Low & Slow Oxtail and Making Stock at Home

I apologize it has been awhile since my last post, life has been busy and surprisingly, work has too. Winter has finally set in here in Chicago and its already getting to so cold you cant stand to be outside to just go and start your car.

I recently went to my neighborhood grocery store and began to peruse the meat section and came across oxtail. Now i have seen this here many times and yet never picked it up, i don't know why its a cheap piece of meat and is something that you would enjoy more in the winter months than during the Summer. For those of you that don't know what oxtail is, well the name says it all. Its the part of the ox tail that is closest to the body of a ox, yes near the rear. Oxtail is something that you want to braise low and slow for a few hours, when this is done correctly the meat will just fall of the bone and melt in your mouth. I seared my oxtail in a pot, removed them and added my mirepoix and cooked to get some good color on the vegetables. Once this was accomplished i added a half a bottle of wine, reduced by half. hen add some stock, and place back in the oxtail. Bring to a boil, the reduce the heat to just a simmer. You can either keep them at a gentle simmer on your stove top or place in a oven at 250 degrees. Cook oxtail until the meat falls of the bone from just poking at it. I had mashed potatoes with mine, however you can do alot of other things with oxtail, polenta is one as a example.

Once the oxtail is done, remove from the sauce, strain the sauce and place the strained sauce back on the heat and reduce to make a sauce for your oxtail. Once the sauce it thick enough for you return the oxtail back to the sauce to reheat them and coat them in sauce. Then they are ready to serve the way you want. I would pair the rest of the wine you had left over from the making of the sauce with your ox tail. The oxtail will be delicious, make your mouth water and your eyes close with enjoyment.

this time of year i also take the time to restock my supply of chicken and beef stock that keep in my freezer. I can usually find beef bones at my neighborhood grocery store. I pick up a few packets, which usually gives me 5-7 bones. I also keep the bones from the Thanksgiving Turkey, and from whole chickens that I have had in the past.

I let my stocks simmer for about 6 hours on my stove top and them stain them getting rid of all the bones and morepoix. I then return the stock to the stove and reduce by half or more. Once this is achieved i strain again with a finer strain and then cool the stock down. Once the stock as been cooled down, I take my ice cube trays that I have for the stocks only, fill them up and place in the freezer. Once they are fully frozen i remove from the tray and place in a ziplock bag, then place that bag in another ziplock bag to fend off freezer burn. i repeat this process until all the stock is done. When i make things at home like sauces and such i just remove the amount i need and place the rest back into the freezer when its needed. A great way to bring that extra flavor to your meal.

Another note, when making your oxtail and or other items that you braise. Any sauce and stock that is left over can also be froze as explained above for use at another time.

The Turning Leaves

Its the middle of October and I have not had a post for a while. Surprisingly i have been busy with work and other activities.

My garden did well the last month or so of the year. I was able to get a few more tomatoes and one moon and stars watermelon. My peppers are what surprised me. I had three jalapeno plants and they thrived in the last month or so. I was picking up to 2 dozen each time i went out to the garden. I was trying to come up with ideas for all these jalapenos, should i give then away? Yeah i gave away some, but i wanted to do something that i had never done with peppers before. Then a light came on, how about making my own chipotle peppers. I mean i have a grill, i also have the wood chips to some them as well. the night before i smoked them i dried them out in the oven for a little while to speed up the process. the next day around 10 am i set up my grill and began the process of smoking the peppers. I let them smoke for about 8 hours. this was still not enough. they still were a little moist and for me to keep them for the winter they needed to be completely dry. I brought them in the house and dried them in the oven for the remainder of the time which was about another 2 hours. Once finished they smelt wonderful and could not wait to use them in some many different applications.

A few days later i decided to make some pasta sauce from scratch and used one. Obviously they did not give the sauce very much heat, yet gave it a very nice smoky smell and flavor.

I also have some other peppers, fish peppers and some Thai chili peppers, I have dried all of them and I am debating weather to keep them whole and or put them into my coffee grinder and make my own ground chili mix.

A few weeks ago I pulled out everything from the garden and emptied my compost bins and turned over all of the soil. To give back some more nutrients into the soil, I planted some winter rye. I let that grow for about 2 weeks. Once it was high enough, I turned it all back into the soil. this alone will make the soil even richer and there probably wont be any need for more compost, only for when I plant next year like always I add some into each hole I dig for the plants. I will keep making compost and will till that into the soil in the later months of next summer. I also plan on doing a soil test next year, we will see how good I have done with the soil with my self taught knowledge. It should be interesting.

Even though the Farmers Markets are done here in Illinois there is still some great produce out there at your local grocery stores. The Fall/Winter crops are in, squashes, sweet potatoes ans other varieties of potatoes. When you cook at home know you will be spending more time at the stove and or making items n the morning to have that evening. The use of one pot meals comes into play and the ever so versatile crock pot. All those veggies, salsas, sauces and pickled items that you canned this summer you will need to brush off the dust, bring them upstairs from your root cellar and reheat them to again try to bring that summer flavor back into you meal to warm your heart from the bitter cold of winter.

Two great wines that you should try out this winter to pair with your stews, hardy steaks and etc. are the following:

2006 Concannon Cabernet Sauvigon

This wine is a rich, full flavored wine, it has hints of ginger, black cherry and cassis. Expect a long finish. A great wine with great value that will also age well for a few years, so buy one to drink and the other to sit.

2005 Peju Cabernet Sauvigon, Napa Valley

One smell of this wine will fill your nose with black cherry, chocolate and hints of bay leaf. The tastes on your palate are predominantly plum and holiday spices. A very long finish that will have you taking another sip. This wine I would also buy 2 one to drink and the other to age, this wine could age 6-8 more years if you have the patience.

Good-Bye Summer, Hello Fall

Summer will be over in a few weeks, soon there will be the passing of some fresh produce like tomatoes and cucumbers just to name a few. It makes me think of what I should be doing with all of my fresh herbs before they go bad....I have basil, I could make a basil oil, or even pesto, I have parsley, thyme and chives, all of these i can make into herb oils and vinaigrette's. I can then give them as gifts to friends and family, something that can be used until next spring and summer. Please note that when making your own herb oils they must stay refrigerated. If you want to know more on this subject, please email me and i will gladly give you more info. However it opens the door to a new harvest if you will the fall harvest. The smell of a freshly picked apple, pumpkins, spaghetti squash and potatoes to name a few. With these new, fresh produce almost upon us it opens the doors to open our minds and become creative once again. I get so excited with this new in season produce, you see, its not the same as buying it from a grocery store, it doesn't taste the same and most of the time its covered in a thin layer of wax to preserve it, doing this inhibits the true flavor of something picked right from the vine our dug out from the ground.

I was able to cherish some of these fruits and vegetables from my own garden, a Caprese salad in the summer with your own tomatoes never tasted so good, the tomatoes were still warm from being outside in the sun. One of my favorites is a cucumber sandwich...mmmm.....two pieces of bread with mayo, salt and pepper and sliced cucumbers. This is were most of my cucumbers ended up, not in salads, but in a sandwich, a comfort food to me, food so simple, yet so delicious. I believe alot of people get lost in food, they end up masking the true beauty and flavor of food and yes some restaurants do this and others don't.

I had the privilege of going to Carnivale in Chicago which focuses on Neuvo Latino Cuisine a few weeks ago and it was the best meal I have had in a long time. The food was simple a flavorful, all of the proteins came from a sustainable farmer who focuses on free range and or grass fed. All of there produce comes from the Green City Market in which Executive Chef Mark Mendez revolves his menu around to bring you local, simple, fresh food that is to die for.

At the resort that i work at, we have a garden there as well, and its huge and alot of work to maintain this garden but it is well worth the rewards. The garden does not produce enough to feed large groups, however, we do use the produce for special functions in the Chef Office. We also are planning on canning some of our harvest for others to take home as gifts. this is our first year having a garden at the hotel, so we have been able to see what we like and what did not work for us so we don't plant them again next year. We may even expand the garden next year to have more, especially herbs and other produce so our resort can become more sustainable.

I recently received an award, something that i have been striving for and set out to do in the beginning as a goal. I won leader of the quarter as a supervisor. To see a gaol of mine accomplished was great, it showed me that all of the hard work that i have been doing is paying off and being recognized. Now i need to set a new goal and work just as hard to show not only myself but others that I do deserve this award. My new gaol is to become a sous chef, this goal is in reach, however I myself need a few more things under my belt before I take this position in the near future.

The Green Thumb Part 2

We are now half way through the year, and a good two solid months into gardening here in the Midwest. At this point I have everything planted that I wanted to plant and then some.

I may not have mentioned this before, but all of these plants that are mentioned were purchased at the local grocery store and the grocery store near my place of employment. this amazed me in many ways, their make-shift greenhouse was a fare size and had a lot to offer, from heirloom to organic I was very impressed with this grocery store, so yes both stores I went to were the same company, truly amazing and something to take note of for years to come.

As I said in my previous post about my garden (Green Thumb), my garden is staying true to being all organic. I have not used anything to enhance the growth, like Miracle Grow. I have stuck strictly to my own compost that I have created from kitchen scraps and grass clippings that I have collected and turned into what we gardeners call black gold. Adding this around your plants gives them the nutrients they need, naturally.

I have had a few problems with my garden this year. There have been a few late night visitors. I have not put my finger on it yet, but its either deer or rabbits that have come and decided to munch on my hard work like my green beans for instance. They came up, had beautiful green leaves, then one afternoon, while outside smoking and checking out my garden like I do every day after work, i noticed that those beautiful plants had been munched on, just the stalks remained. I also have a heirloom Black Krim tomato plant, it had two small tomatoes growing, those too gone, not just gone, but so delicately taken off the plant as if I had taken them off the night before. I was so angry, all of my hard work and nourishing of my garden, i was ready to pull up all of the green bean plants, well what was left of them. Then I stood back and thought, I am going to keep them there and see what happens. Sure enough about 2 weeks later, the leaves grew back and they began to blossom, i would soon have beans, I was so excited. I was excited until I went out the other day, July 1st to be exact and found again I had a visitor and they were all gone again, just the stalks remained. That so called visitor also took a few leafs off of other plants I had in the garden. I am now at the point were i am thinking of putting a fence around my little garden, like my neighbor did.

I must say overall, going all organic this year has turned out very well for me so far this year and I have been documenting it all in my gardening journal that I have had for a number of years. With this journal I am able to take notes of what seed works best, what technique or method of garden has worked best for me. I also log what I am growing each year, if it is a plant or seed, first sprout date in the case of a seed. Also I write down when I harvest the first fruit or vegetable and how much I get from the plant in that year. For me its a great way to develop my garden every year and knowing what I grow will grow well.

Below will be a list of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that I have in my garden and some in pots. This will be followed by some pictures that i have recently taken, enjoy!!!

-Straight Eight Cucumber -Sunburst Patty-Pan Squash

-Green Beans -Jalapenos -Fish Pepper(H)

-Lemon Apple Cucumber(H) -Box Car Willy Tomato(H)

-Black Krim Tomato(H) -Mortgage Lifter Tomato(H)

-Moon & Stars Watermelon(H) -Sausage Tomato(H)

-Basil -French Thyme -Lemon Thyme

-Chives -Cilantro -Parsley

(H)-This means that it is a Heirloom

Grill Rehab

Just a few days ago i was given a old gas grill that still had some life left in it.  It was my girlfriends parents old one.

Its an old Ducane Americana gas grill, it must be at least 6-8 years old.  I was over at the girlfriends parents house when the offered me the old grill.  I could not pass up on this opportunity to one have a gas grill that was larger than the one i had and two, it needed some work and seemed like a great project for me.

I wheeled the grill into the garage and found some tools to start taking it apart, not only to refurbish but also to fit in the car.  While taking the grill apart, i was breaking bolts because they were so rusted and or actually part of the grill and had been exposed to high heat for long periods of time.  The grill was in bad shape, alot of rust on the grill stand.  The grill itself was very greasy therefore had alot of buildup.  

Once i had it home, i soaked the grill racks and sprayed them with some heavy duty degreaser and let them set overnight.

The next day after work i went to Home Depot and got some metal brushes for my cordless drill, few more cans of grill cleaner, few cans of high heat black paint, 60 and 120 grit sandpaper.  There I also had to get a few bolts and screws to replace the ones that i broke in the process of taking the grill apart and some were so rusted that there was a need for some new ones.

With the metal brushes for the cordless drill i was able to get all of the loose paint and rust off the entire grill. This also worked really well to get all of the grease build-up off from the inside of the grill.  Once this was done i sanded the entire grill with  rough sand paper to not only make a better surface for the paint to adhere to, but also to even out bumps from the paint that chipped off and rust.  I then used the much finer sand paper to make the finish even more beautiful and a nice glossy shine once painted.

Once i was satisfied with the results i washed the entire grill, let it dry and then wiped off any residue with a damp cloth....now it was time to paint.

I chose a glossy black finish for the grill.  I very lightly spray painted the grill pieces, let dry and repeated 4 more times for a nice coat of paint that would hopefully last a few summers.

I let the paint dry overnight before I began to put it back together.  Note:  When taking apart your grill label you bolts and screws.  It will make your life alot easier when you start to put it back together.

My grill went back together fairly easy, i had just a few problems putting some screws and bolts in, but it was from the paint, so it was easily fixable.

Once it was all together i put the gas burners back in, the grate for the ceramic briquettes, the briquettes and the grill grates.

However i did not have a propane tank to test out the rehabbed grill, none the less a electric starter.  My new neighbors have a grill with a propane tank.  I didn't think they would mind if i used it for a few minutes.  I hooked the propane to mine and turned it on.  I turned one burner on and lit it with a long match, and the same with the other.  It worked!!! I was so excited and really felt like i accomplished something that i really had a great time doing it.

This project took me about 2 weeks to complete, usually a few hours after work, the most work went into sanding all of the parts.  I spent about 50-60 dollars on this project, the most expensive items was the spray paint.  The bolts and screws are cheap, just bring them with you when getting new ones.  Next year i will get a new grill grate and ceramic briquettes, the ones i have now will do for this summer.

Below are some pics of the finished grill, sorry i forgot to take pictures of what it looked like before, but trust me it needed to be rehabbed. 

The Green Thumb

Its almost that time of year here in the Chicagoland area for farmers markets and planting of your own garden.   Some farmers markets are open now and others will open the first week of June.  The Chicago Tribune just had 2 pages in the good eating section of Wednesdays paper(May 13th) and i am sure can be found on there website as well, or you can just contact me via email and i can find out for you.

I am so looking forward to getting some fresh LOCAL produce from the area and creating some fantastic food and memories.  I have already had the chance last week to chow down on some fantastic morels that my sous chef brought in for me to have.  I was so excited.  He had said that he was able to pick quit a few morels and that evening he had grilled pizza with morels and made his son, who you can count his age on one hand a morel omelet for breakfast.  What a spoiled brat, lol.  We both commented that we never had such a gourmet meal like that at such a young age.  

I brought my morels home that night, but not before stopping at Whole Foods and picking up 2 NY Strip steaks to grill.  I made a very simple sauce with the morels, i did not want to hide the delicate and earthy flavor of these once a year treasures.  The steak and morels paired well with a earthy wine like a pinot noir, a meal that will stay in my head till next years harvest, and then i hope to find some of my own.

This year my garden is all organic, i have maintained a very nice patch of land if you will, actually just the other day i put on 50# of organic manure, 40#mushroom compost and 40#organic peat.  You see here in the Midwest most of the soil is clay, which is great its already very fertile but clay compacts with rain and makes it very hard for roots to get deep into the soil and have good structure for tall plants, for example a tomato plant.  So with that being said adding some organic ingredients like whats list above and some grass clippings i am in good shape to start planting.  

What am i planting you ask, well i myself do not know, all i know is that it will be organic and mostly heirloom items, i actually found a great selection at the Jewel-Osco near work that i am going to get some of my plants from.  My next post i will have more about the garden and what i have selected.

I like to think of myself as having a green thumb, thanks to my grandmother who really got me started.  I also am going "green"  not only in the house, but also in the back yard, i have started a compost in a 5 gallon bucket that i got from work and i place all of my food scraps in this bucket, except items like meat and bones.  In about 2-3 weeks of tending to this compost bucket i should have some good, organic compost to feed my garden.

It would be nice to see others get into going green, not only in gardening(which by the is up drastically from a year ago.)  Which is not surprise in these hard times its cheaper to grow your own food and more satisfying.   I feel that growing your own produce you tend to value it more and not want to waste any of it either so you come up with creative dishes to use up every bit of it.  

With that being said i hope all of you that read my blog have a very successful growing season and would also be curious to see what you have planted as well, so please feel free to comment on this post.

Life's a Garden Dig It-Joe Dirt

Cork Meets Coffee Table

My last class before i would graduate at the CIA was in one of the restaurants called American Bounty.  The last class was waiting tables.  There i was able to start my collection of wine corks from the bottles that i poured to the ones that my fellow classmates poured.  At that moment i decided that i would eventually make myself a cork coffee table.  It was just a matter of time that i would have enough corks to complete the task.  Little did i know it would take me 4 years to finally complete my table.  

After graduation I moved back to Vermont to work next to my protege.  There I of course learned as much as possible and collected corks from the waitstaff and from the weddings that we had every weekend.  

Once i knew i had enough corks to begin my table, I discussed with my father my vision for this table.  We then went to the lumber yard and found the wood that we wanted to make a frame if you will to hold the corks that i would secure with a hot glue gun.  I wanted something different for the legs of the table.  then i remembered from visiting my chef at his house that he was cutting down some white birch trees around his drive way.  I picked a few logs that i deemed straight enough for the legs of the table.

Once my father and i had constructed the table, i placed a very light stain along the frame work of the table.  I know had a table, a frame table if you will with no corks.

Why corks you ask?  A few reasons, one I am a chef who loves wine and i myself contributed corks to this table, the one i remember most is the 1932 Medoc.  the other reason is its a Green product.  A cork tree can live up to 200 years, and is sustainable.  Once the tree is 25 years old you can strip the tree of its cork and every 9 years will produce more cork, the only tree of its kind.  60% of cork harvested is used for wine corks and there is over 2.2 million hectares of cork forest in the world.  Cork is very resilient, therefore is a good cork for wine and more recently is being used for flooring in "green" homes.

Getting back to my story, i had nearly completed my table when i had decided to move to Chicago to be with my girlfriend and it could not fit into my SUV along with the other items that i needed to bring.  After living in Chicago for more than 2 years my father and brother came out, they drove here from Vermont.  Since they drove they were able to bring items that i could not when i moved out.  Of course they had the table, my corks and glue gun.

The first night that they were here and asleep i completed the table and my mission was complete.  The entire table was cork, except the top row, in which i used synthetic corks to symbolize the ever changing wine industry.

So with all the above being said here are some pictures of my table.

From PM to AM

After spending 2 1/2 years on nights at the Oakbrook Hills Marriott as Culinary Supervisor, i have taken on a new challenge, morning.   As soon as we hired the new culinary supervisor whom was a cook for me on the Windows line.  (Windows is the name of the restaurant)  My executive chef and i talked about me going to mornings, he just wanted the new supervisor to get his training in the mornings with fresh faces instead of at night were he had been a equal with the associates.  This was all suppose to happen back in January, but with all of the financial problems in the world and cutting back on hours, etc.  I was not able to start mornings until now.

Going into this week, my first, I had a few days training with the other Culinary Supervisor and him the same with me.  I knew this was going to be a challenging change.  On nights i would usually come in around 2pm every day sometimes 3pm.  I had a small crew, one hot cook and one cold cook.  Some night it was just myself and a hot side cook.  I was very hands on as you can tell.  I liked this, i liked being involved with cooking, prepping food, making menus, helping out with banquet functions as well.

With mornings i had to change my entire routine.  First was my sleeping schedule.  As i said above i would go to work around 2pm, and at times not be home until 11-12 at night.  Now i had to be at work at 5am, meaning i had to get up by 4am and be in bed no later than 10pm.  I think i have adjusted well to this so far, on some nights i have a little help from my new friend the sleeping pill.

The work is different as well, alot different.  There are so many different players in the morning.  I have no need to be hands on, but am when needed.  My problem right now is knowing when to pull myself away and move on to other tasks.  In another words supervise more, make sure the flow of the kitchen is steady if you will.  In the morning, i need to make sure the buffet is getting set up, that the food is being cooked, the line is being set up for a la cart service and any door knockers for room service are being  cooked and delivered in time, make sure pastries and hot food are being prepared for the coffee breaks.  this is enough to make you head spin.  In between all of this i need to do stand-up in the morning(This allows the associates to know whats going on that day, functions, basic of the day, etc.), hotel stand-up, problem resolution and BEO.  Next thing you know its 1:30pm, you haven't taken your break and its time to go home.

I have realized i have much more to learn before i can move up the chain, in the end this will only make me not only a stronger individual but a chef and i am looking forward to it.

The other good thing about mornings is it is almost summer, and i will have the rest of my day to do so much....I can golf, take a walk, cook dinner, work in my small garden, watch cubs games on TV and or be at the game.  

This is a new chapter in my life that i greet with open hands, I also will take on this challenge and succeed in another culinary endeavour.

First BBQ of The Year

The past few days here in Chicago have been absolutely beautiful.  So warm out that my girlfriend and I took all the plastic off of the windows so we could could open them all up on Sunday.  The air was so fresh and cool that there was no need for a long sleeve shirt.

That night I opened up the freezer to make myself a drink and saw a package of brats.  I pulled them from the freezer and asked my girlfriend to pick up some brat buns and beer for dinner tomorrow.  She asked why?  I said with this beautiful weather, I'm going to BBQ!!!!!!

Monday afternoon, i had my game plan.  I decided on something quick and easy, potato salad and baked beans to go with the brats.  I know its not much but, its something and I just really wanted to get the grille out.  I boiled my potatoes and eggs for the salad, and let them cool.  I had some red and white onion left from the potato salad that i had not diced up yet and thought it would be good to have some caramelized onions on my brat as well.  When the onions were just about finished, i poured about half a beer(312) into the pan and let it reduce to give them another layer of flavor.  I then finished the potato salad, simple, onions, eggs, mayo and Lawries Seasoning.  When all that was finished i opened up the can of beans and put them on the stove on low heat.

Finally, it was time to get the grille out!  I cracked open a beer, grabbed my smokes and headed outside.  I set the grille up on a little table we have on the back patio of the apartment building.  There i twisted on the small camping propane tank, turned on the gas and pushed the electric starter to get it going.  I needed to let the grille heat up before cooking the brats, so I drank my beer and had a smoke.  

Once it was warm enough i lowered the flame and placed the brats on the grille. The brats sizzled as i placed them onto the grille.  I closed the grille and let the magic happen.  Within minutes the grille began to smoke a sizzle.  The smell was breath taking,  made your mouth water and your eyes get big, realizing that spring is here and so is BBQ season!!!

Family

My girlfriend Andrea and i had the privilege of playing host to my brother and father from Vermont.  I had not seen them for over 2 years until last week.

We made alot of memories through the week that i will not soon forget.

We hit up the usual spots around Chicago using the CityPass.  Places like the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Sears Tower, we also just walked around the city taking it all in.

Of course where they're memories there is food, great food, talking, and drinking good beer or wine.

On one of the mornings earlier in the week of there stay, Andrea and I made pancakes.  Of course a plate of pancakes is not complete without some Vermont maple syrup.  The pancakes were stacked high and fluffy, with steam dancing up from them.  A golden waterfall poured over my pancakes soaking it up like a sponge, enough so that you needed to add more maple syrup.

When taking that first bite, my eyes closed as the liquid gold seeps out of the pancake.  it dances in your mouth as it coats your throat as you swallow, leaving a sweet, buttery flavor lingering.

The following day, Andrea had to work, so i decided to take Mark and Dad around the city of Chicago.  It was a beautiful day for them to see the city and why i love it so much here.  We ended the day at Mother Hubbards, a bar on Hubbard street.  I told them that we needed to have the Buffalo wings, that they were #1 in all of Chicago by CBS-TV.  I also requested that we get a local Chicago beer, Goose Islands 312.

While waiting we talked about the day we had, things going on in our lives and sports.

When our food arrived, the 312 was cold, crisp and felt oh so good going down.

The Buffalo wings were unique in there own way, the wing and drumstick were still connected.  Mark and I began to devour or first ones.  The wings were heavy on the sauce, but held up to there reputation of being the best in Chicago.  Mark and i needed to stop after each one, lick our fingers one by one then wipe our runny noses.  When all was said and done Mark and I must have gone through 3 napkins each.

The last great meal of there visit to the Windy City was UNO's.  You cant come to Chicago and not have a true Chicago style deep dish pizza.

We all got to UNO's a little early.  We were going to meet up with Andreas brother Brian and his wife Antoinette.  While waiting for them to arrive we ordered some appetizers and again like earlier in the week we wrapped our hands around a pint of 312.

I began to explain to Dad and Mark that Chicago pizza is big, meaning alot of crust and toppings, so much so that you will probably only eat 2 slices.  Mark and I began to have a friendly argument, Mark said he could eat more than 2 slices.  Mark would soon find out how filling a UNO slice is.

We must have gone through 3 pitchers of 312, talking the time away and enjoying each others company.

Brian finally called and said they were on there way and to order the pizza.  At UNO's it takes about 45 minutes to bake your pizza.

Brian and Antoinette arrived and soon after saying our hellos the pizza to arrived.  The pizza was delicious as always.  It's not a pizza you pick up and fold in half, no.  With this pizza you need to use a knife and fork.  This pizza always sits heavy in you stomach.

Come to find out it looked like my brother ate his words from earlier.

When learning we had 4 slices left, we had them wrapped and they were to be brought back to Vermont for Sherry to enjoy just as we did.  We said our good-byes to Brian and Antoinette and headed home.

The last day was the hardest for all of us.  Dad and Mark back to Vermont and Andrea and I back to work.  The easiest thing was going to be remembering all the fun I had in that week catching up with Dad and Mark, and the memories we made will last a lifetime.

Somehow memories all seem to evolve around a table, food and most of all FAMILY.

Papa & Grandma Down at the Farm

On of the many upsides of living in Vermont was how close my family was to me.

My maternal grandparents lived just down the road on the farm.  I was blessed with my grandmothers green thumb memorable cooking ability.  From my papa i received his dedication, endurance, charm, and hard work ethic, but that's another story.

Growing up on the farm i drank milk that was milked earlier that morning at every breakfast.  Of course it was always paired with a delicious home cooked meal.

My favorite will always be my grandmas fried dough.  When i would arrive in the morning for the first milking, before leaving the house grandma would already have the dough rising in a bowl.  She would leave the milking half an hour early to go back to the house to begin breakfast.  When papa and i got back we would sit down together at table and read the Rutland Herald.  Looking at my grandmother from behind the paper i would see her fist in the air and then hear "wapp", she was punching the dough like a punching bag. After the dough was punched down she placed it on the floured marble counter top.  Then she would ever so elegantly and easily roll the bread into the perfect shape. She would then cut them and let it rise a second time. Once they were finished rising she would fry them in her cast iron pot.  Papa and I would set the table. All we needed was a bowl, fork, napkin, and glass for each setting.  We poured ourselves milk that we had milked from the cows that morning. Of course I would grab the Vermont maple syrup from the fridge and place it on the table.  Then the first batch of dough would be ready.  I place the hot dough into my bowl.  When I split it open the steam would pour out like an old locomotive.  Once cooled, I would dip it into my cold maple syrup and take the first highly anticipated bite.  The cool sweet taste of maple syrup hits my mouth.  The crunchy texture of the outside with the buttery inside was enough to make me shiver.  I swoon as the flavors melt in my mouth as I washed it down with farm fresh milk. Maybe not the healthiest, but definitely one of the most memorable meals of my life.

Last Weeks Produce Quiz Answer:  Enoiki Mushroom

Community Supported Agriculture

Last week i was reading the new Bon Appetit-Feb. 09.  There was a very interesting article about 50 ways to go green.

In this article, yes there was alot of great ways to go green, and yet there was one thing that stood out to me the most.  A website, localharvest.org.  There is a link to this page on the right hand side of this page.

I myself was absolutely floored with this website.  There was so much information on this website that i did not know even existed.  I clicked the CSA tab, put in my zip code and up popped about 12 farms within 100 miles of my place.  These farms are either organic or use no kind of pesticides, hormones or antibiotics while raising there fruit, vegetables or animals.

With a subscription to these farms, you can receive produce baskets at your door step or at a designated pick-up spot.  That's right, produce directly from the farmer, and its "green" and local.  These produce baskets can have anything from fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs and maybe meats. 

When you sign up for this subscriptions there is a few.  You might be asked to work on the farm for a weekend.  You also pay anywhere from 3-400 dollars for half a season. 5-600 dollars for the full season.  The contents of the basket all depends on the growing season and or what the farmer has available.

There is much more you can do on this website.  You can find Co-Ops and restaurants in your area that help support these farmers and there mission.  

If you cant afford the subscription to the farmer, you can still by products from them at your leisure, like cheese, eggs, heirloom seeds, vegetables and meats to name a few.

If you are into getting fresh and i mean fresh products, you want to support your local farmers who believe in the simplicity of growing or raising "green" products then this website is just for you.

Produce Quiz:

This vegetable comes in clumps of long, spaghetti like stems.  I have a appealing crunchy texture that works well in salads.  I am available year round in Asian markets and supermarkets.  I can be purchased fresh or canned.  I am used to garnish soups or other hot dishes.  I am a good source of vitamin D and B-complex vitamins.  I am also called the velvet stem...what am i?

Answer will be in my next blog post.