Battle of the Nogs!

As December is nearing an end, so is my crazy work schedule. Whatever free time I've had was used to get ready for the holidays. One of the best things about the holidays is Christmas Eve dinner. It's tradition in Italian culture to have seven fish dishes. I prefer non-land animals, so this makes for my favorite dinner. Here is a run down of all seven dishes we had this year: Seafood Salad (consisting of shrimp, calamari, scallops, and crab), Grilled Shrimp (thanks to my brother, Chef Dominic), Cocktail Shrimp, Penne with Smoked Salmon Sauce (my personal favorite of the dinner), Spaghetti with a Clam Sauce, Orange Roughy, Baccala in a Tomato Sauce (baccala is a salted cod that is popular in Italian Christmas tradition), Baccala Potato Salad (this was a new recipe that my mom learned). So, we had 8 dishes...I think it's because Italians are also supersitious and 8 were made "just in case".

Another Christmas treat I had this year was eggnog. I'm not usually a fan of eggnog, but I do enjoy about 2 oz of it from Calder's or Guernsey Dairy. Calder and Gurensey are probably two best dairy companies in the area. Calder Dairy Farms is located in Carleton, while the processes plant and ice cream parlor are in Lincoln Park. All of their cows are fed homegrown forage that is free of hormones. But, the greatest thing about them is that they continue to use glass bottles and have home delivery of their dairy products. While on the other hand, Guernesy Dairy is located in Northville and has been family-runned since the 1940s. Attached to their processing plant in Northville, you can find a restaurant and ice cream parlor. In the first of a series of Calder vs. Guernsey battles (I'm looking forward to the ice cream battle), we have eggnog! The eggnog was judged on the following things:

1. Taste

2. Being able to make me feel the pounds add on as I'm drinking it (Let's face it...you will not find eggnog on any weightloss plan)

3. Taste with rum (I had to do this test a few times because I needed to make sure that I was making juuuust the right choice)

4. Presentation (this a bit bias because I think the glass bottles that Calder's uses should count for something)

And here are the results...

On taste, I think it's a bit of a tie with a slight advantage to Calder's. I think that Calder's has more egg yolk making it a bit yellower and a bit richer. Guernsey has more spice in it, which I enjoy but overall I think Calder's has the advantage.

As for adding junk to my trunk, I think they both have helped with that this Christmas (not the mention the HUGE Christmas Eve dinner). I declare this one a tie!

The third category is also a tie...anything with rum is good!

The fourth and finally category was loaded....I love the glass bottles!

Calder's is the winner, but only by a bit. Both eggnogs are delicious, and make for a great treat for the holidays. They both get 5 forks out of 5.

What's your favorite Faygo flavor?

When coming up with ideas for this blog I knew that I didn't want it to be just about the restaurants, but also other food related topics including products made in this area. If you were to ask anyone to name one food product that was made in Detroit, I'm willing to bet most people would say Faygo.

Faygo was started in 1907 by two Russian immigrant brothers, Ben and Perry Feigenson who were trained as bakers. The first few flavor sodas they produced were strawberry (which is now called Redpop), grape, and fruit punch. They sold their sodas on a horse drawn carriage for three cents (does this mean we will pay $33 for a bottle of it in a hundred years..yikes!). After the company began to grow, they introduced a few more flavors which included Sassafras Soda, which was later changed to Root Beer...Sassafras Floats sounds so much funner! In 1921, they changed the name to Faygo and soon after introduced one of their most classic flavors, Rock & Rye. Ever wonder why they call it that? Well, I'm going to tell you...it was named after a popular jazz-age drink, rye whiskey which was served over a "rock" of sugar. Faygo later hired Doner to to create advertisements on television and thank god they did! They came up with ads that featured the Faygo Kid. The company also sponsored the popular children's program of comic Soupy Sales, who pitched the company's soda with the line, "George Washington may be the father of our country, but Faygo's the pop." I love that! And who can forget this commercial:

You can thank me later for that song being stuck in your head for days!

In the 1990s, Faygo received some publicity from the Detroit rap group, Insane Clown Posse. They included Faygo in some of their lyrics and would often spray audiences with shaken bottles of Faygo. They celebrated their 100 year anniversary in 2007 with billboards throughout the city that embedded a bottle of Faygo in the word "Detroit" and the numbers, "313." Simple, yet brilliant! Recently they switched the ingredients in the glass bottles to cane sugar, making it even better! Hands down, Faygo deserves five forks out of five.

Union Street

I've been crazy busy the past few weeks, but last night I finally had a chance to get together with "my girls." We went to one of my long time favorite restaurants in Detroit, Union Street. One of the things I love about it is that you can just feel the history of the space when you walk in. It has this art deco look that I just love! I do think they should get rid of the grandma plastic tablecovers...I just think they are capable of something more eye appealing.

The menu offers a variety of foods. Whether your in the mood for wings (Rasta Wings!! They will make you feel like your lips are going to fall off!) , breakfast, or filet mignon. I don't know if I should admit this, but I've tried a majority of the things they offer (not all in one sitting). One of my guilty pleasures when I go there is the Large Sampler appetizer, which consist of onion rings, beer battered zucchini and mushrooms. Ohhh so bad for you...yet sooo good for your soul. I was a good girl on Tuesday and started off my meal with one of my healthier favorites, Black Bean Soup. The jalapeno sour cream is such a nice touch to the soup. I also had the Baked Pistachio Salmon Salad. It was presented beautifully...I love when chefs take the time to present the food nicely because we do eat with our eyes first. Pistachio's aren't my favorite nuts, but tasted great with the salad. One of my friend's obsessed with the Jambalaya. I have tried it and think that it's one of the best in the city. I keep on going back to Union Street and it's simply because the food is great. They need to work on their service standards a bit (I've had some pretty awful experiences there in the past), but Tuesday night was good. I'll give Union Street four and a half forks out of five.

Motor City Brewing Works

There's a couple things I love...a good beer and a great pizza! I've been meaning to check out Motor City Brewing Works for awhile now, and finally last weekend I had the chance. I was surprised by how quaint it was inside. The girls and I decided to try out the artichoke dip, which has for some reason turned into the appetizer of choice when going to a pub. It was a excellent! I ordered the Danimal pizza. It was topped with artichokes, caramelized onions (I love onions...I have to have onions with every meal...if there was a way to incorporate them in my oatmeal for breakfast I would! Eww..that was a gross thought), Gorgonzola cheese, and tomatoes. The crust was at just the right thickness and the cheese wasn't overwhelming...the two things that I feel are the hardest things to get just right in a pizza. The beer is always good...Ghettoblaster being one of my favorite local brews. I think it's a great place to grab a beer with friends and was pleasantly surprised by the cozy atmosphere. The only complaint I have is that they did not offer a side salad. They deserve four out of five forks.