Wilfrid
-
Posts
3,174 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
80
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Articles
Events
Posts posted by Wilfrid
-
-
"I feel myself a better man for that ethereal potation."
Who hasn't said that, assuming the better man was consenting?
Okay, The Marble Faun is more overwritten and melodramatic than I had remembered. Also, I think I read it, many years ago, after I first visited Rome; so I would have had more tolerance for the extended guidebook passages (Hawthorn had moved there for a civil service appointment.)
But it's okay and I am past halfway through.
-
View across Central Park from cafe at the Guggenheim. This snow is well over a week old. This is unusual.
-
Oh I must try that beef. I have been meaning to try the rosemary ham too.
-
13 hours ago, small h said:
I love my friends. Love, love, love them. But why would you show up to my house, hand me a container of supermarket hummus, and say "I know you make your own, but I brought some anyway." (In case you're wondering, my hummus is exemplary.)
I usually cook when I have people over, but I wasn't going to be schlepping around the shops at feels like -1 degrees. I planned pickup, but it was too cold for that too. So for the first time in years I had cooked food delivered (Dinosaur BBQ for the Super Bowl).
I still had people ask me, did you make this? I told the truth.
-
There's not usually much demand for a Super Bowl party at my place but for some reason my Spanish-speaking family are descending on me this year with great excitement, bringing appetizer platters and White Claws.
Are they Seahawk fans, maybe?
-
I just did my last shopping for the SB party because this is the warmest hour of the day: 3 degrees.
-
1
-
-
Looking forward to a few days of nice weather later in the week. We actually reach freezing!
-
-
It does!
Yes, I arrived in February 1997. The Joselito's dinner must have been 2001 or later because my daughter had been born (she was born in 2000 but we were living in Gramercy Park and wouldn't have known places on Avenue C).
I actually got involved with online food forums for the first time with the limited interactions Shaw was hosting for the New York Times. That's where I came across Yvonne Johnson and others, pre-eGullet. Chowhound was around but I discovered it later.
-
Not to overshadow Steve.R's birthday or the Super Bowl, my anniversary being a New York resident is on February 18. I started celebrating this on the 25th anniversary; this will be the 29th.
Bittersweet because some who toasted my 25th are no longer around. One, departed and missed. One, moved to Germany. One, dumped by my daughter and rightly so.
No, I have made no plans.
-
1
-
-
I wondered why a local bar was playing "Popcorn," which I think of as a 1972 instrumental. Who knew Tove Lo sampled the whole thing on her 2022 single "2 Die 4"?
Well I know now. (Thank you Shazam.)
-
I found the same picture and was reminded that I first ate a hot brown at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. It did have some interesting regional dishes when it opened.
-
1
-
-
This time of year serves as a reminder of how great it is to eat long and slow-cooked stews and braises. And what a pain in the ass it is to continually clean casseroles and crockpots.
-
Just stumbled across Johnny Mathis, age 90 and still great. Unless it's AI.
-
1
-
-
Why didn't Louisville make the list? Nothing to do there?
-
Did not know that.
-
The bar is especially spacious and comfortable. I went expecting a small room with a busy counter. If it was in my neighborhood I could see being a regular, but like I said, I get down to Essex Market often enough.
ETA: I did wonder if there was an existing thread, but since our search engine cannot detect either "eel" nor "bar" I took a chance. 😄
-
I remember them always on TV when I was a kid, hit after hit. The individual members never really registered.
-
Bonne D'Antan, French goat milk and Ekiola Ardi Gasna, Basque sheep's milk.
-
Slow-cooked chicken gizzards (yes, again) over Savoy cabbage stir-fried in toasted sesame oil.
-
1
-
-
I had been curious about this place from the owners of Cervo's. Basque-style tapas it said. Also I was out of cheese, and it occurred to me that a visit to Eel Bar is easily paired with shopping at Formaggio Essex.
It's larger inside than I expected, with a long and very comfortable bar. I did make a reservation and when I first walked in I thought I needn't have bothered; but the place filled up fast. The "wet martini" features gin, Dolin dry vermouth, Comoz Blanc (another vermouth) and orange bitters. It was good with the gildas, made here with pickled cucumber instead of the traditional pepper plus big, fat olives.
I wasn't sure about the cara caras with Murcian goat cheese, but I'm glad I tried the dish. The cara cara is a red-fleshed orange but not a blood orange (per Wikipedia). The pieces were dusted with sea salt and served alongside the creamy cheese, over a dressing made with good vinegar. Interesting and thoughtful although the portion of oranges was unnecessarily generous. Like most NYC tapas, really a plate for sharing.
Then the ambitious burger. A medium rare but crisply charred patty served with Roquefort (now over $50 per lb at Formaggio, incidentally), a couple of boquerones and a mound of thinly sliced raw onion. Boquerones do enhance red meat, but I had to remove most of the onions. Otherwise very good. I moved from the martini to a Catalunyan orange.
Intriguing food, delightful service, nice room.
-
Wow, when was I last there?
-
Barbetta's last service, February 27. Would be 120 years old this year.
-
Reasons to be Cheerful
in What's that got to do with anything?
Posted
I finally got sick. It's been a long time. However it's diagnosed, it's my usual set of symptoms (long pre-dating COVID): inflamed and congested bronchi, productive cough and at least one night of fever.
Am I in the right thread? Well, the fever usually means a night caught between sleeping and semi-waking during which my brain kicks up a frenzy of non-stop, repetitive content. Sometimes it's a song on endless repeat, sometimes something I've read. Really annoying and exhausting.
But the last thing I did before going to bed was to dive into some Chinese cinema (Soulmate on Amazon) featuring the remarkable and glorious Zhou Dongyu. I've seen a bunch of her movies now (the powerhouse acting is in Better Days, but she's very unglamorous there).
So my fever was hours of uninterrupted Zhou Dongyu. Nonsense of course, movies she would never make, movies with stupid, made-up titles, crazy scenes. It was wonderful. I'd do that again.
Will watch her again tonight.