For some reason or other I always have a hard time sitting still in the fall. I jump from project to project and leave half-finished tasks all over the house. Well, this year I don’t have that luxury. As per usual I am hosting the “Island of Lost Toys” Thanksgiving and immediately following that event will begin the teardown and renovation of our kitchen.

I can only imagine the horrified look on your face right now. Tearing out the kitchen between T-giving and Xmas!? Are you crazy!? Yes and no. T-giving is a MUCH bigger holiday for us than Xmas. We entertain for T-giving, and we don’t for Xmas. I started looking into this project ages ago and worked on design, styles, etc. for months. This has been more than 2 years in the making since the original design work. I am READY. I have been ready for the change, but John and I couldn’t agree on styles, colors and how much to spend. When we moved into this house on Valentine’s Day in 2008, I told John the kitchen needed to be gutted and redone. It has taken almost 6 years for that to happen. I am striking while the iron is HOT!

To get ready for the big change, I will have to empty all of my cabinets…ALL of them and I have a LOT of cabinets and a LOT of stuff jammed into them. I will also have to empty the pantry which is just a glorified overstuffed closet (Moment of Truth – my pantry is like that TV sitcom closet that everything falls out of when you open the door). To prep for that, I am organizing EVERYTHING in the cupboards and drawers. Cleaning out the junk, tossing things hither and yon and generally acting like it is spring with all the cleaning and organizing. I don’t do this in the spring, I am too excited to get out doors. With the colder weather and the work life changes that I am going thru, this is the PERFECT time to attack the big nasty jobs. I probably should have taken a BEFORE picture so you could really appreciate the AFTER, but here are my spice cabinet (well, most of it) and salt collection with all the lovely labeled jars thanks to Ikea and a Brother Label Maker.

This is kind of what the cabinets will look like when completed.

I have decided that if I can have this done before my birthday in January, I can forgo setting up a tree, but that doesn’t mean there will be no gifts! Oh, there will be, but I am sorry to tell all of you there will be NO cookies this year if I get my way. If the kitchen is ripped up, how will I bake? If PART of it is done I will make everyone’s 2 fave cookies and that’s it. No fancy cookie platters (especially after last year).

As I get ready for the winter, I felt myself yearning to do the canning thing again – so I did – I love that “plink” sound when the lids seal!

And I find myself “nesting”; creating a more comfy space for me to live and work in, and I keep bouncing from task to task, project to project. There are three going on right now, none of them near completion. The Hubby is a real sport about it too. What’s the next project? Turning my “office” into a sewing room. There is absolutely no point in me leaving that space as an office when I am changing jobs and find myself working at the kitchen table more often than not. Perhaps a shared space for a while? But of course that means divesting myself of even MORE stuff. Maybe a little Pre Xmas sale of all the cool kitchen gadgets that are sitting up in my office? Or maybe I can just give them away as gifts…

On a more somber note – Chef Charlie Trotter of Chicago died today. A James Beard Award winner and mentor and inspiration to countless chefs and cooks across the country. RIP Chef.

I have never claimed to be an expert on anything. REALLY. Even though my friend’s ex-husband called me a walking encyclopedia and an old boss (at my worst waitressing job ever) called me “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”. But in the age of everyone being an expert on something, I have begun to wonder about a few things.

I recently went to someone’s business webpage, knowing they are NOT a Chef, Food Writer, Food Critic or culinary professional of any kind, and it said they were, “…recipe developer, professional taster, photographer…” and on and on. With at least 7 things this person claims to do as a profession, are they saying they are a modern day DaVinci? Assuming that you want to hire an expert or a professional, would you think someone who claims to be SO many things is really good at any of them? I thought it was ludicrous that someone would claim to be a professional expert in ALL of these seemingly incongruous fields in addition to others I didn’t list.

So I got to thinking…I know, dangerous. I have been told that K9 squad dogs can only be trained for one sniffing job. A dog can’t be trained to sniff out drugs AND bombs AND cadavers. A sommelier and a cicerone have to go through extensive training and testing to be listed as experts in their field and claim those titles and I don’t personally know of anyone who is BOTH. They need to be able to identify several styles of wine or beer by taste, sight and smell alone. Doctors and lawyers have to be accredited by an oversight organization in order to practice and be considered professionals, as do many other professions, and while someone may in fact pass both tests, rarely do they practice both at the same time. And let’s talk about the artistic endeavors as well. Just because you have a camera, that doesn’t make you a photographer any more than owning a paint brush makes you a painter.

Most Chefs I know work in recipe and menu development for their chosen venue. They all have culinary backgrounds. In the food industry, there are corporate Chefs who work behind the scenes to create the food you buy off the shelves and in chain restaurants. You don’t think those amazing Ben & Jerry’s flavors magically appear by formula do you? There is a STAFF of people working together in recipe and flavor development. In order to be a “recipe developer” what are the necessary qualifications? Do you have to have a culinary background or is tossing together a few ingredients enough? Does working in the kitchen in ANY capacity, either home or professional, and tweaking a recipe make you a recipe developer? Any Mom who has made the perfect meatloaf worked in recipe development? If so, then I am a recipe developer. Check one for me.

Professional Taster? REALLY? You must be joking. Whoever heard of such a thing? Well, okay, sommeliers and cicerones ARE professional tasters, but see notes above. Professional taster of WHAT exactly? Could I call this person up and say, “Hey, I have a batch of [insert your food choice here] I need you to come and taste it? What is the going rate for that? How do they get paid? Is this a growth industry? If so, where do I sign up? If a Chef is a professional and he tests his recipes on his wife, then all Chefs’ wives are professional tasters as are all of his friends and family who I am sure are guinea pigs at one time or another. I like to eat out and I always tell the truth when I am asked how my food is. Does that make me a professional taster? Does telling a Chef what you honestly think about their food make you a professional taster? Is knowing the difference between herbs and spices the designator? Most everyone I know has taste buds, so is that the only qualifier? If so, then I am a professional taster too. Check two for me.

Do you see where I am going with this? No? Let me explain. Everyone’s tastes are different. Yes, I will admit that some people have a more highly developed sense of taste than others (Moment of Truth – I am in the highly developed category, what’s called a “Supertaster”, I gave up counting at 37 on this test and yes, my tongue is still blue and slightly irritated from the test). Does being a supertaster make me qualified to write this blog, restaurant reviews or a cookbook? Not really. Does it make me qualified to be a food critic? Maybe, but having someone hire me to do that is what would make me a professional, and frankly I would LOVE to get paid for my thoughts and opinions. Who wouldn’t? Do you know what makes a restaurant/food critic a professional in their field? There are several things. They know how to write, and write well! They know food. They know what they like and WHY they like it. They can explain to you what they like in terms that you will understand. Even if you don’t agree with them, you will see their point. For example, I often agree with John Curtas on quality of food, but I don’t always agree with him on anything else, but I do see his point more times than not. They, in essence, ARE professional tasters of a sort.

So the bottom line is this: Whenever anyone gives you a line like, “I am a professional taster”, just look at them and say, “Oh, really? Where did you get your certification?” Or you can use my line, “Bitch, please! I eat food, so am I!”

I have a love/hate relationship with autumn. I love the cooler weather. I love the fact that I can now use my oven without turning the house into a sauna. As much as I love Vegas, I hate the fact that I am here and true autumn is elsewhere. I am melancholy and miss the east coast during the cool crisp mornings of October.

This year, I asked my friends back east (and let me clarify, “back east” means the northeast part of the country) to send me pics of the leaves, and while I appreciate it, and the images are lovely, it’s not the same as being there. If you have never lived on the east coast, or visited there in October, the sights are truly awe inspiring. The vistas will literally take your breath away. Does the term “riot of color” have any meaning for you? If so, then you can partially grasp what I am talking about. It has been nearly 20 years since I have seen The Leaves. Growing up in upstate New York, we always had the “leaf peepers” from The City (oh, and BTW there is only ONE city). They were a menace! Stopping in the middle of the street to take pics, getting lost, coming into our family store for directions and not buying so much as a cup of coffee. I never understood the fascination with the changing of the seasons until I didn’t have it. Folks who live in NYC don’t look at the Statue of Liberty the same way the rest of us do. Those living in St. Louis – and I used to – drive by the Arch without so much as a backward glance. (Moment of Truth – when I lived in Spain and went to Segovia to see one of the few remaining functioning ancient aqueducts in the world, I wondered if the locals took it for granted, or if they marveled daily). That’s the way I was about the leaves. Now I crave the visual, but more than that, I crave the smells.

Our property, 20 acres, backed onto an orchard. We used to walk through the woods, cross the stone wall, yes, a real one, and snitch apples from the trees. The orchard owners didn’t care – there were plenty to go around. John and I had been married a couple of years and he always sneered at me because I wouldn’t eat apples from the store. He said I was being foolish, that they tasted fine – remember, he grew up in NYC. The first time I took him to snitch apples and he ate one fresh off the tree, he understood and never gave me shit about it again. All too frequently I go to the grocers and want that fresh picked experience and it just isn’t there. The orchard has a SMELL in the fall, and it isn’t just the apples. There is something alchemical about the breakdown of everything as the trees get ready to “hibernate”. The bark and leaves smell different. Maybe it is the air temp that makes it all smell fresh and amazing, but I doubt it.

Yes, I know Gilcrease Farm is right around the corner from my house. Yes, I go there and pick my own fresh produce, but it just isn’t the same somehow. I am not sure if it is the variety of the apples, the fact that “civilization” has grown up around the farm or what, but it just doesn’t smell the same. Perhaps it is mental. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t have to travel through a canopy of deciduous trees aflame with color to get there. I don’t know. I appreciate them being here in the Valley, but it doesn’t replace or compare to the memories of my youth.

Of course once all the apples were picked, we had to do SOMETHING with them, so apple crisp, cobblers and apple sauce were all made. The house smelled fantastic. It was almost ritualistic. Sister Janece and I often had mini bake offs and I will tell you, her apple crisp is better than mine, any day of the week. She had a gift for baking even as a young person and now she is a VERY accomplished baker. So now, what do I do to make my house smell “fall-ish”? My mind has turned from apples to other things. I braise beef shanks for hours with candy cap mushrooms, I make soup and stew, I bake bread. Is it a new tradition or a way to distance myself from what I know I can’t have? Either way the food is good and smells great…it’s not an orchard or the sweet, musty smell of leaves decaying, but it is my new autumnal smell.

Thanks to Sister Nancy and Friend Jenn for the gorgeous pics you are about to see. The orchard ones are from Nancy. And here is a TIP for you when buying apples: Flip the apple onto its top. If the part of the flower that made up the bottom is tightly closed it is good to buy. If you see a hole there, put it back. It’s probably been in cold storage and will be mealy and flavorless. The pic below is a GOOD example.

Next week? Gourds…?

All too often we do things, without thinking, that while seemingly second nature or insignificant to us, have a massive impact on those around us, for good or for bad. I was reminded of that numerous times this week, in one fashion or another. Consider daily routines for a moment. When you are nice to the waitstaff and tip well, it means the world to them, but may be insignificant to you. Saying “please” and “thank you” are second nature, but the bank teller taking care of you may have just had the MOST difficult client. Listening to someone tell the same anecdote for the umpteenth time is just being polite, but it makes the teller feel valued and important. Holding the door open for the mom struggling with the stroller and the toddler is a matter of course, but she really appreciates that 3rd hand.

I have volunteered for our local Feeding America Food Bank, Three Square, for nearly 6 years. Although it is second nature for me to give back to the community I live in, I seldom think about the true impact that my actions have, or the way people view my charity work. For the past year I have acted as the chairperson on a committee to host DISH Las Vegas – the largest fundraiser for Three Square. My actions were called to the forefront before, during and after this event. Let me make it clear that I don’t volunteer to receive accolades or recognition. I volunteer to feel good about myself and to participate as part of the solution to a problem in the city in which I live.

So here is what I learned (or was reminded of) thru this experience:
 If I am passionate about a project, people will want to work on it with me
 I should trust my instincts more
 Mother Nature doesn’t take requests
 I can appear calm, even when I am a nervous wreck
 I can’t please everyone all the time
 Being nice costs me nothing (most times) and pays unforeseen dividends
 Some people work their own agendas under the guise of charity
 Surprising people by going the extra mile is fun!
 Don’t feed the trolls
 Don’t poke the bears
 I cry more easily when people say nice things about me than when they say mean things
 A pat on the back is just a few vertebrae away from a kick in the pants, but is miles apart in results – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 Food brings people together
 Cash is King – put your money where your mouth is
 Some people will complain no matter what happens to/for them
 I don’t like to be hugged by some people, but I do hug most people (yes, I am a hugger)
 I can’t control everything
 My friends are amazing people and I am lucky to have them
 And lastly this from Christopher Robin:

The event was enjoyed by nearly 1000 people. I don’t remember most of it because it all happened so fast! All of the pics below were taken by Hubby John, or friends. I never touched a camera all night! If you want to see pics of the food, please go here to my friend Al Mancini’s blog. He and his fabulous wife Sue worked on the committee with me, and I am grateful for their help and dedication. Overall it was a success.

Thank you to all of you who showed up, participated, organized or otherwise helped to make this year’s DISH Las Vegas a wonderful event. There is still work to do to solve the hunger problem, but I am up to the challenge. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…

This weekend I learned that contrary to popular belief, Vegas is NOT a 24 -7 – 365 town!

Sunday Friend Lynn had a landmark birthday – one that ended in a 0 – and we went to downtown to celebrate. I checked websites and either I misread the details, or the sites were wrong, so our plans were foiled! The PLAN was to bowl at Drink & Drag at 4 and then eat and drink on Fremont Street. We arrived and found out that D & D (not Dungeons & Dragons) opened at 6…so we decided to eat first. Considering it was Pride Weekend, I thought they’d be open (Hello? Drag Queens and bowling?), and it never occurred to me that my fave places to eat downtown would be closed on a weekend…I was WRONG-O MaryLou!

Our merry little party went to La Comida and they were closed, then we went to Le Thai, also closed! So we ended up at Hennessey’s (the big pint glass?) and had a meal there before bowling. The cocktails were the highlight, the food nothing special. Well, because of the reversal of order, some of our friends couldn’t stay to bowl for various reasons (work the next day, parental duties, etc…) and so our smaller merry little band went to bowl afterwards. If you haven’t been to Drink & Drag, it is FUN, even early in the evening, but I will warn you – the lanes were STICKY. I am not sure if it was poor maintenance or humidity, but either way it made the games interesting and the birthday girl had the high score for the day!

So my question is this: Is the late opening and complete closures of some businesses on a weekend part of the Zapppos-ification of downtown or are these small Mom & Pop joints actually honoring their employees with a family day? Either is fine, I just wish I had been better prepared! I felt like I failed my best bud on her landmark birthday.

I love the fact that Zappos is taking over a goodish portion of downtown and making old, tired places so much better…mostly. I was thrilled with ALL of the work they were doing, right up until they bought The Bunkhouse and closed it. For those of you who don’t know, The Bunkhouse was one of the oldest continually operating bars in Vegas (opened in 1947 if memory serves) and it remained open and operational on its original site until Zappos bought it. Many of the people in my friend group have such great memories of that place. Friend Lillian’s dad used to go there in his heyday, and according to legend was 86ed from there as well. Two men I know proposed to their wives there between sets when the Yeller Bellies were playing. The Bunkhouse was a downtown institution. So, what happens to it now? Will it be cleaned up, Zappos-ified and reopened? Apparently it is under renovation. Will it face some terrible fate, like being turned into a yuppified version of itself? I wish I knew. I just know that it won’t be the same.

I am so glad such an eclectic group came and helped Lynn end her decade. Of course, as we are wont to do, there will be more celebratory events throughout Lynn-tember, including Back of the House Brawl this Saturday and concluding with a party at the end of the month (if we can get our shit together). Party on Wayne! Party on Garth! Here is a little nonsense to enjoy:

I love food. It’s not a secret. I love to cook. I love the looks on people’s faces when they taste something fantastic. I have always chosen food based charities as my charities of choice. I have chosen to work as a Consultant for The Pampered Chef (the link is to my website) for more than 15 years because of their commitment to Feeding America (our National Food Bank Chain). I find that people with full bellies are much nicer to be around. I have also found that food is a way of bringing people together, whether it is around the table for a meal or around a table discussing how to feed others.

Yesterday Friend Heidi posted this video to Facebook:

Moving isn’t it? It brought me to tears. I KNOW that I do a LOT to help solve the hunger problems in my community. I PARTICIPATE. I get out there and work food drives; I show up; I donate cash; I speak out and I am involved, but this man humbled me. He feeds their bodies and their souls. His comment, “Everybody has got 5.5 liters of blood. I am just a human being. For me, everybody is the same”, really drove it home. I wondered at his selflessness. Could I be doing more? It struck me that no matter how much I personally do, there will always be more work to be done. I can’t do it alone, so I am very thankful for organizations like Three Square and Feeding America. I know there are a LOT of great organizations out there, but for me it all boils down to one thing: If people have food to eat, that’s one less thing they have to worry about. And like this man, I choose to work locally.

Are you ready to get involved? Do you want to know how you can help? Here’s a list of options for you to explore:
 CASH IS KING – donate cash to your local food bank. In many cases they can buy food at $0.09/lb. so that cash donation will go really far! In Las Vegas, $1 buys 3 meals!
 VOLUNTEER – your time is priceless, in more ways than one. If you volunteer your time, it means the food bank doesn’t have to hire someone to do that job, which means more $$ can go to feeding people. Besides, it will make you feel good – I promise.
 Deliver for your local Meals on Wheels chapter. Sister Nancy did this before going back to work full-time. She said the home bound senior citizens were happy for the food, but even happier for the company (nourishing bodies and souls).
 Click HERE to find your local Feeding America Food Bank and call them, visit their website and find out how you can get involved.
 Wear Orange on September 5th to show your support of Hunger Action Month.
 Hold your own Food Drive. I know my friend Chrisi Ricker holds food drives on her own for her local food bank in Youngstown, OH. You can too!
 Share this blog so others can learn how to get involved.

If you live in Las Vegas, here are even more ways to get involved:
 It’s Restaurant Week – choose from over 100 restaurants! When you purchase their specially priced menu, a portion of your purchase price will be donated to Three Square – up to 18 meals donated when you Help Out by Dining Out just once. Going on NOW – the 30th.
 Attend Roasting Las Vegas September 3rd – at Three Square – watch the Chefs fire back at the local Food Critics. It’s only $25 which translates into 75 meals. Skip that ultra latte deluxe for a few days and you have your admission fee! Buy your tix HERE!
 Attend DISH Las Vegas – September 26th at the Palms – it is the biggest Fundraiser of the year for Three Square – hey visitors! You can come too! You will want to have VIP tix ($125 = 375 meals) because there is a private performance by Million Dollar Quartet in the VIP hour, plus a private VIP lounge and early entry to the event. Buy your TIX NOW – limited quantities available! And if you want to be a sponsor let me know in the comments section – levels starting at $1000 include 10 VIP tix and more.
 Share this blog with others so they can get involved – remember – many hands make light work.

So that’s it – what started as a humbling experience has made me reach out even more to do MORE in my community. What will YOU do?

It’s the end. Pretty soon, if not already, the kids will be back in school and our days will take on a new rhythm. This is the time of year that I find very difficult to find inspiration to get in the kitchen. It’s like I am stuck. I am stuck between BBQ entertaining and long slow braises. I am bored with the BBQ, but the temps are still in the triple digits here and too hot for the oven to be working for long stretches of time (Moment of Truth – DO NOT talk to me about a crockpot – that is only for keeping things warm when serving, there is only one thing I COOK in the crockpot and it is pulled pork). I don’t want summer to end, but I can’t wait for autumn (even though we really don’t have a TRUE autumn in the desert). I even see the boredom on the covers of food magazines. This is the time of year when they roll out their “Best New Restaurants”, “New Kitchen Tools You Can’t Live Without”, “Chefs at the Top of Their Game” blah, blah, blah issues. IN July and August it was Ice Cream, Paletas and how to have the perfect Picnic/BBQ/Cookout. I don’t want to REALLY cook, and I frankly don’t want to go anywhere either. You would think this would make for a fab weight loss plan, but alas, I still weigh the same.

I think part of my ennui comes from back to school. When Jack lived at home full time, I couldn’t wait for school to start. You know that Staples Commercial?
That was me. Sister Nancy FOR YEARS had a Thank God They Are Going Back to School “Thanksgiving Day” dinner with friends to celebrate the beginning of the school year. They made a complete turkey dinner with all the fixin’s. For some reason her kids were insulted that there was a celebration about NOT having them around all of the time. Now that Jack goes off to school for 9 months of the year, I find I am in less of a hurry to have school start mainly because I won’t get to see my beloved only child for months at a time. On the one hand, I find myself wanting to cook his favorites for him, but not wanting to waste the time in the kitchen. On the other hand, I think going out to eat would be good because then we all can sit and enjoy the meal, but no one has a good idea of where to go or what to eat. We are all bored.

Jack, however, can’t wait for school to start. He can’t wait to leave Las Vegas and get back to Flagstaff where they have different weather, different perspectives and all of his friends are lined up waiting to get the party started again. He’s tired of doing chores, and I am tired of reminding him to do them. I guess I am ready for him to go as well. When he first comes home for the summer, the sleeping until 10 or 11 is kind of cute in a “Oh Honey, let him sleep. He’s young. We did the same thing when we were his age,” way. Now that he’s been home since May, I feel he should be on our sleep schedules by now and yet, he is still in bed most days long after we are up and at ’em I want to strip naked and go skinny dipping (or chunky dunking in this case), but I can’t do that with my son in the house. The fact that we are ready to part means I did a good job. I won’t even cry when I drop him at school this weekend.

Well thank goodness Friday starts the Fall Restaurant Week Fundraiser for Three Square. Roughly 100 restaurants around the city have created special menus at special pricing and part of the purchase price goes to the Food Bank. Planning on eating out in Vegas between the 23rd and the 30th? Well here is your list of GO TO places so you can lift a fork to help fight hunger!

In an effort to combat boredom I invited a couple of folks over for dinner tomorrow night. I decided to make the menu a bridge between summer and fall We’ll be having pulled pork sandwishes with Ancho Chile and Cider BBQ Sauce (sauce on the side of course), cole slaw, fried green tomatoes w/chipotle mayo, watermelon and whatever else I decide to make tomorrow. Thank you, Sister Tina, for the link to this great rub for the pork. The pork has been massaged and is resting in the fridge until tomorrow morning when it goes in the crockpot. Hey, wait! I am not so bored anymore!

Have a great week! Look for pics from my Restaurant Week shenanigans in next week’s posting.