Put that in your Le Crueset and smoke it

I am obsessed with smoky things lately.  Smoked turkey, chipotle salsa, provolone, smoked trout, smoked salmon, smoked chocolate, smoky cocktails, smoked jerky...I could go on and on.  What’s up with that?  Maybe I was a Blacksmith in my past life.  Or an ashtray.  Or a Native American sleeping in a teepee with smoke every night.  Am I allowed to say I may have been a Native American in my past life?  Hmmmm...if I were, I wonder what my Native American name would have been.  Sleeps Like A Bear?  Eats With The Lions?  Laughs With Food In Teeth?  Lives For Smoke?  Dances With Knife In Hand?

I am determined to buy a smoker on my next splurge at a Kitchen Supply store.  Until that day, however, there are ways to smokify your every day meals.  And if you’re like me right now, I do this with sandwiches, salads, soups, dressings and even desserts.  Go ahead, get wild.

The Fairy Food Mother

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a Fairy Godmother?
Someone who just floats down with a glittery magic wand, a cute little pink pair of wings and a giggle that makes even the worse case scenario seem laughable?  So if you’re standing in the kitchen just after burning your hand on a hot pan, and the smoke alarm is going off from the garlic bread under the broiler,  and the doorbell rings with your dinner guests arriving early...you could say ‘hey FGM, need a little help here!!!’ and she would appear and make it all ok?  She’d make lemonade so to speak.
I recently had some lemons in my fruit basket and I was eyeing them every day waiting for them to ripen so I could use them for my lemon chicken. These guys were particularly stubborn, so I picked them up and decided if I couldn’t use them in my recipe that night, I may as well use them to juggle.  Sometimes I do this.  I think something looks easy enough to master in 5 minutes, and I dive in only to find myself frustrated after an hour of failure.  One at a time, those poor lemons fell to the floor with a thud, and I came to the sad realization that juggling is a lot harder than it looks.  How could I not know how to juggle citrus, but I could juggle work, friends, family, recreation, social life, etc?  So what did I do?  I called in my circus expert and got a crash course.  The basic principle in juggling my friends, is you have to not only stay one step ahead of the next move, but you really have to use both sides of your brain and focus on the rhythm.  The flow of all the elements is the key to success.  One must go up as another comes down.  Another must be caught as one is let go.  You ‘catch’ my drift?
After hours of practice...all in the kitchen...all with that poor unsuspecting, unripened citrus...I mastered the technique!  I will post some video of me juggling so you can see!  The moment I focused on the task at hand, I thought to myself, this is a lot like hosting a dinner party.  You must juggle your way through all the steps it takes to execute it successfully...and successfully to me, means stress free.
Recently friends have been asking me to help them with dinner parties.  They look at the menu planning and prep lists, like I did at those lemons on the ground.  One-stop shopping and do-ahead steps provide juggable (that’s my new word) flow the night of the party.  But getting to that spot where the rhythm seems natural takes practice.
While my friends practice this skill, I have decided to be their Fairy Food Mother in the interim.  Their circus expert.  I don’t want hands burnt and smoke alarms going off, only to scar them from ever wanting to entertain again!  There’s no sense in having bruised lemons if you don’t have to, right?  Can I get a “thank god, hallelujah?”
While I may not have a glittery wand and a pair of pink wings, I do have a Wusthof knife and a mean assortment of aprons.  I discovered by helping friends do things ahead, it doesn't overwhelm them with all the steps involved.  I saw how getting there early and walking them through the plating before the guests arrive, breeds confidence and smiles.   I can easily hand them a glass of wine while they whisk and let’s be honest, wine makes everything fun...at least for me and all of my friends!
My first Fairy Food Mother trial run was the other night...I’ll let you be the judge of how it turned out.
Enjoy, Chef WOW
PS-please don’t abuse your fruit like I did.  Use tennis balls when learning how to juggle.


Menu:
French Onion Soup
Arugula salad with pancetta, pomegranate and goat cheese
Roasted pork tenderloin with fig chutney and butternut squash puree
Spicy balsamic broccolini
Pot de creme au chocolat
 

To blog, or not to blog...

...that is the question I’ve been wrestling with this last year.  There are already so many amazing food blogs.  They have stunning photography, amazing recipes, cute stories attached to their creation...why would little old me need to jump on the crowded band wagon and try to keep up with these veterans?  I’ll tell you why!
It’s like many things in my life actually.  Rollerblading for instance.  I don’t care that I caught onto the trend 10 years late, I love it.  Facebook?  I am just joining ’the book' for the first time ever...gulp.  Merlot wine?  I started drinking it after seeing Sideways and love to order it even if people scowl when I tell them it is my vino of choice.  By the way, how can any wine be bad?  Silly Sideways people.  Cowhide furniture?  I think it was on its way out when I decided to make a couch...then a side table, a chair, and even a suitcase rack with the stuff.  But I like how it reminds me of the country in my urban setting.  (I will post photos of my love for cowhide so you can see my obsession)  Flashmobs?  Can’t get enough of them.  Pointy toe high heels?  I wasn’t going to buy a pair of shoes that looked like a witch!  When I finally made the leap, I hardly wear anything else with my business attire.
The point is...not talking about the shoes anymore...with many things in my life, I am late to the game.  In this case it isn’t because I was boycotting or being a stubborn individualistic minded person, it’s simply because I wasn’t sure what I’d have to share.  Why would my stories and my food be of any interest to someone other than me?  The truth is, they may not be.  But when I think about why I love food so much and why I love to make new and different things and have people over, it’s because I like to share it with others. I like to share recipes, techniques, gadgets and tricks.  But most of all, I love sharing the experience of learning.  That could be learning how to make the perfect omelet, how to plan a great cocktail party, make personalized party favors, freeze testy produce, deal with small counter space, and on and on...
So this blog is going to be a mixed bag of my experiences.  Shared with none other, than you!  I will try new things for the first time and assuredly mess them up.  Then I’ll try them again and perhaps mess it up slightly less, perhaps even more, but I think we will get a good giggle from it.  There will also be times I just want to share my love for a meal I’ve had.  Or maybe a new song that will be on repeat in my kitchen.  I’m not quite sure where this will take me, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be smiling along the way.  I hope yo do too.
And like the first time I went rollerblading, I was hunched over, wrist guards and knee pads in full force. It was not a pretty sight.  Now?  I’m no pro, but I can blade.
Let’s play!
xo, Chef WOW