I Scream, You Scream...

Somewhere in the process of eating most of a carton of Dreyer's Drumstick flavor ice cream, the last of it right out of the box with a long handled ice-tea spoon, I started thinking about how very many flavors of ice cream there are out there. Dare I say, almost too many?

If the purpose of having so many flavors out there is to make it easier to find just the right one you want, it has dismally failed. It is far harder to make a decision on a carton of ice cream than it ever was back in the 60's and 70's when I was a kid.

In grammar school, the 8th grade class sold ice-cream cones at lunch time to raise money for their annual school trip. They served chocolate (what I always got) strawberry (now that is just strange!) and vanilla (why anyone would choose a non-flavor like white vanilla when they could have chocolate was beyond me!) for a nickel a scoop. I didn't even have to think about it.

At the stores, there were only a couple of brands to look at. And the flavors were pretty straighforward. Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry, and then what we usually got, Neopolitan, which was vanilla, chocolate and strawberry all in one carton. You could carefully scoop the flavors separately and make a banana split look like the ones from Woolworth's.

My grandmother always had Maple-Nut in her freezer. I wasn't crazy about it; if I had a choice I always picked a piece of one of her ice-cream pies she kept in there. Then along came an exotic flavor: Butter Brickle. It was a buttery flavor with little pieces of toffee things floating around in it. When it was fresh it was great. When it was old and had been partially melted at the grocers a time or two, it wasn't so great...

My aunt introduced us to something called Burgundy Cherry. We were already familiar with Cherry Vanilla, which my mom seemed to really like, but this was different. Not that it tasted especially spectacular, but it was very beautiful. Purplish pink with soft burgundy colored cherries in it. Two other flavors that were a staple at our house were Rocky Road and Chocolate Marble.

I think it was the Mint Chip ice cream that heralded a new era of flavors in the grocers case. Cookie Dough followed, and then Strawberry Cheese Cake. Tin Roof Sundae and Mocha Almond Fudge came up close behind. Then it seemed like a free-for-all. Every candy bar made now came in an ice cream version, every combination of chocolate, carmel, nuts, crumbs, peanut butter and coffee you could put together were made and named after various curious phenomena.

It's a proven scientific fact that having more choices makes decision-making harder, not easier, that people are more dissatisfied with their final choice than if they only had a few to pick from.

So now I stand at the frozen section staring at all the brands, all the flavors, and cannot for the life of me pick one. So I pick two. Or three. Just in case I decide the first one wasn't the one I really wanted after all. So maybe they know what they are doing after all.

Wine and Chocolate in Lodi

e e

This weekend, Feb 13 and 14 the Lodi Wineries are holding their annual “Wine and Chocolate” tour. My daughter, Melinda and I, having absolutely nothing better to do than go wine and chocolate tasting, ordered our tickets. Can you really think of very much nicer a way to spend a beautiful sunny Saturday than tooling around the rural vineyards and orchards, stopping at posh little wineries nibbling brownies and sipping good Zinfandel?

The first stop was the Lodi Wine Center. Kathleen, my gps, was not behaving well and tried to send us on a wild goose chase, but we wrestled her down and found the place in good time. We collected our wristbands, wine tasting glasses and tin of chocolates. Our designated driver collected his wristband so that he could have cookies and stuff, no wine, but lots of compliments from the servers during the day for his sacrifice. We had an event map that we had highlighted the wineries we didn’t want to miss. This was important, as there were about 40 wineries involved, and none of us really thought we could manage the whole gang in only 5 hours. Since we weren’t local, it was a one day shot for us.

I didn’t know much about Lodi wines, but now I know how important Zinfandel grapes are to the region. Zinfandel seemed to be the predominant wine, followed by Cabernet, Chardonnay, a little Merlot, and some other Spanish grapes that I can’t remember the names of right now. I think I like Zinfandel second only to Cabernet Sauvignon, at least from my limited experiences. We tasted a LOT of Zinfandel, and I was looking for a bottle to buy.

One place we went to, Michael David, was festive; they had souvenirs of Mardi Gras beads and shiny masks. There, I had what was probably the nicest wine up to that point. It was a Zinfandel named “Gluttony,” part of a line-up of their “Seven Deadly Zins.” I would have paid about $25 for it, but unfortunately, it was $60. So I took another taste of it and moved on.

(At this point you might want to read my post about cheap wines, if you haven’t already!)

Sometime during the first few stops on our route, we had the nagging feeling that we had gotten in with the wolf pack and might have to break loose. The limousines were showing up just ahead of us. You know that sinking feeling when you are on a trip, and you need a restroom, burger and drink in that order, but you see that 3 school buses and a tour bus have pulled in the McDonalds just ahead of you? Thankfully, our next stop was a near miss as we had to make an awkward turnaround to go down the poorly marked road. No limo could have made that maneuver, so we were able to drop out of that pack. After that, we had more breathing space.

We really enjoyed seeing how the different winery owners were able to express their other passions within the winery setting. D’art is owned by Dave and Helen Dart. Because he wanted to showcase his beautiful artistic talents as well, he arranged his framed paintings, decorated the facility, and named it D’art, “of the Art.” Harmony Vineyards featured a magnificent built in pipe organ, played live during the day.

Our last stop of the day was a vineyard plaza. About a half dozen wineries had located at a central area in the Lodi area to make a sort of outdoor wine mall. It was there at the Watts winery where I bought my 2cnd bottle of wine. The server was a knowledgeable, very personable young man who was very good at what he did. It made me really understand how important it is for a winery to not just have a warm body to stand there and tip the sip into your glass, but to interact, to tell you with his words and body language, “Isn’t this a great wine?”

We had a great time. A person could probably better do serious wine tasting by limiting the number of wineries and tastes during one day, but for fun, this couldn’t be beat. And I did get 2 bottles of great wine to set aside for the next special occasion!

Chile Relleno, Carumba!

If you like chile relleno casserole (and you know who you are), give this a read.

Chile relleno casserole is a great dish to whip up when you are serving a crowd. Layered in a 9 inch square or a 9x13 dish, it is easy to prepare and when it’s done, you have a mellow, cheesy, nutritious meal with most of the food groups represented. But for the single, or the couple, it requires a commitment in the baking, with the amount of cheese to shred and the cooking time, and a commitment to how many days you plan on eating it until it’s gone. You may not know how easy, convenient, and really delectable the original chile relleno really is.

My mother used to make chile rellenos occasionally, though I had never tried to copy them myself. But I remembered what she did when I tried to make them myself the other day. You can make up exactly how many you want at a time. And you can also make extra—they are also nice heated up the next day.

First, you need Ortega chiles. (Ok ok, if you really wanted to do this right, you would buy fresh chiles and fire roast them over flame, sweat them in a bag and rub the blackened skin off. But we are going to live conveniently this time) I just buy the big can in the Mexican food aisle, use them in all kinds of things until the rest go bad and then toss them. I’d rather do that than use those dinky little cans. Pull how many you want out, pour out the liquid from the peppers and lay them on a paper towel to dry off a little. Don’t worry about seeds. When they prepare them for canning, most of the seeds are removed.

Next you need eggs, separated. Here is the best way to handle that. Separate them when they are cold, and then leave them out for a little while until they get closer to room temperature. Cold eggs don’t whip as nicely as tepid ones do. I used 3 eggs for 5 chiles, but you can change those proportions however you like. You can use a mixer, but I prefer to just use a whisk. It feels more homey and organic. Whip the whites until they are in soft peaks. Then whisk the yolks in another little bowl. Fold the yolks into the whites. One thing I like to do is also fold in about a tablespoon of masa flour or fine cornmeal.

Poke cheese into the chiles. Don’t worry if the sides split.

Heat up a well-seasoned cast iron skillet as if you were cooking an omelet. Spread in half the egg mixture; lay the stuffed chiles on the egg layer, and then spread the remainder of the egg mixture over the top.

My mother used to dip the chiles in the eggs and then put them in the skillet, but it’s just as easy to just lay it down in layers.

Cook at a low temperature. You might want to cover it for a little while if you are worried that the egg mixture won’t cook through and the cheese melt before it all gets too brown. When the bottom is lightly browned, flip them over, either all at once or a few at a time.

When you plate them, put a splash of warmed salsa across the middles.

They are sooo good!

Bottle Shock

I just watched a great little movie, Bottle Shock. If you've read my post on good wines then you sort of know where I'm coming from on the subject. My pocket book isn't always willing to satisfy my taste buds. But that was ok, as long as I can manage to keep my taste buds dormant. Right now, I'm in a "need better wine" than I was a year ago. This movie nudged me into a "need much better wine" place.

The movie purports to tell the story of the historic 1976 wine competition in Paris, pitting French wines against uspstart California wines in a blind test. Alan Rickman (Snape in Harry Potter) is excellent in all his snobby Englishness as the instigator of the contest. It was precious to see him driving out to tour the Napa Valley wineries in a rented beat-up yellow Gremlin eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Californians are sort of made out to be hicks and hippies, but darn it! They do know how to make great wine!

The two main subplots going on are: Father/Son friction. Will the dad impress upon the hippie son the value of taking life seriously and making something out of himself? If he can, how will he do it? a) beat the crap out of him boxing, b) fire him

And: Who will get the girl? The cute and hardworking Mexican-American worker who knows more about winemaking than these gringos he works for because he was born with vinyard dirt under his finger nails, and they came later and thought they could just "learn it?" Or the pretty-boy hippie with the really bad hair (hey, it was the 70's; but truthfully, I was in high school in 1976, and Ididn't know anyone with hair quite like that!) who partied, drank, and womanized, but did have a truck instead of a motorcycle with a sidecar. Your guesses are a) the Mexican American, b) the White Hippie, c) both.

The scenes showing people tasting the wines do what well-done food commercials do-- make you want to get some of that. You think, Yes! Sit me by an upturned wine barrel at the edge of a grassy bluff overlooking some of the most gorgeous vineyard scenery in Sonoma County (yes, they filmed it there instead of Napa County) on a warm summer day; surround me with half a dozen wine tastes in tall stemware, and then top it off by having one of the friendly workers bring around a stone bowl of freshly made guacamole and chips.

Come to think of it, that's probably why I bought to two avacodos to go with the Clos du Bois Cab I opened that night...

As the competition approaches, the tense moment of the movie comes when the main character wine maker thinks his wine is spoiled and sends it off to the dump in despair. Who will save the wine? Who will save the day? Yes, it really was tense, but we already know the movie has a happy ending. Yay California! Yay Napa Valley Wines! Makes me proud to be a Californian.

Of course, all the details in the movie can't be true. That's the way "based on a true story" works. But, happily, the important details are true, and even some of the less important details. You can find out what is fact and fiction by going here.

I'd recommend this movie. Just make sure you have a nice California Chardonnay or Cabernet at hand to make it a holistic experience.

In Search of… The Perfect Cup of Coffee.

Grinders I have Loved


Some kids are born coffee drinkers. Some have to learn it. I think I was a born coffee drinker, but didn’t realize it until some time around the 5th grade. My friend and I were at a PTA meeting at the school, (big event of the month when you live in the country and go to a little K-8th country school) and she pointed to the big coffee urn, “Let’s get a cup of coffee!” No one told us we couldn’t, so we acted like it was no big deal and dispensed a cup. She loaded hers with cream and sugar. After trying it, that was when I realized I liked mine black.

My coffee consumption was never quite the same after I married a sailor. We had more coffee makers, coffee cups, Thermoses and other paraphernalia than I’d ever seen in one house. Coffee all morning, coffee in the afternoon, and after dinner coffee. With all this coffee, all that was bad or boring began to rear its ugly head. Namely, MJB and generic. After I struck that from my short list, I started trying to pay attention to what tasted best instead of what was the best price.

The problem was, once in a while, once in a great while, I would get a great cup of coffee. This was before Starbucks, Peets, and all those other little high quality coffee shops. Farmers was the usual restaurant brand. And sometimes, when that cup was made from extraordinarily fresh coffee and clean pure water, and you could taste what it was meant to be. You could shut your eyes and be climbing the mountain with Juan Valdez and his burro, picking only the ripest beans, it would feel like Christmas, the way it was meant to be, you had just discovered a new taste bud, which had finally woken up; in short, coffee that tasted as good as it smelled.

At first, I thought Folgers was pretty good. Then I found that Yuban was a little richer. then I discovered the little one pound cans of S&W.

One day I noticed what I had never seen in a grocery store: coffee beans. Bins of roasted coffee beans for sale. They were such a novelty, I didn’t want to run them through the store grinder, but take them home and see what I could do with them. Maybe, just maybe this was the key to good coffee. Fresh grind! I pulled out the little German made hand coffee grinder and ground what was probably its first batch of beans in its life. It’s former life as a shelf decoration was over! The grounds were very coarse, but smelled wonderful. For probably a year we ground away, making coffee from coffee beans.

When blade grinders hit the market, I was ready. So far I have gone through about 4 of them. Advantages: a fine grind, fairly convenient. Disadvantages: noisy, can heat up the grinds. There was always a routine in the daily grind. Measure out, cap it, plug it in, press the button, shake shake, SHAKE shake, slap, slap, shake shake, let go the button, turn upside down, SLAP SLAP, shake. Pull lid containing grinds off and dump into coffee filter.

One thing we only did in emergencies—use the supermarket grinder. Because somebody before you ground chocolate raspberry coffee. Even in the one that is off limits to flavored coffee. Trust me.

Getting tired of the grinding routine, I’ve done a little research on grinders and discovered that the grinder to have is a conical burr grinder. Not just a burr grinder, but a CONICAL burr grinder (translate: expensive). Well lo and behold, the gourmet kitchen store in town was going out of business and had their stock at 40 percent off. On the table was a Breville conical burr grinder, for about $50. One left. My husband snatched it up.

We’ve been using it for several weeks now, and I love it! It is quiet, precise, grinds out the perfect measure and only requires a little tap tap to cut the static electricity from sending the grounds flying when you open the lid.

So I’m that much closer to the perfect cup of coffee. But I’ve been thinking lately, how much better could it be if I roasted my own beans?

Me, Hungry?

For some reason hunger has been on my mind lately. Before I go any further, I should make a disclaimer, I haven’t been hungry lately. In fact, I have rarely been more than moderately hungry at times throughout my life. I should be hungry, seeing as how I am still on my New Year’s Resolution diet, but I find hunger to be unpleasant, and somehow I always find myself in the position of trying to fix it when I feel a twinge of emptiness. One of our goals of this current eating plan has been to fix boring food. We had the idea that if the meal was boring, we would only eat enough to kill the hunger and not be motivated by taste or other eating pleasures. There have turned out to be two things wrong with that. For one, I love to cook and take pride in the finished product. I thrive on compliments. So far, I just have not been able to make myself cook up a big pot of beans and rice to eat from all week long. Secondly, even the lowliest food can surprise you with its savory delectableness. A few days ago, I thought I’d try something new and cook up a pot of red lentils. All I did was to fry up a little minced bacon, cook chopped onions in the bacon grease, add a mashed garlic clove, and then boil the lentils in it, seasoning with a little vegetable bouillon and pepper. I’ve eaten it for lunch three days in a row now; one bowl for my stomach, one bowl for my mouth. Boring is not working well; hunger is being held well at bay. How many mothers have tried to guilt their children into finishing the food on their plate by telling them to “think of all the starving children in China!” Trying to make sense of that, I’d guess it’s more an admonishment to not be wasteful, since the issue of starving Chinese children doesn’t come back up. My mother always felt that unwanted, unneeded food on the plate was better off in the garbage than in the stomach—it was wasted either way. Famine in China isn’t in the news today, but many innocent and naïve schoolchildren bumped up against the idea for the first time when they had to read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. There were a few shocking and unpleasant themes in the story, such as the lowly status of the peasant wife whose feet had remained unbound and uncrippled, dooming her to a lower place in society. But one scene has left a gritty taste in my mouth, when the family eats dirt to fill their starving bellies. Some months ago, I read stories of “starvation cookies” consumed by many poor people in Haiti. These cookies have always been around, mostly for medicinal purposes such as the dangerous, unproven method of adding calcium to a pregnant woman’s diet. They are cheap, about 5 cents each. A little bit of butter and salt is mixed in with “edible” clay, shaped into a small disc, and left to dry in the hot sun. With the steeply rising food prices and general poverty in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, many people have turned to eating these mud cookies for their 3 squares a day. And now, of course, after the earthquake, millions more may be starving. I’m grateful to live in America, where hunger is at least a step further away than it is in many countries, and we have more of a choice in determining our own destinies. But while I’m taking care of my own little hungry munchies, I hope that I can remember the “starving children in China,” not just to feel guilty, but to give or do something to help my neighbor, or my neighboring country, in need.

Decorating With Food

Food is wonderful! It smells good, it tastes delicious, it is attractive. It makes nice sizzling or crispy sounds. It feels lusciously creamy or munchy in the mouth. All together, when a plate is well-arranged with the meal, it is indeed, a three dimensional work of art!

But sometimes, food enters that other realm of art. That is, well, art. For some reason, the concept of using food to create arts and crafts is highly interesting to a kid. And adults have relied on this well-beloved tool for years to handle sessions of craft projects for kids in Sunday School classes, summer camp, grammar school, and at home in the kitchen. First, let’s consider the King of Decorative Food- Pasta.

I can’t believe that any kid has not gotten through childhood without creating a masterpiece of macaroni. I well remember my very first macaroni marvel. I was in the 5th or 6th grade when the teachers introduced the Christmas Gift project of the year. We were to bring in some kind of round carton, oatmeal containers being the most common. I brought an empty cardboard can of Jolly Time popcorn, which was about the size of a number 2 tin can. We glued elbow macaronis here and there about the container and then applied the ingredient that made the magic-- gold metallic spray paint. The idea was to fill them with candy and give them to a deserving old person. I reasoned that my grandma was old, so I gave mine to her.

The other glorious thing about macaroni is that it is jewelry-like. That is, it has holes you can string yarn through. A breakthrough came for me as a parent and Sunday School teacher when I learned how to color it with paste food color and isopropyl alcohol. I think the kids actually preferred Froot Loop necklaces, but at least they still had something to take home when we used noodles.

Potatoes are an under-rated resource for Decorating with Food. A potato half, a butter knife, poster paint and paper can help the creativity flow for a young artist. Admittedly, the butter knife was more of a hindrance than a steak knife would have been, but then again, I was only in second grade. In the meantime, I have learned that very respectable Asian artists make fish prints, in which they take a fish, dip it in paint, and press it on paper. And then sell it. Yes. At least with the potato, I carved a C for Carolyn, did a little work to clean it up, and then start printing.

A very beautiful craft project from church camp utilizing seeds and beans in a mosaic sort of way is one I remember well, mostly because I never got to finish mine. They ran out of most of the seed varieties before it was my turn. It was a rooster, cut out of corrugated cardboard with the different sections outlined, and written in each was the kind of seed or bean that needed to be glued in. It used lots of popcorn kernels. Which makes me think of the corn palace in the Midwest, created out of corncobs.

One crafty food project that I’m just as glad I never knew about when I was a kid is finger painting with pudding. That just seems too wrong, somehow…

Of course, once you get into high school, the whole emotion changes in Decorating with Food, as you know if you have ever been in the cafeteria during a food fight.

What are your favorite decorating moments in which food was the primary ingredient? It doesn’t count when the final aim is to eat the project!