Entries by Isaac Philbrook

One of my absolute favorite things to make is bruschetta. I probably never make it exactly the same way twice, and it will really depend on what i have in the fridge. This is actually probably one of my favorite things to eat for dinner too. It's simple, quick and easy and really filling. So first the bread, I typically make my own baguettes, and because i like to bake more than I like to eat (looks are deceiving aren't they ;-)) bread has a way of going stale on me; especially since it has no preservatives in it. So when my baguettes start to go bad i know it's bruschetta time. You don't have to make your own bread to do this, if you want to try it, go to your local grocery store and get a medium sized baguette and go to town (it's gotta be big enough to put the toppins on when it's cut).

Okay, so first I mix a bowl of Extra virgin olive oil, and some Balsamic vinegar. We could spend all day talking about these 2 things, so we won't... yet. Anywhoo i use a ration of about 2/3 olive oil and 1/3 balsamic vinegar. Set that aside

Cut the bread. At a diagonal angle start cutting your baguette, you want them to be oval like in shape and however thick you want them, i like about 1/4". line them up on a baking sheet, they can be touching. Now we bake them for a bit, just to get them golden brown. 350 degress about 7 minutes each side on the middle rack i think. Just get them golden brown. We bake them so that when we slop em up with our topping they don't get soggy. When they're done just pull them out and set them aside.

Tomato. Yum. Okay I am a freakshow about roma tomatoes. I love these things. I just slice these guys in thin rings and i use 1 slice per bread slice. So match em up and set em aside.

Cheese. You can just use a bagged shredded mozerealla and some pre shredded parmesean also. It's quick and easy.

Basil, I like to cut basil leaves into thin strips. Basil matches real well with the olive and vinegar and tomato and cheese, plus it adds a neat contrasting color with the red tomato the browned bread, the white brown cheese. If you don't have basil i will sometimes use parsley flakes in it's absense.

Now, you can either use a pastry brush to coat each of the baked bread bits, or what I do is basically slop the roma tomato int the mixture and then plop it onto the bread. I do 1 tomato for each bread slice. Then I take some sea salt and grind just a touch over the top. If you don't think the bread and tomato has enough "sauce" then go ahead and as much as you like. Now sprinkle your cheese on top of the tomato. doesn't take much, moz melts and browns nice. Then just a dab of parm because i like the flava. :-) Shazam! Kick the oven onto broil toss those bad boys in and watch like a hawk! Should only take 2 or 3 minutes for those kids to get all hot and that cheese to melt. Once the moz starts to brown and bubble you are done! Pull em out sprinkle on your basil or Parsley and serve em up!!!

hopefully they look like this or better

I am pretty new to this whole scotch thing, but boy can it be wonderful. By no means am I an afficionado (that's a fancy word for pretentious), but I know what I like. I am currently doing some work with a friend and coworker helping him with a multi media center. Recently in preparation for this I was at his house helping him with some home network issues. Well long story short it didn't go quite as easily as expected. This guy is most generous, and in return for my work he gave me a bottle of The Macallan. The Macallan is a 12 year old Single Malt scotch and it tastes incredible. It is so smooth and easy that I had to share it with you.

Typically when I buy scotch I actually just get myself some dewars, which is your average blended stuff that you can usually find at any given bar and not pay out the nose for; I mean even Chop Suey has it. Apparently one of the many secrets to this scotch is that is is exclusively aged in Sherry Oak Casks from spain. I'm not sure if that is really awesome or not, but this stuff tastes pretty good. It's not overpowering and in my opinon if you are new to scotch and looking for something really easy on the pallette this is the stuff to get started with. Way better than Dewar's... 2 thumbs up. Anywhoo here is a link to the website, so please give it a whirl because this definitely has my seal of approval. Macallan

Hi there, I am a partner in crime. My name is Isaac and I like food. I consider myself to be an amateur cook and I love it. Much like Chad I also work in the tech industry. Cooking for me is a pretty hardcore hobby. In the last few years I have really kicked it up a notch and really enjoying cooking for friends and family and have rekindled the dream of making people's mouths happy. I got my start in the restaraunt business at the tender age of 15 busing tables at the Brown Bag Cafe in redmond. Initally the food industry really served as a way for me to make some cash so I could maybe buy a car and chase beer at the nearby 711. I slowly but surely earned the right to wash dishes, make toast and eventually do prep work and work on the line when one of my mexican compradres needed a break and if it was slow. Shortly after I went to work for Emerald Heights a high end retirement home in Redmond Wa, where in the West Wing I pure'd decent food so that memory defunct senior citizens could swallow it. After that short lived placement I migrated to Frankies Pizza and Pasta also in Redmond where I really actually got to learn about food and preparation. I always wanted to go to culinary school but for some reason kind of thought the idea of becoming a successful restaranteur and chef was about as likely as hanging out with Billy Idol. Some of my other pipe dream hobbies include playing music (I have too many guitars, and an accordian that sounds terrible when I'm behind the wheel), writing, learning new things and just generally enteraining people.

I hope that together we can share some neat stuff with you guys and I look forward to questions, comments and feedback!

A few weeks back we started making our sausage. I think so far our tastiest was our "Gyro" Sausage. Pretty Basic as far ingredients go so I guess I'll get started there. you will need 1Lb. Lamb (ground), 1Lb. Pork Butt (we grind our own, but you could use just a fatty ground sausage), 1 whole white onion finally minced, 4tsp minced garlic, 1 1/2 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Marjoram, 1 tsp Rosemary 1/4 tsp Black pepper. Essentially shove it all in a bowl and mix it all up real good. We use your standard Kitchen Aide and the happy mixing paddle, turn it onto 4 and let it go for a few minutes, 3 or so should do it. When you have it all mixed it's probably a good idea to take a table spoon or so and pan fry it real quick just so you can taste it and adjust your seasoning before you either cook it or stuff it into sausage casings.

I also use this for my gyro meat (minus the pork), in which case i take a loaf pan and spray it with some olive oil spray and then fill it with my mixture. I then cook it for about 60 minutes at 325 degrees. It turns out pretty well I think. I also make my own tzatiki sauce which is really simple. Just take some plain greek yogurt (small container) half a cucumber and a spoonful of garlic (i really like garlic) and blend it all together ( I use my magic bullet... I am that guy)

When I'm done I dice up some Roma tomatos (because I think they rule) pour on a dab of my tzatziki and yummy Down! Enjoy