New Years Day Feast

New Years Day Feast

We like to start out the New Year with a proper feast.

1) Honey Baked Ham
I love a properly cured ham. This Michigan based product is cured with honey.

2) Dungenes Crab
Great with the ham and cheeses.

3) Scalloped Potatoes
This dish is essentially multiple layers of sliced potatoes. I like to add other wonderful things to the layers. Like sautéed onions and garlic, Herbs de Provenance, sautéed mushrooms, and Cheddar and Parmesan cheese. And to kick it up a notch – fennel.  I top the whole thing off with a mixture of: {cream of mushroom soup, Italian red vermouth, heavy cream}. It is important to caramelize everything. The result is a wonderful complexity of flavours. So the yellow onions and garlic are caramelized.

The Thanksgiving Feast

The Thanksgiving Feast

Our family tradition is to celebrate Thanksgiving with a fine meal. We have a lot to be thankful for, as you will see.

  • Smoked Turkey

I like to brine and smoke my turkey.  The brine consists of {salt, chicken stock, honey, Chardonnay, peppercorns, herbs, oranges, ice}.   I put the bird in the brine on Saturday, since it was partially frozen.  I used a 25 pound organic bird from Diestel.  I stuffed the bird with garlic and yellow onions before smoking.

Pork Tenderloins Wrapped with Prosciutto

Pork Tenderloins Wrapped with Prosciutto

On Saturday, November 10, I was feeling a little peaked.  So I decided to put on my apron and whip up a bodacious meal.

I approach cooking as an engineering exercise. The secret is a good formula and the artful display of passion. A good formula is essentially a good recipe and great ingredients. And a good formula needs passionate delivery. Pay attention to details.  Now as to the menu. I had a choice. Go with a previous menu and attempt to perfect it.  Or be a man and try something totally new. I decided to perfect a previous menu.  Maybe it was because I was wearing an apron.

The Harrold Burger Bomb Party

The Harrold Burger Bomb Party

On Saturday, November 3, the Harrolds (Alyson and Doug) hosted a Burger Bomb Party.
A Burger Bomb is essentially a smallish hamburger patty on a biscuit, with some sauce.
A nice simple concept, thus success is based on the quality of the ingredients. First off, Alyson makes a wonderful sauce for the biscuits, kind of like thousand island dressing only better.  The patties themselves were over the top. Kudos to Doug. He is most definitely a grill stud.  The patties were all beef, stuffed with cheeses and herbage. The herbage consisted of habanero chills and basil. Awesome combination. The meat was grilled to perfection, just a little pink in the middle.

Richard Birthing Bash 2012

Richard Birthing Bash 2012

On Saturday, October 20, we celebrated Richard’s Birthing Day. Here is the menu that he selected:

  • Rib eye steaks.

These steaks were 1.5 inches of manly love. Served with horseradish. These steaks were awesome.  I should probably comment on the proper method of cooking steaks.  First of all, you must grill them (all Men grill).  I prefer propane – charcoal is just too much of a pain.  I get a little smoke action going by placing wood chips (hickory) in an aluminum foil packet.  Heat the grill to the maximum temperature.  Place the steaks on the grill and watch them constantly.  Flip them and move as needed to deal with flair ups.  Pull the steaks from the main heat when the outside looks done.  Turn the grill to low and finish until done (use a meat thermometer).  I greatly prefer medium rare.

Desiree 2012 Birthing Bash

Desiree 2012 Birthing Bash

On Saturday, October 13, we celebrated Desiree’s birthing day. And since it was her day, she got to pick out the menu:

  • Hamburgers stuffed with blue cheese and bacon.

For 2.5 pounds of hamburger, I used 1 pound of bacon. I decided to max out the blue cheese by stuffing the burger with a traditional Stilton and then serving the burger with a double cream blue cheese. The result was most satisfactory.

The Il Postal Oakland Raider Dinner

The Il Postal Oakland Raider Dinner

On Sunday, September 23, we had the great pleasure of attending the Pittsburgh – Oakland football game. The Raiders won 34 – 31 on the last play of the game with a field goal. The Raiders played a very good game. They were balanced and disciplined. They looked much better than the previous two games.  To celebrate the win, we all decided to have dinner at one of our favorite local Italian establishments – Il Postal, in Sunnyvale. Evelyn and I have been dining there for a number of years and the menu and service never disappoint.

Stone Biergarten Dinner

Stone Biergarten Dinner

On Saturday, September 1 Evelyn and I had the great pleasure of dining with Debora and Hector Esparza at Stone Brewing in Temecula, California.  Temecula is a small little town between Los Angeles and San Diego. Hector is Evelyn’s brother and an avid Dallas Cowboy fan so he requires constant dicipline.  But I have to hand it to him, what an awsome dinner establishment.