"Rudy’s – A Cook’s Paradise" Food Trivia


It’s been a while since I have posted this Food Trivia from Rudy’s in Twin Falls. No excuse! Just lazy in the summer. Nut here is the trivia for this week. Try the mustard. Maybe have Rabbit in a Mustard Cream Sauce? I’m getting hungry!

Week in the History of Food and Drink

August 2, 1980: The oldest known goldfish in Great Britain, Frederica, died at the age of 40. Goldie, you’ve got a ways to go.

August 3: National Watermelon Day
(Note: Take a plug from one end. Fill with 1 bottle Southern Comfort. Chill for 2 hours. Drain watermelon reserving liquid. Slice and serve at your next picnic!)

August 4, 1958: The first potato flake manufacturing plant opened in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

August 5: National Mustard Day! (You would believe the variety of mustards that Rudy’s has in store! Celebrate!

August 6: National Cheesecake Day

August 7: National Root Beer Float Day.

August 8, 1794: The Whiskey Rebellion. Protesting the 1791 federal tax on distilled spirits a large gathering of rebels in western Pennsylvania burned the regional tax inspectors home. President Washington ordered 13,000 troops to the area, but opposition disappeared.

For more information about Rudy’s, visit us online at http://www.cooksparadise.com/

Wildearth Dinner Party


El Gallo Giro, Kuna, ID

So WE had a “get together” tonight at El Gallo Giro Mexican Restaurant in Kuna, ID with some of the Wildearth folks. WE have only met online, up to now. Now WE can put a face with the name. Enjoy the photos.

Charles Welf

Chas – Charles Welf

Trina Gudreau

Java Blue – Trina Gudreau

Robin Young

BRobin – Robin Young

Margaret Gunnel

Margaret Gunnel

So there are the folks that were there. Now for the dinner!

Shrimp in Cream Sauce

Seafood Enchilada

Fish Taco

Avocado Salad

Flan

A good dinner with some good friends. Cheers!

Grilled Buffalo Rib-Eye


Buffalo Rib-Eye

A while ago, I said that tonight we would have some red meat – Buffalo to be exact. And so we did! To the left, is a photo of –

Grilled Buffalo Rib-Eye with Roasted Herbal Squash

Serves: 2

Ingredients:
2 Buffalo Rib-Eye Steaks
1 t Greek Oregano, fresh and crumbled
2 t German Thyme, fresh
1/4 c Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix the herbs and the olive oil. Blend with a submersible blender. Place the Rib-Eyes in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over the steaks. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning twice.

Heat the grill to 275 degrees F.
Place the rib-eyes on the grill and cook for 6 minutes on each side for a medium-rare steak. Serve with the roasted vegetables.

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Grilled Herbal Squash

Ingredients:
1/4 c Olive Oil
2 t Tarragon, fresh and chopped fine
1 t Greek Oregano, fresh and chopped fine
3 cloves Garlic, diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 med Summer squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scooped out
1 med Zucchini squash, cut in half lengthwise
2 Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half

Directions:
Blend the olive oil and the herbs in a measuring cup. Place in a shallow dish. Immerse the squash in the herbal mixture and fully coat. Let marinate for 1 hour.

Place on the hot grill with the Rib-Eye steaks, cut surface down. Cook for 6 minutes and turn the squashes over. Fill the scooped out summer squash with 2 of the tomato pieces and some of the herbed olive oil and garlic. Cook for another 6 minutes. Remove from the grill and plate immediately. Enjoy!

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Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Bar

Ingredients:
1 cup of butter room temp
1 cup of brown sugar
1 T vanilla
blend in food processor [or mixer]
add
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour

Directions:
Press the dough into a rectangle shape either in a square baking dish or as I did on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake 25 min at 325 F until golden edges and slight indentation in center. cool

Ganache Frosting
Melt 10 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in 1/4 c milk – I used a quart glass measuring cup ->2 minutes in microwave.
Stir and pour over cookie bar spreading to cover

Top with 1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts – pressing them into the chocolate.
Cut into 1 inch squares.

In this heat – refrigerate them after cooling

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Rosé Gelatin Dessert

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
2 cups Rosé wine
1/4 cup sugar, to taste
1 1-to-2-inch length of cinnamon stick
Zest of 1 orange, with as little pith as you can manage
5 peppercorns
2 envelopes gelatin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 white or yellow peaches or nectarines, each sliced into 16 wedges.

Directions:
1. In a nonreactive saucepan, add 1½ cups of the wine, along with the sugar, cinnamon, orange zest and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn off the heat and cover the pan.

2. After 20 minutes, pour the remaining wine into a medium mixing bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for 3 minutes. Strain the spiced wine into the bowl and stir well for 2 or 3 minutes, until the gelatin is entirely dissolved. Place the bowl inside a larger bowl containing ice water, or put in the refrigerator.

3. When the gelatin is as thick as the white of an egg, 30 to 45 minutes later, put the lemon juice in a wide-bottomed bowl and add the sliced peaches, stirring as you go to coat the peaches with the juice. With a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to the bowl of gelatin and fold them in gently. Divide the gelatin and peaches into 4 wineglasses, cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 or more hours.

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So there you have some more recipes to try. These are very good! We had our dinner with a 1979 Anderson Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. (Robin did a super great job with this wine!) Try them and enjoy. Cheers!

How To Write A Recipe


Sounds like a simple statement , “How To Write A Recipe”, but when you get into the fine points, it is not all that easy. There are suggested rules to follow. The recipe must be precise and concise. This information was gathered from Cookwork – you do have to join the group, but it is free. I use a program called the Living Cookbook from Radium Technologies, which not only puts the recipe in the correct format – you have to follow the rules listed below – but also keeps all your recipes in a printable or web based file. It’s a good little program and I have had no problems with it. But here are some suggestions from the professionals at Cookwork.

1. Measure ingredients accurately — intuitive but many people don’t. This includes things like calling for chicken with skin or without skin, bone in or boneless — accuracy helps a recipe work and helps if nutrition is to be calculated.

2. Think about how ingredients will be measured. 1 cup walnuts, chopped is different than 1 cup of chopped walnuts since whole walnuts take up more room in the measuring cup.

3. List ingredients in your recipe in the order they will be added.

4. When multiple ingredients are added at once, list the largest amount followed by smaller amount. If all have the same amount, list them alphabetically.

5. If you have to preheat an oven, list that step first in your method. If you have to boil water, that too needs to be listed early.

6. Starting each step in the method with an action verb (stir, mix, toss) makes it easier for the reader to know what to do.

7. Once the recipe is written, read through the steps to make sure that all your ingredients are used and that you haven’t missed any.

8. Be sure to list the size pots and pans you really need — half sheet pan, 4” hotel pan, 8-inch cake pan, 10-inch spring-form pan. This is especially important for baking recipes.

9. If there are tips for success, include them as notes. For example: When baking the soufflé, be sure to only use a non-convection oven. Convection ovens will make the soufflé rise very high and then fall very low.

10. Remember your audience. If you’re writing recipes for non-professional cooks, then they may not have access to all the ingredients or tools that you do. Chicken stock from a can doesn’t have the same flavor as the stock made in many restaurants.

I hope this helps and some of you find it useful. Cheers!

Jaialdi was first celebrated in 1987


Cristi and Tom from the Buzz always send some very interesting and timely information. I thank them for sending this information on Jaialdi celebrated by the Basque Community here in Boise. This is really interesting and you may get some insight that you did not have before. Cheers!

Jaialdi 2010

Jaialdi was first celebrated in 1987 as a one time celebration in which the old and new, local and international would celebrate in an educational, cultural, traditional, and entertaining fashion. It was held at the 100 plus year old ex-Idaho State Penitentiary, that is now a state park. Jaialdi ’87 attracted approximately 30,000 visitors who thoroughly enjoyed the location, enthusiasm and high quality entertainment. The festivities included a parade, symposium, mass, street dance, sports exhibitions, dance-song-musical exhibitions, souvenir booths, food, drink, and rekindling of old friendships.

During the Idaho Centennial, Boise requested that the Basque Community once again celebrate with Jaialdi. Therefore Jaialdi ’90 was celebrated. It was then decided that Boise should celebrate Jaialdi every five years. It is always the last weekend in July to coincide with the Boise Basque communities celebration of their patron saint, San Ignacia of Loyola.

The purpose of Jaialdi is to celebrate. Jaialdi describes a week of gathering and celebrating. At Buzz this weekend we will be celebrating by enjoying some good Spanish wines, some tapas, and the music of Mountain Fever. So if you are on your way to the Fairgrounds or back down to the Basque block downtown, stop by and enjoy a Calimoto or a glass of wine with us at the Buzz.

Sincerely,

Cristi and Tom Takeda
Buzz Coffee and Wine

Tupelo Honey Source


Wildflower HoneyThanks, Mac, for finding this on your trip to Virginia.

Yes, folks, it’s well worth the trip. Tupelo Honey is really very unique to the South and South East. The blossom of the Tupelo tree is full of nectar and a sweetness and aroma that is unmistakable. It makes an awesome honey. One can not find it in the mid-Atlantic or New England states, much less west of the Appalachians. If you would like to see their web site and store, Click Here. They have more things online than just honey. However, they do have a wide selection of honey. I have also placed a link in the sidebar. If you decide to purchase some, please do enjoy it and let us know how you like it. I know, the jar of honey pictured here says Wildflower and not Tupelo. But I checked the order page of their site and Tupelo is what you order. Looks like they did not have a copy of the Tupelo label when they made the web page. Cheers!

Tupelo Honey

OK. So I couldn’t stand the possibility of misleading you on the bottle labels. On the right is the label of the bottle that Mac brought us.

From the The Virginia Touch, an online distributor, website:

The Virginia Touch is dedicated to bring you the best that Virginia has to offer.

We are constantly searching out new products to make your month water and to give you that touch of Virginia in your own home!

"the Buzz" – Forgeron Wine Dinner


On 24 July we had a Forgeron Wine Dinner at the Buzz. Like I said in another blog post, I think all we did all weekend is eat and have a glass of wine or a Hendrick’s Gin and Tonic, whatever the situation called for.

All of the dinners/events were definitely fun and generally good! This wine dinner at the Buzz was a quarterly dinner – a very special event each quarter. There were some empty seats, so if you were not there, you could have been.

Here are the photos of the evening. The wines we had are also listed, with my score in (score). Just one thing to note: I messed up and did not photograph the Gazpacho Nuevo, a really delicious cold dish with cream, cucumber, water cress and some other things. So sorry!

Taco Circles

Taco Circles

Salmon Snow Peas
Sweet and Sour Sausage Kabob

Old Bay Grilled Shrimp
Wine: 2005 Forgeron Syrah 12.5% (18) $27.00

OK. The Gazpacho Nuevo should have gone in here!
Wine (With the Gazpacho): NV Walldeaux Smithie Red 14.1% (19) $18.00
The best wine – in my opinion – of the night!

Painted Desert Roasted Salad
Wine: 2007 Walldette White 14.1% (17) $17.00

Brisket
Summer Fruit Chutney
BBQ Black and White Beans
Calabaeitas
Wine: 2005 Forgeron
Zinfandel
14.2% (17) $32.00

Pear Zinfandel Ice
Berry Chocolate Meringue
Wine: 2005 Forgeron
Cabernet 14.2% (16 – The nose on this was all alcohol) $27.00

Bailey – The Bell of the Ball!

See you at the next Buzz event!!!

Silver City Party – Dinner


That was a great weekend! High in the mountains to the south of Boise; there were little patches of snow! Absolutely perfect weather; Clear skies; Night time lows in the low 50’s made for great sleeping; Good friends; Good food, which brings me to the point. Garry Scholz, President of the Treasure Valley Wine Society, did a nice job in preparing the Saturday night dinner. Greg Barnes, Idaho Wine Merchant, did an awesome job in matching the perfect wine with each course. Well done! There were some glitches, but that is to be expected. The menu is to the left and then check out the photos of the dinner below.

Garry and Donna Scholz

Garry checks the Cornish Game Hens

Homemade Sangria

Passed Appetizers
Roasted Red Bell Peppers and Tomato Brochette

Passed Appetizers
Seasoned and Seared Scallops on Cucumber
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Sweet and Hot Peppers
Wine:
Cinder Viognier

Summer Salad
Strawberries and Baby Spinach
with
Fruit Vinaigrette and Cougar Gold Cheese
Wine:
Domains des Grand Bois Rosé, Côtes du Rhone

Palate Cleanser
Raspberry Sorbet with Champagne Jelly

Main Entrée
Smoked Cornish Game Hens with a Blackberry-Port Reduction Sauce
Mixed Mushroom Risotto
Balsamic Roasted Garden Vegetables
Wine: Morgan 12 Clones Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands

Dessert
Double Dark Chocolate Tarte with Raspberry Glaze
Wine: Smith Woodhouse 2007 Vintage Port

And at 10:30 at night and as the moon rose over War Eagle Mountain, we all said, “Good night” and went our separate ways. Our tummys were full. Our hearts were happy. Our spirits were high.

"the Buzz" BBQ and Wine Dinner


This just in from Cristi and Tom:

A quick note about fun things at the Buzz!
There are still a few seats available for the Forgeron BBQ dinner on Sunday night at 5:30pm. The cost is $35 per person and seating is limited. Five wines with five courses. Patty from Forgeron will be here to present the wines and everyone goes home with a Riedel glass. Call 344-4321 for reservations.

Friday and Saturday we will feature Sokol Blosor wines and Gayle Chapman will be blessing us with her fantastic music. Join us for the great wines and fantastic company. See you there.

Sincerely,
Cristi and Tom Takeda
Buzz Coffee and Wine
2999 N Lakeharbor Lane
Boise, Idaho 83703

"Farm and Wine Night" At Le Cafe de Paris



Oh, yes! Another delightful evening for food, fun, friends and wine at Le Café de Paris and their Farm and Wine Night. The wines this time were presented by Rod de Armond of Woodriver Cellars. With our dinner, we had a 2008 Woodriver Cellars Chardonnay, which “… delivers aromas of mango, citrus and honeydew melon with hints of French oak rounded out to a crisp, elegantly balanced finish.” (Woodriver Cellars description)

Our dinner was awesome, as would be expected from this restaurant. However, there did seem to be some “floor” confusion. I think I recognized some new faces joining the waite staff. They were good, don’t get me wrong, but one could tell that they were not precisely accustomed to the routine. They missed our salad, which was brought a little later and in more of the European style of salad after the main entree. Will this keep us from returning? Not hardly! Enjoy the photos!

Ron de Armond, Woodriver Cellars, and Robin savor the intricacies of the wine. How serious are they?

On the menu it said, “Smoked Salmon”. Actually this was lox, but just as good.
Smoked Salmon
Dill Crème Fraîche, Lemon and Croustini

Local Organic Field Green Salad
Confited Cherry Tomatoes and Lemon-Tarragon Vinaigrette.

Pork Roulade
Assorted Squash, Fried Squash Blossoms and Morel Mushroom Demi-Glace

Huckleberry Shortcake
Woodriver Red Wine and Caramel Reduction and Huckleberries

Such a great evening! If you missed this, you missed a good one. And it must be noted: We did not leave the restaurant empty handed. You see, they have a bakery on the premises. We have our breakfast pastries. Can you say Chocolate and/or Almond? Cheers!