Saturday, May 10, 2008

Cafe Routier with the Gingers tonight; it was very, very, very good. I had smoked duck breast with house made spaetzle (mmm!), and Dean's meal was slow roasted beets. The Gs got chicken breast (with morels!) and pork, and just like last time each guy thought everyone's was really impressive but his own was the best. Mine was definitely the best. All the desserts were incredible, too, esp. the Best Creme Brulee Ever. They even had a rhubarb dessert!! I was very proud. It was somewhat cheesecake-ish, with the most intensely delicious rhubarb syrup on the plate to dip it into. I wanted to lick up the rhubarb syrup stuff. But I refrained. The Gs really liked Cafe Routier. :-)

Posted at 9:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

What??! There's a Berlin Farmer's Market! It's in Kensington, open Saturdays 9:00AM - 1:00PM, May 24-Sept. 27th. I had absolutely no idea. Of course, I'm usually sleeping during those hours, so no wonder.

Posted at 12:00:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Um, third day of MY CAKE? My mom was right, there is no third day.

Posted at 11:44:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

The Gingers loved the rhubarb cake. We each ate TWO BIG PIECES, and commented on how the flavor changes. On the first day, if you get to eat it when it's fluffy warm out of the oven and you've got those crispy edges, that's heavenly, but then on the second day, when you eat it cold, the flavors have had a change to meld and develop, and it's creamy and almost bread pudding-esque, so that's awfully good too, in a different way. "Then, if you have any left on the third day..." my mom began. :-) I also made enough coffee for three people, using my nifty new coffee machine I got for Christmas. Three people was really pushing its limits, but it was the perfect amount as long as I used my tea cups instead of mugs. My mom also commented about what a pleasant room the tea room is. It really is. I wish I used it more often. My favorite thing in the tea room is Grandmother Whaples' old mauve velvet couch, but the whole room is very pleasing to me. We didn't have our rhubarb and coffee in the tea room, though--we sat around the kitchen table talking. It was nice.

It rained continuously all day today. I hope next week is better. I want to do some outside stuff with the Gs!

Posted at 4:37:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Random things this week that I haven't had a chance to post about, or wanted to post but forgot:

The Fifth Day of May was nice. Yes I did celebrate. No drizzling rain, but it was sunny and beautiful, and I got out DNNT and listened to the entire thing in the car. Perfect drizzling rain conditions Friday and Saturday.

I love LOVE "Tell Ol' Bill" (100% shad!) and "Huck's Tune." River. Spring.

Barista yesterday at Rocky SBUX, to the cashier, who'd already proactively gotten out my for-here cup without even needing to ask me what I wanted: "Did you get her her spoon?"

Why are they so good to me, when I almost never go there anymore, when I steel my heart against them and kick them when they're down?? I don't understand it. Remembering not only my drink, but my spoon, too?? I don't even remember to ask about the spoon.

Found this fantastic Connecticut shad site last night!!! I should add that link to my home page.

We brought our cars into the car vac place off the Berlin Turnpike tonight, and I noticed that The Blue Lobster is moving to a new, larger, nicer location! Okay, I didn't just notice--I also rolled down my window and pointed excitedly so Dean (in the car in front of me) would look. Dean had no idea why I was pointing at it, and the guy behind me probably thought I was nuts. I have never been to The Blue Lobster but I think I should go, especially since the new location 1) is right near our section of the Ber Turnpike, 2) no longer shares a building with a skeevy-looking adult video store. (And yes, I used the word "skeevy" because I am officially addicted to Galactica Water Cooler.) I looked it up online, and The Blue Lobster is mentioned in the "Lobster Rolls" section of a Connecticut Magazine article, got superb reviews on this dining guide site, received the thumbs-up from several Chowhounders, and has a pretty good looking menu. It sounds like their lobster roll is the hot kind (and not served on a New England-style bun), but even so. I should go. It's so close! They also have a fish sandwich. For all I know, it's Danosesque! It seems awfully weird going to a lobster shack on the Berlin Turnpike (too close, too... Berlin Turnpikey) but what the heck.

Lastly, wow--I need to bookmark the List of Culinary Fruits on Wikipedia. What a list!

Posted at 10:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Fine. MY CAKE is the second best cake in the entire world. O's Hawaiian Cream Cake is just the right size for two people to split without even being piggy--a tiny, perfect, fluffy, heavenly round marvel, snowy-white with coconut and cream cheese frosting, bits of macadamia nuts inside for texture, and warm, too. MY CAKE is big and flat and homely, earthy, moist and delectably sweet-tart, easy to devour with your bare hands. It's the kind of cake you'd have with tea or coffee, or just standing over the counter sneaking a hacked-off strip, but not serve as a real after-dinner dessert. MY CAKE is made for sharing, but I don't know enough people to share it with.

Posted at 5:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Oh my God. MY CAKE is officially the best cake in the entire world. (No wonder it's called MY CAKE.) Seriously. Better than that rhubarb cake at Cafe Sabarsky, even. I don't know if I've ever tasted it warm out of the oven before. Moist and rhubarby and crispy edges. Gah. Unbelievable. It's a good thing I only made it one day before the Gs' visit, or the whole thing would probably disappear. Into my stomach. Remember when Dean finally tried MY CAKE and found out how good it is (instead of continuing to assume it's yucky and weird because it's made of rhubarb and I like it), and then I had to share it with him for the rest of all eternity? That was a black day indeed.

I've actually only made MY CAKE myself a few times (usually the Gs make it give some to me), so I didn't remember how at all, but it's super easy. I know I made it for AGD that one time, and maybe once other than that. So, like I said, I'm not usually around when it's warm. WARM. Ahhh!

Recipe for MY CAKE:
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
3 cups diced rhubarb
cinn & sug

Mix first seven ingredients together until creamy. Add rhubarb and mix well.

Pour into greased and floured 9x13x2-inch pan and sprinkle top with cinnamon & sugar mixture.

Bake in 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.

Note: Use rhubarb from the Gs' garden, if possible. [This is no longer possible, ALAS.]
Note #2: Only I get to call it MY CAKE; otherwise it's called Rhubarb Cake or preferably Laura's Cake.
Note #3: All for me!

[Edit: Wait... which wins for Best Cake in Entire World, MY CAKE or O's 100% perfect coconut Hawaiian Cream Cake? That is tough. They are very different. I think I'll still have to vote MY CAKE, because I cannot imagine gobbling down large amounts of the O's cake. Or maybe O's cake should win for that very reason.]

Posted at 2:57:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

About Wendy's question, "what do shad taste like that you are so excited about their arrival?"

Well, I'm more excited about their arrival because it's their arrival, really. I am just really fond of shad... every spring they make the long journey from the salty waters of the Atlantic ocean, hundreds of miles up, up, up the Connecticut River to spawn. I read John McPhee's shad article in the Food Issue of the New Yorker (on August 28, 2002; before that, I'd never heard of shad) and ever since then I've been obsessed with them every spring, mostly because it's fun to be, and welcoming shad is like welcoming spring. When McPhee's book The Founding Fish came out, I ran out and bought a copy and read it all.

My favorite thing about shad is that you can't just go to a normal grocery store and buy them... you have to visit the actual shad fishermen's fish markets, or find a "shad shack" somewhere along the road (sometimes fishermen sell them out of a cooler), always near the River, of course. Occasionally, you'll find a restaurant that serves shad specials this time of year, but they are very few and far between. Shad has a long and fascinating history in Connecticut, and some river towns even have shad festivals. So it's very local and very seasonal (the shad run only lasts for about a month, every spring). I just think it's neat. I like shad's hard-to-get-ness.

Shad are also very delicious. They have a lot of "dark meat" and are very rich and moist. Some people also love shad roe (it's encased in a membrane, so it's sort of like cooking up an organ meat), and a few weirdos like me eat shad milt (the male fish's roe equivalent... basically fish semen, but, as with the roe, you eat the whole seminal sac). The stuff inside is semi-solid and quartzy white, and you cook the whole thing up in a frying pan like eggs and eat it on toasted bread. I like milt best because it's the weirdest and hardest to get (every year until this one, I've had to call ahead and beg for Hale's to save me some; no one advertises it, and you'd never find it in a restaurant), but also because it's really yummy.

Anyway, shad are just lovable. :-)

Here are some of my past ALB shad-obsession weeks/adventures: May 2003 (one - two - three), May 2004 (one - two, including our visit to the Holyoke Fish Lift), May 2005, May 2006, and April/May 2007 (one - two). I don't separate out my individual posts, so just scroll around or do a search for "shad." Also, check it out! The Fish Counter at Holyoke counted one shad riding the fish lift so far this year, as of yesterday!

Here are my two 2008 Shad Festival (today) photos: 1) big pile o' raw milt in a bowl (after I rinsed it off so it wasn't so bloody), and 2) purple spargle! Isn't it pretty? I didn't take any cooked milt photos because I was too busy eating it.

P.S. Looking back on all I had to go through to get shad and milt in previous years, I kind of have mixed feelings about milt's new semi-semi-semi-popularity (or at least acceptance) at Hale's. I'm really proud and pleased (especially since it's partially thanks to me requesting it/bringing in the milt flyer I made) but I don't want milt to be too popular! Shad/milt loses some of its charm if it's too easy. Okay, I guess I don't really need to worry about milt becoming popular, but, still.

Posted at 10:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Jan is the MAN!!! I begged her for the recipe, and she had it, and she sent it post haste! Rhubarb shangri-la.

Must help Dean with car waxing now. Later I will post: 1) MY CAKE recipe, so I'll never lose it again, 2) photos of the milt feast (assuming they turned out good) (I just finished eating it, and it was most delicious), 3) Why I Get Excited About Shad.

Posted at 9:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Aaah! I can't find my recipe for MY CAKE, aka rhubarb cake. I almost never make it myself, so no wonder. But how veXing! I want to make it as a surprise for the Gs when they come! I've looked everywhere.

Posted at 7:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Red-letter day!!! This morning Wendy asked me what shad taste like that I am so excited about their arrival, so of course I was Thinking About Shad (not that I'm not practically always thinking about shad this time of year, but I was thinking about shad extra) and I figured it wouldn't hurt to drive up to Rocky and see if Hale's sign was posted yet on the corner near Starbucks. It was! So I figured it wouldn't hurt to drive down to Hale's and ask if they could save me some milt tomorrow...

So, I drove down, and parked in the dirt parking lot at Hale's, right on the river near the good ol' Rocky Hill boat launch (slightly flooded; not too bad, though). There were lots of great shad signs all over the place. (I didn't take any pictures since they wouldn't be any better than the millions I've posted in previous years.) The shad guy (not Hale, aka Dan Russell, but the cigarette-holder guy I usually encounter) was sitting out in front in his chair, along with the old lady. So I jumped out and walked over asked them if I could get some milt tomorrow, and they, looking like they were expecting this (I think they recognised me) said, "You can have some right now." !! I was a bit flustered, but went with the flow--I didn't have a cooler with me, but they gave me a big bag of ice, and I stuffed it in one of my insulated shopping bags, so the milt stayed nice and cold.

While the shad guy was in the back getting my milt, the old lady asked me what milt tastes like (again!) and how I cook it (again!), and I gave my usual non-answers (something like, "It's really good!" and "I just cook it up on the stove kind of like eggs.") As usual, she wrinkled her nose and looked squeamish. I asked if anyone other than me ever buys it, and she said there were a "few" people now but "not very many."

When the guy came back (twist-tied plastic bag filled with bloody innards) he told me, "They're really starting to take off!" I expressed my surprised delight, and mentioned that milt propaganda handout I made and brought in previously. He said they had photocopies of it out on the table, and there was one guy ("a tall guy") who came in every year and bought lots of roe, but this year he tried milt and bought lots of milt, too! Woo hoo!! Oh yeah, and they're keeping milt on hand now, so you don't need to request it ahead of time!!!

I asked him when they opened for the season, and he said last week, but they had to close down temporarily for a few days when it was raining a lot because the river was too high.

Milt is $5 a pair now (up from $3.50 last year)! I think the prices have gone up since it's no longer considered guts to throw away in the garbage. A small price to pay. :-) I got two pairs. Then of course I had to go on an immediate mission to find Rudi's Organic whole wheat small batch buns. Lucky for me, ION Market had them--hot dog rolls this time, instead of hamburger. I already had lemon and purple asparagus, so I'm all set! Thanks for the nudge, Wendy. :-)

Posted at 3:42:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Wow, randomly reading ALB backissues (Bob car scene content, 1966) and I stumbled on September 29, 2005. First encounter with the Marshmallow Guy as newbie! Sadness. M.G. should be the boss of Rocky now. That week of ALB is brilliant like blacksparkling gems. I want to have some dreams, right now. Relaxy day. Read ten thousand built up New Yorkers. Honey gold. Next week I think = milt + purple spargle. Also, rhubarb. Right now the blackberries are completely roe-like. I don't know if it's the season or not, but they are.

[October 01, 2005: Wow, that entry makes complete and total sense! All you have to do is follow along.]

Posted at 12:23:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.