New Job

I started a new job, and the first thing I did was..........yup, you guessed it.......I went on travel!

No, no rounds of applause. Since the new job takes me to Army posts I don't think I'll have a ton to write about culinarily. For those that don't know why, let me tell you the un-official Army motto "we do what sucks the most." At least this is what I've heard from several of my Army friends. And this extends to the places they put their bases. And while this isn't true of all bases, 2 of the 3 I've been to in the last 2 weeks qualify. And the 3rd is in DC, which lots of people think is a pretty bad place to be.

The one culinary adventure I've had on this trip (PA, NY, DC) was when my traveling partner got to pick the dinner location. After driving for 5 hours together in a car we arrive at the hotel relatively unscathed, check in, check email, and meet for dinner. Upon starting down the street my traveling partner decides he wants to go to Ruth's Chris because he saw an add for it in an airline magazine and it looked good. And while I'm in a ratty t-shirt and jeans, I'm not one to discourage experimentation. So we go, and I guess I didn't prepare him well enough because he was a little take aback by the $42 steak without any side dishes. And of course he got all uncomfortable when I announced that I don't eat steak. But we weathered that storm, had our crab cakes (for me, pretty good, but nothing to write home about) and steak (for him, with a side of gin martini......I think we'll get along just fine), only to get caught in a major downpour on the way home. Ah well, life in the south.

Death by Dessert

I have made, in my own humble opinion, the best dessert yet. It was from a recipe, so my success is partly owed to the excellent writing of the reciepe. It was a Devil's Food Cheesecake designed by Junior's Cheesecake, one of New York's earliest and still best cheesecake bakeries. It had cheesecake (perfectly soft but not mushy), devil's food cake (moist but still firm), and fudge frosting (yummmmmmmm......). While it wasn't bakery quality yet because I can't decorate cakes worth a darn, the layers came out mostly even and with enough fudge frosting smothered on it I was able to make it look straight and pretty even. And of course yummy.

Did I say it was good? No? Well, let me go taste some more to see if I still like it.

Yup. Still good. Anything else I should say?.......Nope, time to eat more cake!

Ode to a Sandwich

If I were a poet, I would be writing lyrical verse regarding a particular sandwich. And while those of you who don't know me well may think that only a "guy" could be so bewitched by a sandwich, let me tell you that given the right set of ingredients, toasted-ness, and overall satisfying composition a mere sandwich can, in fact, inspire a girl to exclaim "DAMN! That's a GREAT sandwich!"

See.......that's why I'm not a poet. But I do love Max's Broiled Rock Shrimp, Spinach and Cheese Melt. I have had dreams about this sandwich. I have even tried to replicate is a few dozen times, never with any success. It is like the best of a grilled cheese and Oyster's Rockefeller on a perfectly toasted french bread roll. Which I realize sounds completely bizarre now that I write it, but it is a really great sandwich. I only get to have it once ever year or so when I go home to visit my parents.

And visiting my parents brings me to the fact that my little brother just graduated from pharmacy school. When they called his name, they called him Doctor Snell. Which made me pause. This new doctor, is he really the one that put my head through the ceiling in the kitchen? Is he really the one that chased my mother around acting like a velocaraptor? Is he really the one that hid under my bed until really late at night and woke me up by pushing my matress up and down to convince me it was an earthquake? Is he the one I tried to throw off the edge of the Grand Canyon? And then the ceremony ended, and we met up with my brother, who's first words were (in reference to the tree nut lei he was wearing, gifted by one of the alums) "so, how do you like my nuts?"

Yup, that's my brother, the pharmacist. An engineer and a pharmacist, contributing members of society (kind of). Who would've guessed?

A $50 Breakfast

T and I spent a long weekend in Key West. I was expecting beach and sun and some nice bars. What I wasn't prepared for was how I just wanted to sink into the culture, to sit on the deck of one of the restaurants until I was wrinkly and grey. Not once did I look at my watch, although come to think of it, I'm not sure I we ever had any clocks, cell phones, or other time-keeping pieces with us. Although the roosters got us up in the morning, I had no problem with getting up that early so we could get a table at one of Jim C's recommendations. While all the food was good, the breakfasts were the most memorable. They were at places that had nothing more to them than corrugated metal and some scattered pool chairs.

It was at one such place, sitting in rickety old pool chairs, underneath a big with over-sized tropical leaves that I had my $50 breakfast. T ordered pancakes (nope, not made of gold, and not outrageously expensive either). The coffe was good and hot. And my only complaint was that I had this persistent fear that the roosters were going to peck my toes to get at my breakfast. I had the guilty pleasure of a lobster and shrimp benedict. Yes, that's right, I had buttery lobster and perfectly succulent shrimp with poached eggs and the most decadent key-lime hollandaise sauce I have ever had. Lets see......lobster, shrimp, eggs, english muffins, key lime juice, and BUTTER!

SINFUL!

And worth every penny, I may add.....

Freuhlings Fest

Its been almost a year since I was at Fruehlings Fest in Stuttgart. And it was one of the best times I've had. T and I rodes rides, played carnival games, drank beer, ate chicken, and danced on tables. I still have the green gorilla that he won me. I kept it suction-cupped to my mas all night long. And while I can't relive that night, I am going to throw a German-style beer party at our house. We have enough beer to serve almost a whole tent worth of people, but I'm just hoping for a porch-full. I'm still working on the menu, but I'm thinking that it will be some combination of the following:

• Wurst (weisswurst if I can get it)
• Jagerschnitzel
• Kase Spatzle
• Potato Salad
• Suggestions?........

This time we are combining T's co-workers and my friends. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully it won't be too strange. I'm a little afraid that people won't want to talk to me. I'm afraid that I'm not very interesting. I also feel strange around T's co-workers. I'm always self conscious about whether they are looking down on me because I'm young, or afraid they think I'm not very smart. Well, hopefully I'll have enough of my friends there that they will talk to me.

Well, time to make my shopping list for the party and finish my class.

And in other news, I got below 130 lbs. this morning. It helped that I didn't have dinner last night, but I'm still pretty happy that I'm starting to finally lose the weight. I guess part of being an engineer is being results-oriented. So I'm pretty pleased about hitting a mid-way milestone. Of course the beer and wurst don't help with the weight loss, but hopefully I'll jabber so much with everyone that I won't eat as much as I normally would.

Here's to the weekend! PROST!

On the Porch Again

Its finally getting warm! Its really windy, but at least it is sunny. So I'm sitting on the porch working on a menu for Wed. A couple friends will be coming over, one whom I've never cooked for. So I'm allowed to go a little over-the-top. Which of course means it will be a heavy, fattening, stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal.

Because C. likes red meat, and I like seafood, and T. likes anything I cook, I think the menu I have thus far will meet all requirements:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Filet Mignon Wrapped in Bacon
Lobster Thermidor
Purple Potato Gallette
Popovers
Mini Lemon Cheesecakes with Strawberries
Mini Chocolate Mouse Cups
Cheese and Port Board

Some of those things are repeats, but it is a Wed night and I really do want to impress them. The purple potatoes are hard to work with, so those will be my challenge. Plus the mini cheesecakes and mousse are going to be difficult to put together. With T and I on a diet, I don't get to cook like this very often. So I'm going all out for this one.

UPDATE (Posted April 24):
I nixed the potato gallette for french browned carrots (trying to make things a little lighter). And I didn't serve the cheese and port board. But the best thing I did was to substitute my two mini deserts with a traditional Grand Marnier Souffle. It was beautiful and light and fluffy. I spent a ton of time looking at souffle advice. Souffles are easy, kind of. And don't take that long to make. I think I made the base too thick, because it didn't puff as much as I wanted, but it did puff nicely and it tasted wonderful. Trudy loved it, so that made me really happy. And the lobster thermidor is always my favorite (plus the popovers). On the whole, really, really nice evening. Plus the wine was good. T. picks really good wine, which is surprising for someone who didn't know anything about wine until he met me.

A Trifling of Sweets

I want to make something sweet. I don't know why. I don't even really want to eat it. I just want to make something. I'm going crazy. With T and I watching what we eat, I feel so stymied. So I decided to make Spiced Pear and White Chocolate Trifle. It turned out beautiful, and not all that hard to make. It was a very light desert. Very refreshing, in a way.

I also made the same red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting that I made for my birthday last year. I haven't cut into it yet, but I know it will be good. I think that even though I want to make the most complicated, over-the-top things my taste still runs to the basics, good cheese, good wine, good cake, and the occaisional fried food. Ugh, this diet is hard.

Well, here's a picture of the trifle. Back to my veggies and fiber.