The heartland

I'm finally unpacked and settled back into Vegas from my visit to Ohio. It was an excellent time; I got to see good friends and family, dine at interesting places, drink to excess, and eat a lot of amazing ice cream. It was also really, really cold.

I got to cook with and for my family, which I really loved doing. I also tried to mindfully absorb culinary ideas that are uniquely "Columbus" to me. The food scene in the city is getting interesting, there were a plethora of new restaurants to try on this visit. Tomorrow I'll organize some more pictures and report back on the highlights of our eating adventures.

I was pretty happy with the Christmas day menu I prepared for my family; I believe they enjoyed eating it as well. My mother made her incredibly addictive bread rolls and some cookies, and Michael pitched in as Sous for the day.

Baked French Brie with caramelized onions, we served it with a ruby Port reduction.

The goose was free-range and organic from the North Market. I stuffed it with lemon, thyme, and some of the trimmed fat, then scored the skin and roasted it. I used the heart, trimmings, and gizzards to flavor a rich gravy. The skin was incredibly crispy and delicious.

Golden potato puree, loaded with butter.

And Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and apple wood smoked bacon.

Cooking for people you love is always a huge pleasure, and I really enjoyed spending the day with my parents and everyone else preparing this meal.

By the time I post this, it will be 2011, so happy new year, everyone. This past year has been unbelievable for me, and with my upcoming voyage to Spain, 2011 in looking pretty awesome as well. I'm really, really excited about it.

Adios!

The Cosmopolitan and a brief journey to the City by the Bay

I know my blogs are less frequent lately, but this will cease soon, I swear. Just bear with me for the next couple weeks while I enjoy some family and friend time in Ohio. I'll post- I just can't guarantee a timeline.

On Sunday night, Michael and I ventured out to the new Cosmopolitan casino in City Center. It has a really interesting interior, below is a picture of the "chandelier"; two levels of alcoholic bliss ensconced within flowing tendrils of strung crystal. It's really gorgeous; it hangs about 3 stories high, terminating in a point on the gaming floor, nice touch.

The Cosmopolitan has a ton of new restaurants in it, a nice coffee shop, and a gourmet food store that sells artisan cheeses and salumi, cookbooks and the like.

Our original intention was to visit one of Jose Andres' new restaurants, but neither was open yet, so we decided to check out a burger/sausage joint called Holstein's next to the giant chandelier.

They have a decent selection of very reasonably priced (for Vegas) beers and cocktails, along with a formidable list of milkshakes. We split this S'mores milkshake with spiced rum, graham cracker crumbles, and a toasted, home-made marshmallow. Um, yum!

Our first appetizer was lobster mac n' cheese with taleggio and black truffle. It was served with a mini lobster BLT on the side. The mac n' cheese was really awesome, I was thrilled to have huge chunks of perfectly cooked lobster in every bite.

Our burger had tomato confit, arugula, and caramelized onion, and was very moist and tasty. We got duck fat fries, they came with a bonus topping of fried onion and pepper strings. The fries came out tepid, but still tasted good, and I'm willing to deal with the bumps of a just-opened restaurant.

The pork belly buns had great texture and flavor, I really wish they had a bit of sriracha, though.

The Tuscan sausages were good, but I was hoping for a more sandwich-type deal, like Wurstkuche. They had crisped proscuitto on top and a nice arugula salad on the side.

The lobster mac n' cheese and the burger were the stand outs of the meal, and I felt like we got good value for our money.

Monday night I hopped on a last minute flight to San Francisco to make an afternoon appointment at the Spanish consulate for my visa. In the process, I got to spend time with my great aunt, which was a really nice experience.

Earlier this evening, I flew back to Las Vegas, and tomorrow afternoon I'm flying to Ohio. It's a busy kind of week.

Until next time,

Adios!

Post-cold update

Well, I'm finally over the cold I picked up on my flight back from Ohio, and since I've essentially spent the last week sleeping and whining while wrapped in blankets, I haven't done anything interesting.

In apology, here's a cute picture of one of my brother's puppies:

Now that I'm feeling better, I've been working on my Spanish, getting everything together for my trip, and just finished my last final exam today.

I still have to get the student visa for Spain, but according to the consulate, the next available appointment is January 10th, and it takes 3-6 weeks for them to process it. Also, I have to go to San Francisco to get it... adventure time! The awesome people at Sammic are trying to get in touch with the consulate though, to see if there's any possibility of getting an earlier appointment.

As far as plans for the immediate future, I'll be in Ohio again for the holidays from the 22nd to the 30th, and I plan on eating a lot more Jeni's ice cream this time around. I may even hit a PRK (er, punk rock karaoke... I know, I know) at Circus, where some of my friends work. (They were recently featured on the Heartland episode of Anthony Bordain's "No Reservations") And there will probably be other visits to some of my old haunts, should be a fun time, especially since the tone of the trip will be celebration as opposed to mourning.

A new casino just opened up in City Center, the Cosmopolitan, and there are two restaurants from Jose Andres in there, so I would like to try to visit one this weekend. We'll see how it all works out, though.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Adios!

Julian Serrano

On Tuesday night, Michael decided that he wanted to take me out to dinner, an offer I of course, couldn't refuse. He let me pick- I decided we should try out Julian Serrano's newer restaurant in Aria on the advice of my sommelier instructor.

The restaurant is very pretty inside, but I couldn't quite place a theme for the decor. The tile work and fairly surreal "trees" around the bar area gave it a really unique look.

Julian Serrano is originally from Madrid, and he has another restaurant here in Vegas, Picasso in the Bellagio.

We started with a selection of Spanish cheeses, including Cabrales, Manchego, Cana de cabra, and La Serena. The cheeses were served with fig preserves and crusty bread. My favorite was the La Serena, it's a very soft sheep's milk cheese.

The next course was tuna with "molecular" raspberry, little squares of ahi tuna rolled in sesame seeds, and topped with a very intensely flavored cube of raspberry. I would wager that they pressed fresh raspberries for the juice, then thickened it with a bit of agar agar, then cut it into squares, but I'm not 100% sure. They were good, though, the raspberry with the tuna was odd at first, but they played well together. I liked the wasabi salt they served in the corner of each compartment.

Then there was lobster with "molecular" pineapple, I assume stabilized in the same way as above. I really liked these; the pineapple had a nice roasted flavor to it, and was very smooth with just a little bite to it. The lobster was perfectly cooked, and the sesame oil went really well with the fresh pineapple flavor. The aroma of this skewer was really complex and appealing, sweet, roasty, earthy... the flavor came in waves. Really nice dish.

Pintxos? Of course! House-made chorizo on mashed Yukon gold potatoes. I could eat many of these.

And a huge dish of paella for fun. The flavors were really intense, I especially loved the peppers with their sweet burst. This version was made with sausage, chicken, and rabbit.

I should probably add that the service at Julian Serrano was impeccable, the waiters were friendly and accommodating, everything came out in perfect order, and they had an excellent selection of Spanish wines by the glass. I really thought this restaurant was a great value, I highly recommend it to anyone swinging through Vegas.

We decided to head to Jean-Phillippe patisserie for dessert, just because they're amazing. Above is a super-rich carrot cake mostly comprised of cream-cheese icing. Yum.

The pumpkin cheesecake was really good, the shell around it is white chocolate. The tiny marzipan pumpkin on top was adorable.

This chocolate deal was my favorite of the desserts, though. A deadly combination of chocolate pate choux, chocolate pastry cream, ganache, and several other forms of chocolate, it had everything; crunchy/smooth textures, rich/light flavors, great looks...

And a millefuille, but this one was sugar-free. I was really impressed though, I would have never guessed it was sugar free. The raspberries on top with the crumbled pistachios really made it for me.

I have only one more project and two more final exams to go before I can relax prior to my overseas voyage. Unfortunately, I also picked up a cold in Ohio (I think that's where it came from) so for now all I feel like eating is warm tea with honey and maybe a fruit smoothie, my throat feels really awful. I'm hoping this clears up before I have to do any wine tasting. It's getting slightly better, but I'm still not up to par.

Adios!

A rehash of the week

This past week was a bit strange for me, and I apologize for not updating sooner. But between final exams, my grandfather's passing, and a last-minute trip to Ohio, I haven't been able to muster up any creative words.

So, this shall be a quick recap of "Last Week in Food", and then I'll get back into my normal blogging schedule. Being done with a 20 page research paper on the history and impact of French cuisine is also freeing up a lot of time.

Last Wednesday, as a kind of belated Basque Stage victory dinner, Michael and I went back to RM Seafood for another go at some tasty fish. This time, he agreed to try sushi, another big win. Above is a spicy roll with crab, yellowtail, and tuna, with some kickin' spicy Sriracha mayo. After this dinner, boyfriend declared "from now on, if you say it tastes good, I'll try it.", which opens him up to a beautiful world of organ meats and raw fish. ~Sniff~ I'm so proud!

He also really enjoyed this beautiful duo of tuna, tartar and lightly seared, with ponzu and cucumber. This was really a nice execution- I liked how both versions of tuna were fused into this dish, really making the fantastic texture of the fish the focal point.

On Thursday evening, I flew into Ohio to be with my family. Friday night, my father, mother, Isis and I went out for sushi in Columbus,. I enjoyed the tempura soft shell crab, and a nice selection of nigiri. (Any kind of fried seafood + lemon = awesome)

My brother arrived later on Friday night, and we snacked and had some beers at Tip Top, on Gay street in downtown Columbus. The bar is Ohio-themed, and features Midwestern fare, stuff like these crispy, sweet-spicy corn fritters, that went really well with the great list of micro-brew beers at excellent prices.

After the service on Saturday, a big group of about 15 of us went to Cap City fine dining on Olentangy River Road. It was great to have so many family members around the table, I had the most incredible time. And I'm also now very impressed by my family's ability to hold their liquor...

Anyway, the pecan crusted pork chops were excellent, very moist and with a satisfying, nutty crunch. I also enjoyed a Rouge Dead Guy Ale (micro brews are a ridiculous value in Columbus- $4.50? That beer would be at LEAST $7-$12 out here) and ahem, a delicious wave of hot buttered rums.

I wish I could have seen my family under happier circumstances, but I'm glad I got to spend time with them regardless. So many people congratulated me on Basque Stage... they're all really proud. I got to hear some really amazing stories about my grandparents from my aunts and uncles, and I think I've convinced them to start putting some of these stories together so we can keep them for future generations. My grandparents- and by extension their children- really lived and experienced some extraordinary things, and their spirit of restlessness, adventure, and family has really shaped who I am today. My grandparents are both very missed, and they both made a big impact on many people's lives, far more than they would ever have guessed.

I hope to carry on with their spirit of adventure, and I know they would have been really proud of me. Every time I do something that I'm proud of, my grandmother is the first person to flash into my head, she really believed in me and what I'm doing, and several people have told me that towards the end, she loved to talk about my cooking and how excited she was for me. Whenever I have a moment's doubt, the thought of her forces me to push through and really strive.

Well, now I'm teary-eyed again. Tonight, I have to make a quick appearance at class, then we're going to dinner, something nice. I'm going to attempt to get reservations at Julian Serrano in Aria... my sommelier instructor highly recommended their tapas and paella...

Adios!