Preserving the Season, Jalapeños.

Nov6

I’m a bit late with this post; I pickled and canned these jalapeños in late September, and I am finally finishing up this blog post. I thought about saving it for next year; however, I wanted to get it done. Now you will have a recipe and reference ready to go when it’s your turn to pickle some jalapeños.

I have been pickling and canning jalapeños for more than forty years. For the last thirty years, it has almost always been the “bread and butter” style jalapeños I am writing about in this post.

My friends and family are smitten by these jalapeños; I have brought jars to my brother in Spain and my other brother in Maine. My sister, wherever she is living at the time- Saratoga, San Francisco, Cincinnati, or her most current location, Alexandria- always requests a jar or two to tide her over until we see each other again. I also gift them to my nieces and nephews. Shane, my son, always grabs a jar or 2 out of the basement for his college apartment.

This is also the deal with my good friend Mark Mcloskey, from Drogheda, Ireland. When he first tried them about 5 years ago, he was so enamored with them he insisted I give him the recipe; of course, I complied. A couple of phone calls and WhatsApp conversations about my process followed that. I am not sure if he ever attempted to make them in Ireland, though.

Finally, this year, after I urged him to cross the pond so I could show him firsthand how to make them, He gave in. Using pickling 40 pounds of jalapeños as an excuse to come to my house for a week.

We spent most of a day with the jalapeños, leaving the rest of the week for us to have fun, which was a well-conceived plan.

A Mt. Joy concert, one of my favorite new-ish bands, at the Boston Garden. We spent a day in Portland, ME, with my brother Dennis, who Mark is also friends with, Dennis’ wife Jodi, and some other friends who also joined us. We followed that with a few days in Moultonborough, NH, visiting with friends, cooking lobsters, and checking out my brother-in-law John’s cool collection of old Harley-Davidson motorcycles. We also took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather by boating on Lake Winnipesaukee. I can’t forget to mention that we drank a lot of wine, and I do mean copious amounts.

Close-up of a lobster dish served with shrimp, corn, tomatoes, herbs, and sauce on a white plate

Grilled lobster with corn,

little tomatoes, tarragon, and butter. It didn’t suck.

Man wearing sunglasses smiles while seated on a boat with a lake and cloudy sky behind him.

Mark enjoying the beauty of Lake Winnipausekee.

Back to the subject of this blog. Preserving the season: jalapeños. As I mentioned previously, I made mine in September; however, it’s probably too late to make some of these this year. Local farms may still have a few jalapeños that you could grab; there are usually some chili peppers around until we get a serious frost or they sell out.

In my opinion, late season is the best time to pickle peppers, whether it be jalapeños or any other variety. The late-season jalapeños are bigger, easier to cut, more colorful, with lots of the riper red jalapeños in the mix, and they tend to be a bit milder.

Here’s how we made ours.

I pre-arranged with David, the owner of Kimball Fruit Farm, to bring me a bushel of jalapeños to the Arlington farmers’ market.

Assorted red and green peppers being rinsed under running water in a tray

We started by giving the jalapeños a good rinse in cold water.

Man preparing colorful vegetables at a kitchen counter

Then we carefully slice the jalapeños; I find using a Japanese mandolin the easiest way to get nice, consistent cuts. I also always wear vinyl gloves to help avoid the chili pepper sting that can be bothersome to your hands as well as other parts of your body, which you will inevitably touch. Above, Mark is demonstrating proper technique.

Containers filled with sliced green and red chili peppers on a kitchen counter

As we were cutting the jalapeños, we decided that we would use the tops and scraps to make some hot sauce. Since we had both red and green jalapeños, we decided to make 2 different hot sauces. The red one would be acidic, with the addition of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and white wine vinegar. The green one would be sweet, made with the same brine we were using for the sliced jalapeños.

Tray of sliced red and green chili peppers with seeds and a metal skimmer spoon

Next, we gave the sliced jalapeños a good soak in some cold water, agitating them a bit to loosen the seeds. The seeds will sink, and the slices will float. It’s good to remove most of the seeds; they are often too spicy and, even worse, get caught in your teeth when eating them.

Empty glass jars arranged on a patterned towel beside a bowl of sliced jalapeños and a bottle of vodka

Be sure that you sanitized your jars.

Wash and sterilize the jars and the threaded rings; be sure to use new flat tops every time.

A big issue when canning is that if the ingredients in the jars are too cold when you put them into the pot of boiling water, as the ingredients in the jars heat, they will expand and possibly break the jars. This has happened to me too many times, until I figured out a system to eliminate this problem. You can’t just place the cold / room temperature jalapeno slices in the jar; you need to heat them first. The problem with this is that you don’t want to cook the jalapeños too much; they’ll end up mushy. I want the jalapeños to have a bit of a snap to them.

So, what I have figured out is that I take some of the boiling hot brine and pour it over the sliced jalapeños, cover them, and let them sit for a few minutes. If you are making more jars than you can fit in your canning pot at one time, you need to do this in batches. I then strain them, reserving the liquid to use in the next batch.

From here, I jam the hot jalapeños into the jars; I do mean jam. You need to completely fill the jars, pushing just about as many as you can get into them. After this, each jar needs to be inverted and strained of the “heating-up” brine that may have made it into the jars. This brine is watered down and weak from sitting with the jalapeños, extracting liquid from them, and would make the final product weak if you don’t strain it completely.

Now it’s time to add the fresh, full-strength, boiling hot brine to the jars. I have found that if you need to add more than one and a half cups of hot brine to each jar, you didn’t pack in enough jalapeños.

When the jars are full, put the tops on so that they are snug and not too tight. Remember, for the canning to work, any air that’s in the jar will need to escape; if the lids are too tight, it will inhibit this from happening.

Place the jars in a pot of gently boiling water for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the jars, setting them aside for several hours. At some point, the tops will pop; this is often audible. After the lids pop and the jars have cooled enough to handle, you can tighten the tops. If any of the tops have a bounce to them, it means that the canning did not work and that there is still air in the jar. Don’t worry, just place it in the refrigerator and use that jar first.

Cluttered kitchen counter with cleaning bottles, apple cider vinegar, coffee makers, a kettle, and cooking pans.

Here are the ingredients for the brine, set aside, ready to go.

Close-up of a metal pan filled with hot oil on a stovetop, with a browned fried food item submerged inside.

We placed all the ingredients for the brine into a large soup pot,

brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat to a simmer.

Clear food storage container filled with sliced peppers and vegetables on a kitchen counter

The jalapeños are being tempered before jarring them.

Four jars of pickled vegetables being processed in a large pot of boiling water

After placing the jalapeños in jars with their

lids on, they go into a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Several glass jars filled with sliced green and red pickled peppers on a kitchen counter.

All done, ready to be put up in the basement for use throughout the year.

Over the years, I have used the jalapeño tops to make hot sauce. This hot sauce was a main ingredient in EVOO’s chicken sausage, which was on the lunch menu for more than a decade. At home, I have already used this year’s hot sauces: the red as a drizzle over some grilled salmon and as an ingredient in jalapeño cheese dip. The green has been mixed into mayonnaise for a sweet n spicy hamburger topping.

: The green tops we used for the sweet hot sauce.

: The red tops with other ingredients for the acidic hot sauce.

: Red hot sauce after it was cooked and pureed.

: Straining the red hot sauce.

: Hot sauces, good to go.

Mark took copious amounts of notes; he should have no problem replicating our process at home in Ireland.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to can the jalapeños. At Za, we make 5-gallon buckets full of them. It’s the same recipe until you get to the canning bit. Instead, wash, cut, and rinse the jalapeños; place the slices into a bucket and pour the hot brine on top. Let the jalapeños come to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate. That’s it; they’ll be good to go in about a week and will last a few months with no problem.

Here’s the recipe for the brine; this should be enough brine for about 5 pounds of jalapeños: 1/2 gallon cider vinegar, 1/2 gallon sugar, 4 ts turmeric, 4 ts yellow mustard seeds, 2 ts celery seeds. Put everything into a stainless steel pot and bring to a boil; stir frequently to dissolve the sugar.

Now that we have knocked pickling jalapeños off our to-do list, Mark and I have to concoct another excuse to get together. A culinary tour of Ireland will work for me.

Preserving the Season, Basil.

Oct15

The local growing season is winding down, and it’s time, before the first frost, to preserve your herb garden. I’m gonna start with basil.

Every year I plant a lot of basil; “a lot’ is a relative term; it’s a lot for my personal use, usually in the range of a dozen plants. This year was no different. I planted 8 Genovese (Sweet Italian) Basil plants, 2 Thai Basil and 2 Piccolo Basil plants.

Throughout the growing season, I pick leaves and use them as needed. Genovese in salads, on pizza, sandwiches, and whatever Mediterranean-style recipe calling for fresh basil. The Thai basil gets used in, you guessed it, Thai dishes as well as other Asian style stir-fries, salads, or wraps I happen to make. The Piccolo, I mostly use for dried basil; I will probably write about this in another upcoming “Preserving the Season” blog about drying herbs.

Throughout the season, as the plants produce buds, I pull them off and place them in little bowls on a sunny windowsill in my kitchen to let them dry, before placing them in airtight containers for use throughout the year.

The bulk of the basil that I grow goes into making pesto. Using the Genovese basil, toasted pine nuts, Parmigiano Reggiano, EVOO, garlic, and salt, I make big batches. After making the pesto, I separate it into 4-ounce cups and freeze it for later use. As of now, I have about 30 of these 4-ounce pesto cups in my freezer, ready to go.

We will be having a lot of pesto-based meals in the future; this is not a bad thing. Pasta with some veggies and pesto can be made in the time it takes to cook some high-quality dried Italian pasta. A delicious, inexpensive 20-minute dinner is at times just what is needed.

Don’t limit the pesto use to just pasta; it’s also great on chicken, pork, salmon, in sandwiches, with burrata, drizzled on a rustic soup, in potato or bean salads. It’s very versatile; just use a little bit of imagination and run with it. If you’re adding pesto to a dish, you’re bound to be making that dish better.

My go-to recipe uses pine nuts; you don’t have to, they tend to be expensive and sometimes hard to find. I have seen them at Costco, in bulk, 2-pound bags, at reasonable pricing. You can substitute other nuts with great results. I have made pesto with almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts in the past; all were great.

Preserving the Season: Dill Pickles.

Oct8

At EVOO, we always had big buckets full of dill pickles. At lunch, we served them as a side on our sandwich plates; we also used them in whatever recipes called for dill pickles, such as roasted pepper-pickle relish, which we sometimes served with grilled meats. I also remember an olive-pickle compote that paired very well with grilled striped bass. Another favorite is potato-pickle salad, which I still make regularly. Of course, we would use these delicious dills in tartar sauce. We would also serve them as an accompaniment to many of our homemade charcuterie items, such as smoked bluefish pate, country pate, and liver mousse.

I miss these pickles.

That’s why I decided it was about time to make them at home.

I figured if I bought about 8 lbs, that would be sufficient to get me through until next year’s harvest.

Once again, I headed off to my local farmers’ market; the Arlington Market is my go-to on Wednesdays. I picked through the bin of pickling cucumbers; I favor the small to medium-sized firm cucumbers. In my opinion, they make the best pickles. If they’re too big, they tend to be soft and seedy. I like to pick cucumbers all around the same size, so that they all pickle evenly.

The first thing that I did was to trim the blossom end off of the cucumbers. There are some enzymes in the blossom end that will soften the pickles; I like firm, crisp pickles.

Be sure to rinse the cucumbers thoroughly under cold water.

All the ingredients are divided into 2 each 8 quart containers. Well, almost all the ingredients are in there; I still need to add a couple of grape leaves to each container. The grape leaves are tannic and will also help keep the pickles crisp and firm.

The Pickles are all set to be placed in the back of my refrigerator for at least a month before I give them a try; this I am looking forward to.

An added bonus to this recipe is that the onions and garlic are delicious pickles in their own right. At EVOO, we often batter and fry the pickled onion rings. I also recall making pickled garlic aioli that we used on several different dishes, including on a few versions of our “Burger of the Week” as well as an accompaniment to fried seafood. The pickled garlic is also great sliced thin and put on salads; the pickling takes the hot bite out of the garlic, leaving a nice crisp, flavorful garlic pickle.

Preserving the Season, Corn.

Sep28

Go to your local farmers’ market. Do it this week before it’s too late; the season will be over before you know it. Make it happen, grab several ears of corn, and process them. It’s just too easy not to do it. A little bit of effort provides you with delicious local corn throughout the year.

Here’s what I do: I shuck the corn, discard the husks, and wipe away the silk. Then, using a large, sharp knife, I cut the kernels off the cobs, making sure to cut as close to the cob as possible without cutting too deep; you don’t want hard bits of cob in with the kernels.

You could stop there, bag and freeze the kernels, and be done. However, I add a couple more steps to preserve even more corn flavor.

First, using the back side of the same large knife, I scrape the cobs, releasing the germ and some corn pulp that I will add to soup or risotto for a deeper corn flavor.

The other thing that I do is bag and freeze the cobs; I will use them to make the corn stock that I will use for soup and risotto.

Another thing that I have done in the past is dry the cobs and use them in my smoker, adding a nice sweet smoke flavor to whatever I am smoking; this works best with fish and pork.

Cobs, kernels and scrapings bagged and ready for the freezer.

At EVOO, we did this every summer to smoke bluefish for our very popular Cob Smoked Bluefish Fillet with Corn Risotto, Grilled Zucchini, Tomato-Basil Relish and Spiced Popcorn.

Keep in mind that when the local corn season ends, Za’s very popular Corn Za will also be done until sometime next July. Get it while you can!

Preserving the Season, Poblano Peppers

Sep24

I love poblanos! Their mild earthy bitter pepper flavor is something I look forward to every summer. Every so often you may find one that is quite spicy, however that is not the norm.

For many years, at the height of the season, late summer, I have bought several pounds of poblanos to process them for use throughout the year.

Here’s what I do: on my outdoor gas grill set to high heat, I char the peppers, blistering the skins, which loosens the skin so that I can peel them, as well as cooks the peppers. After charring them, I let them sit covered, at room temperature, this step steams them a bit, which also helps loosen the skin for easier peeling. I then peel, de-stem and de-seed the peppers. From there I separate them onto small ziplock bags and freeze them for later use.

Separated into small bags and frozen poblanos

They are quite versatile, and I use them in several ways; this year, I have already made a batch of corn-poblano chowder. Throughout the year, I will use them in salsas, on salads, as a topping for baked potatoes, in enchiladas, and in chili. I also pick the nicest, most intact ones to use for making rellenos; for this dish I leave the peppers whole, making a slit from the stem to the tip, so that I can remove the seeds. I then stuff the pepper with whatever filling I choose at the time; chicken, beef, roasted butternut squash, and cheese are some of my favorites.

A blast from the past, a dish that was on EVOO’s autumn menu back in 2021: Poblano Chili Relleno with creamed corn and fresh tomato salsa.

With not too much effort, poblanos can be a year round staple in your local kitchen too.

Preserving the Season- Tomatoes.

Sep17

Once again, it’s that time of year; where did the summer go? It’s time to preserve the summer’s local bounty, starting with canning tomatoes.

Here is a pictorial of how I canned more than 2 cases, about 50 pounds of local tomatoes. 40 pounds came from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA; the remaining 10 pounds were from my backyard garden.

First, using a small sharp knife, I cut the core out and put a shallow X, just through the skin on the opposite side of each tomato.

I then blanched the tomatoes, in several batches, in simmering water for not more than 30 seconds, then I placed them in an ice bath before removing and discarding the skins.

I then cut all the tomatoes in half along the equatorial line.

I then gently squeezed out the seeds, reserving and straining them, pouring some of the strained liquid into the pot with the peeled and seeded tomatoes. I wanted to have some liquid in the pot for when I started to cook the tomatoes; this will cut down on the possibility of burning the tomatoes before they break down from the heat in the pan.

50 pounds is a lot of tomatoes! This 4-gallon pot is almost full and all set to be cooked.

The tomatoes are on the heat and are starting to break down.

After about 45 minutes on medium-high heat, the tomatoes were fully cooked and mostly mushy. At this point, I ran them through the coarse die of a food mill.

Hot milled tomatoes are ready to be placed in mason jars.

All jarred up, in a simmering water bath for 15 minutes.

50 pounds of tomatoes worked down to 13 quart jars.

Jars are dated only with the year. I won’t be doing more tomatoes this year, so the year is the only date that I need.

Put-up in the cellar for use throughout the following year.

Bahamas Bound

Jun21

Wow. I am so far behind on my blog posts. I wrote this one back in February, soon after returning from the Bahamas. It’s now mid-June, and I am finally getting around to adding in some photos so that I can post this blog.

My lame-ass excuse for not posting it sooner is that I’ve been busy, which has only a bit of truth to it. Sure, I have been working at Za. I’ve done more than my share of yard work. I’ve even gone on another sailing trip, and I do have another one of my self-gratifying blogs in the works about that adventure as well. I do have to get my ass back in gear with these blogs. I often have ideas for blog posts about other things, not just sailing, and the only way I will get to them is by actually sitting down at my trusty Lenovo and writing them…

After 3 weeks in Arlington, I’m back in West Palm Beach sans Colleen. I will be sailing with my friends Tom and Mary from West Palm across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas on their Mason 44 sailboat.

Our original plan was to do this sail with Colleen a few weeks ago; however, battery charging issues delayed the trip. Now I was hoping to have Colleen with us to enjoy some beautiful sailing, weather, and the beaches the Bahamas are known for. It was all part of my ploy to get Colleen into the boating lifestyle. Well, I will have to keep trying. While I’m sailing, she will be working (somebody has to).

I arrived in West Palm on a Tuesday afternoon, Ubered to the West Palm Beach Sailing Club where Tom met me on his dinghy to ferry me out to Glory. I stowed my gear and talked with Tom and Mary about the itinerary, the weather, and our routing for our expected departure the next morning.

After I was in the loop, we headed to the fancy-ass marina, Safe Harbor, and their restaurant, Lamarina for some Happy Hour cocktails and sushi. We met up with Wayne and Gwyn. Wayne is the person who ultimately helped Tom and Mary figure out what the issue was with Glory’s battery charging situation.

After a couple of drinks, we headed out to Wayne and Gwyn’s boat, Gwayne, a Lagoon 45, a big beautiful catamaran. I was curious and I love checking out other boats. This one is really like a condo on the water. After Wayne gave us a tour we sat around in the cockpit and playing a few round of some card game that I had never heard of before. It was all good fun, and soon we hopped back into the dinghy and headed to Glory for a good nights sleep.

The next morning, Wednesday, February 4th, we pulled up our anchor just after 8. The 155-mile trip across the Gulf Stream to Great Harbour in the Berries, a group of islands 45 miles north of Nassau, should take us about 24 hours. Our planned arrival time is mid-morning on Thursday, February 5th.

Overall it was a very easy trip across, almost all of it was under sail. During the day the three of us hung in the cockpit, adjust the sails as needed, which wasn’t often, taking a nap and doing a bit of reading. It was a very pleasant day.

The sun is setting behind Tom as we work our way across the Gulf Stream.

Overnight, Tom and I traded off 3 hour shifts at the helm. Again, everything was quite benign, keeping track of other boats and a couple of cruise ships making the crossing at the same time as us.

Turquoise water sliding under Glory as we close in on
Great Harbour.

On Thursday morning, just after sunrise, as planned, we were in sight of The Berries, the beautiful, yet shallow, turquoise waters that the Bahamas are known for were sliding under Glory’s hull. By 11am, we were tucked into a dock in the Great Harbor Marina.

A cool cut that we had to pass through to get to the Great Harbour Marina.

Clearing customs was definitely “on Bahamas time”, a process that should have taken just a few minutes, but dragged on for 3 hours. Eventually, we were cleared and could move around the island as desired.

We hopped on some marina let bikes. We were in search of a beachfront bar, a couple of cold beers, some island snacks, and a great view. Didn’t happen quite that way, though. Looking online before we got up on the bikes, we eyed a place 2 kilometers away, a short ride on a bike. The website showed us a big porch on a beach; it looked promising. When we arrived, sure, there was a big porch, and a whole lot of sand, no beach, it was on the side of what in the Bahamas would be considered a main road.

Back to the internet we went, another place also looked great, 3 kilometers in the other direction. Off we went, pedaling right on past the marina on our quest. This place was on a bluff overlooking the west side of the island; the view was spectacular. However, of course, there is a “however”; they didn’t serve alcohol. After 5 kilometers of biking, we were parched. Strike 2.

Turquoise bikes overlooking turquoise water.

Yup, we continued our quest, another search, another half kilometer back towards the marina. We found a bar, no beach, no view, just a few locals, most of whom probably have permanent stools at the bar. Tom and I ordered beers, and a gin and tonic for Mary. We headed outside to enjoy our hard-earned beverages on the side of the road just as it started to rain. We ended up standing under an overhang along the side of the building until the rain slowed enough for us to make the short bike ride back to the marina.

We hung around the marina for the rest of the night. We needed to figure out the rest of our plan. I needed to be in Nassau by late Saturday for an early Sunday morning flight back home. We still had about 75 miles to sail and a forecast of high winds and waves to deal with.

After much deliberation, it was decided that we would go for it the following morning, Friday. The first 10 miles of our sail would be into 25 knot winds with predicted seas of 6 to 8 feet close together. After those first 10 miles, we would make a turn to starboard and have to take those seas on our broadside for just about a mile; this would be the most uncomfortable portion of our sail. We would then be rewarded with a downwind, comfortable run to our planned anchorage tucked just south of Hoffman Cay, between Fowl and Saddle Back Cays, where we would be protected from the wind and waves for the night before making our final 35-mile sail to Nasua on Saturday.

Glory’s bow splashing down into bouncy head-on seas.

Our plan worked flawlessly, with a bit of bouncing and slamming into a couple of large waves, water shooting over our bow, we plowed forward. Followed by a few minutes of sloshing side to side, and then a smooth ride with the seas pushing us to our anchorage. Glory was in her element.

We were the only ones in the anchorage, not a soul to be seen on land either, the islands were deserted.

The winds stayed heavy throughout the night. Glory’s oversized ground tackle (anchor and chain) kept us in position, enabling us to get a restful night’s sleep.

In the morning, we pulled anchor and headed out of our well-protected anchorage towards Nassau. Once again, the sailing was magnificent, the winds were at our starboard aft quarter running in the high teens, low twenties. Seas were moderate, 6-ish feet. It was so pleasant that I decided I would try trolling for fish. After an unsuccessful try with a small metal lure that kept surfacing on me, I tried a larger wooden bullet-shaped lure weighted down to keep it from surfacing. It worked; within a few minutes, the reel was screeching, and we had a fish on the line.

With some effort, I was able to reel the fish in and get it on board. To our delight, we caught a small, about 10-pound, yellowfin tuna. I dispatched the fish quickly, settling into bucket in the cockpit. I needed to wait until the seas calmed down enough for me to fillet it.

By this time, it was mid-afternoon, and we were closing on Nassau. The seas had picked up a bit; some of them were pushing the 10-foot mark. With the wind and seas pushing us, it was still quite comfortable.

I was not able to fillet the tuna until we were inside the breakwater in Nassau Harbour. I did so on the foredeck, where there is a saltwater wash-down hose that I could use for easy clean up. When I was about halfway done cleaning the fish Mary pointed out that there was a harbor police boat passing close by. Since we didn’t have a fishing license, I stopped what I was doing and tried to make it look like I was just cleaning the bow. They quickly passed us by without a second glance, and I finished my task of filleting the tuna.

Tom had arranged a dock for us for the night. I had an early flight, and being on the dock would make it a lot easier for my morning departure. As we closed in on the marina, Tom communicated with the dockmaster, giving him all of the pertinent information, length, width, and most importantly, draft (how deep Glory is in the water), so that the dockmaster could direct us to the appropriate slip. Unfortunately, the dockmaster directed us to a slip that was too shallow to allow for Glory’s 6-plus-foot draft. 30 feet away from the dock, we gently struck bottom. Not doing any damage, just making it near impossible for us to maneuver Glory back into deeper water. At this point, we were well inside the confines of the marina with little room for us to move around, especially because whenever we were able to turn a bit we would once again hit bottom. Ultimately, with the help of another mariner using their dinghy to help push us into deeper water, we were able to get into deeper water and find our way to a more appropriate slip.

After settling in, getting Glory and ourselves cleaned up and organized, we went up to the marina, where I was able to schedule a taxi to get me to the airport at the ungodly hour of 5am. We then proceed to the bar for a few sundowners; beers on a terrace overlooking the marina.

The tuna, our dinner, was delicious, seared rare, served with some rice and veggies. There were even some leftovers for Tom and Mary to enjoy.

Clean plate club. I forgot to take photos of the tuna before we ate it.

I made it to the taxi and my flight on time ending my time in the Bahamas.

Za Beers

Nov10

I’m taking the same approach with the beer we serve as I do with the food we serve. “Keep it Local” this has been one of our mantras since we opened.

It used to be, a restaurant’s beer list had to be exclusively mass marketed beers, not necessarily good beer. Often times these beer lists were written by your beer distributor. These beers typically included mega brands such as Budweiser, Heineken (YUCK!), Miller Lite etc.. If you were really daring you would include such obscure brands such as Corona or even Amstel.

Then it became okay to add a “craft” brew or 2, Sam Adams did start a revolution, but you still had to offer the staples.

About 15 years ago, you could get away with not offering the national mega brands, however, you had to be prepared for the backlash. “WTF no Budweiser, I’ll just have water” was a common response and not the one we wanted, after all we are in the business of selling beer.

Going forward a few more years we were able to get to the point that we were just serving regional craft beers; New England and New York, which was a big step in the right direction. Enough restaurants were doing the same thing, costumers began to expect a good beer list. And with such a great selection of beers to choose from it was an easy transition. The hardest part was just deciding which great regional beers you wanted to try next.

Now, I am trying to make our beer list as local as possible. One of the hurdles for me is that people expect to see several different breweries on a list, not just a couple. My thought is if you go to a brewery, and most of them are busy, you are only offered that breweries beers. No one complains about that. Also traveling in Europe most restaurants offer just one breweries beers; I’m sure that they are receive financial benefits for doing so. That said, I wanted to make our list as local as possible.

Currently our 12 beer list consist of only beer from within greater Boston with the vast majority coming from the Arlington Brewing Co. and the Medford Brewing Co. If I could get all our beer offerings from these 2 breweries I would, I’m working on it.

These are 2 breweries where I have a personal relationship with the them, I know the people and I want to support them.

One of the Arlington Brewing Co. main people is the father of 2 former Za employees, one of which was a schoolmate of my son. One of their delivery people is another one of my son’s former classmates. These are my neighbors, people that are regular Za customers, they support us, we support them.

As for the Medford Brewing Co. it’s less than 2 miles from Za and the it’s place I go to for a beer with friends, it’s my local. When I place my orders it’s with one of the breweries 2 owners, and the other owner makes the deliveries. This is the type of business that I want to support. Also, on Sunday late morning’s the brewery sponsors a run, it’s casual, not a race. You go at your own pace and decide your own distance. Most people chose between 3, 5 or 7 mile, predetermined routes that all start and finish at the brewery. Nick, one of the brewery’s owners is often running along with us.

By limiting the number of breweries, we are not sacrificing quality. Both the selection and quality of the beers these breweries offer are top notch.

So, the next time you dine at Za, have a beer, most likely it will be from one of these 2 breweries.

Drink a beer or 2, and help us support our local business partners.

Cheers!

Za Photos, Under The Pier

Sep9

I love this photo for many reasons. It’s Martha’s Vineyard, one of my all time favorite places. I have so many wonderful memories rooted in M.V., as a kid on my parents boat, as a young adult on my own boat, as an adult renting homes with family, friends and my kids. This public fishing pier juts out over Inkwell Beach in Oak Bluffs near the ferry dock, you can see the ferry dock in the background.

This photo prompts memories from many M.V. experiences. Early ones such as falling off the back of my parent’s boat, Bridget, named after my Grandmother, while docked in the harbor (I was about 5). Trying to grab the brass ring while astride the backs of the Flying Horses’ carousel’s ponies. So many ice creams at Mad Martha’s and Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium; fudge and saltwater taffy at Murdick’s Fudge Shop. Later memories of getting engaged in Oak Bluffs, on the beach at sunset. My niece was conceived in one of the rental homes (not that I witnessed this, it’s family folklore). Midnight doughnut runs to Back Door Donuts. Taking long walks along the beach, checking out the Gingerbread Houses or to the East Chop Lighthouse, and even longer bike rides. Jumping off the “Jaws” bridge, watching my kids jump off the “Jaws Bridge”.

There are some music related memories as well. Beach Road Weekend Concert in 2022 featuring Wilco, Jason Isbell, Mt. Joy, Lord Huron, The Avett Brothers, Emmylou Harris and many more. A young woman shimmying herself up and down on me at a Toots and Maytals show at the now shuttered Atlantic. This was while I was standing next to and obviously with my then fiancé Colleen, we still laugh about that. Drinks and local musicians playing at The Ritz and at the also now shuttered Rare Duck.

I took this photo in July, 2024, when we rented, for the third time, the perfectly located home between Circuit Ave and Inkwell Beach, which was great for everyone, an easy walk to either downtown with it’s restaurants, cafes and shops or to the sand and sunshine of the beach.

Here’s a few more recent M.V. photos that are not on the walls of Za.

The top of the pier
We rented this house three times
My kids sailing in Vineyard Sound on our friends boat
Colleen and I at the East Chop Lighthouse
Nellie, Dan, Colleen and I having dinner at Jimmy Seas
Colleen and Nellie in East Chop
Statue in Menemsha
Sailing out of Menemsha
Oaks Bluff Harbor
My family with my dad in Gay Head
The cliffs, Gay Head
An ignored sign
Shane mid-air from the “Jaws Bridge”
My son and nephew getting ready to jump from the “Jaws” bridge
Edgartown Light
Steamship Ferry

Za Photos, Havana Casting.

Jul7

This photo is another that I took while I was out for a run. I was in Cuba with my dad, I went for a run along Havana’s ocean front walkway and seawall called El Malecón. The image I saw before taking this photo is one of those that I could completely imagine as a great photo. I initially ran right on by before it clicked in that I had to go back, it was only about 20 yards before I turned back to capture this moment. The fisherman in the forefront in complete shadow with the waves breaking onto him, the bright sun and the Havana skyline behind him, I had to have it.

The link below is a blog post that I published soon after returning from Cuba. The post will tell you all about our trip, why and where we went, it also has a number of other photos that you may enjoy.

Cuba with Dad

Pete's Blog

Food, Travel, Sailing, Za and EVOO

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