The Diner at North Point

Yu joined me for dinner at The Diner at North Point near North Point mall. As the name implies, it is nouveau diner food. The atmossphere and service aim for a very upscale fee.

I have a few reservations about the upscale diner format---to me, the classic diner with radioactive-yellow gravy shouldn't be tampered with. But I decided that I had to see how well they executed, so I tried the pot roast, a very homestyle/diner dish. They did quite a good job. The meat was fork-tender as it should be. The carrot was equally tender. The mashed potatoes were creamy. The gravy was rich, perhaps a shade heavier than I prefer for pot roast, but quite good. Yu had the gyros plate, another diner favorite. She reported that the meat was a little dry. We didn't have dessert but they do have the compulsory showcase at the entrance filled with huge slices of rich-looking cakes.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

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Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

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