That is such a great story, thanks so much for the link. Of course I knew about Fishy Fish because you and others posted about it, and I’ve savored Tim’s cooking since Strip-Ts, but hearing the back story was great!! And I love the whole notion of a Fishy Fish pod…
We always cooked a lot even before covid but with wfh it gave a chance to have even longer projects during the week - our pizza game (with the oven) got pretty good over time. Once we started to go for takeout (around February/March) again we had some good experiences at Area Four, Hometaste, Puritan, Buttonwood, Sycamore, Moldova, Sweet Basil and Posto
One thing that happened as a result of the pandemic was that we felt compelled to try a range of restaurants that aren’t big surprises, well known, taken for granted, and places that I kept meaning to try but never got around to trying. Some were misses, but some were fantastic hits.
The Abbey in Porter Square, Cambridge http://abbeycambridge.com/ Possibly still my kids’ favorite place for a burger, and their bison bolognese is terrific and a good value over multiple meals.
Takeout from Sarma. There’s another thread about their new prix fixe menu, but I loved what I had from there.
Mediterranean Grill in North Cambridge http://www.mediterraneangrilltogo.com/ They opened in the space in the condos that were converted from the bus depot on Mass Ave. Terrific Persian kebabs, flavored yogurts, and wonderful vegetarian dishes.
Sophia’s Greek Pantry http://www.sophiasgreekpantry.com/, who make a staggeringly great Greek style yogurt from scratch. The 0% fat honey yogurt is as close as I’ve gotten to the feeling of breakfast in Istanbul. Their cold veggie salads are also terrific. Sevan Bakery in Watertown https://sevanboston.com/ is my go-to for the best olives in town and homemade baklava. A newcomer during the pandemic, Super Vanak in Belmont https://www.instagram.com/super.vanak/ is a full service Persian grocery store, with a dizzying array of spice mixes, infused oils and waters, and prepared foods and a cafe is coming in the fall.
We also experimented more with cooking at home, and from scratch. I accumulated a library of Instant Pot recipes, many of which are now in my regular rotation, including a Mediterranean-style chicken and rice (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen including a hack into something like paella), TaiWan style beef noodle soup, steel cut oatmeal, homemade vegetable stock courtesy of Bon Appetit https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/instant-pot-vegetable-stock (the secret is browning the onions, and now I save all of my aromatic cuttings for stock), potato-and-leek soup, and steamed beets. We rediscovered egg pasta from scratch using the Cooks Illustrated method (where the food processor makes things way easier), and worked on tortilla española from Kenji López-Alt’s Cooks Illustrated recipe with a killer garlic aioli.
My grade school aged daughter was inspired by The Mandalorian and The Great British Baking Show to make macarons from https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/macarons-the-mandalorian and has gotten good enough at it to be able to do it pretty much unassisted. My search for flavors for the macarons for her turned up Olive Nation https://www.olivenation.com/ a bakery supply house based out of Charlestown, which do a wide range of berry and fruit flavors, spectacular cocoa powders, and some of the best dried shiitake mushrooms I’ve ever had. I also got to enough of a comfort zone with whipping egg whites that I also made the best cheese soufflé that I have managed to date. My daughter and I made a no-cook Greek yogurt and mascarpone cheesecake which is also terrific.
I suspect none of this is earth-shattering, or different, and many of these places have been around for years. But I wouldn’t have known about them without the constraints of the pandemic, and I’m grateful that my local culinary universe is that much wider.
Wow, what a great report and I certainly learned about new resources from it, thank you @DrJimbob!
I echo @GretchenS – what a great report @DrJimbob! These are the ways in which you’ve done good today (if introducing me to new places counts as “doing good”):
Mediterranean Grill
Such promising offerings – had I not had Fishy Fish stuff arriving tomorrow, I’d have been eating their food. But tomorrow is a special Fishy Fish day – Theresa Paopao, their winewoman – rather like wonderwoman, only better – is having a bachelorette shindig, with Tim Maslow as her “best maid of honor”, and they’re offering us customers the same food and wine.
Super Vanak
Just wow, based on their Instagram and web page.
Olive Nation
That may be the most exciting intro to me of all. What range, what choices! I’m composing an order as I write this.
Thanks.
I took the shucking class at B & G Oysters, which greatly improved my technique. Now I can plow through a delivery from Island Creek at the rate of ~3-4 per minute.
I had absolutely no idea that there was now a Persian grocery store in Belmont!!! Thanks for the great tip!
I remember another Mediterranean (I think?) place in this space and didn’t know something had taken its place. I just looked at the menu - wow! Not only is the menu huge, I want 1 of everything vegetarian. Thanks for the tip @DrJimbob.
Ooo, great thread. Been away, off and on, for a couple weeks.
Take a look at the message written on our order, upon our return to our local breakfast and lunch spot. —>
So yeah, we developed a new level of gratitude for the local businesses who helped keep us fed.
Today it was awesome blueberry pancakes for Saturday breakfast (I’m terrible at making pancakes).
With great respect and all the love in my heart, how?
Okay - I went and looked. I use a Joy of Cooking recipe but they’re all about the same. One is below. There is a video. What I do is not necessarily “right” or “best” but it works.
I do wet and dry separately and then mix wet into dry. Anywhere you see “whisk” I use a fork. I let the batter sit for a bit while I wash up. We don’t have a griddle so I use our big 14" non-stick pan. Butter - not a lot. Don’t fiddle. When you get some bubbles in the pancake it’s time to flip. Second side a bit less time than the first.
If you have trouble fall back to crepes (I like the Alton Brown recipe) and nail that down. Crepes are easier than pancakes.
Or just go to Denny’s. Their pancakes are pretty good.
Started baking sourdough bread. Sounds easy but getting it right consistently takes some time. I’ve never been a baker and now I know why.
For “never been a baker” that’s pretty good. I now know that if wanted to do a pain à la coupe I’d do it with you.
I think that bread looks fantastic, Midlife! What didn’t you love about it?
I started baking yeast bread senior year in college when I lived in a co-op. Been baking bread off and on for decades since. I’m far from great, but it’s better than commercial breads. I’m not up to Iggy’s standards by far or other artisan bakeries. I had intended to start my own sourdough at the beginning of the pandemic. Still hasn’t happened, but it’s on the list.
That loaf was fine and I’m satisfied in general. Each one I do seems to be a little different from the others. Most don’t rise as much as that one did and are a bit dense. I’m finding that there are almost as many ‘methods’ as there are bakers, but I keep working on perfecting my technique. I tweak hydration and proofing time a bit each time but stay with one basic process.
I think you are doing great! They will all be a bit different, especially if you are using your own sourdough starter, which I haven’t done yet. I always use a scale for the ingredients that are less than 2 tbs.
The weight of dry ingredients in ratio to liquid is important. The humidity in the cooking room and the “wild yeast” roaming around in there and the temperature of the cooking room and accurate oven temp can all make subtle differences. It sounds like you have more knowledge of those than I do.
Sticking with one basic process so you can try to gauge the controls on the other variables sounds very impressive to me.
You have encouraged me to renew my pledge to start sourdough, as soon as I complete some pressing other home tasks.
Thanks for thinking of me and blueberry pancakes. I’m at peace with my lack of homemade pancakery because making pancakes for two is too fiddly for me. Also I don’t have a restaurant flat top grill, which I think is also key to the just-right texture I’m after.
For sure I’m never going to outdo the mad skills of the person who owns our local breakfast and lunch place. Gotta support our local small businesses, especially those owned by kind and wonderful people!
Understood. We end up with a bunch of leftovers in the freezer and then need to remember to eat them. Another “what’s this?” when we do periodic inventory and cleaning.
A big pan works fine. The real benefit of a flattop is making a LOT of pancakes (or anything) all at once. Not important for breakfast foods but having a hot side and a really hot side is great for dinner proteins. It takes some practice to get that right. I understand it but am marginal in execution - not enough time on point.
