secrets

My secret is that I'm a picky eater. I'm one of those people who goes into restaurants, checks the menu and usually can't find anything she loves just the way it is. So, it's "hold the..." or "could you have the chef throw on a few capers" or "could you bring me some pepperoncini in their brine with some chopped garlic and olive oil"? That last makes a great "salsa" with fried calamari. It has a nice bite to it that cuts the greasiness of the fried squid. I first had that combo at a VFW Hall "Diner" in Rhode Island. Now, for me, it's the only way to go.

And, yes, I love capers - little zingy bits of sharpness and saltiness that go with so many things - like Pasta Aglio é Olio - so that's a fairly common request from me. I do check out the menu to be sure that capers are something they use before I ask. I mean, I can survive without my capers, but why, if I don't have to?

This blog is going to be a platform for my pickiness and for sharing the results of my search for the perfect meal with the world (or whatever portion of it wanders through my door). Some of the foods will be ultra trendy, but others will be totally casual and comforting. So, onward.

My first post I'm going to walk you through the early stages of my entry for Paper Chef #11. If you want to know more about the PC contests, click here.

The ingredient list:

• Duck


• Nut Butter


• Pears


• Ginger.

I can see lots of possibilities already. But first, I'll have to see if I can find a duck without going to extremes to obtain it - that would be having to drive 50 miles to the nearest gourmet grocery or pay FedEx overnight charges to get it by, well, tomorrow? Not going to happen.

Nut butter and ginger, of course, make me think of something Asian, like Saté. And a nice, fresh, unadorned pear would be a lovely foil for something rather rich like that - nut butter and duck, heavy, heavy, heavy. It would also work well with something hot. Ginger can provide a lot of heat, by I think it might overpower the duck. Hmmm. I'll have to give this some thought.

Oh, and why did I call this blog, Stalking the Waiter? Two reasons, or sort of one and a friend. I recently discovered the Waiter Rant blog, which I adore. If you haven't seen it before, take a look. He's a waiter in NY, and he writes very candidly about what goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant, and what those polite smiles are hiding as our waiters/waitresses bring us our dinners. Heh. The "friend," is that a diner like myself would drive Waiter up the wall.

And I drink tea. (You'll have to read his blog to get that one.)

{tags capers pepperoncini calamari duck
ginger garlic salsa Bosc pear}