"Chopped" sampling at New World Home Cooking

    Would I like to sample some of the dishes that helped make local hero Ric Orlando of New World Home Cooking a "Chopped" champion ?   You bet I would !   He was offering them on the tasting menu for the month of August, and I could think of no better way to bring my stay-cation to a close then to enjoy some champion dishes.

      We arrived there at the very unfashionable time of 5:30 pm  on a Sunday night, so we had ample choice of seating !  It was a beautiful calm day so we opted for outside on the patio.

 The back patio is small but lovely, with a scenic little gazebo seat that was soon to be filled with a lively little family.  To the right of the gazebo was a small vegetable garden, a sign of good things to come !

Our server Josh was very friendly and informative, gladly answering any questions and happy to make recommendations.

New World's Menu is  full of many choices for hot and cold appetizers plus big meals, so food selection is fun but a bit daunting, my eyes often want more than my stomach should hold.  Tonight was easy though,  since I wanted to try some of the "Chopped" dishes,  we decided to go with a selection of several small portions instead of a big main meal.  Bring on the food !

We started our feeding frenzy with hot and spicy shrimp and coconut crusted crab cakes.

My husband loved the shrimp, perfectly cooked with wedges of lemon and nice and spicy.
They definitely tasted as good as they looked !

The crab cakes were beautifully presented with nicely spiced lines of aioli.  A small relish of chopped tomatoes and olives accompanied them, garnished with a sprig of my beloved cilantro ! There was no filler, these were nice dense patties of crabmeat with a light crispy crust.  My husband is usually not a big crab fan, but after tasting these he said that he would have no problems ordering them...

Next came one of the "Chopped" dishes, the rum raisin jerked quail served with coconut rice and greens.
As you can see from my photo, this is not a particularly "pretty" dish, very dark subdued colors,  as the rice was served underneath the quail and sauce, but the flavor was right on.

This jerk sauce was complex and hot enough for me, which means it was not violently hot. The quail was tiny, as you would expect, but nicely cooked and held up to the flavor.  The raisins were a sweet counterpart  to the heat, and the coconut and greens added some texture and were excellent to sop up the saucy goodness.

This may have been the ugly duckling of the meal, but it was a swan to the taste buds...


No meal is complete here without Ric's blackened string beans.  This is one of his signature dishes,  crisp green beans coated in blackening spices and stir fried, served with a remoulade sauce.  These are just as  addictive as french fries, once you start eating them you just can't stop !

We finished up our main course frenzy with a Vietnamese salad for my husband and my "Chopped" dish of white chocolate mole trout with warm Napa cabbage.  Now, white chocolate and trout don't sound good together, but on the plate they were just fine and rather pretty looking, if I may say so.

The mole sauce was not sweet at all,  it actually had a more neutral flavor that let the trout shine through, more of a hint of while chocolate than rich heavy sweetness.  This was by far the mildest flavored dish of the night, but it was successful to me, I would not hesitate to order this if it were on a menu.

We normally get a large Vietnamese salad to share,  so I  think seeing the little personal portion is a bit underwhelming.  This benefits from a larger presentation, it looks much more impressive in a large bowl with masses of chopped peanuts on top.  Or maybe it is just my shallowness showing...

Well, after all this fine food and two glasses of wine,  I completely forgot to photograph our desserts.  We decided to bypass the "Chopped" dessert, papaya and stinky cheese were not doing anything for us at this moment.  We selected the tapas trio.  This consisted of a shot glass of lemon curd  topped with berries, a goat cheese chocolate truffle, and  a mini  stout beer float.  Yes, a stout beer float, a small glass of stout topped with ice cream and whipped cream with a swirl of chocolate syrup.  I am no stranger to using stout in dessert,  I have been know to make chocolate stout cupcakes on occasion, so this was a natural for me.  I pounced on  the goat cheese truffle, dusted with cinnamon and chili, absolutely delicious.  My husband claimed the lemon curd and we both supped on the stout float.  I highly recommend that dessert trio, it is a great mix of flavors and is great fun, too !
     Just when I think it can't get any better,  I find out that Ric will be on "Chopped" Champions later in September.  I  can't wait to see what he dishes up next time !

virtual trip to Rochester NY, let's go !

I have realized that many of you have never had the pleasure of driving from Saugerties NY to Rochester NY.   I can't let this continue, no one should be left out of the fun and adventure, that would be just, well, un-American.  So here we go,  I am taking you on a virtual road trip !  Go grab a snack, use the restroom if you must and let's get going !

This is a long trip, so first we must pack up the car.

   That looks pretty good, we have plenty of clothes, lots of snacks and even a spare mattress pad,  you just never know when one will come in handy.  Like I said, this is a long trip and we just might end up staying overnight.

 So now we are on the road. We are taking the Thruway.  This is pretty much the only road we will be on, for oh, about 4 hours, no worries... 

We will take turns driving.  While you are driving this is what you will see :

                                 

                                                                                          

  

When you are not driving, you can see this-

 If you are feeling a bit more creative you can even see this -

I will warn you, I will do everything in my power to make sure that YOU are driving when the road looks like this -

The white walls of death and I do not get along well, so I will leave that part of the trip for you.   It will make you a better person, really.

Okay, repeat the last 3 pictures or so in an endless loop for about 4 hours and we will be very close to our final destination, Rochester.

We will be very happy to see this -

and even happier to finally see this !

Yay, let's drive around town and check out some cool buildings, we have been in the car for so long that I am not sure that our legs are working anymore....

Pretty awesome, wouldn't you say?

I kind of like this big glass one -

Maybe we will even drive over this nifty bridge.

Hey, there is the National Museum of Play !  Bet you didn't even know that we had one...

Too bad that we don't have time to explore it because, darn it, we have a 4 hour ride home .

Good thing we packed all those snacks and a change of clothes, because we are back on the road again !

Maybe we should check out some cool cloud formations on the ride home. 

    

Whoa, not when you are driving, though, we almost ran into that lock on the Erie Canal !!

Whew, that was a close one.  We have been driving for a few hours now, we must be getting close to home.   Here comes a road sign, let's check it out -

uh oh 

                          

dinner at Wasabi's

   It was a Monday night,  just after 8:30 pm and I, my daughter and her friend walked into Wasabi's Restaurant in Hudson NY.  It was kind of late to get there as the website indicated that they close at 9:30 during the week, but it was the best we could do.  My daughter loves this place and wanted to go there before she headed back to college, so there we were.

   We were greeted by a gently gurgling fountain as we walked in.  Only one table was occupied by a couple finishing dinner,  pretty typical for a Monday night I would guess.  We were seated quickly and handed menus, efficiency seemed the word of the day.  My daughter had already given me heads up on what she liked from the menu, so salmon teriyaki was my choice.  Time to take a look around.   The dining room is very small, but decorated in a charming way with fans and mobiles and Japanese beverage bottles suspended from the ceiling.  I thought about going back to the entrance to take a picture of the fountain, but figured that I could so that on the way out.  I would later realize that this was a mistake...
   We were served our miso soup and a simple salad with a carrot/orange dressing.  The soup was tasty with tiny squares of tofu and what I think was seaweed, a connoisseur of Japanese cuisine I am not.  The  salad was tiny and sweet, a nice foil to the soup.  I didn't think that I would like such a sweet salad dressing but it worked.

  It was amusing to note that when one of us was struggling a bit with the chopsticks, a fork was discreetly deposited at the end of the table...
 Very soon after, the main dishes arrived, hot and tasty looking.

  I was so hungry that I started adding rice and nibbling on the food before I thought to take a photo,  so the dish was indeed perfect looking when it came out, this shot does not do it justice.   The teriyaki glaze was very nice, not too strong and with a nice consistency.  The salmon was served on a bed of sauteed onions with broccoli and straw mushrooms.  The portion size was just right, I felt that I had enough to eat but did not feel over-full.  We ate with enthusiasm and before we finished the waitress had already deposited the check on the end of the table.  Oh, the perils of arriving late...  It was 9:15 so we decided to push our luck and see if we could get some dessert.  The girl did not look thrilled but was polite and brought us the ice cream that we requested, one mango and two green tea flavored.  I know exactly how she felt,  so I  appreciated that she accommodated us.  I had selected green tea ice cream and it was very good,  a bit milder in flavor than I had expected.

 As we finished our ice cream, we noticed some of the lights turning off and the stopping of the gurgling fountain.   I realized that I missed my chance to photo it,  maybe next time I guess.  We took the hint and paid promptly and took our leave.  I  would definitely eat here again, many tempting items on the menu but I would not want to arrive so late, it certainly affected our service and the speed of our dining.

Solid Sound Festival - WILCO will love you, baby

I decided a week before it occurred that I was going to the "Solid Sound Festival" curated by WILCO, even if I could only attend one day of the three day event. It was one of my best decisions this summer! The only day I could go was Saturday, but there was no way I could pass up a WILCO event within such a close driving distance, only 2 hours were between me and WILCO immersion. Game on !

I set my GPS for MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts and headed out that Saturday morning, just me in my scratched up red Honda. The sun was shining and I didn't really know where I was going, but it was a beautiful ride, dipping into Vermont for a bit before turning south towards Massachusetts. I had seen a few photos of MASS MoCA online, but it was still amazing to drive up to it and see the WILCO name superimposed on the MASS MoCA sign. Museum of Contemporary Arts, indeed.

After a bit of hassle finding parking, I finally got my wrist band and was inside. MoCA was once a factory and is a series of industrial sized buildings surrounding several courtyards, with a stream running along side it. I decided just to enter and wander around, I didn't really know what to expect so I was willing to just let it happen. I heard the unmistakable buzz of guitar effects and decided to follow the sound upstairs. I walked right into Nels Cline's stomp box station, two circles of guys seated on red and black pillows eagerly working electronic boxes generating an impressive feedback haze that filled the room.

I watched and listened for a few minutes, marveling at the male musical bonding going on. I wandered into a neighboring gallery and luck was with me, as I saw the one and only Nels Cline talking with a few fans and having his picture taken. Nels is the newest addition to WILCO and adds a very professional edgy guitar sound to the mix. I still can't believe I had the nerve, but as he was walking on I said hello and asked if I could get a picture with him and he kindly agreed. A fellow fan took the shot and Nels was friendly and posed with me, commenting "like your shirt" at my shameless green WILCO shirt. He even waited to make sure that the picture was a good one. This one moment made the trip worthwhile, and I hadn't been there more than half and hour !

Now that my head was really in the clouds, I wandered through some of the museum galleries, through rooms filled with caves of white rope or mountains of very orange chain, or trees filled with perching peacocks and dried flowers upon the floor. This was a wonderland for the visual senses. I especially liked the crystal rope room, very new age and shiny...


The museum itself was intriguing to wander through, filled with its regular displays but now punctuated with music related displays like a gallery of WILCO posters, with a craftsman showing how a screened poster is created. There was a luthier constructing guitars and answering questions about choice of wood and construction techniques. This was a mighty juxtaposition of the visual and aural arts, I was beginning to understand what WILCO was up to. Music is art, and the creative process is the same, the only difference is the medium used to express it. Why not celebrate the visual and the aural together, they are part of the same dream.

This collaboration continued as I wandered out into the various courtyards. There were small stages set up where other musical acts were performing, bands like Vetiver and The Baseball Project filled the air with lovely sound, people seated around them enjoying the warm sunshine and friendly vibe of the place. The buildings themselves are a bit harsh looking, very industrial, yet the music managed to soften this a bit.
The stream winding along the buildings added some grace and softened the look.

As I continued to explore the inside of the buildings and the outside grounds, I kept running into signs of WILCO, literally. I almost walked into Pat Sansone in the hallway near the comedy show. I didn't want to wait in the long line to get into the comedy acts, maybe next time for me. I didn't have enough time to see everything, so I did not experience the puppet acts and children's area, though I do regret not witnessing Jeff Tweedy in the dunking booth. If you read my blog, you already know my love for Mr. Tweedy. I managed to never run into him anywhere during the festival. Maybe someday, somewhere.

I made sure to be at Glenn Kotche's interactive drum talk. That man has a radiant smile and an intense love of percussion, you can feel it right away. His drum exhibit was very hands on, with various drums that he constructed hanging from the ceiling and begging to be touched and played. Boy, were they touched and played ! Glenn walked us through some of them, drums with electrical wires hanging from them, or with springs and chimes attached. He talked about how each little variation in sound can add a lot to a piece of music. In some of his solo work he has used a different sound to represent each character in a story that he was telling through percussion.


As if it couldn't get any better, now it was almost show time at the simply named Joe's Field. Mavis Staples was performing first and I managed to get a good spot a couple rows deep near the right side of the stage. I am fairly petite, so I either stand very close to the stage, or very far away on a hill, there is no in between for me. Today was definitely a close to the stage day.

This was my first time hearing the gospel strong Ms. Staples, and she and her band were excellent.

They were energetic and Mavis has a very strong Gospel singer voice, a nice counterpoint to the sound of WILCO that was soon to follow. Her band could rock though and had a couple solo bits where they really let it go... Mr Tweedy produced her album and she told us all to buy many copies, suggesting what wonderful Christmas gifts they would be !

While Mavis was performing, I spied the profile of Jeff Tweedy in the wings, waiting to accompany her on a couple of her tunes.

The roadies began to re-equip the stage and it would soon be time for our hosts of the festival to finally take the stage. I had been standing for hours and hours all day, and my legs were starting to ache, but I forgot all about it once WILCO took the stage. This was the perfect way to end this day, with the moon peaking out of the trees and Jeff and the boys on stage. If you have ever seen WILCO perform, you know that they give their all. If you have never seen WILCO live, that should be the next thing on your to-do list. Jeff was chatty and relaxed, playing dueling guitars with Pat and Nels. The boys kept it rocking most of the night, there was no quiet parlor section tonight. Stand out songs for me were "I am trying to break your heart"and "Impossible Germany", I never get sick of hearing them live! They played the very much requested "Cars Can't Escape" and "A Magazine Called Sunset", in addition to their usual fare. It was sad when the evening came to a close, and I knew I had to get moving as I had a two hour ride ahead of me. I was happy though, as I had many fine memories of this day, and if they do this again next year, I am in for the three days...

The King of Pain takes over SPAC

I must admit, I am a little late to the Sting fan club. As much as I have liked a lot of his work with the Police, this is the first time that I have seen him perform live. The only album of his that I own is "If On a Winter's Night" and the couple tracks he did for the obscure "A Rogue's Gallery." Perhaps that made a natural progression for me to with see him with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and not find it odd at all. In fact, I rather liked it !

Saratoga Performing Arts Center is a beautiful venue, a small open air amphitheater nestled within the Saratoga Spa State Park. The night was unusually cool and comfortable, the crowd mostly middle aged and respectful, yet joyous too. A little after 8 pm, the orchestra members started taking their places, and Sting strode out to the center of the stage, to eager applause from the crowd.

We had fine seats, just behind and slightly to the left of the soundboard, almost guaranteeing good sound and I was not disappointed. The volume was loud enough but not blasting, and the sound mix was excellent, the vocals were never overpowered by the orchestra yet you could hear the instruments clearly and the various instrumental solos were clean and clear. This was one of the best concerts acoustically that I have ever attended...

Sting is an accomplished showman, comfortable on stage and seemingly very happy to be in charge of the production. The music selections were pulled from various times in his music career, and I must admit that I was only familiar with a handful of songs but that was never a problem. As he told us, much of the fun in this project was selecting songs that would benefit by the orchestra accompaniment and overall I think he did a fine job. Some songs worked better than others, I don't think that "Roxanne" is necessarily better with the orchestra, but it was an interesting take on it and it also allowed Sting's 58 year old voice to shine. This concert was a good example of an accomplished artist using his talents to their best showing, not trying to re-create the past but moving it into the present. His voice sounded strong and was well rounded, perhaps not in the highest range he had as a young man, but still solid and melodic.

It was a pleasure listening to him, and you can't say that for many middle aged rock stars...

He interspersed little stories of his life in between the songs and talked a little bit about his personal song writing process (he likes to write the music first and then let it speak the words to him). Some songs spoke louder than others, as he told us that he was not comfortable with story of the song "Tomorrow We'll See", dealing with a transsexual's viewpoint but the song asserted itself to him and he let it flow. One other amusing story concerned a song about two foxes near the end of their lives called "End of the Game". Sting mused about fox hunting and how unpleasant it is referring to the famous Oscar Wilde quote - "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible." Then he related how when a fox invaded his chicken coop one night killing "every f*cking chicken in the coop" he could sort of see the other side of the story...

The orchestra was filled with talented artists who got to be spotlighted in various solos in many of the songs. Clarinet, trumpet, violin, they all got their moment to shine led by a very energetic conductor Steven Mercurio. In addition to the Royal Philharmonic, a small band of guitar and drums and fine blond female singer accompanied Sting on various songs, especially the Police ones. Of course, it was the more well known hits that got the crowd to its feet. It is not every day that you see a crowd of enthusiastic 40 and 50 somethings standing and singing along to "King of Pain" with such obvious happiness...

Song highlights for me were "King of Pain", "English Man in New York", "Every Breath You Take" and "Moon Over Bourbon Street".

Even though this was an orchestra show, Sting is still a rock star and at one point a flood of confetti swirled down from the ceiling nearly obliterating the orchestra from view !

After all this colorful celebration, the evening ended on a quiet note with Sting coming out just before 11 o'clock to close the evening with an a cappella version of "I Was Brought to My Senses." The man definitely knows how to run a show...

Set list
1. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
2. Englishman In New York
3. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
4. Roxanne
5. Straight To My Heart
6. When We Dance
7. Russians
8. I Hung My Head
9. Shape Of My Heart
10. Why Should I Cry For You?
11. Whenever I Say Your Name
12. Fields Of Gold
13. Next To You
14. A Thousand Years
15. Tomorrow We’ll See
16. Moon Over Bourbon Street
17. End Of The Game
18. You Will Be My Ain True Love
19. All Would Envy
20. Mad About You
21. King Of Pain
22. Every Breath You Take
23. Desert Rose
24. She’s Too Good For Me
25. Fragile
26. I Was Brought To My Senses