Day 304: Candy Apple

Another fitting day for the times. Unfortunately we misread the day and made caramel apples. I ate two of them too. I didn't notice the mistake until I started to write the blog. I was hoping caramel apples would be a subset of candy apples, but no luck. I rushed to Liz and got her to work on the new treats. I don't work well when I'm freaked out. She found a recipe and I got to work uncarameling an apple.  The recipe she found actually used some of our leftover candy corn. Perfect!

This was a feat to try and eat. I almost had to dislodge my jaw.  Getting a bite with apple in it was the second hurdle.  This is not good. Why would anyone have this when there are caramel apples out there? This thing truly scares me.

Day 303: Candy Corn

These days always seem most on point near the holidays. I love these little things. I just hope I don't have to eat all of them. That would be bad.

Day 302: Oatmeal

I added this to things I purchased for lunch. Part of the Quaker oats "Real Medleys" called "Summer Berry Oatmeal +".  I'm not sure I'm a fan of plus signs in naming my food.

I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal. I'm quite picky about it. It has to be at just the right consistency. Since I was at work, I didn't want to fiddle it to perfection.  All in all, it was okay. Oddly there was too much berry and not enough oatmeal for my taste. It also could have been wetter.

Day 301: Chocolate

I've done a lot of chocolate over the coarse of this endeavor. It was tough trying to find one I hadn't done. I was sick of all the nit-picking and settled on just a whole mess of chocolate. I served up chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate syrup.

Liz thinks I'm crazy and she's probably right, but I loved every single bite. Now to drink some water.

Day 300: Potato

There are a number of ways to have potatoes. I decided on baked potatoes. It took a little long than I expected since the potatoes I got were a bit larger. This meant we ate the meatloaf before eating the potatoes.

Once they cooked through, they were tasty. I would love to eat more, but my belly can only hold so much.

Day 299: Mince Meat Pie

Why do the English make these things that taste weird and take forever to make? It's sounds a lot worse than it is, but it's still bad. I got the recipe from allrecipes. Most mincemeat pie does have meat although it may have beef suet. Also, most minced meat pie takes a day or two to prepare the mince. This recipe does not since I didn't have the time.

Why didn't I like this? I didn't really see the point of the raisins, and the grapefruit peel pretty much masks any other flavor. I enjoy grapefruit, but not in something that looks nothing like a citrus treat.

Day 298: Greasy Foods

Our first thought: fried chicken, but we've already done that. So we went for Fish and Chips at the Horse Brass, which was deserted for once. Real good fish.

I was pleased because I got a sausage roll and one piece of fish AND a pint (had to sacrifice the scotch egg). Alex was happy because he got 2 pieces of fish and he won Ascension. Jolly good show, old man! As far as greasiness goes, it was spot on.

Day 297: Bologna

Bologna...or baloney...it's weird. Not an item we ever have. Alex was prepared to get a bologna pack from Oscar Meyer, but the thought of that languishing in the fridge bothered me greatly. I took him to the New Seasons Market (dot com!) Cheesecuterie counter and we purchased some Hebrew National turkey bologna and some Lebanon beef bologna. Alex made simple sandwiches and ate them after his Bento appetizer (!!!).

Pictured from top: Lebanon Beef Bologna, Hebrew National Turkey Bologna

He preferred the beef bologna, commenting that it tasted more like salami. And now all I can think of is that Oscar Meyer song. Good marketing, OM.

PS: That kid is weird. Where is he now? Ah. There he is.

Day 296: Boston Cream Pie

It's only fitting that since I ate a cake that's really a pie a few days ago, that I should eat a pie that's really a cake. We picked it up at Safeway last night to make sure we didn't have to look or work hard for this day.

It's a very tasty cake. The cool cream on the inside and sweet chocolate top join into a perfect harmony. I can only imagine how much better it would taste if it was from a true bakery rather than a grocery store.

Day 295: Nut

I wanted to get something that was a nut in every sense of the word. Most things we think of as nuts aren't botanical nuts, but culinary nuts, e.g. cashews, peanuts, or Brazil nut. With a bit of research, both Liz and I decided on the hazelnut, also know as a filbert nut or cobnut.

I love them. I wish they put these in more nut mixes.

Day 294: Pumpkin Cheesecake

I started making this one the day before. I didn't think I'd have much luck finding it in a store. It was a bit of work, but that's only when I think back on it. I had a lot of other things on my plate that may have made it seem harder than it actually was. It was time consuming to bake and cool. This is where I'm glad I got a head start on the recipe by Martha.

It tastes exactly how it sounds. Like a pumpkin pie and a cheesecake got freaky. The taste was all pumpkin pie, but the texture was nice and thick like a cheesecake. So thick that the whipped cream on top was a welcome touch. It added a little bit of wetness (and sweetness).

Day 293: Brandied Fruit

Since we had both brandy and Grand Marnier on hand, we decided to prepare brandied oranges. Aside from peeling the very juicy oranges and freeing them of all pith (did not complete), the recipe was very easy.

Alex took a bite and recoiled at the taste.

He did not like the booziness. His take? A boozy Orange Julius. Orange Boozius? Booze Julius? We ate a lot more of the whipped cream than the brandied oranges.

Day 292: Oatmeal Muffin

The only thing I had to pick up was buttermilk. Man, does that stuff stick! This is also the second day in a row that I've used the cupcake tins.

The muffins were good, but I could have done with less currants or what ever was in that bag that I used as currants.

Day 291: Chocolate Cupcake

Safeway didn't have any small packs of chocolate cupcakes. They had a number of assorted large packs for Halloween.  I went with the Betty Crocker mix with Hershey's chocolate in the middle.  I forgot how simple baking out of the box can be. It's been a while. They tasted delicious, but I wish I had centered that chocolate better.

Day 290: Pasta

To make this different than all the other specific pastas I've done I went with mini farfalle or, as most know it, bow-tie pasta. I just got some standard stuff at Safeway and cooked it up for lunch. Nummy-nummy!

Day 289: Liqueur

We went with a tiny bottle of Grand Marnier. Not a fan, but better than coffee.

Day 288: Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore is traditionally a winter dish, but I suppose it's close enough to mushroom season to squeak by. We went to the place down the street, DeNicola's. It's one of those spots that have obviously been there forever, but we'd never been. Yelp reviews were spotty, so I was semi-worried. Despite the very random decor, the waitstaff was nice and the atmosphere was homey. When Alex ordered his dish, he was given the choice of spaghetti or ravioli, which was slightly weird.

Tiny little ravioli! He was slightly distressed that the Cacciatore was served Hunter's Style (bone in), but he worked through it beautifully.

It was good. Lots of marinara. He ate a lot of it and then finished my spaghetti and meatballs. And all of the bread. The boy can eat!

Day 287: Dessert

We bowl on Tuesdays and this one seemed to fit with our schedule. We eat at the lanes, so we could just tack on dessert. I wanted to do something completely different than any of the other days. I knew even the day before I was going to get the funnel cake sticks. I didn't. When I looked at the menu, the sticks were... erased! We asked our usual server and she explained about regular complications with the distributor. I was very disappointed, yet she was quite eager to sell me on the giant cookie with ice cream. She even offered to switch up the ala mode. I couldn't think of any other replacement to my satisfaction, so I resigned to the behemoth with moose tracks.

Liz was delighted by the cast iron skillet. She was practically giddy. As for my liking, I loved it. The skillet kept the cookie at its gooeiest. The ice cream was also the best complement to the dish adding some wetness to wash it down. I guess it's better than the funnel sticks, but not as cool.

Day 285: Yorkshire Pudding

Just when I thought I was done with popovers this shows up: a fruitless popover. What is wrong with British people? This is horrible.

They look pretty. Sure. Liz looks pretty, but I don't have her on the side of some steak.

And DON'T call it pudding. Stop making things sound tasty when they aren't.

Day 285: Gumbo

For Gumbo, we went to the likeliest suspect: Le Bistro Montage (easier than making a whole pot of gumbo). I haven't been there in years, and thankfully, it was a relatively quiet night. Hmmmm...gumbo. It's weird.

We each ate one bite, and came to the conclusion that gumbo is gravy stew. Ew. I had blackened steak, which I couldn't finish, so they wrapped it up. How could I forget the signature of Le Bistro Montage?

Just for fun, we had them wrap up the gumbo.

A narwhal! Love it.

Day 284: Sausage Pizza

I love pizza! Sausage not so much. I don't hate it. I just don't prefer it. If it's my only option, I'll gladly have a few slices. In fact this time I had about 6. Good, but it could have been so much better.

Day 283: Angel Food Cake

So tasty. Liz picked these up at new seasons. The only problem I have is eating it too fast. It starts to get lodged in my throat.

Day 282: Moldy Cheese

The only moldy cheese I' know won't kill me is blue cheese. I enjoy blue cheese. It tends to be my go to dressing. It was never meant to be a cheese on a cracker. It is really more to compliment a food. Like a salad or burger.

Now i need to get meat to put this on.

Day 281: Fluffernutter

I've never had one of these. Now I've had two. Why had I never had one before? Is this a new (within the last 10 years) thing?

Spreadable marshmallow is the best thing ever!

Day 280: Frappe

Liz told me to go to Starbucks and complete this one. They serve frappuccinos technically, but the U.S. will bastardize anything to make things sound exotic, so I'm counting it. It's a variant at least. I almost order one without coffee in it and I was quite pleased, but I didn't want to stray too far from the loose definition of frappe. I asked the barista if it would still "count" and got into a longer than normal discussion about trademarks and customs. I hedged my bets and went with a mocha chip.

I liked it... for half a second then I tasted the coffee. Bleck!  No thank you.

Day 279: Noodles

There was only one choice in deciding where to go for noodles: Jade. I love this place. I always get the pad Thai noodles without peanuts.

They are sweet, savory, and chewy. It's wonderful. I squeeze a little lemon on it too. My stomach is so happy right now.

Day 278: Apple Betty

If you've never had this, it's a brown Betty with apples. If you've never had that, it's like and apple crisp, but with a lot less crisp. If you've never had that, what are you doing with your life?

I whipped this together pretty quick. It unfortunate today turned out to be a warm day. It would have made the treat more fitting.

I liked it. It was pretty mushy. Not too sweet either. I'd rather have the crisp though.

Day 277: Tacos

Tacos are my all time favorite food. My desert island food, my 'if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life' food. I had it all planned out to go to These Guys food truck at the Brooklyn Park Pub, but, alas, it wasn't open yet. Alex and I had been helping the Wilborns move and were therefore ravenous (well at least I was), so instead of waiting for those guys to arrive, we drove over to Por Que No on Hawthorne. There was a stupid line! Given my policy of not waiting in line for trendy spots, we left and headed down to Cha Cha Cha and finally we got tacos.

Carnitas and Al Pastor. Yum. It's a good thing I've never met a taco I didn't like, because we kind of had to settle for Cha Cha Cha. I'll have to save myself for a pork shoulder taco another day.

Day 276: Caramel Custard

Sounds yummy, right? Well, it wasn't. The recipe I found sounded like flan, but I thought with the caramel it might turn out okay. It was kind of fun to make: homemade caramel and such. It was laborious, at best.

Alex hated it and I kind of did, too. Gross and eggy.

Day 275: Fried Scallop

God, this sucks. I hated baked scallops and it made the place smell for a week. I made up a recipe after doing some research: bread crumbs, paprika, salt, and pepper fried in olive oil.

It wasn't as bad as baked scallops (less squishy, less stanky), but I did not like and did not swallow it. The only thing I do like is that this is the last time I will every attempt to eat a scallop.

Day 274: Homemade Cookies

Liz suggested I make oatmeal cookies, but I've done those already.  I decided on a classic: chocolate chip. I looked up a recipe for crispy chocolate chip cookies and picked up the needed goods. I had to bake them in about 3 shifts since I only had 2 pans and there was a lot of batter. Maybe I should have halved the recipe.  They all came out gorgeous.

The taste good too. I love my cookies crispy. Soft ones are missing something. I love how the crispy edge melts in my mouth. Mmmmm! I should have gotten milk.