WIAT - Saint Valentine's Day Extravaganza

Ah, St. Valentine's Day. An interesting holiday, if ever there was one. People love to hate it, although I for one am inclined to agree with this Slate writer, who suggests that it is not all bad. A formal holiday with religious undertones to tell someone you love how much you love them? Why not. It works for Christmas.

Of course, the story of St. Valentine is not classically romantic, with all the torture and beheadings, although if you study saints, all the martyrs have a certain je ne sais quoi about them. Nevertheless, February 14 stands as a feast of love, rescued from the pagans, and here we are.

Reflecting on my online presence, I realized that "Killing and Grilling" is my most popular post here on Turriff Hall. Given that A. and I chose to spend St. Valentine's day in, rather than out, I though it a good opportunity to re-enact the courtship that was "Killing and Grilling", with less killing, and with the weather, less grilling.

First up, Cherry Tomato Bruschetta with Chevre. I've been leaning on crostini-like foods a lot lately. This could be Tamar Adler's fault.

The Components

The Result

More of the meal inside.

WIAT: Dic Ann's Food Truck Edition, or: The Adventure of the Flat Burger

In the spirit of what Turriff Hall was originally about, I wrote a piece about a burger I ate. In a sense, I suppose this is a WIAT post, even though it is strictly speaking, not about today.

This post originally published by Burger Weekly at www.burgerweekly.com.

The Experience: Dic Ann’s has been a Montreal-area institution since 1954, but I’d never had the chance to get my hands on one of their burgers. But when they started operating a food truck (after the city of Montreal recently relaxed it by-laws) my combined fondness of burgers and mobile food proved hard to resist. So, on a beautiful sunny day in September, I wandered into Montreal’s historic Old Port, and ordered their cheeseburger. All dressed, of course.
The food truck’s menu is simple, featuring a hamburger, a cheeseburger, a double patty version of each, and the Quatrro, which adds a second slice of cheese to the double cheeseburger. The food truck experience is one I enjoy. The service was quick, and the staff was friendly. A word of warning, though; the Dic Ann’s burger is a messy one, so you may want to sit down in the near-by park to enjoy.

Burgers Ordered: The Cheeseburger all dressed and the Hamburger all dressed.
 

The Taste: Dic Ann’s burgers are pressed flat, incredibly flat, and the their signature feature is a ladleful of their spicy sauce on each burger. The sauce is based around ground meat, and quite hot, reminiscent of chili without the beans. It’s wet, and like I said, it’s messy. I enjoyed the flavour and texture, but my girlfriend said she disliked the sogginess of the whole affair. Dic Ann’s patties are also incredibly thin, and therefore very well done. The sauce adds a fair amount of beef, and helps makes up for the slim patty. I’d probably go for a double next time, all the same. All dressed for Dic Ann’s is mustard, relish, onions and the aforementioned spicy meat sauce.

The Verdict: An enjoyable, messy burger. On the thin side, though, so you’ll want more than one if you’re hungry. The spicy meat sauce is an interesting addition, and Dic Ann’s history, combined with the food truck ambiance, make this a very enjoyable burger experience.

Dic Ann’s Food Truck is located at the Old Port of Montreal. It closes in mid-October so get out there soon. Dic Ann’s proper can be found at these locations.

Thanks to BurgerWeekly, and please let me know if there are any burgers you think I ought to eat.

WIAT - Casse Croute Edition

My uncle's long awaited casse croute (a frites-stand, in local English; a snack bar in standard English, according to Google) opened in the land of my ancestors (where, you may have guessed, some people, but not all, speak French, after a fashion). It's actually a cantine, which I would also translate as snack bar, although I've heard the English in those parts call it a canteen, which barring the military origin, makes some sense.

In any case, it did not take me long to try out his frites (french fries, for the terminally French impaired) and one of his hamburgers (No translation here, if you can't figure that one out, you are on your own).

More photo, and details (both juicy!), after the jump.

Killing and Grilling - A special edition of WIAT

Warning: Graphic photos ahead...

Ah, Summer. It's hot here on the island, no doubt about it. Not long ago, A. suggested we do something nice. I figured, "It's summer, lets grill something." It just so happens that I know she likes grilled corn, and an increasing awareness of lobster led me to choose it as an accompaniment to said corn.

Full disclosure: I am not the world's biggest fan of lobster. 

My family, on the other hand, loves it, and at least once a year, sometimes more, my uncle will arrive with a cooler full of 2-3 pound monsters.  When I was a young boy, this feast would most often take place at my Grandparent's house in Gaspe, with newspaper spread on the table, and carpenter's hammers to break the shells, and the lobsters straight from the wharf. Lobster juice everywhere. Good times.

Lobster has been on the radar. On a recent trip to Metis, my fatherland, A. and I shared a lobster roll. It was good, and, it was my first. I've had shrimp rolls, but never lobster. I hear there are some good ones here in the Old Port, but I haven't found them yet.

Anyway. Lobster on the brain, and I decide to grill one up, something I have never done before.

Serious Eats did a piece on lobster rolls the other day, which included a philosophical foray into the morality of killing lobsters.

I was comforted/encouraged by this, and I knew that A. has some experience killing lobsters in a professional kitchen. At worst, I figured she could walk me through it/take over if I panicked. Emboldened, I purchased two very nice specimens. And I killed them. With a knife. Fun times.

I later described the experience to my mother (who hung up on me when I had told her my plans the day before; my uncle buys his lobster pre-cooked, clearly) as grim.

Tasty, but grim. I'll likely get over it. I'm with the Serious Eats fellow on this one.

More pics (all taken by A., who has some talent at these things) inside the Hall...

WIAT (Breakfast/Rant edition)

No pictures today, Gentle Reader. I've been remiss in my photo-documentation, and to be honest, I don't feel very badly about it at all.
But I see no reason that should stop me from writing a What I Ate Today post. While pictures are undoubtably worth a thousand words, words are also worth words, although the ratio falls closer to 1:1. For very good words, like "scintillating", it might hit 1:3, maybe 1:5, but still...
In any case, I don't suppose I'll need a thousand words. It's just breakfast, after all.
This morning, I had a cupcake for breakfast. Not only that, it was a cup cake made from a boxed mix, and iced in a prepared icing purchased from the same supermarket the mix came from. None of it, not a whit, made from scratch. Why? Because I wanted cupcakes last night, and I got lazy. There. I said it.
Not only that, but, because I was still hungry after my little cupcake adventure, I also had some pizza. A few month ago, I had chips for breakfast. Potato chips. And pie was breakfast for a while (admittedly, most of the pie was made from scratch).
Where, you might ask, am I going with this? Good question, one I asked myself, just now. Well, let me elaborate. Breakfast, they say, is the most important meal of the day. Good. Fine. Should have protein, and produce, and should be at least 400 calories, and maybe more. Great.
Bollocks. I have more than enough rules governing my life already. Deadlines, office politics. Academic writing. Propriety. White pants and Labour Day. And for years now, I've tried, quite successfully, to eat a healthy, balanced breakfast.
There is a lot of pressure out there to eat a certain way, and a lot of pressure as to what is and is not legitimate, or authentic, or good. And not all of that pressure is bad. I support quite a bit of it. But all things in moderation, even good advice, and local, fresh, organic or biodynamic produce.
But I can't do it every day any more. The routine is crushing. There are chips out there, my friends, and cupcakes. Just begging to be eaten for breakfast. It's time to have fun in the morning. I can (and often do) eat well at lunch, and dinner (or dinner and supper, if you prefer). But a man (hell, a woman too) needs to have fun, sometimes, no?
Look, I know I'm not the first person to eat pastry or pizza for breakfast. Far from it. But it's liberating, and, man, if we can't enjoy this little life of ours, then I ask you, what's the point?

WIAT (Purim Edition)

Clearly, for those of you conversant with Jewish holidays, this is not strictly speaking what I ate today, but rather some days ago.
Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people from the Persians, by the actions of Esther. The story, which I do not feel I am really well informed enough to tell here, involved some feasting, like many good bible stories, and no small amount of slaughter, also a hallmark of good biblical narrative. It also involved a rather unlikable fellow named Haman, who meets a grim end on the gallows, I gather. In any case, one of the traditions on Purim is to eat hamantashen, which are named after Haman's ears, or maybe his three cornered hat. Any way, people eat them on Purim, which I did. First introduced to hamantashen last fall (not anytime around purim at all) I looked forward to getting my hands on some again. And so, while out and about with a certain someone, I, rather, we, picked up a box. Along with some cupcakes. I don't have any pictures of the cupcakes, as I hit them pretty hard, and few survived long enough for photographic evidence. But I saved some of the hamantashen for breakfast the next day.
Here we are:

And hey, look at that. Everybody has these plates. I know.

What I Ate Last Week Some Time (a special edition of WIAT)

Sometimes it's hard to make everything come together at once. Life, academics, friends, family, work. Blogging. It all takes time. Luckily, there are hamburgers to take the edge off...

More after the click...

WIAT (weekend edition)

Because I ate several nice things this weekend, this is not so much what I ate today as what I ate this weekend...

First up: Home cooked pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw. Very nice.

Complete list and more photos in the Hall...

WIAT, or rather, What I ate on Sunday...

Sunday, the day of rest. Or Brunch. Which ever. Maybe both.

My buddy invited me over last Sunday for smoked salmon. Home-smoked smoked salmon.

More pictures inside...

WIAT (What I Ate Today)...

Today, I ate an Omelette aux échalotes, herbes salées et fromage. Cooked, I might add, in butter. As it should be.

Edit: I also had Bangers and Mash at The Burgundy Lion. Very tasty.

What I Ate Today (W.I.A.T)

Second instalment:

Soft polenta w/ butter and cheese
topped with
Crumbled Italian sausage in homemade tomato sauce.

Very nice.