Fire and Rain!
September 7 1998		Sunny with partial clouds Except for the huge thunderstorm
The task of the day: Cleaning		Well, we ended up bailing on today's BBQ. Although the forecast for the day called for sunny with some clouds, instead we've been having major thunderstorms since about four this morning. I'm spending the day with my portable running from batteries, although it's been a miracle that we haven't lost power yet. In spite of all of the rain, the temperature is still running around 80 degrees with 85% humidity. This would be perfect if we were making bread. It's less so for hanging out in the house. Tonight we're just going to hang and have dinner. The BBQ will wait until next weekend. Given that tomorrow is a major Wines test, I don't think that Shawn or his group is too disappointed. * * * Shawn's been working on food for his menus class. They have to prepare costs and recipes as if they were opening a restaurant. Lots of spreadsheet work, plus yield calculations. He's also been studying his wine classes and I've been quizzing him on the California areas that I know. I can't imagine trying to learn all of this stuff in such a short period of time without having any physical reference to it. It's easy for me to remember quite a bit about California wines, having actually driven by most of the wineries at least once. I'm studying up on my breads. This week should be interesting. While the class is called "Basic Breads" it looks as if we'll do quite a bit of different things. I'm very excited about the Chocolate Cherry Sourdough we get to make. I've had it several times at the school, and it's the kind of bread you actually fight over. I'm beginning to wonder what the "Advanced Breads" class the following week is going to be -- it certainly should cover quite a bit of ground. * * * Hung out at the house last night talking with Shawn and Marla and Ryan (Shawn's friend). He's an interesting guy, who did his externship at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago. For those who haven't read any food news in the past two years, Charlie Trotter's is a very hot place right now. It's constantly being ranked in the top five restaurants in the US. Ryan has all kinds of great stories about what it's like working there, and more than a few things to say about Mr. Trotter. Not all of them are negative.
past home future index		Copyright 1998 Tom Dowdy Comments? dowdy@poubelle.com