Making Raviolis

Making raviolis isn't as hard as some might try and tell you.  I don't know if it's because of the strong underground labor union of pasta makers, or just because they are made in secrecy by a fraternal organization of super-powerful businessmen who moonlight as purveyors of pasta purses.  Either way, hopefully this won't be our last post.  If it is, you can guarantee we were either attacked by union bosses and had our camera, computers and cooking utensils destroyed, or we were swept away in the night and forced to work in labor camps forever folding pasta pouches for the dark forces of the pasta-illuminati who conspire to rise against all progress of modern man and rule the world in a new empire.

Hopefully writing about our discovery of pasta making doesn't put us on some kind of watch list either.  Because it would really suck to have Mario Batali enslave us to his orange Crock kingdom that much resembles a Nike facility in some third-world country.  We are like craft brewers in the world of ravioli making now.  We haven't a clue what we are doing, we don't mass-produce, but dammit we are independent!

Our new motto is 'Occupy Pasta!'  We are going to stand up for those who are afraid, or unable to cook in the confines of their own kitchens and are held captive by the corporate constraints of Ragu and Buotoni.  Down with the man!

 

First you have to grab your spatulas and bowls. Then, embrace the freedom and independence that our four-cheese fathers intended for us when they decided that each home should have a kitchen of it's own for the sole intention of culinary freedom for the modern man, the average man, the 100%.

Next, you add in some common binding elements - the working man, who takes up the yolk and pulls together the power of the salt and seasons of the earth, with the byproduct of the heifer and the bountiful greens of the soil that we are born to cultivate and reap.

Take up your arms, hands and fingers.  Stuff your mixture of freedom, labor and love and combine it with a side of expression and individuality.  Take the empty vessel that is your future and make it your own.  Yes!  We are free individuals with choice!  With equality!  Make your pasta your own.  This is ours as much as it is yours!  We don't need the manufactured reality that the man uses to keep us subservient and reliant on his products; forever holding us back!

 

We are coming closer to the goal that we are fighting for.  We have occupied the kitchen too long to turn back now.   Now is the time to turn pacifism to action!  Break open the constraints that hold back the ingredients of our future.  Free those things which have been contained for much too long and fashion them into passionate heat pockets for all that is ours!

Take all that you have labored for and make it one!  Turn it into your own in the only way we know how.  Consume it and digest it... much like the values that come from you!  Ingest the beauty of all that you stand for in culinary freedom.  The future is now boundless and bountiful.  Now go out and break the chains that bind you to the pre-packaged, processed and manufactured with intention for mass consumption!

Unless you are too lazy to do so my brothers, for then you shall forever be stuck with the herd in the Tony Roma's and Olive Gardens of the world!  The time is now to take action.

Ropa Vieja: Dirty Laundry

Those Goddamn Cubans!  They got all their dirty laundry all over the place!

What the hell do those Commie Pinkos think they're doing in the kitchen?

Dirty Laundry?  See, I knew them Commies were up to something.  No good Socialists.

Who does their laundry in the kitchen? Someone who doesn't believe in Capitalism, that's who!

Is that red meat?  That's pretty American.  Did they steal that?

What a crock!

Well, if Dirty Laundry is not really someone doing their laundry in the kitchen, then what in the hell is it?

Oh, it's a meal?

A goddamn Socialist Commie meal!  See, you can't just throw everything together, mix it up and share it about.  That's not what we stand for as Americans.

Well, that's pretty tender meat there.  Are you Commies trying to soften me up?

Goddamnit, I knew you Commies were still going to screw it up.  Where did you learn how to plate? Stalin's kitchen?

Austin Adventure

Austin, Texas is one of our favorite cities to lose ourselves in when we want to escape from all the stress and routine of our daily regimen.  There's just something about Austin that really gets us going.

Just don't ask if we go for the festivals.  We don't believe in music festivals.  We believe in enjoying music in it's natural state, not at a single location where everyone is crammed for space and everything is packaged together for you.  Do you go to the zoo and have the same feeling about the experience as you would a safari?

That being said, we love Austin because it has plenty to offer in terms of what makes us happy in life; food, music, drink and good company.  Our most recent adventure had plenty of the four, especially drink, which presented some challenges when documenting the trip.  Sometimes it's hard to take photos when you're too busy having fun.

Here's what was on our camera when we returned home:

The first restaurant we went to when we got in was Moonshine.  Here's the Beer Battered Asparagus.

Alison's Cornflake Fried Chicken Salad.  Too hungry to wait for the photo op.

Bob's Backyard Chicken Sandwich.

Look Mexico on stage at Emo's.  They were great live.  Unfortunately that was our last chance to catch a gig at Emo's since they are closing this location.

Mexican Coke time.  Why do they use cane sugar in Mexican Cokes and Corn Syrup in American ones?  Cane Sugar tastes so much better.

Al's Brisket plate at Iron Works BBQ.

Bob's Jr. Rib plate.  The regular rib plate was a lot of meat.

Nothing bets good BBQ and a cold beer.

Scott H. Biram tearing up the Continental Club.

We're directing the message to Austin.

Here's one of our favorite bartenders from this trip and one of our previous trips, Justin.  He keeps some pretty good tunes going and the Dizzy Rooster d-bag free during the day.

Bob's Chicken Fried Steak at Red's Porch.

Al couldn't wait for photos again before digging in.

Our last watering hole on the trip - The Horseshoe Lounge.

Note: One of our favorite discoveries on this trip was a house turned awesome bar called Icenhauers. There is no photographic evidence of us there because we sipped on pickle and jalepeno infused vodka cocktails all day with Rick the bartender and Matt the barback, who later took us out on the town. 

Tunesday: Scott H. Biram

Scott H. Biram is transcendent yet ordinary.  He seems just like a regular dude, but when he's got a guitar and a microphone in front of him, he's a musical force to be reckoned with.  He can go from utter chaos to introspective and solemn from one song to the next.

We've been listening to him for a while since his music was recommended to us about 4 years ago when we were visiting Austin, Texas.  Just recently we made a visit out to Austin (more about that trip later) and were able to catch Scott H. Biram perform in his hometown at the legendary Continental Club.

We didn't have a chance to catch any of his performance with our Flip camera, so here's a few videos to get you started on SHB.

Also, the dude just dropped a new record, which is worth checking out here.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Noodles!

Alison has gluten allergies.  She's always sneezing, so it's not unlikely for her to fire off about 5 sneezes in a row.  A few years ago, she was told that some of her allergies were tied to gluten, so she has cut a lot of products with gluten out of her diet.  One item which has been stripped from her diet and mine by association, is pasta.

We used to have pasta in one form or another at least once a week.  Now we try and still eat dishes that include pasta, but we replace the noodles with a vegetable.  When Spaghetti Squash is in season, that's always a good substitute for noodles when having sausage with pesto pasta.

We recently found a pretty decent recipe for Lasagna that replaced the noodles with thinly sliced zucchini.  There was a lot of prep and steps that went into the creation of this dish, so we'll let the below photos and captions do the explaining.

We only dice onions when shafts of light are blessing our wine and endeavors.

It wasn't too easy making wafer-thin slices of zucchini.

Browning meat with onions and green bell peppers.

Added the tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine and basil and oregano to the meat mixture.

Here's the egg, ricotta and parsley mixture.

This took the duration of both of these records to complete the prep process.

Here's the fun part.  Layering all the goodies together.  We started with a layer of sauce.

A layer of the thinly-sliced zucchini.

Ricotta, egg and parsley mix in the mix!

SPINACH.

Mushrooms, sir.

Mozzarella cheese?

More meat sauce, meathead.

We've reached the limit of the damn dish with more zucchini!

More? Yes.

Check out those layers.

Here's what that lil' baby lasagna looked like after baking in the oven.  Damn good.

Cruisin' Claremont

Our friend Sean has been living in the IE, Pomona, CA. to be specific, for a while now and we've made a handful of visits out to see him over the years.  This time around we were asked to travel inland to see folk singer, Slaid Cleaves, perform as well as check out some local eateries and watering holes.

Sean lives really close to the Pomona-Claremont border, which worked out to be very convenient because the show we were going to see was taking place in Claremont.  We took the short walk into Claremont and looked around for a place to stuff our faces.

Claremont has a really nice feel to it with a good amount of eateries, boutique shops and bars.  Since there is a handful of colleges in the area, it seems like the perfect place for an overworked student or 9-5er to go out and let off a bit of steam.

After wandering through the area we found ourselves at Eureka!, a burger place whose tag line is 'Gourmet Burgers & Craft Beer'.  They had us at burger and beer, thus we settled in and started the evening.

Eureka! was pretty busy, which is a good sign, so we headed over to the bar while waiting for our table to become available.  Upon taking a seat at the bar, in front of a plethora of very interesting beer taps, we were handed a quite lengthy drink menu that consisted of all craft beers and even some whiskeys.

Al and I had to think for a few minutes on what would be best to whet our whistles, but we quickly spotted a beer that is brewed close to our hometown in Palos Verdes, called Blonde #5.

The first one was quite delicious, so we had to make sure that it held up a second time around.  After we were seated outside, it was time to make it two Johnny...two!

The second one was almost better than the first.

The appetizer list looked like a treasure trove of goodies, and it was hard to make a selection, but when in doubt it is always wise to  roll with the corn dogs.  Eureka! had Lollipop Corn dogs with a Spicy Mustard Porter sauce and a Cheddar IPA sauce.  The dogs and sauces were all delicious and made for a perfect primer for the burger goodness that was soon to arrive at our table.

I had the LuLu Burger which was a brilliant combination of ground lamb and ground beef mixed with diced onion and cilantro and topped with melted brie cheese.  Under the patty was a nice bed of lettuce, tomato and onion.  The kicker was the sweet mint aioli.  I can't say I've had a burger quite like it before.

Sean had the Cowboy Burger which was a burger topped with onion rings, bacon, cheddar cheese and barbeque sauce.  Alison had some burger, but between lettuce instead of bread, so we will forego a picture for that one.

After dinner we went up the street to the Folk Music Center to check out Slaid Cleaves perform.  The Folk Music Center was pretty cool, especially for someone like me who freaks out on stringed instruments.  When not a venue, the joint is an instrument shop with all kinds of stringed treats (not cheese, instruments).  The walls of this place had every stringed instrument imaginable and I will definitely need to make a trip back to further investigate.

Slaid Cleaves' performance was two sets of him playing some pretty insightful songs that ranged the gamut from quitting drinking, to the death of a legendary logger to a perspective on the way people are treating each other under the guise of religion. There was even a song about the Horseshoe Lounge in Austin, TX., which we tend to imbibe at in a couple of weeks... stay tuned!  In between playing he shared stories, which shed light on the song he was setting up.  He played two sets, which went rather quick, but made for an entertaining evening.

Here's a couple of videos we took at the show:

Everette - http://youtu.be/e_F0KsJrMxs

Wishbones - http://youtu.be/bnDaK6NKwFk

Drinkin' Days - http://youtu.be/aSdEQhvzJyg

Afterwards, we went out to a local watering hole and knocked back a few cold ones and some peanuts.  One made you thirsty, then the second made you hungry and that's pretty much how the night continued.  I'm glad I had the big beer.