Chabernet

Another Glass of Chabernet

Texas Broiled Shrimp

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I prepared a romantic dinner last night and the main course was spicy shrimp grilled on skewers and served with ice-cold champagne. It brought back fond memories and I wanted to share the secret of the very best shrimp you may ever eat. Deep Dale Lane is a Deep memory     This is my all-time favorite shrimp recipe and it has never failed to please. The texture and flavor of the shrimp are both uniquely satisfying. It is one of the first meals I learned to make as a young man, borrowing the recipe from my father’s favorite cookbook. I greatly improved the original recipe which contained only vegetable oil, lemon, parsley and garlic. One time we grilled the skewers over a portable Hibachi at Scripps Park in La Jolla and the aroma Read more [...]

Cooking smelly fish like Mackerel

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Frozen Mackerel is readily available in many supermarkets and certainly in almost all Asian markets. It is inexpensive, highly nutritious, delicious, but if there is a smellier fish to grill – I’ve not encountered it. My wife just loves grilled Mackerel, but cooking has been banished to the outdoor grill or side burner. If the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, forget about it. A Korean friend resorted to cooking her Mackerel over a butane picnic burner in her garage and almost burned her house down. But, that is another story. On a recent trip to the Amalfi Coast of Italy, we learned a clever trick when served fish grilled with lemon leaves at restaurant Da Vincenzo in Positano. The slightly charred citrus imparted a new dimension Read more [...]

Pitanga Flavored Vodka

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It is perfectly fitting that this first post should be about something very odd, but hopefully interesting and useful. Anyone familiar with foraging in Hawaii or Florida has probably spied a bush loaded with red berries. And, anyone brave enough to taste the berry would have a reaction based upon the exact stage of ripeness of the fruit. At any stage other than being ripe enough to drop off its stem, this fruit will be very sour and quite bitter. However, when you can easily remove the fruit without twisting it off its stem, it is deliciously sweet and tart with a pleasing vegetal aftertaste, and just a slight note of bitterness (tannins). Sounds like a wine description, doesn’t it? Not being wine makers, we decided to attempt to make flavored Read more [...]