The Nugg........

So so so......where does the time go really. I have to start by saying this. One of my all-time favorite songs is Strangehold by the one and only conservative insanity that is Ted Nugent. God I love that song. In fact, let us be blessed by technology. If time permits, pop up itunes and put the Nug on right now.......i'll wait.....really....giving you plenty of time...Fine then, be that way, looser. Just trying to make your online reading experience a little 3D Avatar-y- Mood music if you will.

One long Natty Ice night, perhaps 8 years back I called every radio station in Buffalo @ 3am to hear it. I'm talking rock, pop, r&b, classical, NPR.....to no avail. Anyways, Strangehold.....how it fits the particular construct of this business from time to time. It seeps the love, life, and soul out of ya but done so well, so cool, and rocks so very hard. Mother's Day and staffing issues...that is all I have to say about that Jenn-a-y.

I hate salmon. Kinda. I love it smoked, cured, and raw but cooked, a terrible level of sucking. I don't really eat much fish. Really. I was the pickiest kid ever, turned a new leaf in later years gobbling up anything, then turned back. Mind you, I will cook anything and love it. In fact I love cooking things I don't eat. I'm weird. I love the raw forms, the manipulation, I have tried just about all of it thus making the challenge, if I was to be hungry for this or that, what would make it fun, tasty, different? I've been waving my middle digit on both hands at those who asked for salmon for 3 years. What a stubborn fool I am, for real. "Give them what they want," playing over and over in my mind during a week of mother's day prep.

Why can't a big piece of cooked salmon be like the parts or preparations I do honestly like and sometimes crave? Big fillet....no smoke.....no cure.....they would kill the delicateness if it was cooked just a bit....in parchment! With some aromatics.

Salmon en Papillote w/ fennel, scallion blini, and a thyme and caper creme fraiche.

What else is going on? Trying to roll out a new menu soon. One to really be happy with. Buttermilk bleu gnocchi, roasted yellow peppers, zucchini, art hearts, diablo tom. sauce for the vegetarians. Oh, loving playing w/ flatbread pizzas for new menu....prime rib, grilled portobella, red onion, roasted peppers, buttermilk bleu, horseradish creme. Been messing with sauce bases for flatbreads like creme fraiche. Gorgeous and regal atop a crisp crust. Best seller is still my version of a Gyro on a flatbread: marinated roasted lamb shoulder, red onion, tomato, goat cheese base finished w/ Tzatziki. Thinking about duck legs and a 12 hour bath. Enough for now......