You might have noticed that the tagline on my Jeff's Place blog is "Music, Hi-Fi, Fotografie, and Other Stuff".  This post is about the 'other stuff'.

It's a lot of fun to combine food and music, like I did recently when visiting Sante Restaurant & Charcuterie in Spokane, Washington, with Cindy, while taking in the nine-time Tony Award® winning musical, The Book of Mormon, at the Performing Arts Center.

At Sante Restaurant & Charcuterie even the lowly hamburger is a cause of celebration!

Or a cup of hot cocoa!

I haven't been to Spokane in many years, and I really enjoyed my visit. Made me think that Spokane could be nice city to retire to when the day comes.

I stayed in a Marriott Courtyard located on the Spokane river (that's the view across the river from where I stayed), which was a 5 minute walk to the Performing Arts Center where the musical was held.

There were lots of interesting things to see on the walking path to the Performing Arts Center to see the musical.

Spokane has placed a lot of interesting sculptures along the river walk ... like the moose and man pushing a cart above ...

... or the bricklayer below ...

There's a beautiful walking bridge across the Spokane river to the Riverfront Park.

Ram sculpture along the river.

I love to cook, so while I was in Spokane I stopped into the Williams-Sonoma store to look around, which is almost as fun as stopping into a record store! I wanted to check out the Mauviel M'Heritage Copper M250C cookware, which I've been lusting after for quite a while.

Mauviel copper cookware could often be seen in Julia Child's hands and kitchen, and as she noted in her classic text Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she preferred using copper cookware in her kitchen. (photo below of Julia's kitchen that is on display at the National Museum of American History, uploaded to Wikipedia Commons by RadioFan)

Cooking is a multi-generation passion for the men in my family, with my Grandfathers Gus & Sailor, my Uncle Ainse, and my Dad, Jack, all being professional chefs at one time. Certainly Gus & Ainse were amazing chefs, with Gus being trained in France, and passing his knowledge on to Ainse, with a bit of trickle down skills to the rest of us.

I remember growing up, when on Holidays all the men would be in the kitchen cooking the most amazing meals for the assembled tribe, while drinking a bit of whiskey to keep things lighthearted. The ladies were laughing, talking, and playing games in the living room while the pans and knives were flying in the hands of the men in the kitchen.

You've probably guessed that I could not resist the temptation, and that I ended up buying a set of Mauviel M'Heritage Copper M250C cookware (above) for my kitchen. To frame it in audio terms, you can get a nice set of Mauviel for the price of a nice set of interconnects or speaker cables. Well worth it for sure!

When I got home from a long day of work yesterday, I wondered what in the heck I was going to have for dinner. Cindy rescued me the evening before by bringing by a nice wood-fired pizza, but I was on my own last night.

So, as is my custom, I turned on the hi-fi and started streaming Northwest Public Radio's wonderful Jazz24 over the big Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers, poured a glass of wine, and contemplated what to cook for dinner.

I remember how any of the chefs in my linage could improvise and make a delicious impromptu dinner out of whatever was in the fridge, so I thought I'd do the same (besides, I was itching to try out my new Mauviel cookware).

The fridge had the ingredients to make a primitive variation of Chicken Marsala. Sautéed chicken breasts ...

... along with some roasted onion, garlic, potato, carrots, and celery.

The fond from the chicken sauté was deglazed with some leftover Champagne, and a bit of creme added to make a nice sauce. Voilà! Along with a glass of Pinot Grigio, it made for a tasty meal! Cheers to Gus, Sailor, Ainse, and Jack for the inspiration!

Using the Mauviel M'Heritage Copper M250C cookware is a real treat. It cooks amazingly well, with terrific heat control while cooking, and is beautiful to look at. If you follow the copper rule of 'hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick' cleanup is a breeze! Highly recommended!

From my home to yours, may the music, wine, food, friends & family, make you happy. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!