Writing in the Corner

Tonight I am in Albuquerque at my company’s annual user conference. I was very excited about being here for real New Mexican food. I still am, but it’ll probably be tomorrow before I have any. I had very little time between arrival and the beginning of the conference, so I had to settle for a roast beef sandwich. It was tasty enough, but not exactly authentic New Mexican cuisine.

Flying all day is draining. I’m glad to be going to bed now.

I’m going to have to keep track of all the food ideas I come up with writing about. They just pop out of nowhere from seemingly unrelated things I see and do. Maybe everything is about food, it’s just a matter of finding the angle.

For example, today’s Google logo had Big Bird legs. The hover text reminded me that today was the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. That immediately brought to mind a food topic. Immediately, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Tonight I met my friends Dave and Vilo for ice cream at Jeni’s Ice Cream in Dublin, Ohio. Jeni’s is rich and intensely flavored ice creams and sorbets in interesting flavors. They have a combination of four half scoops they call a “study.” I had heirloom pumpkin 5-spice, thai chili, dark chocolate, and gravel road. It was AMAZING. It is always amazing. It’s a good thing I don’t live hear because it is so not good for you (all-organic ingredients notwithstanding). I’m sure the sorbets and yogurts are lower in sugar and fat, and they are also wonderfully flavored, but I just can’t bring myself to forgo the peanut butter, coconut milk, toasted coconut and cayenne pepper flavors in the thai chili ice cream.

For dinner last night, we went to La Provence in nearby Big Branch, LA. The father of a friend of Mark’s told me about it a couple of years ago when he was working there as a sous-chef, and my friends Angie and Doug ate there once when they lived here and liked it very much. The restaurant is owned by John Besh, the James Beard Award winner for best chef in the Southeast in 2006. The restaurant grows many of its own vegetables and herbs and makes its own goat cheeses. According to the web site, La Provence “honors the time-consuming rustic techniques of southern France.”

The food was amazing.

For a starter, we were given a basket of crispy toast rounds with chicken liver pate. It was very tasty, smooth and creamy with a hint of chicken and garlic flavors.

For an appetizer, I had chevre cheese dumplings with heirloom tomatoes. It has a name, I don’t remember all the ingredients, and I’m not doing it justice with this description. It was absolutely delicious. Calvin had a pissaladiere, a thin crispy flatbread topped with caramelized onions, anchovies, olives and fresh basil. We got a loaf of crispy french bread with the appetizers, and I used a piece to soak up the liquid from my appetizer. We each shared a bit. Both were delicious. Calvin’s appetizer had a more intense flavor than mine, but mine was more interesting.

For the main course, Calvin had a chicken cacciatore with mushrooms and parsnips. I had a bit, and it was very good. I had a beef tenderloin, cooked medium rare, with dauphine potatoes and porcini mushrooms in marrow. The beef was the best steak I have ever had, bar none. It was four inches thick, flavorful, and the meat melted in my mouth. The potatoes were meticulously designed. A potato is trimmed to a cylinder, then another cylinder is trimmed out of the middle, leaving a 1/4″ tube of potato as the case. The inner cylinder was sliced and placed back in the potato case, layered with cream. The whole thing was then seasoned lightly and baked. The mushrooms and marrow were served on a half a bone. (My vegetarian friends are probably dying here. On the up side, nothing of this dead animal was wasted - not even the bone marrow.) I shared some of my steak with Calvin.

For dessert, I had creme brulee, with a side of berries stewed in red wine and a lavender shortbread cookie. The creme brulee was rich and creamy and perfectly browned. The berries were bursting with taste and a hint of wine savor, and tasted delicious on a piece of the cookie. Calvin had grilled fruit (pineapple, melon, and something else) and a fresh blueberry sorbet. Once again, we shared a bit and I loved the sorbet. It was probably way, way healthier than the creme brulee, but I don’t feel guilty about enjoying mine more.

The manager stopped by when we were done, asked how everything was, and where we were from. He encouraged us to come back often, but this is going to have to be a special event restaurant - it was VERY expensive, and we didn’t even drink.

Atmosphere: Calvin wore a black shirt and black pants, so the hostess came back after seating us and replaced his white napkin with a black one. The art on the walls is original art by local artists, some of which was just astounding. There was a hammered copper piece over the fireplace in our dining room, lacquered in some places, polished bright in others, covered with a wash in others, and left to oxidize in others. It evoked sun setting over a bayou. The manager told us about and showed us some of the other pieces when we were leaving. It was beautiful. There is a courtyard outside with a lovely fountain. It was a bit loud where we were, but the music was nice and the company was (as usual) excellent. It was a memorable celebration for our “donut” anniversary.

1. Two and a half pounds of ground beef, with diced onion and garlic. I divided the final product into three equal portions and put them in the freezer.
2. Four dozen meatballs, divided into two equal portions and frozen.
3. Homemade egg noodles. I had a hankering. I mixed them up in the food processor in just seconds, then rolled the dough out, sliced into wide noodles, and dried for two hours. I cooked them in chicken broth (not homemade; I didn’t have any) and served them with
4. Fried chicken, cooked crispy with a cracker crumb crust.

I was going to make brownies but a nap interfered. Maybe tomorrow.