Since I spent the majority of Sunday planning this week’s menu (well, playing with a new program and planning meals), we needed to go grocery shopping and pick up all the items on my spiffy auto-generated list.   It was a surprisingly successful adventure.  Usually there are at least a few items that we cannot procure, but this time we did find everything on our list.  The trip was not without it’s trials.  In order to complete our mission we had to confront and defend ourselves against the Dill Troll, guardian of all that is fresh and natural.  We were shown to be worthy.

Originally, the plan was to complete our shopping and return home to cook dinner.  The well-thought out menu called for Eggplant and Smoked-gouda Open-faced Grilled Sandwiches with a side of Creamy Okra Casserole.  This dinner would use both the aging eggplant and okra in the fridge.  By the time, we had finished our shopping, the Royal Peasant sign nextdoor to Earth Fare was shining so brightly that it could not be ignored.  Giving in to our destiny, we stopped in for a few pints, Bangers & Mash, and Bubble & Squeak.  Curse you, who doth install a public house amongst  the places of errands.

Tuesdays, have the self-imposed added pressure of trying out a restaurant that we have never before visited. I know that sounds stringent, but we try to maintain. At some point last week we decided to try Ike & Jane, a bakery & cafe. I had a Ham and Gruyere on sourdough and Darren had the combo of Roast Beef on Black Pepper Baguette with a cup of chili. Our assement? Very good and the atmosphere of normaltown is always pleasant. I would very much like to go back for breakfast/brunch and to try their pastries & breads.

So, of course when I went to make the Okra Casserole this evening, the okra was too far gone and had to be discarded wasted.  Really a bummer, considering I still want to try the recipe and will have to buy more, risking a repeated occurrence.  Tonight’s dinner was Creamy Spinach-mushroom Skillet Enchiladas, Jerusalem Artichoke and Lima Bean Saute‘ and leftover Pot Beans.  The enchiladas were simple, quick and easy to make, so I will take that into considerations as I give them a rating of “just ok”.  They also had the added benefits of using up the rest of the salsa verde I made on Sunday. I have never cooked with jerusalem artichokes before so I was not quite sure what to expect. The dish was itself pretty good, but did not pair with the enchiladas at all. I suspected as much, but was trying to save all the veggies I could. I will definitely purchase them again soon and try some other recipes.

I spent the majority of yesterday, planning my menu for the week. It has been a few weeks since I had made a solid menu and shopping list, instead just picking up things as I thought of them. I have many vegetables from Athens Locally Grown that were aging away in my fridge. In my usual fashion I became obsessed with the organization software rather that the organization itself. Merlin Mann‘s number one no-no. Being a recent Apple convert, I downloaded the trial version of MacGourmet. It seems to do everything that I would want my cookbook/shopping list app to do. The best feature by far is it’s ability to import recipes directly from several major cooking websites, such as Epicurious, Pop-Up Central FoodNetwork, MyRecipes, and Vegetarian Times. You do have to clean up the ingredients a little, i.e. for large potato, it puts the word large with the ingredient rather than in the unit column. This makes 2 large potatoes on the shopping list a different item  than 3 small potatoes. Since recipes are written with only a semi-logical set of rules, I can forgive the program’s inability to completely discern the difference. Forget Captcha, you want to know if a user is a bot? Make them tell you where in the store to find 1 cup of Italian-style diced tomatoes.

Got up late so we had to head straight to the Athens Farmer’s Market.

Having finished our shopping,  we stopped at Big City Bread Cafe for brunch. I ordered the Burgundy Mushroom Quiche and Darren had the Meat Omelette, containing soprasetta, arugala & olives.

After putting away our bounty from the market, I began braising oxtails for dinner.  Quite sometime ago I purchased oxtails from Nature’s Harmony Farm through the online market Athens Locally Grown. I had absolutely no idea how to prepare them.   Poking around at some of my favorite locavore food blogs, I discovered Last Night’s Dinner posted a picture of  Braised Oxtails, her significant other had just made.  When we asked for the recipe, we were told that the preparation was based on a recipe from the Zuni Cookbook.  I had not heard of the cookbook.  So I added it to my wish list for our then impending anniversary.  The cookbook is wonderful and the recipe turned out great.  I served the oxtails on Red Mule Polenta de Georgia from Mills Farm

Lunch at our local “shack on the beach” is always a pleasure. Had the delicious chorizo cuban sandwich.

Served with locally grown green beans and baked potatoes.
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The idea is to make bold everything I have eaten and cross out any items I would never consider eating.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Very Good Taste » blog » The Omnivore’s Hundred.

Very often a burrito is a good thing, sometimes even great. We needed some frozen dough disks to make some empanadas (I KNOW that empanadas are the new global warming! Stop telling me that.) We were headed to Normaltown to stop by the Mexican Grocery, so we parked at Agua Linda to have lunch. We went inside and were seated. Our very pleasant waiton brought us chips and salsa to amuse ourselves while reading the menu. My eyes get weird when I am extra hungry and to be frank, I need an eye exam, but there is something really wrong with the type on their menus. Its like there is a registration issue or something, the words blur just enough to be annoying to read. That aside, we looked over the lunch specials and ordered. I had Enchiladas Verde and Punkerdoo had a pick 2 combo with a chalupa and hard shell taco along with two DosEquis Ambers. The food came to us quickly and was OK. Nothing exciting, nothing horrible, decent. The price was OK, $21 for 2 lunches and beers, but we won’t make any extra effort to return. IOW, we wouldn’t not recommend it ~

Agua Linda Taqueria
1376 Prince Avenue