Bayless Rocks!

Damn! I am falling in love with the simplicity and flavor of real Mexican food a la Rick Bayless. Last night's meal featured delicious chicken enchiladas in a creamy roasted poblano sauce; very simple, yet over the top good! I am excited to delve more deeply into this cuisine. The health kick we are on does not mesh with my love of all things French, so I am happy to have cultural cuisines that do! Next, I want to do the raw seafoods marinated in lime juice. Oh yeah!

entre nous

Between us, I think that cooking is the ultimate alchemy. You take a puny seed, give it water, earth and light, and it becomes a plant. You take the plant, give it water, salt, and fire, and it makes a meal. You take a meal, put it in your mouth, and the world is created. It's a real kind of magic.
I haven't been musical lately. Haven't touched my paint brushes. The carpet I started to hook last year is still unfinished in the garage. But I cook every day. This is the true art. Survival. Not in a feral, scuff through the brush way, but in a moment of luxury amidst the chaos. I do it to keep my family alive, sure, but I must keep them happy, too. It is the greatest art I know, and I continue to grow in it; meal by meal; menu by menu. I have to do it, so I will do it well, and I will do it with a magical mind.

Belly

Our long awaited date night is finally here!~ With 2 little boys in our lives, the US time is tough to snatch. We are psyched to FINALLY get to check out our friends' restaurant, Belly. It is all the rage here in Eugene. What plaisir to be able to sit back, relax, and let someone else do all the work!

Meal Schedule

We created a night by night genre schedule for dinners. Tuesday is Mexican. I love the freedom from thought that this gives me. I don't feel constrained by it, yet, just focused. For tonight, I want to try some of Rick Bayless' recipes. He's so annoying, but an amazing cook.
Right now, I'm baking Martha's banana bread. It's delicious, the main difference from other recipes being the sour cream. What is up with the modern craze for sour cream in everything? I guess it's a great baking acid, and lends that tang, that je ne sais quoi. It healed my pastry crust, which used to be brittle with only butter (I'm not down with lard) and is now more akin to flaky pie flesh.

This might be good for me...

I thought that this whole nutritious dinner kick would kill the progress I've made on my mission to become a better cook. This year has seen huge improvements to my menu design, knife work, and meals in general, and I don't want to lose that. Yet, the informality of "health" food prep has given me freedom in the kitchen. I'm not so tied to the recipes, for one thing. I've cooked hippy food for most of my life, and it's pretty easy. Now, I don't even know for sure what's for dinner, I just go into the kitchen, start juggling ingredients, and see what happens. It's liberation, in a way. I must admit, my body likes the absence of tons of cream, meat and butter, but I yearn for custards, tarts, roast beef and sugar. We'll see how long this lasts.

getting healthy

For people like me who love to cook "gourmet", it's not easy to try and prepare healthy food. What does healthy mean? Less dairy, meat, sugar, bread... in other words, less of all the good stuff. It's tough, because after all of the effort that cooking takes, I want it to taste delicious! I secretly stick pads of butter on vegetables before they go to table. I reach for the salt too many times. I sneak bacon into dishes. I do enjoy health food for it's vitality and simplicity. It's just that I get used to a certain style of cooking, and it's hard to change. Dinner last night was baked halibut with herbs and lemon (and butter), blanched broccoli and plain brown rice. It was very good.

ahhhh, steak

My Mother's Day gift to myself was a lovely New York steak, broiled to perfection, a green salad with beets, carrots, tomatoes and pine nuts in vinaigrette, and fried smashed mini-potatoes. All washed down by a declicious bottle of bubbly supplied by the father of my children. Yummy! I still have a lot to learn about meat, so i used a thermometer to 135, then left the steaks tented for 5 minutes. PERfect! God, I love steak!

the Last Supper

Raenie's going away dinner turned out swell. The brined pork loin can be safely filed away now, under "perfect foods". It's the 5th time I've made it in a few months and I'm sick to death of roasted pork loin! I need to make a dish several times, though, before I can call it my own. The cream puff month may be responsible for my jutting gut! Anyway, yes, roasted pork loin and root vegetables with a spicy mango chutney. Again, cannelini canapes for appetizer, and rice pudding for dessert. I may have to retire the canapes for awhile, too. When I get excited about a new recipe, I make it constantly!

Simple Genius

I've always thought I was smart, but when it comes to an apparently easy task, like a dinner menu, I'm an idiot. Complicate this with friends who don't like this, or are "avoiding" that, and you have one obstinate cook! For example, I'm pulling an onion tart out of my butt tonight, when Ed comes home and tells me in a roundabout way that he'd like to try "non-dairy" for a few weeks! Non-freakin' dairy! Give me a break! I can't even go there right now! I freak out, he retrenches. "Nevermind!" So, I think about it, and, yeah, Mediterranean food has a lot that I can do in this vein, but, seriously? Non-dairy? Because of some article you read? O.K, settle down, Tina. I have other friends give up bread, sugar(the Worst!), meat, you name it. It's not a bad idea to simplify. With the Icelandic volcano, maybe I won't even be able to buy my coveted French and Italian cheeses, anyway. I can do this. Yeah, I'll give it a try, but it makes me feel even stupider. How can it be so hard to simplify?

A Goodbye Dinner

Our longtime pal and fellow musician, Raenie, is on her way out of town for good. Ed set up a dinner for her, and invited Billy and Chantal as well. What do you cook that says goodbye?
Just a brainstorm list: mussels, bruschetta, lots of wine, pork, chocolate... That's tough. Raenie is a hard-hitting drummer, and a classy broad. Maybe a hearty soup? Something epic, for sure. Something to remember us by.
It looks to be a busy spring for dinner parties. I'm feeling like the past year has seen a huge leap in my kitchen skills, and I want to keep progressing. Entertaining lets me stay social, and practice menu creations. Jacque has been such an inspiration and teacher through his new OPB series. I'm very excited to do a dinner with Robin with his recipes.