California, Part 3

(August 4th, 2012)  From the table to the vineyards.  Maybe that's the opposite progression of the eating philosophy that we subscribe to, but when traveling Northward in California, you'd be remiss for not making a foray into Sonoma or Napa.

And so, to Sonoma we drove.  First stop: Gundlach Bundschu.  Funny name, especially when it gets abbreviated to Gun Bun, but the easy mnemonic comes in the form of a pictogram:

Gun. Lock. Bun. Shoe.  Simple, ey?

One of the nice things about Sonoma is that you could rent a bike and tour all of the wineries that way, without worrying about driving after drinking.  But, for those of you inspired by that, be mindful that apparently you can be ticketed for biking under the influence there...I kid you not.  Go in a group, that will make things easier.

We, on the other hand, drove.  We had a picnic lunch that we had put together in Oakland the day before, and decided to enjoy a few glasses of wine over a lazy afternoon there.  Apparently I don't do the wine touring quite right as I just visit about one vineyard a day instead of the recommended 'as many as you possibly can...'  But, we had a good experience...until the bees found us.

The picturesque view from our picnic table at Gundlach Bundschu.

We ended up leaving there with a bottle of Mountain Cuvee to take home (thank goodness that we were flying Southwest: the first checked bag is free!).

Afterwards, we headed up to Cloverdale to get situated at our B&B (Auberge on the Vineyard).  Everything about this trip was planned pretty last second (as in, day of in most cases), so I'm still surprised on how lucky we were.  Auberge on the Vineyard was a wonderful and sweet little place...somewhat isolated, but perfect for running and relaxing.  The only complaint, really, was how far North it was...but if you're doing things leisurely, this isn't an issue.

View from the B&B.  Our window/balcony had a less obstructed view of the vineyard, but I liked this view just fine.

Dinner that evening was at Diavola Pizzeria and Salumeria in Geyserville.  Another hidden gem of the Sonoma valley!  First off, the restaurant was cute/well or simply decorated:

Above our table.

At our table.

 Second, the food was fantastic (I did say it was a gem, remember!)

Octopus!

The Inferno plus Prosciutto

Affogato.  Yumm.

Appetizer was grilled Mediterranean octopus, with fingerling potatoes, fennel, olio nuovo, celery heart, parsley, bottarga, and mandarins.  Grilling the octopus was a nice change from how you usually have it.  Highly recommended method for cooking eight legs from now on!

The main course was the Inferno Pizza, with roasted red peppers, tomato, basil, mozzarella, spicy italian peppers, and prosciutto added at our request.  We are carnivores after all, and our meal (not counting the octopus), was awfully light on meat.  The spice was just right.

And for dessert, Affogato.  You take the coffee, pour it over the ice cream, and dunk in the biscotti.  How had I never had this before this summer?  Where was I raised, inside an affogato hating cave?  Who knows, but I'm certainly making up for lost time...

Now, if only I had a bowl of Affogato for dessert tonight...

California, Part 2

(August 3rd, 2012) You may be wondering what happened to "California, Part 1."  Well, my visit to Livermore was a relatively uneventful work trip punctuated by sushi with Nate and 40 some miles of running over the three days there.  It was nice catching up with Mr. Young, as always, but I shant go into details of that here...and the running?  Well, I'll talk about that later...

So, "California, Part 2!"

After leaving Livermore (and fueling up at Panera...I can't begin to describe how happy I am to have them in ABQ finally!!!), I picked up Kim at the airport and eventually made my way to Chez Panisse.  Yes, the same Chez Panisse that is the holy grail of farm to table cooking and slow food.  After hearing about Alice Waters for years, I couldn't, in good conscience pass up any opportunity to finally dine there. 

You'll be pleased to know that the food lived up to, and even exceeded some, expectations.  One consequence, though, of waiting so long before writing up my thoughts is that I tend to forget some of the finer details.  But, for you dear readers, I shall endeavor to recall as best I can...

The quaint entrance to this dining mecca, located in downtown Berkeley, CA.

Shaved fennel and sweet pepper salad with green olives and spicy pistachios

Braised and grilled Watson Ranch lamb leg with corn, summer squash, tomatillos, and padron peppers

Clams, shrimp, and squid roasted in the wood oven with chorizo, new potatoes, and allioli

Buttermilk panna cotta with mulberry sauce

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  The salad, shaved fennel and sweet pepper salad with green olives and spicy pistachios, didn't sound like the most delicious thing on the menu, but it certainly sounded like one of the most interesting that night.  I always enjoy a good fennel dish from time to time, so I figured why not?  It didn't disappoint.  The licorice-flavor of the fennel blended in so well with the other subtle and big flavors in the salad.  Who would've guessed?

Next, the main courses were the lamb and the clams/shrimp/squid.  The lamb had been cooked just right for my taste, and the tomatillos - oh, how good they were.  Small little things like that always go a long way towards accenting a dish and putting that something extra there to make it fantastic.  Kim's dish (the clams/shrimp/squid) was good from what I remember, but at this point my memory is failing me.  Sure, I could tell you that the squid was chewy like you'd expect, but I'm not sure that really helps...

Last up, the panna cotta with mulberry sauce...fried dough, sweet berry sauce, and panna cotta, how could you go wrong?

The rest of the trip to Berkley continued the high bar that Chez Panisse set.  Just around the corner was Alegio Chocolate.  This hidden gem proved to be a genuine find.  Very artistically crafted chocolates with ganaches that were simply amazing...

Alegio Chocolate

Pretty chocolates abound...

Then last, but not least, was our hotel.  Somehow we managed to get a last minute deal on a local resort, so we spent next to nothing to stay at the Claremont Resort.  This place oozed luxury, we could hardly believe that we managed to luck out and get a room there on a moment's notice (for some reason, we hadn't even tried to book a hotel until around lunch time...).  The picture, blatantly borrowed from their website, shows you some of the grandeur:

The Claremont Hotel and Spa.

 And for your orientation, it was in the hills overlooking Berkeley.

Okay, on to Sonoma with the next post...more about Berkeley and the banana slugs when I get to writing about running in California...

Training Log, 7/1-7/31

So, I lied.  Or rather, I was wrong, which, in a way, is even worse.

The last post was not my last one for describing July, but rather this one is...I've neglected to mention my training on here for quite a while.  I think, in part, this is probably due to taking a few weeks easier than normal as I was sick for most of the time since the last training log entry...first shingles (I know, shingles?!?!  but sadly yes, shingles), then some opportunistic infection.  As a result, my training for July was the lowest mileage month for me this year, checking in at some 208 miles...a far cry from the 10 miles/day average that I had been doing.  The last few weeks of July were just about back to my normal standard (despite being sick still...I was too frustrated to take it easy anymore though), both clocking in around 65 miles.  Anyways, the numbers for those of you interested...

July 2-8: 34 miles
July 9-15: 28 miles
July 16-22: 66 miles
July 23-29: 61 miles

Year to date at the end of July: 1821 miles
Last 365 days at the end of July: 3058 miles

Okay, now on to the adventures that August brought us!

Edit: How could I have left off the Wildwood Trail?  One of my favorite things about being in Portland was doing a long run along the Wildwood Trail.  This hilly, rolling trail starts just West of downtown by the botanical and Japanese gardens.  It then goes up and through the arboretum before settling into large, rolling hills through a temperate forest.  Peaceful and beautiful, especially the arboretum, which has regions of forests from across the world...

Candle Light Truffles

Believe it or not, this entry should catch us up through the end of July.  I know, I know, my how I've fallen behind.  But I'm immersed in a sea of photos to remind me of where I've been and what I've done, so it's only a matter of time till they make their way onto this blog.

Back towards the end of July I was asked to help cater Kim's sister's bachelorette party/family dinner.  Well, hours of cooking later, we managed to pull it off.  My favorite contribution (not pictured though) was the pork belly.  I've done a bit of experimenting now that I have a steady supply of pork belly (thanks to Keller's as I've previously mentioned), and I've settled on two simple versions: maple and BBQ.  The preparation for both versions is the same: slit the pork belly into 1-2" wide strips, cut diagonal stripes every few inches into the strips, fill the stripes with pinches of salt, and then soak in the marinade of choice.

For the maple, I used black Himalayan rock salt.  This is one of the few fancy salts that I didn't procure at the Meadows.  In fact, they didn't even have it (though they had a similar salt from India...).  My limited supply of black Himalayan rock salt comes from my days of backpacking through Nepal.  At the end of a dingy alley in the middle of Kathmandu, I found a spice trader who had what I was initially looking for: pink Himalayan rock salt.  Next to it, though, I saw these gleaming black crystals.  Ominous really.  And, of course, I couldn't resist.  The black Himalayan rock salt is characterized by a highly sulfurous taste.  Think bacon and eggs breakfast...this salt would be perfect for accentuating those flavors.  The rest of the recipe isn't so complicated...just maple syrup, and lot's of it (enough to coat everything).

For the BBQ, I used my own Smokey BBQ sauce.  Smokey because of the sheer number of smoked peppers that go into making it.  People who come by my apartment always notice and comment on the fact that my balcony looks like a lush oasis in the middle of the desert here.  Well, one of the many things grown out there is peppers, and thanks to the Brothertons, those peppers get smoked and turned into spice every fall.  The accompanying salt for the BBQ flavored is a smoked Welsh salt.  Halen mon gold has quickly become one of my favorite salts to use at home...I've almost run out of the supply that I brought back from Portland!

One of the appetizers that ended up not getting made (when the number of attendees was revised from 15 to 45), I was especially proud of.  Here's my take on Caprese Salad:

Caprese Salad, Matt's way.

A little sloppy looking, I know, but that's from my test batch.  Cherry tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil from my garden, and 18 year aged balsamic vinegar.  Next time calls for more basil.

Now, onto the title of the post.  One of the other dishes that I ended up making for the bachelorette party was truffles.  Even though I keep my apartment cold for Bandit, the way I make them is still quite touchy...in fact, I can't keep the light on in my dining room as I do the final preparation, so I'm forced to make them by candle light.  Kim loved the concept, and the two of us brainstormed for a potential future brand of boutique chocolates: Candle Light Truffles ((tm) or (c) whichever it's supposed to be), made by candle light for enjoyment by candle light.

Front: Irish Coffee, back: chocolate almond butter

The Irish Coffee variety is my favorite to make (and eat) by far.  The interior is a Bailey's/Kahlua chocolate ganache, that's coated with an espresso and chocolate exterior.  The chocolate peanut butter is a bit simpler, the interior is almond butter, almond milk, and dark chocolate, and the coating is white chocolate.  White chocolate is always a bit tricky to get right, which is why some of the truffles look whiter than others.  Not shown, because the batter is still in my freezer, is a chocolate caramel variety.  For some reason, I can never get my home made dulce de leche to solidify enough for use as the center of a truffle.  I'm going to have to see if anything from my Feran Adria chemistry set can help with that problem...

Seattle - last but not least...

(July 8th, 2012) All things being left up to me, my first night in Seattle would have been spent dining at Quinn's.  No, it doesn't have some super fancy, internationally acclaimed reputation that precedes it, but in passing by it I just picked up a vibe that drew me to it.  I almost didn't make it there at all, in fact.  I was originally scheduled to fly out Sunday afternoon, but while sitting outside chatting with a pair of Kim's friends, I received a half dozen texts from Southwest about how my flights were constantly being delayed and pushed back then moved forward. Well, I could only take so much of having my flights tweaked like that so, given how great of a company Southwest is, I changed my flights to Monday morning and only had to pay the difference in air fare.  Why can't all airlines still be people friendly like that?

So, there we were with an extra night in Seattle.  Sounds like the perfect opportunity to revisit the previously missed hole in the wall known as Quinn's Pub. As eager as I am to talk about the food, equally impressive was the drink selection.  I think some drool just escaped my lips and splattered against my key board as I recall their craft beer list.  The first bottle for the evening was A Saison Darkly, followed up by the Chimay Trippel, on draft.  That's right, Chimay on draft.  Those two beers were both exquisite in their own rights, but what really gets my heart racing is the last bottle that I sampled that evening: Ayinger Ur-Weisse.  Months ago I broke my tradition of only ordering beers that could be described as some shade of night while at Marble in Santa Fe.  That afternoon spent with the Brothertons found me ordering a double white ale that made me completely reconsider my opinions about non-opaque beers.  Ever since then I've been open to trying other white or Belgian ales, but nothing ever came anywhere close, until the Ayinger Ur-Weisse.  It's hard to describe why I consider it such a fantastic beer drinking experience - it's a light, summer beer that's crisp and unfiltered.  It doesn't sound too special, I admit, but sipping it was sublime.  The perfect ending to a good meal.  Speaking of which, it's about time that I describe it, don't you think?

In looking at the menu, I was faced with a severe case of indecision: too many things looked too good to not order.  So, I did the only sensible thing possible: I ordered them all.

Sauteed Swiss chard, bluebird farro, caramelized onion, and marscapone

Ever since my visit to One Market Restaurant in San Francisco, I've not been able to get enough farro in my diet.  It shouldn't be any surprise, then, that the first dish to come out was the Swiss chard and farro.  I'm slightly surprised, to be honest, that I haven't taken the time to find a local source of Farro in Albuquerque, but then again I have been gone for the most part...

Duck confit and foie gras croquettes with a stone fruit and mustard sauce

As any readers of this blog are well aware of, I'm a sucker for duck.  Foie gras, for the ethical implications associated with it, is something that even though I enjoy, I usually don't seek out.  These croquettes were a complete gastronomical experience in every bite...crispy exterior and soft interior.  Savory meat with a tangy sauce.  The only thing missing was some visual firework display...but that was taken care of with the next dish:

Bone marrow, served with bacon and fresh herbs

Bone marrow is one of those ingredients that I'm always curious about.  I've had a few fun experiences cooking with it, but I've never been offered a chunk of bone marrow to eat as is.  Usually when you cook with it, it's in chopped up, inch long sections of bone...not something that's easily accessible, and a lot of work to get out any way other than just melting out.  But this, six inch long segments that was ready to be spooned straight to your mouth?  This was something new and, for lack of a better way to put it, an eye closing experience (closing - so I can just focus on the taste, texture, and smell of what I'm eating).  Whenever my sister sees me make this face, she says that that's the best compliment I could possibly give a chef or a restaurant.

Pork belly and crispy pig ears, served over watercress and frisee salad, pickled ramps, and bing cherry compote

The other ingredient that I've been going crazy over this summer, ever since my first visit to Farm and Table, is pork belly.  I've enjoyed it several times since then, but it was the dish at Quinn's that launched me into a mission to obtain (at Keller's Farm Stores it turns out) and experiment with it on my own.

Orange flower pound cake with a ginger-peach compote, and lavender panna cotta with berry sauce

The fifth and final dish for the night was a pair of desserts (again, we couldn't settle on just one!).  I'm going to have to wait for my fact checker to refresh my memory about these since the four preceding dishes and beers far outweigh them in my memory.

And, believe it or not, we've now reached the culinary end to my North-West road trip.  Hope you enjoyed the food pictures.  More coming soon!

Oysters and Salmon and Crabs, Oh My!

(July 7th, 2012) Elizabeth’s still jealous.

I think that might be a theme to this summer really.  I’ve gone overboard on dining experiences, and she’s been forced to read about them and experience them vicariously through me and my blog.  And if you thought that it just wasn’t fair to this point, just wait till I get to the Berkley post in a few editions.

Seattle provided another ample wave of things for her to be jealous over, namely Sitka and Spruce, but, like with all things, I must start at the beginning and work my way forward…

Not everything we made it to was superbly gourmet and fantastically, melting in my mouth, sloberingly good.  The first restaurant that we went to, in fact, barely will be recorded here.  But, the thing that set it apart from my recent experiences is that it was an authentic Chinese restaurant, plus bakery, plus boba tea shop, in the middle of a trendy neighborhood.  Albuquerque, are you listening, why can’t we have just one of these?  I wouldn’t mind the nauseatingly proliferate amount of greenery either…’

Regent Bakery and Cafe

 

The gourmand portion of the trip started during our first morning in Seattle with a trip down to the farmer’s market, Pike's Place.

 

mmmm, all the fresh fish...

Pike's Place - Not just fish, but flowers, meats, fresh fruit, and so much more!

Not shown, for more reasons than I care to list, the original Starbucks, complete with the slightly off kilter version of the logo, menaced behind us.

As we didn’t have the time, nor the means really, to satisfactorily enjoy the sea food, we later found ourselves wandering into Elliot's Oyster House.  Mmmm, oysters…I think that after this trip I went through a mild withdrawal from lack of fresh oysters...the thought of living near the coast again is very appealing...

A sampling of oysters for lunch

  

For those of you following along at home: Humbolt, South Sound, Fanny Bay, Bay Water, Miyagi, and Muptor Bay.  My favorites were from 12 to 3 o’clock on the plate.  I think there was a time, though it seems such a distant memory ago, when I thought that all oysters were created equally.  Well, my friends, I’m glad that there’s no ‘Oyster Bill of Rights,’ because, just like with salt, there’s an unending bouquet of oyster flavors that treat me to new sensations every time I slurp down another briney body.

Before leaving Elliot's, I filled up with a bowl of Ciopino.  mmmm, I can never get enough of this seafood stew.

Matt at his finest, just before digging into the ciopino!

By far, the highlight of the trip, and really highlight of my summer culinary experiences to this point, was Sitka and Spruce.  Yes, the same, aforementioned, sibling jealousy inducing restaurant as from the start of this post.  What makes Sitka and Spruce so special you might ask?  Simply put, they get it.  If I thought that Pok Pok was special since they induced a pure harmony of flavors, textures, and appearances, Sitka and Spruce was the testosterone induced, one-upping sequel that just had to prove that it could be done even better. 

Realizing that my memory is far too flawed to keep track of these things, I developed the habit here of taking the menu home with me as a reminder of what I dined upon:

The king bolete with giblets, cherries, and fino sherry

For those of you like me who had no idea as to what a 'king bolete' was before I ordered this dish, it's a fancy type of mushroom evidently.  Continuing the aforementioned theme of compliments and contrasts, this dish picked up right where Pok Pok left off...savory giblets and mushrooms with sweet cherries and the sherry glaze. 

Messy Dungeness crab with treviso and salted lemon

So messy, but oh so good.  It's always slow eating working your way through a crab in shell...but worth every ounce of effort it takes to get the meat out.
 

Poached halibut with cucumbers in whey, purslane and sumac

See those cucumbers?  They provided just the right amount of tartness to compliment the delicate flavor of the halibut.  The purslane are the little green leaves.  Almost all of the ingredients are locally sourced/harvested, which should explain all of the unusual ingredients during this trip.

The trappings: cracked Winthrop emmer, beet green-yogurt salad, and nan-e lavash.

Not shown - whole beets with tarragon, yogurt, and za'atar.  The only reason this didn't receive a picture is that it was eaten far too quickly for me to possibly have taken a picture of it first. In fact, this dish launched a new phase of turnip cooking for us.

This post seems to have grown to pretty long, so up next will be Quinn's Pub.

Updated 8/22/12: Ciopino added.

Seattle - The Apartment

(July 6th, 2012) With a trunk full of salt and a box of donuts safely buckled into the front seat, I set off through the Pacific Northwest for the road portion of my trip to Seattle.  Winding through the coniferous forests while being serenaded over the radio by Johnny Cash singing Hurt, Cake performing Long Time, Of Monsters and Men, and many other bands, I set out to meet my once and future running buddy Yev.

Stock photo of Yev from a run through the Pecos.  On that day, Yev learned the hard way that you shouldn't store a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in your water bottle's pouch...

Yevgeniy Kaufman, a name I always easily remember as I fondly recall reading through Yevgeniy Zamyatin’s We, happened to be in Seattle that week on his apartment hunting trip.  Serendipitously, Kim was in flight to Seattle in order to rent out the apartment she owned there as her last tenant had just moved out.  The last thing she said to me before taking off was ‘There’re too many people that want to check this out, can’t you just find someone for me and take care of it?’  Well, little did she know that, upon landing, I already had her prospective tenant lined up and ready to view the place.  It’s always nice when things can work out that easily, especially since most things in life are far from easy now days.

Kim’s (and now Yev’s for the duration of his lease) apartment was our base of operations for the weekend.  With a borrowed air mattress for a bed, a borrowed shower curtain and single towel, we managed to have a rather cozy stay.  The apartment itself was settled in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, kind of the trendy/gay/young/up all night area that just screams out to twenty and thirty somethings without a family to live here!  Up all night, and slightly hung over in the mornings, the neighborhood lacked for no small amount of entertainment between the drag shows, gourmet restaurants, themed bars (one was in a former funeral home…I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest), and open parks filled with throngs of people enjoying life and bicycle polo.

Don’t get me wrong, other neighborhoods had a certain charm too…the fish markets

  

Pike's Place

the statue of Lenin surrounded by fire and guns

The controversial addition of Lenin to the Freemont neighborhood in Seattle.

 

and a troll under the bridge

No Mai there...Kim had to keep looking elsewhere...

amongst other oddities, but it was the Capitol Hill area that I’d want to live while young and single. 

Next up: the food of Seattle (did you expect anything less?)