par-tay sushi style

Each spring I think to myself that this summer I won't let it pass me by. I'll do all of those things I think about doing in the winter. I'll do yoga outside in my yard. I'll go paddle boating on the canal. I'll have parties at my house. This year I actually did number 3. I did number 1 too, but it was terrible. The mosquitoes feasted on downward facing dog, flies buzzed in my ears when I was attempting inner peace. It was terrible, take it from me, do yoga inside. Back to number 3; I had a sushi party for my camp girls and a few other people. My camp girls are the girls I met when I was, oh, 12 or so at summer camp and we've been friends ever since.

The theme of the party was make your own sushi. I provided sushi fixin's:

1 pound sushi grade tuna

1/2 pound cooked salmon grilled on a cedar plank and shredded

1 chicken breast cooked with ginger and soy sauce cooked and shredded

soy papers instead of sea weed

carrots cut into matchsticks

avocado thinly sliced

cucumber cut into match sticks

spicy sauce (I actually made my own spicy sauce. I couldn't find it pre-made and the woman at the asian market told me how to make it myself. It takes about 1/3 cup asian mayo, 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine, 5 drops sesame seed oil, and 2 teaspoons what looks like dried asian red pepper flake spice mix...the writing on it is Chinese, so I can't tell you the name.)

I wanted to have some sides, so I made a goat cheese and tomato tart. Okay. It totally goes against the theme but who cares? It's a goat cheese and tomato tart! I got the recipe from food network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tomato-and-goat-cheese-tarts-recipe/index.html

My friend Michelle was also so kind as to pick up a couple orders of crab rangoon from the nearest Chinese strip mall carry out. Why do all of those places have the exact same menu? Does it worry anyone else? I have visions of a Chinese mafia scheme...

Oh! And the beverage of the evening! How could I almost forget to talk about the alcohol?!

The Perfect Mojitos

(to be made in a pint glass)

2 shots of white rum (I use bacardi)

1 cup of club soda

the juice of 1 lime with half of it cut into wedges and tossed in the glass

5-10 mint leaves torn

cane sugar simple syrup to taste (to make a simple syrup simmer 1 part water with 2 parts sugar. I used cane sugar or raw sugar for my mojito syrup)

serve over ice

These are damn good mojitos, damn good.

The sushi was amazing. I thought that maybe sushi restaurants had some ancient asian wisdom magic to make it so delicious. I man, it's so simple. soy paper, sushi rice, veggies, fish, and maybe a sauce. I made myself some spicy tuna rolls and it is as good as anything I've had in any sushi place. Okay, maybe it wasn't as pretty and maybe it kind of fell apart when I dipped it in my soy sauce and I had sushi soy sauce soup, but it was incredibly delicious. The tomato-goat cheese tart was also delicious and very impressive looking as well. It was very very rich and I might use half of the amount of goat cheese and double the tomato. Take note, this may be the first time in my life that I actually reduced the amount of cheese in something.

Dessert was a chocolate ganache cake. I baked it myself. Totally. Seriously. I did. I swear. I also purchased a cake box to put it in and I made a dark chocolate square to sit in the middle of the cake, and I painted the words The Fresh Market in white chocolate. I also printed off a fake price tag to stick on the box. Yep. I slaved over that cake.

Sieze the summer before it's gone and it's cold and nasty and all you want to do is eat pig fat fried in pig fat while watching CSI reruns.

Shanghi Lil

I can't think of too many things that makes me feel happier than a good meal with my husband. Not so long ago Brian was what we might term 'a picky eater'. According to his mother, he would eat little more than hot dogs, mac and cheese, and Honey Nut Cheerios. While I did not start his epiphany into the wonderful world of food, I fancy myself a catalyst in the way gasoline might be considered a catalyst to a fire. I would have burned his ass up had he not expanded his palate. Now he uses words like 'mouthfeel' and 'layering of flavors', and other sexy phrases. We enjoy eating together and discussing the food and dare I say it-trying new things.

I pass Shanghai Lil on my way to Kohl's for the world famous Kohl's Extravaganza shopping trip with my mom whenever one of us get the 30% off coupon in the mail. For some reason I had the impression that Shanghai Lil is really expensive, and compared to strip mall takeout Chinese places it is, but considering the level of the deliciousness that far exceeds any General Tso's chicken, it is a bargain.

The interior of the restaurant was lovely and was devoid of the faux gilded plaster of paris wall hangings, and other standard Chinese restaurant decorations that I can't decide if are actually part of the Chinese culture or are simply used because we westerners think they are part of the Chinese culture. Our waiter was full of personality, offering a critique of our order (we changed it to reflect his recommendations), and stories about his mom making him a special soup when he came home on college holidays. We surmised that our waiter is the son of the two owners. If you prefer waiters to simply take the orders and bring drink refills, this young man would not please you, but I liked him.

Brian and I ordered from the Dim Sum menu, which is a lot like Spanish tapas-small portions meant to share, and you are meant to order many different items. We ordered pork dumplings, spicy Thai soup, stuffed eggplant, a scallion pancake with sliced steak inside, and sweet rice cooked inside a banana leaf. We also ordered jasmine tea.

Dim sum=yum yum. The only item I didn't like was the pork dumplings. They weren't spiced or flavored much so it was basically a hung of ground pork in a dumpling wrapper and steamed. The stuffed eggplant was sublime, and was also one of our waiter's recommendations. When in doubt, ask your waiter. The eggplant was wrapped around a mixture of pork and veggies, breaded, and then fried. So flavorful. The scallion pancake was also delicious. The soup was an incredible bargain. It was loaded with slices of steak, noodles, a rich beef broth, and noodles, and was very very good. My one complaint was that the tea wasn't as good as the food. I generally like jasmine tea, but it was strangely mild like maybe it was a tad stale, or maybe it is traditional tea and I'm just unaccustomed.

We were unable to finish all of the food and had ordered 5 items, so I'd recommend 2 items per person. We took the food home and it all heated up in the oven really well. Quick tip for you, it's totally worth it to spend the 10 minutes preheating the oven, and the 10 minutes it takes to reheat food if that food has any crispiness at all in it's first cooked state. The microwave makes a soggy mess out of pizza, french fries, fried anything. Protect your investment and use the oven not the microwave. The cost was so reasonable, so maybe I was wrong that it was expensive in comparison to strip mall Chinese. It was about $30.00 for our dim sum feast.

I'm sure Brian's mom is jealous of me for getting to enjoy Brian's expanded food palate. "He ate eggplant??? And liked it?!" But I'm jealous that she got to enjoy grounding him and smacking him around when he was bad, which she never took advantage of, I might add. Talk about wasted opportunities. We all have our burdens to bare, for example I have to discuss things in a calm rational manner with Brian when he irritates me. I'm not allowed to make him go pick out his own switch from the tree and beat him with it. See? Life is hard all around.

I absolutely recommend Shanghai Lil. It is located across from the fashion mall at Keystone and the Crossing. 8505 Keystone Crossing. Try the eggplant, you'll love it.

Harry and Izzy's

Harry & Izzy’s

I had dinner with Payton Manning. This statement means very little to me as I was a little foggy on who exactly Payton Manning was, but apparently this is very exciting to some people. I'm also exaggerating a little. I had dinner a few tables over from Payton Manning. I didn't sit with him at his table, and frankly had I been invited, I would have declined. Of all of the people in the world I'd be breathless to meet, Mr. Manning isn't one of them. No offense. I'm sure he throws a real good football, but the ability to get a ball over a certain line means nothing to me.

This event took place at Harry and Izzy's, the sister to St. Elmo's Steakhouse. In a word:disappointing, and not just because it was Payton Manning there instead of Kristen Chenoweth. St. Elmo's is kind of a big deal. It is often featured in national magazine articles about America's best steakhouses. Harry and Izzy's was named after the founders of St. Elmo's, only a little more casual and the menu a little more expansive.

The decor is inviting and warm. I was a little surprised by the boxing stats on the wall, and the fact that it seems to be trying to be an upscale sport's restaurant. As you can probably guess, sport's places are not my cup of tea. The menu featured steaks, some salads, pasta, pizza, and sandwiches. They have a decent sized bottle wine list but a small glass wine list, and none of the wines were under $9.00 a glass. I ordered a pear martini and my husband ordered a vodka martini with a lemon twist. We ordered a cheese and fruit plate for an appetizer. None of the entrees really caught my fancy so I ordered the roasted beet salad and a bowl of the soup de jour-lobster bisque. My husband ordered the rack of lamb.

The fruit and cheese plate was kind of...lack luster. I've got to tell you that I got a better fruit and cheese plate at Deano's Vino in Fountain Square. I would have expected that the sister restaurant to St. Elmo's cheese plate would be transcendent and far superior to a cheese plate from a place with a name like Deano's Vino, but I was sorely mistaken. The cheese were less rich and flavorful. The aged Gouda was mild and I've never had a mild aged Gouda. The fruit was nice and fresh.

My beet salad was next. I must make a full disclosure. I don't like beets. Prior to Harry and Izzy's, I've never had beets at anywhere except MCL when I was 8 and I got them because I thought they were so beautiful, but I found that the beauty belied a nasty inner nature that tasted like burnt manure, much like a chick named Tina at my school who was beautiful but a bitch. Beets=Tina. I thought to myself that I should try them again at a fine dining establishment like Harry and Izzy's, because if I was ever going to enjoy beets, my best chance was having them prepared by a real chef. I don't like beets. They are still beautiful, red-purple jewels nesting in among vibrant greens...lovely but still have the inner nature of Tina. I was easily able to eat around the beets and enjoy the rest of my salad-orange slices, goat cheese, candied walnuts, all with the sweet inner nature of yours truly. The salad was delicious, but frankly something I could and would make at home (sans beets).

The description of my husband's rack of lamb was food erotica. "Lamb rack pan seared with orange zest, rosemary, mustard and red wine". It arrived on the table and looked fabulous. My lobster bisque also arrived, thick and rich in the bowl. The soup was lovely, but again lacked something. I can't tell you what but it just wasn't It. The lamb was perfectly cooked to medium rare but the orange zest was bitter and fought with the red wine for dominance. Again, it just didn't hit the mark.

We didn't get dessert. Maybe dessert would have been so good that I would have forgotten all of the not-quite-rightness of the meal.

We could blame my high expectations for my disappointment. When I go to a restaurant prepared to spend over $100 for two people, I want to be wowed, I expect to be wowed. I expect that when I take that first bite, my eyes will be compelled to shut and I will chew slowly, and my inner foodie will stretch and purr like a contented cat. I expect that each bite will fill my mouth with joy. I didn't have that experience.

I have heard from others that Harry and Izzy's make a great place to have lunch. The pizzas are great and the steak sandwiches are really good too. I doubt I'll go back, but if I did, it would be for lunch.

Oh, and Payton. He was kinda tall and kinda wide. He was wearing jeans and a blue and white button down shirt. He was with a group of guys-like 3 or 4 that I didn't recognize. I didn't hear or care to hear what they were talking about. A woman did approach Mr. Manning and ask for a photo. I didn't see if she got it or not. I didn't see if he was polite or not. I did spare a moment to feel sorry for him that he can't go out with his buddies without being approached, but then I remembered that he makes a bajillion dollars a year playing a game. Mo' money mo' problems Payton, remember that.

Keeping it local for 5 days...

I'm always interested in those people who take challenges to eat locally for a certain period of time. A great read for those of you who are interested in such things is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Kingslover. She and her family eat locally for an entire year. As I said, it's very interesting...but I don't want to be one of those people frankly. First of all, I don't garden. I have a black thumb and I don't like to get dirty, buggy and hot. Nothing sounds more horrible than being on my hands and knees in July weeding some 10X10 piece of rock hard dry earth pulling weeds while gnats fly up my nose. Yuck. (My lack of desire to actually tend the garden may just be why it dies, shocking though I know that is.) I'd rather go to a market and simply purchase my produce from someone who obviously has a passion for gardening or farming. Second, I'm kinda busy. I have hobbies and friends and TV to watch, I don't want to take the sheer time it would take to eat 99% local! Third, I do enjoy certain foods that I don't think Indiana can produce, like good peaches and limes.




All of that being said, I do see so much value in eating locally. There are many reasons and I won't bore you with a long lecture but I will bore you with a short one. First, nearly 20% of all of the oil used in the world is used for farming and transporting food. Imagine all of the pollution that our earth endures to get you some Argentina strawberries in January. However, if I get my strawberries from a farm the next town over, that amount of fossil fuel used is much less. Second, a few years ago I had a staff infection that got out of control. I was on tons of antibiotics but eventually had to be hospitalized to receive 15 bags of IV antibiotics. I rarely take antibiotics so I know it wasn't ME who made my body resistant to the life saving medications. 25% of the antibiotics produced in the USA go into our food animals. In turn, these go into us. If animals are allowed space and their natural food source, they don't need those antibiotics to stay healthy. Third, if my money stays in Indiana, it enriches the economy that I live in. Okay, I could go on, but I will spare you because I promised it would be short and I always keep my promises.

My goal is to have 20%+ of my food to be from a local source. I think this is a pretty darn reasonably goal. Let's see how I did.




Sunday- Pan Roasted chicken legs with herb butter, sauteed greens, and strawberries.

• local- chicken legs, herbs, greens, strawberries



• not local-olive oil, butter, salt, pepper

Monday- The Perfect Salad (salad greens, strawberries, goat cheese, candied pecans, balsamic vinaigrette, balsamic chicken).

• 
  local-chicken, salad greens, strawberries



• not local-goat cheese, candied pecans, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper

Tuesday- Chipotle pasta in a cream sauce with red peppers and chicken

• local- pasta (I got it at the farmer's market...I have no idea where the pasta maker got the ingredients), chicken, red pepper



• not local- cream sauce (it was from a jar), Mrs. Dash Chipolte Seasonings, salt and pepper, olive oil

Wednesday- Red pepper pasta in a tomato-cream sauce with red peppers, onions, fresh mozzarella.

• local- pasta, red pepper, onions, garlic, tomatoes



• not local- cream, red pepper flake, mozzarella, Ramano cheese, salt and pepper

Thursday- Fried chicken breasts, sauteed greens, salad

• local- chicken, garlic, greens, salad greens

• not local-olive oil, bacon, balsamic vinaigrette dressing, salt and pepper

So I think I'm doing pretty well. I have learned that the work comes in shopping for the foods. Once you have them in your kitchen it is natural to use them. I think what stops most people is that you can't decide what you are eating before shopping because if you are eating seasonally, what if what you decided upon isn't around? My strategy is to go to the market, see what's in my CSA (I pick it up in the market), go off to the side and plan a couple meals in the head based on that information. Most of what I make isn't terribly fancy-just a few ingredients.

A quick word on the financial cost of eating locally. The produce is pretty much on par with Kroger prices, often cheaper (since you aren't trucking it in from Assbackwards God Knows Where). Meat is a different story. Meat is significantly more expensive. I know I can get Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale at Kroger for $1.97 a pound. I've not seen the same product for sale by a local farmer for less than $5.00 a pound. I've found it is the most cost effective to purchase whole roaster birds and break them down yourself. Keep the bones so you can make chicken stock to offset some of the cost. I've gotten roasters from Kroger for $6.00. Most of my roasters from the farmer's market are $13.00+. A dozen eggs from Kroger is under a dollar. A dozen eggs from a local farmer is $3.00. It is more. However, when I add it all up, it costs us about $50.00-$75.00 more a month to buy ALL (and I don't buy all local meat. I really like my steaks to have been never frozen, and I haven't found decent local bacon...and you know how I loves me some bacon...) local meat. That's a lot to me, but it's less than my husband and my cell phone bills. It's less than what we pay for cable TV. In the end, it's worth it to me to know that the animals lived happy healthy lives and were killed humanely, and to know that my meat is safer to eat.

Salad Days

I got my first CSA bag! It contained mostly salad greens which just makes my day. I freakin' love salad. It's gotta be one of my top 5 foods. Is there any other food that humans eat that bring us so close to nature? "When we're eating salad we're behaving a lot like herbivores, drawing as close as we ever do to all those creatures who bend their heads down to the grass, or reach up into the trees, to nibble on plant leaves. We add only the thinnest veneer of culture to these raw leaves, dressing them in oil and vinegar. Much virtue attaches to this kind of eating, for what do we regard as more wholesome than tucking into a pile of green leaves?" (The Omnivore's Dilemma). My bag of leaves...I mean 'salad greens'...got me to thinking about my favorite salads.


The Perfect Salad

Mixed greens
1 chicken breast
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
1 dollop of Dijon mustard
6 or so strawberries (if strawberries aren't in season, dried cranberries are also awesome)
an inch or so of goat cheese
a small handful of candied pecans (Trader Joe's has the BEST CANDIED PECANS EVER)

Pound out your chicken flat. This is really easy to do. You can use a meat tenderizer (the smooth side) or the bottom of a skillet. Wrap the chicken loosely in plastic wrap. This prevents tiny raw chicken pieces or chicken water splattering everywhere. Then pound away until the chicken is about half as thick as it was. This is a great stress reliever. Your boss Mr. Benson make you angry? Name your raw chicken Mr. Benson and POUND POUND POUND! Eat that Mr. Benson. Place your flat chicken into a baggie and add 2 tablespoons of balsamic, 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil (depending on how strong you like your balsamic taste), rosemary, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Marinate the chicken for at least 20 minutes.

Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of balsamic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the dollop of Dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake to combine.

Heat a skillet to high and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and add the chicken. The chicken is super thin and can be cooked really fast. Brown each side of the chicken on high and then turn down the heat to low and caramelize each side. I discovered this trick when I was trying to hold this chicken for a late dinner guest. I almost blackened the chicken on each side and then I left it in the pan on low and all of a sudden this amazing thing happened...dark carmel liquid was coating each side of the chicken. Apparently the sugars in the balsamic were melting and becoming this amazing sweet coating on the chicken. So. Good.

Slice the chicken and let cool while you assemble the greens, sliced strawberries, crumbled goat cheese, and candied pecans. Drizzle with your homemade balsamic vinaigrette and top with the warm chicken. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get in this salad.


Whenever I hear someone say that they don't like salad, I think to myself 'they've never had my salads'. I think many people picture salads as those sad iceberg lettuce Titanic nightmares that have almost frozen cherry tomatoes on the side, two wedges of cucumber and the entire frightful thing is drowning in Hidden Valley Ranch knockoff dressing. Enter salad number two.


Bacon Lettuce Tomato Goat Cheese Carrot Egg Tomato Salad (also known as the BLTGCCETS)

3 strips bacon
couple handfuls of the greens of your choice
Tomatoes (I love cherry tomatoes slice in half for this, but you can also chop up a full sized garden tomato)
1 carrot peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 inch of goat cheese
1 hard boiled egg
drizzle of your favorite tomato vinaigrette salad dressing

Cook your bacon and crumble it over the greens. (You only need 2 strips for the salad, the third strip is for munching on while you finish the rest of the assembly. You can thank me later for this little tip because if you're like me, you'd finish the bacon before the salad is ready. Oooohhh bacon, my loins do quiver for you!) Toss on tomatoes and carrots, crumble up your goat cheese and egg over the salad, and drizzle with the tomato vinaigrette. If you want to make your own dressing, be my guest. Here's a link to tell you how: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,171,155168-245193,00.html but I'm using the stuff I bought. Let me know how the scratch turns out.

I wondered where the term 'salad days' came from and I found out that the origin is from a Shakespeare play in which Cleopatra refers to her 'salad days' meaning that she was green, carefree, youthful and inexperienced. I always assumed it meant something about trying to stay thin. Damn this body obsessed culture of ours! Salads are fun, carefree and youthful. Here is a whimsical salad that reminds me of how fun salads can be.

Brie and Champagne salad

5 thin slices of the creamiest brie you can find
a couple handfuls of your favorite greens
1/4th of a green apple sliced waffer thin
2 tablespoons champagne (my favorite is prosecco, but Trader Joe's has a bottle of Asti that's like $5...who can resist $5 champagne?!)
2 tablespoons of your favorite honey mustard dressing


Combine the champagne and honey mustard dressing. Arrange the brie and apple slices on top of the greens. I do a pretty spiral pattern, but I guess that's masturbatory. Top with the champagne-honey mustard dressing. Creamy, dreamy, crisp...good.

Salads don't have to have lettuce greens in them of course. Salads can be any food mixture tossed with a moist dressing. Ewwww. I hate the word 'moist'. Okay, I like the word when in conjunction with the word 'cake; but other than that, it creeps me out. Moist. Moist. Moist. Moist. Moist. Moist. Moist. See, it's weird isn't it? Anyway, we all know there are fruit salads and macaroni salad etc etc. Here is my favorite non-lettuce salad.

Tomato-Mozzarella-Basil-Balsamic salad

Garden fresh tomatoes (any in-season fresh tomato will work. Do Not Attempt With A Rock Hard Crap Tomato From Your Megamart In December. It. Will. Not. Do. It. Justice.)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh basil ripped or chopped
a golf ball size chunk of mozzarella (This is the stuff you find in the cheese section of your deli. The stuff in water, not the pre-shredded stuff by the pull-n-bake cookies. God those cookies are good. Damn them for making cookies so delicious and easy!)


Simmer the balsamic until it is reduced into a syrup about the consistency of maple syrup. When it cools, it will get thicker...so watch out. Chunk up your mozzarella into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl. Chop tomatoes and place in the bowl. Lightly salt and pepper the tomatoes. Top with the basil. Pour the balsamic glaze over the entire thing. Eat with a spoon and try not to moan so loud you wake the neighbors.

So there you have it. My favorite salads. What are your favorite salads?

Roast a Roast

It's my five year anniversary! You know what that means, right? It means lots and lots of good food. Celebrations give us permission to eat the way we'd like to eat all of the time-trying new possibly pricey restaurants, and making new meals with exciting ingredients and more time consuming and involved. Brian and I have gender typical food preferences. He likes very meaty meals, and I like vegetable heavy meals with lots of sauces and herbs. I love to try new things, so it's mostly me making the compromises on what we eat, and tonight especially we made a Brian-friendly meal: a rosemary crusted roast with sauteed sugar snap peas and salads.

3/4 cup panko crumbs

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon olive oil

pinch salt and pepper

2 tablespoons or so of Dijon mustard

2 pound beef roast of your choice. (I think this would be rocking with lamb too. You are looking for some nice marbling through the meat because you are roasting it and you want it to be juicy. Sirloin roast or a rib roast would be good. Eye-of-round or top round will be okay if it's good quality but otherwise might be a little dry. The more regular and even the roast is shaped, the better it will be, so it isn't rare in the thick part and overcooked in the thin parts.)

Preheat oven to 375. Heat a medium skillet to rippin' hot. Put down a vegetable oil with a high smoke point, like sunflower oil or canola oil (olive oil will smoke if you do the oh so scientific heat of rippin' hot) and brown the roast on all sides...get some nice color going. Mix up the top 6 ingredients in a bowl while the roast rests and gets cooler so you can touch it without crying for your mommy. Whatever you do, DO NOT wash that skillet yet. We are going to use all of those nice brown little bits for a dipping sauce. Brush the roast with the Dijon mustard and pat your bread crumb mixture on to make the crust part of the crusted roast. If you have a roasting pan, pop it in the rack and into the oven. If you don't, you're going to have to deal with the fact that you just aren't going to get crust on the bottom of the roast. Put it in a cake pan and into the oven. Bake until it is between 125 and 130 degrees. You have to rest roasts for around 10 minutes and during those 10 minutes, it will continue to cook and you will get to 140 to 145 degrees. Beware the carryover! I used to forget and pull the roast out when it was medium rare and it would carryover to medium well! Noooooooooo! It was such a let down to cut into what I thought was going to be one of those perfect bright red roasts covered by a layer or delicious brown crust and instead I got a greyish-pink roast...but it was still covered by delicious brown crust.

Now to get a crack at that dipping sauce. I do so love dipping sauces. I love condiments of almost any type. French fries are vehicles for ketchup, mayo on chicken sandwiches should be so thick it's dripping off the sides. I make so much sauce for Mongolian beef that it's almost like a soup and I eat it with a spoon. YUM.

2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 shot of Cognac

1/4 cup of half and half

Wisk all of those ingredients into the pan drippings over medium heat to combine. Taste for needed salt or pepper. Okay kids, a little safety lesson. We all know that alcohol is highly flammable right? Right. So when you add the Cognac, turn OFF the flame until it's mixed into the other ingredients and the proof will be lower and less likely to flame up. Also, have a large lid available and always have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Duh. Make sure to scrap all of the drippings off of the pan into the sauce. This sauce is beyond good. I pour it on green beans, sugar snap peas, sop it up with bread... This is also the sauce I use to pour over plain steaks...I mean, how could it not be good? It's got cream, mustard, and alcohol. Done and done.

The sugar snap peas are so easy and versatile. This is one of those dishes that you make over and over because of how delicious and easy it is.

1 pound or so of sugar snap peas

3 cloves garlic diced

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Add the sugar snap peas and saute until almost fork tender. Add the garlic and toss to combine and cook until fork tender. Season with salt and pepper. I KNOW! So easy! I also do this with fresh green beans. Yum yum yum.

Brian and I have very different salad styles. Brian always has the same salad: greens, Romano cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper. I like to have more going on on my salads. My favorite salad is as follows: greens, sliced strawberries, goat cheese, candied pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette.

So there you have it, my anniversary meal. We served it with a lovely bottle of spicy Spanish red wine. Sangria has been my downfall many an evening and now I've discovered the wine! Oh you naughty Spaniards!

Biscuits

Ah Sunday mornings. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and my favorite yoga class of the week is at 11:00am on Sundays...but I went to Biscuits with Brian. Instead of down dogging, I'm downing french toast. Hey, in my defense, we had serious yard work to do today, hauling around 60 million pounds of mulch and I needed the carbs.

Biscuits is easy to overlook located in a strip mall in Broadripple at 1035 Broadripple Ave. It's across from the Kinkos. The place fascinates me because it has traditional American breakfast foods, like pancakes and bacon, and it also has authentic Mexican food like burritos and chile rellenos. It's a breakfast/Mexican place. I can't attest to the Mexican food part of Biscuits because I have only gone there for breakfast.

This place feels and looks like a traditional diner, with the classic diner chairs and tables. There is a small seating area outside, which is always a nice option. I ordered a diet coke, and it tasted kind of funny, like the soda/syrup mix was off. Hmmmm. Screwing up diet coke is not a good sign, and I was so hopeful because of the crushed ice it had. I love crushed iced. I ordered breakfast combo 7: two pieces of french toast, two eggs, and your choice of breakfast meat. I asked for my eggs to be scrambled and my meat to be bacon. Oh bacon, how I love thee...especially covered in maple syrup. I've been known to put a piece of bacon in the middle of my soup and fill the soup with maple syrup and suck it down like soup. Try it, you'll LOVE it. They had lots of good combos to chose from and they all cost $6.50 which I think is very affordable. Brian got combo 3 which was hash browns, eggs, toast, and bacon. Again, only $6.50. Contrary to the diet coke experience, the food was really good. Basic diner fare, nothing surprising or dazzling, but solidly good, which is exactly what you want sometimes, you know? I don't always need to have some hidden ingredient or elaborate presentation. Brian's food was exactly the same way-solid, dependably good, and predictable.

The waitstaff must divide their work differently than most places because I think we had three different waitresses at different times. It was fine, they all were like the food-solid and good. Refills came at good times, we were asked if we needed anything, the bill came quickly, I have no complaints.

Biscuits is a good place to go if you are looking for a classic diner/greasy spoon breakfast. If you are one of those people who think the best handover cure is a big breakfast full of simple carbs and breakfast meats, this is the place for you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw some people there who were struggling with the morning after oh-god-jagermeister-is-evil look on their faces, and I even saw some people nipping off of a Budweiser at 10:30am. Hair of the dog, anyone? Which reminds me, yes, they do have some bottled beer. I've never looked at it because beer before 5:00pm is a little sick-making to me, but hey I won't judge you (much) if you enjoy a Corona at 9:00am.

The only thing I feel a little sad about is that I didn't try the biscuits at Biscuits, but there's always a next time.

Actually Mmm Mmm Good!

A few days ago I contracted the swine flu virus. I realize I probably should say that due to legal liability crap since I don't actually know that it was the swine flu and the actual probability of it being the swine flu is minuscule to none, and it's not even the "swine" flu, it's h1n1 or some such nonsense, but I just really wanted to say I had the swine flu even though my symptoms didn't match the h1n1 symptoms or anything, but it just sounds pretty badass. Plus I just love to mock the hysterical reactionists out there who hear a handful of symptoms and suddenly think the world is coming to an end. Oh God! PIG FLU WILL KILL US ALL! Loyal readers, I found the cure to swine flu, dog flu, cat flu, hamster flu, and even parakeet flu (but not guinea pig flu...that's a tougher nut to crack) and it's my homemade chicken noodle soup.

We've been talking a lot about chicken and chicken stock, and this is a perfect application for your homemade chicken stock. It's the circle of life for a chicken; be born from an egg and grow into a roaster, be roasted with TWO butters, and then be made into chicken stock. Of course chicken stock has many applications, but the most obvious one to me is chicken noodle soup.

2 cups chicken stock

1 small handful of egg noodles

1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped OR 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Optional: 1 large carrot peeled and chopped into thin disks, 1 large rib of celery chopped thinly, fully cooked chicken scraps, lemon slice

Bring your stock to a simmer and add your optional veggies and chicken. I use carrots only. I don't add extra chicken and I don't really like the stringiness of celery. Simmer veggies with lid on the pot for 5 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook for as long as the noodle package says to cook. If you are used dried parsley, add the parsley 3 minutes before cook time is up. If you are using fresh, then hit the soup with your herbs about 30 seconds before cook time is up. A squeeze of fresh lemon over the top of the bowl right before eating makes everything bright and fresh.

This meal is a food hug. If you make it for someone else, it shows how much you love that person and that you want them to feel better. I felt better after making it for myself, because self love is the greatest love of all.