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

Monday to Sunday I hit all the clubs

Dear Food Diary,

I went to a Christmas party last night and ate one of the following things.  Guess which.

 

You said it was like Christmas, but you were wrong.

Dear Food Diary,

For all you know, I haven't eaten in the past ten days.  Let's keep it that way.
There may have been a bucket of cookie dough that I saw and interacted with in some way.

I've been down in Albert Lea and over at work.  I went to a show at a place full of stuff like this:

I ate this:

Festive!  And this:

Both were lovingly crafted by Sarah.

I have nothing else to report at this time.

Your pal,
Matt

I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

Dear Food Diary,

Why don't we have one more drink and go down and cut that shark open?

Busy Busy Bah Bah Bah

Dear Food Diary,

The past four days have been super-ass busy for the folks at my work -- me included.  I've honestly spent most of my waking hours working, driving to/from work, or eating.  That's actually one of the reasons Sarah crafted the Celebration of Pork on Thursday.  I was locked away in the office most of the afternoon, working orders.

Anyhow, while I was away at work on Friday (4:00 am 'til 7:00 pm), Sarah put up the Christmas tree and wrapped presents.  Pretty much all day.  Here's a sample of her efforts:

Then on Satuday I woke up grumbling because I knew I'd have to work most of the day again, but I got up and dutifully started my reporting anyway.  Round about 1 pm, Sarah and I decided to take a break from all the housework and workwork we'd been doing and head up to the Springbrook Nature Center for a jaunt around the trails.

We spent a lot of the drive up and the first few minutes of the walk complaining about how much work there was going to be in next few weeks -- lots of staring at computer screens, planning for family stuff, driving to staring at computer screens, driving to staring at family, stuff. 

Then we realized we were surrounded by an acre of actual work:

We were in the middle of a forest that had been essentially de-forested by a few fuzzy critters using nothing more than their goddamn teeth.  It makes clicking through internet orders or staring at chromosomes all day seem like chump work, and definitely nothing worth complaining about.

This doesn't really convey the extent of their strategic gnawing, but there was a lot of it.  And it put everything I've done in my life (with my teeth) to shame.

Speaking of teeth, after another day of (relative) work on Sunday, Sarah made a throwback meal.  It's a recipe we call "Devonshire Chicken" since that's where it was born.  ...oh, by the way, I'm talking about Devonshire apartment complex in Mankato, not Devonshire, England.  One of those places is full of mid-afternoon drunks with unintelligble accents who drive on the wrong side of the road and would sooner run you down than look at you... the other is in England.

This meal was pretty good though.  Chicken braised in stock, white wine, garlic, onions, and bay leaves, topped with sauted mushrooms.  

Anyway, Food Diary, I've got several weeks to go (hopefully) before the insanity at work lets up (hopefully), but I'd guess the worst of it is over.  And really the worst of it was like nothing compared to felling a fricking tree with my bare teeth, then dragging it (again with my teeth and tiny beaver legs) across the forest into the water and across the river to my damn dam. 

I think I'll make it.

Thank You Consequence

Dear Food Diary,

Our theme for this year's Thanksgiving was "A Celebration of Pork."

For breakfast, Sarah made french toast and sausage.

Then we tried to recreate a tostones plate we had at Conga a few weeks back for lunch.  I ventured out into the cold temperate November air to deep fry some plantains on the grill's side burner while Sarah put the rest of the elements together. 

It really only turned out okay.  The pork could have used a little more marinade time, and the plantains were pretty meh.  Really, though, any time you combine lime, avacado, and cilantro it's hard to complain too much.

Sarah put a lot of thought into supper.

We closed out the pork-related portion of our "Celebration of Pork" with some Banh Mi.  It was awesome.