pineapple grows in iowa?

April 23rd, 2008Tags: ,
| crazy, food, fun, impressed, things that make me say "yum" | chris | 1 comment

on our recent trip home we were lucky enough to see something quite rare. lets start from the beginning. . .

around 6 years ago, deeann and her family went to hawaii. they brought home a pineapple from that trip, twisted the top off, ate the fruit and decided to plant the top. so they started the roots going with some water and eventually put it in some dirt. over the years they have left it out on their deck during the summers and inside during the colder months, all the while the leaves growing and growing. finally now, 6 years later, just before our trip home, the leaves are about 4′ in diameter and the pineapple is bearing fruit.
just out of the top and center of these leaves is popping out a little baby pineapple. when we first saw it, it was only about 1/2″ out of the leaves, but soon reached about 2 1/2″.

this fruit is really interesting to see, so check it out.

spring beer & wine fest

March 22nd, 2008Tags: , ,
| beer, food, good food, portland, things that make me say "yum" | chris | 2 comments


today we took the max line over for a taste of some delicious beers and wines and the spring beer & wine festival. breweries and wineries from california, oregon, and washington joined forces along with a good handful of some local portland restaurants to fork out some good eats and tasty drinks at the oregon convention center.

my favorite beer, the steinbock, was one from a vancouver brewery called hazel dell brewpub. deeanns favorite was crimson wheat from widmer brothers.

good times.

another cycle done

March 8th, 2008Tags: , , ,
| good food, grill this, meat, school, seafood, things that make me say "yum" | chris | 3 comments

meat & seafood identification & fabrication. good times.

we started with seafood, filleting salmon, halibut, shucking oysters, and making calimari. then we moved on to poultry, breaking down everything from chicken, duck, squab, and other wild birds. after the birds we moved to the beef, pork, and lamb, fabricating cuts from the sides of each animal. all the while we made sausage from basically every animal. yum. we also made head cheese, blood sausage, froie gras, confit, had a wing and burger throw-down, and ate all sorts of delicious parts.

in addition to learning the fabricated cuts of each of the animals we were required to know their names and be able to identify each type of fish, mollusk, bird, cow, pig, lamb, rabbit, and all of their parts. not easy, but quite fun.

back in the classroom for 3 weeks. :( i think the classroom classes are coming to an end here soon. it will be a nice break, nonetheless. here(& below) are a few pictures of this class. they were taken with my phone, so excuse the quality. i didn’t take the time to bring in the camera this time.

cheers
pork blood = blood sausage


head cheese

chef brian malarky

February 10th, 2008Tags: ,
| good food, school, seafood, things that make me say "yum" | chris | 1 comment


yesterday chef brian malarky came to wci to do a demo of his seafood sausage. this is the dish that won him the second round of top chef, season 3 on bravo. top chef is

a new reality competition series celebrating the culinary arts with a fascinating window into the competitive, pressurized environment of world-class cookery and the restaurant business at the highest level. The ten-episode, one-hour series will feature twelve aspiring chefs who will put their culinary skills to the test for the chance to earn the prestigious title of “Top Chef.”

deeann and i went to see the demo and get a taste of the delicious scallops, shrimp, and seabass sausage with ginger slaw and chili glaze. originally from oregon and a graduate of wci, chef brain loves to experiment with seafood and come up with new ways and techniques of cooking our underwater friends. he obviously has a passion for what he is doing and has worked very hard to get to the place he is in now.

check out the recipe and give it a shot. let me know how it goes!

pumpkins are fun

November 1st, 2007Tags: , ,
| autumn, food, just stuff, things that make me say "yum" | chris | 0 comments

this is what we spent yesterday doing.
we also roasted 3 pumpkins to make some yum pumpkin stuff. haven’t decided yet what we’re going to make but i’m sure deeann has a few ideas. more to come.

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