Culinary Calendar
"For Your Palm or Blackberry"
- Houston Food Bank will hold its 3rd annual Empty Bowls Houston on Saturday, March 3 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Plan to attend this fun, cool event. For a minimum $25 donation, you will receive a simple lunch of soup freshly prepared by the Houston Food Bank’s Community Kitchen (this year it will be Minestrone), bread from Whole Foods, cookies from Panera Bread and water to drink, then you can choose a bowl from hundreds of handmade, one-of-a-kind bowls donated by local artists – potters, craft artists, woodturners, blacksmiths, china painter, glass artists, etc. The empty is a reminder of all the empty bowls in Houston and around the world. For more information, visit www.emptybowlshouston.org
- Central Market in Houston will host a seminar on March 13 from 3:30-5:00 pm in the Community Room on Operating a Successful Catering Program. A panel of industry experts will discuss proven ways to develop, operate, and expand a successful restaurant catering program. Focus points include Menu Development, Staffing Requirements, Operations and Equipment, Sales and Marketing, Contracts, License and other Legal Considerations. The seminar is sponsored by A’la Carte Foodservice Consulting Group. For more information call the Greater Houston Restaurant Association at 713-802-1200.
- To showcase the best in Mexican contemporary art, Tequila Don Julio and The Mexican Museum are bringing Nuevo Arte: Colección Tequila Don Julio to the New World Museum in Houston from March 16, 2007 through April 7, 2007. Nuevo Arte: Colección Tequila Don Julio is an exhibition featuring new works by some of today’s most innovative contemporary Mexican and Mexican-American artists. The Houston exhibition will be open to the public at New World Museum, a non-collecting museum devoted to the presentation and interpretation of Hispanic contemporary art on a world-class level, located at 5230 Center Street in the West End. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5:00 p.m.
- A Restaurant Franchise Seminar will be held March 21 at Truluck’s Restaurant, 5350 Westheimer. The seminar, which will help you learn how to franchise your restaurant, is free and a light lunch will be provided. Speakers are from Ala Carte Foodservice Consulting Group and the law offices of Wayne Bunch. Registration is at 8:30 am and the seminar goes from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm with lunch at noon. Call 866-293-0077 to RSVP or for more information.
- Mark your calendars early for SOS Taste of the Nation Houston 2007, a May 6th culinary extravaganza featuring food and wine from 50 of Houston’s finest restaurants and caters. Spend a gala afternoon strolling, sampling, sipping and socializing on the meadow at The Houstonian. A few spots for participants are still available, and there is still time to sign up for sponsorships. Visit www.houstontaste.org for information, sponsorship and individual tickets.
- For more events, check the latest Calendar of Culinary Events from My Table by clicking on Calendar
A La Carte
"Heard over brunch....."
- Valentine Bubbly and Sweets for Your Sweetie
Decisions, decisions. Do we eat dessert first, or save the best ‘til last? Vine Wine Room, 12420 Memorial Drive is hosting a special Valentine event: a Champagne and Dessert Bar on Wednesday, February 14 from 6:30 p.m. to close. The cost is $29.00 per couple and features a Duval-Leroy Champagne Split and dessert bar including tiramisu, chocolate mousse and other sweet treats.
Make reservations at 713-463-VINE (8463). Space is limited at this reservations-only event.
- Texas Food and Wine Gourmet Website
Terry Thompson-Anderson and Susan Thomson-Hamer have launched The Texas Food and Wine Gourmet.com website (www.thetexasfoodandwinegourmet.com).
The site’s motto is “The Best of Gustatory Pleasures From Texas-All in One Place.”
The site deals with all aspects of Texas lifestyle, including food and Texas wine. The site features over 270 recipes in an easily downloadable format for printing. Wine bars, B&B’s, boutique hotels, cooking schools,
cookware shops, honky-tonks and Texas beers and sprits are featured.
Eight sections which will change on a monthly basis include: Good Grub & Sustenance is a monthly menu with recipes, paired with Texas wines. Purely Texas Issues deals with purely Texas issue, often politically incorrect! Great finds from Texas features interesting places and things from Texas. We Love This Wine features some particularly good wines Terry and Susan come across. Texas Grown features a Texas food product and lots of information about the subject. The Food Forum has articles on specific foods or kitchen equipment or techniques. Texas Landmarks and Legends features great Texas people and places. Lone Star Book review features reviews on books by or about Texans or Texas and Texas cookbooks.
- New Issue of The Fire and The Hearth
The Fire and The Hearth, an occasional newsletter devoted to food, wine, and those things that make for a good life, begins the new year with a story of an old friend who knew a farmer who raised geese and pigs and … well, you’ll see. Then publishers Randy and Kathy Harber explore one of Kathy’s favorite things: when Randy cleans out the refrigerator and makes a meal of left-overs. They begin with a real Southern dish, Pork Shoulder Braised in Cola-Cola, and then follow up with two meals made from the left-over roast.
To read all about it, click on this link:
leftovers
- Get Your Order In Now!
The National Restaurant Association says more than one in eight Americans will order takeout or delivery food for the Super Bowl, with pizza, chicken wings and sandwiches dominating the field. A recent survey found 62% of people who plan to watch the game don’t want to wait more than two minutes trying to place orders.
- Benihana Expands
Benihana, the Japanese and sushi restaurant chain, will open four new restaurants spread among its three concepts. Late this year, the company expects to open an RA Sushi Bar in South Miami, Fla., a Haru Sushi restaurant in Boston and a Benihana unit in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. In Spring 2008, an RA Sushi Bar is planned to open in Houston.
- Dallas Goes To the Dogs
The Dallas City Council recent voted to allow dogs to join their owners on restaurants’ outdoor patios. The decision raised lots of debate, but in the end the bureaucrats went for the dogs. The decision does not apply to cats or other house pets, and requires restaurants to apply for a “dogs-on-the-patio” permit.
Maybe this decision will give Houston’s city council “paws” to consider such a move for the Bayou City.
Kitchen Stuff
"Tea, Men and Crisco"
- Home Cooking Heats Up for Men
Gone are the days when pizza, beer, frozen foods and ketchup were the only items stocked in a man’s refrigerator. Thanks to a strong effort by the food industry to draw men into culinary interests, and the draw of a pop culture that has made cooking “cool,” more men are buying kitchen tools, watching the Food Network and finding themselves cooking for fun.
- The New Crisco
J.M. Smucker Co. recently introduced a new, reformulated Crisco which contains nearly no trans fats. “The performance is the same for those tried-and-true family recipes that people have come to rely on Crisco for,” a company spokeswoman said.
- Celebrating Tea
January was National Hot Tea Month and February is also a good time for hot tea. Tea shops are becoming more popular thanks to the drink’s heritage and touted health benefits. Tea is now the second-most consumed restaurant beverage in the world after coffee, according to the National Restaurant Association.
In honor of tea and its many uses as a beverage and food item, Whole Foods Market notes in a recent newsletter that “Tea is at the forefront of a revolution in taste and health. This ancient beverage has been revered for centuries in Asia but its recent endorsement by medical science has vastly increased its popularity in the West, leading to a new appreciation of its subtly complex flavors and healthful properties. Its adaptability in the kitchen is especially heartening, adding depth and richness to all kinds of dishes—from soups to sweets.”
For a tea primer, click on tea
My Recipe
"Chilled Avocado Soup"
Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, quartered
1 garlic clove, minced
3 whole black peppers
4 medium avocados, cut in half (pits removed)
¼ cup lime juice (fresh squeezed)
2 ounces cream cheese – cubed
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup crema natural
1 cup chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped fresh spinach
1 jalapeno, sliced *
1 teaspoon salt
- add more jalapeno if more heat is desired
Preparation
1. Bring to a boil chicken broth, quartered onion, garlic and ground whole black peppercorns
2. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer to measuring device and allow to cool for about 30 mintues. Using a colander, remove the solids from the broth.
4. Cut the avocacos in half, remove the pitts and scoop out the pulp into a blender. Add the fresh lime juice.
5. Add about ½ of the cooled chicken broth and blend until the avocados are smooth. (Add more chicken broth if necessary to blend the whole mixture.)
6. Place cream cheese, chopped onion, the crema, cilantro, spinach and jalapeno and remaining broth in the blender and blend on high until smooth.
7. Combine with avocado mixture and mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or until well chilled.
8. Serve in chilled bowls and garnish with salsa.
Makes 7 to 8 servings.
From the Wine List
"Who Says You Can't Take It With You?"
We all know that wine labels can be very pretty. In fact, most women buy an unknown wine by the attractiveness of its label. Marketers know that bright colors, pictures of animals and flowers, and artwork sell a lot of wine.
But wine labels are also informative. The front label, to meet the requirements of U.S. law, usually tells you:
- the type of wine in the bottle (usually by grape variety [e.g. Zinfandel] or by the place it was made [e.g. Burgundy])
- any special quality designations (these differ by the country of origin)
- where the grapes come from (by country, state or province, region, village, or specific vineyard)
- who grew the grapes, made or blended the wine, and where it was bottled
- the year the grapes were harvested (the vintage)
- the alcohol content by volume
- how much wine, by volume, is in the bottle, and
- if applicable, who imported the wine.
The back label gives you the required Surgeon General’s health warnings and may also tell you information about acidity, residual sweetness, etc. and how the wine was made and aged, plus winemaker notes and marketing information.
The grape variety and/or place of production give you an idea of whether this will be a red, white or pink wine (corroborated obviously by your visual inspection) and lets you know whether the wine will probably be light, medium or heavy in body. For example, a Cabernet Sauvignon from California is going to be much stouter than Beaujolais from France. To know this, of course, will require study and comparative tasting experience; a point I like to make repeatedly, and an educational task that is very enjoyable.
If the type of wine is unfamiliar to you, knowledge of the producer or importer also can be of great help in making your purchase decision. Once you know that you like a particular producer’s style, or have come to value and respect the choices made by a particular wine buyer or importer, you can rely on those names on the label to help you through uncharted territory.
The U.S. government is considering whether to add even more information to the label, ostensibly for great consumer awareness of possible health issues. It is attempting to make wine producers add labels that would warn consumers if wine is made with one or more major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat or soybeans. Trace amounts of these potential allergens could be present due to the clarification procedures used prior to bottling. The move could cost wineries up to $5,000 for each new label, according to the National Restaurant Association.
But wine labels are also often cherished mementos of a great meal, a unique or previously untried wine, or a special occasion. That’s why many folks take empty bottles home. But if you really don’t want or need the bottle, just ask the restaurant if they will take off and give you the label. Some high-end restaurants cater to this wish by presenting the label after the meal—upon request—in a letterhead envelope inscribed with the date of the meal.
It will take some time to remove the label, either by soaking or using an adhesive sheet, so ask for the label prior to enjoying dessert, coffee, or an after-dinner drink. And don’t forget to tip for this added service. If the restaurant is too busy to provide this service, just write down the wine name, producer and vintage.
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Copyright My Table magazine, 2008
Protected by U.S. Copyright Law {Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq., Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2319}: Infringements can be punishable by up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
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