Flavors 518

Yesterday, my friend and former co-worker Megan and I met up at an opening at the Albany Center Gallery (where I had never been before, but thought it was a really cool space) and headed over to The Hollow , where I've been wanting to go for quite some time. I'm not really one for Happy Hour menus (maybe because most nights you'd rather go on and have a proper dinner), but on Fridays, after a long hard week - you deserve those sliders and that mason jar of whatever pretty looking mixture! You made it this far! Anything else can wait, I say. So we showed up and ordered from the Happy Hour menu the shrimp skewers which come with a really nice vinaigrette, some arugula, and some roasted red peppers. They were very flavorful and had a kicked up spice on them, which I enjoyed. We also ordered the asparagus plate which tasted super fresh and was perfect for spring (shall it ever really show up) with the lemon and the parsley. We were drinking the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Bla...

A couple years ago I read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles over the holidays and somehow got this idea that New Year's Eve meant trolling through a Jazz Bar in a seedy corner of 1930s Manhattan about to make so many different choices that will profoundly effect one's life for all the years to come, preferably wearing pearls and silk and drinking champagne. Well, there times in life when your choices are made gradually and flow like a river into other choices, and sometimes there are no choices to be made at all, except always the choice to continue on one's set path or to alter it ever so slightly in ways you don't even notice yourself until much later. Also, what is actually wrong with pajama pants New Year's Eve? To which I bring you to old and married New Year's Eve. Old and Married New Year's Eve includes the delicious Love Boat dish pictured above.  We went to Tomo in Slingerlands. Its a great place in general, and the staff is always efficie...

I had a real Smallbany moment at The Point on Thursday night. It was really funny. It turned out that our server Lauryn (the best), who had been our server starting 5 years ago at Provence , was the babysitter when she was a little kid of a server we know from the Pourhouse who was there at The Point as a customer and came over to talk to us. It was the funniest thing because they hadn't seen each other since Lauryn was the babysitter.  I never get tired of weird coincidental connections between people, so much that it gets hard to explain sometimes or so far removed its not even interesting. Like... my new coworker's husband is in the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and I have a friend (who I met at the All Over Albany party 3 years ago) who also is in the ASO and so they know each other... my new worker's daughter is friends with a friend of someone who did a reading at my wedding, who I was introduced to by someone I went to grad school with in NY. Is it interesting? Are we...

Ms. Garlic and I were fortunate to be invited to the new Bonefish Grill on Wolf Road.  Obviously, there are certain limitations to this kind of event.  It's not really possible to evaluate the service an ordinary diner will receive, and presumably the kitchen is likely to be on its best behavior.  On the other hand, we were able to sample a much wider range of food than would otherwise be possible for one or two visits, and everything we sampled was available to all diners and prepared as stated on the menu, so in that way it would be representative of a typical visit. With however many grains of salt you would like to add, what did we think?  Well, overall I would have to say that it exceeded my expectations substantially.  Two of the dishes we tried were outstanding.  And by this I don't mean "better than I would expect from a chain" but just flat-out good, something I would be pleased to be served anywhere.  The first knockout was the Ahi Tuna Sa...

You know it is spring around here when the Jim's Tastee Freez opens up again! We tend to think that the Kurver Kreme is a little overrated. We haven't been to all the places in the area (we still want to visit On the Farm in Latham), but we really like the Tastee Freez. My husband loves the Boston Shake ( see also Mr. Dave's post from three years ago - probably where Scott got the idea to try it to begin with), which is vanilla soft serve in a chocolate shake. On this particular day, they had pistachio soft serve. I can't be sure that any real pistachios were included in the concoction, but it was refreshing and delicious with a nice mild flavor. I'll never understand why pistachio flavored things have to be green. I was raised with green pistachio pudding, and then eventually went to Belgium where their amazing white pistachio ice cream sort of blew my mind. But this green stuff made into a marshmallow sundae - I also enjoy. Working on a college ...

I was in Michigan last week on my way to a work errand in Chicago, and my grandfather said to me at his 90th birthday party "How can you stand to live in a place you aren't from?" It was an interesting question. He was asking me about my new-ish job and Saratoga, and I said to him "I think you can like many places".  I've taken to this new theory nowadays that there can be several happy endings to everyone's stories, instead of only one. Perhaps life is less fated, and more "Choose Your Own Adventure".  I went to Chicago where I met up with some friends of ours who are originally from the San Francisco area and moved to Albany around the same time we did. We went to a Starbucks that serves wine (what? what? see for yourself below! It was great fun actually!) They talked about the difficulty of moving to a new area, the difficulty of making friends, finding work, and fostering a sense of community. They didn't seem to like Chicago...

Can you believe that Mahar's only has a few weeks left? Its crazy. It has me thinking about the ways that specific places can add  to our daily lives. At lunch with a special collections librarian recently, we've had discussions about e-books. She heard that the wave of the future is no books at all, and that the logical next step is no library. I said "What about the library as a social space?" Deanna Fox of Silly Goose Farm and I recently went out to New World Bistro where I knew so many of the employees it was almost embarrassing. Oh, and this happened: Delicious ice cream sandwich aside, it is cool to have places in your life where you know half the people who walk by, and where you feel comfortable enough to act that ridiculous These places become the sets where our lives play out. When we first moved here, one of the very first places that was recommended to us was Bellini's in a strip mall in Slingerlands. It isn't the most mind-blowingly g...

This Weekend was great because: It started out with a gathering at Brown's , where we had some tasty beer, some ridiculous nachos, saw some old friends, and met some interesting new people (including a romance novel writer and her daughter who has an interest in liberal arts colleges). The movie "The Master" at the Spectrum 8 (very interesting) and delicious fish and some great tempura at Sake Cafe in Slingerlands. Scott was so impressed this time that he thought it beat out his favorite sushi place in Queens. Fabulous autumn arugula salad at New World Bistro , a place for us that always seems to be filled with goodwill. When the food runner we don't normally see says "Hey guys, I remember when you got engaged!" (2 years ago), that is community love right there. Of course the food there is great, but its the people who really put it over the top. From Scratch Club food swap! Which is of course great because I scored some of my friend Sandy's cup...

I'm off dogsitting in North Adams, MA again, and my husband was sweet enough to send me off with some tasty items from All Good Bakers . It is a loaf of sourdough and some cold cucumber soup. Now I am a huge cold soup fan. But this cucumber soup is something else. I think what makes it so unique is the possible presence of hot peppers. I would guess it also has black pepper, carrots (?), and scallions. This soup is amazing, like a mouthful of how it feels to walk into a cold movie theater from a sweltering, dusty asphalt parking lot. It is completely refreshing, and yet a bit unexpected with the scallions and peppers. The bread is great too. It is moist on the inside, with a fabulous crust, and a fully developed sourdough flavor. I liked their wheat loaf too. They are just so talented, and we are lucky to have them around in our community. As a side note, we went on vacation to the Finger Lakes a couple weeks ago. We drove through a lot of upstate NY towns, and had some good ...

We had pretty much a week long wedding anniversary celebration this year ( we even took some photos to commemorate ). We went to Provence for dinner, and while we were there they informed us of a new wine bar/tapas menu they have. We thought it was really exciting. It is cool to think that really great Albany restaurants don't just have to be for special occasions like your wedding anniversary (we have friends who went for just cocktails at the bar at McGuire's which is straight up class). You can go on a Friday night for a glass of wine and share an appetizer with someone as a fabulous way to transition from your work week to weekend. After we read their new wine bar menu, we couldn't wait to go back. This Friday we went after work (it was also the start of my week long vacation), and Scott had a great Rhone glass of wine and I had some champagne. I had the sun dried tomato and goat cheese tartlet, which to me tasted a bit like a mini-pizza. There is a crab tartlet too o...

Hard to believe we got married already a year ago! J & S Watkins supplied us with a free anniversary cake which was included in the cost of our wedding cake. And Jacqueline Lynch came over to take anniversary photos of us ( check them out on her blog ). She is the best. She strives for creative, interesting photos, and she is much more reasonable that the other options in the area for wedding photos. Check out all her fabulous photos of our wedding here . My sister loved her so much that she wish Jacqueline could go all the way to Michigan for her wedding. Jacqueline said she likes to keep her prices reasonable because she likes the interesting type of bride that attracts. I think she is a great photographer. I read her blog a lot, and like to view all of her different projects. I feel that good photography is worth the price. Sure, it can be expensive, but most photographers are running small businesses and have to keep up with the cost of equipment. Also, if you don...

Did you know that the mascot of the U.S. Postal Service is from Albany, NY? Yep, it is Owney the dog, and he loved the smell of postal bags. You can learn all about him at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. Here I am with a statue of him. Adorable! Here is a video . You can also follow him on Twitter .

It is hard to believe we have almost lived here for three years. Anyone who has seen The Five Year Engagement can appreciate how hard the academic job market can be, and how little choice people in those professions often have as to where they end up (what was stupid about that movie was that I spent half my life thinking Ann Arbor was the coolest city in the world, or at least right up there with Paris, but the movie portrayed it like it was North Dakota so that was weird). Three and a half years ago, my now husband and then boyfriend, who lived in a different borough of NYC and who I went out to dinner with a couple nights a week, had a job interview in Meadville, PA. He flew into Pittsburgh, PA, drove over an hour and a half in a rented car. This wasn't an adorable, idyllic college town like Williamstown, MA , it was a decaying milltown with a college in it. The professors at the school said that it didn't matter there wasn't anything to do there, since everything wa...

We went over to Colonie Center for me to look for an outfit to wear for a presentation I am giving at a conference in Washington, D.C. next week. I don't know what to wear. It is going to be 81 degrees, and I always remember D.C. being humid in the spring when I was younger. But, to complicate things they may have air conditioning on inside the conference. Part of me just thinks I should wear my usual "job interview outfit", like this: But then I think, I definitely don't want to be wear heels while running around a city and a conference, and I don't want to be hot. Perhaps just black pants and a loose fitting top? Perhaps a comfortable dress and a blazer? I just don't know. I tried on half of New York and Co. and they just seemed to have a lot of what I already have. Any advice? I have pretty much always struggled with the "how to be professional and stay cool in the summer?" question. Anyways, so our friend was talking about the cheddar bisc...

We have talked about New World Bistro on this blog before, once last year , and when I got them to cater lunch in the bridal suite before our wedding. Well, today we decided to go to the movies to see Damsels in Distress because it is ending on Tuesday. We went back and forth about whether to make egg sandwiches or go out for brunch like it was a normal Sunday. We decided to go out, and when we showed up at New World and saw the buffet, we immediately said to each other - "Ah! It is Mother's Day!" My mom lives in Michigan and my Mother in Law lives in western Canada, a situation like Daniel describes . We did purchase them both cards but failed to send them in time. I definitely notice when Valentine's Day comes around, but last year I didn't notice Father's Day so much that I planned my wedding on that day. What can you do? Anyways, so obviously there were no tables, but we were able to sit and eat at the bar. They had a buffet for $25 a person, and basic...

I am generally not a fan of "restaurant weeks,"  which are theoretically a good deal but in my experience tend to offer 1)a prix fixe of the least interesting items on the menu at only a marginal discount (and if, like me, you generally are indifferent about and skip dessert, no discount at all) or 2)reduced portions of the least interesting items on the menu.   But our friend Jessica R. was organizing a Restaurant Week outing and there were a couple good options (although I agree having it at a tavern sort of defeats the purpose.)   So we decided to try the Brown Derby , which we had wanted to visit for a while but hadn't yet. The meal was very good, and epitomized what Restaurant Week can be at its best.   It was, first of all, a genuine bargain, a three-course meal that certainly didn't skimp on portion sizes for less than the usual price of the entrees alone.    Even for those of us who can almost always take or leave the dessert, that's a...

Now, it is well established in the 518 blogosphere that All Good Bakers is delicious. We've got derryX , the From Scratch Club gals, Albany Jane , Jen is Green , DelSo , Capital to Capital - just to name a handful. Scott and I also tried their foods before at the Albany Wine & Dine Festival . From my point of view, I'm not so much in the market for baked goods as I am usually looking for friends who I can drop off rugelach or cakepops at their houses because I have made too many of something that sounded interesting. It is funny that baking things has pretty much become my hobby considering that I'd probably be fine with a diet of oatmeal, chicken noodle soup, penne alla vodka and BLTs. Most nights I'd rather have a small bit of sherry before bed than a slice of anything sweet. But, my interest in baking has grown so much in recent years that I have a couple of times read Dorie Greenspan in the bathtub. I think that says it all right there. Baking things m...

We wanted to do something nice for Easter dinner, so we decided to visit one of our favorites. It's always nice to be back to the Grand Street landmark , and while perhaps because of the holiday most of the familiar faces weren't around our server Charity was excellent. There was an Easter prix-fixe that was tempting, particularly since one of the entree choices was lamb with artichoke and fennel. But we both decided to order a la carte. For the appetizers, we went with Italian classics. We split the greens and beans Passannante, which we had never had here before although it's one of my favorites. It was divided into two portions for us: A very nice balance between firm white beans and butter greens, with a tasty broth. We also split an even more banal appetizer, a caprese salad: This is all about the ingredients, and given how rare it is to get tasty, juicy tomatoes at this time of year it was a godsend. The homemade mozzarella is also terrific. For the main...

This weekend a couple ladies from my book club and I want to the Joan Osborne concert at The Egg, and we stopped by Kinnaree before the show. My friend who suggested it had been there before and really liked it. The same day that we went, the restaurant got four stars from the Times Union . Check out Albany Jane's experience from back in January .  Above is what I got. The Jjam Pong, "a spicy seafood soup with udon noodle, shrimp, squid, scallop, mussel, white fish, vegetables". I really enjoyed the heat of the spice and the variety of the seafood. The vegetables in the soup also tasted really fresh and getting the side dishes without knowing what they were going to be was a fun surprise. Those are a carrot side dish, fish cakes, and bean sprouts. My favorite was the bean sprouts which tasted like they were in sesame oil. Above is Gob dol bi bim bab in a hot stone bowl, that is "an assortment of sautéed vegetables, egg, beef over steam rice served with red...