Will Cook For Beer

Moco on the Mind

2010-05-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

I made it back safely from Ireland. While I am home, I don't think I am near settled enough to try and summarize things yet, though I have had to try whenever I see someone from home. We will get there on the blog, of that you can be assured but for now, I am thinking about Hawaii. Lets do something that we haven't done in a while: a food post.

I ran out of money at the end of my trip, and didn't cook big very often. Everything was either something I have posted before, or I was cooking it to try and impress a girl, and didn't want to look like a dork by trying to take pictures of my mise en place, and the finished dish. I know, I know, I am enough of a dork anyway, how can it get any worse right? Either way, I was self conscious I suppose, so I have nothing for you except two dishes with no pictures or recipes.

Pan seared Galway Bay scallops
-Orange Beurre Blanc
-Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta
-Salad of Irish lettuce, orange segments and white onion with and orange vinegarette

Sopa de Ajo Castellano (Spanish Garlic Soup)
-Chicken, Chorizo and Couscous

I assure you they were both delicious, and since I was aiming to impress, I would say that it worked, and say no more.

Now, back to the task at hand. I said I was thinking about Hawaii right? Not that I am going there or anything, but just remembering things that I ate. Specifically one thing : Loco Moco. Hamburger, egg and brown gravy over rice. I found that I loved the combination of egg and rice, and I have recently started varying the recipe in my own way.

I am often too lazy to make a gravy, and I often skipped the meat portion, but eggs and rice have become a regular part of my diet.

Iteration 1: Egg and couscous with butter, coriander salt and pepper

Use of leftovers at its fullest.

Second iteration: Fried egg with smoked sausage, rice, cumin, salt, pepper and chipotle sauce

Again I used leftovers. I mixed the spices in with the rice, refried the sausage to get it a little crispy then tossed it with the chipotle sauce. I fried the egg and then lacquered it with the chipotle sauce for extra punch. This was really good, with the chipotle sauce giving a great smoky flavor. The best part of these dishes, without fail is the interaction between the soft yolk and the rice. Scrambled eggs would not be the same here. The yolk mixes with the rice and creates a rich, spicy, gooey, unctuous mix. Lovely. Here is the money shot:
This is rapidly ascending the ranks of my favorite fast breakfasts. Especially if you have rice on hand that you can reheat with a little butter, it takes about ten minutes from start to finish. It's lovely.

I think the next iteration is a sausage patty, fresh rice, egg and chipotle gravy. Approaching the traditional loco moco, with my own twist. I can't wait.

Get ready for more food posts, since I have a free week. Barbecue chicken is on the mind, and I think I might mess with that tomorrow.

Music

2010-05-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

If any of you know me well, or at the very least, have spent time around me when I am biking somewhere, studying or browsing the internet, you know the significant role that music plays in my everyday life. I am typically playing something on my computer or iPod nearly every waking moment (and some of the sleeping ones). I have an encyclopedic knowledge of lyrics for my favorite bands, and for some terrible rap songs. All of this comes as quite strange for someone who is admittedly tone deaf, can't play an instrument, and can't sing or dance to save his life. Nevertheless, music provides the soundtrack to nearly everything I do.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the evocative power of certain smells, tastes and sounds. I have found, at least personally, that I associate specific songs with a strong memory of a person, place or time, and that no matter how much I may want to forget that association, I can't. Two songs in particular come to mind each time I consider this (at least recently), and though they would be quite polarizing in terms of the type of people that would typically listen to them, I find them associated with overwhelmingly positive memories from great times in my life.

The first is 'Under the Bridge' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song, from the very opening notes, calls to mind Saturday practices for the Willamette XC team. The song would come on after our morning workouts during my freshman year (my only year with the team), and while we iced, stretched or waited to leave for breakfast, the whole team would sing along. It was the time that I felt most a part of that team, like I belonged with those runners in that place on that day.

The second is from a much more recent time in my life. Given the type of music that I typically listen to, I find myself almost ashamed to like this song as much as I do. I find that I like it not for the instrumentation, lyrics, or anything else, but solely for the memories it produces. That song, of course, is Tik Tok by Ke$ha. The memories for that one are twofold. First, strong memories of the previous semester back at WU, playing beer pong at 16th and Mill with Remy, Addam and Rowan. The song was ubiquitous for us that semester, being played on car rides, during pong, and at the parties we hosted and attended. The second, and I would say most powerful memory, is of the road trip to Killarney that I took a month ago with Johnny, Josh and Chuck. We made this song our official traveling song, playing it over and over, including four times in a row when we were traveling through Limerick. We all sang along and danced in the car. Even Johnny's dog, Maggie seemed to enjoy it. The trip was such a perfect 3 days with 3 of my favorite people that I have met on this trip, that I am happy to associate Tik Tok with that. The only bittersweet part of this memory is that we also played Tik Tok when we were taking Chuck to the airport to go home to America, and the group was broken up.

p.s. Who am I kidding? Tik Tok is my jam!

2010-05-08T06:07:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this is where I am going to attempt to break down all of my travels in continental Europe into one entry.

Going into this trip, I had a number of goals:
1) Eat well, and eat often
2) Spend a ton of time on my own
3) Walk everywhere that I could
4) RELAX!
5) Find the great things to do in each city that are FREE

I think I did a good job of accomplishing my goals.

For those of you who didn't know my plans, I set forth on an odyssey across the continent from April 12th to the 26th, 2 full weeks. I spent time in Prague, Graz (Austria), Dubrovnik (Croatia), and Bari (Italy). I also had brief stops in Slovenia, Montenegro and Milan. I really wanted to get off of the beaten path for this trip. I've seen many of the destination cities in western Europe, so I opted for the less traveled cities in the central or eastern part of the continent. Given the locations of these cities, transit was generally easy. I was lucky to avoid the Icelandic ice cloud problem, as the only flights were from Dublin to Prague, and Bari to Dublin (via Milan). I traveled by bus, train and ferry in addition to my flights, and had a blast doing it. Traveling by non-plane transportation gives you an incredible chance to see scenery that you never would see otherwise. It also puts you in extended contact with the people around you, your seatmates and the workers, and forces you to get out of your shell a little.

Walking a city instead of driving opens you up to a whole new situation. Instead of just seeing the city, you experience it with all of your senses at once. Its an incredible symphony of sounds, smells and colors. I think the best example of this was Bari. By the time I reached Bari, I was exhausted from 2 weeks of travel, and really just wanted to get back to Galway. All I did that day was wander the city streets, getting unbelievably lost, and watch some people play soccer in the park. What I remember most about Bari was the smell. Every street that I turned onto smelled like Italian food, and no two streets smelled the same. I spent much of the day walking up and down streets and trying to guess what was being made for Sunday dinner in each house. Dubrovnik was the same way. The time I fell in love with it was when I was completely and utterly lost, and trying to find my hostel. I walked down a street towards the ocean and smelled nothing but the sea, and grilled fish. It was incredible.

I got to spend a lot of time on my own. I wrote recipes, and read books (for the first time since last summer I think). I walked city streets, drank solo pints and sampled each city in a quiet contemplative way, with my iPod blasting. And that was all well and good. What I didn't count on was that the parts I would enjoy the most was when there were people around! In Graz I had the opportunity to spend my weekend with Andi Hollerer, who was an exchange student at Willamette last fall. Andi and I both had the same Ex Phys class, competed against each other in IM soccer, and saw each other at parties, but I never really knew him that well. Nevertheless, he invited me to spend some time with him in Graz. I spent a weekend there, and even though I never knew Andi that well before, there were no problems enjoying ourselves during the weekend. The first day I got there, I wrote a paper. Super lame, but I needed to get it finished and out of the way, and I was already exhausted from travel. The next day we got up early, and set out to explore Graz. Andi took me on a walking tour of what seemed like the entire city. We climbed the Grazer Schloßberg, walked through the main squares, and saw the university where he now studies. Graz is a beautiful town. It's well preserved, and the Old Town is a UNESCO world heritage site. I love walking through old cities like that, you feel a most wonderful connection with the history of the place. That night we went and met a group of his friends who were having a birthday party at a local bar. I met so many people, and remember so few of their names. At this party I had the opportunity to catch up with Chris, another Austrian student who had been on exchange at Willamette. I also met a girl studying the English language, who was ecstatic to meet a "native speaker", which is a distinction that I think deserves its own blog post, soon to come. We spent the next day wandering the city again. I bought my train ticket to leave, and we visited the Modern Art Museum and Armory Museum. The modern art museum had an incredible (and strange exhibit) that you got to involve yourself with. Some of the things weren't really art without human interaction, which is a crazy basis for a piece I think.

One of the things I valued most about my time in Graz was the time I was able to spend with Andi's family and friends. After being alone for 3 days in Prague, with the exception of a night spent in an Irish bar with some fellow Spurs fans (Champions league baby!), I was very grateful to spend time with people who spoke English, and that I knew. What I didn't expect was the hospitality. Andi's family provided all of our meals, let me sleep in the spare bedroom, washed my clothes... everything. It was like I was a part of the family for 3 days, which was nothing short of incredible. The same was true with Andi's friends. Traveling about town, it seemed that Andi knew everyone. What shocked me was that everyone wanted to meet me, and to find out where I was from, how I knew Andi. It certainly made the party easier, since I really didn't know anyone, and there was a significant language barrier. It was great to have the company for sure.

After that, I was on to Dubrovnik, the city I was most excited for. It lived up to all the hype. The heart of Dubrovnik is the old town, surrounded by the ancient curtain walls. Beautiful. Just incredible. Walking the tops of the city walls was a beautiful, wonderful experience. You can see the whole city, all the way out to the Lapad peninsula. You can see the whole old town. You can see the islands in the bay. You can see blue water as far as your eye can see. You can see the ancient castle near the exterior of the walls. I took several breaks on my wall tour to sit and read, finding benches to sit on, or little windows on the wall to sit in. I can't wait to go back. I spent all of my time inside those walls, except when I was at the hostel. Well, not all of my time I guess. My favorite place in Dubrovnik was a bar. Typical college male right? Buza bar is no ordinary bar. I have heard it called the "hole in the wall" by travel guides, and God's place by ordinary travelers. It really is both.

Try to find another bar with a view like that. I spent 3 afternoons and evenings out of four sitting in Buza Bar, watching the sunset, and enjoying a good book (and some good beers). The nights were a different stories.

I can say that without a doubt that when in Dubrovnik I enjoyed the most consecutive crippling hangovers I have ever experienced in my life. While I can't absolve myself of blame, I put most of it on my friends at the hostel. The hostel in Dubrovnik that I stayed at was called the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club, and I don't think I ever want to stay anywhere else in that town. The unique thing about the hostel is that it is family owned and operated. When I arrived in Dubrovnik, I chose to forgo their bus station pickup service, and attempt to find it on my own. Mistake. I got so lost, you would not believe it. Of course I am too stubborn to call for directions or a ride, so I tried again. And again. Eventually I wandered to the old town, found a wireless hotspot, and got directions that way. All of this before 9 am. When I finally made it, they greeted me with home dried fruit (including a mango coated in chili powder that was too spicy for even me) and a welcome drink, organic plum brandy mixed with honey. The hospitality did not end there. Each night as all of the residents of the hostel sat and enjoyed the warm evenings on the porch, our hostel mother and father would bring down 2 bottles of wine, and the son would sit and drink with us. Already fortified by cheap Croatian beer, these nights quickly got out of hand. Furthermore, the son runs tours out of the hostel to the neighboring Slavic countries. On my third day in Dubrovnik, I took advantage of the Montenegro tour, traveling down the coast to Kotor, a small town. We hiked up to an ancient castle, saw the smallest town in Montenegro (population 3!) and enjoyed a wonderful lunch by the water.

Beyond the hospitality of the family, the hostel was remarkable, at least during the time of my visit for the quality of the other residents. I met people from all over the world: Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Britain, Canada, France, Japan and Spain. I have never sat in a room speaking English with 8 other people, and been the only American before. It was crazy. I met some great friend on this trip, people that I regret I will likely never see again. Richie was a soldier in the British Army, and my drinking buddy. I learned to never go round for round with a soldier. He also came on the trip to Montenegro, and we got to be moderately close over the 3 days. Raymond and Maya were both from Australia, traveling around the continent, though not together. Toni and Robbie were a Canuck and another Aussie, but both were studying in Lyon. I don't even remember the name of the Danish guy, but he was hilarious. It was an incredible group to say the least, and it made my time in Dubrovnik what it was. We all exchanged contact (in this age facebook) info, and agreed to call whenever we were in the same area, to meet up and reminisce. Robbie said that she was planning a trip to Seattle, and I look forward to meeting up with her and showing her about my town. It's amazing how small the world has gotten now, that we can meet so many people from so many places in a little town like Dubrovnik, in a country like Croatia.

I think that really gets to the heart of what made my travels special, and I hope that you figured out how much I enjoyed everything that I experienced. I want to go back to all of these places, and take my family and friends with me, to show you what I found! Too many different albums of photos to post, so I am going to link you to my picasa site again, and you can see each set:

http://picasaweb.google.com/James.Cebron

Pozdrav z Prahy

2010-04-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Prague

If any of you in Ireland happen to be reading this, you might know the joy in my heart right now. Since the day we arrived, when the subject of travel came up, inevitably my conversation turned towards Prague. I visited in the summer, and my time was woefully inadequate. 1 day is not enough to explore all of Prague's splendors.

I made one key mistake in my travel plans: getting too drunk the night before I left Galway. Lured to the Salt House by the promise of a fresh batch of Torpedo Extra IPA, I soon found myself in a delightful haze, watching Fantastic Mr. Fox with Johnny, waiting to be driven to the bus station. Though it may sound fun, traveling while drunk, becoming hungover, or being hungover is not as pleasurable as it sounds. Couple that with the fact that since my bus was at 345 am, I hardly slept at all for 2 days, and it was that despicable brand of not restful in the least bus/plane sleep. Given that, I wandered through the city upon my arrival (which thankfully was without conflict), snapped a couple pictures and collapsed on my hostel bed. I managed to crawl my way out for dinner at Staromacek restaurant (recommended by Devon's girlfriend, Roni) which is thankfully located around the corner from my hostel.

The meal there reminded me of my travels this summer, and one of my favorite things about the Czech republic: the food. The Czech food is not bold, flashy, modern or anything that I tend to love. What it lacks in new age technique or flavor pairing, it makes up for in character. A simple cuisine, bred on tradtion, and perfected over hundreds of years. Garlic, Paprika and the like make up the backbone of the cuisine, coupled with braised meats, dumplings and potato pancakes. The first bite of my dinner reminded me of this, and it wasn't the protein. It was the cabbage under the rabbit, both sweet and tasting of mustard. A classic pairing of honey and mustard I think, but fantastic in its own way, begging to be slathered on the accompanying bread dumplings with chunks of succulent rabbit. Washed down with a tall glass of Pilsner Urquell, it was damn near perfection for me, having not eaten in 24 hours. Today's lunch was also fantastic: beef goulash (a rich paprika and beef stock based sauce) with potato pancakes. Delicious crispy potatoes wiped every last bit of sauce from my plate.

Any way you cut it, I am happy to be back in Prague. Just wanted to get a couple thoughts down, but more to come once I get a chance to explore the whole city.

Musings on Hospitality

2010-04-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

I wrote this for an assignment, but I think it belongs here as well. Just some thoughts on the nature of Ultimate (and competition in general) and Irish hospitality:

Every country has a reputation, a stereotype or at the very least, something that seemingly everyone who has been there tells you about before you go. For me, Ireland was no exception. You hear a lot about Ireland, and it seems that most of it relates toward belligerent drunkenness. Though I hold myself as having an open mind, I found that I took stock in the above stereotype, almost without question. It is, after all, what everyone says. What I found when I arrived in Galway was completely different.

The notion of Irish hospitality is not as well known as the alcoholic aspect, but it is immeasurably more vital to the culture. The Irish are hospitable, almost to a fault. It was evident on the very first day I arrived. When out at a pub with the other members of the group, I found that everyone near me took the time to introduce themselves, and find out where I am from. Not that they would know where Woodinville, Washington is, or even that I would ever see them again. I found myself telling complete strangers about myself, learning names and birthplaces, meeting people young and old. It goes beyond the pub. During a weekend excursion to Carraroe, an Irish speaking community outside of Galway, we found ourselves staying with a landlady, Lucy. In most housing situations, the host would be content to put food on the table, show us a bedroom and leave you be. Lucy took the time to learn each one of our names, where we were from, how old we were, what foods we liked and did not like, whether we prefer coffee or tea… the list goes on and on. She cooked us 3 course meals for dinner, brought lunch to the school where we studied Irish, even left snacks out for us when we returned late at night from traditional music sessions in the town. It seems that the Irish just have a way of treating guests, even strangers, that while it seems to be above and beyond what we would expect in America, is simply what is expected here. This hospitality, be it simply an extension of the golden rule, or otherwise, is what shapes and drives the Irish society, is what makes it so incredible.

In America, even the best traditions do not stand up to the arena of sport. Competition changes us, it brings out the worst in us. It makes us hate the opponent, to want to crush them, destroy them. The sport of choice in my life right now is Ultimate Frisbee, on the surface a game so casual that it seems impossible for there to be hatred, but underneath a burning competitive inferno, with fierce rivalries that rival any other sport. It seems that the most commonplace things you hear when discussion teams is “that team is terrible, we should crush them” or “those guys are jerks.” Not in Ireland. Two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of competing at the National Championships for Irish Ultimate. When discussing the teams in our pool with my captain, I kept jumping to the conclusion that we would be able to easily win against a team, and he kept dismissing that thought, unfailingly giving credit to our opponents. The one thing that I did hear was that “Trinity are jerks,” “that player from Trinity is a jerk.” Without question I placed them on the level of our rivals from home. Saturday, and our game with Trinity came, and I was surprised with what I found. The players from Trinity were not only not jerks, they were great guys, and much in the way of the pubs back home, interested in who I was, and where I was from. It went beyond Trinity. I found that every player that I defended, or that defended me took the time to shake my hand and learn my name.

I have learned a lot about Ireland since I have been here, and their hospitality is probably the most valuable lesson that I will take home. When you go abroad there are things you bank on being the same, and for me, one of those things was Ultimate. It was amazing to see how a cultural belief has so well inundated their culture that it shows everywhere, even on the Frisbee pitch.

For the love of Ultimate

2010-03-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ultimate frisbee is a game that has been cast as a hippie, pot smoking, hemp wearing event. Now some of that may be true, but it is also an incredible game filled with incredibly driven and talented people, most of which I have no doubt could have succeeded in any other sport. It's also the game I love. Why do I love it?

Because people are willing to drive 3.5 hours on a bus (or 1.5 hours in a van) to get to a tournament.

Because we sleep on couch cushions set on the floor, in houses with no bathroom, just to be able to play.

Because its the only sport where you not only can drink heavily before, during, and in between tournaments, but where its expected.

Because there is no feeling that can top a full length bid to catch a score. Or a foot block. Or throwing a full field huck. Or bidding out for a D. Or winning a game on universe point. The list of plays goes on.

Nothing though can top the camaraderie felt between the players of this game though. I don't think there is any other sport that you can consistently go to meet a new team, and expect to come away with not just one, but many lifelong friends. Its a close knit group, and for good reason.

This weekend I went through a veritable who's who of Irish ultimate. It's an experience I won't soon forget. I want to talk about personal success in the games we played, even the success of our team, but its all dwarfed by the relationships that I built with people over the course of one semester, when we might only see each other for a couple of hours every week. And not even the members of my team, that I am so lucky as to see so often, but the members of other teams as well. Its a cool thing in Irish ultimate that introducing yourself to the person you are marking is such a custom. It adds a personal level to the game, and makes a person more than a number on an opponents squad.

I met two players from other teams that made a significant impression on me, and the two were quite different.

Cian, from Trinity college in Dublin, was a athletic leaper of a cutter, quick, and clearly a huge talent for the Irish game. It was incredible to match up against another teams best option, and try my best to negate him. I think we did a fair job of running each other around this weekend in the two games, as I would guess we marked each other for about 35 of the 40 points our teams played against each other all weekend. I can honestly say that I was the most exhausted after those two games than at any other point in the tourney, and he is to blame for that. I practically collapsed on him after those games, and even though we were opponents, he was super positive about our chances against other teams. He is the one on the left in the picture below, and yes, he did catch a score against me in this picture.

Shimbo is a player from UCD, short, stocky and irritable. A frustratingly talented defensive player, and a very capable D-line handler, he is a player that I hope to model my game around in the future. I actually met him at Siege of Limerick a few weeks ago, but I barely recalled it. He however remembered my face, and made a point of saying hello when we met in the stack. I was completely taken aback that he managed to remember some random American, when our teams didn't even play each other at Siege. The number one thing you remember about Shimbo is his intensity. You can see it in the picture below, and it translates to his game. Tenacious beyond belief, it was a huge pain being marked by Shimbo.

If there is one thing from Irish Ultimate that I to bring back to the states, its that small community feel. Irish Ultimate may not be as sizeable as the UPA or the greater ultimate community in the states, but it certainly makes up for it in skill, passion, and commitment. I know that I will never know entire ultimate community of the states, but there is no reason I can't start with the teams that we see at every tournament, the Portland Ultimate community, even the NW in general, and start to network, and hopefully make the game a little bit better. It says a lot that our team referred to Trinity College as the "Reed" of Irish Ultimate, and I found the whole of them to be very friendly and welcoming. It was a privilege to be a part of the Irish Ultimate community, even if only for a few months, and I regret the fact that some of the people I met I will probably never see again.

But at the same time, there are people that I will see again, and those are the NUI Galway Panteras. Being able to play with you guys over the past few months was incredible and certainly made me a better ultimate player. If I never see those guys again, something in my life has gone totally wrong.

To Wally: Thanks for letting me talk to the team like I was the captain, letting me coach the zone, and generally step all over your toes trying to lead the team. You are a great player, a great leader, and seem to have made this team what it is today.

To Paddy: You are one tall motherfucker, and you are hell to try to huck against. I will enjoy the day when I don't have to worry about your deep play in practice. You are also one hell of a hilarious dude.

To Luke: I told you this after the tournament, but you are one hell of a passionate, dedicated dude. There is always room in a team for a player with your drive and intensity. Get fit, get healthy, and keep up with the ultimate.

To Eoghan: You are almost exactly the player I was a year ago. Keep playing hard, and that alone will take you places. Learn to control your flick, and you'll go even further.

To Chuckles: Probably the player on the team I know best. Keep playing when you get back to Wisconsin. Play for the Pimpdags for a year. It will be worth it. I hope to see you at a tournament so I can Eagle the shit out of you. Or at least come visit Oregon.

To Liam: You are a hilarious motherfucking ginger. Run hard, use your height, and learn your flick. And keep driving the shaggin' wagon.

To Conor: You scare me more than any other player on the team. Watching you play, I can see you playing for Linfield and marking up against me. Play for them, they could use a guy like you. Hell we could use a guy like you. You should transfer.

I guess this brings the Ultimate season to a close. Thanks for the season Panteras. I hope to see you all with the Ex-Pat team at Trouble in Vegas.

I'll close with a few pictures from our game against Trinity.

Ireland Part 12- Ultimate Frisbee Intervarsities

Belfast, Derry, Politics and Saunas

2010-03-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Willamette group just returned from a trip to Northern Ireland. A quick background on Irish history is really necessary to understand what NI is all about. In 1922 the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed, and the Irish free state was created. This had two main effects on the country. First, a schism was created in the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) over the condition in the treaty that an oath of allegiance to the crown be signed, the Irish Civil War began, and the IRA as we know it was created. The other major effect was that 6 of the 32 counties of Ireland were retained by Britain. The conflict between the imported British protestants and the native Irish Catholics has been causing problems ever since, peaking during the Troubles of the 70's through 90's.

To say that NI is a politically charged place is an understatement. Every where you go a political statement is being made, from the signs for Londonderry with the London part crossed out (Derry is the original name, or Doire in Irish.), to the R. IRA graffiti on seemingly every building. I tried to take pictures of all the graffiti, but its impossible. We traveled through both Derry (fuck London, I am calling it that) and Belfast, and got an incredible experience of the conflict from both a Catholic and Protestant perspective.

On Saturday we traveled by bus to Belfast, and got a bus tour of the city proper. We were driven to all the 4 regions of the city, but sadly I didn't get to take any pictures from the bus since I forgot my camera. Some of the coolest parts were the Protestant part of town (The Shankhill) and from the peace wall. The peace wall was covered in professionally painted graffiti, which was then covered by people signing their names and writing messages of hope and encouragement. Devon, Jack, Ellie and myself spent so long looking and reading that the bus drove down the street to us and picked us up instead of waiting. After that tour. We had about 2 hours for lunch. I spent the majority of the time eating at Ginger Bistro, a Michelin recommended restaurant in the downtown. There are a lot of pleasures in this world, and one of them is certainly a well cooked steak, which I had the pleasure of enjoying. A beautiful butter seared rib-eye, with sauteed spinach, garlic butter, fried onions and chips (fries). If my finances were in better shape, I would have tried the fried squid with chili, but alas, they are not. The whole group enjoyed the meal, and I was glad to enjoy it with them, and was envious (slightly) of the Tagliatelle with seafood and basil cream sauce that several of them ate. After that we headed back to our hotel in Draperstown, about an hour from the city.

The hotel we were lodged in was super nice. The restaurant provided hot Irish breakfasts every morning, and lovely buffets the first two nights. The last night we ordered from the menu, and I had a lovely dish of pigeon breasts in pepper sauce with mash. We had great rooms, tvs, all the amenities. Unanimously the second nicest place we have stayed, after our landlady's house in Carraroe.

The best part of the weekend for me was experiencing our WU group grow close together again. Initially we spent a lot of time together, and I think we all got a little sick of each other. This weekend it wasn't the case. You could even tell from our bus trips that everyone was getting along well, and that we were getting back to where we once were. Another huge factor was the hotel SAUNA. Fucking posh right? Given my aching knee, I hit the sauna every night, in the company of several others. Its a great opportunity to talk, swap stories and just enjoy each other's company. It really was a great time. We also gathered in the evenings to enjoy a few drinks, play drinking games, and eventually be played to sleep by one Jack Martin. It was really a great time, and I hope we keep it up.

On Sunday we traveled to Derry for a walking tour of the city proper, bogside, and the place where the Bloody Sunday massacre occurred. Standing in that spot was an experience I will never forget. I got a ton of pictures of the city proper, graffiti, statues and murals of Derry. After the tour, we headed to lunch in town, and I bought a Celtic FC T-shirt and cleat bag. What I realized after I bought it is that supporting Celtic basically says that you are a Catholic, which isn't always that best thing to be broadcasting, especially in Derry. In the protestant part of Derry. I escaped unscathed though.

After Derry, we traveled to the Giant's causeway. One of the places best described by pictures, the causeway is a network of about 40000 interlocking basalt columns, strangely shaped like hexagons. It is a place that I have wanted to see for some time, and it was as incredible as I hoped.

Thats pretty much the interesting parts of NI. Pictures at the end, like always.

Ireland Part 11- Legen..wait for it... Derry

2010-03-15T11:23:00.003-07:00

Its a good feeling when a friend comes to you asking for a recipe that you wrote.

Molecular Gastronomy

2010-03-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I feel like writing this, but I need to defend Molecular Gastronomy. Why it falls to me? I don't know. The closure of El Bulli in 2012, and subsequent reopening not as a restaurant, but as a center of food study has brought forth the claim that molecular gastronomy is dead, since Ferran Adria was long since anointed its patron saint. Ferran Adria has also shown an aversion to the term, as has Heston Blumenthal, another prominent chef. Why? Because its a term so general that it can apply to any chef.

Fact: Ferran Adria is a guy that practices molecular gastronomy. He also makes fruit caviar, foams and espumas and spherifications.

Fact: I am a guy that practices molecular gastronomy. I also make fruit caviar.

Query and subsequent Fact: Have you cooked something? You've practiced molecular gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy is not dead. As long as people are cooking, and trying to improve their methods, it really can't die. Don't believe me? Here is a definition: a scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. Molecular gastronomy seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general. Check the wikipedia page (I know, I know it's wikipedia, but I promise, it's legit). As long as people are composing dishes and recording their techniques, its still alive. Its been around since Escoffier (If cooking and food had a god, it would be Escoffier), and it will be around until we switch to some sort of pill-based, or nutrient sludge based diet.

Just because El Bulli is closing, doesn't mean molecular gastronomy is dead. Food science lives on, even when foams, fruit caviar and odd gels go out of style. Besides, those things are made by cooking. Cooking with odd devices, and maybe some powders, but cooking nonetheless. Molecular cooking if you have to, but what does molecular really mean anyway?

Sometimes

2010-02-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

the simple things are the best in life. Simple dinner tonight.
Pan-seared pork chops with salt, pepper and coriander. Oven roasted peppers and onions with oregano, rosemary and garlic. Steamed carrots with butter and coriander. Rice. 20 easy minutes. Very delicious.

Roast Chicken: Chili, Garlic, Paprika

2010-02-28T09:51:00.001-08:00

I have heard a lot about how great and easy a roast chicken is to make, but I have never actually done it. Most of my trepidation stems from a fear of carving. "No more!", I said last night, as I looked at the whole chickens on sale at Dunnes. I took inspiration from a Peruvian rotisserie chicken recipe that I saw on Serious Eats a week or so back. I lack both a grill and rotisserie device, so I oven roasted it with new potatoes sliced onions, whole garlic cloves and some quartered shallots. I turned it about every 15 minutes or so, and cooked for about an hour and a half I think.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (this one was a medium! I don't know what that means)
Paprika
Coriander (moving up my favorite spice hierarchy)
Sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, chili flake (the trinity!)
Canola oil (what I had, olive would be fine)
Juice of one lime
3 cloves garlic, minced super super fine

Take all the ingredients except the chicken and combine in a small bowl. Mix until it is a wet paste. I wish I had amounts for you, but I just eyeballed and smelled it until it seemed right. The recipe I gleaned insight from is here: Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken. Slather the paste all over the chicken, rub it in and set it in a pan to marinade for about 2 hours, or longer if you have the time (I didn't)., w

After 2 hours, quarter/slice the new potatoes, slice the onions into nice half circles, quarter the shallots, and clean about a whole head of garlic of its paper. I stuffed the cavity with the lime halves (after the juicing), and a few cloves of garlic. Make a bed of potatoes, shallots, onions and garlic, and place the chicken atop it. It looks like this.

Roast at about 350 for 90 minutes turning at least 4 times (2 full revolutions). I cut into one of the breasts to check for doneness, but you could easily use a meat thermometer. I left mine at home :(.

It looks like this! Pretty delicious if you ask me. Carve her up. I started with the wings, then the legs, and breasts last. Then I picked her clean. I didn't do a great job, but it was my first try and I don't have a carving knife.

Yum. Feast. This served 4, pretty comfortably I think.

All of my Pictures

2010-02-28T03:30:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Here is the link to my Picasa site, which I use now instead of Flickr. This has all of my pictures from Ireland, even the ones from the earlier trip that didn't make Flickr.

http://picasaweb.google.com/James.Cebron

Cheers,
James

Frisbee

2010-02-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

If you don't know this about me already, I love Ultimate Frisbee. This weekend, we traveled to Kerry for a tour of the Dingle peninsula. The Frisbee team went to the City of Limerick (start the rhyming jokes) for a tournament called the Siege of Limerick. They needed Devon and I. We couldn't go. And were upset. Then we find out that one of the best players in the world is at the tourney. We almost just disappear from the trip on Saturday morning. Miss the bus. Slog through a day of tours. The best part of that day was when they let us play on the beach, and we did some easy bouldering on the rocks, and enjoyed the view..

Luckily one of our good friends, Johnny, who is a roommate of a team member drove out the the tournament with them and was willing to come pick us up from the hotel in Dingle, and take us back to our Captain's house in Limerick. The rest is a whirlwind day of frisbee, rain, snow and success. The team went 3-1 on the day, and finished 10th out of 28. Savage play was the order of the day as we only had 7 healthy players. We played 65ish straight points, until I couldn't jump because my legs were cramping so badly. All in all, it was a great day. One of the other Americans on the team Chuck and our lovely driver Famous Johnny took a bunch of pictures from both days of the tourney, so they are linked below.

Also, Mark Earley, who sort of runs tourneys around here, posted a bunch to his picasa page. If you look real close, you can find us Panteras in white. The link is below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/earley.mark/SiegeOfLimerick2010#

Ireland Part 8 Frisbee

Cafe 144 Presents

2010-02-27T03:37:00.000-08:00

A fancy ass dinner party. So fancy you will poop a bow tie.

Over Valentine's Day weekend, Jack and I had Ms. Emily Knell visit us in Galway. Emily is a great friend, and one of the best cooks I know, so it seemed only natural to host a fancy dinner party while she was there. Much like the spaghetti feed post, I cooked while Jack played guitar and sang, everyone drank and just enjoyed the night. Unlike the spaghetti feed, everyone dressed to the nines and I cooked three courses. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but I ended up in the kitchen cooking hard for 6 hours, starting with roasting and peeling chestnuts at 3 and plating and serving dessert at 9. I really enjoyed myself, and was really excited by the quality and amount of food that came out of our tiny little kitchen. I charged 9 euro a plate for this one, and people were happy to oblige. Given that some didn't ask for change for a ten, I made a small profit of four euro, which I turned into a pint for Jack, Em and myself that night.

Fancy Dinner Menu. Three courses for 15.

1st Course
Shrimp
-Brussels Sprouts
-Chestnuts
-Shallots
-Bacon
-White wine/apple juice/balsamic reduction

I reduced equal parts white wine (I think it was Pinot Grigio) and apple juice for the sauce and finished with balsamic vinegar, similar to a gastrique. The shrimp were quick sauteed in olive oil with salt, pepper and coriander. I cooked the bacon until it was cooked but soft. The shallots were cooked in the bacon fat, and then I chopped the sprouts roughly and added to the pan. Seasoned with salt and pepper, and then poured some white wine on. I covered and let this cook until the sprouts were tender. The chestnuts were roasted, peeled and chopped. They then got added to the mix at the last minute and cooked long enough to warm through. Plating was a scoop of the sprout mixture, with three shrimp layed across the top, and a drizzle of the sauce. The quote of the night was "I hate brussels sprouts, but this is delicious."This is the only picture of the first course that anyone has. It got devoured and I was too in the shit at this point to even consider taking a picture. The consensus was that it was delicious.

Second Course
Stuffed Chicken Breast
-Mozzarella
-Prosciutto
-Peperonata
-"Russeled" Potatoes

The second course was simple, and probably a little less inspired. I took chicken breasts and salted and peppered them. stuffed with a slice of prosciutto and some mozzarella. Coated the stuffed breast in flour and seared it off in the pan. Then all 15 got tossed in a roasting pan, had some wine poured around them and finished in the oven. The peperonata is basically sauteed onions, peppers and tomatoes, cooked until super soft (almost melting). I seasoned mine pretty aggressively with chili flake, so it had a great heat to it. The "russeled potatoes" are a Rus Goya specialty. Coat chopped red potatoes in olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper and chili flake. Roast until they stick hard to the bottom of the pan, and are delicious and crispy on top, tossing occasionally. The chicken was nice and moist, with great saltiness from the prosciutto. It paired real well with the heat from the peperonata. The potatoes were great, like they always are.

This is what 15 of them looked like! Plating was really nice on this one. Chicken on the peppers, with a scoop of potatoes on the side.

At this point we took a break, and Jack played a set on the quitar/harmonica. I worked on dessert.

3rd Course
Olive Oil Cake
-Orange Caramel
-Raspberry Coulis
-Fresh whipped cream

I am not a baker, so Em did the cake based on a recipe I found. We both agree that there should be a little less olive oil. It made a really great lemony moist cake though, if not a bit greasy on the finish. I'll toss the recipe at the end of the post. The sauces were great though. The caramel was just sugar and a few drops of lemon juice, caramelized on the stove. Once golden and delicious, I stirred in orange juice, and it made a lovely sauce. The coulis was just raspberries macerated in sugar, blended. Here is the plating (I am proud of this one):

The cake was painted in the caramel, and the caramel was also drizzled around it. The coulis was at 3 and 9 on the plate with whipped cream at 12 and 6. The slice of cake was oriented 12-6. Delicious.

While I cooked, Jack took Em on a tour of Galway. Since I never take pictures in town, I figured I could put those up as well. I also have all of her pictures from the dinner and rest of that evening, as well as the Gaelic football match we went to the next day, and our valentine's dinner out. The next picture is a link.

Fancy Dinner

Cork Photo Dump

2010-02-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

A long time coming, I know. As always, the picture below is a link.

Catch Up Post

2010-02-15T05:08:00.000-08:00

Not related to ketchup. Which will not be a post, because I don't like it.

I know I have been neglecting the blog, but I swear its not my fault. Blogger has been, well, problematic, and hasn't let me log in for a couple weeks. I have a few free hours today, so I am going to post up a storm and get caught up.

After the Aran Islands, we had a regular week of school, including our first legit assignment. True to form I put that off until the last minute, and stayed up until 4 writing a paper about the British Occupation of Ireland, and their cultural resistance to said occupation. Gross. But I did get to listen to a lot of cool Irish music for "research" so that was fun. I guess.

We also traveled to Cork the weekend before last. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland and the third most populous. It has been a hub for commerce since the aforementioned British occupation, and it some of the mansions on the surrounding hillside really show off the wealth of that era. The "Corkonians" refer to Cork as the real capital of Ireland (fuck you Dublin!). Its status means it has a lot of interesting cultural aspects to the city, some of which we got a chance to explore.

Upon our arrival, we traveled to a pub (where else) for a complimentary lunch, and then were treated to a poetry and storytelling session with some prominent local poets. The star of the show was the storyteller, who was likely a bit drunk, and had several very passionate stories about his life, and the city of Cork. After lunch we checked into our hostel, and were free to explore for the rest of the day. Most of us took a nap, and then Torsten and I met up with some of the lasses for dinner at a awesome little bistro in town. We went out to a pub for the evening, and listened to American rock music before turning in.

The next day we were up bright and early for a trip to Cobh (pronounced Cove), a city to the northeast of Cork. Cobh has a unique place in history as it was the boarding place for most Irish emigrants as they traveled to America or Canada. They had a really interesting museum of emigration on the docks. After that, we were free to explore the town of Cobh. For three hours. Which was more than a little too much free time. There were some really cool houses to photograph, and a really big cathedral (though we got kicked out for a funeral), but in the end we found ourselves with sitting in the part with store bought sandwiches, a bottle of champagne, and the lovely sounds of Jack Martin playing Lady Gaga on the tin whistle. We departed Cobh, and headed for a city tour of Cork, including a stop at an abbey, another cathedral, and the local university (much nicer than NUIG. Damn.) The real star for me was the English Market though. We passed through for a brief glimpse on our tour, and I almost just left the tour behind. Though it can't match the bustle or selection of Pike Place (my first love), the English market has a great selection of local meats, cheeses, fish, vegetables and wine. We got back to the market with only 5 minutes till closing, so we scampered around looking for cheese, bread, fruit and wine for dinner. We ended up with a gouda, two cheddars, a soft french cheese (like a earthier brie), goat cheese rolled in chives, 2 kinds of salami, a loaf each of stoneground wheat and sundried tomato/fennel bread, and three bottles of wine. We feasted back at the hostel before heading out to a bar/club for the night.

The next morning we were up early again for a drive to Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney stone. Blarney castle sort of rises off of a rock promontory, and provides some pretty incredible views of the countryside. The stone itself is on the top floor, so you kind of self tour your way through the castle and then get to bend over backwards to kiss the stone. I did it, yes indeed. We all did, though its not the most sanitary thing to think about. After that we toured the grounds including a really incredible rock garden (best shown through pictures, next post.) After the castle we traveled to the Cliffs of Moher, a really intimidating set of cliffs down the coast from Galway. Again, these are best shown with pictures. Mind blowing. We traveled to Galway in time for the Superbowl. We hosted the Superbowl party, so I whipped up some Garlic/Ginger/Soy Chicken wings for the masses. Delicious, and baked wings are so easy.

Parmesan Garlic Chicken Wings

2010-02-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

Stumble Upon more often than not leads me to several hours of distraction, but I recently found that you can use it to stumble only food sites, and find recipes. On Monday night, I had no idea what to cook. I wanted to do braised short ribs, but that shit is expensive, and it takes 3 hours at least so I will save that for a rainy weekend. Stumbling led me to a recipe for baked chicken wings with parmesan and garlic, which looked fucking delicious. I used it as a base for what Jack and I eventually did. It is a pretty simple, and easy recipe, so I used it to teach Jack a little bit about cooking, since its high time he learned. Just a bit of instruction about seasoning, how to mince garlic, and how to cook chicken. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

18 chicken wings
cumin
oregano
rosemary
chili flake, salt and pepper
garlic (minced)
olive oil
parmesan cheese

Ignore the butter, I misread the recipe, and it wasn't included.

Take the chicken wings, and put them all out on a pan. Season with the dry spices (cumin, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper and chili flakes). Toss the wings to coat evenly.

Throw the pan in a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is done. I turned them about halfway through. While this is cooking mix about 3 tablespoons of the oil, with around a quarter cup of parmesan cheese, some more of the chili flakes (Some like it hot, including me), the minced garlic (I used about 3 largeish cloves) and more salt and pepper. Here is Jack mincing the garlic (learning to chop) and the finished sauce. I think I added some more cheese after this point. You want it to be more pasty, like a slurry, than runny.

When the wings are finished, pull them out of the oven. While they are still hot, toss the sauce over them and stir it up. The hot wings will melt the cheese, and coat themselves with the sauce. It will smell delicious. It will look delicious (like below). You will want to lick the pan after you plate the wings.

I served the wings with some white rice, but forgot to cook it in time to photograph. The sauce from the wings got all over the rice, and made it delicious. Pasta would also be good. Make this recipe for the super bowl. You will not be disappointed.
Nom. Serious nom.

Aran Islands

2010-02-03T04:04:00.000-08:00

This post is mostly a photo dump, because words don't really do justice to the beauty of the Aran Islands. We spent the past Sunday exploring Inis Mor, the largest of the chain. The highlight was certainly Dun Aengus, a bronze age fort on the edge of a 270 foot cliff. The picture below is a link, so check it out!

Pork Chops Au Poivre (Kinda)

2010-01-24T14:17:00.001-08:00

If there is one thing that you should know about me as a chef, its that I love black pepper. Love it. It goes in everything. Watching Good Eats a couple years back (if there are two things, its that I love Alton Brown), and I saw his recipe for Steak Au Poivre. Two or three months ago, I was walking by a cafe in Portland and I saw Canard Au Poivre on the menu. Rich, creamy sauce. Brandy, shallots. Black Pepper. I'm in love. This was my attempt. I tried to synthesize a recipe from a few I found online (and I didn't want to pay for brandy), and I ended up with something not quite Au Poivre, but still peppery and good. Red onion, red wine and cream were the base of the sauce with some sea salt and lots of black pepper. Lets get to it!

Ingredients

4 pork chops (I used boneless, bone-in is fine)
red wine
heavy cream
1 small red onion, chopped
sea salt
black pepper (fresh ground. There. Is. No. Substitute.)

There it all is. Its actually a pretty simple dish, and quick too since the chops were thin and cooked really fast. I hit the chops with the salt and pepper on both sides.
And tossed them in a pan with some olive oil. They got cooked until they were browned on both sides and looked like this:
Toss the onion in the pan and soften it a bit. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and be sure to scrape up all of the lovely bits that the chops left behind. Hit it with the cream and some salt, and a bunch of pepper. It will probably look like this:
Let this reduce by about half, taste and reseason. You then have your sauce. It looked like this:

I served this with pasta, so the plating looked like this:My nose was awful stuffed when I made this so I relied on the diners to see if it was really good or not. I heard that there was too much pepper, but I am sure it would seem fine to me... If I did it again, I would make more sauce so that there was enough for the pasta (we kinda ran out).

Dublin Photo Dump

2010-01-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

Here lie the best photos from our weekend in Dublin. The photo above is a link to the Flickr album where the pictures actually are. Photo credits go to Caitlin Kelly-Engle, Lena Yesowitch, Jack Martin and Ross Vartain. And myself, I guess.

I'm just trying this out. Blogger's photo upload is super slow, so I am making sets of my pictures on Flickr, and just giving you all the link, rather than doing it 5 at a time. Photos should be organized and captioned on flickr, so you can tell what is going on! Let me know what you think of the format, I want you all to be able to see the pictures.

Excursion Post Avalanche Part 1: Dublin

2010-01-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

So I've been putting this off for about a week since I wasn't sure how I wanted to do these posts. I have a lot of things to write and a lot of pictures to post, but I just don't like messing with photos in the middle of my posts (thanks blogger for a not great photo importer). So I think I picked a format that I like pretty well, though I am likely to change it soon. Pretty much every thing will have an extended write up, and then a photo dump, with real limited captioning.

Dublin was the first of the excursions that my tuition is paying for. We take excursions pretty much every weekend, and get set up with hotels, usually a couple of meals, and tours of the things that are deemed important for us to see. We always have the nights mostly free, and the occasional afternoon free as well. The WU Galway crew traveled to Dublin on Friday the 15th of January and returned on the 17th.

We left in the wee hours of the morning (730) and hit the road for the 4.5 hourish drive to Dublin. The first stop on our tour was Croke Park, which is the stadium used to host the All-Ireland finals in the Gaelic Games (Hurling and Gaelic football). The stadium is also being used temporarily to host soccer and rugby while the other large Dublin stadium is being renovated. Croke Park also hosts the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) museum. We started with a tour of the museum, and learned about the rules of the two major gaelic games. Hurling and Gaelic Football are basically the same game played in two different ways. Gaelic football is played using a ball about the size of a soccer ball, but with the stitching of a volleyball. The goal is to either kick the ball over the top of the goal and between the goal posts for one point, or to put it into the net past the keeper for 3. Players can hold the ball in their hands for about 3 seconds (we think) before they have to bounce it or pass it. Hurling is essentially the same, but played with a ball slightly smaller than a baseball, and a stick which is somewhere between hockey and lacrosse. You play 15 a side and the field is slightly longer than a soccer pitch. After that we got to walk down onto the field. The place seats 80000 people. If you have ever been down on the field level of a stadium that big you know how it feels. I can only imagine what it is like to be representing your home county during a match in that stadium, with that many people cheering for you. Just standing there with it empty was intimidating. Its a really humbling experience.

After the stadium, we headed back into the downtown to hit the St. James (Guinness) Brewery. They definitely pulled out none of the stops on showing you the process. You get to see all the equipment, all the ingredients, all the advertising, everything that happens between when it begins being made, to when you get it poured into your glass. The visitors tour is an 8 story trek, ending in the "Gravity Bar" which is kind of like the great glass elevator, boasting 360 degree panoramic views of Dublin. You get a quarter pint tasting half way up (I had 3) , and a complimentary pint in the Gravity Bar (I had 2.5, some people didn't want theirs. Weird).

After the brewery was Kilmainham Gaol (jail). Kilmainham housed Irish prisoners from 1796 to 1924, the most prominent of which were the political prisoners during the Easter rebellion in 1916. We got a tour of the jail, and I snapped a few pictures of the cells which are small enough to drive a man mad, thats for sure. We also were told about the only escape, during 1907 where three prisoners broke out, but their wire cutters broke cutting the locks on the gates. They then broke back in to their cells, and waited another two weeks for a new pair of bolt cutters before escaping again. The most powerful image from the whole Dublin trip came from the grounds of the jail. In 1916 James Connolly, a leader of the Easter Rising was captured in the fighting. He was so badly wounded that he couldn't stand or sit for his own execution. The British were forced to tie him to a chair so that he would be seated while he was shot. In the place where he sat is a small wooden cross about a foot high. Its a small thing, but super powerful nonetheless.

Thus ended Day 1. We checked into our hostel, and everyone was way too tired to go out to the pubs that night, so we shared a few pints in the lounge of the hostel, played go fish and swapped stories and jokes. Remind me to tell you the one about the whales sometime when I get back. The next morning we were up around 9, and bound for a tour of Trinity College/Parliament/Dublin Castle/Temple Bar. Our tour guide, Peter, clearly had a degree in history, or at least an encyclopedic knowledge of Dublin, so the tour was pretty interesting given how much he could tell us about any and every little thing. After the walking tour, we hit the Trinity College library, and saw the Book of Kells, which is a very old religious manuscript, from about the year 800. We had the afternoon off and then saw a play called The Seafarer by Conor MacPherson. The play started with about 40 minutes of drunk irish banter, before the devil showed up and made things interesting. The play concluded with a game of cards for the main character, Sharky's, soul. It was a pretty interesting play. The night concluded with trip to the Temple Bar, which is the pub and club district of Dublin, before bouncers stopped letting us in places, and we headed back the the hostel's lounge.

The following morning had us up early again, and off to the countryside to see Newgrange and Clonmacnoise. Newgrange is a neolithic (I think) burial mound that was richly decorated, and now has been reconstructed. The coolest feature is probably the roofbox that allows sunlight to reach the back wall of the tomb, but only at sunrise on the winter solstice. Clonmacnoise is an abbey town in central Ireland, with a ton of ruins and old graves, as well as an epic castle ruin nearby. These two are mostly looking things, so I am just going to put up a bunch of pictures.

And thats Dublin. Pictures to follow in the next post.

Guiness Beef Stew

2010-01-20T07:16:00.001-08:00

Students going to class in the evening can have some serious problems getting food at a reasonable hour, especially if they want it to taste like it took longer than 20 minutes to make. We had a class from 4-5 the other day, so I decided we should make stew. I can do all the browning, and get the boil set, leave it at a simmer and come back in 2 hours and it will be done, so we can eat at 6 for a change. We settled on a beef stew, since the stew meat at the store looked pretty good and because beef pairs pretty darn well with the national drink of Ireland:

Guiness Stout! I've been dying to cook with this for some time, but being under 21 in the states, acquiring alcohol to cook with can be problematic. Get ready for quite a few food posts with wine and beer in them. So without any further ado, I give you the Guiness Beef stew (haha rhyme):

Ingredients
.6 kg beef stew meat
2 carrots
2 russet potatoes
2 stalks celery
1 medium white onion
1 leek
1 14oz can tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1.5 pints guiness stout
salt, pepper, chili flakes and olive oil
2 tbs flour
rosemary
thyme

Instructions
Chop all of your vegetables. Carrots, celery and potatoes should be all about the same size (about medium size chunks, you could use whole baby carrots). I did the onion half in semi circles, and half medium dice. Trim the dark green parts of the leek, cut the stalk in half lengthwise and then chop each half crosswise(?) into about 1/3 inch thick little semi circles. Mince the garlic.

Heat a couple of glugs (best measurement ever) of olive oil over medium heat. Add your beef, searing it until its browned on all sides. Remove from pan. In the same pan, toss in your vegetables. Saute until the onions and leeks are translucent, the potatoes are slightly translucent, and the carrots and celery have some give to them. Season with all you've got! Add the flour and beef, and stir to combine. Cook for about a minute and a half. Add the tomatoes and all the Guiness (!). Stir it up and it looks like this: Bring this up to a boil, cut it to a simmer, and cook for about 2-3 hours. I think this one went about 2.5. Taste it and season it again. After you let 4 guys have at it for a while, it looks like this:

It was really really delicious. Rich and filling, all of the vegetables were cooked well, and the beef was nice and tender. You can taste some of the maltiness, as well as the chocolate and coffee notes from the Guiness as well. You could probably do this real well in a crock pot or a slow cooker. Serve it with a nice piece of crusty bread, and another pint of that Guiness. You did buy some extra just for you didn't you?

Galway 2/ Potato Risotto

2010-01-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

Galway has been a real interesting place so far. The rest of the Irish students came home this week, so the campus and Gort Na Coiribe are a lot more busy. The pubs and clubs are busier as well, so we actually have to queue up to get into things some time. I think I have settled into a routine, and I have almost settled my schedule. Here at NUI they allow the foreign students (and there are 1700 of us!) test out the courses that we are thinking taking to make sure that we like them or at least that we aren't in way over our head. Its a pretty cool system, and since we don't actually have to register for them until next Monday we are free to dabble in what sounds interesting. Since I am an exercise science major at home, I figured why not take some classes out of the sciences, or at least in the hard sciences. I think I am going to end up in a class on Celtic languages, a class on the philosophy of logic and one on the archaeology of castles, in addition to two required Irish Studies classes.

The weather took a bit of a turn the past few days. All of the ice has melted, and today was pleasantly warm until we were walking back the apartment from campus and walked right into a nice little downpour. Not unlike Oregon I guess, but a bit frustrating since all the clothes I was wearing are now soaked through.

Can't leave another post without a recipe right? I had another smaller dinner party last night, just 3 other lads and myself. I made a chicken piccata (with help from Sous Chef Devon Sherrow-Groves), but I've done that a bunch of times before. Easy, and delicious with a great bright acidic lemon flavor. The real star of the night, for me at least, was the potato risotto I made to go with it. You all know risotto, the traditional slow cooked Italian rice dish that takes on that great almost gooey sticky consistency. I've seen a potato risotto on Top Chef before, and it always sounded great, but I have never made one myself. I won't claim that I didn't take any help from the internet on this one, but I tweaked the recipe a good bit. I have to apologize for no pictures, it takes a long time to cook, and we were super hungry, so it didn't last long.

Potato Risotto

Ingredients

2 pounds potatoes (original called for Yukon Gold, I used some kind of baby russet I think)
1/2 onion finely diced (here you could also use a shallot)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream
thyme
rosemary
salt, pepper, red chili flakes (my 3 desert island seasonings)
olive oil

The real bitch of this recipe is cutting all of the potatoes down to 1/4 inch cubes. Its a pain while you are doing it, but I assure you its great in the end. After the potatoes are chopped, toss them in a bowl of cold water to stop the oxidation. In a 5-6 quart pan, heat a good glug or two of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion (or shallot) and saute until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, and saute for about a minute. Once that is done, drain and toss in the potatoes, add a good glug of the olive oil and your thyme, chili flake and rosemary and cook for about 8 minutes. You want to see a little translucency in the potatoes before the next step. Then you add the wine and broth all at once. Traditionally a risotto takes liquid in stages, but for this one, just dump it in! It was all kind of eyeballed, so the measures might be a bit off, but that is the general idea of the volumes. Keep an eye on it, and stir often until the potatoes are pretty tender (think al dente). The broth/wine should be almost all absorbed at this point. Then hit it with the cream, and stir often until mostly absorbed. Taste and re-season if necessary. Pull off of the heat, pour into a bowl and serve. Parsley wouldn't be a bad garnish, but they don't have fresh herbs at the supermarket over here.

This should yield a really great creamy potato dish. Not sure you could confuse it with risotto, but it was really really good. It has a pretty fatty, rich taste and mouthfeel. So one of the things you serve it with should probably have an acid to cut through the fat.

Galway Introduction

2010-01-09T09:02:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my home for the next few months. NUI-Galway is kind enough to put us up in Gort Na Coiribe, which is an apartment complex about 15 minutes from the campus proper. I got a double room on the top floor of the apartment you see above. I was expecting an Irish roommate but instead they decided to pair up all of the WU students with other WU students, except for one girl who got a single room. I got this guy:

Mr Jack Martin, musician extraordinaire. So far the situation is pretty good I think. We have four other flat mates that all have their own room. All four are Irish lasses, which is pretty sweet if you ask me. We met one of them as she was moving some of her stuff back in after the break, and it sounds like the four of them party pretty hard, another plus.

This is my domain, the kitchen. We are provided with the lovely little stove/oven (weirdest burners I have ever seen), a small refrigerator and a microwave. So far, for myself (and the house I guess) I grabbed a knife, since I forgot mine at home, and some other ingredients.

Here's the bedroom, complete with a sweet reflection of the flash in the window. Pretty standard stuff, desks, chairs, dressers, some shelves and two beds. You can see Jack's perfectly normal bed in the foreground there.

Oh yeah, it's James's super rad 80's southwest themed bed. Get psyched.

So that's pretty much the whole of it. Its a pretty nice little place, as far as university housing goes. Did a bit of cleaning after last nights dinner, so I think its a little nicer than when the girls left for break, which I figure will be nice for them. Going out to dinner tonight with the crew, since we never seem to travel in a group smaller than about ten. Probably the pubs after, I think we are due at Taaffe's for some Guinness and Irish music.

Pasta Feed

2010-01-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

Before a long night at the clubs in Galway, it is important to eat a high carbohydrate meal so you have enough energy to dance all night.

A little tongue in cheek, but not necessarily false. The boys of Appt. 144 hosted the rest of the Willamette Galway group for dinner and a show. Music was provided by Mr. Jack Martin, and the food by yours truly. The opening night of Cafe 144, as it was.

Dinner was pretty simple. I didn't have a ton of time to shop or cook, so I just did a quick pasta sauce that I started making about this time last year (with a lot of help from Ms. Katie Kantrowitz), boiled some pasta and let people have at it. The recipe below is for the most basic iteration of the sauce that I make, but you can go a lot of different ways with it. Usually it yields a pretty chunky, robust, primavera style sauce. I'll go over the changes that I made for the dinner tonight, but this the basic go-to tomato sauce.

Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

10 smallish tomatoes, or an equivalent amount of larger tomatoes. The ones I used were pretty small.
2 cloves garlic
1 white onion, probably not sweet.
Salt*
Pepper*
Chili flake*
Cumin*
Fines Herbes* (basil and rosemary make the sauce rule, however Dunnes Stores doesn't carry them fresh, so I used a tube of Italian herbs that I found (basil, parsely and some other stuff)
Olive Oil*

*I don't usually measure the spices that I add to a dish, so I can't help there. Just add according to your tastes.

Get out your knife and start chopping. A medium dice is good for the onions and tomatoes, mince up the garlic. Heat a good glug of the olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan. Toss in the onions (love the sizzle), and cook until translucent. Season at this point with salt, pepper, cumin and chili flakes. Once the onions are done, toss in the garlic, and let it cook for a minute or two (love the smell). Then hit it with all of the tomatoes stir it up, and leave it alone until the tomatoes start to give off their water. Turn down the head to just above a simmer, stir it again, and let it reduce until thick. Taste and re-season. Just before serving, stir in the fresh herbs, so the flavors are still really bright. What do you end up with?

Since there was a cry out for meat dish tonight, we added some ground beef (95% lean) to both pans of sauce. I think we had a half-kilo of meat, but I'm not 100% sure. 2/3 went in the bottom pan, the other third of it in the top. The top one was a bit sweeter, lighter on the chili flakes and had a chopped roasted red pepper in it. The bottom was my favorite, since I forgot there was no shaker top on the chili flakes, so I dumped a ton in on accident. Got most of them out, so it wasn't nuclear hot, and instead it was pleasantly spicy, with a great rich meaty flavor. I didn't get any pictures after it was plated, as everyone was really hungry, and the food disappeared quickly. I served it with penne pasta.

Given that we are a couple of college boys in a new apartment, Jack and I haven't gotten around to buying much in the way of cleaning supplies. Pans got a soak, but all the dishes are still dirty. What did we wake up to this morning? Utter chaos.

Beer of the Night (it is in the blog title after all): Biere D'Or.
1st real post out!

Intro

2009-12-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

So this is me:

Blond haired, kinda goofy looking, generally having way too much fun. Having recently discovered my culinary abilities, I started making my own recipes for my friends and family. All were documented in my head, and pictures were taken on my cell phone. All that changes when the phone is lost, and you lose about a years worth of food pictures. Gotta have a place to put them all so they don't get lost again. This is that place.

You're gonna see a couple of things on this blog. A lot about me, for starters. I am spending the semester in Galway, Ireland and need a way to show people at home that I am actually there and alive and exploring this beautiful country. A lot of pictures of food. Food that I cook, food that I order somewhere else, just food. Drinks too, mostly beer, hence the blog name. I also have been thinking a lot about the nature of food and eating, the whole experience, so I am probably going to write those things down as well. I'll also jot down a word or two about music, movies, and other things that I do.

Greetings from Galway everybody.