Bourbon and almonds...perfect!

Well, since I have decided I need to be more healthy, and because I had to make something from almonds for a recent cook (see tomorrow's post) I had some almond milk left around the place. What to do, what to do...hey! there is a nearly empty bottle of medicinal bourbon (it isn't for drinking, it is medicinal after all).

I also wanted to use something that would be cooling with a dinner that was going to have a bit of a kick, yogurt sounded like the perfect thing, so a Bourbon Almond Yogurt frappé it was to be. This was a splendid cooler with a little complexity to boot.

Bourbon Almond Frappé
1-1/2 ounces Bourbon
1/4 cup crushed ice
3 ounces Almond Milk
1/8 teaspoon Vanilla flavor
4 tablespoons Yogurt

Blend until smooth and thickened. Grate a little nutmeg on top. If I was going to enjoy this on it's own, I think I would add about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ultra fine sugar or Truvia. A little honey would also be terrific.

Epic (steak) Birthday

Well, as was documented last post, yesterday was my 50th birthday. My actual plans for celebrating my birthday fell through spectacularly, so my plans included hanging around at home and messing around with stuff. A couple of friends found out about me clever planning and decided this was not acceptable. They managed to get a table on short notice at Epic Steakhouse. All I had to do was bring some wine and the menu was all mine.

Now, not being familiar with Epic Steak, I did a little internet searching and found this place absolutely gets raked by the internet food cognoscenti, especially the ones who seem to be oh so clever. I have to say, that once again, I find myself stunned that anyone could rate this place poorly, at the very least, the food was excellent. I felt we were well served to be here on this night. The food...

Salt, glorious salt, Himalayan Pink, Sal Gris and Black Salt, the Black Salt is rather mild, but, the other two are great table condiments, I love Sal Gris.

Then there was the house-made charcueterie plate (pate, bresaola, salami, duck prosciutto and coppa),  and the appetizer/entree we ordered, a plate of boudin blanc and boudin noir over some truffled mashed potatoes and pumpernickel croutons. Gotta love that whole seed mustard too.

Then there was the steak, I went with the New York Strip, bone on, as it should be. This was cooked perfectly for medium rare and was rather consistent from edge to bone. This was clearly a nice corn-finished beef, as it turns out Angus, dry aged and with a wonderful chew, which beef should have.

 The items not shown, a lovely stone fruit salad with a great olive oil drizzle, a pear and arugula salad, I loved them together, with the bitter edge and pepper profile offsetting the incredible fruit. We also had steak fries and spinach for the table, a nice amuse bouche sandwich and then dessert and a cheese plate. Then these showed up...

Which were then filled with vintage port, which was compliments of the house, it is sometimes good to turn 50. A 2007 Crofts, a 2003 Taylor Fladgate and a 2000 Fonseca, these were very interesting with the younger wines showing a little heat still. The 2000 was just hitting it's stride and was a very pretty lighter style, lots or aromatics, but missing the caramel/toffee notes that I really enjoy. The Taylor Fladgate was more my style, but, needs time. Oh, the wines I brought, The Baron de Rothschild Carruades de Lafite was still a little closed despite decanting, allowed to sit, it opened slowly and by the time the steak was half done, it was really showing some wonderful aromas and complexity, I really need to leave the last bottle alone for a while longer. The Chateau Figeac on the other hand showed beautifully, a full blown Bordeaux aroma jumping from the glass and great layers of flavor. This was an excellent wine. Even more happily, the sommelier and host knew how to handle aged wines, carefully moving the wines to a decanting station, not turning the bottle, there was almost no sediment in the glasses.



(I have to apologize, I don't have a camera that works in these instances, so I had to use my phone. Still, I think the food shows through.)

On Wine and Optimism

There is an inherent faith exhibited when one chooses to fall in love with anything, not the all encompassing love that we share for family and friends, but, still, the kind of lesser love that is a lifelong passion for something that makes our lives just a little bit better. For me, one of these things has been wine. Especially aged wines, wines that have had time to mellow and grow in complexity. I am an unabashed fan of my home turf, I am an absolute supporter of California wines and all they can be, but, I have always always held Bordeaux in special esteem.

For me, a fine Bordeaux only begins to reach it's potential after 10 years of aging, something that speaks to the inherent optimism, faith if you will, that this wine will spend 10 years maturing, and not turning to vinegar or gathering some form of taint making it undrinkable. Through my many adventures through the health system, cancer scares, surgeries et al...there were those bottles just laying there, waiting. You have to wonder what would possess a person, in the midst of dealing with multiple health issues to buy wine that could take 10, 20 or even 40 years to mature. Yes, I own a bottle that will probably take another 25 years to reach it's potential. Optimism and Faith.

Tonight, I will open at least one of these, perhaps two, and share them for dinner with some friends. These are not my usuals, not daily drinkers in any manner. I have waited 11 years for these to come to a point where I hope they are the expressions of their pedigree and their terroir. A 2000 Baron de Rothschild Carruades de Lafite and a 2000 Chateau Figeac stand ready to celebrate our mutual maturity.

Hopefully this will correct the one misstep of last nights dinner, a horrible sochu mint cocktail that spoke to chewing on mint stems. I know, horrible snobbery, what can I say, I may enjoy spending all night smoking a brisket and eating cherries laced with bourbon, but, I really enjoy a good plate of charceuterie and a little wine.

The Litte Indulgences

If you can't indulge a little bit, or a lot, on your birthday weekend, when are you gonna do it. I am trading services for a couple of wood working projects in exchange for a completely over the top Santa Maria BBQ pit design for a friend. Here is Marty's version of a Weber handle, soon to be on my kettle.

AML Woodart, worth seeking out. I am working on the plans Marty, this BBQ will bankrupt you. He he.

50

Yep, today I turned fifty years old. In reality, this isn't as momentous as it has historically been, most of us remain vital, productive and healthy folks at this age. It measures us, against our own expectations, I suspect as much as anything, to see how we have done so far in life. We revel, some to celebrate a life well lived, others, perhaps, to hide the now undeniable loss of our youth, with drink, food, cake and excess, others seek family and the joy of drawing our lives about us.

Over the years, my parents, like so many parents, moved to the side and made the day all about me, truly, as I look back, I realize the greatest gift was their daily selflessness shown symbolically by this once a year act. For truly, it is their day to celebrate, to see their child grow and mature, to discover, learn and grow wiser. She was heroic, not in some exaggerated comic book style, but, in the subtle every day nurturing and the knowledge that every day there was someone that loved me as only a mother can.

I am certain that my mom had her moments of doubt that I would ever grow wiser. It has been 13 years since I could share this day with her, the cruelest fate of our birthday, that eventually we will soldier on, celebrating our birth, missing so keenly that most cherished person, who made this very day posible. And yet, I carry her lessons, wisdom and love forward, never being very far from her indeed.

It has been just three years since my dad and I shared this day. Our day. For, my entire life, I shared my birthday with my dad. He would have been 87 today. I am not sure how to explain how 'cool' I thought having our day every June 10 was, to share this most intimate day of the year with my dad. when I was young, I thought he was a hero, stronger, smarter and tougher than anyone else's dad. Then time and hormones took it's eventual tax, he became mortal, a good man, but time takes a little boy's innocence.

As my mom's life was ebbing, and I was caught in the need to earn a living, build a company, live a little, I was despairing that her needs for care was overwhelming me. And he came back, not the mortal man, my dad the hero. It was late winter, a very difficult time for the elderly, especially the heart weak. He showed up at my office, having ridden the bus down. He gave up a lifetime of smoking and beer, he gave up being free to fish, he gave up his freedom. He came back and spent the next 4 years never more than a few feet from my mom.

There is a bittersweet flavor to this day, I guess that is what our lives become, a lovely complexity of life lost to time, of promise yet fulfilled and that small joy of this moment.

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad, thank you for the most wonderful and glorious gift of life.

Dang Skippy

Well, I am back online after a couple of weeks being off. Stupid bad health! And I even have yet more restrictions, now I am diabetic. This should complicate things just a little bit.  I have not gotten the prescription yet, but, I will soon be the proud new owner of a blood sugar testing machine. How will this affect my cooking? Don't really have a plan yet.

I can tell you this, I ain't eating rabbit food! Well, unless it is tasty rabbit food, then sure, why not. Stay tuned.

"New" Chinese Interpretations

Yesterday, I had the chance to dine with some friends in San Francisco, and we took the opportunity to try out a new place and to revisit a more familiar location. Both of these restaurants reflect a changing chef's 'view' of what Chinese food can be. They are stretching out the definitions, in some cases stretching out to a breaking point with the category.

We visited Mission Chinese Foods and Heaven's Dog, two of the more recent openings in San Francisco, both splitting from the more traditional Chinese food palette that Americans tend to associate with Chinese cuisine. This is not to say that the paradigm of how most Americans regard Chinese food is terrible, although it is a far cry from traditions in China. It is to reflect on the idea that many people from other countries might think American food is best represented by McDonald's Hamburgers as that is what they know.

I consider Mission Chinese Food to be an approach that would best be described as taking inspiration from a cultural view, playing with the names and perceptions while pushing flavors and the mixed heritage of the owner's, creating something not so much fusion, as a genuinely unique approach to food. I have shown this image before, but, this pork belly represent a real melding of Chinese and American techniques to create a wholly new dish. There are flavors here from Chinese tradition, fun noodles, sesame seeds, soy cured eggs, yet there is the American smoked technique that changes it all. So much of what I read of Mission Chinese Food was critical that it was not 'real' or 'genuine', these folks missed it by a mile, it is unique and it is dining in the Mission District at it's finest.

Heaven's Dog, a newer venture by Charles Phan, of Slanted Door fame, also located in one of the sketchier areas of the City, if that is what you would call the Tenderloin District, represents a different take on Chinese food. Heaven's Dog represents more of a fine dining approach to the same cuisine. Many of the dishes we had came nicely presented and had depth of flavor equal to Mission Chinese Foods, but with a finer more detailed approach. The flavors still ringing through on each bite. The Ma Po Tofu was one standout, taking a standard comfort food and elevating the sauce, adding complexity and moderating the heat to balance with the sweetness.

Then there were these little guys. Deep fried white bait, actually, these were local smelt given a very traditional deep fry. I did not happen to taste these, as fish (especially whole fish) is not something I eat. But, how often have you seen Salt and Pepper Local Smelt deep fried. The aroma of this dish almost got me to pick up something that I have never enjoyed eating.

 

I also can heartily recommend, as we happened to graze nearly the entire small plate menu, this establishment for cocktails and dumplings etc... The cocktail I sampled was very nicely mixed and well considered, the flavor of fresh ginger coming through beautifully before getting a little muting with the sweetness. Then there was the crispy scallion pancake, crunchy and salty, that would be great with a beer. I love the idea that today's chefs are really testing new ground with an old favorite cuisine.