gfron1

Alright - relaxing in a hotel in El Paso where I'll spend the night until my spouse flies in. Kerry should be getting close to Canada by this time and Verjuice should be just about at Albuquerque. I'm sure both will have more info and pics to share once they get settled. A very busy and somewhat bizarre weekend. I'll start with the dessert. The key was the celery. How to get the flavor in, but keep it enjoyable and not distracting. I had juiced 4 C. of celery juice, which then boiled down to 1 C. of concentrate. It wasn't very concentrated, but definitely purer. I ran it through my fine mesh chinois to get the particles out, and reboiled with celery seed. I then restrained and added the sugar to make it a syrup, which I boiled down again. I brought it to softball and added it to the egg whites. Then I put it in a piping bag and that seemed like it didn't work as well as I had hoped. You can see it went from very silky smooth to somewhat broken. There was no delay between whipping and piping, so all i can figure is piping through the tip was the problem. But here is the final product. I'm still happy with the taste, just not the texture. The other problem was my mousse seemed to break instead of staying smooth. Tri2Cook - I would love to brainstorm - that's the fun part for me!

It looks like we're going to be providing delayed gratification on this whole weekend. The fact is - it hasn't stopped, and we just had no friggin' time to post much more than pics. The cheese party is over and I'm ready to pour myself into bed and wake up on Monday, but its up early for a dog walk and the long drive to the airport in El Paso. The good news is that I'll have most of tomorrow to catch up, post pics, respond to comments, etc. I'm used to the cheese parties, so Kerry and Verjuice can do most of the talking there, but it was a huge hit - good crowd and good cheese (unfortunately its rarely good wine). I'm off to bed, and I PROMISE great stuff tomorrow summing up the weekend.

I'll see if Mel will share recipes (if she even has them). The only other thing I'll say about the dessert, and then I'll do some detailing in P&B, is that I was afraid of doing what we call in American pop culture - jumping the shark - taking things too far and killing it. But, I don't see any difference in finding inspiration in a bar of soap versus a good wine, a flower, or anything else. Sometimes we find inspiration in odd places. This time it was rubbing my underarm in a shower in Palm Springs.

HERE'S the finished result. Not perfect from a consistency/structural perspective, but the flavors were right where I wanted them. Again, thanks for your help on this.

It really was an amazing meal - and I'm very impressed with Mel's ability to consistently pull of great meals (that's why I'm going into business with her). My dessert is a long running project that I'll probably walk away from. Inspired by a bar of soap in Palm Springs, and first attempted HERE. I wanted a subtle, but distinct celery taste paired with lemon. This one had numerous flaws, but I think the tastes worked and finished this meal perfectly. It starts with a vessel of Pierre Herme's lemon pound cake, filled with a blackberry lemon chiffon mousse (Italian meringue mousse), and topped with celery Italian meringue. The "pineapple" on the plate is just some of the vessel cutouts finished in a pan with butter and filled with prickly pear jelly. Today we get to actually take the chocolate class, and then its all about cheese!

Wow - what a run on great work! All of it looks so amazing. T2C - what olive oils did you use? Jumanggy - when are you going to give the photography lessons to us all (same with you Fanny!)

We're all beat after that meal and conversation. Who has the energy to actually post pics?!

Just a couple of quick updates then we're off for dinner. Chef Mel called and said, "How close to my budget do I need to be?" I said, "How important is it to you that whatever you make is being talked about by three eGulleters?" She said, "So, if I go over, that's okay?" I said, "If your meal sucks, is that okay?" She said, "Okay" I said, "Now that that is settled, how much did you go over?" She said, "Twice the amount." I said, "Oh shit." On another front, I haven't started my final dessert component and I'm running out of time. So expect extreme close-ups to hide mistakes and flaws!

That was actually sunrise this morning - beautiful. Lunch was at Gregorios Kountry Kitchen - outstanding. I'm really sick of Mexican at this point, but it was so good. Great gauc. Great flautas. And wait til you see the pics of the Taco Guadalajara.

Oddest thing. On the dog walk I started thinking in Spanish - I only do that when I'm in overload. The problem is I don't know chocolate terms...come se dice 'ganache' en Espanol? Desiderio - ayudame! So to calm my mind I drove by one of my favorite murals Then I looked in the sky...strangest thing. Some people see the Virgin Mary in the clouds. I saw chocolate bon bons...bizarre!

The question about the wine then is do I share it with friends or keep it for myself? I think I know the answer to that. I'm up at the crack of dawn today. I remember when I was young, and I loved getting up early - that was like a year ago. Now I'm looking forward to being old so I can get up at the crack of dawn again. This is going to be a packed day. I finally had to write out my schedule in 15 minute blocks to be able to get everything packed in. The pooches won't be happy - I hope Lexi doesn't attack me like she does the yuccas, but they'll get 2 (say it ain't so!) walks instead of 3. I got the final menu from Chef Mel(issa): Roasted Thai Lime Shrimp Minit Chimichurri Fruit Salad on Baby Organic Spinach Roasted Red Pepper & Mushroom Fine Créme Green Chile, Roasted Corn Crab Cake with Mango Cilantro Salsa, Sweet Potato Pureé with Grilled Vegetable Selection My dessert. And that's all after a day of chocolate!

I'm recapping the day now that I'm finally home and settled. Everyone made it safe and sound and its been a crazy, busy day! Verjuice pretty well summed up our day of exploring downtown, but here are a few more pics. First we have a cool youth mural project where professional artists work with the kids. Here's one that's on the side of our great gelato shop - who is closed for vacation. Then we walked for lunch at Shevek & Mi (a great restaurant) - who is closed for vacation. A gut shot of that chocolate croissant. Its interesting that we all shared gifts with each other. And it reminded me of the Olympics where the athletes bring what they think best represents their culture. Kerry brought me ice wine (which I have never had, but have been really wanting to try), maple syrup (in a big ass jar!), candies that we can't get in the US (what?! she thinks I like sweet stuff or something), cocoa butter (so John DePaula won't freak when I use hand cream in my desserts ), a pastry cookbook (I've had to reveal that I own virtually no cookbooks), and a pastry magazine (yes, I read them on the toliet). There's also some cheese, but we'll talk about that on Saturday. And then this afternoon when I got back to my store, I had another batch of goodies - the two basic life forces: Cheese & Chocolate.

Was the mocha good?...well, it was sugary which is all I wanted. And as for that marzipan art, those were actually ceramic/mutli-media babies. The gallery owner and I were referencing the mazipan babies that are often spread through the internet that are debunked on snopes. Verjuice is being polite about the croissant. I had been working with the baker on these for a month or so to help her improve the quality. Its pre-made butter puff with chocolate. I had been encouraging dark chips, but she is still using semi-sweet. The puff was still underbaked, and didn't seem like puff at all to me. Since this is the first that I've had, I'll be working a bit more with her to see what improvements can be made. All that said, it was still yummy, just not what its billed as.

am i understanding this correctly? the topic of conversation between two strangers was annoying, so you behaved in a manner that made them think twice about what they were talking about? ← Day late and dollar short...I missed this reply. We responded in a way that let them know that they were talking to the entire restaurant, and we did it in a way that they heard, but not the entire restaurant. Right or wrong the strategy was effective in this instance.

Today I want to show Verjuice our arts district and introduce her to some of my favorite restaurants. A few of them are trying to use local produce and product. Here's some flora from the walk. A glorious yucca plant pom I think of these as the kings of the dessert even moreso than Tucson's saguaros - they're the guards. The prince Lexi the yucca assassin. I don't know why she likes to destroy them, but she does. Right now our juniper are covered in berries, which are covered in glowing yeast. I was inspired and guided by hummingbirdkiss a while back to make a starter from this yeast, and everyone who tried the bread thought it was fantastic. Juniper Berry Sourdough Starter And finally, my town, nestled in a shallow mountain valley. We're off for coffee.

Ha! That's even funnier because I thought they were mice, but I didn't want to say that in case I was wrong, so I assumed they might be pigs. I love 'em no matter if they are swine or pest. Swine chocolates probably wouldn't be the most appropriate for Israel would they

I woke up, enjoyed a lemon cake for breakfast, and realized that they may be ugly, but they're very good. My plan is to cut them up anyway, so off to the freezer with them! I've got a plating design developing in my head, but I want to make sure it plays off the dinner, so we'll see. I'm off to...you guessed it...walk the dogs, then Verjuice and I will go to my favorite coffee shop and grab a chocolate croissant. Then I'm off to the big box to get the last of Kerry's supplies.

It still looks great - I absolutely adore the pigs!

Those pictures make it look like a dream sequence...not quite - just a brew pub. The fun thing about that brew pub is that he didn't brew his own beer for the first couple of years. He kept a bucket of wet hopps in the back so he could have a vintners license. NM liquor laws are incredibly messed up. They don't issue any new full licenses, and haven't since around 1920. So a full license now sells for around $250K - they're like water rights. You can get beer and wine licenses and vintners, and a few others, but not the full license which allows package. We don't have a package store in our town - can you imagine! So anyway, Bob the Brewer kept a bucket of wet hopps to satisfy the license requirements until he started brewing this year. And lo and behold, he's actually pretty good. Much of his beer he gets from Truth or Consequences, but I had his honey wheat tonight which was nice. Wanna see what was in my gift pack Let's start with our own Saveur 100 Rancho Gordo: Followed by CHOCOLATE! These are from The Chocolate Smith, which is a much celebrated choc shop in SF. Tonight I scarfed - I mean enjoyed, two the peanut butter and the caramel. The caramel was so soft. Lexi and Lucia also got some goodies, but we don't need to talk about lungs here in eGullet...actually I'm sure we have somewhere. My lemon cakes are in the oven right now...if they come out fine, then I have all day tomorrow to figure out this celery obsession. EDITED TO ADD: The alarm went off and I checked the cakes. Big disaster - way over rose - consequence of altitude. I'll see if they can be saved or if I'll need to try again tomorrow.

Talk about harrowing winds! My goodness - just to add a bit of drama to the weekend. But I'm back with a few pics from Deming. Here is the imfamous El Rey Carniceria. The great news is, for years they've talked about putting a restaurant in, and I saw contractors working in there today. When we go back next week, I'll be sure to actually walk in. Just down the road is one of their major wineries. Many will be surprised to know that NM has quite a few wineries between here and up in Santa Fe. This one puts out a few really good wines...and some not so good. I know we'll see some at the cheese party on Saturday. Here is the market just north of Deming. You can see the chile stack is getting lower. and their ristras are looking a bit peeked (sp?). Lunch for me came from Campos, one of the better Mexican joints in town. One of my co-workers suggested the salmon which I would normally NEVER get from one of our Mexican restaurants, but for the sake of the blog... And guess what? Sometimes risks pay off. It was no Fisherman's Warf fare, but it was very tasty. I'm not sure what the sauce was, nor that I want to know, but it was a bit sweet. The glop in front is zucchini with chiles and cheese, and behind that some type of alfredo-esque pasta. I washed it down with horchata which is my favorite drink. A bit weak, but still refreshing. A little birdy told me that 100 pounds of buffalo has just arrived in town!

Today I'm down in Deming (1 hr SE) and will capture some pics of the local food finds. This is the home of 2 wineries, El Rey Carniceria, countless Mexican restaurants - my favorite being Irma's, a pretty decent classic Italian - Palma's, a tamale factory, a tortilla factory, and chile processors. Deming actually produces more chiles than the famous Hatch (don't quote me on that), but its really all the same dirt. On my way back to town I'll stop by a local farmer's market to see how chile sales went this year - as judged by how many bushels are sitting out front still. I'm also having to watch the road conditions because the highway between Deming and Silver is often closed due to dust storms caused by overgrazing of the land.

After a brisk dog walk I had a light breakfast of an egg fried in parma butter, and this granola. Some of you from the Denver area may recognize this. The company is called Two Moms in the Raw. The daughter of a friend of ours was diagnosed with MS a few years back, so she overhauled her diet. One of the things she found was that it was very difficult to find snack foods that were good for you. She and a friend created a line of granola and a line of chips. Both are organic, vegan, raw, dairy-free, wheat-free, etc. and surprisingly very, very good. I liked it enough that I brought it to my store - and we have very tight shelf space so that's a major compliment. I'm running out of time to prepare my dessert components for Friday, so that needs to get done. I'm thinking about having a base of Pierre Herme's lemon pound cake filled with a blackberry mousse and topped with a celery meringue that I've been playing with. My test runs have been moderately successful, but not over the top, so I hope I can pull of the Hail Mary before dinner on Friday.

Dinner with no energy or enthusiasm. I used to make most of the savory dishes. Now, I just don't do it. Our schedule is more conducive to Tyler making dinners. So, when he travels, I'm in a bind. Tonight I had to use up any leftover vegetables from when Tyler was here. That meant carrots, cabbage, and celery. I also found some dried shiitake, wild Minnesota rice (Singing Pines brand), vegetable broth and these little guys that we sell, but don't really know much about. Sure they're seaweed, but what's their purpose/use? If anyone knows - please do tell. But, I just dropped them in 15 minutes before serving and wow! They were really good. They made my base definitely darker, and added a nice sweetness. I really enjoyed this soup. A lot! And enjoyed my favorite wine with the soup. I would price this at a $20 wine, but its only $8 per bottle, so we buy it by the case. I think we went through 4 or 5 cases last year - it is my absolute favorite table wine.

One of the things I'm anxious to show Verjuice is the local food movement. We have a restaurant in town that claims to be slow food - but, by definition, they aren't. They are a very good restaurant however. But we have a number of people doing special stuff with foods. Sunny's Holiday Foods make a great green chile hot chocolate. Hector Sosa makes a salsa that I would put against any other. I've already mentioned our two coffee roasters. Sarah van Horn makes nice flavored vinegars. The list goes on. One of our favorites is PA Orchards which grows most of their fruits and offers over 50 flavors of jams, jellies and preserves. Her orchard and shop is up in Pinos Altos. Good stuff.

Silver City is not for everyone. Almost everyone loves visiting. Many think they would love living here. Few actually are able to live here. Look - we're remote. You can't get around that. Its the appeal, and the drawback. If your idea of a good time is seeing what's new at the mall, you won't make it here. If you live for the corporate chains, you won't find them. One of the most common complaints from outsiders is that its so brown here. Of course it is, we live in the high dessert. But, I can drive 10 minutes in any direction and be in the wilderness. Outside of Alaska, I don't think there is another place like it. So when I walk the dogs I'm acutely tuned in to the colors - not the browness. I see the glistening yellow on the tip of the agave early in the morning. I see the rust hue of the pine tree bark at sunset. I see the red dirt under my footsteps. The ultra blue sky. That's the color of Silver City. Look ma! Its Mexico! I took my dogs out to Pinos Altos this afternoon (a town just north and 1000 feet higher), and walked in an old mining area. Today I turned to go off trail and after about 10 feet realized I was on an old mining road. I followed it a couple of miles up the mountain and enjoyed the briskness and view south to the border. Always beautiful flora on these hikes. I know for some this picture is ugly - to me its incredibly beautiful. Look at that sky. Look at that agave stalk. Perfect. Here's the most famous site in Pinos Altos - The Buckhorn. Its been in operation for over a 100 years and has many bullet holes inside and out to show the remnants of the past.