Recent reviews of Foodler places that deliver to Roxbury

El Triunfo

Last weekend we ordered from El Triunfo, that little Salvadorian place in the South End that also does Tex-Mex (with a fantastic Salvadorian twist to it). The order came quickly (about 30 minutes) and everything was hot and the order was accurate. I like that their page even says that they're a small family-owned place, so to please bear with them in terms of orders taking a bit of time. Nevertheless, it got here faster than pretty much anywhere we've ordered from, with the exception of AK's, which is only a few blocks away.

The enchiladas aren't what one would expect; they're a crispy corn tortilla with toppings on top, garnished with lettuce and such. Very tasty, but more what one would think of as a tostada or similar. Also, absolutely huge and bursting with a variety of ingredients for $2.75; I was expecting that for this price, I would get one rolled-up corn tortilla with beans and veggies in it and covered in enchilada sauce. (I never expect enchiladas to be actually slow-baked except in my own kitchen and at a few of the Mexican family restaurant sort of places). I was pleasantly surprised to find basically a whole meal on top of a tortilla.

The nachos are amazing. Perfect topping-to-chip ratio, and fabulous sauces and seasonings. This was true of everything actually -- as soon as we opened up the bag, we were greeted by that lovely smoky and slightly spicy Central American food aroma.

Molly got a bean taco and a grilled veggie quesadilla, both of which I tried. Again, everything had that distinctive homemade Central American flavor, yet managed to not all taste the same. Everything had plenty of fresh veggies, smoky peppers, slightly oily peppers, and various spices. The grilled veggie quesadilla and grilled veggie enchilada were made with peppers, onions, and summer squash, all of which are fabulous when grilled with Salvadorian seasonings. People who've read my previous restaurant posts know how much it pisses me off when "vegetable" things at Latin American places have stuff like cauliflower and carrots in them -- these things just do not belong in fajitas or quesadillas. I mean, I'm all about the fusion, and enjoy things like portabellos or butternut squash in cuisine where one might not ordinarily find them, but fajitaed cauliflower is just wrong.

Lilly's Gourmet Pasta

Lilly's is in Allston and recently started delivering to Roxbury -- possibly because another Lilly's is under construction in the Bury and they're trying to get us hooked before it opens? I'm ordinarily not big on ordering pasta from restaurants (actual authentic Italian places excluded, of course), because this usually amounts to paying $15 for penne and red sauce, which I could make at home for about a dollar. If I'm at a place with a large typical American food menu, I'm more likely to order a salad or pizza or something that involves way more fresh ingredients than anything I'd likely make at home for two people.

That being said, Lilly's is all handmade pasta and sauces, and it tastes like it. Last night we each got a ravioli dish, because OMG ravioli, but the sauces and pasta were so awesome that I'm sure their plain pasta with red sauce would also be amazing and unlike anything I could make at home. My favorite thing about the menu is that everything is customizable; you pick a pasta, then pick a sauce, then choose from several dozen items you want to add to it (various cheeses, veggies, sundried tomatoes, etc.)

I got spinach ravioli with vodka sauce and Molly got butternut squash ravioli with alfredo sauce. Both were amazing. They were good-sized portions too. The salad was cheap and huge and awesome. The pesto bread must have had crack in it or something, because OMG. Right now I'm tempted to order up some of it just for snacking purposes. The minimum order for delivery is $15, but I don't think I'd have any problem eating four or five orders of the stuff, because as I said, it's got crack in it.

Also, on the subject of getting salads from restaurants, Molly mentioned that menus no longer call it "tossed salad," but rather "green salad" or "house salad." (If you're not sure why the older term might have gone out of vogue for referring to actual salad, consult urbandictionary.com or your friendly local teenage boy of any age and gender). I said I wondered if teabags are soon going to be called "tea infusement satchels" or something, but she told me not to hold my breath. And if I did, not to forget the safeword. OK, she didn't say that last part.

Our very own Morrissey Blvd Stop and Shop is immortalized on Cake Wrecks

Molly and I are big fans of Cake Wrecks. Every time we look at it though, we wonder where people find messed-up cakes at bakeries, because we never see anything like this anywhere around here. A couple weeks ago though, we went into the Stop and Shop and were greeted by a series of "Patroits" cakes, big giant cakes, and cupcakes. Also giant disturbing balloons, but we didn't photograph and/or submit those, since they aren't messed-up cakes. Cake Wrecks included her photo today in this post. Yay!

Overheard at CVS

Dude walking through the aisles: "Jesus F. Christ! Where the fuck are
the toothpicks?"
Dude goes up to cashier: "Excuse me, where are the toothpicks?"
Cashier: "Sorry, we don't carry toothpicks, we do have the little dental..."
Dude: "No no, oh, I meant, uh...the shit you put in your ears!"
Cashier: "Q-tips? All the way down on aisle 15."
Dude: "Great, thanks!"

Delores Handy word of the day

"in Michelle Obama's box"

Bob Oakes word of the day

"neeeeeuuuwwwz"

Bof fri fleu, bitches

You know the only thing cooler than those Mass Dept of Health stroke awareness videos?

The ones in other languages.



Spanish! Llama al nueve uno uno y di "stroke!"

Portuguese! Disque para nove um um e dizer "stroke!"

Japanese! Ichi ichi kyu!

ZOMBIES!

Geography FAIL

GLBT folks: Get a free sticker to attach to your census return to encourage them to count us

[Text from queerthecensus.org follows.]

The census is not necessarily the topic you've been waiting to hear about, I know, but bear with me for a moment.

It's coming up in March or April, and while it's supposed to be an accurate count of everyone in the country, there's no question that asks if someone is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

This is a huge problem. The data collected has a direct impact on issues that are critical to every American--issues like health care, economic stability, safety. And when LGBT people are not counted, individuals, families, and communities suffer.

The good news is that we can change this. Show your support of a census that counts everyone--say it right on your census envelope with your free Queer the Census sticker! And make sure to sign the petition telling the Census Bureau to make sure everyone is counted.

Dye! Dye! Dye!

Oh, how cool would it be if I didn't have to work and could dye stuff all day? (Except how I'd miss my jobs, because both are really pretty awesome, but this is a fantasy so that's not the point.)

[click through for bigger photos and details on what got dyed and how]

As requested: tutorial for using iDye in the front loading washer

Different washers of course have different programs and settings. These instructions are based on my machine, which has a "heavy" setting that consists of 16 minutes of wash in hot water, then three cold rinses and three spins. When I hit "cancel" on my washer, it stops immediately and does not drain or spin.

1. Pre-wet fabric when going for even dyeing. (Do not pre-wet if wanting to tie dye or wanting mottled look). I do this by starting the program, then canceling after a couple of minutes.

2. Move fabric over to one side of the washer, pour salt and iDye packet(s) over on the other side. Begin a cycle that starts with a hot wash.

3. Set timer for 10 minutes (or less, if your washer is going to start draining before that). Add water, generally as hot as possible, to the machine through the detergent dispenser. I do this because front loaders use very little water, so the material wouldn't normally be in enough water to move much. I've added up to two gallons in a whole dye cycle.

4. When timer goes off, cancel wash cycle, then immediately restart it. Add a few cups of very hot water per dye packet to keep the bath hot. I keep a pot of water almost boiling on my stove, which is conveniently right next to the washer.

5. For very dark colors and/or heavy fabric, do four or five 10-minute wash-then-reset cycles, then let it run through a full cycle to rinse the dye out. If your cycle doesn't already include two or three rinses, add them, or run it through a few times to make sure it's sufficiently rinsed. For lighter colors, do less time. For instance, for a sheet and some small items with one packet of purple, I did two 10-minute baths, then on the third cycle let it run all the way through.

6. Dry fabric in dryer on the hottest setting, unless it's something where shrinkage is going to be a problem.

Note: This method is obviously less environmentally friendly than stove-top method or similar might be, because of all the water and energy use. The good part is that a lot of this can be more-or-less offset since dyeing is a good way to revive things like grungy-but-still-sturdy socks, thrift store finds, stained or damaged fabrics, etc.

Hand-dyed couch cushion covers are finished

[click through for larger images]

For all six covers (about 5.5 pounds of fabric total), I ended up using about four packets of chestnut iDye, two brown, two crimson, one olive. I did it as about six separate dye baths to achieve the mottled/textured look. I'm really liking how the hand-dyed fabrics are breaking up the modern lines and materials of the IKEA stuff. (I love IKEA, but not crazy about entire rooms of it, or for that matter, any room that's made of mostly or entirely brand-new coordinating items. I think that if your room looks like the whole thing was delivered from a showroom, ur doin it rong.)

Delores Handy word of the day

Emplwahment

Done dyeing the chair covers

[click through for larger pic and additional images]

So, once it was all done, I think I ended up using 10 packets of chestnut, two of crimson, and four of brown (14 pounds of fabric in the two covers). The result was exactly what I wanted -- warm chocolatey brown, pretty dang overdyed, but still unsaturated enough to have those gradations in the color that give it the natural hand-dyed look.

(Also, the iPhone camera is particularly skilled at showing how I need to wash my floor. It's not that obviously dusty in real life, I swear!)

The couch cushion covers are still in need of several more dye baths. Getting to about the saturation I want, but I think they're too far toward rust. Once they dry, I'll see where they're at and what they need next.

Hmm, I can't seem to find an Amazon PayPhrase that's available

Delores Handy word of the day

"wenter"