Make no mistake. I love my chosen career. I love the people I work with and work for. I love the thought process I have in seeing the relationships between people and their money. And I love that I can make my own hours.
After a good day of dedicated effort and rewarding results, I left the office for my favorite establishment to meet a good friend and client. We weren't talking shop other than to expound on the joys of life, and we had a few beers and a dozen wings. (Smithwicks at OLI. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.) More friends joined us. What little bit of decorum we had flew out the window. Laughter. Raucous behavior. Looks from other tables. In short, our kind of fun.
But OLI, beer and wings was not our true plan. My friend and I soon journeyed to a little cigar establishment in Lafayette, Barlow's Premium Cigars and Pipe. For years, I have enjoyed the occasional cigar as any red-blooded American man will. But never before has it been an experience. I've been missing out on the joys of what a truly good cigar can bring to the party and what kind of parties can be found at true gentleman's retreat. (Not to be confused with a gentleman's club, in which may be found cigars, but the attraction is really anything but gentlmanly.) More importantly, however, I was transported to a time and place of Men. Like my imagined hunting lodges of old Europe, we didn't care about the work-a-day rabble trudging on in their self-imposed chains, nor did we worry about our own trials and tribulations that we'll face tomorrow. No. We told stories of larger-than life exploits. Of hunting and fishing and golf and sports. Of kids and family. Of stupid things that men and boys do when women aren't around to provide good counsel. The men here are leaders in their respective industries and many of them celebrate their success with the one thing more precious than all the money they could make: leisure time. Yes, they also all seemed to be rather happy men in their families, their businesses, and their accomplishments in whatever their personal endeavors may be. We all reveled in the stories we could tell. And we smoked cigars.
My friend is an educated connoisseur of cigars, well able to distinguish between regions and wraps and seeds and flavors. He knows how each will smoke, its ash, and the length of time one should savor its rich aroma. When you first enter Barlow's the musky, smokey, leathery smell embraces you and invites you in further. And the humidor is where the magic is ensconced. Dozens of brands, each with muliples of shapes, lengths and girths and styles. He asked what flavors I liked and what type of cigar I'm most familiar and made a few recomendations. I chose an Illusion Epernay. Similar to a robusto in size, its flavor was earthy and nutty, not unlike good forest mushrooms, with a little bit of leather and oak. And then it hit me. This is very much like drinking wine or scotch. You don't have to know every little detail to enjoy it, but if you're aware--truly present to the experience--you'll recognize tastes you already know and love. You need to release yourself from the pretensions of what you're doing and just enjoy it for what it is. When you start to taste the flavors you'll know if it's right for you. Like something sweeter with a bit of chocolate? Or something a bit more bitter like coffee and chicory? Or perhaps a little more floral? I look forward to each of these and to discover new combinations I haven't yet imagined.
I expect you'll hear more from Barlow's.
Tonight's Dinner:
Pan Seared Chicken in a Citrus Sauce with Garlic and Rosemary
4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 cup Orange Juice
2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary Leaves, minced
3 large cloves of Garlic, minced
Zest of 1 Lemon
Corn Starch slurry in Orange Juice
In a heavy skillet, on high heat pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil. Heat it up until it moves like water in the bottom of the pan when you swirl it around. Using tongs, lay the breasts into the oil--be careful, it WILL spatter. Sprinkle with salt. Brown the bottom then flip. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Don't put the pepper on until the side browns. Pepper burns and looses its flavor, or at worst could turn bitter.)
Reduce the heat to medium low, flip the breasts and pepper that side, too. Remove the breasts from the skillet and set aside for a moment. Add another tablespoon of olive oil and quickly sautee the rosemary, garlic and lemon zest. Add the lemon and orange juices and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken back in and simmer at a low heat for 20 minutes.
Remove the chicken to a serving platter and add the corn starch slurry to the sauce in the pan. Turn the heat up to medium and whisk until smooth. Let come to a boil and thicken the sauce. If it's too thick, you can thin it out with more orange juice or even some chicken broth.
Serve over bowtie pasta with a sprinkle of shredded parmasian cheese.
The sauce would also be good on salmon.
After a good day of dedicated effort and rewarding results, I left the office for my favorite establishment to meet a good friend and client. We weren't talking shop other than to expound on the joys of life, and we had a few beers and a dozen wings. (Smithwicks at OLI. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.) More friends joined us. What little bit of decorum we had flew out the window. Laughter. Raucous behavior. Looks from other tables. In short, our kind of fun.
But OLI, beer and wings was not our true plan. My friend and I soon journeyed to a little cigar establishment in Lafayette, Barlow's Premium Cigars and Pipe. For years, I have enjoyed the occasional cigar as any red-blooded American man will. But never before has it been an experience. I've been missing out on the joys of what a truly good cigar can bring to the party and what kind of parties can be found at true gentleman's retreat. (Not to be confused with a gentleman's club, in which may be found cigars, but the attraction is really anything but gentlmanly.) More importantly, however, I was transported to a time and place of Men. Like my imagined hunting lodges of old Europe, we didn't care about the work-a-day rabble trudging on in their self-imposed chains, nor did we worry about our own trials and tribulations that we'll face tomorrow. No. We told stories of larger-than life exploits. Of hunting and fishing and golf and sports. Of kids and family. Of stupid things that men and boys do when women aren't around to provide good counsel. The men here are leaders in their respective industries and many of them celebrate their success with the one thing more precious than all the money they could make: leisure time. Yes, they also all seemed to be rather happy men in their families, their businesses, and their accomplishments in whatever their personal endeavors may be. We all reveled in the stories we could tell. And we smoked cigars.
My friend is an educated connoisseur of cigars, well able to distinguish between regions and wraps and seeds and flavors. He knows how each will smoke, its ash, and the length of time one should savor its rich aroma. When you first enter Barlow's the musky, smokey, leathery smell embraces you and invites you in further. And the humidor is where the magic is ensconced. Dozens of brands, each with muliples of shapes, lengths and girths and styles. He asked what flavors I liked and what type of cigar I'm most familiar and made a few recomendations. I chose an Illusion Epernay. Similar to a robusto in size, its flavor was earthy and nutty, not unlike good forest mushrooms, with a little bit of leather and oak. And then it hit me. This is very much like drinking wine or scotch. You don't have to know every little detail to enjoy it, but if you're aware--truly present to the experience--you'll recognize tastes you already know and love. You need to release yourself from the pretensions of what you're doing and just enjoy it for what it is. When you start to taste the flavors you'll know if it's right for you. Like something sweeter with a bit of chocolate? Or something a bit more bitter like coffee and chicory? Or perhaps a little more floral? I look forward to each of these and to discover new combinations I haven't yet imagined.
I expect you'll hear more from Barlow's.
Tonight's Dinner:
Pan Seared Chicken in a Citrus Sauce with Garlic and Rosemary
4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 cup Orange Juice
2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary Leaves, minced
3 large cloves of Garlic, minced
Zest of 1 Lemon
Corn Starch slurry in Orange Juice
In a heavy skillet, on high heat pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil. Heat it up until it moves like water in the bottom of the pan when you swirl it around. Using tongs, lay the breasts into the oil--be careful, it WILL spatter. Sprinkle with salt. Brown the bottom then flip. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Don't put the pepper on until the side browns. Pepper burns and looses its flavor, or at worst could turn bitter.)
Reduce the heat to medium low, flip the breasts and pepper that side, too. Remove the breasts from the skillet and set aside for a moment. Add another tablespoon of olive oil and quickly sautee the rosemary, garlic and lemon zest. Add the lemon and orange juices and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken back in and simmer at a low heat for 20 minutes.
Remove the chicken to a serving platter and add the corn starch slurry to the sauce in the pan. Turn the heat up to medium and whisk until smooth. Let come to a boil and thicken the sauce. If it's too thick, you can thin it out with more orange juice or even some chicken broth.
Serve over bowtie pasta with a sprinkle of shredded parmasian cheese.
The sauce would also be good on salmon.
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