YES, IT’S RESOLUTION TIME, AND I’m hoping to keep at least a small percentage of my personal ones. Luckily, I also have a few recreational ones that I am looking much more forward to fulfilling. Especially since it involves eating healthier food, more of it, and from more interesting places, there will be a lot less sacrifice involved!
So, following, my 5 PHUDE-related rezos for this new year…:
Um, “Duh!” DIdn’t we all make this resolution? In 1997? And every year since this? (The irony of the holiday season eating habits are not lost on any of us.)
But there are a whole bunch of new restaurants in this city that can help all of us sticjk to this plan without giving up on taste. I recently discovered Hummus Kitchen a couple of months ago and look forward to trying more Mediterrenean cuisine.
There is also plenty of local, fresh, oraganic produce available in more grocery stores and supermarkets than ever before, which will make it even easier to come up with substantial, flavorful, meatless dishes.
Anthony Bourdain lamented on an episode of his no Reservations that he knew more about food in expansive China than he did about next door Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx (and Staten Island).
I fear the same, so in an effort to broaden the cultural scope of my eating this yeas, I’m going to have to venture outside of Manhattan to where these cultures cook and eat for themselves, and not in their Manhattan reproductions where they flavors and ingredients get gentrified to make them more demo-friendly. (Tourists flock to Little Italy for what they think is authentic Italian, not know that true Old World Italian cuising is found in the Bronx, where Little Italy’s chef’s and restaurant owners grew up a largely still go home to!)
It was a fluke that they opened Xi’an Famous Foods in Chinatown, but Queens has been enjoying their own, secret, food renaissance for quite some time.
And I’ve been meaning to try authentic Chinese, West Indian/West African, Cuban, only haven’t not done so due to either laziness or finding someplace more closely convenient to try out.
Not this year…!
My dad is arguably the best bake I know. Baking requires a particular science of skill, because you can’t “fudge” the measurements. Yet my dad has made so many pies, eclairs, pastries, biscuits, etc. that he can make them freehand as well. And everything he bakes is yummy! (I had phenomenal birthdays!)
I’ve baked before, but this year I want to actually make the doughs myself. I should have tapped his knowledge when he still lived in the city, but I’ll make up for it with a little study and a lot of practice, and soon enough I’ll actually have a photo of a something I baked to put in this section!
…And actually featuring them in some of the photos. I was damn lucky enough to have some of my favorite, food enthusiasts friends join me for some of my PHUDE treks. “trixie” has been my dinner partner for some 10 years now, but it was an extra pleasure to make new PHUDE-ie friends, including Marcy, Karie, Brooke, and Lauren.
Many more have volunteered, but I always defended that I didn’t want actual people to interfere with the food. But as I have always explained, PHUDE is not a food blog. It is a photo blog, then a personal diary. A diary about my life of food admiration.
So if my friends are a part of that life, they should likewise be featured. Especially since they help me order more things off of an menu and sample a wider variety of dishes.
So, come along, my friends, and enjoy each trip with me; whether online or in person, all are welcome!
I just noticed that all for of my dinner dates are wearing black tops. Were they afraid of spilling…?!
My little point & shoot camera has hi-def video capacity, so, although this is a photo site, I could easily take videos, interviewing chefs and/or staff at the restaurants that I visit, or to capture honest, off-the-cuff commentary of my PHUDE endeavors from my esteemed and hopefully objective guests.
Which is why I made a new VIDEO section to this blog, located on the far right of the navigation bar above.
IN 2009, AN ARDUOUS YEAR for many of us, I did get to enjoy some good news. Thanks to this blog, I’ve forced myself to seek out some very good grub. And thanks to sharing this blog with a wealth of friends old and spanking brand new, I’ve gladly resolved to purge more of the people in my life who were a detriment (as I’ve often been to myself!), to better appreciate and enjoy the few who more than make up for that with their kindness, support, comeraderie, and humor.
Just like giving up all of those Quarter Pounders and General Tso’s combo platters to enjoy a nice plate of couscous or grilled sardines over mesclun. 2010 will eptomize the adage of LESS being—especially in the long run—a whole lot MORE!
DMANBURGER
