I just got really excited when I saw that Perfect Strangers was on FX… and then realized that it’s the stupid Halle Berry/Bruce Willis movie, NOT the awesome TGIF show. So disappointing.
Speaking of disappointing, I made an awesome dinner tonight but had to eat it by myself. It’s 9 and Brian’s still at work. I know we’re lucky because this pretty much never happens; it’s kind of unheard of for him to get home after 7. But I’m still going to whine about it. And maybe go get some ice cream.
Let’s discuss the dinner, shall we? Newflower had fresh brussels sprouts on sale, so I bought a ton of those the other today. Tonight I trimmed and halved them, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder and kosher salt and roasted at 400 for 30 minutes. SO GOOD. The best part are the little leafy bits that fall off the “sprout” and then char- they taste like potato chips. Don’t think these babies are burned. They’re just nicely carmelized.
I almost never eat (and reallllly never cook) pork, but something possessed me to buy pork chops at Newflower the other day. After messing around on FoodNetwork.com, I came across a Tyler Florence recipe for Thick Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins with lots of rave reviews. You marinate the chops for a couple of hours in apple juice concentrate w/ peppercorns, salt and brown sugar. I halved the marinade and it was way more than enough. Then you just brown the pork chops on the stove and throw them in the oven to finish cooking. In the meantime, you saute apples and raisins in butter and add more apple juice and spices, then simmer to thicken.
Okay, this is a definite keeper. The apple-raisin mixture alone is amazing.
The rest of the day was less exciting in terms of food. I still feel crappy and didn’t really want to eat much. Breakfast was a Green Monster, minus the Green.
- 1 C Almond Breeze
- 1 Frozen Banana
- 1/2 C Frozen Berries
- Handful of Frozen Cherries
- Scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder
- Ice
It was so thick that I ended up eating it with a spoon.
Met Brian for lunch. We ended up at Panera. Once again, not that hungry- so I had a bowl of veggie soup:
I wanted to get something to read for our trip, so I headed to the library after lunch. Not my usual library (Audelia)- the one on Skillman. First of all, it was PACKED at 1pm. Crazy. I really needed to look up an author but every computer was taken. So I hung around until one finally opened up. As soon as I sat down, this old man comes up behind me. “Are you on computer #5?”
I look at the monitor. Yes, I am in fact on computer #5.
“I’m supposed to be on computer #5.”
Yeah, old man totally booted me off my computer. I was unaware that there was a formal waiting list set up for this sort of thing. Luckily the nice librarian helped me find the author I was looking for and I was out of there in a few minutes. Has anyone read either Cooking for Mr. Latte or The Marriage Bureau for Rich People? I can’t decide which one to start first.
Okay, off to scrounge around for some dessert. Tomorrow I have a GUEST POST by my awesome friend Joy and her boyfriend Chip. They recently took a little trip to Austin and were sweet enough to write about all of their culinary adventures. Cupcakes and trailers… that’s all I can say for now…
We leave for SC on Saturday, so don’t forget to send me any restaurant suggestions if you’ve been to Hilton Head!
-SURVEY-
What’s your best vacation food memory?
We used to take the same vacation every summer: South Padre Island. My dad would buy us giant Pixie Stix on the 11 HOUR drive up. I also remember eating at the same restaurant every year, Louie’s Backyard. I thought it was pretty awesome because we could eat outside on the water… and I got to order virgin strawberry daquiris. Nice.
Add a little cumin to the sprouts. Very tasty.
I saw that movie was on TV! But I wanted to watch the show Glee
Fresh fruit shakes from street vendors in Thailand. Amazing and worth going back just to have one more… <3
I would marry Tyler Florence. I love his cooking.
Hope you have a great trip!
Not really a vacation, per se, but every year when my family and I would drive back from Purdue back to Dallas for the summer we would stop in a somewhat rundown part of St. Louis and eat at this bar called Biggie’s. They had an awesome steak sandwich that was basically just a marinated piece of steak on a super garlicky and cheesy french roll. It is awesome and if I ever find myself back in StL I will eat another one.
I really want Brussel sprouts right now. Seriously.
We found a little hole-in-the-wall place in Rome that ended up being dirt cheap and had the best margarita pizza I’ve ver had. We ate there 3/4 nights we were in Rome and I had the same pizza every night.
Visiting my family in Albany, NY, we would always get ice cream. We didn’t really have any home grown ice cream places in Knoxville, so we would get really excited.
The best place was a restaurant called Toll Gate. They made everything in house and always had new flavors. The restaurant was in an old house where the toll keeper lived on a tolled back road in Albany. The gate is still there.
Good times.
aw sorry you had to enjoy that ‘nummy meal solo — at least those brussel sprouts were there to keep you company. for a short while anyway