So I sholuld be awake, however either my gas woke me up or that funny ass joke (IMO) woke me up. So aparently I was eating in some sort of fast food place. A seafood place. At a table with 3 other people that I have no idea who they are let alone their faces, aside maybe one might Jessica Alba, I had watched Good Luck Chuck last night. Fuck she can't act.
So in said dream we were apparently being served fish balls, it was apparently the establishment's twist on fish sticks. Do you like fish sticks? So there was this waiter coming by the table offering samples of the following, Buffalo, Blue Cheese, and BBQ. Don't ask me why those flavors, any way I know my delivery on this is going to suck as I have all the timing of a nuclear bomb. So he was going into his spielabout how we need to try, though I was not really paying attention. He had noticed and I guess was trying to be snarking and had asked if I could name all three flavors just so that he could say the customer's had been told or something to that affect. Where at this point sone of the other table members, said to me in refernce to the free samples," Are you going to touch that, Zero?", which I replied, " I touch 7 to 10's and maybe an occasional 5, I don't touch zeroes." ......
So anyway there was also some reference from the waiter about how even pirates like to eat them.... on Arrrrrbor day. Apparently I was laughing in my sleep, which would not be the first time. I've also been know to have sex in my sleep, that's the weird one.
Perhaps it was the yummy pakistani food from last night?
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Where's that food truck again??
Where is a good place to eat....?
In some ways I reluctantly took up this mantel of "blogging about food", partly because one I've sort of come to terms that it really is the one thing that I gravitate towards again and again, b) I find it a bit pretentious (and I'm usually not on most things) and also feel I'm 10 years too late for this medium. Seriously, the gamut of reality shows has come and gone. Where is the "Am I Hot or Not" website these days? Not that it's gone, but as far as popularity, I think I smell the death of MySpace on the horizon.
So today I read a article on Wired about Yelp' potential extortion advertising racket. Now like most people I've already formed an opinion and actually at first wanted to hang Yelp out to dry, however after finishing the article I calmed myself down a bit and have resumed a neutral by suspicious stance with Yelp.
For me Yelp is my defacto go-to "where to eat" reference and I have used it on occasion to post a actual review for a handful of places. Now understand that I take the sight with a fairly small grain of salt, as it is just one component that I use to compare the place. Like I said earlier, I feel like I have jumped into this "blog" thing 10 years too late and why does my opinion matter.. again a bit pretentious.
When there is someplace I want to go eat at I use a number of factors, type of food/cuisine, and the amount of vocal traffic the place has received from any number of sources, ie. Yelp, Chowhound, misc. food blogs, friends, etc.. This is what I use to make a decision, then after which I file the experience away.
So with Yelp potentially being involved in crap of this nature is a bit shitty, honestly. First understand that nothing prevents their site from being padded by any party good or bad from posting reviews. Hell I think something worth promoting for a business would be post a positive review and get a percentage off of your bill. All you have to do is bring in a print out of it, but conversely nothing prevents you from changing said review afterwards. So to keep the philosophical rants to a minimum, let's just say I have similar views about people as a whole as that of Julie Powell, so needless to say this is the way things are - shit or get off the pot.
While there is no sure rating/scoring system for making recommendations, Yelp is fairly good though a bit too mainstream/top40/whitebread in it's reviews for my personal tastes. What I mean to say is that I feel that some of the reviews are made by scared people, people who are scared to leave their bubble of reality. If you like food like me, then does it matter where you go or where you eat?
If you could find the best carne asada tacos from a taco truck smack dab in the middle of the ghetto, would you go? I sure as hell would! I'm going for food, not to roll someone.
If you do any bit of traveling to other countries you'll run into scenarios like this. Hell I recall a Anthony Bourdain episode of being in India... I think he went to one "tourista" restaurant... or am I thinking of Andrew Zimmermn? Again, food is about exploring the world with your mouth. I myself have many things that I timidly draw the line on, offal being one, but not including menudo.
I'm interested on how this turns out, better or worse.
So today I read a article on Wired about Yelp' potential extortion advertising racket. Now like most people I've already formed an opinion and actually at first wanted to hang Yelp out to dry, however after finishing the article I calmed myself down a bit and have resumed a neutral by suspicious stance with Yelp.
For me Yelp is my defacto go-to "where to eat" reference and I have used it on occasion to post a actual review for a handful of places. Now understand that I take the sight with a fairly small grain of salt, as it is just one component that I use to compare the place. Like I said earlier, I feel like I have jumped into this "blog" thing 10 years too late and why does my opinion matter.. again a bit pretentious.
When there is someplace I want to go eat at I use a number of factors, type of food/cuisine, and the amount of vocal traffic the place has received from any number of sources, ie. Yelp, Chowhound, misc. food blogs, friends, etc.. This is what I use to make a decision, then after which I file the experience away.
So with Yelp potentially being involved in crap of this nature is a bit shitty, honestly. First understand that nothing prevents their site from being padded by any party good or bad from posting reviews. Hell I think something worth promoting for a business would be post a positive review and get a percentage off of your bill. All you have to do is bring in a print out of it, but conversely nothing prevents you from changing said review afterwards. So to keep the philosophical rants to a minimum, let's just say I have similar views about people as a whole as that of Julie Powell, so needless to say this is the way things are - shit or get off the pot.
While there is no sure rating/scoring system for making recommendations, Yelp is fairly good though a bit too mainstream/top40/whitebread in it's reviews for my personal tastes. What I mean to say is that I feel that some of the reviews are made by scared people, people who are scared to leave their bubble of reality. If you like food like me, then does it matter where you go or where you eat?
If you could find the best carne asada tacos from a taco truck smack dab in the middle of the ghetto, would you go? I sure as hell would! I'm going for food, not to roll someone.
If you do any bit of traveling to other countries you'll run into scenarios like this. Hell I recall a Anthony Bourdain episode of being in India... I think he went to one "tourista" restaurant... or am I thinking of Andrew Zimmermn? Again, food is about exploring the world with your mouth. I myself have many things that I timidly draw the line on, offal being one, but not including menudo.
I'm interested on how this turns out, better or worse.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Fin and Fin
Well I was supposed to have a review from the Fish House up here today, however the save draft function on my BlackBerry apparently does not "truly" save it. So now I need to write a new one. Which is fine, but that means I'm a bit behind on the other things I need to write about, as it has been a eventful week, despite not really eating anything or doing anything "foodie-esq".
So I finished reading the J/J blog today and I'm finding myself a bit lost in some ways, though I do have some other things I need to start on. Seeing as I have a healthy amount of time and no shortage of available information and topics to spend my time on, I've decided my next endeavor is to read through my copy of the La'rousse Gastronomique.
Also I have signed my wife and myself up for some baking technique classes offered by Williams Sonoma for the month of March. Though seeing as they offer other classes, I may need to occupy my time with these as well.
Now tonight I need to find what to cook for dinner this weekend, one idea is inspired from the food carts in Portland. A rice and bean bowl with a ton a flavor and fills you up! I just need to come up with a special sauce for it and add some chicken. Oh how I miss the food carts in Portland.
So I finished reading the J/J blog today and I'm finding myself a bit lost in some ways, though I do have some other things I need to start on. Seeing as I have a healthy amount of time and no shortage of available information and topics to spend my time on, I've decided my next endeavor is to read through my copy of the La'rousse Gastronomique.
Also I have signed my wife and myself up for some baking technique classes offered by Williams Sonoma for the month of March. Though seeing as they offer other classes, I may need to occupy my time with these as well.
Now tonight I need to find what to cook for dinner this weekend, one idea is inspired from the food carts in Portland. A rice and bean bowl with a ton a flavor and fills you up! I just need to come up with a special sauce for it and add some chicken. Oh how I miss the food carts in Portland.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Review guidelines
Seeing as I'll have reviews for this site I'm thinking I need a few parameters that I need to establish.
Basically as follows:
- What the place is. How does it compare to similar restaurants. Why was this place chosen.
- The pros and cons. Food, ambience & service.
- Yea or nay. Overall is it a keeper or not.
Fairly simple and to the point. Generally I'm not that picky about the ambience, some of the best food I've had has been from a roadside stand or a food cart. To me food is about experiences, the good ones you want to relive again and again. The bad ones... Well we try desperately to forget those.
Do what inspires you....
For far too long I have passed up or passed by things that inspire me. I have been critical in things I don't like far too often and spent way too much time on "what should I do?" in the past twenty some odd years.
Then again perhaps now is the time, perhaps now I've "gotten it out of my system". It truly does come down to food for me, there has been nothing else that seems to fulfill this pointless meandering that I have been doing for years. As I write this I'm trying to think where and when did it start and I'd have to say probably with Jeff Smith. It was him that introduced me to food and cooking and ingredients, I remember him talking about Parmesan cheese and how emphatic he was about using not using the stuff in the "green can" but Parmigiano Reggiano. I started watching other shows over the years, Cooking at the Academy was probably the one where I first thought of wanting to go to culinary school.
Though it's reading tid bit's like this that continues to inspire me. Despite setbacks and circumstances and years of floundering and lazy self inflicted discontentment whining about where I am at. This reminds me again, do what you love, do what inspires you.
Thanks again to the J/J blog... it's where I found the article... and the inspiration.
Then again perhaps now is the time, perhaps now I've "gotten it out of my system". It truly does come down to food for me, there has been nothing else that seems to fulfill this pointless meandering that I have been doing for years. As I write this I'm trying to think where and when did it start and I'd have to say probably with Jeff Smith. It was him that introduced me to food and cooking and ingredients, I remember him talking about Parmesan cheese and how emphatic he was about using not using the stuff in the "green can" but Parmigiano Reggiano. I started watching other shows over the years, Cooking at the Academy was probably the one where I first thought of wanting to go to culinary school.
Though it's reading tid bit's like this that continues to inspire me. Despite setbacks and circumstances and years of floundering and lazy self inflicted discontentment whining about where I am at. This reminds me again, do what you love, do what inspires you.
Thanks again to the J/J blog... it's where I found the article... and the inspiration.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Fish Shrimp Chicken
What a busy weekend. Here I am over the weekend thinking why I am doing this again, when Friday night Nikki says you should start a food blog. Both my wife and I laughed at the same time. Ok, fine twist my arm I'll get one going. So where to start and what to recap.
Well originally we were supposed to got to the Napa Rose for a belated V-day dinner. So usually I don't have problems booking for a place a week in advance, but apparently EVERYWHERE was booked early this year. I'd also looked at Marche Moderne, as I've yet to actually eat at a "french" restaurant and recently the J/J blog has me all sorts of interested in french food. Which has me thinking that they need to make more movies based on cooking or cookbooks or the like. So apparently everything was booked for the whole weekend last week and so dinner got postponed to the following weekend. However needless to say, we'd spent a bit much the previous week and were not able to go to the Napa Rose, this has been postponed for her birthday. Instead we ended up going to King's Fish House, which I was a bit surprised as my wife does not like seafood (sans lobster, shrimp, & fish n chips). The evening was fine till a moment of financial nagging which put a damper on the meal at the start, but cooler heads prevailed and did not escalate into WW III. After which we cruised over to the LBC to chill with the Creeps for a bit, guided them to the nearest JITB* as the hotel they were at the kitchen had closed. Watched the last 20 minutes of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (mmmmmm.. love me some White Castle - not the frozen stuff but the real deal) then went home.
Saturday was running around doing returns of items from the overspending weekend before. Part of this included a stop at a restaurant supply store in Anaheim on Ball & Anaheim Blvd, it's on Anaheim Blvd North of Ball on the left hand side past the gas station. Not a bad little shop, looked like it mostly catered to the Mom & Pop type restaurants, though they had a nice assortment of just about everything (except for a nice mandolin slicer). They had the institutional sized cook ware and things for the home as well, quality ranged from ehn to nice. I did not see any brand name items (i.e. All Clad, Cuisinart, Kitchen-aide/Hobart, etc) though seeing as I have never worked in a profession kitchen I am not all that familiar with ALL professional brand names. There is a restaurant supply place in Fountain Valley that is on the to do list, you can see it off the 405 freeway near Euclid. So after the the errands were done we stopped by one of the local Korean Markets near the house, Freshia on Beach and Garden Grove Blvd.
This place is a trap... I love asian food, and Korean is near the top of the list. I could eat it everyday, something about the pickled spicy vegetable dishes and the BBQ always has me wanting more. So the planned dinner for the evening was shrimp tacos/burritos and nine times outta ten i can get better shrimp at a cheaper price by going to the ethnic markets. I'll have another rant about mainstream markets at a later date, but bottom line is you don't have to pay top dollar for quality, the ethnic markets generally have better quality at cheaper prices. So I grabbed a few pounds of shrimp ($4 a lb and these were the med/lrg ones), grabbed some produce as it is pretty cheap here as well. Cleaning the shrimp included removing shells and tails, rinsing and cutting up to about the size of gumdrops, they are easier to manage in the tortillas this way. One thing I noticed is this time around cleaning shrimp is that if I removed the tails first the cleaning process went a bit faster and I had a good number of shrimp to clean. Now some may get a bit weirded out on this but I did not do a FULL clean process of the shrimp.... I left that one item intact.... yes, the intestinal tract. I just did not care that much and said whatever. It really is a mental thing... and one of those things that I think we as a AMERICAN society allow ourselves to become more and more "disinfected" as the generations go by. A little shrimp shit ain't gonna kill ya...
So dinner was garlic shrimp burritos/tacos with chipotle mayo (or not) with fresh salsa. Damn this salsa rocked! Despite the complaint of "it's not hot enough", as it was not supposed to be. Dinner rocked and I was really surprised, not in that it rocked, but that you could feed a family of 4 for 20 bucks and it was seafood!
Now Sunday was a different story and I have to remind myself that INFERNO spicy is not always a good thing, but that was lunch on Friday and not dinner on Sunday. Though lunch on Friday was the inspiration for Sunday dinner, Thai Yellow Chicken Curry. This was a hit and miss and seeing as I had never made it before will definitely try again. It was a bit too lemony/limey. Oi!
Friday I had Thai, but it was not yellow curry, it was beef with flat noodle Rad Nee or something to that affect with way too many red peppers. Needless to say I was hating life later that evening. On a side note I hate getting older, I love spicy food and generally with Thai or Indian I like to have it on the INFERNO hot side, though my insides would disagree. Now I found this recipe for making the yellow curry on the Thai About Food site. Overall I'd say they have the recipe down pat, but it's one that I need to mess around with. I need to find that right consistency of liquid creaminess viscosity as it was a bit on the thin side when I pulled it out. Now this is another relatively cheap dish to make, there are a few key items and I would say there are items that you MUST NOT substitute despite the original recipe from the site. A key ingredient for this would be GALANGAL or white ginger as I came to find out, this is one of those essential Thai ingredients. It really is different from plain ol' ginger. Additionally looking for lime leaves (kaffir lime leaves), proved to be a pain in the ass. This was the second time that I attempted to located these buggers and I "think" I found them, and there was a noticeable difference in aroma between these and the lime leaves I have in my garden. Both the galangal and the lime leaves were found at the Ranch 99 in Anaheim. Ranch 99 is a Chinese store and one of my favorites as they offer live seafood and a larger than average meat department, including goat. BTW, galangal is very otherworldly looking as it is a tuber/root. It reminded me of the Jerusalem Crickets we have around the house and it was a tad pricey. I'd say about "tree fitty" for something about the size of a king size Snickers. Consequently I'm attempting to use this piece to grow my own. I like Thai but don't see me cooking much except on the weekends. All in all the dish felt/tasted Thai though I think the combination was off, I'm thinking more coconut milk, less lemongrass (which can be purchased fresh or frozen at Ranch 99, they fresh at Freshia, not sure about frozen).
Now I have to figure out what to have for this weekend, plus some additional one offs on Kings and the individual dinners this past weekend.
*JITB - Jack In The Box (I wish they would bring back that Ham and Turkey Melt they had back in the 80's).
Well originally we were supposed to got to the Napa Rose for a belated V-day dinner. So usually I don't have problems booking for a place a week in advance, but apparently EVERYWHERE was booked early this year. I'd also looked at Marche Moderne, as I've yet to actually eat at a "french" restaurant and recently the J/J blog has me all sorts of interested in french food. Which has me thinking that they need to make more movies based on cooking or cookbooks or the like. So apparently everything was booked for the whole weekend last week and so dinner got postponed to the following weekend. However needless to say, we'd spent a bit much the previous week and were not able to go to the Napa Rose, this has been postponed for her birthday. Instead we ended up going to King's Fish House, which I was a bit surprised as my wife does not like seafood (sans lobster, shrimp, & fish n chips). The evening was fine till a moment of financial nagging which put a damper on the meal at the start, but cooler heads prevailed and did not escalate into WW III. After which we cruised over to the LBC to chill with the Creeps for a bit, guided them to the nearest JITB* as the hotel they were at the kitchen had closed. Watched the last 20 minutes of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (mmmmmm.. love me some White Castle - not the frozen stuff but the real deal) then went home.
Saturday was running around doing returns of items from the overspending weekend before. Part of this included a stop at a restaurant supply store in Anaheim on Ball & Anaheim Blvd, it's on Anaheim Blvd North of Ball on the left hand side past the gas station. Not a bad little shop, looked like it mostly catered to the Mom & Pop type restaurants, though they had a nice assortment of just about everything (except for a nice mandolin slicer). They had the institutional sized cook ware and things for the home as well, quality ranged from ehn to nice. I did not see any brand name items (i.e. All Clad, Cuisinart, Kitchen-aide/Hobart, etc) though seeing as I have never worked in a profession kitchen I am not all that familiar with ALL professional brand names. There is a restaurant supply place in Fountain Valley that is on the to do list, you can see it off the 405 freeway near Euclid. So after the the errands were done we stopped by one of the local Korean Markets near the house, Freshia on Beach and Garden Grove Blvd.
This place is a trap... I love asian food, and Korean is near the top of the list. I could eat it everyday, something about the pickled spicy vegetable dishes and the BBQ always has me wanting more. So the planned dinner for the evening was shrimp tacos/burritos and nine times outta ten i can get better shrimp at a cheaper price by going to the ethnic markets. I'll have another rant about mainstream markets at a later date, but bottom line is you don't have to pay top dollar for quality, the ethnic markets generally have better quality at cheaper prices. So I grabbed a few pounds of shrimp ($4 a lb and these were the med/lrg ones), grabbed some produce as it is pretty cheap here as well. Cleaning the shrimp included removing shells and tails, rinsing and cutting up to about the size of gumdrops, they are easier to manage in the tortillas this way. One thing I noticed is this time around cleaning shrimp is that if I removed the tails first the cleaning process went a bit faster and I had a good number of shrimp to clean. Now some may get a bit weirded out on this but I did not do a FULL clean process of the shrimp.... I left that one item intact.... yes, the intestinal tract. I just did not care that much and said whatever. It really is a mental thing... and one of those things that I think we as a AMERICAN society allow ourselves to become more and more "disinfected" as the generations go by. A little shrimp shit ain't gonna kill ya...
So dinner was garlic shrimp burritos/tacos with chipotle mayo (or not) with fresh salsa. Damn this salsa rocked! Despite the complaint of "it's not hot enough", as it was not supposed to be. Dinner rocked and I was really surprised, not in that it rocked, but that you could feed a family of 4 for 20 bucks and it was seafood!
Now Sunday was a different story and I have to remind myself that INFERNO spicy is not always a good thing, but that was lunch on Friday and not dinner on Sunday. Though lunch on Friday was the inspiration for Sunday dinner, Thai Yellow Chicken Curry. This was a hit and miss and seeing as I had never made it before will definitely try again. It was a bit too lemony/limey. Oi!
Friday I had Thai, but it was not yellow curry, it was beef with flat noodle Rad Nee or something to that affect with way too many red peppers. Needless to say I was hating life later that evening. On a side note I hate getting older, I love spicy food and generally with Thai or Indian I like to have it on the INFERNO hot side, though my insides would disagree. Now I found this recipe for making the yellow curry on the Thai About Food site. Overall I'd say they have the recipe down pat, but it's one that I need to mess around with. I need to find that right consistency of liquid creaminess viscosity as it was a bit on the thin side when I pulled it out. Now this is another relatively cheap dish to make, there are a few key items and I would say there are items that you MUST NOT substitute despite the original recipe from the site. A key ingredient for this would be GALANGAL or white ginger as I came to find out, this is one of those essential Thai ingredients. It really is different from plain ol' ginger. Additionally looking for lime leaves (kaffir lime leaves), proved to be a pain in the ass. This was the second time that I attempted to located these buggers and I "think" I found them, and there was a noticeable difference in aroma between these and the lime leaves I have in my garden. Both the galangal and the lime leaves were found at the Ranch 99 in Anaheim. Ranch 99 is a Chinese store and one of my favorites as they offer live seafood and a larger than average meat department, including goat. BTW, galangal is very otherworldly looking as it is a tuber/root. It reminded me of the Jerusalem Crickets we have around the house and it was a tad pricey. I'd say about "tree fitty" for something about the size of a king size Snickers. Consequently I'm attempting to use this piece to grow my own. I like Thai but don't see me cooking much except on the weekends. All in all the dish felt/tasted Thai though I think the combination was off, I'm thinking more coconut milk, less lemongrass (which can be purchased fresh or frozen at Ranch 99, they fresh at Freshia, not sure about frozen).
Now I have to figure out what to have for this weekend, plus some additional one offs on Kings and the individual dinners this past weekend.
*JITB - Jack In The Box (I wish they would bring back that Ham and Turkey Melt they had back in the 80's).
Friday, February 19, 2010
Napa Rose - Oui Oui - Pt1
So tonight* is the V Day dinner at the Napa Rose, no not Victory Day, but Valentines Day. Almost a week late but thanks be told the wife is not adamant about the "day".
So she has been to the Napa Rose before, I have not, and I'm a bit unnerved about it. Going here for the first time, not her being here before. I'm a bit shocked, seeing has we've been to "fancy shmancy" places before and she said she was not impressed by them. I'm wanting to expand my "culinary palate" so to speak and there really is nothing on the menu that I see as "ooohhh aahhhh". Now I know that places like this have a changing menu because of the varying ingredients due to seasonal availability, though it is the 2010 Winter menu. They may also have a daily special that is not displayed.
With that said, there were a few items on the menu that piqued my interest, namely the duck and the rack of lamb. Duck I have not had (but thanks to Julie, I am dying to try), and I never get tired of lamb, as long as it is prepared well.
The big item I am interested in is the wine. Thanks to my Dad, I've developed a taste for wine, namely because he gave me a tasty grenache while up in Portland last Summer. Since then I've been more apt to venturing out on the wino trail. I've picked up a point of two in looking for wine, but my skills are severely limited and I'm partial to red at the moment. White is just something else that I need to learn at a later date.
On a side note, if I had carte blanche for the evening here is what I would do, actually two scenarios.
1 - I would go the way of the prix fixe with the wine. That's $130 or $85 sans wine, per person.
Manila Clams
Sauteed Veal Sweetbreads
Braised Angus "Beef Pot Roast"
Baked Crepes filled with Milk Chocolate
*Vintners menu changes weekly
2 - While the usual seafood starters generally have sway with me, I would go route of the quail, this is followed by the portabello soup. The main course would have to be the lamb rack and ending with the chocolate truffle cake. $83 per person, not including drinks.
Oak Roasted Sonoma Quail - $16
Portobello Mushroom Bisque "Cappuccino" - $15
Walnut Crusted Mountain Meadows Lamb Rack - $40
Scharffen Berger Chocolate "Truffle Cake" - $12
I'll have a review and update after the meal.
*Last minute change of plans, going to King's Fish House instead. Napa is postponed til her bday. So Pt2 will be later, though I'll have a review for King's.
So she has been to the Napa Rose before, I have not, and I'm a bit unnerved about it. Going here for the first time, not her being here before. I'm a bit shocked, seeing has we've been to "fancy shmancy" places before and she said she was not impressed by them. I'm wanting to expand my "culinary palate" so to speak and there really is nothing on the menu that I see as "ooohhh aahhhh". Now I know that places like this have a changing menu because of the varying ingredients due to seasonal availability, though it is the 2010 Winter menu. They may also have a daily special that is not displayed.
With that said, there were a few items on the menu that piqued my interest, namely the duck and the rack of lamb. Duck I have not had (but thanks to Julie, I am dying to try), and I never get tired of lamb, as long as it is prepared well.
The big item I am interested in is the wine. Thanks to my Dad, I've developed a taste for wine, namely because he gave me a tasty grenache while up in Portland last Summer. Since then I've been more apt to venturing out on the wino trail. I've picked up a point of two in looking for wine, but my skills are severely limited and I'm partial to red at the moment. White is just something else that I need to learn at a later date.
On a side note, if I had carte blanche for the evening here is what I would do, actually two scenarios.
1 - I would go the way of the prix fixe with the wine. That's $130 or $85 sans wine, per person.
Manila Clams
Sauteed Veal Sweetbreads
Braised Angus "Beef Pot Roast"
Baked Crepes filled with Milk Chocolate
*Vintners menu changes weekly
2 - While the usual seafood starters generally have sway with me, I would go route of the quail, this is followed by the portabello soup. The main course would have to be the lamb rack and ending with the chocolate truffle cake. $83 per person, not including drinks.
Oak Roasted Sonoma Quail - $16
Portobello Mushroom Bisque "Cappuccino" - $15
Walnut Crusted Mountain Meadows Lamb Rack - $40
Scharffen Berger Chocolate "Truffle Cake" - $12
I'll have a review and update after the meal.
*Last minute change of plans, going to King's Fish House instead. Napa is postponed til her bday. So Pt2 will be later, though I'll have a review for King's.
FIHRR
EVOO... very few acronyms bring me to a instant boil, but this one does. Ugh, the one thing I have to say about a seething hatred is that is leaves out room for eloquence and capable thought. Understand that it's more of a social hatred, not a personal one if that makes sense. For instance you make not like seafood or you hate a certain actor or other noteworthy social figure, I hate top 40 music for instance.
A good example would be my Dad and his hatred for Hanoi Jane. I distinctly remember a event in which she came on the TV and he went into a tirade, sprinkled liberally with expletives and various other colorful language about her.
My hatred for Rachel Ray would be comparable to this. So many things irritate the fuck out of me about her, her voice, her cutesy wootsy rewording of things, and the fact that she can't cook worth a shit. She fucking Pillsbury cooks* everything!
So yeah.. I hate Rachel Ray.. everyone in my house knows this. I'm half way tempted to stop my email notifications from Cooking.com if I see her face one more time!
*Pillsbury cooks - This would be one who use's Kraft recipes for their everyday cooking. Not that I'm against using a Kraft recipe from time to time, I have a number of Pillsbury recipe books, though I find that maybe 10% of them are worthwhile but even I tweak them a bit. They are decent stepping stones on food prep and have some good reference notes on the Thanksgiving meals. If it wasn't for these I would most likely never have tried cranberry sauce again. A most fucking delicious side for Thanksgiving and one that I crave throughout the year.
A good example would be my Dad and his hatred for Hanoi Jane. I distinctly remember a event in which she came on the TV and he went into a tirade, sprinkled liberally with expletives and various other colorful language about her.
My hatred for Rachel Ray would be comparable to this. So many things irritate the fuck out of me about her, her voice, her cutesy wootsy rewording of things, and the fact that she can't cook worth a shit. She fucking Pillsbury cooks* everything!
So yeah.. I hate Rachel Ray.. everyone in my house knows this. I'm half way tempted to stop my email notifications from Cooking.com if I see her face one more time!
*Pillsbury cooks - This would be one who use's Kraft recipes for their everyday cooking. Not that I'm against using a Kraft recipe from time to time, I have a number of Pillsbury recipe books, though I find that maybe 10% of them are worthwhile but even I tweak them a bit. They are decent stepping stones on food prep and have some good reference notes on the Thanksgiving meals. If it wasn't for these I would most likely never have tried cranberry sauce again. A most fucking delicious side for Thanksgiving and one that I crave throughout the year.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Why I &hearts Julie Powell...
Yet again I'm caught in the web that Julie weaves..
My mother today said I need to take a break. And she may be right, for all that my cooking has not been so strenuous of late. I am feeling much, particularly, the failure these days. It is not turning thirty so much as it is the eventual turning forty, the fear that I will go another decade without doing a goddamned thing worth doing. What have for the past decade, after all? A husband – a divine husband, it must be said, which would be a significant accomplishment if the fact was not that by all rights he ought to divorce me -- and the Julie/Julia Project. Some of you optimists might argue that the best is yet to come, and the sentiment is appreciated. But bitterness is my special gift, and for the moment I choose to wallow in it.
From her post on 4/21/03.
Oh how I know this!! I freaked out at 30 going what the hell have I done with my life and what is the next decade going to be. So in spite of the years of lethargy, ambivalence, discontentment, I'm trying to do something different. Really it is somewhat of a bitch, being lazy is sooo much easier, all I had to do is complain. Now I have to push myself... oh to not get up early to ride a damn bike for 30 minutes.
My mother today said I need to take a break. And she may be right, for all that my cooking has not been so strenuous of late. I am feeling much, particularly, the failure these days. It is not turning thirty so much as it is the eventual turning forty, the fear that I will go another decade without doing a goddamned thing worth doing. What have for the past decade, after all? A husband – a divine husband, it must be said, which would be a significant accomplishment if the fact was not that by all rights he ought to divorce me -- and the Julie/Julia Project. Some of you optimists might argue that the best is yet to come, and the sentiment is appreciated. But bitterness is my special gift, and for the moment I choose to wallow in it.
From her post on 4/21/03.
Oh how I know this!! I freaked out at 30 going what the hell have I done with my life and what is the next decade going to be. So in spite of the years of lethargy, ambivalence, discontentment, I'm trying to do something different. Really it is somewhat of a bitch, being lazy is sooo much easier, all I had to do is complain. Now I have to push myself... oh to not get up early to ride a damn bike for 30 minutes.
Spanish Deli - OC Food Trucks
I've yet to hit a single NEW food truck aside from the more "traditional" ones... click the title to read about some new trucks in OC.
and to think Koji's was parked outside all Summer last year... I need to put them on the menu.
and to think Koji's was parked outside all Summer last year... I need to put them on the menu.
Gastropalooza!
Seeing as any and all other simple "foodie" type url's were taking.. I took this one.. out of inspiration from Julie Powell.. who I believe in her Julie/Julia Project blog stated that she was against such nonsense words. I recommend you read her damn blog by the way. In all honesty I'm slightly enamored with her (to which my wife was a bit suspicious) though I said she needed to thank her blog, as it has given me a new found appreciation for my wife.
However this blog is about all things food related... I think I'm about 10 years too late, oh well, fuck it. Mostly this blog will be about cooking and eating and all that relates to them. Seeing as this is probably my 2nd blog about such endeavors (the first was supposed to be about my experiences at culinary school - but that never happened), however I found a renewed determination from reading the J/J blog and finding out that Julia herself didn't go to culinary school till she was 37, which I will be this year. 37 that is... damn.. so close to 40.. aww crap..
This is not going to be a daily blog or a weekly blog, but a as I feel like it blog, though seeing as I'm a bit focused on a few things at the moment who really knows. I will be writing about some of the more recent events in the coming days as they are probably more relevant. The recent trip to Little Tokyo for the twins b-day, last year's trip to Portland, and things that I have cooked recently and plan to cook.
I'll have some things to refer to - various other blogs that I read from time to time, points of interest on the internet, locally to So Cal and other places that I have visited.
For me food preoccupies soooo much of my daily thought. I'm always reading about it or thinking about it and not too mention my travel plans revolve around it.
Aside from sex.. food is about it.. and maybe a good cocktail or glass of wine.. but that would go back to that food category.
However this blog is about all things food related... I think I'm about 10 years too late, oh well, fuck it. Mostly this blog will be about cooking and eating and all that relates to them. Seeing as this is probably my 2nd blog about such endeavors (the first was supposed to be about my experiences at culinary school - but that never happened), however I found a renewed determination from reading the J/J blog and finding out that Julia herself didn't go to culinary school till she was 37, which I will be this year. 37 that is... damn.. so close to 40.. aww crap..
This is not going to be a daily blog or a weekly blog, but a as I feel like it blog, though seeing as I'm a bit focused on a few things at the moment who really knows. I will be writing about some of the more recent events in the coming days as they are probably more relevant. The recent trip to Little Tokyo for the twins b-day, last year's trip to Portland, and things that I have cooked recently and plan to cook.
I'll have some things to refer to - various other blogs that I read from time to time, points of interest on the internet, locally to So Cal and other places that I have visited.
For me food preoccupies soooo much of my daily thought. I'm always reading about it or thinking about it and not too mention my travel plans revolve around it.
Aside from sex.. food is about it.. and maybe a good cocktail or glass of wine.. but that would go back to that food category.
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