Oh my word! Is this just a Medford Oregon thing? Veterans' Day FRIDAY was thee most crowded affair I've seen. Is it pre-black FRiday or something? We went to do some shopping chores for Judd's latest school project which required us visiting, possibly in the correct order: a Goodwill-esque Catholic thrift store, a Walmart, Fred-Meyer (a triple Target-size department-everything-store-chain), a Dollar Tree, Bi-Mart (Sam's club-look alike with a free membership and key chain ID), Trader Joe's and then, our usual grocery store, Albertsons. EVERY PARKING LOT HAD A WAITING LINE/TRAFFIC JAM. It took us hours to amass Judd's equipment: 8 non-LED flashlights; a dozen glass jars with lids but without Ball-jar etchings so light could pierce them; colored cellophane or plastic for which light could pierce the bottles of various liquids; nails; sand paper (to build "light boxes" from the 8 foot boards he bought last weekend with the 5 hammers, 5 saws, tape measures.......Plus, we had to Chef-OFF food shop. I was starting to feel time pressured about cooking my meal with only 2 hours prep time before the show. (more later on that) We made it home by 2:45 so I could soak my split peas for 30 min and start cooking.
Since we'd missed lunch, I said I'd make my appetizer dish fast and we could eat it before I finished cooking the rest.Judd then delivered by secret ingredient: fresh Oregon pears.
Dang!
When we had planned the challenge the night before, we talked about whether someone would give an awful/challenging secret ingredient to thwart the opposite chef or if it would be like "The Lady or the Tiger." We sort of had to look up how that was an analogy as I recalled most of the punch line from my 8th grade English Mr. Limoli training but not all of it.***
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml
I guess my point was, if I really loved Judd, would I give Judd the pub cheese or the sauerkraut to incorporate into his gourmet menu? Would Judd give me Oregonian pears or BBQ sauce???? And there was mention of anchovies... we'll see.
***I just googled Mr. Limoli and he still lives in San Diego at 82yo. I'm gonna find out how to write him a thank you note!!!
Appetizer:
Parmesean/Panko encrusted cauliflower with
Pan-seared cherry tomatoes
Main course:
Shrimp biryani w/basmati rice
Saag paneer (a spicy spinach/cheese dish)
Dal (a spicy split pea/ tomato dish)
Raita (plated with sliced Oregonian pears!)
(a cool cucumber/yogurt side dish)
Exotic marigolds as table decoration-- every dish in the house dirtified.
Namaste!
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