Thursday night I went out after work with colleagues for drinks and some deep-fried appetizers. Being true to our little piggy natures, we ordered two snack platters of appetizers—one right after the other. Meanwhile, back at home, my husband was busy being good. He adhered to the plan and had vegetable soup for dinner.
Last night (Friday), the week of exceptions continued. We went out for dinner instead of cooking. Nothing fancy, just a particularly good diner near us that makes exceptionally good and crispy French fries. I ordered a burger and regretted it. Not because it was bad, but because it wasn't really really good. There are three places in my area that have really really good burgers: Shake Shack in Madison Square Park in New York, White Diamond in Clark, N.J., and Stewart's in Rahway, N.J. I was fully prepared for the Shake Shack burgers to be completely overrated. They weren't (see my friend Bill's post about our lunch there). The White Diamond burgers are very similar to those at Shake Shack (very flat and sem-crispy around the edges). The Stewart's burgers are comparatively thicker but no less yummy, though the root beer and carhop atmosphere probably add enormously to the whole burger eating experience there (plus Stewart's has really good curly fries and onion rings).What's to come this weekend: The E-Co$t tally for the meals made this week (excluding our dinner at the diner; that bill was for about $20), the nutritional information for the recipes missing that particular information, and a very special edition of the Menu a la Week.
2 comments:
Hi Des,
[Disclaimer: This doesn't really fit in with this specific post, but I don't know how to make a general comment.]
I was listening to Studio 360 on the radio this morning and they had a bit about an art project by a guy named Fritz Haeg. Haeg goes into suburban neighborhoods and turns front yards (and I would guess back yards too) into vegetable/fruit gardens. His goal is to shake things up a bit, upset the neighbors, and do it in non-violent way, but I thought it fit in perfectly with your blog. You can find the link to the episode here:
www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/06/13
and the link to Haeg's "Edible Estates" page is:
www.edibleestates.org
What could be more economical (and eco-friendly) than growing your own fruits and veggies in your own yard? And it's pretty too. And if you get a rise out of the neighbors, all the better!
Sarah
P.S. The appetizer platters were very small.
Hey Sarah, I am so going to listen to this. Thanks! Does Fritz do this with the homeowners' permission? That'd be great if he does it as a suprise (in which case I'm tempted to send him my address so that I'd have a gift garden...it'd be like Christmas in June!) It reminds me of the Guerilla Gardeners who were written about in the NYTimes recently(of course) and record the tales of their exploits on this web site (http://www.guerrillagardening.org/). They beautify all sorts of horrible places with plants and flowers. Also, the trend towards growing your own food is also gaining traction (and press) as food prices climb. I'll post about some recent NY articles that discuss this.
P.S. I would've certainly welcomed a third platter of chicken fingers and nachos.
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