There was a Three Stooges episode when Curly would go bonkers every time he’d see a mouse and the only way to remedy his craziness would be to feed him a piece of cheese.
I think Curly would have been nicely satiated in my houseful of guest mice yesterday at my 2nd annual Red, White and Blue Cheese 4th of July party yesterday.
30 hungry guests; plus over 20 delicious cheese and cheese dishes: Mezzo Secco, Montgomery’s Cheddar, Montegrappa, Manchego, Maytag Blue, Humbolt Fog, St Pats, Red Hawk, Tome de Haute Savoire, chocolate mascarpone and fruit, mushroom brie, gruyere, English cheddar, triple cream brie, blue cheese polenta, dates stuffed with goat cheese, strawberry, blueberry and cream cheese ice cream, fig and goat cheese ice cream; plus a homemade apple pie; plus Katz’s dry salami; plus Bocconlone’s Soppressata di Calabria dry salami; plus free flowing wine, beer, and sodas = one great, wonderfully gastronomic time.
I have always said that I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like (okay, maybe one I sampled at Cowgirl that left a horrible metallic aftertaste in my mouth), but by the end of the night, I was all cheesed-out and started to get the cheese spins. The last (but not least) guest to arrive was Chef, toting a bagful of ribs and accoutrements from his friend’s BBQ restaurant - Back Forty Texas BBQ. After a day of preparing, receiving, eating, and staring at nothing but dairy products, meat was a most welcomed sight. And it was goooood.
This past Saturday was undoubtedly one of the hottest days of the year (rescinding my previous post of saying Friday was the hottest day). The kind of day when you can just sit, not move an eyeball, but sweat buckets. Now that’s pretty bad, especially living in the city that comes with its own air conditioner.
Chef wanted to escape the heat of the deep east bay (and the kitchen) so he came over to the cooler side of the bay on Sunday, while surprisingly the temperature dropped a good 30 degrees from the previous day. I had made rezzies at one of my favorite comfort food eateries - Luna Park, for dinner. Pot roast and steak were in order for us, but the kicker of the night were the Carnival Dogs - three corn dogs of various sausages (one andouille, one knockwurst, one beef, I believe) along with three mustards (honey, dijon and grain) for dipping . The batter was light, crispy and sweet yet deliciously reminiscent of the hot dog on a stick I ate as a kid on the Redondo Beach Pier. Served in a paper lined red plastic basket, of course.
Yesterday, June 20, was supposedly the Happiest Day of the Year. At least according to mathematician Cliff Arnall.
O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He = June 20
Mr. Smarty Pants einsteined the equation by figuring in the amount of time we spend Outdoors, plus our connection with Nature and Socialization, plus Childhood Positive Memories, divided my the mean Temperature, plus the upcoming Holidays Expected. Somehow, someway, this equals, well, yesterday.
I know at least a few people who were not subscribing to this idea, but for me, it was quite a happy day thanks to my dinner at Koo. The sea bream was absolutely divine, the black cod was sublime. But the Spoonful of Happiness, oh baby baby baby. Nirvana.
Yesterday was also the warmest day of the year. I believe temps in SF reached the mid 90s. I’ve been waiting for nature’s air conditioner to kick in but looks like there is no reprieve in sight. Snoopy is not welcomed here. Happiness is NOT a warm puppy. It’s a couple of spoonfuls.
True to my word, I trucked my frozen wares on Muni this morning for the office masses to feast upon.
I bring you, my lemon basil sorbet:
the juice of organic lemons, a dash of zest, chopped organic basil and simple syrup made with TJ’s organic cane sugar.
and what we were all waiting for (and what The Jose called “Homer Food”), my bacon and eggs ice cream:
Niman Ranch bacon that I candied with TJ’s organic brown sugar, half and half, egg yolks, caramel, a vanilla bean, a bit o’ salted butter, and roasted pecans.
Big thumbs up for both, though there were two definite camps of frozen dessert eaters - the “light and refreshing” club vs the “this is so bad for me, it’s good” gang.
This past weekend seems to have been spent mostly in the kitchen. I did break in my new ice cream maker not once, but twice. First with a refreshing lemon basil sorbet, then with a heart stopping bacon and eggs ice cream (which actually turned out quite well…the real test will be with my co-workers/guinea pigs tomorrow…sooie!) - candied bacon sprinkled in a custard based ice cream. Also made some candied lemon peels and yogurt cheese.
In-between time spent in the kitchen, I did manage to take some time off to get my lamb on at the Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant way down yonder in the paw paw patch. While I was too excited (and hungry) to interrupt my dinner to take food photos, I did snap a pic of the comic book store across the street that had a humorous window drawing of Batman as a bat man.
Investigating what happened to ice milk got me thinking of making homemade ice cream. Then, thanks to a friend who knows all-too-well of my love of most things pig and sweet confections, planted the seed to the pièce de résistance - bacon ice cream. Soon after, I was on a mission. I searched out and bought the one accoutrement sorely missing from my kitchen - an ice cream maker. Thankfully, I own a restaurant quality KitchenAid (thanks to my dad who knows the value of such things in one’s home) and today I pig squealed with delight as I received and met my maker (in an amazingly swift delivery).
San Francisco is going through somewhat of a heatwave right now, so that means I’ll be busy this weekend in the kitchen experimenting with my new toy, concocting recipes that quite possibly only I can love.
So Paula Dean, watch out. You’re not the only one trying to kill us.
