Tag Archives: cooking by the bay

Happy New Year!!

Posted on by

hat new yearsLet me wish you all a very happy 2013!!

2012 was another year of ups and downs, chock full of both personal and professional challenges.  I do not know about you but I am up to my ears tired with the silliness in Washington and our chug, chug, almost chugging economy.  I am satisfied with the deal our elected representatives made albeit not a perfect one from any standpoint.  Still an effort of compromise was made on both sides and that is how adults get along.

That being said I am thankful to you all for taking the time to read my little blog. Your support is giving me continued inspiration to make, bake and serve many dishes I have wanted to try over the years. My biggest fan Suzanne has been my inspiration and partner in crime for many of these experiments and I want to especially thank her and look forward to many more near food fights with her in the kitchen.

May the New Year bring you all that you need and wish for!!

Eat Well and Smile Often,

tj

p.s.  Time to start planning your spring garden.  What will it be this year??

Man Can Cook!!

Posted on by

Tom a cookin'By now you know that this Man Can Cook . . . does yours??

I have engaged in an informal study of sorts. You see, I like to cook. I’m pretty good at preparing some things and still experimenting with others. But it’s fun. Whether the dish turns out successfully or as a ‘recipe in progress’ really does not matter too much to me. It is the process and experience of cooking that I like.  So why would I not want to share this experience with my date? No reason comes readily to mind.

I asked my friend Jeffery what he thought about cooking for a date, he is a very good cook and one of the nicest men I have ever met. His reply summed it up nicely, “Cooking for a date in your home doesn’t have to be sexual, but it is intimate.”  He is spot on. Roasted PumpkinThe process of preparing food for another person, going to all that effort just for them, is very intimate. It also shows how much you care about them.  The general consensus of opinion is that, “It makes me feel pampered.” And why wouldn’t you want to pamper someone you care about? (FYI: That was a rhetorical question.) Again, no reason comes to mind.

I asked my New York, electronic Pen Pal Melani Robinson if she liked it when her dates cooked for her. Melani writes a blog 1 Year of Online Dating at 50 where she explores online dating with equal measures of bravery and vulnerability.  She wrote back to me and I quote, “I’ve never dated a man who could cook for me, but I’m still hopeful. A guy who knows his way around the kitchen is a big turn on–delicious food is very sexy. Cooking together? Fantastic!”

So fellas . . . What’s Up!!

I am extra lucky in that my paramour Suzanne Griffin of Cooking by the Bay is a fantastic cook.  When we get together sparks fly!!  “What do you mean it has too much lime in it?!”  Well, not always like that.  But honestly, cooking with her is one of my favorite-st things to do. We chop up recipes, hash out techniques, and both of us know how to ‘stir the pot’ as it were.  It is so much fun.Suzanne Griffin

So guys, here’s the thing and it ain’t hard.

  1. Clean your house.  And I mean CLEAN it.  Dust, wash, scrub if you have to, air it out and buy one or two (no more!) scented candles.  I suggest cinnamon.
  2. Clean yourself . . . shower, bathe . . . whatever and wear clean clothes.  Pick out what you are going to wear a week ahead of time.  Take your clothes to the cleaners so your shirt is clean and pressed.
  3. Read my blog! There are a few great recipes in here.  Think ahead about the meal you want to prepare. If you have time, PRACTICE making the main dish.  (Look, you have to eat anyway.) If you get stuck, drop me a note. I’ll un-stick you.
  4. Be ready when your date arrives.  Kitchen clean, items prepped in the refrigerator, wine glasses polished and wine chilled if not red.

Wine Glasses

I like to cook in front of my date but you may feel better/safer having many things prepared ahead of time.

Cooking is an intimate, kind gesture to make for a friend, new or long-time. Go ahead  . . . pamper someone . . . make their day.  They just might make yours!! ;)

Eat Well and Smile Often!!

 

tj

 

p.s. Be kind for everyone’s life is hard – Plato

Fee, Fie, Fo, Farrum!!

Posted on by

Or “How Farro Can You Go?!”

fArro MedioFarro is a wheat that has been grown in Italy since the Roman times when it was referred to as Farrum!  Now I really don’t know how farro it can go but it has come farrum.

Enough silliness, farro is a name given to 3 cultivated hulled wheat species, einkorn, emmer and spelt, also know as farro piccolo, farro medio and farro grande respectively. They have a very hard husk and require further processing after harvest in order for us to make use of its nutty goodness inside.  While Farro was the predominant grain for centuries it has been replaced by wheat like durum which are free threshing, light hull that removes when threshing. It has made a recent comeback though as the quest for more local and bio-diverse crop systems are being planted and is often raised organically.

As a food it has a great nutty taste and a very toothsome texture. Many cooks boil it like rice in broth or add it to soups. At the Union Street Faire Sunday June 3rd I’ll be assisting in a demonstration in making a risotto styled dish called farrotto.  It’s made in exactly the same way as risotto except with farro instead of arborio rice.While a little time consuming the lovely creamy texture combined with the nutty flavor and toothsome quality make this a remarkable dish.

For a recipe please be sure to drop by Suzanne Griffin’s website.

 

Eat Well and Smile Often

 

tj

 

To-farro, To-farro, I love you To-farro, you’re only 30minutesofstirringinapan Aaaaa-Waaaaaayyyyyy!!!!

 

Many thanks to http://www.underutilized-species.org/Documents/PUBLICATIONS/farro_in_italy.pdf as the main resource for this piece