Tuesday, December 11, 2007
December 11, 2007
Seriously doubt I'm disappointing anyone by postponing my Tuesday thoughts to Wednesday. Tonite Kim and I are celebrating our 25th at Binkleys in Cave Creek. Dinner with Thomas is only trumped by watching him at work. Really dig the uniform (I married a man in uniform and my dad wore a uniform.....hmmmmm). And it's extememly fun to watch people watch my son at work. More tomorrow..this time I'm coming home with a menu. Now, what to do with my hair?
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, Dec 3, 2007
So, here's the maiden voyage of this thing that's become a weekly occurance. We recently moved back to the Phoenix area and have found that Monday evenings are a good time to get together with our oldest son, who completed Culinary school in Scottsdale and has laundry that needs to be done weekly. (see how this works out well for everyone.....I am forced to find inspiration for Monday eats based on what I can find nearby - sometimes it's a craving, sometimes it's a sale - the dog loves to see Tom and tell him that we neither feed her, walk her or pay her any attention whatsoever.......Addie gets a huge dose of big brother-they make lots of loud noises and if Tom hadn't become a chef, he'd have been a standup comedian, which I would have enjoyed as well.....I just might be skinnier. Either way , it's weekends spent scrounging for good ingredients, a couple of hours of cooking and some fun good eating and laughing. And Tom gets his white laundered for his work week.
At 23, Tom has an amazing palate and an uncanny knack for pairing wine. Suppose some of that comes from his trade (www.Binkleysrestaurant.com) and I guess the Expo Chef ought to have a grasp of what to drink with what. I'm happy to ride in the back seat and let Tom pick the wine. Usually, he just carts it over, which saves me the embarrassment, because I am a wine innocent.
So, things may go this way......a date (will only be Mondays, so check back on Tuesdays) , a wine (or two)......gastro offerings and a mom's observations....surely this will be a little bit about watching my hatchling feather his wings.....and probably a lot about me working on writing. I write great things in my head when I am lying there trying to fall asleep.
Phoenix had a couple of very rainy days and by Sunday we were ready to get out of the house. We headed to Tempe Festival of the Arts (free, fabulous and a good reason to make a trip out this way) It was still mid afternoon driving down the freeway when I spotted the Chinese Cultural Center. I haven't grasped in my head where it is, but if I stumble on it, the car doesn't mind turning off. They have a huge asian market, full of fresh fish (swimming...in water...fresh!)
and somethings I can't seem to pass up. I get my rice there (Nishiki). there's a medium size list of item we can't seem to pass up like udon noodles (savory, fast, chewy, good start for lunch, just add veggies and protein) kimchee (oh stop...it's good) oyster mushrooms (they charge almost nothing for them, I feel guilty like it's mislabeled) veggies amillion (this time it was Red Spinach...not really a spinach I think, but yummy anyway) and there's this section of refrigerator with stuff to make sushi out of like slices of octopus, various kinds of fish roe, sashimi, ginger. At the register there was a mom and daughter....mom was 60 or 70 (may have been older.....asian ladies age VERY well) and they did this little dance I remember my mom and I doing. Daughter remembers at the last minute something she wanted/needs so she abandons mom at the register....makes it back in time for ringup....and they "argue" over who will pay for the lot. Mom always wins. The cashier remains neutral, but for some reason mom's tone is serious enough that she obeys. Gosh I miss my mom.
Now that Addie's in school, I can run to the store all by myself, the organic market is across from a Starbucks. I can get a NY Times and tall drip for under $3. It doesn't guarantee an uneventful trip at all. I dropped the bottle of Chardonnay in the parking lot meant for the Cauliflower sauce.
Let me end the chattiness.....is it unbloglike to ramble?
We drank:
Green Sencha (tea)
We ate: seared sirloin
saifun noodles with vegetables
kimchee
tako (octopus)
ebi (shrimp)
oshinko (pickles)
rice
quail eggs (coddled....I lost everyone else at the table. I enjoyed it)
oyster mushrooms ( I tried to ruin them, got them started before Thomas got here, he had to rescue them.)
had to ditch the cauliflower sauce because I dropped the bottle of Chardonnay......but you have to believe me when I tell you it is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten.....savory and creamy (Tom leans towards sauces with LOTS of cream......well, they are yummy and really, you don't need to each big portions if there's a lot of flavor packed in each bite).
Fresh raspberries
Ok, doesn't sound like 5star food (yet), but what's going on here is Tom bringing his tastes and talent to our family table. Really good food changes your idea of what sounds good to eat. Chicken isn't so great after you've had duck (or squab/pigeon) and beef is blah after you've had Kobe beef. Makes most of what I eat just fuel. sigh.
At 23, Tom has an amazing palate and an uncanny knack for pairing wine. Suppose some of that comes from his trade (www.Binkleysrestaurant.com) and I guess the Expo Chef ought to have a grasp of what to drink with what. I'm happy to ride in the back seat and let Tom pick the wine. Usually, he just carts it over, which saves me the embarrassment, because I am a wine innocent.
So, things may go this way......a date (will only be Mondays, so check back on Tuesdays) , a wine (or two)......gastro offerings and a mom's observations....surely this will be a little bit about watching my hatchling feather his wings.....and probably a lot about me working on writing. I write great things in my head when I am lying there trying to fall asleep.
Phoenix had a couple of very rainy days and by Sunday we were ready to get out of the house. We headed to Tempe Festival of the Arts (free, fabulous and a good reason to make a trip out this way) It was still mid afternoon driving down the freeway when I spotted the Chinese Cultural Center. I haven't grasped in my head where it is, but if I stumble on it, the car doesn't mind turning off. They have a huge asian market, full of fresh fish (swimming...in water...fresh!)
and somethings I can't seem to pass up. I get my rice there (Nishiki). there's a medium size list of item we can't seem to pass up like udon noodles (savory, fast, chewy, good start for lunch, just add veggies and protein) kimchee (oh stop...it's good) oyster mushrooms (they charge almost nothing for them, I feel guilty like it's mislabeled) veggies amillion (this time it was Red Spinach...not really a spinach I think, but yummy anyway) and there's this section of refrigerator with stuff to make sushi out of like slices of octopus, various kinds of fish roe, sashimi, ginger. At the register there was a mom and daughter....mom was 60 or 70 (may have been older.....asian ladies age VERY well) and they did this little dance I remember my mom and I doing. Daughter remembers at the last minute something she wanted/needs so she abandons mom at the register....makes it back in time for ringup....and they "argue" over who will pay for the lot. Mom always wins. The cashier remains neutral, but for some reason mom's tone is serious enough that she obeys. Gosh I miss my mom.
Now that Addie's in school, I can run to the store all by myself, the organic market is across from a Starbucks. I can get a NY Times and tall drip for under $3. It doesn't guarantee an uneventful trip at all. I dropped the bottle of Chardonnay in the parking lot meant for the Cauliflower sauce.
Let me end the chattiness.....is it unbloglike to ramble?
We drank:
Green Sencha (tea)
We ate: seared sirloin
saifun noodles with vegetables
kimchee
tako (octopus)
ebi (shrimp)
oshinko (pickles)
rice
quail eggs (coddled....I lost everyone else at the table. I enjoyed it)
oyster mushrooms ( I tried to ruin them, got them started before Thomas got here, he had to rescue them.)
had to ditch the cauliflower sauce because I dropped the bottle of Chardonnay......but you have to believe me when I tell you it is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten.....savory and creamy (Tom leans towards sauces with LOTS of cream......well, they are yummy and really, you don't need to each big portions if there's a lot of flavor packed in each bite).
Fresh raspberries
Ok, doesn't sound like 5star food (yet), but what's going on here is Tom bringing his tastes and talent to our family table. Really good food changes your idea of what sounds good to eat. Chicken isn't so great after you've had duck (or squab/pigeon) and beef is blah after you've had Kobe beef. Makes most of what I eat just fuel. sigh.
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