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

This is the steak that I bought from Tucker Meat Market, then wet-aged for about a month. Wet-aging in this case simply means sealing the steak in a vacuum bag and putting it in my refrigerator's meat drawer. It was a very tasty steak but I didn't detect any difference from wet aging. I also fixed some home fried potatoes, which were delicious. And I topped the steak with some fried onions from Patel Brothers market.

I decided to use the peels of my treasure trove of oranges to make candied orange peels. I first boiled the peels in water. I then drained and reboiled in sugar water. Once I strained the sugar water, I prepared the orange peels. Not only did boiling them make them easier to cut into thin strips, it also simplified stripping the inner rind. I rolled them in some sugar along with cinnamon and nutmeg. A day later, I went the extra mile and dipped them in chocolate. I used my cold plate trick to temper the chocolate, although with limited success. But no matter, the peels still taste great, particularly for a non-obvious food. For good measure, I stuffed some dates with pecans and dipped them, too. Wow, are they tasty.

Warm Springs has boutiquified itself since Roosevelt's time but he would recognize the shape of the town. Mac's is on a sleepy side street. It has a generous restaurant space plus a small side building. I was the exception by eating in that cozy building. Most people walked up, placed a to-go order, and walked away happy a few minutes later. My pork sandwich was excellent. It was served without sauce, a sign of the pitmaster's confidence in its moistness. The smoke I smelled as I walked in came through nicely, too. The onion rings were the surprise hit. The onions themselves were sweet and tender. The coating was probably made with a beer batter---it was extremely flavorful and deliciously crunchy.

Mike and Ed's is just across the railroad tracks from Auburn's campus town. You can smell the smoke from the street. Inside, it is an appealing and unassuming place. The walls are decorated with record albums from Conway Twitty and Tony Bennett, an eclectic collection. And their BBQ is excellent. I ordered the ribs. They were cooked to a very tender, pull-off-the-bone state but with some tooth left. The smoke flavor came out nicely. I ordered the hot mustard sauce. It wasn't especially hot but it was very tasty and made a great complement to the smoke of the ribs. It had a fairly thin texture; it left only a thin coating on the meat that enhanced the flavor without distracting. The beans were excellent. The creamy cole slaw was rich and not gooey.

I know that strawberries have been available for several weeks, but these are my first strawberries of the season. I purchased them from the farmer at a stand somewhere between Pine Mountain and Warm Springs. She told me that the strawberries had been a bit hit and miss this year due to the weather, but I happened to stop by on a good weekend. Now I need to get busy canning preserves. But first, pancakes!

I pulled some blackberries out of the refrigerator and made this delicious pie. I probably should have baked off the crust to a slightly deeper brown. I used about a half cup of sugar and thickened it with tapioca flour; about a quarter cup more sugar probably would have been idea. I added freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg which gave a rich flavor, particularly from the nutmeg. Grating fresh nutmeg has made a tremendous improvement over the pre-ground variety.

Tamayo is located across the street from the University of Colorado Denver campus, which makes it an ideal place for a meeting-and-a-meal. Cathy and I started off with the regular guacamole, which had a great creamy texture and buttery richness. Cathy ordered the special tacos, which happened to be pork carnitas. I ordered the straight pork carnitas, which was served with a little avocado, ricotta, and black bean. The meat was perfectly tender and moist. The effect of the layers of the presentation was like unwrapping a gift.