Driving Jaguars in Marin

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Marin County California, it happens to be one of the wealthiest counties in the country. This is a fact that I have been aware of for the entire time that I have grown up in it.  It is wealthy for a number of reasons: it's proximity to San Francisco; it's beautiful landscape; its temperate weather and it's sublime aura...all of which make it one of the ideal places for people outside of Marin and California to target as THE place that they want to live to demonstrate that THEY have indeed made it in life. The problem is, that for those of us who did actually grow up here in modest suburbia, living here has , for all intents and purposes, become financially impossible. 

Yes I still live her, but I have rented all my adult life and the prospect of me ever being able to afford any of the freakishly overpriced homes here is less than anorexic to non-existent. So why do I stay? Why have I stayed? Simple, it is home. This is where my family is, where my roots truly are and where I have found solid and gainful employment all of these years.

Sure I could move away from the place that everyone seems to want to move to, but where would I go? Stick a finger in a map and hope for the best? 

Well, thats a subject for another blog. This blog entry is about the kind of people who live here and have the money to buy expensive, high performance cars, though they have no right or reason to drive them.

Unfortunately, the median age of the residents in Marin has crept higher and higher due to a combination of long term residents who still live here because they bought their houses in the 60s and 70s and newer, old residents who are usually the only ones who can actually afford to buy new homes here (at the inflated prices).

So, I would say that the median age of the residents in Marin now approaches 60+. Now I have nothing against older people. I know several, and I will be a member of that same category myself in ...well in a decade and a half or so. No, my problem is those self-same older folks who have made it to their golden years with an over abundance of discretionary income who believe that they need to spend that income on purchasing a Jaguar.

I know, a Jaguar is a lovely high performance car that is legendary for its speed and handling. I would LOVE to drive one myself, but I happen to be a part of the Honda Civic set so such luxuries are currently beyond my enjoyment. 

However, that doesn't minimize my annoyance at these elders who have purchased one of these fine automobiles for the soul purpose of put-putting to and from the Whole Foods so that they can buy their organic Metamucil. 

When I am stuck behind one of these grey-headed traffic-constipates is driving ahead of me in their $90,000 auto, I do tend to entertain thoughts of intentional rear-end ramming and car-jacking for no other reason than to steal the car and drive away at speeds that suit the design and performance standards of the car.

I had the mis-fortune of once owning an Austin Marina, which is a rediculous excuse for an automobile. Nothing about the car worked as it should, and I often had to take it to the only British Motor Car mechanic in town to repair. Fortunately, this gentleman took pity on me and usually did the repairs at a reduced cost. I am certain that one of his motivations for doing so was the fact that his shop was always filled to capacity with a number of Jaguars. He used to shake his head and say that the worst thing that you could do to a Jaguar was drive it to and from the store. The thing is designed to drive at 120 miles per hour, anything less is an insult and this car is very proud and doesn't suffer such indignities lightly.

So, I suppose that it is some solace to me to know that the drivers of these glacially driven Jaguars must frequently suffer the expensive attention of highly specialized mechanics. But honestly, I would much rather give in to my road-rageous fantasies and drive the things like they were meant to be driven. 

Sigh...now get the hell out of my way!!!!

Pomegranates

Awhile ago I discovered pomegranates. 

OK, no I didn't discover them, I mean they were already there, and had been for thousands of years. But being that they were new to my own cooking repertoire, they were new to me.  They are a wonderfully healthy and tasty fruit that require a certain amount of dedication and creativity to really enjoy.

They are beautiful and messy (the bane of clean white shirts everywhere) but the arils look like rubies and really are quite lovely when released from their protective rind. And, once they are released, what do you do with them? Most of the recipes that I have seen seem to revolve around using the whole arils in some sort of mixture with other things, or sprinkling them on salads. Sure POM has taken great strides in marketing pomegranate juice in any number of varieties, but really, the juice is still left inside the aril where it may be a tangy little treat, but it doesn't do much to participate in a recipe as a full fledged member of the flavor pool.

So I set about finding ways of extracting the juice and meat from the arils so that it could be used as a sauce ingredient.  After several attempts I worked out the following method for extraction:

Open the pomegranates under water in a large bowl and then extract the arils beneath the surface of the water as well. Just let them sink or float in the water until you are done (hint, make the water luke warm so as to reduce the effect of cold water on your hands as the extraction takes a bit of time)

Once all the arils have been extracted, remove the pieces of rind from the water and then pour the remaining water and arils through a strainer.

Then pour the arils into a food processor (save out a handful for garnish and finishing) and grind the arils into a lovely ruby mash. Each aril is a combination of juice capsule and seed, the seed is the problem as it really doesn't add any flavor and it's small size is rather unpleasant to eat on its own. Using the food processor separates the juice capsule from the seed very effectively.

Next pour the mash into a strainer that is resting over a bowl, then use a flexible spatula to scrape the mash through the strainer so that the juice and as much of the meat gets squeezed into the bowl. After you have done the primary scraping, make sure to scrape the residue from the underside of the strainer as much of the meat and pulp clings there and you definitely want to get that into the juice in the bowl below.

You can use a touch of white wine to extract even more of the meat from the remaining seeds in the strainer.

Once you have gotten all the meat and juice off of the underside of the strainer, you can then throw the remaining seeds away. (I will keep working on some way to use these remains).

The bowl will now be filled with a pulpy ruby red liquid that will now be your base. 

The wonderful thing about using this base is that it stands up delightfully well in many types of sauces, especially in reduction sauces that often separate at the most inconvenient moments (like right before serving your masterpiece dinner!). Not our hearty little pomegranate sauce. Nope this stuff works with you like it is really glad to be opened up and released from its little ruby-jeweled shell, like a beauty queen who also happens to be a member of MENSA ...this stuff deserves to be taken seriously and appreciates it when you get over it's natural attractiveness.

Next up, basic sauces to make with pomegranates.

Losing Salt and Discovering Flavor

I didn't realize just what kind of a cooking rut I had fallen into until I suddenly had to give up one of the key ingredients in all my recipes, salt. I had been cooking for years, and had, like many seat-of-the-pants cooks, fallen into a tried and true routine of spices and dishes. You know what I mean, those recipes and flavors that you can always rely on. Sure, you can mix them up and branch out from your core team, but never too far.

My team was generally Italian-American. I went through Italian seasoning mix, garlic, green onions at a pretty even clip, and of course, there was always salt rounding everything out and making sure that all those spices played nicely with each other. Once in a while, I'd saute in a little pepper, some cajun spice, and on a wild night, we'd go for the Jerk seasoning.

The dishes rotated through a regular cycle of pastas, picattas, pomegranate and grilled steaks. I stayed with chicken, salmon, turkey, steak, the occasional tofu and pork loin. All this worked fine, because all that does work fine together. You really can't go wrong with a mix of basil,oregano,garlic,thyme,rosemary,salt and pepper. It just works on so many things, but after a lot of years, it gets stale and ...dare I say it, boring. At least for the cook.

But when my girlfriend was told to go on a salt-free diet, something clicked in me. Suddenly all my old standards seemed incomplete and inadequate. You may have read some of my early posts regarding rushing out and finding new spices and no-salt options, however, what I have rediscovered is my joy at using fresh herbs in everything I prepare. Suddenly my dishes are bursting with multifaceted tastes that are exciting and new and dangerous (at least to my safe little flavor realm). Suddenly my taste buds are waking up and digging out from beneath the layers of salt that have been coating them for years.

And with the new flavors I am trying new combinations, stretching my imagination in regard to what I want to cook next. Before this change, I would try and yank out some old standard the moment I got home, going through the motions ;until I could get it on the table and consumed...but now, my day is filled with thoughts of what I am going to make, how I will prepare it, how will the flavors mix and blend, where the new tastes will lead me, what new combination will reveal a new joy. 

Truly losing my favorite spice has opened new doors of flavor and excitement.