I like food. Food tastes good.

Dear Food Diary,


Following a few boring food weeks, Sarah has been on a crazy recipe-creation kick.  Let me show you them:

That's a relatively standard crab cake (crab meat, mashed potatoes, scallions, cilantro, lime zest and minced chili, panko-crusted & pan fried) on top of a spectacular asian spring-greens salad with sweet quick-pickled red onions and mandarin oranges.  Her dressing was one lime's worth of zest/juice, the rice-vinegar & sugar pickling brine, soy sauce, mandarin orange juice, and olive oil.


It was great -- a sweet, crispy, tangy, slightly spicy feast.  


Tonight, she made a greek turkey-burger.

Unfortunately, turkey isn't all that photogenic.  But the burger was delicious.  Ground turkey tends to dry out, so Sarah increased the moisture content by grating a quarter onion into it and adding worchestershire sauce & lemon juice.


Last week we fell back on one of our favorite standbys: turkey potstickers and non-fried fried rice.

These snakes get high:

(Just Like) Starting Over

Dear Food Diary,

It's a new year -- a new decade -- and here we both are, having each survived thus far.  I guess congratulations are in order...  I'll be waiting for those.  You know where I live.

So what have you missed?  Well, I built a fort.  Actually it was more like I built a two-foot wall and dug a three-foot hole, but some people liked it.

We were down in the Hinter, at Sarah's parents' place.  We'd expected to be snowbound, but the snowpocalypse that was promised crept quietly by.

Anyhow, along the way I had a hand in a great Christmas dinner, and I used the other hand to carve a roast beast.

I made fresh horseradish by grating a root, mincing garlic, and adding a mix of rice-wine/apple-cider vinegar.

After dinner, we performed the traditional Christmas experiments with water and money.

Besides the science, Christmas magic! (awwww)

 

Monday I went to see Fever in the Ox and got to hang out with lots of people I know (plus some I didn't, and a couple I thought I did but didn't).  It was good to see and interact with everybody.  Also good to see Fever rock it out.

 

Dylan and MacKenzie were back in town briefly (I saw Dylan at the Fever show, in fact), so on the night before New Year's Eve, Sarah and I went with those two and Christian to the Shorewood Bar and Grill.  The name is a little misleading, since the place is Greeker than shit and super-delicious.  Great gyro meat there and an awesome scallop appetizer. After Shorewood, we played Rock Band at our place then later tried to hang out at The Otter, Grumpy's, and Our Bar, but found them all lacking in one way or another, so we ended up at Perkins, where I ate yet more (albino mozzarella sticks and a very solid chocolate shake). 

That's probably your favorite part of the story, huh, Food Diary?  Or the part you hate the most.  I can't even tell with you anymore.  I feel like we need to reconnect (or never see each other again).  Let's make that a goal for the rest of the year.  Deal?

All in all you missed out on some fun times, but I'm glad I didn't.  Maybe this'll be the decade where I make an effort to join people out in the world and have fun with them.

'Til next time (if there is a next time),

Matt