Maybe a better title would be “tempting my vegetarianism” or defining it, or redefining it.  These are the agnostic vacillations that I’m teetering on with this post, and I’m turning it over to each of you.  What would you do in my shoes? Here’s the scenario.  A farmer friend is coming down from NY state to stay with us for Thanksgiving, and she’s bringing one of the turkeys from her farm. This is the exchange we just had on Facebook (with my inner turmoil included):

Her: Can’t wait to see you!! will have turkey and pork in tote! ny reisling and many more farm goodies!!!

(after getting this facebook message, I thought, “If she raised this bird, killed this bird for US, is chauffeuring this bird seven hours over the road, and then this bird is going to take up my entire oven when I might like to be baking something to eat, maybe I should just help eat this bird.  Maybe making a meal out of this bird is the most appropriate way to honor its journey – and to be blunt, to dispose of it. )

Me: What is the turkey’s name? How old is he? I wanna do a blog post about it. When does the axe fall?

Her: About 20 lbs, almost six months old, no name… we called the survivors, the lucky bunch- they didn’t get eaten by the coy dogs, and slaughter was this past tuesday. I will freeze it before I leave…and let it thaw as I travel down the road to you guys. I am also bringing pork- bacon, ham, sausage- we also raised these on the farm.  All super free range, naturally fed..much with organic produce…closing a sustainable biodynamic cycle on the farm.

(oh damn. Now I’ve got to consider the prospect of eating a little piggy?  Jasper loves piggies. Oh, but bacon is all the rage!  Only idiots don’t love bacon, so say all the pseudo gourmets.  Okay.  One step at a time, here.)

SHOULD I EAT THE DAMNED TURKEY?

Am I still vegetarian if I do?  Wait, don’t I eat seafood?  What about all that chicken stock in my meals out?  And the undisclosed bacon fat that might be the reason I’m raving about XYorZ restaurant entree?  Hey, I’m a don’t ask, don’t tell vegetarian. If I don’t ask you if there’s animal products in the food, don’t tell me (I’m looking at you, Mamusu’s West African Cuisine).  And the fish?  Do you really want me saying “ovo lacoto pesca” vegetarian all day?  Me neither.  Does eating whatever the hell I want while calling myself a vegetarian make me a hypocrite?  That probably depends on your perspective. (more…)

Since I’ve diverted so much of my blogging attention to Twitter, I should post an update about how that’s going… good and bad.  I’ve made connections with loads of people – an entirely different scene from the world of bloggers. On the other hand, Twitter has got a whole set of rules that I don’t entirely understand.  I think the big issue is that everyone has their own rules and holds each other to those  standards.  Meanwhile, I want to change the rules back and forth in the middle of the game.  It’s anarchy.

There are loads of tutorials out there about Twitter/Facebook etiquette, but they really depend on your purpose in using social media.  Some say that if someone follows you, then you should follow them back, thereby building your network and working toward meaningful connections.  Another approach is to follow selectively, adding and removing people as it suits your needs.  They are free to follow you, but there is no obligation to follow back. I’m sure there are other more nuanced twitter tactics, but for me, these are the two ends of the spectrum.

For my purposes, Twitter is a vehicle for broadcasting info and questions.  (more…)

A coworker asked me where she should take her vegetarian friend for dinner tonight. Must have good wine, but otherwise, reasonable prices. Already been to Ipanema. I quickly suggested Balliceaux, due to the eye candy environment and imaginative menu. She’d already thought of that. Wanted more ideas. So, I asked Twitter and here’s what I got:

1. impoliticeye

   @RVAfoodie Haven’t been there in a while, but The Nile might be a good choice. Gutenberg, too.

2. smcq

   Also Kuba Kuba! RT @rvafoodie veg friendly w/ good wine list – can’t go wrong with Edo’s. (via @meghan_e)

4. smcq

   @RVAfoodie Yep! Can’t go wrong with the vegetarian paella and a bottle of Earth 3.0.

5. meghan_e

   @rvafoodie veg friendly w/ good wine list – can’t go wrong with Edo’s.

6. BexHelms

   @RVAfoodie Or… @MekongRVA!

7. BexHelms

   @RVAfoodie Maybe Palani Drive? Definitely inexpensive with vegetarian options, but v. few wines – see webiste:

   Palani Drive

8. annieaa

   @RVAfoodie sticky rice!!

Is it just me or is this a list of some of the best restaurants in the city? Cheap and veggie friendly are great parameters to start with.  It narrows the field to common sense cooking. Add in the good wine part and you’ll be guaranteed to zero in on a place with good tastes (meaning, flavorful food to rival the wine and they’ll have more than pasta primavera for the vegetarians).

Sure, you can discount a few of those places as less than stellar, too casual, maybe vomit-smelling after kareoke night, but the point is that crowd-sourcing rocks.  With the click of a tweet, you can go from, “I don’t know what to do,” to “I’ve got a panel of experts laying out my options.”  It worked beautifully for me the other day when I asked for suggestions for good wine bargains from Trader Joe’s – besides Charles Shaw.  I may have to blog those results soon as well.  The avalanche of input was immediate and informative.  I’m now stocked with vino to last me through the holidays.

Meanwhile, back in real-life… I asked the coworker if this veggie friend eats seafood? YES! She loves seafood. That really changes things.  Too many choices to go into all the options, actually.  So, I seconded the Edo’s rec and added The Belvidere at Broad and Cafe Rustica. I went further and suggested she get a big hunk of meat at Rustica, and have yer buddy get those seafood cakes that are so popular there (Mediterranean Shortstacks, there I said it). Best bang for your buck eats in the city, if you ask me (maybe Black Sheep in second place, if we’re talking newish and hip). Last I checked, that’s what I think they’re gonna do.

Stay tuned for a report back. I’ll ask her to chime in here.

For members of the Victory Farms CSA, this is the first weekend after our 30-week adventure of pre-paid produce pick-ups. It was a great experience for my household, but the good times aren’t over yet. Victory will still be selling their produce down at the farmers markets until the cold weather kills the harvest. What this means is, CSAs like Victory need their produce to sell for cash-money if they’re going to stay in the black and continue their growth.* It’s been a tremendous year for local veggies in Richmond, but it doesn’t have to be boom or bust for the farmers and their staff of helpers. What our spending habits will be now that our CSA credits are used up is an open question for the farmers. The community can answer it by continuing to support the agriculture. We need to bring that money we would have spent at the grocery store down to the farmers markets to match the enthusiasm we have for the delicious veggies.

*Turns out Victory Fams takes checks too.

Jasper usually resists sleeping and he resists eating. Here, we catch him doing both at once. It ended with him looking like…

After listing a bunch of places that I’m excited to eat at (Eat Here Now!), I thought it might be appropriate to rattle off some restaurants that have rubbed me the wrong way. Some of these details seem to be indicative of an unsound business, while others may have been isolate incidents, but enough to sour me against them nonetheless.

By the way, these places are concentrated in and around Carytown. It wasn’t intentional, on my part. They’re just within striking distance of my house, and being real about this, Carytown has almost as many boneheaded businesses as it does empty store fronts. I’ve got no vendetta here. I frequent Carytown and won’t be deterred by limited quality choices.  Readers of this blog probably know by now that I just wanna see the good places flourish and the bad ones improve or pack up and go.  So, here is some criticism toward that end, though not necessarily constructive.

Buon Giorno
Carytown
Since I never see anyone go into or come out of this little pizza shop next to River City Cellars, I popped in for a slice to see what their “best pizza in Richmond” sign referred to. Hey, do you all make your own dough? “Yes. Um, no. He buys it pre-made from the food service.”  Well, I’ll have a plain slice of cheese. “That’s $3.” (what!?) …When I got it and took my first bite, it was the opposite of the best slice of pizza in Richmond.  So doughy and processed, possibly frozen. No flavor in the sauce and lifelessly stale cheese.  After asking around, it seems the couple who run the place own the building and have no pressure to make a profit. READ: You should feel no pressure to support their shitty ass pizza.  Seriously, is this a front? Can someone explain to me what the owners’ motive might be?

La Familia Deli
Cary and Addison
When I peeked inside, the open kitchen seemed to be missing something… Cooking equipment!  I ordered a falafel anyway. She went to the fridge, took out tupperware, then popped two falafel balls into the microwave. (heart sinks into stomach and appetite dries up).  Ate it anyways. No complaints except for the rubberiness and dry falafel balls making my mouth feel like Texas. They’re new, so maybe they’ll improve. To be continued?  Probably not by me. Life is too short.

Oasis Hooka Bar
W. Broad near VCU
See above story about La Familia, but add in stoned VCU students watching a big screen with pina colada flavored hookah tobacco.

Carytown Burgers and Fries
Nansemond and… by Ukrops in Carytown
When we ordered dinner via delivery from this place, it took a good long while to arrive.  The bag full of food contained virtually no heat. Inside, Karen’s burger featured a layer of lettuce soup that soaked the bun and the luke warm and tough meat patty. What had happened was the hot burger cooked the cold toppings, which gave up their water and put out the heat in the meat. Twaz nasty, but not as unappealing as the fries.  They weren’t just cold.  I interrogated them thoroughly and the fries couldn’t even remember being hot, it had been that long. They’d started to take on a petrified quality.  Friends, beware the consequences of convenience and impulse.

Bin 22
Carytown
The coffee is always as weak as water and the baked goods aren’t very inspired.  I’m sure they do some things well (besides the outdoor lounge), but I don’t know what and I don’t think I wanna expend any more time trying to figure it out. Please clue me in with a comment.

Can Can
Carytown, near McCloy
I like quirky service if the place delivers the goods.  And often, Can Can does.  But, if you make my wife unhappy, it’s my foot in your ass.  Karen will never complain at a restaurant, so I feel like I have to stand up for her.  It’s not a policy of mine, just a knee jerk reaction.  Can Can has twice poisoned my wife with caffeinated coffee.  She can’t have the stuff on doctor’s orders.  It sends her into hours long panic attacks.  But, she’s addicted to decaf (the siren song of coffee flavor will do that to you).  After the second time it happened, she emailed them with polite comments and questions (at  cancan@trcrichmond.com) and they never wrote her back.  Now, Can Can has earned a place on this wall of shame. And yes, we’ll still be seeing you once a week for our usual almond croissant and biscotti (can’t seem to quit those).

Carytown Cupcakes
Carytown, on Colonial
I have this pet peeve against any place in Carytown with Carytown in its name. Can you be any less creative?  Getting past that, the cupcake fad is another annoyance of mine.  This new place makes extra small cupcakes of varying quality, with not-so interesting flavors.  And, they’re $3 a pop. If there truly is a sucker born every minute, this place is here to stay. .

Ben and Jerry’s
Cary and Colonial, in Carytown
Opening an ice cream shop on the same block as a small locally owned ice cream shop is a dick move. As much as I agree with the politics and mission of the Ben and Jerry’s franchise, I have no idea what they were thinking trying to squeeze out our own Bev’s.  If that weren’t enough, something about the B&J product just doesn’t taste right there.  I had a coupon for two sundaes and they were aweful and still too expensive, even though one was free. I urge you to vote with your stomach by going to Bev’s for superior ice cream.

Jean Jacques Bakery
Carytown Court
Saying a negative word about this place would have been unheard of years ago. And I’m sure there are areas where they continue to excel. But, Can Can is running laps around Jacques bakery when it comes to everyday confection, like croissants. My wife is the real connoisseur in this area, nibbling on pastries pretty regularly. As of now, she’s done with Jean and grieving quietly.