omi beef

Can I write about something that I haven’t actually experienced myself yet? Well, can I imagine living in a Gamma Issa House & be certain that life would constitute a daily source of solid satisfaction? I sure can.

So, when I came across an article on a “butter-soft” beef from Japan called Omi, I instantly started sulking in response to its rarity here in North America. Unlike Kobe, Omi has little presence outside of Japan, & although it’s one of the three Tajima long-haired black cow meats that stands at the forefront of Japanese beef, it’s somehow taken a backseat within the marketing spectrum.

Omi is produced in Lake Biwa in Shiga, & is being hailed for health in being lean despite its tender texture. Farmers of Omi strictly adhere to natural methods of raising their livestock & do not interfere with the development of the cows. The calves are fed by their mothers & the cows are only given home-grown rice & wheat to eat. No antibiotics or supplements are given to the cows, either. The downside of their delicate meat is that Omi actually melts in warmer temperatures & thus presents a preparation method foreign to most chefs. The beef has to be cut quickly into slender slices for serving of sashimi, shabu-shabu or sukiyaki, which is an art form in Japan & can take years to master. Omi, Kobe & Matsuzkaza are all meats from the same cow, but the difference in taste stems from both the climate & the timing in terms of their feed. Omi beef cows are only fed for however long they wish to eat, thus producing this balance of being both light & lean.

The meat also marbles naturally, but Japanese farmers have been rumored to massage the cows, play them Mozart & feed them beer in an attempt to further melt their muscles into what I could only possibly imagine would result in a meat milkshake. Unnecessary? Yes – the farmer’s thought so, too.

the dirty apron cooking school

Due to Vancouver’s anti-climatic nature, I have nurtured myself to forbid the formation of expectations with newly opened establishments. I do so in hopes of minimizing the depth of my disappointment, but when a local venture unexpectedly blows me away, I can’t help but to be left highly humbled & proud.

I was even wearing my glasses when I walked to Crosstown to take a tour through the open house for The Dirty Apron, a culinary habitat for amateur gastronomers & curious professionals seeking to extend their skills in a space suitable for those with quality in mind. The school is a joint venture between Nico & Karri Schuermans of Chambar & a food stylist & former Sous-Chef of Chambar, David Robertson.

Upon entering, an energy of passionate chaos looped around me while I observed the harmony of the space. Once I collected both myself & my Chardonnay, I swayed from one room to another in admiration. The interior was designed by Kerri, who is the aesthetic brain behind both Chambar & Café Medina. The kitchen exhibits simplicity & is stocked with high-grade equipment & tools by All Clad cookware, Wusthof knives, Wolf ranges & Sub Zero fridges. Brick, beam & custom walnut cabinetry are all a part of the general retail store, which was designed with a 1920’s aristocratic feel & accessorized with culinary antiques. However, it was the dining room that truly stole me away. Victorian-style crystal chandeliers, vintage chairs & unfinished wooden tables charmed the narrow length of the room with intimacy.

There are a total of eleven classes: Knife skills, West Coast, French, Seafood, Italian, Meat, Grilling, Desserts, Chocolate, a Frugal Feast & a recreation of some of Chambar’s most popular dishes. These are all 4-hour, hands on classes, while the 2-hour demonstration classes only include French & West Coast. The majority of these are taught by Robertson & the website promises a “peppering” of local celebrity chefs. Hands-on classes are thereafter paired with wine whilst dining together after class completion.

To start, I’ll be taking the Knife Skills Class & the Contemporary West Coast Class. A further review to follow.

review: luchador shiraz 2006

My sister & I had bought this bottle in the first week on the evening of a balmy July, at the Kitsilano Wine Cellar near my apartment.

The intent of whatever wine we had chosen was to serve not only for taste, but as a dose of mind medicine, while we sat on a desolate side of the beach & dissected our distress. It was one of those nights: two synchronic slits to the heart & the natural feminine need to analyze the logic of act so to simplify its abiding emotions. It never works, but the drinking of the wine certainly plays a fine role of distraction while time lingers a long, promising a result of rejuvination..

So, the wine. It’s 5% Cabarnet Sauvignon, 60% fruit sourced from Barossa Valley & 40% from McLaren Vale. It was made by the R Winery in South Australia & imported here by Grateful Palate Imports. It was also aged for 12 months in seasoned French & American oak. At 15.5% & full-bodied, this wine was set ablaze with taste. The issue with its beefiness was that it was stylized, as if on steroids, & thus throwing it out of sorts.

The color was a heavy & dark blue-violet with a velveteen texture. Although I thought this wine had more brawn than brains, I loved its core of cedar, mocha, lavender & cassis. Its fatness also carried out a bit of black licorice & tar.

if you’re looking to get kicked in the stomach by a kangaroo carrying a pouch full of fruit, then this is most certainly the wine for you. I hold no regrets in purchasing this Shiraz, but don’t necessarily foresee it landing on my list of personal classics.

However, had I given it the chance to decant properly or cool down a slight degree, I may have had a contrastive opinion. Then again, what else should I have expected with the design of its label? Go big, or go home.

Drink now & through 2013.

$34 CDN

avocado, cocoa & blueberry pudding

In adoration of the avocado, surfaces yet another recipe, sourced in reason of attempting to mimic a dessert manifesting a resemblance to dairy & sugar – both of which (as you can see from my last post) were restricted from me by way of the Wild Rose Cleanse. It’s a paradox to admit, but it really is difficult to deter from the avocado’s easy nature of versatility & seasonal appointment to summer.

If you even so sporadically read my blog, you will know that even though I mildly dabbled with culinary suicide vegetarianism, my Polish heritage practically raised me on sausages & thus my love for meat has dismayed any interest of ever letting go of it completely. The best of my efforts lie solely in my commitment to evolving as a conscious consumer by learning about where it is that my food actually comes from, & by making the most ethical purchasing decisions based on that knowledge. That being said, I have an abundant amount of respect for both vegetarians & vegans, for their efforts in creativity in ingredient substitution & their seamless successes with both simple & complex meals.

During my cleanse, I benefited from spending the weekend with my boyfriend, who is not only more experienced in the art of gastronomical constraints, (Master Cleanse Champion) but had also refused to let me bail on my cleanse when I whined about what an idiot I was to start one in the middle of summer. Instead, he attended to my palate’s nostalgia by finding a recipe for pudding using avocado’s instead of milk, & Stevia extract in replace of sugar.

People, this was, by far, the best pudding that I have ever had. Given both the taste & factor of time, I fail to foresee the purchase of dairy-based pudding in my future. The absorbency of the avocado makes for a texture that was not only creamy, but cooling, while the interplay of the cocao & the blueberries meddled perfectly in between.

Summer simplicity at its best.

| Photo courtesy of Raw Roxy Supplies