Fancy Schmancy Sandwiches

Ok, it's not really a sandwich I guess, but I wanted Eggs Benedict, and am trying to save $.  We can call it open faced.  The internet has many hollandaise sauce recipes but I chose Alton Brown's less complicated one.  Considering I'm not one for high maintenance recipes, I'd say it wasn't so bad.

 

 The thing is, it's not re-heatable in the microwave. Might I recommend re-heating the same way you cook it.  Otherwise everything separates!!!!

In my desperate scramble to save the sauce I thought.... well it's just butter and yolk, butter will solidify again in the fridge.  No. The answer is no it will not come out the same. Even if you whisk it.

Lesson learned, but I still think my cooking mojo is jinxed.

Meanwhile, in Vegas we visited the Earl of Sandwich at the strong urging of Mar. One of those toast through a grill places.  

I know it just looks like a sandwich (The Full Montagu... get it??) But the bread is so soft and buttery.  I would say it's firm like french bread, but the crust is like italian.

Yummy eating!

It's Like in Japan!

Mar has been disappointed by my lack of posts, but to be honest everytime I log in the format gets worse.  Right now the text field I am typing into is ~1/8th the size of the screen, and it reads like Times New Roman size 4 font.

For those of you who have the gumption and the resources, consider this combo:

Utz Crab Chips

+

Trader Joe's Truffle Cheese.

Just like many of the food consumed in Japan, it's good with beer!

Reasons to Cook At Home, or Not.

Reasons to Cook At Home:

McDonald's is going down hill. This is a hot fudge sundae, 5 min after driving away from the window:

Yes, it was bubbling.

I know people with a soft serve machine. I have a double broiler. Why pay money for drippy bubbles?

Cousin has been experimenting. Braised beef may be too much work for me, but she seems to like it just fine. Who needs Mike's Noodle House?

Still do, but you know. Now there's options.

Add veggies of your own liking, and you don't even have to buy broth! Braised beef comes in its own!

She also provided noodles.

You don't have to put on pants for breakfast if you cook at home. What could be more relaxing?

Starbuck's instant coffee, whole grain toast with butter, turkey bacon, grits/collards/cheese, and a poached egg.

You also get to manage the healthiness. That meal was provided oil and grease free courtesy of my new Orgreenics pan (aka cancer pan). *Look up the infommercial.*

I mean, c'mon. How can it slide off that easily and not be carcinogenic?

You can try new foods. My friends decided I needed to try Sukiyaki before I visited Japan. It's kind of like hot pot/stew. There's many different styles, but my friends had a way they like it so we cooked at home.

You take veggies, broth, sugar, sake, tofu, and noodles and cook it all together.

Separately, you take beef and you grill it up.

Put it all in a bowl with some rice and you get deliciousness.

Reasons Not to Just Cook At Home:

Cake Pops. Specifically, tiramisu cake pops. I rarely make cakes (no patience to wait to ice it), and I never make pops (don't eat candy). The likelihood of me making cake pops is pretty nonexistent. I also, don't make pretty food. See how pretty?

Doesn't mean that I can't enjoy them.

I haven't had any other cake pops, but I think the tiramisu one was nice and moist. Not too sugary either. (Some of the icing fell off while eating. It knew its place in the world was to be decorative and not actually be consumed for the perfect icing/cake ratio).

Chicken pot pie at the Sexton. You should try it. *Warning: creamy* That is all.

Grocery Outlet Dos and Don'ts:

Do buy these-

Who needs gummi bears when you can have dried mango? We pretend it's healthier. Fiber, right?

Filipino mangoes are the best thing in the world. They are tender, and the perfect mix of sweet/sour without feeling like your teeth are going to fall off. For some reason you can also get them at Grocery Outlet.

Don't- get wine. Any wine. Ever. Even if you look it up online and it's a $20 bottle with great ratings on sale for $8. Just don't. They are all sweet. All of them. No matter what kind. It's disgusting, and not even good as dessert wine.

Something old, Something New, Some Failures, Some To-Do

Old: I've been doing the single girl's hot pot (read: boil broth at your stove and cook/eat hot pot items there). Gave me some left over seafood (squid, clams, and fish balls), and I had made congee for a coworker who had dental surgery. So I made myself a little seafood congee and ate the last of my 2010 batch of turnip cakes.

General rule: frozen turnip cakes should probably eaten within a year of making them.

Went back to Bizzaro for my friend's birthday and got the butternut squash soup (not pictured), and the parsnip ravioli. I need to start writing down menu items. I keep forgetting them.

Name that meat! I have no idea, and not because the meat was weird/bad. My memory is just horrible.

Brought back out the cheese rolls recipe for a salmon night. It's like a savory cinnamon roll. Replace cinnamon and sugar with garlic bread butter:

Reasons why marble counter tops are wonderful, and an affirmation that dough and I do not get along.

Close up!

That's right, I butter that sucker right to the edge.

And cheese:

Rolly rolly rolly. Cut and plop in a muffin pan:

They puff up pretty well, so I'm still trying to figure out how to make them cheesier.

Also included in salmon night was my friend's corn salad recipe (bottom). Dill, carrots, white corn, and secret sauce!

New: With the corn salad was my friend's arugula, mushroom, and cheese curd salad. There was an herb-y flavor to it that I liked. And who doesn't like cheese curds??

It went well with the soy salmon and home made corn bread:

I like this new group of people I've been eating with. I went in expecting American style salmon (steamed with lemons and butter), made my side dishes to go with that, and boom! Fusion meal.

Shame on me I guess for making assumptions like that, but there's always interesting flavors going on.

Zoom out!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Birthday present last year included flavored salts and sugars. They're interesting mixes so I'm still cautiously trying them out.

Smoked salt on your marga-tequila rim? It... is ok. If you like savory/sweet combos.

Wildberry pancakes made with wildberry sugar? Delicioso. Pancake recipe used only has 1 tablespoon of sugar so this gave it a nice subtle flavor.

There's also espresso sugar. My friend said it'd only be good in a chocolate pancake. Seems right. Not sure where clove sugar would come in handy. I'm thinking cookie/cupcake form.

The only thing I can come up with for the lime sugar is some sort of alcoholic beverage - which is a turn off because I am not a fan of sugary drinks. Lemonade? Orange scones? None of it seems like a good fit. Mull a purpose over for a while, guys. I'm interested to see what you churn out.

(No picture) My friend's sister made Betty Crocker tuna noodle casserole. Another friend brought over queso dip and chips. Yes, yes I did. It was good but not "WOW this is a mandatory ingredient from now on!" If you did not follow my train of thought, I took queso dip and microwaved it into the tuna noodle casserole and mixed. You also need to eat with me more.

If you do, you get to try out new restaurants like Uneeda Burger and watch me eat their Crimini mushrooms burger with porcini & black truffle salt, shallots & Gruyere cheese. (No Picture). I almost got upset, because there was a white sauce on my burger that I mistook for mayonnaise.

I don't understand the mayo in burger craze, but I hate it. The heat from the burger makes it slimy and just extra greasy to the point that you can't enjoy it. Or I can't enjoy it. I'll try to hold in my disgusted face if you eat one in front of me.

Luckily, the gruyere cheese and truffle salt made the mystery sauce in my burger wonderful. I still refuse to call it mayonnaise if that's what it actually was.

This is where the food takes a turn from delicious (familiar and new) to okay.

Tried out Grace's Kitchen in the U-district, because they had Linguini Carbonara. Trendy looking little place. Going for the modern/homey feel. Everything about their dishes was something interesting with a spin that I would personally have done differently.

Example: their poutine is done with a white sausage gravy...

Beef stew had a spice that was a little overpowering.

Linguini carbonara with prosciutto and spinach? Way too much bacon for my tastes.

In my opinion it tasted way too meaty and fatty like bacon to be prosciutto.

All still tasty, but had that slight flavor in the background that kind of just brought the experience down a notch.

Back at home I tried to make Ethiopian food since getting a crew together to go to a restaurant seems to become a logistical nightmare for me everytime. (No clue why). I googled my little heart out and settled on this recipe for Doro wot (stewed chicken). Yes, it has fake ingredients, but I just didn't feel like going to World Spice this time.

Very simple, and very flavorful. It's not going to satisfy your Ethiopian food craving, but it'll hit the spot for poultry with a kick!

What about that magical sourdough pancake - injera? I tried to cheat and follow an "injera - quick" recipe. I should have known better.

Failed:

All the interweb warned of making your starter dough for injera 5 days in advance. I kept getting distracted and looked for a quick fix. Do you know what it got me? Water + yeast + Teff flour = your dough looks the same before and after the 1 day rise.

Which looks like this:

With a pool of bubbly water on top. How does it look in the pan? Like the above picture but bubbling in your pan and not sticking at all!

Perhaps the grocery store lied to me, and they did not have teff flour, but just teff grain. After all, the bag looked like this:

Another craving took me down the wrong path for Hawaiian food - not at Kona Kitchen.

Went back to Kauai Family Restaurant - good food, but terrible service. Also, not vegetarian friendly. Considering the distance and the wait, I don't think it's worth the variety in their menu. I'm sorry, Hawaiians. I know I disappoint you.

To Do!:

My friend was disappointed in the cheapy injera experience. Next time, I need to just plan ahead and try the recipe I was planning to use.

Everybody's trying to eat healthier lately. Which is remarkable since it's well past the usual New Year's resolution diet plan life span. To you dieters out there, the Washington Post had an article for 25 recipes under 500 calories.

Disclaimer: this is a "picture article" that requires you to watch a video commercial prior to viewing. Whatever happened to just plain old articles??

Really, it was the picture of Roasted Squash, Ricotta and Fusilli that drew me in. The rest of the recipes just look meh.

Experimental indulgence - at the store

During my indulgent phase cooking at home, I decided to try some other things found at the grocery store.

This first one is not new, but always a good classic. IPA with those spicy peanuts!

At Metropolitan Market in lower Queen Anne I found this: Pork, chicken AND truffle??!!!

They also had rosemary flat bread:

Out of the package:

There's also rosemary Wasa crackers that aren't thick like the regular fiber ones!!!

Wasa- gourmet.

Also at Metropolitan Market they have truffle cheese with HUGE chunks of real truffles in them! I had to get myself a tiny wedge. This was our appetizer to no-red-meat food club. So good with the nebbiolo.

My friend also brought these little mint cookies over for no-red-meat food club.

Kind of like thin mints, but not thin and super crispy!

Experimental Indulgence - At Home

I had prepared horseradish in my fridge for bloody mary's, and still hadn't fully experimented with the steak rub from the spice store in Colorado. Sounds like steak time, no?

Steam some green beans or asparagus and look at you with your healthy meal. Oh so fancy.

I used the spice and rubbed it into my steak. Took Worcestershire sauce and threw those bad boys in a plastic sandwhich bag to marinate for a day or two. I found that cooking for one means you have repeated meals, but it can still be fresh. The first day had no marination, but if you prep all the meat in the package the same day you can get increased marination each day.

Medium rare - beautiful.

Life had been stressful for my coworkers so I decided comfort food was in order. Made a giant batch of jalapeno-mustard and hot dog mac and cheese. I used the basic ratios from Rachel Ray's Reuban Mac n Cheese recipe then just changed up the ingredients. All cheese - medium cheddar. Replace spicy brown mustard with jalapeno mustard. Add turkey hot dogs to the pasta. Done.

I found that if you wanted more heat you can add the mustard to your individual dish and just mix it up. Still tastes delicious!

I had furniture advisor and Mar over for bfast one fine Saturday. I had a huge box of grits and discovered a wonderful find at Grocery Outlet - shredded habanero cheddar.

Put it all together and what do you get? Cindy-ized shrimp and grits.

I was feeling scattery so I brain-summarized the recipe to go as follows:

Cook turkey bacon (1 piece for person?). Remove from pan and set aside for chopping when you won't burn your fingers off from the grease.

In the same pan throw in shrimp. Salt, pepper, etc. Place with what should now be chopped bacon. (While those are cooking start to boil water for your grits. Use however much the box tells you to boil. Also get a little pot of water boiling for your eggs).

Same pan. Throw in diced onions mushrooms. Add enough chicken broth to coat those suckers in the caramelized meat juices.

While those are cooking make grits per box directions. (Takes about 5 min). Stir frequently - it's a bitch to clean if you let it stick to the bottom of the pan. When those are done throw in the habanero cheddar til the cheese melts. Don't add too much - it's REALLY SPICY.

While your 2 things are cooking and periodically getting their stir on, poach some eggs. (Read put eggs in silicone poacher). It actually takes about the same amount of time if not less, to cook as the grits. I recommend 3min < time < 5min for runny. If you can't read that go back to school.

Plate your crap up.

Fresh ground pepper and green onions sprinkled on top.

I also made a vegetarian version the next day that was much simpler. Just skip the meat, throw in veggies in a pan (here it's zucchini, mushrooms, and onions). I still did the chicken broth thing because veggies make their own caramels too.

Later that week I decided I wanted rosemary bread. So I made this recipe for rosemary focaccia. I get carried away flouring anything doughy and sticky because I hate when the dough sticks to my hands. I could have baked it longer to get more of a brown crust, but I was tired.

Balsamic vinegar and olive oil - best late night, post-drinking snack evarrrrrr.

At this point through various recipes I had a bunch of random crap in my fridge and I wanted another use for the habanero cheddar. Can't have grits EVERY day now can we? We can. But that's not the point.

My tomato also needed to be eaten STAT so I made a grilled cheese sandwhich. Habanero cheddar mixed with regular cheddar, sour cream, fresh arugula, dried basil, and tomatoes.

No cooking involved. Just pile ingredients on bread, shove in toaster oven. Set to medium. Come back at the ding and smoosh.

I also revisted gingerbread pudding for book club night dessert. I can't find the recipe, but it's the gingerbread pudding cake recipe from the December 2007 issue of Bon Appetite.

Add soy vanilla ice cream - look at the gooey center...

I started a no-red-meat/pork food club with my friends that had such dietary restrictions. For our first dinner we had italian sausage and bean soup. Very simple recipe, and it took maybe 40 minutes to cook with chatting and losing track of time.

Bubble bubble..

With nebbiolo and some shaved pecorino on top

Zoom in - the pasta was gluten free macaroni!

Yes, it did get bigger and bigger the longer it sat. I think quinoa pasta just never stops. Oh yea, we had french bread too! They made a garlic butter (chop up garlic mix with room temp butter).

There was also gluten and dairy free chocolate cake. Made in a springform pan. It was made with black eyed peas and tofu. Tasted a lot like a red bean cake.

But the tofu made it very moist, and who doesn't like red bean anyway?

My friend and I had recently been gifted some flavored salts. I don't normally cook with salt, and she is not a big meat eater. So we experimented with my smoked salt. We made baked chicken with smoked salt; baked zuchinni with shaved parmesean, salt & pepper, and thyme; and mashed potatoes with peas, quinoa, sour cream, and green onions. The quinoa gives the potatoes a creamy texture if you can't have too much dairy (obviously you would also leave out the sour cream).