Life on The Road

For the past year and 1/2, I have been on the road, at least half the time!

As many of you know, we expanded our business, Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes, into Virginia last Spring and I have been bouncing back between VA and CO since then. Two months there, two months in CO, 3 months there, then back again and so on.

For many years, I thought that life of the road was 'all that', but as I get older/smarter/worn-out, I do miss the days where I did not spend as much time on the road. Heck, I have put over 50,000 miles on my truck since this endeavour started!

Don't get me wrong, I love VA, it is great, but Western Colorado is my home and where I feel I belong so we are now looking for people and investors to run the VA and the rest of the expansions.

One of the things that sustains me is discovering new foods, new food places and being able to morph that into what we cook. Example being our newest product, a Colorado-Style Southern Chow Chow.. (think Southern Chow-Chow meets HEAT!). A great combination of a traditional Southern Food meeting Southwest Heat!

And I really do love Road Food! I do look at Diner's Drive-in's and Dives, Man vs Food and other sites to seek out new places and, for the most part, they are really, really good!

But the road is getting weary!

As we start to wrap up 2014, things are looking really good and 2015 looks like we will be lowing the doors off, so until I find the right people and investors...

Keep on Keeping On!

Last GJ Free Press Column

The Time Has Come…

All good things must come to an end and the time has come to end this column in the Free Press.

One of the things that I have always been fond of saying is that if you do not evolve, you become extinct and evolve we must!

For almost six years, I have pontificated about food and life in the Grand Valley and beyond and it has been a blast, but times and things change so this will be my last column in the paper. For our dedicated fans, you can still follow us on our blog.

Almost six years…. Over 200 columns, rants, raves and musings!

In this time, we have found many fans, some of which have written and emailed us, stopped by the many events we have done throughout the Valley and expressed their fondness for the column and for that, we thank you. The staff at the Free Press has been great, and I also want to single out Josh Nichols, who back in January of 2009, allowed me the space to write, thanks Josh!

We have seen many changes throughout the Valley in our time in the paper, people come, people go, but the one thing I have learned, is that we truly have some great foodies here! From the folks in the restaurants, bars, brewpubs and cafes to the people in the streets; good food and good eatin’ prevail!

It has been a privilege and a pleasure writing this column and for that… I thank you!

So I am going to end this column the way it began… from our first column…

‘It was somewhere around the edge of the dessert, in the Grand Valley, when the food began to take hold…”

You can still follow us on Pinterest; Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes and Decadence Cheesecakes Cooking Thoughts..

You can keep following the adventures of Decadence on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Decadence-Gourmet-Cheesecakes/171538834903 ,on Twitter (www.twitter.com/decadenceGJ) and on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/circ2000/decadence-cheesecakes-cooking-thoughts/).

Lee is the founder and owner of Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes and Catering. He can be reached at decadencecheesecakes@mindspring.com, through their website at www.decadencecheesecakes.com, on Facebook or by calling 256-4688!

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As stated, we will still be writing, about food, travels (and food) and life (and food!)...but mostly here, in cyberspace!

 

What is a Chef?

Over the past few years, I have had people call me ‘Chef’… and I have mixed feelings about that!

Yes, I am a culinary school graduate (with honors), yes, I run a food business and have survived (and grown) even with the supposedly receding recession, yes, I do try to push some boundaries, especially with our cheesecakes  and our ‘En Fuego’ cooking, but I do not consider myself a chef. When people ask, I call myself a ‘Cook from Jersey’!

I have hired culinary students, both here and in Virginia that know way more about ‘fancy’ cooking that I do. I know many chefs and cooks around town (Josh from Bin707, Theo from 626 on Rood, Diana Tarasiewicz, from DMT Catering and now District 51, Jonathan from Craving,  Chef’s Jon, Wayne and Dan Kirby from Colorado Mesa University’s Culinary Program, are just a few that come to mind, who have forgotten more than I will ever know!

While I have always loved cooking, I came into this industry late in life (after the age of 50!) and wonder, how much more would I know (and have learned) if I realized that this should be my profession years ago?

So, am I a chef?  No… a Cheesecake Savant.. maybe? (Come on, Ghost Peppers in a cheesecake?) And you gotta try our Colorado-Style Southern Chow-Chow, which will be unveiled at the Downtown Farmer’s Market in August. (Think Southern Relish meets En Fuego!)

To me, a chef is more than just a great cook. A chef knows how to hire the right people, train them the right way, in the right procedures (miz en place anyone?) and also knows how to give them a little room (not too much, at first!) and then can work with them and is able to get the most out of them, sometimes even more than they know they had in them.

A chef puts out food that makes people think, that makes people go ‘Whoa!’ and one who can do so again, again and again!!

Scary thing, well maybe not so much…. There are many great home ‘chef cooks’ out there! How many of us in the industry learned from their mom (or dad)? How many of their recipes have we adapted over the years and even have brought them into our professional lives?

Ya gotta love cooking and food and what it brings into our lives.. so go out, check out what our area chefs and cooks can do and then go home, and as we say a lot.. Play with your Food!

The ‘Website of the Week’ is Chef2chef.net. This is a great site about the industry and also has some tasty recipes. Our ‘Recipe of the Week’, Hawaiian Chocolate Brownies, is also from that site.

You can now also follow the adventures of Decadence on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Decadence-Gourmet-Cheesecakes/171538834903 ,on Twitter (www.twitter.com/decadenceGJ) and on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/circ2000/decadence-cheesecakes-cooking-thoughts/).

Recipe of the Week...

Hawaiian Chocolate Brownies Recipe

(from Chef2chef.net)

Servings: 16 large or 24 small brownies

The addition of coconut and macadamias makes these rich brownies even more decadent and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped macadamia nuts

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Butter a 9x13 baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper.
3. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl and place bowl over a pot of barely simmering water.
4. Cool slightly.
5. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, salt, sugars, and vanilla.
6. Whisk in cooled chocolate mixture.
7. Fold in flour just until combined.
8. Stir in coconut and macadamias and pour batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top.
10. Cool completely in pan on rack before cutting.