tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40728610110933019182024-03-13T20:23:47.357-04:00bigbirdStuff I'm interested in
- Food and drink
- Restaurants
- Health and well-being
- The Arts (some of them)
- Paris
- And miscellaneous other thingsBig Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-69829028021581526062010-09-19T21:25:00.000-04:002010-09-19T21:25:17.965-04:00The Big Yellow Canary is BackThe Cooking Channel launched recently. It is largely what the Food Network was at its inception... actual cooking shows, not so much competitions and food entertainment programming so I enjoy several shows periodically when I have time to watch. I was inspired by a simple and humble recipe I saw on French Food at Home: buckwheat crepes with creamed tomato. A couple weeks after Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-22744550069947870332007-10-26T17:31:00.000-04:002007-10-26T18:25:19.688-04:00Sinead O'Connor and the StrathmoreWe saw Sinead O'Connor the other night at the Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. She came out of retirement and released an album (I'm aging myself I suppose by saying "album" instead of "CD") called Theology this year. I don't own it but I'm going to buy it. It's a 2-disc release. The first disc called "The Dublin Sessions" is acoustic and the other disc ("The London Sessions") containes a plugged Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-47382324762131278892007-10-23T14:06:00.001-04:002007-10-23T14:53:33.926-04:00Something like writer's blockSearching for a job sort of sucks your will to live (mine, I mean), or at least to write. I can't tell you how tired I am of tweaking the resume, writing cover letter after cover letter. It takes so much time and effort and that's a big part of the reason I have not been blogging. It's not exactly writer's block, because I am writing something every day toward my job search. I'd rather be Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-89613084067773573632007-08-09T08:20:00.000-04:002007-08-09T09:06:34.933-04:00Long Time No BlogIt's not that I haven't cooked at all for the past two months, it's not that we haven't eaten out. I've been surprisingly short on time for a person who is unemployed. I expected that I would have time to write this blog every day once I didn't have to go to work. But somehow or another, the days fill up and before you know it, your eyes are drooping, your head is slumping forward, chin to Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-26214658428464154172007-05-31T13:18:00.001-04:002007-05-31T13:37:20.011-04:00A Correction and a WorryIn a previous post, I mentioned the Central Market. It is actually called the Capital City Market, and more commonly known as the Florida Avenue Market. There has long been talk of "revitalization" here, which has encountered stiff opposition. The market's future seems once more in question with a development concept to build condos above a retail commercial space. (Oooh, that's a new concept, Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-34358118269564679952007-05-23T16:22:00.000-04:002007-05-23T17:01:10.942-04:00A Real Find also turns out to be a DisappointmentWe had friends for brunch on Saturday. Not in the Hannibal Lechter sense. They had a baby recently and they hadn't seen our house that we moved to in November. After trying for weeks to marry up our schedules and find a time that we could actually spend a couple hours together, we made a brunch date for Saturday. I planned a menu of potato frittata (which I prefer to call tortilla espanola), Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-31291041691049454492007-05-23T15:24:00.000-04:002007-05-23T16:12:10.025-04:00Asian Salad and a movieFor the past couple weeks I've been craving some seared tuna (raw in the middle) sliced thin over a crunchy, crispy salad. I like a salad with seared tuna in two main varieties: Asian or Southwestern. Last night was the night and Asian was the style.For the dressing I used a bit of yellow miso paste, a couple drops of lite soy sauce, fresh orange juice, a few drops of Chinese rice wine, a little Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-683850874445829152007-05-14T16:35:00.000-04:002007-05-14T16:58:11.274-04:00Herb butter for grilled cornYou've probably seen this done many times and never done it yourself. It couldn't be easier or tastier or say "Summer!" any louder. We went to the Central Market this weekend near the intersection of Florida and New York Avenues in The District. It's a loud, industrial, dirty, primarily wholesalers market that covers about eight city blocks. We didn't see the entire thing -- it's just too bigBig Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-9079843269229595792007-05-03T16:16:00.000-04:002007-05-04T16:48:57.225-04:00Eating Out Over and Over AgainThe night I came home from Vegas we at out. The next two nights I ate salads for dinner at home. They were pretty good salads, if I do say so myself. The first night I had a grilled tuna medallion coated in yellow miso paste and grilled very rare sliced thin over an Asian themed salad. The second night I had a very rare grilled tuna medallion of Southwestern flavors (chili powder and cumin) Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-79411379145969901162007-05-03T13:33:00.000-04:002007-05-03T16:13:59.357-04:00what I ended up cookingMy last post was about what to cook for the family Sunday night. Had a lot of trouble deciding and so we went with three of the four starters that I had under consideration. We had rillettes and cornichons (see my earlier post about that), not your average spinach dip with crudite, and mushroom spread on baguette toasts (see earlier post about New Year's Eve snacks for those two). We served a Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-54368259200024791332007-04-27T14:27:00.000-04:002007-04-27T15:05:05.069-04:00What to cook?We are having the family over for dinner Sunday. What to cook? The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm, so it might be a good day to grill. On the other hand, I want something easy so that I don't have to 1) work hard all day and 2) can spend time with my guests instead of preparing dinner.Some options I'm considering.For starters, one of the following:- crudite and not your average Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-7269726736815131112007-04-23T21:40:00.000-04:002007-04-23T22:05:44.921-04:00Vegas, BabyJust got back from 3 days in Las Vegas. Five of us were celebrating the 35th birthday of a very good friend. As the tv commerical will tell you, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." But I can tell you a few things:1) See "O" at the Bellagio. It will be worth every penny you spend for the tickets. It is a complete enchantment. This is a production of the Cirque du Soleil for which they Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-17259509786311698832007-04-13T14:59:00.000-04:002007-04-13T15:27:14.562-04:00Two meals this weekI last left off talking about Easter weekend and everything we had to eat and drink... well, not everything. I made dinner Sunday night. I don't know what to call it. It's was a baked rigatoni in bechamel with lots of vegetables.To start out, I had chopped, blanched and shocked a whole head of broccoli, including the stems (trimmed and peeled the woody parts off first) and a bunch of asparagusBig Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-75800029308973960512007-04-09T15:44:00.000-04:002007-04-09T16:35:09.574-04:00The Food and Wine Frenzy that was the WeekendI love my brother-in-law and his wife and I love it when they come up from Charlotte, NC to visit us, but thank goodness the visits are usually short! No offense to them but, my god, we eat and drink a lot whenever they visit and by Monday I just feel like I need to fast and detox. They got a late start on Friday and didn't get up here until late, so we didn't get a chance to go to dinner Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-2431807023339385732007-04-02T16:52:00.000-04:002007-04-03T17:08:36.360-04:00Taco PizzaIf I were a certain television personality whose books are strategically located everywhere these days, I might say, "Yum-o!" but since I'm just me, I say, "Yum!"We are all often conscientious about what we eat, cautious of the pounds we're adding to those hips when we have a slice of bread or a sliver of cheese. I was kind of craving a taco salad the other day and pizza at the same time and Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-57208527505750028452007-03-26T16:48:00.000-04:002007-03-26T16:48:51.520-04:00Food and MoviesNot the food you take TO the movies, not even the food you buy AT the movies (can you call that food really?). No, I mean the food IN movies.In movies like Like Water for ChocolateChocolatFried Green TomatoesUnder the Tuscan Sunand plenty of others I don't recall right now, food features. Food may as well be one of the main characters, a protagonist of sorts. How did it come to be that food Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-41616871592654753542007-03-26T14:48:00.000-04:002007-03-26T17:13:59.243-04:00It's been nearly a month alreadyTime flies, not only when you're having fun. Time just flies. Since I last posted, I went to Santa Monica on a business trip and managed to see the inside of LAX, the inside of a hotel, the inside of an office building, and that was about it. My hotel was about two or three blocks from the ocean and the pier and I never even saw the water. So I can't even say that I ate anything particularly Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-14639981178958588342007-03-01T12:29:00.000-05:002007-03-26T16:59:03.745-04:00What we've been eatingI've been wanting to tell you for a couple weeks now that I made some really good homemade pumpkin and spinach ravioli in a sage brown butter sauce with a dollop of fresh ricotta on top . The reason I haven't written about it yet is because I keep forgetting to write down for myself how I actually made it so I could edit and share on the blog. We've invited a couple to dinner this weekend, one Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-15756703705652391722007-02-22T09:39:00.000-05:002007-03-05T16:05:29.042-05:00Homemade RillettesRillettes - decadent, a once-a-year maybe kind of treat. The final result is pâté-like in texture but without any kind of organ meat flavor. It's a cold, salty, fatty paste spread onto slices of bread, toast or crackers. I realize this doesn't sound very appetizing but it's inexplicably simple and good. So what is rillettes and how do you make it at home? Rillettes may best be Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-89256604630880303052007-02-15T13:16:00.000-05:002007-03-05T16:06:00.611-05:00Caldo verdeCaldo verde is a Portuguese soup that makes a quick weeknight dinner when it's cold outside, which it has been here for the last few days with wind chill temps around zero farenheit and 3 inches of ice and snow. Anyhow, caldo verde (I probably am spelling that wrong) features linguiça, a specialty Portuguese sausage. If you can't find it, use a mild or spicy Italian sausage instead. Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-83830089884121614442007-02-01T16:18:00.000-05:002007-02-01T17:26:15.403-05:00JaleoJosé Andrés' original tapas restaurant and bar, Jaléo, in Washington, DC is still a standout after many years. (See also my previous entry on Zaytinya, another José Andrés restaurant.) Being within a few short blocks from the Verizon Center arena and the DC theater district, it's bound to be full most evenings. The crowd makes for an atmosphere bustling and Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-13076934561411870792007-01-31T13:10:00.000-05:002007-01-31T13:16:03.893-05:00Don't abandon me yetI know it's been a while, but don't leave me yet. I am working on a couple posts for you devotees, it's just been busy and I've been sick with a little cold and having the wintertime blues. In the next few entries I'll update you on my AeroGarden, talk about food in movies (I just saw the film "Fried Green Tomatoes" for the first time about two weeks ago which inspired me on the topic), and Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-29373521804964898032007-01-19T15:40:00.000-05:002007-01-19T22:31:23.092-05:00Success...on two fronts! First of all, let me tell you that last night's soup supper (the Italian Escarole Soup, see yesterday's blog entry) was scrumptious. I don't usually like to have last night's leftovers for today's lunch, but in this case I really didn't mind one bit. When raw, eaten in salads or whatever, escarole tends to be bitter, like many leafy greens. But something happens when you Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-48003877925200786642007-01-18T15:53:00.000-05:002007-01-18T17:04:35.064-05:00Oh, Baby, It's Cold Outside!Ah (or Ew), it finally feels like January in DC, which means... Soup's on! Well, it will be tonight for dinner. On the menu, an Italian Escarole Soup with rosemary crackers. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, Escarole = Chicory, so look for one or the other label at your green grocer. This is what I think I will do to make a wonderful (hopefully) pot of steaming soup for a cold winter's night.IBig Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072861011093301918.post-16390263484421385552007-01-17T11:49:00.000-05:002007-01-17T12:39:00.341-05:00The Lebanese ButcherThe Lebanese Butcher is a real person and a real place and it's the place I'm going to talk about. The place is a restaurant which is attached to a little market, which as you might expect from the name of the place has a butcher in the back. The Lebanese Butcher (the person) also owns The Lebanese Slaughterhouse and butcher shop in Warrenton, VA where one can purchase whole goats, lamb, baby Big Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05324935720817862507noreply@blogger.com0