eG Foodblog: ronnie_suburban - A high volume week

[herbacidal]

Can I get on the guest list for next year ? What an undertaking... the prep pictures look like it's going to be amazing amount of food & fun.

yea me too.

yet another reason to come to chicago.

i'll even come out a day early to help prep.

i miss helping prep and bartend and stuff.

hey wait, i'm your brother.

i have to be invited.

[Shiewie]

Open house for 150? Wow !!! I want to be invited too - and it 's a long flight from KL to Chicago .

Didn't know what carnitas .... but now I do - thanks!

[ronnie_suburban]

Okay, having jumped into this mid-week I should probably take a step or two back.

I live in Chicago's northern burbs with my wife and my 6 year-old son. We have access to a great variety of authentic foods because of our proximity to Chicago and its distinctively ethnic neighborhoods. Of course, being in the middle of the country also has its culinary limitations but I'm nowhere near maxing out on what this town has to offer. Between my work, my family and my generally limited free time, I don't get out to eat nearly as often as I'd like, so for me, there's always somewhere new to try. This town is a hot dog, pizza and steak town--it's true. But there is so much more here.

I also like to cook, although I am, admittedly, a hack. There are a few dishes that I do very well, and many others which carry my signature of mediocrity. But, as the primary meal preparer in my household, every so often I just get tired of cooking altogether and when my heart isn't in it, the results usually show.

I go through periods where I just want to order out every night. That would be okay except it's expensive, you end up eating like crap and out here in the 'burbs, the choices just aren't that great. Before I gave in completely and became Ronnie "Suburban" I last lived a lot closer to the city--in Evanston--and the food choices there and in the area surrounding it were fantastic. Out here in the northern reaches, you'd better be able to fend for yourself or you pay the price in variety of ways.

I do miss living right near the city (or in it for that matter) on occasion but one day I woke up and realized that I was truly ready for some peace and quiet. Every now and then I long for the old days of jumping in the car and being somewhere 'good' in just a few minutes. But, we made our choice and we're very happy with it. What my life lacks in culinary perks is more than made up for in other areas. But, I'm not saying that there aren't good food opportunities in our immediate vicinity, only that they are more scarce than in urban areas.

Our major local grocery chains (Jewel & Dominick's/Safeway) are generally horrible. There is one smaller local chain in our area (Sunset Foods) that does a fine job, but they really charge a premium. There are all sorts of great ethnic groceries and specialty shops just a few miles south of us so we're never hurting for 'real' ingredients. Although I will admit that it's very hard to find good produce anywhere near us during the colder months. We live very near a Whole Foods store, but their produce really lacks.

What else? I work in the food industry selling fruit juice concentrates, purees and other related processed fruit products. Our company is basically a boutique where large and small grocery, ingredient and foodservice manufacturers source raw materials. We fulfill product and service requirements that large fruit processors can only dream about. Nearly everything we sell is 100% natural, 100% fruit (no blends, bases or flavors, etc.) and we also carry an organic line. I often describe us as value-added commodity resellers...are you asleep yet?

Anyway, I've learned a lot from working at my job and it's very satisfying. We solve problems for people and I love that aspect of it. And...I have access to multitudes of funky fruit products which are fun to play with. For the party this weekend I am making a punch using thai pineapple juice, chinese apple juice, mexican tangerine juice and lemon juice from the usa. At any one time we carry up to 70 or 80 products in our inventory, so there is always something great to experiment with. I've also had some great travel oppotunities because of my job. Some I've taken and some I've passed on, but I expect to be doing more traveling in the future.

Family-wise, my son is a good taster but just an okay eater. He'll give anything a shot but he doesn't love everything. Still, he's not really fussy in any way. He does have his preferences. He takes a lunch to school everyday which usually consists of a sandwich (ham or turkey) , sliced apple, some chips and a dessert (fruit roll up type thing, gummi creatures or pre-fab cookie paks). When we have leftovers, he'll willingly take them for lunch and eat them, but he'd probably prefer a Lunchable. He enjoys ribs, lox and bagels, liver, pretty much all meats too. He's also seemingly exceptional in that he loves most all green veggies including broccoli, peas, green beans, asparagus--and he loves salad too.

He's not particularly interested in helping out in the kitchen. He will from time to time, but he'd rather sit and watch tv in there while we work--and that's fine with me. We occassionally do cooking projects together, but he's far more interested in the finished product than the process.

My wife generally goes with the flow. She gives me so much help keeping us fed that I really couldn't do it without her. Not only does she do a fair amount of the shopping (under my annoying direction) but she also takes the clean-up duties upon herself most of the time. I don't particularly mind doing the clean-up--it's somewhat theraputic for me--but when someone else offers, well then

She's not a picky eater and she's very appreciative of the effort I make. She's been learning to do a few things in the kitchen lately and she's very good at them...assorted roasts--beef, pork and chicken--and she's the master of steamed brocolli. When she makes it, it's always perfect; not too firm, not too mushy.

Anyway, I was so busy with the jambalaya tonight that I didn't really eat anything--except for 1 ramekin of the jambalaya and it was really good if I do say so myself

Here's a few pics from tonight's jambalaya prep...

from the bottom center...parsley, garlic, tasso, onion, andouille, pork, green bell pepper, baked ham (in the center)

5 gallon pot, ~80%? full)

hopefully there will be some left for the party

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

hey wait, i'm your brother. 

i have to be invited.

I'm glad you're coming, I really someone to keep mom from boozing it up again this year.

=R=

[torakris]

WOW!

I hope I get an invitation next year too!

[ronnie_suburban]

Before I passed out last night (and after the jambalaya was packed up) I did manage to snarf down a Strive brand s'mores bar. They're high-protein, low-carb bars that are generally awful but when you're on Atkins and in the mood for something sweet, the choices are limited. I wouldn't heartily recommend them to anyone, but I do think they're ok.

I mentioned earlier that I have a love/hate relationship with Dr. Atkins. I've spent the better part of 2003 on Atkins and I've really learned a lot from it. I don't really want to turn this into (yet another) debate about the merits/perils of Atkins but I've found that I feel better when I'm following his regimen which is why I've clung to it this year. The main thing for me in this case is energy level and sleep. When I'm on Atkins I have more energy and I sleep much more soundly than when I am not. I thought that the 2 weeks going into this party would be a good time to engage it full-speed again to give myself an edge. Turns out to have been a good choice. I'm feeling very energetic right now. I do have my suspicions about Dr. Atkins' 'death' too. Sometimes I get the feeling that he isn't really dead at all--that he's alive and well, wearing a pair of Groucho glasses, and standing in line at KFC or Mrs. Fields right now.

There's a lot more prep on the docket today and hopefully I'll actually get to eat too. I'll be back later with more. I hope everyone is having a great morning.

=R=

[Toliver]

Thanks for taking the blog time to give us your "who-what-where..." background. I appreciate it.

Oh, and make sure you take notes during your open house so we can see what the cook eats at his own shindig.

Your mise en place for the jambalaya looks wonderful...I can almost smell the ingredients!

[Rhea_S]

Excellent blog so far! I'm really enjoying the party prep portions because I love cooking for big parties. Always a huge adrenaline rush.

[bloviatrix]

If you find the time, can you take pictures of your finished platters and the table before the open house? I would love to see everything completed.

[fifi]

Now THAT is a mighty fine looking pot of jambalaya. I have some chicken stock to use up. I know what I am going to make. I just wish I could get good tasso.

[Cusina]

WOW, Ronnie, I'm coming in at the intermission here and this all looks gorgeous, especially that pot of jumbalaya. What a fun party! I'm glad that we will get to see it all happen.

If you have a chance, I'd also like to know about your Bourdain adventures, just a gloss over. I've read that he sort of led you to e-gullet and that you are a big fan, but not much more than that.

Boy, we are a demanding audience.

[ronnie_suburban]

Thanks for taking the blog time to give us your "who-what-where..." background.  I appreciate it.

Oh, and make sure you take notes during your open house so we can see what the cook eats at his own shindig. 

Your mise en place for the jambalaya looks wonderful...I can almost smell the ingredients!

NP

I will be sure to eat a lot at the party (kinda' like taking one for the team ) and report back as thoroughly as I can.

As for what I've eaten today, that just hasn't happened yet--at all. I will be going out for dinner soon, but I don't expect it will be anywhere good. Rhea mentioned the adrenaline that comes with an undertaking like this and I find it to be a natural appetite suppressant. I haven't been actively denying myself food, just haven't really had the time or inclination to eat much of it. This is so contrary to what I see as my true nature that it is deeply ironic for me to be blogging all the non-eating. I generally don't go more than 2 hours without eating something, so this has not been a typical week for me--not even close.

With the help of a marvelous and seasoned assistant, I was able to get quite a lot done today. We made the chex mix (with my home-made rub), knocked out the sugared pecans, prepared the bries for their baking, boiled & peeled 6 dozen eggs for the devilled eggs, assembled the pasta salad and baked a cheesecake. We also made a run to the liquor store to finish off the bar purchases.

We also had some rented tables and chairs delivered today as well as a couple of coat racks. Tomorrow begins the process of making pickups since many of the items we're serving are out-sourced. We'll hit the bakery (for mini-rolls and linzer cookies) as well as the bagel place (so I can slice them all in advance). There are a few more pickups to be made on Saturday, but I'll get to those later.

There is also plenty more to do tomorrow but I feel like we're keeping up with things pretty well. I may, later tonight, bake some cookies, but only if I'm really in the mood. There should be enough time tomorrow to do all the pick ups, make the few remaining items and finalize the setup and decorating of the house.

I swear that I do actually eat (look at my friggin' picture for God's sake), so I hope to report back on that activity sometime in the very near future.

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Now THAT is a mighty fine looking pot of jambalaya. I have some chicken stock to use up. I know what I am going to make. I just wish I could get good tasso.

Thanks Fifi. I was lucky to find the tasso and the andouille at Treasure Island, a small, local grocery store chain. The products were fresh, not frozen and 'imported' from Louisiana.

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

WOW, Ronnie, I'm coming in at the intermission here and this all looks gorgeous, especially that pot of jumbalaya.  What a fun party!  I'm glad that we will get to see it all happen.

If you have a chance, I'd also like to know about your Bourdain adventures, just a gloss over.  I've read that he sort of led you to e-gullet and that you are a big fan, but not much more than that.

Boy, we are a demanding audience. 

A little history about my Bourdain admiration...

3 years ago a friend lent me a copy of Kitchen Confidential and it blew me away. Really, the book had a profound effect on me. It basically confirmed everything I'd ever suspected about working in the restaurant industry and the net result was liberating. Reading KC allowed me to learn about and admire that industry without feeling the least bit of regret that I had never entered it.

So many times I'd heard from people "your food is so good, you should open a restaurant" knowing full well that the folks who were saying it, while being very complimentary, had no idea what they were talking about. In KC, Tony confirmed this for me. It was glorious to have my own pre-conceived notions about such endeavors addressed so directly and humorously in KC. The book really spoke to me.

Later, in Spring 2002, while posting at IMDB.com on a thread about cooking shows, someone mentioned to me that Food Network had (some really lame) message boards pertaining to the tv version of A Cook's Tour. I immediately went over there and sure enough, there were other fans of Tony. Many of us who posted there became friends right away. After not too long, we started noticing that posts were being deleted, edited and censored. One of the users over there, Akebono, started a yahoo group (originally called cookstour) and a bunch of us migrated over there. One of us (cannot remember who) termed FTV's web site, "The Dark Side" and we never looked back. After a short time, we named ourselves Bourdain's Ruffians and all was right with the world...Tony would even drop by on occassion to say hi.

Not too long after the Ruffians came into being, one of our members posted a notice that Tony would be here, at eGullet, doing a Q&A session. That was back in June '02 and that's when I, and a bunch of other Ruffians joined eGullet. One of our members, Pariah Kerry, won a contest here during that Q&A and received a signed copy of KC for her effort.

I've read almost everything I know of by Tony and I've enjoyed it all. I will admit (as I have posted even to Tony) that I like the non-fiction better than the fiction but I really loved his most recent, The Bobby Gold Stories. In May of '03 I and a couple other Ruffians attended a book signing here by Tony. It was great getting to meet him and he was so nice to us. It's probably worth mentioning that I brought to that signing the 'borrowed' copy of KC for Tony to sign and told him that I'd basically stolen it from the person who lent it to me. I felt like that was true Ruffian style. Tony agreed.

Our little fan group, now in its 3rd home at yahoo, is still going strong. It's amazing to me that ~50 people could post almost 30,000 messages in a year and a half but that's what we have done. Sure, there is a lot of off-topic and personal stuff going back and forth over there, but since we were all brought together by our love for Tony, the essential spirit of the group lives on the friendships we have made. In that regard, every post over there is "on" topic since, if it weren't for Tony, Ruffianville (the name of our current home) wouldn't exist.

I was disappointed to learn that Tony and FTV had parted ways, but there was a little piece of me that always felt like he was too good for the place anyway. As always, I wish him the best and cannot wait to see what new projects he turns out. Below is the pic from our current home page at Ruffianville. I put it together in photoshop a little while back...

And here is another cover pic from a few weeks ago...

This above pic was actually taken at the signing here this past May.

Okay, do I now qualify as a Bourdain stalker?

=R=

[hillvalley]

Hi, Ronnie. My mouth is watering after your photos.

Your menu is amazing. How has it come together over the years? Any long term dish that did not make it this year? There are a bunch of recipes that I would love to get once your life calms down a bit. Your party sounds a bit legendary. There have to be good stories.

Happy food preparing!

[ronnie_suburban]

Okay, an actual meal to report...sort of

My wife just brought home dinner from a local hot dog joint called Dear Franks. In Chicago, Vienna Beef is King of The Hot Dogs (although not quite like they used to be) and there are hundreds of hot dog stands which serve their products exclusively. They are not kosher, but kosher-style and since I grew up with them, they are, for me, the quintessential hot dog.

Dear Franks is a damned good rendition of a hot dog stand. Curiously, hot dog stands are not really stands per se, but carry-out joints that usually have a counter and some minimal table seating. While I wish it were healthier fare, it's great to have such a quality place so near my house. Not only do they feature Vienna Beef products and cook them well, but they also serve hand-cut fries that are simply outstanding. Of course, being on Atkins, I allowed myself just one fry tonight but I did have a char dog and a cheeseburger (both without their respective buns). Wife had the "Super Chicken", grilled chicken breast on toasted pita with lettuce, tomato and mayo (hold the onions) and my little man had a corn dog and an order of fries...

Ooooh those fries were hard to resist...

=R=

[fifi]

Hey, Ronnie. I am now munching on a bowl of pretty darn respectable jambalaya. It is an andouille and shrimp version. I left the tomatoes out of this one. (I can go either way.) Thanks for the inspiration.

I also checked and there is no recipe in RecipeGullet for jambalaya. I nominate you to provide your version. Cut down to less than 5 gallons of course.

[guajolote]

no sport peppers on the dog? no pickle relish? no tomatoes?

what's going on here?

[WHT]

no sport peppers on the dog? no pickle relish? no tomatoes?

what's going on here?

Why Would anyone do that to a dog?

[ronnie_suburban]

guajolote has correctly pointed out some of the more traditional accoutrements of the 'Chicago-style' dog...another being celery salt. In my case, I'm not much of a sport pepper guy, I may do tomatoes on a dog if they are in season, and I greatly prefer a dill pickle spear on my dog to relish. In the picture above, the camera made it to the kitchen just after I snarfed down the pickle. My standard hot dog combo is mustard, pickle and raw onion. Kinda sucked leaving the bun though

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Before going to bed last night I made a batch of 'dream bar' cookies...not very fancy but a kid-fave, and a recipe that my grandma used to make for me.

I also had a midnight (time approximate) snack of sliced ham which was left over from the jambalaya prep and some muenster cheese while I watched my tape of last night's episode of Survivor. Was that great or what?

Woke up this morning and immediately starting mulling the spices for the punch. Also, cut up last night's magic bar run and plated them up in little paper pastry cups.

On the schedule for today (in addition to the pickups) are the assembly of the devilled eggs and the rumaki, as well as a few dips. I'll let the rumaki marinate overnight and cook them right before the party tomorrow. One awesome element of being in Chicago this time of year--my garage is a steady 40 degrees F, so we pulled one of the cars out into the driveway and set up a couple of tables--and now the garage is actually my own gigantic walk-in cooler That will come in super handy after we get the devilled eggs filled, since the finished platters cannot be stacked and are otherwise difficult to store.

Still haven't hit the coffee yet, but it's coming soon. My bean source came through yet again

=R=

Edited December 12, 2003 by ronnie_suburban (log)

[slbunge]

One awesome element of being in Chicago this time of year--my garage is a steady 40 degrees F, so we pulled one of the cars out into the driveway and set up a couple of tables--and now the garage is actually my own gigantic walk-in cooler

I wouldn't be surprised if you came home to see a bunch of varmints (racoons, squirrels, mice) trying to figure out how to jimmy the lock.

[bloviatrix]

One awesome element of being in Chicago this time of year--my garage is a steady 40 degrees F, so we pulled one of the cars out into the driveway and set up a couple of tables--and now the garage is actually my own gigantic walk-in cooler That will come in super handy after we get the devilled eggs filled, since the finished platters cannot be stacked and are otherwise difficult to store.

We do that with our second bedroom when we entertain. I open up the windows to bring the room to outside temperature, and place the platters on all the flat surfaces available. We call it our "cold room."

It's also a great place to chill wine.

[herbacidal]

One awesome element of being in Chicago this time of year--my garage is a steady 40 degrees F, so we pulled one of the cars out into the driveway and set up a couple of tables--and now the garage is actually my own gigantic walk-in cooler

I wouldn't be surprised if you came home to see a bunch of varmints (racoons, squirrels, mice) trying to figure out how to jimmy the lock.

i was expecting 'lil Varmints myself.

[maggiethecat]

Still haven't hit the coffee yet, but it's coming soon. My bean source came through yet again

=R=