Memorial Day Party Food

I don't know how you cook, but for me it is a little like writing. I take an idea or thought and let it germinate... fester... ferment. I try to consider what I have available, who I am cooking for and what the occasion is. For this weekend's party, I also needed to prepare something that wouldn't take much time - thus, the world's fastest pasta was the perfect solution. I originally had this more than 20 years ago at a family friend's house and have been making it ever since.

Put a cup of good olive oil in a glass jar. Add 2 or 3 minced garlic cloves and about 4 chopped tomatoes to the olive oil. Chop a large handful of herbs - I used flat leaf parsley and basil, and add them to the olive oil mixture. Place the lid on the jar and periodically give it a good rolling shake. Cook a pound of pasta, reserving about a cup of the pasta water. Add the water to your jar of loveliness and give things a good roll or 2. Pour sauce over pasta and finish by seasoning with salt and pepper and cheese, if you like. I had some fresh mozzarella which I cubed and added. Serve hot, warm of cold.

I was asked to bring a dessert item to the party, but didn't have an incredible amount of time to get overly creative. I did, however, have boxed angel food cake mix which I knew would suffice. I've never made an angel food cake before - perhaps, you will argue, I still have not. Believe me, I know my friends - by the time dessert rolls around their primary concern will be eating something sweet - not whether the cake is from a mix or hand measured. The mix was pretty cool - just add water and beat for about 2 minutes, it couldn't have been any easier. I don't have an angel food cake pan, so I opted to make 2 loaves instead. I had a couple of fresh mangoes, which I cut and then grilled over low to medium fire to get a little char on them. While they cooled, I had the hubby pick some mint in the backyard which I then soaked in Hypnotiq. After a couple of hours, I chopped the mint and the mango and combined them with the soaking liquid to make a nice compote to jazz up the cake. Prior to serving, I sliced the angel food cake (with a sharp serrated knife), fanned it out on a platter and placed the mango-mint compote on the side. So easy - so delicious.

Memorial Day

Laying in bed this morning, I was thinking about Memorial Day and what it means, other than the official start of the summer season. I don't know many veterans - there are no family graves for me to place poppies and flags upon. While I deeply appreciate the tremendous sacrifices men and women have made for my freedom, there is something I would cherish even more - the lack of need for veterans due to the absence of war.

It seems that humans have occupied the Earth for about 200,000 years, which is certainly a lot longer than I've been married. Why is it then, that as a species, we have been unable to develop a process, other than war, to resolve our discrepancies? In the brief 15+ years since our wedding, my husband and I have discovered that, while we may have different methods for accomplishing a goal, generally we are hoping to achieve the same positive outcome for ourselves and our family. We understand that we can't each have our way every time and that compromise is necessary to achieve a generally peaceful coexistence. Why can't we as a global community understand and accept this?

Someday, in my little peace-filled, fantasy world, I'd like to see Memorial Day become a day when the world can come together to remember, to memorialize, a time when there was war. Instead of reminiscing about those we have lost, we will talk about what can be done with all the resources we formerly used to fight wars. Young people around the world will be able to devote their efforts and energy to creating rather than destroying. Citizens can have an opportunity to fulfill community service obligations which will result in their feeling a sense of accomplishment rather than personal devastation.

When War is merely a distant memory, we will truly have something worthy of celebration.

Tasting Tuesday - Joe Carr Edition

This week's Tasting Tuesday at Dale Miller Restaurant featured Joseph Carr - the man and his wines. If you aren't familiar with Joe, you should know that he is a local guy, originally from Berlin, N.Y., who has followed his passion for wine and created a successful career doing something which he loves. In 2005, following a number of years working in the hospitality industry, as well as for major wine importers and distributors, Joe, along with his wife, daughter and dog, began his own wine company. He is a negotiant - which means he buys fruit and makes wine which he bottles under his own Carr label. His wines are available in both retail stores, and select restaurants, in a fairly broad geographic area.

This would probably be a good time for me to mention that I have no formal wine training or knowledge - that would be the husband's forte. My hope is to not be embarrass myself here by revealing how little I truly know about wine, I'm only offering my own impressions.

Joe offers an array of varietals, all fairly priced, and we sampled six wines Tuesday evening. The first two wines were from his Josh line; the Chardonnay (2008) and the Cabernet Sauvignon (2007). These wines are named after his father, and are considered to be his entry level wines. They can be found in local retail stores (try Capital, Empire, Delaware Plaza) for about $18 per bottle. Both of these wines were easy to enjoy and had the characteristics that one would expect from their respective grapes.

The order we sampled the wines in was a bit unique. I'm accustomed to starting with the lightest of whites and then proceeding to more substantial whites, light reds and then full bodied reds, but this particular evening we bounced around a bit as Joe led us through his offerings. We followed the Josh Cabernet with a delicious Sauvignon Blanc (2008). I found this wine to be an ideal warm weather sipping wine - with or without food. Lovely.

Our next wine was one with which I was familiar, the 2007 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which retails for about $20. I have been a fan of this wine since it was initially released and it remains a household favorite. If you haven't tried this wine, you'd better get it soon - there isn't much left and the '08 release is going to be a bit different as the fruit is being sourced from the Santa Cruz Mountains rather than the coast. This is a terrific Pinot, with berry flavors and a wonderful viscosity for dangerously easy drinking.

We finished with two of Joe's Reserve selections. The Reserve Chardonnay (2008) was my absolute favorite wine of the event. It was intense without being woody and had a beautiful straw color. Joe only made 500 cases of this wine and, upon release, it will be available both on Tom's winelist at Dale Miller and at Tom's house, because we're getting one of those cases - hello, Summer 2010 wine. This wine should retail for about $28 a bottle, while the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (2007), the event's final wine, is currently retailing for ~$25. I wish I remembered to take more notes about where Joe sourced his fruit from, or more detailed tasting impressions, but after about 5 different tastings, I honestly get a bit muddy. Sorry.

There are two more Tasting Tuesday events prior to our family trip to Italy - go ahead, hate me now. On June 8th, Joe Armstrong will be presenting wines (and sake!) from his portfolio and on June 22nd Old World selections from Michael Skurnick's portfolio will be offered by sales rep, Doug Berenthal. Of course, I'll be present at both of these educational opportunities trying, as ever, to expand my knowledge. Maybe I'll see you there!

Me - All Over Albany!

Two very cool things occurred recently relating to my little blog and I wanted to share them with you. The first relates to some very nice words sent my way via All Over Albany. For the past month or so, these nice folks have been linking to the DelSo in their weekly Around the Neighborhood postings. I must admit, the first time I saw a link I started calling everyone I knew to share the exciting news. This euphoria was rather short lived, however, because there was a formidable amount of explaining involved to convince some people of the significance of the "linkage." It kind of went like this:

Me: "Guess what? All Over Albany linked to one of my blog postings."

Them: "You have a blog?"
Me: "Yes, for about 6 months now. It's called DelSo."
Them: "What's a DelSo?"

Needless to say, it quickly became less than satisfying. Fortunately, All Over Albany gave me a terrific shout out in mid-May, that more than made up for the lack of social media awareness of which some of my friends are guilty. Check this one out! I'm so happy they picked this posting to highlight (it is one of my personal favorites) and that I intentionally omitted the name of the restaurant.

Now, the second nifty thing that I recently experienced, basically directly countered the conversations regarding my blog which I shared above. Last week I was working at the restaurant and a woman at the bar initiated a conversation with me. It went like this:

Her: "Do you have a blog?"
Me (nervously blushing): "Yes."
Her: "What is it called?"
Me: "DelSo."
Her: "I knew you looked familiar! I read your blog and I really like it."

My first paparazzi experience!! Ok - there were no flashbulbs, cameras, or Lady Gaga lyrics, but still - I was recognized from this little blog. Damned cool! Thanks for reading DelSo - and come back soon.

image courtesy of Amy Mengel.

Brokenheart?

Despite what you may have heard about me, I definitely have a heart. Yes, yes, sometimes it can be icy cold, and on occasion it may be perceived as a tad hardened, but I most certainly do have a heart. Unfortunately, however, my heart doesn't seem to be normal - whatever that means.

Yesterday I had a very disappointing pre-op cardiac evaluation. See, I have a cardiologist. She's in that big group in Corporate Woods and, despite yesterday afternoon's less than stellar performance by my heart, I was finally convinced that she is really assessing my health in a careful, thoughtful manner. She and I initially met when I had one of my fainting episodes, (which I only seem to have, of course, in public locations with many witnesses), and ended up spending a weekend in the cardiac unit. Believe me, a weekend on the cardiac floor is not nearly as much fun as a weekend in the city with the girls. The food sucks, there's no getting any rest and people are constantly coming into your room and poking at you. Yuck. After three days of this treatment, I was released and monitored for 30 days with no tangible diagnosis other than a malformed chest bone. And I always thought my chest was one of my better features!

Yesterday's failure was the result of my wacky ekg that revealed a heart rate in the 30-40 beats per minute range. Apparently the norm for women is more in the 70-80 beats per minute range. While I'd like to think that I'm the picture of health, despite cancer and erratic heart function and public fainting spells, I guess it would be a bit of a stretch to place myself on par with Lance Armstrong's cardiac performance, huh? Although, seriously, if you saw me climb Krumkill Road hill on my bike, perhaps the comparison would be a bit more believable.

So, here I am, eight days pre-surgery looking for confirmation that my heart is in fact strong and healthy. Since, as the doctor explained to me yesterday, the heart is an electrical unit, any, and all, positive energy is welcomed. To be continued...

Chaine des Rotisseurs Dinner - Dale Miller

Last night I attended (or kind of crashed) a lovely party. Dale Miller Restaurant hosted an induction ceremony and dinner for The Chaine des Rotisseurs and I can't imagine a more perfect evening for such a wonderful event. The sun was shining, and there was a delightful bigger-than-a-breeze-but-not-quite-a-wind making the terrace an ideal spot to enjoy cocktail hour. Have you ever attended one of these things? The amount of work that goes into planning and executing a Chaine dinner is mind boggling - the details (especially in Dale's hands) are positively overwhelming! And - I must admit, it is much more enjoyable to attend one of these things than it is to attend the attendees. Trust me, I've been on both sides of the white gloves, so to speak, and I'd much rather not be the one wearing them.

The theme for the evening was Andy Warhol/Pop Art and Dale and his team did an amazing job interpreting and playing with the premise. There was a vividness to the food and the setting that certainly did justice to the Warhol legacy and it seemed to me that everyone had a fantastic time. I mean, seriously, if you know something better to do on a brilliant Sunday evening, than pose on the rooftop veranda at Dale Miller with a glass of rose' Cremant in hand, please share. Speaking of sharing... enjoy the photo album below.

Flowers in the DelSo

Another gorgeous day to get my hands dirty! The front yard is finished, the deck has flowers and I'm nearly ready for summer...

The first of my peonies is looking good and Lucy's big, purple, onion-y thing is spectacular. This is the first of an anticipated series of photo postings highlighting gardens in the DelSo. Enjoy!