Friday List of Random Things

Five things that I love:
1. Ed Helms.

I've stated this fact here, here, here, and here. Also here. Definitely here. I think I've blogged about it ad nauseum, so I'll leave you to click on the links above, rather than continue on.

2. Tomatoes. They're the perfect food. Sweet, tart, acidic, high in fiber and the delicious antioxidant, lycopene. I like mine sliced, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and served on a fresh baguette drizzled with olive oil. Is there any more perfect meal? It's followed closely by the best sandwich ever - the BLT.

Tomato AND bacon in one sandwich? Sold. They key to my heart? A basket of late summer heirloom tomatoes and a slab of bacon. Seriously. Ed, are you paying attention?

3. The Yankees, specifically Bernie Williams.

Yes, the Yankees have their critics. I can't even argue so much against their hatred. The Yankees do trade away young talent (not so much anymore, Cano and Melky are still there, right?), in favor of expensive, older, arguably better players. Yes, George Steinbrenner is kind of an a-hole, although I won't talk smack about a man in ill health. But, they're a classy organization, no member of the team looks like he rolled out of bed and onto the field to play, no one talks smack about anyone else, and any clubhouse issues are handled within the organization (for the most part), not in the tabloids or media. In my opinion, Bernie was the epitome of a Yankee player - quiet, good, and always playing for the betterment of the team. Plus, he's cute.

4. 30 Rock. Tina Fey is simply the most awesome person ever. I either want to be her or make out with her, I'm not sure which one would be better. Clearly, anything she's a part of can't be bad, but 30 Rock, brings her to a whole new level of awesome. Her interactions with Alec Baldwin and, well, really everyone in the cast, make that show spectacular.

But even the lovely Tina aside, the minor characters, Dr. Spaceman, every character Rachel Dratch plays, the actors and writers who play the writers, and, clearly, the adorable-ness that is Jason Sudeikis as Flyod, they all bring so much funny to the show and have created the best show currently on television. Yes, I said it. It's better than The Office. The Office may have Ed, but, overall, 30 Rock is the better, more consistently funny show. In my opinion. You guys can watch whatever you want. I'll probably make fun of you if you don't like 30 Rock, though.

5. Vodka martinis.

Yes, I know a "real" martini is supposed to be made with "gin," and not vodka, but I like the vodka martini better. Sue me. It's delicious and gets you nice and happy drunk after just one. I mean, I've been known to throw down a glass* of wine on occasion** but sometimes you just want that icy, cold fermented potato juice and olive garnish. Always tasty and mostly good, provided the bar has some good vodka on hand. I've been liking Grey Goose, but I'm open to other vodka suggestions. I don't really know that much about vodka, maybe I'll do some Googling. Or maybe I'll do some real-life research now...that bottle of vodka in my freezer is calling me.

Next Friday, look for the list of five things that I HATE.

*bottle
**daily


Edited to add:
6. EdT and BW: Because they're both made of awesome, EdT has been my friend since, well, forever, "black and orange yellow," and BW because she agreed to be in my lame-ass study and because it feels like I've been friends with her forever. I heart you both!!!!

The Gator is Good, the Martinis Are Better

On Friday night, since BMG was in Vegas partying it up with strippers, gambling on the NCAA basketball tournament, and basically engaging in degeneracy and debauchery which is only acceptable in Las Vegas, I joined DC and NC for a night of third-wheel dining in New Brunswick, NJ at Delta's. Delta's is a soulfood restaurant, well reknowned in the NJ-area, which we had been to once before, last year. Actually, I havd been there one time before that as well, but the food left a lot to be desired, I think because they were cooking for our large party (60+ people). Since I'm a fair, although quite crappy food blogger (one who would rather post inane comments about RayRay and adorable pictures of Ed Helms), I decided to go back to get the real experience and it was definitely worth it. The food was really good. This past Friday was no different.

Reservations through Opentable? Check. Free parking in the Church Street deck because of Good Friday? Check. Lovely dining companions? Check (double check for you, DC! Heart!). All the makings of a great dinner. So let's get to it.

We started with some drinks, DC and I each having a martini, NC sticking with beer, since he had to drive our drunk asses around after dinner. Now, I will say, Delta's has a significant martini menu (in that it's super-long, TWSS), but I'm not really a fan of the sweet martini drinks, or really any sweet drink in general, so I can't vouch for their signature beverages. I will say that my martini was really good. See for yourself:

It was poured at the table, a little too close to the top (as you can see), so I had to drink a few sips without picking it up, causing my hair to fall into the drink, but it was worth it. As an added bonus, I could suck on my hair on the drive home to keep the buzz going.

We got an appetizer of the fried gator:

It was good. Very tasty and crunchy on the outside, and not too chewy in the middle. Even DC, who doesn't like most food items and doesn't like to try new things tried it and liked it. It came with some kind of aioli, which was a reddish color, probably due to roasted red peppers or something, mostly it tasted of garlic, which was/is (clearly) not bad.

Onto the entrees. NC had the Mahi Mahi special, involving fried, stuffed okra and succotash, DC had the smothered chicken with sides of mashed potatoes and string beans, and I had the salmon cakes with sides of mac and cheese and collard greens. You get your choice of two sides from their extensive (and I'm sure quite delicious) list of sides with any entree, causing me to remark to DC that Deltas should have a side item meal, kind of like Boston Market, except more delicious and probably equally laden with fat and sodium.

The Mahi Mahi:

I tried a little piece of the Mahi Mahi - it was quite good, nicely cooked and tasty. The Succotash was good, too, causing NC and me to bond over our shared love of lima beans. The fried okra looked good, I didn't have any, but it was stuffed with prawns, breaded, then deep fried, how could it be bad?

The smothered chicken was covered with fantastic gravy, as were the mashed potatoes:

I didn't try any of DC's food (bitch would have cut me), but she seemed to like it, which is really all that mattered.

Here's my salmon cakes with grits. Yes, that's two salmon caked swimming in a delicious pool of corn-y goodness.


Actually, I have a confession to make. This is the same thing I ordered last time I went to Delta's. I know, I should try something new. I just really liked it last time and really liked it again this time. I can't help it, I had to order it. We'll just have to go back again so I can order something different. Anyway, here are my sides (they had to put them on a separate plate due to the spreading pile o' grits):

That man and cheese was so effing good. The collard greens were super-tender and tasted of smoked meat, perhaps a ham hock? Delicious.

My only issue with the entrees was the liberal use of chopped parsley sprinkled across the plates. I'm not a fan of the confetti garnish, but I guess the chef is. To each his own, it's his restaurant, he can do what he wants...at least he didn't garnish the food with an random herb which had nothing to do the dish (I'm looking at you Clydz, but that's a blog for another day).

The Aftermath:
Yeah, shut it, guys. It was way too much food - don't make fun of our poor showing.



Notice how NC and I both ate half our portions. And cut them exactly in half. Like in a line. I don't' know what that means, but, in my case, I think it's a little sad.

Since we still had martini to drink, we decided to get a dessert. We had been eying up the strawberry cobbler since we sat down to eat and saw it as the dessert special for the day. So we ordered that mofo up. Well, it was alright. I'm not a huge sweet fan (yes, I know you all know that already...shut it!) and that thing was effing sweet. It actually made my teeth hurt. DC and NC both thought it was too sweet, too, so don't be all like, "Whatever, Iko, I like sweet things, you don't know what you're talking about."

Actually, wait a minute, it's true, I have no clue what I'm talking about. Anyway, we powered through the cobbler as best we could. I should also say that I was under the impression that a cobbler had a crumbly, granola-like topping, while this had more of a pie crust over the top. Maybe things are different in the South. Can anyone let me know? Anyone? Bueller?

Here's the aftermath of the cobbler:


And that was it. We were stuffed. Beyond compare. We headed out to drink some wine at my apartment and watch one of each of a TiVoed "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." I took the extra food home to have for dinner the next night. It was just a delicious microwaved up the next day.

Overall impressions: Good food, way too much of it, perhaps too liberal use of parsley hacher, and a (perhaps) not-a-cobbler. Also, delicious martinis. As we were leaving, a jazz band was just starting to play, so it may be worth a trip solely for drinking and bar food one night, just to listen to the band. Another blog for another day? I hope so - it means I get to go back soon!