Green & Yellow

MENU:

• Sriracha honey wings with blue cheese dip from Pizza Luce (the best)
• Dad's wings
• Cheese straws
• Mock-a-mole and Velveeta cheese dip with tortilla chips
• Hummus/veggies
• Prosciutto/phyllo wrapped asparagus
• Green and gold Amaretto cheesecake

It was quite possibly one of the greatest days of my life.  Now, I say this for a variety of reasons.  The day began with my company party at the restaurant.  It was a typical company party (not that I'd know, seeing as it was my first ever) filled with prizes, decent food and awkward small talk.  My co-worker/roommate/friend and I went for the slight chance of winning the coveted top prize- an iPad- or possible any of the "$50+ valued prizes".  The iPad was a nogo but I left with some restaurant gift cards (including to my own work) and a nice bottle of wine.  I deemed the event as worth waking up earlier than I like to on a Sunday.  But what was really on my mind was the rest of the day filled with food prep for the Super Bowl, the game itself and the new episode of Glee on after.

Now, if we have ever had the chance of meeting, you would be aware that two things I am pretty passionate about are food, and the Green Bay Packers.  Even though I was born and raised in Minneapolis, my whole family is from Wisconsin.  I've always felt I had the best of both worlds; city experiences with smaller town morals.  And most importantly, a die hard passion for the green and gold.  Being a Packer fan is not really something one chooses.  I was born into it and never knew anything different.  Thank God.

Somehow the Packers wound up in the Super Bowl.  I couldn't believe it.  The second they beat the Bears I went into Super Bowl planning mode.  "What should we eat? Should we go back to Wisconsin? Should we have people over? Who should we have over? Are the Packers actually going to the Super Bowl?????"  It was surreal.  I slept in Packer pajamas every night the week before, thought about menu planning every day and had dreams each night related to the Super Bowl.  Needless to say, I was excited.  By my dad's daily text of "Who's ready?" I knew my family was just as excited.

So we settled on food that would result in the least amount of time in the kitchen during the game.  Most of the food we could easily prep or completely make the day and night before.  We needed food that could be eaten with one hand so the other was available for plenty of high-five-ing.  My dad always makes these delicious sweet wings with soy sauce and Sprite, oddly enough.  Because of my Mom's kidney condition we wanted a menu that yielded the most flavors with the least potassium.  I liked Bethenny Frankel's version of guacamole with peas because it offered more fiber and less potassium filled avocado.  I also decided to make a homemade hummus with tahini because chickpeas are low in potassium.  Our Super Bowl "party" was only six people, so we did not want to overdo it.

The food was amazing, and the game somehow topped it.  We had family and friends over, and I had one of the most memorable football experiences in my life.  Every play, pass, punt, kick, slight motion of the players resulted with me on the edge of my seat, gripping my chair and holding my breath.  Words cannot describe the feeling of watching your favorite team win the highest award possible.

For me, football does not exist without food and family.  The food was easy, flavorful, football-friendly, spicy and the perfect complement to an amazing day.  The day was only made better by a new episode of Glee.  What more could a girl ask for?

What's a Super Bowl party without a Super Bowl cookie?

Mom and I assembling asparagus

Such a great party snack.  Goes like this: ham or prosciutto wrapped around asparagus, then rolled in phyllo dough with shredded parmesan.  Bake on 350 for 12-15 minutes and voila.

Crispy, salty, crunchy

Baked cheese straws made with extra-sharp Wisconsin cheese

 These were not the greatest success. Tip: Don't overdo it on the red pepper flakes and DON'T overcook, even for a minute.  Resulted in kind of a bitter taste.

 

My wings: de-lish

Dad's wings

Green and gold Amaretto cheesecake

*Title refers to Lil Wayne's Packer anthem Green & Yellow.  If you didn't know, now ya do.

Sorry, but I love fried food

I'm not sure if it's something worth apologizing for, but I feel there is a certain snobiness related to fried food that only people who "love" food have.   Like the way people look at me when I get more excited over the onion rings at my work than the $45 dollar steak.  I feel the only way I'll ever have any success in the realm of food writing is if I stop trying to be someone I'm not and start to be completely and utterly honest, for better or for worse...and I'm going to start here. I love food fried. Preferably if its in the form of a ring of onion, cheese, potato, chicken or even tempura (the list could go on).  I don't know if there is a better way to greet someone then when my Aunt welcomed my mother and I into her home after a flight to San Francisco with a ready deep frying machine, a plate of soft cheeses and hard cheeses, a couple of spears to use as our deep frying tools, and a couple bottles of champagne.

That's not to say all fried food is good, of course, because there's something blasphemous about soggy or overly greasy food that makes ingredients unrecognizable.  It might even be a worse crime when the item being fried is completely lost behind layers and layers of batter. It's also not to say I don't fully enjoy completely fresh and non-fried foods, of course.  Onions, asparagus, cheese, chicken potatoes; they all have plenty integrity on their own, but I doubt they mind a little 375° oil bath.   I don't care however sophisticated a palate I may one day attain, there will always be a very important place in my heart for the golden, crunchy, crispy food that can only be made once dropped in extremely hot oil.  That is, to assume I still have a working heart after a life of loving fried food.


So bring on the calories, bring on the criticism.  I'm sorry, but I love fried food. And admit it, you do too.

Goodbye Town Talk Diner

Sadly, I will have to remove Town Talk Diner from my "Where Should You Eat" list on my blog because they will be closing their doors.  This was a great place to get great comfort food, as they specialized in the "finer diner".  Great burgers, mac n cheese, fried chicken, various apps...It was the perfect juxtaposition of fine high quality dining and causal diner comfort food, demonstrated by the server's attire of blue jeans and black suit coats.  Although I never got to try them, they also had a great list of award winning cocktails, including a bacon infused martini.  It was cool to have such a gem in its location on Lake Street, which is not a place where you can normally find many places with food of such high quality.  The location and lack of parking proved to be the pitfall, although I'm surpried business was hurting because I know it was a cherished South Minneapolis spot.  But restaurants will always close and new ones will open.


Town Talk Diner, you will be missed.


It's a good thing I was able to bring my cousin from out of town there this summer before they closed.

Read here for more information.

A Homemade Life

As a journalism student who is spends a good amount of time analyzing books, summarizing content and articulating thoughts on content somewhat irrelevant to me, I find myself trying to do the same thing in my free time, but about food.  I recently finished A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, the creator of Orangette.  She is an inspiration to me not only for her cooking and writing abilities, but mostly her ability to confidently articulate her perspective on food, something I'm striving to do.  Her book demonstrates her perspective on food, and it is one that centers around her personal kitchen, and her family.  She shares personal stories that range from her first heartbreak from a boy in France, to her father's death to a new found love of bananas, all the way to her blog that led her to her husband; all equipped with relating recipes.  Food was important in her life growing up, but I don't think it was something she realized to be as important as it was.  Making prunes at midnight with her father was a normal occasion, and she didn't realize it was something worth writing about until later in her life.  After reading about her childhood, her experiences in France and her many personal instances with food, I can't help but reflect on my own perspective on food and how it has been shaped throughout my life thus far.

By perspective on food, I mean the way one eats, thinks and talks about food.  For some, food is something that comes three times a day, or maybe even less, or in the form of a power bar and between a busy life. For others, it is what they think about when they wake up and what they think about when they go to bed.  I believe I am one of those people of the latter.  But it has not always been this way.  I believe the way we look at food is shaped in our childhood and how it has acted as a part in our lives throughout birthdays, holidays, and the everyday.  I often wish I had stories like Molly.  She has the kind of "homemade" stories you only read about (literally) like her mother's famous blueberry-raspberry pound cake or her father's famous potato salad.  She grew up in a house full of cooks and without any kind of artificial food.  I wish I could say the same, but that is just not the childhood I had.  But my parents did their best with what they had and what they knew.  There was absolutely no sugary cereal allowed in the house, but we had a fully stocked pantry of Kraft mac 'n cheese (an absolute childhood favorite).  My mom didn't want us to eat fast food, but allowed it for long car rides to Wisconsin or after visits to the Doctor's office (there was a McDonald's right next door).  My mother NEVER succumbed to any kind of TV dinner or microwaveable dinner, in fact we never even had a microwave, but we did always have Jack's frozen pizza on hand.  (Well, as a side note, Jack's originated in the tiny town in Wisconsin where my dad is from, Little Chute, and my parents always love to show me the tiny building where it started and then the six mansions in Little Chute where the employees live after Kraft bought it.  A little bit of small town pride, I guess.)  I have to admit, I was a picky eater.  I have to hand it to my mom for putting up with my fits every night around 5:30 when she would tell me what was for dinner and I would cry because she told me it was either what she was making, or nothing at all.  Don't get me wrong, I've always loved to eat.  Not to say I loved food per say, but from a young age I did know I preferred white sauce over red sauce when it came to pasta, and that tomato soup was best when used as a dip for a grilled cheese sandwich.

To sum it up, I would say, me-picky, but loved to eat, brother-happy with anything containing meat but absolutely NO salads, dad- happy if its cheap and filling; always strapped with coupons, mom- an undercover adventurous foodie stuck in a house full of white bread lovers.  It's a good thing I learned to love food so my mom and I can cook food so good, my dad doesn't care how much the prosciutto costs, and my brother married a woman who has taught him to eat meals containing leaves.  And even more thankfully, my mother managed to phase out white bread by the time I was in middle school, and my family learned to love whole wheat.  Also, to give my mom some more credit, I ALWAYS knew any kind of cookie, cake or brownie was to be made from scratch, not a box.

I could write on and on about the way food played a part in my childhood, and I likely will, but I want to save that for a later date.  Molly's book really helped me understand how to articulate a relationship with food beyond simply raving how good something tastes or how fun it was to make.  She did not go to culinary school, or do any kind of serious study of food, but she learned about food through the threads of her everyday life, from cooking with her parents to living in France. She shares various recipes that really aren't even recipes, rather ingredients to assemble in order to create something delicious.  She is not pretentious about food, but rather has a genuine passion for it, and this comes through in her writing.  I feel/worry there are so many rules to being a foodie.  Like, if you enjoy Bisquick pancakes you CLEARLY know nothing about pancakes.  Or, there is no room for Kraft cheese singles or Velveeta cheese in a real foodie's kitchen!  Let's be honest, there is no better cheese dip than Velveeta and salsa, and Kraft singles really do melt nicely for a toasted cheese sandwich.  The point is, there are no rules when it comes to a relationship with food because everyone's is different.  Molly writes about food in an approachable way where it is perfectly acceptable to enjoy Bisquick pancakes, because really, they do taste so good.


Sure, we are not able to travel to France as children and enjoy pain au chocolat, and we don't all have famous grandmother recipes passed on for generations, but we each have our own homemade perspective on food that is unique to us.  We remember the food we brought to school for lunch, the special meal eaten only at our birthday and of course, Thanksgiving.  And these memories are all for better, or for worse.  The best thing about that is, it can, and will, always be changing.  I often forget how young I am and how much I still have to learn about food and life, but I am excited I've found this kind of passion at such a young age, even if it has started much younger for others.  I now have the rest of my life to try new foods, cook new dishes and travel to new places.  I can't say I would have the same excitement or eagerness to explore food if it was something ingrained into me my whole life.  Molly's book has inspired me to continue reading and writing about food.  Her book taught me ways to intertwine personal stories with food, and how to write about food in an interesting way.  Right after I finished her book, I hopped on Amazon and purchased three new books that are currently on my reading queue.

Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything
The Best Food Writing of 2010
Dianne Jacob's Will Write for Food

As always, I'd love to hear any suggestions about the realm of food literature.  Well, or just food for that matter.

New tastes, old favorites

Now that I have a minute or two to sit down, collect my breath, kick my feet up, watch some Glee with the roomie and enjoy a free bottle of Caymus, I can reflect on what I've been doing, and more importantly eating, for the last couple of weeks.  In the midst of unlimited college finals, 5 shifts a week at my new job (in the restaurant biz :) ) and trying to prepare for the holiday season and everything that comes with that, I've been able to try new foods, new places and enjoy various familiarities.  And since it's the end of the year, I feel it appropriate to make a list.  So, you ask, what have I been eating?

          1. New tastes. My roomie talked me into an impromptu lunch/late breakfast at Victor's 1959 and I was excited to try their Cuban cuisine.  Yum.  A nice twist on your normal egg/breakfast dish.  Nice kick to start the day.  If nothing else, the food is as colorful as the brightly painted and graffiti-signed walls. 

Ranchero Cubano

My roommate ordered the Ranchero Cubano because she loves anything and everything cheesy with eggs and any kind of beans.  I ordered the hash because of my love of potatoes at all times of the day and in this dish, learned my new-found love of plantains, specifically fried plantains.  Other than the questionable liquid on the plate from the beef, it was a delicious breakfast.



Cuban Hash

2. New tastes. Blackbird Cafe. So excited about this place.  Beautiful decor, and a menu that literally spoke to me and said, "What's up Lauren? Hungry?"  My mom and I found time on a busy day of Christmas shopping to stop in a new neighborhood place that is replacing its original burned down location.  Spicy peanut noodles, bahn mi and french fries at the same place?  Sold.  When the waitress told me the sous chef was Vietnamese, I decided on the bahn mi and didn't regret it.  The fries came with a delicious rosemary mayo that was really unexpected and delish.  My mom got the celery brie soup.  Surprisingly light and delicious.





3. New gifts. It was a cooking themed Christmas, just as I had hoped.  My boyfriend got me a rice cooker, a cook book and a bottle of wine; my roommate got me new wine glasses and my family gave me a new cutting board and more cookbooks.  I've got lots of reading to do.






I wanted this for obvious reasons.






Molly Wizenberg, food blogger turned Bon Appetit writer, aka who-I-want-to-be






Again, obvious reasons.






Seasonal, Minnesotan recipes from the Junior League.









My boyfriend had a cooking Christmas as well with the "beginners kit" I made him including kitchen shears, spices and a skillet.



4.  Old favorites. Grand Cafe. I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of my favorite restaurants in Minneapolis.  Warm, comforting and just my kind of food.  Minus a small mishap on my boyfriend's order, he enjoyed his Cuban-esque sandwich and I enjoyed my familiar eggs in cocotte.  His, confit pork with ham and a spicy/sweet dijon aioli.  Mine, poached eggs, truffle cream and puff pastry.  So creamy, cheesy, comforting and delicious.  I have to admit, anytime I drive down 38th I have to talk myself out of pulling over and grabbing a quick bite.






5. New tastes.  Renewing my license for my upcoming 21st birthday (!) was a good enough excuse as any for a trip to the Midtown Global Market.  While Manny's Tortas is my usual go-to, I decided to try Taqueria Los Ocampos because of all the good things I've heard.  I'm usually not a fan of corn-made products, such as corn tortillas or corn muffins, but this quesadilla sounded good.  It was so good.  They have a lot of traditional Mexican dishes (menudo, hourache, sincronizada) and of course tacos, burritos and my personal favorite, quesadillas.  I chose marinated pork and devoured every bite of this crunchy, cheesy, refreshing, warm and satisfying quesadilla.  With Spanish rice and refried beans on the side, it was the perfect lunch after waiting in line at the DMV.



 6. While I am aware a list consisting of six items is strange and makes no sense, I really want to add that throughout the past couple of months, when I have had spare time for what I like to call ReadingIdon'thavetoreadforschool, I have finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.  For those of you who have read it, you know what I mean when I say this book is a must read for anyone who thinks they know anything about the restaurant industry.  My glamorous new job has kept me for numerous hours in the restaurant's coat "room" (more of a tiny, hot, smelly closet with too many innocent, yet soft animals on coat hangers.)  I had ample opportunities to read this book, which became particularly interesting as I read it while actually being in a restaurant similar to the ones Bourdain writes about.  I really enjoyed the book and Bourdain's style of writing and am hungry for more Bourdain books, but particularly, food books.







So there it is.  Six small bites of what I'm been up to for the last couple weeks.  Not to mention my numerous over-welcomed training meals at my new job.  And now, I ask you..what have you been eating?



Training meal...