w00tstock 2.7

Poster battle
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

This is a departure somewhat of where my blog has been headed for the last several years. Initially I imagined this would be more geek culture along with some food, but it has turned out to be way more food and cooking than gaming or geeking. So back to geeks and nerds. My daughter and I went to w00tstock 2.7 in NYC.



Just the two of us traveled to NYC, we did stay with my brother and his wife, and invited them to join us at the show. For the uninitiated w00tstock is a celebration of all that is nerdy, geek and otherwise awesome. Giving credit that in the real world we (geeks and nerds) run shit.
Jonathan Coulton stood in for Will Wheaton as the host at this show...



But we also had Grant Imahara (from Myth busters)



As well as Adam Savage (also from Myth Busters)



Most surprising and enjoyable was Marian Call

Marian Call at w00tstock 2.7 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

MC Frontalot was there as well and rocked it out.

We got some photobombs with Coulton and Storm



and ultimately loved the show and total experience.



Some nice daughter dad bonding.

Secco Wine Bar

The boy
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

The boy and I went out on Saturday and we chose Secco Wine Bar for dinner. We sat at the Bar as all the tables where taken and checked out the menu. We Started with a cheese plate with one cheese substituted with Jamon Iberico.



We chose one VA cheese, one VT. It is served with toasted bread some quince paste and some berry compote. We enjoyed it very much. We then selected 4 small plates which we both shared.
We ordered the octopus



Which came with some potato and ink. Delicious.
Duck confit with pasta



Also very good, but not as lively a taste as the other plates.
Flamenquines, which are fried rolls of pork



excellent with the crispy potato strings
and pork rillete



served with dehydrated apple crisps and mustard. (The boy referred to it as a jar of lard, but didn't stop him from voraciously eating his half)
For dessert whe shared the bread pudding and the chocolate ganache ribbon. Both excellent





On the way back home we stopped in at One Eyed Jacques and bought a set of Zombie Dice, which we played a couple of rounds before bedtime. Great dinner and entertainment.

Black sheep...Good God

Black sheep
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

For the love of all that is holy, I went to lunch at The Black Sheep, got there right at 11:30 as we had tried to go the previous day at noon and found it packed to the brim. The menu is an awesome selection of dishes, from brunch to dinner. I decided on the CSS Virginia, fried chicken liver with cabbage, apple and green onion. The most amazing thing happened next... the waitress asked me if I wanted the full or half battleship, there where a couple of college students next to us eating what appeared to be a large battleship, so I went with large. The waitress took the order with no hesitation, no pause, no warning, no "are you a f*(!ng idiot."
I had my back to the kitchen so when the sandwich was delivered what I witnessed was my friends eyes narrow as he delivered a "F*(k yes, that's a sandwich" and the waitress dropped a cutting board with a whole freaking loaf of bread sandwich in front of me.



We were laughing as the restaurant turned to watch what dimwitted fool had ordered the enormous sandwich. It came with a knife so you can cut it. Which you have to, to adequately eat it.



The lack of warning aside, the sandwich was awesome, the remoulade slaw tasty, the chicken livers perfectly cooked. I managed to eat about half and took the other half home (which they wrapped up in butcher paper very neatly) and the boy finished it off for dinner that night.



The boy wants his own visit so he can select a battleship, will go again, maybe brunch next time.

Kenn-Tico Cuban Bar & Grill

Yuca
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

My wife and I went to Kenn-Tico for lunch today. We had seen the write up in the RTD, and I've walked by the food cart at VCUHS many times noticing the cuban accent of the owners, so we decided to try it. My wife grew up in South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) and loves cuban cuisine, and is something of a black bean connoisseur, so I was excited to have her try the food and tell me what she thought. We arrived at 11:30 and had the place to ourselves, but by 12:30 a nice crowd had filled the restaurant. There was only one server/waiter, which was fine when we were alone, but it took him a bit to get the check as he was much busier at the end, but he was not harried and was always pleasant.

We had a very hard time picking a dish to order as everything sounded appetizing, we decided finally on an appetizer of fried yuca with mojo dipping sauce to start. The yuca was very tasty my only complaint would be that it was cut rather generously, maybe smaller strips would be easier to handle but even as a handfull they were delicious.



I ordered the chicken chunks (Chicharron de pollo)



My wife ordered the pork chop



we both had white rice and black bean soup as sides (plenty of others to choose from!)



Both dishes were excellent, the beans where very good, not the best she has ever had, but some of the best she has had in Richmond. (she ordered a side of chopped raw onions to eat with the rice and beans, which was graciously provided)
I can't wait to go back with the kids as both of them would enjoy the varied accesible menu. Check it out.

http://www.kennticocubanbargrill.com/
204 E. Grace St.
Richmond VA 23219
804 225 9216

Home made Bagels

hunger
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I read a great blog and recipe for making bagels, I will post the link here in lieu of the recipe.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/bagels

I followed the recipe almost to the point. I didn't quite use the last 3/4 cup of flour and used molasses instead of malt or sugar. I probably should have used the cornmeal on the pan may have cut down on the char a bit. Otherwise the turned out great.

Here they are after kneading resting and shaping.



I put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning I was a bit dissapointed as they had not risen much that I could tell. I let them come to room temp and tried to convince myself that they were fatter although I don't think they were. Having said that they definitely plumped up during the boil in alkalinized water.



The kids helped to top them



I should have incorporated the chocolate and raisins into the dough prior but I didn't think about it. You can see in the next picture how much bigger they look before baking.



They baked at 500 deg for 5 minutes then at 450 till they were brown on top (very brown on the bottom)





Here are all the topped/flavored ones



and the plain ones



They ended up very tasty, with a crisp outer layer and soft crumb



They take some prep, but it's not terrible and the payoff is great. I was amazed at how much flour went into the mix, I ended up with 16 bagels.
Will probably make again but next time will flavor the dough for some of them.

Nice BBQ site

www.bamaque.com/
I ran across this site, and on first view it looks a little hokie but on closer inspection the recipe's in particular are great. some very interesting uses of nontraditional BBQ products (at least in my opinion). worth a look through

Brian Eno and David Byrne

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

New York Times Magazine

Again my friend Manny Howard being himself
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/magazine/31food-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=manny%20howard&st=cse&oref=slogin

Richmond Food Collective: We Love Food.

Richmond Food Collective: We Love Food.