Food, Glorious Food

I don't consider myself to be a foodie. I mean I love food, and I Love to eat, cook it. I love reading about it. Cookbooks for me are a form of gastro-porn, but I certainly don't consider myself to be a gourmet. I don't eat at all the hotspots in New York simply because I can't afford it. I dream about it, and occasionally if I'm lucky I'll have a date who can afford to take me to Tribeca Grill or Nobu (still working on that one).

I watch the Food Channel religiously. I used to adore Emeril but now it just seems like shtick, and I'm tired of seeing his face everywhere. When he decided to do a sitcom, the love affair was over. Now Tyler Florence is my new love, and Paula Deen has some cute sons.

I adore Nigella Lawson for the sheer joy and fun she has when she cooks. She doesn't treat cooking like an art form but something that should be an enjoyable experience. You have to love a woman who can make a ham with coca-cola and mustard and be unrepentant about it.

I dream of going back to New Orleans to have dinner at Commander's Palace and Mr. B's Bistro. The crab hash at the Wolseley haunts my dreams.

One of my favorite foods lately has been seafood cobb salad. I first had a cobb salad in Disney World at the Disney-MGM studios at the Brown Derby. The Brown Derby is an exact replica of the restaurants that used to exist in LA in the 30's through the 1950's. These restaurants were as famous for the celebrity clientele as they were for the caricatures on the walls. I Love Lucy shot a famous episode there.

One of the dishes the Brown Derby was famous for was the Cobb Salad. A cobb salad is slighly different from a chef's salad in that it contains either chicken or turkey, chopped eggs, avocado, corn, cucumbers, bacon, and tomatoes. Since I didn't eat pork or beef at the time, I had it without the bacon.

One of the coolest things was that they tossed the salad with the dressing at the table. I fell in love right then and there as did my boyfriend. In fact, we came back to the Brown Derby the day that we left just to have the salad again (and do the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror).

I now have two Brown Derby cookbooks that have the recipe. Later on, I discovered another version of the dish, the Seafood Cobb Salad. I stopped eating meat completely in 1998, so now I'm a vegequarian. The Seafood Cobb salad means I can still have that great taste but with my favorite, seafood.

The best restaurant in New York that makes a seafood Cobb salad is the Red Eye Grill. They make it solely with lobster, and it is delicious. They even toss it at the table like at the Brown Derby. It's also incredibly expensive which is why I haven't had it in years. Oh dear, now I'm getting hungry for it. I might have to eat slim fast all next week to afford it!

I've had Seafood Cobb salads at other restaurants like City Grill, City Lobster, and Blue Fin but the Red Eye Grill is something special. A nice glass of champagne or a Reisling and the Cobb Salad.

I'm going to attempt to make it on my own next week. I have no idea how to buy an avocado, so I'll have to ask the grocer.

Oh and I learned from Cooking to Hook-Up: The Bachelor's Date Night Cookbook, that I'm Progressive Girl!