[mourning] cooking

i would always have to call my mom whenever i wanted to make one of her recipes. so a few years back, she digitized all her, her friends, her mother’s, other family members, our neighbors, basically any recipe of any meal or dessert i enjoyed as a kid. she printed them all out and compiled them into a notebook and gave them to me for christmas a few years back.

i misplaced it...

 

 

my mom would ask about it and i’d have to admit i hadn’t found it yet.  then, as most of you know...my mom pasted away in november...

 

 

this past weekend i finally found it under a pot on a shelf i never use. i immediately turned to my favorite dish, wrote down the ingredients and went to the store.  cooking it and filling the kitchen with its familiar smell was more emotional than planned. having cold leftovers in the fridge, my mom’s favorite, heartwarming.

 

therapy in a three ring binder.

 

 

 

home is where the [bread] is

obviously, this whole "cooking and making food that reminds me of home because we're stuck in the middle of a global pandemic and i can't visit my family" continued this week with the making of my dad's banana bread.  

staying true to my childhood i let it cool just enough before cutting off a slice and eating it while it was still warm. 

i'm going to be as big as a house if this pandemic continues and i keep cooking.

i would do anything for [loaf]

 

if you've followed this blog for a a while, you are well aware i participate in the dark, underground, and highly elusive sport known as competitive meatloaf-ing...meatloaf club if you will.  the first rule of meatloaf club is you do not talk about meatloaf club, the second rule; you do not talk about meatloaf club!

that being said, i really have to tell you about this year!

over the past four years i've become somewhat of a grizzled veteran in the whole wichita underground meatloaf scene.  i laugh when i look back at how young and naive i was in 2010, a fresh loaf fighter right of of the kitchen with a traditional style loaf, never having tasted the oven baked goodness of a victory.  then came 2011, i was older, wiser...hungrier for a win, and i found myself starting to experiment with performance enhancing spices and ingredients.  it's still under investigation how much the "dill" had to do with it, but that "experimental" year found me taking home my first win, "peoples choice."  however the "top loaf" prize still escaped me.  i don't want to talk about 2012.  i had a big ego, i thought i was too good, i thought i no longer needed to train or prepare, i thought i could waltz in and win the hearts of the judges with the same loaf as 2011.  i was sorely mistaken, not only did i not win any prize, i had serious thoughts of throwing in the dish towel.

after a few months away from the game, my head cleared.  i had learned my lesson, and the utter defeat i had felt last year now only fueled my oven fires hotter.  the last 12 months were spent thinking, tasting, suggesting, reading, learning, training, and google-ing trying to find the perfect combination of flavors that would melt the hearts of the judges and public alike.  after a few recipes and one very excellent trial run, i had it, a brand new meatloaf never before seen at this competition...maybe even america. i, along with my trusty companion, my mom, had something new, something different, something america never new it always wanted; a blue cheese and peppercorn meatloaf.

the competition was grueling, forks flung, spatulas sparred and tongs tussled but i knew i had a chance.  why you ask, because i saw the look on the peoples face when i told them the sample i had just dished them was a blue cheese and peppercorn meatloaf.  their eyes sparkled and their mouths watered. one old man starting crying.  granted, i'm not sure if it was from my description or if he had his own things going on, but there was crying.  none the less it proved my theory had been correct.  over the course of the year, i  had noticed millions upon millions of menus across this country featured dishes covered with blue cheese. why? because people love it, they crave it. they want it on everything, but until today there had been one thing they had never had it on, meatloaf.  as i handed them the sample, it was easy to see, they realized their blue cheese ship had finally come in to meatloaf harbor.

the hours passed by and the plates slowly emptied and before i knew it the judges were ready to announce their decision.  the reading of the results were a bit of a blur, but in the end, out of 12 teams, mostly consisting of local restaurants, i came in third.  although it wasn't first place, i was very honored.  if that wasn't enough, when the people's votes were tallied, 2013 would also find me me reclaiming my title as "people's choice" which i was very thankful for as well.  as always, i couldn't have accomplished this without the support and help of my family and friends.  thank you all.

now, with the coveted "top loaf" prize well within striking distance, i want it even more.  i don't know exactly what it'll be but expect something new and exciting for 2014.

[cue rocky theme]

for the [loaf] of the game

alright, i'll be the first to admit it. i sold out. last year, i naively entered the loaf-off with a very traditional, all-american style meatloaf. i proudly served my classic dish among the other, more experimental loaves. i held out hope, that in a world of posers, wannabe's, and "flashy-look-at-me" meatloaves, the honesty, purity and goodness found in my loaf would prevail.

i was wrong.

after witnessing first hand the cruel and unforgiving world found in competitive meatloaf-ing, i knew if i wanted to survive, i would have to up my ante. i would come back in 2011, stronger, faster, tastier...loaf-ier. i knew, in order to win, i'd have to find the perfect combination of familiarity and uniqueness. something, when placed in your mouth, would give you the feeling of being in a strange, exotic and foreign land, yet at the same time, make you feel as if you were at home relaxing in your favorite chair, wrapped in your snuggie. i found my answer in a swedish meatball recipe. it was perfect! i'd simply take this family favorite and loaf it! new. different. familiar...perfect.

with a great deal of help from my mom, we showed up to the main event prepared this year. we had colorful plates, tablecloths, aprons, appropriate utensils, and even homemade mints. we weren't "bush league-ing" it anymore. we cooked our loaves early in the morning and by 10:30 we were setting up our boundaries. walking around, we sized up our competition, finding both friends and foes. the morning was filled with friendly conversation and chit-chat, however, just like in any battle, a hush fell over the crowd in those few moments before we started. some people prayed, some were lost in thought, others were busy mentally psyching themselves up....in the distance, i heard a child cry. at 11 the competition began, and a squall of sample sized portions started slinging. plates were piled high with a plethora of potential prize winners. loaves filled with jalapeno, chipotle, cheese, bacon....ostrich. although we keep our chins down and our utensils up, we knew ultimately, in this fight, our loaf would have to defend itself.

like any battle, it seemed to fly by, and before we knew it the judges had made their choice. i was not awarded the "top loaf" this year, but instead awarded the best "retro style" loaf.

with it's mushroom gravy, it would be perfectly complemented by a dirty martini" said the judges.

being a big fan of anything mid century, i was honored, and took this as a complement. however, the competition wasn't over, they still needed to award the "best in show" and "people's choice". tallying up the votes it was discovered the people had spoken and we had in fact won "people's choice!"...and really, isn't it the voice of the people that really matter? on top of that, our new friends, who shared the table with us, won "best in show" with their bacon-latticed wrapped loaf.

the only question now is, do i retire and go out on top, or do i keep trying for the coveted "top loaf" prize?


i'll be honest...i already have some ideas.

while visions of [tamale's] danced in their heads

by far one of the best holiday treats and office perks during this season is being invited to the annual christmas lunch put on by a local electric company. every december, they invite anyone they've done business with to their warehouse and prepare a homemade mexican meal for everyone. no exaggeration, it is by FAR the best mexican food i've ever had. chicken with mole' sauce, tamale's, enchilada's, taco's, chile verde, all amazing.

as tasty as this meal is, what makes it great, is the fact it's such a personal gift. in a season filled with countless generic cards and boxes of mixed nuts, this lunch stands out as a real and sincere treat. with this being the third time i've attended the lunch, it is rapidly becoming a beautiful, and tasty, beacon during my christmas season.

make it [homemade] rain

yesterday, the fire department provided the crowd at the first ever "taste of wichita" some much needed relief from the 104 degree weather. today, it's 82 and rainy. apparently, i need to up-date a little quicker in this state. ahhhhhh kansas!

[grill] it and they will come

last weekend, i ate my first hot dog from a street vendor in wichita. believe me, this was not on my bucket list, but it did make me feel better about the future of wichita's downtown development.

i had a friend in town, visiting from kansas city, so much of the weekend was spent showing off wichita highlights. saturday evening found us in old town. at the end of the night, with the bars closing down, and our tabs paid, we wondered out onto the sidewalk, and were suddenly greeted with the most heavenly sent. grilled hot dogs! at that point in time nothing could have smelled better or more perfect. we had to have them. handing over four bucks for two dogs we quickly devoured them. walking home, i was thrilled at this little culinary surprise the city had offered up.

this same friend and i had just spent time in new york, a city filled with street vendors. a city which epitomizes urban living. street vendors are a small sign of a vibrant city, and wichita is beginning to have more options. as ironic as it may sound, having a smorgasbord of saturated fat on the sidewalk, is actually a healthy sign for downtown. remembering back to my "design and society" class in college, street vendors are very keen when it comes to lively spaces. with their business on wheels, they can quickly move to where the action is. they can easily fill a void not being met by regular establishments. in old town's case, there is a lack of late night restaurant choices to help sober up the drunken crowd. in come the vendors. the more people in an area, the more vendors will want to be there. with more vendors in an area, the more people will know where to head for a late night food fix.

for the benefit of the city, lets hope this cyclical evolution will start spilling into the lunch time crowd, and not just the jagerbomb crowd.

meat[loaf] lovers

i love meatloaf

and when you look at the reasons, it's not hard to see why it graces the top of my favorite meals list. first of all, it's simple. no fancy ingredients, mostly made with items every standard kitchen has. it gets mixed, and baked. you can't beat that. second of all, while it's baking, and it's aroma fills the house, memories come sweeping back over me of my childhood, when i would have to get cleaned up from playing neighborhood baseball before dinner. next, there's a wonderful retro-kitschiness associated with meatloaf. a meal which become popular during the depression as a way to stretch the meat budget, it could be made with inexpensive meats and ingredients, and still feed a large family. fourthly, not only is it great right out of the oven, but it's a meal where the leftover's create a plethora of other meals, almost outdoing it's original intention. fifth, it goes well with mashed potatoes...nuff said. finally, meatloaf is one of those wonderful dishes everyone knows how to make, and everyone has there own special way of fixing it, making it a wonderful meal to try in different establishments and locations.

now, being it was one of my favorite meals growing up, it was one of the first meals i took the time to perfect once i got out on my own. my style of meatloaf is a very traditional mixture consisting of a combination of my moms recipe as well as a family friend. being extremely proud of my own recipe, this past weekend i decided to put my loaf where my mouth was, and entered a meatloaf competition.

enlisting the help of my mom, early saturday morning my apartment was filled with the scent of meatloaf. finishing up and placing them in the roaster, we headed to the competition, four blocks away. i was feeling extremely confident, up until got there, and realized most of the other competitors were actual chef's from local restaurants, complete with fancy hats, fancy knives, and fancy aprons. setting up next to me, were stainless steel trays filled with mixtures of rabbit meats, sweet bread, bacon wraps, and smoked chorizo. i was a little nervous. however as the competition commenced, and i handed out samples, i realized, my traditional approach was actually what set me apart, so i started mentioning this fact to the samplers. now, it could have been the fact i had a more traditional recipe, or it might have simply been they wanted a little bit more "eye candy" from yours truly, but there were several ladies in the 65+ category who came back for seconds.

at the end of the competition, the winners were announced, and sadly i didn't win. i did however win the most "diner-esque" meatloaf award, which the judges explained as being exactly the kind of meatloaf you'd want when you go into a diner...

...and looking back on why i love meatloaf in the first place, and what i'd like my version to be, it was the perfect award to win.

[summer]solutions

it's no secret i've had a little spare time this summer. days spent searching for firms with job openings and nights filled with editing and fixing resumes and portfolios. well, maybe not the whole day, just the majority of it. the rest of the hours are filled with more domestic endeavors. my apartment has never been cleaner, all shirts and pants are pressed and ironed, and all shelved items have been organized and in some instances alphabetized. i've also had a little more time to prepare meals. while looking through a magazine one day trying to find interesting dishes, i came across two drink recipes that caught my eye. one was for a "dark and stormy" and the other, the "perfect iced coffee". i was hooked, i had to try them. i bought the ingredients and started to prepare.

now, i'm not sure if it's every young man's dream to be a bartender at some point in his life, but while preparing the "dark and stormy" part of me felt like a young tom cruise in the movie "cocktail". one flip of the rum bottle, which i nearly dropped, quickly brought me back into reality. a classic "dark and stormy" is very simple. some "goslings black seal rum", ginger beer, and a lime. you fill a glass with ice, pour in a little rum, top the glass off with ginger beer, squeeze in half a lime, and than garnish with a lime slice. not only did this turn out to be amazingly refreshing, but if softly playing the song "kokomo" in the background, is a little slice of heaven.


the next liquid experiment was the "perfect iced coffee". now i love coffee, however, during the summer months, my body hates being hot on the outside as well as the inside, hence, my new found love for iced coffee. however handing over four dollars to some coffee house barista seems ridiculous to me. now, i've tried making iced coffee before by simply placing regular coffee in the freezer, and it turned out alright, however the words "perfect iced coffee intrigued me. word to the wise, do not place the coffee pot directly from the coffee maker into the freezer.....

to get the "prefect iced coffee" apparently you have to "cold press" the coffee. you grind some beans, place them into a french press and then stir in cold water. you then let it sit in the fridge for 12 hours. later, you press the mixture into a glass, add in a little milk and sugar, and presto! an iced coffee. now i'm not a coffee snob by any means, however this cold press method really has something going for it!
i know summer is rapidly coming to an end, but if you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands, i highly recommend trying out both drinks....as well as the "cocktail" soundtrack.

going [green]

with gas prices the way they are, i decided to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. we all need to be more environmentally conscious and do our part.

my part you may ask? i made my own homemade tomatilla salsa!

alright, so it didn't have so much to do with the environment and everything to do with the fact that since the last post i've been craving that savory, salty, sapid, somewhat spicy, sauce.

honestly i haven't been able to shut up about it. most conversations in the past couple of weeks, no matter what the topic, i've somehow been able to include the phrase, "have you ever had tomatilla salsa, you should, it's amazing!" as repetitive and boring as this my sound, it did lead to a certain someone stating the fact that there was indeed a tomatilla salsa recipe in the cookbook they had given me for graduation. aside from the fact that it made me look like i hadn't perused this cookbook at all, it led to a splendid idea. i wouldn't bow down to some corporate salsa, i would make my own!

i read the directions, gathered the ingredients, armed myself with a food processor, and set to work. it was amazing. i was like a german bobby flay, cooking and dicing! i'm telling you, this was much more exciting then anything i've ever done on the george foreman! after mixing it all together and letting it set in the fridge for a day, i unveiled it at our weekly [office/grey's] watch party. it was a hit. the only criticism that came was the fact that it was too spicy, however i fell that this comment lost all validity when i saw "said" person scraping the bowl clean with half a tortilla chip.

if interested try it out:

12 tonatillos peeled
12 serrano peppers, de-stemmed
1 medium onion (quartered)
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime juiced

boil onion, tonatillos and serrano peppers for ten minutes. put in blender and chop fine. add a bunch of chopped cilantro and the juice of one lime.

for a very relaxed evening, i recommend serving with wilco's new album, "sky blue sky" playing softly in the background.