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.