Truth and myths: Gestation and activities of induction

So Jenny is 40+2 (weeks+days) now, and now people arent waiting to see us to ask when the baby is coming. Now they are calling, texting, facebooking, emailing - "Is she here yet? Why is she late?"

Like many people, we were hoping for a 40wk gest

ation. Its the standard right? Thats why they give due dates, right? Turns out not. The average gestation for a primiparous (first baby) mom according to a large study in the 1980s was 288 days. Thats 41 weeks and 1 day. True plenty of people go much earlier, plenty go later I suppose, though I havent heard of many going later than 40 and a few days (even in my OB rotations in med school and internship).

Curious about the distribution? Check out the graph.

So, while we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little angel, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that she isnt here yet.

Then there is the whole thing about what to do to get the baby to come. We are getting these all the time now, espcially since she is past 40 weeks. Unsolicited advice from random strangers even. The most common ones are things like walking, keeping active. Yup, we've done that. Jenny has been doing an hour on the elliptical machine each day, and on top of that when I've been home we've done walks around parks, around shoreline in mountain view, and Fremont Older open space preserve.

What else do people suggest? Of course these are all anecdotal things that people were randomly doing when the baby decided it was time to leave the womb, but they are fun to talk about. My mom suggests picking up golf balls at a driving range or mini golf course. People have told us to have Jenny wash the car, mow the lawn, drink castor oil, have lots of sex, eat ribs (they cant be BBQ sauced, the have to be dry rubbed ones), eat jelly donuts, vacuum the house, bounce on trampolines or birthing balls. There is drinking a lot, or purposefully dehydrating yourself too.

Lots of stuff to try!

If Jenny makes it to dinner, we'll be having some Mongolian style ribs that were on the cover of this month's Bon Appetit mag, Sorry random mountain biker dude, we are gonna go without the dry rub.

Why is everything about food?

True, one reason I started this was to keep a collection of the keeper recipes that I've tried... but I'm realizing its kinda monotonous. Maybe I should mix it up a little bit. Wine? Medicine? Baby stuff? We'll see.

Gotta love the Farmer's Market

First weekend this month where I was free to make it to the Farmer's market, and we were happy to come across a great selection of produce including a cool fruit that I really like, the pluot.


First off, one stand had some awesome heirloom tomatoes, and sweet fresh white corn was in abundance. We grabbed some basil and a sweet baguette from Acme Baking to make lunch, a mixture of sliced heirloom tomatoes, pesto, and premium olive oil. On the side we grilled the sweet white corn and sliced up some sweet baguette crostini. Yum.

Then, we focused on what to do with the pluots. Pluots are hybrids of plums and apricots. They look like plums, have the same texture, but a sweeter flavor without the acidity. Bon Appetit this month has a little feature on them, with a couple recipes. We decided on the Smoked Duck and Pluot salad. Looking at the ingredients, its hard to see how the flavors would mix well, but the dish was really surprisingly tasty and harmonious. I wanna get more pluots just to repeat this. Delicious!

Recipe here.

We skipped out on the peanuts because some people have said perinatal exposure to peanuts may increase incidence of peanut allergy, and we dont want that with the new baby. nstead of doing just frisee, we used a Champs Elysees salad mix from Trader Joes that had the frisee with green leaf lettuce radicchio and carrots.

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallot
• 1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon wasabi powder (horseradish powder)*
• 1/3 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil

Salad:

• 6 ounces frisée, torn (about 2 heads)
• 1/2 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts, divided
• 3/4 pound Pluots (about 3 large or 5 small), halved, pitted, thinly sliced
• 3/4 pound smoked duck breast, sliced
• 5 large Thai basil sprigs or 3 regular basil sprigs, leaves torn, stems discarded
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

For dressing:
Puree vinegar, shallot, ginger, and wasabi powder in mini processor. Gradually add oil; puree.

For salad:
Toss frisée and 1/4 cup peanuts in medium bowl with enough dressing to coat. Divide salad among plates. Arrange Pluots and duck over frisée. Spoon more dressing over salad. Sprinkle with basil, green onions, and remaining peanuts.

I need new tools

Jenny is in nesting mode (now 39+ weeks), so today we did a bunch of errands and housekeeping things, including changing the filter on our air conditioning unit. The door is a bitch to get to open, and I was disappointed to find that my toolbox today was a huge mess of rusted crap. Made do, but its time to get new tools.

Great American Food and Music Fiasco

Another weekend waiting for the wife to pop... We decided to head out to Shoreline Amphitheater for the Inaugural Great American Food and Music Fest.

The premise: collecting an array of America's "Best dishes" in one festival along with some musical entertainment. Included in this collection were Pastrami sandwiches from Katz's Deli from NYC, Hot Dogs from Pink's in LA, Graeter's Ice Cream from Cincinnati, Buffalo Wings from Anchor Bar in NYC, Bagels and Lox from Barney Greengrass in NYC, Southside Market Brisket and Sausage from Texas, Tony Luke's Cheesesteaks from Philly, and Junior's Cheesecakes from Brooklyn. There were also a lot of demonstrations from Food Network celeb chefs like Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, and more.

The price was steep, at $40 a ticket which included a plate from one of the vendors. Any additional food or drink would be from $2-12 extra. Given that it would cost well over $40 to fly to all these places to try this stuff out, we figured it might be worth it.

Unfortunately, it wasnt. The idea was great, the execution was abysmal. They expected about 5000 people at the inaugural event, and some 15,000 showed up. Lines were horrendous. When we got inside, we waited in line for almost 2 hours not even getting halfway towards the Philly cheesesteaks (our first stop). Ice cream was plentiful (and delicious - i might have to mail order some of this stuff from Ohio) because it was all pre-packaged and available at multiple booths However, each of the other vendors had just one stand, insufficient staff, and there were just way too many people and not enough food.

After 2.5 ours, we gave up, went to the front, and were happy to find that there was a line at the box office for refunds to get our money back. That was an hour line as well.

Again, a great idea, but a real disappointment.

Salmon with Pearl Couscous, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, and Lemon Oregano Oil

I'm on vacation this week, but since Jenny is working and we can't really travel with the baby and all, its a staycation. That means more time to cook!

Tonight's dinner was from Gourmet magazine. Takes a while for the roasted tomatoes (I did 2 hours 45 minutes), but its totally worth it. Its delicious! Definitely a keep er to return to in the future!

Ingredients:
For tomatoes and lemon oregano oil

• 6 plum tomatoes (1 lb), halved lengthwise
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 10 fresh basil leaves
• 12 whole fresh oregano leaves plus 3 tablespoons finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler and finely minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For couscous

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 1/4 cups pearl (Israeli) couscous (12 oz)
• 1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (14 fl oz)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For salmon

• 6 (6-oz) pieces wild salmon fillet with skin (preferably center cut)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives (3 oz), pitted and quartered lengthwise

Prep

Roast tomatoes and prepare oil:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 250°F.

Toss tomatoes with sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and arrange, cut sides down, in a small shallow baking pan. Heat oil in a 9- to 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook garlic, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in basil and whole oregano leaves, then pour oil over tomatoes. Roast tomatoes until very tender but not falling apart, 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer tomatoes with a spatula to a large plate, then pour oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl or measuring cup, discarding solids. Stir in chopped oregano, zest, juice, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Cook couscous:
Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then toast couscous, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and pale golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Add broth, water, and salt and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed and couscous is al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes, then stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon oregano oil. Season with salt.

Roast salmon while couscous stands:
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 500°F. Line a 17- by 12-inch shallow baking pan with foil.

Arrange salmon, skin sides down, in baking pan, then drizzle with olive oil, rubbing it over tops of fillets, and sprinkle with salt. Roast salmon until just cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes.

Divide couscous among 6 plates. Lift salmon flesh from skin with a slotted spatula and transfer a fillet to each bed of couscous. Put 2 tomato halves on each plate, then sprinkle salmon with olives and drizzle with some lemon oregano oil.

Battle Cabbage!

A couple of months ago, Jenny and I were watching Iron Chef America, and were totally excited to see that the chef at one of our favorite restaurants was the challenger against Bobby Flay. The secret ingredient was cabbage. We decided that at the end of the competition, if he won, we would make a reservation that night to return. It turns out that not only did Chef David Kinch win, he DESTROYED Bobby Flay. We immediately made a reservation. Given that its hard to justify an expensive meal without having a reason to celebrate, I made the reservation for Mother's Day to celebrate with the mother to be.

We had been to Manresa before, and it easily became our favorite restaurant the last time we were here. Chef Kinch is definitely a serious player in the Bay Area food scene. His restaurant has won several awards, is rated Michelin 2 star, Mobil 4 star, in the top 50 restaurants of the world by multiple publications, including Gourmet Magazine. He has also been twice nominated for a James Beard award, but unfortunately did not take home the Best Chef of the Pacific region last week. The cuisine is influenced by French and modern Catalan cooking, Chef Kinch finds inspiration from European traditions and refinement, American ingenuity and the vast bounty that California has to offer. The show In Wine Country did a profile on him a while back and talked at length about his relationship with the Love Apple Farm, the restaurants own garden always providing the most fresh and delectable vegetables for his dishes.

A couple of weeks after our original reservation, we got a call from the General Manager of the Restaurant that Chef Kinch had decided to do several encore presentations of his Iron Chef victory menu. He was almost apologetic in the phone call, asking if it was OK that there would be a fixed menu based on the Iron Chef victory menu, since they wouldn't have a normal menu selection. On the contrary, we were ecstatic to have the opportunity to try what had been on the show. It turns out that we were the first people to have a reservation for the first sitting, and the first people they had to call to let us know that the regular menu selections wouldn't be available. They remembered our reservation as being the first!

So of course we have been eagerly anticipating this meal for months now. Talking to the general manager tonight, we learned that the episode that was shown in March was actually filmed in June of 2008! Chef Kinch had to keep it a secret that he won, even from his own staff until the viewing party that he had in March. Per the manager, they were presented with three potential "secret" ingredients months before, and had to provide the show a list of ingredients that they would need to make their dishes. Aside from cabbage, which was eventually chosen as the secret ingredient, the other potential ingredients were squab and farm-raised sea bass. According to Chef Kinch, he was most excited about the cabbage, because it was more in line with his style of cooking. Personally, sea bass being my favorite fish, I wish that was the ingredient they chose :)

Chef Kinch's staff told us tonight that it actually took some effort to make his Iron Chef menu available for tasting at his restaurant, because appearing on the show somehow made some of the dishes presented somewhat of a property of the Food Network. Sounds silly. We were glad he was able to show off his menu for his local fans.

On to the food!

Shaun decided to do the traditional wine pairing with the dinner, as opposed to the more expensive Premium pairing.

The first course was an amuse bouche of pastrami, scrambled eggs, and ramps (wild leek). It was paired with a Japanese origin Hitachin Nest Beer Belgium White Ale. The pastrami was delicious, the ramps added a wonderful and uniquely pungent flavor. The scrambled eggs were a nice accompaniment, but didn't seem to have a ton of flavor.

The second course was a Delicate Salad of Sea Bream and Geoduck clam with tasted sesame, seaweed and mushroom. Sea Bream is a wonderfully light and mild white fish that went very well with the dish as a whole. Given that Jenny is pregnant, they cooked the geoduck through for her and replaced the raw Sea Bream with cooked octopus. Overall, the dish was fantastic. The dashi sauce and sesame added an incredible amount of flavor. The taste was similar to the type of dish that you would find at a very high quality Japanese restaurant. It was crisp, clean, and ohh so tasty. Of all the wine pairings, I have to say that the Sekt Solter Riesling Rheingau (Germany) paired with the dish was my least favorite, as it had a little bit of a metallic taste.

The third course was a red cabbage and pear borscht with stone ground mustard, pear and cabbage "choucroute". It was presented as two quenelles of the pear and red cabbage mixture and a creamy ground mustard mixture. They then poured the red cabbage and pear borscht (think chilled soup) over the top. It was very purple in presentation, but was delicious. The mustard component was my favorite. Yummy 2007 Domaine de L'Aujariere Sauvignon Gris Vin de Pays Du Val de Loire (France) for the pairing.

Fourth course was the Cabbage Patch. This was probably the best of the bunch, both in presentation and in taste. The dish had a collection of cabbage, with a savory foam, edible flowers and leaves, and a creamy sauce that had the flavor of squash. It was accompanied with some truly delicious pieces of country ham. My favorite part of the dish was the "dirt", a toasted hazelnut, chicory root and potato mixture that was sublime. It really added an incredible earthiness to the dish that was really delicious. It was paired with an excellent 2006 Domaine: Ostertag Gewurztrminer Alsace (France) .

Fifth course was Stuffed Cabbage with Forgotten Vegetables, exotic spice, and natural vegetable juices. This one was probably the most fragrant, as it had a fair amount of Indian spices to it. It was multiple layered and had a very nice foam atop it. The dish was tiny, and I wish we had more of it, because it was really fantastic. It was paired with a very nice 2007 Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache Barossa (Australia)

Sixth course was Farro grain cooked like a risotto, roasted breast of duck, napa cabbage, stems and leaves, fried brussel sprout, and meat juices. This was a truly fantastic dish. The fried brussel sprouts leaves were delicious, as were the chips of what I think was water chestnut. The duck was cooked incredible well. It was one of those that you just wanted to lick the plate clean. It was paired with a very nice 2005 Bodegas Victoria Pardina Tempranilla Carina (Spain)

Finally, the dessert was a dark chocolate hazelnut feuillentine with olive oil ice cream and sea salt. We've had olive oil ice cream before, and really enjoyed it. This was truly excellent. The olive oil ice cream was so rich and creamy. I could have done without the sea salt on the ice cream. The chocolate hazelnut component was incredibly rich and smooth. Delicious! Paired with a late harvest 2006 Mas Amiela Vin Doux Narurel Maury (France) that really paired nicely.

After dessert and an espresso, Chef Kinch stopped by the table and we got to talk to him. He talked about the whole Iron Chef experience, how much he enjoyed it, and how he was lucky to have his A-team of sous chefs with him. He was quite reserved, modest, and quiet. It was a pleasure meeting him and talking with him.

Jenny was presented with a rose for Mother's Day, and we were then invited to tour the kitchen. What an awesome experience. It was not at all like we imagined it would be. First, it was on the small side, but absolutely immaculate. There was a station for each dish for the night, and a set of chefs working meticulously to have the perfect presentation. All in all, there were 12 chefs working away at the dishes of the night. The kitchen was full of copper All-Clad pans of all sizes. The manager then showed us the 2 1/2-ton Bonnet Cidelcem Maestro range, custom-made in France for a six-figure sum and one of just five in California. It is a flameless cooking surface, avoiding what the chef says is the infusion of fuel flavor into the food. Further, the stove gets to 420,000 BTU, and offers upwards of 700 degrees of cooking power. Wow! The kitchen was also full of salamanders for heating, and all the good stuff you've seen in behind the scenes looks at the world's best kitchens. While there, we saw a tub of the olive oil ice cream we had just enjoyed, and in all seriousness, wanted to just grab it and run away into the night savoring that rich creamy goodness outside on the sidewalk under the moon.

After our tour of the kitchen, we finished the night grabbing a handful of the salted caramel candies. Shaun has lusted after these things since the last time we were at the restaurant, and when he was offered the opportunity to "take a handful" did so and darted out of the restaurant. Yummy.

BOTTOM LINE: All in all, another extraordinary meal at Manresa. Probably the best preparation I could have imagined with cabbage of all ingredients. I feel bad in that my descriptions don't do the meal justice. Manresa remains one of those places that we look forward to going for (very) special occasions. The food is wonderfully inventive and well exceuted, the combinations and flavors are incredibly imaginative and as fresh as can be, the service is awesome, all for making a very pleasureful 3-hour (yes, 3 hours) dining experience. Was it worth the $135/pp price tag? That's hard to say. The ingredients certainly didnt seem to justify the cost. Its not like there were truffle shavings, kobe beef, or saffron in abundance. Actually, the menu was pretty much devoid of protein save for the pastrami in the amuse, the fish in the second course and the duck in the fifth. A large part of the cost has to be making that experience possible for the Iron Chef fan to taste what the judges were tasting (Even if we were to go to a taping in New York, from what I've read, the audience does NOT get to taste anything). Its not like one thinks about value when going to Manresa, but there is probably more value in a regular non-iron chef 3 or 4 course tasting for $75 and $95 respectively. I remember having like 4 or 5 amuse bouches with those menus as well, as opposed to just one tonight. One thing is for sure... If we ever leave the Bay Area, we are really gonna miss this place.


Read more about Manresa here, here, about the kitchen here. www.manresarestaurant.com