My Birthday Dinner No. 4 - Terzo Minneapolis

 My extended birthday celebrations came to a glorious end in mid-December, nearly a month after my actual birth date. (That was Thanksgiving Day.) My daughter treated me to dinner at Terzo in south Minneapolis. 

Unlike the other two restaurant birthday dinners, I had been to Terzo in the past; multiple times, actually. I've even posted in this blog about the restaurant twice - once in 2014 as we prepared for a trip to Italy and again in 2016 just before another Italian trip. 

Terzo continues to be a favorite of mine. So it was an easy choice for a birthday dinner, especially since my daughter hadn't eaten there previously. 

We started with a glass of prosecco and an order of arancini. Next we had salads. My daughter had 'misticanza' which was a beautiful mixed salad with baby lettuce, pea tendrils, fresh herbs, radish, celery, egg yolk and a light dressing. I had a seasonal salad 'autumnale'. 

Smoked trout on pasta

Terzo offers half orders of its pasta entrees. We opted for that. My daughter had 'torchio al funghi,' a horn-shaped pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce. I ordered 'tajarin alla trota,' which was a long, thin pasta served with smoked trout, garlic, fennel and onion. 

As I've mentioned in my previous posts about Terzo, it is basically a wine bar, though the food menu is more extensive than you'd typically expect at a wine bar. So it's a real treat to try different varieties of wine from Italy with the food. My daughter ordered red wine from Sicily with her pasta. Mine was a white - Neblina Madonia - which very nicely complemented the smoky trout on my pasta. 

To conclude our meal, we each ordered an espresso and a scoop of gelato. I had apple gelato; she had almond. 

This being the first visit to Terzo since the Covid pandemic, I was pleased to see that they have maintained their quality and relaxing ambiance. Our server was very helpful and accommodating. In previous posts, I've commented that the items on the food menu are kind of expensive. But it's worth it for a special occasion, and to experience the great selection of wine from Italy. 

Espresso and gelati for dessert

My Birthday Dinner No. 3 - Kado no Mise, Minneapolis

As I explained in my previous post, I turned 70 years old on Thanksgiving Day 2021. That being something of a milestone, I ended up enjoying four birthday dinners. Thanksgiving dinner was the first. Two weeks later, my wife and I had a special dinner at Italian Eatery in Minneapolis. You can click here to read that post, or simply scroll down to it after you read this post. 

Both my son and my daughter gave me the gift of having dinner with each of them individually. They actually did pay for those dinners. But I would have been happy to pay just to have the time alone with them. 

Just four days after Birthday Dinner No. 2, I picked up my son and we went to Kado no Mise, a Japanese restaurant serving a fixed price "omakase" tasting menu. The restaurant's website explains that Kado no Mise translates as "corner restaurant." (The restaurant is located at the corner of N. 1st St. and N. 1st Ave. in Minneapolis.) The website further explains that "omakase" means "I'll leave it up to you," that is to say, the diner leaves it up to the chef to decide what food to serve. It does take some level of trust to do that. But my son and I both are adventurous diners, so we were eager to give it a try. 

The restaurant offers three levels of an omakase experience. We opted for the basic "ume" menu. It featured five courses. The "take" and "matsu" menus feature a sixth course, and each of those includes more items on the sushi course. 

But first, before I get into the food, we had a drink. Besides the omakase restaurant, the same establishment has a Japanese whisky bar called Gori Gori Peku. So to start our evening, we both ordered an old-fashioned cocktail made with Japanese whisky. It was very good; it motivated me to get a bottle of Japanese whisky for my bar at home. 

Then, as the meal service began, our server brought us a small glass of vermouth. I haven't previously had vermouth as an aperitif, only used it as a cocktail ingredient. But this was very pleasant and set the stage for the meal to come. 

2/5 of my sushi course

Our first course was "sakizuke" - a selection of small bites, sort of like an amuse-bouche. That was followed by probably the most unusual course of the meal - chawanmushi. It was a steamed egg custard with fish and mushrooms and ginger. Great flavors with a silky smooth texture. 

Next came the sushi course - five pieces of simple nigiri. The fish was excellent, very fresh and flavorful. But the style of service was new to me. Every other place where I've had sushi, you're provided with a small ball of wasabi paste that you mix with soy sauce and then dip the sushi in it. However, for this meal, the chef put a small smear of wasabi on the rice and under the fish. Then, instead of dipping the sushi, we were provided with a small bowl of soy sauce and a tiny brush. We were instructed to brush a small amount of sauce onto the fish and then eat it. If you look at the photo closely, you'll see the brush with the bowl of soy sauce on the right. 

After we finished the nigiri, and before the next course was served, our server asked if we wanted to extend the sushi course with some more pieces. We declined, but it is an option in case a diner wants more. 

See how simple the rolls are?

The next course to come out was makimono and misoshiru - sushi rolls and miso soup. Like the nigiri, these rolls were very simple, basically just rice and fish. Once again we were invited to 'paint' the rolls with the soy sauce. We did receive the traditional side of shaved ginger to enjoy with the rolls. The miso soup was very good. I'm not a big fan of miso soup. My son is, and he said this was very good. Tea was served with this course. 

The last course was a scoop of sorbet.  

Here are my final observations about our meal at Kado no Mise. 

1. Going out for sushi can be very expensive. There's a tendency to keep on ordering and pretty soon, you've run up a pretty hefty tab. So an omakase fixed price menu like we had helps to provide a buffer from spending more than you intended.

2. That said, this is not a very filling meal. We both were satisfied. But if your expectation is to get ample amounts of food with each course, you may be disappointed.

3. This is not the kind of sushi that is typically served (at least here in Minnesota). The nigiri and rolls are very simple. If you expect, or want, exotic sushi with many different kinds of fish and vegetables, this isn't that kind of sushi. No California rolls on the menu.

4. The omakase experience at Kado no Mise is just that, an experience. The service, the setting, and the food are all part of the experience. To enjoy it, you should set aside expectations, keep an open mind, and relax. 

I would definitely go back. But it would most likely be for some kind of special occasion and with somebody who would enjoy the experience. 

Enjoying our rolls and miso

My Birthday Dinner No. 2 - Italian Eatery

 In my previous post - The Story So Far - I noted that one of the things that happened during 2021 was that I had a birthday. Not just any birthday. I turned 70. 

When I was a kid, my parents (or at least my mother) usually made a big deal about birthdays for me and my siblings. But Mom and Dad never made much of a big deal about their own birthdays. So I suppose it's not surprising that in my adult years, I also never made much to-do about my birthday. While I was still working, I usually would still go to work. My wife and I would have a nice birthday dinner out at a restaurant sometime in the relatively close vicinity of the actual birth date. 

But, 70 is a bigger deal. So it justified having multiple birthday dinners. (Stay tuned for Nos. 3 and 4.)

When I rebooted this blog, after a 14-month hiatus, I decided to give up any pretense that my restaurant posts are actual 'reviews.' Restaurant reviewers have standards and a process for evaluating a restaurant, its ambiance, food, service, value, etc. You won't find that in Krik's Picks. These are just my very personal and subjective experiences, usually about a single visit to a restaurant. 

My birthday dinner No. 2 was in early December at Italian Eatery in South Minneapolis. It was excellent! I mean really delicious, enjoyable, and praiseworthy. 

My wife and I started by sharing a starter - roasted "zucca". It was delicata squash sliced thin and long, roasted with just a bit of char on it. It was topped with sheep's milk cheese, cherries and a pomegranate sauce. 

Pasta meals + wine

From there we went on to our main courses. We both ordered a pasta. The spaghettini nero immediately appealed to my wife. It's squid ink black pasta with scallops, shrimp, squid, and mussels. On the menu, the pasta is served with an arrabbiata sauce, which can be kind of spicy. She doesn't like spicy. But our server offered to check with the chef to see if the dish could be served with a non-spicy sauce. Ecco! Her pasta was served with a pomodoro sauce like they serve on their spaghetti dish. She loved it!

I asked our server for advice on my meal. I couldn't decide between a rigatoni dish with fennel sausage or mushroom cappelletti with a cream sauce. The server suggested the cappelletti but with the fennel sausage added on. I said "OK" and that's what he served. It didn't really need the sausage on the mushroom dish. But it was very tasty. 

As a side dish, we ordered Calabrian cauliflower. The flavors were great, and it was pretty spicy, so my wife didn't eat much of it. We brought about half of it home, and I enjoyed it the next day with my lunch. 

Dessert & amaro

For wine, we ordered by the glass. The restaurant has a nice selection of Italian wine. My wife had a Super Tuscan. I was worried that it would be too heavy with the seafood in her pasta dish. But the server thought it would go well, and she liked it. At the server's suggestion, I ordered a glass of Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore. It's a variety that I've had before, and it complemented my pasta very well.

You're probably picking up a theme here. Our server was really excellent. His attention and advice really helped to make the evening special. But the best was yet to come. 

When I made the reservation, I did note that it was my birthday. So at the end of the meal, the server brought us a generous two-scoops of gelato and for me, an amaro. I topped it all off with an espresso. 

It was such an enjoyable evening, that we decided that we should bring our adult children there. There are many more menu items that deserve to be sampled. (Full disclosure - our daughter is already a fan. She was the one who recommended it in the first place.) 

Post script: Just for the record, my birthday was on Thanksgiving Day. Hence, my No. 1 birthday dinner was Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. Here's the photo. 

Thanksgiving/Birthday dinner

The Story So Far

In case you haven't noticed, it's been more than a year since my last post. I considered pulling the plug and just putting an end to Krik's Picks. But I took time to reread some of my old posts, and it reminded me of a couple of things. 

1.  I mostly am writing this for my own amusement. 

2. It's been amusing.

And so - The Story So Far ... *

I started Krik's Picks 15 years ago. My first grandchild had just been born. (Yes, I have a 15-year-old grandchild who's eager to take drivers' ed and get her license.) Also, at the time, I had responsibility for member communications at Land O'Lakes, where I worked until I retired (in 2013). 

At Land O'Lakes, we had cake

(For those who don't know, Land O'Lakes is a farmer-owned cooperative. So my job was to manage the communications to keep the farmers (i.e. co-op members) informed about the company, the industry, and things that affected them as farmers. I felt that we could use a blog and social media to facilitate communications. But, I didn't think that I could manage the newly emerging social media without having any personal experience. So I joined Facebook and started this blog.

(I did not have a lot of support for my ideas about using social media in our member communications program. In fact, the idea was generally pooh-poohed and I was required to include a disclaimer on my blog that "the opinions and positions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Land O’Lakes." 

(I get some satisfaction that now, of course, Land O'Lakes has a very robust social media presence, including a blog.)

When I started Krik's Picks, I was doing a lot of business travel. That meant that I was constantly eating at new restaurants in the cities where I traveled. That provided me with a steady supply of material to write about. When I retired, I thought I'd have more time for the blog, and I did. But because I wasn't traveling so much, I also had less material to write about. 

Gradually, over time, I was posting less and less leading up to now. It's interesting to note, however, that my two most-read posts have been since I retired. In December 2017, I wrote a post about my Jaguar. (Click here to read it.) It got noticed by an online group of Jaguar owners and I got 605 clicks. But my all-time best read post was in May 2019. I wrote a post about how much I was influenced by my college Marching Band director. (Click here to read it.) It got noticed by an online band parents' website; I got 1763 clicks! 

Just to get you up to speed, here are some things that happened in the last year.

I got vaccinated. I got the Moderna vaccine. The first shot was in February 2021 and the second shot was in March. I got a booster shot in November.

My wife and I started traveling again ... a little bit. In June, we drove to Chicago for a family celebration and stayed in a hotel there. Then, in November, we flew to New York for a family wedding. 

I had a detached retina. As part of the recovery from the surgery to reattach it, I had a gas bubble inserted in my eye, and I had to remain stationary with my left eye angled downward for 50 minutes out of every hour. And I had to maintain that for a full week. 

My dad died in April.

I logged 960 miles on my bicycle during the summer. 

On Thanksgiving Day, I had my 70th birthday. 

* The Story So Far is a transition devise used by Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Hitchhiker's Guide was a satirical radio series that was broadcast in the late '70s. In those days I did a lot of travel by car for work, and I listened to the series while driving. I thought it was very funny. "The Story So Far" was the opening of the fifth episode of the series. There were 12 episodes in all. The Hitchhiker's Guide was so popular that the creator turned it into a series of books with roughly the same story line. "The Story So Far" was the opening line of the second book in the series. 

Douglas Adams died in 2001. He was my age.

While writing this post, I learned that there was an American punk rock band named The Story So Far. It was formed in 2007. I never heard of it before, and I don't know if it's still in existence.

I found a great way to use the serrano peppers from my garden

 I like to garden. For me, it's quite satisfying to walk into my backyard and pick something ripe and fresh to eat. 

The trouble is, my yard is not very conducive to growing a prolific garden. My yard is blessed with an abundance of tall, leafy trees. But they cast so much shade that it stunts most garden plants that I'm trying to grow.

Example: tomatoes. I can't resist trying to grow tomatoes. But because of the shade, the plants put all their energy into trying to grow tall, and I end up harvesting just a couple of handfuls of small tomatoes. If they didn't taste so good, I'd quit trying. 

The other problem is wild animals. We have deer, raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits galore. They like to feast on my vegetables as much as I do. 

So each summer, I plant a few tomatoes and other items and just hope to be able to harvest enough to make it worthwhile. 

First batch of ripe serranoes

There are a few things, however, that usually thrive in my yard. Herbs, for example. I have perennial chives and garlic chives, mint, and oregano that come back every year with abundance. I also usually have good luck with basil, parsley, rosemary, and sage. (This year, my sage plants withered, and my rosemary just didn't do very well. On the other hand, I harvested a nice amount of tarragon. So that was nice.)

The other thing that usually does well in my yard is peppers. I grow them in pots and have them placed where they can get some good, direct sunlight. The plants usually grow tall, like the tomatoes. But I usually get a good harvest of peppers. This year, I planted serranoes, and I was pleased with my harvest. 

I posted a photo on Facebook with the plant before I harvested them. I got a nice reply from a friend in California who suggested that I use the serranoes to make zhug. Zhug, it turns out, is a Yemenite pepper sauce made with lots of herbs and garlic. I decided to give it a try.

My friend's suggestion didn't include a recipe. So I went online in search of a recipe. I came across a blog called Chili Pepper Madness. Not only did that blogger have a recipe for zhug, he has a very cool web site with lots of fun info about peppers and, of course, recipes. 

Personally, I like hot peppers and spicy food. My wife does not. But with zhug, I can make a dinner entrée mild to suit her taste and then add the zhug to spice it up. I add it to pizza and soup and pasta. I also put it on a grilled hamburger and used it to spice up a homemade black bean patty. (Here's the recipe for the black bean patty that I got from the New York Times Cooking page.)

These ingredients + olive oil = zhug

Here's the link to the zhug recipe on the Chili Pepper Madness blog. I followed the recipe pretty closely and only made a couple of changes. The blog post describing zhug states that cilantro is an optional addition, but the recipe as posted calls for a cup of cilantro. I don't particularly like cilantro, so I didn't use it. Instead, I substituted several of the fresh herbs that do well in my yard. The original recipe calls for 'chiles de arbol.' I didn't have any, and I could have used dried pepper flakes. But I didn't; I just left that ingredient out. Finally, the original recipe calls for 4 garlic cloves. I only used two. 

I've included the recipe at the end of this post with my modifications, but I encourage you to look at the zhug recipe on the Chili Pepper Madness site as well. The original version turned out very bright green. Mine did not (see photo below) I think because I used ripe, red serranoes rather than green ones. 

Zhug Yemenite Hot Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
• Salt to taste I use about a teaspoon
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh herbs (such as oregano, mint, cilantro)
• 1 cup loosely packed parsley
• 5-6 serrano peppers chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• Juice from 1 lemon about 2-3 tablespoons
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Grind the peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestal into a coarse powder. Alternatively, you can start with powdered versions of these ingredients. Add them to a food processor along with the salt.

Add the remaining ingredients except for the olive oil to the food processor and pulse until the ingredients are chunky but combined. Do not overprocess or you’ll lose the desireable texture.

Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse/process until the oil is emulsified and the remaining sauce is thick and chunky.

Adjust for salt and use as needed.

Notes:

Makes about 1.5 cups. 

Heat Level: Medium-Hot, because of the use of serrano peppers. You can easily dial back the heat by using milder peppers.

Store your zhug in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

My new view of the world

I see the world differently now. I don't mean psychologically. It doesn't have anything to do with the COVID pandemic or the Black Lives Matter protests. I mean physically. I had cataract surgery and am amazed by what a change it's making in my vision.

I have bad eyes. My ophthalmologist says "very bad eyes." I got glasses when I was about 10 years old. My school teacher must have told my mother that I couldn't read things on the blackboard. So we went to an eye doctor. He checked my eyes and confirmed that I am very near-sighted. He put on a pair of sample glasses that approximated my prescription. I looked out the window and saw people walking by. "Am I supposed to be able to see people on the sidewalk?" I asked in amazement.

Before cataract surgery

So I wore glasses for about 8 or 9 years. During my freshman year in college my parents agreed to let me get contact lenses. I wore contacts for a long time. But eventually, probably about 20 years later, I realized that I was having trouble reading. So I got a pair of reading glasses for the office. I'd get up before work and put in my contacts. Then, at the office, I'd wear readers for most of the day while working at my desk and computer.

Finally, I couldn't figure out why I was doing that. When my eyes got to the point where I needed another new correction, instead of replacing the contacts I got bifocal glasses. (They were actually progressive lenses so there was no visible line where the reading lenses started.) 

They worked great for me for several years. My vision did keep changing, and I think over the years I ended up with 3 different pairs of bifocals. But somewhere when I was in my late 50s or early 60s, I began having trouble seeing well even with my glasses. I've been seeing an ophthalmologist for many years. Besides being near-sighted, I am regularly evaluated for glaucoma. (My glaucoma screening always comes back normal. But my doctor says that people who are very near-sighted are more susceptible.) Also, a few years ago, after I retired, I had a detached retina and had eye surgery to repair that. During one of my routine appointments, I complained to the doctor about having trouble seeing well even with glasses. She confirmed that I had cataracts.

After cataract surgery

At first, she didn't encourage me to have surgery to remove the cataracts. She explained that with my extreme near-sightedness and the other eye problems, relatively simple cataract surgery would not be so simple for me.

Finally, I prevailed. It seemed like my eyes were getting worse and worse. When walking with my wife, she'd point to things (like a bird high up in a tree) and I couldn't see it. When riding my bike, I couldn't read the street signs until after I'd passed the intersection. While reading, I'd see ghost images that made it difficult to read for an extended length of time. My drivers license expires this coming November. I was worried that I would fail the vision test to get it renewed.

I had hoped to have the surgery done in April so that it wouldn't interfere with summer outdoor activities. But the State of Minnesota put a ban on elective surgeries during the initial response to the COVID pandemic. When the ban was finally lifted in May, I got my surgery scheduled.

The surgery on my right eye was June 2. My doctor was right; the surgery did take longer than usual, and it was more difficult. When I went in the next day for my first post-op exam, I was thrilled that I could see 20-20 out of my right eye! That was exciting. But that wasn't the only surprise.

When I first needed glasses, nearly 60 years ago, I didn't realize how bad my vision was. As the cataracts developed, I did realize that my eyes were getting worse. What I didn't realize was how else the cataracts were affecting my vision. The day after my surgery, I would look outside and alternate covering my left and right eyes. Not only did I see clearly and sharply with my right eye, but the colors were brighter and crisper.

My left eye is scheduled for surgery later in June. In the meantime, I've got one good eye and one not so good. I've resumed wearing a contact lens in my left eye. It gives me good distance viewing. I still have ghost images when reading, but my good eye is compensating, and I see much better even though the left eye still has cataracts.

Of course, I still have to wear reading glasses. But it's worth it.

Empty grocery shelf gives rise to a revelation ... about yeast

When the coronavirus pandemic struck America, and we all retreated to the sanctuary of our homes and practiced social distancing, it seems that a lot of people took up home baking. I've been a baker for a long time, really since I got my first apartment in my sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. That would be in 1972.

I grew up eating homemade bread, so it was natural for me to try my hand at it when I was on my own. I'm sure that my mom gave me bread for the apartment when I'd go home for a visit. But I also started baking some on my own. I liked it. My roommate liked it. And probably more significantly, my girlfriend (now my wife) was impressed.

After college, and when we got married, I continued to make bread for our home. It became a ritual and something of a family tradition. I used to make bagels very often. But since our kids are grown and it's just the two of us, I haven't made bagels in quite a while. I have a handful of recipes that I turn to regularly. But definitely the kind of bread I make the most is challah, almost every Friday when we have a big family dinner with all of the grandchildren.

When the 'stay-at-home' order was issued in Minnesota, to minimize the chance of spreading the coronavirus, my pantry was already well stocked. So I didn't pay too much attention when we saw in the news that many staples and baking supplies were suddenly being snatched from the grocery shelves faster than the stores could restock. But as the pandemic lingered on and we continued to 'shelter at home,' I started running low on some of my supplies. So I asked my wife to try to find some yeast during her regular grocery run.

Finally it got to the point where I didn't have enough yeast left for my weekly batch of challah. When my wife came home from the store, with the news that there still wasn't any yeast on the shelf, it seemed like I was just out of luck.

However, I had read an article online that some people were discovering that their local, independent grocery stores still had products available. You can read the report from CNN (click here) to see why and it seems that it's more prevalent in rural communities. But we have a family-run store (Driskill's Downtown Market) nearby in Hopkins, MN. I gave them a call. Sure enough, they had some yeast available.

When I got to the store, I found out that they didn't have any packets of active dry yeast. Nor did they have 4-ounce bottles of yeast like I usually get. Nor did they have blocks of compressed yeast. (I used to use compressed yeast for challah and bagels for many years until I switched to active dry yeast.) What they did have was a one-pound vacuum-packed brick of instant yeast. I'd never used instant yeast before. But I didn't have much choice. So I bought it and brought it home.

After doing some investigation online. I was reassured that it would work just fine.

• This article on Epicurious does a great job of explaining the difference between active dry and instant yeast and how to substitute one for the other. (Click here.) 
• This article on the King Arthur Flour web site also explains the differences and has photos to show how each type of yeast performs under similar circumstances. (Click here.) 
• My main bread cookbook is Beard on Bread, by James Beard. He was not a fan of instant yeast, and he recommended only using active dry. (The book was first published in 1973. It's still available new in hard cover. I'm quite surprised to see the price on Amazon is $70 new, $45 used, but $12.99 on Kindle.) 
• I also have The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Barenbaum. She is more of a fan of instant yeast and calls for it in most of her recipes, except of course sourdough. 

Since buying the instant yeast, I've made two batches of bread. Both recipes are from Beard on Bread. 

Challah recipe from Beard on Bread

The first was challah. I follow the recipe pretty much as printed in the cookbook except that I use honey as a sweetener and olive oil for the fat. The bread turned out well, as expected and not noticeably different than when I use active dry yeast. (Since we haven't been having family dinners on Friday, because of social-distancing, I make small loaves the deliver them to our kids' families on Friday afternoon.)

The second batch was Beard's French-Style Bread recipe. In the notes, he draws a distinction between this recipe and an authentic French bread. While made in a baguette like French bread, Beard wrote that his recipe is more of a Continental or Italian bread. I've made it often with several variations. This time I used 1 cup of rye flour and 1 cup of whole wheat and the rest unbleached white flour (about 3 more cups). I also kneaded in a tablespoon of caraway seeds. This batch also turned out well.

So my bottom line is that I would buy instant yeast again in the future. I haven't decided yet if I'm willing to say it's my preferred yeast. But I've got a lot more baking to do before I run out again.