August 23, 2010

What Happens When The Cat's Away


Well the answer is, not a whole helluva lot. This week MrsRW is in lovely Oceanside NY, which puts her on the wrong side of the Brooklyn Bridge from where she'd like to be but a job is a job and money is money and duty calls. I've been to Oceanside. It's a lot like what's on either side of it, town-wise. But so is just about everything on Long Island until you get to about Yaphank and then they start making wine and stuff. I don't know what Indians lived on Long island but they didn't want you to know where they were hiding. Cutchogue? Ronkonkoma? Yaphank? Say what? Funniest town name for LI, though, is Hicksville. No, seriously. Hicksville USA. You wouldn't think to look for that in New Yok.

So what I do most of the time is try new dishes. Last night I made a just-burnt edged fresh shrimp with a ginger-apricot sauce. I took some tomatoes from the garden and sliced them up, then added some pepperoncini - also sliced. I hit it with some fresh ground pepper and viola... er... voila... salad. No I didn't eat them at the same time. I don't know - ginger and pepperoncini. No. I did it as two courses. It was pretty good.

Tonight we enter the city of Rome with some cacio y pepe, which I saw them make on Bourdain's show last week. Basically you need fresh ingredients to have any chance of tasting somewhat authentic when doing Italian. So I got a wedge of pecorino romano and a wedge of parmigiano reggiano which I will fresh grind for this receipe. But mostly the rest of it is just pasta, butter and fresh ground black pepper.

It's supposed to look like this...


Going to see the White Sox/Yankees game this Friday so getting off work early so we can cook up some grass-fed burgers and play a little bean... bag... thing... in the parking lot. But outside of that and a big plate of bacon wrapped dates... (I wasn't kidding)

it's going to be just hitting Word to keep smashing away at the book and maybe scouting a "Himalayan Cuisine" (I know, right? What the hell is THAT?) place that just opened up nearby to see if it's wife-worthy. But yeah that up there is pitted dates wrapped in center-cut bacon and stuck with a toothpick. You oven that for 10-20 minutes depending how you like your bacon and go. Don't knock it till you've tried it.

I assuage my solitude with food, baseball, and fiction. Which is what i do when MrsRW is in town too but... anyway what the hell.

Drool and wish you were here all you want. It won't work.

8 comments:

Verdant Earl said...

Long Island is pretty much the same from town to town, although there are HUGE differences when you go from the south shore (Oceanside and such) to the north shore.

The south shore is dominated by the Great South Bay and the Fire Island barrier beaches. All flat and sandy. The north shore is rocky, hilly and spotted with a hundred small and large harbors coming in off the LI Sound. We live on one of those harbors, and I grew up on the south shore about 200 yards from the Bay. And the two experiences couldn't be further apart while still being on the same island.

But the sameness from town to town...yeah, we got that too. More on an east/west tangent though.

RW said...

Considering the price per foot of coast property on Long Island, can I borrow 5 bucks Earlie buddy old pal?

Verdant Earl said...

Anytime, but I ain't one of those wealthy land owners. We rent our beautiful view. Way too expensive to own in this neck of the woods. Hence our eventual move to South Carolina one of these years.

Gino said...

that pasta dish is looking way to good for me.

sybil law said...

Technically, I could drive and be there in about 4 -6 hours, so I could eat some of that pasta with you.
Damn that looks good! I make a version of it myself, only I cook thinly sliced onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions almost get carmelized, add some Italian seasoning, and then use tons of fresh Parmesan on top.
It. is. heaven.

Petunia said...

Cornhole!

You should try my extended family's take on pigs in a blanket. mini hot dogs, wrapped in bacon, covered in brown sugar and baked in the oven. YUM. just one of those will send you a heart attack, but oh god how good! i'm going to try to convince them to start making your apricot version...

RW said...

Petunia, I think you're meaning the dates?

Petunia said...

RW you're right, why did I say apricot??? This is what 3 hours of sleep does to me...