The Second Best Sandwich in the Country

Another moment in Seattle: The day before we leave for Seattle, B calls out from the living room that there is this sandwich we’ve got to try while we’re there. It is on one of those Travel/Food Network shows, and Paseo’s Cuban Roast is in the number two slot of some ever popular top whatever list. We are a bit giddy to fulfill a silly goal: to travel to some place to eat what we saw on TV.

Saturday, May 15, turns out to be the day. Paseo’s has a couple locations, and we decide we’ll go to Fremont, a cool, artsy in the let’s-build-a-giant-troll-under-the-bridge-sort-of-way suburb. We know we’ve found the place not only by the blue dot on the Google map, but by the meandering line up the sidewalk. There is no sign. The place is clad in aluminum, has glass front doors and is about 10 feet wide. Okay, maybe 15. We take our place, jaw a bit with some other folks who are here on the same quest and play on our iPhones - the device that makes waiting completely painless. A sign informs us that due to the rising cost of corn a side of it will be extra instead of coming with the sandwich. B deducts that they put it with the sandwich for a reason so he orders two Cuban Roasts with corn. Once his name is called and a heavy bag of roast pork sandwiches is in hand, we head off to a park I located on the phone while we waited.

There are maybe six places to sit in tiny Paseo’s, and unless you enjoy wild-eyed, pork-leering people streaming past as you eat, I highly recommend taking your lunch to nearby Green Lake Park.

We park the rental, locate a spot at the edge of a tree’s shadow overlooking the pretty glacially-formed lake and open the bag. This sandwich is big like a sub on the tastiest crusty-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside bread. We both sit straddling the large white squares of meat-packing paper in which our sandwiches rest. The pork is tender and plain. This is not a saucy sandwich, but the juice makes it a drippy, sit-down meal. On top of the pork are super-thick onions. You know when you have a giant onion ring and the whole thing comes sliding out of the crust all in one piece? About 10 of those succulent monsters glisten on each sandwich. Finally, there’s a surprisingly light layer of mayonnaise dotted generously with sliced jalapeños. This pork-and-onion-loving, mayo-despising, might-shy-from-jalapeños gal absolutely loves it. We deem the Paseo Cuban Roast worthy of the wait in line to get it. Heck, it’s worthy of the flight.

We are in a happy stupor afterward, watching people bike, stroll, run and roll by on the paved loop. We do a lot of fun things this week in Seattle, but this is one of my favorite moments, laying back on raincoats for blankets in the grass, bellies full of yum and hearts full of happy as we lay side-by-side.

Since I know you are not content with that ending, still yearning to learn about America’s number one sandwich, I give you this.

Top Pot

Intro: I’ve been meaning to put up a nice post about our May vacation in Seattle. Instead, I am going to write tiny posts of excellent moments B and I had over those glorious, rain-free seven days*.


I type Top Pot Doughnuts into my phone just to see if we’re close, and find we’re within a mile of one. It’s our last day in Seattle, and we’re spending it consulting our mishmash list of possible things to see and do. We’ve just left Bruce and Brandon Lee’s graves, and I tell B, “We’re just minutes away from Top Pot. Shall we go?” He says, “Sure," and makes the turn.

We’ve had no dinner and decide a doughnut will hold us over. This is vacation-think and wouldn’t happen in real life. Maybe it is partially inspired by the too true life-is-short sentiment on Brandon Lee’s grave.** We park on the side of street and stroll down to yet another establishment with an awesome neon sign. The Seattle area has a high-concentration of fantastic neon signs, but that is a post for another day.

In true vacationer style, we tell the fellow behind the counter that we’ve come here just to try these doughnuts and learn that we are standing in the original Top Pot without even trying. The Pink Feather Boa is not to be found in the glass case - which we’ve seen promoted in magazines - but coconut and frosting would not be my first choice anyway. I am ecstatic to see a glaze-free cruller and then ask Pleasant Counter Guy what his favorite is. At his mention, I look down and spot it: the fattest Bavarian cream donut I have every been in the presence of. I order one of each and a glazed blueberry for the next morning - fuel for our 6:00 a.m. flight home.***

It turns out Top Pot’s hand-forged cruller is just a fry cake with ridges - not the airy, eggy donut that I love. Undeterred, I cast the remains of it back into it’s cute little sack and bring out the Bavarian. O. M. G. At roughly 3” high, this is the thickest Bavarian cream donut I’ve ever held, and is there just a dollop of ooey goodness inside? No, it is a filled from edge to edge: yummy, puddin’ deliciousness in every bite with a light, sweet-but-not-too-sweet dough all around covered in delicious chocolate fudge - not that crusty, glazey ick you get at most chain donut stores. From the window counter seat, I sit looking at a strange van that has seen better days and probably many adventures. I lick my fingers and wonder if it belongs to Pleasant Counter Guy as I finish the best doughnut I have ever had.

*Also known as summer in Seattle.

**I’ll share this in another post, I promise.

***The later flight was hundreds more, and I squished my face in disgust as I chose the 6:00 a.m. return knowing that would mean a 3:30 a.m. wake time.

Words to Eat By

As I drove past the Third Pounder billboard featuring McDonald’s newest sandwich offering I thought to myself, “I will never eat anything with the word pounder in it.”

Then I began to think of all the words that I will not eat.* Here’s a list with their translations.
Crunchy = Fried
Crispy = Fried (unless it refers to lettuce)
Creamy = Fat
Cheesy = Fat
Melt = Fat
Big = Lots of what you don’t need
Double = Twice what you don’t need
Triple = Three times what you don’t need
Pounder = Seriously?
Liver = It’s an organ - the organ that is a filter. Ick - and I can say that because I have tried it. I like to say, “Ick!” with authority.

*Disclaimer: I love ice cream, and I will have it when I want it. Also, while I have never eaten an order of fast food fries, I love fresh cut curly fries floating (I do not exaggerate) in vinegar from vendors at summer fairs. I’m salivating at the thought.

01-02-2010

Last New Year’s Eve Rick and I were in New York City having dinner at a French restaurant with friends. This year we watched the Food Network all evening, ate plates piled high with carrots, celery, clementines, thin-sliced peppered salame and white cheddar cheese with chipotle peppers and cranberries throughout. This after a gourmet dinner of Cream of Wheat. We like Cream of Wheat and are notoriously lazy about having a New Year’s Eve plan. At midnight we called friends and family, sleeping or not. Those who get woken up by calls from people like me will be delighted to learn I got payback when my brother called early the next morning to send well-wishes. We spent 01-01-10 lazing around, happy that we were, went out for Chinese and then watched Julie & Julia (where we enjoyed watching French food being cooked).

Was last year a much more exciting start to the New Year? Yes, but I was still just as happy as it started off exactly the same way as it has for the last seventeen years - with my favorite person by my side who is the bread to my low-fat butter.*

*That’ll make more sense when you see the movie.

Turkey For You, and Turkey For Me

I hope you all had a wonderful, tolerable or at least uneventful Thanksgiving. Mine was filled with family which was fun, but also tiring. B and I are back in our quiet abode which we spent the whole day in except for working out this morning and a quick drive to the store for milk this afternoon. In between we watched movies under blankets and ate leftovers. Oh, and I almost drove by our house on the way back because B put up some Christmas lights, and I'm used to looking for the dark spot. I like the dark spot. I like that B put up the lights more.

I got to try the Wii this weekend and that was fun. The response of the controllers is amazing. I rate bowling as the most fun, but I didn't get to try tennis. Golf is just as boring as it is in real life and boxing, while highly entertaining, is incredibly difficult to tell what you are doing.

The food which I had been looking forward to for weeks did not disappoint. The stuffing and the pumpkin pie (to me, the only things you really need at Thanksgiving) were perfect. Of course, I love squash, too - boiled and mashed and no funny business. My Dad's was perfect. It was a hybrid of whatever he's thrown on the compost pile; this squash started growing and it was a beautiful orange and sweet without adding a thing.

Back From the Market

I love going to the farmers' market. I am lucky to have one close enough to ride my bike to and come back with my backpack full of fresh goodies. It is incredibly oppressively muggy out though and after my 3 mile run, I drove down instead.

Today I came back with fresh sweet corn, plump little blueberries, zucchini and yellow squash and bright red-pink radishes. The radishes were an impulse buy. They were just so pretty wrapped in a bundle with their leaves and roots still intact. Oh, I got some roasted pumpkin seeds, too. A co-worker shared some at work this week, and they were tasty but so salty. I nearly started coughing when I ate them that's how powerful it was. These are hulled and lightly salted so are much milder going down. Still, I do kind of like munching on that shell though. It's very tactile.

Fireworks in the Frosting

Happy 4th of July everyone! Enjoy the weekend!

I got creative with the frosting last night.

What do you think?

Twitter Withdrawal

Aw, Twitter seems to be down, and I'm suffering from withdrawal. I turned on my computer just to say I was making cupcakes.

Salmonella, you don't scare me - I am going to lick the whisk AND the bowl!

I'm using Pillsbury Devil's Food with dark chocolate and vanilla frostings. Mmm. I put yogurt in place of the 1/2 cup of oil - so moist and so much better for you!

Dibs!

Yesterday felt like deep summer, and as I sat on the front porch with B I declared I was going to go get some ice cream. I had just been musing that I can't count higher than 12 before another car flies past our house. I hate that. I grew up where half hours would go by at least in between cars. Ah, the good ol' days. That said, I can now walk less than a quarter mile to a store to buy ice cream. Still, I'd rather live where there are less cars, but I'll make the best of suburban life while I must.

I got to the Rite Aid and found Friendly's single cup sundaes so I got a caramel and fudge one, and I picked up a box of Edy's Dibs. I saw these on TV a while back. They are fabulous. I bought the vanilla covered in chocolate and bits of Crunch bar. Tasty! B and I did our grocery shopping last night so he could make his gourmet turkey burgers for dinner, but then we forgot the turkey. I was more than happy to go grab the turkey this afternoon, along with some more Edy's Dibs - mint this time.

Sweet Melty Goodness on a Saturday

It's that dessert that is delectable in its simpleness with a little nostalgia melted in.  Go on.  Add the Rice Krispies* and marshmallows to your shopping list.  You're going to have to make some now.

It's been a pretty nice Saturday. I got up and ran 3 miles, stopped at the store after and made some eggs and an English muffin when I got back. B is hard at work studying for his test, and I've been promising him Rice Krispie treats all week so I made those after breakfast. Then I tackled my shower. I hate cleaning the shower. How can the spot where you constantly use soap get dirty? I loathe soap scum. Coupled with my hate for cleaning the shower, that's not a good combination. I machine washed both curtains, scrubbed all the surfaces and even took the faucet handles off and cleaned the build-up inside those out! I have been meaning to do that for some time. It's the single and most simple thing you can do to make your shower sparkle if your faucets happen to be old and no one ever cleaned them since they were installed.

*Or generic rice crisp cereal like I did 'cause I have to cut corners somewhere with gas at $4 now!

Yay, I Made Good Soup!

I made a successful concoction for dinner last night. It's a rare thing. Usually I have to follow a recipe. I decided I wanted to make a homemade soup using yams. Why not, since you can make potato soup, right? I did look online after I bought a few ingredients to find yam soup recipes do indeed exist, and I used the spices they mentioned to make the soup extra tasty. Here's my recipe that makes about 5 servings.

Ginger's Ginger Yam Soup
2 large yams (Sweet potatoes? The ones with the dark orange skin.)
4 stalks of celery
2/3 cup of onions
1/2 teaspoon ginger
A pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste*

Dice everything up. Throw it in a pot of water. Wait until it's done. I put the yams in first to give them a little more time to cook; add everything else after 5 minutes.

* To taste. Therein lies the key. I rarely taste soup while I making it, because for one thing it's hot! B and I were watching a cooking show and the judges are forever reprimanding the chefs for not tasting their food before they present it. A lightbulb went off in my head, and I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it was my best soup ever.

True to form, I don't like to leave well enough alone, so I've got some variations in mind like using fresh ginger or pureeing part or all of the soup next time. B said he likes it chunky though. I may like to take a cup out and puree it with milk and then put it back in to thicken it up. Also I may try a vegetable or chicken broth base. Mess it up real good.

I also made paninis to go with it, and those came out well, too. We are always ordering them at our favorite coffee shop so I kind of followed theirs: turkey, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella and a light amount of balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I had a spectacular episode with the dressing. It had one of those safety seals on it and so after I took it off, I started shaking up the bottle not realizing I'd also loosened the cap. Dressing Hell to breakfast. On my shoulder and dripping down the arm of my shirt, on the cupboards, on the George Forman grill, the full length of the counter and all over the floor. I didn't even curse it was so phenomenal. I have mopped the floor three times and a I swear it's still got a slight greasiness to it. I've washed my shirt twice, and it still smells like the dressing!  Potent organic health-food dressing.

I Like Poi!

For our last dinner in Hawai'i we walked to Tiki's Grill and Bar just a couple of blocks from our hotel in Waikiki. I was excited to see the Aloha Hawaiian Plate on the menu as it had all the things I had been meaning to try: kalua pig, lau lau, lomi salmon, yahi poke, mashed Okinawan sweet potato (the purple potato I had earlier in the week), coconut haupia...and poi.

Poi is not nasty, and I actually liked it! B thought it was okay, but didn't think it was awful or anything. It's somewhat bland (although it can be tangy if left to ferment) with a smooth creamy consistency. At a hula show a native Hawaiian asked an audience member what he thought poi tasted like. The guy replied, "Paste!" The Hawaiian said that was interesting, but that he didn't eat paste so he wouldn't know what that was like. Great comeback.

From what I've read, poi is a respected life-giving food, and it's kind of sad it's a joke here in Usaville, as one Hawaiian called the mainland. So try it. You may not like it, but it's always best to be nice about it.

Shave Ice, Oh How I Miss Thee

As far as I can find, shave ice is a uniquely Hawaiian treat developed on O'ahu. Blocks of ice are shaved by a very sharp blade almost to a fine powder and then drizzled with mostly tropical fruit flavors. This may sound like a slushy, but the texture is much much finer and to me, much tastier. Many places will serve this on top of ice cream.

After four hours of hiking on Kaua'i, we felt it was high time to try some so we stopped at Jo Jo's in Waimea. The door was shut, but a big "We're Open!" sign was still on it so B stopped the car, and I ran over to see. The friendly worker said they were open for a few more minutes so I waved him in and then tried to decide between the 60 flavors. I went with the Rainbow (strawberry, banana and vanilla syrups), highly recommended by the Ultimate Kauai book, and B chose the Island (pina colada, mai tai and strawberry daquari) both served over macadamia nut ice cream. Ice cream is one of my favorite foods, and this little treat is spectacular. It's worth getting a flight to just go try this. Now I'll have to start a quest to see if I can find this anywhere on the mainland.

I Did Bad Things to Carrots Today

I hate when I waste hours in the kitchen only to have what I'm doing come out crappy. Hate it. Waste of time. Waste of food.

My intentions were good. There is a Carrot Ginger soup that I love at a restaurant we frequent. As luck would have it, I was paging through my Moosewood cookbook today and there was a recipe for it: Gingered Carrot Soup! Number one - no way is this the same recipe they use in the restaurant. Number two - I knew one and a half teaspoons of salt was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much. What were they thinking? I've been cooking for years and I do all right, but do I trust my instincts? No. I put in the salt. Result: recipe should be called Salt With a Hint of Carrot soup.

So carrots, two pounds of lovely orange carrots, please accept my deepest apology that ending up in my crappy soup was your fate. You were planted, you grew, were trucked in to my store from wherever you put down roots only to meet this demise. So sad. I promise to do better with the other three pounds still left in my fridge.*

*The store was out of one pound bags so I had to buy a five pound bag. Should have taken that as a sign.

Feel free to confess your food disasters here.

Mornings Are Great - Getting Up for Them is Hard

I hoisted myself from sleep this fine Saturday to go running on trails in the park. I scared three rabbits and smelled skunk but thankfully never saw one. Morning really is the best time of the day. Everything is yet to be and quiet rules the land.

As I was jogging I came upon a stand of pine trees. Pine trees are quiet. Other trees with arms outstretched, are waving around, catching the wind, whooshing and swaying. Pines embrace you with down turned limbs in a gesture of hushing. Hush, be quiet, be still. I stopped to be quiet with them for a few moments.

After my run I went to the market for peaches. My husband loves peach cobbler so that is what a few of them will be destined for. I also got a teeny pecan pie from the Amish there. It is about 3" across; can't wait to share that with him as well. From the vendor who sells fresh cut flowers, I picked the ones you see in the photo. Nearby an elderly gentleman picked up a small bouquet in a jar and told the person behind the table, "I'm going to take these for my wife. She will really enjoy them." Right you are, sir!

I also couldn't resist a pint of fresh blueberries. Some still have little stems and there are bits of sticks in the container. I love that. Their flavor is exquisite. No candy is as good as this.