Making Macarons with Mira

Of all the things I've cooked and baked, I'm most afraid of macarons.  The notoriously temperamental French confections made with a meringue base and almond flour, sandwiched together with some kind of filling.  Oh, the horror stories I've read! Things can go wrong if the eggs aren't aged right, the syrup is too hot, the oven is too hot, it's raining outside, or a butterfly in China decided to fly counterclockwise.

So, no. I wasn't going to touch macarons without professional supervision. Yes, I'm a big culinary wussy when it comes to something that delicate.

So when my friend Mira who has perfected her macaron recipe, asked if I want to come learn how to make them with three of her friends, I jumped to the chance.  The timing, after all, was perfect. I was freshly unemployed once again again after a 5-month freelance stint. 

To document Mira's process, I took pictures of the important steps, like what the aged egg whites should look like when it's ready.  Meanwhile, others were deciphering Mira's handwritten recipe and notes which was part Thai and part English. 



We had so much fun hanging out with each other that I had to leave before the macarons were baked off and assembled.  Hey, when you get five Thai girls in the same room, it's all about eating and chatting! I mean, Mira kept whipping up something for us to eat even before we get to the actual lesson. And of course, it didn't help when I kept refilling people's mimosas.  Hee.

Look at our lunch of Korean-inspired, "I'm going to throw this together" dish she made for us with potato noodles, beef, pickled mustard greens, and secret sesame sauce. Oh, what a delicious digression... ;-)



Back to the macarons, though.  So I spent the whole day at Mira's and went home empty handed. However, my belly was pretty darn full. 

Fortunately for me, Mira gave me a box of them for Christmas.



And fortunately for all of us, Mira decided to share her secrets. She's reviving her long dormant blog with recipe and tips for her famous macarons just in time for Valentine's Day.

So, head over there and learn something new!

Ragu Napoletano

It wasn't difficult for me to fall in love with Italian cuisine. One of the restaurants we frequented growing up was Thailand's first Italian establishment owned by a Thai guy. My dad's friend, to be exact. My mom also made some killer bolognese in the slow cooker and I was always envied when I brought spaghetti to lunch at school.

As you know, when I first started to cook when Brandon and I got married, it was Rachael Ray who got me into the kitchen, but I quickly graduated from her onto Giada DeLaurentiis.

I can see some of you hard core food nerds rolling your eyes right now. But hey, like bacon to a former vegetarian, there is always a gateway. Giada got me interested in Italian cooking, cultures, and language. (I'm currently on my second year of casually learning Italian, made more difficult by being a third language learned on a second one.)

Naturally, I paid a lot of attention to Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation when he visited Italy once again in search of the origin of the Red Sauce. (00:47-06:32)



I took notes of all the ingredients mentioned in this video and paid close attention to what was being put in the pot. There isn't a recipe laying around or anything, so I just went for it.

The video more or less tell you everything that goes in the ragu:

Onion, garlic, good extra virgin olive oil. Pork sausage, veal, pork ribs, and braciole (pieces of veal wrapped around parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, parsley, raisins, pine nuts). You brown the meats in the pan, then cover it with tomato juice. Put it on super low, just so it barely bubbles, all day. Skim of the fat. Toss the sauce with the pasta as your first course, then serve the meat as main course with wild greens sauteed in garlic and pepperoncino.

A good testament to a solid base recipe is this: even I took off running with the ingredients and put my own interpretation to it, the result is still fantastic. I may have really been Italian in my past life after all!

For my Sunday supper, I didn't go to the length of doing the sauteed greens, but I did separate the meats from the sauce. However, I did provide plenty of scarpetta to mop up the sauce at the end.

Ragu Napoletano della Oakley

Inspired by this awesome Italian momma on No Reservation.

This recipe can easily feeds 6...or 4 really hungry people. :) Obviously, I winged the whole thing. So there's really no measurement to much of anything. Trust your judgement!

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 lb. Italian mild/sweet pork sausage, kept whole
• 3-4 lbs. pork ribs (I prefer short ribs but country style will do too, whatever is available).
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced
• A palm full each of pine nuts and raisins, roughly chopped
• About 1 TBS of tomato paste
• 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes - San Marzano or any other kind, no salt added is better - straight out of the can, juices and all. And keep that can so you can discard the fat you'll be skimming into it later.
• A cup of water
• A palm-full of chopped Italian parsley
• Parmesan cheese rinds -- if you have some. You can buy them from Whole Foods too now.
• Accompaniment: grated Parmesan and crusty bread to mop up all the goodness
  

1. Heat the EVOO in a pot on medium-high. Liberally season the pork ribs. Brown all the meats, starting with sausage (yup...the whole thing goes in), one batch at a time. Set aside. Keep the fat in the pan.



2. Turn the heat to medium, add onion and garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook until soft. Add pine nuts, raisins and tomato paste. Cook a few more minutes.

3. Add the meat and juices back to the pot. Add the tomatoes, water, and parsley. Move the meat around to get the sauce all the way to the bottom and sneak the cheese rinds into there.



4. Turn the heat down to low and put a lid on it. Let simmer for an hour or two this way. It'll look like soup, but don't worry, we're going to get that reduced.



5. Take the lid off and break down the tomatoes with your spoon. Turn the heat down as low as it will go. The sauce should be slowly bubbling. (See the video!) Let that go for as many hours as you want!

6. About 30 minutes before serving, skim the fat off the top of the sauce. And there will be a LOT of it. (Still have the empty can? Good!)



7. Remove the meat from the sauce. Be careful as they're all falling off the bones at this point. Put the meat on a platter and keep warm. Discard cheese rinds.

8. Cook your pasta (I used rigatoni) in a pot of boiling salted water. You can reserve a cup or so of the pasta water then drain over the sink or, what I did, fish out the pasta from the pot and put it on the sauce directly so I have all the pasta water in the world to add to the sauce to loosen things up. If your pasta water is nicely salted, you won't have to worry about it diluting the seasoning of the ragu. Toss to coat.



10. Serve your pasta with a drizzle of really good extra virgin olive oil and side of grated parmesan cheese and the platter of meat.



Buon appetito!

Chocolate, Wine, and Boobies

Posts on this blog and twitter about the Ghirardelli Intense Dark Pairings event are based on an advertising relationship. I have been paid to host and promote the Intense Dark Pairings event for Ghirardelli. I also received a discount from District Wine along with a bottle of wine as a raffle prize. However, the opinion about the Ghirardelli products and the District Wine are all mine. Mine!

Ghirardelli is supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month by donating $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for each code entered from the specially marked Intense Dark chocolates. As a part of this promotion, I was contacted to host an Intense Dark Pairings party, tasting the Intense Dark chocolates and pairing them with food and wine.

I lost my mother and a good friend to cancer. Any fight against any kind of cancer is my fight. Instead of just calling a few friends over to my house, I wanted to help spread the word as much as I can. So I reached out to my blogger friends and tweeps. But now I'd need a cozy venue for all my fabulous guests.

A wine tasting party that feels like it's being hosted in someone's (really nice) living room? Naturally, I called Mark and Angela at District Wine in Downtown Long Beach (@districtwine). They were more than happy to play host to an all-girl afternoon out. (Well, almost all-girl. We did have a Token Male...) They even threw in a bottle of wine for my raffle.

Annette (@dananner) is a happy camper!

Some of us started the party started a little early with District Wine’s Sunday special, $9 bottomless mimosas. Mark mentioned that the orange juice was just for color, and he wasn't kidding. The pour was generous and the glasses were never once empty. I'd definitely come back some other Sundays for this!

What made our tasting party even more special was that my friend Melissa (@melissakeyes), a breast cancer survivor, shared her story.





For the pairings, I received a guide of food and wine pairing suggestions which were put together by Leslie Sbrocco of Thirsty Girl. You too can host one of these tasting parties at home. The party planning kit, and tasting guide and videos are on this website. I am also giving away a mini tasting kit. Read on for more details.

Anyways. I passed Leslie's list along to District Wine along with some chocolate samples, and they came up with their own selection of wines. And here is our menu.

Ghirardelli® Intense Dark™ Evening Dream: 60% Cacao
District Wine's Pick: Frogmore Creek Iced Riesling, Tasmania
Food: Dried apricot

While the Riesling goes well with the wine and the apricot, it brings out so much of the apricot that the chocolate was more of the supporting actor. Still good though. One of the crowd's favorites.

Ghirardelli® Intense Dark™ Twilight Delight : 72% Cacao
District Wine's Pick: Taft Street Zinfandel, Russian River Valley
Food: This would've been paired with fresh raspberries but I forgot to bring them. Boo...

Another pleasant pairing of chocolate and wine here. But neither was memorable for me.

Ghirardelli® Intense Dark™ Midnight Reverie: 86% Cacao
District Wine's Pick: Layer Cake Malbec, Argentina
Food: Salted almonds, parmesan, and water crackers

Home run all around! The high cacao content makes the chocolate almost savory. Something magical happens with the chocolate, the parmesan, and the Malbec. Red wine fans all agreed this would be the wine they'd drink any day of the week. I would also suggest that you try this chocolate with some prosciutto. I had some at Cochon 555 and it was wonderful. I was thinking about bringing some for the tasting but I didn't want to scare my friends. LOL.

Ghirardelli® Intense Dark™ Toffee Interlude: Toffee bits and caramelized almonds
District Wine's Pick: Taylor Fladgate 20 Years Tawny, Portugal - OR - Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Food: Plush Puffs Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

The surprise hit of the evening was the Plush Puffs (found at my favorite store Fresh & Easy). Folks were nibbling on them even before our tasting began and there was nothing left afterward. I can only imagine what the toasted Puffs and this chocolate would taste like inside a S'mores! They're already magical in their respective raw form without the Graham crackers. Mark and Angela gave us a choice between a port or a beer here, and I chose the port. It just brought it all home perfectly.

My friend Jennifer also took fabulous photographs of the event. You can find the rest on her Facebook album.

It was a great afternoon of discovering flavors of Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolates, finding new wines we love, making new friends, and raising awareness for breast cancer.

Look on twitter for #TGTaste and/or #IntenseDark for great coverage. I will update this post with links to the coverage from my fabulous guests as I get them.

• Our cancer's butt kicker Melissa: Wine and Chocolate: Ghiradelli Intense Dark Chocolate at District Wine
  
• Paulette (@girlplusfire/@pfont): Fighting Like a Girl: Ghirardelli & Vino at District Wine.
• Rachel (@theartmuse): Intense Dark
  
• Tamara (@divacowgirl): Hope
• Veronica (@lbcshopper): Intensely Delicious Wine Pairing

Melissa and I with Mark and Angela, owners of District Wine

INTENSE DARK CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY!

Be ready to join the Intense Dark Tweet Chat on October 5 at 5 p.m. PST hosted by Thirsty Girl (@beathirstygirl / #TGTaste). Enter to win your own mini tasting kit! Leave a comment down below (make sure to leave your valid email address) to throw your name into the hat to win a Ghirardelli Intense Dark Pairing kit with a pairing guide, wine charms, samples of Evening Dream, Twilight Delight, Midnight Reverie, and Sea Salt Soiree.

ETA: Congratulations, Alana (@AlanaGarrigues)! You've won the little pairing gift box! :)

Playing Hostess

EVENT IS FULL! THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST! Come back later to see our recap. :)

I'm honored that Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate is partnering with me in putting together chocolate/wine pairing event in recognition of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Come sip some glorious wines, nibble some luscious Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolates, and talk about boobies with me!

Disclosure: Posts on the blog and twitter about the Ghirardelli Intense Dark Pairings event are based on an advertising relationship. I have been paid to host and promote the Intense Dark Pairings event for Ghirardelli. I am also receiving a discount from the "Awesome Location" to host this event there. However, the opinion about the products and the "Awesome Location" are all mine.

Craft Beer Drinkers Unite

I'm a lightweight. Since I can't drink a million beers like everyone else, my 1-2 pints must count. And the other stuff just don't cut it like the craft stuff.

Okay, I still like my Guinness occasionally, but the craft stouts and porters out there these days are damn tasty.

So, here's to you, craft beer drinkers and brewers!

Honey, I shrunk the Bacon-wrapped Meat Loaf

Another one of Mark Peel's "New Classic Family Dinners" recipe that has become my household staple is the bacon-wrapped meat loaf.



There shouldn't even be a question as to why it has. Just look at the first two words in the title, man.

Bacon. Wrapped.

It was more "bacon-lined" than "bacon-wrapped", but hey, there's bacon INSIDE the meat loaf too. I'm not complaining

So the first time I made it, I went full scale but instead of 1 lb. each of ground beef, pork, and veal, I did 1.5 lb. each of pork and beef. I looked at the mixture in the bowl and there was no way ALL of that was going to fit into the one loaf pan. The recipe did say it would make 10-12 servings, but this seemed excessive...

I ended up with TWO very full loaf pans and a small free-form loaf. I took some to eat for lunch at work and had leftover party. Twice.

Obviously, this girl didn't learn from her past experience with the meatballs recipe from the same cook book.

Well, here's yet another adaptation of Chef Peel's recipe, scaled down to serve 2-4 people. And also simplified for easier clean-up.

Bacon Wrapped Meat Loaf for Four

• 8-10 thin-cut slices bacon to line the pan, 2 extra slices for the meatloaf.
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (or if you're lazy like me, I crumbled a few slices of day-old bread to come up to just about the same amount onto a baking sheet and set it in the oven while it preheats.)
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 TBS canola oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• About 2 TBS chopped Italian parsley
• 1.5 lbs. ground pork
• 1.5 lbs. ground beef (20 percent fat)
• Ketchup
• 8-10 sage leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Slice 2 bacon strips into 1/4-inch pieces and set aside. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with the remaining slices, alternating the fat and thing ends.

2. In a large bowl (you'll be adding half of the meat mixture and the veggies into this), soak the bread crumbs in the milk for a few minutes, then squeeze out and discard excess milk. Beat in the egg. Set aside.

3. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add bacon, onion, celery, and garlic. Season with salt. Cook until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley. Let cool for a bit.

4. Add a little bit of the still warm mixture to the egg and breadcrumbs, tempering the egg a bit. Then add all of the veggies into the egg/breadcrumb bowl. Combine well.

5. In a large bowl, combine the meats and season with salt and pepper. Kneed to combine.

6. One handful at a time, add half of the meat to the egg-veggie mixture, and combine well. Now plop all of this back into the meat-only bowl and combine well.



7. Take up handfuls of the meat mixture and slap between your hand to expel air, then fill the loaf pan. Using a spoon, make a depression down the center of the loaf and fill that with ketchup. Garnish with sage leaves, pressing them into the top of the loaf.

8. Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet (in case of fat spill-over) and place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake about 45 minutes or (until temperature gets to 140F). Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. Some of the juices will be absorbed back by the meat loaf.



9. Tip the remaining liquid into a bowl, then strain and skim off the fat. (In my case, there was nothing but fat. I use a little bit of that to drizzle anyway!) Slice and serve meat loaf with the juice and/or more ketchup.

I served mine with skin-on mashed potatoes made with cream, butter, and a bit of bacon fat I have sitting in the fridge. (Just a little bit!)

The Adventures at Starry Kitchen

Crack Den Mother. That's what I called myself as a customer of Starry Kitchen in Downtown Los Angeles. Before I got too busy with my last job, I would be at SK at least once a week.

I've called Thi's (aka Kitchen Ninja) food crack. I'm sooo addicted!

So, SK is a crack den. And because I would drag EVERYONE to SK with me, so, I'm the Crack Den Mother, bringing in new Crack Babies.

Nguyen, the husband half of the SK team, loved it.

Now that I'm no longer working Downtown, I've been missing my at-least-once-a-month Starry Kitchen treat. Today I had a chance to pop into town, so I did.

It would've been about a year now that I first set foot at the place. My two friends who have heard about SK's underground origin and wanted to go, so I went with them.

It was seriously love at first bite. And first board slam.

A very energetic and animated Nguyen gave us the schpiel of how to order which accompanied by the slapping of his menu board and a surprise F-Bomb.

"We change our menu every week. We don't fuck around," said Nguyen.

Well, hell, since we're at it. I was fucking loving this place already, and I hadn't even eaten the food yet!

(I know, some people were offended/off-put by Nguyen's antics, but, just as he'd tell you, swearing is a part of him. You don't like it, then move on. He does tone it down in the presence of children, though.)

Oh, and he wasn't kidding about not fucking around either. There are 2 rotating "proteins" on the board, and each of them get 2 weeks on there alternately. So, yes, every week, one item is changed out.

Pair that with 5 different ways you can have your main course: in a wrap, a Vietnamese sandwich, a chopped salad, a Thai Cobb salad, or a lunch plate. Then you choose a side which could be a salad, a noodle of some kind, or a special fried rice. LOTS of variations to keep you interested!

The food totally sealed the deal. Pan-Asian food that tastes like a home-cooked meal. Thi works her magic over these dishes. It may not be a traditional Vietnamese/Thai/Korean etc. food, but the flavor profiles are unmistakably Asian. And yummy. Oh so yummy.

Then I tweeted. And Nguyen would tweet back. And back and forth we went. He does the same with his other foodies and bloggers and tweeps who came through the door.

It was the food that keeps bringing me back but I have to say it's also because the "TWEETment" Nguyen gives to his customers. We do feel like family at SK.

I mean, would I be able to go into any other joint and get this photo with the owner? (Thanks Annette!)



Or this. (Thanks @munke!)



I rest my case.

And because the menu changes all the time, I keep coming back for different things. My favorite things are Taiwanese Pork Chops, Spicy Korean Pork/Belly, Crispy Tofu Balls, Spicy Vietnamese Salad, Shallot Fried Rice, Kimchi Fried Rice, Garlic Noodles, Chicken Wing Beer Soup, and Thai Cobb Salad with Lemongrass Chicken (substitute wonton skins for bread). I got to try a few things from their dinner menu over Dine LA week, fried chicken wings were awesome. I haven't had anything there that was bad.

Oh yes, they also do dinners on the weekends. This summer, they're doing a "fooding" event, a collaboration with Laurent Quenioux, which is:

"a combination of unique culinary offerings and art inspired by feelings and beautiful fresh seasonal ingredients - food creating one of a kind event for each weekend offering. The Chef cooks what he wants, the Starry Kitchen team provides the atmosphere, service and soundtrack and the entire LQ @ SK team lends verve and style to each weekend event."

I'd better book my reservation. Like a girl can say no to limited menu items like Mushu foie gras and Squab, Veal Feet, Ginger Cone Boudin Noir.

Now, as a final note.

Tips on making the most of your Starry Kitchen lunch visit

1. Get there just a little before 12 or a little after 1 and you won't be crushed in line. 11:45 and 1:15 seems to be the magic numbers.

2. Read the menu before you go. Figure out what you want to eat in what kind of combination. If it's your first time, Nguyen will give you a quick lecture anyway...because it's fun! ;-)

3. If you have 3 orders or more, you can call ahead! It works out perfectly for me several times.

4. If you're there with a buddy, take your friend's order and send him/her out to secure a seat. Better be safe than sorry, yo!

5. If you're like me and never finish your plate, order your food "To Go Sit". They'll bring your food in to-go container to your table. That'll save them plates to wash and save you time to box everything up later.

Vegetarian Conversion

Oh, the controversy around Chef Suvir Saran's grandstanding at Top Chef Masters competition a few weeks ago.

Yes, I know. I'm so totally current. LOL.

For those who didn't watch, this was what happened. The challenge was to make a lower calorie meal for the Biggest Losers contestants based on their high calorie favorite dish. Chef Suvir's diner liked bacon cheeseburger. Suvir made her a vegetarian "burger", more like a pita with some stuff inside it. She didn't like it.

There was a speech accommodating this dish about health benefits of vegetarian diet and harms from red meat that got a lot of people uncomfortable and even angry.

When asked why he didn't make his diner a healthier dish with meat in it like she had requested, he stuck to his principals--it's a change of lifestyle he's trying to get her to make.

Now, while everyone flipped out about him apparently cooking for himself and not for his diner, I have a counterpoint to make.

There are ways to make GREAT vegetarian burgers that would turn a meat eater into a believer. I know it for a fact, because I'm one of those converted.

Some of you know that I am a once-a-week lacto-vegetarian for religious purpose. I say yes to dairy but no eggs if I can avoid it. So I have been eating different vegetarian dishes on those Tuesdays. Once in a while, I'd run into something new and delicious that I would order even on the day that I eat meat.

For examples, I adore Soyrizo burrito and vegetarian bacon BLT at Mendocino Farms in downtown Los Angeles and I still sometimes dream about the homemade veggie patties at Crazy Burgers in San Diego.

All it took for me to pick a veggie burger over a beef one is the fact that it was tasty and satisfying. It didn't taste like soy or cardboard. It's so good that I don't feel like I was missing the beef or the bacon.

Such lifestyle changing burger exists.

It just wasn't what Suvir made that day. His pita creation failed to vow the diner and the critics alike. Unfortunately for him, that hurts his cause.

He could've made a veggie burger that tastes meaty and added some bacon substitute for the texture. (I don't know, fried coconut dusted with smoked paprika?) His diner would've been satisfied and his point proven correct.

Having said that, while people are up in arms about Suvir's message about vegetarianism, I applaud him for sticking to his gun.

Lifestyle can change, people. The man had a point.

Now, go out there and find yourself a gateway vegetarian burger. Then come back to talk to me about it. :)

A Few Good Pork at Cochon555

Thanks to my friend and former contributor Chef Jay, I was alerted to Cochon555 in Los Angeles a few months back.

5 chefs face off cooking 5 heritage pigs with 5 wineries providing wine to pair. Such a glorious event befitting to be held in a former church in Downtown Los Angeles, Vibiana.

Chef Jay told me to volunteer, probably thinking they might let civilians into the kitchen to help. Of course, they were using local culinary students for that. But I volunteered nonetheless. And I dragged Aaron of Savory Hunter with me. And what a sport he was too, since he doesn't eat pork. But he did get to have the wine.

Octavio Becerra of Palate Food & Wine cooked a popular Berkshire. Chad Colby of Mozza nose-to-tailed a Hampshire. Tim Goodell of Public Kitchen & Bar served up succulent Spotted Poland China. Ben Ford of Ford’s Filling Station showed off the all American Hereford. And Joshua Whigham of The Bazaar went to town with the rare Red Wattle.

Wines were provide by the Scholium Project, Alysian, Arnot-Roberts, Copain Wines, and Red Car Wine. None of which I got to taste.

If you came through the gate on Sunday, you probably have talked to me or seen me. While I didn't know a lot of people there aside from Matt of Dig Lounge (his recap here), I got to marvel at all the people Aaron knows and was chatting with like LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold, and Erika Nakamura and the Lindy & Grundy's butcher shop gang.

Oh, and you guys would be so proud of me that I didn't scream and faint and/or beg for photo op when Michael Voltaggio turned up with his posse.

Clare, the volunteer organizer, did tell us to relief each other so all 6 of us could experience the event better. 2 volunteers went off into the event, and we never really saw them again. And I'm not a kind of gal who'd abandon ship when I made the commitment to come to WORK the event. Naturally, I was working through the whole thing and didn't get to enjoy the event the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

And I didn't bring my D40. You know, I didn't want my DSLR slathered in pork fat. It's just getting in the way of things. ;-)

But I did get some good pics from my phone and also get to sample some great stuff though. In the VIP area, I snagged me a sample of beer from Eagle Rock Brewery when we weren't too busy. Then after the rush, I answered Clare's plea that all of the GIANT oysters be eaten and cheeses from the Cheese Store in Silver Lake be consumed.



When I got a chance to do the round in the main event, all the lines were so long that I didn't want to get in one because I wanted to be fair to other volunteers. So I ended up sampling around the place, not at the chef's stations.

I had my first taste of technically raw pork--seared Iberico Fresco. It's the same pork that will eventually be cured up to that famous Jamon Iberico de Bellota. It was almost like tasting sushi, sweet and delicious.

Then I had more than my share of Devil's on Horseback, one with smoked bacon and one with prosciutto. And there was this blue cheese and bacon shortbread things that I would eat by the bucketful. I also fell in love with the odd pairing of prosciutto from Gourmet on Wheels with Hazelnut Orange Cinnamon chocolate from H3 chocolate. I hung around their table so much I was given 3 hunks of chocolate to review later. LOL.

Oh, and I got some mercifully strong samples of Johnny Appleseed cocktail from the fantastic St. Germain's cocktail too. Addictive!



While Aaron posted at the gate once the event started, I went into relief the poor couple that was manning t-shirt sales inside. Lance went around to get himself and his wife Sheila some food, and at some point he got me a plate too (I didn't know from which chef) but overzealous wait staff took it away while I was busy selling shirts.

By the time I got to do my final walk around, most stations have run out of food and/or were packing up. From Chef Tim Goodell's station, I got just a sampling of the pig's head and trotter sausage and posole and a shot of some really earthy but delicious cocktail to wash that down. While the sausage blew my mind, the posole was missing salt in a big way.



Then I moseyed over to see what was left at Chef Chad Colby's station and there was a few big chunks of sausage left uncut as the chef and crew were cleaning up. I told the chef that I was sad I didn't get to taste his food today. He told me to take the whole chunk of his nose-to-tail salami. Before he changed his mind, I stabbed it with a fork and walked away. I went around the rest of the party gnawing on my pork lollipop.



I almost missed Chef Neal Fraser's Porcelet de Lait pig roasts too. But I cruised by right before they rolled the cart out and was invited to pick up the pieces. Since I didn't have plate, with salami lollipop in one hand, I shamelessly dunk my other hand into the carcass and picked on all the morsels soaked in delicious pork fat. These little milk-fed piglets yield buttery, juicy tender meat--best I've ever had. I peered around to find a piece of skin when one of the chefs tossed me an ear which I quickly shoved in my mouth and happily gnawed away. I didn't care about the pork fat running down my arm. I was such a happy girl.

And happier yet when Chef Chad Colby won the competition that night. Pork karma!

As people rolled into the party bus heading to the after party at Public Kitchen + Bar, Aaron and I said our goodbyes and headed off to each of our own blissful evening. Sleep for him. And belly full of pork for me.

Happy Accident: Chocolate Cake Shot

Having just hit my scotch newbie wall (read: about half of the Glenlivet on the rocks), I was pondering what else to drink next.

I watched curiously as the blond bombshell bartender at the Green Girl Saloon in Westminster pour Frangelico Hazelnut liquor and vodka into a shaker. What is she making? That's gotta be something creamy and delicious. But I didn't see her put any milk or anything in that. She repeated the mix a few times. It must be shots she's making, I thought. Interesting...

Then the girl shook this carton--is that salt or sugar?--to get the clumpy granules loose, ended up breaking the bottom off the carton and poured it everywhere. The carton looked like sugar.

But then I saw her served the shots up to that corner of the bar. With a wedge of lemon each.

WHAT?!

Hazelnut and lemon?! What the heck? Eew?

I let the mystery stewed until I got home. The research shows that somehow the combination of sugar, vodka, Franglico, and lemon makes a taste of chocolate. The Frangelico Chocolate Cake Shot, to be exact.

Same method as a tequila shot but change the ingredients: lick the sugar, take the shot of equal part vodka and Frangelico, suck the lemon.

I had to see for myself. While I don't have any lemons on hand, I have PLENTY of homemade Limoncello. As past cooking has proven, once in a while, I can use my homemade citrus liquor as a stand-in for lemon juice. Very sweet, very boozy lemon juice.

So here I went. Lick the sugar. Take the shot. Sip the Limoncello.

Hmm. Wait. I'm tasting chocolate. And then...Nutella?

HOLY SHIT IT'S A NUTELLA SHOT!

Who would've thought lemon and hazelnut liquor would put the chocolate taste in your mouth! The human taste buds never fail to amaze me.