Archive for impolitic eye

Things I’ve learned

I was pondering a post this morning and realized that the past year had brought an awful lot of lessons along the way. What follows is an utterly un-premeditated list of things I’ve finally begun to understand in the past year.When sauteing or grilling…

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Stuzzi — Adding salt to the mix.

After one of my fellow food bloggers exposed some questionable management techniques at Stuzzi, I was determined that we wouldn’t try it. The place had gotten enough negative press from fellow foodies for mediocre pies, poor climate control, an inexper…

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filling in the blanks

So what’s been going on in the Impolitic world? Continuing with lots of travel and change. To wit….The annual Maine trip came and went. Our food adventures on it ran the gamut from a classic crab roll and fried scallop roll for L at Beal’s in Southwe…

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So what’s happening in the Impolitic Eye world? Lots.

I just skimmed over my list of recent posts and realized that I’ve really slowed down on the blogging. You can blame the lapses on a variety of things. Among them have been a move to a new house, an engagement to the semi-anonymous L, the end of Butter…

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Cafe Rustica Redux

As anyone who has read my notes on Richmond restaurants knows, Andy Howell’s Café Rustica is among my favorite spots in the city. Compared to most restaurants of comparable pedigree, Rustica churns out consistently excellent food for better prices. I …

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Writing about Beer

You wouldn’t think the above words would give me pause, but they are. I’ve been asked to write up a quick (200 word) primer on craft beer for the second edition of a friend’s book. What we have in mind is something that covers the basics but also gives…

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Burned, thrice.

I consider myself a good cook. I know my way around the kitchen, around ingredients, around different preparations. It’s a hobby that has gotten more and more serious in the past few years — maybe filling a void left by not playing pool lately. Frien…

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Italy — the first installment

To say that we had a good time in Italy would be an understatement of phenomenal proportions. To say that a week in Italy altered my view of food and wine — and how we treat them in the States — would also be an understatement.We arrived in Munich,…

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Pizza night, the small version

So we were lucky enough to be connected in with a monthly pizza circle in Richmond recently, and I had the chance to see some truly creative work happening with the pies. Though there were no other kids around, it proved a delightfully kid-friendly eve…

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Italy on a dream (and a budget)

A week from Wednesday, we fly out to Florence. So far the stay looks something like this: 3 days (2 nights) in Florence, 3 and a half days (and 3 nights) in Chianti, 1 night in Cinque Terre, and a final night in Fiesole (just outside Florence). Known h…

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Date Night Deal… sort of

L and I recently met up with another couple — Vamsi and his girlfriend Rebecka — for Bouchon’s Tuesday date night $50 prix fixe. The restaurant was quiet — a good and bad sign. We admired the space for a bit while our waitress checked on the menu…

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Where have I been?

I had it lurking in the back of my mind that I hadn’t posted recently and then discovered that it had, in fact, been almost three weeks since my last missive. I’ve had a few recipes to post, a few good foodie experiences to write about, some parenting …

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Continuing the evolution

A few little items of business…Based on my last few posts, you may have deduced that beer-blogging will be returning here. Apparently, besides a general passion for tasting new beers, my refrigerator is an indication that I am also beginning to accum…

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Hopfest, pt. deux

So the three of us — L, the kid, and me — stopped by Mekong for a bite of dinner after swimming last night. I expected to enjoy a beer or two, but I didn’t expect our beer guru to follow up my last post about hoppy beer comparisons with an even bro…

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Hop-tastic fun

Last week, my friend Jason (aka RVAFoodie) and I had an interesting tasting session with one of our local beer gurus at Mekong. Jason was drinking a Nugget Nectar and I had a Golden Doom Belgian-style blond. We got to talking about hops and asked our g…

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Easy, delicious gnocchi… thumbs not included.

Because schedules seem busy and complicated lately, I’ve found myself making dinner for the the kid early and something else for L and I later in the evening. I keep trying to pull things together for all of us to eat at the same time, but it just isn’…

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The problem with Richmond restaurants…

This weekend, we had a couple of experiences that perfectly explain my issues with so much of the Richmond restaurant scene. On Friday, my mother came into town, and L and I took advantage of the chance to have an adult meal with her while the kid was …

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Goat Cheese!

Last week, fellow Richmond food bloggers One Couple’s Kitchen wrote about their experiment making homemade goat cheese based on a recipe from Serious Eats. The process sounded remarkably easy and jived with my growing urge to know the chemistry and mec…

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Changes afoot…

As my few regular readers (and other assorted friends) know, I’ve been pondering where to take this blog for a while now. I’ve tried to drop some of the personal component — or at least trim back the navel-gazing — and find a real purpose and goal….

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Igloos!

This past weekend, L and I joined her family up in Pennsylvania for a little weekend gathering. It was to be her parents, her brother and sister-in-law and their sons, and her sister and her boyfriend. The Kid was going to stay behind for this one sinc…

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