February - the month of great food
Sunday, February 18, 2007 7:07 AM PST
Somethin' to talk about
Julie Engel
When you think of food in February, the thought that comes to mind is chocolate. While I had plenty of that at the Wine and Chocolate Affaire - plus many delicious wines - the month for me has been about mole sauce.
At the end of January and early February, all I wanted was Mexican food. Nothing else sounded good to me at all. I tried Mexican places I had never gone to and tried different menu items to satiate my hunger for Mexican food.
One day I was having lunch with a coworker friend and she ordered mole enchiladas. I had never heard of that before, so I asked her what it was. She explained it was enchiladas covered in a sweet, slightly nutty sauce. I decided to order it too.
My taste buds were in heaven. The sauce was sweet, savory, slightly spicy and a little nutty. I couldn't believe what I was tasting. I, like the Hamburger Hunter and his French toast, went on a mission to find the best mole sauce.
Each of the restaurants around had different mole sauces. I was amazed at the differences, but each had its own character. I have not tried mole sauce at all of the Mexican restaurants in the area, so it would be unfair to judge by what I have tasted so far. All I know is, if you haven't had a mole enchilada, you don't know what you're missing.
Even though the month is only half over, I have had the best taste experience and the worst already. The worst happened at the Mystic Vine last Saturday after the Wine and Chocolate Affaire.
The Vine had different cheeses out for us to try. Now, I love cheese, and I love even more to try new cheeses. All of the cheeses on the plate were ones I had never tried.
The herb brie? Fantastic. The white cheese with the weird name I can't remember? Pretty good. The havarti with dill? Out of this world.
The blue cheese? Ick, yuck, petooey.
I don't think my taste buds have ever felt so violated. My eyes started to water a bit, and I promptly spit that vile excuse for a cheese into my napkin. I chugged my beer, but the taste stayed with me for too long.
Even thinking about it now makes me shudder.
Then there was the ROSE Bowl. The prospect of all-you-can-eat soup was enough to get me in the door, plus the handthrown bowl made by Treasure Valley Community College pottery class. If you missed Payette, there will also be a ROSE Bowl in Weiser. I highly recommend it, not only for the great soup and beautiful bowl but also for the great cause it goes to - ROSE Advocates.
The soup was donated by various local businesses. There was a chicken tortilla soup with Fritos that was delicious. I was amazed by the soup selection. I am not much of a soup person, but I had a mission to try every soup there.
I didn't quite make it that far. The cheesy potato was pretty good, the cheesy broccoli was excellent and the beans from Nichols were a standard favorite. My stomach was bursting, so I could not try the turkey vegetable soup.
Now my stomach is looking forward to the Basque Dinner/Dance Saturday. I can't wait.
