that's what friends are for

The expressway to my heart is available to anyone who sends me a good link.

And my friend Nikki did that just a few minutes ago, cluing me in to Make Me Hungry Veggies & Vegans, accessible via blogger or via flickr. This great little resource features people's pictures and recipes of, you guessed it, vegetarian and vegan dishes. And each week, someone (or someones) receive a Golden Gnome award in recognition of high-quality dishes.

But even the non-gnomed dishes look great. Check some of the bounty out by visiting the flickr site!

Two dishes that immediately caught my eye:

Amber's Couscous Salad with Tomatoes
photo by Amber

kelewele (Ghanaian-style fried, spiced plantains - wowza)
photo via nyamkitchen

Now I just want to figure out what it might take to get one of those Golden Gnome awards...

Thanks, Nikki!

Fresh Market opens on College Avenue

At lunchtime, MCCOY's super-star intern/civic engagement specialist Janine and I headed over to Indianapolis' newest grocery store, Fresh Market, to check out all that the grand opening hullabaloo had to offer. Located at 54th and College Avenue, the store shows well, from the pretty outside to the freshly stocked shelves and bins inside. Given the full ground-level and store-top parking, the crowded aisles and excited mob inside were no surprise. Crowds also seemed attracted by the ample supply of in-store samples. With her free rib and my almond butter tasting, Janine and I happily gave in to the temptation of free food.


Doesn't Fresh Market look pretty? Well, it is, inside and out. And the staff were friendly, warm and welcoming. The produce is shiny and pretty, though certainly not cheap. The breads and pastries looked good, but again, were priced a bit above normal market costs. Their deli-sushi-cheese counter, placed solidly at the middle of the store floor, was well staffed and offered a variety of ready-to-eat options, as well as some interesting cheeses. We sampled a delicious mango-ginger stilton that I ended up bringing home, along with a baguette.

The prices on staples like pasta, granola, flour, vinegars, and oils are a little bit more than I usually pay at "normal" grocery stores like Meijer, Kroger or Marsh. There also a bit more expensive than prices at "specialty" stores like Trader Joe's or the Good Earth. But the Fresh Market folks have packed a ridiculous number of special, hard-to-find items into a relatively small footprint.

A brief list of some of the specialty items that got me all excited:

• My favorite bottled salad dressing/marinade, Drew's Roasted Tomato, which I've also purchased at the Good Earth;
• So many varieties of better-than-average oils and vinegars, as well as preserved, pickled and brined vegetables.
• Good lettuces and greens - though I'll probably try to keep my produce binges to a minimum, given the prices and with Locally Grown Gardens literally seconds down 54th Street;
  
• Greek yogurts, available in many different sizes and from several brands. They have big containers of this delicious dairy product, which in its low-fat and non-fat versions makes a great substitute for fattier sour cream. I'm especially intrigued by the single-serving fig yogurt.

Overall, I'm just really excited to be able to run to a decent grocery store without burning too much (or any, really, the College Avenue Fresh Market is definitely within walkable distance) fossil fuels. Anything that makes my life more walkable is welcome in my life. Fresh Market's fun food products, as well as the small footprint, will definitely bring me back. One big beef - their 9 am opening time. For work meetings, I often pick up morning refreshments in the 7 o'clock hour and I was really looking forward to stopping here. But I guess that won't be an option.

We did buy - and then consume - some things, too. So... Coming soon: Fresh Market product reviews from MCCOY staff members and my household.

Google = Good Food

If there's one thing about me that my mom says A LOT (besides the fact that she loves me and is proud of me, because she's kind of awesome like that), it's that I'm quite pleasant to be around unless one of two factors is happening. The two factors that bring out the evil twin version of me are (1) lack of sleep and (2) lack of food.

Apparently, Google understands that some of its workers are like me, because as part of their benefit package full of goodness (great maternity, parental leave & take-out benefit!), Google workers get really, really good cafeteria food. Options at the New York City offices include a raw bar, ceviche bar, free convenience snacking with some healthy options, fruit and veggie waters, and a surprisingly sophisticated dessert bar. And at the menu at the Mountain View campus sounds just as yummy.

Google's NYC Cafeteria: pretty pretty!
via NYMAG

What's even better? It's all free.

Why didn't I become a programmer? Don't they need someone on staff with working knowledge of youth development and adult training?

artichokes at Barcelona Tapas Restaurant

First off, I refuse to spell the Barcelona in Barcelona Tapas Restaurant the way the owners want us to. We get, it, okay, there's a bar involved, no need to overcapitalize. I also refuse to use the Papyrus font that sullies their branding materials. But I will not refuse to eat their fried artichokes, topped with a perhaps overzealous but nonetheless tasty pile of manchego and served with a romesco sauce. That I will never refuse!

Aren't well prepared artichokes always the best dish?

oops - forgot the camera

There are plenty of other things to recommend there: the dessert plate with delicious candied walnuts and almonds and fruit, as well as a surprisingly not-overly-sweet tres leches cake, and, oh, the goat cheese in tomato sauce and saffron cauliflower (though that didn't seem to be as "roasted" as the menu asserted it to be). But, really, go there tonight or tomorrow or the next day and please, please order the fried artichokes. You will not be disappointed.

If the dish inspires in you a drive to commit both more space and cash to celebrating the artichoke, may I recommend this artichoke lamp, designed by Poul Henningsen?

state fair training 1: the Indiana State Fair food contenders

The Indiana State Fair is a serious thing in our household. Or, rather, the food at the State Fair is a serious thing. The picture below is clearly neither Ben nor me, but the lemon shake-up is a critical element of any fair-done-right experience.

photo from Indiana State Fair

And, since our diet is usually a bit less fried, preparing for the fried bounty and (for Ben at least) the meats on sticks takes some training. Ben's tenderloin journey may play a part in that, but we've also got to do some research. Thankfully, the IndyStar is reporting, via video, on the judging for the 2008 Indiana State Fair Signature Dish. Check it out.

Some of the contenders:

• Barbeque pork in Indiana shagbark syrup
• Spicy steak kabobs
• Deep-fried bananas foster cheesecake
• Maple twists on a stick
  
• Deep-fried maple latte

While Indiana's First Lady, the State Fair Princess, and other fair and food luminaries are on the judging panel, you can vote, too, by stopping by the IndyStar site. I'm pulling for the pork (pun woefully intended), because of the shagbark-Indiana link.

By the way, did you know that 2008 is the "Year of the Indiana Trees" at the State Fair?

Vietnamese Coffee on a Stick!

Via not martha, check out these awesome Vietnamese-Style Coffee on a Stick from yumsugar.


What would be better on a hot lazy Sunday morning than Vietnamese Coffee popsickles on your porch or deck? Oooh - what about Thai Icickled Tea?

busy, busy

These last few days have been a crazy whirlwind. A rundown of my days:
- Friday night: stop by at the Jazz Kitchen's Jazz Fest afterparty (for my guy's work)
- Saturday: drive up to Michigan City, attend a beautiful wedding and a lovely reception, drive back home
- Sunday: Father's Day with Ben's Dad, LonPaul's Memorial Concert
- Monday: work, clean house, drinks with Andrea
- Today: work, more cleaning.

So much activity, right? But you know that I had fit some good eats into all of that. Behold, the evidence below.

The crab cakes at the Jazz Kitchen (a business for which Ben's employer provides marketing services) are the crabbiest cakes I have ever eaten. And though I haven't been in the seafood-eating community for very long, I have tried more than a few crab cakes.


On the way to Michigan City, Ben and I stopped across from the Miami Correctional Facility to each lunch at Ugalde's Family Restaurant. I've never had food across the street from a prison before, but it was certainly a nice non-chain option on the long stretch of US-31. Their tagline is "Flavor Matters." Isn't that perfect? Here's the photographic evidence of our visit and of Ugalde's charm, via their sassy naming abilities, as featured on the menu:


Ben tried their special, a hand-breaded pork tenderloin with potato wedges. Though there was no tomato, due to that whole fiasco, Ben reported that the dish was a good example of the non-super-stretched variety of tenderloin. We're currently considering a tour of Indiana tenderloins for the blog, all featuring Ben eating them and me tasting the accompanying fries. The wedges, by the way, were pretty freaking good for a family restaurant/diner-ish place.


So, if we commit to the series, what tenderloin would you recommend?

More Linky for Not Stinky Summer

I have never been a huge fan of summer. People with see-through skin and a tendency to develop heat rashes tend to feel this way. But I met Ben in summer, six years ago, and that changed many things for me. There's nothing like finding the ideal partner and spending as much time possible together in that first blush to make a person learn to love an often difficult season. It's even better when that person understands the necessity of sunscreen and shady spots. Together, we avoid unfortunate fates like this:

Sunburn by Jennfier Davis

With that love in mind, I like to plan for good stuff in the summer. And few things are better than books and beverages. Thankfully, reliable sources have gathered good lists for both.

If you hop over to Chow, you'll find their list of food-related summer reads. Kim Sunée's Trail of Crumbs and Backstage with Julia by Nancy Verde Barr both sound like perfect picks for me!

And thekitchn.com has a fun link list highlighting good summer drinking ideas. If you haven't already committed to the Park Avenue, your beverage of choice may be on that list. For nonalcoholic drinks, you might try this cucumber cooler or any of the many booze-less choices on this Real Simple list.

I'm eagerly awaiting our annual trip to northern Michigan, with cherry pies, hula hoops, and fried smelt. Where are you going and what will you be eating or drinking?

recipes: easy summer sandwiches

Having a party or a picnic? Want to whip up a delicious bite or two, but don't want to deal with the heat of a stove? Yes? Well, let me introduce you to two quick, easy, and yummy sandwiches, both on ciabatta. Both of these sandwiches went over well with guests at the last first Friday party. They're not earth-shattering, but they are definitely tasty.


I almost hate to call these "recipes" since they are basically just about assembly, but, well, here are the recipes:

Recipe: Hummus and veggie sandwich
one loaf of ciabatta bread, sliced in half horizontally
1/2 cup of hummus (or green ceci puree), more or less to suit your taste
1 cucumber, mostly peeled and thinly sliced
1 tomato, thinly sliced
plenty of "baby" spinach or arugula if you're feeling spicy
several dollops of spicy mustard

Open up the bread and pull away as much of the soft, doughy center as you can, to make room for the toppings. Spoon on and spread the hummus evenly across the bottom of the bread. Layer the cucumber, tomato and the spinach (or arugula). Spread the mustard across the top of the sandwich. Slice the assembled sandwich.

Recipe: Pressed veggie sandwich
3/4 cup of kalamata olives, pitted
leaves from 3-4 sprigs of thyme
one loaf of ciabatta bread, sliced in half horizontally
roasted red or yellow peppers
1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, lightly rinsed, drained and crushed with the palm of your hand
2 - 3 ounces of goat cheese
balsamic vinegar

Puree the olives and thyme in a food processor, adding olive oil (if necessary) to help it get to a puree. Open up the bread and remove as much of the soft, doughy center as you can. Spread the olive puree on the bottom half of the loaf. Layer the peppers and crushed artichokes on the sandwich. Crumble the goat cheese over the vegetables. Lightly sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the toppings and put the top of the loaf back on.

To press the sandwich, wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place it in a rimmed baking sheet and place a cast iron skillet or a weighted baking sheet on top of the sandwich. Let sit in the refrigerator for one hour. To prepare further in advance, leave out the vinegar, press the sandwich up to 6 hours in advance, and add the vinegar right before serving.

here's the beef!

Love this hilarious effort by Improv Everywhere! to expose the evils of the red-headed stereotyping perpetrated by Wendy's. But I'm feeling conflicted because I really love their fries and am a strawberry blonde. You can't serve two masters...



Final conclusion -- I'm on board: Give Wendy some pigment!

obscenely good: Three Potato Four

Some web-based businesses go beyond special and cute and smart. With a quality that exceeds all those descriptors, I choose to describe those businesses as obscenely good. Three Potato Four is one example of an obscenely good store. They sell vintage and new items, all presented in lovely photography and through a perfectly simple webpage.

Some examples of items I crave from Three Potato Four:

beautiful Bluebird and Trees Prep Bowl Set, new and designed by Shinzi Katoh



a pretty set of four YELLOW! mini-mugs, vintage

(the tangentially food-related) Onion Pod Pillow, new and designed by Paper Cloud

So, if you haven't been there yet, now is the time to go!

Also, if you know of an obscenely good store/resource/restaurant, please do share!

Save the Wetlands Event (free Yats is involved)

This Thursday, Joe Vuscovich of Yats renown will present a free screening at the IMAX of a powerful documentary "Hurricane on the Bayou" and a short film, "Happiness". "Happiness" is directed by my friend (and my husband's boss), Duncan Alney, and stars local legend of food and fun, Joe Vuscovich. Narrated by Meryl Streep, "Hurricane on the Bayou" explores the impact of the 2005 hurricanes on Louisiana.


Wouldn't it be fun to host an event that has a screening of a short film that you star in? Yes, it would. And wouldn't it be cool to share your great food at that event? Yes, it would.

But what's even cooler about the whole thing is that the event is an opportunity for Indianapolis to contribute to a very worthy cause, Voice of the Wetlands. The two-punch impact of longterm erosion and the 2005 hurricanes are seriously threatening the Louisiana wetlands, awesome natural and cultural resource. And Voice of the Wetlands is seeking to preserve this irreplaceable part of the American experience.

The event is technically free, but I'm pretty sure that you'll see the need to make a donation and help preserve this piece of American tradition, economy and environmental health. Plus, you know, this is Joe's idea and, as anyone who has ever set foot in Yats understands, Joe has some very good ideas!

Joe, probably in the middle of a great idea.

Hope to see you there!

June first Friday - sandwiches, lightening & yummy summer drinks

Normally, preparations for the first Friday party are a week-long effort. Make a final food and drink list on Monday; make a dip or flavored simple syrup on Tuesday; really get to work on Wednesday; clean house and continue food preparations on Thursday; and the ultimate final-hour scramble on Friday. Good times... But this time around, my trip to DC gave me only two real evenings to prepare. Sensible for once, I decided to make a relatively simple spread.
The easy & simple spread:

• 2 kinds of sandwiches on ciabatta (recipes here)
• roasted lemon and vanilla sparkler, with optional gin for spiking (based on this recipe from Martha)
  
• dark & stormies - nicely appropriate for our stormy weather
• three kinds of chips
• brownies and strawberries

No one seemed to notice that I took it easy. We did all, however, notice the crazy weather. The sky turned flaming yellow to orange and almost back to blue before the sun set. Twice during the short party, rain brought everyone into the house.

adorable splurge: Avril Loreti cocktail napkins

I've been on the look-out for very pretty cocktail napkins that I can buy in bulk, to complete the mostly-green remodel of our first Friday parties (more on June's party in a bit). These napkins made by Etsy seller Avril Loreti aren't bulk-worthy in terms of price, but they would be an adorable splurge.


Wine rings and good fortunes, two ingredients for a great party!

Review: Taiwan Tea House

Normally, I don't blog on Sunday. But Ben and I had such a great experience this weekend dining out that I can't resist. Our restaurant of choice was Taiwan Tea House. Ben's bosses took the whole crew out to Taiwan Tea House on Friday for lunch, and he came home basically demanding that I join him for an early dinner on Saturday. His descriptions of his great lunch led me to immediately accept.

There are plenty of details to share about our experience at Taiwan Tea House, but I'll just begin by saying that this is a favorite of mine already. The food, the service, the atmosphere, the whole experience delighted me. If you haven't been here yet, I highly recommend stopping by soon.

row 1: exterior, turnip cakes, pretty water glass
row 2: wonton noodles, our fortunes, spicy edamame
row 3: boba almond tea, asparagus with tofu, interior

The skinny on Taiwan Tea House:
Location - 4040 East 82nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250 (map)
Price range - Most entrees are under $8; appetizers and drinks range from just under $3 to around $4.

Atmosphere - In the Clearwater shops on 82nd Street, the small, tidy, and warm interior is an upgrade from your average strip mall food shop. Wood booths and additional tables provide friendly seating, ideal for dinner with a few good friends, while the modern lights provide ample but not overbearing light. A wall-mounted television was tuned to what seemed to be a Mandarin (or perhaps Taiwanese) channel and was thoughtfully muted. Care has clearly been taken with the interior, but also with the tableware. Pretty glasses and colorful dishes added positively to the experience!

Drinks - Given the name, you'll definitely want to sample their teas. But don't be misled by your own perception of what a "tea house" may be. Taiwan Tea House specializes in milky teas, ideally ordered with boba (a little bit extra), the chewy tapioca rounds that necessitate a plus-size straw. I got the almond/green tea milk tea with the boba, which was wonderful. I love almond milk, especially in the summer, and it was a nicely sweet and creamy counterpoint to our food.

Food - Based on Ben's Friday lunch, we immediately ordered the edamame. I love all manner of soy bean - edamame, curded into tofu, fermented into tempeh - but this twist on boiled edamame is something very, very special. My sister, when I described it to her, asked if it might be the Eda-Mama of Edamame. And it is, spiced with garlic, anise, black and red pepper, and what seems to be sesame oil. We also ordered the fried green beans (wonderfully full of garlic) and the white turnip cakes. The cakes had an almost gelatinous texture, but in the best possible way, and came with a light sweet-salty sauce.

For our entrees, I ordered the asparagus and tofu and Ben ordered the wonton noodles. The asparagus dish exceeded my expectations, with crisp-tender slices of asparagus, carrots, and onions and large hunks of fried tofu. You can order the dish with your choice of meat, but the asparagus truly is the star. Ben's wonton noodle dish was a brothy combination of light noodles, wontons that seem to be hand-crafted, and greens, swimming in a broth. All non-brothy entrees come with an opening soup.

Service - Their waitstaff use the rotating helper model, which worked very well. We were asked just-often-enough about our meal. And they welcomed my questions with a friendly and warm approach to service, something that non-omnivores cherish in any restaurant. One of our waitresses indicated that the food was more "authentic" and, though I have no expertise on the topic, the carefully prepared dishes certainly felt less American-ized (read: less sweet and fried) than most similar dishes I've ever had.

Overall - I highly recommend Taiwan Tea House, a great value for great food. It's definitely a mid-priced option that may just be a Naptown food treasure.

Heads-up - If you are vegetarian, be sure to let the servers know. The presence of tofu doesn't necessarily guarantee the absence of meat in a dish.

my break-up with evite

Hosting party invitations, RSVPs, and follow-up at one, free to use site was a brilliant idea. And evite and I had a good thing going for a little while.

But like many relationships, at a certain point, the little things started to get in the way of what might have been a lifelong partnership. Evite seemingly refused to offer pretty templates. They also loved to broadcast too much information to one's guestlist. When we throw big parties, I don't necessarily want to have everyone's RSVP broadcast to the whole invitation list. As a guest, there have been many times that I wanted to send a private message to a host, but evite is cagey about letting you do that.

So, it is with a non-heavy heart that I have to tell evite that our time together is over. I met someone new. Pingg is there to fulfill all of my needs, with pretty layouts and graphics, as well as a ton of utility on the planner's back-end. Here's the picture I chose for this month's first Friday gathering:

Notice that it doesn't have any cheesy clip-art or doodily-doos. It's just this picture, a short message about our party, and response choices. Simple and pretty.

It's also free, free, free and, unlike evite, doesn't clunk up your invitation page with banners and ugly ads. I kind of think that I love pingg. Maybe you will, too?



And, if you really decide that you do love pingg, you can also upgrade to their surroundsend status, which allows you to pay credit-card-money (as opposed to cash-money) to send invitations to people's real life mailboxes or by text to their mobile phone. I'm not doing that because I'm cheap, but it seems like a good idea for some.

cutest pies ever

Over at not martha, Megan posted what may be the cutest pies ever. Made in little 4 ounce canning jars, these would be great for a summer party. Seriously, how perfect would a tray of these little bits of deliciousness be for the finale to a grill-out meal? And they seem like they would be extra crusty, so an ideal partner for cold, cold ice cream.


Ben and I still have a ridiculous stack of jarred apple butter left over from our wedding. This might be the perfect use for them.

Park Avenue Cocktail

After we went to SATC and before the roads in our neighborhood turned into rivers during the crazy Friday storm, my group of friends stopped by Binkley's Kitchen & Bar for some cocktails. The food at Binkley's is good enough, though it's never been my favorite of the mid-scale sandwich-pizza-pasta and drinks sellers in town, but the Park Avenue that I ordered to drink was really something else.

While some of the ladies stuck with the SATC theme and ordered Cosmopolitans, I have never been completely in love with vodka cocktails. Thankfully, Binkley's isn't big on whiskey drinks, but they do offer my new summer favorite - the Park Avenue. This combination of gin, pineapple juice, and vermouths sweet and dry was a great sipper to top off the evening. Its NYC-tinted moniker fit the SATC night quite well anyway. A picture of the delicious drink, courtesy of Amy:


One source provides the recipe below for the Park Avenue. I'm not guaranteeing that it matches Binkley's version exactly, but it will be pretty darn close.

Recipe: Park Avenue
serves one

1 1/2 ounces, gin
1/4 - 1/2 ounce, pineapple juice (depending on desired stiff-ness)
1/4 ounce each, sweet and dry vermouth

Pour into a mixing glass with ice. Stir well. Pour into a chilled glass and enjoy.

I like it: Roadfood.com

Since I'm in DC, I'd like to share one of my favorite food-centric travel resources: Roadfood.com


If you've read a book by Jane and Michael Stern, then roadfood.com won't be much of a surprise to you, but it will be plenty useful. But if you're new to the diner love and best-pie-searching antics of the Sterns, this site could introduce you to a whole new realm of food love.

With over 1700 reviews of roadside diners, buffets and specialty outlets selling real American food, there's plenty of opportunities to discover new places and plan ahead for vacations. But there are also forums for arguing about where to find the best watermelon pickle rind or donuts or hot dogs, as well as recipes. The recipe for Shoo Fly Cake looks like it could produce immediate cavities in the most delightful way.

My favorites on the Indiana list? Mug 'N' Bun, Gnaw Bone Sorghum Mill & Gray Brothers Cafeteria. And I already have a quibble with the review of Hollyhock Hill - the Sterns call their beets "pleasant enough but unmemorable." I love those beets, with their nice and almost imperceptive spices. But maybe they can introduce me to some beets that would blow those out of my memory?