Quote of the Day 10/10/11

Today's food quote simultaneously explains why Ron Swanson it so amazing and justifies Raina's pescatarianism (pesky pescatarian).

"Fish: for sport only, not for meat. Fish meat is practically a vegetable."

-Ron Swanson, NBC's Parks and Recreation

Grapefruit Ginger Martini

It's cocktail hour here at the Hungry People Apartment!

Thomas and Sean made a variety of grapefruit juice cocktails, but the Ginger-tini was the clear winner! Raina and Christine found the recipe here.

Ginger-tini

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. Pomegranate Schnapps
• 1 1/2 oz. Vodka
• 1/2 oz. Grapefruit Juice
• 1/2 oz. Sour Mix
• 1/2 oz. Ginger Syrup*

*We did not have ginger syrup, but the boys improvised by mixing brown sugar into water, then adding fresh grated ginger, and muddling.


Preparations:

1. If necessary, make your own ginger syrup.
2. Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a martini glass.
3. Garnish with lemon zest (suggested by recipe), or imitate The Hungry People and rim the glass with a sugar-ginger mixture.

Quote of the Day 10/8/11

"You better cut the pizza in four pieces, because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."

-Yogi Berra

Our lives are macaroni dreams.

Video.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Autumn Sauce

aka 200 Ingredient Falltober Pasta

The boys have outdone themselves again. Tonight we decided to have some sweet potato gnocchi that we bought at World Market (Trader Joe's also has their own brand of sweet potato gnocchi, pictured).
Christine begged for an autumn meal, so Sean and Thomas raided the cabinets and fridge. The kitchen became a laboratory, and the ensuing process was very messy, though it yielded some pretty sweet results.
Below you can see the ingredients; they were basically dumped into a simmering pot together to cook. Good luck trying to recreate!


Sauce:
Butter
Olive oil
Garlic
Sundried tomato
Fresh tomato
Pecan
Dried Apricot
Dried Apple
Dried Cranberries
Curry
Pepper
Cumin
Salt
Yogurt
Milk
Vodka
Bourbon
Spiced Rum

Paired with some fish. Possibly the most delicious thing ever eaten.

Thirsty Thursday

The Hungry People have decided to institute a wonderful weekly ritual that you may know and love: Thirsty Thursdays. We stopped by Ale Yeah! to pick up a couple of growlers. Our first pick was Ode To Mercy, an imperial brown ale by Wild Heaven Craft Beers. This ale was bold and flavorful, but maybe a little acidic. Tastes of oak, coffee, and roasted malt.

Ode to Mercy
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We filled the second growler with The Reverend, a Belgian Quadrupel Ale made by Avery Brewery out of Boulder, CO. This beer is packed with imported Belgian malts and dark candy sugar. It's got "hints of dark cherries, currants, and molasses, complimented by an underlying spiciness." Thank you, Avery Brewery Website, for summarizing that so well.



Avery The Reverend
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Two growlers is clearly not enough for All the Hungry People who live in this apartment, so we also picked up a make-your-own six pack (the best kind of six pack). The two clear note-worthy beers from this pack were Crown Valley Big Bison Ale and Hitachino Red Rice Ale. Both were amazing and delicious! Big Bison tasted strongly of raisins; more dessert-like than it is refreshing. The Red Rice Ale has a sake like flavor with a little strawberry thrown in. Yum!

Stay tuned, Hungry Friends, there's more to come!

Figs with Goat Cheese and Almonds

I needed something inventive to do with some Figs that I bought at the Dekalb Farmer's Market the other day. I saw a recipe online (I can't recall where. If I remember, I'll post the link) for Figs with Goat Cheese and Almonds. Halve the figs and place goat cheese on each half, then place an almond piece on top. Stick it under the broiler to brown and VIOLA: fancy figs.

Thomas had to improve upon the recipe, naturally, by creating a beautiful balsamic reduction to drizzle on top. He followed this with some jalapeño honey (AMAZING) as a finishing touch.

All in all, very delicious. The figs got a little lost in the rest of the flavors, but I don't think anyone minded very much!
-Christine

Yeungling B&T Vs. Trader Joe's Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

Last night, Thomas and I had the opportunity to sample several new (to us) tasty brews. Necessity being the mother of invention and money being tight, our choices were limited.

We had 3 requirements of our beer:

1. We wanted something dark.

2. We wanted enough of something dark to inebriate ourselves (and being the growing boys that we are, that's at least a 6-pack a piece).

3. We wanted enough of something dark to inebriate ourselves while paying no more than roughly $1.00 per bottle.

We hit the jackpot. Two six packs of fairly great beer for 12 bucks total.

I'm sure as this blog progresses, our beer rating system will improve, but as an intermediate system, I propose this. Categories - Label (Prettiness/Badassness), Tastyness (Flavor & Finish), Color & Head, Aroma, and Overall. The scale will be based on Beercaps out of ten.

Yuengling Black & Tan

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Stockyard Oatmeal Stout 

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The Black and Tan was the clear winner, but a buck-a-bottle stout is a rarity anywhere. I will go into more detail soon, but for now I should probably get back to this deadly boring grad school class.

Cheers! Drink Your Beers!

-Sean

PSA: Grouper

Dear America,

Grouper should always be fried.

Not grilled.

Not baked.

Not seared.

Fried.

That is all.

-Sean

Pizza and Beer

Last night, Promethius created fire....in my mouth.

Home made pizza night! Store bought Pillsburry dough boy crust, enhanced sauce, freshly grated mozzarella, and savory salted meaty pepperonis combined to form a miracle. Topped the pizza off with some magical powdery stuff, (spices, not cocaine) and boom. It really was surprisingly good considering we used pretty basic ingredients. It's all in the loving tenderness you put into your food...that and again, the spices.

We would have taken pictures of our masterpiece, but we also sampled some beer, a lot of it. As you know, beer often leads to either taking a ton of pictures, or none at all. Latter for us. Sean has the exact names of all the beers we tried. They were all delicious and made a fine contribution to the night.

Speaking of contributions to the night, it wouldn't have been anything without the company.

Me and Sean knocked out some Mario on the Wii and Christine laughed at us every time we tried to knock over the coffee table. And then awed at our awesomely fast reflexes. Sean and Christine are quickly becoming painfully annoying, like a torn cuticle that gets worsened every time you reach into your pocket to grab your cell phone. By that I mean that they are quickly becoming even better friends. Thanks for making me feel at home guys.

OH, and can NOT forget the late night munchies. Sean and I double teamed some breasts, of chicken, and made some chicken philly sandwiches. Spiced up with Montreal Steak seasoning by McCormick, some garlic pepper, and this sauce that's extremely hard to spell by Lea & Perrins. Nestled between some hot dog buns with some american cheese and hot pepper relish...does it get any better? Not for two drunk dudes. Once again, not hard to make, very simple ingredients, but tasted better than chicken phillies I've had at some restaurants.

Until next time.

-Thomas

Upping Your Vocabulary

gnosh:
To noisily chomp on something.
"Last time I saw Felix, he was gnoshing on some gnocchi"

Welcome to my nightmare. Tonight Thomas aka MasterBrewMaster and I chowwed down on some polish sausage laced with sweet onion. Tasty. More to come.

-Sean

Quote of the Day 10/3/11

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Welcome One and All!

We are just a few hungry people trying to represent the rest of the hungry people in the world. 

More to come soon.