Congratulations SENATOR Matthew Valencia! After sweating out the days after the election, Matthew got word that he won a student senate seat at Berkeley City College.
BCC Senator Matthew Valencia
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Monthly Archives: April 2007
Matthew’s 20th birthday party
Today was Matthew’s big birthday blow-out. About 20 guests were greeted at the door by Oma and ordered to take their shoes off (the light carpeting, you see) before being served appetizers. I decided to produce a number of dips and other finger foods after abandoning my initial idea of ordering pizza. I mean, good God, what was the point of busting my hump for two years in cooking school? A little later, I thought, “The hell with it,” and made a badass chicken liver pate with aspic, as well. Then, in the vein of “in for a penny, in for a pound,” I added a hot crab dip and some decorative work. The dips turned out great. I made Alton Brown’s California dip from scratch (as opposed to opening a package of dry onion soup mix) utilizing a boatload of real onions. Find the recipe yourself on the Food Network, but note that it took me much longer to caramelize the onions than the recipe says. Also, letting it sit for a day really helped it develop. I will never, ever make it from mix again. The second most popular was the muhammara, a ground walnut, red pepper and eggplant spread that has a bit of a kick from ground chili peppers. Next in line was the pine nut sauce from Tapas: Traditional and Contemporary Tapas Dishes (2004), published by Paragon Books Ltd. This recipe is so easy and produces very big flavor. I paired it with new potatoes that had been steamed and chilled to provide a diversion from the 15 Acme sourdough baguettes that accompanied everything else. We also provided cubed foccacia, which, as I write this the next day, is in a crouton state of mind. I threw together the spicy sauce from Nobu: the Cookbook (2001), by Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, which is basically a homemade mayo with some chili oil and white pepper. Honestly, that is one good sauce slash dip. If you are too lazy to make the mayo part yourself, mix chili oil and white pepper with a good commercial mayonnaise. I do this all the time when I want to serve a roast chicken with some zip to it. Oh, yeah, back to the birthday party. I managed to offer up blanched haricot verts (yes, I know I sound like a pretentious jackass) and sliced English cukes, but they were almost all still there at the end of the party. Maybe the crab dip was to blame, but I will let you be the judge. Mix one cup each of mayonnaise, sour cream, softened cream cheese and grated parmesan. Then fold in at least one cup of lump crabmeat and a bit of white pepper. Make sure all the ingredients are high-quality. If you use cheap and/or terrible mayo (both do not always apply to the same product) you will have a terrible dip. Do not, under any circumstances, use Miracle Whip. Miracle Whip is a blight upon the earth. Bake this mass in a heavy casserole for 30 minutes or so — until browned and bubbly — at 375 F. Then take it out and serve it next to a crudités platter and report back to me. I predict no leftover crab product and plastic bags full of baby carrots in the fridge. The one thing that did not move was the pate, though I consider it a personal triumph. Maybe it was poor marketing, but I did have it near the crab dip, which brought them in like flies. Maybe it was just too rich for the Bay Area, or too 1950s. Maybe the aspic was scary. Many people find aspics frightening. I can report however that we are eating it today and it is fabulous – well worth the work and ingredients. The recipe can be found in Cooking with Bon Appétit: Appetizers (1982), and is listed as a goose liver pate. For fun I carved a few lemons, made a large tomato rose and curled scallions.
Potato decoration in a martini glass
I also did my famous “crazy potato,” scooping out balls all around a whole, unpeeled potato with a melon baller, dyeing the balls with food coloring, and then stuffing them back into the hollows, color side out. This thing is really whacked out by the end of an event. Oh, for crying out loud, Berry jumped into the onion dip again! Get him out of there before the guests arrive!
Happy birthday, Matthew!
Matthew Valencia one day old
It was 20 years ago today….
Matthew Valencia was born at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in New York City in 1987. He was one day old in these photos. To the left he is touching a little stuffed animal that his Uncle Mal and Aunt Carole gave him. To the right we have him with his mom and dad.
The elections and Gilman Grill
Today my mom and I went sniffing around the election taking place at Berkeley City College where Matt is making his political debut. We came upon his name and statement on the glass board, and saw him hovering around the poll booths some set number of feet back, as is the requirement. Other candidates were also locking in their last minute votes. It was fun to see his name and platform description in the official voter guide, but we were not able to procure a ballot without a student ID. I explained that I am the mother of a candidate, and that this sort of trumps any nonsense about having to be a student, but no cigar. Since Matt had a couple of hours off between classes we were happy to drive over to Gilman Grill (1300 4th Street, Berkeley), where you can get a decent lunch for about ten bucks, to meet Paul Riofski for lunch. Paul and my mom really like Gilman Grill, particularly the BLT with avocado on toasted Acme sourdough bread. I agree that this is the best BLT for miles and miles, with plenty of thick bacon and tomato, but there is something about the place that bugs me, and I think I might have honed it down to noise and crowds. I can’t really put my finger on it. The chairs are also not all that comfy, but I can deal with that. The food is good so I suppose this is just lack of chemistry, like not wanting to sleep with someone who has all the right qualifications. They have solid breakfast items, though the home fries can be bad on occasion — sodden and flavorless. The sandwiches and salads at lunch are tasty and generous, but take care with the bread. If you don’t tell them to use the Acme sourdough or one of their other hearty breads you may not be amused. I like the grilled chicken with melted cheese and mushrooms. One annoying thing we noticed today is that they squared off the ends of the bread. The bread is sliced from a rustic loaf and yields an elongated result. Squaring off means that the poor bastard who ordered the sandwich loses a few inches of bread and, most likely, filling. I know of no other reason a restaurant would do this other than to save money. Maybe they use those ends for croutons, who knows, but any explanation like, “It is easier to make a sandwich without the ends” is suspect. I did not ask, so I am just conjecturing here. They need to understand how bad it is, business-wise, to change a long-standing menu item that people expect will always be the same, always be good and always have the ends of the bread intact.
Fish from 99 Ranch in Richmond
Dinner last night was striped bass (two of them) from 99 Ranch Market, cleaned and prepared under their option #6, “crispy fry.” This is very helpful if you want a decent dinner and you have no time. All you have to do is pick out a whole fish and they’ll take care of the rest. Grab a number and then a plastic bag from the top of the counter. Use the bag like a glove to rifle through the fish, select one and then to pick it up to hand it to the fishmonger when your number comes up. You pay only the price per pound, nothing extra, and I have had all kinds of fish done this way. Sometimes they’ll have really great whole fish at $1.99 per pound. Just buy some steamed rice at their prepared food section on the way out and you are good to go. Throw together a sauce using a bit of chili oil, soy sauce and vinegar, if you want to add a little spice.