Happy Mothers Day

I got a phone call from one.
An invite out to Roca Acor from another. (turned it down and suggested a trip to the organic market for goodies to assemble instead).
Ended up with dinner with 4.
I know he does this for a living and a meal out is called for , but what a gift, what a gift indeed.

Thai Carrot Soup (coconut, ginger, lemongrass)
That was poured over (from the bottom of the bowl) pesto, artichokes, hearts of palm, black beans and shrimp ceviche (lime, lemon, garlic, ginger, tangelo)

Pork tenderloin wrapped and seared in bacon. Poached, apricoms,roasted in bacon.
On the same plate: butternut squash poached in BUTTER. Fresh cut white corn with baby bella mushrooms and truffle oil (oh god). There was black raspberry preserves for the pork and apricot applesauce.

They left not one dish in the kitchen.

One happy Mother. :)

Monday Nite

A ten pm drop by with the following in a bag:

Mediteranean sea bass (seared with coarse salt and made the skin crunnnnchy)
Ramp, sauteed with salt
Morel mushrooms

Tom creamed some left over polenta from the refrigerator with milk and butter.

I refused to share my plate.

imagine that

This week.

We saw Tom 4 times............man that was unusual. Sat we went out to Cafe Bink in Cave Creek. Annaleza's working there serving, etc. and T met us there for a bite(actually left quite stuffed). I asked for a glass of white (I love that I tell them just to bring something good and they always do). We sat on the patio and the best part is, we could bring Addie. It was windy, Addie had on her moviestarbling sunglasses(so did T) and there was an inordinate number of people wearing yellow shirts. 3 at our table alone.
I got a glass of Bueller (as in Ferris or not) and we started with fois terrine. It's one of those things, what can I say? We seem to really love that kind of thing. also had the country pate....which I love. has pistachios in it, a roughish grind and this amazing caper berry. I'd eat them like chips if I could. Kim had a couple of pale ales. Nice thing about the cafe is they have local brew from 4 peaks. I also really look forward to the coffee. The cup says ILLY...I'm sure it is. What is it about eating on a terrace and drinking fantastic coffee from white pottery?? T had the mushroom soup. I had it with Kim last time. We also put in for the polenta with bolognese. I really could never have pasta (except maybe ravioli) and just go for polenta, all warm and cheesy and creamy. Yeah, I think a lot of cream........Corned beef sandwich. I heard a 13 hour endevour. T said we had to get the chicken curry ........it was good. Love curry. Did a couple of desserts, neither of which made it around the table twice. Next time I need to keep the dish for 2 bites. Strawberries with vanilla zabaglione and balsamic reduction. Yeah, I wish I had taken 2 bites. And creme brulee.......with ginger snaps. They have the worlds best french fries as well. EVERYONE ordered them for their table. I can't wait to go back.
T came by this Monday after they all went to a Dbacks game. I popped into CVS for wine. Bad wines, strange people. I really need to keep some good wines. Got a bottle of Rawson's Retreat.....red and drinkable. But the thing was, T brought some cheese. I think he has been living off cheese (which isn't a bad idea). One was a soft, French Munster Gerome. The other a L'edel de Cleron.......wrapped in a spruce bark piece. well, go find some somewhere and try it. T had a jar of fig preserves (which I have found dirt cheap at the polish deli) and between us we had a pile of figs.
T is moving to Cave Creek, near to work. Good for him, but we will have to work harder to see him. Darn, gonna have to go eat up there more. darn.
Had a seriously wierd thing happen with zucchini the other night. Had a surplus of the stuff, so I thought I would simply make stewed zuke with tomatoes and onions, garlic, etc. It was so bitter! I don't tend to get turned off by bitter foods, so I sort of ate through a bowl anyway. It took me a few more snacks to get the taste off my tongue. Turns out after a little research there's a compound that makes it bitter.......the plant would have pollinated with a weed plant.....and the end of the story is that it can make you very sick. So don't eat bitter zuchinni.

a funny, smart cooking site to check out.....love the recipe charts! www.cookingforengineers.com just as I thought, if you can read, you can cook. no excuses.

cya

Thankful for

Jan's cupcakes. The perfect dessert. sigh

Woolies

Don't work as dish sponges. But they do work in the bathroom for defogging, or in your car, if you have defrosters that don't work. I'm still determined to not buying papertowels. I'm using white kitchen cloths and washing them. I'm going to have to stick with the sponge that has the little scrubby side for dishwashing. I also had a hard time getting the woolie to dry without smelling stale. It also felt slimy when the chamois get wet, kinda wierd with soap on it. Can't say I didn't try.

You are what your people eat.

It has been a couple of months of people stuff....connecting and reconnecting....adjusting and enjoying. All my people are so important to me, to who I am. Somehow that importance shows itself with food. Monday night brought Tom over with his whites to wash and fish! And Shad Roe! If you haven't had shad roe, go find some. Now, because it has a defined season. Tom mentioned that the shad roe they are getting at work has a whiter, lighter in color finish to it, meaning that the eggs are more mature at catch, which may mean the season is already in full swing. These were wrapped in an Italian Soppressata, not a way that I had it before. Go find it where you are ! The yummiest thing you can have for breakfast and crazy nourishing! We had a sampling of blue fin tuna, king clip and something chinese sorry can't remember the name, sounds like mah jong...but that's a tile game. Fish that I cannot purchase, because I'm a user of the food industry, not a member. Tom has added a second job to his already crammed work schedule. As if his work at Binkley's (www.binkleysrestaurant.com) wasn't enough, he's doing the dayshift at Cafe Bink, Kevin's new venture into everything Bistro. I like it. alot. Kim and I had the great fortune of receiving an invite for a friends n family day. We plopped at the bar (always the best seat in the house). It's like Binkley's (you know how siblings can resemble each other) just not so hard on the wallet. Not that I mind paying for the experience and the magic of Kevin's science, but I'm really looking forward to being able to go eat at the cafe without fear of not paying the mortgage.

My friend Cath is in China eating God knows what. I can't wait to hear about it. There's a dive here called Mi cosina , mi pais. My kitchen, my country. South American fare...tamales rolled in banana leaves. Unbelievable and it's about the spirit of the food, the people.

At the invitation of my buddy Jan, I visited old home digs in VA this weekend. We gathered on Sunday and ate lunchy stuff......and stilton with apricots. I could have swiped the rest of it. darn it. I did swipe the dark choc bar with mint off the bedside table. It was meant for me, stop dialing the police.

My father in law is Polish (and contrary to poular belief, a relatively smart lineage of people) you should see his eyes light up around sausages and cabbage! We have a terrific Polish deli here, Stanley's. I admit I get a hankerin' for sausage now and then. I'm destined to be an old woman, confined to bed eating crackers and pate. They have these wicked little cans of pate, perfect, just perfect.

My new good deal hunt is at (of all places) Target! We have a super T here now and I wander through the cheese selection looking for discounts. Seems like the stinkier the cheese, the more likely I can get it marked off the high retail price. Got Annaleza doing it too. A quick breeze through the meat counter late at night will get you a cheap sticker on a decent steak. Think: rare grilled steak with Stilton Bleu? mmmmmmmmm.

I always seem to find my self eating what's familiar, but also what's my history. My Japanese roots mean I have to make rice with nearly everything. I give in...

Rant

Warning! This blog just became a vent for me. I just got a call from a healthcare vendor that provides bath chairs, etc. Our daughter, Addie is 7, roughly 40 lbs and has cerebral palsy. She doesn't walk or sit independently. We saw a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Phoenix last week and she recommended a bath chair (great idea)and so it was ordered. The vendor tells me our health insurance plan (we have a major group plan...one of those corp. absolutely FOR BIG PROFIT things going) does NOT cover the bath chair and so the order cannot be filled and I should have a nice day. So, I called CIGNA (oops, yup that's them).. and spoke to a customer service rep and relayed the events of my conversation with Apria. And I asked her to check and see if when my back goes out or I have dropped Addie on the tile floor whilst bathing.....see if that is covered. I also asked her to drop a memo to her supervisor to check with the board that creates the policy directives whether they could just grab a 40 lb bag of potatoes, soap it up and take it into the shower with them. She very politely told me that it is not CIGNA's fault (Well, m'am, it's not our fault, your benefits are made by General Dynamics...so it's not our fault). Oh right, I said, because theres no profit making going on here? is there? Well, there, I don't feel better, but you can be sure I am the topic of her lunch. I hope there's a hair in her sandwich.

grrr.

Just in case the universe is listening...

50/30 Pasadena please and
I need that job at John C Lincoln Hospital, if you don't mind.

Woolies!

My new favorite eco thing........a cast off of the lamb (eating) industry. Little rings of chamois bits on a nylon (ok, nylon isn't so eco, but I don't have to replace these sponges ever) www.woolie.com/ecosponge.
I have a dozen!
I'm never buying papertowels again, or a dish sponge that shreds after 5 uses and I propped one in the shower for wiping down the glass. This is the best thing to happen to me this week. Rocket idea!

Happy New Year, it's Old Home Week

Just passed the Epiphany (in Christian calendar time I guess) and I suppose I am as entitled to my own epiphany just as Jesus was. More than likely it has to do with my menstrual cycle and the phase of the moon. I probably have more in common with the moon...lifeless, orbiting, curiosity....than I do with Jesus. There, that should slough off any squeamish readers.

My epiphany hit me this week, thinking about all the ways food fuels human bodies. And just how exciting something that tastes extraordinary raises the bar in me. Does it happen to everyone? Isn't it a riot how I always sprinkle food around the things I do. Someone in my recently former homestate of VA lent me the event name for those times when you are bumping into old friends, folks you miss but maybe don't have the time to connect with. "Old Home Week" I think it's a southern thing. Like "Bless your heart"....which I think is a disguise for a more negative description.

So, a New Year trip to CA and visiting with old friends (the kind I adore...they don't go away and each time we see each other, it's like we have ripened and gotten juicier and more colorful) we found ourselves in a little diner in LA called Auntie Em's (like Dorothy, Toto,etc? maybe?) fantastic stuff to eat. I play a game that makes me believe I can conjure things up. If I need something, crave a flavor, it usually shows up on the menu where I am sitting. And I had just told Karen (real name....because she's a real person) how much I love steak and bleu cheese. So I had just that on a salad (served in a big bowl....EXACTLY like the large Pho bowls at Pho 88). And we shared the biggest red velvet cup cake I've ever seen. It might have had a cup of yummy icing on it. Sorry Auntie Em...not as good as Cake Love's cupcakes. CAKELOVE gets #1 spot. And according to Seth Godin being #1 isn't easy. ("The Dip")

My one hand tells of food as fuel and the other about food as healing. I'm seeing a career in academia coming...it's going to be a long haul with lots of dips (oh go read that book it's a little one) but I believe in the end I'm going to have a blast with letters after my name.

Picked up a hunk of cheese next door to Auntie Em's ....a Sotto from Italy...lot of money per pound. Kinda hard (think Parmesan) with a food grade ash rind and Truffles tucked into it. I hope they put truffles in my mouth when I am on my deathbed. I should put that in writing.

I recently discovered the nerve to look at the large print bookshelves at the library. All I can say is how much I enjoy reading a book effortlessly. Too bad it wasn't a great book. (dog years, mark doty) I would have been more impressed if he stuck to the dog and less about irrelevant stuff. seemed to be all over the place. sounds like me. I'm also reading Do What You Are...I'm a ENFP. What are you?

My cupboard has some goodies waiting for us...polenta, quinoa (super high in protein) french lentils.

lastly just for the record, I eat the WHOLE egg. If only for the choline. Besides, it'd be like wearing an outfit sans one important piece (like the pants