Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for August, 2005

Dan and I went skydiving on my birthday in June. We showed the DVD of our adventure to some friends Saturday night, some of whom want to go with us next time. However, Paul’s wife Terry doesn’t want him to go before their two children are grown

To ease her mind, here are some stats that I’m sure most people don’t know about: In 2002, the U.S. Parachute Association had 33,664 members (this is a PDF file), who completed a combined total of 2,151,228 jumps.

That year, “Only 1,275 USPA members reported having injuries requiring medical attention,” according to the USPA, and there were 33 fatalities.

So, skydiving is really much safer than driving, but since most of us drive every day, and most have never gone skydiving, it seems more dangerous than it really is.

Also, several people in the room are science teachers, so they’re thinking more about the physics of the thing than I am I can’t wait to go again.

Portsmouth has changed a lot since we first moved here in 1992. The downtown area in particular has become a popular destination for food and shopping – not just for locals, but busloads of antique hounds come to town to check out the shops.

So here’s my entry for the Is My Blog Burning? site’s Be Rachael Ray for a Day blog contest mimicking Rachael Ray’s TV program where she finds places for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all for $40.

Breakfast

For the last year or so, we’ve been going to Waffle World on Western Branch Blvd. frequently; it’s actually in neighboring Chesapeake, but it’s our favorite, so here it is. Interestingly, the current owner of Waffle World used to operate a diner in the location now occupied by our lunch location, below

This is our exchange student for the year 2004-2005, Hannah Gutdeutsch, after her last breakfast at Waffle World before returning home to Germany in June:

Waffle World is one of those great local places with good food, great service, and reasonable prices, so it’s quite popular. There are lots of choices, such as egg combos, French toast with a variety of toppings, and frittatas, as well as lunch staples like BLTs, tuna or chicken salad, melts, etc.

I like to get the Denver omelet, toast included, $4.95, with a cup of coffee, $1. So there’s $5.95 for breakfast.

Lunch

My friends and former neighbors Shannon and Tim Woodland own The Daily Grind of Portsmouth, a great coffee house on Portsmouth’s main drag, High Street. They renovated this historic building and live in the three floors above the coffee house.

For lunch, I’d recommend one of the wrap combos for $7.25, which comes with a bag of gourmet chips. A couple of the options are:

• Roman Turkey – spinach wrap with seasoned turkey, prosciutto, mango chutney, provolone cheese, lettuce, and Italian dressing.
• Greek Isles – Spinach wrap with hummus, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, Greek olives, and tzatziki sauce.

Add a cup of coffee for $1.40 and you’re set – lunch for $8.65. If you want to splurge on a specialty coffee, you’ll still have plenty left for dinner, so go for it – $3.60 for a mocha cafe. Now you’ve spent $10.85 for lunch, for a total of $16.80.

Dinner

I’m going to give you a couple of options for dinner, depending on how you want to spend your evening.

You can go to Roger Brown’s Restaurant and Sports Bar, owned by former professional football player Roger Brown, who played for the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams in the ’60s. With its huge menu and variety of seating options, everyone will find something pleasing. You can sit at a sidewalk table if it’s nice outside, or in a cozy dining room with a fireplace. Or you can sit at one of the hundred or so seats around the 90-foot bar, or at a booth facing the four large screens showing various sporting events, each with its own sound box.

A couple of choices for a great dinner at Roger Brown’s are the Home-Style Fried Chicken, with garlic mashed potatoes, bourbon gravy, and braised greens or sauteed vegetables, for $10.95, or the Barbecued Chicken, topped with Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, bacon, tomatoes, and scallions, with mashed potatoes and greens or veggies, also $10.95. Add a glass of wine for $3.50 and you’ve got dinner for $14.45. Add that to the $16.80 you spent for lunch and you’ve eaten well for $31.25. So splurge and have dessert and coffee. You’re in the South, so try the Sweet Southern Bread Pudding for $4.95. With coffee at $1.50, you’re now up to $37.70.

Or you can catch a movie along with dinner at the Commodore Theater, a restored 1940 Art Deco-style movie house. Adult admission is $6 for a dining floor seat at a table equipped with a phone you use to order dinner (balcony seating is also available, but you can only order snacks such as popcorn and candy there). You can also use it to call your babysitter, or another table, since they’re all numbered

I like to start off with a small salad for $2.75, then savor the fish n’ chips – two large pieces of expertly fried cod with a generous portion of crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside potato wedges on the side, for $6.75. Add a glass of blush (yes, I like pink wine ) for $3.15 and you’ve spent $12.65; add $6 for your admission and you’re up to $18.65 for dinner and a movie – a total of $35.45 for the day. Hey! You’ve got just enough left to get the absolutely decadent hot cinnamon loaf with raisins and icing for dessert. Yum! It’s $3.75, so you’ve spent all but 80 cents of your $40. Cool!

Forgot to mention, about our dinner at Azar’s:

• I don’t really care for the salad dressing there. They call it Mama Lina’s – it’s a mustard-based dressing, not a vinaigrette, as I would expect in a Mediterranean place. They have very good hummus, though. In fact, it’s sold in grocery stores around here.
• We had tiramisu for dessert – it’s not classically prepared, but it was excellent nonetheless.

We’re thinking of replacing my Taurus with a hybrid car, so, after hearing about a tax credit available in the energy bill passed a couple of weeks ago, I did a little research.

Hybrid cars

The energy bill also includes a new tax credit for buyers of hybrid cars, which combine an electric motor with an internal-combustion engine.

Starting next year, hybrid-car buyers will be eligible for tax credits ranging from $1,700 to $3,000. The credit will be tied to two components: hybrids that save the most fuel compared with 2002 models, and the vehicle’s estimated lifetime fuel savings.

The credit will take effect Jan. 1, replacing the existing $2,000 tax deduction for hybrid vehicles. That deduction was scheduled to fall to $500 next year.

Because a tax credit is worth more than a deduction, the law provides a greater incentive to buy a hybrid after Jan. 1, according to an analysis by CCH, the tax publishing company.

But there’s a potential penalty for waiting too long to buy. The law limits the tax credits to 60,000 vehicles from each automaker, so credits on popular models could disappear well before the tax break expires at the end of 2009.

So, is it better to buy one now, with the $2,000 deduction, or wait till January, hoping you can be one of the first 60,000 buyers and get the $3,000 credit? Why can’t this administration ever make something simple? This is as bad as senior citizens having to pick a drug supplier for Medicare based on the drugs they’re taking, not knowing what drugs they might need in the future. Ridiculous.

Tonight the TNT dinner group gathered at Azar’s Natural Foods and Mediterranean Specialties, a local Middle Eastern restaurant/market in the Ghent area of Norfolk. It’s a nice little restaurant with a small market in the front where you can buy Middle Eastern spices, olives, cheeses, desserts, hummus, coffees, and lots of other goods. The staff is always friendly and the portions ample.

• I had a combination platter – kibbi, kefta and lamb kebab with rice, grilled vegetables and yogurt garlic spread. It was quite good, and was more than I could eat in one sitting. I usually get a kefta sandwich on pita when I come here for lunch.
• Corey had a seafood linguine with tomato sauce – she ended up trading it with Susan because Susan’s choice, the salmon stuffed with spinach and feta, was too salty for her taste. Both enjoyed the plates they ended up with
• Barbara had the lamb shank with curried rice/vermicelli pilaf, which was also very good.
• Karen had the vegetarian platter, which included a great tabouli salad, three grape leaves and a wrap, with pita bread and olives. She says it was excellent and the price was reasonable.

Kibbee is something new for me. When we were visiting Dan’s brother Eric and his wife Jennifer in Michigan a few weeks ago, they gave me a Lebanese cookbook from a local Lebanese restaurant that catered a celebration party for their son’s christening, and it has a recipe for kibbi (spelled kibbee in the cookbook). So here’s the recipe for kibbee:

Raw Kibbee (kibbee nayee)

2 cups fine bulghur
1 medium onion
1 1/2 teaspoons kibbee spice (below)
5 teaspoons salt
2 lbs. finely ground beef or lamb

Kibbee Spice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tbsp. dried mint, crushed
1 1/2 tsp. pepper

Rinse the bulghur twice in cold water, drain and cover to 1/2 inch with fresh water to soak. Grind the onion in a blender or food processor until fine, add kibbee spice and salt, stir to blend. Add the mixture to the ground meat and knead thoroughly by hand.

Squeeze any unabsorbed water from the bulghur and add the wheat to the meat. Knead until well blended, adding ice water as necessary to keep a very soft consistency.

To Serve

Place raw kibbee on a plate and shape into a round with a slightly flat top. Drizzle with butter or olive oil. Spread on yogurt or kibbee filling (housie) as an appetizer (mezza) with pita triangles or crackers, green onions, and olives.

No, I didn’t eat raw kibbee I ate baked kibbee, as follows:

Kibbee meat filling (housie)

1 large onion
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 lb. lean beef or lamb, coarsely ground
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. each allspice and cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

1 recipe raw kibbee

Dice the onion and saute with the pine nuts in butter until onion is tender and nuts are golden brown. Add ground meat and cook until no longer pink, stirring and mashing to remove lumps. Add pepper, allspice, cinnamon and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside to cool.

Divide raw kibbee in half. Pat one portion evenly in the bottom of a buttered 8×12 pan; layer the housie over it. Shape the remaining half of the raw kibbee into thin patties (hamburger style) and place these next to one another over the filling. Press the edges together, using a little water, to make a smooth top layer.

Cut into squares of two or three inches and score the top of each with an X from corner to corner. Dot with butter and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until bottom is done and top is browned. Serve with hot baked chicken and Lebanese salad.

Both kibbee recipes from “Kibbee ‘n’ Spice and Everything Nice” by Janet Kalush

Today is Hannah Gutdeutsch’s 18th birthday – Happy Birthday, Hannah!
With love, Kim and Dan

Hannah was our host-daughter for 10 months, from September 2004-June 2005, as an exchange student with Face the World. This picture is from a kayaking trip to Pennsylvania last spring.

Hannah lives in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, Germany.