Swing Vote?

Ok, this is not a political blog, but I have to get this off my chest. I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican. But excuse me if I feel like I've been swindled. The politics in this country is the biggest bait-and-switch con running today. I hate to vote for any of them. But they say the only vote that doesn't count is the one that isn't cast. They say alot.
My Daddy used to tell me that I could be anything I wanted, if I was willing to work hard for it. I think that used to be true. I could start off as a ditch-digger and become president of the construction firm. Now I can't even get that ditch-digging job. I could take a job as a secretary and work my way up to CEO, now my secretary job has been sent to New Delhi. Those of us who were waiting for our ship to come in have a long wait, ship's been diverted...to China.
I don't have much room to complain. I wasn't raised poor. I had a middle-class lifestyle. According to my tax-return, I still do. Bottom of the middle, which is now more like the top of the bottom. Maybe I'm doing ok, since I married a man who's a hard worker. If I wasn't married, well, let's just say I used to say, hey, I'm making more than minimum wage, and now minimum wage is $7 an hour. The divide has narrowed.
But what about the others? The folks out there who are trying, who work two and three jobs to make ends meet, and some weeks, they don't make it. Who give their lives to companies like Enron and World Com and wake up to find that their lives have been paying for party hats for amoral executives. I am not saying that companies have no right to make a profit, I'm saying they have a responsibility to those who made that profit for them.
Or the US military folks, who were willing to give their lives for us, and this country can't be bothered to even help their families, or get them some decent medical care.
My generation doesn't get any credit. They say we're all into our iPods and can't be bothered with voting or issues. I'll say this, we do care, we are listening, we are paying attention. But we know that we cannot win this fight right now. We don't have the power. We don't have the money. We know that right now, this isn't a fair fight. But we are watching. We are disgusted. We are ashamed.
I still believe the US is a great country. The fact that I have the freedom to write this is reason enough to want to live here. I just don't know if I can afford to.
I don't think we lost our country, I think we sold it.

Suffering from Experience

My culinary resume was once very short. Very, very short. And as culinary school progressed, I went to different jobs, added to my experience. Now my resume is very long, almost two pages. I guess it looks like I've hopscotched my way through the last two years. So now, rather than suffering from lack of experience, I now suffer from too much. Too many places, too little time at them. Some were my own fault, some not. I'm not saying I never made mistakes. But I've landed on my feet, most of the time.
My theory is this; it makes little or no sense to stay somewhere that you hate. It makes equally little sense to stay where you learn nothing. Some things are not meant to be long term. It doesn't make me less responsible, or less dedicated to my work. I work hard, I expect to be treated decently, if that doesn't happen, then don't expect to have me to kick around for very long.
Won't happen.

Fry Me a River

Fried fish can be many things. It can be dipped in beer batter, deep fried and served with chips. It can be coated with egg and cornmeal, buttermilk and crushed cereal, almost any combination is acceptable, if not always palatable. You can use almost any white fish you like; tilapia, cod, grouper if you feel really ambitious. This is my take on flounder, which I like for frying because of it's mild taste and thin fillets. It cooks fast, which is handy, because you don't want it to take forever or the crust will burn.

Firecracker Flounder

Ingredients

3 flounder filets

1 pint of whole milk

2-3 tbsp. tobasco sauce

2 c. flour

Old Bay seasoning

oil, canola or veggie, for frying

2 tbsp. butter, for same

1. Soak flounder in milk which has been liberally doctored with the tobasco sauce. You can use as much or as little as you would like. Also, put the flour in a shallow, flat pan and add as much Old Bay as you would like.

2. In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the oil. Allow this to heat until the butter foams and the oil shimmers.

3. Take the flounder out of the milk and pat them dry. Not completely dry, just so they aren't dripping.

4. Lay the flounder in the pan of flour and coat both sides liberally, shaking off the excess.

5. Put the fish in the pan, gently! Always lay it away from you, to avoid nasty splashes of hot oil.

6. Give the fish approx. 6-7 minutes on each side, depending on size, etc.

7. Remove to a paper-lined plate and sprinkle with a bit of fine salt.

Serve it up with some tomatoes and coleslaw, or corn on the cob and enjoy!

Cook's Notes: Make sure the oil is good and hot. You want the crust to seal, not soak up the fat. If your fish pieces seem to big or unwieldy, cut them into smaller pieces. Be not afraid!

Symphony in Speed Minor

So Sunday Busy Sunday...
Well, not as busy as it could have been, but definitely busier than last Sunday. I have discovered one of my many quirks, it only happens when I'm plating. I hum when I get busy. Specifically I hum classical music. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1, Beethoven's 5th, when I get to Mozart's Magic Flute, I am starting to panic.
I'm slowly learning all the platings, and soon they will be reflex. Hopefully, soon I won't make it all the way to the Flute.
Have a good night everybody.

Vinegar Thrills

It’s not just for cleaning your windows anymore. Next time you’re at the supermarket, take a look at the vinegars there. Chances are you will see some new faces on the shelf. As American consumers become more food savvy than ever, we demand more than just white, cider and red wine vinegars.
Now we have port wine, champagne, pomegranate, citrus and white wine vinegars to play with. And boy are they fun! Pick one up next time and add it to some olive oil for a zippy salad dressing. Try it with spices and oil for a marinade. Put it on shrimp and have ceviche.
Here’s a pic of my favorite vinegar right now. It’s called Cuvee and it’s a champagne vinegar. It has proven itself essential to my salad dressings and shall have a home in my kitchen for the rest of its days.

Now go, play with your food.

Salad Days

Very few things you make will be as simple or as complicated as a salad. A good salad must combine sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami with judicious abandon, striving for balance on the seesaw of flavors. Too much in any one direction leads to inedible misery. I will confess to not being a huge salad fan. Nothing I can think of is less appetizing than a bowl of greens with a few toppings, drowning in House dressing. (What the devil is House dressing exactly? Does anyone know?) My father, however, is a salad connoisseur, devouring one or two a day. So I thought I should give greens a chance.
The trick of this recipe is to use good ingredients. Because you are not going to be baking, boiling, or otherwise transfiguring your salad, it matters what you use. As my father says, “Garbage in, garbage out”.

Sea Scallops on Butter Lettuces with Warm Peach Dressing
Serves 1

Ingredients
2 sea scallops, side muscle removed
1 medium peach, quartered
½ small shallot, chopped
3 slices center cut bacon slices
1 tsp. Ground ginger
¾ cup white wine
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp champagne vinegar
1 bag fresh baby butter lettuces

White Wine Reduction
1. Place white wine and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat slightly and cook until wine is reduced to about ¼ cup and has a syrup consistency. Remove from heat.

Dressing
1. Cook bacon in a small skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and pour out all but 1 tbsp. of the bacon fat.
2. Add chopped shallot and peaches to the skillet. Sauté for 1-2 minutes
3. Add White Wine Reduction, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper. Allow a few minutes for ingredients to combine.

Sea Scallops
1. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium skillet.
2. Season scallops on both sides with salt, pepper and ginger.
3. Add scallops to skillet and cook about 4 minutes on each side, or until done.


Salad
1. Add a handful of greens to a big-ish bowl and pour dressing over the top. Toss to distribute dressing.
2. Place greens on a plate, add peach quarters and scallops.


Cook’s Notes: When you add the scallops to the skillet, resist the urge to move them around a lot. It is a sauté, but you want the scallops to caramelize on each side. So, place them and leave them.

How Pie I Am

Everyone should keep a pie crust in the freezer. Actually, they should keep a few, because if they are like me, they will try to unroll the crust before it's defrosted and botch the silly thing. Backup plan: Prepanned frozen pie crust. Just add filling. Filling was some frozen blueberries I had in the freezer that I added sugar to and cooked for a bit to thicken them. That botched crust? I cut circles out of it and used it for an art nouveau design top crust. Yum.