For the past decade I’ve been responsible for cooking the Seder dinner. It’s gotten more elaborate over the years – particularly the desserts because we get invited over to a friends house for one of the Seder meals.

Last year I created rosewater meringues dipped in rum syrup. It was delicate, light, kosher and surprisingly good. This year I made two deserts. One to bring to our friends’ Seder and one for fun. The one to bring to their Seder is the famous François Payard’s Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies. To keep completely kosher, I had to grind my own sugar. Although the soft white powder looked good in the food processor when I was done … it was still very coarse. Other than that, the recipe was followed to a “T” (as in “Tanuch”) and came out very, very good. Our hostess will be pleased.

The second dessert I made didn’t turn out so well – Crème brûlée. The cream over-boiled, the custard didn’t set (even keeping it in the oven an extra 1/2 hour didn’t help), and because there was less custard (I lost about a cup of cream to it over-boiling), the sugar ratio was too high and made it too sweet. The ramekins were too small, so the extra 1/2 cup of cinnamon sugar spread amongst the 2-inch tops was too much and I didn’t have a torch.

Surprisingly, the top sugar melted perfectly in the oven at the high broiler setting. And other than it being to sweet, the flavor was spot-on. And they looked cool. At least they’re kosher. So I learned the following – watch your cream carefully … once it starts to boil, it can overflow or burn within seconds. I used 5 yolks … next time I’ll use 6 or 7 to help it set better. Some potato starch would have helped it to set, too. Finally, when adding the sugar on top, skip what the directions say and make the portions fit the ramekin size. A thin layer of sugar is better than a thick one.

1. Too spicy hot. My taste buds were so preoccupied fighting the chili burns that it couldn’t taste anything else. I tried to tone down the flavor with sour cream and salad but the salad seemed permeated by the same spice only hotter!

2. Fish strips were too short – almost like curds. They either piled up or flopped out of the taco. You remember the school cafeteria progression? Steaks on Monday, Hamburger on Tuesday, spaghetti and Meatballs on Wednesday, mystery meatloaf on Thursday, etc… I felt like it was Wednesday and some other customer who got there before me had the full fillet.

3. Too wet. The corn tortillas were soggy and messy. This also made the corn tortillas droopy, putting more pressure on the dry structure and causing them to split more.

4. Soft corn tortillas weren’t softened. Whatever parts weren’t dripping in soggy mess were splitting apart, as mentioned earlier.

5. Condiments were old. The guacamole was brownish green and the sour cream was coagulated.

6. Sides did not compliment the meal. The “coleslaw” seemed to have been soaked in the cayenne pepper which meant that trying to cool your tongue by eating the only side you had to the meal made the experience even more painful.

7. With the old condiments, lack of original sides and geometrically placed tacos sagging around the sides of the platter, the dish appeared as appetizing as fast food. I already had an ill conceived idea of what dinner experience my mouth would suffer in the next half hour.

Thoughts on solutions:
1. Use a milder Creole spice rather than the spicy Cajun variety.

2. Use more butter than before to keep the fillets from breaking apart while cooking and cut the fish fillets into longer strips AFTER they’ve been pan fried with a very sharp knife. If cut prior to frying, coat them in an egg-white spice mix to hold the structure of the flesh and lock in the flavor.

3. Dry on one platter, wet on another. Even if the wet platter is a bowl in the center – keep the wet away from the dry. And drain the oil off the fish before sticking them in the corn tortillas. Add well drained – very well drained – ingredients to the taco like slightly under ripe tomatoes and black beans. These add flavor without the squish.

4. Press corn tortillas in very hot steam to soften them. Try sprinkling a little cheese all over a slightly moist corn tortilla (this will add structure) then super heat it in a dry pan. That will make it pliable. Also offer a flour tortilla option.

5. Repeat after me … fresher is better. That aside – guacamole turns brown in about half an hour after it’s been exposed to air. Lime or lemon juice help deter the oxidation process. Only make guacamole on an as need basis. Don’t make a bowl of it at 10 AM to scoop out at 5 PM. Yuck! To keep sour cream from coagulating, use a fattier option and mix with a little bit of whole milk. Also – plain sour cream? Be more original. Use plain white yogurt or sour cream infused with sun-dried tomatoes. That tang will give a twist that will make conversation.

6. There’s got to be something more original or flavorful than chopped white lettuce soaked in cayenne pepper. Rice. Rice and fish go great together. So does polenta. Try a little gumbo on the side. These make interesting sides that compliment the dish, not detract from it.

7. Take a plating course. Look at foodie blogs to see how plates are arranged. Don’t place in symmetrical patterns flat across the plate, but use some level of vertical direction. Add a sliced and twisted orange with a sprig of cilantro over the top to add zest and appeal.

That’s it.

It’s “mainstream” because it’s not another Adams Mountain Cafe, Dale Street Cafe, Gertrudes or Olive Branch. In other words, it doesn’t appear to cater specifically to health nuts. You can order fish and chips or burgers like most other American food restaurants, but it’s not some disgusting MSG laden chain like Applebees, Red Robin, TGIF or others similar. Even my son who has an arsenal of food allergies can eat the burgers from the kids menu.

The restaurant is very family oriented with old classic cartoons beaming from television sets around the dining hall to the model trains that circle above your head. It also has a classy feel, which is unusual for family restaurants and gives this eating locale a character and charm of its own.

Instead of bringing out the typical complimentary oily GMO chips and salsa or fatty flavored fries, it’s a plate full of crunchy carrot sticks with dressing to dip them in. When you order regular fries, it’s potato strings, oil and salt. You can ask for healthy options when ordering and the waitresses and waiters are quick with their answers which I take as a queue that they are asked these questions often and the restaurant is becoming more known in the circles of natural food eaters as an enjoyable outing.

They offer an interesting burger that most people might first wince at. Imagine a bacon burger with peanut butter instead of ketchup. Don’t laugh. Think about oriental food – Chiang Mai steaks, or Szechuan Beef – and you’ll recall the combination of nutty and meaty timbre throughout the meal. The burger seems to be one of the local favorites because of its unique yet pleasing flavor.

I had the fish tacos, which was probably one of the lesser items on the menu. Even the side condiments were sad in appearance and texture. The owner of the restaurant seems attentive and desirous of his customer’s comments but was busy waiting on tables so I left a comment on their cards for him to get to later. I was thinking today of what could have made the fish tacos great and thought up some points on how to improve them. That’s what the next blog will be about.

For now, do better than me and if you order something that you don’t like, tell the waitress or waiter and have it fixed. These are not the type of chefs that would spit in your food like those who work in other places (especially chain or snobbish restaurants – and there are plenty of horror stories out there that are too disgusting to mention). These are chefs and employees who work closely with the cheerful owner who takes humble honor in running his business.

I give it four and a half out of six forks.

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day. It started in 1977 to bring awareness of the benefits of living a vegetarian life style ranging from the treatment of animals to health importance.

Other than veggies I enjoy a good fish, which technically makes me a pescitarian. I’m not disturbed by bear rugs or mink coats but get ill at the taste of most meat (in the past it tasted like cardboard), though I’m a glutton for just about anything cheese-related.

Cheese-loving occasional-fish-eating mostly-vegetarian people unite!

High altitude is great for crisp dry air, beautiful winter snow and alpine flowers. It is not good for baking, candy making or jelly making. I nearly fumbled the jelly this year by trying to follow the recipe. I don’t see any high-altitude directions, so assumed there weren’t any major differences. How wrong I was!

Trying to get the pectin, fruit juice and sugar to set at 220 Fahrenheit is next to impossible. Why? Water at this altitude boils at 200 degrees, not 212. By the time you reach 220 degrees you’ve well over burned your jelly or candy. That means the jelly-set temperature is closer to 207 degrees, adjusted for percentage – not geometric difference. For those higher in altitude than the mile-high city, I suggest you start testing your jelly around 206 degrees on a frozen saucer(freeze a few saucers for multiple tests).

Barometric pressure also plays a factor. It changes widely and quickly in the mountains and can really mess up your candies and jellies if not watched after.

A candy maker told me that in this area you have to watch the weather for a solid clear sky and check for storm patterns when making your candies or they won’t come out.

Chocolate and fudge is a little more forgiving. Still, I’ve even had some crystallized fudge from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory before so even well seasoned candy makers can have their off-days.

So how did the black raspberry — red currant jelly come out? Much of the water boiled out leaving a very thick, very hard set, very strong jelly. Not burned, thank goodness, but it almost did.

It’s as black and dense as midnight though clear as a jewel and spreads on a deep, rich, royal purple. It would probably do better spooned out and diluted to be served as a syrup because of its intense raspberry flavor, but still goes well with the hearty flavor of hearty-grained or strong buttermilk breads. It probably wouldn’t do well on water crackers.

I had another interesting and fun basic geometric math problem to solve while making the jelly. The recipe calls for 2.25 cups of sugar for every 2.5 cups of juice after straining. All the juice had been strained in the pot it would be made in and I didn’t want to make a mess of the dark juice. I remembered that you could convert metric volume into liters – that, after all, is the definition of a liter. Liters could be converted into cups, which could then be multiplied by the ratio of sugar to juice for the correct amount of sugar without ever needing to pour the juice out of the pot.

The diameter of the pot is 24cm. The depth of the juice was 2.6cm. ( pi*(24/2)^2 ) * 2.6 is roughly 1176.212 milliliters or 1.176212 liters. There are 4.22675282 cups in a liter. That ends up being roughly 5 cups of juice, which means 4.5 cups of sugar was needed. It was a perfect example of my math teacher saying “You may want to do this someday…” becoming true.

Fantastic jelly, geeky math fun, and a story to tell. What more could you want to do with your evening … other than sharing a piece of jelly emblazoned toast with your inspiring wife?

A large windmill spun overhead as we pulled in past the gate. Parking our van we quickly spied over the metal bar fence. Picnic tables adorned the lawn to the side of a large red barn. Nestled on the barn’s porch were white rocking chairs and a table with a box of freshly pulled garlic stalks resting in it.

Paula took some of the family to ask about the process at this farm. I followed up with some equipment and water.

“There’s a ‘train’ that picks up here and takes us to the berries.”, she said.

We didn’t wait long when a green John Deer tractor pulled up with a large red and white bench seat wagon rolling behind. The driver showed us where to pick the red currents and where to pick the black raspberries then slowed to a stop to let us out.

We spent some time picking currents. After pulling together two pints worth, we began picking the raspberries. The combination of mid-90 degree heat and thorny bushes was difficult for the children to bear so they headed back to the barn for shade when the next ‘train’ came by. “Get the black ones!” cried out the driver over the tractor engine. I nodded as she pointed in an area “These are more ripe here!” she called out again.

I continued to pick berries for some time longer before heading back to the barn area myself. My girls picked flowers and dug up carrots during that time. Once we were all together again we drank water and sat on the shaded porch in rocking chairs. Then Claudia came by.

Claudia and Tim are the owners of Berry Patch Farm. Her tan face and energetic smile display a level of passion she has for her farm. She kindly answered questions Paula had about organic farming. She mentioned that the Colorado State University was invaluable as a resource – that the university even takes classes to her farm to study organic farming techniques in practice. She talked some about the expenses related to this type of farming, but also related the benefits to it.

A few minutes later we were joined by Tim. He waved to us as he stepped off the tractor. A few minutes later he was showing the children a medium sized rock that had been split by lightning.

When I asked if I could get a picture of him and his wife together he asked if I were from the media. “No”, I replied, “but it might end up on my blog, though nobody really reads it.” He and Claudia looked at each other and chuckled.

“A few weeks ago we were visited by some Microsoft bloggers. They called ahead and made arrangements then took some nice pictures, too.” He was talking about the Eco-Trippers who were making a journey from San Francisco to D.C. for the “Live Earth” concert and stopped by on the way.

We perused the barn some more. They have a variety of fresh vegetables of course, but they also have honey, eggs and some great tasting almost-natural candy. It isn’t quite completely natural since it uses non-organic corn syrup amongst some other purist taboo ingredients. One of the girls and I went out and picked some fresh basil then checked out.

That night we had a fantastic Margaretta pizza with the basil. As for the currents and raspberries, I plan to make some fantastic jelly with them. The rest of the family can hardly wait.

In the small town of Richfield Utah on 101 main street there is a little green-roofed restaurant that if not for a classic storefront sign jutting over the sidewalk would be easily dismissed. But that red and white sign beaconed out. As it was approaching 1 and this looked like a salivary adventure, we took the opportunity to stop.

It wasn’t a stinky, oily fast food dump. It wasn’t a schmaltzy hotel cash sponge. It wasn’t on the side of the highway with a big plastic cow and wagon nailed to the roof. It was clearly a local diner with a home-town feel and full of locals and home cooked food.

On the other side of the building there is a dilapidated sign which looked as old as the founding date printed on it: Since 1929. Even the original Dick and Mac McDonald’s place didn’t open until 1940.

The potato salad is fantastic as are the burgers. You can substitute meat patties with veggie ones which is perfect for us.

What also drew our attention were hand crafted wooden signs posted around the walls:
“Stephen King sat here”
“Tommy Lee Jones sat here”
“Robert Wagner and Jill St. John sat Here”
“Kurt Russell sat here”
… and others

We inquired about these signs. The waitress mentioned with a smile that there are a good number of films made in Utah. Sometimes a private airplane breaks down or needs work and people end up in Richfield.

It’s easy to understand the almost magnetic energy that draws famous actors and actresses, directors and writers to such a restaurant. It’s quaint, it’s cozy and it’s personal. It’s full of imagination and inspiration … and as the sign says: “home-style food when away from home.”

When I bake brownies they usually end up a bit soft in the center, if you know what I mean. I’m talking gummy. (Note to self – chocolate flavored gummy bears… hmmm). But for many others suffering the same result, that’s changing.

The Baker’s Edge pan has been reviewed by nearly every baking company and food-based organization under the sun. That is, except the main chefs at the Food Network, which I suppose will hold off on their reviews until the Food Network can sell it. Although, Emeril and America’s Test Kitchen have reviews on it. But where’s Alton, the kitchen-gadget-geek-extraordinaire’s review?

So what’s the buzz? No more gummy brownies and more slightly-crunchy chewy edges. This pan distributes heat evenly across the brownie, baking it’s middle volume at the same rate as the outer pan. Several famous foodies including Alton Brown might call this a uni-tasker … but this is a glorified pan that could bake nearly anything a regular pan could.

My first thought is how difficult it might be to get the portions out of the pan – particularly if you’re dealing with Lasagna or “Mississippi Mud Pie/Cake” (aka “Sex In A Pan“).

My second thought is – it’s aluminum. I believe that the strong ties between aluminum and Alzheimer’s merits enough concern to stay away from aluminum when I can. I even go through the labels of toothpaste and deodorant to verify it is aluminum free. Why would I want it in my food, or want my food baking in it? Other than how aluminum heats up and cools off quickly (i.e. being a good conductor of heat), there is no reason not to go with stainless steel or cast iron or even silicon – all without Teflon, of course.

It would be interesting to see if this ever comes into stainless steel or silicon variety. Silicon would be particularly interesting since the weaving bars should give it more stability.