Scallop skewers

Scallop skewers
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

For some reason I felt like cooking when I was back home so one night I made these Curried Scallop Kebabs. They turned out quite well for a first try.

Pie Disaster

Roland loves Key Lime Pie, so I made him one today...but I don't think he is going to eat any of this one. I was also going to make some soup, but the pie fiasco sort of put a damper on my cooking enthusiasm. We'll see if I get around to it.

Avocadzilla

While visiting with Kala (the Cavalier breeder) it came up that they had an avocado tree with a whole lot of avocados on it. Just about ripe too. Turns out that Kala doesn't like avocados though, would we like to take a couple home? Sure, my mom is coming for a visit and she loves guacamole. What we didn't realize is that apparently here in Florida they are slightly larger than we are used to seeing in Michigan. What are we going to do with four of these behemoths?

Endo

Ever wondered what the inside of a cranberry looked like? I didn't...until I was cutting some up to make Roland some cranberry bread (which turned out pretty well).

Tofoodles

Is everybody ready to try something new?

I was on my own for dinner tonight as Roland is giving his ethics final exam. I decided to go over to Publix and pick up some vegetables and stuff for a stir fry. While I was perusing the produce section, which is where they also keep a lot of their vegetarian stuff, I saw these Tofu Shirataki "Spaghetti Shaped Noodle Substitute." It's on baby! I mean "noodle substitute" doesn't necessarily bode all that well (smacks a little of cheese food product), but I'm up for an experience. Mostly I think people want them if they are vegan, or if they aren't supposed to have cholesterol or starchy things for some reason, none of which really apply to me.

They are simple and fast to prepare, but the real test is the taste right? I thought they were pretty good, I mean they aren't noodles and they do have a slightly different mouth feel. But overall they are something I would eat again.

Gazpacho del Sol

One of Dave's favorite things at Disney is the gazpacho at the Hollywood Brown Derby. I found a recipe for a gazpacho from the Brown Derby over at All Ears and made it as a surprise for him. Unfortunately it isn't the same as what he likes and turned out very sweet. I think maybe I will try it with red tomatoes, half the sugar, and twice the jalapenos.

Life

At least one good thing comes of summer, albeit not from the state I live in. And that is cherries. My favorite fruit remains blueberries, but second comes in at a tie between cherries and kiwis. Today I splurged on a rather sizable bag of cherries. It was a close thing, but I waited until I got home to start eating them. Not wanting them to go bad, Roland was a little concerned at the amount of cherries in the bag. Rest assured, it's not going to be a problem.

Cheesefest

Cheese
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

On Thursday after driving back up to Coral Springs, Jason and Dave went to the store and brought home a feast. We had decided earlier in the week to go for a cheese festival one night for dinner. They brought home something like 7 kinds of cheeses, some meats (salami and sliced ham), some fruit, and some wine. It was delicious. My favorites were the Edam (no surprise there), the chevre with carmel and walnuts, and a Robiola (soft, very buttery cheese). I really wanted some Cambozola, but no such luck. In any case it was a delicious meal enjoyed by all.

Whet

I thought this forray into food stylist vs. reality was interesting. Most of them look pretty attrocious without the nosh nudgers and food fluffers. Via Pop Candy.

Super

Well it seems that my computer is going to give me grief. Last night it decided that both hard drives had errors and and since it was both of them nothing was bootable. So I called my Dad and we tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually I did get to Windows and was able to re-back up everthing to my extrnal hard drive (I had done that a week or so ago, but since a crash seems evident I thought it would be nice to do it again). This morning I called Dell and got India, then my cell phone signal faded. So as it stands my computer is working (albeit on the slow side) but my raid array is still trying to rebuild itself and I'm not convinced that it will be successful, Sprint is the bane of my existance, and the Dell people can't help me unless my computer is actively malfunctioning right this minute.

In happier news Bleys did really well (for him) at Flyball yesterday. We've been working hard on it in the living room and it's been getting much better, but I was nervous about taking him outside with a bunch of other dogs (so many distractions). But he did, for the first time outside, run up to the box, and get the tennis ball. He didn't actually bring it back to me so much, but he did grab it! Yay for Bleys.

Also in the better news department, Roland and I tried out a new restaurant with some people he knows from school. The place is called Galanga and is a mixture of Thai and Japanese. I actually liked the appetizer better than the dinner I chose, but those who ordered sushi said it was awesome. So, perhaps if Jason comes to visit sometime we can swing over there and he can try out the sushi.

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good

On Wednesday Dave went all gourmet on the kitchen and made some zuccini soup. It turned out really yummy and pretty healthful to boot. Dave had a poker game last night, so I got to sample the soup for dinner last night and it was delicious.

Devil Fruit

Roland and I went on a dinner date this evening and tried out a new restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes. It is a buffet style restaurant with a huge salad section with both prepared salads and a large build your own portion. There was a build-a-baked-potato bit and 8 or so soups. There was a pasta section and even a soft serve ice cream station. They also allow you to pay one price for your beverage, but you can switch beverages at any time (soda with the meal and coffee with dessert? - No problem). This month they were featuring dishes with lemon and there was a tasty lemon mousse that was light, airy, and delicious.

It was very tasty and I enjoyed it a great deal. Their signage is also very vegetarian friendly (they tell you which dishes are vegetarian right at the buffet) and there were a lot of options, so when Anne comes to visit I'm going to suggest we eat there.

Pods

So for some reason I can't discern, a while ago, I began to want poached eggs. I thought about getting a pan, but what I really wanted was for Calphalon (the kind of pans we have) to make an insert that would fit in one of the pans we already own. Negative Earth Bird. However, Roland found a super alternative. Very handy and heat safe to a whopping 675 degrees - you can even bake in them! I tried one out this morning and I'm impressed. The egg was cooked perfectly, with a little spray of olive oil before adding the egg it came out with no problem, and clean up was a breeze (also dishwasher safe). The folks that make these also have some other interesting and sometimes odd food related silicone items.

Attention

My picture of the soup I made was the first one taken for all recipes and so now if you go to find the recipe...viola, there is my picture!

Soup for everyone

I made soup! And it worked!! I made some Spanish Style White Bean and Sausage Soup from allrecipes. It took a long time because you start with dry beans, but after it was simmering I was able to do other stuff for a couple of hours while it cooked. We had it for dinner and it was delicious. I did change the recipe a little because I didn't have some of the things in it. I switched out a green bell pepper for the red one (another reason for this is they taste the same, but red peppers are comparatively expensive). I also used turkey sausage instead of andouille, and instead of adding in sweet paprika I browned the sausage in some cajun seasoning that my sister gave us. It's good on just about everything. I especially like at little in my scrambled eggs. Oh, one last thing, not really a change so much, but Roland got this chicken soup base for Christmas and man is it good. I used that to make the chicken stock for the soup and I highly recommend it to anyone. And if you don't dig that flavor they also have beef, turkey, seafood, and even vegetable. Just drop a teaspoon in the water for your rice and, voila, simply divine. Here is a picture of my wonderful soup.

Palate

Did anyone else watch Iron Chef America (Battle Chocolate) last night? If so, does anyone else feel like Jeffrey Steingarten is just a terrible bitter old man. He is very critical of the food, but hey that's what he's there for, cool by me. It's just the way that he treats his fellow judges. He is condescending to a degree I didn't know possible and snipes at everyone. Why would anyone want to be near him...ever? Kudos to the other judges for being adult enough to return time after time to put up with him without stooping to his level. And Jeffrey...get a grip.

Uni-tasker

While I was home for the holidays I had a poached egg on toast made with my mom's neato poached egg pan similar to this one. I really enjoyed this and was thinking about getting one for myself. While looking for one I found one of the most ridiculous kitchen items ever, not only is it completely unnecessary, it looks silly. I mean, can you imagine having that sitting on your counter?

I have to admit though, I've thought about getting rice cooker, because I seem to be really good at messing up rice. You'd think it would be simple to cook up a pot of rice...you'd be wrong!

The Chewy

Today's fun:



My new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's so good!

UPDATE: Oops! Here is the recipe for any who want to try the goodness for themselves:
The Chewy

Snappy

Today's Experiment: Ginger Snaps



The verdict: Needs more spices, maybe more cinnamon and cloves, and perhaps fresh ginger.

Not so sticky

Today's adventure? Cinnamon rolls.

Presentation

I made dinner again tonight (two nights in a row? I know it's just feels wrong). This time I made sweet and sour pork. Then whimsy struck when I was serving it. The result? A Yin Yang feast.

Craving

I'm in love with Michigan produce. When Roland was grocery shopping he saw some blueberries from Michigan (Bangor to be exact). He felt compelled to buy them because I love blueberries and they were, in fact, from Michigan. He also got some cherries. I doubt those came from Michigan, but that's ok, I'll just pretend.

I tried to be objective and compare the Michigan blueberries to the pint we had a while ago from an undisclosed location. I sampled a few blueberries plain and also had some on my cereal in the morning. I've come to the firm conclusion that the blueberries from Michigan were far superior to those from wherever the others were from. The container had fewer of the squishy berries you have to throw away, less of the teensy weensy still-a-bit-bitter berries, and just tasted better. I've taken to have a little cereal with my blueberries and milk.

The cherries, wherever they were actually from, are going to be from Michigan in my head. Given that Traverse City claims to be the Cherry Capital of the World, it seems appropriate. It also probably has something to do with the fact that growing up a family from our church had a small cherry farm and would bring some for coffee hour after the service. They were as fresh as you can get and absolutely awesome. I ate the whole package Roland brought home in two days. I'm thinking of asking him to stop for more.

It did make me miss our annual fall trip though. We used to go up north for a long weekend every fall. In October, when the weather was cooler and the leaves were colorful we would drive up the coast of Lake Michigan and stay in Traverse City and Mackinaw City. Would try to plan it for the last weekend when all the shops on the Mackinac Island were open so there wouldn't be so many crowds. We would walk around the shops both there and in Mackinaw City. We would find new and interesting places to eat and pick up a ton of fresh produce from farm stands along the way. We would especially pick up a bunch of pumpkins for carving. Anne always had a sweet Halloween party not only giving me an excuse to sew up a costume but also to carve stupid amounts of really cool jack-o'-lanterns. It was something I looked forward to every year and I miss it now.

Sweet

Roland and I got our anniversary present from my parents yesterday. They sent it late because we were out of town on our actual anniversary and well, it is perishable. They sent us a chocolate mousse cheesecake. It arrived in a large Styrofoam cube which we had to cut open and then it was pretty well frozen and surrounded by plastic bags with dry ice in them. We ended up having to leave it out of the fridge for about an hour before we could actually cut it! Good shipping I'd say.

Anyway, we tried some for dessert last night and it was awesome. Full of rich creamy goodness and mega chocolatey. We both enjoyed it tremendously and are quickly trying to think up other holidays/dates that we can use as an excuse to get more when this one disappears. If you are in need of a gift idea that is different (and delicious) I would suggest sending a cheesecake.

Buffet Madness

One thing we made a point to do this trip was to try some new restaurants. My favorite find was the place we went for our actual anniversary, Boma. It is a buffet style joint over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We went to Jiko over there on our honeymoon and really enjoyed it but this time we decided to try Boma. Between us I'm pretty sure we tried almost every dish and I liked every last one of them. Some seriously good food. Some of my favorite items were the butternut squash and creamy corn soups, the calamari and curry noodle salads, the bobotie, the entire dessert table, and a bunch of other stuff. Then to add to the awesomeness of the evening our waitress brought us a special dessert for our anniversary. It was a square platter with some small specialty cookies and truffles and with Happy Anniversary written on it in chocolate, sprinkled with teeny tiny Mickey Mouse shaped sprinkles. It was a fantastic evening and I totally loved it. I highly recommend it.

One of the other new places we tried this time was also a buffet. We tried out the Biergarten over at the Germany Pavilion in Epcot. It was also very good (although my mom makes a better Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte - I think they didn't use any Kirsch or something. I especially enjoyed the various wurst and the braised red cabbage was good as well. It is family seating which means that your party will most likely be sitting with another family. The tables seat eight and they try to fill those up as much as possible. I think I would recommend going for dinner (we went for lunch) because then more people would be up for getting the giant liter sized beers that would be sure to liven up things. They had a good quartet that played a set during the meal including bells and Alphorn. They were quite good and even took a request from someone near the front. Our waitress even told them it was our anniversary and they gave us a toast.

Counter Service

I've been noticing it over the 5 years that I have been visiting Disney World, but it was on this trip that it really became obvious to me. Disney has some made a huge effort to have interesting and good counter service food. At the Pop Century cafeteria they now have soy burgers, ham and havarti flatbread sandwiches, vegetable lasagna, and some really good looking pizza among many other options. At the parks they now sell fresh fruit and the counter service food isn't just burgers and hot dogs anymore. Over at MGM we tried out the ABC Commissary and ended up sharing some curry chicken and a Cuban sandwich with plantain chips. I for one really appreciate the change, it makes eating at the counter service places a lot more enjoyable. Plus it is somehow easier to pay $7.50 for a Cuban sandwich, not so much for a hot dog.

No chips

My latest culinary foray was into the wonderful world of pie, as per a request from Roland. He asked me to pick up some frozen pie crusts at the market, but I don't really care for those and making the crust is easy and much more tasterific. Apparently he was hankerin' after some blueberry pie. Since I really enjoy blueberries and I who doesn't enjoy a little pie now and then, voila!







Mmmmm...pie...

Marshans

For reasons I can't explain, I felt the need to make marshmallows.



I think they turned out pretty well, but I think the powdered sugar you need to shake them in (due to the extreme stickiness) makes them a little too sweet. I'll have to see what Roland thinks though. Do they make strawberry extract or something like that? I think flavored 'mallows would be nice.

Novelty Candy (not available at Joann)

Click here if you are a Harry Potter nerd!

I've tried the Every Flavor Beans and the Chocolate Frogs (yummy), but I totally need some of the Cockroach Clusters and the Fizzing Wizbees. The Acid pops are probably too sour for me, but Roland would love them and the Slugs appear to just be gummies, buy hey I love gummies so bring it all on!

The-Midnight-Bomber-What-Bombs-at-Midnight

When Jason was here for vacation he had the brilliant idea of taking a picture of the fabulous meal that Roland made for us on our final day of AOW (you remember the cornish hens). Unfortunately I was unable to make use of any of them until I could get the compy back up and running (we can rebuild it, we have the technology - except for maybe the printer which I can't get to work for the life of me). Now that it is, at least for the moment running, here they are:

And then today, Roland whipped out his chefery again and created this mouthwatering meal:

Again, you should seriously pester him to explain it for real, but I can tell you it was succulent. Yes, succulent (and I don't throw that sort of approbation around freely you know). It was awesome and the creamed spinach was creamy and delicious. Seriously you people need to get right on that winning the lottery thing, 'cause you are missing out.

Creepy

Anne sent me this kick-ass care package (thanks again Anne, you are awesome). In it was one thing for Dave, a Cook's Illustrated magazine. Roland really like this magazine but doesn't get it anymore due to the cost and not having enough time to read it (while at the firm), so he was excited about getting this free copy. Last night I was reading in bed and Roland joined me after the Colbert Report to peruse Cook's. The first article? Pan roasting a whole chicken, which he just did for dinner and still had some chicken breasts to use up. The second article? Spinach salad with dressing made from bacon drippings, which he just did for dinner. The third article? Pot roast, which he bought from the store and was planning on making later this week. Later in the magazine? The long lost recipe for creme brulee, which I adore and Roland has apparently been plotting how to make me sometime since we didn't have the Cook's Illustrated recipe (originally published years ago).

Spooky

Delicious Frustration

I'm still working on my desktop. I never did get the hard drive that I bought working, instead having to install one that my dad sent me. After finally getting that up and running (and going through what felt like 5 hours of Windows updates) my wireless won't work. I have installed, un-installed, and re-installed the blasted adapter about 8 times. I finally got the computer to recognize the thing at all but the computer isn't seeing any wireless networks. It's not the router or modem because I'm able to use the internet just fine wired. Stupid Computer. My last recourse was to email the Netgear people, but I haven't heard anything from them yet. If not, I guess I will have to go out and get a new adapter. But this time I'm thinking of getting one from Linksys that goes through USB rather than using a PCI slot. It will also allow me to move the unit around a little more to maximize my wireless range.

In much happier news, Roland Made Me Dinner. Considering the dinner I think it deserves gratuitous capitalization. It was from the AB book I'm Just Here for the Food. It was a whole chicken with shallots and garlic. From what I understand it was first pan fried and then put in the oven for some more different cooking. Notice that my understanding is rather limited and for a more complete look you will have to pester Roland to tell you about it. We also had zucchini and sausage, and a really good salad with spinach, Havarti with dill, and bacon, with a raspberry dressing. It was awesome. Apparently the whole chicken didn't fit in the pan so Roland saved the breasts for a later time and we had the thighs, wings, and legs. The meat was so tender the bones just fell out. And the flavor! The garlic and shallots were perfect, soft and tender, so tender you could spread them. In fact we did, on some bread, making it a fabulous garlic bread. I'm tellin' ya, mouth watering! Bleys agreed, right before dinner I got his dinner ready and he totally went Pavlov and started drooling. It was sort of cute and sort of scary. I'm told that there is dessert as well (once I'm hungry enough again) so perhaps, if you behave yourselves, I'll tell you about that later.

No, you ah!

How did I get so lucky? Roland is now on "spring" break. I put the quotes in there because it wasn't ever winter here so that doesn't count, and even if we were still in Michigan it's not spring there either. In any case, Roland went grocery shopping today and I think I'm in for a treat for the next week or so. I got Dave AB's first book for Valentines Day and now I get to reap the rewards. Tonight is looking like steak, but I help put away a pork loin (hee, hee, loin), turkey brats, and a whole chicken which sounds like it's destined for an AB treatment involving garlic and shallots (hear that? That's the sound of me drooling). I also saw some pineapple and cantaloupe and all sorts of veggies. I've been craving vegetables with a vengeance lately and Roland has been indulging me with dinners heavily weighted in the veggie category.

I made dinner the other night (this is quickly becoming a rarity aRoland's food is WAY better than anything I come up with). One of my favorite things to make ever is stuffed green peppers. However, Roland isn't a big fan of the green peppers so I tried it with cabbage leaves. Pretty much making galumpkis. They turned out very well except next time I think I will boil the leaves a little longer before stuffing them. We had them as leftovers as well since it made quite a bit and we also had corn bread the first night. I really enjoyed them and I think I will make them again soon. Well, I think it's time to take the poop-meister out...

1.21 gigawatts of taste

I sort of got off track for a while there, but the next thing I was going to blog about (*ahem* anonymous) was the dinner that Roland made us all this past Sunday. It was the last day of our AOW class and Jason and I had two dives starting at about 12:00 and getting done at about 4:30/5:00ish. Upon our arrival we stepped out of the car and honest-to-goodness I smelled something delicious on the air. I dismissed it as someone grilling on their balcony (no you're not supposed to do that, but yes they do anyway) even though it didn't smell like grillish. Jason and I lugged all of our stuff out of the car and up the stairs. Did you know that stuff gets heavier when it's wet? Yeah, well, I suppose I did too, but there is nothing like experience to illuminate things. When I opened the door to the apartment that self-same mouthwatering aroma nearly overwhelmed me. Turns out Roland had the door to the balcony open and it was wafting down there to taunt anyone who happened by. Jason and I ditched our stuff and started investigating. Dinner was still cooking. This was bad for a two main reasons.

1. I was pretty hungry, the smell was awesome, and now we had to wait.
2. Now we had time to start to rinse off our gear rather than procrastinating.

Jason was kind enough to rinse out our BCDs at the same time he rinsed the salt off of himself. He actually ended up rinsing off everything else as well later because he's just that kind of guy (thanks J).

Eventually everything was ready and dinner was served and this is what we saw.

We each had a Cornish hen, which had been brined and then stuffed with garlic, rosemary, and lemon. Seriously people, the.juiciest.thing.ever! And the juice is bursting with flavor too. I can not even describe the deliciousness that is this Cornish hen. It has easily met and surpassed lamb as my favorite meal that Roland makes for me. The breast is fairly well dripping with lemony rosemary goodness and I pulled the leg bone out of the meat whole. Talk about tender. This time there was a honey glaze that made the skin all crispy and slightly sweet. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

There was also an artichoke and sausage dish with a white wine reduction that I really like. Artichokes are hard to deal with though so I'm lobbying for a zucchini version so that we can have it more often. We also had a cornbread square with some of the honey glaze drizzled on top which I thought was a very nice compliment to the Cornish hens. Lastly there was a salad that Roland makes a lot of variations on, but I really like so that it fine by me. Spinach with some sort of moldy cheese (blue, gorgonzola, etc), red onions, and walnuts, with a vinaigrette dressing. Very tasty. It is absolutely incredible to me that Roland can make this kind of stuff right here in our apartment. It tastes like some famous chef made it for a restaurant. Did I luck out or what?

Ahoy, matey

After our diving adventure Roland, Jason, and I were getting pretty hungry. We packed all of our stuff in the car and headed for home. On the way we stopped to pick up some stuff from the groceria and at that point Jason broke down (his wetsuit was in the trunk now so he couldn't try to gnaw on it) and bought a Snickers bar. Luckily I looked pitiful enough to get a bite while we were walking back to the car. Then we drove home and changed out of our slightly damp clothes to get ready for dinner. Then, the unfortunate part of diving comes in, you have to rinse your gear in fresh water to prevent degradation of the materials. So Jason and I started rinsing and putting stuff out on the balcony to dry.

When we finally finished we were ready to think about some dinner. Ok, way past ready. Roland and I had pretty much all ready decided on where we wanted to go and gave Jason pretty much the one option. Since it was a place where sushi was an option we didn't have to do too much arm twisting (good man, Jason). Roland and I found this restaurant, again thanks to the new Zagat's guide, when my parents were visiting. It is called Jasmine Thai and it is tasty. When we went with my parents we got Thai food, so this time we were keen to try the sushi, plus I'd never had sushi before so I wanted to investigate a new culinary experience. After being seated we perused our menus and chose an appetizer off the Thai menu (it had a lot of my favorite foods, crab rangoons, spring rolls, shrimp rolls, and fried wontons) before losing ourselves in the sushi menu. We were relying on Jason a lot since he was the sushi expert among us and the waitress must of noticed my slightly bemused expression because she came over to ask us if we wanted some assistance. We did, and she suggested the "Boat for Three." This was quite a collection of different sushi items and we could stipulate that we didn't want any salmon sushi, which was good, because neither Jason nor I care much for salmon. Sounds like a good option, lots of choice, designed for three. Sounds great, we'll take it!

Now would be a good time to point out that, like the others (Jason and Roland) I assumed that the "boat" portion of the Boat for Three was like the "happy family" at many Chinese restaurants. A metaphor, not for seriously a boat, more like the conceptualization of a boat, a plate (perhaps roughly ovoid or boat shaped) with sushi on it. But no, it was, a-freakin'-huge-boat-which-looked-like-it-might-actually-float-boat. So this little tiny waitress carries out this three foot long boat filled with ice and covered with sushi. Then another waiter asks if we would like any sauces. We ask what our options are and as he starts to list them our waitress walks past on her way to another table and says, just get them all of them. Sweet, we got all of them. The sushi was good, I especially like the tempura battered ones (slightly sweet). All of them were very large though. One piece of sushi was about the size of four of my version of a bite. I ended up bring dishonor on my family and my families family, and probably all my friends too, because I about half way through I seriously had to but those bad boys up. What made that a little disappointing was that due to the huge bite taking I filled up quite quickly. But that left more for Roland and Jason so they didn't mind.

I was so enamored with the food and the boat that I didn't notice the people who were eyeing our vessel until near the end of the meal when a lady actually came over to the table to ask about it and how it was. I think a lot of people see the price (which looks high because you have to divide that between three people) and *ahem* miss the boat. Although they probably end up spending just as much to get the stuff separately. Overall the meal was very satisfying, but I think I would have liked it more if there were more, smaller pieces.

The pot, cooktop, and surrounding area will be hot.

Flashback to one of Susan's most treasured childhood memories.

The Heidemann family gathered around the table for their (at least, my) favorite meal. Table center: a yellow fondue pot filled with hot oil and a Sterno flame underneath, four place settings, each with a plate, sliverware, a beverage, and a little bowl full of raw meat (yeah, baby). Ok, so after Anne became a vegetarian there wasn't a bowl of meat at her place but we're going back further than that. Scattered around the table are little dishes with sauces in them. A horseradish sauce, a barbecue concoction, a sort of A-1/ketchup thing (K1 if you will), ranch dressing, a mustard sauce, and maybe others I'm forgetting. There was also usually a salad and some rolls as well, but they were by far afterthoughts. When we had fondue dinner it was An Event. It only happened once in a while, lasted at least twice as long as regular dinner, and there was fire at the table. The extra long time for dinner meant extra talking and being together. We each got two fodue forks for to cook our steak cubes to perfection. We talked and cooked, and ate, and cooked, and because you had to cook each cube one at a time it was a long and relaxing meal. I also had the pleasure of having this dish in Austria when on vacation with my Mom, bringing it even closer to my heart. They sat us in the window of the restaurant where all the passersby could watch us eat. Fodue (the cook your own meat in oil kind) came, for me, to mean family and togetherness and all that special mushy stuff that people make fun of.

Then as I grew up and went to college the frequency of fondue took a sharp decline. Even later still when fondue showed up again people mostly did the cheese kind (which is admittedly very good) and didn't really know what I was talking about when I mentioned that 'other' kind of fondue. But then, low and behold Roland got a Zagats guide for his birthday (thanks Anne and Karl) and there was this restaurant: The Melting Pot. Enter here the sound of angels signing joyful hymns with silly words (tee tee Anne).

Flash forward to this past Thursday. Jason arrived after a very long travel filled day, I think he left at like 6:00 am or something insane like that. Roland picked him up at the airport and drove him home through the usual mortal peril. After giving Jason the tour of our apartment (it's pretty short) and settling him in a bit we sprang our dinner idea on him. This restaurant called the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. Jason was game (good man, Jason) and we departed. After arriving at the restaurant we were promptly seated in a nice booth with a high back giving us a good feeling of privacy. The table had a heating element in the center (although for all of our safety it was turned off when we arrived) flush with the table. Our waiter arrived and graciously explained the menu to us, gave us a little time, and took our drink orders. I had a margarita and Roland and Jason had shared a bottle of wine. At The Melting Pot you can choose stuff sort of ala carte, or you can have the 'Big Night Out' which we opted for. As you have probably read elsewhere this includes a cheese fondue course, a salad course, a main meat fondue course, and a dessert fondue course. Everyone at the table has to agree on the same courses as there is only room for one pot at a time on the table (so choose your dining companions wisely, young Jedi).

We opted for a Wisconsin cheese trio which the waiter put together tableside - very cool. He had the pot warming for a while and added white wine, sauteed shallots, cheese, more cheese, and some more cheese, and some sliced scallions on top. We got to dip, bread, apples, carrots, and whatnot in it and we cleaned that bad boy out. It was very good and we could have eaten a lot more. Luckily though there wasn't more because the rest of the meal was on it's way. The next thing out of the kitchen was a salad which closely resembled one of my favorites that Roland makes. Greens with walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and an awesome raspberry vinaigrette. The dressing was incredibly good, but I was all excited for the next course and sort of rushed through it. Then the main course (again the vast choruses should start singing here). It was just like the fondue I remember, but with fancier options that just aren't feasibly at home. A wide variety of meat and veggies; steak, chicken, shrimp, tuna, mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli. There were additions we didn't have as a child, like breading sauces to dip your item in before cooking. And about a bajillion sauces to dip your cooked items in. They of course tell you to pretty much burn your food so that there won't be any foodborne diseases, but we generally cooked things to the degree we wanted anyway. Jason's 14 second tuna was pretty spot on. The veggies were fresh and large enough not to become overcooked too quickly. Overall it was completely awesome. When we had eaten our fill (ok, when the food on the table ran out - they offered to refill the veggies, but sheesh enough is enough) it was time for dessert. The boys let me pick which style of chocolate fondue to get and of course I went with the kind with milk chocolate with a dollop of marshmallow creame in it. Mmmm...s'mores. To dip in this sweet ambrosia were graham crackers (just dip those, trying to skewer it on the fondue fork is pretty hard), cheesecake (again just spoon some over it, skewer it only ensures you are going to have to kiss someone), fruit, marshmallows, and oreo covered marshmallows. Damn, that was some fine food. In fact if you have read the other two blogs you will have noted that yes, Jason did have a straw, and yes, he did put it in the left over melted chocolate and drink it, and yes someone who works there did see him and told everyone else in the kitchen. I'm telling you it may well have been the best meal I've ever had in a restaurant. I had fantastic food and fantastic company and it lasted about three hours I also ended up with a second margarita about half way through the meal somehow (Roland) so that may have increased my fun 2d20. Even though it was a long dinner no one looked sideways at us or encouraged us to leave and when we did leave the manager lookin' dude gave us a business card with a discount for 20% off a bottle of wine on our next visit. What a fantastic evening. If you are still reading and haven't fallen asleep you've done well and I'm about done. I just have a very special place in my heart for the fondue (especially the cook your own meat in oil kind) so I wanted to express how much it means to me and how incredibly good it tastes.

Seriously

Living with Roland, it's like eating in a restaurant every night. Tonight was asparagus, chicken bacon burger deals that were simply delectable, and some pasta salad that Roland made just for me! He made a baked noodle dish last night and he reserved some of the noodles and made a pasta salad. It even had hard boiled eggs in it. Rockin'! It was a really good dinner, and smelled great while he was making it.

P.W. and I went to the dog park today as it was time for an expression and a bath anyway. It was a good time and he ran around like a nut. He was a little more forceful with some of the other dogs this time too, which was interesting. We've been going on a walk every morning and when we pass the dog park he leans into the leash pretty hard (for him - which is not very hard because he has better manners than that). But with the grass allergy we can only really go when a bath can be given pretty much as soon as we get home.

I also started reading my book for the AOW class Jason and I are taking in February. It is pretty interesting, but very basic. I'm sure this is because the makers of the book and classes have to aim low to accommodate a lot of people as this class is very early in the series of classes you can take (meaning many people of varying abilities will be taking it). As you move on into the series I'm sure they can get more detailed and whatnot as fewer and fewer people will be taking those classes. I hope it goes well and Jason will help me out when I need it!

Four leaves only

It has been a while and much has happened, mostly presents. I like presents. Roland and I had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas at the apartment. We woke late on Christmas and just made up our day as we went along. Roland made an incredible dinner and we opened presents.

Roland bought two Cornish hens and brined them starting in the morning of Christmas. I think he used a similar brine to the one AB uses on his turkey and stuffed them with some herbs and a lemon wedge. There was also a garlic smashed potato dish, and an artichoke sausage side with a butter and white wine reduction. Great googley moogley was it ever good. Everything Roland made was like something you would get in a restaurant. I ate way to much, but I couldn't help myself. The hen was fork tender, with a crispy skin, and oozing lemon rosemary flavored juiciness. The artichokes were noticeably fresh and the sausage (from Doris Italian Market) was succulent. The reduction brought it all together and made it out of this world. All in all it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. How did I get to be so lucky?

Merry Christmas to ME!

Today I got a super-great present from my Mom. She sent me some pfeffernuesse! For any who don't know, pfeffernuesse are small very hard cookies often enjoyed with coffee or other hot beverage. They are flavored with dark karo syrup and are totally and completely addictive (Kate Leggett used to claim we put crack in there somewhere). My Mom makes them every year and as I grew up we used to make them together. Each recipe makes a ga-zillion cookies and takes quite a few hours to make so working together with someone really makes it more fun. And the dough is pretty tasty too! She usually makes some to have her students taste (being German cookies and all) and I seem to be the lucky beneficiary of some of those. I'm not sure about how long they will last as I can't seem to stop eating them. Mmmmm so tasty!

To brine...

Divine!

This year Roland and I were alone for Thanksgiving and worked together to create a fabulous feast. He decided to follow AB's advice and brine the turkey. The results, juicerific! This is definitely the way to go. This brine was stock based and Roland could tell you more about it, but it made the turkey very moist and tasty. I made the stuffing and did all the touching-of-the-gibblets. Apparently gibblets give Roland the jibblies, he doesn't want his food to look that organ like, but they are an important part of my mom's stuffing. We also had squash, mashed potatoes, rolls, and cranberry-orange relish. This was the first time I've made cranberry-orange relish in a food processor, rather than a meat grinder, but it seemed to go just fine. Oh yeah, we also had some pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a mighty fine meal and we still have a lot left. Since we are leaving to meet Roland's parents soon we froze one of the breasts, the wings, and one of the legs and thighs. We put the rest in the refrigerator and have been eating it on sandwiches...mmmm....cold turkey sandwiches.