Bring A Chef To Dinner

January in Niagara. Yes, we have a lot of snow. Yes, it is cold. Yes I am hungry...The restaurants are a quiet this time of year, so I get to have a social life. Truth. On Friday I decided to have a few friends 'come-round' for dinner. On Saturday, about noon, I remembered that I had invited a few friends over for dinner. Oo00ps. This, of course, began a long, frenzied chain of events which saw me, vacuum, dust, sweep, empty the dishwasher, 3 loads of laundry, take out the Christmas tree, sweep up the Christmas tree needles, re-arrange furniture, change a flat on my car, shovel the driveway (again), and all this without giving one thought to what the hell I was going to serve. At 3pm, I finally decided to get serious about the food. Looking through the fridge and cupboards, my spirits remained high as I realized that 1/2 box of Eggo's and left over turkey soup was probably not a good idea if I wanted to impress my friends. (well at any rate, the turkey soup was delicious as a midnight snack, when we realized the wine was all gone). It was probably when I came back in the house after inspecting my chest freezer, which i keep in the garage, that I started to feel a slight apprehension about dinner. while I did discover a long forgotten bucket of Ben and Jerry's, and dozens of packets of quince preserve, and spring roll wrappers, the freezer was pretty depressing. So, over the barking of the vacuum cleaner, i resolved to go shopping at our local food market stat!!. Still no real clue what the hell to cook. Actually my apprehension was not so much for my general lack of organization, but rather that fact I had to risk driving my mini van to get there. I should explain a few things about my mini van. While I generally am slightly embarrassed to be driving one, it has served my well over the years. You can't imagine how it has helped me haul product and equipment to the countless catering events I do every year. But it is near the end. Long ago, the transmission gave out. The first too gears are gone so when I step on the gas, the engine reves, front tires squeal and my head jerks back as if I was travelling at MACH speed. The side doors don't work at all. the passenger side door has not been open in years. it seems to have fused shut. the driver side door only shuts if i get out in time and use my ass to slam it shut as it closes. if my ass slam is not timed just perfect, the door re-opens to a very annoying 'beep-beep-beef-beef'. I'm serious. Four fucking beeps. It drives me bonkers. The heating is gone too. Whenever I arrive anywhere, I must look in the mirror before I get out to make sure nothing is hanging off the end of my nose. Oh and the steering doesn't work either. Well, that's not entirely true. It works sometime. When I remember to fill the power steering fluid container. You see it leaks. I have a 2/4 of power steering fluid bottles, riding around in the back, but sometimes, its too cold so I skip this step. That's when it gets interesting. Have you ever tried to steer a car without any power steering fluid in it. Impossible. Well on Saturday afternoon, in my haste, I forgot to fill it so when I got to the market, i had to park in a parking spot about 1000 miles away because i couldn't fit in the parking spot. well it fit, but i couldn't steer into it, if you know what I mean. I should probably do something, like get it fixed. Or buy another car. I just can't bring myself to give up on it. There is an inner peace that comes over me as i use both hands, and all my strength to steer it into my drive way. And all that exercise I get from jumping out to time my ass slam against the door. that's precious.


my guests are precious friends. Whenever I host a dinner party, I try to make sure that I can prepare food that they will enjoy. I try to design the menu to challenge myself..culinarily speaking..and not serve the same old, same old..I did say they were precious friends..I try to walk a fine line between being a chef, serving interesting food, but also, I don't want to be pretentious. I like spending time with them in the living room while the chatter, and conversations are going on, not in the kitchen stressing about whether my salad is limp or my souffle will fall. So as I was pushing around the cart at the market, the menu is playing in my head. I wanted scallops. definitely scallops, a soup to start. So damn cold, definitely a soup. I've made them butternut squash soup before which they have loved, easy to make, it can be simmering as they arrive. But what about the scallops. Maybe with some polenta? Blue cheese polenta. no, I don't have enough oven space, but mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms, and I want some thing roasted as well. I decided on the following menu in about 10 minutes of going back and forth between the produce isle, the meat counter, and the fish counter: Butternut Squash and Orange Soup with a crouton of goat cheese/Pan seared sea scallops crusted with almonds a salad of bitter greens with lemon ginger dressing/Crispy skinned chicken breast with roasted parsnips,rutabaga,Brussels sprouts and tons of mushrooms, all varieties I could find/double chocolate mousse cake which I purchased.


When I got back home the house looked great. as my son Matthew brought in the groceries, I went into my modest wine cellar and pulled out some bottles. This is what we drank. 2 bottles of Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catherine, 6 Stella Artois, 2 Canadian 67(for me, low carb beer!!!), 1 bottle of Jerry Garcia Chardonnay, 1 bottle 2003 Cline 'Big Break' Zinfandel, 1 bottle 1999 Trius Grand Red, 1 Bottle 2004 Osoyoos Larose and 1 bottle 2003 Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Reisling Auslese. So menu decided, and wine picked, I decanted the Osoyoos and the Cline Zinfandel and got down to work.

So that was yesterday. Today I had a chance to reflect on how much I love entertaining friends. I'm glad i have friends that appreciate it. In the fast passed world, bringing together people to 'share the bread' is probably the single most gratifying thing I do. Cooking in a restaurant is gratifying as well but in totally different terms. When I can let my guard down, with people I really care for it is precious to me. Those moments add layers and layers to life, forming foundations and bonds which never crumble.


There is this small item in my head, playing around, just seems to pop out once and a while and today, upon reflecting about last night, I wondered why nobody ever invites me to a dinner party. Don't get me wrong. I am a wonderful guest!! So charming, funny, good looking (in the right light of course.. and oh, so modest..) and I smell great after a shower!! And I certainly don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, but i would love to be invited over for dinner. You will not find a more gracious, complementary guest I promise! Perhaps one would feel slightly inadequet to cook for a chef. Or perhaps, slightly embarassed. But let me re-assure you, I would never think of you as a failure. Its only food after all. And come to think of it, we could always just order a pizza.....

Light the Match

Hey, how's it going? Today, I've decided to start a blog. Don't know if I will be able to keep it up, but I'm waiting for my pasta water to boil, so I thought I'd have a go.

First things first, a title for my new literary adventure. "unpasteurized" seems to fit. I was thinking that 'raw milk' was a good name as well, but then I thought that this blog would be of interest only to milk farmers and quota owners. I wanted to find a name that will help guide the viewpoint of this space. My viewpoint. I hope to come out hear in cyber land and tell unknown people, what its like to live, love, cook, and generally exist in the Niagara Region. I will present my viewpoint in a 'raw' or unpasteurized way. No quarter given (and none expected). Another reason that I think this name is apropos is that I love bacteria. I love what it does to milk (cheese), grapes (wine) and flour (bread). Love is not really the word that I wanted to use, more like a sincere respect . When some thing is 'unpasteurized, it is left alone. it is not tampered with. it does not go through an institutional (0r otherwise) process of 'cleansing'. I like to think my life is unpasteurized. Maybe yours is as well. Maybe it should be. Throw away the rose coloured glasses and lets face the music. Hell, why not dance to the music. If there is anything I have learned from this crazy life is to love the music. But hey, thats enough. My pasta water is boiling, so need to feed the masses. later...tony