Bite. Sip. Repeat…

Dr. Steve and I met up for lunch at Mr Sushi in Encinitas. For the record, the Doctor and I prefer our sushi on the medium to somewhat adventuresome side. That’s to say, California rolls aren’t that interesting, nigiri made from fish (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, halibut, etc.) is awesome, most rolls are delicious, and we don’t prefer the more exotic stuff (uni, mollusks, roe, etc). I know some people might say I’m being a big sissy, but there was a time when the only sushi I’d eat was a California roll, so I expect my sushi palate to continue to develop. Continue Reading »

Tonight I had a craving for panang curry. I went to Trader Joe’s and got 2 bottles of panang curry sauce, a red pepper and some cooked chicken breast. I put the sauce, chicken, diced red pepper and a big handful of frozen peas into the pan. After simmering a few minutes I tasted my creation. It was a little too spicy and a little too salty. So, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter and about 1/4 cup cream of coconut. Wow! It was perfect. Made a little rice and the wife, boy and I were very happy. Total cooking time: 15 minutes. BSR :]

We fed the boys early and had this dish after they were in bed. It’s very easy, very tasty and vegetarian to boot. Not too much to explain, the recipe is pretty straight-forward. It’s from Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on Food Network. Link here. We served it with a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy…

Here’s the recipe… Continue Reading »

I’ve had enough of chicken breast fajitas, so I bought some chicken thighs (change doesn’t come easy to me) and tried a one skillet chicken and button mushroom dish. The starting point was a Emeril Lagasse recipe for Braised Chicken Thighs with Button Mushrooms, I’ll note the changes.

Here are the ingredients (the essence was a gift from Scott)

Continue Reading »

Just had an easy dinner tonight, spaghetti with meat sauce; salad for Mom and Dad and green beans and applesauce for the boys. No real recipe, just browned some ground beef and some chopped onion then added jarred marinara and simmered for 15 minutes or so. Served over pasta with Parmesan cheese. Salad was dressed with a simple vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Plantains are those fascinating banana-looking fruit surrounded by a bit of mysticism. Are they really fruit or vegetable? Do we eat them raw or cooked? When should we eat them? They start out bright green and hard, move toward beautiful yellow, slowly get black specs and in the end turn completely black and soft. This change of life takes only a few days and plantains can be enjoyed at every stage of ripeness. They are the cousin of the common banana we’re all familiar with (plantains are sometimes called cooking bananas). The color of a plantain is directly proportional to the level of sugar in the fruit. I recently took a trip to Puerto Rico recently and re-found my love for plantains in many dishes and stages of ripeness. I had some great Mofongo (mofo-what?), tostsones and baked plantains. I’ll dive into the history and execution of these dishes as well as some interesting facts about the plantain. Bananas! (now I feel like a cool 14 year old…girl…mm..not so cool). Let’s continue down banana road. Continue Reading »