The Cookthink Questionnaire: One Food Guy

One of my regular reads is a site called Cookthink. Cookthink is a an online cooking resource made up of the blog, the Root Source email newsletter, and an assortment of recipe tools that allow you to "search for recipes by a combination of ingredients, dish types, cuisines and moods so that [they] can answer the question: What are you craving?"

One part of their blog that I really like is the Cookthink Questionnaire posted every Monday and Thursday. Cookthink interviews someone from the world of food, be it another blogger, a chef, or a writer. Since I'm not really hooked into the Cookthink crowd, I thought I would interview myself just for fun. I hope the folks at Cookthink don't mind and if they do, I'm sure they'll tell me. So here I am interviewing myself, giving full credit for the questions and concept of the questionnaire to the good folks over at Cookthink!


One Food Guy works during the day for a non-profit organization that produces international high school exchange programs. At night he eats, drinks, and writes about it on http://onefoodguy.blogspot.com

Sweet or salty?

Salty

Which ingredient(s) do you use most?

Crushed red pepper, garlic

What’s the cooking sound you most love?

The crackle of hardwood charcoal catching fire in the chimney starter

What’s your favorite cooking smell?

Garlic just after it hits the pan

What are the qualities you most admire in a dish?

Simplicity in preparation, boldness in flavor, cleanliness in presentation

What is your most treasured possession in the kitchen?

My Braun stainless steel mandolin

What is a dirty word in your kitchen?

Pre-made

What are afraid to do in the kitchen?

Saute fish - it stinks up my house!

What won’t you eat?

I'll try almost anything once

Have you ever lost your appetite for a food you once loved?

I used to love Snickers bars; I can't eat them anymore.

Have you ever had a change of heart involving a food you once disliked?

I used to dislike salt and vinegar potato chips, and Brussels sprouts. They are two of my favorites now

If you could choose one historical or living cook to make you a meal right now, who and what would it be?

I'm a big fan of Mario Batali's cooking, and I like the color orange. I'd like for Mario to make me something and explain the history of the dish like he used to do on Molto Mario.

Who are your favorite cookbook authors/food writers?

Anthony Bourdain, Bill Buford

What is your favorite food-related word?

organic, local

What is your favorite food-related scene from literature or the movies?

Remy smoking a mushroom over the chimney in Ratatoille then getting struck by lightning; then Remy eating the "lightningy" mushroom.

What’s your favorite food-shopping errand or journey?

I love going to farmer's markets and looking at all the fresh, colorful goodies on display. I also love walking through Pike's Place Market in Seattle.

To which country would you move for the food?

France or Italy

What’s your poison?

Vodka

What’s your standard outfit in the kitchen?

Shorts and a T-shirt.

You wish to die with what in your stomach?

Sushi

If heaven exists, what do you hope they have on the menu?

Tacos al pastor and sushi

If you came back as a fruit or a vegetable, which one would it be?

Prickly pear

What are you craving right now?

Sushi, lots and lots of sushi.

Block Island and H.J. Willy's Dog Waggin'

Block Island has fast become one of my favorite New England vacation spots. It's quiet, relatively inexpensive, and almost completely free of traffic, all attributes that are generally not associated with Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket.

Last month Jeanine and I spent four days on Block Island, our second visit to the island in as many years. We like to stay at The Old Town Inn which is right in the middle of the island, away from the day tripper crowds in the Old Harbor, and a short walk or bike ride away from dinner, the beaches, and the downtown area. The owners of the inn, Lucinda and David Morrison, are fantastic; David cooks up a delicious breakfast every morning that always includes fresh baked breads and pastries.

We have never brought our car over on the ferry, opting instead to bring our bikes which we ride to the beach every day! On our most recent trip we rented a moped/scooter and explored a little more of the island than we would have on our bikes. Our exploration brought us all the way up to the tip of the island, 'up the neck' as the locals say. We drove to the North Light at the end of Corn Neck Road; get it, 'up the neck'?

When we reached the end of the road, much to our surprise, there was a hot dog stand, John Kisseberth's H.J. Willy's Dog Waggin'! This hot dog stand was the most well equipped, well stocked stand I have ever seen! All beef hot dogs and bratwurst with your choice of ketchup, yellow mustard, John's homemade spicy mustard, relish, onions, sauerkraut, chili, cheese, or jalapenos! John also stocks an assortment of beverages as well as candy, cookies, gum, island maps, rain ponchos, sun block, disposable cameras and sunglasses!! His service bar is a beautiful surf board, and his presence in that location has resulted in a cleaner beach leading to the North Light house (people pick up trash on their walk back from the light and dispose of it in his barrel.) John also recycles!

Jeanine ordered up an all beef hot dog with John's homemade spicy mustard and sauerkraut and I ordered a bratwurst with John's homemade spicy mustard, onions, and jalapenos; John's mustard is spicy and delicious and the hot dog and bratwurst were excellent! This was a great treat and good fuel for our continued island exploration.

John and his H.J. Willy's Dog Waggin' (the stand is named after his children)

John is assembling my delicious bratwurst

One Bratwurst, hot off the grill!

Not a bad view from John's 'Office', huh?

Be the Pig!

On my drive to work this morning I heard something in a commercial that I want share with you. I guess the commercial failed since I don't remember what product it was for but I like what NFL coach Brian Billick had to say about commitment...

"In a bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed! Be that pig!"

And in other news, Chinese are confused by Fortune Cookies!

Spicy Beer Can Chicken

Gas versus Charcoal is an age old debate and I am firmly planted on the side of the charcoal supporters. I have two Weber Kettle charcoal grills, an old 18.5" Silver and the larger 22.5" One-Touch Gold. Years ago I made a beer can chicken on the 18.5" grill and I couldn't get the lid all the way closed without smashing down the chicken. Earlier this summer, I bought the 22.5" grill which has more grilling surface area, obviously, and higher clearance under the dome lid, perfect for beer can chicken.

When I woke up yesterday morning I was not planning on making beer can chicken. But I turned on the Food Network and saw Robin Koury, guest on Bobby Flay's new show 'Grill It', pulling a beer can chicken off of Bobby's big gas grill. I logged onto FoodNetwork.com and grabbed the recipe for her Spice of Life Beer Can Chicken and I knew what I was doing that afternoon. Robin also made a grilled macaroni and cheese that looked amazing, but I digress. Beer can chicken was on the menu at Chez One Food Guy on Sunday and wow was it good!

I planned for dinner around 7pm, so I knew that I would have to get the chickens on the grill no later than 5:30pm. That meant that I needed to start prep work around 4pm which meant I needed to go to the market! I picked up a couple 4lb birds at Whole Foods Market as well as some Hungarian Hot Paprika for the base of the spice rub, and other items for the side dishes. I stopped at my local liquor store to pick up a six pack of beer, in cans, and I was good to go.

I mixed up the spice rub (see below for the recipe of my own version of the rub) and gently separated the skin from the breast of the chickens without removing it. I rubbed the chickens with the spicy goodness under the skin and all over, inside and out of the chickens. I cracked open a couple beers, drank half of each of them, and added a little butter and a little bit of the spice rub to each of the cans before stuffing the beer cans into the chickens rear ends.


While I was preparing the chickens, I lit a full chimney of charcoal and soaked some mesquite wood smoking chips. When the charcoal was ready, I placed a drip pan in the middle of the grill and poured the charcoal onto the sides of the pan, creating an indirect heat source to cook the birds. See all that smoky goodness rising up around the chickens? When the lid goes on these chickens are going straight to grill heaven!



Every twenty minutes I rotated the chickens 1/4 turn to ensure even cooking; this picture here is after just twenty minutes on the grill, look how golden brown they are already! Truth be told, the grill was running a little hot (over 400 degrees) so I closed down the bottom vents to just less than half open which eventually would bring the grill temps down to about 350 degrees, just where I wanted it.


Here are the beautiful chickens in all their spicy goodness, one hour and twenty-five minutes after entering grill nirvana. I pulled the birds off the grill at this point and tented them with foil in the kitchen while I prepared the rest of the meal.


Dinner is served! I quartered each chicken, separating the thigh and drumstick from the breast and wing and served them up with some homemade sweet potato and scallion salad and homemade cucumber salad. Everything was great, except for the mosquitoes. We ate dinner out on our patio while the mosquitoes ate us!


Recipe for Robin Koury's Spice of Life Beer Can Chicken

Spice Rub for 2 Beer Can Chickens
1/2 cup Hungarian hot paprika
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
1 heaping teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 heaping teaspoon ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt

Cookies or Cake? You decide...

I wanted to call these cookies the "You can have your cake and eat it too cookies" but that's a bit of a mouthful, especially if you have already have a mouthful of cookies! So instead I'm just going to call these Heath Bits Cookies or maybe Heath Bits Cakies. Whatever you or I decide to call them you should know that these cookies are fantastic! Part cake, part cookie, these treats are made from Duncan Hines cake mix and Heath english toffee bits. I like to eat my cookies with a big glass of organic milk, last night I had a cookie with chocolate milk. See below for the cookie/cakie recipe.


Heath English Toffee Cookies
1 box Duncan Hines fudge marble cake mix
1 large egg
1 package Heath English Toffee Bits
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons water, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl mix together cake mix, oil, egg, and 3 tablespoons
water. The batter will be thick.

In a small mixing bowl combine the chocolate packet that comes in the cake mix box with 1 tablespoon of water; this chocolate mixture will also be pretty thick. Add a large tablespoon full of the cookie batter into the chocolate mixture and combine well.

Add the heath bits into the cookie batter in the large bowl and combine, then swirl the chocolate mixture into the cookie batter being sure not to mix too much.

Drop large tablespoons of cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes. When you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for several minutes allowing the bottom of the cookie to continue cooking, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. The secret to these cookies is that they must cool on the cookie sheet before being transfered to the rack; the cookies will be crisp on the bottom and chewy and delicious in the middle!

The BEST Lobster Roll at Evelyn's Drive-In

Summer in New England does mean fresh fruits and vegetables but it also means fresh seafood! Fresh clams and lobsters are in abundance during the New England summer and one place that really knows how to do seafood justice is Evelyn's Drive-In located in Tiverton, Rhode Island - just over the bridge from Newport. Evelyn's is known for their fried whole belly clams, which are indeed awesome, and their Rhode Island Clam Chowder, also awesome, but I'm going to argue that what Evelyn's does best is their Lobster Roll!

On a Saturday afternoon just a month or two ago, Jeanine and I decided to make a detour on our way home from the beach to this famous little drive in in quiet Tiverton, RI. We'd been to Evelyn's several times before and knew it was the place to get a lobster roll. Warm, grilled hot dog bun overflowing with lobster meat, mayo on the side. This lobster roll is just plain lobster on a bun, and a lot of lobster. Spending a long day at the beach, I was starving, so in addition to the lobster roll I ordered up some fried whole belly clams and Jeanine had a cup of Evelyn's Rhode Island clam chowder. Rhode Island clam chowder is different from New England clam chowder in that the RI version has no cream, it is a clear broth with clams and potatoes; Manhattan clam chowder is the tomato based chowder.

Stuffing ourselves with great, fresh seafood at Evelyn's was the perfect ending to a great day. Next time you're in southern Rhode Island, make it a point to stop at Evelyn's, you won't be disappointed!

Rhode Island Clam Chowder

Whole belly fried clams

Lobster roll with french fries

Lobster salad plate with french fries

Evelyn's outdoor seating area

Picnic tables in Evelyn's parking area

Another cool thing about Evelyn's is that they were featured in Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network! Check this out:

Evelyn's Drive-In
2335 Main Rd.
Tiverton, RI 02878
Ph. (401) 624-3100

Mangoes and Bananas for Breakfast

I love summer in New England for fresh fruit and produce, warm, sunny days, and shorts and flip-flops. I also love summer in New England because the weather is just right for fruit smoothies! I make smoothies for breakfast at least a few days a week. I am always mixing up the fruit combinations but three ingredients always remain constant - plain non-fat yogurt, orange juice, and a banana. When I use Greek yogurt, which I did today, I always add in some honey to balance the tang of the Greek yogurt. The different fruits that I use include mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and peaches. Occasionally I'll add some protein powder to the mix but it changes the consistency of the smoothie and my wife Jeanine doesn't like it.

This morning I made a couple mango banana smoothies, one for me and one for Jeanine. A picture of a smoothie isn't all that sexy so I'm not including one, but here is the recipe I used for the smoothies this morning. So here is how to make mango banana smoothies:

Mango Banana Smoothie
1 cup non-fat, Greek yogurt
1 cup orange juice
1 banana, broken into a few pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups frozen mango

Put everything into a blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be perfect for sipping through a straw and the balance of protein and carbohydrate should keep you going for a while.

Do you like piña coladas? Try this smoothie instead - replace the orange juice with coconut milk and the mango with frozen pineapple! Have the day off? Add some rum!

Straussensteak at Helvetia Luzern

More from Luzern! My first dinner in the city of Luzern, Switzerland, was at the restaurant Helvetia. After arriving in Luzern mid-morning, I headed to the office for some afternoon meetings. Later in the day, a couple more colleagues arrived in the city and four of us went out for dinner. After a long day traveling and in the office, a nice tall, cold beer was in order. Round 1 was a tall Klosterbräu, a nice tasty beer and one that I had never heard of before.

To start the food portion of my meal, I had spargelsalat. Spargel is the German word for asparagus and salat the German word for salad. This was one delicious salad of warm asparagus, white and green, tomatoes, radicchio, some other greens and a warm vinaigrette.

Following the Klosterbräu and the salad was a nice tall unfiltered Löwenbräu (pronounced Loo-vehn broy, not Low-ehn-brow like us Americans say!) This was a nice, crisp, unfiltered beer with a tasty, somewhat fruity flavor. Very refreshing!

And finally, my entree, straussensteak. That is, an ostrich steak with buttered egg noodles and a steamed vegetable medley of carrots, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower. The ostrich steak, as you can see in the picture below, is doused in a pink peppercorn sauce. The ostrich steak was incredibly lean and full of flavor. The taste is similar to beef, but much lighter, it does not have that rich, metallic (iron) taste that beef sometimes has. If you've never tried ostrich, I saw seek it out and give it a try, you might just love it!

I will add that this is not the first time I have had ostrich. A few years ago while at this place called Crazy Burger, I tried an ostrich burger, and I loved it!

Crab Cakes and Comics

About a year ago I shared a Get Fuzzy comic that had a food theme, and again today, more food. Enjoy today's Get Fuzzy comic strip - more crab cakes!

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

A home cooked meal in Switzerland

I traveled to Luzern, Switzerland for some meetings back in May and was fortunate to get a home cooked meal at my friend and colleague Jason's house. All I knew was that he was making risotto, but as I would soon find out, I was in for a treat.

For Jason's first course, he put together a wonderful salad of lamb's lettuce (mâche), fresh figs, parma, and buffalo mozzerella with a drizzle of aged balsamic. This salad was outstanding! I had never had fresh figs before and I fell in love with them. The parma was also excellent and the mozzarella was so soft and delicate, it practically melted in my mouth. The aged balsamic balanced the sweetness of the entire salad very well, nice job Jason!

Here is Chef Jason hard at work in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on his award winning risotto.


Course two as I mentioned, was risotto. A sautéed fennel risotto with fresh ricotta. Jason first sautéed the fennel and held it aside while the risotto cooked. As Jason added the last cup of hot stock to the risotto pan, he added in the fennel, bringing all the flavors together. He plated the risotto with a few teaspoons of the fresh ricotta, some crushed red peppers, and some of the fennel fronds. This risotto was seriously good; the rice was cooked perfectly and the slightly sweet, sautéed fennel balanced out the richness of the risotto. I had seconds.

To end this fantastic meal, Jason served up some great vanilla ice cream with fresh berries and a little splash of aged balsamic vinegar. So good.

So to Jason and his wife, Keryn, thank you for this delicious home cooked meal in Switzerland, and for being so kind open up your home. Next time you're in Boston, dinner is at my house.

Perfecting an Almost Perfect Pizza

What is the perfect pizza? The crust should be thin and crispy, and it should hold the weight of the toppings above it. The sauce should be a perfect savory balance of flavors, low in acidic bite, high in flavor. Or, the sauce should be left out and the crust coated with a thin brush of extra good olive oil. And then the toppings, what are the perfect toppings? For my perfect, or almost perfect pizza, I top the crust with caramelized onions, arugula, black mission figs, and soft, crumbled goat cheese.

In June, I was so close to constructing the perfect pizza, but something was missing. I thought the pizza I describe above needed a little something to balance out the sweetness of the caramelized onions, the figs and the sweet and tangy goat cheese. A small dose of balsamic vinegar should do the trick, I thought. So last night, I made this pizza again, and caramelized the onions along with some good 10 year aged balsamic vinegar. Was the pizza perfect? I don't know. I may need to make one with the balsamic vinegar and one without, on the same night, and do a taste test.

Whatever the case may be, my pizza of caramelized onions, arugula, black mission figs, and soft, crumbled goat cheese, drizzled with good olive oil (no sauce,) is the best pizza ever to come out of my kitchen. Should I continue to try and tweak it or leave a good thing alone and just enjoy one damn good pizza? I'll think about it while I'm at Fenway Park tonight watching the Boston Red Sox play baseball, eating a Fenway Frank and drinking an overpriced, watered down beer - it's all part of the Fenway Experience!

Homemade Turkey Burgers

I will never buy another box of frozen turkey burgers! Upon the suggestion of the meat counter guy at my local market, I tried the frozen turkey burgers available in the freezer case. He said, "we sell a ton of them, I assume they're good." Well they weren't! They were thin, dry, and actually tasted a bit like cardboard! I vowed never to buy frozen turkey burgers again, especially after coming up with this great homemade turkey burger recipe!

These turkey burgers are so simple to make and so full of flavor, you will NEVER want to buy frozen turkey burgers again. In the time it takes my charcoal grill to fully light, these burgers are made and ready to go on the fire. For four good sized burgers, pick up a 1/2 pound of ground white meat turkey and a 1/2 pound of ground dark meat turkey. Grab a bunch of scallions, some fresh Italian parsley, and some Montreal steak seasoning if you don't have any at home. I also add in some dried oregano and cayenne pepper so if you don't have it in your cupboard, pick some of that up as well.

While your grill is heating up, or your charcoal is catching fire (these burgers could also be cooked in a grill pan on the stove top if you don't have a grill,) mix the two types of turkey, three sliced scallions, a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley, a tablespoon or so of montreal steak seasoning, some dried oregano, and some cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Form the mixture into three or four equally sized patties, and when your grill is ready, fire these burgers until just cooked through.

I serve my turkey burgers on toasted whole wheat sesame seed buns slathered with dijon mustard and topped with avocado and tomato. A nice salad of field greens and fresh herbs tossed with some balsamic and extra virgin olive oil is a nice accompaniment for the burger. Use up the rest of the tomato and avocado on the salad and you've got yourself a quick, simple, and very inexpensive dinner!

The Michael Phelps "Diet"

There has been a lot of talk the last couple days about Olympic Champion Michael Phelps' "diet". In order to keep his engine burning he consumes between 8-10,000 calories a day! For starters, he eats 3 fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, and mayonnaise, an omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of french toast with powdered sugar, AND 3 chocolate chip pancakes - just for breakfast!

Watch this promotional video with Michael Phelps, the most recognized...EATER!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

It might be Restaurant Week here in Boston, but this week on one food guy it's Recipe Week! That's right, since today is the second day this week I'm posting a recipe, I decided to follow the theme all the way through the weekend. Today's recipe is another winner, enjoy!

More brunch goodies because I love brunch! Who doesn't, right? You get to sleep right through breakfast and still enjoy the great breakfast treats later in the morning. My favorite brunch items include french toast soufflé, eggs benedict, frittatas, and of course bagels, lox, whitefish salad, and Miami cream cheese (cream cheese with lox bits and horseradish!)

One of my newest favorites is a raspberry cream cheese coffee cake. My friend Christine has made this a couple times and brought it over for brunch at my house; the leftovers never make it through the weekend. The crust is pastry perfection and the raspberry cream cheese filling is just pure heaven in a pie crust. It's sweet, silky, decadent. I don't care if this cake is bad for my pant size, I'll run an extra mile or three just to enjoy an extra slice of this delicious raspberry cream cheese coffee cake.

The recipe comes from the Stonewall Kitchen web site where it was adapted from the Junior League Centennial Cookbook. If you want to impress your family and friends the next time you host a brunch, add this coffee cake to your table and your home will become the most popular weekend destination around. Enjoy!


Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Adapted from the Junior League Centennial Cookbook

Ingredients

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup Stonewall Kitchen Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam or Stonewall Kitchen Golden Raspberry Jam

Topping:
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9 inch spring form pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in the butter, using a pastry blender or two knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Remove one cup for topping.
4. Add baking powder, soda, salt, sour cream, egg, and vanilla to remaining crumb mixture. Blend well.
5. Spread dough over bottom and two inches up the sides of the prepared spring form pan. Dough should be 1/4 inch thick on all sides.
6. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and egg; blend well. Pour over dough in spring form pan.
7. Carefully spoon Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam or Golden Raspberry Jam evenly over cheese mixture.
8. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup reserved crumb mixture and the almonds. Sprinkle over the top.
9. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until cream cheese filling is set and the crust is a deep golden brown.
10. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan. Serve warm or cool. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.

Serves 6-8



Author's note: I'm raising money for the The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support my recent ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride. Will you make a donation to support the advancement of cancer research and administration of life-saving cancer treatments?

Make Ahead French Toast Soufflé

Do you ever get sick of plain old French toast? Me neither, but this French toast soufflé will make all other French toasts green with envy. This is a super simple, make ahead French toast soufflé that is prepared the night before, giving you plenty of time to hang out with friends or family at a brunch or on a lazy Sunday morning.

My mother-in-law made this famous in our family, and now I make it when I'm entertaining friends for brunch. Like I said, it's super simple, and it's super delicious. The original recipe that I was given calls for a large loaf of Italian bread, but I've substituted a large loaf of challah. I use Cheryl Ann's but any good challah will do. Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Make Ahead French Toast Soufflé
1 large loaf of challah - sliced 1-inch thick
Butter or butter substitute - spread over both sides of the dry sliced bread
8 large eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons Madagascar vanilla
3 cups low fat milk (Lactaid, plain soy milk or hemp milk okay)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat together with sugar, vanilla, milk and nutmeg. Spray a 9x12 baking dish with non-stick spray and arrange the buttered challah in the dish. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, cover, and refrigerate over night.

Next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.Take the baking dish out of the fridge and uncover. Carefully flip the pieces of bread trying not to break them. You want both sides of the bread to soak up the eggy goodness. Bake for 45 minutes or until browned and puffy. Serve with your favorite toppings like powdered confectioners sugar and maple syrup. Fresh berries compliment the sweet French toast very well. I like mine with fresh raspberries and blackberries.

Happy Eating!
Author's note: I'm raising money for the The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support my ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride. Will you make a donation to support the advancement of cancer research and administration of life-saving cancer treatments?

Eating Tandoori Chicken in Chennai

When I tell my colleagues that I like going to India, many of them think I'm nuts; twenty hours on a plane and all that air and noise pollution surely can't be fun. My response is usually something like, "I think the food is great and I get to experience things that are unique to that part of the world; India is a fascinating country. And, I like the solitude on the plane." They still think I'm nuts.

Even though I'm in India on business, the trip tends to be all about the food for me. Dinners are usually at restaurants in five-star hotels in the city, like Peshwari in the Sheraton Chola or Lotus Thai in The Park hotel. When we work late at the office, we usually eat at our own hotel, the Fortune Select Palms, in the Zodiac restaurant/lounge. The Zodiac offers a variety of foods, including a buffet full of delicious Indian offerings. My favorite dish however is on the menu, the tandoori chicken, India's version of barbecued chicken. Sure the hotel is in the south and tandoori is a traditionally found in the north, but this chicken is GOOD. It is a statler chicken breast, which means it is the boneless breast of chicken with a drumette attached, covered in spicy goodness, cooked in a Tandoor oven, and served with a wedge of lime and some carrot and cabbage slaw.


I ate this chicken twice during my last visit to India in March and I can't wait to go back and have it again. The chicken is tender, the rub is spicy, and the accompanying mint chutney (not pictured) offers both a cooling and flavorful touch to this dish.

On my next trip I'm going to explore the food stalls that line Old Mahabalipuram Road outside of my office; I may need some Pepto afterwards, but I hope it will be worth it. Remember when you're traveling, follow your nose...and your stomach. Be adventurous in life and at the dinner table.

Author's note: I'm raising money for the The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support my recent ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride. Will you make a donation to support the advancement of cancer research and administration of life-saving cancer treatments?

The Best Thai Food....in India!

Here is another dining adventure from my last trip to India - Thai food! After a long day at the office, some colleagues and I went to The Park hotel for some Thai food at Lotus. The Park is a 5-star hotel located in downtown Chennai with three restaurants and two night clubs. The hotel is built on land previously occupied by the Gemini Film Studios, one of the first studios in Chennai that sparked the film industry in Tamil Nadu.

Anyway, the food at Lotus was outstanding. We had a few appetizers, of which the most noteworthy was the shrimp spring rolls pictures below. It was a whole shrimp wrapped inside of a spring roll wrapper with some green onions and cabbage. Five different sauces accompanied the plate of spring rolls and can be seen presented on my plate below with one spring roll. Each sauce was a perfect accompaniment for the sweet and savory, crispy shrimp spring roll.


For my main course, I decided to try the chicken pad thai. In my opinion a Thai restaurant is only as good as it's Tom Yum Soup and it's Pad Thai. This Pad Thai at Lotus was excellent! The rice noodles were cooked perfectly, the chicken was tender, and the spicy seasonings left me feeling very satisfied with my choice. We actually ate at Lotus the night before as well, and I had the green curry which was also excellent.


Finally, a note about the service at Lotus and in India in general. At each of the fine restaurants we ate at, both this recent trip in March and my trip last September, the service is generally good. It was often hard to find a waiter when we needed a drink, however when our food is brought to the table, the server will plate the food as seen in the picture below. When returning to the table to check on us, if he sees any empty plates, he will serve up some more from the dishes. This level of service is appreciated to a certain extent, but the service was not perfect.

On a side note, my colleague Nick, being served in the photo, made a snarky comment about me taking pictures of the food. I justified my picture taking by mentioning my blog, and blurred out his face in the picture to protect him from the abuse he would otherwise certainly receive from fellow bloggers for his ignorance.

And remember when your traveling, whether for business or pleasure, follow your nose...and your stomach. Be adventurous in life and at the dinner table.

Author's note: I'm raising money for the The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support my recent ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride. Will you make a donation to support the advancement of cancer research and administration of life-saving cancer treatments?