Wednesday, February 21, 2007



Beef Bourgignon

1 lb. Stew Beef
Salt & Pepper
2 Small Onions
2 T Flour
1 Cup Dry Red Wine
1 Cup Baby Carrots
3 Cloves Garlic
1 T Herbs du Provence

In a bowl, generously season beef with salt and pepper, set aside until called for.
Thinly slice onions and place in a bowl. Set aside until called for.
Cut the baby carrots to your preference. (I like to cut them down the length of the carrot for presentation purposes.) Smash the three cloves of garlic and place in bowl with carrots.

In a heavy stock pot (Calphalon bay-bee!) heat 2 or 3 Tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot, but not smoking, sear off all the beef in batches. The meat should be nicely browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and set aside. Lower the heat down to medium and add the onions. Cook until the onions are soft and golden brown, then sprinkle with the flour. Continue cooking until all the flour has been incorporated, then add the red wine. Bring the wine to a boil, scraping up all of the fond from the bottom of the pot.

Return the meat to the pot, then add the carrots, garlic, and Herbs du Provence. Add roughly 2 Quarts of water (8 Cups for those of you from Lakota) to the pot and bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender enough to easily break with a fork. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Tip: Check the pot every 15 minutes or so and give a good stir to prevent scorching.

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"...and I don't give a damn about my Bad Reputation!"
- Joan Jett

Tuesday, February 20, 2007



"We should be fucking DEAD my friend!"
- Samuel L. Jackson to John Travolta, Pulp Fiction


For those of you who don't read Kerrie's blog, let me grace you with my hip world view...

Thursday of last week was messed up. We here in Cinci went through two day fisting of a snow "event". Snow, Ice, Freezing rain, and more snow. Amusingly enough, it was nowhere NEAR as bad as the weather up in NW Ohio gets. But with all the hills and a much bigger population down here, things get scary - QUICK.

Thursday was the break in the crappiness though. It was sunny out. Aside from the low wind chill, it was a nice day. So I went to work...

But by the end of my day, I just wanted to go home. I was super tired and I just didn't care.

I got in the car. I merged onto 75N. I headed home.

As I got near Sharonville, I noticed a Semi with a massive cloud of snow blowing off the roof of his truck. I referred to him as a "dumbass" and got ready to merge over to the Right so as to get onto 275, and then it happened...

In less than a second, I saw a sheet of ice come off of the Semi's roof and fly directly at me. And by Me I do mean ME. It hit the hood of the car and slammed into the windshield - directly at eye level. MY eye level.






The Ice shattered into a millions pieces and left the windshield cracked out to all four corners. Amazingly, I kept driving without losing control, and even managed to get the trucks info written down. I just kept driving...

So, for the last few days, I keep thinking of that famous quote from Pulp fiction. And I can't help but wonder: What if that had been metal? Or a piece of rock? Or a hunk of wood?

Personally, I'm just glad I'm alive. But on a deeper level I've started looking, for some reason, at the food I'm cooking so much more intently. Last night I made Beef Bourgignon with meticulous attention to detail. It was tender, dark, thick, and flavorful. Tonight, after dinner? Kerrie and I had Chianti Classico and Milk Chocolate for dessert. It was so smooth and warming... It's sad that it took a freek-moment on the highway to get me to this level of attention, but hey... By any means necessary, huh?

neardeathgroove:
Massive Attack - Protection
Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
Pretenders - 2000 Miles
Donovan - Catch the wind

Monday, February 12, 2007



Oh Mr. Bourdain... You have proven once again why you are my hero. And on Michael Ruhlman's blog nonetheless!

Anthony Bourdain: Guestblogger!