Social Distance Picnic in Ojai

Anita, Severo, and I took a field trip to Ojai, for fresh air and hiking. (Hike link).
Then, naturally, we were hungry.

Originally, we were planning to go further north to Santa Barbara and get takeaway from La Super Rica. Sadly, LSR is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (thanks COVID), so we scrambled for an alternate. I had assigned Severo Yelp duty, but all he fixated on was finding Rajas con Crema, which he found, in Oxnard - no help.
I advocated for a picnic in Libbey Park and we ended up finding some delicious food at The Nest.
We ordered off the (limited) online menu, waited under a shady oak, then took our lunches to the park.

Anita sat at a separate table to social distance.

Our food:

• SMOKED SALMON CAESAR SALAD

greens, crispy capers, sourdough croutons, pickled onion, soft boiled egg + almond caesar dressing

• CRISPY BRUSSELS

maple, apple cider vinegar, dijon, hemp seeds + sunflower seeds

• BAO BUNS

pork belly, fermented chile aioli, pickled veggies, serrano, green onion, cilantro + squid ink buns

It was delicious! And the park was so peaceful!

The Glutton Tastes Downtown Houston

Houston has great eatin'.
My limitations were:

1. Be within walking distance of the hotel. 
2. Satisfy food cravings.

Yelp helped me find some:

I also took advantage of the Hotel ICON's inhouse restaurant, Line & Lariat. A lot.

Here's a gluttony breakdown, day by day [long post]:

Thursday 

Afternoon Tea

Cold brewing teas in my bathroom. (Hibiscus and PG Tips. They both cold brew well).

The hotel only had Keurigs and offered no Black Tea, only one pod of Green Tea.

Which I brewed but didn't drink.

And I didn't have foil to MacGyver refills with my own tea.

Next time, I'm bringing a kettle. Because I woke up WAY earlier than 6am, when they offered the complementary caffeine buffet. Which was awesome, BTW.

 Dinner

Line & Lariat: 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (had leftovers for later)

Rolls (ditto)

Chile (so delicious that I had it again on Sunday)

Research (important Gluttony activity)

Breakfast looks promising (from Room Service menu).

Friday

Breakfast (and Lunch) at Line & Lariat

My spot. This is where I sat every time I ate in the dining area.

10% discount for artists! Woohoo!

Migas. Did not disappoint.

Made soft tacos for later with the beans and tortillas. (Very necessary).

The waitress gave me a superior Chipotle Salsa, which I poured onto my leftovers.

Midday Sweet
I craved a scone. I got Tres Leches from Treacherous Leches.

OMG!

I made it last all day.

Dinner [I didn't have dinner?]

Saturday

Breakfast
I craved a country breakfast, specifically grits and eggs.
After much Yelping (and a lot of delicious sounding places are closed during the weekend in downtown) I settled on Toasters Cafe. Walking over there was lovely -- I'll post pix in another post.

Surprise! Mexican Coffee with Cinnamon! This when I simply asked for coffee.

 [pulled from their online menu] Shrimp & Grits

Large Pan Fried Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, Onions and Peppers in a Spicy Tomato Based Sauce over Savory Grits and topped with a Fried Egg served with a Biscuit. [WAIT!!!! Where's the biscuit????]

No matter, this was super delicious. I took the toast ToGo, but never ate it. A biscuit would have been more useful.

Midday Sweet.
I was still craving that scone.
On my way back from Toasters, I stopped at (very busy) Boomtown Coffee Main Street Cafe.
No scones (sad face).
Got Cinnamon Cake instead upon advice from a "regular" waiting in the line in front of me.
It complemented the free Hotel Icon Caffeine Buffet coffee, but was no scone.
[No photo]

Dinner at 9:30pm

Behold the long awaited sad salad.

Sad because I ordered it at 7:30.
I couldn't order room service (room phone dead) so I got an art fair helper to spell me and I ordered this from the bar.
"Do you want this sent up to your room so you don't have to wait for it?"

"Sure."

I blithely go upstairs.

Work the fair until 9pm.

No salad appears.

Back down to the bar.

"Where's my salad?"

"What? You never got it? I went on break and told them..."

Gets salad from kitchen.

Is given no additional tip.

I take it upstairs exactly as you see it here.

The salad itself was yummy.

Not getting it when expected was brutal.

Sunday

Breakfast (and Lunch)

Mas inhouse Migas.

It worked on Friday and I didn't want another Sad Salad situation.

Embellished with Pico de Gallo

Dinner
Got a ToGo cup of Chili from the bar (waited for it). So good! (no photo)

Monday

Breakfast (and Lunch and Later)
La Calle Tacos

Chilaquiles [huge portion that I carted to the airport but couldn't finish].

Esquite (Elote off the cob). So good. Packed into checked bag so Severo could taste it.

Yep. Good eats in Houston!

Linking with
Catherine's #sharealllinkup
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

The Gluttons Take a Vacation

No, not a vacation FROM gluttony -- heaven forbid!
The first week I was solo. This did not hamper me.

Providence
Staying with Patucci and Mark is always an exercise in gluttony. They are both excellent cooks (and hosts!).
Denden on Benefit

For Patucci: KOREAN RAMEN spicy Korean noodles with vegetables and egg
Split: KIMCHI PANCAKE korean pancake/egg batter, flour, onions, kimchi 

For me: JAP CHAE  sweet potato noodles stir fried in sesame oil with vegetables and mushrooms 

Breakfast array:

The Apricot Scones have Almond Paste in them

#goals

Once Severo joined me, the gluttony got turned up to 11.

Troy, NY
Plumb (no photos)

Barneveld and Yorkville, NY
The Village Diner

For him: Village Giambrotti - Grilled Home Fries, Ham, Bacon, Italian Sausage, Greens, 2 Eggs, Mozzarella -- AMAZING.

For her: Eggs over easy and awesome Home Fries

Karam's Middle East Bakery

Spinach Stick -- spinach, chickpeas, and feta cheese in bread dough

Meat Sfiha -- mini pizzas topped with ground beef, onions, tomato, and pine nuts

Spinach Pie -- spinach, onion, and lemon in bread dough

Pita made on premises

Adirondack Lanes and Diner

My Aunt Bunny presides over breakfast there daily. We took my mom over and met up with:

Me, Aunt Bunny, her daughter Kitty, Kitty's daughter Jade (behind the ketchup), Kitty's daughter Sam, Allie, Mom, Severo

Desantis Meat Market & Deli

Tomato Pie slices for later. I ate mine while Severo toured the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

East Newark, NJ
Tops Diner (under new management and not as great as before)

For him: CORNED BEEF HASH & EGGS with buttermilk pancakes

For her: CUBAN BREAKFAST two eggs, chorizo con arroz y frijoles negros, salsa verde, fresh pico, maduros

(To go, I put the chorizo and salsa on a brioche bun to eat on the flight home. WINNER)

NYC
William Greenburg Desserts -- it's our pre-Met Museum tradition

We didn't get any luminescent cupcakes. Aren't they wild?

Xi'an Famous Foods

Tiger Vegetables Salad (celery and cilantro)
In bag: Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger
Spicy & Sour Spinach Dumplings

Scotch Plains, NJ
Nunzio's Pizza

Two jars of frozen "gravy" to go.

STOP THE MADNESS!

Beefy Chili

Beefy Chili

ingredients

1 med onion, chopped

2-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tb olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1.5 tb chili powder

0.5 tb ground cumin

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

28oz can of Rotel or tomato sauce

2c cooked beans

directions

• In a heavy saucepan, saute onions and garlic in oil until soft
• Add beef, cook until beef is browned throughout, breaking it up with a fork
• Add spices and Rotel.
• Bring to a low boil for 30 min, stirring occasionally 
• Add beans, simmer 15 min

Enjoy!

This is adapted from Blue Plate Specials & Blue Ribbon Chefs by Jane and Michael Stern
They got the recipe from Porubsky's Grocery in Topeka, KS.

Gluttony in NYC: Day 1

After the huge breakfast, we were ready to cross the Hudson.
Our room wasn't ready at Hotel 17 (it was 9am), so we unloaded our gear from the rental car, lobby checked it all, and ventured over to Brooklyn. Severo was on a mission to take me sock shopping and Telco is one of his haunts. Bargains were found, including houndstooth leggings marked $5.99 and only $2.99 at the register! After an unpleasant episode with a homeless woman, we went back to Manhattan to secure a good parking space near the hotel.

"OK, let's eat!"
We had lunch at Xi'an Famous Foods on St. Mark's.

Clock-wise from left: Spicy & Sour Spinach Dumplings in Broth, Spicy Hot Oil-Seared Noodles (my favorite), and a Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger. It was too much food and too hot to be eating hot noodles. Oh well.

For dessert, we tried to go to ChikaLicious Dessert Bar at 203 E. 10th St.

"Sorry, closed due to broken freezer."

Boohoo. We had such a great experience there in 2012.
Implementing Plan B, we went across the street to The ChikaLicious Dessert Club, a more informal branch of the ChikaLicious empire.

We had the Madagascar Vanilla Creme Puff and a Bun Chika Bun Bun (Pate a Choux with carmelized-gingerbread filling).

It was then finally late enough to check in and collapse into food coma naps.

6:24

7:29

That evening, we walked over to the High Line and perused the New Whitney, which is at the south end on Gansevoort Street. I wrote a post with some of the art that we saw over on my Fashion Blog SpyGirl.
Our posing antics with the Freedom Tower were not included.

All that art viewing made us hungry again.
We ended up at Dirty Bird where we got Fried Chicken (for Severo) and a few sides.

Sauteed Garlic Kale, Mac-n-Cheese, Potato Salad, Veggie Rice, Chicken topped with Corn Bread

At that point, we called it a night.

11:57

Gluttony in Vancouver

I went to Vancouver to meet up with a bunch of over-40 Style bloggers.
We had a really great time!
Most of my posts about the weekend are over on SpyGirl.
I'm covering my Vancouver food experiences here on the Glutton.

Can't read the menu? Get a magic loupe from Wendra (on left). Melanie is loupey too.

I arrived late Friday, missing the pizza dinner and the postprandial mayhem at a speakeasy.
That was OK. I was a little under the weather from eating one too many fig bars on the drive up.
I opted for chicken soup up in my room, ordered from the Blue Horizon's inhouse restaurant, Abode.

Saturday, I arose early (my usual 4am) and had a solo breakfast while waiting for everyone to wake up.

The oatmeal (great) came with a delicious Blueberry Compote, spiced with clove -- must replicate at home.

Our lobby call was for 10:00, to gather before embarking for some coffee and shopping on Granville Island. On Granville, our meetup spot was Blue Parrot Coffee.

I got a cold coffee frappe and a veggie wrap. Hey -- that rhymes!

Arty Waterlogue of the wrap. Part of my "100 Days of Gluttony" series, which has now gone way beyond 100

Granville Island has a large area of food purveyors along with all the shops.
Beautiful displays of fresh fruits:

Impressive stacks of Ranier cherries, arranged like Mt Ranier:

Next, Louisa, Pat, and I went over to the Gastown district and had some nibbles at Purebread.
I had this pizza bruschetta thingie:

I posted my dessert over on my Dessert Safari blog. Yes, eventually you will visit all my blogs.

After an exhaustive exploration of the sewing emporium Dressew, Pat and I ambled back to the Hotel for the group clothing swap. Find that on SpyGirl soon.

Next on the agenda -- dinner!
We gathered at Earl's one block down the street.

Great menu graphics

Sage advice

My salad.

I made a wise choice: Field Greens + Fennel Salad with
Apples, grapes, spiced candied pecans, in champagne vinaigrette

I DO regret not ordering the Sticky Pudding. I got a meh ice cream sundae for dessert.

Sunday, another 10am lobby call and then a stroll to Forage.

I opted for the Two Rivers turkey sausage hash etc. Delicious.

Eat, drink, and be merry. Yep, we covered it.