Please Excuse My Voracious Appetite

How do you go about ensuring that everyone on a work trip is comfortable, welcome, and able to enjoy themselves especially during the after-hours times?  Well, pre-planning is key.  Choosing interesting and unique restaurants (but not too interesting as to be unapproachable).  And finally, make sure that you are always ahead of the crowd leading by example.

During this most recent trip to Charleston I made sure to employ the above lessons learned in many ways.  The most noticeable of which was my willingness and ability to out-eat everyone at the table.  For example, during the sushi dinner most people ordered 1 roll and a couple nigiri.  I made sure everyone felt good about what they ordered by ordering and then eating almost 4 rolls and a half dozen nigiri.  Rinse and repeat for the fried seafood dinner the next night.

And of course there was the multiple helpings of biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  I say helpings, not servings.  I think the FDA would probably have something to say not only about the size of a serving of lard-based biscuits and gravy but also the placement of said breakfast item on the food pyramid.  Upon seeing my breakfast choice, a certain Minnesota-based sponsor asked what was in it.  He seemed slightly appalled with the non-chalance my answer "biscuits have lard and flour, and the gravy has lard, flour, and sausage."  Of course after hearing that and watching me consume a couple more helpings I did notice he kept watching me for signs of the inevitable heart attack.

I did warn everyone that I would eat an appalling amount of seafood, fried food, and biscuits while I was there.  It was all in the name of making everyone feel comfortable.  I swear.  It was just a leading by example.  And I'm sure you can all extrapolate that into the beer.....  But I don't have a recipe for beer, so you'll have to leave the details to conjecture and photographic evidence.

Ode to a Sandwich

If I were a poet, I would be writing lyrical verse regarding a particular sandwich. And while those of you who don't know me well may think that only a "guy" could be so bewitched by a sandwich, let me tell you that given the right set of ingredients, toasted-ness, and overall satisfying composition a mere sandwich can, in fact, inspire a girl to exclaim "DAMN! That's a GREAT sandwich!"

See.......that's why I'm not a poet. But I do love Max's Broiled Rock Shrimp, Spinach and Cheese Melt. I have had dreams about this sandwich. I have even tried to replicate is a few dozen times, never with any success. It is like the best of a grilled cheese and Oyster's Rockefeller on a perfectly toasted french bread roll. Which I realize sounds completely bizarre now that I write it, but it is a really great sandwich. I only get to have it once ever year or so when I go home to visit my parents.

And visiting my parents brings me to the fact that my little brother just graduated from pharmacy school. When they called his name, they called him Doctor Snell. Which made me pause. This new doctor, is he really the one that put my head through the ceiling in the kitchen? Is he really the one that chased my mother around acting like a velocaraptor? Is he really the one that hid under my bed until really late at night and woke me up by pushing my matress up and down to convince me it was an earthquake? Is he the one I tried to throw off the edge of the Grand Canyon? And then the ceremony ended, and we met up with my brother, who's first words were (in reference to the tree nut lei he was wearing, gifted by one of the alums) "so, how do you like my nuts?"

Yup, that's my brother, the pharmacist. An engineer and a pharmacist, contributing members of society (kind of). Who would've guessed?

A $50 Breakfast

T and I spent a long weekend in Key West. I was expecting beach and sun and some nice bars. What I wasn't prepared for was how I just wanted to sink into the culture, to sit on the deck of one of the restaurants until I was wrinkly and grey. Not once did I look at my watch, although come to think of it, I'm not sure I we ever had any clocks, cell phones, or other time-keeping pieces with us. Although the roosters got us up in the morning, I had no problem with getting up that early so we could get a table at one of Jim C's recommendations. While all the food was good, the breakfasts were the most memorable. They were at places that had nothing more to them than corrugated metal and some scattered pool chairs.

It was at one such place, sitting in rickety old pool chairs, underneath a big with over-sized tropical leaves that I had my $50 breakfast. T ordered pancakes (nope, not made of gold, and not outrageously expensive either). The coffe was good and hot. And my only complaint was that I had this persistent fear that the roosters were going to peck my toes to get at my breakfast. I had the guilty pleasure of a lobster and shrimp benedict. Yes, that's right, I had buttery lobster and perfectly succulent shrimp with poached eggs and the most decadent key-lime hollandaise sauce I have ever had. Lets see......lobster, shrimp, eggs, english muffins, key lime juice, and BUTTER!

SINFUL!

And worth every penny, I may add.....

Happy Birthday T

T turned "not older" this weekend, and we went up the The Cliffs in Northern South Carolina. It was partially for a work trip for him, and we extended it into the weekend to look around the area. The coolest part for me was the helicopter ride. Having never been in a helicopter the feeling of slowly lifting off and turning was rather unsettling, but exhilerating at the same time.

The other cool part about the trip was seeing their organic farm that supplies the restaurants in the developments. Lots of work, it looks like, which makes me feel better about paying $3.50 for a single organic bell pepper. I like the philosophy of the developments, trying to maintain as much natural land as possible, encouraging hiking, serving organic food, and giving back to the community. Of course the world-class golf courses don't interest me in the least, but if it helps support things like organic farms and public school eduction on nutrition, then who am I to complain?

The food we had was exceptional. T had a beet salad that was to die for, and I'm not usually a person to swoon over vegetables, but this one was amazing. I had a portobella mushroom with onions, goat cheese, and greens over parsnip puree that was excellent. What was the most interesting was getting to taste salsify. It was kind of bland. But I'm always up for trying something new.

What country am I in?

Well, Sweden was, on average, the 2nd best places for restaurants that I've ever been (Venice being the best, but perhaps it was the company and the cheese........). Everything was extremely flavorful, very colorful, and exquisitely plated. Although I didn't have much traditional Swedish food. Except for the Moose Burger with Reindeer Bacon. I liked it just about as much as I liked Duck Breast or Venison Loin (meaning it fell somewhere above brussel sprouts but below broccholi). Other than that, I had lots of what can best be described as eclectic food that was intensely flavorful. Especially the Asian-style food.

The trip after that was in Washington, DC and consisted of Americanized Irish pub food and mediocre beer. Well, you can't win 'em all. At least I was able to exercise in DC, as opposed to the excessive "experiencing the culture" that happened in Sweden outside of the 12-hour work days. So I guess the motto is, once again:

Work Hard
Play Hard
Eat Well
Drink Well
Sleep on the Ride Home!

Travel Food

I love the Alton Brown show about Road Food on his show called Feasting on Asphalt. He travels across the country looking for good, authentic American cuisine as found along the road. And while I'm on the road a lot (at the moment I think the count is up to 1 full week at home over 3 months), I don't seem to have the same great things to say about American cuisine. Last week was Tampa, this week was Fayetteville, I've also hit San Diego (twice), and DC. And while I've had some good food some of those places, I can't seem to find the same good, authentic American cuisine. I'm currently sitting in a Chicago-style pizza joint in Wilmington, NC. The pizza was mediocre at best, but at least the beer is cold.

Well, now that I think about it, let me be fair. San Diego had two FANTASTIC restaurants that mom and I went to. One was definitely my style, very cutting edge, modern, and super creative call Chive down in the Gas Lamp District. The other was Anthony's Fish Grotto, which I think would play well on Alton's show. The fish was great, but what was more fun was getting my mom to order a big blue drink. Since she doesn't drink much its always fun to get her to try a new cocktail, somehow it feels like a mini victory in getting her to understand me. But when it comes to food, she and I are in pretty close agreement. Both places were great.

Unfortunately, the other trips were less colorful, interesting, or even tasty. Mostly chain restaurants and steak houses. But perhaps that speaks more to the tastes of my coworkers than what America has to offer. And just in time to keep me from really falling into a funk over unoriginal food, a trip to Sweden has just popped up.

So.......ludifisk here I come!

Oysters and Olive Oil

I find it strange that the first word in the title of this blog is a food I actually don't like very much. And I suppose if I was more of a writer I would be able to come up with something that fits me more. But the more I look at the words, the more they make sense, in an obscure and rather personal way. My two passions are travel and cooking, and trying to think up a name for the blog the cliche that kept coming into my head was "the world is your oyster." And somehow the rest of it just rolled from there.

Its a little late to start a travel blog, since I spent 3 years in Germany, traveling all over Europe and hardly posted a thing. And now I've moved back to the states and will not be able to travel as much. But perhaps I'll get a chance to start to experience the US. On the flip side, I now have a kitchen larger than the previous one (broomcloset size and about as well lighted and accessible) and access to much more fresh seafood.

While I have had a blog before, I'm terrible at posting things. I think it has more to do with preferring to put effort into one-on-one interactions. But since this is something everyone seems to be doing, I'll give it a try. For now, off to play with Google homepage more....