FFW Filet, Knife Block, Omelets and more

Well we had a great time last week, helping our vegetarian friends Susan and Patrick inaugurate their new vacation home outside of Burnsville, NC (population 1800+) near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Their place is so far out that even cell phone service is problematic, and the Internet is just a dream...

Susan made a vegetarian chili one night, I made a variation on my Brazilian Black Bean Stew, and she also made a "kitchen sink" stew on our last night together. One night we went out to eat at the Garden Grill, on the town center square. Nice place, great food. They had good options for Patrick & Susan, Sally had a fish dish, and I had a huge "half rack" of fabulous ribs.

FoodFightWrite -- Test Filet Mignon

The competition is heating up. Our event is the "opening gun" of the World Food Championships, and we have three days of foodie lectures, tours and more beginning Nov. 2nd.  Part of our extravaganza is a cook-off.

Several folks have asked about what to bring, how the cook-off works and things like that. The "rest of the story" is that we will get two Kansas City Steak Company Filet Mignons to cook, choice of a number of Saucy Mama sauces/marinades to use, and 90 minutes to prepare a perfect steak.

We don't get Saucy Mama products around here in Florida, that I can find, so I looked over their website and picked a couple of likely items to try. No, I'm not saying which ones... my competitors are reading this along with my usual faithful horde of foodies.

Anyway, I got three nice filets to "test cook" my recipe for Sally and Mum yesterday. And, as you can see the results look pretty good -- and tasted darn good too! I found a way to infuse that Saucy Mama into the steaks that really smacks your lips!  I'm not sharing that till after the cook-off either!

 Here are the filets I started with.  Not bad for megamart steaks:

Neat Knife Block Idea

When we walked in Susan & Patrick's new place we discovered that the previous owners had left the place pretty much "turn key" - pretty complete kitchen, furniture, bedding, knickknacks, the lot. There in the kitchen was one of the neatest, simple, kitchen multi-taskers I've ever seen:

As you can see, it's a ceramic crock. Could be almost any kind of wide-mouthed container 6-10" deep. Filled with dried beans. All those beans you've used as weights when you blind-bake a pie crust now have a home other than the dumpster! Need to prep a crust -- grab a couple handfuls and bake! And the container doubles as your knife rack -- won't harm the edges of even the most expensive professional knives, but keeps them safe.

My Kinda Omelet

On thing that was missing from the kitchen was a skillet, so Susan went to town (10 miles of twisty mountain road) and brought back among other things a nice new ceramic coated skillet. Next morning I made an omelet for Sally and I.

Now I'm just not a fan of those barely-cooked French omelets. I like mine with a bit of brown, seriously stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, veggies, etc. One of the best I ever had was from the now-defunct New Orleans Cafe in Salt Lake City. They featured a 4 egg Cajun omelet with shrimp, mushrooms, guacamole and sour cream -- a meal wrapped in egg. The one pictured above had just cheese and mushrooms, but it is about the prettiest omelet I've made in quite awhile, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Crunch, Crunch

Saturday we we sitting at the table having our usual lunch -- ciabatta rolls with smoked chicken, provolone and tomato, with a side of some chips.  Sally says to me "Funny how I love chips!"

That got me started...  Texture is a big part of  our food experience, and there are several distinct textures which we crave as much as we crave certain flavors.  Textures like Crisp Crunch (chips, crackers, pretzels, toast),  Moist Crunch (apples, celery, nuts, breaded anything),  Creamy Smooth (yogurt, custards, puddings, pureed soups), Chewy (nougats and caramels, steak and other meats, veggies), and Cakey (cakes, breads, pancakes, waffles) to name a few.

What's YOUR favorite food texture??