Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The rest of the weekend.

Pork adobo at the Speed Art Museum's Asian festival
Samosa (that was awesomely huge)
Grilled chicken drumsticks
Pre-grilling chopping
The best pulled pork I've ever had (yum yum)
Grilled eggplant, bell peppers, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and serrano-like peppers
T & B's watermelon salad w/ feta and basil
Perfection on a bun, as always.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Out of my league

We went to Vincenzo's today.  It's a nice perk of being married to an important person.  (LOL---just kidding.  It's actually due to the generosity of Mr. S's boss.  We wouldn't be eating at this place otherwise...)

Salad with 4 pieces of Bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, mandarin oranges, pecans, and cucumbers
Veal with lemon juice, capers, mushrooms, slices of cantaloupe and honeydew, and a veggie/potato medley (my dish)
Ribeye steak with random sprig of rosemary in wine sauce, mushrooms, and veggie/potato medley
 Raspberry sorbet and tiramisu
Verdict: The veal was very good with a mild, buttery flavor and some sour flavor from the lemon juice.  It was thin and moist, in contrast to other veal that I've eaten.  I don't like capers, so I didn't eat them.  The veggies were saltier and I enjoyed the contrast of flavors in the dish.  (Mr. S. reports that the steak was tasty; he liked the wine sauce.)  I wasn't expecting to like the raspberry sorbet, but it was lovely.  The tiramisu didn't have any coffee flavor, but it was delectable too.

Vincenzo's Italian on Urbanspoon

Seviche on Urbanspoon

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Meh.

We went to Seviche today to eat ceviche.  Pictures first:
 
L to R: Ahi Tuna, Hamachi Yellowtail Tiradito, and Oyster Shooters  (This whole plate was $25.  No, I'm not kidding.)
Close-up of Ahi Tuna


 Tuna Taquitos, the Wild Salmon Special of the Day, and the Wild Halibut Special of the Day (This plate was $25 too!  How did you guess?)

 Grilled Vegetable Tower (Seriously, they called this a tower??!)
Verdict: Not impressed.  The ceviche was good, with the exception of the Oyster Shooters (imagine drinking shots of Bloody Mary with one bit of oyster as big as the tip of my pinky finger in each shot).  The best ceviche for me was the Ahi Tuna, followed by the Wild Salmon and Wild Halibut specials.  They all had different flavors--- the tuna had a strong spicy taste, the salmon had a strong lime flavor mixed in with other spices, and the halibut was smooth and creamy.

The only unique things about the veggie tower (besides the $17 price tag) were the goat cheese on top (creamy with a bit of tanginess) and the delicious grilled portobello mushroom.

We left the restaurant hungry and had to go get McDoubles.  NOT a good sign.  Plus the bill came out to $71.  :\


*Edit:  You really didn't think that we would spend that much on one meal, right??  ;)  We did get $35 off thanks to a Groupon (ask me for a referral, it's wonderful if you love local deals for food, shopping, and entertainment). 

Seviche on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Playing catch up.

The weekend before last:

 Grilled veggies
Soon to be grilled pumpkin (bleh).
Ground lamb, pine nuts, and rice with rosemary.  :)

Last weekend- calzone party!
Pyramid of Oreos
Monster dough
Manatee calzone
A Mr. S. creation
Faloodeh, a Persian dessert
Randoms:
Fresh dill from our garden
Mr. S's taco pizza
Chicken & asparagus in Wasabi Teriyaki sauce on udon noodles

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

From ground to table in ~20 minutes

This is a variety of lettuce from the Univ. of Louisville Common Garden.  The red leaf lettuce was quite bitter, but the other kinds were lovely.  It's been a while since I've eaten anything but iceberg in salads.  They also have beets, celery, carrots, Swiss chard, arugula, and broccoli!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Chocolate chip cookies are a girl's best friend

I had too much leftover pumpkin from October taking up space in the freezer.

Now, I'd exhausted the options (or so I thought) without having to resort to pie: cookies, bread, and grilled.  Bread's fine and dandy, but the cookies disappointed me (and don't get me started on the grilled stuff).  So I decided to try a new recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Chip-Pumpkin-Cookies-2/Detail.aspx

I think I ate 7 of these last night.  :-O

Modifications:
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 c applesauce instead of oil
-2 cups fresh pumpkin
-2 cups King Arthur white wheat flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour (I FINALLY got rid of the whole wheat stuff)
-ADD: 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ginger powder, 1/8 tsp cloves
-about 1 cup of chocolate chips (I really don't measure these)
-no walnuts

Yield: 31 (I scoop too generously.)

These are VERY cake-like.  The recipe states to bake them for 14 min. max, but I tried 16 and they still didn't get crispy.  I know that this may be due to the fact that I made them very large, and may be due to oven discrepancies, but they just don't get crispy.  If you can live with that, you will like this cookie.


Friday, May 7, 2010

You know that I love you boy, hot like Mexico (enjoy)

What should I make next?  (Please post in the comments section.  If no one votes in a week, I'll do what's easiest.  And remember, you can vote anonymously.  =)  )

1.) Homemade soft pretzels (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html)
2.) Pecan pie bars (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pecan-Pie-Bars-I-2/Detail.aspx
3.) Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Chip-Pumpkin-Cookies-2/Detail.aspx)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now for something completely different...


I made this cake today: Kittencal's 5-Minute Cinnamon Flop Brunch Cake (http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Kittencals-Easy-Cinnamon-Flop-Cinnamon-Brunch-Cake-77397).  It was okay, but I didn't add the melted butter and that probably made it less appetizing.  Plus, it was far too sweet.  I have crumbled it up and will be making cake balls (with mild cream cheese frosting).


Random assortment of pics, mostly from last week:
Scrambled eggs & zucchini, with spaghetti noodles and homemade basil/walnut pesto
More strawberry ice cream
Mr. S.'s taco salad ("Wow, you made my food look halfway decent.")
White bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Mixture of leftover turkey sausage, spinach, egg, & tomato, sprinkled with a generous amt. of basil (no salt/soy sauce/fish sauce...the sausage was salty enough.)  And with the bread from above!
Chicken, zucchini, & mushroom in Soy Vay Hoisin Garlic glaze
Mr. S.'s version of my aunt's dish: chicken with ginger, zucchini, and mushrooms in chipotle peach/pineapple salsa

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Candy that makes me want to swear off Hershey's for good

Candy for Caring is a local candy shop run by two nuns that makes lovely handmade candy, for various good causes.  Mr. S. and I finished a 6 x 4.5 inch box of Victorian almond brittle in 2 days.  And he doesn't even like candy.

That is why I don't have any pictures, but it's the best brittle I've ever had---wafer thin, just the right crunchiness.  And very chocolatey without being overly so.  :)

I can't wait to visit the shop. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Mr. S. wants you to play this game

I hate calling him "my husband" (sounds pretentious and like I'm a member of the "Smug Marrieds") but anyway, here's a game that he really likes (and that's food related!):

http://armorgames.com/play/5481/i-was-hungry-but-there-were-cannons

Update: *sigh* I can't link to it, don't know why...but just type in "hungry" in the search field and it will come up.

P.S.  I forgot to mention that I visited Trader Joe's for the first time last weekend.  It's overrated.  Sure, there's a lot of organic food, but most of it is packaged.  "Two Buck Chuck" sells for $3.79.  I did get two chocolate bars there, the 73% dark chocolate (which we had at a friend's house and is excellent) and the "dark chocolate lovers" bar which was really cheap comparatively (and thus is suspect).  We'll see...

Monday, May 3, 2010

Food heaven, as promised.

Mr. S. and I went on a road trip to visit my grandparents.  I'd missed them, and it felt so good to visit.  
As always, the food did not disappoint.  I got to watch a master chef at work and picked up some new recipes and techniques.  :)  I think that we've both eaten enough for the rest of the week...
Back to front, clockwise: pork chops, chả, beef with broccoli in oyster sauce 



Fried catfish with bell peppers, tomatoes, and homegrown onions (and a cilantro/perilla garnish)
Grilled duck and pork ribs
Bánh bao  

This doesn't even include the gigantic bowls of phở we had, both at the beginning and at the end of our visit.  Homemade phở is the best.  :)


We did make a little time for road food, in the spirit of Alton Brown.
 I didn't buy anything, but aren't the cakes gorgeous?  If only I had that much talent... 
"Do you have to take a picture of everything?"  Yes, I do.  This little Greek pastry (chocolate almond...something) tasted like a doughnut due to the copious amounts of glaze.  I prefer baklava.
Kraut balls-- as in, fried balls of sauerkraut.  Much better than I anticipated.  Now we're just wondering how to make them.  :)