Drunk on Pork

Jax Kitchen

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Admin of Pork

This is certainly an overdue post. Jax Kitchen is our favorite place to eat in Tucson. We got hooked months back with their award winning “The One” margarita. Who doesn’t like an orange basil granita float on top of a traditional premium ‘rita? They also are the destination stop for any duck lover. Street-style tacos with duck confit, fries with duck confit and duck crackling’s, and even a crispy duck breast. Quack quack, mofos! They are also clearly pandering to me with a Nueske’s bacon stuffed olive martini.

This trip we I didn’t indulge in duck, though it is superb. Father in law and I had some amazing pan seared albacore tuna garnished with blackberries and grapefruit supremes, Mom in law had perfectly cooked steak with a blueberry red wine reduction and Robyn had a rockin’ salmon with crispy proscuitto over golden lentils. The photos are a bit blurry, due to the light, not the drinks I had, though they were tasty also.

The other thing that has to be said, is that the service at Jax is world class. Not “the servers are friendly” type of service. More like, “let me tell you about Nueske’s bacon, where the produce comes from, and where my favorite place for gellato is in town” is type of service. Great food, executed perfectly, with peeps that feel like foodie family.

Regular vodka, bacon stuffed olives

Olive close-up

Spinach and bacon, what’s not to love?

Fried Artichoke Hearts

Artichokes w/ Chives

Yummy salad with watermelon radishes

Salmon with crispy proscuitto over golden lentils

Crazy good tuna

Steak with blueberry sauce

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Bacon Seed, Inbound

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Admin of Pork

I’m sure most of you know, Robyn and I are fast approaching the Apocalypse. No, not the end of the world as we know it…just the end of our lives as a childless, married couple as we know it. Or the end of our DINK days, if you’re a sociologist. Stands for ‘Double Income, No Kids’.

As we speak, Robyn is incubating a baby Bacon Seed. Our progeny will be unveiled to the world sometime in August, and until then I assume it will be a whirlwind of fitting in all the fast cars, booze, and debauchery we can. Or, perhaps we’ll just continue to price out cloth diapers and weigh the pros and cons of various pastel colored baby items. Speaking of that, can anyone explain what the hell a bassinet is? All I know, due to Robyn’s repeated vocalizations, is that it is most certainly NOT a crib. Nor is it a changing table. Or a play pen. It’s kinda like duvet in that regard. A Bermuda triangle in my man-cabulary.

Watch this space for more baby stuff. There will also be food stuff as well. Any likely some baby-food related items.

Posted in Baby | Tagged Baby | 1 Comment

Things We Learned About Paris

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Admin of Pork

What did we learn about Paris? The food is good, but there is also plenty of “meh”. You have to learn how avoid the American menu places.

Paris is expensive. We kinda figured it would be “big city” expensive, but more like Seattle than NYC. Not so. A croissant might set you back $3, but depending on the place a crepé with a salad might be $18.50

Salmon is everywhere on the menu. Very, very tasty salmon. And cooked perfectly. Pretty much every meat we had was cooked to a perfect rare / medium rare. No one ever asked how we’d like it done, the plates just showed up cooked to a rareness that might make the FDA a little squeamish. If you’re a ‘well done’ type of steak or burger person, you’d best learn to speak a little French.

I thought the French were all about chain smoking. I didn’t notice it any more than home, except that they can still smoke at outside tables in restaurants here. There’s no smoking inside though.

We thought the restaurant prices for wine were pretty reasonable. A fancy bottle of Cotes du Rhone for 24€ / $30 seemed pretty cheap compared to home. Until we saw the same bottle for 2€50 / $3.30 at a little grocery. So wine is cheap, and pricey, but all around cheaper than home.

Paris has history. Everywhere. Churches, museums, monuments. Too much to grok at one time. I started annoying myself with my limited vocabulary when commenting on such things – how many times can you say “amazing” before you start to bug yourself? But the thing is, it is simply amazing to walk through a place like Notre Dame that was built almost 900 years ago. Or see something Monet painted, or that Gardet sculpted.

All of this has a price though. Everyone else wants to have a look as well. So we had to endure a gillion of our closest tourist friends at many of these places. I did learn however that Americans don’t have a corner on the “annoying tourist” market. There were Asians power-walking though the Louvre, throwing elbows and taking flash photos of everything so fast the camera barely had time to focus before they moved on. Maybe they’ll be “moved” by the art when they get home?

Various other Europeans where kind enough to let their kids run wild, like the Museum was a playground or a great place for tag. I don’t have kids yet, so I judge like only the childless can.

In all Paris was a mix of incredible, historic, beautiful experiences mixed in with a lot of other “life in any big city” stuff. Waiting in lines, taking the metro, etc. We’ll be coming home with wonderful memories, full bellies and cameras, and sore feet!

Au Revoir!

Posted in French, Travel | Tagged France, Paris | Leave a comment

Knocking ‘em off the list

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Admin of Pork

There are some pretty quintessential things to do in Paris, and we’re slowly but surely experiencing them. Soufflé? Bam. Eclaire? Yep. Sore feet from walking so much? Check.

The more cultured things we’ve done: watched ballet in a palace more than 300 years old. Walked across the grounds where Napoleon is buried. That was a seriously agro little man. Paced our sore dogs through Musee D’Orsay – the museum that trumps the Loueve in ratings. And we’ve even endeared ourselves to a few Parisians who weren’t trying to sell us anything.

Oh, and we put a lock on the Ponte d’art because ours is a white trash love like that. Some call it vandalism, we call it romantic. We’re classy.

Through it all, We’re doing our best to enjoy the city like locals. Ordering in French when we can, soaking up the centuries of history, and taking advantage of exceptional public transportation.

Tomorrow it’s the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower or some combo thereof. And more amazing food. Maybe some ibuprofen. My dogs are barkin’.

Salut!

Posted in France, French | Tagged Eclaire, Honeymoon, Paris, Soufflé | 1 Comment

Paris. They speak French here.

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Admin of Pork

Whew! After a whole week of life changing, crazy-good things, we finally got to Paris via Reykjavik this morning. Not overly jet-lagged, but certainly tired as all get out.

France so far has been a one cab ride, two walks, and two meals experience. Sunday is really quiet in this little neighborhood. Funny thing about Paris: everyone speaks French here. I keep stumbling with Italian and Spanish, and they look at me like I’m a rare form of semi-cultured American idiot . Needless to say, we’re having fun.

I’ll post more later, but wanted to leave you with a photo of our first meal. Tartines – basically a fancy French open faced grilled sandwich. This one with Jamon (ham) the other one had Lardon – pork belly for us English speakers.

Salut!

Posted in French, Pork, Travel | Tagged France, Honeymoon, Paris, Travel | 2 Comments

Memento #15 – Food You Hated as a Kid, Done Right

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Admin of Pork

I have to say I’m a bit cranky-pants as I write this. Living in the Residence Inn for 2 months with 2 big dogs and a hot fiancé will do that to you. The dogs fart a lot. The girl is cute and a keeper. Sometimes strange people come in and change the sheets. It’s a wash. Actually, it’s not great. But there you have it. Now, let’s talk about food!

As you know, Memento is the progressive, regressive, wonderful dinner cadre that I’ve been a part of for almost 3 full years now. There are many great recaps here and here, and some info on the origins here. This episode focused around foods you hated as a kid. The challenge being to make them in a way you’d like to eat them now. I’ll give you a brief rundown of each of the courses, as well as the recipes I used for my course. I also have to say that this was the first Memento where we didn’t have a full house. The Dans had their own version of cranky-pants with many life events and sad things hitting all at once. I only point it out because their presence was missed and we were all sending some good juju.

First up was a double tomato gazpacho. Roasted tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, an olive oil finish and a lovely crunchy crouton. Oh, and let’s not forget a lovely, spunky dose of grated black truffle love. Accompanied by lightly steamed asparagus and avocado. What’s not to love? The stinky pee, that’s what. Everything else was aces.

Next up to bat was some seriously good pate and mushrooms. Chicken and pork liver pate, and some burgundy mushroom sauté and another crispy bread incarnation – crostini this time. The mushrooms had this melty / chewy thing going on, with some crazy Umami bad-ass savory bliss. Don’t know how else to describe it, other than everyone wanted more.

Then the salad course, of course. Simple, clean, briny anchovies over romaine. Hand crafted (that’s what they say on the restaurant menus) dressing with oil, vinegar, garlic and mustard. Crusty bread and a lovely Rose. Mmmm.

We didn’t have a first entree this time around, but the second more than made up for it. Beef skewers charcoal grilled with a snappy creole mustard. Accompanied with roasted brussels sprouts and smoky bacon bits. The meat was grilled perfectly, and the mustard was so good we were trading cigarettes like prison inmates to get more off each other’s plates.

And no Memento would be complete without desert. Kidding, I meant dessert, but one from the desert. Robyn and I made a coconut milk, prickly pear sherbet served in a bowl made of chocolate. We also did an ancho chile flourless chocolate cake with a cinnamon whipped cream. Hat tip to Gourmet Mom on the Go for the Chocolate Bowl recipe, and Food Network for the basis of the Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. The prickly pear sherbet consisted of: 2 cans coconut milk, 1 bottle of Cheri’s prickly pear syrup, and 1 cup sugar. Or something like that. It was pretty ad-hoc. Your mileage may vary. And, the curse of being one of the bloggers about Memento is that you always forget to take a photo of your own dish until about half way through. This time was no exception.

Overall, a lovely night was had in Tacoma. Sitting out in a rare sunny spell in the Pacific Northwest. All was well with the world.

Here’s the complete gallery:

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Sun, Saguaro, and Wildfires

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Admin of Pork

Whew. Finally, our lives and personal artifacts are in only two places. On a truck or in a storage unit somewhere, and at the hotel. Yesterday was our final push, driving from Tucson to Page and back in a day in order to pick up Robyn’s newly repaired car. You’ll recall from last week that it died in Page, stalling at the Maverick gas station. Turns out they simply had to connect a hose. Grrr. At least it wasn’t an expensive fix.

We left Tucson at about 6am, and got to Page right around Noon. We knew the repair shop would be closed, but they said they would hide the key for us – No problem! Well, except the mechanic hid the key for Robyn’s car under the gas cap door cover. The door cover that locked shut. So, after breaking that, we returned our rental, ran the dogs a bit at a nearby dog park, and headed back out.

About 2 and half hours south of Page, we saw signs saying there was a road closure due to wild fire. No sweat, we gassed up, got some snacks and water, and headed out on an alternate route. Well, as it turns out, there really were TWO wildfires, and we had to take an alternate to the alternate route. So we let the dogs out to pee, we all drank more water, and headed out. More time passes. Closer to home we started to get hungry, so we looked up the same 24 hour Mexican place we ate at exactly 7 days ago on our way into town. The map said only 35 miles on the freeway to get to our dinner, but it showed 2 hours with traffic. I laughed thinking “stupid smartphone”. Heh.

As it happens, in addition to the fires, detours, etc. Some folks were practicing creative driving. By “some”, I mean three. Three accidents on the home stretch of road that already had a lane closure. The road between us and dinner. The road between the dogs and a patch of grass at the hotel. Ugh. Needless to say, that last 35 miles took some time. We did make it to Los Betos for some drive through. Chicken Tacos for Robyn, and the “Tucson” burrito for me. Ham, bacon, potato and the like wrapped in tortilla goodness. So by the time we settled in to the hotel to eat our midnight dinner, we’d effectively been on the road for 18 hours yesterday.

As we were drifting off to sleep, we reflected on how much driving we’d done in the past 8 days. 2,500 miles, about 48 hours spent in the driver’s seat, crossed through 4 states, and toted some dogs who really don’t look forward to getting into the car like they used to. Hopefully our driving will be local for a bit, and focused on dog parks, taco trucks, house hunting, and site seeing. Please enjoy a few photos of this beautiful new place we call home.

G n’ R

: 6am start time!

Posted in Arizona, Travel | Tagged Travel | 1 Comment

48 Hours, 1700 Miles, one Dead Volvo, and Two Cranky Dogs

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Admin of Pork

Well, we’re here. The Sonoran desert is beautiful, the food is amazing, and we’re still flying a bit by the seat of our pants.

I flew from Tucson to Seattle to drive Robyn back down here with our two dogs and a roof top full of stuff. I arrived in Seattle on Friday morning at about 1:30am, got in the car with Robyn, Mag, and Bella, and off we were! We drove to Salt Lake City down through the Tri-Cities area of Washington, and got to SLC just about in time for dinner on Friday night. Luckily, I have family there, so it really was a nice evening of introducing our furry kids to the family and enjoying not minding that we had road stink and sweat. It’s nice not having to impress family.

After a poor night of sleep at Motel 6 (the dogs were riled up / disoriented and barked at every squeak, sound, and car door shutting) we topped off at Starbucks and headed for Tucson. Our sunny, smooth drive was cut short by a muffled “pop” just south of Kanab, UT. We lost most of the power to the engine, and the car started to shift very sluggishly. Since we were in the middle of BFE Utah, we pressed on a little bit to get to a larger town. The check engine light came on about three quarters of the way to Page, AZ, so we decided to water the dogs there before pressing on to Flagstaff which would have been a larger town to be at in case something really bad happened. As it turned out, we didn’t have to do anything but start the car. We literally made it across the parking lot to a smooth “double park and pop the hood up” as the car silently rolls to a stop sort of thing.

Dogs were relocated to the shade with Robyn while I played Jenga with the towing guy, the repair station, AAA, the insurance company, and Avis rental car. The good news was that we got a rental car for the ride home that fit the dogs and all our crap. The bad news is that we’ve got a puked out Volvo in Page, AZ that we have to drive 8 hours back up to pick up at some point, assuming we can’t convince someone to set it on fire so we can collect the insurance money.

We made it to Tucson nonetheless. Found a 24 hour drive through mexican fast food place that still managed to put most of the mexican food we’ve had in Seattle to shame (yes, I’m trying to look on the bright side of our day), and hit the sack at the Residence Inn at about 1am.

Today found us relocating our stuff to a 1st floor room. Apparently the girl at the front desk is a dog lover, and owns a Great Dane herself. She told us we could move to a first floor place in the morning, and that we did. We’ve got a pimpin’ little pad with a patio, oven, and it’s right next to the patch of grass that’s been approved for dropping doggie bombs.

So, more to come. We had lunch today at a El Charro, which is a Mexican restaurant that’s been in business since 1922 (I’ll probably do it justice with a separate review), went grocery shopping, and have basically just been getting settled.

I know this blog has been mostly about food, but I think it’s going to have to morph a little bit to keep everyone abreast of what’s going on in our lives as well. Hope you’ll enjoying reading along for the ride!

Much love to all of you, and thanks for the support,

G n’ R

Posted in Arizona, Travel | Leave a comment

Remember the Alamo! And the Ribs!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Admin of Pork

I’m overdue. I was in San Antonio (home of the Alamo) a couple months back, and have not yet done service to the wonderful BBQ in that town. If you’re heading to the River Walk, which is one of the coolest parts of San Antonio, I recommend you check out The County Line BBQ

It wasn’t anything exotic – just some baby back ribs and a big ol’ margarita – but simply amazing. The drink and the pork both. I think it came with potato salad and some slaw, but nothing that was more than mildly memorable.

Later in the week found me at The Lone Star Cafe, also overlooking the River Walk. This time it was St. Louis Style Ribs (spare ribs) instead of baby backs. Larger rack of ribs, but still cooked to perfection.

Yep – no f-ing around. Serious big-boy-pants portion of pork. Actually, I only had one side. This photo is of my friend Keith getting ready to try valiantly to eat both sides of ribs. After this plate of nachos. ”A” for effort.

So, I’m not sure what else there is to share on this one. It’s not earth shattering news to say that there’s amazing BBQ in Texas. But make no mistake that there is amazing BBQ in Texas. Home made sauces, great smoke ring on the meat, craft beverages that stand up to the food.

In other words – “Slap your mamma” good BBQ. You should go there.

Posted in BBQ, Pork, San Antonio, Southern | Tagged BBQ, Ribs, River Walk, San Antonio, Texas, Travel | Leave a comment

Seattle, why you so ANGRY?

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Admin of Pork

Dear Emerald City,

I am starting to take this personally. I have told you over and over, it’s not you, it’s me. You don’t have to get all ‘meth-fueled crazy bitch’ on my ass. I feel that the multiple 2 hour commutes made your point these past two weeks. Not to mention the 48 degree mornings and copious amounts of rain. I get it. You’re upset. But did you really have to have someone break into my car? Seriously.

Okay, so Mt Rainer was out in all it’s glory last Friday. But I know a tease when I see one. Don’t try to tempt me with your charms one last time. You gave me a glimpse of “The Mountain” and then decided a 4 mile backup due to some idiots who don’t know how to drive in the sunshine would be clever. The decision is made, the horse is out of the stable, cow is out of the barn, etc. I’m heading south.

Arizona will be a bit different. I’m trading evergreens in my backyard for what will likely be a flat, cactus-scaped, gravel expanse. Though there will probably be a pool as well. And a backup blender. A “Stunt Blender” for the really tough drinks and the 70′s style swingers parties. But I digress.

I will miss you, Seattle. Even though you’re reminding me of Anne Heche on a bad breakup day. For the sake of all who are still here, please perk it up a bit, will ya? Some sun, maybe a few dry days, that sort of thing?

Sincerely,

Posted in Seattle, Traffic, Travel | Leave a comment