The Omnivore’s 100 feature is back! The reason for the long absence: Crocodile stumped me.
I planned to buy this wild meat during the Texas trip. San Antonio apparently had a famous speciality meats store, Exotic Meats USA. However, when I arrived and looked up their website, I found that the store had moved to Reno, NV.
Foiled, I put this culinary experiment on the back-burner for a few weeks.
Many things annoy me. I hate when someone locks the laundry room door in my apartment complex and I have to juggle the detergent and dirty clothes while flicking through my keys. I’m irritated by the chronically late, perpetually whiney and those who ask ”so what do you do?” I despise double parkers, left lane slow drivers and purposely late mergers. But the bane of my current existance is my long commute.
But recently, I got something that has majorly improved the 1.5 to 2 hours I spend in the car each day: Sirius Radio. Read More
Stop for a Shiner in Gruene, Texas
When people think of the regions where great American craft beer is brewed, they usually think of the West Coast, the Northeast and the Great Lakes region. Texas and the Southwest are typically not thought of as great beer regions. In fact when people think of beer in Texas, Corona, Tecate and Shiner Bock are probably the first brews that come to mind. However, after visiting San Antonio and Austin last week, I can say that Texas does have good beers, breweries and most importantly great beer culture. Read More
Wild animals sticking their heads inside your rental car isn’t the only odd part about Texas. Take a look at this three-story Cathedral of Junk we visited in the the suburbs of Austin. It’s part La Sagrada Familia, part ornate, suburban playground (the wooden kind that came into vogue in Ohio circa 1992).
The view from behind a bike wheel
Zebras approached cars at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch
I’ve never been to Texas before. I had been warned that it is a country on to itself. When I visited my brother — a new San Antonio resident — over Christmas and New Years, I found that to be percisely true. The two hour drive from San Antonio to Austin showed us exactly the sort of wierdness I hoped from Texas. Read More
I like a little holiday magic — as long as it doesn’t involve ballet, the mall or It’s a Wonderful Life. This rules out most things, of course, except Christmas beers and tacky lights displays. This week, we ventured to two of the more spectacular light displays in the Washington Metropolitan Region: Baltimore’s 34th Street display and Gaylord Hotel’s Christmas lighting/ snowfall display.
Miracle of 34th Street
This display in Hampden, Baltimore’s colorful hipster meets hillbilly neighborhood, stole it’s name from the famous Christmas flick. It’s famous throughout the region — this site even names it one of the seven best light displays in the world. And I’m not sure why. This display is joining the long line of destinations that have disappointed the writers of the blog — up there with Asheville, NC, and Assateague Island. Read More
With venison and nettle tea out of the way, we move on the next foods on the list: Huevos rancheros & steak tartare. With the help of local ethnic supermarket, GrandMart, huevos rancheros was as simple as frying an egg. Steak tartare, the gourmet raw beef dish, was another matter.
#3 Huevos Rancheros
I was happy to see huevos rancheros on the list. After spotting versions of it on many a yuppie brunch menu over the years — with mango salsa, on multi-grain toast, with baked tofu — I thought, I’d boil this dish down to its authentic self. Huevos rancheros was originally served on Mexican ranches to the farmhands as a second breakfast — after eating a lighter meal at dawn. I found this recipe on simplyrecipes.com that fulfilled my purist requirement: just eggs, corn tortillas and homemade salsa. Read More
It's beautiful -- but chilly -- on the beach in the off season.
It’s too cold to swim. The bars and restaurants are eerily empty. The souvenir shops are shuttered. The Outer Banks may not be the most lively out-of-season destination. But there’s plenty to do at this resort town, if post-apocolyptic desolation is your thing. Read More
Next up in our Omnivore’s 100 series is nettle tea. I’m not a tea person. I’ve drunk coffee every morning of my life since high school. I have a caffine addiction — the withdrawl headache sets in about 1 pm — that led me to carrying around packets of instant coffee when traveling in remote regions of Asia. But I think I speak for tea drinkers everywhere when I ask: “What the hell is nettle tea?
The next food on the list is nettle tea. We looked for tea made from the leaves of the stinging nettle in Whole Foods (this list is turning into a Whole Foods advertisement) and The Vitamin Shoppe, the ubiquitous store that I believed only sold un-FDA approved bodybuilding supplements. Nettle tea is also available on Amazon.com.
I wandered around Whole Foods until I found the tea aisle. The racks were filled with a boggling variety of teas touting a boggling array of promises. There are teas for colds, for weight loss, for pregnancy, for getting pregnant, for better memory, better skin, better hair and better moods — just to name a few.
The closest thing I could find to nettle tea was Allegro Fine Tea’s “Glowing and Flowing.” Although the main ingredient is green tea, nettle is second on the list. (I didn’t want to hold up my blogging by ordering away fro the food.) The name frightened me; the packet described drinking the tea as “spring cleaning for your body.” But at least it’s preferable to the conception tea, which was the only other one containing the super herb.
When I got home and began to research nettle tea, I found that the plant’s promises are equal to that of Whole Food’s entire tea aisle. According to one website, nettle tea fights coughs, tuberculosis, asthma, arthritis, rheumatism, tendonitis, intestinal disorders, skin problems, allergies and urinary tract infections.
However, Foodmatters.tv boils down nettle tea’s charms to one thing: It gets your bowels moving. ”The nettle leaves increase the thyroid function, increase metabolism and releases mucus in the colon allowing for the flushing of excess wastes,” says the site.
Sure, it tastes like grass clippings, but maybe it’s a way to “flush out” this weekend’s gravy binge. But, a few days and a few cups later, it, um, hasn’t yielded any noticeable results.
Next up: steak tartar. Impatient? Check out last week’s post on venison.
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On the hunt for the perfect fish fry
This spring, though, I’ve been on the look out for DC-area equivalent. So far, I’ve found two.
St. James Catholic Church
905 Park Ave., Falls Church
Fridays until March 26.
5 pm to 8 pm (or until supplies run out)
When I opened the door to this church’s basement rec room and was over-powered by the smell of battered fish, I thought I had hit the deep fry jackpot. I imagined little, Catholic grandma’s battering fish with their secret [insert Eastern European country] here recipe.
The reality — too salty fries, fish sticks and rock hard hushpuppies – was quite different. This fish basket was a far cry from the best of Cleveland — fresh Lake Erie perch served over hand-cut fries.
Of course, in this season of self-deprecation, it seems ridiculous to complain about a $7 dinner. Just maybe these people are giving up good, fresh food for lent. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and thinking of the cost as a charitable donation.
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