Cooking
All for a Good Cause
Aug 29th
My husband and I like to attend charity auctions. We enjoy supporting a good cause while having the opportunity to purchase goods and services (especially travel packages and getaways) we can put to good use. I’m not talking about auctions for large foundations that bring in millions of dollars – there aren’t too many of those in our neck of the woods – generally, our churches, local schools and community foundations are the beneficiaries of the three or four auctions we attend each year.
Not only do we bid on items for these auctions; we also like to contribute something to be bid upon as well. Our go-to item is an evening of wine and food for eight to twelve in the winning bidder’s home. Over the course of our married life together, Harry and I have hosted countless parties in our home for family and friends, so we’ve developed a pretty well-honed routine and built up our repertoire of recipes. Our 500-bottle wine storage unit is always bursting at the seams, with new acquisitions never quite keeping up with our consumption. So it’s become a natural for us to replicate the format of our favorite evening with friends for someone else’s group of buddies to benefit our favorite charities.
This morning we are recovering from the labors of providing such an evening. Last spring the Rogue River High School’s FFA group held their annual Beef Feed and Auction, and a local couple bid on our wine tasting party. Last week they called, asking if, on such short notice, we might be able to pull together the event for this Saturday evening, when they would have friends in town. Well, Harry rallied and graciously said, “Yes, of course,” while I was thinking, “What? When?!!”
Harry provides the brains and talent behind these things, planning the selection of wines and doing most of the cooking. I do prep work, shopping, clean up and, most important, questioning some of Harry’s choices: “Don’t you think we should have some fruit? What about veggies? Isn’t that a lot of wine? Are you really going to cut the zucchini that way? (You can tell we’ve been married a long time.) He manages to maintain his cool, we refine the menu and, in the end, everyone has a great time.
The hosts and their guests last night tell us they indeed had a marvelous time. They enjoyed two white wines, four reds and two dessert splits. We served up a variety of cheeses and crackers followed by a host of hot and cold “heavy” hors d’oeuvres and concluded with a decadent dessert. We enjoyed ourselves, too, sharing our love of good wine and food with some lovely folks and seeing them enjoy each other’s company. But I gotta say, I am happy to be able to put my feet up today!
– Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor
A Perfect Evening
Jul 31st
I’ve written before about the Britt Festival, a great outdoor concert venue located in the quaint and historic town of Jacksonville a mere 15-minute drive from my home here in Southern Oregon. The amphitheater, located on a grassy slope surrounded by Ponderosa pines and oak trees, seats about 2,000 music lovers on a combination of fixed (reserve) seating and lawn. Begun originally as a brief classical music festival, the Britt now encompasses virtually every genre of music in a series of concerts scheduled throughout the summer months.
The setting at the Britt is lovely, but we also like it because the rules are limited and easy to live with. One can bring in any kind of food one likes, and beer and wine (and any non-alcoholic beverages) are also welcome. (No restrictions on glass containers; remember, this is Oregon, after all, so there are plenty of recycling bins placed around the grounds for your empties.) Hard liquor is prohibited, as is smoking, and there is a height limit on lawn chairs (so your neighbors can see the stage over you), but that seems to be about it.
This past Wednesday night my husband and I brought Paul and Julie, our good friends who were visiting from our previous hometown in Washington state, to the Britt to see Styx. Harry dropped me off about an hour before the gates opened so that I could stake out a good spot for our blankets and beach chairs. He and our guests arrived later with four bottles of wine, stemware and a cooler full of dinner and dessert. We began with a light white wine, a selection of cheeses I’d picked up earlier in the week from the Rogue Creamery and crackers and a baguette. During the break between the opening act and Styx’s performance, we broke out the main course: cold grilled French-cut lamb chops that had marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary; a bulgar, nectarine and watercress salad; and a fruit salad including local berries, nectarines and melon. The four of us managed, over the course of the evening, to also polish off three bottles of Washington Merlot (2001 and 2003 vintages) from a few of our favorite Walla Walla wineries — yum!! Then, after the final encore, we broke out brownies served with blueberries and a Syrah reduction sauce and let the crowd thin out before us. By the time we swallowed the last crumbs and packed up our gear, we were able to stroll right out the gates and down to our car with no delays. Did I mention my husband is a great cook??!
No, I didn’t forget that we came for the music, and Styx was just fantastic. They played for more than 90 minutes straight, including many of their great hits (“Come Sail Away,” “Mr. Robato,” “Suite Madame Blue,” “Grand Illusion” — to name just a few), with an energy that was impressive. Tommy Shaw’s voice still hits those notes in “Lady” clear and true; Lawrence Gowan was highly entertaining as he played his 360-degree rotating keyboard; Todd Sucherman on drums never seemed to take a breather; and Shaw, James Young and Ricky Phillips provided classic, hard-rocking guitar licks that were oh-so satisfying. Chuck Panozzo, one of the original founders of the Chicago band, even joined the group on bass guitar for the last several tunes.
What an amazing evening it was: great food, great wine, great friends and great rock and roll on a beautiful, warm summer night. Life doesn’t get much better than that!
– Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor
Allergy Attack
Mar 23rd
On a business trip — or any trip for that matter — it is no fun to be sick, especially when you are expected to be productive. Over the weekend, before heading to Dubai, I started to get the familiar feeling of queasiness. The last thing I wanted was to get on a plane feeling sick. Luckily it passed, and I realized it was from a dinner at a seafood restaurant, where I had been less diligent than normal about making sure there was no shellfish in my dish.
About three years ago, on a visit on the Aqua Luna in Hong Kong, I had to ask the boat to dock and let me off. I thought I was seasick. I know it seems silly — Hong Kong Harbour can be choppy, but enough to get seasick? Luckily, I went back to the Grand Hyatt and they helped me get my land legs back very quickly.
The funny thing was, as I continued to travel to and from Asia over the years, I often got the feeling of seasickness when I wasn’t even near water. I finally put two and two together and realized the feeling was coming after formal client lunches and dinners, many of them traditional Chinese dinners with the menus prepared before I arrived. The common denominator: I loved to eat what was presented to me, and most of the dishes contained shellfish.
While I didn’t really like every dish served to me, I didn’t want to offend my hosts who ordered these meals. When doing business, cross-culturally especially, every move can make a difference — like not eating the dishes presented to you.
However, allergies are universal, and most people are very understanding. Since my allergy discovery, I politely tell those I’m dining with about my allergy (it’s extra hard when they are chefs, but it must be done). I have successfully avoided shellfish and have had smooth sailing — so to speak — ever since.
– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher
A Great Weekend
Feb 14th
I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while. Not because we had any big plans or were going anywhere special. I just was anticipating a leisurely three-day weekend (more for my husband than for me, since working from home means my work days can often be indistinguishable from weekends and holidays), with Valentine’s Day and the start of the Winter Olympics adding fun and excitement to the mix.
This year we decided to forego a nice dinner out at one of our favorite places and instead create a nice dinner in for Valentine’s Day. I think I’ve mentioned before that Harry is some mean cook, so I’m anticipating a meal of coconut shrimp, wild rice and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce and, of course, a bottle of wine or two. I’ll be contributing a yummy chocolate dessert — can’t have Valentine’s Day without chocolate! We’ll also take in a couple of movies this weekend (we each choose one, so there’s a nice balance) and just enjoy a few unhurried days together.
The weekend began with watching the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Games in Vancouver. Well, I will admit that I was reading a magazine and doing a few chores at the same time, as all of the coverage did not require my undivided attention all of the time. I did enjoy much of the visual spectacle, though. And, with the games being held here in the Pacific Northwest, we have an added interest in them. Having lived in the Seattle area and Washington state for two decades, we’ve visited Vancouver a number of times. It is definitely one of my favorite cities for it’s stunning setting, cosmopolitan atmosphere and cultural diversity. After observing all of the preparations over the last several years for this big event, it’s exciting to now see it all coming to fruition and to see the rest of the world’s reaction to this beautiful place.
I’ve always enjoyed both the summer and winter Olympics. I have very little athletic talent myself, but I really get drawn in to the various competitions and can’t help but admire and respect all the effort and sacrifice the athletes put forth to achieve their goals. A few peeves about the coverage, though. This one applies not just to the Olympics, but any sporting event: Please, do away with the pre- and post-event interviews with the athletes. The same old cliched questions are asked, and the same old cliched responses will be given. I like the pretaped background stories on the athletes’ lives, but not those stale bits that reveal absolutely nothing new.
I’d also like to to see the events in real time, not tape-delayed and broadcast during prime time (admitting that there may be options via satellite and such). For those of us living in the same time zone as the Games are being held, it would mean we don’t have to stay up ’til midnight to catch the finals of big events. I appreciate the editing which compresses time between preliminaries and individual performances, but too much manipulation takes some of the spontaneity and anticipation out of the viewing.
Finally, I just don’t like the participation of professional athletes, especially in the team events like hockey, basketball and baseball. I know all of the history, the political and economic reasons behind the change in the rules. I know that there are the Shaun Whites and Apolo Ohnos who have made a lot of money in their sports, too — more than most professional athletes in team sports. Still, especially in those team events, I think it makes for especially uneven “competition.” And who believes the 1980 Miracle on Ice victory would have been as sweet if the U.S. team had been loaded with pros?Â
Ah, but enough of that. I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the rest of my weekend, and may you do the same.
– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader
