An Effing Foodie

Food Poems: Love After Love, by Derek Walcott

Love After Love*

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

        -Derek Walcott, from Sea Grapes (1976)

*Much love and thanks to Maggiescratch for sending me this.

Monday MONDAY Monday: Goulash Mondays at Cafe Steinhof

 

One particularly unmotivated Monday, my man and I were craving little more than a comforting space and sustenance with a certain fortifying gravity.  (Yep, it was stupid cold out.)

So we poked our heads into Cafe Steinhof, and were greeted with a "Hi! Two for goulash?"

We were little taken aback, but who can refuse an offer like that? 

Love Me or Leave Me: Romancing a Foodie

Yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with one of my dearest friends over cocktails and comfort food.  Alas, she and her man have just recently split.  Mostly, their story has to do with old-fashioned man/woman incompatibility, in which repeated differences in lifestyle and personal philosophy were demonstrably irreconcilable.

In short: She is a foodie, through and through, and he is not.

Being a personal trainer, the man in question is firmly ensconced in the fairly popular perspective of food as fuel, the act of eating a base, animalistic necessity to be closely monitored and disciplined into an optimized caloric breakdown.  And it shows.  This man is every gay guy's wet dream, a toned, tall drink of water that makes a perfect poster child for the virtues of clean living.

Which is all well and good.  But let me tell you about my friend.  She's a big-eyed, curvy bombshell whose every pore oozes with kindness, generosity, and unmistakable feminine mystique. She carries herself in a way that makes you understand that life is not always easy, and she's having a grand time making the best of it.

And a big chunk of it has to do with eating well, breaking bread with those she loves, and conjuring over-the-top, multi-course feasts that bring Like Water for Chocolate mass orgies to mind.

Sweets for the (Mostly!) Sweet

This'll come as no surprise, but I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day.  It's a day wrapped in chalky candy, smug couples, sub par pre-fixe fare, and flammable fuschia plush.  Blechy.

But to be fair, there are fantabular, long-suffering significant others out there who have more than earned a little bit of spoilage (that's men AND womenfolk!), even if it IS inspired by mass-motivated guilt.

So pay attention, 'cause even if you boycott V-Day, some of these treaties may be worth saving for the random day you're overcome with gratitude for the poor brute that puts up with you.

(Or the random day you have to dig yourself out of the doghouse. Whichever comes first.)

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If you're mui-crafty, have freezer space + a sweetie with a sweet tooth:
Frozen olive oil and chocolate lollipops--SO pretty, relatively easy, and there are few combinations on earth sexier than chocolate and olive oil (from the gorgeous blog delicious:days).

If you're mui-crafty, have a way with yeast, deep-fat frying + a sweetie with a sweet tooth:
Homemade miniature rose-hip jam doughnuts--this takes a little more know-how, but everything tastes better with jam and powdered sugar. Wink-wink. (Also from delicious:days.)

If for you, candy means buying, and your sweetie is currently diseased:
Soothe and indulge with spiced tea and honey lollipops from Roni-Sue's Chocolates at the Essex Street Market (via Time Out New York).

If for you, candy means buying, and your sweetie is a lushy cocoaphile:
How 'bout a box of Margarita, Dark-n-Stormy, and Portly Fig truffles, also from Roni-Sue's Chocolates at the Essex Street Market (via NY Daily News).

If you're having a hard time choosing between posh candy and character-driven jewelry:
Jewel-toned, hand-pulled candy rings from Papabubble are whimsical, lusciously fruity, and go a long way to prove the hipness of hard candy (via Time Out New York).

If nothing sounds better than close quarters and hot cocktails:
Double Stefan Trummer's heady Winter Sangria recipe, put together a cheese plate, and enforce a Blackberry ban (via NY Mag).

Giants Clam Chowder, Anyone?

I got scooped by REAL journalists--AP, no less, so now everyone has it--but nonetheless, I was wandering through Grand Central Terminal yesterday, contemplating dinner, when I saw this at the Oyster Bar:

SUCK IT, New England. We've revoked your chowder.

Eating with Momma Foodie: House of Jasmine, Hong Kong

I miss eating with my mom.  Not just because I flat-out miss my mom, but because Momma Foodie eats well, and I learn loads when we share a common feedbag.

Sooo, why not let folks live the life of Momma Foodie for a meal?

Come see the wonders of a recent dinner she had at a fabulous fusion restaurant called the House of Jasmine, in Hong Kong--her pictures, her captions, this post is ALL courtesy of Momma Foodie.

(Thanks, Momma!)

Enjoy!

Trio Tofu Appetizer--
1. Far left : Shredded cucumber and dried tofu salad with soy-vinegar dressing.
2. Middle : Steam tofu with egg white.
(It is slightly salty, and soft, like creme brulee.)
3. Far right : Baby string bean and bean curd sheet with oyster sauce. (It is a cold salad.)

These Piccies Be Clickable!

My readers are crazy smarty-pants, so I probably don't need to be saying this, but FYI, every piccie on An Effing Foodie is a clickable thumbnail that pops up a larger image, if you so click!

So if anyone was thinking, "Confound it!!!! WHY does she post piccies so small???", simply mouse over and click to see my amateur photos in their larger, fuzzier glory.

Try it!

Off to finish some REAL posts now.  (No, really!)