Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Current Cookbook - Retro Happy Hour

RETRO HAPPY HOUR - Drinks and Eats with a 50's Beat - by Linda Everett

This cookbook has a copyright of 2003. I don't know where I got this book. I have never cooked from this before.

I have a feeling that when I picked up this cookbook I probably did it more for the drawings than for the recipes. It has some really cool 50's drawings. Amusing in the fact that the women are all shown wearing dresses, with perfectly coiffed hair, not to mention the pearls around the neck. And they all have the tiniest damn waists! The men of course are usually shown wearing suits and ties.

I wouldn't say that any of the recipes listed scream to me "50's food". There were quite a few recipes for "popcorn ball" variations which did seem very "retro". The names of the recipes are fun like "La-Dee-Dah Crepes", Mad Russian Rick's Appeteasers or Boise Babe's Tater Skins. The book seems to be geared for throwing a nice cocktail party. There are chapters for both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks and a larger chapter on food. Food recipes consist of little bites and appetizers with a few desserts thrown in. The first chapter deals with things like choosing a party theme, invitations, quest lists and general tips for throwing a party. The Index is divided by type of recipe (Dips for Chips, Luau Tastes, Vegetarian, Coffee and Tea).

I've book-marked a lot of the non alcoholic drinks as they sound pretty good. Most of the recipes sound pretty good and look easy to make without a lot of fuss and time.

This book is one of a series of "retro" books like Retro Pies, Retro Housewife, Retro Luau. I may buy some of the other books just for the drawings.

Small Plates - July 8, 2008

THE END OF QUARKS - Alas, Star Trek: The Experience at the Hilton in Vegas is closing September 1st. I guess after all this time, Star Trek just isn't popular any more. Sigh. No more Klingon Blood Draft or Dominion Lager. Mr. L and I were able to go visit The Experience several years ago where we had lunch at Quarks. I did get warped (see photo below) but I can't remember if that was from the Borg Sphere or a Warp Core. Before we were married Mr. L always joked that we should just elope and get married on the bridge of the Enterprise at The Experience. I told him we could always renew our vows there. I guess we'll have to find some other way to profess our love :) For more information go here.

FREE SLURPEE'S - Be ready for this Friday which will be 7/11 and you can get a free Slurpee at 7-11.

WEEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE - I participated in the 29th Weekend Cookbook Challenge which dealt with making a "salad" from one of my cookbooks. Mel's Diner has an update on his blog here. You'll find salads ranging from Cornbread Salad to a Strawberry and Kiwi salad. Next months cookbook challenge is all about Farmers Markets. I'll participate in that one too.

Mini Vacation

How would you like to wake up to that view out your kitchen window while on vacation? We knew the peacock was in the area as we saw it while driving up the mountain and we heard it cry out several times in the days before he came to spend the morning with us. We think it's an Indian Blue Peacock. He stayed for about an hour while he preened on the deck railings, looked for grub in the lawn and checked us out through the windows.

Mr. L and I decided to take a mini-vacation and head up to The Boys house in the mountains. We pretty much stayed put once we got there. No trips out, no gourmet restaurants. Just us and the view. We sat on the deck, looked out at the mountains, the ocean, the river. We sat in the hot tub, napped, read some books, watched a DVD, went through a ton of magazines, listened to our ipods, napped, ate some junk food, drank some champagne (me), had some rum (Mr. L), napped and just disconnected from the rat race for a while.

I did think about food. I caught up on some of my food magazines and made one quick new meal (Shrimp Pad Thai). Mr. L barbequed some ribs on the 4th and we had some awesome tacos off a local taco truck on the way home. I'm looking forward to cooking some of the recipes I cut out of the mags and cooking from some of the new cookbooks I brought out of storage last week. I also think a little vacation to disconnect from the world every now and then is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Rib Steak with Bing Cherry-Pinot Noir Reduction

Figuring out which steak dish to cook from The New Steak took some time. They all sounded good. I narrowed it down to three and asked Mr. L to choose. I knew he'd pick this recipe since he is such a big fan of cherries. It worked out that I was able to go to the local farmers market and get some fresh cherries from one of the stands (I had to try each and every stand that sold cherries before hand of course).

The recipe called for rib eye steaks. Though that's a favorite of ours, Mr. L was in the mood for some skirt steak so what the heck, we used that instead. The recipe said rib steaks were great to use in this recipe because of their "robust flavor", but we thought the skirt steak worked fine.

I wish it had said the amount of shallots or how much beef to be used. When I find shallots they are either really small or really large, so I would prefer them saying "a fourth of a cup" or something. And since we switched steaks I wasn't sure how much skirt steak was comparable to 4 rib steaks. That concerned me at first, and I tried to remember not to worry about measuring. I realize it probably didn't matter but I would have been more comfortable knowing rough sizes...I know, I know, just get over it.

It also didn't tell me what temp to cook the sauce at. Though I used the chicken juices as requested, it still took me an extra twenty minutes to reduce the sauce and I probably didn't get it as thick and "jammy" as they wanted...hey, we were hungry, our brains said dinner was ready in 15 minutes and we'd already made it 20 minutes late....

We put this on Cauliflower Mash (recipe included in the book but you can find similar online or in South Beach). The book says to put the mash in the food processor to make it a smooth mash, but did I mention we were hungry? I just mashed it with a potato masher and it came out fine for the dish.

We also didn't grill or pan fry the steak as suggested. We put it under the broiler til it was medium rare.

This turned out really good. The cherry sauce reduction worked really well with the skirt steak and I assume it would taste just as good with a rib eye. Lots of flavor in the cherry sauce. It all went great with the cauliflower mash and I can see it over potatoes too.

RIB STEAK WITH BING CHERRY-PINOT NOIR REDUCTION

4 rib steaks, bone-in or boneless
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Olive oil for rubbing

For Sauce:

2 shallots, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups pinot noir, or Shiraz or Merlot
2 dozen fresh Bing cherries, pitted
3 tablespoons chicken juices or 1/2 cup chicken stock

Prepare the steaks by salting them, and then let them come to room temperature. Rub with a bit of olive oil just before cooking.

To make the sauce, quickly saute the shallots in 2 tablespoons of the butter to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, cherries, and chicken juices before the butter browns. Cook the sauce 10 to 15 minutes, to reduce to about 1/2 cup, stirring frequently. When it's done, the sauce should be thick and rich-the consistency of heated jam. If you're working with chicken stock, not chicken juices, reduce the sauce a little longer-as long as twenty minutes. Set the sauce aside until the steaks are resting.

(The book gives directions on how to grill rib eyes or pan fry them. We just put our skirt steaks under the broiler about 3-4 minutes a side to get them medium rare.)

However you cook your steaks, check for doneness often (an instant-read thermometer 130 degrees F for medium rare).  After cooking, rest the steaks for 5 minutes in a warming oven (170 degrees F) or on a warm plate under a loose tent of foil.

While the steaks are resting, finish the sauce by gently reheating and adding that final 1 tablespoon of butter. Next, get your plates ready with the steak and a neat scoop of Cauliflower Mash. The sauce should go over the steak last. Serves 4

Note: I used the chicken cooking juices which is a recipe found in the book. I assume that the chicken stock would work just as well. I used Merlot.

Note: The sauce was very tasty and I think it would also go well with chicken.

Note: Husbands make very good cherry pitters.

Current Cookbook - The New Steak

THE NEW STEAK - Recipes for a Range of Cuts plus Savory Sides - by Cree LeFavour

This cookbook has a copyright of 2008. I got this book from my Mom for my birthday this past May. I have not cooked from this before.

I like steak. Pretty much any kind. If I go to a restaurant I'm going to order a steak dish before I order fish or pasta. If you put an elaborate chicken dish in front of me along with just a nice, plain, dry aged, medium rare rib eye...yep, I'd pick the steak. So when I saw this cook book I knew it had to have a place in my collection.

The book starts out with a section on "Steak Basics" where I found a very liberating sentence..."Please don't meticulously measure every little item I call for". Who is this woman and I love her already for letting me be more of a pot cook than a knife cook. The basics also gives some wonderful information on cuts of beef (their different names for the same cut, how to best cook it etc.), what to look for in buying different types (wet or dry aged), cooking and handling (charcoal, gas, pan frying, doneness). There is also a section on kitchen essentials (from meat thermometer to hot sauce). The chapters with recipes are divided into American, Bistro, Latin and Far East. Each steak recipe comes with a recipe for a side or two (usually a starch and a vegetable). Not all the steak recipes have photos (maybe a fourth do) and there are a couple of photos of some of the side dishes.

I pretty much want to try every steak recipe in this book: Sherry-Chanterelle Sauce over Hanger Steak, Strip Steak with Tequila-Avocado Sauce, Tamarind-Marinated Flank Steak. Though sometimes it seemed like a lot of ingredients just to cook a steak, recipes seemed easy. Most steaks come with a sauce or seasonings, some are stuffed, some cut into strips. There are recipes for expensive filet mignons and for cheaper flank. Even some of the sides look good: Gingered Squash, Mango Salad, Robinson Bar Potatoess. I'm definitely going to be looking to this book the next time I'm looked to cook a steak!

Small Plates - July 1, 2008

HAPPY CANADA DAY - I do not officially celebrate Canada Day, but since Canada gave me hockey, I do feel the need to smile and thank them on this day. As I mentioned last year, I have some wonderful memories of Canada Day. My mom and I went on a Sharks cruise which of course consisted of some Canadian hockey players. And a hockey coach. And a former hockey coach who became a radio color announcer who went on to be on CBC and then came back to the Sharks and current is a TV color announcer. So of course they celebrated Canada Day while we were all on the cruise. Heartily I might add. In the Red Dog Saloon in Alaska. Where the group of us got thrown out about three times. Where the coach was drinking beer out of peoples shoes. Where I took photos of the naked backside of a hockey player which shall never see the light of day. But the most memorable part of that day was the group of Canadian hockey players, coach and broadcaster singing many (many) renditions of Don McLean's American Pie. Nothing like being in Alaska with Canadians on Canada Day singing an iconic American song.

CANADIAN FOOD - There was a food blog event called MMMM-Canada where you were to blog or make foods that made you think about Canada. I asked my friend MATT who owns a place in Vancouver what came to mind and one of his responses was Poutine. I admit all the times I've been to Canada, I've never had the guts to try the stuff. Maybe next time. My first stop would be for Tim Bits of course. I had one of the best meals ever at a Vietnamese restaurant in Montreal and way to many awesome meals visiting MATT in Vancouver. I still remember searching for beer and not knowing I had to go to a "cold beer store" to get one on my first visit to Canada. And the fact that they call powdered sugar "icing" threw me the first time I ordered french toast and couldn't understand why they wanted to put cake frosting on my bread! I'm looking forward to the MMMM-Canada round up and getting back to Canada soon to experience more regional foods from that country.

CELEBRATE CANADA POSTER - The poster above was one of the finalists in this years Celebrate Canada poster contest. 14 year old Chrissy Wang said of her poster "Canada is a beautiful country filled with many different and interesting cultures. It's .... like a giant pizza! It’s all mixed together on the large base, while each slice still keeps its own specialty". Smart girl and even though she didn't win, her poster was my favorite. To see the winning poster and all the other finalists go here.

Small Plates - June 29, 2008

POMEGRANATE AND 7-UP - This is my newest fad...adding POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice to diet 7-up. Just a few splashes of the POM makes the drink this beautiful color AND you are getting some nice antioxidants. I tried drinking the POM juice by itself but I didn't like the taste. Yes, 7-up actually makes a (limited edition) Pomegranate 7-up drink. But look at the ingredient label: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate, potassium benzoate, red 40, blue 1. Where is the pomegranate juice? So I make my own. Great, light, refreshing. And it looks good.

GARBAGE BOWL - I will admit I'm not a big fan of Rachel Ray. When I do rarely watch her show I see her using her "garbage bowl" which she leaves on the counter and puts in all the crap (like onion peels, plastic wrappers from meat) and waste and then just throws whats in the bowl in the garbage. I've been doing this for much longer than Rachel has been on TV. I can't remember what chef or what show I watched that trained me to do it this way but it was many years ago. I have plenty of bowls in the kitchen that can be used for this purpose. I had to laugh when the Food Network came out with a "special garbage bowl" that you can buy from them for this purpose. Yes, for only $18 ($20 MSRP) plus shipping you too can have a nice official Rachael Ray bowl to put your garbage in. Am I nuts? Anyone else see that this is just totally wrong? I can sell you some nicer bowls at a much cheaper price. Just call. Telephone operators are standing by.

CUZ IT HAS BACON - Bushes Best Grillin' Beans is having a contest to decide what recipe best pairs with one of their beans. There are twelve semi-finalists (with videos) all giving their recipes and which beans they think go best with their choice. You can log in and vote for your favorite. Mine? Some guy named John Y. who embarrased the hell out of his dog Gabby by putting said dog in the video with a chefs hat. But I picked his recipe, Kentucky Flank Steak, because he takes strips of flank steak and wraps each with a slice of bacon.  Of course the dang things gonna taste wonderful, it has bacon and you're pairing it with beans! You can check out all the entries and their recipes here.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

This is where I live. This is Silicon Valley. There really is a huge valley with lots of homes beyond where you can see. There are also large mountains that are normally visible. You can barely see the outline of one of the smaller mountains in this photo I took today.

Last weekends lightning storms have started more than 1000 fires in California. You would think that there is a fire close to San Jose. They say most of the smoke blanketing us is actually coming from fires in Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt Counties (if you aren't from here, look it up...those counties aren't even close to us).

They are warning the elderly, children and those with lung or respiratory problems to stay inside. I'd add to that those with allergies or who wear contacts. The weather is supposed to get hotter this weekend, they don't think the smoke will disperse before then and oh yeah, there's a chance of more dry lightning.

Because we will be home, we had planned on doing some barbecuing this weekend. Not gonna happen. Nor is going to any of our favorite restaurants and sitting outside enjoying the warm weather. Depending on the smoke and heat I may not even make my normal Sunday run to the farmers market for fresh eggs.

My heart goes out to those that have lost their lives, homes, land and animals. And big hugs to all the men and women who continue to fight these fires (I understand most are beyond exhausted). And I try not to think that this is JUNE and the dry grasses of September are still three months away.

This is what looking at downtown San Jose looks like from my Moms place.

Small Plates - June 26, 2008

FREE TACOS! - Today should be a holiday. No seriously, Jack in the Box is giving away free tacos. I've passed up a lot of free food that has been given away this month, but I will not pass up free Jack in The Box tacos! Greasy, yes, but I love them. So does Mr. L.  So count on us to be taking Jack up on his offer today. I fell in love with Mr. L over Jack in the Box tacos (and a $50 bottle of wine) so I have a soft spot for Jack and those tacos!

WITH GAS - Show up at any participating Jack in the Box today with a recent gas receipt and they will give you two free tacos. These are not those boring super duper tacos, these are the regular tacos that usually sell at two for a buck (or technically 99 cents). Receipt has to be an original. We just filled up one car two days ago and we will take the other car to be filled up before we stop by The Box. For more information go here. Seriously, free Jack in the Box Tacos. Today is a good day.

JACK POSTCARDS -If you are like me and want to let all your friends know about free taco day, you can go to the Jack In the Box website and send out free postcards. Go to the Jack website, click on "Jacks Office" and you'll find the link for the postcards. You'll also find Jack screen savers and desktop photos.

And the Winners Are....

I'm not sure what's going on with this woman. First she deprives me from food for half a day because she thinks just because I hacked up a little hairball that I need to be Petromalted. Then she sticks that stuff all over my mouth and it takes me hours to lick my self clean. After that she decides that it's time to clip my nails...sheesh, they were giving my old body such  great traction trying to get up on the bed.  That little hole in the duvet cover is hardly noticeable.  And then she wakes me up in the middle of a nice nap in the sun because she wants me to chase after little pieces of paper with numbers on them? What is this woman thinking? Harrumph. In any event, she got on that electronic doohickey she sits in front of and I think she had it run around chasing numbers on paper. Something about a random cat who chases generators. Then she had a little freak out cuz she couldn't figure out how to capture the screen. Doesn't she know all you have to do is stick a paw out and snag it with a claw? I don't know, all I know is that I think I should just freak her out and go cough up a hairball on that prized duvet cover of hers. But, maybe later, I think it's time for another nap....

Hockey Winner - Ginger

Scrapbooking Winner - Ilona

Food Winner - Louise

Toaster is right. I figured out the number generator but how was I supposed to post the image? I had to run and get my camera and photograph my computer screen. I know there has to be an easier way! So the winners just need to e-mail me at hkydiva1 at yahoo dot com with their addresses. I'll try to get the packages out this next weekend. Congrats! I may have to do this again sometime.