Thanks Again, and a Word About Sponsoring

Another successful Blogathon is over, leaving just a few administrative bits to sweep up! My thanks again to everyone who helped, in every way they helped. Your support and encouragement made a tough 24 hours fly right by!

If you enjoyed the blog and would still like to sponsor us, you can still sponsor through Blogathon (and have your pledge added to the overall event total) through July 31st. The link is here.

Comments will close in about a week to fend off spammers, but the blog will remain up permanently. If you have something to say about the blog after comments have closed, you can e-mail blogathon (at) darkfriends (dot) net.

AdSense ads were enabled this morning. Ads are not permitted during the event. However, after the event, I enable ads. All ad revenue from my Blogathon blogs is donated to the National Kidney Foundation. Currently, this is about $300 per year.

Thanks again for all of your support! We'll be back next year with another exciting 24 hour blog marathon!

Good morning, and good night.

And so it ends, another Blogathon has come to a close.

Twenty-four hours. Forty-nine posts. A lot of food, fun...and exhaustion.

We stayed up late, and we made a difference - The Chef's Table raised $843 for the National Kidney Foundation, and the participants of Blogathon collectively raised more than $41,000 amongst all their charities! Amazing!

Love and brightest blessings to all of you. It's time to hang up my hat, so to speak.

Until next 'thon, I remain,

Missy, signing off.

Gratitude

There are some people who need thanking.

First, above all, my wonderful sponsors for their donations - of money, of time, and of give-a-damn. Without you, I would have been blogging into the void. For all of your help and support, I thank you from the bottom of my very tired heart.

KT, my Blogathon monitor - and really, the whole Blogathon family - for being a tireless cheerleader and a great source of encouragement. It takes a lot of time and effort to bring together an entire community in just over a month, and they've put forth a PHENOMENAL effort.

My family, for coping with my yearly pre-Blogathon panic and fuss, and for all of their help with getting this year's theme off the ground - Maus for brainstorming the idea of a tasting menu to begin with, and the Monsters and Other Children for serving so competently as my Kitchen Crew. It is so gratifying that, even though the NKF is my "pet charity", the Blogathon event to support that charity is always a family effort. It means a lot to me.

And David, in whose honor I blog, for appointing himself my personal DJ as the evening turned to night turned to wee hours of the morning. It always has come down to us sharing music in the middle of the night, hasn't it? Some things never change.

Your support means the world to me. Thank you so much.

It's not too late to sponsor us for Blogathon 2009 and the National Kidney Foundation!

The Blogathon crew tells us that official sponsorships will remain open until July 31st. Of course, you can still donate to the NKF any time after the close of sponsorship - simply go directly to their donation page!

I am profoundly grateful for the support of all of my sponsors. It's folks like you who make the NKF's vital work possible in these days of reduced government funding for important research.

To all of you, from everyone here at The Chef's Table, our deepest gratitude.

Our After Blogathon Plan

My Kitchen Crew worked so hard all day and through the night, and they're still chugging away! They're very excited, as this is the first year we haven't lost one or the other of them in the wee hours of the morning.

We're rarely able to sleep past one the day Blogathon concludes, so we have determined that we will be having ourselves an afternoon out.

We will drop into bed at 9AM, rise at 1PM, and leave the house at 1:15PM to go to the movies and out for dinner. We are seeing UP (the second time for Ernie and me) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and we will follow it up with dinner at the Elephant Bar.

This has become something of a post-Blogathon tradition - every year we've participated, we've gone to the movies on just 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

I expect we'll all collapse half dead into our beds when we get home around 8:30PM tonight!

What's on your agendas, 'thonners?

Time for Breakfast!

All of this coffee and no sleep is really upsetting my stomach. Fortunately, my tummy is easily soothed with a smoothie:

1 cup apple juice
1 cup almond milk
1 banana
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup strawberry yogurt
1 scoop protein powder (we use Gaspari)
1 tbs. honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Kidney.org Showing As Malware

Several of my sponsors have reported the the National Kidney Foundation's home page is being reported by both Google and Firefox as a malware site.

Kidney.org is not a malware site, but rather the official homepage of the National Kidney Foundation - a federally registered 503(c) non-profit organization. You WILL NOT get a virus from visiting the NKF home page.

The "safe search" provider claims the site is "under review". Until they pull their heads out, please use Internet Explorer to visit the NKF homepage.

Pear Sunrise

The sun isn't quite up yet, but I'd sure like it to be!


Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup tequila
- 1/2 cup cored, pared chopped fresh USA pears
- 2/3 oz passion fruit juice from concentrate
- 1/4 oz pomegranate juice
Garnish: orange wedge

In blender, combine all the ingredients and puree until smooth. Pour into chilled glass and serve.

Alex's Sourdough Starter Is A Lot Like This

I am terrified of Alex's sourdough starter. I find the bread he makes from it to be quite delicious, though.

More Food Trivia!

-- Beer has a bitter taste and slightly pungent aroma because of lupulin, a substance found in hops.

-- Africa's 8,000-year brewing history began with ancient Egyptian commercial brewing dynasties and still includes handmade tribal beers.

-- Pineapples are classified as berries.

-- The apricot can be traced back to China at least four thousand years ago, and it first appeared in Greek mythology as the "golden apple."

-- Two-thirds of the world's coffee comes from Brazil.

-- One pound of tea can make nearly three hundred cups to drink.

-- Whiskey was first brewed in the United States in 1640. It was made from a mixture of corn and rye.

-- Vanilla is the extract of fermented and dried pods of orchids.

-- Chewing gum was created by the Mayans over 300 years ago. They boiled the sap of the sapodilla tree and chewed it.

-- Milk is actually considered to be a food and not a beverage.

-- In the Middle Ages, chicken soup was believed to be an aphrodisiac.

-- Cheese is the oldest of all man-made foods.

Punch Drunk? Drunk Punch? I Forget!

No, those don't seem right, either one. What was it?

Oh. Right.

RUSSIAN PUNCH! I knew it was some kind of punch.

ice cubes
1/2 shot of creme de cassis
1 shot fresh lemon juice
2 tbs. sugar syrup
2 shots vodka
chilled Champagne, to top up

Fill a sling glass (tall and slender) with ice cubes. Pour in the lemon juice, creme de cassis, and sugar syrup, add the vodka and Champagne together, and stir.

Nearly there!

Just five hours to go! And in 19 hours, I've gotten a lot accomplished:

-- Interesting breakfast (it was really tasty!)
-- Twelve course meal, two posts per recipe to allow for proper prep and cooking.
-- Cheerful, happy nattering as people came and went today, sampling whatever dishes were ready to try.
-- Cheerful, happy nattering from my Kitchen Crew
-- Ridiculous trivia.
-- Happy nostalgia, thanks to YouTube. I'm so happy I can still see my old favorites, even though they've all passed on.
-- Wrangled the Monsters into cleaning the kitchen!
-- Thus far have raised $823 for a cause near and dear to my heart.

Everyone who has contributed - either with money, linking, commenting - you're all fantastic, and I appreciate every one of you.

Jeff Smith Cooks with Firefighters

When Alexander was just a wee little Monster, there were three things he loved more than anything in the world: Sesame Street's Elmo, Firemen, and Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet.

I managed to find two of those in one place! Well, two, but it's one show.





We often poke Alex about his childhood obsession with "The Froogie", and we're pretty sure that's what drew him to the Culinary Arts - he would sulk mightily if he didn't get to watch his favorite chef!

Julia Cooks Tableside

I remember watching this as a young child, and being completely fascinated with it. Cooking at the table? Really? Steak Diane sounded so elegant and inviting, too.



Julia's attitude towards booze in her cooking was always one of her most endearing traits. "A few drops of cognac never hurt anything!" Her course by course wine suggestions are spot of - as if they wouldn't be! - and serve as a terrific guide for even the novice cook.

While We're on the Subject of Miss Julia...

In her classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child wrote nineteen pages about omelets. And said they were easy! Simple!

You'd think 19 pages of musings would mean that they're difficult. But as we see in this 1979 clip, it's really just all in the wrist...

Chocolate Moose -- I Mean, Mousse

OK, so that's not precisely how it goes.

Miss Julia explains in somewhat better detail in Mastering the Art of French Cooking:

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 ounces (170g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup (60ml) dark-brewed coffee
4 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup (170g), plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) dark rum
1 tablespoon (15ml) water
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.

Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.)

Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.

Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don't overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.

Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

Food Trivia!

In years past, the late night/wee morning hours have been filled with food trivia, random recipes, and occasionally brain fried musings on something food or booze related or other.

I don't see any reason why this year should be any different, so I went looking for some fun food trivia, and learned a few things along the way:

-- Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

-- The onion is named after a Latin word meaning large pearl.

-- Potato chips were invented by a North American Indian called George Crum.

-- In France, people eat approximately 500,000,000 snails per year. (They are merely a conveyance for white-wine with garlic butter sauce.)

-- The first breakfast cereal ever produced was Shredded Wheat. (YUM!)

-- There are about 100,000 bacteria in one litre of drinking water. (Ew. I wonder if any of that gets filtered out by the Brita pitcher?)

-- Hot dogs were first created in China. (So my Chicago dog is actually Chinese food? Awesome!)

-- Within 2 hours of standing in daylight, milk loses between half and two-thirds of its vitamin B content. (This is why many milk producers are switching to opaque jugs.)

-- Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite. (Where's the KABOOM?)

-- It has been traditional to serve fish with a slice of lemon since the Middle Ages, when people believed that the fruit's juice would dissolve any bones accidentally swallowed.

Lemon Martini

Let's play with a little more liquor for a minute!

I'm a fan of girlie martinis - the ones with vodka, something sweet, and NO GIN! A Lemon Martini is a lovely accompaniment to a hot summer's day!

ice cubes
1.5 shots Citron vodka
1 shot fresh lemon juice
1/4 shot sugar syrup
1/4 shot Cointreau
3 drops orange bitters
orange twist for garnish

Combine all in a cocktail shaker, shake until frosty, and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Best enjoyed outside, in the fresh air and sunshine, with a book in the other hand!

...and ANOTHER PSA!

'cause if I'm supporting the National Kidney Foundation, then I ought to talk a little bit about kidney disease, and not just food and booze. But I promise, the next post will get back to food and booze!

Did you know...

-- 1 in 9 Americans suffers from Chronic Kidney Disease?

-- 26 million Americans have CKD and millions of others are at increased risk. Early detection can help prevent the progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.

-- Heart disease is the major cause of death for all people with CKD.

-- Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the best estimate of kidney function.

-- Hypertension causes CKD and CKD causes hypertension.

-- Persistent proteinuria (protein in the urine) means CKD is present.

-- High risk groups include those with diabetes, hypertension and family history of kidney disease.

-- African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Seniors are at increased risk.

-- Three simple tests can detect CKD: blood pressure, urine albumin and serum creatinine.

Are you at risk? Do you think you could be? Then for the love of Mike, call your doc and get yourself checked out! Chronic kidney disease is not something you can ignore - failing kidneys can land you on dialysis, in the transplant ward (if there's a kidney available for you - some people die waiting for one), or worse. Don't put it off. Don't let it go.

Take care of yourself!

A Public Service Announcement

Did you know that you can help support the National Kidney Foundation in more ways than just sponsoring this blog? (Not that I don't want you to sponsor this blog, mind!)

Get up, get outside, enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, and participate in a Kidney Walk in your area! Kidney Walks are held all year long, all you need to do is check to see when the one nearest you is!

It's a good way to get a little exercise, meet new people, and support a fantastic organization. Get on out there!