07 Saturday Aug 2010
Posted in Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Salmon, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?
It was good to have Margaret join us at this affair. And the salmon – weeeeell – it was great, again. Just look at these photos and weep, if you missed this! Cheers!
Preparing the salmon over hard wood fires.
Salmon prep.
Salmon prep.
Waiting in line. We did not have a long wait. They allow the, as my Mother said, Seasoned Citizens go first!!
The salmon is ready.
The salmon.
The fries.
The slaw.
Here’s what is on each plate!
The crowd enjoys the salmon.
06 Friday Aug 2010
Posted in Party Time, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?
Ah yes, another delightful night at Le Café de Paris and the First Thursday Tapas Night. Robin is intently listening to the music. A very different venue … but a very good one. Here is what Matheiu Choux, Owner, said,
Thursday, August 5
Bonjour Mes Amis,
First Thursday is upon us once again. We will be featuring American Tapas, and wine tastings from local winery, Cinder. We will be hosting the signing for the premier book on Idaho wines, by author and photographer, Alan Minskoff, and Paul Hosefros, entitled “Idaho Wine Country.”Bon Appetit, Mathieu
And so it was a delightful evening. The restaurant was very full, more so than I have seen it in the past. But then, we arrived there later than usual, around 7:00pm. Maybe it was the American Tapas that attracted so many people; Maybe it was the book signing and the local topic of the Idaho Wine Country; Maybe it was the attraction of having another awesome meal. As Jay Leno would say, “Here, you be the judge.” Along with our dinner, we had an award winning 2008 Cinder Viognier. Here are some photos of what we had. Cheers!!
Cobb Salad
Fried Oysters on Shoestring Potatoes
Braised BBQ Pork
Apple Pie
Fresh Made Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Strawberries
For Breakfast –
Royal Chocolate
And to see to our every need, an awesome Waite Staff. Mathieu should really be proud and pleased. All of the young ladies, and this is just two of them, do an awesome job, as do the kitchen staff. To them –
Thank-You!
05 Thursday Aug 2010
Posted in Chicken, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?
OK, so the potatoes are slightly dark. But they were still good! And besides, the “dementia” is gone! But, this is the right dinner, just on the wrong day.
Grilled Potatoes
Grilled Squash with Fresh Garden Herbs
(Olive Oil, Parsley, Basil, Chives)
2008 Indian Creek Winery Pinot Noir
So there you go. Now we’re all up-to-date. What to do now? Cheers!
04 Wednesday Aug 2010
I make a BBQ sauce using Jack Daniels. But this one really sounds good. I adapted it slightly from about.com. Cheers!
BBQ Rum SauceSource and Adapted From: Derrick Riches, About.com
This sauce is based on a basic tomato style barbecue sauce and then gets a kick from a little rum. You won’t taste the rum (much) but it works excellently to combine the other flavors and enhance what you put it on. This BBQ sauce is great on BBQ Ribs.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutesYield: Makes about 3 cups
Ingredients:
2 8-ounce cans Roasted Tomato Sauce
1 8-ounce can Green Chilies (medium heat)
½ Onion, chopped
½ c Brown Sugar
⅓ c Dark Rum
2 T Vinegar
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 T Molasses
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T Olive oil
1 T PaprikaPreparation:
Pour olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Saute until opaque. Add other ingredients except the rum. Mix well. Bring to a light boil then remove from heat. Pour in rum and stir until incorporated. When the sauce has cooled purée in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth.
In the recipe, its says that this sauce is great on BBQ Ribs. Well, here is a link from about.com that will give you some recipes for BBQ Ribs and Sauces. Enjoy!
04 Wednesday Aug 2010
Actually, the dinner for 03 August was supposed to be grilled chicken. But then …. a Senior moment! The chicken is in marinating (Olive Oil, garlic, chives, sage and thyme) in fresh herbs from the garden. And then …. And then …. The Senior Moment!! The grill is started; Our tickets are purchased for the BBQ Salmon Feed sponsored by the Meridian Firefighters on Friday (See the post on this blog); I need to get the Salmon out and marinate it. WHAT? It’s supposed to be chicken tonight, because you’re going to have salmon – a lot of salmon – Friday night. I tell Robin that the potatoes are on grilling. After 8 minutes I put the salmon on and start the chard – fresh from our grocery pick-up this afternoon. And then …. I realize, with some dismay, that the chicken is marinating and the salmon is on the grill. I told Robin that there was a slight change in dinner plans and that the chicken had been replaced by salmon. She gave me one of those disbelieving Robin Looks and a Mona Lisa smile, as if to say, “Dementia!!” So, instead of a delicious grilled chicken – that will come tonight – our menu looked like this. See the photo.
Sautéed Fresh Chard in Garlic and Soy Vay, Veri Veri Teriyaki
2009 Indian Creek Viognier
(Along with their 1988 Pinot Noir and their Petite Verdot, this wine ranks right up there with Indian Creek’s best ever! Full of fresh pear and vanilla. Buy a case or two!)
Or
Hendrick’s Gin and Tonic with Mulled Cucumber
Actually, it was good! So tonight, with the Marinated Chicken, we will have Grilled Squash and something else. And I just remembered – We, notice the plurality, missed a Board meeting last night. Oops! Cheers!
03 Tuesday Aug 2010
Posted in Food, Salmon, Summer BBQ, Things To Do
If you have never been to this … You need to make a trip to Meridian, Idaho and attend. It is awesome!
Meridian Firefighter’s 31st Annual Salmon BBQ
Doors open from 6pm-8pmSeniors served at 5pmTickets available at:Meridian Chamber Building
Meridian Fire Station #2
Meridian Fire Admin @ City Hall
…Express Cafe
Tickets:
Adults
$12 in advance
$15 at the doorKids 6-12
$65 and under
Free!Come and get your annual heaping of applewood cooked salmon and all the fixings! We are grilling up 1800 lbs of salmon this year and when it’s gone, it’s gone! Come out and have a great night and suport the Meridian Firefighter’s Association and the Burn Out Fund.
03 Tuesday Aug 2010
Posted in Food Trivia, Rudy's Twin Falls, Thought For The Day
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!
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/
03 Tuesday Aug 2010
Posted in El Gallo Giro, Friends, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, What's For Dinner?
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.
Chas – Charles Welf
Java Blue – Trina Gudreau
BRobin – Robin Young
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!
02 Monday Aug 2010
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 –
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.
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!
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
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.
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!
31 Saturday Jul 2010
Posted in Food, Recipe Writing, Things To Do, Thought For The Day
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!
