The Best Thing I Ever Ate

Wow, how does one come to that decision? It's easy. You'll know when you experience something that is in the running for the title, it is like being hit across the head with a two-by-four. You'll just know. If you can't think of the best thing you've ever eaten then you probably haven't eaten anything good. 

Prior to this last trip, the best thing I had ever eaten was Mozzarella Di Bufala from a streetside vendor in Naples Italy. It was luscious, salty and wrapped in thin, waxy paper, the juice ran down to my elbow (and that is no lie). It was so good that I stopped walking right there in the street, and said to my then girlfriend "Oh my god, you have to ****ing try this." It was a friggin' religious experience. I then realized that everything I had eaten before that moment was utter crap. That one bite changed the way a looked at food, forever.

On this last trip, I had another epiphanical food experience. What was it? Well, I'm holding it in the picture above. It was a Grouper that I caught on a fishing trip. I took it back to the Hotel at the RIU Palace Las Americas. I went and talked to the Chef and gave him the fish, and asked him to do his best. I told him I would be eating at 7:00 pm. He kinda gave me a look of "You're sooo in for a treat." then said, "no problemo." We returned for dinner and met up with Luis, who was one of our favorite waiters. He seated us and I told him about what we had done with the fish and he gave me a knowing nod because he knew all about it. You see, it was HIS recipe that the chef was using. His family recipe. We were well into a bottle of wine when the food arrived, from that point on the details are a little fuzzy. I was in food heaven, if awesomeness had hands and slapped you real hard in the face, it would have felt something like that. I can't remember a single side that came with the fish. I do know that I had also ordered the beef filet to accompany the meal. When I had finished eating, no piece of fish was left, but there was at least three quarters of the beautiful, two inch thick, wonderfully, rare tenderloin still on my plate. I think I made a bit of a ruckus in my proclamation of the fact that that fish was indeed the best thing that I had ever eaten. I insisted that Luis give me the recipe. He wrote it out in a strange broken english/spanish dialect. But, hey, it is hard to interpret art.

If you would like a copy of the recipe, leave a comment (with a way to respond) that you would like it and I'll get it to you.

Paula Deen's Moon Pie

All I can say is that I will NEVER EVER be able un-watch that.

"It was awesome. Paula Deen was wearin tan granny panties."  "Seeing Paula Deen's pants fall down was my favorite part of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival 2009."

(VIA Miami New Times)

Handheld Toaster

Look at this crazy contraption. I dunno about you, but my palm is already burning. I don't need one of these to add to the problem.

Unlike standard toasters, the Portable Toaster "has a graphic user interface that shows how well the bread is toasted and how long it has been in with animated pictures."

(From Techblog)

And The Top Chef Winners Are...

Hosea, which I totally predicted, c'mon TC producers. I get that if you have a formula you should stick to it, but now it's just downright predictable. Anyway, I'm glad Hosea won. He won me over last week with the Tabasco Burre Blanc, which is pure brilliance IMO.

The criticism was pretty positive last night, although... I would give up wine to hear Toby's criticism of Gail's hoo-has. I mean, did you see those puppys? Dude, was it a shotgun wedding or what? I had to watch it a second time, because the first time around I couldn't stop starin' like they was gonna jump outta the gate or sumpthin'. Well, now that I have pissed off my only female fan, I guess I'll move on.

Ok, did anybody else catch the Hosea - Leah interaction after he "won" (I use that term loosely because I think the "real" winners were Gail's hoo-has)? Let's just say it looked like there was some tongue involved. Seriously, get a room... a can of Crisco, some rubber gloves, and a small video camera.

Ugh, Fat Tuesday leads to Hungover Wednesday.

Ok, last night after the Art Director's Club meeting and few Maker's on the rocks, I decided it was a good idea to head to Dickson Street and drink myself silly. Basically I sat and watched the Mardi Gras bar-hop while I had a few more Makers and a nice cuban cigar (both of which ensured the state of my head today). Which in turn brings me to the point of this post...

Seeking some greasy carbbage to quell my hangover, I went to the Mellow Mushroom. And seeing as how it just opened, it was my first time. At first I thought it might be hippie snacks but in pizza form. I was delighted and surprised to find that it was very good. Quality ingredients and the main reason of this post... wait for it... their WHOLE WHEAT crust. Yeah, me too. I was like whole wheat, WTF? I gotta say it was an awesome recipe I would love to steal it, as I am on a sort of grail-quest to find the dough that is my quintessential recipe for home. Speaking of which, I have Alton Brown's Good Eats pizza dough episode DVR'd. I haven't watched it yet, and I sure hope it follows through.

Tonight on...

I'm sure every food blog in the world has mentioned Top Chef at least once. And right now, half of them are posting the same crap that I'm about to. And that's because tonight is the season finale.

So far I've been pretty good at predicting who's getting the axe, but week after week I hope it's Carla. Thus I've been losing money on her. The key to predicting is to think like a producer not a chef. Because you see, I've watched every season and now I've realized that it has nothing to do with food, it's all about who the producers want to keep (for their entertainment value). Plus it says that in the credits.

Here's my prediction. The overly cocky chef always makes it to the finale, but never wins. So fuggedabboudit Stefan. That leaves Carla and Hosea. Also Top Chef typically selects the most down to earth chef, in this case it would be Hosea ("Because that's my belief, TOM." yeah you know which episode I'm referring to). So, sticking to the formula... My prediction is Hosea. But, an observation I've made is that three out of the past four seasons have been won by white dudes, do we need another? I dunno.

Obama is on a roll...

Or rather, IN a roll. Check out these tasty looking sushi rolls made to look like President Obama. Yet another example of presidential face eating. 

Head on over to Geekologie to see more pictures and to read more about the Obama Rolls.

President Obamacakes

Luce Foundation Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum 

Obamacakes. No, that's not Michelle's pet name for our commander-n-chief. It's a reference to a cupcake installation at the Smithsonian Museum, by famed cupcakanographer Zilly Rosen of Zillycakes.

"Within minutes nearly all of Lincoln’s face had disappeared. But an hour later — thanks to either full stomachs or a respect for the sitting president — the majority of Mr. Obama’s face was left intact."

Read more at the NYT

Personally, I find it a little strange that the inside of the cupcakes for the Prez were chocolate cupcakes and the ones for Lincoln's face were vanilla cupcakes. I guess it is supposed to add to the realism of eating someone's face? I dunno just seems a bit weird.

Fast Food Hysteria

This has been floating around the web for a while, but it never ceases to amaze me how ridiculous some people can be. Just goes to show the effect of fast food on our culture. After hearing this, I now think it's beginning to affect peoples brains and not just their A$$.

Yeah, the cops should have shown up... To arrest her and her chubby kids.

Lunchtime Leftovers

Leftovers, mmmm. Some foods are just better as leftovers, meat loaf for example. Yes the food that ever reminds me of the fat rocker from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. My wife and I actually prefer meat loaf the next day, the food not the rocker. The recipe is of my own concoction, but it is loosely based off my grandmother's recipe that I will never be able to replicate. Hell, I even use the cast iron skillet to cook it in. One spin I like to put on it is that I throw the skillet and all on the grill and cook it over indirect heat. That smokiness is damn good IMO.

Actually, that isn't what I had for lunch today. I had leftover spaghetti and meatballs, but the recipe for the meatballs was a slight variation of my meat loaf recipe. Basically I subbed italian bread crumbs for the crushed saltines that the meat loaf recipe requires, and ta-da! Meatballs. I rolled'em up and cooked them in the skillet on the grill (of course). Then after I cooked them and let them set up I brought the heat back up by braising them a bit in the green olive marinara I made from scratch. Packed them all in some tupps and took them to work.

Did I mention that they were turkey meatballs? Yeh, it was my first time too.

Arreviderchi, Fabio!

Well I guess you could say I called it, much to my own chagrin. And once again I have lost betting against Carla.

I've had a bit of a man-crush on Fabio as he embodies all the qualities in a chef that I would like to see in my own cooking, who am I kidding I just wish I was as good with the ladies. He's a charmer, that Fabio. Take care buddy and know that I was rooting for you from the beginning.

I think that it's pretty obvious that Stefan is the superior chef, but circumstantially both he and Fabio were clearly out of their element. Creole has a sort of dirty, spicy, rustic quality that can't really be faked. In my opinion I think that Jeff clearly had the better dish, but for some reason using Emeril's Spice is enough to win. Ugh. C'mon TC Producers, stop confusing entertaining for annoying!

That is all.

What I had for dinner...

I apologize for the lack of photo, but it wasn't until after the orgy of awesomeness that I realized my oversight.

The idea for tonight's meal came from the usual source, the food market. I found some nice pork tenderloins. So I made an herb and garlic stuffed pork tenderloin, seared and slow grilled over hickory coals. For the sides I picked up some beautiful brussells sprouts that I cut in half and pan roasted in olive oil with a nice drizzle of burre fondue. For the starch we toasted up some wonderfully crusty bread with olive oil. Mmmm.

This past Christmas I got my wife a "wine wheel" which is a device that allows you to look up the food that you are having and it makes some suggestions for wine pairings. The idea is that I call my wife and let her know what I'm cooking and she picks up a bottle on the way home. Well, the suggestions for tonight's fare were Merlot or a Chianti, and my wife, the wonderful woman that she is, showed up with both... And not surprisingly, we drank both. Which explains why I passed out at 9:00 and am now "awake" and blogging at 2:30 in the morning. Ugh.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Soooo Long Carla. I hope.

Around the office we have the Top Chef pool on who's getting axed next, and I'm darn tired of losing money on Carla week after week. I swear if she doesn't get the boot tonight, I am going to personally call Colecchio and give him a culinary spanking for not axing her on the first episode. How's that for some love? Anyway, I think it will probably be my boy Fabio, but only because he chopped off his broken finger and pan seared that sh*t! YO, FABIO!

Whooo Whooo, Please allow me to introduce myself.

I didn't start cooking until my freshman year in college and the most creativity I ever brought to my food was adding salsa to my mac and cheese. It wasn't until recently that I realized cooking was indeed an art form, if not one of the most challenging. And myself, who participates in all endeavors creative, decided to try to understand it and it's intricacies.

I started this blog as a response to an article I read about publishing your cookbook. Turns out nowadays you can't get published unless you have a blog, hmmm. Ain't that a biotch. Well my other blog I've kept up for a couple of years now and is a huge pain in my arse, I don't know what makes me think I can do this one too. Especially, since I have so much catching up to do.