Cooking School at Home

Pictures from Dordrecht

2006-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well we are in the Netherlands staying in Rotterdam, just outside of Amsterdam. Today we went over to a small town out of Rotterdam called Dordrecht. They had a market with lots of fresh produce and fish. It was really interesting to see it all in action, the people and the purveyours. Since we don't know any Dutch, the friend that we are staying with has been telling us what things are that helps a whole lot.

Here are a few pictures from the Market in the town of Dordrecht:

Stroopkoeken in Dordrecht, Netherlands

This is a picture of a vending machine for hot food on the side of a cafe.

Produce Stand at the market.

Fish for sale.

Woman cleaning herring at the market.

Close up on the fish for sale at the market.

Smoked makrel at the market.

Culinary Tour of Europe

2006-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

I am just writing this post to say there might not be so many new posts of Cooking School at Home during the month of February. I am going to be travelling to Europe and going to Amsterdam, Paris, Spain and Morocco.

Josh and I will be backpacking and staying in hostels. We're not sure what it's going to be like to be able to get online. Not really sure how much time we'll get to spend blogging. But, as many times as possible I will be putting up pictures and posts about what we see and eat.

Real tapas in Spain, Moroccan food, Bistro food in Paris... :) It should be exciting.

Lesson 2- Beginnings

2006-01-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is just the beginning of a fun, enjoyable, learning experience for you. You're going to learn how to cook, and I mean without a book. These are all the same methods that are taught in top culinary schools, except you're getting your schooling from the comfort of your own home!

First things first. I'm assuming by now that you have read the post about Mise en Place, that's the first step in this course. Every chef needs to understand mise en place, and it's even a good thing to carry into your everyday life. So, where does cooking start? Well it starts with your ingreidents-

Choosing Your Ingredients: You should really be able to use the local market to decide what you’re going to be cooking. Try to find a store that carries local produce, that will be giving you the best in season ingredients. You should really try to cook just what’s in season to ensure that you’re family is eating the best quality food. Who wants to eat asparagus that came in all the way from Chili when it’s asparagus season in your local area. These large chain grocery stores are ruining the food that we are putting in ourselves and our families mouths. Then, think about the end dish, it can only be as good as the ingredients that you’re starting out with. If you’re starting with mediocre ingredients you can only expect a mediocre result. Using local, fresh ingredients will speak for themselves, and will only require minimal effort to create something fantastic.

An Important Note About Salt and "Dead Pepper": In my home I use Kosher salt on a regular basis, and occasionally Sea Salt. Salt is the one ingredient that can make a difference between a bland meal and an excellent meal. It doesn’t take much to create something magical just by using the basic seasonings, salt and freshly ground pepper. People will think that you spent all day in the kitchen preparing a meal so flavorful. Salt draws out the natural flavor of your ingredients. I think the one ingredient that most home cooks don’t use enough of is salt. The most common type of salt used in American homes is that superfine stuff that comes in the blue jar. If you learn to use Kosher or Sea Salt you can have more control over the final outcome of your dishes. Both those salts are a more coarse grain (some sea salts are fine though) these can easily be picked up in your fingers, which allows for a more consistent product. You will eventually learn how much salt to use by what it feels like in your finger tips.

Whether you use Kosher salt or sea salt is a personal preference. I personally use Kosher salt on an everyday basis and sea salt or fleur de sel for accenting or finishing a dish. Like, I would grill asparagus and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. This is a wonderfully simple, easy, elegant spring/summer dish. For learning purposes I think that Kosher salt is better. It's a little easier to control the salt flavor in a dish. Sea salt is generally more pungent and can ruin a dish a lot easier if you're not really careful.

Next, take that pepper out of your cupboard that has been sitting in the plastic tub for who knows how long, it's dead! Now, throw it away! That is not pepper. There is no pepper smell or taste left to that pathetic excuse for a spice. You need to go to the store and buy a pepper grinder, it doesn't have to be expensive, anything will work. Now, go and buy some Whole Black Peppercorns and you've just unlocked one of the secrets to great cooking. If you don't believe me try your old, pre-ground pepper from the plastic jar and the freshly ground side by side. I don't think you'll doubt me then. Think about it though, the pepper that was in the jar was ground months ago and who knows how long it sat on the shelf in the grocery store!

So, if I could only tell you two things to change you’re cooking it would be use more salt and pepper. Set a cup of salt and a pepper grinder next to your stove so they are always there ready for you to use. These are two big steps in getting you to be a better cook. Now, you just have to learn to actually use the salt and freshly ground pepper in your cooking. So, this can be your weapon when cooking for friends and family now. Judging the right amount of each just takes practice, learning what's too much or too little for each dish. The more you taste the better you'll get at judging it. That brings me to the next key-

Taste Your Food! The only way to learn about the food that you’re cooking is to taste. The more you taste your dishes during the cooking process the more you will learn about what they are supposed to taste like. Tasting, looking, smelling, and feeling, these are all important ways to learn about your ingredients. Tracking how the textures and flavors change will be helpful in balancing the dishes flavors. Through this tasting process you will also learn about your likes and dislikes of your own palate.

The best way to change the flavor of a dish that you’re not too confident about what it needs is to just pull out a small amount and season that. Once you have determined what it is that is missing in the dish you can then season the whole dish. This will take away a lot of anxiety about ruining the whole dish with one foul swoop of salt. If this does happen, well, I guess you'll learn to taste in smaller batches. And, you'll just whip up and batch of some-off-the-shelf-boxed-dinner and know that you learned a lesson! It might take a few of those "rescue dinners" while you're still just learning. You're getting the feel of the salt between your fingers, the number of cranks on the pepper grinder it takes. All of this is going to take practice, practice, practice.

You'll get it, and soon be creating meals from your local ingredients and seasoning just perfectly.

What's Cooking School At Home and Who Am I?

2006-01-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

Cooking School at Home is a website dedicated to teaching people the fundamental methods of cooking. Like those that are taught in the top culinary schools and used on a daily basis by all chefs. As one of the top graduates in my class at the very prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, I have had varied experiences from France to New York. You may see my full resume on this page:
http://hctresume.pbwiki.com/.

So, what lead up to the creation of the website? I've seen so many people, just like you reading this blog, trying to learn how to cook from a cookbook. There are so many bad cookbooks and out there - there are good ones too - but, I saw people relying on the recipe to show them how to cook a certain item. Example being you might have some Salmon in your fridge. And, instead of preparing the Salmon with local, fresh ingredients you're going to turn to a cookbook that tells you to go buy ingredients for another country, state, or season. I want you to be able to look at the Salmon, look in your cupboards or at your local farmers market. You should be able to prepare dinner based on basic cooking methods, with ingredients that you probably already have or are in season in your own region of the country. You can ask any average American home cook to make something, anything, and they will have to refer to a cookbook. These classes are aimed at those people and is going to make them less dependent on their cookbooks.

Cooking is really a matter of learning a few simple methods. I have always had those friends and family memebers wondering how I could possibly remember every recipe... Well, this is the secret, there aren't hundreds of recipes floating around in my head. I have learned to cook by method. Once you learn the basic methods it is easy to adapt to your ingredients on hand. Then, once you can do that you can move on to more complex techniques and menu creation. This is going to take time, years maybe.

As the lessons progress in Cooking School At Home you will beging to understand the various methods that there are in cooking. Soon you will find yourself answering the question from friends and family, "How do you do that without a recipe?"

Lesson 1 - Mise en Place

2006-01-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Mise en huh?...I know that’s what you are probably thinking right now. Why do I need to know about this fancy French word to cook at home? Well, every good chef starts with organization. From what to cook, what to buy, how to prepare it and how to orchestrate the cooking of it. All of it stems from Mise en Place, “everything in it’s place”. If you’ve ever walked into a professional kitchen you won’t see them back there cutting the vegetables up for your dinner. These are things that have been prepared earlier in the day and most likely blanched (explained later) and prepared to the point that your dinner can be prepared in 5-7 minutes or less. So, you will generally find small containers containing individual ingredients for all the items on the menu. This is used as an organizational tool as well, knowing what needs to be prepared for the menu that evening will assure that you’re not in the middle of making a dish and realize that certain ingredient is missing.

One of the most important things you can do in cooking is mise en place. So, you need to start thinking about this in ways you can relate it to your home cooking. Start with creating a menu for the week, think about everything you’ll need to prepare for the evenings meals. Then, break down that list and create a shopping list, name different places you might have to go for specialty items. Look in your pantry, mark off the list items that you may already have. Then from what is left you have already started your mise en place for the week. Now, on each day look at the menu and see what you can prepare a day ahead, an hour ahead, or a week ahead and freeze. This is all part of mise en place, thinking about what is needed to prepare your meal, including cooking processes.

Let’s look at an example before I really confuse the heck out of you. Say I’m going to be making lasagna on monday and today is friday. I could make the tomato sauce today and put it in the refrigerator or freezer and have it ready when I need to use it on monday. Then on monday this is what I would have left to do: boil the noodles, cook the meat, grate the cheese, and make the ricotta filling. Each of these could be done hours in advance or a day in advance leaving the assembling and cooking for monday evening.

It’s all about planning ahead. Be constantly thinking, while your roast is cooking in the oven for tonight’s dinner, what could you be preparing to make tomorrow night's dinner quicker and easier? Is there anything I can cut, cook, blanch, mix, or marinate?

On a nightly basis before starting the actual cooking process all your "mise en place" should be prepared. Mince the garlic, chop the onion, slice the peppers, get the vinegars or oil out and ready to use, even get the pans out you will be using. Think ahead to the strainer, ice water, boiling water, heating oven....

This all probably sounds very confusing right now, but step by step with each new lesson we go through together you will start to understand it. Just as long as you remember “mis en place”, you're on the right track to becoming a master chef in your own home.

Papa's Breakfast

2005-06-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going home to Oregon this week and I will be cooking breakfast for Papa and about 50 of his friends. This is what I will be serving:

Papa's Breakfast
Wednesday June 8th
VFW Hall Creswell, OR

French Toast
with choice of toppings:
lemon curd, caramelized bananas,
maple syrup or fresh fruit and
whipped cream

Scrambled Eggs
with peppers, onions, and pepper
jack cheese

Buttermilk Biscuits and Chicken Sausage Gravy

Assorted Muffins
White Chocolate or Blueberry

Fresh Orange Juice, Coffee

Roasted Pork Loin with Asparagus, Mushrooms, and Mashed Potatoes

2005-03-29T18:01:00.000-08:00

Gather all of your ingredients necessary to create this dish. This includes: Pork Loin, Onions, Idaho Potatoes, Butter, Milk, Salt, Pepper, Asparagus, Mushrooms, and Olive Oil.

Heating the Pan

2005-03-29T18:00:00.001-08:00

Seasoning Meat

2005-03-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

Thoroughly season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper.

2005-03-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

2005-03-29T17:58:00.001-08:00

2005-03-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

Adding Water to Pot
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:57:00.000-08:00

Slicing Onion
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:56:00.001-08:00

Slicing Onions 2
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

Slicing Onions 3
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:55:00.001-08:00

Sauteeing Onion
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:55:00.000-08:00

Putting Meat in Oven
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

Prepped Vegetables
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:53:00.001-08:00

Cooking Potatoes
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:53:00.000-08:00

Prepped Vegetable
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:52:00.001-08:00

Relax
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Straining Potatoes
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:51:00.001-08:00

140
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

Cooking Asparagus
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:50:00.001-08:00

Resting Meat
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

Searing Mushrooms
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Cooking Asparagus and Mushrooms
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:48:00.001-08:00

Slicing Meat
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

2005-03-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Finished Plate
Originally uploaded by heiditunn.

Local

2005-03-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

Local
Originally uploaded by heidigamby.

This is just a test picture, not to great looking.

This is still just a test of the Heidi Blogger Broadcast System.....

Cooking at Home

2005-03-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like making your own meals at home. I cook all day at work but it's nothing compared to making your whole house smell of roasting meats and sauteeing garlic. (And, a little Hawaiian music and a glass of wine makes it better). It's in the smells, and the sounds of cooking, that's what is so comforting.

Find the enjoyment in your cooking. Start cooking then sit down with a glass of wine and turn on some music in the other side of the house. Then, close your eyes. This is something that excites all your senses. So sit, relax, and enjoy these moments in life when things are slow.

Cooking School Week 1

2005-02-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first week of a long going project. This is starting with the basics, roast chicken, saute, stir fry. It's going to continue into the next few weeks with the basics, in repetition. Until, at some point you will understand the basics of cooking. There is saute, roast, braise, grill, etc... Then, you will learn to apply any product that you want to those basic cooking techniques.
Please leave comments that you may have for me. Any ways in which I can improve this to make it easier to read, understand, follow, anything... Thanks.
Heidi

MENU

Week of February 14- February 21

MONDAY

ROAST CHICKEN, MASHED POTATOES, BROCCOLI, AND PAN GRAVY

CHICKEN: Pre-heat oven to 375F. Wash the chickens and pat dry. Season very well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for about 1 hour (or so) or until a thermometer reads 160F. (The meat will carry over to the correct temperature of 165F before you eat it.)
POTATOES: Peel (if desired) 6-8 potatoes, wash, and cut into thirds. Place in a pot large enough to hold all and fill with cold water. Add a good amount of salt to the water. Allow to come to a simmer and maintain until the potatoes are tender. Heat the milk while the potatoes are cooking, about 1/2 to 3/4 C (more if needed later. Also allow the butter to get to room temperature (1/2 stick). Strain the potatoes when they are tender. Run them through a food mill or mach by hand. Add the butter, milk, salt, and pepper to taste. Adjust the consistency by adding more milk if needed.
BROCCOLI: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the heads off the broccoli into edible size pieces. Keep the stems for soup at a later day. (try putting in a plastic bag and freeze) Mince 4 cloves of garlic. Get a bowl of ice water ready for the cooked broccoli.
GRAVY: Remove the chicken from the pan. Set on a serving platter to rest. Pour in a dash of wine (whatever you're drinking), using a wooden spoon scrape the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour that liquid into a saute pan. Add one can of chicken stock and allow to boil down to a sauce-like consistency. Add a few small pieces of butter in the end. Season with salt and pepper.
*At the end of the night pick all the remaining chicken off the bone, save for tacos later in the week. Save the carcass in the freezer in a plastic bag for soup on a later day.*

TUESDAY

CHICKEN TACOS

Use the remaining chicken from the night prior and make chicken tacos. I had you buy pre-made salsa and canned refried beans for the convenience. Yes, making your own is nice, but only if you have the time.

CHICKEN: Saute in a hot pan with a small amount of canola oil, season the chicken with chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.

Grate pepper jack cheese, heat the bean, use some of the mesclun lettuce leaves that you have.

Yes, I understand that this is just tacos and you have them all the time, but it's utilization. Using up what you have, plus, we have to start this whole cooking school thing off slowly, with the basics. And, I know that you all would have taco with drawls if there weren't tacos on the menu! :)

WEDNESDAY

TOMATO SOUP WITH GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE

TOMATO SOUP: Cut up 1 onion, 1 carrot, and 1 celery; they don't have to be perfect because the soup will be pureed. However you don't want to cut them so large that they take a long time to cook. Heat a large stock pot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the carrot, onion, and celery (also known as mirepoix). Allow those to cook until the onions become translucent and the rest to soften. Add four cans of whole tomatoes, juice and all. Fill each of the cans with water and add it to your soup. Add salt and pepper. Allow all of this to simmer for about 1 hour. Then, puree in your Vita Mix blender (or you can use the handheld blender that I know you have hiding in your cupboards somewhere). Finish the soup with some heavy cream; about half a quart, and chopped basil. Finish seasoning with salt and pepper.
GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE: Spread the whole grain mustard on the inside of the bread. Lie on slices of each; ham and cheddar cheese. Spread butter on the outside of the slices. Sear on the hot flat top on the stove. Or, you could also turn on the grill and place them on a hot grill, press them with a foil-wrapped brick to press down like paninis. Don't forget to turn them half way through, to make authentic paninis; bring on the gelato and Italian wines!

THURSDAY

PORK AND VEGETABLE STIR FRY

The key to stir-frying is gathering and preparing all of you ingredients before cooking. The core flavors in Asian cooking is called "GGS"; or Ginger-Garlic-Scallions.

Get a pot of water on to blanch your vegetables, don't forget to salt the water. Then, finely chop garlic, peel and finely chop ginger, and thinly slice your ginger. Cut some broccoli into bite size pieces, slice mushrooms, and slice red pepper. (yes Dad, pepper) Get a different cutting board and cut the pork into long thin slices, make sure everything gets washed very well after cutting.
If your water is boiling, cook the broccoli just for about 45 seconds, then, same with the snow peas.
Get a large, wide bottomed pan very hot. Add a good amount of Sesame Oil. Once that gets really hot add your "ggs". Allow to cook just for a minute. Then add your pork, once the pork is almost cooked add your peppers, snow peas, broccoli, and mushrooms. Finish with soy sauce and a little of the Sambal Olek. Season with salt and pepper.

FRIDAY

CLAM CHOWDER AND METROPOL BREAD

Clam chowder...mmm.
I know that you've made this before so I'm not really going to go into amounts or really telling you the details.
Remember to cook your bacon first, then remove the pieces. Cook your mirepoix in the bacon fat, and add flour. Once you've cooked the flour add the clam juice, clams, heavy cream/milk, and potatoes. Allow all to cook until the potatoes are done and the desired consistency is achieved. Then at the last minute add the bacon back.
Heat the bread and enjoy!

*REFER TO "COOKING LIKE A CHEF" MY COOKBOOK FOR THE FULL RECIPE IF YOU DON'T REMEMBER*

**Please read ahead to tomorrow about marinating the flank steak. Possibly get that marinating while your clam chowder is cooking. That will save time for tomorrow as well.**

SATURDAY

MARINATED FLANK STEAK AND MESCLUN SALAD

This is the Flank Steak from the Mabbettsville Market. So, I've had to purchase all the ingredients for the salad for lunch tomorrow. The key to this is the longer you can allow the flank steak to sit in the marinade the better it's going to taste.

FLANK STEAK: Marinate in 3 parts Soy Sauce, 3 parts Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 parts Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 part Brown Sugar, 1 part Honey, chopped garlic, and chopped ginger. Place the marinade in a large ziploc bag and add the steaks, or you can put them in a casserole pan and cover them with the marinade. Again, the longer they can marinate the better they are going to taste. Once you're ready to cook them get your grill outside very hot. Cook the steaks to an internal temperature of 125F. (that's Medium-Medium Rare)
SALAD: You can keep it basic, just Balsamic vinegar and Olive Oil. Or, you can do a little bit more if you'd like. Maybe like garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sambal olek, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. Use the common formula for vinaigrette. That's about 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Or, just to taste. All the other stuff that you're adding to this Asian-type vinaigrette is just to taste. If you want a hotter-spicier vinaigrette add more of the sambal olek. Or if you like more garlic or ginger, feel free to add what you want... Trust me, it'll be okay, anything you want.

SUNDAY

LUNCH: FLANK STEAK SALAD

Flank steak salad... think of me and eat this.
Cut up flank steak, toast pecans, cut some celery. Mix together flank steak, celery, pecans, blue cheese, and mayo. Don't forget the salt and pepper.

DINNER: SAUTEED SALMON WITH RICE PILAF, SAUTEED MUSHROOMS AND GREEN BEANS

Get a pot of water boiling, don't forget the salt. Measure out 1 part basmati rice, and 2 parts water. Add salt to the water. Get the rice to a boil, cover and allow to be on the very lowest temperature of the stove, cook for 20 minutes. Cut the Salmon into portions that you want. Heat a saute pan, add a small amount of oil. Add the salmon pieces presentation side down first. Sear on the first side until you can see that it's starting to cook up the sides. Then flip to the other side, this should only take about 8-10 minutes, and you should only flip once. While the salmon is cooking, cut the ends off the haricot verts (green beans). Slice your mushrooms, and chop garlic. Cook the beans in the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Heat a saute pan and cook the garlic, add red pepper flakes, mushrooms, then add the green beans.

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST
February 14-21
PRODUCE
Garlic 4 heads
Broccoli 4 crowns
Idaho Potatoes 5# bag
Snow Peas 1 handful
White Button Mushrooms 2 handfuls
Carrots 5# bag
Red Peppers 1 ea
Ginger 1 piece
Scallions 1 bunch
Onions, yellow 1 small bag
Celery 1 bag
Basil 1 bu
Mesclun Mix enough for 2 people
Haricot Verts 2 large handfuls (long skinny French green beans)

CANNED/PREPARED FOOD/GRAINS
Basmati Rice
Canned Tomatoes, Whole 4 cans (28 oz) Muir Glen Organics
Chicken Stock, Organic 4 cans, 16 oz each
Chili Powder small jar
Cider Vinegar
Clam Juice 4 jars
Clams, minced, canned (or you can buy fresh)
Cumin small jar
Honey
Paprika small jar
Red Pepper Flakes small jar
Refried Beans 2 cans
Rice Wine Vinegar
Salsa, freshly made, local
Sambal Olek will be in the ethnic food aisle, Indian Cuisine, has a green lid
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Tortilla Shells
Whole Grain Mustard

MEAT
Whole Chickens 3-3 1/2# in weight, 2 ea
Flank Steak 3 ea
Bacon 1 pack get one with good meat to fat ratio
Salmon 2# Wild, ask how fresh it is, get from the head end, not the tail end
Pork 2# whatever is the cheapest and easy to cut into strips to saute
Black Forest Ham

DAIRY
Milk
Butter
Sour Cream
Pepper Jack Cheese
Heavy Cream 1qt
Tillamook Cheddar Cheese

OTHER PLACES
Metropol- bread for sandwiches, bread for clam chowder

NYC Restaurant Show

2005-02-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

Where can you go and sample Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Foie Gras Mousse, Truffle Butter, Gelato, Local New York Wines, Italian Wines, Organic Breads, and strange fruits from Chili?? The NYC Restaurant Show at the Javits Center in Manhattan. This is a large gathering of suppliers, restaurants, and restaurantuers.

My vote for the best part of the show was the "Local New York" section. These were all suppliers and artisans that produce everything local. They were generally small producers, like the guy who raised all his own meat and poultry and made sausages. There were plenty of local wineries and breweries as well.

A couple of products that I liked: Carica: a product from Chili that is used in Sweet and Savory applications, it had a slightly sweet flavor to it, looked like a preserved lemon. There was also Ginger Beer; non alcoholic, alone had a very nice gigner flavor, not to overpowering, then they will mix it with Rum and it's a drink that is had in the Caribbean. There were plenty of Gelato booths. Many vendors with premade pastries and hors d'oeuvres, none of that was of any intrest to me.

There was also a company there that produced organic breads, they were comparable in prices to Eli's in NY.

So, it was a day of sampling good food, good wine, and talking to other people that shared the same passion as I do. You know you have a enjoy what you do when it doesn't feel like work. It's nice to be able to get paid to learn more about my passion.

Ahh!

2005-02-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

The smell of lamb flowing through my recently cleaned house, blogging on my new Apple iBook, and drinking local wine... It doesn't get any better than this.
Well, I guess if you were sitting on a beach somewhere watching the sunset. Or, having a picinic at sunset in a vineyard with your closest friends. Or, cooking for friends and family at home... So, I guess it could be better. But, for right now, in this moment, it couldn't be better.
Learn to enjoy your food. Learn to love the smell. The sounds. The colors. Learn to appericiate wine... Then you will truly enjoy life.

Testing

2005-01-31T03:53:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to see how this thing worked. Make sure that I set it up correctly.