Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen

I work in an office over in Dudley Square. I love it because I can walk to work in 10 minutes and there is a Boston Public Library next door. I hate it because if I forget my lunch I have the choice between pizza, Chinese, or a sub. I am not adding the fried chicken place to that list because I looooooove fried chicken. Nor am I adding the Haley House Bakery to that list because if I walk all the way to Haley, then I should just walk home for the lunch I forgot. But most people I work with go out every day because lunch break is usually catchupwithwork-returncalls-stufffacewithfood for a fast hour. And honestly, getting everyone in the office to order from the same place at the same time is like herding cats into a bath. This week a fellow walked into the office with a couple of menus for this mysterious soul food place. Furthermore this fella has offered to come in at 11:30 or so, take orders, and then deliver the food at lunchtime. I don't quite understand it, but apparently it j...

I am pretty sure that I could eat pho every single night of the week for dinner. That is not even a joke. I am a pho addict. Last night I really really REALLY wanted pho and forgot it was the New Year ( Year of the Ox, hey that's me! ) and every single pho place in the entire world was closed for the holiday. If I was ever going to fall on my sword over food, it would have been last night. But it did make me realize that if I never want to feel that kind of shock and pain again, I better learn how to make pho stat. A simple Google search brought me to the Steamy Kitchen blog and I am in LOVE. I want to make this , and this , and that . And holy deliciousness - this for sure! But for right now I want to make pho - from the recipe she has posted here . In the meantime I am going to angle for a pho dinner tonight!

Because what I am going to tell you, might make you barf. Seriously. But you know what I just ate? A lettuce-mustard-mayo-bread n' butter pickle sandwich on whole wheat bread. Frickin' DELICIOUS!

Tuesday, January 27 2009, ~ 6:10pm:

Oh yeah, you can count on me to bring you the important stuff. Sunday, January 25th, sometime around 8ish maybe:

I made a batch of vegetarian shepherd's pie for work lunches this week. For the record, I am NOT vegetarian, however I AM on Weight Watchers and making meat dishes with vegetarian substitutions shaves off tons of points. Like practically all the points. To further reduce the point count I switched out the mashed potato top with a mashed cauliflower top. Mind you, these are substitutions that I like. I wouldn't switch out one thing for something I didn't really enjoy. Otherwise I won't eat it. And it will turn fuzzy and green in the back of the fridge until the guilt I feel at wasting food goes away and I eventually toss it. Or it sprouts legs of its own and goes away on its own accord. Obviously this is not a proper shepherd's pie, but more the idea of a shepherd's pie - a "meat" pie of sorts, served hot on a cold dark night, to make a person feel comforted. The best approach is not to think about the ingredients you don't have, but rather what yo...

After a hiatus for a couple of days, in which I totally thought the article was pulled, prize-winning noodle kugel is back on the Most Emailed List, a whopping 123 days after it was originally published. Saturday, January 24th, ~9:45am:

It is a little after 6pm on Tuesday, January 20th. It is the day that will go down on the books as a turning point in our history. And what is the number 2 most emailed article on Boston.com? PRIZE-WINNING NOODLE FRICKING KUGEL!!!!!!! I can't get over this article.

On Tuesday after English Food arrived, I made the Ginger Cake recipe immediately. When it came out of the oven I sliced off a bit at the end. It was warm and molasses-y, with a teacake-like crumb. But it wasn't quite the Ginger Cake I was hoping it would be. The entire loaf had a slightly tough crust and I thought the crumb seemed not quite right, a little too crumbly or something. It was unfair to blame the cake. The fault lies entirely with my own impatience. And also with the fact that I didn't read the part in the recipe that says that the cake improves with age. Two days later it is a completely different cake. Dark and not overly sweet, studded throughout with translucent slices of preserved ginger, the molasses taste has now mellowed and the ginger flavor has developed beautifully. The crust is sticky and the crumb has become moist and dense. I am trying extremely hard not to eat it all up because I want to see how it further develops. And also because I won't have a...

I do not believe there is any force strong enough out there to permanently bump " Prize-winning noodle kugel " off the Boston.com Most Emailed List. 11:18pm, 1/14/09: This recipe was originally published on September 24th, 2008. I really feel like one day I will make this recipe. Although I've read the comments section (38 comments on noodle kugel!!!) and the commentators have informed me that 1) this recipe is probably about 40bazillion points, 2) it will probably give me the trots, and 3) I am not the only one out there obsessed with how much this recipe is emailed.

So you might remember that back in October the Evil Twin and I took a spin up to Maine where I promptly fell in love with Rabelais , a store ( a heaven really ) for people who like cookbooks. It's possible that I might enjoy reading about food a teenytiny bit more than actually making the recipes. I say that hesitantly because sometimes I read a recipe that I find that has to be made immediately. I will literally drop everything and start cooking. But that is another post for another day. Ok, where was I? Oh righty, in bed with Jane. So I'd been looking for a particular edition of Jane Grigson 's English Food . Laurie Colwin makes a reference to this book in Home Cooking and I have been curious ever since, mostly about the peculiar Sussex Pond Pudding which involves baking a lemon in a pastry case. I left my contact information with the owner of Rabelais and that was that. Until this weekend when I got the email that a copy had come in. I phoned them up yesterday and ...

Ok, ok I am chipping away at the mess in my house, but for now here is a little New Years Day fun that magically combines my love of Scrubs, diners, dancing, and Martin Sexton.