sumac!

there's a place near my office, called the amish market. same ownership (but apparently, different management) as the great one on ninth avenue (fantastic sandwiches! remember the good old days when you could pick up some tasty, overstuffed "special" sandwiches, sneak'em into the $5 movie at worldwide plaza?) and i went there for lunch twice this week (not knowing that they have great brick oven pizza). i wanted to try something different, i.e. not my standby of turkey, lettuce, tomato and avocado on whole wheat!). i ordered the lamb kebobs and the lamb gyro. they offer a generous portion for their wrap sandwiches, but the lamb kebobs were a little chewy (even when grilled "medium-rare") and the ground lamb for the gyros had some alarming white gristle. i don't really want to know what that was about.

but the fellas that man the grill and create the sandwiches are nice as can be. i was curious about their sauteed onion preparation--there was some spice added to them which lent a pale pink color. so unusual, it looked like a filipino sauteed squid dish. i had to ask what the spice was. and they explained that it was called sumac. and they pulled out a jar of the stuff and gave me a generous sample to take home.

now, when i think of sumac, i automatically think of the label on the bottle of calamine lotion--how it "dries the oozing and weeping poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac." i think of itching and rashes. i don't think of adding it to my saute.

but this spice is wonderful...tangy, with a great color.

and it turns out, the spice sumac (very different from the toxic ornamental varieties that require the use of calamine) is ground from the dried berries and often mixed with salt. it's said to be most popular in turkey (sumak, somak) and iran (somagh), sauteed with onions or sprinkled over rice. the fruit sumac is often pureed into a paste and used in lebanon, syria and egypt in the same way that tamarind is used in indonesian and indian cooking.

the best three-way on tv

who else agrees that pardon the interruption is one of the best half-hour programs on tv? i've got my dvr set to record every first-run episode, since i can never make it home in time to watch it live. i was a huge fan of the sports reporters, when the venerable story-teller , dick schaap, was still the host and mr. wilbon and mr. kornheiser were part of the regular roster of reporters on the panel. they were often impassioned, sometimes outrageous, but always cogent and listenable. i was intrigued when i heard that they got their own show. i can't say i loved it from the get-go, but it took very little time for the hosts to settle into a nice groove. now they have the kind of chemistry that rival the "inside the nba" fellows--a little less giddiness, but broader and deeper commentary. and they've proven that they're winning hosts, always getting their guests (insert big name coach, athlete, and commentator name here) to answer topical questions (ranging from the smart to the silly), and often eliciting solid insights--and even a laugh from each one.
it's a real good time.

but what is killing me these days is that kornheiser's taken to calling jay bilas "hunky" -- the kind of tongue- in- cheek flattery that is a great gag, because, well, bilas (who is a pretty good looking fellow) knows how to take the ribbing. mr. b's become one of my favorite ncaa commentators by virtue of his appearances on PTI--he doesn't bullshit his way through these interviews--the man does his homework, knows his stuff, and shares it with the PTI viewers-and he manages to maintain his composure through kornheiser's adulations and can even often offer a zing or two himself. but today, kornheiser signed off with a "thanks, hot stuff" and what could bilas do but laugh. not as loudly as i did though.

everybody loves a little edge

don't they? i'll pick a brownie edge over a middle piece any time, day or night. and now, thanks to part-time inventor, matthew griffin, i won't have to pick through the pile to get at them. this baker's edge pan was one of 12 winners of visa's ideas happen competition. apparently there are more uses for the pan, and while not all of them are singing to me, like the roast (?), it's a brilliant product.

we can all start ordering them in april! woo hoo.

and i thought the betty crocker bake n fill was cool.

(okay, it's pretty cool too...mmmbaked alaska...ice cream cakes a la cold stone creamery)

i love tv

there. i said it.

among my guilty pleasures/dvr "musts" -- ALIAS. this season has been really been FSO (for superfans only)--at times too fantastic even for a fantasy-drama, occasionally a bit overwrought and slow. but just as most critics and fans were thinking the writers were content to continuously recycle their bag of tricks and twists, comes word that this week's episode will feature the liquid-eyed looker, mia maestro, rather than ass-kicking ingenue jennifer garner, and most of the dialogue will be in argentine spanish.

as noted in the times article, kudos to the network for letting the alias team try something new.