Words of vacation wisdom

The IT family has returned from spring break.  We visited my dad and stepmother in Texas, spending time in both Houston and San Antonio.  While it seemed at times like the entire vacation was being spent in a mini-van, that wasn’t really the case.  We hit Kemah, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, SeaWorld, and a whole lot of food.   We even had the classic QAP moment of walking through a crowd at Market Square celebrating fiesta with a baby stroller in tow.   Reminded me of my prior scorn of parents strolling around Bourbon Street with toddlers and infants.  “What the hell is wrong with those people?” I would say to myself.  Hmm.  What goes around, comes around, they always say.

Spending time with my dad brought a whole lot of wisdom with it.  For instance, I bring to you some classic bon mots…

“You can’t trust a Mexican restaurant unless it’s open for breakfast.”

“There’s no such thing as bad bacon.”

Or what about this classic exchange?

Dad: “I’m having a buzzard attack!”

Me: “Something on the windshield?”

Mr IT: “No, he’s talking about BLIZZARDS.  He wants to go to Dairy Queen.”

Me: “Where in the world are we going to find a DQ?”

Dad: “The next exit.  This is Texas.  Every town in Texas has a DQ.  It’s like the law or something.”

He was right.  The next exit, Flatonia TX, had a DQ.  So we stopped.  I had some horribly huge waffle bowl sundae (what was I thinking?) and the kids had small dishes of vanilla.  Mr. IT tried to order a chocolate cone, which was met with a “we don’t sell chocolate” response.  Stunned, he just stood there for a while, and eventually ordered a turtle blizzard.  Dad said that he’s never seen a Dairy Queen that sells chocolate soft serve, while Mr IT insisted he ordered it in Stamford, CT, which is the only DQ I know of near us.  This led to some spirited discussions and the desperate use of brainpower that could have been occupied elsewhere to figure out who was right.  Thanks to Sarabakescakes, via Twitter, we discovered they were both right, in a way…

11. Why are there variations in product from one store to another?

The majority of Dairy Queen restaurants throughout the United States are individually owned and operated franchises. While there are some products, like our soft serve, that you can find in every Dairy Queen location, there are other products, like chocolate soft serve and butterscotch or crunch toppings for dipped cones, that you may not find in every store. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to carry a particular product rests with the independent franchise operator of that particular store.

Well, who knew?  Thanks Sara!  It’s good to be home!

 

Espresso Love

When I was growing up, it was a given in my house that Mother IT was never going to consider making a move in the morning until she had consumed her requisite 2 cups of coffee.  I never understood her affection for the bean.  Then and now, it’s taken black, no sugar.  Bleck.  Ask her and she will tell you the story of how she learned to drink it that way.  In college, she belonged to a sorority and lived in their house.  At dinner, male students were hired to serve, literally, as waiters for the girls.  When it came time to coffee after dinner, you could get the coffee yourself, but cream and sugar had to be brought by one of the men, which was “horribly embarrassing.”  She learned to drink her coffee forgoing the luxuries of cream and sweetener.  That story alone should tell you that I am not always that much like my mom.  I’d be pulling a “Oh boy, boy!  Come forth and provide me with dairy!”  But I digress.

Flash forward four decades, and you have someone who, like her mother, cannot exist without imbibing a caffeinated beverage in the morning.  I tried giving it up, but I was grumpy, and who needs that?  Plus, it speeds up your metabolism, ever so slightly.  And who needs a slow metabolism?

I bought a coffee maker recently, but I’m not really down with the drip.  Overall I prefer espresso based beverages over ice.   But if that’s what’s available, I’ll glad down a hot cup o’ joe, just to get my fix.

I’ve heard over the past year a lot of people talking about coffee.  Strangely enough, for people who have such strong opinions, none of these people actually drinks coffee.  But they feel like they can talk about it.  No more I say, no more.  I am here to dispel the rumors that you folks perpetuate…

First, it’s time to stop saying that all coffee tastes the same.  Yeah, right.  Just like all wine/soda/beer/bottled water tastes the same.  You may find people argue about which tastes better, with “better” being subjective, but you cannot really argue that it all tastes the same.  There are differences in the kind of bean as well as how it’s brewed and served that equal differences in taste.

Second, again, “best” is subjective.  So while people say that McDonald’s coffee is just as good as Starbucks, they mean that they LIKE it as much as Starbucks, although I certainly don’t see how that could be. 

But that’s the joy of opinions.  Everyone has one.  And here are mine.  My favorite coffees, in descending order.  Remember, I’m ordering iced lattes for the most part, so that’s what the judging was based on.

5. McDonald’s - I’ve heard people rave about their iced coffees - so good!  So cheap!  I’m at a loss for that.  They’re bitter, for the most part, and don’t have a very pronounced coffee flavor.  I get these when it’s convenient.  Say, Little IT’s going to the ear doctor and is starving for a meal, and McD’s is nearby - great, I can kill two birds with one stone.  But I certainly don’t seek them out. 

4. Starbucks - sure, I like them.  The one in my town is very good.  But I find their iced latte to be a bit too strong, as as rule.  And they’re the priciest option, never a good thing. 

3. Dunkin’ Donuts - a good choice when I am getting Little IT breakfast on the go before school, so it goes with the two birds vote.  They tend to be a bit weak, so sometimes I ask for an extra shot. 

2. Seattle’s Best - this is a sad one, because we don’t have very many of these around NY or NJ.  But when I see a store or counter, I’m there.  Newark terminal A?  There.  Newark Airport next to Borders?  There.  My closest Borders in White Plains closed, and with that, my dreams of SBC. 

1. Chock Full O’Nuts - yes, hard to believe, but good old Choc makes a great iced latte.  They’re large, and very tasty.  They’re also located in my workplace.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  I’d probably go the most to whatever was closest to me, but I really do like them.  The Hoboken one has horrifically long lines in the morning, but I wait.  It’s worth it.  They’re perfect, at least to me.  Good milk to espresso ratio.  Damn tasty coffee. 

Feel free to agree/disagree/flame violently in the comments.  Remember, these are my opinions and your mileage may vary. 

 

Super Bowling

I had the joy of dropping off Little IT at school this morning.  She’s in an early morning program to help parents who work get to their jobs on time.  It’s located in the school cafeteria, and they politely discourage you from dropping the kids off while sitting in your warm and cozy car.  Instead, they like for you to walk them inside, to minimize the separation anxiety.  Little rarely has any of that, because she has a friend who gets there slightly before her meet her at the door with a knock out hug.  Literally, the girl comes tearing from across the room to body slam my kid with some lovin’.  It’s sweet, and helps avoid mimicking the other kids by sitting at the window watching me leave in the car.  Truthfully, she only does that because she sees other kids doing it.  She hasn’t mastered the forlorn expression that those kids have.  Instead, she looks like she’s conjugating verbs or calculating pi to the 100th decimal place.

Anyhow, today we came in behind a little boy who was polite enough to hold the door for us.  He was wearing a Giants ski hat.  I noticed it, but didn’t comment.  However, I did have a comment when he took off his ski jacket and had a Pats jersey under it.  With a Giants turtleneck underneath that!  I said, what’s up with the wardrobe, little man?  His mom answered that he likes both teams and is having a hard time deciding which one he wants to win.   

I understand, except I’m not feeling like have to have be particularly loyal to one side or the other.  Mr IT as has been noted is a Pats fan.  His loyalties are clear.  And, under normal circumstances, I would be right there with him.  Granted, when the Giants played the Pats at the end of the regular season, a little bit of me wanted Eli and company to get the big win, but I was happy that the unbeaten team remained so.

Now, with the big game on the horizon, I’m surrounded by folks who are REALLY REALLY pulling for the Giants.  I’ve debated my loyalties, and decided that baseball season takes enough out of me and I shall be happy for whoever wins.  I’d be thrilled if the Jints could pull it off and show everyone that they are for real.  Of course, the idea of the Pats getting the unbeaten season in a pure sense is pretty cool too. 

And if you’re wondering where your Super Bowl party invite is, stop standing by the mailbox because it isn’t coming.  I invited two of our friends and it seems like they have other plans.  That’s fine.  Mr IT’s response was, “Good for them, they wouldn’t have had fun here anyhow.”  While that’s not totally true, he has a point.  You see, we’re a “watch-the-game” kind of family.  Worse, I’m a marketer, so I watch the commercials to0.  I have to gauge food and drink input careful so any output can happen during the (yawn) halftime show.  We went to a friend’s house the second year the Pats were in the Super Bowl.  All the kids put together a show for us to watch in the basement.  Mr. IT came down with the others, but once the game started and the kids show kept going, he had the horrific realization that watching the game was not the primary purpose of the party.  Soon after came our big TV and we’ve been staying home ever since.  We do bring the chow in a good way.  This year, I’m whipping up homemade Chex Mix, just like the mom in the commercial used to make, chili con queso, pigs in blankets and cheesesteaks.   Chips too.  Lots of chips.  Fritos, Tostitos, Cheetos, Doritos…anything ending in OS. 

So, if you’re into some serious eating, and serious TV watching, you’re more than welcome in the IT household.  Just don’t ask me to choose sides.

 

Toast Jam

My colleague J. has told me many times about his misfortunes on the toast line, and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never have believed him.

Let’s step back.  I headed down to the company cafeteria for breakfast #2.  Breakfast #1 was an Atkins shake that I grabbed out of my fridge at 4:30am when I was hunting around the kitchen for infant Motrin.  IT Boy woke at 3:30 am most upset with the world.  He was screaming with his fingers in his mouth and was very warm to the touch (I can only assume it was a fever, because at that hour I was not putting the thermometer you-know-where to find out for sure.)  I never did find the Motrin, so Tylenol sufficed, and we never did get back to sleep.   By the time I got to the office, my stomach sounded like a pack of lions, and I knew I needed some sustenance.  Wheat toast with peanut butter sounded like just the ticket.

Once inside the cafeteria, I saw what J. has been talking about.  The Toast Jam.  The people who are all making toast at the same time who hoover around the communal toaster.  It’s not a pop up toaster, but one of those with a rotating rack that moves your toast and the toast of your 5-7 closest friends over and under a heating element.  Which is fine if you’re the only one waiting, but if not, you’re in for some serious issues.

The alpha creature in the pack was the ”Toast Bully”.  A TB believes that only she knows how toast should be toasted, and stood there with tongs putting toast that was not hers back in the toaster, and fiddling with the intensity dial.  I heard about the “I know toast better than you do” attitude, but it was comical to see it live.  Granted, she wasn’t using her hands (J. has mentioned that some TBs do that - ewww) but still, people who didn’t stand vigil over the toaster got theirs cajun-style.  She makes sure that it’s not possible for you to get in with bread and get out with toast unnoticed and untouched.  She had competition from a male of the TB species, but he didn’t stand a chance against her, and they seemed to be having quite a discussion about what number on the dial makes the best toast (insert “Spinal Tap” 11 joke here). 

There were others hoovering around the male TB and the female TB, inserting hands at times when they thought their toast was coming out.  When I saw two people make a grab for the same English muffin and touch, I just turned away in disgust.  These are the things that you don’t have to deal with when you work at home.

After watching the pack get all ruffled up over warmed bread, I gave up the toast ghost and headed for the oatmeal instead.  No one was around, and I was able to take my time and put in all the raisins I wanted.  Breakfast heaven.

 

Continuing my conversion to “haus-frau”

Because my scrapbooking addition will be taking up more of my time, how will I be able to cook dinner for my hungry family?  Never fear, Let’s Dish  is here.  It’s a fun concept - grab a couple of friends, or head in yourself, and put together a bunch of meals to take home, freeze and cook later.  You come into the place, don protective gear (see below) and pick which meals you want to make.  At each station, you assemble the ingredients for a meal and place them into ziploc bags to be frozen and cooked later.  In just over an hour, I had the makings of 4 meals (you could also do 8 or 12, I started small).  The benefits?  You don’t have to chop anything, or clean up for that matter.  It’s more expensive than making it yourself, but it’s cheaper than take-out.  You make it yourself, fresh, and you can also control the ingredients that go into it. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, not just because of the food, but the company.  I went with Kris, who works with me, and she brought a friend from another publishing house not to be named.  :-)  As you can see, a great time was had by all. 

 

I’ve cooked two of the meals already, and they fed 4 people heartily.  The French Farmhouse chicken was delicious.  The Portabella Beef Stew was good, but the reviews in the house placed it at less yummy than the stew I make myself.  Let’s Dish claims that each of the dishes feeds 6, but those 6 people must be very small and not so hungry.  I know portion size is an issue in my world, but 6 people would starve if they had to share one Let’s Dish dish.  Since you see exactly what goes into each meal, I can say that they were pretty healthy, especially when combined with a big yummy salad at mealtime.  Mr IT is struggling to get the concept (”You can’t just do this yourself at home?”) but I think it’s something I would be happy to try again. 

 

Saturday Night’s Not All Right For Ice Cream

I freely acknowledge a certain fact about my life, and that is that I don’t really get out much.  This manifests itself in a lot of ways, but perhaps none more pathetic than when you hear that going to the supermarket on a Saturday evening is something I look forward to. 

Keep in mind that my choice of food purveyor is not a usual one - it’s Stew Leonards, dubbed the Disney World of supermarkets.  If you’re in marketing, you simply must visit this store sometime and see how they work.  Mr IT said something about them having higher sales per square foot than most other supermarkets, but they still deliver an amazing customer experience.  Singing bananas, costumed cows and chickens walking around, and, in warmer months, a little animal farm for petting make it more tolerable than the average mega-mart.  Their dairy products are the best - everything is so fresh.  Meat and vegetables are also top notch.  You can’t do much better than their prepared convenience foods.  Their customer service is remarkable.  But it’s not any of those that got Little IT and me off the couch last night.  It’s the ice cream parlor.

Stew Leonard’s has some of the the best soft serve ice cream, period.  Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate are standbys, but they often have seasonal flavors like peppermint, apple pie and pumpkin.  I love it all.  The stuff takes me right back to my childhood.  I grew up on Carvel, but now find it a bit gummy. 

Anyhow, flash back to last night.  Little IT and I park and head into the building.  We begin discussing when we would have the ice cream, first and eat it as we went through the store, or would we get it on the way out, to go, and eat it at home.  When your cash register receipt totals more than $100, you “win” a free ice cream or coffee, so we often go after we’ve completed our shopping to claim our prize.  But last night, we decided to get it first, and excitedly walked up to the counter to see the following sign:

The ice cream parlor is out of service

We apologize for any inconvenience.

And with that, our dreams of a fun Saturday night were dashed.  I have no idea why the machines weren’t working, but there was little we could do to remedy the situation.  When you want fresh soft serve, nothing from the freezer case will do.  Little IT was indignant, and walked around the store the whole night griping about our ice cream occlusion.  We shared our grief with our cashier, whose own dreams were dashed as she planned to grab a cone after work. 

Consolation was found in a box of fresh glazed chocolate donuts, a new product at Stew’s which took over for fall’s apple cider donuts.  The donuts, they claim, are made with Stew’s chocolate milk, which is the best around.  They were quite good, but we did remark how much better the warm donuts would be mashed up with some vanilla soft serve.  

 

Thanksgiving Day menu

Starters:  cheese, crackers, olives, roasted red peppers, stuffed mushrooms (prepared, from Stew Leonards)

First course: Squash Soup

The main event: Molasses-brined turkey with gingersnap gravy- seriously delicious.  I made it several years ago and it was out of this world.  You may think the gravy sounds wacked, but it was 1. yummy and 2. easy, because you don’t have to create a roux.

Green bean casserole - right off the soup can label.  A Mr. Elle family tradition.

Cranberry sauce (my mommy makes it)

Creamed onions (mommy, again)

Carrots (1 small bag fresh baby carrots baked for 45 minutes with dill, a little butter, and chicken stock)

Spinach Gratin- never tried it but Claire says it’s good.  I’m all about using spinach as a delivery vehicle for the cream, butter and cheese, so this looks like it will work for me.

Some form of dressing aka stuffing.  It’s got to be my favorite side dish yet I am totally hopeless about making it.  I don’t know why this has become my white whale, but I was ready to do Stove Top this year to avoid the fate of Thanksgivings past.  Mr. Elle convinced me to take on a bag of Pepperidge Farm but “keep it simple.”  I’m sure you know a “stupid” was implied at the end of his statement. 

Dessert:  Sweet Potato Pie, Blueberry Pie, maybe the S&S Cheesecake my mom has in the freezer as well if I can convince her to give it up. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

This Charming Man

As I mentioned in the last post, like it or not we’re in the holiday season.  I like to call this time of year the Trifecta of Fat.  First Halloween, and the joys of eating more chocolate than the entire population of Switzerland packs away.  Then comes Thanksgiving, and the pie-testing I put the family through as I experiment with what hopefully is the perfect pie for the big day.  Then, Christmas, sprinkled with a bit of Hanukkah for good measure.  You wonder why those new year’s resolutions get made.  We can’t stop eating!

Of course, yesterday I was in total nesting mode.  The only thing the family had on the docket for the day was Little IT’s soccer practice at 8:30a.  When we got to the field, it was a swamp from the rains the night before, so we called the practice off.  That freed us to head to the mall for some errands, and then home so Little IT could have a playdate.  I walked into the kitchen and didn’t walk out until after dinner.  Call it nesting, call it what you want, I just call it fun. 

The recipes of choice for the day came from my favorite Food Network personality Alton Brown.  He’s really not a true “personality” in the sense of being an Emeril, Giada or heaven forbid, Rachael Ray.  He’s a food hacker at heart, someone who teaches you the science behind cooking in an effort to help you cook everything better.  I started watching him on “Good Eats” right after Little IT was born, and it’s still one of the shows we watch together.  I take most everything he says as gospel.  If Alton says to do that, it’s worth the effort.  The two notable exceptions were the “cure your own bacon” and “cook a roast in a flowerpot” episodes.  Despite that, my track record with Alton is quite good.

Yesterday, I whipped up:

* Alton’s chili, in slow cooker instead of a pressure cooker, but just as yummy

* Alton’s baked beans, which cooked overnight so we could wake up to yumminess

* Alton’s French Onion Soup. Best I’ve ever tasted, and I bought the electric skillet just to make this. The investment was totally worth it. The recipe in the link above is incorrect. I know this because I printed it out years ago and still have it. It’s 10 onions, not 5. Makes a huge difference I am sure.

I don’t want this to be a food blog, but Alton’s not a food guy.  He’s a hacker at heart (Mac guy too) and if you’re thinking of cooking, he’s the go-to guy for any assistance. 

Not to brag, but in between all those savory goodies, I also baked 2 dozen cookies and a pan of brownies for Veterans Day.  That’s because tomorrow, Little IT goes with the rest of the area Girl Scouts to bag cookies, make cards, and deliver them to local veterans.  It’s such a rewarding and heartwarming activity, and I’m so proud she and the troop does this.  Last year I went, and was surprised, shocked really to see how many people bought cookies instead of making them.  I mean, these people were willing to give their lives for our country, the least we can do is break out the Betty Crocker for them.  Some of the Veterans get dressed in their uniforms while they wait for the girls.  Others actually sit on the front porch, they’re so excited to get the visitors.  I hope they enjoy my cookies!

 

The best of the best

The best sandwich in America?  Today came up with a list.  I’m happy to acknowledge I have had three of the five of them, and I do agree with their choices. 

My vote for the best is the Cheesesteak. “Cheesesteak” is pretty much my answer to everything. “How is the weather?” “Cheesesteak.” “What time is it?” “Cheesesteak time.” “What’s the forecast for sales on that title?” “Cheesesteak.” “What’s the marketing plan for that book?” “Cheesesteak.”

You can’t go wrong with “Cheesesteak”, can you?