A year later, another post

Wow, it has been another year without a post.

This year we were paired with Mounts Family Winery http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif 2008 Estate Dry Creek Vineyard Petit Syrah. We made a traditional Indian street food called Bhel Puri that we tweaked a bit to pair with the wine. The feedback from the very limited Indian crowd at the event was glowing, to the point that Mica kept doing a little happy dance.

Dark & Delicious

2011 Dark and Delicious the Annual Petit Syrah tasting event was held last Friday February 18th. So we had to (yes, had to) tie it up with the celebration of the Chinese new year.
It all started with smoked duck breast - Robert really wanted some smoked duck. Then he came up with the idea that we would make a noodle salad with it. So I ended up making a smoked duck salad with Kishu mandarins, Taiwanese cabbage, red bells, edamame, and fried shitake and rice noodles.
I smoked the duck breasts with Cedar, Jasmine rice, Puer tea, star anise and the mandarin peels.
For the dressing - homemade plum sauce made with last summer’s homemade plum jam.
Clayhouse Winery sent us three bottles of inspiration and the dressing turned out a perfect pairing with their 2007 estate Petit Syrah including some sesame oil for that finish I can only describe as buckwheat.

It’s always a risk pairing Asian flavors with petit Syrah but when it works, it’s a risk well worth taking. It was a refreshing, complementing and balancing dish and it would have been absolutely awesome if the event organizers actually physically positioned us next to Clayhouse. But they didn’t because there are side effects to “tasting”.

Happy New Rabbit year!

commonwealth club

Mica and I are attending a program at the Commonwealth Club in SF that should be winner, maybe we will see you there?
http://tickets.commonwealthclub.org/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=1

“Just a perfect day”

After a year of not Blogging there is no excuse, so I might as well play it like nothing happened.

We Love Muir Heritage Land Trust http://www.muirheritagelandtrust.org/ For the last 4 years we've catered their annual fund raising event, and for a little extra support we donate something for the live auction. This year we donated a picnic lunch on Angel Island http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=468 in collaboration with OCSC Sailing http://www.ocscsailing.com/ and Doug McConnell http://www.openroad.tv/

So, last Sunday, in a drenching rainstorm, our guests arrived at OCSC, got their sailing on and went out to sea (to bay just doesn't sound right). Robert and I got our catering on and drove to Tiburon to catch the ferry.

I can't say I was excited about the rain, and Robert will attest that I wasn't nice about it either. However, as soon as we boarded the ferry, the rain stopped and I remembered how wonderful it is to live in the Bay Area where the great outdoors is a mindset away, and a short ferry trip on a rainy day lends you at your own private state park staffed with our own personal rangers (hardly anyone was there), a family of raccoons and a buck with amazing antlers. We set up and opened some wine just in time for our sailors to arrive and the sun to shine through just above the Richmond San Rafael Bridge

On the menu: Kabocha curry soup, butter lettuce and grilled pear salad, French green lentil salad, grilled beef fillet sandwiches, chicken Caesar sandwich, grilled portabella sandwich, lavender lemon bars, pecan caramel and chocolate bars.

Anthony from OCSC asked how we make the lentil salad so here it is:

2 cups French green lentils soaked over night

2 bay leaf and 5 whole allspice

½ yellow onion or 1 whole one if small, diced

2 carrots peeled and diced

4 celery stalks diced

3 big garlic cloves peeled and sliced thin

1 Tbs toasted ground cumin (toast whole cumin seeds in a pan, cool and grind in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle)

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper, canola oil

Drain the lentils from the soaking liquid. Place in a pot, cover with water 2" higher than the lentil. Add bay leaf and allspice and bring to boil. Skim the foam off and reduce heat to simmer. Cook the lentils until tender, add water if needed. Meanwhile, sauté onion with a little canola oil, add garlic, carrot, celery and sauté them all until tender but not mushy.

When the lentils are done cooking turn off the flame and add salt to the pot. Let the lentils sit in the cooking pot with the salted cooking water for 10 minutes.

Strain the lentils, transfer to a bowl, and remove the bay and allspice. Add the vegetables, toasted cumin, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can eat this dish hot or cold, it is great as a bed for grilled salmon with saffron aioli.

After lunch the sailors helped us collect and load our stuff onto the ferry for another outstanding trip back to mainland.

Good food, good wine and excellent company

Thank you Anthony, Doug and Sailors

"It's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you"…

Titas Pupuseria

I LOVE visiting my sister and the boys in Southern Cal. Last visit we spent two days on the beach, a day at the water park, a day in the pool and my sister MADE me a stunning bracelet with Jade and Ruby beads. I’m so lucky.
Sometimes we fly but this time we drove. Robert and I have driven on I- 5 many times, we like being in the car together, listening to audio books and playing “guess the produce“ in both the fields and big-rigs.
When it comes to food the 5 is a fast food lover’s dream, something we don’t relate to. But there is one spot I’ve always wanted to stop at: “Taste of India” at Buttonwillow exit # 257. Every time we pass by we are either not hungry anymore or not hungry yet but this time I insisted we stop on the way back and we did.
It was closed.
So we turned back and went to the taco truck we saw when we exited. It was awesome.
The tongue taco was perfectly cooked and seasoned, so was the Pastor.
Robert’s meat and cheese Pupusa was much better then my squash and cheese, but if you are vegetarian out there on I-5, the Calabasa Pupusa is your best bet by far. The pupusas came with the traditional “slaw”, all other toppings were self serve in a refrigerated well behind a sliding plastic guard on the truck. The tomatillo salsa and fried whole young Jalapeños were outstanding.

We live and work in east Oakland, we KNOW our taco trucks, and I’m pretty sure that if you took Titas Pupuseria and planted it on International Blvd. it would still kick ass.

Robert’s B. Day

I’m so behind on my blogging it’s hard to know where to start.
So I figure might as well work backwards.
Last thing to happen was Robert’s B.day.
As usual we had a party; as usual a few pigs had to be sacrificed.
We started with three wild boar legs.
One became Pozole and was juicy, tender and hearty. The other was roasted wrapped in bacon which, I’m sorry to say was just so. The best by far was the one who became sausage.
We went with two options- the Italian and the Vietnamese. With fennel, red chili flake, parsley and garlic. With ginger, Jalopeno, lemongrass, cilantro, garlic and fish sauce.
I’m not sure which was better, if you were here you can vote.

Guess nothing is perfect, not even Birthday cake forgotten in the freezer…
BUT the friendships and love we share is probably as close as it gets.
Thank you all for being our trib.

P.S please send me some photos, PLEASE!!!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer at San Quentin

My Friend Jill is AWESOME! She is one of those people who actually act according to their good intentions. She has done rides, hikes, walks and marathons (yes, all in plural) to raise funds for different charitable causes. When we catered Jill’s 50th birthday all her friends came ready with a check book knowing her favorite gift is a donation to a cause she supports.

Currently she volunteers at San Quentin State Prison as a part of their rehabilitation programs. She is helping to facilitate a fundraiser that we think is great. However, the best thing about this event is that it wasn’t Jill’s idea. One of the inmates at San Quentin watched a commercial for the Avon walk on T.V and was so touched he approached Jill and asked if she could help him put it together.
Now, I’m a cheese ball, we know that. But this is so extraordinary, so surprising and touching; I though this story would make Everyone’s Friday even better.

Here are Jill’s words and details:

“Friends, I write to ask you to support the S.F. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in a very special way. I will be walking the 2 day, 39 miles with a group of very special men who happen to be incarcerated at San Quentin Prison. We will not, of course, be walking through the streets of S.F. We will walk behind the prison walls on July 11 and 12, at the same time the Avon Walk occurs over the Golden Gate Bridge. The men want to add their voice to the call for awareness, treatment, education, and cure of breast cancer in our society. I am honored to have been asked to help them make this event happen, with the help of other volunteers and the prison's administration. Please show your support for both the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer AND the compassionate act of the men of San Quentin by donating at http://avonwalk.org/goto/sanquentinCARES

and spreading the word among your various networks. Our goal is to raise $10,000 but I'm hoping that together we can exceed that goal. On behalf of the men and myself, I extend my deep gratitude to you for your support. Jill”

The Difference between Zion and Yosemite

According to Julian my almost 9 year old nephew, is that Zion has it on the cliffs while Yosemite takes it on the waterfalls.
Our trip to Zion national park was awesome. We started with Uvaggio’s Rose, http://www.uvaggio.com/ , by far my favorite Lodi winery. We continued with the crisp and delightful Y3 Sauvignon Blanc by Jax Vineyards http://www.y3wine.com/home.html .Qupe’s Syrah was disappointing.
We swung back with the always wonderful Navarro Pinot Noir http://www.navarrowine.com/main.php which we shared over Friday night dinner and Challah shaped by the kids and baked in our friends’ RV.

My favorite part of the trip was our hike to Angel’s Landing. My sister and I set out early in the morning (well…7:30am is early for some people), took the park shuttle and without much expectation beyond a few hours of just us out having fun, started the trail that would later turn into the best, most thrilling hike we have ever done. http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-angels-landing-trail.htm

A couple little culinary related notes: My sister got these amazing Jonagold apples at Costco. They were perfectly balanced between sweet and sour, were big, crisp and insanely juicy. Another Costco super find was Mrs. May’s dry roasted snacks http://www.mrsmays.com/ we had the Cran-Blueberry crunch and could not get enough of it.
Between her shopping skills and her willingness to get up at 7 to hike with me, my sister takes the cake, or most likely PB and Jelly bars: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-bars?autonomy_kw=pb%20and%20jelly%20bars&rsc=header_7 I adopted this recipe years ago and it’s always a hit. I love it with apricot jam, with my home made Meyer lemon marmalade, or with raspberry jam.

Next month it’s Yosemite and King’s canyon. Can’t wait.

What does the goy do for passover?

Well, he makes matzo (or matzoh, matzah, matze, matza, matsah, come on, make up your mind by now).

This project started with the wife's emailed list of job duties for the ladies who would be in attendance at the passover feast, and me, the only gentile of the bunch. Specifically, she wrote this:

"Robert- you need to brush up on your Matzo skills and get a wok ready so we can bake outside. You're also going to need to help me get all the stuff in the car..."

Robert's reply is "I will refer back to my youth as a christian preachers son, raised in rural central Oregon on meat, potatoes, guns and Jesus, and will try to remember what that taught me about making Matzo."

Mica wanted me to cook the crackers in a manner that I have in the past on camping trips by flopping the dough on an inverted wok with a fire underneath. I opted for a cast-iron flattop on a blazing hot weber bbq. For the dough, I used a mixture of all purpose unbleached white and whole wheat flours, a bit of olive oil, water to make a nice stretchable cracker dough (I always go for wetter doughs), and salt to taste. As we were at the sis-in-laws, cooking tools were a bit limited, so the dough was mixed by hand. Sorry for the lack of exact measurements, this was a first for me, and I was just making it up as I went.

Now, for photos
1st, the mis en place with Julian.

2nd, preliminary shaping of dough.

3rd, rolling the dough super thin.

4th, docking the dough, this one has zatar on it.

5th, almost done, this is with onions, you can see a few that fell off.

6th, a bit of the finished product.


It turned out great, everyone was happy, no one got hurt, and I will not be making gefilte fish next year.

Black Forest Cake

So, it was my friend Rich’s birthday (yes, he is 39 again), and that means cake time. Last year for his birthday I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Though he was very happy and grateful, he told me his favorite cake is Black Forest. This year, after having my memory refreshed by his girlfriend and my very good friend Janet, I made him a Black Forest cake. After eating it, Rich told Janet the cake was awesome, but his favorite cake is Black Forest. I’m not sure how our food memory works; I think it has to do more with feelings than with taste buds. That cake on your 6th birthday, whether store bought, out of a box or made from scratch will always be your favorite. For example, my mom’s favorite part of just about any dish is the burnt stuff at the edges. I’m not sure what Rich’s favorite cake is, but here is his Black Forest birthday cake from 2009.