The Mentor The Big Dog

The Mentor is the first person to introduce me to the higher end meals I didn’t get to previously experience. He always combines a fantastic meal, at a fine culinary institution, with words of advice on life, love, happiness, and work. Whenever we bet on the stock market or a sports team you can always guarantee that a first-class meal is on the line. I have come to know his culinary tastes so well that one look at a menu and I can guess what he is ordering for dinner.

On this celebration day (If you live under a rock the Phillies won the World Series!!!) the Mentor is always there with an invitation to a fine meal to celebrate what only comes along every 25 years or so. Now all we need is for the Big Dog and the Little Dog to come back together as a team – then everything would be back in its place.

I almost didn’t even have to ask him what he wanted for his last meal but I had him tell me anyway. Here is his last meal in his own words….

Drink to start: a very cold belvedere up with olives. I am talking about a 1950s kind of drink that they serve at the best steakhouses in a big martini glass, with big olives (i.e. a man’s drink).

First Course: ½ of a Maine lobster, served cold with cocktail sauce and green mayonnaise on the side. Served with the appetizer, a glass of a Trocken Riesling. The simple rich cold taste of the sea paired with a steely, bone dry, crisp white.

Dinner: Braised veal Cheeks with fresh spinach pasta, veal reduction sauce, and peas.
Served with dinner: Any fine old Bordeaux of Pinot Noir. An obscure, rich, earthy
dish with a fine old wine to match. I have never met anyone who tried cheeks and didn’t
think they were out of this world.

Dessert : Floating Islands with crème anglaise. Totally ethereal, like eating a cloud. Perfect after a rich meal.

Served after dessert: XO Cognac. Feel the mist roll in. Time to turn in for the night.

A Ball Park Last Meal

In honor of the soon to be World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies I am putting together a Ball Park Last Meal.

Appetizer: What is a ball game with out the crunch of peanut shells under your feet? There is nothing like the over salted, makes you want to buy a $5.00 soda or $7.00 beer, ball park peanuts.

Main Course: Everyone probably thinks that I am going to choose that ball park staple, the all beef hot dog with everything on it or the Philadelphia favorite Cheesestake with provolone and onions, but they would be wrong. My Ball Park Last Meal main course comes from Planet Hoagie in Ashburn Alley: a chicken cutlet hoagie, with sharp provolone, and broccoli rabe on a Sarcone’s seeded roll (http://www.sarconesdeli.com/). If you ever get a chance to go to the bakery or one of their delis, you MUST try a sandwich or a loaf of their bread – the best bread I have ever tasted!

Desert: Cracker Jacks are sweet enough to be considered a desert, but I am going with vanilla chocolate swirl ice cream in the little baseball helmet.

Next season when you are the ball park, try my Ball Park Last Meal and tell me what you think. I am positive you will enjoy not only the future World Series Champs but the meal that I just put together for your gastro pleasure.

Dr. Brother Of A Former First Lady

Well dressed in his Brooks Brothers, working on his second latte, and picking the raisins out of his croissant - Dr. Brother Of A Former First Lady offers an excellent lunch time companion along with The Saab Driving Coffee Baristo. The conversation is light, humorous, and at times food or politically centered. The Dr's last meal offers a good representation of the simple yet sophisticated man and his All-American roots.

Appetizer: Shrimp cocktail is simple, classic, on most menus at fine dining establishments, and demonstrates the Dr’s sophisticated country club side.

Author’s Suggestion: Try putting some horseradish in with your cocktail dipping sauce for something with a little kick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_sauce

Main Course: Coming from the heartland, just like the good Dr. himself, a mouth-watering filet mignon (Medium). His side dishes are just as uncomplicated as the meat itself; a baked potatoes and grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

Desert: A combination of the sophisticated and simple – A Norman Apple Tart Au Pomme. Check out the recipe below, with all that butter it must be good!

Further Research: offers the following: “Apples play an important part in the history of Normandy, with apple orchards spreading throughout the region even in Roman times. In 1553, Gilles de Gouberville distilled the first cider. However the Norman apple was found to have therapeutic qualities as well, for making poultices and ointments, and has been used to make cosmetics during the Renaissance. Makeup powder, to this day, is still called "Pommade". With over two thousand varieties of apples, Normandy is naturally proud of its cider and of its Calvados.”

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-party/apple-tart-recipe/index.html
This Paula Dean lady scares me a little bit with those eyes and the whole sticks of butter she seems to put into every dish.

Why 'Your' Last Meal? My Last Meal

Food has always been my passion along with my family and my religion. In the kitchen, with my mother as she cooked and baked delicious full meals every night. Holiday tables filled with family and overflowing with soup-to-nuts meals. No one ever left hungry and everyone always savored an invite to dinner. My never ending hunger continues to this day and it will be something that will be instilled in my children.

My quest now is to find out how deep your passion goes with food and to find out what your last meal would be if you knew tomorrow was your last day on earth. I broke down 'last meal' into appetizer, main course, and desert because it helped me help others focus on the meal combinations and where in time they enjoyed that wonderful dish. I will try to include as much detail, background and as many recpies as possible so that you can sample someone else's last meal.


My Last Meal

Appetizer: Colossal grilled shrimp and grilled calamari over broccoli rabe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini). The broccoli rabe can only be made by one person, a friend of the family that knows how to make it just right, not bitter, and with the right amount of hot pepper. The shrimp and calamari are there because they make it a well rounded dish, add flavors that blend well and are not over powering.

Main Course: Blue point crabs (that I just caught under a bridge somewhere in NJ) and homemade pasta. The crabs are cleaned, their cavities are filled with some chopped garlic, and then they are fried till they turn orange. When all the crabs are fried, throw them back in the pot with all the juices and fill the rest of the pot with your spaghetti gravy/sauce (The gravy or sauce issue is a very controversial issue to be discussed at a later time). As for the pasta, it must be homemade linguini - NO EXCEPTIONS! This dish originates from some of my earliest memories of the dinner table; my grandparents sitting on either side of me, spending hours cracking crabs open and giving the meat they worked so hard to pry out of the little crevices.

Desert: Grilled pound cake, a cake that my mother has made thousands of times, with grilled pineapple and vanilla ice cream on top.