Club Fed v1.1 – Whipped

Club Fed has convened again.  Luz and Kev hosted the Fed last night and provided our second theme – Whipped.

As expected, it was… ridiculously yummy.

Here’s what the Fed came up with for the night.

Flirting:

The Whip (Luz and Kev)   This was handed to the Fed soon after arrival.  Great start.

Foreplay:

Whipped peppered goat cheese with thyme gougeres, fig-dried cherry-pancetta port compote and sour apple slices  (Karin)

Paired with: Fazi Battaglia 2010 (Heidi)

Heavy Breathing :

Pétoncles grillés sur crème fouettée au basilic

Pan seared scallops on a cloud of whipped basil cream (Christian and Crystal)

Paired with:      Mission Hill – Reserve Chardonnay 2010

Beet Salad with whipped goat cheese and crushed pistachios (Ryan and Percy)

Paired with: Santa Rita – Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2011

The Moment:

Grilled hanger steak with horseradish whipped potato, creamed spinach, whipped beet meringues and carrot roll-ups, twice baked goat cheese soufflé and lemongrass foam, wading in Bordelaise sauce  (Luz and Kev)

Paired with: Sledgehammer – Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Cuddling:

Flogged avocado with chocolate meringue blobs and “WheChe” (or, crack of the whip sound) pie and sugar tattoo (Kev and Mich)

Paired with: Paradise Ranch – Late Harvest Merlot 2009

The evening was great. It’s way too long until April!!!

Short Order Cook

Ah, Mich has a great life eh? She barks “Make me some eggs Houseboy!” A minute later, her hero delivers the goods.

On a Pond

Over the holidays one of my top priorities was to get out onto a pond and play some shinny. Turned out that conditions were quite ideal and many a local game was had. Chris and Beth live right across from Goose Lake, a great spot, and they love for friends to come out. We had a super cool night under clear skis where we skated the length of the ice again and again, playing keep away with the puck and dog, then returning to the bonfire that Chris got roaring.

We returned again not long after for a daylight affair. Sadly, Chris and Beth had left town at this point, but we pressed on without them. Fun.

Thirty

So last night I did a quick time lapse video covering 30 minutes of snowfall in the yard. Overnight, that snowfall became 30 cm of fresh, light POW up at Sun Peaks.

So I wrapped up the knee and packed the camera. This is what we shot.

30 Minutes

When I was baking bread this afternoon, I looked up and was surprised to see that it had begun to snow. This is a record of 30 minutes of that snowfall this evening.

The Chekitch

One of the things we overlooked purchasing before we left China was a Chekitch. A Chekitch is a wooden bread stamp used by Uyghurs for their amazing nan bread, something we enjoyed quite regularly when we lived in China. Sadly, it never occurred to me to attempt to pick one up before it was far too late. So the few times I attempted to make the Uyghur version of flatbread since have required me to use a fork to pierce the dough. Effective, though lacking in a certain elegance and authenticity. That bugs me.

Well, no longer shall this be a problem for me. Our good buddy Craig with whom we shared many slices of Uyghur bread doused in tepid Tsing Tao recently moved to town. And with him came a shiny new chekitch for me. Wow. And it wasn’t easily won either. The Uyghurs from whom Craig often procured his bread only had their own chekitch and no extras to satisfy the whims of silly foreigners with. That said, upon seeing Craig’s obvious disappointment (I’m embellishing here as, of course, I wasn’t there for this conversation), the man’s face lit up and he conveyed that his brother (or cousin, or friend….) was coming from Xinjiang in a couple of weeks. Perhaps he could bring one to Dalian for Craig!

Indeed, when Craig returned to follow up a few weeks later, our beautiful baking friend had a chekitch for him (me!).

And so, today I woke up and realized that today is the day! I got baking and here is the result. We will enjoy ‘em tonight with their classic pairing… Uyghur sticks! These ones will be made of local lamb that we acquired from my colleague Carole, rather than the usual fatty mutton that you would get from a street vendor. I will also cook ‘em over a gas grill rather than the open topped coal fired variety you find on the street. But they will be spiced with authentic spice rub brought back for us by other great friends, Sandy and Blake, who were with us most of the times Craig was.

Yum!

And if you are interested, you can find the recipe I use here.

Just Skiing

So my buddy Kev and I now both have the GoPro Hero camera. They are pretty slick little units that you can take pretty much anywhere. Skiing, of course, is my primary interest of the moment. And seeing as how I couldn’t go today (see previous post), I did the next best thing and put some footage together into a short flick while others went off to have fun on the hill.

Lateral Meniscus Tear

So I’ve been skiing for 37 years, thanks to early efforts by my parents to get the family involved in a sport we could all do together. How awesome is that? Pretty darn awesome.

But a few days ago at Revelstoke Mountain I did something that was the opposite of awesome. We hiked into the North bowl in search of some nice pow that had been falling for days previous. There was lots to be had, but it was pretty wind blown and thus a bit dense.

I chose to come down through a steep and narrow chimney. I did that just fine. However as the run fanned out, my speed stayed high – and at one point, as I turned to the left, my right ski did not. Not sure really why, even after looking at the video I was taking at the time. Happily, I did not need extra help (like the sled) to get down the hill. All the days as a kid skiing on one ski helped me get to where I needed to go (the gondola for a lift down to the day lodge).

My doctor said that I have a lateral meniscus tear. Basically, that’s damage done to the cartilage below my kneecap. He also said that I’ll have to stick to the groomers for a while. Doh!

Anyway, I don’t actually think it’s that bad – not much discomfort even a few days after the crash. So I’m optimistic that my recovery will be quick!

Check it our for yourself below…

And so you can visualize what a meniscus tear looks like…

I Do Love…

… the smell of high carbon wax melting on an iron.

It smells like skiing in the morning!

Ice of Dreams

Last night we spent the solstice out at Goose Lake near our buddy Chris’ place. The ice was amazing, no snow at all and super smooth – hoping to get back to it soon. Didn’t get any pics or video (it was a moonless night – though the stars were awesome!), but man, you could skate forever!

Wasn’t quite as unreal as this video below, but I’ll post it anyway, cause it’s super cool.