melkor

I've got more wine glasses than I should, 3 Riedel Vinum sets, 1 Vinum Extreme, and 2 Spiegelau sets. I wash all of them in the dishwasher but I do so with it empty only putting the wine glasses in on their sides on the top rack, setting the dishwasher to the rinse cycle and using the heated dry. I take them out as soon as they are done and finish drying them by hand. It works well and since I don't use detergent they don't get cloudy. If the glasses are actually dirty instead of just coated with wine I'll soap them with dawn before tossing them in. I do find a noticeable difference between the Spiegelau Bordeaux glasses and the Riedel Vinum Bordeaux glasses. Ignoring the subjective issue of how the wine tastes from each glass, the Riedels have a significantly heavier base and are much better balanced than the Spiegelau’s, which are very top heavy. Both options are good, but I wouldn't say they are equal products, however given the price I would recommend the Spiegelau glasses over the Riedels. Unless of course you don't mind the higher price tag for the Vinums.

Those photos are the restaurant Bouchon, they have opened a bakery next door called Bouchon Bakery. I'll see if I can get some interior photos without being arrested, they only have counter service and the room is all of 500 square feet.

Guess I've got a reason to go back today. I'll also grab a couple of croissants and try and find Nugget in Vallejo to compare them.

So I never managed to make it to the bakery when I was running around today. Instead we went to dinner at Bouchon, I'll post about that tomorrow. The bread kicks ass, at Bouchon they serve sections of an ear of wheat baguette when you are seated. The baguette is perfectly crisp on the outside and has a very light and open crumb with a chewy texture. I'll most likely be back at the bakery sometime this week and I'll try some of their other breads. Where in Vallejo is Nugget? I'm not big on sushi, but Ms Melkor is - so that could work.

They do make bread there, the bread looks amazing but I have not tried it as I've got half a dozen loaves of bread around the kitchen from my efforts to perfect an open crumb sourdough bread. But I suspect I'll end up back there today anyway, so I'll try their bread. Or I suppose I could just go to lunch at Bouchon as they will be serving the bread there...

Last week Thomas Keller opened his new bakery in Yountville. The bakery is located in the building next door to Bouchon, it has no sign saying what is inside; people are simply drawn in by the smell. (sticky bun, croissant, apricot spice scone, pain au chocolat, a double latte - $10.70) I have been to the Bouchon Bakery three times now in the past three days, twice Friday and once Saturday. Each time I have ordered a double latte and some assortment of pastries and bread. Everything is outstanding, I may even need to reconsider my hatred of pod-based espresso machines as their espresso machine uses illy pods and makes some of the best lattes I've had anywhere and every one is equally incredable. (lemon tart - $4.25) This lemon tart is worth driving several hours for; infact I suspect Yountville will now be on the way to all sorts of places regardless of what a map may say. All the bread at the French Laundry and Bouchon will be baked at the Bouchon Bakery; other local restaurants I suspect will purchase bread from them as well.

I smoked a corned beef about a week ago. Klink's advice was both very helpful and very simple, rinse the meat off, pat it dry, throw it into the smoker, after an hour baste with oil every half hour until it's done. It came out great. We took about a pound and a half of the smoked corned beef and steamed it for 3 or 4 hours and made sandwiches with it. From what I've been able to find online it seems that smoked corned beef is the same thing as pastrami, except pastrami has a black pepper/coriander rub on it. My next project is to turn the 13lb corned beef brisket in the fridge into a proper chunk of pastrami. The only outstanding question is when the pepper/coriander rub goes onto the meat.

Some simple potato latkes and a jar of applesauce we canned last year. Apple crisp for dessert made with the gravenstein apples from this week farmers market.

The dining habits in our house are seasonal, during the winter when the garden isn't producing as much and the farmers markets are either shut down or thinly stocked we go out to eat fairly regularly. During the other 9 months of the year we rarely have dinner outside of our house. When we do go out to eat, we go places that make food we are simply incapable of making at home, it's either asian food (which we still suck at making) or it's a trip to the French Laundry, La Toque, Gary Danko, etc.

We had a quick salad of buffalo mozzarella, garden tomatoes, basil, and balsamic while dinner was cooking. For dinner we had grilled strip steaks, corn on the cob, and roasted butternut squash. With a 375ml bottle of 94 ridge monte bello.

Having finally gotten fed up with all our sheet pans twisting in the oven we bought a pair of aluminum half sheet pans at a local restaurant supply place for $7 each. They are great, the silpats actually fit in them, they don't warp in the oven and they hold more stuff that normal baking sheets do. I'd say they are definitely worth the extra $1.50.

I stopped by the St Helena farmers market this morning, got a basket of blueberries, a few heads of heirloom garlic, and some small waxy potatoes. I think the Napa market this year has more variety than the St Helena market, thats a change. St Helena is worth the drive just for the beef from Longmedow Ranch, I'll go back next week and pick some up.

Gordons is great, dinner there on a Friday night (the only night they serve dinner) is definitly worth doing. I also agree completly with the ZuZu recomendation, it's a tapas place with great food and great wine, the only drawback is they don't take reservations.

I'm with Dave, a pair of welding gloves for the kitchen, another for the grill.

With the obvious exception of French Laundry (on hiatus I believe). Tra Vigne is overrated, their menu is static and the service is questionable. Bouchon, Bistro Don Giovanni, La Toque, Martini House, Terra, Bistro Jeanty, and of course the French Laundry (which is not on hiatus until the fall) in my opinion serve better and more interesting food than Tra Vigne. Mustards isn't a bad place to eat either though it is very loud and I would put it more on par with ZuZu, Pearl, and Tuscany.

Since your only here for a day I would make a loop going north on the western side of the valley and back south on the eastern side. Three or four wineries in a day is a good number, more and you'll most likely feel rushed. Start your day at St Supery, their tour is a good introduction to how wine is made. From there continue north to Opus, the tour there will give you an idea of wine making on a smaller scale, just don't go thinking their wine is worth $150 a bottle . You have to eat lunch at Taylor's Refresher. After lunch go down to Phelps, their patio is a relaxing place to spend an hour or so sipping some very nice wine with a great view of the valley. If time permits Pine Ridge has a tour of their caves. For dinner Bistro Don Giovanni is hard to beat in the summer, when you can eat on the patio.

The Napa market is my favorite as well. This year it has moved to the south lot at Copia, There are several new vendors now that there is more space and parking is a lot easier. Anyone else in the area shop at the Napa farmers market?

This weeks Napa market, eggs, red and purple raspberries, santa rosa plums, blueberries, a loaf of bread, some morels, corn, a basket of gravenstien apples, an ambrosia melon, a couple of strip steaks, and a wild pacific salmon fillet. This weeks new additions to the market are the purple raspberries, a new stand selling apples, and the Napa Free Range Beef stand.

This will make enough for about three quarts of pickles Mix: 1 cup white vinegar 4 cups water 1/4 cup course sea salt (or kosher salt) until the salt is dissolved. place in the bottom of each quart jar: 1/2 tsp mustard seed 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 2 tb chopped fresh dill 2 tb chopped garlic Pack the cucumbers in the jars and cover with the liquid mixture leaving 1/4 of head space, add the lids and screw on the bands. Once all the jars are filled place them in a large pot and fill with enough cold water to cover the jars with an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and boil for five minutes. Remove from heat and add tap water to overflow the pot, keep running the tap water until the jars are cool. These in theory can be stored in a cabinet but I keep mine in the fridge, they are ready in a day or two and continue to improve for a few weeks.

Sure they can make whatever they want, but if they want to sell it the BATF (or whatever they are called now) needs to approve the labeling.

Concord has I think two farmers markets a week, Walnut creek has at least one. Going out to Brentwood sounds great, I'm assuming it's not the OJ Simpson Brentwood... Where is it?

I prefer when it tastes like toothpicks and margarine.

That's exactly what I was thining. Bacon, Cheese, Olive Oil and the like, despite being three of my favorite things in the world, kinda defeat the purpose. What about herbs, garlic, that sort of thing. I'd go with caramelized onions, minced garlic, a bunch of herbs, s&p, you'll most likely need an egg to hold the mess together once you start adding dry ingredients. If you want it to taste more like a hamburger, adding steak sauce helps a lot. And again, if you toss some shaved ice in the mix right before you form them and throw them directly on the grill once they are formed they don't end up as dry.

We use the Aroma Wheels at Copia for some of the wine classes, they are quite handy.

I somehow suspect that the reason for making turkey burgers is to have low-fat burgers... Ofcourse its not that I think a bacon and butter laced bacon wrapped turkey burger wouldn't be low fat.