Omelette-ilicious

Hubby's leaving for a two week business trip to Toronto, thought it would be nice to make him some breakfast to fuel the long day ahead of him today.

Mushrooms, onions, and cheese stuff this omelette. Served with some Jimmy Dean sage sausage and toast with orange marmalade. I didn't even know I liked marmalade until today...my Opa used to eat this and when I was younger, I always thought it tasted bitter. I tried it today and got a nice surprise. Good thing money didn't go to waste buying it for just one recipe that I have that uses it:D

I tried Zuni again

Alvin and Barbara came over for dinner tonight and we chowed down on some Zuni, bread salad, asparagus, and fingerling potatoes. The chicken was very moist and yummy, but the skin didn't crackle and brown like Sheri's and Amy's do. It doesn't matter because the star of this meal was the bread salad. It's always a hit, and it's so easy, and it's just so damn good! The way all the different textures mix together is amazing. I burned the pine nuts so I used Tamari Almonds instead and it was better I think....they gave more crunch.

Special thanks to Sheri for always answering the phone when I have a food prep emergency:D I made my first cheesecake, Oreo cheesecake, that is and I am very proud of myself for not deviating from the recipe. I was going to use mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I'm glad I didn't because I just realized I don't think I like mascarpone very much....and this cheesecake rocked! I've had it for breakfast and snacks for the past three days:D Thank god for triathlon...I'd be as big as a house if I wasn't training all the time!

In France...I'd probably be burned at the stake for this...

But I really wanted hot dogs (fat free of course, because we already don't really know what's in those things...adding fat to them is just unclean and not very healthy:D)....and I really wanted a glass of Gewurtz! So I did and you can't make me feel bad about it:P My Oma used to say that mustard makes you stupid...I have to tend to believe her...I love mustard but am starting to feel it's effects as I age:D

Dinner before dirt

Sheri and I had an awesome day in the city today. We swam in freezing cold Aquatic Park in the morning and it was so cold it felt like someone was hacking our feet and hands with a dull instrument. The things we do for triathlon....
Then we went to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Plaza and got all kinds of yummy things. Heirloom tomatoes, fresh bread, and herbs and cheese.

Mom and Keith came over so that they could watch us get all dirty at Muddy Buddy tomorrow. It's always nice when they come over and we had good food. I threw some chicken, corn on the cob, zuccini, and portobello mushrooms on the grill. I marinated the chicken in a sauce from Williams-Sonoma - ginger, garlic, soy sauce...it was nice. I also made a bread salad with the heirloom tomatoes and spring mix from the market earlier. It was the best part of the meal...in my opinion:D

The star of the night was a berry tart with graham cracker crust and marscapone filling. Mom placed all of the berries on top and it was deeeeeeeeeeeelicious! Much thanks to Sheri for the recipe and finding the perfect tart pan at Williams-Sonoma today:)

Bourbon Ribs, nice baby...nice!

Paul was over for dinner tonight and I didn't know he was coming...some kind of married-people mis-communication between Les and I. He says he put it in an email somewhere and I don't recall those words....it usually wouldn't have been a problem except that I only had one slab of baby backs. Not enough for two grown men and ME!

I also had a really hard time switching gears to prepare my brain for company. You know....that weird woman voice in your head that says, "your house is filty, gotta vaccuum, don't forget to clean the bathroom, light the candles, close all the bedroom doors, and whatever you do...DON'T cut yourself with your new Santoku knife!!" I don't know why we have to care about these things....men certainy don't.

I had to pull out a london broil that I wasn't ready to cook yet and I kinda burnt the ribs on the grill, but for the most part, it was all just fine. I watched this new show on Food Network...some Liebernman dude....had a really easy looking rib and sauce recipe so I gave it a try and it was NICE:) Bourbon is key in this sauce and it was a really good touch. I'll defintely do it again, only pay closer attention to them on the grill instead of messing around cleaning the house! Asian coleslaw, roasted sweet potato wedges, and grilled creole asparagus on the side. Paul and Les were both happy with it from what I could gather by the cleaned plates.

yawn

Sheri and I went for a really nice bike ride tonight, very light on effort up Foothill and onto Arastradero then back to Foothill. I was feeling a bit icky and cramp-ish so was not really into pushing Sheri past her limits like I normally do to be annoying:D

Dinner got going a little late by the time we were finished and I got home. I wasn't that hungry but needed meat and potatoes for comfort food. Tri tip and roasted potatoes was all I could muster.

completely unsupervised use of butter and oil

Sheri shared with me her secret recipe for garlic butter and I thought I had it memorized....but I was wrong...totally wrong! I overbuttered and overoiled and even oversalted. I thought I could never oversalt anything, but I did.
We were running low on all groceries, so I really just threw some shrimp and mushrooms into some butter and oil, boiled up some whole wheat noodles and tossed it all together with capers and Italian parsley.
I have made a more conscious effort to use more fat in my cooking for two reasons: a) more flavor, and b) your body needs fat to burn fat. There is proof in this because I have lost two pounds since introducing fat back into my diet. Score!

Kebobs or Kebabs? You decide

Keith was over for dinner tonight and I had a hankering for clam chowder bread bowls. It was so hard to open the can, pour the milk, and stir the pot! Needed something else so I threw some santa maria kebobs on the grill....or as Les would say...keBABS.