12 posts tagged “food”
... Or at least that's how I'm feeling after Brooke and I have nearly polished off 20+ pounds of turkey since Thursday.
Along with two turkeys (one smoked and one roasted), we had a tasty spread of sides: brussel sprouts with bacon, celeriac soup, wild mushroom and sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, fresh baked rolls, and an apple pie to top it all off.
As you can imagine, with all that food and only two people eating it, we had a good bit of leftovers, and the resulting remixes may very well be the best dishes so far. #1 was this morning's breakfast, a strata made from the stuffing, with this evening's turkey noodle soup a close second.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring :)
Frank Bruni had a hilarious column this week entitled Fine Diner to Riffraff: Tipsy Tales of 4-Star Benders, in which he talks about people who go out to elaborate, multi-course meals, and end up completely trashed (and trashy) by the end of the night.
“Happens all the time,” said Joseph Bastianich, one of the principal owners of the Italian restaurants Del Posto, Babbo and Felidia, among others. His voice had the bored, blasé tone of someone stating the patently obvious.
It happens even outside the confines and privacy of the restrooms?
“Oh, yeah, in the dining room, all over the table, on their dinner companions,” Mr. Bastianich said. “You’ve never seen that?”
Um, no.
“Well, you go out to restaurants a lot,” he said. “Maybe you’ll run into it before you’re done. Hopefully, you won’t get splashed.”
Hopefully.
lovely... And of course I keep seeing the new Subway commercial, where people are walking out of the restaurant drenched, and that's all i can think of..
Brooke and I started dating almost 11 years ago... i'm proud to say she finally baked her cherry pie the other day, and it was well worth the wait!
italian wine, italian pizza, and the italian explorer made for a nice round tip!
Brooke and I had an amazing 2nd anniversary dinner at Canlis, perhaps the oldest "special occassion" restaurant in Seattle. It was our first time there, as I always discounted it as stodgy and past its prime, but I was very impressed: Impeccable service, excellent food, and a very impressive wine list.
We were seated at table #1, which is a great corner spot where Mr. Canlis always used to sit, and is apparently the most requested table. I wish I'd brought a camera besides my blackberry, because it is a gorgeous restaurant, and perhaps the more unique and coolest view of Seattle i've ever seen. The restaurant is located right off of Aurora, which is a very busy street, but once you're inside there isn't even a sign of it, you feel like you're tucked away in the trees. The view looks north, away from the city skyline, but over Gasworks Park, Lake Union, and the northern half of the city.
Food: Peter Canlis Prawns, Steak Tartare, Canlis Salad, Copper River Salmon (Brooke), Wagyu Ribeye (Me), and Profiteroles. Everything was amazing.. I never order steaks at restaurants, but I was in a red meat mood, hence the tartare and the ribeye, and this was perhaps the best steak I've ever had.
It was a little more formal than we're used to, so we'll save it for special occasions, but we'll definitely be back!
Besides the $1.50 Costco hot dog and soda deal, and at baseball games, I hardly ever eat hot dogs. The other day, however, I was at Whole Foods, and there was this sample tray of glistening wieners calling out to me...
Okay.. so, seriously, these hot dogs were so good I've been thinking about them non-stop, and meaning to post about them for about a week, but everytime I've tried to think about what I'm going to write, it turns completely lewd.. but, what can i do.. so lets just get it out: "a long slick wiener too big to be contained within the soft white buns".. there, happy now? All further discussion can be read without a smirk.. :)
Anyway, these all natural, 100% grass-fed beef, uncured hot dogs, made by Panorama Meats are incredibly delicious. I'd say they are the best I've ever had, but they're satisfying in a different way than nice plump Hebrew Nationals or Sinai Koshers. They've got great flavor, aren't too big around, and are nice and "snappy", which is my favorite feature.
But I couldn't resist, so I gave it a shot. It was nice, but I just couldn't get over my disappointment about how much meat was left outside the bun.
Not one to back down from a challenge, I spent the night dreaming about taming this beast, and set out on my mission the next afternoon.
One google search for "hot dog bun recipe" later, we were in business. The recipe was actually incredible simple, and a few hours later, I had done it, the perfect fit..
My belly was full, and I was completely sated.
Corned beef hash with poached eggs.
Brooke has been posting updates about our kitchen remodel for the past 4 months or so. It's almost done now, and yesterday (Valentine's Day) we were able to cook our first real meal since September.
It was a very impromptu menu, culled from a quick walk through Whole Foods on the way home from work, but it turned out excellent, and was very satisfying to whip up such a tasty meal at home without having to rely on nothing but a hot water pot, microwave, and toaster oven.
Menu
Bacon-wrapped, Chorizo-stuffed dates
Roasted Beet Risotto
Braised beef short ribs
This has been my longest quiet spell since i started using vox, so here's what's been going on (in my longest post ever!):
9/6: i turned 30!
9/9: we had a fun party at our house, with all of my family coming from their various homes on the east coast, and all of brooke's family coming from in-state, as well as a handful of friends. My brother's wife is pregnant (#2), yay! thanks everyone for coming!
9/11-9/15: busy as a beaver preparing for DEMO and our vacation..
vacation
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9/16: drove down to portland. stayed at the jupiter, hung out at the doug fir.. They have tasty mint juleps.
9/17: the traditional stopping at the trees of mystery to take a picture with babe the blue ox's balls..
9/17: drove to "willits, ca".. we were planning on camping somewhere north of there, but it was so dark with no cars around that we got creeped out and kept driving until we found the first town with a non-Bates Motel place to stay.
9/18-9/21: inn at occidental, occidental ca. A very small and quiet town in sonoma county, but pretty convenient to both the coast and the wineries. relaxing!
9/20: drove to Napa for the day.. Went to COPIA, which I thought was a really fun museum. The restaurant there (Julia's Kitchen) was really tasty.
The last time we were in Napa was 9/11/2001.. Today, we went to Frank Family Vineyards, which is where we spent a good part of that day. It's funny how much many little details i remember from that day, and how being there brought them all back out.
9/21: drove to L.A. Stopping in San Francisco to have some Burma Superstar, yum!
9/21-9/23: L.A. stayed at the W in westwood, ate, drank, shopped, walked around,etc.. highlight: DELICIOUS burgers at The Counter in Santa Monica. lowlight: $80+ for room service breakfast!!
work
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I'll be pretty busy the next week or so, but will hopefully be all amped up and posting whenever i get a chance!
The paella turned out excellent. The flavors from the roast duck and bbq pork spread out nicely into the rice, and the edamame was a nice twist on the classic peas.
I preferred this over some of the more traditional paellas that were made. The flavor was unique, and it cooked perfectly on the charcoal bbq.
Final Ingredient List
- bomba rice
- bbq pork (from king's in seattle)
- roast duck (also from king's)
- hot chinese sausage
- shitake mushrooms (marinated in sake)
- spicy tofu (the brown kind)
- edamame
- chicken broth, with a pinch of five spice and a little miso paste
- saffron, steeped in sake (from the mushrooms)
- smoked hot paprika
- shallots
- garlic
- chopped tomatoes
