Wednesday, June 30

Planned cheat night. No pictures. I had a picnic after work with my coworkers -- typical picnic food of hamburgers and hot dogs. I got home in time for us to go to the free outdoor movie in the town square, so Michael stopped at California Tortilla on the walk over for a fish taco.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, June 29

Breakfast-for-dinner

Michael's night to cook.  He made poached eggs and ham served over toasted English muffins with a side of potatoes.  It was Michael's first attempt at poached eggs and between you and me, the amount of bad words coming from the kitchen during the process was kind of scary.  Apparently poached eggs are difficult to make.  Now we know.  They tasted pretty good, though.  And the potatoes were delicious. 

Monday, June 28

Michael's night to "cook".  Tuna was on sale at Harris Teeter this week, and Michael wanted some.  He made himself a sesame seed crusted tuna steak, served with fried rice.  Michael usually eats his tuna raw (rather than lightly seared), but after watching too many espidodes of Monsters Inside Me, he now cooks it. 

Me, I don't like tuna.  Especially un- (or under-) cooked tuna.   So Michael was kind enough to toast some bread for me.  I made my own open faced peanut buter sandwiches because Michael has an aversion to a sandwich being "open faced".  It's a definition thing, I guess. 

Since this appears to hit a new low in terms of dinners (and I'm the one writing the blog), I'm adding a new label -- "can't all be dinners".

Sunday, June 27

Garden salad, homemade garlic bread, and mushroom ravioli

Michael decided that his homemade garlic bread and mushroom ravioli was ready for prime time (i.e., company) and so he served it to his parents who were in town.  The bread was excellent as usual.  Unfortunately, in an effort to save time, he prepared the raviolis a little to early in advance and left them on plate, so a few of them came apart.  Nevertheless, he was able to salvage enough pretty ones to serve everyone except himself.  The flavor of the ravioli was excellent, although I think the sauce was a little thinner than last time. 

                                     

                                     

For dessert, I made an angel food cake, using the Alton Brown receipe -- my first attempt at a homemade one.  With a dozen egg whites.  (Anyone know what to do with the leftover 12 egg yolks?) 

I served it with raspberry sauce, made with raspberries, sugar, lemon juice (we were out of orange juice), cornstarch, and water.  The sauce was a little too think, so I think next time I will cut down on the amount of cornstarch and just let it cook longer to thicken.  The cake was topped with homemade whipped cream -- heavy cream and sugar.

Saturday, June 26

Buffalo chicken wrap, served with waffle fries.

Normally Saturday is Michael's night to cook, but we traded because Michael wanted to cook on Sunday.  As you can tell from the buffalo sauce covering the outside of the flour tortilla, I obviously have not perfected the wrap technique.  I think I filled it too full?  Not sure.  Anyways, the flavors were good -- fried chicken fingers in buffalo sauce with lettuce, tomato, provolone, and blue cheese dressing.  I overcooked the waffle fries -- I haven't made frozen french fries in the fryer before and they don't take as long to cook as fresh french fries.  (Try to say that three times fast) 

Friday, June 25

Out to dinner night.  No pictures -- I guess I just need to get over the weird feeling of taking pictures of my food in public.  We went to Sol de Espana in Rockville, about a mile from our house. 

The Spanish restaurant doesn't look like much from the outside -- it is part of a strip mall -- but inside, it looks like a fine dining restaurant on the inside.  The prices are very reasonable and the portions good sized without being too much.  For an appetizer, we had a pork tenderloin, potato, and cheese dish.  It was okay, but needed a bit of salt.  For my entree, I had the baked chicken with garlic and potatoes in a sherry sauce.  The chicken was excellent -- very good flavor -- but was all dark meat.  (I'm not a huge fan of dark meat).  I had a difficult time with the potatoes because the garlic was sliced and ended up mixed in with the potatoes.  Since I didn't want to bite into a slice of garlic, I tried to separate as best I could, but the smashed potatoes and garlic slices looked remarkably similar.  Michael had some sort of seafood dish -- I can't remember exactly what it was and it isn't listed on the menu online.  He seemed to enjoy it (and he also finished my chicken dish). 

We had a bottle of Spanish white wine with dinner, which was remarkably good.  Crisp and clean tasting.  For dessert, we had a chocolate cake. Very tasty.  The service overall was friendly, although a little slow at times.  We did enjoy the leisurely dinner.  Especially since we knew getting home would take us all of five minutes.

Thursday, June 24

Chicken quesadillas served with salsa, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

My night to cook.  Can you tell.  I expected to be home late because my office was supposed to have a gathering after work, so I planned a quick dinner.  The gathering was cancelled because of the heat -- it was 99 in Washington today -- so I was able to get home on time.  I used our electric griddle to make the quesadillas and it was very convenient. 

Wednesday, June 23

Pork chops served with mashed potatoes and a mustard sage sauce.

My night to cook.  And I know that the mustard sauce doesn't look so good, but it was actually pretty tasty.  The pork chops were from a modified Cook's Illustrated recipe found here:  http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=6037&parentdocid=6036.  Similarly, the mashed potatoes were also from Cook's Illustrated:   http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=12358.  Not my famous make-ahead ones, but still pretty good.  If you don't have access to the Cook's Illustrated website (and I highly recommend it), and want the recipe, let me know.

Tuesday, June 22

Out to dinner night.  Yes, a rare mid-week out to dinner.  The local animal shelter was holding a "yappy hour" fundraiser at La Tasca, a tapas place a couple of blocks from our house.  We took Baxter and walked over for drinks and dinner.  For drinks, Michael had a beer, while I had sangaria.  We ordered beef empanadas (delicious!), a mini ham and cheese sandwich (okay), calamari (a little rubbery), and deep fried shrimp (good).  It was a good meal and we met some interesting people.  Until the thunderstorm started.  Baxter immediately crawled under the table and the umbrella over our table was somehow positioned so I managed to catch every single runoff drip.  Luckily, the skies cleared up relatively quickly and we were able to walk home.

Monday, June 21

Cucumber salad dressed with vinegar and sesame seeds; shrimp fra diavolo served with homemade rolls.  Michael's night to cook (of course).  Appetizer course was the cucumber salad.  It was good, but a little vinegary.

The dinner rolls, as always, were excellent.

Michael cooked the pasta in a microwave pasta cooking plastic box, which was a gift from his mom.  I was a little skeptical about cooking pasta in the microwave, but it worked surprisingly well.  The pasta came out perfectly cooked. 

For the shrimp, Michael flambed it.  Not to worry, I was standing nearby with a fire extinguisher. 

Although the finished product looked great and the shrimp were cooked very well, Michael added a little (lot?) too many crushed red pepper flakes and the dish was very, very, very diavolo.  So much so, unfortunately, I need to push this meal in the "can't all be winners" category. 

Sunday, June 20

Technically, my night to cook.  But we got back from Pittsburgh a little late.  Okay, so 6:30 pm isn't that late, but I didn't feel like cooking.  So I ordered pizza instead.  Our usual order -- large half pepperoni and three cheese for Michael and half ham for me.

Saturday, June 19

Still visiting Michael's family, but this time I remembered to take pictures!  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate for the Father's Day picnic at Michael's sister's house, but the food was still excellent!  We had hot dogs and ribs on the grill, chicken fingers, and a ton of different sides, including Heather's potato casserole and Sara's tomato and feta salad (both of which I need the receipes for, hint, hint). 

Dessert was a whole separate extravaganza.  It was John's birthday, so there was ice cream cake.  In addition, Sara made cream cheese and marshmallow fluff filled croisants (served with strawberries) and brownie cheesecake. 

John seemed to enjoy his cake. 

All in all, a very filling -- and delicious -- dinner.  With enough leftovers for lunch the next day!

Friday, June 18

Out to dinner night.  We're in Pittsburgh this weekend, visiting Michael's family.  On the menu for Friday night was a picnic with burgers, fried chicken, and sides.  Standard picnic food, but pretty good.

Thursday, June 17

Taco Night (Rescheduled from yesterday)

My night to cook. I made (assembled) a do-it-yourself taco bar with hamburger, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and various condiments.  Not a fancy dinner, but pretty fast and tasty. 

Wednesday, June 16

Things fell apart tonight.  I unexpectedly had to work late.  It was supposed to be my night to cook and Michael offered to take over cooking, until I told him I didn't know if I was going to make it home in time for dinner.  I ended up picking up fast food on the way home.  Not ideal, I know.  I'm not exactly sure what Michael had -- I think he might have cleaned up the leftovers from the last few days.

Tuesday, June 15

BBQ Pork and Potato Salad

Michael's night to cook.  He attempted to tried to recreate my menu of Sunday, May 9 with his own little twist.  Apparently I neglected to tell him that he needed to cook the pork longer than the 1 hour on the recipe.  (Does he even read the blog?)  I also forgot to tell him that the potato salad should be made with yellow mustard, not Dijon mustard.  Who uses Dijon mustard in potato salad?  I thought yellow mustard was a given.  His versions turned out okay, but I like mine better. 

Monday, June 14

Roast chicken and potatoes

Michael's night to cook.  He made roast chicken served with potatoes.  I think he used the Cook's Illustrated High Roast Chicken receipe.  It was excellent as usual.  The potatoes are cooked underneath the chicken and aborb the chicken fat that drips off.  A very tasty dinner.  He added the sliced strawberry more for color, but it actually tasted pretty good with the potatoes. 

Sunday, June 13

Homemade Three Mushroom Ravioli in a Mushroom Sauce, Served with Garden Salad and Homemade Garlic Rolls

Michael's night to cook.  Can you tell?  The ravioli is homemade (see pictures below).  The pasta is stuffed with 2 kinds of mushroom and the sauce contains a third.  The three mushrooms types he used were porcini, crimini and shiitake.  He specifically told me which ones were in the ravioli and which were in the sauce, but I forgot.  Oops.  Anyways, the ravioli was excellent.  He served it with a garden salad. 

 

                                       

And homemade garlic rolls.  He really has perfected the homemade breads.

 Here's the photographic evidence of the home made pasta.  Rolling it out in the pasta maker.

The finished strips drying.

 Cutting the raviolis into individual pieces after stuffing.

Saturday, June 12

George Forman grilled Chicken, Pasta Roni, Green Beans

My night to cook.  Originally it was supposed to be Michael's but he was gone all day to his friend's house to play "Star Wars role playing game" (think Dungeons & Dragons with Star Wars characters), so we traded.  I seasoned the chicken tenderloins with some steak rub I found on the spice rack and grilled it on the George Forman grill.  In my continued effort to use up all the box mixes in the pantry, I made a fettucini alfredo pasta roni, and served it all with green beans sauteed in butter.  Dinner took me 15 minutes total to cook. 

Friday, June 11

Out to Dinner Night.  No photos this time because I had to work late and so Michael met me at the Metro Station closest to the restaurant -- no time to go home to get the camera.  (I know, I always have an excuse.  I also feel sort of weird taking pictures of my food in public).  Michael picked the restaurant this time -- we went to Mrs. K's Toll House in Silver Spring.  The restaurant itself was really nice -- very nicely landscaped outside and it looked like it was a old Victoria house converted into a restaurant.  There was a wedding going on what we arrived.  For an appetizer, we had the cheese plate with an assortment of different cheeses.  Michael ordered the seafood pasta (because the salmon was not sushi quality, so they wouldn't serve it rare), while I had crabcakes.  The sauce on Michael's pasta was delicious and it was filled with
shrimp, scallops, and lumps of crab meat.  My crabcakes were good sized and had very little filler.  The crabcakes were served with mashed potatoes and green beans.  Very good.  For dessert we (meaning me) had a fourless chocolate cake -- it was so rich and creamy, it was almost like a fudge.  Delicious!

Thursday, June 10

Hot dogs and Sun Chips

My night to cook.  (That's pretty obvious).  There's a good reason, though.  We needed to use up the leftovers from Memorial Day (I threw the leftover hot dogs and buns in the freezer for the week) and we went to a concert in the Town Center before dinner.  Since I knew we would be starving afterwards, I wanted something super easy and super quick to make for dinner.  Michael's hot dogs were topped with chili rather than ketchup and mustard.

Wednesday, June 9

Steak, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and fresh peas

Michael's night to cook.  (Things are all messed up because of the emergency pizza substitution on Sunday).  While he still needs to work a little on presentation (what's up with the two piles of peas?), he's definitely mastered the steak dinner.  Michael dry-aged the porterhouse in the refrigerator for 3 days following the Alton Brown method, pan seared it and finished it in the oven.  We had one porterhouse steak split between the two of us.  Deliciousness! 

He made the mashed potatoes using the Cook's Illustrated Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes recipe, which is my go-to for mashed potatoes.  The mushrooms were a mixture of white mushrooms (left over from last night's salad) and some fancy kind Michael found at the grocery store.  (I'm sure he'll tell me the name when he sees this.)  We bought the peas at the farmer's market on Saturday.  I didn't think I liked peas until I tried these.  Quite tasty.  All in all, an excellent dinner!

Tuesday, June 8

Loaded chef salad with homemade garlic bread.

Michael's night to cook.  He made a chef salad with chicken, ham, hardboiled eggs, and homemade croutons.  I think it's pretty impressive -- not only is he able to prepare delicious foods, but now he's also using up leftovers from previous dinners.  The ham was leftover from the "can't all be winners" scalloped potatoes and ham night.  He made the croutons from the bread leftover from fondue night.  He served the salad with homemade garlic bread.  (Notice that we actually ate at the dining room table like adults rather than at the coffee table in front of the TV. )

Monday, June 7

My (rescheduled) night to cook.

Oven baked crunchy thin cut pork chops (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/login.asp?docid=11799) served with Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, corn on the cob, and a small salad.  The pork chops were excellent!  I love the super crunchy crust -- made with bread crumbs, shallots, garlic, parsley, thyme, and Parmesan.  I also added a little bit of Penzey's pork chop seasoning for just a hit of smokiness.  I served it with a Uncle Ben's wild rice.  We cleaned out our pantry over the weekend and found that we had nearly a dozen random box mixes of rice and pasta.  Since we've been trying to eat more real, whole foods lately, (see Real Food Has Curves) I'm trying to use them up and not replace them.  Not really a fan of this mix, but it was okay.  I was a little disappointed in the sweet corn -- I think I may have overcooked it a bit.  The salad was good -- we don't have iceberg lettuce very often (we usually eat Romaine) and I always forget how good it is.  Michael was happy I let him pick his own salad dressing.   For a change of pace, we ate dinner on the balcony and had both the dog and cat watching through the screen door. 

Sunday, June 6

My night to cook. 

Yes, I know, according to the calendar it was supposed to be pork chops.  However, our washer (which is located in the kitchen) has not been draining properly and Michael decided to fix it.  This required him to pull it out away from the wall and put it in the middle of the kitchen.  At 4 pm.  And after the second bottle of Liquid Plumr failed, I refused to cook dinner around the washing machine.  So I decided to make a last minute substitution and order pizza instead.  Papa Johns thin crust -- half pepperoni and 3 cheese for Michael, half ham for me.  Pork chops are rescheduled for tomorrow.

Sunday, June 6

A rare breakfast posting!  Michael made a wonderful breakfast this morning and since we've gotten used to taking pictures of all of our food, I thought I'd post it.  Hashbrowns (made from real potatoes, shredded in the food processor), sausage links, and sunny side up eggs.  Yummy!

Saturday, June 5

Michael's night to cook.  A tempura bonanza!  He made fried zucchini, friend shrimp, and fried tilapia.  The tempura breading was wonderful -- very light (apparently the secret is to use club soda).  He served it with a soy ginger dipping sauce. 

I liked the shrimp the best.  The zucchini was okay and the fish were a little too fishy.  Michael liked it all.

Friday, June 4

Out to dinner night.  No pictures because I discovered that my cell phone takes horrible pictures in low light.  Even with the flash.

We went to Cesco Trattoria in Bethesda.  We had tried to go there a couple of weeks ago, but they had a power outage.  The reviews we read on the restaurant were generally and said they served authentic Italian food.  For an appetizer, we shared a mozzarella and tomato plate.  (They actually split the appetizer in the kitchen for us and brought it out in two plates -- very handy!)  Michael had the veal stuffed tortelloni with bolognese sauce.  Michael wasn't thrilled with his dinner, but I tried it and liked it.  (Perhaps because it tasted remarkably like Chef Boyardee.)  I had the veal scaloppine stuffed with cheese and mushrooms and served with Swiss chard and potatoes.  The veal was tasty, but a little fatty.  The mashed potatoes were excellent.  The Swiss chard was a little....um....slimy.  I'm really not a fan of slimy food, but Michael enjoyed it.  The portion was huge and Baxter enjoyed the leftover veal.

For dessert, we had the Bongo Bongo, profiteroles filled with cream and dipped in dark chocolate.  Michael ordered dessert and told our waiter we would share -- one Bongo for him and one for me.  Our waiter (who had probably heard the joke many times before) laughed and told Michael (in his Italian accent) that he "like his joke."  Dessert was good -- I loved the dark chocolate sauce.  I thought the profileroles were a little soggy, but Michael liked them. 

All in all, just an okay place.  I liked our waiter, but service was a bit slow (dinner took us over two hours), and the food was nothing spectacular. 

Thursday, June 3

Crockpot scalloped potatoes and ham

My night to cook.  I had planned on going to the concert in the Town Square of our Fair City, but the rain changed our plans.  I had prepared the ham and potatoes in the crockpot so we could either eat quickly and go or take it with us.  I liked dinner -- Michael's comment was "well, they can't all be winners."  I suspect that means he didn't like it.  Oh well.  I was going to serve it with a salad, but Michael was very hungry and he gets a little pokey with his fork if you don't get him food fast enough.  For dessert, we finished up the homemade strawberry ice cream I made on Monday.  And the cake.

Wednesday, June 2

Cuban Sandwich and homemade chips

My night to cook.  I made a Cuban sandwich (pork tenderloin, ham, Swiss cheese, mayo/dijon mustard dressing, pickles) served with cumin-flavored potatoes chips and blue cheese dipping sauce.

I seared the pork tenderloin first and then finished it in the oven, sort of following a Bobby Flay recipe from earlier this year:  http://www.parade.com/food/recipes/parade/013110-bobby-flay-super-bowl-party.html.  In the process of searing the pork, I also seared my hand with hot oil that splashed and now have a fairly substantial blister forming.  Not good.  I also learned that bread left under the broiler too long can light on fire.  All in all, not a great cooking experience.  The food turned out pretty good, though.  The pork was very flavorful and I thought the chips were pretty good.  (Michael wasn't as big of a fan of the cumin). 

Tuesday, June 1

Fondue night

Is there really anything better than bread and cheese for dinner?  Michael's night to cook.  He made his famous cheese fondue.  We also had some apples, so he cut those up as well.  Michael has perfected his cheese fondue recipe so much that the last time we were at the Melting Pot, we were a bit disappointed in their version of cheese fondue.  Bread was homemade.  (He has also perfected his bread making recipe).