Cooking with GoatSpawn: Pizza

One of the things that Foodgoat likes best?  Cooking with his little one.

Does it take a lot longer when kids are "helping" you cook?  Oh yeah.  Is it far, far messier?  Absolutely.  Are there danger points when kids come in closer proximity to knives and ovens and elevated work spaces?  Yup.

But it's so much fun for everyone, and such a valuable and important learning experience, that it's worth it. 

Here they are making pizzas together - one for each of them.

Ta-Da!

Adding pepperoni

And more cheese ...

As you can see, GoatSpawn's pizza came out beautifully.

 

Foodgoat's pizza?  Not nearly as pretty.  But just as tasty.

Tryout Tuesday: Mr. Brisket

 Dear Slyman's,

Slyman's, you and I, we go back a long time, and you know how I feel about you.  I love your corned beef, I love your Reubens, I love how you get piles of meat in the sandwiches, I love the whole vibe there.  You're one of very favorite places. 

But I just wanted to let you know that I've met someone else.  It's still early, but I think it might be serious.

Please don't misunderstand - I'll always come to you whenever I can.  You are still, in my mind, the best corned beef I've ever had.  That hasn't changed. 

But the distance could be a little hard.  Sure, it's not exactly long distance - less than 10 miles - but the timing was bad.  You are only open until 2:30 on weekdays, and you're closed on weekends.  I don't have a problem with that, in fact I respect it.   But because of my own schedule, and the fact that the lines during lunch hour could be so long, a lot of times months will go by before I get a chance to see you again.

That's a long time to go without, and frankly, I have needs.  Sometimes I could take of it myself at home.  But sometimes, I just want to go pick something up. Usually the results turn out to be expensive and a little disappointing, though. 

And then one day, I stopped by Mr. Brisket. It was recommended to me by a couple of people, and it was just a few miles away .  And it was open on a Saturday.  

I swear, I didn't intend to go there for the corned beef sandwiches. We went in to get butchered meat, not for the prepared foods, but the sight and smell of the corned beef sandwich being grilled right in front of me... it had been so long since I'd had a Reuben ... well, I couldn't resist.  I took some back to my place.  Right then and there.

That sandwich was good.  Different, yes - sweeter, a bit of different flavor, and smaller.  Not necessarily better than Slyman's, but almost as good, and just delicious. 

So I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to see Mr. Brisket again.  But I'll still want have Slyman's when I get a chance. 

My First Chopsticks!

 GoatSpawn here! (Though now that I am 2 1/2, I do like to occasionally be called "Princess Goat".) I tried using chopsticks the other day, and I did surprisingly well picking up the sushi, don't you think?

Of course, I did use them more like spears, but hey, it's a learning process. There are a number of "training" chopsticks you can buy for kids, or you can make your own.  Most Chinese kids don't master chopsticks properly until they're 5 or 6, so I've got plenty of time. 

April is Grilled Cheese Month! Tuna Melt Time!

Between the warm weather finally coming in around here, and the latest Saveur issue featuring nothing but sandwiches, sandwiches, glorious sandwiches, Foodgoat has been on a big sandwich kick lately.

And what good is a sandwich without some melty cheese?

April happens to be National Grilled Cheese Month, though as far as I am concerned, every month is grilled cheese month.  It's always good, no matter what the weather. 

The other day  Foodgoat made this wonderful, wonderful tuna melt, made with Applewood cheddar, each delicious layer broiled to hot melted goodness.  While making it he asked me if there was such a thing as too much melted cheese, and I reminded him of his own Theorem of the Cheesy Ratio, which states that yes, one can have too much cheese.    However, he clarified his theorem by stating one cannot have too much melted cheese.  If a sandwich has a lot of cheese and only some layers are melted while some remain (very sadly) unmelted, that's too much cheese.  But if all the layers are properly, deliciously melted ... well, who's to say what the limit is?

Even GoatSpawn would concur with that analysis of cheesy ratio. 

Blue Ice Cream!

GoatSpawn loves ice cream, and her favorite flavor is Blue Cosmo from Mitchells's.  According to Mitchell's, a few years ago they got tired of telling kids who ordered "blue ice cream" that they didn't have anything that was blue, so they came up with a blue ice cream flavor.  Blue Cosmo is cotton candy flavored and includes a ribbon of homemade marshmallow.  It's definitely a kid flavor!

I don't ever remember having blue ice cream as a kid, but Foodgoat remembers his favorite flavor as a child being something called Blue Moon.  It was only available at one local ice cream parlor - what was previously known as Helen Hutchley's - but it turns out it's a regional specialty.  Blue Moon ice cream is a bright blue ice cream flavor pretty much seen only in the upper Midwest area of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and sometimes in other nearby states, including Ohio. The flavor dates back the 1930s and varies in its ingredients and taste notes.  Foodgoat once heard of another ice cream shop that offered blue moon ice cream and found that it was completely different from what he was familiar with.  But one description of the taste, which Foodgoat confirms his version was like, is that it tasted like the milk left over from Froot Loops. That doesn't so bad, though not really as good as cotton candy flavored. 

Blue Moon ice cream still seems to have a following - you can buy some on Amazon strangely enough.  For now though, GoatSpawn seems pretty happy with her Blue Cosmo.  Maybe it doesn't even matter too much what it tastes like, as long as it's sweet and it's blue.