The Challenge: Day Twenty-Four

In the throes of temporary insanity – no doubt caused by excessive physical exertion and exposure to sunlight over the weekend – I decided it would be a fine idea to cook for people on Monday night after we returned from Savannah. At first, it was supposed to just be a couple of friends of the family. That expanded to include our landlords from the old place, my uncle’s cousin, my sister and her boyfriend, my other sister and her boyfriend, and I talked another friend into coming as well. The boyfriends didn’t show, but we still had ten people here for dinner.

As a refresher, the menu.

Citrus tilapia with a quartet of salsas
Lemon steamed broccoli
Roma tomatoes stuffed with zucchini, criminis, and gruyere
Salad
Creme brulee with fresh fruit

The bread did not make the party, as I simply ran out of time between having to run out to the farmer’s market and then run out to Publix. But that wound up being ok.

The farmer’s market was the first stop, as I needed quite a number of things: tomatoes, zucchini, jalapenos, red and green bell peppers, mangoes, pineapple, limes, lemons, and peaches. All told, the haul from the farmer’s market was about fifteen bucks – because we bought an entire box of mangoes for six bucks! I needed more ramekins for the creme brulee, since I’d never needed to make brulee for a dozen people before, and it simply would not do to have someone go without. So I took myself out, picked those up, and then stopped at Publix for the rest of what I needed: tilapia (picked up 11 filets), red onions, romaine, carrots, eggs, cream, milk, broccoli, cheese, and a couple of other things that I’m no doubt forgetting. The bill there was $51. Our total bill for all the food for ten was $61.

The tilapia. The red stuff is sweet (not smoked) paprika.

Two of the four salsas. This is, on the left and right respectively, pineapple and mango.

The other two. On the left and right respectively, we have peach and orange.

The makings for salad.

The tomatoes, stuffed, and just out from under the broiler.

Everyone ate – some going back for seconds – and we had a few filets left over that went home (along with some of each of the salsas) with a couple of the guests, since no one around here will eat leftover fish.

And then it was time to make some coffee (capuccino for some) and break out the brulees. I had directed my mom to make the custards while I was working on the salsas earlier: a vanilla bean brulee, with the scraped vanilla bean cooking with the custard ingredients, then fished out before the custard was ladled into ramekins for baking. They’d been chilling out for awhile, and made their entrance after dinner. Here, the sugar sprinkled atop each one is being caramelized with a hand torch by yours truly. My sister Gabrielle took the remaining photos that appear here.

Aubrey, acting as my sous chef, sprinkled powdered sugar on each ramekin after I stopped playing with fire.

We then topped each brulee with a sliced and fanned strawberry, a few blueberries, and a sprig of mint.

Gabrielle told me to pose with one, so I did.

She then managed a very arty self-portrait.

We then passed them out, and people seemed to be enjoying them.

As well as the capuccino.

Just chilling. Aren’t they cute? They just had an anniversary last week, 25 or 26 years together.

All in all, another very successful dinner engagement. My only wish – and this is something I’ll be looking for as I hunt for a house – is that we had a larger dining space to put a bunch of people.

As I noted above, the total cost for this meal was $61, which brings our per-diner amount to just $6.10. We would have dropped down a bit further had the other people who should have been there shown up. The most expensive ingredients were the cheese (Gruyere), and the eggs and cream needed for the brulee. Still, not a bad total for a meal with a salad, a main and two sides, and a dessert.

Savannah: An Interlude, Day Three

Sunday was our last day in Savannah. Saturday night, after a day of touring, walking, and eating, the girls went right to sleep when we reached the hotel. I stayed up a bit later, as I was too restless to sleep. Eventually, I managed to go to sleep myself, only to be awakened between 5 and 6 AM by a couple of servers needing attention. Those issues addressed, I debated staying up until the girls awoke, but I was freezing in the artic air my mom insisted should be the norm, and crawled back into bed and pulled the covers up over my ears.

Continue reading Savannah: An Interlude, Day Three

Savannah: An Interlude, Day Two, Part Two

We had some time on our hands between the end of the Paula Deen tour and our reservations at The Lady and Sons. There were a couple of things we wanted to see: the Colonial Cemetery, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and the Mercer House (also known as the Mercer-Williams House). All of these places are at the southern end of the historic district, so, with our comfy shoes on, water in hand, we started walking.

As we walked, I snapped some photos of a few buildings along the route. The architecture of these buildings is amazing to me, as is the fact that many of them are relatively unchanged, structurally, from their original designs.

Continue reading Savannah: An Interlude, Day Two, Part Two

Savannah: An Interlude, Day Two, Part One

A note about Saturday’s Interlude: this entry deals specifically with the Paula Deen tour and our dinner that same night at The Lady and Sons restaurant. Part two deals with our activities between the end of the tour in the morning and dinner that evening.

Saturday dawned bright, clear, and hot, as summer mornings are wont to do in the South. While the girls went downstairs to grab some coffee and tea, I stayed upstairs and poured some formula down the tube. I had no idea when we would be eating, or if I would be able to eat any of it, and the heat takes its toll on you when you’re out and about. I finished that, redid the dressing around my tube, and went downstairs to join the girls and await the bus or trolley that was to pick us up for the tour.

Continue reading Savannah: An Interlude, Day Two, Part One

Savannah: An Interlude, Day One

We interrupt this Challenge to bring you a travel interlude. Warning: this entry and those that follow are image-intensive and long.

It has been three years since I’ve been to Savannah, GA. Coincidentally, it’s been three years since I had a real break of any sort from the day to day operations of the business. I don’t count the cancer diagnosis and treatment as a “real” break, as it was anything but relaxing and enjoyable. Unlike, for instance, my most recent trip to Savannah, in the company of my mom and one of my aunts.

Why Savannah? Well, there are several reasons, really. My aunt really, really wanted to go take “The Paula Deen Tour”. Yes, there really is such a thing. My mom agreed that it would be fun, and I just love Savannah. We decided awhile ago that we would take ourselves on up there, as we say here in the South.

And so we did.

Continue reading Savannah: An Interlude, Day One

The Challenge: A break

What happened to days 24 and 25?

Illness. I ran out of Prevacid, alas, so day 24 opened with me being horribly sick. All. Day. Long. That’s no good, and makes for no eating, no cooking, and no being in a good mood. Day 25 was a wash, but I did recover by not eating a thing the day before and almost nothing on day 25. Go me.

On the plus side: we got the results of my PET scan from Monday. While it is still not negative, the activity continues to decrease. This means we’ll have to have another one in a couple of months. But it also means that we’re not seeing any increased activity and that we’re likely healing up very well. That’s good news.

For The Challenge: it’s on hold for this weekend, and I think I’ll just call days 24 and 25 do-overs, as we used to do as kids. My mom, aunt, and myself are now in Savannah. But that’s another entry.

Questions, questions…

Random questions from people who are stumbling across this blog, and answers from yours truly.

Have you considered putting up some forums?
No, I haven’t. I know it’s hard to carry on conversations in the comments, and it would be easier to have ongoing discussions (and ask questions of me) in a forum, but for right now, this is what’s available. I’ll consider it, though, as I do get that question pretty regularly.

Can you plan out some menus for me?
I can’t even plan menus to feed my own family, friends, and assorted guests, because schedules are so fluid around here.

Could you do it if I paid you?
That’s flattering, but not at the moment.

What’s your food philosophy for this lowfat menu creation you have going right now?
As you’re aware, family and friends have requested lowfat menus, and of course the challenge is for nutritious menus, which should not be laden with fat. I suppose at its most basic, my intent is to create food that people like, bearing in mind their particular requests as much as I’m able. Right now, that would be lowfat menus that taste good. This is not the same as no fat. If you’ve ever seen that Low Calorie Commando show on FoodTV, you can see the rather extreme substitutions the host goes through to eliminate almost every bit of fat from whatever it is he’s making, and that’s not what interests me. It is perfectly acceptable and reasonable to include small portions of things like real butter in cooking. The things I’m doing are not ultra lowfat, but neither do the menus include entire sticks of butter in their creation. Moderation in this, as in all things, and balance are the keys.

Have you seen that show Top Chef, or Hell’s Kitchen? What’s your “signature dish”?
I’ve seen episodes of both, yes, although I’ve not watched any of the new season of Hell’s Kitchen. I don’t really have a signature dish per se: I like to cook a wide variety of things, and luckily even my experiments turn out well. I don’t lean toward too many fussy type dishes. I mostly like to make food that people could make themselves if they were so inclined.

Would you consider opening a restaurant with the appropriate backing?
Maybe, but I think I’d probably not be an active worker bee in the kitchen. Designing a menu? Sure. Actually working the number of hours in the kitchen a restaurant would require if I were the chef? No. I’m simply not physically able to do it, as much as I hate to actually admit that, and I have no idea when (or if) I ever will be. I would not be averse to doing other things related to a restaurant, though.

Any progress on putting together your own prepackaged food items?
Not at the moment, but I really haven’t put any effort into it right now. My available time is limited, and I do have a primary business to run, so this is playing second banana for now. It would be nice, though, to be able to break into it.

What’s your favorite food to eat?
All time? Good lobster, simply prepared, with drawn butter. These days? Ice cream. In my dreams right now? A double cheeseburger. With fries.

If you could go anywhere and do anything right now, what would it be?
I’d move my family to the Italian countryside, own a small vineyard, grow grapes, make wine, and cook for people.

Have you ever had any formal culinary training? If not, do you plan to?
No and no plans at present. I had given some thought to the latter, but if I were to do that, I’d like to do it right. That would involve leaving town for awhile and would also involve a lot of time, neither of which is practical. I’ll remain self-taught for now.

Last (and certainly least), a question contained in an email from an anonymous person who seems to be one of those random people who thinks everyone else should be as bitter and nasty as they are: What makes you think you’re qualified to give anyone any advice on anything, especially cooking or making menus or how to eat on the cheap and what makes you think anyone would be interested in a book by some amateur like you anyway?
I never claimed any qualification other than being ready, willing, and able to take up the challenge presented to me, with both the rules and my role clearly defined. So I do what I can to take up the reins where others can’t because of their limitations (time, availability, ability) or inclination (because a lot of people read about subjects they would never themselves do). The latter is why books written by amateurs in specific subjects can be interesting and popular: many people will never be able or willing to go live in a 200 year old farmhouse in Provence for a year, but Peter Mayle and his wife did just that and it makes for good reading. Most people would never take on the task of cooking their way through a famous cookbook, but someone else did. Besides, I figure that doing things like this really annoys joyless, humorless people for some reason…

The Challenge: Day Twenty-Three

More server setups today. More ordering of equipment, including the last rack that will fit in the current cage at the NOC (and as soon as that arrives, the NOC guys will start building out the next cage for us). More paperwork. More cooking.

Tonight’s menu: sauteed marinated shrimp with a sweet garlic sauce, steamed brocooli with lemon (my sister’s request), sliced fresh tomatoes, and rice pilaf with shallots and parmesan (again, yes, and in place of my sister’s request for mashed cauliflower, since I didn’t feel like going back out to the store for a head of cauliflower).

Just three of us for dinner tonight, and a very informal, serve yourself kind of affair.

The shrimp, after marinating for ahwile in honey, soy, fresh lime juice, and red pepper flakes and then sauteed in a touch of olive oil.

Serve yourself in whatever fashion suits you.

The sauce was made of rice wine vinegar, sugar, water, a touch of salt, thinly sliced garlic, and about half a teaspoon of a chile-garlic paste. It went very well with the shrimp.

I’ve noticed of late that my mouth is ultrasensitive to foods on the spicier side of the scale. It’s probably due to one of the rinses I have to use, and it’s bumming me out a little, for two reasons: first of all, it’s painful and burns when I eat something even a little spicy or with a good amount of vinegar, like this sauce, and second, I like spicy foods but can’t eat them right now. I suppose I should be thankful I can eat anything at all, considering everything, but I suspect my recovery would be more enjoyable (and go more quickly) if there weren’t so many damned limitations relative to my ability to eat. As it stands, my weigh-in yesterday was at 107, probably because I couldn’t eat anything all day before the PET scan. In two months, it will be a year since I got the feeding tube. While it helped save my life during treatment, I’d really like to say goodbye to eat, but at this rate it will be with me indefinitely.

Where was I? Ah, the shrimp. I ate one, with some sauce, and it burned a bit. It sure did taste good, though, for what I was able to taste. If I ever start packaging foods, I’ll have to remember this sauce for the roster. Some steamed broccoli with real butter, a bit of rice…and a post-dinner cappucino and a Reese’s cup. Not a bad little meal for me, although I suppose I should dump some formula down the tube, as I’m way low on calories the past couple of days.

Our breakdown for tonight’s dinner.

Shrimp (one pound): 6.70
Tomatoes: 1.40
Rice (with shallots and parmesan): 2.00
Sauce: 1.00
Broccoli: 1.50

Total for the meal: 12.60
Total per diner (3): 4.20

Someone asked me if the diners included myself in these calculations, since I don’t really eat that much of the “real” food. Yes, the count does include me unless I note otherwise. Technically, I am participating in the meal, even if I’m not eating as much as a person usually would. Since the leftovers are usually eaten for lunches, and I’m not including those in our tabulations, most dinners are new creations with new costs and the leftover factor is eliminated for those dinners. I think it evens itself out.

The Challenge: Day Twenty-Two

One of my cousins, whom I’ve not seen in 20 years or so, has been in town for about a week. Monday evening, we had her and her son over to join us for dinner. Yours truly had a PET scan scheduled in the afternoon, and it took quite a bit longer than it usually does, as they were backed up. And once things get backed up, the trickle down effect means that if your appointment is late in the day, you get the cumulative effect of the delay. I finally finished with that – and we should have the results by the end of the week – and tried to get to the bank before they closed to get a cashier’s check to send off for the small company we’ve just bought out. Didn’t work, as those bankers don’t keep the same kind of hours I do. So I took off to Publix to pick up a few things for dinner, as Costco is on the other side of town and I didn’t feel like fighting the rush hour traffic to pick up what I needed. As I usually do, I weighed in at Publix, sighed at the result, grabbed what I went in for, and headed home.

On the menu: seared, roasted chicken breasts with a creamy lime sauce, rice pilaf with shallots and parmesan, hearts of romaine with fresh grapefruit segments (courtesy of my sisters, who picked up a bag of grapefruit on their way back from Orlando on Sunday) and walnuts, and sliced fresh tomatoes (because it’s just that season around here).

The salad. Very good with a raspberry-walnut vinaigrette.

The chicken, which looks really white – this is a byproduct of being seared and then finished in the oven in some of the sauce. A couple of lime slices with it, as we’re citrus kind of people around here.

The table. There is nothing like tomatoes in season. In the small bowl is more of the sauce.

After dinner, cappuccino for three of us. I was tempted to put together a dessert, but everyone was full and I was still recovering from the lawn work on Sunday, so I skipped it.

This was almost a grocery store-only menu, which would be fairly typical for most families if for whatever reason there wasn’t time for doing the bulk shopping. Our breakdown for dinner, which includes leftovers:

Chicken (boneless, skinless breasts, 6): 12.32
Rice (including shallots and parmesan): 2.00
Tomatoes: 1.99
Salad: 1.50

Total for the meal: 17.81
Total per diner (5): 3.56

It was an enjoyable evening, I must say. It’s always nice to catch up with people you haven’t seen in what seems like forever and see what has or hasn’t changed in their lives. My cousin joined in on the advice train: you should open a restaurant, she said. Nice to have that kind of support from the people eating your cooking, I think.

Free tips on web hosting

Here’s a few free tips for people, related to web hosting.

DO ensure you pay your bills. If you’re billed on a recurring basis, then you should know when your billing date is, and you should ensure that whatever you have on file for billing purposes is up to date.
DO NOT try to blame your host for cancelling your ass when you are 60 days past due. Take some responsibility for your account. It’s no different than any other utility or service: providers want to be paid for the service they provide.

DO keep your contact details up to date.
DO NOT expect that your host is going to know that you let your primary domain expire and then berate them for having an email address YOU provided not be functional for you or for not sending you a love letter via snail mail, begging you to pay your bill when they don’t do this and never have. They’re going to think – rightfully so – that you’re quite out of your mind.

DO be civil and polite when you contact support.
DO NOT try to tell them what they should have done with your deadbeat account. Fact: you didn’t pay your bill, and you were cut off. End of story. Once again, take responsibility.

DO maintain your own backups.
DO NOT try to tell your host that your files are “legally” your property when they make no claims on those files. If your stuff is so important to you, make sure you have copies.

DO read the terms of service your host provides.
DO NOT read into those terms what you want to see rather than what’s there. It’s a good way to make yourself look like an idiot.

DO know what you have (or have not) been charged for by your host.
DO NOT threaten chargebacks of fees when it’s patently obvious that you haven’t been charged a dime for anything and there is nothing whatsoever to charge back. You will make your host laugh themselves silly by displaying your idiocy and self-importance. It’s also a good way to have your host tell you that your business is not welcome.

DO get a grip on yourself and learn a lesson from your failure to properly maintain your account.
DO NOT continue to try and argue the issue when the host has made it clear that the issue is closed. DO NOT toss in little frivolous legal threat bombs. That’s a good way to have the host tell you to take a hike with the new account they graciously set up for you, as it’s not a business relationship worth having.

See all those “do not” items up there? All of those things were done by one particular asshat today. They are also things that sometimes make me believe a good portion of the population wouldn’t be worth spitting on were they on fire and that early retirement would be a most excellent idea. Fortunately, most people understand they’ve cocked things up and are more polite when writing in about their accounts – like the guy today who wrote in and said he’d been away at college and had neglected his account and what did he need to do? At least he took responsiblity for his situation. He also cleared it up, sans whining, sans bitching and moaning, sans telling us what we should have done. He’s happy, we’re happy, and everyone moves on with their lives. That’s the lesson some people could stand to learn.