Catch-Up! (Baked French Toast & Bacon, Po, Paula Dean in Europe, Spring Awakening, Summer Sour Cherry Soda, Casa Mono, Dim Sum)

Dear Blog Reader,

I must make a confession. I've been cheating on you with my book. Remember my book? I've been writing it. A LOT. And big things are happening with it---I'm having all sorts of food adventures that I can't tell you about---YET. Next week something huge is happening and I can't tell you about it. I'm so excited about it but I can't tell you, I simply mustn't. Ok I'll drop a hint: I'm having lunch with a food ICON. That's it, I've said enough. Please don't ask me any questions.

But I owe you a huge apology: I've done lots of things lately that I haven't had time to write about. And as we approach August, I'll become less and less dutiful to my blog. (The manuscript is due the first week in September. Yikes!) So we'll see how we deal with that when August comes around. Those videos I've been making are actually a good alternative to blog posts because I come home after a day of writing exhausted and the last thing I want to do is write some more. So I make little videos. But today I'm doing a catch-up post to encompass all of the blog-related things I've done that I haven't had time to tell you about. Let's start with brunch two weeks ago:

- Two weeks ago I had a few people over for brunch so I made this baked french toast recipe. It was smart because I could make french toast for five people all at the same time and everyone's was hot right out of the oven.

As you can see in the picture, I topped it with mascarpone cheese (which I whisked with some powdered sugar and grand marnier, because it was on hand) and added fresh blueberries. Everyone enjoyed it. I also cooked "Seriously Good Bacon" from The Farmer's Market in the oven:

I brushed it first with maple syrup and mustard before it went in and that was some damn good bacon. Brunch was a big success.

- That night, Diana convinced me to try Po, Mario Batali's first restaurant on my favorite street in the Village, Cornelia Street (home to Pearl Oyster Bar, Le Gigot, Home, etc etc.)

I was going to do a post about it called "The Poor Man's Babbo" but I thought that made it sound like I thought Po wasn't good and I thought Po was awesome. The reason I was going to call the post that is because the food was in the same ballpark as Babbo, you can totally see Mario Batali's hand in the menu (even though he sold the restaurant many years ago). Here's a glimpse of what we ate without ANY commentary:

White Bean Bruschetta

Vino!

Anchovy Appetizer

Calamari Appetizer

Grilled Chicken or Hen or Quail, I Don't Remember But It Was A+++++ Poultry

Diana with the best summer pasta ever, mint and pea pesto:

I'm ready for my close-up:

That's Craig's mussel pasta. You should Craig's muscle pasta!

I insisted on dessert (I always insist on dessert) and we loved it: mint gelato with pine nuts and butterscotch or caramel. It was divine.

See, if I wasn't working on this book I'd have written a thoughtful post where I really parsed our dinner at Po. But suffice it to say that we loved it and I loved it especially for the price: Babbo quality food that's much more reasonable. I endorse it wholeheartedly.

- I wanted to do a post on Paula Dean in Europe. Did anyone see this on the Food Network? I was cracking up---what a funny, unfortunate emissary from our country. I mean, yes she's cute and endearing, but the moment where she's in Luxumborg Gardens and the guy's playing hackey sack and she says, "EXCUSE ME" (very slowly, like she's talking to a mentally ill child) "CAN...I...PLAY...HACKEY...SACK...WITH...YOU?" I almost fell off my couch. (Ok, but she won me over by the end...how in love she is with her husband or boyfriend and how happy she was to see her kids. Paula Dean is the Southern version of my Jewish mama. My mom would kvel in much the same way. Bet Paula Dean doesn't know the word "kvel!")

- I must tell you about a show Craig and I saw two weeks ago: must because I got free tickets and that's part of the deal (but only if I liked it) and I liked it! Not only did I like it, it's one of my favorite new musicals I've seen in a long time. It's "Spring Awakening" with music by Duncan Sheik. The show is a rock n' roll spin on the old German play about kids discovering sex. I said it was like "History Boys" meets "Rent" but it's better than that. It's wonderfully theatrical and very moving. Plus we saw Joan Allen in the audience. Go see it!

- I made a refreshing summer sour cherry soda.

You put sour cherries in a pot with sugar and let it sit for 2 hours (it's a 2:1 ratio, sugar to cherries.) Then you boil it, lower it to a simmer for 15 minutes, strain it and cook down the liquid until it coats the back of a spoon. I kind of overdid that part:

It was almost like jelly at the end. But, no problem, I put it in the microwave, poured it into a glass, added seltzer water and ice and I loved. Italian Soda meets "Rent." Give it a try.

- Phew....can you believe how much I've had to catch up on? I'm not even done!

- And then Diana and I went to Casa Mono this past weekend. "Whoah," you might say, "Casa Mono and Po within a two week period? Mama mia! That's nutso!" True, we were living a little high on the hog. But we're entitled in summer, aren't we? Plus Casa Mono is right near where I live and I've always always always wanted to try it, ever since I read about it opening a few years back when I was living in Atlanta and New York was a far away dream. I remember hearing about all that offal.

So I'll just come right out of the gait and say I'm not nearly as enthused about Casa Mono as I was about Po. There were nice moments. Like these pumpkin goat cheese fritters (sorry for the VERY blurry pictures):

And these razor clams:

Remember I was in Italy last summer and I took a picture of a bowl of razor clams and I wrote "what are these?" and my readers wrote back, "Razor Clams"? Well ever since then I've wanted to try razor clams and I'm glad I did at Casa Mono. They were grilled and nicely caramelized. Not very filling, but fun to eat.

And now for the offal. "There's a reason it's called offal," said Diana, pronouncing it "awful." But I was a believer in it---I follow the gospel of Mario Batali. "Mario says offal can be delicious if it's prepared well," I argued back.

So we ordered (gulp) cockscombs.

A cockscomb is defined as "the comb of a rooster." Here's what it looks like on the plate by itself:

I have to say: I went into this with a really good attitude, and that cockscomb was nasty. It's like liver meats jello---gelatinous with unpleasant umami kick. I was not a fan and neither was Diana.

But everything else was good: the pork with bitter oranges...

And these grilled artichokes:

(Notice how golden brown everything is---that's the Mario touch. Let things brown.)

For dessert it was bread pudding:

And then the check came and it wasn't a happy reasonable Po moment. I felt a little cheated by Casa Mono: it's a tapas bar, and like most tapas bars you leave hungry. Here you leave hungry and feeling a little bit ripped off. So between this and Po, please please, by all means, go to Po.

- Am I done?

- I think so.

- What else do I need to catch up on?

- I mean, there was that Dim Sum brunch on Sunday morning that I didn't really write about. Here's some of the food we ate:

As you can see, the food was really good and really varied. The only thing I didn't like was that last picture, it tasted like sun tan lotion.

On the way out, I met a very sweet Amateur Gourmet fan named Amy. She offered to bring me back and show me the ropes. Maybe I'll take her up on that!

- Funny, on our walk away from Jing Fong we passed the terrible dim sum house Lisa, John and I went to last year in our Chinatown video. It was closed with a sign out front:

Mental hygiene??!? You mean the waiters there were having dirty thoughts?!

- Well, this has been an EPIC post. I bet it's a nightmare to load on slow computers. I'm so sorry. But alas, this post should tide you over for a while---at least for the weekend. I'm actually headed to D.C. for a fun weekend with Craig and Lauren. If you live in D.C. and you want to meet me, look for me doing all the touristy stuff. Seriously, though, I'd have a D.C. meet-up but there's no time. We really only have two full days. Craig's never been.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.