So last weekend I attempted to create my first wine pairing dinner. I decided not to cheat and use a web page or use a cookbook that had the food/pairing done for me. So I chose my menu and let me start by saying why did I decide to do Asian Fusion...couldn't I have tackled something easy like Italian where all the food goes well with red wine. But no Asian Fusion it was! So the menu consisted of smoked salmon/cucumber rolls for appetizers, carrot and ginger soup and short ribs. I had a friend who is an amazing dessert chef bring the dessert...the thought of tackling another course was a little overwhelming for me. I chose to pair the food with wines that were not overwhelming so I did a Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio with the salmon appetizer....this was perfect...light, crisp and not overwhelming. The 2nd course soup was paired with a La Crema Chardonnay....ok, I wasn't thrilled with the taste of the chardonnay. The ribs were paired with a Parker Station Pinot Noir which was spot on...must have been since we went through 3 bottles of it.

I know that we are often our own worse critics, but I definitely learned a few things about wine/pairing dinners. Some of you may say duh...but I am learning as I go.

1. Don't plan to start serving the food at the time you tell everyone to be there. My timing was definitely off since I was trying to coordinate 6 people. So the soup wasnt as hot as I would have liked.

2. Take pictures...if I am writing a food blog I should have photos of the food I make. I was especially impressed with how the ribs looked on the plate...thanks Jen for your serving assistance.

3. Taste the wine you are serving before your dinner. I picked the wine by the varietal I thought would go best with the food but I found that the chardonnary I chose just didnt have the taste I was hoping. And yes this rule also allows you to drink more wine in the days leading up to the dinner.

4. Be careful of salt. I found that everyone has a different ideal for salt and I found my soup to be a little salty.

I have to say it was a fun time and it was a great way to experience good friends and food. We had a lot of fun drinking the wine, talking about the food and discussing wine. I can't wait to do it again as I figure  it will only get better the more I do it.

Here is the recipe for the ribs if anyone wants to try it. Super easy recipe just make sure you have time to stay at home while they sit in the oven.Emeril's Asian Ribs

I also have to say I am very thankful that I didn't have a hangover the next day as I had 5 of the greatest girlfriends at my door at 0900 on Sunday ready to take me on an adventure. We discovered a great restaurant in Santa Barbara on State Street in Santa Barbara....called Blush...definitely recommend the outdoor patio. Thanks ladies for a great time.

I remember being in elementary school and we would feature a different country and study it. Our studies included everything from the clothing to the customs to the food. So I remember growing up and thinking that your ethnicity determined the type of food you ate. If I was Italian I would eat Italian food, if I was German I would eat German food, etc. Ok so that is not really the case today, but I love the idea of spending more time enjoying, contemplating and learning about the food we eat.

Oktoberfest in Big Bear

What I have slowly started to discover is that you can participate in ethnic food adoption. I am English, Irish and Dutch yet I don't eat the food of my people on a daily basis...hell not even a regular basis...hell what is the food of my people?

Today the food we eat is based on the culture that we have adopted for that night. We eat Japanese one night and Italian the next and yet we think nothing of the culture, the tradition or even the origins of the food we eat. Is that truly what food is all about?

Guinness Factory in Dublin

I think in America we have it all wrong and we could really learn more from the Europeans and their food traditions and their enjoyment of the food of their people. For example, when we were in Ireland 2 years ago we were enthralled by the Irish pub. This was a location where families...yes even babies in the bar... gathered to share their day, have a few beers, enjoy good food and even better company. This was a location that was not a job but a career. We met a young man, of coarse he was named Patrick, and he was an apprentice at a pub and his career was going to be in pub management and his dream was to own his own pub. Do we have anything at all like that here in the states? No, we work in the food service to get through college or as our first job in high school. Or here in Southern California you are in the food service if you think you are going to become an actor.

***Side note: I had never heard so many waiters/waitresses tell me they are really actors until I moved down here. In Northern California the waiters/waitresses really are just that...waiters and waitresses***

Look at the French and their bistro tradition or the Italians and their multi-course meals with a passion for great wine, locally grown produce and fresh food. Or even look at the Middle Eastern cultures with their amazing food traditions surrounding such events as memorials or weddings and the symbolism behind what they eat and when.

In the United States what are our food traditions? What do we savor? Our food traditions seem to be based on fast food chains and high fat, high sugar and immediate gratification. We have such a combination of other cultures that we have nothing to call our own anymore. I know that some people would argue that we have food regions...the crab cakes of Maryland or the fried chicken of Georgia but that is not the food of the United States. I have found amazing pleasure out of enjoying other food traditions. I don't mean to offend anyone only to enjoy and experience that which is not mine. I just want the experience of sitting back and enjoying food for all that it is worth and recognizing the true intent...reveling in the hard work that went into its preparation, the hard work that went into growing the ingredients and the meaning surrounding when and why it was eaten.

Sure I am English, Irish and Dutch but I am adopted...adopted to the food that I am savoring and experiencing at that time. I love the different cultures, traditions and celebrations that are co mingled with food. I love the Oktoberfest traditions of beer, brats and sauerkraut to celebrate the harvest. I had the opportunity to celebrate the Chinese New Year this year with our neighbors and loved the food, family and festivities. As many of you know I love Hanukkah...not because I am Jewish...but because I love the tradition, the potato latkes and matzoh ball soup...and the 8 presents aren't bad either. And I love the experience of traveling to different countries and getting away from the tourist traps and experiencing new people and new food. Some of the best food I have eaten came from exotic locations and along with that came some of the best travel memories. Such as The Black Lion Pub in some Dublin suburb in Ireland eating Irish potato chips and apple cider...or Mr Lams this random Chinese restaurant in Ireland that was open until 2am. Or the taco cart on some street corner in Puerta Vallarta where they cut the meat off the spit...too die for. Or eating fresh lobster at a hole in the wall in Costa Rica with local beer and a beautiful view of the ocean.

I guess what I am getting at is that in the U.S. we often lose sight of what food is all about....the taste, the experience, the memories and the company. We don't often take the time to sit down and enjoy. So I am off to pour myself a great glass of wine (don't worry the dog is here), watch some trashy reality tv (seriously I can't be all culture and class) and savor being at home with my great pets, my feet up after a great run and a beautiful full moon out the window. Cheers!

I have always associated the happiest and most exciting times in my life with the food I am eating and/or the experiences surrounding food and wine. However, today I went and saw the movie Eat, Pray, Love and although the move was just "entertaining" it brought back some really challenging times in my life and I found it strange that I still to this day remember what I was eating when times were the toughest in my life. The movie really reminded me of how the challenges we are faced with really change our path and our direction and truly shape who we are and what we are meant to do.

*** Side note the movie has the most amazing photography of Italian food***

The first memory occurred when I was 18 years old and at my first semester at Pepperdine University. It was my dream school, the most amazing campus and I felt that I was untouchable and that my future was at my finger tips. I was confident, in control and blessed with good fortune. It was absolutely breathtaking to look out the window of my dorm room and see the blue Pacific ocean stretching out for miles. I had never had health problems and I knew that doors would be opening based on my graduation with a degree from this school. However, I woke up one morning and found that I was having trouble swallowing. I went to the bathroom and found that my face and neck were swollen. I was so tired that I could barely lift my arms and I felt aches as if I had just been ran over by a mac truck. I dragged myself to class knowing that in order to be successful I needed to persevere. After several days of trying to live a normal college life, which wasn't normal at all as I would do everything possible to sleep between classes, delay getting out of bed and feeling like I was unable to sleep or drink I went to the student health center. When I walked in their first thought was mono...sure I was young, it was my first time away from home and I was probably just stressed out from my first semester at college. But I tested negative.

My medical problem exceeded their scope of knowledge and they sent me to a medical facility in Malibu. The first thing they realized was that I was extremely dehydrated and then began the barrage of "what ifs" and "what could it be." Was it leukemia, an autoimmune deficiency or the early symptoms of some unmentionable disease. After a few days of not feeling better, the doctors not knowing what was wrong with me and they symptoms not going away and only getting worse I remember sitting in the cafeteria. I was miserable and I was down to 90lbs in a few weeks time. I decided that if I could eat anything it would be a chocolate donut...don't know why its not like I eat those on a regular basis. So I put this donut on my plate and I remember bringing it to my table with my group of roommates and I remember staring at it...and the realization washed over me that I wasn't getting better and I couldn't keep going on. I left the school that weekend for home...realizing that I needed to take care of myself and that I would never be successful without my health. I never returned...losing my scholarship and that path in my life.

The second memory occurred when I was 29. It was my birthday and my Mom took me to dinner at a restaurant that I loved in Eureka called the Waterfront Cafe. I remember having a glass of amazing red wine in front of me and I had just ordered a crab salad. My husband at the time had to work so I was out celebrating with my Mom. I had been really unhappy and just not satisfied with my life. I remember my Mom asking me the most mundane question...something along the lines of "how are you," and I remember the tears just running down my face. I stared at my wine and I realized how unhappy I was in my marriage. I felt that we were going in different directions and wanting different things in our lives. I felt immense guilt as we had only been married for 11 months and I remember feeling overwhelmed by anxiety at the very thought of going home and facing him and trying to live a normal life next to him. At that moment I felt I would do anything to get away from that relationship...and I did. That day was the beginning of the end and although I knew that I had the most difficult decisions and actions ahead of me from that day forward I knew I was doing the right thing even if I didn't go about it in the right way. For the first time in my life I was doing what was right for me and only for me. That glass of wine was a new beginning and going through that pain made me who I am today.

Ok enough about challenges for tonight. Just have to say there is nothing better than sharing a good glass of wine (Copola Cabernet) and crab stuffed mushrooms with a good girlfriend.  However, we did realize we are getting older since our topic of conversation included but was not limited to bunions on our feet...so very wrong.

Upcoming food and wine events: Tomorrow going to a blind wine tasting for a friends birthday...wish me luck. Next week planning my first wine and food pairing dinner. I know the food I want to make but I am struggling with trying to decide what type of wine I want to pair with it.

Like most teenagers in America my first job was also in the food industry. However, unlike most teenagers in America my job was not in a Burger King, McDonalds or Taco Bell. As I mentioned before my family was all about food and several of them were in the food industry.

I had an "uncle" who took Humboldt County food to the next level. He opened one of the first if not THE first pizza places in Eureka. And I remember hanging out there as a young kid...gnawing on pizza crust for a snack. He also opened a restaurant called Ramones...which was one of the first if not THE first NICE restaurant in Humboldt County.

(L-R) Travis, myself and my "Uncle" Tomaso at a Wine Bar in Ventura County

However, at the time I entered my tween to early teen years he took his food career in a completely different path. He decided to open his own marinara sauce business Tomaso's Specialty Foods which is still around today. He spent his career cooking amazing food in Humboldt County and in the San Francisco Bay Area.He was raised in NJ...just like the rest of my family...and he decided to take his childhood memories of his Italian family dinners and transport them to our small Northern California area.

Just like every teenager they picture their first job to be glamorous, exciting, profitable and rewarding. So I show up to my first job and I don a large white apron, nasty rubber gloves and get to work. I got to spend my after school hours in a small kitchen above a restaurant supply store (I believe) in a hot, cramped area filled with bottles, labels and vats of marinara sauce. Although the smell of tomatoes and garlic are amazing when they permeate your house on a cold Sunday afternoon after you have allowed your marinara sauce to cook for hours...it is less attractive stuck in your hair as a teenager trying to be cool.

My first job involved a lot of grunt work. I was responsible for washing and sterilizing the bottles...if anyone got sick in the late 80's to early 90's from Tomaso's marinara sauce that was probably my fault. I was pretty petite then and I remember my hands being lost in the giant rubber gloves as I tried not to let the bottles slip out of my hands or scald my arms with the hot water. I remember the steam that permeated my face...probably helping me from getting the nasty acne of so many teenagers. I also was responsible for putting the labels on the bottles. I have memories of using giant sponges to wet the labels and then adhere them to the jars. This was a very tedious and trying task for me...as those of you who know me can well imagine...since I still to this day can't cut a straight line, staple in any kind of organized pattern or line up anything like a picture on the wall. I remember how excited I was the day the labels switched from the "I need to be wet to stick to anything" style to the sticker like adhesive. Happy days!

And the excitement of my daily job came at the end of the day. Once the sauce was made and had been cooked for hours on end it was time to fill the jars. And honestly I am sure to many of you it may sound boring it was truly rewarding and exciting to see that deep red color as it filled the multitude of bottles. It was exciting to see this decade old tradition come to fruition on a regular basis and to see the next generation carrying it forward. I have to say that one of the drawbacks to having a family who is truly not yours is that you don't get to know and understand the traditions of your elders. When your "family" is all the same age they aren't often thinking of legacy, carrying on traditions and sharing those with the next generation. But those afternoons I was part of something bigger...and it was rewarding. I remember watching the jars getting filled and it was my job to put the lids on while the sauce was still hot so the lids would seal onto the jars. I remember red scalded hands at the end of the day but those jars were sealed with hard work and perseverance.

Ok sure I didn't have the glamour or even the cool uniform that my friends who worked at Burger King got. But I learned a valuable lesson about carrying on family traditions, having a strong work ethic and understanding just how important it is that food have meaning.

For those of you who have not been to my house this is a closet that we converted into shelves for my cookbook collection. I absolutely love cookbooks!!! I read them like novels and I use them for every meal I cook. I love to buy them, I love to look at them before I go to bed and I use them to prepare any menu, whether its for daily dinners, parties or holidays.

I was raised by a family of chefs, however I don't think I have ever seen one of them hold or read a cookbook. They are what I would call inspiration chefs...they look at food and they have these amazing visions and ideas of what they want to make, the flavors they plan to induce and the experience the food they will create will invoke. For example, my uncle came to visit earlier this year and I took him on a filed trip to Bristol Farms. They don't have those in Eureka and he looked like a kid in a candy store. His eyes glittered, you could see the smoke come out his ears and he started chanting the ingredients for this Italian fantasy meal he was going to create that evening. Then he took off through the store like you see on Top Chef when the chefs go into Whole Foods and they start racing through the store with their shopping carts. I don't know how he knew what he needed or how he knew what would taste amazing together or how it would create this art form on the plate...but it did. He ended up making a beratta mozzarella salad, a shrimp bruschetta appetizer, homemade pasta with marinara sauce made from scratch and cannolis. The meal was to die for!

But the real question is how could I have possibly been raised by these amazing chefs and yet I have a codependency to cookbooks. And when does it exactly become an addiction? I love the idea of looking in the refrigerator and seeing ingredients and creating an amazing meal with them. However, I look in the fridge see amazing ingredients and run to the index in the back of the cookbook and look for inspiration....which usually results in a trip to the grocery store because I am always missing the key ingredient.

****Babe if you are reading this please stop reading now****
We have a deal in my house that I am only allowed to have as many cookbooks as will fit on the shelves (seen above). However, this addiction is so great that I have started to hide cookbooks in odd places...drawers in the kitchen, drawers on the night stand next to the bed, gym bag and in the magazine rack next to the couch. It was so bad that when we first started cohabiting my fiancee could not handle the cookbooks that I kept everywhere. So he came up with this deal in regards to cookbook purchases and storage and hence he decided to turn the office closet into my cookbook racks. And it was so wonderful to come home from work one day to find these beautiful shelves all open and ready to take on my cookbook collection. However, since he did not know the great weight of my cookbook collection when he started to fill his shelves proudly with my books they crumbled and came crashing to the ground. So the poor man had to build them a 2nd time and he had to reinforce the shelves so that they could truly hold my collection.

I do have to say there is such a euphoric feeling when using a cookbook and the meal you create looks exactly like the picture or you put the food in your mouth and its like nothing you ever had before. I try to create recipes that even at first glance sound horribly disgusting with the idea that I may try it and be so completely wowed or pleasantly surprised that I couldn't have lived without this culinary experience...unfortunately some of these experiences have gone horribly wrong. ie. the tofu pudding mentioned in previous blog. Well now that my dirty little secret is out I feel better...thank you to everyone for listening to my confession.

Speaking of which here is the amazing fish taco recipe that I made last week:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2010965

Running my first 10k in 2007

I am the type of person who loves to eat and loves to be thin. I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, one in which I enjoy the pleasures of life, find ways to deal with stress, try to find balance between work and home and try to eat food that is good for me and tasty. I workout daily, watch what I eat and keep a food and exercise journal so I am conscious of what goes into my mouth and the energy I expel. This would all be fine and dandy if I wasn't also that person who works out so that I can eat. I go to a gym class and when I am done I think of how many glasses of wine that spinning class allotted me or after my first half marathon all I could think of was the seafood that I could eat on the Monterrey pier. 

As many of you know yesterday was the first big day for college football. So we decided to head down to the local sports bar to watch the UCLA game (not good) and maybe the TCU game....which we didnt end up watching due to our Nebraska experience.



We went to the The Dugout in Moorpark. It is a great place to hang out, watch sports and grab a few beers. They have a full bar, good beers on tap, super friendly personnel and your typical sports bar food.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moorpark-CA/The-Dugout-Sports-Grill-Moorpark/237351656336

However, what we didnt realize was that at 4pm The Dugout was going to be invaded by a group called Californians for Nebraska. http://www.cal4ne.com/

They are a group of Nebraska fans, alumni or previous residents who get together every Saturday and cheer for their team. So we decided to join them....and be Nebraska fans for the day! I was thoroughly amused by their enthusiasm, team pride and strange drinking habits...they drank large beers with tomato juice in it...sadly enough I did not get up enough courage to try it.

The schools team mascot is a Husker...really a husker...as in I husk corn. Yes! Love it!

Everyone who walked in was completely decked out in red Nebraska attire...one gentleman even wearing red shoes...which when I asked he said were Italian leather...wow! Upon further discussion he said he use to play for the Yankees...love meeting the most random people. They brought their own music which they played in between the football plays, they stood up and cheered every time they scored and even knew the fight song.


We had the greatest time cheering for a team we knew nothing about, drinking beer and enjoyng the comraderie! I have definitely been recruited as I don't think Humboldt State University has a group like this...or wait maybe they do...they meet across the land every day at 4:20 to celebrate their team...not exactly what I had in mind. Oh and thankfully Nebraska won because I would hate to see this group upset!

Isn't it amazing that the traditions/neurotic characteristics/obsessions that your family had in your youth often mold and shape you even without your knowledge. I have found that I have some strange beliefs about food and when I look back at where they came from they were definitely based on my childhood.

1. Don't eat/drink alone

• Even today if I have to eat alone I don't eat a meal. I eat cereal, cheese and crackers or some other random type of snack food. When I was growing up every meal was with my Mom and she cooked! On those horrific days at work when all you want to do is come home and have a glass of wine...I grab a glass of wine and sit on the patio with the dog so I don't appear to be drinking alone...really does it matter at all...we all know the neighbor Jim isn't looking over the block wall judging me...but seriously!

Drinking wine with the dog on the patio

My love affair with food began at a young age (see above). I had a family who loved food and all that went with it from the experimentation to the tradition to the celebration of it. I had a Mom who was obsessed with the 70's health food culture which added an interesting and sometimes disgusting flair to my early food memories. And I had a voracious appetite and I was willing to try anything at least once.

I have amazing childhood food memories starting with my white baby food mill in which my Mom would  grind up every vegetable known to man so I could eat it. This was especially important as I did not get my first tooth until 11 months. Not the easiest start for a self proclaimed food aficionado. My memories grew along with my teeth. I was raised a vegetarian (with the exception of fish) until my high school years when I could discover a Whopper on my own-the rest was history. I never asked my Mom why the fish exception-was it based on a need for protein or her disdain for fish which led to her ability to kill them without thought? So I remember amazing "vegetarian" food from homemade pizza to lasagna to meatless meatloaf (recipe to follow at Thanksgiving as it took the place of turkey in my home).

My family is one in which no one was actually related. Remember it was the 70's so my Mom and approximately 10 of her closest friends traveled from New Jersey to a small town in the middle of no where called Eureka, CA. Sure it was in Humboldt County and I am sure that had some impact on their destination decision making however they made it home and started their own "family." So growing up my "family" was a random array of aunts and uncles who all grew up in NJ, lived in Eureka and shared a love of good food, amazing wine and fun times (I am sure those were probably enhanced by the location and the era). They grew up in an Italian neighborhood and actually they were pretty much all Italian with the exception of my Mom-another question I should ask one of these days. But they brought some amazing food traditions with them to the west coast that were passed down from generation to generation and allowed me to experience some amazing Italian food-mozzarella, cannolis and homemade marinara sauce that sat on the stove for hours.

They developed my palette for food and for this I am forever grateful....

I did briefly take a hiatus from my food love affair during my teenage years. We will call those the dark years as unfortunately my obsession with remaining thin and petite took over my true passion. However, by my mid 20's I started to find myself again...and more...as I discovered the art of cocktails, the depth of good wine and the unspeakable joy of pairing the perfect glass of wine with the most complimentary food.

Now in my mid 30's...ack mid 30's...I have become completely obsessed with all things food. I love to cook and have found that its an amazing creative outlet and one of the biggest ways I de-stress. I have a day job that is full of challenges, personnel issues and politics. However, there is nothing better than coming home and tackling a new recipe and then sitting down with my loved one and sharing a bottle of wine, home cooked food and great conversation. Living in So Cal I have discovered the immense pleasure that is possible from trying new restaurants. I keep a list of restaurants on my iphone that I want to try yet it seems to be constantly growing and I can't get caught up.

Also being in my mid 30's I have discovered that hang overs happen more frequently than in my 20's therefore other than the random cocktail once in a while I am purely a wine fan. I love traveling to new wineries, trying different tasting rooms and just the random pleasure of picking up a bottle of wine you know nothing about and being pleasantly surprised by the complexity of its flavor.

I started this blog to share my passion with my friends and family, to learn from others, pass on my experiences and places to try or stay away from and to continue to find outlets for ways to truly express a side of me that I don't get to be during the day. Hope you all have as much fun with it as I do writing it and living it. I am now off to try and make Asian Chicken Noodle Soup. Good night!