Syracuse NE: A Good Gas Station Breakfast

I spent the night in Syracuse, Nebraska, woke up, and looked for an easy, satisfying breakfast. The gas station beckoned. Dining in small towns seems to be slowly shifting away from standalone restaurants to multi-use locations like gas stations or grocery stores. A restaurant, particularly a breakfast spot, is an important social link in a small town. It seems that the best way to make them economically viable is to combine food with other activities. This gas station serves as a local convenience store with all types of items. The restaurant has a large seating area.

I didn't have a chance to try this meat but it sure looked good.

The menu was very complete: full breakfast, fried chicken, ice cream, a full coffee bar. Since my breakfast would take a few minutes to prepare, I started with a tender, sweet donut and a big cup of coffee.

I don't typically eat something like chicken fried steak for breakfast but I was in the mood for a hearty breakfast. It was great: good crust, flavorful meat with texture but not toughness. The scrambled eggs were hearty, the toast excellent. And those hash browns hiding there managed to sop up just a little of the gravy. I eat my meal and then spent a few minutes at my table enjoying the morning with my coffee.

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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)

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

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

Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

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