That Thing They Du and a Gift of Baijiu

 Never eat Chinese food in Oklahoma - Bryan Miller

This is the story of how I found out you can get good Chinese food in Buffalo.

In the immortal words of my Prof. (later Dean) Phil Closius: stay with me people! This will wander a bit, but I think you enjoy the journey.

When you mention the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, most people’s minds point to Flick getting his tongue stuck to the flagpole, or to Ralphie dropping the F-bomb and getting his mouth washed out with soap. Not to me. To me that quintessential scene is the family dining in a Chinese restaurant after their turkey is devoured by the neighbor’s dog. It proved to all that I hadn’t been lying about what my family did for Christmas.

The Best Meal I Ever Had

Uttered upon awaking at 2 am in a freezing hotel room in the Park Plaza in Toronto.
Me: Will you marry me?
Trish: Uh-huh.

This is the story of the best meal I have ever eaten.

Not the most important meal – that was two nights later, a romantic dinner for two at the Hillebrand Winery. The most meaningful meal was the meal I cooked to impress a girl and set me on the path to cooking. My favorite meal is easy, an authentic Chinese banquet with friends which will be the subject of my next post.

I don’t think I could pick “a” memorable meal. There are too many; with family, friends, loves past and present (The Thanksgiving of whipped cream and juggling wine bottles? Cooking in Catskill with mega chopsticks?) I have had a variety of tasty meals. - here and elsewhere - too many to name.

This was the best.

Jedi Kitchen Tricks

Alan Stanwyck: You'll be wearing rubber gloves. Do you own rubber gloves?
Fletch: I rent 'em. I have a lease with an option to buy.

I can’t be alone in this.

The first time you handled a chilli (in my case it was when I still spelled it chile, and the only choice was a jalapeño) you ignored the advice of every expert and did it bare-handed. Then you touched a sensitive extremity – I was lucky that it was my nose – and you swear to use gloves the next time.  For a starting cook, without much guidance in those days, rubber gloves meant Playtex yellow gloves. Great for washing up, but not very precise when it comes to close-in knife work.

My Mommys* Brisket

Get Brisket from Lipman's, put on foil, top with a sliced onion and a bottle Kraft Catalina Dressing. Seal foil and bake at 325° until tender.

This is Mommy’s* Brisket recipe, or at least it would be if a copy had been handed down to me. It’s the only specific meal of hers I remember. Sweet, moist and delicious. Served with a bit of horseradish. It is permanently connected in my mind with Jewish holidays and it appears frequently on my table at such times. The leftovers in a sandwich, particularly on challah – da bomb.

Lipman's is a kosher butcher in Brighton, New York, the town near Rochester where I spent my childhood. It is still very much in existence. In fact, by a strange coincidence, the current owner is married to my oldest and best friend Kathye. I like him – not just because he markets beef jerky based on my recipe. To my knowledge Lipman’s is the only independent kosher butcher left in Western New York.

Flossing Time

Here I go!

Flossing Time

I love my toys, but there is one barrier even knowing who Chuck Yeager is wont get me past. Welcome to The Geek Barrier.

A Sauce for Erasers

A meal without nuoc cham is no meal at all. Corrine Trang.

I am pretty sure that nuoc cham (nước chấm) is my favorite condiment.


When it comes to food, "favorite" is a marvelous adjective. It is so unabashedly subjective. So much more useful than, for instance, "best". Even so picking favorites isn't easy. The answer to "what is your favorite braise?" may be affected by so many variables - mood, weather, contents of the pantry. I have managed to come up with a top five soups list and even rank them, but the list and rankings are subject to change without notice.

Condiments present a different problem, there are not only so many to choose from; there are so many variations within each type. Much of what is used are prepared - in this case not always a bad thing. Consider ketchup. Heinz is my favorite ketchup. I will use others, Hunt's or DelMonte - even Sysco's House Recipe® - on french fries and burgers. Homemade is nice, but it just doesn't make it for that. Homemade Mayo is delicious, but I want Hellman's in my egg salad. Oh, and Mira- um, that other stuff, works well for breaking in a ball glove if you don't mind the stench.

Mustard is different. Webers is my go-to, but I have many favorites, like many styles and enjoy many combinations of flavor. I have found few, prepared or homemade that don't work for me.