19 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in Brown Shuga, What's For Dinner?
Among nasty router problems, I just received this from Yvonne. Hope its not too late!
Yvonne Anderson-Thomas updated her status: “Todays menu is Pulled pork, Beef Brisket, and BBQ Chicken. Sides are baked beans, green beans, mac n cheese and sweet potato souflee. As an added bonus I made some delicious Potato soup great for this wet weather.”
15 Sunday Jan 2012
Right now, the house is filled with the smell of citrus and clove. The fresh ham, pictured here about to go into the oven, looks so delicious! The recipe for the ham, can be found by Clicking Here. It takes some time, but is well worth it. The original thought was to make enough so we can slice some down for sandwiches and I think we will have plenty. (Our Grandson Chris and his Girlfriend Madison gave us a meat slicer for Christmas.) This fresh ham (pork shoulder) was $1.35 per pound and it is boneless. It is so lean and not much fat at all. Enjoy!
The Fresh Ham came out of the oven and rested 15 minutes. Here it is sliced. (I made that platter!)
Fresh Ham with Rich Ham Gravy
Baked Sweet Potato
Green Salad
13 Friday Jan 2012
Need and want something different for dinner tonight? Try this –
Brown Shuga Soul Food is having BBq chicken and pulled pork for lunch today will only be on Chinden til 2pm today. Then moving to the Red lion downtown this evening from 5 till 9pm for our monthly food truck rally tonight. The menu for dinner will be bacon and potato soup, mac and cheese, black eyed peas and bbq chicken with peach cobbler for dessert.
Let Yvonne know you saw the menu here on this blog. If she sends the menus, I’ll post it! Cheers and enjoy the food!
11 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Things To Do, Wine and Food
Another good Wine Club Dinner at the Buzz in Boise! The theme was Wine In The Media or Media in the Wine. In her opening comments, Cristi stated that, “In this age of information we are exposed to a variety of sources for our information. We must determine who and what to relate to or we will go into information overload … Over the next twelve months we will discuss different media formats for wine reviews and suggestions. You will hopefully find avenues of information that are helpful and those [avenues] to take with a grain of salt.” Tonight, Cristi choose to explore the reviewing of Natalie McClain, wine critic, writer, TV personality and critic from Canada. You can see her web site at Nat Decants. This site is well worth a look/see. Interesting information that may help you in your next wine selection. Once again, the ratings of the wines that we had are based on a top score of [20]. Cheers!
Appetizer
Cece Fritos and Vegetable Masala Fritters
2009 La Sefreta
13.0% alc, good color depth with a clean and fresh nose. [16]
Chop Chop Salad
2010 Essence Riesling Mosel
10% alc, bright color and a great clean and fruity nose. good sweetness [17]
Four Grain Tomato Soup
2010 KMV Pinotage (South Africa)
14% alc, great color, great balance of tannin and acid. great paring with the soup [18]
Italian Meatloaf
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Peas and Leeks
Roasted Green Beans
2007 Molines Cabernet Sauvignon (France)
14% alc, good color but light on the general appeal. good tannin/acid balance, though. [16]
Hot/Hot Chocolate Cake Floating Islands
2010 Morse Code Shiraz (Australia)
14.5% alc, another great paring with the dessert. good sweetness and body.[18]
So there you have our dinner and wine parings. Where else can you get a plated dinner like this, seven wines (Cristi had two to share before the party started), and such great company for $15.00 per person!!! And my favorites for the evening? The 2010 Morse Code Shiraz (Australia) with the Hot/Hot Chocolate Cake Floating Islands and the 2010 KMV Pinotage (South Africa) with the Four Grain Tomato Soup. Cheers!
09 Monday Jan 2012
Posted in Dessert, German Recipes, Party Time, Pennsylvania Dutch, Special Information
So what is Kiffle Kulture?
From Living Here In Allentown, we find that Kiffle Kulture is:
… the kiffle is ubiquitous around homes in the Lehigh Valley and can even be found in local supermarkets depending on the time of year. However, the kiffle is not traditional to the Pa. Dutch nor was it traditional to the Palatine on the Rhine region of Germany from which the Pa. Dutch emigrated. In fact, the kiffle’s roots are much further East in the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was brought to the Lehigh Valley by eastern-European and Slavic immigrants around the turn of the twentieth century.
I don’t know too much about the food-history of the kiffle. I can’t even find an etymology of the word in Hungarian, English, or German. They are a simple pastry made from flour, eggs, butter, and cream cheese. Unfortunately, they have to be homemade if you want top quality. Kiffles bought from the store taste flat and dull to me. (They are also quite expensive and not worth the money). Additionally, I am told that there is only one commercial baker in the Lehigh Valley who supplies all other retail markets so it is unlikely that quality in the retail kiffle market is going to rise anytime soon.
The link above will take you to the recipe and more information on this dessert. Have fun with this recipe and the blog page from Allentown, PA. (The photo is from that blog.) Thanks John Jay for sharing this information. Cheers!
02 Monday Jan 2012
New Years Day, 2012. A great day and a great start to the new year. The photo to the left is the Pennsylvania Dutch New Years Day Pork and Sauerkraut dinner. It’s a one-pot meal. (Follow the link for the recipe!) The pork and all really turned out good. Marnie and Mac and Margaret (Maggie) joined us for dinner and I think everyone took some home, too. Great flavors with the rub and the sauerkraut that we made. We started the sauerkraut 12 weeks ago.
And then we dug in our wine supply and got these two wines for dinner. They went really well with dinner, but it is time to drink them. How was your New Years Day dinner? We’d like to hear. Cheers!
01 Sunday Jan 2012
Posted in Party Time, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?
There are probably 100 different ways to celebrate the New Year. We chose to celebrate it here at the Le Café de Paris, one of our great restaurants here in Boise. It’s worth a trip to Boise just to eat here. Especially, on a special dinner night. I have been known to drive several hundred miles for dinner, then return home and go to work. That was on the East coast and I would probably do the same here. Look at the dinner that we had. It Was Awesome! Sorry you missed it! Happy New Year everyone!
Robin
2005 Château Peyros Madiran
went very well with most of the meal. It did not pair well with the lobster.
Huîtres Sur La Demi-Coquille
oysters on the half shell with green apple-champagne mignonette
Veloute d’Asperges
creamy asparagus soup with red pepper coulis
Ficelle de Homard
baked lobster mousse stuffed baguette
Carre d’Agneau
herb encrusted lamb chops
Sauce Choron
Bleu Cheese and Caramelized Onion Pave Potato
Fresh Roasted Asparagus
Gâteau de Kir Royal
berry jus and crème anglais
What a delightful way to start the New Year! Can it get any better? Not in Boise! Thanks so very much to the entire staff at Le Café de Paris for this delightful meal, your hospitality and your friendship. We hope your 2012 is a great one for you. Cheers! And if you are wondering what a Sauce Choron is, here is the definition:
A Béarnaise or Hollandaise sauce made pink with tomato puree. Created by Alexander Etienne Choron, a French chef. Sauce Choron is a variation of béarnaise without tarragon or chervil, plus added tomato purée.
The Sauce Choron is a variation on one of the Mother Sauces. Try it sometime. So there you have our New Years Eve dinner. It was superb!
01 Sunday Jan 2012
Posted in Pennsylvania Dutch, What's For Dinner?
I just connected to this blog, Just Living Here in Allentown. If you love that good Pennsylvania Dutch cooking – Kissin’ Don’t Last … Cookin’ Does – such as scrapple, dried corn, showfly pie, sauerkraut, Pork etc., this is a must read for you. (The photo to the left is of sauerkraut from their page!) Enjoy!
31 Saturday Dec 2011
There is a custom among the Pennsylvania Dutch that one should eat “Schweinefleisch und Sauerkraut” on New Year’s Day.
“A traditional Pennsylvania Dutch pork and sauerkraut dinner that you can prepare at home – a restaurant quality meal conceived by Jon Lindsay – executive chef at Jerome Bettis’ Grill 36 in Pittsburgh using Snowfloss sauerkraut. (Actually, we make our own!) Eating sauerkraut on New Year’s is an old Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. It’s said to bring good luck. The traditional meal consists of pork and sauerkraut served together, with the sauerkraut representing luck and the pig representing rooting into the New Year.”
Here is the link to a very traditional Pennsylvania Dutch New Year’s Pork and Sauerkraut Dinner. Hope you enjoy this. Cheers!
27 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in Hanukkah, Latkes, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?
What a great event! The Second Annual Latke Cook-Off! And with such good friends. Add this evening to the foods that we have tried over the past several days, and we have been treated so well. And Joe Levitch made this wine bottle holder by laminating three different types of wood. Beautiful Joe, and thank you.
The main theme of tonight is the Second Annual Latke Cook-Off! Here is a very basic recipe for Latkes. They are a traditional Hanukkah fare along with sour cream and apple sauce. Usually, too, there is a green salad. So much fun. Thanks to Joe and Rachael Levitch for opening their home and kitchen for this event. And thanks also to Jodi Peterson for agreeing to challenge Joe to the cook-off.
In this corner ….. The Challenger, Jodi Peterson!!!
And in this corner ….. The Teacher, Joe Levitch!
The fruits of their labors. The Latkes are cooking.
Add a couple of glasses of wine, a great green salad, sour cream and apple sauce and you have made your very own Latke Party!
So now, the BIG question: Who Won? Actually it was a draw and here is why. Jodi’s Latkes were light and the Matza flour gave them a unique flavor. Really good. Joe’s Latkes had a unique, back palate onion flavor that was very enjoyable. Both were excellent! Both were winners. Then they combined the two and that was awesome. Thank you both for inviting Robin and I to enjoy these Latkes! Here are some of the other folks who were there. Cheers!
Athena and Ethan Levitch. Look at Ethan’s eyes. Classic!
Jodi, Athena and Rachael.
Curtis Stigers
The Dreidel Faces in the Hanukkah Candles. (Enlarge this photo by Left-Clicking)
The rules of the Dreidel Game and the story of Hanukkah.
As for Robin and I? We have had an extremely enjoyable Christmas Season. Much food! A little wine! Great friends! And a great family. Thank-You each and everyone for making this a delightful season. Cheers!
Boise Foodie Guild 