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What's in Your Fridge Friday
November 18, 2011
Paula and Glenn Foore of Springdale Farm: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Hardly a week goes by that Paula and Glenn Foore aren’t hosting an event on their East Austin farm.
Springdale Farm hasn’t been around as long as many area farms, but as is the spirit in the Austin food community, the Foores have been welcomed with open arms.
Since 1985, they’ve done landscape work around Austin with their business, Texas Trees and Landscape, but once their three girls started graduating and moving out of the house, they got the bug to start a full-fledged farm.
They have a weekly farm stand at 755 Springdale Road on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and sell tons of produce to local chefs, but many Austinites are getting to know Springdale — and the Foores — through the many events hosted on the farm. Just this week, East Side Show Room chef Sonya Cote kicked off her new Homegrown Revival supper club with a dinner on the farm (the next HR dinner — a feast of seven fishes — is slated for Dec. 14). During Edible Austin’s Eat Local Week in early December, Springdale Farm is a stop on the Urban Farm Bicycle Tour and the site of a pig roast later that day, and on Dec. 19, A Torrid Affair returns to the farm for another supper club dinner.
As if growing food didn’t keep them busy enough…
What three things are always in your fridge? 1) Lemongrass tea. We keep a few bundles from our Wednesday and Saturday farm stand fresh and brewed at all times. 2) Cream. Can’t miss our morning coffee with just a splash of cream! 3) “Pepper-something”. We’re always working on perfecting recipes, and we miss peppers so much when they’re out of season that this year that we’ve canned up chipotle peppers in adobo sauce! Fermented chili paste, pickled peppers, smoked peppers, dried pepper flakes…
What’s your favorite condiment? Chipotles in adobo sauce. We like it on sandwiches or spooned into soup or a pot of beans - for a little added depth of flavor!
What’s your favorite go-to late night snack? Confession time, I guess - we both have a weakness for salty chips. We’re open to other suggestions, but it has to be finger food; has to be crunchy; has to be salty.
Photo by Paula Foore and Laura Skelding for the Austin American-Statesman.
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October 14, 2011
Fonda San Miguel executive chef Miguel Ravago: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
This is the life of Miguel Ravago, the executive chef who founded Fonda San Miguel with Tom Gilliland in 1975.
Going back and forth between the two cities allows him to see Austin through a wider lens than if he were stuck here in the Fonda kitchen that, even without him, is still producing some of the finest interior Mexican food in the state.
Ravago is back in Austin for the time being, but when he was in Spain earlier this month, he snapped a photo of his fridge there. It’s a little fuzzy, but you get the drift: Wine, olives, cured meats, a few more olives, a little more wine. Así es la vida española, a taste of which we could all use a little more of in our hurried, eat-dinner-by-dark-and-get-up-when-it’s-still-dark schedules.
What three things are always in your fridge? Eggs, cheese and milk (for coffee).
What is your favorite condiment? Dijon mustard and Tabasco.
What is your go-to late night snack? Cookies and milk
Photos from Miguel Ravago.
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October 7, 2011
Wine writer Jessica Dupuy: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Each year, we dedicate the first food section in October to Texas wines. On Wednesday, we told you about the Cabernet Grill in Fredericksburg, which has the only all-Texas wine list in the state, and the growing number of established Texas wineries, including Messina Hof, McPherson, Brennan, Lone Oak, Inwood Estates and The Vineyard at Florence, expanding into the Stonewall area to get in on the booming wine tourism industry there.
Freelance writer Jessica Dupuy is one of the state’s leading wine writers. (Oh, and she helped a little known chef named Tyson Cole publish his first book this year. You might have heard of it?)
Dupuy is a frequent contributor to Texas Monthly’s Eat My Words blog and the recently launched Culture Map, and her next book, “The Salt Lick Cookbook” will come out next year.
Because she does such a good job of keeping tabs on Texas wineries, I asked her not only to show off her fridge this week, but also, in honor of this week’s wine guide, to answer a few additional questions about the state of the industry.
When you think about all the stories you’ve heard from winemakers and articles about Texas wine that you’ve written in the past year, what strikes you the most about the industry right now?
The Texas wine industry has recently passed a major crossroad. Where once the big thing was to plant grapes that did well in California—i.e. Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, etc—now we’re seeing some major headway with warmer climate grapes that are almost meant for Texas soil. (Even if they made a name in Spain, Southern France and Italy first.)
I used to scrunch my nose when I thought about Texas wine. Almost everything I tasted seemed volatile and unrefined. But now I’m tasting Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Viognier and Grenache-Syrah blends that are fantastic. While these grapes are doing very well here, look for Mourvedre, Roussanne, and Vermentino to make some headway in coming years.
Looking at the next year or two, what big trends or changes do you see, either in terms of the winemakers themselves or the consumers?
Now that winemakers and grape growers are on the right track with the right grapes I think we’re going to see wines that solidify a clear flavor identity for Texas wines. You’ll no longer hear “That’s pretty good for a Texas wine,” instead you’ll start to hear, “That’s a really good wine,” whether it’s from Texas or not.
What is the biggest misperception that still exists among wine drinkers in Texas about the wines made in their state?
Texas wine began in the 1970s more as an experiment than a tested endeavor. Who would have known we could even grow wine grapes here? But it took some of the state’s wine pioneers to at least try with grapes that were working in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, the Bordeaux and California grapes weren’t the best choice, and it turned a lot of Texans off from making Texas wine their go-to wine.
But that’s changed in recent years. You don’t go to Italy to drink French wine. You don’t go to California to drink Spanish wine. You drink what the locals drink. Eventually, the same will happen with Texas wine. True wine enthusiasts pride themselves on trying the unknown and untested. How do you think Argentine, South African, Washington and now Greek wines got on the shelves? Texas wines are the next wine enthusiast frontier—as are wines from Colorado, Virginia, and New York.
I think Texans love all things Texan, and they really want to love Texas wine. It’s simply a matter of getting a glass of it in their hands. We could really use local restaurants to help make that happen. (Hint! Hint!)
What three things are always in your fridge?
1) Snap Kitchen - After I had my son last year, I had much less time to make my own lunches. Every week I grab at least 3 or 4 pre-made meals from SnapKitchen. All of their ingredients are organic, healthy, and often local.
2) McPherson Rose of Grenache-Syrah 2010 (In the past Rose of Syrah 2009) - I’m a red wine girl, but I always have this rosé on hand. It makes both white wine and red wine drinkers happy and it’s great for food. Plus, at $9 a bottle at Spec’s - it’s a steal from, Kim McPherson, the best winemaker in Texas.
3) Milk/Cheese - I have an unhealthy affinity for all things dairy. I drink a lot of milk and I eat cheese like it’s going out of style. Hard, creamy, stinky, goaty, I’ll eat it all—Especially if Cathy Strange at Whole Foods Market tells me to try it. If I ever become lactose intolerant, it will be my end.
What’s your favorite condiment? It’s a tie between lemon and mustard. A squeeze of lemon can make just about any dish better, and it saves you from the sodium included in salt, which I love too, but in moderation. I love mustard too. Dijon, spicy brown, Dai Due Fireman’s #4 blend, or just plain yellow. Ketchup and mayo are for the birds…
What’s your favorite thing to nibble on while you’re drinking wine? My husband and I usually break out dried apricots, a nice cheddar (I like Irish), and Central Market “Everything Crackers.” It’s a great little snack with a pre-dinner glass of wine. Right now I’m digging on an Alsatian Pinot Gris from Trimbach (Reserve 2005) and the new Sangiovese Reserve from Salt Lick Cellars—it’s going to be a Texas superstar.
Photo by Jessica Dupuy.
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September 30, 2011
Austin Bakes for Bastrop coordinator Kathryn Hutchison: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Are you ready for some sweets?
Tomorrow, the group of volunteers who raised more than $11,000 through a citywide bake sale for Japan after the tsunami earlier this year are back, this time raising money for victims of the area wildfires.
Austin Bakes for Bastrop will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at seven locations — Community Renaissance Market (6800 Westgate Blvd.), The Flying Saucer (815 W. 47th St.), Foreign & Domestic (306 E. 53rd St.), Hotel San Jose (1316 S. Congress Ave.), Old Settler’s Park (3300 E. Palm Valley Blvd,, Round Rock) and both Whole Foods Markets — and will feature baked goods from more than 80 home cooks, food bloggers and businesses.
Proceeds will go to Austin Community Foundation’s Central Texas Wildfire Fund.
Who could be coordinating such an event? It’s Austin food blogger Kathryn Hutchison, who helped get the ball rolling on both the Japan event and this one. She’d be the first to say that she couldn’t do it alone, but she’s the one making sure all the balls — maybe muffins is a better metaphor — up in the air don’t come crashing down.
In her fridge today are tons of sweets that will be available around town tomorrow: Miles of Chocolate, vegan Rice Krispie treats and poppyseed lemon cake from Gullet Girl Scout Troops 1160 and 976, Cinna-mini crunch, madeleine cookies, Thunderbird Energetica Bars, chocolate cappuccino cupcakes and Tiny Pies
“All the stuff that is usually in our fridge is shoved into the crisper drawers, or else we ate it to make room,” she says. “This week has been a celebration of leftovers.”
What three things are always in your fridge? I always have local eggs, local organic produce and white wine in the fridge. We don’t usually keep a lot of sweets in the house, so all the pastries in my fridge this week are an exception to the rules!
What’s your favorite condiment? I got some really great pickle relish from one of my blogging friends, Fleur De-Lectable, at Austin Bakes for Japan (our last bake sale). It’s not too sweet, with just the right amount of spice, and I love using it on hot dogs, burgers, and in tuna salad. Lauren is bringing canned items to the Community Renaissance Market location of this bake sale, and I hope there will be another jar of pickle relish for me to buy tomorrow!
What’s your go-to sweet treat to always have on hand? Confituras jams and preserves. I always look forward to pear season in Central Texas because it means Stephanie will have salted caramel pear butter at the market. (Look for some of that at our Flying Saucer Triangle and Round Rock bake sale locations tomorrow!)
Photos by Kathryn Hutchison and Nathan Russell.
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September 23, 2011
Josh Hare of Hops and Grain: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Josh Hare likes to run and make beer.
He’s more than that, of course, but as the co-founder of Hops and Grains, one of the Austin breweries that is participating in the Texas Craft Beer Festival tomorrow from 2 to 8 p.m. at Fiesta Gardens, he doesn’t shy from keeping his personality out of the business.
The Colorado-native teamed up with another Colorado native, Jeff Russell, to create Hops and Grain, which operates out of a warehouse near Pleasant Valley and East Sixth Street. They are canning their
As opposed to bottles, Hops and Grain are canning their beers and turning the spent grain into dog snacks called Brew Biscuits. The beer isn’t available commercially just yet, but you can taste it at the beer festival on Saturday.
Hare says they are planning 14 different styles, 12 of which will be available on draft only and three — German alt beer, American pale ale and a black lager — in cans. Look for the cans to buy on shelves and kegs in bars and restaurants in about a month.
Ahead of the fest, which is returning this year after a six-year hiatus, Hare snapped this photo of the brewery fridge. “As a developing brewery we’re always experimenting and this shot of the fridge shows that,” Hare writes.
You can get a sense of what these guys are up to through this Over A Pint episode with Beer Town Austin:
What three things are always in your fridge? 1) Hops & Grain craft beer 2) couple of good cheeses, usually a sharp cheddar and a chevre 3) water (as a runner and brewer, this one is crucial)
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? First thing in the morning I’ll fill a glass of cold water and pull out the coffee, ready to grind for a french press
What’s your favorite thing to eat while drinking beer? Pretzels. The cleansing effect that they have on the palate is really enjoyable. If I’m sitting down to a meal, then I opt for a rich cut of meat and vegetables, usually broccoli or sauteed spinach. Balanced flavor helps to bring out the subtleties in the beer without overwhelming, and the protein in the meat helps develop and accentuate malty flavors in some of my favorite German beer styles.
Photo by Josh Hare.
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September 17, 2011
Chris Apollo Lynn of Republic of Austin: What's in Your ACL Fridge?
This Austin City Limits Music Festival weekend, Chris Apollo Lynn, who is a Texas Social Media Award winner and editor of Republic of Austin, thought to send me a photo of his fridge. He writes:
Guests in town for ACL. Woke up this morning, opened the fridge and felt compelled to take this pic. Normally it’s full of farmers market veggies (as evidenced by the peppers), but this weekend it’s full of detox (almond milk, coconut water) and retox (mixers, beer). Had to take a picture :)
So glad he did.
Fridges always accepted at abroyles@statesman.com.
Photo by Chris Apollo Lynn.
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September 9, 2011
Chez Zee chef Ben Nathan: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Not literally, of course, but his resume spans from the Cypress Club in San Francisco to L’Absinthe Brasserie in Manhattan. After cooking at several acclaimed restaurants in Boston, he moved to Austin in 2005 to teach at what was then the Texas Culinary Academy, now Le Cordon Bleu. After a stint at The Belmont, Nathan now heads up the kitchen at Chez Zee, Sharon Watkins’ longtime bistro off RM 2222 and Balcones Drive.
He has two sons, Max, 6, and Luca, 3.
What three things are always in your fridge? Fresh fruit and vegetables, cold beer, juice and milk for the kids
What’s your favorite condiment? Dijon mustard
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Eggs to make the kids pancakes or scramble with handmade tortillas.
Photos from Ben Nathan.
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August 26, 2011
Snap Kitchen owner Martin Berson: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The ready-to-eat nutritional food market has exploded in the past few years, with a number of companies offering healthy alternatives to fast food.
Martin Berson’s Snap Kitchen is one of them. Berson opened the first Snap Kitchen in Austin last year, and now there are two and a half locations, including the recently opened Snap Pod, a smaller version of the full-sized Snap Kitchen located in a recycled shipping container at 215 Congress Ave.
Snap Pod opened quietly this past month, selling a number of Snap Kitchen favorites. At the Pod, you’ll find microwaves and picnic tables, so you can heat the food and eat it outside, but in another twist, Berson has added a flat-top grill so staff can cook proteins like sushi-grade ahi tuna, salmon and grass-fed beef to order.
Berson and his wife Robin have a 2-year-old daughter, which might have something to do with the fact that they’ve also added a Snappy Kids line of kid-friendly food at the Triangle and Sixth Street locations.
What three things are always in your fridge? My wife gets mad at me because you would think we would always have loads of Snap Kitchen food in the fridge, but I try to save some for our customers. That said, we always have something from Snap. We always have three different kinds of yogurt (my wife, daughter, and I all have different tastes in yogurt). My fave is Fage or Oikos. And CHEESE! I know, someone who sells healthy food shouldn’t be a cheese monger, but I believe in moderation, cravings, and rewards! (And, my wife and daughter could probably exist on cheese alone.)
What’s your favorite condiment? Unfortunately, I rank with the rest of the world on this one… Sriracha.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Ha… Well, I have a 2 year-old daughter, so it’s always her organic full-fat milk, which we mix with a little flavored kefir.
Photos by Martin Berson.
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August 18, 2011
'Daytripper' host Chet Garner: What's in Your Fridge Thursday?
“The Daytripper” is Chet Garner’s baby.
He’s the host, executive producer, editor, distributor, fundraiser and PR team of the Austin-based public TV travel show, all wrapped into one very enthusiastic, lovable guy. (And as if one TV show baby isn’t enough, he still makes time for his two kiddos under the age of three.)
What started out as “The Austin Daytripper” on KLRU a few years ago has morphed into simply “The Daytripper,” which now airs on PBS stations around the state. Chet was lawyer by trade, but you’d never guess it by his everyman, down-home manner.
He knows that you can’t have a day trip without food, so every episode includes interesting meals wherever the show happens to takes him. (And barbecue is one of his favorites. I’m looking forward to judging with him at Man Up Texas BBQ’s second annual Gettin’ Sauced barbecue sauce contest on Aug. 27, at Independence Brewery.)
At 7 p.m. tonight, which is why this is a What’s in Your Fridge Thursday instead of Friday, Chet is hosting a two-hour on-air fund drive featuring highlights from the past few season to help bring in money for the station and his show, which usually airs on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m., Saturdays at 10 a.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 a.m.
What three things are always in your fridge? MILK. We drink it like water. And I’ve heard it helps you grow taller. So I’ve still got an outside shot at playing for the Spurs. FRESH PRODUCE. Whatever is on sale, which keeps it interesting. CHEESE. We eat it on everything. And that is not a joke…EVERYTHING
What’s the one Texas food you can’t live without? BB-Q. That means BEEF brisket. If I ever find myself on death row, I’m ordering BB-Q for my last meal. (But as you can see, I’m big fan of Texas watermelon too)
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? COFFEE CREAMER. I hope to drink black coffee when I grow up, but for now I still take mine like a proper lady. Cream and sugar, please.
Photo by Chet Garner, screen grab from ‘The Daytripper.’
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August 12, 2011
Karla Loeb of Slow Food Austin: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Slow Food Austin has really picked up steam in the past few years.
The original founders got the ball rolling, and the current board keeps a full schedule, packed with events that introduce and educate Austinites about various aspects of the local food scene. Throughout the year, they have monthly happy hours and regular farm tours and slow sessions, but from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, they are hosting one of their biggest events of the year: A quiz bowl that pits teams of local food geeks against one another.
Karla Loeb, who is the social chair for the organization, and I have been coming up with the questions for the event, and I can promise you, they ain’t easy. This means that it’ll probably be more fun for people in the audience than the team members when we get to the really hard ones.
(If you buy your tickets ($15) ahead of time online, you get five free raffle tickets. There will be a pork butchery demo and auction at the quiz bowl halftime, not to mention samples from local chefs and and artisans. The Highball is also offering happy hour prices on cocktails during the whole event.)
Loeb has been working tirelessly on this event, but she took time out to snap a photo of her fridge and answer three questions for this week’s Fridge Friday:
What three things are always in your fridge? Salsa, specifically Rose’s Salsa. Salsa is my favorite snack, and Rose’s is super fresh and filled with my favorite combo, tomatoes and garlic. Butter….aaahhhh. Wine. I have a wine fridge, and it is always overflowing. Fresh veggies and fruit. (I know that is four, but my fridge is packed!)
What’s your favorite condiment? This must be a trick question. Picking my favorite condiment is like a mother picking her favorite child. I am condiment obsessed. At any given time I have around 10 different preserves/jellies that I eat with cheese, put on toast, use to make sauces and salad dressings I have lots of pickled veggies, including okra and Louisiana spicy beans. Relishes, especially Ragin Cajun jalapeno relish that I put in my deviled eggs. 5-6 types of mustard. At least 1 jar of mayonnaise. Various hot sauces, Worcestershire and ethnic accouterments. But I have to pick one…some kind of honey mustard (from Dai Due or Kocurek), or when in a pinch, Honey Cup stone ground mustard.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Ruby Red Grapefruit juice. I have to have some type of juice in the morning. Orange juice and lemonade are my back-ups.
Photo by Karla Loeb.
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July 29, 2011
Austin's Pizza owner JD Torian: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
It’s been just more than five years since JD Torian took over Austin’s Pizza, the local chain of 12 pizzerias that started in 1999. (Random fact: The Westlake location is BYOB.)
JD, who lives in Austin with his wife and two young sons, occasionally coordinates a book of the month club and writes about everything from the pizza business to what kind of music he likes on a company blog, but one of the coolest projects that the restaurant participates in is Random Acts of Pizza, a national campaign hosted on the site Reddit.com that connects people who could use a pizza with people in the mood to give one.
Austin’s Pizza has been giving away five pizzas a day for the past few weeks, either in response to a request on the Random Acts of Pizza site or via mentions on Twitter.
The company is also hosting a contest called “What’s Your Austin’s Pizza?” where customers submit their favorite pizza topping combinations, and the winning pizza will win a spot on the fall menu, which includes their new thin crust pizza.
What three things are always in your fridge? We have two young boys, so milk and eggs are always in there. The 4-year-old plows through about two gallons of milk a week. Other than those two items, our other go-to is actually our own Austin’s Pizza’s pizza sauce. We use it on practically everything from pastas to sandwiches. We have really found a lot of different uses for it. Austin’s Pizza as a whole has often wondered if we should seriously consider selling it by the pint in the stores.
What’s your favorite condiment? Just like most people, I have to say salsa. We always buy Cookwell & Company. It’s local, and it’s high quality. I recommend both the tomatillo and escabeche; they are both fantastic.
If you had to eat the same slice of pizza for the rest of your life, what would be on it? A cheese pizza. We go camping a lot. Out in the cudds. you get worn out with too many flavors etc. when faced with limited options. So, if I had to eat only one slice, it’d be plain cheese. It has the lowest satiation factor. Less is more when repetition is involved.
Photo by JD Torian.
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July 22, 2011
Trace forager Valerie Broussard: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Turns out, I was a little too literal in my interpretation of the word. The forager — Valerie Broussard, a Louisiana native who spent 11 years in New York as a chef, food stylist and writer before moving to Italy and then Austin — is in charge of building relationships with farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers and food artisans in the area whose products will be served at the restaurant.
She might not be the person harvesting the food, but her goal is to be as intimate with what’s growing in Central Texas as the farmers themselves. Every week, she’s meeting with local food producers and bringing back ingredients, which means what items happen to be available often dictate what’s on the menu.
A different kind of forager than I’d originally thought, but a forager nonetheless.
What three things are always in your fridge? Whole milk, cream and sugar for making gelato.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Cold-brew coffee
What’s your favorite condiment? Although not stored in my fridge, aged balsamic vinegar from Modena.
Photos from Valerie Broussard.
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July 8, 2011
Meteorologist Scott Fisher: What's In Your Fridge Friday?
UPDATED: The Wednesday live music series is now at the Nutty Brown Cafe.
This time of year, FOX 7 chief meteorologist Scott Fisher has the unenviable job of having to remind us how hot and dry it’s going to be every single day until, oh, September. (Maybe just looking at that forecast above will help you feel a little cooler today.)
But at least he’s having fun while he’s doing it. Every Wednesday during the summer, he gives the forecast from Hill’s Cafe in South Austin the Nutty Brown Cafe out past Oak Hill as part of the KVET Texas Music Series, and during the school year, he covers the weather from the sideline of UT football, basketball and baseball games.
Keeping up with a TV schedule like this doesn’t leave much time for cooking. “My food life? Ha! Well, I don’t cook. Never. Ever,” he says. “It’s no fun ‘cooking for one.’ But I have made scrambled eggs twice since 2008, and I will make Kraft Mac and Cheese a few times a year.”
Fisher admits he eats too much fast food, but he’s pushing himself to eat a salad most days, which is what he surely orders when he’s at the Nutty Brown, dashing our hopes for rain and telling us about another triple digit day.
What three things are always in your fridge? 1) Imitation milk (like Silk) or Lactose-free milk — it lasts for 2 months at a time!! I eat breakfast cereal (Cocoa Pebbles, Maple Sugar Life, Cap’n Crunch with Cruchberries) EVERY DAY for breakfast, lunch or dinner. 2) Bottled Cheap Beer 3) Mountain Dew
What’s your favorite condiment? I live in Texas…BBQ sauce of course!
What’s your go-to late night snack? This is a long list: cookies, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Twix, Baked Lays, raw cookie dough, Twizzlers
Photo and screen grab from Scott Fisher.
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July 1, 2011
Laura Hoke: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Kinky Friedman’s former press secretary can’t get enough of Hal’s Hot Love.
Laura Hoke, who spent nearly every minute of 2006 working on the gubernatorial campaign of the singer/animal rescuer/writer/funnyman, now works as the communications director for National Federation of Independent Business and eats this jalapeño-garlic salsa (think Taco Deli’s doña sauce, just with a ton of garlic) just about every day.
(Her friend Shanna Weisfeld, who makes the “salsita,” is in the process of starting her own company called Shanita’s Salsitas, so you can stock your fridge, too.)
Like just about everyone whose work life revolves around the capitol, Hoke is relieved that the 2011 Texas legislative session ended this week, but that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty to do between now and the next session, which starts in January 2013. “There’s already a steady stream of work to do in the interim because when not in session, we are out there working and meeting with members and, believe it or not, planning for next session.”
When asked for a food-related anecdote from her days with the Kinkster, Hoke shared this one: “We once had a strategy session at Pho on the Drag, and even with his campaign manager, press secretary and two lawyers, he ended up taking campaign advice from a college kid eating pho next to us.”
Friedman ended up with more than 12 percent of the vote. Not bad for a guy who gained fame with a band called The Texas Jewboys.
What three things are always in your fridge? A few kinds of cheese, El Milagro corn tortillas, Hal’s Hot Love by Shanita’s Salsitas
What’s your favorite condiment? Hal’s Hot Love. A creamy garlic roasted jalapeño salsa I can eat by the spoonful. It’s addictive. And the reason I keep corn tortillas on hand at all times.
What’s your go-to late night snack when no one is looking? If you haven’t already guessed … a lightly fried corn tortilla quesadilla with Hal’s.
Photo by Laura Hoke.
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June 24, 2011
Dan and Jenn Northcutt of Frank: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
With the Fourth of July around the corner, it’s officially hot dog season in Austin, but at Frank, it’s hot dog season every day of the year.
Dan and Jenn Northcutt are among the owners of the hot dogs-and-so-much-more restaurant in the Warehouse District, and as a chef, Dan gets credit for most of the inventive dishes on the menu. (I featured the fridge of fellow co-owner Geoff Peveto last year.)
At Frank, they serve more than a dozen hot dogs and sausages, all of which are either made in house or at Hudson’s Sausage Company on South Congress Avenue. (They just added Sonoran hot dogs, which are wrapped in bacon and deep-fried and topped with everything from beans to jalapeño sauce.)
Frank is one of the few places in town where you can get poutine year-round (that’ll make the Canadians happy), and I, for one, could make a meal out of their corn cup, made with grilled corn, cotija cheese, cilantro and lime juice.
What three things are always in your fridge?
High-end: Heirloom tomatoes, champagne, and Brillat Savarin cheese Low-brow: Pickled okra, Lonestar, and cheese whiz
What’s your favorite condiment?
High-end: Lemon-grass scented house-made aioli Low-brow: Miracle Whip
What’s your go-to late night snack?
High-end: Organic strawberries, Greek yogurt, and local honey Low-brow: Pimento cheese sandwich on white bread with a Coke!
Photos from Dan and Jenn Northcutt.
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June 19, 2011
Dad, chef and market forager Jack Gilmore: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
I have the pleasure of spending Father’s Day with my dad in Missouri this weekend, which is why I’m a few days late in posting this week’s Fridge Friday.
Jack is one of those gracious guys who just keeps on giving. To the farmers he buys from every week. To his restaurant, Jack Allen’s Kitchen. To his neighbors in Oak Hill who lost their houses in wildfires earlier this year. To his wife, LuAnn, and sons, Bryce and Dylan, whom he’s inspired to go into the restaurant business.
When Bryce first opened Odd Duck trailer, he was using his dad’s kitchen at Jack Allen’s to do the prep work. He had so much success with his Odd Duck trailer that he opened Barley Swine just down South Lamar Boulevard late last year.
Within months of opening Barley Swine, Food + Wine magazine named Bryce as one of the top 10 new chefs in the country.
Now, Odd Duck is in the hands of Bryce’s younger brother, Dylan.
From his own very successful restaurant, proud papa bear Jack gets to watch his sons do what he inspired them to do, which is all any parent can really hope for.
What three things are always in your fridge? Almond M&Ms, great local cheese and farm fresh eggs
What’s the one item you wouldn’t take the last bite or sip of because you know it’s your dad/son’s favorite? Never take the last M&M
What’s your go-to late night snack after long nights in the restaurant? Cheetos
Photo by LuAnn Gilmore.
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June 10, 2011
Annie Smith: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
A few months ago, I stumbled upon I Live Here: PDX, a blog that tells the stories of people who live in Portland, and tweeted that I thought it would be a cool project for someone to start for Austin.
I met Annie online and volunteered to write my own I Live Here story. It took a few months, but I finally wrote my story this week, and she photographed me yesterday at the Cathedral of Junk, where I lived when I first moved here six years ago. She posted the story this afternoon.
Anyone can submit their love letter to Austin; all you have to do is email Annie to get things started.
Annie is still on the hunt for a tech job that suits her, but in the mean time, she’s making beautiful photographs wherever she goes.
When I asked if I could show off her fridge, she hesitated when she opened it up and didn’t find much in there. After all, she just got home from a trip and is used to living across the street from a grocery store. “I still haven’t gotten re-accustomed to this ‘drive to the store and stock up concept’,” she says.
What three things are always in your fridge?
1) Cornichons, preferable Maille. I fell in love with cornichons while living in France and haven’t recovered. Go try them immediately. No really. Go. Now.
2) An avocado. Salad, sandwiches, eggs, toast - everything is better with avocado. I usually get the Haas because they are enormous, and for some reason I also have a knack for picking them when they are just right. I can’t seem to master the art of selecting the smaller ones.
3) Amy’s Veggie Lasagna. Technically in the freezer, not the fridge, but it’s my go-to “I’m in a hurry and I’m starving” frozen meal. Love. Favorite condiment? Mustard. Honestly I’m surprised I only have 2 types in the fridge today, I usually have 3 or 4.
Hardest food to photograph? I’ve never been able to get a good photo of pizza. Drives me crazy! But I do have an idea of what I’ll try next…
Photos by Annie Smith.
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May 27, 2011
Kristen Skelly: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
We’ve really lucked out with neighbors in our six years in Austin.
Kristen Skelly is one of them. She moved in our ‘hood last year when she had a baby belly as big as me. Her son was born just a few weeks after mine, and it’s been nice to have a fellow new mama nearby. We can get the kids together for some baby wrestling and fawning over how cute the other’s baby is. It’s what moms do. (Did I mention she’s a massage therapist, too? Everyone needs a neighbor with a massage table.)
Kristen used to work as a national park service employee and science teacher, and she just started Austin Outdoor Explorers, where she leads hands-on science adventures and nature walks for birthday parties, home-schoolers or just about any other group of curious youngsters who want to learn about the environment.
She’s always adding turtles, fish, snails and frogs to the cleanest aquariums I’ve ever seen and didn’t bat an eye when I asked if I could feature her fridge for today’s Fridge Friday.
What three things are always in your fridge? Diet Dr Pepper ( I refuse to drink Dr Pepper Ten [the company’s new low-calorie soda] because the ad campaign is so offensive to women), Swiss cheese and lettuce (spring mix)
What’s your favorite condiment? Gulden’s spicy mustard. I have three bottles of them on hand at any time.
What’s your go-to late night snack? Triscuits and Laughing Cow cheese.
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May 20, 2011
Austin360 Radio host LA Lloyd: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The Statesman has a little bit of new next to a little bit of old.
The big white building on the corner of Lady Bird Lake and Congress Avenue used to be a paragraph factory and that was about it. Just because we’ve been putting out a newspaper since 1871 doesn’t mean we don’t learn new tricks.
Take, for example, the radio station that is now broadcasting right next door to our test kitchen, which I use mainly to prep food for photo shoots or when I’m cooking something to share with coworkers.
It’s an Internet-only radio station, which is good news to the millions of us who only listen to traditional radio stations when we’re driving in cars that aren’t equipped with technology to stream anything but terrestrial tunes.
LA Lloyd spent many years working for those kind of stations, helping launch 101X in the mid 1990s and moving over to Cox, the Statesman’s parent company, when he worked as the program director for 99.5 KISS in San Antonio.
But now he’s in charge of Austin360’s newest venture: Austin360radio.com, which streams the kind of music Austin has grown to expect from a homegrown station 24 hours a day.
It’s not all Austin artists all the time, but Lloyd definitely gives more airtime to Austin-based bands and musicians than any other station in town. (And yes, he’s happy to get demos in the mail from up-and-coming acts: Just drop him an email — La.Lloyd@coxmg.com — or mail a disc to LA Lloyd, 305 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78704)
He’s already been hosting in-studio performances and interviews with bands and has started a Thursday night special featuring live music from the Saxon Pub. He features interviews with Statesman music writers on the latest news on the local music scene, and just last week, he and music writer Michael Corcoran launched a gospel show that starts at 10 a.m. on Sundays and will occasionally feature brunch recipes from area chefs and restaurants. (And maybe your favorite food writer, if I can squeeze it in.)
Lloyd, who says he’s happy to be back in Austin with his wife, Kathi, and daughters, Taylor and Ava, was kind enough to take a photo of his fridge for this week’s Fridge Friday.
(And no, I haven’t forgotten about this much-loved feature. I’ve just been too busy to seek out many fridges lately. Email me at abroyles@statesman.com if you or someone you know wants to participate or if you want to suggest someone whose fridge you’re dying to peek inside.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Kalamata olives, Boars Head Pesto Parmesan Ham, orange juice
What’s your favorite condiment? Salsa
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Orange juice for my daughters before taking them to school.
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April 15, 2011
Tequila expert and gardener extraordinaire Lucinda Hutson: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Long before the renaissance of cocktails and gardening, the El Paso native and University of Texas graduate was writing books about tequila and eating (and drinking) from your yard. (Almost twenty five years after it came out, “The Herb Garden Cookbook” is still in print.)
Hutson, a freelance writer and lecturer with the greenest thumb in town, is as colorful as her purple Rosedale house that is surrounded by flowers, herbs, fountains, quiet patios and her recently completed outdoor cantina, where she happily pours her famous ponches, cocktails and prickly pear margaritas, which will be featured at Fonda San Miguel on Cinco de Mayo next month.
She’s working on her next book, another tequila book based the years she has spent traveling and living in Mexico that will be a combination cookbook, bar book and story book of her experiences in Jalisco. “Preserving the tequila culture is really important,” she says. “The Mexican tequila companies are now owned by the big spirit conglomerates around the world.” As they change the centuries old tradition of how they make it, they are losing one of Mexico’s most unique cultures.
What three things are always in your party fridge? My famous corn salsa, Topo Chico and sangria or another of my legendary festive libations.
What’s your favorite thing to drink with tequila? Sangrita, a spicy little drink that you chase tequila with that sparks every one of your taste buds. It’s tart, sweet, sour, and it picas. It’s fresh orange juice, lime juice combined with Valentina hot sauce from Jalisco and my secret ingredient, which I’ll never tell. I always keep a bottle of 100 percent agave tequila blanco in the freezer and homemade sangrita in the fiesta fridge. So I guess Valentina hot sauce would probably also be my favorite condiment.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? It’s usually my half and half to go with my coffee.
Bio photo by Deborah Cannon for the Austin American-Statesman.
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April 8, 2011
Silver Whisk chef/owner Myrna Kallergis: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Myrna Kallergis wants to start a cooking revolution.
Even though there are endless food magazines and TV shows about cooking, and more recipes on the Internet than grains of salt in a salt shaker, cooking still isn’t as intuitive to most Americans as it could be. “Cooking is becoming a lost art, and our overall health is going with it,” she says. “The time to make a change is now.”
This week marks the opening of Silver Whisk Cooking School, Kallergis’ new cooking school at 1501 RM 620 North in Lakeway, which offers cooking classes for beginners, experts and everyone in between.
Brad Sorenson, who appeared on the reality TV show “The New Food Network Star” and was a line cook at Asti in Hyde Park, is the school’s culinary director who will help Kallergis teach classes and coordinate both local and nationally known chefs who will also teach at Silver Whisk.
As if opening a cooking school weren’t enough, Kallergis and her husband Koti, whom you probably know from his reporting gig on FOX7, are expecting their first baby any day now.
Thanks to both of them for letting up peek in their fridge.
What three things are always in your fridge? Milk, cheese of some sort and fruit of some sort.
What’s your favorite condiment? Raspberry chipotle sauce. I love it! You can make a quick infused mayo to spice up a sandwich, use it to marinate meat, serve it with crackers and cheese or make a savory chocolate dessert. The possibilities are endless.
What have you been craving during your pregnancy? It changed throughout my pregnancy. In the beginning I had a strong aversion to meat of any kind. The smell alone made me sick to my stomach. Now I’m eating pretty much anything, but crave dairy. I love milk, ice cream, cottage cheese and pudding. My random cravings are pasta, dark chocolate, Oreos and spanakopita (Greek spinach pie with Feta)
Photo from Myrna Kallergis.
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March 25, 2011
Chef Adam Gonzales: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Adam Gonzales is bringing a taste of Port Aransas to Austin.
The small coastal community near Corpus Christi is one of Gonzales’ favorite places to eat and fish, and starting next week, Port A Cafe, located in SouthPark Meadows off I-35 and Slaughter Lane, will give Austinites a taste of what’s to love.
The Manchaca-native and his brother started Serrano’s in 1988, which now has five locations around Austin. In the late 1990s, his team bought the Ninfa’s chain of Mexican restaurants in Houston, and now he’s going coastal by serving Gulf favorites like grilled fish, crawfish, lobster pot pie, gumbo, chowder and shrimp and crab cakes.
The restaurant will also feature an oyster bar, homemade cocktail and tartar sauces and French bread flown in from New Orleans for po’boys.
What three things are always in your fridge? Homemade chicken stock, Dijon mustard and butter
What’s your favorite condiment? Homemade salsa
What’s your go-to late night snack? Savory: cheese. Sweet: white chocolate.
Photo from Adam Gonzales.
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March 4, 2011
Brenton Johnson of Johnson's Backyard Garden: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
It’s been more than two years since I first wrote about Brenton Johnson’s farm, which started as a backyard garden and has kept the name even though he and his team grow food on about 70 acres east of Austin.
This Saturday, however, you can take a quick trip to the farm to buy vegetable transplants and seedlings at Johnson’s annual spring plant sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 9515 Hergotz Lane (off 183 near the airport). Brenton and his crew intentionally plant far more spring vegetables, including a number of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, so they can sell the transplants to gardeners.
(The Sunshine Community Garden’s annual Plant Sale and Garden Festival is also taking place tomorrow, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the gardens near North Lamar Boulevard and 45th Street.)
The nice thing about living on a farm is that you don’t have to store many vegetables in the fridge. Brenton’s wife, Beth, explains: “Since Brenton brings fresh produce back from the fields everyday, I don’t keep many vegetables in my fridge. When I’m getting ready to cook, I just go grab what I need from the coolers in the barn - it’s like having a farmers market in my backyard.”
What three things are always in your fridge? Milk, extra sharp cheddar cheese and butter
What’s your favorite condiment? Louisiana Hot Sauce
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Milk for the kids.
Photos from Brenton Johnson and jbgorganic.com.
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February 25, 2011
'Food Love Austin' host Susan Gayle: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Not too bad for her first episode.
In the months since, Gayle has interviewed national and local notables including Claire Robinson of the Food Network show “5 Ingredient Fix” and songwriter/personal chef Michael Fracasso. (Just a few weeks ago, I was on the air talking about SXSW, TechMunch and the food blogging community.)
Gayle, who has a beautiful flock of backyard chickens in one of the most interesting coops I’ve seen, is using the show to explore food topics as varied as farming and fine dining, and in coming weeks, she’ll have an interview with Gabrielle Hamilton, author of “Blood, Bones, and Butter.”
You can catch “Food Love Austin” on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. either on 91.7FM or streaming online at www.koop.org. Gayle also posts podcasts of past shows online.
What three things are always in your fridge? Butter, butter & more butter! I hate coloring in the lines, can I have four? Okay, butter, eggs and cheese … and champagne.
What’s your favorite condiment? Good mayonnaise — it’s versatile. Maybe vinegar, though.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Eggs (gifts from our hens)!
Photos by Susan Gayle.
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January 21, 2011
Batter Blaster founder Sean O'Connor: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Spray pancakes wouldn’t have gotten far in the grocery market if they didn’t taste like pancakes.
I, too, was surprised when I first tried Batter Blaster, organic pancake and waffle batter in an aerosol, and realized that pancakes from a can didn’t taste as weird as they sound.
Batter Blaster CEO Sean O’Connor, who moved his company from San Francisco to Austin in 2009, and wife Mistine clearly keep a lot of cans of Batter Blater in their fridge, but there’s also dry active yeast (to make pizza in the backyard pizza oven he recently built) and wasabi and pickled ginger for their weekly hand-cut sashimi dinner night.
Oh, and Saunder’s Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge, which his wife says is the best chocolate sauce ever made.
What three things are always in your fridge? Batter Blaster, Whole Milk (because of our two girls under 3 years old) and Miller High Life (Daddy’s milk)
What’s your favorite breakfast condiment? It is a tie between Crystal Hot Sauce (great on eggs and sausage gravy) and freshly whipped cream to top Batter Blaster Waffles
What’s your go-to late night snack? Clausen’s Kosher Dill Halves (have to buy them refrigerated section to ensure they are nice and crunchy!)
Photo by Mistine O’Conner.
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January 14, 2011
KISS 96.7 morning show host Bobby Bones: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
That Bobby Bones is always up to something.
Last month, when he wasn’t getting ready for his massive tacky Christmas sweater party, the popular morning show host on 96.7 KISS FM heard about a contest on “Live! with Regis and Kelly” where radio personalities across the country could vie for a guest hosting spot on the long-running morning TV show.
So, he made this video:
His dorky song — and affable, everyman style that has made him such a popular radio host — won him a spot in the top 10, and now he’s trying to get enough votes to be in the top 5, which would be his golden ticket to get to go to New York and host an episode of “Live!”.
Bones, who recently started a new blog on Austin360 called Socially Awkward, is up against some pretty slick and well-known personalities, but you have until Sunday at 5 p.m. to click here to vote and help a fellow Austinite get 15 minutes of national fame.
In the meantime, take a look inside his fridge, which he promises he did nothing to spiff up before photographing.
The more authentic, the better, I told him.
Best of luck, Bobby.
What three things are always in your fridge? Multiple old cartons of milk, mustard, and some odd leftover that I knew I wouldn’t eat when I brought them home… yet they stay in my fridge for ever.
What’s your favorite condiment? Mustard. I keep a couple bottles handy. I like it on all meat.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Whatever I can find that will hold me over for breakfast until I get to work. As you can see there isn’t a lot to choose from. I’m a single guy who eats out/picks up food about 12-15 times a week. One day I’ll have a woman that will straighten me out.
Photo by Bobby Bones.
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January 7, 2011
Cecilia Nasti, host of 'Field and Feast': What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Cecilia Nasti has a voice for radio, the hands of a gardener and the palate of a foodie.
For 22 years, you’ve heard her on KUT 90.5 FM during her “Growing Concerns” segment about gardening. As Nasti’s interest in food has evolved, so have her garden beds and her show, which has been relaunched as “Field and Feast” to focus on local food.
The show airs on Saturdays at 11:55 a.m. during “Folkways” and again on Sundays at 11 a.m. during “The Splendid Table.”
The show debuted on New Year’s Day with an episode about making stock with Carillon chef Josh Watkins. Tomorrow, catch the Statesman’s own Renee Studebaker giving tips on growing vegetables in winter. (Look for a recipe for her fennel soup in next week’s food section.)
Nasti says the show will focus on both the political and pleasurable aspects of sustainable food, as well as cover issues like food insecurity. Other shows this month include bread-making with Lauren Hubele of Bona Dea Baking Company and cheese with John Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop.
“I am an organic gardener and cook on my mother’s side,” she writes on her website. “And from my father’s side I got my freakishly large hands, which are great for gardening and cooking, but not so much for fine needle work.”
What three things are always in your fridge? You’re only letting me pick three things? Okay, I can do this. I reckon three things that I always have in my fridge are butter, cream and eggs. Yes, trite, high fat and cholesterol-riddled items, but in moderation nothing needs to be off limits. Although, come to think of it, I’m not exactly who you’d peg as the poster child for moderation; I’m more of an abbondanza (that’s Italian for abundance) kind of gal—and it definitely shows. But, it’s a brand New Year, right? Nevertheless, I like to have these items on hand for sauces or to thicken or bind other ingredients. True story: I didn’t eat eggs from the middle of second grade until I graduated from college. Why? In second grade, as a science experiment, our teacher incubated fertile chicken eggs in the classroom. With the exception of one egg teacher allowed to hatch into a fluffy chick, the rest she cracked—one day at a time— into separate jars of formaldehyde so we could see how chickens developed. I’m getting a little queasy just thinking about it now. Ew.
What’s your favorite condiment? That’s easy. My favorite condiment is mustard—all kinds of the tangy topping—although I am out of it at the moment. I love the grainy kick-in-the-pants mustards that I can get from Dai Due or the Kocureks. Or the nuanced flavor of a gourmet Dijon. That’s right, I said nuanced. And to be honest, on a ballpark dog or a flame kissed burger—the standard issue fluorescent yellow mustard of my youth can really hit the spot. Give me mustard on hand-cut home fries, or on roasted and grilled meats. On the other hand, I have absolutely no use for ketchup or catsup. I mean, how can you trust a condiment when you can’t even great agreement on how to spell the name? I’m just saying.
What’s your favorite edible thing to grow? My favorite edible thing to grow would have to be herbs. They are, in fact, the gateway edible. You start growing herbs and before long, you’ve got a little garden clog-wearing monkey on your back. It’s true. Fresh herbs are very forgiving to grow, and actually become more aromatic and flavorful with a little neglect. I have put that one to the test. Not only do they add brightness and complexity to any food you prepare—from meats to sweets—they’re also beautiful. Put some herbs into a flower arrangement for added color, texture and fragrance. They’re so versatile—what’s not to love?
Photos by Cecilia Nasti.
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December 31, 2010
Soraiya Nagree of La Patisserie: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
As the chef owner of Luxe Sweets, an online bakery, and the newly opened pastry and coffee shop La Patisserie, Nagree is making French favorites like millefeuille and lemon sables that are hard to find in Austin.
(Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce millefeuille. Soraiya offered staff members French lessons so they can help you learn to eat all those vowel sounds before you devour the “thousand-leaf” pastry.)
The adorable little house-turned-coffee shop at the corner of Annie and South First Street in South Austin feels prim and elegant, but because Soraiya has a 14-month-old son, it also has a small space for kids to play in while their parents enjoy a few cups of French-pressed coffee.
Soraiya says that in 2011, she hopes to be a better businesswoman and to exercise. (From one mom to another: Running two businesses and chasing a toddler definitely count as exercise, so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t run a few miles a week on top of it all.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Horizon whole milk for my son, garlic ginger paste that my mom makes and cheese (any — I love cheese!)
What’s your favorite condiment? Nutella- it is my guilty indulgence, especially on croissants
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Milk and OJ, at the same time
Photos from Soraiya Nagree.
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December 17, 2010
Carla Crownover: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
It has been a year since Carla Crownover stepped foot in a grocery store.
“I saw ‘Food, Inc.,’ and it freaked me out,” she says of the 2008 documentary that explored the ills of the conventional meat and agriculture industries. “I had already been a big farmers market shopper and gardener, but I was inspired to see if I could know where all my food has come from.”
Crownover, co-owner of Austin Urban Gardens, set some rules for herself: She could still eat out, but she’d try to go to restaurants that source ingredients locally. She could buy toilet paper and cleaning supplies at stores like Home Depot or Breed and Co., but not in conventional grocery stores. If local farmers markets didn’t have what she was craving to cook, she wouldn’t cook it. Period.
She hit farmers markets several times a week to stock up on eggs, meat, produce and premade products like jams, bread and, her favorite, doña hot sauce from TacoDeli. In the 350+ days that she’s been on her no-grocery-store challenge, she’s seen the variety of local products grow “exponentially.” She found local sources for flour, cornmeal and popcorn (Richardson Farm), rice (Lowell Farms) and even parmesan cheese. “I met (Kendall and John) Antonelli before they started their cheese shop, and they asked me one of my difficulties,” she says. She told them that, as a gardener who frequently has too much basil on her hands, it was going to be hard to go a year without parmesan cheese to make pesto. “On opening day, I walked in the store and they had Brazos Valley parmesan cheese.”
Crownover says that one of the big changes in her diet has been the kind of meat she eats. “I can’t even tell you how many times I had duck this year,” she says, because it’s readily available from local vendors. “It used to be something I only ordered at a restaurant.” She’s seen the number of charcuterie products from local companies like Kocurek Family Charcuterie, Dai Due and Salt and Time, expand, too. “It’s really cool how many new local food people their are.” (Nearly every day of the challenge, Crownover blogged about her discoveries and her challenges.)
How much more money does she spend on local food has been a question she is asked frequently, but it’s not something she tracked. “The meat is definitely more expensive, but I cut some of the higher end costs by growing more food” in her backyard garden beds.
Besides avocados, did she miss anything else about shopping at grocery stores? “I used to miss the variety of prepared foods. I could whiz into Whole Foods and come home with a whole week’s worth of Indian food or whatever, but now I just try to plan ahead and cook.” If she wants to eat chicken on Wednesday night, she has to take one out of the freezer on Monday so it will have time to thaw.
(Because she’s learned so much about the inner workings of the farmers markets and local vendors, Crownover is offering tours of the markets so other people can see the market through her eyes. E-mail her at cscrown@swbell.net to set one up.)
“Grocery shopping was kind of a hobby, and now the farmers market is my hobby,” she says. “It’s a lot fun.”
What three local products are always in your fridge? Steady supply of cheese from Antonelli’s, eggs and a tub of doña hot sauce from TacoDeli
What’s your favorite local condiment? I like the mustards that both Dai Due and Kocurek do.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Milk for my coffee. I hit the button on the coffee pot and stand there with the milk in my hand waiting for the light to go off.
Photo by Christian Bowers.
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December 10, 2010
FOX 7 reporter Nik Ciccone: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Tomorrow’s Eat Local Week cook-off between FOX 7 producer and reporter Nik Ciccone and me isn’t exactly “Iron Chef,” but that doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about it.
Cooking at home is one thing. Cooking in front of other people is another. But just the thought of cooking and competing against someone else in front of a panel of judges that includes some of Austin’s most well-known food writers, bloggers and notables is enough to make my knife slip out of my sweaty palm. (I’m thinking about making a shirt that says, “I heart VBW.”)
I’m relieved to see that, unlike many of the people I end up featuring on Fridays, it doesn’t look like he purged the leftovers and scrubbed it squeaky clean. My fridge actually looks pretty similar this late in the workweek.
Minus the oil painting and playing guitar part, it looks like we also share a lot of similar interests, including keeping up a humble backyard vegetable garden and experimenting in the kitchen with significant other. However, he is from Superior, Wis., which has got to give a guy a winner’s complex, but I think I can handle it.
Last night, I tested out the recipe for carrot and butternut squash “faux-sotto” that I plan to make tomorrow.
No word from his Twitter page about what he’s making, but no matter what he cooks, it’ll be fun to cook in front of an audience. And hopefully I can break the two-year streak of male contenders defeating their female opponents.
Come down to the farmers market downtown at 10 a.m. tomorrow and cheer us on!
What three things are always in your fridge? Multiple kinds of hot sauce, multiple kinds of meat, multiple kinds of cheese (I am from WI, after all).
What’s your favorite meal to cook? Rare, charred steak with mushrooms, onions and pasta.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Bag lunch to take to work. I don’t like eating at restaurants; it’s usually, though not always, disappointing.
Photo by Nik Ciccone.
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December 3, 2010
The Rebeccammendations: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Nobody likes to move. Well, living in a new place is fun, but the act of moving from one place to another is one of life’s biggest pains. And there are few rooms as tedious to move from one place to another as the kitchen.
I know this. You know this. Rebecca Otis knows this. The blogger behind The Rebeccammendations, which is nominated for an Austin Blogger Award, recently moved into a new place and thought to photograph her new fridge as it was first getting stocked. (She also had a few of her famous chocolate truffles she’d made for a wedding to show off.)
What were the first three things you make sure to stock in your new fridge? Hot sauce. I’m from El Paso, so growing up on the border made me appreciate anything spicy. 2. Light Vanilla Silk soymilk. I have it with Kashi cereal every morning to start my day on the right foot. 3. Fresh fruits and veggies. I pretty much only freeze my favorite late night snack. Everything else in my kitchen is fresh or in the pantry, so fruits and veggies are a must. Right now, citrus is in season, so a bag of Clementines and grapefruits are waiting for me to dig in. Acorn squash is also on the menu for this week.
Did you move anything like condiments or jelly from one fridge to the new one? Yes! Austin’s Own BBQ Sauce (Border Edition, for turkey sandwiches), Caravel Sweet Chili sauce (for homemade spring rolls), Tears of Joy’s 6th Street Green salsa and a jar of minced roasted garlic.
What’s your go-to late-night snack, besides homemade truffles? Frozen mini York peppermint patties. If you’re visiting me in the evening, you’re almost always offered one (or two or three) after dinner.
Photos by Rebecca Otis.
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November 26, 2010
Angel Valley farmers Jo and John Dwyer: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Jo, who writes the farm’s blog and keeps up the Facebook page, was kind enough to photograph not one, but two fridges the weekend before Thanksgiving.
She says both fridges (one is the house fridge and the other is the beer, lunchboxes and Costco fridge) are of equal importance, depending on the time of day.
The Dwyers operate two farmstands from March through July and October through December: Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at FM 1431 and Park Drive in Jonestown and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Jollyville Road between Oak Knoll Drive and Duval Road in Northwest Austin.
What three things are always in your fridge? In our main fridge, that would be organic milk, organic yogurts and containers with leftovers from previous dinners. In our back fridge, that would be beer, home-canned items, and Izzies.
What’s your favorite thing to can/put up? We don’t have a lot of time for canning, but we always try to make a point to get some salsa and pickles put up by the end of each summer. We also freeze whole tomatoes.
What’s the one Thanksgiving dish that your feast wouldn’t be complete without? Salads! All through the year we eat whatever is coming off the farm at that particular time, and November brings a plethora of salad fixin’s. When we’re lucky, like we are this year, we also get to enjoy fresh broccoli and cauliflower as part of the feast.
Photos from Jo Dwyer.
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November 19, 2010
What's in Your Fridge Friday is back! Adam Ahrens, what's in yours?
What’s in Your Fridge Friday is back from maternity leave (sorry, no pictures just yet of the wee mini fridge who was born in September), just in time for Thanksgiving and the food-crazy holiday season.
Ahrens, whose mellow style would make perfect background music for just about any dinner party and especially Thanksgiving, is celebrating the release of his new CD, “Prize Fight,” with a free show at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday at Lamberts Downtown Barbecue.
What three things are always in your fridge? Sparkling water, cheese of all kinds, cured meats especially pancetta to start pan sauces and render for warm salad dressing
What’s your favorite thing at Asti? Seafood risotto, and this could change after seeing the specials line up
What’s the one dish you can school your chef friends at making? Braised lamb shanks with toasted cumin and juniper berry. Less is more in this case. A good braise should be elemental first, and I like lighter red wines as well to avoid fruit bombs that will obscure the delicate flavors.
Photo by Adam Ahrens.
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August 27, 2010
'First Kitchen' blogger Natalie San Luis: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Natalie writes about the successes and failures as she cooks in her very first kitchen. She had a great post this week with a checklist for incoming students (or just about anyone setting up a kitchen) on what basic food and equipment you need for a kitchen.
“I started the blog because I love writing and I wanted to document my experience learning how to cook,” she writes. “I stuck with it because feeding people makes them happy, which makes me happy!”
Good luck to Natalie this school year and the rest of you lucky enough to be in the classroom.
(Yes, I said lucky. Some of us secretly wish we could be students forever.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Eggs (we go through them like crazy), romaine lettuce for quick salads on the run, and red curry paste.
What’s your favorite condiment? Definitely sriracha sauce! The kind that comes in the big bottle with a rooster on it and a green lid. It tastes good with everything.
What’s your go-to late-night study snack? Homemade roasted garlic hummus. I make big batches at a time because my roommates and I eat it on wraps, vegetables, crackers, chips, and pretzels.
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August 13, 2010
Eddie V's chef Chris Bauer: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Don’t you wish your fridge looked this clean?
Chris Bauer, executive chef at Eddie V’s, says that the day he took this photograph, he’d just stock up a newly installed fridge in his kitchen. But because he’s a chef who also happens to be a single dad raising 6-year-old Ella, he tries to keep it this organized all the time. “I work weird hours, so it generally stays pretty clean,” Bauer says.
After graduating from Clemson University and the Culinary Institute of America, Bauer had stints at Brennan’s in New Orleans and Mizu, Finn and Porter and Barton Creek Country Club in Austin before taking the reins at Eddie V’s downtown.
What three things are always in your fridge? Produce from the HOPE farmers market, Topo Chico, juice boxes for my daughter
What’s your favorite condiment? Mayonnaise. I’m not a big ketchup guy, and mustard has its place. I love mayo and French fries.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Super food. It’s a juice. Odwalla, fresh. The green stuff.
Photo by Chris Bauer.
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July 30, 2010
Patricia Vonne: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The Austin-based musician and singr has appeared in a number of films directed by her brother, Robert Rodriguez, including “Sin City,” “Spy Kids” and “Machete,” which comes out in September.
But the seductive Vonne is best known for her sultry songs such as “Traeme Paz,” which cross just about every Latin-inspired musical genre and many of which she sings in Spanish. Just this week, she opened for Los Lonely Boys at a concert at Dell Diamond.
It looks like the September 24 show at the Continental Club will be your last chance to catch her before she heads off to Europe for a tour this fall.
What
What’s your favorite condiment? Old Bay
What’s your favorite post-concert late-night snack? Pizza from Homeslice (I buy slices for the crew and band)
Fridge photo by Patricia Vonne.
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July 23, 2010
Pure Luck goat cheese family: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
For 15 years, Pure Luck Dairy has been producing some of the best goat cheese in the state.
Amelia Sweethardt and Ben Guyton run the Dripping Springs farm and dairy, which was started by Amelia’s mother, Sara Bolton, and to celebrate 15 years in business and the first birthday of their son, June, this summer, they redesigned the company’s logo and launched a new cheese called June’s Joy.
You can find Pure Luck’s fresh and aged cheeses in cheese shops and higher end grocery stores like Central Market and Whole Foods throughout the state, and starting today, the just-opened H-E-B in Dripping Springs will be selling Pure Luck’s cheeses just a few miles from where the goats are raised. (To say folks in Drippin’ were excited about this store is an understatement. Check out this photo gallery of the people who showed up before dawn to be among the first shoppers.)
Amelia and her sister Gitana also run cheesemaking workshops in the spring and fall, which is the only time the farm is open to members of the public.
What three things are always in your fridge? Peanut butter, eggs from our own chickens, and mustard.
What’s your favorite condiment? Some sort of jelly or fruit spread. I like to put it on cheese and sandwiches. My husband, Ben, has been known to make peanut butter and jelly tacos with flour tortillas for kids.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Milk for my tea.
Photo by Amelia Sweethardt and from PureLuckTexas.com.
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July 16, 2010
Dorsey Barger and Susan Hausmann: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
It’s been 22 years since Dorsey Barger and Elaine Martin started Eastside Cafe, the Manor Road restaurant that has been a pioneer of the eat-local movement in Austin. The restaurant staff had always grown some of its food in a garden on site, but it wasn’t until about three years ago, when Barger started working the beds herself, that the garden bug bite her.
Now, she and partner Susan Hausmann have their very own 2-acre organic farm located just a few miles from the restaurant in East Austin. “We don’t buy eggs anymore,” Barger says proudly when I ask her how much of what they produce goes to Eastside Cafe. HausBar Farm has also provided just about every single tomato that has been served this summer at the cafe.
She and Susan have added a beehive and, most recently, goats, which means Barger will get to start experimenting with making goat milk cheese pretty soon.
You can get a sense of Dorsey’s delightful personality from her answers to the questions below. (Longtime readers of this blog will remember a post from last year that told the story of Dorsey’s connection to the Washington D.C. school that President Obama’s daughters attend. She attended as a young girl and her grandfather was one of the founders.)
What three things are always in your fridge?
1) Charcuterie from Dai Due Supper Club and Butcher Shop. Since Susan and I are both always on the go, we stop by the Dai Due booth at whichever farmers’ market they happen to be on Saturday and pick up an assortment of meat, preserves and condiments. Add some crusty bread and you have an instant meal.
2) Farmers’ market vegetables: We can walk out the door to pick fresh produce for ourselves, so our own veggies are never in our refrigerator, but those veggies we don’t have the space to grow, we buy from our farmer friends.
3) A selection of Real Ale brews (we buy the mixed 6 packs) and a good bottle of wine or two or three. Lately, we keep Adelsheim ‘07 Chardonnay from Willamette Valley, Oregon in supply. It’s the best Chardonnay I’ve ever tasted from anywhere in the U.S.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Containers of organic grains, fruits and vegetables that I’ve prepared for our 3 birds, Asher the African Gray, Chloe the Meyer’s parrot, and Elliott the cockatiel. I feed them first thing every morning while I sip on a strong, dark cup of Katz Coffee. I nibble on their fruit while I feed them since I’m not a big breakfast eater.
What’s the one vegetable you couldn’t live without? That is way too hard a question! I could list 20 that I couldn’t live with out, but for the sake of trying to answer the question, the one vegetable I couldn’t live without would be heirloom tomatoes. Or wait, beets. No, carrots. But then there’s cauliflower. Damn! That’s 4.
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July 9, 2010
Composer Graham Reynolds: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The composer and multi-instrumentalist behind Golden Arm Trio creates music for everything from theater productions and symphonies to full-length films, including Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly.” He recently teamed up with fellow composer and musician Peter Stopchinski to form the Golden Hornet Project, which performs Sunday night at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar downtown. (Last month, Reynolds and Stopchinski won best symphony concert at the Austin Critics’ Table Awards.)
Ahead of the Sunday night show, Graham, who has been a vegan for 20 years, showed off the contents of his fridge.
What three things are always in your fridge? Hm, lots of things. I’m vegan, so obviously that has a major impact on what I buy. Most of the time I have some sort of fresh Asian noodles from the Korean or Vietnamese grocery store (I love noodles more than anything and fresh Asian noodles are much less likely to have eggs than fresh Italian pasta).j And fresh herbs, cilantro and parsley in particular, set in water like cut flowers to preserve them. And lots of basics (soy milk, margarine, lemons, limes, garlic, homemade strawberry jam from the farmer’s market, etc.).
What’s your favorite condiment? Tough one. I like condiments; the intensity of the flavors has always appealed to me. It’s probably a fight between chili pastes/sauces and mustards. I guess I’ll go with mustard because I have so many of them and use them more as a condiment than as an ingredient, while chili pastes (I have quite a few of these as well) I probably use equally both ways.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? This is boring, but usually water. We keep two Brita containers, one in the fridge and one on the counter, because I like the water cold and Shawn doesn’t.
Fridge photo by Graham Reynolds.
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July 2, 2010
Tyson Cole and Paul Qui of Uchi, Uchiko: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Two chefs, two fridges and now two restaurants.
In the past seven years, under the watchful eye of Uchi chef/owner Tyson Cole, Paul Qui has worked his way up from the tempura station to second in command at what many consider to be the best restaurant in Austin.
And on opening day Tuesday, after all the barbecues and fireworks this long holiday weekend, Qui will step in as executive chef at Cole’s newest venture, Uchiko, a sister restaurant exactly four miles up Lamar Boulevard from the original.
But don’t be fooled by the names and proximity: The restaurants are as unique as the home refrigerators of the chefs in charge of the kitchens.
Could you guess whose fridge is whose?
What three things are always in your fridge? Fat free milk, baby bottles and berries
What’s your favorite condiment? Butter
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? Bottled water
What three things are usually in your fridge? Sparkling water, water and butter
What’s your favorite condiment? Fish sauce
What’s your go-to late night snack? Ice cream
With 10 years and three kids on Qui, Cole’s fridge looks like just about any other busy dad’s: Colorful drawings on the outside; wholesome kid-friendly snacks and fare on the inside.
Qui’s sparse refrigerator reflects his busy schedule — in addition to getting Uchiko off the ground, he continues to operate East Side King, a trailer featuring Asian street food in the back of the East Sixth Street watering hole Liberty Bar — and time spent away from home. “My fridge hasn’t been too exciting lately,” he admits.
Fish sauce and bubbly, er sparkling, water for Qui; butter and baby bottles for Cole.
Two different chefs who lead different lives, but Uchi, and now Uchiko, bring them together.
Photos by Tyson Cole, Paul Qui and Thao Nguyen for the Austin American-Statesman.
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June 25, 2010
Olive oil expert Mary Beth Murphy: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Slow Food Austin is hosting one of its biggest fundraisers of the year on Saturday. The Texas Artisan Showcase will features dozens of local food producers and artisans, including Mary Beth Murphy of Piche, a Austin-based boutique olive oil company that imports French, Italian and Californian olive oils.
Murphy, who went from being a casual oil lover to the kind who can now detect even the faintest imperfections, isn’t importing just any old olive oils or even just your run-of-the-mill, high-quality ones. She’s after the delicate olive oils made along the southern coast of France or similar oils made in other countries. Not sure what the difference is? She’ll be hosting a tasting demonstrations with bread from local baking company Bona Dea at the showcase that takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Space 12, 3121 E. 12th St..
You can still buy tickets for the event (full-priced tasting tickets cost $60, $55 for Slow Food members, but you can buy fewer tastings for $40 or $35 for members), which will feature food and drinks from dozens of local purveyors.
What three things are always in your fridge? Cheese, eggs and whatever is in season at Boggy Creek Farm.
What’s your favorite condiment, besides olive oil? Hellman’s mayonnaise. On anything.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten with olive oil? Nutella, salt and toast.
Photo by Mary Beth Murphy.
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June 18, 2010
East Side Show Room chef Sonya Coté: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
She’s the boss lady over at East Side Show Room, Mickie Spencer’s funky, vintage restaurant on East Sixth Street that opened earlier this year.
Coté serves an almost entirely locally sourced menu, mainly with produce from Rain Lily Farm just a few miles east of the restaurant. In her magical free time, she continues to operate a catering company and hosts supper club dinners like the one a week from Saturday (June 26) that will benefit the HOPE Farmers Market.
(The dinner, at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Big Red Sun (1102 E. Cesar Chavez St.), will feature a cruise ship-themed menu made with local ingredients. You can buy tickets and find out more online. Cruise ship is attire encouraged.)
And, best of all — at least in the mind of this momma of a young boy — she’s accomplished all this while raising her son into the kind of independent-minded 17-year-old who likes to do things like soap.
What three things are always in your fridge? White Mountain yogurt, lard and eggs
What’s your favorite condiment? liquid aminos, jamine’s restaurant style salsa, nutritional yeast
What’s your go-to late night snack? Popcorn, roasted nut trail mixes (with chocolate & raisin), Asian rice cracker mix (with nori & wasabi) & grapefruit
Fridge photo by Sonya Coté, Coté photo by Laura Skelding for the Austin American-Statesman.
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June 11, 2010
Bryan Bracewell of Southside Market: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Southside’s roots date back to 1882, when a man named William Moon started selling beef and pork from the back of a wagon in Elgin, about half an hour east of Austin. Moon eventually opened up Southside Market, which has been in the meat business ever since. The Bracewell family bought the market in 1968 and has passed the company down through three generations of barbecue lovers.
In addition to running the restaurant and market, Bryan Bracewell hits the road several times a year, usually with a smoker in tow, for festivals and barbecue events to share a true taste of Texas barbecue with folks who aren’t lucky enough to live here.
Earlier this week, I ate at Southside with a group of chefs, restaurant owners, farmers and producers who were participating in a tour of local farms and food companies. We enjoyed the smoked chicken, ribs, brisket, pork steak, beans and potato salad, but there’s just no competition when it comes to the perfectly fatty and spiced sausage that has made Southside famous.
Bracewell will be serving sausage and brisket at Sunday’s festival, which features iconic foods from across the country (including Ted Drewes custard from St. Louis!) and famous foodies like “Top Chef” judge and chef Tom Colicchio and Southern food royalty Paula Deen and Pat and Gina Neely.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beef, salad fixins and milk (twin 4-year-old boys go through about 3 gallons weekly!)
What is your favorite condiment? Authentic Texas barbecue folks don’t need condiments, but I like to spice up my foods from time to time with any vinegar-based, red-pepper hot sauce!
What food are you most excited to try at the Great American Food and Music Fest? I can’t wait to try a hamburger sandwich from Louis’ Lunch, who claims to be the birthplace of the American Hamburger. They are a family-owned business that still makes authentic hamburgers the way they did in 1900.
Fridge photo from Bryan Bracewell.
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June 4, 2010
Food blogger, record label owner Emily Gross: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Emily Gross is as obsessed with music as she is food.
Gross, who owns the Austin record label Artifact Workshop with her husband, John, mixes the two in her very cool food blog, Gnocchi No Plan.
Whether she’s writing about cooking, gardening or eating egg sandwiches and tater tots, Gross includes a song and lyrics with each blog post.
As if her food blog isn’t fun enough, the musicians she and John work with are pretty cool, too. They make this video to go with a CD release party for a local artist named Neilyo, who is playing a gig on Sunday at the Mohawk.
What three things are always in your fridge? leftovers for the next day’s lunch, good beer, and ketchup
What’s your favorite condiment? TexaFrance pesto! We put it on everything…grilled cheese, rice, breakfast tacos…you name it.
If you could only eat one vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be? This is a tricky one. We’re both vegetarian and really love our vegetables. But let’s go with garlic! It’s the perfect food, and it would be hard to cook anything without it.
Photo by Emily Gross.
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May 28, 2010
Good Pops owner Manuel Flores: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Summer doesn’t officially begin for another few weeks, but by Memorial Day, everyone is in the summer spirit. The weather seems to have caught up with us, which means it’s officially paleta season, too.
Aren’t familiar with paletas? They are popsicle-like frozen treats sold at many Mexican eateries. Traditionally, they are made with fruit flavors similar to aguas frescas, but Good Pops owners Manuel and Laura Flores have taken paletas to a new level. Not only are their frozen pops made with organic sugar or agave nectar, but they come in a plethora of flavors, including coffee, pineapple basil and mango chile.
Earlier this year, the Flores’ (seen above with their cute kids in a picture I took for a story last year) opened a trailer at 1003 Barton Springs Road, but you can buy their paletas a several area farmers markets and grocery stores, including Whole Foods Gateway (and in Houston, the location on Westheimer), Royal Blue Groceries, Wheatsville Co-op and a handful of other stores. (For a Google map of where to buy, click here.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Limes, soy milk and watermelon
What’s your favorite paleta flavor? Wasabi
What’s your favorite non-paleta dessert? Gourdough’s Donuts
Fridge photo by Manuel Flores.
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May 21, 2010
Davíd Garza: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Garza has been playing Austin clubs since he moved to the city to attend UT in 1989, but he quickly hit the road. He built up a big enough following that at the end of the 1990s, he came in just behind Stevie Ray Vaughan as the Austin Chronicle’s Austin Musician of the Decade.
In the past 10 years, he’s continued to release albums and play concerts and festivals, including Saturday’s Pachanga Latino Music Festival at Fiesta Gardens. “My music is food for some people and I just love making new dishes for people to pig-out on,” he told the music blog Houston Calling just before South by Southwest earlier this year.
Garza isn’t just performing at Saturday’s festival; he’s leading a kids’ songwriting workshop at Niños Rock, a fun and educational section of the festival aimed to teach kids about Latino music, arts and culture.
You can still buy tickets to the festival online ($20 for anyone 12 and over, $50 for VIP access to a food-filled, air-conditioned tent).
What three things are always in your fridge? Boggy Creek sorrel, almond butter and kombucha
What’s your favorite condiment? El Chilito salsa
What is your favorite post-gig food? East Side Pies’ Olivia pizza, sold by the slice 24 hours a day at Epoch Coffee on North Loop Boulevard.
Photo by Davíd Garza.
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May 14, 2010
James Moody: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Each year, artists create 5-by-7-inch pieces, which are all priced at $100. The money raised from the sale supports Arthouse’s many free programs, exhibits and education events.
This year, Five x Seven expanded the showcase by adding an Art Social event tonight from 8 to 11 p.m. Tickets, which include food from Frank, Maria Maria and the Cedar Door, cocktails, wine, beer and live music from Austin band Balmorhea, cost $30.
If you can’t make the event tonight, check out the exhibition at the Whitely Building from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
For more on Moody’s involvement with Five x Seven, check out Matthew Odam’s interview with him and Arthouse development director Jennifer Wijangco on The M.O.
What three things are always in your fridge? Modelo Especial, pickles and Topo Chico What’s your favorite condiment? Queso What’s your favorite post-concert late-night snack? Steakumms and Mamwiches
Photo by James Moody.
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May 7, 2010
Dan and Sis Broyles: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
What better Mother’s Day present to my mom than showing off the inside of her fridge? (Here’s the outside, just in case you were wondering.)
I’m in Missouri with my family this Mother’s Day weekend to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday. (She’s the one with the bread knife her grandmother brought over on a boat from Sweden.)
May is such a beautiful time to be in Southwest Missouri. I forget how green everything gets up here, and how cool 63 degrees feels as an afternoon high when summer is lapping at spring’s shore.
Our entire trip seems to revolve around the kitchen and the backyard (and hopefully both when we fire up the grill in a few hours for dinner.) I love coming home and, although the fridge has been upgraded since I was a kid, standing in the same kitchen, at the same counter, fixing a sandwich or a bowl of cereal.
Nothing like the comfort of mom’s refrigerator.
What three things are always in your fridge? Blueberries (my mom always freezes the ones she picks each June from a nearby blueberry farm), yogurt and Cholula hot sauce
What’s your favorite condiment? For my dad, powdered creamer. (He refuses to use milk. Says it waters down the coffee and cools it down too fast.) For my mom, caramel syrup, although she claims not to eat it too much.
What’s your go-to late-night snack? Mom: “The good for me: yogurt. The bad for me: ice cream.” I don’t even have to ask my dad. His late-night cereal habit is going strong. A bowl a night, unless he splurges on ice cream.
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April 30, 2010
Author Shannon Honeybloom: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
After years of moving quickly through life (traveling the world, getting three degrees, acting in commercials), Shannon Honeybloom decided to slow things down. Way down.
She was a mother of two children in one of the busiest cities in the world. In a Statesman story earlier this month, Honeybloom recalled how having kids made her remember her own laid-back childhood where getting things done wasn’t as important as just enjoying whatever the day held.
She and her husband moved from New York City to Austin, where they now live with their three young kids and where all kinds of “slow” movements have converged. Creating a “slow” life at home is the subject of Honeybloom’s new book, “Making a Family Home.”
Taking the time to enjoy the process of cooking and eating is at the heart of the Slow Food movement, which means Honeybloom’s refrigerator is essential to her family’s effort to live life more slowly.
What three things are always in your fridge? Apples, butter, and hopefully something that contains chocolate.
What’s your favorite condiment? Mustard, especially spicy.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? I pull out the ice tea: I’m on a smoothie kick right now, and I like to use herbal tea in it. So I’ll fill up the blender with fruit, a little almond milk and chilled herbal tea — for a refreshing morning shake!
Photo by Shannon Honeybloom.
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April 23, 2010
Austin Kleon: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
For Austin Kleon’s sake, I hope newspapers don’t go away any time soon.
(For my sake and your sake, too, but for entirely different reasons.)
The Austin-based artist makes poetry by blacking out all but a few words in newspaper articles. He uses a Sharpie to create art by taking away, just like a sculptor would by chipping away at a block of wood.
Kleon just released his first book “Newspaper Blackout,” a collection of poems that are as diverse as the articles from which they are derived.
The book came out last week, which meant the Kleon celebrated with a release party at his house. This explains, he says, the “trashy” condition of his fridge, including the Mountain Dew Throwback and leftover salsa in a foam container. (Wish I had a good excuse for the train wreck of a fridge in my house right now.)
What three things are always in your fridge? To quote the title of my friend Bill Keaggy’s book, Milk Eggs Vodka.
What’s your favorite condiment? If I ever drown myself, it’ll be in Mi Madre’s salsa.
What’s your go-to snack while reading/working with a newspaper? Almonds…and beer.
When I asked Kleon to send me a picture of his fridge, I also sent him a scanned copy of a March food section that included an article of mine, from which he created a poem called “Tall Boys.”
I’m not sure if he considers what he does collaborative art, but I do. The thought that someone might take the words I so painstakingly peck out for the paper each week and give them new life as a new art form — be it blackout or even just a simple collage — makes me incredibly happy.
Photo by Meghan Kleon.
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April 16, 2010
Reef chef/owner Bryan Caswell: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The Houston-born has been catching fish in the Gulf of Mexico since he was a kid, and it wasn’t until he was in his 20s that he considered cooking for a living.
Caswell went to the Culinary Institute of American in New York and was hooked. He spent the following years traveling and cooking in some of the world’s best kitchens before coming back to Houston, where he now is the chef/owner of four restaurants: Stella Sola, Little Big’s, a burger and wine bar with two Houston locations, and Reef, which has won more accolades in the few short years since it opened than almost any other restaurant in Texas earns in a lifetime.
In 2009, Food & Wine magazine named his as one of the best new chefs in the country.
Caswell, whose fishing and cooking adventures you can follow on Twitter or his Whole Fish blog. is one of more than two dozen of the state’s top chefs cooking at tonight’s Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting, one of the biggest events of the Hill Country Wine and Food Festival.
I just hope they give the guy a bottle of Pellegrino to get him through the night.
What three things are always in your fridge? Agua con gas, Lone Star, whole milk
What’s your favorite condiment? Pickled anything
What’s your go-to late-night snack? Omelet
Photo by Bryan Caswell.
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April 9, 2010
Sweet Leaf Tea founder Clayton Christopher: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
In 12 short (or not-so-short, depending on whom you ask) years, the 37-year-old led the company to a national stage, where it now brews more than 10,000 gallons of tea a day and sells bottles in all 50 states. Last year, Nestle Waters invested more than $15 million into the company.
But Christopher, who was recently named Austinite of the Year at the Austin Under 40 awards, is passing on the Sweet Leaf Tea bottle whose caps carry the sayings of Mimi, the grandma whose tea started it all.
Last month, he announced that he would be stepping down as CEO, which will give him plenty of time to jog around Lady Bird Lake and drink kale chard smoothies.
What three things are always in your fridge? Kale, coconut juice (for smoothies) and hemp milk (for my cereal).
What’s your favorite condiment? Good balsamic vinegar.
What’s the first thing you pull out ofhe fridge in the morning? Stuff for my green smoothie: frozen banana, kale, chard, coconut juice and apple. It’s best way to start your day with clean energy!
Photo by Clayton Christopher.
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April 2, 2010
'Icing on the Cupcake' author Jennifer Ross: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
In a new novel by Austin author Jennifer Ross, cupcakes aren’t just an obsession for Ansley Waller, a Dallasite who gets dumped by the fiance everyone thinks is perfect. Waller moves to New York, starts a bakery and whips up more than a new cupcake career.
“The Icing on the Cupcake” (Ballantine Books, $15), which came out this week, is Ross’s third book, and the former Wall Street Journal reporter will host a cupcake contest and book-signing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6, at BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar Blvd.
What three things are always in your fridge? Nonfat milk, yogurt and European butter (higher fat content so, of course, it tastes better).
What’s your favorite cupcake topping? Childhood icing, you know, the kind made with butter, powdered sugar, a little milk and vanilla. Creamy with a little bit of tang to it.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Mushrooms. Nothing like a sauteed mushrooms with a side of scrambled egg whites for breakfast.
Wake Up and Smell the Scandal Carrot Cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. finely ground salt, either sea or ionized
6 carrots coarsely grated
1/2 cup dried bing or tart cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely grated
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For cream cheese frosting:
4 oz. softened unsalted butter
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 18 paper liners into cupcake trays. In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in carrots, cherries, pecans, chocolate chips, coconut and apple. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla, then add to flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into lined cupcake tray, filling to the top. Bake 30 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool in pans for five minutes and then turn out onto a rack. Makes 18 cupcakes.
For icing, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes.
— From ‘The Icing on the Cupcake’
Photo by Jennifer Ross
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March 26, 2010
Neysa King and Travis Czerw: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Neysa King and Travis Czerw didn’t plan on becoming farmers.
They didn’t grow up on farms and neither of them studied agriculture in college. (They were both history majors.) But a few years after graduating, they fully realized the importance of food and left their Boston home for a farm internship in New York. One internship wasn’t enough, so they moved to Austin to work at Johnson’s Backyard Garden, one of the largest organic farms in Central Texas.
Statesman writer Tim Eaton recently wrote about them in a story young farmers, but you can read almost daily updates about life on the farm for the soon-to-be-married couple on their blog, Dissertation to Dirt.
Inspired by these Fridge Friday posts, Neysa showed off their freezer on her blog earlier this year with an interesting observation: “If our fridges reflect our daily, vibrant lives, full of choice and schedules and spontaneity, our freezers are where we keep the steady comforts and quick fixes.”
She and Travis, with a constant influx of fresh produce and a commitment to eating whole, unprocessed foods, don’t have much in their freezer, and their fridge, predictably, is full of veggies.
They have a much better grasp on how to coax Texas soil and plants into growing beautiful and bountiful vegetables than I do, and I really enjoy reading their journey of learning how to farm, even though my backyard garden is a fraction of the size of the one they work on.
What three things are always in your fridge? The non-seasonal items: Whole milk (for both of us), a good cheese (for me), and bacon (for Travis).
What’s your favorite condiment? Travis — sriracha sauce; Neysa — olive oil (does that count? I have it with everything—I basically drink the stuff).
If you had to eat only one vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be? Travis — cabbage; Neysa — kale.
Photo by Neysa King.
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March 5, 2010
Man Up BBQ blogger Drew Thornley: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Drew Thornley loves Texas barbecue. Well, any barbecue, really, but Central Texas has such a concentration of great smoked meats that he started a blog to celebrate it. Man Up Texas BBQ posts reviews and information about barbecue restaurants all over the state, and Thornley hosts regular group outings to area barbecue joints. Over the past year, he’s given out all kinds of best-of awards, and on Sunday, he’s throwing a party to decide who has the best barbecue sauce.
I’ll be one of the official judges of the “Gettin’ Sauced” competition at Franklin BBQ at 5 p.m. on Sunday, but everyone can vote on their favorite sauces, too. The event is free, but there’s a suggested donation of $3 if you want a scorecard to vote. It’s BYOB, and there will be live music, too.
Thornely, who teaching business law, baking and environmental policy at several local colleges, shares a fridge with Brad Istre, who is the graphic designer behind Man Up’s distinct look.
What three things are always in your fridge? Iced tea, lemons, V8 Fusion.
What’s your favorite condiment, besides barbecue sauce? Assuming Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning doesn’t count as a condiment, yellow mustard.
Have you ever eaten barbecue for breakfast, and if so, how? Does a wild bear run naked through the woods? Heck, yes! However, it’s rare that I have any BBQ left over. If I do, what better way to start the day?
Photo by Drew Thornley.
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Budding beekeeper Joe England: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Joe England didn’t think about bees too much, let alone entertain the idea of raising them, until he saw a short film called “Every Third Bite,” which explained how Colony Collaspe Disorder is affecting beehives and what the implications are for our food system.
He’s started a group called Austin Urban Beekeeping, which is holding its first meeting at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Emerald City Press. (England says he’ll be screening the 9-minute movie, which I’ve embedded above, at the first meeting.)
England is also a member of the local band Minor Mishap Marching Band, whose many missions include raising awareness of environmental dangers such as a decrease honeybee population. The band will perform at the meeting on Sunday.
What three things are always in your fridge? White Mountain Yogurt, which is made in East Austin. Local produce, which right now includes a kind of kale that I’ve never had before, and local cheeses. (Right now, I have Blueberry Havarti from Brazos Valley Cheese Co.) What’s your favorite condiment, besides honey? A globe-spanning assortment of hot pepper sauces (some local, some super exotic)
What’s your favorite thing to do with honey? I mostly just sweeten cups of coffee and tea with it. Not exciting news, but it’s the only sweetener I use.
What’s your go-to late-night snack? I enjoy busting out one of my packages of frozen homemade soup. Living alone, it’s hard to eat up a whole pot of soup and impossible to make a small pot for one. On the other hand, it’s just great out of the freezer a couple of weeks later.
Photo by Joe England.
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February 26, 2010
Beer blogger Lee Nichols: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
When he’s not writing about politics for the Austin Chronicle, Lee Nichols is drinking beer. Or blogging about beer. Or at least thinking about beer.
Nichols’ blog, appropriately called I Love Beer, is a must read for beer geeks in Austin. He reports on upcoming beer events, what new beers he finds in area stores and the latest buzz around the gazillion new brewers coming to town.
He took this picture of his beer fridge a few weeks back.
What three beers are always in your fridge? Because I’m always about trying something new, and I’m a seasonal beer drinker — winter warmers in December, crisp pilsners and wits in the summer, etc. - there is no beer that is ALWAYS in there. But I’m pretty partial to Real Ale Fireman’s Four, especially in the summer. I lean toward Texas breweries a lot: Shiner, Saint Arnold, and Real Ale especially.
What’s your favorite beer to cook with? My wife does most of the cooking. I think the last time I cooked with beer was in college, and I used to make beer biscuits with Anheuser-Busch Natural Light, because it was the cheapest thing they had in Wheatsville. My wife has a similar philosophy: Whatever cheap stuff people leave at our house after a party. I prefer the quality beer go directly into my mouth.
What’s your desert island beer? Sierra Nevada Celebration is probably my absolute favorite beer, but in that case, I’d need the island to not be tropical, because it’s a thick Christmastime beer that doesn’t taste as good in hot weather.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
Photo by Lee Nichols.
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February 19, 2010
Meredith Vachon: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Meredith Vachon has never worked in any other field than food and hospitality.
She’s one of the founders of Bread and Butter PR, a food publicity firm that has offices in Austin and Los Angeles, which means she represents several restaurants and food clients in Central Texas. Living and traveling abroad as a kid exposed her to a plethora of flavors and inspired her to want to work in food.
In the past four years in Austin, she’s watched the dining scene blossom, as well as the eating habits of her 17-month-old son, Max.
What three things are always in your fridge? scallions, Sauvignon Blanc and eggs
What’s your favorite condiment? Well…Hellmann’s mayonnaise is the truthful answer, but since I can’t indulge in that with regularity the way I’d like to, I’ve recently discovered The Ojai Cook Lemonaise and love their Lemonaise Light. It’s delicious and made with a short list of real ingredients so it’s far better than “over the counter” light mayonnaise.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the a.m.? Whatever Max is having for breakfast, which invariably means eggs, butter and either apple or orange juice.
Photo by Meredith Vachon.
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February 12, 2010
Retro Bizzaro pastry chefs: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
This Valentine’s Day weekend, I couldn’t resist showing off the fridge of Michael and Amanda Joyner of Retro Bizzaro, mainly so I could retell their tale of falling in love in pastry chef school.
Back in 2005, they were in the same class at the Texas Culinary Academy. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot when Amanda asked Mike if she could partner up with him on a project, and he replied, according to her, “Don’t you know who I am? I work alone.” The rivalry began. Once, she tried to ruin his dessert by putting salt in his sugar. He would taste her desserts and tell her that they were “just OK.”
The tension was so strong between them that their instructor called them out on it one day in front of the whole class. “That’s where animosity turned into curiosity,” Amanda says. Fighting turned into play fighting and flirting. He asked out her for coffee, but she’d conveniently “forget,” until one day, he had to come by her house to drop off notes she’d missed in class. “He just grabbed me and kissed me,” she says. “We’ve been together ever since.”
Because they are both pastry chefs, they still occasionally fight in the kitchen, but now that they have two little kiddos (3-year-old Arthur, named for King Arthur flour, and 1-year-old Isabella) running around the house and are starting a new business, most of the energy goes elsewhere.
(And yes, Amanda says, that is a giant bottle opener/corkscrew on the top of their fridge.)
With Retro Bizzaro, the Joyners are bringing back old-school favorites like snack cakes, candy bars, Twinkies and other treats but making them from scratch using local and sustainably made ingredients. They’ll be selling their products at the HOPE Farmers Market at Fifth and Waller Streets starting Feb. 21, and Amanda says they are on the hunt for a trailer. You can also place orders online.
They’ve also launched a video blog in which they answer questions — mainly gathered from Twitter — about the world of pastry-making.
“He’s good at the science behind pastries, and I’m good at design and flavor,” Amanda says. “It’s a good combo like sweet and salty: two completely different flavors but great depth together.”
What three things are always in your fridge? Amanda’s bacon jam, yogurt (for Arthur), and fresh veggies
What’s your favorite condiment? Amanda’s is hot sauce and Michael’s is mustard.
What’s the strangest ingredient you’ve ever incorporated into a dessert? We do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen with all sorts of things, but the strangest ingredient would be cilantro, which Michael used in a citrus sauce for a key lime pie. Amanda says she’s used jalapeños in a lime pot de creme with caramelized jalapeño chips. “I liked it even if no one else ate it,” she says. “This was way back in the day before spicy was in.”
Photos by Amanda Joyner.
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February 5, 2010
Tasty Touring blogger Jodi Bart: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Jodi Bart is the food blogger, but her boyfriend, Adam, is the resident chef in their Northeast Austin home.
Bart’s blog, Tasty Touring, tracks the best of what’s happening in Austin’s food scene, and in the past year and a half since she started blogging, she’s become a leader in the food community, organizing Tasty Tours for her readers and, up until December of last year, hosting a weekly radio segment about food on KGSR.
The pictures above show their fridge before and after a trip to the grocery store. “It doesn’t look like much but it kept us fed for the week,” she says. Adam might be in charge of dinner most nights that they aren’t out at some of Austin’s most buzzworthy eateries, but Bart has been expanding her cooking repertoire recently with dishes like this Thai stir fry.
This month, we’ve created a Tasty Tours/Addie’s Eat-Up mashup event at more than 10 trailers tomorrow. The Tasty Up Trailer Tour will start at coffee/breakfast trailers from noon to 1 p.m., and then it’s a choose-your-own-trailer-adventure at some of the newest and most talked-about mobile food vendors in Austin.
You can find all the details at the Facebook event page, and stay tuned to the Tasty Touring and Addie’s Eat-Up pages for more events like these in the future.
What three things are always in your fridge? Mootopia Skim Milk, breakfast fruit (blackberries in the winter, blueberries and raspberries in the summer) for our cereal, random jars and bottles of exotic jams and sauces that Adam promises we’ll use some day.
What’s your favorite condiment? Adam’s homemade chipotle aioli
What’s your go-to late night snack? Cereal or graham crackers topped with crunchy peanut butter and drizzled with honey.
Photos by Jodi Bart.
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January 29, 2010
Frank owner Geoff Peveto: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Too bad butter isn’t a popular condiment for hot dogs.
Geoff Peveto, co-owner of Frank, the hot dog eatery in the Warehouse District, is a butter freak (just look in the top right corner of that fridge), but he’s just as obsessed of the encyclopedia of condiments he and wife Yancy keep in their fridge.
Peveto, who is also one of the sharp-eyed design geeks behind Decoder Ring Design Concern, opened Frank last summer with Daniel Northcutt, and the restaurant has already won over people who doubted that haute dogs, paired with creative cocktails served in Mason jars, could fly in a town like Austin.
What three things are always in your fridge? The Holy Trinity — Butter, Bacon, Beer. Everything goes better with them.
What is your favorite condiment? I guess mayonesa or any kind of aioli, but our fridge is pretty much half full of condiments and jams so picking one is tough. We may have a condiment problem.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? I rarely eat breakfast so I bet the only consistent thing for me is ice for water. My wife, Yancy, grabs a Naked Juice.
Photo by Geoff Peveto.
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January 22, 2010
Photographer Jody Horton: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Horton is a photographer and writer whose work also appears in Texas Co-op Power magazine and on Farmhouse Delivery’s Web site. He started getting into food photography when living in New Mexico, where he earned a master’s degreee in cultural anthropology. His interest in the connection between people and the they eat food is clear from the gorgeous, yet moving photographs that appear throughout (and on many covers of) Edible Austin.
The South Carolina native has lived in Austin for eight years with wife Regan, and they have two young sons, Fields and Hyder.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beer (Real Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale are staples), sparkling water (straight or added to cranberry juice to make “cranberry fizzies”) and grated parmesan cheese (we put it on everything).
What’s your favorite condiment? Sriracha - a.k.a. rooster sauce
What’s the one eating habit you’d like to change this year? Rarely sitting for a meal (too busy wrangling kids)
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January 15, 2010
Photographer Annie Ray: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Since she started setting up photo booths at concerts, galas, bars and fundraiser events in 2007, Ray has photographed thousands of Austinites, but she wouldn’t keep getting asked to do high profile events if her photos didn’t capture the essence of Austin’s vibrant citizens. (She also posts all the photo booth pictures on her Web site, which makes for fun browsing even if you aren’t looking for a photo of yourself.)
What makes her photos stand out is that she’s not just pointing the camera at party guests and asking them to say “cheese.” Part of Ray’s talent is drawing people out of their shells with wacky requests (“Show me your tiger!”) or props like mustaches or even grapes. Ray also shoots for publications incluing Austin Monthly and Tribeza.
Her signature lighting and lens work means that people familiar with her photography probably could have identified her fridge as hers just by looking at the quality of the photo.
What three things are always in your fridge? Jalapeños, garlic and onions.
What’s your favorite condiment? HOT Chili Sauce
What’s your favorite food to photograph? Soups. Whenever I look at photos of soups in a cookbook or cooking magazine, I always get this overwhelming feeling of winter time, cozy blankets and giant soup mugs!!
Fridge photo by Annie Ray; portrait by Jake Holt.
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January 8, 2010
Blogger Nicole Carbon: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The no-food fridge really exists.
Nicole Carbon, a blogger and freelance writer who lives just a few blocks from Whole Foods, keeps only a few things in her fridge: Shiner Bock, her husband’s favorite, Champagne, Pellegrino (for hydration), coffee (she even has the PLU number memorized) and (surprise!) hot sauce for perking up just about anything they buy from the to-go counters at Whole Foods or restaurant leftovers.
With no citrus or other cocktail-making ingredients in her fridge, Carbon prefers to get her drinks — and fodder for her blog, Fabulous Drinks Austin — at cocktail hotspots around town. Her favorite venues to grab a drink? Perla’s, San Jose Hotel and Gueros Taco Bar for their handshaken margaritas.
What three things are always in your fridge? At least two bottles of Champagne (you never know when there will be cause for celebration and then you need a backup), Allegro Extra Dark French Roast Coffee from Whole Foods (PLU #323), sparkling and still water.
What’s your favorite late-night snack? I am addicted to mixed nuts and raw almonds.
What’s the strangest thing you put hot sauce on? We put hot sauce on everything; it cures what ails ya!
Photo by Chad Gluckson.
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January 1, 2010
2009: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
New Year’s Day is the perfect day to look back on 2009 through your fridges.
Every Friday on Relish Austin, I post a photo of a fridge from someone in Central Texas or who has Texas ties. The What’s in Your Fridge Friday feature will turn two this summer, but in the past 12 months, I’ve featured chefs, writers, Statesman readers, bloggers, musicians, radio DJs, winemakers and area business owners, who have all been brave enough to open their refrigerator doors and photograph its contents.
(I’m always accepting entries from anyone in Central Texas, and all you have to do is e-mail me a photograph of your fridge and I’ll respond with questions about your food habits and preferences.)
So, here’s a look back at some of the most memorable fridges of the past year. I look forward to seeing what 2010’s fridges bring to the table!
Cleanest fridge: La Condesa chef Rene Ortiz’s fridge was so clean, it tipped off several of his chef friends to tattle on him that he must have cleaned it just for the shoot. (I have a feeling many of the fridges get a little spiffing up before their owners photograph them.)
Fridge with the weirdest contents: No Show Ponies’ rehearsal fridge, which features a DVD set of Twin Peaks, a spear and a photo of Morrissey
Most Austin-y fridge: Jenna Noel, associate publisher of Edible Austin magazine, walks the local food walk with her fridge, which, with the exception of maybe some sparkling water, contains entirely Texas-made products.
Most enviable fridge: Greek Tragedy blogger Stephanie Klein, who as a major food nerd has a giant food stuffed to the brim with good food.
Booziest fridge: Reader Valerie Davis, who e-mailed me her fridge after we ran this story about Central Texas fridges in August. Four, count them, four, shelves full of beer.
Emptiest fridge: An anonymous Statesman reader sent me a photo of a totally empty fridge, but Fino chef Jason Donoho’s fridge comes a close second.
P.S. That’s my fridge up above, just days before Christmas when both my parents and my mother-in-law were staying in our house.
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December 18, 2009
Mix 94.7 DJ JB Hager: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Christmas might not be until next week, but today is Mix 94.7 DJ JB Hager’s favorite day of the year.
Today is the day Hager, who is also an avid cyclist and writer for several magazines in town, and co-host Sandy McIlree hand out more than 800 bikes to kids in Central Texas. The popular morning hosts have raised more than $1 million over the years for their annual Bikes for Kids campaign, which culminated in the wee morning hours today at Mellow Johnny’s.
(Sandy showed off his fridge earlier this year.)
What’s the one thing you always have in your fridge? I always have jalapenos. Even as a kid in the Midwest my dad explained the importance of jalapenos.
What’s your go-to post-ride meal? After a long ride on the bike, I try to get protein in asap. I defrost a Omaha steak filet and slap it on the grill outside. Otherwise, I do cashew or soy butter on Ezekiel bread. Oh, and my wife says I always have a beer.
What’s your favorite late-night snack? My late night snack is typically goat cheese (see top drawer!) and pita chips or cashews. My early morning snack is a shot of Nespresso coffee black, a Luna bar, Kind bar or a Lara bar and fresh fruit.
Photo by JB Hager.
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December 11, 2009
Blue Bell R&D director Brenda Valera: What's in Your Freezer Friday?
As the research and development director of Blue Bell Ice Cream in Brenham, she is part of the team that comes up with the new ice cream flavors the 102-year-old company releases each year.
She can’t divulge which new flavors will come out next year, but they’ll start rolling off the production line at the creamery in the small town two hours east of Austin in early 2010.
As the new flavors hit store shelves, her team will start designing flavors for 2011. So how does Valera, who just celebrated her 29th year with the company, come up with new flavors year after year?
“It becomes a part of you,” she says. “When I go out to eat, I look at the dessert menu, which means I get to claim that I’m ordering it for work.” The Texas A&M graduate follows food trends by looking through food magazines, recipe books and by just being aware as she shops at grocery stores and bakeries.
Even though she always keeps vanilla in her freezer at home, her favorite flavor that she had a hand in developing is triple chocolate.
What three things are always in your freezer? Blue Bell Ice Cream: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream for me, Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream for my husband and Mini Rainbow Bars for my son. Fruit for smoothies (frozen whole strawberries and banana chunks) and Southside Market Elgin Hot Sausage
What’s your favorite dessert (besides ice cream)? Just about anything chocolate or creme brulee with fresh berries-yum!
If you could live off one frozen food (besides ice cream), what would it be? There are very few homemade cooked or baked items that taste just as good coming out of the freezer as they did when first prepared. One exception for me would be leftover Christmas cookies. If you double-bag them in freezer bags and thaw them in the bags, they can be eaten and enjoyed long after Christmas has passed. Frozen and then prepared Millie’s pierogi are pretty awesome, too.
Photos from Brenda Valera.
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December 4, 2009
Jenna Noel of Edible Austin: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Associate publisher and art director Jenna Noel has been on board since the beginning, helping publisher and all-around sustainable-food-powerhouse Marla Camp not only put out issues four times a year but host countless events promoting the local food community.
Eat Local Week, which starts with a party from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at BookPeople, is Edible Austin’s signature event series, which benefits Urban Roots, a local nonprofit that helps teens by getting them involved with growing food and either giving it away or selling it at local farmers’ markets.
Check Edible Austin’s events page for details on the activities, including tomorrow’s Urban Farm Bicycle Tour, a screening of “Fresh” featuring farmer Joel Salatin from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Sunday’s Drink Local Contest. There’s something for everyone, from ice skating at Whole Foods to fancy dinners, a coffee festival and even a showing of “Julie and Julia” with Austinite Julie Powell at the Drafthouse.
It’s not surprising that Noel’s fridge is packed with local food gems: Full Quiver raw milk cheese, Dai Due mustard, Kocurek Family charcuterie, satsumas from her parents’ house in Louisiana and a growler of coffee from Coop Coffee. (When she’s not tweeting as @edibleaustin, she’s shaking cappucellos and pouring coffee with Tipsy Texans David Alan and Joe Eifler at their Coop Coffee tent at the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Topo Chico, always boudin in the freezer, and coffee
What’s your favorite condiment? Harvest Time Mayhaw Jelly or SASS sesame garlic dressing
What’s your favorite food you wish you could get from a local source? I wish I could get my dad’s cooking fresh in Austin. That’s why I usually have his gumbo, jambalaya or pork chop spaghetti in the freezer. It’s nice to have a taste of home every so often.
Photos by Jenna Noel.
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November 27, 2009
Cookbook author Matt Lee: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
What I wouldn’t have given for an invite to the Thanksgiving of Matt and Ted Lee, cookbook authors and modern missionaries of Southern foodways. Just look at these green beans.
The Charleston-born brothers have plenty to be thankful for this year, just after the release of their second cookbook “Simple Fresh Southern,” a follow-up to the 2006 James Beard Award-winning “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook,” which thrust them into the national spotlight. (You’ve probably read their articles in GQ, Martha Stewart Living or Food & Wine magazines or seen them make something scrumptious on a morning television show. They been blowin’ up, as they say.)
Their new book features innovative dishes made with quintessentially Southern ingredients. Pork, greens and cornmeal have never had it so good.
What three things are always in your fridge? Sriracha, half and half and country ham bits
What’s your favorite condiment? Artichoke relish
What’s your go-to late night snack? Pimento cheese on toast
Matt and Ted will be in Austin next week, promoting their new book at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at BookPeople, which means they get to revisit the Austin favorite breakfast of migas, a recipe for which made it into the new book.
Austin-Style Brunch: Greens and Eggs Migas
Good for breakfast or dinner, the Lee Brothers place this Austin favorite on a bed of collard greens and chorizo.
For greens:
2 tsp. peanut or canola oil
4 ounces chorizo or smoked sausage, finely diced
3 poblano chiles, seeded and sliced into thin strips (about 3 cups)
2 tsp. garlic, chopped
1 1/2 pounds collard greens, ribs removed and leaves thinly sliced
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
For migas:
1⁄4 cup canola oil
three 6-inch corn tortillas, cut pizza-style into 8 triangles
3 ⁄4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
8 large eggs, beaten
4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup)
salsa, for topping
Over high heat, pour peanut oil into a skillet and when it shimmers, add chorizo or sausage. Cook until meat has rendered most of its fat, about two minutes. Add poblanos and continue to cook until they have softened slightly and the sausage is cooked through, about four minutes. Add garlic, half the collards, salt and 2 tablespoons water to the skillet. Cook, turning collards with tongs and adding more greens and those in the pan wilt, until all the collards are in the pan. Continue to cook until collards have softened and become dark green, about six minutes. Add vinegar and continue to cook collards until vinegar has evaporated and the pan is dry. Season to taste with salt and reserve.
In a large skillet, heat canola oil and one of the small tortilla triangles over medium-high heat until the tortilla sizzles vigorously. Add remaining tortilla pieces and stir them in the hot oil until they become crispy and gently browned, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted metal spoon, transfer them to a plate lined with a double thickness of paper towels.
Sprinkle with 1⁄4 tsp. of the salt, and set aside. Pour off the oil, and add butter to the skillet, and when it’s completely melted and frothing, add onion and remaining 1⁄2 tsp. salt.
Cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add eggs and tortilla chips, and scramble until eggs are curdy but still moist, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over top, cover, and cook just until cheese melts, about 45 seconds. Divide the collard greens with poblanos and chorizo among four warm serving plates, and top each portion with eggs and spoonfuls of salsa. Serves 4.
Photos by Matt Lee.
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November 20, 2009
Olivia chef James Holmes: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Holmes has cooked at a number of restaurants, including the famed Perini Ranch Steakhouse outside his hometown of Abilene. After helping start the student-run Ventana restaurant at the Texas Culinary Academy, he created film-themed feasts at the Alamo Drafthouse before opening Olivia on South Lamar Boulevard last year.
Olivia, named after one of his two daughters, was named one of the best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit earlier this year, and Rachael Ray fell in love with Holmes’ dedication to using local, sustainable ingredients.
Holmes has already gained a reputation for “nose to tail” cooking, and he’s even figured out that he can use pig skulls as scarecrows for the restaurant’s on-site garden. (Did I mention he’s into composting, too?)
Now the only question is when is he going to open another restaurant named after his littlest daughter, Lucy?
What three things are always in your fridge? There is always Lone Star beer, a variation of pickled jalapenos and bacon grease in the fridge.
What’s the first thing you pull out of the fridge in the morning? Whatever my 4-year-old daughter, Olivia, is drinking, which is what I’ll end up drinking, too. Usually apple juice, orange juice or cranberry juice.
What’s your favorite condiment? Tears of Joy’s “August in Austin” hot sauce
Photo by James Holmes.
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November 13, 2009
Tasha Petty and Camille Woods: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
They are goofy and energetic, always excited about a new art project or bike route to work. They throw great themed parties and are always introducing me to someone new and interesting. (In fact, I met my husband through Tasha when I first moved to Austin, and now she and Camille are some of Julian’s favorite surrogate aunts.)
During the kick-off weekend for the East Austin Studio Tour, they are hosting a Sunset Shakedown from 6 to 11 p.m. at Ecoxera, 1111 East 11th Street, to show off some of their newest pieces of artwork and photography.
What three things are always in your fridge? Corn tortillas have replaced flour tortillas while we’re trying to stay gluten free. Cheese, at least three different kinds, always including a block of Reggiano and goat’s milk. Zucchini
What’s your favorite condiment? Braggs Liquid Aminos for all things Asian influenced. Valentino hot sauce for all things Mexican influenced. Classic yellow mustard for all things American influenced.
What’s your go-to late night snack? We generally consume wine vs. food late night, but if munchies happen, chips and hummus or veggie chips or Cajun mix from the Whole Foods bulk section.
Photo by Tasha Petty.
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November 6, 2009
Anne Rutt of Hosteria Verde: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Anne Rutt-Enriquez, owner of Hosteria Verde Supper Club and Catering, keeps her green onions in a water to keep them “extra crunchy.”
Rather than going out, Rutt-Enriquez says she has been entertaining people at home a lot lately — with her food, not just the extreme measures she goes to to keep green onions fresh or her adorable dogs Maddi and Tanner — to save money for an upcoming trip to Mexico.
But there’s no way she’ll be able to get out of town before the holiday rush is over. She’s helping kick off the holiday eating season on Saturday with the Austin Junior Forum’s annual Christmas at the Caswell House, where she’ll be serving chantrelle soup, beef tenderloin, gnocchi and vanilla bean panna cotta. (Tickets cost $65 per person and can be purchased here.)
What three things are always in your fridge? To-go boxes from Thai Passion, milk and Topo Chico mineral water.
What’s your favorite condiment? I LOVE condiments. We always have way more different types of sauces- than food in our fridge! I can only narrow it down to two: white truffle oil and sriracha. I put it on everything!
What do you eat before 10 a.m.? My husband and I are hooked on French Press coffee and cream. It’s not the healthiest way to start your day, but a big cup really gets me going!
Photo by Anne Rutt-Enriquez.
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October 29, 2009
'Winemakers' finalist Ross Outon: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
For Austinite Ross Outon, being a wine freak is finally paying off.
As a wine consultant for Twin Liquors, Ranch 616 and several other restaurants and stores, Outon has been a heavy hitter in the Austin wine scene for many years, and over the past six weeks, he’s been competing on the PBS reality show “The Winemakers,” which concludes tomorrow. Outon is one of three finalists, and the winner gets to produce his own wine label.
In addition to a standard kitchen fridge, Outon also keeps a wine fridge stocked with special occasion bottles. He says it’s usually packed with dessert wines, which aren’t as versatile and regularly consumed at his house as reds and whites. He’s even got a few good reds and champagnes that he’s holding on to for a really special event.
“The regular fridge is where the daily drinking stuff is,” he says, noting the importance of keeping wine cool after a bottle as been opened.
At 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, Twin Liquors Marketplace at 41st and Red River streets will host a watch party so you can watch with Outon and his fans to see who won.
Here’s to hoping tomorrow brings him something worth toasting with one of those fancy bottles.
What three things are always in your fridge? Lone Star, orange juice, Tabasco
What’s your favorite condiment? I’m huge lover of cool mustards. French’s old school yellow mustard, at least one kind of Dijon. Right now I’ve got a spicy brown mustard from Germany and Jack Daniel’s Honey Dijon.
What’s the first thing you pull your of your fridge in the morning? Orange juice. I drink either straight or in a smoothie.
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October 23, 2009
Tim and Karrie League: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The yardbirds, as he calls them, provide fresh eggs for the couple who forever changed the movie-going experience in Austin when they opened the first Drafthouse in 1997. Suddenly, watching the latest blockbuster with a soda and box of over-buttered popcorn just didn’t seem as appetizer. At the Drafthouse, movie-goers can order above-average food and watch not just the latest Hollywood flicks, but carefully curated films as funky and smart as Austin itself.
The Leagues sold the franchise but still own the downtown, South Lamar and Anderson Lane theaters, and now they’ve entered the bowling business with the food- and drink-centric Highball, located next to the Drafthouse on South Lamar.
Those lucky chickens. Another food venue for the Leagues means another source of quality scrap veggies, stored in those plastic grocery bags in the fridge, for them to eat.
What three things are always in your fridge? Fresh eggs (we raise chickens in the yard). Vegetable choppings from the Alamo (for the chickens and the rabbits - also raise rabbits in the yard). Skim milk - daily morning cereal ritual
What condiment can you not live without? Spicy whole grain mustard. Is peanut butter a condiment? I can’t live without that either.
What’s your favorite thing to eat during a movie (either at home or at the Alamo)? Pizza - I order it at home and at the theater way too often for my own health.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
Fridge photo by Tim League; Portrait of Leagues by Nick Simonite.
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October 16, 2009
Ed and Susan Auler: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Ed and Susan Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards split their time between the winery in Tow, northwest of Austin, and the capital city, where they reside. Their winery, established in 1975, was one of the first in Central Texas, and it’s still a leader in the growing wine region.
Their Meritus is considered one of the best reds in the state, and they are so picky about which Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec grapes they use that only five vintages have been released (the most recent in 2004). (At last night’s La Dolce Vita fundraiser for the Austin Museum of Art, I had a sip of Meritus for the second time, and it really is a Texas wine worth seeking out.)
The Aulers are busy folks, pouring at wine festivals and hosting dinners and events throughout the year. Most recently, they put on the Fall Fest in Marble Falls and Spicewood, which raises money for local charities and Texas wine and grape research.
Another Fall Creek fundraising project is two Mission wines, one of which you can see in the fridge. The wines — a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon — raise money for the restoration of the Alamo.
What three things are always in your fridge? Milk, oatmeal, which we make once a week and just eat every day. There is always a bag of shredded slaw, as Ed Auler likes to eat it several times a week with crumbled blue cheese and apple cider vinegar/olive oil dressing.
What’s your favorite condiment? My favorite condiment is Fall Creek Wine Foods Chenin Blanc Mustard.
What’s the first food/drink you pull out of the fridge in the morning? First beverage I have every morning is one percent milk with my steel cut cooked oatmeal and blueberries.
Fridge photo by Susan Auler; photo of the Aulers by Laura Skelding/American-Statesman staff.
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October 9, 2009
Alamo Drafthouse chef John Bullington: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The inventive menus aren’t just for show. Bullington’s a serious chef, spending years as the executive chef at the now-closed Mars, and this week, he’ll be serving food alongside some of Austin’s best chefs at La Dolce Vita next week, the annual fundraiser for the Austin Museum of Art that is considered one of the best food events of the year. Word is he’ll be serving shrimp cakes with Drafthouse-turn-Highball chef Trish Eichelberger.
What three things are always in your fridge? Milk, lots of fruit, and sharp cheddar. We have a 2- and 4-year-old and these are the necessities. What’s your favorite condiment? Mustard, I currently have 5 kinds. What’s your go-to late-night snack? Popsicles for sweet or a cheese and pickled jalapeno nacho for savory both are great and easy after a long day
Photo by John Bullington.
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October 2, 2009
Reader Leon Miller: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Reader Leon Miller of Austin snail mailed me the most touching letter last week, along with a few photos of his fridge.
Miller wrote that his wife died eight years ago suddenly of a heart attack, and the fridge feature in the paper a few weeks ago made him clean up his fridge. “Married 60+ years, and God didn’t bless us with any children, but we had a very happy life,” he wrote on the yellow piece paper from a small legal pad. He shot photos of it (“Sorry I didn’t use a flash,” he writes) and sent them to me. I put them together and shot this digital image.
No questions this week. Just a look inside a fridge of a nice man who is still mourning his wife. Have fun at — or away from — Austin City Limits this weekend. Be careful and enjoy the people you have the pleasure of spending it with.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it and send it to abroyles@statesman.com. You can also mail photos to 305 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78704.
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September 25, 2009
TRIO chef Todd Duplechan: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Chefs Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher have quickly made an impression on the Austin culinary scene in the few years since they moved here from New York. They left two of the top kitchens in the country to come see what they could cook up in Texas, and Austin’s diners are better off for it.
Duplechan is the chef de cuisine of TRIO, the exquisite restaurant on the lower level of the Four Seasons downtown, and Maher is co-owner of Dishalicious and Spoon and Co. catering. They are both passionate about creating imaginative dishes with what’s in season and what can be bought from local farmers and ranchers. Nearly every week, you’ll catch them at farmers’ markets or food events, supporting the local food scene.
TRIO is one of hundreds restaurants that is participating in the GO TEXAN Restaurant Round-Up Week, which runs Monday through Friday next week. Restaurants across the state are offering specially created meals that feature the best of Texas’ meat, produce and wine. (TRIO is offering a $13 farmers’ breakfast and a $39 three-course dinner — $70 with wine pairings.) A portion of proceeds from the participating restaurants will be benefit the Austin nonprofit Caritas.
What three things are always in your fridge? Farm eggs from various farms around town - I love supporting local farmers. I’m also hoping to get some chickens of my own…as soon as my dog will let me.
Cold Brew Coffee From COOP Coffee (love it, love it) - We buy this from the Farmer’s Market in 1/2 gallon jugs so then all we have to do in the morning is stumble to the refrigerator and our iced coffee is ready. There’s no brewing or grinding beans, you just pour it out of the jug.
Mustard - Jess and I have a serious mustard problem. Every time we go to the store we gravitate to the mustard aisle and buy more. We have a lot of mustard stockpiled at home, but we also go through a lot.
What’s your favorite condiment? See above.
What’s your go-to late night snack? Popcorn with salt and pepper, eaten with chopsticks. Growing up my dad always ate popcorn this way because he said the oil getting on his fingers made him full faster. It doesn’t make any sense, but once you’ve eaten popcorn with chopsticks you become addicted.
Photo by Todd Duplechan.
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September 18, 2009
WOXY.com: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
What better way to get to know Austin’s newest, most musically inclined citizens than looking in their fridge?
In August, the small, but nimble staff of WOXY, the Internet-only music station formerly based in Cincinnati, including general manager Bryan Jay Miller and DJs Mike Taylor, Matt Shiv, and Joe Long, moved their equipment and vast music library to the former adult movie theater that is now home to ME Television studios.
WOXY became the first traditional radio station to make the complete switch to online-only streaming in 2004 after two decades of ground-breaking alternative radio Cincy’s airwaves.
We’re, of course, ecstatic about the move to Austin, and although WOXY just started broadcasting from here last week, its studio fridge has already seen plenty of use. Austin native and WOXY newbie Paige Maguire snapped this picture on Thursday, which proves that local restaurants are helping ease Mike, Shiv, Joe and Bryan into our fine city.
What three things are always in the WOXY fridge? We’ve always got soda, iced coffee or sugar free red bull on hand - we’re pretty much all caffeine whores.
What will you never find in the radio’s fridge? Normally you’d never find leftovers, but local businesses have welcomed us to Austin all week with free food!
What is the staff’s favorite early morning or late-night treat? For the early birds, a treat is when there’s more coffee grounds than we remembered in the kitchen. Late night? We like to put on an epic tune and quickly zip over to Home Slice.
Photo by Paige Maguire.
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September 11, 2009
Dripping Springs Vodka distiller Gary Kelleher: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Kelleher distills the vodka more than twenty times to create a premium spirit found in bars and liquor stores all over Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arizona. This fall, they’ll be moving into another distillery in Dripping Springs, which unlike their current facility, will be open for tours.
What three things are always in your fridge? Unsalted butter, flour tortillas, Hot Salsa from Eastside Cafe.
What’s your favorite condiment? Dalmatia Fig Spread with Orange is my fave of the moment; Di Bruno Brothers is a nice one.
What’s your go-to vodka cocktail? Dripping Springs Texas Vodka and San Pellegrino water, no lime.
Fridge photo by Gary Kelleher, mug shot by Erich Schlegel for the Austin American-Statesman.
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September 4, 2009
Rebecca Wallace Ford: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Rebecca Wallace Ford can, even though she says the Queen didn’t actually eat at the afternoon tea she catered at the Governor’s Mansion when Ann Richards was governor.
Wallace Ford, who founded Word of Mouth catering in the 1980s (her former partner owns it now), is the director of special services for the House of Representatives, which means she has a gorgeous office in the Capitol, where she supervises food service for the members’ lounge and speaker’s apartment.
A longtime power player in the Austin food scene, Wallace Ford started her career in food after fellow parents at her daughter’s school started asking her to make cakes for their parties. Pretty soon, she was catering the parties altogether. Eventually, Word of Mouth went on to be named one of the top ten wedding caterers by Bon Appetit magazine.
What three things are always in your fridge? Chardonnay (“My nine dollar nightly swill,” she says), 1 percent milk for my tea in the morning, Duke’s mayonnaise
What’s your favorite condiment? I use a lot of Dijon mustard, but who doesn’t.
What is your go-to breakfast? Bran cereal with half a banana and a sprinkling of blueberries.
Photos courtesy of Rebecca Wallace Ford.
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August 28, 2009
Lamberts chef/co-owner Larry McGuire: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
McGuire, co-owner and chef of Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, is shaping the Austin restaurant scene one venue at a time. Just this year, he was part of the opening team for La Condesa and Malverde, across Second Street from Lamberts, and his newest baby is the seafood paradise Perla’s, in the old Mars location on South Congress Avenue.
The Austinite was working for Lou Lambert’s Liberty Catering by the time he graduated from Austin High School, and a few years ago he was working at the now-closed Starlite when he dreamed up an upscale barbecue joint that he named after his mentor.
At 27, he’s got a few cards up his sleeve, so keep your ear to the ground for McGuire’s next new thing, even if it’s a flavor of mayonnaise.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beer, Topo Chico, ice cream
What’s your favorite condiment? Homemade mayonnaise, you can make endless flavors of it, and its the best thing to dip fries in.
What’s your go-to late night snack? Cold cereal: Puffins, Cherrios or Kashi
Fridge photo by Larry McGuire, mug shot by Mike Sutter.
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August 21, 2009
AAS readers: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
I’m always accepting reader fridges for Fridge Fridays, but after last week’s story in the food section, in which I asked folks to send me photos of their fridges, I got a good number of them all at once. (You can flip through all the fridges in this photo gallery.)
So this week, we get a look inside the fridges of people who still read the good old newspaper. You know, that one that stains your fingers and keeps kitty litter off the floor?
Thanks to the following readers for submitting theirs, and my e-mail is abroyles@statesman.com if you want to send me yours.
Flo MacNary and 11-year-old daughter, Lizzie
Flo: Hey Lizzie want to enter this contest?
Lizzie: Sure, Mom. (Lizzie can’t resist a contest even though this isn’t really a contest.)
Flo: What three things are always in your fridge?
Lizzie: Milk, no wait a minute. There’s not always milk. Hmm, yeast there’s always yeast and some kind of jelly either homemade (by grandma) or bought (by mom). (Presumably, someone will bake bread to go with the jelly) I don’t know what else.
Flo: What’s your favorite condiment?
Lizzie: What’s a condiment?
Flo: It’s something you add to your meal after you cook it.
Lizzie: Oh, honey ham. (Lizzie never likes the entrees my husband and I prepare so she eats the vegetable we cook or a salad and adds honey ham. The reality is she would just as well skip the honey ham. She’s more of a vegetarian. My husband and I are amazed and a little jealous.)
Flo: What’s your favorite go to breakfast?
Lizzie: Cereal unless there’s no milk then frozen waffle. It’s great! It pops up then I can eat it on the way.
Flo: OK, now we send in a picture of our fridge.
Lizzie: Oh, I don’t want to do that!
Judy Julian
“After reading your article in today’s paper, I was inspired to take photos of the contents of my refrigerator. My husband is hooked on Topo Chico, so we always have several on hand. The outside door is decorated with the usual family photos, etc. The comic book covers depict Batman in various strange costumes.”
Kim Usey
(Kim created what she calls the Type A Editor’s Annotated Version on Flickr with explanations of what’s inside.)
no name, sent from text
“Refrigerators. We all have them.” Wrong! Nonworking frig approx 1yr or more. Who needs a fridge?! Say about me? Not a couch potato, low maintenance, enjoy good restaurants, less time @ home, no moldy food, & MOST of all no secrets & life goes on!
Bonnie Mroz
Suzanne Newberg
“What a fun column! For the heck of it, I had taken some late night fridge photos at the end of June, while our boys were at camp. Here is what it looked like right before they returned.”
What 3 things are always in the fridge? Orange juice, yogurt, cheese sticks
What is our favorite condiment? Wheat free, low sodium tamari
What’s our go-to, late-night snack or breakfast? Cheese and eggs
Valerie Davis
What three things are always in your fridge? Mexican beer, Light beer, Strong beer for the brother-in-law.
What’s your favorite condiment? Lime.
What’s your go-to late-night snack or breakfast? Micheladas.
Sibylle Rhein-Hibler and sons
“If there is such a thing as a check-list before marriage, a close look into your future’s spouse’s fridge would certainly give you a good idea about what he/she is all about at the culinary end of the deal. As my dear mother used to say: “Liebe geht durch den Magen” which means, Love has a strong relationship with the stomach and a well planned and executed meal can save a lot.”
What three things are always in your fridge? eggs, butter, and milk;
What is your favorite condiment? my homemade garlic oil, minced sundried tomatoes.
What is your go-to late night snack/breakfast? dark chocolate when I can’t resist. Before run: banana
All photos shot by readers.
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August 14, 2009
Tipsy Texans: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
David Alan and Joe Eifler are so passionate about cocktails they named their rescue dog Jigger.
This week, they moved Jigger, a dozen or so jiggers — the silver measuring devices used to make drinks — and other cocktail paraphernalia, as well as their refrigerator, to a new house, leaving behind the kitchen where they first fell in love with the art of cocktails.
A few years ago, they came across Dale DeGroff’s “The Craft of the Cocktail,” which inspired them to become students of mixology and start a blog, TipsyTexan.com, to chronicle their adventures in drink-making.
Now, David is the bar manager at Annie’s Cafe and Bar downtown, where he’s serving old-school classics like Sazeracs, Monkey Glands and something called a Blood and Sand. He and Joe shake drinks at events all over town, even at the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market, where they make a frothy, cold coffee and lemon cocktail called a cappucello.
This weekend, David and company are hosting Houston mixologist Bobby Heugel for a guest appearance at Annie’s on Saturday night from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. He’ll be shaking some specialty cocktails from Anvil, the cocktail bar he opened earlier this year in Houston.
David shared a few of the cocktail recipes Bobby will be making on Saturday:
The Brave
1 oz. Del Maguey Chichicapa Mezcal (or any decent mezcal)
1 oz. Hacienda del Sotol (tequila will do)
1/2 oz. Averna Amaro
1 barspoon orange Curacao
3 mists Angostura bitters
flamed orange zest, for garnish
Last Word
3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. green chartreuse
3/4 oz. maraschino
3/4 oz. lime juice
lime wedge, for garnish
What three things are always in your fridge? 1) Real Ale and whatever other fun beers we find. Right now it’s Avery Karma, suggested to me by Dipak at the Whip In, which we now live dangerously close to! 2) Cold-brewed coffee from Co-Op Coffee, another David and Joe project. 3) Farmer’s market produce — a ton of mushrooms and a basket of figs right now, as well as meat from Loncito’s Lamb, and Thunderheart Bison.
(Contrary to what you’d expect, he and Joe don’t keep much citrus in their fridge because you get 20 percent less juice from a cold fruit than a warm one, he says, but you will find vermouths and fortified wines like Lillet and Dubonnet. David says that they stay fresher in the fridge and part of the reason why people think they hate vermouth is because they’ve only ever had stale vermouth.)
What’s your favorite condiment? Joe loves condiments and insists on several kinds of mustard, at least half a dozen kinds of pickles and as many jams and jellies.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever put in a cocktail? For last fall’s Edible Austin, they made a butternut milk punch made out of butternut squash ice cream.
A special thanks to everyone who sent me photos of their fridge after the refrigerator feature in this week’s food section! I hope to feature them over the next few weeks.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
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August 7, 2009
Julie Powell's parents: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Kay and John Foster have had a whirlwind summer.
They went to Africa. Their son, Jordan, took the bar exam. And today, a movie based on a book their daughter wrote opens nationwide.
“Julie and Julia” stars Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as John and Kay’s daughter, Julie Powell, a 1991 graduate of Austin High School.
Seven years ago, Julie started a food blog to chronicled her attempt to cook every recipe from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” At first, her mother and just a few friends were her only readers, but by the time she finished in August of 2003, she’d been profiled in the New York Times and was on her way to signing her first book deal.
Last week, the Fosters were in New York City for the premiere of the movie, rubbing elbows with the stars of the movie, celebrities who turned out for the lavish event and Nora Ephron, who directed the film, which gave Kay Foster a chance to tell her that not all Texas accents are the same. (In the film, Julie’s character calls her mom, whose generic “Texas” drawl isn’t anything like Kay’s subtle accent.)
This week, they are back to work, waiting eagerly for Julie to come home this weekend for several sold-out shows at the Alamo Drafthouse.
In this story in Saturday’s paper, Foster told me that Julie never returned her mother’s copy of Child’s landmark cookbook that she took to New York for the project.
She doesn’t mind; she’s already bought a replacement.
What three things are always in your fridge? New Mexico chiles, grapefruits and vodka (stored in the freezer)
What’s your favorite condiment? Emeril’s piri-piri sauce, a combination of jalapenos, poblanos, crushed red pepper and garlic. I give away half of the batch. I use it to saute shrimp, put on top of vegetables or eggs.
What things to you keep in your fridge when Julie and Jordan are around? Diet Pepsi (for Julie) and Fat Tire (one of Jordan’s favorite beers)
Portrait of the Fosters by Cody Duty/Austin American-Statesman.
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July 31, 2009
The California Cooks: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
SAN DIEGO — A week ago, I featured the fridge of Portland friends we were staying with at the beginning of a 10-day trip down the coast. We ended up in San Diego to spend a few days with my aunt and uncle Chris and Betsy Cook, with whom I lived when I worked in San Diego when I was in college. This second home has always been a food paradise. Both Chris and Betsy are fantastic cooks and even better storytellers. (I’ve been hearing about potlucks and dishes like “Cherry Betsy” and “Dr. Cook’s Happiness Cake.”)
They’ve had a great deal of success with Weight Watchers in recent years, so you’ll find healthful but far-from-boring ingredients. Their fridge is the kind you want to raid in the middle of the night: wine, fresh berries, good quality milk and juice.
What three things are always in your fridge? Fat-free chicken broth. Low-fat yogurt. White wine. We also always have Better than Bouillon stock base (four different kinds: chicken, ham, beef and mushroom). We don’t use it very often, but it’s always in there.
What’s your favorite condiment? Honey mustard salad dressing that we use on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise.
What’s your go-to late-night snack? Frozen yogurt from the Golden Spoon (a frozen yogurt franchise in San Diego).
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July 24, 2009
The Soeseidelmantaerts: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
PORTLAND, ORE. — Rachel and Russell Seidelman relocated to Portland two years ago from Kansas City, Mo., for the cool weather and laid-back biking culture (I couldn’t get them to “accidentally” stay in Austin when they stopped there on their cross-country journey to move out here).
I met Rachel when she was Rachel Soetaert in Spain, where we were both studying abroad from Mizzou. (When they got married a few years ago, Rachel and Russell joked that they were going to combine their vowel-filled last names into one: Soeseidelmantaert, thus the name of this post.) Turned out, her folks live in the same part of Missouri as mine, and our families have been intrinsically intertwined ever since.
Now she and Russell have made their home on the West coast, eating food grown in their own garden and from a CSA they just joined. They wear their hippie souls on their fridge shelves, with oat, hazelnut and almond milks next to reused tortilla bags full of lettuce and homemade pumpernickel bread. Don’t forget the freezer, which holds a dozen or so old tomato sauce jars full of blueberries Rachel picked last week on Sauvie Island.
What three things are always in your fridge? Bridgeport IPA, fresh fruit (particularly apples, “I mean Washington is next door,” says Rachel, a Missouri native.) Eggs.
What’s your favorite condiment? Tapatio
What’s your favorite late-night snack? Russell’s popcorn that he makes in his big stock pot, Rachel says, topped with melted butter.”There’s no kernels left in the bottom,” she says. “He makes the perfect popcorn. Perfectly salted and buttered, with butter melted in the toaster oven because we don’t have a microwave.” Served with grapefruit juice or apple juice.
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July 17, 2009
Adam Beaugh: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Beaugh had plenty of experience with multimedia and Web projects, but his passion for vino sprung from a trip to Italy a few years ago. So Beaugh, who also owns a Web consulting business and is a DJ and “dance enthusiast,” according to his application, whipped up this video, which includes a shout out from The Gov himself:
Out of nearly 2,000 applicants, Beaugh and nine other finalists are headed to Healdsburg this weekend for the final round of interviews. Beaugh says he plans to chronicle every aspect of the trip on AReallyGoodeTrip.com, a site he put together this week that should go live by Friday afternoon.
The winner will be announced on Tuesday.
What three things are always in your fridge? Wine, Beer, Cookie Dough… Does this mean that I am a wino with a sweet tooth? Most likely.
What’s your favorite condiment? Worchestershire sauce. I grew up with my mother making a special steak sauce out of Worchestershire, Ketchup, Texjoy Steak Seasoning, and ground pepper… I still put it on everything today. A close second would definitely be Stubbs Original BBQ Sauce. One of my favorite quotes is “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m a Cook” - C.B. Stubblefield (Stub)
Favorite wine not in your fridge? I am having a glass of Murphy-Goode’s Liar’s Dice Zinfadel as I type this… I must say it is very delicious. Two other bottles that I can never pass up are: Tintara Shiraz (2006) and Fattoria Montellori Moro (2005). The Moro is harder to find, but is available at Vino Vino, The Grove, and sometimes Vespaio.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photo by Adam Beaugh.)
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July 10, 2009
Kareem Hajjar: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
You don’t meet many vegetarian distance runners/lawyers like Kareem Hajjar. Hajjar, who represents about 100 bars and restaurants in Austin, went veg four years ago with his then-girlfriend Melissa. They got married and stuck with the meat-free diet.
The Notre Dame graduate is still eating tofu instead of animal protein, unless you “accidentally” slip a piece of bacon in his salad. His plans to run a marathon are on hold due to a knee injury, but he’s got his sights sent on a 10K swim, that is, if he can lay off the cheese pizza.
What three things are always in your fridge? Wine, orange juice and pickles, usually mini gherkins.
What’s your favorite condiment? Hellish Relish, which, sadly, is now out of production.
What’s your go-to late-night snack? I’m doing my damnedest not to eat late at night, but when I do, it’s cheese pizza, usually Tony C’s. I don’t know why you’d pollute pizza with toppings.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photo by Kareem Hajjar.)
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July 3, 2009
Musician Amy Cook: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Musician Amy Cook says she’s an eat-local person, stocking her and partner Liz Lambert’s fridge from places like Farm to Market on South Congress Avenue. Lambert, the developer behind the hippiest of Austin projects including Hotel San Jose and the Saint Cecilia Hotel, and Cook are always on the go; Cook is touring in California for much of July and Lambert is working on El Cosmico, a trailer park-inspired hotel and art residence in Marfa.
Last week, after Michael Jackson’s death, Cook recorded this heartfelt tribute to the singer with her version of “Beat It,” which just might be enough to bring tears to your eyes in this otherwise jubilant holiday weekend.
Cook’s evocative voice and narrative songwriting can be heard on her next album, “Let the Light in,” which is produced by fellow Austin musician Alejandro Escovedo and will come out later this year.
What’s your favorite condiment? Hot sauce. We always have Cholula hot sauce.
What three things are always in your fridge? Topo Chico, pickles (don’t know why, don’t eat pickles), peanut butter, love butter.
What’s your go-to late night snack? Annie’s shells and cheese. i also like those pretzels with peanut butter inside.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photo by Amy Cook.)
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June 26, 2009
Fox 7 reporter Lauren Petrowski: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Fox 7 morning reporter Lauren Petrowski loves food, especially cheese and eating out, so when given the opportunity to blog for work, she decided to write that one mostly deals with food.
Petrowski has been covering the early shift at the station since 2007, when the UT graduate moved back to Austin from Corpus Christi.
What three things are always in your fridge? Cheese, wine, hummus. I am a cheese fanatic.
What’s your favorite condiment? Balsamic vinegar. It tastes great on vegetables. Mix it with olive oil and a little salt and sugar for an easy salad dressing.
What do you eat or drink in the morning to get you going? I start the day with V8. As a reporter, I never really know what I’m going to eat each day and many times it’s grabbing fast food at a drive-through on our way to a story. I love veggie juice and this way I get a serving of veggies. Of course, I also have at least one cup of coffee, usually two, to help keep me going. For breakfast I usually eat yogurt, then snack on cheese, nuts and fruit throughout the morning. An occasional doughnut might get thrown in that mix as well…
(Photo by Lauren Petrowski.)
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June 12, 2009
Blogger Alexandra Richmond: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
“My freezer has breakfast and desert and dinner and snacks. It’s versatile and always has treats of some kind,” she says. It’s those treats will tide her over between meals out, which become blog fodder for Austin is Delicious, Richmond’s food blog that mixes restaurant reviews with news about going out and enjoying Austin.
What three things are always in your freezer? I always have ice, Cafe Du Monde and Morningstar Farms. I stockpile and when I get low run right to the store.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever frozen? Quinoa isn’t strange, is it? When I was a kid I stuck a snowball in the freezer to throw at someone in July, but doesn’t everyone do that? P.S., it didn’t work. Don’t try it! Ice ball, ow.
What’s the one thing you would miss if you had to live with only a freezer and not a fridge? I would really miss soy milk in my coffee and fresh fruit and greens. But maybe I could freeze soy milk into ice cube trays and drop it in my coffee like that! Is that cheating? Fresh pineapple trumps frozen, I think. But dropping frozen chunks of fruit into a cocktail is the best. Try frozen strawberries in a cocktail to use in place of ice. Then when you eat the strawberry it tastes all booze-y. This totally works great with champagne! This is my fave cheapo brunch trick — a box of white wine and frozen berries becomes almost elegant.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photo by Alexandra Richmond.)
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June 5, 2009
La Condesa chef Rene Ortiz: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Ortiz left the helm of the kitchen at La Esquina, a hip New York eatery best known for being a favorite of celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Beyonce, to open La Condesa earlier this year.
A far cry from cheese enchiladas and neon yellow queso, La Condesa has already caught the eye of discerning Austinites by serving contemporary Mexican food — inspired by the Mexico City neighborhood from which the restaurant gets its name — using fresh, local ingredients, many of which Ortiz buys every week at the farmers’ market.
On June 27, Ortiz will be a featured chef at the downtown farmers’ market’s annual Watermelon Festival, and look for classes with Ortiz at Whole Foods later this summer.
What three things are always in your fridge? membrillo (quince paste) eaten for breakfast with cheese and apple or bread, pickled jalapenos (morena brand), salsa adobo (chipotle and adobo)
What’s your favorite condiment? paradise brand hot sauce from brooklyn (grapefruit and habanero)
What’s your go-to late night snack? serrano ham
(Fridge photo by Rene Ortiz. Ortiz photo by Jesse Herman.)
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
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May 29, 2009
Pachanga co-founder, drummer Alex Vallejo: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Alex Vallejo, whose festival takes place tomorrow at Fiesta Gardens, is a Cavender’s-loving drummer (he plays in Vallejo, a project he started with his brothers) who will spend tomorrow making sure the second annual Pachanga festival goes off without a hitch.
Grab a ticket and get ready to dance off all that queso you’ve been eating with three stages of bands, including local favorites Maneja Beto, Brownout and David Garza, and big stars Cordero and Mexican Institute of Sound.
If the music, food, crafts and Annie Ray photo booth aren’t enough action for your family, Vallejo, along with several other musicians, will be hosting musical demonstrations for kids on Saturday afternoon.
What are three things always in your fridge? Some kind of hot sauce, those fresh tortillas the ladies at HEB make & avocado. What can I say? I’m Latino to the bone.
What is your favorite condiment? Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. I really love to grill when we’re at home and it pretty much works on everything from grilled veggies to chicken and steaks.
What is your late night snack? Basically everything. Anything from popcorn and beer to candy and peanut butter sandwiches. When my wife Monica wakes up in the morning, she says it looks like I had a slumber party.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photos courtesy of Alex Vallejo)
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May 22, 2009
Texas Monthly food editor Pat Sharpe: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The James Beard-nominated chef knows that Sharpe is not only a James Beard-winning writer (she won for her 2005 story “Confessions of a Skinny Bitch”), but she’s also one of the most respected restaurant critics in the country. She’s been writing (and now blogging) about food for Texas Monthly magazine for longer than many of the up-and-coming chefs she writes about have been alive, and from her elegant writing style, it’s clear that food is more than just about how good (or bad) a dish tastes.
As you can imagine for someone who eats out as much as she does, Sharpe’s fridge is sparse, yet calculated. She’s been devouring hamburgers across the state for Texas Monthly’s August cover story, but in a few weeks, you can read an article she wrote about New Zion Missionary Baptist Church’s barbecue joint in Huntsville for Saveur’s June/July issue, which is dedicated to Texas.
(Full disclosure that’s going to sound like bragging: Who knows if I would have ever gotten in to food writing if not for Sharpe. Just before graduating from Mizzou, I was her intern, calling up cafes specializing in home-style food and sorting through reviews by former Statesman critic Dale Rice and Houston Chronicle critic Alison Cook. My first, albeit short, glimpse at the world of food writing. Thanks, Pat.)
What three things are always in you fridge? whole milk, almonds, some form of take-out from Mandola’s Italian Market (frequently Sicilian tomato salad)
What’s your favorite condiment? pico de gallo
What restaurant dish do you most wish you could recreate at home? Dough Pizzeria’s heavenly house-made mozzarella cheese (they’re in San Antonio and worth a trip)
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
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May 15, 2009
The Carillon chef Josh Watkins: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Last year, Watkins took over the massive dining operation at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, which houses half a dozen restaurants, including his baby, The Carillon, a fine dining establishment he will get to focus on starting in September.
Watkins is a fun-loving guy, wakeboarding when he’s not in the kitchen and playing around with fellow chefs at the end of fancy events like the Stars Across Texas dinner at the Hill Country Wine and Food Fest. But his food is serious, as it seems is his love for pickles and Cheez-Its. That’s my kind of chef.
What three things are always in your fridge? Voss sparkling water, pickled everything, citrus, triple cream cheeses
What’s your favorite condiment? Cholula hot sauce
What’s your go-to late night snack? Cheez-its
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Fridge photo by Josh Watkins, mug shot from AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center)
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May 8, 2009
Tribeza managing editor Lauren Smith Ford: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Smith Ford, who has been with Tribeza for three years and now does everything from editing and writing stories and styling the glamorous photo shoots, says that we’ve caught her fridge on a good week. This month she and her husband, Bennett, went through an eating out span and that now she’s cooking at home more, especially pot roasts, which are her favorite.
What three things are always in your fridge? Venison because my husband loves to try out new recipes with it; goat cheese because it’s pretty much good with everything; apples because they are an easy snack to grab on the go.
What’s your favorite condiment? Lawry’s seasoning—it adds that extra flavor to a pork tenderloin or to my personal favorite, a sweet potato.
What’s your go-to late night snack? An Ezekiel English muffin with a touch of Nutella.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com. (Photo by Lauren Smith Ford.)
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May 1, 2009
Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Up until 2000, he was working with Whole Foods Market, starting at the Brodie Oaks location in Austin while he was a student at Austin Community College. He then moved to Chicago when the company started its Midwest expansion and eventually to San Francisco when he became Whole Foods’ creative and artistic director.
He lives in L.A. now with his food stylist husband, Adam (and when you see Matt’s food photos, you’ll see why it’s a match made in heaven). Armendariz says he didn’t get serious about making photographs until two or three years ago. Now, in addition to keeping up MattBites.com, which was one of the charter members of Martha Stewart’s inner circle of blogs, he shoots a mix of editorial and advertising food photos.
“Ever since the Martha Stewart appearance last year (he baked cookies with the Queen on her daytime television show), it’s been really crazy,” he says. But being in the spotlight hasn’t gone to his head. You can find him connecting with bloggers across the country on Twitter, and he’s always got an eye out for what’s going on in his hometown.
What three things are always in your fridge? Eggs, Sambal, Tortillas, Kewpie Mayo. (ok, you said three but I had to pick four).
What’s your favorite condiment? Nuoc Cham. Hands down it’s Nuoc Cham. I can’t really be without it now as it adds dimension to so many things I cook. I’m addicted. And it’s not jjust for Vietnamese Food!
What’s your favorite food to photograph? It’s a tie between pomegranates and artisan cheeses. Poms are so beautiful, sensual, a bit scary and full of so much detail it’s insane. And artisan cheeses — not the mass produced blocks of cheese — but true beautiful handmade cheeses. Especially if they’re rubbed in ash, cocoa, grape leaves, soaked in wine, buried in the ground, strained through a basket, you see where I’m going with this. So much texture, color and shape. And then I get to eat them when I’m done.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
(Photos by Matt Armendariz.)
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April 24, 2009
No Show Ponies: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
It’s a good thing musicians live off fast food on the road; their fridges usually don’t have much more than beer. Ben Brown, who along with his brother Jeff forms the band No Show Ponies, has a few extra things in his fridge to inspire his rootsy rock ‘n’ roll.
The band, which just released its debut CD, “The End of Feel Good Music,” at the beginning on April, moved from Pennsylvania to Austin in 2006. You can catch them live at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Momo’s.
What three things are always in your fridge? Tabasco sauce, doña hot sauce from Tacodeli and Royitos hot sauce.
What’s the go-to post-show munchie? Only I could move to Texas and become a vegetarian. These days cheese is my only currency. I do like a good spicy black bean veggie burger.
Please explain the DVD, hair, arrow/pokey thing and beautiful man: This is the refrigerator in our rehearsal space … A place where world’s collide. A steady diet of Morrissey (the charming man in the photo) and Twin Peaks (the complete series DVD collection) keeps the body limber. The African spear (from the Masaai tribe in Kenya) completes the photo and was used to prop open the door… All the ingredients for a quiet evening at home. It should come as no surprise that we have “Eat Out In” on speed dial.
(Photo by Ben Brown.)
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April 10, 2009
FINO chef Jason Donoho: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Donoho, the executive chef of FINO, has wild Alaskan halibut, Pure Luck goat cheese and locally grown purple asparagus and fennel this week (he spent four summers working on a yacht in Alaska, so this fish is a favorite of his this time of year). He also keeps wheat-free soy sauce on hand for a special guest named Lindsay (who might be coming around more often in the near future).
What three things are always in your fridge? Dark chocolate, Parmesan Reggiano, farm eggs
What do you typically eat before noon? Green tea and granola
What is your go-to late night snack? Omelet with Parmesan and truffle oil
(Fridge photo by Jason Donoho, mug by April Woods.)
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April 3, 2009
Homebrew queen Debbie Cerda: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
By day, Cerda is a drinking water quality specialist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which means she has a mean palate and a passion for safe drinking water. She started homebrewing in Houston (they have a homebrew club, Foam Rangers, similar to the Austin Zealots) and after moving to Austin in 1993, she dived even further into the craft brewing scene, eventually founding the Austin Womens Beer League last year.
You can bet great beer will be on tap on Sunday as Cerda and fellow co-op members celebrate Black Star Co-op’s birthday with a beer circus from 4 to 9 p.m. on Sunday at Fiesta Gardens, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St. (Admission is $5 in advance, or $7 at the door. Free admission for children under 12.)
It’s a busy beer weekend. Tonight and tomorrow you can check out the winning entries of the Dogfish Head Brewing Off-Centered Film Competition at Alamo Lake Creek. The winners have already been announced, and Christopher Rose of Austin took first place.
And if you just can’t get enough of beer, wine and spirit news and events, check out the newest Austin360 blog, Liquid Austin. Beer columnist Patrick Beach is its blogmaster, but restaurant critic Mike Sutter and I will be chiming in.
What three things are always in your fridge? Enjoying good beers impacts caloric intake, so I balance my diet with healthy foods and try to incorporate organic fruits and vegetabless. Our fridge is always stocked with egg substitute, Jimmy Dean turkey sausages, and Kashi blueberry waffles.
What’s your favorite condiment? As Tasting Tent Coordinator for the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, it is difficult not to say “salsa!” since we have a stockpile in our fridge. I love Sgt. Pepper’s Tejas Tears habanero sauce for extra kick to eggs. However, hands down my favorite condiment is Frontier Foods organic Adobo seasoning. I love to sprinkle this MSG-free seasoning on fresh cut tomatoes, avocado, scrambled eggs (substitute).
If you could only drink one kind of beer for the rest of your life, what would it be? I have a fondness for Texas beers, especially Real Ale Rye Ale, Saint Arnold’s Elissa IPA, and Independence Bootlegger Brown Ale. I especially like that (512) Brewing is focusing on sourcing local and in season for their beers, including the pecans in their Pecan Porter and eventually peels from Texas grown grapefruit for the Belgian style Wit. However, I have to confess my true love for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as the beer I’d drink for the rest of my life. I’m a sucker for the hoppiness of this beer, nicely balanced but not a hop bomb.
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March 27, 2009
DJ Sandy McIlree: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
McIlree, who just signed another five-year contact to continue to do the show that’s in its 13th year, and Hager might still be recovering from their 15th annual St. Patty’s Day bash downtown, but more likely than not, they are just taking in the city like everyday Austinites. (Last fall, McIlree told Out and About’s Michael Barnes that he is warming up to The Domain. He calls it “Disney for adult women.”)
These guys aren’t just about making you chuckle when you’re stuck in traffic; they’ve raised more than $1 million over the years helping their favorite charity, Bikes for Kids.
But a few jokes in the morning to ease you into a Friday never hurt.
What three things are always in your fridge? Diet Lipton Citrus Green Tea. I love this stuff and it has 0 calories, Horizon’s Organic chocolate and white milk, Claussens Kosher Dill Pickles, the greatest afternoon snack ever
What is your favorite condiment? My Mother-In-Law makes the greatest salsa I have ever had in my life. I always have jar in the fridge. I realize that is not available to everyone so, my other is Chalula Sauce. Better than Tabasco.
What is the strangest thing you’ve eaten during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. shift on the radio? We eat alot of strange things. A lot of local restaurants bring food by the station for us to try. Last week I had a Whataburger with Cheese at 6 a.m. and Pay Wei Honey Shrimp at 9 a.m.. Strange day.
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March 6, 2009
Truffle-maker Lynne Larson: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Larson, who lives in Spicewood, says she has known since she was a kid that she wanted to own her own business, but it wasn’t until last summer that she opened Babycakes after years in the mortgage industry. Her kitchen is in Dripping Springs, but she makes deliveries all over the Hill Country and Central Texas and ships truffles across the country. (My favorite part of her Web site, besides the gorgeous truffles, is where she explains that the truffles are made in “an atmosphere of positive energy flow, expectant dreams, realized joy and unmatched integrity by women of spirit.” I love it!)
What three things are always in your fridge? Half ‘n’ half - a must for morning coffee. Butter - makes everything better! Some kind of cheese - the stinkier the better! Thank goodness I’m not lactose intolerant!
What’s your favorite condiment? Heinz Ketchup (I grew up in Pittsburgh!)
What’s your favorite non-truffle dessert? “Angelyn’s” Chocolate Chipper Cookies. This is a recipe that my friend Angela and I (hence the name) made our own. We have a little ritual of sneaking some time in the middle of everything to whip up a batch and enjoy them together.
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February 27, 2009
Chaya Rao: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
She just returned to Austin from a culinary journey in her native India after the New Year and blogged about it along the way, further enamoring me with her cuisine and culture.
Her passion for cooking is visible even before she fires up the burner at her home or at one of her cooking classes at Whole Food or Central Market. Talking quickly with her hands, she’ll explain the similarities between Latin and Indian cooking, why she needs more than a dozen blenders and how to shop for the proper spices without getting a knock-off “curry” blend.
(Take note of her pantry, below, which must be the envy of the neighborhood, with every grain, bean and spice you could think of neatly stored and organized.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Cilantro, some variety of green chili peppers and ginger
What is your favorite condiment? Hot Sauce! I have 6 varieties today: Lizzano from Costa Rica, Mexican habanero, sriracha, gourmet chipotle from Santa Fe, homemade Indian cilantro and mint chutney and homemade Indian pickled mangoes in hot hot mustard and chili sauce.
What’s the hardest to find ingredient you always have on hand? Curry leaves. I have fresh and some dried in my pantry. Also just in case if I run out I have a few plants in my backyard.
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February 20, 2009
Guy Forsyth: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Last time I caught him was at one of the free Friday lunch shows at City Hall. (With the half-eaten avocado, Claussen pickles, leftover green beans and random assortment of beers, his fridge is one I’d be happy to raid for lunch any day.)
Forsyth, who helped start The Asylum Street Spankers in the mid-1990s, is known as much for his sense of humor and strong song-writing skills as he is for his powerful vocals and ability to play just about any instrument. If you haven’t experienced one of his shows, you are really missing out.
He is playing gigs in Louisiana this weekend, but check him out on Wednesday at his weekly happy hour show at the Continental Club. On Thursday, he’ll play at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau’s CD release party at Antone’s and on Friday he’ll likely sell out the Saxon Pub.
What three things are always in your fridge? eggs, broccoli and milk
What’s your favorite condiment? Soy Vay Hoisin Garlic Sauce
What’s your go-to late night snack? I try to avoid eating late at night but chocolate chip cookies (homemade by my wife) are crack to me.
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February 13, 2009
April aka @SweetLeafTea: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Building relationships online is something Riggs says she feels personally and professionally gratifying, especially with Twitter. “I get to openly interact with folks from all over the place instantly,” she says. She spends her tweets answering questions and responding to updates that mention Sweet Leaf Tea, which she often responds to with coupons for free tea. “Our goal is to be out there ready to start an easy dialog with all consumers and potential consumers,” she says. “If Twitter helps me to anticipate issues before they become problems, that’s even better!”
What three things are always in your fridge? 365 Organic string cheese, fresh veggies, eggs or Redi-Egg (or both)
What’s your favorite condiment? My favorite condiment has got to be Dijon mustard. You can transform anything with that one simple ingredient. You can slide it on to a tasty sandwich or mix it with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and spices to make a great-tasting and easy salad dressing. It’s so versatile!
What’s your favorite non-Sweat Leaf beverage? My favorite beverage by far is Mexican Coke. I don’t think there is anything better tasting on the planet!! Working on a huge life-style change (aka weight-loss), it’s the one sugary drink that I allow myself to have every once in a while. It must be in an icy-cold glass bottle.
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February 6, 2009
Stuart Smith: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Did you know heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States? In an effort to spread awareness about the role women can play in preventing heart disease, the American Heart Association to be National Wear Red Day. Stuart Smith, who is an investment adviser by day, helped organize Central Texas’ show of support as a member of the Go Red for Women executive leadership team. She volunteered to show us her fridge today in honor of Wear Red Day.
Some tips from the association on keeping your heart healthy: Get your heart checked regularly. Maintain an active lifestyle. Choose baked over fried food. Don’t smoke (as if you needed me to tell you that).
The general guidelines for eating well apply if you want to avoid foods that will adversely affect your cardiovascular system. Omega-3 fatty acids are especially good. Limit saturated and trans fats, sodium and cholesterol. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. The heart association has this awesome recipe for chicken pot pie (you’ll have to register for the site to view it, though).
What three things are always in your fridge? Organic skim milk, fresh seasonal fruit (grapes, apples, oranges), fresh lean meats (chicken, turkey or pork) What is your favorite heart-healthy ingredient? Spinach What is your favorite heart-healthy dish? Vegetarian black bean chili
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January 30, 2009
Soup Peddler David Ansel: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
David and his delivery drivers don’t pedal anymore, and they deliver more than just soup to more than 20 zip codes in Austin. The menu changes every week, and you have to order a week ahead. Confused? The FAQ on the Web site will help.
David was always interested in food and cooking. He says he really started getting into soup when he was living in group houses in his younger years. “There were always plenty of rotting vegetables on hand,” he says. After starting The Soup Peddler, he wrote a cookbook “The Soup Peddler’s Slow and Difficult Soups,” but he says he’s getting away from recipes lately. He says he’d rather empower people to cook on their own without depending on the exact measurements of someone else’s trial and error.
The Soup Peddler is doing better than it ever has, he says, but more important, he says he’s happy with where he’s at, working part time to stay at home with his daughter, Mia Rose, who will celebrate her first birthday next month.
What three things are always in your fridge? The first three that come to mind are lemons, scallions, and parsley, although now I keep my parsley in my garden and soon will my scallions too. Whenever people ask me how I can be a dad, business owner, and still cook for my family, I tell them if you have lemons, scallions, and parsley (and of course olive oil, salt and pepper), you’re never too far from a delicious dinner.
What’s your favorite condiment? What’s with the hardball questions? If you consider it a condiment, I always have a batch of sweet pickled cabbage brewing in the back of the fridge. Takes any sandwich to a whole nutha level. For the same reason I always keep pickled ginger too. Two hot sauces pretty much keep me covered, Crystal’s and Sriracha.
If you had to eat soup every day for the rest of your life, which soup would you eat? There’s this interesting soup that’s quite often cooked in a pressurized container, made from the roasted, hulled beans from a tropical plant. I serve it with sugar and half and half, or egg nog when available. So if I had to pick one, that’d be it. If I had another choice, I’d frankly have to go with Soup Peddler’s chicken noodle.
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January 23, 2009
Docubloggers: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
If you haven’t checked out “Docubloggers” online or on KLRU, you’re really missing out. It’s Austin’s version of Current TV, the channel started by Al Gore in 2005 that broadcasts viewers’ short documentaries, or video pods. Like Current, “Docubloggers,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays on KLRU, consists of user- and staff-generated videos on a wide range of topics.
It’s amazing to see Austin through the eyes of people who call this place home.
The show, which launched in May 2007, combines short docublogs, usually three to five minutes, that reflect life in Central Texas and are submitted by people in the community and by producers Domenique Bellavia and Sean Cunningham and others at KRLU.
There have been a number of food-related docublogs, such as videos on the Luling Watermelon Thump, Nubian Queen Lola’s Cajun Kitchen and the Black Star Beer Co-op. Someone has started a series on food called Order Up, and Michelle Greer’s Tweet-up blood drive last year inspired a video. You can watch all of the docublogs online.
Dom and Sean oversee the project, guiding newbies on how to shoot a video and creating their own. The more perspectives the better, they say, and you don’t have to be a documentary filmmaker to participate. Submit your own slice of life in Austin here.
Dom and Sean flipped a coin to see whose fridge would get the spotlight today. Dom won.
What three things are always in your fridge? My fridge cannot live without soymilk, sriracha, and cheap beer. My boyfriend JJ loves his schlitz and natural light beer while I tend to favor fresh veggies and new chapter’s berry green powder. Our fridge is a unique reflection of his habit of going out to eat all the time (hence the to-go boxes) and my constant health food fascination.
What’s your favorite condiment? My favorite condiment is by far sriracha. I put it on pizza and pasta and get a nice kick that’s better then cayenne.
What’s your go-to late night snack? There’s nothing like staying up late and gorging out on carbs and feeling like a kid again with a big bowl of cereal and soymilk. My favorite cereals are cinnamon life and fruity pebbles - although I restrain myself from buying the fruity pebbles now :(
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January 16, 2009
Author and critic Robb Walsh: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Walsh was the restaurant critic at the Austin Chronicle in the early 1990s, which is when he started the still-popular Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival. He’s written for the culinary big boys — Gourmet, Saveur, Cooking Light — and voiced pieces for NPR. The Houston Press snagged him in 2000, where he still reviews restaurants and contributes to the Eating Our Words blog.
He’s also been known to cook a mean rabbit for visiting food bloggers.
Research for his most recent book took him all over the world, picking and shucking nearly every kind of oyster known to man. Instead of getting sick of them, he stocked his fridge with varieties including Apalachicolas, Totten Inlet Virginicas and Gulf giants from Espirtu Santo Bay.
Walsh will tell tales of his oyster-hunting adventures at 3 p.m. Sunday at BookPeople .
What three things are always in your (indoor) fridge? (winter) Saint Arnold’s beer, Boar’s Head natural casing all-beef frankfurters, and lots of mustard.
What’s your favorite way to eat oysters? On the half shell with a squeeze of lemon with a gin martini — three olives and a twist of lemon peel.
What’s your go-to late night snack? (winter) Liverwurst and Ritz crackers
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January 8, 2009
Casserole Queens: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Casseroles never really stopped being cool. Austinite Sandy Pollock realized this one Christmas a few years back and, over cocktails with her longtime friend and former coworker Crystal Oakes, decided to start Casserole Queens, a casserole delivery service. Not even three years after the company started and the Casserole Queens have already caught the attention of Bobby Flay, who competed against them in an as-yet-unaired episode of “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” last year at Speakeasy. (Sandy says the episode is currently slated for April, but you know how quickly tv production schedules can change.)
The Queens are still going strong, with orders coming in from all over the Austin area. Customers can choose from about 20 casseroles, including breakfast and vegetarian dishes and, of course, King Ranch casserole, and place an order online. The casseroles are delivered the following weeks by the two smiling chefs, who make deliveries in 1950s attire.
From Sandy: What three things are always in your fridge? Hot sauce (the hotter the better), string cheese and cream (for my coffee)
What’s your favorite condiment? Jalapeños (pickled). I always have them on hand.
What’s your favorite casserole? I’m a South Texas girl and for me the casserole that makes me feel the happiest is King Ranch Casserole that originated from the King Ranch is South Texas. We make the best!
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December 24, 2008
Tammy, the rat: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
As the queen rodent, she gets nightly treats from his fridge, in addition to her regular diet of rat food and grains. No more pasta for this fat rat, though. Doctor’s orders.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beer, pitcher of Brita water, Central Market organic eggs.
What’s your favorite condiment? Salsa.
What’s Tammy’s favorite late-night snacks? Broccoli, homemade hummus, various beans, carrots. Sometimes she’ll get a special treat of salmon or eggs or a homemade fruit smoothie.
(This will likely be the last What’s in Your Fridge Friday — or in the case of this week, Wednesday — this year. If you have a fridge you’d like to feature, shoot me an e-mail at abroyles@statesman.com. I’d love to feature more reader fridges next year…)
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December 19, 2008
Texas Monthly editor-in-chief Evan Smith: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Evan Smith has caught a lot of good-hearted flak for being a New Yorker — and a longtime vegetarian — at the helm of Texas Monthly magazine, most recently from Calvin Trillin in that New Yorker article about Snow’s BBQ in Lexington. (Yes, the same Snow’s I blogged about earlier this week.)
Meat-eating debates aside, Smith is a foodie. He and his wife, Julia, bring their two kids along to nice restaurants and have been teaching them the value of fruits, vegetables and good food since they were toddlers (his daughter’s second word was “taco” and his son has been a pad thai fan since age 3).
Smith’s devotion to nonprofits and do-good organizations, such as the Austin Film Society and the Texas Film Hall of Fame, is well known in Austin. A few months ago, he was recruited to be on the Sustainable Food Center’s capital campaign steering committee, which is helping raise money and awareness for the new facility to be built in a few years on donated land off MLK Boulevard in East Austin.
“When you get to know what the Sustainable Food Center stands for, you can’t not support it,” he said earlier this week. Along with friend and filmmaker Richard Linklater, Smith made a call for donations earlier this month through a letter sent to thousands of SFC supporters. (If you’d like to donate, visit the SFC Web site.)
“We have all become much more aware of the crap that’s in our food,” he says. The best thing we can do is to try to bring the best of what’s available into our homes, he says. Many times that means looking to our Central Texas farmers. “The work we do to support local growers ensures that more of what they produce will be available,” he says.
What three things are always in your fridge? Diet Coke, which I know is not terribly good for me in terms of Sustainable Food Center principles, but they sustain me. Some kind of salsa and fruits and vegetables. We’re a big fruit and vegetable family. I credit my wife more than anybody. My kids have grown up eating a fruit at every meal and a vegetable at lunch and dinner. Now at 12 and 8, they don’t know differently. From basic carrots and apples, to the more elaborate, like Brussels sprouts or pomegranates.
What’s your favorite condiment? Salsa. “Hurt me, but don’t kill me” is my motto about salsa. We are defined by the environment in which we live, so we eat a lot of Mexican food.
What local foods or food products do you show off to out-of-towners who visit Austin? Jaime’s Red and Green salsa, which I buy at Central Market.
By the looks of his fridge, he’s not lying about the salsa.
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December 12, 2008
BlueAvocado founders: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Paige, in the pink shirt at right, says the bags made out of recycled materials have only been on the market for a month, but already they are grabbing the spotlight. You can either buy kits (they start at $24.99) or individual bags ($7.99 for produce bags up to $19.99 for insulated or carry-all bags), which fit inside each other and condense down into about a wallet-size roll. “Each bag has its own function, but they all fit together,” she says. You can buy them at several H-E-Bs around Central Texas and on their Web site, www.blueavocado.com.
As the singleton of the group whose refrigerator is hypothetically the most photogenic, Paige was picked to show off her fridge.
What three things are always in your fridge?
Paige: hummus, soymilk, peanut butter (creamy)
Amy: Austin Farmers’ Market seasonal veggies, Feta cheese, apple juice
Missy: lactose free milk, watermelon, organic cheeses sticks
What’s your favorite condiment?
Paige: tamari soy sauce
Amy: Ranch dressing
Missy: Taco Bell mild sauce (guilty pleasure)
What’s your favorite thing to do with avocados?
Paige: sprinkled with balsamic vinegar or a facial mask:-)
Amy: inside my husband Bill’s homemade guacamole (or fresh cut on top
of a bed of mixed salad greens)
Missy: We call it a “taco de nana” - black beans and cheese on a warmed tortilla with sliced avocados on top
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December 5, 2008
Paula of Paula's Texas Orange: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Imagine a world without booze.
Both Paula’s Texas Orange and Paula’s Texas Lemon are favorites of the best bartenders in the state, some of whom will be competing on Tuesday in the Drink Local Contest at the Monarch from 6 to 9 p.m. The event, whose proceeds will go to Urban Roots as part of Edible Austin’s Eat Local Week, will features Bobby Heugel of Anvil in Houston and of Austin, Billy Hanky of the Good Knight, Ben Craven of Starlite, Bill Norris of FINO and Gypsy’s Will Earls.
Paula will be there to watch her spirits in competition, a thrill she must be getting used to. Ranch 616’s Ring of Fire, the winner of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Official Drink of Austin contest in August, was made with Paula Texas Orange.
Which makes you think: Who would have thought, 75 years ago, a city would sponsor a drink contest?
What three things are always in your fridge? Paula’s Texas Orange and Lemon, of course! And club soda, tonic, fruit juices, limes, and lemons for testing drink ideas. Fresh veggies, from our garden or the farmer’s market if possible—right now we’ve got swiss chard. Mozzarella cheese and olives for making homemade pizza every Sunday evening.
What’s your favorite condiment? My husband Paul’s jalapeno relish. Just last week he picked all the peppers off the plant in the garden and blended it up with sauteed garlic, onions, carrots, and bay leaf (from the back yard). A little goes a long way!
What’s your go-to drink with PTO or PTL to make for guests? Most of the year, it’s the margarita, of course, but right now with a little bit of a cold spell, we love the Apples ‘n’ Oranges with PTO, Calvados, apple juice, and lemon juice. And everyone gets Paula’s Lemon after dinner.
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November 21, 2008
Dr. (and mommy friend) Jenny Kokai: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
I met Jenny Kokai exactly two years ago when we were both heavily pregnant in a natural childbirth class and wondering how the hell we were going to do this whole child-rearing thing and continue with our pre-motherhood plans. She was in the middle of getting her doctorate in Theatre and Dance at UT and I was a copy editor twitching to get back into writing.
Even though our birth plans didn’t go our way (we were the only two moms in the class who ended up with C-sections), we forged ahead, balancing diapers, sleepless nights and quickly growing boys with the day-to-day work that inched us closer to our goals. This has meant pleas for babysitting, late night hours at the computer, pumping at work or in the library and more time away from our kids than we’d probably have liked.
But it has paid off. As of this week, she’s Dr. Kokai.
Yesterday, she defended her project, which is on women and performance in Boston around the time of the American Revolution, which means she’s reached her goal of finishing school before she’s 30. She says now she gets to focus on getting a job and taking care of her sweet son, Oliver. She’ll leave the cooking up to her husband, Eric.
Oh, and she promises that all the liquor wasn’t there to help her finish the degree. It’s for Thanksgiving with the family, she swears.
What three things are always in your fridge? hard tofu (cheap protein, basis for many dinners), non-dairy coffee creamer (low calorie dessert is Mocha Almond Fudge creamer and decaf coffee), jalapeno stuffed olives (snacks and Mexican Martinis, of course).
What’s your favorite condiment? Salsa… great on everything. Especially Leal’s.
What’s your go-to snack for the little one? Lately the wee one wants pancakes, so we make up a big batch of fruit filled pancakes on Sunday and keep them in tupperware in the fridge so he can eat them through out the week.
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November 14, 2008
AMOA director Dana Friis-Hansen: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Dana and Mark are foodies with a deep interest in local foods. In their fridge, you’ll see evidence of trips to the downtown farmers’ market with food from Aster’s Ethiopian Catering and Thai Fresh and Rio’s sauces. Just last night, their book club met to discuss Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” so they celebrated with fish and shrimp from Roberto San Miguel’s seafood company and dishes made with local arugula, peppers and radishes.
Friis-Hansen, who has been the AMOA’s executive director since 2002, must relish in the dining aspect of the museum’s newest exhibit, “The Texas Chair Project,” which is opening this weekend. It is a result of Austin artist Damian Priour’s experiment two years ago in which he sent 100 limestone-and-glass chairs to fellow artists and requested that they send him a chair of their own in return. The exhibit will be open through February at the downtown location, 823 Congress Ave.
What three things are always in your fridge? Garlic, champagne, three kinds of mustard, cowboy burgers, low sodium v-8, olives, cheeses, arugula, something from Soup Peddler, something from Farmer’s market vendors… ok, that’s more than three.
What is your favorite condiment? Wasabi mustard … We lived in Tokyo for five years, so this is a great mix of East and West…
What meal have you eaten that’s worthy of a museum still life? There are many great still lives in art history, but I am lucky to be friends with a truly multi-media artist, Doug Fitch, who creates food extravaganzas and events under the rubric “Orphic Feast”. Last Thanksgiving a group of friends, including Doug, celebrated a wonderful weekend in Marfa at the home of artist Charles Mary Kubricht, it was a collage of flavors and colors!!!
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November 7, 2008
New restaurant critic Mike Sutter: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The annual dining guide hits your front porch this morning, and in it — in addition to 12 new reviews of Austin’s top restaurants — is the answer to the burning question many astute diners have had for the past few months since the Statesman’s restaurant critic Dale Rice left the paper to teach at Texas A&M.
In the state of the newspaper industry, I guess there were two questions: Will Dale be replaced? If so, by whom? Both answers you’ll be pleased with.
Yes, and his name is Mike Sutter.
Mike has worked at the Statesman for 23 years, 14 of which as XL art director (in fact, he’s the brain and artist behind many of the creative XL covers in the past decade). I’ve had the pleasure of eating with him while working on this year’s dining guide and found out that A) he is as insightful and sharp as his desk is clean and XL covers are brilliant B) he thinks like father-of-two-girls/reporter/chef/average diner all at once C) he loves trailer tacos as much as he does fancy foie gras.
Although his appearance will remain anonymous (it’s incredible that in 2008, a Google image search of his name yields not a single image), you’ll get to know his voice and perspective well in the coming months through his reviews, stories and an as-yet-untitled blog that will launch by the end of the year.
But first, have a peek in his fridge:
What three things are always in your fridge? Maxwell House coffee: Judge if you will. I brew the big-dollar beans, too. Nothing better than a walk from the American-Statesman to Whole Foods for coffee roasted that very second. But there has to be a morning standard, a bomb-shelter staple. Maxwell House is the first pot of the day, for shuffling our 9-year-old to the schoolbus, for chasing the squirrels away from the tomato plants, for figuring out what-on-earth-could-be-wrong-with-the-Volkswagen-now. My Mom wants her ashes buried in a Maxwell House can.
Beer for any mood: There are at least six different kinds of beer in there at any given time. And the labels must be fronted — that is, turned so they face foreward, for easy inventory. Current stock: Giddy-Up, Mothership Wit, Fat Tire and 1554 Black Ale from New Belgium; Celebration and Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada; Sam Adams Double Bock; plus Belgian farmhouse and British session ales I brewed myself.
Limes: My wife is an amazing cook. She loves plucking cilantro leaves to freshen up salads, mincing and crushing fat cloves of garlic for marinara, slicing shallots to caramelize with Brussels sprouts. And she always buys limes. Handfuls of perfect, shiny green limes. My guess is that they act as ballast for the produce drawer, because we
never actually use them. They just sit there until they’re Hulky-brown and hard as hand grenades. I use them to chase away squirrels while I drink my Maxwell House.
What’s your favorite condiment? My Aunt Debbie’s jalapeño sweet pickles. They’re perfect in, on and around any kind of sandwich, with grilled meat, with fancy restaurant leftovers. And no, you can’t have any. I’m down to my last jar.
How do you use leftovers from fancy restaurants? Taking home doggie bags is dodgy business. You want to maintain some illusion of cool detachment from reality in a nice place, but there’s no way you’re leaving behind the rest of that $45 steak just for the sake of looking smooth. Plus, if I ate every single thing on the table in a single sitting every single time, I’d be looking at my outgrown fat pants in the upstairs closet and thinking, “Man, those were some lean and hungry times.”
So we abide by the mantra, “This will taste great on eggs in the morning.” Duck from Aquarelle? Great on eggs. Pork belly from Uchi? Beyond great on eggs. Egg-and-prosciutto pizza from Vespaio? Um, great on eggs!
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October 30, 2008
"Baked" bakers: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
(What’s in Your Fridge Friday is What’s in Your Fridge Thursday this week because the fridge owners are going to be at a book signing tonight at Whole Foods. Read on…)
Quit The Man, stock up on flour and sugar and create a baking sensation in a tucked away corner of a city already full of bakeries. But Matt and Nato stood out: their homemade marshmallows fluffy, their brownies legendary. Their hip take on baking soon caught the eye of everyone from Oprah to Martha Stewart and within a few years of opening Baked became more than just a store.
Baked and its bakers, who specialize in cutting edge flavor combinations, became a baking sensation.
Matt and Nato, who also sell marshmallows, brownies and granola online, have just released a book called “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking”, and tonight and Saturday are your chances to pick their brains on all things baking.
They will do a free cooking demonstration tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Whole Foods downtown, and at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, they will do another free cooking demo at the Texas Book Festival.
First, have a glimpse into Matt’s fridge, then, after the jump, Nato’s fridge PLUS the recipe for their infamous brownies:
What three things are always in your fridge? Matt: Pecorino Romano, Hot sauce, butter…though there is always a few bottles of dark beer and a bottle of cheap white chillin’ Nato: Apple juice, Parmesan cheese, tomato paste…combined with a few boxes of pasta, this is sustenance for weeks
What’s your favorite condiment? Matt: Hot sauce goes on everything…pizza, pasta, eggs, you get the idea. Nato: Mayo. Wish I could say that I whip it up myself, but that is not the case…the jarred stuff will do just fine.
If you had to live on a single baked good for the rest of your life, what would it be? Both of us: Chocolate chip cookies…it’s the perfect way to start and end a day…
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October 24, 2008
Vegan blogger Diann Mayer: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
What 3 things are always in your fridge? Assorted fresh veggies, but always fresh broccoli, homemade beans, and almond milk.
What’s your favorite locally made product? That’s a tough one. There are so many wonderful ones to choose from and they are so readily available from Whole Foods. But I’ll have to go with NadaMoo vegan ice cream, plain vanilla flavor. It’s the best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever tasted. A veggie and pesto pizza from East Side Pies is a pretty great treat too.
What your favorite thing to cook for your nonvegan friends? The easiest way to win over nonvegans is with baked goods. My family recently declared my chocolate cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting the best dessert ever. The most impressive meals to prepare for nonvegans are those that are naturally vegan. Nonvegans aren’t easily fooled into believing they are eating meat. With cooler weather here now, I would prepare Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili with cornbread or Homemade Falafels and Lentil Soup. Of course there would be brownies or chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
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October 17, 2008
Stortini chef Kristine Kittrell: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Chef Kristine Kittrell’s Manor Road eatery brings Italian food as bright and flavorful as the restaurant itself. The menu at Stortini, which is named after Kittrell’s grandfather, includes plenty of sandwiches, pastas, pizzas and some stand-out items, including homemade sausage and gelato, prosecco poached pears and — are you ready — crispy risotto balls.
What three things are always in your fridge? Apple lemon ginger juice from Central Market, Wateroak Farm goat milk and yogurt, Raspberry quince iced tea
What’s your favorite condiment? Vietnamese chili garlic sauce
What’s your favorite midnight snack? street tacos in Mexico City
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October 10, 2008
Pok-E-Jo's co-owner Danny Haberman: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
When he isn’t hopping from store to store, making sure the brisket’s pulling apart just right, Danny’s helping preparing for what will sure to be a busy holiday season, especially with this deal they have to buy a whole turkey dinner for 56 bucks.
What three things are always in your fridge? The three B’s: Brisket, Beer and BBQ sauce.
What’s your favorite condiment? I know I’m biased, but the Pok-e-Jo’s BBQ sauce is truly my favorite.
What’s your favorite thing to do with leftover Pok-e-Jo’s turkey or ham? A smoked turkey sandwich on Texas toast topped with melted cheddar cheese.
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October 3, 2008
Ephraim Owens: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
A jewel of the modern jazz scene and one of the best jazz trumpeters around keeps a freezer full of Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
Fast-forward through hundreds of shows at the Elephant Room and other jazz joints around town and a part in the 2006 documentary Before the Music Dies, Ephraim is making himself heard, playing with everyone from Erykah Badu to String Cheese Incident and his band Blaze, which the Austin Chronicle named the best jazz band last year.
You can catch Ephraim, who grew up in Dallas, tonight at Romeo’s Italian Restaurant on Barton Springs Road and Sunday night at Lambert’s Barbecue downtown.
What three things are always in your fridge? Leftovers, eggs and Topo Chico’s.
What’s your favorite condiment? Creole seasoning salt
After playing one of your late shows at the Elephant Room, what’s your favorite midnight snack to come home to? Anything salty or sweet, it depends on what my mighty palate is craving (it honestly could be anything)!
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September 25, 2008
Suzanne Santos: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
You might know Suzanne Santos as the woman at the downtown farmers’ market with the fruit on her hat. Or maybe you met her once and she told you about how the organization she works for, the Sustainable Food Center, has been putting them on for five and a half years. Or maybe she pointed you in the direction of the farmer who had the last few tomatoes of the season.
Either way, if you’re in Austin and you’ve made any attempt to eat locally, you’ve probably crossed paths with Suzanne. When she’s not working behind the scenes at the SFC, whose programs benefits tens of thousands of people of all income levels in Central Texas, she’s working up a sweat side-by-side with the dozens of farmers and vendors who sell at the market at Fourth and Guadalupe streets downtown every Saturday morning.
Suzanne also recently took the plunge into food blogging in what she has aptly named The Dirt.
But she’s not only the market director, she’s also a customer, filling her fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade cheese and sustainably raised meat. Everything but the oil, she says.
Now if she can just figure out how to get olives to grow in Central Texas.
Small Gala apples from Bat Creek Farm (now out for the season-apples came, and went, quickly), watermelon from Reese Farm (Bar W Farm still has some Ice Box Sugarbabies as of 9/20), a small lovely mix of peppers, squash and eggplant from numerous farms (I like to make caponata right now), a smidgen of Remember When Dairy whole milk (it’s Friday, I’m going to get some more on Saturday), some of the same dairy’s buttermilk
There’s some ground Longhorn beef from Rasco Farm bought at the Wednesday market, and Watson Farm’s Blackberry Jelly (I also carry Harvest Time Farmstand’s chipotle raspberry too). A jar of homemade pesto, made from local garlic, basil, parmesan cheese and pecans from the market.
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September 19, 2008
Reader Scott Schnelle: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Over the course of a month this summer, Austin360.com reader Scott Schnelle took photos of his and his roommate’s refrigerator every few days, which gives us a pretty cool glimpse into how quickly (or slowly in the case of some of those leftovers) move in and out of a fridge.
Schnelle, who tells me he may be moving to Austin soon, promises to make a batch of this heavenly coffee and dark chocolate ravioli he recently invented: Creamy, bright orange lines zig-zagging light, brown ravioli with dark black oozing out the side, sprinkled with chopped pecans with a crispy coat of egg white, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and muscovado sugar. A heavy whipping cream sauce with pumpkin and clove drizzled over the top. Topped with sweet coated pecans with bits of undissolved raw sugar.
What three things are always in your fridge? spinach, cottage cheese, eggs
What’s your favorite condiment? sriracha, I especially love to mix it with sour cream
What’s your dreamiest midnight snack? bowl of yogurt with a banana and a huge dollop of smuckers natural peanut butter
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September 11, 2008
Statesman newsroom: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Here at the Austin American-Statesman, we pride ourselves on good journalism. We’re so busy, in fact, reporting, writing, editing and designing that keeping our newsroom fridge clean and organized often falls to the end of our to-do lists. A few weeks back, a few of us (un)fortunate enough to sit within a waft’s reach of the refrigerator noticed an unpleasant odor that signaled it had been far too many weeks since the last clean-out.
I couldn’t help but sneak a picture before the offending leftovers were tossed out.
In addition to her sports designing duties and with the help of a handful of other dedicated volunteers, Lucritia Edgerton lovingly coordinates these purges, which is a thankless and downright disgusting task. (When I was pregnant and supposed to be avoiding unnecessary molds, she refused to let me fulfill my purging duties one month, the kind soul that she is.)
What three things are always in the fridge?
Yogurt, leftovers from Whole Foods, cases of Mountain Dew, and the freezer is always stocked with frozen dinners to last an entire winter.
What’s the most disgusting item you’ve thrown away?
Ugh, strawberries that had liquified. Seriously. I had to get a paper plate and squeegee them out rather than pick them up. I was a little impressed at the level of decomposition. And that’s totally why I have rubber gloves just for the fridge clean.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever found in there?
There was a baby bottle full of milk in the top of the door, and I just left it there. In the fridge purge three months later, it was mysteriously still there… I’m wondering if one of our frazzled mothers didn’t have a container for her coffee creamer and just grabbed the nearest thing.
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September 4, 2008
Bizarre Foods' Andrew Zimmern: What's in Your Fridge Friday
The new season of “Bizarre Foods” premieres at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9th, and in this season, he heads 14 countries and tries nearly 300 new weird foods, many of which he helps hunt or cook, including bats, wasps, stingray and even a beating yellowfin tuna heart. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. And Zimmern, who spent years as a chef and now works as a food writer, editor and expert, is happy to be the one slurping down unidentifiable animals parts.
Let’s just hope that when he’s home, he doesn’t have to live on sausage and Heinz ketchup alone.
What three items are always in your refrigerator? Killer mustards from Maille in Paris, Bull-Dog brand tonkatsu sauce, Crystal hot sauce from Louisiana, sheeps milk feta, cucumbers, watermelon, Diet Coke, Schweppes ginger ale, popcorn and last but not least, Ba Tempte pickles. I know that’s more than 3, but I’m on the road so much I am taking a mulligan or two on this hole.
What’s your favorite condiment? Not even close, Heinz ketchup. It’s the worlds most perfect food, and anyone who won’t cop to that is full of it.
What’s your go-to midnight snack after a long day in the kitchen/tv studio/airport? Cold Chinese food from the night before is ideal. Barring that option, my fallback is always pizza. What can I say, I’m old school.
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August 29, 2008
Brenda Lyons: What's in Your Fridge Friday
Brenda assures us that Cali’s not sitting in there all day, just when she needs a little cool down. “She’s done it since she was a puppy, but she’s not what most people
find (or allow) in their fridge!” Brenda wrote me recently. Brenda also has this collection of snapshots of the adorable Cali in the fridge through the years.
What’s in Your Fridge Friday is a weekly feature on Relish Austin where we look inside a Central Texas fridge and find out about its contents and the food habits and preferences of its owner. If you have a fridge you’d like to submit, e-mail me a photo of it.
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August 22, 2008
Fabric design student Britt Case: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Brittany Case is University of North Texas student who is majoring in fabric design. Her aunt saw my call for reader fridge photos and told her she should submit photos of her unique fridge items.
As part of a project last semester, she wove and assembled life-like lettuce, strawberries, sliced cheese and a milk carton out of hand-dyed warp yarn using a standard 8 harness floor loom. “The strawberries were the hardest to create,” Case says. “The milk carton was screenprinted on top of the woven fabric to create imagery of a milk carton.” Pretty impressive pieces of art, Britt!
Ed. note: Brittany says her woven food items are for sale. Just e-mail her if you’re interested.
I’m always looking for interesting refrigerators. Got one? Send me a photo and tell me about it!
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August 15, 2008
Biscuit Brothers: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
The lovable, musical Biscuit Brothers, who won this week’s A-List poll for the best locally produced TV show, are refreshing dose of Austin cool among a trove of bland Saturday morning kids’ shows (and one that this mommy is delighted to watch along with her kid).
They show their love of all things music every Saturday morning on KLRU (FYI, starting September 4, they’re moving to Fridays at 10 a.m. and Sundays at 8 a.m.) and in frequent performances and kids’ events around town.
Here’s what Tiny Scarecrow found in Buford and Dusty’s Musical Fridge:
It’s been a good season for “Old MacDonald’s Farm Fresh, Organic, Home-Grown Melodies” and we just launched a new green-box design! We keep the dry mix chilled and you can also see a pitcher of iced melody juice mixed up towards the back. Right in front of the juice is a fresh Flute basket. A diet full of fresh flutes and vegetables is very important! We try to keep the Jingle Bells cold just after they come off the jingle vine - you can see a nice pre-holiday bunch on the top shelf. The Trumpet is tricky. It’s typically frozen but we thaw it in the refrigerator and ‘round about 38 degrees it’s ready for some cool jazz. The Mandolin is kind of comfort music - sometimes Buttermilk (the Biscuit Brother’s sister) will sneak downstairs for some late night mandolin - those things are tasty anytime! The Cajun instruments (Washboard and itty-bitty Banjo) are in there to keep the rhythms crispy. That’s what a “crisper” is for, right?
Finally, I’m not really sure what the Ukulele (top shelf, center) is doing in there. We asked Tiny about it and he made a vague reference to some sort of musical experiment involving 6 kazoos, a megaphone, half a toothbrush and one “chilly uke” so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out.
And of course, right in the middle, a big plate of made-from-scratch biscuits … Hey! Where did that plate of Biscuits go? Well, I guess to see the Biscuits you’ll have to tune in to KLRU/PBS Saturdays at 8 a.m. :)
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August 8, 2008
Deb O'Keefe: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Deb now pulls the early shift on “The Morning X with Jason and Deb,” where she frequently brings up topics related to food, including the importance of eating locally and even a recent up-close encounter with a salmonella-like illness.
I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t the buttered Marmite. :)
What three things are always in your fridge?
1. Free range, veggie fed brown eggs for my dog Blue’s dinner. He gets one everyday!
2. Red Bull. I can’t live without it! I just get up way too early. I’ve cut back to one a day though… :-)
3. Carrots. They are nice and healthy, go with everything and best of
all, take ages to go off…
What’s your favorite condiment? We have a few things in the UK that you can’t get here (as you can see by the weird things in my fridge) and one of them is my beloved Heinz Salad Cream. It goes with everything. I’m also a really big Heinz Tomato Ketchup fan.
It’s 4 a.m. You either just got home from a crazy night out or are just getting up for the morning show. What do you put together to satisfy your grumbling stomach? I will immediately feel better if there’s a couple of pieces of hot, buttered Marmite on toast in front of me. Marmite is this sandwich spread from the UK. I grew up on it and get depressed when I run out. My family were just here visiting and brought me a supply to last at least 6 months… However, it’s not for everyone. You either loveMarmite or you hate it. Seriously.
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August 1, 2008
Tom Spencer: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
His partner, Victor Martinez, a senior engineer at Freescale, is considered the foodie of the house. Together, they’ve grown hundreds of varieties of plants, both edible and non.
Victor says they used to have a veggie patch that produced fantastic tomatoes, but now the yard is too shady for them to grow. Now we all just have to fantasize about the heirloom tomato and fresh mozarella tart with basil pesto and a black peppercorn/Parmesan crust he used to be able to make fresh out of his backyard.
What three things do you always have in your fridge? Does it have to be food? We always have beer, white wine, champagne and sake. As far as food… Goodflow grapefruit juice, organic fat free yogurt, and cheese are always in our fridge. :)
What’s your favorite condiment? My favorite condiment is by far black peppercorns. I use it on everything, always freshly ground. After that chiles, particularly chipotles and serranos.
What’s your favorite dish from the garden? I guess my favorite dish now would be a leg of lamb marinated in fresh chopped rosemary, garlic and olive oil and grilled over charcoal.
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July 25, 2008
Tom Welch: What's in Your Fridge Friday
I wouldn’t be in Austin if not for my Uncle Tommy, who lives on what we now call Uncle Tom’s National Park, which is his place out on the way to Dripping Springs that he’s had for 20 years.
He’s a Harley-riding landscaper who loathes onions and peppers and has the same weak spot for ice cream as his brother/my dad, with whom he roasted a whole pig earlier this year for our weddin’.
When I first moved to Austin, he let me have the spare room and eat his food. (And he showed me Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon, Hamilton Pool and Rudy’s Barbecue. I’m forever indebted to him for these three things alone.)
We still go out there quite a bit to stretch our legs, let the kid and dog run around and enjoy some of his fabulous, home-smoked barbecue brisket.
What three things are always in your fridge? Orange juice, milk and ice cream. The first two for hydration and blood sugar. The ice cream, because it’s decedent.
What’s your favorite condiment? Well…definitely Dijon mustard. Haven’t eaten much anything else in the past year, but maybe Miracle Whip. Not mayonnaise, though.
What’s your favorite midnight snack? Half a peanut butter sandwich, and an open-face pastrami and swiss on a slice of whole wheat health nut bread. Toasted.
Remember, I’m always accepting reader photos for What’s in Your Fridge Friday. E-mail them to abroyles@statesman.com!
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July 18, 2008
Rusty Irons: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Her quirky video showing how to make a slow-roasted pork butt on the grill caught producers’ attention. They picked her as one of 13 guest chefs for this season, and she flew to New York to shoot the episode earlier this summer.
Check out her episode on August 3 on the Food Network, and see what Mr. Flay had to say about this sassy (and sharp) Austin foodie.
What’s your favorite local item right now? Jeremiah Cunningham eggs. Eggs are the source of life and a complete source of protein. It can be made as savory or sweet. Marooned on an island? Give me egg. It goes great with kelp.
What’s with the artichoke? It’s beautiful! I use fresh fruits and veggies as flower arrangements in my hotel “The Irons Austin”! Guests see their whimsy. They last forever and then you eat them. It’s like an eco thing. I love to steam artichokes, dip them in my famous mustard mayonnaise and watch the Food Network or Anthony Bourdain.
You’re throwing one of your famous dinners. What dish do you feature? Osso buco with veal shank and pappardelle (flat wide ribbon) pasta. Extra sauce. It’s an art.
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July 11, 2008
Texas Locavore Beth Goulart: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
But take heed: Her descriptions and photographs of food will make your mouth water and your tummy cry out, “Yee-haw, let’s eat already!”
What three things are always in your fridge?
—Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese — It adds depth of flavor to dishes made with whatever
veggies and legumes are fresh and local.
—lemons and/or limes — They keep for a long time and their juice brightens flavors
in everything from cocktails to soups made from fresh, local vegetables.
—unsalted European-style butter — Together with olive oil, it’s the start of nearly
every dish. I wish I could find a local purveyor!
What’s your favorite condiment? Texas olive oil. The one they sell at Central Market is so flavorful. It brings greens to life, tastes great sopped up on bread, and turns plain noodles into a suitable side.
If you could eat one local food (or local food-based product/dish) every day for a week straight, what would it be? Texas figs! I’d eat them in gelato, with goat cheese on pizzas, with honey and pine nuts on sweet tarts, and more. I think local figs are one of the very best things about living in Texas.
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July 4, 2008
Ranch 616's Kevin Williamson: What's in Your Fridge Friday?
Kevin was on vacation this week, celebrating his birthday in Key West, but he still managed to share some fun photos of his fridge and some interesting details about its contents, including what seems to be an undying love for ponzu sauce.
What condiments do you always have around? Honey bear, Boars Head mustard, fig jam, habanero pepper sauce
Long night at the restaurant. Didn’t manage to eat anything. It’s 2 a.m. and you’re starving. What midnight snack do you whip together? The kitchen always grills me a 8 ounce chicken breast. I go home. Cut it super thin slices. Put it on celery with ponzu!! It’s like a salty celery chicken taco.
What are three foods you cannot live without? Ponzu sauce, peanut butter and fresh fruit
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June 27, 2008
Homesick Texan: What's in Your Fridge Friday
Every Friday, we take a look in someone’s fridge and ask three questions about eating and food. This week, we see what’s in the fridge of Lisa Fain, aka the Homesick Texan.
Fain, who was born in Houston but spent a few years in Austin, started blogging as the Homesick Texan as a way to connect with her Southern roots and share with her New York friends the culinary joys of home, which she left for NYC 12 years ago. Her popular food blog features tons of recipes and stories about truly Texas dishes (migas, chicken-fried steak, king ranch chicken, etc.) that are her link home as she lives and works in the Big Apple.
As you can tell by the photos she took of her fridge, she’s quite the photographer, too.
What’s your favorite condiment? Homemade salsa. My current crush is this avocado, cilantro and tomatillo salsa that’s ending up on almost everything I make, though I also adore that old classic — roasted tomato salsa — as well.
What three things do you always have in your fridge? Besides salsa, I’d have to say that cilantro, mayonnaise and a bottle of vintage Champagne are always in my fridge. The first two are key ingredients in so many things that I make (especially in the summer). And the good Champagne is on hand because New York Magazine a few years ago mentioned that fresh flowers and always having a bottle of Champagne in your fridge would vastly improve the quality of your life in this dirty, crowded and difficult city. I have to agree. Whenever there’s a need for a spontaneous celebration, I’ve got the Champagne covered.
What’s your favorite Texas food to serve to guests who’ve never been here? For a main course, I like to serve people chicken-fried steak with cream gravy or cheese enchiladas made with longhorn cheddar in a proper chile gravy. For an appetizer I’ll serve homemade chips and queso and homemade kolaches for dessert.
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June 20, 2008
Sam Gosling: What's in Your Fridge Friday
Sam Gosling, the UT psychology professor who has written a whole book about learning about people by looking at their stuff, says that he keeps a fridge full of perfectly aligned beverages because it’s a link to his past, when his grandmother kept an icebox that was always full of tonic water or bitter lemon.
He dedicated the last chapter of “Snoop: What your stuff says about you” to figuring out this OCD fridge behavior: “Now as an adult, without quite realizing it, I have re-created my own bottomless mixer wellspring.”
Keeping his fridge the way his grandmother did fills his “deep-rooted need for abundance.”
It’s a pretty cool observation if you’d ask me.
What’s your favorite condiment? Worcestershire sauce (to put on my avocados)
What three things do you always have in your fridge? Tab, prosecco, Newcastle brown ale
Butter or margarine? Um, can you use either of those in a drink?
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June 13, 2008
Hip hop artist, VJ Bavu Blakes: What's in Your Fridge Friday
Bavu Blakes, the ME Television VJ and incredibly humble and soulful hip hop artist, let
Blakes, who has performed with everyone from Snoop to Erykah Badu, will be moving across Lady Bird Lake to a much bigger stage later this year when he’ll play at ACL with his band, the Extra Plairs, in September. He’s also in the middle of his 08 is So Great mission, in which he’s posting a flow a week on his Web site.
What’s your favorite condiment? Tartar, cocktail sauce and ketchup (dependent on what seafood I’m eating at the time).
What three things are always in the fridge? fruit, vegetables and Mrs. Blakes’ leftovers
It’s 2:30 a.m., you just got home from a killer show. You’re starving. What do you make? I make my way to the living room and try to get tired enough to go to bed, because I’ve already stopped by Waffle House around the corner (290E). I love decompressing at diners, because it’s hard to get sleepy after a great live show experience.
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June 6, 2008
What's in Your Fridge Friday
Today, I’m launching a new feature on Relish Austin called “What’s in Your Fridge Friday.”
Each Friday, I’m going to post a photo of someone’s refrigerator, along with their answers to a few questions. This is open to anyone — chefs, students, home cooks, city officials, local celebrities, fellow food writers — with a fridge.
It can be full of the most lush, organic produce available in Central Texas, or it can be have just two bottles of hot sauce and a jar of mustard, like our neighbor Pat’s fridge does because he lives on sausages and boudin.
You can learn a lot about someone by looking into their refrigerator. And it’s not just personal preferences.
As you’ll see from my fridge above, we happened to have Gatorade the day this photo was taken because I’d had an upset stomach the day before. Half-eaten yogurt containers are a sign of a toddler who can’t sit still long enough to finish all four ounces. Same thing with the half-eaten apples you see in the lower right corner. Julian hasn’t learned to open the fridge yet, but it’s only a matter of days before he can start rifling through there for his favorite snack du jour (It’s peaches right now, but it looks like he’s eying the chocolate syrup in that pic.)
What three things are always in your fridge? Claussen dill pickles (Ian can eat a jar of these a day), a block of colby jack cheese and Fuji apples.
What’s your favorite condiment? It’s a tie between ketchup and Bragg’s.
Butter or margarine? I grew up on squeeze margarine, which I refuse to eat now. We’re a butter-stick-on-the-counter family now.
Now that my fridge is already done, I’ll be hitting up some people around town to let us take a peek in theirs.
But what I really want is for some of you readers to e-mail me photos (it can be any kind of photo, even just one taken with your camera phone) along with the answers to the first to questions and any other tidbit of food info you want to include.
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