years of graduate education, when leaving without a degree made it very unlikely that I would land in a profession related to what I had been studying. But I didn’t waste these years, I was learning.
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Posting has been slim in this space over the last week, thanks to the assumption of some new professional responsibilities. Needless to say, I have a newfound respect for those who work in restaurants, now that I am one of them.
While I only handle the most basic of restaurant tasks in my new position of support/host at an establishment that will remain unidentified, I haven’t finished a training shift without being overcome with a feeling of utter incapability. This sensation hits me like a cresting wave, and I move through my work as distracted as I would be if I were soaking wet. Luckily, I have yet to douse myself, or others, with any liquids. But my efforts at mastering carrying three plates at once did result in a portion of salad sliding onto my shirt last night, in an effort to keep the entire salad from landing on the floor.
I’ve been assured that it all gets easier. I can only hope so. Until then, I’ll be at home, practicing carrying plates.
The cheese store was quiet today, but that didn’t preclude me from having a transcendent moment this afternoon.
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Let’s go Phils!
Sure, it’s 45 degrees and misting outside. Still, I can’t lie: I have baseball fever. It’s opening day, and while I don’t have tickets to this afternoon’s game, that hasn’t stopped me from wearing my Chase Utley jersey for the first time since I received it for my birthday. Read the rest of this entry »
I had never actually made a stew before, but a package of burgoo mix received as a gift, combined with a number of people coming by to drink the excess beer belonging to a brewer friend seemed to present a prime opportunity.
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This is someone else’s picture. Trust me, the one I cooked looked just as good.
Unlike other American cities like New York, Chicago, and even Ann Arbor, Michigan, Indo-Chinese cooking has apparently not yet caught on in Philadelphia. And that’s a shame.
