Big Sweet Tooth

Wild River Oysters - Best Find of 2011.

I first became obsessed and I mean FREAKIN' OBSESSED with oysters while hi-tailing across Mexico in my little solar trailer.  A spit of a village sprang up out of nowhere and row after row of crude tables were draped along the 2 lane road - each sporting piles and piles of fresh oysters.  Never had a better one since, though my cravings have taken me high and low. 

Now, I know for sure in these jaunts, I've never had wild river oysters.  At least that I know of.  So, to hear a waitress in a tiny seafood shack in Rhode Island rave about these just harvested wild river oysters was a bit of a revelation.  Wha??  Who knew. 

We ordered up a half dozen and tentatively sniffed, picked, poked, and were just generally suspicious of them for a good :15 seconds.  They were all gone in the next :15.  What a fly back to the past.  Now, I'm not saying they were as stunning as my plump Veracruz finds, but they blew away most oysters I've had round-the-world.

Nice to know the river can still turn out some wildly spectacular goods.

Indonesian Food - Always Amazing

See now, this is the food I'm talking about.  It's the kind that rural folks round-the-world whip up from whatever they have on hand.   Some would look at this pic and see the grease on the wall, the old dishes, the sheen of oil and be horrified. 

I, on the other hand, see joy.  I see the kind of food I would travel half way around the world to get a plate of.  I found an Indonesian restaurant the other day in LA that was unreal.  Tasted pretty much just like the above that's for real in Indonesia...in my fave village of all - Sembalun...on the island of Lombok.

I was going to try to make it over there before another season starts up - but with the travel time, it would take way too long and I'd have about 1 day in the village - so it will just have to wait.  Thankfully, lots of volunteers have been pouring into the village and teaching, creating and spreading the 4th World Love. 

I've got a countdown going already for the end of this season...til I eat proper again!

Montauk - South Edison - They Have Managed Perfection in a Bite

Another season down...

It was the first time I'd been alone and away from TV Land in months and months.   Just a shortie pie trip to Montauk, land of endless sun and shine if you believe what all those in the know spew about. 

I just wanted to escape the bowels of New Jersey for a brief second.  Have a good meal by the beach.  I tried to roll out all summer long, but it never could happen - just too busy working myself into a frenzy day after godawful day.  Until one afternoon, I could stand it no longer.  Montauk had to be. 

3.5 hours later, I was at a divey fish shack in the marina drinking some sake.  One hour after that, I was half tossed, cruising around scoping out chippy hotels, deserted beaches, swaying sailboats and the sandy feet of happy people.  What a nice life.  Just a real nice life.

Slowly, I made my way to South Edison, a new joint just off the beach.  I'd been stalking it all summer long.  Make a rez.  Cancel.  Make a rez.  Cancel.  Finally...here.

Exactly my kind of place. Seasonal; organic looking elements; amazing locally sourced menu;  chill vibe; delightful cocktology going on.  I managed to drop about a buck fifty just on ME and MY BELLY.  I wanted it all...and had most of it.  Oysters, lobster roll, white shrimp, scallops, olive oil cake, margaritas.   I don't even have words to describe any of it besides perfection. 

We should all eat this way every day of our lives. 

Next to Veracruzian Oysters, These Are Tops

South Edison and their amazing food...

The whole time I've been in Jersey, I've been dying to make it to the small coastal fishing village of Montauk for some seafood.  Just a simple batch of oysters and something wildly spirited to wash it down with.  Of course, the search began online for where to chow and the #1 place that had the exact type of meal that I love (proper local ingredients peppered throughout, good names for dishes, mixology style drinks) was South Edison. 

My tale of the meal I had there will be a post unto itself, but until I get a minute, let me just tease with an oyster.  They were so plump, so meaty, so fresh and spectacular, I had to order more, more, more.  I've not had anything even remotely this good in the oyster fam since my backroad Mexico days a few years back. 

It's a trip worth taking, even if just for this one bite.  But, trust me, at this restaurant, the whole menu must be devoured to do it up right.

Just Damn Good Bites - And the End of Resolutions.

There go the resolutions.

Resolutions are a funny thing.  I make about 300 of them every single day.  Eat better, excercise more, have more patience, stop procrastinating, stop half-assin', drink less.   All the same jazz every time I let one slip a little.  Which happens all the time. 

This year, I'm calling a truce to all my resolutions.  I resolute to not resolute. 

Instead, I'm just gonna be real smart about my actions. If it makes sense to go into my bod, well, toss it in.  If it's bad for me, skip it.  If I feel like waking up at 5 am and going on a jog, do it.  If my muscles needs rest, skip the gym.  If I can knock it off the to do list, just crank it out and be done forever.  If I have to take a breather before I lose my patience, well...just close my eyes and reset my composure.   Try new foods - don't just eat the familiar.  Splurge on things that might make my life a little easier - like the new mega-tiny 11" Air MAC I just bought.  Cook more at home, and skip the sick feeling I get close to every time I eat out - not cause of the food, but because I get so excited I way, way overeat.  Travel new places - even if it's just a weekend flight somewhere cheapo (out of the country, of course).  Go camping and look at the stars.  STOP using the iphone in mid-convo, mid-dinner, mid-driving.  Engage more with every little thing around me.  See more.  Watch more.  Amp up the awareness level.  Finish a book - not have eight going.  Let my mind drift more.  Streamline all my belongings.  Structure my existence for how I live, not how others impact my world.

Basically, just keep on keepin' on.  Try flyin' in a small plane.  Give the bar method a go.  Practice different ways to get my sailboat into the slip.  Lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling (without feeling slightly weird).  Give peeps the benefit of the doubt.  Handwrite more stuff.  Give my eyes a break.  Walk and walk with no set destination in mind. 

And, mainly when it comes to food...realize and accept that it is my favorite thing in the entire world.  Massage it, let it flourish and use it for the good of mankind.  Yup, food.  Learn about it, don't fear it.  And, lastly - EAT IT ALL.

I Once Traveled. Now I Eat.

Once upon a time, I used to travel.

I'd take off on a whim and just hit the road to anywhere.  Could be old haunts, sometimes new lands.  Just anywhere but where I was at the moment.  The road is where I figure stuff out.  Where the lines between past/present/future merge together and I can finally, finally get somethings laid out into something proper.

Ah, but that was once upon a time ago.  Now, it seems I just work.  Work and work and work.  So, I must travel thru food.  Good food that is all so fun to track down and introduce to new peeps (namely the crew on this TV show).   Best new find as of late out here in the nowhere-land that is NJ is Pithara Tavern, a little Greek spot in Highland Park.

It's next door to a small grocery/liquor store that sells all Greek wines that ya haul over to the BYOB.  And, the proper thing to do is just order wild.  Plaki-style snapper (unbloodybelievable), spicy hummus with grilled pita triangles, charred octopus in a copper pan dripping with olive oil and tangy vinegar, chunks after chunk of salty feta,  soft gigantes with dill, homemade yogurt that is just silly good, rice stuffed tomatoes, branzino grilled whole.  Couple of bottles of Greek rose and you've got a trip straight to the baby island of Anti-Paros. 

Oh yah, I used to travel.

Swinging Door in Texas...Home Sweet Home...

Texas is just damn big.

We were just down filming in Texas for a few days and to me, the mighty state of Texas is all about Tex-Mex style Mexican food, freezing cold beer and massive plates of BBQ (thank you Swinging Door, which reminds me of home in TN!).  Not much else.  I found good stuff all the way around.  Backwoods BBQ, cold beer in little barrels + you just grab one on your way to a table, and Mexican food so good and cheap it's insulting.  I still couldn't wait to bolt though.  Bolt - back to New Jersey.  Could you imagine?

Who knows when I'll roll back thru Texas...though I do want to make it to Marfa one day (it's supposed to be an incredibly cool little town in the middle of nowhere with skies that stretch forever).  I also love Texas Hill Country, but sadly, I was in neither of those...I was holed up in the Hotel Derek in Houston managing my prosecco habit and trying to make a friggin' TV show.

Onto better drinks...

 

 

Hamilton Grill Room - One of the Best Meals EVER.

Not too many places in the world are worthy of the perfect rave. 

I mean - the absolute, 100%, hands down perfection rave.  But the place I ended up at last night gets it all the way.

Tucked way back down a short gravelly alley, and perched right on the river in Lambertville, NJ is Hamilton Grill House.   Open fire with a chef slinging on fresh seafood.  Champagne bought from the small bar across the way (it's BYOB).  Smiling staff full of spot-on recommendations.  Cookbooks for sale - the owner was just in last month's Food & Wine.  White tablecloth without being white tablecloth. Peachy light filtering if thru the trees that flank the river.  Romantic without being intimidating.  Table and bar seating around the firepit.  Outdoor patio seating with twinkly lights.  Luxe, but casual.

Crazy good grilled caeser salad (never had that before).  Tremendous oysters.  Reed thin pomme frites.  Giant prawns cooked in an anchovy butter sauce.    Whole branzino charred up on grill, deboned and then dressed with fennel slaw.  Grilled white tuna.  Cobbler with homemade ice cream w/ a caramel twist.

It's just one of those meals/experiences that I almost have no words for.  If I had a restaurant, it'd be along these lines. 

Corner Bistro NYC, No Cell, and Nothing But Communication Surrounding Me.

When I very, very first moved to LA at the tender age of 20, I had no cell phone.  Did they even exist then?  I somehow made my way to Hollywood and moved straight into a youth hostel til I found a little place up in the hills.  Livin' on a dream and a 3k limit credit card.  God - I wish I could be that naive again...or maybe I am.  I just somehow knew I'd "make it" - whatever that meant then, and whatever that means now. 

How did I even get around?  How did anyone ever contact me - I had no phone!  How did I get jobs, how did I communicate with the world?  I think I got a beeper minute one.  Could you imagine toting around a chunky pager these days? 

Everywhere you step - and I mean from the dang volcanoes of Indonesia to the outlaw desert lands of Baja to the yummy smelling kitchens NYC, every single person has a cell phone.  Some even sport the dreaded blue tooth.  You can skype from the iphone - ring back home to anywhere in the world for pennies.  You can work the floor, or the kitchen, or the trails, or the dusty backroads - all while making shit happen on your cell.

Chores get done, errands get run, fun is had, work is completed no matter where you are in the universe.  I met a pal at Corner Bistro in NYC a bit back and while I sat there sipping martinis awaiting his arrival, I tucked away my cell and made buds with the regulars and the Mexican employees - hopping behind the bar to snap photos of anything that caught my eye.  I let them do the communicating for once - all things happening while watching the tele, sizzling up incred burgers, frying up crispy fries, texting on their phones, taking incomings on the blue tooth and watching me ignore my phone and focus all attention on them.

Back to the basics - it felt real good to disconnect, open up my eyes, and really watch dark bar moments unfold.

And, I guess I never had the opportunity (until that day) to show someone how to pound on the raised 57 on a bottle of Ketchup to make it pour out.  No more shaking til a migraine sprouts up!

 

Local Artisan Food + Homemade Wine On-Site + Beautiful Germany = Weingut Geissler!

My great amiga Jamie has not only mastered the art of taking a 9-way photo (I have no idea how to do that!), she's just sent me intel on a delicious sounding evening over her way - in Germany.  It's a night full of food, wine, laughs and I'm sure lots of funny misunderstandings (unless you speak German, of course).

She's living over there these days with her rock star hubby...near his family...that happens to own an enchanting wine farm.  Sometimes she rolls back to the US to work with me on TV shows, but once the insanity of production and reality show crazies is over, she's on the first flight out.  Straight back to the simple life - with lots of wine, of course.  I can see why.  All fresh, all fascinating, all new, all things that we should all experience once in our lives.

She and her team over there deserve a shout out to all Toothies for living the inspiring life -- so here are the deets (in Jamie's words) for those of you headed to Europa soon:

weingut geissler was started by dave's grandparents after the war and is now owned & run by their son/dave's uncle- wolfgang geissler and his wife, christiane.

so over here, winemakers can open a weinstube (which is a cross between a restaurant & a bar- but a bar that only offers the winery's wine!) for a total of 4 months a year and they are allowed to serve ONLY regional specialties in terms of food... like, we can't do a pizza night or even put olives on the table as a little welcome bite... so anyone that runs a true weinstube it's almost always a small menu. plus, most places do a lot of pre-packaged/pre-made stuff (i.e- frozen fries, store bought potato salad etc. like equal to costco style in the usa).  (MST - Grody)

we are different in that EVERYTHING is either homemade or bought from local artisans. high-end weinstube! our potatoes come from the organic farm the next town over; our bratwurst- the meat was literally hunted, killed, broken down, gone through the old-timey grinder, special seasonings added and filled the traditional way... all by the winemaker himself. christiane bakes almost all the bread and what she doesn't make we buy at the baker fresh in the morning. tonight we literally used wild chives that wolfgang saw and plucked out in our vineyards this morning...  also, weingut geissler is a founding member for our chapter of slow food here in the rhineland-pfalz.

everything is super simple - we just serve all our wines and maybe a menu of five special things...we open every thurs, fri and sat at 6pm from now through the end of may and then we'll open again after our harvest: october through- december. 

all toothies are welcome - and you can come in anytime the 'stube isn't open for a tasting!

we are in duttweiler- neustadt an der weinstrasse (this is the town), rhineland-pfalz(this is the state)- exact address and info:

weingut geissler
Burggarten 7
67435 Neustadt - Duttweiler
Tel: 06327 2770
Fax: 06327 1546

email: info@weingut-geissler.de

web: www.weingut-geissler.de

*Back to MST - I can't get past how delicious this all sounds, how fun the night would be, how tanked I'm certain I'd leave there, and how great it is to have friends 'round the world doing really cool stuff.  Life gets shorter and shorter every day.  Live now.  Eat now.  Travel now.  Be happy now.