2005 Food Recommendations: Installment 3

New food reviewed by Andrea: Lamb

I've always rejected lamb on the basis of it's gamey taste and pungent odor. It's not so usual on menus, so thus not hard to avoid. But in the past three weeks I have tried it not once, not twice, but three times! The first time was at Matt Murphey's when G ordered the Winter Mixed Grill-- it sounded cozy and hearty, featuring also duck and Irish bacon. But the first taste of lamb and I could barely swallow. I felt like I was eating in a petting zoo and couldn't gulp my Guiness fast enough.
On Monday Mihee e-mailed me asking if I was up for a free dinner (the catch: a 5 minute spiel on American Express Financial Services) at an upscale Greek restaurant, Meze Estatiorio (or something like that) in Charlestown. I ditched yoga and joined her on a Monday night adventure using Boston's finest public transportation (as we were crowing over how proud we were for figuring out which bus to take, the bus deposited and picked up the regular riders, leaving us in the diesel fumed dust. A "local" informed us that we could probably walk, so we did. We arrived just after 7 and met our date for the evening, one F. (rhymes with red) W. (rhymes with ebster), an AE rep dressed to the nines. He surveyed us (jeans and backback, late 20s ennui) and spared us the long talk (also, the others invited never showed up), likely knowing he'd get no money from us. He told us to order whatever entree from the menu and he would cover it. We never saw him again. Our waiter recommended the lamb-- the restaurant's specialty (Mihee had called earlier inquiring if there were vegetarian options. The response, "No vegetarian! We're Greek!"). Mihee went for the chops, and I opted for fish stew, surprising the waiter. I told Mihee of my disdain for lamb, but said also that I'd try it. When our dishes beautifully arrived (at $30+, they should be beautiful!) I had a bite and could not distinguish one hint of the gaminess I normally detest! I started envisioning a culinary turnaround-- I'd be able to expand my gastronomic pleasure at many an ethic restaurant! It was with this optimism that I let G cook for me at his ranch, last night. He'd purchased a marinated and frozen leg of lamb from Trader Joe's, and I said I'd help him eat it. It cooked beautifully-- crispy and well seasoned on the outside, and pink and juicy on the inside. He sliced me a couple slices, and took the rest of the behemouth for himself. It was easy to eat-- tender and delectable, with only a slight taste of the farm. Too bad G couldn't enjoy it as well; he was too busy dissecting out all the unsavory bits of fat (seen and unseen) to eat. I guess it's back to the sanitary, flash frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

2005 Food Recommendations, Installment 2

Before winter ends, and takes with it the citrus fruit season, a review of the doyenne of citrus fruit, the grapefruit. By Elizabeth Crawford


The fruit cart just came by. There was nothing exciting or exotic on it, so I chose an orange which was in the same basket as the grapefruits. This reminded me about my latest grapefruit epiphany, which I am not sure that I shared with you. Well, B eats grapefruit for breakfast every morning, like a few other people in the world. And I always thought she was weird for it because they aren't really that filling, plus they have some other undeniably negative aspects. For instance:
a) they take up way too much space in the toe of your Christmas stocking;
b) they take way too long to eat;
c) they require special grapefruit spoons that are pointier than normal spoons but just as hard to find in stores as Zara's missing spoon;
d) they squirt you in the eye; and
e) unlike oranges which you can buy by the five pound bag for something like $1.99 in the winter, grapefruits are always expensive (their market value hovers around 89 cents a piece at the Safeway on Columbia next to the Kentucky Fried Chicken).

But, then, I had my epiphany. Or rather, B in combination with a mistake had my epiphany for me.

When I told B she was weird for eating grapefruits every morning (except when she eats grapenuts -- which is rare because she doesn't like them and we have a slight weevle problem), she said that she thought I would like eating grapefruits in the morning because they are a nice slow way to wake up. She compared eating them to me sitting on the futon at 5:30 every morning, watching the weather and waiting for my coffee to cool. This piqued my interest because I like sitting on the couch all grumpy with my coffee in the morning.
Then, by accident I grabbed a grapefruit off the fruit cart instead of an orange (again they were sharing a basket). Rather than go fruitless I ate the grapefruit and I realized love them!

A Party, Sideways Style, but distance travelled only from living room to bathroom, not through the wine valleys of California

Before the passage of time addles my memory further than the wine already has, I'd like to recount some highlights from the party that the team of Zandrea! were at Saturday night.
The party took place in the Andrea part of Zandrea's apartment, in cooperation with roommates. The pre-party planning involved the making of checklists, cleaning and shopping. Trader Joe's fans that we are (see 2005 Food Recommendations, Installment 1), Mihee and I undertook the food and wine shopping. My expertise lies more in cheese,than wine, so I took responsibility for that (cheddar, brie and manchega, thank you very much) while Mihee chose the wine ("I really love the Wilhemette Valley wines"). Brandi took care of the rest of the food, as well as wine glasses (we're all post-college, so now red plastic cups!) and candles, for ambience. Lauren put away the holiday decorations (a range of holidays from fall through winter-- we all maintain busy lifestyles).
Zara and Arnold arrived when the party was in full swing. Zara is a famous mystery, so those who finally got to meet her were dazzled and in awe. She came decked out in black(Mihee: "Zara, black, but no turtleneck?" Zara: "No, I dress up in black v-necks for parties."). Arnold played our game-- Choose the Wine: Classy vs. Trashy, and did quite well, earning him a "wine snob" lable (as opposed to the "wine- yes!" lable others of us earned, indicating that any wine is good wine. One might say "wino", but that's an offensive term.).
The night rolled on...people drank, chatted, socialized, took inappropriate polaroid pictures. In other words, the party proceeded as planned. Late into the night, a mini dance party, or more to say, homecoming/prom started in my bedroom. Journey played, and ths slow dance was on.
A few lessons were learned throughout the night:
1) If you plan to wear a white shirt to a party where mostly red wine will be drunk in copious amounts, it better be your own party so you can change when you spill it all down your front.
2) Yellowtail is no good. I'll take Charles Shaw over that.
3) If you think you might want leftover cheese for breakfast, see that it gets put in the fridge the night before.