ohhh Los Gatos theres a new boy in town and he has a knife

Lunch




STARTERS



GNOCCHI NOISETTE: crispy sage brown butter
toasted garlic
shaved grana parmesan 8

As entrée 12



GNOCCHI BETTOLA: house made herb potato dumplings
spiced tomato brandy cream 8

As entrée 12



BRUSCHETTA CAPRESE: heirloom cherry tomatoes
wild arugula
red onion cherries
basil pesto
e.v.o.o.
lemon
sea salt 8



CRISPY CALAMARI: tender and crispy artichoke hearts and calamari sauce duo 11



DAY BOAT SCALLOPS: pan seared
lemon-herb butter
garlic potato puree 12*



CARPACCIO OF BEEF: crispy capers
shaved grana parmesan
wild arugula ciabatta crostinis 10*



OCTOPUS MERCABARNA: grilled Barcelona octopus
red and green grapes
red radish
orange vinaigrette
fresh dill
blood orange sorbet 12*



ROASTED ORGANIC BEETS: red, gold and baby chioga beets
crispy Spanish manchego cheese
lemon dijon dressing
candied nut trio 9*





PANINIS & PASTA

All Paninis come with your choice of I Gatti house side salad or hand cut Kennebec garlic fries





PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM: roasted red pepper cheese
fresh tomato
wild arugula

caramelized cioppolini onions
basil-toasted pine nut pesto
focaccini bun 8



I GATTI MEATBALL PANINI (BAKED): house made i gatti meatballs
mozzarella and parmesan
sweet roll
cheeses
i gatti marinara
sweet roll
served open face 9



CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA PANINI (GRILLED): proscuitto
fresh sage
mozzarella cheese
marsala mushrooms
focaccini roll 9



FARFALLE SALCICCIA: chiaramonte spicy italian sausage
fire roasted peppers
creamy tomato fennel sugo 15



CAPPELLINI POMODORO: fresh seasonal tomato
basil
garlic
E.V.O.O. 12

with hormone free chicken or wild shrimp 17



FUNGI RISOTTO: braised wild, domestic and imported mushrooms
fresh sherry wine herbs
tartufata truffle butter
chili flakes
sherry wine 15*



CRAB RAVIOLI: sweet crab filled egg pasta
lemon pesto
buttermilk blue cheese cream
toasted pine nuts 18



SAFFRON RISOTTO: grilled wild white shrimp
spinach
sun dried cranberries
laura chenel goat cheese
saffron 18*



WILD SALMON SALAD: grilled
herb dijon
garlic roasted potatoes
organic mixed greens
laura chenel goat cheese
5 minute egg 15*



CHICKEN CAESAR: organic romaine leaves
house made dressing
house croutons
grana parmesan cheese
elephant garlic chips 13



PEAR CARPACCIO SALAD: sweet pear
wild arugula
grilled wild shrimp
buttermilk blue cheese
polenta croutons
sweet toasted hazelnuts
warm honey shallot vinaigrette 14





*=gluten free dish

-all pasta dishes can be made gluten free (except raviolis, meatballs and lasagna)

-split charge on all Paninis and Pasta $3.00





FULL BAR





I Gatti

25 E. Main Street

Los Gatos, CA 95030



Phone: 408. 399.5180



Visit us @ www.igattirestaurant.com

Email us @ info@igattirestaurant.com

OK forgot to take a picture too busy chattin up my friend Laura Ness ,local wine writer and broker of SC AVA wines. But I did get a chance to taste a Los Gatos staple with a breath of fresh air brought in by Mike Alsop the new head chef and kitchen puppet master. No clue on his creds but lets dive into the meal.....

  Wine list needs work. Please no usual suspects of Wine Rag fame. We are in the epicenter of such beautiful Vino. Step out pave the way dont follow.....Lunch menu has a nice blend of the old and new to keep the old guard commin and the new gaurd talkin


Luara and I knackered into a nice Calamari with Carchofi (artichoke) on a bed of cabbage. I so wanted to snarfle up the cabbage but huhhhh it wasnt dressed. If it was just there to soak up grease squeeze some blood orange and a bit o walnut oil and Id care less what it was soaking up. It was left on the plate nothing to add to the very nicely prepared calamari. Two shwags to dip :one creamy aoli and one spicy red. No surprizes in palate yet I kep dunkin. Perhaps a fennel and bacon relish with creme fraiche to bring us into fall/winter. AOLI AOLI AOLI wahhhhhhhhhhh. Garlic mayo we got it. well made none the less.









I went with the Chefs suggestion. A slow braised lamb shank panini, pomme frites with a mustard somethin....well . hmmm uhhhh.... crap; I loved it. You could taste the time it took to slow braise with the trinity(carrot onion celery)well seasoned and tender like my Frenchie on Benadryl. All it needed was some good local fig jam(shameless self promotion) on the grilled bread and my eyes would have rolled .Mike knows how to bring his peasant cuts into a proper submission. Pomme frites welp fishin with dynomite. All I needed was a proper Old Fashion (Bourbon people Bourbon)

Lunch over all was great and the Chef is charming and knows his way around a kitchen and it shows.
My one arrghghghghghghgh MIKE take the Chevre off your menu please now now now . The season passed in Sept. All Goats N Sheep must rut in fall to have a healthy productive milking life. Laura Chenel makes just fine Chevre but there is a plethora of washed rinded Goat and Sheep milks cheeses to trade out for the Season.
A Pecorino Pepato or a 18 mo Goat Gouda to shave or make your own Ricotta with cows milk.OHHH Italian Telleggio would be sumptious, regional and seasonal as well very available.

Last. Service was good and attentive but not up my ass. Not much to say about wine list so I did a blind pick of an Italian Chard. Good chewy pear tart on the nose with a well oaked round mouth that really worked with both seafood and my lamb.
I will be back, this is one to support. And it has a full bar, wont kill the wallet and a decor that Nona would aprove of. BASTA

if only we all had KEWPEEs self esteam

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My server. Slade Shitzlick . Boy knows how to sling hash.
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wha.....a hair in my huevos ....so what lets eat....

YES. there was a hair that my camera didn't pick up on my unnecessary piece of out of season fruit...But that being said for $7.99 hell yea jump on board for great fresh straight to the food point of local chow. No pretense that a good stiff bloody cant handle. Locals get to the village on a chilly Sunday sit outside muse at the birds and tourists feasting on a value driven menu with workin mans drinks, not size that matters but substance. I always am happy with the Santa Cruz classic...Veg Benny with my eggs scrambled. Local artichokes, mushrooms and the non necessary in Nov tomatoes and a rug of spinach all hot tubbin it in a tangy home made emulsion of egg yolks, lemon, butter, and love......stick to your ribs and history in the Capitola bar scene. whet your whistle meet a pal you might even karaoke a little Hank Senior....or Tiffany. I like the Fog Bank for what it is simple hot to the point food and bev with a world class view and you wont be wallet raped while you're at it.  oh yea they do potatoes right. Again not in duck fat or some crazy salt ,just simple griddle crusted spuds.

Huevos at Fog Bank....$7.99 washed down with a spicy Bloody ( AND pickled green bean swizzle) on the deck over looking river mouth in Capitola.
Tons to talk about.
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Fog Bank Capitola Ca. 11_28-10 oh; we will discuss. But right now I'm in the moment with a Ginger Gimlet...Lettin the bourbon take a night off...
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Happy T,
I'm keepin is simple. Local cured center cut bacon wrapped around a Turkey Breast from a local hunt. Drizzled with my neighbors lavender honey and my last fennel bulb. Turkey sammy anyone? Have a good day. And remember to get Blood stains out use meat tenderizer. It is the holidays and families all cooped up. Blood might be a factor! Cheers T
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GLEAN ME PLEASE

Nina gleaning cactus pears for my cactus ginger jelly, up Rodeo Gultch road in Santa Cruz County. 2010. Otherwise this fruit would have gone to total waste........

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What food Passport do you carry? What landscape do you see in your mind when you close your eyes while eating a mouthful of food that makes you feel immediately at HOME?
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food for all

The true bottleneck to the revival of native,locally grown or derived foods or more precisely, a spiritual_ dilemma. If we no longer believe the Earth is sacred or that we are blessed by the bounty around us,or that we have a care taking responsibility....then it doesn't matter so much to folks how much ecological and cultural damage is done by the way we eat. Why should it matter if we don't participate in butchering our own meats, the harvest of our own veg or the foraging and preserving our own foods? Hmmm well Fluffy has the right idea..... That rabbit did not die in vain. How vain are you?
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apple for your thoughts

It so seems us humans are not content with eating only what grows on or walks the Earth around us,but that we long to put new foods in our pantries. Many things determine what we consume; where we live,climate,soil,and geography of place. Human factors like social status,whether we live in times of war or times of Peace. Whether we ourselves or our communities live in isolation or in proximity to others. A few examples of all the factors that go into how we chow. But if we opened our eyes look around and see all the food hanging on trees ,bushes and on the road side a word comes to mind. GLEANING. These amazing Pipens I have been Gleaning on the Summit. How many years has this little tree been producing such lovely orbs with nobody to love such hard work. Well I'm here to Glean the county of lost produce.
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A rainy day in my yard SC MNT AVA
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The Cheese Shop sketch, Monty Python

yes Virginia we do use all five senses

Meet your maker

milks leap

The genealogy of the literature of cheese is venerable. The first important publication, Pantaleo de Confluentia's De Lacticiniss, was issued at Turin as long ago as 1477. Since then earnest students on the subject have not been lacking. Provided it be well and truly made there is really, for the confirmed Turophile (moi),no such thing as bad cheese. It could be dull or may be naive, it may even be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese,( OK you've heard this quote before but I love it) Milk's leap toward immortality.

Goats rule

An exercise in Goats milk

Eye of the Turophile

 

Universal hungers are few: Who dreams hotly of Souffle'? But wine once loved ,remains a passion: so too with bread ,salt and perhaps meat. As for cheese it is a love that is inherent in humanity. Oh yes the Chinese...they like it little. Linking all milk products with their herdsman-conquerors, the Tartars, and Mongols to name a few. Like its great brethren, bread and wine, cheese is born of a miracle. At the very instant when the milk is on the long lumpy, bumpy road to ruin, mysterious lactic acid or the more mysterious ferment and rennet works like grace upon it and raises it to the higher life of curd. It has traveled in one superb celestial arc to the very end of the Milky way.


Me Teaching at THE CHEESE SCHOOL in San Francisco, Ca
The more we know the better we feel

how I roll

Just a little something I whipped up for a wedding in Palm Springs. Go big or go home I say.

Crab Season means local crab? Right? Am I wrong?

Dinner at the Chop house right smack dab in Pleasure Point not an eighth of a mile to the water. Keepin this one simple. Jess and I family styled it at the bar for a quick little bite and a dirty Martini. We shared an order of Crab Cakes. MMMMMM Crab Season had just landed so we both were excited to sink our teeth into some D Crab. Uh yea no. Frozen crab in a puck with a TON of slaw (perhaps take attention away from the Crab dilemma) Some shwag to lube the scene. Whatever once again make me pay for product sourced elsewhere. Now why would they use crab from our Bay??? Nahhhhh. Chowder was a gluey affair as well. The Steak was GREAT well seasoned cooked med rare perfect and the veg was uninspired .Different shaped huge carrot pieces al dente to not nice. The Beans were fine. The spud was a spud well roasted with a bit o salty crust. Martinis were good. Very chilled glass with a nice briney balance to ensure the happy dirty Martini girl in me. In the end nice space the 80s have left the building from the former haunt PORTOLA HOUSE. Staff was nice ,but not nice enough to compensate for the Ehh food. Almost $80.00 with tip. Whatever, I'm cookin at home rest of week. I did my economic stimulus contribution.


3326 Portola Drive Santa Cruz,Ca

a $5.00 potato?

I love the ole Neo Hippy Veg joint that has been feeding nuts n grains to the masses for years. Today working on my little diddy on winter milk cheeses, I got hungry for a good old baked potato and a cuppa tea. So I belly up to the order counter and open the paper menu with a plethora of Hippy delights. Tempeh, tofu,fakin bacon all whipped up any way imaginable. Sweet a bit o old skool SC at its best. Order I do. "A baked potato please and a cuppa Moroccan mint tea" smile. My dear little hippy nugget looked back and let me know for the $2.25 I get a naked potato....Uh ok well im hooked I want the damn spud. So I ask for some sour cream(origin unknown or politics unknown) for a lovely $1.25 ....and lets just go balls out add some Green onion I'm feelin rich today. Five bucks later I received this luke warm White rose potato with my $2.50 worth of stuff to.......

Ehhh it was ok. My tea was indeed organic but why not Fair Trade? Why stop at the Organic fork in the road? Support had to come full circle to make the ultimate point. NUMI tea right here in the Bay has some of the most beautiful organic fair trade teas that are not at a price point DHARMAS couldn't handle.

Damn potato. I got mouth raped by having to pay for even a pat of butter. $1.25 for a aprox1oz scoop of sour cream. But nowhere did I see on menu where it came from? Strauss Family woulda been so nice to see for the $1.25 price tag. I see there are postings all over the menu with declarations of trying to use organic as possible. What does that really mean? So If I went in the walk in and saw a bevy of non organic items Ole Dharma is off the hook by the wording of his disclaimer? sneaky people sneaky. With all the amazing organic produce all over SC County. Where is the bragging on the menu of the sourcing? So is Mr DHARMA not supporting local organic produce? You'd think he would proudly display such local supported commerce.

DHARMAS NAT FOODS
4250 Capitola Rd. Capitola Ca
www.dharmaland.com
7days 8am _ 9pm
(831)462-1717
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still life with sterile

With so much movement in my kitchen today. This quiet moment says it all.

Eggs are cheap but it's the thought that counts.

Breakfast at Hoffmans was a pleasant affair but.........there was a WTF moment or two. Lets begin. Gonna keep it simple today I'm up to eyeballs in jam production today. Harvested Merlot and made a Ppomegranate Cardamon Merlot Jelly. OK Hoffmans. Lovely little currant studded scones came out while we waited for our eggs, but to my dismay only had foil wrapped pats of butter and disks of some origin unknown jelly packs to lube up my scone. Now really? A bakery that has at least ten gallons at any time of  cream cant make their own sweet cream butter to go with the time and energy that went into the scone? Shame. Its the whole picture that counts. Then the jelly dilemma was even more annoying. A BAKERY THAT CAN'T MAKE JAM? sigh. Don't know what to say.Soooo all those fruit fillings in Hoffmans cakes,tortes pies etc...are origin unknown as well......I don't understand. Go big or go home. All the ingredients,equipment and payoff are already there in the kitchen ,so why pay to have pre made food brought into your establishment to play a paltry second fiddle to a lovely pastry. Well Santa Cruz please pay attention you just paid ten bucks for yer eggs at the very least they can make all the food in house. I had the Bennie with artichoke crowns and added sauteed spinach all on a toasted slab of sourdough with very yummy Hollandaise. Three eggs was a bit much but it was nice. Potatoes were potatoes. Cooked well i'd love to see a little griddle crust on them but again they were good. Coffee was abundant and very good. I hope hope hope it was Fair Trade. Hell don't we all want a fair wage for a fair days work. Last the server. he is a pro. I liked his style and worked his section with ease. It was a full house and he was runnin the show. Good Job. I'll be back but I will keep griping about the little things cause that's what life is about the little details. Good day.

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Good Sunday

here piggy piggy piggy

Its getting chilly up here on the Summit and the Wild Boar population is getting bold. The babies are now getting more independent and aggressive pubescent digging and foraging is doing a number on our beloved Vineyards and Gardens (OH Zyante I hope its not too bad this year)That being said its HUNTIN time here in the Santa Cruz Mountains to help keep this non native at bay so erosion and habitat destruction can be as minimal as possible. Ok so PIG was on my door step. She's drained dressed and cut for sausage, Prosciutto and a bevy of fun with pork. The picture(thanks kiddo 5th grader that entered this guide at the Santa Cruz Co. fair 2010)Gives you an idea of where on the pig your cuts come from to help you figure the cooking method. Tonight it is all about the cheeks. Yuppers the smile pillows. The chefs cut or the lost fillet right there smack dab in the middle of its face. Who'd a thunk? I mean sure bacon is one sexy smoked beast (Clint I want my smoker back)But come on we got it...  Bacon rules. Crap I cant even order a Bourbon with out a bacon laced alternative. Got it. So lets go down the road less traveled..CHEEKS Baby CHEEKS. For a long long time the public had been cheated out of a cut on many animals and fish that never leaves the boat, blind, or hunters view. Commercial Salmon fishermen can tell you eating Salmon cheeks Sashmi right on the boat is a religious experience. Beef cheeks..wha wha you say better than the fillet. you betcha. And the mighty pig wild or otherwise those few ounces of tender flavor bombs is the way to go every time. Grill it Braise it roast it BBQ it just do it. UMMMM cant find this love lumps at your mega market with coffin coolers filled with precise cuts suffocating in cellophane real date unknown. I raspberry you. Time to find your local farm or butcher shop. Know where your meats come from and how they were raised and treated. KARMA is in the air. A pasture raised hormone free pig that has been butchered with dignity and respect is a whole new eating experience . To know the girl or boy who cuts your meat not only brings you closer to your food but understanding what you pass through your lips will change how you feel about food. Connect people connect. To see the sheepish smile pass the lips of your Monger when you request some cheeks is worth a double bourbon alone. SOOOO you got your cheeks home and now staring down at theses lovely pillows of Porky Heaven..What to do what to do. well lets see. break out the crock pot people its braising time for some Santa Cruz style pulled pork sammies with fennel and sultans(white raisins DUH)and dried figs.

Cut up a bulb or two of fennel place at the bottom of crock pot (don't want direct contact with heat gentle people gentle )cut two white onions drop in ...Three leeks washed and cut any way is fine ,toss her in. A bunch of green onions roots clipped left whole. A few cups of (homemade mushroom stock(another day we shall go over)turn on the pot for an 8 hour cook cycle.
In an iron skillet (what the fuck? go get one then)HIGH heat, little bacon fat please. Roll cheeks in flour with salt(kosher or sea)white pepper and a pinch each of cardamon ,cinnamon,and chili powder. dust up the cheeks and toss in the hot iron skillet. get a nice crust goin on all sides. might get smoky open a window. Its cooknin not sewin: smoke happens. All brown and sexy like a good Kentucky Rye. Let her rest for a moment have a sip of above mentioned RYE. Then drop em in the crock pot. add a handful of raisins and quartered dried brown turkey figs(cant find them? leave the mega mart and find a local market) and cover with some nice Petit Syrah(DURIF) this wine has such a smokey black fruit thing going on will play so nicely with this crock pot party. Simple yet oh baby its gonna be good on a fall day in Santa Cruz. Now go out to your favorite local baker and pick up a grip of Potato rolls, wine and spirits shop get a great SCM wine. I almost would say a tank fermented Chard could easily rock or a beautiful Pinot from Corralitos valley wouldn't suck either.Then again a 750Ml of Buffalo Trace Bourbon is NEVER a bad idea .
Make a quick salad of arugula spritz of lemon juice from your neighbors tree who by the way just let the fruit drop and never gets used unless you climb over that fence a get them. A splash if Kalamata olive oil (again LEAVE the mega mart)pinch o sea salt a crack of pepper. Simple is the name of this game.
open the crock pot. Take a moment breathe it all in. ahhhhhhhhh. Heat up the potato rolls for a moment and split them open on a platter. Shred up with a fork the tender amazing bits of pork love.pile on the bread.
pile up the braised Alliums (onion family) on another plate and all the juicy juice in a bowl for dunking. BASTA din din is served. go on ....
TLC RANCH
AROMAS CA
tasteslikechicken@yahoo.com
(831)726-9618
pasture raised pigs, chickens and eggs. No bullshit here just pigs shit.
Now taking orders for whole and half pig

thought you'd like to see what the walk in looks like at one of the cleanest well organised restaurants in San Jose. Not only is PAOLOS clean and buttoned up but Carolyn, Paolos daughter, cooks linear, seasonal Italian food with a sexy approachable aesthetic. Oh and let's me run her wine club once a month in the bar.
Sometimes its good to look under her skirt. A inside view looking out. Xoxoxo
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Oscar trippin out on our "pet turkeys". they surrounded the car and poor Oscar had to flee by jumping on the roof of the house to escape. Love the Girls. Gobble Gobble
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To know Cheese is to Love Cheese

This is the time of year when I miss churning the Goat curds. Spring seems so far far away. Raw milk cheeses are still illegal in the US unless they are aged 90 days. The Govt. protects us from unethical manufacturing of cheeses hmmmm. They can not regulate sanitation or support artisnal methodology thus we as Americans who want fresh Raw Milk Cheeses have to rely on the small band of us rouge cheese makers that abide by the rules of the DO, DOC, DOCG ,AO, AOC, on and on. Ha! Im like a underground Cheese dealer. But I guarantee you I wont be selling dime bags of these lovely lumps. Until Americans realize they can not have anything they want to eat when ever they want it, this will continue to happen. A tomato in Feb is just wrong. respect your seasons for starters. Like Chevre the fresh Goats Milk cheese. NEVER should you be buying or consuming this spring and summer cheese in the winter months. Goats must rut in the Fall and Kid in the Spring to have a healthy life span. To milk a Goat to Death brings lower quality,is unethical and just doesn't compare. But American producers churn out the tasteless white fluff year round and pasteurized to death to help lengthen shelf life and keep up with uninformed demand. BLECH. Whole point is missed on the beauty of this amazing cheese. To be able to go to the Farmers Market in late spring to see the Lilly white mounds, Crotins, boulettes, bandons, coers, figues, lingots and taupinieres all from the Spring milk of healthy goats who had Kidd a Month before and now is gorging on spring grasses, flowers wild onions and it all translates into the fresh raw milk cheeses. Now is the time to enjoy Goat cheeses of different types such as a beautiful washed rind raw goats milk such as an Aged Gouda. At least 12 months of age and made from late summer Alpine raw Goats Milk. Beemster, Boekrenkaas, Saenkanter, Prima Kase from WI. Point is you can enjoy the milk any time but the incarnation must be respected. A beautiful Goat Gouda will sing with root Vegetables and dense breads slathered with the jams, Butters, Jellies canned from the past summers bounty. Mother Nature gives to the hints to how to traverse your eating world. Now pay attention.......

Cactus Pear Jelly the Balls of spines have been tamed.
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Name says it all. In Santa Clara on the corner of San Carlos before Bascom. Ohhhh sweet Baby Jesus. $3.00 for two Asada tacos with a mad salsa bar. Beauty. Oh and the one eyed Grandma wielding a cleaver didn't hurt either .
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Thai Village Scotts Valley Ca

Tom Kah as it was intended.

WHAT YUM NUER in Scotts Valley?

we shall get there......I ate well today.

Yum Nuer you say? In Scotts Valley/

Thai Village
218 Mt. Herman rd Scotts Valley Ca
(831) 438-1800
daily 11:00am -9:00pm beer YES


Had to meet Ami today to go over details for a pairing event I'm Cruise directing at Hallcrest Vineyards in Dec. and Scotts Valley was a good middle point. No culinary mecca but today I got a tickle to my senses that perked me up as I hashed out the details of the coming event.
Brand new Thai Village right across from the bagel joint by Walgreens. I got there at the odd mid shift , so the B team was in the kitchen watching over pots of stock for the dinner shift. A young Thai girl who was so friendly and sweet greeted me sat me and had a glass of iced jasmine tea. I set up camp in the small clean main dining area with a view of the patio. I hear music. harrumph huh is that Celine Dions Thai cousin singing away in Thai glory. love. Definitely there are ROSS stores in Thailand cause that's the decor and it worked .I liked the plastic wind up lucky cat sittin on my table with a glass filled with dog dick pink plastic flowers. I'm getting excited its so weird its gotta be good. Menu full of Thai classics from Kao Pod Tod the crispy fried whole kernal corn cakes with a spicy sweet chili, or the Som Tum green Papaya salad or good ole Pad Thai but my eyes went soup. Tom Kah the classic coconut milk based chicken Galangal,lemon grass soup. simple clean singular flavours that Should sing. well well well looky here a hot pot full of steaming soup. First the consistency was light, bright and had everything a girl could ever want in this soup with a SC agriculture twist to make it our own. Fragrant ,sweet, herbal and the just cooked slices of zucchini, savoy cabbage ,white onions,shredded carrot ,mushrooms ,cilantro and broccoli were the supporting cast to the well marinated morsels of white meat chicken all bathed in the broth of house made veg stock,coconut milk,galangal(ginger cousin) lemon grass but no annoying inedible hunks floating around to piss you off when you bite into the bitter reed. a hint of lime perhaps Kafir and a waft of chili. Ta Da I heart soup. Then needed something to sink my teeth in I went for another classic Yum Nuer chili rubbed grilled skirt streak salad with a spicy vinegary dressing over a chopped salad with leaves of cilantro, white and red onion (paper thin)batons of carrot. Again cooked just right and tender yet sweet with a bite to keep your attention. crunchy sweet, salty, bitter and heat. Basta. so simple yet so easy to fuck up. This salad is more dressed than some but to help marinate the ingredients a bit you need the swag. I'm happy. little pots of home made chili paste for the heat freaks was wonderful balance. and clean no crud on rim or sticky finger prints to gross me out.
I'm coming back ....I want to know more. only two items but the Canany in this Thai coalmine did not die. She sang.
If I had to bitch(it was dead at 2:00 and nobody but me and one other table) but don't change the darling babies diaper at the next table. Not on table but come on ..............Go say hi and check em out. Every day it gets a little better.....Eat True The Rest Will Follow xoxoxoxo

see I can be nice. Now where do I get my wind up lucky cat?

ICE ICE BABY

The season is here for roasting, smoking, bbq ing, deep frying etc etc.....BIRDS. I didn't have a picture of the wild turkeys that cruz through the vineyard every day eating a grape or two (hee hee) and harass my chickens in captivity. By the way I spent less than ten bucks on the chicken set up. Everything was found items from friends and around the vineyard. the wire cables were around a water tank ,I stretched them into the dome and added a disco ball. The girls are freakin hilarious ,when friends come over we grab a libation and sit around enjoying a little chicken TV. The garden is fueled by the girls as well. ok back to the season to fuck up a Turkey. well roasting. good idea right? I'm assuming you brined the girl over night blah blah blah its the cooking that does you in.... Fricassseed the wings and thighs but the breast isnt done. simple science. density issue. These commercial buggars even with out hormones have been bred to grow big boobs for your eating and viewing pleasure. (sounds familiar?!)soooooooo lets see. before you rub her down with generous pats of sweet cream butter and stuff her full of fruits and herbs(no no no stuffing up there dahlin temp will never get to proper place with out distroying bird in the process and distroy your loo a few hours later)Ok Ok so get some freezer packes the small white ones freeze them layed over a large can so to have a nice curve to fit on the bird. As you are bringing your bird to room temp before cooking commences, ice the birds wings thighs and small bits. . I wrap with an ace bandage. Now you have a breast plate at room temp that will by volume will take a longer time to come to temp. The small bits of dark meat areas have chilled to almost freeze,thus takes more time and energy to get flesh to finish. Voila the beast will be tamed and ready all at the basically same time. Ohh take the packs off please before you pop in over smoker bbq or (dumb ass) you OSH Bought Deep fryer(have silver cream ready for you drunken 3rd degree burn)
tut tut

This morning it was brought to my attention I cant spell. well as you see when I was a wee lass making recipes for eating enjoyment spelling was not in my psych either. I go go go and forget to spell check. My appologies, I will try harder. Perhaps Mum will stumble apon this and I gotta make the girl proud.

uh waiter there is a prick in my lamb

beauty