Page 78 of 138

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:44 pm
by Menolly
aliantha wrote:Did they do the onion-slice volcano? I *love* the onion-slice volcano....
"Mount Fujiyama?"
...but of course.

Beorn was entranced the whole time. :D

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:07 pm
by Menolly
Well I was going to make turkey tettrazini with some planned over turkey parts...
...then Beorn decided to add some turkey to some canned soup he was making...

I would have pulled something else out for dinner.
Perhaps it is rotisserie or fried chicken from Publix time.
I sure do wish my local Sam's sold the rotisserie chicken. I've heard such good things about them...

Although now that I think about it...
...breakfast for dinner might not be such a bad idea for tonight.

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 12:38 pm
by Vader
It looks like I completely lost my inspiration. I am hungry but I don't have any appetite. Even the standard dishes I usually do when I don't feel like experimenting taste rather bland now ... :( Maybe a few days with bread and water will help ...

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:25 pm
by lorin
Vader wrote:It looks like I completely lost my inspiration. I am hungry but I don't have any appetite. Even the standard dishes I usually do when I don't feel like experimenting taste rather bland now ... :( Maybe a few days with bread and water will help ...
I think you could even make bread and water a feast.

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:11 pm
by Menolly
Totally agree with lorin's assessment of Vader's cooking skills.
I'm picturing a wonderful round, crusty loaf infused with herbs and slathered with fresh butter...

For me, if all goes well, tonight is perfectly medium rare standing rib roast with cabernet au jus and home made horsey sauce; tossed mesclun with grape tomatoes, sliced cucumber and mushrooms, craisins, and chevre; and garlic mashed potatoes.

In order to keep it special, I'll save the Yorkshire Pudding for Chr-stmas dinner only...

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:24 pm
by Vader
A crusty bread made of rye and whole weat flower. I still have some active yeast and sourdough in the fridge. With a bit of salt, sugar beet molasses and buttermilk it will make a simple but tasty bread ... if only I had my wood oven ready ...

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:01 pm
by aliantha
Vader, that bread would go terrifically well with the second-day beef barley soup that I'm having for dinner. Feel free to send some here! :)

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:48 pm
by High Lord Tolkien
Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:54 pm
by Infelice
High Lord Tolkien wrote:Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
Love meatloaf... especially my mums meatloaf cold on sandwiches.

Tonight its a chicken mornay cooked in the microwave and yummy watermelon. Its been tooooo hot to cook and the watermelon is so refreshing at the end of a long hot day.

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:43 pm
by Menolly
Tonight I am doing beef stroganoff with the leftover standing rib roast over egg noddles. yumm...
I have a head each of fresh broccoli and cauliflower I need to use.

Our local Publix had all varieties of Johnsonville fresh sausage on sale for $2.98/package of 5. Considering they usually sell for over $5/package, we snatched up some bratwurst and Italian sausage.

So I think tomorrow night will be sausage with sauteed onions, red and green peppers, and mushrooms parmigiana on hogie rolls. We had gotten a package each of mild, sweet and hot Italian sausage. Add my own homemade meat sauce to them and serve it along with my now usual mesclun tossed salad.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:09 pm
by Menolly
We're at Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World for an overnight stay. While I would have loved to have eaten at Soma, we couldn't get reservations and instead met up with some local friends who took us to a Chicago-style pizzeria called Giordano's. Their "stuffed" pizza was interesting. Quality cheese and ingredients, but I wasn't all that impressed with the sauce. And I'm still a Brooklyn round lover myself...

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:39 pm
by Damelon
Last night, I took some left over penne pasta, put in some ground beef and pork and a jar of pasta sauce mixed it up and put it in a baking dish. Baked it and topped with parmesan. Had a glass of Australian Yellow Tail shiraz with it.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:22 pm
by aliantha
Saw a box mix for paella at the grocery store yesterday, so I'm going to try making that tonight. Will let you know how it comes out. It apparently comes with a can of seafood in the box. I've got some precooked frozen shrimp and some leftover rotisserie chicken that I intend to throw in, as well. And I splurged and bought a bottle of Funky Llama shiraz, since I have nowhere to go tomorrow. ;) Never had this brand before; let's all hope it doesn't *taste* like a funky llama...

I love some of the brand names the wineries are coming up with these days. My favorite, probably, is still "Goats Do Roam". :lol:

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:49 pm
by Vader
A little sprinkle of dry Sherry a few minutes before end of cooking time adds to the typical paella taste. So does cooking safron with th erice.

"Goats do Roam" (South Africa) actually is some sort of a phonetic pun directed at the famous French wine region "Côte du Rhone". One of their wines is called "Bored Doe" which pretty much sound like "Bordeaux".

The Funky Llama has got some good reviews (never tried it myself as wines from overseas are usually not my special subject. It is being described as being very "fruit forward". Apparantly the Shiraz variety has found good conditions in Argentina (just as it did in Australia).

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:29 pm
by aliantha
Right, I got the Cotes du Rhone pun. 8) I'd not heard of Bored Doe but I may have to look for it, just to see the label... I'll let you know what I think of the shiraz, altho I'm not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination (in fact, I couldn't even spell connoisseur just now -- had to look it up! :lol:). But I like red better than white, and I like shiraz in general.

I'm fresh out of cooking sherry but do have some sherry vinegar -- might sprinkle on a bit of that and see if it perks things up. The ingredients list saffron, but I do have some if it's not saffron-y enough. ;) A little goes a long way, tho, which is a good thing. I never thought I'd own any -- too freakin' expensive! -- but (don't hurt me, Menolly) Trader Joe's sells it in tiny little bottles for a relatively reasonable price.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:43 pm
by Vader
Image

Not sure if the vinegar won't add too much acid. If you have Sake or Chinese rice wine use that - very similar to Sherry when used for cooking.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:13 pm
by aliantha
That's sad! That doe doesn't look a bit bored. I'm disappointed. :lol:

No sake, no Chinese rice wine. In fact, the only alcohol in the house is the shiraz and a bottle of Becherovka. Guess this will be a good test of whether the box mix is any good on its own...

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:29 pm
by Menolly
I buy inexpensive sherry, Fairbanks Pale Dry Cocktail, for cooking. I just find cooking sherry to be too salty for my taste.

Image

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:30 pm
by aliantha
Double-posting, sorry.

Took another look at the paella box and noticed the picture of the "finished product" had a lemon wedge on it -- so I quit worrying about acidity and went with the sherry vinegar, and it tasted great. Thanks for the suggestion, Vader! And the wine is also pretty darn tasty. :)

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:17 am
by Menolly
We hung out at the pool after check out at Kidani Village today, and by 1:00 PM I was so cold I told the guys it was time to head out for home. On the road we saw a sign for Golden Corral, which we do not have here in Gator Town, and we all agreed to stop there for lunch.

I think we are still all stuffed, and will be simply snacking on whatever is at hand tonight, should we get hungry.