Every once in a while you find yourself playing cards with a losing hand, as a figure of speech. Like standing in a batters box with a pitcher on the bump throwing 95. At that point you are not trying to drive the ball as much as you would consider any contact with your swing a win.

The last time I remember being in this situation I was playing golf at Bandon Dunes in Oregon. If I remember right we were on the forth hole that plays along the ocean. There was an on-shore wind of 40 mph plus and I found myself a long 3 iron from the green. To make the shot even more intimidating when looking at my target there was ocean to the left, the green, and then some of the thickest, nastiest brush I have ever seen to my right. I would rather roll around in Poison Oak and then let a cat scratch my face before I would want to walk through that crap again. The point of the story is I hit my shot, about 30 yards right of the hole, (a lot to do with the wind), but I found my ball on top of a sand hill to the right of the bush. I didn't care that I was no where near the flag, the simple fact that I found my ball was an accomplishment. That is a lot like this dinner.

When we went to Madera I had the New York Steak with a sweet potato Au Gratin... and it was awesome. I new that I would not be able to capture the taste of their wood burning grill because, well... I don't have a wood burning grill. The only way I could think to get the smokey flavor into the meat was to use my parents wood burning pizza oven for the occasion, and I have never cooked meat in a pizza oven so it was a gamble. To add a little pressure, I was going to cook for my grandparents as well. It was my grandma's 78th birthday, so my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to experiment a new cooking technique on old people. (This had disaster written all over it). So not only was I certain that my dish wouldn't be as good as Madera's, but I was starting to think there was a chance I was going to get people sick, or...

To start I bought the best New York Steaks I could find. I got the pizza oven hot and tenderized the steaks, (mostly by pretending I was doing a deep tissue massage on someone I don't like). Seasoned the steaks with nothing but salt, and right before putting the steaks in the oven I knocked off a couple pieces of burning wood from the pile of coals in the oven hoping that it would create smoke in the oven. Honestly, not comparing the dish to Madera's, it was great. The steak cooked in six minutes and I thought it had a great smokey flavor. The meat was tender, juicy and full of flavor. The only real complaint at the table was that after I had cooked the steaks, and let them sit before they were served, the steaks had started to cool down too much. I wasn't sure how to fix this flaw but next time I try steaks in the pizza oven I will put some plates in as well to get them hot and help keep the steaks warm while they are waiting to be served.

How do I feel trying to make the same dish as a Micheline Star Chef?... better than I expected. I knew I wouldn't be able to do as well as Madera, and I didn't. But to use the golf analogy... I wasn't trying to hit a great shot, I am just glad I found the ball. I have some serious culinary lessons to learn. The most obvious being presentation and sauces, but I feel like I am improving over the weeks. So far none of the food that I have cooked has been inedible, and that speaks for more than the meal I payed for last night. Come back next week... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME