David Ross

Here is a photo of the chocolate fountain at Jean-Phillipe Patisserie at the Bellagio. Rivers of white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, flows from about 20 feet high down through big glass bowls. They wouldn't let me shower inside the glass case! These are photos of wedding cakes that were made by the pastry chefs at Jean-Phillipe. I didn't ask how much a beauty like this would cost buy I imagine it would run into the thousands.

I arrived at The Venetian on Wednesday, May 16 at 1pm. Here's another tip, dont' wait in line at the arrivals area at Las Vegas International Airport for one of those 'strip busses' to take you to your hotel. My flight landed at 1115am and I did stood in line in the sweltering heat outside the airport for an hour and a half wating to board the bus. There are a number of bus companies that will take you from the airport to your hotel. The ride is about $9 bucks eacy way. That's the attraction. The downside is the wait and the fact that your hotel may not be first on the list of stops. The Venetian is at what I call the "North" end of the strip and that means The Venetian is one of the last stops a shuttle bus will make. Most of the busses leave the airport and the first "drop-off" is at the MGM. The bus then weaves its way up the strip and through hotel back alleys stopping at The Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood, Paris, Bally's, and on and on until it gets to the North end hotels. You don't wait nearly as long for a cab at the airport and the ride doesn't cost much more. I would have gladly paid $15 for a cab ride, plus tip, than that awfully long, hot wait for the shuttle bus. When I checked in at The Venetian the room wasn't ready so I stowed my bags with the Bellman and went off to 'Noodle Asia' for lunch. Most of the big resort hotels in Las Vegas have an Asian style restaurant, and many of the bigger hotels have both a casual Asian cafe and a more upscale fine-dining Asian restaurant. I love most of the Asian restaurants in Las Vegas. One of the biggest groups of tourists to Las Vegas fly over from Asia. The Asian demographic is a HUGE source of gambling revenue for the casinos and it is imperative that the hotels food and beverage department recognize that fact. As such, most of the better Asian restaurants offer many authentic dishes to cater to the tastes of their guests from the East. I am sorry to admit to everyone that I lost my notes from lunch at 'Noodle Asia.' I always travel with a diary to record my travel experiences and what I eat. Somehow the notes for that particular Wednesday are missing. But not to worry, I remember exactly what I had for lunch. I started with a 'Jellyfish Salad.' The portion was far too big for one person, and I didn't want to take cold jellyfish back to my room to save for a late-night snack. Another tip, few of the rooms at the hotels in Las Vegas have a mini-fridge. No, unlike your local Hampton Inn that has coffee makers and refrigerators in 'every room,' the hotels in Las Vegas don't outfit their rooms with those conveniences. They want you in the casino or at the shops spending money-not eating fold Jellyfish Salad at 3am. I didn't think Jellyfish Salad would be too appetizing if I left if unrefrigerated by the bedside table so I ate what I could at lunch. The Jellyfish Salad was dressed with a simple dressing of soy, vinegar, sugar and salt. There were a few shreds of carrot and sweet red pepper garnishing the salad. But for the most part, it was a mound of shredded jellyfish. The texture of the Jellyfish is slippery and a bit rubbery with a mild, fishy flavor. The salad was ok but not outstanding. I ordered the 'Mixed Fried Rice with Barbecued Meats.' Noodle Asia is famous for its roasted and barbecued Chinese style meats like roast duck, chicken and pork. I was expecting to be served a bowl of typical fried rice studded with egg, peas, green onion and little chunks of roasted pork and duck. Nope, what was served was a plate brimming with a huge mound of plain white rice. On top of the rice were some sliced, barbecued pork and some sliced, barbecued duck with some braised baby bok choy around the edges of the rice. The pork and duck were deliciously smoky and sweet like good Chinese barbecue. The skin on the duck was paper thin and very crispy. The Jellyfish Salad and the Mixed Fried rice were o.k., but I should have ordered some of the daily Dim Sum selections. The Dim Sum that was served to a family of four sitting next to me looked very tasty in comparison to my simple lunch. Since the events I would be attending din't start until Thursday, I went to the 'Buffet at Bellagio' for dinner on Wednesday night. It was a dissapointment. O.K., o.k., before you start laughing at my expense because I like a good Las Vegas buffet-ask some of your fellow eGulleteers what they like about a buffet in Las Vegas. That's right, lots of us like going to a buffet because many of the buffets cater to the tastes of Foodies. I like a buffet because I'm a single diner and the atmosphere of the buffet lets me melt into the background while I'm sitting at the table. The people eating in the buffet are serious about gorging themselves rather than wondering about why the guy at the next table is in town. I have been going to the buffet at Bellagio for breakfast and dinner ever since it opened. It was the first of the upscale 'gourmet' buffets that broke with buffet tradition and instead of serving thinly sliced, well-done Prime Rib like the old-style buffets, Bellagio would offer a 'Tenderloin of Elk with Elderberry Sauce.' Since it opened, the buffet at Bellagio has lost its luster to the upscale Buffet at Wynn. On a Wednesday night I waited an hour and 15 minutes in line for the buffet at Bellagio. That's a bit unusual for a Wednesday night but not unheard of, so if you go, plan to wait to get seated. My dissapointment in the buffet at Bellagio was not in the huge selection, but in the poor service by the chefs at the salad station and the wilted looking pizza at the 'Italian' station. The creativity of the dishes was still there-like a salad of fresh white anchovies with sweet yellow and red pepper-but the food tasted old and tired. To make up for the poor experience at the buffet, I walked over to 'Jean-Phillipe Patisserie' at Bellagio. This is one mean French pastry shop. Mean as in good. The shop is home to the world's tallest chocolate fountain. At least that's what the Bellagio says. The service is poor at best. The young ladies behind the counters are always overwhlemed by the hordes of tourists taking photos of the chocolate fountain and they have no idea what you are saying when you ask for "one of the pistachio madelines please." It's best to point and show 'how many' with your fingers. So that's a bit of a recap of day one's meals and some travel tips for the traveller planning on visiting Las Vegas.

Don't worry about going to Las Vegas if you don't gamble and aren't into the 'club scene.' There are plenty of good eats to keep you busy. I tell friends that I go to Las Vegas for the food, not the shows, not the gambling or the partying, the food. My last trip to Las Vegas was in May to celebrate the Bon Apetit Magazine 2007 Food and Wine focus. This trip I stayed at the Venetian. I like the Venetian because of its location in the heart of the action on the strip. It's across from Caesar's and the Forum Shops and withing walking distance of Paris, Bellagio, Wynn, Treasure Island, the Mirage and Fashion Show Mall. The rooms at the Venetian are all 'suites' and the room I was in was as big as my home-950 square feet. Lots of people will tell you to stay at a cheaper hotel where the rooms aren't as deluxe as the rooms at The Venetian. That just doesn't fit my profile. Part of the reason I go to Las Vegas is to escape the stress of working in airline management everyday. I'm treating myself to some wonderful meals and the experience of staying at a luxury hotel, so the big suites at The Venetian are worth it to me. I was in Las Vegas from Wednesday, May 16, thru Sunday, May 20. The weather was incredibly hot for that early in May-most days were in the mid 90's with one day topping 100 degrees. A tip for those of you considering a trip to Las Vegas-it is REALLY HOT in July and August. If you are doing down there during July or August STAY INSIDE! You'll see the normal convoy of people traipsing up and down the strip when it's 114 degrees. I've been there, done that, and it wasn't fun nor was it good for my health. If you have to walk far take a cab. Another question I get from people planning a Las Vegas trip is when to go. They'll ask me "what's the slow month" in Las Vegas when it is less crowded. My answer? There isn't a slow month in Las Vegas any more. It doesn't seem to matter if it's 3am on Christmas morning or 6pm on Super Bowl Sunday-there is always a crowd of people in Las Vegas in every nook and cranny of the strip regardless of the month, day of the week or time of day. If Las Vegas isn't packed with sports fan watching the Final Four it is packed with shoe salesmen and women who are in town for the world's largest shoe convention. The May trip turned out to be the best trip I have ever taken to Las Vegas. Each day was filled with making new friends who share my passion for food and cooking, along with some memorable dining experiences and an opportunity to sit in on a seminar hosted by some food writer's whose names I think you'll know.

Now are you ready to take a trip? Yeah, let's all go to Las Vegas! And don't ever use the slang pronunciation to tell your friends you are going to 'Vegas.' If you want to be cool and hip in the old-fashioned style of Sammy, Frank and Dean you call the city "Las Vegas." I go to Las Vegas at least twice a year and if the budget allows. Las Vegas is what I call the 'Disneyland for adults.' And if you are seriously into food, it is called the 'Disneyland for Foodies.' Las Vegas is literally an amusement park of hundreds of choices for anyone who wants to eat well. There are some wonderful reviews about dining in Las Vegas and reviews of specific restaurants in the Restaurants, Cuisine and Travel section of eGullet in the Southwest & Western states forum.

Peter thank you! I was hoping someone would notice that beast this week! Yes, it is used as a peppermill but it is actually 'Turkish Coffee Grinder.' I bought it at Sur La Table in Seattle many years ago. And yes, it does look like a mini version of the World War I artillery shell casing that I got from my Grandfather! It works 'ok' as a pepper mill. The pepper shards tend to stick to the metal innards of the mill and that plugs it up so the ground pepper doesn't come out cleanly. I have to take it apart and rinse it out about every two months. I think it is on its last legs.

While I am writing the blog today I am watching Food Network. I'm watching Food Network because the cooking shows on my local PBS station are done for the day and "Simply Magic-Cooking with Heart and Soul" with Kylie Kwong won't be on Discovery Home for three more hours. I wrote the above comments a couple of weeks ago in the 'Next Food Network Star' forum. I wanted to tell you a little about what I think of the state of cooking on television today. My list for the best in food and cooking on televison today is: -Most shows on PBS with the exception of 'Simply Ming' with Ming Tsai. If Ming says "guys" to the viewers less than 30 times a show that would be a record. I like Ming and I like his recipes. I like the guests he has on the show and I like it when he ventures into a kitchen in Hong Kong to wok-fry crabs. I don't like Ming when he refers to viewers, including women, as "guys you need to clean the cutting board after you cut-up a chicken." We are not "guys" so don't call us something that sounds unprofessional and childish. -Kylie Kwong "Simply Magic-Cooking with Heat and Soul" on Discovery Home. Ms. Kwong is stylish, sexy and knows her ingredients and how to cook them. She does get at the 'Heart and Soul' of Asian cooking through her tours of dark little alleys in Shanghai where peasant women are steaming dumplings. Her seductive, at least for me, Australian accent adds to the allure of the presentation. And while there is plenty of mood-inducing music and an 'aromatherapy' feel to the graphics and tone of the show, it works. -Most (see Gordon Ramsay below) cooking shows on BBC America that is devoted to food and cooking. I find it sexy and intriguing to hear a Brit call sugar 'Caster Sugar' and a zucchinni a 'Courgette.' Of course, there are multiple pronunciations for all manner of foodstuffs, but a British accent just sounds cool and old-fashioned at the same time. My list for the worst in food and cooking on television today is: -See "The Next Food Network Star" and "Top Chef" above. I watched the latest episode of "The Next Food Network Star" today. If I can't congratulate the contestants in any way, I do give some kudos to the panel of judges. Not for producing this show, but for the honesty in their comments. I don't know the names of any of the contestants nor do I care to learn them. One lady who was let go last week-the one who walked into the set on day one in leather, hot pink go-go pants and thigh-high pink leather boots-was booted off. The head judge, I think he's in Marketing or Production or something, said "Our viewers can spot someone who is fake 500 miles away." Right on dude! Like most 'reality' shows on television, some of the contestants on "The Next Food Network Star" don't realize it isn't about being catty or bitchy to the other contestants. It isn't about scripting your own sense of drama. It should be, but isn't, about the food and cooking. Sure, the viewer has to like you and you have to have the type of personality that connects you to people. But you also have to know about food and cooking and be able to do it under the pressures of television. The 'entertainment' shtick value of this show gets in the way of the food. -"Hell's Kitchen" on Fox with Gordon Ramsay. I haven't visited the "Hell's Kitchen" forum yet, but I'll start my rant here. This show is even worse than "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "Gordon Ramsay's 'F' Word' on BBC America. No, the 'F' doesn't stand for that. It apparently means 'Food.' At least Gordon makes attempts at focusing on food in the 'F Word.' He raised two 'organic' pigs in his backyard on the 'F Word.' He was trying his animal husbandry at raising 'heirloom pigs' to see if they tasted better than factory pigs. After the rendering service came to his home and slaughtered and gutted the poor beasts, Gordon cooked them. He said it tasted better than store-bought pig. Gordon has made a living out of telling people to (bleep) off. He is incredibly rude and unprofessional. It may make for good tv, but isn't that the Fox way? I have met many fine chefs and I doubt that they became successful for shouting profanities at strangers. It really is a disgrace. This year, there is a man on "Hell's Kitchen" that has a kidney disorder which has stunted his growth. Fox certainly didn't position this poor guy from the standpoint that they were trying to 'help' show that someone who is disabled can have a career in the kitchen. Well they can. Anyone, should be given the opportunity to have a career in cooking regardless of the obstacles. They may not make it, but they should be given the chance. I was really disgusted that Fox played this up, knowing that there were would be a 'Jerry Springer' factor to showcasing this type of contestant. I hope this guy wins it all and opens the best new restaurant in LA in 2008! I'll have to go on another computer and give you some links to stories I wrote about my own experiences with cooking on a 'reality' show on television-'MasterChef USA' on PBS about six years ago. I'll post the links tommorrow. I will also give you a link to a story on Julia Child, still my favorite cook on television. I've got to get into the kitchen now and start dinner. Fig and Anise bread with Melted Bleu Cheese, Candied Hazelnuts and Mixed Greens. Lots of Washington white wine. Duck Confit with Rhubarb Chutney, Peas-Pea Shoots-Carrots, 'Pommes de Terre Macaire.' Lots of Washington red wine. Bing Cherry Ice Cream with Chocolate-Almond Tuiles. Bed. ← Yesterday I ranted about the current state of 'reality' shows about cooking. About six years ago I was fortunate enough to be on what was really the first reality show on US television dedicated to food and cooking-'MasterChef USA' on PBS. I was just a guy from Spokane who liked to cook. I never had even considered cooking or food writing as anything more than a hobby, and I certainly had never thought of entering a cooking competition, let alone a competition on PBS. I am not at all a competitive person by nature. In fact, I am anything but competitive. I couldn't stomach how the people who were on the first 'Survivor' treated each other with such disrespect. At the time, people in my office were talking about how they would have 'plotted' to survive the challenges. How horrible I thought to myself to purposely set people up so they would fail and to think that would be your key to winning. About two weeks before the deadline to enter MasterChef USA I took the plunge and submitted an entry. Then I got chosen! The next step was to go to Seattle for the first 'cook-off' for the Northwest Region. You can read about my MasterChef experience by going to these links. http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_1.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_2.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_3.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_4.htm I've talked a lot this week on the blog about 'stories' I wrote and I've provided some links to those stories throughout the week. I'm not a self-promoter trying to get you to go to another website to read my stories. Besides, that site is kaput! I personally think eGullet is the best food and cooking website today. From the professional to the serious home cook to someone who wants a recipe for chicken soup, eGullet offers a wide variety of topics and opinions to sate anyone's appetite for knowledge about food. But I do want everyone to gain a greater insight into my food world by reading some of my original writing work, and at the very least, I hope the stories will connect you to my world of all things food. Shortly after MasterChef, a woman who was hired by the production company to do some PR work approached me and asked me if I would like to do some food writing for her new website. Being the naive rookie that I was at the time, I accepted her offer. I was so enthusiastic after the MasterChef experience that I really felt that this was going to be an opportunity for me to get some writing experience and have my work read by lots of people. It was a great opportunity to start writing about food and experience buy it sadly ended two years ago when the lady who started the site vanished into the Hollywood Hills. But I am grateful for having had the opportunity to write 70 stories and 250 recipes about my life in food and cooking. I'm still hacking away and trying to hone my writing skills with the hope of someday retiring from the airline business and making a 'career' out of this food thing. Maybe. We'll see. I write restaurant reviews for fun and practice. I write stories about food and I create recipes for fun and practice. I'm re-writing all of the original pieces I did for that old site with the hopes that someday, maybe like you, it will be published. We all dream don't we? So I hope you enjoy reading through the travails of my turn on MasterChef USA on PBS and how I swooned over meeting 'Abby' of Knots Landing fame, (aka Donna Mills).

I do a lot of Asian cooking-especially Chinese. I love the smell of garlic and ginger sauteing in hot, toasted peanut oil. Last weekend as I was preparing for this week's blog, I did a Lobster dish that I wanted to share with everyone to give you a peek through my small window of Chinese cooking. If I'm lucky enough to be invited to do another blog in the future, I'll get some photos for you of the Asian Market I go to in Spokane. If anyone out there is from Spokane-try the 'Bay Market' on East Sprague just East of downtown. It isn't in the best part of town and the market shares a parking lot with an Adult Bookstore, but it is worth the trip. They have just about anything you might need for any Asian style dish. They get fresh seafood and produce every Thursday afternoon. This is basically a Mom and Pop Asian market so don't expect that you will walk into a store with overhead signs describing what is in each aisle. And the fresh seafood is usually stored in a portable ice chest cooler out front by the cash registers. Yep, just open the cooler and take out you live Dungeness Crab! I love their fresh pork belly. It is a big chunk of fresh pork belly with the 'rind' or outer skin left on. I use it for a 'Sweet and Sour Pork.' The fat melts into the sauce as the pork slow cooks. Delicious. The dish I did last weekend was 'Lobster with Wood Ear Fungus and Cucumber.' I know it sounds odd doesn't it? You can use any shellfish in this dish, but I'd recommend lobster, prawns or sea scallops. The cucumber adds a sweet, refreshing tone and crispness to the dish. Wood Ear Fungus is a fungus that grows at the base of trees. The fungus is black on one side and light grey on the other side. It is curly and looks sort of like a furled up, dried out piece of leather. You reconstitute the fungus in hot water like you would do for dried mushrooms. Wood Ear Fungus doesn't have a lot of flavor, but it has a crunchy, chewy texture. My local Rosauer's market had a sale on frozen lobster tails. They were only $5.99 a pound and the tails were about 8oz. each. I was skeptical to buy frozen lobster tails on sale. Had they been stored in the deep-freeze for 5 years and the market was just trying to free up some space in the back by moving the lobster tails for cheap? The lobster turned out juicy and tender so I had no need to worry that it was past its prime. When I do seafood or chicken in a Chinese style stir-fry I 'silk' the meat first. I think I first learned this technique about five years ago from one of my Chinese cookbooks. 'Silking' the meat is a method of both marinating the meat and giving it a soft 'blanket' so that when you stir-fry it, the finished meat comes out incredibly delicate, soft and juicy. The basic ingredients to silk meats are cornstarch and egg white mixed together. I added a bit of salt and black pepper. I cut the lobster tails into big chunks and left the meat in the shells. While it may be a bit messy eating chunks of lobster meat in the shell-that's the Chinese way. The shell adds flavor to the sauce and it's certainly o.k. to 'suck the meat out of the shell' at dinner. You'll get some odd looks but who cares? You are simply sucking out all the delicious lobster flavor in the shells. Here are the ingredients for the sauce in the stir-fry; cornstarch, 'Shaoshing' Chinese rice wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and chicken stock. You can find Shaoshing wine in the vinegar section of Asian markets. It tastes a lot like Sherry, so if you can't find Shaoshing, sherry is a good substitute. The cornstarch helps the sauce thicken. OK, here are the vegetables for the stir-fry, and you can see the Wood Ear Fungus-it's the black, gnarly, dried shards of fungus in the right corner. You also see fresh shitakke, garlic, ginger and cucumber. Everything is ready to go into a hot wok. I leave the skin on the cucumber because I want the crunch factor from the skin when the cumber is cooked. I seeded the center of the cucumber and ran a zester down the sides of the cucumber to make the slices a look a little fancy. In the lower left corner you see the reconstituted Wood Ear Fungus that has soaked in hot water for 30 minutes. Once it is soaked in hot water it turns from black and grey to brown. The surface has of the fungus is rough and looks like gritty sandpaper. This is the finished lobster dish served with some steamed Jasime rice. Good Lord-That is Good! This is the finished Lobster stir-fried with Cucumber and Wood Ear Fungus. The little bits of white are from the egg white used to 'silk' the lobster. Those little bits of creamy egg white made this lobster so 'silky' and soft. Delicious.

Great questions and thank you for visiting the blog-and for remembering my onion rings on the dinner forum. By the way, I start by slicing the onion rings very thin, only about 1/8-1/4" thick. They seem to fry up quicker and get really crispy when they are fried if they aren't sliced too thick. I soak the onion rings only in whole milk. I then take them out of the milk with my hands and put them straight into the fry mix. Because I use my hands to take the onion rings from the milk straight to the fry mix/flour, some of the milk goes with the onion rings. When you then dredge them in the flour it sort of makes its own batter-but it's just simple mix/four-dredged. So soak the onion rings in milk and then take them out of the milk and put them into the flour. I only dredge them once and then they go straight away into the oil I use a seasoned flour sold at the market in the spices/flour section. It is 'Pride of The West' brand that is made in Portland, Oregon. It may be hard to find outside Northwest Markets. I tried a lot of mixes and that is the one I liked the best. 'Krusteaz' brand is also a very good fry mix. It is made in Seattle and they also make muffin, bread and pancake mixes. They are a big national company so you may be able to find it outside the Northwest. I prefer a pre-made fry mix over plain flour. The fry mixes usually have some baking powder mixed in with the flour and they may also have some cornstarch. The baking powder and cornstarch seem to add to making the onion rings more crisp and light over regular flour. Cornstarch does make fried foods extra crispy. I use a 50-50 mix of flour and cornstarch when I do Asian style fried foods. In the past I almost always used vegetable or canola oil for deep-frying. It is certainly cheaper than peanut oil and I didn't like the strong flavor of foods deep-fried in peanut oil when I used it in the past. But I got back on the peanut oil bandwagon a couple of months ago, and now I prefer it for frying over canola oil. It gives fried foods that extra flavor element from the peanuts you wouldn't get from tasteless canola oil. For the onion rings to be perfectly crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside, you have to get the oil to about 365-375 degrees. I don't use a fancy deep-fryer. I pour the oil in a deep Calphalon stockpot. I use a long candy thermometer to make sure the oil is the right temperature before I start frying the onion rings. If the oil is not hot enough the onion rings will be soggy and soaked with oil. The taste of poorly fried onion rings is like drinking a cup of peanut oil-awful. On the other hand if the oil is too hot-like 400 degrees-the onion rings will immediately burn when you drop them into the hot oil. The flavor of over-fried onion rings is bitter and not at all pleasant. Onion rings sound simple, but like 'bread,' simple sounding foods take some experimentation to get them just right to suit your own personal tastes. Let me know how it goes for you. In fact, I'm working on my last dinner for the blog tonight and I think I'll make some of those onion rings!

Wow, thanks for bringing back some wonderful Thai food memories. Yes, I do remember Bai Tong. A lot of people who worked in the airline industry and at the airport used to go there. It was good, spicy Thai food at cheap prices. I am not sure, but I think it has been out of business a couple of years. There has been a lot of construction in that area and that may have sealed the fate of Bai Tong. They widened the street and added a center island between the lanes. There is currently a big project being built right outside the back door of the site of Bai Tong. The local governments approved building a light rail to the airport-a much needed mode of transportation that will help ease some of Seattle's terrible traffic congestion around the airport. I never tried the black sticky rice pudding at Bai Tong but it sounds very interesting. I do remember they had very good Pad Thai and there was a spicy chicken stir-fry (can't remember the name) that was also a favorite.

I'm in the middle of cooking while watching "Are You Being Served?" on PBS. Hmm, British comedy from the 70's while cooking potatoes. The rhubarb chutney stewed down to a thick, spicy and fragrant relish, but I've got to let it cool in the refrigerator overnight so I'm going to subsitute something I had been keeping in the fridge. It is a bottle of 'Marionberry' syrup. Yeah! Another Northwest product and one I had totally forgotten was in the drawer of the fridge. I bought it last Summer at 'Baumann Farms' fruit stand just outside Salem, Oregon. Should go well with that rich duck confit.

Well, my fellow Northwesterner won. Yes, Tom beat Morimoto in the Salmon battle on Iron Chef. Great job Tom! My favorite dish Tom did was a roasted salmon 'collar.' The salmon collar comes from just behind the head of the salmon where the gills meet the body of the fish. The meat is very oily, fatty and juicy. The best way to eat it is with your hands so you can suck all the juice out of the salmon. Tom just roasted it and that was it. The garnishes were just for show in my opinion. The salmon collar looked delicious.

Thank you thank you thank you, Amen and Alleluia. I love Ming, I think he's adorable (not to mention sexy.... ) but I absolutely want to b*tch-slap him silly every time he says "GUYS". Just sets my teeth on edge. And Julia is the BEST. And always will be. ← Oh thank you, thank you. MING ARE YOU AN eGULLETEER? If you hear us, please stop now. No more 'you guys.' Last week it got so bad I turned it off. Ming-it's not hard-try something like "o.k. folks, now we are going to plate the stir-fried scallops and brocolli." That's right, "folks." It's safer and less abrasive than calling grown adults "guys."

Earlier today I mentioned that I once heard Julia Child say that Cheetos were her favorite junk food snack. Another time she mentioned she liked a Big Mac, but not as much as a 'real hamburger' grilled on the barbecue at home. I consider myself a serious foodie, but I also have the occasional appetite for a bit of junk food. Do you to? Am I going to be the only one to embarass myself on the blog and admit my most recent junk food binge? Yes, I admit it-I bought a box of the 'new Twinkies.' You probably heard that about a month ago Hostess made a big deal out of the national debut of the 'original' Twinkies. The original Twinkie was filled with banana cream. When bananas got too expensive during the War, the switched to vanilla cream. Yes, I'm eating a duck confit tongiht and I ate a Twinkie last week. I don't recommend them though, the banana filling is really sweet and it has a metallic sort of banana twang. The box had 10 Twinkies-and there are still 8 of them left. I guess they will be good for another 20 years or so.

While I am not a fan of 'The Next Food Network Star,' I do love Iron Chef-both the original series from Tokyo and 'Iron Chef America.' Currently in our time zone in the Northwest, Seattle Chef Tom Douglas is against Morimoto. If you've seen it don't tell me who won. I have personally met Chef Douglas on two occasions. On the first, Tom was the judge of my first competition on 'MasterChef USA' on PBS for the Pacific Northwest cookoff. Imagine how nervous I was! Cooking for one of the top chefs in the Northwest. I won that round, so I guess Tom liked my 'Salt and Pepper Prawns with Chinese Cabbage Slaw.' I also did a 'Fragant Spice Pork with Litchee Conserve and Green Onion Noodles,' and then for dessert, 'Puff Pastry Stars with Apple Compote and Candied Ginger Ice Cream.' Thanks Tom. I then hosted a food charity event in the 'Tri-Cities,' in central Washington. The tri-cities are Pasco, Richland and Kennewick. Tom had a booth at the event selling his books and spice rubs and did a couple of demos. Tom is very outgoing and friendly-his personality is as big as he is, and that's big! After MasterChef some of us who competed from the Northwest went to Tom's 'Dahlia Lounge' in Seattle for dinner. Tom hosted us with appetizers and a champagne toast and then treated us to many courses off his menu, all seasonal Northwest fare. Tonight Tom and Morimoto are going head to head in a wild salmon battle. They must have a big budget for this show, they have so many whole, wild Chinook salmon it probably cost them a fortune.

I wanted to add that I think the cooks on 'Top Chef' are pretty talented-both technically in their execution and creatively in the dishes that they come up with. They seem to work well under pressure and I think most of them would be comfortable in any good kitchen. My complaint is in the 'dramatic' element of this show and the focus weighs far too heavy on conflict rather than cooking.

While I am writing the blog today I am watching Food Network. I'm watching Food Network because the cooking shows on my local PBS station are done for the day and "Simply Magic-Cooking with Heart and Soul" with Kylie Kwong won't be on Discovery Home for three more hours. I wrote the above comments a couple of weeks ago in the 'Next Food Network Star' forum. I wanted to tell you a little about what I think of the state of cooking on television today. My list for the best in food and cooking on televison today is: -Most shows on PBS with the exception of 'Simply Ming' with Ming Tsai. If Ming says "guys" to the viewers less than 30 times a show that would be a record. I like Ming and I like his recipes. I like the guests he has on the show and I like it when he ventures into a kitchen in Hong Kong to wok-fry crabs. I don't like Ming when he refers to viewers, including women, as "guys you need to clean the cutting board after you cut-up a chicken." We are not "guys" so don't call us something that sounds unprofessional and childish. -Kylie Kwong "Simply Magic-Cooking with Heat and Soul" on Discovery Home. Ms. Kwong is stylish, sexy and knows her ingredients and how to cook them. She does get at the 'Heart and Soul' of Asian cooking through her tours of dark little alleys in Shanghai where peasant women are steaming dumplings. Her seductive, at least for me, Australian accent adds to the allure of the presentation. And while there is plenty of mood-inducing music and an 'aromatherapy' feel to the graphics and tone of the show, it works. -Most (see Gordon Ramsay below) cooking shows on BBC America that is devoted to food and cooking. I find it sexy and intriguing to hear a Brit call sugar 'Caster Sugar' and a zucchinni a 'Courgette.' Of course, there are multiple pronunciations for all manner of foodstuffs, but a British accent just sounds cool and old-fashioned at the same time. My list for the worst in food and cooking on television today is: -See "The Next Food Network Star" and "Top Chef" above. I watched the latest episode of "The Next Food Network Star" today. If I can't congratulate the contestants in any way, I do give some kudos to the panel of judges. Not for producing this show, but for the honesty in their comments. I don't know the names of any of the contestants nor do I care to learn them. One lady who was let go last week-the one who walked into the set on day one in leather, hot pink go-go pants and thigh-high pink leather boots-was booted off. The head judge, I think he's in Marketing or Production or something, said "Our viewers can spot someone who is fake 500 miles away." Right on dude! Like most 'reality' shows on television, some of the contestants on "The Next Food Network Star" don't realize it isn't about being catty or bitchy to the other contestants. It isn't about scripting your own sense of drama. It should be, but isn't, about the food and cooking. Sure, the viewer has to like you and you have to have the type of personality that connects you to people. But you also have to know about food and cooking and be able to do it under the pressures of television. The 'entertainment' shtick value of this show gets in the way of the food. -"Hell's Kitchen" on Fox with Gordon Ramsay. I haven't visited the "Hell's Kitchen" forum yet, but I'll start my rant here. This show is even worse than "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "Gordon Ramsay's 'F' Word' on BBC America. No, the 'F' doesn't stand for that. It apparently means 'Food.' At least Gordon makes attempts at focusing on food in the 'F Word.' He raised two 'organic' pigs in his backyard on the 'F Word.' He was trying his animal husbandry at raising 'heirloom pigs' to see if they tasted better than factory pigs. After the rendering service came to his home and slaughtered and gutted the poor beasts, Gordon cooked them. He said it tasted better than store-bought pig. Gordon has made a living out of telling people to (bleep) off. He is incredibly rude and unprofessional. It may make for good tv, but isn't that the Fox way? I have met many fine chefs and I doubt that they became successful for shouting profanities at strangers. It really is a disgrace. This year, there is a man on "Hell's Kitchen" that has a kidney disorder which has stunted his growth. Fox certainly didn't position this poor guy from the standpoint that they were trying to 'help' show that someone who is disabled can have a career in the kitchen. Well they can. Anyone, should be given the opportunity to have a career in cooking regardless of the obstacles. They may not make it, but they should be given the chance. I was really disgusted that Fox played this up, knowing that there were would be a 'Jerry Springer' factor to showcasing this type of contestant. I hope this guy wins it all and opens the best new restaurant in LA in 2008! I'll have to go on another computer and give you some links to stories I wrote about my own experiences with cooking on a 'reality' show on television-'MasterChef USA' on PBS about six years ago. I'll post the links tommorrow. I will also give you a link to a story on Julia Child, still my favorite cook on television. I've got to get into the kitchen now and start dinner. Fig and Anise bread with Melted Bleu Cheese, Candied Hazelnuts and Mixed Greens. Lots of Washington white wine. Duck Confit with Rhubarb Chutney, Peas-Pea Shoots-Carrots, 'Pommes de Terre Macaire.' Lots of Washington red wine. Bing Cherry Ice Cream with Chocolate-Almond Tuiles. Bed.

The two best Rosauer's now are the one on the South Hill on 29th and the one on East Sprague in the Valley. I think they did remodel the older store on Lincoln, but it is very small. I don't think the Taqueria is still there. Thanks for the nice comments about the coffee cake. I started with an old recipe for 'Blueberry Buckle' out of a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, then added the huckleberries, almonds and crumb topping concoction on my own. I added some melted butter to the top just before cutting the coffee cake into squares. Here is the recipe: 1/2 cup shortening 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg 2 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup milk Cream the shortening and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the egg to the shortening and sugar. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the shortening mixture. With the mixer running, add the milk and combine the batter. Spread the batter in a 8" square baking pan. 1 cup blueberries or huckleberries, rinsed and drained Sprinkle the top of the batter with the huckleberries. 3/4 cup sliced almonds Spread the sliced almonds around the huckleberries on top of the batter. Mix the crumb topping ingredients in a small bowl. I used my fingers to put little dabs of the topping all over the top of the coffee cake. 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup melted butter cinnamon nutmeg Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. I let the coffee cake cool about 20 minutes before cutting it.

We have a number of small Farmer's Markets in the Spokane and Couer d'Alene area. Our Farmer's Markets are certainly not huge in scale like the market down in Los Angeles, but we hold our own. Our local markets are usually open on both Wednesday's and Saturday's. There are a lot of locally grown, seasonal products available that give cook's wonderful ideas for supper. Here are some photos of what was available at the Spokane Farmer's Market this morning: The farmer told me that 'Garlic Scapes' are tender shoots of spring garlic with a seed bud just starting to form on top. They are delicious served fresh in a salad or served hot in a stir-fry dish. There was an Asian family of women at this wonderful produce stand. I love these fresh, baby daikon radishes. This was the highlight of the market for me-a bakery that was selling individual brioche! I have searched for brioche in Spokane for a few years and finally, fresh out of the oven! They were selling for $1.75 each. Earlier in the week I talked about 'Bing' and 'Ranier' cherries. Now you see them fresh-picked at the Farmer's Market. It may seem late to you that we are selling cherries a week away from the 1st of July. But it takes that long for our warm weather to kick in and give the cherries that last few weeks of sweet ripening. You can see that the Ranier's are 50cents more per pound than the Bings. The Raniers were picked in orchards over in the Yakima Valley which is in the South, Central part of Washington. I hope you may have had time to read my story on asparagus a few pages back. Here is a photo of our beautiful local asparagus. The stalks aren't too fat, not too skinny. I think it was selling for $2.50 a bunch. I came away with a bag of fresh pea greens, one of those puffy little Brioche and a 'Fig and Anise' loaf of freshly baked bread. We'll see the pea greens and the fig bread later tonight.

If you are like me, you don't eat a 'good breakfast'-during your work week. But on the weekend-oh the weekend-and breakfast. Food memories are some of my best memories from my childhood. My paternal Grandparents lived on a ranch in Prineville, Oregon in 'Ochoco' County in the central part of the state. My Grandfather cooked Sunday breakfast. On every single Sunday he made the same thing-pancakes. I don't know if he made the batter by hand or if it came out of a box. It didn't matter. They were delicious-light, yet doughy and a bit tangy. Grandfather's pancakes always had that consistent, golden-brown, delicate crust that only short-order cooks at diners seem to be able to pull-off. I guess it's because his pancakes were so wonderful that I rarely try to make them at home on the weekend. While I didn't make pancakes today, I did make another one of my favorite breakfasts-poached egg on toast. Now don't think it's easy to poach an egg. It really isn't-at least for me. It took me about three years to finally get my technique down for poaching the perfect egg. The ingredients? Just three. One fresh egg, some white vinegar and some water. That's all-no salt or pepper until the end. You could probably change up the flavor of the vinegar, but if you do I don't think you would get the egg white to come out so brilliant. Oh boy have I been reading the thread about Alan Richman and the people who took umbrage over his comments about the $8 organic eggs in San Francisco. I'm not going to get into that today! I will tell you though that in order to get a perfect poached egg you have to start with fresh eggs. If they aren't fresh, the egg white won't blanket itself around the yolk. I buy 'naturally nested' local eggs. The hens are fed an all-natural, organic vegetable diet and are allowed to run around out in the open and peck at bugs and grass. They do taste better than standard eggs and they seem to gel up better for poached eggs over the standard ones. What you see here is the stirring of the water with a chopstick. I use chopsticks in the kitchen almost as much as I use my knives. They are incredibly adaptable to just about anything you need to do. I use about 2 tablespoons of vinegar to a full saucepan of water. I don't let the water boil, or even simmer. I put the egg in when the water is steaming really well but there are no bubbles coming up from the bottom of the pan. I guess I'd call it 'medium-high' temperature water. The vinegar helps the white of the egg set. The reason you stir the water is to create a little 'eddy' or tidepool of water circling around the pan. Then you gently slip in the egg and the white should immediately start to swirl around and encase the yolk. The egg is perfectly poached after about 3-4 minutes. This is the final poached egg breakfast. I love, love, but don't eat, eat, much bacon. I serve poached eggs on buttered toast. But my trick for toast is to 'fry' it in a hot pan with butter so that the toast gets evenly browned. I find that a toaster makes the toast 'curl' as it gets hot. The photo isn't as clear as I would have liked, but you get the idea. The yolk is set around the edges of the egg white, but the center is runny and gooey. The toast soaks up all that eggy juice. Delicious.

If you are like me, you don't eat a-what should we say 'good breakfast'-during your work week. But on the weekend-oh the weekend-and breakfast. Food memories are some of my best memories from my childhood. My paternal Grandparents lived on a ranch in Prineville, Oregon in 'Ochoco' County in the central part of the state. My Grandfather cooked Sunday breakfast. On every single Sunday he made the same thing-pancakes. I don't know if he made the batter by hand or if it came out of a box. It didn't matter. They were the delicious-light, yet doughy and a bit tangy. Grandfather's pancakes always had that consistent, golden-brown, delicate crust that only short-order cooks at diners seem able to pull-off. I guess it's because his pancakes were so wonderful that I rarely try to make them at home on the weekend. While I didn't make pancakes today, I did make another one of my favorite breakfasts-poached egg on toast. Now don't think it's easy to poach an egg. It really isn't-at least for me. It took me about three years to finally get my technique down for poaching the perfect egg. The ingredients? Two cost a couple of coins and one is free. One fresh egg, some white vinegar and some water. That's all-no salt or pepper until the end. You could probably change up the flavor of the vinegar, but if you do I don't think you would get the egg white to come out so brilliant.

My Mother, who is now 83, would be someone who would have put canned, diced pineapple in coleslaw. I don't know if she got the inspiration (if that is what you would call it), from Beard. Housewives in the 1950's loved putting stuff like pineapple in coleslaw. Better yet, how about that pickled carrot that my Mother put in pineapple aspic! Yuck.

Ok everyone, I apologize for being slow yesterday and this morning. I've got the computer issues resolved. Last night I made an easy dinner of 'Soup and Salad.' Not what sounds like a 'gourmet' meal-but it actually turned out very gourmet and was uniquely Northwest in flavors. The salad was simple mixed greens tossed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. But what made the salad unique were the garnishes-bleu cheese and 'candied hazelnuts.' Just take some raw hazelnuts and put them in a pie pan. Roast them in a 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes or just until they turn brown. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven and put them on a cotton kitchen towel. Wrap the towel around the hazelnuts. This 'steams' the nuts and loosens the skins. Rub the towel and the hazelnuts for a few seconds and the outer brown skin or the 'husks' will rub off. Then roughly chop some of the hazelnuts and leave some others whole. Heat some butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper in a saute pan. Add about a tablespoon of corn syrup and a tablespoon of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the hazelnuts and turn the heat down to medium and cook the nuts for about 10 minutes to 'candy' them. Spoon the candied hazelnuts into a bowl to cool. Once the hazelnuts are cooled you can break off some of the candied hazelnuts to garnish your salad. The candied hazelnuts keep in a covered container about a month. You get the crunchy, nutty, woodsy taste of hazelnut, a bit of spice from the cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne, then finally some sweet, candy-brittle crunch from the brown sugar. It's a simple but delicious and different salad. I couldn't find any locally made bleu cheese so I bought some bleu cheese made by the Amish in Pennslyvannia. The Rogue Creamery in Southern Oregon makes very good bleu cheese. I was raised in Salem, Oregon in the Willamette Valley. Salem is the State Capitol and is about an hours drive South of Portland. We grow a lot of 'filbert' trees in the Willamette Valley. When I was a kid all we called the nuts were 'filberts. I know, it doesn't sound trendy enough for the marketing folks does it? It was probably sometime during the 1980's that the filbert marketing board decided they needed to change the name of the little round nut back to the name it is called back in its birthplace in Europe-the 'Hazelnut.' Well, being the nuts that we are in the Northwest, we protested at first because we thought it was sacriligeous to call a filbert a hazelnut. But we went along and of course the marketing gurus were right. The sale of Northwest hazelnuts took off and continues to grow. On occasion I'll still call them filberts just to throw somebody off track, like a waiter in a restaurant. "didn't you mean to tell me those were filberts on my trout?" The 'soup' was 'Ivar's Clam Chowder.' Ivar's is a Seattle institution and they have a number of casual chip and chowder houses around the Puget Sound area and in food court malls throughout the Northwest. I was surprised to see hot, fresh, Ivar's Clam Chowder at the hot soup bar in the grocery store deli. I couldn't resist so I brought a quart home. I dressed up the chowder with some smoked salmon from a company in Oregon City, Oregon, just South of Portland. Sorry, forgot to get the name of the company and a photo. The salmon was hot smoked over Alderwood and it was very oily and juicy. We use a lot of Sockeye Salmon for smoking in the Northwest because the Sockeye has a lot of natural oils that keep the fish moist during smoking.

Yes, you are right, Mr. Beard! I am off for a couple of hours to get some more groceries, and then I'll be back to start on the Rhubarb Chutney.

THank you for your kind comments. Today I plan to post some more meal photos and photos of what I have planned for tonight's dinner. I'm also going to talk about the Las Vegas dining scene and then the 'closer' to the week tommorrow-a short tale about another man from the Northwest who made a huge impact on the way American cooks and eats. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend.

What a great story ! He sounds like a special man, and his attitude reminds me a lot of Jacques Pepin. Simple, straightfoward, no pretense. Just about the craft and the results. Gotta love it ! ETA: By the way, I have loved the rest of your blog as well, and am very much looking forward to the next couple of days. It's impressive that you cook as you do with your schedule. ← THank you so much for the recognition of my blog. I'll be talking about another very humble and gracious French Chef-Guy Savoy. (You probably saw the photo I posted of Chef Savoy inviting me into his restaurant in Las Vegas). Like Soltner and Pepin, Savoy is gracious and accomodating. You might even call him a simple man if you met him. But these great chefs all seem to share that sense of quiet confidence and the ambition to serve others through their food. The recognition from the customer after a delicious dinner is their number one goal. I'm off to our small farmer's market to get some rhubarb to make a rhubarb compote to serve with some duck tonight!