ADDENDA:Saw the latest Anthony Bourdain show this evening, where he went back to the restaurant that made him famous and worked the line for a night. I'm sure they took some liberties with editing, but it looked like a huge pressure-cooker of a cluster-fuck for anyone not ready to submerge in a vat of no-think-just-do for 12 hours daily. Cooking for Dinnerfest is definitely a beast of a different nature than cooking professionally. I'm just playing the guitar for a few friends in the living room, they're out on tour with Michael Jackson.
BREAKFAST: 7:15am, 2 lemon muffins, coffeecup full of chocolate soy ice cream, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Before leaving the house at 8:30 to do family chores, baked brownies from scratch to accompany a new batch of ice cream tonight, whose mix I cooked up last night before going to sleep. The pork loins have been marinating for 2 days... tonight's meal definitely is taking the most pre-thought.
LUNCH: 1pm, 1 pint pork fried rice, shrimp toast, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
I was far uptown and my bicycle was crippled by 1.5 foot deep pothole, so popped into a Chinese take-out for some oral entertainment on the subway ride home. For some reason, they did not give me any utensils or napkins....the shrimp toast was easy enough to pop in my mouth, the fried rice not so easy.
The train wasn't crowded, and once I got on I realized the appetizer made me hungrier, and some how the rice had to find a way to mah belly. I opened the container, firmly gripped within the paper and plastic bags, and using three fingers as a spoon, I lifted the rice close to my face and shoveled. As the train would come to halt at stations, I'd stop to grab the bike to make sure it didn't fall over. As I'm eating, I realized I probably look totally nuts - I'm the nut on the subway. No one was staring, and I WAS careful not to get rice anywhere other than my mouth. I know if Betsy was there, she'd be three shades of purple, but I probably would of not of busted out the rice till I got home.
PM SNACK: 3pm, 1 tiny square of brownie, hunger 3/5
Just wanted to see if it was the brownie of my dreams....no, but a lot closer to it...
DINNER: 8:30pm, 2 arancini
(pictured below), pork loin with an onion sherry gravy, roasted brocolli, mushroom rice pilaf, almond icecream and a brownie, 2 glasses wine, 1 small cup Guiness, seltzer, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
This meal was the best yet in Dinnerfest, if only because all the dishes that I made previously, this time they were markedly improved. The arancini (deep fried balls of yesterday's risotto with a speck of mozz in the middle and coated in egg and flour) was so much better because of the addition of a fry thermometer and much denser risotto - this time, surprisingly ungreasy. The brocolli was as good as usual....the pork, oh the pork, I cut the loin into small 1-serving hunks, just a palm size piece, and browned them on three sides before putting them aside to rest...moist, tender, just a tease of pink in the middle - not perfect, but 2x as good as the pork chop I made a week ago and 10x better than the dry husks I cooked up a month ago. The pilaf....eh, I used all the good ingredients and toasted the hell out of the rice before puttin g it in the cooker, but after 2 tries with hard grainy results, I added more liquid by a cup and it came out mushy. Peeps liked it, but it's not the risotto of my mind.
I served everything on the small 'salad plates', and the plate looked relatively full with a normal conservative portion. If I put them on our 'dinner plates', it would of taken up 1/3 of the real-estate, rediculous.
I was far uptown and my bicycle was crippled by 1.5 foot deep pothole, so popped into a Chinese take-out for some oral entertainment on the subway ride home. For some reason, they did not give me any utensils or napkins....the shrimp toast was easy enough to pop in my mouth, the fried rice not so easy.
The train wasn't crowded, and once I got on I realized the appetizer made me hungrier, and some how the rice had to find a way to mah belly. I opened the container, firmly gripped within the paper and plastic bags, and using three fingers as a spoon, I lifted the rice close to my face and shoveled. As the train would come to halt at stations, I'd stop to grab the bike to make sure it didn't fall over. As I'm eating, I realized I probably look totally nuts - I'm the nut on the subway. No one was staring, and I WAS careful not to get rice anywhere other than my mouth. I know if Betsy was there, she'd be three shades of purple, but I probably would of not of busted out the rice till I got home.
PM SNACK: 3pm, 1 tiny square of brownie, hunger 3/5
Just wanted to see if it was the brownie of my dreams....no, but a lot closer to it...
DINNER: 8:30pm, 2 arancini
(pictured below), pork loin with an onion sherry gravy, roasted brocolli, mushroom rice pilaf, almond icecream and a brownie, 2 glasses wine, 1 small cup Guiness, seltzer, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5This meal was the best yet in Dinnerfest, if only because all the dishes that I made previously, this time they were markedly improved. The arancini (deep fried balls of yesterday's risotto with a speck of mozz in the middle and coated in egg and flour) was so much better because of the addition of a fry thermometer and much denser risotto - this time, surprisingly ungreasy. The brocolli was as good as usual....the pork, oh the pork, I cut the loin into small 1-serving hunks, just a palm size piece, and browned them on three sides before putting them aside to rest...moist, tender, just a tease of pink in the middle - not perfect, but 2x as good as the pork chop I made a week ago and 10x better than the dry husks I cooked up a month ago. The pilaf....eh, I used all the good ingredients and toasted the hell out of the rice before puttin g it in the cooker, but after 2 tries with hard grainy results, I added more liquid by a cup and it came out mushy. Peeps liked it, but it's not the risotto of my mind.
I served everything on the small 'salad plates', and the plate looked relatively full with a normal conservative portion. If I put them on our 'dinner plates', it would of taken up 1/3 of the real-estate, rediculous.
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