A Food Lover’s Book of Days/Dining Alone

I’m on the cusp of completing my intermittent reading of James and Kay Salter’s book, Life Is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days.  It’s a great collection of food trivia, tips, recommendations and personal anecdotes and recollections organised in a cozy package.  I checked out my copy from the Orange County Library, but it’s a nice little book to buy for your favourite food lover.

In the book, I particularly enjoyed becoming acquainted with the great stars of food history and gastronomy: Sylvester Graham, A J Liebling, Juliette Recamier, and Brillat-Savarin to name a few.  

I also liked the comments the Salters gave on “Solitary Dinners,” which I found interesting having had a few solitary dinners at home and out in the public.  Of the latter, I can find them at times pleasurable or awkward, depending on the eatery.  If I eat out alone, I prefer bringing along a book as company.  When I was in school, I would often read textbooks and highlight passages in-between bites, or I would work on a short story idea prior to my food arriving.  There have been a couple of rough, handwritten drafts of short stories and Japanese homework bearing the mark of the vinaigrette concoction from Stardust.

Nowadays, since I fix food more at home and am saving money for one thing or another, I don’t eat out alone as often.  In fact, perhaps the last time I did so recently was at Bikes, Beans & Bordeaux a few weeks ago. It’s a rarity now because money is so tight, so I don’t feel like indulging as much as I used to.  But, it seems, the best places to dine alone–at least in Orlando, but perhaps in general–are cafes and teahouses such as Stardust, Infusion, B3 and Pom-Pom’s.  Perhaps because the atmosphere is informal, you’re allowed the extra time to lounge and have an extra cup of coffee or tea, bottle of beer or glass of wine.  Taking out a book or opening up your laptop is accepted, unlike a “proper” restaurant, or even some diners.

Eating alone at home can be different as well, not so much in what you’re eating, but how you’re eating it.  It’s one thing to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich on a paper towel and eat it standing up over the counter, whereas eating the same sandwich off a plate at a dining table or even your coffee table with a nice cup of Earl Grey elevates it to a little ceremony.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found these little ceremonies enjoyable, and seem more fulfilling when the food is on a plate.  Granted, my dishes pile up a bit more with all the plates and mugs and tea strainers, but there’s a sense of giving the soul a little something to feed on as well as the stomach.  It’s a happy thing that makes simple meals that much more special, even more so when you don’t always have the time to eat in such a way.  Even take-out seems better out of the styrofoam and paper containers and on a real plate with real silverware, or even the plastic IKEA reusable utensils.  Yes, leftover pizza deserves a bit of dignity at times.  Because, excepting the street food sold in stalls and push-carts around the world–as some of the best food can be found with these vendors, if the food isn’t worth taking a moment and eating on a plate, is it really worth eating?

Stardust’s Saturday baker

Attention stalkers!  As of yesterday, I have been installed as Stardust’s Saturday baker, and my first day and my new little gig was good fun.  I made a batch of whole wheat buttermilk biscuits, a vegan cinnamon-raspberry cake and a “bothersome” molasses cake with “tiresome” tangy vanilla frosting.  The last piece was a debacle, because parts of the cake stuck to the tip of the Bundt pan, and to salvage the damn thing, I decided to use some frosting to cover up the mistake.  Well, the kitchen by this point was rather warm, especially with the wonderful addition of Tony (who literally jumped up and down and screamed “Yaaaaay!” upon seeing me in the back), one of Stardust’s cadre of cooks.  The kitchen was so warm, with the oven being on, the icing kept melting off of the damn cake.  I had to stick the cake *and* the icing in the beer fridge up front to keep it solidified.

So what was supposed to be an 8 am ’til 12 noon shift turned into me staying until 2 pm, with Tony and Casey, the regular baker who was working the front, battling with my inner Martha, who was going, “It’s not PERFECT!  AAAH!!”

The cake’s fuck-ups did enable me to kind of lose my mind in the kitchen, much to Tony’s amusement, and perhaps encouragement.  When I was making the frosting for the cake in a bowl, I looked down at the creamy-sweet goodness and remarked to him how I wanted to stick my face in the frosting.  “Do it,” he said, “and run around the building yelling ‘FROSTING FAAACE!’”

So, of course, we kept screaming “FROSTING FAAACE!” in the kitchen for the next two hours or so I was there.

As you can see, despite that damn debacle of a cake (that looked to have sold well later that night), I had good fun.  I’m excited to go back next Saturday.  I’m planning on scones and cupcakes this time around.  In the meantime, I hope to make some things at my new place in order to get in a bit of practice time, and to try some new recipes out.

By the way, Tony has dubbed me as the Butter Assassin, and from here on out, I’m going to use and abuse that new moniker as much as possible.  So, next Saturday, come over to Stardust from 8 am until noon (hopefully not longer… again), where you can see me puttering about in the mushroom apron my friend Melanie bought for me as a Christmas gift one year.  All the recipes I used were based on my well-worn copy of Abigail Johnson Dodge’s book, The Weeekend Baker, which is a rather apt title considering my new job–providing I can keep it.

FROSTING FAAAACE!!

Hamburger America: the book AND dvd!

I pestered my local library to start carrying Hamburger America, the book, and they got a copy, which I have now checked out. When I took a look at the cover, there’s a sticker the library put on that says “1 disc included.” Do you know what that disc was?

That’s right, Hamburger America, the movie!

So, you realise I have to share the film with as many people as possible, yeah? I’ve already made my parents watch it, and I thought my father was going to have a heart attack merely watching Solly’s butterburgers being made. “Oh my God, that’s BUTTER?!” he freaks while watching a woman slab on a hefty dollop of butter onto a bun before mushing it down onto a burger.

Potential food rule: Butter makes everything better. This rule may have to be tested out on a butterburger of my own with a veggie patty. Yes, I’m game enough, but I don’t know if I’d want quite as much butter as Solly’s Grille tops theirs with. Seriously, the camera zooms in on these burgers, and you can see the golden liquid dripping on the sides! The film even shows a patron sopping up some of the butter with half of his burger. It should also be mentioned Solly’s Grille is right across the street from a medical center treating heart diseases. Surprisingly, though, the owner of Solly’s Grille mentions two men in their 90s who’d been coming to Solly’s Grill for decades, and seem to be doing just fine.

Potential food theory: Butter makes you live longer.

I can imagine cardiologists cringing at the thought of a butterburger, but I’ll bet a few of those people that work at the nearby heart care center make dashes across the street to get their butterburger fixes.

Eventually, I’ll have to break down and buy this book, so I can have the book and dvd on hand for future reference and edification, as well as to share it with people who aren’t yet my friends, but someday will be (aw!). Yesterday I began reading the book, and currently I’m in the Louisiana section, where Port of Call in New Orleans is listed. There is only one place listed in Florida, Le Tub of Hollywood. In America, it seems the best states for burgers, according to George Motz, are California (9 entries), Oklahoma (7 entries), Ohio (6 entries), Connecticut (5 entries) and Texas (8 entries).

If you want to know more about Hamburger America or George Motz, the brainchild behind the projects, go to the website: HamburgerAmerica.com. Motz has a blog where you can catch up on what’s current–at the moment, the most recent entry is on the book tour he’s doing. If you live in Orange County in Florida, you’ll be happy to know that the Orange County Library System has two copies of Hamburger America, both of which are currently checked out–one by yours truly. Don’t worry, I’ll be returning mine shortly once I’ve finished reading it and have made a few of my friends watch the dvd. If you can’t wait, though, you can buy it online through Shop OCLS, with Amazon.com, or get a used copy with Abebooks.

Samosa Lady News

So, apparently, All Spices of India, which was the home of my dollar samosas, closed down because the owner of the building allegedly wanted the woman, whom I have dubbed the Samosa Lady, out of the building.  During a conversation I was having with my new friend Gary at Stardust, I was telling him about the dollar samosas at All Spices of India, and, wanting to know if she’s relocated elsewhere, he turns around and asks another Stardust patron who explained to us the story.

Apparently it is illegal to make food in your home and then bring it to your business to sell, and the owner of the building had made a call to the Department of Health, and so she was shut down.  Alas, there is no new location for samosa goodness–our source said that she’s going to be just doing private cooking lessons, and not opening up a new store location.

So, that is the story thus far with the Samosa Lady, formerly of All Spices of India on Bumby.  If anyone is keen on going in for a lesson or two on making Indian food, I’ll see if I can find out any contact information for that.

Crépes at the Food Court?

In my post about Bangkok’s Crépes & Co, I mentioned that there was a place for crépes at the food court in the Fashion Square Mall. Well, yesterday Hao and I went to La Creperia Café for a late breakfast.

I hadn’t been to the Fashion Square Mall in at least half a year, so it was interesting alone to be at there. We went up to the second level, where the food court and movie theatre was, and we scanned the food court shops for La Creperia. Hao spotted it, and, upon seeing the sign unlit and the menus lacking the hyper-illumination of most food court menus, I was dismayed. “Aw, it’s closed!”

“No, it isn’t,” Hao walked briskly towards the stand. “Look, there’s someone behind the counter.”

Sure enough, the place was open after all, but the design for the store seemed a bit out-of-step with the florescent glow all the other stalls were emitting. If it were a regular stand-alone café, though, it would be fine. We approach the stall, hunger mingled with excitement of new possibilities. I seize a menu lying on the counter, and my eyes widen with crépe possibilities.

In the end, Hao and I both opted for sweet crépes. I bullied him out of getting the Romeo y Julieta crépe with Nutella, bananas and strawberries, because that’s what I wanted, so he opted for the Evita, which consisted of dolci di lecce (or dolce de leche) and bananas. The two gentleman behind the counter, who were very helpful, made the crepes in a quick fashion, having the crépe skins already premade, which sped up the process to merely involve the preparation of the insides.

I watched the older man smear the dolci di lecce from a can onto the crépe for Hao’s Evita, and it struck me that the can could’ve been heated just a wee bit for easier spreading, as the consistency was akin to peanut butter you pulled out of a very cold fridge. Once it was finally spread around, he peeled an banana and plopped it whole onto the crepe, cut it into small pieces, then pushed the banana bits around to make it even across the crépe work area. He then folded it neatly into a sort of diamond, then flipped it over to cook a bit on the folded side. Transferring the crépe to a plate, the whole look was completed with some caramel syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream.

Oh boy!

Mine had been already made, so I took the two crépes out into the sea of mostly empty chairs in the food court. It had shocked me at how empty the mall was in general, considering it was a Saturday afternoon. Hao was waiting for his coffee to cool, which didn’t really get cool enough to drink until after we had eaten, whereupon he found it a little bitter, like it had been sitting for a while.

The crépes themselves were fabulous, but the frustrating thing was that they were so hard to cut intowith the plastic utensils requisite for mall food. I was afraid I’d break my dinky plastic fork as I attempted to pierce the crépe exterior in order to get to its sweet deliciousness. And, oh, was it sweet. The Romeo y Julieta was decadent; I wound up not being able to finish all of it. Hao said his Evita was on the sweet side, too, but he was able to clean his plate.

I think the final verdict was that La Creperia made some pretty awesome crépes, but it’s probably best just to get them in a to-go package and take them home with you, unless you’re really into food court scenery. That way, you can use real dining utensils, as opposed to plastic, and your eating won’t be periodically interrupted by a blood-curdling shriek from a 4 year-old on the other side of the mall. La Creperia has savoury food as well, and I’d love to try one of those next. Early on, we were warned by one of the employees that the menu was going to be changed up, and that the prices on their website aren’t exactly the same as at the location in the food court, but if you’re in the area and in the mood for a crépe to take out, look at their menu, although the PDF file also mentions pasta, which may not be at their little location in Orlando, but more than likely at their bigger location in the Tampa area.

Food Nostalgia: Crépes & Co.

Around five years ago, I was living the last of my days in a hot, sticky country known as Thailand, renting a small efficiency apartment in the Royal King Garden Inn for a month until I moved on back to Orlando.  During that month, I packed in as much enjoyment as I could in visiting my favourite eateries and bars, often in the company of my two very good friends, Gary and Alli.

While living it up, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Crépes & Co.  It’s a fabulous place off Sukhumvit that Tanya, a friend of a friend, had shown me.  Although I had only the opportunity to have gone there once, I’m still gladdened by its web presence, as it is giving me hope that the place will still be there whenever I get around to going back to Bangkok… which will happen!  :::shakes fist!:::

I can’t remember exactly what I had gotten, but I loved both the entrée crépe and my dessert crépe.  If you happen to be in the area, I suggest you give the place a go, as it’s a fantastic concept for a light lunch or dinner.  Although I’m sure I was well-satiated after my meal at Crépes & Co, should you be hungry, the streets of Bangkok used to house the best street vendors in the world.  It’s true.

Now I have heard of a crépe place here in Orlando that I haven’t yet been to.  La Creperia Cafe has been visited by my friends Fran and Joe, and they told me it was pretty good.  Curiously, the location they went to, which is the only one in Orlando, is in the Orlando Fashion Square Mall.  It’s not a place I find myself often–I’m at the mall once a month at best, and normally at the Mall of Millenia–but I’ve been tempted to brave the crowds of shoppers for a taste of tasty crépes.

Then again, with the way the economy is tanking in the US at the moment, the crowds of shoppers are probably not really “crowds,” but perhaps more like “small contingents.”