That's Gastrotainment!

Well our little Burg of Santa Rosa has another celebrity chef in its midst: Andrea Mikiami Ballus, owner/operator of Sift Cupcakes and Desert Bar. This week on Cupcake Wars, she kicked some major butt and took the Grand Prize - and it wasn't really close. Andrea repeatedly drew on her wine country roots and wowed the judges, especially wedding designer Amy Weiss. The final challenge was to create a wedding display employing 2000 cupcakes. Andrea's creation destroyed the competition. Not. Even. Close. So bartender - a round of frosting shots for all my frieeeeeeeeeeeeeends.

The good news just keeps coming. It was officially announced this week that Spike TV has purchased all 52 episodes of Three Sheets. The series will begin airing on Feb. 8th at 10:30 pm EST, and will continue every Tuesday at that slot. Kudos to the fans who truly saved this show and also to Spike for recognizing a real gem of an opportunity. It's a good show.

The new season of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods is set to launch on Tuesday, Feb 18th, so Tuesdays are looking like Gastrotainment Central. We've still no idea on whether our spots ended up in the final cut of the San Francisco episode. It's a must watch either way as that episode is something of a departure from his usual shtick.

Sonoma County's Bette Noir, Guy Fieri, is hosting a sneak peak of a new episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives at a local theater. The event is a fundraiser for a local operation, Worth Our Weight, which he features in the episode. Worth Our Weight offers culinary apprenticeships to kids and young adults who are struggling with significant challenges such as legal troubles, foster care, family disruption and even homelessness. It functions as a school and catering service. It's a great program and they also just happen to pump out some great food. They also operate a cafe on Sundays, and a booth at the local Farmer's Market which I'll be heading to shortly.

Happy viewing chow hounds.

Happy New Year!

I love the holidays. Home chefs bust out the skills to plate some serious chow. This year was no different as Christmas dinner was staged at my brother's house. Sis' in law did a pork tenderloin with a dry rub featuring cinnamon. She then finished with a sauce that incorporated caramelized onions and fresh ginger. Damn that was good! And best of all, the porky goodness of the tenderloin was still evident. Most tasty. Sad note, I was demoted to Salad Boy. I still managed a citrus vinagarette and home made croutons.

And that really is what the holidays is about - comfort food. Everyone has their own idea of what comfort food is. Where I live, the Latino community has beef head. Seriously, each Christmas season one can purchase an entire beef head for about $35. You know you're at an authentic Mexican eatery when cabeza (head meat) and buche(beef neck)are offered. Both are quite tasty. But how does one even begin to prepare such a cut? Well, here ya go: courtesy of a poster at Chowhounds:

Barbacoa de cabeza is a delicacy, traditionally eaten for Sunday brunch. Here's the recipe, such as it is.
Ingredients:
1 cow's head, tongue removed and reserved. If desired, remove and discard the eyes, ears, and (if the head is split) brain.
2 or 3 gallon jugs of vinegar (white or cider)
Beer. Lots and lots of beer.
Special equipment:
Burlap bags
5-gallon bucket
Shovels
Lawn chairs
Directions:
On Saturday around lunchtime, grab some friends, a couple of shovels, lawn chairs for everybody, and a cooler full of beer. Find a likely spot and start digging a hole wide enough to easily hold the head. Only one or two people at a time should be digging; the others sit around, drink beer, and critique the diggers' technique. After a few minutes, switch places. Repeat as necessary until the hole is hip-deep.
Put the burlap bags in the 5-gallon bucket and cover with vinegar. Let soak.
Build a good-sized fire in the bottom of the hole and sit around drinking beer and telling lies until it has burned down to embers.
Liberally season the cow's head with salt, pepper, and chile flakes, then wrap in multiple layers of vinegar-soaked burlap. Include a couple of onions and a head or two of garlic if you want. Put the wrapped cabeza on top of the coals, then shovel the dirt back into the hole. Go eat dinner. (Remember that tongue? How 'bout tacos de lengua?) When the beer runs out, go to bed.
The next morning, go dig up brunch. Not too early; it should have cooked for at least 12 hours. More is better. And besides, you're probably going to want to be sleeping in (if you know what I mean).
Unwrap the head (carefully, now; the meat will be falling off the bone). Put it in the middle of a picnic table. Serve with big stacks of tortillas and bowls of chopped onion, cilantro, and various salsas. No plates or utensils are involved; the diners use tortillas to grab chunks of meat off the head, then garnish as desired.
Seriously good food.

Sounds tasty, but I'm sure many readers will be appalled. Good, as this is a perfect launch for a series of posts I'll be calling Food that Scares Me. Trust me, the cow's head will be a happy memory in comparison to what's coming, LOL. Here's a little sampler, me eating a slice of pizza at a local dive.



This slice had been on the warmer for at least 8 hours. Note how the styro plate has been warped by the long exposure. Note too the congealed grease. Nothing sez New Year's Eve eve like cardboard pizza. It was so old I offered the bartender 50 cents for it. We settled on a buck and I tucked in. To quote Bourdain "... the texture was somewhere between fried sneaker and oven dried trojan". The flavor was similar. And yes, if you look closely at the pic, you can pick out my can of PBR. Serious slumming!