More photos and info about Febgiving here.

What would people think? Would they stare at me? What do I do? What do I look at?

But, now…I’m over it.

I’ve come to think of this recently, as Kyle and I were eating out a week or so ago, when a solo diner was seated just a couple tables away. This normally wouldn’t catch my attention, except that this particular diner was clearly uncomfortable eating alone.

How do I know?

He talked on his cell phone the entire time. Okay, I get it if you enter the restaurant and you happen to be finishing a call. Actually, no, that’s rude and I don’t understand that either. But let’s say I did. This is a nice restaurant (cloth napkins…you know what I mean) – you just don’t do that.

His talking on the phone was so awkward that the server actually avoided his table for awhile, until it reached to a ridiculous level of avoidance. At that point, she apprehensively approached him to take his order. And what did he do?

He held the phone a couple inches from his ear while he ordered! He then continued talking once she left.

Um, Sir, you might rethink your next solo dining trip and just get take-out.

While we all were eager to learn and help, we were given strict instructions to just observe her while she busied herself in the kitchen. It was a great time chatting with the girls and watching Lana as she pulled everything together.

The essence of the soup is in the broth, which Lana made from scratch using pork bones, lemongrass and taro root. This bubbled on the stove while she prepared a spicy sauce of lemongrass, garlic, tomato (she used ketchup) and oil and then cleaned the seafood and greens.

Once the broth was ready, she removed the lemongrass and bones and then added the sauce. Along with some Tom Yum paste, a seafood bouillon cube, tofu and the seafood itself – we were ready to dish up our bowls.

Usually this soup would be poured into a serving bowl with a heating unit and placed on the table for everyone to make their bowls of soup, but in this occasion we did this at the stove. Lana demonstrated how to assemble the steaming bowls. First, your serving of greens are added to the soup pot to wilt. You then put some noodles in your bowl and choose the seafood and other vegetables that you want. You then retrieve your greens and then ladle the spicy broth on top. We all patiently waited in line clutching our bowls for our turn – it smelled incredible.

The taste was absolutely perfect. Spicy but slightly sweet – the ultimate comfort food. The seafood was perfectly cooked, tender and saturated with the spicy flavor. When the weather turns a bit cooler, I’ll have to dig up a recipe to see if I can make this at home myself.

Rewind eight days to researching how to make jucy lucys for this Heavy Table video. I’ll skip the details, but let’s just say that I managed to eat four jucy lucys in five days and had drawn up the white flag in surrender. No more jucy lucys for a while…or so I thought.

The Thursday after making the video, Kyle and I attended a wine tasting at Sorella Wine and Spirits. We love Sorella and had heard of a South American wine tasting class put on by the Wine Company, a representative of which had recently returned from a trip to Chile and Argentina and would be sharing his experience and some wines from those regions. I had been to wineries in Chile and Argentina when in South America in 2007, so I was looking forward to it, knowing it couldn’t possibly live up to the actual experiences, but was hoping to at least be introduced to some new wines from those regions that are available in the US. The class was mediocre, but we did try a few wines that we liked – Bianchi Torrontes, Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay (my favorite), Bianchi Malbec and Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon – so we were pretty happy about that.

The problem is, when it comes to tasting wine…I don’t follow the rules. I know you’re supposed to just taste the wine and then pour out the rest, but nine times out of ten I don’t. I just drink it. So, after tasting ten or so wines that night, I was getting a bit pickled. Not to mention ravenous.

The Blue Door Pub

As expected, The Blue Door Pub was packed when we arrived so we waited a bit in the crowded room for a table – ordering a couple beers to tide us over. When our table finally opened up, we barely glanced at the menu (although it is quite an extensive listing of juicy blucy offerings) and put in our order. I went with their signature Blucy Lucy (stuffed with garlic and blue cheese) and Kyle hit up their special, the Merriam Park Lucy (stuffed with blue cheese, garlic and bacon and topped with red currant jelly).

Let me first talk about Kyle’s burger. It was a little on the underdone side, unfortunately, but it was tasty. We agreed that the red currant jelly on top was the perfect sweet accompaniment to the salty burger, but wished the bacon had been crisp and that there had been a little more cheese inside. Overall a great tasting burger with a ton of potential with a bit of tweaking.

As for the Blucy Lucy? Honestly, I know it was partly due to the combination of all the wine, beer and lack of water I had had that day, but that burger truly rocked me. The amount of blue cheese stuffed inside the half pound burger was insane – and it didn’t taste like cheap blue cheese but was creamy and dry. The garlic was the perfect background flavor to it, not overpowering but definitely present. Overall I really liked this lucy – it was my first experience with a lucy outside the traditional American cheese version – but, it dominated me. I finished it, but was cowering inside as I did. Beer was left on the table and fries were left in my burger basket…and I pled for mercy.

The Blue Door Pub will definitely be on my list to try again, after a short jucy lucy detox period, of course. With proper training (hydration), I think I could hold my ground with the Blucy Lucy. I still prefer the traditional American cheese version of the jucy lucy best – The Nook and Matt’s rock this scene – but The Blue Door Pub is a nice twist on the Minnesota favorite.

The Blue Door Pub
St. Paul, MN

To bring you back up to speed, I thought I would post some photos of what I’ve been up to. This includes holiday baking, cooking Christmas Eve dinner (which was fantastic but I don’t have a picture of it!!!), playing with my nephews (new racetrack!), 2 pounds of brie (don’t ask), and eating. Of course. I will also write a new post every day this week as there are some other things to catch up on…a fun and surprising New Years meal, Fry-Day, a couple new restaurants and several New Years resolutions. Stay tuned.

It’s probably not a surprise that I love to eat. And while I have many favorite foods, the Thanksgiving meal ranks up there with the best. This past Thanksgiving was no exception. My mom and sister outdid themselves with the meal (yes, I was supposed to help cook but I was too busy snapping photos…sorry Mom!).

Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cauliflower salad, oyster casserole, sage dressing, creamed corn, baby carrots, cranberry salad, rolls….it went on and on. And it was good…really good. For dessert…my brother Tim’s apple crisp. So amazing! (Over the next three days I also sampled Tim’s pumpkin pie and my Grandma’s pecan pie…both were wow!)

And don’t forget the leftovers. The next three days I got to enjoy my favorite…turkey tacos with stuffing. Yum! From beginning to end, from the the table to the meal to the company…Thanksgiving was perfect!

Awhile back I was reading a friend’s blog post about the Omnivore’s 100 (or the 100 foods to eat before you die). On his list of things he had yet to try was Mole Poblano. Mole (mole-ay) is a Mexican sauce made of ground spices and chiles and it is typically made for special occasions such as weddings due to its lengthy preparation process. I had helped my mom and sister make mole a few years back for Christmas Eve dinner so I decided to give it a go and offered to make Mole Poblano.

While mole in general is made of ground spices and chiles, mole poblano is a bit different due to its history and the addition of one ingredient in particular…chocolate. According to my cookbook “Mexico The Beautiful”, there are several legends about the creation of mole poblano. They tell the tale that the head sister at the convent of Santa Rosa was charged with creating a meal for the archbishop and Spanish viceroy. She used the Mexican mole as the base and added chocolate, which she knew was an ingredient used for royalty. In the end, she created “a festive dish that epitomizes the culinary marriage between the Spanish and Mexican worlds.”

And as if the list wasn’t lengthy enough…each chile must be deseeded, fried, soaked and then pureed, each type of seed must be toasted separately. The tortillas, rolls, almonds and raisins are each fried separately…and it goes on and on.

But that was okay by me. I loved the process of making the mole and am looking forward to making other mole recipes in the future. Maybe I’ll try the hazelnut mole recipe again that we made a few Christmas’s ago or perhaps a mole verde, since I love tomatillos so much. Perhaps. Regardless, the important part is that we all tried mole poblano and could mark it off the Omnivore’s 100 list of foods to eat before we die. What’s next? Who knows…Ed does keep talking about wanting to try lobster thermidor…

Minnesota vs. Iowa State Fair
I’ve gotten a few questions of how the Minnesota State Fair compares to the Iowa State Fair and which I like better. Historically, they are about the same age. The Iowa State Fair has been held since 1854 while the Minnesota State Fair has been running since 1859. The Iowa Fair sits on 400 acres (160 acres is campsites) and the Minnesota fairgrounds is 320 acres. The Minnesota Fair’s record attendance is more with about 1.68 million in 2007, while Iowa’s record was in 2004 with 1.05 million. (Information from Wikipedia).

As far as attractions go, it is a tough call, but I have to go with the Minnesota State Fair. Overall, the exhibits are beautiful and really interesting (horticulture building and the miracle of life buildings are amazing) and the International Bazaar, with its ethnic food and displays, is right up my alley. I also loved that the Minnesota State Fair had recycling bins everywhere and a corn cob compost center. Although I do prefer the Minnesota State Fair, both fairs were fun and I would definitely go back to either…but with all the fried food, thankfully they are only held once a year.

We ate a LOT of food – steak sandwich, fried pickle spears, funnel cake, pork chop on a stick, taco, corn dog, pork tenderloin sandwich, and corn on the cob – and washed it all down with several beers, very large diet cokes, and the occasional sip of water. Besides the food, we also saw the animals, including a 1,250 pound boar, many cows, sheep and the largest bull. And the people watching…oh what a spectacle!

But back to food…the highlight of the trip was the corn dog. I don’t know why I always think something is going to be better, but time and time again the corn dog pulls though. Other good eats were the steak sandwich, funnel cake, fried pickle spears, corn and pork tenderloin. The disappointments were the taco and the pork chop on a stick. There was nothing special about the taco, certainly not the “best in taco in Iowa”. After trying it, my friend John said he’d had better at Taco John’s (yikes!). The pork chop had potential, but ours was a bit dry. That just doesn’t cut it when eating pork in Iowa.

All in all, we left the fair happy…six hours, lots of grease, sunburns, $80 spent in food/beverage and full bellies…our high expectations were definitely fulfilled by this weekend getaway. Check that off the list of things to see before I die.

Addendum: I realized after posting this, that I forgot to mention the cheese curds we ate. These were actually the most disappointing…lightly breaded and hardly fried. They were also yellow cheese – overall not good…at all.