Easter Sunday Dress & Donuts

I remember one Easter Sunday we were all preparing to go to church in our Sunday best. I had a wool suit on that was driving me crazy and making me itch. I hated getting dressing up as a young child. I still do. I must have been pretty young because my oldest sister Helene was still living at home. Helene is ten years older than myself.

She had bought this black and white striped dress and she looked beautiful, as did Mom and my younger sister Roxanne, but Helene was really excited to be wearing this brand new creation. We all piled into the car, and off to church we went.

St. Gregory the Great Church is on Great Plain Road in Danbury Connecticut. It was a big old L shaped red barn with a silo and a huge aluminum cross on the silo.  The silo is where the vestibule was. This was a beautiful church with hand hewed wood beans well over a hundred years old. Of course they torn it down as soon as they got enough money to built a new one. It probably cost a fortune to heat that place. There was no insulation.

We got to church and were walking in when Helcha, as we called her, spotted this other girl about her age who was wearing the same exact dress that she was wearing. If it was today I could see Joan Rivers on the Fashion Police saying, "Bitch stole my look." Helene was really pissed off.

All through the mass my sister and this other girl kept looking at each other, daggers flying from their eyes at one another. I was only seven or eight but I thought to myself, "This is supposed to be about Jesus rising from the tomb." I can hear the song right now in my head, "In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade."

I didn't hear any religion in that whole mass. It was all about my sister and the other girl wearing the same identical dress, and my obsession with this little pink rubber Easter bunny that Mom had bought me that I couldn't stop fidgeting with in the pew. My brain should have been on Jesus, but alas it was on the rubber bunny and the feud. My mother had scolded me a couple of times for playing with the pink rubber bunny, but that never stopped me from doing anything. I'd usually need a smack upside the head to really get my attention. As I was fiddling with my rubber Easter bunny I dropped in and it went bouncing underneath the pew. Then I started whining, and trying to crawl underneath the pew to retrieve the bunny when my mother grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and annoyingly whispered, "Stop it now, it's gone, and that's what you get for fiddling with it in church."

After mass my mother wouldn't let me search for the pink rubber bunny. That was my punishment for not listening to her. Since Mom only attended church on special holidays we always went to the New York bake shop on the other side of town. We would get a baker's dozen of mixed donuts, and three powdered jelly donuts just for me. There was always a line to get baked goods. I think it was the only bake shop in town at the time.

It was torture waiting to get home to eat those donuts, which I'd scarfed down with a big glass of chocolate milk. After that it was off to Uncle Whitey and Aunt May's for Easter dinner with the Polish relatives.

My sister Helene took that dress off as soon as she got home and never wore it again. I took off my scratchy wool suit and got into blue jeans and my Converse hightops.

Today it's off to Jack London Square to Bocanova for brunch. It's not the New York bake shop. but it's a pretty damn good alternative. I got a wool hat, but no wool suit.

That's my Easter tale for this year. I got another one where I poop in my wool suit pants before church, but I'll spare you the details on that one. You get the idea. You had to be there.

Don't miss the photos below. I found that pink bunny. Man, she sure grew up, and she's laying eggs all over the Oakland hills.


Peace,

Make Food/not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: Cereal w/banana, soy and blueberries, black tea, 1 sugar

Brunch: Pork tamale, roasted potatoes, pare, goat cheese salad, bloody Mary, & coffee

No dinner....brunch was enough

Exercise: 4 miles walking

 

Good Friday

Back in the day we had fish every Friday. Fish on Friday, that's what was for dinner. We fasted from eating meat. Somehow it didn't seem like such a sacrifice. Yesterday I bought some ocean red snapper on sale for $6.99, and tonight we will have that, brown rice, collard greens, and Brussel's sprouts. I'll deglaze the pan with white wine, butter, and add some capers on top, herbs of Provence, and fresh lemon as always. Geraldine loves red snapper.

I completely spaced out ash Wednesday. Growing up in a community with a lot of devout Catholics it always seemed a little pagan and morbid to be walking around with ashes on my forehead, and hundreds of other people as well. Ashes to ashes, come on. Everywhere you went, the grocery store, barbershop, people with ashes on their heads, which always turned to smudges. I think a lot of people thought it was a sacrilege to wash the ash off too soon. I washed mine off as soon as I got out of church.

If you went to Catholic school you attended church at least two times a week in addition to Sunday mass. Ash Wednesday signified another morning of mass for Catholic school kids. Good Friday also signaled another morning of boring mass. Easter week was a guarantee 4 mass week. These masses were all in Latin, which you had to learn before confirmation. Certified would have been more like it. Certified fucking crazy for putting yourself through all that ritualistic bullshit. Who said kids don't have it hard.

Tuition for Catholic school in my day, 150 AD, was $20.00 a year, plus books and uniforms. Private school for twenty bucks a year. That's why we did it. Today it costs a minimum of fifteen thousand a year to attend private school. That's inflation for you. The price us kids paid was having to suffer through mass a minimum of three times a week. If you had a bunch of deaths in the parish you might have to attend church every school day.

My mother never went to mass on Sun. She worked at Emily Shaw's restaurant in Pound Ridge N.Y., an hour commute, on a good dry day, from our home in Danbury. When the head priest in our parish, St. Gregory the Great, asked me why my mom didn't attend mass on Sunday she said, "You ask him if he waits tables till 3:00 AM if he's going to go to mass on Sunday, and then tell him I do my praying to God in bed." That's just what I told him. He was not happy. I in turn had to go to mass to attend school, so I got a ride with my cousins, hitch hiked, or the old man dropped me off and picked me up. Either way I went.

I didn't like fish then as much as I do now. I could eat fish almost everyday now, and no church today. It is a good Friday.

That's it. No blog tomorrow, just the fact, and a stupid Easter story for Sunday. Maybe some photos. We are going to brunch on Sunday, no cooking.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy, blueberries, banana and black tea & 1 sugar

Lunch: Rice with collard greens and 2 chicken Dijon sausage

Snacks: nuts/raisins

Dinner:  Red Snapper (as described above), brown rice, collards, Brussels sprouts
              water

Exercise: 5.5 miles walking, no running today

Easter & Polish Food

Christmas,  Easter, and the Fourth of July were the three big holidays in our family. These days we celebrate Greek Easter with our friends Charles and Kathleen. Greek Easter is on May 5th this year which also coincides or conflicts with Cinco de Mayo.

X Mas eve everyone came to our home, and it was a very Italian event. The food was Italian. My mother made lasagna, and we had cannoli and Italian cookies for dessert.

Fourth of July we went to my mother's brother's house, Uncle Ray and Aunt Liz. The food was American, dogs, steaks, burgers and beers.

Easter we went to my uncle Whitey's house or my cousin Gene's home to celebrate, and it was a very Polish event. Gene made kalbasi sausage, and his mother Aunt Sue made galumpki, also known as stuffed cabbage rolls. My mother made padogi which is basically a ravioli stuffed with potato, several different cheeses, nutmeg, and mint. Mom would always make a prune cake, and bought a nut roll dessert from the Russian Orthodox Church, that I haven't had since I left Connecticut. The memory of that nut roll haunts me to this day.

My uncle Whitey was a real character. He was stationed on a transport ship in WWII, and went around the world 13 times, taking soldiers to war and brining them home. He ran a floating crap game, and would send home gobs of money to my grandmother. My father Rocco's brother Tony said Whitey took his money going over to Italy, and took his money again coming back home after the war. Each time he told Unlce Tony, "You won't need any money where you're going."

Uncle Whitey was hit was shrapnel in the Pacific, and received a partial disability pension for life after the war. He ran a bookie operation for 40 years. He and my Aunt May never had children, so they spoiled all their nephews and nieces, one of them being myself. They spent every winter in Florida and Whitey bought a new car every year on Jan. 2nd. Uncle Whitey was a smart gambler, a winner. They would take me and my cousin Donna to the Saratoga race track on weekend, and buy us Rob Roy's and Shirley Temple drinks.We'd stay in a fancy hotel.  We thought it was the greatest thing in the world. The horses, the stables, the smell of horseshit, the little jockey's and their colorful outfits. It was all magical and exciting to a little kid. Aunt May was a real Yankee, and her family were old New Englanders. We would go down to the stables, and aunt May could pick out a winner by just looking at the horses.

There was always an Easter egg hunt, and when we got older my cousin Donna and her sister Debbie and I would go for walks and smoke pot, while all the old folks sat around, and watched Jack Nicholas play golf on TV. Uncle Whitey would slip you a fin and say, "Put that in your pocket."

I miss those family gatherings. No one keeps in touch any more with the exception of my oldest sister Helene. Aunt May and Uncle Whitey are gone now.

Our tradition of late has been to go out for brunch on Easter, especially when Geri's grandma Elsie was alive, and that's what we'll do this Sunday. When Elsie was with us we would go to Alta Mira in Sausalito and drink bloody Mary's, mimosas, sit in the sun, and look out over the San Francisco bay.

Things change. That's the one thing we can rely on, change. Time never stops. It just keeps on keeping on. Of course I miss the people most of all, but I miss the Polish food at Easter too.

It will be brunch this year for me, Geraldine, her sister Victoria and our friend Micheal. We'll take photos with us, and put them at the table. That way our family will still be with us. I could use a couple of Aunt Sue's galumpkies right about now, and a big slice of that Russian nut roll to wash it down.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate Today:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast w/butter, 2 eggs, 1/2 potato hash browns, black tea 1 sugar

Lunch: Chicken and Asian noodles

Snacks: Nuts/raisins

Dinner: Big salad w/blue cheese and herb bread

Exercise: 6.5 miles walking

Just the Facts

Just the facts today. To busy to say anything else.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy, two pieces of toast w/butter

Lunch: Fried oysters w/potato salad

Dinner: Leftover pasta bolognese


Exercise: 4.5 miles walking, 1/2 mile running

Rocco 106

My father Rocco would be 106 years old today. This blog today is dedicated to him. He died when I was 17. I was living in the Haight in San Francisco, and working in a restaurant called Connie's on Filmore Street in Japantown. Connie cooked African food. It was the first time I ever cooked anything like it being a Yankee from Connecticut. I fell in love with it right away. It was a tough neighborhood back in those days.

I had just gotten off of work, and had shot up some Mexican brown heroine when we got a knock on the door from Western Union. No one in my family ever sent a telegram to say hello. We didn't have a house phone. I knew it was bad news right away. The day was May 8th, Mother's Day 1971.

He was due to retire in a month's time. He was coming to live out west, in Reno, Nevada, with all his wise guy buddies from Brooklyn. It made sense since my sister Roxanne and I both lived in Frisco, as Rox always called it. He was a master machinist by day and a "good fellow" by night. He had a fourth grade education, but he was a math wizard, numbers. He said the sound of the factory was driving him insane.

He loved Stogie cigars,  dark haired women (Mom was a blonde), silk suits, the Dodgers, dogs, fishing, traveling, the horse track, gambling, Scotch whiskey, dancing, and my mother Mary's marinara sauce. He was 100% Italian. I have his hands and his eyes and no other physical characteristics. I got the Polish genes and the Guinea temper.

When he wasn't working in the factory he often wore a suit and a tie, and usually had the stub of an unlit cigar hanging out of his mouth.  He had a terrible temper if he was mad, and he could be very dangerous. He was not a man to cross. He had an unhealthy distrust of lawyers, doctors, and priests.

I found out recently that he penned a song that won a song writing contest. The softer side of Rocco.

He was what people today call a "wise guy". I never heard that word when I was growing up, never. He was just Rocco, nicknamed Bozzo, and no one ever called him a clown. Dad was a little guy,  5'6", with a big heart and lightening fast hands. He was always giving change to bums, and brining home drunks who didn't have a place to stay in the winter. Unemployed house painters with names like Red Leckner.

He would always fiddle in his pockets so he could hear the change jingle jangle. He made friends everywhere he went, some enemies too.

He was pretty good cook and he loved to eat. We had a breakfast and lunch joint on White Street in Danbury, where we lived. We lost it in the flood of 56'. I know it sounds like a made up novel, but it's true. I don't have the imagination to come up with this crap.

He was a bad husband and a good father. He taught me how to fish, hunt, train dogs, how to grow food, sent me to barber school so I would have a  trade, and never judged me. He gave me a  whooping 3 times, and I deserved it each time. He came to every baseball game I ever played and took as many kids as could fit in the car for ice cream afterwards. Kids loved my old man. He always got me out of trouble when he could, connections.

Most of all Rocco taught me about life and people, the good and the bad. He taught me to use my instincts, and to trust those instincts. He also taught me to tell the truth and always said, "No one's going to stand up for you, but you. Say what you've got to say because you might only get one chance to say it." I loved him and he loved me.

He wasn't much of husband. Mom deserved more, but he was a great father. She threw him out when I was 10. She should have done it earlier. He came to visit me every night and we would go on the route, which took us to sweet shops, barber shops, pool halls, gin mills and ultimately to Aunt Dolly's restaurant for a slice of pizza.

If there was one argument that I ever had with him it was how he treated my Mom. He had a good woman, and he didn't appreciate it. I never let him forget the fact that he blew it with my mother Mary.

The last time I saw Pop I gave him a haircut at his brother's barbershop, my Uncle Westy. He loved it when I cut his hair and gave him a shave. The next day I caught a plane for San Francisco.

Happy birthday Pop. I'm going to make pasta for Geri tonight.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy & banana

Lunch: Salad w/Kale, Romaine & Feta cheese

Snacks: Genoa salumi

Dinner: Penne pasta w/turkey bolognese

Exercise: 5.5 miles walking, .5 miles running

 

Running, Yoshi's and dinner

I ran a 1/2 mile this morning, and I wasn't tired at the end of the run. So, I think I'll do another half mile down at the park before the day is over.

A musician friend of mine Ann is coming to help me finish painting the front of the house, so the blogs this week are going to be small.

Geri and I are going to Yoshi's to see a client  play this evening, and we will most likely be having tempura there. Big night out for a Monday.

To busy painting to run another 1/2 mile. My body does not like climbing up and down ladders anymore. Neither does my mind.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: cereal w/soy and banana

Lunch: Turkey sandwich, with lettuce, tomato, onion,

Dinner: Yoshi's...I'll probably eat chicken tempura, no alcohol

Walking 2 miles...1/2 mile running

Spelt pizza and the Welsh

This dough never did get a chance to proof in the fridge overnight so I can't give an objective analysis of spelt pizza dough, but I can say the consistency is not that of a true Neapolitan pizza dough. I can see myself using it for friends who have allergies to gluten, but it's not for me.

That's it for this Saturday. I'm hiking, walking and running with the dogs today, and party time with my Welsh friends tonight. That's it.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy blueberries and banana, coffee w/brown sugar

Lunch: Toasted cheese sandwich

Dinner: who knows....

other: When you party with the Welsh anything can happen. Their small, but hearty.

Exercise Today: 6.5 miles walking and some running too.

Spelt Pizza

I'm feeling so good today. The sun is shining, 65 degrees in Oakland with a westerly breeze, how can you go wrong. It's cold enough at 6:30 am that I have to wear my walking gloves.

I have been thinking about making spelt pizza for a long time. I have written several blogs that I love the taste of spelt bread. For those people who have allergies to gluten spelt bread is one of the great alternatives, because man and woman, do live by bread, not alone, but by it for sure.

When I started working with spelt flour I realize why I haven't engaged in this experiment before. Spelt flour remind me of cake flour. I picked up 3 or 4 pounds at the Food Mill in east Oakland and when I squeezed the flour in the bag it held together in form. When I did the same thing with the 00 pizza flour it crumbles like dust.

It's rising now, nicely I might add, and we'll see what it tastes like. I doesn't have that baby bottom consistency like good pizza dough. It's much more dense and has a different smell to it also. I'm skeptical about the results, but to eat anything remotely close to a decent pizza is a treat. I'm not using the wood fired pizza oven either. I'm cooking these in the oven at 550 degrees on the bottom rack for around 6 minutes.

I'm running again tonight after dinner. Then I take the weekend off from running and Il'll continue a regular M, W, F  1/2 mile run until I can build myself up to 2 or 3 miles 3 days a week. If I'm lucky.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: Hash brown potato, 2 scrambled eggs,  2 pieces of toast, black tea w/1 brown sugar

Lunch: nothing

Dinner: Spelt pizzas, chicken, asparagus, red sauce, asiago cheese, cheddar, Romano cheeses,
             anchovies, Genoa salumi

Other stuff: 1 beer, refer

Exercise Today: 5.5 miles walking, 1/2 mile running

The Big Salad

The big salad is modeled after Elaine's big salad from the Seinfeld episodes. My life is based on episodes of; Seinfeld, All in the family, Burns and Allen, Sanford and Son, Dobie Gillis, Leave it to Beaver, Cheers, and last but not least, The Sopranos.

The big salad looms large in my life right now. So, I included a photo today of a typical BIG SALAD.  There's nothing like a good salad.

Shot blog. That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy and blueberries, 2 pieces of toast, black tea (no coffee)

Lunch: Bis salad w/kale, Romaine, cucumber, roasted eggplant, feta cheese and Italian chicken sausage

Snacks: 2 chocolate chip cookies, nuts/raisins

Dinner: Pan friend chicken, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, and brown rice

Springtime, Running & Southern Fried Chiken

Spring has arrived in what can be called a heavy fog. It was reported in the media as rain, but it reminded me of living in San Francisco when the fog blows in from the Pacific coast. It was nice hiking out on the trail with a light mist coming down. There was no wind to speak of, and the forecast is for temps to be back up in the 70's by Saturday.

I started jogging yesterday, only a little more than a 1/2 mile. I just want to do more than 2 or 3 miles a day. The impact on an old man's body, that's me, can be tremendous. I have friends and clients who are runners, and they all have some back or foot problems. Since I already have those, who knows. The high from running is very addictive. If I can do 2 miles at one stretch I'd be very happy, but this is something I will have to work up to slowly. I would like be able to get to that level by July 1st, the next weigh in, when I'm supposed to be 215 pounds.  I bought a new pair of running shoes just for this purpose. I'm stretching muscles that have not been used for so long it's not funny. Just for now I can do a 1/2 mile every other day. My muscles are sore. I'll have to see how the body holds out.

On to food. I'm going to work on perfecting my southern fried chicken, something that has slipped through my grasp my whole life. I just never tried to "perfect" it. If you read this you know my theory on perfection i..e., it doesn't exist, except possibly within the mind. I can cook chicken a dozen ways to Sunday, but I have never been able, at this house with our stove, to get it hot enough to fry chicken. I bought a portable outdoor stove a while back that has two burners which will get up to 35,000 BTUs' on each burner, and that is what I'm going to use to cook my fried chicken.

Without going into a lot detail this is what I think is needed for good fried chicken. #1- equal size pieces of chicken, #2- great batter, double coating #3 even cooking temp 375 degrees, #4- peanut oil, bacon fat and shortening on the stove top in the dutch oven and cook till the coating is golden brown, and #5- finish baking in the oven at 375 degrees to an internal temperature of 155 degrees. It should be extra crispy on the outside, and moist and tender on the inside. That is going to be the challenge.

I love fried chicken. It's not very healthy for you, but nothing will kill you if you don't eat it every day. At the cost of peanut oil I can't afford to cook it more than a couple of times a year .  I'm renaming my fried chicken to Yankee extra crispy fried chicken. The battle of the north and south continues.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:
Breakfast: Hash brown new potato, 2 eggs over easy, 2 pieces of toast.

Lunch: Big salad

Snacks: handful of chocolate covered coffee beans, 2 pieces of watermellon, orange juice, double
             cappuccino and piece of cinnamon swirl bun (no coffee tomorrow)

Dinner: Turkey sandwich with mayo, mustard, avocado, black pepper

Exercise: 5 miles walking, 1/2 mile running

Tuesday...The Wall Is Back?

I've written of the wall before. It's real, it exists. The wall could also be referred to as the peak. I don't know if I've peaked in terms of weight loss, or not. There have been slips and that could have contributed to non-weight loss. The more aggressively you pursue a weight loss program the better chance you are of succeeding.

Yesterday I had to visit the doctor's office to have something checked out and of course they take your vital signs, blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and weight. I'm 230 pounds which was my goal for April 1st. So, I reached my goal, thus far and I don't have to weigh in on April one. This means I've lost 24 pounds since Dec. 1st last year, it also means I'm still a long way from my goal of a body weight of 180 pounds by January 1st, 2014.

I started out at 254 pounds. During this time I've eaten red meat maybe 8 times. I have not had a scoop of ice cream since mid November, and I ran into my buddy Justin who owns the local ice cream parlor the other day and he said, " What's up dog, I don't see you at the sweet shop no more?" I've upped my exercise quite a bit since I've started on the "program". I walk after dinner almost every night with Geri, which is a great way for me to digest my food and burn off some calories. I'm much better on portion control with certain exceptions i.e., pasta, & pizza. I can walk away from foods I know are not good for me, although the pasta and pizza are often on my mind. The point I'm laboring to make is, I'm not loosing weight. I think I've peaked, and hit the wall.

My slips have been in the category of alcohol mostly. I had 6 beers Saturday for St. Patty's Day, even though I am not Irish. My wife is Irish. I celebrate for her. I just wanted to get high, and I did. It's my curse. These slips have not helped me, but alas I am a weak man, a sinner.

I could go on, as I have been known to do, but the bottom line is I need to work harder. If I had reached my stated goal of 180 pounds, and I was on the exercise and dietary regime that I'm currently embracing then I would be fine. I think I could maintain a body weight of 180 pounds just fine with my current dietary intake and exercise., with probably a five pound fluctuation one way or another. But, to loose the weight that I've set as my goal, almost 30% of my body mass, I need to crank up the exercise program. What I have done so far has been a good start, but I know now it's not enough. I need to be more aggressive. I need to put a cap on the excesses of fun also.

Walking is my favorite exercise, but I was once a runner, and I think I'm going to try and put in a couple of miles running each day. I'm worried about the right foot, or my big fat right toe I should say. I want to get this weight off, have the surgery on my foot, and then get back to myself again, the real me. So, that's the plan. If the feet fail me then I need to find another plan, cycling maybe or back to the swimming pool. If I do the surgery now I'll never make it. I'll be in one of those hideous boots for 2 months.

In addition to the exercise I need to curb the fun. That's what it's all about, to much fucking fun.

I'm a food/fun junkie.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and that will be fun. Time to grow food.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate today;

Breakfast: cereal and soy with banana, handful of granola, coffee, orange juice

Lunch: Big salad, Romaine, kale, grilled eggplant, red bell peppers, cucumber, one chicken sausage, feta cheese, kalamata olives, s & p, fresh lemon and evoo, excellent.

Snack: Raisins/nuts

Dinner: Peanut butter sandwich, chocolate Toberlone, banana

Monday 3-18-13

Another work day with little excitement. I did make a nice salad today using fresh mint, olive oil and fresh lemon. I'm using this mint as much as I can before the rust starts to settle in.

Also, we were up in Healdsburg this Sunday to see our tax lady and we stopped in at Oakville grocery. I've never been to that store. I was not impresssed. In fact I was sorely disappointed. This is a business that boasted having products no one else could get. The olive case maybe had 9 different types of olives. The store I worked in at Stanford shopping center had 70 different types of olive and over 150 cheeses. I wasn't impressed with the cheese case either.

Oh well, everything has it's time.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption today:

Breakfast: Black tea, cereal w/soy and bananas

Lunch: Salad w/Italian chicken sausage, Romain lettuce, red bell pepper, cucumber, mint dressing

Snacks: raisins and nuts

DInner: A repeat of lunch but only better, with some sauteed collard greens, s & p fresh lemon, olive oil
              orange juice

Exercise: 7 miles walking...the push is on

St. Patty, Yesterday & Today

We had out St. Patty's day celebration outside yesterday. I though I had an SD card in the camera and snaps a lot of shots, but alas. I was a little high at the time.

I'm going to give you a a corned beef and cabbage recipe that will blow your Irish guests away. Our friend Michael who doesn't eat a lot of red meat, like myself, told me about 5 time yesterday that it was the best he's ever had. So here goes, again, sorry about the photos, or lack there of. I was a beautiful cut of meat. I was a little high yesterday.

As Johnny Gallager once said to me, "When the good Lord made the Irish he didn't make much, but what he did make was a damn sight better than the Dutch."

I bought my corned beef already cured in pickling spices, but if you have recipe for that by all mean pickle your own.

This is a two phase cooking process. First the beef is boiled, and then I finish it on the grill with high heat to gives it an addictive crust that keeps people coming back till the brisket is devoured.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


Corned Beef and Cabbage: Serves 4 or 6

Ingredient for the Beef:

4 lb. brisket of pickled beef,
brown sugar
Dijon mustard
40 oz. bottle of Guiness Stout beer

Directions:

Note: Trim off any excess fat but remember it will break down somewhat in the cooking process and you can trim if off after it's out of of the water. Take meat out of the fridge two hours before you're going to cook it.
1) In a large pot bring the water and the Guiness stout to a rapid boil put in the brisket and reduce the heat to a slow boil. Let it sit for in the pot one hour and check the internal temperature with w digital thermometer. Once the temperature has hits 145 degrees your good to go. This should take between o and one half hours cooking time.
2) take the brisket out and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
3) Once cooled spread Dijon mustard all over and coat with brown sugar.
4) On a clean grill at high temperature, at least 600 degrees grill all sides till the sugars have browned. Be careful not to burn it the sugar. You're just trying to sear it all around. That will keep the juices in.
5) Let it rest again for another 15 or 20 minutes. Cut thin pieces against the grain. Serve with red potatoes and cabbage. See cabbage recipe below.

Cabbage:
Ingredients:
1/2 Napa cabbage
Caraway seeds
Salt & Pepper
Butter

1) Clean the cabbage, cut the stem area out and julienne the cabbage.
2) Steam the cabbage in a steamer till al dente'. Let cool
3) Just before your ready to serve in a very hot skillet add 1 1/2 tablespoon non salted butter, and saute' the cabbage, adding a little salt and pepper to taste, and the caraway seeds. Cook till it's lightly browned. The caraway seeds give it that rye taste the Irish are famous for. I'm the only person I know who does it this way and people flip every time I serve it, so I must be doing something right. Serve hot.

S. African Goose Berry aka Cape Goose Berry

I never had a S. African goose berry, aka the Cape Gooseberry, till the last Sunday in Bodega Bay, and I fell in love at first bite. Origionally grown in Peru and Chili there are some 70 varieties of this ground fruit. It's the size of cherry tomato, encased in poisonous bladder like cocoon which when mature takes on a paper like consistency. The taste is sweet with a little sour finish.

This particular variety is great for salads, sauces , pies, appetizers, whatever. I brought one home from my friend Erwin's house, and I'm going to dry out the seeds and grow on in the back yard right next to the lime tree. Supposedly the bush will last two years.

This fruit is not a commercial crop so it's hard to find. I can't wait till it grows.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption:

Breakfast: Trader Joe's O' w/soy, banana, black tea 1 sugar

Lunch: 2 pieces Italian chicken sausage, a little leftover pasta

Snacks: Asiago cheese crackers

Dinner: Indian food

Exercise: 3.5 miles walking

Thursday 3-14-13

Some days you just don't have that much to put out, in cyberspace that is. Today is one of those days again. I promise that tomorrow I'll do my South African goose berry blog. If that doesn't get your sachet d'e'pices all in a knot I don't know that else will.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption today:

Breakfast: Trae Joe's O's cereal w/soy and banana, black tea

Lunch: Leftover brown rice, chicken and veggies from dinner

Snacks: Nuts

Dinner: Whole wheat past w/cherry tomatoes, swiss chard, garlic, white wine, sheep milk's feta cheese,
               Pecorino Romano, sauteed eggplant, olive oil, salt, pepper, & crushed red pepper

Exercise: 6.5 miles walking

God, I love pasta. I don't know if I love pasta more than pizza. I think it's a dead draw.

Springtime Happy & Healthy Mint

I went and visited some organic farmer friends I know about this problem I was having with my mint in our herb garden a while back. My friend Pilar told me she can't figure out what the problem is with the mint in California, and that she was having the same problem. Rust is what she called it. It's a discoloration of the leaves to that lovely rust color that looks good on iron but not on mint or any other herb. There is no cure for it.

I have mint planted in two areas of our property, and I was only getting rust in the one that's planted in a galvanized water trough. For one reason or another I'm not having any rust problem now, and but I think I can see trace hints of it. It looks healthy and happy right now, and I can have a my mint tea in the afternoon, which I did.

The rest of the herb garden is coming along also. I have some savory planted, parsley, marjoram, and chives. It's time to give them some plant food. I've  got a bush I want to grow but that another blog. More on that later, another day.

I'm feeling good today, like I have control over my eating. I stayed on the program and I'm getting some good cardio workout.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption today:

Breakfast: Plain yogurt w/grape nuts, 2 bananas, black tea w/agave

Lunch: snacked on nuts, orange juice, mint tea w/agave

Dinner:  Chicken Cacciatore w/onions, red bell peppers, capers, fresh mint, & basil, white wine, olive oil, s & p, herbs of Provence, cast iron pan grilled asparagus in evoo, s & p,  Steamed brown rice, small salad avocado, fresh lemon and olive oil

Exercise: 7 miles walking

MINT

Just The Facts 3-12-13

Getting back to the program basics, low fat, low sugar and salt intake, smaller portions, little to no snacking, no booze, lots of water, watch the carbo intake, and  lots vegetables, fruit and of course exercise. I've got less that 20 days to get down the weight to below 230 pounds, so it's time to get serious.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption 3-12-13

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy milk, 3 bananas

Lunch: Big salad with Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, olives, eggplant, red bell peppers, S & P,
             vinaigrette

Snacks: Raisins and Nuts

Dinner: Peanut butter sandwich, apple

Exercise: 4 miles walking

Erwin & Bodega Bay

Geraldine, myself and our friend Michael spent the day in Bodge bay at our friend Erwin's house celebrating in brother Fran's birthday, with friend s and family. I got to cook the tuna, eat some amazing food, too much of course, drink, get high hang and hang out on a spectacular sunnry day on the Sonoma Coast.

We stopped at the Freestone Bakery on the way north,  through Occidental, and over Coleman Valley Rd to Bodega Bay. All in all a wonderful day. 

See more pics below, and read the usual about my program for today. During those 8 days of convalescing my footI I lost some control over my eating habits, and I need to get back to square one.

Larry & Michael

Birthday Boy Franz Pierot 80 yrs. young

Erwin Pierot

Gerri, Melissa, Franz & Vanessa

after the feast

Well, I got some good exercising in today. I logged 7 miles. I need to keep that up.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


Food COnsumption Today:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast

Lunch: a little sausage and some Freestone Bakery cheese bread, orange juice

Yogurt, Greece, Walking, And The Usual

Grecian Graffiti Tolo

Tolo Harbor, Greece

Cassius, Geri & Victoria

Me, Victoria and Cassius in Greece

Amphitheater outside Tolo Greece circa 2005

 Greek yogurt is all the rage these days, and I admit I love it oo. I love Greece and the Greek people, as is evident by the photos above. We had a chance to visit our friend Charles and Kathleen's little cottage close to Nafplio a number of years back with my sister-in-law and nephew Cassius. Before we went everyone kept saying, "You have to try the yogurt in Greece."

We did try the yogurt and we loved it, but while visiting Maui recently we spotted this yogurt called Siggi's at Safeway of all place, you never know right, and it's too was a delightful surprise.

Of course we checked it out on the Internet, and the website Siggisyogurt.com or www.skyr.com came up, and it told us we could get Siggi's yogurt at the Safeway market in Montclair Village, close to our home. We went there after our walk one evening, but alas, no Siggi's Islandic style yogurt. Back to the web site, and there was another location listed at Whole Foods, in the Grand Lake district of Oaktown.

Whole Foods is also know as whole paycheck, because what cost you a buck at one store will cost you two or three at Whole Foods. Siggi's happened to be on sale there today. I picked up the the plain and vanilla, but also the blueberry and the pineapple.

I had the pineapple and I was disappointed. First thing I did after I opened the container was dig my spoon into the bottom of the cup, but there was no fruit to be found, and I detected no pineapple taste at all in the yogurt itself. In fact the color of the yogurt was not even yellow, and unlike the plain yogurt I had in Hawaii this was a little runny.  On top of that it left a funky taste in my mouth. I won't get the pineapple again.

The blueberry yogurt  tasted much better, but still no actual pieces of fruit. Why, is my only question? The yogurt was dense with a pale purple tint, and you could taste blueberry but again, no fruit. Is this so hard?

I'm sticking with the plain and vanilla Siggi's yogurt, which I'll give 2 joints. There are other yogurts out there that are better with combining fruit. Plus if I want fruit all I have to do is cut some up and add it. That's actually the best way to combine fruit and yogurt. Throw in some granola and you have a whole well balanced healthy meal.

The other thing I like about Siggi's is it is fully recyclable. You have all the usual information on the the yogurt cups, including what type of product it is i.e., Skyr yogurt which is the name for thick yogurt in Iceland, nutritional info & facts, and there's a little tab that says; Please tear the sleeve off to recycle, read more about us, &  made in Chenango County,  N.Y.,  And sure enough you tear back the seeve and the other side is a whole story on how their yogurt is made. Very cool, and very smart use of packaging.

I like Siggi's, and I'm going to ask my grocer to carry it. They don't use milk that has been injected with growth hormones, but they've got to work with some organic pineapple farmers in Hawaii, and get some real blueberries for Christ's sake. I know they have strawberry yogurt also, but strawberries are in season right now, so guess what I'm going to do?  I'm sticking with the plain and vanilla.

That's my food tip for the week.

WALKING: I finally got back to walking today. Th dogs and I hit the trail, and it felt good. The foot is holding up, but surgery is eminent. I feel fat, and was only off my feet for 8 days.  I was winded just going up small hill grades. It doesn't take long for the body's muscles to degrade.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Siggi's Islandic Yogurt

Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast:  Siggi's blueberry yogurt, 2 pieces of toast w/butter, banana, black tea
                  w/agave
Lunch:  Italian chicken sausage, brown rice

Snacks: Here's the downfall today....Geri made chocolate, oatmeal, raisin cookies
             orange juice, 3 flatbread crackers w/Petit Basque cheese

Dinner: Italian chicken sausage, & a big salad w/the usual good stuff in it.

Exercise: 5 miles walking

Roxanne, Food, and last but not least LTBS

My blog today is dedicated to my sister Roxanne DeGross Mc Duffy. She would have been 64 today.
She had a beautiful spirit and was once my best friend.

She had a talent for writing stories, songs, and poetry, but never pursued her passion.

She struggled with demons her whole life. She lived a very hard and sad life. I hope she is now free of pain and suffering.

Roxanne loved toasted cheese. She would take thin cuts of cheese and put them in a cast iron skillet till they were crispy and crunchy.
.
Most of all she loved Italian food and our mother's cooking.Who wouldn't.

She loved music and was a real go go dancer. She lived in Greenwich Village in the 60's and knew Frank Zappa and John Sebastian.

Roxanne was a real character in her day.

I miss the girl I once knew dearly.

Rest in peace my sweet angel. I love you.

Roxanne DeGross McDuffy

Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast: Egg sandwich on whole wheat toast

Lunch: Italian chicken sausage on acme bread w/red bell pepper and onion

Snacks: Siggi's pineapple yogurt (the subject of my blog Saturday)

Dinner: Red snapper, brown rice,  salad with red bell peppers, cucumbers,  walnuts,  and vinaigrette
             1 Amber ale beer. I need it today.

Exercise: 3.5 miles walking

Lizzie the Blog Stalker: A banner day for Lizzie, 18 emails and counting. Talk about demons man.
                                      Lizzie has sent me 154 emails to the 4 that I have sent her. Geraldine is
                                      writing her in what I will categorize as a futile act to get her to stop harassing
                                      us.  I'm betting it won't work, but one can always hope.

Lizzie The Blog Stalker

I think everyone who has a blog needs a blog stalker. In fact, You haven't arrived at blogging until you have a blog stalker, and that's what this blog today is all about, and not just any blog stalker, but my personal blog stalker. I now feel like I have arrived. At what I don't quite know, but I'm here, and my blog stalker has been stalking me since Dec. 2012.

I need to spice up this food blog, so to say, which has become rather blase' and bland as of late, and I think the inclusion of my own personal blog stalker could take my blog to the next level, a step down that is. I didn't think it could get much lower, but I surprised myself again. I've kept her, my blog stalker that is, in the closet up till now, but I think it's time to dust the bitch off, and air her out like an old yeast infection, and go cyber public.

I'm not going to script this whole episode, just the beginning and ends.


                                                            Music Fade In (cheesy soap opera crap)

                                                            Credits Up (Surprise Valley Productions Presents etc.)
                         
                                                            Narrator's Voice Over (mature but sexy)

My blog stalker's name is Lizzie, and she wields a mighty toxic keypad and mouse as her sword. Her husband, and longtime friend (way back before you Lizzie) of mine, my main ace beau coon Michael David Evans, met me and Geraldine, and was our guest, at our apartment in Paris last April 2012. At that time he communicated to us that his affair with Lizzie of the UK, aka  LIZZIE THE BLOG STALKER (LTBS), sadly had come to pass.  His UK visa was up, and he wanted very badly to come back to the good ol' USA. Could we help him? He'd grown tired of dishes like toad in the hole, blood sausage, haggis, and warm beer, and wanted to live in America again, and eat  more California nouveau cuisine, although he would very much miss the fresh Stilton and Cotswald cheeses in spring time. The grass is so sweet at that time of year. It's a food blog remember?

While in the UK he was living in Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom, with Lizzie the Blog Stalker for about a week. Sadly, another poor decision, in a string on poor decisions on his part. She kicked his sorry ass to the cobbled stoned curb, and then he moved into a windowless basement room devoid of any penetrating vitamin D for two years in merry ole England, where the sun shines 53 days a year, guaranteed, weather or not you want it to.

Michael's father, Wilbur Evans, once held a command performance for the King and Queen of England, and his dearly departed brother Philip was named after Prince Philip. I'm not bullshitting you. This is shit you can't make up.

We did a couple of dinners to help benefit Michael, and some dear friends of his helped out, and we got him back here. He was a fucking mess when we saw him in Paris, and he was worse when he got his ragged black ass back here to Town.

Michael is disabled, and I'm not going to go into all his maladies other than to say we recently learned he had a stroke some 5 years ago. More bad luck. But, after having been in the East Bay for a little over four months now Michael's getting his funk back on. The Town will do that to you. Do they know about East Bay Funk back there in the UK, or is it all punk rock and Euro trash disco tech?

Since coming back to California Michael has gotten some decent medical care, worked out some transportation issues, and we have become closer again. It took me a little while to get use to having another person here. I am a hippie, but I gave up communal living many years ago.

So, Mim, as LTBS likes to calls him, and I have worked out most of our issues. More will rear their ugly heads as we speed into the future, and we'll work those out too, cause that's what friends and family do. Make no doubt about it,  Michael David Evans and I are brothers for life.

We've worked out almost everything except for one small rather pesky detail, what to do about Lizzie The Blog Stalker?  I gotta go with Little Richard on this one, "You make me dizzy Miss Lizzie." LTBS insists that me and my lovely wife Geraldine, the woman arranges home care for people, and does hospice referrals, have turned Michael, or Mim if you prefer, against her affections. Now Sweet Pea, it's well known that I can get rough but Geraldine is the sweet one. You like it rough Mama?  I don't think you like it rough, like a hippie woman. I see you as more like a flounder. See, I knew I'd get back to the food sooner or later. Remember, that's what this whole friggin' blog is all about, the food. Nothing happens between cooking and more cooking again, no life at all, no drama. Just like Seinfeld, it's a blog about nothing.

I receive emails daily, that's plural for more than one,  from LTBS,  saying that  Geri and I are killing Mim, how he was her one and only great love of all time (what about the father of your children), and yadda, yadda, yadda, why did you brainwash him in Paris, and take him away from you, his Savior, your words not mine babe, and why are we keeping him captive here in Town against his will? Actually, he's under a spell from a drug I made out of the sweat glads of a male Georgia bullfrogs' testicles. Every once in a while I pimp slap him and beat him with a coat hanger, but hey, you gotta keep order.

So, now you know a little more of the drama that goes on behind the scenes of the wonderful and exciting world of food blogging. There's no reason for anyone to give a fuck about me or LTBS's lives, which is why I never wrote about this problem up till now. But now I just can't take it anymore.

I always need new material,  and maybe this will get LTBS off my back. Like Pete Townsend once said about the album Tommy, "It was  a desperate act by a desperate band." This too is a desperate act by a desperate old hippie who frankly doesn't need any more fucking drama, at least none that I or Geri haven't created. I'm still getting those pesky emails  from you Lizzie and Barrack Obama too. I sent him money, but he wants more, and I'm also invited to some party he's having. If we could smoke a blunt up on the white house roof that would be way cool. Then we  could go munch on some of Michelle's veggie in her victory garden. I'm trying to get back to the food.

LBTS made comments on my blog for a long time, so I had to block her, and now she just sends me these demented emails about her, me, Geri, and always Mim. You can see pictures of Mim up on my blog LTBS. If I was holding him prisoner in a fucking bunker somewhere why is he in our backyard eating pizza with a bunch of people? He's actually got windows in his living space now. It's an amazing breakthrough in construction technology we have here in the USA.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people making negative comments about me, you can't cook your way out a souffle asshole, looser is one I got recently (ouch that stings), your grammar, spelling and syntax sucks, don't give up your day job to be a food writer, bad, good, whatever, generally speaking I'm a duck, but dam Cherry Blossum, say what you gotta say and then move the fuck on. Why you making me your project?

So, Lizzie The Blog Stalker here is my challenge to you. I ain't from Yorkshire or Nodingham honey, but as my Aunt Mae usta say, and what you Brits should have learned back in the 1780's is, "Don't fuck with a Yankee." Never mind that you came back and burnt the White House down in 1814, small detail.

OBTW, I do love the English, how could you not?

LTBS, you have told us at least 10 times now you would stop writing us, and you have broken your word each time. You got a problem with Mim, as you insist on calling him, then deal with Mim, not me. My name is Marcel Julius De Grosse honey. Son of Rocco and Mary DeGross. I'm a busy man. I got a life, now go get one of your own. Deal with Mim, that's who you married, not me. You leave us be and I won't write another word about you. Anyone who knows me knows that my word is as good as it gets.  Otherwise let's take it viral. I'll make YOU my special project.

Contact Michael, not me, get it. Here's a clue, if he doesn't write you, maybe he doesn't want anything to do with you. Move on dot org. It's not my affair.

If you choose to use this blog as your forum LTBS I will no longer block your comments and I will make your crazy email available for all to read. I'm going still keep talking about food, cooking and of yeah that other thing that gets in the way of food and cooking, life, but I will include your comments.

                                                                     Music Up, (Euro Techno)

                                                                     Credits Roll,

                                                                     Narator's Voice Over
To learn more about Michael David Evans, my amazing, sweet, crazy friend, and his life story please go to: SusannaFosterChronicles.com.

One last parting note: Lizzie, I'll tell you again what I said a long time again. I am sorry it didn't work out for you and Michael. Had it been another time and place well, C'est La Vie as they say in Paris.

Peace,

Make Food, remember this is a food blog, Not War

                                                                       Fade to Black

                                                                              Out

Michael David Evans..held captive 

 Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast: plain black tea, a little egg salad

Lunch: Big salad w/frisee and spring greens, anchovies, vinaigrette, red bell pepper, black pepper
            & salt

Snacks: GORP

Dinner: Pasta w/tomatoes, asparagus, onion, eggplant, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, Genoa salumi
            (very little)

Exercise: 2 miles, the toe is getting better

Thursday...3-6-13 Just the Facts

That's all I got in me today. Hope you and your world had a good time. I'm not getting exercise because of this affliction with me feets. I hate to make it all personal, but what else could it be?
I haven't got any brilliant groundbreaking culinary news or recipes today.

Keep your powder dry.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War


What I ate today:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of Rudy's organic whole wheat bread w/butter, coffee. I bought some tea today.

Lunch: Tea, chicken, shrimp fried rice and spring rolls w/dipping sauce...out with my friend Michael
             for lunch.

Dinner: 3 pieces fried chicken

Snacks: one handful of GORP, orange juice

Exercise: 1/2 mile walking

Tues. School Days

Short blog today because Tues. is a school day for me, an old student for sure.

The lights have been installed in the La De Da Cafe and I'm tickled pink, like a baby Yorkshire suckling pig. This is one of the 2013 things to do list that I can check off. I love checking projects off the things to do list. It means I'm getting stuff done, and it's good to keep busy when we get older.

Next week my friend Ann Swigart is coming to help me finish painting the west and north sides of the house. Then I'll work my way around the east and south sides. It's like a figgin' bridge. You start at one end, finish it, and work your way back to where it all began. It never ends, and I guess that's a good thing. Here's hoping it never ends. This is the last time I paint it.

Still eating leftovers from the pizza party last Saturday. Big party at Erwin's house Sunday in Bodega Bay with the Austrians. Hopefully there will be more ribs because I was robbed last weekend. I'm still pissed off about that. I kept looking in the fridge for the ribs, but alas.

That's it. No more today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast: Coffee w/milk and 1 sugar (I had an urge), grape nuts w/banana & blueberries

Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich, fresh mint tea w/agave and fresh lemon.

Dinner: Apple, nuts, water, toasted cheese sandwich w/tomato, basil & black pepper, banana,
             peanut butter sandwich

No exercise to speak of,  but the toe and leg are getting better. The steroids are working. You gotta love drugs.

Reflections On Pizza Night

This is the backdrop story to the pizza party the other night. Friday night I was going to take Geri out to dinner, but earlier in the afternoon I checked the inside of the pizza oven, which hasn't been fired up in 4 months, only to discover that the floor of the oven, along with the leftover ashes from the last fire, was wet.

Earlier in the day the podiatrist had stuck a nice needle in my between what was the cartilage in my big right toe to mitigate some pain I've been having there, and filled it with as much cortisone as it would take.

So, I swept the ashes out and built a low grade fire, 200 degrees, which I kept going for 5 or 6 hours. I had noticed that there were areas on the outside of oven's stucco that were darker than the rest of the oven, indicating moisture, but I didn't think it would be getting onto the ceramic floor of the oven, wrong again. This is another reason I never liked stucco houses.

I was very worried because if I fired that oven up to 1000 degrees I might have destroyed it. It would have boiled, expanded, and cracked either the floor of the oven or the concrete forms. The power of steam should not be underestimated. I'm sure Stanley would agree with me. That would have been a small fortune down the drain, plus I would have looked like an idiot to my friends.  I don't know which one is worse.

Saturday when I was cooking Tom and Brendan noticed there was a place on the back of the oven where steam was coming out. I've always covered up the chimney, but never the whole oven, but I will from now on. In fact I'm going to have a cover custom made for it. I did order a new cover.

Speaking of looking a little foolish our friend, and my former instructor from Culinary school, Erwin showed up a day early with his relatives from Austria and Norway, while I was curing the inside of the oven. The good thing is they came back Saturday night, the oven was ok, and I will have to keep it covered from now on. Erwin cooked some rocking ribs, which I didn't get any of, and made a killer salad and cole slaw.

The Austrians know their swine.

That's it today. The toe was killing me Sunday and today after cooking all day Sat. No work yesterday, today, or tomorrow.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

whiskey & weed

asparagus, basil & bubbles

Michael David Evans

Bendan  & Mabel

Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast: 4 Farm fresh eggs w/asparagus, and red bell peppers, from Brendan and Mabel's chickens  
                 and two pieces of toast

Lunch: Leftover pesto pasta

Snacks:  couple of pieces of Genoa salumi

Dinner: leftover pesto pasta, cole slaw, toasted cheese sandwich

Exercise: Nothing...gottat watch that foot... 1/4 mile walking

So Much Pizza

There was so much pizza, and so much fun, what can I say. I made way to many rounds of dough, but I sent them home with people so they could make their own pies.

I ate so much pizza I was sick full. One more piece and I would have been over the line.  I know why after a night like this why I'm on the program.

I didn't drink alot. My one save en grace.

Clean up today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

No exercise today....the big toe

Food Consumption:

Breakfast:  Katie Monaghan's cake

Lunch: nothing

Dinner: Pesto pasta with sausage and leftover veggies from the party

whiskey and refer

Carmen the Gypsy....queen of herbs

camp stove, English tea pot, and Frida the dog

Geraldine of Geraldine's La De Da Cafe

Michael David Evans...old hippie

Sarah, Kristin, To,

Tom, Michael, Erwin, Franz, Winfred, Me

Mise En Place

Fresh out of the oven

What's a party w/out music?

Preparation...Mise en Place....Friday 3-1-13

Mise en place is what it's called, and it is the second stage in cooking. The first stage of cooking is conception, what you wish to create. This involves putting your recipes together, making your lists and checking them twice, shopping, ordering food stuffs, and assembling all the ingredients. The third phase is execution, the actual cooking of the dishes you want to create. Of course you can prep everything to perfection and still fuck it all up in the execution. Even the best of chefs in the world do this all the time. No one is always on point. Consistency is what we strive to accomplish, imperfection is perfection.

In French mise en place simply means everything in place, and that's what I'm doing all day today and tomorrow for the first of the season bashes at Geraldine's La De Da Cafe. We have 16 or 18 people coming over, and I've made 17 doughs that are now in the fridge going through their change. One hour before I start making the pies I'll punch them down again and let then sit at room temperature so they can rise again.

Our dear friend Erwin is coming with two of his brothers and their wives from Austria and Norway. Erwin was one of my instructors in culinary school, and his brother Winfred is also an instructor in culinary program in Norway. Next week we're going to his place up on the Sonoma coast, Bodega Bay, for Winfred's birthday bash. It's always fun when there are other chefs in the house. Erwin and I were born on the same day. He's 10 years older than I am, and he's from a family of long livers. His brother Franz is 80, and looks to be 55 years old. Erwin is a real piece of work.

I'm making 6 different types of pizza. I was only going to do 4, but I changed my mind. I'm making an anchovy pizza just for myself of course. We're having #1- pesto with new potatoes, red bell peppers & asiago cheese, #2- NY state of mind... plain pie with red sauce and 3 cheeses, #2-Greek pie with tomatoes, capers, asparagus, kalamata olives, sheep's milk feta cheese, & fresh mint, #4-  anchovy pizza w/3 cheeses, fresh oregano and garlic, #5- Genoa salumi, red sauce, 3 cheeses and fresh basil. 6) Mild Italian sausage, red sauce, pesto, cheddar, gouda and fresh oregano.

That's my blog for today. Wish you could be here tomorrow. Maybe someone will take photos.

Last but not least, I went to visit the podiatrist today and he gave me a nice shot of cortisone in my  big toe That was a lot of fucking fun. There won't be a lot of walking for the next couple of days till the steroids kick in.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, 2 pieces of wheat bread w/butter, black tea w/sugar,
                 vanilla yogurt

Lunch: Salami and crackers, a little feat cheese,

Dinner: Taking Geri out tonight....who knows (more on this later)

Exercise today: 2.5 miles walking