The Making of a Foodie

An Indian Wedding

We were invited to go to our first Catholic Indian wedding on Saturday. We know the groom well. He is a smart, handsome Indian fellow who finally managed to tie the knot with his longtime girlfriend, now blushing American bride. She looked smashing in a stunning bridal gown made of royal blue silk. Both of her hands were ceremoniously covered with an ornate Mehendi, a traditional Indian bridal henna tattoo, and she wore a bindi on her forehead and lovely gold bangles on her wrist.

This event had been a long time coming, and over a year in the making. They both seemed very happy and relieved to finally see this day come to pass. For many reasons they had chosen to wait to tie the knot. It was complicated - between his citizenship status and family living a world away, there was much to figure out before the ceremony could take place. The wedding and reception following at Studio 2131 was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable we had ever been to, and we KNEW the Indian food at the reception was going to rock.  We purposefully did not eat lunch in preparation for the feast that lay ahead.

You see like all good Catholic weddings we were invited to attend the ceremony at the church which started at 1:00 pm and ended sometime around 2:30 pm. Then you go into this odd void known as the "the Catholic wedding holding pattern" while you wander around town all dressed up and no place to go waiting for the reception to begin at 5:30 pm. Strange ritual for the guests, I have always thought. I hope the extra wedding picture poses the groom and bride get out of this deal are worth our monkey suit parade all over town. It worked out fine for us, once we decided we would definitely NOT eat lunch in preparation for the meal ahead. Instead, we found a perch to land outside and enjoyed the awesome day - talking about this and that until it was time to drive over for the reception.

The reception was a lovely affair full of Indian colors, flavors, aromas, decor, dancing and for the brave of heart, free henna tattoos, where you could choose your very own design and have it done right there. What a great idea! Everyone loved it, including me. I patiently stood in line for my henna tattoo behind great grandma's, grandma's, mothers, daughters, and small children too. Young and old, it seems, loved the idea of playing with a tattoo that would naturally wear off in a week or two.

I was watching the two ladies they hired to do the henna tattooing for the event. Aside from the fact that they looked like sisters with their long red hair, long hippie skirts and Birkenstock sandals, they both seemed to have had lots of practice with henna tattooing. The fact that they were able to take hands of all different makes and models and paint a picture of them that looked just like it did in the book, free-handed, was very impressive. I wondered what they did for a living? Henna Tattooing? They did look like they could (very easily) follow the Renaissance Festival for part of the season and then fill in with birthdays and weddings in between for extra cash.

They work from tiny henna bottles that remind you of a small puff paint bottle from the arts & crafts store. They do the design which does, oddly enough, have the consistency on your skin of brown puff paint. When they are finished they spray your tattoo with a little bit of hair spray. You are then expected to hold your (hand, in my case) hand very still to allow the paint time to dry. Once it is dry, then it will begin to flake off, which you will immediately feel panicked about.  Don't worry, the top layer is supposed to rub off to expose the lovely brown henna tattoo stain underneath.

Apparently, you can make your own henna dye and most people who do henna often make their own, however beware of black henna. It apparently does not exist, and some disreputable henna artists were mixing black hair dye and other things into their henna to get a more realistic tattoo look, with very scary allergic reactions.

The food, how was the food, you ask? Spicy hot and delicious. The happy couple hired a local caterer to do the standard American dishes, beef tenderloin, pasta salad etc. and the Indian food was catered from Ruchi's, which I think is one of the best places to eat Indian food in KC.

They had a grand display of both types of food living harmoniously together on the same table. The caterers had their hands full, as not only did they have to keep their dishes stocked, but they were also in charge of freshing up the Indian food as well from what had been delivered to the reception.

There was Ruchi's famous Butter Chicken, Palak Pakora, Rice with vegetables, Tandoori chicken and Naan bread . . .all of the food was really packing some heat, so you know the groom must have asked for it to be "Indian hot." It was worth the water and wine I chugged afterwards, because it was delicious.

So, congrats to the happy couple and for allowing us to share in your special day. We enjoyed ourselves, the decor, the dancing, the henna and the food . . .but most of all we enjoyed watching the two of you so happy together on your special day. Good Luck, friends.

P.S. I guess this will officially count as my first Indian Wedding ceremony, which means another item gets checked off my bucket list . . .for complete details see the bottom of my "About me" page.

Tasty Tibits, Morsels and Nuggets

This Foodie's event calendar really picked up in April. Somewhere between my committee work on Forks & Corks and the event itself last Thursday and the fact that once the weather gets warmer Foodies start heading outside, hosting parties, inviting others to come join them. Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal, (okay, to a Foodie it really means lamb, asparagus, peas and fiddlehead's are back on the menu) and that means the plans that most Chefs and Restaurateurs have been percolating on all winter are finally ready to be tasted.

So in making my rounds this April, here are some interesting things I picked up speaking to different Chefs around town as I have been out and about. These are all things experienced first hand, or told to me by a local Chef or restaurateur. It's good stuff, and I was so honored to be given the scoop on, so I thought I would share it with you. It's like a wedding - something old, something new, something borrowed . . .you know the rest.

Tidbit #1 - Cool Cocktails & Hot Expansion for Justus Drugstore. I was up at Smithville enjoying another incredible meal at Chef Jonathan Justus's and his lovely wife Camille Eklof's place, Justus Drugstore. We came early for a chance to sit at the bar and enjoy a unique cocktail from his charming bartender. I really love their cocktail menu. If you look at the end of the bar you see, glass jar after glass jar filled with fresh fruit and some sort of liquor hanging out together getting happy. We had almost enough people in our party to try all of the cocktails featured on the menu and each one was a standout. My favorite, was the one I got (mostly because it featured my poison of choice, gin) called a Silver Elder Fizz. It was a delightful concoction of (I think these ingredients are close) gin, elderflower syrup, lemon, vanilla vodka and frothy egg whites from Campo Lindo local eggs. It was completely refreshing with the bright citrus and gin waking up your tastebuds while the silky egg whites give it a very rich mouth feel. The vanilla vodka and elderflower syrup were sweet and floral, which gave the drink an innocent perfumed aroma . . .the best cocktail I have had this year. Jonathan said, he likes this drink so much he is thinking this will be one he keeps on his menu for a while. Hurry, while it is on there and get one. Take it from me, this is an award-winning cocktail.

After our meal, and being one of the last tables in the place, Jonathan pulled up a chair and sat down to chat with a lovely glass of red wine in his hand looking every bit a man enjoying his place, his guests and the moment. We talked about life in Smithville, the national press making the circuit through his doors and the new patio that is being poured on the far side of the restaurant. (See cement wall in this photo.) "Just in time for the good weather," he tells me when I ask about the staked off patio and concrete. At this point he is thinking the patio will be a different dining experience than what you would receive inside the restaurant. He sees the patio as more of a faster dining experience with a different menu of small plates that would be available. Patio season in KC just keeps getting better and better.

Morsel #2 - Michael Smith planning to open his second restaurant, Extra Virgin, in mid-June.  I went to the Urban Picnic a week ago hosted annually by the KC Originals as their lovely guest appreciation event and had an opportunity to chat with a strikingly casual and relaxed Michael Smith, who was dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt, about his new Happy Hour promotion at Michael Smith. He had said those will be running only until he gets Extra Virgin open in late June. Located next door to Restaurant Micheal Smith, Extra Virgin's address is 7 W. 19th Street, literally in the same building. In an article Hearne Christopher Jr. published in the KC Star on April 10, 2008, Michael Smith describes his new baby this way: “We’re going to do olive oil martinis. And, like, when you walk into the place you’ll see food immediately. There’ll be an open-air kitchen and a patio on the sidewalk.”

As for the new restaurant itself, “It’s going to be very casual fare — hip, rustic foods, small foods,” Smith says. “And we’re taking the bar out of the Michael Smith side and bringing it over here to increase the seating on the Michael Smith side. So it’ll be a 90-seat restaurant. I’m only 70 now.” Smith’s take on having two restaurants side-by-side: “We just feel that one will feed off the other. There’s a customer that wants a Michael Smith restaurant, and there’s a customer who wants something casual.”

This is an interesting strategy, where Michael Smith will be able to utilize both spaces to flow traffic back and forth, potentially never losing the guest to another restaurant. Waiting for your table at Michael Smith? Walk over and sit outside or at the bar at Extra Virgin and sip an olive oil martini while you wait. No room to squeeze you into Michael Smith's tonight for dinner? Head over next door and see if you can snag a table for a quick bite before heading out to a downtown event. Potential cost savings from shared kitchen help, servers and food costs will all be a plus as well.  I have to say, the menu and restaurant theme of Extra Virgin sound very similar to Chef Rob Dalzell, of 1924 Main, (located around the corner from Michael Smith's) Pizza Bella concept. Let's hope there are enough charcuterie-lovers in this town to go around. Count me in!

Nugget #3 - chefBurger's success demands menu change. Speaking of Chef Rob Dalzell, I was lucky enough to be included in a special spring menu tasting at 1924 Main where I had the opportunity to meet, Margarita, Chef Rob's very sweet and hard-working wife. After chatting about the delicious menu whose highlights for me included a Seared Diver Scallop, Crispy Artichokes, Basil Pickles and Crayfish Remulade served with a Champalou Vouvray from France and the Cheese Flight with Accompaniments and a "Jonesy" Port we had a chance to talk about the other concepts, most notable the new chefBurger in the Power & Light District.

I had asked Margarita about the menu change I had seen over the last few weeks since they had been open, particularly the disappearance of the "Build Your Own Burger" component which dominated the original menu at chefBurger, but seemed to be missing on my last visit.

"Rob really wanted the whole concept of chefBurger to be built around the idea that you could have your burger anyway you wanted it, that you could build it from the bun up," she said. "But the reality was it was very time consuming on the line to make these special order burgers."

She also said, that very few people were actually using the "Build Your Own Burger" feature, instead opting to order one of Chef Rob's specialty house burgers.

She explained, the cooks at chefBurger would be flying through the standard chefBurger orders, but when a "build your own" was thrown into the mix it slowed the prep & cook times down considerably, as the cooks had to really study the order to make sure it was customized properly. With the heavy crowds that continue to pour into the restaurant, Chef Rob decided to take them off the menu to provide a faster food to table times and to keep his guests happy.

I have to admit there is something really wonderful about a man who can admit his mistakes and learn from them. How sexy is that?  I personally think that this is a feature that although novel in approach is not a "make or break" component of the concept.

I was assured by Margarita that chefBurger is still happy to add or delete any ingredient from any of their thick and juicy specialty burgers, so you can still "have it your way."

Tidbit #4 - JP Wine bar adds new southern location, and is opening a traditional cocktail bar downtown. Last week, I was met a man named Craig Adcock, who sold me a life-changing rum cake, who also happens to own a successful BBQ catering company in town called Belly Up BBQ. He wanted to make the exchange of cash for cake at JP's Wine Bar downtown, and I agreed.  Of course, given that my new friend also happens to have a wonderful depth of knowledge about wine as well, we decided to stay for a glass of wine, which then turned into a bottle back in the wine locker tasting room of JP's Wine Bar. 

It also gave me an opportunity to talk with Owner/Sommelier Ryan Maybee, about his plans for the second JP's Wine Bar which will be located catty-corner from Town Center at 119th and Roe in the Crate and Barrel Shopping Center. This will be a spectacular location for this concept, and should really fit in nicely with the other upscale retailers surrounding him. Ryan says you can expect this second location to be open by September-October 2008.

But even more interesting and exciting for me was to learn that Ryan is also going to open (not far from JP's current location downtown) a traditional cocktail bar called Manifesto, specializing in hand-crafted, precision cocktails that use traditional ingredients and house cracked ice cubes. Think old-school 'tails. Think Pegu Club in New York City and it's famous mixologist Audrey Saunders who has brought back traditional cocktails but is making them with all of her own mixes and infusions, which brings a fresher, brighter flavor to these long forgotten, but still glamorous cocktails. These may be your grand-daddy's cocktails, but he has never tasted them this good before.

What I discovered in talking to Ryan, is not only is he a "Frosty", or a disciple of Doug Frost (a KC native who is royalty in the wine world for being one of three people in the world who have successfully taken and passed both the Master Sommelier examination and achieved the Master of Wine titles) which would explain his impressive wine knowledge and experience, but Ryan also happens to be a master mixologist. He was chosen as a finalist in the 2007 Vinos De Jerez Cocktail Competition held in New York City last year. Although he did not win the competition he said he was competing against many talented bartenders from all over the world. In KC, he was also the organizer for the HALO 2007 Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition.

Let's just say, Ryan has the fever for really great retro cocktails. Manifesto should be open by June -July 2008. I hope I get an invitation to the opening . . .gin is my favorite sin, well one of my favorite.

Morsel #5 - Is Chef Jasper Mirabile Jr. headed for a Throwdown with Bobby Flay? I was invited to attend Jasper's 54th Anniversary Party of his restaurant Jasper's this Saturday at the restaurant.  As a warm crowd of friends, family and well-wishers noshed on Jasper's incredible trademark salad, garlic bread and pasta, Chef Jasper Mirabile Jr., or JJ, as his friends call him, was live on the air hosting his Jasper's LIVE radio show on KCMO 710 Saturdays at 11:00 am.

I was amazed that JJ was able to concentrate on getting through the show with all of the excitement and chaos going on in the restaurant with the anniversary party. But he managed to  keep it together enough to interview the Kalaris family who owns Tasso's Greek restaurant and who had been close restaurant neighbors to the original Jasper's when it was on 75th and Wornall. He also interviewed his mother about the name of the restaurant and told us that she had made the cream puffs that we would be enjoying for dessert at the anniversary party.

After the show was over, and the candles on the anniversary cake were blown out, I had a chance to sit and talk with Jasper for a few minutes before he was needed back in the kitchen to prepare for the Saturday night crowd. This man never stops for one minute. He can easily do 6 things at once and still make you feel like you are the most important person in the room. He is talented, relevant and a genuine person who had shaped the Kansas City restaurant scene with his drive, talent, passion and customer service. I am a big fan.

I toured his wine room with his brother, Leonard, who is the front of the house man and who does all of the wine buying for the restaurant, which sports a fabulous collection of Italian wines, including one that he found that bears his family name, Mirabile.

As I was chatting with JJ on the way out, he said that he had been contacted by the folks at Food Network about Bobby Flay's Kansas City cookbook signing on May 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Unity Temple on the Plaza. JJ said, "I don't know, but this could be a set up for a Throwdown match between Bobby and I." (referring to Bobby's hit show where he travels to different towns challenging local cooks to a cooking throwdown). JJ thought it seemed too convenient Food Network would call him about Flay's appearance. I told him, if they do end up having a Throwdown to be sure to call me. I'll be the first one on the front row cheering JJ on to victory. UPDATE: See this hilarious account from JJ of what happened when he arrived at a radio interview with Bobby Flay he posted on his blog.

Nugget #6 - Chef Marshall Roth is definitely OUT and about between the 6 restaurant & bar menus he is executing for ECI, the Cordish Company's restaurant and club division. I went into Vinino Wine Bar in the Power & Light District with a friend for a drink after an event to see if I could tell if Chef Marshall Roth had been able to make any noticeable improvements to the drink/food menu since taking over at the beginning of the year. I had very high hopes for the place, that were quickly dashed upon sitting at the bar. I have to say Vinino is still really at the bottom of my list for both food and especially disappointing was the wine . . .none of what I ordered appeared to be in stock and if it was it was vinegar when they poured it into my glass and served it to me. I didn't even have the strength to remind them that they had the words "Wine Bar" in the name of the place.

That's when we spotted Chef Marshall Roth and his signature bleach blonde mohawk coming out from the McFadden side into the Vinino side where he spoke to the front of the house manager about something before heading out the back door and across the way to Tengo Sed Cantina. After about 10 minutes in that restaurant, he came back out across the courtyard with a leg of pork or beef in a plastic bag over his shoulder and took it back into the Vinino kitchen. We somehow managed to get him to stop long enough for a chat, but not before he cell phone rang and he excused himself to speak to "his boss."

You definitely get the impression looking at him that this is a talented man who is getting pulled in too many different directions with almost all of the ECI Cordish restaurants/bars opening in the next 2 weeks. He looks tired and beaten and running on coffee, love and who knows what else. His Dad is still battling cancer, and Marshall talked openly about his concern for his Father's health, which was the reason he relocated to KC after years as a trendy, boutique hotel chef. But eventually it is back to his boutique hotel roots that he is hoping to get, once he decides to move on to his next gig.

But for now, his eyes light up as he discusses his work on the menu for the new Maker's Mark Restaurant & Lounge in the Power & Light district which had its soft opening last Thursday night and will officially open on May 2. He likes working with this concept because it is more upscale in nature.

Marshall, I know you are tired and need a break, but you need to stay focused. Kansas City needs you more than ever to rally to the occasion and make your impact.  We are counting on you.  We want to see that from you.

Now you know what I know . . .just a little bite of somethin', somethin' to hold you over. Enjoy!

Keepin' it Rural

I went home recently to Oklahoma to visit my Mom, while she was on her Spring Break from school. She is a teacher and we usually see each other during her week off. While I was there, I went with her to Sam's Club and watched as she put a bag of fruit in her massive cart from Mexico. (Just like I, on occasion, have done at my local Costco.) Then we looked at the fine jewelry counter and the large flat-screen TV's too.

Is it right that we should be able to buy our food from the same people we buy our washer and dryer from?

That food is shipped in from all over the world to her little Sam's Club in Tulsa, OK to be sold to her at a discounted price because of their powerful distribution system. You can eat anything you want any time of the year . . .because it is always the growing season somewhere in this world. It doesn't mean that you should, or that it will taste better or be better for you.

Although, I am impressed with their competency within the supply and demand chain, I have grown to become concerned about its impact on our environment and our health.

See, I had just lectured my Mom that morning about the food she keeps in her house to feed her body. Frozen Lean Cuisine dinners and fat free cottage cheese, jello and walnuts that she makes into a breakfast salad and a Sam's Club size amount of Diet Mountain Dew. She is single, she lives alone and although she is 63, she eats like a cross between an 18 year old college kid and 80 year old woman. There is nothing fresh, local or alive about her diet at the moment.

So while we are waiting to check out at Sam's Club I decided to give her my little "local" test. I was trying to see if my very sweet and smart school teacher mother had heard of, or understood, anything about the "eating local" food movement.

So, I ask her: "Mom, what would you say if I told you to eat locally?"

She replies: "It means, you want me to go eat at a local restaurant."

I try again: "Okay, what if I told you to buy local food to eat?"

She replies, (like I am slow): "It means, you want me to go to my local grocery store and buy some food."

She has a point. If this were say, the 1940's, she might be right. Back then grocery stores in small towns were typically locally owned, not corporately owned. The grocery store owner probably worked with local farmers to get the produce he needed in his store, and because he was at the whim of the climate and time of year and the lack of other distribution channels he probably only stocked what was the freshest and in season. Therefore, you could eat local just by going to your local grocery store. Ahhh, those were the days.

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be turning into a "locavore" or "localvore", I would have not believed you. I don't even think I had a good concept of what constituted eating local and why that was important.

Wiki defines it this way: "Local food (also regional food or food patriotism) or the local food movement is a collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place."

The technical definition of eating local is eating food that has been grown or raised within 100 miles from where you live.

For the first time in my life, I have joined not one but two community supported agriculture groups or CSA's. I will be getting during the growing season my veggies from the Moon On the Meadow farm in Lawrence, KS which is located about 32 miles from my house and I will be getting all of my meat (except fish and seafood) from the Parker Farms in Richmond, MO located about 55 miles from my house.

My vegetables from Jill Elmers and Moon on the Meadows are organically grown and for 24 weeks this year, I will prepare, and my family will eat, food that still has dirt on it from the ground it was grown in. Whatever is in season and being harvested is what we will be eating.

My meat is from Tom and Paula Parker of Parker Farms Natural Meats which follows a fully organic (but not certified) method of raising animals. All beef & lamb is 100% grassfed (no grain, animal by-products, antibiotics, or hormone injections). Chickens are pasture-raised (weather allowing). Hogs are fed grain, but live outdoors. No petrol-based pesticides or fertilizers used on pastures. Have you read Omnivores Dilemma? Well, let's just say that this is the type of meat you are supposed to eat.

I am about to learn how my money can go to support a local farmer and feed my family veggies and meat that will be better for them, for me, for our health, for the environment and I suspect at the end of the year for my pocketbook as well. I want my son, who is being raised in the city, to understand the connection we have to the land, our food and our environment. I want him to know what a farm fresh egg tastes like.

I am pretty creative in the kitchen and look forward to Iron Chef battles with produce and meats I may have never cooked with, and I will be interested to see if this food lives up to my expectations of tasting better than anything I could by at a grocery store that has been shipped to me from south of the border.

I want to look into the face of the farmers, and I want to know their names and I want them to know mine. They are the caretakers of my share of the crop that I will use to feed my family. It is too important a job to leave to strangers, isn't it?

We are lucky in Kansas City to have a wonderful local grocery store chain like Hen House, who was one of the first to offer locally grown food in their stores, and who started their own CSA's with these suppliers. Everyone has to start their journey somewhere and shopping locally from Hen House was the baby step that I took last year, that leads me to this new foodie adventure in 2008.

I did use the Kansas City Food Circle groups website to do my research on CSA's and found it to be very useful. I even attended their Local Food Show in Independence last week to meet our meat farmer and give them our first check, which was a lovely and affirming experience for me.

I have to be honest though . . . being relatively new to the organic and local food scene in KC, there still is a bit of the hippy stigma that still remains attached to this movement at least from what I have been exposed to here in Kansas City. The Local Food Show was full of your typical image of what local and organic foodies look like - long hair, Birkenstock sandals, colorful carpet bag purses from 3rd world countries and lots and lots of intense passion for wanting to convince you why local food was better food. Some of them came across a little too passionate, which read like militant to me, which does strike fear in the hearts of many of us. If you make it seem like an extreme movement you will never reach the masses you want to attract. And then there was this was the crazy couple in the corner loudly playing the harpsichord and singing folk songs who just made you want to run screaming from the building . . .I am not one of them, I am not one of them.

I think in this day and age, as people like me and others, become more educated on eating locally and begin trying it for ourselves we will naturally understand why we would want to eat this way every day.

So, I know the hippies were the first to go there because they all opted out of "the system" a long time ago. They were our scouts in the field, and the trails they blazed will be those that many more of us will follow after them. Some of us will test it and be sucked back down the path of least resistance and convenience, some of us will allocate a portion of what we buy to this method of commerce and some of us will become just like them . . .only without the warbling harpsichord. Please.

So right now, I consider myself educated, but not assimilated into the local food movement. But I might be closer than I think, because if I am not mistaken, I just took a significant portion of my grocery money off the grid . . . Hey Mom, look at me! I'm just keepin' it rural!

FOODIE Rule #6

FOODIE Rule #6 - "Thou shall commit random acts of foodie-ness, suddenly and with no thought of compensation or return, but simply out of the goodness of your Foodie heart. Thou shall take it upon yourself to help everyone you meet find good food, not in a boastful or proud way, but humbly. You do it because of the genuine joy you get out of connecting one human being with a food experience worthy of their time, money and tastebuds. And by helping others you will be creating better Foodie karma for the universe and yourself."

My latest realization about my Foodie quest came to me rather slowly. I had been actively reading and posting on Chowhound for a couple of years and I was really enjoying it. Some of the people I met online chatting about food, I actually ended up meeting in person. It was during one of these meetings, over dinner at Cafe Provence, that I asked this person: Why do you post on Chowhound? What do you get out of that experience?

This person thought for a moment and said: "Well, most of the people who post are people coming to town for a business trip or on vacation and they just want to know where the best places to eat are based on the area of town they will be staying or because of the event that is bringing them to town. I love racking my brain trying to come up with the very best restaurant recommendation based on their circumstances. I love helping people find good food in KC."

"Like Kansas City Good Food Ambassadors", I thought later, driving home from that dinner meeting. I was also struck by how much time this person is on Chowhound and how many people they have helped with their advice and postings . . .the only thing they want is to live their life and help people find good food. Not for the money, power and glory . . .not to make a name for themselves, but strictly to be of service to others.

I wish I were that good of a person. I am going to try to be that person. . . .hence Foodie Rule #6.

I was not looking for an opportunity to put Rule #6 to the test, but it found me. I read The Pitch every week for: 1)  Charles' column, watching with interest as he morphs into Kansas City's future food historian,  2) to see what restaurants are advertising, 3) to read about Foodie events going on in KC that weekend and 4) to study the help wanted ads to see who is getting ready to open their doors and approximately when.

I was reading the paper a couple of weeks ago when I came across a letter to the Editor by Allen Kleinbeck called "Ex-Chubby's Chaser".

Here is part of the letter he wrote: "Actually, my friend Ed and I gave up on Chubby's a couple of months ago. After the founding family left, the food went steadily downhill, especially the eggs, which they quite simply don't know how to cook. We'd order an omelet or basted eggs (actually, they're steamed on the grill), and invariably, the whites wouldn't be set. The last time we were there, Ed ordered two basted eggs, took a look at them and asked that they be returned to the kitchen. When they came back, they were fried brown. The two of us were also "fried" and never went back. We do miss the wait staff."

I agree with him. Chubby's has really gone downhill over the last 15 years or so I've been in KC. It is sad, because when I moved to Kansas City in 1991 right after college, Chubby's was a great late night place to sop up some alcohol. It was the place to go for biscuits and gravy with a side order of local color. It was an icon. It isn't anymore. I knew it had hit rock bottom when my Dad who is a diner lover told me he no longer wanted to go to Chubby's for breakfast. What? Really!

So, I didn't think much about that letter until I received an email from one of the daughter's of the family that used to own Chubby's. I had emailed Michelle Inzenga who was at the Italian Festival last year selling her Dream Cookies, to ask her about where to get some more. They were the best traditional Italian cookies I have ever had.

She wrote me a nice email back about how she was doing her cookie thing out of her family restaurant called Arnone's Hot Spot Cafe in the West Bottoms.

This is part of her email response to me: "I am actually at the restaurant Arnone's Hot Spot Cafe in the West Bottoms. We did a change up in January and my uncle owns the other restaurant in the East Bottoms. My Mom and I own this one at 1230 Woodwether Rd. We are open Monday through Friday 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 7:00 a.m. until 1 p.m. We offer a wide variety of foods from breakfast to lunch and we have awesome breakfast & lunch specials!  We are the former owners and workers from the old Chubby's."

All weekend, I thought to myself: "That guy who wrote to The Pitch needs to know that the people he misses from Chubby's have opened a new place in the West Bottoms." So, I got out my old Pitch and looked for the guys name who wrote the letter. Then I Googled him and found an email address (I know pretty "stalker-like" behavior . . .but I was on a mission.) and sent him the following email.

"Hi Allen,

I saw your letter to the Editor in The Pitch over the weekend,
and it struck a cord with me, as I agree with you about Chubby's.
It is sad when a landmark place changes hands and the food,
service and atmosphere goes downhill.

However, I recently heard that there is a restaurant in the
West Bottoms open for breakfast and lunch that is owned
and managed by the family that owned Chubby's. It's called
Arnone's Hot Spot Café. I've been emailing with one of the
owners, Michelle Inzenga, and it is she and her mother that
had Chubby's that are now running this place. Apparently,
they also have an uncle who has a similar place in the East
Bottoms called Tony's.

I am a local KC Foodie, and all weekend I thought about your
letter and I thought if there was a way to contact you with
this tidbit, I would try. I hope you don't find this email too
forward, I am just a foodie trying to help. :)"

Within a day I received his response:

"Hello.  No, your email wasn't too forward at all.  As
a matter of fact, since I eat breakfast out every
single day I'll head for the Bottoms and check out the
diners that you mentioned.

We went to Chubby's for years and really liked the
family that owned it and considered them to be friends
of a sort.  We also loved the ladies on the wait staff
who are a terrific bunch of women and who are missed
by yours truly.  Then the family left and, well, you
know the rest.

Thanks again for writing.

Allen Kleinbeck"

That was soooo much fun. It was exciting to think I connected these two people who needed to be reconnected. I helped someone find good food. I have not actually been to Arnone's Hot Spot Cafe, but I plan to go. Because after reading this article in the KC Star last week called: "Chubby's back with Family." it is clear I need to go see Michelle, get some cookies, and figure out this "family" tree.

Perhaps my new friend, Allen, will now have two potential places to go for a Chubby's style breakfast. The old Chubby's now under the original owners management, and Arnone's Hot Spot Cafe in the West Bottoms.

Anything for good food, anything. JV

Freaky Good - Food + Wine Pairing

The best food and wine pairings usually come in two varieties for me:

1) Ones that are so excellent and well matched with the food that you don't even truly realize what you are drinking, you just know that it is exactly the right thing to be drinking with this food. It is seamless, it is planned, it is harmony, it is zen.

2) Then there are the ones that were so far out, (these tend to stick in the mind longer, interesting!) that you wonder if you could ever forget ever forget such a freakish and fabulous combination such as this as long as you live.

I discovered one of the second variety, by accident this weekend.

I had been working my way, leisurely, through the wine that had been given to me as a hostess gift from our annual Christmas party.

(Notice I said me, and not we? Getting the ice, bottled water and beer set out on the deck and turning on the iPod to shuffle although helpful and appreciated functions of hosting a party  . . .does not automatically entitle one to the hostess booty. So sorry, I still did most of the work, so I get the first right of refusal on the booty. It is in my contract.

By the way, the darling creature that brought me a bottle of French Beaujolais Nouveau 2007 - Louis Tete as a hostess gift must know that it was the bottle I enjoyed drinking the most and you must tell me where you got it, so that I may go and get some more.

I am not usually a huge fan of Beaujolais Nouveau . . .I usually find them fruity in this annoying sort of way, with a flavor that goes invisible on the front palate, but is harsh and full of alcohol on the back palate as it is trying to dazzle me going down. To top it all off - a weak and a watery mouth-feel. This young wine is bottled for sale immediately with no aging, and you can usually tell, but it is the traditional way a Beaujolais Nouveau is made and it simply asks you to love it as it is, or leave it alone. This is the first one that I have tasted and wanted more of . . .NOW.)

So anyway, one of the last bottles of booty wine I had on hand was this simple German Riesling called Relax . . .which is just what I was doing last Sunday while thumbing my stacks of food and wine magazines. Now, I don't normally drink such a sweet and fruity wine in the winter, but it was cold outside I didn't feel like getting out to the liquor store to buy something else, so I popped it open.

Getting hungry, I went looking for the whole roasted almonds in my cupboard, but instead found this Whole Foods bulk bag full of cashews that were coated with black specks. I thought they might be poppy seeds at first, then I tasted one and realized they were coated in black pepper, lots of black pepper. But they were very good, so I grabbed a handful and started eating them and without thinking I took another sip of my wine, as my mouth was on fire by now as those little nuts packed a smoky hot punch.

It was a wonderful moment where smoky hot black pepper merged with the sweet, light and fruity taste of the Riesling which also brought out the natural sweetness of the cashew nut itself. It was freaky, and I was hooked. The best wine pairing I have made so far in 2008. What are some of your weirdest wine pairings? This Foodie wants to know. But try mine in the meantime and let me know what you think of this combo:

 

Relax Riesling and Black Pepper Cashews from Whole Foods bulk bin department.
.

Tony shows this Foodie some McLovin'!

I've been faithfully working on my Foodie blog since Mother’s Day of last year, so please don't laugh out loud . . .it is a lovie in progress.

Which means I have also been reading other local Kansas City blogs for ideas and inspiration on my journey. I found many new blogs to read looking at Present Magazine's reader’s choice for the Top 10 blogs in KC and Tony's Kansas City was #1.

Here's what they said about him:

"#1 Tony's Kansas City
Tony is like Matt Drudge on crack. He's outrageous mostly just for the sake
of being outrageous. He links to and supports more local bloggers than
anyone. He is everyone's guilty pleasure."

His blog is a daily dose of in-your-face reading and ridiculing of what is going on in Kansas City, and he is considered one of the godfathers of the KC blog scene, so, of course, I read him.  You should too, if you know what’s good for you.

This morning, I awoke to realize his power when I found my email box full of people responding to my blog posts out of the blue . . . all thanks to some overnight McLovin’ from my new friend Tony.

Seriously, many thanks. I am honored.

FOODIE Rule #5

"When preparing a special meal for friends and family, you must be willing to accept any and all help that is offered, it will take the pressure off of you, and allow you to focus on the parts of the meal that you are really wanting to perfect.  Pack your Foodie pride in your pocket, there is no shame in accepting help."

So there was a time when it would have been difficult for me to admit when I needed help when preparing a large meal for a special occasion. For some reason, I looked at it as a form of weakness to ask for help when I truly needed it.

I have spent many a stressful meal with a smile plastered on my face, stuck in the kitchen and shooing away all offers to help while I forged ahead all by my lonesome, missing the party that was going on in the other room while I bravely did it all "my way".

I hosted Christmas Eve dinner this year at my house, and although it is certainly a casual affair, it is an important meal meant to nourish and feed the people that I care about the most, as well as kicking off the holidays. Casual in tone, yet important in meaning and expectation.

However, with years of entertaining and cooking now under my belt, I have grown to learn to trust others when they offer to help me put a meal on the table . . .whether it is someone giving me a hand opening the oven so I can slide in another tray of appetizers at my annual Christmas party or allowing my family to contribute dishes to a holiday feast, it makes you a smarter and more pleasant Foodie to be around if you can make it easier on yourself and learn to gratefully and graciously accept the help of others.

I called my Mother-in-law this year and planned the Christmas Eve menu with her on the phone and then requested that she bring her "famous" Brazilian Holiday Rice and Rabanada a type of french toast, a traditional Brazilian Christmas sweet.

She happily agreed, and even brought Christmas cookies that she had decorated that we could lay out for Santa to eat Christmas Eve night.

My Mom was visiting from Oklahoma and although she could not contribute a dish that she had made, I asked her if she would mind decorating our Christmas Table. I opened my china hutch and linen drawer and told her to knock herself out.

The results were amazing and a wonderful new look at my old traditional table settings. She took my traditional satiny red holiday table cloth and used on top of it a combination of two different types of grass or woven placemats (one from Malaysia and one from Brazil) and then used my Grandmother's best family china. The results were stunning and not anything I would have ever thought to place together on my holiday table.

A mix of old and new, of national and international of her and of me.

So, what did this Foodie prepare this year for our Christmas Eve feast:

A Beef Tenderloin Roast cooked Medium with a creamy Bleu Cheese and Horseradish dressing.
Mother-in-Law Brazilian Holiday Rice with tri-colored peppers and raisins
Fresh steamed Broccoli baked in a sour cream, mustard dill sauce
Potato Latke Pancakes with sour cream and my homemade ginger pear butter
French Baguette and Fresh Baked Bread
Desserts: Rabanada, Homemade Fudge with Pecans and Almond Cake

The meal was hot, served on time and was completely tasty and delicious in every way.

This is the way this Foodie entertains . . . it is easy when you know who to go to for help. Enjoy!

FOODIE Rule #4

"Attention to detail, is the mark of a foodie. The people you cook for will immediately notice the attention to detail you placed in making their food and it will reflect positively on you and make people feel loved. Detail takes time, and thought, but most importantly it takes heart."

At the Holidays, most offices around the country fill with sweet treats made to celebrate the season. It marks a time to indulge, at time to enjoy and a time to eat more than your fair share of delicious treats.

Best of all since everyone indulges in this behavior at this time of year, it is all written off your karmic caloric Weight Watchers abacus with the simple saying: "Oh well, it is the holidays, and I have been good all year," and everyone will completely understand what you mean.

Homemade banana bread beckons for breakfast with your morning cup of coffee. A vendor-sent sugar cookie as a mid-morning snack is then followed by a small bite of lunch (ie: real food) which then justifies a piece of fudge for dessert. Around 3:00 pm your energy will lull, only to be revived with a lemon bar made and brought by that one girl in your office. You feel no guilt, "Lemon is a fruit, right?" you ask the others sitting around the break room as you reach for another. Then before you leave the office for the day, you swipe a handful of Christmas chocolates for the long commute home. Tis' the season . . .am I right?

We have had every confection blow through my office in the last week. They have been either donated, given to us as gifts, or brought in from loving friends and office-mates for our holiday enjoyment.

Oh, and enjoy we have . . .but there was one confection brought in that caught my attention above all others. One of the designers in my office, Kurt Klein (of absinthe fame from a previous post), brought in this beautiful tin full of white chocolate dipped pretzels handmade for our office by his girlfriend Kara.

Everything from the tissue paper inside the tin to the pretzels themselves were arranged in a stunning work of art. I love white chocolate and I love pretzels dipped in chocolate . . .but what caught my attention was the time it must have taken her to take one matchstick pretzel and dip it in the white chocolate then lay it on wax paper to dry . . .one by tedious one. This was a big tin, full to the top of these pretzels and it must have taken her forever to get them done.

But she did it . . .for us . . .for Kurt . . .with fine attention to detail . . .and we all noticed. We ate those buggers like they were going out of style. They were the most popular snack in the office, because you didn't have to commit to eating more than one or two at a time. Indulgence without gluttony.

One look at this tin, and I saw the love that she put into making them . . .and when eating them we felt the love.

Trust me, Kara, we felt the love. Thank you for giving me Foodie Rule #4.

Cork and Barrel - Their Top 100 Wines of the Year

Here's another email from my wine drinking buddy (I wish!) and pen-pal Dan, from the Cork and Barrel in Lawrence, sending out a follow up email to his take on the Wine Spectator's Top Wines of 2007 list.

After looking at it, I would guess that I have had most of these over the course of this year, and I see several on his list that would top mine as well (Layered Cake Shiraz, Cycles Gladiator Cabernet, Broquel Malbec and Caymus Conundrum to name a few). 

I also like the fact that he is keeping price in mind as he makes his suggestions. I drink so much vino that it is wonderful to find a great hidden gem of a wine at a shockingly great price point too. Makes you feel smart to have your own little list of great wines to drink and recommend to others.

So forget what I said in my previous post about saving that list to keep in your pocket when you are out shopping for wine, print off a copy of this list instead and see if you can find a new favorite.

If you find a good one, or have a suggestion of one to try . . .please let me know.

Looking at this list I know I am going to try: Poet's Leap Riesling, Pure Sin (Just for name alone, dahling, who doesn't want a taste of pure sin! Sign me up!) and "The Creator".

'Tis the season, to give the gift of a great bottle of wine to a friend. They will love you for it, and so will I.

----- Original Message -----

From: Dan Blomgren <dan@corkandbarrel.biz>
To: Our Loyal Wine Friends!
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 2:19 PM
Subject: My Top 100 Wines for the Year

Hello everyone,

Last week I sent out the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of the Year.  Several wines on that list were already sold out angering a lot of you.

"Why did they [The Wine Spectator] put it on the list knowing that the wines were no longer available?"  Please keep in mind that the Top 100 list encompasses all wines tasted throughout the year including several wines which were tasted much earlier in the year, have since sold out, but still warrant their placement on the Top 100. 

The only way to get around that is to write a list that represents wines that are currently available.  Although it may not represent the top wines of the year, it at least represents the Top Wines currently available. 

All of the wines mentioned here are available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa.  The Downtown Cork doesn't have the space, or the clientele to justify a placement there as well.  So get comfy, pour a glass of your favorite wine, and read my thoughts on the best wines currently available on the market.  They are listed in NO particular order.  Whereas Wine Spectator claims price is not a factor in the decision process, I am factoring in price, i.e. value, on my selections.  I feel if I didn't factor in price this list would be comprised of the more (or most) expensive wines in my store, and wouldn't be service for you at all.  Drum roll please.........

A} Noticed I said 'Wine A' not Wine #1, 2006 Clos Du Bois Chardonnay $11.99: One of the best selling Chardonnays in my store, and recently when I tried it I can see why.  Good fruit, solid nose, and good length for a wine of this price.  Has just a bit more oak than I like, but that extra oak uumpph adds a bit more body, and mouth feel helping the wine taste bigger then the price would suggest.

B} 2005 Joseph Phelps Napa Cabernet Sauvignon $???:  What's not to love with this wine?  Seriously I can't find a flaw.  Yeah sure it could have more punch in fruit, it could have more oak, it could have a longer finish, it could have a lot of things. But what it does have is perfect balance.  More of any of those things would throw it out of whack, and I'm happy with this wine just the way it is!  Keep refilling my glass.   

C} 2006 Layer Cake Shiraz $14.99: For those of you who haven't had Layer Cake in the past, and there can't be many of you, the 06' may be the best yet!  My biggest complaint about Aussie wines is that the winemakers allow the grapes to get too ripe, and the resulting wine is TOO BIG, too full-blown, too in-your-face, with alcohol surpassing 16%.  One glass is fine, but after that I'm done with you!  The 06' Layer Cake has and alcohol level at a very respectable 14.9%.  That may not seem like a big difference, but boy is it!  I drank this wine last night along with a salad sprinkled with fresh dried blueberries from The Nut Lady south of town, and I couldn't tell when one berry ended and the wine began.  Supply on this wine is limited, so get it while you can!  Australia is experiencing a three year drought which explains why production is down, but that also explains why quality is UP!

D} 2005 Cycles Gladiator Cabernet $8.99:  I would have to be an idiot (hey watch yourself) not to include this wine on the list.  Any and all office Christmas parties should be pouring this wine all holiday season.  As solid as any Cabernet out there even at twice or three times the price!

E} 2006 Castle Rock Reserve Pinot Noir $19.99: Flat out tasty!  And for $20.00 an absolute steal.  100% Russian River fruit.  Great nose flows into a juicy solid Pinot Noir.  Cherries, chocolates, bit of spice,,,,everything you could hope for in a $40.00 Pinot, but it sells for half that!  Pinot's are still the hot button, and after trying this one I can see why!

F} 2005 Ridge Geyserville $35.99:  The quintessential Zin!  Perhaps perfect!  Raspberry, blueberry, and that all too familiar spice makes this the textbook Zinfandel.  Rock solid from start to finish.

G} 2005 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay $30.99:  I dare anyone to find a better Chardonnay on the market.  A big, rich Chardonnay with sweet pear and pineapple fruit balanced by toasty oak, and superb acidity.  As good as Chardonnay gets regardless of price.   

H} 2005 Poet's Leap Riesling $19.99:  Absolutely chilling!  For all those people in the world that are like "I don't drink Riesling because they are sweet and girlie" you need to get over yourself, and try THIS Riesling.  It is drop dead gorgeous!  Sure it has just a touch of sweetness to it, but it is backed up by racy acidity, and a core of fruit to die for.  You'll know after the first sip that this is special wine.

I} 2005 Broquel Malbec $14.99:  Shows what this wine can do, and at a very affordable price.  Solid fruit with size and power like wines at twice the price, this Malbec hits every mark.  The fruit is so expansive it tastes almost candied.  The texture and balance of this wine at this price point is almost unheard of.  A steal at $14.99!

J} 2005 Caymus Conundrum $27.99:  Perhaps the most unique white wine in the store!  The blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat Canelli, and Viognier is as unique as the wine.  Unbelievably floral with great fruit structure the wine has you guessing sweet all along. but then finishes dry.  I would love to recommend a less expensive substitute, but there simply is no substitute for Conundrum.

K} 2006 Sherwood Pinot Noir $16.99:  Seriously good for the money!  $16.99 and tastes twice that!  Great fruit, solid structure, good grip in the mouth just really solid.  If I have one complaint the nose was a bit weak, but the sexy fruit more than makes up for it.

L}  2005 Pure Evil Chardonnay $9.99:  Loved this wine for it's shear fruit intensity.  Very little oak used in the making of this wine.  This wine instead is all about fruit, and it has it in spades. The real beauty is the price $9.99. 

M} 2005 K Vintners "The Creator" $49.99:  Hold on to your hat for this one. 60% Cabernet, and 40% Syrah.  This wine is "iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove!"  I wish I made that up, but I didn't.  The most amazing thing about this wine is the delicate balance of huge fruit, and power balanced so deftly by acids and low alcohol.  This wine tips the scales at 14.2% alcohol content, which is pretty low by most standards. But it is this low alcohol that allows this wine to work so beautifully.  Any more than that and the wine would be heavy, and clumsy, and out of whack.  But at 14.2% everything just slides.....one glass to the next!  Absolutely Loved It!  $49.99 LIMITED SUPPLY

N}  2005 Delas "saint esprit" Cotes-du-Rhone $10.99:  Going out on a limb here by saying "the best wine values in the world are made from the Grenache grape", and this wine proves it!  At $10.99 this wine just rocks.  Kind of a bacon fat, blueberry, minerality thing going on here that just works.  This wine is the wine for everyday drinking!

O}  2006 Weingut Johannishof "V" Riesling Kabinett $18.99:  No one does Riesling like the Germans.  Great fruit, great acidity, great balance.  What else could you ask for?  For me it's the minerality of the German Riesling that sets it apart.  You literally taste the stones this wine was raised in.  $18.99 and worth every penny!

I could go on and on, but I need to get this e-mail out so I'm going to stop here.  As mentioned these are all available at Cork and Barrel at 23rd and Iowa in Lawrence. 

I'm only leaving off a couple hundred other wines that come to mind, but I'll leave that for another day.  Please enjoy these in good health.

Thank you as always for your business!

Dan
http://www.corkandbarrel.biz/

FOODIE Rule #3

"Thou shall ALWAYS own, cultivate and give in to your own Foodie urges at all times, in all situations no matter what may befall you. You must have faith that others will see your vision and embrace it with the same love and affection that they embrace you."

At some point you just realize that you are a Foodie. Usually it happens when you are doing something ordinary and routine, like fixing your 5 year old son's breakfast so he can eat it in the car on the way to school. We are usually late getting up in the morning and I have convinced my son that eating breakfast in the car is a much more exciting way to eat. Like eating on a train, plane or bus. It is an adventure.

However, it can also be very messy, which limits the options of what you can serve as a breakfast entree to the little one in the backseat to ensure to longevity of your car interior.

After weeks of peanut butter and jelly,  or yogurt and cereal bars, my son wanted something different to eat in the car. He wanted to have a bowl of cereal . . .with milk.

I fought the idea, explaining to him that cereal in a bowl would slosh milk out all over him and the backseat and would not make for a pleasant dining experience. That's when I realized I wasn't being creative enough in my thought.

So, after another tearful conversation about wanting to eat cereal in the car, I said, "Okay, you win, you can have cereal in the car, but you will have to eat it in a very special way." I filled a small ziploc bag full of Cheerios, then took a cup with a lid from a local restaurant and filled it full of milk and stuck a straw in it.

As I buckled him into the carseat, he said "Momma, where is it , I want to see my special cereal." I handed him the bag and the cup and told him to open the bag and eat some dry cereal, then once it was in his mouth he should take a big sip of the icy, cold milk in his cup, mixing the two in his mouth to give him the sensation of eating a bowl of cereal.

He looked at me suspiciously, then said, "Momma, this isn't cereal the way I eat it at home, what do you call this?"

Triumphantly, I said: "It's deconstructed cereal." He thought about that name for a moment, and smiled and said: "I'll try it, Momma." After a few bites, he said, "You know, this is good, and it rhymes with demolition and construction." (His two favorite things in the world.)

Quietly, as I heard him stuff another mouthful in his mouth and saw out of the corner of my eye his little hand dig back down into the ziploc bag for more, I heard him murmur, "I love you, Momma."

I have also received late night phone calls from my husband on his way home from work, asking me what's for dinner. Having no clue, I ask him what he wants. He says, "Oh, something light, a salad or something." This is what he walked home to have for dinner that night. (See photo.)

It never even occurred to me this might seem over the top! Even when he told me: "Wow, this looks good, it's pretty over the top, Jen!" (P.S. That is homemade salad dressing in the little bowl back there. I think I get extra Iron Chef points for that, right?)

I could go on and on, remind me later to tell you about the time I tried to take homemade hummus to a weekly office party in Topeka, KS. I know my old Marketing Department friends remember that story, and remind me of it every time I see them.

I've been a Foodie, before I knew what a Foodie was . .  .Enjoy!

FOODIE Rule #2

"Upon attempting to make a dish with very few ingredients, remember to strive for quality to compensate for quantity, by using the highest quality ingredients to really highlight the simple flavors of a dish."

This was a rule that hit home for me when I was making my Melting Shortbread cookies, and I could really taste a huge difference in the flavor of these cookies when I made them with organic butter, instead of regular commercial butter. Because these cookies are made with only a few ingredients, butter being one of the most important, I could really tell the difference between the two butters. I think this may have been the first time in my life, I could discern a difference of quality of ingredients, like I did making these cookies.

To illustrate the point of using quality ingredients, look at these local eggs I purchased at my local Hen House (by the way, big round of applause for our local Hen House grocery store for stepping up and offering us local farms to buy our products from). These are from the Good Natured Family Farms Alliance. They free range brown eggs from chickens raised on clean air and sunshine from a nice Amish family in Kansas.

Inside the carton I was amazed to find this little piece of paper that read in the most chicken-scratch (pun intended!) handwriting: "An opossum was found eating a nest of eggs, fresh and local, nutritious and delicious. Now that he's taken care of, we hope there will be more eggs left for you! Stanberry Community Farm. "

I thought this was a charming and delightful reminder of where these eggs come from and the people who raise the chicken and collect the eggs for us to buy and enjoy. There were a couple of typo's in the note, which I have kindly corrected for them above, but I loved the unexpected reminder.

This is why you use quality ingredients, and local ones when you can find them, to keep family farms in business growing and producing the freshest and finest tasting ingredients.

Enjoy!

Wine Spectator's Top 100 List for 2007

Here's an update from my friends at the Cork and Barrel wine shop in Lawrence on the Wine Spectator's Top 100 List for 2007. Since they do business in Kansas, this list focuses on which of the Top 100 wines are available for sale in their shop in Kansas. It looks like many of the winners have already sold out nationwide, with the next vintage replacing them on store shelves.

I know many people think that Wine Spectator has become too commercial, but it is still fun to speculate which wines make the grade each year.

I think my big take away from reading this is:
1) How do I get a job on the Wine Spectator's tasting and judging panel?
2) I need to print this list and carry it with me to look for some of these when shopping in KC.
3) 2007 seems to be the year the world awoke to realize the greatness of Chateauneuf-du-Papes wines, I must learn more about them.
4) Finally, don't be a slave to what the experts say about wine, try them and make up your own mind.

These lists and others are an interesting way of seeing what "experts" in the wine industry think is worth drinking, and it can be a good place to start or discover a new favorite. But if you won't even try a bottle of wine unless Wine Spectator has blessed it with a 90 or above, then you could be missing out on one of the wonderful things about wine . . .discovering one that you personally like and would recommend to others.   

Perhaps, you will find a hidden gem that no one has discovered yet, or one that has meaning because you drank it on your honeymoon, or perhaps it is always available, priced right, and never fails you during your Holiday parties.

Or the "4 Buck Chuck" that works every Monday night, after work, eating left-overs standing over the kitchen sink and sorting through your mail.

I like the way Dan writes about wine, very straightforward, businesslike, friendly and informal. He seems like a man, I could drink some wine with.

Enjoy! JV

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Blomgren <dan@corkandbarrel.biz>
To: Our Loyal Wine Friends!
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 10:24 AM
Subject: Wine Spectator's Top 100

Hey guys,

It's that time of year when the Wine Spectator's Top 100 list comes out.  For those of you that have seen the list, it's on the Wine Specatator's website, you know how diverse this year's list is.  We could sit here and debate for countless hours the validity of the list, but let's not do that.  Let's just say for the 1000's of wines they try to be picked in the Top 100 is quite a feat. 

I did some quick math on this years Top 100.  The average price this year for a bottle in the Top 100 is $42.00 with the average score for the Top 100 being 92 pts. 

I will only mention the wines available here in Kansas. 

#1: Wine of the Year - Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005, which is not available in Kansas. Four of the Top 20 wines are Chateauneuf-du-Papes, so now might be a good time to try one if you haven't already.

I have the 2004 Chateau de Beuacastel (96 pts Wine Spectator) in the store (Cork and Barrel in Lawrence) now if interested in trying one of the perennial power Chat-du-Papes. ($105.99)

#2: Ridge Santa Cruz Chardonnay: sold out

#4: Antinori Tignanello 2004: sold out

#5: Two Hands 2005 Shiraz Bella's Garden, available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa location only. $59.99 per bottle, 19 bottles available.

#6: Chateau Leoville Las Cases: sold out

#9  Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2004:  $125 as printed by Wine Spectator.   I have not seen our pricing yet, but it should be close to this. Wine arrives in about a week.

#14:  Jos. Jos. Prum Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2005: sold out

#20: Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape: sold out

#22: Amisfield Pinot Noir 2005: sold out

#23: Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Alta 2004: sold out

#24: John Duval Entity Barossa Valley 2005, 94 pts, $39.99 a bottle, 12 bottles available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa only.

#35: Chateau St. Jean Fume Blanc Sonoma 2005:  sold out.  Selling 2006 now.

#36 Drylands Sauvignon Blanc 2006, 91 pts, $14.99 a bottle, available Cork, 23rd and Iowa only.

#44 Rubicon Estate Zinfandel Edisione Pennino 2004, 93 pts, available for order $36.99 per bottle.

#45 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Hormigas Reserva 2005, 92 pts, 10 bottles available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa only $28.99 per bottle.

#57 Thorn-Clark Shiraz Shotfire 2006, 91 pts, 45 bottles available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa,  $19.99 per bottle.

#70 Delille D2 2004: sold out

#71 Columbia Crest Merlot Grand Estates 2004, 90 pts, 49 bottles avail Cork, 23rd and Iowa, $11.99 per bottle.

#72 Yellowtail Reserve Shiraz 2005: sold out

#82 Loring Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard 2005, 92 pts, 16 bottles available at Cork, 23rd and Iowa, $49.99 per bottle.

#84 d'Arenberg The Hermit Crab 2006: sold out

#90 Bodegas Borsao Garnacha Tres Picos 2005: sold out

#91 Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma 2005: sold out

#100 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 2004: sold out

So there you have it.  A couple of things are worth saying here.  Please keep in mind that ALL wines reviewed throughout the year are available for Top 100.  Sold out wines were probably tasted and reviewed earlier in the year, and now we are shipping the next vintage.  On the Caymus Napa Cab 04 (#100 wine) we are actually already sold out on the 05 vintage as well.  Gotta go.  Go Hawks!!!!

Dan
http://www.corkandbarrel.biz/  

FOODIE Rule #1

FOODIE RULE #1:
"Thou shall remember that even if your dish does not turn out to be visually stimulating, if it tastes good, it is still worth showing off and worth celebrating."

My Mother-in-law made this cake for all of us over Labor Day weekend. When I saw this plain yellow cake under glass "on display", my first thought was: "Why would anyone want to show off that cake?" It obviously had stuck to the pan it was baked in and big chunks were ripped off the top and sides when it was removed from the pan.

Her answer: "Well, I didn't grease the pan very well, but it still tastes good and I wanted to have something for everyone to eat with their coffee in the morning."

I was impressed. She is right, it is still just as tasty, and she still made it for us with love, then why shouldn't it be on display under glass like all fancy desserts should be.

That is why this epiphany will become my first FOODIE Rule. Anyone following the foodie-ism doctrine should alway remember and never forget to wear your mistakes with pride, and show them off. Afterall, if they taste good . . .they will get eaten.

SEE! Almost all gone-gone! Enjoy!

Jammin' and Canning!

It was never my dream or desire to learn how to "can" food.

Let's face it, in this modern world there is very little need to take what is bountiful during good weather and can it for use later, when the dark cold days don't produce much in the way of fresh food for the survival of the long winter.

Hey, I watched Frontier House on PBS . . .I know what you needed to do to survive in 1883.

There are other valid reasons I had not showed an interest in the art of canning, besides the whole "don't-need-it-to-survive" issue, there is the fact that it is not very sexy or hip to can food. Eating caviar and sipping Champagne . . .sexy! Learning to roll your own sushi . . .how hip! But canning food is something your grandma did, not something that a FOODIE like myself should be interested in learning. Right?

My last lame excuse for not tackling canning . . . I was scared. It seems so HARD. There is science involved, you must have all of this knowledge, time and equipment and I think many people (my old self included) are a little hesitant to trust someone who offers them something they canned themselves. I always wonder, do I trust this person? Is this food still good? How long has it been sitting on their shelf? I have thrown away many a great jar of something for fear of dying. Basically, if you do it wrong, and can something incorrectly, and people eat it, you could kill someone, or at least make them very, very sick. Canning is serious business, well, not so serious as I soon found out. But you should definately, do your homework work on what the do's and don't are before you DO decide to try this at home. It also helps to keep a talented friend or family member who cans on speed dial. They can lend support long distance.

I stand here today before you to say . . .(deep breath) I WAS WRONG! So utterly and embarrassingly wrong about the art of canning. See, as soon as I think I am making headway with this whole FOODIE thing, and I realize how much I have learned along the way, something like this comes and slaps me up side of the head.

There were a couple of things that happened all at the same time that made me change my mind about canning . . .an article with recipes for canning in July 2007 Food and Wine magazine, a recipe in Gourmet magazine for a jelly that sounded terrific, reading a very informative canning thread on Chowhound. But it all really clicked in my head when I went to visit my Aunt Becky in Seattle this summer, and ate some of her canned Ginger Pear Butter and Raspberry Jam and that's when I had my "eureka" moment, if you will.

You "can" because you can!

Meaning, it is a way to keep those wonderful fresh flavors of summer with you all year round, without having to buy fruit grown in another climate in December to eat strawberries or tomatoes.

You do it because it is a lost and dying art, and to honor your grandparents whose pickled okra you grew up eating. You do it for the badge of honor and courage that it takes to make it, from scratch, the old-fashioned way. To give of yourself and your time to keep a piece of summer with you, enjoy local fresh produce anytime you want it. Trust me, when someone you love tastes the Strawberry jam you made from scratch in January . . .you will feel sexy, beautiful and smart.

So, I had my Aunt teach me everything she knew when I was in Seattle, and then I had her take me to a local store to buy all of the necessary canning equipment and a box of low-sugar pectin (Pomona's is what she suggested) to make my first couple of batches. She suggested I try canning something with a high acid content, as it is typically an easier canning process.

I came home with my new canning pot and a desire to make Strawberry jam. (See my photo above.) I followed the directions exactly inside the Pomona's box and my jam turned out lovely. I was surprised how quickly it all came together. I was done and listening to my jars "pop" as they were cooling all within 1 hour. The only thing that takes the time is the sterilizing and preparing of the jars for canning, the rest was a breeze. What in the world had I been so afraid of?

For my next project . . .I tried that jelly recipe from Gourmet magazine called Sauternes and Sage Jelly. This is a recipe that they originally printed from the 1940's, but it had such a unique and sophisticated taste, they decided to bring it back and run it again in their anniversary issue. They recommend it for use with or on grilled meats and as a side to cheese, particularly blue cheese, which I adore. This recipe also calls for fresh sage, which my wonderful herb garden has in abundance, so I wanted to be sure to take advantage of that. I found Sauternes (a French dessert wine) a bit challenging to find (and once I did, it was relatively expensive) but the gorgeous color and herbaceous, sweetness of this jelly was well worth it.

Now, I just need to decide which of my FOODIE friends will be honored with a jar of it for Christmas this year.

Wow, look at how far I have come this summer! Amazing!

Hardly Any to Heirloom . . . Tomatoes!

Let me introduce you to my Tomato Plants for 2007. There are four plant in this rather large pot on my deck by the pool. See how nice and tall and gorgeous they look? Notice my attention to detail. The careful staking of these plants and the wire mesh that surrounds them to keep the wild beasties out of my summer abundance. Guess how many gorgeous, succulent tomatoes these plants have yielded for me this year?

I have enjoyed approximately 1 1/2 tomatoes from these plants. It is so frustrating to fail.

Every year it is the same story. I have been trying to grow my own tomatoes since we moved out west of town, at least 4 years now. For four summers, I have planted, fertilized, care for, talked to, watched over tomato plants with zero results. Oh, they grow for me. They just don't produce fruit for me. I remain barren.

My Mom is the tomato freak. She would eat them all day long at every meal in the summer when I was growing up. She got me hooked, and now I am facing my 5th year of tomato failure. I drove by a cute set of apartments on College Blvd. today. A second floor apartment had a big pot, like mine, and a tomato plant full of bright red fruit ready to be picked and enjoyed. I have an acre of land I live on, and I can't produce one bumper crop, yet people in apartments grow them all day long. Sigh! What's a girl to do?

I'll tell you what you do, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, agree that you will give it another try next year, and then run (don't walk now or you will miss it) to a house located on 99th between Roe and Mission for the coolest tomato FOODIE experience in KC.

Sky Kurlbaum and his family have been growing their own heirloom tomatoes for many years in KC. Colorful, bumpy looking . . .heirloom tomatoes can be defined as any cultivar found before 1945, as that marks the year mass hybridization began, or it can simply mean tomatoes grown from seeds passed down through generations. One thing heirloom tomatoes must have to be considered true heirlooms is to have  an open pollination process - that is pollination created by birds, bees, insects, wind or other natural causes.

Towards the end of the summer, if you happen to live close to the Kurlbaum house, you wait anxiously every year for the hand-painted heirloom tomato signs to be put up, signaling it is time for you to go and stock up.

Kurlbaum tomatoes have also developed quite a following with local grocery stores like Hen House, Dean and Deluca and McGonigles as well as top notch local restaurants like Michael Smith's restaurant, 40 Sardine's, Trezo Mare, 1924 Main, Webster House and Cafe Trio to name just a few. These guys also speed dial the Kurlbaum's to ensure their stores and restaurants are offering the best in local heirloom tomatoes. I know I personally have tasted their wares having ordered and enjoyed lovely Heirloom tomato salads at both Michael Smith's and 40 Sardine's this year.

After complaining about my poor tomato crop this year, a friend called me up and said it's time for me to drive to 99th and Mission and follow the signs into the Buena Vista cul-de-sac where I would find this grey house with a tomato sign and a red truck in front. This is the house, he said, where you will find really good tomatoes. Such a understatement!

We pulled up in front of the house and realized that about 4 years ago we almost bought the house two doors down from the Kurlbaum's. We wondered if we were about to feel that regret all over again from losing that house. Could we have been neighbors to KC's own tomato heirloom empire? We shuddered to think of the past and of opportunities lost.

The post-it note on the laundry room door, says "come on in for tomatoes" . . .so we do. It does seem strange to be barging in on total strangers in search of the perfect tomato, but my friend who recommended this place urged me to push past that feeling and get into the kitchen. He was right, once we were inside of kitchen we were greeted warmly, offered fresh tomatoes slices to taste, and told the names and hallmarks of over 10 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes. We were in luck they also had some summer squash and peppers for sale.

There were lots of people buying tomatoes, eating tomatoes and talking about tomatoes in their kitchen and den . . .and my son made quick friends with some of their kids and the neighborhood kids milling around while their parents shopped. This is a lovely family who every summer throws open their doors and invites us into their home to taste and buy their hard work. It is an honest living, and it also occurs to me that this is they way people used to buy food .  . .from one another in their homes.

Sample all you like, then grab a brown paper sack and begin circling their dining room table, loading up the ones you want to take home. All heirloom's are $3 a lbs. which is a steal considering how much they cost in the grocery store and how fantastic they taste. The kids know almost as much about the tomatoes as the adults do, you can tell that weekends during tomato season really has given these kids a way to come out of their shell and help hone their selling skills.

We took home two of every kind they had . . .Aunt Ruby's Greens, Brandywine's, Green Zebras, Garden Peach, Gold Medals, Hillbilly Potato Leaf . . .we took them all. Plus, a crazy curled squash and several green hot peppers.

We feasted like kings that night on our all veggie buffet, and the only condiment on the table was kosher salt. Each tomato tasted different but somehow better than the last one. We swore to remember the Kurlbaum's as the lovely family that grows the lovely tomatoes. We also swore that in the future we were going to start stopping when we saw signs in front of people's yards saying "fresh eggs" or "watermelon for sale". Those are the FOODIE experiences we sometimes miss out on living in the big city. Of course, the next best thing is to frequent your local farmers market or join a CSA, which is something I plan to do next year on my FOODIE quest.

Go NOW and visit my new friends the Kurlbaum's . . .their kitchen is open and tomatoes are waiting for you.

For more information contact:
Email:  kurlbaum@mac.com
913-302-8038 (ask for Liz)