Thoughts of a Middle Aged Man

Many years ago, Annette and I planted a peach tree in our backyard, which according to the local nursery, was a special hybrid that would produce peaches even with the mild winters we have close to the pacific coast. Over the years we got some delicious peaches, but usually a small crop of only a few dozen peaches at most each season. I did by a book on how to prune a peach tree and followed their directions, but our crop seemed to get smaller each year. Last fall, we had the tree professionally pruned, and we put a net over the tree to help keep the birds from getting most of the fruit. We figure the professional pruning was the main reason we got a bumper crop of peaches. I wouldn’t call it a bumper crop, an avalanche of peaches is a better description. We thinned out over 300 peaches, just as the fruit set, and this week, we picked over 150 peaches.

So, what did we do with all of these peaches? Peach jam, peach cobbler, peach pie, peach pop cycles, all with peach margaritas to wash it down. We froze a bunch of peaches waiting for more peach recipes. Some of the recipes need work (peach jam, good taste, too runny) and others are outstanding (Annette’s peach pie). We will work the frozen peaches to perfect the recipes prior to next year’s crop. We were also so excited about our huge crop, we are planning on adding an apricot tree to our backyard orchard.

If someone has a great peach recipe, please add a comment, and we will give it a shot.

With out of country visitors filling Hotel Clark, my wife was able to score 4 field level seats to an Angel game, so we decided to make it a guys night out with Jim, the ex patriot, Tomo, the Kiwi fireman, my friend Nick, the guy picking out his fish dinner in the Better than a celebrity chef, and myself. I am an avid baseball fan and love to attend all types of games, Nick is an amateur umpire who works many of the local Little League games, Jim is a swimming and water polo coach who knows some things about baseball and Tomo knows cricket. So we watched the same game with different focus. I watched for the love of the game. Nick was fixated on the umpire crew and marvels at their rotational coverage. Jim and Tomo were watching and trying to understand the game but were more amused by the constant supply of food that came down the isle. Even after stopping at the stand for a beer and a brat, they then consumed during the game a pizza, a pretzel, and some candy floss (cotton candy to you and I).

For seven innings, I couldn’t figure out what was more enjoyable, watching the game or watching our guests experiencing America’s pastime. I did realize a couple of things that night. I do really like going to games. I really like good seats. I am going to have to get to Craig’s List to score some regular good seats. I am going to have to score four seats, because nothing is more fun than taking friends and family to a relaxing evening or afternoon at a ballpark.

For an early Father’s Day present, my wife went down to Sur La Table, and purchased an 18″ carbon steel paella pan. I have been playing around with basic paella ingredients such as spanish chorizo sausage and smoked paprika but I have been restricted by using my standard size saute pan. With this new pan I can cook a paella for 6 to eight people and use my wok burner on my stove top.

So I searched the web for paella recipes and decided to sort of make up my own based on the ingredients I had on hand. So I browned some chorizo, then some chicken thighs, then onions, tomatoes, red bell peppers. I added the rice with some smoked paprika to toast the rice followed by a splash of white wine. Once reduced, I added enough homemade chicken stock which I bloomed some saffron to fill the pan. I added back the sausage, chicken and added some artichoke hearts and let it cook away. After twenty minutes, I added some peas and covered the pan with some foil and turned off the heat. We waited 5 minutes and I moved the whole dish to the table for a wonderful presentation.

It was amazed at the difference a pan makes. The large, shallow carbon steel pan allows the rice to carmelize on the bottom, creating the socarrat. The socarrat is a tasty addition that I couldn’t achieve in any other pan.

If you want a pan, I would get one online at PaellaPans.com, but Sur La Table is a good alternative if you cannot wait for it to be shipped. So after holding our pasta making party, a Paella fest will soon be on our entertainment schedule.

Sorry about the lack of posts, but in reality, things have been quiet, if not boring around the place. That changed as rooms started filling up this week. Our son is down from college for the summer and on Thursday Jim and Ivana arrived from New Zealand for a 10 day stay. For Father’s Day filled all the rooms of our house, with another couple from New Zealand taking one room and Ivana’s brother in another. With additional guests from other parts of the world visiting for an evening party, we had a regular United Nations meeting.

I spent the weekend cooking mexican for the party. Tomatillo Salsa, roasted tomato salsa, carnitas, chipotle shrimp, and beans all made their appearance at the Father’s Day party. Adding to the enjoyment was the thrilling last round of the US Open followed by game 5 of the NBA championship. Lots of trash talking was taking place with fans of both the Celtics and Lakers. It made it an exciting evening.

Its good and fun to have a full house.

We hosted a pasta making party over Memorial Day Weekend, and it turns out making pasta in a large group is a fun way to fill an afternoon. Five of us mixed the flour and eggs by hand, then the whole group help roll the pasta with the old hand crank pasta roller or with the pasta roller that attached to my Kitchen Aid mixer. After it got rolled out, we made fettuchini, pappardelle, and ravioli. With three sauces, alfredo, bolognese, and pesto, each of the participants got to try their home made versions with great homemade sauces. Add a little wine, some Wii action after dinner and a pleasant evening was had by all.

Ok, so I wasn’t bowled over with Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill (but his recipes are still wonderful). For our other pre-theater dinner, we booked reservations at Kellari Taverna, an upscale Greek restaurant on 44th Street. We had heard that their prefix dinner was a great deal, but I was more interested in taking my Greek body Nick and his wife to a nice Greek restaurant in the big apple. Ok, we did let it slip out that is was my wife’s 50th birthday and Nick and Mary’s 27th anniversary, but even without the extra attention those little facts brought us (like champagne) the experience would have still been outstanding.

Kellari is a greek restaurant that specializes in whole fish preparation, but the prefix three course meal is outstanding with huge, I mean huge portions. Not knowing this a head of time, we added a couple of appetizers prior to our order. Don’t miss the Plevrakia, grilled lamb riblets with lemon dressing. For my prefix appetizer, I had sardines. I never had them before, but wow, they were tasty. Basically grilled with herbs, salt and olive oil. Simplicity at its best. For my main course, I had Lavraki, a Mediterranean bass, again, grilled to perfection with simple salt, herbs, olive oil and lemon.

My food was equally as good as what the others ordered. Good Greek wine that went well with the food, add some top notch service and Kellari is guaranteed a repeat dinner when we get back to New York. Based on the fact that the words coming from Nick’s mouth were replaced with silence followed by happy moans and joyous expressions, I am pretty sure it met his high Greek standards.

For our trip to New York, I did a lot of investigating of restaurants to complement our daily adventures. I wanted to go to Babbo’s, Mario Batali’s place in the Village, but we couldn’t score a reservation, so I secured a reservation at Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay’s flagship place. Its on 5th and we drove past it in the cab, as its exterior is very understated. Now as you may remember, I wasn’t a fan of Bobby Flay, but changed my mine after trying some of his cookbooks. The place was packed for a Sunday evening. First let me tell you what I expected and then let you know what I found.

I guess I expected a more refined restaurant. What we got was a more casual place. It included top notch service, but the service was more friendly than I expected and the interior was more understated and casual. The noise level was high. Now don’t get me wrong, all of this was great, just not what I expected.

We were early, so we grabbed a seat at the bar, watched a very busy bartender make our drinks and things got started well. Once seated, our friendly server informed us that there we no specials for the evening and being Sunday, I understood. We started with a couple of appetizers. We love Queso Fundido, so we ordered Bobby’s goat cheese version and the waiter also suggested the shrimp tamale. The Queso Fundido was good, but adding a little sauteed chorizo would have made it better. There was nothing special about the shrimp tamale. The shrimp and the sauce were bland and the tamale was dry. Again not bad, but I think we expected more.

We each ordered something different for dinner and we agree to share three sides. My wife ordered the steak with the Mesa Grill Steak Sauce. Yep, the same sauce I raved about in a recipe post and I have posted the recipe on my recipe site. The sauce at the restaurant was different than the one I made. Theirs had more ancho and mine had more horseradish. Annette and I agreed that we like mine better. Again it wasn’t bad, it just not was was expected. I ordered the duck breast with a carrot habanero sauce. Again the duck was well prepared but the sauce was understated. I expected more heat and floral flavor from the habanero. The sauces that had the boldest flavor were the red and green chili sauce my friend had with his ribeye steak. The hottest was the tenderloin which had a peppery heat and not a chili heat.

All in all it, was a great, expensive meal, with a nice atmosphere and attentive, friendly service. I guess I expected something different. More bold colors (on the food and in the restaurant) and more bold flavors that he is known for by combining chilies with fruit or other sweeteners for balance. Now the question is were my expectations wrong or was the restaurant have having an off night, or do they tone things down for a New York City crowd? Is his Mesa Grill in Las Vegas different? I know its confusing. I know one thing. I am going home to make the Mesa Grill steak sauce soon, so I see if my version is better than his. Would I go back? I would with slightly different expectations. At least that would help prove either the flavors are toned down for the restaurant as compared to his cookbooks, or it was an off night in the restaurant.

What could be better, four days of exploration of all things New York city has to offer. Landscapes, history, entertainment, and dining pleasures. We arrived late Thursday night and checked into the Helmsley Hotel on 42nd Street. I quick walk to pick up some .99 cent per slice New York style pizza got the long weekend off to a great start. We continued onto Times Square to show our friends the hub of activity at midnight on a Thursday night. Its always fun to see a person’s reaction on their first visit to Times Square. Although it was busy, it was subdued as it was a Thursday and was foggy with a ever so slight drizzle. We headed back to hotel to rest for our first full day of exploration.

We got a lot of stuff crammed into four days and in keeping with my new blog rating system, I have rated each event using the same scale.

• New York pizza by the slice at midnight - 3 Stars
• Times Square at Midnight - 4 Stars
• Walks though Greenwich Village, Soho and Tribeca - 3 Stars
• Battery Park - 2 Stars
• Statue of Liberty - 3 Stars
• Phantom of the Opera - 2 Stars
• Spam-a-lot - 5 Stars
• Greek cafe’s for breakfast - 3 Stars
• Greek restaurants for dinner - 5 Stars
• Natural History Museum - 2 Stars
• Fifth Ave - 2 Stars
• Central Park - 4 Stars
• Famous Chef’s Restaurant - 3 Stars
• Jewish Deli for bagels - 5 Stars
• A Yankee Game - 5 Stars
• Subway rides - 4 Stars
• Cab rides - 3 Stars
• Top of the Rock - 5 Stars
• Revolving Bars - 2 Stars
• Grand Central Station - 3 Stars

If you have never been to New York, all of these should be on your list. If you have limited time, concentrate on the five star items. Here are some quick thoughts on some of our experiences.

Phantom of the Opera was an interesting musical. Maybe we are all tired from our daytime excursion and the jet lag, Its well done, but the story didn’t grab me. I guess I didn’t feel sympathy for the Phantom, he just seemed like a bitter person, and I wanted him to go away.

Ess-a-Bagel on Third Ave. and 51st. Its a great Jewish deli serving bagels with many options of cream cheese flavors or many types of bagel sandwiches. The line was long but worth the wait. This is a place to visit again. In fact we did on Monday. The Seamhead Tour will have to make a stop next year when the Yankees and Mets open new stadiums.

Central Park is a really cool park and I can see its draw for all the people who live in the city. In the middle of the park you can easily isolate yourself from the hustle of the city. It is one on the prettiest parks I have ever visited.

Spam-a-Lot. That musical rocked. A classic Monty Python take on modern Broadway with a little Mel Brooks thrown in. The Playbill is worth the entrance fee alone. They list a fake Finnish play about the transformation of Finland from agriculture to a modern society. I will be quoting the Playbill many times.

There was a threat of rain each day, and each day it held off, but every weather forecast had rain on Sunday, the day I was hoping to attend my first baseball game of the season. It wasn’t looking good until when we woke up Sunday morning and blue skies started to appear. Another ride on the 4 subway to us to Yankee stadium and we enjoyed a Yankee win from field level seats on an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunday was a great day. Attending that game just invigorates my enjoyment of baseball.

Top of the Rock is the new observation deck at Rockafeller Center. This place puts the observation deck at the Empire State Building to shame. Its got great views of all parts of the city, its huge and currently not many people know about it so its empty. This is a must do and you must do it twice, once on a clear day and once on a clear night. I can not wait until I get to do the night time visit.

This trip was planned to celebrate Annette’s 50th birthday and our friends 27th anniversery. All in all, since this New York trip was planned by me, it included fun and packed full of site seeing and adventures for the baseball fan, foodie and adventure seeker that I am. OK, maybe adventure is too strong of word. Lets say life experience seeker. New York is such a fun place to visit. so much to see and much more to do. The hard part now is finding nice hotels that discount enough via the travel sites to make it worth the stay. So keep your eyes open for deals for rooms and book yourself a long weekend in the city. You are in for a treat.

My wife celebrated her 50th birthday with a party put on at our house by her three sisters. The evening included some magic for entertainment and the sisters initiating Annette into the Red Hat Society. It was completely enjoyable, and a big thanks has to go to the three sisters. Their effort let Annette (and myself) completely enjoy the company of the guests who were family members, and friends. Some of those friends we see daily and others we see only occasionally. I hope everyone had as good a time as I did, talking to the crowd. It struck me late in the party, our family and friends are extremely interesting people.

The interesting part of the evening was how the various people at the party quickly found out that many of them had things in common besides being acquainted with us. Two people, who didn’t know each other realized one dated the other’s cousin. Others matched their passion for the Padres with another’s personal relationship to some of the players. The subject of wine brought others together. But the most exciting was watching and listening as the young adults (15-23) interacted with the older adults. I was so proud of all of the young adults as they found common interests with many of the adults. They talked respectfully to their elders, yet were firm enough to stand their ground, and participated in witty banner. My mom told me one of her major goals of raising 3 boys, was she could be friends with the children when they became adults. Based on all of the young sons and daughters, nieces and nephews that were at the party, our family will have good friends for years to come.

After my daughter left for New Zealand and then my son went off to college, I started cooking dinner for just my wife and I. Cooking for two was hard. I was still making two much food each night. Leftovers were going uneaten. I was finding it hard to cut recipes down to a two person size. So I started switching dinners from plates of pasta to a soup or a sandwich. After a while those got boring. It took me a while to realize that cooking for two is a blessing. Why? Because I can buy small portions of really tasty, but expensive ingredients.

Instead of buying a family pack of steaks at the local market, I can buy a single dry aged, grass fed, prime ribeye from Whole foods. That single ribeye split in two makes a stellar meal. I now can buy a half pound of wild salmon, Chilean sea bass or a small New Zealand rack of lamb. So now my evening meals are sprinkled with world class proteins that now complement the occasional sandwich, soup or a nice evening out.

Now I am on the lookout for some Red Wattle pork for some fancy but tasty pork chops.