Bitter Barbara

Every Thursday night I go to my customary watering hole with my usual group of friends. Every once in a while Bitter Barbara will grace us with her ice cold presence, uncomfortable posture, and lack luster conversation. The bar is small and usually crowded so there is no way to avoid her. She attempts to sit close to my friends because at one point in time we tried to warm her up with some friendly conversation – BAD IDEA. (The rest of the paragraph has been abridged).

Below find BB's last meal and some peanuts gallery comments on each dish:

Appetizer: From the Bittmore Hotel in Arizona – the Caesar Salad in a crispy Parmesan shell. Does the shell represent the shell she wears on a daily basis that doesn't allow a man with in 5 feet?

Main Course: Broiled Christian lobster tail. Plain, uninteresting, yet trying to be sophisticated.

Desert: Flourless chocolate ganache. An interesting and delightful dish for an uninteresting and austere young lady.

The Jewish Italian Aruban ‘JIA’

Jewish by birth
Italian by association.
and Aruban because that is where she calls home.

There is no place like home…. there is no place like home…. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME! Especially when you home is an island surrounded by clear blue water, beautiful beaches, and it’s always 82 degrees outside. 100,000 individuals are lucky enough to enjoy this 14 mile long by 6 mile wide paradise all year round – so who makes the crazy decision to leave – the ‘JIA’ does. What is also crazy and incomprehensible is how many people always say that they will take a trip back with her, for the full tour of the island and its entire splendor, and then never get around to taking her up on the offer – there in lies the basis of stupidity.

The cuisine of Aruba is a melting pot of Dutch, Latin American, and Caribbean dishes inspired by the wonders of what the surrounding sea can supply. Picture yourself under the tree pictured above enjoying JIA's last meal - light breeze, toes in the sand, no boss over your shoulder, no computer screens....

Appetizer: Escargot and grilled conch, straight out of the sea, in an olive oil and garlic sauce.

Main Course: Filet mignon (medium), potatoes au gratin, and grilled asparagus.

Desert : Quesillo - the Aruban version of creme brulee with out the hard sugar topping (recipe to follow shortly)

My Tuesday Night Dish

Even though I live 5 minutes away I was late, I’m always late. I arrived at Jake’s in Manayunk (www.jakesrestaurant.com)to find my buddy had ordered a sausage and banana ring hot pepper pizza – big mistake. He thought he was ordering something that was actually tasty on the menu, the spicy meatball and ricotta pizza that we enjoyed a few weeks earlier. To his right Ms. Dish sat alone, nibbling on a salad, waiting for her friend. We all immediately start chatting about our meals, food, enjoyable local restaurants and our common Italian heritage.

Ms. Dish is back in town from Florida looking for a bartending job and will have her third interview with the biggest restaurateur in Philadelphia, Stephen Starr himself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Starr). She is nervous because she was told in advance that he would ask questions she would never expect. What could he really ask that would be so unexpected: Which wine would you pair with sea urchins? Whose philosophy do you agree more with Plato or Aristotle? What’s your bra size?

Before Ms. Dish left for the night she had a cocktail napkin filled with recipe ideas and restaurant recommendations. Before I left, I obtained Ms. Dish’s last meal and how it reflected a mix of her Italian old school heritage mixed with her Southern roots.

Appetizer: Her Italian roots - Broccoli Rabe in a red sauce from Franco and Luigi’s Restaurant http://www.francoandluigis.com/events/ in South Philadelphia (A traditional Italian menu and opera singing to accompany your meal).

Main Course: Her Southern roots - Fried chicken, escarole (the Italian version of collard greens), mash potatoes with gravy, and corn bread.

Desert: The delectable chocolate mousse http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/chocolate-mousse-recipe/index.html

The Mentor The Big Dog

The Mentor is the first person to introduce me to the higher end meals I didn’t get to previously experience. He always combines a fantastic meal, at a fine culinary institution, with words of advice on life, love, happiness, and work. Whenever we bet on the stock market or a sports team you can always guarantee that a first-class meal is on the line. I have come to know his culinary tastes so well that one look at a menu and I can guess what he is ordering for dinner.

On this celebration day (If you live under a rock the Phillies won the World Series!!!) the Mentor is always there with an invitation to a fine meal to celebrate what only comes along every 25 years or so. Now all we need is for the Big Dog and the Little Dog to come back together as a team – then everything would be back in its place.

I almost didn’t even have to ask him what he wanted for his last meal but I had him tell me anyway. Here is his last meal in his own words….

Drink to start: a very cold belvedere up with olives. I am talking about a 1950s kind of drink that they serve at the best steakhouses in a big martini glass, with big olives (i.e. a man’s drink).

First Course: ½ of a Maine lobster, served cold with cocktail sauce and green mayonnaise on the side. Served with the appetizer, a glass of a Trocken Riesling. The simple rich cold taste of the sea paired with a steely, bone dry, crisp white.

Dinner: Braised veal Cheeks with fresh spinach pasta, veal reduction sauce, and peas.
Served with dinner: Any fine old Bordeaux of Pinot Noir. An obscure, rich, earthy
dish with a fine old wine to match. I have never met anyone who tried cheeks and didn’t
think they were out of this world.

Dessert : Floating Islands with crème anglaise. Totally ethereal, like eating a cloud. Perfect after a rich meal.

Served after dessert: XO Cognac. Feel the mist roll in. Time to turn in for the night.

Dr. Brother Of A Former First Lady

Well dressed in his Brooks Brothers, working on his second latte, and picking the raisins out of his croissant - Dr. Brother Of A Former First Lady offers an excellent lunch time companion along with The Saab Driving Coffee Baristo. The conversation is light, humorous, and at times food or politically centered. The Dr's last meal offers a good representation of the simple yet sophisticated man and his All-American roots.

Appetizer: Shrimp cocktail is simple, classic, on most menus at fine dining establishments, and demonstrates the Dr’s sophisticated country club side.

Author’s Suggestion: Try putting some horseradish in with your cocktail dipping sauce for something with a little kick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_sauce

Main Course: Coming from the heartland, just like the good Dr. himself, a mouth-watering filet mignon (Medium). His side dishes are just as uncomplicated as the meat itself; a baked potatoes and grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

Desert: A combination of the sophisticated and simple – A Norman Apple Tart Au Pomme. Check out the recipe below, with all that butter it must be good!

Further Research: offers the following: “Apples play an important part in the history of Normandy, with apple orchards spreading throughout the region even in Roman times. In 1553, Gilles de Gouberville distilled the first cider. However the Norman apple was found to have therapeutic qualities as well, for making poultices and ointments, and has been used to make cosmetics during the Renaissance. Makeup powder, to this day, is still called "Pommade". With over two thousand varieties of apples, Normandy is naturally proud of its cider and of its Calvados.”

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-party/apple-tart-recipe/index.html
This Paula Dean lady scares me a little bit with those eyes and the whole sticks of butter she seems to put into every dish.

Why 'Your' Last Meal? My Last Meal

Food has always been my passion along with my family and my religion. In the kitchen, with my mother as she cooked and baked delicious full meals every night. Holiday tables filled with family and overflowing with soup-to-nuts meals. No one ever left hungry and everyone always savored an invite to dinner. My never ending hunger continues to this day and it will be something that will be instilled in my children.

My quest now is to find out how deep your passion goes with food and to find out what your last meal would be if you knew tomorrow was your last day on earth. I broke down 'last meal' into appetizer, main course, and desert because it helped me help others focus on the meal combinations and where in time they enjoyed that wonderful dish. I will try to include as much detail, background and as many recpies as possible so that you can sample someone else's last meal.


My Last Meal

Appetizer: Colossal grilled shrimp and grilled calamari over broccoli rabe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini). The broccoli rabe can only be made by one person, a friend of the family that knows how to make it just right, not bitter, and with the right amount of hot pepper. The shrimp and calamari are there because they make it a well rounded dish, add flavors that blend well and are not over powering.

Main Course: Blue point crabs (that I just caught under a bridge somewhere in NJ) and homemade pasta. The crabs are cleaned, their cavities are filled with some chopped garlic, and then they are fried till they turn orange. When all the crabs are fried, throw them back in the pot with all the juices and fill the rest of the pot with your spaghetti gravy/sauce (The gravy or sauce issue is a very controversial issue to be discussed at a later time). As for the pasta, it must be homemade linguini - NO EXCEPTIONS! This dish originates from some of my earliest memories of the dinner table; my grandparents sitting on either side of me, spending hours cracking crabs open and giving the meat they worked so hard to pry out of the little crevices.

Desert: Grilled pound cake, a cake that my mother has made thousands of times, with grilled pineapple and vanilla ice cream on top.