Dirt Never Sleeps

Man! Cleaning again. I just go round and round in this little house. Catch up on the laundry only to find that the dust cropped up under the couch again. Clean the dishes, and the sheets need a 'changing. It's enough to keep me on the edge of crazy! I do love a tidy home, but for just one day, can the dirt take a break?!#
  Ah well, it's my new hobby. Cleaning. I need to remember that when I signed up for this Homemaker shit, I joined the cleaning club. When I'm done folding that laundry pile, I'm gonna go buy some beer and start in on the boys' room. What a hole that is. It is all worthwhile for that moment when you manage to catch the monkey for just a second, (before the debris hits the floor, and the beds rumple) and sit on the couch amidst all that domestic perfection, and just be. That is my drug.

Friday Night Splurge

     I splurged on a bottle of De Chanceny Cremant de Loire Rose Brut for Friday night! It was only $16, but I don't usually go over 12. I read an article about how $20 was the magic number with wines; that good wines can be more cheap, but at 20, you can be really inspired. I hate that this is becoming apparent to me! As soon as you get into something, you're no longer satisfied with the baseline. I think it's also true, that you might find terrible wines for $20. Either way, I won't be able to test this theory until my income rises significantly, at which point I will probably drink $50 bottles of wine. I'll just look forward happily to my sweet $16!
    I have a weakness for sparkly pink things, and I think it will go well with Chile Rellenos a la Locomotive, with Arroz Verde. Another dinner the kids will hate... oh well, more for me!

Brandy is Dandy

Gosh, where have I been all my life? I am just now being initiated into the world of brandy. It's a wide world, seemingly. From what I can discern, most liqeurs are brandies, and then you have the Armagnac, cognac, Pisco and my favorite, Calvados. A brandy is a distilled wine, or distillate of fermented fruits such as apples, pears, berries, etc.
Brandy has been around for almost as long as wine. It is a handy method of preserving wines, and honing them down to their essence. The spirit has been used medicinally, and also put to great effect in the culinary world. I first fell for Armagnac in Lee Zucker's dynamite Armagnac cake; a spice cake soaked in the famous brandy from northern France. Delicious. Yet, even more satisfying is a nice shot of Calvados, a double distilled apple brandy, also from northern France. This stuff is serious: 80 proof, with a rich flavor, a smooth mouth feel, and insight into the heart of the apple.
I'm not sure why brandy is so overlooked in this country. Aside from black people, and some high fallutin' types, I hardly ever sell much at my bar. I hope this is isn't taken as racist, but I've noticed that black folks love Cognac, and it appears in many rap songs. It is also huge in Asia, and Europe, as an after dinner drink. The Europeans prefer theirs warm, while the Asians drink it on the rocks. Maybe Americans just need to be educated. It makes a great mixer, or a simply wonderful way to close a meal.

Ah, whiskey...

On St. Paddy's Day, I look back on my love affair with whiskey, as I sip a Jamison's neat with a beer back.
I forget how I first fell for her, that firey gab water. My father's always drunk it, but he didn't introduce me. Maybe it was hanging out with Kelani and her Maker's. It's just that, for some time now, I've loved the buzz and convivial spirit that a nice whiskey gives.
The Irish whiskeys are so pure and bracing, like a lonely moor. The Scotch a touch hoarier, with highland bite and peaty crunch. In the Canadian blends I find a calm, open smoothness.
I don't care what kind you hand me, Manhattan, Old-Fashioned or neat. Just let the whiskey flow, with good people, good music and eats.

Vermouth

When I misguidedly tried to abstain from drink, I had none in the house. Except, that is, for the vermouth.
I have always looked down on vermouth, and seen it as a culinary spirit, not fit for drink. In the league with marsala and sherry, it sat, dusty on the rack, to occasionally freshen a saute, or deglaze.
I pulled it down. It was a good brand, as expensive as the wines I drink. It recommended itself as a "long drink over ice". I poured it half and half with lemon soda water and a twist, over ice. So nice. Clean. Crisp. Refreshing. A wonderful bridge from afternoon to evening.

Violets

Being that I have failed miserably in my attempts at sobriety, I thought I might as well go off the wagon in style. Floral drinks are all the rage, I hear, and there are violets springing up everywhere. Why not forgo the expensive liquers and simply shake the hell out of fresh flowers with ice, nice gin, lemon juice and a little simple syrup? Or better yet, make a violet simple syrup? The Blue Gimlet? The Fairy Gimlet? Whatever I wind up calling it, I like it!

No-Fun February

Alcohol never looked so good. We are abstaining for the month, as we try to every year, and it always leaves me flat.
Supposedly, it's better for you not to drink. You don't get liver damage, your immunity is higher, your skin less wrinkled, and you aren't as confrontational. I don't know about all that. It feels terrible to me.
What do sober people do for fun? Food is ruined. The magic of a great meal truly lies in the interactions of the victuals and the alcohol. Champagne as an apertif gets you ready for dinner, red wine eases it down, and a good shot after makes digestion a snap. Yoga helps me relax, but not as quickly as a nice cocktail. Life seems longer without booze, but much narrower.
Sure, you're saying to yourself, that's the addiction talking. Maybe so, but I wager that if I were to quit forever, not a day would go by that I wouldn't have rather had a drink.

Post-Party

I guess this is the come down.
After so much drink and food, January can be a difficult transition. I worked hard to get up to party pace, and now I have to let it all go? Mid year, I floundered to maintain my cool at parties; the spins, cold showers. Now I'm able to drink through the evening and still hold a stimulating conversation. There's got to be the golden mean between teetotaller and lush.
Here's a solution...champagne! It's lighter than liquor and stronger than beer. It's fluffy and fanciful, and you can drink it any any time of day! Bubbly makes me feel classier.
So, let's lift a flute and get through January!

Eugene 75
3/4 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz. rose liqeur
1 oz. Sapphire
fill the rest of the way with champagne

Hot Cha Cha

It was a very swilly Christmas. I ushered in the new year with lots of beer and whiskey. No mixed drinks for me, unless you count the champagne cocktail I created by adding Lemoncello to mimosas. My main drinking buddy was sick, though, so we made tons of Hot Toddys.
What an amazing beverage this is! A simple synthesis of hot water, honey, cinnamon stick and bourbon, it warms the cockles of your heart. It doesn't even matter what you put in it, if it's a hot, sweet alcoholic drink, it can be called a toddy. Nice and flexible that, just like my Scottish memory.
After drinking so much for the holidays, it's hard to bring it down a notch in January. So, I went to Davis for a martini after work last night, as part of my "bartender education". Thai told me that Chris is a real mixologist, and he didn't lie. My fears of straight gin and vermouth melted away in the cold, clean, dry, floral citrus bracer he set before me. Here's to a new year filled with fabulous drinks!

Healing Liquor

How funny that being a bartender has changed my view of alcohol for the better. I used to walk around with my bottle of Guilty Pleasure tucked inside my overcoat. As I learn more, however, I see a history of drink as healer, reviver, and important social symbol, and I am proud to be a lover of liquor.
Our society sees alcohol as Bad. You will really be looked down upon for drinking during the day, for example. Drinking around kids? Terrible influence. Drink everyday? Alcoholic. Yet, it has not always been this way. There was a time when people went to monks for their healing "waters": beers, liqeurs, and wines, and when a day without wine was considered unhealthy. Does the modern sorority girl think about health as she does her shot of Jagermeister? Probably not, but when taken appropriately (apertifs before meal, digestifs after, restoratives when the energy sags)alcohol plays a very key part in human health. Sure, a big part of this is not drinking to excess, but, oh well.

Can I change this blog?

Gosh! Ever since I started working 4 nights a week, I don't cook much. I really miss dinner! Now, my non-cook husband is in charge, and I think the kids are healthier for it. It's beans and rice every night. Sometimes I go all out and prepare dinner before I leave, but not often. The night life ain't no good life, but it's my life!
In light of this, I think I'll change this blog to talk about my new position as bartender! I really enjoy the work. It's not so far removed from cooking. You follow a recipe, taste the result, and make people happy (hopefully!). Cocktails have been in my periphery more and more, with a renaissance underway in the food world, and several of my foody friends "going over" to the bar. I am still very much a novice, but I love mixing the drinks at CLN.
Right now, I'm at work to memorize drinks, but keep your eyes peeled for my style to arise! Rose champagne cocktail anyone?

La Batterie de Cuisine

La batterie; all of the implements used in the battle against food: pots, pans, whisks, knives,cutting boards, and scales. A good one can make everything more smooth, and a lousy one can be the death knell for your dish.I have an adequate collection of pots and pans, but my knives are terrible. I sometimes think that if I had a good knife, I would be a much better prep cook than I ever dreamed possible. There are some things that I would like to get like a meat mallet, a fat separator, a bread machine, a turkey rack, etc., but they are so fluffy that I continue to make do without them. It would be nice, but in the end, you don't need all that.

The Death of the Dinner Party

My best friends and I love to get together and have dinner parties. It's an intimate way to be with the people you love; spoiled by fine libations, intelligent conversations, and beautiful foods. It's the best way I know to show someone that I care about them. You come over to my house, I clean it, and light candles. I spend the day in the kitchen for you, I can't really call it work, since I'm thoroughly and happily immersed in my favorite art and craft. We get to spend quality time and learn more about each other. After the party is over, we've strengthened our reciprocal social bonds, and hopefully, we're better off for it. So why is this wonderful tradition on the decline?
Society seems to be more superficial these days. The concepts of speed and convenience are so embedded in our culture, that hardly anyone takes the time to really cook anymore. Ironically, it can cost more to make a nice dinner at home than it would have to eat out, or buy prepared meals. It also takes a lot of time. Still, I always feel it's time and money well spent.
Hopefully, more people will learn to Cook, and throw dinner parties for me. People really worship you when you feed them and give them a moment of luxury.

Lamb Love

I've made magic with lamb lately.
I cooked spezzatino agnello con gremolata (lamb ragout) and roasted potatoes for the Randoms. What a lovely dish! I love the way ragouts happen. They just flow. I really feel the love radiate into the food. This one had lamb, onions, garlic, ginger, citrus zest, and fresh parsley, green beans, zucchini and carrots. So nice.
A few nights ago, it was potato gratin, Jack Monaco's green bean salad, and broiled lamb leg steaks. It was one of those meals that falls together perfectly, is not difficult to execute, and which positively dances on the palate. That's how dinner should be! Too often I get mired down in menus; trying to find foods that are seasonal and that will harmonize with each other. Other times, the menu is easy enough, but the prep time is monumental, and even a full day in the kitchen doesn't feel like enough. Then, of course, there's the meal that just tastes lousy.
An easy, delicious dinner is the prize. Sit down, relax, and toast your blessings! Thanks lambies!

delicious risotto

I made a tasty mushroom risotto for dinner. I love risotto, but I always walk away from it, and she's a very jealous mistress. You have to stir that pot constantly for 20 minutes, no messing around. I am a butterfly in the kitchen. A little bit of this, a little bit of that- turn, drink wine, dance, chop parsley, sing, saute. So risotto and I don't work that well with each other. It came out well anyway.
Ed and Louis harvested about a pound of our green beans, too. I made one of my favorite's, a green bean salad with marinated onions and tarragon.
That was it. It's been nice to recover from a meat heavy vacation by being mainly vegetarian.

food my great grandma used to cook

It's funny. I barely remember my Nonni, but the memories I do have are all wrapped around food, like prosciutto around a melon.
She was Italian, and spoke no english, after 75 years here. Our shared language was food. Cheerios with banana sliced painstakingly into the bowl by her wizened old hands. A soup of beef broth with pastina, egg and parmesan. Homemade marinara gravy with roasted sausages simmered in it all day long.
This woman never left the kitchen. God forbid she should set foot in the pristine parlor, or rest her haunches for a minute on the living room couch in front of the t.v. No, her t.v. was a smaller one she watched in the kitchen while cooking. I think that Italian females of this and successive generations felt like less of a woman if they were not constantly and steadily supplying nutrition in the form of bread with plenty of butter, tiny handmade pastas, endless vinegary anti-pastas with peppers and onions, canoli, wine(yes, even as children, we would get wine with ice cubes), and cake from the excellent bakery down the street. I can't help but to love this form of attention. It is pure heaven to sit at a formica table and watch your flesh and blood bustle about as they prepare a meal for you. Even better to sit in a noisy swirl of family at the table; women constantly flowing back and forth from kitchen to table, menfolk drinking liquor between courses, grandma hiding the bottles, eating, talking, and being together. I should have been born an Italian man.

real food

The other day, I offered a friend a chip, and she said, "No, thanks, I only eat real food." It really made me think. There is a whole lot of crappy "food" out there. Maybe we need a new word for this stuff we cram into our bodies in the name of consumption. Many of the items we offer our children, and eat ourselves are de-nutrified, overprocessed junk. Most of what is sold as "food" is pretty borderline. So, what is real food? I've narrowed my idea of real food down to 3 factors; speed, origin and vibe.
It doesn't have to be slow-food to be real, although it usually is. The whole slow foods movement originating in Italy is fantastic, and I support it whole-heartedly, but that is the other extreme of junk food. Real food lies somewhere in the middle. You have to be able to make it after a long day, when the kids are nagging at you that they're hungry. Jacque Pepin's "Fast Food My Way" series is a great example of expedient real food. Also, those instant water boilers. Something is wrong with water that boils in less than a minute, but I LIKE it!
Another part of the reality of food is the who. Who made it? Yo mamma? The Honduran woman at the burrito stand? Am I the only one who tries to picture the guy behind the scenes at McDonald's, and exactly what scary preparations he pulls on my meat? You have to be aware of who made it. Were they happy or cross?
A deeper aspect of real food is to know the origin of the ingredients. It scares me that I have no idea where most of what I buy comes from. You really have to search to find tuna from the Oregon ocean, rather than Thailand, or eggs from just one state. It is the ultimate in authenticity to grow your own, but who can grow there own grains? Just think how much grass you would need to support your baking habit for a year. Do you know where your wheat comes from? I don't.
Real food boils down to vibe. You can just feel it when it's genuine. It's the opposite feeling of when you eat a Twinkie. It feels like friends and family around a table, candles and wine. The smell and sound of onions frying. The hard work of dishes and prep. More bread and salad, and less crackers and chips.This is what keeps it real.

The Garden

My garden is booming right now. The sunshine agrees with it. I have the happiest tomatoes, just set with fruit, and my chives are tall and fat. The basil, celery, parsley and lavender want constant pinches to stay healthy, but the zucchini and pumpkin could give a damn, as long as I water. Everyone's happy.
Now the pressure is on to cook up all this good greenness.
I can't wait for breaded, fried zucchini with tomato sauce and parmesan. It's so light, yet hearty. This year, for the first time, I plan to can tomatoes. Then there is tomato/ basil salad with chive tart. Otherwise I will just plain stuff them in my face. The invasive mint that some people complain about is a wonder to a lousy gardener like me. I randomly wrench it out in big masses, and there is always enough. Mint steamed carrots, hibiscus/mint tea. Chocolate mint. Lavender ice cream anyone?

Learning to Cook

It seems as if my entire life has been spent learning to cook. It's only in the past few years that I've consciously tried to become a better cuisinier. Along the way so many people have touched me. My mother, with her familiar refrain of "Come and watch me cook", her sauteed mushrooms and baked macaroni with 7 cheeses. My Italian grandmother, who I don't remember, but who taught my Irish mother how to cook. The owner of The Blue Heron in Reno, NV who taught me how to cut an onion CORRECTLY (turns out he was right on, Jacque Pepin uses the same technique). Steve at my first food job, soda jerk, who showed me the correct way to make espresso drinks.Lee Zucker of The LocoMotive Restaurant right here in Eugene, who taught me everything, but above all else, instilled a drive for perfection (damn you Lee!), a scientific approach, and an appreciation of flavor. Also, Julia, Jacques, and my other heroes at PBS, my favorite foodie friends, Robin, Jessica and Lisa, and countless others.
Some things I had to learn by myself, of course; how to get a good crust (higher heat than you'd think!), how to make the genoise rise and the cream puff puff, but without all the help, where would I be?

Curried Chickpeas

I made a delicious dish of curried garbanzos at work last night. I sauteed onions, garlic and ginger with the "garam" (hot) spices, toatoes and chickpeas, and served it on a bed of rice with chutneys and cucumber raita. It was a hit.