A couple of months ago I made Hash a la Lubeck from the 1969 cookbook Campbell’s Great Restaurants Cookbook, USA.
Two weeks ago I went out on 3 Tinder dates in a 7 day period.
Both of these experiments had mixed results.
When this book came out, Luchow’s was still in business on East 14th Street in NYC. It shuttered its doors in 1982. But Luchow’s was a big deal–it is featured prominently in Vincent and Mary Price’s Treasury of Great Recipes.
So, this joint had the VP seal of approval! I settled on Hash a la Lubeck.
As I just post pictures of the Hash a la Lubeck process, I’ll tell you about my Tinder-ing.
Because I know that’s why you’re here.
Guy 1. I can’t even tell you anything about Guy 1. Seriously. It was that unmemorable. Like, nothing. I could not tell you his name if my life depended on it. Oh! He had a female roommate. Because it seems like every dude has a female roommate as of late.
Guy 2. Now, it started off on a bad note because he had those big earrings. You know the kind–the ones that are plastic and, like, super-big. Gauges? Grommets? I have no clue. All I know is that’s not really my bag.
Good: we talked about the Jaws series and had a lot of 1980s nostalgia going on. So that was cool.
Bad: the fact that he told me that he loved to wear flip-flops. Like, everywhere. Not just backyard, beach, pool, boat, privacy of own home (those are the ONLY acceptable places for men to wear flip-flops IMHO).
Bad: he called me a fag hag. Yup.
Bad: he basically told me that television was low-brow and stupid. Don’t diss my tv, dude.
Guy 3. Well, he has a kid, wore some sort of Ed Hardy-ish hoodie, lives all the way out by Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and did nothing but talk smack on Pittsburgh.
But! He was handsome and had a bit of a Jon Hamm vibe in certain angles (for serious), so I was willing to overlook a few things.
But then he told me that he didn’t drink. Like, EVER.
So I felt like this scene:
I can’t hang with those who don’t imbibe.
So here is the final result of my Hash a la Lubeck:
It looked pretty! But it was completely inedible. This had potential, for sure. But it was waaaaaaay too salty. And I like salt.
Hold on. Why did I say earlier that the results were mixed? They sucked. Both just sucked.
I am probably going to lay off the Tinder for a while. A profile I just read included this little gem: “Girls, just FYI, Marilyn Monroe was a slut. She had multiple affairs.” That was sandwiched right between “I’m hilarious” and “I work as a traveling independent marketing consultant.”
What the fuck is wrong with men? This isn’t quite as atrocious as the Control Your Vagina rant, but c’mon!
[…] (Post recap: 3 Tinder dates in 7 days. All disasters. I promptly deleted the Tinder.) […]
I have a feeling that it didn’t turn out because of the kind of roast beef sandwich meat used….in the time of Luchow’s, their roast beef would have been made in house, and would not have been processed and sodium-laden, Just my thoughts.
I have the cookbook and am wondering which recipe to try first.
I am sorry that both the recipe and the dates didn’t turn out well! I feel like I could write an entire blog about my weird/baffling dating experiences. Once, half an hour into a coffee/tea date, I realized that my date (who seemed promising because he was super intelligent and loved animals) had demonstrated that he was racist, classist, sexist, homophobic, and antisemitic. Yuck.
I now refer to him as Yahtzee.
Shame about the pie, but even bigger shame about the men. What the hell is wrong with men today? In what situation would anyone think being insulting is the way to get a second date?
The pastry did look pretty though.
That’s a question for the ages…but I had an OKCupid exchange today that will make it into a future blog post. It’s a doooooozy.
If you deleted the 1tsp of salt, would it still be too salty? I get that the anchovies are nothing but a salt addition….I really was intrigued by this combo. Does the recipe just belong in the trash or is it worth it to re-try with “salt adjustments”?
Still laughing about “control your vagina”………..
It was suuuuuper salty. I think it was the anchovy AND the salt AND the beef. Not worth another go around.
I don’t get these guys–if you stated that you were a virgin, you KNOW there’d be multiple (if not more) guys saying (and wondering) what’s wrong with you. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: the question isn’t what women want…it’s what men want.
Seriously, what do y’all want?
Oh, and as soon as I saw “hash,” I knew it would be too salty. Looks good, though!
Your pie looks so pretty. The flowers have a real retro vibe. Love it!!!! I think I might join Jenny on the Ebay hunt!
Keep going with the dating. The right one is there somewhere – you are too adorable for him not to be! Meantime, we love the stories! xx
Ooooh Perty! Love your little tin of cutters and will be off to ebay STAT to peruse such things.
Please don’t give up the dating… I did it for 8 years and it provided much hilarity for all my friends and taught me so much about the modern man. Yes, like you I spent a lot if time in a state of incredulity, but there were lots of laughs along the way.
Eventually you will hook up with someone on the same wavelength. For example, In bed this morning, out of the blue, Mr R said: “Do you like Kraftwerk?” I responded with a loud and forceful “ya wohl!” And then we laughed for about 5 minutes…
That pie does look lovely! I can never do much of anything with pastry except make it fall apart.
The dates sound terrible, though. Anyone that makes a blanket statement about TV being low-brow and stupid is just a pretentious and insecure asshole as far as I can tell. But you’re right– still better than Mr. “Control Your Vagina.” I just don’t know how these guys expect anyone to put up with them for more than an hour at most.
My Tinder experience is summed up in two guys: The first looks hot in his pics and contacts me regularly when he wants to hook up, and has zero conversational skills. The second has loads of conversation, and a wife.
I remember Luchow’s ads. I grew up a few blocks away from it. I remember being utterly skeeved by the food on our little b&w tv, even at the time.
You’re a brave lady, on two counts.