Hollandaise Sauce- Don't Be Afraid

Hollandaise only seems scary to make because it requires timing and lots love, 2 eggs yolks, 1/2 tablespoon of lemon, 1/4 cup butter, a whisk and a double boiler. It can add a punch of favor to eggs, steaks, and many other dishes.

Who I Am and Why I Do What I Do.

Upon coming home from our trip to Cleveland this weekend, I had numerous people comment on the fact that I post pictures and comments of food on social media sites. I am going to share with you some of my back ground and why I do what I do.

In order to capture everything I need to go back, way back to the time I was six or seven years old. At this time I was a small Amish boy my parents took a part-time job doing janitorial work at a local restaurant and we were often there when the place was still open and I was intrigued by everything. By the amount of food coming out of the kitchen and by everything that went on in the kitchen but being the age I had I hadn’t developed any passion for cooking yet, that was still to come.  Being that I have no sisters and just one brother I would love to help my mother in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, in the Amish culture of living you don’t normally get too much variety of cooking, so I learned comfort food fried chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, noodles, meat loaf and lots and lots of butter.  These foods are not in any way bad but I wanted different. I wanted to make food that you don’t normally see in the Amish community but again with my young age I was limited to learning to cook what my mother taught me. Which I will forever be grateful for these lessons.  

At a young age I started helping out at a local restaurant on the weekends cleaning off tables and washing dishes.  I helped out for some time and one morning I came to work and my boss had fired the line cook and was in need of someone to fill his place, so I was ask if I would want to help out.  So I was moved from dishes to cooking and I was excited.  This excitement was short lived as I was the morning cook and breakfast was quite stressful for a young inexperienced guy like me.  So I requested to be moved to evening or and the kitchen preparing food and prepping for services. I remained here for some time before I left the restaurant completely.  Little did I know at this time that the Lord would bring the passion of cooking back to me one day. 

At this point I was living at home with my parents and brother and had started a new job completely off the subject of cooking, had nothing to do with cooking in any way shape or form.  I started cooking at home, once a week I would cook dinner for our family.  Being that I was not a traditionalist when I came to cooking I had to go out of what I was taught and try new things and yes there were times when things were inedible. Just ask my parents and brother.  I do recall one instance the first time I tried to make bruschetta, I must have toasted the bread too long because my bother chipped a tooth on it. At the time I didn’t think it was funny but looking back it was a learning curve and now I sit back and laugh about it.   

Let’s move forward a few years, I got married at the age of 21 to my wife Freda, I still did some cooking but not as much as I used too.  Coming from the Amish culture have a husband that cooks was a bit unconventional for Freda but she learned to love the idea that she didn’t always need to cook and that I did some of it.  As time moved on I did less and less cooking once a week went to occasional as my job was demanding more and more of my time.  I was promoted to a new position in the company I worked for.  I left the production department and starting selling indoor furniture on a retail level.  After doing this for some time I was promoted to the Financial Controller position in the company and became the in house accountant.  This job demanded a lot more time as I was still selling furniture part-time as well.  Not only did this take away from my cooking but also my family as I threw everything I had into this job. 

Up until this point in my life I was still Amish but my wife and I decided to leave the Amish way of life and move on, which we did in the spring of 2007.  We started attending a church about 26 miles from our home in Millersburg, Ohio. You may ask why is this relevant to cooking? Keep reading you will find out.  I was still cooking from time to time I went in phases some time I cooked more than others but I still liked to cook and to eat good food.

 As time went on and in the teaching and attending of this church the Lord started changing my life around and through a series of teaching that was held at our church by Pastor Wayne Weaver I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, some may be familiar with this some may not however the Bible talks about it in numerous occasions including all the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and Acts and 1 Corinthians.  The most known quote comes out of Matthew 3:11 ¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. This changed my life in so many ways, ways that I didn’t even know about.  When this happened the Lord led me into places in my life that changed my way if thinking and changed dreams I had and changed me as a person.  Some of you looking in from the outside may not understand this however keep reading so that you get a clear picture of what I do what I do. 

It had seemed like I had lost my passion for food for a time period of, I would say 1-2 years I did very little cooking, almost none.  I starting questioning the Lord why, why didn’t have any hobbies, why didn’t I have any skills, it seemed that the only thing I did was work, church and family.  Looking back now I see why, but that is another story.  I did nothing for fun or very little it got frustrating because the people around me all had hobbies and passions and things they were good at, things they did for fun.  Not me.  I kept plugging away at life being content where I was for the most part work, church and family.  I would still dabble in cooking but nothing serious nothing passionate.  Then something happened our church bought a new location and moved to the town we were living in. In conjunction with this move our Pastor, Wayne Weaver was given a vision for a fall conference as a dedication for the church.  This event was the Feast of Celebrations.  My wife and I volunteered to help in the event.

We along with 10 other people spent countless hours preparing for the event.  Pastor Wayne had giving us a direction that he wanted us to head in but left the rest to the group to prepare and plan.  Without going into too much detail the event was awesome and it ministered unto everyone that partook in it.  Some of you may have seen pictures via social media or may even have been there and experienced the ministry that the Lord gave though that event.  During this whole event and seeing how it ministered to people and how people were blessed by it awoke a passion out of my life that I can only say the Lord put it there.  This passion has continued to grow and flourish in new directions and paths that I look at and say it is only possible because the Lord has set it in order. 

This event was about 8 months ago and since then I have had countless opportunities to partake in some of the best foods I have ever had and ever tasted.  I could go on and on about doors the Lord has open and opportunities He has given me.  I can only bless the Lord for these.  So as I go throughout my days and travels I will be posting pictures of good food and food that I have made.  Not to make you hungry but to share with you the blessings that the Lord has given to me.  I once read a quote in a restaurant it said “Food is Essential to Life, Therefore, Make it Good.” S. Truett Cathy.  Ever since I read this quote I think about it every time I eat something good. Along with the scripture verse from Colossians 3:23   And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;.  Think about this thought for a moment.  You can make or break a person’s experience by the quality, goodness and presentation of your food so let’s strive to make it the best.  Think about a good experience you had and think about a bad experience you had and now think about how that affected you good or bad.

For those of you that do not know me.  I currently am still working as the in house accountant for the same company, however with the help of the Lord I have been able to find the balance of work, church, family and food.  Food has become my resting place, my place to unwind after a day in the office, it is a way that I can give to people what God has given to me.  I believe it is a resting place because it was established by my Lord Jesus Christ.  I am looking forward and greatly anticipating where the Lord will lead me in the future and where this passion He gave me will take me, my wife Freda and our two lovely daughters Andrea and Allison.  All the Glory goes to the Lord Jesus Christ, without Him I would have no passion for food.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths Proverbs 3:5-6⁵

Corned Beef 6 days later

Homemade Corned Beef- Step 1

Brine The Beef Brisket

Filet Mignon on a SolaireGrill