WOW! I Have Been So Busy.....Middle School Is WORK!!!!

So many people have asked me, "Logan, when are you going to blog?"    I've been SO BUSY with school,  summer travel, sports, hunting and life in general.  Even though I've been busy, that doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking.  Here's a quick overview since my last post.


In June, my family and I traveled to Hawaii, the Big Island, for 10 days.  While we there, we visited Tex's Drive-In for their epically amazing malasada's.  A malasada is basically a big doughnut ball deep fried then rolled in sugar then an option is having it stuffed with jelly or creme.  The difference is the dough there is like Hawaiian sweet dough and they make them to order so they are fresh and hot.  Next time you go to the Big Island, give them a try.  Another thing I got to do was cook with our friend Carey who lives in Hawaii and works with my dad.  Carey taught me how to make blackened ahi, the uses and amazingness of Hawaiian butter avocados, the best Hawaiian stir fry and the use of chili water.  Carey is kind of a layed back local who loves food and loves to cook like me.  Another night, I made seared fresh marlin crusted in sesame seeds and crushed Maui potato chips which was outstanding!  Carey and Dawnielle (his wife) took us to a restaurant called the Harbor House Grill.  It's right on the water near the harbor next to the airport.  They served just about everything from delicious burgers to traditional Hawaiian poke "seasoned" sashimi.  The adults ordered beers that were served in crazy, crazy glasses called schooner's.  I had the Hawaiian poke and a burger.  Which both were outstanding.   Probably the best restaurant I tried was "Da Poke Shack" in the beach town of Kona. My mom and I love sushi and raw fish so it was just she and I feasting there.  We got some shoyu poke, Hawaiian poke and the "today's special" poke.  I wasn't as fond of the Hawaiian poke so my mom ate it but I demolished the other poke dishes.  While we were at the resort, I enjoyed mainly the Hualalai Coffee Company and the Surf Shack.  At the Hualalai Coffee Company, I loved the passionfruit iced tea and a custom smoothie with guava, passionfruit, mango and a boost of caffeine. At the Surf Shack, they had frozen yogurt, smoothies and Hawaiian shaved ice.  I also enjoyed musubi which is SPAM sushi.  Overall, I LOVE HAWAII!! It's one of my favorite places on earth and I hope to go back again.

When the Sonoma County Fair was going on, I heard about these hotdogs called Sonora Dogs.  Which is a hotdog wrapped in bacon, grilled on a bun with salsa verde, grilled jalapeno, mustard and mayonnaise.  That was pretty awesome.  Something strange that I discovered at the fair was the mini melts ice cream.  The strange thing is that it won't melt unless it touches a liquid.   But it was extremely delicious.  I also enjoyed watching my good friend Max show his pig.  There is nothing better than local farm raised meat or wild game.

My annual bonfire party was also over the summer.  The only reason I'm blogging about this, is because a few of my friends requested it.   This is my once a year "junk food" splurge.  We feast on cheesy puffs, Doritos, Taco Bell and soda.  GUTT BOMB! We worked off a little of this splurge by hitting balls at the driving range.  My dad made a bet that if we hit a certain sign or element on the range, he'd buy us ice cream.  HE LOST, we won and we went to Coldstone which was a very memorable experience because of my good friend Kyle.  He is an absolute crack up even to my parents.  The only good thing about this splurge was the Taco Bell beefy 5-layer burrito which is a maybe once to three times a year thing.

I got to go to many restaurants over the summer and one that stands out in my head is Bruno's on 4th Street in Santa Rosa.   My dad and I went there for dinner.  It was pretty awesome.  I had some of the best fish and chips I've ever had and  discovered that sauteed mushrooms aren't as horrific as I think they are.  The service was really great and the food was outstanding.  I hope to go there again with my whole family.  



So that kind of sums up my summer.  Fast forwarding to today October 6, 2012, I decided to cook.  I wanted to make fish tacos but we were out of taco shells.  So, I improvised and made fish tacos without the shell.  I used rock fish that my dad caught in Alaska.   I seasoned it with Hawaiian rock salt which I've grown to love and Caribbean jerk seasoning.  I always use cast iron skillets.  I seared the fish in a little butter and olive oil and then poached it in my homemade extra spicy salsa using ingredients out of our garden.  I made a tequila lime aoli using Fage yogurt which was outstanding.  I ate this with some tortilla chips and then dove in with a fork.

I hope all of you enjoyed this post and I promise to blog a little more often.  In the meantime, here's to good food and adventure!  

Learning How to Smoke Ducks with My Uncle

Considering that this weekend is the end of duck season, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about smoking ducks with my uncle Doyle. I hope to go hunting next duck season. Hunting is kind of like a lost art and not a lot of people do it any more. If you think about, it's what people did to survive and the meat taste so much better. The meat that you hunt for isn't treated with a bunch of junk and is pure and natural and DELICIOUS.

One day one of my friends, Luke, brought me some duck that he and his dad and my friend Max hunted and told me to do something with them. I had brought some smoked duck to school that my uncle Doyle made and everybody loved it. So, I decided to get in touch with my uncle Doyle and learn the art of smoking duck considering he makes the best ones.

So I took these ducks to my uncle Doyle's house and he taught me how. First we cleaned them really good which includes removing all the pin feathers that are kind of weird. Then we rubbed each one with olive oil and put my uncle Doyle's "secret spice rub" all over them. Then we stuffed them with pieces of apple. We tossed them in the smoker and let them get delicious. Once they were done, we sliced them up and ate it. I brought a few back to Luke to try and I brought one in my lunch. DEEEELICIOUS!

I love hanging out with my uncle Doyle. He has taught me a few things that I will always have for the rest of my life. THANKS uncle Doyle...you're the best!

My Food Adventures in Truckee, CA

At the end of summer, me and my family went to Truckee for a final summer vacation. We had never spent time in Truckee during the summer months, it's always been during the winter. During the summer it is really beautiful, nice and warm and a really cool place to hang out. We took our bikes and went on a really cool 20+ mile bike ride along the river. The native Truckee people are really nice and all seem to love dogs. Everywhere we went, people had their dogs with them....even in the restaurants.

One of the first restaurants we checked out was Jax at the Tracks in downtown Truckee. Jax at the Tracks looks like an old railroad car on the outside but on the inside it's like a 50's diner. It's located right on the railroad track that goes through town. The food is AWESOME! It's like homestyle comfort food and is just really good. We went there for breakfast and I ordered some of the best biscuits and gravy I've ever eaten....they were really good. I will have to say that the BEST biscuits and gravy are made by my Aunt Amy's friend Marty. Actually, he is my friend too, but I met him through my aunt. No one can replicate them and that's another story...back on track, Jax and the Tracks biscuits and gravy were really close. They have a really big menu with lots to choose from. They also have a great kids menu. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you are in Truckee, most definitely go there if you love a cool atmosphere and really good homestyle comfort food. The service was excellent and our first waitress that served us was really, really pretty. If there were a Jax and the Tracks in Sonoma County, I would go there a lot. www.jaxtruckee.com

We also ate at this little pizza and taco shack at the end of our bike trail ride along the river in Tahoe City. It was really awesome. It was called Front Street Pizza Company, and if you hit the trail from Truckee to Tahoe City you'll run right into it. They make the best fish taco's and homemade sauces. Nothing better than a couple fish taco's after a ride on the trail. Frontstreetpizza.com

In downtown Truckee, kind of in a warehouse like building is this burger joint called Burger Me that has one of the best burgers I've ever eaten in my entire life. Their specialty is burgers in every way. They have Meyer all natural beef, turkey, homemade vegetarian and bison. One of the weirdest burgers that I'd ever heard of that they have there is called the Italian Stallion. It's basically a burger with a bunch of cold cuts on it which I thought was extremely weird, but I bet it's pretty good. I ordered a traditional burger with two add ons of pepper jack and caramelized onions and an order of fries. The buns are homemade and awesome. My burger was so juicy that it was dripping down my arm. The lettuce on the burgers is shredded which I love. They have a really great kids menu too. Burger Me just opened up a place in Reno too so if you miss it in Truckee you can try again in Reno. It is a self serve kind of place. You place your order and pay at a register and then they call you when your order is ready. A very busy place and well worth the wait! www.burgermetruckee.com

I kind of think that no matter where you go in the Truckee area that you won't be disappointed. It is such a cool place with so much to do and see. It is amazing in the summer and in the winter. I think it's probably a perfect place to live someday. There's biking, paddling, hiking, swimming, climbing, rafting, skiing, golfing, fishing, hanging out around cool people who love their dogs. What's better than that!?!

National Food Day - October 24, 2011

National Food Day was today, October 24, 2011. It is a day to recognize healthy food, to support healthy farming, nutrition and good eating habits.

So today at school, I brought in a snack to share with my class. It was pasta with creamy pesto sauce, "Simpson Skewers" and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I made the creamy pesto by first making a roux. A roux is melted butter, flour to form a paste and then you add milk to make the cream sauce. I then added homemade pesto from basil from our garden, salt and pepper and a hint of truffle salt. The Simspon Skewer is a fresh mozzarella ball, basil from the garden and a cherry tomato skewered on a fancy toothpick. I drizzled a balsamic dressing over them and some salt and pepper. This is one of my favorite snacks. My mom made chocolate chip cookies using our family secret recipe.

National Food Day is a day that helps me appreciate the food you eat, food that comes from the garden, from local farmer's and is healthy. I am not a fan of using processed foods like American cheese. It's disgusting. I was able to make this snack for my class from scratch and show that even I can cook and make a healthy meal. All kids should help out in the kitchen and ask your parents if you can cook. You might make a few mistakes, you might make a mess, but that's how you learn. So go out there and cook with your family or for your family. Check out the local homegrown places like Victorian Farmstead, Stemple Creek Ranches, French Garden Farms, Laguna Farms, all the farmer's markets. You'll love it like I do.

Pezzini Farms, Castroville, CA - The BEST Fried Artichokes You'll Ever Have!

If you are traveling down towards Monterey and you love artichokes, then you have to go through Castroville, CA. Castroville is the Artichoke Capitol of the World. They are everywhere. For the BEST fried artichoke hearts, go to Pezzini Farms. This is a really great vegetable/fruit stand with a food truck that sells fried artichoke hearts. They are lightly battered, fried crispy and seasoned then served with your choice of dipping sauces. My favorite was the garlic dijon aoli. It's six bucks per order. You should just order 2 orders when you make your order because you will definitely want more!

Their address is: 460 Nashua Rd., Castroville, CA
The website is: www.pezzinifarms.com

The 19th Hole, Tres Pinos, CA

The 19th Hole is like a really cool real deal cowboy bar and restaurant. It is located in the heart of Tres Pinos, CA. A little town that has a few restaurants, a fire department, a post office and a feed store. If you blink while going through this town, you will miss it. The restaurant is in an old building that looks like a saloon in the old western cowboy days. It is decorated with some old style guns, some bows and arrows scattered all over the place, saloon doors and cowboy western stuff everywhere. There are also pictures of real cowboys from that area and their history hanging throughout the restaurant. It is a really cool place.



The food is excellent! My usual there is either the Chicken Hole Club or the Hole Burger. The Chicken Hole Club has chipotle may, bacon, pepper jack and wood fire grilled chicken. It is served on a bun with french fries. The Hole Burger is a freshly ground beef patty with jalapeno poppers, pepper jack, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles on a bun. It's also served with french fries or onion rings. The french fries are big fries and the onion rings are beer battered and totally delicious. A really cool thing about their drinks is when you order them, they come in a large mason jar. They have a really great kids menu with the usual grilled cheese, mac and cheese, etc.

If you are ever heading down to Monterey or the Pinnacles in the Hollister area, make sure you go through Tres Pinos and eat there....you won't be disappointed!


Food: *****
Kid Friendly: *****
Price: $$
How it felt: *****
Service: *****