Aaahhh… Blog. Where have I been. At school that is. Well, we are all getting amp up for the CIA conference “Worlds of Flavor”. After this next week I will have a entry once a week.
Thank you.

Greatest Of All Time!

The idea of sitting down to try 50 of the very best cheeses, might seem like a fun time spent with friends over a bottle or two of wine. Boy… I’ll till you it was not fun, but very interesting. I truly found out that I do not like goat cheese at all. This saddens me I really want to find any kind of redeeming character, but I can’t. Now I have done it, pissed everyone off. I can hear it now “Goat cheese is the best cheese, the true taste of the barn yard”. I’ll tell you my mom hates peas, I just can’t figure it out. What’s better then sweet tiny spring peas. I have to say I always try to find ways of using foods I seem to dislike in ways that make taste better to me. So, in due time I will hopefully find a way to make goat cheese taste good to me. Hopefully…

"If the tomatoes aren't good enough for gazpacho."

As they say, the people at Long Meadow Ranch are not former hippies. Their belief is that organic farming methods produce higher quality at lower cost. They do everything at Long Meadow Ranch, nothing is wasted. It seems that everything at the ranch is there for a reason, from the grapes to the chickens.

"If the tomatoes aren't good enough for gazpacho, they'll be fed to our organic chickens. Because they eat fabulous tomatoes and veggies, the chickens lay spectacular eggs with yolks almost neon-like in their color. We then get to sell the eggs back to Auberge du Soleil! There are even more efficiencies here. Since we raise the poultry near the vegetable production, we have no cost of poultry feed because we're feeding them our leftover vegetables. When we're done with the crop season, we have all the organic matter - old pumpkin vines, dead tomato plants - that then goes into a nearby compost pile. This time we use the chicken manure as the source of essential nitrogen. And, by spring the compost is ready to go back on the field as fertilizer. The cycle begins again." -Ted Hall, the owner of Long Meadow Ranch.

Instead of the "mono-culture" they have developed an integrated farming system that relies on each part of the ranch contributing to the health of the whole. Vineyards and wine making, olive orchards and olive oil making, and grass-feed beef, horse, and chicken raising all work together (not to mention the organic vegetable gardens). Even the soil from the making of the wine cave was in return used to construct the winery building. These things always amaze me, when people uncannily find ways around all the problems in their way. We should all just take a look at what Long Meadow Ranch does, and learn that the speed bumps between point A to point B are just little rests.

Forni-Brown-Welsh

What is Perfection? Nothing… It’s a goal, and it can not be attained. Sad huh. But, here is something with a little cheer. A very, very small farm(garden) up valley in Calistoga called Forni-Brown-Welsh.
Now, if you’ve ever wanted to see anything near perfection it’s Forni-Brown. If ever you are in Calistoga go take a quick look around. You Can’t buy anything(but one week a year in April), Because it’s all sold to the restaurants around Napa Valley.
Look them up on the Internet(it will be hard to find anything, but you will), and you will find out why it has such a special place in my heart and all Chefs around the world.

Old dog new tricks

Some would say it would be out of the realm of possibility to start cooking school at the age of 27. Even I the person doing it might, when it comes down to it would say that it is crazy. It is hard for someone that has been cooking since he was 10, to relearn the right way of doing everything from how to wash a dirty pot to how to make a perfect Consommé. I soon found out that I wasn’t the craziest of the crazies. There are in my whole class of 12 at least 8 students over the age of 25, and 5 of those are over the age of 30. So why go to cooking school? The answer looking at my class would be “Why not”. People do things for what ever reason comes to their minds at any time. Me well… it’s because I want to learn everything about cooking and food.

Killer Garlic

Food safety… How many of us lived in a home, where Mom would cook a big pot of whatever. Then leave that pot out on the counter to cool over night. What about cold Pizza left in the box in a cold oven. Even this, buying dented cans at the supermarket because they are cheaper, and getting that nice gift of garlic infused olive oil during the Holidays.
I lived in a home that this was assumed safe, but none of it is. The garlic infused oil is in an environment without oxygen, and that is right where Botulism likes to move in and grow. If done improperly that oil that your beloved Aunt Mimi put in that beautiful bottle will kill you faster then you can say “um, tasty”.
Cooking food for others is serious stuff that needs to be done very carefully. If you like to cook and like being in the kitchen then go take a Serve Safe class. Be warned you may never go out to eat again.

Downtown Suisun

Bab's is a good place to get a breakfast in Suisun. The place is very small, so most of the time you have to sit outside. Which is great if its Summer. I do not blame Bab's for the weather at all, don't get me wrong. Bab's is right on the water and has great views.
Bab's food is good for a Eggs and Beacon kind of place. I always go with the specials. The one bad thing is the menu is too short.
So like I always say give it a try, and if it is Summer then make sure to sit outside and enjoy the views.

Hot,Wet,Messy

The best just does not do it. The word has to be "unsurpassed", I think that will do it.
Joe's is unsurpassed in it's hot plate food. You can't find a better place in Fairfield to get a hot sandwich. Everything that Joe's offers is hot!, wet!, messy!, and damn unsurpassed. everyone in town goes there, and I mean everyone. Joe himself makes every sandwich. Ask him whats good today and you will get the truth.
You must have any sandwich as long as you get the MPs with gravy.Every St. Paddy's day starts or ends at Joe's for the corned beef cabbage.
Try it, its unsurpassed!

Did anyone say slow food?

As a kid a shopping trip with Grandma would always end at Larry's. Larry's produce was the only place my Grandma would buy any kind of fresh produce. My Grandma was way ahead of the boom in organic produce. As far as she was concerned you had to go out in the country to buy just one tomato. She would say "where else should you buy a potato, but from the farmer".All though Larry's was grown from the little place I remember(crop circle and all), it is still the only place I will buy produce.

Marco... Polo...

<----You are here, but where is Sticky Rice?

Um, let us talk about location. Finding this place is about as hard as finding your way out of the lost Forrest in Zelda. When will people get it, if you want your restaurant to make money. Customers have to be able to get to it. Also, if you have to put signs that point the way then it is apparent that your location sucks. All the money spent on this restaurant is amazing. I do not know how they are staying afloat. Cash must be just flowing out. I have been to Sticky Rice a lot (my girlfriend some how loves the place), there has not been a time when we didn't have the restaurant to our self. Are people spending money here? How are they keeping the restaurant staffed? Is it owned by a billionaire steel baron from the 1900's? Ahhhh. Here is the thing. The food is good, it's nice inside, the service is okay, my girlfriend loves it, and I like it. Where are the people? It is a shame to see a restaurant that I believe is not a chain go down the tubes. Go there so at least my girlfriend and I can do a little people watching. Jeeeez.

In love with memories

Okay, two things in my life have been true. That is San Francisco sourdough bread (Boudin that is), and real French bread (from France). Having been to France twice as a kid, I know what French bread tastes like. Since this is not France I have until now not been able to taste what I remember as a kid. Mr. Keller has again hit the mark he so often has. tasting the bread at the table opened up a flood gate of memories that I thought I had forgotten.That damn bread was worth going there, then the damn frites, and then steak frites. The frites were so good that I had to have them twice. Bouchon for me is a comfort blanket and I love its warmth.
Thank you Mr. Keller for Bouchon.

People you have to come to the Napa area and eat, eat, and eat... oh yeah, and drink... wine that is.

Bitter pill well swallowed

Gordito's Mexican has to be the Hell bad Mexican food goes when it dies.

"If people think this is Mexican food they must be Booting black tar Heroin (i.e CRAZY.) It shares a building with a Chuck E. Cheese's for God's sake. The food is tasteless. Service well I don't know because I try not to go there at all."

If you have hate in your heart let it out... right.

Last meal on earth

Simple food done very well.

"So my rating might be a little high(five stars), but three generations of my family have been eating these hamburgers. They are sooo good. I might just have to change my last meal to a Dave's hamburger. The menu has like three things on it. The pie is always fresh and hand made.
some rules:1: NO FRIES ONLY CHIPS.2: KNOWN WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE ASKED.3: GET A SHAKE WITH YOUR BURGER.
Dave is a old ass kicker, but he loves what he does. every burger is cooked with Dave's own sort of love.
Soon all the places like Dave's will be gone, so enjoy them."
(p.s I just found out the sad news that Dave is no longer with us, and has past on. 1/24/2007 Fairfield,CA)

The eye bone Steak

"Most people would walk right by this place, and that could be a good thing. My girlfriends family grew up in Sacramento, and just had to go to Lil' Joe's on the way back from Tahoe.
When we walked into Lil' Joe's, I have to say I was a little nervous. The place looked right out of the 50's, but with about 20 years of dirt and grim. Making sure to order what everyone else was eating, that way if one of us got sick the rest would as well. As I sat there hearing the old stores of the neighborhood and of Lil' Joe's, more and more people walked in to eat. The thing that made me realize I was not going to die was when I looked around I saw Cops, workmen, school teachers, and cab drivers where all eating at Lil' Joe's.
Steak and eggs at Lil' Joe's is one of those moments that you understand that you can't judge a book by it's cover. If you have the moxie to go into these sort of places you might just find that serving good food to hardworking people is more important then fixing the tiles in the floor or putting up new paint on the walls."

Tiki Tom you are my hero.

Oh, Tiki Tom's. Let's just say huge let down. Tiki Tom's is a restaurant in Walnut Creek, CA and an awesome bar. But It is never good to ask the guests at the party you are catering to "party" with you.

"Let's just say this, doing lines of TOOT in the back of the van at your catering job is not a good idea Tiki Tom! Thank you for making a Graduation party soooo special."

Did I hear fried rice?

"Two words " Fried Rice"
All you have to do is go to Maui. Find your way to Napili, and locate The Gazebo restaurant. Order anything on the menu, and repeat this the entire time you are on the island.
Yes there is a line, yes you will wait in it."

Mama don't go!

Okay, if you happen to be in Paia, HI then you have to check this place out.

"I do not know where to start. Mamas is the best fish restaurant that I have every been to. But it is hard to write this review.
So I will tell you that when I was going to try Sushi for the first time, someone told me that if I was going to have sushi make sure that I go to the best restaurant and have the best sushi i could find. That way after no matter many times I would have bad Sushi I would always have the memory of the best Sushi to fall back on.
I just wish I had Mamas fish house the first time I had fish.
The Best."

Brass tax

Okay, now that is over we can get to the brass tax. I am a lot more brash then what you previously read. I shoot it straight, an almost take no prisoners attitude about food and restaurants. Since it is going to be a couple of weeks before I start school. Here are some of my reviews of restaurants that I dug up.
Enjoy.

Going to cooking school... What!

As a child I was introduced to food made by my grandmother. She was a wonder of a cook and every creation that she made, was made with love. The food was always hearty, stick to your ribs, fair. As I grew, my mother worked with me to expand my creative side. Together we experimented with everything from exotic marinades to simple spice blends, nothing was out of bounds when cooking at home. I was allowed to shop, prep, and cook anything that came to mind. My mother never attempted to limit my abilities. I have taken this passion of food from my grandmother and mother and am now the one that friends and family refer to as the “foodie”.

I find a great comfort in cooking for friends and family and hope to formalize my training with the Napa Valley Cooking School. I understand that I need to gain better understanding of the culinary field and I have chosen this culinary school for two main reasons. First off, the Napa Valley Cooking School resides in Napa, which is known as the center of culinary world in California. Secondly, I wish to attend the Napa Valley Cooking School to gain valuable experience from some the best teaching Chefs in California.

My goal from graduating from Napa Valley Cooking School is to become a well-versed Chef and work with others in the preparation of food in the restaurant setting. My greater life goal is to write books, articles and essays on culinary arts.
In a way this blog will help me understand and remember where I a have come from. I hope someone looking into cooking will like to read and learn what it is like to become a Chef form a point a view that hits closer to home, then some stuffy nose in the air person.

Thank you.
PaddyPoo