I Love to Eat!

The theater, the theater. What's happened to the theater?

I recently heard about a play happening here in Portland called I Love To Eat! I didn't even know what the play was about but I wanted tickets. As the play season went on I finally decided to look into and found that it was a play that was about James Beard. I realized that I hardly know anything about this man whose name I use when discussing awards, chefs, restaurants, and the food scene here in Portland. I decided to not look up any information before attending the show to leave it all to surprise.

I Love To Eat! is a one man play. Actor Rob Nagel who is also an Oregon native plays Beard. An entire 90 minute soliloquy wearing silk pajamas. The play takes place as if Beard was getting ready for bed when he is overwhelmed with memories from his life. The phone constantly rings as he reminds the audience that If you have an unlisted number then no one would be able to call you. Sometimes its his friend Julie Child on the phone, sometimes its a tv viewer upset about a kitchen disaster. During certain cues he runs and slips on his unique kitchen apron and acts as if he is back on his TV show aptly named I Love To Eat!

He recalls a dish he enjoyed to make where he whipped up some mayonnasie specifically on a dinner plate. Cut rounds of onion, which the actor ate raw just as Beard would. Cut rounds from bread. Layer the bread and onion sandwich style, roll it in the homemade mayonnaise and then in finely diced parsley. Voila. These little onion sandwiches were then passed around to the front row of the audience.

As the show comes to an end, Beard recalls his ailments and the fact that he never came out to the public as gay but it was for his friends it was obvious. Then he slowly walks up the staircase as if he is going to bed for the final time.

This show was good I wont say great but I think it is because today's foodie is in their 30's. Beard died in 1985 - I was three. We barely know this man only his name. I could tell by the older people in the audience laughing at certain phrases and moments that this show is using lines Beard was known for on his show. I did however make me want to research him a little more and attempt to understand this man.



James Beard was born in 1903 in Portland Oregon. His family vacationed on the Oregon Coast. Being bedridden with disease as a child gave him the opportunity to eat. He was trained as a singer and dance but his size left him little roles. After hosting small dinner parties he began a catering business which ended with WWII. Then his TV show came on, he met Julia Child, he wrote 24 cookbooks in his lifetime. In 1981 he began the organization City Meals-on-wheels with Gael Greene. When he passed away in 1985 his ashes were spread at the beach in Oregon.

Golden Hues

I recently acquired a very beautiful Butternut Squash. My first thought was to make a pasta with roasted Butternut, gorgonzola, and penne pasta. But I love soup more than pasta. I searched the web for inspiration and saw a recipe titled Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. So I thought, sure I can do that.

1 medium Butternut, peeled well and cubed
3 Shallots, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 inch piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped into chunks

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Salt
2 cups Chicken Stock
1/4-1/2 cup Milk
cracked pepper to taste
3 slices Apple Wood Bacon, diced small

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
On a rimmed baking sheet place butternut, shallots and ginger. Drizzle with olive oil and salt. Roast in oven for 1 hour.
Let cool for 10 minutes.
In a small fry pan place bacon and render on medium low. Once crispy drain on paper towel.
Put roasted goodness into a blender with chicken stock. Blend well. Add milk and puree until smooth.
Strain mixture through strainer pushing mixture though with spatula into a medium pot. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and add pepper as needed. Garnish with bacon bits.

 Around Christmas time I asked the general Facebook population what their favorite holiday cookie is. I was actually very surprised to see that so many people said it was Snickerdoodles. For me I always thought of this light tasty cookies as a summer treat. This reminded me of a cookies in my repitoire called a Honeydoodle. And here goes.

1/3 cup Butter
2/3 cup Honey
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1 1/2 cup Flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter and honey together. Add baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add egg. Add flour.

In a small bowl combine 3 tablespoons Sugar and 3 teaspoons Cinnamon.

I scoop my cookies with a teeny ice cream scoop and drop the sticky dough into the sugar mixture. Then place on a baking sheet. Do not place cookies too close together but they should rise up more than out. Bake only 8-10 minutes.

Resolutions

According to Wikipedia - 40% of Americans set New Year's Resolutions in an attempt to better themselves. The site also says that 88% of people fail. 

I don't really know when Holidays started getting me down. I suppose it began while I was in college. The winter break would happen and I would arrive home just as Christmas was approaching. There was no more build up. There was usually an argument with the parents about when the tree was going to finally get put up. It seemed like it went up because of a deadline not because of the spirit. One day I hope to have a home of my own that I can deck out with the upcoming holiday and perhaps throw a cocktail party for my friends. 

This might sound like a debbie-downer way to start a blog for the new year but my point is only that if you don't like something - you've got to do something about it, right? I have made a few New Years Resolutions of my own. 

1. Create at least 70 blog posts in 2013.
I started Marmalade a while back. And then made a verbal commitment to post about cooking and food and whatnot but I failed. My camera broke and I felt too inept to fully utilize my iphone camera. So with 70 posts that is at least one a week plus a few extras.

2. Work harder on my body and for my body. 
I don't want to set a goal of losing a certain amount - that seems like its asking for failure. Instead I just want to eat better than I am now and work harder at the gym than I do now.

3. Cook more. 
Its my passion. There are 52 weeks in a year. Say I vacation 2 weeks. With my current schedule that means I only have 100 days available to cook dinner for myself. But I also love to eat out, try new restaurants and visit favs. So now lets say I have 60 opportunities to cook. Lets say 10 of those are already prepared meals. I now have 50 opportunities to cook dinner. I better hop to it!

4. Remember the good times. 
I saw on Pinterest the idea of writing down good times, warm fuzzies, and happy thoughts and sticking them in a jar so that in one year they can be pulled out and reviewed. I love this idea because it seems we often remember negative more than positive. I purchased a vintage Whisky decanter from an antique shop and as of yesterday it was collecting dust. Today it has two notes in it. 

5. Keep up with friends better. 
This one sounds easy but it is not. I am sure its a resolution that most people make. I need this though. Everyone I meet leaves some kind of footprint on my heart and I am always sad when I realize that too much time has past since I have spoken, talked to, or seen. I intend to send cards, write emails, make phone calls, and schedule plans. Hope the friends are ready. 

What were you up to New Years Eve? I had just come home from spending Christmas in Alaska with my family. I had to rush back into work. I forgot to make plans, see what might be going on! For a moment I wondered if it would be lonely to sit home and snuggle with my pup while watching Seacrest count down to midnight. Or would it be more sad to sit in a favorite bar where I don't know anyone just to be out and around people. I chose the latter. 

For New Years I headed over to Interurban on N. Mississippi. A usual haunt, its comfortable, non cliche, and the bartenders are always entertaining. I took a seat at the only vacant bar stool. As I sat I realized I was next to the resident bar stool warmer - you know - 60s, drunk, telling the same story over and over. Luckily he left soon after I arrived, he had two other bars to visit before it struck New Years. At that time I found myself surrounded by empty seats. I thought about scooting down towards people but then I thought "Lets let fate fill these seats and see what kind of conversation I will end up in. An intensely drunk group of 23 year olds walked in which was mildly amusing for the first 10 minutes. Next came a couple. I am not even sure when they sat down. We started chatting and had a lot in common from school, local favorite spots, and life. As a group we chatted and chatted until someone on the customer side of the bar saw the time ticket atop the bartenders computer. It was 11:44 pm. The bartenders rounded up whatever servers were available and started handing out the toast. At a hip bar such as Interurban surely it wouldn't be an ordinary toast. They handed out Champagne Jello Shots. Served in a wide shot glass with a demitasse spoon for slurping. Delicious and complete with bubbles it was a truly fun way to ring in the new year!

This is me

My name is Jennifer. I came about cooking in a round about way. Growing up dinner almost always consisted of a lb. of this and a box of that (hamburger helper style). My parents had a couple good meals up their sleeves but those meals didn't happen all that often. When I went away to college I was studying dietetics. I was encouraged to volunteer at the hospital since that is what my program was basically preparing us to do with our degree. While there I had to go around to the rooms and pick up menu cards with the patients desired meals circled. I remember one day walking into a woman's room who was being discharged in a couple hours after giving birth - she feebly told me to get the menu card off the table and to circle items for her "honey, do you want any of that?" she called to her baby daddy. I circled what she told me and left. A few halls away a very old man was moved into a room after recovery from open heart surgery. He didn't have too much strength but he had made the faintest little dots next to the items he wanted. Later that day I also got a pepsi thrown at me by a man in detox. I left the hospital, giving up on my volunteer efforts. The next term I was enrolled in a class called Cooking for Quantity. In this class we learned how to cook large amounts of food (for retirements homes, the other option for utilizing my degree). We learned that people do not like to eat a plate of food that is all one color, if there is a checkerboard floor, people with walkers might feel overwhelmed and just not come down to the dining room to eat. Again I felt frustrated by the classes teachings. I decided I wanted to give people good food, in happy atmospheres, and on occasion be able to teach a customer something new. I switched my degree to Food Service Management. To round out my classes I learned about the history of food, worldly cuisine, how to run a bar, and how to design food spaces. My flame was lit.
After school I began teaching myself to cook by watching Food Network. At the time it was Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Giada DeLaurentiis. I loved them all for what they offered. I moved back home for a while and I introduced my parents to new foods; red leaf lettuce, mango, lentils. I also taught them that you can make mayonnaise, mom's family recipe that we called 'barbeque beef stew' was actually a goulash, and that the microwave is the worst way to thaw food.
After a quarter life crisis I decided to move from Alaska to Oregon. With the economy in a slump I decided to go to culinary school. I enrolled in a diploma program for Baking and Patisserie in the fall of 2010. Sadly, many of the classes I was scheduled to take had nothing to do with baking but I learned about all the cooking methods, the mother sauces, regional foods, how to break down a lamb, that a raspberry hole is not sightly.
In my days off I like to get in the kitchen. My goods come from farmers markets when I get a chance. If I want to try something new I often visit Martha Stewart's website first because I believe her team has developed a well tested recipe - and then I tweak the recipe once I'm comfortable. I feel like I am able to show my love for my friends by sharing my cooked goods.

My hope for this blog is a creative outlet where I can share a new cookbook, a recipe and picture of something yummy, and maybe even a great experience with food in a restaurant. Here goes...