Well, the time has come to move on. That's it. Adios. Buh-bye.

I've packed up and moved all of the stuff here over to www.tucsonfooddude.com

Please head over that way for my latest ramblings, musings, etc. If you are one of the people kind enough to follow my blog here, you can subscribe to my posts over there.

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment here or there and I'll get back to you!

My thanks to everyone who's been stopping by.

Kevin

When I decided that I was going to start compiling information for various things (New Year's Eve, Happy Hours, etc.), I didn't think it through as much as I should have. It turns out that those particular things would work a whole lot better with multiple pages. Can you do multiple pages in Blogger? Why no, you can't!

So I'm packing up and moving over to WordPress. I've been messing with the CSS trying to get the look to be pretty similar to what I've got going here, but that's still going to be something of a work in progress.

If you'd like, you can preview the new site at www.tucsonfooddude.com. If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. If you have any feedback that comes with the necessary CSS code to make it work I'd love to hear that even more!

Kevin
-TFD

I recently received an email from Marketplace at Acacia with 2 for $20 dinner specials that include dessert. These looked pretty dang good to me, especially considering they're coming from the good folks at Acacia. If it's coming from Chef Albert Hall (no relation, btw), you can be pretty sure it's going to be good.

Besides the dinners, they do breakfast featuring freshly-baked danishes & other pastries Arbuckle coffee. They also do catering and are willing to help out with your holiday needs.

They're located in St. Phillip's Plaza, on the southeast corner of River & Campbell. The Marketplace is open 7am-6pm M-Sat, and 7am-3pm on Sundays. If you have questions, you can call them at 520-323-0124.

Monday

American Garden Salad, Iceberg, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Peppers, Ranch or Herb Vinaigrette
Country Style Meat Loaf
Horseradish Mashed New Potatoes, Steamed Baby Broccoli
Pie of the Day

Tuesday

Field Greens with Arizona Tomatoes and Hand Pulled Mozzarella,
Grilled Vegetable Lasagna
Garlic Bread, Tiramisu

Wednesday

Spinach and Napa Cabbage Salad,
Warm Pancetta Dressing
Wood Roasted Pork Chops
with Apricot Chipotle Glaze
Au Gratin Potatoes
and Fresh Green Beans
Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
an Garden Salad, Iceberg, To

Thursday

Caesar Salad
Herb Roasted Chicken, Chestnut-Sage Dressing
and Natural Pan Jus
Chef's Fresh Vegetable Medley
Dessert of the Day

Friday is Pieday

Garden Salad Pie, Herb Vinaigrette
The Chef's Pot pie of the Day
Daily Pie

Saturday

Pineapple Cole Slaw
Barbeque Baby Back Ribs
Baked Beans and Corn on The Cobb
Double Fudge Brownies

I like Lococo's Pizzeria, and I've got some pretty good reasons for it:

• They've got great super-thin crust pizza. I mean, it's really thin. Like tortilla thin. But it's crispy and stands up to their hearty sauce. The cheese actually has flavor and texture, unlike many of the chain places. It's cheap, too. A 16" cheese pie is $12.95. If you want a double crust, add a dollar.
• They've got the cheapest beer imaginable. A 48oz pitcher of Bud/Bud Light will set you back $4.00. Bud too swanky for you? A bottle or can of PBR will set you back $1.25. Still too rich for your blood? A can of Old Style can be had for a buck.
• They're just nice folks. It's a family-run place, and they seem to genuinely want their customers to leave happy.

When you add on free delivery (not to my house, but still), live music on Friday & Saturday (9pm until whenever on Friday and 7-9pm Saturday), and a pretty broad menu, I think you've got yourself a winner.

Lococo's is in the Bashas' Plaza at Thornydale & Cortaro. They're open 11am-9pm Sun-Thurs, Friday 11am until they're not open anymore, and Saturday 11am - 10pm. Got questions? Visit lococos.net or give them a call at 520-744-7136.

Kevin
-TFD

Do you have needs? Do those needs involve pie? I know many of mine do.

My friend Lucinda is a fabulous baker (not to mention an all-around fantastic person). She has her diploma in Baking and Pastries from the Art Institute of Phoenix, and worked as a baker at JW Marriott Starr pass.

This year, she’s offering her amazing homemade holiday pies for sale. All the info you need is below. As soon as I get pie pics from her, I'll post them.

If you’re thinking pies for the holiday, consider one (or two or three!) of Lucinda’s pies. You’ll be glad you did!

Merry Cherry Pie

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Caramel Apple Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Prices:

$15 for One

$25 for Two

$12 each if you order Three or more

All orders are available for pick-up or delivery. A charge of $5 will be added to your order, if you would like to have them delivered.

Pies will be made fresh and can be frozen up to 8 weeks.

Orders will be filled on a first come-first served basis,

so be sure to get your order in early.

Orders will be accepted through

Wednesday, December 23 at 9pm

To place your order, please email Lucinda Perry at lucindamperry@aol.com

This evening I present to you the third part of the Azul saga. You can find part 1 here and part 2 here. Go ahead and read them. I'll wait.

Caught up? Good. Before I go on to describe the events of the evening, I'll point out that the entire meal was courtesy of the house. Rest assured that if there were things that weren't good I would say that even if we didn't pay for the meal.

One more piece of housekeeping: Kristine & I were a little self-conscious about the whole setup. We were having a hard time balancing wanting to try multiple things on the menu and being worried about the running up a huge tab since we weren't paying for it. Sigh. Maybe next time it won't be so awkward, but this time it was a little.

We arrived for our reservation and were seated right away close to a corner by the windows overlooking the pool area. Our server, Alex, came over fairly quickly for our drink orders. I ordered a glass of the French Maid cabernet and Kristine ordered.... the Spanish Guitar cab/tempranillo? It may not have been called Spanish Guitar, but it was a cab/temp blend. When Alex brought out the wine, he also brought out rustic bread with garlic infused olive oil and a sundried tomato tapenade. Normally, I'm not a big fan of olives, but the tapenade was mild and I really found myself enjoying it.

For our next first course, we ordered the charcuterie for two (pictured up top - $15). This appetizer consisted of ample portions of breseola, speck alto, an herbed goat cheese, piave, olives, pickled vegetables and a couple of breadsticks. Everything was good (I particularly enjoyed the breseola), but the presentation was a little bit lacking. We both agreed that next time we'd probably skip the charcuterie and go with hot appetizers.

We ordered two entrees that sounded good to both of us with the intention of sharing both. We selected the scallop di stagione ($23), which was described as 'seared scallops over sundried tomato and caramelized fennel risotto with toasted pignoli dandelion greens pesto'. When the dish arrived, I was a little disappointed by the way it looked on the plate. It seemed as though it was plated in a hurry without much thought to the final appearance.

As far as taste went, though, it was a success. The scallops were nicely cooked and very lightly seasoned. The risotto was very good, with the rich flavor of the roasted fennel very much at the forefront. All of the components of the dish were nicely executed, but Kristine and I both felt like they could have been tied together a little better.

For me, the real hit of the evening was the special. Jumbo prawns with pearl onions in a lobster cardinal sauce, served with a paella risotto cake (~$27). The head-on prawns were beautifully cooked (and yes, I sucked the heads), the sauce was creamy with a little bit of spice and chunks of lobster, and the paella risotto cake reminded me of a crabcake, but with more delicate flavors. The only thing I could possibly fault would again be the presentation. The whole dish was basically orange/red, but I frankly didn't care because it was so good. Oh, and the wine pairing we did with this one was great. We had a Geode Chardonnay from Santa Barbara, which had great honey & tropical fruit notes that were a nice counterpoint to the rich spicing of the lobster cardinal.

Ok, finally about dessert. In the menu available online, they had listed a chili spiced chocolate torte with chocolate mint sauce and hazelnut gelato. It looks like they reworked that into a chocolate lava cake with hazelnut sauce and hazelnut gelato (~$10). Although I was looking forward to the chocolate/chile combination, the dessert we had was great (especially the hazelnut gelato).

The service from Alex was very attentive without being obtrusive or hover-y (not a word, I know). And when we had the one awkward moment of the evening (when he brought us the check!), he very graciously went off to investigate, coming back to let us know things were sorted out a few minutes later.

So the summary:
Very good food (though presentation slightly off), and very good service make Azul a place that we'll definitely go back to.

You know what we need? We need a good listing of Tucson Happy Hours in one place. Something that includes the hours and drink & food specials.

What do you think? Will you help me out?

Leave me a comment with your favorite place's HH deals and I'll start compiling them in one place. If you've know of a place that's supposed to be good, let me know and I'll check with them to get the scoop.

If we all work on this together we'll have a pretty good selection in no time!

I'll start:

Zona 78: 3-6pm, Monday - Saturday, domestic pints $2, craft pints $3, wines $5/glass, half off all appetizers

Rio Cafe: 4-6pm daily, half-priced apps, 10 wines for $5/glass, $4 wells, $1 off you-calls

Kingfisher: 4:30-6:30 M-F, $2 off wines-by-the-glass, draft beers, & wells, half-off deals on shrimp, clams & mussels, and seasonal oysters for $1/ea

Neo of Melaka: 4-7pm, $4.50 appetizers, sushi rolls under $5, $5 martinis, beer 'discounts'

NoRTH
•La Encantada: Monday-Friday, 3-6pm; 2995 E Skyline Dr; 520-299-1600 520-299-1600
•Select appetizers, wine by the glass, terzo or bottle 50% off; $4 well drinks; bottled & draft beers $2.50

Montana Avenue
•Monday-Friday, 3-6pm; 6390 E Grant Road; 520-298-2020 520-298-2020
•Select appetizers & wines by the glass, terzo & bottle 50% off; $2.50 Draft Beers & $4 Well Drinks.

Blanco
•La Encantada: 4-6pm, Daily; 2905 E Skyline Drive; 520-232-1007 520-232-1007
•All starters, Mexican beers, well drinks & house margaritas 50% off.

Zinburger
•Joesler Village: 4-6pm, Daily; 1865 E River Road; 520-299-7799 520-299-7799
•All sides, draft beer & wine 50% off; Plain & Simple Burger $6.

Wildflower
•Casas Adobes: 3-6pm, Daily; 7037 N Oracle Dr; 520-219-4230 520-219-4230
•Select appetizers, cocktails and wine 50% off; $2.50 Draft and Bottled Beers & $4 select Well Drinks.

Buddy's Grill (Grant & Swan):
3-6pm daily in the lounge only, 1/2 off apps, beer, wine, & liquor.

Ok, folks, what can you add?

-Kevin

Is it too early to be thinking about what you're going to be celebrating New Year's Eve in Tucson? No - start now! Whether you want to kick up your heels at the Cactus Moon's buffet, or get fondue at The Melting Pot, or have a swanky jazz night at JW Marriott Starr Pass, or any of many other options, you might want to start thinking about it soon.

This post is going to be a work in progress. I'll be trying to collect as much info as I can about fun food festivities about town. If you know of any (highbrow, lowbrow, midbrow - that's not really a word) shoot me an email at tucsonfooddude@gmail.com! Here's what I've got so far. I'll add more details as they become available, so check back!

Miguel's
$45 p/p for yummy-looking 3-course dinner (email me if you want the menu), DJ, and party favors. The photo above is Miguel's tequila selection. I hear it's one of the best in town...

Blanco
$35 for two all night (one appetizer, two entrees, two drinks, one dessert) Open New Year’s day 12 to 9pm

North
$55 regular price $35 early bird (4pm to 5:30pm) Open New Year’s day 12 to 12pm

Zinburger
$35 for two all night (one appetizer, two entrees, two drinks, one dessert) Open New Year’s day 12 to 9pm

Montana Ave
$45 regular price $35 early bird (4pm to 5:30pm) Open New Year’s day 12 to 9pm

Wildflower
$55 regular price $35 early bird (4pm to 5:30pm) Open New Year’s day 12 to 9pm

JW Marriott Starr Pass
$189 p/p 4-course dinner, champagne toast, multiple live jazz performers

Azul at Westin La Paloma
$65 p/p 4-course dinner including choice of garlic rosemary studded beef tenderloin, duck breast braciole, or pan seared cod loin in piquillo beurre blanc. Mmmm... The picture is from the Azul salumi bar and was taken by Robin Stancliff

What have I gotten myself into this time?

Matt Russell (@PRceo on Twitter) of AM1330 The Jolt's "On the Menu....Live!" invited me to be on his show this afternoon. I've never done radio. Why would I want to go live on the air and potentially humiliate myself?

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I suppose. I'll be on 5:10 - 5:16. Check it out - it has the potential to be slightly disastrous!

And by the way, that lovely piece of clipart is supposed to be a microphone. It's not a large cold tablet being kicked for a field goal.

-Kevin

I got a call from Many Hats Advertising yesterday saying that they had read my blog about Azul (see my previous post) and talked to Bill at Westin La Paloma about it. They said that overall it was nice (and they may have even used words like 'funny' and 'witty' to describe it), but wanted to make sure that Kristine & I got the full experience of what they're trying to do with Azul. As a result, Bill was kind enough to invite us back as their guests at some point soon.

I feel a little bad about it, but really appreciate their concern with customer satisfaction; I think it speaks highly of them. So expect another post about Azul in the next couple of weeks!

Kevin Hall
-TFD

So tonight was the big grand opening of the new Azul Restaurant Lounge in the lobby of the Westin La Paloma.

I was looking forward to checking them out, so Kristine & I set out to see what they had going on. The invitation said that we could expect, "...a contemporary, upscale cocktail and dining experience surrounded by dramatic blue lighting, deep lounge music, and the truly instinctive, personal service you have come to expect."

Cool, yo. It sounded hip and swanky - kinda like me (ok, not so much). I like the Westin La Paloma, and so I was thinking it was going to be good time.

Now here's the disclaimer. I was a little cranky with a few things when we were getting ready to leave, but it all worked out and there was a happy ending. Just bear with me.

Kristine started off with her favorite microbrew (ok, it was really a Bud Light, but she's too sweet to hold that against her), and I ordered the China Blue Martini, thinking that I would keep to the blue theme. The martini was Beefeater gin, St. Germain ginger liqueur (who knew they make a ginger liqueur??), blue curacao, and candied ginger in place of the olive. It was served in an individual cocktail shaker, and overall was tasty - a little on the sweet side, but I was expecting that.

We ordered two of the 50% off appetizers (check their website for some good specials http://www.azullapaloma.com): the pan-seared zucchini galette (homemade zucchini cakes, pine nuts, feta, tomato, and cherry pepper salad, with tzatziki and lemon) and the calamari fritto (tomatoes, roasted garlic, parsley finished with white balsamic honey reduction with spicy cherry pepper sauce). Kris enjoyed the zucchini, and I thought it was fine (don't tell anyone, but I'm not a huge fan of feta, so I knew it wasn't going to be my favorite thing ever). Calamari is something like our litmus test, though. We have it pretty much anywhere new that we go, so we opted for that here. I thought the flavor of the sauce was good, although not quite what I was expecting from the description. The texture of the breading was a little gooey, which I could see with it being in a reduced sauce, but the squid itself was rubbery. Kristine didn't think it was as overdone as I did, but I stand by it being too chewy.

About me being cranky - all the servers appeared to be women, and they were all wearing black cocktail dresses. There were quite a few who were circulating around the tables with drink samples and what looked like raffle tickets. They skipped over us every single time they came around. It was like we weren't even there. My pet peeve as far as service goes is being ignored, and we were totally being ignored - which was hard, considering that we were sitting in the exact middle of the lounge. Grrr.

As we were getting ready to head out, Bill, the general manager, came over to us and asked what we thought. I'm pretty sure our friends from Many Hats sent him our way, since he referred to me as 'that food guy'.*

I told him that I had mixed feelings about things and explained why. It turns out that the young women who were ignoring us actually work for one of the alcohol companies and not Azul or Westin. It's too bad that they were wearing basically the same thing as the waitstaff, because it tainted our feelings towards the actual Azul servers (who were doing a fine job). They needed a logo or something to set them apart...

Final thoughts: when we got there, we didn't get the whole blue lighting thing. As it got a little darker, though, the effect was a lot better. The 'deep lounge music' was cool - sort of thumping bass and the occasional horn. And stuff. Look, I'm not a music guy - I'm a food guy.

I'm really happy that Bill came over to chat with us. If he hadn't we would have left unhappy instead of walking away with a generally positive experience as far as Azul goes. I think we may have just had an unfortunate batch of the squid, and I'm pretty sure we'll give them another shot. Or two.

If we're hip and trendy enough, that is.

-TFD
* I'll admit it. I kinda liked being pointed out as 'that food guy'.

I was recently surprised by an email from Penelope Starr from Odyssey Storytelling. She is putting on a storytelling evening revolving around food, kitchens, restaurants, etc. called "Kitchen Confidential" at Club Congress on 12/3.

Penelope asked me to participate with a 10-minute story, but Dec 3rd just doesn't work for me. Does it work for any of you Tucson restaurant types or food enthusiasts? I'll bet Penelope would be interested in hearing from you if it does.

The initial email that I received is below. If you think you might like to participate or have questions, or have a suggestion for someone Penelope might want to contact, please shoot her an email or Tweet her @OdysseyWoman.

Thanks!
-TFD

Hi Kevin,

I follow you on Twitter and see that you have a lot to talk about when it comes to food. I am the producer of Odyssey Storytelling, a monthly event at the Club Congress where six people tell ten-minute stories on a theme. On December 3 the theme is Kitchen Confidential: stories about food and kitchens. You can see more at www.odysseystorytelling.com.

I'm wondering if you'd like to tell a story. I'm looking for something about Tucson restaurants and you seem to be someone with that kind of story.

Please be in touch,

~Penelope
www.odysseystorytelling.com
www.tucsoncitizen.com/stories
penelope@odysseystorytelling.com

Wow - it's been a super long time since I've blogged! And to think that the last thing I posted wasn't even mine. I should be ashamed, but I'm hopeful that I'll recover.

So I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine; let's call her 'Maura'. Maura and I really like El Guero Canelo, but not too many of our compadres do.

I have no idea what's wrong with them either.

So I head over there from work and pull into the parking lot - almost running over a cameraman in the process. They were filming owner and founder Daniel Contreras on front of the original Guero Canelo taco stand. I like seeing local media covering local businesses (especially ones that I enjoy and frequent), so I waved apologetically at the camera guy and pull into a parking spot. Little did I know how wrong I was about the 'local media' part of that...

Maura arrived a few minutes later and we order our meal: carne asada caramelo & Diet Coke for Maura, very mucho burro with chicken and a Manzanita Sol - or was it a Manzana Lift? - for me. We got our salsas, cucumbers, radishes, limes, and roasted jalapenos to enjoy before the food was ready and chatted. I was really bummed they were out of the roasted green onions - they're my faves. Maura ended up biting off a little more than she expected (sorry for the pun) with one of the chiles. It was a little higher on the Scoville scale than she expected, and it about put her out of commission for a little bit. It may have been the first time I've see her sweat, now that I think about it.

But I digress.

I need to talk about the chicken at this place. I'm not really sure what it is. I mean, it's chicken-y (new word o' the day) in flavor, but it's very uniform. And kinda spongy. And cubed - very evenly. It almost unnerves me, but yet I almost always order something with the chicken. I wish I knew what it was. Wait, I take that back - that's probably best not to ask about since I like it.

Maura enjoyed her caramelo, but then again she always does. I like their carne asada a lot, and combined with melty cheese and flour tortilla and it's elevated even higher.

I'm getting hungry.

Ok, so about that scoop. After we'd finished eating Daniel Contreras (El Guero Canelo himself) came over to bus our table. Maura asked him about the camera and the interviewing, and he said there were filming a spot for CBS Sunday Morning that's going to air on 11/22. Way to go Guero Canelo!

Granted, EGC and Sonoran-style hot dogs have been getting a lot of attention lately (Bon Appetit's Top 10 Places for hot dogs, New York Times: In Praise of the All American Mexican Hot Dog), but this is going to be a great story. Check it out next Sunday!

And in the meantime, go to El Guero Canelo and have a Sammy Dog, or a caramelo, or a very mucho anything in support of this great local success story.

I realize that this may be considered cheating by some blogging purists, but I'm sick. Below you'll find the press release that I just received about Arizona Restaurant Week coming up here very soon. It's a great time to get out and try some of the places you might not otherwise. I'm really looking forward to it!

So enjoy the press release, and contact the folks listed if you have any questions!

-Kevin (TFD)

Arizona Restaurant Week to Showcase Tucson Restaurants

Tucson, Ariz. (September 10, 2009) – The many celebrated chefs and restaurateurs in Tucson are anticipating the Old Pueblo’s debut in the second annual Arizona Restaurant Week.

The eight-day culinary event, which runs from September 19 through September 26, 2009, is designed to spotlight the diverse culinary scene throughout the state of Arizona. Each restaurant will offer a three-course dinner menu of signature dishes for $29 per person, excluding beverages, tax and gratuity. In addition, a few restaurants will be offering three courses for two diners for $29. Dining enthusiasts can try a new restaurant they otherwise might not be able to afford or visit their favorites.

Over 30 restaurants are participating in the Tucson market serving a plethora of signature dishes, like Pastiche Modern Eatery’s Baked Mac and Cheese or NoRTH’s Flank Steak with Warm Tuscan Kale dishes, with the aim of attracting both new guests and frequent diners.

However, several restaurants are taking a more adventurous approach to the prix-fixe menu. At the midtown gem, Feast, Chef and Owner Doug Levy will offer his entire menu of international flair during the acclaimed Restaurant Week. Guests can favorably choose any appetizer, entrée and dessert combination to create their own three-course dinner.

Or at Jax Kitchen two diners can each enjoy a three-course dinner for $29. The menu of classic comfort foods features a variety of seasonally-fresh salads and sandwiches with Jax’s signature baked cookies and bourbon-spiked milk for dessert.

Sullivan’s Steakhouse changes up their traditional chop shop menu of family-style side dishes for Arizona Restaurant Week. The modern steakhouse will offer both asparagus and mashed potatoes – normally at an additional cost – with its entrées of either steak, chicken, salmon, or crab-stuffed shrimp, as the second course of the prix-fixe menu.

The entire list of participating restaurants, prix-fixe menus and links to book online reservations can be found at www.ArizonaRestaurantWeek.com. Restaurant Week updates can also be found on Twitter @azrestaurantwk.

Advanced reservations are encouraged during Arizona Restaurant Week, as dining availabilities will fill up quickly through the eight-day event.

For more information contact Sara Anderson, marketing and events manager of the Arizona Restaurant Association, at 602.307.9134.

Arizona Restaurant Week is an exciting event developed to showcase the outstanding culinary scene throughout the state of Arizona. Playing off huge success in 2008, Arizona Restaurant Week will include both the Phoenix Metro and Tucson markets in 2009. The Arizona Restaurant Association, in partnership with Absolut Vodka, US Foods, Crescent Crown Distributing, Coca-Cola, Brown-Forman Wines, The Scottsdale Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, azcentral.com, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, 99.9 KEZ, Phoenix Magazine, OpenTable, Fox Restaurant Concepts, Olson Communications, Many Hats Advertising, Tucson Newspapers, Tucson Lifestyle, KVOA TV, The Mountain, KNST Radio, have come together to create this event, which will showcase Arizona as a premier dining destination for food lovers.

Arizona Restaurant Association is dedicated to educating Arizona’s restaurant industry as the leading resource for information regarding the industry’s latest trends, management techniques and regulations. The Arizona Restaurant Association serves as the legislative liaison for Arizona’s restaurants representing the interests of more than 11,000 food service establishments at the state legislature, county governments and municipalities.

Contact:
Cyndy Neighbors
Many Hats Advertising
520.325.0940
cneighbors@manyhatsads.com

Sara Anderson
Arizona Restaurant Association
602.307.9134
sara@azrestaurant.org

I didn't see this coming at all. I stayed home from work today with stomach issues (sorry if that counts as TMI), and haven't really eaten much all day. As I was getting ready for bed, I was overwhelmed with the desire to eat pepper (as in salt and ___). I went into the cupboard and pulled out my tellicherry peppercorns from the nice folks at Flavorbank. But I also had a peppercorn mixture (also from Flavorbank) in there as well. What to do?

Well, I'm not one to ignore my body - figuring it knows what it needs a whole lot better than my conscious mind. But do I grind the pepper into my hand? Do I mix some with water and drink it? Do I whip up a hot buttered piece of peppertoast?*

After 15 seconds of deliberations, I take a Madagascar pink peppercorn and pop the whole thing in my mouth. I let it roll around for a bit, kind of smacking my lips on it a little before I bite into is and let it sit on my tongue. It's got a papery skin that comes off pretty easily, with a light crunchy interior. The flavor is mild- not too much like typical ground black pepper. It's almost floral, with a hint of sweetness before a very soft pepper bite hits the back of the throat. And then I swallow it on down.

I was sold. I pulled out one of each kind of peppercorn and did the same thing with each of them. I was surprised by how different they all were. I mean, they were all similar in that they tasted like pepper, but the differences in their flavors and textures was a lot more than I expected. Here's a quick rundown of the different peppercorns in the order that I tried them.

Madagascar pink - see above

Muntok white - flavor stronger than the pink, with almost a licorice flavor to it. The pepper flavor was a little more concentrated than I expected.

Brazilian green - another one with a papery outer skin and lighter inside. It was a little brighter than your typical black pepper - not a huge amount of spice but some zip to it nonetheless.

Lampong black - this is probably what I think of when I think of black pepper. Nice spiciness and aroma before I broke it open.

Tellicherry black - highly textured, dense, and tough with a very concentrated pepper flavor and a lot of heat. Almost a smokiness to it. It started to make my tongue numb before I bit into it.

There's nothing groundbreaking here, but I was surprised by just how different all of these were, while they were also all immediately identifiable as being "pepper". Revisiting something that I thought of as so ordinary turned out to be far from it. Now whether or not they help my stomach remains to be seen.

Oh, you should totally click on the picture up at the top of this post. I'm amazed at what my camera can do sometimes.

-Kevin (TFD)
*There's no such thing as peppertoast.
Or is there...

For the background info, you can check out the story here: http://bit.ly/9fY2F.

The first week of the new school lunch routine was pretty dang successful. The girls liked the salads I made for them, they dug the cut-up fruit, and they were really good about packing their own stuff and actually bringing back the plastic containers and ice packs they went to school with. Woo-hoo!

The week after that (aka last week) was slightly less structured. They still had good healthy food, but I didn't go through all of the prep that I did the previous Sunday. Things were slightly more chaotic in the mornings because we had to pull together some things, but all in all it wasn't bad.

But I preferred the first week. It was so great to just have all that stuff ready to go and just be able to tell them to go pack up what they want. Yeah, I wanted to recreate that for this week.

That's all well and good, but I bit off a little more this week and I kinda wish I wouldn't have. This week I wanted to have sort of an Asian-themed set of food for lunches. I had one salad I knew I wanted to prepare, and wanted to have some things that would work well with that. So I picked out another salad, and decided that it would be a great idea to make some dumplings to go with those. Bad call, bucko.

It's not that they were all that difficult to make, but with the other two salads and fruit prep it just took too much time.

So here's what's on the menu for this week. There's some good stuff in these!

Sesame Brown Rice Salad w/Shredded Chicken & Peanuts:
I have to thank @mikeonline for pointing me to this recipe (thanks, Mike!). It comes from Cooking Light and it was really easy to make. I actually cooked the rice like I did in this recipe, because I really like how that works for a salad (and it's a whole lot easier). I didn't actually measure out the lime juice, and I think I went a little overboard on it. It's way limey, but the girls will probable love it for just that reason. For the chicken, I substituted Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips and it seem to be pretty good in it. I generally like the MS Farms products, but this one you sort of have to chop up or the texture can be a bit off.

Dang Cold Asian Noodle Salad:
This is a Guy Fiere recipe, and it's pictured up at the top of this post. I think I'm going to like it a lot once the flavors come together. The dressing is super-good (although slightly heavy on the rice wine vinegar - which I'm hoping mellows slightly), and I just used the veggies that I had on-hand (subbing fresh spinach for the napa cabbage and cucumber for the bean sprouts). I'm looking forward to tasting this tomorrow.

Vegetarian Steamed Dumplings:
This one's Alton Brown's. I'm actually confused by what happened here. The recipe has a yield of 35-40 dumplings, and I went 50% larger on it. You'd think that would give me 50-60 dumplings, wouldn't you? Well, I ended up with 28. I don't think I was overstuffing them (I mean a won ton wrapper will only hold so much!), so I'm not sure where the difference was. Ah, well, at least they're good. They may be a little salty for me (but I don't like a lot of salt), but it should be ok since I won't be sending any dipping sauce for them.

The fruit:
Well, I didn't have it in me to make a huge fruit salad by the time I got through with everything else. I did cut of a whole seedless watermelon, so that should get us through pretty well. My honey even suggested using some of it to make a granita, and I'm thinking that's a pretty awesome idea...

The kitchen is all cleaned up, I've blogged about the experience, and now I'm worn out. So what will I make myself for dinner after all that? I'm thinking that the frozen pizza that I've had for a couple of months is looking pretty good right now...

Hello, Friends!

I've decided to go public on Twitter. No more picture of food on plates - this is going to be all me.

I was trying out a few pics when my tweeps @drpoling, @juliegraphics, and @TucsonMeetYrslf suggested I have my tweeple vote! Always up for a good competition, I decided that was an awesome idea .

So here are the pictures. Just leave me a comment on which one you like best. In order, the pictures are BeerFace, WineNose, and ProfileGulp. Voting will go on for 12 hours, after which time I'll tally things up and post the winner. Thank you for your vote!

UPDATE: It's been 12 hours and the results are in! Here's the breakdown of results left as comments here or tweeted:

WineNose: 7
BeerFace: 4
ProfileGulp: 1
None: 2
My Blogger Profile Pic: 2

It looks like WineNose it is! Thanks to everyone who voted - this was fun!



-TFD

Ah, children.

Without them, we'd live such normal lives, wouldn't we?

Enter the previously-posted-about vegetarian teenage daughter. Tomorrow is her 15th birthday, which is strange because I just don't feel all that old... But I digress.

So we had the annual birthday dinner at the restaurant of her choice. When first presented with the option, she said she wanted to go to Red Robin. Yep, the chain burger place at the mall. I have nothing against the bird, in fact their zucchini sticks are pretty dang good, but I sort of had to call her out on that. I mean, she always subs a Boca patty for the meat, but she's in a club to push local and organic ingredients at her school. C'mon!

We did a little research and decided upon Govinda's at the Hare Krishna temple. It's a 100% vegetarian buffet, and I wasn't entirely sure how thrilled I was about the choice. I've been there a couple of times, but those visits were probably 10 years ago (or more...). Plus, I was a vegetarian myself at the time (for a total of 8 or 9 years, I think), and really dug it. Now, though, I like me some bacon.

Before I go any further, I'm going to say straight up that the food was really pretty good (with a couple of exceptions). My expectations were a little low, but I walked away full and having tried a few things I wouldn't have expected.

It was the ambience that was really sort of surreal. The grounds are nice - there are two aviaries, one with parrots, one with peacocks and.... chickens? I'm not an ornithologist, so I couldn't say for sure. There's also a koi pond with some of the biggest examples of those fishies that I've ever seen.

To get into the restaurant, you walk through the two-room gift shop and up to the host. You pay for your buffets (8.95 for adults and 4.00 for my 12yo), drinks ($1.50ish), and any add-ons (whole wheat spinach tofu samosas $1.50). Then you get your paper plates and dixie cups (I'm not kidding) and load yourself up. And whatever you do, don't forget to grab a tray. I wasn't sure if the host was trying to be nice by insisting that I take one, or if I was being reprimanded for not having one.

As for the food, the salad bar veggies were really good, not too many choices, but what was there was very fresh and tasty. There were several kinds of dressings including cashew (slightly sweet with a not-surprising nuttiness) and one that was miso-based. The entrees were a chickpea ball in a sesame sauce and some very mushy ratatouille. Side dished included steamed veggies, two kinds of rice, and a curried rotini pasta dish with tofu. Oddly enough, I thought that was the best thing on the whole buffet.

Then there was the seating. They have two rooms: one with tables and chairs where you keep your shoes on, and one where you take your shoes off and sit on the floor. Can you guess which one Emily chose? If you read the title of this post, you probably can.

I have never been a floor-sitter. Even when I was in my teens I found sitting on the floor to be uncomfortable at best. But, being an awesome papa and a darned good sport, I went with it. I think the net result was that I took one less trip to the buffet because I didn't want to have to go through the process to getting up and down again. Did I say earlier that I don't feel that old? I rescind that statement.

I suppose that the take-home message is this: the food was pretty good - even some of the things I was a little leery of, but the ambience was a little bizarre for me. Maybe had we been sitting in the room with chairs or if I didn't have to go back throught the buffet line in my socks it wouldn't have felt that way.

The good thing was that Emily loved it, and it wasn't about the quality of the food, or the presents* or the unusual seating arrangements. It was about her feeling that she made a strong choice for herself and her ideals, and got to share it with her family. I'll sit on the floor anytime for that.

Well, it might have had the tiniest bit to do with the presents.

-TFD
* Speaking of the presents she absolutely loved the Twilight-themed bracelet that I got from @kismet1990 on Twitter. Her shop is here: bit.ly/19xbPl and she's a pleasure to work with.

Second note: regarding the picture with the post - it's not about Em (even though she's super cute!), but about the surroundings. You can get a feel for the room we were in, including the Christmas garlands and ornaments to the right of Emily's neck. Who knew that the Hare Krishna's celebrated Christmas? And in August, even!

My friend Travis called me last night to clue me in on an event happening this Saturday. Nana's Kitchen Mexican restaurant is having their one-year anniversary celebration! Congrats Teran family!

They'll be having mariachis, $1.50 longnecks, $2.00 margaritas, and some great food specials.

Mention that you heard about it on Twitter and... well, it probably won't get you anything extra, but it'll make them happy!

So here's the recap:

• Nana's Kitchen, by I-10 & Cortaro
• (520)395-2508
• Saturday, August 29th
• 6:30pm until they're done
• http://nanaskitchenaz.com/ (hasn't been updated in a while - they've been cooking instead!)

Go out and help them celebrate with some great food, cheap beverages, and live entertainment!

This is the year! Change has come, and change is good - this is our manifesto!

No more shall school lunches consist of a PB&J, carrot sticks, fruit, and a granola bar of some sort! We eschew those things! This is the year of exciting lunches - power-packed with nutrients and low in the stuff that's bad for you (even when it tastes so, so good). The girls have let it be known that change would be appreciated, and here change comes...

Lunches weren't always as described above. There were a few different things in the fairly regular rotation, but it was pretty routine stuff: quesadillas, sandwiches, and the very rare wrap. There was always a piece of fruit, some veggies, and the bar. Oh, how they tired of the various granola bars - which always surprised me...

As I've mentioned before, Emily's a vegetarian, so that further complicates things. I've been looking at options and bookmarking intriguing things for a month or so now. School starts back up tomorrow (yay!), and so I've spent the last couple of hours in the kitchen.

So here's how it's going to work:

• I prepare some options
• The girls pack up what they want the night before
• Everybody's happy

For example, today I made a black bean & brown rice salad, a whole wheat pasta salad with edamame, a fruit salad with cantaloupe, fuji apple, peach, orange and jicama, and blueberry bran muffins. The girls can pick which salad they want, grab some of the fruit and a muffin and they're off. And so am I, for that matter - I made stuff in quantity, yo!

But it's not going to be all about the salads this year. We've got cool wraps, soups, chili, and other yummy stuff coming up.

And soon, I won't be the only one doing all this prep (but don't tell them yet!). I'll be having them pick out a recipe to fix and that's going to be one of the options for the week. I think this is going to be fun - a lot of work on a Sunday afternoon, but it'll sure make things easier later on in the week...

So what's your favorite lunch option for taking to work? Do you have any great recipes that might work for a plastic container snuggled up to an icepack? Let me know - I'd love to get some fresh new ideas!

Oh, and before I forget, I know I'm not the best photographer out there - I'm just a guy with a digital camera and cruddy lighting. But I'll keep working on it and hopefully my picture quality will get better over time!

-TFD