Just some odd and ends to get the weekend started:
Links - the edible kind:
I know Jo from Truly Thankful must be kind of curious as to what happened to all those sausages she generously gave me on my trip to Mountain View. Well I did manage to take a few pictures over the last few weeks when I remembered to.
The Sheboygan Brats ended up in a little beer bath:
And in a nice toasted bun with some brown mustard and sauerkraut:
With the andouille, I quickly whipped up a Jambalaya:
I really don't remember what the heck I did. Though I did forget one thing; believe it or not, I forgot the rice! Yes, I forgot to make rice. I'm still trying to live that one down. So we ended up eating this on some toasted French Dip Rolls:
It ended being quite Delici-yoso!!! And the sausages from Dittmer's were excellent! Thanks again, Jo!
Now links of the other kind:
I usually check referring sites; sometimes with some interesting results. Though none quite match up with Pam's "What Brings You to These Parts" post. A few days ago I noticed a referring site that I did not recognize. When I clicked on the URL, it turned out to be a site called Casing the Joint, and it belongs to a Gentleman called Jay Porter who happens to be Proprietor of a Local Restaurant called The Linkery. It's his personal restaurant blog; sort of the other side of the counter. Though many of the posts are "informational", that is, weekly specials and menu changes, some are very interesting, such as his "musing of reviews of his Restaurant". I even posted a comment, asking his opinion of posts/reviews of his Restaurant by Food Bloggers, and he even answered, both on his blog, and sent me a very nice Email to boot. In addition, I found it very interesting that he has links to Beth's, Angie's, Annie's, and My blog, among others. I got his permission to link to his blog, and here's his response to Bloggers doing posts on his restaurant:
"I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to blog! Truly.
I think the food blogs are a great source of serious food writing in town, between the fact that the writers are unpaid and that they have no space limitations, as a reader I get great insights into the bloggers’ experience.
As I mentioned in this post, I respect the subjective views of every reviewer, no matter what they are. That’s frankly the best part about reading food writing.
As far as the factual stuff, I think blogs are rightfully held to a lower standard than print newspapers, because a blogger can immediately correct, in the original post, an error which is called to his attention. Which newspapers can’t really do.
Anyway, please come in and blog about it. It’s very good (and helpful) to read opinions from real people. I actually Google us regularly to see what bloggers and forum users are saying about us, figuring this is probably very accurate feedback, and we can best learn what we should be (or are correctly) working on. "
"Let me add this thought: the best possible event that could increase restaurant quality in this town would be the emergence of twenty or so popular, critical, honest, prolific food bloggers, each with unique tastes, perspectives, and budgets, blogging about all their restaurant visits. In an environment like that, all restaurants would be heavily incented to provide great quality and value at least to a certain segment of the eating-out community. "
Looks like someone really cares about what us regular customers think about their restaurant!
And BTW, did you get the "link" tie-in....the place is called, The Linkery! This Internet stuff is pretty interesting, ain't it?
Have a Great Weekend!
mmmmm sausage ;)
Posted by: clare eats | Saturday, 22 October 2005 at 08:43 AM
Hi Clare - Wow, isn't it like almost 4am in he morning where you're at? Don't be getting sick again!
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 22 October 2005 at 08:48 AM
First of all, have you noticed the the bloggers in our circle are on the same "food cycle". A while back it was dim sum at the same time, then some other dish, and last night I had jambalaya too.
Next, pretty cool what the owner of the Linkery wrote. He nailed it, honest food bloggers can really help/hurt his business and we're his best resource of how to improve.
BTW...I wont mention what your first picture looked like. tsk tsk
Posted by: Mealcentric | Saturday, 22 October 2005 at 09:31 PM
Hi Mealcentric - It's strange isn't it? Seems like we're in tune to an "eating rhythm" of some kind. I'm waiting for Pam's and Elmo's comment on that photo! I thought that Jay's response to my comment was well thought out and written, in the end it can be a "win-win".
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 23 October 2005 at 08:19 AM
Very interesting what Jay has to say about how blogging could help the food scene in San Diego. If that's true, I think we're on our way because there are several new SD food blogs popping up lately.
Posted by: Beth | Sunday, 23 October 2005 at 08:22 PM
Hi Beth - I think that Jay is very astute, and understands the potential of Food Blogging, we'll see what happens in the end.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 23 October 2005 at 11:49 PM
OK, here I am with the comment. To Mealcentric's point, all of us food bloggers are on the same cycle of FOOD PORN! First my Bo 7 Mon "used condom" rice paper wrappers, then my Vietnamese new chua "sausages", now this!!!! Must be something in the air! hahahahahahaha
Seriously though, the Linkery owner seems like a cool guy!
Posted by: Pam | Monday, 24 October 2005 at 05:29 PM
Hi Pam - Yes, you set the standard, and raised (or is it lowered) the bar for all of us! LOL!
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 24 October 2005 at 07:48 PM
::rolls eyes laughing:: ARGH! I liked your portraiture! "Bratinbeer"! It was the excessive use of buns that got my itty bitty kitty brain scampering up and down the gutter.... Besides, I have a bag of 6 of those beauties waiting for an upcoming "fare thee well" meal.
Regarding jambalya without rice... I have to question the authenticity of the preparation... ::harumphs with exagerated self importance:: Not putting rice in jambalaya is something akin to not putting rice in in "Rice a Roni"! HOWEVER, I do believe you made a similar dish known as "Creole" (shrimp creole, chicken creole, the name includes the meat, creole being the style of preparation). ANYhow, a creole is a stew/soup with virtually the same ingredients as a jambalaya but served OVER white rice. Jambalaya has the rice as an integrated ingredient...
Posted by: Jo | Monday, 24 October 2005 at 08:22 PM
Hi Jo - I guess what I should have set was the intent was Jambalaya - what it ended up being???
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 24 October 2005 at 08:43 PM
::laughing:: Does it matter as long as it was delicious? HEY, I made ma po dou fu according to "Land of Plenty" tonight. Talk about your delicious stuff! Served it with grilled pike mackerel and a Korean multi-grain rice. The rice was outstanding! Sticky, some of the grains a touch chewy, the whole an incredible shade of indigo with darker specks here and there from the black rice. Wow!
Posted by: Jo | Tuesday, 25 October 2005 at 10:09 PM
Hi Jo - Hey, where was my invite????
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 25 October 2005 at 10:13 PM
In the mail? ::tries to appear innocent:: The ma po tofu was actually better tonight. I "extended" the sauce/gravy by heating it up in chicken bullion and added a shot of chili oil. I used the chili bean paste you brought me in this dish as well. We also had white rice and leftover black beans. Purging the fridge!
Posted by: Jo | Wednesday, 26 October 2005 at 07:54 PM
Hi Jo - How spicy was it BTW? And how did you like the Sichuan Hot Bean Paste?
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 26 October 2005 at 08:15 PM
Actually, I didn't get it spicy enough. I didn't get the right amount of red chili because the recipe called for powder and I used whole. I'm not sure about the red chili paste either because I used black bean paste for the first time as well. I was very pleased with the background flavors though. The dish had a "Chinesy" (for lack of a better word) flavor that I've never had before in homemade dishes. I still have part of the paste left over and I'm thinking of trying my hand at a Sichuan garlic chili sauce. I don't know if I posted on this, but we had it over steamed sea bass at Chef Chu's a bit ago. I adored it! I'd like to try it over fried shrimp. Another flavor that could have been more heavy was the Sichuan pepper. The more I use it, the more I like it. It has such a lovely perfume as it's toasting.
Posted by: Jo | Thursday, 27 October 2005 at 11:33 AM
Hi Jo - I did tell you that Sichuan Peppercorn is addicting, didn't I????
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 27 October 2005 at 11:46 AM
Actually, no, you didn't! ::grins crookedly:: I can see how it can be though! Land of Plenty doesn't have a "garlic chili" sauce that sounds like it would come out like what I had at Chef Chu's. I think I'm going to have to go through several recipes and marry various aspects to get what I want. The garlic! The chili! It was so incredible!!!
Posted by: Jo | Thursday, 27 October 2005 at 07:45 PM
hi kirk! thanks for the link to the linkery! ;)
it was just fun to read about the food business from the "other side!"
Posted by: Annie | Thursday, 03 November 2005 at 04:44 PM