Muy Bueno

Tonight's dinner was a couple of Spanish-style tapas: Tortilla Espanola, Pinchitos Morunos, good rustic bread, and a Nice Spanish red wine: Jumilla, from Bodegas Luzon.

Not expensive, yet delicious.

Joy and Sadness

First, the good news.

Lurch, my best friend of 20 years, one of three musketeers from my college days, is finally getting married to a sweet and lovely young woman. They've been courting for a couple years now, and have worked through good and bad times together. If anyone deserves love and happiness, it's Brian.

Now the bad news.

Due to financial difficulties and the demands of my school schedule, I won't be attending. I was to be a groomsman, I won't be able to even be a guest.

This really breaks my heart.

Before I met TFR, Brian and I would commiserate over our loneliness and lack of female companionship. For years I've wanted him to find someone as badly as I ever wanted to myself. And now that he has, I won't be there to celebrate with him.

So on February 29th, I'll sit back, crack open a Vernor's, and raise a glass to the world's most deserving groom.

To Valhalla!

Vindication and VIN-dication

Two of my classes today were International Cuisine and Culinary Adventuring: Oregon Wine Country.

In the International Cuisine class, we were assigned one of two tasks: Cooking a dish fro tonights covered region, or test-cooking one of the dishes for the Ren Room menu for the term. I was assigned a Ren Room dish -- a dessert, specifically a Pear Tart Tatin from a Jamie Oliver Recipe. As most of you who read me may know, I'm not a baker -- in fact, pastries and baking are my Achilles' Heel.

I nailed it. It came out looking gorgeous, and tasting heavenly. When I brought over the presentation plate for the menu photo shoot, I almost cried, I was so thrilled.

Then in the Culnary Adventuring class (an electve pass/no pass class class where passing requires that you show up), the instructor let me share something I saw on the news recently:

Riedel Crystal has developed a new varietal stemware specifically for Oregon Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is the grape found in Burgundy wine, so for a long time that's been the kind of glass recommended for Oregon Pinot, but our terroir is entirely different from Burgudy's. Now, the validity/necessity of a new glass is already being debated, with some thinking it's just a marketing gimmick, and others arguing that there really is a difference in the experience of the drinker depending on the glass. Personally, I'm still not enough of a wine expert (which is why I'm taking this class as a start -- a chef should know wine) to contribute to that debate, but I do know one thing -- either way, Riedel woudn't bother unless Oregon Pinot had become a significant part of the market -- something also backed up by the fact that Benton Lane, a winery about half an hour from here, was named to Wine Spectator's top 100 Pinot Noirs of the World list.

We really are blessed here in Oregon with an abundance of wonderful, fresh foods -- seafood, fruit and nuts and berries, free-range livestock, artisan cheeses, and some of the best wines and beers in America, and now, the World. As an aspiring culinarian, one of the things I desire to do is develop a cooking style that highlights the food and drink of my birthplace, a place I consider as close to heaven as I'll get this side of the Veil.

Swamped

This term, I'm taking 21 credit hours. That classload includes a Restaurant Kitchen Supervison lab, working in the Renaissance Room (our student-run restaurant), that counts for exactly zero credit hours, but meets for nine hours a week. On Thursday afternoon, I have a job interview. Saturdays will still be spent with The Lad while TFR is at work.

You'll understand if my posting levels sink back to their previous sporadic near-nonexistent levels.

Link Worthy

Go watch, over at the LlamaButchers. Trust me.

Seattle, Washington

Final:
Seattle Seahawks 35
Washington Redskins 14

All week long I've been growing more and more weary of hearing how red hot the 'Skins were, how emotionally driven by the "Win One for the Gipper" factor they were, how they had the best record in the NFC over the last four weeks of the season. It seemed that everyone, apparently including the Redskins, forgot that there was another team scheduled to show up in Seattle today.

The 'Hawks reminded them of that fact, in no uncertain terms. The defense especially was dominant, rushing and sacking Collins all game long. They even had something resembling a running game, and they overcame a late surge by Washington, who came back to lead 14-13 before they missed a field goal and let Seattle back in it.

Well played, 'Skins,way to go 'Hawks!

It's Snowing

Right now, right out my window. Big, thick, heavy, wet snowflakes. It just shifted from rain to snow, so nothing's sticking yet, but it's snowing. It's gorgeous. I've been hoping for a little snow since mid-December, since I love white Christmases. Each morning I would wake up and listen, hoping to hear... nothing. Under normal weather conditions, I can hear plenty of traffic in the distance. If the roads are wet, I'll hear the splash of cars driving through the rain, or I might hear the raindrops themselves. But when it snows, the cars slow down, and the snow absorbs the sound coming off of tires. Silence in the morning means snow. The only days I was thrown off by this significantly were Christmas itself and New Year's Day, for obvious reasons.

But as I sat here blogging on other matters, the pitter-patter of the rain outside decreased and eventually silenced, and my head was immediately drawn to the window... sure enough, there it was.

I'm gonna bundle up and go out in it with The Lad, I'll talk to you folks later.

UPDATE:

It's sticking. Like little frozen paratroopers, the first waves of flakes lowered the temperature, and thus the defenses, of the ground, and the follow-on flakes have established a foothold. It's still nowhere deep enough to play in, but The Lad enjoyed watching it fall and lay on the ground as we walked to the store. I killed two birds with one stone, because we were out of... wait for it... ice.

Since You Asked

In response to an earlier post today, a generous but anonymous commenter suggested that I compose an Amazon wish list and put a button linking to it on my blog.

Well, the truth of the matter is, I DO have an Amazon wish list, and the button has been on my blog for some time. I only recently added a significant number of items to it, but it's there.

Most of the items on it, truth be told, are far more than I think anyone should ever spend on me. But it's a nice way to keep track of "someday" goals, and if someone does feel like buying mer a little something, that would be nice -- but I don't want people thinking I expect it, or feel entitled. The fact that someone would even suggest wanting to see that list is flattering.

In fact that's why I don't usually mention it, despite having it there. If someone notices it, and feels generous, that's wonderful. But this blog isabout expressing myself, and the feedback I get when people get something from it -- not about any material gain.

But before you do, go here and help someone who actually NEEDS it.

Pressing Matters

This is the last weekend before school starts up again (ironic that the blogging bug should wait until now to re-infect me, eh?), and I'm rather excited. I gave one of my chef instructors, Chef Clive, a call the other day and told him I got the charcuterie book for Christmas, and his immediate response was, "So what recipe do you want to try first?" I told him I needed to think about it, but I have, and the winner is... Soppresatta, an italian sausage similar to salami -- the word is derived from the Italian for "pressed".

Despite my obvious pride in the pancetta last term, our efforts were met with mixed success. My classmate's duck breast prosciutto also turned out well, but several other projects went bad. The main culprit, as always, was contamination, with high humidity being a big co-conspirator. The weather here is dry in summer, but it gets damp when it cools off. What we really need is a dedicated refrigerator with a dehumidifyer. Chef Clive says that he talked to the folks at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, and their charcuterie club (!) uses a EuroCave, originally designed for wine storage. We can't afford anything like that for our program, but Chef Clive has a couple of ideas. We'll see how it goes.

I'll post more on this later in the term after I've had a crack at the soppressata.

Full Kit?

My Kershaw fillet knife finally arrived. It turns out that while Kershaw's headquartered here in Oregon, the knife's made in Japan. Oh, well. It's as nice a knife as I hoped for -- good comfortable grip, incredibly flexible blade (inportant in a fillet knife), solid feel. The scabbard that came with it is obviously for use by sportsmen and fishermen -- it's plastic with a drainhole. It's a bit bulky for my knife bag, but not impossibly so.

But that brings me to the bleg/query portion of this post, and it's directed at any fellow culinarians/cooks/chefs who might read this blog.

It's going to be a while before I am in the market to buy another knife, but when I am, what should I set my sights on next? Bear in mind that I'm still in school, and I don't expect to be put in a position to specialize any time soon, and while my passions lie in the area of meat cookery and charcuterie, I am trying to develop as a good all-around culinarian. Here's what I have in my kit so far:

Messermeister bird's beak paring knife
AvantGarde Pro 3" paring knife*
Wusthof 4" chef's knife
AvantGarde Pro 6" boning knife
ChefWorks 8" chef's knife*
ChefWorks 9" serrated bread knife
Kershaw 9" fillet knife
Forschner honing steel

*The "AvantGarde Pro and ChefWorks brands were the knives that were issued in our kits when we started school. They're not the big prestigious brands, but they're quality knives -- forged in Germany and assembled in China. They're all full tang, X50 Cr Mo V 15 stainless.

I was thinking that eventually I'd like a big gun -- a 10" chef's, but a cleaver or scimitar both seem like good choices too, especially considering my interest in charcuterie and meat cookery.

Thoughts?

Musical Geography Trivia Question

If your travelling companions are ghosts and empty sockets, to what city are you going?

Catty Remarks

A tip of the Toque to buddy Lurch.

The truth of this sentiment is why I'm a "Dog Person":

Quote of the Week Month Year Lifetime

II don't want to be healthy, I want to be big like Dada."

-- The Lad

*sigh* Time to diet.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Took The Lad sledding this weekend up at Santiam Pass. It was the first time I'd driven the Subaru in snow, and I loved it. The AWD is considered a traction device, so we didn't have to mount our cables, and the car grabbed the road very nicely. Only twice did we swerve at all, and that was while making U-turns. While driving the road normally, I felt no drift or slippage at all. I got a little cocky, though, and parked us in snow a TAD too deep -- but with myself and another person pushing, we got out with very little effort.

The Lad loved the snow, as did Little Big Dog -- lhasa apsos are from tibet, and despite the 20 degree weather, she never even shifered.

As for sledding, that was another story. This fat man almost killed himself carrying The Lad and a sled up the hill, and when we finally took off, The LAd seated in front of me, the hill was super fast, and displaying a bit of over-protectiveness, I kept braking with my boots -- throwing copious amounts of snow into my face and The Lads. One run was enough, and he was ready to go. But all in all it was a fun day, and we hope to get up there at least once more this winter.

Better than what I Wanted

TFR got me the skillet I asked for for Christmas, along with the Bird's Beak Paring Knife, and a few non-culinary items. My mother decided to send gift money and let me pick for myself. These days, it's much easier for her, and quite frankly, I am not put out by it -- never mind curmudgeonly grumbling about it not being as "personal" as an actual gift. The fact is my mother has gone far above and beyond in showing me her love my entire life -- no gift is going to add anything more, no lack of one can diminish that.

So anyway, I decided that thanks to my mom, I'd get the book I asked for. I was also going to buy the fillet knife, but when I went to order the book, I ran into a dillemma. The book was $23 and some change, and fell just short of qualifying for free shipping. So I looked around Amazon a bit longer, and found this. A better fillet knife than the forschner, and for a similar price. Now, if I'd bought the Forschner I could have received a 10% discount from the cutlery store. But when you consider the $2.86 shipping I avoided paying on the book by buying the knife too, it equals a 10.8% savings -- and I end up paying about the same and getting a better knife -- and one made here in Oregon, to boot!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town Going to Drown

This is the kind of crap you miss the chance to mock when you're busy with school.

My friend Brian (aka Lurch) told me about this first -- a speech by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in which he warns kids at a tree-lighting ceremony that if they don't help fight global warming, Santa and his reindeer (and presumably the elves too) would drown.

No, really. You can read the mayor's entire letter to Santa over at Michelle Malkin's Blog.

Wow. Where to begin.

I could go off on a rant about fear-mongering, about traumatizing little kids in order to indoctrinate them to your politics, about commandeering a public festivity for your own ends... but that's been done, in spades, by everyone who's commented on this at Michelle's, and by other bloggers.

That WAS, in fact, my first inclination when I heard about this story. While I haven't been able to find a transcript of the speech itself, Lurch heard it and says that Nickels included a dig at Bush in the speech, inplying that global warming was somehow worse because of the President. If that's true, that's the point where the reprehensible aspects of Nickels screed and the laughable parts overlap. It's bad enough to use a tree-lighting ceremony as a bully pulpit for advancing your own agenda regarding global warming, but when your fanatical adherence to the Party Line regarding Global Warming collides with BDS, you start to become self-lampooning.

Not that there isn't plenty to mock even without any reference to the President. First of all there's the irony in the fact that the mayor was offering flourescent bulbs to replace older incandescent bulbs -- missing the memo about the dangers of the mercury present in the ballast of flourescent bulbs. LED bulbs are even more efficient AND safer for the environment.

Or there's Nickels' comment in the letter, "Reindeer fly, but can they swim, too? I for one would rather not find out."

Ummmm... Your honor... Reindeer swim across rivers and bays every year during their annual migrations... I know your comment was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but given the earnestness with which you present your little screed as scientific truth, your lack of knowledge of such a well-known fact really does make you look a bit silly.

Oh, screw it. There's just so much here, and I'm still burned out. I don't have it in me to go off like I'd want to. Instead of cursing the dark, I think I'll just light a light in it.

Unless doing so puts the Easter Bunny at risk, too....

Dear Santa

With money tight in our family this year, for the sake of TFR I've limited mysef to relatively inexpensive items on my wish list, though I suspect there's a pattern to them:

Forschner 8" fillet knife
a new 8" nonstick skillet
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn
a bird's beak paring knife (There's a Messermeister for sale for $5 at Hartwick's, and I wouldn't use it enough to warrant a pricier one -- great stockijng stuffer, hint hint...)
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
an immersion blender
The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson

That Which Does Not Kill Me Will Only Serve to Make Me Wish it Had

For all my loyal readers and fellow bloggers, many of whom I consider friends I've not yet met, I appreciate the fact that you've stuck with me through a very tough, very busy term. Things aren't over just yet -- I have a final later today and one tomorrow -- but I can see light at the end of the tunnel, and have some reason to believe it's not an oncoming train, though heaven knows I feel like I've been hit by one. Getting a bad chest and head cold the week of finals sucks.

At this point I don't have any work lined up for the break, so I may be able to blog a bit more often than normal. I kinda look forward to that.

But there's been some ups lately too. In my Menu Management class, I got an A on the rough draft of my project, up from a C on the proposal stage. It consisted of a menu for a fictional restaurant, including 5 appetizers, 6 entrees, 3 desserts, and 5 beverages, plus recipes, costing, and prices for all items.

I also did well on the final combined project for my Garde Manger class and Buffet & Banquet class. Early on in the term, we were split into teams of two and given an hor d'oeuvre to test. Then we were informed that at the end of the term (last week), we'd be making 200 portions of our hors d'oeuvre for an open house at the school. My partner and I got off to a rocky start. We were assigned smoked trout mousse, and had to decide for ourselves what sort of hors d'oeuvre to make out of it. The test run used trout that had been smoked in an earlier lab by the whole class, and the mouse recipe right out of the book. It sucked. It was way too salty and smoky and runny. But hey, we had half a term to fix it, right?

Chef Clive, my instructor, hit one one part of the solution to our problem -- the trout itself wasn't that good to begin with. I also decided that the other part of the solution was to increase the aspic gelee (gelatin flavored with stock consommee, in this case fish stock) and whipped cream in the recipe, for more body and firmness.

Then my partner dropped out of the program, so it was all on me. The only major help I got was when some classmates threw together the dough for my bread.

So last week, while also dealing with my regular class load, I came in between classes and smoked the trout and baked off my bread. The trout was a smashing success -- part of the solution was a sweeter brine, the other part was to use a milder smoke -- the original had been smoked in hickory, which while fine for barbecue, is too strong for something as delicate as trout. Instead, I used a combination of alder and apple. The bread also cooked off perfectly.

The day of the event, I was at school at 9:30, worked through until plating at 3:00, and produced a hit: smoked trout mousse canapes on toasted brioche, garnished with a dill sprig and a slice of radish soaked in white wine. They were divine. The wine was the first thing to hit your mouth. The acid in the wine softened the bite of the radish, but also cut some of the richness of the mousse, which was perfectly smooth and firm, with a salty sweet smokiness. The brioche was slightly crips, and its butteriness added to the mouth feel from the mousse.

One of my chef instructors took a picture, as soon as she emails it to me, I'll post it to the blog.

Update
Feast your eyes:

Amendment XXI

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Ratified December 5, 1933

Thus ended one of the (if not THE) biggest, costliest, and most tragic experiments in Nanny State governing in the history of this country. So this evening, pourt yourself a stiff drink, and raise a glass to freedom.

Quote of the Week

"I don't like repeat offenders; I like DEAD offenders."

- Ted Nugent



- A Tip[ of the Toque to Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs.