Farewell BBQ's and Wiiiiiiiiine

Oh man, I've been on quite the hiatus. And tired.

I've been on a 1 and a half week vacation from life, and boy was it good. I really don't want to return to civilization.

Where have I been you ask? Entertaining my visiting parents, of course!

And entertaining my parents, really just meant eating out 80% of meals, bringing them to all the tasty restaurants in this Bay Area (...that I can't afford). In the beginning, it sounded like a great idea, but by the final night, I had heartburn (which apparently feels like your boob is asking to be ripped off of your body) from eating foreign food substances so much, and really just wanted to return to my kitchen and cook a yummy meal with my mom for billy & my dad.

It was stupendous.

The highlights were a super satisfying corn soup, and perfectly grilled portabella mushrooms (which fared considerably better than some ny strip steaks we attempted to cook, but really just chared), which we ate with grilled/burnt squash and onions and a simple salad of cucumbers and tomatoes with balsamic deliciousness.

Mama Ferrier's (chicken) Corn Chowder

1 1/2 c diced red onion
1 1/2 c diced yellow onion
1 1/2 c diced potato
1/2 c diced carrot
1 c diced celery
4-5 corns on the cob, boiled, with kernels cut of
6 c chicken broth
heavy cream
flour
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 t fresh basil
pinches of dried oregano, basil
a couple of shakes of chili powder
Optional: meat picked from half of a rotisserie chicken

In your soup pot, start with some olive oil, the carrots, the onions, and the celery. Cook until translucent, add flour and cook until the flour smell is away. This soup is thickened more by this rue, than the cream, so use a hefty amount of oil and flour to get a nice rue. Add the chicken stock to the pot now and do a little scrappin' to get all the good flavors on the bottom of the pan. Bring soup to a boil and add the potato, corn (and chicken if you wish). Now is the time to add the basil, oregano, and chili powder. Let the soup simmer for a little while, and test the potatoes for doneness. When the potatoes are to your liking shut of the heat and allow to soup to cool down to a temperature that allows you to add some cream. Add as much, or as little, as you like!

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

4 Large Bella Shroomies
1 t mustard
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 t fresh chives
1 t fresh basil
oregano flakes
juice from 2 juicy lemons
1 Container for shaking

add dressing contents to container and shake up. Place mushroomies in a big bowl and pour the dressing all over them. You might have to add more oil than you think to coat evenly. Be sure to add enough salt to encourage a little water to release before you grill. Do this about a half hour before you are grilling. When you place the musrooms on the grill save the extra dressing in your bowl and drizzles over top the finished mushrooms.

A Note on Wine Country

While the retals were here, I had the awesome chance to go to Napa and Sonoma- only an hour from Oakland! This hole concept of driving around, and drinking, and then driving around more is really strange to me, but f-ing awesome none the less. The whole myth that you aren't drinking enough to get drunk it just that- a big myth. I got saucy both days I went up there. It was grand.

I went to about 6 wineries- all were yummy. Even the cheap wine companies we see in the store tend to have reserve wines on site that are super. The most memorable wineries were:

Peju
Ravenswood (due more to a heavy handed server than the wine)
Sebastiani




If you have $100+ to blow on wine, I recommend any of the Peju's Napa Style Cab's