I dream of Zombies!

I should seriously write a script for a movie. I only say this because I have the absolute best zombie dreams. I have them all the time too. This last one was probably one of the best I've had. Que the dream sequence:

Run. Faster. I don't know why. I must run faster. Wait! What is going on? I stop and look around. I hear screaming far away. Something isn't right. What am I waiting for? There is something coming my way. I can barely make it out. I've seen this before. It looks human, only it's running like an animal after its prey. That's when the recollection hits. Zombie.

I'm running again. This time I understand why. I round a large building and somehow end up inside. I realize that I'm in a large room that in some way looks like a gymnasium. I turn back to the double doors and think, "This where I make my stand." I wait for an eternity. Then I hear the screaming and the zombie rounds the corner and enters the large room. Its clearly a male and half of his face is missing, but that's not what worried me. It was the bloody spear he was carrying. I only half realized what I was doing when I clashed with the zombie. Kicking the spear from his grip and then sliding through his legs I caught the spear before it hit the floor. I whipped it around taking the zombie off his feet. He flew a few feet and crumpled on the hard wooden floor. As he squirmed and writhed on the floor I could make out the sound of running foot steps coming from behind me.

I turn just in time to bring the spear up and skewer the next zombie. As I pulled the spear out and watch the zombie fall to the ground more foot steps could be heard. I remember the first zombie and turn to see him getting to his feet. I feel the anger start inside me. I feed off this like a fire would with gasoline. Building the anger for the deaths of all these people. I want to understand how or why this is all happening. I begin to rage. I use it to impale the zombie and the proceed to use a form of kung fu. Striking at the points of his body that I know will bring about his final death.

As I run from the gymnasium, I see someone I know. Running with inhuman like speed I catch her. It's my wife. Relief floods my body. That rage I felt begins to dissipate. I tell her I love her and we need to go, but she says she cant. I don't understand. Why is this happening? I tug her after me. I say to her we must flee. I cannot fight them all. It seems as though this is going to be as it may. I can hear them again. The screaming is so intense. It's like a jet engine revving up as it gets ready for take-off. I turn to her and plead with her. She gives in. Only I know that it's to late. I turn back to the street. I tell her that I love her again and that my heart goes with her. I motion for her to run. She stays and I can see the sadness in her eyes. Run! I yell. Get away! I will fend them off for you. She kisses me fully on the lips. My heart burns for her. She turns and sprints away.

I can hear them closer now. The drumming of their feet is rhythmic. It is like rain beating the a tin roof in early spring. I can feel it now. The anger. It's returning. I can see them. The screaming and their feet bouncing off the walls of the buildings around me. It is an unearthly noise. It keeps building and building till it crescendos. I begin to run at them knowing this is it. This is the final hour of my life. The thoughts of my wife and our life together start to flash before me. I take it all in. I take a deep breath. I clear my mind. I will need to be focused if I am to give her a chance to live. That's when I hear it. Its not loud but its just enough to be heard over the zombies and over my thoughts. I can just make it out. Its sounds like singing. I'm closer to the zombies. What is that sound?! I'm confused. Nothing that beautiful should be alive in this waste. I fight to control my thoughts again, but its getting louder. I want to scream myself. Scream to the world to shut up! The zombies are only a few feet away. I crash into the wave and begin to hew them down. I still hear the singing. Wait. Those are birds chirping......

I wake up and reach for my iPhone. Dang it. I love Zombie dreams. They are so intense. Maybe next time will be better. Maybe. For now though I'm pretty content with my dreams.

As is becoming a tradition of me making something gluten free for dinner. I will leave you with a pretty good gluten free pizza.

Ingredients:

2 cups tapioca flour/starch
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup GF millet flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons  light brown sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water (between 110 - 115ºF)
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 packet (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup beaten egg
1/4 teaspoon rice vinegar


Instructions:

Proof the yeast in 1 cup warm water with a pinch of sugar.  

Grease a baking sheet or a couple of pizza pans. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours and dry ingredients. 

Add the proofed yeast to the dry ingredients. Add the oil, eggs and vinegar.

Beat the dough until smooth and sticky. The pizza dough should be creamy smooth and not too thick- it's not sturdy like typical bread dough. It almost borders on batter.

If you have a mixer do the same process, but use the paddle on low for about 90 seconds or until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  

Pull the dough and knead about 6 times. 

Proof the dough for about 20 minutes in a warm place.  

Place dough on a floured counter and roll it out to desired shape.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. 

Brush the pizza  with extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and fresh garlic. Sprinkle with Italian herbs.  

Bake for 10 minutes.

Pull the pizza crust out and then top with cheese and vegetables or meat. 

Place back in the oven and bake for 10 more minutes or until the crust is crisp.

Bread

Here it is late in the afternoon and I look back on my day and wonder what I could have done better. What moment could I have took control. What moment was it that I could have done something more. I look back on the day and think to myself: "This was a good day."

My week in general was good. In fact it was great. I live with and amazing person. She puts so much time into our home and into her life. She thinks more of me than I do of myself. In fact I'm pretty sure she loves me. ;) I love her.

Today was the pinnacle of my week. It was the best day as I was able to just relax. Though I'm about to contradict that statement.

Kimberly and I went to church a little late and that frustrated me to such a point that I wasn't able to partake of the sacrament. I try not to guilt trip my wife, but I did a little bit and I'm sorry for that at. I absolutely hate being late. It's tough for me to accept that there are times when it's just not possible to be "on-time." I can be better about this form of patients. I will be better.

After church we drove home and talked about being on-time. It went well. We agreed that we should wake a half hour early on Sundays. This is so we can get to church and have time to get into the spirituality of the meetings.
Now after we arrived at home I was greeted by my wonderful dog, Molly, who has really become a small human being. She goes in our room and sleeps on our bed when we stop paying attention to her. As it is with little ones she also tries to hide when its bath time. She really knows me. She knows when I need to give her some attention and she knows when I need to give her food.

After this encounter Kimberly decided to take a nap and I read for a little while. I procured some Gluten-free flour for Kimberly earlier this week and I thought that I should make her some bread. I started the dough making process. I let the yeast sit in its warm water bath while I measured out the rest of the ingredients. I then decided to do this by hand. No mixer for me today. I want to be able to do this process just in case. So I put the stuff in the bowl and begin to mix everything together. As I add the flour I begin to realize how long its been since I've actually done this. Wow. Okay so I may have made a mistake or gluten-free flour is tougher than wheat flour. Whatever it is, its like kneading a brick. I think I may have done the recipe wrong. It seems to me that I may have because the dough is not rising. I may have cooked the yeast before it was ready. Hooray for bricks!

I love to just cook. Not rush around trying to get everything ready for a party, but just cook. I like to have music playing and depending on what I am making some company. I like to cook alone, but I like to teach. I like to show others how easy it really is to cook. Yeah, maybe it has been 10 years, but all I know is, is that cooking has always been a calming wonderful practise for me. Like I said to just cook is wonderful. Maybe I'll be able to teach someday. I wonder.

I guess I've started to leave you all with Gluten-free recipes, so as to not disrupt the cycle, I'll leave you with this:

Gluten-Free Challah (pictured above)

2 T unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 T active dry yeast
1/2 cup Tepid water (about 85 degrees)
1/3 cup sugar
4 oz. unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup milk
1 T honey
2 1/2 t salt
4 Large eggs
6 1/2 cups Gluten-free flour

Add the yeast to the water and let sit for about 5 mins.
Using the melted butter, brush a mixing bowl and then reserve the rest for later use.
Now in a small sauce pan, pour in the milk and cubed butter. Warm this until the butter is just melted.
Pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl and then add in honey, salt, and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, mix these ingredients in.
Make sure the milk mixture is under 100 degrees before you do the next step.
Add in the yeast and eggs, stirring until just combined.
Lastly add in the flour a 1/2 cup at a time until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl cleanly and it is tough to stir.
Now knead the dough for 10 mins or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and a damp kitchen towel. Let it rise at room temp. for about a hour. Deflate it and let it rise again for about 20 mins to a hour.

Glaze:
1 egg
2 T butter, melted
1 t sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Half the dough into 2 greased bread pans or roll the dough into 2-1 inch diameter logs and braid them together and then place them on a greased sheet pan.
Bake for 10 mins., then brush with Glaze. Repeat this process until bread is done through. If the bread starts to brown too fast, cover with foil and forgo the Glaze.
Let rest on a rack until slightly cool. Slice and enjoy warm.

This one is dedicated to Anthony Linton.

Travel + California + Vegas = Wow Im tired!

Welcome to wonderful Las Vegas! This past couple of weeks have been full of travel for Kimberly and I. We headed for California with Kimberly's family and then after returning home I flew off to Vegas for a conference. It has been great getting to go places that I have never been to but I can tell you that home is the best place for me.

Jeff, Amy, and I all went to Vegas for work. It wasn't work like I usually do but it was what we like to call research and development. We were actually at a catering conference called Catersource. It's a very informative conference and its wonderful for networking other companies like ours. I had fun at this one. I was able to meet some great people as well as a couple of well known chefs.

My parents happened to be in town for their 30th anniversary. It turned out pretty cool to have them there because we were able to go to a Cirque de Solie show. We went to KA. It was absolutely amazing. I cant even put into words how cool it really was. Its something everyone should be able to see in their lives. Anyway just being their with my parents was worth more than all the information and fun I gained from the trip.

I have to talk about food! I was in heaven. As my blog title says I am a chef, but not really a grouchy one ;)  I absolutely love food. To be in Vegas around all those restaurants and great chefs was great. The first night we were there, we went out to House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. It was more or less an upscale burger place. I have to admit they did make some tasty Mac and Cheese. I think this is because it was made from scratch and had lobster in it. The next day we ate breakfast in our hotel and it was a standard breakfast buffet with the option of a hot a la carte menu.

We attended our conference for the first day and after which we hit a place in the MGM Grand called L Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Now this place was probably were my taste buds died and went to heaven. Seriously the best meal ever. We had a 12 course tasting menu. The amuse bouche was my favorite dish. It was foie gras with a raspberry compote and Parmesan foam. I think if I could cry I would have cried out in shear joy. Exaggeration! It was really good though. Eleven courses later and I was a very happy person.

The next day we attended a class then went to breakfast at Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro in Caesars Palace. We sit in a comfy dining room where there is a live buffet station. Now I say live buffet because it has a chef in a round "kitchen" cooking Belgian waffles, crepes, and many other breakfast goodies. Next stop on our food journey was over to a Catersource event called "Out-of-the-Box," meaning boxed lunch ideas. It was a neat showing of food and ideas, but a little disorganized. My favorite attraction was the giant "food truck," which was totally made out of ICE! An entire ice sculpture carved and placed on drip pans that is a fully functional serving machine. I figured it took over 20 blocks of ice to make this sculpture happen. If you figure a block of ice weighs around 150-200 lbs then we are looking at a sculpture that weights close to 2 tons! Impressive!

Later that night we go to the Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge in the Bellagio. We sit and are greeted by our server who says, "Order whenever you are ready. We leave the menus at the table so you can order as you go." I get excited because I am instantly calmed by this statement. I don't have to make a rash decision on what to eat. I get to take my time. This is awesome! We order a server recommended dish called Big Eye Tuna Pizza. It was Ahi tuna sliced thin and placed on thin homemade tortilla with a green onion sauce. MMMMM! We ordered a round of sushi and then Jeff insisted we order another round, to which Amy and I agreed to do. After this we ordered a 16 ounce Kobe beef ribeye steak with a kizami-wasabi compound butter and a side of wild mushrooms with truffle oil. The steak was so tender and the mushrooms were awesome. Last but not least we tried the Braised Kobe beef short ribs with baby root vegetables. Yet again this dish did not disappoint.

We come to the 4th day of our trip and we skip breakfast with plans on going to Meza Grill at Caesars Palace. Ive been here before so I kind of know my way around this menu. I bent on getting the smoked duck quesadilla again. We sit and begin the process of choosing our meal when the server shows up and asks Amy for her choice. She chooses a weekly menu that benefits the local food pantry. Then its my turn and I'm still indecisive. I ask Jeff to go ahead and the bum then orders the smoked chicken quesadilla!(formally the smoked duck) I stare at him with disgust. "Thief." I say to him. Fine I think, I'll order the mushroom quesadilla and the chicken and sweet potato hash. Again I love the mushroom quesadilla, but have my eye on that smoked chicken Jeff ordered. Amy laughs and says, "Corey you are too much fun to eat with." I think she enjoys my reactions to flavors. I guess I use my face to say what my mouth is thinking.

After we leave Meza Grill we attend some more of our conference and then head over to the Tradeshow. Its full of venders trying to get everyone and anyone to buy their wares. Its a fun 3 hours for me as I get to see what kind of sustainable merchandise is out there. We'll talk more on sustainability later. We have tickets to go to a benifit for children bbq dinner. I get to see my parents just before we head to the dinner. We make plans for the following day and depart company. Jeff, Amy, and I head for the buses that take us to the dinner. Its a beautiful buffet. It has a country feel as a bbq dinner should be. We walk around and look at some of the paintings the children have done and then out to the bbq grill to look on the "masters" at work. They have a really nice catering trailer and thats about it. We go into the dinner and rush to find a seat so we can see the show up close only to find out that we are going to watch someone season some ribs and then tell us to go eat.

Keep in mind this is a $129 meal. Now this is where the night gets stupid. Stupid is the best word here because we figured it was going to be a family style meal where we were served at our table. Nope! Buffets. Lets just say there were around 300 people in the room. Imagine everyone getting up and going to a buffet at the same time. Welcome to standing in line 101. A hour later we still have yet to eat our food. By now Im pissed and most of my food is cold. We sit, eat, and enjoy a conversation with lady from Florida that has a shooting range that she is converting into a country club for her members. Except for that conversation the night was a bust.

The 5th day of our journey turns out to be a very good one for me. I go to classes and then to the Tradeshow and then after which I head to my parents room in the MGM. Their room was updated with some cool technology. We head down to dinner at FiAMMA. I get a Maine lobster and truffle gnocchi. My mom gets an antipasto dish and my dad gets linguini with pesto and shrimp. I quickly find that my choice is one of the best all week. I eat it too quickly. I use the rolls to soak up any sauce that is left. I have to say this is a good day. We meet up with my mom's aunt and uncle and go to the show KA. It really is impressive.

After the show my parents and I head up to their room and we talk about all the happenings of the recent events of our lives. My mom of course does not want me to go, but I must. We depart with sweet goodbyes and I head back to my hotel. I miss seeing my parents. Its always so wonderful to be with them.

Wrapping up I will say that this has been a great trip full of food and ideas. Vegas is only getting more expensive and sinful. If you are planning a trip make sure you take lots of pictures, mostly of food! I will go back someday, but I will be taking my wonderful wife so she can partake of the food and shows. I love her forever and the mostest!

As always thanks for reading if you made it through this post.

As for my recipe of the day/week depending on when I get back on. How about this:

Black Bean Roasted Pepper "Hummus"

1 poblano pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 15.5-ounce can black beans
1/4 of 15.5-ounce can garbanzo beans
2 cloves garlic, peeled
juice 1 lime
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
pinch chili powder
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1/4 to 1/3 cup sesame oil (depending on the consistency you like for your hummus)

Roasting the pepper. Preheat the oven to 450°. Massage the olive oil onto the pepper. Put the pepper in a sauté pan and slide it into the oven. Cook, tossing occasionally to sit on another side, until the skin of the pepper starts to blacken and separate from the rest of the pepper, about 20 to 25 minutes. Pull out the pepper and put it in a bowl. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and let the pepper sit until it has cooled completely. Peel it and seed it.
Making the hummus. Put the black beans, garbanzo beans, garlic, lime juice, avocado, chili powder, and the roasted poblano pepper into a food processor. Pulse it up until everything has blended into a chunky mix. Taste, then season with salt and pepper or more of any of the ingredients you feel it is lacking. With the food processor running, drizzle in the sesame oil until the hummus has reached the consistency you desire.

Aquired from glutenfreegirl.com