CARSON CITY RENDEZVOUS

It was a very pleasant day in Carson City for the Rendezvous festival. There was a slight cloud cover and a tiny breeze to bring the thermometer to the low 70's. This was great weather to fire up the cast iron vessels for a cook off. The theme of the Rendezvous, was life in the 1800's. There were a lot of people in costume. Civil War reenactors staged a mock fight. Those cannons sure were loud. I am not sure who won. Music, food and lots of crafts rounded out this event. We were there for the Dutch Oven Cook off.

The Meatmen and Meatwoman, gave their best effort to claim victory. There was a little controversy about the Judges credentials and judging experience. This will not be discussed on this forum because it might be considered 'Sour Grapes'. One gentleman came by our booth, once, twice and a third time for a sample of our food. This gesture made our effort

worth everything. This is what we compete for. It was reported later that the 'Space Shuttle Endeavour' saw the grin on my face!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the recipe for the "PEOPLE'S CHOICE" winner. It is a sweet savory cornbread. I used home smoked bacon.

Ingredients
1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
1 cup medium grind whole grain cornmeal or regular cornmeal
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup dried cranberries (4 ounces)

1 cup of corn

2 slices of cooked bacon chopped

Whisk both flours, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, melted butter, maple syrup, eggs and extract in medium bowl. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stir until blended. Stir in 3/4 cup chopped pecans and cranberries. Spoon butter into pan. Arrange pecan halves in row down center of batter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until Golden brown and knife inserted comes out clean.

After the festival, Ms. Goofy and I managed to have a couple of Meat Adventures. We picked up some chorizo from a wonderful Basque restaurant.(Villa Basque Deli & Cafe). Two new bacon's were discovered at "Butcher Boy" in Reno. Several local Hot Sauces were found. Our adventure ended at Harrah's Steak House for a gastronomical extravaganza dinner.

It was a great weekend. Once Ms. Goofy unloads the car and puts everything away we can start to sample our bounty!

Hairy Scary Lampshade In Our Room

SECOND PLACE

The Meatmen and Meatwomen took 'Second Place' in the team competition. Yours truly took first place in the 'Peoples Choice' award for bread. Good times. More later.

THE MEATMEN

Actually it should be the Meatmen and Meatwoman(Sophie). We are oiling our pots and stacking our charcoal. The fires will be built and the competition will begin at the 'Rendezvous' in Carson City Nevada. The Meatmen will be challenged by other iron pot contestants. The contest will be to cook a Main course, Bread and Dessert in dutch ovens in a three hour time period. Charcoal will be the required fuel to heat these cooking vessels. We have high hopes for a victorious Sunday. Hope to see you there!

Rendezvous Carson City, Nevada June 12,13 & 14

GOOD AND EVIL (GRANZELLA'S)

This is Hot Sauce from California Interstate 5. Granzella's is a pit stop for all traveler's on the main travel artery of the Golden State. Granzella's is a traveler's delight. Home cooking, souvenirs, deli, lounge, motor home parking, olives, gourmet items to go and Granzella's hot sauces are there to experience at Granzella's. Today we are trying the house brand of "Good and Evil" hot sauce.

The ingredients are a 'hodge podge' of fruit and peppers. Habanero, Jalapeno, Red Bell peppers, ginger, garlic and orange juice are just a few ingredients. A little sample was poured on to a plate. The sauce was fairly thin. You can see some little flakes of the Red Bell pepper. A clean finger was inserted into this bulls eye of flavor. The first hit on the tongue was orange and ginger. There was only a little flair of heat. This sauce definitely leans toward the sweet side.

The taste test was with some fried chicken and salad. This was a good accompaniment to this fried fowl of goodness. It was a little too good. The heat was just not there. I wish it was a little more evil.

Granzella's

451 6th St.

Williams, California. 95987 530-473-5583

FOCACCIA

It was a dark and stormy night. Well maybe it was a little overcast. This was the perfect excuse to make some Focaccia. As you may know, bread baking in the oven will omit a wonderful aroma that will lift your spirits and float your boat. Something like that. We just happened to have a 25 pound sack of bread flour.

This flour was obtained at Moore's flour mill in Redding Ca. They grind all their grains on the premise. This place is run and owned by the son of Bob Moore. Bob Moore originally started this mill and moved on to Oregon and built his empire of Bobs Red Mill. Moores is a great place to find any type of flour or grains for your baking needs.

Focaccia

1. 4 cups bread flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 tablespoon yeast
4. 2 tablespoons olive oil
5. 1 1/2 cups warm water

Proof the yeast in water for 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients and knead till you have a nice dough. Place in oiled bowl and let rise for aprox 1 1/2 hours. Take a well oiled baking sheet and press dough onto sheet with your fingers. Press out into rectangle. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes. Drizzle more olive oil over top and bake in 400 oven for aprox 35 minutes.

BACON REVUE (GOOD EATS)

On stage is a bacon that was commissioned by The Great White Hunter. The program of ingredients will not have any nitrates today. Let the show begin.

Opening the package of bacon releases a wonderful smell of smoke. It is a pretty looking bacon. This bacon was cured with molasses. The molasses and sugar has made the exterior dark and shiny. If we eat with our eyes this bacon would be a winner.

This bacon was cured according to a recipe by Alton Brown from "Good Eats." The bellies sat in a bath of sugar, salt, water and molasses for 4 days. They were dried and then smoked with some green peach wood. We have sliced and fried some in a vintage cast iron skillet. Myself and Ms. Goofy are the tasters.

The bacon gets really dark after frying. This is due to the sugar and molasses. The bacon was cooked well to a crispy treat. Ms. Goofy took her paws and grabbed a couple of slices. She barked for joy. She said it was sweet and smokey. I thought it lacked the usual bite of salt. Ms. Goofy yelped her disagreement with the salt issue. She growled that the lack of salt was what she liked. Over all it was a pleasant batch of Good Eats. This bacon will recieve 3.75 stars out of 5.

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

Price: Priceless

Where: The Mad Meat Genius Smokehouse

BERKELEY BOWL WEST

When one lives is California, it is taken for granted the bounty of fresh produce that is available. We have farmers markets galore. The Bay Area, has a world class farmers market at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco. Across the Bay, the Berkeley Bowl and Monterey market are worthy destinations to procure vegetable matter. Alas these two institutions are land locked by traffic and horrific parking . Today we demand bigger, better, faster, easy access, and free parking, in all our shopping adventures. The Berkeley Bowl West has risen to fulfil our vegetable and parking needs, maybe.

Let's talk about the Berkeley Bowl. The Berkeley Bowl is a Foodie Mecca. They have produce that is unique, fresh and very reasonably priced. They are a Berkeley institution.If you need any type of vegetable the Bowl will have it. The only problem is driving to and parking at the Bowl. Carolyn Jones of the San Francisco Chronicle sums up the feeling of the original Berkeley Bowl:

"Anyone who's shopped at Berkeley Bowl on a weekend can attest to the store's desperate need for expansion. The parking lot is a gridlocked swamp of road rage, a demolition derby of Priuses and rusty old Volvos vying for parking spots. The produce section is often described as the "Cairo of shopping carts," as dozens of very focused and aggressive gourmands fight over the purple potatoes and fresh water chestnuts. The checkout lines can be staggering, like something out of East Berlin."

Somebody named rebuff1937 made this comment about the bowl:

"The Berkeley bowl is a great melting pot of communist loving organic eating liberal hippies! Go n shop but the real fun is going on a bumper shopping cart ride."

The new Berkeley Bowl West just opened yesterday. They have twice as many parking spots. The place is huge! There is a special section, which is as big as my local store's produce section, for Organic produce only. There are deli's, cheeses and the usual suspects to make this one stop Foodie Paradise.

Time will tell if bigger is better. They still have rusty Volvo's in the parking lot.
Berkeley Bowl West
920 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, Ca.