Paesano's Burger

Paesano's now has a burger on the menu at their Italian Market location. I had heard this was going to happen months ago, and was anxiously awaiting its arrival. Obviously I went for it as soon as I caught wind of its existence. Two flat grilled patties on a seeded long roll with caramelized onions, Gorgonzola dolle, bacon, and french fries (makes me miss Primanti's!) to round out the sandwich. As you can probably guess, this thing was incredible.





The patties have a nice crust (although they are well done) and is typical of everything I've known to love from Paesano's - there was so much flavor, with an abundance of diverse tastes happening simultaneously. The onions were rich, sweet and earthy, the gorgonzola was terribly rich and decadent, and the french fries were super tasty - not quite crispy, with a texture that complimented the other ingredients well. It was a great spin on burgers and fries, and I would certainly order this sandwich again. There was also a new turkey melt on the menu, which apparently has tuna mayo on it. I will have to investigate that one on a future visit, because there will be countless visits to come.


They have a great selection of sodas, I like the black cherry. And they have RC cola!


This is an awesome photo on the wall at Peasano's.

Look at the globs of cheese. It had a texture that made me think that there was mayo involved somehow. But upon inquiry I was told that it was just a really creamy type of Gorgonzola. SO good.

Italian market street-wear.

Barbeque Sauce

Well Spring is here, at least in part, and with warmer weather comes...grilling. Hands down one of my favorite things in the world is grilling. With grilling comes barbecue sauce. Now there are some good commercial sauces available, but it is SO EASY to make your own, so why wouldn't you? Here's how.


Start with a base layer of ketchup and apple cider vinegar. I just eyeball it. Add some brown sugar, some Worcester, and the spices of your choice. I usually use onion powder, garlic power, white pepper, salt, cayenne pepper (for some kick) and a couple of dashes of red pepper flakes. Be careful with the pepper flakes, because they really add a lot of spice when they cook. A whisk is the perfect tool for integrating the components.


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Now comes the fun part. The most important thing to add is... a secret ingredient. This can be any flavor you want. From whiskey, to beer, citrus, or any kind of juice, coffee, the sky is the limit. I really like adding some bourbon or whiskey, as it gives a great rich, complex, smoky flavor. If I also like to add some water before I let it simmer. This gives some extra liquid to evaporate as the sauce thickens. Let it simmer until the sauce reaches your desired consistency (should take about half an hour).


Now start charcoal! I used this sauce on some chicken tenderloins, which I started with olive oil, salt and pepper, and threw on a hot grill. I don't add the sauce early, because all of the sugar tends to burn, which is no good. Caramelization, however, is what you are after. I also skewered some baby bella mushrooms, and hit them with some olive oil salt and pepper as well.


Once the under side of the chicken is white, turn them and apply sauce. I keep the mushrooms on the outside, as they don't require the same heat and you want them to cook more slowly.


I keep the lid open and continuously basted the chicken, taking care not to let it burn, constantly moving pieces to different parts of the grill depending on which areas are the hottest. The thin tenderloins cook very quickly, so this doesn't take long. I like mine to be a bit crispy and these turned out perfect. The mushrooms were beyond delicious, and these were the star ingredients in a healthy, delicious weeknight salad.

Look at that char grilled flavor! Yum.


Some peppers, homemade croutons and homemade butter milk ranch (recipe to come later) made for an awesome, delicious, healthy weeknight main course salad.

Couch Tomato Cafe

102 Rector Street
Philadelphia, PA 19127
(215) 483-2233
Website

I LOVE the Couch Tomato Cafe. It is my favorite place to stop for a healthy bite when my weekend rides end up in Manyunk. It is relatively cheap, somewhat healthy and completely delicious.


I normally get a salad or some pizza (or both depending on how the ride was), but I happened to try the salad in wrap form last weekend. It was soo good. They really make some fresh creative salads, and they transferred well to the wrap format. Below is the Thai-phoon, which consisted of chicken, peanuts, carrots, cucumbers and cilantro, and a Thai peanut dressing. A little tip, order extra dressing on the side. The fresh cilantro really shined in this one, and I throughly enjoyed the combination of fresh crisp ingredients (shown with free cape cod chips on the side)


This one was the buffalo chicken wrap, which had some tomato, chicken and gorgonzola. A side of bleu cheese was a perfect dipping companion.

Food Shack

Once again, the Food Shack has wowed me. After eating uninspired unhealthy food for so long, the horseradish crusted tilefish over a mixed fresh tropical fruit salad with lime cilantro vinegarette was more than I could have hoped for. The crust was crunchy and had the sinus-tingling sting I love from fresh grated horseradish. The fish was cooked perfectly and the salad was so refreshing with the dressing, that I was completly satisfied, and felt healthier to boot. Another home run from the Food Shack.

Day Five: Indiantown to Jupiter

Today was an easy one. 28 miles is a cake walk after this ride. Although the forecast said it would be 35 degrees, after checking out of the room and walking outside, I discovered it to be about 50 out. Luckily I was wearing four shirts and long tights. So after a quick breakfast and shedding a couple of layers, this ride was smooth and fast. Awesome time, more pictures to come.




Also, in Indiantown, which has no bars and does not sell hard alcohol, they had Downingtown's own Victory Brewery Golden Monkey for $5.99 for a cork top 750 ml bottle! I am pretty sure that is cheaper than at the brewery.




Can't wait for the next tour/adventure.

Day Four: Clewiston to Indiantown

Today was an easy 60 miles. There were some unexpected detours but nothing too bad, and the weather and wind were mild.







I am getting tired of the mediocre unhealthy food on the lake. It looked promising at Mr. Jellyroll's in Pahokee, but it was some more sub-par unhealthy fried and diner food. Chicken fried steak with bland coleslaw and possibly the worst mac and cheese I have eaten. I mean Kraft would have been terrific in comparison. Ah well, that's what you get in sparsely populated areas.







This trip has been amazing thus far, and I will be sad to see it end tomorrow.

Day Three: Fishing on Lake Okeechobee

A well needed day off involved an early morning and a fishing trip on the lake.





It was cold and windy, and some people might have called it off (I heard people canceling as I checked in). The guide was from PA, so that gave us an instant topic of conversation. He really knew his stuff and I even caught a solid 6 pound fish, one of the largest bass I have landed.







And one more.







Here is a mud fish, an ugly, toothed whisker-less catfish. This is a junk fish that the fishermen hate. This one was about 7 pounds though, and gave an awesome fight.














It was a great day of fishing, and I would gladly do it again. I had to finish it off with some fish tacos and a beer at the Tiki Bar at the marina, complete with hush puppies. Very tasty.

Day Two: Okeechobee to Clewiston

Started out the day nursing the sunburn that turned me into a lobster on my arm and leg. I was even wearing lotion!
Thank godness for aloe.





Quick breakfast club sandwich across from the hotel and into the pouring rain. Luckily the rain only lasted for about a half hour. Now it was the wind's turn. Today was 50 miles of suffering in 30-40 mph headwinds and 10 miles to round out the 60 with a tail wind. This was brutal. The scenery was spectacular,
however. Cattle ranches and all kinds of variation.





Here was an abandoned pump house that was terrifying, as somehow I got lost and ended up by it.





All in all, a great day. Tomorrow is a day off. More to come.

Day One Part Two: Indiantown to Okeechobee

Good ride, finished over 70 miles, and the hotel had a hopping bar with $.75 drafts and $1 wells! More on that later.






Did I mention the food cart that was in the 75 feet between my room and the bar? Awesome! I made a new friend and talked food for a half hour while she closed up shop.







Big Momma herself.

Day One: Jupiter to Okeechobee

So this is my second attempt at writing this post (as I have discovered the mobile blogger kicks you out and does not auto save).

The first leg of today's ride was to Indiantown. This went rather smoothly, once the nerves died down from getting buzzed by tractor-trailers/dump trucks doing 80 in the middle of nowhere. So 27 miles in, it was time to stop and eat. Crackers Cafe promised real Florida food. As it turned out, every farmer, ranch hand and cowboy for 20 miles eats there. They looked at me in my bike gear as though I was an alien. But everyone was really nice, and southern hospitality prevailed.







Below is the chap hanging rack.