FOCACCIA

  Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup lukewarm water
• 3 ½ to 4 cups of a combination of whole wheat flour and bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• ¼ cup of olive oil (1/2 for bread and other ½ for topping)

 

 Simple ingredients make for a very special, tasty Italian style bread. Combine ingredients and knead. Let dough rise for an hour or two. Spread dough on to a baking sheet, flatten and dimple and pour remaining olive oil on to bread. Sprinkle with the slightest rain of salt. Let rise for 1/2 hour. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 35 minutes, or until the smell completely intoxicates you.

  

  The bread smells so delicious while baking. Eating this bread while still warm is a treat that makes all the effort so worth it. We enjoyed our focaccia with some raviolis and malfatta. I do have to admit that our focaccia was darn good but not as good as Angelo’s. Hey Angelo! ‘How about helping a Pison out with a recipe?’

THE STORY OF BACON

It is time to make some bacon. The cupboard is bare. This video inspires me to make some real home smoked bacon.

MORGAN HILL NO BULL BBQ COOKOFF

It is a tough job but somebody has to do it. There were 65 barbeque teams that traveled to Morgan Hill California to do the competition dance at the ‘Morgan Hill No Bull BBQ Cookoff this last Saturday. A lot of time, money, smoke and pride were involved. These teams would stay up all night cooking brisket and pork shoulder. The next morning ribs and chicken would be prepared in hopes of convincing the judges to give them high scores. The three amigos; Ms. Goofy, Reverend Biggles and I donned our judge’s badges and rolled into town to taste and score some of the best BBQ in the nation.

I always enjoy seeing all of the different bbq cooking rigs. The Weber Smoky Mountain cooker is the most popular cooking vessel with the Green Egg as a close second. You will see all types and styles from a recycled 50 gallon barrel to a custom built and painted rig that is attached to a trailer. Christmas may be 7 months away but Ms. Goofy must be getting all sorts of ideas.

There was a good showing of Morgan Hill residents attending this festive event. They were able to purchase tickets to taste and vote on delicious smoked and barbequed meats prepared by the competitors. Their votes would be tabulated at the end of the day and a ‘Peoples Choice’ award would be determined. Music groups and craft vendors entertained the public as they strolled and ate their way through the event. We missed most of the music because we had a serious job to do. We were hunkered down in the judging hall stuffing our faces and marking our scores.

Harry Soo of ‘Slap Yo Daddy BBQ’ team was victorious as the overall Grand Champion. Our friend Donna of ‘Butcher Daughter BBQ’ is a rookie, competing in her first year of competition. When you win an award there is a bbq slang term that you are; “Taking the Walk”. Well Donna Fong got to ‘Take the Walk”. She took third place in the pork category. We are so proud. She also placed 16 out of 65 in the overall scores. Congratulation to all the competitors for making this a wonderful and successful event.

MOM

I love you Mom! Today is a celebration for you. How did I ever sit up straight with that massive Mad Meat Genius Cranium? You are the best and I just want to say I love You!!!!!!

LAS MONTANAS SUPERMARKET

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday of celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. In honor of this holiday we are going to take a tour of a new supermarket in San Pablo California called ‘Las Montanas’. This is a one stop Mexican “Wally-Mart.” One can not stop by Las Montanas and not be impressed by its huge and vast selection of Mexican food items. Just driving into the parking lot you are greeted by smells of barbequed chicken that is being cooked on the outdoor grill. Let’s go inside.

Las Montana’s occupies the old ‘Yard Birds’ and is a cavernous building. The store is divided into different food section stations. The produce section is huge and well stocked. This is a wonderful place to stock up on chilis and herbs for your Mexican dishes. There is a meat section that has your various cuts of meats which a lot are marinated. There is a separate seafood section that stocks fresh mariscos.

The tortilla section has a machine that cranks out freshly cooked discs of masa. You will not be able to pass up these warm tortillas. Right next door is a selection of Mexican pastries and desserts. I will return to try some of those caramel apples.

After all this shopping you might need some nourishment. There is a station that makes fresh fruit drinks and it is located right next to the in store taqueria. What the heck, lets try some Chile Verde. This plate of pork ribs in a green tomatilla style sauce was very inexpensive priced just under five dollars. It was on the salty side for my taste. What was nice was the salsa bar which you can load up on various sauces. The tortillas were very fresh and combining the salsas, meat, beans and rice made for one tasty meal.

Las Montana’s has all these wonderful Mexican food stations. They also stock all other food staples and grocery items. This is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. Some of the local ‘Mom & Pop” stores may not be so enamored with Las Montana’s. Las Montana’s is large and has very low prices. We will definitely return to take advantage of the freshness and variety of the various Mexican food items. I will return just to try the caramel apples. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Las Montanas
13901 San Pablo av.
San Pablo, Ca. 94806
510 236-3397

I GOT ANTS IN MY PANTS

I got ants in my pants and I need to dance. Today shall be proclaimed International Funk Day. It is the birthday anniversary of the ‘Godfather of Soul’. James Brown was born May 3 1933. ‘Soul Brother No. 1’ has been gone for several years now but his music lives on. Turn up the music and “Get Down”, “Jump Up”, “Get on the Good foot” and let’s get Funky! “I Feel Good” and just wanted to share this special day with you.

ASPARAGUS WRAPS

We needed some food to sample the latest hot sauce that I reviewed on 'Peppers & More". As many of you may know, I love Asparagus. This was a simple creation that was just thrown together and turned out pretty decent. A couple of spears of Asparagus, green onion, a slice of ham, and a dollop of hot sauce was drizzled with olive oil and dusted with salt & pepper. They then were wrapped in puff pastry. The pastry was painted with melted butter. These wraps were then baked in a wood fire oven.

Almond wood was the fuel of choice. After listening to the 'Sex Pistol's" I felt brave and did not even check to see if it was a "Spare the Air" day. The fire roared. My carbon foot print would make 'Big Foot' proud. The fire smoked and bellowed until it transformed into hot embers. These embers would bake our Asparagus creations. The oven crisped and colored the puff pastry to create one special dish. Our creation did not disappoint. The Hot Sauce was very good also.

Please Read Review Here