Reconnaissants pour la table familiale

Food is an amazing thing. When it comes to gathering the diverse, food holds powers that even the most infamous names in the restaurant industry do not hold. From sacrificing parts of the harvest to the Gods to appease them, to gathering all your girlies for a cookie exchange, food is one thing that can always bring people from every walk of life together.

I am a confessed NPR junkie. It is the station I listen to every morning on my way to work, and again on my way home. My boyfriend and I spend part of our Sunday morning listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, and any other podcasts we may have downloaded that week. It comes as no surprise then, that while listening the other day, I got very excited about a story of food (of course they would have that for Thanksgiving week). The story was an interview with Adam Gopnik, the author of the new book The Table Comes First. Here are some of the things I remembered and really enjoyed from the story:

Gopnik says that us humans are selfish eaters, and I couldn’t agree more. But what is it that we really want or really get from eating? Biologically speaking, we are greedy about eating because it is necessary for our survival. Without food and water we would cease to exist. However, throughout time and with the creation of the restaurant in France, food has become so much more than just a biological necessity.

Gourmet is a word that often comes to mind when thinking about fancy, delicious food. In French Gourmet is pronounced Gourmond and its definition is - greedy; taking daily delight in the pleasure of eating. And nobody does this pleasure better than the French (in my humble opinion after having been fortunate enough to visit the country).

In 1780, the first restaurant as we know them today, was created in France. At the same time the restaurant came out, competitive writing about food began. The combination of these two things transformed food from a need (biological), to a want. Or as Gopnik states, this creating was responsible for; transforming our needs to our desires. Believe it or not, this was NOT the norm. For example, the fact the Jesus ate in the open with people of all races and creeds. Boys and girls, prostitutes and cripples, everyone was welcome at his table (unthinkable!).

The restaurant became the place to the French that was both suitable to your body and your palate. This is something that Americans have not quite gotten a hold of, with the exception of the Thanksgiving holiday.

As Gopnik explains, Thanksgiving is the one secular holiday where everyone of every background and religion can come together, sit at the same table, and eat together. Almost any family can understand what a feat this truly is. From political differences to intense football rivalries, there are so many petty, little things and can keep us separated from each other. The entire day is centered around food. From the early morning to hours after the meal is over, the kitchen and every other room in the house are filled with the aromatic smells of the Thanksgiving meal. Or as Gopnik states: “We all have to eat. On Thursday, we turn it into something we all want to share.”

So as you sit this weekend working on digesting all of that delicious food I hope you think about something. Did you get to sit together with people you care about this year or at least reach out and send them a warm hello!? Was there someone you were unsure you wanted at your table? Perhaps someone you were secretly glad that couldn’t make it?

Perhaps next year, rather than selecting your list by your favorites, you will select those that deserve or need love a little bit more, or just should be loved a bit more in your heart. That should be Thanksgivings core meaning - being thankful for all those in our life, the close and the distant.

  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Have You Earned the Carving Honor?

For us meat eaters, the most exciting part about any holiday feast is the bringing out of the bird (or roast, but since it's Thanksgiving time, we'll stick with that). Ooh's and Aah's escape everyone's mouths as their salivary glands really start kicking into gear.

Now making the Turkey look and taste delectable is a feat in of itself, but to carve the turkey into perfect, juicy pieces is another feat in and of itself. So what is it in a blade that can make the difference between a plate of round, juicy, succulent pieces of white and dark meat and or a heap of chopped up scraps?

Williams-Sonoma, known for their high-quality kitchen ware, gives you an entire Cutlery 101, making you feel like a master chef once you have read through it. You learn the 'Anatomy of a Knife' (did you know the Tang is a single piece of steel, enclosed by the handle, that provides strength, stability and balance?), as well as learning how to match the right knife to you (you may be more European than Asian - each of which blade in very different).

If you are going to go for carving up your turkey all Iron Chef style, I would recommend one of these (they really work great). At least be sure to have a utility knife and boning knife in hand - these will ensure the cleanest, juiciest cuts.

As much as I enjoy trying to be all suave, sticking my two-pronged fork into my turkey while I carve away with my utility knife, let's get real - carving like that is just not my forte (yes I love to cook, but don't go looking for me on the next Iron Chef anytime soon). My family has traditionally used the electric blade. We have had it as long as I can remember. It was important enough in my mother and fathers cooking life to make it in a box from Texas to Utah, and when Thanksgiving is at our place, it is what we use. Not only is this method MUCH more efficient, but it slices right through, quickly and effortlessly, giving you all the juicy goodness you want out of your turkey. However, I would still suggest you have that boning knife on hand. As much as my father tries (he has earned his place as head carver), getting those legs and wings off smoothly with the electric blade has never been done very smoothly. No time is wasted if you set your electric knife down for just a second to bone out those joints (all out time is wasted, however, as my father and I pick at the stuffing popping out of the turkey and sneaking the crispiest pieces of skin we can without my mother seeing). For you visual people, here is a video guide, provided by the Food Network, to show you how to carve electric style.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/carving-the-perfect-turkey/862.html?vpid=tbla|how-to-carve-a-turkey

So there you have it. With only about 15 hours to go until your turkey goes into the oven (or on the grill, or in the deep fryer), you have all the information you need to really earn that carving honor. Best of luck to you this Thanksgiving! I leave you with one of my favorite bird-knife scenes. Not really about carving, but I chuckle every time nonetheless.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!! Eat lots and go into a tryptophan coma!

Love Your Neighbor

While Sandy happened two weeks ago now, there are still people without power, people who have been robbed, people who just can't seem to get back to where they were before Sandy hit. Yet out of all of these bad stories, there are the heroes that come through.

Throughout time we have seen people do amazing things when something horrible happens. As selfish and conceited as we can come off, in a time of need (or just a season of giving), we are able to step up to the plate and do astounding things.

A Sandy example: A friend of mine is the Executive Chef of The Tapp in Tarrytown, NY. Not only did she go out and donate blood and work in a soup kitchen to help those affected by Sandy, but she had her restaurant made their special Mac & Cheese and sold it for $15. 100% of their Mac & Cheese sales went to the Red Cross for Sandy Relief. This Chef also went to the hardest hit areas and made hot meals for people who had nothing to eat.

I know there were countless others who did great, courageous things, but for me, it was great to see this example that was a bit more personal.

An example from home (UTAH!): Being the Christmas season, many people are in the giving mood. You can donate money for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, trees where you can take an 'Angel' that has a list of things needed by a child who would otherwise not get a Christmas.

Down in Cedar City, Winger's Roadhouse Cedar City has an annual Shop With a Cop fundraiser. Here is what the store owner had to say:

[This is] an event that is held every year in Cedar City to raise money for underprivileged kids so that they can have a Christmas.  Our servers donate 100% of their tips and this night is a purely volunteer shift so the servers sign up for the event.  It's our stores favorite event of the year and our biggest way to give back to the community.

This is a program that happens all over the state, but to see a restaurant join in and have a complete volunteer night if work is truly astounding. Having been a server, in Utah you already feel like you are 'volunteering' your time some nights with your hourly pay (~ $2.25/hr), so to truly donate your night for absolutely nothing is very admirable. 

Unfortunately I will not be near Cedar City tonight, but if you are, I highly encourage you to stop by and participate in this great event!

Humans are capable of great things, and when we do great things together we create what we wish society was like every day. Perhaps the more we can get things like this to happen, the more we will see ever greater things that we are capable of.

What Do You Feed a Hero?

There are many things that can qualify someone as a hero. There are the small things that you can do, like giving someone a hug because they look like they have been having a bad day. Then there are the bigger heros who pull a car off of someone who has gotten stuck like these bystanders did in Utah last year.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. One of my personal heroes is a little girl I used to coach in ski racing who, by the age of 18, had gone through cancer not once, but twice. With everything working against her - losing her hair, missing school, losing many or her so called friends - she persevered and is the most beautiful, mature, amazing person ever (not to mention she won Utah's Sterling Scholar for languages while doing her interview via Skype from her hospital bed!).
Another one of my heroes in the mythical, if my life were a fantasy types, is Superman. I mean for one, he is just drop dead gorgeous (for pretty much everyone who has been cast as him this is true), but he is portrayed as being completely down to earth, kind, caring and gentle while also being the most macho, marry-me-now, handsome man.

There is another type of hero though. One that is in our world, in our Real world, on a daily basis. This hero can start very young, such as my young track athletes in JROTC, and as they grow so do their heroic qualities. I am fortunate enough to be blessed to have an amazing hero and friend in my life who is currently serving in Afghanistan. He is a helicopter pilot (yeah, he's pretty badass, but really is a big softy in any other situation) and in on his second tour (I believe, it's amazing how the time blends together). While he seems to be having fun over there with some things, there is definitely a lot he misses. For example, drinking is not allowed on base. He read my blog about beer and admitted that it was a bit difficult to read (made him a bit thirsty). Being close to Thanksgiving and having had sent him back to Afghanistan with treats before, I decided I would find out just what he was missing the most.

Here is what he had to say:

every meal we have here is in a dining facility, serving cafteria type mass produced food. its not too bad, but gets really repetitive after 10 months and ive pretty much given up trying to eat healthy. we plan our missions around getting to the chow hall on time for hot food. on the early morning team, we always make sure we squeeze breakfast in sometime between our brief and preflight and taking off on time. and they stop serving lunch at 130 pm, and we try not to land any later than 115 to make sure we get lunch before it closes.
ive really come to miss normal home cooked food, basically anything thats not mass produced. really looking forward to being able to cook my own food again.

first place im planning to eat when i get back is some awesome sushi (hawaii has some kick ass sushi), maybe place called Banzai Sushi on the north shore, little expensive but amaaazzzinnnng sushi, and i wont be too worried about saving money when i get back to hawaii.

as for alcohol, ive been good about not breaking that rule over here. a bunch of national guard CH-47 pilots (big cargo helicopter) got busted a couple of weeks ago for brewing their own beer. the reason they got caught is because someone was waving his pistol around when he was wasted, pretty stupid. They ended up finding something like 300 bottles of beer. not good for them. def looking forward to drinking beer again(steve was never able to turn me into a scotch person, he tried pretty hard tho), and theres a sweet little mexican place in waikiki with over 100 different tequilas, ill be looking forward to getting back there for sure.

holidays here are pretty much just another day, not too much changes. i should be flying on veterans day, planning to fly a flag out the door of my helicopter over the heads of some ground troops for a little morale boost, maybe drop a care package off for the Navy SEALs that live out in the boonies. should be able to send you pictures if you want.

anyways hope that helps, guess thats kind of a lot. let me know if i can help at all w anything else. and im praying for snow! (in utah, hopefully it doesnt snow here it gets damn cold when were flying around)

He said he would send me some pictures of flying our flag from his helicopter when he had a chance, (which is the reason this blog is late in being posted, sorry!). No pictures yet, but as soon as I get some I will post them!

I've gotta say that if I were in his position I would probably crave a pig burger and fries or a perfect bone-in rib-eye steak, but I guess when you are stationed in Hawaii the sushi is hard to beat. But of course, just as my friend said, nothing beats making your own food in your own kitchen!

Here is a picture from July 4th!

Thank you heroes, veterans who serve our country every day. Your love and dedication are not overlooked!

Take a Walk Through My Kitchen

Have you ever hosted a large, formal dinner? Perhaps you had your in-laws over for the first time last year for Thanksgiving. Or maybe you had a bunch of friends to town from college and just had to show off the new digs and your stellar cooking skills. You timed everything perfectly, but definitely did not anticipate the amount of time it would really take.

The first time I decided to have a large group of people over I knew exactly what I wanted to make: spinach and feta stuffed chicken breasts with a with a wild rice pilaf. Sounds delicious right? And it was, well when it was eventually done.

Last week I was invited into the kitchen at Winger's Roadhouse Grill to work my skills in the kitchen making some hand breaded sticky fingers. Well let me tell you THANK GOD I was not in there during a rush - the kitchen would have killed me! I like to think part of my slowness was because of my perfectionism, wanting everything to look just perfect, but that's probably not true.

Leaving Winger's Roadhouse, I thought of all of the time I have gotten a little frustrated. Then I thought of all the times I have ben yelled at as a server or hostess when our restaurant was busy (I worked in the restaurant industry for six years as a server and a hostess). I understand and agree that it is completely inexcusable to be slow on service when there is no wait nor many tables filled, but it shocks me how many people complain so vehemently when their restaurant is clearly packed and busy.

I must say it would irk me quite a bit when I am doing everything I can and I get yelled at (yes, I have had customer raise their voices at me) because their food was not ready yet. It seems we have lost our desire to simply sit back and enjoy our time together, to simply get together and have a nice time. Instead, we are always in a hurry, always needing things to get here faster, to be bigger and better than what is was before. Yet if you go to many places around Europe, it would be quite a feat to leave dinner within two hours time.

I encourage you to remember next time you are out at dinner, to simply take your time. The world is going no faster today, nor will it speed up tomorrow. If you are in a hurry, don't sit down, then you will have nothing to worry about. But if you choose to take your time to go eat at a restaurant, regardless of what kind it is (five-star or burger joint) sit and enjoy yourself. Time does not matter. All that matters is the people surrounding you and the company you bring each other.

Remember the love and devotion you put into your own kitchen (or how much you imagine you would if you are a non-cooker). Believe me, that same love and devotion goes into each and every restaurant you visit. They started just like you, in a kitchen of their own, their love just spread to a much larger dinner party.

GMO?. . . I Thought Genes Were What Your Parent's Gave You!

I recently heard someone complaining that fast food and chain restaurants only use genetically modified food. With rising obesity in the United States along with rising obesity in food sizes (I mean seriously, some food I see just looks morbidly obese, yes pun intended), one has to wonder what in the world is going on.
I have heard about genetically modified food science, I have listened to the news stories, but I must admit I haven't truly done my research and consider myself fairly ignorant of what it really is about. There was a lot of scientific jargon, and I had to pull out my college biology and chemistry books for some refreshers, but here is what I have learned:

• All living things have genes located inside our chromosomes (actually remember this from biology class, score!)
• Genetically modified foods are also know as; transgenic crops, genetically engineered crops
• Particle bombardment - use a gene gun (yes that is a real thing) to bombard the cell with small particles
• Only the new cells the scientists have created survive once they encounter an antibiotic or herbicide
• The U.S. Government does NOT require farmers to check the levels of toxic natural chemicals in their crop, the farmers monitor that on their own accord

Those are just a couple things. I know cross breeding has been going on for decades. Heck we cross-breed dogs all the time (Cockapoo anyone?) Some scientists claim that this genetic alteration is just a more precise way of doing what farmers have been doing forever. (Also interesting to note here that with what I read on plants, they are examined to make sure the implanted gene ONLY affects the area it needs to blend with and nothing else). The much fancier word for all of this is, Recombinant DNA technology, or rDNA tech. 

While thinking about mutating our crops and animals seems very X-Men (X-Manimal?) of our scientists, the face that the world demand of food is supposed to double by 2050 (WFO), one has to wonder how we can feed the world without letting science get involved. If we are so concerned about it (which I will admit I definitely am) why can't we just label the food and let people choose for themselves? Actually, that is a proposed law for the California ballot, to label all food that has been GMO'd. There is even a song for all the propositions in California, take a look if you want:

In the United States, we have seen a sharp rise in allergies, asthma, ADD and Autism, among other things. Europe has not seen nearly as much, and the European Union is very strict on what kind of imported foods they accept. According to the European Food Safety Authority, there are no GM animals or products on the EU market (another article read that anything that is .9% or higher GMO'd is not accepted). It does make one wonder. European friends of mine have even noted about all the boxed food we have, whereas, when I have been in Europe, there are fruit stands, butchers and bakeries everywhere - yes, even in downtown big cities like Paris. They eat so much more fresh food than we do, but the EU also seems to make a much better point of making it visible and available. 

Having been invited by Winger's Roadhouse Grill to see how fantabulous their new menu is, I had to ask about the chicken they serve at their restaurants. This is what I was told by the man who goes to the farms and checks on the things himself:

We work with chicken companies that are humane in their treatment of their birds (no force feeding) and we do not allow any growth hormone or steroid use. Therefore we accept that there will be some variance. If our specifications EVER drop below the variance allowed, we refuse product back to the producer.

Good to know! He also claimed that most restaurants like ours do not use GM chicken as well. He noted that people had complained about size; sometimes they were ginormous sometimes small, I asked him to explain.

We buy the largest wings available on the market today and that is called a 6-8 count wing.  There are not very many of this size available and as a result we buy a large percentage of what is produced country wide.  It is true, however, that in late summer and early fall, birds are at their smallest and the wings produced are on the smallest side of the variable size.  This is due to chickens summer diet and their lack of appetite.

I could go on and on about this (really, I did a lot of research, it's really fascinating), but I do not want to drone on forever and potentially bore you all. I have provided the links below to the websites I used to get my information. Feel free to read more if you like. For me, I want my food to be as natural as possible. I guess that makes sense when I love being in the kitchen making everything I can from scratch. So whether you're for GMO or you're GM-No! just be sure you are eating healthy foods with lots of flavor! A little butter and sugar never hurt either.

Sources:
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jaeger/genetically_modified_foods.htm 
http://www.nepadbiosafety.net/subjects/biotechnology/process-of-developing-genetically-modified-gm-crops 
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-gmo-crop-breeding-methods-20121025,0,3301041.story
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php 
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_37,_Mandatory_Labeling_of_Genetically_Engineered_Food_(2012) 
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/gmanimals.htm 
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/gmo-free-regions/gmo-free-retailers.html 

Going Against the Grain: Gluten - Friend or Foe?

Odor. It’s a powerful thing. There are those smells that take you back to your days as a child, walking into grandma and grandpa’s with her freshly-made double chocolate chunk cookies (she always claimed they were ONLY made when you visited). Then there are the odors that, well, since memory can trigger phantom smells, I’ll just say there are other odors that we wish we couldn’t remember.

One of my favorite odors is the sweet, hot smell of fresh bread. France and Italy could over-stimulate the senses in the mornings as their shops open for their first customers. And if you are in the right neighborhood in New York, you know the baker is opening his door at just the right moment, teasing you and tantalizing your nostrils so you can’t help but go in for a bite. Bread appears to be a symbol for friendship, (Amish friendship bread anyone? Check quick bits for a recipe!), of life and of love. Many Christian faiths include the breaking of the bread, symbolizing the body of Christ that one takes into their own. And yet recently, it seems as though bread, flour, pasta, all of those wholesome, heavenly foods have been under attack!

Choosing to be ‘gluten free’ (GF) is so popular today that it almost seems like it is just the latest trend. Hollywood diets, Dukan, nutrition articles (check out this one!) are all telling you to STAY AWAY! How could a food that has been a staple of human history have all of a sudden become a menace?

Go in to almost any restaurant and ask for a GF menu, and most likely they are going to give you one. My new friends at Winger’s Roadhouse Grill also have a GF menu to ensure their flour-less patrons may still enjoy some sticky finger goodness (I was pleased to see the Original Amazing Sauce is GF). Having tested a “life without gluten” myself, I decided to do a little bit of research on what ‘gluten’ really is and why/how it could be so dangerous (Celiacs disease, for example, is an allergy to gluten). Here is what I found:

First let’s cover Celiac’s Disease (CD). This is an actual allergy to gluten in which the body responds by attacking its own tissue causing eventual irreversible damage to the intestines. According to MayoClinic and WebMD, long-term effects of CD can cause weight loss or water retention, to being more severe and causing infertility and nerve damage. This is due to the inability of the villi, which are destroyed in those with CD, to absorb the necessary nutrients the body needs.

Gluten-Intolerance is a different story. Some authors and bloggers that I read think of it as more of a “rich white person trend”. But there is some true science behind it (for some at least). For someone with gluten intolerance, a diet that includes gluten (so bread, pasta, most things with wheat and/or barley) will make your stomach feel like it is tying itself in knots, along with other things that just aren’t so nice to write about so we will stay away from those (look it up here if you really want to know). As I previously stated, I have attempted to go GF myself, having suffered from ulcers since the age of ten (I have been tested twice now with no trace of CD, not even IBS) and must admit I have noticed a bit of a difference. However, I noticed the BIGGEST difference when I stopped buying bread from some big company (and even some small ones) and just made all of my bread at home. Knowing exactly what was going into my bread (and being able to pronounce all the ingredients!) seemed to make all the difference. I saw a quote by nutritionist Joanna McMillan in an article from the Sydney Morning Herald that fit well with my opinion on the rise of evil wheat:

“Some people cannot tolerate gluten and yet suddenly everyone thinks gluten is bad. The truth is; it is modern, refined foods that are causing most of our health problems. Not the individual components of food. We’re missing the point.”

I must say I agree. With all of the things we are putting into our food to make it grow faster, taste “better”, and keep up with the demand of the world, we are losing the quality that once came from true “homemade” food and our bodies are rebelling. Other scientists and nutritionist may claim that, even though we have been eating gluten since we discovered the great combination of ground wheat and water, our bodies just aren’t made to eat gluten (the Paleo diet says it’s just plain bad for you, along with others). Well here I must say, to each his own. Through healthy eating the HOMEMADE way, my body seems completely content and good with gluten.

Have a favorite bread recipe? Post it in my comments section for others! I’d love to add something new to my cookbook. 

Something to Fill Your Soul

Today I write you about something as far from the kitchen as you can get. And yet, it could be seen as close – in a way. For what I had the honor of experiencing today is the reason I am able to make what I make. To buy the abundance of food that I do without any questions, without a man having to be by my side at all times, without food shortages.

Today I had the honor, the humbling and inspiring experience of watching my grandfather be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. If you know anything about our military, or have watched movies like Saving Private Ryan you know the area I am talking about. Row upon row upon row of white marble. Silence filled with a noise nobody can hear but everybody feels reverberating through their soul.

Upon entering I was taken aback by the beauty this place with such sorrow could behold. The view from Arlington Place (Robert E. Lee’s former home), is truly amazing, looking over the Potomac to the many memorial buildings of D.C. You are both fascinated by the people who are there, wanting to shout out the different honors, ranks and dates of those you find, yet your tongue, your body knows better and you take the name and their honor into your heart, for that is what is doing all of the thinking here. You think you can stay strong, and then you arrive at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. To know that a person is there at this soldiers side every day, every hour regardless of the weather, regardless of what else may be going on is both heartbreaking and humbling – yet a smile manages to reach across your face because you know that even the unknown are never alone.

Our Chaplain, Captain Jason Hohnberger, was a truly remarkable man. His words made it almost hard to remember that you were there for a time of mourning. The beauty of the ceremony was endless. From the procession of soldiers cradling the ashes of my grandma and grandpa, to the perfection with which they unfolded and folded the flag to present to the family, to the sound of the salute with rifles and bugle – each moment filled your soul with pride and awe.

While my eyes welled with tears I had to discern what the tears fell for. Was it only for my grandfather or was it something more? My heart told me it was crying not only for my grandfather, but it was crying for the lives of all who laid there, of what they had done, and even more, my heart cried because it knew that even though it wouldn’t personally know the future soldiers that would lay there, deep down it did. For when you gaze upon the endless rows and columns of white you are gazing at the foundation of your past and the creation of your future.

This post is simply a reflection on life and the people we hold in it. How do we hold them close and how often do we reach out and tell them how much we care that they are in our life? Don’t forget about the ones you care about or this wonderful life you are able to live.