Fast and Fancy Filet will Green Peppercorn Sauce

One our favorite fall / winter dinners thats easy to prepare for 4-6 people is Filet Mignon with a creamy peppercorn sauce. It's fun to prepare on our Wolf range stovetop with friends hanging out in the kitchen with a glass of wine during the prep. We alternate recipes sometimes using black crushed peppercorns and Madeira Wine or Green Peppercorns in brine and Cognac, both with heavy cream. We usually serve  this with Haricots Vert on the side.

Next time I going to try this dish with Cognac and White Wine as posted by Graham on Cookbook.ca.za.

Last nights preparation for four:
1 3/4 cups beef stock or canned beef broth

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 6- to 8-ounce filet mignon steaks (each about 1 inch thick)

• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
• 2 tablespoons drained green peppercorns in brine

Boil stock in small saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 7 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Season steaks with salt and pepper. Cook steaks to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to plate (do not clean skillet).

Add chopped shallots to same skillet and sauté 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add reduced beef stock, 1 cup whipping cream, 3 tablespoons Cognac and green peppercorns. Boil until mixture thickens to sauce consistency, about 6 minutes. Season sauce to taste with pepper. Spoon sauce over steaks and serve. Check out more recipes on Epicurious.com.


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A Kitchen Design that is Modern, Hip, Glam...Oh and Functional!

    We wanted to create a 21st Century look in this mid century modern house. A professional style kitchen that would be "eat in" intimate but also accommodate a staff for larger catered events as well.

The Floors are Italian Silver Travertine. This gray (silver) and brown marble has exactly the perfect warmth and depth of color to coordinate nicely with the quarter sawn oak cabinets and stainless steel appliances and countertops. We used Italian Statuary marble, white with heavy gray veins to contrast  and offset the other materials in the room. Note that the Statuary countertop on the island is one very large piece and it is book matched with the vertical end panels. 

The elliptical table is 1960's Milo Baumann and the Oak Chairs are 1950's Hans Wegner. 1950's' Italian blue gray Glassware.  

The Light Fixtures are from Boyd Lighting in San Francisco. The Professional Dual Fuel Double Oven Range is a 48" Wolf Range with Six Burners and a Griddle.

The kitchen cabinets were built by Henrybuilt in Seattle. We worked closely with Henrybuilt to create a look that blended the modern with the authentic appeal of this mid century home.  We achieved a look for this kitchen that is both sophisticated, modern and technically advanced. We combined horizontal and vertical grained quarter sawn oak panels with stainless steel countertops and appliances. We used linear full length steel pulls that added just the right punctuation. We made custom oak doors with frosted glass panels that concealed the pantries. All built out of oak to be cohesive with the kitchen design. 

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The Cinerama Dome & Michael Jackson

We're going down to LA to see Michael Jackson's "THIS IS IT" but the really exciting thing is that were going to see it at the Cinerama Dome.

The Cinerama Dome 1963 by Welton Becket, 6360 Sunsent Blvd. Hollywood, Ca.

Photo courtesy you-are-here.com.


A geodesic dome built for the Cinerama format, this mini-Epcot like structure is a wonder of 1960's showmanship. Featuring an enormous curved screen and ample seating underneath the large dome, the Cinerama Dome is famous for blending first run films with the occassional revival classic. The Cinerama Dome opened November 17, 1963 with 937 seats and the World Premiere in 70mm of "Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Additional 70mm films included the West Coast premiere of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" on February 17, 1965, the World Premiere of "The Battle of the Bulge" on December 16, 1965 and the World Premiere of "Ice Station Zebra" on October 23, 1968. In 1999, The Dome exhibited an exclusive week long showing of the original "Blade Runner" answer print.

For more information about historic cinemas go to Cinema Treasures.

Michael Jackson's "THIS IS IT".... here's a link to the trailer.

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Heal The Ocean Benefit in Montecito, Ca.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a hysterical talking about "s**t and piss, let's face it, that's what we're talking about" prior to dinner at the annual gala benefiting Heal the Ocean on September 26. You can learn more about Ms. Dreyfus's charity work at Look to the Stars the world of celebrity giving.

This exquisite 'fabulous fish" puppet created by Matthew McAvene was just one of a cast of creations for part of the post dinner and auction entertainment.

Mr McAvene and Jean-Michel Cousteau (right) pose with fishy friends just part of the cast of The Big Fabulous Fish Show.

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Recycled Aircraft into Houses!

I was flying low about 2500' along the California Coast from Oceanside to Santa Barbara. Somewhere over Malibu I looked down at a construction site and saw what looked to be like a airline diaster, I couldn't believe my eyes. I circled, took pictures with my iPhone and realized I was looking at house being built using very large aircraft wings and primary structural elements. Googled it when I got home and sure enough. Check out this amazing project. Read about on this incredible project on treehugger.

Courtesy of treehugger

By the way, recycled aircraft are not an invention of the 21st Century.

Courtesy of Tree Hugger

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The Ultimate Toy

As a pilot I was wowed by the Icon A5. This "light sport aircraft" is the ultimate toy for pilots who enjoy the water. Imagine launching this puppy from your yacht like a jet ski! Read more about this ingenious development in aviation in Wired Magazine.

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I'm a Tubehead

I always try to avoid seeing any components that drive the media in any room. In this Family Room / Theater. We used two 65" Panasonic Professional Plasma monitors, the same used by NASA! Tucked away in the "Media Closet" is a stack of equipment to run Cox HD Digital Cable, DVD, and Apple T.V. Two Monitors works great whether you watching the game on one monitor and a Sleepless in Seattle just downloaded from the internet. With Apple T.V. you can edit and create great slide shows. The parallel activity not only looks cool, it is a fantastic way to expand the functionality of this room. By the way the lighting and Drapery are controlled from the Phillips Pronto Universal Remote Control.

In this Master Bedroom we created a custom installation for the Panasonic Profesional Plasma Monitor and installed it behind a specialized mirror and created a custom silver leaf frame around the whole ensemble over walls that are upholstered with Calvin Fabrics linen. The mirror glass is very expensive as were the custom picture frames..so yes, we installed two mirrors, one for the T.V. and the other mirror simply to match because of the symmetrical arrangement of the dressers.

We did the same installation in a sitting room off the Master Bath.

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I'm craving Salmon and Eggs

I'm craving Salmon and scrambled eggs this morning! Check out this beautiful presentation of a Silver Salmon we caught in Alaska this summer at Winter Lake Lodge. The very talented chef new we were leaving the next morning so she prepared our big Silver for breakfast. She presented the fish on a platter with salmon mouse AND individual servings of Salmon Hash with scrambled eggs and spinach. I thought it was brilliant to make a visual presentation of our gorgeous fish and separately prepare each serving. Talk about a visual feast for the Table!

Dropped in by Heli for Fly Flishing. Great way to go when there are NO ROADS! Naturally, most of our fishing was Catch & Release. Our Fishing Guide demonstrates his very soothing and compassionate method! I guess he was calming the big Silver down before releasing. We used special "no barb" hooks to allow for easier release

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Modernism & Glamour in Montecito,California

We meticulously restored and rebuilt this John Elgin Woolf estate in Montecito. The home was originally designed and built in 1959 for the Huntington family and was teh scene of many Hollywood parties when the estate was purchased by Joan Cohn Harvey. In rebuilding the property we completely respected the glamourous era into which the house was originally built. The modernity of the mid-century was blended with the technology of the 21st century, resulting in an unparalleled sophistication. John Woolf was the creator of the Hollywood Regency Style and had who's who in the film industry client list 1930's-1960's.

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