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Pot Luck

by: JayinPortland

Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 19:00:00 PM PST


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Pot Luck | 35 comments
What's happening, everyone? (4.00 / 1)
Yay, it's weekend time! :-D

Act on Principles and make equality happen.
Stumptown Coffee (4.00 / 2)
Stumptown went to New York! I didn't know it, but the shop has been open since last Labor Day.

New York Is Finally Taking Its Coffee Seriously

For years New Yorkers had to look to places like Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland, Ore., or Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco for this kind of quality. Now both companies have opened roasters and coffee bars in New York. Four Barrel Coffee of San Francisco will be roasting here soon.
...

* STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS With its travertine floors, walnut bar and natty staff, this is a striking setting for a cappuccino. The drink is up to the surroundings. Cold-brewed iced coffee tastes as bright and fruity as berries steeped in water, while a shot of espresso is so sweet and plush you'll wish it lasted longer. Starting at $3.70, the mocha, made with Mast Brothers Chocolate, is one of New York's most reasonably priced luxuries.

18 West 29th Street (Broadway), no telephone, stumptowncoffee.com.


Yep, sometimes it's hard to find a REALLY GREAT... (4.00 / 1)
Cup of joe. :-D

My faves here in Vegas have to be:

- Sunrise Coffee on Sunset for funky organic goodness (and locally owned & operated, too!)

http://www.sunrisecoffeelv.com/

- The Cup by World News Kaffe at Crystals at CityCenter for the most ab-fab luxurious coffee you've ever tried (just be ready to fork over $13 for mocha & a muffin!)

http://www.thecuplv.com/home.html

- Espressamente Illy at The Palazzo for coffee that will instantly transport you to your favorite cafe in Milan or Rome

http://www.palazzolasvegas.com...


Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
I didn't think... (4.00 / 1)
I didn't think they were open yet last time I was in NYC (October 2009), although there was 'buzz' about Stumptown opening in Manhattan's Ace Hotel for a while now.  But I guess it was open, then!  I would have stopped in for a cup if I had known.  Believe me, I missed good coffee something fierce that week!

Interesting article, I'll have to keep the listed places in mind for next time I'm back there.  Now, when will good coffee ever make it to Jersey?  Gack, probably never eh?  Outside of a couple places, of course.  Rocky Hill By The Cup being my old favorite (no website, don't even know if it's still open).  

Used to stop in for a cup every time I passed by the place for work, which was often as we had many clients and work sites in the Princeton area (including the university itself).  Rocky Hill By The Cup was a small hole-in-the-wall shop on Rt 518 (I think), in 'downtown' (5 shops, a fancy restaurant and a post office) Rocky Hill, between Franklin / South Brunswick and Princeton / Montgomery Twp.  They didn't roast their own beans, but they were pretty much as close to a 'gourmet' coffee shop as you were going to get in Jersey at that time.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

[ Parent ]
Oh, and any suggestions for future "Betting on Michelin Stars" diaries? (4.00 / 1)
I promise you'll be in for a real treat in early May (I've already told you, but in case you forgot I'll do "the big reveal" soon!), but I do want to add some new fun stuff for you in the mean time. I have a couple "living/eating green" diaries in the works, as well as possible future restaurants to review.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/c/18...

http://chowhound.chow.com/boar...

So where should I eat? Any ideas?  

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

The Pink Flamingo or The Dunes Hotel... (4.00 / 2)
Tell Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo I said hi if you go the latter...

;-P

Any good Indian places in Vegas?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

[ Parent ]
Well, The Flamingo is still around... (4.00 / 1)
But it's less "Bugsy" these days and more "Miami Vice". But hey, the GO Rooms aren't too bad.

The Dunes, however, is long gone. What was the hotel is now Bellagio, and where the golf course once was has now become Cosmopolitan and CityCenter.

Now I've been on a quest for good Indian food for some time. Namaste is a nice hole in the wall at Commercial Center off Sahara serving classic great grub, while Origin India at Paradise & Harmon (across from Hard Rock Hotel) serves more modern, upscale Indian fare with a touch of Euro fusion.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
I LOVE Hunter Thompson (4.00 / 3)
his books (and Jonny Depp in the movie)
[ Parent ]
Daylight Saving Sunday? (4.00 / 2)
Already?  Huh, where is the year going?

I've never been in a bar when the clocks change on the Saturday night of Daylight Saving when the clocks skip ahead.  Won't this year, either.  But I'm curious how that works.

Bars in Portland close at 2:30.  But from 1:59 AM, the clock's next step is 3 AM.  Anybody ever been in a bar when the clocks skip ahead?  Is last call at like 1:40?  Do they throw everybody out at 1:59?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

Wait... Bars close??!! (4.00 / 1)
Oh that's right, you're in Portland. I hear bars actually have to close outside of Nevada. Since all of our bars here in Vegas are open 24/7, it would be an interesting experiment to be at one of them at 1:59 AM and see if they remember to change all their clocks. :-)

Act on Principles and make equality happen.
[ Parent ]
It's been a while (4.00 / 3)
but if I remember right, that's exactly what happens. Been in plenty at last call, even on the time shift.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
OLCC... (4.00 / 2)
Does OLCC station deadly ninjas outside bar doors at 1:59 AM on Daylight Saving Sunday and chop the heads off of any stragglers who wander out at "3:00"?  And hand out $637,000 fines, of course?

;-P

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

[ Parent ]
Hehe (4.00 / 3)
no, but sometime the local cops do....

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
So legendary LA Times food critic S. Irene Virbila... (4.00 / 1)
Finally comes to town and reviews some of the CityCenter restaurants. It was really refreshing to see such honesty... And it made me hungry, dammit! I had to stop myself from running over to Sage.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.
Made ravioli for dinner tonight. (4.00 / 3)
Yesterday I bought some ground beef over at my favorite slaughter house, the one with the local beef.

The package I made into filling was 1.37lbs. I did deep fried dumplings yesterday, ravioli today, and I'm not sure what I'll make tomorrow, but so far I've fed 3 people 2 meals each off of that beef and I still have half of it left.

I may make some more ravioli, or stuffed shells tomorrow. I have a half gallon of milk to make some fresh cheese. I think I'll do that tomorrow and mix it in with the meat filling and maybe stuff some canneloni or manicotti.

The sauce I seved with the ravioli I made with ground chicken. That's what dad used to always have with ravioli, and what his mom always used. Yet another use for old tough chickens. I know where the next aged roo's going. OH, YEAH!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

I need to make me some ravioli! (4.00 / 2)
What's your recipe? I can easily swap out the ground beef for "ground soy". And wait, you make your own cheese, too??!! Hats off to you, Joanne, seriously. What would does one need to make homemade cheese?

Act on Principles and make equality happen.
[ Parent ]
Yesterday (4.00 / 3)
I used round gyoza wrappers left over from making the deepfried dumplings on Wednesday. Those and won ton wrappers are the best if you're planning on deep frying.

If I make pasta today I'll just use a basic egg pasta recipe. I have lots of flour and eggs, so no point in buying pasta. Hmm, I might make some fresh pasta and use the leftover meat for meatballs.

The filling I seasoned with a packaged taco mix, plus some dried chopped onion and extra garlic granules. The original meal I made on Wednesday consisted of beans, deep fried dumplings, and coleslaw that I made (made my own dressing for the slaw too).

I was thinking about making some cheese to add to the meat because that's come close to doubling the volume, and I'd be back to having the same ammount of filling as I had when I started, before making 6 servings of food.

To make the chees is simple. You use milk and vinegar (I like regular brown cider vinegar). To one gallon you use 1/2 cup vinegar. For smaller batches reduce the vinegar accordingly, 1/2 gallon of milk would use 1/4 cup vinegar, etc.

Heat the milk in a double boiler to 185°. Heat the milk slowly to prevent scortching. If you don't have a thermometer, you can tell when it's at the proper temp as the surface will begin developing a foam and will be close to simmering.

When the milk is hot, remove from heat and slowly pour in the vinegar while gently stirring to incorporate. Once you start to see the curd seperating from the whey (the whey will have a greenish tinge), stop stirring and cover the pot. Let stand for 20 minutes, then with a slotted spoon, gently lift the curds, which will be pretty fragile, into a strainer lined with muslin, cotton, or fine woven cheese cloth, or use a cheese form if you have one. (My cheese form is a 1 pint cottage cheese container that I've cut a lot of holes in with a knife, and I use another cottage cheese container with water or something else heavy to press the top of the cheese.) When you've lifted all of the larger curds, you can pour the whey through the strainer cloth to get the rest of the curds.

DON'T THROW AWAY THE WHEY. It's good for making soup (Euclidarms posted a great cream of broccoli soup recipe made with whey here a bit ago), you can also use it as the liquid in bread making, and I bet you could use it in just about any other recipe that calls for water. It's a bit on the tart side, so adds a bit of flavor in that way.

Anyway, gather up the corners of your cheese strainer, tie and hang for 4 hours to over night, depending on how dry you want the cheese. If you're making a cheese spread, you'll want to hang the cheese maybe for as little as 1 hour, so you won't have cheese that's too dry. But for cutting, you want it pretty firm and dry.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
speaking of meat.. (4.00 / 3)
it was a fascinating dinner conversation last night. My daughter the vegan/food activist is home from college. My friend the cook book author and chef was over. She's writing a new book on fish. She said its getting really hard to "square" up all things food related once you understand all the factors.  
[ Parent ]
Your friend the cook book author is right (4.00 / 3)
which is why I try to steer clear of buying fish or seafood in the store, with a few exceptions. Oregon oysters I don't mind as they are all farmed and the oystermen are pretty good at managing their stock. I don't mind buying a salmon from the indians up the Columbia river as they're not going to decimate the runs, and the Oregon crab fishery is well regulated as is the sturgeon fishery. Those are fisheries that I'm very familiar with, having grown up with them and in a family of avid fishermen, albeit recreational for home use. We used to eat a lot of fish when I was a kid, because my dad's philosophy is that if you catch it and keep it you'd better eat it.

Other than those, if I want fish to eat, I'll go buy a license and tags and go catch my own fish, and if there aren't enough fish around for me to catch one for dinner, I don't do catch and release so I'll have something else for dinner.

Buying fish and shellfish from the store presents a real set of issues to be knowleageable about and to navigate. Farmed or wild, sustainable or not, etc. More trouble than I'm interested in.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch... (4.00 / 2)
is always a good start. You can keep track of which fish are currently overharvested, which fish species are too close to endangered for comfort, and which fish are being properly harvested and safe for consumption.

Our local seafood master, Rick Moonen from RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, is a BIG advocate of sustainable seafood here in Las Vegas.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
humane slaughter (4.00 / 3)
Video of the March 4 hearing about humane slaughter is now available at the committee website. Chaired by Dennis Kucinich, Domestic Policy subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

USDA fails again.

"Continuing Problems in USDA's Enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act"

Hagen nomination (4.00 / 3)
Blanche still hasn't scheduled a hearing on the Elisabeth Hagen nomination. This is more than six weeks.

She must be doing something else that is more important.

Some other nominations on which no action has been taken by the Ag Committee:

Jul 31, 09     PN836     Department of Agriculture
              Dallas P. Tonsager, of South Dakota, to be a Member of the Board of
              Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Jul 31, 09     PN835     Department of Agriculture
              Evan J. Segal, of Pennsylvania, to be a Member of the Board of
              Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Jul 31, 09     PN834     Department of Agriculture
              James W. Miller, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Board of Directors
              of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Jul 31, 09     PN833     Department of Agriculture
              Kathleen A. Merrigan, of Massachusetts, to be a Member of the Board of
              Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Jul 31, 09     PN832     Department of Agriculture
              Kevin W. Concannon, of Maine, to be a Member of the Board of Directors
              of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

I wonder what's going on with the CCC nominations. Confirmation for Merrigan to Deputy Secretary took less than three weeks.

1 .  Nomination:  PN833-111    
Kathleen A. Merrigan, to be Member of the Board of Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation, Department of Agriculture; vice Charles F. Conner.
Received: July 31, 2009
Referred: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Latest Action: July 31, 2009 - Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

2 .  Nomination:  PN213-111    
Kathleen A. Merrigan, to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture; vice Charles F. Conner, resigned.
Received: March 19, 2009
Referred: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Latest Action: April 03, 2009 - Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote.


[ Parent ]
Better late than never? (4.00 / 2)
AP published a mini-article about the hearing today, 8 days after the fact. Better to watch the video.

Lawmakers probe lax enforcement of animal rules

[ Parent ]
Been watching... (4.00 / 3)
...a crapload of college basketball the past couple days, the conference tournaments (going on now) have been much better than usual.  Especially the Big East games.  Upset after upset after upset after upset.  

Unfortunately, no school I could root for has done well at all so far.  Rutgers and Seton Hall are both gone (Seton Hall has a slight chance to qualify for the NCAA tournament, but it's like 1-in-a-thousand right now), as are Portland State and Oregon.  

Only school I have left to root for I guess is Michigan State.  Or maybe this year we can hop on some 11 or 12 seed's bandwagon if any of them make it past the second round.  

Should be a cool tournament, though.  Heh, and no Arizona, no Connecticut and no North Carolina.  Now if only Duke would go like 6 - 25 next year. :)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

Gonzaga (4.00 / 3)
Root for Gonzaga, if they're in it.
[ Parent ]
They will be... (4.00 / 3)
Although they lost a high seed when St. Mary's kicked the crap out of them in the conference tournament.  Instead of a 4, they'll probably be a 7 now and face a much better team in the first round.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens
[ Parent ]
Hmmmm... (4.00 / 3)
Looking over things again right now, it looks like Seton Hall ain't dead yet.  

If Minnesota loses to Michigan State and San Diego State loses to New Mexico tomorrow (both probable), I think Seton Hall makes it as "last team in" for the moment.  But I won't even pretend I can understand the 'bracketology' stuff.  Too much time I don't feel like investing to understand that.  But to my (amateur) eyes, it sure doesn't look like Seton Hall's quite dead yet...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

[ Parent ]
Largest recall ever? (4.00 / 3)
This is interesting, from Business Week -

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Salmonella contamination at a Nevada food-flavoring plant may trigger the recall of as many as 10,000 products, according to a Consumers Union scientist.

PepsiCo Inc. joined Procter & Gamble Co., Nestle SA and McCormick & Co. yesterday in recalling food containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. The widespread use of the flavoring means more companies will follow, said Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, the Yonkers, New York-based advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

Almost 150 items, including two flavors of P&G's Pringles and a store-brand ranch dip found in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had been pulled as of yesterday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site. Soups, sauces, chili, hot dogs, snack foods, dips and dressings are among the processed foods that often contain the vegetable protein, according to the FDA.

"It's a wake-up call for the food industry as a whole to be more thorough in evaluating the safety of ingredients," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "Big companies are putting their trust in suppliers, which is their Achilles heel."

The tally of products will rise over the next few weeks, FDA officials said March 4, declining to provide an estimate. The recall has the potential to be the largest ever by number of products, although the total isn't yet known, said Rita Chappelle, an FDA spokeswoman.



"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens
Shades of PCA? (4.00 / 3)
Uh oh (from the above-linked article)...

In an inspection report sent to Basic Food Flavors, FDA investigators said they found salmonella on "non-food contact surfaces" near some food processing equipment. The contaminations were found where the HVP powder is mixed with other ingredients to be packaged into final products, according to the report. Basic Food Flavors continued to make and distribute HVP for several weeks after it knew its plant was contaminated, the FDA said in the report.


"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens
[ Parent ]
HVP (4.00 / 3)
I wonder why HVP is used in industrial foods. What purpose does it serve, what is its function?
[ Parent ]
I thought it was a flavor enhancer (4.00 / 4)
like MSG that they stopped using when the big hoo ha was on about MSG. Why they don't just use salt, I don't know, perhaps cost, perhaps stability on the shelf, or in processing.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
From the Wikipedia (4.00 / 4)
Hydrolized Vegetable Protein

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
I'll be darned. (4.00 / 2)
You had it exactly right. That's wild. Obviously MSG is one of the components, but manufacturers get to use HVP on the label instead of MSG. Clever.
[ Parent ]
NYTimes published article about seed prices yesterday (4.00 / 3)
It focused on the rise in seed prices and mentioned that little thing monopoly and even named Monsanto by name.

There are antitrust laws on the books, but they really don't count for mush these days. I do think it's time for our govt. to break up Monsanto.

Just downloaded some active desktop calendar software (4.00 / 3)
and got it set up on the laptop.

So nice to see the calendar right there in front of me. I look at the desktop more often than I look at the calendar on the wall and now that the CSA share season for Spring/Summer is about to begin, and people are starting to sign up, some on weekly deliveries, some bi-weekly, some want eggs every week, some only every other week, etc. having a calendar that I can configure and that will remind me of everything is really handy.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

Pot Luck | 35 comments
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