Have you ever eaten at a new restaurant or gone to see a movie solely based on the recommendation of a friend? That's word of mouth marketing at it's best and it's something that restaurant owners, product manufacturers, and service providers dream about it - free advertising that comes with the power of a personal recommendation.

A few months ago Jeanine and I heard from a friend that this Greek restaurant we frequently get take-out from and occasionally dine-in at, The Aegean in Framingham, MA, had a great Lobster Greek Salad. We've been getting their Greek salad with chicken for years and it is fantastic so we thought we would give the Greek salad with lobster meat a try. They also have excellent avgolomeno, a chicken egg lemon soup, and an amazing seafood casserole of sauteed scallops, shrimp and lobster with scallions, diced tomatoes, olive oil and mozzerella cheese.

We've always been happy with their Greek salad with chicken, with lots of fresh crisp greens, some sliced cucumbers, sliced green peppers, sliced red onions, cherry tomatoes, and a few kalamata olives as well as lots of great, authentic feta cheese made from sheeps milk. The dressing for their Greek salads is just a simple light olive oil. So when we got the salads with lobster meat home we thought that it would just be some lobster meat on top of the usual salad, however it was topped with lobster salad. Seriously good lobster salad! If we did not hear about this great salad choice from a friend I don't know that we ever would have ordered it. Who would have thought lobster salad would go great on top of a Greek salad? We sure didn't, but now we're telling all our friends about it too - and I'm telling you! So if you live in the Framingham area, love lobster, and love Greek salads, stop in to The Aegean for their Greek Salad with Lobster Meat! You'll love it!

One of my regular reads is a site called Cookthink. Cookthink is a an online cooking resource made up of the blog, the Root Source email newsletter, and an assortment of recipe tools that allow you to "search for recipes by a combination of ingredients, dish types, cuisines and moods so that [they] can answer the question: What are you craving?"

One part of their blog that I really like is the Cookthink Questionnaire posted every Monday and Thursday. Cookthink interviews someone from the world of food, be it another blogger, a chef, or a writer. Since I'm not really hooked into the Cookthink crowd, I thought I would interview myself just for fun. I hope the folks at Cookthink don't mind and if they do, I'm sure they'll tell me. So here I am interviewing myself, giving full credit for the questions and concept of the questionnaire to the good folks over at Cookthink!


One Food Guy works during the day for a non-profit organization that produces international high school exchange programs. At night he eats, drinks, and writes about it on http://onefoodguy.blogspot.com

Sweet or salty?

Salty

Which ingredient(s) do you use most?

Crushed red pepper, garlic

What’s the cooking sound you most love?

The crackle of hardwood charcoal catching fire in the chimney starter

What’s your favorite cooking smell?

Garlic just after it hits the pan

What are the qualities you most admire in a dish?

Simplicity in preparation, boldness in flavor, cleanliness in presentation

What is your most treasured possession in the kitchen?

My Braun stainless steel mandolin

What is a dirty word in your kitchen?

Pre-made

What are afraid to do in the kitchen?

Saute fish - it stinks up my house!

What won’t you eat?

I'll try almost anything once

Have you ever lost your appetite for a food you once loved?

I used to love Snickers bars; I can't eat them anymore.

Have you ever had a change of heart involving a food you once disliked?

I used to dislike salt and vinegar potato chips, and Brussels sprouts. They are two of my favorites now

If you could choose one historical or living cook to make you a meal right now, who and what would it be?

I'm a big fan of Mario Batali's cooking, and I like the color orange. I'd like for Mario to make me something and explain the history of the dish like he used to do on Molto Mario.

Who are your favorite cookbook authors/food writers?

Anthony Bourdain, Bill Buford

What is your favorite food-related word?

organic, local

What is your favorite food-related scene from literature or the movies?

Remy smoking a mushroom over the chimney in Ratatoille then getting struck by lightning; then Remy eating the "lightningy" mushroom.

What’s your favorite food-shopping errand or journey?

I love going to farmer's markets and looking at all the fresh, colorful goodies on display. I also love walking through Pike's Place Market in Seattle.

To which country would you move for the food?

France or Italy

What’s your poison?

Vodka

What’s your standard outfit in the kitchen?

Shorts and a T-shirt.

You wish to die with what in your stomach?

Sushi

If heaven exists, what do you hope they have on the menu?

Tacos al pastor and sushi

If you came back as a fruit or a vegetable, which one would it be?

Prickly pear

What are you craving right now?

Sushi, lots and lots of sushi.

Block Island has fast become one of my favorite New England vacation spots. It's quiet, relatively inexpensive, and almost completely free of traffic, all attributes that are generally not associated with Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket.

Last month Jeanine and I spent four days on Block Island, our second visit to the island in as many years. We like to stay at The Old Town Inn which is right in the middle of the island, away from the day tripper crowds in the Old Harbor, and a short walk or bike ride away from dinner, the beaches, and the downtown area. The owners of the inn, Lucinda and David Morrison, are fantastic; David cooks up a delicious breakfast every morning that always includes fresh baked breads and pastries.

We have never brought our car over on the ferry, opting instead to bring our bikes which we ride to the beach every day! On our most recent trip we rented a moped/scooter and explored a little more of the island than we would have on our bikes. Our exploration brought us all the way up to the tip of the island, 'up the neck' as the locals say. We drove to the North Light at the end of Corn Neck Road; get it, 'up the neck'?

When we reached the end of the road, much to our surprise, there was a hot dog stand, John Kisseberth's H.J. Willy's Dog Waggin'! This hot dog stand was the most well equipped, well stocked stand I have ever seen! All beef hot dogs and bratwurst with your choice of ketchup, yellow mustard, John's homemade spicy mustard, relish, onions, sauerkraut, chili, cheese, or jalapenos! John also stocks an assortment of beverages as well as candy, cookies, gum, island maps, rain ponchos, sun block, disposable cameras and sunglasses!! His service bar is a beautiful surf board, and his presence in that location has resulted in a cleaner beach leading to the North Light house (people pick up trash on their walk back from the light and dispose of it in his barrel.) John also recycles!

Jeanine ordered up an all beef hot dog with John's homemade spicy mustard and sauerkraut and I ordered a bratwurst with John's homemade spicy mustard, onions, and jalapenos; John's mustard is spicy and delicious and the hot dog and bratwurst were excellent! This was a great treat and good fuel for our continued island exploration.

On my drive to work this morning I heard something in a commercial that I want share with you. I guess the commercial failed since I don't remember what product it was for but I like what NFL coach Brian Billick had to say about commitment...

"In a bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed! Be the pig!"

And in other news, Chinese are confused by Fortune Cookies!

Gas versus Charcoal is an age old debate and I am firmly planted on the side of the charcoal supporters. I have two Weber Kettle charcoal grills, an old 18.5" Silver and the larger 22.5" One-Touch Gold. Years ago I made a beer can chicken on the 18.5" grill and I couldn't get the lid all the way closed without smashing down the chicken. Earlier this summer, I bought the 22.5" grill which has more grilling surface area, obviously, and higher clearance under the dome lid, perfect for beer can chicken.

When I woke up yesterday morning I was not planning on making beer can chicken. But I turned on the Food Network and saw Robin Koury, guest on Bobby Flay's new show 'Grill It', pulling a beer can chicken off of Bobby's big gas grill. I logged onto FoodNetwork.com and grabbed the recipe for her Spice of Life Beer Can Chicken and I knew what I was doing that afternoon. Robin also made a grilled macaroni and cheese that looked amazing, but I digress. Beer can chicken was on the menu at Chez One Food Guy on Sunday and wow was it good!

I planned for dinner around 7pm, so I knew that I would have to get the chickens on the grill no later than 5:30pm. That meant that I needed to start prep work around 4pm which meant I needed to go to the market! I picked up a couple 4lb birds at Whole Foods Market as well as some Hungarian Hot Paprika for the base of the spice rub, and other items for the side dishes. I stopped at my local liquor store to pick up a six pack of beer, in cans, and I was good to go.

I mixed up the spice rub (see below for the recipe of my own version of the rub) and gently separated the skin from the breast of the chickens without removing it. I rubbed the chickens with the spicy goodness under the skin and all over, inside and out of the chickens. I cracked open a couple beers, drank half of each of them, and added a little butter and a little bit of the spice rub to each of the cans before stuffing the beer cans into the chickens rear ends.


While I was preparing the chickens, I lit a full chimney of charcoal and soaked some mesquite wood smoking chips. When the charcoal was ready, I placed a drip pan in the middle of the grill and poured the charcoal onto the sides of the pan, creating an indirect heat source to cook the birds. See all that smoky goodness rising up around the chickens? When the lid goes on these chickens are going straight to grill heaven!



Every twenty minutes I rotated the chickens 1/4 turn to ensure even cooking; this picture here is after just twenty minutes on the grill, look how golden brown they are already! Truth be told, the grill was running a little hot (over 400 degrees) so I closed down the bottom vents to just less than half open which eventually would bring the grill temps down to about 350 degrees, just where I wanted it.


Here are the beautiful chickens in all their spicy goodness, one hour and twenty-five minutes after entering grill nirvana. I pulled the birds off the grill at this point and tented them with foil in the kitchen while I prepared the rest of the meal.


Dinner is served! I quartered each chicken, separating the thigh and drumstick from the breast and wing and served them up with some homemade sweet potato and scallion salad and homemade cucumber salad. Everything was great, except for the mosquitoes. We ate dinner out on our patio while the mosquitoes ate us!


Recipe for Robin Koury's Spice of Life Beer Can Chicken

Spice Rub for 2 Beer Can Chickens
1/2 cup Hungarian hot paprika
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
1 heaping teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 heaping teaspoon ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt