The joy of home repair !

   Sorry about the scattered postings, work and holidays have interfered with writing. New Years resolution is to have one new post every week, starting today. Coming soon, more reviews, more recipes, but for now a look at our home repair project, (gutters are done but no pics before the snow AND we put on snow guards to prevent an untimely death by snow !!).

   How I spent my summer. After almost 30 years, our little house was in need of some sprucing up. Several windows had lost there ability to hold out the cold, and the wood siding was looking a little long in the tooth. It was decided (OK truth be told wifey decided, I was fine with moving to a warmer climate), we would put in 6 new windows, all new vinyl siding, fascia, soffit, shutters and rain gutters. Once the decision was made and a color was chosen, (Spruce Green), all that was left was to choose a contractor and sit back and watch it happen, HA, NOT !!

      Not many know this about me, but I can NOT buy anything at first quote. I absolutely have to research it to death and get multiple quotes, until I am sure I have the best possible price. So after multiple quotes, from this contractor and that contractor and this giant home improvement store and that giant lumber yard, it came down to buying the ingredients myself locally, having our retired neighbor act as general contractor, having bro-in law Steve buy the windows at his work place and install them and finally have an old co-worker from NY come in and do the gutters WHEW. Let the games begin.

      We were fortunate that the old siding was not rotted, so we were able to put the new siding right over the top. And in a total fit of pure genius, I decided to have Vic start on the house the EXACT same weekend we flew to Wisconsin, AND the exact same weekend Hurricane Irene decided to come roaring through. Needless to say, I spent many an hour wondering if all his hard work (wrapping the house in body wrap, J channel, starter strip, etc., etc.) was now being ripped off by said Irene. Talk about shocked when we arrived home Monday night at 10:30 pm to a GREEN house. WOO HOO, Vic and his lovely assistant (his wonderful wife), had finished the entire front and most of both sides, YEA. Here are some before and after pics;

      The very next weekend was let's finish the house day. So a whole host of helpers turned out, (Thank You, Mike, Chris, Steve and Casey), and we proceeded to get the entire back done and some of the front facia. A few days later, Vic came over to finish the peaks and the facia and soffits and about a week later, (after my discovering that YES, rubber soled work shoes and a wet metal roof are in fact VERY slippery), Vic came back over and helped me finish the last piece of soffit and facia between the garage and house.

      On another fine weekend, bro-in-law Steve came over and put in the first 5 windows. What I imagined to be a very long and painful day, turned out to be done in 2 1/2 hours. This man is a genius when it comes to installing windows.

      I will post a few more pictures when we are completely done. Currently, our to-do list is down to , cladding the windows with metal, gutters and shutters. Stay tune, more pics to come. Oh, and lest I forget, we removed a huge pine tree from the edge of the driveway.  Nothing wrong with the tree so much, other than a constant drip of sap on my car (wifey gets the one car garage). And the 2-3 ft of pine needles every fall and spring we have to clean up. So one sunny Monday , off with her top. here are the before and after pics;

      One last set of pics before I sign off on this column. Bro-in -Law came over to clad the windows and what a great job he did. I can't believe how great they now look and dad came over to help me last weekend and we put up the shutters. All done, except the gutters. Here are the last of the pics;

Cooking 101: Carribean Pork Sliders

      Sometimes simple is best, especially when you are talking about making supper on a week night, when one partner is coming home from a hard days work and the other partner leaves for work at 11PM. Those are the nights that simple works best, and if you can throw something in the slow cooker (crockpot for those of us born a LONG time ago), first thing in the morning, and have a hot flavorful supper when you get home, Life is Good !! This meal starts with a pork loin and a marinade I wish I could remember where I bought, most likely Costco's as it's a big honkin bottle. The marinade is;

       Add pork loin (or loins if feeding a crowd or you want leftovers and you WILL want leftovers) to the slow cooker. Add enough marinade and chicken stock, ( I went 50/50) to cover the loins. An optional step, if you are so inclined, would be to get your grill red hot and sear the pork on all sides, this will add an extra dimension of flavor to the dish, but if your in a hurry just chuck em into the cooker. Throw in a few pineapple slices, attach the lid, set on low and walk away. Just a quick aside, if you have the time to sear, I would encourage it, I did this recipe both ways and the nice brown crunchy bits add alot of flavor and texture when you shred the pork. One other tip, they make slow cooker liners, and these have been a GODSEND for all these recipes, they make clean up a breeze, well worth the investment.

      Set your cooker on low and let it go for 3-6 hours. At this point you will have very flavorful pork and some incredible sauce. Remove the pork and start shredding, it will be so tender it shreds easily. Pour the liquid into a heavy duty saucepan and start boiling, keep your eye on it though cuz if it boils too long it will end up being a very thick syrup (we almost made that mistake). Here is a plate of deliciousness;

      And to serve with this delight, well a Tropical Mango smoothie of course. I found some smoothie mixes in the freezer of our local grocery store, one of which became this great drink with the addition of some mango and coconut rums and a bit of mango juice;

      And now to put it all together, you saved some pineapple slices right? Grill the slices and some rolls topped with butter until both form a nice crust. Top the shredded pork with the sauce you reduced and assemble, one roll, one pineapple slice and a big helping of shredded pork. We baked some fries in the oven and VOILA;

      Once again, a relatively easy prep makes a great evening supper. And to top it off this pork is incredible the next day, so PLEASE make extra.

Douzo Japanese Steakhouse Review

      After our first choice fell through, (who knew Bobcat Cafe was so popular), we decided to have a meal at this new Japanese/Thai/Steakhouse restaurant. Located near Tafts corner, where the old Orchid restaurant used to be. The first thing you notice when walking in is how big the place is. Then you notice there is nobody around, that's because instead of stopping at the bar or what should be the hostess station, you need to walk all the way into the first dining room. Cavernous doesn't even begin to describe the place and this is a problem as I will point out later.

      Once you walk in, someone will guide you to a table. We were taken into yet another room, and this one was very nice, great decor, sushi bar, giant live tree, bubbling fountains and deep purple walls, This is a really nice spot and feels good too, as there are more people in here, so it feels like the restaurant isn't empty. We were handed two menus, one for drinks and one for supper. Beer and wine choices are limited, as is normal for most Asian restaurants, though I did see some unusual wine choices, must be for the steakhouse offerings. One of the specialties here is martinis, lots and lots of martinis. We ordered drinks, beers for the guys, one Thai and one Chinese and martinis for the ladies, (HA, if you read this blog you saw that one coming). Monkey Business for the wife and Lemon Drop for Chris, and hence the funniest line of the evening from the dear wife, "Do you want a picture of my monkey business before I drink" HAHAHA!!!

      The drinks were quite good, though the Lemon drop was very strong, and at $9.00 each, they should be. The beers OK, the Thai beer, Singhai, better than my Chinese beer which was merely cold, but then again you really don't want a beer too flavorful as this will fight with the flavors of the food.  We started our meal with two sushi rolls, the shrimp tempura and the spicy tuna;

      Both were good, though I thought the tuna was the better of the two, not too spicy but very fresh with a great flavored sauce. The shrimp was OK but I found it to be a bit tough and lacking in shrimp, (plus I am not crazy about asparagus in my rolls). A quick word about the menus, first they are huge, with MANY options, ranging from exotic to steak and chicken (cooked on a hibachi at your table, though I didn't see one in use). But the menus are the plastic laminated style with pictures of the food that you usually see in really inexpensive Chinese joints, NOT what you'd expect from such a high end place (and it IS high end, as we will soon see). Plus my plastic laminated menu was really sticky.

      For our entrees we went all over the place. Mike went with spicy salmon, Chris with sweet and sour shrimp and scallop, wife with sea bass and tamarind sauce and I went with spicy duck and scallop. Mike had the only two chili pepper dish of the bunch. Everything was quite good, though the sauce on wife's bass was WAY too sweet, (my sauce, while a bit spicy, was quite sweet also). So unfortunately for her, she didn't touch her rice, and as we all know white Thai rice has to be dunked in a sauce to be good. That said it wasn't that the fish wasn't cooked properly, just the sauce didn't agree with her. And that can be a problem when faced with so many choices, it's very difficult to pick the winners and the losers on a menu this size. My food was good, though I thought the duck was rather skimpy for the pricing, more bones than duck. The scallops were good though.

      Douzo seems to be a tale of two restaurants. On the one hand it wants to be a high end Asian restaurant ,ala San Sai. and it does do several things correct. The martini menu is large and fun, sushi is fresh and well prepared, and the menu is large and diverse. On the other hand, the space is overwhelmingly large and can feel empty, service can be cloying, too many people constantly asking if everything is alright and finally some of the items (menus, chopsticks, glassware) make it feel like your in a fast food Chinese spot. I guess for me what it always comes down to, is it better than Tiny Thai. I would say yes, by a tiny margin (HA), the variety is much better, the food about the same or maybe just a bit less and you can order alcohol, though at a price. BUT and this is a HUGE BUT, is it worth more than two times the cost and this is a BIG NO.

      If I am going to pay twice as much for something, then it needs to be twice as good. And while Douzo was quite good, it certainly wasn't twice as good as Tiny Thai. Plus the ambiance is more warehouse than homey.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     3.5   For the most part the food was excellent, sushi was fresh. Alot of the sauces are very sweet.
Beer and Wine,    3.   Limited beer and wine selections,lots of martinis. Some unusual wine selections (for the steakhouse side I guess).
Service,                 3    Can service be too good? We seemed to have someone at the table all the time.

Ambiance,             3    This is a tough one,where we sat was nice but the other room not so much.
Price,                     3    Very pricey, is it too pricey? That is up to you but I felt it was.

Overall                  3.1  I like that you can get Sushi, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and steak selections all in one place. Also that you can get a drink, without having to remember to bring your own. But the problem here is maybe the menu is too ambitious, the space is way too large and the pricing much too high. If we have a crowd where everyone wants something different, maybe we will be back. Otherwise, I'll stick to Tiny Thai. Still my champion for Thai food.  

Cooking 101; Beer Braised Short Ribs

   Well, what do you know an actual recipe and not just a product review from Costco's. This recipe calls for a bit of prep but once done you can chuck it into the slow cooker and leave it be for the rest of the day.Beef short ribs are available most anywhere and usually for a very reasonable price. For this recipe I prefer the boneless ones as I really don't like carving around bones. I know experts say bone-in releases more flavor but c'mon look at the marbling in these beauties, how much more flavor do I need?

      The first step is to create a spice rub and let your ribs marinade in the rub for at least an hour, (longer is better, MUCH better). That's why this first step could be done the night before, especially if this is going to be a weeknight supper. Also this may be a good time to tell you , that while I used a slow cooker, the original recipe called for a dutch oven. The first time we tried this recipe, we did go the dutch oven route. The advantage of course, is everything can be prepared in one dish, making clean up relatively easy. The downside, and the reason we went with slow cooker, (I still want to call it a crockpot), is that I don't like having the oven on for 3-4 hours, it really heats the house up.

     Back to the recipe, combine 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon each of paprika, cumin, black pepper and salt. Now I veered from the original recipe a bit, as it called for 2 tablespoons of mustard, but as we don't care so much for mustard flavor, we created a paste with basil olive oil, but feel free to use mustard if you like that flavor. Combine all the ingredients and rub the ribs completely, marinate in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. This would be a good time to roughly chop up an onion, 4-6 carrots, 2 celery stalks and 6-8 peeled and smashed garlic cloves, (I used 8, I LOVE garlic). here is a pic of the spice mixture ready to add;

     Once the ribs are marinated, heat up a pan and add the ribs to brown, if you are using a dutch oven, add some oil first and heat that up before putting in the ribs, we used a non-stick pan instead. Brown all sides of the ribs and remove from the pan, add the onions, carrots and celery and cook until they start becoming soft. At this point, add 2-3 bay leaves, 5-6 sprigs of thyme (and any other fresh herbs you have around, I had basil and some dill) and the garlic. Once they are cooked a bit, move everything over to the slow cooker and here is where things are a bit confusing. The liquid portion will totally depend on the size of your cooker and how many ribs you are making.

      As you can see, we had six ribs (which I cut in half for ease of fitting into the cooker). So in my case I used one cup of beef stock, one 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes and 1 and 1/2 beers (HEY, I was thirsty), and this was enough liquid to cover the meat (VERY important). Then, just put your cooker on low and relax for 5-6 hours.

      After said hours, move the meat and vegetables to a platter. Strain the remaining liquid into a heavy duty saucepan and turn the burner on high. Taste the sauce and season as needed, we felt that the sauce was missing something, a bit of acidity maybe?, some flavor?, so we add a healthy dollop of Balsamic Vinegar.
Bingo, this was the added flavor we needed. Let boil until sauce has reduce to your favorite consistency, we like it a bit thick but not syrupy, so we reduced it about 1/3 of the original amount. Perfect. And the finished dish;

      So there you have it, a perfect fall supper for those cool nights. A nice glass of hearty red wine, I suggest something with some depth and weight to it for this meal, Cabernet Sauvignon for sure, or a California Syrah or maybe a Rioja from Spain, would work. A nice fresh roll to sop up the sauce, and life is grand. And since this is a perfect fall dish, a few pictures of our colorful, but too short, Fall;

Wooden Spoon Bistro Review

      Due to my lovely wife's weird rotating shift, there is one weekend every month she has to work Friday and Saturday nights and gets Sunday and Monday nights off instead, YUCK. We like to try new places on the weekend but many restaurants are not open on Sundays, so our choices are usually limited. It was with great excitement I noticed a new Bistro/Bar that had just opened was indeed serving on this particular Sunday night. The Wooden Spoon Bistro is not easy to find, tucked away on Williston road, right in front of Higher Ground and in the same building as Quiznos.

      This is a cute little place with seating at tables for about 30 and a nice large bar holding maybe 15 more. The interior is rather sparse, but local art on the walls helps a bit. When we arrived the place was empty, (Sunday night at 5PM ), except for two other customers at the bar. We chose to sit at the bar and the bartender/server could not of been more friendly as were the customers, one of whom turned out to be the on duty server eating her supper. The wine and beer list is adequate, with some well though out and unusual selections on it, wife started with a Four Vines Zinfandel, yummy and I went with the Long Trail Double Bag, also very yummy.

      We were a bit disappointed to learn that two of the appetizers we had read about, (and were going to order), from a previous reviewer and from the menu online were now gone, the shrimp corn dog and the authentic Caesar salad with anchovies, not to mention the rum and coke chicken wings. This will be a theme that I will touch upon later. So back to the menu and we decided to try the risotto balls and the smoked salmon rangoons. WOW , is really all I can say. Both were sensational, crispy fried, with no discernible grease on either, this is a chef who really knows his fryer well. The rangoons were crisp with a smooth tasty cream cheese and salmon filling ( OK, I would of like a bit more salmon please) , accompanied by a great apricot dipping sauce.The risotto balls had a cracking outer skin, with a soft rice filled interior, PERFECT, and served with these incredible bacon strips, (quick idea chef, add the bacon INSIDE the balls, YUMMMY). Both appetizers came with some dressed greens, which were perfect for cutting through the fried foods. These were certainly two of the best appetizers we have had, they hit all the taste buds. Oh, and I can not forget to mention the fresh bread with MAPLE butter that came before the appetizers, YUM!!! You can just see the cute green colander it came in, in the first pic. Nice touch;

      After that start, the entree was bound to be a let down right? WRONG, we decided to split one of the nights specials, a blackened catfish served with asparagus and roasted potatoes. Again WOW,  perfectly seasoned catfish, juicy, a bit spicy, such an easy fish to over cook but this one was perfect. The asparagus, (which I don't eat), was undercooked, as American chefs seem to want to do. The trend for several years now has been to just barely blanche them and serve them "al dente". Unfortunately for my wife, she likes her veggies well done. There is hope, I just read an article on Italian chefs going back to their mothers and grandmothers roots and cooking vegetables long and slow to get a completely different flavor profile from them. Here's hoping US chefs adopt this, at least in some dishes. Finally the potatoes, I am not a huge fan of fingerling potatoes. I find them starchy and bland, and this chef seems to like to use them alot, ala the original chef at Monty's.  These were OK, but definitely underseasoned, a shot of the Cajun spice would of done them a world of good.  Here's a pic of our entree;

      The best compliment we can give this dish is about half way through my wife turned to me and said,"I wish I didn't have to share this with you" AMEN. Back to my one original quibble, this is a chef who likes to mix up his menu OFTEN. So what you see on the website certainly will NOT be what you find when you get there. I was initially disappointed, but I got over it quick and so should you. Don't even look at the website, just go and you will be very happy. I do have a business idea, I could start a social network site where Vermont restaurants could send me their daily specials and menu changes and I would post them for a very small fee. Any takers, contact me.This turned out to be a great find. Super friendly service and great food. We will certainly be back. Do yourself a favor and go find them tonight. Lastly, on the way home that evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset over Lake Champlain. Enjoy;

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4.5  Totally inspired and ridiculously good.
Beer and Wine,    3.5  Nice beer and wine selections, list is small but well thought out.
Service,                 5    We had a great time with our bartender/server, BUT she only works Sundays, so your mileage may vary.

Ambiance,             3.5  It's a bar with alot of hard surfaces, the local artwork on the wall is a start.
Price,                     3.5  A bit pricey but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it.

Overall                  4.0  This is an incredible new place for Burlington. My only two hopes are, that the chef doesn't burn himself out working the long hours he's working, and it doesn't get too popular, so we can't just drop in whenever we want. Until those things happen, we will be regulars.  

The Tavern Review

    The Inn at Essex, (now called just, The Essex), has been going through a major remodeling ever since NECI, (New England Culinary Institute), moved out. A new high end restaurant called Amuse has been added to the old Tavern space and a brand spanking new Tavern has moved into a much bigger space towards the rear of the hotel. Looking at the menu on line, I have to say we were intrigued. So, on a what we thought would be a quiet Saturday, before leaf peeper season, we decided to try it out. BUT, what we didn't know, is The Essex seems to have become the go to marriage capitol of New England. On this supposedly quiet Saturday, there were no less than five wedding receptions and an engagement party. And were do you suppose all these people hang out before and after their receptions? Yup, you got it, The Tavern. Walking in there was like entering a football game, VERY LOUD.  So much for a quiet, romantic, date night.

     We did manage to find two seats way over at the end of the bar. And after a while, we were presented with menus, (did I mention how packed it was?). First a bit about the space, the bar is definitely the focal point, as it consumes about 1/2 of a very large space. And it is a very cool bar, as it has many different angles and alot of seats all around. This unfortunately can work against the two bartenders, as some patrons are at odd angles to them and may be hard to see. We started with drinks, (shocking I know), and our first disappointment, for such a high end resort the wine list by the glass is absolutely pedestrian, WAY too many grocery store choices for a place like this and for cuisine like the chef is putting out. The wife settled for a rather ordinary Zinfandel and I was excited to finally try the Trapp Family Ale, but alas, they were out and I settled for a nice ale from Belgium, Palm Ale if I remember correctly. It was good but not exceptional.

      We decided to try smaller plates so we could experience more of the menu. Though I will say some of the small plates were anything but. Our first taste was a avocado and crab cocktail. very tasty with a bit of heat ( a trait the chef exhibits in most dishes), just a little too much cucumber for my taste, but with a nice yogurt dressing and some crunchy bits on top;

      Our next plate was duck confit potato skins (did I mention this is a creative chef). These were wedges of potato, topped with duck, and some really sweet caramelized onions and a nice cheese. All of this was placed on a sauce of chipotle cream, (spice again). Very, very yummy and as you can see a really nice presentation;

      For our entrees, we went with two more smaller plates. For me short rib sliders,( watch this blog recipes for both short ribs and sliders coming soon, seems to be a bit of an obsession for me). And for the wife, the Pittsburgh Salad, an homage to the famous Primanti Sandwich ( HA, bet the chef hasn't had anyone else pick up on that ). For those of you not from Pittsburgh, a Primanti Brothers sandwich is a sandwich with meat, salad and french fries, all stuffed into a bun. For this version, the chef took a big hunk of romaine, topped it with fries, grilled hanger steak, tomato, cucumbers and a blue cheese vinaigrette. Very nice and quite yummy. For my slider order, I received two sliders, Boyden farm short ribs, Ascuntney mountain cheese (Yes, the tavern is proud of its local sources) and homemade barbecue sauce along with the aforementioned fries;

      We both loved our meals, though one of the sliders was more fat than meat and some of the steak on the salad was a bit overcooked. Overall, a very nice meal, OH and about half way through, the reception must of started, as the tavern emptied out and we could talk without shouting. And since there were about 100 less customers, service picked up substantially. We really liked The Tavern and while pricing is quite high, with appetizers in the $9-$13 range and entrees starting at $14 for the fish and chips and rises to $34 for the bone-in Prime NY Strip Steak, the quality and presentation is excellent.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4     Everything we had was very good, a couple of small miscues but overall great presentations and wonderful flavors.
Beer and Wine,    2.5   I am going to be overly critical here. As this is a high end experience, you should be able to get local and national beers that are unusual and interesting and wines by the glass should expand your knowledge of the wine world and be more than grocery store offerings.
Service,                 3.    Here I am going to be less critical, the place was packed and while our bartender/server wasn't super friendly, she was efficient but needs more insight into the menu

Ambiance,             3     Great room, nice bar and booths. LOUD when full of wedding goers. maybe a touch too casual for such upscale food.
Price,                     3     Above Average food with Above Average pricing also. Presentations and flavors like this don't come cheap

Overall                  3.1  The tavern advertises itself as a casual bar/restaurant serving upscale food , ala Bevo's or Wooden Spoon Bistro (review coming soon). In reality, it is a high end restaurant, ala Kitchen Table or Hen of the Woods, saddled with a casual space.  As such, it is a special occasion evening out, but doesn't really feel too special if it is packed with wedding goers. Next time I would check with management before arriving. The chef is very creative and I look forward to trying the REALLY high end space, Amuse. But only after a rigorous upgrade of the wine offerings.