Armchair Dining on DP

So, despite being on a miserable diet this weekend, I have been fantasizing about attending a special event in Providence (RI's state capital) that happens every weekend during the summer months: the Food Truck Bash:



They line up a bunch of wildly different food trucks on either side of a pedestrian mall and the smells are wonderful! The foods run the gamut of cultures and food types. It is like an outdoor buffet with food made to order. The family and I split up, go to our favorite truck and then meet up again with our favorite foods. It is a fun time and the street food is usually quite good. The DP World Foodie Tour bus will probably make a point to stop there along the way, if timing works.

 

So, I was thinking about a favorite food of mine that I rarely get to eat because it is seasonal and not readily available in New England. This food is primarily found in Maryland which is on the Eastern Seaboard but south of New England. Anyway, it is the soft shell crab:



Crabs molt their old shell and have a soft shell underneath that allows them to grow until it also hardens in the air. They grab the crabs just after they molted, when their shells are still quite soft, dip them in batter and deep fry them. They are excellent! I make a point to have them if I am in Maryland or Delaware at the right time of year. Otherwise, I go for crab cakes there as they are uniquely made and the best I have ever had, as well. But soft shelled crabs are on my mind tonight!

 

I hate seafood, but that crab looks tasty lol.

I'm more into breaded chicken with honey mustard and fries ^^

 

I tell you one thing I will never try: gator meat. I will not be surprised if each one of those bitches has traces of human DNA in it. With the recent events where a gator snatched a little boy at Disney and all other incidents (lost limbs and lives due to gator's attacks) one has to be sick to still venture out and eat gator meat. When I first moved to FL I thought I should try their meat just for the heck of it, but as the time went by I realized how insidious and disgusting gators can be.

 

My son would heartily agree. In fact, I am the only person in my family that likes seafood. Their loss, of course.

I had "Gator fingers" once in a restaurant in the Orlando area many, many years ago. Basically they were strips of gator meat dipped in a batter and deep fried, much like "chicken fingers" are prepared. It was actually a very mild fish taste and, in fact, too delicate for batter frying as there was little taste beyond the oil and batter. I had not considered the issues you raised, but have to agree that I probably will not eat it again.

Thinking along these lines, I have had rattlesnake sausage. They eat rats, I think.

 

So, a few posts ago, I put up a picture of my favorite Whoopie Pie from Steve's Snacks which is a traditional Whoopie Pie featuring rich chocolate cake halves filled with sweet vanilla icing. However, last night I had their Double Chocolate Whoopie Pie for the first time and it is now my favorite Whoopie Pie:



I did not have it with the glass of chocolate milk, as they picture it, but that would have been a great idea, too. Note that I have also tried their Chocolate Chip Cookie Whoopie Pie, their Peanut Butter filled Whoopie Pie and their Red Velvet Whoopie Pie but did not really care for them as much as the traditional Whoopie Pie. The Double Chocolate Whoopie Pie, though not a traditional configuration, is now my favorite. They have more (e.g., Pumpkin Whoopie Pie) but my access to them here in RI is limited to what is on the shelf of my local grocery store, so I may not ever get to try them. No worries, however, the Double Chocolate is fantastic!

 

I know it's supposed to look yucky, but omg it looks like a great dessert combo

 

It is not supposed to look yucky. It IS a great dessert. This thread is intended for people to put up their favorite local foods so all can enjoy! Would love to hear about some of your favorite foods, too.

 

My favorite summer dessert (and a MUST at any 4th of July barbeque, in my opinion) is strawberry shortcake:



Note that I prefer the actual shortcake pastry over the golden pastry shells you see in some stores or a slice of pound cake that some folks use. I also want it swimming in strawberry syrup and covered in whipped cream. I also prefer sugar-sweetened strawberries, as I do not want any hint of tartness in the dessert.

 

So, it is the dead of summer...hot and oppressively humid here in New England. And that means it is blueberry season! My wife and daughter went blueberry picking and below is a blueberry bush that they were about to pick from:



Fresh blueberries are best used as a dessert, in my opinion, and one of my favorite would be blueberry cobbler (with a big topping of whipped cream, of course)



Another great option is a blueberry muffin:



But, I will occasionally entertain a blueberry-focused breakfast food and that would be blueberry pancakes:



It is heresy here in New England, but I prefer pancakes of all types without syrup and just swimming in butter. I'm hungry now!

 

I have mentioned before that Marshmallow Fluff is a New England invention and is a great partner with peanut butter. However, for lunch today I had a variation that includes sliced banana and involves grilling the concoction and it looked an awful lot like this:



It is a sticky mess, so wear your hazmat suit when sitting down to eat it. But, it is a great, sweet lunch and worth the effort!

 

So, we went to a birthday party last weekend and it was at an Italian restaurant in Massachusetts. The food was okay, if unremarkable, except for one of the breads that they put out. It looked an awful lot like this:



Think of bread, spinach, garlic and parmesan cheese all baked together into a scrumptious appetizer. Was the highlight of the various buffet offerings for me!

 

haven't eaten anything special lately. too busy with a lot of stuff and partying Will go out this weekend and have my well-deserved treat for myself

 

Be sure to take pictures and let us know! You tend to eat some cool stuff!

 

What local pizza chain do you guys like? I have a Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Little Caesar and Domino's close by. Tried them all, Papa John's beats them all hands down imo. No?

 

We just had Domino's because of their TV deal of $7.99 for a large with three toppings. However, we also have the Papa Gino's chain and the Pizzeria Uno chain. I like Uno's deep dish, but for "regular" pizza, I like Papa Gino's. Not sure if that is just a regional chain or if it is national, though.

 

Right now, only Papa John's. Used to patronize Peitro's until they dropped garlic pizza from their menu.

Pizza without double garlic is not fit for human consumption!

 

That's how I feel about anchovies and extra cheese!

 

So, I was in New Haven CT on Thursday meeting one of my salespeople for lunch and then heading to a new, potential VAR. Anyway, the sales rep had us meet at Katz' Deli there. I NEVER expected it to be owned by the same family that runs the famous Katz' Deli in NYC, which is, of course, the best Jewish deli in the U.S. Their hot pastrami sandwich is unparalleled in the world, as far as I am aware:



Just to be clear: this sandwich MUST be made with light rye and mustard only. Any other way of serving Katz' pastrami would be sacrilege. My sales rep enjoyed the sandwich (actually visits them regularly as he lives in New Haven) but his big thing were their garlic dill pickles. We had smoked whitefish as an appetizer. Below, is a picture that looks very much like the presentation Katz offered for our appetizer:



All in all, a great and unexpected stop. I can still taste the pastrami.

The good news is that one of the first legs of the DP Foodie World Tour will originate in RI, where the Bus will be loaded and we could not do justice to the tour unless we drove down Route 95 to NYC. New Haven is right along the way, so we now have a great place to gas up and take a lunch break on our way down to NYC. You know, gasoline is pretty cheap right now; might be worth investing in an auxiliary gas tank for the Bus and filling it up now...

 

And if I ever drown... I want to drown in this: