Poulet flambe a l'estragon

Tonight I am flaming chicken. With Cognac. This is a risk for several reasons: I don't have a "long match" to light it with and I'm not entirely sure my wok is "flame proof". Yes, enter my wok once again. I figure it's probably the most flameproof pot I own. This should get interesting. Not to mention I have flammable cabinetry above my stove. - Ahh, look at those fresh ingredients.

So, I'm pouring a glass of wine to ease the nerves of lighting a chicken on fire and I'm putting on my Tango music for ambience (ask young Emily what that means, she'll explain it to you along with symbioses). Here we go.

Ok, the flaming of the chicken wasn't nearly as um, explosive as I thought it would be. Strangely enough I think the butter and olive oil in the pan with it put out the flames. So I did it twice. And by the way, Cognac is not for straight drinking. At least not for me. Eesh!

My flamed chicken is now simmering in the cooking juices with a few sprigs of tarragon and I'm wisking eggs with creme fraiche, a French staple apparently along with butter and Cognac. My Tango music wasn't sultry enough for the flaming chicken so I've switched to Paulina Rubio.

The eggs and creme fraiche mix I blended into the cooking juices with the tarragon leaves and poured it over the chicken. It made a real rich sauce, I could learn to love French cooking. The sauce should be thicker but I didn't have any potato starch to thicken it. I don't think I've been eating enough vegetables lately so I heated up some broccoli with lemon and pepper. I don't do well with presentation, it doesn't look nearly as good as it tastes but it's absolutely fabulous.

I bet if I had some different music to cook to, perhaps some Mambo, things would go more smoothly. Whenever I get cooking, Dean Martin's "Mambo Italiano" comes to mind and I pop in the Tango Around the World, probably because the only thing I own that slightly resembles the mambo is Lou Bega's Mambo Number 5. More like pop music. It's not exaclty what I'm feeling, but it gets the creative cooking going. I'm not exactly sure why cultural music appeals to me while I'm cooking, but I think it adds a certain flair to it. Maybe more flavor. Hey mambo!

La Cuisine

I picked up a French cookbook La Cuisine at a Borders in Bakersfield that was going out of business. After watching "Julie and Julia" I decided Mastering the Art of French Cooking was not for me. I don't think I'm a Julia Childs type of person. As much as I'd like to say that I'm going to take on an adventure like the one in the book or movie, there's just no way. Especially with French cooking. I was looking for a simple French cookbook until I realized what an oxymoron that was and picked this one because it claims I can make this stuff at home... as opposed to a high class French restaurant?

I'm excited to report that eggs baked in ramekins (oeufs cocotte) are absolutely amazing. What thrills me even more is the fact that the French have a higher life expectancy than we do (as do most countries not located in Africa or the Middle East- ponder that for a moment) and yet their cooking calls for copious amounts of butter and cream. And alcohol. Yes! So I've purchased cognac for a flambe, but that's for in a couple days. Tonight it's garlicky pork chops with tomato (cotes de porc a la tomate). I've been excessively tired lately and can only guess it's the weather, so I've got to give myself a little kick in the pants.

To get me motivated and in the culinary mood, I've put on my Tango Around the World cd that I bought in Oaxaca, Mexico. You can't go wrong dancing around the kitchen with some tomato paste, garlic and tangoes from around the world, glass of wine in hand: Spanish red.

With my cotes de porc simmering in my sauce a la tomate, I pour another glass of wine, break out the cheese and crackers and put the brussel sprouts (from Brussels perhaps?) a la butter in the microwave and switch the cd to Gypsy Kings: Cantos de Amor.

I've come to the conclusion that I need a much larger skillet, one that comes with a cover and can fit 4 pork chops and 2 onions in it at a time. I've got it in a wok (very multi-cultural) which of course does not come with a cover, so instead of simmering it on low covered, I'm simmering it on medium low uncovered. Looks rich and tasty anyway.

The cotes de porc turned out quite well, very flavorful. It's so unfortunate that I decided against buying the French chocolate truffles I saw the other day. Maybe I should learn to make some. The recipe is in here. My next recipe will be Cognac-Flamed Chicken with Creamy Tarragon Sauce (poulet flambe a l'estragon). I'm a little nervous. I've lit things on fire before but never indoors in my own kitchen. Ok that's not true. I haven't purposely lit things on fire in my kitchen before.

I'm considering learning to make the desserts, after all, isn't that the best part of French food? I would have to bring it to work though because I can't be trusted with desserts in my house. I know most of you think I have a plethora of self control but it just isn't so. I have to practice control when it comes to introducing it to my environment. Once it's there, I'll eat it. So generally speaking, I do no baking. Baking is bad. Baking can lead to late nights in front of the tv watching a ga-zillion episodes of Fringe that I rented from Netflix only to realize it's midnight and I've got to be up at 0515 to go to the gym. Which would usually lead to me not going to the gym and after eating an entire chocolate marble pound cake, it would just be castastrophic.

The Sunroom Returns!

My sunroom problem is solved! I believe I mentioned how I replaced my sunroom/ jacuzzi room blinds with curtains, which I wasn't impressed with. I needed some privacy for that room since everyone who walks through the alley at night can see into my jacuzzi room, kitchen, family room and bedroom, all because of the see-through blinds that were in there before the ugly curtains. Actually the curtains weren't all that bad but it took away from the whole sunroom concept. If you take the sun out of the sunroom, it's just a room. It needed some brightening up, without sacrificing privacy. Behold.
Now I just need to get more and finish it. These are Artscape removable window films in Magnolia. They come in frosted glass and other effects. I chose this one because it's bright and colorful. They stick to the window by static or magic or something, are completely removable and reusable. Very cool.

My Air Raid Siren

Just a couple minutes ago, my town's air raid siren went off. Reminded me I wanted to post a sample so people could get the gist. I kid, it's not an air raid but I thought it was the first time I heard it. What it is is our volunteer fire department's call siren. So when they get a call (or when they test it once a week) I hear this frightening siren. Those who grew up in tornado areas know exactly what I'm talking about. It's that siren... except it's a block away and it's meant to get the whole town. Check out this sample on Youtube.

That way, the whole town hears the siren, and the volunteers can respond from home. I have to admit, it's kinda charming... except not at 10pm.

The Montague Project Part 1

Until some of you come visit me up here, I thought I'd post some pictures of what I see every day. Today I got a late start due to a last minute response to a vehicle accident but made it home in time to grab my camera and run back out to snap some photos of the sunset on Mt. Shasta.

Mt. Shasta is a shockingly prominent landmark that never gets old, at least not yet. Every time I see it I wish I had my camera to take pictures of it. Today it was not at its most beautiful, I'd love to get a picture of the bright pink alpine glow that it takes on sometimes. But in any case, I see this nearly everyday when it's not covered in clouds. It's so striking I took about 40 pictures of it today and will probably take a thousand more over the next few years.

I parked on a back road in front of a small ranch where a few horses hung out by the fence and watched me curiously. I stood on the step of my jeep and balanced my camera on the roof to steady my hand. As I snapped away, the frogs started croaking and I could hear the horses snorting behind me. In the distance I heard geese honking and a cow moo'd. I took a breath of clean fresh air and felt an amazing peace surround me. I gotta say, the big city's got nothing on this.

It pains me...

Yesterday's little stint on the expresso bike at the gym got me charged up to get back on my road bike. As I left the gym, I had an urge to grab my friend Gwen and ride out to Etna (35 miles away) have dinner and a beer and ride back. The weather is what stopped me. Plus I've never ridden that far. Maybe if some one were to pick us up...

The farthest I've ridden on my bike is 26 miles. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't very hilly either. There's mountains in between Montague and Etna and that makes the ride a little tougher. I'd really like to ride the San Diego Christmas Ride which is 400 miles over 6 days. Any takers? It'll be fun!

In order to get there, I've got to do some long rides. There's plenty of Century rides (100 mile rides) in the summer, but cycling season is typically April through November...pretty much the same as fire season. Lame. But for good reason I suppose. Who wants to ride around all day in rain and snow? Not me. Although I saw somewhere a jacket or pants for cycling that had a protective area for the infamous splash crack you end up with while riding in wet areas. Maybe I just need one of those.

This is certainly not the first time my job has taken me away from an activity I love. The last few places I've lived have been severely lacking in the swimming arena. I've given up swimming. You heard me. Ok, not enough to actually get rid of my suit and goggles, but really it's not very practical to swim up here. I'd have to drive almost an hour to the pool...one way! Not gonna happen. So I took up cycling. Hmm.

There are rides in April and November (and even December as you can see), I'll just have to train on my own and sometimes indoors. That's why I was so enthralled with the expresso bike, but it's way too expensive. So I thought I'd invest in some good cycling videos to train with. Not spin videos, cycling videos. There aren't a whole lot of those either, being as cycling is generally an outdoor sport. But I did find one that looks particularly interesting. Sufferfest offers some grueling cycling videos that are made to look like real life bike races, using video footage from world championships and the olympics, along with taunting smack talk and bits of encouragement. I think I'll have to give it a try. We're moving from our snowy season to our rainy season, and I've yet to commit to cycling in the rain.

This is so cool!

Carrie achieved her all-time best on "Farmers Bluff", 6.9 miles in 0:29:01 on an Expresso Bike.

Alright, I gotta admit, this has me hooked from the get-go. This would make an awesome addition to the exercise room in my new house. Only trouble is, it's $5,000. So for now I'll just use it at the gym. You ride this stationary bike with a big screen in front of it that makes it like you're actually riding outside (because it's cold and raining outside in real life) and you race your pacer or your ghost (you on past rides) and can push past other riders. You can race other people's ghosts too.

Today I did a short 7 miler along the bluffs overlooking the ocean. I passed by cows and sheep and had a mix of rolling countryside and winding sea-cliff roads. I passed my pacer on the first hill and stayed ahead of him the whole time. I'm not entirely sure how you change the pace of the pacer. I was much stronger than the other riders (not really people, just riders the computer throws in for fun) on the uphill but lacked majorly in the downhill. Mostly because you have to actually pedal downhill. It's not like in real life where you can tuck into an aerodynamic position and scream down the hill with next to no effort.

I am so excited about this machine. The problem is there's only one (there might be two, I didn't pay much attention, whatever it was, it was out of order) and it's in the teen room. So at certain times of the day, only teens can use it. I just happened to get in at a time they were in school. Maybe I'll have to add it to my morning routine.

Master Bedroom Update

I put the first coat of paint on my bedroom, and after spending all day yesterday painting the family room ceiling, I'm a little burned out. The second coat will have to wait for another day... after I go buy another gallon of paint. You never realize how big a room is until you have to paint it. Yeesh. So here's some before and after pics.


I'm still waiting for my backordered night stands to come in, I'll have to give them a call tomorrow. I just ordered some rugs too, to soften up the room a bit. I might possibly paint the ceiling, but since it turns out to be such a pain in the butt, it'll take a bit of thought.

As for the jacuzzi room, I got it all painted and some curtains put in, but I'm not loving the curtains. The old bamboo curtains let in a lot of light, and it looked great in there. But at night, everyone could see inside not only the jacuzzi room, but into my house as well since glass doors lead from the jacuzzi room into the family room. I had to be careful of dressing in my bedroom because from a certain angle, you could see that too. So I put curtains up. Erg. Now they don't let in enough light and they look drab instead of bright and cheery. I was thinking of putting the bamboo ones back up but installing a roller shade underneath them so I could pull them down for privacy. Any thoughts? I really like how warm and inviting it looks with the bamboo shades. Here's the evolution of one particular corner. Of course the pictures don't do it justice so it actually looks a little better than it does in pics but you get the idea.



I'll probably end up painting the trim around the windows white, which should brighten them up a bit. Although I'm starting to wonder if it'll look bettern to keep them natural wood.