Belly Up to the Bar With Bendy and Her Friendies!!! Button Pics & New Thread Started!

[PNO4TE]

If you go to FD... you MUST go to B&W Bakery and get the crumb cake... Get off RT 4 at Hackensack Ave - drive about 1 to 1 1/2 miles down... you will see a Target on the right... GO THROUGH THE TARGET PARKING LOT to the other side... on your left hand side you will see B&W... IT HAS THE BEST CRUMB CAKE IN THE WORLD!!!! (they are closed on Mondays...)... oh and the cheese cake will clog your arteries... but I like the marble one best...

http://www.bwbakerynj.com/products.nxg

Here's a picture of it...

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=5566&RefID=5020

It is now on our list of "Things to Do" and THANK YOU!

 

[luvillians]

Luvillians ... I cheat on the crab eggs benedict and order them from Dean & Deluca. All we have to do is supply the eggs ... the rest is already done and we just throw the biscuits in the oven and cook the crabbie patties.

They're excellent so if you ever feel like splurging order them ... about $70 before tax and shipping and worth every penny!

Yumm! I just went to check out the website and the picture looks soooo good! I can see that D & D might just be my new friend and my wallet's enemy!

 

[oybolshoi]

Yumm! I just went to check out the website and the picture looks soooo good! I can see that D & D might just be my new friend and my wallet's enemy!

Oh yeah! Everything we've ordered from them over the years has been absolutely divine. Totally lives up to the hype and the price tag. The thing that sucks is the shipping ... initally I go to buy something and think, "well, that's not too bad..." but then I find out that most food products have to ship next day air and that adds another $30 or so to the order.

I still buy from them but keep it limited to special occasions or holidays otherwise it would break the bank. I love to look at their site, though, and am on their mailing list so I can ogle their catalogue once a month or so.

 

[oybolshoi]

we did some shopping at whole foods tonight and just finished a late dinner of sushi, cheese, bread, and a new beer for us: Unibroue Tres Pistole.

Mmmmm, 9% alcohol by volume and we just split the big bottle and Jay's already sleeping in his man chair. Of course, to be fair he was up at 5AM this morning since he had to be at work by 6AM.

Anyway, a very tasty dark Belgian style beer that looks like it would be thick but isn't at all. We liked it very much.

 

[PNO4TE]

we did some shopping at whole foods tonight and just finished a late dinner of sushi, cheese, bread, and a new beer for us: Unibroue Tres Pistole.

Mmmmm, 9% alcohol by volume and we just split the big bottle and Jay's already sleeping in his man chair. Of course, to be fair he was up at 5AM this morning since he had to be at work by 6AM.

Anyway, a very tasty dark Belgian style beer that looks like it would be thick but isn't at all. We liked it very much.

They have this at Le Cellier! I drink it every time we eat there.

 

[oybolshoi]

They have this at Le Cellier! I drink it every time we eat there.

It's excellent! I wonder if we can stop in at the front desk at Le Cellier in October and just get a go-cup? We don't want to eat there ... we just want a good beer! Is that so wrong?

BTW ... the History Channel is showing the 7 Deadly Sins and tonight's episode is gluttony!



I love irony.

 

[branv]

O Holy Tuna, where has this thread been all my life? I may be in luvs See, this is what you miss when you tuck your tail between your hefty legs and hunker down on the Budget Board pre/post/dead-center econ melt-down. Food carnality, how I have foresaken thee! I should have remembered it's in times like these that we should take comfort where we can.

So, is it too late to pull a chair up to the table and dig in? I'm flirting with thoughts of our first Food & Wine festival, but it's more likely that will slide on over to 2010. One can dream, and hopefully in the meantime enjoy what you folks are dishing out.

Since I've been dying to share, I'll just right in with a recommendation.

DH and I have finally figured out the recessionista's way of fine dining -- happy hours my friends! Last week we visited a place called the Paggi House in Austin which has just a gawjus patio, full of people who were way better engineered than us. But everyone was full of good and friendly spirits -- or maybe it was the 50%-off drinks. Anyhoo, first off I had this tingly little bit of goodness called a French 75 Sparkler -- Prosecco, Gin & Blood Orange. (Photos unrepentantly borrowed from Yelp):

It was so good even the waiter used little scooty steps to avoid spilling a drop (way to up your tip there bud). If anyone has ever come across a drink of this type, I would be much obliged for ingredient measurements, b/c dayang it was a fine drink.

Some more items we ordered at almost suspiciously low, low LOW bluelight prices:

Does the word "duh" come to mind when I say "Cheese Plate"?:

Yeah, that's right, it came with a shrimp...I may like Bloody Mary's yet!

Seared Ahi:

Sadly, no photos of the other apps we had -- beef carpaccio & veal cheeks (yeah that's right, like Kaiser Soze, we took out the WHOLE family). The veal cheek was pretty good...though my little bougie self's first thought was that it tasted precisely like brisket. Pheh. BUT, it was served with Bleu Cheese Grits gooshy-tangy-goodness which I am here to tell you tasted NOTHING like mom's (in)famous grit spackle. I also tried a Lychee Martini which DH kept mistakenly calling a Leche Martini. Frankly I don't know whether it should inspire me to create a drink by that name (hmmm, maybe kind of like a milk punch) or if it begs for a breastfeeding joke.

And I even experienced a brief melancholy for WDW & DCL when I saw that they offered, of all things, Rosa Regale. Oh I know you know what I'm talking about.

There are gratefully a ton of places like this in Austin, and so many of them are offering kick-booty happy hour specials these days. There is hope yet for the elusive frugal foodie. If you're ever in the area, definitely try out the Paggi House, if only for that great patio and happy hour, 5-7, every blessed day of the week.

Thanks for letting me share

 

[Tatania]

In more important (and freaking out) news, we leave for Tokyo in 6 days.

How long are you spending in Japan and are you planning to go to Tokyo DL? I've been there twice (work and holiday), and though it's not my favorite country the people are extremely nice. At a restaurant, I left some change as a tip and the waitress came running after me to give it back. Also, once during dinner when it started to pour, the restaurant owner gave everyone in our party a small umbrella when we left. You don't find out in a lot of places!

We're a 2 holiday household, so I'm growing grey hairs by the minute this week when 2 said holidays decide to share the same week Because of mine, DH's and FIL's scedules, we're putting off Passover seder till Tuesday (good thing it's a week long holiday)


So we start with Easter dinner:

devilled eggs
ambrosia
strawberry soup
asaragus or asparagoose bundles, haven't decided yet
scalloped potatoes that FIL volunteered to make
leg of lamb
fruit tart that MIL is bringing from Harris Teeter
not sure on other desserts yet

I'd be trying to wangle an invitation to your house for Easter dinner based on that menu I'm just making a small turkey because Safeway had them on sale and I want to keep it low calorie. Down 25# and don't want to blow it over Easter weekend because I'm so tired of losing the same 5 pounds. All it takes is one day of "normal eating" and it can set me back a week.

Our tradition is a Sunday Easter brunch where Mom makes her fabulous German Muesli and potato pancakes. I'll be trying the recipe for Breakfast Pizza from Chef Mickey's and my sister (former professional pastry chef) brings the desert.

Thought I'd share some food porn from this past weekend when we took Drew back up to college. We ate at one of the campus restaurants, Ristorante Caterina de Medici.

Wow, that sounds like my kind of college! I still shudder when I think of the fried sausage and sauerkraut that was our daily fare at the student Mensa when I was studying in Germany.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Can you post the recipe for the cornbread salad please?

Hey! I'll be glad to post it later this morning after I make it. See, it's one of those things that you've been throwing together for years, and realize you never measure anything. I will pay close attention to how much of which ingredients this time and make a note of it!

And to branv! Isn't it amazing what you can find when you meander around on these boards? Gluttons and lushes galore!

 

[Briarmom]

we did some shopping at whole foods tonight and just finished a late dinner of sushi, cheese, bread, and a new beer for us: Unibroue Tres Pistole.

Mmmmm, 9% alcohol by volume and we just split the big bottle and Jay's already sleeping in his man chair. Of course, to be fair he was up at 5AM this morning since he had to be at work by 6AM.

Anyway, a very tasty dark Belgian style beer that looks like it would be thick but isn't at all. We liked it very much.

I really really do not know why you haven't visited me.

How long are you spending in Japan and are you planning to go to Tokyo DL? I've been there twice (work and holiday), and though it's not my favorite country the people are extremely nice. At a restaurant, I left some change as a tip and the waitress came running after me to give it back. Also, once during dinner when it started to pour, the restaurant owner gave everyone in our party a small umbrella when we left. You don't find out in a lot of places!

We are going to spend 3 days at Tokyo DLR. I am very excited to see DisneySea! We'll be in Japan for about 10 days.

ETA: Congrats on your weight loss! I really really need to lose about 25 myself and just haven't.

 

[oybolshoi]

& I think the fact that you have some of the MOST wildly popular food Trippies here on the Dis speaks louder than any mods!!!! (and we will buy you a corn dog at Caseys to make up for it...

Well, thanks very much. Sometimes I wonder though ... I see some people on the restaurant boards who go out of their way to post on every review but mine (and I really do pay attention to who posts because I know and appreciate that it's a time investment when someone reads my stuff) and during my more sensitive moments I feel like I'm being shunned. Then I remind myself that we all like different things and some people don't like what I post for a multitude of reasons and that's cool ... I don't read all the reviews that are posted over there because I cannot bear to read anything that isn't written properly. A random spelling error I can forgive, it's easy to do when posting, but poor grammar and reviews that consist of, "We ate at ----- last night and loved it; you will too ... " make me run screaming from the thread faster than you can say, "We're out of beer."

I love to look at pictures of people's food but for a review I want to know about everything ... who, what, when, where, why, and how??? Blame it on a history professor in college who told me that these were the questions I should always seek to answer when writing anything in her class. That conversation stuck in my head so strongly that I use it at work when underwriting commercial loan requests ... it drives the lenders crazy but they'll also admit that I'm the best in the department at what I do because of it.

Sorry ... off on a tangent ...

So, just remember when staring down your computer screen at a particularly bland or poorly written food review to ask yourself, "WWBD?"

What Would Bendy Do?

And click on the back arrow.

That is a good book. His Under the Banner of Heaven is also good.

My ds and I went parasailing together when he was 7. He was freaked, and then had the best time!

I've been looking at some of his other books on Amazon but I haven't purchased anything yet. I'll take a look at that one in a bit - thanks for the suggestion.

I was very scared the first time we went parasailing and I had to go up by myself. Once I was airborne and able to relax I really enjoyed it ... so much so that I made sure that we did it again the following year. But at heart, I'm a 'fraidy cat ... high-strung, nervous, fidgety, and jumpy ... very hard for me to actually relax (without booze ... ).

I read this book many years ago and couldn't put it down. As you may know, during this fateful climb an Imax team was also on the mountain and the 1998IMAX film contains footage of "hobby" climbers that are in the book. It's a spectacular film and brings to life all the things you read in the book. Well worth renting the DVD if you can't see it in the theater.

The book was amazing ... I'm actually re-reading it because I went through it so quickly the first time that I know I missed stuff. And I actually am thinking of purchasing Everest - the movie you're talking about - it's being sold on Amazon for $10 and I'd really like to see it.

The other day I started reading somebody's Disney Food report and they included a disclaimer that readers should not expect an oybolshoi caliber report. You KNOW you've reached Disboard VIP status when you're held up as the gold standard of reporting

Really?

Thanks for letting me know ... that's quite a compliment. I just want to share the food-fun with everyone and make it worth their time to read. I would be ashamed of myself if I put out something that wasn't well done ... overdeveloped sense of responsibilty.

Congrats on winning all that money! That will go along way toward funding some meals at Disney.

Thank you! We've tucked it into the fund for next year's transatlantic cruise ... that may just be enough to cover our booze for one week.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Cornbread Salad

1 6 oz. package buttermilk cornbread, mixed and baked (don't use Jiffy--too sweet)
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/3-1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup drained pinto beans
3/4 cup buttermilk ranch dressing
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Crumble cornbread in a large bowl, add beans and vegetables and mix well. Add the dressing and stir until combined--you can add more dressing if you like, but this is the amount that seemed to stick everything together without being too overwhelming. Pour in 1 1/2 quart bowl and top with shredded cheese. Serves 6.

Note: if you are making cornbread from scratch, use an 8 inch skillet, but don't make it too thick or you'll need more dressing.

Enjoy!

 

[oybolshoi]

Congrats to Jay! $440 will buy quite a few drinks in October... if you can find it! Just joking I lose things around the house or even just on my desk constantly!

Thanks! The money is now safely in the bank earning pennies in interest. It will pay for some booze on next year's cruise ... I hope.

Jay was a little worried about me that night ... I was losing everything.

Well that is frustrating! But hang in there!!

Thanks for the encouragement ... I know I should just be focusing on being healthy but I want to see the number on the scale go down ... like the values of our retirement and investment accounts.

Ok... I am officially declaring myself NUTS!!!!!

It's not even officially announced yet... nothing is being booked and I'm ALREADY posting on the thread for the next PC Repo Cruise for 2011... It's 2 years away... but it's on the Wonder this time...

Oooooooh .... a Panama Canal cruise on the Wonder? We've never sailed on the Wonder and we'd love to take a PC cruise. Hmmmmmm,

The topiary bushes plants are a work of art. Do they bring in extra butterflies for the festival? My condolences to everybody feeling under the weather - hopefully the time off over Easter holidays will have us rested and in good shape again.

The topiaries are one of the best parts of the flower & garden festival in my opinion. At earlier F&W festivals Epcot used to create a lot of topiary designs that were just enchanting, but apparently it costs too much money - we haven't seen topiaries at F&W since 2004.

I'll dig up some of those pictures are post them here later.

Bendy - when you do the Jazzercise, are you dripping with sweat at the end? The problem could be that you're simply not burning enough calories to make a big difference. I alternate my workouts to that, depending on the day, it's elliptical, stairmaster or treadmill - and I set the treadmill to #13 incline, which is very steep. The machines give you a rough idea of the calories you're burning and on a good treadmill day (50 minutes), I'll have burned 700 calories and my T-shirt is soaked. If you combine that with reducing your calorie intake you have to lose weight. It's all about burning more than you take in. My problem is that when I fall off the WW plan it's never just for one day. I go on a bender, just like an alcoholic, and a week later I've easily wipe out the weight loss from 3 previous weeks. It's hard to get back on the plan, but as soon as I do, the weight falls right off again. I lost 4# since Saturday just by burning more calories I take in. Are you writing down everything you eat and keeping track? You'd be amazed at how we misjudge portions or how having little snacks during the day will add to your calorie count.

I sweat like crazy during jazzercize so I know I'm burning calories, but there are lot of reasons that I've not taken off any pounds.

I'm not being consistent ... for me to make it to the evening classes I have to leave work early and that's very hard to do right now when we're short-staffed and facing the busy renewal season. And the morning classes conflict with my work schedule and drive time (unfortunately it takes me 45-60 minutes to get to work in the morning ... valuable workout time ... and I'm not getting out of bed at 4AM to workout - it ain't gonna happen. ).

The weather fluctuations are wreaking havoc on my joints lately and it's been painful (even with my medication) to do a lot of higher impact workouts. Once it gets cold and stays cold or gets warm and stays warm I'm usually OK because my body adjusts. But the last three weeks have been insane and painful.

And most importantly and I am the only one to blame for this - I haven't been good about my diet. I go for a few days and do well and then binge on junk and blow it all. I borrowed some weight watchers stuff from a friend at work and am going to read through it this weekend to see what I can get from it and I may try that approach with varying workouts ... we have tons of different workout DVDs.

Thanks for the advice and the inspiration!

 

[oybolshoi]

Welcome welcome welcome!!!

It's never too late to pull a chair up to the table / bar - new friendies are always welcome here!

Your pictures are wonderful ... that cheese plate raises envy and a little sadness in my heart. Envy because I want to eat it right now and sadness because that's the kind of presentation and portion size we should be given at WDW when ordering a cheese plate but it doesn't seem to happen much any longer.

And the tuna ...

Thanks for sharing with us and don't be a stranger!

O Holy Tuna, where has this thread been all my life? I may be in luvs See, this is what you miss when you tuck your tail between your hefty legs and hunker down on the Budget Board pre/post/dead-center econ melt-down. Food carnality, how I have foresaken thee! I should have remembered it's in times like these that we should take comfort where we can.

So, is it too late to pull a chair up to the table and dig in? I'm flirting with thoughts of our first Food & Wine festival, but it's more likely that will slide on over to 2010. One can dream, and hopefully in the meantime enjoy what you folks are dishing out.

Since I've been dying to share, I'll just right in with a recommendation.

DH and I have finally figured out the recessionista's way of fine dining -- happy hours my friends! Last week we visited a place called the Paggi House in Austin which has just a gawjus patio, full of people who were way better engineered than us. But everyone was full of good and friendly spirits -- or maybe it was the 50%-off drinks. Anyhoo, first off I had this tingly little bit of goodness called a French 75 Sparkler -- Prosecco, Gin & Blood Orange. (Photos unrepentantly borrowed from Yelp):

It was so good even the waiter used little scooty steps to avoid spilling a drop (way to up your tip there bud). If anyone has ever come across a drink of this type, I would be much obliged for ingredient measurements, b/c dayang it was a fine drink.

Some more items we ordered at almost suspiciously low, low LOW bluelight prices:

Does the word "duh" come to mind when I say "Cheese Plate"?:

Yeah, that's right, it came with a shrimp...I may like Bloody Mary's yet!

Seared Ahi:

Sadly, no photos of the other apps we had -- beef carpaccio & veal cheeks (yeah that's right, like Kaiser Soze, we took out the WHOLE family). The veal cheek was pretty good...though my little bougie self's first thought was that it tasted precisely like brisket. Pheh. BUT, it was served with Bleu Cheese Grits gooshy-tangy-goodness which I am here to tell you tasted NOTHING like mom's (in)famous grit spackle. I also tried a Lychee Martini which DH kept mistakenly calling a Leche Martini. Frankly I don't know whether it should inspire me to create a drink by that name (hmmm, maybe kind of like a milk punch) or if it begs for a breastfeeding joke.

And I even experienced a brief melancholy for WDW & DCL when I saw that they offered, of all things, Rosa Regale. Oh I know you know what I'm talking about.

There are gratefully a ton of places like this in Austin, and so many of them are offering kick-booty happy hour specials these days. There is hope yet for the elusive frugal foodie. If you're ever in the area, definitely try out the Paggi House, if only for that great patio and happy hour, 5-7, every blessed day of the week.

Thanks for letting me share

 

[oybolshoi]

We bought four cheeses last night at Whole Foods for Easter ..

my all-time favorite Fromager d'Affoinois, Humboldt Fog, 6-month Manchego, and Herve Mons Spring Milk Ossau-Iraty (that's the uber-expensive, $50 per pound cheese ... we only bought a half-pound).

Now we've got to get the rest of our collective crap together today. I've been playing on the boards since 8:30 and Jay's getting impatient.

Thanks for sharing all the great food porn and recipes - have a great holiday, take lots of pictures, and then come back here and post them!

Holiday hugs ...

 

[kabuki]

We bought four cheeses last night at Whole Foods for Easter ..

my all-time favorite Fromager d'Affoinois, Humboldt Fog, 6-month Manchego, and Herve Mons Spring Milk Ossau-Iraty (that's the uber-expensive, $50 per pound cheese ... we only bought a half-pound).

Now we've got to get the rest of our collective crap together today. I've been playing on the boards since 8:30 and Jay's getting impatient.

Thanks for sharing all the great food porn and recipes - have a great holiday, take lots of pictures, and then come back here and post them!

Holiday hugs ...

You had me at Humbolt Fog!

I just got up and trying to catch uo on everyone.. WOW great food pics and all happy Easter stuff!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We bought four cheeses last night at Whole Foods for Easter ..

my all-time favorite Fromager d'Affoinois, Humboldt Fog, 6-month Manchego, and Herve Mons Spring Milk Ossau-Iraty (that's the uber-expensive, $50 per pound cheese ... we only bought a half-pound).

I'm salivating just envisioning all that cheese-that is my weakness...cheese, not chocolate! Enjoy Brenda!

 

[Briarmom]

I was very scared the first time we went parasailing and I had to go up by myself. Once I was airborne and able to relax I really enjoyed it ... so much so that I made sure that we did it again the following year. But at heart, I'm a 'fraidy cat ... high-strung, nervous, fidgety, and jumpy ... very hard for me to actually relax (without booze ... ).

Oh I need to post the whole story. It includes my then 7 year old son (fraidy cat by nature) and me but also my dh (he went solo) and my then 3 year old dd. It also includes leaping from the parasailing boat (while going fast enough for someone to parasail) onto an 'inflatable raft' sort of boat (going said parasailing speed) whilst holding on to a 3 year old....ah Egypt. Your history is vast and your SCUBA is amazing, but your laws are as loose as a drunk collegiate on spring break.

OK, the panzanella is in the fridge awaiting baguette chunks and red wine vinegar and the mushrooms are simmering in a beer from...need I say?...Belgium. I am drinking one of those beers as I type. I love spring!

 

[ibouncetoo]

.

(yeah that's right, like Kaiser Soze, we took out the WHOLE family).

just spit my morning tea all over the computer!

And I even experienced a brief melancholy for WDW & DCL when I saw that they offered, of all things, Rosa Regale. Oh I know you know what I'm talking about.

I think I'll have to have some tomorrow with all the Easter chocolate!

.

 

[branv]

Thanks for the welcome!! I spent way too long last night trying to comb through this mammoth of a thread. Nothing like drooling at 2:00 am. You're my kind of peeps.

We bought four cheeses last night at Whole Foods for Easter ..

my all-time favorite Fromager d'Affoinois, Humboldt Fog, 6-month Manchego, and Herve Mons Spring Milk Ossau-Iraty (that's the uber-expensive, $50 per pound cheese ... we only bought a half-pound).

Ahhh, D'Affinois...everytime we go for cheese, DH eventually moans, "I can't find it!" and I say, "Look for the cow". It's like all the places around here only cut out the part of the label with the cow head and chuck the rest. Have I mentioned in cases like that I wouldn't be above dumpster diving? And is it remotely possible to say this word normally? I have to trail it out in my best (worst) asthmatic frenchman imitation, "oooh D'AFF-eeen-waaaaaaaaa, hohohaha"...yep, right there in Whole Foods even. Which is okay because our closest location is the flagship corporate store , and their mightiness has made them immune to the oddities of the little people.

BTW, I just wanted to admit that I have read all of your reviews over the past few years and I don't think I've commented once. I am a bad, evil girl...no braids, but possibly fit for "The Bad Seed." I will do better next time. The funny thing is how often I've had discussions about your posts with DH. In fact, just a few months ago we were on our way home from dinner and I was telling him all about your latest trip to F&W. And in the middle I paused and said, "Do you think these people realize that some stranger, in a land far far away, who they have never met, is sitting around tonight talking about them? Does that make me a little creepy?" Which I may be, but probably about far more issues than this one.

just spit my morning tea all over the computer!

I think I'll have to have some tomorrow with all the Easter chocolate! .

Oh no, don't do that! Tea is too precious for electronics. Unless it's catnip tea, because I really, really don't get the point other than sipping it and staring smugly over the rim at your cat.

And, MMMMMM, bubbles....that makes me think I should go get some. Of course I'll also have to get some Easter candy while I'm out. Though my frugal side says to hold off until Monday when it's 50% off, but all I can ever find that's leftover then are some kind of jacked up version of Whoppers. Probably not worth the risk. Off to Tarzhey!