air bubble blog

because i live for the bubbles.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

french nachos

much to david's surprise, yesterday for dinner i made poutine. he said that it sounded like something i would never ever make ("french fries with gravy and cheese"). but hey, i had potatoes, and i searched on epicurious for potato recipes, and this got rave reviews. i used red potatoes from the farmer's market (the recipe calls for russet but hey, what's the fun in following a recipe to the T?). david mastered the fries, although i screwed it up a little by salting them, because along with my gravy and cheese, the dish was a bit too salty--still good though. the recipe did say to lightly salt the fries, but i would recommend to not salt them. i used fresh cheese curds for the market...oh so good they were! you could just hear them squeak in your mouth as you chewed. it doesn't get much fresher than that. for the demi-glace, i read that you can use half espagnole sauce and half broth, so i did that. i did a quick version of the espagnole--sauteed carrot and garlic in butter (my onions were rotten so i just used some onion powder), added flour to make a roux, then added crushed tomatoes (instead of puree, it's what i had) and chicken broth (again, what i had instead of beef). once it was to the desireed consistency (and not after 45 minutes of reducing), i took it off the heat. then to make the gravy, i sauteed the shallot and dried thyme in butter, added the red wine and reduced it. once reduced, i added the "demi-glace" (chicken broth mixed with espagnole sauce), then added a small bit of cornstarch slurry to thicken. i seasoned it with salt and pepper but didn't add the extra butter in at the end. then, i removed all of the solids so i had a nice, smooth gravy. we put the fries on a baking sheet, dropped cheese curds over, drizzled the gravy over, and heated it in the oven till the cheese was slightly melted. the recipe says to put the gravy on when you are serving it, but it was taking awhile for the curds to melt so we decided to put the gravy on so the fries wouldn't get hard and dry (good thinking david). sure, we didn't do exactly what the recipe told us to do, so it probably wasn't exactly how the french do it, but it was the weeknight college kid version of it (reduce time and use ingredients that you have!). overall, it was a pretty tasty and fun meal, and david deemed them "french nachos." it seems fitting doesn't it?

tonight for dinner i made some really delicious sandwiches. i made fresh white bread in the bread maker today
. i put pesto on both pieces of bread, then layered tomatoes, ham, provolone, and salami. mmmm so good. david loved it--"now that is a sandwich," he said. we think it would have been good with fresh mozz or feta too, instead of the provolone.

after dinner, david took me on a surprise date for ice cream. we went to izzy's ice cream in saint paul. it's cool there because you choose which ice cream you want, and then you get an "izzy" on top, which is a mini scoop of a different flavor of your choice. i thought it was something different you don't see at every ice cream shop! i got cake batter ice cream (soo good--it tasted like i w
as eating a cone full of frosting haha) with an izzy of oreo ice cream (it was awesome because talk about having a little bit of ice cream with your oreos). i got mine in a waffle cone, and when the girl handed it to me, the bottom broke, so she gave me another cone...which i gave to david so that he could try the waffle cone! yay free stuff. david got strawberry cheesecake ice cream with a four berry izzy in a cake cone--and then inside of a waffle cone!

and here are the chocolate chip banana muffins i made the other day. they turned out really good. they're not too banana-y but are the perfect c
ombination of banana and chocolate.

well, that's about it on the food front. i'm hoping the weather will be a little less bipolar tomorrow. today it was raining when i woke up, sunny a bit later, cloudy again, sunny, then it started to get cloudy again. but i went for a run, and a little ways out i saw a big streak of lightening, soo i turned right back around. i decided going for a shorter run was better than getting struck by lightning. but that's just me.


what's cookin' tomorrow: chicken with spicy tomato sauce

Sunday, July 19, 2009

you better check to see if the pigs are flying...

....because i am blogging. :O

And I guess i don't really have a good excuse for not blogging all summer...since I haven't been that busy. Although I haven't been cooking dinners that are too interesting. David and I have started to get bored of food--we had gotten into a pattern of eating the same things. So, I have started to plan different menus now, with new meals to try. Hopefully I will keep you updated on them.

But let's backtrack a bit...

This summer I have pretty much just been working, doing my internship--which I am loving--, and hanging out. I have been enjoying the farmer's market very much. the Minneapolis Farmer's Market is by far the best market I have ever been to (of course, I think I have only been to New Berlin and West Allis besides ours here). It is such a cultural experience and it's a fun place to go to, especially on the weekend (they are open everyday 6am-1pm)--you can get prepared food for breakfast or lunch, listen to local music, buy fresh organic produce, meat, and dairy, peruse the handmade pottery and clothing, and much much more. The typical deal for fruit and veggies is $2 a tray or 3/$5--you really can't pass up local organic produce like that.
















Here is some sort of stir fry I made a few weeks ago...I think it was green peppers, broccoli, beef, green beans, mushrooms, and peanuts over brown rice.


July 3rd was our friend Charles' birthday, so he, his girlfriend, David, and I went out to dinner to Dixie's on Grand--a deliciously southern restaurant. The Saint Louis Ribs are the best item on the menu--that pork just falls right off the bone. The baking powder biscuits are scrumptious, especially when accompanied by honey. This time I decided to try something new, so I had the Tex-Mex Chicken Nachos s (crispy tortilla chips, topped with smoked chicken, Pecos Red River chili and nacho cheese). I was pretty disappointed. Both the chips and chicken lacked adequate flavor, and there was just some shredded cheese melted over the top (I need cheese covering every chip!!). The chili, which was served on the side thankfully, was way too spicy for my sensitive taste buds. I was lucky, though that my sweet boyfriend shared his ribs with me so I got to have some yummy food.

After dinner we went back to my apartment and had cake that I had made earlier that day. I made a three-layer chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream frosting between the layers and on top (butter, powdered sugar, milk, raspberry preserves), and vanilla buttercream frosting on the sides (butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla). It was delicious! I know it was a success because David is not a cake person, and he loved it. I had extra frosting left, so when we had finished the cake (days later), I made chocolate cupcakes (with the same recipe as the cake), and David got the ones with raspberry frosting and I the ones with the vanilla--it works out that we have different frosting preferences. :) (It also works out that he isn't a huge frosting fan, so when we had the cake, I got to eat his vanilla frosting.) (Oh and PS--for the recipe for the cake, I left the chocolate chips out, and obviously didn't make that frosting. )

For dinner one day the following week, we had cornish hens with roasted vegetables. I basically just rubbed the hens with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika and added them to a dish with broccoli, yukon gold potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes (that had been seasoned with, I think, savory, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram). I filled the dish about 1/2 to 3/4 full with chicken broth and roasted it. It was pretty good and a nice change. Whenver I see or think of cornish hens, I always remember the time when Jen and Adrianne made cornish hens for the family for dinner. I think that was quite a few years ago though.


David's birthday was the 12th, so his family came into town on Thursday and we went to see Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. Since it was in a lot in downtown Saint Paul, we tried to find a place to have dinner beforehand. After wandering around for blocks trying to decide what to eat--we wanted something quick before the show--we decided on Loto. It is a cute little restaurant with a fun, contemporary interior. We all had sandwiches and were on our way to Cirque!!

The show was just incredible. It's something everyone should try to do at some time in their life. The athleticism, strength, flexibility, and focus these people have is amazing. Our favorite act was the two guys on the wheel of death. I think they were everyone else's favorite, too, because they got the biggest applause at the end.

Since David had a big test on the Tuesday after his birthday (Sunday), we celebrated it on Saturday. I took him shopping--Macy's was having a crazy sale--and bought him a new outfit. A hot pair of Calvin Klein jeans ($24.99 front $69.00!!) and a light blue shirt ($3 from $14.50!!). Then later his parents came into town again and we went out to dinner at Maggiano's and then went next door for dessert at the Cheescake Factory. David wanted to try their carrot cake cheesecake because he has a copycat version that is amazing, and he wanted to compare. We agreed, however, that his is by far better.

On David's actual birthday we went to church as the Basilica--we have been going there lately rather than our regular church--and then to the farmer's market, which is just down the street. While David studied all day, I made him an apple pie, banana bread with walnuts, and those aforementioned cupcakes. Needless to say, we have had plenty of sweets to eat and share with friends this week.

The other day I made pesto pasta with chicken for dinner, with my fresh basil from the market. It turned out pretty good, although we think it needed tomatoes (I didn't even think to put them in, duh!) and cheese. I had planned on putting feta in it, but the day before I made a huge salad (David always asks if China or the army is coming over for dinner.....but leftovers make a perfect lunch!) and used up the whole block of feta.

I was supposed to go camping with some of my girlfriends yesterday, but we failed to make a reservation and couldn't get in. So instead, we just grilled hot dogs and smores, ate fruit salad and pasta salad, outside of their apartment. We watched Mamma Mia, which I thought was pretty good.

Today I am going to make chocolate chip banana muffins, because I can never seem to eat all of my bananas before they turn brown. David is at home until tonight so I will probably have pancakes for dinner :)

what's cookin' tomorrow: poutine (french fries with gravy and cheese)