Text 6786, 69 rader
Skriven 2006-10-20 17:32:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: tastes & rants 452
==========================
Spinach story

I had to fix some stuff at the bank, and my father volunteered
to come along if we had lunch, so we had lunch at the closest
place within walking distance (2 blocks - McCormick and Schmick
is about 4 blocks), Daily Grill at the Hyatt.

It's a corporate concept place with a please-all-please-none
menu ... not bad for that.

Good-tasting sourdough, room temperature. When I broke the
quarter-loaf, I noticed a funny texture: suspicious, I kneaded
a bit of it between my fingers (this being the standard locution,
but shouldn't it be among my fingers?), and a whole lot of oil
came out. What's that about? The greasiness of the bread rendered
the foil pats of sweet butter unnecessary.

When you're almost 89 years old, you can eat whatever you want,
so my father ordered a bowl of clam chowder and a side of garlic
mashed. The clam chowder was nasty Manhattan stuff, and the
potatoes were very peculiar: a redskin smash with a fair amount
of raw garlic stirred unevenly in. I tasted it - some bites were
ordinary mashed potatoes, some were like skordalia, only more
garlicky. I'm glad I didn't deal with that stuff. I had the
broiled skirt steak (previously marinated in citrus, soy, and
special seasonings) - this was surprisingly good, assuming one
likes well hung meat. Three 2-oz pieces, wet aged for a very long
time, and the meat was very tender, lacking the slight almost
crisp tooth texture of a normal skirt steak; the marinade tasted
like orange juice and mustard, which was fine, because I generally
can't stand the way roundeyes have with soy sauce (which begins
with buying the cheapest kind in the supermarket). Vegetable choice
was steamed broccoli or steamed carrots. I said, whoa, can't you
get creamed spinach (in my last writeup of this place I mentioned
that the creamed spinach was very stringy, but it had to be
better than steamed unseasoned veg), and the waiter said that
they were being cautious. I can't figure out whether they're being
stupid or just under the thumb of the broccoli and carrot industry.
I got broccoli, which was both undercooked and tasteless and hardly
helped by a pat of that butter. Fries were very salty as before but
okay; they were helped a bit by the marinade that oozed from my
about 6 oz portion of beef.

Mirassou Pinot Noir 04 was bright cherry red with a nasty lactic
nose but an okay cherry-spice palate. I am very glad that I'd
had a Sam Adams draft (probably 12 or 14 oz but in a very tall
glass to make it look impressive) to numb my taste buds first.

The major issue of course is that the sissy restaurants still
aren't serving spinach. I saw bunches of lettuce in the salads
going by, though.

=

Question. I'm getting two or three big spams a day, 310K
I think. They have a password (a .jpg, in the body of the
message) and an attachment, which is a zipped .dll). What
is this all about?

=

Amusing find. The Virgin Blue terms of travel include:
 Odourous Fruits. Fruits that give off offensive odours
 including the durian or jack fruit are not permitted as
 carry on checked baggage or freight.

No mention of odorous cheeses, though, or commas.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)