All that and more, much more. Wanted to stop by and let you know we're okay, just can't get to that webernet thingy. We attempt, but don't bring no fruit.
I love ya'll dearly and want to let you know these things. Hang tight and goodies will roll, this way or that.
xo, Biggles
]]>
Yup, as we speak the wagon is getting loaded up and the cooler packed. There's a dozen El Salvadorean chorizos in there, a pork loin roast (Thanks CB!) and a dozen 1" thick pork chops. I needs muh snacks!
bye bye
dot dot dot, we're baaack! Well, okay we got back yesterday about 11am. I went through some of the images I took and thought I'd share.
Here you can see Z, waaaay up on the top of the dune there. The boys spent several hours climbing up and down these dunes. This was the largest and Tiny E decided that maybe when he was older he'd attempt it. Just so you know, the right side of the dune is far less aggressive and not so scary.
And yes, the aquarium is awesome. Changed a lot over the years though, they have penguins now. When I visited years ago they were showcasing Monterey Bay marine life only, now it's all over the map. And they've added 9 million activities for kids. So, obviously it's packed with tons of families enjoying themselves. This isn't necessarilly a bad thing, but damned those strollers are evil. I counted at least 3 gift shops and 1 of which is about the size of a large market. Ahhh, the mighty dollar wins again. Go during the week, not on the weekends.
xo, Biggles
]]>
Ya know, it was really nice to host this little contest for ya'll. It isn't very often that a blogger gets to have a two-way conversation with the readers (that's you). I've found over the years it can really bring a sense of closeness that I enjoy, like coming by for a beverage and a snack treat.
Well, we didn't exactly set a record with the number of entries (you're just not used to it here), but the absolute quality of the entries? Second to none, easy.
Move along ...
]]> Our first entry is offered up by Mrs. Guy and she cooked me Opor Ayam (Chicken in Coconut Milk), man it was wonderful. Cooking pretty much anything in coconut milk is outstanding, even vegetables. 2nd on the list is Zoomie with her Cocoa and Spice Slow-Roasted Pork with Onions. The long mellowed ingredients coupled with pork is an absolute favorite. And you know whut? It's even better the next day, pork is beautiful. Even during summer, I can dig it. 3rd up is Massolo (I forgot to put his name up there! Ah well, the recipe is solid), he's a friend from many years ago, many many years ago. Just to give you an idea as to how long we've been friends, 2400 baud modems had just hit the scene, late 1980's. Ahhh good times. Well, I could taste those morsels, each and every one. I love little tasty bits of meat, so deep & rich in all the flavors. Perfection! 4th to the table is BG and his Moroccan Feast - Pork shoulder/Pork Belly. The bar has been raised and I thought to myself, "Bring it, this is going to be great." 5th on the list comes from Salvage and he cooked me Crawfish Pie, dedicated to the recent Crawfish Boil episode. I love meat pies and I've never even remotely had anything like this. Am using his list of ingredients to put together something in my mouth, just to see. My imagination is pretty good and I have to say, even my mind's mouth is foaming. After Salvage we visit Michelle of Montreal and her Ragu. Do you have any idea how much I enjoy a red sauce over pasta? Any pasta? Yeah, well, a lot. Like thiiiiissss much. You can put cheese on it!After a few days of deliberation, we've narrowed it down. And at this point am kinda glad we didn' have 60 entries to sift through. Since this contest is all about me, I'm picking Salvage's Crawfish Pie. I've never had it and between the unique recipe, photoraph and ingredients, he wins. Thank you to the contestants and thank you to Salvage for cooking for me!
xo, Biggles
ps - I'll contact Salvage here in a moment.
]]>
9:30pm, sun is down and the bedroom window is open. I removed the screen so I could get max flow of nose flavors. Fresh, wet, weeds, grass, bark, oil, traffic, calm, goodness with a touch of who knows.
The flavor from my bedroom window caused me to grab the tripod and the camera to this shot. Yes there are a few details, but suffice it to say I used a much moved flashlight to highlight the windmill against the barn. The barn is half-lit from the neighbor's rear porch light. Other than that, this is out-of-camera action with all the late spring smells that give me the happy shivers.
Grab the one you're with and make fun, it's worth the effort.
xo, Biggles
ps - Color temperature rules.
]]>
On March 25th CajunGrocer.com contacted me and asked if I'd like 10 pounds of mudbugs for 'review'. Oh, let me think, YES. Remember them? They were the ones that sent Meathenge Labs a Turducken, yeah that's them.
The little guys come delivered to your door alive, moving, and making this clicking sound like rice crispies in milk. The party wasn't until Saturday, said crawdads arrived on Friday, not a problem. Hose them down, toss into cooler with a bag of ice (drain open), easy enough. But it didn't say whether to leave them all tied up in their sack or not, I decided to let them out in to the cooler. Free range crawdads ... dumb Californian. Wanna come see how it turned out?
]]> Note: Ahem,I still haven't got his new software figured out quite yet. It looks as though I have too many pictures for my words. So, do some reading, looking, then reading. Or just look at the pretty pictures, they're the same as the words.The day before Jlee, Chilebrown and myself sat down at google and spent some time compiling what we thought was the correct way to deal with these crawfish. First off, I read that 10 pounds is only supposed to feed 2 people. I'd planned on inviting all kinds of friends over, but will have to keep it small. "I'll grill a dozen pork chops, just in case." says Biggles' mind. In retrospect, 10 pounds will feed a lot more than just 2 people, we're not Cajuns!
I also realized that my 3 gallon pot would not be enough, nope. I needed 5 gallons or more. Off to the hardware store where I bought one of those turkey deep fry kits, could very well come in handy, eh? This is actually a pretty important point, you truly need to have a pot & cooker that can deal with these large loads of food. Sure i could have done it in stages, but that would have really been a pain in the ass and would have detracted from the fun we were supposed to be having.
So, along with this large pot, you'll need a large propane rig to heat 5 gallons of water. I bought a used outdoor propane stove from Chilebrown, has 2 66,000 btu burners. It got the water going in 30 minutes, that's pretty darned quick. Sure I could have used the turkey burner I'd just purchased, but it didn't look nearly as big as my stove did. Plus I would be bending over all day. Nope, I opted for the larger stove.
Ingredients
10 pounds live crawfish (supplied from Cajun Grocer)
Seafood Boil is supplied!
2 onions
3 potatos (more if you like)
3 ears of corn
Fresh garlic (a lot)
2 fresh lemons
2 loaves of Frenched bread - Fer eatin'!
Corn isn't in season, so that's out.
Prep everything in large portions. Garlic, just smoosh cloves (I did an entire head of garlic), quarter onions, leave taters whole.
In short, cook vegetables. Remove vegetables, add bugs. Cook for a few minutes, add vegetables and let soak, easy peasy.
Once the guests have arrived, have them clean the bugs. These are farm raised and it's said they don't need to be "purged". I don't know what that is, but it involves a lot of salt, water & rinsing.
We didn't have a clue as to how these things are cleaned, so we made it up as we went. As you can see, they've been set free, off they went too. There was quite a bit of jocularity going on at this point, great fun.
Meathead did an excellent job of cleaning each and every one, perfectly. Even with my leaky old hose and sprayer it didn't take too terribly long.
OH! Here's a point that must not be overlooked. DON'T EAT THE DEAD ONES. You've got to sort through these guys to get the dead ones out. Not sure how you do that when cooking 800 pounds, maybe it doesn't matter? I dunno, but we didn't eat the dead ones. Well, okay we did eat the cooked, dead crawfish. But not the uncooked, live/dead crawfish.
Put 5 gallons of cold water in your large pot and get that on the burner. Add about a 1/3 of the boil seasoning to the water.
Once you've got a nice rolling boil, add onions, taters and fresh garlic. Pull vegetables before taters are done, this way you can finish them up with the bugs later.
Remove vegetables and set aside, keep warm and safe. Get your water to a rolling boil again, if it isn't already.
Add the rest of the boil seasoning, add the halved lemons (I did a little squeeze to help them on their way). Add all the bugs, stir.
Here we find me dumping the crawfish IN, and Meathead offering up support. Such a team!
I have to admit it was a crazy few days getting things together, and I'm usually wrapped pretty tight to begin with. Cooking for a group, no matter how large or how small, something you've never cooked before, using methods you've never used before, can be tough on the nerves to say the least. Today, I own its soul.
Let crawfish simmer for about 4-5 minutes. Add semi-cooked vegetables. Turn off the fire and I let them soak for about 12 to 15 minutes. This is, what I'm told, a very important step. One wants to make sure those crawfish soak up the goodness.
Okay, so we're getting close here. My sister lived in Nola for a few years and said that it is traditional to take an interior door, cut a hole in it, put it up on sawhorses, put a trash can under the hole, toss newspapers down and dump the bugs on the table, then eat. I want to give a hearty Thank You Very Much to Meathead for making this little version for our party. It's so fricken cool!
While the bugs are finishing up soaking, set the table and get everything ready. My sister made a Creole Potato Salad, not sure what makes it Creole. But it was damned good and to be honest, I'd forgo the taters in the boil. They were great, but when compared to home-made potato salad? Salad all the way baby.
Earlier that day I didn't think I had enough bugs for everyone, so I bought a dozen meaty pork chops for the grill. Crawfish, pork chops & beer, oh my!
To eat the little suckers you're supposed to hold the body with one hand, then twist off the tail with the other. Take the head part and suck the hot "juices" out of it, toss. Crack the tail by holding between thumb and forefinger to snap the shell, dig out meat. The boil seasoning stuff really does a nice job of bringing out some good flavors. Like fava beans, "It's a lot of work for what you get". Good though!
From start to finish, I don't think I or the guests have had so much fun cooking and eating together. It's a meal where everyone can take part and it doesn't take long to do. Then you can take the rest of the afternoon to sit in the shade, eat, drink and have a splendiferous time. Thank you to Cajun Grocer for this very fine gift, it was exceptionally well received. And thank you to my guests for making it, The Best Day Ever.
xo, Biggles
Last year I wandered in to Joya de Ceren and bought this little, tiny red box full of fried chicken. It was 10 bux for just a few pieces, and not freshly prepared. On the side was this little chicken made up like a cowboy with the words, "Pollo Campero" on the side. Country Chicken, that is. As near as I can dig up, it's a chain of places dear to the hearts of our brothers and sisters down south. It's a little slice of home and that, means a lot.
We ain't got that here, so someone decided to make their own! And they live just down the street, oh yes.
Taqueria Las Americas has reopened and is now serving their own version!
]]>
It's good, I liked it. The smell coming home was of caramelly, deep fried food. It reminded me of my mother's shallow fried chicken in a cast iron skillet, good love. The meal is 6 dollars and comes with a great selection of sides. Chips, rolls, slaw, fries, salsa x2, crema, queso fresca and probably a few things I've forgotten. 3 pieces of fried chicken and all that for 6 bux? Count me in.
Las Americas
12929 San Pablo Avenue
Richmond, CA
Pupusas $1.25 - Deliciosas!
xo, Biggles
]]>
Yes, you heard that right, a West Contra Costa farmer's market hosted by Catahoula coffee roasters in Richmond. Music on Saturday, market on Sunday.
Farmer's Market: Sunday April 20th - Parking Lot of Catahoula Coffee.
This Sunday April 20th, 2008 (10am-1pm) Park Guthrie and members of the 5% Local Coalition (Urban Tilth and Richmond High School's YME Club) are selling West County-grown produce, plants (tomato seedlings, edible perennial seedlings) and plant food (worm castings and worm tea). All of the produce will be brought to market by foot or bicycle. All of the proceeds will support food production programs at Richmond High School or the Lincoln School Farm.
A few Local (Richmond) artists will be on hand to showcase their art and crafts. Liana's Cake Kitchen & Grand Finale Flowers by Tracy Weber.
Music: Saturday April 19th -
This Saturday April 19, 2008 (10:30am to 12:30 noon) stop by for a cup of hula and enjoy a local Jazz Trio. John Bob and Playboys will be back. Catahoula Coffee will continue to source local artists to play from time to time.
Catahoula Coffee
12472 San Pablo Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805
(510) 235-0525
Biggles
]]>
Yeah, huh. Here in our part of the East Bay, the temperatures rarely go below 40 or above 75, it's just that way. That isn't to say we don't get our heat waves, I remember it hovering over 104 a few times and surely in the 80s. But yesterday, and at least this today, it was 94 in the shade.
My favorite part was when Z came running in saying, "Papa !!! It's 120 degrees outside!"
"Um, the sun was hitting that thermometer there sonny boy. Put it in the shade, ya foo."
Well, when the temperatures are high, the house is stuffy what meal really hits the spot? No, not watermelon, salad or tofu. It's that good ol' roast turkey dinner. I fired up the gas oven for 3 hours and made us some juicy roast turkey, mashed taters & gravy! The plates were licked clean and that was pretty much that. And today for lunch, turkey sammiches!
xo, Biggles
]]>
On March 28th I announced the Cook for me! contest, and right now is the deadline. Well, I got 1 entry, so far. Am thinking to myself, "Do they not love me?" Well, that's not possible. I'm the most loved of all! Then I thought, "Maybe they don't care." I'm not buying that either, you care. What else in your life could possibly be more important that me?
Taxes !!!
So, let's reset and take this contest to April 25th, a Friday. OR, if anyone has a better idea for a contest giveaway, I'm all ears. Oh dear, a cross between Hee Haw and something else just popped in to my mind. Eeek!
We'll let the dust settle and regroup, what you gots?
Biggles
A hearty Thank You! to Ten Speed Press for sending this book our way.
Note 4/15/2008: Here are the entries!
]]>
And I will, repeat. Uh, whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?
I spied with my little eye, this box on the shelf at our local mega grocer. It's a convenience food, all ready to shorten the time in the kitchen and feed the brood on the quick & easy. But, like it's pasta, olive oil and Italian herb. Couldn't I just take pasta, oilive oil and Italian herb and make my own? Or even do a switchy poo and pull out some French herb? Maybe I should just switch gears and whip out some Hawaiian herb and make it all go away.
Aloha, Biggles
]]>
Here we find a little clearing on a pallet out in production, supplies & tools are kept handy. One never knows when that fancy load of product will need palletizin'. Actually, it's a pretty handly little area near the roll-up door with bay air blowing through at a very fresh rate.
A little over a week ago, Creepy E shows up with a few appliances from his mum's garage. One of which is this little chromium, oven thingy. It's not a toaster, no live coils to heat. It's pretty cool actually, gots this slide-out tray that holds things to be baked. Wanna see what he cooks in his very own little oven?
]]>
Yeah! Bacon !!! And since it's little, you get wafts of bacon fumes for quite some time, maybe 45 minutes +. Personally, I think it's pretty darned cool to send wafts of thine swine to your employees, then feed.
Cheers to you and yours, may your days be filled with such loverly smells.
xo, Biggles
]]>
But first, Meathenge news!
It looks as though my sister will have some time next week fo put some real design in to Meathenge and the corporate look will be a thing of the past. Her husband, Meathead, has put together a really cool mascot and that's nearly done.
The picture of the bowls up above there are a few of the bauer ware pieces that my uncle gifted me over the last few weeks. Ain't they pretty? Expose for the highlights baby, tastee.
Weeks ago I posted that there'd be live jazz at Catahoula Coffee Roasters in Richmond. I was wrong, it didn't happen. But it does now!
This Saturday April 5, 2008 (10:30am to 12:30 noon) stop by for a cup of hula and enjoy a local Jazz Trio. John Bob and Playboys will be in attendance, fer sure.
]]>
How could I possibly take this photograph last night and not share it with you today. I mulled it over for 4 or so hours and decided, "It's going up!".
The boys and I have taken our local Joya de Ceren market to heart lately and added some kind of taco dish at least once or twice a week. In the past we've used their premade meat/pepper/onion mixes, they're all really good. But they have a chile powder and related in them (yum!). And unfortunately Z ain't hip to them flavors, so I decided to make my own, sorta. Sure I'll be compiling my own lime based marinade soon, but a bottle of La Lechonera Spanish Marinating Sauce did just fine for last night.
Check out the picture of a fat little piggy, in a sling, with the marinade also in a sliing, getting the piggy all ready. Priceless.
We ended up eating 2 pounds of flank steak for one dinner. A little excessive I know, but it was really good. Especially with corn tortillas that get all puffy when you heat them, so good. I'll make up my own marinaddy for next week and see how that goes.
Cheers!
]]>
Author's note: There is actually a point to this post other than a poorly written rambling rant.
After giving this another thought, nope. This is a poorly written rambling rant without a point.
Quite a few years ago now, maybe 7, I received my first copy of Cook's Illustrated Magazine. I signed myself up for a few years, was feeling full of myself because we'd bought our first home a year before. Life was going to be grand. Aww, I remember it fondly, one of my first issues and it was spring time, a grilling issue and it was all mine.
]]> I sat down quietly in my chair, usually reserved for watching tv and vice versa. I knew the author was going to pull for the propane grill, I was ready. But what I wasn't ready for was the statement that we should stop using our charcoal fired pits because the lid imparts a bitter fllavor. I would have fired my writer for that one, and kicked them.The months rolled on and my sheer hate for the rag continued on its merry way. I still smile when reminiscing about the time the kitchen staff was clearly befudled when their cook's knife wasn't slicing large roasts very well and had to find an answer! Um, a slicer? A long, skinny, sharp thingy? Or when the editor thought we needed a review of kitchen scrubbies, sigh. And don't forget their attempts at finding a way to cook chops, roasts and birds so they're juicy and tender. How did James Beard ever do without these fine folks reinventing butter, frying and green beans.
I let my subscription go and didn't think much about it. Every year or so they send out a free copy attempting to get me back and I usually toss it without even opening the wrappy. Until today, just now. This is a standard free copy issue, an issue that's put together their best of the best! Here! Look at us now baby! Pathetic at its best, I want to cry.
As I open it up I get to peruse letters from readers. Egads people are you really this stupid? Personally I think they're making it up. How to brown meat? Are shallots worth the effort? Boiling water times and one about elimnating gas from beans? I see something missing, what's the difference between a pot and a pan?
The heading Quick Tips caused me to not look and turn the pages until it was gone, quickly. Solving the Problem of Baked Chicken Breasts was the title of the first article. Is it 1972 or something? Let me guess, jack the heat up high, rub with some kind of fat and don't over-cook. Yup, pretty much what they figured out. How to Pan-Sear Shrimp or should read, How to Repeatedly Bang my Head on the Wall or some such. Oh here's one, American Potato Salad. Yeah, it's 1972 alright, I can tell for sure now. Quiddit !!!
It was when I got to A Guide to Buying Fresh Pork that I had to stop, "Oh this ought to be rich." The page was filled with little pictures of pork cuts and words about each one. One of the helpful little lines said, BEST WAY TO COOK: ROAST. Great, thanks for that, very informative. At this point I decided that I should see what they say about my favorite cut, the Sirloin Roast! FLAVOR: NO STARS, BEST WAY TO COOK:Not Recommended.
The only rational thing I could think for about 10 minutes was, "You fucking idiots! No wait, you fuuucking idiots. There, that's better." Actually, am still thinking that. Listen up people, it's 2008 and it looks as though the world still has some morons mucking about in our society. Please, take the words that you hear written or othewise with a little grain of salt. These people repeatedly put out mundane, wrong, stupid information and opinions. This person said the sirloin was difficult to carve? That's probably because they didn't know to use a godamned knife.
Biggles
]]>
Um, this recipe actually turned out really tasty. I pulled it out of a 1968 Family Circle Great Chicken Recipes book, see?
Yeah, that one. I had originally wanted to do a recipe from a recent Food & Wine issue. But after nodding off while reading the list of ingredients I decided this book would do just fine for a Saturday evening. Come see, the pictures are quit tastee.
]]> Man, this recipe sucked. Just because you take onion, tomato and a green bell pepper doesn't make it fricken 'creole', you ass. Plus, the directions mention adding the tarragon at the #4 step. Okay, but there's no tarragon listed in the ingredients. Oh, and the addition of MSG isn't making you any friends here pally boy. Then, adding the paprika before you brown the chicken? Hellloooo, paprika brown and then burn, duh.You know what though? After making a few dozen changes & additions to the recipe, it totally didn't suck. In fact, it was really good. So good in fact, I believe I'll be making this again soon. The simmer time was about an hour or two (read: 2) and easy to prep, I'm sold. Here's what you'll need:
Whole chicken cut up in pieces
1 medium white onion
1 medium green bell pepper
2 large celery stalks
1 can diced maters (16 oz.)
2 large jalapeno chile peppers
6 cloves of smooshed garlic
1 heaping teaspoonful of dried thyme
1 heaping teaspoonful of paprika
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
A pour of extra virgin
s&p to taste
Start all this with your large French or Dutch oven, enamel coated please. Get the butter all foamy, drizzle in extra virgin, and lay your dry chicken pieces skin side down.
Brown that chick-ken, brown that chick-ken. Everybody loves my chick-ken.
Once browned, remove chicken to a deserted area. Add your diced everything and brown a bit in the butter.
mmmMmMm, buttery chicken smells with chile peppers!
Add it all to the pot, right now!
Yeah, just like that and bring to simmer. I did an hour with the lid a skew a bit and then an hour with the lid off. Sure it was done in an hour, but it just didn't look or feel like I wanted. The tomatoes needed some time to mellow, the liquid to waft away and the chicken to soften just a bit more. I suggest the 2 hour method for supreme goodness.
If you read their recipe, it recommends serving this over hot cooked rice. Am thinking to myself they must have run across someone who served this over uncooked rice and wanted to know why they didn't tell them to cook the rice first, then serve it over. Ah well, what in the hell did 'they' know about cooking in 1968?
xo, Biggles
]]>