Morelamania

Over the past few weeks, my great white hunter 'caught' about 3 dozen morel mushrooms or more.  For those not in the know..morels are seasonal, usually only about 1-2 weeks in the spring.  People guard their 'hunting' spots with their lives.

The taste of morels is divine.  However, most midwesterners think that the best way to eat these delectable morsels is to douse them in flour and fry them up.

No.  NoNONONONONO.  You don't take something that shows up once a year for two weeks and turn it into a chicken mcnugget.  (sorry, mcdonald's don't sue me)

Morel cream sauce (with madeira and shallots) is divine, pour it over some pan seared chicken and bake…oh, my. Heaven.

We tried grilling the morels.  Basically, we decided you are just steaming them because the suggestion was wrap them in foil.  However, with a little parmesan on top.  YUM.  Add a perfectly gilled filet and some roasted baby jewel potatoes.  Voila!

my plate needs a bit of culinary color, methinks

Next morning, after seeing a recipe in the paper.  Toasted sour dough with goat cheese, roasted asparagus, sautéed morels and poached egg.  

Last night,  pasta with morel/shallot/pea buerre blanc.  Tim tried to crisp up some Canadian bacon to add to it, but not recommended.  Not fatty enough, it just turns into jerky.  But if we had some pancetta on hand……

At our last batch for breakfast tomorrow.  What to do, what to do….

Ham overload

This is completely off topic, I realize.  But more of a foody entry.

We had to prepare to be the back up Christmas dinner for Tim's mom in case his family went...family.
Long story short, I wound up with a 8lb ham for just Tim and I.

I now have more uses for ham.  Luckily it's been a delicious ham and we've enjoyed every creation I can come up with.

1. Ham au natural---when it's first cooked. 
2. Ham sandwiches---hot/cold/made into ham salad
3. Pasta and ham--carbonara style
4. Potato pancakes with ham
5. Snacks--ham on crackers, ham rollups


I think you see where I'm going with this.  I'm the Bubba Gump of ham right now.

I hope next year we are back on a boat for the holidays somewheres.  Cross my fingers.

Back to San Francisco--America's Cup Time--Restaurant Review

Just a quick weekend trip for the first four races.  Definitely Kiwi nation there, so I had good company. The spouse keeps calling me a turncoat, but I gotta remain loyal to my boys.

When we were there in July we saw this funky little place inside one of the Pier warehouse buildings, we weren't sure what it was until later when I read about it online.

The Waiheke Island Yacht Club is a pop-up restaurant from New Zealand put together especially for the America's Cup.  I spoke with the general manager and they are thinking of finding a more permanent location after their lease us up in December.  Depends if business keeps up.  Follow the link above to see picks on how they put the place together.

Not exactly a cheap place to eat, but delicious and fun.  Everything is pretty much cooked on induction ovens.  Fresh greens, homemade butter.  Yum. Yum. Yum.

Ironically, because they are under the auspices of the America's Cup, they weren't supposed to serve New Zealand wines since Napa Valley had the contract.  But they snuck in a few as 'specials'.  Hell yes. You are a New Zealand restaurant, bring on the Sauv Blanc, people!

One of the shipping containers the restaurant arrived in.  Seriously.

Bad things were happening to the sheep.  Alcohol was involved.

Part of the open kitchen.

The Yeah Nah--whiskey, sherry, creme yvette and smoke plum juice.

I should add the drink was rather strong.  Tim trying his best New Zealand accent.
It didn't work out.

One of the New Zealand offerings.
This is actually a chardonnay.  It was awesome.

I want this micro-green garden in my kitchen.

The bar area, saw some of the sailors there on Sunday night.

Our first course, a ceviche and venison tartare.

Next New Zealand lamb and smoked duck breast. 

The boys at work in the kitchen.

Straight from Kansas.......wine?!?!?

My husband brought this home yesterday.  He actually bought it because of the picture on the bottle. More on that later.

First, lets get a visual:

Eastern Kansas is starting to develop quite a few local wineries.  I have to be honest, I have not traditional been a fan of the wines that come out of here and Missouri.  But, part of that has to do with my taste preference.  I'm not a wine snob, I don't care if the wine came from the Bordeaux region of France or Eudora, Kansas.  It's all about taste.  And for the record?  My heart lies in the Malbourough region of New Zealand, with Oregon and Washington starting to cover some ground.

So back to why my spouse bought the wine.  The picture on the bottle is by a Native American artist, Brent Learned http://www.buffalobullhowling.com/   really, he has some interesting work reflecting his heritage.

So, what's a Seyval.  If you are wine snob, it's the demon spawn of hybrid grapes.  If you are not, the Seyval Blanc hybrid produces quite a crisp taste at least in this vintage.  So, what I am trying to say, I am impressed with this little winery literally 6 miles from where I live.  Kudos to you.  If you are interested in viniculture, look up Seyval Blanc.

The midwest uses a lot of hybrid grapes, mainly I believe because of the incredible harsh environment the midwest can throw at you (heat, cold, the plagues of Egypt...and I'm not kidding)

It's a young winery, and you can tell by the taste, but once again. I am impressed.  (I got an 'age of the grapevine' lesson in Napa Valley once..)

If you are wondering about the name, I'm pretty sure it's an American Civil War reference.

So, whereever you are, go explore your local offerings.  You may be surprised!

New restaurant find in Key West

The last night we decided on an official date night, put on the Sunday-Go-to-Meeting clothes and have a nice dinner.

Just by dumb luck, we stumbled across this delightful new restaurant (about 5 months old) on an off street of Duval, near the city offices.

The name is Fin as in final, not fish.  It specializes in small caribbean style plates, so it's a great place to go to share plates and a great bottle of wine. This probably mid-high range in pricing with the wine. But, not the most expensive place to go by far.

However, if you are a foodie, this is the place for you.  The service is fantastic also.

Best part is the food is pretty to look at!

Inside-Small but elegant

Appetizers-Hearts of Palm salad and selection of cheese

Entree--Black truffle flatbread and fish cakes

UPDATE:  Sadly we must report that Fin went out of business last fall.  It has been replaced by a more tourist friendly oven fired pizza place called Only Wood.  

Sigh.....

Stock Island Restaurant Review

We usually tear down to the waterfront in Key West for our dose of grub, and we did make our obligatory visit to B.O.'s Fish Wagon and the Treetop Restaurant.  But we thought we'd give the local grub a try.

The restaurant at the marina isn't open due to some financial mismanagement, so we went over to Safe Harbor and the Hogfish Bar and Grille. It was darn good, however, a bit pricey.  Great atmosphere tho.

It's full of the character you expect from a Keys Bar.  They do Baja style fish tacos and I really recommend those. They buy their fish dip from a local distributor, Smilin' Bob's.  It was darn good and you can order it online.

Afterwards we wandered around the marina, and here's another reason you just gotta love the Florida Keys:

Now, how can you argue with a multi-tasker?
(Click on the pic to read the sign)

Another place we tried on Stock Island was the Rusty Anchor.  But, wait, aren't you saying that sounds like a place out of some '70s sitcom?  Well, you wouldn't be that far off.

It is actually quite good and the owner makes a specialty Conch steak that I just had to try. It was actually quite good and nicely tenderized (or else it would have been a rubber chew toy).  There's a lot of historical fishing pics and some things from the neighboring Naval Air Station there.  Everybody was very nice and definitely a locals hangout.

Favorite places to eat in Key Largo

Now mind you, this is just my personal report and reflects my tastes.  I'm more or less doing them in the order of how I remember them (which is pretty much driving down US1--the mile markers are noted in parens)

1. Caribbean Club (MM104) -- Okay, not a restaurant at all, but a nice little locals bar on the bay side of the keys, this has long been our 'Welcome to the Keys' bar when driving down from Ft. Lauderdale, grab a beer and go out back and sit by a picnic table by the docks.  If you are lucky you'll get some local lore from a salty old soul.  Caribbean Club was used in the filming of the Bogart film "Key Largo".

2. Sundowners (MM103)--Cue the harp music.  Also Bay side.  The place to go to listen to live music and watch the sunset.  Absolutely beautiful, they have a guest dock also.  Not to mention the food rocks also.  Get the local caught fresh fish in one of their signature preparations, Island Style is so good.  They also have landlubbers food, but don't talk to me if you order steak in the keys. I'll smack you.

3. Fish House and Fish House Encore (MM102)--This is right off the road, the two restaurants are side by side, Encore has a funky little back patio seating area.  Both restaurants feature fresh caught fish in their own signature styles.  Some kick ass smoked fish dip served with Cuban crackers.  The Fish House/Market is the more traditional restaurant, Encore features sushi and a raw bar that's fabulous.  I've eaten myself stupid there once or twice.

4. Coconuts (MM100)--Our bar away from home.  Even after HemiD left the first time, we still stop by to have a drink and some fish dip.  We also cruise the docks to see who's hanging about.  In the afternoons the bar usually features a live musician and on the weekends a band.  Great open air bar.  You can also (don't know if you are supposed to...) but run over from the pool and grab a drink to take back.  (If you stay at Marina del Mar you get full use of the hotel facilities at both Marina del Mar hotel and Holiday Inn).  They also host a bunch of fishing competitions and have great parties for Super Bowl. etc.

5.  Sharkey's Bar and Grill--Just stumble down the marina from Coconut's. You'll hear it before you see it.  Great breakfast place and a raucous happy hour.  I think we've only eaten breakfast there, but I hear the other food is pretty decent also.

Okay, I could keep going on there's so many places.  My only suggestion is to avoid chain restaurants and anything that says they specialize in ribs. Ugh.

However, we've had some pretty good meals on the boat.  Nothing like grilling up some grouper that had been swimming around in the water that morning.  Good eats!