Jul 09 2011

Star Spangled Burger-Palooza Contest

Our 4th of July party turned out to be a huge success.

Everyone showed up with coolers and bags full of cooking ingredients and supplies to create their burger masterpieces.

We divided the contest into two categories – Beef Burgers and Alternative Burgers.

Beef Burger
To qualify, patties must contain at least 75% beef (not veal).

Alternative Burger
To qualify, patties may be made from anything edible and does not meet the requirements for the beef category.

All burgers in both categories had to be served on buns or other bakery products (such as bisquits, focaccia, flatbreads, muffins, tortillas, etc.)

All burgers could contain any combination of condiments.

All burgers were to include a burger name and recipe. (Those will be highlighted in future posts).

Attendees of the event voted on their favorite burgers. Contestants provided 12 quarter samples (3 burgers) for tasting. Attendees were asked to keep the following criteria in mind when determining a favorite:

  • Creativity – Creative name and or use of ingredients
  • Taste – Do you want to eat more?
  • Visual Appeal – Does it look appetizing?

Each burger had a vote cup that included a sheet with the burger’s name. Each attendee was given two color coded sticks that included their names.

The blue represented the “Beef” category and the red represented the “Alternative” category. Attendees placed the blue sticks into the cup of the beef burger they liked the best and the red sticks into the cup of the alternative burger they liked the best. You were not allowed to vote for your own burger.

Beef Burger Category – 6 Entries

“Pod’s Prize Burger”

“T.J. Hooker”

“The Simple Man”

“Old Moon Steak Burger”

“Rubik’s Cube Revenge”

“The Newton Burger”

_______________________________

Alternative Burger Category

“U.S.A. Burger”

“The Wilford Brimley™”

I was so impressed with the creativity of the burgers – can’t wait to share the recipes and details in future posts.

Medals were awarded to the two 1st Place burgers… My 9 year old niece took first in the “Alternative Burger” category and it was a tie for 1st between my brother and I for the “Beef Burger” category. After the re-vote, I won… it was totally rigged ;-).

When all was said and done, we each consumed 2 burgers and a 1/4 wedge of a 3rd. We were stuffed! My Mom made her famous macaroni salad, Deede made her Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and she also made my Dad a birthday key lime pie.

Many hours were spent in the kitchen and backyard/pool. Cookin’ up burgers, cannonballs off the pool wall, sister swim races between my Aunt and Mom and lots of laughs. I think my niece jumped into the pool over 100 times.

So. Much. Fun.

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Jul 04 2011

4th of July – Behind the Scenes

Party prep has been under way for weeks. The 4th of July is a big deal around here. Not only is it Independence Day, it’s also my Dad’s birthday.  We have hosted his party for the past 4 years. It’s usually 100+ degrees, so having a pool makes our house the perfect venue. Last year we had a chili cook-off, this year it is a Star-Spangled Burger-Palooza. I promise to include the winning burger recipes and photos later this week.

For those of you that have been reading for a while, you know that decorating is a favorite hobby of mine… especially decorating for the holidays. I grew up with my Mom going all out and I have certainly carried on the tradition. I’m sure some people think it’s crazy, but it’s a passion for me and the hunting and gathering of items is my favorite part.

My back has still been rough – lots of pain after doing the littlest things. It’s been hard to hand over some of the duties to Dan, but he’s been a champ. Deede also came over yesterday to help get a few things done… and we had to check to make sure the pool was o.k. ;-). With that, I leave you with a tour of my 4th of July home decorations.

My 4th of July Home Decor

Liberty Firecracker Co. – These are the cutest hand-painted wooden firecrackers – I just love the homemade feel to them.

A few years ago I found the more vintage looking flags at a local home decor/gift shop in town. They went well with the rest of my decor, so I scooped them up. The jars and red wooden box were purchased this year from HomeGoods – I had to go to two stores to find enough of the jars. A few people followed me around the store asking where I found the box… they only had 1 and I put it in the cart within seconds of seeing it. I just love the distressed look of it.

I found this old phone at a shabby chic type store in Folsom, CA while shopping with my Mom. It was one of those things that I just had to have. According to my girlfriend Cherri – who is totally freaked out by vintage stuff – I will be haunted by the phone’s previous owners and everyone that has called it, ha! I’m guessing it was a hotel service phone or something, so that’s a lot of ghosts.

This wood garland is wrapped around glass containers full of red, white and blue fabric balls. I also wrapped white lights around the base of the containers.

The numbered candle holders are from HomeGoods. Kindra – this photo is for you. (I ran into her in the store and promised I’d take a photo of how I used the candle holders and striped containers). The containers have ugly blue sea horses on the back sides and the holders have printed clocks on one side.  I’m thinking of sanding them off and repainting the backs. Ever since being an art major in college, I’ve been obsessed with typography in design. My latest thing is numbers, it’s kind of a theme in my decor.  I’ve had the little dog pull toy for years and the stars I bought 4 years ago at Joanne’s. I did purchase some navy and red ribbon this year to put around the dog’s neck. (in a humane way of course).

The bathroom has a nautical theme. I mean really, who doesn’t have a red, white and blue oar in their bathroom? Again… you can see the number theme.

Some more wooden decorations. The front door replica was purchased to actually hang on my front door, but it didn’t occur to me that it would cover the peep hole… so I changed locations.

The bells are my dining room table center piece. I found the vintage 4th of July sign in a little antique and collectible shop a few years ago.

Patriotic themed napkins, serving utensils, and bowls… all ready to go.

We just have some finishing touches to complete today. Guests will be arriving at 2:00 p.m..

One food photo for now.  I took it bright and early this morning after frosting my Dad’s vanilla cupcakes.

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th and Happy Birthday wishes to the most amazing Dad ever. Dad, your love and support over the years has been so appreciated by your entire family and today we celebrate you! Happy Birthday Pod!
XOXO,

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Jun 29 2011

Fearless Fish – Part I

Even though my back injury is still really bothering me, I went back to work with ice packs and a heat pack to rotate throughout the day. So far, it’s not worse, so that’s good. I am seeing small improvement with each day. I can’t believe it has already been 11 days since my injury. Recovery has been slow this time around.

After a good ice pack chill – I put on a jacket and headed off to the co-op for my Fearless Fish class with Chef Dio. Traffic was horrible, it was raining – yes, raining in June for us is crazy. It’s also supposed to be 104 degrees by Monday. Make up your mind Mother Nature.

A small portion of the Fearless Fish class was spent talking about sustainable seafood. When you purchase seafood that is sustainably farmed or harvested, you are supporting the best practices of the industry that are designed to ensure a constant supply of seafood from healthy oceans. We were given color coded cards that outlined the best choices.

  • Green = Best Choice – these species are from sources that are well-managed and caught or farmed in environmentally responsible ways.
  • Yellow = Good Alternatives – are an option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed – or the health of their habitat due to human impacts.
  • Red = Avoid – for now as these items are over-fished or caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

Download a seafood selector pocket guide from the EDF – Environmental Defense Fund website.

Why does your seafood choice matter?
Worldwide, the demand for seafood is increasing. Yet, many populations of the large fish we enjoy eating are over-fished and, in the U.S. we import over 80% of our seafood to meet the demand. Destructive fishing and fish farming practices only add to the problem.

We were also given information that included a wallet card for seafood low on the mercury list. You can download a guide to protecting your families health from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Did you know?
If you are 150+ lbs., you should only be eating White Albacore Tuna (my favorite kind) every 9 days. I had NO idea. I knew it was higher in mercury levels, but there are actually fish on the list that you should only eat once a month, or in some cases, never.

O.k. – back to the food and recipes.

The La Tur cheese on our snack plates was fabulous! The cheese is made from a trio of milks – equal parts cow, goat and sheep milk. The resulting mixed curds are packed into small molds and allowed to age for 10 days. Our cheese was served at room temperature with crusty baguette slices. The cheese was buttery in flavor and super easy to spread, almost had a mousse like texture. I’m a huge Brie fan, but I will definitely look for this cheese next time I’m shopping at the co-op.

Our wine for the evening was a 2009 Domaine de Persenades – Glascogne Blanc

It went well with my back medications and fish ;).

The first dish of the night was a Poached Wild Salmon with Yogurt Dill Sauce.

The herbed sesame yogurt sauce was incredible – Chef Dio also suggested that it would make a good veggie dip.

The poaching liquid for the salmon contained 4 cups of water, 1 thinly sliced lemon, salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground peppercorns (he used a mortar & pestle) to help release the pepper flavors into the liquid, a thinly sliced onion, 1 thinly sliced stalk of celery and 3 parsley stems torn into pieces.

Combine all ingredients in a narrow/deep pan, bring to a boil – lower heat and simmer for a good 10 minutes. You will need to increase the time if the fish is cold.

When you are ready to poach the fillets (Four 6 oz. boneless salmon fillets), bring liquid back to a boil, immerse fillets into liquid – if the liquid doesn’t cover your fillets, you will need to add more water. Lower your heat to low and poach for 10 minutes. Remove fillets from poaching liquid and drain well before serving. The salmon could be served hot or cold – I’m definitely going with the cold version – we had warm and it was delicious, but I really enjoy cold salmon with any type of creamy dill sauce.

Chef Dio’s Amazing Herbed Sesame Yogurt Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds – ground into a coarse powder
1/2 Cup each Yogurt and Sour Cream – can use full fat or light, fat free wasn’t recommended
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Fresh Dill – finely chopped
2 Tablespoons Italian Parsley – finely chopped
1/4 Cup Green Onions – green and white parts, finely chopped
Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste – (If you would like to cut back on sodium, you can add lemon zest)

Combine the sesame seed coarse powder with remaining ingredients and mix well. Taste and add more salt and paper if it needs it. Chill and serve on the side of the salmon – If you put the yogurt sauce on top of the warm salmon, it will separate – It would be fine to put it on top of the chilled salmon.

I pretty much wanted to lick my plate clean. I loved the flavor of the yogurt sauce and definitely will be making it again and again.

Take aways from class:

  • If you are subbing a dried herb/spice for a fresh one it’s generally 1/3 less in the amount.
  • Aroma – make sure your fish doesn’t have a strong fish smell to it.
  • Look for a good/shiny appearance of the flesh when selecting fish – it should be nice and translucent – No dull or matte colored fish
  • Make sure the texture is good. You don’t want to purchase fish that is falling apart.
  • Fish have a lateral line – the nerve endings are used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water.
  • Poaching liquid is also known as Court-Bouillon – Wikipedia definition: Court bouillon loosely translates as ‘briefly boiled liquid’ (French – court) or “short broth” because the cooking time is brief in comparison with a rich and complex broth and is generally not served as part of the final dish.

I am now armed with 4 good fish recipes and I have Chef Dio to thank. I am realizing that my fear of cooking fish was more of a fear of buying fish. Now that I know what I’m looking for and now that I have more knowledge about the different cooking techniques, there really is no excuse for me to not cook/eat fish… at least a few times a week.

I will keep with my fish series until I share everything that I have learned. Be on the lookout for a killer tomato, olive and caper relish recipe and a mirin sesame glaze that will literally have you licking your plate clean.

Questions: Do you eat fish? What’s your favorite kind?

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