The lustful gardener

I just finished reading The $64 Tomato, a book about a man and his growing obsession with gardening. First off, I bought the book for the main cooking man in my life, but I ended up reading it before him. I should explain here that Chefy is mildly obsessed with his little kitchen garden which is what prompted me to get the book.

It was a perfect summery read. I just kept imagining that first bite into a tomato, the one that's still sun warm, with the texture of the goopy insides adding to the experience rather than detracting from it.
The writer, William Alexander, was conversational, sometimes a little cliched, but mostly entertaining. Aside from his somewhat awkward references to making love in an animalistic way to his wife Anne, (it just seemed like he was trying too hard...) it was a nice read.
This is the perfect book for anyone overtaken in thoughts and actions by the backyard garden. As the bookseller said to me when I told her it was a gift for a similarly consumed person, "It probably won't help - but at least it will make him know he's not alone."
And, it includes recipes at the end of the book, which I greatly appreciated. You can see them here.
Enjoy!

In the heat of the night

Chefy just brought home some deliciousness that was perfect for this hottest of hot summer nights. Corn chowder with fresh-from-the-garden cherry peppers and zucchini.
Then there was orzo. The little rice-like pasta was fresh with orange tomatoes and a variety of vegetables, rehydrated cherries and feta.
It was perfect for the weather and for using our newly sprouted bounty from the gutter garden.
So if you're looking for something to make, try this. (not his recipe, but similar)
I made this a few weeks ago also. But I omitted the honey and the red wine vinegar and just used some torn up fresh basil, olive oil and lemon juice. I also added some frozen peas at the end, which was a great little punch.

The Eye of the Tiger

It's mildly greeeaaatt.
The Tiger Lebanese Bakery in Toledo, Ohio (not Spain...) is tasty, but.
I'm a little torn on this for a few reasons. The food was good, some of it was great, but the presentation and the microwaved quality was less than superb.
Let me start again.
The Tiger Lebanese Bakery is a store with a deli counter filled with delicious looking Middle-Eastern food and a front dining area. The shelves are stocked with some pretty hard to find (and I'm not sure what to do with) goods like dried whole lemons. A great resource for any Middle Eastern ingredients, though admittedly I didn't spend a whole lot of time checking out the shelves. It's by no means a grocery store, but does have some variety.

Now, the food. A large deli case offers a wide array of food. With either of the combos - 1. Pick 4 side items for $5.99; 2. Any sandwich plus two sides for $5.99 it ends up being a lot of food.
The selections range from lentil rice, spinach rice, rice pilaf to fatoush and hommos to kabobs and any kind of hand held pie you can imagine.
I've been a few times now and the things that are good seem consistently good, but that also goes for the things that are bad.
I ordered a spicy chicken tawook sandwich (hunks of chicken cooked on a skewer, wrapped in a pita) with a side order of rice pilaf with peas and almonds and a kibbe (ground lamb and pine nuts coated in ground bulgur and then fried).
The chicken was perfect as far as tenderness and spice level went. However, since anything you order that you want hot has to be microwaved, that kind of ruins it. The chicken hunks were still cold in the middle while the rest of the chicken was hot. The rice was a little dry, the kibbe was a little mushy, instead of the crunchiness others have when freshly prepared.
Chefy ordered the four side items special. There was some miscommunication though, which brought me secret delight since it's usually me doing the babbling. The seemingly 13-year old boy who was doing the serving did not seem to really be paying attention and was grabbing errantly at pies Mr. Chefman did not request.
In the end, he received a vegetable pie, a kibbe also, cooked greenbeans with tomatoes and baba ganoush. The greenbeans were fantastic - well flavored, but not overpowering. The kibbe again was a little soggy, not a good quality in a kibbe. The pie was a little flimsy on the outside but tasty. He also ended up with some kind of egg and tomato filled pie, that neither one of us was impressed with.
Overall I guess I would definitely recommend going to the Tiger Bakery, but it might be better to bring home and take care of a little better yourself (such as sauteing the kibbe to make it crunchy, or heating the pies in the oven to avoid sog.)

Summary:
Flavor: Greeatttt, sort of.
Prices: Arms and legs are still intact. $5.99 will get you a meal and a snack.
Ambiance/service: Nicely decorated and full of interesting things/the young boy was less than enthusiastic (as one might expect) and got some of the order wrong.
Location: Two places. This one was at 6710 W. Central Avenue, Toledo OH.
Website: http://www.tigerbakery.com/