A busy week! New Employees, The Farm, A Pug, and More!

So this week was pretty crazy!  After starting this blog to be able to post about what we are cooking on a more daily basis, I have, admitadly, been pretty piss poor at that.  But now it’s time to catch up! This week was a great week of cooking local foods, starting new adventures on career-hood for Dickie, dog-sitting Uly for my friend Tom, and a great trip (as always) to Lake Meadow to grab some eggs, and show Dickie how amazing the place is.

Check out the pics below to see exactly what we have been up to, including some pics of the awesome baby Vidalia onion confit that we made for the market last week (check out the recipe below so you can make your own confit!).

Baby Vidalia Onion Confit

10-12 Baby Vidalia Onions, peeled, cut in half if they are bigger than 3/4″ wide

2 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 good pinches Kosher Salt

3 cloves, garlic

2 sprigs Whatever fresh herbs you have

Place all ingredients into a vacuum seal-able bag.  Remove as much air as possible.  Plunge sealed bag into water at or above 180 degrees.  Cook for 2-3 hours, or more if a softer texture is desired!  Use on pizza, mixed into rice, or served along side of a roast!  (Note: if you don’t have a Food Saver or Cryovac machine, you can use any home zip-top bag, just remove as much air as possible before placing in pot of hot water.  You may need to weight it down because the trapped air will cause it to float.)

A Week in Maine!

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Hi everyone!  So this week was my mom’s funeral, which was such a great time!  An awesome celebration of her life, us and about 400 of her friends spent about an hour talking about how amazing she was, and the impact she made on this earth.  It was really great. I’m not just saying that either.  It was awesome!

Anyway, we have been eating our way through New England, starting with Leah picking me up in Boston and a stop at The Neighborhood in Somerville.  This place has the most amazing breakfast stuff, and I opted this week for a simple breakfast with Linguica (Portuguese Chorizo), a few eggs, and thier homefries.  The cream of wheat that came with breakfast (light cinnamon please!) was perfect, as always.  Leah ordered the corned beef hash before I could, and therefore, she wouldn’t allow me to get it.  it was a great time though.  And we didn’t even get a parking ticket when Leah forgot to pay the meter!

We headed over to Formaggio Kitchen, where we met up with the old gang who works there, of course, former colleagues of Leah’s, and, well, people who know me and know what we do!  So we perused the spice rack (Turkish Onion Seeds anyone?), and picked up a few goodies which may hit the Big Wheel product lineup soon!  Great peeps, great food, great time!  And we couldn’t leave the Cambridge area without stopping in at Hi-Rise for Vanilla Bean Loaf.  Seriously.  We go out of our way to get it every single time we are there. We give it to each other as gifts, and are envious of each other when we do!!!!!  So good!

We headed to Maine, where Dad had gotten us some huge lobsters from his friend Fred.  They averaged about 3#, with the biggest being a whopping 4.5#!!!  So good!  We steamed them up with some local corn, and Leah threw together an awesome Sour Cream Potato Salad!  A little melted butter, and whazaaam!  So good!

Other than that, we just visited some awesome hometown type places.  We hit up Big G’s in Winslow for Breakfast on Saturday (Luke wanted French Toast, and Leah loves the big size of their portions!), and then Kennebec Cafe for Breakfast on Father’s Day, where they FREAKING MAKE THEIR OWN ARTISANAL DOUGHNUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Leah chose Applesauce with cinnamon sugar, Dad and I both got Chocolate Sugared, and Amanda got a coconut.  Wish I had gotten pictures. Amazing.  Hot, fresh, made by hand, only seconds before you eat them.  Who could ask for more?

Other than that, it was pretty much cooking at home over a grill and a new firepit my dad built, so it was mostly burgers.  But it was great to find a little nice cheese section at the local grocery, and the wedge of Great Hill Blue made it’s way into about three meals, all awesome!

Can’t wait to be back in Orlando and get cooking, but it has been a nice little pace change up here this week.  Lots of work to snag back to starting Wednesday, but for now, I’m enjoying Vacationland!

A Wedding, and the Market!

Hey everyone!  This week, we had a very special event!  Because I was out of town all week, JR Kawczak took the brunt of the prep on this shoulders for the wedding of Hampton Paulk and his bride Holly!  He did such a great job, as you can see from the pics below!  We did a total of 9 different hors d’oeuvres, and they were all pretty tasty!  Thanks goes out also to Kathleen House and Sean Dey, without whom I couldn’t have done the event!

Got a kinda early start today after working the wedding all last night, and headed out to see what the Winter Park Market had for stuff.  I saw these and had to have them:

Waterkist Farms’ Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

I think I am gonna make an awesome Nicoise Salad on Monday night for the Audubon Park Market!  You should come out and see us!

Farmers Market Journey

This morning at Winter Park Farmer’s Market, there were the usual meat-heads selling produce from Mexico and Guatemala. I was able to sift through the rubble to come across some gems. Here is my bounty and what it’s bound for…

Heirloom Tomatoes from Waterkist Farms – Big Wheel Flatbreads for Audubon Market on Monday night
Wild Hand picked Blackberries from Stetner Farms – Blackberry Preserves for the Markets
Bulb Scallions from the old guy in the back of the market from Georgia – Scallion Dip and Flatbread topping
Heirloom Carrots from Stetner Farms – Not sure what I am going to do with these yet… Pickles?
Ciabatta Bread from Olde Hearth Bread – Crostini eventually I bet!

Been thinking all day about how to macerate fruit that is compressed sous vide in a liquid, with it absorbing it, rather than releasing liquid of it’s own.  Spent the day also thinking about what owning a butcher shop is going to be like.  It’s gonna be a lot of work, and a lot of money.  But now’s the time.  I just need to surround myself with the people who believe in me and Big Wheel, and what we are doing, who trust that I can teach them things that will be important.  Am I worthy of that?  Is the victory of the climb worth the amount of work to get up that mountain?

I hope so.

And I hope I can figure out a way to get watermelon to absorb bourbon.

Yah, ok, so it’s another new blog.

So this is my new blog.  I know, I know, you think I already have one.  However, the other blog I do is for Big Wheel, my company.  this is going to be much more accessible to my daily life, and what I am cooking and eating on a more regular basis, where the Big Wheel blog is more about what is happening with the company, and is used to showcase our suppliers.

I’m also gonna use it as a way to continue to push myself to keep practicing my photography of food and what is in the oven, on the stove, or smoking away.  So stay tuned, and you may learn a thing or two, may be able to teach a thing or two, and perhaps can pick up some new recipes for you and your family!

I guess I have to start with something, and they aren’t my photographs, but Matt Addington (of the infamous Duck Duck Collective) recently did some head shots for me to use wherever I need them, and I figure since I am done cooking and eating for today (mostly), I would post these.  Maybe you like them, and maybe you don’t!  But I like them…

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