Read Drink & Be Merry

Food trends come and go. Sometimes they start out great but get overdone – balsamic vinegar. Sometimes they are poorly thought out – nouvelle cuisine (think overpriced tapas). Sometimes they end up wiping out an entire species – Orange Roughy & Chilean Sea Bass. And sometimes they don’t make a lot of sense – crunchy beans. After reading that I was pretty convinced that it was just an error that either the waiter didn’t want to fix or was afraid the chef would yell at him. Or at least I did until Saturday…

We had started out the evening at a beer bash thrown by some friends featuring a number of home made beers. I’m actually not a big fan of beer but they had bottled a raspberry wheat beer that was really quite tasty. Since Finn was in tow we had arrived at the very beginning of the party and as it started to fill up we said our goodbye’s before it got too crazy. Feeling a bit peckish, and since it was close by, we made the quick hop over to Can-Can.

For quite some time we’ve been a fan of their scallop appetizer dishes. Almost always on their seasonally changing menu they change the dish often enough so we have yet to get tired of it. Their latest menu, however, was a bit different. Instead of being pan seared they were roasted. Hrmm. I find it relatively easy to pan sear something to the proper temp but I think I would find roasting a scallop without having it raw or a piece of rubber a bit of a challenge. Having faith in the chef there I ordered.

The scallop had been roasted ‘au poivre’, just enough pepper to add flavour and at the right grind so it wasn’t crunchy or just dust. They were cooked perfectly and the difference in flavour and texture was a nice change from the ubiquitous sear everyone else does. The bacon, potato, and corn broth were tasty until I bit down on the English Peas. Firm would be polite. I know, English Peas are supposed to be firmer than Sweet Peas but these took effort to bite down on and were dry inside. Ugh. Firm and crunchy veg are good, firm and crunchy beans and peas – not so much. I enjoyed the rest of the dish so I didn’t whine or even really ask and I would order it again. It did make me wonder if we were witnessing a trend starting it’s march through RVA. Not quite sure how I feel about it. Guess we’ll have to wait and see if it was a cooking aberration or if we’ll have crunchiness showing up all over town.

The rest of the meal was great. I really loved the roasted red snapper and the fact that they have carafes of good wine. With M in her present condition I don’t always want a full bottle to myself and a 1/2 carafe is perfect. The service was great.

The full moon on Saturday (or there abouts) helped make for good cat catching. Managed to catch four cats, actually four kittens – two sets of siblings. Unfortunately one of the kittens was too young to be fixed but at least he got a good check up. The score, if you keeping count…

5 female/5 males – Trapped Fixed and Released
1 kitten – Too Young – Medically Checked & Released
1 male – Not Healthy or Injured – Euthanized
1 female – Didn’t Learn Lesson & Trapped Again
1 female – Didn’t Survive Procedure

Next month will be round #6!

corporation (noun) – An ingenious device to create individual wealth without individual responsibility. Ambrose Bierce

Some companies care about the communities that they operate in. They support programs for the poor and hungry. Unused land gets set aside as wetlands or as parks for the communities. Others just don’t give a damn. Sinclair Broadcast Group is a company that doesn’t care and doesn’t care if you know about it.

Now I’ll admit Sinclair hasn’t given me warm fuzzies for years. Their attempt to influence the 2004 election with propoganda posing as a ‘documentary’ was contemptable (note – I don’t think either side should be allowed free time like that unless the station, using the public airways, allows an equal response). Their censorship of Ted Koppel’s tribute to fallen troops in Iraq shows they care more about ideology than the truth (a very bad sign for a company that transmits the news) and honouring those who gave their lives is an even lower priority. Earlier this year they started playing a shell game with a corporate holding company to skirt the law against having two TV stations in the same market(Fox 35 and CBS 6). And, now, they are killing cats.

Over the years their employees have been leaving food out for a colony of feral cats living on Fox’s property. To me that makes them morally obligated to the care of the colony not to mention that the colony has been there for over 30 years, predating Fox itself. Last month Fox started taking steps to exterminate the colony. The Richmond SPCA sprung into action and tried to take steps to stop the killing of the cats. Fox, well, they really didn’t care.

Their solution to this little PR kerfuffle was to trap the cats. Did they contact experts in animal welfare or one of the local humane groups? No, they called an animal control company who trapped the cats, took them home, then killed them. Charges are pending. The next steps makes you question their claims that they didn’t know the trapper was going to kill the cats. They sent in the bulldozers.

The SPCA moved fast and got video crews from the other TV stations onto the scene. It was then Fox showed they do care about something, their bottom line. Bulldozing cats leading the evening news might make advertisers a bit squeamish. The bulldozers stopped. Finally they came out to say they cared about the colony and would try to do the right thing and work with local humane groups for a solution. Small problem with that statement. A month later and none of the local humane groups have been contacted. Sounds a little like in 2000 when George Bush said he was a uniter and would work across the aisle to bring everyone together…. Whatever happened with that?…

The SPCA and a few other groups have been trying to trap some of the cats. While some of the cats are able to be adopted out many aren’t and it is very difficult to relocate feral cats. It also doesn’t help that Fox isn’t following through on their promise to cooperate with the humane groups and is actually hampering their efforts by putting up No Trespassing sings on the property with the colony.

I suppose it would be one thing if dealing with the colony in a humane way would cost them an inordinate amount of money or effort but it doesn’t. Sinclair Broadcast Group simply doesn’t care. The public airways are there for the benefit of the people. They use it for an agenda. The FCC restricts media ownership in single markets to ensure balance in information. They use shell corporations to skirt the law. They stifle opposing views. They kill cats.

To save a colony and keep it healthy is not that hard. Once a month I set out a few traps with a little bit of mackerel. Whatever cats I trap go to the vet the next morning. Next we go out to brunch with RVA Foodie and family (we actually don’t plan it that way it just seems to happen) and that afternoon we pick up the cats from the vet. Spayed or neutered, vaccinated, wounds treated, de-wormed and even a dose of Frontline. The result has been healthier cats, less kittens and with a higher survival rate, and much less fighting amongst the Tom’s plus I don’t have to explain to Finn why he can’t pet the mauled and dying kitten twitching on our front steps.

Did have some good news at our colony. Last month one of the cats I caught did not come out of the anesthesia. What made that worse was the cat was lactating. We looked for the kittens but couldn’t find them. Over the past couple of weeks a cat and kittens took up residence on our back porch. The kittens were less than 8 weeks and oddly the mother was one that we had had fixed 3 months ago. Our guess is she adopted the orphaned kittens. Made us feel a bit better.

This weekend we only caught one cat. An orange tom. He came through with flying colours and was released back into the ‘hood yesterday.

The score if your keeping track -

4 female/3 males – Trapped Fixed and Released
1 male – Not Healthy or Injured – Euthanized
1 female – Didn’t Learn Lesson & Trapped Again
1 female – Didn’t Survive Procedure

See you next month for round #5

Last Saturday we had the Sketchy’s over for for a little infrared grilling. Up till now we had only been trying small cuts of meat and fish on the grill and I was dying to try a slightly bigger cut. I called my faithful butcher, T at Belmont Butchery, and put in an order for a 4lb leg of lamb, sirloin end. She came through and I picked up a beautiful piece of meat ready for the grill.

The evening arrived and so did the Sketchy’s. Actually it got off to a rather shaky start but you would need to read about that at Sketchy’s Kitchen for the full story. After repairing the damage and making the first round of martinis we tucked into the first course of the evening.

Purple Artichokes. I had found these at Fresh Market and they looked interesting. I thought about serving them slightly chilled with a garlic aioli to dip. Thinking back, while at the market, I remembered a slightly frustrating story by RVA Foodie and his attempt to make aioli. Erring on the side of caution I decided to pick up some organic garlic aioli at Fresh Market and save my first try at the substance when I might end up only killing my own family through a culinary mishap. Upon arriving home I noticed that the aioli had expired several days ago. Not a good thing for a mayonnaise containing uncooked eggs. Making the trek back from Battery Park to Fresh Market…. well, if you add up the time, energy, wasted gas, frustration. Should have tried to make it from scratch. Live and Learn.

Back to the artichokes. I steamed them for 45 minutes (a little longer than I would green ones as they seemed a bit tough) with water, wine, lemon and onion. Allowing them to cool for a bit they then went into the fridge to chill further. The result was ok. They were very pretty but, even after the 45 minute steam, were still a bit tough and a little stringy. The hearts were good but I am afraid that if I steamed them longer to make the leaves softer they would have been too mushy. Bottom line, looks good on a plate but not worth the premium over green artichokes.

For the lamb, I decided to get some professional advice and went to Brown, Alton Brown. So he gets the credit for the paste and the basics, slightly altered for my grill, of cooking. I had T at Belmont Butchery prep the lamb for me. Basically debone and butterfly so it was a large flat piece. The next step was to make the rub. In a small food processor I added:

8 mint leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
5 tablespoons dijon mustard

Blend into a paste. Rub the paste on one side of the lamb, roll it up and tie with butcher’s string. To help the flavours even out I did all this the day before. I removed the lamb from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. When it came time to grill Alton was no longer any help as he used charcoal so I was using educated guesses after that.

I started the heat out at the sear (700+) level. About 5 minutes on each side got the lamb going well. Next I dropped the heat level to the middle of the grill range which should put the temp at around 350. I did 20 minutes on each side (rotating 180 degrees to avoid cool spots) and then checked with a meat thermometer. Honestly, I am hopeless when it comes to meat thermometers. It kept coming up at 150 but I knew that was wrong. I laid down a piece of foil to avoid flare ups and put it on the coolest part of the grill for another 10 minutes. Removed from the grill and then covered for a 15 minutes rest. When sliced it was medium rare, except for a couple of rare slices towards the center. Perfect.

I had a hankering for some sort of reduction to go with it but couldn’t find a recipe for what I wanted. Made one up off the cuff with the idea that it would go in the trash if it failed. Took 1 quart of lamb stock (from Belmont Butchery), 2 cups medium dry sherry, mint leaves and rosemary. Placed in a sauce pan, brought to a boil, and then lowered the heat and allowed to reduce to about a cup and a half. It came out pretty good and it took only a little bit to add the flavour I was looking for.

Of course every dinner needs some sort of activity. What could be more fun than drinking and catching cats. So we put out the traps baited with oil infused mackerel. Quickly we had three cats in the traps and safely away into the basement. The next morning they were sent off for their visit with the vet and then returned in the afternoon. Sadly, that evening when I took them a post-op meal one of the cats had expired. A call to the vet at Operation Cat Nip and the consensus was a heart defect, the result of inbreeding in the feral cat colony in our ‘hood. The expired cat was also lactating so I checked around the house and in the bushes for any kittens but couldn’t locate any.

The tally, if your keeping track, so far:

4 female/2 males – Trapped Fixed and Released
1 male – Not Healthy or Injured – Euthanized
1 female – Didn’t Learn Lesson & Trapped Again
1 female – Didn’t Survive Procedure

Come back next month for Round #4 of the Feral Feline Hunt!

Across the street from our house is an Illegal rooming house. All the homes in our neighbourhood are zoned single family. This house, without the required rooming house license, rents rooms out to an ever changing array of unsavory characters. I understand all people need a place to live but the revolving door of drug dealers, users, prostitutes, and general troublemakers in an ill-maintained house that frequently doesn’t have water due to the landlords indifference really drives up my blood pressure. The many things they do to annoy me are met with retaliation on my part, most often by ensuring they are always on the 4th Precinct’s radar screen.

For years there has been a feral cat population in our neighbourhood. Not too many, just enough to keep the mouse population under control. I would supplement their diet with a bit of leftover dumped off my back porch. Never enough to keep them fed, just a treat. Two years ago one of the new ‘guests’ across the street started feeding the cats in earnest. Full bowls of cat food and a constant supply of fresh water. The result was an explosion of kittens and kitty immigration from other ‘hoods. The house across the street provided the food and our well landscaped yard provided the bushes and shade for raucous kitty sex and the birthing of the results.

It was an annoyance and subject of discussion but hadn’t risen to the point of action, yet. Then we started noticing the deformed kittens. One old gray tom-cat dominated the colony and over time had started reproducing with his own offspring. This ear-less, nasty old cat regularly mauled other cats and killed many kittens. I had the feline version of the Westboro Baptist Church living in my yard. My call to action came after having to pull Finn away from a dying, twitching kitten on our front steps that he wanted to pet.

The question was what. I wasn’t about to put out poison and calling Animal Control would have a similar result. Except for the nasty tom I didn’t mind the cats too much, even when they nearly killed my tulips by peeing on them. After some research and a few tips I found Operation Cat Nip. These people ran a non-profit catch and release program. Basically, I catch the cats take them to a clinic where they get spayed or neutered, shots and any other basic medical needs are also taken care of. The problem was that they had a waiting list. Bother. Well, sign me up.

Only a month passed and I got the phone call. Four slots had opened up if I was interested. So we trucked on over and got 4 cages – yes, we have many, many cats. Once home I baited them with kippered herring in oil and placed one cage after another in the spot where we normally toss out leftovers. It must be a regular kitty pit stop because I quickly had all four cages full. Three were annoyed but resigned to their situation. The fourth was hissing, spitting, and spraying. Very unhappy cat. Covered the cats and stashed in the basement.

The next morning we went to pack them up for their little excursion. Once again, three were fine, one, not so much. At this point tufts of fur were all over the cage and he looked like he had rubbed his face raw trying to get out. Not pretty. To add insult to injury for this cat when we arrived at the clinic someone tried to get the water off the canopy of the tent we were standing under and completely soaked him. He had a small bit of revenge as he did spary inside M’s Jeep and the smell seems to be lingering. Cats checked in, we went on with our day.

A phone call that afternoon informed me that the mean tom was in pretty bad shape. I was initially concerned that it was from the cage and how he had rubbed himself raw but it turned out he had been attacked recently. The wounds were infected and abcessed. Even if he hadn’t got anything from the bites he was looking at a long involved recovery that he may or may not survive. The decision was made to euthanize.

The three surviving cats (2 females, 1 male) are spending this rainy Monday in our basement. Last night they all had nice tuna dinners and this morning fresh water and dry cat food. Tonight they will be released into our back yard and the people across the street will be wondering why some of ‘their’ cats are half-shaved. I understand they blame a multitude of things on the ‘white people in the brick house’ but this time they will be right.