Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sound Bites: Epic Meal Time Does Brunch

Epic Meal Time, the YouTube show bringing manly cooking to the masses, recently uploaded a video called "Brunch of Booze." Some surfaced this video to me in response to the post Top Thoughts: Do Dudes Do Brunch?

Here for your viewing pleasure is how bros brunch:

Hilariously enough, their brunch sandwich doesn't look *that* much worse for you than Paula Deen's Ladies Brunch Burger featured in this post.

Oh, and the bacon spread they use is actually available for purchase here... I'm not quite sure what it is, but I based on the related items, I think it's on par with Baconnaise -- the infamous bacon flavored mayonnaise. 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Top Thoughts: Do Dudes Do Brunch?

While escaping from my family with a holiday "How I Met Your Mother" binge, a scenario in a season 2 episode brought an interesting question to mind: who brunches?

The episode centered around a male character substituting his temporarily ex-girlfriend with an also recently heartbroken bro. They do the things that "couples" do together: brunch, intimate dinner for two, and a play. While the dinner and a play seemed like an obvious date situation, the brunch one irked me a bit. Dudes, bros, menfolk -- or whatever you want to call the more grotesque sex -- definitely brunch. How do I know? I've seen it. First hand. In the wild.

And why wouldn't dudes brunch? Savory egg dishes rarely make dinner menus, and when is a better time to enjoy an extended meal with friends that's uninterrupted by work or responsibility than brunch time? I don't like the gender bias that comes with brunch. It's not just a ladies gossip time, it's not only for double dating with your bestie -- it's a time for revelry and daytime drinking.

However, there is a particular type of person who seems to be brunching. Not readily identifiable by gender, but rather by income level, choice of living environment and age. The casual brunch scene is dominated by 25-35 year old college educated urban dwellers who make an above average income. These people come in all colors and sexes, but they all have a recognizably uniform background.

Yes, families brunch together at times. Yes, bridal and baby showers are exceptional female excuses for brunching. Yes, couples brunch. But the people driving restaurants to open their doors at 10am on the weekends are the young urban professionals making brunch a cultural trend.

Maybe being a bit parochial since this is an accurate reflection of my usual brunch crowd, but it also seems to be the usual San Francisco brunch crowd at large.

I'd love to know if I'm the odd one out here... Is there a strong voice of disagreement on the question of who brunches?



Friday, December 23, 2011

DIY: Wintertime Brunch Cocktails

If not obvious already, I'll plainly state that the mimosa is my favorite brunch cocktail. Don't get me wrong, I won't shy away from a good bellini or mint julep, and I think a well made bloody mary is a rare treat. Other than being daytime appropriate alcoholic beverages, the common trait among all of these -- nay most -- brunch cocktails is that they're served cold. Having grown up in the North East where winters are cold and emotionally crippling (much like me in relationships), I wanted to highlight some hot cocktail alternatives to the chill of tradition.

Coffee is a great base for wintertime brunch drinks because it's generally served hot and it's caffeinated, which means it's the perfect way to start your day(time drinking).

Kicking off the first cocktail on the list is the poorly named, deliciously diabetic Coffee Milk Punch -- it's basically the least healthy grownup incarnation of hot chocolate ever dreamed up. And it tastes like heaven.

Coffee Milk Punch
Ingredients
  • 6 cups strong brewed hot coffee 
  • 1/2 cup hot fudge topping
  • 1/4 cup sugar 
  • 2 cups half-and-half 
  • 1 cup coffee liqueur
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Whisk together hot coffee, fudge topping, and sugar in a large Dutch oven until smooth. Add half-and-half and remaining ingredients, stirring until blended. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Serve immediately.
(Recipe courtesy of SouthernLiving.com)

Something more basic but still coffee based is the Irish Coffee. It's literally just spiking your coffee with whisky. Irish whisky if you're a stickler for tradition, but I'm pretty sure the Irish don't really care if you bastardize this one. Recipe is included below for proportions sake.

Irish Coffee
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of coffee
  • 1.5 ounces of Irish Whisky
Put the whisky into the coffee. 

This next cocktail could be considered a super fancy Irish Coffee, which would make it comically un-Irish.



The Blizzard Cocktail

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey
  • 1/2 ounce hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico
  • 1/2 ounce Irish cream liqueur, such as Bailey's
  • Coffee
Stir together whiskey, hazelnut liqueur, and Irish cream; top with coffee. If you're feeling super fancy or  grew up on Starbucks blended drinks, garnish with whipped cream.
(Recipe courtesy of MarthaStewart.com


Since not everyone loves coffee, I'll close out with a twist on a classic. It's not hot, but it's a red so you can tell children it's the blood of Santa.

The Poinsettia 
  • Orange liqueur
  • Champagne 
  • Cranberry Juice
Fill a quarter of a champagne flute with triple sec, splash with cranberry juice, fill the rest of the glass with champagne. Garnish with an orange twist if you're so inclined.

Happy Holidays.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sound Bites: Paula Deen Does Brunch

A Burger. An Egg. Bacon. Sausage. A Doughnut. Put them together and what to you get? The "Lady's Brunch Burger" according to Paul Deen.

I think Paula Dean sums up this brunch monstrosity (or slice of heaven?) nicely when she says that "[you're] probably going to see this and say "ya'll are out of your crazy minds.'" Yes, Paula. I think you're out of your mind, but strangely enough, it only makes me love you more.



That is a heart attack waiting to happen -- serving that to someone may actually make you liable for manslaughter.

...I think I will try it with veggie sausage and veggie bacon this weekend.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

After Bites: An Addendum to First Dates

A great point was made in the comments of yesterday's post Brunch Etiquette: A First Date Favorite that I felt I needed to address:
"...But we all knew that already right? Dinner isn't a first date thing but maybe a second date thing. It takes the pressure off of both parties. What differentiates brunch from say coffee or lunch or breakfast? Is there a scale of casualness?"
Well I disagree that most people don't think of dinner as a first date go-to plan -- it's expected and it's after work. It's the traditional format. Here is my break down:
  • Coffee = I'm not that interested or I assume you're not that interested thus want to pass this off as a friendly non-date situation
  • Lunch = I'm not that interested
  • Cocktails = I'm interested but not enough to buy you dinner
  • Dinner = I'm actually interested
  • Breakfast = The date was last night
Brunch doesn't hold the same level of casual convenience as a coffee or lunch, it's more of a commitment than cocktails, we've already covered dinner, and who the hell takes a first date out to breakfast? Unless you're living in a romantic comedy dating someone who's job/kids/elderly dog makes having a personal life so impossible that breakfast is the only time of day they can go on a date, breakfast is more of a morning after situation.

Brunch is the feel good, but still recognizably a date option. It's not going the adventurous route of say, rock climbing, or the overly romantic route of a picnic on the beach, but it's the perfect setting to determine whether you want to have a second date.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Brunch Etiquette: A First Date Favorite

First dates can be are terrifying. At least before they start. For people in long term relationships, you may have forgotten the feeling of pre-first-date anxiety.

It's pre-first-date anxiety that causes women to purchase inordinately expensive new shoes to wear with that skirt that makes their ass look spectacular (yes, we all have that skirt). It's pre-first-date anxiety that causes men to check in advance that their credit card won't be declined paying for the exorbitant dinner bill that they (hopefully) refuse to split with their date.* It's "I-Want-To-Impress-You-But-How-Much-Effort-Should-I-Really-Be-Putting-Into-This" anxiety.

It is horrible.

Dinner dates, in particular, are stressful. It's not just the apprehension before hand, it's also planning an escape route. Why do you need an escape route? Because you and your date knows damn well this was the last thing on your schedule for the day, so when you cut out early, you're making an escape.

Enter the first date savior: Brunch.

Other than the drawback that the lighting is a bit little less concealing, everything is truly brighter at brunch. There are fewer guessing games about what to wear (it's the day time -- causal is king!), the price point will be less burdensome than dinner fare, and you have the whole day ahead of you to either make up a prior engagement or to continue hanging out.  It's the perfect remedy to higher stress traditional itinerary of dinner and drinks. Why does brunch work so well? To elaborate on the reasons above:
  • Brunch is casual without feeling cheap. There's a novelty to a brunch date that you don't get with dinner. 
  • Almost wherever you go the food will feel familiar without being boring, so there's less risk than accidentally bringing your vegetarian date to a steak house.
  • If things are going well, you have time to hang out. Grab some coffee, take a walk to a bookshop or a park.
  • Alternatively, if things aren't going well, having a class or somewhere else to be doesn't sound like an outlandish lie, so you don't need an elaborate escape ruse that involves rushing to the restroom to send a secret text to your friend asking them to call sobbing in 5 minutes so you can politely excuse yourself.
  • Daylight doesn't mean you can't make out. If things are headed in that direction, you'll still get some.
So next time you have a first date coming up, consider making reservations for brunch. It won't make your date more attractive or a better conversationalist, but it will save you some stress before hand.




*Yes, I'm making a hetero-normative gender assumptions. Apologies if this blog post sets women's rights or social progress back a few decades.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Come on Cajun: Brunch at Boxing Room

There are a lot of decent brunch options in San Francisco, but sometimes you stumble upon a place that has the potential to become a brunch mecca. Recently I had the fortune of discovering one of these establishments: The Boxing Room. While it's not quite perfect, it has the foundation for greatness.

What is that foundation? Novelly delightful dishes, an attentive waitstaff and an welcoming atmosphere. Oh, and a good (albeit pricey) mimosa.



I'm not an expert in Cajun food nor do I have any particular urge to become one, but I've eaten enough benedict dishes that I can spot a well poached egg a mile away. The crab & artichoke cake benedict-inspired plate didn't disappoint. Served on a bed of greens, the breaded and fried crab cake performed double duty, it was both the hearty star and carbohydrate laden benedict base. The hollandaise sauce wasn't notably Cajun influenced, or really that notable at all, but a decent addition to a perfectly runny poached egg.

Get the beignets. No regrets.

Boxing Room's high ceilings, big windows and sunlight dining area ensure even the most claustrophobic of your friends will be comfortable. It's the exact opposite of intimate, which makes it a great place to bring friends you're not afraid to be seen with. And probably a good place to break up with a potentially violent boyfriend since you're in plain sight of lots of witnesses.

Forgettable hollandaise aside, The Boxing Room had few missteps. The price point is a bit steep for the fare, which is good but it's also competing with a lot of other delicious competition in San Francisco. What stood out the most was the weird thing inside of the cream that came out with our coffee. My best guess was a dandelion seed, but I'll leave it to you to decide:




Brunch Etiquette: Conversational Courtesy In The Post Sex & The City Age

I have a confession to make. Despite being a female in my twenties, I haven't actually seen very much of HBO's Sex & the City. What I have seen, however, is more than enough to inspire this post (don't worry, this isn't a proclamation that Sex & the City is a detriment to society). Whether they were at brunch or breakfast, the characters' constant discussion about misadventures in sex has helped broadened the boundaries of propriety for any conversation that takes place over savory egg dishes and mimosas.

Is this a terrible thing? No. Not for me at least. But it does stand to be said that the prim & proper brunch of yesteryear is on the brink of extinction. At least for young urbanites (my primary brunch cohort). Unless a special occasion (e.g., Easter, Mother's Day), no one takes pains to dress up, and they're certainly not observing conversational formalities.

Though I pointed out the influence of Sex & the City, the R-rated brunch conversation isn't a female phenomenon. Last week while having a respectable higher-end brunch with 3 of my dearest dudes, I got an in-depth explanation of why you shouldn't blame a guy or take it as an insult if he can't get it up.  Other things I've learned from my brunching brethren: the best hand job is the one you give yourself; the benefits of paying for pornography on the internet; and that men have a post-sex emotional spike that sometimes resembles clinginess.

While I know this type of conversation is not for everyone, nor it does it describe every brunch (especially the first date brunch... more on that in the future), when out to brunch I've come to expect overhearing this type of talk from surrounding tables. Whatever the causes of brunch's contemporary moral aesthetic, brunch is an escape from the niceties of polite conversation. With so much time spent working and worrying about life, I love that brunch is an acceptable time to let your guard down and relax.

The move away from formality at brunch is actually a return to historical form. As I covered in the post Brunch: A History, brunch was a gluttonous luxury that early pioneers could afford. It was a time for them to pretty much continue the party that started the night before, drinking, eating and gossiping to their hearts' content.


Brace Yourself: The Brunch Blog Returns

It's simply been too long. Luckily for you, during my lengthy absence from blogging brunch escapades (brunchcapades?), my enthusiasm and commitment to brunching every possible weekend remained strong. I have a delicious backlog of San Francisco brunch highlights, tips and musings to share.

To give you a teaser, here are some of the delights I'll be posting soon:

Brunch Etiquette: Conversational Courtesy In The Post Sex & The City Age
Come on Cajun: Brunch at Boxing Room
The Brunch Buffet: It Does Exist. (Mimosas Not Included.)
Doing Dosa: An Indian Brunch for the Ages
Not Just for Adults: The Kid Friendly Brunch
Love & Brunch Bavarian Style: Suppenküche is Super Fun




More than a year away means there's a lot to say... Brace yourself for the return of The Brunch Blog.