Here is a wacky photo of me “camping it up” on the final dinner of Tom’s Culinary Camp as the mad Floor Captain. I began the dinner by driving my scooter into and through the dining room to open up the night. Complete with me beeping my horn!
The final night’s dinner was based on the great movie “The Big Night,” where many of the movie’s dishes were recreated and served Italian style. It was a spectacular Camp this year, extremely informative, fun, marvelous food and beverages, and some of the nicest Campers! I was fortunate to be able to be part of it.
July 30th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
When was the last time you ate at Seatown? I hadn’t been for quite awhile, so my husband, Frank, and I headed down to the Market last night. It was a perfect, mild evening and we snagged an outdoor table. Any of the outdoor tables could be called the best seat in the house. So lovely to be outside looking out over Elliott Bay and Victor Steinbrueck Park! I had a glass of Chinook rosé and Frank had a pint of Summer Ale that was icy cold and crisp.
For starters, Frank had an excellent hamachi crudo with chile and lime (photo top). I had a chop salad with Beecher’s cheese and English peas- perfectly dressed in a nice tangy vinaigrette. For entrees, Frank had a melt in your mouth rotisserie five spice duck with mustard greens and I had a delightful salmon burger topped with a fried egg on a soft brioche bun with excellent tartar sauce and chips (photo just above to the left). We’re lucky to have another summery evening tonight, better get yourself over to Seatown for an al fresco dinner!
July 28th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I was invited to this dinner but couldn’t attend because I had out of town visitors- boo hoo! TDR Executive Chef Eric Tanaka is one of my favorite chefs in the world, and, as it happens, I really like avocados (who doesn’t?) This is a dinner that Eric created to promote the California Avocado Commission, and Leslie Kelley, writes about it on Al Dente blog, here.
I love Eric’s avocado skordalia, and I wish I could have tasted that avocado gelato on spicy shave ice!
Note: photo credit to Robin Layton. If this Dungeness Crab Wild thing looks delicious to you, the recipe is in our crab cake cookbook, I Love Crab Cakes! (Where we call it Avocado and Crab Salad Cakes)
July 25th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
or heroines…. Mel Martz- catering cook and demo queen- she did an amazing job last week!
Bruce Miyahara, Summer Camper, took this photo and says he may do a whole series: “The tats of Tom Douglas.” That will keep you busy, Bruce!
July 25th, 2011 | No Comments »
Wednesday night, the Summer Campers had the treat of feasting on “urban Korean comfort food” at Chef Rachel Yang’s (photo above) new restaurant, Revel.
Perfect Korean pancakes and Revel’s famous sweet sandwiches (photos above) were among the many delights of the evening.
Earlier in the day, Chefs Thierry Rautureau and Tom Douglas rocked the Palace Ballroom with a fish and seafood demo that included teaching the campers how to shuck oysters (photo above), poach salmon in olive oil and court bouillon, and cook lobsters.
(Note: photos courtesy of Bruce Miyahara)
July 21st, 2011 | No Comments »
A bunch of Palace folks, joined by Katie O (Marketing) went down to Prosser last Tuesday. We spent the first day lounging, eating (the flank steak we grilled is pictured in the photo, below left), and drinking rosé.
The next day we got up early and began farming! Picking peas and squash (a photo of beautiful zucchini with flowers, above right), thinning out fennel, snipping mustard greens and planting beets. We had a fantastic time!
July 20th, 2011 | No Comments »
I’ve been trying to stay chained to my desk, typing away at the manuscript for the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook to get it finished, but once in awhile I have to run across the street and check out the action at Tom Douglas Culinary Camp 2011. Monday I stopped in for Mark Bitterman’s salt demo. Mark is the evangelist of pure, beautiful, natural salt, as opposed to industrial, chemical salt. He wrote the book, Salted, and he owns the shop, The Meadow in Portland. Mark is pictured above left, holding a Himalayan salt block, which he later used to sear steak for the campers, above right.
My favorite part of the demo was the salt tasting. We received a tasting chart with five salt samples, including a French fleur de sel, a Hawaiian red salt, and an amazingly crunchy Black Diamond. We also got a plate with pieces of buttered bread, beets, cucumbers, and pineapple to taste with each salt. Meanwhile Mark spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about each salt, and about why you should stop buying commercial salt and instead start using artisan salt on all your food. At home, I use sea salt, but I think it’s probably what Mark would call an industrial sea salt. I’m planning to pick up some real artisan salt soon to use at home. Also I’m thinking of writing a little side bar about sea salt for the new cookbook.
The salt demo was fantastic, but so much more went on in Summer Camp on Monday. For more details about Monday, read Leslie Kelly’s post from Al Dente blog here.
Since I’m in the midst of writing a pastry cookbook, I felt duty bound to check out Kate McDermott’s pie demo. I started getting excited about it last week when I noticed an invoice on Diane’s desk (accounts payable) for an amazing amount of leaf lard! (…because every camper got a little tub of lard to take home. Which reminds me, I want one of those for myself to try out some pie crust with lard.) I’ve been hearing about Kate’s Art of the Pie cooking classes for years and it was a huge treat to be able to slip into one of her renowned pie making classes this way. Kate’s pie technique is slightly quirky, highly personal, and a delight to watch. Every camper got a piece of gooseberry pie (photo above), made by Kate’s own hands. Was the pie delicious? You bet it was- with an excellent very American pie crust- it reminded me of my Grandma Pearl’s, a world class apple pie baker by the way who used butter and Crisco (no surprise- we’re Jewish), not lard. Kate makes a great crust, and she’s an inspiring teacher, but I think her genius is adding the sugar and starch to the fruit. The gooseberry filling in that pie was a masterpiece-the perfect balance of sweet and tart with perfect, very lightly thickened juices.
I got so much out of just two of the demos over the course of two days. The full time campers must be in heaven!
(Note: photos, again, courtesy of Summer Camper, Bruce Miyahara.)
July 19th, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Summer Camp 2011 got off to a spectacular start yesterday. Campers spent all day at the new joints in South Lake Union: Dahlia Workshop, Serious Pie, Cuoco, Brave Horse, and Ting Momo for demos and hands on classes. Photo above, Pastry Chef Stacy demos biscuits.
Cuoco Chef Stuart demos pasta-making (photo above.)
Tom and Ting Momo Chef Dekyi talk about chicken (photo above.)
Campers learn to pull mozzarella (photo above.)
Then everyone celebrated the kick off to our Fifth Annual (can you believe it?) Summer Camp at Soul Wine! (photo below)
Editor’s note: all photos compliments of Bruce Miyahara, Summer Camper Extraordinaire!
July 18th, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I have a pretty tough job. Today one of my tasks was to go over to the Bakery in South Lake Union (in the Westlake Harrison building- the same place our second Serious Pie is located as well as the Dahlia Workshop and Michael Teer’s Soul Wine), to judge a brownie contest! Don’t you feel sorry for me? Pastry chef, Stacy Fortner, and Dahlia Bakery manager, Molly Melkonian, want a really great brownie to sell in the Dahlia Bakery and they decided to let the pastry bakers compete to find the best recipe.
When I arrived at the Bakery, the 5 brownie entries were lined up on numbered plates. We judges carefully selected tastes of all the brownies placing them on metal pie pans (which Bakery Production Manager, Gwen LeBlanc, referred to as our “prison plates.”) The first thing I did was ask for a glass of water to clear my palate between bites- a necessity!!
Not surprisingly, every one of the brownies was delicious. My personal goal for the Dahlia Bakery was to find a brownie traditional enough to satisfy everyone’s brownie craving. Also I’m a fan of cake-like brownies, more than fudgey brownies. Surprisingly, the first place winner, created by pastry baker Meghan Poulin, (winner of a $250 gift certificate to a spa) was chosen unanimously. All of us judges loved this brownie!! It has a great texture, a classically crinkled top, a hint of salt- just enough- plus just enough chocolate flavor- and somehow this brownie seems both traditional and yet a little unique in taste and texture. Our own special Dahlia Bakery brownie- just what we were looking for! My hidden agenda- I want Stacy to get the recipe for me so I can test it pronto and slip it into the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook while I’m hard at work on the manuscript for the next couple of months.
July 13th, 2011 | No Comments »
Regarding our recent annual event, Baconopolis, our marketing gal, Katie O, was asked by the Seattle Met journalist if she’s worried about the “bacon fad thing” dying out. Katie says she’s not worried, “I mean it’s pork, I don’t think it’s ever going to go out of style.” Read the Seattle Met post here and be sure to watch the excellent slide show- you can almost smell the bacon frying!
July 11th, 2011 | No Comments »
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