settling in...and technical difficulties.

first off..no.  we didn't forget to take pictures on our road trip. 

along the way we were dumping pictures from our phones/camera to my laptop.  and about 2 ish days before we arrived in oregon, the power cord died.  so there are tons of pictures just waiting to be shared... but you'll have to wait!  i'll post more as soon as i get a replacement power cord. 


it's hard to believe we've been in portland for 3 weeks now! 

apartment/job hunting has consumed the majority of my time, but we have managed to check out some pretty cool places!  we are all pretty excited to be here.

road trip. day 1.

well.  we did it.


we managed to pack the moving pod, load up the car and clean the house.  apparently that was the easy part.  and by easy, i mean freaking exhausting.


day 1.


i fully anticipated some things to not go as planned...i mean, that's the kind of luck we have...


after we finally got the car loaded (after many failed attempts) we squeezed in and set off...a meager 6 hours later than scheduled.

if the windows weren't tinted, you would see how much stuff was jammed into our car.


first, a brief stop at the beach to dip our toes into the gulf of mexico one last time,  and then lunch before hitting the road , ocala bound, for our first scheduled stop.  now we're 8 hours behind schedule.

 our feet in the gulf.

the ever so spacious inside of car.  i think it took me about 12 attempts to get all of us in the picture, which doesn't really do the situation justice.

the command center.  i had a pretty sweet set up going on.  charging mp3 players/cameras/gps/laptop/phones.  

once we arrived in ocala, we stopped at don garlit's museum of drag racing.  we got there about 20 minutes before they closed so we were pretty rushed, and then ended up getting kicked out.  all in all, a brisk walk through the place was really all we needed...and actually sort of glad we weren't able to spend much time in the gift shop after seeing the prices...i know most gift shops are rip offs, but this was pretty ridiculous.

museum of drag racing checked off the list, we loaded back into the car and set off for our final destination for this leg of the trip: winston-salem, north carolina.

as we got close to jacksonville, we decided we needed to stop and eat and hit the bathrooms.  we chose jacksonville beach as our picnic spot..and a perfect place to dip our toes in the atlantic ocean.  after searching for what seemed to be hours (time drags when your bladder is at full capacity...) we found a parking spot.  spilled out of the car and went searching for the restrooms, only to find out they had all closed maybe 15 minutes before we arrived.  

awesome.

we ran towards the pier in hopes for bladder relief only to find they were for customers only.  but, for $1 each, we could be passed the chain link fence barrier and in restroom heaven. 

wait, you only take cash?  that's messed up dude.

i was seriously tempted to let the kids pee on the guy...just to prove a point.

but, alas, i didn't.

we ran back to the car to search for a restroom.  thanks to katie's quick driving and lavatory locator sense we pulled into a DQ and finally were able to breathe.

now that the urgency had dwindled, we made our way back to the beach.  we got in a couple pictures before it started pouring.

our toes in the atlantic ocean.

we didn't make it back to the car in time.  we were all soaking wet.

as we assessed the situation, it started raining a bit harder.  and that's when we realized the rain was making its way into the car via the straps holding the roof top cargo carrier.

awesome. 

the night before we left, we let danielle put some temporary color (red and black) in the girls' hair.  it was almost magical how adding a little water to their hair transformed the inside of our car into a tie-dyed wonderland.

double awesome.

thankfully, the rain didn't last very long and we were able to have our dinner and dry off a bit.  as we pulled away from jacksonville beach,  it was (i think) 9:30pm...the time we were scheduled to be in winston-salem...it was apparent that we would have to drive through the night to make it to our destination at a reasonable time.

many hours and lots of exhaustion induced conversations later, we stopped at a rest area somewhere in georgia...it was 3 am...and there was a torpedo.

 K & E posing on the torpedo.

Q riding the torpedo.

two very tired people.  on a torpedo.

the pictures didn't turn out so well, but it was dark...

we persevered. 

even more exhaustion induced conversations...i remember something about ducks and their anger about bread rationing...and the quote of the night "oh, sporadic leapfroggers! i don't want to be part of this game." (katie talking about the caravan of late night/early morning semi tractor trailers...)

you just had to be there.  you would have laughed too.

we finally arrived in winston-salem, north carolina at around 7am.  

sunrise in north carolina.

found the hotel.  unloaded what was needed from the car, and made our way to the front desk to check in.  the woman standing behind the counter, of course, had no reservation for us.  it had been cancelled.

luckily it was sorted out quickly and we made our way to our rooms, ordered breakfast from room service and passed out.

i can only hope the rest of our journey is as eventful and exciting as the first day.

in print.

this makes it feel so much more official.


Here is a link to a quick paragraph about my leaving the queens head and moving to Oregon.


almost time to hit the road.


twelve billion things to do....

changing gears.

i'm going to be taking a break from this blog for a little while.


don't freak out!


i know how you all sit on the edge of your seat eagerly awaiting a new post. (sarcasm.  seriously.)


my kids will be here for the summer starting monday. (i'm flying up to michigan sunday to retrieve them, flying back monday morning.)  so i want to spend some quality time with them.  not to mention with the big move looming, we have a gazillion things to do.  a moving sale.  packing. road trip planning.


but wait.


i will be changing the purpose of this blog for the summer.  i will *try* to use this as a road trip documenting outlet.  and maybe share some of the cool places we go/see.  i'm sure there will be great stories to tell at the end.  

bittersweet.

well... its officially official. 

my last day at the queens head will be june 25th.

my wife katie and i will be moving to portland oregon.  we'll be packing up the car and going on a cross country road trip with the kids that will be EPIC.

but before i get too far, i would like to reflect on the last 2 years...

as exciting as the prospects of a new town are, i'm equally saddened by leaving this amazing place of st. petersburg.  i've shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears over the last couple years.  i've laughed until i cried.  and cried until i laughed.  there were times when i honestly didn't think i would survive the work week...but through all of it i did my best to make the best food possible and never compromised my standards.  i'm proud of the mini legacy i've built for the queens head.  i'm proud of all the articles, tv appearances, gushing emails, handshakes and smiles i've received.  i'm proud of the person i've grown into...someone i never thought i'd be.

i'm so thankful for the opportunity i was given to run one of the best kitchens in the city.  

i've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of amazing people since i moved to florida almost four and a half years ago.  you all will be missed.

if you ever make it to portland, look me up.  i'm going to take it by storm.  portland is the foodie town that st. petersburg is a decade behind.  there are people doing the kind of food there that i yearn for.  the kind of freedom of expression through food that can only be accomplished there. 

ok, now to the EPIC-ness of the summer road trip.

we have a big map, in that map are push-pins.  those push-pins are places we want to see on our road trip this summer.  we are planning on taking 2-3 weeks for this endeavor.  

it. will. be. awesome.

garden update. 6/8

here's the update on the garden... overall, most everything is still alive.  the beets have pretty much been killed off.  

the zucchini isn't doing so hot.  thinking it was traumatized after the last trimming...but it has some new growth popping up so i'm hopeful.

the tomatoes are by far doing the best.  they are probably 4' tall now.

the tomatoes are rapidly catching up to the corn...

speaking of corn...the corn is still alive... although its been attacked by a plethora of things.  first it was the caterpillars.  then grasshopper and ants.  now by either rats or squirrels.

the carrots are doing well.  i think they should be ready to harvest soon.

watermelon is kind of touch and go lately.  the appearance of new buds gives me some hope.

the lemon and orange tree seedlings are doing really well.  this is the lemon.

and last but not least... the mexican petunia plant!  this thing is thriving.

garden update. 5/23

this stuff is starting to grow like crazy.  


our zucchini has had a couple haircuts, but is starting to churn out the veggies.  

baby zuke.  should be ready to pick in a couple days.

our first harvested zucchini.  grilled this on our new grill last night for dinner.  delicious!

our tomato plants seem to be doing much better since we added the support stakes.  

we have a couple buds that are starting to flower.  tomatoes are coming soon!

watermelon plant seems to be doing ok.  think the zucchini has pretty much killed off all but 2 or 3 of these.

carrots are going strong.  i'm thinking a few more weeks and these should be ready to eat.

again, i think the zucchini has killed most of the beets.  i think we have 2 left that will hopefully make it.

the pepper plant blooming like crazy on top.  the first pepper is probably 5" long now.  starting to mature to yellow stage.  maybe a couple weeks left for this one.

the lemon tree seedling is doing really well, though we won't see fruit for quite some time.

the orange tree seedling is starting to look better.  it was a little touch and go for awhile, but it's looking pretty healthy now.

the comeback award has definitely got to go to the corn.  with the help of some (ok, a LOT) organic pesticide, these guys are starting to look a LOT better.  i think i counted probably 10 baby ears this morning.

the corn is almost as tall as the fence now.  it looks a little rough from the caterpillars, but i think it'll survive.

basil goat cheese stuffed fried chicken breast, shoestring fries, pickled cucumber & onion, harissa honey.

i made this for my special last week.  i'm sorry i didn't get many pictures of the process, but it was kind of messy...and i forgot.  so here's the finished shots.

this was really good.  i'm not a fan of goat cheese, but i could eat this every single day.  the harissa honey really finished it off nicely.  the acidity from the pickled cukes/onions cut the fattiness of the fried chicken and potatoes.  a delicious and nicely balanced dish.

canapes.

this past week i had the pleasure of providing some canapes for a screenplay reading at the holocaust museum.  they requested vegan/vegetarian/kosher items.  here's what i did.


strawberry shortbread, basil goat cheese, preserved lemon.

these were awesome.  

cucumber cups with honey dijon and pickled radish. 

roasted potato chips, balsamic cherries, horseradish, chive.

these turned out way better than i could have hoped.

crostini, stilton, red onion jam, fried arugula.

so. freaking. good.  the onions were my favorite part fo sho!  think of an onion flavored gummy bear.  awesomeness.  

just a quick thank you.

once in a while, ok a lot, i like to check the stats section on this blog.  just to see the kind of traffic its getting.  it always amazes me that there are so many people reading this...and from places i wouldn't expect.  here's a breakdown.

United States 392

Germany 20

Canada 6

Russia 5

Singapore 5

United Kingdom 2

Croatia 2

Latvia 1

germany?  really?  i mean, how cool is that? singapore?! croatia?!

wow.  

this blog is fun, and i hope all of you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoy writing it.  so...thank you.

scotty nails it...twice.

i think it's very important to give credit where credit is due.


the last few weeks, i've been having my sous chef scott make some of his own specials.  the only involvement i really had was in the planning stage and maybe some of the prep via his direction.  i know that when i was working for someone else, when i had the chance to create things on my own it not only helped to boost my self esteem, but it taught me to be creative.  and to make mistakes.  without mistakes you will never learn.


last week, scott wanted to do a lancashire hot pot with the left over lamb shanks.  so as we talked through it, he decided to deconstruct it.  i think it was an excellent idea.  to deconstruct a dish, you take all the elements in the traditional dish and essentially tear it apart and put it back together.  a hot pot is traditionally stewed with lamb, potatoes, carrots and onions served with pickled cabbage.  so he took all those elements and presented them in a different way.  


first he marinated the lamb for a few hours in a mix of herbs (mint, chives and thyme if i remember correctly...) and olive oil.  then it was roasted low n slow.  i think 250 degrees for about 12 hours.

i have to say, when i arrived that morning the kitchen smelled freaking awesome.


for the potatoes and carrots he cut shoestring fries.  pickled his own red cabbage (again, mistakes lead to lessons learned.  now we BOTH know malt vinegar is NOT a good one for pickling cabbage.)  we needed a sauce for this to bring it all together.  so a caper mint cream sauce was decided.


here's the final product.

this week..scotty did an asparagus and goat cheese frittata with wilted spinach and an herbed aioli.  that stuff flew outta the kitchen.  i didn't get a lot of pictures of the process because...well, i don't know.  i just didn't.  either way, well done scotty.  well done.

so, giving credit where its due...  scott, you rocked this shiz out.  high five brother.  i'm proud of how far you've come since you started and i'm honored to work with you!