A little of this and that..
Peace from Pieces
Well, we finally did it.
Every time a major storm looms, be it a named one or a winter blizzard
variety, I start poring over radar maps, follow storm track prediction sites, stay glued to
forecasts and am generally a mental wreck.
Over the past couple of years, if things looked like something would actually materialize, I drag out the portable generator I purchased, get five gallon
cans of gas, check oil, and so forth.
Then I wished I had stuck to starting the damn thing every month
(actually I didn’t do too bad) and yanked my shoulder out of its socket to make
sure it would start in anger. Somewhere
in that progression, I would say damn it, I’m going to get one of those automatic
generators. Then the sun would emerge,
or the snow would melt, and well, you know how that goes. But guess what we got!!
Our environmental control center now sports a husky 22KV generator
ready for use if necessary. We of course
hope it is like taking an umbrella with you to the picnic, it won’t be
needed. But the peace of mind it brings
is worth every piece of currency spent.
It did involve moving circuits around in the panels, but our vendor (PM me if interested) did
a great job and everything worked well.
So although the bank account took a dip, the freezer won’t (well, that’s
kind of upside down, but you get the idea)..
Especially with Danny being frisky in the Atlantic. Feels good.
Kitchen Kulture
A chef we know in Galway is a prolific (to say the least) Facebook Poster, and
today he shared an article about “Culture of the Kitchen”, written by a Chicago
Chef named Iliana Regan who has couple of restaurants, one of which is
Elizabeth. It apparently is kind of an
eclectic place,
“At Elizabeth
Restaurant we work with the best seasonal offerings from our gardens, woods,
local farmers, fishers, and hunters….We call our cuisine New Gatherer” Her
summer menu is split between a “Hunter Menu” and a “Gatherer Menu”. Hunter has pemmican, how often do you see
that? And Gatherer offers Cabbage and
Shoots, or Fermented Romaine and smoked yolks…
Adventurous. Anyway it speaks of
a person that is serious about her food and its preparation. She has some interesting things to say about “culture
in the kitchen”, like
” Intensity has been an essential aspect of all the fine dining kitchens
I’ve worked in. In the casual restaurants I’ve worked in, the pressure is more
about getting through service if it was high volume than the actual quality”
It’s bad when it
involves putting people down. As chefs we are teachers and if we are ridiculing
our students, who we haven’t properly taught, we are at fault. But if we taught
them and gave them the proper tools and opportunities to excel in a
positive way and they continue not to learn or improve over time, then the
situation has to be properly addressed. This is usually the point when I
let them go”
“The pressure I apply
in the kitchen is focused on the taste of our food, the presentation of it on
the plate, and the way in which we serve it. I emphasize that we are telling a
story about terroir: the
farms, fields, and woods from which we create our men”
Anyway, I thought she had some interesting things to
say. I shared the link to the article on
my FaceBook timeline (or whatever it is called). Or, if you’re interested in the whole you can click on
this URL. Chefs are such an interesting
lot.
Biscuit Banter
To sort of balance things out, we’ll close with a review of another
column I thought was interesting (note I am sort of copying here, not being my
normal refreshing creative self). It
appeared in that iconic old publication, Southern Living which has been in print
since 1966. It used to be the “old
South” with crinolines, shoo fly pie, blueberry buckle, and stuff like
that. Over the years it has (IMHO) kind
of modernized itself, and isn’t a bad read.
I sometimes think I’ll not renew my subscription, but then they come out
with an offer like “renew for $12 and receive another year free”. So I cave in.
They might be getting some pressure from newer (southern) publications
like Garden and Gun.
Anyway, there was an interesting column in the September
issue of the "Southern Journal" section authored by Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, who mostly writes about “the South”. Most people who follow Southern Food, know
that besides Barbecue in all its regional variations, Biscuits claim a hallowed place in
Southern Cuisine, mostly for breakfast.
The magazines are always full of recipes for “authentic’, “classic”, “down
home” versions. The title of the piece
is “The Abominable Biscuit - It’s hard to be a morning person over
congealed gravy and hockey puck eggs”.
So right away you know he’s my kind of guy. He begins with “I am not sure when I became a
grouchy old man, a crotchety relic. I
just know I am”. Bingo, a brother.. He talks about his slide into disillusionment
which he blames on the “hotel breakfast
buffet, the nightmarish 21st Century phenomenon dishonestly referred
to as a “hot bar”. I think that is where
I turned the corner from optimist and went stumbling down the path to miserable
old geezer. Somewhere between the
desiccated bacon and scrambled eggs so awful there is no known word.”
Then: “worst of all is
the abomination of the hotel biscuit.
There is not enough congealing gravy in this world to cover the
nastiness of a crunchy biscuit”.
And then closes with the notion that fancy restaurants are
no haven, where he had scrambled eggs that could have been used as packing
material at a four star hotel.
Couldn’t find a link to the on line version but it certainly
struck home with me.
I wonder if he
DFD
Tomorrow, another Moh's surgery.. Cut, analyze, cut, analyse, then leave with a softball on your face. oh don't get it wet..
ee hah.
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