Flavors 518

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...

I've been out dogsitting quite a bit lately in North Adams on the weekends. I've been watching these dogs for almost four years, which seems crazy. This has meant marathons of David Tutera and Bridezillas and the sort (last night was the last episode of Bridezillas ever, how is that even possible? End of an era!). It has also caused me to feel incredibly nostalgic for my old job. What is nostalgia really? How are you nostalgic for things you chose to leave behind? Are you nostalgic for parts of yourself you seem to have lost, or some rosier version of life that never really existed? An important ingredient for nostalgia to exist is time - enough time gone by to forget negative aspects of things. One thing I know is that the more ambitious you are, the more difficult it is to feel grateful for what you have, so there's that. Anyways, so I've been meeting my husband at The Towne Tavern in Averill Park because it is a good halfway point. We've been exploring differe...

Years ago I wrote a post about breakfast . What I think is funny is my tone that I actually knew anything (calling it a guide, for example) and then not really seeming to like any of the options I could think of except for carbs. What I also think is funny is that I was mentioning the very recipe I just sat down to type out right now because I was telling my mom about it on the phone today. If you are still thinking about a recipe three years later, you were pretty much meant to make it. I still agree with that first paragraph in that post about not really knowing what to eat for breakfast. But I have also tried a few new approaches lately that I can elaborate on. For a long time I was going with the idea that protein for breakfast would make me feel full longer than carbs would. I got really into cooking hard boiled eggs and tried many different recipes to find the perfect way of doing it. The best way of doing it turned out to be Jacques Pepin's, and here it is: "Put the...

Important breaking news for craft beer fans in the Capitol Region.  I saw at Oliver's today that later this month the superb Kalamazoo, MI brewery Bell's will be making their beers available in New York later this month . Strongly recommended!  And the Michigander half of this blog will be especially happy...