I apologize for my writing, spelling, and or grammar in advance....
If Holli can Blog about Crafty things I can Blog about what I love most...food! Most people don't know how I fell in love with cooking, so here's the story. I had many examples in my life who had an influence on my cooking, first being my father. Growing up my Dad didn't cook a lot, but when he did it was usually something awesome. I don't want to discount my Mom's cooking because she was the one who normally cooked, and cooked well; but it wasn't like Dad cooking. The old man had a special touch. Even top ramen tasted better when he made it. He also has the same love of red meat as I do!
My second influence was also a man. When I graduated High School my family moved to Germany and I stayed in Seattle for a year until I left for Brazil on my mission. Needing somewhere to live I stayed with my aunt for a while. I then decided to stay with one of my best friends parents, as I was already over there once a week to watch Survivor. Tom and Liz Clouthier were what you would call foodies. Their main rule while I was there was dinner was ready at 5:30 and if you weren't there you didn't eat. Tom got me interested in things like fresh pasta, white wine sauce, and he made a ministroni soup that was to die for!
From there I traveled through Europe and gained an even greater appreciation for food, eating Rahmschnitzel in Germany, Pasta in Italy, crème brûlée in Paris, chocolate in Belgium, and so on. I then traveled to Brazil and Mexico, learning to love their cuisine as well.
By the time I came to college in Virginia, I loved food and had great examples, but could not cook to save my own life, so I ate things that college males normally eat such as: Mac and Cheese, Top Romen, Microwave Pizza, and Chicken Nuggets.
Then I met the Love of my life, who bring all things good out of me. We wanted to make a gourmet pizza, as she has the same love for food as I do. The Pizza included: Alfredo pesto sauce, three types of cheese, roasted red peppers, garlic, onion, bell peppers of all colors, artichoke hearts, and rosemary chicken. The pizza was awesome and we had left overs of all the ingredients, so I said, "Why not use that to make a cream sauce for a pasta?" I then started to experiment and made and awesome sauce! At that moment I realized that I had made something that not only tasted good, but GREAT! And I had done it with out a recipe, I had just made it up. I also realized that I really enjoyed it. Those two meals gave me confidence in the Kitchen. From that point my love of cooking and eating has only grown.
Holli, my family, and I went down to Montpelier one weekend and we passed a street called Hen and Bacon rd. I thought that would be a cool name for a restaurant and told her if I ever opened a restaurant I would call it that. So I worked up a logo one day when I was bored and here it is!
Who knows maybe my dream will become a reality one day.
This would be a good food blog post without a recipe. After eating one of these in Paris I couldn't stop. This is the best recipe I have found for Crem Brule there is also a youtube video. It is super easy. I takes some time to cook and chill, but you can do it all ahead of time. The top it with sugar and touch it!
Crème Brulèe
1/3 Cup Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
1 tsp. Vanilla extract or ½ Vanilla bean
Heat the cream and vanilla in a pan in a low temperature. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Temper egg yolks with cream by adding a little bit of cream at a time while mixing so the eggs aren’t cooked by the hot cream. Try not to add too much air by whisking. Fill cake pan with about 1-2 inches of water. Fill ramekins and use torch to remove any bubbles. Cook 30-35 min @ 325 degrees. Put in fridge for about 4 hours or until chilled. Cover with sugar and torch the top.
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_16ZZtTH_Y
