Daily Archives: June 14, 2008

Today was KBR Kids Day, right next door, a free event for local families. I volunteered to help set things up for a couple of hours then dragged Jim out of bed and we checked it out. They had fishing lessons, kayaking lessons, boat rides and many booths with ecological organizations, local sports teams and others. Very interesting, if held on a hot day.

I was hungry so bought an all-beef Kosher hot dog. Yum! Haven’t had one of those since a Padres game years ago! Summer day, simple food while watching kids have fun getting their faces painted or petting a tame rooster.

We brought the dog to see all the excitement and my rule about “ask Dee, ask your mom or dad if it’s OK, then you can pet her” kind of went out the window. Several youngsters left their parents and ran towards Zoe, which is OK because she’s a happy-go-lucky girl who just wants to be petted.

Well, the dryer just stopped and I need to fold clothes and make dinner. Thanks for visiting!

Dee

I grew up in western NY and the Bills were king. This has little to do with cooking except that Mr. Tim Russert liked the local food, I must say that his death at this early age of 58 is a shock and and a struggle to comprehend.

This is sent because of his research, discipline and hard work, heard in the background on an old Charlie Rose episode. I sent this to Mr. Aucoin who knew him well. “I’m a former Buffalonian and the Bills and Sabres were such stalwart sports born of incredibly brutal winters. One had to root for them over the years and I kept on after the Bills through four Superbowls. What else can a Buffalonian do but to layer on clothes and tailgate?

Mr. Tim Russert has been a stalwart news and politics figure for me for many years. My heart goes out to his wife and son. We get up Saturday mornings late but get up to watch Meet The Press on Sundays even though I’ve lived in California and even Texas and Buffalo is where I fly to for family visits.”

His preparation for a story, probing questions of guests, candor, ability to get the story and keep his interviewees and viewers interested was incredible. And he never got down in the ditch with nasty stuff to boost ratings.

He will be missed. I know that missing a fellow Buffalonian doesn’t mean much to most, but missing Tim Russert is a big deal.

I miss his wit, his heart, and his presence. Heartfelt thanks to a great brain and personality, Dee

Years ago I was en route to finalizing my required cooking apprenticeship 3,000 miles away and had spent my life savings on cooking school. My family was moving to SoCal and offered for me to drive their car across the country.

We settled on me driving from NYC to Oklahoma City, and my brother Kevin flying in from SoCal to OK City to take it the rest of the way and I flew on the parent’s dime. My cat took a limo to the airport and flew all 3K miles.  Hmm.

AAA Triptik in hand, I spent two hours the first night and three days traveling eight hours a day and driving to the outskirts of the next city, on the SW side so I could get an early start the next day without traffic. Interestingly but unrelated to cooking, the further west I traveled the less gas station attendants would do for me. Driving an old Jaguar XJ-6 they wouldn’t check the oil but said “Right nice car you got there, ma’am.” So I had to do all the maintenance in the morning before I rolled out.

Meeting Kevin at the airport, we stayed at an all-suite hotel so we’d have two beds and a living room. After checking out every restaurant within a couple of miles we were both tired so went back to the hotel.

Now Kevin can cook, and in the hotel dining room first came out a fruit platter on dry ice, compliments of the chef. We quickly noticed that practically everything on the menu was flambeed at tableside, or served on dry ice. Both techniques were so passe at that time that to use them on most of the menu was… sad.

So what did we do? Laugh until we almost fell on the floor, and slept well before our journeys the next morning. The car broke down the next day with Kevin at the wheel, water pump or something.

Note to chefs and now molecular gastronomists: play with food all you want. In the end we don’t want what emotional havoc or culinary magic happens in the kitchen, in the dining room; nor do we want half our menu to be prepared tableside. We came here to eat a good meal and have a conversation between guests, not “Hi, I’m Alex and I’ll be your Knight for the night.” Please keep this in mind.

I survived the three-hour root canal yesterday and am getting back into the game. Thanks for your kind notes.

Cheers, Dee