GASTRONORMOUS

Despite the continuing onslaught of white flies, our window box has produced a bounty of two ultra-tiny jalapenos! One inch-long greenie still has a flower attached to its rear end like a diaper. The other is diaperless, though smaller than the first. Too bad we already picked and used the tomatoes [pictured left, dwarfed by a ramekin] as a garnish on our quinoa, because as the Hubs pointed out, we could have made the tiniest salsa ever. The tomatoes, by the way, were tasty enough but the skins were really thick, which made me think that despite the nice color they had, we picked them too soon.

On Saturday I had a mediocre brunch with awful service at Alma. I have had great brunches with good (or at least ok) service there in the past, so this was more than a disappointment. It seems that there was a shift change after we ordered, and we were completely neglected by the new waitresses for the rest of our stay. It got to the point where we actually discussed the possibility of leaving without paying when, after having to collar the waitress to ask for our bill, she never came to pick up the credit card! We ended up just collaring the waitress yet again to pick it up. I hope this was just an anomaly. I might go back, but no time soon.

Saturday night I met Eddie and the Predicate out for drinks at a bar that absolutely lives up the the hype. The Clover Club on Smith Street has great ambiance, friendly service, and fantastic cocktails. I was immediately impressed by how accommodating (and not snobby!) the staff is. Sure, the drinks aren’t cheap ($10-11), but hey we are in the inflationary late Aughts, so why not live it up. I had the Bermuda Swizzle, which was truly the best cocktail I have ever had. It was magic in a highball. The magic must be owed to the one uncommon ingredient: something called Velvet Falernum, which sounds like it might illegal, and as good as this cocktail is, may well should be. Ignore the Negative Nellies who say the decor and menu are contrived. The bottom line is, this is a comfortable place with well-crafted cocktails and peerless service.

Before the Hubs left town yesterday afternoon, we got bagels and went to Fort Greene park to have a little breakfast picnic and enjoy the lovely weather. The bagels came from Bagel World on DeKalb. Afterward we decided that the ridiculously named La Bagel Delight (I mean, really, why “la” when neither “bagel” nor “delight” are French terms?) on Lafayette has the superior bagels and schmears. Lesson learned!

Yesterday a clothes iron fell on my head from a high shelf in the closet. It really hurt. With the Hubs just departed for exotic locales, the Predicate kindly came over to watch over me in case I slipped quietly into a coma. Not in the mood to cook, we decided to order in Chinese food from the only decent place in the general area; it happens to be Vegetarian Palate on Flatbush. The wontons were ok. They tasted more of deep-fry than filling. The orange tangarian [sic] beef was beefy but not orangey (or tangarianey for that matter), though tasty all the same. We sort of got into the Shanghai Spicy Noodles after thinking to add some Siracha sauce to add the spice that the name promised but dish didn’t deliver. Like Alma, not as good as in the past, but unlike Alma, the (delivery) service was speedy and friendly. I have ordered other great food from them, so it will remain in my menu rotation.

Overall, it was an interesting, if uneven, weekend in food. Both outcomes probably due to the fact that I ate out more than I usually do. More home cooking to come this week (though probably not tonight as my head is still aching!).