FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Archives for April 2010

Rando, Rando, Meat Commando?

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A serious case of the Mondays is likely to cause a blah food mood.  And with my brain checking out around 10 AM today…  a lack of creativity checked right on in.

I’m rarely not hungry enough to skip a meal, so when my blue moon lack of appetite decides to make an appearance, you better believe I cram in some earth made goods.  Or at least I’ll try.  I stared blankly at my fridge for a while and could only come up with mushrooms?

I sauteed an 8 ounces pack of baby bellas in 1/2 tablespoon of butter and gasped at green straws by nuking a frozen creamed spinach.  A brand of creamed spinach in which, after further label examination, I will not purchase again.  I’m a much happier gal knowing words like hydrolized and autolyzed are not floating around in my kitchen.

Technique de la Hanz

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It’s an unusually nice feeling to leave dinner with a theoretical certificate of completion.  Perhaps sharing a kitchen, namely someone else’s, isn’t the end of the world.  And perhaps some handy habits can be learned when prepping along side a “pro”.

The menu: grilled grouper with a citrus salsa and carrot couscous.  Yu-um!  Other than lacking a green veggie (take note Hanz) everything was A++.

Added bonus?  I can add cutting a mean citrus supreme to my list of culinary talents!

Mussel Mama

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I like mussels, and not just because they’re awesome, but because they force you to enjoy them.  Imagine the scarf action that would accompany a bowl of mussels sans shells.   You’d probably eat twice as many and enjoy them half as much.  Thankfully, shelled mussels give you the time to chew patiently between each perfectly rationed bite.

The simplicity of staple restaurant apps continues to surprise me.  Less than ten minutes of prep and even less time to cook – really??  The mussels were just about ready to be removed from heat when I realized I hadn’t even unpacked the asparagus from my grocery sack.  Luckily asparagus cooks quickly as well.

Eatingwell.com has once again provided the foundation for a simple, rock solid dinner.

Crab Shack Baby

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Three days and two restaurant meals is a limited time frame to prove your city’s food worth to out of towners.  Two meals is even more of a challenge when you have, on more than one occasion, stated that Tampa kicks Dallas’ tail in the food department.  And although this was a challenge incapable of being won, I gave it a darn good try.

Each restaurant was predictably delicious and provided my guests with polar opposite dining experiences.  We went from a coursed meal amongst red velvet at Bern’s Steak House to paper napkins just past the redneck riviera at the Crab Shack.

This was my first Crab Shack experience and let me tell you, it is nothing short of treasure.  Raw Oysters are nine bucks a dozen, king crab legs are 12 bucks a half pound, and our waitress was sweet as pie.

I hope that my full-bellied friends found their trip brag-worthy and will return quickly so I can continue proving that small town dining can, in fact, compete with The Big D.