Tequila Mockingbird

Actually, no tequila this weekend so far, I’m just drolling.

Saturday, Nan and I went to see a stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird at Washington University’s Edison Theater.  I love any live performance of anything.  As far as I’m concerned, anybody getting up in front of a live audience and putting it on the line deserves respect and encouragement, no matter the “quality” of their production.  That being said (heh); the quality of this production was outstanding.  The sets, costumes, and acting were all above par.

After the performance, Mary Badham, the woman who played Scout in the 1962 film, was on hand to speak briefly about the social issues raised in the book and to answer questions about her role in the movie.  That was a treat.  In the Department of Small Worlds, there was a woman in the audience who turned out to be one of Badham’s teachers when she was a kid in Alabama.

After the play, we went to LemmonGrass for Com Tay Cam Tom (Shrimp Rice in Hot Pot).  I’ve been going to Vietnamese restaurants for over 20 years and I’ve always gotten the same thing, Bun Cha Gio (Vermicelli Noodles with Egg Rolls).  This is possibly my longest mono-ethno-food run to date.  It only took me a couple of years each to move beyond Chicken with Almonds and Pad Thai and start exploring the rest of the Chinese and Thai menus.

 Com Tay Cam Tom

We read a description of the hot pot concept in Sauce, our local foodie weekly, and decided to try it.  The secret surprise at the bottom of the pot is crispy rice.  Aficionados of Sizzling Rice Soup (yes, I’m talking to YOU, Leah) will love this dish.  I predict it won’t be the last time we have it.

Kyle John and Kevin James, “The Boys”

Last weekend, Jim, Ingrid, and The Boys came down to The ‘Lou for a visit.  It was wonderful to see them again.  We spent quality time eating, watching inspirational movies (The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou), playing Cranium, and just talking.  The Boys are well on their way to becoming the tallest Thompsons in history.

- Poppa

The Gourmand’s Guide to “The Scourge of God” by S. M. Stirling

“…there was cold roast beef and pungent kielbasa and fried chicken, bread and butter and hot pickles, tortillas and beans, tomatoes and radishes, with sharp cheese and apple tarts to follow.” p181

“…they went by rows of barrels of various sizes for wine and beer and brandy and whisky, flour and salt pork and salt beef, shelving with potted meats and vegetables and jams and jellies, sacks of onions and potatoes and bins of dried peppers and beans, vats of pickled eggs and sauerkraut, racks of hams and flitches of bacon in wrappers of waxed canvas…” p209

“The smells of cooking food were strong from the doors ahead, from frying onions to baking pastries with their buttery richness; this was the kitchen, where the made dishes would be prepared while the whole carcasses roasted outside.” p209

“…watching men who’d downed racks of lamb-ribs and heaped plates of roast beef with all the fixings taking fruit tarts and pastries of pine nuts and honey and cream from the silver salvers.” p211

“What I need is a steak…  I want a roast chicken!  Or a rack of BBQ lamb ribs with honey-mustard glaze!  Or pork chops with sautéed onions… or even venison stew…” p263

“There was potato soup done with barley and onions, hard white cheese grated on it, warm dark bread and butter, pickled cucumbers, hard-boiled eggs and sauerkraut, and dried apples and berries.” p263

“A waitress turned up with their food; a loaf of brown bread, butter, a platter of plump aromatic sausages hot and steaming and sputtering juices from cracks in their skins, beets with herbs, cabbage, some strong-tasting boiled green that looked like spinach but wasn’t, glistening slices of pan-fried potatoes.” p286

“… there was frybread, lamb sausages redolent of garlic and sage, grilled walleye fillets fresh from the river, done with butter and pecans and steaming white and flaky on the fork, and plates of buffalo-hump hash and scrambled eggs savory with herbs and wild onion.” p364

“(The calves) were… butterflied and set to grilling over the coals, with a cook using a long-handled brush to slather sauce on them from a keg.  Tongue and hump meat went on beside them, and young girls carried around skewers of grilled tongue and kidney and liver.” p385

“A cold roast suckling pig lay at one end of the long table in brown-glazed glory on a slab of cold oak, with an apple in its mouth; a sirloin of beef rested at the other, pink at the center where a thin slice had been shaved away.  Between them were breads and hot biscuits and yellow butter, salads of greens and cherry tomatoes and onions and peppers and radishes dressed with oil and vinegar, potato salad with its creamy whiteness flecked with bits of red, deviled hard-boiled eggs with their yolks replaced by minced ham forcemeat, platters of fresh boiled asparagus, cauliflower and eggplant baked with cheese, sautéed mushrooms, glazed carrots…” p429

- Poppa