The EdsKape 2009

As promised, here's picture of the tablesKape from Ed's birthday celebration:



Containing: "The Office" Seasons 3 and 4 on DVD, "The Daily Show Indecision 2004" DVD, the Andy Bernard "Dancing with the Stars" mug, Cap'n Crunch, sushi, Hello Kitty (because she's a part of every sKape), the Ed card, some malted milk balls (for no reason at all), and the item ubiquitous to all sKapes - a lemon.

Stage Left and My Birthday

So, as I mentioned before, it was my birthday last week. To honor my birth, I invited a few friends to come to a restaurant in New Brunswick with me - a restaurant I had been wanting to go to for a while actually, Stage Left. I had heard really good things about it from everyone who had eaten there and a few people I knew in cooking school had actually gone to work there once they finished. Being that it's on the pricey side, I figured it would be a good birthday-dinner celebration location, although I clearly have no issue with dropping some hard-earned monies on dinner, provided it's good, for no legitimate occasion at all. In addition, I figured it was a good place to bring a few people who are maybe not so, how shall we say it nicely, quick to try new foods? Stage Left has a whole section of the menu that's a la carte, where you can choose a meat (that's what she said) and your sides, so I thought this would go over well with the more selective eaters.

Thus, donning our fanciest* clothing, BW, PW, NC, DC, MC, CC, BMG, and I ventured to dinner on a Friday night. We were seated right away (I had made a reservation using Open Table about a month beforehand) at a giant round table in the back corner - were they trying to tell us something? We ordered two bottles of wine (7 of us were drinking) and the sommelier very nicely brought us 14 glasses so we could all try both wines, also without making any comment about us all being lushes! The restaurant wasn't too busy, so we were able to order relatively quickly, I guess it was fair, based on the size of our party and the amount of time it took us (well, really only me) to decide what we wanted to eat.

Some of decided to order some starters, here they are:

Grilled Foie Gras (yes, I know some people may get pissy at me about it, I certainly won't fault you your opinion, you can do what you want - that said, it was delicious). It came with some kind of delicious French Toast-like thing:


Scallops - this was my appetizer and it was sooooooo good. The scallops came with a balsamic vinegar reduction and Jersey peaches. Wow. Delicious. The peaches were a little tart, with the sweet scallops and the even sweeter balsamic reduction (which I'm honestly not a big fan of), all the flavors worked very nicely together. I will definitely make this for Ed when he comes over for dinner in the near future!


Beet Salad - I only tried a piece of beet from this, but it was nowhere NEAR as good as the beet salad at Fork. I'm sorry, it just wasn't. Nothing will ever be.


(Crunchy) Market Salad - PW will only eat salad if it involves lots of crunchy things. Which this salad had in abundance. It allegedly had a nice, light dressing, too, I was too engrossed in my scallops to taste it. According to the menu, it was a Banyuls Vinaigrette

(And, yes, BW and I did comment on how ridiculous the size of the various plates were. I mean, I had two scallops on a giant plate, while the Foie Gras was wedged onto the smallest plate ever. This was, as you will soon see, a continuing theme throughout the evening).

I think it took a little bit of time to get our mains after we were finished with out starters, I'm not really sure, though. We were all merrily drinking and talking, so, really, it didn't matter how long. Well, maybe it mattered to the people who didn't order something to start, but, no one complained. Here are some of the main courses (again with the inexplicably giant plates):

Coffee Coriander crusted Wild Boar with sweet potato puree, fava beans, and some kind of mushroom that I can't remember. This was my dinner and it was awesome. I loved how the wild boar (the meat had a delicious, smoky, RICH flavor) came with the giant bone sticking out and I loved the coffee crust. I didn't really taste the coriander, but I was OK with that, the coffee crust was good enough for me. I think the dish was a little rich to be on a summer food menu, but it was cold enough in the restaurant to pretend it was colder outside, plus, clearly I ordered it, so I shouldn't really say anything at all.


Duck - a few people got the duck, it had some duck breast and also confit. Both were awesome, perfectly cooked, not inexplicably salty, and very, very tasty.


Steak - this was one of the "from PW's burning grill" items, a flat-iron steak with the "Apple Jack Spiked Cinnamon Apple" sauce and some asparagus. It looked good. I didn't try it, though.


Fish (halibut, maybe?) with some sides...I'm sorry. The only thing I tried was the pea and mint puree (green smear on the plate), which I thought would be really good, but instead had an overpoweringly smoky flavor.


Salmon - again from the wood-burning grill, with a delicious side, pictured next...


Creamed Spinach - oh yum. I love creamed spinach. Like more than a person should love a food, and this was really, really good. So creamy and spinach-y. Oh, I want you now, creamed spinach...I want your delicious green goodness.


Now, after dinner, we were pretty full, I'm not going to lie. But, it was my birthday, MOFOs, we HAD to get dessert...right?

Giant Coffee - some people only ordered coffee, and what a coffee it was. A nice 16 fluid ounce mug of the addictive brown liquid. I think the mug was the size on DC's head.


Chocolate-thing with Milk - clearly this was BMG's dessert. That ho loves his chocolate desserts with milk, what can I say? It looked really good, I didn't have any, you'll see why in a second.


Ice Cream and Sorbet - again, why did they cram seven different sorbets and ice creams in little ramekins onto such a small plate (look at that last one...it's practically falling off the edge, there)? They could have used one of the giant square ones they had been putting food on all night. The only one of these I tried was the lemon sorbet, which was deliciously, mouth-puckeringly tart. Perhaps a tad too un-sweet for most, but not for me...


NC and I decided to order the cheese plate for dessert, which, on the dessert menu, give you the choice of for one, or to add a person at a reduced cost. We figured, after our experience with wimpy cheese-tastings at other New Brunswick restaurants, we would get the tasting for two...um, yeah, big mistake:

I will say, though, that it was a great!!!! selection of cheese, varied and all good. The cheese-sommelier (what are they actually called?) was quite knowledgeable about the cheeses, as well, although, I was pretty much done after the wine, so I didn't' really pay attention to what he was saying. Unfortunately, I couldn't even finish half of the cheese (thanks to BW, it looked like I made a dent in it by the end of the night), because of this:

The chef was also nice enough to send out a delcious birthday treat for me, despite the fact that I had also ordered the cheese. I guess the attentive waiters and waitresses had overheard me loudly shouting in a drunken stupor that it was my birthday and had informed the chef. Very nice of them. And, the brûlée was delcious...exactly what crème brûlée should be - creamy, vanilla, sugary crusty-topped custard goodness.

Birthday Crème Brûlée


Overall, I loved the meal. I could have done without the weird too-small plates and the fact that all the food came out to us with assorted sauces smeared all over the plates. Honestly, if I were the chef, I'd be pissed the servers apparently did some type of calisthenics while holding the freshly sauced plates, to encourage the beautiful arty craftsmanship that is the sauce to spill haphazardly across the plate. But that's just me as the chef. Me as the patron? Didn't bother me too much. The food was too tasty. I would definitely go back and highly recommend it to anyone who has the time and money to head out for a nice dinner on a Friday or Saturday night. It's not for everyday, and may actually be better in the colder months, based on the meat and root vegetable-centric menu, but I'm not sorry I went. No, you know what, it was definitely better than that. I really enjoyed it. I think it's in the top ten meals I've had out ever. Until I get to travel to Napa Valley to eat at The French Laundry. And to New York to eat at Peasant. And to a number of other restaurants I have yet to visit and can't remember right now.

Now, after this, we should have gone home, we had closed down the restaurant and dropped a fair amount of cash (and thanks to all of my incredible dining companions, again, for buying me my birthday dinner...I appreciate it so, so much...I was so happy you all could come celebrate with me!), but, we decided to grab a glass of wine at Daryl Wind Bar before heading home. As I found out at 5 am the next morning, that was the fateful mistake. But, enough about that...moving on.

The next day, I had a few people over to play Wii, eat salted meats, and become a party to my general merriment and debauchery. Unfortunately the mood was dampened by my computer malfunctioning, blue screen-ing, then not working. FFFFF you, Dell. F.

Broken Computer (yes, this is the same one I just wrote about)


But, as you know, two of the best ways to cheer me up? TablesKaping and MEAT!
The SKape:

The key items of a traditional sKape are clearly visible, a lemon and a really poor, artist's rendering of Rachael Ray. I think we actually added a few bottle of llllllliquor to the sKape by the end of the evening. As we all know, Aunt Sandy wouldn't have it any other way. Also pictured, my phone, Buzz Lightyear, a Hello Kitty doll (referenced here), and a Hello Kitty coloring/activity book.** Yes, the book is mine, not a small child's. Leave me alone.

MEATS!!!

This is pretty much self-explanatory. Prosciutto, salammi, sopressata...

And that was my birthday. Filled with wine, meats, desserts, and most importantly, cheeses. Well, maybe I should say instead, my awesome friends.

*By fancy, I mean not the usual scrubby clothes I wear to the lab.
**Which reminds me, I need to buy some crayons

Things Other People Have Bought for Me That I Love

So, it was my birthday last week and I got lots of good stuff, including some of the items below. Thanks to all the peeps who helped me celebrate! It was a lot of fun and I appreciate you all trekking to ghetto NB to help me celebrate! post of delicious food on Friday night to come! Here's our Birthday TablesKape:


And here are some lovely things other people bought for me, that I love (some birthday and some not).

1. Wii and games!

My brother got me Wii for Christmas, but by the time it arrived, it was more as an early birthday present. But, OK, seriously, how can you NOT have fun when playing Wii games? It's brilliant. It's like you're actually bowling, but as a cartoon version of yourself (or Bernie Williams, or Stephen Colbert...whatever Mii you choose to make). And, yes, I have made my Ed Helms Mii, only it needs some work, it doesn't quite look like him. Maybe the "Ed Helms Post of the Day" will help inspire me. I also got a bunch of games, including "Cooking Mama," Zelda, and Beach Games (it has Bocce!!!!), and will hopefully be getting Mario Kart soon. Yes, Mario Kart was played at my birthday party, and yes, it may be the most awesome game ever made. I suck, but at least it's fun! My only concern is my lack of being able to do any work now, since I'll be distracted by the Wii-ing. At least there isn't much TV to watch over the summer...I can practice for a potential Wii tournament in the Fall.

2. Le Creuset Blue Teapot

(imagine it's blue)
My love for Le Creuset, much like my love for Ed, has been well documented. Thus, it seems only fitting that two awesome people would buy me this awesome teapot for my birthday! It matches my other blue Le Creuset cookware and looks fancy on my bootleg stove. Perhaps one day it will look even fancier on my Viking 48" Dual Fuel Range. Which will sit outside, on the street, next to the cardboard box in which I will be forced to live, in order to afford such a magnificent piece of culinary craftsmanship.


3. Miniature Hello Kitty Doll

Except mine is wearing a kimono and not holding a stupid purse. It's mini and cute and sits on my couch with me as I watch TV. I mean, I like giant stuffed animals as much as the next girl, but I also like things that don't clutter up my apartment and make me seem like a craze-Mariah-Carey-esque Hello Kitty fan. This shows my love of HK while still being small enough to hide away, you know, should Ed stop by and casually mention that he hates Hello Kitty.

4. Bernie Williams Statue
(I can't find a picture anywhere...apparently the Bernie Williams statuette is not in high demand on Ebay, or, everyone loves their's SO much, they can't bear to part with it).
Technically, the statue was not bought for me, but a ticket to a Yankees game was. Actually, two Yankees tickets were bought for me. I excitedly went to a Yankees game with BMG, doubly excited as it was Bernie Williams Statuette giveaway day, but we had to wait for our companions outside of the stadium before entering, as they had our tickets. As game time approached, I became more and more afraid that I would miss out on my beloved Bernie. Luckily, BMG came to my rescue and bought me a ticket to get inside the stadium to retrieve my precious prize. By the time I got Bern, headed back outside, and met up with my peeps to go back inside for the game, all the Bernies were gone. Ha! Who's the big winner? Yeah, I held onto it all night, to make sure none of the other douche bags at the stadium took him away from me. Although, I guess Steinbrenner took him away from me anyway. Or maybe it was old age.

So, the moral of the story here is always arrive early on Yankees stadium giveaway nights or bring BMG to pay for an extra ticket.

And those are the things other people have bought for me that I love - birthday edition!

The Return

In honor of "The Return" of "30 Rock and "The Office," some friends (KN, MD) and I decided to have a Mexican Fiesta, to celebrate and give us an excuse to drink excessive wine on a weeknight. Yes, I know rioja isn't Mexican, but it's Spanish...and there is Spanish spoken in Mexico. So that makes it OK.

On the menu: Chicken and Pepper fajitas, corn, rice, lots of wine, and the BEST. ICE CREAM. EVER.

More on that in another post.

For the chicken fajitas, I made a marinade of olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, cilantro, and some secret spices. Then, I cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise and added them to the marinade and let them sit in the fridge for about two hours. I would have let them marinate longer, but I didn't get home from work early enough...
Marinade:

Chicken in Marinade:


Once KN had arrived with the rest of the food, I prepared the other delicious things.
Sauteing the onions:

Chopping the peppers and cilantro (on my fancy new bamboo cutting board, endorsed by none other than duck-fat-as-gel himself, Ming Tsai):

(If you're really crafty, you can see some of my secret spices in the background...)
Grilling the chicken:

Please excuse my filthy stove...that chicken was spitting like a MOFO on the grill. Plus, I haven't cleaned my stove in a while.
While I was busy in the kitchen, KN took over my usual duties of fashioning the TablesKape. Here it is (!):

Chili pepper lights, some tequila, two pairs of maracas, some chipotle pepper powder, a lime, and a lemon. All Mexican inspired items, except for the lemon. But every good tablesKape must contain a llllllllemon, Aunt Sandy requires it. And we don't want to piss off that bitch. She'll make us eat the Kwanzaa Kake of Racial Insensitivity as punishment.
"Glamor" shot of food:

There were also some multi grain tortillas and the delicious fajita toppings of sour cream and freshly shredded cheddar cheese (the good stuff, none of that Sargento Mexican blend nonsense).
My plate of food:

Notice we had actually plugged the chili lights in at this point. Unfortunately, due to my lack of extension cord, we had to remove them from the main tablesKape in order to plug them in. Thus, we were left with the main sKape and a kind of auxiliary tablesKape. I think Aunt Sandy would be proud.

Next, it was time to dig into the ice cream!

Oh God, the salted delicious caramel-i-ness. I feel the drool forming just thinking about it. The baby Jesus was certainly not crying as we ate it.

After about two and half bottles of rioja, we had the brilliant idea to create a second and much more involved TablesKape. Here it is (although I'm embarrassed to show you the results of our drunken antics, but I love you all so much, I can't help myself):

The lemon's still there (clearly), but now we have the addition of a few key items. Things that make any sKape better. Stephen Colbert, Bernie Williams, Yankees paraphernalia, and, the most important, floating wine glass. God, we are such degenerates. Although, this makes slightly more sense if I tell you we were watching the Yankees game at this point, as "30 Rock" and "The Office" had been long over.

As far as the actual shows go, I really enjoyed "30 Rock." I love seeing Liz Lemon as kind of evil ("I am the DECIDER!") and Jack playing her, what with the stuttering and sweeping piles of dust, was awesome. I actually really like the Pete subplot, and died laughing when he dialed his own extension at random. Plus, I actually liked how they kept paralleling the episode with what was happening on MILF Island, even if it was a little obvious. For "The Office," I don't know. It was really an episode that shows how uncomfortable the show can be to watch at times. I definitely need to watch it again, I always like those kinds of episodes more after repeated viewings. I just kind of feel the writers are painting Jan into a corner here, what are they going to do? Send her to a mental institution? I can't see any other way to deal with her character (since we all know she's not going to be Michael's girlfriend for long, not after she broke his TV with his own DUNDIE. That's messed up!). It kind of sucks, I think she's an awesome character, so deeply flawed and crazy, but never as overtly mentally unstable as in this episode, in my opinion.

There were some good moments, though. Angela asking what she's supposed to do with the flower and telling Dwight she doesn't want to put one of his beets into his mouth. Ed Helms in general (him harmonizing with Hunter's song, come on, how is that NOT awse?). Jim trying to leave Pam at the condo and almost vomiting at the smell of the fire candles. Also, Pam's "Awesome!" when Dwight showed up was too, too cute. As much as I think Jan is a waste of a character now, her, "Oh, this will be great to cook with" in response to the wine Pam brought was so hilariously bitchy, it was probably one of the few times I laughed out loud. I'll watch it again, I promise. Don't yell at me for not liking it so much.

So, getting back to The Return, thus basically ended our evening. Well, there were some drunken discussions about living by ourselves on an island compound, the state of food in the American South, and I'm sure a lot of me screaming, "I love Ed Helms," but that's all you guys need to know about. Well, maybe one more thing:

I really love Brett Favre.

Ed's Birthday - expanded

Yeah, I know. A little late on the Ed Birthday post, Iko. Well, I have this thing called a job and this other thing called class. Then there was this other thing, the Superbowl - which involved me fashioning the logos of the teams I chose to believe were playing:

and making some food. Whatever...I was busy, I'm sorry. Actually, I am sorry, seriously. I heart Ed and wanted to do his birthday justice. So here (belatedly) we go.

In honor of Ed's birthday, I wanted to make some food Ed would like. While, I probably should have made some Southern treats, in honor of Georgia, I didn't feel like buying a few gallons of peanut oil, in which to deep-fry, nor did I want all that breaded, oily goodness going directly to my ass, so I chose Italian (based on this article, which I posted before). Though, to be fair, I fashioned some real iced tea to make Arnold Palmers (a true Southern drink).

Here's the eggplant carnage:


That's about 2 lbs of eggplant - peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick. The breading station, flour (not pictured), eggs, and bread crumbs. Also, the dreaded PAM, which SOME people like to place atop other, sleeping people...

And, here's the finished Edparm (actually, that sounds like I made the parm. out of Ed, it's actually eggplant parm.):

That would be fresh-made marinara, eggplant, fresh mozzarella, basil, and Parmesan cheese.

The rest of the food:


First, notice the garlic bread placed atop the Le Creuset, to add height and interest to the tablesKape. The broccoli rabe was sauteed in garlic and olive oil. The eggplant parm. recipe will be posted later, no worries. Also, notice the floating glass of wine...if I hadn't had to go to work earlier that day, I would have found a way to suspend the wine directly from the ceiling, perhaps from a complex system of ropes and pulleys. Or, maybe using a piece of clear fishing line, so it appears to float above the sKape as if hanging from nothing.

The EdsKape:

From left to right (back row): The lemonade and iced tea for Arnold Palmers, Ed's favorite dinner - Cap'n Crunch, Bernie Williams bobble-head (to counteract the Braves logo, also, because I love #51), a picture of a banjo (relevance - Ed plays the banjo and I don't have $2500 to buy a real one for a TablesKape, Sandra Lee).
From left to right (front row): A picture of Ed, as Andy on "The Office," the Atlanta Braves logo (Ed's favorite baseball team - he's from Atlanta), and some maracas, b/c I thought they were festive and marginally related to the episode of "The Office," "The Return," in which Andy punches a hole in the wall and Dwight and Oscar return to the office.

The rest of the evening, not spent eating and drinking, was filled with episodes of "The Office" and one episode of "Arrested Development" which featured Ed. The brilliance of Ed was acknowledged and the food was devoured. A strong tribute to Ed on his birthday. Maybe next year I'll go to L.A., find Ed, and buy him a drink. And receive my first restraining order.

Happy Birthday, Ed!!!

Happy Birthday to Ed Helms!



In honor of this momentous event, I will have an Ed-themed TablesKape (an EdsKape?) and Italian food, because, while he is not Italian (as far as I know...I don't stalk him THAT much), he likes the food:


(Yes, it's a Rachael Ray Mag article...don't judge me)

On the menu:
Eggplant Parmigiana
Broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic and olive oil
Garlic Bread
Italian wine
Arnold Palmers
Cap'n Crunch

And I, to you, in addition...some Ed-related stuff:

Why can't I faint around Ed?

Gravitas