Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Finally reported about Brasserie Pascal as Orange County Food Examiner, as I said I would.  It’s a worthy restaurant indeed, but still contemplating continued involvement with, and value of, the Examiner gig.  It seems that most find us here or through I Need Text, not E.  And then there’s the pop-up and photo size issues.  No bueno E!  Is it appropriate to be jeering ’em here?  Well, it is my party.  Maybe I’ll get kicked off the big paper. 😉

Quick Dip — Is that an oxymoron?  Chocolate was melted in the microwave and Oreo Cookies were being dipped 5 minutes from commencement.  And Mickey Moused, because Chocolate wasn’t tempered, nor mixed with wax, cream or butter.  Instead, Milk and White Chocolate Chips were separately melted at 50% power, in approx. 50 second intervals and stirred in between.  It was fast and turned out good, but not as great as those you buy, or the ones my friend Loretta makes.  I don’t think she’d approve of these, but we’re always experimenting.

I was most proud of the design I created on the White Chocolate Dipped Oreo above.

Dippin’ leftover Oreos in Chocolate, from the Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes we made.

Haphazard about thickness and decoration, but wanted to make ’em quick.

All was made in about 10 minutes, which is obvious looking at some.  Next time I’ll pipe the Chocolate through a baggie tip rather than use a spoon — Better design control, less sloppy.

Funny thing, growing up I wasn’t an Oreo Cookie fan and when I did have them, I’d eat the outsides and throw away the middle.  I hadn’t purchased them in years and this time didn’t need to ditch the middle.  Is there less than there used to be, like too many things?

Have you tried Houston’s BBQ Pork Ribs aka Knife & Fork Ribs?  They’re some of the best I’ve had and a model for how I want my Baby Back Ribs to be.  And I’m content knowing I’ve previously accomplished it, BUT sometimes there’s not the time, nor grill, then what?

The above Baby Back Ribs were baked in the oven at 400° for 1 hour wrapped in foil (fat/meat side down), then unwrapped, turned over and lathered with BBQ Sauce and cooked 20 – 30 minutes longer unwrapped.  Below is how they looked, prior to turning to sauce.

And separately below we experimented with a Dry Rub on a different slab of Baby Back Ribs.

Last year at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco, I was given a Brown Sugar Pork Rub developed by Tyler Florence.  I finally tried it on this second slab of Ribs.  And to compound the test, we cooked them as described above, but at 225° for 3 hours.

The consensus, the slower cooked Dry Rub Baby Back Ribs fell apart while cutting, not attractive for serving, and unnecessary since the top Ribs cooked in half the time and were perfectly tender.  That recipe is from Delicious House.  It’s a keeper happily collected, posted and linked here for future use.

And I’m sorry to report that I wasn’t excited by Tyler’s Brown Sugar Pork Rub, and it sounded so good too, but Salt and Pepper worked better on the first slab of Baby Backs, a winner.

Happy April Fools’ Day!  You better stay away from me today.  How about some Chocolate Covered Insects?  Perhaps you may want to add them to a bowl of Chocolates and step back and watch the unsuspecting.  Just kidding — Don’t do that.  I wouldn’t, anymore. 😉

I still feel bad about the Dog Beef Jerky joke I played on someone years ago.  Moving on to the suspecting… Our friend Ray volunteered to try the pictured Chocolate Covered Worms and Crickets, as I just couldn’t.  He described them as follows… 

They had no actual taste for the most part.  They were not slimy.  Kind of had the texture and taste of Chocolate Covered Pretzels!

Thanks for the report Ray!  You’re a trooper and certainly no fool.

I made Flour Tortillas for the first time, but chose the wrong recipe, which seems to have a bad Flour to Vegetable Shortening/Lard ratio.  Not enough Flour (2 1/2 Cups) for the (10 Tbsps) of Shortening noted.  After comparison to other Flour Tortilla recipes, it’s obvious they would turn out too greasy.  I’m not sure how/why the recipe worked so well for the esteemed blogger, because it didn’t work for me, aside from how it may look posted here. 

It was recommended that I use Lard instead of Vegetable Shortening, but after visiting three stores that didn’t carry it, I opted for Crisco.  I don’t think the use of Lard would have improved this recipe, but next time I’ll give it a fair try using less tablespoons.  Although the noted measurements didn’t work well, the ingredients and steps to create future Flour Tortillas are generally the same as posted.

Start with Flour.

Add Baking Powder and Salt.

Add Vegetable Shortening or Lard.

Cut Shortening/Lard into Flour, Baking Powder and Salt combination.

Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Gettin’ there.

Add Hot Water to mixture.

Stir mixture together, then knead Dough until it becomes a cohesive ball that’s less sticky.

Let Dough rest for about an hour, then divide into ping pong size balls and let rest again.

Roll out each between two sheets of plastic to form Flour Tortillas.

Cook each in a dry skillet for about 50 seconds per side.  The recipe notes to cook the Tortillas for 20 – 30 seconds each side, but it wasn’t long enough to obtain the desired brown specks.

Doesn’t the above Tortilla look like a fish?

They look good, but didn’t taste that great.

Our homemade Corn Tortillas turned out better, but we’ll try to make the Flour Tortillas again.

Looks good, right?  They do now.  And they tasted good too.  Often times there’s a transitional period when things look a mess, before coming together.  This occurrence is true for many types of creations.  In this instance, it was the Cheese and Sauce that straightened out the look of these imperfect Chicken Enchiladas.  All happened brilliantly in the end.

How to make them — Cut or shred breast meat from a Rotisserie Chicken.

Add Green Onions.

Add Cheese — For ease, I cheated by using pre-grated Jack and Cheddar.

Mix ingredients together and set aside until Tortillas are ready to be filled.

Dip Tortillas in warm Sauce before filling them.  It makes them a little more pliable to roll.  The Sauce used for these Chicken Enchiladas was from El Matador Restaurant.  Got some to go — It’s almost the same price as a canned Sauce, but better tasting.  We recommend buying Enchilada Sauce from a good Mexican restaurant in lieu of canned, if you don’t make your own.

My Mom says I need to fry the Tortillas in Oil for a minute or so to make them even more malleable, but I always try to avoid that step and too often get the same bad result… cracking Tortillas.  She’s right, again.  And since the Tortillas were homemade and thicker than most, the breakage was worse, as shown below.

Cheese and Sauce to the rescue — Hide the Enchilada imperfections.

Now you can’t tell the Tortillas cracked and went off the deep end.

Aside from how they appear underneath, everyone liked how they looked coming to the table.  Their flavor and facade was dialed in with Cheese and Sauce.  Whew, they saved this meal.

In less than a minute, Zane Lamprey set a world record opening 31 Champagne bottles with a saber, surpassing the previous record of 27.  What is Sabering?  Watch the video.  He says it took a lot of practice and Champagne, which isn’t cheap — It’s not a Nobel Art for just anyone.  Lamprey will attempt to break his own record soon for an upcoming episode of his HDNet original program, “Drinking Made Easy.”  A new episode airs every Wednesday.  What’s up with the monkey?

Don’t you find that practically everything takes longer to cook than the package states?  I do.  Why do most manufacturers get it wrong on the label?  Is it to entice us to buy?  Oh, it only takes 10 minutes to cook — Let’s get it!  The small print should read… But if you want this product to taste good, it’ll really take 20 minutes.  I was reminded of this once again after wrongly conceding the 20 – 30 minute cooking time on a package of dried Split Peas.  Of course I opted for 30 minutes, but at that point I was still crunching on Peas.  And when all was said and done, an hour later they were finally right.  What’s up with that?  Is it just one big, bad psychological marketing ploy?

A few months back, I entered the Tonnino Tuna Chef Challenge for which I created a recipe using Tonnino Tuna and a video preparing same.  I didn’t expect to win (and didn’t), since my first recipe video was fraught with technical errors, but I did learn a lot, like not to take longer to combine the recipe ingredients than the video is allowed to be.  That’s pretty important!  

Aside from the video, the recipe turned out damn good — And now that the competition is officially over, I’ve decided to publish my Calypso Tuna Cakes recipe below.  To find out more about the challenge, recipe and video see here.

Regarding competitions, challenges and contests… It’s not cool, right, nor appreciated if/when entry deadlines are extended — It’s a little unfair, inequitable, unprofessional, misleading and disrespectful to those who entered on-time or by the competition’s posted deadline.  The Tonnino Tuna Chef Challenge deadline was extended twice.  I didn’t like that and hope not to encounter it again.  However, I am pleased to discover Tonnino’s high quality Tuna.  It’s impressive, but not inexpensive.

Calypso Tuna Cakes

1 (6.7 oz.) Jar of Tonnino Tuna Fillets with Jalapeno in Olive Oil (loosely chopped)

1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (1/4 Cup for Tuna Cake mixture + ¼ Cup for Tuna Cake coating)

1 Egg

1 Tbsp. chopped Cilantro

1 Tbsp. chopped Green Onions

1 Tbsp. Lime Zest

1/3 Cup Corn (roasted and cut off cob)

1/3 Cup Red Bell Pepper (diced)

1 Tsp. of Mayonnaise

1/4 Tsp. Cumin

Olive Oil for baking sheet

* A little reserved Jalapeno Olive Oil, if necessary to moisten Tuna Cake mixture (optional).

Preheat oven (and a baking sheet) at 400°.

Combine all ingredients reserving 1/4 Cup of Bread Crumbs on a plate.  Mix other ingredients together and form into (4 – 6) Tuna Cakes depending on preferred size.  Coat each Tuna Cake with the reserved Bread Crumbs.  Add Olive Oil to the heated baking sheet, and then add the Tuna Cakes.  Bake for 15 minutes turning once halfway through.  Remove from the oven, cool slightly and dig into the Calypso — YUM!

The Calypso Tuna Cake above was served with a blend of Chipotle Peppers and Sour Cream, Pico De Gallo and Hava Chips.  And they’re named ‘Calypso’ for their regional ingredients, vibrant colors and tasty flavors, likened to the enlivening feeling of Calypso music.  Finally, it just so happens that I’ve met John of Food Wishes, the guy who actually won the Tonnino Tuna Chef Challenge and he’s a cool guy.  Congratulations John!

* Unfortunately the final Calypso Tuna Cake photos aren’t as fabulous as the recipe, but had to show something — To be replaced when made again.

Top Chef All-Stars started last week and airs again soon (Wednesdays on Bravo TV).  I like Top Chef, but haven’t been riveted by its happenings the past few seasons, though I’ve caught most shows, since they rerun them over and over.  And right now I’m happy to be excited about the show again, because of the All-Stars.  Already knowing the personalities makes it more interesting.  The formula was getting a little boring, although it’s better than most TV programming.  I admit to liking Millionaire Matchmaker and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills too — That Camille, I can’t stand her, but we talk food here.  Let’s get back to Top Chef All-Stars…

I like Carla.

I like Fabio too — Our Guest Blogger Bonnie recently reviewed his restaurant, Café Firenze posted here.  Last week during Top Chef All-Stars, Fabio was reamed by Judge Anthony Bourdain, who repeatedly said he “hated” his dish.  Trying to be funny, AB was pretty much a dick.  It’s unnecessary to be so dramatically negative, which applies to all judges, and cheers to Fabio for speaking up about it.  He handled himself well.  I probably would’ve cried after putting so much effort into it.

The All-Star Chefs were delivered the ingredients they used and had to pack their knives for and go, during his/her respective season.  Each had to make the dish better or at least passing this time — How fitting.  A perfect first challenge.

Wanted to quickly commentate on the photos and generally about the show, not provide a complete recap — Who has time?  Watch the show.  If further compelled, we’ll weigh in.

Although the pictured 14lb. Turkey cooked up too dry, it was only $3 and provided a lot of tasty meals.  I think the oven was too hot.  During the holidays, Turkey deals are everywhere.  It’s fun to get a giant Turkey for the price of a Chicken and better yet when it’s cooked well.  Lemon slices were placed under the skin of this one, unlike another Turkey we’ve shown.  Let’s see what happens next time — We try different methods and always shoot for juicy.

Prior to morphatizing the leftovers, we enjoyed the dark meat with Sage Mashed Potatoes (Potatoes, Butter, Sour Cream, Milk, roasted/fried Sage Leaves and Salt & Pepper), Roasted ‘What’s On-Hand’ Veggies (Celery, Carrots, Onions, Garlic and Sage Leaves roasted in the oven with Olive Oil, White Balsamic Vinegar and Salt & Pepper), and Cranberry Sauce made with fresh Cranberries, Water, Sugar and Orange Zest.

Then it’s on to make the Turkey Stock that’s strained through cheesecloth and skimmed of fat.  Prior to its preparation, most Turkey meat is obviously reserved to make the following or whatever YOU want.

We always have a Turkey Sandwich (or 10).  Sometimes it’s only Turkey Sandwiches, because they’re simple and good.  Sandwich variations are endless, but we often find basic the best.

This Turkey Chili was made with roasted and peeled Tomatoes and Chilis (Poblano, Anaheim, Jalapeno), Garlic, Turkey Stock, Chili Spices, drained Kidney and Garbanzo Beans, and large chunks of white meat Turkey.

Turkey Quesadillas with Sharp Cheddar and Pepper Jack Cheese, Salsa and Sour Cream.

Turkey Noodle Soup made with the Turkey Stock and leftover Roasted Veggies (pictured above), that were pureed, then strained to leave behind the Celery fibers — The process produced a flavorful Soup base in which to add Noodles and Turkey chunks.

An attempt at Shepherds Pie in a Mason Jar was put forth with a thickened version of the Turkey Soup (using Arrowroot), minus most Noodles, which was then topped with Sage Mashed Potatoes and Paprika and baked in the oven.

The Shepherds Pie wannabe ended up cooking together.  It was pushed over its fine line of doneness, bummer — There was a moment when it looked great and was surely hot enough to eat.  It should’ve been pulled out then.

Happy Holidays — Give a cheap Turkey a good home, your stomach.

Nibbles of Tidbits is asked to try a lot of products — Some immediately interest us and others we’re not so sure about.  Since we can’t, nor want to try ’em all, we choose to try food products we’re curious about, that are unique, that we think we’ll like, or because it’s offered/provided at the right time.  If we report about a product, it’s guaranteed to be honest, good or bad, rain or shine, although good, shiny days are preferred. 😉

In this instance, I wasn’t quite sure about trying Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze, a Non-Dairy Beverage made from real Almonds — I’m a hard core Milk drinker and the thought of Almond Breeze as a drink scared me.  I thought it would taste too sweet, but it’s not.

This product arrived timely in that I’d been wanting homemade Hot Chocolate and Almond Breeze came with an Almond Hot Chocolate recipe.  The stars aligned.  In addition, I love nuts (all kinds) and have purchased many Blue Diamond products over the years.  Their quality has been consistent.

I prepared the Almond Hot Chocolate by pouring hot (microwaved) Almond Breeze over Milk Chocolate Chips and powdered Cocoa (approx. 2 cups Almond Breeze, 6oz. Chocolate and 1 tsp. Cocoa) — Their official recipe is linked here.

Pour the hot Almond Breeze (or Milk) over the Chocolate Chips and Cocoa.

Prepare in individual cups with desired amount of Chocolate or in bulk to fill many cups.

Stir until Chocolate Chips are melted and Cocoa is blended.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Almond Hot Chocolate in a cup from my Great Grandma Moore.

The combination of ingredients makes a rich, luxurious Hot Chocolate and the hint of Almond puts it over the top — It adds a nice, toasted flavor.  Cheers to all my loving Grandmas!

Almond Breeze makes an excellent Hot Chocolate.  The taste of it alone was surprisingly good, as it’s not sweet — I actually liked it.

It’s noted that Almond Breeze can be substituted, cup for cup in many recipes, which sounds exciting, but it appears it’s not true when it comes to the basic Minute Tapioca recipe.  Its preparation with Almond Breeze didn’t work, as it never firmed up properly and remained too runny.  The Almond garnish sank — Bummer!  It tasted good warm and perhaps cold it could be served as a boba drink, not.

Overall, we’re nutty about this product discovery.

I’m pondering why I want to try this?  It looks kinda cool.  No disrespect to Eggs or Chickens or God, although what’s worse than eating ’em?  I do that.  Hhhhmmm, too deep right now and a downer topic for a food blog — Instead, check out more unique, interesting and funny food photos and videos at My Food Looks Funny.  They’ve collected some good stuff.

The Deep Fried Butter at the Orange County Fair is kinda like the giant horse you pay $5.75 to see, but viewing the horse is more satisfying.  It’s at the Heart Attack Cafe, the Butter, not the horse (yet) — Who knows, maybe next year.  We weren’t gonna bother with the Deep Fried Butter, but someone in the group had to have it.  They found another sucka, haha.

The deal is this… It’s basically a Churro that’s injected with Butter in the center, then plugged at both ends and frozen.  It’s then re-fried to order and one big yuck!  Why would anyone want a Butter-stuffed, frozen then refried Churro?  They serve them sweet with Cinnamon, Sugar and Whipped Cream, or savory with Garlic Salt, Parmesan and Marinara Sauce.  Either way it’s ridiculous, but surprisingly the Chips underneath were okay with the Marinara. 

Note:  The Marinara Sauce was so unexpectedly yummy that we asked the brand.  We learned it’s San Benito and will be looking for it in stores.  It appears something good came out of the Heart Attack Cafe afterall — Check out other crazy OC Fair food options here.

The above dish truly represents ‘The Bad‘ and ‘The Funny‘ about this blog.  The Tangerine Dream Bars (wannabe) was going to be an entry in the Culinary Arts Competition at the Orange County Fair, but it didn’t happen.  I was gonna cover the top with Powdered Sugar, but unfortunately there’s no masking the soupy, unset middle. 🙁 I’m not exactly sure what went wrong here, since it turned out good last time.  Wouldn’t you know it — Two hours before submission time I discovered it looked like this.  Oh well, good thing my other entry was delicious and successfully submitted.  The Orange County Fair starts this Friday, July 16th.  The results will be posted opening day.

Our only entry in the Culinary Arts Competition (1st Show) is the Chocolate Layered Surprise.  It’s formed with alternating layers of Milk Chocolate, Waffle Cone, Dried Cherries and Pecans, then cut in squares and drizzled with White Chocolate.  We’ll be submitting (2) additional entries in August for the 2nd Show.

I never considered making my own Pop-Tarts until contacted with the idea, then thought it’d be fun to give it a try.  The pictured Pop-Tart was indeed good, but questionably worth the work.  With respect to Pop-Tarts, I’d rather grab one out of the box and put it in the toaster oven.  This one tasted like dessert — A scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream would’ve been right on with it.

I followed the Pop-Tart recipe forwarded to me and used the best Raspberry Preserves I could find.  It’s suggested that one simply use their favorite Pie Crust recipe along with the best, thick Preserves to create the ultimate Pop-Tart.  The recipe used to make the pictured Pop-Tart was thought to be a little too buttery for breakfast, but yummy for a desserty-ish treat.

Overall, it’s fun to make homemade Pop-Tarts once.  It’s decided that we’d prefer to make a Pie rather than multiple Pop-Tarts.  It’s less work and nicely cooked packaged Pop-Tarts are good enough.

Chef Kristine Subido’s Breakfast/Nourish Menu at Wave inspired our attempt at making the pictured homemade Pop-Tart.  We’d love to travel to Chicago sometime to have the real goods.  They say believe in breakfast again — We try.

* Our apologies for the quality of the pre-baked Pop-Tart photo directly above.

Our Banana Split Cake started out as a fun idea, but unfortunately it didn’t quite cross the finish line.  Good thing we’re testing out recipes before entering ’em into the 2010 Orange County Fair Culinary Arts Competition — This one certainly wouldn’t win a ribbon.  The concept is entertaining and it tasted really good, but one can’t submit a Cake looking like this. 🙂

With ripening Bananas and Strawberries on hand and the recent receipt of Southern Living Classic Southern Desserts Cookbook, we created a Banana Split Cake.  We started with a prepared White Cake Mix evenly divided into 3 round baking pans — Then mashed a Banana, pureed a few Strawberries and got out the Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.  As shown below, we added each respectively to the divided mix. 

We baked the Cakes, then set them aside to cool completely — We did get that part right, although it may not look that way.  We made an amazing Cream Cheese Frosting from the Southern Living Classic Southern Desserts Cookbook.  It’s called Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting (p. 37).  Before adding the Pecans that are called for in the recipe, we reserved and divided a portion of the Frosting to mix pureed Strawberry into one and Chocolate Syrup into the other, and then added Pecans to the remainder and chilled all in the fridge.

To build our Banana Split Cake, start with Chocolate Cake on the bottom, then add a layer of Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, followed by Banana Cake, Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, and ending with Strawberry Cake on top.  We then smothered the assembled Cake with Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting.  It held together at first, but then you see what happened.  We ultimately separated the layers and frosted each separately with the Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting.  Office co-workers usually don’t care what it looks like.

Next time we’ll add less Strawberry puree and Chocolate Syrup to the Frosting and less Frosting in between the layers.  We might also want to chill the Frosting a little longer or make more Cake, so the layers aren’t as thin.  Perhaps we’ll add sliced Strawberries and/or Bananas in between the layers to avoid sliding Cakes.  Again, it tasted pretty good, therefore it’s worth another try.

Note: So far we like what we see in Classic Southern Desserts Cookbook by Southern Living and look forward to making the recipes we’ve tabbed in it.

My Brother-in-Law just told me a funny story.  One of his co-workers learned that purchasing a maximum of (5) Green Beans at one time doesn’t weigh anything, thus he’s usually not charged for them at the checkout stand.  After fine tuning his discovery, he went to the supermarket daily for a week, until he had enough Green Beans to make a meal.  Can you believe it?  It’s true.  And he’s not poor either — He owns two houses and has a great job.  I’m still laughing about this.  In some ways it’s moderately inspiring (haha), but I certainly wouldn’t want to go to the supermarket every day.  Hope he doesn’t stumble upon this blog or my Brother-in-Law is in trouble. 🙂

Note: Photo is of Fava Beans, which are generally more expensive than Green Beans.

Extraneous PRELUDE of Importance: Still working on technical issues in relation to the upload of new photos associated with our latest reports, thus opt to recite a Press Release we received.  By posting this we hope NOT to encourage the dumping of Press Releases in our inbox.  Although we appreciate that they do relate to food, for the record we’re not fans of receiving ’em like a depository.  We don’t want to collect them and mostly never parrot them, especially if they’re — Not personalized, uninteresting, self-serving, offering of barely worth mentioning consumer deals or incentives, unfamiliar, repetitive, not locally, nationally or universally relevant and/or contrary to Nibbles of Tidbits’ assessment.  It had to be said.  

Without further ado, we look forward to trying Rustica in June.*

Rustica, an exclusive new restaurant by award-winning Chef Grant MacPherson, will debut at Fashion Island in June. MacPherson’s wealth of international culinary experience will bring authentic regional cooking techniques and a blend of seasonal California foods to Fashion Island, one of Southern California’s favorite dining destinations. After being involved in more than 50 acclaimed restaurants and dining concepts worldwide, MacPherson is returning to his first passion – cooking – with the opening of Rustica. A true chef at heart, MacPherson will focus on a menu of creativity, refinement and elegance with fresh, high quality, seasonal foods.

“I believe in providing our guests with the ultimate dining experience,” said MacPherson. “At Rustica, I will be very involved in the cuisine, from executing the farm to table concept, to offering unparalleled service and personal interaction with the customers. I want our guests to feel at home and to feel like family and friends.” The same menu will be featured at lunch and dinner, offering homemade soups, unique salads, wood-fired flatbreads, hand-crafted pastas, seasonal fish, wet-aged beef, and exceptional gelato made daily. Signature items will include Tuna Nicoise, Golden Beet Salad, Peppered Beef Carpaccio, Oven Roasted Pacific Fennel Salmon, and Maine Lobster and Asparagus Risotto.

“Chef MacPherson has long been a major player in the restaurant business on the domestic and international stages, but Rustica is the first restaurant that will carry his name,” said Keith Eyrich, President of Irvine Company Retail Properties. “With Grant’s attention to detail and quality, Rustica will be a wonderful addition to Fashion Island’s collection of fine restaurants. Because of our track record for success, Fashion Island continues to be a top location choice for restaurants,” Eyrich continued. “Rustica is representative of our move to feature independent, chef-driven restaurants that showcase culinary excellence.” Eyrich notes that as part of Fashion Island’s $100 million reinvestment, more restaurants with patio dining will be featured throughout the center.

“Our guests love to dine outdoors and choose Fashion Island over places that can’t offer this amenity,” Eyrich said. Other notable restaurants that debuted at Fashion Island include the first-ever locations of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and R&D Kitchen, and the first California locations of Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine and P.F. Chang’s. At 3,700 square feet, Rustica will have a casual and inviting atmosphere, with patio dining adjacent to Fashion Island’s new Nordstrom Court and elegant Italian-inspired fountain. The restaurant is located next to Nordstrom.

In addition to Rustica opening in June, Fashion Island also previously announced that Fox Restaurant Concepts will open its first California location of True Food Kitchen this summer. An acclaimed Phoenix-based restaurant, True Food Kitchen has a diverse menu created by best-selling healthy-living author Dr. Andrew Weil that focuses on high quality, locally-sourced ingredients that taste great. 

* Our apologies to Rustica for the possible damper on their exciting news with our PRELUDE.

You can probably skip this Cookbook — It’s Williams-Sonoma New Healthy Kitchen: Starters (2006).  I’ve finally gotten around to utilizing it.  The colorful recipe photos are beautiful and offer so much promise, but when gettin’ down to wanting to make any of them, the pickings are slim.  Some recipes are impractical, others don’t even sound good, and ingredients should be altered in the pictured recipe I made.  It’s the Purple Bell Pepper & Goat Cheese Terrine (p. 33) substituting Red Bell Pepper, since Purple Bell Peppers are hard to come by.  Other than that, I followed the exact recipe and thought my unveiled terrine to be too runny and salty.  If you still want to make this recipe after this report, it’s recommended that you use half the Salt and Milk that’s listed, and possibly replace the Shallot with chopped Green Onion or Chives.

* I also have Williams-Sonoma New Healthy Kitchen: Desserts and will post what we ultimately make from it.  I hope it’s better than this Starter.  If you cannot view the enlarged recipe well enough to prepare a better version of it, tell us in a comment.

For Christmas I received the Waring Pro Cool Touch Deep Fryer.  I didn’t really need one, as it means I’ll be eating more fried food, but what the heck — It’ll be fun to have when I need it.  Since counter space is rationed in an apartment, it will have to be stored away.  And before putting it out of sight, which usually turns into out of mind, I fried up a storm.

My first frying experience started with the use of (3) different Oils — I purchased a large bottle of Canola Oil thinking it would be enough to fill the fryer to the maximum level, but it didn’t even make it to the minimum level.  I then added what was left of another Canola Oil bottle, and then what was left of some Peanut Oil and still didn’t have enough Oil to get frying.  Yikes, all I had left was Olive Oil.  I had to add it, since I didn’t want to run to the store and had already prepared a Donut Batter, as Donuts were at the top of the frying list.  I was afraid the Olive Oil would adversely flavor the Donuts, but am happy to report that the ratio used wasn’t noticeable at all.  Whew!

I made an Easy Donut Hole Recipe that I found online.  I highly recommend the recipe for its flavor, but the consistency of my batter was such that I couldn’t form the Donuts into holes, nor anything else for that matter.  It was too runny to make Donut Holes and too thick for Funnel Cake.  Although the final product didn’t resemble either, it tasted great — Just like a Churro or Funnel Cake.  But for the life of me, I wasn’t able to make a Donut that didn’t look like an alien or internal or sexual organ, as pictured. 🙂 Fortunately the Powdered Sugar slightly masked the crazy shapes.

I then went on to make French Fries, Croutons, Blue Corn Tortilla Chips and Onion Rings.  All turned out well, except for the French Fries.  I used the wrong type of Potato, a Long White, whereas I should have used a Russet.  Another mistake was that the Potato was chilled, since I’d pulled it out of the fridge.  Not good — The nicely cut French Fries had so much potential, but didn’t crisp up. 🙁

The Onion Rings tasted great, but were a bit greasy, as you can see in the photo (below).  The batter was a simple combination of Flour, Beer and Salt, which I’d use again.

Overall, the addition of Olive Oil to the mix didn’t negatively impact the flavor of the sweet nor savory fried items, but to be on the safe side, I’d recommend that you be sure to have (2) large bottles of the same Oil on-hand before getting started.  It takes a lot of Oil to fry.  And once you’ve poured it all into the fryer, you might as well get use out of it.  That’s what I’m doing until I’m all fried out and ready to store it away.  And I’m now ready for that, since my apartment currently smells like a fast food joint, an unfavorable side effect.  It’s time to clean things up, light a few aroma candles, open the windows, turn on the fans and have a Salad.

Note:  I’m happy with the quality of this product.  The Waring Pro Cool Touch Deep Fryer (WPF100B Series) appears to work well and many of its parts are dishwasher safe.

As an occasional Tastemaker for Foodbuzz, I opted to try a new brand of 100% Natural Breads.  And although not much of a Bread person, especially Wheat Bread, I’m now sold on Nature’s Pride.  I didn’t expect to like their 100% Whole Wheat and 12 Grain Bread as much as I do — I most often prefer Sourdough, but was happily impressed from the start with the double wrapping and freshness.  The texture and color of the 12 Grain reminded me of the best Amish Friendship Bread I once had, a very good thing.  And the taste of the 100% Whole Wheat won me over.  Once it was finished, I started falling for the 12 Grain.  It appears Nature’s Pride makes high quality, tasty Bread.  Two thumbs up by each of our four Tastemakers who enjoyed the meals prepared above and below.  Hover over each photo for a brief description.  This opportunity was a pleasure.

Since we also report about cooking mishaps, keep an eye on your Toast.  We burnt way too many slices. 🙁