Boots in the Oven

The Texas Treat

Yum, Frito Pie.

I'm pretty sure my Northern sensibilities would have balked at this not too long ago, but it's definitely become a common craving around these parts.  Along with a cold Shiner, it's pretty well unbeatable.

So, why let the fact that it was 107 yesterday (yeah, that's farenheit, not kelvin) stop us from eating a bunch of Fritos doused in the Soup Peddler's awesome 3-bean chili?

Apparently, the real way to do a Frito Pie is to split open a bag of Fritos (not the economy-size family bag, a snack size) and ladle chili on top of the Fritos therein.  Then you eat.

We fancied it up, but only a little.  Hey, if we were going to commit the sacrilege of eating Frito Pie with :gasp: VEGETARIAN chili, with BEANS no less, we figured we might as well go all the way.

First of all, we ate it out of a bowl.

Here's a picture of the chili over the fritos, with the accoutrements in the background.

That's sliced cherry tomatoes, green onions, a thinly sliced serrano, sour cream, and shredded colby jack cheese.

And, all dolled up:

Then, you mix everything together so the cheese melts.

We didn't take a picture of the completely finished product to show you guys, becuase we were too busy scarfing.  Too bad, so sad.

Really great, easy dinner (especially if you have the chili already on hand).  Maybe we should have it again when the stupid temperature drops a little.  Seriously?  This is the third day in a row it's been over 100 degrees (and yesterday and Sunday, the high was 107).  Look at this month-to-date from the Weather Channel.  Since I don't know how long that's going to be an active link, I'll tell you that we've had one day so far this month that the high temperature was below 90, and 20 (!) days where the high was over 95.

It's SEPTEMBER!  AAARGH!

Thanks for letting me yell that. 

Oh, and for those of you who are thinking "Well, it IS her fault she lives in Texas," let me tell you that these are record temperatures.  We busted the record high yesterday by 10 degrees.  This is getting stupid.

But at least the Frito Pie was good.  (Did you like what I did there, bringing you back to the central theme?  Hey, my pleasure.)

Girlie

And people say cats can't be trained.

What we got at the grocery store, originally uploaded by bootsintheoven.

We don't know what he did to deserve this, but when we find out, I'm sure he's got more coming.

Enoteca: The Little Bistro That Could

Now for an experiment in full frontal appearances of impropriety. Wait. That sounds a little more exciting than I intended.  What I meant to say is, is it possible to deliver an unbiased assessment of the food of a restaurant in which you work? The answer: How about it doesn’t freaking matter because no one’s paying me and it’s just food anyway? No one’s going to lose a limb folks. Unless you backtalk.

Speaking of back, now a little back story: I sought out a job at Enoteca because I’m obsessed with food and this new endeavor by the owners of Vespaio (best Italian food in Austin and insanely successful) seemed like an extremely promising opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a great new restaurant. Was I right? Well, it is still a little early to say definitively, but there are a lot of good signs. Regardless, on to the food.

-Pepper shooters-

Like any good Italian place, Enoteca features a large array of antipasti. My favorites so far are the beet, fennel, and orange salad and the haricots verts salad with asiago pressato and sopressata. The beets are dressed with an awesome red wine and caraway vinaigrette, while the haricots verts (what? There’re French people in Italy) are kicked up with a bright citronette. Both are delicious, but on occasion the verts are less than consistent with the salt level, tending to the bland side.

-Nostrano Affumicato-

Next, they have a large assortment of charcuterie. The cured meats are high end and snacktactic and are sourced from some excellent producers. But if you ask me (and technically, you kind of are) the pates and mousses steal the show. They are all made in-house which is unusual.

We have an authentic French farm boy chained to a table, breaking down whole pigs and water fowl and churning out vast quantities of savory terrines. The most impressive is the duck galantine. It’s a whole duck, boned out through a single incision on the back, then stuffed with the force meat of more ducks, some spices and maybe some dried fruits. Then the whole thing is wrapped up tight and poached so that it comes out looking almost like a whole duck, legs and all. It’s pretty cool and certainly scrumptious, but seems like a real pain in the ass to make.

Ok, appetizers. I’ll be brief. Try the suppli. They’re herbed risotto balls stuffed with fontina, deep fried and served with a slightly spicy arrabiata. What’s not to love? To be fair, suppli can go pretty wrong. I’ve had more than a few at various restaurants, that are dense, gummy and more like eating racquetballs than fried deliciousness. Not Enoteca though. These are worked gently and are all light, creamy, cheesy goodness.

“But what about the sandwiches,” you say? That’s easy. All of them are good, but if you must get one (and sweet lord you must) try the prosciutto and truffled egg panini with fontina and arugula. I’d say more, but it’s pretty self explanatory.

It’s kind of the same story with the pizzas. The crusts are really tasty with a nice balance of crisp and chew. They don’t have the same smokiness as Vespaio’s wood fired pizzas, but all of them are well above average. There are several unusual offerings including some more truffled egg, as well as a delicious lardo pizza, made with a delicate, seasoned and preserved pork fat. My personal favorite, however, is the funghi and taleggio. A spinach and mushroom pie, covered in generous amounts of pungent taleggio that fills the whole restaurant when it’s baking. (Astute readers will remember my soft spot for taleggio from this earlier tart.)

Finally, all of the pasta is handmade in the kitchens and is toothsome and satisfying. They do have a tendency to over sauce in that unfortunate American style, but luckily the sauces are great.

I’ve rambled on quite enough. Just go and check it for yourself. If you like Italian food, you’ll have a great time getting your eat on at Enoteca.

Oh, one last shout out. Barry, the pastry chef extraordinaire, kicks ass! Have dessert, eat the breads, try the breakfast pastries. It all seriously rocks.

L. Pants

Union Oyster House

While I was in Boston over Labor Day weekend, I absolutely had to find me some good clam chowder.  That is definitely something missing here in Texas... I've found good places for oysters, fried seafood, and Mexican seafood, but for some reason (hmmm...) we're missing good clam chowder.

So, on Labor Day itself, while we were walking the Freedom Trail, we stopped at the Union Oyster House.  It's been there for an awfully long time (since 1826, apparently) and I hoped that this might mean that they know what they're doing. 

I was a little worried, as I am really prejudiced against "ye olde" anything; my family used to call all of them "ye oulde touristte trappes".  Well, whatever - I had to suck it up and squash my worries.  Maybe if I lived in Boston, I'd have a better handle on where the locals go for their clam chowder, but to my untrained eye, this looked pretty promising.

The ambience was perfect - again, the kind of place we don't really have here in Austin.

So, after deliberation et cetera, I'm pretty sure these guys do know what they're doing... I only had a couple of things off of their menu, but it did seem like I was surrounded by happy eaters, and there were certainly many things on the menu that I wanted to come back and try.

Suprise - we all got clam chowder.  My friend k-dog and I split the luxurious - sounding "Cold Seafood Sampler" - as you can see on the menu above (under On the Half Shell) this was a combination of oysters, cherrystone clams, and cocktail shrimp.

Luxurious my foot!

OK, yes, really tasty (though I'm pretty sure it's not oyster season right now - correct me if I'm wrong?), but 6 things for 10.50?  Either I'm getting old or I've been in Texas too long, because that seemed like a bit much to me.

Here's everything we ordered.

It was all very good; the beer really hit the spot after a morning walking around the Freedom Trail.  I felt like it was a great Boston day. 

So, the clam chowder was awesome as advertised; I think it would have been even better if it had been really cold outside.  (Not that I'm going back in February to test that!)  The cornbread was all right; a little dry, and a little too sweet for my taste, but it was nice with the salty chowder.  I was really pleased overall, and I'd definitely go back for their lobster ravioli!

Union Oyster House

41 Union Street

Boston, Mass

(617) 227-2750

-girlie

New Katrina Information and Links

The other day, when I posted that others were saying this better than me, I hadn't yet found these links. 

Anyway, they're pretty amazing... I have to say I found most of them through Bitchypoo.

Two paramedics stranded in New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina give their account of self-organisation and abandonment in the disaster zone

A very humanizing rundown of how people in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast may have felt in the days before the hurricane hit...

And what I have to say may be the best encapsulation of how I feel about our president right aboout now.

These are all great reads, which I have to say I recommend... by writers who are able to really lay out what's been making me crazy all week long.

I just heard Chertoff took Brownie off of local operations and moved him back to Washington... where he had this to say:

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims."  (I pulled this quote from the San Diego Union Tribune, but it's being reported everywhere.)

Well, gee... I hope he has a nice relaxing meal, don't you?  And at the rate he's going, maybe it would be better for the victims if he just stayed out.

argh.

girlie

Nawlins

Lest anyone think me heartless, please realize that the reason I haven't written about the devastation on the Gulf is because others, as always, have been able to say it better than me.

It's heartbreakingly awful.

Go Fug Yourself, that paragon of wonderfulness, has put together a great (and it seems, pretty comprehensive) resource list for donations.

Jason Mulgrew has a link to this interesting post, by a guy named Ace Cowboy.  (I heard Fats Domino was located, by the way).

Television Without Pity, another of my favorite sites, is doing a fundraiser for students displaced by Katrina.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this disaster.

-girlie

Bwahston

20 heh, originally uploaded by bootsintheoven.

The husbear didn't get the joke until it was explained to him.  Please tell me you do.

I was going to spend some time tonight putting together a lovely post about what a wonderful time I had this weekend in Boston visiting meg, but since it took me 4 hours to edit, save, upload, and tag all my photos, that's going to have to wait. So, for today, I'm leaving you with this one. hah!
Girlie

(If you'd like to check out my boston photos, to hold you until I get a chance to blog them, check out the flickr page.)