December 28, 2008

Tuesday @ Chef T's

Chef T's Happy Holidays Party


Wow. I have to say it, WOW. What a great party. The food, the wine, the conversation. Wow. Kudos, thanks, pats on the back first. Karen, thanks for those great martini's. Both the peppermint and chocolate went down a little too smooth. Chef Tahya. Thank you for providing the magnificent beef loin and making the Bernaise sauce on site. Also, the Egg Nog was yummy. Movie-Man Sandy. You stepped up this time in a big way. Your shrimp cocktail was delicious. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and the cocktail sauce, excellent. Baseball Mike, thanks for bringing Tracy because she brought that simply awesome coconut cream pie. Even after eating our huge dinner that pie was scrumptious. And thanks for directing us in the best possible order to drink the wines. I think everyone thought you were spot on. (except me, I personally thought the '90 should have gone first, before the '93) and for bringing the delicious dessert wine. So again, thanks to everyone for making our first of many (hopefully) Tuesday @ Chef T's holiday party a great success. On a sadder note, we were sorry that Tracy P. could not join us because of a conflict at work. Hopefully next year Tracy. Lastly, thanks to everyone for at least trying my Brussel Sprouts.

This party took some time getting scheduled but in the end, after making adjustments for everyone, we all got it in the history books. Thanks to our guests Sherri, Tracy and Karen. We appreciate you hanging out with us.

Before going on to the menu I'll pat myself on the back for opening up an amazing vertical of wine. Opus One. 1989 - 1995. The talk at the table was a possible street value of over $2000. So Happy Holidays to all who got to raise one of our glasses.


The Wine. Opus One. 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 & 1995.
Also, Margan 2005 Botrytis Semillon.












Our Menu:
Chocolate Mint and Peppermint Martini's

Apps:
Shrimp cocktail
Gravlax on pumpernickel bread with mustard dill creme fraiche
Crudités of sliced and whole raw vegetables including celery sticks, carrot sticks, bell pepper strips and broccoli florets with blue cheese dipping sauce.

First Course:
Cream of Wild Mushroom soup

Main Course:
Roasted Whole Beef Loin with Bernaise sauce
Scalloped Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan Cheese
Green Beans

Dessert:
Coconut Cream Pie

Evening wrap up:
Egg Nog with or without brandy



From the Tuesday @ Chef T's family; Movie-Man Sandy, Chef T, Chef Tahya and Baseball Mike, may the spirit of the holidays live within you, your family and those around you. Happy Holidays.

Pilgrim's Pride Bankruptcy

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side so he could sell his shares of Pilgrim's Pride before it was worth NOTHING. Shares of Pilgrim's Pride fell 52.6 cents, or 46 percent, to 62.4 cents before trading was halted on Monday December 1. The company's stock has nearly eroded from its 52-week high of $29.59. Nice job Pilgrim's Pride. Within the year, your stock was trading at $29.59 and was down to 62.4 cents before trading of it was suspended by the New York Stock Exchange.

According to an Associated Press article on Yahoo Finance, "Pilgrim's Pride Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday December 1, hurt like other meat producers by volatile feed prices and slumping demand but also hobbled by an unmanageable debt load."

O.K., demand for chicken is down? Really? Is that what people do when the economy starts slipping? They stop ordering chicken on their Caesar Salad and just order a plain cheese pizza at C.P.K. instead of the BBQ Chicken pizza. Maybe so. But I think it's interesting that Pilgrim's Pride, the countries largest chicken producer which controlls some 23% of the chicken market, is bankrupt. What is up with all of our huge corporations? AIG, The Big Three Auto companies and now Pilgrim's Pride. They all get run into the ground because they're run on CREDIT. As a country, we need small businesses to flourish because that's what truly keeps the economy moving. The little companies, the ones that are usually run without much credit. When a small company makes a profit, they might pay some bonuses, expand or even give raises to it's employees. But what do the big companies do? Pilgrim's Pride did $2.17 billion in business in their 4th quarter. That's $8.5 billion per year. That's a pretty big business. But how much of that business is run on CREDIT? Money that Pilgrim's Pride doesn't have? They borrow and borrow and borrow so they can keep going. Sounds a lot like the american consumer, which has managed to increase personal debt 400% since 2000. Nice. Because of course, we all know that operating at a loss, with huge debt is the AMERICAN WAY. Just look at the Airline industry. They operate at a loss every quarter, yet they continue to stay in business. Why is it that the government is afraid to let these huge companies fail? If Pilgrim's Pride were to fail, do you think all the chicken in your grocery store would vanish? Doubtful. "See a need, fill a need" (Robots) some chicken producer like Tyson would step in and fill the void. And that would be a good thing, because then Tyson and other producers would have a increase in sales. Good for them. What's sad about filing for Chapter 11 is that all of the money owed to creditors before the filing is basically wiped out. So all of the little companies that Pilgrim's Pride owes money to, companies that really need that money to survive, will be left out in the Texas sun. Yet Pilgrim's Pride will get to continue to operate and only have to pay on the new debt. I wonder how many of those smaller companies will fail, yet we'll never read about them. And I also wonder if under their bankruptcy filing, Pilgrim's Pride CEO and president Clint Rivers gets to keep his job. Seems like he hasn't done a very good job this past year. Maybe it's time they sell off their assets and let the other companies, like Tyson, pick up the slack.

December 2, 2008

Tuesday @ Chef T's

The South Shall Rise Again.

Welcome back from the wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Hopefully everyone had a great Turkey day and your football teams won their games. Thanks to Chef Tahya for all his hard work on the Hushpuppies, Corn Chowduh, Fried Chicken and Cheesy Grits. Thanks Baseball Mike for the great selection of bubbly and wine. We'll forgive you for forgetting the evening wrap up Riesling because everything you brought was great (even Tracy). We happily indulged in;

Makers Mark Mint Julep
Toso Brut
Penfolds Eden Valley 03 Reserve Riesling
Joseph Drouhin 04 Chablis Premier Cru
Sonoma-Cutrer 04 Les Pierres Chardonnay
J. Wilkes 04 Bien Nacido Hillside Pinot Noir
Korem 02 Isola Dei Nuraghi

Our menu for the evening:
Apps:
Mint Juleps
Catfish Cakes
Hushpuppies

Main Course:
Corn Chowder
Southern Fried Chicken
Calabash Coleslaw
Cheezy Grits

Dessert:
Apples in Wine & Cinnamon Sauce over Vanilla Ice Cream

The Tuesday @ Chef T group welcomed a new guest, Tracy, who was introduced to the group by Baseball Mike. Nice job Mike. Great wine, Great girl. Hopefully Tracy will join us again at our next event. Although with our little "He said/She said" banter, it may be a little more difficult. Tracy, we're not usually that overly animated although we are all very passionate. Thanks for joining us and please, come visit us again at our next event.

Ciao