Thankfully children’s choir practice was cancelled, so I got to spend most of the day with Jim. Since tomorrow is “D-Day,” it was definitely nice to get the extra time. We ended up going to Solano Avenue in Berkeley again, this time to Zachary’s for some deep dish pizza. The pizza thing was my idea. I started craving pizza last night and I had my heart set on eating some today.
I’ve never had deep-dish Chicago-style pizza before. If I hadn’t seen it on the Food Network, I would have been completely taken by surprise. We ordered a medium 12-inch spinach and mushroom pie, which took about half an hour to arrive.
The wait gave us plenty of time to relax and take in the whole scene. Even though we got there at 1:50 (Jim decided he wanted to park over a mile away, so it was a 20+ minute walk from the car), the restaurant was still busy. We only had to wait for them to clean off a table, though, so the wait was minimal.
Zachary’s is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, and so they have a commemorative pint glass that they were selling Hard Rock Café-style. So Jim got a pint of Fat Tire and I got iced tea in mine. It ended up being $2.75/glass, which wasn’t a horrible deal. I was very glad that I got tea, because their water was pure crap that even lemon couldn’t mask. The restaurant itself is nothing special. It’s too small, too crowded, and too loud. The walls are covered with artwork depicting Zachary’s in movie scenes and their various awards. We were seated in the middle of the hubbub, which wasn’t my first choice, but Jim didn’t mind.
Anyway, we were both pretty famished and so we were beyond stoked when the pie finally arrived. The pizza sauce was slightly spicy, chunky, and super flavorful. I absolutely loved it. There was way too much cheese for my tastes, but I was able to cut and pull most of it out, although some of the fresh spinach got sacrificed in the process. Man, that crust is amazing. Flaky, crispy, and light, I tried to enjoy it without thinking about how much fat was in it. I wasn’t so successful, but even so, it didn’t stop me from eating three slices and enjoying every bite. Jim ate his four and then the remaining slice from my half. The pizza was supposed to feed 3-4, but we tore it up. And by “we,” I clearly mean Jim.
The only downfall to Zachary’s is the not so good service. We were pretty much on our own and had to ask twice before we even got water. But oh well. It’s not going to stop me from returning someday.
After lunch we walked around Solano Avenue for a bit, buying some bread and a couple of cookies from the French bakery. We got a wheat sourdough baguette, a Jezebel cookie, and a lemon oatmeal cookie. I was 100% kid in the candy store, immediately having to take a bite of each cookie to try ‘em out, even though I was ridiculously full. I was a little disappointed. I guess I can’t compare it to Bouchon, because Bouchon’s cookies are the most amazing things ever.
We went to Ranch 99 afterwards. For the non-Asian population, Ranch 99 is an Asian grocery store that carries just about everything a good Asian needs to cook a meal. I got some spices, sauces, tofu, and a few veggies and herbs. I think I may have scared Jim a bit. He was by far the tallest person in there and one of the lightest colored.
Jim’s dad needed help installing their new water heater, so after a second stop at Costco for gas and a few other necessities, we headed over to his parents’ house. While Jim helped out his dad, I drove back to Jim’s house and unloaded all of the groceries before going home to take care of Midget. I got a call from her vet today, and so things seem to be going better. We shall see. I like this vet better than her current primary vet, Dr. W. Dr. H seems to be more on top of things and genuinely appears to care about Midget, which is always a plus.
Jim and I originally planned on going to see Indiana Jones, but the water heater took forever, so our plans needed some revamping. We ended up going to Lucky’s to get some groceries, Taco Bell for half our dinner, and Matsuri for the other half of our dinner. We ate at Jim’s parents’ house with them. It’s probably one of the last dinners Jim will be eating with his parents anytime in the near future, so I’m glad we got to do one more meal with them.
I got a veggie roll and a veggie hand roll and Jim got a Lion King, supplemented with a bean burrito, cheese roll-up, and cinnamon sticks from Taco Bell. I took a couple of bites of each, and was pretty happy with how they tasted. I don’t know how much fat they put in their tortillas, but they are awfully flavorful and soft. I really like ‘em a lot. And even the cinnamon sticks were a pleasant surprise—light, crisp, and not overly sweet. The cheese roll-up was basically a rolled up cheese quesadilla. Not too shabby, but then again, how can anyone mess up tortillas with melted cheese?
My sushi was awesome, as per usual. Jim’s parents were pretty wary of the sushi and not at all interested in trying Jim’s Lion King, although he definitely tried.
After we ate dinner, we headed back to Jim’s, where I went military on Jim and ripped through a lot of very necessary housework. I really just wanted to get him more or less caught up since with the new schedule, I know there’s no way he’s going to get on top of his laundry and cleaning. Four loads later, I was ready to go home. I left Jim with a load finishing in the dryer and a load in the washer with instructions for him to finish up. But now he’s got clean bedding, boxers, and jeans to wear, and his hampers are practically empty now. But I also got set up for this week’s cooking. It’s going to be a brand, spanking new thing for me to deal with cooking ahead for him. But with his new schedule, it’s impossible for me to cook a fresh, hot dinner on his work nights. So other than getting a slow cooker, he’s going to have to microwave his meals.
So it was quite an interesting food day today. We started with Chicago-style pizza, which is vaguely Italian and ended with sushi and Taco Bell, which almost counts as Mexican. The Bay Area is awesome like that. I feel so lucky to have access to all this great food.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
The seagulls know
It’s been a while since Jim and I have been able to go out to lunch together during the week, so today was definitely a treat. The original plan was for Grubbin’ Mexican, but we were gabbing with my co-worker A, so we ended up trying Pelayo’s, a Mexican restaurant recommended by A. Pelayo’s is only a couple of miles away from my job, so it saved us some time.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interior, which was open, airy, and neutral. Plus they had a machino, a la Chevy’s! We sat down at a large table for two on nice, padded chairs, and were given menus and asked for our drink order.
Despite having just eaten Mexican for dinner the previous night, we ended up going with our usual Mexican restaurant order: a veggie burrito for me and a chicken one for Jim. Plus we split an order of nachos. You can always get the vibe of a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their chips and salsa. While their salsa was nothing to write home about, both of us liked the chips, which were light and crispy, also very much like Chevy’s. And the salsa wasn’t bad at all. It just wasn’t Grubbin’ Mexican or Sandoval’s quality.
Anyway, our burritos were a decent but not overly generous size. Mine came with lettuce, tomato, whole beans, and rice, plus sour cream and guacamole on the side and ranchero sauce on top. I have to admit that I really, really, really liked the ranchero sauce, which was actually more like salsa. It was mildly spicy and slightly chunky and nothing like the enchilada sauce-like ranchero sauces I’ve had before.
The nachos were not my faves. The refried beans were overly greasy and way too rich (something I never thought possible). Plus there was enough salt in them to permanently raise my blood pressure. Unfortunately, the beans kind of ruined the entire plate for me. The guacamole was mild flavored and very fresh, and of course I liked the chips.
I was overall quite happy with the place. I thought the food was pretty darn good, the service competent, and the prices reasonable. I only tried two salsas from the salsa bar, not including the house salsa our chips were served with, so the jury’s still out on that one. I think that the next time I’ve craving Mexican, Pelayo’s is it for me.
After work I went and grabbed Midget from the vet. It cost me another $475 and her diabetes still isn’t under control. I’m beyond frustrated at this point, but I was a little relieved to learn that she’s not in a diabetic crisis (yet). So even though her blood sugar is all out of whack, she doesn’t seem to be suffering too badly still. The problem is that it keeps causing her to get infections, and THAT makes her feel all iggy. She’s got another dose of antibiotics for her second bladder infection. She might have a vaginal infection, too. We’ll see with the cultures, bloodwork, etc. come back tomorrow.
I also went by Midget’s Homeopathic Consultant. Yes, that’s right. I hired a friggin’ homeopathic consultant for my dog. I have officially turned into one of THOSE owners. It’s terribly embarrassing, but I am desperate to help her get better. I don’t know if I’m to the point where I’ll feed my dog the raw food diet she is recommending, but the way things have been going lately, I’ll be going regularly to Costco for 50 pounds of meat before I know it.
So, armed with Homeopathic remedies and antibiotics, I got Midget home. Her food is now mixed with her antibiotic, her homeopathy treatment, her multivitamin, and fur supplement. I have to put round one of drops in her eyes, feed her, inject the insulin, do a blood glucose test, and then put round two of drops in her eyes. I didn’t do it today, but I also have to give her another round of homeopathy treatment half an hour after she eats. I hope that this isn’t all in vain.
I’m not sure why I’m going to such drastic lengths to help my dog. Guilt, responsibility, my moral compass . . . it’s an odd mixture. I love Midget, and I just need to know that I did everything within reason to help her quality of life. When she looks at me right now, my heart breaks because she’s so weak and not herself. I’m bracing myself for the inevitable: I’m pretty sure that no matter what I do, Midget is going to die pretty soon. And I would feel horribly guilty living with the fact that I didn’t take care of my dog like I should have. So that’s a big part of why I’m doing what I’m doing.
After all of her treatments, I took off to Jim’s house because we were headed to the Giants game with M & M’s R. They got to drive their brand spankin’ new Ford SUV hybrid. As much disdain as I have for Fords, I have to admit that it’s a pretty nice car, and they definitely loaded it to the hilt with a GPS, leather interior, dual climate control, etc. We didn’t have seats together, but it saved us all money to carpool over to the game anyway and we got to use the carpool lane to boot.
Our seats were surprisingly awesome. We sat in section 139, row 3, in seats 13 & 14. Almost everyone around us were season ticket holders and had a whole camaraderie thing that was fun to observe. Near the end, one of the guys, Alex, got a Padres fan kicked out of our section. He had come down to the first row to watch and then started cheering a little too loudly. First came the mild heckling, making fun of his old school Padres hat and asking him if he bought it on eBay. Pretty funny stuff.
There were a couple of other characters in our section. A black girl was trying to hit on her friend, insisting that he lean back on her lap from his seat a row under her. He tried to protest, to no avail. She was very determined and she definitely won. Another was a nuclear family, where mom and dad sat nowhere near each other and the two kids ran back and forth, depending on how long each particular parent could handle them. I found it very odd that the mom was dressed in a hat, heavy coat, gloves, and a blanket, while she let her kids run around with almost no cold weather clothes.
While the Giants got on the board against the Padres in the first inning, they quickly lost the lead. It was a good pitching duel, Cain v. Maddux. Cain allowed 3 runs early on, but he settled down and pitched 7 innings. In the 8th inning, Keichi Yabu came in after Hinshaw allowed a hit and walked another batter. THE game moment happened with Yabu's first pitch, which was a freaking triple play! So incredible. Then in the ninth, he went 1-2-3. With that, the Giants took the game into extra innings--four of them, to be exact.
When the seagulls started circling in the top of the 13th, I had a sinking feeling that the game was over. The seagulls know. I was right, because the Pads scored four runs, thanks to Sadler. I actually felt a little sorry for the guy, since they kept him in even after 40+ pitches. He's a reliever! He's not meant to throw that many pitches. The Giants were very quiet in the bottom of the 13th and just like that, the game was over.
We were treated to fireworks after the game. It was a beautiful show and surprisingly long. We got a great view from the top of the slide area that was actually quite private. There were probably about half a dozen people where we were at. The only complaint I had was of the musical selections--I mean, Josh Groban (You Raise Me Up), Bette Midler (Wind Beneath My Wings), and Michael Buble (Sway With Me)?! Very, very odd. As long as I tuned out the music, it was a great display.
I know I haven't mentioned M & R, but that was because we barely interacted. They were seated in the same section, but back in row 20. Apparently R hated their seats, so it was probably a good thing that we didn't sit together. I was absolutely thrilled with ours. We even had a backrest! Thanks to Omar Vizquel, the seats were also freaking cheap. You can't beat $14 a ticket. Seriously. There was a ceremony before the game to honor him for being the shortstop to play the most games. It was nice to see the guy honored. He's incredible, and I'm so happy that he's a Giant.
Right after the ceremony, Jim and I grabbed some dinner. For the first time in forever, we didn't get Cha-Cha bowls. Instead we got hot dogs, mine a veggie dog of course. We both ordered ours with bell peppers and onions, and then I topped mine off with ketchup and Jim's with mustard and ketchup. The bell peppers made the veggie dog actually taste good. I liked it. Jim said his was "okay," which I think meant that if he had been hungry, he would have rather had Cha-Cha bowl.
After the game, we hit up In-N-Out because the boys were hungry. Well, I think M was hungry, and Jim is never going to turn down In-N-Out. It was my first time going through the In-N-Out drive-thru, and let me tell you, I was less than impressed. Drive-thrus suck.
Anyway, overall, the night was a lot of fun. It was a bummer about the loss, but we got to see that triple play and fireworks. So that made it worth it.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interior, which was open, airy, and neutral. Plus they had a machino, a la Chevy’s! We sat down at a large table for two on nice, padded chairs, and were given menus and asked for our drink order.
Despite having just eaten Mexican for dinner the previous night, we ended up going with our usual Mexican restaurant order: a veggie burrito for me and a chicken one for Jim. Plus we split an order of nachos. You can always get the vibe of a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their chips and salsa. While their salsa was nothing to write home about, both of us liked the chips, which were light and crispy, also very much like Chevy’s. And the salsa wasn’t bad at all. It just wasn’t Grubbin’ Mexican or Sandoval’s quality.
Anyway, our burritos were a decent but not overly generous size. Mine came with lettuce, tomato, whole beans, and rice, plus sour cream and guacamole on the side and ranchero sauce on top. I have to admit that I really, really, really liked the ranchero sauce, which was actually more like salsa. It was mildly spicy and slightly chunky and nothing like the enchilada sauce-like ranchero sauces I’ve had before.
The nachos were not my faves. The refried beans were overly greasy and way too rich (something I never thought possible). Plus there was enough salt in them to permanently raise my blood pressure. Unfortunately, the beans kind of ruined the entire plate for me. The guacamole was mild flavored and very fresh, and of course I liked the chips.
I was overall quite happy with the place. I thought the food was pretty darn good, the service competent, and the prices reasonable. I only tried two salsas from the salsa bar, not including the house salsa our chips were served with, so the jury’s still out on that one. I think that the next time I’ve craving Mexican, Pelayo’s is it for me.
After work I went and grabbed Midget from the vet. It cost me another $475 and her diabetes still isn’t under control. I’m beyond frustrated at this point, but I was a little relieved to learn that she’s not in a diabetic crisis (yet). So even though her blood sugar is all out of whack, she doesn’t seem to be suffering too badly still. The problem is that it keeps causing her to get infections, and THAT makes her feel all iggy. She’s got another dose of antibiotics for her second bladder infection. She might have a vaginal infection, too. We’ll see with the cultures, bloodwork, etc. come back tomorrow.
I also went by Midget’s Homeopathic Consultant. Yes, that’s right. I hired a friggin’ homeopathic consultant for my dog. I have officially turned into one of THOSE owners. It’s terribly embarrassing, but I am desperate to help her get better. I don’t know if I’m to the point where I’ll feed my dog the raw food diet she is recommending, but the way things have been going lately, I’ll be going regularly to Costco for 50 pounds of meat before I know it.
So, armed with Homeopathic remedies and antibiotics, I got Midget home. Her food is now mixed with her antibiotic, her homeopathy treatment, her multivitamin, and fur supplement. I have to put round one of drops in her eyes, feed her, inject the insulin, do a blood glucose test, and then put round two of drops in her eyes. I didn’t do it today, but I also have to give her another round of homeopathy treatment half an hour after she eats. I hope that this isn’t all in vain.
I’m not sure why I’m going to such drastic lengths to help my dog. Guilt, responsibility, my moral compass . . . it’s an odd mixture. I love Midget, and I just need to know that I did everything within reason to help her quality of life. When she looks at me right now, my heart breaks because she’s so weak and not herself. I’m bracing myself for the inevitable: I’m pretty sure that no matter what I do, Midget is going to die pretty soon. And I would feel horribly guilty living with the fact that I didn’t take care of my dog like I should have. So that’s a big part of why I’m doing what I’m doing.
After all of her treatments, I took off to Jim’s house because we were headed to the Giants game with M & M’s R. They got to drive their brand spankin’ new Ford SUV hybrid. As much disdain as I have for Fords, I have to admit that it’s a pretty nice car, and they definitely loaded it to the hilt with a GPS, leather interior, dual climate control, etc. We didn’t have seats together, but it saved us all money to carpool over to the game anyway and we got to use the carpool lane to boot.
Our seats were surprisingly awesome. We sat in section 139, row 3, in seats 13 & 14. Almost everyone around us were season ticket holders and had a whole camaraderie thing that was fun to observe. Near the end, one of the guys, Alex, got a Padres fan kicked out of our section. He had come down to the first row to watch and then started cheering a little too loudly. First came the mild heckling, making fun of his old school Padres hat and asking him if he bought it on eBay. Pretty funny stuff.
There were a couple of other characters in our section. A black girl was trying to hit on her friend, insisting that he lean back on her lap from his seat a row under her. He tried to protest, to no avail. She was very determined and she definitely won. Another was a nuclear family, where mom and dad sat nowhere near each other and the two kids ran back and forth, depending on how long each particular parent could handle them. I found it very odd that the mom was dressed in a hat, heavy coat, gloves, and a blanket, while she let her kids run around with almost no cold weather clothes.
While the Giants got on the board against the Padres in the first inning, they quickly lost the lead. It was a good pitching duel, Cain v. Maddux. Cain allowed 3 runs early on, but he settled down and pitched 7 innings. In the 8th inning, Keichi Yabu came in after Hinshaw allowed a hit and walked another batter. THE game moment happened with Yabu's first pitch, which was a freaking triple play! So incredible. Then in the ninth, he went 1-2-3. With that, the Giants took the game into extra innings--four of them, to be exact.
When the seagulls started circling in the top of the 13th, I had a sinking feeling that the game was over. The seagulls know. I was right, because the Pads scored four runs, thanks to Sadler. I actually felt a little sorry for the guy, since they kept him in even after 40+ pitches. He's a reliever! He's not meant to throw that many pitches. The Giants were very quiet in the bottom of the 13th and just like that, the game was over.
We were treated to fireworks after the game. It was a beautiful show and surprisingly long. We got a great view from the top of the slide area that was actually quite private. There were probably about half a dozen people where we were at. The only complaint I had was of the musical selections--I mean, Josh Groban (You Raise Me Up), Bette Midler (Wind Beneath My Wings), and Michael Buble (Sway With Me)?! Very, very odd. As long as I tuned out the music, it was a great display.
I know I haven't mentioned M & R, but that was because we barely interacted. They were seated in the same section, but back in row 20. Apparently R hated their seats, so it was probably a good thing that we didn't sit together. I was absolutely thrilled with ours. We even had a backrest! Thanks to Omar Vizquel, the seats were also freaking cheap. You can't beat $14 a ticket. Seriously. There was a ceremony before the game to honor him for being the shortstop to play the most games. It was nice to see the guy honored. He's incredible, and I'm so happy that he's a Giant.
Right after the ceremony, Jim and I grabbed some dinner. For the first time in forever, we didn't get Cha-Cha bowls. Instead we got hot dogs, mine a veggie dog of course. We both ordered ours with bell peppers and onions, and then I topped mine off with ketchup and Jim's with mustard and ketchup. The bell peppers made the veggie dog actually taste good. I liked it. Jim said his was "okay," which I think meant that if he had been hungry, he would have rather had Cha-Cha bowl.
After the game, we hit up In-N-Out because the boys were hungry. Well, I think M was hungry, and Jim is never going to turn down In-N-Out. It was my first time going through the In-N-Out drive-thru, and let me tell you, I was less than impressed. Drive-thrus suck.
Anyway, overall, the night was a lot of fun. It was a bummer about the loss, but we got to see that triple play and fireworks. So that made it worth it.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
It's the end of the world as we know it
Tonight was ostensibly Jim's LAST NIGHT FOR TACO TUESDAY. That's right kids, I said it. Due to the new schedule, which starts next week, Jim will be working every Tuesday night. Because he has to leave earlier, it's highly unlikely that he'll be able to go to Taco Tuesday ever again.
We ended up getting our usual order of 3 fish tacos w/o white sauce, a large iced tea, and nachos with the sour cream and guac on the side. The tea was super watered down, but other than that, it was Rubio's at its finest. It's like they knew somehow. The nachos were hot, crispy, and full of generous toppings. The fish tacos looked fresh and the fish pieces were nice and big.
I'm actually a little sad at the end of this era. I mean, I'll probably bring him home Rubio's once in a while just because he loves it so much, but no more going there regularly.
We ended up getting our usual order of 3 fish tacos w/o white sauce, a large iced tea, and nachos with the sour cream and guac on the side. The tea was super watered down, but other than that, it was Rubio's at its finest. It's like they knew somehow. The nachos were hot, crispy, and full of generous toppings. The fish tacos looked fresh and the fish pieces were nice and big.
I'm actually a little sad at the end of this era. I mean, I'll probably bring him home Rubio's once in a while just because he loves it so much, but no more going there regularly.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Breakfast for lunch
We went to Buttercup Kitchen for breakfast around 2 pm, which was pretty ridiculous, but seeing as how Jim had just recently woken up, it technically was his breakfast. I had already eaten breakfast, so I had breakfast again. We got our usual order from there, Jim the Kitchen Sink Omelet with Spanish Sauce, egg beaters, wheat toast, and O'Briens, and I got I-forget-the-name-of-it egg beaters omelet, but it was mushrooms, avocado, and onion, sub spinach for bacon, hold the cheese, sour cream on the side, and Spanish sauce. Whew, what a mouthful (yes, feel sorry for the server)! I also got hashbrowns and a blueberry muffin.
I love Buttercup Kitchen. That is probably the best chain breakfast place I know of--puts Denny's and IHOP to shame! My blueberry muffin wasn't as good as usual, but the rest of the food . . . c'est magnifique! For whatever reason, I was absolutely starving.
Afterwards, we went to the gym because Jim had a semi-private swim lesson to teach. I hauled my lazy butt onto the treadmill and ran 2.5 miles at 6 mph on level 6. I watched Tyler's Ultimate while I was doing so, so the ordeal wasn't horrible. It was very nice being the only one in the room, because I got to control the TV. I seriously doubt anyone else would have wanted to watch Tyler Florence make BBQ chicken. But I'm going to have to try that recipe sometime. I also watched a bit of Semi-Homemade, but I'm not the hugest fan of the show. However, she did make a guava glazed chicken that sounded like Jim would like.
For dinner, we ate at Robert's China Garden, discounted courtesy of the Entertainment Book. That's the restaurant I had my law school graduation party at, and the food is divine. Of course, for graduation, I had an all-vegetarian custom-made feast that was super good. I still salivate thinking about the imitation pineapple chicken. Tonight we got the same order we've made the last 2-3 times we've been (not that we go very often): veggie chow fun, Schezchuan chicken, veggie egg fu young, and tofu. I added a snow pea and mushroom dish, too. They forgot our rice, but that was probably okay in the long run because it was an awful lot of food. Even though egg fu young isn't technically real Chinese food, it was super good food. I just love it, especially the way they make it (think and extra egg-y). Their chow fun is pretty good, too, and it wasn't as greasy as it usually is. I prefer chow mein myself, but it's nice to change things up once in a while. The tofu wasn't so great this time, but Jim liked it. It always seems to change, and tonight's version was tomato-based. That's not what made it off--it just tasted way too oily for me. I really liked the snow peas, which came with button and shiitake mushrooms and water chestnuts.
I was super stoked for my fortune, which said that I would travel to many exotic places. It's a sign!!
I love Buttercup Kitchen. That is probably the best chain breakfast place I know of--puts Denny's and IHOP to shame! My blueberry muffin wasn't as good as usual, but the rest of the food . . . c'est magnifique! For whatever reason, I was absolutely starving.
Afterwards, we went to the gym because Jim had a semi-private swim lesson to teach. I hauled my lazy butt onto the treadmill and ran 2.5 miles at 6 mph on level 6. I watched Tyler's Ultimate while I was doing so, so the ordeal wasn't horrible. It was very nice being the only one in the room, because I got to control the TV. I seriously doubt anyone else would have wanted to watch Tyler Florence make BBQ chicken. But I'm going to have to try that recipe sometime. I also watched a bit of Semi-Homemade, but I'm not the hugest fan of the show. However, she did make a guava glazed chicken that sounded like Jim would like.
For dinner, we ate at Robert's China Garden, discounted courtesy of the Entertainment Book. That's the restaurant I had my law school graduation party at, and the food is divine. Of course, for graduation, I had an all-vegetarian custom-made feast that was super good. I still salivate thinking about the imitation pineapple chicken. Tonight we got the same order we've made the last 2-3 times we've been (not that we go very often): veggie chow fun, Schezchuan chicken, veggie egg fu young, and tofu. I added a snow pea and mushroom dish, too. They forgot our rice, but that was probably okay in the long run because it was an awful lot of food. Even though egg fu young isn't technically real Chinese food, it was super good food. I just love it, especially the way they make it (think and extra egg-y). Their chow fun is pretty good, too, and it wasn't as greasy as it usually is. I prefer chow mein myself, but it's nice to change things up once in a while. The tofu wasn't so great this time, but Jim liked it. It always seems to change, and tonight's version was tomato-based. That's not what made it off--it just tasted way too oily for me. I really liked the snow peas, which came with button and shiitake mushrooms and water chestnuts.
I was super stoked for my fortune, which said that I would travel to many exotic places. It's a sign!!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday Supper
Tonight I went over to Jim's parents' house for dinner. It's something I used to do just about every Sunday, but I've definitely let it slide over the past few years, especially when Sister J moved back home. But his dad especially always makes me feel welcome, and I like going over there to eat for the company.
Jim's mom treated everyone with her famous mac n' cheese. This is the stuff Jim dreams about. If he got one last meal on earth, I think it would be his mom's mac n' cheese. And while I make him mac n' cheese pretty regularly, it's just not the same. Part of the problem is probably that I way cut back on the cheese and I use non-fat milk. The extra fat just gives it a little something. Besides the mac n' cheese, there were cheeseburgers, hot dogs, canned green beans, applesauce, and a veggie chicken burger for me.
Poor Big A didn't know what to do with all of the yummy offerings. He adores mac n' cheese and hot dogs, and recently he's begun to get into cheeseburgers. Okay, the kid just loves his cheese, period. He did pretty well for himself. I was impressed. Jim scooped him up two enormous servings of mac n' cheese, and Big A got through about 1.5 of them. Not too shabby.
For dessert, it was strawberry shortcake. Now, I adore strawberry shortcake, but I only like the real stuff, NOT the packaged cakes you buy from the grocery store. Those are scat. Unfortunately, that's what his family likes. So I ate the strawberries and whipped cream and I'm perfectly happy with that. Big A is the opposite of me. He macked on the cake and whipped cream and ate maybe 2 slices of strawberry.
Jim and I left his parents' house before Sister K's family did because we met up with M and M's R to see Iron Man. I know, we're way behind everyone else, but we just don't get out to the movies very often. And it was a good night to see it, since everybody else was watching Indiana Jones. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the movie. It was funny, full of action, and had some really good acting by both Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. M & R left right after the movie with barely a word to us, but M came over later and hung out with Jim for a guys' movie night.
Jim's mom treated everyone with her famous mac n' cheese. This is the stuff Jim dreams about. If he got one last meal on earth, I think it would be his mom's mac n' cheese. And while I make him mac n' cheese pretty regularly, it's just not the same. Part of the problem is probably that I way cut back on the cheese and I use non-fat milk. The extra fat just gives it a little something. Besides the mac n' cheese, there were cheeseburgers, hot dogs, canned green beans, applesauce, and a veggie chicken burger for me.
Poor Big A didn't know what to do with all of the yummy offerings. He adores mac n' cheese and hot dogs, and recently he's begun to get into cheeseburgers. Okay, the kid just loves his cheese, period. He did pretty well for himself. I was impressed. Jim scooped him up two enormous servings of mac n' cheese, and Big A got through about 1.5 of them. Not too shabby.
For dessert, it was strawberry shortcake. Now, I adore strawberry shortcake, but I only like the real stuff, NOT the packaged cakes you buy from the grocery store. Those are scat. Unfortunately, that's what his family likes. So I ate the strawberries and whipped cream and I'm perfectly happy with that. Big A is the opposite of me. He macked on the cake and whipped cream and ate maybe 2 slices of strawberry.
Jim and I left his parents' house before Sister K's family did because we met up with M and M's R to see Iron Man. I know, we're way behind everyone else, but we just don't get out to the movies very often. And it was a good night to see it, since everybody else was watching Indiana Jones. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the movie. It was funny, full of action, and had some really good acting by both Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. M & R left right after the movie with barely a word to us, but M came over later and hung out with Jim for a guys' movie night.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Something to add to the list of things I suck at
My ego was severely bruised tonight as a direct result of attempting to bowl with Jim and his two nephews tonight. I was terrible! Now I've never been what you would call good, but I did decently enough to where it was nothing to be ashamed of. But apparently it's something I've gotten rusty at. We bowled three games, and I got 2 strikes and maybe 4 spares over all of them. To make matters worse, on two occasions I actually threw gutter balls on both tries! I was so embarrassed. The first frame was a big fat zero. Jim killed all of us the first game. The second game Big A and I tied with a not-so-stellar score of 101. The third game I won with a 99. Yeah, we all sucked. But I think overall I was the most erratic. I was saved by a couple of lucky strikes and spares.
It was our first time taking the boys bowling, and it was a really fun night. We kept them out way too late, but I guess that's part of spoiling 'em. It was after 11 by the time we got them home. They were both tuckered out by then and slept for some of the way home. I was actually quite surprised that they wanted to hang out with us tonight, since they just got a dog today. I thought for sure they'd want to play with him all night, but they were all excited about going bowling. Guess I still don't have a really good handle on how kids' minds work.
Little A displayed an amazing talent: throwing gutter balls WITH bumpers. I truly didn't think it was possible, but he managed to do it on three separate occasions. I was dying. Apparently I throw the ball all wrong--Jim and even Big A were weirded out by it. But it's how I've always done it, and with as badly as I was bowling, changing my method would have gotten me even more frustrated. Yeah, I know. I'm pathetic. Who gets competitive bowling with two munchkins? I just hate losing! I don't care who it is to.
Between the second and third games the boys decided that they were hungry, so we all shared a platter of nachos. I was a little worried about them at first because they came with olives, tomatoes, and green onions, but they munched 'em right up. They were admittedly really good. I swear it's not just a mental thing--red and blue tortilla chips have a different texture. I like the red ones best. Big A of course ate 95% of the sour cream Jim got on the side.
I was shocked when I happened to glance at the clock in the middle of the third game because the clock said it was after 9:30! I had Jim check his phone to see if it was accurate, and it was. I had no idea it was so late, but the boys were doing fine, and we ended up checking out the arcade. Little A chose to play a race car video game and Big A wanted to play air hockey. They each had their one game and then we went to Fenton's for dessert. We gave them the choice of either playing more in the arcade or going to get ice cream. Big A made the executive decision of ice cream.
Luckily for them, Fenton's stays open until 11 pm on the weekend. Little A immediately said he wanted the green ice cream, which was pistachio. I asked for a sample because I wasn't sure that he'd like it too much when he actually tasted it. I don't think he disliked it by any means, but he certainly wasn't raving about it. Big A tried the Apple Pie flavor, but they ultimately settled on a small cookie dough sundae with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry. Actually, Big A was the one who selected both the flavor and the topping, and Little A agreed.
I brought the boys over to the dining area while Jim ordered a sundae for us. We decided on a regular sundae with hot fudge, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate coffee crunch ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry. By the time Jim got to the table, the boys were on their last few bites of their sundae. Ice cream is about the only thing Little A eats quickly. That boy is the pokiest eater I've ever seen in my life, but not when it comes to his "cream."
The sundae Jim brought over to the table was absolutely massive. It was the next size up from the small sundae, but there was no comparison. I thought they'd be about the same size, as they were about 80 cents apart in price, but no way. It was probably close to twice as big. The boys tried our flavors, but Big A didn't like them and Little A was kind of full, so Big A wouldn't let him eat anymore.
Anyway, it was definitely a fun evening with the boys. They are so well-behaved and a total pleasure to take out.
Earlier in the day we went to Barney's for lunch. Barney's is a local chain in the Bay Area that serves "gourmet burgers." By gourmet, they mean that there are something like 100 different choices with regards to toppings, cheeses, etc. Jim's co-worker has raved about the place, and we've been meaning to try it for a while.
We went to the Barney's on Solano in Berkeley. Even at 1:30, we had to wait for a table, which was pretty crazy, but it wasn't too long of a wait. I was actually excited because of all of the veggie burger offerings. I had the choice of a gardenburger or a tofu burger patty. Naturally I went with the tofu because I haven't actually tried one of those before, and I chose a teriyaki tofu burger, which had stir fried veggies in teriyaki sauce. SO good! There were mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions. Loved it!! Plus my burger came on a whole wheat bun, which made me feel all healthy and stuff.
Jim, of course, had to go with a 1 pound cheeseburger (cheddar) that was served on a sandwich roll. I saw it cooking on the griddle and was completely appalled at how ridiculously large the thing was. It really didn't shrink down significantly during the cooking process, either.
We split a half order of shoestring fries, which ended up being a really big basket anyway, and a blackberry milkshake. The fries didn't have any salt on them and Jim thought they were McDonalds-like. I kind of agreed, but they were about 100x better quality and taste-wise. The milkshake was super creamy and sooo decadent. I really liked it.
I think my tastebuds were somewhat off, because the food in general tasted a little bland, even the milkshake. But the food was still good. I don't know. I'll have to go back there and try again.
Afterwards, we went to Whole Foods in Berkeley because they were supposedly having an enormous sidwalk sale. I was completely underwhelmed and disappointed at the lack of selection. But we ended up getting some tri-tip that was an awesome price and a few other things.
Guess I recited the day backwards, but it's all there!
It was our first time taking the boys bowling, and it was a really fun night. We kept them out way too late, but I guess that's part of spoiling 'em. It was after 11 by the time we got them home. They were both tuckered out by then and slept for some of the way home. I was actually quite surprised that they wanted to hang out with us tonight, since they just got a dog today. I thought for sure they'd want to play with him all night, but they were all excited about going bowling. Guess I still don't have a really good handle on how kids' minds work.
Little A displayed an amazing talent: throwing gutter balls WITH bumpers. I truly didn't think it was possible, but he managed to do it on three separate occasions. I was dying. Apparently I throw the ball all wrong--Jim and even Big A were weirded out by it. But it's how I've always done it, and with as badly as I was bowling, changing my method would have gotten me even more frustrated. Yeah, I know. I'm pathetic. Who gets competitive bowling with two munchkins? I just hate losing! I don't care who it is to.
Between the second and third games the boys decided that they were hungry, so we all shared a platter of nachos. I was a little worried about them at first because they came with olives, tomatoes, and green onions, but they munched 'em right up. They were admittedly really good. I swear it's not just a mental thing--red and blue tortilla chips have a different texture. I like the red ones best. Big A of course ate 95% of the sour cream Jim got on the side.
I was shocked when I happened to glance at the clock in the middle of the third game because the clock said it was after 9:30! I had Jim check his phone to see if it was accurate, and it was. I had no idea it was so late, but the boys were doing fine, and we ended up checking out the arcade. Little A chose to play a race car video game and Big A wanted to play air hockey. They each had their one game and then we went to Fenton's for dessert. We gave them the choice of either playing more in the arcade or going to get ice cream. Big A made the executive decision of ice cream.
Luckily for them, Fenton's stays open until 11 pm on the weekend. Little A immediately said he wanted the green ice cream, which was pistachio. I asked for a sample because I wasn't sure that he'd like it too much when he actually tasted it. I don't think he disliked it by any means, but he certainly wasn't raving about it. Big A tried the Apple Pie flavor, but they ultimately settled on a small cookie dough sundae with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry. Actually, Big A was the one who selected both the flavor and the topping, and Little A agreed.
I brought the boys over to the dining area while Jim ordered a sundae for us. We decided on a regular sundae with hot fudge, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate coffee crunch ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry. By the time Jim got to the table, the boys were on their last few bites of their sundae. Ice cream is about the only thing Little A eats quickly. That boy is the pokiest eater I've ever seen in my life, but not when it comes to his "cream."
The sundae Jim brought over to the table was absolutely massive. It was the next size up from the small sundae, but there was no comparison. I thought they'd be about the same size, as they were about 80 cents apart in price, but no way. It was probably close to twice as big. The boys tried our flavors, but Big A didn't like them and Little A was kind of full, so Big A wouldn't let him eat anymore.
Anyway, it was definitely a fun evening with the boys. They are so well-behaved and a total pleasure to take out.
Earlier in the day we went to Barney's for lunch. Barney's is a local chain in the Bay Area that serves "gourmet burgers." By gourmet, they mean that there are something like 100 different choices with regards to toppings, cheeses, etc. Jim's co-worker has raved about the place, and we've been meaning to try it for a while.
We went to the Barney's on Solano in Berkeley. Even at 1:30, we had to wait for a table, which was pretty crazy, but it wasn't too long of a wait. I was actually excited because of all of the veggie burger offerings. I had the choice of a gardenburger or a tofu burger patty. Naturally I went with the tofu because I haven't actually tried one of those before, and I chose a teriyaki tofu burger, which had stir fried veggies in teriyaki sauce. SO good! There were mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions. Loved it!! Plus my burger came on a whole wheat bun, which made me feel all healthy and stuff.
Jim, of course, had to go with a 1 pound cheeseburger (cheddar) that was served on a sandwich roll. I saw it cooking on the griddle and was completely appalled at how ridiculously large the thing was. It really didn't shrink down significantly during the cooking process, either.
We split a half order of shoestring fries, which ended up being a really big basket anyway, and a blackberry milkshake. The fries didn't have any salt on them and Jim thought they were McDonalds-like. I kind of agreed, but they were about 100x better quality and taste-wise. The milkshake was super creamy and sooo decadent. I really liked it.
I think my tastebuds were somewhat off, because the food in general tasted a little bland, even the milkshake. But the food was still good. I don't know. I'll have to go back there and try again.
Afterwards, we went to Whole Foods in Berkeley because they were supposedly having an enormous sidwalk sale. I was completely underwhelmed and disappointed at the lack of selection. But we ended up getting some tri-tip that was an awesome price and a few other things.
Guess I recited the day backwards, but it's all there!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Blech!
Jim had to work tonight, and we originally intended to go to another cooking class at Whole Foods, but unfortunately the class was cancelled due to a lack of people signing up for it. Sigh. I really would have liked to have gone. Ah, well, c'est la vie. We ended up going to Napa anyway for dinner. One of Jim's favorite radio stations, 107.7 The Bone, was at Downtown Joe's. It's a brewery located right across the street from the law firm I worked at while I was in college. In fact, Jim and I once went there for lunch back before we were dating.
I was surprised at how not crowded the place was. The bar area was pretty crowded, but we were escorted to the back of the restaurant, which I had never known to exist. We were both surprised to see how large the place was, and even more so at the absolutely beautiful view of the Napa river.
Jim started with crab cakes and I got a chopped salad with apples, raisins, and blue cheese. The salad was pretty good, and I did enjoy the chewy raisins and crunchy apples. I cemented my findings that I don't like blue cheese but that I do like Gorgonzola. Strange, huh? Jim liked his crab cakes.
Our main courses took way too long to come out. Jim's 8" cheeseburger wasn't actually eight inches. He was a little disappointed at that. It was stuffed with a couple of beer battered onion rings and a toothpick held a jalapeno on top. The beer battered French fries were absolutely delicious. The only thing that could have made them better was ketchup.
Unfortunately, my meal wasn't nearly so enticing. It was the first time in a while that I couldn't stomach a meal. It really wasn't very good at all. The dish was called "Mama Mia! That's Italian." It was rosemary polenta with mushrooms. I was expecting beautiful colors and flavors. Instead I got a brown lump of 'shrooms. I guess I was visually disappointed from the start, but then I tasted the dish and was even more disappointed. While there were cremini, portabello, white, and canned button mushrooms, which should have been a great tasting hodgepodge medley, but instead the mushrooms were drowned in some horrendously foreign sauce. It was overly spicy but not flavorful. The sauce completely hid the natural flavors of the mushrooms and even masked some of the polenta. Yuck. I really did try to eat the dish, but I couldn't hang. Jim ended up eating about half of it.
The sad part was that it could have been an awesome dish. Mushrooms and polenta are a fantastic combination, and a simple marinara would have been perfect. Oh well.
We ended up getting a slice of eight layer chocolate cake for dessert. Since I barely ate anything for dinner, I needed the dessert to fill me up. It was pretty good, but the fondant-like frosting was pretty gross. It tasted slightly stale, like it had been sitting out for a while. The cake itself was quite decadent and delicious--definitely more rich than sweet. We ended up not being able to finish it. I liked that it came with a couple of sliced strawberries and some canned whipped cream, though. It was, like Jim's 8' high sandwich, somewhat false advertising, as there definitely weren't eight layers.
Anyway, the time I spent with Jim during dinner was worth the crappy food. But man, I wish I had just stuck with a veggie burger. Live and learn.
I was surprised at how not crowded the place was. The bar area was pretty crowded, but we were escorted to the back of the restaurant, which I had never known to exist. We were both surprised to see how large the place was, and even more so at the absolutely beautiful view of the Napa river.
Jim started with crab cakes and I got a chopped salad with apples, raisins, and blue cheese. The salad was pretty good, and I did enjoy the chewy raisins and crunchy apples. I cemented my findings that I don't like blue cheese but that I do like Gorgonzola. Strange, huh? Jim liked his crab cakes.
Our main courses took way too long to come out. Jim's 8" cheeseburger wasn't actually eight inches. He was a little disappointed at that. It was stuffed with a couple of beer battered onion rings and a toothpick held a jalapeno on top. The beer battered French fries were absolutely delicious. The only thing that could have made them better was ketchup.
Unfortunately, my meal wasn't nearly so enticing. It was the first time in a while that I couldn't stomach a meal. It really wasn't very good at all. The dish was called "Mama Mia! That's Italian." It was rosemary polenta with mushrooms. I was expecting beautiful colors and flavors. Instead I got a brown lump of 'shrooms. I guess I was visually disappointed from the start, but then I tasted the dish and was even more disappointed. While there were cremini, portabello, white, and canned button mushrooms, which should have been a great tasting hodgepodge medley, but instead the mushrooms were drowned in some horrendously foreign sauce. It was overly spicy but not flavorful. The sauce completely hid the natural flavors of the mushrooms and even masked some of the polenta. Yuck. I really did try to eat the dish, but I couldn't hang. Jim ended up eating about half of it.
The sad part was that it could have been an awesome dish. Mushrooms and polenta are a fantastic combination, and a simple marinara would have been perfect. Oh well.
We ended up getting a slice of eight layer chocolate cake for dessert. Since I barely ate anything for dinner, I needed the dessert to fill me up. It was pretty good, but the fondant-like frosting was pretty gross. It tasted slightly stale, like it had been sitting out for a while. The cake itself was quite decadent and delicious--definitely more rich than sweet. We ended up not being able to finish it. I liked that it came with a couple of sliced strawberries and some canned whipped cream, though. It was, like Jim's 8' high sandwich, somewhat false advertising, as there definitely weren't eight layers.
Anyway, the time I spent with Jim during dinner was worth the crappy food. But man, I wish I had just stuck with a veggie burger. Live and learn.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Fine tuning
My boss must have taken some happy pills or something today, cuz he treated the office to Subway. I got a foot-long Veggie Delite with cucumber and Sweet Onion sauce on wheat. It was that much better knowing that it was free.
Tonight we grilled up the other two veggie burgers. Jim came up with the brilliant idea of drizzling a bit of EVOO over the burgers. It turned up the volume big time, and they tasted more like the burgers I remembered. Plus we added some smoked reduced fat Gouda cheese on top of 'em. Jim was quite full after he consumed both of them. He was quite surprised at how filling vegan food could be. I know, technically the cheese made it not vegan, but it was the burgers themselves that were filling, not the bit of added cheese.
I also grilled off the peach halves I had cut up on Tuesday to make Bobby Flay's grilled peach cobbler. They turned out fantastic! I couldn't believe how sweetly intense the flavor was. The sugars all caramelized and they were just so good. I managed not to eat all of the pieces that I sliced up. I tossed the slices in melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and topped the dish with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and granola before returning the dish to the grill. I closed the lid and baked/grilled them for 15 minutes. With some Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream, we had a macking dessert. Bobby Flay is Da Man! It was actually a pleasant contrast to what my taste buds expected, which was apple. So yummy.
I'm pretty happy that the veggie burgers are a keeper recipe. I wonder if I can freeze 'em. Hmm . . .
Tonight we grilled up the other two veggie burgers. Jim came up with the brilliant idea of drizzling a bit of EVOO over the burgers. It turned up the volume big time, and they tasted more like the burgers I remembered. Plus we added some smoked reduced fat Gouda cheese on top of 'em. Jim was quite full after he consumed both of them. He was quite surprised at how filling vegan food could be. I know, technically the cheese made it not vegan, but it was the burgers themselves that were filling, not the bit of added cheese.
I also grilled off the peach halves I had cut up on Tuesday to make Bobby Flay's grilled peach cobbler. They turned out fantastic! I couldn't believe how sweetly intense the flavor was. The sugars all caramelized and they were just so good. I managed not to eat all of the pieces that I sliced up. I tossed the slices in melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and topped the dish with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and granola before returning the dish to the grill. I closed the lid and baked/grilled them for 15 minutes. With some Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream, we had a macking dessert. Bobby Flay is Da Man! It was actually a pleasant contrast to what my taste buds expected, which was apple. So yummy.
I'm pretty happy that the veggie burgers are a keeper recipe. I wonder if I can freeze 'em. Hmm . . .
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Company
We had M & M's R over for dinner tonight. I got to Jim's house, ran into the kitchen, and started in on the food. I turned the oven on to 450 degrees, grabbed the lamb out of the fridge, and proceeded to rub EVOO on it along with salt and pepper. I was surprised at how small it was, and I ended up roasting it in my brownie pan for 10 minutes. In the meantime, I used the food processor to make some fresh white breadcrumbs. I took out the crumbs and pulsed together Italian flat leaf parsley and garlic and then added the crumbs, lemon zest, and melted butter. The breadcrumb mixture was pressed onto the lamb and then it went back into the oven until the internal temp reached 140.
The lamb was undergoing its second roasting when M & M's R finally appeared, almost an hour late. I guess it worked out better that way in the long. They brought over some steak, which they threw on the grill along with the veggie burgers I started on yesterday. I had just finished popping a Betty Crocker box of Au Gratin potatoes into the oven and threading a bunch of shish kebabs when they arrived. I used pineapple and cherry tomatoes, along with red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, and portobello mushrooms that I had chopped up yesterday. A drizzle of EVOO and some salt and pepper, and they were perfect. Jim also grilled up some corn and the sourdough bread they brought over.
I prepped a half dozen peaches for grilling, but there ended up not being enough time. I think I'm going to have to practice cutting up fruit this summer. I pretty much suck at it, but I'm not going to get better by avoiding it. I don't have the right touch.
Anyway, dinner was actually a lot of fun. I had my doubts, but it ended up being a very nice evening. As far as the food goes, the shish kebabs were super yummy, and I absolutely love grilled corn. My veggie burger was good, but I was a little disappointed because it wasn't nearly as good as the one I ate at RFD. Jim told me that of course it wasn't going to be as good and of course they weren't going to give me the exact recipe, but I had hoped! Jim liked it, though. I used onion buns and filled them with Romaine lettuce and organic ketchup. Jim's lamb was perfectly medium rare, but we learned tonight that Jim prefers his baa baa a little more well done.
Even though the Au Gratin potatoes were past their expiration date, they still tasted fine. That's definitely one of those "safe" dishes that I know M & M's R will eat. They are pretty picky, but when it comes to instant, boxed scat, they're all about it. Between the shish kebabs, corn, potatoes, and bread, there were plenty of side dishes to go around. Even R liked the shish kebabs. That's a compliment of the highest nature, let me tell you!
It was definitely a good evening.
The lamb was undergoing its second roasting when M & M's R finally appeared, almost an hour late. I guess it worked out better that way in the long. They brought over some steak, which they threw on the grill along with the veggie burgers I started on yesterday. I had just finished popping a Betty Crocker box of Au Gratin potatoes into the oven and threading a bunch of shish kebabs when they arrived. I used pineapple and cherry tomatoes, along with red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, and portobello mushrooms that I had chopped up yesterday. A drizzle of EVOO and some salt and pepper, and they were perfect. Jim also grilled up some corn and the sourdough bread they brought over.
I prepped a half dozen peaches for grilling, but there ended up not being enough time. I think I'm going to have to practice cutting up fruit this summer. I pretty much suck at it, but I'm not going to get better by avoiding it. I don't have the right touch.
Anyway, dinner was actually a lot of fun. I had my doubts, but it ended up being a very nice evening. As far as the food goes, the shish kebabs were super yummy, and I absolutely love grilled corn. My veggie burger was good, but I was a little disappointed because it wasn't nearly as good as the one I ate at RFD. Jim told me that of course it wasn't going to be as good and of course they weren't going to give me the exact recipe, but I had hoped! Jim liked it, though. I used onion buns and filled them with Romaine lettuce and organic ketchup. Jim's lamb was perfectly medium rare, but we learned tonight that Jim prefers his baa baa a little more well done.
Even though the Au Gratin potatoes were past their expiration date, they still tasted fine. That's definitely one of those "safe" dishes that I know M & M's R will eat. They are pretty picky, but when it comes to instant, boxed scat, they're all about it. Between the shish kebabs, corn, potatoes, and bread, there were plenty of side dishes to go around. Even R liked the shish kebabs. That's a compliment of the highest nature, let me tell you!
It was definitely a good evening.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Dangerous chicken
I was talking with Jim about how to cook the chicken--a rub, glaze, marinade . . . Jim decided he wanted to marinate them, but he couldn't decide what. He ultimately went for a simple packaged McCormick Mesquite marinade that I'm actually glad got used up. It's one of those things I bought before I realized that I don't really like packaged, instant things. Fresh is always better, but in this case, it worked out well. Jim simply mixed together Canola oil and water and then that was it. I was quite horrified when I got home and realized that he had left the chickens out the entire time he marinated them. I was all ready for him to die from salmonella or something after he ate 'em. I scolded him, but he is quite set in his dangerous ways. It's because I'm a vegetarian, I think. I'm way more paranoid about food poisoning and meat sanitation than he is.
Jim grilled the chickies and the foccacia I picked up from the Farmer's Market the previous week while I started in on my RFD burgers. Real Food Daily in Santa Monica makes the absolute best veggie burger I have ever eaten in my life. It was so amazing, and I was super excited to find the recipe in the RFD cookbook. I've been waiting for an occasion to try to make them, and today was it.
The first thing I did was assemble the food processor and shred a pound of tempeh. I mixed the tempeh with yellow miso, tamari, salt, pepper, water, and Canola oil. Then I mounded it up on a cookie sheet, covered it with aluminum foil, and baked the tempeh for 15 minutes. While it baked, I diced up red bell pepper, green bell pepper, portabello mushroom, garlic, and red onion. Thanks to last week's class, I was able to do a lot better than usual. Even Jim's ridiculously dull knife didn't slow me down as much as it normally does.
I used the food processor to shred some beets, and then I realized that I didn't have any carrots. So what I did was pick through frozen mixed vegetables and get all of the carrots out of them. Plus I also used some frozen corn. Yeah, I know, both were supposed to be fresh, but I had to improvise. Anyway, I sauteed all of the veggies together for about 5 minutes and then mixed in the tempeh.
The mixture went back into the food processor in two batches, and then I got to assemble my veggie burgers. I scored the mixture into fourths and then patted out the patties. I wrapped each one in Saran wrap and into the fridge they went for the flavors to "meld."
Jim's chickens turned out nicely. I could really smell the mesquite flavor, which was pretty cool. But for me, it was all about the foccacia. I absolutely LOVED it. It was slightly sweet, and I could definitely taste its pizza dough roots. Grilling it was perfect, and I couldn't stop picking at the stuff.
Jim grilled the chickies and the foccacia I picked up from the Farmer's Market the previous week while I started in on my RFD burgers. Real Food Daily in Santa Monica makes the absolute best veggie burger I have ever eaten in my life. It was so amazing, and I was super excited to find the recipe in the RFD cookbook. I've been waiting for an occasion to try to make them, and today was it.
The first thing I did was assemble the food processor and shred a pound of tempeh. I mixed the tempeh with yellow miso, tamari, salt, pepper, water, and Canola oil. Then I mounded it up on a cookie sheet, covered it with aluminum foil, and baked the tempeh for 15 minutes. While it baked, I diced up red bell pepper, green bell pepper, portabello mushroom, garlic, and red onion. Thanks to last week's class, I was able to do a lot better than usual. Even Jim's ridiculously dull knife didn't slow me down as much as it normally does.
I used the food processor to shred some beets, and then I realized that I didn't have any carrots. So what I did was pick through frozen mixed vegetables and get all of the carrots out of them. Plus I also used some frozen corn. Yeah, I know, both were supposed to be fresh, but I had to improvise. Anyway, I sauteed all of the veggies together for about 5 minutes and then mixed in the tempeh.
The mixture went back into the food processor in two batches, and then I got to assemble my veggie burgers. I scored the mixture into fourths and then patted out the patties. I wrapped each one in Saran wrap and into the fridge they went for the flavors to "meld."
Jim's chickens turned out nicely. I could really smell the mesquite flavor, which was pretty cool. But for me, it was all about the foccacia. I absolutely LOVED it. It was slightly sweet, and I could definitely taste its pizza dough roots. Grilling it was perfect, and I couldn't stop picking at the stuff.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Not so fresh sushi
Jim and I went to Walnut Creek again after I was done with my piano lessons. I returned a bunch of stuff to Banana Republic, and then we wandered around to Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma. I ended up getting a few things from Williams-Sonoma and then we got some yogurt from Yogurt Park. The line was out the door, but it was definitely worth the wait. We ended up getting a shake, which had nonfat vanilla yogurt and skim milk. But we added plenty of fat with Reese's peanut butter sauce and Oreo crumbs. Sooo yummy, and I really didn't miss any of the yogurt or milk fat. I may have been more impressed with it than Jim, though. It was really nice just sitting on a bench and talking.
Afterwards, we went again to Whole Foods. This time we got a couple of air chilled chicken breasts, and I got some sushi for dinner among a few other miscellaneous items. Unfortunately, the sushi wasn't very good, and I wished I had taken the time to pick up some fresh stuff. Oh well. Live and learn. Even Whole Foods' pre-packaged sushi sucks.
Afterwards, we went again to Whole Foods. This time we got a couple of air chilled chicken breasts, and I got some sushi for dinner among a few other miscellaneous items. Unfortunately, the sushi wasn't very good, and I wished I had taken the time to pick up some fresh stuff. Oh well. Live and learn. Even Whole Foods' pre-packaged sushi sucks.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Midget's day
Today was all about Midget. I felt like a "mom" for the first time ever, packing up a bag full of stuff for her. That being said, I don't know if I can handle the responsibilities of actually being one. I had to remember her food, insulin, eye medicine, gloves, syringe, water bowl, food bowl, and a spoon for mixing her dinner. Because her insulin and eye medication had to be kept cold, I packed it up with ice packs and in an insulated bag. Jim lowered the back seat in his hatchback, and Midget had a large bed all made up for her and off we went to the Marin headlands for the afternoon.
Midget seemed to be fascinated by the car ride, choosing to stare out the back window for most of the trip. She's always ridden in the front seat with me and so this was a new experience for her. She was so distracted that she completely ignored us. We stopped at the world's weirdest In-N-Out on the way to the headlands. I say that it is the weirdest In-N-Out because there is no drive-thru. Yup, that's right. No drive-thru. There apparently was one at one point in time, but it's since been blockaded and now people sit there to eat.
Marin seemed immune to the heat wave the rest of the Bay Area was experiencing, so we were able to eat our lunch in the car. I originally planned on eating on one of the outside tables, but remember that this was a freak of nature In-N-Out, so there actually weren't any tables. It ended up being fine, though. Midget paid no attention to us and didn't even show the slightest interest in our food. She was perfectly happy with the ice cubes I filled her water bowl up with.
By the time we reached the headlands, the marine layer had rolled in and we were completely shrouded in fog. We never saw the sun until we left the park. Now Midget has never been to the beach before, unless you count the little tiny sandy areas in Benicia she's been to on occasion. This was the first time she's ever seen actual waves. Midget is so not a water dog and looked pretty miserable running through the water, but she was also a good sport about it. I almost killed her myself when she decided to try going in the water by herself and nearly got swept out to sea. There was an area of the beach that was completely secluded, so we let her loose to wander around. She decided to get into the water and on top of a seaweed encrusted rock. A wave came and she naturally slipped off the rock. I was pretty scared, but I grabbed her before she got into serious trouble.
She wasn't nearly as into sniffing around as I thought she would be. In retrospect, I think I completely overwhelmed her. It was an awful lot for her to take in, and it's not as though she's been feeling the best lately with her diabetes. But I could tell she was really happy nevertheless, so that made me happy.
After we got back to the car, we drove to Sausalito. Jim and I left her in the car while we walked around for a bit. She wasn't too happy about that, but it was way too crowded to take her with us and besides, I could tell that she was really tired and droopy. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but we've never really been before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think I'd like to go back there sometime and really explore the shops. Plus there is a seafood restaurant Jim wants to try.
When we got back to the car, we could tell that Midget was mad at being left behind, because she had squeezed herself into Jim's seat and looked at us forlornly as we approached. Jim was none too pleased at the fur she left on his seat. We then swung by Whole Foods in Mill Valley to see what kind of meat they had for sale. This time we were smart and folded the front seats forward so that Midge couldn't climb on them. We ended up getting a rack of lamb for Jim and a few other miscellaneous items.
We were pretty late for our dinner reservation at Cucina in San Anselmo, but we were fine. Cucina was an incredibly unassuming restaurant and I nearly walked right by it. I would have, had Jim not been paying more attention than me. We walked into a simple, small dining area that didn't even have a hostess table at the front. We were told to seat ourselves at any table for two we wanted. It's not like there were many options, but we grabbed one and sat down.
The dining area is connected to the bar by a small hallway with the unisex bathroom and they are completely segregated. The dining area is a small rectangle that's not overcrowded but definitely not empty. It's very rustic and simple, not at all flashy or showy, much like the outside is. Jim and I spent most of dinner thinking about how the tables got so scratched up, but we finally concluded that the hot plates melted the surface.
Anyway, we ordered both appetizer specials, one a stuffed mushroom with sausage and the other a cheese crostini. Jim also got the dinner special, which was a baked salmon, and I opted for the spinach ravioli. I was disappointed that I couldn't find a bread basket on anyone's table whatsoever. To me, that's like not getting a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant or chips and salsa at a Mexican place. It's blasphemy, I tell ya! But then they brought us out bruschetta instead, so even though it wasn't bottomless, I think quality won out over quantity this time. The bruschetta was super yummy--I was surprised, because tomatoes still aren't in season yet and I expected the taste and texture to be a little off. But they were red, juicy, and sweet. And naturally there was basil and garlic, which goes perfectly. The bread was almost cake-like in texture, which I thought was a little unusual. It was still crunchy, but also very dense for bread. Kind of like a thick wafer.
Our appetizers came out at the same time. Man, the sausage had a strong smell to it. Jim pretty much inhaled his. The cheese dish was really good. The cheese was mild, silky, and had a really neutral flavor. I liked it. There was a little too much frisee on top for my tastes and I would have preferred maybe a slice of tomato instead. I guess the frisee allowed the cheese flavor to come through more. Either way, it was definitely tasty.
The only problem with our main courses was that they were on the small-ish side. Jim's salmon was subbed for mahi mahi instead because they ran out, but he still liked it. It was breaded, topped with diced tomatoes, and then baked in the wood burning oven. It certainly looked pretty enough. My ravioli came in a tomato cream sauce that, as Jim stated, tasted like a cream of tomato soup. Yummy. I happen to love fresh pasta because it's so tender and delicate, so I was a happy camper. The spinach was just barely cooked, so there was a nice contrast in texture with the pasta.
For dessert, we ended up going with cold zabaglione, which was assembled like a parfait with layers of strawberries and amaretti cookies. Soo good! It was berries and cream, and you just can't beat that. I've definitely decided that I need to try making zabaglione now. It was really good, and I didn't mind that I could actually taste the wine. Of course, the strawberries kind of made the dish.
Anyway, we arrived home literally right behind L and L's A. They were there to drop off the ski, so we got to chat with them for a bit. I hung out with Jim for a little while after they left, trying to get through more of the first season of Big Love. Finally I was ready to call it a night and packed up. The problem was that Midget wasn't ready to leave. I had to drag her into the car, pouting the entire way. Even after we got home, she refused to get out of the car. However, when I finally got her into the garage, she immediately went to her bed and collapsed. Crazy dog.
I'm trying to be philosophical about it. She's getting older, and I know she's not going to be around for much longer. I just want her to have the best life possible for the short amount of time she has left.
Midget seemed to be fascinated by the car ride, choosing to stare out the back window for most of the trip. She's always ridden in the front seat with me and so this was a new experience for her. She was so distracted that she completely ignored us. We stopped at the world's weirdest In-N-Out on the way to the headlands. I say that it is the weirdest In-N-Out because there is no drive-thru. Yup, that's right. No drive-thru. There apparently was one at one point in time, but it's since been blockaded and now people sit there to eat.
Marin seemed immune to the heat wave the rest of the Bay Area was experiencing, so we were able to eat our lunch in the car. I originally planned on eating on one of the outside tables, but remember that this was a freak of nature In-N-Out, so there actually weren't any tables. It ended up being fine, though. Midget paid no attention to us and didn't even show the slightest interest in our food. She was perfectly happy with the ice cubes I filled her water bowl up with.
By the time we reached the headlands, the marine layer had rolled in and we were completely shrouded in fog. We never saw the sun until we left the park. Now Midget has never been to the beach before, unless you count the little tiny sandy areas in Benicia she's been to on occasion. This was the first time she's ever seen actual waves. Midget is so not a water dog and looked pretty miserable running through the water, but she was also a good sport about it. I almost killed her myself when she decided to try going in the water by herself and nearly got swept out to sea. There was an area of the beach that was completely secluded, so we let her loose to wander around. She decided to get into the water and on top of a seaweed encrusted rock. A wave came and she naturally slipped off the rock. I was pretty scared, but I grabbed her before she got into serious trouble.
She wasn't nearly as into sniffing around as I thought she would be. In retrospect, I think I completely overwhelmed her. It was an awful lot for her to take in, and it's not as though she's been feeling the best lately with her diabetes. But I could tell she was really happy nevertheless, so that made me happy.
After we got back to the car, we drove to Sausalito. Jim and I left her in the car while we walked around for a bit. She wasn't too happy about that, but it was way too crowded to take her with us and besides, I could tell that she was really tired and droopy. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but we've never really been before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think I'd like to go back there sometime and really explore the shops. Plus there is a seafood restaurant Jim wants to try.
When we got back to the car, we could tell that Midget was mad at being left behind, because she had squeezed herself into Jim's seat and looked at us forlornly as we approached. Jim was none too pleased at the fur she left on his seat. We then swung by Whole Foods in Mill Valley to see what kind of meat they had for sale. This time we were smart and folded the front seats forward so that Midge couldn't climb on them. We ended up getting a rack of lamb for Jim and a few other miscellaneous items.
We were pretty late for our dinner reservation at Cucina in San Anselmo, but we were fine. Cucina was an incredibly unassuming restaurant and I nearly walked right by it. I would have, had Jim not been paying more attention than me. We walked into a simple, small dining area that didn't even have a hostess table at the front. We were told to seat ourselves at any table for two we wanted. It's not like there were many options, but we grabbed one and sat down.
The dining area is connected to the bar by a small hallway with the unisex bathroom and they are completely segregated. The dining area is a small rectangle that's not overcrowded but definitely not empty. It's very rustic and simple, not at all flashy or showy, much like the outside is. Jim and I spent most of dinner thinking about how the tables got so scratched up, but we finally concluded that the hot plates melted the surface.
Anyway, we ordered both appetizer specials, one a stuffed mushroom with sausage and the other a cheese crostini. Jim also got the dinner special, which was a baked salmon, and I opted for the spinach ravioli. I was disappointed that I couldn't find a bread basket on anyone's table whatsoever. To me, that's like not getting a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant or chips and salsa at a Mexican place. It's blasphemy, I tell ya! But then they brought us out bruschetta instead, so even though it wasn't bottomless, I think quality won out over quantity this time. The bruschetta was super yummy--I was surprised, because tomatoes still aren't in season yet and I expected the taste and texture to be a little off. But they were red, juicy, and sweet. And naturally there was basil and garlic, which goes perfectly. The bread was almost cake-like in texture, which I thought was a little unusual. It was still crunchy, but also very dense for bread. Kind of like a thick wafer.
Our appetizers came out at the same time. Man, the sausage had a strong smell to it. Jim pretty much inhaled his. The cheese dish was really good. The cheese was mild, silky, and had a really neutral flavor. I liked it. There was a little too much frisee on top for my tastes and I would have preferred maybe a slice of tomato instead. I guess the frisee allowed the cheese flavor to come through more. Either way, it was definitely tasty.
The only problem with our main courses was that they were on the small-ish side. Jim's salmon was subbed for mahi mahi instead because they ran out, but he still liked it. It was breaded, topped with diced tomatoes, and then baked in the wood burning oven. It certainly looked pretty enough. My ravioli came in a tomato cream sauce that, as Jim stated, tasted like a cream of tomato soup. Yummy. I happen to love fresh pasta because it's so tender and delicate, so I was a happy camper. The spinach was just barely cooked, so there was a nice contrast in texture with the pasta.
For dessert, we ended up going with cold zabaglione, which was assembled like a parfait with layers of strawberries and amaretti cookies. Soo good! It was berries and cream, and you just can't beat that. I've definitely decided that I need to try making zabaglione now. It was really good, and I didn't mind that I could actually taste the wine. Of course, the strawberries kind of made the dish.
Anyway, we arrived home literally right behind L and L's A. They were there to drop off the ski, so we got to chat with them for a bit. I hung out with Jim for a little while after they left, trying to get through more of the first season of Big Love. Finally I was ready to call it a night and packed up. The problem was that Midget wasn't ready to leave. I had to drag her into the car, pouting the entire way. Even after we got home, she refused to get out of the car. However, when I finally got her into the garage, she immediately went to her bed and collapsed. Crazy dog.
I'm trying to be philosophical about it. She's getting older, and I know she's not going to be around for much longer. I just want her to have the best life possible for the short amount of time she has left.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Curry adventures
The insane heat continued today, although it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday's record-breaking temps. I bought a bunch of stuff for Midget to keep cool (a water bed, water bed cover, and an old man cooling neck thing), which she hated. But I will have my way on this--stubborn old goat is trying to kill herself lying outside directly under the sun in 90-something degree weather. Anyway, I signed up for another Whole Foods cooking class in Napa, which I went to by myself because Jim was out wakeboarding with L and L's (former?) A. Tonight's menu was Thai curry, and it ended up being a pretty fantastic class.
There were only four of us in the class, all female, and that meant that we got to do a lot of hands-on stuff. Plus this menu called for a lot more prep (or mis en place, to be all food snobby about it), so I got several tips on chopping, which were absolutely invaluable and made the cost worthwhile. I may end up having decent knife skills someday. The same instructor was there, and I was surprised at how much better she was this time through.
We ended up making three different curry dishes: a vegetarian curry, a red curry dipping sauce for grilled beef skewers, and a green chicken curry. And then we also made curry milkshakes, which were incredible, despite the oddness of it all. I'm happy to report that I will be trying one or more of those dishes again.
I got to practice cutting up a potato, green onions, basil (chiffonading it), cilantro, and Thai eggplant. The green onions were hard, but I learned the most from them. I think I am now obsessed with getting a good chef's knife. The instructor recommended Global knives, which is the same brand that Giada uses, so I'm sold. She also reiterated the need for All-Clad and Le Creuset. In time. I also grated some ginger and learned how to peel it with a spoon (not as easy as Bobby makes it look like on TV) and helped with the milkshakes.
All of the curries were started the same way--sauteeing the curry paste in some oil and then adding cocunut milk. Various spices were added to each and simmered for a while, including fish sauce and siracha. I did the red curry, but I couldn't taste it because fish sauce was added to it. I didn't particularly like how the instructor looked at me after I said I was a vegetarian and therefore wasn't going to eat the curry, but oh well.
The red curry paired with the beef, which was sliced against the grain on a diagonal and then threaded on skewers. I helped to salt and pepper them after someone else EVOO'd 'em and then they went on the indoor grill. Of course, it was right around then that the some of the power went out in the store, which meant that there was no vent fan and smoke poured into the kitchen and refused to leave.
The vegetarian curry was up next. We used broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and potato for the vegetables. I was a little disappointed that she chose to cover the dish. It took a lot of the color out of the veggies and made them look nasty. When I make it again, I intend to uncover it near the end to help the vegetables retain their natural bright coloring.
Last was the green curry, to which I added salt instead of sugar. I thought it was salt and was going to taste it first, but the "leader" of the four of us insisted it was sugar. The instructor looked pissed when she tasted it and it was too salty. But oh well, I didn't eat it, and it wasn't 100% my fault.
Speaking of the leader, she was a somewhat pushy know-it-all that annoyed me in the beginning but later on became slightly more endearing. I tuned her out for the first half while she was instructing everyone else. She knew a lot more formal stuff than I did, but I think I knew more than the other two, and I may have known more overall cuz I'm a Food Network freak.
The instructor chided me for being too timid, and I know I was pretty hesitant, but that was because even though I feel like I'm a decent cook, I'm certainly no expert and I have no formal training whatsoever. All that being said, I don't believe I'm anywhere near qualified enough to act as though I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. What I wanted to avoid was coming off like one of my classmates, who tried to act as the sous chef and looked like a know-it-all. That's annoying. I'd rather be quiet and act how I am--a novice cook, rather than be full of myself and look like an idiot when I mess up. I already felt stupid enough making the mistakes I did without the added pressure of appearing as though I knew what I was doing in the first place.
Anyway, the food really was delicious. I loved the yellow curry, but it was all about the milkshakes for me. I had no idea curry ice cream was any good at all, but believe you me, if you can get over the weirdness of it all, you will love it. I can't even describe what a pleasant taste it was. Of course, thinking about it, coconut milk and curry are a perfect pair, so why not regular milk and curry? The sweetness of the ice cream was actually complemented by the curry. Buying some curry ice cream is definitely on my list of to do.
There were only four of us in the class, all female, and that meant that we got to do a lot of hands-on stuff. Plus this menu called for a lot more prep (or mis en place, to be all food snobby about it), so I got several tips on chopping, which were absolutely invaluable and made the cost worthwhile. I may end up having decent knife skills someday. The same instructor was there, and I was surprised at how much better she was this time through.
We ended up making three different curry dishes: a vegetarian curry, a red curry dipping sauce for grilled beef skewers, and a green chicken curry. And then we also made curry milkshakes, which were incredible, despite the oddness of it all. I'm happy to report that I will be trying one or more of those dishes again.
I got to practice cutting up a potato, green onions, basil (chiffonading it), cilantro, and Thai eggplant. The green onions were hard, but I learned the most from them. I think I am now obsessed with getting a good chef's knife. The instructor recommended Global knives, which is the same brand that Giada uses, so I'm sold. She also reiterated the need for All-Clad and Le Creuset. In time. I also grated some ginger and learned how to peel it with a spoon (not as easy as Bobby makes it look like on TV) and helped with the milkshakes.
All of the curries were started the same way--sauteeing the curry paste in some oil and then adding cocunut milk. Various spices were added to each and simmered for a while, including fish sauce and siracha. I did the red curry, but I couldn't taste it because fish sauce was added to it. I didn't particularly like how the instructor looked at me after I said I was a vegetarian and therefore wasn't going to eat the curry, but oh well.
The red curry paired with the beef, which was sliced against the grain on a diagonal and then threaded on skewers. I helped to salt and pepper them after someone else EVOO'd 'em and then they went on the indoor grill. Of course, it was right around then that the some of the power went out in the store, which meant that there was no vent fan and smoke poured into the kitchen and refused to leave.
The vegetarian curry was up next. We used broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and potato for the vegetables. I was a little disappointed that she chose to cover the dish. It took a lot of the color out of the veggies and made them look nasty. When I make it again, I intend to uncover it near the end to help the vegetables retain their natural bright coloring.
Last was the green curry, to which I added salt instead of sugar. I thought it was salt and was going to taste it first, but the "leader" of the four of us insisted it was sugar. The instructor looked pissed when she tasted it and it was too salty. But oh well, I didn't eat it, and it wasn't 100% my fault.
Speaking of the leader, she was a somewhat pushy know-it-all that annoyed me in the beginning but later on became slightly more endearing. I tuned her out for the first half while she was instructing everyone else. She knew a lot more formal stuff than I did, but I think I knew more than the other two, and I may have known more overall cuz I'm a Food Network freak.
The instructor chided me for being too timid, and I know I was pretty hesitant, but that was because even though I feel like I'm a decent cook, I'm certainly no expert and I have no formal training whatsoever. All that being said, I don't believe I'm anywhere near qualified enough to act as though I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. What I wanted to avoid was coming off like one of my classmates, who tried to act as the sous chef and looked like a know-it-all. That's annoying. I'd rather be quiet and act how I am--a novice cook, rather than be full of myself and look like an idiot when I mess up. I already felt stupid enough making the mistakes I did without the added pressure of appearing as though I knew what I was doing in the first place.
Anyway, the food really was delicious. I loved the yellow curry, but it was all about the milkshakes for me. I had no idea curry ice cream was any good at all, but believe you me, if you can get over the weirdness of it all, you will love it. I can't even describe what a pleasant taste it was. Of course, thinking about it, coconut milk and curry are a perfect pair, so why not regular milk and curry? The sweetness of the ice cream was actually complemented by the curry. Buying some curry ice cream is definitely on my list of to do.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hot days
I had court in Contra Costa County today and stumbled onto a Farmer's Market right outside the courthouse. On my way to find parking in the ridiculously overcrowded area, it was a nuisance, because it blocked my usual route and caused me to loop around a couple of extra times. Thankfully I had left early enough so that I was still more than on time to my appearance.
Afterwards, I walked through the Farmer's Market, which was pretty exciting. The prices were pretty decent, and I ended up getting a bunch of stuff. I couldn't believe how sweet some of the peaches were, so I got a pound of those. Plus I picked up some fava beans (no idea what I'm going to do with them), basil (a dollar for a huge bunch!), foccacia (brings me back to my childhood), brioche cream danish (insanely good), and beets (I actually DO have something in mind for them). It was so much fun to wander up and down the street looking at the booths. I actually liked the fact that it was small and only about a block long. It made exploring the place accessible and not overwhelming. Plus, we are in the middle of a heat wave, and I was starting to sweat in my black dress. I can't believe it's over 100 degrees at this time of the year. Way too early.
I'm so jealous of L and L's M, who went out wakeboarding today. Stupid court!
When I got to Jim's house after work, I was surprised to see L in the driveway still. We ended up going to Rubio's together cuz Jim needed gas. Jim got a Baja chicken burrito and fish taco, L got a Baja carne asada burrito combo meal plus a fish taco, and Jim and I split nachos and an iced tea. Pretty good stuff. But there was no way I was going to attempt to cook in the heat. It really was awful today.
Afterwards, I walked through the Farmer's Market, which was pretty exciting. The prices were pretty decent, and I ended up getting a bunch of stuff. I couldn't believe how sweet some of the peaches were, so I got a pound of those. Plus I picked up some fava beans (no idea what I'm going to do with them), basil (a dollar for a huge bunch!), foccacia (brings me back to my childhood), brioche cream danish (insanely good), and beets (I actually DO have something in mind for them). It was so much fun to wander up and down the street looking at the booths. I actually liked the fact that it was small and only about a block long. It made exploring the place accessible and not overwhelming. Plus, we are in the middle of a heat wave, and I was starting to sweat in my black dress. I can't believe it's over 100 degrees at this time of the year. Way too early.
I'm so jealous of L and L's M, who went out wakeboarding today. Stupid court!
When I got to Jim's house after work, I was surprised to see L in the driveway still. We ended up going to Rubio's together cuz Jim needed gas. Jim got a Baja chicken burrito and fish taco, L got a Baja carne asada burrito combo meal plus a fish taco, and Jim and I split nachos and an iced tea. Pretty good stuff. But there was no way I was going to attempt to cook in the heat. It really was awful today.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Good grilling day
I should preface this entry by saying that I started in on tonight's meal yesterday. The goal was Giada's Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing. This is the third time I've made the dish and now consider myself to have mastered it. Not that it's uber-hard or anything like that, mind you.
Anyway, I decided to make the basil dressing in advance, which was basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, EVOO, salt, and pepper. I threw it all in the blender and flipped the switch on. Big mistake. Apparently the blender is broken, and the contents proceeded to leak out from the bottom and spread all over the counter. I was quite upset and insisted that Jim throw the entire machine in the garbage, while I salvaged the remains by transferring them into the mini-bowl of my food processor. I tinkered around with the ingredients, adding a little more of everything, but the result wasn't the usual pesto-consistency. The bowl was still a little too big for the pesto and so it ended up being slightly chunky. But at least the taste was still good.
Today was the marinating part, which I actually did at work. I packed up all of the ingredients (salt, pepper, fennel seeds, lemon, EVOO, and of course, the chicken breasts) and took them with me. During lunch I dumped the ingredients into a ziploc bag, added the chicken, and massaged the marinade into them. I turned them a couple of times over the course of the afternoon, but that was basically it.
When I got home, I had Jim fire up the grill and take over. In addition to the chicken, we tried grilling some frozen corn and the leftover ciabatta bread. Jim decided to add some butter to the ciabatta in addition to the EVOO, salt, and pepper that I had previously topped the bread with. And of course the corn was rubbed with butter, salt, and pepper.
I think the meal turned out quite well, actually. As Jim put it, it was a good grilling day (not to be mistaken with a good day to grill). Everything turned out perfectly--the chicken was cooked all the way through but still moist, the bread didn't burn, and even the frozen corn tasted as good as it could.
I'm pretty excited about all of the grilling we're going to do this summer.
Anyway, I decided to make the basil dressing in advance, which was basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, EVOO, salt, and pepper. I threw it all in the blender and flipped the switch on. Big mistake. Apparently the blender is broken, and the contents proceeded to leak out from the bottom and spread all over the counter. I was quite upset and insisted that Jim throw the entire machine in the garbage, while I salvaged the remains by transferring them into the mini-bowl of my food processor. I tinkered around with the ingredients, adding a little more of everything, but the result wasn't the usual pesto-consistency. The bowl was still a little too big for the pesto and so it ended up being slightly chunky. But at least the taste was still good.
Today was the marinating part, which I actually did at work. I packed up all of the ingredients (salt, pepper, fennel seeds, lemon, EVOO, and of course, the chicken breasts) and took them with me. During lunch I dumped the ingredients into a ziploc bag, added the chicken, and massaged the marinade into them. I turned them a couple of times over the course of the afternoon, but that was basically it.
When I got home, I had Jim fire up the grill and take over. In addition to the chicken, we tried grilling some frozen corn and the leftover ciabatta bread. Jim decided to add some butter to the ciabatta in addition to the EVOO, salt, and pepper that I had previously topped the bread with. And of course the corn was rubbed with butter, salt, and pepper.
I think the meal turned out quite well, actually. As Jim put it, it was a good grilling day (not to be mistaken with a good day to grill). Everything turned out perfectly--the chicken was cooked all the way through but still moist, the bread didn't burn, and even the frozen corn tasted as good as it could.
I'm pretty excited about all of the grilling we're going to do this summer.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Repeats
We actually had time to go out and eat a real lunch at Red Robin. Well, we were still shorted a bit, but since we met there, it wasn't so bad. I arrived before Jim and ordered; he stayed and paid the bill. Teamwork at its finest, eh? The usual orders were placed with my Boca burger and Jim's Monster burger. Our server was not the best in the world and it took freaking forever for us to get our food. Then she made the really bad mistake of giving me pickles on my burger. Kiss of death.
Anyway, the food was good as usual, and it was a fun lunch. They've started in on Beijing, so the TV's were all highlighting previous Olympic champions, including Mary Lou Retton. I vaguely remember watching her at the Olympics, but since I was only 3 at the time, I don't have any particularly solid memories of it. It wasn't until the '92 Olympics that I really got into watching gymnastics. Anyway, we had a nice (slightly heated) conversation about Natalie Coughlin, of which we have mixed opinions. I think she's an arrogant snot who may be super talented and amazing, but has no loyalty to her humble roots. Jim thinks she's great. It's one of those agree to disagree things.
So after work we fired up the grill and 'cued up the New York strip steaks we got at Whole Foods. I used some of the coffee spice rub on them and was that much more adept at rubbing the stuff on. It really does help to repeat a recipe, as far as mastering it goes. It's amazing how much faster you get even the second time around. We also grilled some ciabatta bread, which was really, really good. I drizzled a little EVOO and sprinkled it with s & p. That's all it needed, and it was beautifully crisp and chewy all at the same time. I really like grilling bread. For whatever reason, grilledbread doesn't harden up when it gets cold like toasting it does. So it's fantastic because even as leftovers, it's still edible. We also did some asparagus and onions, and I made some buttermilk mashed potatoes, winging it because I didn't have Ina's recipe on hand. It was pretty good, but I put too much liquid into the potatoes. All my bad.
For the steak, Jim said these weren't quite as good as the Rib Eye was, which is kind of a relief, since the rib eyes were twice as expensive. I've decided that this summer we're going to learn how to grill. We're going to become Grill Masters! Of course, I guess that involves me actually learning how to light it first . . .
Anyway, the food was good as usual, and it was a fun lunch. They've started in on Beijing, so the TV's were all highlighting previous Olympic champions, including Mary Lou Retton. I vaguely remember watching her at the Olympics, but since I was only 3 at the time, I don't have any particularly solid memories of it. It wasn't until the '92 Olympics that I really got into watching gymnastics. Anyway, we had a nice (slightly heated) conversation about Natalie Coughlin, of which we have mixed opinions. I think she's an arrogant snot who may be super talented and amazing, but has no loyalty to her humble roots. Jim thinks she's great. It's one of those agree to disagree things.
So after work we fired up the grill and 'cued up the New York strip steaks we got at Whole Foods. I used some of the coffee spice rub on them and was that much more adept at rubbing the stuff on. It really does help to repeat a recipe, as far as mastering it goes. It's amazing how much faster you get even the second time around. We also grilled some ciabatta bread, which was really, really good. I drizzled a little EVOO and sprinkled it with s & p. That's all it needed, and it was beautifully crisp and chewy all at the same time. I really like grilling bread. For whatever reason, grilledbread doesn't harden up when it gets cold like toasting it does. So it's fantastic because even as leftovers, it's still edible. We also did some asparagus and onions, and I made some buttermilk mashed potatoes, winging it because I didn't have Ina's recipe on hand. It was pretty good, but I put too much liquid into the potatoes. All my bad.
For the steak, Jim said these weren't quite as good as the Rib Eye was, which is kind of a relief, since the rib eyes were twice as expensive. I've decided that this summer we're going to learn how to grill. We're going to become Grill Masters! Of course, I guess that involves me actually learning how to light it first . . .
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Spring cleaning
I fully admit that I am one of those people who can't stand other people's messes but have a blind eye to my own, but my room has become so bad that I had to do something about it. And I guess even the prior statement isn't entirely accurate. I just don't have a problem with messiness in my personal space--my car and room, to be exact. But anyway, I had piles and piles of clothes everywhere, and it had become extremely hazardous to move at all in there. It took me over an hour just to put the majority of the clothes on hangers! By doing that and a little bit of recycling, my room is quite miraculously clear for the most part. Other than the clothes, the other mess is the reading material that is scattered everywhere, but that was a 5 minute job to make three piles: magazines, library books, and my own books. Obviously my room needs vacuuming and a good dusting, but it's not nearly so overwhelming anymore, and no one is going to break an ankle when entering, which is always a good thing. I guess I just have to force myself to do it after work this week. I know it's an excuse, but it really is hard to clean my room at night. I think once Jim's schedule changes, I'll have a lot more free time for myself and can keep up on those things better. The big problem I have now is sorting through all of my clothes and forking over hundreds of dollars to my dry cleaner's.
Anyway, tonight I made a Rachael Ray recipe: Mediterranean Eggplant Steaks and Orzo Salad and Walnuts, Oregano and Tomatoes. I ran to Whole Foods after I finished teaching piano and picked up eggplant, red bell peppers, and grape tomatoes. I also raided Jim's house for flat leaf parsley, leftover hummus (Bobby Flay's recipe), and oregano. Jim accompanied me to the Walnut Creek area for the Whole Foods run, as well as for returning some stuff to Nordstrom and a quick DQ snack.
Jim and I split a small Kit Kat blizzard, which ended up being huge. They overloaded the cup and it was probably closer to a regular sized one, which was a good thing because the Walnut Creek DQ is pretty pricey. It was $3.80 for our small blizzard. It was pretty good, although I have yet to find a blizzard flavor that bests their mint oreo. Anyway, Kit Kat is one of those candy bars that isn't nearly as good as my childhood memories say it is, but they are pretty good nevertheless. Kit Kat was a tie for my absolute favorite candy as a kid, along with Crunch. Neither one is nearly as exciting these days, but Crunch is still pretty good to me.
There was this Asian couple with their two kids sitting at the table next to ours. First the little boy dropped his ice cream and started bawling uncontrollably. He had a complete meltdown and was inconsolable. Then something happened to his big sister and she began to freak out, crying even louder than her little brother had been. And all I could think about was how if this is how children behave when you take them out for a treat, why bother? Shoot, if I wanted to make my kids scream about food, it might as well be for beets and brussel sprouts.
I think I am obsessed with Whole Foods. There is so much cool stuff there that I could spend hours wandering up and down the aisles, reading labels, and just exploring. And Jim likes it, too. It's probably the best place in this area to buy meat, and their booze section is equally impressive. On my end, they have tons of vegetarian and vegan products, and you'd be surprised at how reasonably priced a lot of their offerings are.
Anyway, after I got home, I started cooking immediately. I sliced and salted the eggplant lengthwise. The eggplant I bought was pretty big, so it made 5 decent sized "steaks." The George Foreman was only big enough for me to grill one steak at a time, so grilling them off took a while at about 5-6 minutes each. I brushed each one lightly with EVOO before placing them on.
While the eggplant steaks grilled, I also roasted a red bell pepper by placing it under the broiler for 15 minutes, turning it over once. After that, I put it in a paper bag and let the steam peel the skin for me before dicing it up, along with a couple cloves of garlic. I also defrosted and wrung out a box of frozen spinach.
I sauteed the spinach, bell pepper, ang garlic together for a couple of minutes, choosing to omit the olives because I don't like 'em. Then I assembled the steaks by topping each with a few forkfuls of the spinach, spreading Bobby's hummus across the spinach, and then sprinkling a mixture of bread crumbs, EVOO, and parsley over the stacks. Then I baked the steaks at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, and voila! The eggplant steaks were done.
For the orzo salad, I cooked off some orzo and toasted some walnuts. I didn't really measure anything for this salad, tossing the orzo together with EVOO, cut up grape tomtatoes, lemon juice, lemon zest, feta cheese, and the toasted walnuts, which I chopped up.
The end result was a pretty good meal. I really, really enjoyed it, and because I used the EVOO sparingly, I don't think it was horribly bad for me, either. The hummus was surprisingly mild, and while it added a lot of nice flavor, wasn't overwhelming in the least. The salad was really fresh and had a ton of different flavors and textures. I think I found a keeper!
Anyway, tonight I made a Rachael Ray recipe: Mediterranean Eggplant Steaks and Orzo Salad and Walnuts, Oregano and Tomatoes. I ran to Whole Foods after I finished teaching piano and picked up eggplant, red bell peppers, and grape tomatoes. I also raided Jim's house for flat leaf parsley, leftover hummus (Bobby Flay's recipe), and oregano. Jim accompanied me to the Walnut Creek area for the Whole Foods run, as well as for returning some stuff to Nordstrom and a quick DQ snack.
Jim and I split a small Kit Kat blizzard, which ended up being huge. They overloaded the cup and it was probably closer to a regular sized one, which was a good thing because the Walnut Creek DQ is pretty pricey. It was $3.80 for our small blizzard. It was pretty good, although I have yet to find a blizzard flavor that bests their mint oreo. Anyway, Kit Kat is one of those candy bars that isn't nearly as good as my childhood memories say it is, but they are pretty good nevertheless. Kit Kat was a tie for my absolute favorite candy as a kid, along with Crunch. Neither one is nearly as exciting these days, but Crunch is still pretty good to me.
There was this Asian couple with their two kids sitting at the table next to ours. First the little boy dropped his ice cream and started bawling uncontrollably. He had a complete meltdown and was inconsolable. Then something happened to his big sister and she began to freak out, crying even louder than her little brother had been. And all I could think about was how if this is how children behave when you take them out for a treat, why bother? Shoot, if I wanted to make my kids scream about food, it might as well be for beets and brussel sprouts.
I think I am obsessed with Whole Foods. There is so much cool stuff there that I could spend hours wandering up and down the aisles, reading labels, and just exploring. And Jim likes it, too. It's probably the best place in this area to buy meat, and their booze section is equally impressive. On my end, they have tons of vegetarian and vegan products, and you'd be surprised at how reasonably priced a lot of their offerings are.
Anyway, after I got home, I started cooking immediately. I sliced and salted the eggplant lengthwise. The eggplant I bought was pretty big, so it made 5 decent sized "steaks." The George Foreman was only big enough for me to grill one steak at a time, so grilling them off took a while at about 5-6 minutes each. I brushed each one lightly with EVOO before placing them on.
While the eggplant steaks grilled, I also roasted a red bell pepper by placing it under the broiler for 15 minutes, turning it over once. After that, I put it in a paper bag and let the steam peel the skin for me before dicing it up, along with a couple cloves of garlic. I also defrosted and wrung out a box of frozen spinach.
I sauteed the spinach, bell pepper, ang garlic together for a couple of minutes, choosing to omit the olives because I don't like 'em. Then I assembled the steaks by topping each with a few forkfuls of the spinach, spreading Bobby's hummus across the spinach, and then sprinkling a mixture of bread crumbs, EVOO, and parsley over the stacks. Then I baked the steaks at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, and voila! The eggplant steaks were done.
For the orzo salad, I cooked off some orzo and toasted some walnuts. I didn't really measure anything for this salad, tossing the orzo together with EVOO, cut up grape tomtatoes, lemon juice, lemon zest, feta cheese, and the toasted walnuts, which I chopped up.
The end result was a pretty good meal. I really, really enjoyed it, and because I used the EVOO sparingly, I don't think it was horribly bad for me, either. The hummus was surprisingly mild, and while it added a lot of nice flavor, wasn't overwhelming in the least. The salad was really fresh and had a ton of different flavors and textures. I think I found a keeper!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Go!
Jim and I spent most of the day with his nephews. We took them to see Speed Racer and then out for dinner afterwards. Before that, Jim picked me up a Subway sandwich toasted on wheat with all of the veggies plus avocado and nothing else. Anyway, the movie was awfully long and I was a little disappointed. I mean, I didn't have super high hopes from the get go because I had no real interest in the movie. The only reason we went is because it was being hailed as a super family friendly movie and with the cars, we figured the boys would like it. I really think that they pushed the PG rating--lots of violence, explosions, and swearing. I would have been pretty upset if I was their mom. As it was, I was a little uncomfortuable watching it with them. Big A is 10 and so it's not a big deal, but Little A is still only 6, so it just didn't seem appropriate for him. But thankfully he is a space cadet still, so I think most of it went over his head. Even if it was completely PG appropriate, it was still too long for a kid movie. But no matter. They liked it, and that's what counts.
Big A is getting quite an appetite. He ate an entire small or medium popcorn by himself (I ordered a medium, but it may have been a small) and he split a large blue Icee with Little A. Little A had his own kiddie snack pack, which had popcorn, candy, and a small pink lemonade, which lasted him until 10 pm.
After the movie, we walked over to Rubio's for dinner. Big A ordered a cheese quesadilla with only sour cream and a side of rice. Little A got the kid's meal, picking a cheese quesadilla and chips. His meal came with a fun straw that supposedly changed colors, a small churro, and a drink, which I gave to Big A. Jim got a Baja Chicken burrito and a fish taco, and I had a Burrito Especial with the sour cream and guacamole on the side, no meat, and on a wheat tortilla. I was pleasantly surprised by my burrito. It was quite tasty, and the wheat tortilla was good, too. Most of my sour cream went to Big A, who absolutely loves the stuff. Those two are pretty entertaining to be around, and it was a fun time.
Of course we had to make an ice cream run. I know, I know. We spoiled them horribly and let them eat all sorts of junk that they shouldn't be eating. But that's what our jobs are, right? So a little spoiling once in a while is okay. Yeah, payback's a bitch, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
So we went to Cold Stone. Big A is so proud of his newfound appetite that he asked if he could order a Gotta Have It! size (large) in a waffle bowl. Jim talked him down to sharing a Love It! with Little A, which was a good thing, since they couldn't finish it up. Big A picked out a Cookie Dough signature creation, while Jim and I split a Love It! of Our Strawberry Blonde. The boys' concoction was with cookie dough, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream. It was pretty tasty, although very rich. I still preferred our pick, which is strawberry ice cream, frozen strawberries, whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs, and caramel topping. What I hate about Cold Stone is their waffle cones and bowls, which are just disgusting, especially when compared to Ben and Jerry's.
Anyway, afterwards we went outside and the boys were running around, showing off how fast they were. Little A was on a sugar high by then and going nuts. We tried to teach the kid how to run up and down stairs, but he wasn't having any of it. He is so timid and scared of falling that he takes stairs like a grandma most of the time, but he's getting a little old for that, in my opinion. I don't think our coaching did any good, although he did put one foot on each step instead of putting his feet together every time. That didn't last, but at least he was able to work out the coordination kinks.
We finally were set to take them home when Big A asked about going over to Jim's house "to hang out." Naturally we left that up to his mom, since it was after 9 pm by that point and it's not our place to be the bad guys (spoilage, remember?). She actually agreed, to my surprise, and they watched Ratatouille for about an hour before they went home. Their parents came by around 9:30, but by the time they left, it was closer to 10:30, which I think was Big A's master plan in the first place. He knows how long the adults spend talking and figured if he could get his parents to pick them up instead of us dropping them off, he would be golden. During that time, Big A ate the piece of Guinness cake that I had brought home from the cooking class on Friday. Big A loves the recliners at Jim's house (who doesn't?), but I think he also just loves being there cuz of the coolness factor. He idolizes his Uncle Jim, and there's no one stronger or faster or better (with the exception of CC Sabathia, but how are you going to compete with a major league starting pitcher?). It's not going to last for much longer, so I've got to enjoy it while it lasts.
Big A is getting quite an appetite. He ate an entire small or medium popcorn by himself (I ordered a medium, but it may have been a small) and he split a large blue Icee with Little A. Little A had his own kiddie snack pack, which had popcorn, candy, and a small pink lemonade, which lasted him until 10 pm.
After the movie, we walked over to Rubio's for dinner. Big A ordered a cheese quesadilla with only sour cream and a side of rice. Little A got the kid's meal, picking a cheese quesadilla and chips. His meal came with a fun straw that supposedly changed colors, a small churro, and a drink, which I gave to Big A. Jim got a Baja Chicken burrito and a fish taco, and I had a Burrito Especial with the sour cream and guacamole on the side, no meat, and on a wheat tortilla. I was pleasantly surprised by my burrito. It was quite tasty, and the wheat tortilla was good, too. Most of my sour cream went to Big A, who absolutely loves the stuff. Those two are pretty entertaining to be around, and it was a fun time.
Of course we had to make an ice cream run. I know, I know. We spoiled them horribly and let them eat all sorts of junk that they shouldn't be eating. But that's what our jobs are, right? So a little spoiling once in a while is okay. Yeah, payback's a bitch, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
So we went to Cold Stone. Big A is so proud of his newfound appetite that he asked if he could order a Gotta Have It! size (large) in a waffle bowl. Jim talked him down to sharing a Love It! with Little A, which was a good thing, since they couldn't finish it up. Big A picked out a Cookie Dough signature creation, while Jim and I split a Love It! of Our Strawberry Blonde. The boys' concoction was with cookie dough, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream. It was pretty tasty, although very rich. I still preferred our pick, which is strawberry ice cream, frozen strawberries, whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs, and caramel topping. What I hate about Cold Stone is their waffle cones and bowls, which are just disgusting, especially when compared to Ben and Jerry's.
Anyway, afterwards we went outside and the boys were running around, showing off how fast they were. Little A was on a sugar high by then and going nuts. We tried to teach the kid how to run up and down stairs, but he wasn't having any of it. He is so timid and scared of falling that he takes stairs like a grandma most of the time, but he's getting a little old for that, in my opinion. I don't think our coaching did any good, although he did put one foot on each step instead of putting his feet together every time. That didn't last, but at least he was able to work out the coordination kinks.
We finally were set to take them home when Big A asked about going over to Jim's house "to hang out." Naturally we left that up to his mom, since it was after 9 pm by that point and it's not our place to be the bad guys (spoilage, remember?). She actually agreed, to my surprise, and they watched Ratatouille for about an hour before they went home. Their parents came by around 9:30, but by the time they left, it was closer to 10:30, which I think was Big A's master plan in the first place. He knows how long the adults spend talking and figured if he could get his parents to pick them up instead of us dropping them off, he would be golden. During that time, Big A ate the piece of Guinness cake that I had brought home from the cooking class on Friday. Big A loves the recliners at Jim's house (who doesn't?), but I think he also just loves being there cuz of the coolness factor. He idolizes his Uncle Jim, and there's no one stronger or faster or better (with the exception of CC Sabathia, but how are you going to compete with a major league starting pitcher?). It's not going to last for much longer, so I've got to enjoy it while it lasts.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Cooking 101
I got to experience my first ever cooking class tonight at the Whole Foods store in Napa. It was a lot of fun. I can't say that I learned too much, but it was something nice to do with Jim. The class was entitled "Cooking With Beer." We did a beer braised beef stew, a cheddar and beer soup, and a Guinness beer chocolate cake with Creme Anglaise. I was pretty devastated that I ruined the Creme Anglaise, and that bummed me out for the rest of the night. Jim tried to be nice and say it was his fault since he was whisking, but I knew that he wasn't going to pay attention to it, and so I shouldn't have let him whisk or else I should have watched it more carefully. It started to curdle, which was a big no-no.
Anyway, to back up, the class was male dominated (wonder why), with 5 men and 4 women. We got to wear chef jackets, which was pretty cool, although the frog clasps were beyond difficult to button. So we started with the beer stew first. I should preface this by saying that the recipes are super simple, with only a few ingredients and not a whole lot of chopping. For this recipe, it only required a chopped onion and a couple of red potatoes. They were sauteed together in EVOO and then the beef was added before the beer went in, and that was it, with the exception of salt, pepper, and a couple of bay leaves. Very simple and almost boring (one of the other participants actually said that it was boring).
The Guinness cake was next. I did the dry ingredient measuring while someone else melted the butter and chocolate and combined it with the beer. Interestingly enough, this cake had the sugar and flour mixed together. Anyway, the eggs and sour cream were beaten together in the KitchenAid and then the chocolate mixture got mixed in before I dumped the dry ingredients in to finish it off. It was a huge recipe, making three 8 inch cakes.
The soup was equally simple, although I could immediately tell that it was going to be pretty good based on the ingredients. I also chopped up the onion and someone else did a green bell pepper. Those were sauteed in some butter, and then in went beer, flour, thyme, and a bay leaf to make a roux. After the chicken stock was added, it simmered for a while before being finished off with some heavy cream and sharp white cheddar cheese.
While the soup simmered, the Creme Anglaise was made. I whisked together 6 egg yolks with some sugar. I learned tonight that organic eggs are way different than regular ones. The whites are much waterier and thin in consistency. I lost my first egg yolk as a result. I was so embarrassed--I couldn't believe I failed at separating an egg, since I've been doing it for something like 20 years now. I just wasn't expecting the white to be so slippery. Anyway, I took more care with the rest of them and was fine thereafter. The yolk mixture was combined with a warmed milk and vanilla bean mixture and then whisked over the stove until it became a custard. Or in this case, a curdled custard. Sigh.
I was little disappointed that I didn't learn more in the class. I mean, I had a lot of fun, but I didn't learn anything new. I thought we'd be learning about what flavors in beer paired with what kinds of food. Our instructor was nice, but way too kick back and not instructor-y enough. She's not the regular instructor, so I'm definitely going to try other classes. And I did get a couple of great recipes out of it. Jim didn't stop raving about the beer soup. It's certainly easy enough to make, so I'll be whipping it up sometime. And the chocolate cake was pretty amazingly moist. I couldn't taste the beer in it, but maybe it added moisture. Who knows. All I knew was that it had a great flavor and wasn't overly saccharine sweet. Maybe that's what the beer did--enhance the depth of the flavor?
Afterwards, we went out to Pizza Pirate with L and his friends A and T. Good times. Those three went wakeboarding today. It was T's first time, and he's now hooked. And A did better the second time.
Anyway, to back up, the class was male dominated (wonder why), with 5 men and 4 women. We got to wear chef jackets, which was pretty cool, although the frog clasps were beyond difficult to button. So we started with the beer stew first. I should preface this by saying that the recipes are super simple, with only a few ingredients and not a whole lot of chopping. For this recipe, it only required a chopped onion and a couple of red potatoes. They were sauteed together in EVOO and then the beef was added before the beer went in, and that was it, with the exception of salt, pepper, and a couple of bay leaves. Very simple and almost boring (one of the other participants actually said that it was boring).
The Guinness cake was next. I did the dry ingredient measuring while someone else melted the butter and chocolate and combined it with the beer. Interestingly enough, this cake had the sugar and flour mixed together. Anyway, the eggs and sour cream were beaten together in the KitchenAid and then the chocolate mixture got mixed in before I dumped the dry ingredients in to finish it off. It was a huge recipe, making three 8 inch cakes.
The soup was equally simple, although I could immediately tell that it was going to be pretty good based on the ingredients. I also chopped up the onion and someone else did a green bell pepper. Those were sauteed in some butter, and then in went beer, flour, thyme, and a bay leaf to make a roux. After the chicken stock was added, it simmered for a while before being finished off with some heavy cream and sharp white cheddar cheese.
While the soup simmered, the Creme Anglaise was made. I whisked together 6 egg yolks with some sugar. I learned tonight that organic eggs are way different than regular ones. The whites are much waterier and thin in consistency. I lost my first egg yolk as a result. I was so embarrassed--I couldn't believe I failed at separating an egg, since I've been doing it for something like 20 years now. I just wasn't expecting the white to be so slippery. Anyway, I took more care with the rest of them and was fine thereafter. The yolk mixture was combined with a warmed milk and vanilla bean mixture and then whisked over the stove until it became a custard. Or in this case, a curdled custard. Sigh.
I was little disappointed that I didn't learn more in the class. I mean, I had a lot of fun, but I didn't learn anything new. I thought we'd be learning about what flavors in beer paired with what kinds of food. Our instructor was nice, but way too kick back and not instructor-y enough. She's not the regular instructor, so I'm definitely going to try other classes. And I did get a couple of great recipes out of it. Jim didn't stop raving about the beer soup. It's certainly easy enough to make, so I'll be whipping it up sometime. And the chocolate cake was pretty amazingly moist. I couldn't taste the beer in it, but maybe it added moisture. Who knows. All I knew was that it had a great flavor and wasn't overly saccharine sweet. Maybe that's what the beer did--enhance the depth of the flavor?
Afterwards, we went out to Pizza Pirate with L and his friends A and T. Good times. Those three went wakeboarding today. It was T's first time, and he's now hooked. And A did better the second time.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The case of the missing spinach
I don't know where all of the spinach went. Did I really use all of it up? Frozen spinach is one of those freezer staples that I thought I maintained an endless supply of, but apparently not. So I was stuck as to what to make for dinner. I had Giada's lasagna rolls all planned out and had previously thawed the proscuitto. But I was thwarted by the lack of spinach. Dah!
We ended up going out to Cheap Mexican for some nachos and a chicken burrito, our usual. Yummy goodness. I couldn't stop picking at the beans and Jim was grinning at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking and told him not to make fun of me, even though he hadn't said a word. We apparently know each other well enough to know when the other is thinking something. Scary. But I guess that's what happens when you've been friends with someone for over a decade.
We ended up going out to Cheap Mexican for some nachos and a chicken burrito, our usual. Yummy goodness. I couldn't stop picking at the beans and Jim was grinning at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking and told him not to make fun of me, even though he hadn't said a word. We apparently know each other well enough to know when the other is thinking something. Scary. But I guess that's what happens when you've been friends with someone for over a decade.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Twice as nice
I went with a double dose of Ellie Krieger tonight, opting for her turkey burgers and onion rings. The onion rings were my first idea, since I am still on a mission to finish up the buttermilk. My problem was that I didn't want to serve Jim more red meat, since he had the rib eye and In-N-Out yesterday. So I looked at the recipe online to see what Ellie paired it with, and turkey burgers it was. I picked up some ground turkey, baked potato chips, and sweet onions at TJ's and was good to go for dinner.
The first thing I did when I got home was to roast a red bell pepper in the oven. Then I started in on the onion rings, which ended up being more work than the burgers. I had to cut the onions in half inch slices and only use the big rings, grind up the chips in the food processor, and then make a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and buttermilk for dipping. The rings were tossed in a bag filled with flour, then dipped in the buttermilk mixture, and then finally coat them in the ground up chips, which I added a smidge of cayenne pepper too. I actually ran out of the chips, because once the buttermilk mixed with the chips, they clumped up and weren't good for anything. So I improvised with panko for the last few. I placed the breaded (or chipped, I guess) rings onto a cookie sheet and baked them at 450 for 25 minutes.
Once they were in the oven, I worked on the turkey. The turkey was very goopy and extra gross. I couldn't get over the squishiness--the texture was awfully wet and I was very surprised. Anyway, I added some salt and pepper and divided the turkey into fourths. Each fourth was divided in half and assembled into two halves of the burger. I topped one half with mozzarella cheese and the other with the red bell pepper, which I had diced up, and then put the two halves together, sealing the filling inside.
The four burgers were grilled on the grill pan for 5 minutes on each side, toasted the buns, and then dinner was served. Unfortunately I burned the onion rings a bit, so that was disappointing. Jim liked the burgers, and we both agreed that the onion rings had potential. I was a little surprised at how strong of a kick the onion rings had. I really didn't use much cayenne pepper, but it was still pretty spicy. The burgers were deemed different. I was just happy that they were cooked through. It's actually a good thing for me to make the burgers, cuz now the rest of the buns from the Sloppy Joes can get used up.
So I didn't follow Ellie's directiosn exactly for the turkey burgers. I mixed salt and pepper into the turkey and then added a bit on one side. I also used regular lean ground turkey instead of lean ground turkey breast. The turkey breast only had .5 grams of fat per serving, and I figured it was a little too light for Jim. The stuff I got had 8 grams of fat, which I didn't think was too bad. Maybe I'll try it with the extra healthy stuff next time. We'll see. Oh, and Ellie didn't call for the burgers to have buns, but it seemed natural for me to use them.
The first thing I did when I got home was to roast a red bell pepper in the oven. Then I started in on the onion rings, which ended up being more work than the burgers. I had to cut the onions in half inch slices and only use the big rings, grind up the chips in the food processor, and then make a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and buttermilk for dipping. The rings were tossed in a bag filled with flour, then dipped in the buttermilk mixture, and then finally coat them in the ground up chips, which I added a smidge of cayenne pepper too. I actually ran out of the chips, because once the buttermilk mixed with the chips, they clumped up and weren't good for anything. So I improvised with panko for the last few. I placed the breaded (or chipped, I guess) rings onto a cookie sheet and baked them at 450 for 25 minutes.
Once they were in the oven, I worked on the turkey. The turkey was very goopy and extra gross. I couldn't get over the squishiness--the texture was awfully wet and I was very surprised. Anyway, I added some salt and pepper and divided the turkey into fourths. Each fourth was divided in half and assembled into two halves of the burger. I topped one half with mozzarella cheese and the other with the red bell pepper, which I had diced up, and then put the two halves together, sealing the filling inside.
The four burgers were grilled on the grill pan for 5 minutes on each side, toasted the buns, and then dinner was served. Unfortunately I burned the onion rings a bit, so that was disappointing. Jim liked the burgers, and we both agreed that the onion rings had potential. I was a little surprised at how strong of a kick the onion rings had. I really didn't use much cayenne pepper, but it was still pretty spicy. The burgers were deemed different. I was just happy that they were cooked through. It's actually a good thing for me to make the burgers, cuz now the rest of the buns from the Sloppy Joes can get used up.
So I didn't follow Ellie's directiosn exactly for the turkey burgers. I mixed salt and pepper into the turkey and then added a bit on one side. I also used regular lean ground turkey instead of lean ground turkey breast. The turkey breast only had .5 grams of fat per serving, and I figured it was a little too light for Jim. The stuff I got had 8 grams of fat, which I didn't think was too bad. Maybe I'll try it with the extra healthy stuff next time. We'll see. Oh, and Ellie didn't call for the burgers to have buns, but it seemed natural for me to use them.
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Aftermath
Other than being much more tired than usual and obscenely hungry, I seem to have survived the triathlon more or less intact. I stretched a lot last night, and I'm sure that helped with the soreness. I'm not at all surprised that the parts of me that feel the tightest are my swimming muscles.
Jim and I hit up In-N-Out for lunch (again). I know we were just there, but it's fast, good, and cheap. Neither of us had a lot of time for lunch, so we ended up there. We got our usual order, except I ordered Jim an extra Double Double. I ordered for us, and I figured he'd be feeling as hungry as I was, so I went for it. Even if Jim wasn't feeling the extra burger, there was no way he was going to let it go to waste. But there was no need to worry, because Jim was perfectly fine eating it.
After work, I stopped by a Mexican grocery store to pick up some Chile de Arbol powder for Jim's rib eye steak, which we picked up at Whole Foods Saturday night. The meat guy (butcher? I'm not sure what you call the guy at the meat counter) highly recommended it, saying that there was nothing that could beat it. Although Jim is all about filet mignon, he decided to go for it. This stuff was incredibly expensive, but I consider it a worthwhile investment to purchase the best meat possible. If Jim insists on eating dead animals, it better have been a healthy one. The more I learn about meat and cooking, the more committed I am to high quality carcasses. Not only am I quite convinced that the taste is far superior, it's got to be better for him. Anyway, this stuff was dry aged, which as defined by wikipedia, is:
"Beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned, either an entire half will be hung, or primal cuts (large distinct sections) will be placed in a cooler. This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at near freezing temperatures. Also only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of steak restaurants and upscale butcher shops . . . The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef."
I've never cooked a rib eye steak before, but I know both Bobby Flay and Giada are huge fans of the cut. So I was all for trying it out and ultimately decided (after consulting with Jim) to make a spice rub for Bessie. I've only recently accumulated a decent spice collection and so these rubs have been pretty foreign to me thus far. But there's no time like the present to start expanding my repertoire, so that's what I did.
Making the spice rub simply required me to dump a buttload of different spices together into a bowl and stirring. Easy enough, but keeping track of all of them wasn't so easy. I quickly realized that by simply segregating the used spices into a different group after I no longer needed them solved my dilemma. So here goes the list of ingredients: ancho chile powder, espresso, paprika (it was supposed to be Spanish paprika, but I think I just used the regular kind), brown sugar, dry mustard, kosher salt (opened up the box today!), pepper, coriander (also first time use), oregano, ginger, and chile de arbol powder. Whew! But after that, preparing her was easy. Actually, I should start by saying that before the spice rub, I patted her down with paper towels and let her sit at room temperature while I prepped the rub. The Food Network taught me that you need to blot Bessie so that you get a nice crust on the outside. And letting her adjust slightly to the temperature helps somehow too, but I'm not quite sure how right now.
Anyway, Bessie got a sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper on both sides and a drizzle of Canola oil and then I patted a tablespoon of the spice rub on one side. It was supposed to be two tbsp, but I wasn't sure that Jim would like it and besides, I don't think more would have really stuck on her.
I put the Dutch oven on the stovetop and heated it up to high before placing her on, rub side down, to cook for 4 minutes on one side and then I flipped her (with a considerable amount of difficulty) and let the other side sear for a couple of minutes before popping the whole thing into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I was supposed to use a cast iron pan and then a baking tray, but I don't have a cast iron pan and using a separate baking sheet seemed like too much trouble to me. So I settled for a cast iron pot instead. I asked Jim to insert a meat thermometer towards the end, but it wasn't reading fast enough so I winged it.
While the steak was cooking, I also whipped up Ina's buttermilk mashed potatoes. Jim teased me about being obsessed with using up the buttermilk, and he's right. I'm on a mission to use as much of the stuff as possible. But I had actually read about Zuni Cafe's buttermilk mashed potatoes the previous night and mashed potatoes are the perfect pairing with steak. Or so I'm told. I diced up approximately a pound of potatoes and let the water boil before adding them and letting 'em simmer for about 10 minutes. I drained and mashed them, adding a mixture of melted butter, heavy cream, and nonfat milk (my version of substituting whole milk), salt, pepper, and finally some buttermilk. They were incredibly silky and flavorful. Loved 'em.
So Jim ended up with a very white boy dinner: steak and potatoes. I also steamed up some asparagus. All this food took a record short amount of time. I was Ms. Efficiency in the kitchen this evening and I was quite proud of myself for it. Dinner was on the table in under an hour including the time needed for Bessie to rest. Although she was well done on the outsides, the middle was just barely over medium rare. Jim said the steak was very flavorful and approved of the rub. It was hard for him to tell if it was the steak itself or the rub that gave it so much flavor. I'm sure it was a combination of the two, but I'm not sure which one I prefer for it to be. After all, that was a twenty and change steak, so it'd better be amazing. But then again, I made that rub, and of course I want it to be good. Eh. There's a ton of leftover spice rub, so maybe we'll try it on cheap grocery store rib eyes and see.
I had to rush home because my parents had company for dinner. I was on dessert duty. I went with Ina's Apple, Pear, and Cranberry crisp, which ended up only being an apple and pear crisp because I completely forgot to add the cranberries. Oh well. It was still pretty good.
It was definitely a crash course in Fruit Peeling and Dicing 101. I simply don't have much experience with cutting up fruit, but here I had just over four pounds to prep. As I stood over the sink, I was brought back to my childhood, where I knicked myself pretty badly with a paring knife while attempting to core an apple. I remember my mom telling me never to cut towards my fingers. Since then I've been a bit wary of fruit and I try to be slow and steady on the rare occasion that I do cut a piece up. However, I was in a super hurry tonight and needed to whack 'em up as quickly as possible. Therefore, I cheated by using a vegetable peeler to take the skins off the pears and apples. It was still an awful lot of work, and I wasted some parts of the fruit. If I had had the time, I would have been able to do better. But I had to rush, so I did my best at pretending I was a chopping machine. Somehow I got through it all and tossed the diced fruit into a bowl with orange juice/zest, lemon juice/zest, sugar, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon (this is where I forgot the cranberries). The crumble topping consisted of cold unsalted butter, oatmeal, brown sugar, sugar, and flour. So the fruit went into a 9 x 13 pan and then I sprinkled the crumble over. It baked for 50 minutes and came out golden and bubbly.
I had the foresight to purchase some Haagen Daas vanilla ice cream, which paired perfectly with the crisp. I actually liked it quite a bit, and I think it went over well. The only problem was that there was too much of it. After looking online, I found that Ina actually makes the same crisp without the cranberries with no other alterations to the recipe. So I guess it was just fine.
The intentional alterations were with the fruit: I used Golden Delicious apples instead of Macoun and Anjou instead of Bosc. I haven't the slightest idea what that did the recipe, since I don't think I've had either Macoun or Bosc pears. But regardless, the crisp was pretty good. I would totally make it again for Jim to try, and I might even use the cranberries next time.
Jim and I hit up In-N-Out for lunch (again). I know we were just there, but it's fast, good, and cheap. Neither of us had a lot of time for lunch, so we ended up there. We got our usual order, except I ordered Jim an extra Double Double. I ordered for us, and I figured he'd be feeling as hungry as I was, so I went for it. Even if Jim wasn't feeling the extra burger, there was no way he was going to let it go to waste. But there was no need to worry, because Jim was perfectly fine eating it.
After work, I stopped by a Mexican grocery store to pick up some Chile de Arbol powder for Jim's rib eye steak, which we picked up at Whole Foods Saturday night. The meat guy (butcher? I'm not sure what you call the guy at the meat counter) highly recommended it, saying that there was nothing that could beat it. Although Jim is all about filet mignon, he decided to go for it. This stuff was incredibly expensive, but I consider it a worthwhile investment to purchase the best meat possible. If Jim insists on eating dead animals, it better have been a healthy one. The more I learn about meat and cooking, the more committed I am to high quality carcasses. Not only am I quite convinced that the taste is far superior, it's got to be better for him. Anyway, this stuff was dry aged, which as defined by wikipedia, is:
"Beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned, either an entire half will be hung, or primal cuts (large distinct sections) will be placed in a cooler. This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at near freezing temperatures. Also only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of steak restaurants and upscale butcher shops . . . The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef."
I've never cooked a rib eye steak before, but I know both Bobby Flay and Giada are huge fans of the cut. So I was all for trying it out and ultimately decided (after consulting with Jim) to make a spice rub for Bessie. I've only recently accumulated a decent spice collection and so these rubs have been pretty foreign to me thus far. But there's no time like the present to start expanding my repertoire, so that's what I did.
Making the spice rub simply required me to dump a buttload of different spices together into a bowl and stirring. Easy enough, but keeping track of all of them wasn't so easy. I quickly realized that by simply segregating the used spices into a different group after I no longer needed them solved my dilemma. So here goes the list of ingredients: ancho chile powder, espresso, paprika (it was supposed to be Spanish paprika, but I think I just used the regular kind), brown sugar, dry mustard, kosher salt (opened up the box today!), pepper, coriander (also first time use), oregano, ginger, and chile de arbol powder. Whew! But after that, preparing her was easy. Actually, I should start by saying that before the spice rub, I patted her down with paper towels and let her sit at room temperature while I prepped the rub. The Food Network taught me that you need to blot Bessie so that you get a nice crust on the outside. And letting her adjust slightly to the temperature helps somehow too, but I'm not quite sure how right now.
Anyway, Bessie got a sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper on both sides and a drizzle of Canola oil and then I patted a tablespoon of the spice rub on one side. It was supposed to be two tbsp, but I wasn't sure that Jim would like it and besides, I don't think more would have really stuck on her.
I put the Dutch oven on the stovetop and heated it up to high before placing her on, rub side down, to cook for 4 minutes on one side and then I flipped her (with a considerable amount of difficulty) and let the other side sear for a couple of minutes before popping the whole thing into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I was supposed to use a cast iron pan and then a baking tray, but I don't have a cast iron pan and using a separate baking sheet seemed like too much trouble to me. So I settled for a cast iron pot instead. I asked Jim to insert a meat thermometer towards the end, but it wasn't reading fast enough so I winged it.
While the steak was cooking, I also whipped up Ina's buttermilk mashed potatoes. Jim teased me about being obsessed with using up the buttermilk, and he's right. I'm on a mission to use as much of the stuff as possible. But I had actually read about Zuni Cafe's buttermilk mashed potatoes the previous night and mashed potatoes are the perfect pairing with steak. Or so I'm told. I diced up approximately a pound of potatoes and let the water boil before adding them and letting 'em simmer for about 10 minutes. I drained and mashed them, adding a mixture of melted butter, heavy cream, and nonfat milk (my version of substituting whole milk), salt, pepper, and finally some buttermilk. They were incredibly silky and flavorful. Loved 'em.
So Jim ended up with a very white boy dinner: steak and potatoes. I also steamed up some asparagus. All this food took a record short amount of time. I was Ms. Efficiency in the kitchen this evening and I was quite proud of myself for it. Dinner was on the table in under an hour including the time needed for Bessie to rest. Although she was well done on the outsides, the middle was just barely over medium rare. Jim said the steak was very flavorful and approved of the rub. It was hard for him to tell if it was the steak itself or the rub that gave it so much flavor. I'm sure it was a combination of the two, but I'm not sure which one I prefer for it to be. After all, that was a twenty and change steak, so it'd better be amazing. But then again, I made that rub, and of course I want it to be good. Eh. There's a ton of leftover spice rub, so maybe we'll try it on cheap grocery store rib eyes and see.
I had to rush home because my parents had company for dinner. I was on dessert duty. I went with Ina's Apple, Pear, and Cranberry crisp, which ended up only being an apple and pear crisp because I completely forgot to add the cranberries. Oh well. It was still pretty good.
It was definitely a crash course in Fruit Peeling and Dicing 101. I simply don't have much experience with cutting up fruit, but here I had just over four pounds to prep. As I stood over the sink, I was brought back to my childhood, where I knicked myself pretty badly with a paring knife while attempting to core an apple. I remember my mom telling me never to cut towards my fingers. Since then I've been a bit wary of fruit and I try to be slow and steady on the rare occasion that I do cut a piece up. However, I was in a super hurry tonight and needed to whack 'em up as quickly as possible. Therefore, I cheated by using a vegetable peeler to take the skins off the pears and apples. It was still an awful lot of work, and I wasted some parts of the fruit. If I had had the time, I would have been able to do better. But I had to rush, so I did my best at pretending I was a chopping machine. Somehow I got through it all and tossed the diced fruit into a bowl with orange juice/zest, lemon juice/zest, sugar, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon (this is where I forgot the cranberries). The crumble topping consisted of cold unsalted butter, oatmeal, brown sugar, sugar, and flour. So the fruit went into a 9 x 13 pan and then I sprinkled the crumble over. It baked for 50 minutes and came out golden and bubbly.
I had the foresight to purchase some Haagen Daas vanilla ice cream, which paired perfectly with the crisp. I actually liked it quite a bit, and I think it went over well. The only problem was that there was too much of it. After looking online, I found that Ina actually makes the same crisp without the cranberries with no other alterations to the recipe. So I guess it was just fine.
The intentional alterations were with the fruit: I used Golden Delicious apples instead of Macoun and Anjou instead of Bosc. I haven't the slightest idea what that did the recipe, since I don't think I've had either Macoun or Bosc pears. But regardless, the crisp was pretty good. I would totally make it again for Jim to try, and I might even use the cranberries next time.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Voluntary torture
This morning I woke up at 4:15 am. If I'm going to wake up that early, it ought to be for something good, like snowboarding. But no, it was for our traditional sprint triathlon up at Berryessa. Why I am such a glutton for punishment, I don't know, but this was the third year I've done it. It's not like I don't know how it is by now. I'm definitely fully aware of what I've gotten myself into. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, I'm still signing up for them. Admittedly, it's not really the event itself that is hard. It's a sprint triathlon, which means that it's short--a half mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 4 mile run. I'm getting older, but there's no way that's too much . . . unless I don't train, which is what has happened for the past three years. I swear I plan to do it, but it falls through every time. The last two years I got sick and this year I was simply too lazy (and busy). Okay, there's definitely a lazy factor in the other two years, too.
So given my abyssmal track record, why do I keep signing up? Well, the optimist in me wants to give myself another chance for redemption. But most of it is for Jim, because he likes doing them and I know he appreciates me joining in on the fun. It's only a few days of being miserable and in pain, and given everything he humors me on, it's the least I can do.
We ended up leaving about 5:10 for the lake and arrived a little before 6:30, among the first. The first time we went, we arrived too late to park in the main lot and almost missed the start of the race. As much as I gripe about leaving so early, it is nice to relax before the start of the race. We racked our bikes very close to where we put them last year, which is another advantage to arriving early, because we ended up not having any bike rack space in year one and we left them in the muddy grass area next to the racks. Changing was an absolute disaster.
Anyway, my ex-boyfriend T and his younger brother M were also there. T, M, and Jim all went off in the first heat for the swim and I went in the second. The announcer said the water temperature was 68 degrees, and I was very happy about that. Then he added that that was only the surface temperature and 6 inches below it was 54. I was absolutely dying on the swim. First of all, I was in horrible shape. I swam 1000 yards in March and the time before that was the previous year's triathlon. And last year I did the same thing, which means that I've swam the total of one regular workout in two years. Now, being an ex-swimmer, there's only so bad you get. It's kind of like riding a bicycle, except that I'm terrible at riding one, and likewise I apparently don't retain my swimming muscles when I don't use them for years. So I seem to differ from the norm in that I've forgotten how to swim and bike. I was exhausted after the swim. Of course the water temperature didn't help me out any. It was miserable and while I didn't cramp up, I was numb and on autopilot. Plus I was super demoralized when I got passed up at the end by everyone, including a fat old man, because the piano dropped big time with me. I felt like such a lap swimmer.
I ran up the ramp to the bike racks, mostly to try and get some feeling back in my body. It actually didn't really hurt this time running over all of the gravel and rocks because my feet were so numb. I used Jim's changing station since he was long gone and got into all of my bike gear. I had extra incentive to hurry, because I was so freaking cold. I was crying for the first 3 miles because I couldn't get warmed up and it hurt so badly. I had goosebumps the entire 15 miles of the bike and didn't realize I had forgotten to take off my swimsuit until somewhere around mile 12 or 13.
As I said before, I am TERRIBLE at bicycling. Really, truly horrible. I don't enjoy it and I'm not good at it, which makes for a pretty bad combination. Throw in the chill factor, and it was an hour and 15 minutes of pain. However, I was happy because I had set myself a goal of not going off the road this year and accomplished it. My first year I kept veering off into the bushes and almost crashing. The second year, I only went off the road once or twice, but this year, I stayed on the raod the entire time. Plus I had a very cool cow horn that Jim bought me at the bike shop yesterday. I got two compliments on it and that made me happy.
Finally, I got to the run, which is my favorite part, because it's almost over and I don't entirely suck at it. If the water was warmer and I actually swam maybe a couple of times a month, I'd probably like that more. I finally got feeling back in my feet somewhere after the second mile, and then my socks bugged me for the rest of the way (they were bunched up under my toes). Incidentally, it was right after the 2 mile mark that the 11 year old passed me up. Talk about demoralizing. By the time I had run two and a quarter miles, he was completely out of sight.
I was completely out of cookies by the end and couldn't muster up the energy to sprint it out like I had the previous two years. That was the big flashing neon sign to me that I need to start exercising more, because while my overall time didn't increase significantly (I was right in between last year's time and the first year's time), it required so much more effort. I pretty much ran straight to the bathroom to pee, because I had decided to try a different tactic this year. I drank probably the equivalent of 5-6 glasses of water before the race in order to stay hydrated throughout. It worked, in that I really wasn't thirsty at all during the race. The downside was that I REALLY needed to pee by the end. I wanted to try and pee in the water during the swim, but it was so cold that it wasn't working.
Anyway, after taking tons of energy drinks (14 between the two of us, not including the ones we actually drank), we left Putah Creek Resort to grab some lunch. Nothing sounded particularly good and we ended up settling on Round Table Pizza, getting the buffet. It was a weird combination--we were both extremely thirsty and because we kept drinking, we were too full to eat much. Plus with the exhaustion factor, we simply weren't all that tired. But I think we ate enough to justify paying for the buffet. I ate some salad, too, and Jim stuck with just the pizza.
We got back to Jim's house, sat down on the recliners, and conked out for about 45 minutes. That put us off schedule to get to M's birthday party and we ended up getting there closer to 3:30, about a half hour late. Thankfully, we were still among the first ones there. R's grandparents and M's mom were the only ones at the house. R was busy running around in the kitchen getting everything ready. I have to say that Jim and I were anything but the life of the party. We were moving slowly, didn't have much energy, and kind of sat like lumps for the 2 hours were were there. We tried drinking some diet Coke to perk us up, but it didn't work at all. I felt kind of bad for how antisocial we were, but we just couldn't muster up the brain power to converse.
R's dad is supposed to be a chef, and he had brought over Tri Tip. I was trying to ask him about it, but he didn't want to talk to me. I was pretty disappointed. I don't know if he's actually a good chef or not, but he's had some sort of formal training, so he's got to have some knowledge to impart on me, especially on the dead animal side of things.
It was a Mexican theme for food. M's mom had made some lowfat bean dip (canned refried beans, sour cream, cheese, and olives), R's dad's tri tip, and R had made some shredded chicken with green salsa in the slow cooker. She warmed up tortillas and had a make-it-yourself burrito/taco bar. There were also sauteed bell peppers and onions, canned refried beans, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese for toppings. Oh, and fruit salad. The fruit salad was pretty good, with pineapple, Asian pear, strawberries, and mango.
Anyway, we left around 5:30 to run to Costco before it closed. My mom had asked me to pick up a couple of things, and Jim needed eggs anyway. He also bought a portable A/C unit, which I've been after him to get for a long time now. We drooled over an outdoor table set. I really, really liked it. We may end up getting it, but we'll see. I like that it came with covers and everything. The only thing we would need after that is some sort of heat lamp.
So given my abyssmal track record, why do I keep signing up? Well, the optimist in me wants to give myself another chance for redemption. But most of it is for Jim, because he likes doing them and I know he appreciates me joining in on the fun. It's only a few days of being miserable and in pain, and given everything he humors me on, it's the least I can do.
We ended up leaving about 5:10 for the lake and arrived a little before 6:30, among the first. The first time we went, we arrived too late to park in the main lot and almost missed the start of the race. As much as I gripe about leaving so early, it is nice to relax before the start of the race. We racked our bikes very close to where we put them last year, which is another advantage to arriving early, because we ended up not having any bike rack space in year one and we left them in the muddy grass area next to the racks. Changing was an absolute disaster.
Anyway, my ex-boyfriend T and his younger brother M were also there. T, M, and Jim all went off in the first heat for the swim and I went in the second. The announcer said the water temperature was 68 degrees, and I was very happy about that. Then he added that that was only the surface temperature and 6 inches below it was 54. I was absolutely dying on the swim. First of all, I was in horrible shape. I swam 1000 yards in March and the time before that was the previous year's triathlon. And last year I did the same thing, which means that I've swam the total of one regular workout in two years. Now, being an ex-swimmer, there's only so bad you get. It's kind of like riding a bicycle, except that I'm terrible at riding one, and likewise I apparently don't retain my swimming muscles when I don't use them for years. So I seem to differ from the norm in that I've forgotten how to swim and bike. I was exhausted after the swim. Of course the water temperature didn't help me out any. It was miserable and while I didn't cramp up, I was numb and on autopilot. Plus I was super demoralized when I got passed up at the end by everyone, including a fat old man, because the piano dropped big time with me. I felt like such a lap swimmer.
I ran up the ramp to the bike racks, mostly to try and get some feeling back in my body. It actually didn't really hurt this time running over all of the gravel and rocks because my feet were so numb. I used Jim's changing station since he was long gone and got into all of my bike gear. I had extra incentive to hurry, because I was so freaking cold. I was crying for the first 3 miles because I couldn't get warmed up and it hurt so badly. I had goosebumps the entire 15 miles of the bike and didn't realize I had forgotten to take off my swimsuit until somewhere around mile 12 or 13.
As I said before, I am TERRIBLE at bicycling. Really, truly horrible. I don't enjoy it and I'm not good at it, which makes for a pretty bad combination. Throw in the chill factor, and it was an hour and 15 minutes of pain. However, I was happy because I had set myself a goal of not going off the road this year and accomplished it. My first year I kept veering off into the bushes and almost crashing. The second year, I only went off the road once or twice, but this year, I stayed on the raod the entire time. Plus I had a very cool cow horn that Jim bought me at the bike shop yesterday. I got two compliments on it and that made me happy.
Finally, I got to the run, which is my favorite part, because it's almost over and I don't entirely suck at it. If the water was warmer and I actually swam maybe a couple of times a month, I'd probably like that more. I finally got feeling back in my feet somewhere after the second mile, and then my socks bugged me for the rest of the way (they were bunched up under my toes). Incidentally, it was right after the 2 mile mark that the 11 year old passed me up. Talk about demoralizing. By the time I had run two and a quarter miles, he was completely out of sight.
I was completely out of cookies by the end and couldn't muster up the energy to sprint it out like I had the previous two years. That was the big flashing neon sign to me that I need to start exercising more, because while my overall time didn't increase significantly (I was right in between last year's time and the first year's time), it required so much more effort. I pretty much ran straight to the bathroom to pee, because I had decided to try a different tactic this year. I drank probably the equivalent of 5-6 glasses of water before the race in order to stay hydrated throughout. It worked, in that I really wasn't thirsty at all during the race. The downside was that I REALLY needed to pee by the end. I wanted to try and pee in the water during the swim, but it was so cold that it wasn't working.
Anyway, after taking tons of energy drinks (14 between the two of us, not including the ones we actually drank), we left Putah Creek Resort to grab some lunch. Nothing sounded particularly good and we ended up settling on Round Table Pizza, getting the buffet. It was a weird combination--we were both extremely thirsty and because we kept drinking, we were too full to eat much. Plus with the exhaustion factor, we simply weren't all that tired. But I think we ate enough to justify paying for the buffet. I ate some salad, too, and Jim stuck with just the pizza.
We got back to Jim's house, sat down on the recliners, and conked out for about 45 minutes. That put us off schedule to get to M's birthday party and we ended up getting there closer to 3:30, about a half hour late. Thankfully, we were still among the first ones there. R's grandparents and M's mom were the only ones at the house. R was busy running around in the kitchen getting everything ready. I have to say that Jim and I were anything but the life of the party. We were moving slowly, didn't have much energy, and kind of sat like lumps for the 2 hours were were there. We tried drinking some diet Coke to perk us up, but it didn't work at all. I felt kind of bad for how antisocial we were, but we just couldn't muster up the brain power to converse.
R's dad is supposed to be a chef, and he had brought over Tri Tip. I was trying to ask him about it, but he didn't want to talk to me. I was pretty disappointed. I don't know if he's actually a good chef or not, but he's had some sort of formal training, so he's got to have some knowledge to impart on me, especially on the dead animal side of things.
It was a Mexican theme for food. M's mom had made some lowfat bean dip (canned refried beans, sour cream, cheese, and olives), R's dad's tri tip, and R had made some shredded chicken with green salsa in the slow cooker. She warmed up tortillas and had a make-it-yourself burrito/taco bar. There were also sauteed bell peppers and onions, canned refried beans, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese for toppings. Oh, and fruit salad. The fruit salad was pretty good, with pineapple, Asian pear, strawberries, and mango.
Anyway, we left around 5:30 to run to Costco before it closed. My mom had asked me to pick up a couple of things, and Jim needed eggs anyway. He also bought a portable A/C unit, which I've been after him to get for a long time now. We drooled over an outdoor table set. I really, really liked it. We may end up getting it, but we'll see. I like that it came with covers and everything. The only thing we would need after that is some sort of heat lamp.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Fueling up
Things have slowed down considerably after last week's Saturday chaos, and I actually got the majority of the day with Jim. After church, I assembled a package for my best friend M (just had her first daughter) and S, who is going to be coming back from Kuwait soon (crossing fingers). For M, I had a smut book for her and a long overdue Christmas present, books for each of her two boys, a jumper for the baby, and some of the cookies I baked last night. For S, it was Girl Scout cookies, Cadburry mini eggs, Cadburry cream eggs, and my cookies. We ran to the post office, mailed them off, and then headed off to Oakland for lunch at Wood Tavern.
Our second time there was just as good as the first, food quality-wise. We were promptly seated and ordered the same meals as last time. Jim ordered an iced tea and was mistakenly brought an Arnold Palmer, but the error was corrected pretty quickly. We worked our way through three servings of bread, which was so amazing, fresh and flavorful. There was only one type this time, though, a sourdough wheat. The only difference with our order was that Jim added bacon to his Niman Ranch burger that he got with cheddar cheese again.
My sandwich was just as yummy as before, although there was a little too much tapenade and I scraped some off. This time there was no hesitating before I dug into the coleslaw since I knew how good it was. Jim also macked on his burger and I helped him with his fries. We weren't fortunate enough to find free parking, so Jim had to run out and feed the meter during our lunch. We originally weren't going to eat dessert, but one look at our neighbors' warm chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream, and there was no passing that up. The cake was absolutely sinful, but it was sooo nummy. We ate the entire thing. Hazelnut ice cream toned down the richness factor, and so long as I didn't eat so much chocolate syrup, which was super decadent and a little too much for me.
We walked out of the restaurant absolutely stuffed and with the meter completely out of money again. The service wasn't so good this time, but it was passable. The hostess was very good, but our server not only mixed up the drink, but she also lagged with other stuff. She charged us for an Arnold Palmer, which I think she should have just comped us for the mix up, she was slow with the refills, she sent the check out before we even got dessert, and she was anything but attentive.
Spotty service aside, I really do like the place, and I think we'll try and make it an occasional lunch spot since it doesn't seem as though we'll be able to try dinner anytime in the near future because it is a) officially on the 2008 Top 100 list and b) super booked for reservations.
Our next stop was in Lafayette at the bike shop for tire tubes. Jim had a flat tire and wanted to make sure the other one was okay before our triathlon. He was very impressed with the guy who worked there for both his knowledge and his helpfulness. I think he'll be going there the next time he needs something for his bike. I saw a tricked out tricycle for $95--so cool looking! It had clear tires and the thing on the back (where another kid stands) was wood and had grippy pads to ensure that no 3 year old would fall off.
Afterwards, we went to Walnut Creek, where we walked around Broadway Plaza. We stopped into AT&T to check out Jim's company's discount, which disappointingly did not include the iPhone. We then went to Nordstrom, where I paid my bill, and then to Tiffany's for my fix, the Apple store to see about a discount, and then to Verizon. We ended up switching from Sprint to Verizon ad got their version of the iPhone, which is pretty cool in its own right. And with the company discount, we ended up spending $250 each for phone, car charger, silicone jacket, and Blue Tooth. Our plan is more expensive, but we get internet and text messaging, so it ought to be worth it.
We ended up being a little late for our 5 pm Prima Ristorante reservations, but that was fine. Like before, we got both 1000 Open Table points and the Passport discount. Jim got some gnocchi with lamb and pesto. I got tagliatelle with fava beans, peas, artichokes, and green olives. I left it up to the chef's discretion, which is why I ended up with a dish with both artichokes and green olives with pits. Oh well. It was a very, very light red tomato "sauce." I really liked Jim's gnocchi--I ate a couple that hadn't been tainted by the lamb, which topped the gnocchi. The pesto wasn't a a true pesto and was much lighter. The gnocchi were so silky and soft. Love. My tagliatelle was really good. The sauce had a bit of kick to it, and I liked the fava beans and peas. The olives were very olive-y, but aside from the pit issue, they weren't horrible. I actually liked them better than black olives.
Oh yeah, we also got an appetizer of crostane, which had fava beans, mint, and pecorino romano. I want to say that there was a hint of basil, too. It reminded me of Giada's sweet pea crostini recipe that I want to try. THe fava beans were slightly smashed and mixed with sauteed red onion, the mint added some freshness and lightened it up, and the pecorino just gave it a wonderful rich, buttery flavor. Add the fruity olive oil the bread had been drizzled in, and it was a really nice appetizer.
What I like about Prima is that they give you a really high quality olive oil. You can really taste the olive flavor in the oil. And their bread is pretty good, too.
This time we asked to be seated in the covered courtyard area instead of inside the main restaurant. It was such a beautiful day that we wanted to take advantage of the sun. The courtyard is more like a sunroom with tiled floors and plenty of windows that overlook North Main Street in downtown Walnut Creek. Jim was absolutely fascinated by the gigantic orange chopper parked across the street. I was mildly interested and then annoyed as the motorcycle gang decided to spend what seemed like an eternity revving their engines before finally leaving. Even Jim commented on the noise pollution.
For dessert, we went with our waitress' suggestion of the Profiteroles, which ended up only being one. It turned out to be a good thing, since neither one of us liked it. The profiterole tasted stale and chewy instead of light and flaky. The rose ice cream was different, but it was different in a good way. It was definitely a surprise to actually taste the rose flavor. We ended up leaving a piece of the pastry because it really wasn't good.
Thanks to the discount, the dinner pricetag was kept in control. I was a little appalled at how badly we ate the day before our triathlon. I mean, two desserts?! Granted, we ate tons of carbs, but it was just bad.
Our second time there was just as good as the first, food quality-wise. We were promptly seated and ordered the same meals as last time. Jim ordered an iced tea and was mistakenly brought an Arnold Palmer, but the error was corrected pretty quickly. We worked our way through three servings of bread, which was so amazing, fresh and flavorful. There was only one type this time, though, a sourdough wheat. The only difference with our order was that Jim added bacon to his Niman Ranch burger that he got with cheddar cheese again.
My sandwich was just as yummy as before, although there was a little too much tapenade and I scraped some off. This time there was no hesitating before I dug into the coleslaw since I knew how good it was. Jim also macked on his burger and I helped him with his fries. We weren't fortunate enough to find free parking, so Jim had to run out and feed the meter during our lunch. We originally weren't going to eat dessert, but one look at our neighbors' warm chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream, and there was no passing that up. The cake was absolutely sinful, but it was sooo nummy. We ate the entire thing. Hazelnut ice cream toned down the richness factor, and so long as I didn't eat so much chocolate syrup, which was super decadent and a little too much for me.
We walked out of the restaurant absolutely stuffed and with the meter completely out of money again. The service wasn't so good this time, but it was passable. The hostess was very good, but our server not only mixed up the drink, but she also lagged with other stuff. She charged us for an Arnold Palmer, which I think she should have just comped us for the mix up, she was slow with the refills, she sent the check out before we even got dessert, and she was anything but attentive.
Spotty service aside, I really do like the place, and I think we'll try and make it an occasional lunch spot since it doesn't seem as though we'll be able to try dinner anytime in the near future because it is a) officially on the 2008 Top 100 list and b) super booked for reservations.
Our next stop was in Lafayette at the bike shop for tire tubes. Jim had a flat tire and wanted to make sure the other one was okay before our triathlon. He was very impressed with the guy who worked there for both his knowledge and his helpfulness. I think he'll be going there the next time he needs something for his bike. I saw a tricked out tricycle for $95--so cool looking! It had clear tires and the thing on the back (where another kid stands) was wood and had grippy pads to ensure that no 3 year old would fall off.
Afterwards, we went to Walnut Creek, where we walked around Broadway Plaza. We stopped into AT&T to check out Jim's company's discount, which disappointingly did not include the iPhone. We then went to Nordstrom, where I paid my bill, and then to Tiffany's for my fix, the Apple store to see about a discount, and then to Verizon. We ended up switching from Sprint to Verizon ad got their version of the iPhone, which is pretty cool in its own right. And with the company discount, we ended up spending $250 each for phone, car charger, silicone jacket, and Blue Tooth. Our plan is more expensive, but we get internet and text messaging, so it ought to be worth it.
We ended up being a little late for our 5 pm Prima Ristorante reservations, but that was fine. Like before, we got both 1000 Open Table points and the Passport discount. Jim got some gnocchi with lamb and pesto. I got tagliatelle with fava beans, peas, artichokes, and green olives. I left it up to the chef's discretion, which is why I ended up with a dish with both artichokes and green olives with pits. Oh well. It was a very, very light red tomato "sauce." I really liked Jim's gnocchi--I ate a couple that hadn't been tainted by the lamb, which topped the gnocchi. The pesto wasn't a a true pesto and was much lighter. The gnocchi were so silky and soft. Love. My tagliatelle was really good. The sauce had a bit of kick to it, and I liked the fava beans and peas. The olives were very olive-y, but aside from the pit issue, they weren't horrible. I actually liked them better than black olives.
Oh yeah, we also got an appetizer of crostane, which had fava beans, mint, and pecorino romano. I want to say that there was a hint of basil, too. It reminded me of Giada's sweet pea crostini recipe that I want to try. THe fava beans were slightly smashed and mixed with sauteed red onion, the mint added some freshness and lightened it up, and the pecorino just gave it a wonderful rich, buttery flavor. Add the fruity olive oil the bread had been drizzled in, and it was a really nice appetizer.
What I like about Prima is that they give you a really high quality olive oil. You can really taste the olive flavor in the oil. And their bread is pretty good, too.
This time we asked to be seated in the covered courtyard area instead of inside the main restaurant. It was such a beautiful day that we wanted to take advantage of the sun. The courtyard is more like a sunroom with tiled floors and plenty of windows that overlook North Main Street in downtown Walnut Creek. Jim was absolutely fascinated by the gigantic orange chopper parked across the street. I was mildly interested and then annoyed as the motorcycle gang decided to spend what seemed like an eternity revving their engines before finally leaving. Even Jim commented on the noise pollution.
For dessert, we went with our waitress' suggestion of the Profiteroles, which ended up only being one. It turned out to be a good thing, since neither one of us liked it. The profiterole tasted stale and chewy instead of light and flaky. The rose ice cream was different, but it was different in a good way. It was definitely a surprise to actually taste the rose flavor. We ended up leaving a piece of the pastry because it really wasn't good.
Thanks to the discount, the dinner pricetag was kept in control. I was a little appalled at how badly we ate the day before our triathlon. I mean, two desserts?! Granted, we ate tons of carbs, but it was just bad.
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