Jello Country

On the road to the Genessee Country Village we passed a small but brightly colored billboard for the Jell-O Museum.Well, anyone who knows me, knows I can't pass up a lure like that. I grew up on Jell-O; Grandma Brown made a killer cranberry jell-o salad. I love strawberry pretzel jello. So after our village visit we headed into LeRoy (LEE roy or lee ROY, depending on who you ask) where jell-o was invented. We almost passed the place, there was a not particularly large sign on the sidewalk, and the museum was down a driveway behind a house. How cool is that? It's a small place with the history of jell-o for our edification. There was a display of over 20 kinds of gelatin products, which kind of surprised me; did you know agar agar gets gelatinous? I just thought it was one of those mysterious ingredients on food labels. I feel so enlightened. By the way, gelatin is made from beef and pork hides. Hope I didn't ruin it for you.

We headed to Corning next; Corning is where - drumroll please - glass is made! Ok not just glass, but also, think Corningware, Corelle... When I was growing up I thought Corelle was the only kind of dinnerware available! There is the Corning Museum of Glass, and it's a beauty. They have examples of glass gew gaws dating from before the Romans. I was all over the Hot Glass demo - our master glass blower made a pumpkin. It's not exactly an easy hobby to take up.

Corning seems like a really nice town, and in case you go... for coffee, try the Soulful Cup on Market Street. I ordered a cafe mocha (I've given up on ordering cappuccinos) and asked for foam. And I got foam. In a nice big cappuccino type cup. It was wonderful! For breakfast try Crystal City Cafe and Bakery. I've included the link so you can listen to Mambo Italiano! They have the usual breakfasts on the menu, and also pretty nice looking baked goods. Our food was good so I give it a thumbs up.

Paul and I are restless so we moved on to Jamestown, the birth place of Lucille Ball. How could I pass that up? Definitely had to hit the Lucy-Desi museum, which is small and not actually a huge deal. I will say they had recreated a couple of sets from I Love Lucy, which was pretty cool. It was strangely cool to see their apartment in color.

The night before the museum we ate dinner at Roberto's at the Ironstone, on 4th street. Did I tell you I find restaurants by searching the internet? Roberto's is a warm and friendly family owned old-fashioned style Italian restaurant. I decided to try an Italian American classic, baked ziti. It was pretty tasty, with one large, tender, tasty meatball on top. The owner, Fred Yezzi, (his co-owner wife Tammy is the kitchen honcho) confided to me that they get their meatballs from a supplier in Buffalo; they just can't make enough themselves. Paul had spaghetti and several meatballs. Their marinara is rich and flavorful and dressed the spaghetti as well as my ziti. Of course, being who I am, I can't help but think of ways to change the ziti, such as a tomatoey beschamel, more cheese, etc. But, does the ziti want to be changed? Will it still be the ziti? I'll try it and let you know.

It was time to head back to Cleveland OH, and I must say the drive back through the narrow, green, lush valleys of New York got monotonous. I live in California, I'm not used to that much green! I jest. A little. Back in Cleveland (actually Brooklyn) we spied Carrabba's across the street from our motel (Hampton Inn - I loooove Hampton Inn) and decided to try it. It's set up a lot like a Macaroni Grill, only I think the food is better. I tried their chicken marsala and it was very good - they actually use marsala wine. Since they gave us a coupon for a free appetizer if we came back and I'm a sucker for those coupons, we went back the next night - our last evening. The food was still good. I have one regret which makes me grind my teeth a bit - Iron Chef Michael Symon's restaurant, Lola Bistro, is in Cleveland and I had totally forgotten about it until I got home.

One last stop and I'm outta here. The Westside Market in Cleveland is a must for foodies. It's an inside food market - a must in the winter - and it's a wonder. There are butcher shops, pastry
shops, spices, a Hungarian meat market, coffee, falafel stand, on and on. There's a second, smaller building with fresh beautiful produce. I really wanted to get some food and cook it. Until
later...

Upstate Motoring

A few months ago Paul and I were thinking about where we could take a vacation without busting the bank. He suggested Niagara Falls; it wasn't a high priority for me but I was intrigued anyway and took the bait. We decided to fly to Cleveland, OH and motor the 200 miles to Niagara Falls, crossing the narrow northernmost portion of Pennsylvania and through upstate New York to Buffalo. I just want to say Ohio must be crawling with raccoons, because we saw an awful lot of raccoon roadkill on the two lane highways. We even saw two laid out just a few feet apart in the exactly the same position; we really puzzled over how that happened. I just wish I'd taken a snapshot. I definitely would have shared.

Buffalo is a short drive to Niagara Falls so we decided to make that our roost for the night so we could be fresh for the big event the next morning. The town of Niagara Falls, NY is not pretty. In fact that part of NY is flat and uninteresting, other than the falls. However, there is a park at the falls where you can park your car and see the sights. It's really nicely done and you can ride a shuttle around to places like Goat Island and stand just a few feet from where massive amounts of water are pouring over the cliff. The thundering part happens where the water hits the bottom and sends up oodles of mist. Speaking of mist, I just had to take the Maid of the Mist boat ride. They give you huge hooded and sleeved plastic bags to wear for a good reason; when you reach the Horseshoe Falls, it's like being in a tropical rainstorm. I had no desire to make the hike to the falls after that. Did you watch Pam and Jim's wedding on The Office - well I can attest they really did get on the Maid of the Mist on the U.S. side!

Ok, let's talk food. The food worthy of my note. I had made reservations at a bed and breakfast on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. I found Bedham Hall through bedandbreakfast.com. Heather, our innkeeper, recommended that we walk the 3 blocks over to Queen Street and try out the Paris Bistro. What we saw first was Mide Bistro and assumed that was the place. It wasn't, but we were really attraced to the energy of the place and strolled right in. They're really into organic, good food. Paul and I are on this kick of frequently sharing meals when we go out to dinner, especially if the servings are large. It saves us money, calories, and bloat. So we decided to share the baked brie wrapped in phyllo, with red wine jelly and crackers. It was delish except the crackers which were dark and dry and not too good. I ordered the Framtini, which is 2 parts framboise and 1 part Skyy vodka (I wormed that information out of our server). It was yummy, a little tart, and I was tempted to have another. Framboise is raspberry liqueur and the Chambord brand is readily available here, but it appears to be sweeter than the locally made framboise we were served. I tried combining my Chambord framboise with citrus infused vodka and I didn't like it at all. (This just in: I emailed Mide Bistro and they use Southbrook Framboise, from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. So far I haven't found a source for it.) We also shared a huge serving of sacchettini, ricotta cheese filled pasta with a tomato cream sauce, as well as a chocolate cake with caramel sauce and chocolate ganache. Divine. Go there asap.

Breakfast at Bedham Hall was filled with fabulousness. Heather is an excellent cook and my eggs benedict was so decadent, with perfectly creamy hollandaise sauce and real Canadian bacon. The bill of goods we are sold here in the U.S. that is passed off as Canadian bacon is nothing like the real deal. The real deal is more like ham and Paul was digging his scrambled eggs and hamadian bacon.

We decided to go to the Genessee Country Village because, well, it looked interesting and it doesn't appear that there are a lot of tourist attractions in upstate New York. It's a reconstructed 19th century village which really spans several decades from the very early 1800's to the late part of the century. Houses from towns all over New York were brought into the village. All the docents are in period costume and explain what life was like in their assigned building and time period. What really fascinated me was the kitchens and getting the scoop on on cooking way way back in the day. Pat Meade, who I am told is an excellent cook, was cooking in an upscale house from the 1850's, using a fireplace. Here are some tidbits I picked up by picking the heck out of her brains:

• Wood burning cookstoves appeared in the 1830's, but they were a hard sell for those used to fireplace cooking, hence this house solely used the fireplace
  
• Cast iron skillets had pointed legs so that food could be cooked over hot coals that were moved under the skillet for frying, etc.
• Pickling was extensively used for food preservation. Pat had a big jar of pickled beets; she told me she would use the red pickling juice to preserve a basket of hard boiled, peeled, goose, duck and chicken eggs. They will keep for months without refrigeration. Amazing. What we call iceboxes were called refrigerators. They weren't called iceboxes until the harnessing of electricity which powered what we now call refrigerators! Say that 3 times.
  
• Before Ball and Kerr canning jars and lids, preserves were kept in jars, yes. They were sealed one of two ways - a piece of paper was cut out in the shape of the mouth of the jar and soaked in brandy. It was placed on the preserves and then the jar was overlaid with more paper and sealed with eggwhite. Pat said she opened a jar of jam four years old that was still good! The best method for sealing is using a pig bladder - think about it - it's definitely made to be air and water tight!

What I really learned is that we should get down on our knees and give thanks for electricity, natural gas, indoor plumbing and everything else that keeps us from having to be in the kitchen from dawn until dusk!

I also stopped in the Jones farmhouse, where Pat's friend Deanna was making cheese. I've read up a bit on cheesemaking and it's quite a science. Deanna uses buttermilk to introduce bacteria and real rennet from calf's stomaches to make the curd. It actually smelled pretty good in the kitchen were she was cooking the milk. Here's a shot of her wheels of aging cheddar cheese.

There's more food to this trip, like the Jello Museum...stay tuned.

Just a Teaser

I made the coolest discovery and I just had to share. Ok it was someone else's discovery, but where do discoveries come from, really?

Paul and I were invited to a birthday party and I offered to make a pecan pie. But with me being me, I didn't want it to be just any old run of the mill pecan pie. I subscribe to Fine Cooking magazine, and I must say the recipes in there are pretty reliable. I received the Oct/Nov edition recently and there are Thanksgiving recipes in there for crapsake! Actually, they look pretty good. The real find was in the pie article, specifically the coffee-toffee pecan pie. I initially was put off because the recipe called for Lyle's Golden Syrup as a substitute for some of the corn syrup that is always present in pecan pie. Where was I going to find THAT, I fumed and mentally clicked off.

Well, Thursday I decided if there was a market that carried it, it would probably be Podesto's over on Pacific. So I lured Paul out with me with promises of food finds, and lo - in the syrup aisle sat several cans of Lyle's golden panacea. I snagged a can and determined to make that coffee-toffee pie. The pie uses an all butter crust and it turned out great - flaky, buttery, good texture. The pie was to-live-for, with the richness of toasted pecans, the intensity of a little espresso and the mystery of toffee. Run out and buy Fine Cooking now! I mean now!

Here's the teaser - I took an idea from the filling recipe. I didn't know if there was a possible substitute for light corn syrup - light corn syrup contains high fructose corn syrup which if you've been reading this blog, you know I despise. Lyle's is thick like corn syrup and a pretty golden color. The thrill is I have a great recipe for chocolate almond toffee, which requires that you cook sugar to make caramel and add light corn syrup which contains high fructose corn syrup, which as you know I never miss an opportunity to malign. (Sorry, getting repetitive.)

When I make this toffee again, perhaps for a party, shall we say, I am going to use Lyle's golden elixir of the gods and I expect to get a good result. I will let you know and give you the recipe. Stay tuned...