Thursday, January 24, 2013

The basics

So, I am a Facebook junkie. I spend WAY too much time perusing its confines, reading people's mundane daily life adventures, stalking their photos, and giggling at the funny memes they post that I saw on Reddit two months previous. Occasionally, someone of my acquaintance posts something that gets me thinking. Today, for instance, my cousin on my mom's side, Kory, posted a question: 

"What are 5-10 of the most common food items that you have in your fridge/ kitchen at any given time?"



That got me thinking...what do I ALWAYS have in my cupboards and fridge? What do I consider "basics" for my daily culinary needs? I spouted off five of six items in the comments without much thought to it and I wish I hadn't. I wish I had pondered the thought further. I know she was looking for answers partly because she has some immediate ideas mulling about inside her head concerning food. For me, the idea has turned into an academic exercise with broader implications. I wonder what kinds of regional differences one would see if you asked this question of people from around the country, around the world! How has my own idea of what constitutes "basics" changed over the past 10 years? 20 years?

Here's a list of the top ten items I always have in my cupboards/refrigerator:
  1. Rice
  2. Noodles
  3. Butter
  4. Flour
  5. Sriracha
  6. Sugar
  7. Potatoes
  8. Spices
  9. Salt
  10. Oil
What's in your cupboards that you cannot do without?













Tuesday, January 22, 2013

New year, new experiences

If there's one thing I absolutely love doing, it's trying new restaurants. I liken it to the "thrill of the chase", finding a new place that I deem worthy of my hard-earned food dollars, or a new dish that I will rave about ad nauseum and try multiple times unsuccessfully to recreate at home. Some of these restaurants are brand new, recently opened. Some are established kitchens that I haven't gotten around to trying for one reason or another, (mostly because they're pricey, but I do miss restaurants from time to time.) I just knocked one off of my list recently: Forequarter, the Underground Food Collective's current restaurant. I took a date there last week with high expectations and they didn't disappoint. I have a list of Madison restaurants I want to try in 2013:

L'Etoile - a Madison institution that is also it's most expensive
Nostrano - a relative newcomer, but has established itself well out of the gate
Merchant - I'm not sure how I've missed coming to this place. I've known about it for awhile
Quivey's Grove - an old standby of many people I know
Greenbush Bar - I'm a sucker for Italian food
Red Sushi - my foodie friends have been raving about this one
Sushi Muramoto - anything involving Shinji Muramoto is going to be good, period
Swagat - new Indian restaurant on the west side



So, what restaurants do YOU want to try in 2013? Go on! Be adventurous!