January 4, 2009
New Years Resolutions 2009 and First Week of meals
This year we have a shared goal of not using the credit card for anything other then replacing the furnace and air conditioner (this will depend on if I use the tax refund(s) for this or to pay off my car, which will be paid off by September).
My goal for this year, is to use my cookbooks more and plan and make dinners according to the plan. Too often I'll depend on the old standbys because I feel tired or just can't think of what I want to make.
So for the week of Sunday January 4th through Saturday January 10th, I'll be cooking from The Best 30-Minute Recipe mostly.
Tonight it'll be Lasagna (not from the book, or any book for that matter) and then in no particular order:
- Skillet Tamale Pie (pages 119-120)
- Skillet Shepherd's Pie (pages 118-119)
- Curried Chicken and Rice (page 110)
- 30 Minute Pork Vindaloo (Page 83)
Posted by SammyD at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 1, 2009
For new years, we took our third trip in two weeks to Cedar Rapids.
The drive there was a bit silly. Roads were clear and clean, but covered in state troopers. I slowed down a bit, because I didn't want to push my luck.
At the Matta's we showed up, settled in, had a nice simple dinner, before the girls were packed up to spend the New years with Grandma and Grandpa Matta. We waited till around 8:00 PM before we started to dig into the prepared snacks. From Nathan's roasted nuts (many jokes ensued) to goat cheese pizza drizzled in a herb infused olive oil, they put on quite a selection of delicious things to eat.
The theme drink of the night was cocktails made with sparkling white wine. The base being a wonderfully fruity Asti (very similar to what was served at Josh and Lindsay's Wedding). So we had everything form your standard mimosas, Poinsettias to the odder Black Velvet (surprisingly good), Nelson's Blood (not really good or bad), and others. I brought quite a good bottle of port (Trevor Jones Tawny Port Jonesy), which I really enjoyed...and I'll be replacing.
Along with Shannon and I, Jenny and Nathan, Clif, Scott, Jane and her husband (and even though I've met him a couple of times now, I can't bring up his name), and then another couple Scott and someone...that I had not met before. Enough to like you aren't forced to do things together, but not so much that it's hard to do anything.
So as the night wore on and several of us got into the spirit. We played games on the Wii (Boom Blox is awesome). And then ended up watching CNN's coverage of the New Years.
CNN's coverage was awful...and I mean bad. Crappy bands and I love the 3 second before midnight cut over for those of us in the central time zone.
Anyways...people started to clear off, and some chatting continued well into the night. Eventually around 2:30 or 3:AM we called it a night and slept.
In the morning, I was up first (I never sleep long). Read a bit, played with my iPod Touch, drank all Shannon's water...and then got up to search for more water.
Colby (the dog) followed me downstairs, wanted to go out, so I let him...remembered that Diego (the dog) was in the crate, so I let him out and into the backyard too. I drank water, read some more and eventually others joined me. Waffles for breakfast, got cleaned up and headed over to Shannon's sister's.
Sean seems like he's becoming a bit more anti-social...but it could just be the day. Shannon's parents joined us and Mike's friend.
We had some cake and ice cream chatted with the family, watched Sean get a bunch more from Dr Who.
We eventually left and headed over to Culver's to eat before we drove home. However, it was closed. So we ended up at Ruby Tuesday's. I don't know why we keep going there. The food is never that good, and apparently nobody there wanted to be there and the service was lousy too.
Being that I was still a bit tired, we headed over to Starbucks (I'm not sure where the non-starbucks places are in CR), went through the drive through, ordered (Peppermint Mocha Twist for me, water for Shannon) and drove up to the window. We were behind two cars, waited for the first. and the a Caddy CTS and finally got to the window.
The barista said that the people ahead of us had paid for our drinks and wished us a Happy New Year. By this time they were already gone so no way for us to give our thanks, so we thanked them, and headed back to Des Moines.
Certainly was an unexpected surprise.
I've been told that I need to pay it forward...so I guess I'll see what I can do.
Posted by SammyD at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2008
Shannon, being on her week of vacation, wanted to go out and try Proof for lunch. We headed down a little bit after noon.
We went up, I ordered the Duck Lasagna, Shannon had the Chicken and Cous Cous. Both were fantastic. The lasagna had duck, crispy pancetta, a rich sauce and noodles. It was so good.
I'm pretty certain that Proof now has taken the places as my favorite restaurant in Des Moines, and I don't state that lightly.
Posted by SammyD at 6:23 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2008
Jenny made some cookies. Rosemary cookies...they were fragrant and quite good.
Posted by SammyD at 8:55 PM | Comments (0)
On Friday, we had our team holiday dinner. We headed down to Centro to have a lunch, and quite the lunch it was. Keith, instead of joining us, headed home to lay down, since it was feeling a bit sickly.
We started off with a small Margherita pizza. I had pesto steak sandwich and many others had their own. It was quite good. After lunch we walked down the street a bit, after the drivers plugged the parking meters, and headed to Django for dessert. Between the six that we present, we had an Baked Apple Galette, Lemon curd, and this other dessert that Proctor had been there three times that week to eat. All three were quite delicious.
Saturday, we headed over to Cedar Rapids to the Matta's. We waited for the storm to pass, and then got on the road. The interstate wasn't too bad, though it seemed that whenever there was a car, truck or trailer in the ditch, traffic seemed to slow dramatically. Or around the snow plows and what not. So it took us quite a bit longer to get from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids then it normally does. We did catch up to the storm and got hit by it again as we headed north to Cedar Rapids.
We came in from the wind and the cold.
We settled for a bit (and played some hide and go seek) and packed up in the minivan and dropped off the girls with Jenny's mom and headed over to Winifred's.
We were there early, and seated down and started chatting. Eventually we were joined by Scott (living in CR), Cameron (in from Japan), and Dave (in from Michigan). It was nice to see and chat with everyone. We finally got around to ordering and we split a full order of their onion rings, which were pretty good. Shannon had Chicken Angelo, and I had the beef tips with cognac sauce. I started with a lobster bisque, which was...well...just ok. And they brought out the beef tips. Presentation wise, they were very lacking. It honestly looked like dog food...I was kind of turned off. However, once I tasted they were quite good. The beef was tender, the sauce was round and robust. I tasted Shannon's chicken, with what they called prosciutto....it was way to thick...It tasted good, though...but the texture seemed wrong.
The detractions, from Winifred's were small, but annoying. I admit that we started off slow, however, the service was, generally attentive, but slow. Water was refilled a lot, but the speed that the food came was just a bit too slow. The bathroom was more or less hidden, and the vinyl walls, made to look like the tile, just looked cheezy in comparison with the rest of the restaurant. The wine list was large, but not that I'm a huge wine aficionado, but between Scott and I and the Mattas, other then one brand which could range quite a bit in quality, most everything else we didn't recognize. And with no wine steward to help...it's kind of hard to get through.
The conversation for the night ranged all over the place, from the economic crisis, to just silly inane things.
We skipped dessert, since most of us were full and the Matta's were a bit late in picking up their children.
After we got them, we head back to their home and met up with the whole crew and drank mulled wine, some beers that I had brought. We were later joined up by Richard, who had drove in earlier that day with his wife and child from New Jersey.
Conversation went into the night...very late, where eventually quite a few of us were having trouble staying awake. So the party broke up and people went on their way home.
Sunday morning, we were slow in getting up...though once the light started hitting my face, I had trouble keeping my eyes closed. The Matta's eventually headed over to their first Christmas with Nathan's parents. We got cleaned up, and headed over to the American Skillet. Found online that day, and not too out of our way out of town.
I don't really have much nice to say about the place. I didn't like the orange juice (not even remotely tasting fresh), I didn't like the bacon (to dry?...it was just wrong). The Dallas skillet was ok. Shannon said that she and been spoiled by omelets at La Mie.
However, not all is wrong with the American Skillet. The Fruit & Fiber Cakes, which I had read were good, were actually quite good. It's basically a pancake, set up on one side, adding granola, cinnamon to the other, and then finishing the cooking with the granola. A bit of crunch, some pancake, some blueberries and some butter and syrup. It's like a dream imagined in pot smoker's haze.
The drive back to Des Moines was much much easier, though with the head wind drove down the miles per gallon. It took about 1/3rd of a tank to get to Cedar Rapids, and a little less then half on the way back.
It's nice to catch up with long time friends.
Posted by SammyD at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
November 30, 2008
Nuclear Brownie Cookie (recipie)
Nuclear Brownie Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb butter
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 18 oz 60% cacao chocolate chips
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cup sugar (8.8 oz)
- 1/2 cup flour (2.5 oz)
- 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Nuclear Brownie Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350F
- Liberally butter a 9x13 banking pan
- Melt butter, 9 oz (1/2) of the chips, and the unsweetened chocolate over a double boiler, when melted, let it cool.
- Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla together.
- Slowly add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, while whisking the egg mixture (tempering)
- Mix in flour and baking powder and salt.
- Stir in remaining chocolate chips
- Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes
- Let cool and refrigerate overnight.
Cookie Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (10 oz)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon (less if you feel so inclined)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (~8 oz)
- 1/2 cup white sugar (3.5 oz)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- ~2 Cups of refrigerated Nuclear Brownies (8.5 oz) cut into 1/4" square, keeping the full height of the brownie. Cut off the edges and use the center for the bits.
Cookie Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325 F, Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Sift or whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside
- In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, dark brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
- Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
- Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
- Stir in the brownie bits by hand using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula
- Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a 4 minutes on the stove before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Reviews were good, I got an email from Taylor (Nathan and Jenny's daughter):
your cookies were good daddy and i liked themPosted by SammyD at 3:22 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2008
Thursday morning I headed out, tried to see if I put a Netflix at the central post office, if it would go any faster (it didn't), topped of the tank, headed back home, filled up the car with nuclear brownie cookies and leftover nuclear brownies, and then we headed over to La Mie to pick up some bread.
I had Joe (owner and proprietor of La Mie) try out one of the nuclear brownies (he liked them, said they were very fudgy) and we bought some coffee, hot chocolate, and a cranberry and walnut challah, some rolls (kind of in the form of muffins), and this wonderful bread with gouda in the middle that I can't remember the name of. It really was fantastic. Afterwards we headed to my parents.
Now I will admit that traffic on I-80 was lighter then other Thanksgivings, but like I told Nathan later, it seemed like all the pleasant people stayed home and just left the rest of the jerks on the road. Seriously, why do you call it a passing lane, when..well...the majority of cars are in that lane? It was tried by a BMW x3 and some gigantic of an locally grown SUV to basically kill me...the running up in the regular lane, thinking they can cut in front of me as I'm right behind someone else...I hate that.
Anyways, we were the first guests to arrive. Joseph got home from a hour something run (he had a bit of a unibomber type look to him (Beard + crazy hair)). I saw the senior pictures that we went back to CR to take with my brother. And saw the preparations of the massive feast that was about to take place.
People started to arrive. As with most of the recent events, it usually ends up being the parents, the boys in the family and their families, and a few other random people. In attendance were: Hyrum and Diane and their kids (5), myself and Shannon (2), Jed and Stephanie (2), Joseph (1), Isaac (1), Parents (2) and then Rod & Shanna (2) and a couple of their brood (2), a couple of missionaries (2), and to top it off, the family that Stephanie nannies for (lets just say 4); for a grand total of 23 people at my parents.
Before dinner there was a bit of foosball palying, some Stratego (played my nephew), lots of goofing off, catching up and etc.
Lots of food...and I mean lots. A couple of homemade pies, cookies (mine included), tons of side dishes, including several sweet potato dishes, cranberry sauces, breads (banana, Jed made, La Mie, etc), 4 or 5 jello dishes, and turkey. This is probably the juiciest turkey I've had of my mothers. So kudos to her for that.
There were 4 tables. One tiny table (for the little kids), a card table (for bigger kids, but ones that may still be messy) and the two bigger tables.
The hits of most of the night wast the gouda filled bread that I got at La Mie, my cookies, and Shanna's homemade Lefse. The La Mie bread didn't make it much past the prayer (people started eating it before hand). I also really liked Shanna's low fat, low cal stuffing, which was nicely spiced...I was actually surprised it was low cal and low fat...
After the dinner settled and desserts started making the rounds, we hung out for a bit longer before we headed over to the Mattas.
At the Mattas were Jenny & Nathan, Taylor and Cali, Nathan's parents Pat and Terry, CJ and Emily (I think that's what her name was). Eventually we were joined by Nathan's older sister Cherokee and her family (Cherokee used to babysit both Nathan and I).
Jenny and Nathan were mostly busy in the kitchen putting the final touches on their meal. We chatted, played with Taylor and Cali (which for the most part involved playing catch with Taylor and her Horton stuffed animal).
So when they were about to eat, we exited stage right, but before we did so, we tried little piece of the turkey they made (holy bajesus it was good. butter and bacon fat under the skin, so you had turkey + spices with a nice bacon finish), and got a thermos full of mulled cider (alcohol free) and headed home.
Traffic on the way home was much lighter.
My older sister Emily had a child on Thanksgiving morning...I am waiting for more details.
Shannon worked a bit today, and I left shortly after her to brave the mall crowds.
Now normally I avoid black friday like the plague. I mean I plan on staying in the house, my car not leaving the driveway, not participating in any sort of commerce on that day.
I don't like malls, I don't like crowds, and the combination of both makes it extra annoying. However Apple was having a sale, and my iPod recently lost it's life, and being that the iPod Touch was on sale, I figure if I can get the 10% iPod recycling discount, then I'd get it...it's not like i'll be able to get it much cheaper. I was able to, and did so. I got an iPod touch, so that way when the drive strikes me, I can listen to almost anything out of my music collection rather then a mere 10% of the total music collection...
So since I was already there, I figured I'd check out Williams Sonoma and Barnes and Noble. I ended up getting a good (comparatively) deal on some non-stick cookware, so that I can have a pan to do omelets and etc in. 2 pans for ~$60, when one of them costs $125 normally...which makes me think that they just have a great big profit margin...but...anyways...
By the time I got out of the mall, I was about ready to die... People wearing too much perfume, strong smells that hurt my nose. and just the mass of people.
I got out and after avoiding people who don't know how to drive, I got home...and proceeded to disconnect from people and play with my new toy.
Shannon got home, and we spent the rest of the day safe from crowds.
Posted by SammyD at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2008
thinking about the nuclear brownie cookies...
In thinking about the nuclear brownie cookies, I think what I forgot was to add more brownie bits for the doubled recipe... So instead of having the bursting cookies, they were just a few (2 cups for 3 dozen cookies vs the 4 cups as it should be).
I'll be making brownies again tonight, and then draw back the cinnamon just a little bit to get the balance that I was looking for (hopefully).
I'll be baking the cookies Wednesday night and taking them to my parents (and the Matta's) for Thanksgiving.
Posted by SammyD at 1:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2008
So the idea was to take Nuclear Brownies and put them into the chocoalte chip cookie base...
While the reviews were pretty much exclusively positive, it wasn't really what I intended to do. I used far too much cinnamon for the flavor profile that I was looking for. Though it was stated that the heavy chocolate taste from the brownies and the heavy cinnamon from the cookies kind of acted as a sort of dual palate cleanser. So it was a burst of chocolate, followed by a burst of cinnamon, or the other way around. And while this is a good thing, I suppose, I think it would've been better if I would've added more semi-frozen brownies bits, since 2 cups per batter recipe wasn't quite enough. Or if I would've just highlighted the brownies, by moving back the cinnamon. I'll have to try again with smaller batches this time.
Also, I need to get the timing right...the first 6 cookies out of the oven ended up being a bit raw in the middle, thought I did adjust the time up to around 19 minutes per batch, which seemed to get it to about the right consistency from my oven. though I suspect if I add more brownies, it'll change that time too.
I also think I mixed the cookie batter for too long, since they didn't rise as much as they have in the past with other of the multi-chocoalte chip cookies.
Also as an adjustment to speed up the time to make the Nuclear Brownies, by tempering the egg and sugar mixture, I was able to add the warm chocolate and butter in much sooner, which allowed me to finished the brownies in one segment, rather then start, wait for chocolate and butter mixture to cool, then finish.
Anyways, this may end up being two separate recipes...one with the cinnamon drawn back just a little with the brownies cranked up just a bit. And then another where the brownies are the stars, and the cookies are a backdrop.
Posted by SammyD at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
Christmas Wish List 2008 Addendum
I was listening to the Splendid Table today and heard about this book:
And decided to amend my christmas wish list.
Posted by SammyD at 3:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 7, 2008
Shhh...don't tell the wife I went to Proof again...
proof restaurant
1301 Locust St
Des Moines, IA 50309
Open Monday - Friday for lunch and Fridays for Dinner.So pretty much our whole work group headed over to proof restaurant for lunch. It was busy when we went.
We ordered our meals, put some tables together and chatted about work things.
The owner/chef stopped by and actually thanked me for my post before. It was both nice to hear that someone related to one of the places I've written about actually had read it, and yet a little weird for me too...often times I have to think for a while to come up with the right things to say...so I'm not so necessarily so eloquent in person. Plus I guess I was a bit embarrassed, too...I suppose. I was also interested to find out that she comes from the family that is responsible for Jasper Winery...which produces the Chancellor which I think I've said before was one of my favorites...probably my favorite in the state, excluding the Port from Cedar Ridge Winery.
Anyways on to it.
I had Moroccan Chicken Flatbread and Curried Carrot Soup with a soda. It was kind of funny because Andrea and I ordered the exact same thing and Michelle ordered the same main with a salad side... Brandon had the Roast Pork flatbread, Keith had the braised lamb flatbread and Proctor had vegetable falafel.
The the chicken was tasty, spicy and and fragrant. I was nicely cooked, tender and just yummy. The soup was quite tasty...maybe made a bit extra so being so warming on such a cold day (first snow + me with no coat). What is it about soup that is so good? I also tried a bit of the braised lamb (delious) and the falafel, which was really quite good...yes...me...and vegges...I know, I know.
Anyways for $9 + drink and tip...how can you not go?
Also, I did promise Shannon that when she wanted to go to lunch, we could go...so I guess I won't get in too much trouble...
Posted by SammyD at 8:55 PM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2008
proof restaurant
1301 Locust St
Des Moines, IA 50309
Open Monday - Friday for lunch and Fridays for Dinner.Wow...just wow.
From the simple menu listing of:
first/5
nacho chips/dip
second/10
duck pizza
third/15
hot dogs/apple fries
fourth/7
snickers/ice creamComes one of the best dinners of my life.
Nacho Chips and Dip was really these fried wheat chips and a goat cheese sauce. With these thinly sliced slightly salted tiny red potatoes (I think). The sauce was spicy, but not so much so that it turned away...but still spicy enough to keep me happy. It was smooth, slightly salty and wonderful.
The duck pizza had a small, slightly oiled salad that was good, and the pizza itself was fantastic. Duck, lots of cheese on and a white sauce that just topped everything off. How could it get anything better?
And then it does.
The hot dogs/apple fries...how could something that I normally avoid like the plague (hot dogs, most are awful) be good? You take a freshly baked roll, make your own catchup, mustard, and put those around a pureed scallop formed into a hot dog. It was astoundingly good. I don't say that lightly either. That was the only course I was really worried. That combined with the granny smith apple fries (which were just small perfectly cut apples) just came out as probably one of the favorite food items. I was thinking of food shows that I've seen and how this would be something they would do on a show like that, and then Shannon mentioned the same thing.
The snickers/ice cream was a peanut butter ice cream, beside nougat enrobed in chocolate. Combined together it tasted like a snickers bar. It was a great finish to a fantastic dinner.
Service was quick and attentive but not over bearing.
I'm quite impressed. My boss knows the owner/chef in a round about sense (I think he said her mother and his mother were friends), but they're both from the same hometown.
Anyways... I'm looking forward to eating lunch there (hopefully soon) and I'm gonna have to keep an eye on their site to find out what their themed Friday night dinner is.
So dinner for both of us, with a glass of wine and some port with dessert for me came out to be just over $90, excluding tip.
The only drawback I had, was the music...but that just me...boring and bland smooth jazz never seems to be ok for me...
Posted by SammyD at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2008
After putting it off for a long long long time (trying to spend only cash we actually have and fit it into the budget and actually avoiding doing it when it's hot out), we have finally double coat primer painted the dining room. So now, instead of having to look at a mostly red wall, where the wall paper border used to be, and then the dingy white, it is now all a bright super clean white.
Now all we have to do is paint it red again.
We decided that we'd have someone else paint the ceilings, front hall, staircase and landing, because...well...painting ceilings sucks.
Monday I went to Cedar Rapids, on the invite of my youngest brother Isaac, to recreate, to some extent, the senior picture that I had taken. In that picture I was laying to my side and baby Isaac was sitting in front with lederhosen. While we weren't able to find lederhosen (well we didn't try too hard), we did take pictures. Shannon came along too, since she had the afternoon off. We were fed white chili, cornbread, melon and apple crisp and played some hearts before dinner.
On the way there, a magic bug went splat against my windshield and even though I used wiper fluid several times (4 or 5), it had little affect against the smear of it. However on the way back, it rained...quite a bit. While driving, we semi-hydroplaned a few times and had the wipers on high, to no noticeable results. After slowing down to well under the limit, it finally got viewable again.
Tomorrow we're going to go see Religulous. I'm looking forward to it.
Posted by SammyD at 5:51 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2008
Woody's Smoke Shack
2511 Cottage Grove Ave
Des Moines, IA 50311At the former location of Sammie Jack's, a new BBQ place has grown in it's place. Driving up to it you get a wonderful woody smoke smell. Being that it is in the corner of a bunch of homes, I don't know how their neighbors can live there without constantly thinking about BBQ. The building is tiny, the walls are covered in wood and the staff is happy and helpful. Ordering is easy, prices are reasonable (around 16$ for both Shannon and I, with no drinks).
I've tried the pulled pork before, so I went after the smoked ham. Shannon tried for the pulled chicken, but they were just out (they were in the process of smoking some more) and went for the brisket instead. We got sides of cheesy potatoes, mac & cheese and I had before gotten their potato salad. I wrapped up some of their free cornbread (sweet) to take home.
The cornbread is sweet and covered with a light sugar dusting. It's good, but I've had better (Uncle Wendell's is better). The mac & cheese was generally dry and not very cheesy. The cheesy potatoes were actually really quite good. They obviously use a lot of butter and cheese in it to create this wonderful side dish. The potato salad is nothing special...a little too runny and bland for my taste.
The meats are generally good. The pork is pretty good. Generally smokey yet still retains moisture. The brisket and ham are well...not that special. I'm still looking forward to trying the chicken and ribs.
Sometimes I wonder if the process is the same for cooking for the restaurant as it is for cooking at a competition.
I would go again, but it doesn't really stand itself out from the other good BBQ places in Des Moines.
Posted by SammyD at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2008
Friday, after going to lunch with most of my work crew at Woody's Smoke Shack (meat was good, potato salad was meh, corn bread not as good as Wendell's, I heard good things about the cheesy potatoes), we headed down to Gong Fu Tea. Proctor suggested this tea, which I can't remember what it was called, but it honestly tasted like a peat smoked scotch. It was bizarre to have that taste without having the same warmth of alcohol...but only the warmth of the tea. Weird.
Friday night, Shannon and I headed down to Django to have the first of our two nights out celebrating our two year anniversary (second is on Tuesday, on our actual anniversary). We had lots of great food, and I had quite a bit of wine and I gotta say that I love cassoulet and must make it.
Saturday morning, we woke up...eventually... and watched the Beaverdale Fall Festival parade go by our house. I think it was longer this year, then it has been in the past. I wish they would've spaced out the marching bands more...since they are always fun to watch. Lots of political candidates...Obama was well represented, but there was not a McCain entry in the parade....which both Shannon and I found odd.
Then after the parade cleared our house we quickly finished getting ready and headed over to Adventureland for my work's day at the park. With the discounted tickets (free for us), we also had it so that the cheaper tickets were available for Shannon's Sister's family for our niece's birthday celebration. We had a lot of fun...but by the end of the day, I was worn out...Since the only thing that was new was the water park that I wasn't about to go to, it's just not something that you can spend all day at...Anyways we eventually left, and gave Sheilagh her present and headed back to the heart of Des Moines.
We were going to try to go to Woody's Smoke Shack, but it was closed, so we headed over to Uncle Wendell's. They were, technically, closed...but their open sign was still on, so they served us. I'm glad I did, we left there with a half pound of pulled pork, a few sides and cookies, and some Smoked Prime Rib. Now they told me that normally that they would grill it a bit, but I told them not to, since I did catch them as they were closing, I'd just heat it up at home.
I took it home, seared it a bit on both sides in a pan, and holy cow was it good. Smokey, beefy and deliciously tender.
Sunday, I mowed the lawn, for what I hope is the last time of the year (though if the weather holds out, I somehow doubt it) and then we were fairly lazy for the rest of the day.
Centro has a La Quercia acorn raised pork special for a week, starting last Friday....so I am very much looking forward to going to get to try these tomorrow night.
Posted by SammyD at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2008
So apparently in March, I mentioned that I loved the pot and would make Chili soon. I think my definition of soon is out of whack.
Had a lemon pastry from La Mie around lunchtime. My boss had been raving about it...it was like a Danish (only a fluffier, flakier crust) with a lemon and creme cheese mixture...very good.
I'm not so much looking forward to going back to work on Monday, or going back on call on tomorrow. But I guess it is a necessary thing...
I went to the Franklin Avenue Branch of the Des Moines Public Library and got myself a library card. I spent so much time in the library as a child, I think it was time again to get a library...I didn't actually check anything out...cause I had a couple of ideas on what to get...but I had forgotten. Anyways, it was nice to walk around a library again.
Posted by SammyD at 7:16 PM | Comments (0)
So yesterday, during the day, I made chili for the first time...
After making it, my first thought was, why in the holy hell have I not done this before?
Bacon then some onions and veggies, spices, 2 pounds of grass fed ground beef, lots of tomatoes and what not.
Relatively easy. I think it went off really well...good comments from Chris, Holly and Shannon seemed pleased.
I think it was a good start, and I'll go from there on to future versions. And then work on a white chili (chicken) and a soupier chili or using seared chunks of meat...rather then ground beef.
Oh and I love my Chantal Copper Fusion Pot...
I also made a Jalapeno Smoked Cheddar cornbread...this also turned out fairly well and cornbread is fairly easy to make too. I think maybe next time a little bit more cheese (recipe called for 4 oz) and maybe another quarter to half of a pepper. (and Joseph, if you are reading, I used a nice pairing knife to de-seed and de-rib the peppers and cut them into 2 or 3mm square pieces. You can see the flecks, but they're not so huge they stand out).
Posted by SammyD at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2008
So I chopped up some onions that I picked up at the Des Moines farmers market on Saturday, put them on some new potatoes. Ground on some salt and pepper, and drizzled over some olive oil as a base.
Then I scored the fat of the Berkshire Pork Loin (from Eden Farms), covered both sides with salt and pepper and then rubbed in a mixture of Maille Dijon Mustard, some Iowa Honey, and some Olive Oil. The Pork loin had a lovely layer of pork fat on it.
So after 15 minutes at 450F and another ~60 minutes at 350F the meat looks like this:
On the plate with the potatoes, onions and some wonderful Smoked Garlic and Chives bread from Uncle Wendell's.
I think it turned out very well...and the pork...oh the delicious pork. It was so good.
Posted by SammyD at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2008
Mexico Viejo
1760 Beaver Ave
Des Moines, IA 50310I've been here twice in less then a week. Last Friday, Shannon and I walked down there and I went again on Tuesday with Brandon and Keith from work.
Both meals were good and inexpensive. Shannon and I shared a Quesadilla with Chorizo, and then I had a Chimichanga (chicken) while Shannon had a Burrito Sonora (chicken). Both where quite good. the chorizo was red, a bit spicy and quite good. Service was quick and polite. The salsa was nice, and it seems to me like they fry their own chips (which I like). The cost was just over $30, including tip. My only complaint is that our food did not come out at the same time...If I was spending a few more dollars, I would complain more about that...but
On Tuesday, I had the Burrito Deluxe, which was pretty good. Brandon ended up buying, which is extra good.
Simple, quick, and delicious. I believe my inexpensive Mexican place has been replaced. It seems a bit fresher, cleaner, and tastier then El Aguila Real...and it's within walking distance.
Posted by SammyD at 8:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2008
So after one of the worst days of my working life (I'd like to say...but work policies prevent me from doing so...but I'll just say that the SAN admin that setup my drives deserves a swift kick in the butt....but he doesn't work here anymore), I headed over to the Gateway Market to find something for dinner...and in walking around I started thinking about what to make for Adam's Birthday Party (for us, not to share). So lamb burgers it is! Found a wonderfully smelling cheese that I think will fit with the lamb well...I'll do the prep before we go there and then cook 'em up on the grill.
I think I'll make some cookies to share..or something...haven't decided yet
Anyways, knowing that I don't have to go back to work until Monday (took Friday off)...has helped relax me quite a bit.
Posted by SammyD at 7:15 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2008
Le Jardin
841 42nd St.
Des Moines, IA 50312So for my late birthday celebration, last night we went to Le Jardin. We would've gone Monday night, but they are only open Wednesday through Saturday. So when we went it, the biggest change since the last time that I had been at La Mie was that they were building a bigger kitchen on the other side of the restaurant. The restaurant is now sharing the space. La Mie gets breakfast and lunch and Le Jardin gets dinner. Probably a good business decision.
We were immediately seated in a booth, and went over the menu. We decided to split a cheese plate, get an appertizer, entree and dessert. We both shared a small plate of apples, a french cheddar cheese, and walnuts. I had a potato gnocchi in a spicy duck broth, seared duck breast and pound cake with strawberry rhubarb sauce and whipped cream, and Shannon had polenta fries, seared sea scallops, and a coffee infused pot du creme. I also had a nice bottle of gewurztraminer wine from the Alsace region of France (it was imported by a place in Wes Des Moines, which I found odd, since I've never heard of an importer from Iowa).
The cheese combined with the apples and walnuts made for a wonderful combination of flavors in the mouth. Even without the walnuts (since Shannon is not a fan of nuts in general), the two flavors together really complement each other. The cheddar wasn't the best I've had...but it was certainly up there...
The funny thing about the polenta fries is that I tried to make them just the week before...but I didn't think the polenta wasn't getting thick enough to actually cut into pieces to fry... I'll have to try it again. But it was very good. The duck broth in the gnocchi was fantastic. Along with the rest of it it made for wonderful dish. My boss did tell me that it's probably some of the best gnocchi that he's had (which means a lot).
Shannon's sea scallops were wonderfully done. tasting good. My duck was quite something. Seared with a nice edge to it, while remaining tender on the inside. It had this honey based glaze on it which was very nice. I've never really had duck with something that sweet before, but it was a really wonderful combination.
For dessert, Shannon had the coffee infused pot du creme. This was very good...the coffee flavor wasn't overpowering, which is good, since Shannon is not a fan of coffee (bitter). My pound cake...I gotta say that the strawberry rhubarb sauce was...as good...maybe even better then my grandmother's. I don't say this lightly..but my grandmother is the best non-professional cook that I've ever had the pleasure of eating their food, and in all honesty, she is better then a lot of professionally cooked food that I've had. So of the best memories of my childhood involve eating things that she had prepared. This stawberry rhubarb was thicker and certainly tart, but it was wonderful. With the whipped cream and pound cake...wonderful. It was so good that I actually tried to call my dad to tell him about it (he wasn't actually home).
I made a point to complement Tag Grandgeorge on the way out.
I left there, felling full (but not stuffed), pleasantly intoxicated and very happy.
Posted by SammyD at 8:40 AM | Comments (0)
July 7, 2008
Django
210 10th Street
Des Moines, IA 50309I think I'm in a food coma...
So we went there for my birthday for lunch (today) and I got to say that it's been one of the better food experiences that I've had in a long time. I had Steak Roquefort with fries. First their fries. They're very narrow straight cut fries and turn out very well, crispy and sometimes crunchy which is a different feeling, but good none the less. Great by themselves, since they are lightly salted. The steak was a medium rare goodness covered in a Roquefort sauce and crispy onions. Eating it was pure pleasure. The sharpness of the blue Roquefort the onions and the steak combined together to make a whole body relaxing experience.
So let me tell you about the dessert. I had the Pot du Creme, which Keith also had, and Brandon had a Hazelnut cake (which I forget the name of). So the first taste I had of the Pot du Creme was...well...it sent shivers down my spine. It was just divine. Deb, asked me if I was about to go have children (orgasmic would be a good description of it). It was just so delicious. But it is just so rich as well...even though the serving wasn't that big (compared to the cake), I was unable to finish it. At the end, I just could not continue.
The hazelnut cake that Brandon got was also very good. One of the layers of the cake, I swear to god, had to have been ground hazelnuts whipped into butter. So you get hazelnuts first and then just butter on the finish. How good is that?
I gotta say that I am looking forward to going there again and trying more. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy their meal as well.
I swear if I wasn't at work, I'd be taking a nap right now...even as it stands, I may still take a nap...
Posted by SammyD at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2008
Second Ice Cream of the Summer
Triple Chocolate Chunk Ice cream.
Use a milk, dark and unsweetened chocolate...Melted most, made chunks out of part of it to make the 2nd ice cream. It is finishing off in the freezer right now.
Posted by SammyD at 7:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2008
Of my co-workers who tried it, yesterday, 7 "Odd, but I like it" and 1 "I don't like it".
So that speaks well. I found another recipe for it, which calls for basically soaking the bacon in the cream mixture to infuse the flavor in there, without having bacon bits in it. I will try that sometime.
I think I will make a chocolate ice cream this weekend (got the cream, chocolate and eggs).
Posted by SammyD at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2008
So it's officially summer...even though it's not that hot. Since it is that time of year, welcome to ice cream making season. So after seeing bacon ice cream on Top Chef and seeing a comic on one of the many web comics I read, I decided that yes...it was time to make Bacon Ice Cream.
That's right... Bacon Ice Cream. I started with the Pecan-Brown Sugar And Bacon Ice Cream recipe and just took out the pecans (Shannon doesn't like nuts).
So it just finished, and I would say that it's very good. It has a creamy brown sugar start to the taste and then a salty bacon finish. I say it's wonderful. Shannon's not so sure. I'm looking forward to other people's opinions.
Posted by SammyD at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)
June 6, 2008
A plethora of entries combined for your convenience
Jimmy's 30th Birthday Party
Last Saturday, we headed up to Boone, to help celebrate Jimmy's 30th. On the drive up we passed through lakes...well...they looked like lakes, but really it was flooded out farm fields and what not. One of the gas stations near the I35 - Highway 30 exchange almost had the floodwaters up to their back door. It was quite crazy. We got to Boone, I handed Jimmy the dozen and a half or so oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which he proceeded to go hide. It was a nice meet up with many salt of the earth people, kids, parents, grand parents, friends, neighbors. Quite the gathering.
A few things I noticed, quite a few smokers...but I rarely saw any name brands...or at least not that I recognize. Lotta love (even though there was a lot of jokes thrown around). Worry and tension about the economy and jobs.
A few interesting things. Both Bob and Jackie (who were dating when I was in college) got married on the same day (to different people). Their receptions...were well...right across the parking lot from each other. It sounds as if Bob had checked on where Jackie's was, but it was already booked. It was a strange to hear the stories. Jackie's got a beautiful child.
As night grew on, many got quite a bit on the drunker side of life. Eventually we headed home.
Just a s a side note, we did drive Shannon's car to save a few bucks...though driving with no cruise control...kinda sucks....my car is more comfortable anyways...at least for me.
Ahnaka's 2nd Birthday Party
Last Sunday we went to Backyard Adventures to celebrate 2 years of life in Jerry and Nay's oldest, Ahnaka's. It was actually quite fun, because the equipment is apparently built well enough that even my fat self can play. Shannon slid down a few slides, I did some swinging and even made a silly attempt to shoot some baskets (I suck).
It was fun, got lots of pictures of silliness. They put out some cupcakes, ice cream treats and we fun...
There was a like a old peoples swings and I gotta say i'd like that by it's self...put it in the back yard, and just sit out there and ready while swinging.
Ground Chicken?
So we used a coupon to buy some ground chicken on our last shopping trip. I combined it with some leftover ground pork and made mini burgers for movie night. Spiced it a little (I didn't think enough), used some of the Gateway market dinner rolls, some arugula, some Bubbies pickles, a sliced up tomato, several types of mustard, catsup and mayo. Quite good. That with some over baked fries...mmm...pretty good...and simple too.
Cleaning!
We both had the day off today, so I spent the day doing some outside work, while Shannon got some parts done on the inside. I mowed the lawn, and after a bit got to cleaning the garage. I threw a way a bunch of stuff (some left behind by the previous owner...yeah yeah I know I've lived here for over four years). And then decided to leave more for next week (since the garbage can was filling up quick). I also filled up the divot in the side yard with a bag of dirt that Brandon gave me. Then covered it in grass seed, fertilizer and some water. Shannon got quite a bit of the walls in the dining room cleaned off, from the remaining paste and what not left from peeling off the wall paper.
Medical
My foot is feeling better, walking is no longer a challenge. Though rotating it to the left and the right, still feels wierd and a little painful. I went for a blood draw today, to find out how my liver is doing after being on the Tricor for 3 months. I'm gonna try to restart exercising on Monday, and see how it goes.
Posted by SammyD at 8:04 PM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2008
Long and relatively busy Memorial day weekend
I took Friday off, to make it into a four day weekend, and Friday was my lazy day, for the most part, I did make it out of the house to run an errand or three, but beyond that, I mostly stayed at home and goofed off.
Saturday we met the Mattas at Blank Park Zoo and wandered around the zoo with them and their girls and Jenny's mom. We got to see the elephant and it's baby and doing the tricks. Saw some more, including the jellyfish. It was pretty fun. We split up, they headed off to the mall (to wander and play for a bit and go to target) and we went and got dinner. We picked up quite a bit of food from Uncle Wendell's. Out of a Nathan, his pulled pork got a "pretty good" and the beef brisket got an "Excellent". I noticed a difference in the pulled pork, thought it might just be me. thought I think it was better then previous times I've been there. A little spicier...maybe.
Jenny and Nathan put the girls to bed, and we proceeded to chat and goof off in the basement (Nathan being impressed and now desireing a PS3). He did mention that he'd like a Wii, to get the girls to play (wife and kids) but he wasn't even sure that would work.
Sunday morning I made a big breakfast (Nathan cut fruit for me) of bacon, sausage, french toast, pineapple, strawberries and blueberries. Got everyone all full and sent the Mattas off on their day at Adventureland. I needed to make cookies, so it didn't make much sense for us to go. The weather got all warm, the oven made the kitchen hotter and after making about a dozen and a half oatmeal raisin cookies and the same of oatmeal chocolate chip (60% Ghirardelli). It wouldn't have been too bad, if the cookies weren't so big and had to bake for ~23 minutes per 6 cookie batch. The kitchen got into the 90s...warm weather and warm oven equals hot kitchen.
Monday we packed up the cookies, some water and headed up north to Pine Lakes State Park. After we got there we had trouble finding the supposed beach there, so we called Hyrum and ended up going to the boat ramp area. So Hyrum and his family showed up 10 or 15 minutes after we had been told to meet (11:30). Then Jed and Stephanie. Then nearly an hour and a half after or so, Mom and Dad showed up (they had gotten lost) and then since they were going back and forth too much, Lovina had refused to follow them until they knew where they were going. So after dropping of my mom, and Isaac, Dad went back to get Lovina, her two girls and Joseph.
After that, food started to get prepared, but people were already digging into the cookies, since it was a bit late. People started eating. Pea and Pasta salad and a strawberry jello salad from Diane, fresh baked buns from Jed, cheese and bacon stuffed burgers from Joseph, some chips, salsa, turkey hot dogs, condiments and a pumpkin cake from my mom.
After lunch, people wandered down by the boat ramp (not much of one) and watched the lake. It wasn't too much longer after that, that Shannon and I decided to head home. We headed back up to Steamboat Rock and stopped at their (I assume) only gas station, the Rock Stop....that's right the Rock Stop. We then headed out of town and tried to stop by the Eagle City Winery and Vineyard...but they are apparently closed on Mondays...so, we didn't go down the gravel road, to even see if it was open. Which is too bad I guess. I have been thinking about trying to visit as many producers in Iowa as I could and since we were already up there...but oh well.
The trip back home was farily unevently.
Posted by SammyD at 5:24 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2008
For as much crap as I've taken over the years from being from the backwaters of Iowa (even if the smallest place I've lived was Ames at around 50,000 people), all I can say is that at least I'm not from West Virgina...The interviews they had from people there are just shockingly misinformed. From what I've read, it didn't take much for the reporters to find those people.
Yesterday, my dad, youngest sister, Lovina, and her two girls drove through and I fed them dinner. It was nice, but the children were obviously a bit restless, considering they have driven from California (Lovina's staying with my parents while her hubby finishes up the last parts of his military training).
Saturday, I missed out on Django's preview (My boss used the tickets in my name, said the food was great), but I had the opportunity to go see Shannon's niece and nephew in the Cherie's Dance Studio Recital. It was...well...long. Obviously parts of it was cute (the parts with them in it) and parts were interesting (the elite dancers are pretty good), but over all, by the end of the night I was anxious to go home (2.5+ hours is a long time to sit). As a note to my siblings who wonder why I don't go to their children's activities. If we can drive to it, and you give us enough notice and we're not already doing something, then we'll consider it. But if you call me the week before and ask me to attend, don't be surprised if we can't make it.
Our upcoming camping trip with friends, got it's location changed from the Decorah area, to much closer to home, and with the price of gas, I'm quite happy about that.
My foot/ankle is betterish, though there is still some residual pain...I thinking about seeing the doctor again this week...
Posted by SammyD at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2008
So in Shannon and my visit to Jethro's BBQ, we were almost completely dissatisfied with our experience. I find it odd the Des Moines Register's take on it.
It makes me wonder if we went to the same restaurant.
I guess it wasn't the full review...but who knows.
Posted by SammyD at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2008
Jethro's BBQ, which is actually fairly close to where we live. We went there on Thursday. The sides, we had Jalapeno Cream Corn (not really cream corn, corn w/ milk and peppers in it), Mach and Cheese (meh), potato salad (meh, mustardy, needed to cut the green onions smaller) and corn bread muffins (which are not as good as Famous Dave's, which are in turn not as good as Uncle Wendell's). Shannon had Garlic Mashed potatoes...which...well didn't taste like garlic. They tasted like thyme. So...if they called them mashed potatoes with thyme, I would've thought hey, these aren't bad...but no.
Shannon had Chicken Fried steak ($12.95). She said this morning that she's had better at Applebee's...or even in a microwave dinner. The meat was dry, the crust was just awful.
I had a 2 meat BBQ dinner ($9.95). I had the brisket and pulled pork. Both were not that smokey and just too wet. One might want to say juicy, but the meat has obviously been soaked in a steam bath...and well...I just don't like that. It made it taste rather bland and washed out.
The only saving grace was the hot sauce, which was actually pretty good. Though being in a honey bear bottle it was hard to get out.
So...I wouldn't recommend going. I don't think we'll ever go back, even if it is just over a mile from where we live.
Posted by SammyD at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
May 1, 2008
So since Cam was coming to visit from Japan and Dave (Middle School through College friend) drove down from Madison. So last Saturday (4/26/2008) we got together. So we chatted, topics ranging from food to politics to whatever. Jenny and Nathan were there, along with Shannon and I and Clif. Good time all around.
So the previous week, I dropped off lamb from Iowa for Joesph to smoke. and that was the main course of this snaky meal. Popular. Very good...the smoke, I think accentuates the lambyness of it, so if you don't like lamb...it might be a bit much for you. Jenny made a corn and soybean salad...I can't remember what she called it...but that was good too.
So I went all over the metro to find items from around the state of Iowa. So lets start with food. First we had Feta (which was award winning, but I can't remember where in Iowa it was from). We had some Chevre from Northern Prairie Chevre and Reichart's Dairy Air (seriously get a website people). We got two other cheeses called Prairie Breeze from Milton Creamery (I saw their pamphlet at Gateway Market, but no website). And last, but certainly not least, were the red pepper cheese curds from Picket Fence Creamery (This is where we generally get our milk and they have pretty good ice cream too). I was hoping to get some of the swiss and white cheddar from Maytag Dairy Farms, but apparently they don't sell anything but their blue in stores...which I find kind of annoying. I know I've bought some of the cheddar and swiss last year at the farmers market...
To go with the cheese or by itself, we got some of the extraordinary La Quercia Prosciutto Americano...though to save a few bucks we got the crumble...Which goes great on pizza, crackers, with cheese and just by it's divine self. Who couldn't love pork?
We had two kinds of salsa from Juan O'Sullivans. We could've gotten some from Mad Butcher's, while I'm thinking about it...but I had forgotten...the Juan's was more of a thought that I might not have enough salty food (outside of the cheeses)...
For the desert side of things, we brought a box of cheesecake bites from Flarah's and a box of truffles from Chocolate Storybook and to top that off, a bag of gourmet marshmallows from Beaverdale Confections. Now for the marshmallows, we've gotten them before, and we had trouble finishing them (too sweet was Shannon's comment), though I liked them. They were on a stick. And this back were just cubes of marshmallows...and they were a bit gritty, like the sugar hadn't been fully incorporated. I think I said something about it like chewing on sugar. Not to say they're bad...but the experience so far as been fairly varied. The cheesecake and chocolate were both big hits (especially with the ladies).
On the alcohol side, we had a wide selection of wines (reds and whites, though we never got into any of the whites), beers and a couple of bottles of the harder stuff. We had a varied selection pack from Millstream Brewing, which I had some varieties that were pretty good, though it was later in the evening, so by that time, my tastes were getting pretty liquid impaired. We started off on the Snus Hill Winery's Sven Red. Which was the one that fairly well balanced and a bit sweet. Next up, was the Jasper Winery 2005 Chancellor...which was...really good (so good that when Cam came through on Monday, he ended up buying the last two bottles from the Gateway Market, one for the wedding he's going to in Canada and another for taking back to Japan). Then we opened the Madison County Winery's Frontenac, which was a dry red wine....and being that, it wasn't as popular. For the hard stuff, we sampled the Cedar Ridge Vineyards Winery & DistilleryClearHeartâ„¢ Vodka (we had a couple of bottles of their wine, which I've had before, but they didn't get opened). The vodka was...well vodka. It was better then many I've had, but not the top of my list. Though when I brought it home, the bottle was so tall, I'm not sure where to put it... Also from them (late addition), we had their port which is fantastic. And for one of my favorite things to come out of Iowa, we opened up my 2nd bottle of the Templeton Rye. When I was at the liquor store, he said that they sell 3-4 bottles a day of it.
People starting clearing out and going to bed...good party...if I had come up with the idea earlier, I could've perhaps taken some trips to get some of the things I couldn't get in Des Moines. Though I think I may try to do a party like this again, since it was very good. The only drawback here is that all the crackers, chips and etc were from outside the state.
I had a lot of fun searching and finding and then eating all these things.
Posted by SammyD at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Woot! It's the weekend...(taking off tomorrow to slow down the growth of my PTO bank)
Tomorrow I go pick up some more Iowa things for the "Remind Cam of Iowa" party over in Cedar Rapids for a friend who's in to visit from Japan. An apparently another that's taking a break from his school (gotta be grad school by now) studies to come down from Madison.
So my brother's got some Iowa Lamb, he's gonna smoke it on Saturday. Gotta get some more goats cheese (I ate some like the over eater that I am). And some pretzels. I've got some jam I'm gonna take over and I'll get some bread on Saturday (so It's nice a fresh). I got a bottle from Snus Hill winery (Holly this was the blush I was talking about that Shannon liked, it was the Sven Red). And Maybe I'll get some more...pick up some millstream (Iowa beer). Get some more Iowa things...
So...uh woo! I'm looking forward to it.
Posted by SammyD at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
Joseph's Heart attack in a bun...
Bratwurst, opened, filled with cheddar and pepperoni, wrapped in bacon, and smoked...
I'm not sure what he used for pepperoni, but I didn't think it stood out from the other flavors, though I don't know the type of pepperoni he used...
But it was pretty good...messy...but good. I think I felt it coagulating in my arteries...
Posted by SammyD at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)
Sausage and Rice (kinda New Orleans style?)
So, from time to time, I make something mixed in with rice as an excuse to feed lots of vegetables to us...while this doesn't have the normal amount of vege that I put in, it turned out really well
1/2 package (2 sausages) of Niman Ranch Andouille Sausage, chopped into 1/4" rounds
1/2 package (2 sausages) of Niman Ranch Chorizo Sausage, chopped into 1/4" rounds
2 Tablespoons Olive oil.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 or 3 stalks of celery chopped
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 14.5 oz can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced TomatoesHeat up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausages. Cook until browning on the side, turning from time to time. Add onion and saute for a few minutes and then add salt to the onions. After the onions are starting to brown a bit, add the garlic and celery and saute for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the carrots and dump the entire can of tomatoes into the pan and get up the little brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Mix them together and cook of the majority of the juice from the can. Salt an pepper to taste.
Now mix in, or serve over rice (I used basmati rice and mixed in). Depending on the rice, this will need to start cooking anywhere from before you start cooking the sausage all the way up to until you are almost done (based on how fast the rice will cook).
Posted by SammyD at 7:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 9, 2008
I made a sausage, bean and tomato soup on Monday for movie night. It turned out very well...good recipe from Cook's Country. It was interesting to take about half the beans with some stock and blend it up to make a general base for the soup...I've been having a lot of less recipe thoughts in my head and more formulas. So instead of spicy Italian sausage and white beans, switch it over to say some ground chuck or cut beef and kidney beans and you got a thickener for chili (which I still haven't made).
I bought a big leg of lamb (from Iowa), I'm going to have my brother smoke it and use it for a party to celebrate a friend visiting Iowa (from Japan). It has to be the most I've spent on a single piece of meat...I've had steaks in restaurants that cost more, but I didn't pay for them...
I got a new chair at work yesterday. It was nice, adjusted a bunch of things, but in sitting on it today, I'm not sure that I like it. I just don't think it has enough give or cushion on the seat or the back. I think...all the adjustable things were nice, but for long term sitting, I nead a bit more padding. As Shannon tells me, I have no butt, so more padding is nice.
George was making slight movements with his paws and mouth. I wonder if cats dream, and if they do dream if there has been any studies on what they might dream of. I know I heard a story...on NPR I think about mice dreaming...and they dreamed about running mazes (the brain patterns on the mice running the maze were the same when they were sleeping and then they also adjusted to apparently run made up mazes)...So it was just an interesting thought.
We've been collecting roof and gutter bids...they weren't as much as we thought...which is nice. So if you know any roofers or gutters...let me know.
Posted by SammyD at 6:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2008
So in my shopping to buy some easter gifts for Shannon's niece and nephew and a few food stuffs for my dad and brother, I saw the pickings of the leftover ham stuffs including a few Niman Ranch Ham Steak...so I made it for dinner tonight.
A little pepper on both sides, some olive oil in a hot pan, a few minutes on each side...tasting it reminded me of every good thought that I've ever had about ham, ever... It was just wonderful.
From their bacon, to the meats and hams that I've head, it's just been such a pleasurable experience.
We've also had their deli meats from Gateway Market. We had a selection of meats (smoked turkey, which actually tasted smoked, buffalo chicken, a bit spicy, and black forest ham) with various cheeses on dinner rolls (fantastic) and then this past weekend we had roast beef and cheddar on rye (well I had it on rye, Shannon had it on wheat). The roast beef was a beautiful pink in the center... oh it was good. So good, I took half of the pound I bought, along with a loaf of rye to my dad, cause I wanted him to try it.
Posted by SammyD at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2008
So we headed over to Cedar Rapids for easter. The drive over wasn't too bad, though there seemed to be a plethora of drivers who were in such a hurry that they had to drive like extreme jackholes...
We stopped first and Shannon's parents and chatted while they ate dinner. Sean was feeling under the weather (ear infection) but Sheighliegh (sp?) seemed to be as chipper as normal.
It was pretty fun...good to catch up
We headed over to my parents around 3 to have a late lunch/early dinner. At my house the attendance was fairly light, comparatively, with only my parents, us, Jed and Stephanie, Joseph and Isaac for a total of 8. Josephy made a smoked a leg of lamb and we had quite the setting of sides. For dessert we had pie, pumpkin (mom still has lots and lots of pumpkin) and basically a chocolate nut fudge pie...both in my grandma's crust recipe (made with lard!). Dinner was great, the lamb was smokey, lamby, and juicey. Big fan. I also got to try Joesph's attempt at BBQ sauces. One he wanted to have a root beer undertone, but wasn't able to achieve it, although it was still a pretty good sweet sauce. The second was a mustard based sauce w/ bacon...it was very good. In fact at a recent church potluck, he was asked many times for the recipe....
After dinner, we chatted a while, and then we headed home. Traffic was much worse coming on, including an incident with a douche on the south side of CR, in a crappy looking red Hyundai Elantra, got on I380 on the Highway 30 on ramp, proceeded to cut me off, accelerate, and then exit at the VERY NEXT EXIT...
There were numerous people that were in such a hurry, that they had to drive like total jack holes, to gain a mere car length. When I think about the tickets that I have received over the years, which I've received many, I get a little miffed, that my speeding is ticketed, but these guys driving relatively recklessly is not. I don't generally drive in such a future fashion, and yet I'll get dinged for 12 over...oh well.
Posted by SammyD at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)
March 9, 2008
coupon savings...and a chicken breast salad
So we went shopping today, used a bunch of coupons (so many that they actually had to have a manager approve the amount that got deducted. We saved around 8% of the total bill.
I also made a nice chicken breast salad today. I'm getting very good at getting a nice sear on the outside of the chicken, while having the inside really moist. But making my own bacon bits, chopping up the greens (much cheaper then the bagged lettuce), celery, carrots and small amount of bleu cheese...nice simple salad. Came out really good. I'll see if I can get more greens into our eating habits.
Posted by SammyD at 9:17 PM | Comments (0)
March 6, 2008
Tomato Soup w/ mini grilled cheese
Tomato Soup with Goats Milk Cheddar (really good, but pricey), bleu, and cheddar. Making the soup was pretty easy, and it tasted so bright and vibrant. The only thing that I'd change would be to use less thyme...
But my new pot (Chantal 8 quart copper fusion stock pot) (yay for bonus from work) worked really well...I think I'm gonna make some chili soon.
Posted by SammyD at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2008
Is in an effort to feed chocolate to Courtney, I have made Gluten Free Nuclear Brownies.
On the side of the bag of almond flour is suggests using quite a bit less of the almond flour then actual flour (like 1/3rd or 1/2). Since this recipe calls for just a minimal amount of flour, I traded it straight up. It came out to be about the same consistency. I was a bit worried at first, since the batter seemed to be a bit gritty. So take the Nuclear Brownies recipe and replace the 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of almond flour.
They come out to about the same consistency (since this is basically an excuse to eat chocolate, sugar and butter together).
Posted by SammyD at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
So in our continuing interest in the restaurants in Des Moines, we went to Lucca over in the East Village.
Lucca is owned by Steve Logsdon, who is the brother of Joe Logsdon who owns La Mie (who needs a website), which is one of our favorites (bakery and restaurant). Steve also does Basil Prosperi breads, which are also fantastic.
So the had a 3 course menu, which consists of a appetizer, main and usually a cheese course, from the cheese cave. Since I am writing this way late, I'll provide just general details, rather then specific ones, since I didn't take notes, and I'm forgetting the terms.
Shannon had Gnocchi and a Duck Pasta, and I had a pork based appetizer and Beef and Mashed potatoes (which ended up being pasta, since they had run out of mashed potatoes). So everything we had was very good. The duck was probably the best I've had (in my limited, but growing experience). My beef was very tender and delicious.
For dessert, which was special, since they normally do the fromage (cheese), they had a vanilla bean custard type of a thing with hand made chocolate truffles. Both being very very good.
Service started off a bit slow, but being that we were at the tail end of the people going to the show at the Civic Center. After they cleared out, the speed picked up dramatically.
I had a couple of glasses of wine, and Shannon had none. With all that we were just a bit under 100$ for the two of us without tip. I'm looking forward to going again...and so is Shannon.
Posted by SammyD at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
Lamb Chops on a bed of rice w/ pancetta, white onion, garlic and shallots with a salad of baby spinach with blue cheese crumbles with a pear and roasted red pepper vinaigrette (no pictures, forgot to take).
Went pretty well, cooked the lamb a little longer then I wanted to (they were still a little pink in the middle but not enough for my taste.
For dessert we had a piece of chocolate mouse cake and chocolate cake (from Gateway Market). I had plans of making some cookies on Wednesday night (then taking to my work and sending to Shannon's), but when I got home I didn't feel very good, so I didn't so much bake anything
Posted by SammyD at 6:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2008
Work continues, deadline nears, I'll probably be working this weekend. Whee...
The other day, it snowed...a lot. In the morning I was shoveling snow, cleaned off the walks and driveway. Got some of the snow out into the street. I started to work on the intersection, to get rid of some of the snow. While I was working on it, one of my neighbor's nurses (she's under 24 hour nursing care) tried to drive down 43rd...with not much luck at all. In fact she compacted the snow down that her tires were barely touching the snow...meaning she wasn't going anywhere. A man, who I suspect was from the church down the street, who had snow blown the sidewalks from at least 42nd all the way up to 44th, came back and he helped me push, remove snow around the car and finally to use the shovels to get the snow out from under the car. With a few more pushes she was able to get down the street. The phantom snow blower, continued down the street...
Early this morning, the snow plow finally made our street, so with a bit of clean up, we're setup for the next storm...if there is one.
I haven't felt much like cooking lately...so the meals have generally been repetitive for the most part, a few highlights here and there...I've been practicing some knife skills and cooking things and paying close attention...but I'm generally really tired.
I've been staying up a bit later, and getting up a lot earlier. I've been working around 8 until 6, and I've pushed the start time back to 7 to 7:30. I've been on a total caffeine binge...coffee, tea and soda...though still no mountain dew (I have a bad history).
My 401k is moving, generally, back up to where it was before...though it is still off 13%...at least I'm hoping it's it's going up.
I got our taxes done. We, once again, used TaxAct (my dad works there). Did it all on the web this time...since they don't have an OS X client. It worked pretty much the same, I was fairly impressed. Anyways, big fan, support my pops, get your taxes done.
Obama is holding his own. I still feel very connected to him being the next president. I've watched election results...even stayed up late to watch them...it's like I care. I must say that he's a powerful speaker. Even his words put to music are impressive. The victory speech in South Carolina was amazing.
A while ago, Shannon bought a kitchen cart with money she inherited. I got it put together...but here's the rub. I had to stop the first time, because we were missing a couple of back pieces. Got those sent to us, got back to work on it. Only to finish it but using extra pieces... The cabinet doors had a few problems. On one side it was missing the door hinge thing...which I used a metal piece to replace, so I could get the door on, and on the other it had mis-drilled holes. So the handle went on, but it is not totally connected. I could drill another hole so it could fit...but then I'd have an extra hole... The customer services has been ok...not to bad on the hold times to talk to a person... I got the door parts ordered...so we'll see if we can call it done.
Due to the new places ot put things, I've been able to reorder the kitchen...it's been nice...the spices all in one place, in alpha order (save for a few that didn't fit in the drawer). All the hard alcohol in the cupboards...places to put some storage containers... and able to put the cat food out of sight...except the stuff in the bowls...but it's better then nothing...I still have some space to figure out what to do with...but in doing this latest reorganization I was able to finally get the massive amount of cookie cutters (most from the wedding) put away.
I think I really need glasses...I was looking for the spelling of one of the managers name on his placard...and I had to move my chair to see...it wasn't that far away. I did put money into our flexable spending account for this...so all I really need to do is go out and do it...but...I don't have the time right now to do so. I'm curious if the headaches I've been having are related to the caffeine, the long work hours, or the need for new glasses. I guess it could be a combination of all of them.
My car went in for service the other day. After sitting out all weekend, I went out to warm up Shannon's car and my own, and get set to go to work. After a rough start with my car, the engine light came on, so I turned it off...read the manual, called in and they told me to drive in...which I did. After resetting the light, they said they couldn't reproduces, I ended up with a new battery (was reporting poorly, prorated), tires (really needed, driving on snow has been like driving a sled), wheel alignment and an oil change. It's been driving really nice (especially over the snow, at least by comparison).
Working more hours, and bringing in my iPod charger into work, have really drained my primary listening list (4 or 5 star that hasn't been played in 3 weeks). A bit over half has been played in the last 3 weeks...it's kinda crazy since there's about 7.5 days of music...
I've been wanting to journal, but haven't been feeling up to it lately...so apparently it all comes out at the same time. I think I should probably stop now...
Posted by SammyD at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2008
So the installer came, saw, and kicked some ass...
Well he called and said his first job was running long and that he'd be a little late, and I said that was fine. When he got here, he looked around, I explained why the last installer had said that he didn't have the ladder to get up on the roof. The installer said that was silly and that it would be fine. He ended up deciding to put it on the deck. Am I one to question his installation, no, however, it does seem to me that when the leaves come in, it may be problematic...but...who knows. I guess we'll have to see. Getting the signal into the house proved to be the most difficult problem.
My house is brick. The base of the house is concrete block. Neither are very easy to get through. So he decided to follow the same path that the cable gets into the house (which is fine by me, since I really didn't want to have a hole drilled through my wall). He ended up having to fish the wire through the wall. I helped...this was not an easy thing to do, because of the corners and all that, but eventually it came through and he was able to finish up the job.
Joseph was also up and he helped as well. He cleaned snow off the deck for the installer.
I helped hook up the DVR and got it all wired and hooked up.
So, after using another DVR so long it just seems a bit odd how things are organized. So it has been an adjustment. Not that it is overly complicated, but not knowing what things do, or trying to figure out what channels are this and that.
Things for the most part are labeled well. Usually with the company logo. Some of the HD channels do not have logos yet, so they have their little code + HD and it doesn't always make sense as to what they all are. There are also new channels, that we didn't get with Mediacom, that have proved to be interesting.
All said and done, we have around 50 channels of HD content that we will actually watch (ESPN and etc are not included in this number). Some of which I was very excited, until I figured out that the HD content channel didn't match the regular channel (food network). I suppose this will change over time.
The drawbacks.
The Guide is still getting up to date, and where it goes out a ways for some channels (I think it actually does it programs at a time and it says X program with X description with show and A,B,C,D,E,F times). So it's still filling things in. You would think it could do this faster since it is hooked up to the internet.
Our local content is not in HD. It is a good thing the writers strike is on, because it would kinda tick me off if I had to watch the shows on ABC, CBS, NBC in standard definition. There are HD feeds, but apparently you have to get a waiver from the local channels to see them (which I applied for). I may end up getting an HD antenna, but the drawback on that is that it's not on the DVR so no recording them...
We do not have on Demand...yet. Brandon has the HR20 model of the HD DVR, I (and my co-worker Keith) have the HR21 (my exact model is HR21-200). While there is a menu for it, it does not let us access the content yet... Brandon read something that it would be coming in February...or at least I think i heard him say that.
The Qwest DSL is noticeably slower then Mediacom cable internet...only at certain times. When I update the podcasts and the downloads happen...sometimes it can take a while...it can be quite a bit of content though. Especially the HD video ones...Hopefully we'll be able get the 8 megabit DSL soon.
After the installer finished, Shannon, Joseph and I headed down to Uncle Wendell's to get dinner....mmm...bbq....
Posted by SammyD at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2008
This past weekend we headed down to Cedar Rapids. Scott and Jessica hosted a wine tasting party for a "January is Boring" party. It was quite fun. They had quite the spread of both foods and wines. Some brought and some for tasting. They had bottles that we all tasted, and were given clues as to what type of grape it was and where it came from. It was certainly a way to think of it. They also had an extra bottle of each wine that was the prize for the best written statement. I was a bit tipsy, so I got a bit silly....but I did win 1 of the 2 wines that I was very enamored with (the Matta's got the other). It was kind of funny, that after a bit the crew from Go Daddy (Jessica's Co-workers) who were apparently part of the marketing team, wasn't even trying to win...I asked about it, and it seemed to be related more to the insane hours that they've been working preparing for the Super Bowl. When we left their house, it was dreadfully cold, even through the alcohol haze....but after we got back to the Matta's I slept well. I had a lot of fun, I didn't make to much of an ass out of myself and I hope to go again. Certainly a good idea and fun too.
Monday we had a movie night. It was a bit off because Holly was taking a class on Thursday nights. I made a new recipie of bake make and cheese. I did some early prep work (grated cheese and made bread crumbs) on Sunday, which made monday go a bit smoother. I also used some La Quercia pancetta in the baked mac. It was quite good. I also cut off the pork skin from it and fried that up in a pan to become a wonderful crispy goodness.
After a good recharging weekend, I went back to the drudgery of work. I've by making my new hours 8-6 (about 35% more then my normal day). Quite a bit longer then my normal work day, but I am getting a lot done. Progress is being made. Am I going to make the dead line? I have my doubts, but I'm ok with that. It's still affecting my sleep, but when I actually get down, I tend to sleep all night.
I went to my sleep and lung doctor yesterday. My pressure level on my CPAP has been upped to 10 (of some measure of pressure).
I finally broke down and brought my iPod charger to work. It had stopped making it through the day (even the shorter one). Being that it's on it's second battery, it's not that surprising, but it's still a bit annoying. But it has been nice to be able to get all the way through the day with my iPod...
Posted by SammyD at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2008
Pork Loin Chop on Red Pepper and Pea Risotto
Sometimes, I'm tired...and sometimes I come up with things randomly...
Pork Loin Chop on Red Pepper and Pea Risotto
Posted by SammyD at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
January 2, 2008
Today is the last day of my just shy of two weeks of vacation. While I'm glad to be on vacation, I'm happy to go back to work. The structure will do me some good. I've been staying up later and later and later. Even last night when I got in bed at around 10:30, I still ended up reading till 1 or so in the morning.
For New Years, we took a trip down to to Cedar Rapids for the second time over this break. We spent the evening with the Matta's, which has become kind of our tradition. We went to the Sushi House, which was...ok. It's good for Cedar Rapids, which doesn't have a lot of choices, especially in this area, but after such a short time since a trip for pretty good sushi, by comparison, Sushi House was...pretty lackluster.
We headed back to the Matta's, and them being childless for the evening (Taylor and Cali staying with Jenny's mom), Nathan and I dug right into the booze. We started off with some sweeter wines, I was hoping that Shannon would actually like, which I think she did. For both of us, though, our tastings were at a bare minimum, since we were both impaired by colds. I had trouble smelling (only strong odors came through), while Shannon had trouble with both taste and smell. But the highlight of the evening was the Cedar Ridge Vinyards Port. The port was reccomended by one of the find staffers at the Gateway Market. While both Nathan and I thought the Cedar Ridge Vinyards Port was a bit too sweet, and should be aged a bit longer in wood, it was better then the other bottle of port that we had, which name slips my head. This Port was something that you could sit down and have glass, just for fun...and at the price, it wouldn't be such an expense.
Nathan also broke out the last of his Absinthe, which he had gotten through a mistake made by someone close to them (they didn't know it was illegal to import at the time). Even though the cold, it had a strong odor...and tasted vile...and I mean vile. Even after I added a whole lot of sugar, it was still just nasty.
We eventually played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit, to ring in the new year...and by the end of it was Was having trouble rolling dice, reading questions and giving answers... I often gave answers for other people...since...well...my internal filter was pretty much gone.
We headed to bed, and got up the next day had some lunch and headed over to Kim and Mike's (Shannon's sister and brother in law) for Sean's birthday. Luckily, it was not going to be at Chucky Cheese this year. For me, especially this year, this was a good thing, since the noise of the place, the kids, and the vile food would have not gone well with the way my body felt. It was nice and simple, Sean got a nice pile of loot and we had cake and chatted with people for a few hours. And headed home. Unlike most times we take a trip to CR, we actually had to fill up on the way home.
Good weekend! Second visit to the Matta's and good times.
Oh and I just noticed this...I know that not all of the time that I've taken off is on this pay stub, but I'm still at 90% full PTO bank...though I guess another 10% will get taken off...on the next one...I guess less..since I'll earn a bit less...more like another 8%...but still..silly.
Posted by SammyD at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)
