Archive for the ‘food musings’ Category

Talk about a year of change for me. Going through the last 12 months of posts felt bizarre. I can’t believe how ancient some posts felt only to find out they were only 8 months old. My life in Colorado seems like it happened eons ago, as does everything I cooked there. My life is much different now than it was last December 31st (for the better) and I’m very interested to see what 2011 brings. I definitely didn’t follow up on my pie crust resolution of last year (whoops) and have yet to make any resolutions for the coming year. Everything that comes to mind is sort of opposite what you should do: cook more red meat (eat healthier), try more whiskey varieties (cut down on drinking), bake more cookies (lose weight). We’ll see what happens…

Here are my top 10 favorite posts (in no order), whether it be recipes I loved, the photos, triumphs over failure, or a combination of all of the above.

Happy 2011, everyone!

grandma esther’s chicken noodle soup

I love making my grandmother’s recipes and this was definitely my favorite so far. Plus it was like two posts in one with the added step of making your own chicken stock. Yum.

spaghetti and meatballs

I’m a huge sucker for pasta with tomato sauce (#1 comfort food), so anytime I get to make my own from scratch plus bake up some kickass meatballs (made with bison meat no less) definitely makes the top 10.

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We all have dreams. Big or small, short term or long.. but they’re there.  Many of my current dreams reside on a list of places I long to eat before I die. And although they span the world, from Napa to New York to Paris to the Costa Brava… one of them is also right here in my hometown of Kansas City: a little restaurant called “bluestem.”

bluestem has become a nationally recognized restaurant esteemed for its progressive American cuisine, superb desserts, meticulous plating, and overall impressive food. Tons of amazing reviews, James Beard awards and the like, it’s reputation is pretty damn perfect. And every sample menu I’ve ever read and picture I’ve ever seen has had me salivating with hope. But timing and budget never worked in my favor in the ability to finally dine there.

Thankfully this past Tuesday, through the amazing generosity of one of my closest friends, I was finally able to go. And it was everything I thought it would be.

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I love Kansas City.  Although I’ve lived in many other cities ranging from tiny rural Iowan towns to downtown Chicago on the Gold Coast, KC is not only my ‘hometown’ I have sentimental ties to, but I genuinely love it as a city for its attitude, culture and of course – food.  And ask anyone what defines KC gastronomically and they’ll inevitably say either steak or of course, barbecue.

Now I’m not going to get into a debate of which BBQ is best because that’s like debating religions, but I of course will choose KC style over Carolina, Texas, Tennessee or anything else you throw at me.  I love the sweet-vinegar combo sauce, the array of specialties (ribs, pulled pork, etc) and class range from your hole-in-the-wall places (Bryant’s) to your frou-frou white tablecloth BBQ (Jack Stack).

And a trip to KC for me is never complete without a visit to Arthur Bryan’ts BBQ on Brooklyn near the jazz district in downtown KC with my best friend Shaffe.  We always get the same thing (burnt ends for him, pulled pork for me), have a 2 hour conversation to catch up on everything since I’ve been gone and inevitably gorge on amazing meats, lard fries and dill pickle slices.  We wax philosophic about the quality of the meat that visit (it changes every time), how good the fries are, the portion size, etc.  Some could say it’s poor service that it varies so wildly every time we visit, but to me, that’s part of what makes Bryan’ts… well, Bryant’s.  You wait in line forever, you shyly give them the plate and firmly ask for your order, watch as they pile perfectly smoked and cooked meats onto pieces of white Wonder bread, and hopefully they’re generous.  Slathered in the most beautiful sauce you’ll ever eat (Sweet Heat, please) with fries so bad for you it’s best not to think about it, you can eat and know KC is defined by BBQ and to me, that defining BBQ is Arthur Bryant’s.

Typical weekday breakfast… honey roasted peanut butter is my biggest indulgence so I spread a teeeeny bit on toast to satisfy me.  And I could eat yogurt with strawberries and pumpkin seed granola by the wheelbarrow full.  Throw in some cold-brewed iced coffee and I’m all set.

Kettle Chips, one of my favorite brands, has a fun project going on right now where you can design your own virtual chip flavor on their website.  Even better, you can order a Create-a-Chip Kit and actually mix up the flavor with provided spice and flavoring packets.  They keep having contests to win the kits so it’s definitely worth taking a look at.

I started to think about flavor combinations and what my dream chip would be… and it got down to caramelized balsamic onions or chicken paprika, which is kind of a weird thing to put on a chip bag, so I still went with the Hungarian Goulash flavor idea.  I love love love the flavor of paprika + sour cream (aka my mother’s chicken paprika recipe) and would kill for that smokey-sweet-cooling flavor on a potato chip.  I imagine it would be similar to their Buffalo Bleu chips, but not as spicy or pungent with the blue cheese.

So the question lies… what would your dream potato chip flavor be?