Such is life in this valley, state, world. But nothing could possibly compare to the moment that I lost in the passing of Tom Dowdy.

Tom Dowdy at the Poubelle Summer Party 2003...(photo by wjc)

I met Tom during the first time I worked at Apple. Over the years I left for other opportunities but I always seemed to drift back to Apple, and Tom was always there. Apple is an interesting and sometimes fantastic place to work but it was the fact that he was "just down the hall in IL2" or "across the bridge in IL1" that always lifted my spirits when Apple was merely an "interesting" place to work.

When he invited me to one of his dinner parties, we found that we had a mutual appreciation for the same music (progressive rock and, most notably, the band Dream Theater) and food. For the latter, "appreciation" is understating it a bit. It was full-blown obsession. Eventually, I was cooking with Tom at a majority of his legendary parties, and in recent years as his "lead" sous-chef. His dinner parties exemplified the concept that "you always cook for the people you love".

For me, it went deeper than that. I have always given freely to those that I love by cooking (being from a primarily Italian family, if you didn't learn that, then you weren't paying attention...). However, with Tom, it was a master lesson in the power of two friends in the kitchen exploring and discovering new things both about the food and each other, and then turning that into something that he(we) freely gave of ourselves.

He was a mentor to me for techniques and other things that I either didn't know or only had a passing familiarity. And I'm positive that I was able to teach him some things as well. Whichever way, he was always gracious, helpful, encouraging and giving - in his kitchen *and* mine.

We developed a kind of psychic link when we were in the kitchen. A nod, a glance, a grunt...most of the time we could finish each other's sentences as true friends often can. It was uncanny...and deeply satisfying.

Things have been tough (for me) lately, on all fronts. The valley tends to temporarily chew people up at times, even the strong ones and I have had no real inspiration to write about food here in Two. Ate. Yet I cook on, using techniques that Tom taught me as well as my own, to feed anyone who happens to be in the house. I do it gladly because...well, that just how I do. I always understood "why", Tom showed me the meaning of "why".

Only ordinary men could be so loving and giving. It takes an extraordinary person to paint himself as "just an ordinary guy" and still do all the things, and touch all the lives that Tom touched. He touched mine right down to the bottom of my soul. It is something that I will never, ever forget.

Tom, I hope to see you again someday, my beautiful friend, then we can be the ordinary men that we always want to be.

I have been going to the Central Texan for years and it never fails to disappoint...

Ajiki-san and I are extremely food-compatible so an evening of yakitori and oden would do just fine. And although not the ultimate for that kind of thing, Toriyaki Kurumaya was well worth visiting...

Wandering through Jinbochou looking for books, brought me across a Bagel & Bagel shop. Since it was nearly time for lunch (but lunch was still a few stops away), I felt the need to nosh. So in I went...

Sometimes you just need to revisit the past. Excitement aside, the past brings out the memories and memories bring out the satisfaction and so on...

Tuesday and Wednesday were the days to relive a bit of food treking. Hankering for the familiar, I went out to Nebari-ya for a nice natto-kimchee-tori soboro donburi lunch on Tuesday. Then onto Kazuki Ramen for late dinner on Wednesday.

Oh Two. Ate. Diary, the only other eye-opening things I discovered in the past 24 hours were the rather unique flavors applied to bagels (!), plus an interesting French restaurant nestled on a small backstreet (aren't they all?) in Hiroo but more on those later....

Yes, tonkatsu please... (photo courtesy of www.toncya-suzuya.co.jp)

But I never in a million years would associate tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) as a chazuke topping. But Suzuya manages to pull it off....

Housed in a building that used to be a Meiji-era hospital (the original sign still is hanging at the entrance), Ichi's charm is it's rustic, old-timey atmosphere. The tatami is sturdy but worn, the tables and chairs a melange of styles from years past and low beamed ceilings remind you to humble your head so you won't end up knocking yourself out. It's a very comfortable, cozy room.

Food-wise, the soba is top-notch. The buckwheat noodles are hand-made (common to soba restaurants in this area) and delicious and served with some unique and less common soba sides....like, gobo and mame tempura, tororo (grated mountain potato) or tender cooked root vegetables.

Ichi itself is a hidden gem worth searching out (sorry, no directions or pictures I was so taken by the location that I neglected to do either) in this area. I'm sure if you ask one of the locals, they'll be able to tell you where. It's some extra work, but worth it in the end.

Beer and salt and well-traveled chopsticks... (photo by wjc)

After setting up the grill, we paraded out the grillables and proceeded to get our cookout on...

- four cloves of garlic
- kosher salt
- two egg yolks
- one cup of olive oil
- dijon mustard
- lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
- room temp water
- white pepper

1. Mince garlic with a pinch of salt and keep chopping until you achieve a paste-like consistency.
2. Add garlic to the egg yolk (which should be in a small-ish bowl) and whisk to break the yolks.
3. *This is the labour intensive part* Start adding the olive oil drop by drop and whisk well after every one...after the yolk starts emulsifying you can add the oil in a thin stream. Keep whisking until all of the oil is incorporated. The mixture should be thick and mayonaise-like.
4. Add a bit of the lemon juice and water to thin. The lemon juice will "whiten" the mixture a bit.
5. Add a small (1/4 tsp) amount of the dijon mustard and white pepper to taste

I had never heard of the restaurant (I'm kind of bad that way...I guess I should do more research) but was really blown away by the experience....

I'm not real sure that bacon ice cream is something more than just a novelty (and bacon-oatmeal cookies? definitely a novelty and a borderline "bacon-for-the-sake-of-bacon-in-something-that-really-doesn't-need-bacon-all-that-much" sort of thing) but I'd eat it. Once.

A few weeks ago, I was craving a potato salad but didn't want anything with mayo, or sour cream, or yogurt. I had been playing around with vinegars so hit upon a slightly decadent but pretty straightforward rendition that you could call a "salad". However, I originally served it as a side but recently made it for our annual Santa Cruz Shakespeare picnic outing....

Texas Barbecue
Directly after returning from Tokyo, we put on our every-three-years Texas barbecue party. It's every three years solely because our last one was three years ago. Back then, we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants, stabbing in the dark as to how to throw a party for more then 10 people at a time (we had 36). So this time we were way more prepared. The goal was to beat our 55 pounds of meat record and we blew by that like it was no thing at all. When all was said and done, we cooked over 80 pounds of meat (two briskets, six pork butts, six chickens, six racks of ribs, a bunch of sausage, rib tips/ends). The smoking started the Friday night before the Saturday party so we managed to have some 17-hour brisket hit the table. We had over 44 people show up and most of the food was GONE when they were done!

Recipe development
We have been playing around with beans and potatoes lately. It has been mostly beans as I have had an unnatural craving for the tasty morsels. Black bean salsa, black beans and rice, borrachos (pintos cooked in stock and beer)...so many bags of beans have graced our kitchen. As far as potatoes...we developed a recipe for a picnic involving white potatoes and vinaigrette. It was born out of a craving for a summer potato salad that didn’t have mayonnaise or yogurt and could travel well. I’ll post it here…in a day or two but you can go to Gastronome and see it here)

Sunday roast dinner
The first time I went to London, my friends Shelley and Richard took my jet-lagged ass to a local pub for a Sunday roast dinner. And even though there was a large plate of meat and potatoes, it perked me right up. Well, the drawn ale helped too… A few days ago, sitting in a local pub (Katie Bloom's), I remembered how good it was and decided to do a roast dinner on the upcoming Sunday. It was a straight forward menu: roast prime rib, white potatoes, baby carrots, salad, Yorkshire pudding. The roast was slow-cooked at 275° until it got to around 115°. It coasted to 125° then went back into a 500° oven for 10 minutes to form that classic crust. All that and a bottle of 2001 Clos du Lac Cabernet made a nice way to end the week.

Make no mistake, Hashiya serves spaghetti... (photo by wjc)

Hashiya is a spaghetti restaurant with a mind-boggling number of combinations. I lost count at 40 (well, our food arrived...). However, they do have some interesting dishes involving neba-neba...