Queenkv’s Brainpickings

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offal: 1: the waste or by-product of a process: as a: trimmings of a hide b: the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds c: the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing (from Merriam-Webster)

Anthony Bourdain often said cooks learned how to make the nasty bits taste good out of necessity. Eventually, those tasty dishes get elevated to gourmet dining because it demonstrates the cook’s skill in working with all the edible scraps, trims, bones, guts and more.

For chefs like Cosentino, cooking with offal has been transformed into an art form. It’s a nod to the tradition of past chefs who made do with little and a look forward to healthy, sustainable eating.

Almost 7 years ago, I would have never thought I’d be part of the offal dining movement. In our early dating years, Mark and I did Valentine’s Dinner at Incanto. It was an intimate, romantic dining scene. This was before Chef Cosentino exploded on the TV food scene with Iron Chef America. Back then, the food tasted delicious, refined, hearty and I wanted seconds. In 2008, I can’t wait for our next dinner at Incanto.

St. Paul’s on Easter Sunday, originally uploaded by queenkv.

After the shortest Easter Sunday Mass at St. Paul’s (45 minutes), we also celebrated with an Easter Supper Dinner at Incanto.

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Foot Foot had a sweet, indie folk sound. At times Josh and Robin Brown flirted with country twangs…but they stayed grounded with solid string harmonies on guitars, banjo and any other percussion tools they can get their hands on. Robin’s airy voice wrapped around lyrics looking back on memories of childhood, love and more wistful times.

Casiotone at UC Davis from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.
I fell in love with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone almost 8 years ago, back when I was a KALX DJ. During my midnight DJ shifts, Owen Ashworth’s electronic landscapes helped ease me into the world of free-form, independent music. “A Normal Suburban Lifestyle Is A Near Impossibility Once You’ve Fallen In Love With An International Spy,” from his album “Answering Machine Music,” was one of the first songs to show up on my playlists. That album had me hooked on glitches, tinny keyboards and electronic-pop harmonies.

His lyrics were conversational, funny and sarcastic, with a timeless touch of hope.

At this KDVS concert, I was amazed at the lush sound he produced all by himself. He was wizard on the mixer, keyboard, vocals and anything that could be plugged into his show. He played a couple of songs off his 2006 Album, “Etiquette.” After his set, I introduced myself and told him I’ve followed his work since my Berkeley radio days. I sounded nervous and stupid, I’m sure and Ashworth’s such a down-to-earth kinda guy…

In any event, my hubby and I walked away with my own copy of “Answering Machine Music” and on the way home, we listened to the origins of my aural fixations.

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My supervisor said she met a nutritionist/workout coach with an extreme vegan lifestyle. The nutritionist said she gave herself a break from her strict diet on Fridays. My supervisor asked her what she let herself eat on that days, imagining a chocolate bar or something more decadent. The nutritionist said she had yogurt-covered almonds on Fridays. Then she asked my supervisor, why would you want to put disgusting things, like coffee, chocolate, fat and grease, into your body after working out?

My answer: Because it tastes good!

I don’t see the point in keeping your body pure if you can’t enjoy all the pleasures of food. So I run hard, twist my body into yoga poses and fly over the ice, all so that I can eat what I want. I understand there are benefits to keeping your body free of butter and fat. However, I also think there are also benefits to living a balanced life: working out, staying healthy and enjoying life.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Enjoying life for us means eating well and going on weekend adventures to nearby towns. Over the last month or so, we spent a few weekends sampling the food and wine around one of the most iconic wine regions in California: the Napa Valley. One weekend, the Valley saw 90 degree temperatures. While everyone headed to the wineries on Highway 29, we had downtown Napa all to ourselves. It was like a ghost town, with a sprinkling of locals and die-hard wine fans haunting the shops and bars.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

On that hot weekend, we stumbled on the Ceja Wine Tasting Room. I was tickled by the classy lounge atmosphere and
our friendly wine server introduced us to several nice glasses of Ceja wine. It’s a family-owned winery that started out selling grapes to other vineyards. I fell in love with the 2004 Merlot.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

We spent another Sunday in Sonoma. Plenty of history buffs and tourists checked out Spanish Colonial sites like the Mission San Francisco Solano. We ended up doing dessert at the Mission. We bought some tasty chocolate truffles at the Chocolate Cow, across the street. We sampled them on a shaded bench next to the mission. I was dazzled by the chocolate fillings of Zinfandel, Merlot, Champagne Kahlua and Wasabi.

Next - a pictobrowser album of more food and wine from Napa and Sonoma. I don’t think this will show-up in an RSS reader or Facebook. So, if you want to see the pix: please go to my brainpickings.

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I loved the smell of bacon frying in our kitchen. The bay leaf, parsley, onion and bacon fat added rich, smoky flavors to this rice dish. Next time, I’d like to try this recipe with Canadian bacon.

Rice is part of my earliest food memories. Before kindergarten, I remember listening to the rice cooker bubbling in my cousin’s house in Rowland Heights. I remember the smells of my lola’s chicken adobo mixing with the steamy rice. Sometimes she tried making us eat more exotic Filipino dishes (at least to our American toddler palates) and I remember the only thing I could finish on my plate was the steamed white rice. In our Diamond Bar house, I remember my dad frying up rice, soy sauce, eggs, meat and veggies for a quick, hearty breakfast. At Cal, I followed a college friend’s example and rolled up a handful of rice inside dried seaweed leaves for a tasty snack. In the Philippines, my Tita Chita served up my favorite breakfast meal on our vacation: longanisa, pan de sal, fried eggs, rice and coffee. In our London flat, my bears cooked up Spanish-flavored rice.

Bottom line: I like rice. I can’t live without rice and I don’t want to.

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originally uploaded by queenkv.

The mass had a running commentary for the Lenten season. It was weird but it would have made more sense if we caught the explanation at the beginning of the ceremony.

After church, we kicked off our private taxi service. We picked up my Medill buddy, Sara, near UCSF. Next, we went back to Topeka (a street in SF. Serious!) and picked up my Kansas co-worker, Dana. We made it out of Bayview and headed down to the Mission to see Susan and Tom and their doggies.

It was a beautiful Sunday night — meeting new people, catching up with friends and eating good food. I was running on fumes and a couple of hours of sleep but I was just happy to spend time with my friends.

Susan and Tom introduced us to Circolo. It’s a hip Asian-inspired restaurant in the Mission. On Saturday nights, it turns into a dance club. The servers were nice and patient with our group. I am always a sucker for foie gras and I enjoyed our goose liver trio. This appetizer had three preparations of foie: savory, sweet and succulent. I also digged Susan’s entree: a tasty sea bass with a miso glaze. The fish tasted delicate, with a delightful buttery aftertaste. I also enjoyed my veggie dish, the shitake risotto. The creamy arbrio rice was the perfect canvas for the yummy chunks of mushroom.

Bottom line: it was a pleasure to explore new flavors with this intersection of friends from Berkeley, San Francisco, Medill and Kansas.

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Lately, I’ve been going back to my food roots and exploring rice dishes. I’ve figured out the Spanish paella and the Italian risotto. Now I’m trying to master the art of fried rice. It’s one of the most basic Filipino meals and I’m tripping over the combination of soy sauce, patis and salt. I also found some inspiration for fried rice in our Christmas present from my cousin and her hubby: Seduction of Rice.

I’m also in an egg phase. In our kitchen, I’ve rekindled my love for all savory parings of eggs. Like scrambling eggs with peanut oil for my Mom’s fried rice dish. Or frying an egg in olive oil and pairing it with slices of a prosicutto for a hearty breakfast sandwich. I’m digging the yellow yolk flavor spilling over toasted bread and white rice. Good times.

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Apple Tart, originally uploaded by queenkv.

For dessert, we shared a hot, sweet apple tart plus a tasty scoop of homemade cinnamon ice cream. The ice cream scoop tasted so creamy and I was tempted to get seconds.

Dining In for Valentine’s, originally uploaded by queenkv.

We decided to cook for each other on Valentine’s Day. Mark made the linguini with clams and I made the salmon with prosciutto. We’ve made these dishes about 6 years ago. This time around, both recipes seemed easy to do. Mark’s pasta sauce with white wine turned out delicate and it complimented the clams. I thought the salmon’s pink color was perfect for this romantic holiday. I’m always tickled by the simple ingredients transforming fresh fish into something elegant: olive oil, prosciutto, salt and pepper. Yum!

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