Sunday, March 27, 2005
Easter Lamb
- Purple leg of lamb
- Heart attack mashed potatoes
- Green Beans with lemon grapeseed oil
- Wild rice and raisin stuffed grape leaves
- Spinach Salad with manderin oranges and craisins
- Deviled Eggs
- Pineapple upside down cake
So the lamb didn't turn purple like I planned, but it was still good. Brian was having trouble choosing his peices of lamb because he was going for the "nut pieces." It seems that the "nut peice" on lamb is different then beef. TS suggested that we do the salad the way we did, however we didn't listen to him when it came to picking the greens. This was the first time that I did grape leaves per RS1. I made WAY too much stuffing for them. Then I went and made WAY too many grape leaves. The cake was the idea of BK, and it was tasty. I blame BY for it not being as gooey as it should have been. This meal took a long time to make, but I enjoyed doing so because the only things that weren't suggested items by the people who come were the lamb and the green beans.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Kung Pao Chicken
- Kung pao chicken
- Beef and veg lo mein
- Potstickers
- White rice
- Fried cream cheese wontons
- Berry shortcake
The Review: Potstickers, potstickers, potstickers! The potstickers were the star of the meal for me. Once again I find that to get what I want, I have to make it myself (or Robin and BY). I have a hard time ordering potstickers out because there's always a chance they're going to use the thick, nasty, gummy wrappers. We used the uber-thin ones and they came out perfect. I would have maybe browned them a little more, but they were crispy enough as it was.
The kung pao came out nice and kung pao-y. The spice burn was a little slow, but if you took two or three bites in a row, there was sizzle to be had. The beef in the lo mein was our special soy soaked flank steak, and that just never gets old.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
St. Patrick's Day
So if you'd rather skip the 21st (and probably last) year of Boiled in Lead, if you'd rather not subject yourselves to the Irish-for-a-day hoardes, if you'd rather have a tasty meal, coctails, and maybe play a little poker, come on by. I don't work on St. Patrick's Day, and TS is coming early, so we'll be there whenever.
UPDATE:
I just noticed, and have had it confirmed, that First Avenue is still having Ritmo Caliente after the Boiled in Lead show. So folks are welcome to stop by before and after the show! Robin and I both have Friday off, so late shouldn't be an issue...
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
- Chicken and sausage jambalaya
- Lemon lime shrimp and pesto squares
- Corn bread
- Miniature peanut butter cheesecakes
I could have made a ton of jambalaya and left it at that, but there needed to be something else. After Robin, TS, and I sat at Barnes & Noble perusing the New Orleans cookbooks, the idea of topping our pesto squares with a shrimp seemed perfect. Of course the idea of eating that bag of shrimp that's been mocking me from the freezer was appealing as well.
The food was fine. Honestly, I've made the jambalaya so many times before that it wasn't really special to me. My head cold also reared its ugly head again, and that may have dampened my enjoyment.
Dessert was tasty, but I'm not going to complain about anything that involves peanut butter. I'm pretty sure we left the "extra" cheesecake on the back porch, so I hope the squirrels enjoy it too!
I'm going to end by saying one thing. Sunday Family Dinner is about relaxing with friends and enjoying each other's company. No one should endanger either of those things. Please listen to one another and don't make each other tense. Obviously it happens from time to time, but its how we react to it that counts. (If anyone thinks this is directed solely at them, they're wrong. There were several distinct things that happened, all with different people involved, that prompted me to say this.)
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Peanut Pepper Pork
- Romaine salad with pistachios and feta
- Grille-roasted peppered pork tenderloin
- Peanut hot sauce
- Bourbon and butter mashed sweet potatoes
- Sauteed green beans in soy sauce, ginger and garlic (ala China Pagoda)
- Boysenberry filled white layer cake with buttercream frosting
Attendees: Brian, Robin, BY, TS, SC, TK, DP, MR, MiS, SD, RS(1), RS, SW, MM, (WE MISS YOU MS!!!!)
Everett's came through again on the meat. When we arrived, having already decided on the pork tenderloins, our eyes searched the meat case frantically as we didn't see any pork tenderloins. The guy who was helping us, while nice enough, wasn't Our Guy. He just sort of told us they were out. We looked at him in disbelief. He said that he unpacked the truck (or maybe the freezer) so he'd know and they're out. We continued to look on in disbelief. After a few minutes of this, the Older Guy (the one who told us how to simmer the corned beef perfectly) asked what we were looking for. After conveying our pork tenderloin needs, he nonchalantly told us he'd have someone cut 'em fresh.
"How much you need?"
"Six pounds."
"Okay-doke."
Five minutes later we had our pile of pork. Fresh.
I had grille-roasted tenderloins before, out at Festival, but that had really been a happy accident. I was a bit nervous about grilling seven tenderloins simultaneously, but thanks to the Big Honkin' Grille, there was plenty of room. My technique was flawless, even if I do say so myself, and everyone seemed to love the meat.
We have temporarily misplaced our peanut sauce recipe, so we had to improvise. The recipe is better. Gotta find that damn card. The pistachios and feta made the salad nice and tangy-crunchy. We reused the mashed sweet potato recipe from Thanksgiving, and those turned out very nicely. Our green beans were a bit more crunchy than China Pagoda's, but that's quite ok.
The cake, the cake, the cake. I could go on at length about the cake. The boysenberries, the butter cream frosting, the sweet sponginess, mmm... But I don't want to make you jealous.
As for the rest of the day, my own memory is being clouded by the beautiful weather. It was so nice to be able to sit on the deck for extended periods of time without freezing to death. Of course the warmer weather also meant we couldn't chill the ciders on the back porch, but that's the price you pay. I'm looking forward to Sunday evening cigar smoking...
