We’ll be back in a few weeks re-energized, well-rested and much, much fatter and inspired by cooking again.  We’ve avoided red meat for about 6 weeks now in anticipation for our upcoming trip.  Can you guess where we’ll be tonight?  Here’s a hint:

Any ideas?  Ok, how about this?

Still unsure? I think this picture will give you the answer:

Yes, we’ll be going to Buenos Aires and then heading to Montevideo, Uruguay for another few days. Did you know that Uruguay is actually a country that produces some pretty great wine? They are the only country besides France that produces the Tannat grape. We’ll be visiting wineries and will give you the scoop on that as well. We’re so in need of some rest, great food and wine. We hope you have a wonderful Passover/Easter/Spring Break or just have a good Spring Weekend. We’ll see you soon! Hasta luego!

Her (George is short for Georgina if you were confused) top five of: Home made mayo mixed with either garlic, lemon or harrisa, Sambal Olek, Chilli jam (home made), Balsamic vinegar, and Extra Virgin Tuscan olive oil, was by some distance randomized to the head of the list in front of such other notable luminaries as Cebca and Lo. Congratulations George! A bottle of said sauce is on its way to you now, which given your obvious proclivities for spicy condiments, we feel confident you’ll enjoy!

And speaking of a taste for capsaicin, it seems George is not alone. The vast majority of you showed your appreciation for all things spicy. From tabasco to Frank’s hot, Encona to Crystal hot, to Cholula, hot sauce was one of the few things almost everyone agreed on. That said, it seems like some of you have rather exotic tastes when it comes to spicy condiments, suggesting some which were new to us: sambal olek (spicy south-east asian condiment), sinamak (chile-infused vinegar), and sriracha (Thai hot sauce), to name a few.

We also learned about what you guys think of as condiments: olive oil, jam, guacamole, vinegar, and butter. None of which we would have thought of, but are, when you really get down to it, in fact condiments.

Above all, we learned that condiments, domestic and humble, common, or exotic, remain wildly popular, in spite of contemporary fears about “industrial foods.” Your favorite condiments, it seems, are here to stay.

If you’re interested in hosting this event as well, be prepared (as I am) because it supposedly takes a lot of work to post the recap. I’m a little nervous about the deadline, but I’ll do my best! As for us, we’re off tonight to a weekend getaway for the long weekend. We felt like being spontaneous and decided to spend some money during this economic crisis. We’ll try to post from our location! Happy Friday and in the meantime, check out some older recipes that would make great Friday or Saturday night meal (meaning they are a bit of an indulgence)!

• Pasta Al’Amatriciana
• Carne Asada Tacos
  
• Thin-Crust Pizza (MANY Types to Inspire You!)
  
• Grilled Steak with Tarragon (or any other herb) Garlic Butter
  
• Merguez Sausage and Crispy French Fry Sandwich
  
• Spanish Oxtail with Tiny French Fried Potatoes

We recently invited you to tell us what your top five flavors of potato crisps/chips are, and we were, frankly, amazed that so many of you did. Not only that, we were surprised by the variety of flavors you selected. It seems that there is a wide world of taste out there and we are not alone in our obsession with salty, potato snacks.

So, preamble over, because there were such great flavor suggestions, the decision was tough, and there are three categories: honorable mention, close but no cigar, and, the one, the only, the champion top five. Bear in mind that only the champion wins the package of British crisps.

Honorable Mention:
Joanne @ Frutta Della Passione
Heather @ Gild the Voodoolily
Melissa @ moe.org
and Fuji Mama

Close but No Cigar:
Maybelles Mom (solid flavor selections and the extra note about eating Lays while posting was a nice touch)

Champion Top Five:
Choosy Beggar Tina (exhibited good knowledge of British gourmet sandwiches with the “chippie” aka chip sarnie, aka chip barm, aka sandwich of french fries, to endear herself, and followed up with great overall choices, but the all important no. 1 choice – my all-time favorite flavor – salt & vinegar.)

1. Ketchup
2. Smoky Bacon
3. Old cheddar and red onion
4. Lime and black pepper
5. Sea salt and malt vinegar (kettle cooked, please!)

Congrats Tina, we’ll be in touch to arrange the crisp transaction very soon!

#1: DO NOT USE DREAMHOST AS YOUR HOST SERVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#2: Consider spending extra money for a more expensive hosting package.

#3: If you googlebot (the weird computer spider that crawls the web for new content on your site) crawls your site and there’s a timeout, it works against your pagerank (ie: where your site would come up in the google search queue). It just isn’t good in building a strong page rank.

#4: Did I mention consider not using Dreamhost?

We were recommended Dreamhost, but we’ve had more than a couple problems and we are searching for a better host. If you do choose to look into Dreamhost, I would say, maybe get the more expensive hosting package. I have a feeling those packages are obviously better because they do not bundle as many sites on one server or as Dreamhost likes to so “cutely” call it – blingy clusters. I had no idea that the word “blingy cluster” existed before 3 months ago, now it’s become a term I use at least weekly. For example: “Jonny, the fucking mutha fucker blingy clusters at Dreamhost have cause stress on the server we are one again and our site is down!!!!” or, “Jonny, I hate blingy clusters! I hate Dreamhost! Why can’t they fix this fucking ‘blingy cluster’ thing!!!”

This time was the straw that officially broke the camel’s back. I can not take it anymore. We’re packing our bags and leaving the Dreamhost family as are many others. I promise to add a few more hints in future posts. What I need to know from anyone out there – what is the host server you use and are you satisfied with it? HELP!

Have a wonderful weekend.

So, we’re not posting anything today since our Blood Orange Margarita post yesterday barely got it’s time in the spotlight. We’ll check ya tomorrow!

-amy and jonny

UPDATE:  Please don’t be dismayed by this post – I was just frustrated at the time of writing it.  It’s not the domain name… it’s our host server.  It’s a good one, but it just had a glitch yesterday.  If you’re thinking of switching from typepad, blogger, wordpress… it’s not bad.  Just don’t make the same mistakes as us.  And coming soon I will list those mistakes (and the good things) so that you don’t have the same probs. we had!!   

Enough of that, as we were entering Barney’s, there were about 10 paparazzi and 50-75 regular folks. As I waited by the door for my husband, I started to get that NYC tourist feeling – I actually wanted to know what was going on. Usually, I could care less, but for some reason I was interested. I asked the doorman and he told me Donatella Versace was on her way. I’m no fashionista, but I am obsessed with Italy and we were in Milan last summer! I’ll have something to talk about with her! Kidding…

Jonny thinks celebrities are all stupid, so he wouldn’t let me wait to see her. Really, I just wanted to see what a trainwreck her face/plastic surgery looked like. So, inside Barney’s we went with no sign of Donatella. But, as we left the store, we could see the paparazzi flashes going off…. Donatella!? I’M COMING!! But, instead it was my “sister in my head” – you know, a celeb you think you could be friends with? Patti LaBelle! I’m from Philadelphia and she’s from Philly and she’s a strong woman – there’s just something I like about her. Anywho’s, she rolled up in her limo, all fierce and made up like a hot drag queen with this huge “V” bag (Versace I’d imagine), a long fur coat and, can you believe it, HOT SAUCE!? Bitch was doing a promo as she made her way into a Versace party!? Love her…

So, yes, Ms. LaBelle is coming out with her own line of hot sauces. She’s had cooking shows and has written other cook books in the past, mainly as a result of getting diabetes years ago. Check out this NY Times Article if you’d like to read more. I’ll hopefully get to check out this line of hot sauces and I’ll be able to report back on how they are.