Wine Me Dine Me

My love life in food

I now have two kinds of adventures since I decided to get back into the dating game (single, 40-something, dating--great combo). I have the foodie adventures with events and restaurant reviewing and I have the meeting people for coffee, a drink or dinner to decide if we "click". Why not combine the two I thought to myself!! And so I am.

First hurdle--bringing a date to a major foodie event--a celebratory party at The Dunaway where there were tons of fooderati and people who knew me. (I always go to these things by myself). Luckily he was a chef so he could hold his own with all the restaurant talk and didn't seem to mind that everyone knew me. Cool. Also did well at a restaurant review as my companion because he could point out flaws in sauces. Great.

Next up---lunch restaurant review and meeting somone else new tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Stop n' Shop has new ethnic food

A few months back I blasted the new Stop n' Shop in Exeter because they don't have as much ethnic ingredients as the Shaw's right up the road....well, they have something no one else has--the ethnic cuisine of New Jersey----my favorite meat---Pork Roll! Yes, they have Taylor Ham made right in Trenton!

And Tastycakes, but not the Butterscotch Crimpets, so Jerseyites rejoice!

Eat Sexy Food

Yeah it is, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, the most overhyped holiday of the year. The lines in the drugstore are filled with folks holding shiny red cello wrapped Whtiman's heart shaped boxes (when you should be at Byrne and Carlson or Cacao, where chocolatiers Susan and Greta are probably right now losing their minds).

I've been eating chocolate all night and I am totally wired--85% cacao--dark, rich and making me be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So the night before V-Day and all day tomorrow I'm just going to nibble chocolate all day--gift to self. Love chocolate, love thyself. Try it.

Where to go for Valentine's Day ..add ons

I've been getting loads of emails about where to go for Valentine's Day (yes, one of the busiest restaurant days of the year) so I'm going to be posting a running list of what I find out as I go along in terms of special dinners in the area. Here's what I have so far:

Bonta in Hampton is one romantic spot. http://www.bonta.net

They're doing a special menu dinner on Feb. 12 and the 14th as well. Check out this menu---oysters, baby!

The Metro in Portsmouth http://www.themetrorestaurant.com is also doing a special dinner along with the regular menu.

The set menu is $95 per couple and include a glass of champagne with dessert. The first course is an artichoke and lobster Souffle (mmmmm),with Toast Points, followed by Watercress Salad with Onion Mango Ginger Dressing. The entree is an Oven Roasted Filet
Mignon topped with Gorgonzola, Shallots, and Cognac Sauce. The Grande Finale is a Chocolate Grand Marnier Mousse paired with Champagne.

Crescent Cit Bistro http://www.crescentcitybistro.com

will have a five-course set menu for $50 per person which will include many aphrodisiacs such as oysters, olives and chocolate. They're already at over 50 reservations so book soon!

The nearby Orchard St. Chop Shop http://www.orchardstreetchopshop.com is doing their regualar menu but with a number of great specials. New drinks will be presented at both restaurants that evening as well and all the ladies get a carnation too.

Dressing for Dinner

I've become one of "those" women. The ones that look at their sweetheart before going out on a dinner date and make some veiled critical comments about what they're wearing. "Oh, are you going to wear those sneakers?" I said. We all know what the really translates into--"Omigosh, you are NOT going out to dinner wearing those crappy sneakers ARE you????!!!"

But in my defense, he didn't know the place we were going for his birthday. He didn't know it was a sort of urban chic spot and that while jeans and a nice shirt were fine, grubby sneakers just would have made him feel uncomfortable. I gently suggested his black cowboy boots and he was glad I did. So maybe it's a part of my job as "the girlfriend" to help him gauge what to wear out to dinner.

Let me tell you who could have used some help. The table next to us. Three couples, the dudes all on one side, the ladies on the other. All the guys had the same short haircut, some variation on a blue button down shirt and dockers. I looked at my sweetheart with his goatee and tousled hair and I realized I was so thankful that he is an "individual" in his dress that he could have worn his sneakers if he wanted. That would have been just fine.

Me and my Super Market

I live in Exeter, the town that has nothing of some things and too may of others. We have plenty of car dealerships and pizza joints but we have no cool dining like in Portsmouth (Bonta in Hampton or Zampa in Epping is the closest) and no cool martini bars with music. All folks can talk about is the Margaritas opening in the Spring in the Globe strip mall. But since the opening of the Super Stop n' Shop we now have three supermarkets in a one mile strip. Tonight I'm going to make a wish upon a star that when I wake up in the morning the S N' S will have magically disappeared....and be replaced with....

]]> ...a Whole Foods or a Wegman's or a Wild Oats or come on!--a Trader Joe's! This huge expanse of supermarket space has been used up for something that's not even as good as the Shaw's (also pretty new) a stone's throw away.

Now, I don't live near Philbrick's Fresh Market (which I love) so I only get to go when I'm down in that area, and I prefer to buy from local shops for stuff like wine and cheese and produce and meat, but that's a drive too, so often Shaw's it is. At least they have a decent ethnic food section with more than just Chinese duck sauce and some taco shells, they actually have exotic stuff!

True story---my friend went to the grand opening of the Stop n' Shop last week and the managers or "suits" by the "international section" told her that the reason they don't carry a lot of ethnic ingredients is that they did demographic studies and found that in our area there aren't a lot of diversity or numbers ethnic populations---you know, not many Japanese or Thai people or Spanish. DUH! But that doesn't mean we don't COOK with ethnic ingredients!!! What, we live in New England so all we can cook is baked beans and clam chowder? I think not, oh ignorant marketing guys at Super S n' S!

Believe you me, the ethnic foods section and the health food section and the wine section at Shaws or Market Basket now look really good right about now.

So thanks, Exeter planning board, for giving us something else we don't need. Oh and while you're at it--take one of those dozen or so gas stations every 1/4 mile and put up a White Castle burger place.

I'm the worst blogger in the world!

In an age where food and drink bloggers are actually getting book and movie deals here I am just so infrequently blogging on my nice Wine Me Dine Me blog--it's getting to be irresponsible. I'd like a book deal too!

Finding the time to blog is tough for me. I have columns to write, restaurants to review, a child to raise and feed and well, that new boyfriend who is ever surprising me with his culinary knowledge. (I never had Chex Mix until I met YOU, Eric...sigh..eyelash batting. Crunch, crunch.) Although I had been thinking that his obsession with Chex Mix might be a red flag but now I'm past the two month mark--that's a big milestone for me.

At any rate, at the moment I'm planning a trip to Vegas so if anyone can tell me what restaurants they've been to that they loved there post me an entry or two.

And don't forget--it's Winter Wine Festival at the Wentworth and Attrezzi until Feb. 16th. Tomorrow Susan and I will be broadcasting our WSCA-FM Portsmouth Community Radio show from the event at 6 pm! Or just come down to see us!

Gear it up!

The term "gearing up for the holidays" is rampant and for me that means buying lots of wacky cooking implements for my family and friends like this cage that fits into the cavity of a turkey or chicken that you can put the stuffing in and just pull it out with no mess!

Or the modified and far more ingenious "beer can chicken cooker". Everyone is getting one of these. Ok, you take the stuff out of the bird and fit it over this hollow tube around which there is a sort of dish. It's a variation on just plopping your chicken on an open can of beer and cooking it in the oven. You can put wine, or herbed broth or some rich ale or spices in the tube and the flavors infuse in the chicken. And, AND, you can put potatoes and carrots around the tube so that the drippings from the chicken cook and flavor them too!

But wait, there's more!

]]> There's a version for the oven and a great one for the BBQ. My latest beau (and now I'm throwing a nod to fellow Herald columnist Emily Wiggin who refers to her new husband as Jon Columnfodder because, well, no one is safe from the published and very pulic descriptions of our lives that come out weekly), anyway Eric, let's see, Eric Source O'Topics (until I can think of a better one)is so into BBQing that the first thing he snowplowed last Friday was a path to his grill. I got him a grill version of the vertical chicken roaster. He'll be thrilled (and since I don't think he reads this, he'll be surprised as well). As my daughter, Avalon Themeidea, stated, "He's good for you, Mom. You like to cook inside but you don't like cooking outside." Ah, if relationships were only that easy.

Anyway, if you haven't gotten a gift for the cook on your list yet, this one is great.

'Tis the Season

For those of you who may have read my Wine Me Dine Me column of Nov. 30 http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11302005/rachel/75655.htm

all about cool cookbooks to buy for food loving friends this year, I do have a few to add.

One is Silver Spoon from Phaidon Press which you won't be able to find for another week or so while they are printing more. It's sort of like the Joy of Cooking for Italian food and it's been selling like hot cakes. Or calzones. I called the publicist and she assured me you will be able to get it by Christmas.

Also good is The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami. Now, Umami is a taste sense just like bitter, sour, sweet, etc. You know like the fifth Beatle. 25 chefs got together some recipes to point out this concept that the Japanese have known about for eons. It's a sort of very rich flavor.

So try to get those for your foodie friends so they can make you some good meals.

Where the Heck Have I Been??????

I realize that one big reason to have a blog is to regularly update people with ones' experiences with whatever is the topic at hand--in my case food and drink. And to do it fairly often. So where have I been?

]]> Well, busy is my first lame excuse. The holiday season is a big one for food writers what with all the wine pairing with turkey (although look for my column in the Herald next week about some great boutique beers instead of wine) and how to brine and what's the difference between stuffing and dressing and all that.

And since blogs deal with the minutia of every day life as if anyone cares, I did start dating someone. So much of my time has been spent staring dreamily off into space. He can cook.

But I'm back and am ready to blog away.

We have some great guests coming up on Portsmouth Community Radio in the next few weeks. Listen in to wsca at 106.1 this Friday to hear my friend Denise Landis talk with Susan and I about her new book Dinner For Eight. She's a recipe tester for the NY Times and has some great stories.

And here's a cocktail to try I had recently:

Absolut Kurant Vodka
Chambord
champagne. in whatever proportions taste good for you. I like more champagne.

Talk to you later.

What's going on in that kitchen?

I know I haven't blogged for awhile. So sorry. I'm busy working, so detailing the minutia of my daily life in food sometimes falls by the wayside. I did take time out yesterday to go see a new movie set in a one of those chain pub type of restaurant called "Waiting". Reality? I hope not.

]]> It's sort of slow moving and sophomoric in humor (I laughed only a few times)but Zeus help us if the things that do on in the kitchen of this place actually go on. It will certainly make you think twice a about being bitchy to a waiter or waitress and if you do complain, look closely at what you get served!

I'd like to know if anyone in a kitchen around here has seen this behavior--you know the spitting in the food--and worse---just post anonymously!

Anyway, I also just want to go on record as saying I want to see Kung Fu Mike come back. His blog was funny and lively and it's sad that he got yanked. But check out www.PortsmouthHabitat.com to find the uncensored Kung Fu Mike in all his glory.

Kitchen Confidential?

Ugh. Who saw the new comedy on Fox last night, Kitchen Confidential? It's supposed to be inspired by the life and book by Anthony Bourdain who wrote the expose memoir on his bad boy life in the kitchen. A finger gets cut off (hey what an original gag!) and it winds up in the meal of the restaurant critic (who at the beginning loudly complains when she doesn't get her table--uh huh, critics TRY to draw attention to themselves)who issues a review after what looks like one night of the restaurant being open and after one visit (suspend your disbelief on that count, too). And while her experience was aqful, she still loved the food. Sigh. It could have been good. I hope it will be soon. Until then I'll keep watching Iron Chef

Duck Tongues and Pig's Ears

I ate a duck's tongue. And marinated sliced pig's ears. I was at a 10-course Chinese banquet in San Francisco with the nation's top food journalists and of course you can't refuse something they give you or else you look like a big foodie wimp in front of everyone. Both were actually delicious.

One of my food writer table-mates dared me to ask San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstien (used to be married to Sharon Stone) how his toe was---it was bitten off by a Komodo dragon in a zoo. I declined.

If you don't have them already, be sure to get your tickets for Friday's big chef's benefit for Katrina victims at the Wentworth---just $195 and all goes to the Red Cross. My co-host from the radio show (WSCA-FM 106.1) and I hope to broadcast live.

And on Tuesday the 27th there's another Dover benefit at Crescent City Bistro...I'll be hosting.

Ok, gotta go get some jellyfish for our salad tonight.

I'm back in High School

I'm out in San Francisco at the annual Association of Food Writers conference and I have to say, it's like being in high school with the cool kids and the nerds. The big guys who write for big city papers and who know all the big chefs and those of us who don't. When we have a dinner everyone hovers around to see who's going to sit where so they can sit with the cool people. This is my third one and I really didn't notice it before now.

But I don't care. Because I met Alice Waters who we probably have to thank for all this local product trend around here and the famous Thomas Keller from The French Laundry who is certainly responsible for much of the new cuisine we finally have in our restaurants. And I like writing for a smaller paper, because we all need to learn about this stuff more than anyone at some elitist paper anyway. Besides, I just barrel through and talk to who I want to anyway. You know me. I'm a schmooze artist. and I'm sitting at the cool table in the lunchroom anyway.

So next up---what some of these big whigs have to say about service. Are you still working on that????

Oh Little Town of Exeter

When I first moved to I ol' Exeter three years ago I was in culinary culture shock. Where are the restaurants??? Ok,so we had about a half dozen pizza joints, oodles of soup and sandwich places and a plethora of Chinese restaurants (with variations within that category)....

]]> ...but not much else. Ok, there was the Tavern at the River's Edge with Creative American fare and burgers in the pub room right downtown and that's cool--I can walk there.

And the Town Lyne, where I made my first best friends---that's slightly out of town. Then there's the Inn of Exeter. Good Brunch.

Well, recently I began to think about moving to somewhere else--like Dover where there are loads of good restaurants right downtown. But I changed my mind. Now it looks like Exeter is getting more interesting in the restaurant category with a new Thai place, Pan Thai, that is always packed, a yet-to-open Martini bar and restaurant called Shakers right around the corner from me (again--walking home is the key), The Lunch and sometimes dinner place The Dam View now has a kind of retro lounge downstairs right on the water and there are RUMOURS about a major (although locally-based) chain watering hole and restaurant coming in as well.
Exeter.

Add too that Goody Cole's with the excellent authentic BBQ and The Circus Cafe with Jim Battles' eccentric ways and from scratch creativity made to order for B L and D and things are looking up for Exeter. Plus we have a nightclub in the Ioka.

Now all we need is a cool, creative restaurant akin to Lindbergh's or Victory or 43 Degrees or Anneke Jans and I'm all set. Oh, and Vietnamese. But that's not likely to happen any time soon.