Super Bowl Sunday

In case you're wondering who to cheer for.

It's Super Bowl Sunday! Sure, it's pretty much the only time I watch football. But it's also a time for eating. I have chicken wings marinating in the fridge, along with a pork roast for Asian Pork Sliders. Later I'll be making a carrot salad to serve along with it. And there are tons of other snacks. Chips. Chocolate. Nuts. Soda. Beer will be arriving later.

Have a great day. Celebrate. Be safe.

Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner was awesome this year. I loved it and would totally make it again in a heart beat and eat twice as much, until I explode!

I made a big ol' pork roast. It was about a 4 lb pork roast (bone-in) that I seasoned with salt & pepper and Krakow Night's Seasoning from Penzey's. I seared the roast for about 5 minutes per side to give it a nice brown crust. Then I set it aside for a minute and drained out some of the fat and sauted one diced shallot and 1/2 a teaspoon of caraway seeds. I deglazed the pan with 1 cup of Riesling. I added 1/4 cup of apple cider. For a little richness, I added 1/2 of a beef bouillon cube. Let that simmer for a minute. Let the roast settle into the pan. Add 1 pound of sauerkraut. Drop in 4 allspice berries and 1 bay leaf. Cover and braise in the oven for 4-5 hours until it's fall apart tender.

To accompany the pork and sauerkraut, I made potato pancakes. Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

When the roast is done, break it apart into large pieces and remove any excessively large pieces of remaining fat, tendons and the bone.

The sauerkraut was awesome. It mixed in and soaked up all the pork fat, wine and apple cider flavors. Nothing bitter or sour about it. It was a great, juicy pairing with the tender pork. This is hearby my favorite sauerkraut, period!

Plate up and enjoy!

And of course, for desser I made that bad-ass cheesecake!

Such a Ham

Christmas Dinner

Guess now is good a time as any to start catching up with my posts. This is our Christmas Dinner. I did the Cola & Cherry Preserve Glazed Ham. I served with some cheese slices and soft rolls. That's it. It was delicious. We just kept noshing while playing board games. Ham served/cooked any other way just isn't as delicious. Oh, one differences. The recipe calls for some OJ. Didn't have any, but we did have Pineapple Juice. Of course it was wonderful, as the way I used to make ham was with pineapple slices, cloves and cherries. This is a more delicious, fancy, yet simpler version of that old school classic!

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year!

Resolution: To blog more in the new year.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas!

image source

Handle With Care

HAPPY EARTH DAY


"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of earth are never alone or weary of life."

--"Silent Spring" author, Rachel Carson

Click over to last year's Earth Day entry to learn about some easy Green tips you can try at home.

Haming It Up 4 Easter

Here are some photos from our Easter Dinner.

I made a Caramelized Onion Marmalade to accompany the ham. It's very tasty and simple to make. The onions start like this and end up looking like a little pot of jam.


Here's my finished ham. I like calling this my Cherry Coke Ham. The first half of the cooking is done in cola. The second half of the cooking happens with a Cherry-Orange Juice glaze. Very tasty. I couldn't stop eating the ham. It was my Easter Crack!


To pair with the ham I have my Rosemary Parmesan Au Gratin Potatoes. Rich & delicious. Perfect.

The recipes for the onion marmalade, glazed ham and potatoes can all be found here.


With all the rich foods, we needed something light, crisp and with enough clear flavors to cut the fat of the ham and cream of the potatoes. The Orange Fennel Salad does the trick.


And of course we had some lovely flowers from the garden. They certainly brightened up the room and offered up some lovely fragrance. Check them out here.

So Long 2008! Hello 2009!!!

Image source

Well, it's mid-afternoon on New Year's Eve. We've been without power most of the morning; up until a few minutes ago. I had grand plans for the blog today. I was going to do a year in review post and give you an update on our New Year's Eve dinner plans...but alas, we have to pack up to make out way to our New Year's Hosts, food in tow. So that post will be coming soon.

So I wish you all the best in 2009. Thank you for stopping in on a regular basis and putting up with my ramblings and occasional moments of brilliance!

2008 has been my most prolific year of blogging, more posts than the previous years. This May will be my fourth blogiversary. It's exciting. I've never kept a hobby this long.

I will do a Year-In-Review, but it will be posted sometime later this weekend. I might back date it so shows as the last post of 2008...

All that being said, please celebrate and enjoy the festivities, but please do so safely and in moderation...

Cheers!

Turkey Lurkey

Happy Thanksgiving

We're off. Hope you all have a great holiday and eat tons! We'll be doing a smaller dinner this year on Thursday. In December or January I will have my delayed Thanksgiving Dinner, with benefit of all the great recipes I've been finding, as the days have moved closer to Thursday.

BBQ Holiday

Happy Independence Day ya'll. BBQ Safely.

Blue Marble

Hello Gorgeous!Happy Earth Day.

We're doing our best to take care of you.
Thanks for all you do for us.
Enjoy your special day.





AND WHAT DO WE DOING?
Small steps...we're trying...

*we use cloth napkins, instead of paper napkins. J-lo just brought up a good idea...we will each take one to work on Monday and bring it home when dirty...thus eliminating the use of paper napkins/towels at work. Good idea!

*we've purchased and use compact fluorescent light bulbs. We haven't gotten all the lightbulbs changed, but we have all of our lamps; next are the ceiling lights.

*we've been washing our clothes in cold water; using less energy to heat the hot water.

*we are composting our yard waste and kitchen-plant based waste. Plus it's wonderful for enriching your garden soil, making fertilizer less important.

*we're gardening. we've planted some vegetables and some bushes. They aren't trees, but they do a great job giving us fresh vegetables to eat and clean oxygen to breath.

*many house plants! house plants are a great, natural way to clean and filter your air in your home. some house plants can even remove harmful toxins from the air, such as from paint and other chemicals used in the building of your home.

*we bought an energy-star efficient electric lawn mower; no carbon based fuels.

*I've signed up for paper-less billing and get my credit card and phone bills via email.

*we have re-usable bags for the grocery store. Return them to your car, so you always have them when you are at the store.

*we have some green cleaning products; instead of harsh chemical cleaners.

*we have and use re-usable water bottles. (recently Nalgene bottles and those types of plastic bottles have proven to leach chemicals into the water...get a Sigg bottle.)

*we both have insulated travel coffee cups that we use. I probably get coffee in a paper cup once every three or four months...yet I'm getting coffee every day!

*we bring our lunches to work in re-usable/Gladware containers instead of ziptop plastic bags. We also use silverware instead of plastic flatware when at work.

*J-lo takes the Metro to work every single day! This offsets the driving that I do. BOO! Can't afford the hybrid car yet.

*of course, we recycle all materials we can. We recently got new cell-phones. We sent them to a non-profit that will repurposes them and donates them to those who need them (women who are victims of physical abuse and our young soldiers stationed abroad). You can get recycling envelopes from the post office for your phones, inkjet printer cartridges and other small electronics.

Step 1: REDUCE
Step 2: REUSE
Step 3: RECYCLE

Easter Weekend

It's been a busy weekend...I have several posts in the hopper...just need to finish add photos or finalizing the recipes. The big event of the weekend...? I started Friday night by assembling a giant lasagna for a very special Saturday Event of Ultimate Geekdom...Joyous joined J-lo and I for a full day marathon of Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica!!! We managed to sustain ourselves for 11 hours before admitting defeat...7 more episodes to go...but we will do it...Season 4 starts on April 4.

The lasagna was pretty dang good. There's 3/4th's of a pan left...guess what we're eating for lunches this week.

Yesterday, Easter, we did some stuff around the house. Worked in the gardens, raked leaves, set up the new cheap-o patio furniture...it's nothing special, but it's a starter set that will get a few; 2-3 years of wear out of. Then we headed to a lovely Easter celebration with Lord, Lady & Princess B. I brought the Pear and Vanilla Brown Butter Crisp. Divine! What fun. I used three types of pears and added a light pinch of Cardamom to the topping. Very very subtle, but very very nice.

Kiss Me

Happy
St. Patrick's
Day

I miss Ireland...I can't believe it's been over 5 years since we were there...time flies!

Times 2

New Year's Eve Peace!

Peace...it's what I want

Dressin' up Labor Day

Me & J-lo dressed up!

Hey all! Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day. J-lo and I played dress up and headed out to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, Maryland. You know what the Renn Faire means? Really good bad food. First you start with a few hard ciders. Then you start with fried ribboned potatoes, fried pickles, hot nuts, turkey legs, minced meat sandwiches and fried Twinkies and Snickers bars. And many many more hard ciders. It was a good day. The weather was perfect early in the day. As the day stumbled along, the temperatures rose with the spirits. Good times! I'd advocate going if you haven't before.

By the time we left, we were exhausted, stuffed and loaded full of goods. After the food and people watching, the best part of the Renn Faire is the shopping. We left with four large jars of honey (Tupelo, Orange Blossom, Mint and Blackberry) and several herbal teas. Usually we have many more goods, but we're on a budget this year!

Easter

Hey ya'll...Happy Easter!

Off to NYC for the weekend...see you soon!

Source

Bastille Day

We celebrated Bastille Day last night with a lovely dinner party...if I do say so myself!

C&S, P, K, J-lo & I enjoyed good French music, food and conversation well into the night.

Dinner started with a lovely mixed field green salad with pears, cashews and a homemade basil balsamic vinaigrette. This is our favorite salad! I timed things out so there was actually a span of time between each course. We went to a wedding a few years back where we arrived at the table and had an appetizer...then there was dancing for 20 minutes or so...then salad course was served...more dancing...then dinner...more dancing...then dessert...it was awesome because the food was so good and it was great to space it out! So I took that idea and applied it here...no dancing tonight, but plenty of time to converse. This also allowed me to prepare the entree. The main course was my new favorite heart attack inducing dish by Julia Child, Supremes de Volaille Achiduc (chicken breasts with onions, cream and paprika), served with a basic risotto. About 20-30 minutes later we moved onto dessert...creme brulee!

Recipes for the vinaigrette and creme brulee to follow in an upcoming post.

The table...I broke out the clothe napkins!
But I need new chairs...I sat on the kitchen step ladder and I think J-lo sat on the foot rest.

The salad course, sans dressing...no pics of the dressing...oops.

All ready to start cooking. I did a bunch of prep work on Thursday night, so you see the bags of prepped onions, chicken, herbs chopped, etc. Also made the creme brulees on Thursday and finished those with the burnt sugar crust just prior to serving.

The Supremes and risotto plated up.

Back at the table.

The devils.

There were many of "those" moments while the group was eating this...the clink of a spoon...silence..."Mmmmm, ooooooh"...silence.....eyes rolling....hands on the table and then the proclamation...."Oh that's good." FUN! In honor of Em, I licked my ramekin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanksgiving Side-Drunken Cranberries

I first had homemade cranberry sauce with Thanksgiving dinner in 1998. I was very apprehensive, because I’d only ever had the canned jellied cranberries, which I was fond of—and they still make a special appearance every year on the Thanksgiving table…love those ridges from the can! I was watching as they were made and thought that it was really cool watching these tart, hard little berries become this tangy classic side dish.

I began the following year’s Thanksgiving preparations by trying my own hand with homemade cranberry sauce. I wanted to try something a little special and decided to add two types of liquor.

The result was very good, but still more tart than I would have liked. The next year I tried adding a can of crushed pineapple to the cranberries. This was perfect! The crushed pineapple blends right into the dish, most people don’t even realize that it is there.

In the past, I made this recipe multiple times each season, once for a work holiday celebration, my own Thanksgiving dinner and another special dinner. It has been my experience that even non-cranberry eaters become fans of this great dish.

Note: It is my understanding that the alcohol content cooks away during the cooking process. But, not being a scientist, I don’t know if that is completely true.

DRUNKEN CRANBERRIES
Yield: Approximately 1 Quart (8 to 12 servings)
Cooking Time: Approximately 20 minutes

1lb Fresh Cranberries
¼ cup of bourbon
¼ cup of triple sec
1 orange, juiced—it’s ok if pieces and chunks are included, but no seeds.
1 lemon juiced—ditto
1 cup sugar
large (14-16oz) can of crushed pineapple
1/3 cup of the pineapple juice from the can

Combine bourbon, triple sec, sugar, orange & lime juice. Simmer until sugar is dissolved.

Add rinsed and cleaned cranberries. I remove any cranberries that are soft or damaged.

Stir into the sugar, coat all the cranberries. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until cranberries POP! (about 10 minutes)

Remove from heat and add crushed pineapple and it’s juice.

Stir until completely mixed.

REFRIGERATE, served COLD.

For the cranberries, I buy them, a few bags prior to Thankgiving and I throw them in the freezer, where they freeze perfectly and last the full year. I’ve also popped out a few to use as garnish in Cosmopolitans!