Lunch at Sweet Cheeks Q

Lunch at Boston's Sweet Cheeks Q.

Negroni

A Negroni is one of my favorite cocktails. It's an Italian apéritif that combines Gin, Campari and Sweet Vermouth. I call the Negroni Italian since that's where Campari is made, and the Negroni was allegedly invented in Florence. This perfectly balanced cocktail is a great choice when you're looking for something to sip on while reading a menu, or even while at home catching up on Netflix.

Negroni
serves 1

Ingredients
Gin
Campari
Sweet Vermouth
ice
orange twist

Instructions
The Negroni is equal parts Gin, Campari and Sweet Vermouth. I usually use about 1.5 oz each, depending on how large my glass is. Fill shaker with ice. Add liquors and stir or swirl the shaker until well combined. You can vigorously shake the liquors to mix them together if you want, but I prefer mine stirred. You can also serve this straight-up, but I think it is best served on the rocks.

Enjoy!

Petal & Pink Giveaway

My friend Erin is a talented jewelry designer and blogger. Her etsy shop is one of my favorite sites to shop and she inspires me to buy handmade (and local!). Some of my favorite items from her shop include the Beaded Cluster Statement Necklace, Red and Turquoise Earrings and the Green Midori Earrings. 

In the season of giving, Erin has generously offered to ease the gift shopping (or, the shopping for yourself!) of Straight Up with Olives readers by giving away a gorgeous pair of earrings, from a line which will debut in her 2012 collection. I love giving (and receiving!) hand-made, unique gifts, and earrings like this will make someone smile. 

The chic earrings are swarovski pearl (dark  purple, dark green and powder green) on sterling silver chain and earhooks. The length is 2.5 inches. Martini glass not included!

Erin has also generously offered Straight Up with Olives readers a discount code. Any orders placed between today and Thursday, December 22 that use the code "UpWithOlives" will receive a 10% discount to their order. Everyone is a winner in this giveaway!

To win these lovely earrings please comment on this post, telling me what your favorite gift to give is:

For an extra entry, you can:  

~Tweet: I want to win the @petalandpink giveaway hosted by @UpwithOlives 

~Pin a favorite item from Erin's shop to your Pinterest

~Follow @UpwithOlives on Twitter

~Follow @petalandpink on Twitter

Make sure you let me know what you did to gain extra entries!

Giveaway will end Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:59pm EST

Good luck!

Dinner at Garden at the Cellar

Hands down, my favorite restaurant is Garden at the Cellar. I've been there dozens of times over the past few years because their burger is my favorite. I order it almost every time I go. In fact, in all the times I've been to Garden, I've never actually ordered from the dinner menu, until now.

At dinner we started with appetizers of pork belly and duck leg confit.

The pork belly was served over an apple puree with mustard seed and bourbon. The 4-inch crispy pork belly was flavorful and indulgent.

The long-cooked duck leg confit was fall-off-the-bone tender. It was served with potatoes, walnuts, crispy haricot verts, frisee and a shallot vinaigrette. 

The special for the evening was mac & cheese which is all-time favorite of mine. And this mac was cheesy and buttery, just how I like it! It was topped with crispy croutons, which added a nice crunch. We had it as a side to accompany dinner. 

The dinner orders at the table were the steak frites and the pork tenderloin. Both were more than generous portions and cooked to perfection, at a medium-rare temperature.

Garden's fries are rosemary-truffle, thin and crispy. The steak was marinated and grilled, then sliced before being plated on a bed of squash puree and spinach.

The tenderloin was served with over spaetzle with cremini mushrooms and roasted brussel sprouts.

I always know that the quality of food and the presentation of the dishes is going to be outstanding at Garden, and I always leave happy and full. The causal, gastropub atmosphere makes it a fantastic place to meet. In fact, I often take out of town guests to Garden for dinner, and they are always impressed.

This past week Garden debuted a new menu so get there and check it out!

Brunch at Craigie on Main

Not only do I live in the greatest city in the state, but I also live a short walk from one of the best restaurants in New England, Craigie on Main.

I've been to Craigie countless times, I even have a future reservation there to celebrate my birthday, but never for brunch. I don't know if it's extreme laziness about booking a reservation, or the fear of having a Sunday morning obligation, but I always thought brunch at Craigie was out of reach.

With the warmer than usual temperatures this past Sunday we decided to head to brunch - and though we would try our luck at the Craigie bar. No seats were available, and I was ready to concede when the hostess informed us there was a table in the bar area. Victory was ours.

We started with a house blend of coffee and took our time looking over the brunch menu and watching the expert kitchen staff at work. After finishing coffee, we started our meal with cocktails and appetizers. For drinks, we chose the Bloody Mary (I'm predictable) made with spicy vegetable vodka. There were flavors of tumeric and paprika in the house-made bloody mary mix, which gave it a wonderful smoky flavor. The Clover Club, was a potent mix of Bombay, lemon, grenadine and egg white. It was expertly shaken and arrived with a frothy top and a cherry on the side.

The appetizers were house-made donut with confiture du lait and pork belly. Great on their own, outstanding together. Sticky, sweet, warm and fatty. I could have eaten a dozen of those donuts.

After the appetizers, we switched over to beer (Pretty Things and Helles Schlenkerla). My beer selection was based completely on the servers suggestion and he was spot on with this beer, I loved the smokiness and it paired very well with my burger.

Speaking of service, it was fantastic. I know from experience that brunch is the worst shift to work, but our server was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and personable, as to be expected of Tony Maws' expert staff.

 Entrees for the morning included Grass-Fed and House-Brined Corned Beef cheek and Smoke Beef Tongue Hash - with slow poached egg and crispy onions.

As well as the Local Grass-Fed Beef Burger - with cheddar, house-made mace ketchup, house-made bun and crispy fried potatoes with a fried egg.

Both dishes were flavorful and beautifully presented. The expertly poached egg on the hash was gently placed on the dish and timed perfectly, as it arrived still piping hot. Despite my many visits to Craigie, this was my first experience of the burger. Served medium-rare, on a soft house-made bun with a melted slice of cheddar, this burger was nothing short of amazing. I took my time eating it. Slowly chewing and savoring the rich meat flavor while mumbling thisissogood over and over.

There's a reason this burger was on the cover of Bon Appetit  in August 2010.

I can't say anything more about this burger than I think everyone who loves burgers needs to try it. You'll understand why.

I'm lucky to call Craigie on Main a neighborhood restaurant. It's a place to have a wonderful meal, from start to finish - check it out for brunch!

(all photos taken with an iPhone)

Island Creek Oyster Tour

A fresh oyster, just minutes out of the ocean. I was lucky enough to have more than my fair share on a recent trip down to Island Creek Oyster.

Island Creek has humble beginnings that started in 1992 in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

On the tour, which consisted of getting on a dingy and touring Duxbury Bay and the oyster flats, we learned how Island Creek gets oysters as very small seeds, and they grow, grade, nurse, plant and harvest oysters over the course of 18 months. The entire growing process can be read about here.

Once the oysters are harvested, they are put through a process called dragging, which we were fortunate to witness.

Eventually the boat docked onto a small boat house in the middle of Duxbury Bay. Here, we learned about the Culling, or Quality Control step, of oyster farming. Each oyster is sorted and measured by hand. According to Island Creek, the perfect oyster is one that has a deep, round cup and is about three inches in length. A ring, which is seen in the Island Creek logo, is used to measure the length of the each oyster.

My stomach was grumbling by the time we docked, and it was time to sample the oysters. CJ, our tour guide, expertly shucked oysters faster than I thought was possible.  It's no secret that I love oysters, I order them at whenever I can, so I gratefully accepted each oyster passed my way. 

I've never had a fresher oyster. The taste was amazing, briney and sweet. Washed down with a cold beer, as we bobbed in the middle of the ocean - if only they could always be eaten like that!

It was amazing to learn so much about the oysters I love to eat. To learn, and watch how they get from the farm to the table. To meet the men and women who work tirelessly on a craft they love.

To learn even more about life on an oyster farm, I began reading Shucked, a book based on the blog about life on a New England Oyster Farm. So far, so good!

Island Creek offers tours for groups, if you want to check it out.

Sushi at Miyake

Portland, Maine is one of the best food cities on the east coast. On a recent trip, I wanted to try Miyake, a sushi restaurant that I heard wonderful things about.

Arriving for a late lunch, we sat at the bar and had a close-up look as Chef Masa Miyake and staff prepared for dinner service. Slicing, dicing and chopping, the chefs showcased their knife skills with ease.

I especially love seeing the dishes I ordered come to life, and I enthusiastically watched as the chefs expertly sliced the ingredients for our first dish, tuna three ways (traditional sashimi, marinated in sweet sake soy sauce and tartar) as well as the super toro roll we had next (tuna and avocado roll topped with diced toro, truffle oil, spiced sesame oil and scallions).

tuna 3-ways

super toro

Next up was our one and only hot dish of the afternoon, the yaki buta. Yaki buta is a braised pork belly with scallions. This dish was fantastic and indulgent. Each piece was about 2 inches wide, and had been marinated in a sweet soy sauce. It was grilled, then plated with scallions and hot mustard sauce.

I've had yaki buta before (in ramen) and eating it where the meat was the lone star on the dish was refreshing to see.

yaki buta

Our final dish was a plate of sashimi. Again, the knife work was impeccable and the fish was incredibly fresh. The colors of the toro and salmon really popped out on the slate grey plate.

sashimi

The chic, modern restaurant offers a chef tasting menu of three, five or seven courses and proudly serves locally raised ingredients.