WHITE ASPARAGUS / RED CAVIAR/ARTICHOKE

Yesterday (scroll down to the next posting) I provided the background for mizunara cedar and tailgate #3.  So before going down to the 15 Craigside theater to watch the Hawaii - Oregon State football game, I had this elegant, almost prodigal and mostly healthy feast amidst my herb garden:

Let me start with the large white asparagus.  This dish brings me back to Germany in the Spring, when Spargel is first available.  While many times served with hollandaise sauce, I usually am satisfied with butter and a tad of salt.  To the left is such an example when I was in Frankfurt.  I've also had this veggie in Munich and Stuttgart.

But back to TG#3, 

Let me next go to that giant artichoke, for some of you out there possible haven't dared to prepare one.  What you see is the bud of a flower.  The leaves are called bracts, the fuzzy center with all that pointy hair is the choke and the edible portion, the meaty core with the stem, is the heart.  

You can grill, braise, bake or steam artichokes.  I like to do the latter, boiling the bud for at least 15 minutes.  You almost can't overboil it, unless you want medium rare.  Here is a tutorial on artichokes.

One generally uses a dip, and my favorites are butter and mayonnaise.  As my toasted bread was saturated with butter, I used mayo.

Start by peeling off a few leaves and discard.  At some point the portion attached to the heart begins to yield edible meat.  This is perhaps the most enjoyable part of the process.  Note that when this particular artichoke was half-peeled, it was still huge.

Scraping off that hairy portion can be a pain, but if you boil the bud well, you can almost pull off that portion with your fingers.  Finally, cut into four pieces, the crunchy ending is a delight.

How often does one have six different drinks at one sitting?  Cab, hot sake, cold beer, I'll get to the white stuff, mizunara whisky and mizunara cognac.

I thought the Sansho Akayane was a Japanese vodka.  It tasted like an herbish sochu, so I checked the internet, and turns out this bottle costs $200.  I can't remember when or where I got it.  Perhaps it was gift, and if it was, I should remember who gave it to me.

The best part of TG#3 was the red caviar, complemented by a cheese, which was a leftover from TG#1.  The radicchio was an essential part of the mix:

Satiated, I went down to watch Hawaii pull off another victory decided by the final play of the night.   The hero of the night was Jojo Ward who caught 4 touchdown passes.  Give the defense the game ball again, for they kept the Oregon State Beavers scoreless in the second half.  I should note that I now view for free.  Otherwise, the cost is $50/game to subscribe.  One benefit of living at 15 Craigside. Next week we go to Seattle against Washington.  At one time I had this scheduled on my fall travel schedule.

Oh, I had a tailgate #4 meal watching the news.  Saimin and the leftover of poke/lomi from TG#2

Is this the end of tailgates?  Well, not quite, as I have this fabulous sandwich planned as soon as I complete this posting.  I watched the Tennessee Titans wipe out the now so called vaunted Cleveland Browns, and Marcos Mariota threw three touchdown passes for the first time in his pro career.  Ho-hum, for Cole McDonald of Hawaii last night threw for four, as he had against Arizona two weeks ago, and had six over Navy last year.  One more game left this weekend, for 5-0 Hawaii entertains 5-0 Denver later this afternoon.

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Hurricane Dorian slammed into Nova Scotia, surprisingly with hurricane force winds, but has moved on towards Iceland.  Typhoon Faixi just made landfall near Yokohama as a Category 1 and is moving along the eastern coastline of Japan:

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