An online journal about food, thought, travel, and life.

I went to the clinic today and the triage nurse sent me to the ER for X-rays, and it turns out that I broke my left clavicle at the joint.  It will heal on its own in 4-6 weeks, while it’s in a sling.  And thankfully I can get basic treatment for free thanks to the State of California.

Best,
C

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Dear Pat L. (who works at a Peet’s in the East Bay),

You serve me my coffee somewhat regularly, your beard and tattoos make you easily recognizable and I often see you riding your bike around town, without a helmet.  Look, I’m not a preacher, I’m an atheist, but I feel compelled to share a bit of my life with you.

As most people who know me already know, for environmental, financial, health/fitness, and enjoyment reasons, I don’t drive, it’s a choice I’ve made to never even learn.  So I ride a bike, a lot.  And today I got hurt.

I’m currently living at the top of the Berkeley hills near Tilden, so I put my bike on the bus and ride to the top when coming home.  (my commute is downhill, both ways!) Being the hills of Berkeley, there are a lot of steep, winding, crazy curves, and a few hairpin turns.

There are two of those hairpins on the way home.  As I was negotiating that second one today, I hit a patch of evergreen needles and suddenly my bike just went out from under me; but pulled me along for the crash.

If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet, the sides of my head  would look like this too (yes, both sides, I managed to get turned around while scraping pavement).

Left forearm

Right arm

Left hand

I also have screwed up my left shoulder, hopefully it’s just strained, I’ll see my doc tomorrow.   There are other scrapes and cuts, not as severe as these photos, but, the point is Pat, that without a helmet, at a minimum, the right side of my head would have looked like the first photo. When my helmet met the pavement it was loud, I’d probably have a concussion too (I may have a slight one now), my ears, (particularly the right one) could have been badly ripped up, and I’d likely be spending the night in the hospital.  (With no insurance, and no way to pay).

I survived, the helmet survived, the bike has some damage.

If you look closely you’ll see the front wheel is pointing straight ahead, the handlebars however, not so much.

Thankfully I was able to straighten them, mostly.  It’s going to the shop for a full inspection.

Additionally, one of my favorite shirts is ruined.

Although… My thrift store Banana Republic jeans, have some new character

I have a rule in life, that one always has to find a silver lining, somewhere in every bad event.

A second bright spot would be that my iPhone which was in the now ripped up pocket, came out without a scratch.  Please wear a helmet Pat, it would suck to see you splattered on the pavement.

See you soon,
Chaz

For regular readers: Yes, I plan to hand Pat a note with this post’s URL.  I’d been waiting for him to wait on me again so I could tell him to stop being douchey and wear a helmet, today’s event makes it a little more relevant.

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I was  thrilled to announce that I was asked to be judge at this year’s Eat Real Fest’s DIY Charcuterie Contest, I am also saddened to annouce the DIY Charcuterie Contest was canceled due to liability issues over the remote chance of food poisoning.

However….

I’ve now been moved to the panel for the DIY Infusions & Liqueurs Contest. Ohhh Yes,  that means I get to judge the Awesome-Sauces!

I most definitely won in this change.  Full press release here: Eat Real Fest DIY Judges.

——
PS: To my friends, please share this widely, the bigger the audience attending the better the chance I get asked to be a judge again!

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I think that it’s a good day
to call family and catch up

I think that it’s a good day
to go to the beach

I think that it’s a good day
for a barbecue with friends

I think that it’s a good day
to help those less fortunate than you

I think that it’s a good day
to ‘shoot-the-shit’ over some beers

I think that it’s a good day
to go dancing

I think that it’s a good day
for a ball game

I think that it’s a good day
for a parade

I think that it’s a good day
to fly the flag (wherever you live)

I think that it’s a good day
to be free

And I think that we owe nothing less
to everyone who died on that day

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PS: I won the contest.

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Yep, you read that correctly, “Cheddar Brownie.”  And I’m here to tell you that it’s a brownie revelation.

Update: August 1st. I won!  Vote for Chaz!. (deadline Friday July 29th).

Some back-story, I was asked by the folks at Cabot Creamery to be one of five people to take part in their Summer Dessert Challenge.  It being summer and I loving desserts, I said yes.  The challenge is to create a summer dessert using any Cabot Cheddar Cheese.  I’ve made this recipe with their sharp white cheddar and Cabot’s lovely extra sharp white cheddar.

So what makes this a Brownie Revelation? The cheddar elevates the chocolate, lending its tang and creaminess heightening the chocolate and smoothing it out.  The cheese also transforms the texture of the brownie giving it this best-of-both-worlds crossover between cake and fudgy.  This brownie is dense and intense, which is why I chose sweet, yet tart summer strawberries to cut through the cheddary-chocolate and cleanse the palate, the  lightly sweetened whipped cream eases the transition between the two.

Cheddar Brownie Recipe – Makes 18 3″ x 2″ brownies

Ingredients:
8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks) melted, and cooled
8 ounces Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese,  grated with micro-plane (or similar size)
5 large eggs
2 cups brown sugar, packed, (You may also use 1 cup of brown and 1 cup of granulated or palm sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (or 1/2C + scant 1/3C)
1 cup dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (whole teaspoon if using kosher salt)

Method:
Preheat oven to 325F (162C, Gas Mark 3)

Grease a 9×13 inch pan with butter, set aside.

1 ) Melt the butter and set aside to cool
2 ) Grate the cheese into a bowl, (be careful not to let the cheese pile too high, you don’t want it getting weighted down and clumpy). Set aside.
3 ) Beat eggs in/with mixer until light and creamy
4 ) Add vanilla extract
5 ) Add sugars to eggs and cream on high speed
6 ) Meanwhile  In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
7 ) Add the cheese to the egg/sugar mix and bring back to high speed, let the beater cream the cheese in well.
8 ) Set the mixer to low and add the butter, once incorporated, turn mixer off, add flour/cocoa mixture and beat on low to incorporate.

9 ) Spread the mixture into the 9×13″ pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Until they appear done in the center of the pan. Allow to cool, at least until warm.

To serve top with whipped cream and strawberries for a fine finish to any summer evening.

I hope you enjoy and vote for my recipe. Cabot Creamery Challenge Voting Form.

Thanks,
Chaz

Chaz French is a private chef and caterer in the San Francisco Bay Area, he lives in Berkeley where he has the privilege of being the Chef at the not for profit Golestan Center for Language Immersion & Cultural Education.  Resume: http://chazfrench.com

Recipe & Content © Copyright 2011 Chef Chaz French for Cabot Creamery’s Summer Dessert Challenge

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I will never ever peel a potato again!

Seriously watch this video, it will rock your culinary skills.

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This was me:

Nine months before attending the Chef’s Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute. This was when I decided to start losing weight, I made good progress by the time I started at NGI (Disclosure the above photo was before I even knew I’d be going to culinary school, much less NGI!)

This is me nine months after.

And that is what Desire, Determination, and Education can do for you.

Suggested Reading Material:

Food And Healing by Annemarie Colbin Ph.D.
The Natural Gourmet by Annemarie Colbin Ph.D.
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

Topics: Slow Food

Work it, Believe it, Learn it!

Update:

I was a bit sleepy when I wrote this post and there are notes to be made.
My starting weight was 270lbs (122 kilos, 19.25 stone)
After the first photo was taken I began to lose weight by

• Walking
• Eating smaller portions
• Eating more slowly
• Seeing a Nutriotionist
• Seeing a Psychiatrist

By the time I’d started at Natural Gourmet I was down 40lbs, and when I took this photo in January 2010 I was down 53lbs
When I finished at Natural Gourmet, my weight loss had plateaued but I was still losing inches.
As I started my apprenticeship at Three Stone Hearth and started learning, cooking and eating more Weston A. Price style food, I began to more rapidly lose inches and from working in a large volume kitchen, I started gaining muscle.
The 2nd photo (above) was taken April 3, 2011, I weighed in at 204 recently, but my new bicycle is causing me to gain muscle faster than I’m losing what’s left of the fat, so the weight is inching up, even while the body is still slimming down.

Believe it or not, I still have 15lbs of fat to go.

Chaz

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Today I was astounded, in awe, and absolutely in love.

For today, I ate the most perfect pizza of my life.

After having lived in Los Angeles for 15 years, I learned the hard way that really good pizza is near impossible to get outside of NYC & New Jersey (and the NY Style pizza in New Jersey is the better of the two).

When I move to the SF Bay after an 8 year stint back in New Jersey, I knew I would be leaving good pizza behind, again, and likely for good.  Until one day a few months ago, when I was walking around Berkeley, hungry because it was lunchtime and had a craving for pizza.  I started looking and walked by a number of pizza places, most of which charged almost $4 a slice and looked like thick focaccia with spaghetti sauce and enough cheese for a bowl of fondue on them.  In other words, disgusting.  I kept walking.

And then, pretty much where I’d started to walk from, but from another angle, I saw Arinell’s Pizza, walked in and what I saw what a definite NY style pizza, the price was under $3 a slice and it looked positively hopeful.
I was not disappointed.

The pizza at Arinell’s is as good as any I’ve had in NYC or NJ, and also just as good as Vito’s in Los Angeles (after 11 years in L.A. a self-avowed “Dago From Elizabeth, NJ” moved to L.A. to make real pizza).  Arinell’s is also consistently good, I’ve not had a bad slice there, though I’ve noticed that the girls who work there don’t re-heat slices hot enough.  On a good day Arinell’s is a great tasty treat, just like it is on a bad day, but prior today, I’d not experienced anything like this…

I ordered two slices and a diet Coke (shut-up, I prefer the taste of diet Coke).  When I took the first bite I knew this was no ordinary pizza.  The crust was crisp to the point of crackling when bitten into, it was HOT but not roof-of-the-mouth-burning, the sauce was thin, in just the optimal amount, a thin, flavorful barrier between the crisp bread and the molten cheese.

I pulled the slice away from my lips and saw wisps of steam coming out of the incredibly thin layer of ‘crumb’ in the crust, as I ate my way up the slice and got to the edge of the slice where the crumb was thickest, it was still steaming, still perfectly crisp and crackling in my mouth, and the plain bread provided the perfect palate cleanser before starting the next slice.

Today I had the most absolutely perfect pizza moment in my life, 8 hours later and I’m still in awe of the amazing creation I experienced today.

*sated sighs*
Chaz

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