Day 90: Taters

This day is a sub for Clams on the Half Shell, mostly because we couldn't find them. But taters? Yes, please! Since the day is about taters as opposed to straight potatoes, we decided to make tater tot hot dish.

It's basically a terribly Americanized (bastardized) version of Shepherd's Pie. You get ground beef, cream of something or other soup (we used broccoli this time) and a canned vegetable (we used corn), and you bake it all with tater tots on top. Deliciously fattening!

Alex was super hungry when it came out of the oven, so we dug in quickly. But somehow, the taters were not done! Lame! So we microwaved the first serving and put the rest of the casserole back in the oven. Second serving was great. From an original Idaho spud (that's me!), Happy Tater Day!

Day 89: Turkey Neck Soup

More soup. As I've said, I'm not much of a fan of soup. It's just blah most of the time. This proved no different.

The first bite was nothing special. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. I decided to add about 100 oyster crackers to it. It definitely made it better.

But doesn't that just make this an excuse to eat oyster crackers?

Day 88: Lemon Chiffon Cake

So here we are at Papa Haydn again, because, as I've said before, it's the only place to get things like this. A Chiffon cake is special because it's made without butter, so it needs a nice accent to complement the lightness.

Like lemon. The only issue, at least for Alex, was that the lemon curd on top of the cake was quite tart. I thought it was delightful. Despite his issues, Alex finished the slice quickly.

Ain't he cute? Actually, he looks quite sinister here, but I think it's due to the graininess from his iPod Touch camera. Sorry, dudes. We forgot the good camera.

Day 87: Something on a Stick

I did not make this up. There are a number of days on this list where I have some freedom to choose. I had a little bit of an inkling to do something weird, but it's been pretty rainy today and all I have is a bike to lug me around. So simple it is. And what could be more simple than corn dogs. Acutally, now that I think about it, popsicles would have been easier. Damn!

I got a six pack from Safeway and threw them in the oven. You really can't go wrong with a corn dog. Unless you're stupid and choke on the stick. But isn't the danger part of what makes it fun?

Chomp!

Day 86: Spanish Paella

This food day was an irritation. An irritation of time mostly. And the weird part is that the irritation all took place yesterday. Oh, don't worry, I still only ate the food today. Let's travel back shall we.
Neither of us knew of places to find paella, so Liz searched online and found only one place: Toro Bravo. It was a bit out of my way on a bike home to work, but not only that, it doesn't open until 5 pm. We decided to pick up the paella then and eat it the next day. We tried to see if we could call in the order, but they didn't pick up the phone. We resolved to just go there and try and get take out. Giddy... Up.

When we got there it was packed. This is a super trendy place. Liz talked to the guy and he told us that they don't do take out orders since the kitchen is so small. Liz turned to me for answers and I grumbled something about whatever we need to get it done. I was in a bit of a bad mood because of the hassle this was becoming, but also because I hadn't even had my spinach salad dinner. We added our name to the list and waited our requisite 45 minutes at the bar next door to get our seats.

As soon as we sat down, Liz laid down our situation: get us paella and a few apps so we can bolt. The bartender was happy to oblige.  The apps were good and the atmosphere was nice. If I had had the time on Thursday I would have loved to sit and actually enjoyed myself. Once we got the paella we were out.
On the way home the aromatics in the car were lovely. Liz was dying to eat some. The plan was also to have her eat it for dinner that day and I'd eat left overs the next day. She loved it.

This brings us to today. When I got back to the house and finished taking Saba out, I got right to heating up the plate in the oven. I was actually looking forward to eating it, as long as I avoided the seafood parts. And the smell did not lie. It was mouth watering. A good spicy and a rich flavor. If I ever get this again, I hope I can get more of a land paella than a mixed dish paella,

Day 85: Spinach

I used to have spinach salads all the time a few years back. I normally made them with croutons, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, Craisins, and ranch dressing.

This time I went with more of a meal type option. I had it with chicken, tomato, and cucumber. The dressing was what ever creamy delight I found in Emily's fridge. Liz got some sort of vinaigrette, but I'm not a fan of those. I like my dressing to be about 30-40% of the flavor.

I ate it really fast. Because it was good, but also because I was super hungry and I had a fun little board game project to work on.

Day 84: Lobster Newberg

The only interesting thing I could find about Lobster Newberg is that the name is actually an anagram of Lobster Wenberg. Apparently, sea captain Ben Wenberg introduced the dish at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City. This was in 1876. The dish was added to the restaurant's menu and became very popular. Then, Delmonico and Wenberg had an argument (big old babies) and the dish was removed from the menu. But the people still wanted the dish, so Delmonico changed the name to Lobster Newberg.

So, I am sure that in a restaurant this dish looks much fancier. All I have to say is that it was a little bit of a pain in the ass to cook. I had to opt for frozen lobster tail (this isn't the east coast, after all) and de-shell it and then steam it. Since I have a weird thing about lobster and shrimp (they are giant insects! In the sea!), it was especially trying to do this. Then I had to mix egg yolk, heavy cream and Madeira (of which I had to get a whole bottle for ONE tablespoon) and stir constantly until it 'thickened.' Ummmm...I was very uncertain when it was actually thickened. It progressively got thicker and thicker so I pulled it off the heat when it was the consistency of mustard. Then I added salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and the lobster chunks and put it back on the heat while I made a piece of toast. Unfortunately, while it was on the heat a second time, the sauce 'broke,' which is to say separated a little bit and it made me mad. Alex was horrified at the end result.

He said it looked like mucus first, which I gracefully shrugged off. Then he took a bite, let it sit in his mouth for 3 seconds and then spit it back on the plate. While he did like the sauce, he freaked out about the texture. I feel him, because the only lobster I can usually enjoy is lobster bisque, which is delicious. Should we give the rest to Saba?

She looks really interested, but we'll skip it. <You dodged a bullet, Saba>

Day 83: Chocolate Covered Raisins

Gee, there sure are a lot of days for things covered in chocolate. This is probably one of my favorite. I almost always get a box of Raisinets when I go to the movies. They are so good! For some strange reason (strange raisin?) Liz hates them. She knows my love for them, so she actually got me one regular box and one dark chocolate box.

I look so good I could be in a commercial for these things. It's a shame that they printed the box upside-down though.

Day 82: Chips and Dip

It's been a while since I've had chips and dip. It use to be pretty standard for me in a Saturday lunch. "Oh, we have sandwiches? Let's add chips and dip." Somewhere along the line, probably when I move out of my parents house. It turned into tortilla chips and salsa. Still good, but not the same.

You might suppose I have the occasional chip and dip at a party. You would be wrong. I tend to barely eat food at parties. If I do, it's usually from one bowl. So many times I'll be at a party and the food is just too fancy. I don't want humus or artichoke dip or whatever god awful thing you made that is in the blue bowl. I like the plain Janes of the party accoutrements: Doritos, pretzels, meat and crackers, etc.

So for chip and dip day I went with good old French onion dip and Ruffles (for the structural integrity) Ahhh! So good. And no, I don't double dip. I just eat the damn chip.

Day 81: Water

I definitely drink a lot of water, mostly of the sparkling persuasion. I prefer Crystal Geyser Sparkling Mineral Water, and plain only. None of that flavored shite for me. I have Alex on board with me, and that's good because he is not a devoted water drinker like me. New Seasons Market (dot com!) is having a great sale on my water today (4 for $5!) so I bought a case.

I know, I know. In a world where millions (probably billions) of people struggle for clean water, I should not be drinking bottled water. We do have a SodaStream machine at home, but we're housesitting for our friends this week. So we have sparkly water! I only hope that Alex is drinking water today. He is at softball practice and it is sunny and 65 degrees. Now to get outside, and I'll definitely take my water with me.

Day 80: French Bread

Alex really likes to eat bread. I was afraid he might eat too much, so I brought home an organic French mini from New Seasons Market (dot com!).

Quel sauvage! He just slathered it with butter and ate large chunks. At one point he dipped it in my bean and cheese nacho snack. He got about halfway through the loaf before I stopped him. Now I will find a bread knife and eat a slice the civilized way.

Day 79: Ravioli

I decided to go to Mama Mia for lunch to get my ravioli. I picked it for two main reasons. It's very close to my place of work and I could order online. I was easily able to order my ravioli filled with ricotta cheese & herbs. I almost forgot to leave at the right time to pick it up.

I picked it up with only a light sprinkle outside. I planned to bring it back to eat in our work lunch area. I had to be a little careful with the ride back since it came in an aluminum box that could have been easily squashed in my backpack. I handled it like a pro and got back without a mess is my bag.

It was quite tasty. I did get a lot of "Parmesan" cheese to pile on it. Yummy! I only wish there would have been three in the box.

Day 78: Chocolate Caramel

When I got home today I found this opened and beaten box of chocolate caramels on the table.

I'm not sure what happened to it. Maybe it was in a discount bin after a Valentines Day hater threw it across the store. Maybe Liz tried opening it by beating it with a hammer a few times. Maybe the box just comes that way. I don't know.

What I do know is they taste pretty damn good. Quite lovely.

Day 77: Oatmeal Cookies

Oh, how I wish this day weren't a Tuesday. Then we could have baked some kickass oatmeal cookies. But instead, we almost sorta kinda maybe forgot about getting oatmeal cookies until we were on the way to bowling. So we went to Winco (shudder) and got some Cascade Pride soft oatmeal cookies.

Oh dear. I did not have any cookies because they are HFCS-laden, but Alex and my dad seemed to enjoy them.

So what we should have done is gotten an It's-It. Mmmmm, an oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich. Curses! Is there an Ice Cream Sandwich Day? (PS we got 5 points bowling).

Day 76: Corned Beef And Cabbage

So even though Irish people do not consider Corned Beef to be Irish cuisine, today, St. Patrick's Day, is Corned Beef And Cabbage Day. We went to Paddy's, which was attached to the Irish Festival, for our Corned Beef And Cabbage. It was cute. When we arrived, Irish step dancers performed, followed by a badly-miked group of old Irish men singing traditional songs. We paid what I consider an exorbitant amount for beer and Corned Beef And Cabbage.

It was pretty good. Alex said the Corned Beef "tasted like jerky, but moist." He avoided the fatty bits, so they were all mine (delicious).

I told him just to mix the cabbage with a bit of Corned Beef, but he decided to try it alone. He immediately spit it out. So it was all mine to mix with the Corned Beef.

Can we talk about how Alex looks attractive no matter what gross food he is eating? It's disgusting, really. But I guess there are worse things.

Day 75: Artichoke Hearts

Artichoke hearts are a delicious addition to salads and such, but seeing that Alex has already decided he hates them, we just got a jar of marinated artichoke hearts.

Alex dreads days like these.

His review: sour, taste like they have gone bad and hard-soft. Basically ew. No. The hard-soft thing makes sense because artichokes are basically thistles. Next time we are in Los Angeles, I will take him to the Newsroom Cafe for an artichoke. I think about that artichoke quite a lot.

Day 74: Pears Helene

This recipe comes from Tyler Florence of Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network. It's called Vanilla Poached Pears with Chocolate Sauce and Ice Cream (a.k.a. "Poire Belle Helene").

I followed the recipe pretty close, but I removed the wafer and just used regular chocolate syrup.

It tastes pretty good, but I think I would have preferred the pears a bit softer. I have very little patience when it comes to most things and unless you give me strict guide lines like "when the toothpick comes out clean" or "when the noodles are golden brown" I tend to screw things up. The direction of "the tip of a paring knife will go through the flesh of a pear with just a little resistance" meant almost nothing to me. What is "just a little" this all depends on my strength, my sensitivity to resistance, and how sharp of a knife I'm using. Eh. If I see this on a menu sometime, I'd love to taste a professional's version.

Day 73: Potato Chips

If I ever have to pick up potato chips, I almost always go with Kettle chips. They are just so tasty and I love the variety of flavors. I tend to stick with backyard barbeque or jalapeño. I occasionally get the spicy thai or salt & fresh ground pepper. For a little while, they had maple bacon which was quite addictive.

I went with jalapeño. This was pretty much my lunch. The whole bag. I feel no shame. And I'd do it again if I had the chance!

Oh, and happy pi day too.

Day 72: Coconut Torte

I've never been a fan of coconut treats. They are more of a last resort item for me. As in, if they are the only thing left in the candy bowl, I'll have an Almond Joy to quench my chocolate hunger.  I didn't have high hopes for a coconut torte.

Liz found the recipe for me at Cooks.com. It's a coconut sour cream torte. It seems a lot like a cake, but it's a lot thicker. I actually made it yesterday before I made the baked scallops. I just didn't slice into it until today.

The first few bites were good. By the tenth bite I was sick of it. I do like it more than a German chocolate cake, which isn't saying much. Coconut just has a way of ruining everything.

Day 71: Baked Scallops

Scallops are one of those things you see on fancy cooking shows- usually sauteed in globs of butter. So a baked scallop seemed a bit weird to me, especially when most of the recipes I found involved bread crumbs. Perhaps it's a thing. Alex made this recipe, and he could not find the bread crumbs in our pantry. So he used crumbled pizza crust instead (so Alex). They turned out looking very nice.

Alex was super nervous about the scallops- oh, never mind, just watch the video.

I was worried they would be chewy, but they weren't. They had a nice, smooth bite to them, which must speak to the quality of the scallops. Thanks, New Seasons Market (dot com!).

Day 70: Oatmeal-Nut Waffles

It's early, but there is something nice about waking up to freshly-made Oatmeal-Nut Waffles.

Unfortunately, the addition of chopped nuts make the waffles a little weird. The oatmeal is virtually indistinguishable, until you've eaten a whole waffle. Then you are ridiculously full. Like I am right now.

Alex only ate a quarter waffle, but that's because he is a weird non-breakfast-eating-person. You know what they say: You can't do your best if you don't eat a good breakfast. Or unless you have an oatmeal nut waffle bomb in your stomach. Right?

Day 69: Blueberry Popover

Things I did not know about popovers:
1. A popover is an Americanized version of Yorkshire Pudding.
2. In American Food (1974), author Evan Jones writes: "Settlers from Maine who founded Portland, Oregon Americanized the pudding from Yorkshire by cooking the batter in custard cups lubricated with drippings from the roasting beef (or sometimes pork); another modification was the use of garlic, and, frequently, herbs. The result is called Portland popover pudding: individual balloons of crusty meat-flavored pastry." (found on Wikipedia).
3. They actually DO popover!

As much as eggy pudding things usually worry me, I was excited about the popovers because they smelled damn good baking in the oven. Alex was very worried. He was certain he would hate the popovers.

Alex protested throughout eating the popover, of which he made it halfway through. His conclusion: "It tastes like underdone french toast. And I don't like french toast." After the old college try, he said "no" repeatedly and then threw his popover away. I ate all of my popover and will definitely finish off the rest. They are yummy. Here is the finished product, with lemon juice and sugar on top.

Day 68: Crab Meat

Poor, poor Alex. Despite finally getting his long awaited Kickstarter game, Fleet, which is all about deep sea fishing, he can't bring himself to like crab meat. In fact, he even ordered special crab animeeples for the game, which I'm sure makes this day even worse.

It's mocking you, Alex.

We got the tiniest amount of Dungeness crab meat from New Seasons Market (dot com!). Alex was able to keep the crab meat in his mouth for maybe three seconds, after which he spit it out, swished water in his mouth and rinsed with mouthwash.

We're hoping that Carl Wilborn will finish off the remainder of the crab meat. I don't think Alex will allow it to stay in the house. Off to play Fleet! I wonder if Alex will still bid on or launch crab boats...

Day 67: Peanut Cluster

I thought about maybe just getting Goobers again, letting them melt, and throwing them in the fridge. It would have been a lot easier to make, though a little more messy to eat.
I found a recipe for these things at Taste of Home. The first thing on the recipe seemed foreign to me: 2 lbs of white candy coating. Was I suppose to peal M&M's? I called around to see where I could get this item, which is based off of almond bark. I called about 4 grocery stores and none of them stocked it until the holidays. An online search lead me to Walmart. And so to Walmart I went and was successful.

Making this stuff was time consuming, but not to bad. I'm glad Liz had clean out the fridge earlier in the week since I needed the space to let them cool. I also had a little chocolate left over so I poured it into a small container to make a candy bar.

They taste pretty good. Easily better than the Goobers. And sooo much better after they've been frozen. Even though I like them a lot, I probably wouldn't make them again. Not because of the time or work involved. There are just better things to make. I'd probably make a go at my mom's peanut butter chocolate wheat thin cookies. MMmmmm!

Day 66: Cereal

I had this originally pegged as National Crown Roast of Pork Day, but that's pretty hard to find or make. Also, since the Peking Duck fiasco, I wasn't really keen on getting a crap load of meat I likely wouldn't or couldn't eat. This was a no-brainer of a swap.

I had a difficult time picking out which cereal I wanted at Albertsons. It gets a little hard to pick out sweets when you're loaded with mini candy bars and cheesecake. I went with Cookie Crisp since it's been a while since I've had it. To be honest I don't actually eat cereal as often as I use to.

I also took a little time to have fun with the back of the box. I was sorely disappointed. An inane maze with three "riddles" of passage. Really, they're just dumb kid jokes. What happened to backs that had good mazes and word jumbles and picture finds? I hope this is just one bad box and not indicative of the state of today's children's breakfast reading material.