Saturday, July 31

Homemade pizza.

Michael's night to cook.  He made his world famous white pizza.  Excellent, as usual.

Friday, July 30

Out to dinner night.

It's restaurant week in Bethesda and so we decided to bend the rules about only eating out at places within walking distance.  We also broke the rule about not going to the same place twice.  We went to Redwood in Bethesda (where Michael had the fabled scallop dish that he talked about for weeks afterward).  We ordered from their Restaurant Week Menu.  For starters, I had the tomato salad (who knew that watermelon and tomatoes would taste so good together?), while Michael ordered the Arugula and Beet Salad.  Michael described his salad as "earthy", which I interpreted as meaning that it tasted like dirt.

For our entrees, I ordered the chicken with macaroni and cheese while Michael ordered the market fish, which turned out to be steel head trout.  My entree was amazing -- the mac and cheese is on their regular menu as a side and I'm going to have to go back there again just to have it.  It was absolutely amazing.  Michael enjoyed his fish dish and I tasted a tiny bit of it and it seemed okay.  (I'm not a huge fan of fish).  For desert, we ordered the chocolate pudding cake (me) and the almond cake (Michael).  We received the chocolate pudding cake (me) and the sorbet of the day (Michael).  Since our waitress seemed pretty busy, we decided not to bring the mistake to her attention.  The sorbet was cantaloupe seasoned with tarragon and it wasn't so good.  Michael was pretty luck that I wasn't so hungry after devouring my mac and cheese and chicken, so he ate most of my dessert, which was really, really, really good.  All in all, Redwood is an excellent place and I hope that we'll make another exception to our self imposed rules of dining out to go back there again soon.

Thursday, July 29

Enchiladas Verdes

My night to cook.  I had the day off from work, which is the only reason I was able to complete this 5 hour long recipe on a weeknight.  It's not so complicated to make, just takes a long time.  First I poached the chicken in a broth made with chicken broth, garlic, onion, and cumin.  Then I charred the tomatillos and peppers under the broiler while the chicken was cooling.  I blended the tomatillos and peppers in the food processor to make a sauce, heated the corn tortillas (so they would roll without breaking) and filled them with the chicken and some Monterey Jack cheese.  Then I poured the sauce over the top and baked the whole thing.  I served it with radishes (turns out Michael love radishes) and sour cream.  I gotta tell you, it was absolutely worth all the work.  This is one of the best dishes I've ever made. 

Wednesday, July 28

Cuban Ham Quesadillas.

My night to cook (and yes, I know things are really messed up from the calendar.  Blame it on the power outage on Sunday).  I'll be honest, Michael gagged when he heard we were having Ham Quesadillas for dinner.  He said that it just sounded gross.  But they turned out really good.  I used deli ham, Gruyere cheese, chopped pickles, red onions, and a dijon mustard sauce.  Surprisingly good.  And fast to make.

Tuesday, July 27

Pork chops with a mustard and caper sauce, served with mashed potatoes and green beans

Michael's night to cook.  He followed a Cook's Illustrated recipe and I discovered I'm not really a fan of onions, capers, and mustard mixed together.  He serve the pork with mashed potatoes (instant) and green beans (frozen).  Oh well -- at least there's always ice cream.

Monday, July 26

Fried  Grilled chicken salad

It was supposed to be fried chicken, but the frozen breaded chicken we purchased at the grocery story on Saturday had some sort of blackish substance on it.  I have pictures (and will be writing a letter to Tyson's about it), but since it's pretty disgusting, I'm not going to post them here.  Luckily I had defrosted a chicken breast for over the weekend, so I just grilled it up (using the handy-dandy George Foreman grill) and served the salad with grilled chicken instead.  Served with very well done garlic toast (Michael made that, not me).

Sunday, July 25

Fish tacos.

While Sunday is normally Michael's night to cook, he was concerned that the fish that he was scheduled to make last night wasn't going to keep very long.  So we traded -- I'm making dinner tomorrow night instead.  The weather, however, threw a bit of a wrench in our plans.  We got hit with a huge thunderstorm (with lots of rain) in the afternoon, which caused the power to go out for several hours.  During dinnertime.  Since our cooktop is gas, Michael managed to light the burners and went ahead with making dinner by flashlight in our very dark kitchen.

The tacos were good.  He made the dressing with sour cream and lime juice and served the fish with red cabbage.  Pretty good for a made-up recipe cooked in the dark.

Satuday, July 24

Things got messed up over the weekend.  We had a really busy Saturday (running a lot of errands in preparation for our wedding in September) and just didn't feel like cooking.  Instead we decided to order pizza.  The usual Papa Johns order -- half ham for me, half pepperoni and three cheese blend for Michael.  Sorry.

Friday, July 23

Out to dinner night.  We're continuing our attempt to eat at all restaurants within walking distance, so tonight we went to an Indian place that I've been avoiding.  You see, Michael loves Indian food, but I'm just not a fan of the spicy, complex flavors.  I tend to get overwhelmed.  But I tried.  We went to Spice Xing Restaurant in Rockville Town Square. 

Michael had the Chicken Tikka Masala, which he really enjoyed.  I had the Tandoori Chicken, which I ate.  We both ordered Naan, a flatbread.  I had garlic Naan (the best part of the meal, besides the Cosmopolitan), while Michael had regular.  The service was good and they were setting up for Curry-oke when we left.  I guess I'm just not a fan of Indian food, though.

Thursday, July 22

Frozen dinner, served with salad and frozen garlic bread.

My night to cook.  In our continuing attempt to rid the freezer and pantry of items we don't really like or use, I decided to use up the last remaining frozen entree.  It's a Bertolli frozen chicken pasta meal.  It's really not so bad, but we've discovered that we can make better options ourselves.  I served it with a salad and garlic bread.

Wednesday, July 21

Taco night.

My night to cook.  I made tacos with all the fixin's and served them with Margaritas. 

Tuesday, July 20

Roasted chicken, potato rounds, and homemade rolls

Michael's night to cook.  He did his high roast chicken recipe, but this time made potato rounds.  I'm not sure what recipe he followed, but they turned out really well.  He served the chicken and potatoes with homemade rolls, which (as you can tell) were a little over cooked.  Oh well.  A tasty dinner nonetheless.

Monday, July 19

Philly cheesesteaks with homemade fries

Michael's night to cook.  We used up the leftover hamburger buns (that's why they are on weird buns) and used thin sliced steak with Cheez Wiz.  Michael decided not to use the deep fryer and instead cook them in a Dutch oven filled with oil, so they didn't turn out as well.  Good overall, though.

Our audience.  Apparently they also believed dinner smelled pretty good.

Sunday, July 18

Homemade indoor pulled pork


A five and a half hour cooking process that totally wasn't worth it. Took way too long to make the pork and I don't know that there was really any benefit to it. I made the barbecue sauce as well, which turned out pretty good. I froze the leftovers, so we'll have it again sometime in the future.

Saturday, July 17

Cheese fondue


Michael's night to cook. He made cheese fondue. The fondue recipe calls for some beer as a base, but since the only beer we had in the house was a blackberry flavored one, Michael decided to substitute wine and a little chicken broth for the base. It gave the cheese a slightly different flavor (as did the hot sauce he added) but it was still pretty good. The cheese was nice and bubbly and tasted really good on the bread.

Friday, July 16

Out to dinner night

We've decided that for the summer, we're going to try to complete our goal of eating at all the restaurants in Rockville. So we'll only be going to places that we can walk to for the next couple of months. This week, we decided to try a Mexican place that we've walked by so many times. We started out with the queso as a appetizer. (I didn't really care for the salsa -- the flavor was good, but it was a little too chunky). The chips were pretty tasty, though. For our entrees, Michael ordered a shrimp and scallop enchilada, while I ordered a chicken chimichangas. Although my chicken chimichangas turned into a beef one, it was pretty good. Michael was also pleased with his order. Along with dinner, I had a couple of margaritas, which were some of the best ones I've ever had. All in all, a pretty good place.

Thursday, July 15

Pan seared chicken breast with a lemon chive pan sauce



Again, my camera skills leave a little to be desired. I made the chicken breast and sauce using a Cook's Illustrated recipe. The chicken ended up a little too overcooked -- I wanted to try to get a nice crust on it. The sauce was good, but a little too lemony. I served it with an Uncle Ben's rice package and frozen corn. An okay dinner, but I was happy there were no leftovers for me to take for lunch the next day.

Wednesday, July 14

30 minute buffalo chicken salad


My night to cook. So the photo doesn't make it look so appetizing, but I thought dinner was actual pretty tasty. I used frozen breaded chicken, which I baked (rather than fried) and then tossed in a homemade buffalo sauce. I served it on lettuce -- iceberg and romaine -- with a garnish of celery and carrot sticks, with homemade blue cheese dressing.

Tuesday, July 13

Beef teriyaki using the final piece of London broil


Michael's night to cook. He had originally planned to do a five spice Chinese dish, but instead decided to do a teriyaki dish. He served it with broccoli and white rice. Even though it was a last minute substitute, it still was tasty.

Monday, July 12

French dip sandwiches


Michael's night to cook. He made the French dip sandwiches from the rest of the London broil, and the au jus from homemade beef stock (which he has previously made and frozen). An excellent dinner!

Sunday, July 11

So it was supposed to be my night to cook dinner, but it just didn't work out. The recipe I was planning to make -- pulled pork -- called for a lot more liquid smoke than we had, so I had to make a last minute substitution and we ordered pizza. Lame, I know.

Saturday, July 10

So it was supposed to be Michael's night to cook.  And we were supposed to have homemade ravioli.  But apparently I misunderstood what Michael meant when he asked me to take the hamburger out of the freezer.  I guess he meant now.  As a result, the hamburger was not defrosted and we ended up going out.  After a ten minute negotation process where one of us would suggest a restaurant and the other would immediately dismiss it, we settled on Hollywood Diner, just a couple miles from our house. 

I ordered their fried food platter -- chicken fingers, buffalo chicken wings, moz sticks, onion rings, with a side of fries.  Michael ordered the chicken ceasar wrap (which came with fries) and a side of moz sticks.  Both of our orders contained fries.  About seven minutes after placing our order, our waitress came back and told us they were completely out of fries.  Not exactly sure how that happens at 5:30 pm on a Saturday at a diner, but well, okay.  Michael subbed homefries for the fries and I decided to go without.  My food was tasty.  Although I wasn't surprised given that it was just fried food.  Michael's chicken ceasar wrap appeared to not contain ceasar dressing and the homefries were pretty disgusting. 

About 3/4 of the way through dinner, our waitress reappeared and told us they now had fries and asked us whether we wanted them.  I could tell Michael wasn't happy with the homefries (and really, I hadn't had enough fried food yet), so we told her, yes, we'd like a side of fries.  Putting aside the question of how they now had fries, we tried them.  Not completely fried and kind of soggy -- they obviously rushed getting them out to us.  Bummer.

Anyways, we'll probably go back again just because they have such a huge menu (last time we were there, Michael loved the spaghetti with meatballs), great hours, and are convenient, but we'll remember not to order the fries in the future.

Friday, July 9

Out to dinner night.  We decided to try a place in Potomac this week -- Normandie Farm Restaurant.  We knew that because of the location of the restaurant, the crowd would probably be older.  And we were correct -- our entrance to the dining room probably brought down the average age by about 15 years.  The restaurant itself is sort of like eating at your grandma's house.  In the 1960s.  (By the way, your grandma says hi.)  The decor is a unique mix of French provincial, German-like architecture, and roosters.  I didn't really understand the roosters. 

The service was excellent.  True to its website, service begins with warm popovers, served with raspberry jam and whipped butter.  Quite tasty.  I had the french onion soup as an appetizer, while Michael ordered lobster bisque.  My soup was good, although not as beefy as I usually expect French onion soup to be.  The cheese was excellent, though.  Michael's soup was incredible heavy on cognac.  So much so, we joked about trying to light it on fire using the candle.  For entrees, Michael ordered prime rib, which was served with a baked potato and vegetable of the day (which turned out to be green beans).  I had crab cakes, also served with baked potato and beans.  The portions were substantial and we were unable to finish our entrees (though Michael took both home for later).  I was a little disappointed that we were so full that we couldn't try dessert because they had a huge menu and I suspect their desserts would be excellent.  All in all, an okay experience, although I'm not sure I'd be racing to go back.

Thursday, July 8

Kung Pao Chicken with White Rice

My night to cook and I decided to go with another Chinese option -- Kung Pao Chicken for 2.  The recipe called for a long of random stuff that we didn't have in the house -- like oyster sauce and black rice vingear.  Michael wasn't happy that I insisted on purchasing those items.  He was even unhappier when I made him make a last-minute before dinner run to get the special ingredients that I had forgotten to get while we were grocery shopping.  All in all, the chicken was okay.  I cut down on the amount of crushed red pepper flakes, while made it a little milder.

Wednesday, July 7

Dry aged steak, mashed potatoes, white asparagus, and mushrooms.

Michael's night to cook.  (We're still a day off becasue of the leftovers on Monday night).  He used the dry aging technique for the steak.  The potatoes were from a box mix.  The asparagus was tasty -- we normally buy green asparagus, but decided to try white this time.  It tastes a little bit milder than green.  I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms he served, but I'm sure Mushroom Boy will leave a comment to clarify.  The strange orange/red border around the potato mounds is caused by the steak resting.  As I've mentioned before, Michael needs to work on his presentation a bit more.

Tuesday, July 6

Beer battered tilapia and fries.

Michael's night to cook.  We moved everything back one night because of the unplanned leftovers night last night.  He breaded and deep fried the fish and it turned out wonderfully.  I believe he used a Cook's Illustrated receipe.  The fries (made from real potatoes) were also excellent. 

Monday, July 5

No pictures. See Monday, if you want to see the pictures. Although it was supposed to be Michael's night to cook, we decided to have leftovers instead -- hot dogs and hamburgers.


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Sunday, July 4

Picnic night!

For the 4th with our company, we did a traditional picnic dinner. I made potato salad and fruit kabobs. We (and by "we" i mean Michael) grilled the meat -- hamburgers, hot dogs, and hot Italian sausage -- out on the charcoal grills that the condo association provides. An excellent spread!



For dessert, Sara brought a chocolate cheesecake. Excellent!

Saturday, July 3

Out to dinner night. Yes, Friday is normally out to dinner night, but Michael's sisters and their husbands are visiting for the 4th of July and so we decided to go out for crab tonight.





Heather and Mark don't like whole Maryland blue crab, so they ordered crab cakes and snow crab legs, respectively. Heather (the fancy one in the group) also wanted wine instead of beer.








The crabs were excellent -- we ate a dozen and a half (and two pitchers of beer) between the four of us.




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Friday, July 2

Michael's homemade white pizza with breadsticks




What can I say -- pizza perfection. Michael also did breadsticks as well. He made the dipping sauce with pasta sauce with oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt. Delicious!




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Thursday, July 1

Steak stir fry with shiitake mushrooms and green beans served with white rice




My first attempt at cooking Chinese food. And, according to Michael, it turned out pretty well. The steak was a thin cut piece that I sliced into strips and marinated in soy sauce and brown sugar before stir frying. I served it with plain white rice, which I cooked in the microwave.


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