Pumpkin pulpit

I wonder how Barack O'Lantern sales are doing? I have yet to see one in the neighborhood. And they were never there when I walked Preston over to buy one.

Camarones chimichurri con arroz. I had to pack away my organic local seasonal pulpit and admit that every ingredient came out of the freezer. Frozen shrimp. Frozen chimichurri marinade. Frozen rice. Yes, I keep my rice in the freezer. Trying to eat organic local and seasonal takes a lot of time and effort. I'm often lazy.

Plane crazy

The airport "limousine" is optimistically named. Sigh. Less than 3 days on the ground, and I'm heading back to California already. I'll just have to squeeze all my restaurant hopping in the limited time I have at the airport. 

Korean draft beer is good.

So-so bulgogi. I guess most airport food is of similarly overpriced quality all over the world.

I found a gelato stand in Korea! Black sesame and yogurt flavoured gelato. Surprisingly good. And the yogurt gelato texture was spot on. I got two spoons so I can share with myself.

Black bean tea tastes like dirt. The dirt that the beans grew in. Blech.

Colonel Sanders looks Asian. I'm not sure this will go over well in Kentucky.

And one last fiery seafood tofu stew pot. Then onto the airplane for the 12 hour flight back to LA! Aie! (And yes Meg, I did eat all that.)

Delayed gratification

Beef roast with porcini braised overnight with Pinot Noir at 220 degrees rather than 3 hours at 350. Instead of waking up in the middle of the night to deal with the roast, wafting porcini smells flavored my sweet dreams.

Camarones ala chimichurri. I used the shrimp liquid from last night to make the rice. When I took the first bite, I realized that I ate pretty much this exact dish a few years ago at the El Avion restaurant in Costa Rica. Mine might be better, though less scenic.

Crimini mushroom ragu. Has potential to be delicious. We'll know for sure at some future time.

Prep school

This year's entire loquat harvest was consumed within an hour of picking. Very juicy and fresh. But all gone. No more delicious loquats until next year.

I'm practicing my Top Chef skills by cutting roasted beets into centimeter cubes. The ugly ones went into my stomach. At some point in my life I'd like to go to cooking school and learn these things for real instead of watching TV and making things up as I go along.

Searing a roast for stracoto with porcini mushrooms. A little care in the beginning yields a lot of delicious later.

Extracting flavor from the peeled shrimp shells. The broth may wind up in a sauce, mayhaps. Or the beginnings of a bisque, perhaps. Maybe a poaching liquid of some sort, possibly. But certainly, I'm getting my money's worth from this handful of shrimps. I'm skipping composting the spent shells after I'm done. For they be super stinky for long time.

Shrimps will marinate overnight in a chimichurri.

And for even more Top Chef fun, I will be breaking down two Costco chickens tonight.

Chicken building blocks sorted and organized for dishes yet to be imagined.

I may have gone overboard with the food prep and pyrex containers.

Cold feet

It's the start of wedding season. Wedding season pains me because I'm always tempted to open the boxes to play with the toys.

Crazy 95+ weather this weekend. I had a giant list of gardening and household tasks to do, but I'm just going to sit in the pool all weekend and marinate.

So hot even the new fishies are hiding.

And so hot that the fava beans are flowering too early.

And so hot that the angels trumpet flowers aren't so fragrant anymore.

So hot that the shrimp plant has turned completely pink.

Preston trying to cool things down.