Motown Pho Down

Who's up for a pho down? We and our Gang of Pour pals are going pho fest -- tasting our local pho, finding out degrees of deliciousness, and maybe/maybe not rating our favorites. After all, there probably is no bad pho, especially in five degree weather.

Stay tuned here or at gangofpour.com for details.

Betty Crocker lives on

I have been sharing my original "Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls" with a couple of young friends. The dated graphics, comments from the kids and the old photos are totally irrelevant.

We walked through the pages and they were amazed by the bunny salad, the cake that looks like an Easter hat, the drum cake(!) with its support of candy canes and cherries, the fruit gem drink (lots of fruits and berries in lemonade in a really pretty glass.)

It's very affirming that Betty knew her stuff then and it translates now. Simple, easy food that is colorful, fun to make and actually tastes pretty good without a lot of crap.

Pigs in a blanket were a big hit and we did a riff on it using crescent rolls and nutella ---"awesomely, wonderfully tasty" said Kiran, second grade.

We don't need a lot of whoo-ha and fancy stuff to engage our children in good food, making food and exploring different tastes. Making your own sloppy Joe that you can present to mom when she comes in from a hard day is a great satisfaction and a gift of love and comfort from a child to a parent. Can't beat that.

Tweet & Taste Michigan

Our pals at Gang of Pour http://blogs.gangofpour.com/
are partnering with some of the areas best wine experts and Black Star Farms in Michigan to offer a great opportunity to share comments and insights on three Black Star Wines.

Here's the link on facebook with all the info. Hope we'll be tweeting you...

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277978122435&ref=nf

Slow train to terrificness

Four of us at Slow's on Michigan Ave tonight - Tom and Emily eat there regularly, so they nodded and smiled while Martha and I oohed and aahed.

Tom and Martha did ribs - the St. Louis style which they advertise as a bit chewy, that you have to work with. The bone I chewed on was fattier than I like and a bit gristly, but Martha and Tom liked them a lot.

Emily and I had sandwiches and oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Mine was PJ's Revenge, the ham and cheese on Texas toast. The has is smoked, smooth and sweet. The sandwich included smoked gouda, a mustard sauce, and an onion marmalade. This is a wonderful sandwich - the ham is terrificly tasty, the onions and sauce sweet and the toast hearty enough to stand up to weight of the fixings. Emily's pulled pork with cole slaw sandwich was lovely. The pork and fat combination was perfect.

We all loved the sides. The mac and cheese is hot and seasoned and flavorful as can be. I like the beans - on the sweet side as well - and the cole slaw is tart and hearty.

Diamond Jim Brady's

Much in part due to a fellow Chowhound's praises, we met wonderful friends of ours here as a halfway point, for lunch. Bottom line, food was really great. Had the crusted whitefish over almost julienned zucchini and basmati rice with a small about of balsamic reduction. Fish was perfect --crust was light, sides were great, too (but a little salt helped.) Preceded by a nicely made Caesar salad --garlicky with a hint of anchovy, not overdressed or a greens salad with a kicky lemony vinaigrette. Our spouses had burgers --mine thought it was good, not great, the other loved the Texas burger with chili. Prices were great-- $9.50 for the whitefish meal, $8.50 for loaded burgers and fries. It's clear the kitchen knows what it's doing.

Problem was service --it was an almost dismally empty dining room for weekend lunch. When we ordered one wine, it was "out" --no explanation, my husband asked for a cleaner glass. I had ordered something else but when the server came back the, "polenta was out", which was the reason I ordered. No fast pick up on water, silverware, re-orders of wine. When I ordered wine after others, it was explained "we get some special order wines so when they're' out, they're out." Good, but maybe tell us the first time around? No polenta...hmmm.

With the great quality of the food we expected a warmer service, or at least more attentive. Took the edge off.

we'll go back because the food quality for the value is great...just on a slow Saturday (recession, nice day?) but would like a more engaged service next time.

Pho Que Hu'o'ng Restaurant--A new pho on the block

New guy on the block

Light, bright spring rolls w/ dipping sauce

A big bowl of pho--this is chicken, but there are many options


My chowfriend Kim and I went on a lunch adventure today. The mission was to visit Saigon Market on John R. Road just south of 13 Mile so she could pick up some supplies and to check out a newish Pho restaurant a block north of there - http://quehuongdetroit.com. Both are in Madison Heights, MI.

We entered a very small establishment with several tables filled with hungry eaters. Wesplit a side of fresh spring rolls. (See photo). The rice wrapper was delicate and translucent, letting us see the bright colors of the shrimp and sparkling fresh mint and herbs inside. Served with a spicy hoisin/peanut sauce, it was bright and vivid tasting and light enough not to interfere with the big bowls of pho coming. I ordered rare beef for, she ordered chicken (see photo).

Everything was delicious. The Pho was served with the requisite fresh Thai basil, lime and bean spouts.Kim enhanced her Pho with two tiny spoonfuls of a wicked hot pepper concoction available as a side at each table. While we ate, chef came out and gave us each a take out menu and explained that he has a web site. I think he was somewhat tickled that someone was taking photographic notice of his food.

We want to come back to try the several different Bahn Mi Thit sandwiches as well as the Chim Cut Roti ("special marinated quails in deep fried"). We're also a planning a "pho-off", comparing three phos of the three really good restaurants on John R between 13 and 12 mile --this, Thang Long and Thy Thrang. Will update you when this pho-down happens.

At Saigon Market, I picked up a package of gelatine lychee "shots"--a tiny little square of lychee-flavored "jello" with a small lychee squre in the middle. Very fun and comes in mango and other flavors. For those of you who may not know about Saigon Market, they grow their own greens in, if I understood the owner correctly on a previous visit, a greenhouse just south of Michigan's border in Ohio. Tubs and tubs full of wonderfully fresh looking basil, pea shoots, garlic chives, and various other things I have no idea what they are. They also bring in their own duck and chicken (feet still attached).

Nice lunch!

A birthday treat

In lieu of a birthday cake for a recent celebration, we made a special sort of ice cream sandwich.

We start with a batch of Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookies. Here's an abbreviated version of his recipe (taken from foodnetwork.com, though I can't find it on the site anymore.)

Thin, crisp chocolate chip cookies from Alton Brown (foodnetwork.com)

2-1/4 c ap flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 oz milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

bake at 375 for 13 – 15 minutes
bake on parchment paper

To these instructions, I add one more piece taken from an article in the New York Times: after making the dough, refrigerate it for 24 - 36 hours. The theory is that the liquids in the recipe moe thoroughly infuse themselves into the flour. We like the results - the cookies do seem more flavorful.

The other ingredient for the ice cream sandwiches is of course ice cream. Since the birthday girl had recently returned from a couple of months in Italy, we used vanilla/chocolate gelato from Bommarito's in St Clair Shores. Take a slice from their block of gelato, slap it between cookies and serve. Happy Birthday singing is optional, but makes it more festive.