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Tag Archives: food

Spring is Finally Springing

01 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in cherry, chickens, construction projects, Gardening, honey bees, orchard, The Finger Lakes, tomatoes

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bloomfield ny, brooder, cherry trees, chicken coop, chickens, family farm, finger lakes, food, Gardening, honey bees, new farm, old barns, priorities, rochester ny, summer project, tomatoes

Spring has finally arrived, and it’s gonna go fast. This past week was again frustrating, it snowed again, it poured, the sun came out, rinse and repeat, yay Rochester! I spent most of my free time working on the chicken coop and I’m dying to move on to a new project, but – I am really happy with it. It has roosts, access to the spring water, a way to sweep the litter straight into a compost pile and as soon as I get some milk crates it will have a shelf full of nest boxes.

Good thing too because those chickens are growing fast! I knew they were starting to get crowded. I went out with some friends on Saturday night and received a text from Matt that simply said “they can get out.” Ha! Having severely underestimated the difficulty of acquiring a refrigerator box, I constructed a new brooder downstairs out of several boxes. It’s a little cool down there, but they seem much happier. It won’t be long before they can escape from this one as well, so I’ll have to cover it with some chicken wire soon. Those Rhode Island Reds are sorta camera hogs.

Back in January my lovely in-laws gave me a gift card to a garden store for my birthday. Having learned a lesson last year, I went very early this year and picked out the best cherry trees. I picked them up this week and walked up and down the hillside for the 50th time thinking of where to put them. I’m trying to imagine the overall finished area. When the trees first go in, it may look silly and random. But that is priority number 3, because…

This coming week’s adventures include the tomato patch and the bees. I’ve begun work on the tomato patch and started hardening off my tomato plants, which are huge as a result of the late spring. Usually I’d start putting them out sooner. Oh well. I have next to choose a location for my beehives and level the ground off. They are being extracted from the barn this weekend – I’m excited and nervous about this. I keep imagining being in a swarm of bees and restraining the impulse to swat. Stay tuned for the episode where I take my life in my hands with a beehive in an 80 square foot space.

The daffodils are up, the currants are budding, the fava beans are in the ground, the neighborhood is emerging from hibernation and I’m looking forward to an 80 degree Wednesday tomorrow. Yay, Rochester!

Restaurant Review: The Three Legged Pig

08 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Dinner, Food, Restaurant Review, The Finger Lakes, Uncategorized

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bbq, conesus lake, Dinner, finger lakes, food, lakeville ny, Restaurant Review, ribs, the three legged pig

The lucky first culinary blog of the Western Finger Lakes region goes to The Three Legged Pig in Lakeville – for BBQ and beer. Why a pig with only 3 legs you ask? This place is super chill. Kind of a cross between a juke joint and a gas station pit stop, you can walk in and pick your own table, bring kids and get a quick delicious meal without any fuss. Unfortunately it was also chilly, I was cold and I noticed that several people kept their coats on. That wouldn’t stop me from going back though; it’s a great value.

 The servers were quick and accommodating – they shared all of the work so we met them both. The food was really well done. We tried the redneck egg rolls which were slightly larger than a typical egg roll and stuffed with veggies and smoky pork. They served this with a sweet/spicy dip. I really liked these. They kinda trick you because you can’t help but expect the taste of a Chinese egg roll but then you get the smoke. A combo meal in addition was more than enough food for 2.5 people. The #4 that we ordered included ribs, pulled pork, jalapeño corn bread, sweet potato fries and an extra side of coleslaw – all delicious. Ribs were nice & charred, the pulled pork was tender and vinegary. The corn bread was slightly undercooked and not particularly spicy but was still good. 

The fries were hot and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the slaw was fresh and crunchy and not soggy at all. King was a big fan, he pounded his dinner. 

The Three Legged Pig leaves a few different kinds of house BBQ sauces on the table – all of which are good if you like it sweet. A regular house BBQ, a mustard sauce and a spicy sauce. The only down side to this place is that they were all too sweet for me, even with the vinegar on the pork. However, don’t let that keep you from making a stop here. We had a great dinner plus a whole leftover meal to bring home for around $30.00. Next time you’re trucking down the 390 past Conesus lake, make a quick stop here or order their catering for your lake picnic. 

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Love America’s Test Kitchen

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Food, ingredients, recipie, Uncategorized

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America's Test Kitchen, Bee Sting Cake, Christopher Kimball, easy recipie, food, Rebeccah Marsters

♥♥♥ I love, love, love America’s Test Kitchen.  Its not glamorous. There aren’t any sparkling kitchen sets, intense competitions or celebrity judges, and no one will curse at you if you’re refrigerator isn’t clean.  I doubt as many people have heard of Christopher Kimball as have Bobby Flay.  Christopher Kimball and company are absolutely my favorite culinary resource.  America’s Test Kitchen produces cooking shows, cookbooks and magazines; and whats so wonderful about these sources is the trial and error included in the recipes.

IMG_1467Especially if you’re even remotely like me (having enormous difficulty actually adhering to a recipe), these great folks can save you a lot of trouble.  Part of their model is to choose items that are common and either commonly messed up, not as good as they could be or way to complicated for a normal person to have time for.  Then, they experiment with different methods, ingredients and equipment. You get the results of each, what tasters liked best and what flopped.  Take 5 minutes to read their kitchen diary entry before each recipe and save yourself a lot of trouble while learning methods and chemistry at the same time.

My latest adventure with America’s Test Kitchen comes from the back of their Best of 2016 magazine – the Bee Sting Cake.  The only things I changed was to use a spring form pan, and I added an extra couple of tablespoons of honey which created a delicious caramel affect around the edges of the cake that reminded me of the delicious burnt edges of a baklava.

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Usually I’m a purist about not using clever rearrangements of corn (this is another topic altogether).  This time taking the time to read about the several attempts at variations of this cake stopped me from attempting the exclusion of corn starch.  Consequently, the recipe contributed by Rebeccah Marsters (Cook’s Country) came out exactly as promised.

If you’re a home cook / foodie, and you haven’t explored America’s Test Kitchen yet, I highly recommend it.

Restaurant Review – OX & STONE

19 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Dinner, Food, Restaurant Review, Uncategorized

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Tags

Bamba Bistro, Cocktails, East End Restaurants, food, Latin Food, Mole, Ox & Stone, poutine, Rochester NY Restaurant, Rochester Restaurants, Spanish Food, tacos

Last week I went to the Ox & Stone for a birthday dinner with some girlfriends.  Previously the Rio Bamba and then the Bamba Bistro, I was a little disappointed to lose the Bamba at first.  But I love tapas and I hoped to become equally attached to this new edition restaurant – we were not disappointed.  It was a Saturday night, we had made a reservation and were seated right away.  There are only a few obvious changes to the decor, the lighting is nice, and the atmosphere is generally pleasant.

IMG_1262We ordered drinks first – wine and beer all around and a craft cocktail to taste.  We chose what we thought was the most bad-ass one on the menu:  the Spanish Harlem.  Let me preface this by saying that these lovely ladies enjoy whiskey of all kinds and generally drink it neat, so the issue here is not toughness.  We thought – rIMG_1263ye, mezcal, vermouth, lemon – awesome, what could possibly go wrong?  Unfortunately only 2 of 5 liked it enough to have more than one sip and 0 of 5 would order this again.  The words “cleaner,” “gasoline,” and “bacon” were used.  I was happy with my malbec, but there are plenty of other options.

On to the food, which we ordered a lot of.  We started with the warm spiced olives, sizzling shrimp and chef’s board.  Yum, yum and yum.  The interesting choice of cilantro on warm olives turns out to be brilliant.  Each bite tasted fresh and pleasantly surprising.  The shrimp was cooked perfectly.  It was tender, not overdone or chewy at all, and despite being basically an olive oil confit, did not seem greasy (in fact I kept dipping my bread in the shrimp flavored oil).  I forgot to ask what kind of olive oil they used.  The chef’s board was beautifully arranged and included a lovely variety of cured meats, cheeses and vegetables with toasted bread.  And finally – the Spanish poutine?  Yes, I couldn’t resist trying.  A hearty mix of potatoes, chorizo and queso fresco served in a mini cast iron skillet, I wanted to crack and egg over it and call it breakfast.  It was yummy, but I wouldn’t call it poutine.

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Round 2 included the fish tacos, which were underwhelming.  The “Rio Gulf Sauce” was very nice, but was also the strongest flavor on the dish. The hand made tortillas had a nice texture, but left a strange, sort of processed aftertaste.  The Mole on the other hand, was delicious.  The chicken still had its own flavor even though it was swimming in dark, rich, molasses flavored sauce.

IMG_1267Our suspender-wearing server was knowledgeable, polite, prompt and sufficiently indulgent of 5 women more interested in talking that focusing on the menu.  All of the food plus 6 drinks ended up costing us each a little under $38 plus tip, which I thought was very reasonable for the experience we had.  I will not order another Spanish Harlem, but I will go back.

Cheers, Ox & Stone.

If You Don’t Run Your Life, Someone Else Will Run It For You

28 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

career change, family, food, health, life, new business, priorities, run your life, time, when to leave your job

I know I’m not the only person in America who hates their job.  I know I’m not the only person to feel like the Mom from the Incredibles.  I’m sure that lots of people are so busy that they constantly feel like they’re chasing their tales and turning into a scatterbrain.  I think my job is actually truly genuinely decreasing my cognitive abilities – how long can your brain honestly take work that is not challenging, having your ideas blown off, starting projects and never finishing them, completing projects that are never used, other people taking credit for your ideas, never receiving acknowledgment for work well done, and finally, when you work up the nerve to say something – having your concerns acknowledged and then never acted upon.  This tells me one thing and one thing only:  I am not important.

Several months ago I came to 2 important realizations: 1.) you should not live where you’re not loved, and 2.) if you don’t schedule the things that are important to you, you will be ruled by whatever lands in your email inbox. More on that later.  And when you’re ruled by whatever lands in your inbox, you wake up one morning 5 years later and realize that this is not what you had in mind for your life. Which leads me to the question – well, what do I want for my life?

That is the easy part.  I want to stop killing myself slowly by sitting at a desk all day.  I want to be able to actually raise my own son, and not be forced by life to leave him daycare.  I want to have the time to keep everything clean, and not feel anxiety over the state of the house after a 9 hour work day.  I want to put a hot healthy meal in front of my wonderful husband in the evening. I want to be in nature, I want to create, I want to use my brain, I want to stop answering to people who have no intention of actually hearing my answer and be my own boss.  I want to teach my boy problem solving, hard work and self-sufficiency.  I want time to give back – to pay attention to the people I love, to participate in my child’s education more, and to volunteer in my community.

The absolutely amazing thing about the paragraph above, is that there is nothing amazing about it.  So what I’ve realized, is that my current situation (similar the countless thousands of other people’s) is what is actually completely unreasonable, and this madness has become the normal.  I am consciously rejecting it!  It is normal for people to want to raise their own children (unless you live at Downton Abbey).  It is normal to want to eat a real meal with meat and vegetables.  It is normal to be discontent sitting at a desk all day because humans were not meant to sit at desks all day!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone should feel this way.  I think of the lovely person who built me the computer that I’m writing on for example, and I can hardly imagine him deciding that he needs to get up from his desk and become something else. His job suits him as long as he’s enjoying it and learning.  My sister is the perfect example of a serious career woman – shes not like me at all and shes exactly where she should be. What I’m saying is I’m not crazy for wanting something different – not even – something more simple, and I don’t think I’m alone. More on that later.

So welcome to my blog.  This will document my journey from miserable diabetes-inducing boredom to something else.  Things have got to change.

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