http://www.emptyhighway.com/ I haven't figured it out either. en-us wayne@emptyhighway.com Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:54:03 -0500 http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000250.html "Borscht" Yields: ~5qts/4.75L7# / 3.2K Large Red Beets227g / 1/2# Unsalted Butter118ml / 1/4Cup Extra Virgin Olive OilMirepoix:250g peeled and slice carrots2 heads /~250 slice fennel bulb1-2 Large Spanish Onions, slicedSachet:cheesecloth and kitchen twineSmall bunch of Parsley Stems2 fresh bay Leaves4 sprigs Tarragon1/2 Tbsp Black Peppercorns1.5 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar (we use Sparrow Lane Cabernet Red WIne Vinegar)Procedure:Cube Butter. Place beets in a roasting pan or make foil packets that contain beets arrange by size. Season liberally with salt and pepper, bake at 350 F until tender, test with a cake tester or paring knife until the beets yield little resistance. Remove from oven, cool enough to handle, while very warm, and peel with a dish towel or bare hands... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000247.html Spanish Pork Ass that Kicks Ass (A variation on Cochinita Pibil or Puerto Rican Pernil)Ingredients Needed:For Braising the pork:7-10# Pork Ham (Butt) or Shoulder, Skin and Fat on1 or 2 Large Spanish Onions1 Head of Garlic1 or 2 Large CarrotsLeek Greens from 1 Large leek (reserve the whites for something else)2-3 Tbsp Pimenton de la Vera (I have this if you need to borrow it)1/4# smoked pork belly or hock (preferably apple wood smoked)~2 qt Brown Chicken Stock (if commercially made I recommend: Pacific natural Free Range Chicken Broth or Kitchen Basics. Bring to Boil before use.)2 16oz Dark Ale of your Delight4 Tbsp-1/4 cup Olive Oil (E.V.O.O. or Pure)For Brine:1qt Water 1 Tbsp Black Peppercorns 1 tsp Juniper... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/just_because/000246.html I haven't posted in a while because I've been too busy. I haven't posted in a while because I didn't feel the need too. But, it is really like this. I haven't posted in a while, because I've been too busy and didn't bother to take the time to reflect enough. It's been over a year since I've been married to Tracie. Things are still wonderful, although we don't see each other enough. We work too much, and then on my days off. I'm too tired and haven't the imagination to do anything I've been dreaming about while working. Like a few months ago I met Tracie and our friend Holly, after they had visited the MoMa. I had just... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000244.html Peach Lavender Ice Cream2-3# Fresh Texas Peaches6 Egg Yolks1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)2 1/2 Cups Milk (Whole or 2%)1 2/3 Cup Sugar (split in two separate measurements)1 tsp Vanilla Extract or 1 Vanilla Bean (split and seeds scrapped into mixture)2 Stalks of Lavender (~4" tall wiht lots of nice leaves)Ice, about 1#Water, quite a bitEquipment Needed:4 qt SaucepanWooden SpoonFine Mesh StrainerIce Cream Maker4 medium to large mixing bowlsLarge Sauce or Stock Pot1. Using a paring knife, score the peaches at the pointy end, with an x. Immerse in boiling water for a minute or until the skin appears to start pulling away. Shock in an ice bath. Peel and cut wedges off of the pit. Divide the... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/friends/000223.html It was one of the most beautiful days of my life. I hope to share all the rest. We were married at the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, MA on October 7th, 2006. It's been over a month. We got back from the wedding and basically had to pack and move to a new apartment in Brooklyn. Needless to say, things have been hectic, but fun nonetheless. If you want to see more pictures from the wedding there are many over here. If you join the group and you are my friend I can add you where you can see all of the photos. That's all for now. Ciao!... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/up_for_debate/000213.html I got on at West 4th. I know I got on at West 4th. I recall watching out the doorway as passengers got on at Canal, the next stop. Then I returned my attention to the essay I had been reading. I did not recall the train ever stopping for very long. I looked up from time to time, people were on the train, everything seemed fine. I didn't feel the train start moving in the opposite direction. When, I looked up again, to check the trains progress. My gazed was transfixed on the platform. It looks like Canal St. again. The bird sculptures. Those are the bird sculptures aren't they? I didn't catch the sign. Someone stepped in my... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/food/000209.html The Chez Panisse Kitchen. From Left to Right in the foreground Chez Panisse cooks Paula, Chef Phillip, and Extern Shaina. At the end of December 2005, I graduated from The French Culinary Institute's Culinary Arts program. Shortly after I ventured out to California to try out for a position with Chez Panisse Café in Berkeley, California. In the first week I was there,I began to despair over just how little a culinary program could prepare one for working in a professional kitchen, especially as short a program as the one I completed, 9 months. I didn't get the job. Yet the chefs offered me a chance to come back for a short 3 week internship as they liked me and... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/up_for_debate/000206.html One of the issues we have heard a lot about, particularly over 2005, was climate change. The days last year seem like they could be measured in natural catastrophies. This morning, over my morning coffee (fairly traded and shade grown), I listened to a brief mention that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison had managed to get support for passing of S. 517 the WEATHER MODIFICATION RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 and it has been placed on the legislative calendar. "Weather Modification, what the hell does that mean?" I thought. The NPR story gave a short background decribing how the committee will reopen research and experimentation into weather modification research, which was "shelved" back in the 70's. The coverage and story were cursory at best, but the issue is extremely provacative. My mind reeled with some of the potential unintended consequences of changing a weather pattern in one place and the consequences abroad. What kind of disturbance in the forces of nature would this create? I sat up and shouted at the radio. "Does she have any idea what the potential consequences would be?" She being, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who introduced the bill back in March of 2005. Next I realized, I don't have a clue what the consequences would be either. http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000198.html .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } We finally got up to visit our friend Georgia in Burlington, VT, before she heads off to Chicago. While Fall is running a bit late, due to "uncertain circumstances"... we did manage to find a few pretty leaves and such. Please click on the image to see the other photos I took in Vermont. The photos were taken in Red Rock Park in or near Burlington, VT.... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/food/000196.html A few weeks ago I found out about a Scholarship that would: pay room, board fees, and transportation to Washington D.C. to participate in a "Conference of Leaders" organized by Share Our Strength. Like many things, I got my essay in on the last day, just in the nick of time. A few days ago, I got an email confirming that I was one of 20 culinary students from across the nation selected as a finalist to attend the conference, and assist in service for their "Hurricane Relief Taste Event" on October 17th, 2005. As always I feel lucky. Lucky to have the opportunity to write on such an interesting topic, lucky enough to be able to email in... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/food/000195.html If you see one documentary this year, or in the next five, see this one, The Future of Food. We saw it yesterday and I was humbled and enlivened to see a problem illuminated along with a solution. The documentary has the tone of someone who sat through Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 and decided that it just was not as an effective way to get dialogue and movement around an issue as it could. Deborah Koons Garcia, perhaps in response to Michael Moore's lackluster ability to highlight problems of our free-market economy and come off sounding hollow without following through on telling us really what we can do ( besides emailing our senators or protesting someone or something). The... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/observations/000193.html It's been so hot and humid of late that I feel my mind has emptied out all of it's good ideas. They've dumped right out, into the sky or onto the pavement. Maybe it's just time to get out of the city for awhile. A short trip would be nice. When the days are so hot and heavy that you hear an air advisory warning, I suspect I'm not alone in those yearning to retreat to somewhere cooler and more remote from one another. Right now, it's so humid, I don't want to take a cold shower for fear of never drying off. But I dare say I will venture off and out of the house for a shake shack... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives/food/000186.html For ages I've been in love with eating and cooking. When I look back on the times I spent with family and friends I can't even recall a time when we were not either sitting at a table or counter somewhere enjoying food, or in the process of getting it all together to entertain for a "little get together". Being an itinerant southerner I'm always on the lookout for integrating old ideas of comfort and southern foods and the panache of European simplicity. I picked up Frank Stitt's Southern Table the other day at the Housing Works Used Bookstore and can't help but be overjoyed and immeasurably pleased with the book's presentation, photos, and Frank's writing. It took a... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000184.html .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } this imagery was so surreal and painting like had to take it away.... http://www.emptyhighway.com/archives//000183.html .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Beach culture, can't live in it and can't live without it. I wonder what it is that is so magnetic about it?...