Happy 104th Birthday, Little Grandma!
Mary Ferrante (nee Taormina) was born this day one hundred and four years ago. A hundred and four...
Little Grandma is still active, still cooks, still cleans house. She's still sharp as a tack and still speaks her mind. She's great. And a great cook!
Here is one of her recipes we make all the time:
Little Grandma's Eggplant Appetizer
- 1 Med. eggplant
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped green olives (black optional)
- 1 1/2 cups thin spaghetti sauce
- 3 TBS. Vinegar
- 1 1/2 TBS. Sugar (less ok)
- Chunks of Locatelli - to taste
Cut eggplant the size of French Fries. Place in colander salting each layer. Cover and weigh down to press out water.
Sauce:
Boil celery about 10 minutes. Add olives and boil 5 min. more. Set aside.
In sauce pan add 1 cup Spaghetti Sauce - thin with water from celery. Make 1 1/2 cups all together.
Add vinegar, Sugar and boil 4 min. Add cheese.
Dry eggplant on paper towel. Fry in very hot deep olive oil. To keep oil hot put a few eggplant in then after that put 1 piece in as you take each browned piece out. When all are fried, put in sauce. When sauce comes to a boil remove from heat. When cool, garnish with basil and mint.
(We made this at Easter and the first thing out of her mouth was "I usually add a little mint to this." We hadn't added it that time...)
Happy Birthday, Little Grandma. We're having eggplant tonight in your honor!
Lancaster County Farmers Market at 6:00am
Let the traditions begin!
One of my more favorite ones is getting up right before the butt-crack of dawn and heading down to the Lancaster County Farmers Market a few blocks from home to pick up my pre-ordered 30+ pound Thanksgiving Turkey. That's right... 30+ pounds!
The farmer's market at 6:15am was a typical mob-scene. It may be the only time I actually don't mind the chaos and confusion of shopping. There's just something about the throngs of people - mostly in good humor - all shopping for food that makes me smile.
The system at Rittenhouse Poultry, where I've bought our turkey since moving here, is organized confusion. A score of people are in front of the counter, with even more folks behind it. There's no real "line." Someone shouts out for tickets, a throng presses forward and hands tickets over. Turkeys are found, names are called. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It takes less than 5 minutes to get your bird. These folks are good.
One woman behind me asked if I was in line. I explained the system to her and she started bitching and moaning, calling it "unacceptable." An older woman in front of me turned to her and said "These people are working their asses off. This is our tradition and we like it. if you don't, go to Acme and get a frozen bird."
The first woman's jaw dropped. Several folks heartily agreed with her, laughing and generally making a good time out of the chaos. Everyone was complimenting the folks behind the counter. Honest, heartfelt "Thank you's" and "Happy Thanksgiving" was heard everywhere. The complaining woman quickly understood she was outnumbered and shut up.
And then there was the woman who said she didn't have a ticket, but she had ordered her turkey last week. The woman behind the counter said they don't take orders without giving a ticket. (They don't.) The woman insisted she had ordered a turkey, but was not given a ticket. This was going nowhere, so the counter woman then said. "Okay. We lost your order, what size turkey do you want?" She was much nicer than I would have been.
I got and paid for my 31.5 pounder and took it out to the car. No way could I carry that thing and still shop!
Back in, I headed to the bakery section. 2 Italian baguettes, a half dozen bagels, and a couple of kaiser rolls were all I needed. (I'll be making pumpkin rolls tomorrow.)
Then off to the produce section for some leeks and the multi-colored mixed cauliflower and broccoli. It shall make a lovely gratin. I bought some cold cuts (we have to eat today, too!) and walked around a bit to see if anything else struck my fancy. With all the food we're already planning, I figured I had enough.
Other than a couple of typical Main Line "I'm more important than you" folks, the people were upbeat and in good moods. You really could tell the regulars from the once-a-year shoppers, though. The regulars were relaxed and having fun. The once-a-year folks were harried and confused.
I ran into several folks I know from work, and we chatted and shared what we're cooking, and for how many.
And I was home by 7:00am.
Hannaford Brothers
Copied from the New York Times...
November 6, 2006
The Package May Say Healthy, but This Grocer Begs to Differ
By ANDREW MARTIN
For many grocery shoppers, the feeling is familiar: that slight swell of virtue that comes from dropping a seemingly healthful product into a shopping cart.
But at one New England grocery chain, choosing some of those products may induce guilt instead.
The chain, Hannaford Brothers, developed a system called Guiding Stars that rated the nutritional value of nearly all the food and drinks at its stores from zero to three stars. Of the 27,000 products that were plugged into Hannaford’s formula, 77 percent received no stars, including many, if not most, of the processed foods that advertise themselves as good for you.
These included V8 vegetable juice (too much sodium), Campbell’s Healthy Request Tomato soup (ditto), most Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice frozen dinners (ditto) and nearly all yogurt with fruit (too much sugar). Whole milk? Too much fat — no stars. Predictably, most fruits and vegetables did earn three stars, as did things like salmon and Post Grape-Nuts cereal.
At a time when more and more products are being marketed as healthy, the fact that so many items seemed to flunk Hannaford’s inspection raises questions about the integrity of the nutrition claims, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration — or possibly about whether Hannaford made its standards too prissy or draconian. Either way, the results do seem to confirm the nagging feeling that the benefits promoted by many products have a lot more to do with marketing than nutrition.
Furthermore, the rating system, introduced in September, puts the grocery store in the awkward position of judging the very products it is trying to sell, not to mention the companies that supply the foods. In fact, most of Hannaford’s own store-branded products did not get stars.
A New Look
The TJ Recipe site has been bugging me for a while. What started out as a simple recipe site for work has changed and grown over the past several years - and the underlying structure was getting a bit unwieldy. There are now over 600 pages of recipes! And still growing!
Static cookbooks, like The Family Reunion books, were commingling with actively changing recipe collections. The back-end of all of this was starting to drive my somewhat orderly mind crazy.
So..... A new organization and a new look! The change may not be overly evident to the user, but it shall be a far cry easier for me to maintain!
So take a gander at the new site. I'm still looking for fun recipes to add to the collection, so send off a few of those, too, while you're at it!
The Best Birthday Cake
Okay. I know my way around a cake. I LOVE cake. It's one of the essential food groups, right up there with full fat ice cream and deep dark chocolate.
I don't think I could even remotely remember the number of cakes I've baked in my life or the number of cakes - wedding cakes, anniversary cakes, engagement cakes, birthday cakes, whatever cakes - I've decorated. But there comes a time when one just wants to EAT a piece of cake. And good cake - like an exceptional wine or an honest politician - is not always easy to find. Until today, that is...
We were invited to Victor's cousin Kristy's today for her 40th birthday party. A fun-filled afternoon of family and food - with emphasis on the food. One never worries about going hungry at one of these family events. No matter how many people are there, there's always enough food for twice again as many more. I just let the belt out another notch and dive in. After all... it's family, right?!? Uncle Rudy's chicken livers were the best, ever, and the table was bending under the weight of pastas, sausages, meatballs, baked ham, fried chicken, salads, breads and rolls. I ate some of everything. Okay. I ate a LOT of everything. But as I was eating, I was keeping my eye on the sideboard. There was one of the best-looking birthday cakes I'd ever seen calling my name.
The cake was the creation of Shannon (aged 9) and Kayla (aged 7) McDonald. Shannon and Kayla are the daughters of the aforementioned Birthday Girl.
The truly impressive part is they made the cake themselves. And decorated it themselves. All of it. It was a visual masterpiece from two girls of such tender years. I looked at it in awe - recalling the first cake I ever made with my sister Judy when we were about their ages. THAT cake was a blue and green marble cake that had the look, feel (and weight!) of Carrera marble! Of course, our cake looked reasonably good, too, until we bent the knife trying to cut it...
Shannon and Kayla's cake lived up to its looks - and more. It was a rich, yet light and delicate chocolate with a barely perceptible layer of raspberry filling. The raspberry offered the perfect compliment to the chocolate and the rich and creamy vanilla icing. Nothing overpowered. Every bite was a perfect balance of flavors. It was like biting into heaven.
As I was searching my memory for that cake we had made lo these many years ago, it dawned on me that Shannon and Kayla added an extra ingredient to their cake that Judy and I had not added when we made that cake for ourselves.
They added a heaping tablespoon of love.
Dinner at Wegmans?!?
When our friends Ann and Julie invited us up to their Rochester, NY home for a long weekend, we knew it was going to be a fun food weekend. We all like to eat, we all like to have fun, and we all like to have fun while we eat. Perfect friends!
Friday afternoon was simple hor d'oeuvres while we chatted away and caught up on gossip. It's actually quite easy to talk with your mouth full - and I proved it! Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and cheese, and a huge wedge of Saint Andre started of the fun...
Ann prepared Thanksgiving Dinner for us all Friday night! Turkey and all the trimmings! It was tres fabu! Naturally, I had to be a proper guest and eat everything on my plate - and refill it several times, too. I mean, it is the polite thing to do, right?!? Mom would have been proud of me. Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, baked squash, asparagus, cranberry relish... I think there should be a rule that we have to have Thanksgiving dinner at least every three months. It's a reasonable rule and one I would gladly follow - especially if they were all this good!
We rolled back into the living room, and soon it was time for dessert. Fresh apple pie, or homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream?!? I couldn't very well choose one over the other, could I?!? Of course not! I had both. They were delicious! We laughed and joked until the wee hours, and then crawled off to bed.
Saturday morning dawned and so did breakfast. Fresh-baked banana bread on the table, along with bacon, eggs, two types of delicious toast, fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes, orange juice, and piping hot coffee. I was beginning to get used to this!
Barely able to move, we headed out to the car for Julie's Famous Tour of Rochester. Driving up and down streets, marveling at the homes - and prices - and generally having a great time. I hadn't been to Rochester since about 1984 when I was living in Buffalo after opening the Hyatt Regency there. A lot had changed!
Naturally, we had to stop for lunch!
Funny, but while I remember that I enjoyed it thoroughly, I can't recall exactly what it was I had! I was having much too much fun with fabulous company!
We returned home to rest and relax for a bit, because we had reservations for dinner at Wegmans.
Wegmans?!?
Yes. Wegmans.
It seems that the Wegmans Mother Ship in Rochester has a restaurant attached. A little place called "Tastings." What a surprise! What a delight! They have a prix fixe 5 course dinner we just had to have! Five courses, with a choice of two items for each one. Naturally, we all had to get different things so we could share. We tried everything on the menu!
I started off with heirloom tomatoes, micro greens, and cherry tomatoes rolled in goat cheese and pecans. Oh. My. Gawd. A simple balsamic dressing topped it off. The presentations were unbelievable. Fun Food, indeed!
Next was the fish course. I opted for a fresh Boston Cod on a bed of green and yellow beans. Victor had the Shrimp with a Sweet and Sour Slaw with hints of coconut. Both were knock-outs!
Julie opted for the Beef with spinach and waffled potatoes, while the rest of us went for the duck breast with purees of carrot and squash. Perfectly cooked, medium rare duck breast topped with fried orange rind. To die for!
Next came a Trio of Cheeses... Each was paired with its own sauce. I'll be damned if I can remember their names, but boy were they good. Simple, yet elegant. Perfect combinations. Perfectly complimentary.
Dessert arrived. A Valrhona Chocolate Gateau with Rum Raisin Ice Cream. I was in heaven. Ann chose the Creme Brulee with Biscotti. Creme Brulee is good and all, but... Chocolate was needed after this meal. Yep. Heaven.
After dinner, we strolled through the Wegmans Mother Ship. Big doesn't begin to describe it. We perused the aisles looking at the Waterford crystal and Italian platters and bowls. I had to keep reminding myself we were in a grocery store! I saw about a dozen things I loved. As we don't have room for the bowls and platters we currently own, I resisted buying more. It wasn't easy.
Another late night.
The following afternoon we headed home, laden with Turkey sandwiches with dressing and cranberry sauce Ann packed up for us. We pulled into a rest stop and devoured half of them.
A few hours later, we were home - with the rest of the turkey sandwiches for dinner.
Did I mention what a wonderful time we had?!?
Fantasia Confections and a Stroll Down Memory Lane
What seems like several lifetimes ago, a very shy little boy was forced into a job at a local Donut Shop in San Francisco. Well… ‘forced’ may be too harsh of a word, but it certainly wasn’t my idea to get up early on Saturday mornings to scrape parchment paper pan liners and wash sheet pans. My father had decided that his enormously shy son needed to get out of the house and actually interact with people once in a while – and he knew the owner of the donut shop really well.
The Donut Center, on Taraval and 40th Avenue had fairly recently moved up the street from its former incarnation as “Billie’s Donut Shop.” It was a neighborhood coffee shop, serving breakfast, lunch, and great donuts, Danish, coffee cakes… Bear Claws, butterhorns, figure 8’s, cinnamon rolls, coffee rings of every imagination…
John Kennedy was in the White House, the world was optimistic, no one knew where Viet Nam was. “High Hopes” had been JFK’s campaign song, and ‘high hopes’ permeated the air in the early sixties eight short blocks from the ocean in San Francisco…
There was an old German baker there named Hans. Well… I thought Hans was old, but as I look back I don’t think he was more than 35 at the most. He was a bit gruff, which made him seem old to this timid little kid. Hans made all the pastries and coffee cakes, and he made it look so effortless. Over time, as I had finished scraping the parchment paper and caught up on washing my sheet pans, Hans would let me roll out his pastry dough. He was extremely picky about how it was done, and I soon found out it wasn’t nearly as effortless as it appeared! It was exacting work. Proper temperature, proper pressure while rolling, rolling in certain directions to achieve proper proportions. In his heavy German accent, Hans explained to me why it had to be a certain way. He taught me how to feel the dough, what to look for, how to count (and remember!) how many times it had been folded and refrigerated.
Those early years at The Donut Center became the foundation for a life that has been involved in food – in one way or another – for the past 45 years.
This little stroll down Memory Lane comes because of an email I received a few days ago.
Back in 1966, I quit the Donut Center in a huff. I got into a fight with the owner – I have no idea what it was about – and got a job at Blum’s downtown. Blum’s was an institution in San Francisco. It was where blue-haired and bejeweled matrons held court over sumptuous sandwiches and even more decadent desserts, and where mothers and grandmothers brought their daughters, in their maryjane's, gloves, and with ribbons in their hair. It was located on Geary Street across from Union Square. It had a back entrance into Macy's. Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake was one of those desserts – and it was to die for.
Fast forward to April, 1995. I am volunteering at Project Open Hand in San Francisco – an organization feeding AIDS patients throughout the city. I strike up a friendship with a woman named Helen Kane, who, after we share histories a bit, tells me she has the original Coffee Crunch Cake recipe from Blum’s! The following week, she brings me the recipe, neatly written on a 3x5 card.
In the ensuing 11 years, I have made the cake numerous times – always to raves. It’s a bit time consuming, and you can’t make the coffee crunch on a really humid day, but it is one damned good cake! Several years ago, on epicurious.com, I mentioned in a review of Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie, that I had the recipe, and I have shared it freely for years.
The email was from Sandy Weil, the daughter of the man who invented the Coffee Crunch Cake! She said that her father, Ernest Weil, had worked at Blum’s in the mid-40’s and had created the cake, and left in 1948 to open his dream bakery Fantasia Confections in Laurel Village – a small shopping district on California Street in the Laurel Heights neighborhood. The even better news was that her father had finally written a cookbook with all the recipes they had made there for 40 years! Of course I had to buy one, and the autographed copy arrived on Monday!
I’ve been having a blast reading the stories, reading the recipes, and deciding what to make “first.” I finally decided that my trip down Memory Lane had to start with Danish Pastry. It was, after all, the very first thing I ever learned how to roll out, lo, these many years ago.
Making Danish is a two-day process. The dough needs to sit overnight after the rolling/folding/rolling/chilling – repeat – repeat – repeat… But it is sooooo worth the time and effort! They came out fanfreakintastic! Light, flakey, buttery. The perfect amount of sweetness. I brought two over to our next door neighbors - still warm from the oven - and ten minutes later I received a swooning phone call thanking me profusely! They are really really good!
So... the shy little boy came out of his shell, and has lived and worked all over the USofA. But those memories of sweet youth and Danish pastry in San Francisco linger on...
The book is available from http://www.lovetobakecookbook.com
Buy one, today!
Chicken Fried Steak
I can't really recall the first time I had Chicken Fried Steak... Probably either at my grandmother's or at Auntie Sis' as a little kid. My mom made it once every blue moon or so (with six kids, even cheap steak was a rarity at our house!) and I definitely had it while in the Navy. (LOTS of Southern boys in the navy, ya know?!?) I remember vats of country gravy and sheet pans stacked high with greasy steak.
But the Chicken Fried Steak I will always remember was served at Lyon's restaurant in Daly City, CA. It was pretty good, for a chain restaurant, but what makes it memorable was Lyon's is where we always went to dinner with my parents. In her later years, my mom pretty much stopped cooking. She attributed it to the numerous hundreds of thousands of meals she had prepared over her life. Besides, Lyon's was close by, reasonably priced, they could get anything they wanted, menu or not, and they knew all the staff. It was like their own private club. And they loved showing off their favorite kids. (That would be me and Victor, of course!)
The vinyl booths, the long counters and the 70's decor only enhanced the dining experience. And the waitresses - either 50 year veteran's who cold work a dozen tables without breaking a sweat - or, later, 20 year old Filipina's who were extremely friendly, if somewhat absentminded - were the icing on the cake.
I guess this would be a good point to explain to some of you just what Chicken Fried Steak is... It seems that since moving east, up here above the Mason-Dixon Line, there's nary a soul who knows what it is! Quite simply, it's a piece of steak - beef steak - that is fried as one would fry chicken. In the olden days, one would take a cheap cut of beef, flour it, and pound it with a Coke bottle to tenderize it and incorporate the flour. Then fry in fat and smother in cream gravy.
I generally use cubed steaks... It is dredged in flour (and I then dip in egg and then dredge in flour, again) and then fried in fat. Oh yum. Of course, it's not complete without Counntry Gravy - cream gravy, sausage gravy... and mashed potatoes. Cardiac heaven on a plate. The best gravy is made from the fat drippings in the pan, of course. Otherwise, why bother?!? And a whole bunch of mashed potatoes!
There's as many variations on a theme as there are folks who cook it. It's the type of recipe that is usually made the same way Mom made it... And it is distinctly Southern (and Western) in nature... Where did it originate?!? Plenty of people claim the honor, but it's been around a long, long time.....
And I'll be making it for a long time, too.....
Clemen's Market, Italian Sausage, and Polenta
This past Thursday found me getting a picture taken for my new driver license. I can't believe we've been here over 5 years already! The renewal process is a bit strange in Pennsylvania. One can renew a license at an "Auto Tag" store or online. I chose the online option, only to find out that I still had to go to the Photo Licensing Center to have my picture taken! So much for efficiency!
The center is in a strip mall in Frazer, about 15 miles from us down Rt 30 - Lancaster Avenue. I was in and out in about 10 minutes, and noticed a Clemen's Family Market in the center. I have heard of Clemen's, but had never been in one...
I'm not quite sure what the hype is all about, because i don't think I'll be making the trek back there again too soon! The store was nice enough, I guess, but walking in, it was dark. Really dark. With a brown open, exposed ceiling and low lights - and flowers abounding, it was decidedly cave-like walking in. Not unwelcoming, but not welcoming, either.
The first area I walked by was the in-store bakery. Some great looking products in cases, a plethora of donuts and bagels, lots of freshly baked breads and bagged rolls, and a stand-alone display of different sandwich rolls. Rolls with no price. I looked and looked, walked up and down, checked some more. No price. No posted price for me means an automatic no purchase. i walked over to the produce section.
It was colorful and the produce was nicely displayed. Pricey, too. I had done my major weekly shopping the day before, so really didn't need any more fresh stuff, anyway. I started walking the aisles.
One of my more favorite things to do is walk the aisles of a quiet grocery store. I love walking by products and 1) mocking them for their partially hydrogenated, overly processed, mass-consumerism, or 2) stopping and finding new and unique products hiding amongst the mass-produced junk. What i found strange about this store was how disjointed the aisles were. Walking down an aisle, out of the blue, would be shelves full of items totally unrelated to anything else in the aisle! In my way of thinking, items should at the very least compliment one another in an area. Finding vinegar with the cereal is not my idea of efficient cross-merchandizing!
I walked by the deli counter twice, and kept seeing the guy back there - with his plastic gloves on - scratching, fiddling with his hat... My third trip by, I saw a different guy pulling on fresh gloves. I ordered some sliced ham and sliced cheese. He changed his gloves when he finished.
I made it over t the meat department and did find a huge box of Italian Sausage on sale, or rather "discounted 50%" with my Clemen's card. I picked one up. I grabbed a couple more items - some red wine vinegar I keep forgetting to buy, a loaf of Italian Bread (the only one that didn't have high fructose corn syrup in it!) and made my way up to the cashier - a very helpful older gentleman who ran over to the customer service desk for me to get my discount card application.
He was actually the best thing in the store! He explained the card to me, told me about other places it is good, showed me the 'extra $5.00 off" discounts for spending $40.00. And he thanked me for bagging my own groceries.
As I said, it wasn't a bad experience, but it wasn't a great one, either. And since the store is definitely out of the way for me, I'd have to make an effort to go there - and it just didn't seem like it would be worth that effort.
Which brings me to dinner tonight! I cooked up a bit of the Italian Sausage - and it was very good!
I was feeling a tad lazy today! We had taken the puppy to the dog park, and got home just before the latest torrential downpour hit! (We actually received 2" of rain in less than an hour!) It was cool in the house, so, looking into the well-stocked 'fridge and finding most of an onion and most of a bell pepper all nicely wrapped, a pound of mushrooms - and my package of sausage - a bit of a sausage fry was in order! And... with a bag of polenta in the cupboard, a sausage fry over creamy polenta was definitely the ticket!
I sliced up 8 chunks of sausage, and sliced the onion and pepper into strips. Threw them into a skillet with a handful of sliced mushrooms, a splash of olive oil and some fresh garlic. When everything was nicely browned, I added a can of diced tomatoes and a bunch of fresh basil from the garden and let it simmer.
Meanwhile, I made the polenta. 2 cups of milk, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup of polenta. i cooked it, stirring now and again, and then added a tbsp of butter and a handful of shredded cheese.
Into the bowl it went, with the sausage and peppers on top. A healthy grating of Locatelli on top, and it was a yummy dinner!
Phoebe's Baked Beans
One could possibly surmise by the dearth of writings here lately, that I have given up on cooking and eating! Well… nothing could be farther from the truth! It’s just that we have been off to the west coast for friends-and-family gatherings, and trying to catch up on all the backlogged work from taking off for another 10 days. Stop eating and cooking!? Be serious!
We were out to Portland and Seattle, where we were wined and dined by family and friends, alike! Starting at my baby sister’s house, we had the most wonderful Chipotle baked beans one could imagine! They were so good, in fact, I made them the day we got back! It’s a really simple recipe using canned baked beans as the base. Purists can definitely start out with their own dried beans, but… these are GREAT as is!
Phoebe's Baked Beans
The original recipe comes from Cooking Light magazine. Phoebe made these at their housewarming "Open House" and nary a bite was left!
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste - I never have puree in the house!)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
- 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans
Preheat oven to 300°.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly. (I cooked mine for about 2 hours. Phoebe cooked hers the day before and reheated. They taste better reheated or cooked longer, in my not so humble opinion!)
We met our friend Steph in Portland for lunch at Connor’s BBQ where the ribs were fall-off-the-bone fabulous! (Although, I must admit that it was the company that was the star that day!) Connor’s is the epitome of no-frills dining! Everything is served on or in disposables. One has to ask for utensils (plastic), napkins, whatever, but the service is friendly and the food is great! Dining is on picnic tables al fresco. We did a rack of ribs (served with sliced white Wonder Bread!) sides of macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and fresh lemonade. The bill for three was under $20.00.
We were then off to Seattle where we met two more friends BJ & Print, for an overnight visit! We headed out to the Seattle Zoo for an outdoor Indigo Girls Concert, and our girls packed a most fantabulous picnic dinner! Cheeses and salami, salads galore, chilled beverages, breads and crackers – and desserts! Again, the food was sublime, but the company stole the show! It’s amazing just how much better food tastes when you’re sharing it with good friends! The following morning they greeted us with a platter of various melons, homemade pancakes – with warm maple syrup - and a quality coffee that only Seattle can produce!
Back home, I’ve been on a bit of a chipotle kick! I can’t find chipotles in adobo at any of our local stores, so I brought back several cans – and have been using them a lot! I made a pretty good chipotle sauce the other night for a London broil, and then used it for a marinade with beef ribs and chicken thighs. Oh yum!
Now… I made this on the fly and didn’t write anything down, so I’ll never be able to reproduce it, exactly (the curse of being a cook who uses what’s in the house at the time and NEVER writes down measurements!) but a close approximation is:
Chipotle Sauce
- 3 chipotles in adobo, chopped
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 chopped bell pepper
- 2 cans diced tomatoes in juice
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup vinegar
- 1 can chopped green chiles
- Salt and pepper
I cooked the onions and peppers, added the tomatoes and remaining ingredients, simmered for about an hour, hit it with an immersion blender, and simmered another 30 minutes, or so… Spicy and yummy!
Today I am contemplating making some homemade chicken sausage… Maybe…
Puttin' On The Ritz!
There’s something magical – if not downright decadent – about sitting on a tropical beach, steel drums playing in the background, and eating and drinking to your hearts content! Uniformed waiters with silver trays of hors d’oeuvres and drinks plying the crowd. Neon colored tables dotting the white sand… The glorious sunset over the ocean…
Sound like heaven?!? It was! Welcome to the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman!
We were at The Ritz-Carlton for 5 days of fun and relaxation, compliments of Victor’s company! He was nominated for – and won – his company’s President’s Club Award for 2005! Along with about 35 other employees and their SO’s or guests, we were about to embark on a five-day food-and-fun extravaganza, Ritz-Carlton style!
The opening night “Barefoot on the Beach” reception set the tone for the week! It was an eclectic array of food, to be sure! Fresh yellow tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and chiffonade of basil sat next to tropical fruit. Mixed greens were dressed with pineapple infused white balsamic vinegar… Coconut breaded grouper with mango salsa competed with jerked chicken and chunks of flank steak with red and yellow peppers in an Asian/Island inspired sauce. The freshly baked rolls were light as air…
Desserts included rum cakes and build-your-own sundaes, with every imaginable topping! It was approaching midnight when we finally said goodnight…
The following morning greeted us with a group breakfast. Fairly typical buffet, but the stand-out was the pastries. Okay, I admit that I’m a pastry fanatic and barely noticed the other foods, but for once I actually didn’t over-indulge. I was on my way to 5 glorious hours in the Silver Rain Spa…..
Well into the afternoon, after being steamed, sauna'd, massaged and pampered, we headed to “7” the resort’s casual dining restaurant overlooking the ocean. We started with a calamari appetizer and then I ordered a blackened grouper sandwich… just to die for! We actually ate light (well... 'light' is relative, I guess...) because in just a few hours, the Gala Awards Dinner was about to commence!
A lounge by the ocean was in order and we trekked off for a bit of sun and relaxation, first stopping off at Bar Jack for a cool drink…
The awards dinner was everything one would expect it to be – and more! Liveried waiters passing every conceivable food… Miniature Beef Wellington?!? Scallops in bacon?!? Fresh melon and prosciutto?!? Satay’s of jerked chicken and beef?!? I was stuffed before dinner began! But that certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying another wonderful meal! Our first course was a napoleon of perfectly sliced red and yellow tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella atop a crusty crouton. Drizzled with a simple oil and vinegar dressing, and topped with a chiffonade of fresh herbs…
The entrée was a New York steak – perfectly medium rare – with a puree of Yukon gold potatoes and (I think) basil (chives?!?) I’m having trouble recalling the vegetable… It was a julienned-blend-of-something-extravaganza. But the overall presentation was tres unique! Two 12” random-formed crackery breadsticks stuck out of the potatoes and vegetables, giving the appearance of I dunno… antennae or wings… Even after all my years of hotel food and beverage, it was an impressive presentation! A simple, but elegantly presented crème brulee for dessert… The awrds given, the last cup of coffee consumed, we headed upstairs, with smiling stomachs...
The following morning room service arrived with a simple breakfast of lox and bagels, a platter of fresh tropical fruits, and a brioche French toast! Glasses of chilled mango juice, and a pot of coffee later, we were on our way to swim with the Stingrays!
The luncheon on the catamaran was a simple cold cut buffet, and after swimming and snorkeling, we needed a bit more substance after arriving back to the hotel. Off to Bar Jack, the pool lounge for a bite…
Lunch at the Bar jack is a ‘box lunch’ – Bento Box, that is… I had a chicken salad club on grilled ciabatta, served with a tuna salad, peas and carrots – and a moist, light brownie! Victor opted for a chicken satay with a mahogany Asian sauce that was to die for! Served with rice, it also came with the tuna salad. His dessert was a rum spice cake. Fully sated, we headed to the beach…
Cocktail waitresses sauntered back and forth with their trays of iced concoctions. And then a gentleman arrived with frozen washcloths for us to cool our weary brows. Frozen washcloths. You heard me right. Frozen washcloths. I could really get used to this. But… we had to head back up to the room… More food was on the way!
Dinner was another treat! The group was broken into smaller groups and we headed out to some local restaurants. Our group headed to The Reef Grill … Appetizers were Crab Cakes with a jerk mayo and something else wonderful that I can no longer recall… And I was sober!
Entrées this time around were Honey Soy Glazed Sea Bass with a Thai Curry Sauce, and Coconut Grouper with Pineapple Salsa. Dessert was the local favorite Tortuga Rum Cake, served with vanilla ice cream and crème fraiche! The cake was moist and dripping with Tortuga rum… the ice cream that perfect consistency… the crème fraiche added that extra leap into gastronomic heaven… I was too full to move. I wanted more…..
At 7:00am the following morning, there was a discreet tap on the door. Room service had arrived with breakfast! Now, 7:00am may seem like an ungodly hour when one is on vacation, but we’re early risers, and we had jeeps reserved to explore the island! The early bird gets to eat more!
The waiter rolled in our table and began to explain our meal. Lobster frittata with asparagus and a lobster cream sauce, fingerling potatoes fried with peppers and onions… Eggs Benedict with eggs that actually had a runny yolk! A perfect hollandaise sauce… More mango juice, more coffee… I was beginning to get used to this! Really used to this! Granted, i was going to need a new wardrobe, but what the heck. Fat is beautiful in some cultures!
We picked up our jeep and headed out on our own… Into George Town for a bit of souvenir shopping was the first order of the day… Quaint and quiet best describes George Town. The low buildings and colonial look belie the money, for it is banking that The Cayman Islands are famous for. Tourism pulls in a distant second!
We stopped off at the Cayman Islands National Museum, and although it was closed for renovation, did pick up a few trinkets at the gift shop. And then it was on to the north end of the island…
Driving on the opposite side of the road didn’t prove to be difficult, at all. Of course, the roads were virtually empty. I couldn’t imagine trying to pull it off in Piccadilly Circus, but we managed quite well.
We ended up at Rum Point because, well… we were hungry again, and the place had been highly recommended. Again, we weren’t disappointed! I dived into Conch Fritters with a spicy mango mayonnaise while Victor went for a blackened mahi-mahi sandwich. We ran into several fellow travelers and spent a quiet afternoon laughing and joking, and eating….. and eating…..
A leisurely drive back to the hotel, and it was up to the room. We needed to rest up a bit, because Havana Nights was coming up! So we ordered a snack... Imported cheeses and fried calamari... We joked that here, "imported cheese" could mean Kraft Singles... but this is the Ritz-Carlton, after all... No such processed cheese food sullied our plate. Instead, it was a wedge of assiago, fresh mozzarella, muenster, and an excellent Camembert... Bottles of Perrier to cleanse the palate... Nap or shower?! We had to start getting ready.....
Papagallo Restaurant… What an experience! Again, we were greeted with uniformed waiters with trays of food and drink. Three bars were set up. Outdoors, there were beers and wines, inside the main bar was full-service, and off to the side was a Mojito bar. Mojitos… what a concept! Oh yum.
Right inside the foyer was a gentleman who looked to be 80. He was hand-rolling Cuban cigars! Free Cuban cigars! Perfectly rolled free Cuban cigars! I’ve died and gone to heaven – again!
The main dining room was a riot of color! HUGE fresh floral centerpieces on vibrant table cloths. Sparkling crystal – and food! The plated hors d’oeuvres included plates of fried plantains, frites, ciabatta-like sandwiches… A half-dozen varieties of rolls… and this didn’t count the food being passed by the wait staff! Letting the belt out by yet another notch, I dived in...
We were summoned to the buffet where whole grouper shared a carving station with a whole roasted pig… chicken fritters, seafood fritters, vegetable fritters… a marinated beef that was so tender it melted in your mouth. Shrimp cocktail, salsas and guacamole, rice dishes, and the best Cuban Black Beans I’ve ever tasted! There were salads for days, but I didn’t want to waste precious stomach space on foods I could get at home! I can do salad any time...
Speaking of stomach space… I was beginning to feel a bit full before heading off to the buffet, but did that stop me?!? Of course not! I was on a mission here! I had to taste everything! And by golly, I did! Er… almost… I really did try to just take small tastes of the different foods, but my taste buds overruled my brain. It was just too wonderful to stop.
And then… Desserts. Why they don’t put the desserts out first is beyond me! It’s my favorite part of the meal, and I hadn’t saved any room for them, at all! No two ways about it, I was going to have to take one for the Gipper… Belt out another notch... I heaed to the dessert table...
Creamy flan… Rum cake that dripped rum, chocolate mousse, a Cuban bread pudding that was perfect in every way. My eyes were glassy and glazed over... I was wonderfully miserable.
And then the music really started! Sexy, sultry Cuban dancers took to the floor and performed some of the sexiest dirty dancing I’ve ever seen! Hot, sultry… electrically charged… It was great.
The dancers headed into the audience to drag unsuspecting victims up to the stage. Any other time I would have been eager to go – I love to dance – but not this night. The only salsa that was happening with me had mango in it… Mango – not Tango…
With the grace of an elephant about to give birth, we left… We had an early flight out the next day, and I needed all the time I could get to digest this week.
The following morning came way too soon. Bags were packed and picked up by the bellman as we headed downstairs to our last bit of food before our flight.
I can’t recall ever eating so much in a mere five days! Nor can I recall more beautiful sunsets, a more professional and courteous staff, or a more perfect time, shared with some truly wonderful folks!
I wanna go back!
Is It Really Organic?
It seems everyone wants to buy organic these days - and seem to be willing to pay a lot more for it. But are you really getting what you're paying for?!? I have my doubts.
Ask most people what comes to mind when they hear the word "organic" and they will probably come up with something like a small family farm, free of pesticides. Bountiful, nutritious crops being raised with love and care. They probably don't envision factory farms laser-leveling their fields to be able to mechanically harvest. But that is rapidly becoming the state of organic farming.
Don't get me wrong. I applaud the concept of pesticide-free produce, but I'm NOT willing to pay a premium price for something factory-farmed - especially since the term "organic" is being misapplied - in my not-so-humble opinion.
USDA Organic now means that only 95% of a multi-ingredient product must be organic ingredients. A rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations bill, written in obscure legal language, effectively nullifies a 2005 Court decision affirming OFPA’s ban on “synthetic ingredients” in processed organic foods while reinforcing a loophole allowing the use of hundreds of synthetic processing substances without review. It gives the USDA unprecedented power to grant “emergency exemptions” to allow non-organic ingredients without citizen review when organic ones are deemed not commercially available. So... is it organic?!? Or, rather, how organic is it?!?
And then we have folks who incorrectly believe that "organic" automatically means "healthier." According to both the USDA and the leadership of the $6 billion organic industry, organic certification is only an accreditation of production methods used by farmers and not an assurance of food safety, quality, nutrition or health.
In other words, an organic "Pop Tart" is still a "Pop Tart." Even Consumers Report questioned the wisdom of paying more for processed organic foods like cereal or bread, which have limited nutrient value and aren't always fully organic.
How "organic" is that milk you're paying twice the amount for? Is it coming from "happy cows" like you see on the California Cheese commercials? From a local dairy farm? Probably not. The above rider also allows dairies to use non-organic replacement animals!
USDA National Organic Program Standards require Outdoor Access and Pasture for Organic Animals and Livestock. Sounds pretty basic, right? Well... Would you be surprised to lean that more and more organic milk is coming from factory farms keeping their cows in confinement feedlots and barns? Oh, they're feeding their cows certified feed, but is it "organic milk" if the cow is in a pen and not in a pasture? Is it worth twice the price?
Not to mention that most organic milk u=is ultra pasteurized to prolong shelf life. Ultra pasteurization destroys proteins which is why ultra pasteurized heavy cream has to have carrageenan added to make it whip.
And then we have "free-range." One would think that free-range chickens have spent their short lives outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and grass, and fresh air. Well, it actually means that they had "access" to the outdoors - whether they ever went outdoors, or not. So much for the myth of happy chickens.....
Like "weapons of mass destruction" - a phrase that was never defined, leaving the individual to conjure up his or her own worst nightmare - "organic" and "free-range" have been equally co-opted. The vision of what we want to believe - and are paying premium price for - is not necessarily reality.
In a society that has put quantity over quality, it becomes the responsibility of the individual to look beyond the hype and labels. And if you're willing to pay more for "organic" make sure it truly is what you think it should be.