Where the Heck We Are

Howdy, guys.

So it's been a crazy few weeks lately... Torry, Matty and the rest of the family headed to Maine in early June, I headed to Missouri with Erin to do some mission work at a north St. Louis church for a few days, and we then proceeded to travel by way of Boston to now reside in northern Maine ourselves. It's been a lot of traveling but definitely a lot of excitement as well.

I must apologize, as a result, for the lack of entries you've seen lately. I've been on the road, Deering's been working in his chef-ly capacities, and Matty, well, Matty hasn't done much to be honest. I'll get on him about that.

The good news is that we haven't been totally useless... we have been cooking pretty regularly and have a few entries in the works - we simply haven't written them up. I'll hold up my end and write about the stuffed peppers Erin and I made and I know Deering will be writing about a surf and turf creation soon, anyhow.

In the meantime, I am currently working on making possibly our favorite, definitely our most re-created dish so far... the brussel sprouts that don't suck currently. They've been widely successful whenever we have served them in the past... today (being Independence Day - Go USA!!) we will be sharing them for the first time with the members of my mother's side of the family that live here in Maine during our July 4th celebrations. I have no doubts it will be a shockingly different taste for some... even if they don't enjoy them, however, I know I will *shrug*.

Thanks for bearing with us through the tumultuous last few weeks... we'll get back on the writing horse and not get TOO comfy during our vacation. Happy 4th of July!

An Uncommon Intermission: Brussel Sprouts... That Are Awesome??

Yes, you read it.

Today's diversion from the Culinary Conquistadors' Austrian Month features none other than the scourge of youth everywhere: brussel sprouts. Bill Cosby hated them, children run in fear, and adults politely avoid them whenever possible. So why, if they are the essence of "terrible" would we discuss them?

I realize the concept is hard to digest (ha! +1), so allow me to pose the following question: Would the Ugly Duckling be the same if you always knew he was a swan? *Belated spoiler alert: the ugly duckling is a swan* No, because it wouldn't be pleasantly surprising when the "duckling" turned out to be beautiful. Such is the case with brussel sprouts. They are ugly, green lumps with a funky taste by most accounts... but what if you knew how to make them... not?

Well we found the way.

Ok, no we didn't, we read it in GQ. Here is the link with the recipe and the directions... Follow that and I'll focus on our experiences and let them handle the cooking explanation.

David Chang of Momofuku's brussel sprouts with bite.

Basically, long story short, David Chang, owner / chef of Momofuku restaurant in New York and one of the more highly regarded chefs around, invented a recipe for brussel sprouts that 1. Is reeeeal hard to screw up, and 2. tastes amazing. His sprouts were so successful, in fact, that he had to take them off the menu... Literally just about every table ordered them and he didn't want to have to designate a cook to making nothing but sprouts all night. That, in itself, should tell you something about the recipe.

When our mother walked in the door from Heinen's with a bag of brussel sprouts a few days back, I found myself feeling a way I never had before... excited about brussel sprouts! I ran upstairs, cut the recipe page out of GQ, and ran back down triumphantly, much to the confusion of everyone else. I loudly declared, "I can make these actually GOOD!"

And we did. We followed the recipe as laid out in the link above, and I have to say that my only regret is that we didn't have more. They were absolutely delicious by all accounts. Try them... really. I know it seems crazy, and I know they usually taste weird, but honestly these are a different vegetable altogether. If I'm wrong, feel free to comment to that regard. (I'm not).
Best of luck; I hope you'll also discoverer that when your mothers and grandmothers claimed that vegetables were, "good and good for you", they weren't lying... completely.

Enjoy.

Brussels Sprouts