Introducing the Adventures of Kurtis & Thomas: Vol 1.

Kurtis at the first Starbucks in Pikes Market, Seattle

Welcome to a new blog column on flourbloom.com authored by me, Kurtis. Several weeks ago I had an urge to stop "throwing together" dinner. I had grown tired of over cooking chicken in a saute pan in order to get the inside done while Evangeline battled the smoke detector.  Or quickly slapping the vegetables in the microwave worrying which "side of the bag goes up," and then scrounging through the pantry looking for a decent starch.  We deserve more effort put into our meals. Something that high-fives your mouth and says great job today! Sometimes when I wanted to spice up dinner and surprise my wife, I'd drive to the grocery store and get one of those rotisserie chickens off the heated shelves in the deli department. It still had the "fresh" sticker on it so it must be true, right? "Wow, she's going to love this!" I'd think as I walked to the checkout line with a giant grin. 

Unfortunately, neither of us ever have! To date, I am 0 for 3 on getting a "delicious" rotisserie chicken. Each time it has been excessively dry and bland, probably from sitting out all day. I started to wonder, do famous chefs ever eat like this?  Would you ever see Thomas Keller walking out of a grocery store with a silly smile and a dry chicken in tow on his way to surprise his family?  

I'll be honest, most of the time I eat dinner just to get to the dessert. But eating a "blah" dinner and a phenomenal dessert from Evangeline's baking and pastry classes just didn't seem to match.  It didn't take too long to realize that dinner and dessert should both be appealing; not just one great moment but two! Like any restaurant experience it has to start right and end even better. A lot of times this requires a $100 meal out, but I had to find a way to do this myself to avoid going broke trying to satisfy our taste buds. That's when I started noticing our cookbooks and endless shelves of food magazines. I thumbed through Thomas Keller's French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad hoc cookbooks and realized, like Julie and Julia, I could learn from his recipes and techniques.  (For the record, my wife forced me to watch that movie.) I found myself immediately inspired to read and do more. While a couple can spend upwards of $1,000 for a single evening at French Laundry, I could use the similar ingredients and basic techniques found within his cookbooks to make extraordinary meals. Why go searching random material online when I could learn from a proven legend? So begins the adventures of Kurtis and Thomas. Since I've started, it has drastically opened my eyes to a world that before I had just rushed by and never took the time to learn how to prepare restaurant quality food at home.  

A fun note, Anthony Bourdain, a well traversed chef himself, labeled French Laundry as one of the top 13 places to eat before you die.  Currently we are 1 for 13 on this list.  His #13 place, "Oklahoma Joes Barbecue" in Kansas City was in the back of a BP gas station. Naturally, we drove passed it,  but once we found it we realized how it earned its reputation. Best BBQ ever!  With such a diverse group of restaurants like these two, who knows, maybe our kitchen will become #14!

My portion of this blog will be tested and trusted material that I've learned among many different sources (cookbooks, magazines, television, friends, etc.) that can help you in your own kitchen. It will also be things that you may have cooked for 30+ years and didn't realize it could be made better (i.e. roasted or pan seared chicken, scrambled eggs).  Or even just a fun recipe, technique, or essential kitchen tool I find that you shouldn't live without. While Evangeline continues to expand your knowledge on cakes and pastries, my portion will lean more on the savory/culinary side. I'm hoping I can spark a desire in each of you to craft fresh and delicious food (don't just believe the sticker) and to prepare your meals with excitement and confidence rather than the same boredom and carelessness exerted during a mundane chore. Save that for the toilets!