The Lovely Suse is a fantastic and adventurous eater who indulges most of my culinary escapades (although I’m still not allowed to cook Indian food in the house after the last curry incident a few years back who’s smell lingered for about 2 weeks). However, she has a unique set of food quirks. I guess we all have our likes and dislikes, but hers are a little different than anyone I’ve met. Cooked fruit, dried fruit, raisins (ok, any fruit in an “unnatural state”), cake, pie (except pumpkin), and peas. She thinks peas smell like feet. However, this only applies to cooked peas (all of her food quirks have caveats and exceptions). Still, I wouldn’t give her up for all the pizza in Pizzaville. I happen to love fresh peas, so I have to come up with ways of using them in their uncooked state, a task that is actually a pretty easy one when peas are in season, like right now.

One of my favorite ways to use raw peas is in salads. They’re nice and sweet and a little crunchy, so they add great flavor and texture. Playing this sweetness and crunch off the other elements is the way to go, and this salad is one of my favorites. The toughest part about the entire thing is shelling the peas, which will take a little time. Don’t dare try to use frozen peas with this. You need the still-in-their-shell-now-i-have-to-spend-the-next-ten-minutes-shelling-them type.

The role of bitter in this salad will be played by pea tendrils, the greens and stalks of the pea plant itself. You can find them in the spring at Asian markets and some farmers markets, or my favorite produce store in the whole wide world for about $5/lb.. We’ll just use the raw tender leaves and thinner stalks in this case, although they’re also great stir-fried. If you can’t find them, arugula will work just as well.

The saltiness and creaminess will come from feta cheese, broken up into big chunks. Toss the peas, pea tendrils, and feta in a bowl with some lemon zest, fresh mint, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper, and you’re done. I served this along with some grilled king salmon, laying the salad on top of the fish so all of the nice lemon and olive oil and feta will ooze all over it. Now that’s some good Spring eating. And it doesn’t smell like feet.

Inspired by a Mark Bittman recipe for Stuck-Pot Rice that I tried a few months ago, I figured I’d try a variation of it on some unsuspecting dinner guests. Nothing like trying out a new recipe at the very last minute with no idea if it’s actually going to work, right? Hey, that’s what keeps things interesting.

Rather than go for the yogurt and curry flavors that his recipe called for, I figured that an Asian-inspired one could work out nicely as well. Substitute coconut milk for the yogurt, and add some fresh lime and cilantro as flavoring. For this recipe, I used 2 cups of rice, about half a cup of coconut milk, the juice of one lime, salt, pepper,and a handful of chopped cilantro. The idea is simple: you boil the rice for about 5 minutes, only cooking it partway. Drain it, mix in the flavorings to the rice in a separate bowl, add some oil to the pot, and then press the rice mixture down into the pot so that it starts sizzling. Turn the heat down low, cover with a small towel and put the lid on top (the towel will help absorb the steam and help the rice get crusty), and let it sit for about 20-25 minutes.

The rice on the bottom will get all nice and golden and crusty, and the rest of it will finish steaming in the coconut milk and lime juice. Carefully turn the entire pot out onto a plate or bowl, trying to keep the crust intact. a metal spatula might help you get it out easier.

Without a doubt, this was my favorite dish of the week, and served it alongside some slow roasted chicken marinated in garlic, chilis, lime, ginger, fish sauce, and cilantro, and some green papaya salad. Go make some rice!

• so a nice relaxing long weekend for us, free from any house activities or family obligations, right? Ha. You should know better than that.
• let’s see, the list of house stuff done is a long one. We’re very streaky. We go weeks without doing anything, and then we take on 5 million projects at once in a single weekend. Our house looks like a home depot exploded inside with tools and supplies everywhere.
• we replaced all of our kitchen cabinet hardware. The old ones were all contemporary and modern looking, not our styles, and the sharp edges were literally ripping my jeans to shreds. Of course, this hardware used 2 holes spaced an inch apart, so it was a challenge finding new hardware with backplates that would cover the old holes.
• we replaced the rickety old modern-looking kitchen stools with nice, solid, simple, unobtrusive ones. Have I mentioned that the majority of our furniture comes from Target? You would never guess it by looking at it, but they carry some very nice, well-built stuff that costs about 1/3 of what you’d pay at pottery barn or something. Not all of it is great, so it’s a matter of careful selection. Just don’t tell visitors to our house. They think we’re super classy.
• after fighting with our cheap cordless black and decker drill for too long, we finally bit the bullet and bought a monster. i finally feel like a real man with a dewalt.
• it’s a total rip-off from the bathrooms at lumiere, but our new (well, there never was an old one) nameplate does the trick. I don’t think either of have ever played scrabble in our lives, but it’s an easy way to make a $10 nameplate.
• The new air conditioner in our bedroom comes with a remote control. Unfortunately, and what-are-the-effing-odds, it’s on the same frequency as our tivo remote. seriously, when you hit the select button on the tivo remote, the AC turns on and off. I had to fix it by covering the AC remote sensor with a piece of a magnet and electrical tape. classy.
• i did some shimming. I can shim with the best of them.
• we had dinner with my steve, lisa, and hudson. any kid who tried to eat things bigger than his head, wears a red sox hat, plays matchbox cars, and runs around the house naked is ok by me.
• i think we had a pretty perfect meal at the b-side. an antipasto platter for 2, including olives, cheeses, salumi, hot peppers, fava beans, roasted peppers and onions, and a big bowl of garlicky mussels with lots of bread to sop up the broth. and big giant U.F.O.’s.
• the gigantic back patio project has begun. stay tuned for lots of pictures and updates. once begun, I plan on having a very sore back for a very long time.
• i am now into week 3 of my morning workout routine. instead of excercising after work, i’ve started getting up at 5:15AM(!) and hitting the basement for my workout. Done by 6:15, and still at work before 7:30. Now, I have the afternoon/early evening to actually do stuff, like a normal person. Not to say that I’m normal choosing to get up at 5:15, but I’ve been getting up at 5:45 for the past 8 years, so it’s not a drastic change.
• for the first time in about 3 years, I waxed my car. It’s not until about 5 minutes into the process that I remember how much i hate waxing cars. By that point, it’s too late. At least she looks good. Now if i can jsut make those bad noises go away, and fix my driver’s side window…

For all of you who read this site through its feed, you may have missed that I now have an about page. This will contain all of the juicy facts about me and this site, and I answer some of the more frequently asked questions that I receive. I’ll keep this updated as the need arises. You know, if I start growing a third arm or something, I’ll make a note of it there. If anyone has more questions that they need answered, feel free to drop me a line.

Pasta is one of those meals that takes no time and practically no thought to put together on a busy weekend night. Most people will happily take out a package of boring spaghetti, slop on some jarred sauce, and shake some “parmesan” out of a green can and call it a night. With a few simple tweaks and a change of philosophy, a weeknight pasta meal can be something more than another throwaway meal.

Rather than using a store-bought jarred sauce, you can use some stuff that you (hopefully) already have in your fridge to actually make it taste great. Think of your pasta as a salad that you’re dressing. Pasta, just like lettuce, can be a bit boring and bland on its own, but when you coat each and every strand with nice flavors, it completely changes things. Good quality olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh herbs (parsley, mint, basil, etc.), scallions, olives, freshly grated parm, salt and pepper. Yes, salt and pepper. Salads taste better when seasoned with salt and pepper, and so does pasta. Simply chop up your herbs, olives, etc., toss in your hot pasta, squeeze your lemon (or in this case, meyer lemons) over the pasta, drizzle with olive oil, grate some parm over it, and season with salt and pepper.

Finally, the make sure that every bit of pasta is coated, take a few spoonfuls of the pasta water (you didn’t throw it all down the sink yet, did you? or course not.) and add it to the pasta. With a pair of tongs, toss the pasta until it’s all glistening with your ingredients, and taste it. if it doesn’t taste delicious, fix it. does it need more lemon? more salt? more olive oil? you can’t be expected to get it right on the first try, so make the necessary adjustments. When you taste it and and an uncotrollable “mmmmm…” comes out of your mouth, you’re ready. Top with some more parm, and have at it. Not so boring anymore, is it?

Speaking of the Sox, there comes a point during every game that I attend where I just become completely disgusted and ashamed to be a Bostonian. Don’t get me wrong. I love being a Sox fan, I’m proud of the team, the history, Fenway, and the city. But generally speaking, and this may go for all drunken sports fans, regardless of the city, people are a bunch of a-holes.

You get the generic drunken idiots just looking for confrontation anywhere they can find it, the loud-mouthed dirtbags who yell and curse while surrounded by families with young kids, and the guys who pretty much live up to every Boston stereotype making the whole experience pretty unfun for everyone else.

A couple of examples from last night: The lovely Suse, not wanting to make every person in our row stand up to let her out (we were in the very middle of a very long row) hopped up to the row above us where there were a bunch of empty seats and just the last four were occupied. Of course these four were occupied by the previously mentioned a-holes who refused to move, telling her to “use your own row.”

Then, there were the two dads with their young sons, one of whom was experiencing his first game at Fenway. They had two pairs of seats, with one set in another, better section. They asked the young couple next to us if they wouldn’t find trading seats with them so the boys could all sit together. When they hesitated, one of the dads offered to throw in $20 for the trouble. Now wouldn’t you, the good person, just readily give up the seats so that these people can share this great experience together? After all, you’re getting better seats not that far away, and you can feel good about bringing a little happiness to these folks. Oh, the couple, after much hesitation, finally made the swap. And they took the $20. Ugh, what’s wrong with people?

On the bright side, seeing this young kid experience Fenway for the first time, delighting in every little thing, jumping all over the place, only partly understanding what was going on on the field, reminded me of the great place that this park can be. Regardless of the a-holes.

It shows you how little time I spend downtown these days (my swinging downtown loft-living, bachelor days are loooong over), but on our way to the sox game last night, I was fascinated by the swarms of pedicabs criss-crossing intersections, dodging traffic, and ringing their girly sounding bells while ferrying fans to the park.

Apparently, they’ve been around since last March, and I must say, it’s a fantastic idea. They’re quick, they’re everywhere, they’re friendly, and they’re cheap. How cheap? Well, you pay whatever you want. Yes, you pay what you think your ride was worth. The drivers work hard, so chances are, people are paying them generously. I think I’d feel a little funny riding around in one, and then you have the awkward situation of figuring out how much to pay (how much do you want to bet that the majority of people pay $5 for a short trip?), but it’s the sort of thing that would be sort of fun. As long as I don’t get run over by a truck, of course.

Photo Credit Jodi Hilton for the Boston Globe

I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon reading The Hungry Cabbie, an absolutely fantastic food blog. According to his site:

“Famous Fat Dave is a New York City yellow cab driver with a more-than-healthy appetite. Since he began moonlighting as a cabbie in 2001, he’s also worked as a bread truck driver for Orwasher’s Bakery, a pickle man on the sidewalk at Guss Pickles, a Nathan’s hot dog vendor in the stands at the Cyclones ball park in Coney Island, a cheesemonger at Murray’s Cheese, and a freelance food writer. Each time he drops off a fare, he inquires as to where to eat in the neighborhood. With his unique knowledge as to where real New Yorkers eat, he offers private, customized eating tours which he has dubbed Famous Fat Dave’s Five Borough Eating Tour On The Wheels Of Steel. He is filming a pilot episode of the tour to pitch to the Food Network. He is also writing a book about eating like fat cabbie.”

Dave takes pictures of everything, is incredibly witty and adventurous, and the amount of stuff that he eats sort of makes me queasy. Chock full of stories about burgers, transvestite hookers, pimps, late-night bagels, and closeted-Republican-Brooklyn-Hipsters, he’s defintely not your stereotypical cab driver, and this is currently, my favorite food blog. Keep on eating, and keep on writing, Dave. Just be careful of the pimps.

I have this strange ability to intimidate people at the microwave. Every day around lunchtime, a line starts forming at the microwave as people wait to heat up their leftovers. I tend to try to arrive a little before the rush starts, but inevitably, some one has been me to it. I’ll walk over, and they will have just put their container in and set it for 2 or 3 minutes.

I’ve learned over the years that I won’t have to wait those extra minutes to get my reheat started. I just stand there and start staring at the timer counting down while the person waits for it to finish. Everyone is entitled to hot leftovers, and these people are no exception. It’s not like they’re setting it for 15 minutes while a line backs up behind them. Still, as the seconds start ticking down and my laser-like stare starts heating up, the guilt and discomfort always, and I mean always, get the best of them. I’ve had some people stop it after 30 seconds. Most will stop it with more than a minute left. They take out their luke-warm food and give me a sheepish look that says “sorry”.

They have nothing to be sorry for. They just want hot food. But who am I to say anything. I happily pop my container in, set it for 3:30, and walk away. In fact, my lunch is heating up as I’m writing this. I better go get it before some one throws it on the floor. If only I could use this skill for something good…

• sorry for no posting yesterday. i spent the day watching about 1500 people wearing funny outfits getting their names called followed by a 5 hour drive home. needless to say, it was beddy-bye time for me when it was all over.
• graduations really are the most boring thing ever. with the exception of the small possibility that the commencement speaker is interesting, it’s a total snoozefest. even the thousands of parents are bored with the exception of the 3 seconds during and immediately after their kid’s name is called. then, it’s “ok, can we go now?” somebody should fix this.
• have i mentioned the tea-smoked crispy duck at shangri-la? good lord that is some tasty duck. all crispy skin and tender flesh, all wrapped up in warm pancakes with hoisin and scallions. go get some. just not on friday night when i’m trying to get it.
• the beer sampler at bethlehem brewworks is an excellent time. 5 oz. samples of 6 of their tasty beers for $8. if you happen to be in the area, it’s worth a visit.
• thank god for sirius. it’s amazing how much more tolerable a long-ass drive is when you’re constantly entertained, don’t have to search for local radio stations or rely on your ipod.
• on saturday night i learned that the lovely suse had a very brief romantic encounter with jim halpert before we started dating. i think that’s one of the coolest things ever. although it would be immensely more funny if it was dwight.
• it’s funny how every single college house smells exactly the same: stale beer, disgusting bathrooms, and desperate horny boys.
• wegmans. this one is getting its own post. holy crap.
• the sartorialist is some ultra-stylish dude in manhattan who takes pictures of other equally-stylish people on the street. a bit creepy, a bit fey, but he definitely has some great taste.
• megnut goes all food, all the time.
• you know how i feel about chains, but when we’re travelling, if all else fails, panera is our saving grace. i can’t really say anything bad about them, nor do i feel guilty eating there. their stuff is fresh, well made, reasonably priced, and really fast. their sandwiches and salads are well thought out and made pretty much as well as possible, and well, pretty damn tasty. i never go out of my way for one, but when the need is there, it’s first on my list (assuming there’s no baja nearby.)

I’ve been listening to BB6’s Roundtable on Friday afternoons for the past year or so. They get three music personalities, usually musicians, plus a listener on the phone sitting around and listening to the newest tracks that the station is playing. They give their honest opinions, and rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, usually trashing the majority of tunes with that wicked Brit sense of humor.

When would you ever hear a radio station in the U.S. actually talk critically about the music that they’re playing, potentially biting the hand that feeds them? Of course it helps that the BBC doesn’t rely on advertising for revenue, so they can pretty much do whatever they want. You can listen to BB6 online here and listen to the latest Roundtable here.

I should also mention how much I love this station in general. They play mostly indie and alternative bands, and you’ll hear stuff months before it reaches the states, and they tend to mix in a lot of older cool tracks as well. Along with KCRW, SomaFM Indie Pop Rocks, and Left of Center, it makes up the soundtrack to my day. Rock!

According to the Leapfish.com Domain Name Resource Center, petecarpenter.com is worth $12,696.00. Who want to buy me? I’ll totally be a sell-out.

The trailer for Fast Food Nation is up on youtube. The adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s book about the evils of the fast food industry, it will surely raise a boatload of controversy and counter-marketing by the big boys. i’m sure they’ll introduce a new salad or something to combat the negative press.

Fast Food Nation is a book that should be mandatory reading for every high school child in America, although many people don’t really want to know the truth behind something they love so dearly. They don’t want to feel guilty about their secret love of Big Macs and hot apple pies, but it’s a book that can forever change your view about the entire industy. Come to think of it, it’s been a few years since i read it, so I may have to pick it up again. Hopefully, the movie will stir up debate and discussions about the stranglehold that fast food has on this country, much in the same way that Super Size Me did.

And on a related note, thanks to Beth’s blog, i learned that the super-hottie actor Josh Lucas is trying to start his own fast food chain called Mighty’s, based on “fresh, locally sourced, natural ingedients. We’d be providing healthy afternatives to traditional fast food and reducing the environmental impacts of factory farming, unnecessary packaging and long-distance transportation.”

Such a fantastic idea, and I can’t wait to see if he can actually make it happen. Although according to his site “However, there are some significant forces working against us, and introducing a healthy McDonald’s alternative to the world will be a long, difficult process.” No surprise there.

Holy good God, somebody in LA please go to the Bluth Family Estate Sale and buy me GOB’s Segway. Or maybe Tobias’ cut-offs? Pretty please?

One thing I’m sure that everyone misses is when i used to take pictures of my dinner every night. The gallery shows quite a progression of photo and styling skills over the years, and oftentimes, it’s just not convenient to pull out the camera when it’s 8:00pm and you’re starving. I figure the least I can do is document some of the recipes and dishes that come out of our kitchen, for our own sake as much as yours. Even we get into a rut sometimes, so it’s nice to have someplace to get some inspiration from something we’ve done in the past.

We make chicken each and every sunday, and unlike some people who get sick of so much chicken, saving it for Sunday dinner keeps it special and exciting and extra tasty. We’ve come up with lots of recipes over the years, and lots of techniques to keep things interesting. Time and time again, the best chicken dishes are the ones that are cooked long and slow, so the chicken stays nice and juicy and tender. Oh, did i mention that we almost exclusively use leg quarters? Boneless breasts are everyone else’s favorites since they’re healthy and easy and quick to cook, right? but guess what? they have no flavor and easily dry out. The legs and thighs have all the fat, and as we all know, fat = flavor. The best way to cook something with all the fat is to slowly cook it away, basting the meat in the juices and leaving tender and flavorful meat. If it works with braising, why can’t it work on the grill?

One of the hardest things to do right on the grill is chicken on the bone. Everyone has done it (including yours truly): you get flare-ups, the skin gets all burned, the inside is still raw, etc. you know the deal. it’s a pain in the ass to tend to it so it comes out perfect. So what’s the solution? Long and slow. Those flames are what causes all of those flare-ups, and the chicken needs time to break down the fat and connective tissue. The perfect solution is the rotisserie. I love my rotisserie, and I find any excuse to use it. Lamb, chicken, fish; anything comes out great on it. It uses indirect heat (the middle burner is off, hence avoiding any flare-ups), and the low heat slowly cooks the meat, turning and basting it in its own juices. As long as it doesn’t fall off the rotisserie into the flames (another thing i’ve done plenty of times), it’s almost impossible to screw up. The skin comes out all cripsy, the meat stays moist and juicy, and it looks amazing.

A couple of weekends ago, I was in the mood for some more middle eastern flavors after a bunch of visits to Cafe D’Or, so i whipped up a little yogurt and spice marinade for the chicken. about a teaspoon each of coriander, fennel, cumin, and mustard seeds toasted up in a skillet, along with some chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and a clove of garlic all bashed up in the mortar and pestle. mix it into some good greek yogurt (the kind you can take a spoonful of and turn it upside down over your head without worry) and some fresh lemon, and marinate the chicken in it for about 4 hours. After about an hour to an hour and a half on the rotisserie, the skin should be crackly golden brown and your mouth should be watering.

A good pairing with this was a cold zucchini salad. Take about 3 diced zucchinis, sautee with a clove of garlic until nice and golden, and then toss with lemon, mint,and red wine vinegar. chill in the fridge. if you don’t plan ahead, don’t worry. it can be eaten warm too.

now go fire up the grill, fools.

Is it just me, or is this headline just plain hilarious? And really, isn’t it always a dark day in Doodyville? (I don’t know what’s up with all the clown references from me lately…)

Sorry to those folks who are using the old feed links in their repective RSS readers and missed the debut of the new site. The links should now point to the new ones, so hopefully, it should all just work now. Just to be safe, you may want to change your subscriptions to point here or here which will always point to the latest and greatest. Sorry for the confusion.

Not to harp on the McDonalds thing too much, but this ad for a store opening in India will give me nightmares for the next week. Thanks.

One of my favorite movies during the 80’s, one that i probably watched about 4,862 times including i think every saturday night between 1983 and 1985, was the movie midnight madness. after a luckluster box office release, this flick gained a cult following after HBO started showing it non-stop in the early 80’s. it was always on, and i always watched it. it was about this college genuis guy named leon who devised this game in which teams spent all night searching for clues, solving puzzles, and getting into wacky hijinx all over LA.

All of the typical 80’s stereotypes are represented, the jocks, the geeks, the misfits, etc. and i think i can still remember every scene of the movie, and where all of the clues are. the observatory, the piano museum, the pabst blue ribbon brewery (”i’ve got pabst blue ribbon on my mind…”), pinball city, johnny’s fat boy burger (”look between the two giant melons!”), the mini-golf course, LAX, and the bonaventure hotel. it’s been 20 years since i’ve seen it, and yes, i still remember all of this. it’s been released on dvd, and i think i might need to buy it. they just don’t make movies like this anymore.

A google map showing every single McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Jack-In-The-Box in America. I wonder if it’s any coincidence that Houston, the fattest city in america, has 316 fast food restaurants?