Dress Rehearsal

On December 23rd, Topher & I are having an early Christmas dinner with some of my family before they leave town for the holidays, and Topher has signed up to make roast duck. So last night he staged a "dress rehearsal" with our friends Adam & Meredith.

What We Ate:

• mushroom soup topped with green onions
• roast duck with anise-orange peel glaze
• Brussels sprouts confit (cooked in duck fat)
• homemade crepes
• Buena Vista 2005 Ramal Vineyard Chardonnay, Clone 17 RY

I went grocery shopping last Saturday in preparation for this meal, and Topher asked me to buy a variety of mushrooms totaling 2 lbs (for the soup). I proudly brought home three types of mushrooms: whole white, whole baby bella, and sliced cremini. I was crestfallen on Sunday evening when I learned that, in fact, baby bella and cremini are the same thing.

According to The Kitchn and Wikipedia, the three most common varieties of mushrooms that we eat - white button, cremini, and portobello - are all types of the mushroom Agaricus bisporus, just at different ages. White mushrooms are the youngest; portobellos are the oldest; and creminis, or "baby bellas," are somewhere in between.

I guess it's true that you learn something new everyday.

A New Low

I think Kellogg's has hit a new low this time:

Do we really need another marketing ploy to encourage kids to eat HFCS-enriched breakfast foods?

If you want one, they come in three different colors, and they're available for $3.99 each on Amazon.com. Or at your local Harris Teeter, as seen here.

What to Do with All Those Leftovers

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving yesterday, with lots of good food and fellowship!

Now you're probably stuck with a refrigerator full of leftovers, and although you're looking forward to a weekend of leftover turkey sandwiches, that might get old kinda quickly.

So why not try something a little more creative? Here are some recipe ideas from Real Simple:

"3 Ways to Make the Most of Your Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers," such as Creamy Mashed Potato and Leek Soup

"10 Ideas for Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey," including Turkey Waldorf Salad, Turkey & Poblano Chili, and Turkey Reubens

What do you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? If you've got a good recipe, please share it in the comments!

Note: Image above was found here.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Topher and I spent Thanksgiving with his parents at their house in North Carolina, as we have the past two years, and had a fabulous feast.

We started the day off right with a breakfast of pumpkin pie and coffee. Then Topher and his dad spent the next several hours in the kitchen preparing the turkey and all the sides (including two dishes from Bobby Flay's recent "Thanksgiving Feast" Throwdown). Thanksgiving dinner - that ambiguous is-it-lunch-or-is-it-supper meal - commenced about 2:30pm.

What We Ate:

• Oven-roasted turkey with stuffing
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes with gravy
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranates and Vanilla-Pecan Butter
• Homemade cranberry sauce
• Buena Vista Carneros - 2007 Ramal Vineyard Dijon Clone Chardonnay
• And for dessert: Chocolate cream pie (topped with a beautiful meringue)

And then I spent the rest of the afternoon walking off the calories. :)

A few pictures from the day:

Topher and his dad stuffing the turkey (it was dramatic)

Topher (a la Viking) enjoying the fruits of his labor

His majesties Bandit and Smoky

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reading List for November 22-26

1. “The Worst of Times: Cookbook writers are ridiculously bad at guessing how long it'll take to prepare a meal" from Slate.com

2. "Soft Drinks: A Weapon Against Malnutrition in Africa?" by Marion Nestle in The Atlantic

“Sales of Coke and Pepsi are declining in the United States. What better way to protect sales than to foist these products on the poor populations of emerging economies? We need to be exporting health, self-determination, and democracy,
not sugary drinks. For shame!”

3. "The Science Behind Why We Love Ice Cream" from WSJ

4. "Would You Pay $835 for Dinner?" from WSJ blogs
Even if Thomas Keller of French Laundry is cooking in Hong Kong? NO, I wouldn't pay $835 for one meal!

5. Update on the Food Safety Bill
- "Food Safety Bill Gets a Post-Turkey Day Vote, For a Price" from NPR

"The bill took a big step forward this week. Now the question is, can we beat the clock? There has to be a bill on the President's desk before Congress adjourns, or the whole process starts over next year at square one with a new bill ..."

- "Food Safety Stalls in the Senate" from The Atlantic


And finally, Michael Pollan wants to know: how do you eat well? Submit your healthy eating tips for the next edition of his book Food Rules.

Getting Excited

We've had our plans for Thanksgiving in place for several weeks now, but it just hit me today that Thanksgiving is in two days. And I got really excited.

Topher and I are driving down to NC to spend Thanksgiving with his parents, like we did last year. And although a stuffed and roasted turkey is the centerpiece of the meal, my in-laws are also quite good at the accompanying side dishes.

Last year we had homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed Brussels sprouts with toasted walnuts, and a savory pumpkin soup, made with a little bit of peanut butter and garnished with sour cream & cilantro - an interesting flavor combination, but so good. Their stuffing was pretty awesome too, made from turkey livers and gizzards, along with diced carrots, celery, and bread crumbs. Topher supplied dessert: an amazing apple cake (full of cinnamon and brown sugar) with ice cream. It was a delicious, colorful spread.

I can't wait to see what they come up with this year! My mouth is already watering.

What are you serving (or just eating) this Thanksgiving? Are there any dishes that show up on the table every year that you're particularly looking forward to? Are you trying out a new recipe?

If you're still deciding what side dishes you want to accompany your turkey, check out the following links from the New York Times - they've got lots of recipe ideas for incorporating autumn vegetables (like kale, butternut squash, and celery root) into your meal.

- Mark Bittman's Sustainable Thanksgiving

- A Star Chef Celebrates Fall Vegetables

- Vegetarian Thanksgiving blog posts, including recipes

I hope you have a safe, relaxing, and delicious Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Note: Images are from here.

Lots of Little Things

My husband Topher always teases me about the lunches that I take to work: he says that I like to eat "lots of little things," which is true.

I never pack just one dish for lunch. I usually bring quinoa salad, baby carrots, a small bag of almonds and Craisins, and a banana. Or some tuna salad, a piece of cheese (like Mini Babybel Light), and some arugula. Or an avocado, an apple, and a soft-boiled egg. Or a few slices of roasted turkey, a few slices of Swiss cheese, and some dried apricots. And my hubby makes fun of me.

Well, now I have some ammo with which to defend this strange little eating habit: eating lots of littles plates is apparently quite healthy, because it gives you more nutrient variety throughout the day, which promotes food synergy.

What is food synergy? It's the way that foods interact with each other in a recipe or dish, thereby increasing their nutritional value.

For example, "cooking with olive oil allows micronutrients such as lycopene in tomatoes and beta-carotene in carrots to be more easily absorbed by the body" (p.106 in The Jungle Effect). The same is true of eating greens with a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice, which increase the availability of the greens' antioxidants (p.122). Or treating tortillas with lime, which enriches the corn with calcium, niacin, and amino acids (p.23).

Even without knowing all the molecular, biochemical reasons for these interactions, some ancient cultures adopted the practice of eating multiple small plates as a meal. In Mediterranean countries, these small dishes are called meze; in Spain they're known as tapas; and in Okinawa, Japan, they're called okazu.

Although they're similar in size to our appetizers, they're not eaten as a way to start a meal; they're eaten as a meal themselves. And depending on how many people are eating, a single meal could consist of 5-10 different dishes. Most of them are mostly-vegetarian soups and salads (they might contain some fish), with only one or two containing a heavy animal protein like pork or beef.

So instead of being weird, maybe I'm just cosmopolitan. Yeah, let's go with that: I'm cosmopolitan.

Green Tea Experiment

I'm not a big coffee drinker - I usually only have one cup a day - but I've decided to try replacing my morning cup of Joe with green tea.

Why, you ask? Well, I just finished reading The Jungle Effect by Daphne Miller, MD. As Miller traveled the globe researching the indigenous diets of chronic disease "cold spots," one of the foods/drinks that kept popping up was tea. She learned that although people in Iceland (where there's a surprisingly low incidence of depression) don't eat a lot of vegetables, they still get plenty of antioxidants from drinking black tea.

Miller also found that Okinawans - who are known for being healthy and active well into their golden years and have one of the lowest rates of breast and prostate cancer in the world - drink at least three cups of straight green tea (which contains EGCG, a flavonoid and powerful antioxidant) daily.

In addition to it's high antioxidant levels, which protect against cancer, green tea also "promotes healthy cholesterol levels, increases metabolism, improves mental performance, inhibits plaque buildup on teeth ... and helps the body deal with stress" (from Whole Foods).

Green tea regularly appears on lists of so-called "superfoods." According to Whole Foods, you should "drink three 8-ounce cups daily – this will match the amounts consumed in Asian countries."

So I'm switching out coffee for green tea (which contains caffeine) in the mornings, and the last few evenings I've ended the day with a cup of ginger tea, which prevents colds and aids in digestion.

On TV: "Brew Masters"

I just found out about a new show called "Brew Masters" that's coming to the Discovery Channel.

According to the press release, "Brew Masters follows Sam [Calagione, co-founder of Dogfish Head Brewery] and his partners in suds as they travel the country and the world sourcing exotic ingredients and discovering ancient techniques to produce beers of astounding originality. From chocolate to mussels to tomatoes, Sam is constantly pushing his team and himself to innovate and celebrate the amazing world of beer and beer making."

Dogfish Head Brewery is one of our favorites: Topher likes their IPAs, and I like their Festina Peche and Punkin Ale (my favorite for fall).

The show is premiering tomorrow (Sunday, November 21) at 10pm on Discovery Channel, and the first episode is airing again on Monday night (Nov 22) at 8pm.

I think we might be watching tomorrow night (after hubby watches the 9pm episode of "Next Iron Chef" of course)!

Note: All photos are from the Discovery Channel website.

Reading List for November 15-19

1. Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

- "Vegetables for Thanksgiving, Served Natural and Raw" from NYTimes

- "Bow Down to the Medicinal Power of Cranberries" on NPR

- "17 Healthy Thanksgiving Sides" from The Atlantic

2. San Francisco's attempt to ban Happy Meal toys

- "Happy Meal Makeover: How a Healthy Food Coalition Defeated a Fast Food Icon" from the blog Civil Eats

- "Mayor Gavin Newsom Vetoes Fast-Food Toy Ban" from SFGate.com

3. "Is It Time for an Oil Change in the Kitchen?" from NYTimes

"It turns out that stale aromas, pleasant fried aromas and unpleasant scorched aromas all come from oil fragments called aldehydes that are more or less toxic to our cells, whether we eat them or inhale them during cooking. ... Fresh oils, and in particular fresh olive oils, generate the fewest toxic aldehydes. ... Fans of extra-virgin olive oil willingly pay more for its provenance and polyphenols as much as its aroma."

4. "While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales" from NYTimes

"... Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture— the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting. Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese."

And the "rebuttal" article from James McWilliams in The Atlantic: "How Journalists Got the Cheese Lobbying Story Wrong"

5. "FDA Bans Mixing Caffeine, Alcohol" from WSJ

More Book Reviews

A second installation of foodie book reviews ...

Already Read

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan - where our food comes from, and what not to eat; Pollan deconstructs four meals and traces them back to their most basic ingredients

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - what (and how) we should eat instead

Food Rules by Michael Pollan - a few dozen rules of thumb to follow when choosing what/how to eat

For anyone interested in learning about where the food in your grocery store comes from, and how you can make smarter/healthier choices about what to eat, this "trilogy" is a must. Pollan is a journalist by trade, so not only are these books well-researched, but they're also well-written. If you want to pick just one to read, I would go with In Defense of Food.

Currently Reading

The Jungle Effect by Daphne Miller, MD

Miller, a Harvard Medical School grad and a practicing family physician in San Francisco, studies the indigenous diets in four "cold spots," places where a certain chronic disease (or family of diseases) occurs very rarely: diabetes in Copper Canyon, Mexico; heart disease on the island of Crete; depression in Iceland; colon cancer in the rainforest of Cameroon; and breast & prostate cancers in Okinawa, Japan. I've read through 2 ½ of the cold spots, and already I can't wait to try some of the recipes included at the end!

Since I have a biology background, I especially like her explanations of how and why different foods benefit different organs and systems in the human body. (Don't worry, they're not too technical.) It almost makes me want to go back to school to study nutrition science. Almost.

Want to Read

Bringing It to the Table: Writings on Farming and Food by Wendell Berry

My good friend Heather recently read and enjoyed several of Berry's novels (Hannah Coulter, and Remembering); Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver both mention his essays in their books. Although he has authored several other farming-related nonfiction books (A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural & Agricultural, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, and The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays Cultural and Agricultural), this collection seems to deal most directly with what we eat and where it comes from. Check him out on Goodreads.

Brandade and Blanc

The image above is from this website.

Last night my food education continued during dinner with Randy & Kim. The entrée consisted of steak, homemade shoestring fries, and arugula salad - nothing too exotic there (but very delicious). The lesson was in the appetizer: brandade made with salted cod, served with French bread, and paired with a Roux Père & Fils Mâcon-Villages Blanc wine.

According to Wikipedia, "brandade is an emulsion of salt cod and olive oil eaten in winter with bread or potatoes." Randy's version contained heavy cream, potatoes, and garlic, and was garnished with fresh parsley and a lemon slice. It had the consistency of a creamy dip, and I was surprised when he said it contained no cheese. It's a slightly salty and kinda heavy dish - perfect for a cool fall evening.

You can find recipes from ....

• The New York Times
• Bobby Flay on Food Network
• Telegraph (UK)
• Saveur
• Gourmet Traveller
• Food & Wine (made with smoked trout)

That last recipe from Food & Wine uses smoked trout instead of salt cod. As Serious Eats explains, "Salt cod is a wonderful ingredient, but one that's a bit of a hassle to use, requiring soaking and planning ahead." Indeed, the cod must be soaked for at least 24 hours ahead of time, and the water should be changed 3-4 times.

Although we ate ours as an appetizer, Serious Eats suggests that it's "... sort of perfect as a light meal with a huge salad." Sounds good to me!

Reading List for November 1-12

Hello, blog readers! Sorry I've been so delinquent in my blogging this week. You'd think that with a four-day weekend, I'd have plenty of time to write, but somehow the days keep getting away from me.

Thankfully this holiday weekend has been filled with lots of meals with friends: dinner at Sushi Aka on Thursday, lunch at Amici's yesterday then dinner with my cousin Brad & his wife Heidi (yummy asparagus & shrimp risotto topped with fresh parsley & sliced cherry tomatoes), dinner with Randy & Kim today, and lunch with Kirk & Mary after church tomorrow. Whew!

Since I was traveling, I missed last week's reading list, so here are a few articles of interest from the past 10-12 days. Enjoy!

1. "The food-mood connection" from the LATimes

"Particular foods have been shown to boost the production of these neurotransmitters but usually not by enough to make a perceptible difference in the brain. In fact, science has shot down most of the food-mood links accepted as conventional wisdom and perpetuated by self-proclaimed nutrition experts. ... Still, people have an insatiable craving to believe that eating certain things will boost mental focus, attitude or energy. And believing may just be the best shot at a food-mood connection."

2. "How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Killing Us" by Marion Nestle in The Atlantic

Gotta love the sensationalist headline, but there's some truth to the story.

3. "Meat industry unhappy over limiting the use of antibiotics" from The Washington Post

4. "Eating almonds can help to fight off viruses" from the Telegraph (UK)

My cousin-in-law Jenna starts every morning with a handful of almonds and a probiotic.

5. Attention, Ladies: Are we running out of chocolate?

- "Chocolate: Worth its weight in gold" from the Independent (UK)

- "In Twenty Years Chocolate Will Be a Rare Delicacy" from Popular Science

6. Just for fun: "Carl Warner's Edible Landscapes" from NPR

7. Following up on my earlier post about salt/sodium ...

- "Dietary Guidelines may reduce allowance for salt and sodium" from The Washington Post

- "Is 1,500 mg of sodium a realistic goal?" from The Checkup blog on WashingtonPost.com

The Skinny on Salt

The original Morton Salt girl (left) and the one styled by Vogue (right)

As I mentioned in my last post, I traveled quite a bit last week - for work and for a friend's wedding - and as I usually do when traveling, I picked up a couple of girlie magazines to read while vegging in my hotel room, one of which was the November 2010 issue of Vogue. Although it's technically a fashion mag, Vogue usually has one or two good food/nutrition articles in each issue; I read the October issue on my trip to Savannah a few weeks ago.

The November issue included an article on the pros & cons of salt, in response to NYC Mayor Bloomberg's anti-salt campaign, and I was surprised to learn a few things about how our bodies process and use sodium, and how vastly people's tolerance or sensitivity to sodium can differ.

One thing that the author pointed out I found interesting:

"Even if manufactureres discover a magic ingredient that helps them create delicious crackers without the sodium, some experts question whether we'd consume substantially less salt, because they suspect out appetite for the white stuff may be encoded in our DNA. ... [Researchers] from the University of California, Davis, analyzed diet data from 19,000 people in 33 countries and found that everyone's daily sodium consumption falls within a fairly narrow - and shockingly high - range of about 2,700 to 4,900 milligrams, or as much as three times the new recommended limit."

There was one quote that I didn't quite agree with, though:

"Michael Alderman, M.D., a professor in the deapartment of medicine at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine and leader of the low-sodium resistance ... and others argue that telling everyone to reduce salt because some people develop hypertension is a little like telling everyone to avoid sugar because some people are diabetic."

I think it's a poor analogy and actually contradicts his low-sodium position: avoiding excess sugar helps prevent diabetes, so wouldn't avoiding salt help prevent hypertension?

Check out the whole article here (click on the thumbnails below):

Spectacularly Bad

I really struggle to eat well when I'm traveling alone for work, and this past week was no exception. I went to DC again for a class, and on Thursday night I tried to find something relatively healthy for dinner near my hotel. It was a minor disaster.

I chose a national chain restaurant (that shall remain nameless) where I thought I'd be able to get some vegetables and not look too awkward eating alone. This particular chain has recently revamped its wine list, and I decided to try their Estancia Meritage (usually a red wine blend). Apparently the staff has not been educated on the new wines: my waitress brought me a glass of some unknown white wine. Strike one.

Having cleared up the wine confusion, I headed to the salad bar and loaded up on spinach, mixed greens, edamame, chickpeas, & sunflower seeds. I returned to my table, lifted my fork, and uncovered a large (thankfully, dead) black insect. Strike two.

Giving up on the salad, I waited until the waitress brought my entrée: a petite sirloin (which I ordered cooked medium), steamed broccoli, and mashed cauliflower. (In hindsight, perhaps ordering a steak wasn't the smartest decision. I'll take the blame for that one.) I cut into it and discovered that it was completely rare in the middle. Not just rare, but raw - cold and still a little bloody. Thinking that maybe I could still salvage part of the meal, I stuck my fork into a broccoli floret, but it was so overcooked that it fell apart on contact. Strike three.

After a short chat with the manager, I left with a corked and almost-full bottle of Estancia Meritage (that's right - they gave me the bottle, once they finally found the right wine), and without paying.

Discouraged and disgusted, I headed down the street to Chipotle to get a chicken burrito bowl with guacamole and extra cilantro.

Fall Getaway: Distrito

On our way home from Cape Cod, we stopped in Philly for another night. Topher was dying to try Chef Jose Garces' "modern Mexican" restaurant Distrito, so we met our friends Grant & Laura there for dinner. The interior design was so fun - bright pink lights and lots of white - and the food was delicious. I almost needed a Spanish-English dictionary, though, to translate some of the ingredients listed on the menu.

What I Ate:

• Atun ceviche: big eye tuna, serrano-coconut sauce, lime sorbet, tomatillo, tostadita
• Chilango huaraches: carnitas, chorizo, Serrano ham, potato, queso Oaxaca, cotija
• Mexico City Style quesadilla: huauzontle, black beans, queso Oaxaca, epazote, salsa ranchera
• Churros: vanilla ice cream, spicy chocolate sauce, cajeta

The Scoop:
Distrito is located at 3945 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Reservations are available by calling 215-222-1657. Their dinner hours are Sun-R 5-10pm, F-Sat 5-11pm. They are also open for lunch M-F 11:30am-2:30pm, and brunch Sat-Sun 11:30am-2:30pm.

Distrito is one of seven Garces restaurants in Philly (check out the Garces Restaurant Group on Facebook). The newest addition, JG Domestic, just opened in October, and we can't wait to try it!

Fall Getaway: Mahoney's

After driving all day on Friday from Philadelphia to Cape Cod, we weren't really up for a fancy dinner out. So we decided to cook (Anne graciously let us stay at her grandparents' house).

Or rather, Anne and I drank margaritas while Topher cooked for us (isn't he wonderful?!). That evening we enjoyed seared scallops, sautéed Brussels sprouts, and spaghetti squash. Afterwards we curled up in the living room with mugs of hot chocolate with amaretto (a great way to warm up).

The next evening we were a little more rested (after our morning at the spa) and ready for something festive. Leave it to my husband to find the fanciest restaurant in Cape Cod that's still open in the off season. :)

What I Ate:

• Proscuitto-wrapped scallops
• Atlantic steaming bowl: classic bouillabaisse with shrimp, scallops, squid, haddock, littleneck clams, and mussels in a tomato saffron broth served over angel hair pasta
• Pear, Ginger, & Cranberry Crisp: Fresh pear, ginger, & dried cranberries crowned with a toasted pecan, oatmeal, and brown sugar strudel served warm with vanilla ice cream
• ... and to drink: a Cape Cod martini and a limoncello

The Scoop:

Mahoney's Atlantic Bar & Grill is located at 28 Main Street, Orleans, MA. They generally do not take reservations except for parties of 12 or more. They are open seven days a week, 5-9pm.

Fall Getaway: The Chatham Squire

On our first full day in Cape Cod, my husband surprised me and my friend Anne with a morning at the spa: pedicures and massages! Afterwards we were so relaxed that we would have been perfectly content to go back to the house and take a nap. But we didn't.

Instead we took a walk on the beach, and when we finally couldn't stand the biting wind anymore, we walked through Chatham, MA. Chatham's Main Street is lined with adorable shops: jewelry and stationery stores, kitchen gadgets and housewares stores, and even a Life Is Good store. It's exactly what you would picture in your mind if you heard "quaint New England town."

For lunch we found a tavern on Main Street that appeared to be popular with both tourists and locals alike. Their menu featured everything from fish & chips, crab cakes, and calamari, to a roast beef sandwich, cheeseburger, and chicken fingers. We opted for the seafood.

What I Ate:

• 1/2 dozen raw native oysters on the half shell
• Lobster bisque: Rich sherry cream soup with lobster meat & brandy - perfect for a chilly late fall afternoon
• Sam Adams Octoberfest beer - ditto

The Scoop:

The Chatham Squire is located at 487 Main Street, Chatham, MA 02633. Contact the dining room at (508)945-0945 for info on reservations and hours.

Fall Getaway: Monk's Cafe

Last November (basically this week last year), my husband Topher surprised me with a weekend getaway. I didn't know the destination before I left, only that I needed to pack warm clothes and one semi-dressy outfit.

We left work at noon on a Thursday and started driving north over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (one of my favorite drives - 20 miles of highway over open water). As I had suspected, we ended up in Philadelphia (my old stomping ground) for the evening.

During the drive, I figured out that Topher's cryptic clue "Joan of Arc" meant that we were headed to Orleans, MA - Cape Cod! Shortly after our arrival in Philly, my friend Rebecca, who was graciously letting us crash at her house that evening, let slip the rest of the surprise: my dear friend Anne was coming to Cape Cod with us!

Anne had a meeting at church or something that evening, so Topher & I were on our own for dinner. My first choice was a place I thought Topher would like: Monk's Cafe, a popular Belgian pub famous for its "Beer Bible," a dozen-page booklet listing its extensive beer offerings.

What I Ate:

• Thai Curry mussels: Monk's Flemish Sour, fum, Thai red curry, bais, garlic, & coconut milk - the bowls of mussels are huge, and they offer them in several different sauces, all delicious!
• Lapin a la Gueuze: Rabbit & root vegetables braised in gueuze lambic - a traditional Brussels dish - a great dish for a cool November evening
• I'm embarrassed to admit this: I had two glasses of beer with dinner - one blonde ale and one brown ale - and I can't remember what either of them was :(

The Scoop:

Monk's Cafe is located at 264 S. 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. Their hours are M-Sun, 11:30am-1:00am. You can reach them by calling (215)545-7005, but if I remember correctly, they don't take reservations.

As I said, it's a popular (and not very big) place, so it fills up quickly after work, during the dinner hour, and on weekends. But it's worth the wait. Another of my favorites from their menu: the Ghent burger - topped with sautéed broccoli rabe, garlic, and cheddar cheese.

**This past summer, I was horrified to learn that an out-of-control SEPTA bus crashed into the front of Monk's; but thankfully no one was hurt badly, and the restaurant reopened later the same month.