Julie&Julia - the new movie

Just got back from watching the Honolulu preview of the movie "Julie&Julia" with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams based on Two True Stories of Julie Child and Julie Powell, a New York City blog writer. Hosted by Chef Mavro and his wife Donna.

I loved it!!! The who's who in Hawaii's food industry were also there watching the film. Inspiring and funny. Check out this photo: http://twitpic.com/8ejp0

Go to www.JulieAndJulie.com for more information. Coming to theaters on August 7th.

Wines from Spain @ wine down wednesdays - July 15, 2009

It's summer and it's hot. What sounds good? Lighter weight wines that are cool, and that means wines from Spain.

Mark Lloyd, one of wine townies & favorite wine experts, led this week's wine down. Mark is from Chambers and Chambers Wine Merchants.

Bodega Muga Bianca, Rioja
Viura and Malvasia fromthe famed house of Muga, founded in 1932. Harvested from vines 15-45 years old the Mugas produce traditional and artisan wines. This crisp and luscious white Rioja is packed with fruit flavors of melons, lemon lime, and sea breeze with bright acidity. A perfect summer wine to sip while grilling oysters and veggies.

Pirineos Mesache Rosado, Spain
Cabernet and Grenache dry Rose; the perfect compliment with Paella. But also great with Salmon off the grillm, and most tapas.

Finca Luzon, Luzon, Jumilla
Monastrell (Morvedre) and Garnacha produced by family owned estate of 98 hectares near the Mediterranean Sea. Thee Gil family have been making rich and fruit forward wines with a modern style (you may have seen Guan Gil in the wine shops). Flavors of blueberries, black tea, raspberry and chocolate. This is a very stylish wine.

Sierra Cantabria Rioja 'Cuvee Especial, Rioja
The Sierra Cantabria mountain range rises abruptly from the Rioja Valley, and protect the region from the harsh Atlantic winds. This winery was founded in 1957, and these grapes are harvested from estate grown vineyards 1,800 feet above sea level. Common descriptors for aged Rioja reds is leather, exotic Asian spices such as sandalwood, cinnamon, but surrounded by a fruity frame.

wine down wednesday @ town - July 15, 2009

Wine down Wednesday @ town will be tasting Spanish wines tonight with Mark Lloyd. Please check out their blogsite - http://winedownwednesdays.blogspot.com/ - for tonight's menu.

Muga, Pirreneos, Finca Luzon, Sierra Cantabria wines and food pairings of Fideos, Ciccioli, Anticuchos, & Potato Chips.

"tengo muchisimo hambre!!!!" I am very, very hungry!!!!

Surf Film Festival @ the Honolulu Academy of Arts

Tonight's opening night was sold out!!!! A great crowd showed up at the Doris Duke Theatre @ the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

These films will be showing until July 24th. Every movie goer will get a chance to win a "Wade Tokoro" surfboard.

For more information on the films and schedule go to: http://tinyurl.com/kwj4qc

Wines from the Loire Valley with Tyler

Our tour of the Loire Valley was fantastic on Wednesday at "wine down @ town". Tyler Uehara of Grand Crew was a wealth of location and taste profile knowledge. We had 3 whites and a red.

Here is the tasting menu:

Domaine de L' ecu Guy Bossard, Muscadet '06

paired with hunter point oyster, muscadet mignonette

Le Clops Vigneau, Vouvray '07

paired with poached oyster, potato, prosciutto, chive

jean Reverdy, Sancerre '07

paired with oyster po'boy

Domaine des Rouet, Chinon '05

paired with pork raviolo, tomato, fennel

The Eat Local Challenge - August 8 to 15

The Eat Local Challenge!

Kanu Hawaii is challenging people across the islands (and their members across our islands, our country and our world) to Eat Local during the week of August 8 to 15. To join the campaign and take the Eat Local Challenge, they are asking people to commit to at least one of the following actions and to report back afterwards about what they learned from the experience:

· Eat Local Week. Eat strictly local for the whole week of Aug 8 to 15 (all local grown produce, or items made from all local-made ingredients)

· Eat Local Day. A slightly less strenuous alternative: Eat all local, breakfast lunch and dinner for 1 day on August 15.

· Participate in a “smart mob” of a local producer/retailer on Saturday August 8, where we will buy together (options will be posted soon)

· Throw an Eat Local party where you make a meal made from all-local ingredients during the weekend of Aug 15-16 and share with friends.

If you aren’t sure about whether an item is “local” or not (e.g., should locally manufactured tofu considered ‘local’? Or, locally brewed beer?), post your question in the discussion space of the Campaign prior to Eat Local Week. It’s okay if we make some mistakes…the point is not to get it perfect (though of course, we should try). Rather, the point is to be challenged, share info, and learn together. We will become aware of the difficulties of eating local, the importance of local food sources, and what changes need to happen in order to make our food supply more sustainable and secure.

Any actions you commit to, please also submit a photo or testimonial to kanuhawaii by email or in your own personal journal (which can be found under the “My Pages” tab on kanuhawaii.org, when you are logged in as a member), telling us what you’re learning, what’s hard or easy, etc. Good luck and good eating!

"Spain on the Road" Paella Recipe

With my little obsession about everything Spain, this is the first recipe I've tried (in it's entirety) from the Mario Batali cook book "Spain on the Road".

Can you believe it? So on the 4th of July I volunteered to cook it in my friend's outdoor gas wok - a really big one, it took 2 recipes to fill the wok.

Here it is:
1/2 c Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
6 large prawns
1 medium Spanish onion
1/2 cup pureed ripe tomatoes
1 t kosher salt
1 t saffron threads
1 T sweet pimenton
1 lb cleaned cuttlefish or calamari cut into 1" pieces
2 quarts fish stock
2 cups Valencia rice
1 lb monkfish cut into cubes
1 lb manila clams, scrubbed

Heat a paella pan over med-high heat. Add the oil and heat until smoking. Add the prawns and cook until golden brown on both side, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and cook until sofe, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato puree, stirring it into the onions, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the salt, saffron, pimenton, and cuttlefish and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the calamari firms up slightly. Add the stock, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to distribute it evenly. Add the monkfish and clams, arranging them nicely, bring the stock back to a boil, and cook, without stirring for 10 minutes. Add the prawns, taste for salt, and cook, again without stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the liquid is almost completely absorbed and the pan starts to make a crackling noise (don't worry, this what you want). Remove from the heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

The secret is to grind your saffron threads and kosher salt in a grinder. You can also add chorizo (with the onions) and cooked chicken (with the clams).

The taste of the paella was full of seafood and saffron. The rice has to be from Valencia to great that al dente but flavorful Spanish paella taste.

The feedback from everyone was that it was the best paella they every had.

When using a wok, you will need to stir the rice more than this recipe states, because of the distribution of the heat and rice in the wok. When left alone, the middle of the wok gets more heat than the surrounding edges.

This recipe feeds 6 people.

Wine Down Wednesday @ town - July 1, 2009

Please check out the new "Wine down Wednesdays @ town" blog site - http://winedownwednesdays.blogspot.com/

This site will post all of town's "wine down" tasting menus.

I hope you like it.