Monday: Battle Honey.

Me -vs- the total over stimulation provided by Valli Produce


For this battle, I converted my grill into a smoker.

I put charcoal on the left side with a pan of wood chips on top, a pan of water on the right side.  Then I put the ribs on top of the grill rack and let them cook for 2 hours.  I used a thermometer and added wood chips and charcoal as needed to keep it between 225 and 250 degrees.  After 2 hours, I wrapped the ribs in foil and added some apple juice and let them cook for another hour with out adding wood chips.  Then I finished them off with a home made honey bbq sauce.  I also made some honey cornbread muffins and cinnamon honey butter and corn on the cob.

Then, because I had 3 and half hours during the cook time, I made up a drink I decided to call the Tini Bumblebee.   Strawberry honey lemon aid, mixed with vodka and elderflower liquor.    Yum.

I rounded out the meal with a cheese plate that included almonds, dried cranberries, and some wild flower honey we had brought back from Sonoma.   I think the cheese plate was over kill. 

Cooking Project

It's time to repurpose this blog into something useful.  Instead of writing pages and pages about my new cooking project on Facebook, I will post those updates here and then link to them.  I have much too much to say, and I'm pretty excited about the project.

I decided at the end of the school year that I needed to take cooking classes or something this summer.  Cooking is always exciting and creative for me, so I thought it would be a good thing to pursue.   Upon further reflection I realized that I didn't want any one else to tell me how to cook.  That isnt the fun part.  I just need to cook more!   So I came up with my Iron Chef plan.

Each night, Dan chooses an ingredient, and I make dinner.  I don't adhere strictly to Iron Chef rules, but I try to use the ingredient in as many dishes as possible, and at the end of the week Dan chooses a winner.  I may some day go so far as to invite guests over and allow them to choose my secret ingredient, but the project is young, so we shall see.

Last week was our first week, and this is the summary of the meals.

Monday:  Battle Eggplant
I had this beautiful eggplant that the kid at the farmer's market conned me into buying ( it was the last one, and he gave it to me for 75 cents! ) so I made chicken and eggplant parmesean over rigatoni with a doctored up canned tomato sauce.

Tuesday: Battle Mango
I marinated pork chops in soy sauce, ginger syrup, and olive oil  (with some spices) and cooked them in the grill pan.   Then I made homemade sweet and sour and spicy veggies with mango, pineapple, peppers, onions, and baby corn.   I have always loved mango sticky rice, but Dan finds it too sweet.  I switched up the recipe and made it using coconut milk and salt and pepper and less mango, which was much more to his taste.

Wednesday: Battle "Whatever the hell is left over and also Dan wants tacos" 
I raided the fridge and pantry and ended up with frozen chicken that I cooked for a couple hours in some left over coconut milk and taco seasonings and onions.  Came out WAY taster than I expected.  I broke down and bought a tomato and jalapeño and made some home made salsa.  I also mixed up some guacamole with an old avacodo that had been living in the back of the fridge.  A dash of coconut milk made it just a bit sweet.  I rounded the meal out with a pre packaged mix of black beans and rice.


Thursday: Battle Green Pepper

Ironically, every meal I had prepared prior to this had peppers as an ingredient.  I also was very anti stuffed peppers for this battle... sooo...  I made grilled steak and pepper sandwiches with this AWESOME salad.  The salad was comparable to a coleslaw, but it was peppers, carrots, red onions and green onions all cut up into matchstick sized bites in a homemade poppy seed dressing. 

Dan declared the winner of week one to be Battle Mango.    Stay tuned for more! 

its been a while...

So, since the last time ive posted, The dishes set has been completed. The couch has been finished, and replaced, and Ive been married for 9 months.


hm.

Im debating if blogs are passe.

The summer is almost over

I keep going through all the things i did/was supposed to do. I had a running list on my desk top of dates and events. I keep deleting things and then adding 4 more. In some ways i think i am less busy during the school year, but its just that there is so much more routine things going on.

I know its been like a year. I'd make lame promises of updates like we always do, but Im just going to be realistic.

So here is another photo essay. These are the pink sunflowers in my yard. They were pink on the package of seeds, but these are more of a variegated yellow and maroon. either way, they are pretty.


and these are the burgundy ones



This is the pitiful hydrangea bloom from the plant that I managed to NOT kill. I regard this as a miracle of sorts. Frank (the ficus from the last entry) has long since passed on. Perhaps I should post a photo of his skeleton. I would, but i dont think i have one.


This is what that same hydrangea used to look like.


This was the henna tatoo i got on my foot at ren faire.


This is me in the bridesmaid dress for my sisters wedding. she looked at the digital camera after she took this and said, "you look terrible"




This is a picture of me and dan when we first started dating.


This is us a few years ago.


This is us a few months ago.


And this is me and Dan now.

photo essay on wants

This is Frank. Frank wants a new pot.


This is my half covered sofa. it wants to be all the way covered.


These are my dogwood dishes. I only have a partial set. the set wants to be complete.


This is the formica top that wants legs so it can be a table.


This is one of my blue and green wine glasses that wants to be part of a complete set. I dont think i can get any more.


This is my silver wear. the set needs to be completed.


This is my pie. it was peach rhubarb. i want some right now. there is none. :(


This is the tv unit i really want


This is what i will probably get, although not for some time. it can be placed on side and legs can be added.


This was my really cute hair cut. i think i want my hair short again.


These are my nails when they were long.


This is wine. wine is good.


This is exploding dog.
"one foot in front of the other"
it belongs on my wall
>

this is music. music is good. not as good as wine, but it lasts longer.



This is dan. i miss him.



hmm. if those are the only things i want in life, i think ill end up ok. :)