Date night dinner....Part 1

This past week the boy was on vacation, visiting with his grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. We took the opportunity to have a dinner date.

We went to Mr. P.'s Bistro in Southport. Local friends, if you have never been...what are you waiting for? It is still my favorite place to eat a fancy dinner out with my honey.

It was a Monday night,

so it was not that busy. We decided to go on a whim. That turned out to be a really good decision, because I am not sure we could have had a night out that week otherwise between long work hours for Jeff, rehearsals for Into the Woods and just a busy schedule in general.

I was really in the mood for a steak, so I chose the Filet Mignon. It is served with a caramelized onion and bourbon butter. (You're salivating now, aren't you? Go ahead, admit it). It came served with roasted potatoes and a vegetable. I picked the fried green tomatoes. Don't judge. It counts as a vegetable. Sort of. Jeff wanted seafood so he ordered the fresh red snapper stuffed with crab meat. He also got the potatoes and the fried green tomatoes.

Our dinners were cooked perfectly. I could have cut the steak, which I ordered medium-rare, with a fork

because it was so tender. The potatoes had just a hint of salt and pepper and the fried green tomatoes were crispy and not the least bit greasy. To go along with the date night theme, we ordered fancy cocktails. Mine was a flavored cosmo-type drink and Jeff had the Southport Streetcar -- Maker's Mark, Cointreau and lemon juice in a martini glass rimmed with sugar. It was so good in fact, that he had two. Which made him a little giggly and I had to drive home. After we sat on a bench at the waterfront for a while. It was not hot, the breeze felt wonderful and the company was even better. All in all, a great success.

Yes, this was an expensive dinner. It's not something we can do every day, or every month for that matter. But we have to treat ourselves sometimes. We like good food, so a nice dinner out is a good date for us. We all get busy, and it is important to set time aside to remind ourselves and each other that we matter - that we are important to each other and together.

We did manage to squeeze in one more date night that week when we cooked together at home. Look for more on that one coming soon in Date night dinner....Part 2.

The Cutest Cookbook Ever

We recently bought a new shelf for the room off our kitchen (I never know what to call that room - it has a closet, so it's not really a pantry). We just didn't have enough storage room, and the bigger shelf holds more than the baker's rack we had there. We also got some S hooks to hang our stainless steel pots from the side. All in all, it worked out well and we think we're pretty cool.

I rearranged a lot of stuff, including the cookbooks and loose recipes I always mean to organize completely but never quite finish doing.

While sorting through some of these, I came across something called "First Grade Cafe," a cookbook of sorts John did in school. Oh my gosh, how cute. It was made up of coloring book pages with spaces for the young chefs to fill out the recipe name, list the ingredients used and draw a picture of what the finished product looked like. Mostly what they "cooked" were things like trail mix and cookies. There was also a page at the end for a recipe the students were asked to supply (with help from parents, of course). John's was Peanut Butter Scotties. They're like Rice Krispie Treats except with peanut butter and butterscotch chips instead of marshmallows.

What a precious find.

John has come a long way since then. He can make a roux, and he knows how to chop or dice veggies at different sizes depending on how we're going to cook them. He has made homemade macaroni and cheese, Ohana wings,  and corn pudding on his own (with just some supervision) and is an excellent sous chef in training. To his future wife, Jeffrey and I say "you're welcome."

We have probably outgrown this cookbook, except for the Peanut Butter Scotties - they sound really good. But it will still have a place of honor on the shelf with the others.

Peanut Butter Scotties
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 12-ounce package butterscotch chips
1 cup peanut butter

Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter together in a double boiler. Mic well. Stir in Rice Krispies and mix gently until the cereal is coated. Press into a buttered 9x13 pan and refrigerate.

Sometimes it's ok to admit you had a crappy day, or why sometimes drive-thrus are the only hope of the family eating dinner

It was such a Monday. Epic, really. You know how sometimes Jupiter aligns with Mars and peace guides the planets? Well the opposite happened this Monday. Jupiter apparently cut Mars off and there was only bickering among the planets.

That might be a little dramatic, but I'm Italian, so...

I had great plans for dinner. I really did. I'd had a stressful day and planned on cooking to make it better. But first, I had to leave from work a little early, pick up John and his baritone, pick up another teenager and her flag for marching band guard, and deliver them to the high school. We also took along two mosquitoes for part of the ride. We lost them somewhere along the way. I think I did manage to smash one, but the other one must have escaped somehow. It must have known what was coming. I delivered my charges and their equipment without issues. Then I headed back down toward Southport so I could go to WalMart. I don't usually like to grocery shop at WalMart, but I needed a plain white t-shirt for the boy, so I figured I might as well go to just one store. I'm not being snobby about not wanting to buy groceries there. I am just short and the signs saying what is in each aisle are really high in the air at WalMart (and no, I am not linking to WalMart from this blog - if you can't find that on your own, you probably shouldn't even be on the internet).

Unfortunately, there was a jack-knifed trailer across the road miles away from WalMart. Miles away from anything actually. The only way to "get around" it would have been about a 45-minute drive. Of course, I waited in traffic for more than an hour. Still not sure I shouldn't have bailed. But no, I stayed the course. Finally we could go. Well, sort of. We had to get around the disabled pickup that was also dead in our lane. I really felt for that guy. One time our van died on the way back to Penn State the first day the PA Turnpike was open to traffic after a major snowstorm. Been there done that. No one wants to be that guy. Traffic was still slow, but I finally did make it to the store.

I did pretty well at the store, even considering the tourists are here and the shelves needed attention. Then I was off to get gas across the street. The short version of my time there is I very politely explained to the little girl in the Mustang that she was not actually going to cut me off and take my turn at the pump. I then ignored the guy who thought I should pull out into traffic and get crushed instead of waiting for a clear spot (maybe he was friends of Mustang girl?).

At this point, it was 7:10. I was going to have no interest in cooking dinner, or in waiting for food to be prepared. Enter KFC 8-piece box. We don't really get fast food very often, but tonight it was just the thing. Naturally, when I pulled up to the order box, it beeped a really loud high-pitched noise at me. When it stopped, I was able to give my order. When I got to the window, the employee asked me how I was doing. I replied with the expected "fine." Then I told her that actually, I had a pretty crappy day. She said she had too. I told her I was sorry to hear that and pointed out that at least I hadn't taken out my bad day on her, and she agreed that I had not. We ended with her passing me the food and each of us wishing the other a "great night" and resolving to make it so.

I always try to find the positive, even if some days it's harder to do that. Tonight it was dinner for the family that Jeffrey or I didn't have to cook, I made it home safely, and I made someone smile. Not too bad, I guess.

We now have a Ninja in the house

When Mother's Day rolls around, a lot of women expect flowers, perfume, jewelry, something feminine and pretty. Me? I ask for appliances and gadgets. I remember the first year Jeff and I lived in North Carolina. Jeff got me a fishing pole for my birthday. It was a great gift, because he and I enjoyed going to the beach together and fishing, but I didn't have my own pole. I remember talking to my Dad, and he asked me what Jeff had given me (making sure his baby girl was being taken care of I guess). When I told him, he was quiet for a minute before asking me if I had wanted one. He must have thought Jeff was in big trouble. But Jeffrey has a great track record in the gift department. He knows me very well.

Sometimes I am super specific though. This was one of those years. I pointed out a few times that I really wanted a Ninja master prep system. It slices and dices and...you get the idea. Jeff ordered one off Amazon and hauled it out to the mountains with us since we went away for Mother's Day Weekend. Yay! Just what I wanted!

Things have been crazy busy around here since then. I was to the point that if we all had a clean outfit to wear the next day and we all ate dinner I felt like I was ahead of the game. So we haven't had the time to properly christen our new kitchen toy. We finally did tonight, by making hummus.

I became a big fan of hummus a couple of years ago. Sometimes I make a quick trip to the grocery store on my lunch break, and hummus and pita chips with a banana or yogurt on the side makes for a great lunch.

To make it tonight, first we roasted a head of garlic (super easy - cut the top off, put it in an oven-proof dish on top of some olive oil, drizzle olive oil on the exposed cloves, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook for 45 minutes 375 degrees). This makes the house smell delicious!

Here's the recipe we used for hummus. We did have to add more olive oil. It was creamy and garlicky and so yummy. I say we...actually I gave the boy directions and he made it. That's been happening a lot lately, which is fine by me. It took us a while to find
tahini paste in the grocery store. Was it with the Asian food? The peanut butter? Nope. With the vinegar. It's a sesame paste that is actually pretty tasty. Now I have to figure out how else I can use it.

As for the Ninja, next I'll be looking at a new smoothie recipe. I really want to try one that combines vegetables and fruits and supposedly tastes like the fruit so you forget you're drinking spinach. If you have any good recipes, please feel free to share!

Pasta Primavera Contest Entry

I haven't had a whole lot of free time lately. It happens sometimes. But I did manage to carve out just enough to make pasta primavera for the Pioneer Woman contest.

There are a lot of fresh vegetables in this recipe, which means a lot of chopping. But once all the prep work is done, it is really a quick meal to make. Click here for a link to the recipe. I will definitely be making this one again. When I started making it, my biggest help in the kitchen, Jeffrey Stites, wasn't home and the boy had no interest in helping out this time, probably because there are mushrooms and zucchini in the recipe.

But I made pretty quick work of it and in no time, I had this... I think my minced garlic got buried under there somewhere.                                                    
Of course, you need to get the pasta going and then start cooking the veggies. I grated cheese while veggies were cooking and when everything was done, I just threw it all together. I had a really good idea of how I wanted it to look but here's this little problem of my lack of hand-eye coordination. (That's why I like photography-all my hands have to do is hold the camera and push the buttons). So it didn't look quite like I wanted it to. I was happy with the end result though, and I took lots of pictures and posted one to the website as my contest entry. This one isn't the one I entered, but I don't think it's too bad :-) The best part of the experience is that since my mother and father-in-law were down for the week, the primavera was enjoyed for dinner (twice). Which is, after all, the real reason I cook anyway.

                                                                                                                     

My first Chuckwagon Sandwich

The Stites family has the best vacations. Sometimes we plan things ahead of time, but usually we head off with a vague notion of what we want to do and the only certain thing is our hotel reservation. We headed off to Boone for Mother's Day weekend and it was one of those trips that combined a little planning and a lot of stumbling upon cool stuff.

We planned to go to Grandfather Mountain, and we wanted to go gem mining (we ended up at Gem Mountain). We also wanted to do a quick tour of Appalachian State University. But we didn't have specific plans for where or when. We headed out on a Friday morning and it didn't take long before we were singing and laughing in the car. Well, two of us were singing and we were all laughing. John does not sing. At all. 

We made a quick pit stop near Aberdeen at a really gross convenience store/gas station that had surprisingly good-looking fried catfish at 10:30 a.m. I passed on that and stuck with just a pack of gum. We ate dinner that night at Black Cat Burrito, a truly stupendous eatery in Boone, which reminds us lots of one of favorite Wilmington places -- Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn. We took a quick drive through campus (it was raining, so no walking tour) and checked in at the hotel. It's a cute place right off the highway called Smoketree Lodge. The decor is stuck in the 80s and no one working there is over about 23, but it's clean and the staff is friendly and sweet. We love it. 

Saturday morning the incredibly smart Jeffrey (of Pooh Sticks fame) pointed out that we were actually very close to Tennessee. Since the boy had never been to Tennessee, we decided to take a quick trip across the border. And why not look for a geocache while we were there, right? We were actually the first to find a new cache in Roan Mountain State Park. This park is beautiful. There are dense woods with a thick tree canopy, a stream that runs miles through the park (lined with cuteness that morning since there was a kids' trout fishing tourney going on), cabins for rent, a steep ride up to the old Miller Farmstead with a gorgeous mountain view and much more. 

After our park visit, we headed back into NC and looked for a place to grab some lunch. Now, keep in mind we were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. This is Appalachia country -- not doing so well economically and fairly off the beaten path. We were almost ready to give up and stop at a Hardee's when we decided to take the Business route of the highway in Spruce Pine. As soon as we made the turnoff and rounded a curve we saw a place called "50s Diner." It was a pretty nondescript restaurant, just brick with big glass windows. It could have been a Burger King in its former life. The menu has all the diner favorites -- burgers, chili cheese fries and milkshakes. 

And chuckwagon sandwiches. I had never heard of them, but Jeffrey said that the eastern Tennessee/western North Carolina area is known for these sandwiches.
If you don't know about them, basically it is a breaded burger patty deep fried and put on a bun. Of course we all had to order one. Jeffrey and I got ours with lettuce and tomato. The patty was much moister and more tender than I expected, and the tomato clearly came from a local farmer because it was the reddest, juiciest tomato I have had in a while. It was delicious. It was one of those sandwiches that makes your arteries cringe, but it was delicious. 

The moral of the story is this: don't be afraid to try new things at new places. When you travel, leave the chain restaurants behind and look for the local mom and pop places. Sure you might not know what you're getting into, but you never know what gems you can find.  

Pioneer Woman Blog Photo Contest

I am going to enter this contest. I thought about doing this today, but I am not feeling my best, so I think I will do it another day. I bought a plate to use in my picture, and I have already planned out what I want the picture to look like.

The contest is simple. Make Ree Drummond's, aka The Pioneer Woman, Pasta Primavera recipe, take a picture and upload it. On the contest site, she also offers really good photography tips that contestants are encouraged to use.

When I started my food blog, I thought it would be all about the writing for me. I loved writing columns when I worked as a newspaper reporter and what is a blog but an electronic column? And I really enjoy cooking and trying new restaurants, so I thought a food blog would be perfect. I knew I would be taking pictures, but I didn't realize how much I would enjoy that part of it. I love styling the food and trying different angles to get just the right shot. John is even into it, and I've already used one of his pictures on the blog (the veggies picture in the Stir-fry post).

I think that so far, I'm doing a pretty good job illustrating my blog. I am not fishing for a compliment, and I have no idea whether my pictures are technically good or even if anyone likes them. But this is a rare thing for me -- what I am doing with my blog makes me happy and that's enough. There is no pressure to please an editor or an audience. I mean, I really hope people like reading my blog. And I hope I get a huge following. But if I don't, I'm ok with that. I can't paint or sew or do anything very artistic in that sense. But I can write and take pictures. It's an incredible feeling when you know what you are writing connects with readers. I loved hearing reactions to columns I wrote for the newspaper. But this is more me, and as my own editor, I think I am doing a good job doing what I set out to do.

So if you like cooking and taking pictures, check out this contest. You could win a really good camera. And please feel free to share your feedback on my blog posts and...keep reading! Thanks :-)