Installment # 5 of Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

                Still in phase one!  After a failed attempt to replace the kitchen flooring with self adhesive tiles, it became necessary to hire a professional.  Gustavo came highly recommended, arrived on time and worked after hours which meant, as a side job, the labor rate for my job was lower than the usual, which, of course, was fine by me.  The floor, thus far installed by Gustavo by Monday night, was looking great, smooth and sealed, just the way the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) expected it.  I did, however, have one problem with Gustavo.  Gustavo’s command of the English language is somewhat poor, poor enough that I did not understand him correctly when he answered my question as to how long before I could walk on the floor.  

               I had been waiting for the fire chief and the third party fire suppression certification people for some time and they were expected the next morning.  Gustavo ensured me that with the heat set at 78 overnight, the floor would be dry the next day.  “Tomorrow”, I repeated to make sure that I understood.  “Jes”, he answered, shaking his head in the affirmative.  I left that evening with the heat cranked up to 78, confident that when I returned the next morning, the glue would be dry.

                I am still not sure exactly where the communication broke down, but what I do know is that when I arrived the next morning to host the fire chief and his party, the floor was no dryer than when I left the night before.  And, it was not until I was well into the middle of the kitchen and looked back toward the door that I realized that every tile on which I had walked, had moved away from the next, leaving gaps between the tiles and glue squishing from between.  Fortunately, the fire chief could see what he needed to see from the doorway.  Unfortunately for me, I spent the next two hours returning the tiles to their proper placement, peeling unidentifiable debris from the bottom of my sticky shoes, which on trying to leave, stuck unexpectedly to the door mat.  If it were not for my daily workout which includes balance exercises, I would surely have fallen face down as I attempted to get free, first one foot then the other, then back again to the first one.  Having watched Candid Camera in my youth, I laughed out loud, expecting to see Allen Funt burst through the door.   

                Two weeks later and the floor has begun to dry.  The infrastructure is finished.  We sadly said good-bye to our last contractor on Friday (we came to know them well) and phase two has officially begun---moving in!  Thus far, craigslist has provided us with coolers, furniture, stainless prep tables, steam table and finally, the perfect size sandwich station, 27 inches wide.  I say perfect, because everything at the Bull must be miniature in size in order to fit the 750 SF space.  But apparently small is in because the smaller the piece of equipment, the more desirable and therefore as supply and demand would have it, the fewer available and the higher the price.  But fortunately for us, although sad for the seller, there are always restaurants closing and good deals to be made.  If only it would stop raining!

                Today was a day to spend in my office catching up on bills, designing menus, brochures and coupons in preparation for the first marketing event for Beyond the Bull, a Mardi Gras theme fundraiser for Meals on Wheels, to take place on Friday, February 15, at the Anderson, SC Civic Center.  It will be a coming out party for the new kid on the block, so it is important that we get it right.  On the menu for tasting is a Louisiana Cajun Canard with LA white BBQ sauce, a Bull signature dipping sauce.  For those of you who are not fluent in French, it is duck (this one in meatball form) seasoned with Cajun spices and a vinegar-based white BBQ dipping sauce.  Recipe is below for you adventurous types who have access to duck.

                Now, how to prepare a whole rabbit for service at the Bull, hmmm---time to play with my food again.  As I have stated earlier, but it bears repeating, “I love my job!”

Louisiana Cajun Canard

with LA White BBQ Sauce

Makes 38 1 oz meat balls

1 lbs. ground duck 

1 egg

1/2 cup celery, brunois

1/2 cup yellow onion, brunois

1 green bell pepper, brunois

1 poblano pepper, brunois

ground thyme

salt

pepper

garlic granules

whole bay leaf

celery seed

ground cayenne

ground sweet paprika

For the dipping sauce

1 cup Dukes mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

mustard seed

salt

pepper

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

First review of GOOD FOOD BAD FOOD is in..."The book is a marvelous read. Candid, honest and heartfelt...and teaches wonderful techniques. Don't think I ever thought about poaching in olive oil!  Can't wait to try it.  Everything is beautifully put together and authored by a most fascinating and funny woman who obviously cares about the health of America and beyond! I will cherish this and share the info with my clients." Dr. Susan Solomon, Charleston, SC.

This unsolicited first time review of Good Food Bad Food arrived in my email box on my birthday last week.  What a gift!  Thank you, Dr. Solomon.  The book is available on Amazon and Createspace online as a paperback or as an ebook for Kindle and Nook at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

                Now back to the business of opening a restaurant.

Installment # 4 of Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

               Still in phase one, improving the infrastructure (floors, plumbing, etc.), my team and I decided to travel the state and leave the contractors on their own while we continued our search for equipment that fit our budget.  Considering the small size of our miniscule budget, this is no easy task, but we are determined and have thus far met our goals.  Crisscrossing the upstate from NC to GA, hauling a utility trailer behind, we came back empty handed except for one thing…the PERFECT steam table. 

                For those of you who are unfamiliar with food service terminology, a steam table is a hot holding station containing wells. or whales as they say here in the South.  Being from Maine, I wondered about the relevance of the underwater mammal to the discussion of the steam table until my embarrassed, red faced husband translated on the tech’s behalf.  Back to the steam table---the wells heat water to a certain temperature, into which a hotel pan of food is placed to keep it warm.  And this one is perfect, right color, size, condition, price, and is essential for cafeteria style service, the type of service customers will find at Beyond the Bull.  Picture a Subway sandwich service counter, but replace the cold food with hot and you have cafeteria style hot platters like the ones to be served at the Bull.  Customers will not only see the scrumptious looking eat smart versions of Hammonasset Chicken, Duck Cakes Caramel, Dad’s Easter Rabbit, Sage Chicken Livers with Figs, Bison Osso Bucco, and Scallop and Shrimp Ceviche, but they will be able to choose their house made fresh salsas, dips and side items like fried brown rice with chili and sage fried corn or quinoa with butternut squash from what is right in front of their eyes, all thanks to the steam table, which we have now nicknamed the whale.

The Whale

That leaves only one last piece of equipment to find---the sandwich station.  Although the Bull will not be serving sandwiches (one of man’s worst inventions) the cold station is an essential piece of equipment from which every restaurant serves condiments, salad ingredients and cold sauces.  We did find one not far from here this week, affordable and looking oh-so- good in the photos, but sadly disappointing when seen in person.  There was enough greasy dust on the fan to fill a king size pillow case.  Badly maintained, it would no doubt fail ten minutes after being plugged in.  So, now the hunt continues.  Any leads from my fellow restauranteurs will be considered and greatly appreciated.

A special shout out to our RNDC wine representative for supplying samples of varietal wines for us to try before deciding on the final offerings of single serve wines to complement our eat smart menu.  Yes, I know that wine is acid forming and therefore, not smart.  But, remember, we strive for balance, at least 60% alkaline forming foods.  Consider wine to be in the acid forming portion and if you add a little piece of lemon, as I do, it makes it just a little less bad.  The Santa Rita Carminere and Barefoot Merlot were especially good choices for bison and duck.  Next week we sample whites---yummm…I love my job!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

               

Installment # 3 of Diary of a madwoman, uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant...playing with food

As anyone who has worked on a long term project that includes the coordination of contractors, leasehold improvements, inspections and so on knows, there are times when there is nothing more that can be done but wait.  I have never been good at waiting so I use the time to write, scour the upstate for great deals on equipment like these recently purchased coolers, designing signs, banners and marketing brochures and my favorite pastime, of course, I cook.  

Yes, as you can see from the photo, we chose Clemson Tiger orange.  What else did you expect since we are in such close proximity to the champions of the 2012 Chick-fil-a bowl?  And besides, statistics prove that it is the color that stimulates the appetite the most.  Yum!!!

Recently there has been a lot of waiting, so I have done a lot of cooking, practicing and experimenting, refining, and standardizing recipes.  Those who benefit the most from this are friends and members of my household, my husband, and my loyal companion (not my husband, although he is also loyal) who at this moment lies under my desk, sleeping with his wet, black nose warm against my bare skin and soaking my flip flop. 

One of the biggest perks of opening a new restaurant is free food---no joke.  Vendors competing for your business will gladly provide samples, and for me, that means I get to play with my food.  Since Beyond the Bull is an eat smart kitchen, and avoids the use of highly inflammatory foods that include anything prepackaged, added fats, sugar, table salt and refined grains, as well as many of the most popular proteins including beef and pork, I get to play with alternative proteins like rabbit, duck, bison, venison, and organ meats.  Thanks to Maple Leaf Farms, the producer of the finest duck products in the U.S., I now have a freezer full of duck sausage, ground duck, duck patties and slow roasted pulled duck.  But, no foie gras!  For those of you who are new to my blog, read my article Corn Fed America to find out why.  After weeks of practice, my favorite duck recipes and those that will appear on the menu are Moroccan Pulled Duck and Duck Cakes Caramel.  The first is a blend of slow roasted leg and thigh meat, Moroccan spices, raisins and green olives with paper thin slices of lemon, and the latter a cake (a thick patty) of ground duck, balsamic caramelized onion, cilantro and Latin spices, crispy brown on the outside, juicy and sweet in the middle.  I am currently waiting for samples of Bison for osso bucco and rabbit for Dad’s Rabbit Stew.  In the meantime, since today is my birthday, I’m allowing my husband to spoil me and do all the cooking!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

                                                            

P.S. to the sheetrocker and tiler, I am still waiting!

                        

Installment # 2 of Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

And I thought cleaning the grease trap would be the worst of it---no, not so!  Having completed the cleaning, painting and repairing of the dish and rest rooms, my team and I spent last week alternating between painting the front of the house (dining room) and searching the upstate for appropriate equipment and furnishings to bide our time while waiting for contractors (sheet metal, carpentry, and plumbing).  And a successful week it was! 

Our first stop was an abandoned restaurant in a mill town where the only occupants for the last 18 months had been four legged and furry or six legged and nocturnal.  We had not thought to bring a flashlight and without power, we were forced to use the light of our phones to work our way through the once bustling kitchen, now a graveyard of sticky stainless steel and crusty grill work.  The owner, however, was only too willing to let us have our pick of cooking apparatus as long as we removed it without any help from him.  And to our delight, we found two gems, a char-grill and a griddle, both table top versions in recognizable condition, a small prep table and an odd assortment of baking sheets and pans.  What a haul, except for one minor detail, the grease was as thick as that purposefully applied to automotive parts to make them move effortlessly.  For a brief second, I longed to return to the dish room and clean the grease trap for a second time.

My experience has been that Craigslist is the best place to shop for bargains, better than any auctions or used restaurant equipment stores, online or brick and mortar.  But, since I am not the only chef looking for bargains on the site, I also know from experience that, as we used to say when we were kids, you snooze you lose.  So, Saturday morning, when my search for commercial refrigeration (coolers) returned a used two door True stainless steel cooler for an unbelievably low price, off we went.  And since the seller naturally expected this to be a cash transaction, the first stop for me was the local bank. 

Here’s a riddle. What bank in this country does NOT have Saturday hours?  MY BANK! Okay, so the local branch in Central was closed, but surely, the main branch in downtown Clemson would be open.  Nope, the sign posted on the door read Mon to Fri 10 to 5, ATM in lobby open 24 hours.  Yes, of course, the ATM, and I entered the lobby.  Although the seller wanted more than I was allowed by the only bank in America closed on Saturdays, to retrieve from an ATM, I fortunately had two accounts flush with cash at the only bank in America closed on Saturdays.  And between the two of them, I would have the funds needed to buy the damn cooler.  

I withdrew my first card, and completed the transaction, entering all of the information required.  Now, as I waited for what I thought was waaay too long, I could hear the inner workings grinding and squealing as the ATM tried to push the bills out the horizontal door.  I say tried because unbelievably, only the bills that I could see on the top of the pile made it all the way out the little opening.  Those who know me well, know that I have exceptional eye hand coordination, and I am fast, but even with both hands free to grab those bottom bills, that door clamped shut before I had a chance.  Never have I ever experienced such frustration as I did when I read the words that appeared on the screen.  The bills were not removed in the allotted time.  Please see your financial institution for assistance.  What?  Financial institution?  The only one in America that is closed on Saturdays?   My second attempt at the ATM in Central, the one that sits prominently in the square in front of the only bank in America that is closed on Saturdays, was just as unsuccessful.  There the screen read, The allotted daily amount has been met  We are unable to fulfill my request. 

Fortunately due to the intercession of my husband who uses a bank that, unlike mine, IS open on Saturdays we paid the seller and the monster cooler was tied securely into a utility trailer with the help of several of the seller’s neighbors.  Euphoric at the success of our latest acquisition, I called upon our business neighbors to assist in offloading and moving the giant into our establishment.  Here is another first, right up there with the grease trap!  How do you get a refrigerator which measures 33 inches deep by 54 inches wide and 84 inches high and weighs 500 pounds, through a standard size doorway and into a room with 96 inch ceilings?  Well, I am not going to bore you with the details, but after 45 minutes, the cooler was upright, inside and the only wound was in the ceiling which will be scarred for life.   

In addition to a cooler, char-grill and griddle, our only other score for the week was made in a place I should call home---the local Goodwill store.  I think the reason that I am so fond of that store is twofold.  First, I am an antique lover and self recognized authority on certain period pieces and therefore, appreciate all things older than I am.  And second, some of my fondest memories of time spent with my mother were those when we dressed in our Sunday best including hat and gloves and went downtown to the local Salvation Army store.  It was there that I watched in awe as my mother found the diamond in the midst of quartzite and managed to talk the clerk into accepting half the price on the ticket.  The poor salesman never had a chance.  And so in the spirit of my mother, I came to be the owner of a barely used, very expensive DVD/CD/MP3/tuner with 4 speakers and sub woofer, all for half the ticket price of $ 15.00.  I think our on-premise diners will be quite pleased!  

                ‘Til next week, keep an eye out for a natural gas convection oven, sandwich station and steam table, all looking to relocate to BTB in Central, SC.   And a degreaser wouldn’t hurt either!

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

As promised, here is week one in the life of Beyond the Bull, an eat smart kitchen,  located in downtown Central, SC, home of Southern Wesleyan University and next door to the very proud winners of the 2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Clemson University---go Tigers!  In spite of the holidays and the high absenteeism in most business and municipal offices, we managed to get all of the systems turned on in the building, bugs exterminated, the coming soon banner hung and the dish room clean.  No, we were not without problems, but we managed to solve them all.  The most baffling one was figuring out why there was no power even though Duke Energy swore (in three separate phone calls) that they had indeed turned it on.  Yes, I replied for the third time, the outside main breaker was on, the outside individual breakers were on as were the inside breakers, and still there was no power.  Talk about redundancy!  It was not until I spied a tiny metal door thickly painted over and hidden behind fire department certification tags and gas pipes that we finally solved our dilemma.  Just three more breakers and voila, let there be light.  Gasp!  I liked it better when the light was dim and hid the dirt, droppings, floor cracks and grease in a kitchen long awaiting a new chef. 

                Unfortunately it also allowed me a better view of the dish room, the three bays of the stainless steel sink caked with ancient dried spaghetti sauce and rotten mozzarella cheese left by the previous tenant, a pizza parlor whose owner was obviously in a hurry to vacate, and an un-obscured view of the single most hated piece of equipment in all restaurants---the grease trap.   For those of you who are not familiar with this piece of equipment, the very name says it all.  The purpose of the grease trap is to trap grease (and solids like mozzarella cheese) that make it down the sink drain, preventing a clogged system further on.  And as one would suspect, leaving the contents in the grease trap for any length of time ( in this case two years) allows bacteria to grow and bugs to move in creating an odor worse than any gases produced by the human body.  Now, since my experience with grease traps has been limited to calling a service and paying someone to bring a big truck with a pump to suck out the waste, I wasn’t sure how to proceed.  So I did as I always do when presented with a problem with which I am unfamiliar.  I asked the world wide web, after all, if it is on the internet, it must be true. 

                Fortunately for me there were some very good demonstrations and tips as to how to clean an under the sink grease trap.  

Tip number one, wear protective clothing, goggles, mask and gloves up to your elbows.  I chose an old chef coat (to throwaway if necessary), big rubber gloves, mask, and my designer progressive lens eyeglasses (goggles would render me blind).  

Tip number two, fill a large garbage bag with kitty litter to absorb the liquid.  Double bagged just in case, the bags were filled with half the kitty litter that I had just purchased for the job.  The second half was soon added as I bailed the liquid and scraped the rubberized mozzarella depositing both into the bags.  

Tip number three, never do this when you have customers.  It didn’t really hit me (literally) until I removed the cover how important this tip was.  Even through the mask I was able to smell the odor.  I imagined the homeowners in the area were checking their toilets and the manager of the restaurant next door was yelling at the dishwasher for not having cleaned his trap when he said he did.

                One hour later, the dirty deed was done.  Thirty minutes later I was home scrubbing the smell from my nostrils in a hot shower, proud of our accomplishments at Beyond the Bull, the first week.  Along with a sparkling clean and sanitized dish room, we had water, gas, electricity a working, clean restroom, a parking lot and a banner out front that proclaimed our arrival.  It feels good to be tired when it is the result of a labor of love.

A happy and healthy New Year to All…

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

As a writer, teacher and business owner there is almost never a day when I am not focused on a lighted 14 inch screen and tapping the keys before me.  I say almost because there are four days a year when I joyfully close my office door and turn my focus elsewhere.  They are Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve day and Christmas day.  They are days for traditions---traditions like spending the day in pajamas and flip flops, cooking breakfast with my husband, hanging lights in the front yard, setting out the reindeer, watching the black and white version of “It’s A Wonderful Life”, thanking God for what is good in my life and wondering what I have done wrong to bring the bad.  I am closing my door now, a little later than usual.

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

Coming Soon…Beyond the Bull!!!

It was three years ago this month that I began my quest to raise the funds and find the perfect location for what I have been referring to as an “eat smart” restaurant, the first of its kind to serve anti-aging gastronomy.  Well, I have finally found it---8 miles and 13 minutes from my front door!   True, it is not a restaurant yet, but the space is mine as is the parking lot, antiquated kitchen, one bath and the small wrap-around porch.  One would have to be a visionary to think of the 750 SF cape as a restaurant, but then, I believe that is what I have become.  I also believe that Beyond the Bull will soon be a reality (March 2013) and a successful model for others to follow.  Next week, my team and I will begin the process of renovating, improving and otherwise transforming the space into my vision.  And, of course, I hope you will follow us as we clean, fix, design, install, apply for permits and licensing, develop menus, market, and practice, practice, practice in preparation to open what the banner hanging from the front porch proclaims:   

 

Coming soon to downtown Central, SC, population of 5000, neighbor to Clemson University and home to Southern Wesleyan University, BEYOND THE BULL, the first “eat smart” kitchen...stay tuned!

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

P.S.  Every book you purchase helps to buy FF&E!  Give your friends and loved ones the gift of health… GOOD FOOD BAD FOOD  now for sale on Amazon 

A SMART Thanksgiving

For those of you who have been subscribing to my blog, you know that the subject is worthy of repeating---inflammatory foods are the source of age related chronic disease.  And since the Thanksgiving holiday is all about food, family and friends (which it is every day for me), I thought I would help those of you who truly believe in the anti-aging way of eating, to have an anti-aging Thanksgiving feast.  And although traditional Thanksgiving foods can be highly acid forming if prepared using ingredients such as stuffing mix from a box, it is possible to have a SMART holiday that mimics those you remember fondly from childhood.  So, grab your potato masher and roasting pan and let’s have the smartest of all holiday dinners.  Happy SMART Thanksgiving to all!

A Smart Thanksgiving Menu

Vegetable cocktail

In a juicer combine celery, parsley, cucumber and apple. 

Pour one ounce of your favorite gin or vodka in a chilled martini glass.  Add the juice

and garnish with cucumber slices.

Appetizer

Asparagus wrapped in thin sliced prosciutto with

horseradish mustard sauce

Vegetarian spring rolls

Seasoned Daikon chips

Soup

Butternut and jalapeno with

kale chip garnish

Salad

Spinach, red onion and black olive with a blueberry balsamic

vinaigrette and crunchy soy nuts

Entrée

Roast Turkey with wild rice, parsley, sage and mushroom stuffing

Gravy from pan drippings and stock

Smashed maple sweet and Bliss potatoes

Cranberry chutney made with celery, raisins, vinegar,

black peppercorns, apples, chili peppers and onion

Green beans and almonds

                                   Roasted grapes

                                       Dessert

                                       Olive oil pot de crème with 

                                       fresh berries

Happy Thanksgiving and eat smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

P.S. Don't forget to order your copy of GOOD FOOD BAD FOOD in time for Christmas gift giving.  

On Sale Now

 GOOD FOOD BAD FOOD, a 230 page anti-aging diet and cook book

I am so proud!  My baby is finally born and it only took seven months, not nine.  Perfect timing because it’s beginning to look a lot like---you guessed it!  So, for those of you who have a newly-wed or beginning homemaker in your life, here is the perfect gift.  A two volume set of Cooking Skills for Life (AsGood As It Gets and Good Food BadFood) both now available in paperback on Amazon and Createspace ---  Volume 1, a how-to of cooking methods with family recipes and anecdotes from the author and Volume 2, the diet book for anti-aging cookery that includes all the information, cooking methods, ingredients, and recipes, recipes, recipes, that he or she needs to know to avoid age related chronic disease.  What better gift to give than a formula for health!

The following is an excerpt from Good Food Bad Food---

                     The cocktail course is one of my favorite ways to introduce more vegetables into my diet through the use of fresh fruit and vegetable juices.  And for those of you who, like me, enjoy alcoholic beverages, drinking your vegetables as a mixer in a cocktail will lessen the negative effects of an otherwise acid producing beverage.  From my  blog http://antiaginggastronomy.blogspot.com/

of August 19, 2012, some tips on a dinner course

which is usually left out of nutrition and diet books---

The Cocktail Course

Many years ago, before I discovered the benefits of eating an anti-aging diet, I jumped on the juicing diet fad bandwagon in one of many attempts to lose the extra pounds that I was carrying around.  I was reminded of it recently when my husband and I decided to join the annual going back to school neighborhood multi family yard sale last weekend.  Going through box after box of stored memorabilia, collectibles, and household goods, was like watching an old home movie, or turning the pages of a scrapbook of our lives.

  Like hundreds of thousands of other forty somethings in the 80s, I plunked down $ 200 more or less and bought a popular state of the art juicer, hawked by a well known sports octogenarian who swore into the camera that drinking a concoction of carrots, celery and parsley, freshly juiced every day was the key to his longevity and good health.  For one whole week, I juiced every vegetable and fruit I could get my hands on to try out the machine.  After weeks of juicing, I was no closer to a normal weight than before I had started and generally felt no different, although I did notice a tinge of permanent orange on the fingers of my left hand, no doubt from all of the carrots.  A decade later and 3000 miles away from where I had first used it, here it was again, it’s shiny stainless steel blade none the worse for wear.  So out to the yard it went with all the other boxes that had crossed the continent more than once and still remained unopened through the last two moves.  As the day wore on, it became apparent that no one was interested in a $ 200 juicer, not even for $ 30 bucks.  I took that as a sign. 

At the end of a long day of powerful deal making and highly impressive negotiations over the price of vacation themed shot glasses and tarnished silverware, there I was at my kitchen counter pondering what to do with my $ 200 juicer when suddenly it came to me.  I am always looking for more ways to prepare and consume vegetables that could then be served to offset small amounts of acid producing foods like protein and grains.  With experience I have been able to come up with enough interesting ways to prepare alkaline producing vegetables, condiments, soups, salads, and such for every meal except for one.  The one course that is particularly difficult with which to accomplish this balance is---the cocktail course.  Yes, you heard me.  That’s right.  In my family the first course to every evening meal is the cocktail.  Now, staring at the juicer I knew I had a way to convert that course to a 60/40 (alkaline to acid producing) ratio as well.
All alcoholic beverages are acid forming, whether it is vodka from potatoes, gin from juniper berries or tequila from the blue agave.  Now, I have tried to rationalize my participation in the cocktail course by thinking of the juniper berries, and blue agave, and potatoes as vegetables, of plant origin and therefore, alkaline producing, right?  Wrong!   Sugar, fermentation and distillation yield an acidic forming product.  But, here’s the good news.  A contemporary cocktail such as an appletini or cosmopolitan, is made of anywhere from 1 to 2 oz of alcohol and the rest of the glass is filled with a mixer.  Sooooo, as I eyeball my juicer staring me in the face, I realize it is the key to rendering the cocktail course from one that is acid producing to an oh-so-good alkaline forming first course.  By juicing fresh whole parsley, celery, lemon, lime, cucumbers, avocado, tomatoes, apples, carrots, beets, lettuces, chili peppers and any other vegetable of your liking (not all together, of course) and adding good spices and herbs like cinnamon, mint, basil and red pepper flakes, you can turn an acid forming classical martini of gin and dry vermouth (fortified wines are even higher in acid forming qualities), or a contemporary one like a cosmopolitan into a powerhouse of alkalinity.  Just leave out the vermouth and bottled mixers and fill to the brim with liquid vegetables, freshly juiced including the fiber.  And there-in lies the reason why no one bought my juicer.  I do believe in serendipity. 

Eat Smart Mexican Martini (my favorite cocktail thus far)---Juice celery stalks with leaves, cucumbers and lime zest.  Add the juice of one lime.  Chill a martini glass and pour in 1 1/4 ounce of Tequila.  Fill to brim with juice.  If you like a salted rim, coarse ground sea salt will do.

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.

An Evening With Two Fat Ladies

It was just about this time of year, Fall, of 1996, that two fat ladies named Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson,  happened on the British culinary scene and through their love of lard and all things fresh, became an overnight sensation.  Wright and Paterson, who were indeed two fat ladies became Two Fat Ladies who rode into the opening scene of every segment of their British cookery show on a Triumph Thunderbird, Wright riding sidecar alongside a goggled and leather helmeted Paterson. Their odd personae, disdain for vegetarianism,  and lack of professional culinary skills did not hurt the popularity of the show which ran for three and a half seasons, until cut short by the death of Jennifer Paterson.  But although there were only twenty-two episodes (ten of which I have not yet seen), the popularity of their show lives on. 

I was first introduced to these larger than life talents when I happened on their show being aired on one of the cooking channels last year.  Having a fondness for tradition, and all things natural and from another time, I never missed one and in fact, felt cheated and sad when they came to an end.  Where in today’s sanitized, polished, television cooking shows can you see so much butter and lard, anchovies, garlic, unpasteurized raw egg products, sweet vermouth, game and fish, large, calorie rich meals with unusual ingredients, made by two fat ladies wielding wooden kitchen spoons, taking time outs for a cigarette break, and a celebratory cocktail and smoke at the end of every show?  

And although the duo had disdain for vegetarianism, non-fat, lo-cal and lo-sodium, their ingredients were unprocessed and came from farms and roadside markets, local fresh turned butter, as well as vegetables and fruits picked from the fields and orchards, and in many episodes, fish and game, caught or shot by Wright or Patterson on camera.  My heroes!  My hat comes off to the originators, producers and to the two fat ladies themselves for their wit, stamina, originality, and most of all, their ability to see the trees in spite of the forest. 

    Tonight, I will watch the other ten!

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.