The Good Life

I really am the luckiest person in the world.

 

By Judi Gallagher

 

The other day someone stopped me at Tommy Bahama’s while I was lunching with the ladies and said, “I want to be you–all you do is eat and cook and look for good things to cook and eat out at restaurants.” My first response was to say, “Yes it’s good to be the food queen!” but I thought that much too egotistical. Instead, I said something like, “Did you know the average food critic gains 40 pounds in their career? Her response: “yeah but what a way to go.” Therefore, today I am here to tell you that I really am the luckiest person in the world. I do feel like the food queen and I don’t for one second take that lightly.

 

I live for slathering a plump whole chicken in butter and roasting it with leeks and apples and making pan gravy with the drippings. I hunt the farmer’s market for the perfect brussel sprouts, large but not too large, tight and green so I can bring them home and toss them with crispy applewood smoked bacon. Warm gingerbread with homemade whipped cream makes me shiver and that ahi tuna Salad that I was eating at Tommy Bahamas- crazy good!

 

 

Matt Thomas and Jaden Hair toast to Jalepeno rockets.

The other night I went to Lee Roy Selmon’s with Jaden Hair, food blogger (Steamy Kitchen) and now cookbook author as well as food writer in Tampa. There was something about sharing the new sweet potato fries with sweet cane dipping sauce and the mini Nathan’s hot dog sliders with a glass of 7 Deadly Zins that just all made sense. I loved hearing Jaden’s description of the different senses with food.  It was also a pleasure to kick back and enjoy “sports food,” good sports food with a fellow foodie.  We just can’t eat foie gras every day. It reminded me about my lunch a few weeks back with Brian Reese from Creative Loafing.

 

Hot dog sliders are REAL food critic’s food.

 

We all agreed that San Francisco is our favorite eating city. We wish there were more ethnic restaurants around here, especially Chinese in Sarasota, but the restaurant scene is surely growing. Brian shared some great insight on our jobs: “It is difficult when things are mediocre.” I concur- a mediocre crab cake to me is the kiss of death and hard to rebound from. Even worse, sitting through a mediocre meal when you know you could be eating a noodle bowl at Pho Cali or enjoying an order of bang bang shrimp at Bonefish Grill. 

 As to what we do when things are really bad…Brian’s point is well taken “If our review is responsible for a restaurant to close than they were certainly going to anyway.”

 

And with that I close this blog entry… work is calling me. I have a chicken potpie from Fresh Market to critique before trying to get reservations at Mama Mia’s for next week’s blog. But first, let the grandmother in me indulge in one picture of our adorable Sophie Grace with her first cotton candy.

 

Our budding food critic – Sophie Grace.

Her review of the cotton candy: Mmmmmmmmmmmmm….

 

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