Boxing Day at the Beach

What is Boxing Day? According to Wikipedia:

Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants.Today, Boxing Day is better known as a bank or public holiday that occurs on December 26, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other Commonwealth nations.

It's not traditionally celebrated in the US except to call it "the day after Christmas" where you give people who deliver boxes a fifth of Scotch.

I'm sure there are many other definitions and traditions that go along with this multi national holiday but I think I just found my favorite one today in my dear old hometown of Ventura.

The Jolly Oyster set up shop in the parking lot of the Buenaventura State Beach off of Harbor Boulevard some time ago. And like the meat market I mentioned a while back, I have been meaning to get there forever...but of course work and life get in the way of most fun things I want to do. Finally today worked....

A dear friend and fellow foodie helped to organize a casual day down at the Jolly Oyster on Boxing day to help celebrate the day with the owner who hails from the British Isle and let me tell you....I kind of want to adopt this holiday for myself

The Jolly Oyster sells a few different varieties of oysters in the shell, mussels and clams. You have to shuck or cook everything, but fortunately they sell the shucking knives (and have band-aids for those of us who slip!), there are are a few picnic tables and multiple barbecues surrounding the space so you have plenty of opportunity to spread out, cook and snack if you don't want to just take them home to eat.

It was a great turnout with families and groups of friends barbecuing and shucking for hours on end....A few bottles of bubbles later, some bread and cheese and my friends and I kind of shut the place down while taking the last few oysters they had on hand.

If you like oysters at all or have an interest in learning about them or trying them for the first time with someone who is knowledgeable, personable, funny and has an infectious passion for what he is growing, selling and shucking this is THE place to go. 

All you need is an oyster knife, cocktail sauce or ponzu (or mignonette if you are fancy pants), some lemon and hot sauce and an honest love for the wonderful simple things in life. It is the middle of December and we were sitting at the beach in the sun sipping champagne and slurping oysters, how much better can you get???

Please go visit them and enjoy as much as we did!

www.thejollyoyster.com

What it takes to get me back......Guilt!

It's been a while....two and a half months to be precise, but who's counting? Apparently  you as I have gotten comments from all 5 of my faithful readers in regard to my lack of posts in the past couple months and for that I am sorry.

My only "excuse" is that I truly have not cooked much over the last month and before that very little....along with that have had little time to post anything due to crazy work schedule and social schedule.

A quick photo montage with bits and pieces to fill you in since you've last heard from me. Please know that I took these photos thinking that I was going to share with you way sooner than this. :)

First bite of summer.

My Addy chomping on her watermelon at Joey & Charlies Birthday Party.

 

Cooking lesson with Nate.

Teaching my cousins buddy how to bone and cook a chicken. Comedy.

My Moms 2nd Surprise 60th Birthday Party

Complete with a whole roasted pig in Baja. We dressed the pig up, not the caterers.

Camp meat baby!

Dorado courtesy of yours truly. Ceviche only an hour later.

Yes, that is guacamole served with chicharrones. At a restaurant know affectionately as the "Pork Palace"

Holy crap. My own personal heaven. Could have made a meal or twelve out of this but powered up and realized that a new wardrobe would be in order.

Wine tasting Vay Cay with the bestie in Paso Robles

Wine, Cheese, Meat and other goodies for lunch, our favorite!

A week and dinner with my ladies, we always eat sooooooo well together!

"Blue" Salad

Blueberries from Clovers Family (biggest & best!), Blue Cheese, Almonds, Greens, Balsamic & EVOO

Clams and Bacon (you knew it was coming)

A little onion, tomato and white wine....perfect dippin' sauce!

Pacific Oysters on the half shell

Cocktail Sauce & Meyer Lemons

It feels good to be back...more to come, I am going to go make something else for you now.

Much love and happy cooking!

Sausage Party

I write this title with as much seriousness as I can muster...but really? How can you spend all day with meat shaped like, well...um...ahem...you know!! Then playing with intestines that look like prophylactics and not have some sort of sarcastic tongue in cheek title like "Sausage party".

To me it brings to mind those days of old where you would show up to a party in high school or college and the place was dominated by the male species. Girls would light up, preen and troll for the best looking guy in the room. Guys however, would enter the room, take a look around and disdainfully remark "It's a sausage party, lets go". You feel me? If not, sorry my humor is just too 8th grade for you....but whatever, we all thought it was funny as hell. Needless to say, the jokes going through the kitchen today were at best, juvenile.

Originally it was going to be me and Dad-once he found out that I was going to make sausage out of the pig Brock brought home, he volunteered to help as he had a couple of turkeys that he wanted to get rid of and make into sausage leaving the bones and scrap meat for Mom to make stock and tasty meals with.

Unfortunately, Dad had to go off and work on one of his projects, leaving me and mom to grind, mix, season, stuff, seal and freeze no less than 8 varieties of sausage ( I know, I am crazy). It was a fair amount of work to chop and dice the meat and fat, bone out the turkeys and grind all the meat (about 30# in all) but in the end, it was worth it!

Mom was only able to stay for about half the time, having to run off to work in the middle of the day.....fortunately for me, my cousin Tom came to visit and not only kept me company, but was my official blog photographer, comic relief and now is known to me from this day forth as the "Sausage of Honor"...being the only man in the house during my party he has been crowned and will be known by this name forever.

I sit here and write with my feet hurting (just a little), hands dried out from washing a zillion dishes and am in possession of some seriously delicious vittles for future dinners, parties and other gatherings that require deliciousness. A glass of wine has rarely tasted so good.

The chosen flavors are as follows....

Bratwurst-A Kenton/McKaye family must have

Cheddar Wurst-Like Bratwurst, but with Cheeeeeeese!!!!

Italian Sausage-It's a staple. Nuff said.

Lucanega (aka Tom Sausage)- Citrus Zest, Vermouth, Fennel, Coriander & Nutmeg

Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage-Had to see if I could make a good one!


Super Yummy Smoked Snacking Sausage-Keeper recipe, smoked in the cooktop smoker!

Turkey Sausage with Sun Dried Tomatoes-So freaking good!

Hot Italian Turkey Sausage-Speecy Spicy Staple!

Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage-Light Staple :)

It goes without saying that if you are a guest in my home in the next few months you will most likely be enjoying the fruits (meats) of my labor. If by some random freak of nature there is another crazy person out there that wants to make their own sausage from scratch and needs a recipe for any of the above snausages, just write and tell me, I am not above sharing. :)

Dinner was, of course, sausage....in tasting format, with all of us voting for our favorites, dipping them in various mustard's and washing it down with a nice green salad and plenty of wine.

I thoroughly enjoyed my sausage party and hope that you did as well, I recommend it in the future if for no other reason than you cry off your makeup because you laugh so hard.

Bringing home the bacon.....and sausage!

About a week and a half ago I was relaxing on my couch with a glass of wine in hand...Ipod playing my oh so random mix of music and reading whatever book happened to be on my table that night. Contemplated making dinner for myself, but was uninspired, relaxed and quite frankly a bit lazy because it was just me at home. Brock was out with the boys for the day, golfing in a tournament and would be home late....so I thought.

At 8:30 the phone rings and it is my sweetie, all fired up!

Him "Babe! What are you doing?"

Me "Couch, book, wine"

Him "Get your grubbies on, we got a pig!"

Me "OK, ready in 5!"

Now I will translate.

We have a friend with a ranch in Ventura who allows and encourages Brock and a few other guys to come and hunt wild boar on the property. The land up behind Foothill Road from Casitas Springs to Santa Paula boasts a huge number of animals ranging from mule deer, black bear, mountain lion, bobcat and the aforementioned wild boar. Most people in Ventura have never seen these and probably prefer not to in most cases. We, however are a different kind of family.

I grew up with a Daddy who hails from the Midwest and grew up hunting for fun as well as to put food on the table for his family of 11. I not only enjoy cooking and eating wild game, but also hunting it on occasion. From a health perspective, most wild game is better for you than the meat in any grocery store. Leaner, grass or "brush" fed, lacking artificial hormones or antibiotics it is mother natures best showcase of "organic" meats. There are sometimes drawbacks with wild game such as the telltale "gamey" flavor that comes with many animals or the lack of fat and marbling that comes from intentionally fattening up an animal. But dependant upon age, diet, sex (seriously-girls are better in most cases) and how it is cooked game meats can outshine feedlot animals any day of the week. I will take a slightly gamey venison steak over a corn fed, pen raised, hormone added beef steak any day.

OK...off my soap box for now!

To most of you this is alien, foreign and quite possibly off putting, for me it is normal and quite frankly kind of exciting. I went up to the ranch with Brock and our buddy and was present for the slaughter of the hog which I will spare you the details of....but I will tell you that my little head was filled with visions.....ooooohhhhhh the possibilities. I think I sat and stared at the pig for a good hour just making sure I knew exactly what I wanted.

Not since culinary school have I been presented with an animal that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted with and to it. Brock was bowing to my superior knowledge of cuts and processing and went so far as to call me at work when he was at the butcher to make sure that nothing was missed or cut incorrectly.

Tenderloins & loins...both whole for chops and medallions. Ribs-baby back for the BBQ and country style for slow cooking. Foreshanks, whole for braising. Shoulders, butt (ham) and any additional meat and fat portioned out in 4-5 pound packages so I can make sausage out of it.

Yesterday he brought the meat home in vacuum sealed packages and proudly showed me all of the different cuts that we were going to be able to "play" with over the next month or so.

Is it any surprise that I whipped out my sausage cookbook tonight and am flagging recipes? Italian (sweet & hot!) of course, Bratwurst is a must, Chorizo a strong possibility, Loukaniko, Andouille....oh my sweet Lord the possibilities are endless.

So sometime in the next week I will be firing up the Kitchenaid meat grinder and sausage stuffer and making my very own homemade sausages.

I know this makes me sound like a huge dork, but I am so excited. :)

Getting ready for gluttony

Food, food and more food....add a few adult beverages and you get the gist of where I am off to. Half vacation, half work related, I am off to the annual NACE (National Association of Catering Executives) Annual conference in Charlotte North Carolina. The venue changes yearly, but the gist of the conference does not....generally a great keynote speaker (this year we get Rocco di Spirito) followed by 3 days worth of educational seminars ranging from food & wine knowledge, selling strategies, decor, trends, e-marketing....you get it. Then take that and intersperse a meal period every 2 hours.

No joke.

Breakfast. Design Session. Refreshment Break. Educational seminar. Lunch. Another educational seminar. Break. Where we generally go get cocktails before.....Reception & Dinner.

Repeat that.

Twice.

And very little time to excercise or even get up out of that hideously uncomfortable banquet or chiavari chair and walk around.

My ass feels bigger just thinking about it. Added to that, we are going to the south where fried is a bonafide food group.

Don't get me wrong, I freaking love to eat and I love all the best things in the world that are horrible for my blood pressure, blood sugar, weight & cholesterol. So along with me to the conference go my old pals in pharmaseutical form...fat blockers, diet pills & acid reflux blockers...whatever it takes to keep up!

But there is really no conference like a catering conference where they bend over backward and do naked cartwheels to get you the best, funnest, most interesting food and beverage that they can. I will get to sample mini every things, ethnic foods, sample fizzy drinks in test tubes, enjoy refreshment breaks wrapped around baseball teams, colors, scents & countries and go to events that are so sensory oriented from the decor to the food that it makes your head swim. All you people that go to computer conferences, realtor conferences (yes, you mom), lawyer retreats and even incentive based meetings...I guarantee that you do not eat as well as we do. Because that is what we do. :)

Unfortunately no recipe for this week, but I will update you on all of the fun deliciousness that I get to sample and when I get back it is back on the old diet I go....Ugh!