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Lunch at Lilac Blossom, Nashua, NH
A few months ago, my good friend and coworker Darshan recommended that my wife and I try his favorite Chinese restaurant in Nashua, Lilac Blossom. We found ourselves in Nashua on a recent Saturday, so we dropped in for lunch. Lilac Blossom has two locations in Nashua; we chose the the location in the south end of town, based on Darshan’s recommendation. The thirty-item lunch menu was very affordable, and each item on the menu included choice of soup and rice. I ordered a spicy dish called Twice Fried Pork, accompanied with hot and sour soup and brown rice. Elisa made the same soup and rice choices to accompany another of…
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Pie Dough Made With Vodka
Ingredients for one double-crust pie 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 8 tablespoons leaf lard (cut into small pieces) 8 tablespoons butter (cut into small pieces) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons sugar (optional) 1/4 cup vodka, cold (brandy works just as well) 1/4 cup cold water Instructions Combine all ingredients except the water and vodka in a medium bowl. Blend with a pastry cutter. Be careful to not overwork the dough. Sprinkle the water and vodka over the mixture and then, with a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix the dough together. You are looking for a consistency where the dough just holds together in a ball and…
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Rendering Leaf Lard or Beef Suet
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Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving
Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving’s twelfth novel, structurally shares a quite a bit with his more iconic novels, such as The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Like these earlier works the main character is a man; we are introduced to him very early in his life; a majority of the novel is set in New England; really bad stuff happens to otherwise ordinary characters; and female characters are always present and often rather two dimensional. Readers who are drawn to these aspects of Irving’s books will no doubt feel right at home with this one, after enduring Irving’s fifteen-year side…
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Dave’s Carrot Cake
I'm not sure how many different carrot cake recipes I've tried or modified over the years. I never really kept track. But no matter the recipe, there was always something missing, until eventually I came across a recipe that was almost perfect.
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Apple Tasting & Foliage Drive, VT Route 100
With Columbus Day weekend comes peak foliage in northern New England, and this year Elisa and I decided to explore the southern half of Vermont State Route 100. Inspired by the September/October issue of Yankee magazine, which did an article on traveling Route 100, we had made a dry run back in September just to make sure the drive would live up to its hype. Columbus Day weekend came blessed with a good weather forecast, and we left the house early on Sunday morning in order to make it to Dummerston in time for the 10:00 am apple tasting at Scott Farm. The inside of the barn had been renovated since…
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Dave & Elisa’s Apple Cranberry Pie
Ingredients Pie dough (enough for a top and bottom, with a bit to spare) 18 Tbsp. butter, chilled 6 Tbsp. lard, chilled 3 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1 Tbsp. sugar 3/4 cup ice water Pie filling 6 large golden delicious apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut into 8 wedges 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen 1 Tbsp. orange zest, finely grated 2 Tbsp. instant tapioca 1/8 tsp. salt 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon of milk Instructions Pie Dough Slice butter and lard into 1/4 inch slices and put in freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add butter and…
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Enjoying New England’s Fall Foliage
Autumn is without a doubt northern New England’s best time of the year. The other seasons have their place, although Spring here might better be named ‘mud and bug season,’ but in the Autumn, New England is truly in her glory days. This is due, in a word, to one thing: foliage. This year, like most years, the peak weekend for enjoying New England’s foliage is Columbus Day weekend (October 10-12). Sure, the leaf peeper tour buses start hitting the scenic back roads of New England in mid-September, but those folks are way too early to the party. It’s not until September gives way to October that the foliage begins to…
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Dave’s Hearty Sausage Soup
Ingredients 3 lbs. Italian sweet sausage, removed from casings and crumbled 4 slices bacon, diced 2 cups red onions, finally chopped 4 teaspoons Emeril’s Essence 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons minced garlic 2 bay leaves 1 cup crushed tomatoes 6 cups chicken stock freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste Instructions Cook the diced bacon in a large-sized heavy duty pot over medium heat until it’s just starting to look done (about 2 minutes). Add the sausage and cook another five minutes, occasionally stirring, until the sausage is browned. Add in the Emeril’s Essence and the diced onions and cook, while stirring, for another five minutes or until the…
