Last night for dinner, Lisa wanted me to make curry, or some other Thai dish. I must say, nothing gives me the fear like trying to pull off Asian cuisine. After tinkering around online I firmly decided that I did not want Thai food. We were in the midst of packing our belongings for the move when ran out of boxes, and needed to make a run to the local liquor store for more. We decided to combine our trips and figure out what to eat for dinner quickly. Staying on the frugal side, I took inventory of the fridge, and decided fajitas sounded nice. I then stumbled upon a recipe that sounded delicious, and modified it slightly. I apologize in advance for the lack of measurements. I really need to work on that.
Chicken Fajita Tacos with Crispy Lime Cabbage and Avocado
ingredients:
boneless skinless butterflied chicken breasts
limes
chili powder
garlic
red cabbage
yellow onion
red bell pepper
olive oil
tequila
queso fresco
avocado
flour tortillas
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
First things first, mix up your marinade for the chicken. In a mixing bowl whisk together lime juice, minced garlic, chili powder, olive oil, salt, pepper, and tequila. Put your chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag of appropriate size, and pour marinade over chicken. Try to get all of the air out of the bag when sealing, and toss it into the refrigerator (bottom shelf, so as not to potentially leaked raw chicken juice all over the other food in there). Marinate for at least an hour. This can be done the previous day, but don't marinate longer than 24 hours. The acids can break the meat down.
At this point, start your grill if you have a charcoal one. If you do, you know it takes a while to get hot.
Slice up a yellow onion and a red bell pepper, set aside. Thinly slice the red cabbage and place in a mixing bowl. Add to the cabbage lime juice, lime zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Preheat your oven to 350, and wrap flour tortillas in foil.
In a saute pan over medium heat, add a tbsp or two of olive oil until shimmery. Add the pepper and onion and cook until soft and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Keep warm on low when done.
When the fire is good and hot, take the chicken from it's marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until done. When it's fully cooked, let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. At this point, pop your wrapped tortillas in the oven. slice the chicken crosswise into 1/2 in. strips. Halve, remove pit from, and slice up an avocado and crumble up the queso fresco.
Once the tortillas are hot, assemble your tacos adding a layer of meat, peppers and onions, cabbage, sliced avocado, and top with a sprinkle of the cheese.
Lisa gussied up some canned black beans with diced onion and jalapeno for a side. Twas a very, very delicious meal. I stuffed my face until I was rendered immobile.
An absolute perfect dish for the dwindling days of summer (fingers crossed they are almost gone).
From this moment on, IIFY? will be only a food blog. I will not update my day-to-day anymore. I have found the current format to be tedious and boring. This will no longer be a daily journal of every single thing I eat. I have decided to only share recipes I make or dining out experiences. Ok, now that's out of the way, let's talk about short-ribs.
If you folks in the DF-dub have not noticed, it's been raining a bit, just a bit. Now I know these wet, gray days have dampened quite a few of youse guys spirits, not me. It reminds me of Portland, and that makes me happy. This rainy weekend may have not been the first cold snap of fall, the one that sends me straight to the grocery and then the kitchen to make the first batch of soup for the season, but it came close enough to invoke a similar reaction. I got home from work, opened up the windows, and decided that I was gonna braise some ribs. Although a lengthy process, the end result is so worth it.
Cabernet Braised Beef Short-Ribs
Ingredients:
Bone-in beef short-ribs (i used about 3 pounds) 1 med. yellow onion, diced 1 large carrot, peeled and diced 2 ribs celery, diced 1 sprig rosemary 1 sprig thyme 2 sprigs Italian parsley 1 bay leaf 1/2 a bottle full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, 1/2 quart beef-broth (try to use one without a shit-ton of unnecessary ingredients, just the basics, I use Progresso's natural one) 2 tbsp. tomato paste 3 cloves garlic, minced olive oil unsalted butter kosher salt freshly cracked black pepper
Equipment:
A dutch oven, or a large heavy bottomed pot, with a lid, suitable for both stove-top and oven use 1 medium saucepan a decent sized strainer 1 wooden spoon a pair of tongs some cheesecloth some butchers twine
Now let's go step by step in the preparation of this amazing comfort dish.
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Lay your ribs out on a plate and season liberally with kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper.
Then start on prep. Always do all of your chopping and portioning before you actually start cooking, and you will notice a world of difference in the way you cook. Dice up your mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery), mince your garlic, and measure out your tomato paste.
To make a bouquet garni, simply wad up your herbs in a square of cheesecloth, and tied it closed with a piece of butchers twine. Simple. It's like a little herb teabag.
Over medium high heat, heat up your pot. I always use my Dutch-oven. It is one of the most versatile pieces of cookware I own, and it is perfect for braising meat. Once hot, add a good amount of olive oil (2-3 tbsp.) Using your tongs, sear your ribs in the hot oil until you achieve a nice brown crust on all sides, turning when necessary. Once all browned, transfer the ribs to a plate and set aside.
Discard the fat from the bottom of the pot, but DO NOT wipe out or clean up the stuck on brown bits left in the pan. This my friend is called fond, and it is pure flavor. Add some fresh olive oil back to the pan and heat over medium. Toss in your mirepoix with a pinch of kosher salt. The salt helps draw the natural liquids out of the vegetables,thus speeding up the cooking process.Toss in the minced garlic. Stir occasionally. Make sure you don't burn your fond! When the mirepoix starts to soften, and the onions turn translucent, stir in the tomato paste. Once the paste is incorporated, it's time to deglaze.
Pour in the wine and scrape up the fond with the wooden spoon, then pour in the beef broth, and toss in your bouquet garni. Turn heat up to med high and bring the liquid up to a simmer. Toss the ribs back into the pot, making sure they are more or less submerged, cover, and place pot in preheated oven. Cook for at least 2 hours. This slow and low cooking approach breaks down the tough connective tissues in the ribs, making for fork-tender, succulent meat.
Pull the dutch oven from the oven, uncover, and using tongs, take out the ribs and place them on a plate. Cover loosely with foil. Take out the bouquet garni and discard. Strain the liquid from the pot into the saucepan, pressing on the cooked veggies with the wooden spoon to squeeze out all the liquid. Skim the layer of fat with a spoon and discard. Crank the heat up to high until the strained braising liquid comes to a rapid boil, then lower to med high for a rapid simmer. The point here is to reduce this liquid into a sauce. Keep simmering until the liquid has reduced into a syrup, not too thick though. If it coats the back of your wooden spoon, it's done. Take the sauce off of the heat and whisk in 2 tbsp. of unsalted butter (1 tbsp. at a time, room temp is best also) until completely melted and incorporated. Season with salt and pepper as needed.
To serve, place ribs on plate and spoon sauce over. These would go great with some roasted or mashed potatoes, some homemade mac and cheese, or just some buttered egg noodles. I prefer egg noodles, but was out so used some buttered campanelle instead, and a side of roasted asparagus. This may be in my top 5 of last day, death row meals. Meat that falls off the bone smothered in a rich silky sauce, this might be what Heaven tastes like. Serve with a full bodied Cabernet.
I do hope you immediately go out and buy a Dutch oven and make a batch of these meaty treats yourself. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's really not. Just put on a really good album you haven't listened to in a long time, and get into a groove in the kitchen. The prep is minimal, and that 2 hour cook time gives you plenty of time to perform other tasks, or entertain guests if you are having people over for dinner.
I may just make these again when that cold snap actually comes.
What's that? Diet? I have no idea what you speak of.
When I last left off I was waiting for Lisa to get home some we could drive around to look for a place to live. She got home feeling under the weather, but i forced her out of the house to get some phone numbers. We drove around jotting down numbers and addresses of places for rent, until we got in a spat and went home. Lisa, not feeling well at all, took to the bed with a book and fell asleep almost instantly. I let her sleep because she seemed exhausted. I tidied up the kitchen and threw together a quick dinner of baked cumin chicken breast topped with melted queso fresco and served with avocado salsa. I merely chopped red onion, roma tomato, garlic, avocado, cilantro, and tossed with lime juice, salt, and pepper. Could have used jalapeno, but I was without. I normally saute the chicken for this dish, but went the healthier route of baking it in a lightly oiled pan, then topped with cheese and broiled it just to melt. Lisa woke up in time for dinner. It was very simple, yet tasty.
We then watched I Love You, Man. Awful movie.
I munched on some granola.
Woke up @ 10am yesterday. Made coffee, and took Lisa to work. Came home and started calling the numbers I had acquired the day before. Went and checked out 2 properties. The first place was a house that had a great backyard, but the inside was not what I was looking for.
The next place was a duplex that is perfect. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, hardwood floors, A GAS RANGE!!!!!!, backyard for the dog, 800 sq. ft. for only $575 a month!! I took Lisa by after work and she loved it too. Grabbed some applications and went home.
I went to work at four. Most prep was done already. I made crab cakes. All hands were on deck on a Thursday, and it started raining right as service started. We were dead. I had some pizza.It had pepperoni, jalapeno, and pineapple on it. I'm sure there were other ingredients, but I didn't notice.I just scarfed slices blindly, occasionally interrupted by the sting of hot peppers.
I was first cut, after 3 hours 45 minutes of being there. Lame.
Lisa picked me up, and we sat down and filled out the app for the duplex and walked to Kinkos with the dog, stoned.
I sat outside with Nik while Lisa faxed our application to the rental company. I got the stinkeye from a mother with her teenage son. I then realized what a flamer I looked like in my tight Gap jeans rolled up to my calves capri style, Crocs with no socks, and a bandana holding my hair back standing outside of Kinkos at 9:30pm. She probably thought I was cruising...at least that's what my stoned brain told me.
Lisa finished the long process of sending a simple fax (something about putting cash on a card, and then getting your change back), and popped into Blockbuster to rent Hellboy (She'd never seen it). We went home, Lisa popped popcorn, and we started watching Cry Baby, the 1990 John Waters film starring Johnny Depp. BOOOOOORRRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!!! We turned it off and put on Hellboy, Lisa fell asleep. There seems to be a theme in my blog.....
I woke up this morning to receive a phone call from the rental agency. They had received the fax, but it was sent upside down.
Today's lesson - get high when you are done with your business.
I had crazy dreams (melatonin), one in particular, Lisa cheated on me with one of my friends, and I bloodied him up with a lead pipe, myself getting somewhat beaten up in the process somehow. Very unpleasant dream.
My breakfast tacos were just the opposite though. Very tasty. I was out of cheddar, so I used some aged manchego that was hanging around. I'm on my third glass of iced coffee and about get ready for work. Ugh. I don't wanna go.
Oh yeah, today is the anniversary of the WTC bombings 8 years ago. As you are paying respects to the deceased and the families of the deceased, take a moment to think about all the other catastrophic life-changing events that have occurred all over the globe (Hiroshima for instance) that have scarred people of other nations and cultures too. Just remember we are not alone in our suffering.
.....So I skipped the breakfast tacos and had some yogurt and granola instead. Rode my bike to work, and asked Lisa to bring me some juice from Central Market. She called from CM to inform me they had no carrot/orange anything. I had her grab me a Kombucha and bring it to the restaurant. I drank it and grazed on bites of chicken and other various nibbles, fully intending not to eat pizza. Must remain vigilant! Must stick to diet!
Then I got an order for a BBQ chicken pizza, no bacon. I was daydreaming while cooking and garnishing the pie and put bacon on it.
Oops, I guess I could have one teensy slice. Who'd a thunk it, I was craving pizza. I ate two slices.
We were dead, Mondo and I closed. We left about quarter past 10. I rode my bike home. Drank soda water, smoked a little and we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was hilarious. Lisa went to bed, and I stayed up watching YouTube videos of this guy in a blue jumpsuit and painted green called Mr. Green explaining step-by-step how to set up a hydroponic grow room in your basement. It was ridiculous. I'm sure I am some kind of watch-list now. I went to bed at 3am.
I woke up briefly when Lisa went to work around 11 I think, but crashed out again...hard. I woke up @ 1:24pm. Checked, email, Facebook, etc. Took the dog out to pee, got a Dr. Pepper, then went to talk to the apartment staff about some service issues that need to be addressed in my unit.
I just finished snacking on leftovers from dinner that Lisa made last night. Orzo with shrimp, zucchini, red bell pepper, and avocado (not too sure about this addition) tossed in pesto I believe. A light tasty snack.
I need to be cleaning house, but am extremely lazy, so I imagine not much will get done today. Waiting on the gf to get home so we can drive around and look at rent houses.
So yesterday was labor day, Monday, my day off. I did as little as possible, spent most of the day online. I didn't really eat a full meal until dinner time either. Being totally poor, trying to save money to move, I rummaged through current food supplies to try to come up with a tasty dish. pickins' were slim, but I managed to rustle up the fixins' for Pasta Carbonara. I even got a little creative with it. First off, I sliced up a yellow onion and caramelized it slowly over med. low heat in a tbsp. of olive oil and a tbsp. of butter, pinch of kosher salt to bring out the liquids quicker, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. I had some chicken tenders that had been frozen as well as some frozen spinach I thawed out. Then, I cut a few strips of bacon into lardons, and cooked them over medium, rendering out fat. Discarded most of the fat, reserved about a tbsp. to heat the spinach in. Meanwhile, the chicken is diced into bite-size pieces and cooked in olive oil over med. high heat. I used a little chicken stock to deglaze my pan, adding some more depth in flavor. Also during these steps, I had a pot of salted water starting to boil on the back burner for my pasta. Carbonara usually calls for spaghetti. I don't like spaghetti. I was originally shooting for linguine, but was out, so used farfalle (bowties) instead. Prior to all the cooking, in the prep stage, I had lightly beaten two eggs in a bowl, and stirred in about a cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano with some kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, add to the pan with the chicken, and toss in the bacon, spinach, and caramelized onions. Then off the heat toss in your egg/cheese mixture to coat the pasta. Et Voila!
Unfortunately, my timing was off, and the eggs did not cook as desired. It was delicious nonetheless. I ate a shit ton of it, then saved the rest for Lisa.
It's now 12:25 on Tuesday. Supposed to start my diet today. So far, have only had coffee, but breakfast tacos sounds mighty tasty............
Ok, I'm getting really bad at updating this thing on a daily basis as originally intended. Having said that, nothing super exciting has happened, so no one is really missing out. I believe I left off Friday before work. I had my mom give me a ride, and grabbed Q-doba tacos on the way in. I gorged on those and got to work. We didn't eat pizza, and I didn't realize this until I got cut around 9pm. Lisa picked me up and we went back to the crib. She and Siler were already hanging out, and a she had made dinner. Turkey and pesto meatballs with linguine in red sauce and garlic bread made from the asiago bread I made last month that had been hanging out in the freezer. The meatballs were very bready.... more like breadballs. It was a full carb meal. Jeff brought some dank over. We smoked a joint and watched the Burbs. Classic. Siler fell asleep.
When the movie was over, Siler left, and I received the call I had been waiting on. I took Nik out to pee and pick up a bag of stinky that was dropped off curbside (Thnx Lucky!!).
When I got back in, Started watching 'The Devil and Daniel Johnson'. I'd seen it a few times, Lisa had not. Of course she fell asleep. I'm pretty sure I stayed up rather late, but not sure what time I crashed. I know I took melatonin. Oh yeah, I crashed at like 4:30am.
I slept in until 12:30ish, Lisa went to eat at Spiral with her mom and grandmother. I got up and made coffee and breakfast tacos. Went to work, ate pizza. I got cut about 8pm cuz we were dead. Lisa was at Pop's ( the cigar bar she works at) with our friend Annie and other peeps celebrating Annie's b-day. I was invited to hang out, but being in a smoky bar and not being able to drink suuuuuccccckkkks, so we just went to get more movies and non-alcoholic beverages.
We got blazed and watched Spun, and a movie called Wendy and Lucy starring Michelle Williams about a girl that is traveling to Alaska with her dog through the Pacific Northwest. Beautifully shot film, but the story went nowhere. We then watched Factotum, a movie starring Matt Dillon playing Bukowski's alter ego Hank Chinaski based on Bukowski's stories. Lots of drinking and slumming about. I got bored with it and went to bed around 2am. Had to get up early to work brunch.
Woke up Sunday morning a little after 8am, made coffee, and showed up right at 9am. It was just the chef and I today so I had to kick it in to high gear to knock out the brunch prep - making salsa for the blackened salmon, breaking down a tenderloin for eggs benedict, making jalapeno biscuits, setting up salad and pizza meez, etc. We were busier than we expected for Labor day weekend. I can honestly say also, it was the 1st Sunday I was not hungover since I was hired.... or for a really long time in general. Nice change of pace.
I had a bacon, egg, cheese biscuit sandwich, bits of watermelon, pineapple, home fries, more bacon, and another biscuit or 2 dipped in sausage gravy throughout the course of the day. We got the kitchen cleaned/wrapped up and I got a ride home from Chef since Lisa was still at work. Took the dog out, then got high. Lisa got home exhausted. We hung out and caught up for a minute before we started talking about dinner. I wanted steak. We got really high and went to Blockbuster first. Dropped off movies and picked up Animal House (Yup, Lisa's never seen that one either), and Everything is Illuminated.
We then went to Tom thumb to procure dinner provisions. Grabbed some green beans and went straight to the bargain meat section (you can find some really good deals!) and picked up a strip steak that was half off! I then saw that ribeyes were 4.99 a pound, and got a one of those instead. Also picked up some butter, cream, ice cream sandwiches for Lisa, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby (they still make it!!!).
We went home and I started straightening up the kitchen and prepping. I trimmed the green beans, blanched them in boiling water, then shocked them in ice water to stop the cooking. I cut the steak into two pieces and seasoned with salt and a heavy dose of pepper. I cut up a couple of Yukon Gold potatoes and boiled them in salted water, melted some garlic butter that was kicking around the fridge with some cream and minced thyme and rosemary. Then I chopped up some bacon and cooked on medium, rendering out the fat. Once cooked, remove bacon bits and place on a paper towel lined plate to sop up excess grease. Discarded fat from the pan but reserved about a tbsp. Toss blanched green beans in hot bacon fat, adding the bacon back in and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm on low heat. Strain boiled potatoes, and back to pan and smash, adding in melted garlic-butter/cream/herbs, and some grated Parmigianno Reggiano. Season with salt and pepper. Heat skillet to pretty hot, add oil and sear steaks.... about 3 minutes for each side for the desired doneness..... rare as fuck (cook longer if you're a pussy). Brush tops of steaks with remaining garlic-butter and serve. Soooo good! The ultimate in fat-kid gourmet dining.
We then took Nikolai for a walk, forgetting how rare steak affects my lower gi tract. Needless to say, it was a short walk. We turned around and rushed back home.
I sipped soda water to settle my rattled gut while Lisa bathed the animals. We then settled into the living room and put on Everything is Illuminated. We were both very high and distracted, so we switched to Animal House. I shared some of my Chubby Hubby with Lisa (I just read on the interweb that it is being renamed Hubby Hubby in support of gay marriage. AWESOME!!!). That stuff is like crack! Fudge covered peanut butter filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream with MORE fudge and peanut butter. Jumping Jesus on a pogo-stick!!! A true gastronomical orgasm!!
Lisa fell asleep during the movie (duh). I stayed up for a little while longer, went to bed around 2pm (no melatonin!).
Today is Labor day, restaurant is closed so I get a day off. I slept in until almost noon, woke up totally groggy from smoking so much high grade pot. I got a Dr. Pepper and have done nothing but dick around online all day. I haven't really eaten breakfast or lunch either. I have had some Guinness cheddar and some more ice cream (writing about it made me hungry for some). I was supposed to start a diet today, but I guess that is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Today is one whole week without drinking. I feel good, but different. Hard to explain.
Also I apologize for the past few posts, and the ones to come, as they all are, and will most likely in the future be, about me getting high and watching movies. I know how lame that is, but we're saving money to move into a house next month, and are trying to keep a low profile.
Just wait and see if I actually go on this diet I'm talking about. Talk about a boring blog.
So I've missed a large chunk of time on this blog due to a faulty power cord for my 3 year old Macbook. I have recently acquired a new one, so I'm back!
Let's just skip the past week and move forward shall we?
Yesterday, woke up at 2pm because I had stayed up until 5am. I am now onto day 4 of no booze September, and the insomnia is murder. Pot and melatonin with Topo Chico have become my new vices.
So I woke up at 2, made some coffee, did the dishes, and made "breakfast". Two fried egg sandwiches with bacon and chedddar cheese on wheat bread. Delicious. I headed off to work at 4. Had to make doughnut bread pudding and espresso creme anglaise. Luckily, Rickey had done alot of the salad line prep before I got there. Chef was busy toying with the new steak recipe for the fall menu which we ran as a special last night. Filet au Poivre with sweet potato gratin. It was great and we sold out of specials in 30 minutes. Rickey made a a pizza. Pepperoni, mushroom, and jalapeno. I ate a slice or two, pepperonis picked off, doused in sriracha. At one point, the dumbest server there rang in a Spanish pie, but meant to ring in a spinach and goat cheese pizza.
She has made this mistake like 5 times in the past..... always in the full swing of service.
The awesome thing is, is when servers fuck up like that, we get to eat the fuck-up. Not saying more pizza is a good thing, just that the offending server has to watch us eat their mistake.
So I had a slice of Spanish Pie. We were busy! 4 hours flew by as we cranked out orders. Got a ride home from Mondo, got stoned with Lisa, and watched Election. I had never seen it. It was pretty dumb, but somewhat clever. Lisa went to bed and I stayed up watching Katt Williams stand up movie 'American Hustle'. Most of it was pretty funny.
Then I got hungry around 2am. Lisa had made dinner. Bison meatloaf with rosemary potatoes and sauteed spinach. I heated it up and gnoshed on that. Not bad slop Lisa!
Laid down about 3:30am, fell asleep maybe 30 minutes later. Had fucked up dreams (thank you very much melatonin), and woke up a little after noon, groggy as hell (again, melatonin). The no hangover is a nice change of pace I must say, but I am SPACED OUT! I am sure this will pass in a few days.
Last post about yesterday, I was sipping wine and praying I would somehow not have to go into work. I showered, got my shit together, and rode to work. I stopped by 7-11 and bought a 5 hour energy and a Gatorade. Get to work, slam my liquid crack, and start prepping. I was on salad station,and had to make back up dressings. I spent a good 45 minutes making ancho-peach, lemon-basil, and raspberry vinaigrette. I then had to cut cheese/plate up cheese boards. I nibbled on various cheeses during this including a port wine cheddar that we had just received that day. I also grazed on the accompanying dried fruits and olives whilst putting together the boards.
I got my meez set up and started filling items that were low. Enrique made a pizza, but I didn't even look at it. My stomach was not happy with me at all. I just drank water for dinner. I had my head down cutting various veggies when boom, a ticket for a salmon tartare. I start cutting up the fish into a dice when another ticket comes in, another tartare and 2 salads. Then another ticket, and another, and another. We were under attack by every server at once.
Kicked it into overdrive and started nailing out orders. Chef was tackling the ultra annoying tempura green beans and spring rolls that are strictly happy hour items. There were 3 orders of each, and of course, no rolls are prepped, and the batter set-up was not assembled. Chef get all the apps fried and as I am helping him plate up, I realize we are OUT of ranch dressing, the sauce that is served with the green beans. I panic, but then immediately knock out a small batch, having to taste the product myself. Ugh. I hate mayo.
So we get out of the weeds, no thanks to the server that ran the wrong food to the wrong table TWICE!! Fucking servers. We prevail because our crew rules. Happy hour is over, but the downtime is short. Dinner rush was steady. I stopped to eat a green bean from an extra order that was fried. During rush I realize that we are most definitely going to run out of bacon......soon. I announce this to chef, but he says nothing. Probably not wanting to acknowledge this. I think for a minute, and remember that I have 2lbs. easily in my refrigerator at home. I pick up the phone and harass my poor mum (whom Lisa had already asked to tend to the puppy tonight) into bringing my bacon up to the restaurant. She of course obliges. I love my mom, she's the best.
Oh yeah, I have major heat rashes under both of my arms.
I know this is supposed to be a food diary blog, and i realize the grotesque, blunt turns it takes sometimes. I'm sorry, but that's how I roll. Don't like it, don't read it.
So, from working in a cramped super hot kitchen and constantly moving, I have developed painful rashes under my arms, an already super tender part of the body. I am almost yelping from the pain as I'm assembling salads, moving Lexans and hotel pans full of ice for fish and keeping my meez cool, moving the slicer out of dry storage to slice prosciutto al a minute for wrapped salmon, and basically doing ANYTHING. I even had Lisa pick me up from work, in too much pain to ride home. I get home and strip off my clothes and take a hot bath, followed by some hydrocortisone. It just stings worse. Lisa looks up home remedies online. I take a cold shower followed up with baby powder, much better. I take up residence on the couch with a glass of wine and play the sick kid card. Lisa being the mother saviour she is, of course caters to my whiny whims.
She had gone out to eat with her family earlier that evening to Salt Grass Steakhouse. She was sweet enough to bring me an order of crab fondue, and her leftovers, which was a center cut filet, cooked black and blue, and garlic mashed potatoes. She had barely touched her meal, so I scored like almost a whole steak. I am most definitely going to marry that gal.
I pretty much stayed on the couch the rest of the night. I finished reading Kitchen Confidential sipping wine, then watched episodes of No Reservations on my computer. I ran out of wine, so I mixed plastic bottle vodka with triple sec and tonic water. I stayed up until 5am watching Bourdain and drinking.
I woke up when Lisa left for work, and have remained mostly dead up until now. I need to take the dog out for a walk, he's getting a bit stir crazy. I'm also getting hungry so I had better figure out what to eat.......
When we left off last, I was pissed on vodka, and dipping string cheese wrapped in slices of capicola in pesto and devouring them. They were delicious. I promptly passed out and woke up around 10:30am. I had a Dr. Pepper and eventually became a semi-functioning human. I did some laundry, went to the apartment office to get a gate keycard and complain about our toilet that had not been fixed yet, and spent way too much time on Facebook. I had thought about making a sandwich before riding my bike to work, but decided against it. I needed to get out of the house.
I shat, showered, and shaved. I knicked my shoulder whilst doing a little 'manscaping'. Got my shit together and rode to Blockbuster first to drop off movies, and then went to Qdoba for some tacos. Qdoba is a lot like Chipotle, but i think it's owned by Jack in the Box instead of McDonalds. I had 3 chicken soft tacos with pico de gallo, red sauce, and lots of cheese and another Dr. Pepper.
I then rode, belly full of tacos, in the hot, hot August sun, to first 7-11 for a Red Bull and a SmartWater, then to work. I was an hour and a half early. FML.
I sat around reading a dictionary of culinary terms we have in the kitchen until it was time to change into my checks. I mainly worked pizza station/oven, so I pulled dough, made pita, and not much else. The pizza meez was pretty full thanks to a super slow Monday. We got hit with happy hour crowd. The entire restaurant was packed with older ladies. No talent show at all. Woof.
It wasn't until around 7:30pm that I finally got around to making the staff pie. I had decided upon pulling one from the oven earlier, that I was going to make a Spanish Pie. It consists of chipotle-cumin pizza sauce, moz, sliced red onion, sliced chorizo, and manchego cheese. It is then cooked, then topped with cilantro, and shredded parmesan. It's my favorite in our menu. I had two slices washed down with DP.
My stomach was bothering me all night, I'm sure to the excess booze I have been consuming as of late. September is going to be booze free for the Wallis-Thomas household. There will be blood.
Having said that, it's still August, so after a server, the hostess, and the manager on duty ordered food at 9 fucking 30, i decided I was going out. I met my chef and his gf at Sarah's place, and called Lisa to join. My chef's girl works with an old friend of mine who is as wonderfully disgusting on the same level as me. She regaled us with the story of how she drank a handle of rum and went to see Marilyn Manson, peed in a urinal, then on the floor, vomited into her cleavage, then went to the after-party. Lovely gal. We all drank, smoked, and talked about, farts, queefs, and Rick.
We closed it down, I put my bike on Lisa's car, and we went home.
Then we got in a stupid, huge, drunk fight.
I will spare Lisa, myself, and my audience the details on that one. I did wake up on the couch hungover and remorseful around 11:30am.
It's now 1:40pm. Work at 3pm. I'm drinking some of my new favorite cheap red, La Vielle Ferme Cote du Ventoux and I just finished eating the lovely dinner plate my lovely gal made for me last night. It was a bone in pork chop, roasted asparagus, Pepin potatoes, and garlicky sauteed mushrooms. All very delicious. The girl can cook sometimes (jk Liser).
I supposed I should think about showering and going to work as it is almost 2.
Ugh. the thought of pizza for dinner makes me want to cry.
For dinner I ate leftover chicken pasta that Liser had made a few days ago. I got wasted on vodka. oops. But I did discover that string cheese dipped in pesto is gooooood drunk eats.
Well, it seems that I have been too busy (work, drink, sleep, repeat) to keep up with this blog over the weekend, so we'll do a quick catch up. When we last left off, I was sipping martinis late, late Friday night. I had one too many it seems, because I raided the styrofoam takeout container that had Lisa's leftovers from Chili's inside. Never a good idea or a pretty sight. I am reminded of Patton Oswalt's bit on KFC's Famous Bowls.
I mean, here I am, a man of discriminating taste. One that understands the beauty of fresh, locally grown produce, choice meats, and super fresh fish. A cook that aspires to be a great chef, drunk as fuck, shoveling cold Southwest Egg-rolls doused in soy sauce at 3 in the morning in his dark kitchen of his shitty apartment. Sad, but it happens.
Then I go to sleep.
Wake up Saturday afternoon, get dressed, and head with Lisa to Haltom City for some delicious Thai Belknap. I love that place man. They have lunch specials six days a week from 11-3, closed on Mondays. As we always do, we started off with the Thai Dumplings which are steamed and made with ground pork, shrimp, chicken, and mushrooms, served with the house soy sauce that is slightly sweet and smoky. Delicious!!
Lisa had a hard time deciding, I always get the same thing...the fish special which consists of 2 tilapiafilets, breaded and deep fried and covered with a melange of cilantro, mint, scallions, red onion, peanuts, and chili flakes tossed in a lime dressing served with rice, cucumber, tomato, and an egg roll. I order it Thai hot, which is the highest level of spiciness. It ensures i drink a ton of water which as you may or may not know, I have a problem with not hydrating myself properly, especially considering the heroic doses of adult beverages I am known to consume.
After some consultation with our super nice server, Lisa decides on the Spicy Basil Duck that is stir fried with vegetables. She was pleased and stated that it was the best thing she has tried there yet. I know I should branch out and try some new things, but I'm telling you, the fish dish is the shit!! You must try it
Thai Belknap Cuisine 4023 E. Belknap st. Suite A Haltom City, TX 76111 http://thaibelknap.com/
We then went to Target for a few items, then to 7-11 so we could stock up on 5 hour energy doses and Gatorade as we were both working long nights. By the way, 5 hour energy fucked up my stomach, but it was probably reacting to the chili slurry in my gut. My chef and the lead line cook had worked early to cater for a bridal shower that was held at the restaurant. They offered a fixed menu of appetizers for them, and had an ass-load of grilled chicken breast left over, as well as some blue corn tortilla chips, and shredded pepper-jack cheese.
That's right kids, I made nachos for dinner. Fuck you pizza!
I also grazed on pita, 2 shrimp bacon brochettes, various other bites here and there.
I closed, then rode my bike to Sarah's Place for copious Pabst Blue Ribbons and a shot or two. I met the chef and the sous chef of Aventino, a highly praised Italian joint very close to my place. Nice guys, gotta check that place out for sure soon. My friend Rowdy met me up there, and Lisa showed up too. We ended up going to Rowdy's for some late night Tecates for a bit, but we got hungry. For some awful reason, I was craving shitty Jack in the Box tacos. I devoured them and passed the fuck out.
Woke up Sunday feeling like appropriate hell. Drank a Dr. Pepper and felt better. I had to go into work from 2-5pm for a deep clean and meeting. I came in a little late so Lisa and I could look at a rent house. It's a total fixer upper, but it has a garage, a backyard, a giant rosemary bush out front, a shed, garbage disposal, dishwasher, and........... a gas oven/range!!!!!! Oh yeah, and walking distance to Central Market. Ummm...I'm pretty much sold.
So I get to work and get Lisa to get a grip of Melis bisteck tacos for the crew.
The guys do not look happy. I guess we were all under the impression that we would be paid for this clean-up, and we were, but in free food and beer. I can deal with that. But the other guys had been working since 9am for the Sunday Brunch.
Oh yeah, Brunch sucks.
Our lead line cook was especially peeved about everything, he almost lost it.
The meeting was for the entire staff, but the issues were 99% front of the house. We didn't even need to be there. The cooks just sipped their Bud Light from plastic cups and watched scantily clad ladies dancing off in some kinda booty shaking competition on a silent flat-screen behind the bar. After about an hour of this, we wrapped up the cleaning, even though we barely made a dent in the greasy-ass saute station. The owner ordered food for us. Guess what we got........ fucking pizza from Rocco's. No thank you, I'll stick with beer. I had a good time drinking and smoking and talking shit with the guys until I had Lisa pick me up a little after 7. I was pretty drunk, and needed to eat dinner. I came up with a quick plan to go to the grocery for the makings of shrimp scampi and a few bottles of wine, then to Blockbuster to get some movies. We also had like a bowl left of some good herb, so I decided I wanted ice cream. The grocery didn't have what I wanted (did Ben and Jerry quit making Chubby Hubby?), so I settled for Haagen Dazs Creme Brule.
After what seemed like a million stops and a good long wee behind the dumpster at Blockbuster (I had to go dude, I had like 6 cups of beer!), got home and started making the scampi. This has become a staple dish in our house. It's perfect for a quick, easy, summer dish that is light and super tasty. You can find the recipe here.
We sat down to eat with a bottle of Hess Chardonnay and put on 'The Last House on the Left', and turned it off after 20 minutes. It was terrible. We even called Blockbuster to ask about a return policy for terrible movies just for shits and giggles. Lisa hung up when the associate went to ask the manager. We got stoned and put on 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe', but I wasn't feeling it. I was, however, totally feeling the ice cream. Holy shit!! Creme Brule ice cream = fucking rad!
We then put on Vanilla Sky as Lisa had never seen it and I forced her to watch the entire thing even though she was fighting slumber tooth and nail. We went to bed around 2am.
Lisa woke me up at 8:30am asking me to take the dog out because she had taken him out twice already. I was pissed off and tired. I decided to kick it on the couch and read for a bit, fell asleep about 10:30am, and woke up at 12:30pm and did nothing but read, facebook, play with the dog, tried to go swim, but the pool was locked. Lisa got home from her lunch shift at Mac's and made a sandwich, I followed suit. Peppered-turkey, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, pesto on wheat bread with sweet onion chips and a coke.
It is currently 6:34pm central time, but not quite ready to eat dinner. Thinking it will be a late one. Lisa is at work at Pop's so it's just me and the animals. It'll probably just be chicken pasta tonight because I really don't feel like riding to the store in this heat, especially after the 3 vodka tonics I've had typing this super long post.
Woke up today suuuuper cranky. Had not been able to fall asleep until 5:30am, and got up at 10:30am. Hit the snooze a couple of times, but I had a haircut appointment at 11:45am, so I pulled myself out of bed. Took the dog for a walk, took a shower, gathered my checks and work shoes, a book, and rode my bike to Garbo's Salon. Got my hurr did, then pedaled to Tokyo Cafe.
I was tired and hungover (par for the course), yet a little less cranky thanks to my new haircut, but sooo ready for some fish. Lunch rush was in swing so I was kind of reluctant. I really prefer to eat lunch at like....oh....2pm. I don't like the general populace, especially 9 to 5 people that eat lunch at the same time, go to work at the same time, clog up the highways together, etc. I decided to not the let the full parking lot interfere with my ingestion of delicious raw tuna. Finding a decent place to lock my bike up was a bit of a chore (this town blows), but I found a spot and went inside. Luckily it was not crazy, and got seated right away.
I was brought a water. I thought about sake and beer, but it was only 12:30pm, and I did work a long day starting at 2pm. I made the responsible decision and had iced tea. I glanced at the special menu and saw a cup of chilled water melon and ginger soup. It sounded perfect for a hot day.
It was delicious. Just like cool watermelon.... um...water, but with a hint of ginger, and a few chunks of watermelon floating in it. I. wanted. a. quart. I greedily slurped it down like a ragamuffin child falling on a bowl of soups after a month of hunger.
I ordered bigeye tuna and white tuna sashimi, and a cucumber wrapped roll, which consisted of white tuna, salmon, some other fishes, and mango, all wrapped in sliced cucumber.... no rice. I ate slowly as I read a chapter from 'Kitchen Confidential' (yes, I am reading it again. It's my favorite book so shut up!!), listened to the 2 forty/fiftysomething yuppie guys bitch about marriage and divorce and the ilk, and did some people watching. I wished a had had more time and less people there. I kind of in the mood to just camp out, read, and go apeshit tasting several dishes.
I finished my sushi, and I decided to get eel... you know, for dessert? Upon ordering my last bit, I told the server that would be all, a gentle hint to bring the check. I down my eel, and wait.
And wait...............and wait.............
Finally, boy genius comes up to my table and says "Is that everything?"
Fucking servers.
The sad thing is, I can not tip poorly. You have to be AWWWWWWFULLL, to get a bad tip. Now as much as I hold a steadfast disdain for servers (I have to, I'm a cook dammit!!), I completely respect their ability to put up with people. I was a server once or twice, a really bad one. I worked at Starbucks Coffee, as many of you know for 11 goddamned years of my life (FUCK. STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I was amazing at customer service. People loved me. I somehow thought "If I can sling lattes and be Mr. Congeniality (especially when still half-drunk during morning rush), of course I can wait tables.".
Wrong.
There is a certain natural timing with it. You know, like when to check on your tables. I was always off with that shit. Kinda glad too, because I find the profession demeaning in a certain sense. Hell, I realize the rich own us and pay us to fulfill their silly whims, that's just a fact of life. But when it comes to customer service, specifically waiting tables, it's a stone's throw away from prostitution. You just don't get laid.
But on the other hand, I find it admirable for someone that needs money (and servers can make money like whoa!), has the balls to put up with the asshole dining public that has such a false sense of entitlement, that they treat the "help" like indentured servants. Having said all that (sorry, I guess martinis turn me into a sort of a wind bag.), I cant tip poorly.
Servers make 2.13 an hour, plus your tips. That's it.
Tip. Your. Server. Well. They remember you when you don't. Oh yeah by the way, 20% is the standard now for "good" service. Remember the numbers $2.13. Hasn't changed in years.
Ok, sorry. Got a little ranty.
So I pedaled to the local 7-11 and grabbed a Red Bull, and went to work.
Prep - make garlic truffle hummus, break down a tenderloin for filets and pizza beef, make ancho-peach vinaigrette, chiffonade basil, shred cheese, cut bread, bake off bacon, caramelize onions, pull dough, make pizza sauce.............
I got hungry around 6. Enrique and I did the obligatory "what kinda pie.....?"
I straight up told him, don't care.
We ended up with BBQ chicken, jalapenos, pepperoni (vomit), and mushrooms.
I ate very little. I need to start bringing dinner.
I barely grazed tonight too. All I can recall at this point is one cube of pesto chicken.
I just realized i am only typing spaced sentences now, I am sleepy.
i got cut around 9:15pm, rode home, and settled into some hooch. I have snacked on some boneless buffalo wings from Chili's take-out leftover that Lisa brought home. Ugh. Currently snacking on martini number 2, the olives will be the final dietary nail in the coffin for the day.
I will sleep like the dead tonight, and sleep in late.
I'm thinking about taking Lisa out for Thai for lunch. The spicy Thai fish special at Thai Belknap is calling.........
When I left off earlier today, I had just finished eating leftover meat and taters. It was a small portion, so an hour later (as well as a glass of wine or two), I was hungry again. We had leftover cheese tray from the cookout on Tuesday, so I snacked on that, along with cured meats, and the bread i made.
Slammed a vodka cranberry and went to work. Got a Red Bull on the way.
Had to hit the ground running at work. Had to pull dough, put together cheeseboards, make creme anglaise, set up and stock my mise en place, etc. About 5:30, Enrique asks me if I'm hungry. I said "I guess I could eat something."
"What do you want?"
"Not fucking pizza." I replied.
He grinned, and then tickets started coming in, so our pie got put on the backburner.
Jake, my boss and chef stepped in and rolled out a pie with bechamel (yuck), mushroom (ok, yeah, even though I don't get shitakes on pizza), and pepperoni (BAAARRRRRRFFFFF!). I had one slice.
I grazed as usual, but very little. Maybe two kalamata olives, a dried apricot, and bits of cheeses.
Needless to say I was hungry when I got home. Luckily, Lisa made pot stickers (steamed) filled with shrimp, pork, ginger, bamboo, garlic, carrot, celery, cilantro, and garlic. She also made some rice dish, but I was not in the mood for rice, so I skipped it.
But man! My gurl can make sum dim sum!!
Finishing off the night with refreshing vodka cocktail.
Haircut tomorrow before a long day in the kitchen. Thinking sushi tomorrow......
I finally got around to eating a leftover veal chop Lisa had brought home from her brother's surprise party/dinner at some place called Ferrari's in Grapevine. It had been kicking around the fridge since Saturday. It was reported by Lisa that it was stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella, but i saw no sign of either (perhaps I had eaten the innards in a drunken, late-night, calorie foraging stupor). It was accompanied by leftover steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes. I'm sure that this meal served hot and fresh would have been outstanding. It did provide adequate sustenance to get me out of the house, but I was still hungry.
I went to work at 3pm, tired, hungover slightly, and disconnected from the kitchen seeing that I had a full 2 and a half days off. I started banging out prep, getting ready for service. I was the only line cook there until Mike, the new guy, got in at 5pm. As I had a lot to do, I didn't really get around to making the kitchen pie before service.
Yes. We eat pizza every night at work. I fucking hate pizza.
Ok. Hate is a strong word. I am sooooo tired of pizza, but we have no choice. That is what the cooks eat on shift. The only redeeming factor is that I mercilessly taunt the morons (servers) with the fact that I am downing slices in the back, and they are not allowed to eat on shift (I occasionally let them have a slice or two, I'm not that evil).
Since we are given the option of only having pizza for dinner, we try extremely hard to think outside the box to make a pie that is unique and delicious. Usually, for me, it always tastes the same. I just wash my allotted 2 slices with Dr. Pepper and get back to work. In the end, it's just fuel.
So anyway, around 6:30pm there was a break in the pop, so I made a pie. I made a modified Jim Bowie (which is our version of BBQ chicken pizza). Instead of red sauce, I used the chipotle-cumin sauce we use on the Spanish Pie. Topped it with mozzarella, BBQ chicken, red onions, fresh sliced jalapenos, and smoked cheddar. Baked it in our pizza oven, then finished it off with bacon and BBQ sauce. It was good...for a pizza. I had 2 slivers of it, and took the rest home. However, I left it out all night, so I ended up tossing it.
Aside from that, I did the usually grazing at work - a couple of grape tomatoes, some "pita bread", a bit of hummus, and the tastings of various other things around. Quality checks you know?
Here it is now Thursday, and I have 2 and 1/2 more hours until I go in. I just finished eating leftover filet (beef) and those delicious Pepin potatoes that I made Sunday night for dinner. I'm poor right now so I'm trying to survive on the odds and ends in our fridge....oh yeah, and pizza.
I will report back later on what kind of pie we make tonight...
Today I woke up before noon, but just barely. I had stayed up until 2 something watching Season 4 of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job, and getting stoned/drunk....great job! I heaved my body out of bed, grabbed a glass of water, and plunked my lazy ass on the couch contemplating going back to sleep. I decided against it and plunked my ass in front of the computer for too long thinking about making coffee..... it was 1pm before I actually did. But as I finally got moving in the kitchen, doing dishes and sipping iced coffee, I decided to do something unexpected.
I decided to make bread.
Now allow me to back up for a minute. I am a cook, but I have not given two shits about baking for most of my life. My mother, who coincidentally taught me the basics of cooking (and is still to this day a go-to for any culinary quandary I may encounter in the kitchen), is an avid baker. I remember fondly during my youth of her cranking out muffins, cakes, cookies, biscotti, rolls, pies.....the list goes on. I loved her product, but never really got baking. Even as I got older, and learned to cook better and better, never wanted to bake anything.
Years later, I tried my hand at making some cookies (which were fine), and once a Jell-O cake for an ex-gf (meh, too gooey). Still didn't care.
It wasn't until my first actual quarter at culinary school, taking baking class, that I understood the magic of baking. Before that class, I frequently spouted the cliche "cooking is an art, baking is a science". Ok. To a certain degree, this sentiment is fact. It's true that you have to be much more precise about the volume or weight of ingredients in a baking formula vs. a cooking recipe, but there is much skill and in crafting a tasty baked product aside from measurement. I hereby retract my cliche.
So I made a simple yeast bread, but with asiago cheese and onion. I activated my yeast, then realized i was out of flour.
Fuck. Mom to the rescue.
So I call mum over to bring flour (it gives her an excuse to see her granddog), and she does. So I combine flour, dry mustard, cayenne, and salt in the KitchenAid, and blend in a tbsp. of butter. Throw in the bubbly yeast water and knead for a few minutes. Tossed in hunks of asiago cheese and some grated onion, squeezed of most liquid. The dough got a bit sticky and felt tight, like over worked. I crossed my fingers, greased a bowl, and covered the dough up with plastic wrap. Placed the bowl on top of the refrigerator and went for a swim.
Mind you, it's 2:30, not food yet. Just coffee.
An hour goes by and my dough has doubled! I punched it, folded it, divided it, rounded it, and let it rest. Then I gave it a final shape, covered it again for 30 min. or so to proof up. once my loaves rose to the appropriate size, brushed them in eggwash and popped them a 375°F oven for 25 min. Pull bread out, brush again with eggwash, and top with grated asiago. back in for 5 minutes, and then 1 min. under the broiler to finish the cheese and VOILA!!!!
My bread turned out lovely as you can see.
Ok so back up.
I did actually eat during that period of prep, to bake, to finish. Lisa won a contest for selling the most special entrees (halibut?) during her lunch shift at Mac's today, so she got lunch bought for her. Being the amazingly sweet, giving lady she is, decides to order lunch for me. Since I was down at the pool when she rang, I missed my opportunity to place a specific order, so I got whatever she brought me. It turned out to be a grilled chicken sandwich with avocado and pico de gallo of giant proportion with a giant side of mashed potatoes. The bread was soggy so I ate the meal deconstructed. It was tasty mostly because it was now 3:30 pm and i had skipped breakfast and lunch. Blurg. After that I made a cosmo. Lisa went to Central Market for items for an antipasto plate and a lucious fruit tart as we were headed to her brother's house in Southlake to celebrate her father's 63rd b-day.
Lisa gets back and starts disassembling cheeses. She bought this applewood smoked cheddar, a black pepper gouda, fresh mozzarella, and this amazing lamb's milk cheese that I can't even pronounce. She bought some prosciutto, capicola, and a few different types of olives.
Nice spread. Good cheese, good wine, cured meats, fresh bread. All very nice.
Lisa and I brought over some ears of corn in which to grill then top with garlic-butter, fresh-squeezed lime juice, and queso fresco. BUENO!!
Lester made bison burgers. He cooked onions in bacon fat and kneaded them into the meat before grilling, which is a great idea, but the burgers were under seasoned..and a tad dry. There were also sausages bought from CM that looked great, but were also under seasoned.... and dry.
Oh yeah, Wendell (Lisa and Lester's dad) brought ribs..... straight from a bag....straight from Wal-Mart...bearing the Tony Roma's logo. Yeah I ate them.
They were ok.
We all had a great time afterwards. Swimming, drinking, cutting up. Nikolai even had a ball terrorizing the other dogs and getting squirted with water.
Wendell and his wife Erica bailed before Lisa even presented him with the fruit tart she had bought for him at CM. We took half home, got stoned, and started in on it (What?!!,I barely ate my dinner!).
The weekend is over so that means the next 4-5 post will probably be about my bitter disdain for pizza.
for now my friends, so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, GoodnighHight!!!
lunch-green chili cheeseburger with sweet fries and a dogfish head IPA at Mac's on 7th. dinner-seared tuna steak (yellowtail, previously frozen), risotto, and sauteed garlic/white wine/butter mushrooms.
Welcome to 'Is it food yet?'. This first post is total crap, but don't worry. Good things to read are coming.......... soon.
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