I have to agree with you on those special dinners. I’ve quit going to them because
I always cook on the weekend. I used to bake too but now that I’m only cooking for 1, the desserts seem to go bad before I can eat them all, so many ended up going to work with me. The guys in IT will eat pretty much anything
I try and make a new recipe each weekend. I have this terrible addiction to cookbooks and too often they used to sit after I read them even though I had identified recipes I thought I’d like to try. So, I usually pick 1-3 recipes from a cookbook and make them over the weekend. I also frequently make a large batch of something so that I’ll have leftovers to take for lunch during the week or weeknight dinner. I can get home anywhere from 5:30 - 7:30 and on Thursday I have an evening class. Having something in the fridge that easy to grab and heat makes things easier. I make my own lettuce mixes, so I usually clean, dry and prep whatever greens I’m going to use for the week once I get them home from the store or farmers market.
I cook on the weekends because I generally have time and because if I didn’t, opening my refrigerator to forage for dinner would be much like an episode of Chopped…lot of ingredients that may, or may not play well together, and at 6 or 6:30 pm not a lot of time.
Too bad you missed the Spirit of Baja event, DD. The one that’s the topic of this thread. Not b-o-r-I-n-g in the slightest. And I’ll take small portions of SOTA quality anytime as opposed to a huge dinner at Godfather.
DC, I’m not talking about huge portions of anything. Many of the food events I’ve attended charge big $$$ for a few bites of food that can be wildly exciting or dreadful that is unevenly served because the chef and staff are hustling to keep up with the never ending line of “diners” - and I use that term loosely - who paid their $75, $100, $125 and feel they are entitled to as much as they can shovel in.
I’m just really over these events.
Yeah. OK. Thanks, DD. Understood.
Hopefully not jaded beyond consideration wrt special cases.
The number of courses (combined with the portion size) are unfortunately disappointing at such events. Regular tasting menus are in nearly all restaurants a much better ROI (and we have yet to find a restaurant which isn’t willing to do tasting menus even if they aren’t officially on the menu), e.g. recent one at J&I had 10 courses with about additional 7-8 snacks in between the courses and wine/beer/cocktail pairing for about $230 (all included)
We were not disappointed with the number of courses nor portion sizes at the Spirit of Baja. It was great fun and great food and wine.
Also, I personally don’t take “ROI” into account anywhere I go to eat.
P.S. We were with family from the Bay Area this week and they had no clue as to what I was talking about when describing Nueva Baja cuisine, as epitomized by the work of Javier Plascencia. This style of alta gastranomia de Baja is to be found, NOTB, in San Diego only.
That sounds very familiar. I always think I could stop buying them for some time but somehow new ones seem to appear from time to time at home
Yes at my core I am primarily a cook. I grew up working in restaurants since I was 8 years old all the way through my undergraduate years. Gardening and cooking are my driving passions and what I look forward to most. I have a large variety of fruit trees and also have maintained my own garden since 1989. I am very lucky to have many good friends that own high end wineries, vineyards, and restaurants. I have had my own wine cellar since 1990 and love to collect small production wines and wines from important years . … anniversary, kids birth years, etc… I am also addicted to farmers markets, butcher stores, wine, and Japanese kitchen knives.
I rarely ever cook from a cook book or recipe, but cook through the week based on the garden and what I gather over the weekend, which is whatever is in season and looks good… My whole family calls me the gatherer. Basically I cook based on what inspires me at the time. Some times its what I see at the markets, or in the garden, or something I saw on TV, or a bottle of wine, or a dish I ate travelling. I probably spend half my free time cooking. I make a large variety of hot sauces out of the garden (and grow around 20 different chile varieties). I also grow and make my own chipotles and paprikas. I love to smoke my own bacon, sausages and other meats. I admit that I am a food hoarder and maintain an extensive pantry, freezer, and wine locker. I have collected a large variety of kitchen equipment that allows me to make just about anything I can dream up. I have friends in the food industry and love to help them create new dishes.
I was the primary cook making 90% of the family’s meals over the last 20 years. Now that I’m an empty nester, I am only cooking for two, so this has changed my approach to less is more where I make smaller preparations with higher quality ingredients. Probably eat out a total of 3 meals a week and almost always find a snack at the farmers market (my guilty pleasure). All the rest is cooking.
How wonderful that you and your ‘life partner’ have been together for 27 years!
I think the separate house thing is the answer. . .hell, my DH, wants to buy the house next door to our custom built home and build another home and styled out with his own ‘man cave’ and hang…
I’m so good with that…
Love that Rhonely!
I’m sure your wife & family totally dig your ‘gatherer’ quality about you…
Loving how you roll, bruddha!
Just curious, why not ? It’s not that we take a very scientific or close look on “ROI” but especially at more expensive restaurants (and sometimes when we set up tasting menus) we compare prices and see if they are reasonable in line. Sometimes restaurants are so overpriced that I don’t think we want to “support” their approach, e.g. when we tried to set up a tasting menu with Market in Del Mar with prices from them above French Laundry (and we wouldn’t count them in our top 10 list of restaurants in SD but sometimes chefs really surprise you when they can cook far outside of the regular menu)
I don’t really have an answer for that, Honk, it’s just the way I feel about dining out. If I really like a restaurant, I’ll groan if it seems overpriced, but will return nonetheless.
Just noticed that whoever (cough, cough) moved this into a separate thread (ahem) spelled Javier Plascencia’s name wrong in the title (gasp).
Corrected.
You’re just lucky I didn’t spell it the other way.
DC, there’s another Baja Med event coming up on May 16th that might interest you and your partner.
Kettner Exchange is host a “Baja Exhcange” with Miguel Angel Guerrero on May 16th at their Little Italy resto. Miguel Angel is the chef that trademarked the term Baja Med as a means to represent the fusion of garden, oceans, what you can hunt and the influences from Italian and Asian immigrants.
Price is $125. I’ve had Miguel Angels food and like it quite a bit. No mention of it on their website at this time
Thanks. I’ll look into this if I can find more info. Might have a scheduling conflict mid-May though; not set in concrete yet.
It’s really too bad the term “Baja Med” is trademarked. I like it, but other restaurants can’t use that term. Adding to the confusion, many people, unaware of the trademark issue, think that’s the right thing to call all such cuisine. For my part, I’ve taken to calling it “Nueva Baja”, and never use the expression “Baja Med”.
Yes, now planning on going – many thanks to you and Honk. It’ll be interesting to sample his “Baja Med” interpretation of Nueva Baja cuisine.
Miguel Angel’s food is different than Javier’s. I think comparison is difficult. Same genre but way different interpretation. I like both their food.
For me, Javier’s food is a little more refined and lighter. Miguel Angel’s food is slightly less refined, a little more exuberant and a little more meat-centric since he hunts, fishes and dives and some of what he bags ends up in one of his restaurants.