The Age of Hogarth

Night at the Delancy

Friday Night Ian's band is playing at the Delancey.. I meet up with Sam and Heather to check him out.

Strutting his stuff

Tim watches closely

After the band finishes we decide to afterparty at Sam's place..

Except this guy.. he just wanted a nap

Sam and Heather end the night sharing some sexy egg salad

The Bachelor... part deux

Day two of Jesse's bachelor party weekend dawns..

I take a tour of the premises....

A message appears

More friends arrive

Tim and Matt return from the pond..

As the sun sets it's time to play some more music

The drum kit is a new addition, Andy tries it out

Matt looks after our nourishement

Jesse tries the drums...

and Ben

and of course Gene.

And how could it be rock and roll without pyrotechnics?

Time to eat

A place is set for Armand

Fully refreshed it's time to noodle around some more

Gene takes the mic

Then Jesse gives it a shot..

What could re-energize this crew

A nutria hunt!

The night comes to a close...

We break bread one more time before we head out the next morning..

The Bachelor

For impending groom Jesse's bachelor party we rent a house upstate. Friday night Matt, Tim and I leave the city behind for beautiful Bethel, N Y.

When we arrive we're greeted by Andy who's been there since five. Luckily the wily nutria did not bother him.

After a minor mishap on the west side highway that left Jesse's wheel looking like this, he and Ben arrive to complete the Friday Night crew.

Enough catching up, it's time to set up the instruments and play some music.

Welcome back Dr. Rhythm

We crank some, er, unforgettable tunes.

A brief break outside..

To refresh us, Jesse serves cocktails

And we're done...

Soda Slander

Every year for St. Patrick's Day I like to make an Irish soda bread. I happened to notice that in last week's NY Times there was an article with the headline "Not Irish, but Maybe It’s for the Best" about Irish soda bread. The author talks about aquiring a recipe for soda bread as a college student which includes butter and eggs and then is shocked to find out (many loaves later I assume) that this is not an authentic Irish soda bread, that a basic Irish soda bread contains only flour, buttermilk (or sour milk), baking soda and salt. I have to say I found this a little ridiculous--not that recipes including butter, eggs and other variations exist, I've certainly seen and tasted them--but that somebody who knows enough about food to get a recipe and an article published in the Times food section wouldn't know what a proper Irish soda bread was. Even the mainstream kitchen standard Fanny Farmer cookbook presents a recipe with only the four basic ingredients. After consulting an authentic Irish chef the author makes a real soda bread, she finds the first slice fresh out of the oven delicious but then is shocked to discover that after the loaf has cooled it has turned "hard, dry and bland." I have to wonder what good "authentic" Irish chef would not have instructed her to wrap the bread in a towel while it cooled in order to keep it soft? something my dad says his grandmother did and which is also explicitly indicated in the good old Fanny Farmer. I guess it makes for a better story if her recipe wins, but why you gotta fight dirty?

Here's the soda bread recipe I use:

1 lb (3 1/2 cups) flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
8-10 oz buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl to make sure the baking soda is even distributed. Make a well and add the buttermilk and mix until the dough holds together. it should be "raggy" and very soft. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead just for a minute to incorporate everything together. Be quick, you don't want to develop the gluten in the flour and the chemical reaction between the buttermilk and the baking soda has begun already, you want to get it in the oven without too much delay. Make a domed circular loaf about 6"-8" in diameter, place on a lightly floured baking sheet and using a sharp knife cut a cross in the dough, cutting abut halfway through.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, reduce the temp to 400 and bake for 35 more. At the end of the baking time tap the bottom of the loaf, a hollow sound means it's done. Wrap the bread in a clean kitchen towl and let cool completely on a rack.

Variations: I generally like to like to add sugar, about a teaspoon or two. You can also add rasins/currants, this technically makes it a "spotted dog"

And it sounds so good

Andy comes come down from Boston, for a Karwreck reunion at the Annex on a snowy Sunday.

The crew assembles

The band goes on..

Then off into the snowy night..

You? Tube.

Sunday I head down to NJ to see the Family so they can shower with me presents in what seems like the longest birthday ever..

I spy a cake in the fridge..

And PJ shows me his lunch.

The kids take advantage of the snow and the incline to do some impromptu sledding--the "sleds" being pieces of foam and garbage bags.

Finally time to eat.

mmmm pork

Caitlin's ready for some cake

For some reason my mom gives me a bag of loose tube socks.. hmm.

Employee of the Month

Saturday Night I meet Judy and Stephanie at Employees Only for a little birthday dinner since Judy was out of town on the day we went to Royal Oak.

Employees Only is another one of these "speakeasy" bars that are all over the place now.. It seems kind of like a tired trend but the place was cute--Stephanie works there and says that on the weekends the crowd can get a little gross so we arrived early. They have a large cocktail menu and just to be festive I decide to try one so I have the "billionaire" cocktail, it was actually pretty good--not too sweet like most specialty cocktails, made with bourbon, absinthe and some other stuff.. it had an anise-y flavor

Sitting by the fireplace at the bar has made my ear all hot and red .. ouch!

We get a table outside in the garden where there's a nice little fountain

We peruse the menu..

They serve the bread with some sort of cheesy herby speady thing... mmmm

We start with the steak tartare which was mixed up right at the table.. The waitress claimed that eating the steak tartar here had spoiled her for eating it anywhere else, however since it's not part of my usual repetoire I can't compare. I do deem it very tasty though.