OMG, I’m sooo embarrassed. How could I have missed this?! It is National Lobster Newburg day!
Thank god Amanda Morrison posted it on my Facebook!
Unfortunately I don’t have an opportunity to check out some lobster joints or eat a lobster roll today, but I’m making it a priority next month!
Anyone want to join me for a lobstah roll soon? Any good places you’ve been dying to try??
The Mac n Cheese Bake-Off of 2009 was super yummy! Nine people entered their unique homemade mac n cheese (mnc) dishes, judged by four feared judges: Kevin, Joey, Brian and me.
The Judges
No we are not sheriffs. We were wearing stars labeled “Judge” but Joey thought it said “Jorge” (pronounced hor hey). We wore them so people would know who would be judging them…I mean their dishes and also so they could bribe us with compliments and drinks.
There were a variety of mnc dishes, including vegan, chicken sausage, grandma-style, spicy, and ham & cheese. Everyone laid out their dishes at once, labeled them from 1-9 and included a brief description of each of them.
MNC Dishes
Myself and the other judges collaborated in the beginning and checked out all the dishes before we dug in, since one of the categories we were judging the dishes on was presentation. The other categories were taste and creativity. We scored them from 1-5 and the winner received the most points.
Some people paired drinks like Prosecco mixed with St. Germain (so good!) with their mnc dishes as a way to woo the judges. Totally fell for it. Others took the challenge literally and boiled macaroni and then melted swiss cheese on top. Points for creativity!
Of course there would only be one winner though….And that went to Joanie Tobin. She was actually the person who originally inspired me to do this bake-off since she always talked about the different kinds of mnc dishes she tries out. So it makes sense that she won.
So what does Joanie get, you ask, as the winner of the Mac N Cheese Bake-Off of 2009? The opportunity to write on this very blog! Yay! Who doesn’t love that?!
Oh yeah and the first, second and third place winners got gifts from Crate & Barrel.
Congrats Joanie on a tasty mac n cheese dish! (Sorry, I’m not going to give away her secret recipe. But here’s a hint: it has apple cider in it.)
The Winner
This Sunday marks the first annual Mac n Cheese (MNC) Bake-Off at Chez LaLiz!!! So far I have about 15 friends who have entered the event, with three judges. This is sure to be the eating/food event of the year! Here are the rules I gave to everyone:
• Everyone who attends MUST provide a mac n cheese dish. I don’t care for freeloaders.
• It has to be made a head of time, BUT you can re-heat it at my place.
• It doesn’t have to be real cheese—vegan dishes count!
• Feel free to adjust the mac n cheese in a box, BUT you’ll have to be creative and add or change the recipe, ‘cause we can’t just have a bunch of Annie’s or Kraft dishes laying around.
• No microwaved/frozen mac n cheese offerings (e.g. Stouffers).
• Can’t be leftovers from a restaurant or supermarket.
I can’t wait to see what everyone makes. There are so many crazy different ways to make mac n cheese. For those who are struggling to come up with a dish, they can easily find some recipes online that include videos. But I suspect, based off the people I chose to invite for this elite event, they’ll have no trouble coming up with some creative mnc dish.
I have prizes for first, second and third place winners. In addition to a great prize, the first place winner gets the priceless gift of being a guest blogger on my blog. But everyone is a winner in my book. Even the losers.
Oddly enough, Great Scott is also having a “Mac & Cheese Takedown” on Sunday. Mine will obviously be better.
May the best mac n cheese win!
I checked out the Phantom Gourmet Food and Beer Phest a few weeks ago. How lame was that? At least I got to drink really bad beers for $5 a pop, and watch couples put on sumo wrestler outfits and roll around with each other. Not a pretty sight.
When I heard beer festival, I thought it would be some local breweries sampling some good stuff. Instead it had bud light, Hoegaerden, and some other really bad beer. My fault though, I should have checked out their out-dated website before I went.
Oh and I had some mac n cheese, with a fun purple background! Ehhhh. Let’s just say after a day of bad beer and mediocre mac n cheese, I wasn’t feelin’ too good.
Phantom Mac N Cheese
I think the Phantom Gourmet guy should be renamed the Phantom Bad Food and Beer guy. Has a catchier ring, dontcha think?
Who was the first person to “discover” macaroni and cheese?
How much mac and cheese do kids eat at home each year?
What’s the craziest ingredient ever put in mac n cheese?
The answers to all these? Who cares. But if you know any of the answers, fill me in. Unfortunately none of these questions were at last night’s trivia at James’s Gate in JP.
Several friends of mine and I gathered at the Gate on a Monday night to check out the trivia here. Prior to the 8 o’clock start of trivia, I met my friend (and one of my favorite people) Rodney for food on the other side of bar so we could catch up with one another. Before I go any further, I have to add that in general, I’m here pretty much 2-3 times a week in the fall and winter. So I’ve eaten/drank here a lot. Actually now that I think about it, I was there the night before….
My favorite
I told Rodney about this blog and said I had to order their Baked Penne and Cheese dish. I’ve eaten it on more than 5-6 occasions, so it’s about time I blogged about. Especially since I know everyone is dying to read this.
Mac n cheese is a comfort food. It is something you order when it gets cold outside like it is now and you’re feeling a bit down and out. Or if you’re like me, you’ll have it all year round and when you’re happy.
I liked the Baked Penne and Cheese the first several times I had it at the Gate, but it sort of lost its luster after a while. It’s not bad at all, but it’s not that great either. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, I’d give it a 5.5. In general, you don’t go to James’s Gate for the food; you go for the beer, people and a relaxing good time. It’s a neighborhood-y bar.
Besides coming in 4th place at trivia (just a few point shy of third), my highlight was talking with Rodney. Even though I’ve known Rodney for about six years, I never realized until last night (actually be both realized) that we are very similar in a lot of ways. And I am glad to know that I am in good company (and not alone) when it comes to certain things.
Baked Penne and Cheese
But I digress. This ain’t no fuzzy feelings blog.
The Baked Penne and Cheese was a bit too greasy and not as cheesy as I would have liked. I did enjoy the mixed green salad it came with though. While I wasn’t into the food that much, everything else was great. The beer, service, crowd, friends and trivia.
Almost every time I go there, I order a Smithwick’s. I never remember to order it at other places, and I never buy it at a liquor store, but I always drink it there. James’s Gate is that kind of a place. You end up with the same tasty beer, decent food and good friends. Just what I like. Comfort.
This summer my good friend, John and I went on several Boston-based excursions, in search for the best tasting lobster roll in New England. I’m not sure how it all started except that all of a sudden we were making a lot of plans together that revolved around finding new places to eat lobster rolls.
In one particular lobster roll outing, we went to several different restaurants in John’s new neighborhood, Fort Point. We went to the No Name restaurant. No roll, just fried fish and whole lobsters. It had a great atmosphere, I might add. But that’s for a future post. Then on to Yankee Lobster Fish Market. It had lobster rolls, but we were about 10 minutes too late…they were closed. Finally we go to Legal Test Kitchen and ended up splitting one of the best lobster rolls in town.
During this one particular outing, we talked about creating a lobster roll blog together. (BTW, this wasn’t our first lobster roll together.) We wanted to come up with the perfect name for the blog. We even thought of tying it back to each others favorite bands we were obsessed with in high school: Sonic Youth (me) and the Beastie Boys (John). We really couldn’t think of anything that great.
Turns out it this is a blog I’m writing solo, with a few guest posts from John. John and his partners just launched sosoLimited, so his priority is not really focused on this blog (obviously) right now. After much thought, I realized I can’t dedicate myself to just lobster rolls. It’s too wild and crazy! So I added mac n cheese to it…my ALL TIME favorite meal. Why not write about your two favorite foods, right?!
Happy Birthday, John
Originally our first post was going to be called “No Name, No Roll” (see the above for reference) but since I promised John I would start this blog in honor of his (recent) 30th birthday, I wanted it to be about that instead. It’s the gift that keeps on giving right…? At least that’s what I keep telling myself in order to not feel guilty for failing to buy him a drink and/or a gift and card. Yikes!
ANYWAY, although the name of this post is not what we talked about, I hope you like it anyway, John. Especially since it’s your birthday gift. For my birthday, I hope you’ll write a guest post.
