Monday, November 9, 2009

Boulevard Brewmaster's Dinner

So recently I had the good fortune to attend the Brewmaster's Dinner at Boulevard Brewing Company (Jon is so great!). We also had the good fortune to be seated across the table from Boulevard's Creative Director and his wife, and the ensuing conversation covered just about everything from dog poop to gimmicky beverage labels belying the quality of the beverage in the container, to neutering gender confused rabbits.

The dinner was in honor of a collaboration with Orval brewing (Belgium), and Orval's Brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock was also present. I know this because I practically flattened him whilst rounding the corner to the restrooms after a few beers.

But enough about my antics.

I snuck a photo of the menu:



Chef Celina Tio of the restaurant "Julian," created this meal, and the pairings were done by people from Boulevard.

The first course: Mussels with Bob's 47, Red Onion, and Fresh Thyme.... Read More

Pros: The sauce was amazing. So flavorful, and you could really taste the red onion and thyme without either one of them being overpowering. The kind of sauce you want to sop up with your bread at the end of the course. The mussels were cooked perfectly, and although they were a tad small, they were delicious... one of the few times I've actually really enjoyed eating mussels.

Con: I had at least 3 mussels with sand in them, and most plates I saw had at least one mussel on them that had not opened. Unopened shellfish just should not be served, that's a basic tenet of cooking. You are risking the health of your guests by serving unopened shellfish. Those mussels should have been discarded, even if her Sous chef was in charge of that dish he should have known better.

The second course: Pork Belly, Parsnip Puree and Sautee of Wild Mushroom.

Pros: The puree was delicious, and the mushroom selection was quite nice, a good combination. The pork belly over all had a very nice flavor, and was seasoned well.

Cons: I felt the pork belly could have been a little crispier on top, with the fat more of a "melt-in-your-mouth" type and less of a "mouthful of jiggly fat" type. The meat underneath the fat seemed a tad bit tough. The sauce with the sauteed mushrooms tasted very reminiscent of brown sauce on a mushroom swiss burger.

The third course: Baked Chocolate Puddin' with Ginger Doughnut Hole.

I expected a warm, chocolatey goo... what I got tasted vaguely of chilled jello instant chocolate pudding... not that that's bad, but if you call something "baked," you expect it to be warm.

Temperature issues aside, it was a very tasty chocolate pudding, and the addition of a tiny bit of kosher salt on top of the pudding really added some depth to the flavor, and "made" the pairing with the Smokestack Series Long Strange Tripel work exceptionally well. The salt was the key. This was easily the best pairing of the evening.

The doughnut hole was fluffy and moist on the inside, but the outside I felt was a bit overdone, and the whole thing lacked the ginger flavor that was advertised... however it was tasty nonetheless and I left nothing in my dish. :)

Over all it was a tasty dinner, very enjoyable, and I had a great time. I'd highly recommend going to one of these events anytime you have the opportunity. I can't wait to see if we get to go again.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Me, in color!



Now my profile has a picture!

Granted, it's a few years old, but I still look basically the same, only with somewhat longer hair.

It was either that or post the photo I use on all the message boards I troll every day:



A great photo of someone other than me, which actually says quite a bit about me... but for this experiment I figured I'd better be myself. :)

Will update the photo as opportunity allows. :)

Monday, October 26, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, "Plays With Food!" I'm constantly inspired by recipes I read, games I play, websites I visit, events I attend, and food I create, and this seems to be the perfect place to share my enthusiasm for all things food, beverage, and now and then a snippet or two from a video game (primarily WoW, but I might occasionally be heard shouting, "RELOADING!")

Let me introduce myself in case anyone who doesn't know me decides I'm worth reading. My name is Heather, I live in Kansas City with my boyfriend and my two dogs, who I'm sure I will be posting plenty of pictures of (they think they like to help me cook... really they just hope to be the tasters). I work a job I love, that I hope to have for a long time to come (unless I get a wild hair and decide to go to culinary school one day eh? lol).

I also love to cook... cooking and baking are two of my favorite things to do. I'm also an avid player of WoW, and sometimes it's tricky to coordinate raiding and cooking, and not resort to fast food on raid nights.

Anyway... last night I had the good fortune to attend the Boulevard Brewery Brewmaster's dinner (details in another post, I was my typical clumsy self!) and we sat across the table from Boulevard's Creative Director and his wife (that conversation, again, was entertaining enough to be it's own story, so will save it for another post). Upon introductions, he asked if we were bloggers. I answered no, but that got me thinking... why not? I always seem to have something to say about food, about drink, about dogs, about WoW, and about life in general... a blog would be the perfect way to express those opinions, whether people read it or not!

So that brings me to this... an experiment in expression. Let's see where it goes!

~Heather