Greece: the cradle of civilization, and salad!

As a bachelor foodie, one of my life's difficulties is that when I cook it's usually for one, and I'd better like the leftovers. So it's a good thing when I have a dish I don't mind devouring on a daily basis. This one is a perfect example.


Greek salad. It's Spring, and I've been jonesing for fresh, crisp veg, hence the generous portion. Romaine lettuce (don't be shy, chop it into big pieces), tomato, red onion, kalamata olives, feta cheese, dressed with olive oil and vinegar to taste. I've also opted for sliced grilled chicken. For some crunch, throw on a mild crouton or crushed pita chips.

Of course, this salad is brain-dead easy. But I must emphasize just how perfectly balanced it is in flavor, texture, and beauty. The colors dance on the plate. The ingredients are crisp, supple, succulent, rich, mild, sweet, salty, and tart; every bite is a unique combination of these elements but it always works.

I wish I could remember the first time I ordered this salad, but I do remember that when I've eaten it in Albania it was excellent. If you're a restaurant in the Durres beachfront you can't miss. But don't fall for one of the misguided attempts they serve in Turkmenistan. To be safe, just don't go to Turkmenistan. I'd also like to thank an old friend for introducing me to feta cheese: Nathaniel, you're a good man.

Many bubbles make tickling: a new sake, get!

Today I had the urge to drink sake. Nothing special, but I had shoyu chicken in mind and sake would be the right wine to accompany the meal. Look what I found at the store:

Kawaii, ne? This carbonated, imported sake is intended to be served chilled, like a beer. I'm always up for new things, so I picked one up (along with a bottle of the regular stuff, just in case.)

The sake is smooth, with a fruity, pear-like tone. The fizz is present, but not overbearing; just enough to feel like you're washing something down. But it quickly becomes evident that this is basically a cheap sake with not much of a kick. It is a sake wine cooler: a low-gravity alternative to beer. This is a sake that should be enjoyed outside; try serving it at your next sakura-viewing party and teriyaki grill. However, at six dollars a bottle it seems almost too gimmicky for its own good, and I can't help but feel that I didn't get quite what I paid for. But what is booze but folly in a glass?

The Bachelor Gourmet/Cranberry goat-cheese pork chops

If I have one goal as a food fan, it's to raise the bar for bachelor food. You know: take-out and delivery stuff, frozen dinners, ramen, leftovers you bring back from the visit with Mom... It's all tasty, but I think we single guys can do better. I love fresh food, and I don't think it has to be complicated or hard.
To that end, I present tonight's dinner:


Pork chop stuffed with goat cheese and cranberries, with lime-pepper asparagus and garlic-mozzarella focaccia. Here's a closer look:


Here are my dude-friendly instructions:

• Get some goat cheese (it's a soft white cheese that comes in little packages) and dried cranberries
• Mix them together in a bowl. Use as many cranberries as you want to eat. Just mash it all together with your hands.
  
• Cut a pocket into the side of the pork. Not a flap, not in half, but a pocket.
• Stuff the pork with the cheese and cranberries
• Close them up with a toothpick. Notice the spillage in the photo? You wanna avoid that.
• Rub the chops on both sides with olive oil and black pepper. Don't go nuts with the pepper.
• Broil the chops for 5 or 6 minutes on each side.
• Eat the chops.

Like I said, not hard. I think the meal might have taken 30 minutes from fridge to plate, tops. It's not fancy, but it's delicious. I happened to feel like eating pork, and I wanted to jazz it up some. Really, "this might taste good in that" was the whole concept. Enjoy, bachelors.

Popping the Cork/Crawdad Boil and Cauldron Bubble

Welcome to my new blog, Low-Hanging Fruit! In this blog, I'll do my best to express my personal interest in food and drink. Last February I took a two-week trip to the San Francisco/Sonoma area and I felt inspired by the area and some visits with friends to write about food. I'm moving back to Northern California this Summer, and I hope I can keep this blog updated with regular posts of any new things that I eat, or especially, wine that I drink (hence the title.) Maybe I'll even throw in something I've made, now and then. I'm not a food professional, just a devoted fan.

Though I had planned to launch this blog in Summer, I'd be ignoring the opportunity to write about a few things I'm eating now in Virginia. Specifically, I can thank Mr John Yoblonski for some of the best food I've had while I've lived on the right coast. This man is a food professional. Last Friday night he treated a group to a crawdad boil. It's a recurring event, this being the first of the Spring season, and they never disappoint. The meal is remarkable because it doesn't seem to be possible on the small scale; it always feeds a crowd.

The apparatus required, coupled with live ingredients makes the cooking a spectacular feat. But the service is pure brutality: crawdads, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, lemons, sausage, and corn-on-the-cob are piled onto a paper-lined table, having macerated for hours in their mutual juices, generously enhanced with Cajun spices. The diners serve themselves hand-to-mouth from the mound. Everything is whole, and the flavors burst. The crawdads themselves surrender their tails without resistance, and their heads yield rich juices and a few morsels of tender meat. I manage the spice with bites of potato and swigs of a sturdy ale. It's a feast. I urge you not to overlook the mushrooms; they are a secret Ambrosia.