A Birthday Dinner

I had quite a impromptu weekend when my friends threw me not only a surprise birthday party, but also got a few of my friends from out of town to come as well. What I thought was going to be a fairly chill weekend turned into a weekend of fun. One of the things we decided to do was to have a dinner grill out which turned into quite an awesome feast. We went to the nearest grocery store, Whole Foods, to gather our ingredients and ideas of what to make. We also happened to find on the Whole Foods website a perfect pasta salad recipe that fit our grilling theme as it had grilled zucchini and peppers in it. A simple side salad was also made.

For our main grill items the steaks, the boys went to the meat counter and after some discussions with the butcher they came away with 2 T-bone steaks, a rib-eye steak (bottom right below), and a sirloin steak (top left below). They choose the T-bone steaks because they felt it had a lot of bang for the buck as this cut of meat is made up of 2 cuts of meat, the larger part being the strip steak (also known as the New York strip) and the smaller part being the tenderloin (also known as the filet, the small forward end of the tenderloin/filet being the filet mignon). When the tenderloin part is larger than the strip steak this becomes a porterhouse. The boys also came away with a free sea salt steak seasoning the butcher gave to them which they used on all the steaks. For one of the T-bone steaks (top right below) a blue cheese rub was also improvised.

From wandering around the store we also picked up some shrimp, salmon, asparagus, and mushrooms to put on the grill. Some caramelized onions were also made.

Here was my plate of many tasty morsels. I've discovered that my favorite cut of these steaks is the rib-eye and my least favorite is the sirloin. They are all very good though and the dinner (and the company!) was excellent. Thanks you all so much for making my birthday great!

Rustico Brunch

JJ was visiting one weekend and so I wanted a good place to bring them to for brunch/lunch. Knowing that Rustico has excellent dinners it occurred to me I should check them out for lunch as well. I discovered that they in fact do have an excellent brunch menu. I love that they have a variety of choices, salads, sandwiches, breakfast items, pizzas which means everyone is likely to find something on the menu to eat. For us there were so many appetizing choices that we couldn't help ourselves and splurged a bit getting:

crazy powder sugared ricotta donuts
	and a light fluffy croissant with yummy jam.

Then for our main courses we ordered:

the grilled dry aged chedder burger (with bacon),

a bacon egg and cheese "pannino" (a breakfast pizza),

and brisket hash & sunny side egg.

Darlin' Clementine

Check out this awesome clementine I unraveled!

 

Or at least I think it's a clementine. Does anyone know of a clementine sized citrus that normally has such colors?

"Gourmet" Pizza

Pizza time! I really enjoy making my own pizza so I again ordered pizza dough from Arganica (a food delivery company). Pizzas are a great medium to be as creative as you want or be as simple as you want depending on your mood. This time I was definitely in more of a creative mood. I had this interesting roasted zucchini pesto recipe sitting around that I've been wanting to try out. I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to use it, making it for the sauce of the pizza. Then I rummaged around in my fridge and decided to use cheese, tomatoes, and potatoes as the toppings. And voila just like that homemade "gourmet" pizza. Though this one did not turn out well enough that I would put it on a menu. My pizza making still needs some more practice.

Recipe Links: Roasted Zucchini Pesto

W's Wine Party

Each year W throws a wine party that has not only spectacular wines, but also features a tableful of delicious foods. This year was no exception.

One of my favorites of the night was the salmon tartar (below) which was not only delicious but also plated so prettily :)

Then there is my always favorite, japchae (above). In fact J, while watching me pile some on my plate, asked "You are still obsessed with that dish?" ... "Yes. Yes I am."

And it wouldn't be a W wine party feast without the never disappointing homemade kim chee.

But don't forget about the wines! Besides the many various wines available to freely try W also had two special tastings lined up for us. A Trio of Champagne: 1. Deutz Brut Classic 2. Louis Roederer Brut Premier 3. Vilmart Brut Grand Reserve And a horizontal tasting (same year, different either wineries or vineyards) from the winery Produttori del Barbaresco, vintage 2005, from vineyards: 1. Riserva Montestefano 2. Riserva Asili 3. Riserva Rabaja

Thanks again W for being a wonderful host and sharing your tasty wines with us!