Snickerdoodle is a silly word ..because they don't snicker.

I am on a gelato flavor kick right now.
My next flavor to try is Guinness . Trying to figure out how much to add so I don't lose the creamy gelato texture or such. But want to keep the flavor.

Fun fact: Arthur Guinness  acquired the brewery at  St James Gate for a lease of 9,000 years at £45 a year.

So this is my research for today as I like to make it Wednesday since apparently    that is when Mr. Guinness died( look I missed his birthday shut up).

Going for banana split gelato , raspberry white chocolate,mango ginger, blueberry.....maybe even snazzeberry!!!!!!

Wait ,wait.....

Seems I am on a poetry kick this week.
It's  the whole artist thing,I guess . Once a creative soul always one. Whether they are good are not is not even the point to most artistic things because all art is subjective because it's. ...duh art. But that's for a time when I can speak more indepth about such things .



Summers morning breath guides the dew from my hand
Fluttering to the ground like butterflies released from their prison

The air blistering my skin as I rise from my scented bed

I am silent in my mid days brunch

Content to closed eyes

A soul still unhealed,wrapped in tattered bandages

Waiting patiently  for careful hands to hold it near

A mind as yet ,in deepest  slumber 

Awaking with the cool breath and tip toe of fingertips

Eyes opening ,the haze burning clear

Pale lips blush as the breath of newness escapes its guilded cage

Seeking only the days new kiss

Keats and Yeats are on your side . While Wilde is on mine.

I used to write such silly awful poetry .
But in the middle of a lot of it were some rather decent ones.

I have some from a a site a guy I knew ran. I managed to print off the site before it disappeared.

Below isn't one of them . I wrote it yesterday after an unusual  yet very happy fulfilling day. And a 6 hour drive with little sleep.

The deepest howl  dances across the streams of the night

A fluttering of lashes wash out the damage

Begging onlookers to discard their thoughts and look away

Dusk begins yet a again

As the drowning of the yesterday's vulgar dictation commences without circumstance  

The full bloom of crimson warms the light, letting the  day sucks its dying breath

Putting to bed the shadows of a life

Tucked in ,to sleep in the tomorrows  dream

Strange little girl where are you going.......

First let me say that I made this wonder stock tonight. I felt all old school culinary student,roasting bones ...deglazing my pan ( ok tip here...electric burners suck donkey bum and should be outlawed. They are worthless pieces of poo. Anyone who says they work better than gas owns a lovely piece of land in Florida with a slight water and gator problem... Ie they are fools).
Anyway, I deglazed my pan to get my lovely yummy bites off and into the pot. Old school meh sort of. I didn't have tomato paste and they are straight beef with no veal . I wish I had a bigger pot too . But lucky for me I didn't because my second fridge bit the dust last week so I have to make small manageable stocks and not "stock" pile...teeeheeee I made a funny.
Cold water and mire poix into pot ....6 hours later.

So there it is...it's cooling then into mason jars. Tuesday ,we push the marrow out and save it....yummmmmmy!

So back to my original train of thought which has actually reappeared.

I know I will never be a wealthy person from my job...that's not why I am in it. But what I like to do is some how use my knowledge and my own passion for what I do and give back into the world.
Ideally I like to follow in the footsteps of Jamie Oliver in a way. His 15 restaurant gives young people a place to train and be productive members. My idea is not that...lol
But it would involve a working farm that had a beautiful restaurant attached to it. Young people lets say 16-24 could train there,to learn not only the cooking aspects but also where the food actually comes from and to gain respect for food but for those who work hard to grow it and produce the final outcome. They'd learn seasonality, slaughtering,butchering ,proper food handling from start to finish.
I love to have a bakery and cheese maker there too just to round things out.

And there will be music!!!!!



I am actually quite serious too. I think there is a need to show kids where food really comes from and not a pre packaged piece of crap fast food. Far to long we have blinded ourselves and kids to sloppish cooking and throwing away food because of an inability to just cook what we have.

I need to write my plan.... Probably need someone to actually help me with it. I am sure I will just get lost trying say what I need to and end up sounding like a fangirl. Then try to get someone's attention about this. Maybe Jamie Oliver...hummm maybe Thomas Keller....he would be another person that's inspiring to me. They will be the ones to shove me to who I need to see about money. Because child,this well is dry like a menopausal women.




Anyone have their numbers?

Oh Montreal.....how I miss you so.,

Oh Montreal I miss thee so.

No , I am not going to get all weird and write some sort of ode to Montreal. Lord ,it's after midnight ...that would be just silly .

What I would like to talk about is the food of Montreal.Nothing to deep but maybe just a little nudge so you'll get up off you're butts and check it out.

There are two places, well ok three but two are owned by the same guys, that you must go to.

Au Pied du Couchon ,Joe Beef and Liverpool. 

Au Pied is just a lovely neighborhood resturant that I anticipate to be good that turned out to be the second best meal of my life( first was on a road trip in California at a hole in the wall Mexican place where grandma was cooking and daughter didn't understand us but the food was beyond amazing....but that's another story) it was this that you see above... Stuffed pigs trotter. I plan on attempting it next weekend. I have to wait till Tuesday till the local butcher slaughters their pigs...ohhh yah!

There is no way to describe how good this was. I ate the leftovers two days later and still melt in your mouth. The care they go into their food shows through. And it's only because of this love of food and care of it that's great food is made.

Joe Beef and Liverpool are owned by the same men and again they take such pride in their food. But there is also a sense of history and humor in it too. I love their Foie Gras Eclairs and in their Joe Beef cookbook the section on train food. Clearly, they not only love their food history but are proud Montreal people.

I have never been to a bad Boulanger in Montreal. Lots of shitty bakeries in Buffalo...not so many in Montreal. There is a place in old Montreal called Glacé that had the most heavenly cupcakes. As seen above...this beautifully made cake was rich and dense but not overly sweet.....so good.

Other places to check out are the little neighborhood tucked away small places. I had an amazing kibbie and kebab at a basement restaurant where the gay cashier and I were catty about the slutty girls flirting with the guys I was with. Oh to share those moments ,precious I say. Just precious .

And yes, Schwartzs is soooooooooooooooooo worth the trip..omomomonnnnnnnn

And befriend a chef or cooks, find out where they go to after closing time. That's when 

Shit can really get interesting . Just remember , Montreal as lots of hills. Makes running in heels difficult.

Just saying. 

I look like an acorn

I should have my own show on the cooking channel .

Nothing to fancy, no big sets. Just a nice sort of 50's styled modern appliances.
Now your probably thinking..." We'll what makes you so special to have a show and what the hell would you even do?"
First .....it's my show so I would do exactly what I want ...because . Well ok , so it would be more a sustainable,local,nose to tail sort of whatever I wanted to do.
Plus,there would be music. Plus musicians would help me cook.
So in its basics ,it's me with a band,cooking what I want to cook,with local and sustainable products.

I  should probably spicy it up a little because that is so not a good pitch. I wonder if male pole dancers( I actually wrote poll dancers at first and made myself laugh out loud, though it sounded more like a quack) would woo the execs.

Then there is the problem of musicians. Only one I know is my brother but he is a chef too. I do know most of the members of the local high school marching band...huh,nah. I can't imagine calling up the manager of Depeche Mode and saying " huh, can Dave come over to cook with me? Huhhh huhh". First, I don't even have their number plus that's just silly.

And then again the location. Ok so where I am , it's all nice and sweet, if I like dull and beige. Yes, fun is what you do not location but ingredient availability is location, location and oh yeah....location.
So I would have to ( oh shucks darn) move to another state....say oh maybe Oregon. You may say a bit drastic but I say nah my friends,I do it as a service to you.

It also opens up the whole musicians part.



Now........just need that demo tape,a good partner and a hat.

"This is a pie shop, not a herbal crack den."

I am procrastinating.

I am doing work from home and its boring work. Looking over menus and tearing them apart then trying to understand why I did it in the first place. And it's dull only because we want to do all these cool things but its like we have to taser ourselves.

So now I have to make meatloaf look sexy and make it for like nothing. These aren't third world problems ,in fact they aren't even problems. More negotiations between me and my students . Bless the sous chefs but they didn't look at the menus hard enough when they redid them so I have to as you can see revamp the redo. It's not annoying just inconvenient....lol but what else am I going to do for three weeks. Well, that's a lie since it has to be done by Thursday of this week,ie tomorrow. No pressure .....

Ideally , it would be awesome to try all the recipes before but with school in shut down mode, and no budget money for it,that so not happening. But I can make pasta...lots of pasta. Time to perfect the ravioli that we haven't dare try since the first badly done batch. Do I dare immerse myself back into it..gasp. ... Shock .... The horror of it all. Meh probably be tasty.
One pasta I want to make is udon noodle which besides ramen ,are the only non filled pastas I like. Don't ask , I don't know why. Maybe it was all the crappy spaghetti my ex husband made or the over cooked pasta I have had in restaurants . But I am trying to " get over" it.....heehehe.
And thats a tip, DON'T OVER COOK the PASTA!!!!!!!!!!! When you think it's not quiet done, pull it!!!!
PULL IT now!!!!! And shock it with cold water....do IT!


So I guess I should return to my work...and stop watching the Chelsea / QPR game....

Or make dinner....I do have noodles and beef round that's been in the cock pot for over 24hours and smells sooooo gooooo. Smell it? Can ya?





FYI the pix is my little collection of cook books. I have another 30 at work and my sous have like another 6 books of mine. What is sad or what have you is that I am short like 40 books. I mean I threw out like 40 books a week ago along with all sorts of crappy kitchen stuff including my bread machine. I actually lied to my parents that it was broken because neither got it that my 14 year old machine was not used by me anymore and that I preferred to bake bread the old fashion way. God forbid they understand ( i love my knucklehead parents but there are times they still haven't a clue about me) my desire to simplify my kitchen, my house and etc.


Crap... I really need raw food ideas. Very least need someone to bounce these ideas off of...lol because they all sound a little off but that might be my lack of food and ....mmmmm beer.

Someone send over beers,it's going to be a long night !!!!!!!