Dance After Dark Photography

Wow. I repeat, wow! Tonight I strutted my stuff bigtime. Publix had top sirloin on sale for $3.99/lb, so I bought a huge 3.5 lb steak — two inches thick and beautiful! Coated it with kosher salt, cumin, mustard flour, smoked paprika, & cracked black pepper. Rub on a little canola oil, sear ludicrously 4-5 minutes per side, then pop into a 400º oven for 10 minutes. It came out crusty, medium-done inside, and juicy like you wouldn’t believe. Let the meat rest 5 minutes, and then sliced into thin, tender, gloriously beefy slices. I served the sirloin with caramelized red onions that I cooked in the post-sear steak juices. In retrospect, I recommend using something a little spicy. Maybe a few red pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce rubbed on before the spices. Still, it was damn tasty. I might eat the leftovers with some good horseradish mustard. I roasted a butternut squash. (400º for 45 minutes, drizzled with olive oil & sprinkled with kosher salt and pumpkin pie spice.) I also roasted red potatoes with vidalia onions and carrots. (400º for an hour; salt, pepper, five spice powder, and the remainder of my dry spices from the steak.) Last, but not least, we had a fresh arugula salad with thinly sliced red onions and thick, hearty slices of Irish brown barley bread that I toasted in the oven for a few minutes. I think I’ll be full for a week.

I experimented a bit in the kitchen tonight. I started with the intention of doing my usual pan-seared chicken with various vegetables. Then I thought I’d make some kind of chicken wrap, initially to be made with tortillas. Then I decided to use the butter lettuce in the fridge instead of tortillas, but alas the lettuce is past its prime.After much deliberation over a period of hours, I settled on pan-seared chicken with various vegetables. I know, I know. I really went out on a limb.The chicken was covered with smoked paprika, lots of cumin, kosher salt, and a bit of Chinese five spice powder. The veggies wound up being sweet caramelized onions and organic baby carrots. (Does the fact that they’re organic ameliorate some of the evil inherent in plucking them from the ground before they’ve really had a chance to live?) I also chopped up some fresh (also organic but this time adult) spinach. Mix in some leftover basmati rice, and we’re good.When I picked up the chicken at the grocery store, I also picked up some Woodchuck cider. I used a bit of the cider to deglaze the chicken pan and then squeezed in the juice of an organic tangerine. Add a little chicken broth and corn starch, and voila! Tangerine & cider glaze for the chicken. Pretty groovy, if I do say so myself. Then Kimberly, mom, grandma, and I were disturbed by the first half hour of Last Tango in Paris. It’s one of those movies I always thought I should see but apparently knew nothing about. I was expecting an old B&W movie. Way off base. We gave up on the movie and switched to The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Amanda Peet. The horrible accents by Rosanna Arquette and Kevin Pollack were quite painful to hear, but it was still a very funny movie.

alt title: Phoenix update # who knows? I can’t be bothered to check.

I was entirely lazy this morning, so I sit here typing instead of walking around downtown Phoenix and taking photos of the Willow House like I intended. The original plan was to walk down there (about a mile), and then I found out that the AZ Irish Festival is also today and down the street from aforementioned coffee house. Trick is, I wanted to walk to the Willow House and take photos very early, like 7:00. Irish Fest gates open at 10:00.

In the end, I talked myself out of both. I have lots of time to get the photos of the Willow House. They’re moving in a week, but the building will be there regardless. When you see pictures, you’ll understand. As for the Irish Fest, I didn’t realize it was just a one-day affair. That doesn’t sound terribly impressive. It starts at 10:00, and we’re due in Casa Grande by 11:30. Maybe I’ll drop in this afternoon, when we come back from Casa Grande and Jenn goes to work. Festival is over at 5:00. Maybe not. I’m indifferent.

Much fun has been had, though! I already feel like I’ve had a few weeks of vacation, and I’m not even halfway there. I watched Mr. Show last night because Jenn keeps making references. I’d never heard of it, so I’m glad I dragged it out. It stars Bob Odenkirk and David Shaw with a metric ton of other comedians you’ll recognize. Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, several of the folks now on the Sarah Silverman Show whose names I don’t know. I find my sense of humor warping. More and more I enjoy awkward, uncomfortable humor.

Okay, it’s time to start thinking about breakfast. Do I make the mesquite-smoked turkey breakfast burritos w/ avocado & muenster, or do I wait for Jenn to get up so we can get something on the way to Casa Grande? Decisions, decisions.

Getting back into the kitchen tonight was great. My fingers normally smell like garlic after I’ve been cooking, but I went easy on the garlic this time. Instead, I smell like pumpkin pie.

I’ve been trying to watch An Affair to Remember all day. I started it this morning but had so many interruptions that I decided to hold off until after dinner. I’m on my fourth phone call, two of them coming from my mother who’s two doors down. (Aggravated? No, of course not. I’m a bad liar, too.) I’ve never actually seen this movie, despite my reverence for Cary Grant’s movies. My favorite is still To Catch a Thief.

I took mom to visit Grandpa Wilson today. He looks good. He’s wearing normal clothes now instead of the hospital gowns. He walked 72 feet today, so he’s getting closer and closer to the 100 ft goal that means he can go home. He seemed in pretty high spirits, too — cracking jokes with us and flirting with his favorite nurse, Dana.

Mom and I went to Polonia for lunch before visiting Grandpa. I got chicken paprikash, which was excellent. My favorite dish is still their smoked kielbasa & sauerkraut platter, but I’m trying to explore the rest of the menu.

Last night’s sweet potato experiment got me thinking, and then at the farmer’s market today there were some insanely cheap sweet potatoes. The Universe was speaking to me. I had no choice.

2 chicken breasts
1 vidalia onion, frenched
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp five spice powder
2 large sweet potatoes, sliced 1/4″ thick
pumpkin pie seasoning (or allspice & cinnamon)
canola oil
kosher salt

First I began by frenching the onion. Get your minds out of the gutter. It’s a culinary technique wherein you cut the onion in half and then slice thin wedges off.

I peeled the sweet potatoes and cut them into thin rounds. I say 1/4″ thick, but it was a little thinner than that. The pieces that came out 1/8″ thick tended to curl in the pan, but I really didn’t want to be so specific as to recommend 3/16 of an inch.

I used a plastic zipper bag to coat the sweet potatoes with oil & spices. I did it in small batches, about 1/4 of each potato at a time with a dash of oil and a dash of pumpkin pie spice. Then I’d squeeze out the air, close the bag, and squish it around to coat. That’s about the same amount of potato I can fit into the pan at one time, so I’d be working on the next batch while the first batch cooked.

Since they’re cut thinner, the potatoes took 3-4 minutes per side on medium-high heat. I didn’t salt the potatoes themselves. Instead, I sprinkled kosher salt in the pan before adding each batch of potatoes. They’re best when crisp, too, so if you want to be truly dedicated you can remove them from the pan and put them on wire cookie racks to cool.

While the sweet potatoes cooked, I cut the chicken into strips. 2 breasts should make 6-8 strips. Be sure to trim off any tendons or otherwise inedible bits. In a large bowl, I liberally coated the chicken with canola oil. In a separate cup, I mixed together the cumin, ancho chile powder, garlic powder, five spice powder, and about 1 tsp kosher salt. I mixed it all together to coat the chicken and set it aside.

Once the last of the potatoes were done, I put the chicken in the pan. I had 8 strips, so I did 4 at a time. Again, I salted the pan first. Add the chicken, and then DON’T TOUCH IT for at least 3 minutes. I averaged 3.5 minutes per side, but that’ll depend on how thick you cut your chicken strips.

As the last batch of chicken was cooking, I took my frenched onion and threw it into the now-empty chicken bowl. I tossed the onion around with my tongs to coat it with the remaining oil & spices. Once the chicken was done and set aside, I threw the onions in the pan & let them sear and sweeten. You just have to be sure to cook long enough to kill any nasty things that were lurking on the raw chicken. Maybe 4 minutes, with lots of stirring.

Last, but not least, I pushed the onions to the sides of the pan and used a little water to deglaze. Normally I’d use wine or chicken broth, but I was lazy and didn’t want to change the flavors I’d already created. Even without any thickener, I wound up with gooey brown goodness coating the onions.

The chicken came out crispy and golden-brown. The cumin I used was Indian rather than Mexican, so it has a fruity aroma to go with the smoky flavor. The cloves from the five spice powder helped to set that off. Even though the sweet potatoes rocked mightily, the chicken was the star tonight. I intended to make a salad to go with all that wonderful meat & starch, but as usual I forgot.

I wanted to try something a little different tonight. I prepared the tilapia in my typical manner, but in an effort to avoid my traditional starches (i.e. rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta) I decided to use sweet potatoes. I’m very happy with the way things turned out.

4 tilapia filets (approx)
1/8 cup canola oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
dash lime juice
kosher salt

1 large sweet potato, sliced in 1/4″ rounds
1 sweet vidalia onion, thinly sliced
radishes (an experiment)
kosher salt

I set the tilapia to marinate in the ingredients listed above. Sometimes I add garlic or garlic powder, but I left it out this time. The tilapia needs about 15 minutes at room temperature. While waiting, I set a large skillet on medium-high heat and started slicing the sweet potatoes. I cut them in half, ran the knife down the sides to remove the skin, and then cut across to create 1/4″ rounds. The biggest slices, I cut in half. Put in a bowl with canola oil, and toss to coat. Ditto on the radishes, which I just sliced thinly.

Sprinkle kosher salt into the now-hot pan, and add the sweet potato slices in a single, flat layer. I had to do two batches on the sweet potatoes so I wouldn’t overcrowd the pan. 5 minutes on each side, and they’d seared nicely. When I started batch #2, I also set the 2nd pan for the tilapia to preheat at med-high. I included the radishes in the last batch and turned them a little sooner. I think 2 minutes per side for them.

Once the sweet potatoes and radishes were done, I took ‘em out and added the onions to the same pan with a dash more canola oil. There was enough residual salt in the pan that I didn’t need to add more. Cook the onions over med-high heat for about 6 minutes, stirring only occasionally so they would char as well as sweeten.

When I began the onions I also began cooking the tilapia, 2 filets at a time. Sprinkle the pan with kosher salt first, and let the fish drip dry before adding to the pan. About 2 - 2.5 minutes per side, with the thicker half toward the center to get the higher heat. After all the fish was done, I poured the leftover marinade into the pan and let it reduce, stirring to get the crunchy bits off the bottom. Once it cooked down, I poured it over the tilapia filets.

Voila! Much happiness! The sweet potatoes were very popular. In retrospect, I might add something else next time. A dash of cinnamon, maybe a little nutmeg. They’d be like crispy little slices of pumpkin pie heaven. The radishes were very peppery when raw, but cooking made them a little milder. They would have been great with a ranch dipping sauce. The fish was excellent, as always. And, of course, I remain humble about my culinary mastery. *grin*

Dinner was simple tonight. Five half-inch thick pork chops. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and 5 spice powder, set aside while chopping the vegetables. The salt brings the juices to the surface and makes it sear better. Much happiness. I cut 2 onions into large wedges, 4 carrots into fairly thick strips, and 4 zucchini into 1/4-inch medallions. I like “rustic” vegetables with a rough, thick cut. The reason will become apparent shortly.

Set the pan on to preheat over medium-high heat, and start the rice. My rice is NOT Uncle Ben’s. I’m a food snob, and I insist on good basmati rice. I prepare it with chicken broth instead of just water, and I spike it with salt and garlic powder (if not minced garlic.) This time I threw in a few onion wedges, too.

By the time I’ve got the rice going, the pan is hot enough. Sear the pork chops in olive oil, about 2 minutes per side. Pull ‘em out of the pan and set them aside. Add a little more olive oil, and throw in the zucchini medallions with a little more kosher salt. About a minute per side so they’ll sear nicely. Take them out, set them aside too. You want them to be not-quite-done so they’ll crunch just a bit when you bite them. I did them in two batches to preserve the heat of the pan.

In with the carrots and onions after the zucchini’s out. Stir them up a bit, and then throw in either some chicken broth, some water, or a dash of white wine to deglaze the pan. I believe the onions & carrots cooked for about 6 minutes total — 1 minute uncovered with stirring, 5 minutes covered with the occasional stir.

That’s it! I cooked enough for 5, and with 3 people there were no leftovers. It must’ve been good. *grin*

Part II of What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I don’t mind a little zen driving with occasional checks of the map, but it was nice knowing that it was impossible to get lost. We took back roads for the trip from Savannah to Helen, GA. The GPS in our rented minivan came in handy, particularly when a covered bridge, a scenic route, or some other random little landmark inspired us to take an impromptu detour.

We got into Helen fairly early Tuesday afternoon, checking into the nicest and cheapest Comfort Inn I’ve ever seen. It was $51 a night, and the place was much nicer than either of the motels in Savannah and Greenville. I’d imagine it’s much more expensive in October, when they have an extended Oktoberfest and tourists descend on the town.

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Nacoochee Grill for dinner. I was very impressed by the food. We all liked their corn chowder. The cornmeal-dusted trout was excellent and very fresh, since it was caught in the river that flows through the town. The cornmeal comes from the Nora Mill Granary, just down the street. My entree was veal meatloaf. (I misread and thought it was venison at the time, but I’m looking at their menu online now.) It had smoked cheddar and jalapeños inside, which made it just about the best meatloaf I’ve ever had. I like to try something I’ll never see anywhere else, and in this case the experimentation definitely worked in my favor.

After dinner we wandered around the town. We spent some time in a glassblower’s shop, watching her create a few name plaques. We visited yet another candy store, though this time we stuck to the sugar-free selections. Downtown Helen, if you can call it downtown, consists of about 100 shops and restaurants packed into 3 short blocks. I can’t decide whether the alptown architecture is cute or cliché and forced. Either way, it’s fun to visit. I’d love the mountains, even if I didn’t like the town.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at Hofer’s Bakery & Cafe. Hofer’s is the only place in town that serves breakfast, unless you count the Huddle House. (I don’t.) Sticking with my “try something new” philosophy, I had a cream cheese & scallion omelet.

We stopped at the Habersham Winery. I have a decidedly uncultured palate, and I freely admit it. We bought half a case of various sweet wines. We tried a nice riesling as well as muscadine wine and a muscadine blush blend.

Wednesday afternoon found us at Tallulah Gorge. I didn’t even go down into the gorge, and it was a harder trip than last time. Taking mom down to the observation areas in her wheelchair was a little difficult. Getting her back from the last one, with its extremely steep slope, was more than a little difficult. I had to take a break halfway up. Oops! We made it, though, and I’m glad she got to enjoy the view.

After Tallulah Gorge we stopped in Toccoa, GA. We were looking for Shirley’s Soul Food Cafe, as featured on Alton Brown’s Feasting On Asphalt. The cafe was closed, so we wound up eating at the City Buffet & Grill. The food was standard buffet fare, but our waitress Shantay was incredibly amusing. I think mom & grandma liked her just because she kept picking on me. Oddly enough, she’d just moved back to Toccoa after spending a few years here in Orlando.

By Wednesday evening we’d checked into our hotel in Greenville. We’ll save the rest of the story for Part III.

I don’t think I’ve written a composition like this since elementary school. Well, maybe not. Now that I think of it, I did write a tongue-in-cheek “what I did with my summer” essay in 7th grade. That was the year I fell out of a tree in my front yard and broke my collarbone, and the essay began with the line “I fell on my head.”

This year, thankfully, I neither fell on my head nor broke anything. My mother, my grandmother, and I took a road trip to Greenville, SC, to attend the annual Adair family reunion.  My great grandmother was Mettie Adair. The only memories I have of her are vague impressions and stories I’ve been told, but there are pictures of her with me as an infant. I’ve heard time and again how delighted she was with me because I was the smallest baby she’d ever seen. I was only 4lbs 5oz at birth. My, how things change.

We decided to take a long, ambling route to get to the reunion. We drove to Savannah on Sunday, July 29th, and we stayed there for a few days just wandering around the city. Sunday afternoon we ate lunch at the old Cotton Exchange on River Street. Like all of the other shops and restaurants along the Savannah River, the Cotton Exchange is a historic building that’s been renovated and only marginally redecorated. The exposed beams in the ceiling and the rough brick of the walls give the place an old world feel. The tables were old doors that had been heavily lacquered to make a smooth surface. Sit along the front wall, and you’re likely to sit next to a glassed-in doorway that once served as a loading dock.

After lunch we wandered along the cobblestones of River Street, visiting a few touristy shops at my mother’s insistence and by mutual accord spending about half an hour at the Savannah Candy Kitchen. They give free samples of their fresh-made pecan pralines and toffee. We bought a pound and a half of pralines, dividing it between the traditional and chocolate recipes. Of course, I’ve barely touched them because it’s almost pure sugar. They’re dangerous! Good, though.

On Monday we ate lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House, which is not your typical restaurant. You’re expected to bus your own dishes, just like when the place really was a boarding house, but the food and conversation are well worth the extra effort. You sit at a huge table with 10-12 other people. At our table, there were a few locals, a biker and his family from Orlando, and a group of friends who’d come down from Baltimore for the weekend. At $15 per person the lunch price is a little steep, but I’ve never had such good fried chicken, ham, and biscuits. Everyone raved over the rutabagas, though that’s not one of my favorite vegetables. You pass the dishes around the table, and the staff brings more whenever any particular dish runs out. My only suggestion would be that they keep a few handtrucks nearby to help get satiated customers out the door.

We spent the rest of Monday wandering along River Street again, this time stopping in the River Street Gallery. Mom embarrassed me by telling the lady behind the counter that my photos were much better than the ones on the wall. I apologized to the lady because, like the cooperative galleries in Orlando, it’s the artists themselves who run the place. Thankfully she wasn’t the photographer in question, but that was an awkward moment. I also talked to a young lady who makes ceramic corsets. For now they’re objets d’art made on a smaller scale, but she’s thinking about making wearable ceramic corsets. We talked a bit about an artist I somewhat-know in Oklahoma who does that now. Interesting conversation.

We left Savannah on Tuesday morning and headed northwest toward Helen, GA. No interstates! I’ll save the story of Helen and northeast Georgia for the next time.

You have to try this!

It’s easy, and vegetarian folks can do it without the bacon easily enough. The recipe is extremely simple. The bratwurst is my own addition just to make it a meal instead of a side dish.

I cored and cut up 5 Golden Delicious apples. I cut them into pretty small pieces so they’d cook quickly, and then I put them in a relatively small pot with about 1/4″ of water and a dab of butter. Once they were cooking, I cut up 3 big red potatoes and set them to boil with just a little salt and garlic powder in the water.

I had two frozen, uncooked strips of bacon left over from the last big breakfast. I chopped those up and started them in a fairly big sautée pan. I sliced onions into fairly large wedges and put them in the pan to caramelize alongside the bacon. Once the bacon & onions were in, I added the 5 bratwurst (Johnsonville brats, nothing special.) I covered the pan and left it on medium heat. Just remember to stir it every once in a while so it doesn’t burn.

Stir the apples, stir the potatoes, stir the meat, and repeat every few minutes. I’d say it took about 15 minutes. Once the potatoes were fork-tender, I drained them, added the apples, and mashed them together. Then I stirred in the onions & bacon, leaving the bratwurst aside until it was time to load up our plates.

In theory, this would be served alongside a salad or some green beans. In my kitchen, green things sometimes get neglected.

Stolen trivia bit: It’s called Himmel und Erde not just because it’s heavenly, but also because when potatoes were first introduced to Germany, they were called “earth apples.”