My Daily Habit: Food

Venison, Ribs, and Potatoes. Nothing short of a dream come true. Well Played, Sir!

2011-01-25T13:04:00.000-08:00

When Terry and I were home (Portland and Vancouver respectively) visiting our parents for the Christmas holiday we were invited over to have dinner at my dad's house. He had recently gone on a hunting trip with some of his friends and wanted to cook up some of the venison that they brought back. I love venison, and fresh game meat in general, so this sounded delicious.

We headed over and joined them while they started to prepare the meal. Upon arriving we discovered that the venison would be accompanied by ribs that were shipped in from my dad's favorite spot in Memphis, greens, and good'ol mashed potatoes (with plenty of butter at my urging). What a wonderful discovery! Venison and ribs, I mean come on. That's genius. Then mashed potatoes and greens (steamed leafs aren't usually my thing, but I'll get to that in a bit).

The venison had been marinating for a while. Brenda had found a recipe in a cookbook that used a marinade and put it together earlier that day. For those who are curious here is the recipe for the marinade:

1/4 Cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Sherry Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Thyme
2 Teaspoons Whole-Grain Mustard
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

The meat was originally cut into steaks, but she had cut them into chunks as the initial intention was to cook them as kabobs. As we settled in we strayed from that idea and went in the direction of just throwing them on the grill and seeing what came of it. Since the venison was cut into such small pieces they couldn't be thrown right onto the grill without worry of them falling through the grate. So we put them in a grill basket such as this one, Kingsford KNS75 Grill Basket with 26-inch Hardwood Handle, which ended up working perfectly. The meat stayed on the grill for about ten minutes before being ready to be taken off.

I wasted absolutely no time in getting my paws on a piece of the venison. It had been a while and when I took the first bite it was amazing. The marinade gave the meat a great flavor, and the meat itself wasn't gamy like so venison can be. It was a good cut (nice and tender), and there was not very much fat (which is what tends to give venison its gamy taste.)

The potatoes were straight forward, but hit the spot. They were mashed with a hand mixer, which when all was said and done probably ended up mashing the potatoes too much. They were almost too thick, but a good slathering of butter brought them back to form, and no love was lost for the potatoes.

The greens were the surprise for me. I knew that I would love everything else in the meal, but any kind of leaf that is cooked or steamed is usually my nemesis. This was not the case here. While I could still get a hint of the flavor that I don't like, I was able to enjoy and eat this dish. I didn't wait until everything else was gone and eat as much as I could choke down just to be polite. It was a good mixture of what I believe was collard greens and kale, it could have been chard. Either way it was great, and the bacon didn't hurt one bit either.

And then there were ribs. These were the ribs that my dad had flown in from Memphis, and they were worth it. Of course some of you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking that they can't possibly be very good after taking that trip, especially since they were already cooked when shipped. Well for those of you, I will say that you are wrong. I will give you that there is no replacement for the fresh out of the smoker taste, and that they would be better at the restaurant, but that is all I can budge on the matter. After a short stint in the oven and a hit of some rub from another favorite Memphis locale these babies were ready to rock, and rock they did. The were FULL of flavor, soft, and tender. I was surprised as to how tender they actually were, and the flavor from the fresh dose of rub they got was pretty awesome.

So there you have it. A great dinner with two main meat dishes. I encourage all who have never had venison to seek out a fresh cut and do some experimenting. Just remember to remove the fat so that you do not encounter a gamy flavor that most won't enjoy. Let me know if you have any questions or need any further details.

Cheese!!! A New Way to Make Ball Park Style Cheese Sauce

2011-01-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

It was Sunday night, and the last football game of the weekend had come and gone so I decided to take a look at some of the other food blogs that I like to read. I paid a visit to one of my favorites, serious eats, to see what they had going on. I almost immediately came upon an article that I had to read being that I am a cheese lover. It was an article in which Kenji (the author) was trying to figure out how to make a cheese sauce that resembles the sauce that you get with nachos at a sporting event. The problem being that if you take some real cheddar and simply melt it you get an oily, and far from runny result, which is fine for those of us in need of a quick fix and happen have a bag of Tostitos, a block of cheddar, and a microwave handy. Other wise you will probably be wishing you had one of the glorious machines that dispenses a slightly spicy, runny at all temperatures, and wonderfully off tasting cheese sauce of the likes you would normally encounter at ball games and movie theaters.

This was not going to thwart Kenji, and he set out on a quest to make this possible with the use of cheddar as opposed to Velveeta. Follow this link to the full article, The Burger Lab: Cheese Sauce for Burgers, Fries, and Chips. It is a good read, and he knows way more about the food reactions than I do so I won't even attempt to paraphrase what he found. Not to totally ruin it for you, but he did find a solution, and posted a recipe for his findings. I'll post a link to the recipe at the bottom of this post so that you may all use it as I did. I had to see what this was all about. The BCS national championship game was the next day, and I had people coming to watch. So even though there was already plenty of food I decided that this was a perfect football dish, and as good of a time as any to see how it tasted.

As you can see from the first picture the ingredients are simple (I doubled them), and consist of cheddar cheese (he suggested extra sharp), corn starch, evaporated milk, and hot sauce. The measurements are easy, and the next step is to mix them all in a pan and heat until ready.

So mix and heat I did. It was not very appetizing when first mixed, but that was to be expected. I also put a lot more hot sauce into the mixture as I am a huge fan of most things spicy. The only trick is to make sure that it looses the initial grainy texture, and that you let it set up enough as to not be too runny. Other than that its genius. Super quick, easy, and well its cheese sauce so its awesome.

Ok, so I made too much. It was good though, and it would be delicious on so many things other than as a dip (chips were sadly the only cheese sauce worthy thing I had at the time). I will be busting this out for many occasions, the Superbowl being the next frontier. Thank you Kenji for your work, and here is a link to the recipe for all to enjoy, Cheese Sauce for Cheese Fries and Nachos.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

First Dinner of 2011

2011-01-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

So I was sitting around last night (I've been doing a lot of that since I had knee surgery on Monday), and I was thinking that I wanted to cook something. I have been doing a lot of reading and writing about food lately, but had not cooked in a while. So I went off to the store, and saw some good steaks. I picked up some mushrooms and filets, and decided to cook some of the meal I had last posted about. This way I get to enjoy the food, and give you a more visual break down of my process. There won't be any scalloped potatoes (I went with baked potatoes instead), and I also made a salad and not asparagus. So here is a detailed breakdown of how I like to prepare filets and a red wine mushroom sauce.

Make sure you clean all of the mushrooms before you start to cut them. I choose four different mushrooms for this meal, and just picked what I wanted at the time. I also like to have a lot of the sauce so I take at least a pound and a half of them, this time they came in right under two pounds.

When you are done cleaning the mushrooms, try to shake off as much of the water as you can. Mushrooms are naturally moist so they will sweat a lot of water when you start to cook them, and don't need any more as it will just add to your cook time. When you have them as dry as you can then start to chop them up so you have some good size slices, but not so big that they are too overwhelming.

Just as I had said, the mushrooms come first. Get a good pan that they can cook down in, and add some butter and oil. Bring it up to heat, I use a medium to medium low heat, and then add your garlic.

Once the pan is nice and hot, throw your garlic in and let it soften and brown. I am pretty generous with the garlic, and I urge you to do the same.

While the garlic sets up for a minute or two, make sure that you have your meat out so that it can come up to room temp before you start to cook.

I also had some seasoning prepared that I put on the steaks. This is all a matter of preference. If you like it simple then you can't go wrong with the tried and true combination of fresh ground salt and pepper. I went with some salt, pepper, onion powder, a little bit of johnny's, and then some cayenne. This looks and sounds like a lot, but I do not put it on the steak until about 10 minutes out from when I'm going to throw it on the pan, and I brush a good amount off. Even if you are a little heavy on the seasoning most of it will get seared off when you throw the steaks on the 500 degree pan.

When the garlic is slightly browned and getting soft throw all of your mushrooms into the pan and let them sweat out all of their moisture.

There will be a large mound of them at first, but you will see that they will begin to break down right away. Stir them occasionally so that they do not burn on the bottom of the pan (this won't be much of an issue at first due to the amount of water that will be coming out of the mushrooms.) Make sure that your oven is coming to temp with the cast iron pan in it.

When most of the moisture has evaporated then its time to add the red wine. I add more than the recipe asks for, and let it reduce since I really enjoy the taste of the red wine in the mushrooms.

At this point the oven should be ready to go, and your steaks should be seasoned and at room temperature. So clear a spot on the range, and turn the burner that you are going to use on high heat. Grab the pan out of the oven (be very careful), and put the pan on the burner.

Take the steaks, and put them directly onto the pan. There is no need for any oil. You want the steaks to get a good sear. Let them sit with out disturbing for about 3 minutes before flipping.

Flip them and let them be. Let the steaks sit, and then transfer them into a baking dish that has also been in the oven. Right about this time the mushrooms should be ready for the cream. The timing depends on how much wine you used, and the heat you have them on, but when the wine has reduced substantially then add your cream.

I just eyeball the cream, but as you can tell from the picture above I am not shy. I let this reduce, and as it goes down I add little splashes of red wine. The steaks will only take 6-8 minutes to be ready, so they will probably be ready before the mushrooms are. This isn't an issue since you want the steaks to rest for around 10 minutes, so you will have plenty of time once you pull them

Pull the steaks and let them sit. This is when I usually get everything else pulled together. You should be ready to turn the mushrooms off soon after the steaks come out. So finish up the other parts of your meal. In my case it was taking the salad out of the fridge, and the baked potatoes out of the other oven. The mushrooms should have reduced and thickened quite a bit by now.

Pull them from heat, and serve.

The mushrooms should compliment the steak really well, and they will also taste good with the potatoes. The steak should be tender and juicy. It was a really good and easy meal to throw together. It took me a little less than an hour to make the whole thing. That is including the prep work needed, so you can make a pretty decent dinner in a rather short amount of time. The results will be great, and any guests you have over will be signing up for the next meal you make before they leave.

Filet Mignon and Scalloped Potatoes

2011-01-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

Up to this point my posts have revolved around experiences that I have had, and the food that I encountered during those experiences. Today will be my first post that focuses on something that I have made rather than something that I have been served. I am going to mix in posts about what I cook, and what I enjoy to make. I will start with the dish shown above, one of my go to dishes. It is a steak dish, filet mignon with a three mushroom red wine sauce to be exact. I serve it with scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and an olive ciabatta bread.

Lets start off with the scalloped potatoes because they can be done in steps and also take the longest from start to finish. I started with this recipe I found on epicurious. I am not a fan of yams or sweet potatoes --at least not enough to cook them on my own-- so that was the first thing I changed. I make them with 3 pounds of yukon golds, and no yams. I also like cheese, so I added a second cheese to the list, and some more cream and butter. I only added those because I like to reduce my sauces a little longer than normal so I need a higher volume to start with. So here is what the shopping list looks like when I make them:

3 pounds medium Yukon Gold potatoes
4 cups heavy whipping cream
1 - 1/3 stick of butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6-8 ounces coarsely grated Gruyre cheese
6-8 ounces coarsely grated pecorino romano

The Picture From Epicurious

I wont bore you with step by step details, as you can find those by following the epicurious link above. I will highlight some things that I changed, and some tips to make it go as smooth as possible. First of all, the potatoes need to be sliced really thin, and the more consistent and uniform you can make slices the better. This will really show when eating the dish because the slices will be cooked evenly, and each bite will have the same texture (no big less cooked chunks). For the best and easiest way to get these results I would suggest using a mandoline. There is no doubt that it will make your life easier, and the prep time will be reduced dramatically. If you can afford it I would suggest the Oxo Good Grips Mandoline Slicer, but the Progressive International HGT-11 Folding Mandoline Slicer works well too, and comes at a much lower price.

The Finished Product

Follow the other instructions well, and make sure that you are thorough when chopping the herbs. Having a good and very sharp knife will help, I use the Kyocera Revolution Series Paring and Santoku Knife Set, Black Blade. It is super sharp and since it has a ceramic blade you will never have to sharpen it. You will be amazed at the amount of flavor the dish takes from the herbs, it really makes it. The other deviation that I make is in the sauce. I normally double the ingredients that I buy, and let the sauce reduce over low heat for a little while before pouring it over the potatoes. This is not by any means the healthy way to go, but man does it ever taste good! The dish is a mixture of cream, cheese, butter, and herbs with the potatoes acting as the medium in which all of those deliciously sinister flavors are carried to your stomach. It is simple and straightforward, but extremely hearty and packed full of flavor. Do make sure that there is not too much liquid in the potatoes before pulling them out, as this will result in very tasty but runny potatoes. Be patient and let them set up for the best results

Now onto the mushrooms. These take the second longest due to the amount of chopping and the time that it takes to reduce so many mushrooms. You can prep the potatoes up until the point of baking and put it in the fridge while you prep this.

I based this recipe off of one that I found on the food network's website. Click on the link to see the full red wine and wild mushroom sauce recipe. I enjoy walking through the store and picking out a medley of which ever mushrooms look best. I prefer to make this when I am able to get a good amount of chantrelles. This is hard to do if they are not in season, as they will be hard to find, and really expensive.

Don't be put off by the mountain of mushrooms that you will have in your in your pan. It will take a while to sweat and reduced them, but it turns out to be well worth it. Like I mentioned with the potatoes I tend to let things reduce as much and as slowly as I can (if within reason). In this case I add a good amount of wine and let it reduce down, and repeat a couple of times (I do this because I didn't think the original recipe gave the mushrooms enough of the red wine flavor). I also add more cream, but not very much in this case. I just really like to get the wine flavor into the mushrooms, and use the cream to help with the thickness as the mushrooms approach getting ready. Be patient with these, and you will be rewarded.

The meat is the easy part. In the picture above I had made a sauce just for the steaks to cook in, and I have to say that was a waste of time in my opinion. Ever since then I won't bake a steak, I will either grill or pan sear them. For this meal I did the later. It makes for a quick and well done steak, and does not depend on summer weather for ideal cooking conditions.

I take the filets (or which ever cut you decide to go with) and lightly season them with salt and pepper, or any seasonings you like to use. Let the steaks sit and come up to room temp for about an hour before cooking. You should have the oven pre-heated to 500 and you will want to take a cast iron pan and place it in the oven while it comes to temp. You will also want to keep a baking sheet in the oven so you can transfer the steaks over after you sear them.

When the oven is heated take the pan out and immediately place the steaks in the pan. Let them cook undisturbed for about 2.5 to 3 minutes. Flip and repeat. This will give the steaks nice markings, and will help to lock in the juices. Then take the steaks and place them on the baking sheet that you have in the oven. Let them cook for 7 to 8 minutes for medium rare. This is the only way I will make steaks other than grilling. This is also the method that many restaurants use to prepare their steaks. I find that cooking the steak all the way through in the pan leaves a bad taste and dries the meat out. Like I mentioned earlier you can also bake the steak, but I think that takes too long and isn't as fun. Remember that you NEED to let your steaks rest for about ten minutes. They will taste better, and they will also continue to cook, so keep that in mind when you are judging if they are ready to be pulled from the oven.

For the green portion of my dish I went with asparagus. I love it, and its easy to cook. This was important because as you are finishing all of the dishes so that they are ready on time you will not want to have to babysit your veggies. For the asparagus I took some garlic and minced it, then I added butter and a little bit of oil to a pan. I let it come to temp and added the garlic and left it for a minute before adding the asparagus. I added the asparagus and threw a lid over it to get things going. After a couple of minutes I took the lid off and then let them cook to my liking. I usually like it so they still have a little snap to them, but I also want them to soften up a bit too.

During the last couple minutes I will throw what ever bread I picked for the night into the oven so that I can serve it warm. Almost as important as having the bread is having warm butter. I can't stand it when you are served bread and the butter is fresh out of the fridge, and hard as a rock. Its butter, not ice cream. This leaves you with three options, the first being not using butter. The second option in this scenario is to take way too much time to finesse the butter on the bread. The third option is to savagely attack the bread with the butter as to not waste anytime in which case your bread will look like it was buttered by a wolverine. So put the butter out for a half hour before you serve.

The result will be wonderful! If you enjoy cooking then this will be a treat. The process of turning all the ingredients into something so tasty for everyone to enjoy is the best feeling one can have (when cooking). The dish should look fairly simple, but should have a much more complex flavor. That flavor will act the only hint as to how much work and care you put into the dishes preperation. The fresh ingredients and the patience needed to make it just right will really shine through when people begin to take bite after bite. If you are like me you probably wont be hungry, and will settle for a little right away, so not to be rude.

The finished Product

I hope this will inspire someone to attempt this dish or a part of it. Please leave any questions and/or comments that you may have and I will respond as soon as I can. If you make this or any part please take a picture and post it to the comments!

In case the links above are not working here are the URL's to the recipes:

Potatoes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scalloped-Yukon-Gold-and-Sweet-Potato-Gratin-with-Fresh-Herbs-350455

Mushroom Sauce: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/red-wine-and-wild-mushroom-sauce-recipe/index.html

Fontana's

2011-01-06T00:50:00.000-08:00

Terry took me out to dinner one night. She found the restaurant and kept it as a surprise until we arrived. She choose Fontana's Italian Restaurant in Cupertino. It was nice inside, and we were seated right away. We brought our own bottle of wine so we never took a look at the wine list. We looked over the menu and picked out two starters. They were both dishes that we had had the month previous in Rome. The dish above was the Arancini di Riso. They are lightly fired risotto balls. Inside is a mixture of risotto and cheese, and it was served in a creamy tomato sauce. We had similar rice balls when we were in Rome, but they did not have the cheese inside. So while similar the two dishes are hard to compare. The Arancini was good. The mixture of cheese and risotto made them a fairly dense texture. The mixture was rich, though not overly so due to the mild nature of the fontina cheese. They were fried just how we like them, nice and crisp, but not very heavy. The tomato sauce was also quite rich. It was creamy and did not have an overly pungent tomato flavor. It was quite good.

If there is caprese as starter at any restaurant there is a 80% chance that one of us will order it (Terry usually beats me to the punch). The caprese that they had at Fontana's was different though. It was made more or less how I like to make it. They used heirloom tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala. It was served with vinegar and basil sitting on a bed of greens. I believe this was a special they had that night, and not the regular caprese they normally offer. This was perfect for me. Heirloom tomatoes were the first variety of tomato I liked, and have been my favorite ever since. Bufala mozzarella is also thought to be one of the best types of mozzarella. The tomatoes were thick, juicy, and bursting with flavor. While the mozzarella was moist, but not to the point that it lost its shape and fell apart. Stack the two on top of one another with a dash of salt and you had a deliciously layered bite that presented you with a great contrast in texture and flavor alike. The flavors were were further complimented by the vinegar and basil.

For my main course I decided to go with the Scampi Saltati. It is a prawn dish, with a crispy crab polenta in the center. The prawns are sauteed in butter, onion, garlic, white wine, and cream. The polenta rests on a bed of sauteed spinach. I thought the prawns were delicious, but the polenta was a bit strange. It was really crisp, and I think I would have enjoyed a lump of fresh crab more. Though it was good if you covered it in the sauce, as was the spinach, which I normally do not like very much. There is something to be said about simplicity in a dish. This had a lot going on, and some areas fell short.

Terry on the other hand, hit a home run on her dish. She decided to go with the Tortelloni Del Mare. The torelloni was stuffed with asparagus and cheese, and was served with prawns and scallops. The tortelloni looked to be made from scratch and had the wonderful fresh pasta taste. The stuffing was well done, and didn't steal the meal with overpowering flavors. Both the prawns and scallops were well prepared too. This dish was simple and straight forward, had a ton of flavor, and was cooked very well.

It is rare that either one of us will order a dessert. It's not that we have anything against them, but after a bite or two we have had enough. This was one of the exceptions. We were having a great time that night and the creme brulee caught our eye. We both enjoy it from time to time, and it happened to be topped with bananas, which Terry absolutely loves. The dessert was great. The custard was nice and warm on the inside, and the bananas were covered with a crisp layer of caramelized sugar. I love it when I can dip my spoon in and get some of the warm carmalized sugar along with some of the slightly cooler custard. Those two textures, as long as the custard has the right consistency is one of my favorites when speaking of desserts. This creme brulee had just that, and took it up a notch with the bananas. We were very happy, and had a wonderful server too. He offered his honest opinion when asked, and even knew what type of wine glasses to grab for the Cabernet Sauvignon that we brought for dinner. This was a fun place, and a wonderful surprise dinner.

Rome Part 2

2011-01-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

St Peters Basilica

Our adventure in Rome continued. We kept up with the theme of red wine, while also picking up another. I was dead set on finding an "authentic" margarita pizza while we were in Rome. So everywhere we could we either ordered one, or looked to see what they looked like.

The back story is that I find the Margarita pizza to be simple and delicious, but there are so many variations here in the states it is hard to tell which is the real deal. It seems that most places just get it all wrong. This hunch was based off of the idea that the margarita pizzas that we see that have light sauce, an ultra thin crust, thin slices of a mozzarella ball, sliced tomato, and a light basil garnish are the real deal (pictured above). While those imposters that just have shredded mozzarella and more sauce are a sham. So we headed out to see some more good sights and have some more good food.

Our first stop of the day for food was a small pizza place across the street from the Vatican Museum that caught our eye while we made our way to the Basilica. So we started out with three starters. They were all slices of fried heaven. The one front and center is a rice and meat roll. That was really good. I loved the texture of the rice, and the sauce kept it nice and moist, giving good contrast from the fried crust. The roll in the back is kinda like a fried cheesy tatter tot. It tasted as it you would imagine and it was really good as well. The last is prosciutto mozzarella roll, and yes, its also fried. That was on par with every other prosciutto and mozzarella combination we had encountered in Italy thus far. Though it was surprising that the process of frying it seemed to have taken some moisture away, but it was delicious non the less. Oh, and we must not forget the wine. We ordered two glasses for 2.5 Euro a glass, but the server was generous enough to mention that a whole bottle was only 5 Euro. So now that the wine is in the picture...

We did order a margarita pizza, but decided that we did not want it once we saw it. It looked like the shaved cheese type, but we will get back to the pizza a little later. Instead of a margarita pizza we went with a ham and cheese calzone.

This calzone redefined what I think of when I hear the word. Before I would think of a slightly crisp crusted crescent shaped pizza pocket that contained the exact same ingredients as you would find on a pizza. They are huge and usually not that great. Enter the calzone above. This was delightful. It was light, crisp, soft, and savory. The ham and cheese was wonderful and rich, while the dough was airy and soft. The dough was crisp on the outside, but not too far off of the texture of a croissant in the middle. The texture was way different than any calzone I'd ever had. You did not take a bite only to break through the crust to be met by an explosion of pizza sauce and cheese. It was a subtle crisp with a soft barrier between you and the simple filling of ham and cheese. I really enjoyed this calzone. Way more than the calzones of my past.

After the bottle of wine, and the calzone that changed calzones forever we headed to the Vatican, and walked around (I know, not the most appropriate thing to do post bottle of wine, but that's what we were working with.) We left the Basilica, and grabbed a couple beers from a street vender, and sipped on them as we headed toward the colosseum. This was our second attempt since it was closed by the time we got there the first time due to our leisurely afternoon snack. On our way we caught a whiff of something delicious. There was no doubt that it was coming from the place to our right, so we decided to investigate further. We weren't really hungry mind you, but the search for the "authentic" margarita pizza was on. We ordered and the half a pie that you see above is what was delivered to us (it was whole when it got there). It was yet again the shredded cheese type. We asked and they confirmed that this was indeed a margarita pizza. We were still confused. It looked like a CPK frozen pizza that I would grab at Safeway in a hasty move for a quick meal. There is a bright side. Yet more fun with cheap wine...

Terry Enjoying Herself

We discretely expressed our opinion of the pizza for a photo, drank our wine, paid the bill, and then left. We were starting to get the notion that we might have the whole pizza thing backwards. Seeing that we have only encountered the above style while in Rome, it was becoming all to possible that we were wrong in our assumptions. On our trek to the colosseum we popped our head into another pizza place and their margarita pizza was more of the same. At that point the phrase "silly American" was popping into my head, but we hadn't given up yet.

Damn. The pizza that broke the Americans back. At this point we were either very wrong or we were picking all of the wrong places to get pizza from. This was at the end of the night, and yet again its not the holy grail that I was searching for.

This concludes our European adventure. I will show a couple photos below of my meals leaving the country, giving you an idea of how the quality deminishes as you leave. It is still a delight when eating here at home, and biting into a dish to find that it is similar to what we were able to enjoy while abroad.

The final panini. This was at the airport moments before I had to board the plane. Surprisingly it was still better than some panini's that I have had here, but it was a far cry from what we were eating the night before.

The final blow. This is the meal that I had on the flight back. It was airplane gnocchi and it was not glorious. It was aided by the mini bottle of Jack Daniels that I washed it down with in preparation for my mid flight snooze.

It was a awesome trip, and we had a great time. We saw a lot. We ate and drank our fair share, and I can't wait to go back.

Rome Part 1

2011-01-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

The last leg of our European trip was in Rome. Neither of us had been to Rome before as with other places we visited that trip, so it was yet again a new experience. We landed and headed into the city via train. When we finally got into the city we began our short trek to the hotel which was conveniently close to the station. The mild weather that we encountered in Rome was a welcome departure from the heat and humidity of the previous countries.

Our hotel room wasn't quite ready when we arrived at the hotel, but they had a balcony (which took some finding) where we enjoyed a rather large glass of wine while we waited. It wasn't long before our room was ready, so we headed up to get ready for our first glimpse of Rome. It was mid afternoon and we were getting pretty hungry so I went down to inquire about a place to eat while Terry finished getting ready. The guy at the front desk politely guided me out the front door of the hotel, and pointed to a place that was two blocks down the same street and said that they had good food.

The plan was to grab a bite, and then head over to the coliseum by foot. We got seated in what I would call a slightly touristy cafe. The table mats were neon, and techno was blaring. I wasn't too sure what to think when we first got there. We took a look at the menu and settled on two glasses of Chianti, mozzarella with prosciutto, bruschetta, and fried green olives that were stuffed with mince meat. The mozzarella was wonderful. It was moist, and had a great balanced flavor. It wasn't too tough, but wasn't falling apart either. The texture was nice on the tongue, and it wasn't bland or over done. The prosciutto was equally as refreshing. It was one of those moments where we sat their, wine glasses in hand, and said, so this is how its supposed to taste! The meat was tender and didn't have that overwhelming gamey taste that you encounter way to often when the prosciutto isn't stored correctly or isn't very fresh. It was a delightful way to start our trek.

The bruschetta was great too. The tomatoes were perfectly ripe, and weren't ruined by some goon who insists on over seasoning, and making the simple too complex. The bread wasn't over toasted and took the moisture well.

When we first laid eyes on the olives they were not what we had expected. They were fried as you can see above, but that wasn't advertised on the menu. Its not like we knew what to expect from an olive that is stuffed with mince meat in the first place. This was an interesting dish to say the least.

The fried layer was really crisp, though it was not greasy as you encounter with most fried things. The olive was delicious and very salty (just how we like it). The minced meat was great too. I'm not sure how to explain the taste as the crust, and olive did a pretty good job at masking the exact flavor of the meat. It was moist, and tender so there were no complaints from us. Our short snack had turned in to nearly a two hour event, and a couple of glasses of wine later we were out of there.

We met up with a friend, Danielle, who Terry met in her MBA program, who was also in Rome at the time. As if there is not a theme developing already, we settled down at a wine bar to get properly lubricated for dinner. The best thing about wine in Rome is that it is CHEAP, this was a welcome discovery, as any sort of alcohol -- most of which is much less tasty than a good bottle of Chianti -- was not cheap at all during the first part of the trip. So far so good. Good food, good wine, and both at a price that doesn't make you feel guilty.

Danielle took us to a restaurant she liked in Rome called Giggetto. It was nestled in by some ruins adding to the romance of the local. We got a seat outside, and started in on the starters including the now obligatory bottle of wine. Pictured above are the mussels that we ordered. One of my favorite starters. I love a bowl of mussels or clams in a garlic white wine sauce preferably with some clarified butter, just to keep things healthy. These mussels came in just that with butter and all. The mussels were cleaned appropriately leaving us to enjoy them rather than cleaning grit out of our teeth. Then there was the sauce. It had a wonderful kick compliment to the generous use of garlic by the kitchen. That is what put the dish over the top in my mind.


The Aftermath

That was not nearly enough so we had to select a couple more items to start with.

We had to get the traditional Roman artichoke. Then we took a suggestion from our server, who said we should also try the fish, and I do not seem to remember what the other starter was. The artichoke was delicious, but I have nary encountered an artichoke that I was not pleased with. The starter that I believe might actually have been a rice cake/ball of some sort wasn't bad, but we were chatting a lot and did take quite a long time to get to these dishes. They probably weren't as good as when they were first served. The fish on the other hand, might not have had a chance from the beginning. It was dry and did not have much flavor.

On to the main course of the night. We started strong, but by the time it came to getting our main courses, we were sullen with starters and wine. We opted to split a large bowl of artichoke pasta. This time around we got straight to eating. The pasta was cooked just right. The sauce was able to tread the line between light and heavy, while not leaving you wanting more or less of either. The artichoke was once again prepared beautifully. The dish was moist and hearty, with great texture in every bite. The firmness of the artichoke, and the slight resistance of the pasta was complimented and melded together quite well by the sauce. Though I was not to hungry, I handled my serving as if I had been stuck in a cave for the three days previous.

That put us in a wonderful place. We continued to chat amongst ourselves and with the server until everyone was gone. We spent the next couple of hours walking around the city enjoying every step we spent away from home, just as any vacation should be spent.

Lunch in Athens

2011-01-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

After trekking around the Acropolis and Ancient Agora Terry and I took to walking the streets after she spotted a nice stretch of cafes and shops. We stopped into a cafe that looked inviting, and had a glass of water and a nice cold beer. Athens was really hot, so by now we were ready to get out of the sun and off our feet. It was fun to sit at these cafes. The people watching and atmosphere are set up by the fact that we could not understand a word that anyone else was saying. After our beer we set off and continued our path around the back of the Acropolis. We found ourselves strolling a nice little neighborhood where the streets were narrow and lined with quaint little houses and apartments. We were talking about getting some food in the near future as it was getting to be late in the afternoon when we came across a little restaurant (pictured above) and decided to see if we could use their restrooms. When we approached a man came up to us and gave us a card that had the menu and specials on a card all written in English. There were several of these cards and they were in a variety of languages. I wasn't sure if this was a good sign or not, but he started to explain that it was his restaurant and was owned by his family which I took into consideration when forming my opinion of the restaurant. As I was waiting outside I was intrigued by aroma that was seeping out of the kitchen. Terry came outside and we began to walk down the street. As we were walking she was telling me how she saw the kitchen and how clean it was. She said that the food looked really good too. We took almost no time to turn around and return to the restaurant.

We received another warm welcome by the owner, and were seated on the porch which was shaded and bordered by grape vines. They brought out a huge bottle of water that we could not have needed more at that point, and then gave us a menu that had several meal options. Out of the options available we decided to go with the option that allowed us to choose five plates, with two drinks and water was included too. I think this only came out to be 28 Euro, so it was also a pretty good deal. We were surrounded by the aroma that wafting out of the kitchen only a few feet away while also eagerly eying the plates that others had choose.

Ahhh the decisions. We each had our own picks and took turns choosing the dishes. We ultimately ended up with a really good spread. We had the tzatziki, which is a yogurt based appetizer that also has garlic, olive oil, salt, and a few other ingredients. This is the sauce that you find in a gyro, and has a really distinct but light flavor. The texture was perfect. It was creamy, but also had a good body. I have seen many variations before and since that were either very runny, or very firm in comparison. This made it perfect for dipping the fresh bread in. A very refreshing, but simple dish.


The cook and the owner

Next we had these delightful meatballs. I believe that they are called keftedes, and are made of seasoned beef. There was probably some onion and garlic in the meat along with other seasonings. The keftedes were covered in some sort of tomato sauce too. We were curious as to how these were going to taste. Were they going to be just like every other meatball that we have had before or were the going to reveal something new? When I took my first bite my mouth was met by the sauce and my teeth by the firm outer layer of the keftede. The center was tender and moist. The meat had a distinct flavor that I have not had before, but there was still the familiar hints of a meatball. The sauce added another layer of texture to the dish. All in all these were really good, and got better as I became more familiar with the flavor after every bite.

The next dish that we picked out was mousaka, which looks a lot like lasagna. Though the flavors are not the same at all. It is layered like lasagna where there are different pockets separated by pasta. In mousaka the layers are usually sauteed eggplant (called aubergine), a layer of minced meat (traditionally lamb), and a white sauce on top. The dish is then baked. Mousaka has a lot of flavor coming from not only the main ingredients, but also the spices that the lamb is cooked in. I did not know what to expect when having the first bite since the dish looked so much like lasagna. The flavors where unfamiliar, and it took me a while to get used to. I am not a big fan of eggplant in any way shape or form, so the fact that I enjoyed this dish says a lot about the combination of flavors. The texture is almost that of lasagna, but the white sauce on top which is like an egg custard has a different texture than the cheese that a lasagna dish has. It was good and not too rich.

For a light and cool option we also decided to go with the traditional Greek salad. This was an easy selection seeing that it was dreadfully warm out and a cool and crisp salad was just what we needed. The other reason being that we were in Greece so we were nearly obliged to order if not only for the sake of comparison to what we have had in the states. When we tried the salad it was yet again evident as it was in our other Greek meals, and in Turkey, that the veggies are consistently ripe and delicious. There are non of the hard and white tomatoes that you encounter on a regular basis in the states. The feta cheese was nothing short of amazing. It had a great texture and was to moist and full of flavor that it was hard to resist eating it in a couple of bites (I think Terry struggled with this even more than myself). The mixture of tomato, onion, cucumber, cheese, and olives was wonderful, and the heat of the day only teased us to enjoy every bite.

We had one last selection as our fifth lunch dish. When looking over the options the calamari looked rather inviting, so that is what we selected. It took longer to be prepared so it did not arrive at our table until we were nearly finished with the rest of our food. This was not a bad thing at all. The other selections had filled us up, and the wine was settling in just right, despite a near tragic spill. The calamari was the most disappointing dish, and the only one that I would not order again. The texture was similar to what I was used to as was the look and presentation, but upon taking the first bite you are met with a rather chewy piece once your teeth penetrate the crispy outer layer. On top of that unfortunate discovery it was really fishy. Something that I do not want as an associated taste with my calamari. So it was a good thing that it was the last to arrive, and that we were already full. The meal that we had already satiated ourselves with was more than enough to overshadow a sub par order of calamari.

Oh dessert. Dessert was a part of the meal selection that we chose, and the picture above is what was delivered. I am not sure what this is called, and in general I do not spring for desserts as I would prefer something salty rather than something sweet. It was ultra sweet, and seemed to be made entirely of sugar and honey. It was really good, but I am not sure if we made it any further than you see above. One or two bites will usually do it.

The was by far the best meal that we had while we were in Greece. The setting was perfect, the food was wonderful, and the host was a truly good person. These are the ingredients for a good experience, and that is exactly what it was.

Dinner at the Royal Olympic Hotel Athens

2010-09-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

One of the Beautiful Views from the Rooftop Restaurant and Bar

Upon our return from Santorini we hopped in a cab and headed into Athens to our final hotel in Greece. We were looking forward to seeing some of the sights we had heard so much about. We knew that we wanted to have a meal at the rooftop restaurant on top of the hotel because it has views of both the temple of Zeus and the Acropolis which are both completely lit up at night. We ventured up to the bar after getting settled, and were greeted with a spectacular view of the ancient marble and limestone structures. They are breathtaking and much closer than they appear to be in the photos.

You feel special when settling up to the bar with such an amazing backdrop. We wasted no time in ordering the first round of drinks. It was around 8 p.m. and we had not made reservations, so I headed over to see what we could get for the evening. At this time the place was almost totally empty seeing the most people showed up between 8:30-9:00. I told the hostess that we would be over in the bar and to come and get us when there was a table available with a full view. The drinks continued to flow as we chatted with Dave, a patron we met who was working in Athens for the next 6 months. The bar snacks were typical in the sense that they were nuts, either almonds or pistachios, but they had a staggering amount of salt on them. The pistachios were covered with grains of sea salt to the point where you would wince while eating them. This was not an issue seeing that both Terry and myself are big fans of salty foods.

At around 10:00 p.m. we were seated at our table that had a spectacular view as shown in the photos below taken the next day from the table we sat at.

The setting was very special, and really brought the days meals full circle. That morning we were eating breakfast on the edge of the caldera on Santorini, and now we are sitting in the shadows of some of ancient Greece's most famous structures.

On to the food. We ordered two dishes that night. The first was sauteed scallops with mushrooms and smoked scallop tartar, but before the first dish came out we were given a stuffed tomato to start. This was a great surprise since the tomatoes there were some of the best that I have ever had. The tomatoes were stuffed with a rice or coos coos, and had cheese foam on the top, and all of this was of course covered in olive oil. The tomato was juicy and the rice added great texture and flavor. The olive oil was, as always, a great addition. It was a great way to start the meal, and the presentation was very nice as well.

The scallops were just as one would want them. Slightly browned on the top and bottom, while still moist and tender in the middle. This was complimented with mushrooms, and an amazing smoked scallop tartar. I had never had or heard of a scallop tartar before, but the flavor that it gave the dish was spectacular. The smokey flavor was really bold though you still had the mild and tender taste and texture from the raw scallop. The warm scallop and mushrooms served with a cold tartar gave the dish a balanced contrast of textures and temperature. Each bite had a lot going on an varied depending on what you decided to put on your fork. There was no losing combination, and after the last bite I was ready for the main course.

Next was the main course that we ordered. We decided to go with a special that they were offering that was big enough for two people to split. This sounded delicious at the time, but turned out to be under par for what we were expecting from this restaurant. The dish was a sea bass of some type, and it came with a plate of grilled veggies. There was a long wait, and after a while our server came out and told us that the fish had come out under cooked so they had sent it back to get cooked properly. When the dish finally made it to our table it looked amazing. The presentation of the fish, and the veggies was perfect. It was first presented as a whole fish, then taken to be cut for eating. The veggies were appetizing, and had nice grill marks.

The issue was that upon tasting the dish it lacked anything special. The fish was cooked well, and so were the veggies. The texture of the fish was slightly dry, but it was the flavor that was lacking. The addition of the olive oil helped, but it still did not have the sort of flavors we encountered in the dishes it followed. Then there were the veggies. The only reason that I call them veggies is because I honestly do not know what most of them were. They were hard to cut, and had very unique flavors that are not what I am looking for in a side. That plate was a let down, but the cocktails and spectacular view helped to ease the disappointment.

All in all, it was still a fun time and a good experience. We encountered some better food the next day while exploring which I will go over in detail in the next post.

Santorini

2010-09-14T14:17:00.000-07:00


The View from Our Hotel in Santorini

We headed to Santorini from our hotel in Piraeus via ferry. The ferries that they have in Europe are huge, and that was a new experience for me. We were still pretty tired, and had to get up at five to catch the four hour ferry ride. There was a deli counter where you could get snacks and drinks, and there were TV's through out for some entertainment(if you know Greek.) We settled in and had half of the sandwiches that the hotel had packed for us, or as it was referred to in Greece, toast. They were made like you mother made your sandwiches for school. White bread, a thin layer of turkey, a single piece of cheese, a lone lettuce leaf, mayo, and of course no crust. We reminisced over those for a while and then did our best at passing time.

When we arrived we had a rental car waiting for us, and I'll just say that driving on that island is not the easiest thing I have ever done. We finally made it to our hotel (pictured above) and the view was amazing due to the caldera left behind from one of the largest volcanic eruptions recorded, which occured there some 3,600 years previous.

Our room was not ready quite yet so we set off to see what we could find. We ended up at a winery down the other side of the island toward the beach. This is where we got our first taste of wine and food on the island. There we were able to get into some shade, but there was no escaping the raw humid heat that fell over the island. We ordered two dishes to go with the wine we were tasting. There was a plate of assorted hams and cheeses, and a dish with bread and olives.

The olive dish that you can see above was interesting. The olives were pretty good, though I much preferred the green olives. There was a olive oil soaked barley bread as well as sun dried tomatoes that were also soaked in olive oil. The bread was not to my taste as I found it to be bland and cumbersome. The sun dried tomatoes were softer and sweeter than you get here in the U.S. though they were not bad considering that I do not have much of a taste for sweet things.

You can see what is left of the meat and cheese spread above. The meats were interesting as well. There were several types of ham there, all cured and seasoned in a unique way. Some did not even look like ham, but sure enough it always was. The same goes for the cheeses. There were a lot of them, and it did not say why types they were or what type of milk they were made from. We had some that were rich with flavor, sharp to the tongue and firm in consistency. Those were the best. There were others that were in between, while some were just plain bland in comparison. The capers were a different story too. They lacked the strong salty punch that I was expecting to get. I had to add more as I could not taste the first ones I had tried with the meat and cheese. In my opinion this was the better dish, but both were different from anything that I had tried while at wineries here so it was a fun experience. I wish I knew the different hams and cheeses....

After that winery we got moved into our hotel, and then explored the other beaches and wineries of the island. That is when we learned that we did not like the wine on the island at all. The only one that we really enjoyed was a bottle that we purchased from the first winery, and we ended up buying and drinking a second one later that night.

For dinner we both had gyros from different places, and they were on par with the ones that I have had here. I did have mine with pork and the taste of ham was different. They also included french fries which was delicious, but I am not sure if this is unique to there or if I have just never had an authentic gyro before.

Breakfast was something special the next morning. It is included with the room and you have a list of breakfasts to choose from. We went with the one that included smoked salmon and capers on toast with champagne and strawberries. It was a good choice, though nothing unique to where we were other than the breathtaking view that we had while eating it on our terrace where it was delivered.

In all Santorini was fun and beautiful. We did not get exposed to too much new cuisine, but had a good time with the meats and cheeses at the winery. Our breakfast was tasty and I will never forget that view, and the cool moist breeze coming over the caldera lip. At this point I am excited to see what Athens and Rome has in store for us.

First Night in Greece, Piraeus Theoxenia Hotel

2010-09-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Piraeus Theoxenia Hotel

Our first night in Greece could have ended in disaster as it definitely started as nothing but a nightmare. We arrived, and took the hour long bus ride from the airport (which is in the middle of nowhere,) and get dropped off at the wrong stop. We arrive at our hotel after a questionable taxi ride, and instantly get sent to their "other building" to pay. In short they had overbooked, and did not tell us. The other building was a "sister hotel equal in quality," where we were now supposed to stay. They had us walking through the back streets in a not so good part of town as it was getting dark. It was sweltering out, and we were tired. The other hotel was horrible, and after a long argument with both hotels we ended up at the hotel above. This was our saving grace, they were nice, clean, and problem free.

After getting settled and figuring out how to get to our ferry then next morning (for which they made us sandwiches) we decided that it was time to eat. It was late and we were wiped out/still kinda rattled about earlier that night, so we headed downstairs to the hotel restaurant, Incognito Restaurant. When we arrived we were the only people there. We opened the menu and wondered if we were going to get food that had been sitting in the kitchen for a while since they were about to close, and didn't seem to have many customers that night. We ordered wine to start, which came generously poured, and continued to look over the menu.

We settled on two dishes. The first was prosciutto with Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, and fresh olive oil mixed with a vinegar.

The prosciutto was very fresh and light. There was no hint of the gamy tinge that you get with some prosciutto here. The olive oil and vinegar combination that they drizzled over the top of the dish was amazing. Greece is known for having good olive oil, and this was a testament to that. It was light and clean and complimented the other flavors in the dish very well. The Parmesan cheese was tasty too. It had the bold nutty and savory flavor that you want from Parmesan cheese, along with the crumbly and firm texture. The tomatoes were ripe and juicy almost mild compared to many others, and when put together in a bite with the cheese, prosciutto, and olive oil mix, you are introduced to so many complimentary flavors and textures that it delightful bite after bite.

It was after a couple of bites of that dish along with a couple sips of wine that the night seemed to calm down. The frustration from earlier, and the weariness from travel started to melt into the background as the meal and our new surrounding took a precedence.

I apologize for not having a picture of the main meal, but I had not gotten used to the idea of having a blog at that point, so I must admit there are some gaps in the photo coverage through some of Europe. We decided on a pasta, the type is escaping me at the moment, but it had a mushroom cream sauce and chicken. When it came out our worries of stale food were squashed. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the cream sauce was flavorful while not too heavy, and the chicken was seasoned and moist. The portion was huge, and the eating was good.

A good night by the time we made it to bed. A horrible start with a comforting ending. The stress of the day was eventually washed away by a kind staff, good food, and a couple glasses of wine.

It Begins, Post 1: Mussles on the Streets of Istanbul

2010-09-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Two Types of Mussels from a Street Vendor in Taksim Square

This first post is going to start with my recent trip to Europe. The trip took my girlfriend Terry and I from Istanbul --where I met up with Terry who had already been there for two weeks-- through Athens, Santorini, and Rome. I will be putting up posts of various meals and snacks from the whole trip.

Back to Istanbul. As you can see in the picture above the mussels are different from what you would expect when ordering them here in the U.S. The first plate has fried mussels on a stick accompanied by a type of yogurt sauce. This was the first meal that I had in Turkey, and is one of only two meals seeing that I was there for just under 24 hours. At this point, 11:00 p.m. I am starving and those mussels are looking really good. I dipped the fried mussel into the sauce and took a bite not knowing what to expect, and was pleasantly greeted with a crisp fried shell with a nicely cooked moist mussel waiting inside. The sauce is a good addition due to its consistency, and not having too strong of a flavor thus leaving the taste of the mussel intact. This was really good, and a departure from any mussel dish I had ever tried before that point.

Now the first dish is totally different from the second. The second mussel dish was more what I was used to seeing, being that it was still in its shell, but the stuffing was what made it interesting. The mussel shell had been stuffed with a spiced/herbed rice. Some say that this is also accompanied with pine nuts and currants, but this was not the case with these. Perched on top of the rice is the mussel, with a squeeze of lemon ready to be taken in a single bite. Upon taking that bite you are met with a tender mussel, and the wonderful slightly spicy slightly sweet seasoning on the rice. The rice is thick, and stuck together giving it some body, and a really good texture. This is all brought together with the spritz of lemon.

First impression: pretty good for food from a street vendor. I am not sure I would normally trust seafood from a street vendor as my first meal in Turkey, but Terry insisted that we head straight to the mussels, and she was right. It was Ramadan when we were there so the streets were teaming with people, and there was a lot of energy. This was the perfect snack to have before getting some beers and watching the scene of a Friday night in Taksim Square (a popular area for nightlife, and the nicer hotels of Istanbul.)

That was all the food we had that night as we left the street vendor to find a place with beer, and ended up sitting at a nice little bar catching up, and people watching (photo below.) If you are interested in what those stuffed mussels tasted like, but don't think you will be in Istanbul anytime soon then take a look at this link where I found a recipe claiming to be mussels Istanbul street style: Stuffed Mussels Recipe. I have not tried this yet, so please let me know what you think if you decide to make it.


The view from the bar we found after eating the mussels