On the Bucket List

After reading this article, via Metrocurean blog, I immediately imagined the Birthday dinner scene from the movie Chocolat. The scene in which everyone is dining outside, under trees, with twinkly lights above, and seductively savoring each morsel.  Everyone is blissed out of their minds with good food which had been prepared carefully and lovingly. Sharing a table with good company and great food appeals to the most primal part of me.  To Do: Dinner With Daniel At 1789

I'm going to fantasize that Bob and I will be able to do this in the near future.

A new fan of Jamie Oliver (but an old fan of Mark Bittman's)

I haven't always been a big fan of Jamie Oliver. No specific reason in particular why I didn't care for him but I changed my mind after I watched this video. I really felt impressed by his drive and passion for what he believes in regard to food, children, and disease.


Now an old favorite, Mark Bittman.

Fried hard boiled eggs "Lucullian Style"

I decided to play with my food during a past snowstorm. Since the natural food store where I work sells farm fresh local eggs I had an abundance of them in the fridge. I had seen a recipe that caught my attention from Lucullian Delights which was Fried Hard Boiled Eggs and thought it sounded crazy and tasty enough to try. They were delicious!

Basically all one has to do is hard boil as many eggs as you think you may want to slice and fry. I used a shallow dish sprinkled with some dry bread crumbs and a dash of Jane's Crazy mixed up salt and then gently pressed the bread crumbs on both sides of the eggs. I used a shallow non-stick fry pan with a tinge of olive oil nicely heated through to quickly sear the lightly breaded eggs to a nice golden crust (about 3-4 minutes each side). After rummaging through the crisper in the fridge I found some organic fresh spinach and leftover olive oil/Dijon mustard dressing in the fridge door. I sensed a twist on an old spinach salad theme! After compiling everything together on one plate I have to say I was glad I tried Lucullian's recipe....even if it wasn't exactly the same.

Mrs. Weeks went to Key West Florida

Man! I LOVE the warmer weather! When you live in Maryland you have winters but sometimes they're crappy winters. Some years there's actual snow. Some years it's the ice storm from hell. Other years we're blessed with a nice icy cold rain and mushy mud with a touch of salt spray to nicely coat the bottom of your car. Beautiful.

My point. The hubby and I just got back from Southern Florida and the weather caused us actual physical pain when we exited the plane in Baltimore on Monday. Our bodies seized into a crouch-like stance like we had cramps when walking the jet-way and it only got worse when we got to baggage claim where the doors leading outside were in a constant open position. Now that I'm back in the cold on a regular basis my body has tempered and it doesn't bother me as much but the memory of Florida still pervades.

What sticks out the most, besides the weather, was the food. Let me begin with it being fresh. To be able to eat that fresh on a daily basis would curl my toes. I have few pictures of the food that I ate because I was too wrapped up in eating it. From fresh sardines, ceviche, stone crab, conch salad, my husbands surf and turf eggs benedict (great choice honey), to my grouper from Louie's (happy birthday Jonathan!) I was in heaven. Our dear friends told me they visit the farmers market whenever they want. Mine closed in October. I'm so jealous.

The following are snaps from our recent most favorite vacation with great friends, awesome music, and heavenly food.

I have to back track a wincey bit and say that the Chesapeake bay area in the Spring, Summer, and Fall is one of my favorite places too. I have too much nostaglia tied up in this area to not love it. Bob and I have raised our son here and we have dear friends as well with whom we've shared many memories. There are awesome restaurants and bars with people who work in them that have become our friends too and we would miss them very much should we move on. I think my problem is the intoxicating warmth, sunshine, and overall great food that is a constant year round in the great state of Florida that has me currently smitten. Smitten like a kitten.

(One more thing: If you get a chance to watch Jonathan Birchfield play you had better go)

Catching up

I wanted to post some snaps of this past summer (miss you so much) and other events. I've been a very lucky lucky girl these past months.


From top to bottom: Flowering thyme, rubber ducky cupcake platter with cake pops, Ghetto Labor Day cookout, fried green tomatoes, penguin cupcake platter, sailing on the Chesapeake, steamed crabs.

Mrs. Weeks goes to Chestertown

Today was my very first time I ordered anything from Rita's and I saved myself for the first day of Spring. I felt like a bride on her wedding day. Lisa, my sister-in-law, convinced me early this morning that today was the day to finally order from Rita's because they were giving away free Italian Ice in honor of the first day of Spring. So, we made plans to meet and travel to Chestertown to experience my unflowering together. It was more chilly outside than what I would've liked but taking advantage of something free amongst other like-minded people who were there for the same purpose made me feel very Patriotic in a weird way.

Going back home along Rt. 213 towards Centreville is a new curiosity which strikingly looks like, dare I say it, a baby vineyard. Now that Spring has arrived, it has given me new energy about food, gardening, and meeting new people so visiting the "baby vineyard" is definitely marked on my Spring "to do" list. In the meanwhile, I'll just park on the side of the road and take a few pictures of it until I finally gather the courage to drive down to lane and say hi.

Grillen and chillen: (LIME, BUTTER, & OLIVE OIL SAUCE)

Hurry Spring! The warm weather can't arrive fast enough for me. Last night I fired up the grill for the asparagus and London Broil I had bought at Safeway for dinner. Sure, grill your food but how do you "kick it up a notch", so to speak? Then I remembered a lunch I had with Bob at Applebee's (yes Applebee's) that served broccoli with a lime olive oil-ish sauce. I loved the taste of the lime with the olive oil and thought it tasted really light and fresh. I would have licked the plate if it was socially acceptable. So, last night, instead of just plating the asparagus I thought that maybe it would be tasty with my version of the lime sauce I had with the broccoli earlier. I just plunked my imagined Applebee's ingredients in an aluminum pan and parked it over a low flame. I added the grilled asparagus after everything in the pan melted down and swooshed everything together for a minute or two until it was all warmed. If I may say so myself......well, it was pretty darned good.

Lime, butter, and olive oil sauce for the grill

Ingredients:

1 large aluminum pan
1/4 cup real unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
zest of 1 lime, lightly chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-grill or blanch asparagus or broccoli

2. Place all the above ingredients in the aluminum pan.

3. Warm the pan over a light fire until the butter is melted.

4. Place the vegetables in the pan and warm through.

5. Eat and enjoy!

It isn't any easier for a quick grilled meal with veggies.  Now onto another idea for dinner that I have to try.  Check out this recipe from David Lebovitz. It's going to be on my table very soon.

Not your regular St. Patrick's Day meal: (AVOCADO & SHRIMP SUSHI SALAD)

It's been nearly a month since I last posted anything and I'm feeling pretty lousy about it. It's not as though I haven't traveled anywhere, eaten anything, or fixed a meal because I'm guilty of all those things. I've been to Mexico, eaten at a GREAT restaurant with AWESOME hamburgers, and fixed a few meals that I'm proud of. Since I'm still lucky enough (haha) to still have a souvenir from Mexico, namely some gastro-enteritis, I didn't feel any love for corned beef and cabbage yesterday to "celebrate" St. Patrick's Day. It's not that true Irish folks really eat that anyway. I hear lamb stews are pretty popular instead but I'm detouring a little.

I was messing around with some recipe ideas from various cookbooks in storage that I pilfered from the attic. I had forgotten that I had Moosewood restaurant new classics and what a great resource it was for "different" recipes. One recipe had everything, almost, that I had in stock at the house without running out to the store. Sushi salad on an Irish holiday? What the hell!

Due to supplies on hand I substituted grated zucchini for the radish/daikon, omitted the scallions, and used chopped romaine lettuce for the salad greens that were called for in the original recipe. I also only used one half of a toasted nori sheet due to personal taste. In my opinion that's an ingredient that can be completely omitted if desired. I also added a dash of dark sesame oil to the wasabi dressing too for added flavor.

Avocado & shrimp sushi salad (based on the Moosewood restaurant new classics cookbook)

Ingredients:

Wasabi dressing:

1 Tbsp. wasabi powder

2 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup rice vinegar or lime juice (I used the vinegar)

Salad:

2-3 cups cooked white rice, preferably sushi rice

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tsp. sugar (I used 1 packet of Splenda)

3/4 tsp. salt

2/3 cup peeled and grated carrots

1/4 cup minced scallions

1/4 cup grated radish or daikon

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1 sheet nori, toasted and crumbled

1 ripe avocado, preferably Hass

4-5 cups mixed salad greens or spinach leaves

lemon or lime wedges

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together all of the wasabi dressing ingredients until smooth, and set aside.

2. Cook the shrimp as desired either by boiling for 2 minutes until pink and firm OR grill, after tossing with a little vegetable oil, over a hot fire.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, sugar or Splenda, and salt until the sugar dissolves. Add the mixture to the cooked rice and combine.

4. Add the carrots, scallions, radish or diakon, sesame seeds, and 1/2 of the crumbled nori to the cool rice mixture and toss well. Peel, pit, and slice the avocado but do not add.

5. To assemble the salad, line a large platter with the greens. Mound the rice mixture in the middle and arrange the shrimp and avocado slices around the perimeter. Drizzle the wasabi dressing over the entire platter and sprinkle the rest of the crumbled nori, if desired. Garnish with the citrus wedges.

6. Enjoy St. Patrick's day!