vacation: the food and beer scene in london, england
Today was a day of good food and good company… yesterday did not have me falling in love with London, but today had me wanting to stay a week or a year or longer…
Waking up in a soft marshmallow bed is worth all the money in the world. It’s still really hard to adjust to ordering food and saying thank you in English and not bad attempts at Portuguese. After breakfast we visit the British Museum, which is amazingly free. Echoing through the large great hall you can hear just about every language in the world all around you. It reminds me a lot of the Met in New York City, but not nearly as exhausting.
The Rosetta Stone is one of those things that despite being well-known and having seen tons of pictures, it is still really cool to see in person. We opt for the less typical cultures. Despite how cool Egyptian and Greek statues are, we’ve seen them so many times. The Assyrian (“Never Ending Story”) statues are amazing, and so is their alien looking writing. But the Living and Dying exhibit is the best, with a tapestry made out of all the pills (14,000 on average) people consume in a lifetime.
We walk the peaceful streets of Bloomsbury to The Eagle, a gastropub, for lunch. It reminds me of what you’d find in Portland or Seattle. We have roasted pork belly on lentils and smoked pigeon with some classic style British ales and cider. My taste buds feel like they are on mute because of my cold. All that gets through is intense heat, salt, or garlic. But I can still tell everything is amazing, hearty but gourmet.
After a nap, we head off to pub crawl on our way to Picadilly. First is the Swan, which is a bit touristy, but has some decent cask ales. The Brits are as serious about how beer is made and served as the French are about wine… and equally similar, both are elegant but not as easily enjoyed as other countries. A good Michigan microbrewed beer with intense hops or a fruity spicy New World wine (or Portugal) takes less concentration to appreciate.
A waitress from the Freemason Arms directs us to Lowlander for some expensive but worthwhile Belgian beer samplers. We finish off our Neil’s Yard Dairy cheddar and blue cheese with some tasty Weizens and Lambieks.
We do a little shopping, and reconfirm that even though Fedoras are hugely popular in London… Tom cannot wear a hat without it looking like he put on a child’s cap. I buy a “soodie” (half suit, half hoodie) at what seems like a Hot Topic-esque London flea market.
We leave Picadilly Circus as soon as we arrive. It looks like Times Square came in and wrecked a pretty part of Paris. Too many people, flashing lights. So we quickly move onto the expensive foodie shops near St. James park. All closed, which is sad because the window displays at Fortnum & Mason look delicious and they have a Laduree shop (famous Parisian macaroons) in Burlington Arcade. We stop for afternoon tea (at 7 pm) at Richoux. We are still on Portuguese dinner time, and won’t be hungry until 10 pm tonight. We nibble on warm baby scones as race cars go up and down Picadilly.
As the city gets dark we walk around Buckingham Palace and St James Park. The streets become silent as we move through the residential district of Belgravia, which must be super expensive. We see huge paintings and chandeliers inside apartments and lines of exotic cars. And in the middle of a back alley we find The Grenadier, an old and supposedly haunted pub (a royal guardsman was beaten to death for cheating at cards).
The Grenadier was the pub that Tom was longing to come to England for. Behind the counter was a delightful chap who told us all about the history of the place (“I certainly wouldn’t call it one of the oldest pubs in London, couldn’t say that”). Sitting next to him were two regulars that could have come out of any British movie or TV show ever set in a pub. One man worked for the “Campaign for Real Ale” (www.camra.org.uk) and was excited to show everyone the new issue of the London Drinker. They told us all about the Cheshire Cheese and other bars we needed to visit on our trip.
For dinner we went to a super swanky sushi restaurant called Sake No Hana, which felt like eating in a bamboo forest / sauna. I got worried when we were put next to the Americans, but they turned out to be super foodies from Seattle and London who gave us amazing recommendations on where to go for good cookbooks and food (apparently Great Queen Street restaurant is a must visit). We didn’t have the heart to tell them we were off to Newcastle early the next morning 
We ended the night on their recommended “night spot” The Donovan Bar in Brown’s Hotel. It was like drinking in an art gallery with photos and display cases of antiquities. It was an expensive but pleasant way to end our one full day in the fabulous city of London.
Tomorrow: off to Newcastle for Ultravox show
wines: Veo Grande Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 and M Lawrence Fizz
I thought I’d do a two-for-one deal blog post this evening. First, it’s Wine Blog Wednesday. Second, we had our annual food and wine pairing party over the weekend.
It’s the #52 WBW hosted by Tim over at Cheap Wine Ratings. The challenge for this month was for a wine from Chile under $20, which isn’t really much of a challenge. I almost always keep a wine from South America and Spain/Portugal for under $15 or even $10 on me at all times. These are the ultimate value regions of the world, with great reds for great prices. My favorite at the moment is still Portugal, but I might be bias because we are planning to visit in April.
Veo Grande Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
It’s from the Rapel Valley. It smells of steel, like a cold table with some light smoke and dried fruit. The flavor is very similar… chewy but slight metal. It’s rustic and dry, not much to remember to be honest. For only $7, a bargain find with a long finish. We got “mongo-to-go” and I was delighted to find that for the holiday season they had added duck to their meat selection. With some sweet and salty duck stir-fry, the wine was great. With dark chocolate, two thumbs down.
Now onto our holiday party… which included all the usual happenings:
Way too many people try to cram in our tiny kitchen, as some try to finish their dishes, and others just seem to flock to the room with the brightest light. “They are like moths”, Gwen told me, “Go turn on a brighter light in another room and they will follow.” I tend to agree, but would replace “light” with “food”… people like food.
Everyone comes dressed in holiday garb. Wil the Wizard always comes in his homemade Victorian Santa suit. Never try and outdress Wil the Wizard or you will feel the wrath. But nonetheless, you see a lot of red and green, dark colors, sweaters, people can’t help but dress for Christmas times.
And finally, GOOD FOOD. The key ingredient in my wine and food pairing party is of course the wine, but mostly the food. 4 years in and not everyone has got the hang of the pairing element, but everyone knows that the way to win the prize is to deliver good food.
Tom and I had two pairings this year. One was a deconstructed reuben (pastrami wrapped on a breadstick) with a 15 year Anniversary Unibroue Belgium Ale. The other was a butternut squash soup with toppings of baked apples, fried sage, nuts, and bacon. To pair with the soup, I tasted a French Rosé and an Australian Viognier before deciding on M Lawrence Fizz.
Other notable dishes and pairings from my wonderful guests:
I was hoping for more cocktails or non-alcoholic pairings since we opened it up this year, but it turns out that people just like wine. And I certainly do not have a problem with that!!
food: austrian goulash, viennese sachertorte
wine: sattler zweigelt 2005
The journey has almost ended. Tom and I are one Portuguese wine/meal away from completing our second journey around the world. And unlike a previous post suggested, I did not make this moment happen before my husband’s 30th birthday.
But still, this will be an epic moment. Since Christmas 2006, I have been treating my husband to (almost) monthly theme dinners. The idea was this… dedicate the night to one country, it’s wine, it’s food, it’s cinema. We have gone from Chilean Cabernet to Australian Shiraz, from Grecian white to Israel red. I’ll save the full wrap up for that fateful night next month where I pop open the wine from Portugal, because tonight was all about Austria.
how to make a good goulash
In just about every goulash recipe I found, there was a key ingredient… patience. Well, patience and paprika, but those actually go hand in hand. The dish is fairly simple to make. Meat, spices, onions, wine, broth, and loads of cooking/stirring/waiting/tasting. Luckily I was also taking this time to bake a cake and clean the kitchen, so I got to see the magic of a 2 hour simmer unfold before my eyes.
Around half an hour in, I actually accidentally burned some of the sauce. I was tempted to start over out of perfectionist sake, but I’m glad I didn’t. The reason why the two hours is needed is because it breaks down the meat, but also because it mellows out the otherwise bitter paprika. The same theory applied to a slightly bitter taste of browned sauce. By an hour in, I started to notice all bitterness going away and turning into a richness. By an hour and a half in, my meat turned from tough leathery stew meat to disintegrating at the touch of my fork. And by two hours, I had goulash.
the necessary evil, chocolate cake
Reading the “true way” to do this dish was again a life saver. A Viennese Sachertorte should not be mistaken for a rich flourless chocolate cake that melts in your mouth. This cake is fairly dry, which is why the Austrians always eat it with a dollop of whipped cream (yum!).
While I created the batter, which involved a lot of fluffing and folding, I had a hard time imagining this would turn into anything but a moist, rich cake. But low and behold when it came out of the oven, it was surprisingly light in flavor and slightly dry in texture… not stale dry, just “fluffy”. It is a great contrast to the rich ganache topping and the sweet apricot jam filling, which could otherwise create for a combo that is just too rich.
drinking a varietal that starts with “z”
Finally, although the Sattler Zweigelt 2005 is hard to find, the flavors weren’t terribly exotic. It smells of white pepper, shoe polish, and blackberry. The taste was dark and rich, with great fruit and a crisp dry finish. The loads of pepper help it cut through the rich meat of the goulash, but there was still enough fruit in the wine to pair fairly well (not ideal) with the cake.
According to Appellation America, the best and only place to get cartoon characters of varietals, the Zweigelt is virtually unknown in North America as vintners don’t want to take a chance on a wine with a funny name. But those in cold climates, who already gamble quite a bit, have started taking a risk on the grape. Which is interesting, because the only other place I have seen a Zweigelt before was from the Pelee Island Winery in Ontario. I seem to remember it tasting very peppery as well, but quite good for the price. Maybe we’ll start seeing more in the future!
fact: Lisa from Top Chef is Little Pete from the Adventures of Pete and Pete
Top Chef is over and thank GOD Stephanie Izard won. First, her last name is the same as my favorite comedian. Second, her food always sounded delicious. And third, Lisa is a gross-to-look-at, arrogant, nauseating person and there would have been outrage in the fan community if she had won the competition.
I’m really writing this blog for two reasons. One, I needed to put out to the interwebs just how much I think Lisa is the twin of Little Pete from Pete and Pete. And also, I wanted to talk about the fun I am having with my eating challenge for the month of June. I am not go grocery shopping until we make a significant dent in the food we have been ignoring in our cupboards for the past year or so. The reward has been not only piece of mind and a cleaner cupboard, but some very delicious new recipes to add to the books.
Monday:
Spinach, walnut, and apple salad with goat cheese dressing
Wasabi cashew encrusted swordfish over carrots and edamame with a tasty soy glaze
Tuesday:
Black bean and sausage soup with goat cheese sour cream
Wednesday:
Spinach, walnut, and apple salad with goat cheese dressing
Wild boar and steak ragu
Thursday:
Chicken tikka masala (or something similar in nature, equally delicious)
Discoveries:
article: America’s Food Waste
Americans waste 27% of the food available to them for consumption.
That is a pound of food every day for every America.
Those are some astonishing numbers. Numbers that hit you in the gut. Still, the New York Times article goes on to state that a lot of those statistics come from grocery stores throwing away defect or expired food, food programs throwing away uncooked or unused food, and various other efforts that serve larger amounts of people. This is not purely a statistics based on individual table scraps.
Still… As someone who is very passionate about food, it has inspired me to look around my own kitchen. Leftovers and table scraps are not just a method of recycle but a interesting ingredient. Like one of my favorite Top Chef challenges over the years, that featured the creative use of leftovers, I’ve challenged myself to try and create the next week (or two) of dishes using items in the kitchen that would have otherwise expired or gone unnoticed yet again for another month or two.
Tonight’s meal:
Grilled Mahi-Mahi covered in some pink sea salt I received from my mother. The sauce was built from some leftover homemade salsa from the weekend, which I then converted into a more Indian flavored sauce with the help of some spices, canned ginger, and a jar of roasted red pepper sauce that has been long floating in my fridge. The green grapes were looking pretty sad, so I fried them up and chopped them into the rice to make a little more exotic tasting dish. I still have some left-over Indian sauce and some grilled steak from fajitas, so we’ll see what that produces tomorrow. Honestly it is both relieving and inspiring to cook via recycling of materials.
food: colonial goose, a New Zealand dish
wine: 2004 Amisfield Pinot Noir
movie: Black Sheep
After months of delay, I am finally back to cooking my husband the themed dinners that I had promised him as part of his birthday present last summer. If I am lucky, I will conclude the 6th dinner before his birthday this year, but I’ll have to step up the pace to make that happen.
THIS MONTH: New Zealand
The main dish I made was Colonial Goose, which is not goose at all, but lamb. Early pioneers to New Zealand had a steady supply of sheep, but poultry was something of a luxury, even up until recently. To make them feel less homesick, they would stuff and roast a leg of lamb (bone removed) in a fashion similar to the way you would cook a goose. The lamb I made was roasted for several hours and stuffed with dried apricots, honey, and breadcrumbs. Delicious, and the earthiness of the food went perfect with the New Zealand Pinot Noir…
2004 Amisfield Pinot Noir
Smells like a dusty cellar, moldy, and a bit like chemicals. Faint aroma of cherries and unripe strawberries, tastes and smells very bright and clean. Almost carbonated, fresh sizzling cherry. Sooo good. mild oak. Very Pinot, both delicate and powerful. ($27)
While many know New Zealand only for their superb Sauvignon Blanc, they actually have some high altitude, cooler climate regions that are perfect terroir for Pinot Noir. The Central Otago wine region, where the Amisfield winery is located, is the most southern wine region in the entire world. The vineyards, residing at 400 meters above sea level, cling precariously to steep slopes and river gorges. It seems like Pinot is always better the more painful the growing conditions.
Finally, we had a chocolate mousse with kiwi sauce while watching our horror flick for the evening, Black Sheep. The choice was between that or The Piano, and I think we made the right choice. While kinda forgettable, the movie felt very reminiscent of early Peter Jackson horror films. It was heavy in the gore, completely over-the-top, good mindless fun. The special effects were even done by the Weta Workshop, how much more New Zealand can you get? If only we had finished off the night by snacking on some Marmite sandwiches and watching Flight of the Conchords.
food: coq au vin with juniper, meatloaf with star anise
One of the reasons I love Top Chef so much is that aspect of “a twist”. So common the challenge is to do something like traditional family favorites, comfort food, but with “a twist”. Maybe it needs to be modernized, maybe it has to incorporate the chef’s signature style, maybe it needs to be low calorie, but there is always an interesting element that makes it something beyond the literal interpretation of the dish.
There is something special in that combination of tradition and mystery. Gordon Ramsay knows it. His whole philosophy has always been about doing away with pretentious dishes, fancy for fancy sake, and finding the heart of traditional cuisine. His recommendations on Kitchen Nightmares always boils down to returning to simpler food, but not simple as in boring, there always has to be something that makes it unique.
So I had fun this week creating various comfort foods with “a twist” based on some particularly delicious looking recipes from Food & Wine magazine. Coincidentally, I visited Town Tavern in Royal Oak this week, which is supposedly known for their comfort food, specifically a lobster mac and cheese. In the end, I was a lot more pleased with my own creations than the Town Tavern mac and cheese. Maybe I just had some really good successes, or maybe I just don’t think a dish can be called mac and cheese unless you can actually taste some major cheese. Whether it be cheddar or swiss or gruyere or parmesan, that doesn’t matter, but I just don’t buy little tubes in a cream sauce as “mac and cheese”.
Coq Au Vin with Juniper
Coq au vin is good French comfort food. Tom and I experienced a lot of rustic cuisine on our trip to France, delicious meats with full flavored sauces. I became especially interested in doing an updated version when I found an article in Food & Wine that listed 4 different takes on the traditional meal, each uniquely delicious. One was made with a Sauvignon Blanc and capers, another with Chardonnay and artichokes, and yet another Cotes du Rhone and carrots. The one I chose was the most unique… a sauce made from figs, juniper berries, cipollini onions, and Riesling.
Juniper berries are a strange substance in and of themselves, something I’ve be interested in playing with. It is the ingredient that gives the distinguising pine flavor to gin, and to see it being used in a coq au vin dish was certainly that “twist” I was looking for. The chicken came out perfectly cooked and juicy, and the sauce ingredients combine to create a rich, flavorful and sweet gravy that really felt like home-cooking. The juniper was not pungent, but was just enough to give you this holiday-esque feeling. Roast chicken, sweet figs, and pine trees… definitely a dish I’ll be trying again in the Christmas season.
Smoky Meatloaf with Star Anise
Second attempt at some comfort food was the very American meatloaf and ketchup. My mom had gotten me some star anise pods for Christmas, and here I found a recipe that not only used them in the meatloaf itself but in the accompanying prune ketchup. Alone the meatloaf turned out good, not great… I’m always afraid to pump up the spices beyond the recipe and there wasn’t really any way for me to taste it before cooking. Going to France did not make me comfortable with raw ground beef consumption. Anyway, the meatloaf was good and I appreciated the strong smoky flavor that came from using bacon and some smoked salt I had picked up in Paris. But even better than the meatloaf alone was the way it tasted with the prune ketchup, a fantastic blend of sticky sweetness and tangy with that lovely liquorice bite.
Two great recipes I shall be making again. To anyone listening out there, feel free to post some of your favorite comfort foods with a twist. I’d love to get some more ideas.
food: butternut squash soup from Les Papilles in Paris
The French know how to do winter soup. Lots of cream and lots of butter. At Les Papilles in Paris, they took the fun of eating a hearty soup even further, and thus created one of the most memorable singular dishes of our whole Europe trip. They filled the bottom of a large bowl with roasted chestnuts, cheese, fresh chives, and a large wad of freshly whipped butter. The soup came family style in a big tureen for your to pour over the butter and tasty treasures. Mix together and magic happens.
Since it is nearing the end of winter, I thought this would be the perfect time for me to test out recreating the memorable dish. And I have to say that for the most part, it was a real success. The soup was a bit thicker, like a puree, and next time I will go for some high quality whipped butter. But all in all I found it a delicious and fun way to serve a soup with endless possibilities for alterations. This time I tried roasted apples, toasted chestnuts, and smoked cheddar, but next time maybe it can be poured over yogurt and Indian spices.
RECENT WINES
