Text 15193, 98 rader
Skriven 2007-05-10 06:33:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: Sunday 481
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 -=> Dave Sacerdote said to All <=-

 DS> My mother took Maryanne, Lynn, and I out for Sunday brunch in 
 DS> celebration of Maryanne's birthday.  I'm not much of a "brunch 
 DS> person" and in fact, I rather agree with Michael's opinion that 
 DS> it's best when the place doesn't serve "brunch food."

Bless you, brother. When I want to eat, I want to eat real food.

 DS> Imagine my surprise and delight at finding the cold foods dominated
 DS> by a large expanse of cracked ice covered with freshly-opened 
 DS> oysters!!  They were a little on the small side but sweet and
 DS> briney and absolutely excellent.

When can we go?

 DS> - Hazlenut scrod: tender whitefish with an okay crumbed
 DS> topping generously laced with finely-chopped filberts.
 DS> Just the sort of thing you'd like if you like that sort
 DS> of thing.

I see where Lynnie got her turn of phrase. Unfortunately, I am
working on a book now about vivid writing, and this writing
would not pass muster (redundancy) based on the criteria
developed in the book. I hesitated to point out that it is
easily possible to transcend the rules (we all do, I think,
especially Hemingway), as the authors apparently asked for me.

 DS> - Blackened Catfish: Not really "blackened" per se, but
 DS> certainly golden brown with a generous grilling of cayenne
 DS> and black peppers; spicy and quite good - there was no
 DS> muddy taste to the fish which speaks well of its quality.

Bronzed, as Dale puts it. It's been a while since I've had
catfish that doesn't taste like pondwater.

 DS> - Sweet-and-sour meatballs: Good flavor I suppose but a nasty
 DS> sponge-like texture.  I bet they buy these in fifty-pound
 DS> frozen lots from the textured vegetable protein factory.
 DS> The seet-and-sour sauce was tangy but lacking on the sour
 DS> side.  I took half a meatball just to give it a taste and
 DS> I'm glad I didn't waste gutspace on any more.

I always take one of these, in an excess of optimism! I have
never, I believe, been gratified by the result.

 DS> - Kielbasa and kraut: Very good Chicopee Provisions Blue Seal
 DS> kielbasa made locally, smothered in a mild, onion-laced
 DS> homemade sauerkraut; quite like the stuff Maryanne grew up
 DS> on.

Definitely, when can we go?

 DS> - Sausage: good meaty small links, rich with sage and pepper.
 DS> Tasted like Jones Little Links, but might have been  a local
 DS> brand.

Says something for Jones, actually.

 DS> - Eggs benedict:  Why the hell are these so popular at brunch
 DS> buffets?  They SUCK at buffets.  In typical fashion, these were
 DS> tough,  leathery English muffin halfs topped with  overdone
 DS> dried-out ham and eggs poached almost hard, topped with crappy
 DS> out-of-a-packet yellow dog-vomit sauce.  No, wait, that's supposed
 DS> to be Hollandaise.  Did I mention the excellent oysters yet?

I agree totally. Who dreamed up this idea to begin with? And
who buys into it? Okay, made-to-order Benedict is tolerable, if you
make your own Hollandaise (the same people who would make their own
Mayonnaise, I suppose). But restaurant? Premade? I suppose somebody
once read that eggs Benedict were classy, and this became canonized
so everyone says, ooh, eggs Benedict, what a classy joint. Pronounced
clay-ass-y.

If you take nothing else from reading this echo, anyone lurking here,
it is this: EGGS NOT MADE TO ORDER ARE BAD EGGS.

 DS> - Carving station ham, roast beef, and turkey breast:  no review
 DS> available.  I was eating oysters.  The meat looked good, though, 
 DS> even the turkey, which seemed to be extremely juicy and not at all
 DS> dried out.

I'd have spent a bunch of time at the roast beef table, oysters
or no. I am, as everyone here knows, a sucker for a piece of
bloody red beef, pretty much no matter what the cut. Even round
is okay. Perhaps even brisket; if I get around to sharpening my
best knife I might do the obvious experiment, next time fresh
brisket is down to $2.49/lb again.

 DS> Maryanne enjoyed herself quite a bit, and even I was pleased with the
 DS> buffet and didn't have to pretend I was having a good time. [g]  A
 DS> good deal at about $17 / head.

That was the question I was going to ask. What say I take
the lot of you out sometime to celebrate Lynnie's graduation?
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