I like Music. I like Veggies. Put the two together, Vegetable Instruments!

Vegetable Instruments, Baltimore, and the AVAM | The Oddstrument Collection.

Hey Friends, Traveling Bistro will be serving great food both Saturday and Sunday. Lot of great artist will be selling awesome holiday gifts too!

Cherrywood Art Fair – Dec 13 & 14 « groovee fortune countrystarr.

These food skulls are from the interesting Skull a day book, Skulls, by Noah Scalin. He used a different medium each day . Cool!

SKULLS: the skull-a-day book – Boing Boing.

Love these Melted Snowman Cupcakes!

Cherrapeno: Winter Cranberry Cupcakes.

Jim Webster from Clearwater, Florida wins Mario Batali’s Ultimate Grilling contest with Pork stuffed in Pork, stuffed with Pork! My kind of dish!

Jim was quoted as saying

“I would love to see it on a Batali menu. On Rachael Ray’s show he sounded fairly complimentary, as did she. But she didn’t drop any ‘Yum-o’s.’ ”

Pig-Wrapped Pig-Stuffed Pig

2 tablespoons fennel seed

1 tablespoon salt

2 large oranges (finely minced zest and juice, used separately)

1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, cut in 1-inch chunks

1 cup orange marmalade

2 pork tenderloins, about 1 1/2 pounds each, each sliced in thirds (3 pieces, about 4 inches long each), butterflied and pounded to about 1/4 inch thick

10 to 12 ounces pancetta, sliced thin (24 to 30 slices)

To watch Jim Webster make his dish, go here.

To make the orange-fennel sausage: Heat a dry skillet. Toast the fennel seed for about 3 to 4 minutes. Keep pan moving to keep seeds from burning. Run the toasted fennel seeds through a spice mill to grind. Toss the fennel seed, salt and orange zest with the pork shoulder chunks. Run through a meat grinder. (Substitute 1 1/2 pounds bulk pork sausage to eliminate this step.)

To make the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine orange juice and marmalade. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 to 20 minutes, or until you are ready for it at the grill.

To assemble the meat rolls: Take 4 to 6 slices of pancetta (depending on the size of your butterflied pieces of tenderloin), and lay them out on a work surface, overlapping the edges slightly. Put a piece of tenderloin on top of the pancetta. The tenderloin should extend a little beyond the pancetta on the sides. Place 3 ounces of sausage down the center of the tenderloin. Fold the ends of the tenderloin up. Get your fingers under the pancetta on one of the sides, and pull the pancetta and tenderloin up to cover the sausage. Roll the package over the rest of the way. These can go straight to the grill, or be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.

To grill: Preheat grill. For gas grill, turn three burners on high until grill is about 400 degrees, then turn off the middle burner and leave the outside burners on high. For a charcoal grill, set up for indirect heat cooking.

When grill is hot, put the meat over the middle burner. Cook covered for about 5 minutes, then turn 1/2 turn. After 5 more minutes, brush glaze on meat and turn 1/4 turn. After another 5 minutes, baste with more glaze and turn 1/2 turn.

Monitor temperature of the biggest piece. When the internal temperature gets to about 135 degrees, take roll off the grill and baste with more glaze. Allow to rest about 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Leftover glaze can be used as a sauce.

Serves 8 to 12.

Source: Jim Webster, Clearwater FL

If you have read part one of my Central Texas BBQ experience you know I’m a big fan of Louie Mueller Barbecue. It’s with a sad heart, taste buds and belly that I bring the news that owner and Pit Master, Bobby Mueller passed this weekend. The mantle now passes to his son Wayne as it did to Bobby in 1974. I know that he will honor the the family name.

Holly Mackerel! What a Summer it has been for those at the House of Been. With grand dreams of launching this blog and starting a new catering company (Traveling Bistro) all has gone well. We might not have been able to blog quite as much as we would have liked but all in all we’re satisfied with these new beginnings. Thanks to all that have supported our new endeavors. Now on to the BBQ!

Kreuz Market, Smitty’s and Black’s Lockart, Tx

Part two of this report takes us to Lockhart, Texas. Considered by many a mecca for Texas Barbeque. I agree with that assessment. A relatively small Texas town supporting at least four (that I can think of) Barbeque establishments is quite a feet. Here is the low down on three of them. Mind you I don’t intend to rank these one over the other. In fact I think they all have something to offer. Kreuz Market, Smitty’s and Black’s, were all visited on this trip to Lockhart.

Read More

Read part 1

My question to the House of Been is where do you go in Austin for a nice dinner at a GOOD restaurant, not a sh!%ty chain or a mediocre kitschy place where they will trade on hip waitresses and tricky wines named for cute reptiles… But a place with intelligent helpful staff, where you can get a nice glass of wine and an interesting fresh meal in a comfortable atmosphere?

If I had to compiled a list of examples they would be

Asti
Vespaio Enoteca
Chez Nous
Mandolas (for the food BUT it is WAY too crowded to just go have a nice dinner in quiet)
Mars (but a lil $$)

BUT I want MORE!!!

This is my question for the House of BEEN! Can you please help me? L

P.S. no  thai, vietnamese texmex or BBQ please… Got that covered!

Great Question L!

Some of our favorites would be:

Bellagio
Real. Italian. Food. We’ve enjoyed hand made pastas and delicious lamb and perfect polenta here. The atmosphere is elegant and the staff was knowledgeable, friendly and very professional. A great experience. The bar while small is a great place to have a drink before your meal. We’ve also seen couples split a pizza and couple glasses of wine at the bar too. We’re going to do that soon!

Mikado Ryotei
While the overall Sushi experience might be a little better at Musashino, Mikado has the atmosphere. Moderen and slick with lower, dare I say, romantic lighting. The staff is attentive and always has great suggestions. Sushi not your thing? No problem. While the Sushi is creative and delicious they also specialize if wonderful grilled items. The Oak Grilled Prawns are fantastic!

Vin Bistro (soon to be VIN Midtown Restaurant & Lounge)
The dishes we’ve had here, very good and the deals on and selection of wine also very good. Beth loved the Southern Fried Chicken with a gourmet spin and the Lamb Shank in Jus was near perfect. All menu items are pared with a suggested wine or the very knowable server can offer a suggestion too.  Wednesdays offered 1/2 price wine by the glass. Atmosphere was a little lacking. However, that looks like it could change. Vin is currently being remodeled and re-imagined. Let’s hope it is for the better.

Salute!

House of Been

Not only was Julia Child a hero to so many aspiring cooks and chefs, she is a national war hero too. Turns out Julia was a member of the OSS, a precursor of the CIA.

See the full article here.

Our dear friend Christina, who is often an adventure partner of the Beens, took a road trip to Ontario. She tasted some wine, took some pics and was kind enough to provide a report. Check it out in it entirety at House of Been, Wining section.