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Apples, Halloween and blackberry pie in Missouri
“Everybody here, comes from somewhere that they would just as soon forget and disguise.” — “Supernatural Superserious” by R.E.M.
Like many of you, I came to Austin from somewhere else.
For a long time, I tried to distance myself from Southwest Missouri, where I grew up and graduated from high school.
It’s always a blast into my past when I’m in Aurora, where my family’s roots go back to the 1950s when my grandparents moved there to raise their three kids. Flash forward almost 60 years: My dad is on the city council (we don’t call him Mayor Dan for nothing) and my mom is just a few years from retiring after decades as a teacher and guidance counselor. My grandmother, who lives in the same house just a few blocks from the high school where my mom grew up, knows just about every person in town, and if they are my age, they all call her GaGa.
I got pretty good at disguising my rural roots by wearing my big city shoes over the years, but I’ve finally been away long enough that I can go back without feeling guilty for leaving. Halloween this year was the perfect occasion for a trip to my hometown.
Midwestern families are as fervent about trick-or-treating as they are football. We suited up (my sister’s Mary Poppins costume put everyone else’s witches, ghosts and hippies to shame) and hit the town, stopping by the same houses of family friends I hit when I was a kid.
Julian, understandably, was obsessed with the Halloween candy, but the changing season was the real star of our visit.
Fall is a magical time in Missouri, where leaves turn a brighter yellow and orange each day before falling into a crispy carpet that blankets the ground. My grandma and I bundled up (temperatures dropped into the 40s at night) on Halloween morning to go to the Aurora farmers’ market.
Living in Central Texas, I’m spoiled by the markets that happen nearly every day of the week and feature produce from Texas’ year-round growing season, but I really liked going to the quaint market — about five people selling produce and baked goods out of truck beds near at one of the city parks — which was the final one of the season.
Whole pies sell for $8, and folks line up for eggs that cost $1.75 a dozen. No locally raised meat for sale, but one farmers had a bounty of late-season peppers, holiday gourds and blue and red popcorn kernels.
In Marionville, the next town over, apples are the attraction. Family-run orchards used to surround the town, but now just a few are still in operation. After a trip to a pumpkin patch run by a family we know (everyone knows everyone in Lawrence County, I swear), we went to Murphy’s Orchard to stock up on Braeburns for a pie we ran out of time to make.
Fall doesn’t get any more perfect than sipping hot apple cider, picking out pumpkins and looking over bushels of every kind of apple imaginable.
The last food story I’ll tell you has to do with a place called Butterflies Cafe in Sarcoxie, another small town not too far from Aurora. My dad and I were on a road trip through the countryside (another activity I insist on doing every time I’m in my hometown) and ended up at this small town cafe tucked inside a gas station. We split a chicken fried steak sandwich (gravy on the side!) and freshly battered and fried onion rings.
It was around noon on Sunday morning, so people slowly trickled in after church let out. My dad and I sipped coffee and caught up as we enjoyed a dish that I hadn’t tried until I moved to Texas.
I realized that chicken fried steak doesn’t belong to Texas, just like apples don’t belong to Marionville and fabulous blackberry pies are made by grandmothers other than my own. But we all associate certain foods with certain places.
Indulging in those regional favorites — whether it’s Springfield-style cashew chicken or beef brisket from Smitty’s — is as important as the other rituals we insist upon when spending time with our families, wherever they might be.
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Farewell, gorgeous Gourmet
With the help of Tipsy Texan David Alan and Fino bar manager Bill Norris, chef Jason Donoho and owners Emmet and Lisa Fox, we helped say goodbye to Gourmet yesterday.
It’s been more than a month since the food world found out that the 68-year-old magazine was closing, even though it had nearly a million subscribers and was regarded as the cream of the crop when it came to food writing and photography.
But good things always come to an end, and the good folks at Fino offered to host a wake of sorts for the publication whose last issue hit newsstands in the last few weeks.
Gourmet fanatics sipped on vintage cocktails (St. Ceclia Society punch and Chartreuse Champagne cocktails, for example) and nibbled on food inspired by the magazine (saffron rice croquettes and truffled popcorn prepared in duck fat) as we flipped through old and new issues.
Magazines, like every other printed media, are a tangible record of history that shows a slice of life in, say, 1975 when no one thought twice about advertisements like this one promoting cigarettes. (Norris and Alan said they spent quite a bit of time gawking at the now-laughable alcohol advertisements that featured elements like talking artichokes.)
Kim Usey also brought in her favorite issues, which included a Southern food issue from 2005 which featured a few gorgeous photos that I’ll admit made me well up. For years, Gourmet has printed photos that weren’t merely well-composed shots of well-styled food, they were a tender glimpse into what it means to love food and the act of serving it to family and friends.
Thanks to everyone, especially the readers I hadn’t met in real life, for coming out.
It’s a sad moment in food culture, and I was glad for the chance to mourn with friends.
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Treat your teeth: Donate some of that Halloween candy
If you’ve got bags and bags of candy after this weekend’s festivities, consider giving some of it away.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a local nonprofit that provides food and supplies to homeless and low-income people in need, collects thousands of pounds of Halloween candy every year, which volunteers then give away a few pieces at a time for the rest of the year, along with essentials like toothbrushes and toothpaste, Tricia Graham says.
Giving away candy keeps kids and adults from overindulging, Graham says, but it’s also a good way to teach kids about the gift of sharing. Church, school and scouts groups gather much of the treats, but families can drop off candy from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday at the commissary at 903 S. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). (Graham says you can call 306-8036 to set up a donation time on the weeknights or weekends.)
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‘Winemakers’ finalist Ross Outon: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
For Austinite Ross Outon, being a wine freak is finally paying off.
As a wine consultant for Twin Liquors, Ranch 616 and several other restaurants and stores, Outon has been a heavy hitter in the Austin wine scene for many years, and over the past six weeks, he’s been competing on the PBS reality show “The Winemakers,” which concludes tomorrow. Outon is one of three finalists, and the winner gets to produce his own wine label.
In addition to a standard kitchen fridge, Outon also keeps a wine fridge stocked with special occasion bottles. He says it’s usually packed with dessert wines, which aren’t as versatile and regularly consumed at his house as reds and whites. He’s even got a few good reds and champagnes that he’s holding on to for a really special event.
“The regular fridge is where the daily drinking stuff is,” he says, noting the importance of keeping wine cool after a bottle as been opened.
At 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, Twin Liquors Marketplace at 41st and Red River streets will host a watch party so you can watch with Outon and his fans to see who won.
Here’s to hoping tomorrow brings him something worth toasting with one of those fancy bottles.
What three things are always in your fridge? Lone Star, orange juice, Tabasco
What’s your favorite condiment? I’m huge lover of cool mustards. French’s old school yellow mustard, at least one kind of Dijon. Right now I’ve got a spicy brown mustard from Germany and Jack Daniel’s Honey Dijon.
What’s the first thing you pull your of your fridge in the morning? Orange juice. I drink either straight or in a smoothie.
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Halloween, when it’s OK to play with your food
Pumpkins, we might forget, are food, too.
So whether you are carving free pumpkins with your kids from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday at La Condesa or at your home or school this week, keep in mind that you can toast the seeds and eat them, and sooner than you realize, you’ll be devouring pumpkin pie, too.
But we all know pumpkins aren’t the favorite food of Halloween. You — and your kids, your coworkers’ and your coworkers’ kids — are in it for the candy.
Halloween is the favorite holiday of Quincy Adams Erickson, owner of Fête Accompli catering and retail store, but not because of the candy or the pumpkins. She says she loves finding ways to make food playful and memorable.
“Halloween lends itself to silliness,” she says. “It brings out all my creativity.” This week, she’s serving holiday foods that include rat tail salad (made with beet roots) and maggot and cockroach salad (black beans and rice). The best part? Erickson requests that customers ask for each dish by its Halloween name.
In that case, I’ll have the vomit (pea and cheese salad), please.
Bakeries all over town are creating spooky treats. Quack’s Bakery has both Halloween cookies and these beautiful pies topped with pastry leaves. Holy Cacao on South First Street is serving zombie cake balls, which are chocolate pumpkin cake balls covered in melted zombie skin (or blue-hued white chocolate for those of us among the living).
Costume-clad adults will be roaming downtown on Saturday, but for a classier Halloween party on Friday night, Aquarelle is hosting its first (and free!) Moulin Rouge Halloween Celebration from 8 p.m. to midnight. Compete in the costume contest or feast on a “specially sinful” selection of $6 appetizers, desserts and wines.
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Join us for a wake to mourn Gourmet
Or at least that’s the overwhelming response I’ve read and heard since Conde Nast folded the nearly 70-year-old publication this month.
For a bittersweet happy hour at Fino on Tuesday, let’s gather, favorite issues in hand, with fellow readers to celebrate the long life of Gourmet. RSVP here.
Bar manager Bill Norris and guest shaker David Alan of TipsyTexan.com will mix classic cocktails from the past seven decades, and chef Jason Donoho will prepare bites inspired by the magazine’s rich culinary history.
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Stop eating my garden!
It’s been more than a month since I’ve written about my family’s backyard gardening efforts, and in those four weeks, we’ve had the nicest (and wettest) weather in recent memory.
Which is great for the garden, right?
Hypothetically, yes, but our seedlings aren’t thriving as much as they had been because something besides us is eating them.
I’ve always had the attitude that sharing with critters gives gardeners some good karma with nature, but after losing 3/4 of the seedlings I showed off in the last garden post, I think I’m due.
So back off, cutworms, snails, birds or whatever has been snatching the young plants before they’ve even had a chance to produce many leaves.
It’s taken most of the year, but my husband has finally caught the gardening bug. Ian dabbled with gardens when he was living in Calgary, where the growing season is a fast and furious three months long. (Nearly 20 hours of daylight will do that to plants.) He’s taken over one of the raised beds and has had quite a bit of success keeping his seedlings growing, such as the radishes above.
I’ve been trying to tame my now-thriving yard from overrunning this new garden bed I created after the fall of the tomatoes and peppers earlier this summer. I’m on round two of sweet peas, lettuce and greens in this bed, and hopefully whatever was after them before has moseyed along to something greener.
My compost pile keeps getting more interesting. A pomegranate I recently tossed in there attracted more grubs/maggots/creepy things than I’ve ever seen in our compost bin. (PS, the hardware cloth I built this second bin out of isn’t holding up like I hoped it would. One of my goals this fall is to build another one, hopefully out of some scrap materials I come upon.)
The spinach I planted seems to have evaded the bugs or birds, but they are growing so slowly. Patience is as essential to gardening as all this glorious rain we’ve been receiving.
We’re on the last of our peppers, and the herbs have put on the prettiest flowers. It’s amazing what a few wet weeks can do to a backyard. Ours was a dustbowl just six weeks ago, but now the grass and overall ecosystem seem to be thriving. Even this anole (right? We’re only amateur herpetologists.) found refuge in our yard, so I can’t be too upset about a few snatched plants.
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Kitchen Confession: Eating my kid’s leftovers
Kitchen Confession No. 3: I am a human vacuum cleaner. My parents teased me about it when I was in high school; I’d always scarf up scraps that were headed to the trash can or garbage disposer.
Now that I have a kid, who more often than not doesn’t finish his food, I have someone else to eat up after.
And here’s the real confession: When I’m making something as scrumptious as kid cheese tortellini, above, I’ll make a little extra, you know, “just in case” he wants seconds.
I’ve loved hearing from readers about their kitchen confessions. Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail, I want to hear yours. Here are some of my favorite of your secrets:
Kristi Willis: I eat mustard on my popcorn. Ronda Dizney: I put herbs like basil, oregano, rosemary and lemon verbena in bed to sleep on at night-nibbling a few tucked in my pillow. I nibble on them if I wake up in the middle of the night.
Rebecca Herrington: I sometimes on purpose burns toast & then slathers it in Brummel & Brown ‘butter’
Rob Moshein: I’ll eat raw beef on occasion. Like when I have ground sirloin for hamburgers I’ll take a taste, or when trimming a steak I’ll cut a little bite of the raw meat for myself.
Arcie Cola: I lick all the salt and flavor off the chips and throw the chip away. I used throw the chip back in the bag til Memaw caught me and tore up my hide.
Christy Horton: I always shake my sodas with the lid closed to get rid of some of the carbonation. I don’t like them totally flat but not too fizzy. I am also a batter eater: cookies, bread, cake, doesn’t matter. I like it RAW.
Lindsay Lehfield: I’ve never had ramen noodles.
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Beer at the heart of potluck, Eat-Up
Beer isn’t just for drinking.
Two events in the past week prove that beer is just as valuable as an ingredient as a beverage.
On Thursday, blogger and baker extraordinaire Jennie Chen taught members of Addie’s Eat-Ups, the monthly food meet-up group, about how to bake with beer.
Her cupcakes, such as these made from Wells Banana Bread Beer, and other sweet treats, including 512 Pecan Porter mousse, Live Oak Hefeweizen and the Brooklyn Brewery Pumpkin Ale Chocolate Cake she served at the Eat-Up, have gained her a bit of a cult following in Austin.
But baking with beer isn’t as simple as swapping beer for liquid in whatever you’re making. She says that through trial and plenty of error, she’s discovered that very hoppy beers often turn bitter when cooked for a long time and that bubbly beer can cause batters or doughs to break.
Lucky for us, she is generous with recipes. You can find plenty of them on her blog, MisoHungry Makes it with Moonshine.
On Sunday, Austin food bloggers gathered for our fourth potluck, this time at (512) Brewing Company. Keeping with the beer theme this fall, the dishes were supposed to be made with beer. I created Thomas Keller’s roasted cauliflower with rice, the recipe for which we printed in the paper a few weeks ago. I replaced some of the cooking water with Real Ale’s Brewhouse Brown Ale.
Chicken thighs cooked in beer from Michael Chu of Cooking for Engineers, chicken pot pie topped with biscuits from Lisa Lawless and these little tartlets from Teddy Babcock.
On the dessert side, we had everything from beeramisu from Cecilia Nasti to pumpkin beer ice cream from Stephanie McClenny.
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Tim and Karrie League: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
The yardbirds, as he calls them, provide fresh eggs for the couple who forever changed the movie-going experience in Austin when they opened the first Drafthouse in 1997. Suddenly, watching the latest blockbuster with a soda and box of over-buttered popcorn just didn’t seem as appetizer. At the Drafthouse, movie-goers can order above-average food and watch not just the latest Hollywood flicks, but carefully curated films as funky and smart as Austin itself.
The Leagues sold the franchise but still own the downtown, South Lamar and Anderson Lane theaters, and now they’ve entered the bowling business with the food- and drink-centric Highball, located next to the Drafthouse on South Lamar.
Those lucky chickens. Another food venue for the Leagues means another source of quality scrap veggies, stored in those plastic grocery bags in the fridge, for them to eat.
What three things are always in your fridge? Fresh eggs (we raise chickens in the yard). Vegetable choppings from the Alamo (for the chickens and the rabbits - also raise rabbits in the yard). Skim milk - daily morning cereal ritual
What condiment can you not live without? Spicy whole grain mustard. Is peanut butter a condiment? I can’t live without that either.
What’s your favorite thing to eat during a movie (either at home or at the Alamo)? Pizza - I order it at home and at the theater way too often for my own health.
I’m always on the hunt for interesting refrigerators. If you want to show off yours, take a photo of it (please resist the urge to clean or rearrange) and send it to abroyles@statesman.com.
Fridge photo by Tim League; Portrait of Leagues by Nick Simonite.
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‘Sushi Pimp’ drops alter ego for sushi classes
Lee, who performs as his foul-mouthed alter ego Sushi Pimp on Monday nights at the restaurant, is now offering sushi classes at DK’s Sushi Market, the Asian food store he owns at 5610 N. Lamar Blvd.
Twice a week, Lee offers a beginner class on making sushi rolls like the California or spicy tuna rolls. Classes cost $65 and are on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m. The store, which carries a large selection of sake and sushi supplies, is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. E-mail SushiClass@dksushi.com or call 302-1090 to reserve a spot.
Don’t panic, Sushi Pimp lovers. Lee is still hosting the Monday night party at DK Sushi like he has for eight years.
Sushi photo by David Weaver; Sushi Pimp photo by Sung Park.
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Sunday farmers’ market begins in E. Austin this weekend
A new farmers’ market is coming to a Sunday near you.
The Hope Farmers’ Market will have its inaugural market day on Sunday at 414 Waller St., at the southwest corner of Fifth and Waller streets.
Market manager Greg Esparza says there will be more than 20 food vendors on Sunday, but because the market is part of the Austin-based HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) Campaign, a nonprofit that brings artists and media to places in need, there will also be plenty of artists and nonprofits.
HOPE founders Andi Scull Steidle and Brian Steidle “wanted to throw the doors open to the community to have a festival every single week where people could come together around their passion and craft,” Esparza says. He says that the Hope Farmers’ Market, three blocks east of Interstate 35, is a way “to infuse this East Austin arts culture with the growing local food movement that has been picking up so much steam in the last couple of years.”
Esparza says they wanted a way to bring together all the subcommunities that call Austin home, a place where musicians could perform, artists could create and the community could learn from each other.
The market will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with free yoga from Empower Yoga at 11 a.m. This Sunday, there will even be free coffee (BYOMug, the Facebook page suggests)
If you’re interested in participating as a vendor, contact Esparza at 699-6077.
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Gary Vaynerchuk is crushing everything but grapes
Wine might be the subject of Gary Vaynerchuk’s video blog and first book, but business — and helping other people be better at it — is what is driving him on a book tour zig-zagging across the country. Sandwiched between events in Seattle and Los Angeles, Gaynerchuk was in Austin on Wednesday for four events (yes, four) in a 12-hour period.
You can’t say the 33-year-old isn’t practicing what he preaches.
Hustle and passion have always been at the heart of Gary Vee’s mission, and his new book, “Crush It,” is a 142-page bible of how to do it. He admits he’s not a great writer, and the book isn’t as infectious as hearing him speak in person, but it’s a good starting point if you own a business, write a blog or are trying to build an audience or consumer base in any way.
Whether he’s talking to a group of several dozen, like at yesterday’s book signing at Cost Plus World Market in Sunset Valley, or several hundred, like at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive Conference, Vaynerchuk’s sermon is the same: Find something you’re passionate about, embrace new technologies, connect directly with your audience and, above all, work harder than you’ve ever worked before.
It’s been interesting to watch Vaynerchuk evolve in the 18 months since I first met him. (I drove him to Houston for an event, which turned into a bonafide road trip with Arby’s, New Kids on the Block and all.)
At first blush, Vaynerchuk seemed poised to become the Robert Parker of wine on the Web, which was why I was so interested in writing about him. He’s still doing Wine Library TV and challenging the status quo that Parker long ago established, but he seems to be drifting from wine even further into the role of a social media and business guru.
He has nine more books to write to fulfill a contract with Harper Studio, and the preview he gave at Wednesday’s World Market event indicated they will be about business and not wine.
So why am I still writing about him on a food blog? As much as I like writing about chefs, recipes, farmers’ markets and gardening, when I’m out and about in the community, so many of you are trying to find ways to be better at whatever you’re doing. The conversations almost always come back to the Internet and how to use all the online tools that are out there to reach our goals.
Look at all the restaurants, grocery stores, liquor stores, home cooks and food producers who have joined Twitter in recent months. It’s like business owners are watching the Web 2.0 train pull away from the station, and they know that if they don’t jump on, they’ll be left behind.
The Internet as we know it has only been around for 14 years. Just imagine what things will be like in another 14 years. Everything from how we buy wine to how we find recipes to how we cook will have evolved.
And even if you don’t own a business, I guarantee that his advice is reflective of how you consume content. If you watch Hulu.com, use your iPhone to find a bar, become a fan of your favorite chef on Facebook or make a restaurant reservation online, you are engaging in this cultural shift.
Vaynerchuk is on a tireless mission to help willing businesses and consumers get on that train before it’s long gone.
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Sandra Bullock loves Austin-made Maine Root
Matt and Mark Seiler, the guys behind the Austin soda company Maine Root, tell me that Sandra Bullock has been special ordering their fabulous fizz at her restaurants across the country.
The Seiler brothers say they was surprised to find out last week that Bullock had given this short ribs recipe that just so happens to use their soda to People magazine. Apparently, she served the ribs at her sister’s book release party at Walton’s Fancy and Staple last month.
I also found out that they are tinkering with some alternative sweeteners to create a low calorie soda for those Diet Coke fans looking for a little more excitement.
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BBQ title on the line at Elgin v. Lockhart football game
Enjoy barbecue and high school football, two of Texas’ most beloved icons, at the first BBQ Bowl before the Elgin and Lockhart football game Friday.
The game starts in Elgin at 7:30 p.m., but at 6 p.m. outside the stadium, four barbecue restaurants from Lockhart and two from Elgin will have samples available for barbecue-loving tailgaters. The city of the winning team will get to display a traveling trophy at the chamber of commerce until next year’s BBQ Bowl.
For more information, call the Elgin or Lockhart chambers of commerce at 512- 285-4515 or 512-398-2818 .
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Free baking classes, plus recipe for cinnamon swirl loaf
As part of a national baking tour, bakers from King Arthur Flour will be in Austin on Sunday for two free baking demonstrations at Embassy Suites, 5901 N. Interstate 35. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., learn about sweet yeast breads, and from 3 to 5 p.m., get tips and recipes for making pies and tarts. No registration required. For more information, call 1-800-827-6836. Can’t make it to the class?
Here are several of the recipes they will be demonstrating.
Basic Sweet Bread Dough
Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
This soft and pliable dough is suitable for all sorts of shapes, from braids to cinnamon rolls to monkey bread. Soft dough is the secret to soft, tender bread. Yields two loaves.
3/4 cup (6 ounces) warm water
2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. Red Star active dry yeast
1/2 cup (2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring, or 2 teaspoons citrus zest
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups (19 to 23 1/4 ounces) King Arthur All-Purpose Flour (or substitute up to 2 cups All-Natural King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour)
1 egg + 1 Tbsp. water (for egg wash)
In a small bowl, combine the warm water and 2 teaspoons sugar. Stir to dissolve. Stir in the yeast and 1/2 cup flour. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until bubbly and active, about 10 to 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and yeast mixture. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing until the dough comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface, knead the dough about 5 minutes, until soft and pliable but not sticky. Let the dough rest while you clean and grease the bowl. Finish kneading the dough until it’s smooth, supple, and springy.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat all surfaces, cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel, and let sit in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.
Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest on a lightly floured surface for 15 minutes. Form the dough into desired shapes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush loaves with egg wash and bake until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes, to an internal temperature of 190 degrees. Remove the bread from the oven, and let it cool on a rack.
Cinnamon Swirl Loaf
Roll half the Basic Sweet Dough into a 10” x 15” rectangle. Brush the surface of the dough with egg wash. Cover with half the filling mixture:
For filling mixture, combine:
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Starting with one of the short ends, roll the dough into a log, pinching the seams and ends to seal them tightly. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Place each loaf in a well-greased 8 1/2” x 4 1/2” loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and let the loaves rise for about an hour, or until they’ve crowned about 1” over the rim of the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Before baking, brush the tops of the loaves with egg wash. Bake about 45 minutes, tenting with foil the last 10 minutes if the bread is browning too quickly. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool completely on a rack. Yields two loaves.
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Oyster Club and Alton Brown: Guess who’s the crabby one?
I don’t mean to pick on Alton Brown.
He’s a nice guy. A fantastic host of “Good Eats” and commentator on “Iron Chef,” and one of the few celebrity (non)chefs I’d get excited about. The commercial-maker turned mad scientist turned head food geek was in Austin on Sunday for a big book signing at Whole Foods. There was a small meet and greet for area journalists and bloggers beforehand. We all queued up, book in hand, to get a photo and have a few words with Mr. Brown.
It’s like I can’t help myself; I knew the man hated all forms of social media, but I asked anyway: “So what do you think of all this Twitter and Facebook stuff?”
Whoops.
He didn’t blow up, as would many celebrities who suffer through a real-life Groundhog Day, answering the same questions over and over at every stop with every star-crazed fan or curious member of the media.
But he did set me straight: No Twitter, no Facebook, no involvement online whatsoever. He and his team spend $20,000 a year to kick impersonators off, he says, and he’s so fed up that he’s ready to take down his entire Web site.
(Cue jaw drop. Thanks for the photo, Sean!)
He’s a nice guy, though, so he went ahead and signed my book and posed for a photo with me, apparently not worried that he’d catch the dreaded social media virus I so clearly am afflicted with.
Later in the day on Sunday, we headed south to the Plant at Kyle for the kick-off party for the Oyster Club, a group that meets monthly (September through April) to explore arts and food in Austin. (Membership to the club benefits the Rude Mechanicals performance group, and Edible Austin always has a strong hand in planning and executing the event.)
This year’s party was as lovely as last year’s, plenty of seafood and locally sourced grub to go around.
Plus, people love an excuse to eat with their hands, so they got to work shucking oysters and ripping open shrimp brought up from the Gulf by Roberto San Miguel.
I really do feel for celebrities like Alton Brown. They make millions of dollars off being their funny, witty selves, but they become so well-known that they don’t really get to do anything but that.
It’s too bad, because I bet Brown would have had a real laid back time enjoying guests and great food at the Oyster Club.
But when you’re Alton Brown, you are the party.
What’s that they say about eating your own cake?
Alton Brown photo by Sean Woods.
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Book tour brings Gary Vaynerchuk back to Austin
Maybe it was the million-dollar, 10-book deal that wine and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk made with Harper Studio.
Or perhaps the high-profile story by Eric Asimov in The New York Times last month.
Or maybe that he’s recorded more than 700 videos for Wine Library TV, the video blog that spurred millions of fans to think differently about wine.
But it seems the in-your-face wine renegade, a South by Southwest regular, is finally hitting the mainstream. His new book, “Crush It,” which focuses not on wine but on his style of social media marketing and personal branding, came out earlier this month, and he’s got a handful of appearances slated on Wednesday:
- noon at Cost Plus World Market (5601 Brodie Lane)
- 3:30 p.m. at Texas State University at San Marcos
- 7 p.m. book signing at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar Blvd.)
- 9 p.m. at Omni Hotel downtown for Cork’d Keeps Austin Weird event with Other Inbox
The free tickets to event at the Omni are gone, but I’ve got a couple to give away. Leave a comment about why you’d like to go to a wine tasting Gary Veek, and I’ll contact the winners via e-mail on Tuesday (so leave a valid e-mail address!).
If you miss him during this stop in Austin, rest assured that he’ll be back. Here’s the video we did at this year’s SXSW, and he’s scheduled to speak at next year’s interactive conference as well.
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Young chefs shine at Driskill cooking competition
Who says kids aren’t excited about cooking?
Sure, sports, video games and Miley Cyrus take up a lot of kids’ time these days, but a kids’ chef competition at the Driskill Hotel last weekend reminded me that children — or at the least the kids at Young Chefs Academy in Austin and Round Rock — really love to cook.
Chef students ages 4-14 created recipes for the contest, and the finalists presented their dishes on Oct. 11 to judges, including me, Texas Monthly senior editor Pat Sharpe, Driskill sales and marketing director Brette Boring and Driskill chef Jonathan Gelman.
At the event earlier this month, the chefs-coat clad kids eagerly described how they came up with their dishes and what they like best about cooking. Sarah Worthen, left, got my vote for the most elaborate story for her dish, Dragon Chow, which, of course, wasn’t made with pasta but with dragon fingernails. (Creativity is still alive and well in the kitchen, it seems.)
As judges, we got to try all the food and pick our favorites. Each of the dishes will be featured on the kids’ menu on a rotating basis at the Driskill 1886 Cafe and Bakery, but Celeste Gaudin, Sarah Kenerson and James Mayberry were the judges’ top picks. Their dishes will appear on the menu for the next year.
The crowd also got to vote, and 6-year-old Ayden Sturr’s chip sandwich won people’s choice.
Celeste Gaudin made Chicken Pinwheels.
Sarah Kenerson and her dish, Sausage Delight.
Brothers Sean and James Mayberry. James’ Fantastic Fruity Fish dish was one of the winners, but Sean’s Wild Salad, the recipe for which he was kind enough to give me after the event was over, was also noteworthy.
Additional photos by Alex Turkovic.
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Living the sweet life at La Dolce Vita
Maybe it was the beautiful weather. Or the smiling chefs serving bite-sized portions of their fine fare. Or the proud winemakers showing off their newest creations. Or the babysitter who made it so my husband and I could have a date night. Or spotting a smooch between Daily Juice co-owner Matt Shook and wife Kelly, who skipped out on the sitter and brought baby Annabelle along.
Something about last night’s La Dolce Vita was special.
Sure, parking was tough, it was packed and, like every year, they started to run out of wine and food toward the end, but the annual fundraiser at Laguna Gloria for the Austin Museum of Art was full of friendly folks who were getting more friendly by the bite (or, more likely, by the sip).
Chefs, such as Bhupender Singh Rawat of Taj Palace, above, handed out samples of dishes that represented their restaurants, which explains why the playful Kevin Williamson and Antonio Vidal of Ranch 616 served fancy Frito pie straight in the bag.
Some of my favorite wine of the night came from Spicewood Vineyards owner Ron Yates, whom I profiled for last year’s wine guide. Yates was eagerly pouring 2008 Touriga Nacional and 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, two of his newest wines. The touriga in particular stood out from many of the wines we sampled.
Sao Paulo’s Restaurante had their own little surprise in the form of these little pumpkins, which were filled shrimp sauteed in red palm oil with cilantro and tomatoes and topped with crispy plantains.
By the end of the night, photographer Annie Ray didn’t have to try too hard to pull people out of their shells in her fun photo booth.
They were already having a good time; she just had the delightful job of capturing it.
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Ed and Susan Auler: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Ed and Susan Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards split their time between the winery in Tow, northwest of Austin, and the capital city, where they reside. Their winery, established in 1975, was one of the first in Central Texas, and it’s still a leader in the growing wine region.
Their Meritus is considered one of the best reds in the state, and they are so picky about which Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec grapes they use that only five vintages have been released (the most recent in 2004). (At last night’s La Dolce Vita fundraiser for the Austin Museum of Art, I had a sip of Meritus for the second time, and it really is a Texas wine worth seeking out.)
The Aulers are busy folks, pouring at wine festivals and hosting dinners and events throughout the year. Most recently, they put on the Fall Fest in Marble Falls and Spicewood, which raises money for local charities and Texas wine and grape research.
Another Fall Creek fundraising project is two Mission wines, one of which you can see in the fridge. The wines — a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon — raise money for the restoration of the Alamo.
What three things are always in your fridge? Milk, oatmeal, which we make once a week and just eat every day. There is always a bag of shredded slaw, as Ed Auler likes to eat it several times a week with crumbled blue cheese and apple cider vinegar/olive oil dressing.
What’s your favorite condiment? My favorite condiment is Fall Creek Wine Foods Chenin Blanc Mustard.
What’s the first food/drink you pull out of the fridge in the morning? First beverage I have every morning is one percent milk with my steel cut cooked oatmeal and blueberries.
Fridge photo by Susan Auler; photo of the Aulers by Laura Skelding/American-Statesman staff.
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Just ran across this article.I happened upon a bottle of Baby Blue at Spec’s a few weeks and took it home.The jury is still out as to what I think.As an avid scotch and bourbon drinker (does that make me sound like an alcoholic?) it’s hard to
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jack daniels makes MUSTARD?! my world just changed.
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Great bunch of tips for Halloween goodies! Hopefully there will be a Christmas themed one as well (even better, a list of bakeries that sell gingerbread houses for decorating!)
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Children in costume can come by the Austin Farmers’ Market Information Booth on Saturday at 4th and Guadalupe from 10 am to 11 am and a prize will be awarded at 11 am. Must be present to win. Prize is an AFM shopping bag full of market goodies, including
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