All settled in

I just wanted to show all of you a few more pictures now that we have been living here for about a week. We are still waiting for our storage bin so please excuse the piles of junk.






































































Thanks for everyone tolerating us saying our famous phrase "when we move into the condo..." over the past few years. I'm sure some of you were thinking this condo thing was all in our head. If you aren't convinced by the pictures that it actually exists, come visit us! Or just come visit us anyway!

Ok, now that we are all moved in - I'm switching gears pretty much back to cooking. :)

My friends, AS and her husband, gave us a cook book titled "The Curry Book" that I had mentioned around July on my blog. Thanks! I plan to make my next post about one of those yummy-looking recipes in that book. But for now, I must fill my brain with complex math until my final on Thursday.

Stay Tuned!

Time to move!

Since we have tortured all of you with stories of our condo over the past few years, I feel you are owed an updated. Our closing went well (ok, let me rephrase - it ACTUALLY happened), our keys worked and after a late night of packing up the last remaining things, we are all ready to move! The movers come at 8 - so I'm up now since they have a reputation of being nortorious early.

I hope we can get back to life as usual and start cooking up some interesting dishes soon!

Ok, let's try that again...

Today, we had our official preliminary walk-through of our condo. Overall, we are really pleased and can't wait to move in! We are scheduled to close on Friday, December 1 and move in Saturday, December 2. Keep your fingers crossed! Enjoy the pics!

First view into the condo from front door

Our cozy den

View of the kitchen from the family room (contractor not included)


Bathroom


Family room from balcony with TV ready for many hours of Montel viewing pleasure

Kitchen (already equipped with a dimmer switch! :) )


Kitchen view from family room

Bedroom

View to the north of Washington Monument and exciting office buildlings

View of Route 1 North

View to the east of the Potomac River and National Airport.


View to the west of Skyline and picturesque water-treatment facility

Today's condo walk-through

...of not our condo. Unfortunately, when AC and I arrived for our walk-through today, the lead sales woman informed us that our walk-through had been rescheduled. Apparently, they sent us a letter (just checked the mailbox - no letter) and left a message probably at my old job. Geez. Apparently, people were either getting 5 phone calls informing them about the change and other people like us heard nothing. So I pulled out my pathetic smile and asked sweetly if we could just go over to the building and take a peek. So we got a walk-through of a - one floor below ours. Here's a few pictures just to give you a taste.


The lobby - they are still painting so no judging on color...yet!



Elevators on the first floor


First view from the front door - we got all wood floors instead of carpet and tile


The kitchen - we got black granite and slightly lighter colored wood cabinets. Love the recessed lighting!


Family Room with background views of DC


View from the balcony via the bedroom - if you squint, you can see Washington Monument. We will probably have that view for a year or so.

Bedroom


Bathroom - the only room that should look exactly the same.


Our walk-through will be sometime next week instead. oh well. Time to see Borat!

Rajas Jalapeno con Queso

A few days ago, I was really craving the Rajas Poblanos at one of my favorite local Mexican restaurants, Taqueria Poblano,, but it was getting late, AC was stuck at work late and my tummy was getting pretty grumpy. So I decided to make a quick run to Giant to pick up the necessary ingredients to make my own version of Rajas Poblanos. You might ask - what are rajas? Basically, it's just julienned chile peppers combined usually with onions and other spices; it's a pretty common dish in Mexico. Here's a cool website that talks more about the joys of rajas.

I drove down to Giant expecting to be able to quickly pick up the necessary ingredients for the rajas: poblanos, yellow onions, a bulb of garlic, a lime, random Mexican spice mix, flour tortillas, cilantro and a pack of Monterrey jack cheese. I went immediately to the produce aisle because I had an inkling that they wouldn't have any poblanos. Sure enough...no poblanos. I went to Safeway - no luck. So I decided just to get jalapenos instead and try that out. Overall, it was pretty tasty and I think I'd definitely make it again. It's pretty easy - just sauté the veggies with spices and a squirt of lime in an oven-safe pan, top with cheese, throw pan into oven until bubbly and then remove and top with cilantro. If you love cheesy and spicy things, it's a great quick meal.

So this brings us to the question of the day - why are some items so hard to come by at the grocery store? Subquestion - Are my standards too high as a grocery store food snob or are the grocery stores around here inferior?

Speaking of grocery stores, I think we should be having some good grocery stores readily available to us in the near future. According to National Gateway Arlington's website, the developer of the area that includes our condo complex, Elwood Thompson’s, Fresh Market and Bloom should be opening over the next few years. Also, a 2-story Harris Teeter will be opening below our condo sometime in the February – March 2007 time frame. I’ve heard lots about Bloom through heavy radio advertising over the past couple of weeks. Apparently, it’s a Food Lion concept store with a new innovative layout. According to wikipedia, Bloom’s layout includes “a TableTop section at the entrance to the store where the shopper can purchase ready to eat foods, deli meats and sandwiches and salads. Next to this is the fresh bakery section which lead to the organic and fresh produce departments. This part of the store provides ingredients which the customer can continue in his/her meal planning. Gourmet Angus beef and meat counter along with a fresh seafood counter occupy the rear of the store. The center of the store offers quality condiments, name brand and Bloom grocery products and household/paper products. The end aisles are devoted to frozen and dairy and a pharmacy occupies the front side corner next to the Customer Service counter.” Apparently, they have little stations to look-up recipes and other computer-integrated shopping features. But my question is, with all this great technology and innovation, will they manage to have poblanos? :) I think I should make a bigger effort actually growing some of my staples next year.

On a side note, we have our condo walk-through next week!

Have you ever made green chile sauce?

...asked my friend AS in an email last week. In the email, she sent me a link to this blog: Recipes from a [Gluten Free] Goddess . I think she's a regular on the blog but it was the first time for me. After I got over my initial pangs of envy over her gorgeous pictures, I was really impressed with the blog. AC and I really enjoy Mexican/Central/South American food but haven't really explored the southwestern cuisine arena. So one night last week, we decided to try the New Mexico Green Chile Sauce recipe and served it over wild salmon. Overall, it was delicious but I have one issue with the recipe...I really think it would be best run through the food processor. I do love chunky sauces but the addition of the cornstarch almost turned the sauce into something with the consistency of those fruit jello molds...ok, not THAT awful but it wasn't as fresh as I was hoping it would taste due to the cornstarch. Perhaps, we needed to add a little more peppers and tomatoes to the recipe to give it a little fuller consistency. We are going to play with the proportions and see what we can come up with. I would show a picture of our meal but her picture really does the sauce more justice (grrr...) :) AS, did you take a stab at it?

On a side note, I love it when you go to the grocery store and buy something a little out of the ordinary from the fresh fruit and veggie aisle and the cashier doesn't know how to ring it up. 9 times out of 10, I end up getting the item for much cheaper than it truly should be. For instance, I've gotten tomatillos for the price of brussel sprouts and specialty chile peppers for the price of regular green peppers. I always love a good deal :)

One more aside, I found out the Harris Teeter below our condo is more than likely not opening until February! For some reason, I figured the sequence of events would be the grocery store opening first and then we move in. I figure we are built-in customers and plus what grocery store would not want tons of customers around the holidays? My laziness is already setting in and thinking what a pain it will be to actually drive to the grocery store to buy holiday groceries...how in the world am I already so lazy? :) We should be moving in about a month or so!!!

Dinner with Friends

Oops, I forgot to post this!

My story begins with my first friend in Northern VA when I moved here about 4 years go. SMC was one of the people in my initial training for work at the PTO and we clicked pretty instantly. Sadly, he moved to Kentucky a little more than a year ago with his insanely adorable son and lovely wife. It sounds like they have a really good life there so I'm happy for them despite my occasional secret hopes they realize how much they miss it here and drive back one night and move back :) ha ha. I'm happy to say that we've done a good job of keeping each other up-to-date about our lives - especially in regards to food :) SMC messsaged me the other day and told me how he recently decided to start up a group which would meet weekly with some people from his church to discuss various religious/ethical topics. He stressed that, although the formal discussion was important, he also wanted to have everyone work on a project together in order for everyone to get to know each other and get some friendships blooming. He thought cooking would be a great mechanism to achieve this and, as a result, they would have a tasty meal to eat once the meeting gets rolling. So here's my contribution to some soup/stew recipes for his new group. Maybe some other people might want to check these out? My suggestion for the simpler soups/stews is to have a group work on the soup/stew, another group prepare a bread and another group a simple salad. SMC, let us know if you find any other tasty stew/soup recipes since those winter months are just around the corner!

I think you should be able to click on each of the pictures and print from your web browser to get a full page recipe.

Enjoy!

Simple Dinners

I realize that I've disappeared from the blogging world for awhile. My initial excuse was that I really haven't been making anything worth posting recently due to time constraints but I decided that was a lame reason. I know most normal (and reasonable) people will cook meals that take less than 30 minutes from start to serve. Most people who know me know that I like to do and pick things that tend to complicated (someone unnecessarily) - especially in the cooking arena. I truly know that complicated meals do not necessarily equal good meals and likewise simple meals can be incredibly delicious. So we've made a shift recently to more simple dishes and it's about time for me to sit down and post about them already and quit being such a recipe snob.

You might ask - what's been taking away from my precious and beloved time in the kitchen? Back in May, one of my dearest friends, m-scribbles, convinced my husband and me to join her in training for the Army Ten Miler in Virginia on October 8. We are less than 2 months away so we have kicked up our training and now are working out 6/7 days a week. Wish us luck!

Anyway, here's some simple yet delicious meals we've made recently:

From Real Simple - August 2006, Peach, Mozzarella and Basil Salad. It's pretty similar to A.C.'s mom's pasta salad but instead with peaches - perfect for those afraid of overindulging in carbs. I was about to say "yummo" - but I think I need a less annoying catch phrase :) I'd definitely make this again but try to look for peaches that were a little more ripe and juicy.

From bakingsheet.blogspot.com, Banana Black Bean Tacos. Have I mentioned these before? It's a great twist on normal black bean tacos by adding pan-fried bananas. The caramelized bananas add a nice sweetness to the relatively healthy tacos. Just make sure to get rid of the extra grease by placing the bananas between paper towels after frying. I think we've gotten to the point where we have been making these about once a week sometimes with Dave Lieberman's guac recipe.

Sorry for no pictures...I actually took some but blogger is being stubborn and will not let me upload. So just use your imagination.

Countdown...(an update)

We rarely have gotten any updates about the progress of our condo but the other day I got an email from our builder with the adjacent photo. Although, I must admit, the condo complex does have a nice view of DC - this picture is way too zoomed in and are the fireworks really THAT big? Regardless, it will be a perfect place to watch fireworks next year...if we move in by then! It's nice that they are attempting to throw us a bone.

Latest update for move-in: mid to late November. I guess we'll be getting our Thanksgiving meal from a Chinese restaurant since we'll be living out of boxes at that point...I can only pray for such a scenario :) Please let it stop being so hot so those workers can finish up our building!!! I'm tempted to take some lessons on putting up dry wall and bricklaying.

Mozzarella, tomato and arugula sandwiches

I'm home today studying for my mid-term exam which is tonight. So naturally I'm home taking pictures of my lunch and blogging about it :) However, I must give myself a bit of credit...I did manage to get in several good hours of studying as well.

We are trying to be more budget conscious and, in doing so, we are trying to bring our lunch to work more often. It's easy to make a crappy lunch that by the time lunch rolls around, you really don't want to eat. So I really wanted to find a good recipe that I would not only enjoy but could happily eat for multiple days in a row. When I worked/lived in Crystal City, I used to go to Au Bon Pain and get their Tomato and Mozzarella sandwich at least once every week or two. So I decided to replicate the sandwich but replace arugula (a typically more expensive ingredient) for the romaine and bring that for lunch this week. I'd like to think that making your own sandwiches is always cheaper but the math geek inside me decided to prove this theory and calculate out how much I'm actually saving...


For my sandwich:
$1.29 for the Giant brand french bread loaf - $0.33/serving
$3.99 for the Sorrento brand fresh mozzarella - $1.00/serving (on second look, I realized I said the wrong brand - now corrected)
$1.99/pound for the vine-ripened tomatoes - $0.50/serving
$1.99 for Giant brand baby arugula and lettuce salad mix - $0.25/serving
$3.49/jar for Classico brand pesto sauce - $0.35/serving
Total for sandwich - $2.45


Sandwich at Au Bon Pain:
MOZZARELLA AND TOMATO (V)
Mozzarella, Tomato, Romaine with Basil Pesto served on a Baguette - $4.59


My sandwich is almost half the cost and just as tasty!


I watch Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on occasion and he always claims to make gourmet meals for a fraction of the cost...however, annoyingly, he usually would fail to substantiate his claims! So I felt this burning desire to actually prove that something like a gourmet sandwich can actually proven to be cheaper.

One more thought...The nice thing about this sandwich is that it does use good quality ingredients that can easily be incorporated into other lunches or dinners. So if you really don't want to eat these sandwiches for 5 days in a row, you could make a pesto dish for dinner one night with sauteed tomatoes and topped with fresh mozzarella or make a nice hearty salad.

Ok, I suppose I should study some more...

Countdown...

We drove by our condo today to check on its progress with the guise of going to Target. Here's some pictures we took from the road:

We marked our condo with an arrow - if you couldn't figure that out :) From what we are told, we are going to move in late this year..whatever that means. And how is this related to cooking, you may ask? I can't wait to cook in that kitchen!!! :)

Zola's Coca-Cola Cake

I had the honor of making my good friend, EF's, birthday cake for her 30th birthday party this weekend. I am not much of a baker but I was willing to give it a shot since I love her so much! This recipe was passed on from EF's mother...Thanks, Mrs. Frownfelter! The cake turned out SO moist and the coca-cola gives it a nice kick! I will definitely make it again :)

Here's the recipe:

Mix in a saucepan and bring to boil:
1C coca cola
1 stick margarine + a tad
1/2 C oil
4 T cocoa

Remove from stove and add:
1 1/2 C small marshmallows to hot mixture and let melt

Pour this over 2 C sugar and 2 C flour

mix well and add 1/2 C buttermilk
1 t baking soda
2 well beaten eggs
mix well!

bake in greased 9X13 pan
40-45 min @ 350 degrees

Coca Cola Frosting:

3 T cocoa
1 C nuts (pecans- chopped up)
6 T cola
1 stick margarine
1 C small marshmallow
1 t vanilla
1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar

mix cocoa, cola, butter, vanilla and marshmallows.
put on stove and let come to a boil. Pour over sugar and beat with mixer until smooth. Add nuts and pout over warm cake in pan.

I just added the powdered sugar to give it a nice effect in the photo...really not very necessary.

Singapore Curry Noodles with Green Peppers and Shrimp and Curried Cauliflower

For the 4th of July weekend, two friends from high school came to visit. We had a whirlwind adventure visiting NYC for two days and then driving back to D.C. to go to the zoo and see the 4th of July fireworks on the mall. On a quick side note, we saw Avenue Q on Broadway; if it comes to your city - go see it, it's hilarious. My two friends love to cook at least as much as I do so we had discussed ahead of time what recipes we were going to cook up during their trip. My friend brought this cookbook and we decided on the noodle dish and my other friend decided to make her curried cauliflower dish to go with it. I have to give them credit - they did all the cooking but I did set the table! I LOVE this cookbook - we made two recipes from there for our 4th of July picnic - a curried chicken salad and a curry yogurt dip. If anyone is thinking about getting me a random gift anytime soon, here's a worthy present! :)

Spicy Mamma's Mac and Cheese with Corn bread and Wasabi Green Beans

I've never been a fan of mac and cheese. *gasp* - I know, it's a sin in some people's books. I'm convinced it's one of those foods you like because you grew up with it. I did not grow up with that or really any dish laden with cheese. Keep in mind I come from a family whose dad is a very health-conscious vegetarian and mom is a picky eater who is lactose intolerant. So basically Kraft macaroni and cheese never made it to the dinner menu. Even throughout childhood when I would visit people's houses and faced with the opportunity to try out mac and cheese, I had already determined it was a disgusting concept and deemed it as one of my least favorite foods. I do realize in my wise old age that I can't decide I HATE foods without ever trying them. I finally broke down and tried mac and cheese at my husband's parents house a few years ago. I must admit I really didn't want to try it but I figured it would be rude to refuse to eat my dinner based on artificial determination I hate all mac and cheese. Man, it was SO good. So now I'm a pretty big fan of HOMEMADE mac and cheese.

We decided to make dinner with a spicy theme - so we whipped up spicy mac and cheese, spicy cornbread and wasabi green beans. The mac and cheese was a slightly altered version of Mamma's Mac and Cheese from foodtv.com. Here's the altered recipe below:

Mamma's Mac and Cheese
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

1 pound elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups plus 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
*** add 2 - 3 finely chopped chipotles in adobo sauce

Cook the macaroni in boiling water for about 10 minutes until tender but still firm. Drain well and set aside. In a deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour to make a roux and cook, stirring, to remove any lumps. Pour in the milk and cook until the mixture is thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 2 cups Cheddar and continue to cook until melted. ***Add the chopped chipotles and stir*** Add the cooked macaroni and stir. Transfer the mixture to a 2-quart casserole dish. Bake in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the casserole from oven, top with remaining 1/2-cup cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes until hot and bubbly.

The cornbread was made from a bagged cornbread mix but I added chopped chipotles in adobo to taste and a can of corn. Add cilantro if you have it on hand.

For the green beans, I decided to mix a tablespoon or so of sesame oil with one of those small wasabi packets you get when you buy grocery store sushi and use a pastry brush to baste the steamed green beans. I'd definitely make this recipe again and maybe add some sesame seeds to the top next time.

For the record, to this day, I think I still have not eaten mac and cheese from the box...and after eating this recipe, I probably never will :)

Calling All Fellow Food Artists...

My brother has recently discovered his love for cooking so he has joined Patently Delicious to post about his own kitchen exploits. So stay tuned for his postings...

On the same note, I know have many friends who also love to cook so if anyone wishes to post here or make a quick comment about one of their latest creations with a link to their own blog, please let me know and I'll make you a member of Patently Delicious! And no need to have any interest in intellectual property to post here! Especially M-Scribbles (she's really making me look like a slacker), Exuberant B, SMC and brother-in-law S.

The Swedish Chef still cracks me up :)

Roasted Mushroom Salad with Spinach and Bacon paired with Grilled Corn

So we managed to go to the grocery store three times today. First, to stock up at Costco - one of our least favorite tasks because we always manage to spend a ridiculous amount of money and wind up dizzy at the end of the trip. However, today we got to redeem our Costco American Express rebate check so the trip was a lot more like a shopping spree (although we did exhibit some discretion). We kept getting inspired this afternoon after looking at our Mexican cookbooks resulting in multiple trips to the grocery store. Now we have well-stocked kitchen once again (so hopefully stay tuned for more frequent updates) and a pretty full tummy as I type right now.


We decided to go back to one of our favorite cookbooks - Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless and try out a rather simple salad recipe and last minute decided to grill up some corn because Safeway was having a great special. The main working element behind the salad was making a roasted mixture of chunks of thick-cut bacon, sliced mushrooms and red onions. The bacon does a heavenly (yes, heavenly) job of coating the vegetables with grease to make a bacon-flavored, crispy yet moist topping for a bed of spinach leaves. The salad were then topping with a olive oil dressing containing oregano, lime and minced chilies in adobo. We also used this Emeril Lagasse recipe for corn on the grill. Both recipes were major winners...let me know if you want the salad recipe - it's very easy! Clearly, I was pretty pleased with dinner considering I've already posted about it! tee hee!

Oooh, dessert is ready! Hmm...maybe I can cram in one more thing tonight :)

Tortas

Last week, AC and I took a trip to visit his brother and family in Salem, OR. Like us, S and his wife love to cook and basically are foodies. We also share a similar love for Mexican/Central/South American cuisines...in fact, I believe this past Christmas we all gave each other Mexican cookbooks :) I can honestly say I ate very well on this trip with minimal cooking on my part. My favorite meal, S and his wife whipped up, was tortas with his wife's, R, famous rice recipe. AC and I are definitely going to need to make this dish sometime soon! Here's the recipe copied from the blog of S. Oh, btw...I think onions are perhaps the best thing ever on the grill because they carmelize perfectly while staying moist. yum!

(Quantities represent what we use to make 2 sandwiches)

Tortas DF

2 bolillos (basically Mexican-style French rolls -- available at most Mexican bakeries and every Super Wal-Mart in the Willamette Valley)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 avocado, sliced
queso asadero, sliced thin (queso fresco works as well if it's not too crumbly)
pickled sliced jalapenos
mayonnaise
butter or margarine
salt
pepper
chile powder (I generally use hot New Mexico)
olive oil

Cooking
1. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and chile powder. In the winter I tend to thinly slice the chicken, season it, and then saute it in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. In the summer, I season the chicken, grill it, and then thinly slice it after it's grilled. You have one of these, right?

2. Thinly slice the onions into rings. Carmelize with olive oil in a pan over medium to medium-high heat.

3. Slice each bolillo lengthwise. Slather the inner surface with butter or margarine. In a pan with enough flat surface (comal, griddle, saute pan -- I use an 8" Calphalon saute pan for my comal duties) over medium-high heat, place the butter side down of each bolillo-half and cook until the butter surface is browned and the bolillo-half is warm. Be careful not to burn them -- watch your heat level.

Assembly
For each bolillo, slather the bottom half with mayonnaise. Put each bottom down, because now we stack. First, put as many pickled jalapeno slices on top of the mayo as you think you can handle. Second, put the sliced chicken on top of the jalapenos. Third, put the onions on top of the chicken. Fourth, put the thinly sliced cheese on top of the onions. Fifth, put the sliced avocado on top of the cheese. Finally, place the top of the bolillo on the stack. If you are brave, cut it in half.

While in Oregon, we also visited Bend, OR and had some pretty good microbrews at Dechutes Brewery. I was surprised that I actually was enjoying the darker beers - perhaps, when you find quality, it's easier to venture outside of your comfort beer zone. I think our next challenge should be to make our own beer :)

Rosemary and Thyme Vegetable and Shrimp Skewers

Last night, I revisited recipes associated with the South Beach diet. I tried out the diet about this time last year before my wedding and had some pretty good (although temporary) results. One thing I hate about the South Beach diet the lack of inventive recipes. Don't get me wrong - there are some good recipes out there but I think people start getting stuck eating the same thing over and over because they aren't sure what jibes with the diet. I did some research to understand what recipes work with phase 1, got a little inventive and this is what I came up with. I adapted a skewer recipe for shrimp using actual rosemary springs as the skewers and extended it to include some South Beach friendly vegetables. Most of us are used to a bed of some sort of starchy food on our plates so I thought a colorful sea of grilled veggies could do the trick.

The skewers were very simple. Buy jumbo-sized, de-shelled and de-veined shrimp - about 6 - 7 per person, cover with enough olive oil to lightly coat the shrimp and add about 2 sprigs of thyme and 1 spring of rosemary per serving. Reserve the stems from the rosemary to make skewers (keep a little bit of rosemary at the end for a nice visual touch) - soak the skewers in water while letting the shrimp marinate covered in the fridge for at least an hour. Meanwhile, chop up veggies such as onions, bell peppers and squash (the more colorful, the better), lightly coat with oil, add a few springs worth of thyme and rosemary and marinate covered in the fridge as well for at least an hour. I'd personally do them on the grill but a stove-top grill pan worked well as an alternative. Just make sure to use a method where high heat is used to get a nice caramelized surface on the veggies. Top the cooked shrimp and veggies with a bit of sea or kosher salt.

For the mojitos, I used Sierra Mist Free, a few crushed leaves of mint and the juice of one lime per serving. Maybe throw in a bit of Splenda if you want that extra sweet taste. Remember, South Beach phase 1 says no alcohol!

Pleaseeasaur

No, I didn't cook a extinct animal for dinner last night.

Although I prefer to keep this blog cooking related, I sure haven't been doing much of cooking of interest due to a busy end of the semester for school and my new running interval training. So I thought I'd give you a little taste of what I've been up to lately - well, a taste of the fun stuff. On Friday night, AC and I went to Black Cat, our favorite local concert spot, to see one of his latest obsessions, Pinback. We usually do a little research on the opening band but somehow managed to show up to the concert having little knowledge about what we were about to experience. In short, Pleaseeasaur is freaking ridiculous. The stage was set-up with a little tinsel curtain sandwiched between two projection screens which did not seem anything out of ordinary. Usually, for acoustic set-ups, they might block off the rest of the stage in order to have the other band set-up behind the divider. But no, this was purely there to assist in Pleaseeasaur's gimmick. Basically, a guy named JP Hasson leaps through the tinsel curtains in one ridiculous outfit after another and spews out stupid lyrics for songs titled "Bowl Noodle Hot", "I Hate Dog Shit", "Beef Flavored Island", "Pizza Bros. and Sons Inc." and "No Prob Limo ". The songs are accompanied by graphics from old coloring books in some cases animated by a dude in a booth in the back which correspond with the hard hitting issues of the song. I can't say it wasn't entertaining. It definitely took my mind off the term paper I should have been writing that night...but seriously, I really question the sanity of anyone over the age of 8 who would actually buy their DVD or CD. I thought that Pleaseeasaur got the gig of opening for Pinback because he was one of band member's crazy and clingy brother but no...these guys actually have a multi-album deal with Comedy Central!

Stay tuned...I'm making a South Beach phase 1 friendly meal for a friend tonight who is on week 2 of the diet. Perhaps, I'll be sporting a Pleaseeasaur Pizza Apron :)

Overloaded with Ham

Things to do with Easter ham leftovers:






Cuban Sandwiches










Honey Ham and Sherried Mushroom Soup





If anyone wants my recipe for a Cuban sandwich, let me know. :)

Also, I am a huge fan of Cuban sandwiches and I'm not always in the mood to make them, any suggestions for a good Cuban restaurant in the area? I am so craving a Cuban sandwich right now! Almost tempted to make a weekend trip to ATL to get a Kool's Korner Cuban. YUM!

Early Easter Feast

I know it's ridiculous...I'm really slacking on posting these days. Instead of spewing out excuses, I'll just make this short and sweet so I can catch up to my most recent dishes.

The day before Easter, I picked my brother up in Baltimore after my grad school class lab, stuffed my brother with early Easter dinner and put him back on a train back up to Baltimore all in a few hours. We did manage to get some of the dishes done ahead of time and AC was able to get all the stuff done on my requested to-do list so the major cooking on Saturday really only involved the ham. I have never made a ham before and if you get it already spiral-cut, it's pretty easy to make the glaze that is almost like the glaze on the store-bought Honey-Baked(TM) ham and voilà!

To accompany the ham, we had ambrosia (food of the gods!), scalloped pineapple, roasted asparagus, assorted tasty breads, home-made mashed potatoes...













...and a disastrous caramel crunch and vanilla ice-cream cake.














The apartment was simply too hot to keep the ice cream still on the cake layers. If closed your eyes and ate quickly, it really was a mighty fine cake :)

I'm never doing that again.

Seared Salmon with Tomatillo Coulis

I really hope that making recipes which incorporate a coulis doesn't make me a food snob. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a definition of coulis (see green substance resting on the piece of salmon).

AC and I have been watching a relatively new reality show (*gasp* - yet a new reality show has made it to the airwaves?) called Top Chef and one of the more obnoxious contestants always manages always to incorporate a coulis into all his recipes. He also is WAY too creative for his own good and the king of crazy fusion - check this recipe he made for a challenge that was aimed at housewives. Ridiculous! But I digress...if any of his famed coulis (how do you make that word plural?) are half as good as this one, then I approve of his snobbery.

Overall, the recipe for Seared Salmon with Tomatillo Coulis was incredible.

I really have nothing to complain about but definitely have learned a few good things from this cooking experience.

#1 - Incorporating fresh herbs into shallow slits on the surface of fish results in an incredibly tasty dish.
#2 - I love my food processor and seriously don't know how we'd cook without it.
#3 - Bring on more coulis!

On a side note, a friend bought me a mini tripod for my birthday and a book on photography to help me out with my food photos. Plus, she knows I've been dying for a SLR digital camera so she wants me to be informed before I make the splurge. I did not get a chance to fully utilize the tripod for this picture because I still need to figure out how to rotate the tripod 90 degrees to get a nice shot from above. I'm working on it though....Thanks again! Very thoughtful gift.

Leek, Potato and Tarragon Soup

My parents were in town over the weekend to visit me and my brother who is attending school in Baltimore. They have always heard me talk about cooking but I think they had yet to have a full meal cooked by me. I made the snapper recipe which I posted about on February 8 along with a newly found recipe called Leek, Potato and Tarragon Soup. My dad is very health-conscious so I was concerned about making a creamy soup but this recipe smartly uses a combination of plain yogurt and light whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream. I would have taken a picture of the whole spread but I forgot...but here's picture of the next day's leftover.

Thanks for all the great photography tips. Maybe now that we are in daylight savings time, I can actually cook and photograph a meal during daylight. I took this picture in the kitchen with the flash off - I think I got somewhat better results but my laminate countertop doesn't provide a pretty background.

But back to the soup...I highly recommend this soup but I would add a few more potatoes to make the soup a bit chunkier and more substantial to suffice as a meal on its own. My brother got shipped back up to school the day before so he didn't get to enjoy the food but I'm sure he had some tasty n' greasy college cuisine. Sorry, DB!

On a side note, did anyone actually enjoy their college dining hall food? :)

Not Such a Novel Idea

I don't know if jealousy is quite the correct term but I'm definitely envious.

Yet another Patent Examiner's cooking blog

I don't know if I should hate her and her perfect photography or meet her and borrow her camera. :)

Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallots

It's official - spring is here. But why does it feel like typical winter weather is just picking up? Well, since it's still freezing out, I think it's totally justified to eat a filling, starchy recipe like Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallots. I think the recipe is considered "light" because the suggested amount of pasta is only 4 ounces. Although I decided to throw the entire bag of pappardelle into the pot, I think 4 ounces per 3 cups of butternut squash is totally reasonable. I love the flavor combination of the roasted squash, brown sugar, shallots and sage but the chunks of butternut squash were quite a mouthful. I think making a pureed version of this combination would make a great filling for fresh ravioli...we'll see. :)