Living Well

An elegant snack with minimal effort

One Saturday afternoon we were cleaning the house and the creative juices started flowing. Actually I was tired of cleaning and it seemed like a good excuse to get Robyn to keep cleaning while I made a snack. You can have an elegant snack that is simple and easy to make and well presented in about 10 minutes, but if there is a task you do not want to do you may have to milk it until the job is done.

2005 Cakebread, for those special occasions in life like... Getting out of housework!

Step 1 : Get a good bottle of wine. I chose Cakebread because I had it lying in the cellar and this seemed like the perfect occasion to open it, because only Robyn and I were there to enjoy it. I knew odds were that I would get to drink more wine than her. If you have a good wine don’t waste it on family and friends, don’t share it. Drink it all yourself and enjoy every drop. If you have never heard of Cakebread it is a Napa Valley wine that is good but getting over priced at stores, $50-$60 is what you can find it for on-line.

Step 2: Take out some different cheeses. I like variety so I used Baldersons 2 year aged cheddar available at Costco, and medium yellow cheddar available anywhere, along with some Gouda – my favorite. Slice them and plate them in a fashion that is pleasing to the eye. Presentation is important all the time. Plain simple white plates always display the food well.

Step 3: Pour some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on a plate and sprinkle some Italian seasoning (if you don’t have any just use rosemary and oregano) into the oil mixture. Then take some olives out of a jar and garnish the plate.

Step 4:  Heat some bread for dipping in the oven about 5 minutes and rub a stick of butter on them. They will melt the butter on to themselves and become shiny. You can take them out of the freezer if you make them ahead of time and bake them fresh. Click for Recipe.

Step 5: Eat, Drink, and hopefully get rewarded by your significant other!!

Sommelier Course

If you know me now you would not believe that I never drank until I was 21. That’s the legal age in the U.S. and what’s more than that, I did not even drink on my 21st birth day because I was in Officer Candidate School in the United States Marine Corps. Now I love wine in particular as well as scotch, the drinks that allow you to compare and contrast while you enjoy them. I started drinking wine at family holidays and with co-workers at Ritchie Bros. Thanks for the introduction Dave! Since then I had the experience of attending a wine sommelier course in Calgary as a birthday gift from Robyn. We tried 140 wines through this course, it was a great deal for only $500. You can’t even buy one bottle of some of the stuff we drank for $500. Of course I don’t remember the names of every wine but I do have a few favorites. We learned about new world and old world, or fruit driven vs. earth driven. We held blind tastings, learned the characteristics that define a wine such as terrior, pronounced ter-wah and means  sense of place. It pertains to the characteristics that a geography lends to a wine. If you ever get to attend a wine tasting or wine course GO!! Don’t be afraid that they will be snooty and you won’t know anything. You don’t have to be a wine geek, modern term for connoisseur, to enjoy wine events. If you like wine, true wine lovers will enjoy your company no matter what you know or don’t know, as long as you like wine. The world of wine is evolving to a consumer driven industry, meaning whatever you like and are willing to pay for is what is good. I learned so much but still have so much to learn, and I look forward to the adventure. The best part about learning about wine, is that you get to drink it!

Cheers,

Cheers to the best school you will ever attend, drinking school!

Tools of the Trade

Perhaps why I love cooking so much is that I am comfortable in my kitchen and cooking never seems like work. Any job can be made easier if you have the right tools. Two of my most prized kitchen tools are my knives,

JA Henkels Twin Cuisine

I use them every day and have a different knife for cutting different products, and ladies they are not screw drivers, pry bars, or for cutting paper, plastic, cardboard etc. They are high quality kitchen knives, mine are J.A. Henkel. You should be comfortable handling your knives and keep them sharp. You can get professional grade knives or mid grade like mine, but I would not reccomend low quality knives. A knife will be used in your kitchen more than any other thing when you cook fresh foods.

A basic variety of knives

A few basic knives you should have are a 8″ Chefs knife, 7″ Santoku knive/hollow edge for cutting produce, 8″ carving knife for meats, 8″ bread knife for bread only (not wax candles) and finally a 4″ pearing knife and a sharpener. These are the basics, you can buy sets but make sure they have these key knives in them. The second tool that will make your cooking life easier is a mix master, mine is by Kitchen Aid.

It will save you time and energy mixing, whipping, and kneading.  When I am

really into what I am doing I make an absolute mess so an apron and a good dishwasher comes in handy too!

Cooking

Whenever you have the opportunity to serve always put your heart into it and you will Suprise and Delight

Cooking is a great passion of mine that probably stems from my love of food. I love to eat! I remember when I was in elementary school I would go to my Nanny’s for an after school snack. Usually bread and butter, or a fried chimichanga, or if I was lucky she had fresh made pies. Its no wonder I was a husky boy, because the beverage of choice was always sweet tea. Sweet tea works wonders as a cool refreshing beverage in the Texas heat. It also will add pounds and inches if you drink too much as it contains lots of sugar, and that is what makes it so good. ( I will post a recipe soon) During my youth I was in the Boy Scouts and Order of the Arrow in Dallas Texas, and yes I am an Eagle Scout. I was the kitchen lead for a couple of years. That gave me lots of opportunity to cook in an industrial kitchen, preparing from 500-2000 meals in a weekend. It was a great opportunity to learn lots of large scale, more general cooking techniques and a few tricks such as cooking with parchment paper.

Whether you are cooking for 1 or feeding the masses, put your heart into it and it will always taste better!