Julie and Julia Night

Julie and Julia night was a great success, but I hurt today. I ain't as young as I once was. The food was well recieved, and very few leftovers. At left are the gougères, or as the girls call them Cheesy Poofs. I love those kids!

Discuss!

Maple Weekend and Earl's

"Food for the body, music for the soul" Earl's Motto

Saturday marked the opening of our Statewide Maple Weekend. So we made or annual journey to some of our WNY Sugar Shacks for a good time and on a quest for our yearly gallon of Grade B syrup, the best on the planet.

We hit Randall's in Alexander, which was fun, and Kirsch's in Varysburg where we scored that gallon of Grade B as well as discovering that they raise Natural Black Angus Beef. We need more producers that do that kind of thing around here. That's a photo of the Sugar Shack with a couple of the giant windmills that dot the landscape along Rte. 77.

The bad news about this part of the trip is that we had so little snow and warmed up so quickly that the trees are budding, which ends the season. Syrup, at least in WNY will be in short supply.

Afterwords we we went to Earl's, a WNY landmark for 54 years. It is known for "pies and fries", drinks served in real handleless mason jars and Country Music. The last is why I have only been there twice.

But, we had promised the kids, and let them down three times before. Once we arrived to find they only took cash, and we had none (they now have an ATM). Once I was ill. The last was when we forgot that restaurants in the southtowns close on Monday?

The burger was ok, and filling (so filling that we skipped dinner), but the fries I used to like were undercooked and cold.

If you want to know what Earl's is like, it's on TVFN at 10 tonight. I know 'cause Earl told every party that came in. Every party!

"Do you'all watch Food TV." We heard it so much that Trish was dissolved in laughter!

Goodbye, Godwulf

After a while I got hungry and went to the kitchen. There was nothing to eat. I drank another beer and looked again, and found half a loaf of whole wheat bread behind the beer in the back of the refrigerator... — Robert B. Parker (Mortal Stakes)

There is a long history of Detectives and food. Now I am not speaking of the caterer turned detective thing, but rather the traditional detective. Sherlock Holmes had Mrs. Hudson bringing him trays of Food. Mrs. Maigret making meals. Miss Marple having tea. Philip Marlowe drinking whiskey, or making coffee without a filter (milk only in the morning). Poirot and Hastings sharing a meal.

The Apex may have been Nero Wolfe, the 300 pound Gourmand who employed Fritz Brenner as his personal chef. I actually have cookbooks based on Maigret and Wolfe.

But to me, it's Spenser. He is a great, intuitive cook, but reading his adventures is also a history of Restaurants in Boston. From the Locke-Ober and the Ritz, to Biba, The East Coast Grill and Blue Ginger.

I just finished The Professional. It will be the last one Robert B. Parker was alive to finish. He died Jan 18. There are more works in the pipeline, but it won't be the same.

Farewell Spenser, and Susan and Hawk and Quirk and Belson and Farrell and Vinnie . . . . .

Very few of my books are about who stole the Maltese Falcon. — Robert B. Parker

Blogorrea Redux

Been really busy lately, so I'll be finishing some things that have been queuing up!

Tuesday Morning Food Porn

Santasiero's Meatball Bomber - Monday, March 15 2010