A couple of F's and an H...

Monday again. Even when you’re “retired” and don’t really care, there is just something sort of depressing about it being “Monday”.

F number one:

If there is a word in the Food world that strikes fear into (most) of us amateur cooks, it’s “Hollandaise”. Somehow there is this mystique about making this sauce with visions of it breaking, and reducing the chef to tears. You see all sorts of “tips” on making it, most giving caution about doing it “over a pan of simmering water”, warm ingredients, cold ingredients, on and on. I was sort of having this conversation with a friend who is a vastly more accomplished cook than I, and the opinion was “what crap. It’s not hard!”. And to demonstrate he came to the flutter digs and we went through pounds of butter, lemon juice, and other stuff, and after three batches I can honestly say I can do that sauce. And, we didn’t even use that boiling water thing (just one more thing to manage). We did it over direct heat with no intermediary step. With some guidance I turned out a nice sauce. Once you know what to look and listen for, it’s not that hard, although you have to work at it. I even did one with some blood orange juice instead of the lemon. Gives me some hope! By the time I’m 90 I may be there!!

Friday night we had a nice dinner at the Tides, one of the dwindling number of local fine dining places still available to us. Food and service were good, especially a scallop appetizer. They have a new menu from our last visit and I liked it. More of a physical makeover than content, but it's very snappy.

F number two:

Besides fun in the kitchen, the weekend was occupied a fair amount in following the football (one of my many weaknesses) NFL playoffs. Three of the four games were rather one sided with the “week off” teams romping, and only the surprising Jets handing an upset to the vaunted “bolts” in the most interesting game of the weekend. A team that wins 11 games in a row and can’t move the ball at home. One of those “keep hanging around” things that you can see coming a mile away. And why Ladainian Tomlinson keeps his (alleged) super star status I have no idea. He’s not shown me anything anytime I’ve watched him – two yards straight ahead. And, as I’ve always said, Norv Turner can’t win the big one. Again. What a (IMHO) stupid decision to try that on-side kick! He and the field goal kicker who left 9 points on the field should be on the streets of San Diego this morning. And Brett “it’s all about me” Favre certainly put on an impressive show for a 40 year old. Should be an interesting Sunday next week, deteremining the teams who will be in the Super Bowl.

Speaking of which (back to F number one) as we lead up to that triumph of American marketing, we’ll start thinking about the legendary “super bowl menu”. It’s already started with KFC touting their chicken wings that are so hot that they cause some luckless soul’s eyes to light on fire. The closer we get, the more we’ll hear about “hot” stuff. What’s the link between that football game and spicy food? I don’t get it. To be sure, a lot of the menus are built around Cajun/Creole dishes like gumbos, red beans and rice, jambalayas and the sort – maybe because they are sort of one dish meals suitable for consuming and spilling on your front while watching commercials interspersed with an occasional football play. But, they don’t have to be searingly hot. Haven’t selected my dish(es) yet, and they probably will revolve around one of the above, but the cayenne will be used sparingly. Maybe something with Hollandaise…

Enjoy, and
DFD (or DFF)