Some Perspecitve on Food

As a part of my new job, we got to volunteer some time at one of several local charitable organizations. Before I get to my experience I just want to say how great it is that Salesforce.com not allows, but very much encourages and rewards our volunteer activities. I get up to 48 hours a year of paid volunteering time, which I intend to use. Companies with policies like that should be applauded and I'm proud to work for one. The Salesforce foundation  is a wonderful arm of the company. OK gushing over, lets talk about my experience.

As soon as I saw the list of choices I knew I wanted to volunteer at a soup kitchen. My relationship with food being as strong as it is, it just seemed like the right choice.  About 15-20 of us hopped on a bus about 3 PM after our orientation and made our way over to the Glide Memorial church. After figuring out who was going to do what, I was set up with an apron, some gloves and a hairnet. Duly equipped I was ready to bus tables, fill water pitchers and help out with any requests that came my way.

Once the line started it just didn't stop for 1 and one half hours. During the service time I saw such a wide variety of people in need. From people who had clearly been on the streets for a long time, to folks with pretty pronounced mental illness, to people who looked like they just needed a hot meal, in order to stretch whatever budget they might have. 

My primary job was clearing trays and making space for the next person. The cafeteria could probably sit 80+ people, and there was rarely a moment where there wasn't someone waiting for a place to sit. Most people came in, cleared their tray and got out. Many people brought their own containers for food and water, scraped their trays in to it and went on their way. Some had a pretty elaborate system of scooping their food into slices of bread and wrapping them up for later. 

There seemed to be a community interplay between some folks, some knew each other and were talking, in some cases there was just one person who was happy to scoop up the unwanted oranges or carrots that someone was not going to eat.

Which brings me to the one major shocker, the waste. The number of people who arrived, ate the one or two things on the tray they wanted, or some even just a few bites, and then left, was stunning. I can't come close to putting myself in their shoes but could not figure out why someone would come in for a meal and then leave it 90% untouched. I had one guy who pointed to the salad on his tray, admittedly it was pretty brown, and say "would you fed this to your family?" I didn't answer but I thought to myself, "Of course I would it if it would keep them from feeling hungry." I'm not really trying to make any kind of statement here, it was just so striking to me.

That was the exception, to be sure. The overwhelming majority were grateful for the food, and seemed genuinely pleased to have someone asking if them if they were done, or wiping up some spilled water, or just taking their tray to the back for them so they didn't have to. Anytime I had a package of baby carrots or an orange that went untouched I could ask people in my path if they wanted it, and it went into thankful hands. And that was really the exchange that stuck with me. A simple kindness like serving someone some food and offering up an extra was so well received that I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to do more.

A Parade of Homes, and Inspiration

I was invited to tour the Parade of Homes this year as a blogger, through the ever-connected and always active Renee Benda. Kerrie and I had planned to attend this year in order to gain some inspiration for our own home buying/building plans, and now I even had a mission.

Since I don't typically write--or know anything about-- design, I went into this event looking specifically for ideas for our kitchens and dining rooms. Those are the focal points of our life at home.

Throughout the eight homes this year I was looking for ideas on what features in a kitchen really work for me, and which ones do not. My wife has convinced me that an open kitchen is the way to go. I hope having one will help me meet my goals of being able to cook in relative peace while simultaneously appearing to be social. It seems to be standard in all new homes, in contrast to older homes like ours where the kitchen is much more closed-off from the rest of the house.

Granite and tile in the kitchen were certainly the order of the day, in every home we toured. One item of which I am not a big fan is the single large sink.

It may just be habit; I have had a double sink in every place I have ever lived, but I just can't see the one large sink being practical. They look nice, and the hardware and faucets that go with them are amazing, but I just want my double basin.

A feature I have fallen in love with is the pot-filling spigot above the cooktop. It is not something I'm going to use every day, but on those occasions when I have the big pasta cooker rolling, salt potatoes boiling, or four corned beef briskets stewing, I would love having it right there. It was present in two homes and is solidly on my "nice to have" list for the next house.

Another feature I was really pleased to see in several homes was the large walk-in or full closet-sized pantry.

For someone like me with a ton of kitchen equipment, a full-sized pantry would be a wonderful thing. Easy access to all of our equipment and ingredients, without having to hunt or move things around to get to an item in a cabinet, would be a huge labor saver. We have stuff stashed all over the place right now, and at times, it's a pain to find what we need.

I do love a full-size double oven. Thanksgiving is not the only day I max out my space, or want things at two very different temperatures. This is more on the "must have" list. Many of them were flanked by deep cabinets for everything that may need to go in to one of those ovens, which is very smart design.

I'm not such a fan of the smaller oven design, it's just not big enough to suit my needs. I get it for the occasional cook but I can't see it working for me. 

There were several kitchens that were beautiful and well-appointed but just not what I would consider a "cook's kitchen." Not having enough counter space, an inconvenient layout or a general lack of outlets is enough to knock a place out of the running for me. In the end there were two places that were, hands-down, amazing. 

Number one was "The Waterford" by Martin Custom Homes. This place had not one great kitchen, but two. The main floor had an open concept great room, kitchen, and dining room. A dining room large enough to accommodate our table, or with an wide open entry to allow for the addition of extra tables, is essential for us. The second kitchen was downstairs, in a finished walk-out basement, near the absolutely stunning home theater room. Outside of formal dining and sleeping I would be hard-pressed to find reasons to leave the lower level, which also had a wet bar and lounge area. It won our hearts as a dream home. 

The winner for kitchens was in "The Jonsten" by Smolen Homes.

While it didn't have everything (no double oven), the amount of counter space and number of convenient outlets were incredible. The built-in breakfast nook made spectacular use of space, and I could easily see serving most of my family meals there. It looked out into a bright, open family room that I loved and could envision entertaining in, especially with the addition of the wet bar. 

I may be drooling a bit as I type.

Every home on the tour had at least one highlight, and usually many more features that I appreciated. And the layout of the tour itself was excellent. This was my first visit to the Parade Of Homes but it most certainly won't be my last.

Rhubarb Crumble Pie

I love rhubarb. I love it is all its pucker inducing tartness. It is frequently this slighted marginalized ingredient, only included as a tart note without embracing all that it has to offer on its own. This recipe  from thekitchn.com highlights the beautiful tartness of Rhubarb and enhances it with lemon.

My only real change to to the recipe was forced by me running out of sugar. Thankfully I caught it early enough so I cut down on the amount of corn starch the recipe called for and supplemented with confectioners sugar. I also added about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. The flavor was likely more tart than most people would enjoy but it was perfect for me.

I used almond meal in my topping, if you don't have it I'm sure finely chopped almonds would be just fine.

For the crust I used my new favorite crust which is a butter/lard hybrid from Alton Brown.

I can't rave about this crust enough. I have used it now for both a savory chicken pot pie and this dessert pie and it is magic in both applications. It is very flaky and tender with a great flavor.

Angel Hair with Shrimp, Scallops and a Lemon Mustard Butter sauce.

I picked this recipe up out of  the Bon Appetit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild. My Mother

 I made some minor modifications to the ingredients and the process but I can confidently recommend using the original. I doubled the recipe since I was serving 4 adults and we had a good amount of leftovers. This recipe is simple and delicious.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry white wine
1 tsp lemon zest
1 lb scallops ( you can use bay scallops, I used larger ones)
1 lb tail on shrimp
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 stick chilled butter cut into pieces

12 oz angel hair pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

Start heating a big pot of salted water for your pasta.

Bring the wine and lemon to a boil in a large pan, making sure there is enough room to fit all the seafood, and space to toss the pasta.Once the wine is boiling add your seafood and reduce to a simmer. Cook the seafood for 3 minutes or so until the shrimp has just turned pink and the scallops are just opaque. The seafood goes back in the pan at the end so do not overcook it now. Rubbery scallops suck

Remove the scallops and shrimp to a large bowl and set aside. Bring the temperature back up to a boil and reduce the wine by about 1/2. Once the wine has reduced whisk in the mustard then, piece by piece whisk in the butter.

Once all the butter has been added, drop your pasta in the water and cook it for 2-3 minutes if using fresh pasta.

Meanwhile add your seafood and any liquid back into the sauce and toss to coat. Once your pasta is done add it to the pan with your sauce to add everything to one big pasta bowl toss. Sprinkle on your fresh chives and serve immediately.

I served it with oven roasted asparagus and fresh sourdough bread.

Stuffed Pork Loin Roast

There are two drawbacks to cooking on the fly:
1. You don't tend to measure so writing things down after is an effort in guess work
2. You always 2nd guess a decision and come up with better ways after the fact

With those things in mind I'm going to write the recipe as I think it should be done rather than the slapdash, albeit delicious, first attempt.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb pork loin roast (not pork tenderloins please)
1 lb bacon
1 cup caramelized onions
1/2 cup shitake mushrooms (dried is fine about 8-10 dried)
1 cup cooked spinach
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper
olive oil
4 feet butchers twine

Preheat your oven to 350

Slice the pork loin horizontally, as close to the center as you can get, do not slice it all the way through. Open it up so it lays flat. Let it rest while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Re-hydrate your mushrooms if you are using dried. I like to use a mix of boiling water and wine to re-hydrate  Just plain water will work but I find the wine gives them a better flavor. Let them steep until soft then chop finely. If using fresh just chop them up. I don't like shitake stems as I find them too woody in texture so remove them.

If you are using fresh spinach, saute it with a bit of chicken stock and mix in your chopped mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste. For frozen spinach thaw in the microwave and saute with the mushrooms to heat the through.

Once your spinach and mushroom mix is cooked, spread it in an even layer inside of your butterflied pork, then layer on the cheese and onions.

Close the pork and truss it with your butchers twine.

Once you have your pork all tied up and lovely, flip it over so most of your knot work is on the bottom then drape it with bacon. You can skip the bacon and brown it before baking but why would you skip the bacon?

Stick it in the oven and cook until it reaches an internal temp of 145-150. Yes I mean it, don't over cook your pork. The USDA says its ok. Let it rest for at least 5-10 minutes after it reaches temp.

Once it is done you should be able to roll it onto its side and cut the twine from the bottom. By doing so you can pull it off without disturbing your nice crispy bacon.

Slice into pork chop thickness pieces and serve.