Text 11442, 86 rader
Skriven 2008-07-31 23:11:04 av RUTH HANSCHKA (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Trip to Dave's 1: 682
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-> And then out on an outing to the Whole Foods in West Hartford,
-> which is supposed to carry Vosges chocolates (so I could pick
-> up some bacon bars for the picnic, as Dave and I had demolished
-> the one that I'd brought).
-> 
Hmmm - and no one thought to set Lynne to making chocolate-covered bacon.  

-> It was decided to seek out the elusive Hanschka, which, after

Hardly elusive - they called me at 11am and got here at noon, or something
to that effect.  

-> a couple wrong turns was achieved. We were endlessly amused
-> by the endlessly amusing train track switch in the front yard

It was rather funny, watching two grown men amuse themselves with an
overgrown hunk of cast iron with a molting paint job.  It's a 19th century
track switch, deposited in my front yard by (IIRC) the New Haven Railroad
about 35 years ago.  It's attracted gray-haired male children ever since.

-> even took suggestions. Despite the committee nature of the final
-> meal decisionmaking, we ended up with a quite good though almost
-> fatally salty meal. 

It reminded me more of a container of salt with food mixed in at times. 
 
-> Ma la rabbit (one of several ideas that Dave and I had, but Ruth
-> was the one who cast the deciding vote) was authentic authentic,
-> a bit too salty, with a hefty helping of hot bean paste, a lot
-> of Szechwan peppercorns (which like cloves in Indian cuisine
-> numb the tongue and lips and make things feel hotter than they
-> ought), ginger, scallions, garlic (not enough), sesame oil (also
-> not enough), and neat little bony cubes of white rabbit meat,
-> which could just as easily have been chicken, for the blankety
-> obscurative quality of the sauce. I rather liked it aside from
-> the saltiness and not garlicky enoughness.

It was pretty good; it would have been better over a pile of rice to cut
the salt if nothing else.
 
-> When I think of ants climbing trees (me) I think of puffed rice
-> or mung noodles with a sweet-salty ground pork topping; the
-> version served here was completely different, the thin rice 
-> noodles served in a murky soy and hot pepper broth, a few shreds
-> of scallion and bumps of ground meat submerged somewhere down
-> there. The dish should have been called ants drowning in the
-> Amazon rainforest after a flash flood. It didn't taste bad but
-> just wasn't what I expected.

It left me wondering if the cooks were reading from the Japanese side of
the menu while making it or something.  The noodles were hot water softened
instead of fried.  It was OK, if somewhat odd.
 
-> I think the big winner was pork belly with vinegar pickle (Dave
-> and me) - the more than half pound of red-cooked pork belly,
-> done just right for Dave and just a hair under for me, on a bed
-> of pickled kale (or kale-like substance), garnished with a
-> dozen cute baby bok choy halves. Very nice dish.

It was very good, but again someone was a bit heavy on the salt.  Once
again rice would have helped.  The pork was good though.
 
-> Soup dumplings (me, alas), we were informed when we ordered the
-> meal, take 20 minutes extra. They actually take 45 minutes and are,
-> to me, not worth the wait. The concept is nice (and Shanghainese in
-> origin) - you take pork meatball mix and wrap it in dough along
-> with a cube of aspic; then you steam the dumplings, and the aspic
-> melts, so when you bite into the things, juice spurts out and, if
-> you are not careful, burns your mouth and gets all over your clothes.
-> These were not so good as they ought to have been - the wrappers
-> a bit thick and breadlike, the meatball underseasoned, and the
-> juice mostly absorbed into the doughy dough. They came with a
-> ginger-soy dipping sauce, whereas I am accustomed to ginger-soy-
-> hot pepper-garlic-scallion sauce. Not their specialty, I think.

I said they tasted like gefilte fisch, which they did if gefilte fisch were
served in a dough wrapper.  The dipping sauce defintitely needed something.
 
-> liked, and there were about 30 things on the menu that I have to
-> go back to try, either to see what they're like or to see if
-> they're anything like how I make them. Duck tongues in hot bean
-> sauce, anyone?

Could be done, but only if you can convince them to lay off the salt.  
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