What's Cooking (Take Four)

Dinner prep is done for today. I ended up with the biggest flank steak I have ever seen. It is over 2 lbs, saw a nice looking package in the store, and picked it up, never looking at the poundage. It is marinating in soy sauce, red wine vinegar, a red Cab my son gave me, lime juice, garlic and onion powders, fresh garlic, powdered Adobo powder, and Monderey Steak Seasoning.
I also made a layered veggie casserole; it was fun, but it took forever. I sauteed onions and garlic, then in a casserole, I started the layers. Sliced zucchini on the bottom, then sliced heirloom tomato, the onion, garlic mix, and a layer of thin slices of Caramelized OnionJack Cheese. Then, a layer of yellow crookneck, adding the same as above, I finished off with a layer of Moma Lills Goatherd peppers, and topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
I remembered I have fresh sage now...so I am making a pot of Royal Corana Beans with fresh sage, garlic, chicken stock, and maybe tossing in Sun-Dried tomatoes later.

[Jenise]

Larry, wishing you the best on your recovery. Surgery's never easy, and I know not being home to look after Edie would be concerning for you. But good hospital meat loaf? Nice to hear, that *should* be easy but as my one adult hospital stay in 2014 can attest, some hospitals can barely boil water right.

Today I'm making a tuna ceviche to take to a friend's afternoon cocktail party. A pound of tuna has already been cut into small dice and sweet onion and jalapeno have been cut into fine dice. A little red bell pepper will go in as well, standing in for the Fresno chiles I want but which aren't standard in grocery stores around here.

Last night's Thai tom yum gai came out tom-yummy. I'll definitely be making it again.

-Paul W.

Last night's Thai tom yum gai came out tom-yummy. I'll definitely be making it again.

-Paul W.

Recipe?

[Jenise]

Will make myself a salad for lunch but otherwise, no cooking today: Yo Yo Ma's in town and I've got a ticket!

[Jenise]

Roast chicken. I invited a legit Chef to dinner along with his dad, who has cancer, and the prognosis is bad. Said Chef is very unreliable. He said yes but would have to check with pops and he never got back to me. I don't know if I'm going to have guests or not. So dinner is going to be roast chicken of some sort because no matter which way it goes, I'll be happy with the leftovers.

How was the Yo Yo Ma concert?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Absolutely amazing. We have a symphony orchestra who, under the direction of our Israeli music director, is doing a series called Harmony Thru Discord and this fits into a current project Ma is pursuing. It's really unbelievable that the greatest cellist in the world actually came here to perform and that I actually got a ticket ($500). It sold out in minutes. I'm still pinching myself.

I took piano as a child, a decision based on growing up in a rock and roll world that consisted of piano, drums and guitars--I thought classical music was Henry Mancini. I had to grow up to understand, and fall in love with, the cello.

I have a CD of Yo Yo Ma performing all of Bach's solo cello suites. It is one of my most treasured recordings.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, Bob and I owned several Yo Yo CD's, so I cried a few tears at the outset just thinking about how glad he'd be that I was at this show. The first half of this show was our own BSO who played three pieces, Brahms' Nanie Opus 82, Bach's Dona Nobis Pacem from the Mass in B Minor, and a standout modern composition by one Jonathan Leshnoff called Of Thee I Sing, written after the Oklahoma City bombings, and interspersed with an excellent local Chorus singing the title song we all know. Ma was the featured cellist for the second half, Elgar's Cello concerto in E Minor, Opus 85, in four parts. But my favorite thing was his solo encore performance of a piece by Pablo Casals, Ma's personal hero. It was breathtaking.

Jenise, I did not realize you were so knowledgable about classical music. Do you also like Baroque?

I bring it up because your mention of Ma's encore reminded me of a concert I saw just a couple weeks ago given by Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI. Wonderful stuff, as always, from him. But the encore! Just one piece: he announced, "'Amazing Grace', in the style of a spiritual, and offered in this moment as a call for peace". And it was the most perfect, most beautiful rendition that I have ever heard (...and, as you might guess, I'm not a big one for churchy music).

Love the Elgar concerto, one of the most famous cello concertos after maybe the Dvorak. I think Yo Yo is playing on a cello that was Jacqueline DuPre's, who probably did most famous renditions of the Elgar.
He is also a famously nice guy in the classical music world,