Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Swords

This post has nothing to with Swords, but I have taken some minor grief for the many posts about food on this blog. We went to Bonefish Grill this week, one of our favorite restuarants. I almost always get Gulf Grouper or Halibut with Chimichurri Sauce (depending on which is in season) and the garlic whipped potatoes. This time though, the specials looked very interesting so I tried something else. The server said it is a new special for Bonefish, and I hope they keep it. The amazing meal of the week, a Swordfish Steak with a Crab Cake on top and served on a bed of Asparagus and Garlic Whipped Potatoes. Amazing! Out!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

EPCOT - Cara's B-Day

We went to Disney for Cara's B-day. We spent most of our time at EPCOT, and Cara reccomended that I should mention the incredible food. The annual Food & Wine festival is going on with food and wine from all over the world, but we decided to save that for dinner. We did lunch at Teppan Edo at EPCOT, which is the Japanese restuarant where they cook everything out in front of you. What a delightful meal, the only small dissapointment was we apparently had a rookie chef who wasn't nearly the show-off that most of the other chef's were. I had the New York Strip and Cara had Chicken and Shrimp and we shared some. Amazing taste and quality, and while pricey, definetly an enjoyable experience.

Later for dinner, we walked the world showcase at EPCOT and samled cuisine from around the world. The favorite for both us hands down was Argentina where they had Beef Empanadas and Beef Skewers on Mashed Potatoes covered in Chimichurri sauce. The worst was without question the Chiptotle Chicken Taco at Mexico, although their Pork Tacos were OK. Cara loved the Boston Crab Cakes they had outside the US Section of the Showcase and we both loved the South African meal of Beef Tenderloin with Mango BBQ Sauce and Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Germany had Apple Strudles which Cara enjoyed. My feet were hurting because I walked all day in my Sandals, so I started skipping some spots, but the food in Morocco smelled amazing and in the future I would love to try the Crawfish Gumbo from New Orleans, the Pork Skewers from Brazil and the Lamb Sliders from New Zealand. So much good food to try, but it is not easy on the wallet, so plan ahead accordingly.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Chocolate Coffee Toffee Ice Cream

You'll want to get all your ingredients laid out first, because you have to move fast once you start:

1 1/2 Cups of Whole Milk
1/2 Cup of Coffee Creamer (Hazelnut)
1 3/4 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt
1 Cup of Dutch Process Unsweetened Chocolate Powder
2/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Instant Expresso Powder
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup Toffee (Either Toffee for Baking or Crushed Heath Bars)

Mix the Chocolate Powder, Sugars, and Expresso Powder in large bowl. Heat the Milk and Creamer in a pot for a few minutes. Heat, while stirring, until you get the mixture to 125F (you'll need a candy or fryer thermometer to check this). Add the Dry Chocolate, Sugars, and Expresso mix and continue to stir while heating to 155F. Remove from Heat

Add Heavy Cream and Yogurt to hot mixture. Also, add the Vanilla and Salt.

Let the mixture chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Add to Ice Cream Maker and let process. Add the Toffee with about 5 minutes of churning time left.

Because of the light dairy in the recipe, freeze overnight to allow to harden, it should melt at about the same pace of store bought ice cream.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Catching Up...

It's been a while... I have perfected my Baked Beans since my last post and created a good mild Jamaican jerk type seasoning for chicken; however, today is all about the restaurants I visited over the last month that stood out.

We were on vacation for a few weeks in August and I have been traveling frequently for business, so there were a few really good stops.

First, Legal Seafood in Reagan National Airport. One of the best seafood chains I have ever enjoyed; however, I am angry with them because they closed the airport location prior to latest pass through Reagan. This blatant disregard for my travel schedule does not put them high on my list.

Second, there were two very memorable stops on vacation. We were across the street from St. John Pass in St. Petersburg, and I must give the highest praise to the Friendly Fisherman & Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The Friendly Fisherman had a fried Cajun grouper sandwich which is easily the best fish sandwich I have ever eaten, and these corn doughnuts sprinkled with sugar that tasted great and seemed healthy due to the corn. I had reservations about Bubba Gump, thinking it was merely a ruse to sell expensive low quality food to Forrest Gump fans. Boy was I wrong. They serve shrimp many ways, all of which are great tasty, and have great fish entrees. Their Hush Puppies are quite different and very good and they have some of the best service I have ever experienced.

Next, back on travel for work, we went to Old Ebbitt Grill in downtown Washington DC. This place is one of the best because of great food for good prices. The place was huge next to the Treasury Building on 15 Street in DC 1 block from the National Mall. Looking from the outside we were expecting $40 or $50 a plate, but all of the entrees were between $10 and $20 with large portions and crazy taste. There fresh cherry tomatoes made some of the best Bruschetta I have ever had and I also had phenomenal empanadas with Pork and Potatoes and some of the best Fish and Chips I think you can get in the US. This place is a super high recommendation when visiting DC.

Finally, my Great-Grandmother Nana passed away last week and my Dad and I made the trip to North Carolina for the Memorial Service. We had a 10 hour drive. At some point my dad said we were going through Savannah, Georgia and so I recommended we check out Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. I must say that it was little pricey, but they had some of the best Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Casserole that I have ever eaten. Definitely worth a visit whenever you are passing through Savannah. We also got lucky on a Friday night and had no wait, but I have heard it can be pretty long, so plan ahead.

Oh well... I feel I have caught up now. I had an ear infection and lost a few days of life in bed dizzy and sleeping, but other than that, still working on new crowd pleasers to post later.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Cinnamon Discs

We had Fish Tacos for diner. Blackened Catfish covered with a Homemade Pico Sauce in Deep Fried Corn Tortillas. While it was a great meal, it is too complicated to post right now. We did accidentally discover cinnamon discs; however, and that simple recipe is below.

You want a Cinnamon/Sugar recipe of 4 parts Sugar to 1 part Cinnamon (very pale brown color when mixed).

Heat some oil up in a frying pan, drop a soft corn tortilla in the hot oil. The tortilla should bubble up when it hits the oil. Let it cook unitl slightly brown and crunchy (less than a minute on each side). You can use your tongs to try and shape the tortilla while coooking.

Remove from the oil and coat with Cinnamon/Sugar mix and shake off excess. It's that easy, enjoy!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Most Amazing Ice Cream - "Key Lime Pie Ice Cream"

All I can say is WOW! Cara is making a Key Lime Pie Sunday, so I thought I would try to one up her and make Key Lime Ice Cream. Amazing! You'll want to get all your ingredients laid out first, because you have to move fast once you start:

1 1/2 Cups of Whole Milk
1 3/4 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt
Zest of 1 Lemon and 1 Lime
1 3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup of Lime Juice (2/3 Cup if you find actual Key Lime Juice, which is better)
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
1 3 oz packet of Lime Gelatin
1 Cup Crushed Graham Crackers

Let the Milk and Gelatin sit in a pot for a few minutes before adding heat. Heat, while stirring, until you get the mixture to 125F (you'll need a candy or fryer thermometer to check this). Add the sugar and continue to stir while heating to 175F. Immediately remove from heat and add the Lemon and Lime Zest and Juices. Stir to mix.

Place Heavy Cream and Yogurt in a mixing bowl. Slowly add hot mixture to the cream and yogurt, by adding a little at a time and stirring and then adding a little more until all of the ingredients (save the graham crackers) have been mixed together.

Let the mixture chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Add to Ice Cream Maker and let process. Add the crushed Graham Crackers with about 5 minutes of churning time left.

Because of the light dairy in the recipe, freeze overnight to allow to harden, it should melt at about the same pace of store bought ice cream.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Aaron's Bacon Burgers & Fries

Back-to-back days of feel good meals!

These are Big Burgers and this meal feeds 5 comfortably!

3 Large Baking Potatoes
2 lbs of Ground Chuck (Ground Sirloin for a slightly finer taste at a much higher price)
1/8 Cup of Pickle Juice
3/8 Cup of A1 Steak Sauce
1/4 Cup of Ketchup
1/4 Cup of Mustard
1/2 Tspn of Black Pepper
8 Slices of Bacon
1/3 Cup of Sugar
Salt Shaker
Vegetable Oil
Lettuce
Tomatoe
Pickles
Cheese
Fresh Hamburger Buns

1) Add some oil to a Frying Pan and fry the Bacon. Let Bacon cool. Transfer the remaining Oil and Bacon Grease to a Fryer. After Bacon cools, break into small pieces.
2) Take Ground Chuck and make 10 patties (you want them to be pretty flat less than 1/2 inch and pretty big in diameter).
3) Sprinkle Bacon bits on 5 patties and then stack a patty on top, You will want to pick each combined patty up and seal the edges together and then flatten together a little bit. Also, Push a thumbprint in the top side of the patty so that the burger doesn't ball up on the grill.
4) Mix the Pickle Juice, A1, Ketchup, Mustard and Black Pepper
5) Place Sauce from above and Patties in Fridge
6) Slice the Potatoe into thin (1/4 inch slices).
7) Mix Sugar and Hot water in a bowl, stir to dissolve sugar (You need enough water to cover potatoes). Add potatoes and let sit for 30 minutes.
8) Slice lettuce, tomatoe, and cheese to top burger later and put in fridge.
9) Heat up Oil and Bacon Grease in Fryer. Once at 300 F, add potatoes. Leave in Fryer until the potatoe bubbles and is crispy, then remove and add salt. (Probably have to cook in batches).
10) Place Burgers on hot grill (make sure to lubricate the grill first). When nearly cooked through (Burger should feel like the pad of skin under your thumb while touching your thumb and ring finger together), brush on the sauce made in step #4. Coat both sides before removing burgers from grill.
11) Add toppings to burger as desired with Potatoe Chips from step #9 on the burger or on the side.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Chicken Wings

OK, continuing my blogs themes of Food & Recipes (Travel and Things are good to), I bring you my go to wing recipe:

I like my wings with a little bit of deep fried flour crust, but real light so that some of the regular skin is exposed and drenched in a tangy BBQ sauce.

Start with 12 Chicken Wings, cut-off the Wing Tip piece and trash and then cut the remaining Wing Section and Drumette section into two pieces (usually you can go through the joint pretty easily). You want to marinade 6 - 10 hours in a mixture of 1/2 cup of butter and a 1/2 cup of your favorite hot sauce.

Put some Vegetable Oil and Bacon Grease in your Deep Frier or Frying Pan to start heating up (you want it hot 300 F minimum when you put the first batch in).

Drain the wings from the butter and hot sauce. I sprinkle the following mixture into the bowl with the wings. I do half of it and then toss the wings and then dump in the other half:

1/3 cup of flour
1 Tblspn Black Pepper
1 Tblspn Paprika
1 Tspn Cayane Pepper
1 Tspn Garlic Salt
1 Tspn Chili Powder

As soon as the Oil is ready, start Frying (I have a Fry Daddy, so I can only do 7 -8 wings at a time, so I am looking at 3 batches). I have added a baking step later so that they are all hot when I am ready to eat.

I leave them in between 4 & 7 minutes, each batch gets a little shorter as the oil is hotter. You are looking for a brown to dark brown exterior for anywhere there was flour. Cooking through is not a concern, because we will baking them.

Once they are all fried, I dunk them in the sauce below (I often leave a few naked for cara to dunk in ranch post-baking, and you could certainly add a littler butter to hot sauce if you wanted hot wings).

1/2 Cup of Ketchup
1 Tblspn Cider Vinegar
2 Tblspn Worchestire Sauce
1 Tspn A1 Steak Sauce
1 Tspn Lime Jiuce
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tspn Pepper
A pinch of Garlic Salt

(mix well, dunk wings, and then place on an oiled baking sheet)

Bake at 275 F for 10 - 12 minutes.

In the meantime, gather any Ranch, Blue Cheese, Hot Sauce and Sliced Celery that you want to add to the feast. This recipe can certainly be done for groups, just look to keep the ratios about the same.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Awesome Baked Bean Recipe

I was messing around trying to create a game-time snack Sunday night and came across this number with some of my own twists:

  • 1 - 15 oz Can of Black Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
  • 1 - 15 oz Can of Pinto Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
  • 1 - 15 oz Can of Navy 'Great Northern' Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
  • 1 - 15 oz Can of Spicy Chili Beans
  • 1 - Small to Medium Vidalia Onion
  • 1 - Jalapeno
  • 4 or 5 - Green Onions
  • 1 1/4 Cup - Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
  • 2/3 Cup - Strong Brewed Coffe
  • 2 Tablespoons - Worchestire Sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon - A1 SteakSauce
  • 1/2 Cup - Hormel Real Bacon Bits
  • 10 Strips - Bacon
  • 2/3 Cup - Brown Sugar

Finely Chop Vidalia Onion and Green Onions or Run through a Food Processor (Should be about 2/3 Cup chopped). Fry the 6 strips of Bacon until crispy.

Mix all ingredients, except for the 6 slices of Bacon, together in a bowl. Place the 6 strips of Bacon neatly on top of the beans. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 275 degrees uncovered.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

WOW! What a Meal!

Cara and I went to GrillSmith for a Valentine's Day lunch. Wow, can't believe that I have never been. Probably the best restuarant I have ever been to. They 5 locations (2 in Tampa, Lakeland, Brandon, and St. Pete).

The Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wrap appetizer is one the favorite things that I ever eaten. Then the Chicken BLT Wrap was amazing also. Just wanted to let everyone know about the awesome food. Lunch prices are reasonable ($8.50 for the appetizer & $9 for the Chicken BLT Wrap).

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Stuff

Grill Gloves, a TV, NHL 2009 were all checks. Landon and I got a seat for my bike so he can ride. Cara also bought Civilation Revolution which we have both wasted a lot of time at.

I have passed all sections of the CPA Exam and am waiting on my packet from the State of Florida. Great Holiday Season.