March 17, 2009

Tuesday with Chef T

It's Keen to be Green. Happy St. Patricks Day. What probably was going to be just an O.K. event turned out to be one of the best dinners yet. Everything, and I mean everything was great. Baseball Mike, thanks for bringing the beer. A little practice on making Black N Tans for next year so they're more Black N Tan instead of brown. :) Chef Tahya, wow, what an amazing Corned Beef. It was awesome. And the grilled Cabbage was also really good. Sandy, thanks for stepping up and making the Butterscotch Pie again. The salt amount was right however the amount of filling did seem a bit low. Did you happen to burn some of the filling to the pan? Just a thought. Everyone brought their "A" game and the event was awesome. Our menu;



Sauteed Salmon w/ Raisin Caper butter
Corned Beef Brisket w/ sweet mustard glaze
Guinness spicy mustard sauce
Grilled Cabbage
Smashed Potatoes

Butterscotch Pie

Cigars on the patio. (thanks Baseball Mike)

Thanks to everyone for participating.

March 3, 2009

Tuesday with Chef T



Happy Birthday Schaweetie. So it's Karen's big "4 - 2". Yaaahoooo. I decided to use the number "4" and "2" candle's instead of 42 small candles. That way the fire department didn't have to be on stand-by. Everything was great, and I mean EVERYTHING. First, Baseball Mike. Thank you for making a Chocolate Milk run. Couldn't have tasted the great chocolate martini's without it. We all appreciate your speedy driving. Also, thanks for the wine. In addition to what Movie-man brought, I'm sure we all had enough to keep us happy. Next, Tracy, thank you very much for the awesome Bruschetta. I can still taste the tomatoes. Yum. The stuffed mushroom caps were also amazing. I think at that point I had already eaten too much. Yummy. I know that stuffed mushroom are a pain in the *%$@*. I used to have those and stuffed shells on my catering menu and decided to remove them after I did a graduation party and had to stuff 200 shells. NEVER AGAIN I promised myself. So, I can empathize with your experience. Lots of work but I think everyone appreciated them, they really were great. Movie-man, nice job on the shrimp and a big THANK YOU for stepping up and doing them in the first place. Karen appreciated it and I'm sure the rest of the guests did as well. Also, thanks for most of the wine we all enjoyed. Chef Tahya, thank you for the vegetable medley, shredding the Brussel Sprouts (about as much fun as stuffing shells), and helping with the dishes. Not that I'm one to pat myself on the back, but I will say the birthday cake was pretty darn good. Oh, sorry, before that we had the Beef Tenderloin w/ mushroom ragout and the Brussel Sprouts with parmesan cheese. Yummy. The menu was sort of built around Karens' wishes and I know she very much appreciated everybody's efforts.
Our Birthday Menu for Chef T's lovely wife Karen;

Chocolate Martini

Bruschetta
Stuffed Mushroom Caps
Shrimp Cocktail

Herb crusted Beef Tenderloin
Mixed vegetable medley with home grown pumpkin
Shredded Brussel Sprouts w/ Parmesan cheese

Red Velvet Cake








Our wines:
Marc Kreydenweiss Andlau Riesling 2001
Marc Kreydenweiss Kritt Gewurztraminer "Les Charmes" 2002
Torbreck "The Steading" 2002
Still Water Vyds Syrah 2005
Clarendon Hills Moritz Vyd Shiraz 1.75ML 1999
Stonestreet Legacy 1995






Thanks to everyone. Another stellar event. The friends, the food, the wine... it was all great and I know Karen had a great birthday.

Ciao

February 10, 2009

Tuesday with Chef T

Thank you Chef Tahya, Baseball Mike and Baseball Mikes significant other Tracy for joining me for another Tuesday with Chef T. Originally, I had set out a rather interesting menu to help celebrate the upcomming Cupid's Day (Valentines Day). This original menu was for our theme Hearts Aflame:
Braised Rhubarb
Roasted Red Potatoes
Sauteed Chicken Hearts
Butterscotch Pie (Movie-man Sandy ReDoo)

Unfortunately, the joke was that most everyone took it seriously and bowed out of attending. Too bad, so sad because the actual menu and one of the best dinners yet consisted of;

Tuscan White Bean Dip with toasted French Bread
Roasted Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes and Black Olives
Bucati Pasta with Meatballs and creamy tomatoe sauce
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

We enjoyed many good wines and one not so good (noted by *)thanks to Baseball Mike. Our wine list was:

Cougar Crest Viognier 2006
Masi Masianco 2005 *
Amavi Semillon 2005
Cougar Crest Dedication One NV
Cougar Crest Merlot 2005
Cougar Crest Cabernet Franc 2006
Cougar Crest Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Cougar Crest Syrah 2004
Michele Chiarlo Barbera D'Asti "La Court" 2001
Donna Fusata Passito Di Pantelleria "Ben Rye" 2005

Thank you Chef Tahya for making the meatballs and sauce. Wow, it was some Good Eats. Tracy, thanks for bringing the dessert and joining our little foodie gang for yet another dining adventure. And a big thanks to everyone for a wonderful evening of great food and friendship. See you on the 3rd.

January 13, 2009

Tuesday @ Chef T's

Thanks to Chef Tahya for hosting the event. Warming winters chill was our theme and Cassoulet was the entree of choice. So, our menu was;
Winter Salad w/ Vinegarette
Cassoulet
Butterscotch Pie

Collection of French Wine from Baseball Mike

Everything was great. Well, except for the pie. Movie-man Sandy brought the pie. O.K., I realize that you're not a cook Sandy. You did a great job with the shrimp and other items you brought to the holiday party, but this dish, YUK. Here are some cooking tips for you:
#1. Salt will NOT "burn off" when it bakes. What would be the point of seasoning something then?
#2. When you're transcribing something, make sure you write down the right amount. 1/4 teaspoon is not in any way comparable to 1/4 CUP. In fact, why not just use your computer printer?
#3. If you've over salted something, adding additional sugar isn't going to help. Lemon juice can fix some MINOR issues when braising or stewing something, but NOT when baking. A potato can work as well to draw out some of the seasoning but again, NOT when baking.
#4. Just for your future reference. C = Cup, T or Tbs = Tablespoon and t or tsp = teaspoon.
All of this of course, begs the question. Once you knew you'ld made the mistake of adding too much salt, why didn't you just throw out the filling and make another batch? Once you decided to "doctor" up the batch with too much salt and then decided to go ahead and bake it, why wouldn't you taste it after it was done to decide if it was worth bringing? There will always be the possibility that something someone makes won't taste great, but that won't be from making an error in measuring. After all, the whole idea of Butterscotch Pie was to see how it tasted. But that is on the theory that it was made per the recipe, not with mistakes or doctored up to try and fix said mistakes. Another question would be that once you knew it was bad, why did you bring it? Is bad food something you like to give to your friends? You simply could have tossed the filling and picked up a pie at Coco's or Denny's and called it good. But you didn't and you didn't bring a back-up. Even Baseball Mike brought back-up wine in case some of his bottles were bad. All of this is just Food for Thought.
Enough Movie-man Sandy bashing. We'll be looking forward to tasting a perfected version on Tuesday, January 27th.

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