Hi gang! What a series of adventures the past week and half have been! After a year I think we're past the point of apologies and you all understand I'm a naughty blogger flake when the real world starts a' knockin' at my door. Between taco adventures in Coalinga (I finally am able to order entirely in Spanish!), meeting some awesome local martial artists and the usual scramble to get to Central Valley Buzz! in time for the show and remembering all of my ingredients. Your forbearance is much appreciated!
Today we did a very special appearance on the Friday show since we get broadcast all over the Valley via channel 43. And in true Pook style, I was able to singlehandedly knock the entire feed off the air with but one twist of my toaster oven's dial. Who's got the skills to pay the bills? You know it.
But with too many lovely ladies and alot to catch up on, my recipe today didn't really get hollared out as loud as some viewers would have liked, so I promised to post the recipe for today's Creamy Cheesey Spinach Dip of Doom, so that all you party feelin people can wow 'em this weekend at your Memorial Day get togethers.
Creamy Cheesey Dip of Doomheesey and Spinach
(serves 2)
Two cups of fresh spinach steamed or 1/2 cup of frozen spinach (chopped)
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup greek style yogurt
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
1/4 cup asiago cheese (grated)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon homemade chili powder
1 pinch white pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. First take your steamed or defrosted spinach and squeeze all of the water out of the leaves. It's suprising how much water you'll wring out. Then roughly chop the spinach and add to a mixing bowel. Then, simply add in and throughly mix the remaining ingredients. Then spoon the mix into an oven safe ramekin or pyrex baking dish. If you like you can sprinkle a little more parmesan over the top for a nice looking crust. Place in a 400 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the mixture is starting to bubble a little and the top begins to brown. Remove and let rest for 5-10 minutes, so as not to serve pure lava hot napalm dip.
Surround with tortilla chips, pita chips, torn hunks of bread, fresh veggies, old ceiling tiles, a car tire. It won't matter what folks have to put it on. They'll start eating their own fingers to make sure that they're able to get their share of this insanely good dip. Although in that case, I'd sternly forbit double dipping.
Happy Memorial Day y'all! May it be fun, fabulous and free of harm.
-Pook
Showing posts with label Central Valley Buzz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central Valley Buzz. Show all posts
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Eating Out A Show Diary #2
My my. Has it been a month of Tuesdays already? It’s all been so fun and such a kick in the pants that I’ve hardly noticed the non-Tuesdays flying by. And who’da thunk that it all would come together by running down to the Tower with my beard trimmer to rescue Chuck from being roached like a Shetland pony.
In the past few weeks I’ve been deep in the plush, leather clad opulence of a luxury party bus, gotten to listen to and chill with 3 amazing ukulele players, hang out at the community garden with a badass steel artist and rap with interesting folks from all over the Valley. All the while, being allowed to be a big fat show off and soaking up praise-words of nummyness. And it appears that it can only get more interesting.
Yesterday’s show had an amazing guitarist on named Nathan Hinojosa. Talk about a smoking axe stroker! His sound brought to mind the idea of acoustic Spanish thrash metal. He does this great high wire act, balancing between the traditional riffs and styles of flamenco guitar, but he backs it up with lightening quick fingering that brings to mind old school Anthrax or Slayer. Although picturing him shredding on his acoustic with a 10 penny nail spike forearm bracer sort of bakes my noodle, I think he could pull it off.
And I got to meet my second Hollyweird type director! The guys from National Lampoon’s Sex Tax were in studio to drum up buzz for their Fresno premier. The premise being the hijinks ensuing around the IRS taking over a Nevada brothel deep in arrears. (see what I did there?) And although that’s the funny part, the hysterical part is that they decided to hold a premier in Fresno because we have the largest concentration of IRS employees on the West Coast due to our local processing center. And they’ve offered free entry to any employee of the IRS. But even more awesomely hardcore, they’ve extended the same offer to anyone who can prove that they are a sex worker! I just hope that they’re putting condoms on the Tower Theater seats until the run is up. I’ll be the one watching the movie in hip waders.
-Pook
In the past few weeks I’ve been deep in the plush, leather clad opulence of a luxury party bus, gotten to listen to and chill with 3 amazing ukulele players, hang out at the community garden with a badass steel artist and rap with interesting folks from all over the Valley. All the while, being allowed to be a big fat show off and soaking up praise-words of nummyness. And it appears that it can only get more interesting.
Yesterday’s show had an amazing guitarist on named Nathan Hinojosa. Talk about a smoking axe stroker! His sound brought to mind the idea of acoustic Spanish thrash metal. He does this great high wire act, balancing between the traditional riffs and styles of flamenco guitar, but he backs it up with lightening quick fingering that brings to mind old school Anthrax or Slayer. Although picturing him shredding on his acoustic with a 10 penny nail spike forearm bracer sort of bakes my noodle, I think he could pull it off.
And I got to meet my second Hollyweird type director! The guys from National Lampoon’s Sex Tax were in studio to drum up buzz for their Fresno premier. The premise being the hijinks ensuing around the IRS taking over a Nevada brothel deep in arrears. (see what I did there?) And although that’s the funny part, the hysterical part is that they decided to hold a premier in Fresno because we have the largest concentration of IRS employees on the West Coast due to our local processing center. And they’ve offered free entry to any employee of the IRS. But even more awesomely hardcore, they’ve extended the same offer to anyone who can prove that they are a sex worker! I just hope that they’re putting condoms on the Tower Theater seats until the run is up. I’ll be the one watching the movie in hip waders.
-Pook
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Eating Out A Show Diary #1
Dear diary,
I really dig this whole TV thing. So far I’ve been able to knock out 2 recipes with only minimal difficulties. Although deciding to add the garlic at the beginning of cooking was a rather boneheaded move and I should have known better. But oh well, the chicken was done all the way through and still pretty moist. And this time I managed to make enough so that all of the crew got to have a taste as well.
Plus I got to meet Peter Moredyk, a fascinating ukulele impresario and probably one of the nicest guys I’ve met all year. Not only does he play and sing quite sweetly, reminiscent of a Tolkien ballad on a desert isle while sipping rum drinks, but he’s also a well travelled and interesting fellow. Originally hailing from South Africa, he has travelled quite a large portion of the planet and has sampled cuisines from all over. The only living man I know who has consumed the dreaded bhut jalokia peppers of India and could brag about the experience. (This man puts cayenne on his breakfast cereal!) I can’t wait to get out and see him perform live.
There was also Chuckle’s co-host for the day Amy Kohl. She’s a transplant to Fresno from the terrifying backwoods of upstate New York. But much more than that, she’s a local artist who, not only sculpts metal but is a fair hand with ink and graphite. I always feel a wee bit of farm-boy shame whenever I meet someone who can weld, since Pop never let me do much more than operate a cutting torch. But I also feel like I’m all thumbs around visual artists as well. So a welding artist pretty much makes me feel like a hack. But she brought me back from the brink by being a really sweet and genuine person. The oddest part about TV so far is how much the conversations will extend into the commercial breaks. Oftentimes one of their plucky techs will have to urgently remind us that we’re going back on the air so we can reset and be ready for another entertaining topic.
And what can I say about the great and powerful Chuck Leonard that hasn’t already been added to the Library of Congress? Considering I ditched Mr. Steven’s Radio/TV class after the first two weeks, Chuck makes doing and understanding TV extremely easy. He and all of the Central Valley Talk family make me feel really welcome and go the extra mile to help me not look like a fool. And trust me, that’s no small task!
To top off a fabulous day, after the show, Chuck took me over to see the Tower Community Garden. Truly, I have to say that I’m very impressed. From the mulch pile where they gather green waste from restaurants and mix it together on site, to the worm box for raising soil enriching wriggly beasts, to the amazing collection of plants and flowers lovingly laid out in their raised beds and in the serenity garden. Yup, there’s even a serenity garden to enjoy. 300 steps lead around in a tightening spiral where you stroll past a parade of color and smells. I’m hands down impressed. There’s a nice block of tomatoes set up, as well as squash, brussel sprouts, strawberries, various peppers, pumpkins and a ton of other items that I’m still learning how to identify on the fly.
I’ve got to say that I found the garden to be incredibly inspirational. Especially because, as I understand it, there is no central authority guiding it’s care. Rather, it’s the community of the Tower District that brought out the plants, tends the soil, weeds the beds and in general keeps a tidier garden than I do in my own back yard. And the young folks beating the heat in the shade as they listened to a friend belt out some tunes on his guitar provided some pleasant ambience as we walked the paths and admired the beauty that kindness and community can bring out.
Not a bad day at all. Let’s hope that next Tuesday is just as cool if not a little bit cooler.
-Pook
I really dig this whole TV thing. So far I’ve been able to knock out 2 recipes with only minimal difficulties. Although deciding to add the garlic at the beginning of cooking was a rather boneheaded move and I should have known better. But oh well, the chicken was done all the way through and still pretty moist. And this time I managed to make enough so that all of the crew got to have a taste as well.
Plus I got to meet Peter Moredyk, a fascinating ukulele impresario and probably one of the nicest guys I’ve met all year. Not only does he play and sing quite sweetly, reminiscent of a Tolkien ballad on a desert isle while sipping rum drinks, but he’s also a well travelled and interesting fellow. Originally hailing from South Africa, he has travelled quite a large portion of the planet and has sampled cuisines from all over. The only living man I know who has consumed the dreaded bhut jalokia peppers of India and could brag about the experience. (This man puts cayenne on his breakfast cereal!) I can’t wait to get out and see him perform live.
There was also Chuckle’s co-host for the day Amy Kohl. She’s a transplant to Fresno from the terrifying backwoods of upstate New York. But much more than that, she’s a local artist who, not only sculpts metal but is a fair hand with ink and graphite. I always feel a wee bit of farm-boy shame whenever I meet someone who can weld, since Pop never let me do much more than operate a cutting torch. But I also feel like I’m all thumbs around visual artists as well. So a welding artist pretty much makes me feel like a hack. But she brought me back from the brink by being a really sweet and genuine person. The oddest part about TV so far is how much the conversations will extend into the commercial breaks. Oftentimes one of their plucky techs will have to urgently remind us that we’re going back on the air so we can reset and be ready for another entertaining topic.
And what can I say about the great and powerful Chuck Leonard that hasn’t already been added to the Library of Congress? Considering I ditched Mr. Steven’s Radio/TV class after the first two weeks, Chuck makes doing and understanding TV extremely easy. He and all of the Central Valley Talk family make me feel really welcome and go the extra mile to help me not look like a fool. And trust me, that’s no small task!
To top off a fabulous day, after the show, Chuck took me over to see the Tower Community Garden. Truly, I have to say that I’m very impressed. From the mulch pile where they gather green waste from restaurants and mix it together on site, to the worm box for raising soil enriching wriggly beasts, to the amazing collection of plants and flowers lovingly laid out in their raised beds and in the serenity garden. Yup, there’s even a serenity garden to enjoy. 300 steps lead around in a tightening spiral where you stroll past a parade of color and smells. I’m hands down impressed. There’s a nice block of tomatoes set up, as well as squash, brussel sprouts, strawberries, various peppers, pumpkins and a ton of other items that I’m still learning how to identify on the fly.
I’ve got to say that I found the garden to be incredibly inspirational. Especially because, as I understand it, there is no central authority guiding it’s care. Rather, it’s the community of the Tower District that brought out the plants, tends the soil, weeds the beds and in general keeps a tidier garden than I do in my own back yard. And the young folks beating the heat in the shade as they listened to a friend belt out some tunes on his guitar provided some pleasant ambience as we walked the paths and admired the beauty that kindness and community can bring out.
Not a bad day at all. Let’s hope that next Tuesday is just as cool if not a little bit cooler.
-Pook
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Eating Out A Landmark
Actually, THE Landmark. You see, after we didn’t totally screw up during the premier of the Cooking With Pook segment on Central Valley Buzz! 4-6pm weekdays on channel 33.1 and webcast, (Like that artfully rammed in plug? Thought you would.) so we felt that we deserved a bit of a victory dance after our premier and dropped in for a bite. More about the mighty ‘Mark later.
Let’s talk about MEEEE! Oh my god! I cooked on TV!And it was a ton of fun! I got to make my pasta carbonara recipe. And you know that old saying about watched pots and boiling water? Multiply that by 10,000 when you’re doing your best not to look like a complete ass on TV! Oh my god, it took that pot of water damn near an hour to go from tap to boiling. But beyond that, it was all smoothies. The pancetta rendered nicely, the sauce came out an acceptable texture, the pasta wasn’t too bad. And it looked ok. Creamy pasta isn’t exactly going to jump off of your screen in brilliant HD. My real boner though, was off-camera. I didn’t make enough for the crew! There’s a small army of hungry interns who are looking to jump me. Lesson: bring more next week. Look maw! I is on the Tee Vee!
And on to dinner. We took a wander around the Tower after the show, so that I might annoy any who would hold still, with tales of my nouveau célébrité. After having my inflated head booted out of a few living rooms, the hunger was upon us. First I thought about the take out pizzas over at Karch’s, since I could also get it home to the camera I left there. But alas, it was after 9pm. So we settled on the all night happy hour at the Landmark and a sad lack of food pics.
I’m actually at The Landmark quite a bit. So I found it a little strange that this is the first time that it occurred to me to review more than a couple plates of appetizers during the Rogue. It’s really a very nice Basque restaurant, with a medium sized back patio that they lovingly heat in the winter and have misters up to help beat down the raging Fresno summers. Their back dining room is fairly large and nicely appointed. And most importantly, even if it’s raging at the bar and on the patio, you can still hear yourself think while you’re eating in the dining room. A big plus when the restaurant is also a popular night spot. And rather than clear out the tables for a dance floor, the kitchen stays open late so drinky pants can get their grub on and level out their buzz.
Menu stuff! And a gin and tonic, please. They’ve got a pretty wide menu, Basque style seafood dishes, lamb, beef, frogses. Even the terrifying escargots of snailness. But the spouse lady was down for some clamsian goodness for the appetizer. So, I chose the scalone, an apparent fusion of scallops and abalone (which I’ve never before seen on a menu for under $40), egg dipped and fried, similar to a calamari steak for my entree. The lady chose the shrimp scampi and we both went for the pasta alfredo as our side.
Their clams were pretty good. Only a couple were sporting the hated clam-sand-poop. Nothing sets you back as you’re mentally getting over the concept that you’re eating an entire animal, poop chute and all, than a nice, crown-damaging crunch to remind you that there’s an artfully stewed turd in that chewy little fellow. Doesn’t mean I didn’t finish ‘em and then dip some of their garlic bread in the butter, white wine, shallot and poop broth. Mmmmmm. And if you think that’s a little too gross, I’ll tell you a few tales of the dark side of sausages! To know what worcestershire sauce really is will make you faint dead away.
The salads were ok. Not much in the greens to get too excited about. My bleu cheese was fairly mild. Although the pickled beets on top were a fun touch that harkens back to the fancy salads of my youth, like the Lime Lite’s. Overall it wasn’t going to sink or float anything on it’s own. So we move on to our entrees. Both were hot and seemed to be fresh from the kitchen. There was a small delay, since our server was also handling the madhouse of the patio, so I was a bit worried. But he seemed to be well in synch with the kitchen and got our plates out within their tastiness tolerances.
I really liked the scalone! It was 3 medium sized, egg dipped and fried patties. Very similar to a calamari steak. But it’s all the difference when you bite into them. There is a much lighter texture than you get with squid, or even with scallops alone. And I finally understand the abalone obsession. When handled properly, they’re extremely tender and sweet. Absolutely perfect on their own, it’d be a sin to even add a squirt of lemon. Now I must find an abalone festival, that I might sate this heretofore unknown need.
The alfredo was fairly meh. It was certainly better than Lipton’s. But I think I may have had overly engorged standards by that point considering I had lunched on carbonara, destroyed the clam appetizer and already sampled the scalone. I was reaching the Danger-Full level. The clams had also done their damage to the spouse. But she bravely trooped her way through her shrimp scampi. I got a taste and really liked the flavor. Nice sized butterflied shrimp in a tasty garlic butter sauce with something new. Mushrooms. It makes complete sense now that I think of it, but they had to show me the truth of it. The shrimp themselves were a wee bit overcooked, but didn’t detract too much from the dish. Overall, we were really happy with dinner and our service. Not for the first time and most certainly not the last.
So, we’ve got ourselves a bit of a Tuesday spot on an awesome local TV station! I feel like I’m finally living out my dream of being a character in Weird Al’s movie “UHF”. I hope I get to jump out of a closet in a Channel 30 office and yell “Supplies!” while attacking their hired goons with mops during a clandestine mission to rescue Chuck’s abducted janitor, who will later go on to say some very regrettable things on stage in LA. With that fantasy in my head and a belly full of new and interesting seafood, I gotta say. Damn, it feels good to be a blogga!
-Pook
Let’s talk about MEEEE! Oh my god! I cooked on TV!
And on to dinner. We took a wander around the Tower after the show, so that I might annoy any who would hold still, with tales of my nouveau célébrité. After having my inflated head booted out of a few living rooms, the hunger was upon us. First I thought about the take out pizzas over at Karch’s, since I could also get it home to the camera I left there. But alas, it was after 9pm. So we settled on the all night happy hour at the Landmark and a sad lack of food pics.
I’m actually at The Landmark quite a bit. So I found it a little strange that this is the first time that it occurred to me to review more than a couple plates of appetizers during the Rogue. It’s really a very nice Basque restaurant, with a medium sized back patio that they lovingly heat in the winter and have misters up to help beat down the raging Fresno summers. Their back dining room is fairly large and nicely appointed. And most importantly, even if it’s raging at the bar and on the patio, you can still hear yourself think while you’re eating in the dining room. A big plus when the restaurant is also a popular night spot. And rather than clear out the tables for a dance floor, the kitchen stays open late so drinky pants can get their grub on and level out their buzz.
Menu stuff! And a gin and tonic, please. They’ve got a pretty wide menu, Basque style seafood dishes, lamb, beef, frogses. Even the terrifying escargots of snailness. But the spouse lady was down for some clamsian goodness for the appetizer. So, I chose the scalone, an apparent fusion of scallops and abalone (which I’ve never before seen on a menu for under $40), egg dipped and fried, similar to a calamari steak for my entree. The lady chose the shrimp scampi and we both went for the pasta alfredo as our side.
Their clams were pretty good. Only a couple were sporting the hated clam-sand-poop. Nothing sets you back as you’re mentally getting over the concept that you’re eating an entire animal, poop chute and all, than a nice, crown-damaging crunch to remind you that there’s an artfully stewed turd in that chewy little fellow. Doesn’t mean I didn’t finish ‘em and then dip some of their garlic bread in the butter, white wine, shallot and poop broth. Mmmmmm. And if you think that’s a little too gross, I’ll tell you a few tales of the dark side of sausages! To know what worcestershire sauce really is will make you faint dead away.
The salads were ok. Not much in the greens to get too excited about. My bleu cheese was fairly mild. Although the pickled beets on top were a fun touch that harkens back to the fancy salads of my youth, like the Lime Lite’s. Overall it wasn’t going to sink or float anything on it’s own. So we move on to our entrees. Both were hot and seemed to be fresh from the kitchen. There was a small delay, since our server was also handling the madhouse of the patio, so I was a bit worried. But he seemed to be well in synch with the kitchen and got our plates out within their tastiness tolerances.
I really liked the scalone! It was 3 medium sized, egg dipped and fried patties. Very similar to a calamari steak. But it’s all the difference when you bite into them. There is a much lighter texture than you get with squid, or even with scallops alone. And I finally understand the abalone obsession. When handled properly, they’re extremely tender and sweet. Absolutely perfect on their own, it’d be a sin to even add a squirt of lemon. Now I must find an abalone festival, that I might sate this heretofore unknown need.
The alfredo was fairly meh. It was certainly better than Lipton’s. But I think I may have had overly engorged standards by that point considering I had lunched on carbonara, destroyed the clam appetizer and already sampled the scalone. I was reaching the Danger-Full level. The clams had also done their damage to the spouse. But she bravely trooped her way through her shrimp scampi. I got a taste and really liked the flavor. Nice sized butterflied shrimp in a tasty garlic butter sauce with something new. Mushrooms. It makes complete sense now that I think of it, but they had to show me the truth of it. The shrimp themselves were a wee bit overcooked, but didn’t detract too much from the dish. Overall, we were really happy with dinner and our service. Not for the first time and most certainly not the last.
So, we’ve got ourselves a bit of a Tuesday spot on an awesome local TV station! I feel like I’m finally living out my dream of being a character in Weird Al’s movie “UHF”. I hope I get to jump out of a closet in a Channel 30 office and yell “Supplies!” while attacking their hired goons with mops during a clandestine mission to rescue Chuck’s abducted janitor, who will later go on to say some very regrettable things on stage in LA. With that fantasy in my head and a belly full of new and interesting seafood, I gotta say. Damn, it feels good to be a blogga!
-Pook
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