Yummy Yucky

Philosophical

This weekend's discoveries:
- Black Bean Quesadillas with Pineapple! I had them at a party catered by Mad Mex. It could have been the 12 or so margaritas I drank but these were unbelievably good!
- Steak and Shake now has a Five Guys designation in my mind. It's a place that's really good -- but I can only handle once or twice a year.

This weekend's philosophy question:
- What's the difference between fresh salsa and gazpacho? I've been eating a lot of fresh salsa lately -- and often with a spoon and a dollop of fat free sour cream. It's chopped up tomatoes, cilantro, onion, etc. How is gazpacho different, exactly?

I'm back ...

I know enter 1,000 excuses here (kids, work kicking my ass, too much time spent on Facebook ...) but it's been too long. I had been contemplating allowing this blog to just go fallow and pretty much had resigned myself to it. But then in the last few weeks something happened ... I started cooking again! Really, it's been too long since I made actual food - a recipe, something creative. It's been a long spring of quick meals, plain pasta, uninspired meats and frozen entrees.

Then a friend asked me to bring pasta or potato salad to a happy hour at the beginning of the month, which led to an Orzo Salad inspired by Nigella Lawson (scroll down she calls it PASTA PRIMAVERA SALAD). Her version includes fava beans, haricots verts, peas in the pods and fresh sugar snap peas - none of which were available at the little market close to my house. So my version kept the asparagus, added fresh green beans and snow peas. Plus, I added copious amounts of feta cheese. The feta, the lemon, the fresh veggies all made for a delicious and refreshing salad!

On to this week, I made Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce and Citrus Broccoli from Everyday Food. In reality any kind of satay isn't about the meat at all -- it's about the peanut sauce. I'm, of course, the only person in my house who will eat peanut sauce (though Son1 did try it - but said he preferred his peanut butter without all that other stuff in it), but that's OK - cause I ate it up! The next day I thinned out the sauce to make salad dressing!

Then Son1 and I made Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies from Cooking Light. Except that, at Son1's request, we left out the pecans and, really, who are they kidding with a 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips. We added at least a full bag of regular size chips. It's one time that I'm reminded Son1 is my child -- the insistence of large quantities of chocolate chips, both for the cookies and for his mouth. I ate so much dough, chips and fresh-from-the oven cookies that I felt sick all night. It was soooo worth it.

Best service ever

Nothing like giving away the whole post in the title, but really, Commander's Palace: Best Service Ever!

On our very eventful New Orleans trip, we did actually do more than just hang out on Bourbon St. OK, not much more, but we did eat well (also toured the Garden District, and did some fun shopping). We ate beignets at Cafe du Monde, and had gumbo, jumbalaya, etouffee and po boys at random eating establishments. But, by far, the highlight was dinner at Commander's Palace.

Reservations were for 6:30. We left there after 9 p.m. and every minute was dining paradise (OK, except when some other girl wearing my very cute new Ann Taylor Loft dress walked in). And, frankly, I didn't think it was that expensive. We all ordered off the "Complete Dinners" menu -- you get an appetizer and a dessert included with the price of your entree. Plus we all ordered a cheese plate, because no meal is complete without cheese. My rundown: Turtle Soup (with extra sherry), a roasted quail with cornbread stuffing, strawberry shortcake. And, yes, I got a non-chocolate dessert and loved it -- that's exactly how wild and crazy New Orleans was.

So food was all excellent. Quail and turtle soup both beyond excellent. But, I'm not kidding about the service. We were ushered to our table immediately. The server knew my name. I should say the head server - because there was really a team. A special guy to come over and explain the cheese plate, for example. The team swooped in with food to serve us all at once. Napkins were replaced with fresh ones when we got up. And despite being there for 2 1/2 hours - there was never a "gee where are they?" moment. It's the kind of service I'd expect if I were paying $100+ a head. Not $40 (well, OK, there was wine and the cheese plate, but still $65 tops).

Guess there's a reason you become a landmark restaurant.

Baby eating

The eating habits of babies are just weird. Son2 has started eating table food with much gusto. Last night we went out for dinner and, for the first time, just ordered him a meal from the kids menu - spaghetti and meatballs (no sauce). The kid normally loves pasta, but would not touch he spaghetti - not cut up, not fed from my fork - nothing. The tomatoes covered in cream sauce from FS' dinner, yes. The artichokes with spicy creole sauce from my dinner, yes. Plain spaghetti, no.

Moo Shu Dinner

The fact that I actually cooked something for dinner -- and something new at that -- should not be post-worthy. But, sadly, it is these days. FS and I had a date night Wednesday night like the old days. It's been forever since we've eaten alone together after kids are in bed - partly because we go out on real dates at least once a month now, and partly because bedtime for Son1 is 8, but really by the time you're done reading books it's 8:30.

But FS had a 5:30 conference call (again) on Wednesday, so I fed the kids and waited. Then I made Moo Shu Pork from January's Everyday Food. It was really easy and pretty good. And as I was chopping vegetables I remembered how much I actually liked cooking and how wonderful it is to eat a meal without two kids screaming at you.

Tonight: Real date. A special Valentine's Day dinner at the little French place around the corner.

Weight Watcher - Update

This is a great way to start your morning:

"YOU DID IT! YOU'VE ACHIEVED YOUR GOAL WEIGHT!

All of us here at Weight Watchers congratulate you on reaching your ultimate weight goal. Well done. This is a fantastic achievement and we hope you'll take a moment to reflect on all that you've accomplished before doing something special to celebrate."

Total weight change to date | -27 lbs

Over the past few weeks I've stopped tracking my points online. I've pretty much got down what a day's worth of food is. And I've noticed that even when I am splurging my portion size is a lot smaller than it was.

I'd still like to tone up some, but overall I'm pretty satisfied. I fit back into my old jeans and my eating is back to normal (as opposed to pregnancy crazy).

News and notes

- I made the Buffalo Chicken Dip Thursday night. I did not make it to the inaugural first friday happy hour thanks to a very fun 24-hour stomach bug. Others reported the dip was good. Sigh.

- Inspired by merseydotes' recent fancy dinner, I decided to at least make an attempt to make something other than takeout or chicken nuggets for dinner. I made the Brown-Rice Bowl with Shrimp, Snow Peas, and Avocado Sunday for dinner. Super easy. A little fancy (well, super fancy compared to nuggets). I really liked the avocado with the rice and shrimp, but both FS and I found the sauce to be a little off. Too much vinegar? Too much sugar? I even used the very mild rice vinegar.

- It's Fausnacht Day! (You can also spell it Fasnacht, but FS and I used to live on Fausnacht Dr., so that's how I spell it.) If you're not familiar with this fabulous day, it's the Pa. Dutch equivalent of Mardi Gras, but being Pa. Dutch, that means they just eat donuts. I'd rather have the drinks, etc., but the eating donuts part I can get behind.

Monthly appetizers?

Friends of ours have started a monthly happy hour. It's a bit of a happy hour club, really. Six couples, all with kids, who take turns hosting a child-friendly happy hour the first Friday of each month. Fabulous idea! The host family is in charge of the dinner (read: ordering the pizza) and drinks; guests bring an appetizer.

I've spent the better part of the week trying to decide what to make. I think I've settled on a version of Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip. I've had it once before at some family firehall gathering and it was delicious (in that perfectly fattening Midwestern casserole way). Merseydotes' recent Butterscotch Budino post has me jonesing to make a fancy dinner, but still I can't get this casserole style dip out of my head. I'm also hungry today for a salad with French Fries, so perhaps I'm just embracing my inner yinzer.

So, I'm pretty set on this month's contribution, but I'm curious if anyone has any appetizer favorites they would recommend?

Too much of a good thing?

I love to eat out. Really, there's nothing I love more. But I think I might finally have had my fill the other week. I was traveling for work - back in DC. Four days. Three business lunches, plus a business dinner. While the places were great (and all of my choosing), it made me realize that you can, in fact get tired of eating out, and that dinner with friends is a whole lot more enjoyable than a business lunch or dinner. It took a week to get over my restaurant burn-out. Saturday night FS and I took the kids to our local Italian place and restored order to the world.

A rundown of where I ate in DC:

- Lunch at Ceiba -- best damn fish tacos ever! All the toppings (guac, sour cream, some other cilantro sauce) definitely made the dish.
- Dinner at Georgia Brown's -- I had the Charleston Perlau ("It has been said that "To know Charleston is to know Rice" ...One of the classic dishes of the old city blends Carolina Red Rice, Andouille Sausage, Duckling and Scallions. Ours is topped with three Jumbo head-on Shrimp"). It was fucking amazing. Way too much to eat, but really, really damn good. And I was eating with friends - so good company too!
- Lunch at Acadiana - Somewhat poor planning on my part since there is some overlap in the GB and Acadiana menu (lots of rice dishes, etc.). But I had the Classic Turtle Soup and the Trio of "pies" (natchitoches meat pie, louisiana crawfish pie, southern vegetable pie,
black pepper buttermilk dipping sauce) and almost died and went to heaven. I tried my best to pay attention to my business associate and not to lick my plate. She daintily ate a small portion of her muffaletta, making me look like a hog. Oh well.
- Dinner at Olives - It's a Todd English restaurant, I've never been and being that I'm reading another Bourdain book and had read about the Vegas restaurant on the plane ride in, I thought it was worth a try. It was good, but not damn good or fucking good or any other way cursing good. I had beef two ways - a special for the night. A braised short rib on top of creamy polenta (yummy) and a cut of steak that escapes me on top of blue cheese rissoto (the meat was tough, the rissoto tasty). It reminded me that I'm tired of the "two ways" trend. My experience could have been colored by the fact that I was dining for business, so not the casual fun friends company.
- Lunch at DC Coast - Another slight disappointment. I had the Blackened Tilapia (Jack Cheese Corn Bread, Sauteed Rapini, Clementine Barbeque Sauce). The Barbeque sauce was a little off-putting. The corn bread was excellent. Fish was fish.
- Dinner, finally not at a restaurant - A friend had me over for Tortilla soup and quesadillas. Soup was served with tons of cilantro, which is the best damn herb ever!
- Lunch, the final day -- I was supposed to go to Old Ebbit for a business lunch. It was, mercifully, canceled. I've never been so happy to eat a Cosi Signature Salad at my desk in my life!

Overindulged ...

I survived the holidays and am still standing (well, sitting at my computer and spending too many hours working). It was a parade of food, some of which was very good. Highlights:

- Son1 and I made rice krispie squares as our final "cookie" of the season. His idea. I asked if he wanted to make regular or peanut butter. "Let's make peanut butter with chocolate on top!" There are small glimpses that despite all his FS-ness, this is my child!

- I ate more than my fair share of buckeyes - both my mothers and JR's. I can't get enough of these cookies.

- Christmas morning breakfast came off -- well, after I came to the epiphany that I can not ask my MIL to bring anything but fruit salad to holiday meals. For Thanksgiving, I asked for mashed potatoes. She complained that they'd get gummy and offered to make them at my house. Actually she offered for her husband to make them. Fine. Except that he doesn't know how to make them, he just likes to use the hand mixer. So I had to stand over him and tell him what to put in them and when they were done. This time I asked for bacon or sausage, stupidly expecting her to have cooked said things ahead of time. Duh! She showed up at my house Christmas morning at 9 a.m. - as all my dishes (egg casserole, cheesy potato casserole) were perfectly timed to eat by 9:15 - with a giant bag of raw bacon and sausage. She asked for pans. Plopped the entire pound of bacon into my smallest skillet and pretty much walked away. Her husband and FS's grandmother did the rest of the pork-product cooking. At one point FS's grandmother turned to me and said "You know you could have cooked this bacon ahead of time and just rewarmed it in the oven." I nearly lost my shit, but managed to plaster a smile on my face and explain that MIL had brought the bacon. So, as I said, next year: fruit salad.

- The bridal brunch went well. I did swap out the chocolate bread pudding for the cranberry cake. Great move. It was so yummy! That brunch went off without a hitch.

- I had a chance to sample some of Buzz's cookies. The delicious cinnamon chip coins, which I think Buzz undersells. They are perfect, eat with coffee kind of cookies. I also enjoyed the triple ginger cookies.

- JR and I made an absolutely ridiculous New Year's Eve meal of somewhat-cheesy appetizers -- wings, meatballs (with a side sauce of ketchup and grape jelly), fries, tubs of processed cheese and crackers, shrimp cocktail, lebanon bologna with cream cheese. It was easily the most ridiculous and tasty meal ever!

- And now I'm working the Weight Watchers hard core. Pre-Christmas I was merely 3 pounds away from my goal weight. I slipped 2 but feel good about making it up. Plus, between Christmas and New Year's I made a mad dash to the mall to cash in on a $25 promotional gift card to Ann Taylor Loft that expired Dec. 31. What did I buy there? Pants in my old size! And even Gap jeans in my old size! My old pre-children size!