Joseph Vukin :: Friends blog

Yesterday I went to my first Alabama football game.  Alabama played Arkansas, and Arkansas was favored to win.  Alabama pulled off the upset in a very exciting finish.

I grew up in Kentucky, where basketball is king.  I'll always be a member of the Big BLUE Nation.  After yesterday, I'm officially a fan of the Crimson Tide.  You can't compare basketball to football, but UK's basketball program and history is very similar to Alabama's football program.

• Both have deep history
  
• Both have the most passionate fans in their sport
• Both have a new coach
• UK has the most national titles, UA has second-most

I think most fans would take issue that I root for one team in basketball and another in football, but that just ins't the case.  I still root for UK in football and I still root for Alabama in basketball, as long as they arent' playing UK.

Some other games that made yesterday the best football day in recent history:

• UK beat Louisville - unbelievable and awesome.  Louisville is on suicide watch.
• Florida beat Tennessee - expected but still always a great day when TN loses.
• Auburn lost - Every Alabama fan loves to see this happen
  

On a food note, I took down 3 stadium dogs.  Chicago has their hotdogs with a salad on top.  New York has mustard and ketchup.  Alabama has sour crout and mustard and kethup mixed together.  I never thought I'd say this, but I like them.

Both Alison and I are traveling a lot in September, and last night was a rare night together alone.  I took advantage of the opportunity to cook some dinner.

If you haven't seen my chicken nugget recipe : Noah Nugs

We had chicken nuggets as described above.  I tossed them in a fancy sauce from Whole Foods (Whole Wallet).  It was a chipotle peach sauce, and pretty underwhelming.

Rice, salad.  The only problem was I didn't make enough of it! 

Just over four years ago I moved to Birmingham, Alabama from Chicago.  There are plenty of restaurants I miss from Chicago, but one of the best quick lunch spots I miss the most is Potbelly Sandwich Works.

I flew in and out of Chicago this weekend for a wedding in Champaign, Illinois.  Whenever I am in Chicago I try and visit a Potbelly for a hot sub, a milkshake, and pickles.

Yesterday was quite a magical day.  We hit Potbelly's twice... once for lunch at noon and again right before our flight out at Midway airport.

I love Midway.  Mostly because there is a Potbelly's there.

So here is the official request:  Let's get a Potbelly's in Birmingham.  It couldn't possibly fail if you put it on campus at UAB. 

You all might notice a new set of links on the community blog.  This is the Foodie Blogroll.  I'm thrilled to be included in a community of food bloggers.  Check out the links in the sidebar.

Tonight I grilled wild salmon.  Whenever I grill I like to do all the cooking outside because it makes cleanup that much easier.  I decided that grilled broccolini would do nicely.

I actually posted the brocolini recipe already.  Just do a quick recipe search for broccolini and you’ll find it.  The secret is to let the veggies marinate for a long time before grilling.

The salmon was pretty easy to cook.  Marinade consisted of

• juice from 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp grated ginger
• 1 clove grated garlic
• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tsp honey
• salt, pepper

I'll probably post the recipe. 

I let the salmon sit in there for about 30 minutes, then on to the hot grill skin side down.  Let the skin char for about 5-6 minutes and then move it to the other side of the grill.  Cover and bake with indirect heat for another 5-6 minutes.

Worked out well.  We enjoyed it with a nice pinot noir (Dumal).

Ok so I've been craving a lobster roll all summer.  Can't really explain it.  My trip to Massachusetts yielded none, so I had to make my own.

Check out my latest recipe here.

Just got back from The Lodge at Torrey Pines.  Have to say we had a wonderful time.  The best part was the food.  This hotel has an exceptional hotel restaurant called A.R. Valentien.

 

I'm becoming a huge fan of eating locally and it was nice to eat some fresh local California ingredients.  Everything we ate was delicious, one standout being a simple roasted asparagus salad.  The asparagus was obviously cut within 24 hours and it was served with a barely cooked egg sunny side up. 

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for fall.  This has been a truly brutal summer in Birmingham.  I look forward to football season, grilling out, eating chili.  You get the idea.

I just finished reading a great book about eating local, farming, and the evils of factory farms.  Check it out on Amazon:

amazon link

A good read, but more than anything it makes me want to find local sources of vegetables and meat.  Here in Birmingham we have a great farmer's market down at Pepper Place every Saturday.  For the most part that gives me access to fresh and wonderful vegetables, honey, homemade cheeses, and bread.

What I can't seem to find is a local source for meat.

Anyone in Birmingham know of a good local source?  A good free range farm?

I found an interesting group online that provides weekly deliveries of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and poultry.  Anyone have any experience with Grow Alabama? 

Something new to look at....

Today I updated the site to support larger pictures.  Both in the user icons and the recipe images.  You will notice that all pictures posted going forward will show larger.  If you want a larger icon for the site, just re-upload your picture and it will automatically size it for you.

Take a look at what I mean by going to my page here 

Here is a recipe with a big picture 

 

N

Just had a wonderful summer dinner of grilled pork chops, James P's grilled okra, grilled white eggplant, and salad with goat cheese and heirloom tomatoes.

Kudos to James for the great okra recipe... I'm going there now to rate his recipe a 5.

If you live in the south (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) make sure you get some heirloom tomatoes.  It's a late season and they might be ugly but the regulare red bricks at the grocery store just don't compare.