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So, my birthday is never that big a deal. Never used to be...until I met Laurie, and she decided it was. last year she surprised me with a trip to Rhode Island, this year, a spectacular dinner/evening.

A rundown of my evening.
Came home, went for a run, showered...
...came out to this waiting next to the recliner with my favorite bumming around shorts.

Lemme see if I get this right....
Goat cheese herb spread with some white wine drizzled with olive oil. Bruschetta of shitake mushrooms, some scallions and some mint with some parmigiano-reggiano. And a Negroni cocktail. Just in time to watch my guilty pleasure....TMZ.




After TMZ and a glass of white wine, I walked into the kitchen to find this...

Farfalle with hot italian sausage, roasted red peppers, and Kalamata olives, bread, and a bottle of Montepulciano.





and....presents!


Got a food grinder for my mixer (be ready for the best burgers an sausages ever)


some much needed slippers


So I lounged around in my slippers for a while and then came dessert...

Vanilla bean panacotta with raspberry coulis. Was awesome.


The whole dinner was most excellent. Lauries a damn good cook when I'm not over her shoulders telling her she's doing it all wrong! Doh!

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Last year we had it at our house....here's the post.
http://randallpmcmurphy.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter.html

This year, at my parents. we made the crostini 'bar' and some loaves of bread. and a couple of magnums of some cheap italian wine. most people opted for herring and rye bread over our stuff.....such is life. Although my parents gave up on passing dishes around and serve it buffet style with these buffet stations they got at Sam's club. they were classy and went paper plates this year too!! our bread (from artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, almost ready to give a solid opinion on this book...) 2 vats of sausage and peppers and a crock pot of mashed potatoes.....ugh. happy Easter. To think it's not even our real easter...that's not till next week. pfft.

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Been on a beet kick lately....

Still on the beet kick.


At least I can laugh at myself...haha



get it?

The other night, I batched-up and froze from beet ravioli filled with goat cheese and ricotta.....and had to test out a few.








yeah, i messed around with 2 different ravioli "tools" I like freehand or the bear-trap ones best.

baked some bread from Artisan breads in 5 minutes a day. It's only the second or third time I used a recipe from there. Italian Semolina = fail, The regular boule with some herbs in there = very win. So far that book is 50/50 hit or miss (most likely due to me being incompetent)



then some left over sausages + some peppers and onions and a bunch of tomato paste.



Tonight I made some beet barley-sotto with some goat cheese and made the rest of the rosemary/thyme bread in the fridge.

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Yep, that's what it translates to. Puttanesca.

Made some fresh pasta (4 xl eggs, 3.5c flour, should have used some semonila, but didn't have any, natch)

Tossed some garlic in a pan, I think about 4 cloves, and some dried chilis....because I had them. I'm sure you can use some pepper flakes. Sauteed for a minute or 2, enough that I didn't burn the garlic, then threw in 2 cans of fire-roasted tomatoes, a cup of half-mooned zucchini. Cooked few minutes (maybe 5?) then tossed in a half a cup of black olives, and 2tbs of rinsed capers. Cooked the pasta for a few seconds then threw in the pan and tossed. Served with a (cheap 8.99) Multipulciano.

(started out with a French 75 cocktail)

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Craving lamb today, I asked Laurie to pick up some rib chops (I initially wanted loin chops, but, well, you don't wanna hear my butcher rant). She threw some new red potatoes with some garlic, evoo, and rosemary in the oven. When they were done, I, trimmed, and S&P the chops, quick hot sear in the pan on both sides, and removed them. I had some garlic butter in the fridge left-over from some garlic bread last week, and figured what the heck, if I'm going to use butter for the sauce anyway....so then I deglazed with some cognac and flamed it off, added some garlic-butter. Pretty simply, but good. Perfect mid-rare (more rare for me mid rare for Laurie)

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Well, haven't posted in a while. Work's been busy, life's been busier. Rest assured I'm still cooking up a storm. Saw Watchmen this weekend, it was real good, but I'm a comic geek. Here are a few meals we cooked as of late. If anyone want's a recipe, just let me know. Nothing is too groundbreaking, really.

REQUEST
I'm looking for a good source of meats in NJ...just kind of a single source. I can pick up say, pork belly and rabbit at Hong Kong supermarket, and some veal at Shoprite and short ribs at Bravo! supermarket and head over to Wegmans and get pork chops and steaks, Griggstown for poultry, but....1. it's a pain 2. either the cuts are bad, or are overpriced. I need a happy medium as well as access to order things like cheeks,sweetbreads, and "different" cuts. We make our dinner menu a week or two in advance, so ordering is not a problem. Joe Meat market in South Bound Brook, last we went, didn't even have pork chops, or hot sausage, or veal (but can order them....ugh). If I'm going to order, I want to find a reliable place with decent cuts and a place than can get me what I need. If anyone knows any restaurants perhaps with a good purveyor I can leech off of, or an online place or even a place in New Brunswick that is good, please let me know!!

rant.over.


Valentines Filet


Lemon Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis

some wheat bread


some chicken


some more bread.



Some pizza

some chicken tikka masala, basmati, and roti



Stuffed pork chop with apples, an apple brandy sauce, creamy polenta and spinach with pinenuts


Chicken piccata.

Hmm what else?
Got a new knife magnet.



Now for some randomness.............


Lost 17.5lbs.
New Bob Dylan record coming out...
Been watching LOST...and loving it.
Excited for the new Marco Pierre White show Chopping Block...
Man on Wire was pretty good doc...

Still looking for a night job in the food/cocktail world a couple of nights a week.

Still interested in IT Security and Audit positions (see resume below)

...Still go to sleep on Sunday not knowing if I'll have a job on Monday...

trying to get better at photography.

If I have any Italian fans, email me, we're planning our wedding/honeymoon in Italy...and I need some advice/suggestions...I need a nice non-touristy villa in Tuscany and a private chef for a week or so.

I'll post more, and I might try to actually post some recipes too as people have been emailing me here and there. It's just pure lazyness or most of the time I rip them off of someone else anyways.

By the way, here is a pretty neat cocktail using Domaine De Canton which is a ginger/cognac liqueur. Been trying to find a real good cocktail with Canton's other than a traditional sidecar (cut with some Hennessey)

Build over rocks in a highball, or leave club soda out, stir with ice then pour over ice in an old fashioned.

2 parts dark rum (rhum agricole)
1 part sweet vermouth (Antica)
1 part Cantons

twist of lime and top with club soda

hmmmmm....what else. I think that's about it.

Oh yeah, worst. top. chef. season. ever. Stefan should have won. But, I guess I didn't taste the food so it's kinda hard for me to judge. But I will anyway.

until next time...

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