This
week’s topic include why Mother’s Day is akin to the Boy Scouts,
blackberry-infused syrup, food that tastes great and looks horrible, a review of
Hacienda in Reno (hint – not good), and I revisit bourbon.
Mother’s Day, WF Style. There’s a mother
in the WF household, so Mother’s Day is justifiably a big day around here. I think that Mother’s Day is like the Boy
Scouts. It’s all about the service
projects. Yes. Gifts are good. But, giving Mom something you made or doing
something for her seems to go farther on this day. For me, service means cooking for the
Red.
A quick side note is in order. I have
never met a woman who did not like a man cooking for her. Maybe such a woman exists, but I certainly
haven’t come across her. Frankly, I
don’t even think you need to do it well.
The effort alone will earn you kudos.
Gentlemen – cook for the woman in your life.
Here’s
how we do Mother’s Day, WF style:
Breakfast
– scratch-made cornmeal and buttermilk pancakes with blackberry maple syrup and
two fresh poached eggs. Check it
out. If that
does not say “Happy Mother’s Day and here’s your breakfast in bed,” I don’t know
what does. The Red still says they were
the best pancakes she’s ever had.
A
quick note/recipe for the syrup you see.
Get a cup or two of some real maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima here!) and
throw it in a pot. As soon as it starts
to simmer, through in a pint of fresh blackberries or blue berries, with a
splash of vanilla extract for good measure.
Turn the heat off and put the lid on it.
Let it sit for 20 minutes or so, and…… Voila! Blackberry infused maple syrup! Damn good and embarrassingly easy.
Dinner – I asked the Red what she wanted and she pondered for a while. “A risotto.”
“Any kind of risotto?” “I was
thinking you could try to recreate that mushroom and sausage risotto we had at that
fabulous local Italian joint.”
That’s
girl’s a keeper. Did I mention that?
So I
make this risotto, and I used some red wine as the first liquid in the pot to
infuse the whole dish with red wine flavor.
It tasted fabulous. The richness
of the porcini mushrooms with red wine and creaminess of risotto…. Awesome.
However,
I now know that you can’t use red wine in risotto and not have it look like
purplish vomit. It’s just
impossible. So, no food porn is
forthcoming for that dish.
In
the future, perhaps I’ll use white wine, which should help the aesthetics of
the dish. Or I’ll keep using red wine
and move past the aesthetics!
The
Red loved it, and that’s all that matters.
A Follow up on Bourbon. Some readers of
this blog may recall an early post about how I am slowly being indoctrinated
into the ways of bourbon (a.k.a. ‘white trash scotch’). Before you Scotch drinkers judge, stop. There are some fabulous bourbons that any
snooty Scotch-loving person would thoroughly enjoy. They don’t all taste like Jim Beam, just like
all Scotches don’t taste like Johnny Walker Red.
Lately,
I’ve taken great pride in serving very good bourbon to one of my Scotch-loving
friends. He says he hates bourbon. “Too sweet.
Tastes like *&^$.” On more
than one occasion, I have served him good bourbon, only to be asked what kind
of Scotch it was. Inevitably, the
following exchange occurs: “That’s
bourbon.” “There’s no way this is
bourbon.” “Ok. Would you like some more.” “Absolutely.”
Set
aside your prejudices and try some bourbon.
If you’re an avid whiskey drinker, I suggest Michter’s. Trust me.
However, if you have some extra money
in your pocket and you can find it,….. buy some Pappy Van Winkle’s Family
Reserve. It will cost you a fair amount
of money, but well worth it. Actually,
if you find any bourbon with ‘Van Winkle’ on the label, buy it. It’s good.
A Review of Hacienda in Reno.
Recently,
we were at a sixth grade science fair around dinner time. We didn’t have dinner plans, so we decided
to grab dinner with another family. We
were in a pinch so the only two choices were Chili’s and Hacienda, a local
Mexican restaurant. The other family
chose Hacienda, so that’s where we went.
I
believe that will be the last time I ever go to Hacienda.
We
sit down and I ask the waitress, who is just about as smart as she needs to be,
about her favorite items on the menu.
She says “Fish tacos. They’re
awesome.” Cool. Fish tacos it is.
As this exchange was occurring, our friends
were apparently trying to give me subtle hints that the fish tacos are not, in
fact, awesome. As the waitress leaves,
they finally tell me. And then it occurs
to me. I look around the restaurant and
ponder if fish tacos were the best choice.
There could be downsides to such a choice…..
I changed my order to Barbacoa. The Red got pork chile verde and our friends
ordered a well done steak (eww) and Barbacoa.
The review?
The Barbacoa was tender enough and had some flavor. I would call it adequate at best. The well done steak? Who the hell cares?! It’s a well done steak and no matter what you
do it will taste like burnt leather.
The Red’s chile verde wasn’t even
adequate. It was barely edible and
looked like the results of bad fish tacos. It was
clearly made at the restaurant, and it had no flavor. That’s enough to piss off the WF. It is not hard to make tasty chile verde and
I’ve done it many times.
A Hispanic restaurant should not have bland,
nasty chile verde. It’s like getting
piss poor fish and chips at a British pub, bad Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant,
or nasty curry at an Indian restaurant.
It just shouldn’t happen.
Simply put, Hacienda is just bad and we will
not be back. The only upside was the
margaritas, which were tasty, strong, and expensive.
That night, Chili’s would have been a far
better choice.
Happy cooking.
WF
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