Archive for December, 2009
Any Movement is Positive
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | daily | 4 Comments
I know it’s fashionable to make fun of Martha Stewart, but I think she’s just great. The scene a short while back where she showed Thomas Keller (only one of the world’s most famous chefs) that she was better at tackling a pomegranate than he was…hilarious. And was it just me or had she been sampling the wares a little too much before the holiday cocktail episode last week? Can’t wait to see the “Whatever, Martha” commentary on that one. Let’s face it, she can do everything perfectly, even if three sheets to the wind, and we cannot. So I’m touched when I receive email from people who seem to think that I know what I’m doing, when most of the time I feel like I’m on the losing side in the battle against, for example, a certain gigantic chicken company. There’s something seriously wrong with our food supply when it’s easier to find sustainable lamb than a chicken that doesn’t come from a company that puts it’s stock price on it’s home page, which honestly to me as a customer who cares about the taste and quality of the food is like the company giving me the finger. So I’m going to take some comfort in a statement I just read from Chefs Collaborative in it’s flyer ”Five Tips for Managing Food Costs When Running a Sustainable Kitchen.” Start with what’s easiest. It’s not all or nothing. Any movement is positive.
Art Mom
Friday, December 25th, 2009 | daily | 8 Comments
When people ask if I’m like a house mom to the guys, I’m not sure how to respond. Because I wasn’t what I’d call a good ”regular” mom. I would look at “Art Mom” and “Helper of the Year Mom” and think that I was just never going to measure up. I didn’t treat it like I was CEO of the household and I wasn’t the cookie baking kind either. It’s probably because I was so young when I had my kids that the first thing the doctors said when they gave me my pregnancy results was that they were not in the abortion business. Like a nice, simple “congratulations” was unthinkable for a 21 year old. And it’s probably because I’m just generally the sort of trouble-making person that shouldn’t be anyone’s caregiver. But the one thing I did exceptionally well was to raise two boys who dive into everything food-related without hesitation and it confirms my conviction that if you give a baby a squid ring to teeth on they will grow up eating anything. Our Christmas breakfast was homemade gravlax with citrus creme fraiche http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/dining/091hrex.html?scp=1&sq=citrus-cured%20gravlax&st=cse, Snake River Farms bacon and deviled eggs. And our dinner was Smoked Salmon Souffles http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13382/smoked-salmon-souffls followed by Beef Rib Roast, Oyster Dressing, Roasted Broccoli,and Sweet Potato Puree, with Stilton and Humbolt Fog cheeses and local pears for dessert. And the production of such a day’s food is as close as I will ever come to being Art Mom.
Serious Craft
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 | daily | 7 Comments
The irony of Ryan’s t-shirt is that what’s actually coming from his mouth is strictly classical. When he and Derek are practicing, the operatic vibration reaches the kitchen and reminds me that, beer pong and prankster behavior notwithstanding, this is not Animal House. I say this because blog traffic was up 250% yesterday, largely because of this: http://ask.metafilter.com/141242/Your-fraternity-has-a-chef-Are-you-kidding-me in which the very funny Cool Papa Bell reports finding this blog and being stunned at the very idea of a full-time cook at a fraternity house. ”I just can’t imagine a bunch of average frat boys sitting around thinking, ‘We really need to focus on our studies, so we should take some of the beer money and get a chef, so we don’t have to worry about this.’” And the repsonses he got indicate that there are thousands of Greek system cooks out there serving up the kind of dreary crap that I am fighting against. So I sort of hope that Mike Seely is wrong and that when his Seattle Weekly article hits the streets tomorrow, I get a ton of hate mail from chefs indignant at his suggestion that what I am doing is unique. Because nothing would make me happier than to hear of serious craft being practiced in fraternity houses all over the country. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-12-23/food/brotherly-grub
Favorites
Sunday, December 20th, 2009 | daily | 4 Comments
On her last day of work as my prep assistant, a job she held as research for a book, Leslie Kelly, former restaurant critic for the Seattle P.I., put a microphone and camera in front of some of the guys and asked them to name their favorite of the meals I’ve prepared. I was mortified, especially since the favorites seemed to be whatever they’d had in the past 48 hours, making for an impression that I have a repertoire of about 4 dishes. Blair and Matt W. weren’t filmed, which is a pity because they’re two who not only know the names of classics, but casually ask me things like, “where do you get your inspiration?” and ”do you think you could make chilaquilles sometime?” I was horrified by the filming of the guys, but charmed when I saw it included in an article Leslie wrote for Serious Eats. Charmed not for what the clip says about me (which seems to be that I’ve got a major thing for chicken), but for the diversity of people in this House that it captures. And not that I want to draw unnecessary attention to it, but Shane is NOT stoned off his head in this video…that is just Shane… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li2svDQgKok
Authenticity
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | daily | 6 Comments
“Movie snacks!” Badley exclaimed when I asked him what he was doing with 4 bags of Tim’s chips. “Guess what I have from Netflix, Darlene…Food, Inc.!” Just before this, Blair (pictured center) and I had been having a conversation about fresh food and the lamb shanks from Superior Farms simmering in the oven. He’s one of the few guys in the house who cooks himself and appreciates the subtle things like a color other than brown on the buffet line. Here they’re chowing down on the peanut butter bacon cookies I felt compelled to repeat when Big approached me yesterday. He’d missed them the first time and didn’t believe there was such a thing, even when some of the guys pulled up the blog post on it, complete with a photo. I’d take this as an attack on my credibility, but I’m told that when the guys watched the BBC production “Planet Earth,” he’d claimed it was all fake. And given the choice of taking a science class from David Attenborough or Big. Well, I’m just saying…
Finals Week
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | daily | 2 Comments
I sent this shot of John and Kirk to John’s boss with the subject heading “What USF Sales Guys Really Do All Day,” and the message “hang out in the rain at frat houses trying to pick up chicks in their cool ties.” Okay, I know they’re both married and have numerous customers in the U District, but the sight of them having a meeting in our driveway at the same time I was expecting a photographer from the Weekly was irresistible. They didn’t make it in and neither did Badley, who had a lame excuse about finishing up final papers. He looked like hell when he finally dragged himself into the kitchen this evening–I mean like someone who hadn’t shaved or showered in days. Such a faker. But still I presented him with a Christmas present: Mike Seely’s book Seattle’s Best Dive Bars. ”For the House,” I said. Like they need the help.
Not Wacky
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 | daily | No Comments
“I missed the food,” Newman told Brandon in the same breath as “I missed this place.” He’s back from Germany and spent a few minutes in the kitchen with me yesterday while we talked about Mike Seely’s upcoming little piece about Fraternity Kitchen in the Seattle Weekly. A photographer is coming tomorrow and I sent an email to Badley, “tell all the cool people to be here. And that doesn’t just mean you.” I don’t know what Mike will say about his visit here, but I’ve realized something lately; the guys don’t really know what I’m trying to do; they just eat. Yesterday, I had a phone call from Wayne at Creekstone Farms in Kansas, one of US Foodservice’s meat suppliers that’s doing business in a way I support. It was a thrill to be able to talk to an actual human being at a slaughterhouse, someone not ashamed or afraid to talk. He sent me some of their marketing material today and that’s when I really knew what a job I have ahead of me. “Apparently the target market [for natural meat] is wacky people,” I emailed Rod. But I am NOT!
Serious Eating
Friday, December 11th, 2009 | daily | 4 Comments
There was a funnier picture taken 5 seconds after this when Brandon and Dan popped blazing hot chestnuts into their mouths. I’m mean enough to have laughed at the time, but not evil enough to make it the cover shot. And anyway, I love what this captures; the joy at discovering a new food. Sometime ago, Badley had asked me if I would roast chestnuts. For him, it wasn’t the song, it was that he’d read Dickens and just wondered, and so one day when I was at Big John’s PFI (http://www.bigjohnspfiseattle.com/) I saw a barrel full of them from Oregon and thought of the guys. I didn’t expect them to like them, or for many of them to even try, but I was so very mistaken. My kitchen is always open when I’m there, and so, while I had been in serious conversation with Rod from US Foodservice about my desire to eliminate large feedlot beef from my menus, to buy only from their small suppliers, the guys thought nothing of filling the room with their boisterous prescence. Serious food talk can wait in line behind serious eating.
The Answer to Everything
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 | daily | No Comments
Mike Seely from Seattle Weekly came by to interview me and the guys. I was nervous as hell before he got there, and contemplated breaking out the rum the guys’ advisor had left in my safe keeping. Knowing he was coming, Zach and Badley strategically placed themselves in the kitchen and offered useful contributions like, “we don’t know what she is to us,” and “we like the food.” It was riveting, sure to make great copy for a vibrant, edgy paper like the Weekly. And to tell the truth, I don’t even know why this should be a story. I cook. Actual food. So I was relieved when Mike broke the ice by asking if those short ribs were ready for him to taste, and I proceeded to shove tasting plates at him: braised beef chuck, kurobato squash with spices and maple syrup, organic kale, and the ace in the hole twice-baked potatoes. “It’s why she was hired,” Badley suddenly remembered as he wathched Mike dive in. “It was what she brought to her interview.” I have a theory that twice-baked potatoes are the answer to everything and I’m thinking about sending my recipe to the White House.
White Elephant
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 | daily | No Comments
My husband is in Japan eating exquisite meals and enjoying spectacular views from his hotel room, while I am…not doing that. I was going to include a picture of one of those meals, but it’s bad enough that his wife writes a bawdy blog about working at a frat without dragging respectable Japanese businessmen into it. So I included an irrelevant picture of Jesse looking as uncomfortable as a Japanese businessman in a frat house. It’s “dead week,” the week before finals, and everyone is in a sour mood. Except for a group of young ladies who were doing what I can only describe as Not Studying in the basement at 9:30 AM this morning, which is just way too early for that kind of thing. And I imagine that the guys, too, will be in a more festive mood tonight when Pledge Mitch dresses up like an elf and they all exchange White Elephant gifts which, if past years’ examples are anything to go by, are…not the kinds of gifts you give your mother.
Real Goodness
Friday, December 4th, 2009 | daily | 5 Comments
Pledge Matt and I bonded this morning over our mutual disgust at the twit who left the remaining 2 or 3 pounds of flank steak from dinner sitting out at room temperature all night. “It was so good,” he said as we watched it slide into the trash. In situations like this, it’s best to keep a distance from me, but Matt followed my grumpy ass into the kitchen to make a request. “I want to get a couple of your recipes. For the grits with goat cheese. And that butternut squash thing.” Just when you think all they really want is chicken nuggets with a side of fake bacon salt, they shock you with a craving for real goodness. There were lots of great moments today, blog-worthy stories, and I won’t even touch the one about the incident at Dick’s Hamburgers last night that culminated in a little chat with a Seattle police officer outside the House in, I’m told, my parking spot. And for the parent readers, no drunk driving was involved, which probably explains why they got off with little more than a tongue-lashing. No, I’m not going to even mention that story because the best part of my day was having Jesse show up, notebook in hand to tell me, “I’m taking this class and I’m doing this project on how crap the food is on campus and I just wondered if I could pick your brain because our food doesn’t suck.”
Real Chicken
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 | daily | 7 Comments
“I know what’s making Americans fat and sick!” Badley announced yesterday like he had discovered Camelot. “Corn, wheat and soy in all that processed food,” he went on. And I’m not sure if he thought he was educating me or if he had just suddenly decided to join my cult and thought he’d throw out a few “secret handshake” words. I was thinking about this today as Leslie and I spent hours making Real Chicken Cordon Bleu. And it is a good thing I am so passionately dedicated to the “No Tortured, Manipulated Fake Food” cause. There might be a more labor-intensive task than stuffing and breading 130 chicken breasts. I don’t know, maybe peeling paint with a pair of tweezers. But by the end of the day, I turned to Brandon to tell him that I couldn’t decide if I wanted them to love this or hate it. Someone had underlined the word “real” on the hand-written menu posted in the dining room and so Jake asked the question. “Do we ever have chicken that isn’t real?” He’s one of the least food-knowlegable guys in the House, but he invariably asks the questions that leave this mouthy woman speechless.
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