Allez Cuisine!

A few years ago, Chris Biddle [grad school roommate] and I decided to have a Christmas party for our friends and neighbors before we went home for the holidays. Nothing simple was really going to work for us since both of our minds tend to think in much more grandiose terms.

I do not know the hows, whys, or whats, but we decided on an Iron Chef Battle as the theme for the event - he would cook at his girlfriend's apartment while I cooked at our place. With both of us being poor, we opted for noodle as our theme ingredient. So much for inexpensive as I dropped $150 on my shopping spree. Ouch to a poor grad student, but I bought some great ingredients for what it's worth. As ameture culinary people, we had a great time making our food, battling, and sharing with our friends, and it was an EXCELLENT Christmas party to say the least. (Feel free to ask me about the details of this event as this thread is not about my experience...)

If only we could do this as experienced cooks, which I am not at this point...and I do not know about Chris. However, I read about this awesome throw down (sorry Bobby Flay) that happened between two chef brothers here in Portland. Read more about Iron Chef Portland.

It would simply be awesome to have battles like this between local chefs. They could promote their restaurant(s), show off their skills, and test their wits under the pressure cooker of a Kitchen Stadium Portland. Nevertheless, after reading the article, I am ready for my next battle! Allez Cuisine!

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Food 101

I am not a foodie by any stretch of my imagination, but I love cooking in that it brings friends together and it is fun and yum, especially when it involves a grill! However, I came across some thoughts on people who are taking the "let's make up new words and ways of doing things" way too seriously. I am all for doing the local thing - shopping, eating, buying - but do we really need a word for it?

“Locavore” was 2007’s Word of the Year, according to the Oxford University Press. If you need to know more, you can learn how to eat like a locavore and become a locavore.

Really? Do we really need all of the verbage. What about just saying "Buy, Eat, Shop, Love Local"?

But wait, it gets even worse in 2 Ought Ate. Let's not forget our Vegangelicals & the Retrovores, eh? What in the world is a Veganelical you ask? Well, here you go - http://www.eatingliberally.org/tags/vegangelical

I (er, we if you include the link) am asking...do you think this is too much, too?

Buy, Eat, Shop, Love Local! That is my easy Food 101 Local lesson.

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The Salt of the Earth + The Sweet of the Fruit

At some point on Thursday I started to think about my weekend plans that had changed from snowshoeing in Bend to chillin' in Portland. My first thought went to having a mellow night and making homemade pizza with friends, but then I thought I would step up the fun and have an informal wine tasting to go along with the homemade pizza.

The result was a wonderful event that would not have happened in the same spectacular fashion had it not been for the awesome girls from the Yo-Home and their Washington visitor along with my wife who gave her approval!

As you can see, people were screaming about how much fun we had...that's a Yo-Homer and my wife trying to make sure our neighbors did not get any sleep. They forgot that we no longer live in an apartment where you can hear everything that your neighbors do. Our house withstood the sound check!

My wife was in charge of keeping order in the kitchen, but as you can see, the pizza was so unstinkingbelievable that people had to use the Orcas to fight off the attaching food fiends. Come on Yo-Homer #2, be a little more friendly. I thought you learned how to share in kindergarten. Maybe next time we will have to hire kitchen security.


While pizza was the main ingredient, the added fun came in the form of a flight of 8 wines that the Yo-Home and the Davi shared with guests. People's palates were pleased by 4 whites and 4 reds that included the following...

Biltmore Estate - Chenin Blanc - circa 2002 - North Carolina
Capitello - Pinot Gris - 2006 - Willamette Valley
Badger Mountain - Organic Riesling - 2006 - Columbia Valley
Cooper Mountain - Chardonnay - 2006

WillaKenzie - Pinot Noir - 2005 - Willamette Valley
Chateau Ste. Michelle - Merlot - 2003 - Columba Valley
Glorioso - Reserva - 2001 - Rioja (Spain)
Rondan - Crianza - 2001 - Rioja (Spain)

Thanks to all of you who were able to make it, and the Yo-Home and Davi look forward to providing you (and us of course) with more fun in the future. It is us great people that another Davi claimed to be The Salt of the Earth while I noted that we, too, are The Sweet of the Fruit.

Thanks Yo-Homers, and next time will be better!

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Dr. Martin Luther the King Junior

At times my wife and I struggle to understand the focal point of the sermon we listen to at church, which makes going to church hard some Sundays. While we did not know what yesterday's topic was going to be, we did not struggle with going to church, and we are both glad we were there.

Growing up in the churches and region we did, hearing about Dr. King was not typical outside of American History class in high school and Black History Month (February). Thus, we were not accustomed to a message that was focused on Dr. King's prophetic words in "I Have a Dream" speech on Sunday. Rick (Imago Dei) opened with some sincere bits about himself and challenges to us the church relating to civil rights and racism (passive or active), even noting that he thought about speaking on a topic that was easier on him and his audience. However, he stood up to make a difference within the congregation and himself. He then turned to Amos 5:21-24 and Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech and encouraged us to listen to the prophetic words that sadly sing true even today, 44 years after the speech was made. I have never been in a church as quite and focused on the message as our church was yesterday. Rick, thanks for stepping up to the challenge and delivering the right message on Sunday. Now if only we can "let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream" (Amos 5:24), to which Dr. King make a direct reference (intentionally or unintentionally I do not know).

On a personal note, I am glad that we have the grasp of the south that we do because the message spoke even louder to us than it did some of our friends who do not have the understanding of life and evident racism that live on in the south.

Enjoy and savor today, the day at least one race recognizes as Dr. Martin Luther the King Junior Day!

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Perk Up Afternoon Business

Pass the Cheer...that is the current Starbucks tagline and part of the company's current, and first national ad campaign. If you have seen the ads, you were probably not motivated to run out and get the entire family a beverage, but you heard the name Starbucks again and had your mind rattle with what ever you think of Starbucks.

Being a marketing fan, I no longer watch ads for the sake of buying products but to analyze the value and quality of what is being thrown at me. I am not fond of the ads, and as an AdAge article's title suggests, we can "Forget the Cute TV Critters; Starbucks Needs a Happy Hour."

The article begins by stating that "What Starbucks needs isn't an ad campaign set in fantasyland (however tastefully executed). Maybe what it needs is a real-world idea that could actually get people to buy and share more coffee: a Starbucks happy hour. ..."

I could not agree more about this. I will not go on and on about this topic as I did on my buddy Otis' blog - you can read it at www.otiskimzey.com/2007/12/12/starbucks-happy-hour - but I will give you the gist of what I said below...

I do not know what Starbucks used to be like. From what I gather though, Starbucks shops and the idea from which they started - small, Italian cafe - used to be much more simple & organic & anything but corporate. Starbucks is now the corporate giant & lacks the local coffee joint vibe, feel, & scene. Maybe a happy hour is the kick in the arse that the company needs to increase its profits, (re)gain new customers, and resurect its falling stock price. I do not think the critter friendly ad campaign and Pass the Cheer will do the job.

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Kids Who Change Their Own Rules

I just looked at the newly released polls (before the BCS games are unveiled), so you know the joy ends here.

We know that seemingly every year, someone gets screwed, but the system stays together because we typically have at least 1 dominant team. In other words, the recipe appears to work even if the ingredients are not exactally the same from year to year, which is like figuring out your family's long, lost recipe for dressing, sweet potato souffle, pumpkin pie, etc. The unfortunate piece is that at least one team (or person in the family) gets jobbed.

Welcome to 2007 college football, which, from Appalachain State's week 1 upset of Michigan in the Big House, has been unlike any college football season that we have seen in anyone's memory. Therefore, why would we expect to have a BCS situation that makes senese?

When we watch any sporting event, one essential is consistancy from the officials. If you call it one way in the 1st qtr, you better call it the same way in the waining and critical moments of the 4th qtr. We can swap officials, calls, and qtrs for pollsters / computers, rankings, and weeks to get the concept that...

Since we as college football fans are going to be screwed by a flawed BCS system, then we as fans deserve to be screwed by pollsters (and a system) that rank teams after week 1 in the SAME manner that they rank teams after the season's last weekend. The situation in which we find ourselves is reminiscent of life when we were KIDS for crying out loud. Pollsters, BCS people, and fans all hated that kid growing up who SUDDENLY and UNBEKNOWNST to the whole world changed the rules in his favor when his winning situation looked bleak to non-existent. The end result was that if things did not change, tht kid took the ball and went home while everyone else got pissed. Are you following me here?

I really feel like we are in that situation...yes as a Georgia fan...yes as a college football fan, too. The pollsters have simply changed the way they vote for what ever reason they have...maybe to ensure that the national champion is also a conference champion, which does not have to be the case as AGREED upon by EVERYONE invovled the BCS system. Nothing is stated about conference champion in BCS 101 (rules) - http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bcs_explained.html - so why does that argument suddenly come out now when the system is showing more flaws. Maybe because LSU vs OSU is sexier than UGA vs OSU. Mabye as additional repayment for the government's total botch of Katrina. Maybe the pollsters are really Cajuns. Maybe this is all about Les Miles giving ESPN great ratings for his impromptu press conference. My guess is that like all things inexplicable about the system that always screws somebody, we have we will never know...and they will decide to tweak the rules again to try to get that family recipe almost right without having a playoff.

No matter how you look at them, losses are losses...in regulation or overtime. Deal with it. Timing is (or used to be) everything with a loss. Now the pollsters will save those they want to save. Are the Dawgs better than LSU this year? We will never know, but the Dawgs have just as much right as ANYONE else to play for the national title.

"When you lose a game, you are at the mercy of the BCS system" Richt stated. Oh how true that is, but it does not make the pain any less bearable.

No matter how big or small the screwed helping your team gets, hopefully you can stomach your portion of another BCS heeping helping of Mush.

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