#71 Bistec de Costilla de Res, Por Favor

Now that we live in the suburbs we get pennysavers in our mailbox. In New York, they were basically thrown into the hallway, where one might have kicked them aside to open the door, but never, ever to actually read. We're pretty bored here at the moment, so the pennysaver is actually great cause for celebration.

We have a pretty healthy Hispanic population here, so it turns out our local food market prints Spanish subtitles for the food it advertises. So, in my own humble effort to bridge the cultural divide in America, here are some bilingual yum-yums for you to peruse (it's fun to say the translations out loud):


bistec de cordero: lamb shoulder steaks
cebollas amarillas: yellow onions
jicama: jicama
limones verdes en Bolsa: key limes
lechuga: lettuce
fresas: strawberries
mollejas de pollo: chicken gizzards
chuletas de puerco: sirloin end pork chops
bistec de costilla de res: rib eye steaks

Buen Provecho!: Enjoy Your Meal!

#70 Miguel's Cocina

2912 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106
619-224-2401

Looking for some cheap Mexican, Snowman and I drove out to Point Loma to this place. We were immediately served a big bowl of tortilla chips with salsa, an addictive white queso dip, and really delish pickled veggies (carrots, onions, peppers). Unfortunately, that's where the good stuff ends. My vegetarian cheese enchilada was terrifically bland and Snowman wasn't overly impressed with his pollo asada either. So my recommendation is to sit at the bar, toss back a margarita, and lick up the queso dip.

Grade: C-

#69 Andiamo!

5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124
858-277-3501

Ah, my first San Diego restaurant review! Snowman and I have been having hit-and-miss success with eating out in SD. This place was a definite hit. We sat on the patio where they had a jazz band playing. It made talking a little difficult, but the music was good and made the atmosphere low-key, but still special.

We started with an olive and cheese plate, which was fine. I hate a walnut and gorgonzola salad which was quite tasty. They added pineapple to it, which really gave it a nice sweetness. Snowman had an amazing mushroom ravioli, which may actually be the best ravioli I've ever had.

Grade: B+

#68 Who Was That 5'11" Masked Man?

Snowman and I were eating dinner at Jack In the Box last night (all the while, secretly swearing to myself that I would stop eating so much fast food), when he noticed a peculiar thing. All the doors have tape along the sides of them that indicate 4 feet, 5 feet, 6 feet. Why? So when someone robs you, you can say, "He was 5'11"" instead of guessing. This is actually perfect for me, because I am really bad with estimating things like height, weight and age. If only the thiefs could be made to step on a scale as they exited too!

#67 Open Letter

Dear Tinsel Teeth,

I am currently addicted to Starbucks' iced chai. I know you suffered a similar addiction yourself. Please help.

Sincerely,
Michellephant

#66 Rubio's Ruse

The good news is Snowman and I have found an apartment. The better news is that hopefully, inside of a week, I'll be able to pick up with my regular posting. In the meantime, here's another short one:

We're renting an apartment in Mission Valley and there is a Rubio's Mexican Grill nearby. Snowman and I had never heard of Rubio's because, well, we're from New York. We were both super excited about the fish tacos at Rubio's, as fish tacos seem like the unofficial food of San Diego.

Today we're in line and after we ordered they asked Snowman's name [you know how they like to ask your name so they can say "Georgie, your order is ready"]. He says Dakota. This isn't his real name, but he throws it out once in awhile when he's feeling saucy. Then he pays with his credit card, which, um, has his real name on it.

This made me giggle really hard. And because it's the neighborhood Rubio's, for as long as we keep going back, he has to be known as Dakota.

He he he he.

PS-Blackened mahi mahi tacos...goooood.

#65 Short and Sweet

Okay, I'm officially in San Diego...but somewhat homeless and discombobulated. I'll post my road trip food journal once we've moved into an apartment (not that we have one yet...I mean I'm writing this in the Days Inn for God's sake!), but for now, chew on this:

We all know BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works, but it's also a handy acronym for dinner time.

How many times have you sat at a circular table when this happens: the waiter starts pouring water and handing out bread. But you're not sure if you grab the bread and water to your right or left. Well there is etiquette about such things, and you certainly don't want to commit any faux pas while dining at Jean Georges, so next time remember this:

BMW stands for Bread, Meal, Water. This means you take the bread to your left and the water (or wine) to your right (while the meal is in front of you).

Now aren't you refined?

PS-It's also a handy acronym for remembering the order of the bridges in Manhattan. From the south, they go Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg.

#64 Out To Lunch

Okay, kiddies, I'm heading out West. I have no idea what my internet access will be like over the next two weeks, so let's just consider this a vacation. I will still, of course, be thinking of food constantly! I plan on keeping a picture food journal on our travels, so you can expect a super long post when I hit San Diego. Stay tuned and eat well!

#63 Tuna Nicoise Sandwiches

I've made these before and Snowman and I both love them. Fresh ingredients and no mayonnaise makes for a yummy twist on an old standby. Ciabatta bread is a must for this. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart Living.


1/2 white onion thin slice
1/2 red onion thin slice
1/4 cup + 4 tsp extra virign olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
14 ounces tuna
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 ciabatta rolls, split horizontally
2 heads bibb lettuce (I like to use baby spinach)
1/2 cup nicoise olives pitted
4 hard boiled egg peel, thin slice

Because tuna is the star ingredient in this sandwich, it's worth buying oil-packed tuna in a jar, which has a higher quality and finer flavor than the canned variety.

Put onions, 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl; season with pepper. Toss to combine. Let stand 10 minutes.

Add tuna and its oil to onion mixture. Add lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt; season with pepper. Gently toss to combine.

Cover bottom halves of rolls with lettuce. Top with olives, eggs, and tuna mixture, dividing evenly. Drizzle each with 1 tsp oil. Cover with top halves of rolls.

Grade: A-

#62 Sundae on Sunday

My cousin and I have a ritual that involves getting sundaes from Friendly's. Basically the ritual goes like this: we go to Friendly's and get sundaes.

I went on and on about how I couldn't wait to have a Snicker's sundae and you know what? They don't effin make them anymore! That's right! They DON'T make them! So I had a caramel cone sundae, which was actually really good, but I still kept thinking back fondly on the Snicker's sundae of yesteryear.

Well it turns out that Friendly's is having a Build Your Own Sundae Contest and I entered and tried to make the sundae as close to the Snicker's sundae I loved so much as I could. You have to choose from a preset selection of ingredients. Here's what I picked:

butter crunch ice cream
nuts over caramel ice cream
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
marshmallow cream
caramel sauce
walnuts
dark chocolate chunks

How does that sound? I named it "Are You Nuts? Crunchy Caramel Sundae" after my cousin's daughter, who likes to ask everyone if they're nuts.

#61 8 Degrees of Drunkeness

From Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany and credited to Thomas Nash in 1592:

The Ape-drunk, who leaps and sings and hollers
The Lion-drunk, who is quarrelsome and rude
The Swine-drunk, who is sleepy and lumpish
The Sheep-drunk, wise in his own conceit, but unable to speak
The Maudlin-drunk, who declares he loves all mankind
The Martin-drunk, who drinks himself sober again
The Goat-drunk, who is lascivious
The Fox-drunk, who is crafty, like the Dutch who bargain when drunk

So, which one are you?

#60 I ______ Milk

1 Gallon of Tuscan Whole Milk
+ 1 Mammoth e-commerce site
+ 619 product reviews
____________________________
= HI JINKS!

Check out what everyone has to saw about the world's most ubiquitous dairy product on the world's most ubiquitous e-commerce website here.

#59 A Smooth, Smooth Summer

As some of you may know, I fell in love with smoothies this summer. It started with the berry heaven at Cup Diner, continued with the berry fulfilling at Jamba Juice, and ended with me finally using my Waring blender regularly. Here's a quick list of my favorite summer smoothies:

• the aforementioned berry heaven from Cup Diner


• the aforementioned berry fulfilling from Jamba Juice


• homemade acai smoothie with banana, strawberry, and apple juice

(the following are all from The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies)

• coconutty 'nana: banana, pineapple, coconut milk, pineapple juice


• tropical deluxe: mango, banana, lime juice, guava juice


• papaya salad: papaya, pineapple, banana, pineapple juice, watermelon (I use raspberries instead)


• summer sunset: peaches, strawberries, guava juice

And here are a few things I learned about making smoothies:

• rehydrating dried fruit means soaking overnight, not for fifteen minutes


• if you need to redistribute fruit in a blender, wait until the motor has stopped running before sticking a fork in it


• frozen fruits makes for cold and thick smoothies, so I pretty much like to freeze it all, even the fresh stuff


• adding Greens+ powder makes your smoothie taste like seaweed


• most importantly, smoothies are so delicious, a great way to load up on fruit, and a good substitute for pretty much any meal

The blender is coming in the car in the drive out west. There's no telling when I'll crave a papaya salad!

#58 I Am Pretty Wisdomous

Since I'm leaving my job (three days, people!) and will be without health insurance for _______, decided to get my wisdom teeth taken out. They weren't really bothering me, but they were basically just little traps collecting food that was difficult to remove. I also wanted to weigh less.

My oral surgeon is amazing. He's friendly, knowledgeable, has a good sense of humor, and is very comforting. I had very minimal pain with each of the three extractions. If anyone needs to get any oral surgery, I know a guy in Park Slope...

When your teeth are getting drilled, it smells like tortilla chips.

Anyway, as those of you who have been reading my blog know, I love x-rays. Here is one of my mouth (those two outer teeth (#1 & 17, I believe) on the bottom are gone now):

#57 New Food: Litchi

Some people spell it lychee. I have no idea which is more correct, but litchi is more aesthetically pleasing to me, so that's what I go with.

This may not be a new food for some of you. There is, after all, litchi juice and litchi sorbet. But perhaps you've never bought fresh litchi? They can be a little intimidating, but they're sweet and unusual. It's also rather inexpensive to buy a handful, so it's worth experimenting if you've never had them. Very prevalent in Chinatown, but also available at ye olde Whole Foods.

Spiky!

Soft, sweet, translucent flesh.

Shiny, smooth nut inside!

#56 Lady M Confections

41 East 78th Street
NY, NY 10021
212-452-2222

Listy-Loo and I both saw this place featured on the Food Network show Sugar Rush and knew we had to go. So after a rather dreamy trip to Blue scoping out wedding dresses, we, along with Tinsel Teeth, made the trek uptown. It's a very small space with no decor other than a giant vase of white hydrangea on the counter. I had a delicious cup of hot English breakfast tea, sweetened with rock candy sugar. I also had a smoked salmon sandwich, which was fine, but tasted a little too "corner deli" to be worth $8.50. All three of us had various cakes. I had their famous mille crepes, which was light and creamy and the carmelized sugary crepes were delicious. Listy-Loo had the miroir caramel, which tasted deliciously caramel-y, but was of the oddest consistency. The bottom was chocolate cake, the middle was some sort of mousse texture, and the top was a slightly gelatinous caramel. Tinsel Teeth has the chocolat arc-en-ciel (rainbow?), which I thought was quite good. Intensely chocolate and very decadent.

Overall, a lovely way to spend an afternoon with my girls. I even bought a few chocolates for Snowman.

Grade: B+

#55 Popover Cafe

551 Amsterdam
NY, NY 10024
212-595-8555

I've been hearing about this place for years, so finally the opportunity presented itself to actually eat there. The service is super friendly and the decor is cute (sit in a window booth and you get to play with some teddy bears!). Three of us had various kinds of veggie sandwiches with melted cheese, served on--what else?--a popover. Snowman had a chicken salad, which came with a popover on the side. Super airy, buttery, flaky pastry filled with air inside, these popovers arrive in gigantic proportion (though again, the inside is all air, so don't get overwhelmed). My sandwich was filled with delicious vegetables, though it could have used some salt and/or pepper. My Arnold Palmer (that's half iced tea/half lemonade, for those of you that have never had one) was particularly tasty. Overall, a very fine place for a casual meal.

Grade: B

#54 Dimple

11 West 30th Street
NY, NY 10001
212-643-9464

You may remember some weeks ago Smalls and I were on the hunt for dosa and ended up eating pho. Well this time we went for dosa and we actually ate dosa! And it was a family affair with Mrs. Smalls and Smalls Jr., who was too cute wearing a little froggy bracelet.

There is no decor at Dimple (is it just me, or is that an odd name for an Indian vegetarian restaurant?) and the air conditioning only seemed to have a moderate effect on the temperature. We ordered a mixed appetizer plate, which was literally described as "mixed appetizer," so although it was good, I couldn't tell you what was in anything. The dosa were really delicious. Crispy, air, salty chick pea crepes filled with curried potatoes and onions. Cheap and filling. The dosa would be just as delicious with no filling at all.

But beware: all dosa are not alike. If it looks limp, old, or too crepe-like (our dosa was filled with waffled-patterned holes), you should pass. Luckily, at Dimples, that was not the case.

Grade: B

#53 Island Burgers & Shakes

766 9th Avenue
NY, NY 10019
212-307-7934

I've worked in the same part of town for the last seven years and Island Burgers has always been on my "to eat" list. Now that my time in New York is drawing to a close, I decided I'd better hot foot it over there. I went with my friend, Socram. It's a teeny-tiny little joint, but we had no problem getting a seat. Service was efficient and terrifically friendly. I had the Marco's burger [pesto, ranch, bacon, parmesan on ciabatta] and a side of dirty sour cream and onion chips. Why chips? Because they don't serve French fries. THAT'S RIGHT: no fries! But trust me, you won't miss them. The chips are good, but the burgers are the star. Mine was cooked medium and delicious [Socram got his well-done and I thought, that doesn't even taste like beef...it just tastes...like a grill]. I only wish I had more time to go back and try the other twenty varieties they offer!

Grade: A

#52 Frozen Bananas

First things first: this is not what my frozen bananas looked like that I made for Bananarama. The ones I made did not look very good. The chocolate was ultra-gloopy and the Reese's Pieces I rolled them in were rather a mess. However, I will say, they were delicious.

I love these things, but I need to rethink the dipping process. I've been melting chocolate and butter over a double boiler, but I always find that about halfway through the process, the chocolate hardens into a most unappetizing mess. I either need to work in smaller batches, or else I may try a ganache (the additional cream ought to keep it smooth enough). I also find the dipper process a little difficult, because the candies don't really want to stick, but if you force them on, they look like they're stuck in the mud, instead of artfully speckled. I might also try just dumping the candies into the melted ganache next time.

That being said, this is a great summer treat and very customizable. You can use any kind of chocolate and any topping from candies to cookies to nuts. The Reese's Pieces worked really well with the banana and chocolate. And it really, really was yummy even if it didn't look like it.

Grade: B+ (docked for the less than beautiful appearance)

#51 Samuel Johnson Says:

Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously...for I look upon it that he who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.